Showing papers in "Academy of Management Review in 1995"
TL;DR: In this paper, a definition of trust and a model of its antecedents and outcomes are presented, which integrate research from multiple disciplines and differentiate trust from similar constructs, and several research propositions based on the model are presented.
Abstract: Scholars in various disciplines have considered the causes, nature, and effects of trust. Prior approaches to studying trust are considered, including characteristics of the trustor, the trustee, and the role of risk. A definition of trust and a model of its antecedents and outcomes are presented, which integrate research from multiple disciplines and differentiate trust from similar constructs. Several research propositions based on the model are presented.
16,559 citations
TL;DR: This article synthesize the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches, and identify three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based upon normative approval; and cognitive, according to comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness.
Abstract: This article synthesizes the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches. The analysis identifies three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based on normative approval: and cognitive, based on comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness. The article then examines strategies for gaining, maintaining, and repairing legitimacy of each type, suggesting both the promises and the pitfalls of such instrumental manipulations.
13,229 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine three aspects of the stakeholder theory and critique and integrate important contributions to the literature related to each, concluding that the three aspects are mutually supportive and that the normative base of the theory-which includes the modern theory of property rights-is fundamental.
Abstract: ?The stakeholder theory has been advanced and justified in the management literature on the basis of its descriptive accuracy, instrumental power, and normative validity. These three aspects of the theory, although interrelated, are quite distinct; they involve different types of evidence and argument and have different implications. In this article, we examine these three aspects of the theory and critique and integrate important contributions to the literature related to each. We conclude that the three aspects of stakeholder theory are mutually supportive and that the normative base of the theory-which includes the modern theory of property rights-is fundamental. If the unity of the corporate body is real, then there is reality and not simply legal fiction in the proposition that the managers of the unit are fiduciaries for it and not merely for its individual members, that they are . . . trustees for an institution [with multiple constituents] rather than attorneys for the stockholders.
10,163 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present conclusions from a 10-year research program, the purpose of which has been to develop a framework and methodology, grounded in the reality of corporate behavior, for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance.
Abstract: This article presents conclusions from a 10-year research program, the purpose of which has been to develop a framework and methodology, grounded in the reality of corporate behavior, for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance. There are three principal sections: (a) a summary of the approaches, models, and methodologies used in conducting more than 70 field studies of corporate social performance from 1983-1993; (b) a discussion of the principal conclusions derived from the data that (1) corporations manage relationships with stakeholder groups rather than with society as a whole, (2) it is important to distinguish between social issues and stakeholder issues, and (3) it is necessary to identify the appropriate level of analysis in order to evaluate CSP; and (c) a discussion of propositions and areas for further research.
6,827 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a natural resource-based view of the firm is proposed, which is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development, and each of these strategies are advanced for each of them regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.
Abstract: Historically, management theory has ignored the constraints imposed by the biophysical (natural) environment. Building upon resource-based theory, this article attempts to fill this void by proposing a natural-resource-based view of the firm—a theory of competitive advantage based upon the firm's relationship to the natural environment. It is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development. Propositions are advanced for each of these strategies regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.
5,339 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors organize the product development literature into three streams of research: product development as rational plan, communication web, and disciplined problem solving, and synthesize research findings into a model of factors affecting the success of product development.
Abstract: The literature on product development continues to grow. This research is varied and vibrant, yet large and fragmented. In this article we first organize the burgeoning product-development literature into three streams of research: product development as rational plan, communication web, and disciplined problem solving. Second, we synthesize research findings into a model of factors affecting the success of product development. This model highlights the distinction between process performance and product effectiveness and the importance of agents, including team members, project leaders, senior management, customers, and suppliers, whose behavior affects these outcomes. Third, we indicate potential paths for future research based on the concepts and links that are missing or not well defined in the model.
3,824 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose an instrumental theory of stakeholder management based on a synthesis of the stakeholder concept, economic theory, behavioral science, and ethics, with the core theory that a subset of ethical principles (trust, trustworthiness, and cooperativeness) can result in significant competitive advantage.
