Showing papers in "Journal of Management Studies in 2015"

Fluidity, Identity, and Organizationality: The Communicative Constitution of Anonymous

Abstract: This paper examines how fluid social collectives, where membership is latent, contested, or unclear, achieve ‘organizationality’, that is, how they achieve organizational identity and actorhood. Drawing on the “communicative constitution of organizations” perspective, we argue that the organizationality of a social collective is accomplished through ‘identity claims’ – i.e., speech acts that concern what the social collective is or does – and negotiations on whether or not these claims have been made on the collective's behalf. We empirically examine the case of the hacker collective Anonymous and analyse relevant identity claims to investigate two critical episodes in which the organizationality of Anonymous was contested. Our study contributes to organization studies by showing that fluid social collectives are able to temporarily reinstate organizational actorhood through the performance of carefully prepared and staged identity claims.

Exploring Material-Discursive Practices

Abstract: Our intent in this commentary is to support the turn to materiality in organizational research, and contribute to it by considering some differences in our approach from that proposed by Hardy and Thomas. Drawing on agential realism – which theorizes the entanglement of matter and meaning – we explore the relation between discourse and materiality in terms of the ideas of materialization and performativity as enacted in a study of hotel valuation in the hospitality industry. We offer our comments in the spirit of constructive engagement and hope that our discussion along with others in this Point-Counterpoint will generate further explorations.

Dialogic Accountings for Stakeholders: On Opening Up and Closing Down Participatory Governance

Abstract: Interpretivist and critical accounting researchers have long challenged the shareholder focus of conventional accounting, calling for new approaches that promote accountability to stakeholders and participatory governance. One proposal is for dialogic accountings that take pluralism seriously and enable critical reflection on organizational practices from diverse socio-political perspectives. Dialogic accounting aims to counter narrow managerialist framings and address constituencies poorly served by traditional accounting. However, those favouring pluralist approaches face significant challenges in addressing entrenched ideologies and power relations. Rather than trying to address these challenges solely from within accounting, much can be learned from disciplinary fields that demonstrate sustained interest in pluralistic analysis and engagement. Here, we focus on the insights science and technology studies (STS) provides on opening up and closing down participatory governance, understanding knowledge-power dynamics and implications for stakeholder value creation.

The Dark Side of Leadership: Towards a Mid‐Range Theory of Hubris and Greed in Entrepreneurial Contexts

Abstract: Much of the research on entrepreneurial behaviour and leadership has emphasized their importance and potentially valuable outcomes, along with the challenges involved in each. Although entrepreneurial activities are essential in all types of organizations, this research focuses on the potential dark side of strategic leaders. Specifically, we examine the potential for and the outcomes of the display of greed and hubris in different entrepreneurial contexts. We present a theoretical model of moderated mediation, focused on the effects of greedy and hubristic behaviour by entrepreneurial leaders on the firm's human and social capital, and consequently venture success. However, the negative relationship manifests differently in the presence of certain firm-level characteristics. We examine the implications of the dark side of entrepreneurial leadership and recommend several avenues for future research. In so doing, this work contributes to the development of a mid-range theory of the dark side of entrepreneurial leadership.

Who and What Really Counts? Stakeholder Prioritization and Accounting for Social Value

Abstract: Research in stakeholder management has theorized extensively the prioritization of stakeholders as a key dynamic of firms’ value creation, but has paid less attention to the organizational practices involved in the process of deciding ‘who and what really counts.’ We examine changes underpinning managers’ prioritization of stakeholders and focus on how managers’ attention to salient stakeholders is represented and communicated in a firm’s accounting and reporting system. We study the emergence and development of Social Return on Investment (SROI): an accounting methodology intended to permit managers both to incorporate stakeholders’ voices and to communicate the social value created by the firm for those stakeholders. We find that the ability of SROI to account for specific stakeholders, thus categorizing them as salient for the firm, is shaped by managers’ epistemic beliefs and by the organization’s material conditions. Our findings contribute to stakeholder theory by showing that the prioritization of stakeholders is not solely a managerial decision, but instead is dependent on the construction of an appropriate accounting and reporting system, as shaped by managers’ epistemic beliefs and by the organization’s material conditions.

