Exploring antecedents and consequences of managerial moral stress

The legitimacy of moral stress as a distinct form of general stress has long been debated in previous research. Moreover, individual‐level antecedents of moral stress are yet to be tested among executives. This study investigates role identity saliency (by calculating the total saliency of roles and competition between roles) as an individual‐level antecedent of managerial moral stress and turnover intent as a consequence of managerial moral stress among high‐level strategic decision makers in organisations. We also analyse the moderating effect of moral attentiveness in these relationships. Survey data were collected from 264 strategic decision makers from small to large U.S.‐based organisations. While controlling for overall stress, results support a moderated model, wherein individuals exhibiting a high level of moral attentiveness also demonstrated a significant positive relationship between work role competition and moral stress and between managerial moral stress and turnover intent. Surprisingly, total role saliency demonstrated a significant negative relationship with managerial moral stress for the same individuals. Overall, the results suggest that managerial moral stress may be a legitimate threat to executive retention, above and beyond general stress, for the individuals who are highly attentive to the moral aspects of their environment.     

Understanding Absorptive Capacity from a Network Perspective

The term absorptive capacity refers to the notion that firms may have differing capabilities to innovate and to recognise the value of new knowledge, assimilate it, and apply it to creating business value. Developing such capabilities often requires firms to become part of a value network. We therefore apply the notion of absorptive capacity to the level of both the firm, and the wider value network in that it is embedded. The purpose of this research is to understand how absorptive capacity process may be moderated by contingent factors so that a more complete picture of absorptive capacity development emerges from our research. We identify from the literature on learning, innovation, and networks several theoretical perspectives that may help researchers to understand how contingent factors may facilitate and/or inhibit the development of absorptive capacity capabilities. We offer a set of propositions that may guide research into learning and innovation in business networks, and we discuss the managerial implications of these propositions.     

管理层权力、TMT网络与高管薪酬

文章基于管理层权力理论和社会网络理论,以2010〖KG-*4〗-〖KG-*6〗2014年我国A股上市公司为样本,实证检验了管理层权力对高管薪酬的影响,并考察TMT网络的调节作用。研究发现：管理层权力显著提高了高管薪酬水平,但显著降低了高管薪酬业绩敏感度;而TMT网络显著增强了它们之间的相关关系。研究为管理层权力与高管薪酬之间关系的研究提供了增量证据,为完善我国高管薪酬激励制度、抑制管理层权力、规范高管之间的兼任行为提供了参考和借鉴。     

How relevant is the MBA: A revisit

The master of business administration (MBA) is the centerpiece of management education and holds the promise of systematically preparing its graduates for their managerial roles. However, there is escalating criticism that MBA programs are losing their relevance based on empirical evidence that competencies indicated by managers to be most critical are least represented in core MBA curricula. The authors re-examine the evidence and argue that the misalignment appears to be overstated. Consideration for relevance in preparing graduates for managerial roles needs to consider not only curricula, but also actual learning, social capital from the alumni network, and the signaling effect of graduating from an MBA program.     

Understanding communal and individual customer experiences in group-oriented event tourism: an activity theory perspective

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study, grounded in activity theory, is to empirically investigate the communal and individual mechanisms that simultaneously shape the customer experience in group-oriented event tourism. Based on a survey of 389 respondents with group travel experience to major events, the results confirm the research model, suggesting that the customer-experience construct constitutes a multidimensional structure comprising second-order components reflecting individual and communal experiences, with each containing first-order constructs. The results further confirm that the customer-experience construct predicts post-consumption evaluations of perceived value and satisfaction. Limitations of the study are outlined, and implications for research and managerial practice for the creation of customer experiences that are valuable and satisfying for group-travel consumers to events are discussed.     

Channel Power in Business Markets:

Channels literature views power as an organizational level construct. We provide an alternative conceptualization where channel power is seen as an aggregation of manifest power among individuals in a contigous channel dyad. Borrowing theory from structural sociology channel power is considered both an individual and organizational level construct (enacted role). Network analysis is used to develop formulae for quantifying individual and firm level power noting research and managerial implications.     

Factors Affecting Third-Generation Mobile Services: Applying the Purchase Intention Model

Based on the theoretical framework of the Purchase Intention Model, this study integrated the constructs of perceived over performance, perceived relative advantage, network effects, perceived enjoyment, and individual optimal stimulation level to investigate the factors affecting third-generation (3G) mobile service adoption behavior in Taiwan. Data was collected from 322 potential services users in Taiwan. The empirical results indicated that perceived need and perceived enjoyment were key factors that determined whether or not an individual would adopt 3G service. Furthermore, this study confirmed the importance of perceived over performance and relative advantage on the perceived need for 3G service. Perceived price was also found to be positively correlated with purchasability, but purchasability and network effect did not significantly impact adoption behavior. At the end of this paper, we discuss several implications for 3G service management practices and future research regarding innovative technology acceptance.     

