The role of organizational justice and social interaction in mitigating the negative effects of high-performance member retailers on strategic integration

Drawing on resource-based view, social exchange theory, and organizational justice theory, this study tests the link between high-performance member retailers (HPMRs) and strategic integration to retail buying groups, and the mediation and moderation of social integration and organizational justice, respectively. Using structural equation modeling, we analyze data from 241 independent retailers participating in retail buying groups in Japan. Results reveal that although HPMRs are negatively associated with strategic integration, they also increase strategic integration via enhanced social interaction with other member retailers. Additionally, organizational justice by buying group headquarters weakens the negative link between HPMRs and strategic integration. The study newly shows how member retailers’ past performance characteristics, the role of buying group headquarters, and member retailers’ interactions affect strategic integration to retail buying groups. The findings contribute to resource-based view, social exchange theory, and organizational justice theory by examining how retail buying groups can encourage HPMRs’ strategic integration using social interaction and organizational justice as boundary conditions. Practical and theoretical implications are described.     

Building the Theoretical Puzzle of Employees’ Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility: An Integrative Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda

Research on employees’ responses to corporate social responsibility (CSR) has recently accelerated and begun appearing in top-tier academic journals. However, existing findings are still largely fragmented, and this stream of research lacks theoretical consolidation. This article integrates the diffuse and multi-disciplinary literature on CSR micro-level influences in a theoretically driven conceptual framework that contributes to explain and predict when, why, and how employees might react to CSR activity in a way that influences organizations’ economic and social performance. Drawing on social identity theory and social exchange theory, we delineate the different but interdependent psychological mechanisms that explain how CSR can strengthen the employee–organization relationship and subsequently foster employee-related, micro-level outcomes. Contributions of our framework to extant literature and potential extensions for future research are then discussed.     

With whom should you have dinner? A multidimensional framework for understanding political ties in China

Political ties are often considered a critical resource for firms to succeed in China. The way companies build political ties receives noticeably less attention. Academic research traditionally uses the prior government work experience of firms’ top management, in addition to executive membership in the National People’s Congress (NPC) and/or the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as surrogates to quantify political ties. However, such measurements only expose the tip of the iceberg and do not sufficiently answer questions about how these connections are organized and controlled. Drawing insights from institutional theory, in this article we introduce a multidimensional framework to shed light on the study of political ties in China. Specifically, by using the framework of regulative, normative, and cognitive institutional pillars, we identify government work experience, political membership, family connections, shared social identity, and instrumental exchange as effective ways of building political ties in China. We also discuss theoretical and managerial implications, as well as limitations to our research.     

Benevolent dictatorship and buyer-supplier exchange

In this research, we identify and advance the concept of benevolence as a key social exchange mechanism in buyer-supplier exchange. Specifically, we (1) advance a theoretical model of benevolence to include affective, calculative, and normative dimensions, (2) highlight specific actions and resources that a focal firm uses to promote the perception of benevolence, including concessions, idiosyncratic investments, and reputation, and (3) identify how these perceptions, mediated by its own rising commitment to the exchange, impact the focal firm's economic response (i.e., concessions and idiosyncratic investments). In particular, we explore the possibility of “benevolent dictators” in exchanges marked by power asymmetry. Our model and conclusions are drawn from the confidential reports of over 500 informants at the boundaries of firms across multiple industries. Our results demonstrate the differential effects of a partner firm's actions and reputation on the three forms of benevolence and find evidence for how powerful partner firms can signal their benevolence to weaker firms through the use of concessions, dedicated investments and marketplace reputation. Moreover, we show that the responses of the partner firm to the focal firm's benevolence are not simply a reciprocation of the focal firm's actions, but are instead mediated through the enhanced commitment of the focal firm with implications for theory and management practice.     

Sustainable supply chain management in “Base of the Pyramid” food projects—A path to triple bottom line approaches for multinationals?

Conducting business operations at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) have necessitated the need for multinational corporations (MNCs) to involve poor communities in production processes including management of critical supply chains. However, current research on the interface between supply chain management and BoP business operation is lacking. In analyzing three cases of BoP projects in the food industry this study addresses the question of how sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) applied to BoP projects can help MNCs to achieve their sustainability goals. Findings indicate that applying SSCM to BoP projects can complement economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability. In particular, the BoP projects analyzed show viable paths for integrating the social domain of sustainability with general SSCM theory and practice. From the perspective of international business research, the findings help to link sustainability activities to MNC operations at the BoP. Accordingly, further research is needed to advance integration of these two research streams.     

