Showing papers in "Academy of Management Review in 2012"
TL;DR: It is argued that under certain circumstances crowdsourcing transforms distant search into local search, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of problem solving.
Abstract: We argue that under certain circumstances crowdsourcing transforms distant search into local search, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of problem solving. Under such circumstances a firm may choose to crowdsource problem solving rather than solve the problem internally or contract it to a designated supplier. These circumstances depend on the characteristics of the problem, the knowledge required for the solution, the crowd, and the solutions to be evaluated.
999 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw on research on compassion and prosocial motivation to build a model of three mechanisms (integrative thinking, prosocial cost-benefit analysis, and commitment to alleviating others' suffering) that transform compassion into social entrepreneurship.
Abstract: Social entrepreneurship has emerged as a complex yet promising organizational form in which market-based methods are used to address seemingly intractable social issues, but its motivations remain undertheorized. Research asserts that compassion may supplement traditional self-oriented motivations in encouraging social entrepreneurship. We draw on research on compassion and prosocial motivation to build a model of three mechanisms (integrative thinking, prosocial cost-benefit analysis, and commitment to alleviating others' suffering) that transform compassion into social entrepreneurship, and we identify the institutional conditions under which they are most likely to do so. We conclude by discussing the model's contribution to and implications for the positive organizational scholarship literature, entrepreneurship literature, and social entrepreneurship literature.
767 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the impact of the 2010 AMR Decade Award article on the entrepreneurship field over the past ten years, identifying aspects of "The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research" that have been largely accepted by the field, those that the field has challenged, and those that were found to be unclear.
Abstract: I examine the impact of the 2010 AMR Decade Award article on the entrepreneurship field over the past ten years, identifying aspects of “The Promise of Entrepreneurship As a Field of Research” that have been largely accepted by the field, those that the field has challenged, and those that the field has found to be unclear. I also correct errors made in the earlier work and discuss how the field of entrepreneurship has evolved in response to the publication of the original article.
605 citations
TL;DR: The theory of purposeful work behavior as mentioned in this paper integrates higher-order implicit goals with principles derived from the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality and the expanded job characteristics model to explain how traits and job characteristics jointly and interactively influence work outcomes.
Abstract: The theory of purposeful work behavior integrates higher-order implicit goals with principles derived from the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality and the expanded job characteristics model to explain how traits and job characteristics jointly and interactively influence work outcomes. The core principle of the theory is that personality traits initiate purposeful goal strivings, and when the motivational forces associated with job characteristics act in concert with these purposeful motivational strivings, individuals experience the psychological state of experienced meaningfulness. In turn, experienced meaningfulness triggers task-specific motivation processes that influence the attainment of work outcomes. We describe testable propositions derived from the theory and discuss directions for future research.
559 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify three boundary conditions that limit the applicability of this logic and then offer a more comprehensive framework of human capital-based advantage that explores both demand-and supply-side mobility constraints.
Abstract: The strategy literature often emphasizes firm-specific human capital as a source of competitive advantage based on the assumption that it constrains employee mobility. We first identify three boundary conditions that limit the applicability of this logic. We then offer a more comprehensive framework of human capital–based advantage that explores both demand- and supply-side mobility constraints. The critical insight is that these mobility constraints have more explanatory power than the firm specificity of human capital.
554 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors develop a theoretical perspective that explicitly focuses on irresponsibility and that particularly helps explain attributions of social irresponsity in the minds of the firm's observers.
Abstract: Notwithstanding the significance to organizations of external reactions to bad behavior, the corporate social responsibility literature tends to focus on the meaning of and expectations for responsible behavior, rather than on the meaning of irresponsible behavior. Here we develop a theoretical perspective that explicitly focuses on irresponsibility and that particularly helps explain attributions of social irresponsibility in the minds of the firm's observers. In contrast to approaches in the corporate social responsibility literature that tend to deemphasize the role of the individual perceiver of firm behavior in favor of emphasizing such broader social structures as value systems, institutions, and stakeholder relations, our focus is on how the social reality of external expectations for social responsibility is rooted in the perceptions of the beholder. We draw on attribution theory to describe how attributions of irresponsibility stem from the observer's subjective assessments of effect undesirabili...