A Socioemotional Wealth Approach to CEO Career Horizons in Family Firms

Abstract: This paper challenges the predominant view that as CEOs near retirement, they forgo risky long-term strategic choices and instead focus on decisions that enhance their own short-term self-interests. Drawing on the socioemotional wealth (SEW) literature, we argue that unlike near-retirement CEOs in widely held firms, near-retirement CEOs in family firms are more concerned about transgenerational control and the legacy that they pass on to future generations. We further contend that the priority of SEW dimensions can change within family firms depending on the CEO's time to retirement. Consequently, near-retirement CEOs in family firms differ from their counterparts in non-family firms in that they are willing to continue to engage in international acquisitions as they approach retirement, despite the potential short-term risks. We further hypothesize that this effect depends on whether the CEO is a family member, whether the CEO is succeeded by another family member, and whether the CEO is the founder. In analysing 3432 family and non-family firm-year observations from the S&P 500 for the period between 1997 and 2009, we find support for our hypotheses. Subsequent analyses indicate that near retirement, family CEOs acquire larger and culturally closer targets than their non-family counterparts. Our paper confirms the need to more fully consider the characteristics of owners and managers in analyses of the CEO career horizon problem.

Political tie heterogeneity and the impact of adverse shocks on firm value

Abstract: Past research has recognized the contingent value of corporate political ties but largely neglects their heterogeneity. Drawing on the political embeddedness perspective and literature on emerging economy political institutions, we develop hypotheses regarding how political networks comprising managerial and government ownership ties may have different valuation effects in the face of adverse political shocks. Examining stock market responses to an unanticipated, high-profile political event in China, we find a negative valuation effect of managerial ties to municipal government, but an insignificant effect of government ownership ties. Further, companies combining managerial and ownership ties experienced less post-shock reduction in market value than those holding only managerial political ties. These findings shed light on the values of different configurations of corporate political ties and inform firms of potential ways to manage ubiquitous political hazards in emerging economies.

CEOs' Leadership Styles and Managers' Innovative Behaviour: Investigation of Intervening Effects in an Entrepreneurial Context

Abstract: We examine the relationships and intervening mechanisms between founding CEOs' transformational/transactional leadership and the innovative behaviour of managers. We develop and test our hypotheses on a sample of 39 participating CEOs and 105 managers with the use of a multilevel structural equation model. The results show that both transformational and transactional leadership on the part of the CEO relate positively to managers' innovative behaviour. We also discover that firm's innovative climate mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and innovative behaviour. However, we fail to find the mediating effect of innovative climate between transactional leadership and innovative behaviour. Our findings contribute to an improved understanding of how founding CEOs' different leadership styles affect employees' innovative behaviour in start-ups and to what extent the innovative climate influences the relationship.

Discourse in a Material World

Abstract: We challenge recent assertions that discourse studies cannot de facto address materiality. We demonstrate how a Foucauldian theorization of discourse provides a way to analyse the co-constitutive nature of discursive and material processes, as well as explore the power relations implicated in these relationships. To illustrate our argument, we identify exemplary studies that have effectively combined a study of discourse and different aspects of materiality – bodies, objects, spaces, and practices. In doing so, we show how discourse scholars are able to study both materiality and power relations

Formal and Informal Corruption Environments and Multinational Enterprise Social Irresponsibility

Abstract: Using an institutional theory framework we theorize, hypothesize, and empirically show that higher levels of formal and informal corruption environments found in a firm's operating portfolio are related to higher levels of corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR). Failing to consider corruption's informal dimension leads to potentially false perceptions about a multinational enterprise's (MNE) operating environment, particularly when the formal dimension is low but the informal corruption dimension is high, as is the case in about one third of our sample. Including the informal corruption environment component provides additional explanatory power over the formal corruption environment alone in predicting CSiR and yields a superior understanding of both the formal and informal dimensions of the corruption institutional environment's influence on corporate social irresponsibility levels of MNEs. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.