Group service recovery strategies effectiveness: The moderating effects of group size and relational distance

The extant service recovery literature focuses on consumers' responses to individual failures. However, group service failures are in fact common, but they have received insufficient research attention. This study contributes to theory and practice by applying social impact theory to explain the social nature of group failures. Findings from two studies show that group size and relational distance substantially affect consumers' response to group service recovery strategies. Specifically, private economic recovery creates less consumer satisfaction as group size increases, whereas consumers with a distant social relationship are more satisfied with public recovery for both economic recovery and social recovery. However, consumers with close relationships are more satisfied with public economic recovery and private social recovery. Apart from offering practical insights, this study expands the theoretical understanding of service failures, suggesting that they occur in a complex social ecology instead of relatively simple dyadic interactions between service providers and consumers.     

What Drives Micro-Angel Investments?

Despite of the significant role of informal venture capital in the financing of new entrepreneurial ventures, there is little research explaining the factors determining the propensity of individuals to make microangel investments. Building on two theoretical frameworks, a social psychological theory of planned behavior and an economic theory on the determinants of demand for risky assets in household portfolios, we develop a set of hypotheses predicting the propensity of individuals to make informal investments in new businesses owned by others. In our analysis we test whether the determinants of micro-angel investments are similar when investing in a business owned by a close family member versus more distant business. The hypotheses are tested using data from 6007 interviews of Finnish adults carried out in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor program in 2000–2002. The findings show that the theoretical frameworks have more power in explaining investments in firms not owned by close family members. The study provides new understanding of the differences in the drivers of different types of micro-angel investments.     

Towards a Structured Design of Electronic Negotiations

Global communication networks and advances in information technology enable the design of information systems facilitating effective formulation and efficient resolution of negotiation problems. Increasingly, these systems guide negotiators in clarifying the relevant issues, provide media for offer formulation and exchange, and help in achieving an agreement. In practice, the task of analysing, modelling, designing and implementing electronic negotiation media demands a systematic, traceable and reproducible approach. An engineering approach to media specification and construction has these characteristics. In this paper, we provide a rationale for the engineering approach that allows pragmatic adoption of economic and social sciences perspectives on negotiated decisions for the purpose of supporting and undertaking electronic negotiations. Similarities and differences of different theories that underlie on-going studies of electronic negotiations are identified. This provides a basis for integration of different theories and approaches for the specific purpose of the design of effective electronic negotiations. Drawing on diverse streams of literature in different fields such as economics, management, computer, and behavioural sciences, we present an example of an integration of three significant streams of theoretical and applied research involving negotiations, traditional auctions and on-line auctions.     

Family Firms’ Corporate Social Performance: A Calculated Quest for Socioemotional Wealth

This study investigates the engagement of family firms in corporate social responsibility. We first compare their corporate social performance (CSP) to non-family firms. Then, following recent evidence on the heterogeneity of family firms, we examine two factors that may influence CSP within family firms: the level of family control and the governance orientation of the country in which they operate. This research is based on a theoretical framework which considers both agency and socioemotional wealth (SEW) influences on family firms CSR engagements. Overall, we find that family firms exhibit lower CSP than non-family firms. But when focusing on family firms, our analyses show a curvilinear relationship between family control and CSP. At lower levels of control, family owners invest more in social initiatives to protect their SEW. Beyond a threshold level of control that we estimate at 36 % in our sample, economic considerations prevail over SEW and social performance starts decreasing. We also find that family firms operating in stakeholder-oriented countries are more attentive to social concerns than those operating in more shareholder-oriented countries.     

The Creation of Value Through Corporate Reputation

The relationship between social and financial performance (CSP – FP) has been a main objective in the literature on business management, as it would provide an economic justification for the social investment insofar as it contributes to the creation of value. This relationship has been empirically tested by several authors though without using a theoretical model that sustains this relationship. The aim of this article is to propose a theoretical model of the process of the creation of value from the reputation generated by companies, integrating the factors that have been shown to be more relevant in this process from previous research, in such a way that hypotheses are put forward regarding the existence of this relationship and the factors that determine it. Finally, an empirical test is performed using the 100 most prestigious companies operating in Spain during 2004.     