454 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors refine the definition of stewardship and propose a model of antecedents, and discuss the structural and psychological factors that influence stewardship behaviors through psychological ownership and how these factors collectively create feedback loop processes to systematically shift organizational governance from agency toward stewardship.
Abstract: In this article I pursue two objectives. First, I refine the definition of stewardship by exploring the underlying assumptions of stewardship theory and examining the conceptual distinctiveness of the stewardship construct. Second, I propose a model of stewardship antecedents. In so doing, I discuss the structural and psychological factors that influence stewardship behaviors through psychological ownership and the ways in which stewardship behaviors can collectively create feedback loop processes to systematically shift organizational governance from agency toward stewardship.
418 citations
TL;DR: The authors recast entrepreneurship as a science of the artificial in three ways: understanding opportunities as made as well as found, moving beyond new combinations to transformations, and developing a new nexus around actions and interactions.
Abstract: In this article we speak of roads taken and paths yet to be traversed Over the past decade, entrepreneurship researchers have accumulated considerable work related to opportunities Here we outline new possibilities opened up by that work and seek to recast entrepreneurship as a science of the artificial in three ways: understanding opportunities as made as well as found, moving beyond new combinations to transformations, and developing a new nexus around actions and interactions
378 citations
TL;DR: This work uses literature on teams to create a conceptual framework for differentiating teams that relies on a dimensional scaling approach with three underlying constructs: skill differentiation, authority differentiation, and temporal stability.
Abstract: Research on teams has prompted the development of many alternative taxonomies but little consensus on how to differentiate team types. We show that there is greater consensus on the underlying dimensions differentiating teams than there is on how to use those dimensions to generate categorical team types. We leverage this literature to create a conceptual framework for differentiating teams that relies on a dimensional scaling approach with three underlying constructs: skill differentiation, authority differentiation, and temporal stability.
361 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a continuum of psychological bonds and reconceptualize commitment as a particular type of bond reflecting volitional dedication and responsibility for a target, and present a process model applicable to any workplace target to bring clarity, consistency, and synergy to the research and management of workplace commitments.
Abstract: To better understand the workplace commitments experienced by organizational members, we reconceptualize commitment to highlight its distinctiveness and improve its applicability across all workplace targets. We present a continuum of psychological bonds and reconceptualize commitment as a particular type of bond reflecting volitional dedication and responsibility for a target. We then present a process model applicable to any workplace target to bring clarity, consistency, and synergy to the research and management of workplace commitments.
345 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue for the importance of including analyses of emotional and unconscious processes in the study of institutional work and develop a framework that integrates emotions and their connection to domination, and offer a typology of interactions between the emotional and cognitive antecedents of institutional maintenance, disruption, and creation.
Abstract: We argue for the importance of including analyses of emotional and unconscious processes in the study of institutional work. We develop a framework that integrates emotions and their connection to domination, and we offer a typology of interactions between the emotional and cognitive antecedents of institutional maintenance, disruption, and creation. We conclude by discussing the implications of paying closer attention to emotions for future institutional research, including questions regarding reproduction versus change, intentionality, and rationality.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the overall value of cross-sector partnerships is not merely in connecting interested parties but, rather, in their ability to act, to substantially influence the people and issues within their problem domain.
Abstract: Cross-sector partnerships (XSPs) are an important part of today's organizational landscape and a favored strategy for addressing complex social problems. However, a discrepancy exists between the popularity and prevalence of XSPs and evidence of their ability to produce value with respect to the problems they address. We therefore offer a framework for increasing and assessing XSP value based on an alternative conception of organizational constitution rooted in communication theory. Our central argument is that the overall value of XSPs is not merely in connecting interested parties but, rather, in their ability to act—to substantially influence the people and issues within their problem domain. This ability, we argue, comes from the constitution of organizational forms that are distinct from their members and that display collective agency—the capacity to influence a host of relevant outcomes beyond what individual organizations could do on their own. Our primary contributions are developing a framework ...
TL;DR: In this paper, a theory composed of a typology of subgroups and a depiction of the formation, processes, and outcomes associated with subgroups is presented. And the key insight from this theory is that subgroups are characterized by three underlying factors: identity, resources, and knowledge.
