Unlocking the careers of business professionals following job loss: sensemaking and career exploration of older workers

While acknowledging the well established negative aspects of job loss, we present an alternative perspective by exploring the potentially positive outcomes of losing one's job. Drawing on an in depth analysis of qualitative data gathered from thirty interviews with older middle managers in Canada, we explore the mechanisms through which job loss is experienced as a “blessing in disguise”. We consider how individuals make sense of their experience of job loss and how they use career exploration in their framing of job loss and as an opportunity for self‐fulfillment. Copyright © 2007 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Moving (Euro American) consumers in mysterious ways with African-American social dance in commercials

Dance is an integral part of culture, as is consumption. However, there is a paucity of published research regarding the effect of dance on consumption. In particular, studies on how black social dance in commercials depicts culturally defining racial tensions and stereotypes, and its effect on Euro American consumption are scant. Consequently, qualitative research was employed to survey and interview a small group of Euro American respondents. A Diet Pepsi commercial served as the research text. A consuming value system reinforced the association of the dance with consumption of individual identity as cool; fractured conformity away from the defining macro social structure; and provided for resistive self and community identities. Three contributions result from the research. First, an alternative way of seeking knowledge through dance theory demonstrated dance's value for consumer's lives. Second, Holt's 2004 work was built upon. The dance demonstrated cultural myth recreation in a “macro dance” performed in the “micro dance” of everyday life. Third, ethnographic dance premises were extended and served as the research framework.     

How Affirmational versus Negational Identification Frames Influence Uniqueness‐Seeking Behavior

This research tested the proposition that consumers presenting under a negational identification frame are more likely to choose unique products than when they present themselves affirmationally. Study 1 demonstrated this main effect in a real‐choice setting. Study 2 underlined temporary accessibilities to one's desired (undesired) identities when an affirmational (negational) identification frame is adopted. Study 3 further demonstrated that identity valence interacts with identification frames in driving uniqueness‐seeking tendency. Additionally, this effect was found to be mediated by self‐other distinction in Study 4. The research implications for both the “what” and the “how” aspects of identity‐driven consumption are discussed.     

How Owners Matter? An Examination of Ownership Type in Corporate Disaster Relief Giving

Little research has investigated the effect of ownership identity (or type) and corporate philanthropy experience on giving. In this research, relying on legitimacy theory, we first assess the effect of ownership identity on corporate philanthropy (CP) in the context of the 2008 earthquake in China. Then we explore moderation effects of firms' prior CP experience and size as proxies for perceived legitimacy on owners' efforts at increasing giving and legitimacy. We find that state and CEO ownership are deterrents, while non‐SOE and institutional ownership enhances giving probability and amount. In addition, there is evidence that firm size and prior CP weaken the effects of institutional ownership on CP. This study provides a complete assessment of owner behaviour. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Duelling Discourses at Work: Upsetting the Gender Order

Findings of an extensive archival study of Pan American Airways (PAA) strongly support Acker's (1990) notion of the presence and importance of a dominant discourse of organizing logic in structuring a gendered order. Findings also demonstrate that the presence of alternative, but not necessarily feminist, discourses can serve to upset the gender order of organizations. Thus, we conclude that changing the organization's gender substructure (Acker, 1992b) by changing the dominant discourse or introducing competing discourses may help to destabilize “truths” and interrupt the perpetuation and reification of policies, practices, and understandings that are often taken for granted despite their ability to silence voices and privilege some groups over others. Copyright © 2011 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organizing a precarious black box: An actor‐network account of the Atlantic Schools of Business, 1980–2006

There is a growing use of actor‐network theory (ANT) throughout management and organization studies. While earlier ANT research used ethnography to “follow the actors” in the production of organization/knowledge, more recent studies use archival sources to examine developments over time. We extend the latter approach using qualitative social network analysis (SNA) and apply this to a case study of the Atlantic Schools of Business (ASB). Our contribution is two‐fold: first, through an examination of actors in the ASB networking processes over 26 years, we demonstrate how the seemingly stable surface of an organization can hide the precariousness of organizing; second, we reveal the potential fusion of ANT with SNA as a method for dealing with large qualitative datasets over long periods of time. Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Internal Cohesion in Response to Institutional Plurality: The Administrative Sciences Association of Canada

Addressing the underdeveloped area of the interrelationships between institutional logics, organizational legitimacy, and organizational identity, we undertake a critical hermeneutic analysis of the archives of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) and the context in which the association exists. Through our analysis we show how ASAC's response to the conflicting institutional logics of Canadianism and business schools has been one of internal cohesion, with continuous attempts to create collaborative synergies between the logics, rather than succumbing to internal conflict and fragmentation. Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

International Executives,Identity Strategies and Mobility in France and China

The strategies of multinational firms increasingly rely in Asia Pacific Region on processes of socialising their employees, who are seeking to develop and reinforce a “global” company culture, without endangering the cultures of local subsidiaries. Specialists have coined the term “cross-cultural management”. A role of “company ambassador” is allocated to a new generation of international executives in Asia whose mission will be to play an effective role as interface between head office its the subsidiaries – and between the subsidiaries themselves – once they have been suitably “impregnated” with the company culture and the particular features of different markets.