Corporate Social Strategy: Competing Views from Two Theories of the Firm

This paper compares two theories of the firm used to interpret firms’ corporate social strategies in order to derive new insights and questions in this research area. Researchers from many branches of strategic management agree that firms can strategically allocate resources in order to achieve both long-term social objectives and competitive advantage. However, despite some progress in investigating corporate social strategy, studies rely on fundamentally diverging theoretical approaches. This paper will identify, compare and begin to integrate two competing theories of the firm implicit in corporate social strategy scholarship: the resource-based and behavioural theories of the firm. I discuss the implications of these two theories for both researchers and practitioners on key debates within corporate social strategy, and conclude by suggesting several fruitful avenues for future research based on the emerging integration of these two theories of the firm within the strategy literature. Dr. Frances Bowen is an Associate Professor in the Strategy and Global Management Area of the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. Her main research interests cross strategy and organisational theory, focusing on corporate environmental strategy. She has examined firms’ enviromental decisions in a variety of complex decision-making contexts. Current and recent research projects have focused on the roles of subsidiary managers in encouraging environmental initiatives within multinational companies, and how firms might induce suppliers to participate in environmentally sound supply chain management. Her main theoretical interest is how the behavioural theory of the firm can be integrated with the resource-based view to better explain corporate environmental strategy.     

Multinational Enterprise Subsidiaries and their CSR: A Conceptual Framework of the Management of CSR in Smaller Emerging Economies

There is a lack of theoretical consensus on how multinational enterprises (MNEs) should implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) to build legitimacy, particularly those operating in the smaller Asian emerging market context, where current growth in the global economy is being felt more acutely than elsewhere. This paper argues for theoretical integration of business ethics (BE) and international business (IB) research to address this concern. Hence, we explore the management of CSR strategies by MNE subsidiaries with specific interest on their proactive adoption of strategic CSR to obtain legitimacy in a foreign host country. Drawing on the recent CSR literature and related theories, including stakeholder theory and institutional theory, propositions and a conceptual framework are developed and presented. The framework integrates BE and IB concepts on the different dimensions of CSR and provides a theoretical derived explanation of the process for strategic adoption of global through to more local CSR strategies by MNE subsidiaries to build legitimacy in an emerging market context. In addition, the framework provides valuable insights into the adoption of different ethical approaches or CSR strategies based on the level of ethical pressure in a host country and the degree of CSR ingrainedness in the parent company.     

Behavioral Integration as a Relational Governance Mechanism in Family Firms—The Moderating Role of Family Involvement in Management

In this paper we introduce behavioral integration, a construct established in top management team (TMT) research, into the family firm field. TMT research argues that behavioral integration has a positive performance effect as it fosters commitment to the task at hand, joint goals, and mutual trust among TMT members. Because of these specific characteristics, we argue that behavioral integration might act as a relational governance mechanism that positively influences family firm performance. Based on research on family involvement in management, we posit that this positive performance effect of behavioral integration as a relational governance mechanism is particularly pronounced in family firms with a high degree of family involvement in management.     