Abstract: This article is intended to enhance the position of stakeholder theory as an integrating theme for the business and society field. It offers an instrumental theory of stakeholder management based on a synthesis of the stakeholder concept, economic theory, behavioral science, and ethics. The core theory—that a subset of ethical principles (trust, trustworthiness, and cooperativeness) can result in significant competitive advantage—is supplemented by nine research propositions along with some research and policy implications.
3,516 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce four basic theories that may serve as building blocks for explaining processes of change in organizations: life cycle, teleology, dialectics, and evolution, which represent different sequences of change events that are driven by different conceptual motors and operate at different organizational levels.
Abstract: This article introduces four basic theories that may serve as building blocks for explaining processes of change in organizations: life cycle, teleology, dialectics, and evolution. These four theories represent different sequences of change events that are driven by different conceptual motors and operate at different organizational levels. This article identifies the circumstances when each theory applies and proposes how interplay among the theories produces a wide variety of more complex theories of change and development in organizational life.
3,478 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a synthesis of the organizational and philosophical definitions that emphasizes an explicit sense of moral duty and is based upon accepted ethical principles of analysis, which has the potential to combine research from the two fields of study in important areas of inquiry.
Abstract: Numerous researchers have proposed that trust is essential for understanding interpersonal and group behavior, managerial effectiveness, economic exchange and social or political stability, yet according to a majority of these scholars, this concept has never been precisely defined. This article reviews definitions from various approaches within organizational theory, examines the consistencies and differences, and proposes that trust is based upon an underlying assumption of an implicit moral duty. This moral duty—an anomaly in much of organizational theory—has made a precise definition problematic. Trust also is examined from philosophical ethics, and a synthesis of the organizational and philosophical definitions that emphasizes an explicit sense of moral duty and is based upon accepted ethical principles of analysis is proposed. This new definition has the potential to combine research from the two fields of study in important areas of inquiry.
2,265 citations
TL;DR: A more fruitful integrative paradigm of "sustaincentrism" is then articulated, and implications for organizational science are generated as if sustainability, extended community, and our Academy mattered as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Modern management theory is constricted by a fractured epistemology. which separates humanity from nature and truth from morality. Reintegration is necessary if organizational science is to support ecologically and socially sustainable development. This article posits requisites of such development and rejects the paradigms of conventional technocentrism and antithetical ecocentrism on grounds of incongruence. A more fruitful integrative paradigm of “sustaincentrism” is then articulated, and implications for organizational science are generated as if sustainability, extended community, and our Academy mattered.
1,993 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the implications of ecologically sustainable development for corporations through the concepts of total quality environmental management, competitive strategies, technology transfer through technology-for nature-swaps, and reducing the impact of populations on ecosystems.
Abstract: Ecological problems rooted in organizational activities have increased significantly, yet the role corporations play in achieving ecological sustainability is poorly understood. This article examines the implications of ecologically sustainable development for corporations. It articulates corporate ecological sustainability through the concepts of (a) total quality environmental management, (b) ecologically sustainable competitive strategies, (c) technology transfer through technology-for nature-swaps, and (d) reducing the impact of populations on ecosystems. It examines the implications that these concepts have for organizational research.
TL;DR: In this article, institutional theory is used to understand how consensus is built around the meaning of sustainability, and how concepts or practices associated with sustainability are developed and diffused among organizations.
