To belong or not to belong,that is the question?! Explorative insights on liminal gender states within women’s STEMpreneurship

Scientific discourses about entrepreneurialism have long been dominated by neo-liberal thinking that categorizes it as gender-neutral. The last two decades however have seen entrepreneurship research develop a more nuanced understanding of gender. Taking the recent findings of entrepreneurial belonging (EB) as dynamic and relational as a starting point, this article aims to better understand how women entrepreneurs are affected by the challenges and chances of defining and negotiating the genderedness of EB. The concept of liminality is used as a critical perspective to gain insights on how women entrepreneurs accomplish entrepreneurial belonging in what is considered a predominantly masculine field like STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). Insights into explorative interviews question the need for a linear or static “fixed” approach of (un)doing gender to foster belonging. More precisely, the data reveal that liminal gender states (LGSs) of EB are linked to the situational perception of dissonance between the subjective ideas of womanhood and a disciplinary as well as entrepreneurial masculine normative frame. And indeed, the data indicate that women STEMpreneurs are continuously triggered by the genderedness of their EB as being a state “betwixt and between” normative frames. One the one hand, they feel challenged by the dissonance of LGSs. On the other hand, the interviews also reveal that this challenge turns into an opportunity in situations where LGSs are strategically used to build upon new entrepreneurial routines and roles that foster a state of uniqueness.

     

You can't ignore millennials: Needed changes and a new way forward in entitlement research

As millennials flood the workplace, both researchers and practitioners agree that entitlement is increasing. Given the increasing number of millennials in the workforce and their high levels of entitlement, HRM must find ways to capitalise on this phenomenon. However, the existing state of the field is problematic. Past entitlement research has overwhelmingly ignored millennials, used a limiting trait conceptualisation, and primarily investigated negative effects for the entitled individuals. This article seeks to provoke that HRM must address the millennial entitlement phenomenon by making needed changes and taking a new way forward in entitlement research. Specifically, we argue that HRM scholars must (a) adopt a new state conceptualisation of entitlement and (b) move beyond the sole focus on negative effects to look for positive effects for individuals, teams, organisations, and society. Millennial entitlement—for better or worse—is a pressing issue for HRM, and we believe it may be for the better.     

How federally insured reverse mortgages affect the credit outcomes of older adults

This study examines how the extraction of home equity through the federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) affects the credit outcomes of older adults. We use data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York/Equifax Consumer Credit Panel, supplemented with a unique credit panel data set of reverse mortgage borrowers. Using matched sample difference-in-differences with individual fixed effects, we estimate credit outcomes for older adults who borrowed through a HECM between 2008 and 2011, relative to older homeowners not borrowing from home equity. Our results indicate that the HECM is associated with a short-term reduction in revolving credit card debt, as well as a reduction in the probability of bankruptcy. We find some evidence of heterogeneous treatment effects, where older adults with higher levels of consumer debt prior to originating a HECM experience larger subsequent declines in debt, increases in credit score, and steeper reductions in bankruptcy rates.     

Hey big spender! A golden (color) atmospheric effect on tipping behavior

This research examines how gold-related color in atmospherics might influence customer tipping behavior at restaurants. A series of five studies shows that the color gold (as opposed to other colors) in a service atmosphere positively influences consumer tipping. First, a field experiment (Study 1) demonstrates that customers presented with a gold-colored (vs. black-colored) service prop (i.e., bill folder) leave larger tips. Study 2 further confirms this effect of the color gold by validating the findings of Study 1 with a different service prop (i.e., tablecloth). Process evidence demonstrates the underlying mechanism of this effect, whereby a gold-colored service prop increases tipping by influencing status perceptions about the restaurant and the self (Study 3). Additional studies further confirm this by ruling out novelty of the color in this mechanism (Study 4) and by highlighting the effect of status on tipping through status priming (Study 5). The findings of this research have implications for strategic use of color in servicescape design and atmospherics in general.     

Do Higher Real Minimum Wages Lead to More High School Dropouts? Evidence from Maryland Across Races, 1993–2004

We explore whether higher levels of the real minimum wage have differing effects on high school dropout rates across students of various races and ethnicities (whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians). Using a panel of data across Maryland counties and annual observations in 1993–2004, we found higher real minimum wages to be associated with higher dropout rates for Hispanic students, but not for other races and ethnicities. We used a variety of model specifications and explanatory variables, including real income, the unemployment rate, teen pregnancy rates, and educational attainment among adults. Several of our findings are broadly consistent with commonly reported sociological observations regarding how behavioral choices may be affected by different levels across races and ethnicities of cultural integration of recent immigrants, family cohesiveness, the value placed on education, small business ownership, and hourly (vs. salaried) employment.     