Israeli women entrepreneurs: An examination of factors affecting performance

This article examines individual factors influencing performance of 200 Israeli women-owned businesses. Whereas research on women entrepreneurs is extensive in developed countries, especially in the United States and Europe, there are comparatively few studies of performance of women-owned businesses in non-OECD countries. There is evidence that social structures (work, family, and organized social life) vary among developed and developing countries as these relate to women entrepreneurs. However, these differences have not been considered as they may relate to theories explaining performance of women-owned businesses. The extent to which existing theories are useful in the context of non-OECD countries is of increasing importance as women in these countries are assuming a greater role in enterprise creation and economic development as a result of radical geopolitical and economic policy changes worldwide.In Israel, women suffer from occupational segregation and typically earn less money than their male counterparts, despite a generally high level of education. Entrepreneurship offers a vehicle for Israeli women to achieve economic parity. Approximately 5.1% of Israeli women are self-employed (compared with 15% of Israeli men) of the 816,800 Israeli working women. This study is the first systematic investigation of performance variation among Israeli women entrepreneurs, thereby contributing to our understanding of women's entrepreneurship in non-OECD countries.Five theoretical perspectives explain performance: individual motivations and goals; social learning (entrepreneurial socialization); network affiliation (contacts and membership in organizations); human capital (level of education, business skills); and environmental influences (location, sectoral participation, and sociopolitical variables). Each of these perspectives is associated with empirical work showing relationships between these individual level factors and performance. Three questions directed this study: (1) Which factors influence the performance of Israeli women entrepreneurs? (2) Which factors explain any variance in performance among businesses established by Israeli women entrepreneurs? (3) How similar are these explanatory factors to those found in other countries?A sample of 220 Israeli women business-owners responded to a survey instrument originally composed by Hisrich and Brush (1982, 1985) that was translated into Hebrew and adapted to the particular conditions of the Israeli population. A majority of the questionnaires was distributed at meetings of professional associates of women entrepreneurs and returned by mail, but one-fourth was distributed to women who were not members of any professional association. No significant differences were found between the respondents who were members or non-members of associations. Reliability testing showed alpha coefficients of 0.65 and higher for scaled questions, which is acceptable for survey data. Statistical analyses, including Pearsons's correlations and multiple regressions, examined relationships between factors identified from theoretical perspectives and performance, which was measured by profitability, income, size (number of employees), and revenues.Demographic variables were examined, and the age of the woman entrepreneur's children was significantly related to profitability (p < .01). The majority of Israeli women entrepreneurs are married and became entrepreneurs after their children were grown. This is consistent with the strong family orientation prevalent in the Israeli culture and the existence of institutional arrangements that support the working mother model as long as she gives priority to family responsibilities.Of the five theoretical perspectives, results showed network affiliation, motivation, human capital, and environmental factors affected different aspects of performance, whereas social learning theory or existence of a role model had no significant effect on performance outcomes. Network affiliation was significantly related to profitability (p < .001), and the use of outside advisors also was related to revenue. In contrast, participation in multiple networks was negatively related to revenue, income, and size of the business.Motivations showed a strong relationship to performance. Factor analysis identified three basic groups of motives: achievement, independence, and economic necessity. Similar to findings in other countries, achievement motives were highly related to personal income, whereas economic necessity was significantly related to both profitability and revenue.Analyses of human capital variables showed mixed results; education level, areas of study, and previous entrepreneurial experience had no effect on previous experience. The fact that this population was highly educated (51% had university degrees) may have impacted on this result. Consistent with prior research findings, previous experience in the industry had a direct and significant effect on performance (p < .001). Previous salaried employment and involvement in the creation of a business were significantly correlated with sales and number of employees. Results also showed that indexes of women entrepreneurs' business skills (obtaining financing, budgeting, labor management, and planning ahead) were highly correlated with revenues (p < .01). Regression analysis showed the business skill index significantly related to profitability (p < .01). Environmental factors were significantly related to performance in that the sectoral affiliation (service versus manufacturing) was related to revenues and employees, but not to profitability and income.This study supports previous research from the United States and Europe on women entrepreneurs, which found that performance is related to previous industry experience, business skills, and achievement motivation. However, the differential effects of network affiliations was significantly more important for women entrepreneurs in Israel. Affiliation with a single network was highly related to profitability, whereas involvement in multiple networks was detrimental to both revenues and the number of employees. These findings imply that to perform well, Israeli women entrepreneurs should gain related industry experience, develop business skills, and seek to achieve success. Most importantly, commitment to a single network for support and advice is better than a loose alignment with many support groups.This research has implications for studies of women entrepreneurs in other non-OECD as well as developing countries. In countries such as Russia or China, anecdotal evidence shows self-employment offers women an opportunity to improve their economic status as more capitalistic policies are adopted. The extent to which individual factors found important in this study, such as business skills, motivations, previous industry experience, and network affiliation, affect performance in these countries is a topic for future investigation. This study suggests that individual factors affect performance differentially as a consequence of variations in social structures, work, organized social life, and family. Future research should explore the extent to which this is the case. Examination of aspects of organizational strategies and government policies as these influence performance is another topic for future study.     