Abstract: Although subgroups are a widely studied component of work teams, much of the literature on subgroups has remained loosely connected and key questions remain unanswered. We integrate research on faultlines, diversity, and intergroup processes to develop a theory composed of a typology of subgroups and a depiction of the formation, processes, and outcomes associated with subgroups. The key insight from our theory is that subgroups are characterized by three underlying factors: identity, resources, and knowledge.
TL;DR: In this article, a model that explains how depleted task, social, and knowledge characteristics of jobs trigger compensatory motives during initial volunteering episodes is presented. And when these motives are fulfilled by volunteering projects, employees repeat participation, internalizing volunteer identities.
Abstract: Corporate volunteering programs are important channels for expressing care and compassion, but little research has examined when and why employees sustain involvement. Integrating work design and volunteering theories, I introduce a model that explains how depleted task, social, and knowledge characteristics of jobs trigger compensatory motives during initial volunteering episodes. When these motives are fulfilled by volunteering projects, employees repeat participation, internalizing volunteer identities—contingent on pressure, matching incentives, recognition, managerial support, and targeted causes.
TL;DR: The authors identify the value creation and capture mechanisms embedded in these ties through a theoretical framework of two conceptual public-private structural alternatives, each associated with different value-creating capacities, rationales, and outcomes.
Abstract: Intersecting the boundaries of public and private economic activity, public-private ties carry important organizational strategy, management, and policy implications. We identify the value creation and capture mechanisms embedded in these ties through a theoretical framework of two conceptual public-private structural alternatives, each associated with different value-creating capacities, rationales, and outcomes. Two important restraints on private value capture—public partner opportunism and external stakeholder activism—arise asymmetrically under each form, carrying a critical effect on partnership outcomes.
TL;DR: The AMR Special Topic Forum on Understanding and Creating Caring and Compassionate Organizations as mentioned in this paper ) is a forum dedicated to understanding and creating caring and compassionate organizations, with a focus on compassion and care.
Abstract: In this article we introduce AMR's Special Topic Forum on Understanding and Creating Caring and Compassionate Organizations. We outline why the time is right for such a forum, uncover scholarly and philosophical roots of a focus on compassion and care, and provide a brief introduction to the diverse and rich set of articles contained in this forum. We describe the innovative theorizing uncovered by the special issue articles and summarize the rich set of possibilities they suggest for the practice of organizing.
TL;DR: The glass slipper metaphor is used in this article to capture occupational identity by association as it yields systematic forms of advantage and disadvantage, and the metaphor elucidates how occupations come to appear “naturally” possessed of features that fit certain people yet are improbable for others.
Abstract: Management scholars have long separated the study of work and diversity, assuming that the nature of work itself is not affected by race or gender. Research on occupational segregation invalidates this assumption, confirming that we judge the nature of work in large part by the social identities aligned with it. Management theorists have yet to digest this evidence because of a unilateral view of the work-practitioner relation (i.e., people derive identity from work), which conceals a reciprocal relation (i.e., work derives identity from associated people). I build a bilateral view that accommodates available evidence by theorizing a new glass metaphor—the glass slipper—to capture occupational identity by association as it yields systematic forms of advantage and disadvantage. The metaphor elucidates how occupations come to appear “naturally” possessed of features that fit certain people yet are improbable for others. This article thus contributes to management knowledge by redefining the current division...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conceptualize envy as pain at another's good fortune and examine how envy affects interpersonal behaviors and job performance, contingent on core self-evaluation, referent cognitions, and perceived organizational support.
Abstract: Although envy has been characterized by resentment, hostility, and ill will, researchers have begun to investigate envy's benign manifestations. We contend that the substance of envy has been confounded with its consequences. We conceptualize envy as pain at another's good fortune. This reconceptualization allows envy to result in both positive and negative consequences. We then examine how envy affects interpersonal behaviors and job performance, contingent on core self-evaluation, referent cognitions, and perceived organizational support.
TL;DR: The authors describe a hybrid relational bureaucratic form with structures that embed three processes of reciprocal interrelating (relational coproduction, relational coordination, and relational leadership) into the roles of customers, workers, and managers.
