Competitive blind spots in an institutional field

Unlike institutional or macro‐cultural explanations of competition, competition need not be viewed as a shared social reality. Instead, competition can be interpreted differently by multiple stakeholders of a value chain. However, due to managerial blind spots, such various interpretations of competition are less than apparent to management. Yet explanations of such blind spots are not well documented. Hence, to explain such blind spots, a conceptual model based on overconfidence biases is developed in which managers develop a ‘self‐centered’ view of competition that blinds them from the competitive beliefs of their value chain customers. Differences in competitive beliefs, thus, arise and are argued to contribute to such managerial blind spots. Furthermore, to empirically examine such managerial blind spots, the competitive perceptions held by various members of a swine genetics value chain were surveyed. Through cluster and MANOVA analyses, this study shows that, unlike institutional/macro‐cultural explanations of competition, these members do not share a common consensus of the key attributes and groupings of competition. The implications and contributions of this study are also discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managers’ conflict management styles and employee attitudinal outcomes: The mediating role of trust

This study examines the mediating effects of trust on the relationships between manager’s conflict management styles (CMS) and employee attitudinal outcomes, as well as identifies the potential deviations in the areas of CMS and trust from the west in Chinese culture. One hundred sixty-nine employees in Guangzhou of China participated. As predicted, Integrating CMS of managers is found significantly correlated to trust and subordinates’ job satisfaction and turnover intention. Trust fully mediates the link between Integrating CMS and subordinates attitudinal outcomes. Results also support the expectations concerning the deviations on the impacts of the uncooperative CMS on subordinates under Chinese culture. Discussion and implications are presented.

Quality investing in Asian stock markets

We examine two quality investing strategies using gross profitability (GP) or FSCORE, respectively, over the period of 2000–2016 in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan stock markets. We find that the high-quality stocks generally earn positive returns in these markets. Both FSCORE and GP are significantly positively associated with subsequent stock returns in the cross-sectional regressions. We also find that financial institutions as sophisticated investor concern about stock quality. The actively managed institutions buy significantly more high-quality stocks than low-quality stocks in each of five Asian markets. The trading pattern is not significant in passively managed institutions.     

Integrating Behavioural and Branding Perspectives to Maximize Green Brand Equity: A Holistic Approach

The aim of this study is to expand the existing understanding of green consumers' behaviour by proposing and testing an integrated conceptual model that explores the influence of consumers' personal concerns for the environment and general attitudes towards green products on brand‐related knowledge structures (image and associations) and relationship preferences (trust and brand equity) for green brands. A questionnaire‐based survey method was used to collect data using convenience sampling. One hundred and ninety‐nine usable responses were obtained. A structural equation modelling procedure was used to test the proposed hypotheses. The results confirmed that a positive relationship exists between consumer concern for environmental values and general attitudes towards green products. Both these constructs influence consumers' knowledge structure of a green brand (image and associations). Furthermore, a strong relationship exists between consumers' knowledge structure (image and associations) and their relational preference (trust and brand equity) with green brands. These findings are important for business strategy formulation by providing empirical support for the idea that a firm should invest its resources not only to project its environmentally friendly brands but also to build consumers' concern for environmental values and their attitude towards green products. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Behavioral insurance and economic theory: A literature review

Decisions to purchase insurance should be a perfect place to see economic theory at work in general, and behavioral economics at work in particular. We have well‐developed theories of the demand for, and welfare evaluation of, insurance products. These theories extend relatively easily to the insights of behavioral economics. Unfortunately, the empirical literature has not maintained this tight connection. In fact, much of the empirical literature illustrates the dangers of the modern passion with agnostic economics: avoiding theory at all costs to focus on “what works.” We identify these dangers and the implications in the literature.     

The paradox of employee psychological well-being practices: an integrative literature review and new directions for research

Abstract

It is well established that many HR practices aimed at increasing employees’ psychological wellbeing (PWB) and organisational performance conflict and even contradict one another. We address this long-standing issue by undertaking an innovative integrative literature review using the paradox metatheory as a lens. Unlike the contingency approach, a paradox perspective deems real-world tensions as normal, which can also be harnessed, and benefit employees and the organisation. We make three contributions; firstly, we identify contradictory employee PWB and organisational performance HR practices; secondly, we offer a solution in addressing the inherent tension between PWB and organisational performance by developing a new sensemaking conceptual framework; and thirdly, we offer a more nuanced perspective of prevailing arguments by distinguishing endogenous factors that organisations can influence to enhance the synergies between employee PWB and organisational performance HR practices. The intended impact of this paper is to instigate a paradigm shift and shape a new trajectory of thinking about how employee PWB and organisational performance practices can exist side-by-side.     

A semantic similarity analysis of Internet of Things

ABSTRACT

Internet of Things (IoT) has gradually become one of the most popular topics among both academia and industry, and it is considered as a crucial part of future Internet. However, very few objective and systematic review was conducted to address high-value articles and summarize the intellectual components from journals for examination and identification of the intellectual core and structure of IoT. Therefore, this study conducted a co-citation analysis for IoT by using 68 high-value articles retrieved within 1457 source papers from Web of Science online database. By using factor analysis, ten critical factors were identified, which includes (1) frameworks and challenges of IoT; (2) current situation of IoT in different applications; (3) interactions of IoT; (4) security issues of IoT; (5) application domains of IoT; (6) data management of IoT; (7) IoT in product lifecycle management; (8) enabling technologies of IoT; (9) IoT in smart cities; (10) IoT in recommender systems. Hierarchical Custer Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling were used to graphically illustrate the intellectual elements of IoT. In the current findings, fundamental elements of IoT including architectural framework, enabling technologies, network communication, data management, and IoT interactions were discussed with a series of challenges for wider and deeper IoT applications.     

How is Business Adapting to Climate Change Impacts Appropriately? Insight from the Commercial Port Sector

Adaptation to climate change impacts is a key research topic in business ethics that poses substantial implications on the good lives of human beings. The commercial port sector is a highly relevant study focus with its pivotal roles in supply chains and international trade. Hence, it is important to investigate whether the port planning system and practice is appropriate in tackling climate change impacts. But beforehand, we must thoroughly understand the attitude and behaviors of port planners and operators on ports’ climate adaptation planning. Through a survey towards 21 ports (seaports and dry ports) in Canada, the paper investigates the attitude and behaviors of port planners and operators on ports’ climate adaptation planning. Towards the end, we propose a new approach so as to enable port stakeholders to carry out climate adaptation planning effectively. The paper offers important insight to researchers to investigate the ways in developing effective climate adaptation plans and practice for ports and other business sectors.