企业社会责任与财务绩效关系研究综述

20世纪90年代起,企业社会责任与利益相关者在理论与实证检验方面呈现出相互整合的趋势。本文通过探析企业社会责任与利益相关者缘何走向理论结合,分别基于利益相关者整体视角与利益相关者分维度视角,对国内外企业社会责任与财务绩效关系的实证研究进行回顾与总结,并在此基础上提出了未来的研究方向。     

Creating sustainable international social ventures

International social ventures are now an increasingly common feature of the international business and social landscape in many countries worldwide. However, despite the increase in the number of social ventures and widespread interest that has resulted, theoretical development that deals specifically with international social ventures, or social ventures that operate across borders, has lagged behind, and there is little to guide potential social entrepreneurs thinking of setting up an international social venture. The aim of this article is to show how combining concepts from social exchange theory with international new venture theory can provide a useful conceptual framework that helps answer the central questions: What are the conditions for sustainable international social ventures? What difficulties are likely to arise in establishing such ventures? © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Integrating global mobility and global talent management: Exploring the challenges and strategic opportunities

Although global mobility represents an important element of many multinational enterprise's (MNEs) global talent management systems, the two areas of practice have largely been decoupled in research and practice. The current paper aims to build a dialog around the integration of these two important areas of practice and illustrate how the integration of global mobility and global talent management can contribute to the success of the MNE. Human capital and social capital theories are introduced as theoretical frames for the integration of the two areas and global talent pools and routines for managing global staffing flows are introduced as key organizational routines that can maximize the contribution of global mobility to the MNE. The paper also considers challenges and opportunities for the integration of mobility and talent and outlines some directions for future study.     

Channel Management Through Selective Announcement of Reward and Punishment Decisions

Purpose: Although channel influence strategies such as reward and punishment are useful for firms to manage certain channel partners, the social effect of these strategies has not been examined in the literature. In practice, firms selectively announce their reward and punishment decisions, hoping that these announcements can help encourage or prevent the channel behaviors of other channel members. The main purpose of this article is to provide a theoretical understanding of this business practice in channel management.

Methodology: The authors conducted interviews and a scenario experiment with sales managers. The experiment is a 2 (degree of institutionalization: high vs. low)?×?2 (power of distributors: powerful vs. less powerful)?×?2 (influence strategy: punishment vs. reward) design.

Findings: The authors found that firms are more likely to announce their reward decisions than punishment decisions. Also, when institutionalization of marketing channel is low, firms tend to announce all their reward decisions, but they are reluctant to announce their punishment decisions regarding powerful channel members. When institutionalization of marketing channel is high, we find that firms are more likely to announce rewards and punishments regarding less powerful channel members.

Contribution: An important contribution of this research is that we are among the first to explore the social effects of power exercise in channel management. We extend the channel power literature by arguing that selective announcements of power exercise (reward and punishment) can influence more channel members. In addition, we combine institutional theory and channel power theory to explain the underlying mechanisms. That is, the degree of institutionalization in marketing channel influences how firms make selective public announcements of their channel decisions.     

A Scale for Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility Following the Sustainable Development Paradigm

The aim of this research is to develop and validate a measurement scale for consumer’s perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSRConsPerScale) using the three-dimensional social, environmental and economic conceptual approach as a theoretical basis. Based on the stages of measurement scale creation and validation suggested by DeVellis (Scale development: theory and applications, 1991) and supported by Churchill Jr.’s (J Mark Res 16(1):64–73, 1979) suggestions, five different empirical studies are developed expressly and applied to consumers of tourist services. This research involves 1147 real tourists from 24 countries in two different cultural and geographical contexts. A three-dimensional 18-item scale is proposed for measuring consumer perceptions of corporate social, environmental and economic responsibilities. This paper presents the complete development of the scale, as well as the implications and limitations of the main findings and the managerial implications.     

Sustainable Supply Chain Design in Social Businesses: Advancing the Theory of Supply Chain

A significant conceptual and practical challenge for companies is how to integrate triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability into their global supply chains. In supply chain research, the classic economic perspective—the business of business is to be profitable—still dominates, followed by coverage of the environmental dimension; the social dimension is underrepresented. Stakeholders, however, are calling for a TBL perspective that simultaneously includes environmental, social, and economic gains. While there have been recent theoretical advances on how to characterize supply chains in terms of their structure, how to connect these insights into supply chain design for TBL sustainability has not been studied. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to move the theory of supply chain forward into the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) research agenda. Toward that purpose, the paper analyzes the sustainable supply chain design (SSCD) at social businesses, incorporating the physical chain and the information and financial support chains. Four social businesses located in Haiti are used as cases of innovative supply chain structures for TBL sustainability. By analyzing the supply chain structures and boundaries of these social businesses, three supply chain configurations combining physical and support chains are presented.