The effect of unethical behavior on trust in a buyer–supplier relationship: The mediating role of psychological contract violation

Research on trust in buyer–supplier relationships has tended to focus on the performance outcomes of a trusting relationship, as well as the processes that serve to build trust. Largely absent from the buyer–supplier literature is an in-depth examination of activities that break down trust, and the resulting effect on supplier trust in the buyer. The authors propose and test a model that evaluates psychological contract violations between a buyer and a supplier as a mediating variable of the effect of unethical activities on trust within a partnership. Survey data was collected from 110 tier one suppliers of major corporations in the state of Ohio. Our results show how a supplier's perception of a violation of the psychological contract either partially mediates or fully mediates the relationship between the buyers unethical activity and the suppliers trust in that buyer. We discuss how suppliers may demonstrate bounded ethicality when they overlook perceived unethical behaviors by the buyer.     

A DYNAMIC DISCRETE CHOICE MODEL OF REVERSE MORTGAGE BORROWER BEHAVIOR

Using unique data on reverse mortgage borrowers in the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, we semiparametrically estimate a dynamic discrete choice model of borrower behavior. Our estimator is based on a new identification result we develop for models with multiple terminating actions. We show that the per-period utility functions and discount factor are identified without restrictive, ad hoc identifying restrictions that lead to incorrect counterfactual implications. Our estimates provide insights about factors that influence HECM refinance, default, and termination decisions and allow us to quantify the trade-offs involved for proposed program modifications, such as income and credit requirements.     

Team Decision Making in Virtual and Face-to-Face Environments

We conducted a laboratory study on 65 teams performing a decision-making task. The two experimental manipulations involved the use of different communication media and decision frames. The decision frame manipulation involved informing the team to choose the demonstrably correct solution versus the solution that seemed most likely. These factors interacted to reveal novel insights about their multiplicative effects on decision processes and team psychological states. Further, main effects of the communication medium were found for team psychological states and decision behavior. Results suggest that virtual teams were at a disadvantage when the task was framed as having a demonstrably correct solution. Conversely, face-to-face teams were more effective, particularly when told that the task had a demonstrably correct solution. Face-to-face teams were more effective on all decision behaviors. Media synchronicity theory serves as a unifying framework to contextualize this research in the literature.     

A tangled web: views of deception from the customer's perspective

While there has been extensive research on deception, extant literature has not examined how deception is processed solely from the customer's perspective. Extensive qualitative interviews were conducted and analyzed to inform the proposed framework. Cognitive dissonance theory and attribution theory are used to frame the process consumers go through when deception is perceived. When consumers perceive deceit, they will consider attribution before determining intentionality. Internal attributions relieve the company of wrongdoing to some extent, whereas external attributions lead consumers to examine several elements of deception including intent. Unintentional deceit will trigger assessments of magnitude, stability, and switching costs; while less is considered when deceit is intentional. The findings of this research are important for advancing theory in relation to deceit and for helping practitioners understand the importance of changing consumer cognitions before consumers decide to change their behavior by discontinuing the relationship.     

Patience auctions: the impact of time vs. money bidding on elicited discount rates

We introduce, test, and compare two auction-based methods for eliciting discount rates. In these “patience auctions”, participants bid the smallest future sum they would prefer -or- the longest time they would wait for a reward, rather than receive a smaller, immediate payoff. The most patient bidder receives the delayed reward; all others receive the immediate payoff. These auctions allow us to compare discounting when participants’ attention is focused on the temporal versus monetary dimension of delayed rewards. We find that the estimated parameters in the three most commonly used discount functions (exponential, hyperbolic, and quasi-hyperbolic) differ across these two bidding methods (time-bids vs. money-bids). Specifically, our participants tend to show more impatience under time-bids. Furthermore, we find that people are more likely to exhibit exponential (as opposed to hyperbolic) discounting and exhibit less present bias under time-bids, compared to money-bids. To our knowledge, this paper is the first to directly compare time versus money preference elicitations, within the same subjects, using an incentive-compatible mechanism.