Feelings of pride and respect as drivers of ongoing member activity on crowdsourcing platforms

Abstract: Crowdsourcing platforms are online organizations that organize work by sourcing tasks to their members. As participation on crowdsourcing platforms is completely voluntary, getting members to actively participate in tasks on an ongoing basis is essential for the survival of these online platforms. Why members would be active on an ongoing basis, however, is currently not well understood. To understand ongoing member activity on crowdsourcing platforms, we build on the group engagement model, which postulates that feelings of pride and respect influence engagement because they foster identification with the group. We argue that, although in general the nature of crowdsourcing platforms limits the effects of identification processes on member behaviour, feelings of pride and respect will still play central roles in such online organizations, because feelings of pride and respect can directly drive members’ cooperative behaviors towards the platform organization. Moreover, we posit that the way in which platform organizations communicate with their members affects these feelings of pride and respect. We test these ideas in a longitudinal, multisource field study and find that feelings of pride drive ongoing member activity on an online crowdsourcing platform directly and that platform management can increase members’ feelings of pride and respect by engaging in specific organizational communication practices.

Accounting for the influence of overall justice on job performance: : integrating self-determination and social exchange theories

Abstract: Grounded in self-determination and social exchange theories, this study examined two pathways through which overall justice influences job performance. Specifically, we hypothesized need satisfaction as a mediator of the influence of overall justice on intrinsic motivation and trust in organization which, in turn, relate to job performance. Results of structural equation modelling using Mplus revealed that need satisfaction mediated the overall justice–intrinsic motivation relationship as well as the overall justice–trust in organization relationship. We also found that intrinsic motivation mediated the respective influence of need satisfaction and trust in organization on job performance. We interpret our findings as suggesting an integration of need-based theories of motivation into explanations of the performance implications of justice.

Human Capital and CEO Compensation during Institutional Transitions

Abstract: Firms appoint CEOs with different types of human capital in order to manage resource dependencies. How CEOs are compensated thus can be conceptualized as a valuation process of how boards view the value of CEOs' human capital. Two types of human capital � international experience and political ties � have emerged as potential drivers of CEO compensation during institutional transitions. But how they impact CEO compensation has remained unclear. We develop a resource dependence-based, contingency framework to focus on the external and internal factors that enable or constrain human capital to impact CEO compensation. Because of the tremendous regional diversity within China, externally, we focus on the level of marketization of the region in which firms are headquartered. Internally, we pay attention to two corporate governance mechanisms: politically connected outside directors and compensation committee. Data from 10,329 firm-year observations at 94 per cent of listed firms in China largely support our framework. Overall, our study contributes to resource dependence research by extending this research to the context of institutional transitions with a focus on how human capital impacts CEO compensation.

Effects of Industry- and Region-Specific Acquisition Experience on Value Creation in Cross-Border Acquisitions: The Moderating Role of Cultural Similarity

Abstract: Based on a sample of 222 cross-border acquisitions by US firms in the service sector, our study examines the effects of acquiring firms' prior cross-border acquisition experience in the same industry and geographic region as the acquired firm on shareholder value creation. Using the BHAR (buy-and-hold abnormal returns) methodology, we find that higher levels of industry-specific and region-specific acquisition experience translate into greater shareholder value creation for acquiring firms in subsequent acquisitions. In addition, our results indicate that the effects of industry-specific acquisition experience on acquisition performance are contingent on the level of cultural similarity between the acquiring and acquired firm countries, with the benefits of prior experience being greater in acquisitions undertaken in culturally similar countries. We also find that the moderating effects of cultural similarity on the relationship between industry-specific acquisition experience and value creation are contingent on the level of prior region-specific acquisition experience possessed by the acquiring firm.

Unpacking the dialectic: : Alternative views on the discourse–materiality relationship

Abstract: This paper extends the issues raised in this forum by highlighting assumptions and characteristics of the discourse–materiality relationship that appears in five explanatory frameworks, including the Foucauldian approach and the materiality–performativity perspective presented in the previous two papers. It argues for preserving the dialectical relationship between the two by holding the tensions between them in continual interplay. Using a dialectic lens, it overviews how each of the frameworks treats the point of entry, nature of the relationship, and management of these tensions.

