Chance Events and Executive Career Rebranding: Implications For Career Coaches and Nonprofit HRM

We conducted and analyzed interviews with 20 executives from the for‐profit sector who had transitioned into second careers in the nonprofit sector. Our qualitative study provides an in‐depth analysis of the critical events that triggered career agency and stimulated the change process. At each stage of transition, the executives revisited their personal brands, deciding how to best position their skills, knowledge, and values within the context of their new nonprofit organizations. This research contributes to academic and practitioner knowledge of new career paths open to mid‐ and late‐career executives and insights for nonprofit leadership, as many nonprofits can anticipate major shortages of qualified executives. Each stage in the career transition process provides opportunities for human resource professionals to contribute to successful nonprofit leadership change: first, by creating opportunities for “chance events” motivating transition, followed by career coaching opportunities before and throughout the transition. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Does Executive Sponsorship Matter for Realizing Project Management Value?

Executive sponsorship is critical to project success; however, the impact of the sponsorship role on project management value and sustainability is not known. Using correlation analysis we examine survey responses from 91 U.S. executives. Formalizing and providing training on the sponsorship role and responsibilities are both significantly related to senior management's perception of the sustainability of project management value. Unexpectedly, no significant relationship exists between the prevalence of the sponsorship role and project management value outcomes. These results extend our understanding of the importance of the sponsorship role and provide practical guidance for those seeking to improve the sustainability of project management value.     

The Social Pedagogy of Wall Street: Stock Trading as Political Activism?

In this paper, it is argued that the connectivity of the networked market permits market participants to perceive causal relationships between consumer behaviour and its effects on others. The thesis is put forward that the globally networked markets of the information age give birth to new cognitive structures that underlie consumers’ novel sense of responsibility, aid the re-orientation of consumers’ self-interest, and inculcate in consumers what historian Thomas Haskell calls humanitarian sensibility. Drawing from interviews with individual online investors, a model of the market is presented that posits the market as a source of social consciousness and moral decision-making. Furthermore, it is illustrated that individual online investors often incorporate such sensibilities into their consumer decision-making. Based on these results, the authors propose a corrective to the current trend among economists, social scientists and consumer researchers to conceive of the market as a threat to consumer autonomy, social and moral responsibility and an enlightened citizenry. Instead, it is asserted that the market has many faces, one of which, specifically the globally networked market, provides possibilities to recognize and perform consumption as a critical, moral and socially conscious political act.     

Can social awareness be increased through business school curricula?

The study was prompted by (a) Frederick and Vogel's debate concerning future research in “business and society”, (b) such recently reported managerial excesses as golden parachutes, “greenmail”, and fraud, (c) the increasing emphasis on coursework in the area. It appears that there is a need to assess how students, our future business leaders, perceive social issues and if a “business and society” course can help them define and understand the importance of these issues. Three questions provided the focal point: (1) Which issues do students perceive as most important before and after completing the course? (2) How much importance do students place on issues? (3) Does completing a “business and society” course make a significant difference in how students perceive the importance of the issues presented? Students appeared to have already clearly defined priorities before entering the course as there was very little post-course reordering of priorities. However, they did display an increased perception of the importance of social issues. The study also indicated that a “business and society” course can contribute to an increased student awareness of the importance of social issues. Therefore, it was concluded that a “business and society” course can help students define and evaluate the importance of social issues.