The repeated experience of international mobility that executives live through means that the individual may well be living in conflict with previous identities. It is true to say that nobody stays long in an internationally mobile situation without running the risk of there being strong divergence between the domestic and residential worlds, the life of the community and the world of the company. This article has been written as a result of in-depth research into the way executives of a large French oil company built up their identities and as a result of a study examines intercultural learning based on French expatriates' experience in China. We consider how French expatriates experience China and what imaginary underlies their perception. Analysis of daily socialization and interaction processes shows intercultural competence develops along distinct immersion stages: immersion–adjustment, immersion–comprehension, and immersion–integration. Individually, adjustment and comprehension support intercultural practice. The ultimate immersion stage leads to enlightened pragmatism stemming from “nomadic intelligence”. Where a researcher in the social sciences or a business man might have expected to have found an homogenous international elite, international executives building an “international system”, the heterogeneous nature of the identity strategies of international executives give the lie to the myth of the large company as a space for the irreversible assimilation of its members. At an individual level, being an international executive is a unique way of living the experience abroad, or rather, several different ways of experiencing identity strategies linked to the manipulation of one's ethnicity in a context of significant geographical and functional mobility.     

The impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on the expansion of China's higher education in overseas markets along the route

Due to the differences in economic and social conditions among the Belt‐and‐Road (B&R) countries, resources exchange might bring significant effect on companies and organizations in these countries. In recent years, vigorously developing university education and attracting more outstanding international students have become important means for “B&R” countries to expand education market and enhance international influence. However, there is limited research discussing the impact of “B&R” on the internationalization of higher education. Taking the sponsoring country (China) of the “B&R” strategy as an example, this article explores the impact of this strategy on Chinese universities' expansion in the education market, and further analyzes the important relevant factors from the perspectives of international competitiveness. The findings show that the B&R Initiative has a significant impact on the expansion of Chinese universities in overseas markets along the route. Furthermore, we have found “push” factors related to China's macro and micro environments, and “pull” factors associated with countries along the B&R route.     

Rhetorical profiling: Modes of meaning generation in organizational topoi

Accounting for homogenous action in seemingly apparent heterogeneous organizations is a research question that persists across prominent organizational studies literatures, and which have become more persistent and pertinent as organizations have become more global and diverse. To address how differing forms of relatively homogeneous solutions to practical problems arise from otherwise heterogeneous organizations, we develop a rhetorical framework that depicts the role of topoi, often understood as a theme or motif or literary convention, in an organization's rhetorical activity and facilitates the profiling of organizations according to how members use topoi as modes of meaning creation. We assert 10 propositions reflecting how members invent and legitimize functional meaning and demonstrate how such meaning can direct the organization toward different discursive paths. Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Privacy in Doubt: An Empirical Investigation of Canadians' Knowledge of Corporate Data Collection and Usage Practices

We investigate Canadians' level of awareness of the ways in which businesses collect and use their data via existing and emerging technologies, including facial and voice recognition, mobile location tracking and the Internet of Things. In a survey of 1,005 Canadians, we found that many respondents are ill informed about how their data are being collected and used. Such low awareness of data practices is partially explained by the shortcomings of the “privacy notice.” We suggest further research into alternative methods of informing Canadians about corporate data practices and of enhancing individuals' control of private data in today's increasingly connected and mobile world. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social media integration in electronic human resource management: Development of a social eHRM framework

Social media has dramatically changed how we communicate both in life and in business. Accordingly, I conducted a qualitative analysis of electronic Human Resource Management (eHRM) practices involving social media. The sample consists of 16 organizations varying in size (e.g., Fortune 500 vs. small enterprises), industry (e.g., product vs. service‐based) and sector (public vs. private). Based on the review, I developed a Social Participation Framework involving two dimensions—openness and stratification— that are reflective of variations in the user domains associated with a given application. The combination of these dimensions yielded four alternative models of social media eHRM implementations: open, internal, specialized, and segmented. These in turn tended to be associated with different types of eHRM goals. A best practice example of each model is provided, and opportunities for future research are identified. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Role of Implicit Theories in Evaluations of “Plus-Size” Advertising

In this research, we examine plus-size female consumers' reactions to the use of plus-size female models in advertising. We demonstrate that not only objective body size but also implicit beliefs about the malleability of one's size affect attitudes toward a product advertised by a plus-size model. Further, we find that this interactive effect is mediated by perceived similarity to the model, and appears only when the plus-size model is used to advertise a body-relevant product. These findings contribute to the burgeoning study of larger-sized female models in advertising and suggest that “plus-size” is not a one-size-fits-all label.     

