Scaling sustainability from the organizational periphery to the strategic core: Towards a practice‐based framework of what practitioners “do”

This paper explores what sustainability managers do when attempting to scale sustainability to a strategic level within their organization. Drawing on semistructured interview data with 44 sustainability managers in large, for‐profit companies, we identify three distinct scaling microstrategies that individuals use when scaling sustainability. We label these conforming, leveraging, and shaping. Our analysis also finds that sustainability managers deploy combinations of these microstrategies in three distinct approaches, which we call the assimilation approach, the mobilization approach, and the transition approach. Finally, we interrogate the degree to which employing these different approaches achieves a peripheral, intermediate, or strategic scale of sustainability within the organizations represented in the study. Our paper contributes to theory and practice at the interface of strategy and sustainability by developing a practice‐based Scaling Approach Framework, whereby an assimilation approach is associated with organizations with sustainability at a peripheral scale, a mobilization approach is associated with an intermediate scale of sustainability, and a transition approach is associated with scaling sustainability to a strategic level. From these results, we propose a Scaling Progression Model that reflects the phases that individuals progress through when scaling sustainability.     

How Does Industry Affect Firm Financial Structure?

We examine the importance of industry to firm-level financialand real decisions. We find that in addition to standard industryfixed effects, financial structure also depends on a firm’sposition within its industry. In competitive industries, a firm’sfinancial leverage depends on its natural hedge (its proximityto the median industry capital–labor ratio), the actionsof other firms in the industry, and its status as entrant, incumbent,or exiting firm. Financial leverage is higher and less dispersedin concentrated industries, where strategic debt interactionsare also stronger, but a firm’s natural hedge is not significant.Our results show that financial structure, technology, and riskare jointly determined within industries. These findings areconsistent with recent industry equilibrium models of financialstructure.     

The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2: understanding mobile device use at festivals

ABSTRACT

This research advances understanding of mobile device use in a leisure context by applying and expanding the Unified Theory of the Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) to festival settings. Through on-site surveys at three festivals the UTAUT2 model and an adapted version for mobile device use at a festival were examined using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Results reveal that the modified UTAUT2 demonstrates good fit, and the main factors affecting device use at festivals are performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, habit and age. The findings suggest that the festival context plays an important role in understanding use and should be included in future research. By knowing factors that affect use, practitioners can design experiences where technology enhances the festival and does not interfere with attendees’ experiences.     

Challenges for Empirical Research on RPM

This article discusses the empirical challenges that researchers face when demonstrating the existence and effects of resale price maintenance (RPM). We outline three approaches for finding price effects of RPM and the corresponding hurdles in data and methodology. We show that the quantity test that was suggested by Posner (Univ Chic Law Rev 45(1):1–20, 1977; Univ Chic Law Rev 48:6–26, 1981) does not identify the change to welfare when demand-enhancing effects are considered generally. Finally, we present some solutions to the challenge of identifying welfare effects, and we suggest guidelines for future research.     

Creativity and dysfunction in strategic processes: The case of scenario planning

This paper attempts to open up a new line of enquiry into the dysfunctions of creativity within strategic processes. Generally, the impact and results of introducing creativity (and innovation) into organisational life are perceived to be wholesome and beneficial. But recent research in the area of organisational psychology has documented a ‘dark’ side to its introduction, e.g., low employee morale, stress, theft, sabotage, destructive conflict. Learning from this work and shifting the domain to strategic management, this paper focuses on scenario planning—a strategy process widely regarded by participants and facilitators as creative and innovative in structure, content and output. First, the creative credentials of the process are established with reference to the literature and definitions from the creative and cultural industries. Second, the process is deconstructed into activities and each is examined for the extent of its embedded creativity. Third, informed by case evidence, four dysfunctions of the scenario planning process are conjectured: creativity layered on fantasy; heightened expectations and confusion; pride and passion; and creativity leading to excess. The paper concludes by suggesting four options for handling these potential dysfunctional effects and, in the light of the dialogue presented, re-interprets the definition of scenario planning presented earlier in the text.     

Online Information Search Strategies: A Focus On Flights and Accommodations

The problem of the research was to understand information search strategies that individuals utilized in online travel product purchases. Two products, flights and accommodations, were selected to examine each product's explanatory variables in online purchase behaviors. The results indicate online flight purchasers utilize direct information sources and focus on transactional attributes. Online accommodation purchasers utilize various types of sources; and they focus not only on transactional, but also informational and branding attributes. The study results support the constructive consumer choice processes theory and suggest some marketing tips for the airline and lodging industries.