Abstract: We describe a hybrid relational bureaucratic form with structures that embed three processes of reciprocal interrelating—relational coproduction, relational coordination, and relational leadership—into the roles of customers, workers, and managers. We show how these role-based relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect foster participants' attentiveness to the situation and to one another, enabling the caring, timely, and knowledgeable responses found in the relational form, along with the scalability, replicability, and sustainability found in the bureaucratic form. Through these role-based relationships, relational bureaucracy promotes universalistic norms of caring for particular others.
TL;DR: In this paper, a theory of intergroup leadership is proposed, grounded in research on social identity and intergroup relations, which proposes that effective intergroup performance rests on the leader's ability to construct an intergroup relational identity.
Abstract: Intergroup leadership-leadership of collaborative performance of different organizational groups or organizations-is associated with unique intergroup challenges that are not addressed by traditional leadership theories. To address this lacuna, we describe a theory of intergroup leadership. Firmly grounded in research on social identity and intergroup relations, the theory proposes that effective intergroup performance rests on the leader's ability to construct an intergroup relational identity. We describe key leadership actions to establish such an identity.
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of human resource management in minimizing the effects of information overload for stars is highlighted, and several avenues for future research are discussed, such as minimizing the effect of star employees' robust social capital on information overload.
Abstract: Because star employees are more visible and productive, they are likely to be sought out by others and develop an information advantage through their abundant social capital. However, not all of the information effects of stardom are beneficial. We theorize that stars' robust social capital may produce an unintended side effect of information overload. We highlight the role of human resource management in minimizing the effects of information overload for stars, and we discuss avenues for future research.
TL;DR: This article developed a novel analytical framework to study epistemic interdependence between agents and the resulting need for predictive knowledge as a basis for understanding information processing requirements in organizations and the implications for organization design.
Abstract: We develop a novel analytical framework to study epistemic interdependence between agents and the resulting need for predictive knowledge as a basis for understanding information processing requirements in organizations and the implications for organization design. These two new constructs help to sharply distinguish interdependence between tasks and between agents and highlight why even interdependence between agents need not imply any need for information processing between them. They also help to refine key ideas about organization design.
TL;DR: The notion of an ethic of care provides a powerful alternative to justice as a central orienting value for the development of moral theory, but it has been largely overlooked in the literature on care in organizations as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The feminist notion of an ethic of care provides a powerful alternative to justice as a central orienting value for the development of moral theory, but it has been largely overlooked in the literature on care in organizations. We explore how an ethic of care could be enacted in organizations, arguing that it would involve narrative practices embedded in enduring relationships, such as work teams. We articulate three domains of discursive practice—how members construct their experiences, how they construct their struggles, and how they construct future-oriented stories—and from them identify three specific caring narrative practices: constructing histories of sparkling moments, contextualizing struggles, and constructing polyphonic future-oriented stories. We argue that, together, these practices foster an ontology of possibility—a belief system that emphasizes the socially constructed nature of both past and present and, thus, facilitates action and an appreciation of its limits. We conclude by consideri...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce a multilevel model of workplace forgiveness and present forgiveness climate as an organizational-level phenomenon that explains when and why employees respond to conflict prosocially.
Abstract: We introduce a multilevel model of workplace forgiveness and present forgiveness climate as an organizational-level phenomenon that explains when and why employees respond to conflict prosocially. We begin with an examination of the core cultural values that allow forgiveness climates to emerge, including restorative justice, compassion, and temperance. We then explore how the organizational environment, organizational practices, and leader attributes produce these core cultural values and facilitate forgiveness climate emergence. Drawing from a sensemaking perspective, we subsequently examine the cross-level impact of forgiveness climate on individual employees, as well as the boundary conditions of these effects. We conclude with a discussion of our model's contributions and implications for future theory building and empirical research.
TL;DR: The model presented in this article specifies boundaries on performance feedback theory's critical prediction that low performance induces increased search, change, and risk taking, and it suggests one reason why decision makers sometimes fail to learn from their mistakes.
Abstract: The theory of performance feedback views decision makers as problem solvers seeking to improve performance. By specifying how and when decision makers may instead seek to enhance their self-image by assessing performance as satisfactory, the model presented in this article specifies boundaries on performance feedback theory's critical prediction that low performance induces increased search, change, and risk taking, and it suggests one reason why decision makers sometimes fail to learn from their mistakes.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify conditions and mechanisms that make a resource valuable to a firm ex ante, that is, before a decision on acquiring or building it is made, and explain why firms initially differ in how much value they attribute to a resource and, subsequently, why firms differ in their resource endowments.
