Building engagement in online brand communities: The effects of socially beneficial initiatives on collective social capital

Using social capital theory, this study investigates members' perceptions of socially beneficial initiatives on collective social capital. A total of 359 valid surveys were collected from two types of online brand communities (OBCs). The results demonstrate that high levels of empathy can lead to increased prosocial behavior. In both product and social OBCs, social trust affects affective and cognitive engagement, while reciprocity impacts affective and behavioral engagement. Moreover, our findings show that the link between prosocial behavior and reciprocity is partially mediated by social trust. This study provides several implications for the management of OBCs.     

The effect of presidential election outcomes on alcohol drinking

The growing political polarization and the increasing use of social media have been linked to straining social ties worldwide. The 2016 presidential elections in the United States reflected this trend with reports of fear and anxiety among voters. We examine how election results can be linked to episodes of anxiety through the use of alcohol as self-medication. We analyze a daily dataset of household purchases of alcohol in the weeks following presidential elections. We find that, within 30 days from Election Day, a 10 percentage point increase in support for the losing candidate increases alcohol expenditure by 1.1%. The effect is driven by counties with a higher share of supporters of the losing candidate and is robust to controlling more flexibly for omitted variables related to alcohol consumption. The increase in alcohol consumption is present in the 2016 elections and absent in the previous three presidential elections.     

团队成员视角下个体地位获得事件对同事行为的影响：基于事件系统理论和社会比较理论

文章旨在全面揭示个体地位获得事件对团队成员认知和行为的影响路径，以及在何种条件下个体地位获得事件将促进团队成员的积极行为表现，进而为管理策略的提出提供理论依据。通过对来自28个团队的293名员工进行问卷调查，并运用结构方程模型进行数据分析，结果表明：个体地位获得事件通过团队成员资源收益/威胁感知的中介作用分别对团队成员人际帮助行为和人际回避行为产生正向影响，团队合作氛围负向调节个体地位获得事件与资源威胁感知的关系，并对个体地位获得事件与团队成员人际帮助行为的关系具有显著的有调节中介作用。研究结果不仅进一步拓展了个体地位获得事件对员工行为的影响研究，而且揭示了个体地位获得事件对员工行为的影响机制和边界条件。     

社交电商平台颠覆性创新的触发机制研究——基于拼多多的案例研究

以社交电商平台拼多多为研究对象，开展探索性单案例研究，将其颠覆性创新分为切入下沉市场、侵蚀主流市场两阶段，分析其通过技术创新和商业模式创新匹配共演实现颠覆性创新的路径，在已有研究基础上，构建颠覆性创新触发机制模型。结果表明：第一，在颠覆性创新过程中，技术创新和商业模式创新是匹配共演的，二者在匹配共演下形成螺旋上升的循环链。第二，颠覆性创新要分阶段实现，其触发机制包括前置条件、突破口及驱动因素；在不同阶段，技术创新和商业模式创新分别作为前置条件和突破口，内外部环境作为驱动因素。第三，在颠覆性创新过程中，企业必须充分考虑内外部环境的驱动作用，注重内部技术创新能力、企业战略及外部市场竞争、市场需要。     

Incentive Contract Design and Employee-Initiated Innovation: Evidence from the Field*

This study examines how the design of incentive contracts for tasks defined as workers' official responsibilities (i.e., standard tasks) influences workers' propensity to engage in employee-initiated innovation (EII). EII corresponds to innovation activities that are not formally assigned to workers but are nonetheless encouraged and considered to be important for the company's success. Like other extra-role behaviors, EII is difficult to incentivize directly. Therefore, it is important to understand whether and how explicit incentive contracts designed for the workers' standard tasks may indirectly influence their EII activity. We use field data from a manufacturing company that uses a dedicated information system to track workers' EII idea submissions. We find theory-consistent evidence that, compared to workers receiving fixed pay, employees rewarded for their standard tasks with variable compensation contracts exhibit a lower propensity to engage in EII. This result is concentrated among ideas benefiting other constituents and activities beyond the proponents' standard task (i.e., broad-scope ideas). In contrast, we find no difference attributable to standard task incentive design in the proposal of innovation ideas narrowly focused on the proponent's standard task (i.e., narrow-scope ideas). Our findings suggest that variable pay narrows employees' conceptual focus around the standard task and hinders employee engagement in broad-scope innovation activities compared to fixed compensation contracts. We contribute to the literature on incentives for innovation by showing that standard task compensation contracts have spillover effects on EII behavior. We also contribute to the nascent literature on EII by showing that innovation types, defined based on their relation with the proponent's standard task, matter. Our results are relevant for practitioners in that managers relying on variable pay contracts to incentivize standard task performance should expect lower employee engagement in broad-scope EII.