Stakeholder Inclusion and Accounting for Stakeholders

Abstract: Stakeholder inclusion in organizational decision-making, and the resulting issue of value creation, is one of the thorny problems that stakeholder theory has sought to address. Yet progress has been slow, we suggest, because present accounting theory and practice does not address the decision-making needs of all stakeholders who are at risk due to the activities of organizations. In this paper we develop a transdisciplinary theory of value-creation stakeholder accounting (VCSA) based on stakeholder risk-sharing as a superior rationale for stakeholder inclusion. We introduce value-creation stakeholder partnerships (VCSPs) as a promising mechanism for the implementation of VCSA. VCSA is derived from a fusion of accounting, value-creation/entrepreneurship, and stakeholder theory, and the VCSP mechanism emerges from distinguishing proprietary-convention (partnership) from entity-convention (corporate) accounting. Using this framing we summarize and situate the articles in this Special Issue on Stakeholder Accounting.

Workplace dignity: : Communicating inherent, earned, and remediated dignity

Abstract: Extant research on dignity at work has revealed conditions that contribute to indignity, employees’ responses to dignity threats, and ways in which employees’ inherent dignity is undermined. But while dignity – and specifically indignity – is theorized as a phenomenon subjectively experienced and judged by individuals, little research has privileged workers’ own perspectives. In this study, working adults reveal how they personally experience and understand meanings of dignity at work. I describe three core components of workplace dignity and the communicative exchanges through which dignity desires commonly are affirmed or denied: inherent dignity as recognized by respectful interaction, earned dignity as recognized by messages of competence and contribution, and remediated dignity as recognized by social interactions and organizational practices that conceal the instrumental and unequal nature of work. Based on theoretical insights drawn from examining the relationships between these components, I argue that workplace dignity is a phenomenon theoretically distinct from human dignity.

Does familiarity foster innovation? The impact of alliance partner repeatedness on breakthrough innovations

Abstract: Does familiarity with alliance partners promote breakthrough innovations? This study draws on the literature of interorganizational routines to examine the impact of repeated R&D collaborations within a firm's alliance portfolio on its breakthrough innovations. Specifically, we contend that the benefits and liabilities of interorganizational routines, arising from alliance partner repeatedness at a firm's alliance portfolio level, lead to an inverted U-shaped relationship between alliance partner repeatedness and breakthrough innovations. Further, we build on the recent theoretical development of interorganizational routines to propose that technological dynamism will make the inverted U-shaped relationship steeper. Analyses of approximately 230 firms in the US biopharmaceutical industry from 1983 to 2002 support our hypotheses. Our findings provide important implications for research on alliance portfolio and management of firm innovation.

Bringing Political Skill into Social Networks: Findings from a Field Study of Entrepreneurs

Abstract: The authors integrate the entrepreneurship literature's sociological and behavioural perspectives and examine the processes through which entrepreneurs first build social networks and then use the network resources for enhancing venture performance. Field interviews of entrepreneurs during a six-month period reveal that political skill is an important individual-level factor that influences the construction and use of social networks. Theoretical and practical implications of the major findings are discussed.

Strategic leadership and leaders in entrepreneurial contexts: A nexus for innovation and impact missed?

Abstract: Research at the nexus of strategic leadership and entrepreneurial contexts has been encouraging, but some of the more innovative and impactful questions remain underexplored The purpose of the Special Issue was to provide a forum for works that build on the constraints, challenges, characteristics, and other salient elements of entrepreneurial settings to advance theory and testing on strategic leadership effects, as well as enrich our understanding of firm behaviour and outcomes in entrepreneurial contexts We first provide an overview and background of the Special Issue We then provide a summary of the process and outcomes, including a synopsis of the accepted manuscripts The discussion finally traces the implications of the Special Issue for future research directions on strategic leadership and leaders in entrepreneurial contexts

Celebrating Organization Theory

Abstract: In this paper, we respond to recent critiques about the state of organization theory that have characterized it as being anachronistic, overly theoretical, or lacking the right kind of theory. We argue that organization theory is extremely vibrant and highlight several areas where there are flourishing and generative developments – institutional logics, categorization, networks, performance feedback, and strategy-as-practice. We also note the growing internationalization of organization theory as exemplified in the shifting demography of the Organization and Management Theory division at the Academy of Management as well as at the European Group on Organization Studies. As engaged organization theory supporters and scholars, we additionally argue for a more balanced appreciation of not only the weaknesses in the field, but also its strengths, and urge a re-engagement in more productive conversations about the important role of theory and theorizing.