Abstract: Our main objective in this article is to join the growing group of "green" organization theorists by demonstrating the usefulness of institutional theory as an approach to ecologically sustainable organizations. Institutional theory helps to understand how consensus is built around the meaning of sustainability and how concepts or practices associated with sustainability are developed and diffused among organizations. We extend institutional theory by offering hypotheses in four different areas: (a) the incorporation of values into organizational sustainability, (b) the study of institutions as distinct elements within systems, (c) the study of institutions as distinct spheres, and (d) the construction of paradigms that support organizational sustainability. We then offer possible modifications to institutional theory that are suggested by the extension to a new area of study. Among them are the consideration of natural constraints on sense making and paradigm construction, the study of regional networks, and the recognition of the role of individual actors. Finally, we discuss possible avenues for future research by drawing on research that we are currently conducting.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the concept of ecological sustainability and applied it to organizations by utilizing a systems framework and multiple levels of analysis, and the implications for ecological sustainability of dyadic relationships between the organization and entities at individual, organizational, political-economic, social-cultural, and ecological environment levels.
Abstract: This article explores the concept of ecological sustainability and applies it to organizations by utilizing a systems framework and multiple levels of analysis. The implications for ecological sustainability of dyadic relationships between the organization and entities at the individual, organizational, political-economic, social-cultural, and ecological environment levels are examined. Critical factors that influence the degree to which an organization's behaviors are ecologically sustainable are examined, and behavioral and structural elements that are likely to be manifested by ecologically sustainable organizations (ESOs) are suggested.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose that communication is the context in which change occurs and that the change process unfolds in a dynamic of four distinct types of conversations, and the relationships among the conversations are discussed, and implications for theory, research and practice are given.
Abstract: Most perspectives on change propose that communication occurs in the context of change. This article inverts that perspective by proposing both that communication is the context in which change occurs and that the change process unfolds in a dynamic of four distinct types of conversations. The fundamental nature of speech as performative suggests that change is linguistically based and driven and that producing intentional change is facilitated by intentional communication. The relationships among the conversations are discussed, and implications for theory, research, and practice are given.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the possibility of efficacy-performance spirals in individuals, groups, and organizations, and consider compositional and cross-level effects by proposing factors that will moderate the relationship between spirals at different levels of analysis.
Abstract: This article explores the possibility of efficacy-performance spirals in individuals, groups, and organizations. Spirals are deviation-amplifying loops in which the positive, cyclic relationship between perceived efficacy and performance builds upon itself. Collective efficacy is defined, and upward and downward spirals are considered. Evidence from multiple levels of analysis is presented, and factors affecting the occurrence, continuation, and stopping of spirals are proposed. In addition, we consider compositional and cross-level effects by proposing factors that will moderate the relationship between spirals at different levels of analysis. Overall, 15 propositions are presented as guidelines for future research.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify two major theoretical orientations in the business and society field: the corporate social performance (CSP) model illustrates their lack of integration and the problems posed for theory development, and the model is reoriented so that it can be used to explore a synthesis of the two perspectives based on reframed principles of Corporate social responsibility, processes of corporate social responsiveness, and outcomes of corporate behavior.
Abstract: This article identifies two major theoretical orientations in the business and society field. The corporate social performance (CSP) model illustrates their lack of integration and the problems posed for theory development. The model is reoriented so that it can be used to explore a synthesis of the two perspectives based on reframed principles of corporate social responsibility, processes of corporate social responsiveness, and outcomes of corporate behavior.
TL;DR: In this article, an alternative management paradigm for management in the risk society context is proposed, which advocates an ecologically centered conception of interorganizational relations and internal management activities, and seeks to minimize the environmental impact of organizational vision, inputs, throughputs, and outputs.
Abstract: A central feature of postindustrial modernization is the proliferation of technological and environmental risks and crises. These risks and crises emanate from corporate industrial activities. The traditional management paradigm is limited in several ways for responding to demands of the risk society and should be abandoned. I propose an alternative “ecocentric” paradigm for management in the risk society context, which advocates an ecologically centered conception of interorganizational relations and internal management activities. Thus, organizations are viewed as situated within bioregionally sustainable industrial ecosystems, relating to each other through a logic of ecological interdependence. Within this context, ecocentric management seeks to minimize the environmental impact of organizational vision, inputs, throughputs, and outputs. Implications of this paradigm for management practice and research are examined.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a model of effective whistle-blowing, from which they derive a set of propositions, based on theory and preliminary research in the area, to provide a research agenda for exploring a question of obvious importance practically as well as theoretically.
