What drives managers to insource production? Evidence from a behavioural experiment

Insourcing to countermand previous outsourcing decisions is becoming a widespread practice among firms. While the underlying performance drivers for firms (e.g., lead times, responsiveness, or security of supply) are well understood, the behavioural aspects underlying managerial decision-making processes regarding insourcing remain overlooked in empirical research. We study the effects of managers' attitudes toward insourcing, their perceived behavioural control (PBC) over the respective insourcing decision, and the effect of mimetic pressure on insourcing decision intentions and behaviour, while grounding our model in the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). We test hypotheses with data gathered in a vignette-based experiment among 145 managers and apply stepwise regression analysis to find support for the positive effects of attitude and mimetic pressure on intentions to insource. Our results found no support for the effect of managers’ PBC. We find moderation effects among the internal drivers (attitude and PBC) and between internal and external drivers (attitude and mimetic pressure) on insourcing behaviour. With these findings, we provide evidence of a unique boundary condition to the TPB in the insourcing context by explaining supply chain design choices with neo-classical and behavioural theory. We emphasize important behavioural aspects in insourcing decision-making and caution supply managers in this regard.     

Does peer group size influence social preferences and risk taking?

This paper examines whether the ex post relative payoffs of peers as well as the size of the peer group impact an agent's willingness to take risks. For example, persons in a flood plain may be less likely to purchase flood insurance if their neighbors also refrain from purchasing. We generalize the Fehr‐Schmidt (1999) model to allow the intensity of the social preferences to vary with the size of the peer group. Our experiment tests whether subjects are more or less likely to choose a lottery over a fixed payment when others have been assigned either the same lottery or the fixed payment. Using both between and within subject designs, we find risk‐taking behaviour is not responsive to the risks faced by others regardless of the size of peer group.     

The role of culture and personality traits in board game habits and attitudes: Cross-cultural comparison between Denmark,Germany, and USA

This study investigated whether variations in personality traits are related to board game usage patterns and attitudes, and whether such associations are expressed differently across countries that reflect different cultural orientations and values. A cross-sectional online survey was distributed among 486 Danes, Germans, and Americans, whose personalities were assessed through the NEO-FFI questionnaire. Participants also indicated their liking levels, attitudes, and playing frequency of board games. Results showed significant associations between personality traits and board game-related attitudes and habits. However, these associations were moderated by culture and primarily predicted responses among Danish participants, but not their American or German counterparts. These findings have important implications for the board-game industry, a multi-billion-dollar market worldwide. Furthermore, findings can shed light on how to better personalize and design board games according to personality traits and culture-specific preferences, which should have a significant impact on the user experience and ultimately increase sales.     

Organizational attention and learning under regulatory intervention: Governmental investigation into auto engine quality

We examine the efficacy of government regulation on a firm's product. We draw on the behavioural approach of organization research in order to understand the micromechanisms whereby the regulatory intervention process affects corporate operation. We suggest that while government investigations may limit the improvements in product quality by distracting a firm's attention, this unintended outcome depends on the extent to which the firm engages in a substantive problem‐solving process with the regulator during an investigation process. A longitudinal analysis of the US government's investigation into motor vehicle engine production offers overall support for our argument. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications that our findings present to learning theory and institutional literature. Copyright © 2017 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Franchisee leadership traits vs. manager leadership traits an exploratory study comparing hope, leadership, commitment and service quality delivery

In order to add to the understanding of the role of franchising in entrepreneurship and to help franchise systems improve efficiency, the constructs of organizational leadership, hope, organizational commitment, and service quality perceptions of franchised managers and franchisees are differentiated in the current study. For scholars and practitioners, the dynamic relationship between entrepreneurship, franchisees, and management is an important triangle which merits further investigation. While the results offered only that managers and franchisees differed statistically in service empathy, differences were noted across all areas which approached significance but was limited due to the small sample size. Implications for future research are discussed.     

The triggers and clustering properties of merger waves

This article studies the triggers and the agglomeration of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity within clusters constituted by time, market and industry. Based on almost 500,000 individual transactions, we find that industry factors play a significant role in triggering activity and that M&A agglomerates strongly across related industries. While clustering in time turns out to be insignificant, stock market effects can be either an attracting or a repelling force, depending on the type of deal examined. This supports the view that merger waves are largely driven by industry shocks.     

旅游企业团队人格特质与团队绩效关系研究

在激烈的旅游市场竞争中,旅游企业的管理水平显得非常的重要,将团队理论运用于旅游企业能提高旅游企业的劳动效率、创造力和员工的满意度。影响旅游企业团队绩效的因素很多,文章通过问卷调查的方式研究旅游企业团队人格特质与团队绩效的关系。研究结果表明,旅游企业团队人格特质与团队绩效关系密切,其中随和性、责任心水平高的团队,团队绩效也高,而情绪性团队正好相反。     

基于双螺旋结构的创业机会识别模型构建

自创业活动作为一门科学出现在学术研究领域开始,各国对创业活动的关注就从未停止过。而创业机会的识别问题作为创业活动的起点,就一直是创业领域研究的关键问题。而从个人因素、机会因素两大维度对创业机会的识别进行探讨,分析影响创业机会识别的主要因素,将有助于完善创业研究的理论体系,为今后的科研工作奠定更为坚实的基础。     

Dispositional antecedents and consequences of workplace ostracism: An empirical examination

Drawing on the victim precipitation theory and self-esteem theory, this study examines the dispositional antecedents and consequences of workplace ostracism. Using data from 208 employees and their 96 immediate supervisors in two petroleum and gas companies in China, this study finds that agreeableness and extraversion are negatively, and neuroticism is positively related to workplace ostracism. Moreover, workplace ostracism is found to be negatively related to employee job performance, and this relationship is mediated by employee organization-based self-esteem.     

Determinants of spectator no-show behaviour: first empirical evidence from the German Bundesliga

The analysis of stadium attendance demand has a long tradition in the economic literature. However, despite its evident merits, this previous research has been critiqued at several levels, in particular for relying on a suboptimal demand proxy, i.e. published attendance data. In this short note, we address these shortcomings by exploring a highly unique data set containing official information on spectators’ decisions of whether or not to physically attend 704 German football Bundesliga games played between August 2014 and January 2017.