Less is More, or Not? On the Interplay between Bundles of Slack Resources, Firm Performance and Firm Survival

Abstract: In this study, we seek to further delineate factors that condition the relationship between slack resources and firm performance. To do so, we develop and test a model that establishes the role of venture capital (VC) and angel investors as powerful external stakeholders who positively moderate the slack-performance relationship. In addition, we provide more insight into this relationship by examining differences between these two types of private investors and by examining the role of their ownership stakes. We test our hypotheses using a sample of 1215 private firms, including VC-backed firms, angel-backed firms, and similar firms without such investors. We find that the presence of VC investors positively moderates the relationship between both financial and human slack resources and firm performance, while angel investors only positively moderate the effect of human resource slack. Further, VC investors are only marginally better at helping entrepreneurs to extract value from human resource slack than angel investors and they are no better when it comes to financial slack. Finally, we find that the impact of financial and human resource slack on firm performance is more positive in VC-backed firms when investors hold high ownership stakes, an effect which is significantly stronger than when angel investors hold high ownership stakes.

How Offshore Professionals' Job Dissatisfaction Can Promote Further Offshoring: Organizational Outcomes of Job Crafting

Abstract: This paper investigates the process that leads from job dissatisfaction to new business opportunities in organizations that offshore R&D activities to emerging countries. Specifically, we investigate a major source of job dissatisfaction for offshore professionals: the misalignment between the work that they perform and their professional identity. Our findings indicate that offshore professionals react against the perception of a threat to work-identity integrity through individual and collective job crafting. A significant outcome of job crafting is the introduction of new markets, industries, and services, which in turn may change a professional's job design. The perceptions of the compatibility of organizational identity with professional identity and with new idea recognition on the one hand, and of distant and local social support on the other, act as intervening conditions in the process. We discuss theoretical contributions to the evolution of offshoring, job crafting, and the interplay between organizational and professional identity, together with managerial implications.

On the Same Side of the Faultline: Inclusion in the Leader's Subgroup and Employee Performance

Abstract: Extending theory on faultlines and subgroups, we argue that faultlines splitting a team into homogeneous subgroups can have different effects on team members' individual performance, depending on different intra-subgroup processes. Specifically, we propose that the effect of faultline strength on individual performance depends on whether a team member's subgroup includes the team leader. Building on the notion of faultline triggers, we further propose that organizational crises exacerbate this interaction because they make social support by the team leader especially important. We tested these assumptions with objective performance data collected over a period of four years from 3263 financial consultants (325 teams) while controlling for the effects of relational demography. Results showed that in teams with strong faultlines, consultants' performance decreased to a lesser extent in crisis years if the consultants shared a subgroup with their team leader. Thus, faultlines had different effects on team members from different subgroups.

Harsh Evaluations of Entrepreneurs Who Fail: The Role of Sexual Orientation, Use of Environmentally Friendly Technologies, and Observers' Perspective Taking

Abstract: Although there is a pervasive anti-failure bias in society, we investigate why some entrepreneurs who fail are evaluated more harshly than others. Building on attribution theory and the literatures on prejudice, pro-social intentions, and perspective taking, we offer an evaluation model of entrepreneurial failure and test this model on 6,784 assessments made by 212 observers. We find that variance in the harshness of failure evaluations depends on both the attributes of the entrepreneur and the attributes of the observer, and the interaction between the two. Specifically, entrepreneurs who are homosexual are evaluated more harshly by some observers and entrepreneurs who use environmentally friendly technology are evaluated less harshly. Moreover, observers high in perspective taking are more �lenient� in their failure evaluations of those who use environmentally friendly technology than those low in perspective taking.