Abstract: Whistle-blowing is often assumed to benefit society at large—whether from the view of 60 Minutes or from that of the members of the nearly 40 state legislatures that have passed statutes to protect whistle-blowers. Yet empirical research on conditions that lead whistle-blowers to be effective in getting organizational wrongdoing stopped is woefully absent. Encouraging whistle-blowing is inappropriate unless a person knows something about those variables that increase the likelihood that whistle-blowing will be effective. We present a model of effective whistle-blowing, from which we derive a set of propositions, based on theory and preliminary research in the area. It is hoped that this model will provide a research agenda for exploring a question of obvious importance practically as well as theoretically.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors combine concepts from institutional analysis in modern political economy and from organizational behavior better to understand variation in the business-government interface among major industrialized democracies, and propose a theoretical framework for the types of economic policies that are likely to be adopted in different countries and the tactics and strategies that businesses may use to represen...
Abstract: This article combines concepts from institutional analysis in modern political economy and from organizational behavior better to understand variation in the business-government interface among major industrialized democracies. We contend that differences in business-government relations across countries can be better understood by examining the institutions through which business and government interact with particular attention to formal constraints such as rules that individuals devise and informal constraints—such as culture and norms of behavior. We also submit that attributes of the institutions involved in the interaction of business and government can be better understood by examining how individuals are attracted to, selected by, and choose to remain as members of institutions. From this theoretical framework we have developed some implications for the types of economic policies that are likely to be adopted in different countries and the tactics and strategies that businesses may use to represen...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the historically constituted dimensions of anthropocentrism, tracing the emergence of linear perspective, a camera theory of knowledge, and the human-nature dualism.
Abstract: This article examines the historically constituted dimensions of anthropocentrism, tracing the emergence of linear perspective, a camera theory of knowledge, and the human-nature dualism. These epistemological conventions are socially reproduced in organization science and management practice in their more contemporary anthropocentric forms: a disembodied form of technological knowing conjoined with an egocentric organizational orientation. Following this critique, the paradigmatic differences between anthropocentric and ecocentric approaches for dealing with issues related to the natural environment are discussed in what is referred to respectively as the environmental management and ecocentric responsibility paradigms. Our analysis suggests that corporate environmentalism and so-called “greening-business” approaches are grounded in the environmental management paradigm. It is argued that environmental management approaches are incommensurable with the ecocentric responsibility paradigm. The tensions bet...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors develop a philosophical perspective on the moral obligations of managers, which they call agent morality, by examining the moral implications of agency theory, and show that the principal-agent model of the firm requires that managers fashion business policies with reference first to certain moral duties and second to shareholder wealth.
Abstract: We develop a philosophical perspective on the moral obligations of managers, which we call agent morality, by examining the moral implications of agency theory. Our view is grounded in noninstrumental ethics, which we argue is logically superior to instrumental ethics. We show that the principal-agent model of the firm, once properly considered, requires that managers fashion business policies with reference first to certain moral duties and second to shareholder wealth.
TL;DR: In this article, a new theory was introduced to explain how people cope with job loss, incorporating constructs from coping theory, control theory, and self-efficacy, and future research strategies were suggested regarding coping effectiveness and reciprocal causality.
Abstract: Although the stress of involuntary job loss is well documented, the process through which people cope and ultimately adapt following this stressful event needs clarification. This article provides a crucial next step by introducing new theory to explain how people cope with job loss. The process model developed in this article incorporates constructs from coping theory, control theory, and self-efficacy. Future research strategies are suggested regarding coping effectiveness and reciprocal causality.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed several propositions that suggest a relationship between the two TMT characteristics such as length of service, functional background, formal business education, age, and military service, as well as homogeneity in each of these characteristics, are hypothesized to neutralize or enhance relationships between context and corporate illegal activity.