Brand‐building in the 1990s

This paper argues that now is the time to consider how one should seek to apply marketing principles and practice in an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing environment. In essence, the thesis is that as it becomes increasingly difficult to sustain an objective comparative advantage over one's competitors so it will become increasingly important to position organizations as “brands” in the minds of actual and potential customers.     

The sociology of knowledge: Toward an existential view of business ethics

Business ethics is the study of ethics as it applies to a particular sphere of human activity. As such, business ethics presupposes a difference between an individual's experience within a business organization and his or her experience outside the organization. But how do we examine this difference? How do we discuss an individual's experience of “everyday reality”? What processes create and sustain this reality, and how does one's version of “reality” affect what is, and what is not, ethical? This paper outlines an approach to these questions based on theory from the sociology of knowledge, an approach which makes some progress towards making business ethics more existential. The sociology of knowledge, and particularly the social constructionist perspective, is concerned with how an institution creates “knowledge” and how this “knowledge” affects the cognitive processes of the individuals who make up the institution. The dialectic nature of the interdependent processes which shape both the individual and the organization are important in understanding how business ethics, as one kind of social knowledge, are enacted. Examining these processes leads to several interesting hypotheses about the nature of both the study and practice of business ethics. XXX“Only individuals have a sense of responsibility.” — Friedrich Nietzsche     

A Group Identity Analysis of Organizations and Their Stakeholders: Porosity of Identity and Mobility of Attributes

I propose an ethnographic study on the incremental transformation of identity. Through an analysis of managerial perceptions of stakeholder influence, I suggest that identity is adaptive rather than enduring and that, to explain adaptive identity, group identity is more appropriate than an organizational identity perspective. The case study uses qualitative data collected in organizations manufacturing flavors and fragrances for the large consumer goods industries. The analysis reveals that attributes shared with clannish stakeholders gradually replace attributes of a claimed identity, and that, when confronting hostile stakeholders, organizations act in solidarity with clannish stakeholders. The discussion elaborates on the porosity of identity boundaries and the mobility of attributes, two important mechanisms that have emotional, behavioral, and strategic consequences.     

Gay Consumers and Brand Usage: The Gender‐Flexing Role of Gay Identity

Prior research suggests that gender identity congruity between an individual and product brand will yield positive responses in terms of consumer behavior, However, gender atypicality has been observed among gay males and lesbians, which may confound previous research conducted under a heteronormative gaze. Drawing on research in psychology that considers gay identity as a cognitive construct and a component of self‐concept, the findings of this study indicate that an individual's strength of gay identity and involvement in the gay community appear to invert effects of “typical” gender schema congruity on brand usage for both gay males and lesbians.     

“真有之情”与“应有之情”：内部人身份感知对员工创新行为的双重影响机制

“内部人”或“自己人”是本土组织中较为常见的一种非正式身份划定。然而,“内部人”这种特殊身份往往因为其所蕴含的角色期待,而面临如何行使这一角色的尴尬。一方面,“内部人”跟组织和领导有了不同于“外部人”的关系,而对这一身份倍加珍视,并对组织形成了较为强烈的情感依附;另一方面,本土组织对“内部人”的角色要求达成了长久的共识,内部人必须付出更多以维护这一特殊身份,内部人的责任更大。针对上述现象,文章从角色认同和自我归类理论出发分析,内部人所表现出的员工创新行为究竟是“真有之情”还是“应有之情”在驱使,或是二者兼而有之。文章的基本假设是,“内部人”做出创新行为一个可能的选择不是简单地依靠情感,而是同时“无奈地”通过承担义务的方式来进行创新行为,这一组合机制是其面对自身身份以及身份本身蕴含的角色期望而构建的一种行为选择。这一研究从过去主要关注员工创新行为如何激发,转向对员工情感动机和义务动机组合与员工创新行为关系的研究。这一研究模型将内部人身份、情感承诺、感知义务与员工创新行为结合起来,拓展和深化了员工创新行为的研究。     

Roads to Be Taken: The Intellectual Odyssey of Charles H. Sandage—by Charles H. Sandage,Center for the Study of Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship,Graceland College Lamoni,Iowa, 1993. ISBN 0–9636457-0-6. $16 paperback $24 hardcover

Abstract

The “green gap” is traditionally thought of as the gap between how consumers intend to behave regarding green living and how they actually behave. We extend the idea of the green gap by demonstrating a different kind of disconcerting green gap. There are three levels of green advertising—with tensions embedded in their differing agendas. An ethnographic content analysis and phenomenological interviews reveal that there is a macro agenda of saving the planet associated with nonprofit green advertisers. There is a meso agenda associated with for- profit enterprises. These commercial approaches do not appear to be aligned with consumers' micro agendas of saving one's own part of the planet (or at the very least, of not wasting one's part of it, as perpetuated by consumers). We then provide solutions for green advertisers in bridging this unsettling green gap among for-profit advertisers, nonprofit advertisers, and consumers who want to make being green and less wasteful easier in their everyday lives.