Dynamic capability in a small global factory

In order to balance their local and global operations optimally, SMEs are moving toward a ‘global factory’ type of organizational form, meaning a differentiated network of activities held together through the control of key assets and flows of knowledge, and coordinated by a focal firm. Managing such a network requires a specific dynamic capability comprising, according to our study, cognitive, managerial, and organizational capabilities. Cognitive capabilities – cultural awareness, entrepreneurial orientation, and a global mindset – are the basis for a global factory because they are the source for opportunity recognition and exploitation, and are therefore crucial. The focal firm's organizational flexibility and absorptive capacity, as well as managerial capabilities in the areas of interface competence and analytical capability, are needed in the steering of a small global factory, the success of which depends on the nurturing of these assets.     

Comparing Innovation Capability of Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: Examining the Effects of Organizational Culture and Empowerment

This study analyzes the impact of organizational culture and empowerment on innovation capability, and examines the peculiarities of these effects. The study's hypotheses are tested by applying both individual and firm‐level analyses to survey data collected from 743 employees from 93 small and medium‐sized firms located in Turkey. For medium‐sized enterprises on both the individual and firm level of analysis, results suggest that collectivism and uncertainty avoidance are positively associated with empowerment, whereas power distance is negatively related to empowerment. Assertiveness focus has no relations with empowerment and innovation capability, yet among cultural dimensions, only uncertainty avoidance is related to innovation capability. For small‐sized enterprises, findings suggest that both power distance and uncertainty avoidance are linked to both empowerment and innovation capability on the individual level, whereas two new paths between collectivism and innovation capability and between assertiveness focus and empowerment are found on the firm level. Also, empowerment is found to be positively related to innovation capability for both small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) on both the individual and firm level. In terms of managerial practice, our study helps clarify the key role played by cultural dimensions in the process of shaping an empowering and innovative work environment. Findings also reveal that managers should focus on participative managerial practices (e.g., empowerment) to promote innovation capability of SMEs.     

The effect of social networks structure on innovation performance: A review and directions for research

Research on growth of innovations introduced to the market has gradually shifted its focus from aggregate-level diffusion to exploring how growth is influenced by a given social network structure's characteristics. In this paper, we critically review this branch of literature. We argue that the growth of an innovation in a social network is shaped by the network's structure. Borrowing from the field of industrial organization in economics, which defines itself as the study of the effect of market structure on market performance, we describe this new wave of research on growth of innovations as the effect of social network structure on innovation performance. Hence, social network structural characteristics should be incorporated into research on new product growth as well as into managerial marketing decisions such as targeting and new product seeding.We review how social network structure influences innovations' market performance. Specifically, we discuss (1) a networks' global characteristics, namely average degree, degree distribution, clustering, and degree assortativity; (2) dyadic characteristics, or the relationships between pairs of network members, namely tie strength and embeddedness; (3) intrinsic individual characteristics, namely opinion leadership and susceptibility; and (4) location-based individual characteristics, namely the degree centrality, closeness centrality, and betweenness centrality of an individual network member.Overall, we find that growth is particularly effective in networks that demonstrate the “3 Cs”: cohesion (strong mutual influence among its members), connectedness (high number of ties), and conciseness (low redundancy). We identify gaps in current knowledge, discuss the implications on managerial decision making, and suggest topics for future research.     

The multinational corporation as a coordinated network: Organizing and managing differently

A multinational corporation (MNC) has a number of unique advantages. Of these, the flexibility to operate as a coordinated multinational network places the strategic emphasis on resources and learning. Coordination and integration are needed to provide coherence in resource commitments. Operating as a coordinated multinational network can provide the flexibility needed to implement global strategies. A network organization results in linkages and interrelationships that require organizing and managing differentially. This article focuses on the organizational and managerial characteristics that are needed to operate as a coordinated multinational network. These characteristics include: a strong central leadership role; the flexibility to respond to opportunities; a differentiated, multidimensional focus; distributed, interdependent capabilities; the managerial capacity to achieve coordination; and a collaborative decision-making process. This article also discusses the changes needed in structural mechanisms and systems. Explored are the planning process, performance evaluation and control, information technology/management information systems, and human resource management. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Talent management and career development: What it takes to get promoted

Based on the talent management literature, this paper investigates managerial skills that are essential for managers’ job promotion. Using arguments from the human and social capital literature and following tournament logic, we claim that a manager's own experience, expertise, and network size positively affect promotion odds, while strong colleagues decrease promotion odds. Studying 7003 promotions to middle management and 3147 promotions to senior management, we find broad support for our hypotheses, but find also that network size no longer predicts promotion to senior management. Our findings have implications for individual career development and talent management programs.     