Abstract: We fill a gap in the resource-based literature by identifying conditions and mechanisms that make a resource valuable to a firm ex ante-that is, before a decision on acquiring or building it is made. These conditions are (1) the firm's ex ante market position; (2) its ex ante resource base, which allows for complementarities; (3) its position in interorganizational networks, which gives it access to privileged information; and (4) the prior knowledge and experience of its managers, which allow superior judgment concerning the value-creating potential of the resource. These factors help explain why firms initially differ in how much value they attribute to a resource and, subsequently, why firms differ in their resource endowments. Our results also contribute to resource management theories by highlighting the role of managerial judgment in acquiring and accumulating resources and, thus, shaping firms' paths toward superior competitive positions. Furthermore, identifying firms' market positions and managerial judgment about demand-side value creation opportunities as resource value drivers highlights the importance of demand-side factors to strategic outcomes. We also discuss how our findings may open avenues for further studies and provide a basis for empirical tests of the resource-based view of strategic management.
TL;DR: The authors argue that there is unaccounted for variability in the nature of a caregiver's client interactions such that some are actually restorative rather than depleting, and outline the foundations of such variability through simultaneous consideration of the extent to which a given interaction is depleting of regulatory resources and generative of three particular resources shown to compensate for the effects of ego depletion.
Abstract: Research on burnout has considered client interactions solely as depleting, with work recovery possible only while employees are off the job. Drawing on an episodic perspective of work, I argue that there is unaccounted for variability in the nature of a caregiver's client interactions such that some are actually restorative rather than depleting. I outline the foundations of such variability through simultaneous consideration of the extent to which a given interaction is (1) depleting of regulatory resources and (2) generative of three particular resources shown to compensate for the effects of ego depletion. Beyond the depleting interactions that have been the focus of research to date, the resulting typology reveals two restorative interaction types (replenishing and breakthrough) that I theorize positively shape compassionate care provision in both the short and long term. Replenishing interactions primarily serve as a regulatory break with momentary effects on caregivers' subsequent ability to self-r...
TL;DR: The authors introduce the construct of alternative self-redefining counterfactuals that are part of the self-concept, which adds the parallel time line of what could have been to the temporal framework underlying theories of self.
Abstract: This article introduces the construct of alternative selves—self-redefining counterfactuals that are part of the self-concept. This construct adds the parallel time line of what could have been to the temporal framework underlying theories of the self. I discuss how alternative selves develop and how they influence people's professional lives, and I outline the implications of this construct for research on the self-concept, life stories, and counterfactual thinking.
TL;DR: This article presented a minority influence framework that specifies how norms can shift in response to a challenger's consistent modeling, advocating, or inquiring about helping behavior, contingent on prosocial impact, status, similarity, work unit agreeableness and openness, and timing.
Abstract: Although helping behaviors can increase the effectiveness of work units, when task interdependence is low, units often develop norms of self-interest that inhibit helping. Little research has explained how these norms can be changed by a work unit member. We present a minority influence framework that specifies how norms can shift in response to a challenger's consistent modeling, advocating, or inquiring about helping behavior, contingent on prosocial impact, status, similarity, work unit agreeableness and openness, and timing. We also examine how normative conflict motivates efforts to initiate and sustain challenges, depending on identification, status, and small wins. Our model provides a novel theoretical account of how helping norms emerge in work units to support caring and compassion.
TL;DR: In this paper, a model of emergent organizational capacity for compassion is proposed, based on a framework from complexity science, which describes how the system conditions of agent diversity, interdependent roles, and social interactions enhance the likelihood of self-organizing around an individual response to a pain trigger.
Abstract: Our model of emergent organizational capacity for compassion proposes that organizations can develop the capacity for compassion without formal direction. Relying on a framework from complexity science, we describe how the system conditions of agent diversity, interdependent roles, and social interactions enhance the likelihood of self-organizing around an individual response to a pain trigger. When agents then modify their roles to incorporate compassionate responding, their interactions amplify responses, changing the system, and a new order emerges: organizational capacity for compassion. In this new order the organization's structure, culture, routines, and scanning mechanisms incorporate compassionate responding and can influence future responses to pain triggers.