A Temporal Approach to Retrenchment and Successful Turnaround in Declining Firms

Abstract: This study extends current understanding of the retrenchment–turnaround relationship in declining firms by introducing a temporal approach and arguing that the effectiveness of retrenchment as a strategy is contingent on its adoption early in turnaround attempts. Drawing from the two-stage turnaround model and insights from the literature on downward spirals in organizations, we develop and test a theoretical model that explains how temporal considerations in retrenchment influence the likelihood of successful turnaround. Using a matched pair sample of 96 US firms, we find that declining firms that implement retrenchment actions early have a higher likelihood of successful turnaround. The findings also indicate that while two specific retrenchment actions, early divestments and early geographic market exits, significantly contribute to the likelihood of successful turnaround, early layoffs do not. Overall, the findings shed some light on the importance of timing strategic actions in organizational turnarounds. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Celebrating Organization Theory: The After‐Party

Abstract: Organization and management theory as a field faces criticisms from several scholars that it has an unhealthy obsession with ‘theory’, while at the same time seeing very little cumulative theoretical progress. Some have even accused the field of being mired in the 1970s. Lounsbury and Beckman counter with an expansive review of several thriving domains of contemporary organizational research that demonstrate the theoretical vibrancy of the field. This article responds by seeking to define ‘theoretical progress’ in ways that extend beyond just the volume of articles produced. It finds that 1970s-era classics have seen a surge of citations since the turn of the twenty-first century, consistent with a view of limited progress. It concludes by outlining three areas of problem-driven research eminently worthy of attention from organizational researchers.

Organizational Identification during a Merger: The Role of Self‐Enhancement and Uncertainty Reduction Motives during a Major Organizational Change

Abstract: Past research focuses predominantly on self-enhancement as a motive underlying organizational identification even though there have been several calls for examining multiple motives of identification. Our research explores the interplay of the self-enhancement and the uncertainty reduction motives in shaping identification during a major organizational change: a merger of a business unit with its parent corporation. Based on analysis of survey responses collected from 751 employees of the merging business unit, we find that the self-enhancement motive, measured via attractiveness of perceived organizational identity and perceived external prestige, continues to influence identification during this merger. However, its effects are diminished when considering the effect of the uncertainty reduction motive. In particular, in addition to affecting identification directly, this latter motive, measured via agreement with projected identity of the business unit and identification with a distal target (i.e., the parent corporation), decreases the effect of perceived external prestige on business unit identification. Our research answers longstanding calls for understanding organizational identification motives beyond self-enhancement, and shows how multiple identification motives work during a major organizational change: a time when identification is strongly needed, yet hard to garner.

Why and How Do Employees Break and Bend Confidential Information Protection Rules

Abstract: Organizations cannot function effectively if their employees do not follow organizational rules and policies. In this paper, we explore why and how employees in two high-tech organizations often broke or bent rules designed to protect their employers' confidential information (CI). The CI protection rules sometimes imposed requirements that disrupted employees' work, forcing employees to choose between CI rule compliance and doing their work effectively and efficiently. Employees in these situations often broke the rules or bent them in ways that enabled employees to meet some of the rules' requirements, while also satisfying other expectations that they faced. We discuss implications of our findings for practice and for future organizational scholarship on rule following.

Configurations of Capacity for Change in Entrepreneurial Threshold Firms: Imprinting and Strategic Choice Perspectives

Abstract: Imprinting theory suggests that founding conditions are ‘stamped’ on organizations, and these imprinted routines often resist change. In contrast, strategic choice theory suggests that the firm can overcome organizational inertia and deliberately choose its future. Both theories offer dramatically different explanations behind an organization's capacity for change. IPO firms provide a unique context for exploring how imprinting forces interact with strategic choice factors to address organizational capacity for change as a firm moves from private to public firm status. Juxtaposing imprinting and strategic choice perspectives, we employ fuzzy set analysis to examine the multi-level determinants of organizational capacity for change. Our cross-national data reveal three effective configurations of organizational capacity for change within IPOs, and two ineffective configurations. Our results suggest that the antecedents of organizational capacity for change in entrepreneurial threshold firms are non-linear, interdependent, and equifinal.