Managers,Workers, and Authority

In this paper, I examine the case made by Christopher McMahon for managerial democracy. Specifically, I examine the extent to which McMahon’s account is able to address a series of objections against the case for managerial democracy as articulated by Thomas Christiano. Christiano articulates two sets of objections. First, Christiano argues that McMahon does not succeed in ruling out the possibility that managerial authority is best understood as promissory in its basis, in which case there is no presumption in favor of its democratic exercise. Second, Christiano raises a series of objections to the effect that even if we accept McMahon’s account of the nature of managerial authority, the conclusion for the democratic exercise of that authority by workers at the level of individual economic enterprises does not follow. In the end, I argue that McMahon’s account contains the resources to address these objections if one adopts a specific view about the moral limits to relationships that involve the submission of the will on the part of one person to another. Adoption of this view, however, appears to come at the expense of what I take to be the account’s commitment to liberalism. As such, what I understand this paper to reflect more generally is the apparent difficulty for liberals in arguing that there is something inherently morally troubling about capitalist work relations.     

Cultural Insights to Justice: A Theoretical Perspective Through a Subjective Lens

Distributive, procedural, and interactional justice are constructs that are increasingly being recognized as important factors that affect individual perceptions in the workplace environment. This paper presents a theoretical perspective that suggests that justice is perceived through a subjective lens that consists of individualized beliefs and proposes that cultural attributes and demographic characteristics play an integral part in determining the perception of justice. The distinctions between these three constructs are presented in context with the core beliefs of individual employees – affected by a multitude of perceptual and demographic factors that we briefly identify herein. Based on the theoretical perspective, an instrument that measures the constructs of justice as perceived by individuals was developed. With a focus on justice within the business setting, hypotheses about attitudes related to justice were tested. Survey results confirm that the three constructs of justice are distinct but correlated. Significant differences were found in the perceptions of African-American respondents with regard to procedural justice. Although the empirical findings do not support all the hypotheses, this research highlights the need for further development of measures to assess the perception of justice in business settings and at an applied level, underscores the importance of recognizing cultural attributes and demographic characteristics in understanding how justice is perceived.     

企业内剥夺:表现、成因及影响——家族企业职业经理人管理者权力探析

企业内剥夺即因管理者权力缺失而导致家族企业控股股东对职业经理人利益的损害,具体表现为职业经理人剩余索取权、剩余控制权及合约控制权被剥夺,其形成及程度取决于家族控股比例、家族成员的岗位干预程度、企业业务范围、家族企业控股股东个人能力等因素.企业内剥夺严重影响了职业经理人的人力资本激励,阻碍了企业发展所依托的组织能力、核心能力的及时培育,导致企业难以实现规模化和社会化.     

The practices of effective managerial coaches

Coaching is a frequently cited, but less often effectively implemented, developmental tool for enhancing managerial performance at all levels. The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore the practices junior managers consider to be most critical for senior managers to employ when implementing coaching as a performance improvement practice. In this research, we engaged 45 focus groups consisting of 225 middle managers from over twenty different US organizations to explore the issue of managerial coaching and its implications for organizations and individual managers.     

Consumer Ethics in Japan: An Economic Reconstruction of Moral Agency of Japanese Firms – Qualitative Insights from Grocery/Retail Markets

The article reconstructs, in economic terms, managerial business ethics perceptions in the Japanese consumer market for fast-moving daily consumption products. An economic, three-level model of moral agency was applied that distinguishes unintentional moral agency, passive intentional moral agency and active intentional moral agency. The study took a qualitative approach and utilized as empirical research design an interview procedure. The study found that moral agency of Japanese firms mostly extended up to unintentional and intentional passive moral agency. Certain myopic managerial views were found to affect active moral agency. This leaves room for business ethics program that aim at the development of active moral agency.     

The impact of individual and managerial factors on salespeople's contribution to marketing intelligence activities

Although salespersons represent a unique and important channel of information, few of them contribute efficiently to marketing intelligence. This research aims to understand how salespeople's motivation and effort to gather and transmit marketing intelligence to management may be influenced by individual (organizational commitment, desire for upward mobility) and managerial (control system, participation in decision making, feedback, recognition) factors. The test of the proposed model shows that desire for upward mobility is the only individual determinant of behavior. Other than participation in decision making, all the managerial factors play influential roles in structuring both motivation and behavioral effort toward marketing intelligence by salespeople. The authors also discuss the limits of the model, some managerial implications, and future research opportunities.     

A multilevel perspective on the relationship between interpersonal justice and negative feedback‐seeking behaviour

Drawing on social information processing theory, this study uses a multilevel design to integrate the literature on organizational justice with the literature on feedback‐seeking behaviour. Results from a laboratory study with data involving 690 employees showed that individual‐level interpersonal justice was related to employee negative feedback‐seeking behaviour (NFSB) via the mediation of trust in the supervisor. Multilevel analysis of the follow‐up field study with data involving 390 employees from 46 teams confirmed the findings of the laboratory study and indicated that team‐level interpersonal justice was associated with NFSB through a supportive climate. Also, team‐level supervisor support climate was positively related to individual‐level trust in the supervisor. The paper discusses managerial implications of these findings and suggests directions for future research. Copyright © 2014 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.