Abstract: From a review of previous theoretical and empirical research in corporate illegal activity and top management team (TMT) characteristics, we develop several propositions that suggest a relationship between the two TMT characteristics such as length of service, functional background, formal business education, age, and military service, as well as homogeneity in each of these characteristics, are hypothesized to neutralize or enhance relationships between context and corporate illegal activity Implications of the proposed relationships and their limitations are also discussed
TL;DR: Using ecology, systems analysis, and a historical comparison of four communities, the authors concludes that organizing and managing natural resources in part as community property can play a central role in avoiding ecological surprise.
Abstract: Increasingly ecologists have recognized the importance of sudden and unexpected changes in the natural environment—often called “surprises.” Organizational scholars have not developed a theory of how to avoid ecological surprise. This article suggests one way to develop such a theory. Using ecology, systems analysis, and a historical comparison of four communities, the article concludes that organizing and managing natural resources in part as community property can play a central role in avoiding surprises.
TL;DR: In this paper, a number of specific behavioral and contextual codes of formality and informality are discussed, and how these categories of social activity may be related to organizational effectiveness and how behavioral informality may be instrumental in the social construction of innovative, organic work organizations.
Abstract: Modes of social activity in organizations are frequently described using the terms formal and informal. Behavioral and situational informality, in the sense of this article, entails “loose,” spontaneous, more casual social intercourse and comportment. Formality, in contrast, designates “tighter,” more deliberate, impersonal modes of conduct, as well as settings that occasion such conduct. This article outlines a number of specific behavioral and contextual codes of formality and informality and further explores how these categories of social activity may be related to organizational effectiveness. Specifically, the article explores how behavioral informality may be instrumental in the social construction of innovative, organic work organizations and how formality is implicated in the social construction of bureaucratic, impersonal work organizations.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a career mobility model for up-or-out promotions in professional service firms, which represents hiring decisions as investments in options on future human capital acquisitions and promotions as exercise of those options.
Abstract: Contemporary career mobility models do not fully explain up-or-out promotional systems in professional service firms (PSFs). We propose a PSF career mobility model, which represents hiring decisions as investments in options on future human capital acquisitions and promotions as exercise of those options. Promotional outcomes depend mainly on the development of employee's human capital and business conditions at the time of partnership consideration. The model explains seemingly paradoxical firm behavior, such as dismissal of nonpromoted but productive employees.
TL;DR: In this article, a prescriptive model is proposed to guide managers' interventions in disputes between subordinates in organizations, and a set of distinct intervention strategies is identified, and the key factors that generally affect success in intervention are identified.
Abstract: This article proposes a prescriptive model to guide managers' interventions in disputes between subordinates in organizations. Toward this end (a) successful resolution is defined from a prescriptive standpoint, (b) a set of distinct intervention strategies is identified, (c) the key factors that generally affect success in intervention are identified. (d) a set of rules to govern the selection process is generated, and (e) a decision tree to prescribe the appropriate intervention strategy in different dispute situations is developed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors distinguish the views of insiders and outsiders and develop propositions suggesting how interactions between them may evolve, in which the shared objective is an understanding of the issues and better solutions for all concerned.
Abstract: In this article we distinguish the views of insiders and outsiders and develop propositions suggesting how interactions between them may evolve. Two case studies illustrate how these ideas may manifest themselves in practice. By focusing on gaining control of the balance of institutional power instead of exploring alternative perspectives on controversial issues, we continue to create gaps between what insiders do and what outsiders actually want. Resolution of controversial issues requires that insiders and outsiders reorient themselves away from a self-centered, competitive approach in favor of a more cooperative approach in which the shared objective is an understanding of the issues and better solutions for all concerned.
TL;DR: Thomas as mentioned in this paper reviewed the book "What Machines Can't Do: Politics and Technology in the Industrial Enterprise,” by Robert J. Thomas, and found that it is a good book to read.
Abstract: The article reviews the book “What Machines Can't Do: Politics and Technology in the Industrial Enterprise,” by Robert J. Thomas.