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The telecommunications industry is highly competitive, as operators engage in fierce attacks, especially in bundled services, to acquire new customers originating high churn rate. The objective of this paper is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing the switching of operators for bundled services among telecom operators. The paper includes a quantitative study with 3,004 customers utilizing bundled services from a Portuguese telecom operator. Employing covariance-based structural equation modeling and logit regression, the research shows that internet service, television service, and the service provided by the contact center exert the greatest impact on loyalty to the operator. In contrast, landline service has an insignificant effect, while loyalty has a negative influence on customer churn. This study offers telecommunications managers insights for identifying the main factors to retain customers and curbing customer defection. Additionally, it provides a framework for assessing customer experience within bundled telecom services, which is useful for researchers, managers and marketing practitioners alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to explore the opinions of administrators about the effect of administrator replacement circulation in non-formal education institutions providing adult education on organizational culture. In this qualitative study, ten randomly selected administrators were interviewed using the convenience sampling method. The data were analyzed via the content analysis technique. As a result of the research, most managers think that the institutions providing adult education should be subjected to a different management appointment system than other institutions. While some managers find the organizational change circulation necessary and important for organizational culture, and the preservation and development of the existing culture, some managers stated that changes negatively affect the organizational culture structure. Although there are some differences in opinions among the managers, all managers agree on the importance and provision of the organizational culture in terms of a healthy system functioning in such institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how bank funding diversity and lending affect bank performance, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. We employ the Generalized Method of Moments to analyze unbalanced panels of commercial banks in China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The empirical results show that a percentage increase in bank funding diversity and bank lending in the sample negatively affects profitability. In contrast, the results are mixed in each country due to different market microstructures. While holding diversified funding strengthens bank profitability during the pandemic, increasing lending activities dampers the bank's performance. Finally, this research has important implications for bank managers and regulators to develop sustainable banking performance in emerging markets, especially during pandemics. Plain Language Summary: This paper investigates how bank funding diversity and lending affect bank performance, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. We employ the Generalized Method of Moments to analyze unbalanced panels of commercial banks in China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The empirical results show that a percentage increase in bank funding diversity and bank lending in the sample negatively affects profitability. In contrast, the results are mixed in each country due to different market microstructures. While holding diversified funding strengthens bank profitability during the pandemic, increasing lending activities dampers the bank's performance. Finally, this research has important implications for bank managers and regulators to develop sustainable banking performance in emerging markets, especially during pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate cash holdings have received increased attention from researchers and practitioners as cash management is a crucial task for executives. Holding too much cash can result in low returns and mismanagement by managers. Conversely, holding low cash reserves can lead to missed investment opportunities. The present study examines the relationship between board governance, financial constraints, and corporate cash holdings. The robust fixed-effects method is used in this study to analyze 860 A-listed firms in China from 2005 to 2020. An index is designed to measure board effectiveness, while financial constraints are measured using Z-score, the Kaplan and Zingales index, and the SA index. The major findings document that the financially less constrained firms hold more cash when there is an effective board governance. Furthermore, financially less constrained firms have more robust board governance to minimize the agency concerns of managers and shareholders. This research provides an inference for stockholders' activism connected to the cash holdings of the financially constrained and less constrained companies. The findings offer useful policy implications for stakeholders to reform contemporary cash holding policies. Specifically, understanding the role of an effective governance system for financially less constrained firms would help minimize the potential agency conflict. JEL Classification: G34, O16, G32, F34 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore perceptions of a management control system (MCS) in a post-acquisition integration context through sense-making using interpretive case study methodology. The study draws from the theories of the two types of bureaucratic formalization, sense-making in organizations and MCSs. The study material consists of semi-structured interviews with the managers at the corporate, divisional, and business unit levels. At the time of the study, the case company was growing through several acquisitions per year, which created constant challenges with post-acquisition integration and a need for more formal MCS. The article shows how the backgrounds of the acquired business units are related to the perceptions of the MCS. We found that the identity threat and retrospection were properties of sense-making that explained the business unit managers' attitudes towards the corporate MCS. Particularly prior experiences of production-centred line-manager positions in small entrepreneurial firms seem to foster coercive perceptions of MCS. The results of this study contribute to MCS literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sheds light on the dark side of entrepreneurship by examining how and under what conditions abusive behavior within new venture teams (NVTs) relates to new venture performance. Using a national (USA) random sample of NVTs, we find that the relationship of intrateam abusive behavior (i.e., degree to which NVT members exhibit "hostile" verbal behaviors toward each other) with new venture performance (i.e., sales and employment growth) is mediated by NVT thriving (i.e., level of vitality and learning exhibited within the NVT). Results further demonstrate that perceived competitive intensity of the industry moderates this relationship, with the indirect effect of intrateam abusive behavior on new venture performance (via thriving) being significantly less negative at high, than at low, levels of competitive intensity. We therefore conclude that perceived competitive threats to the survival of startups act to mitigate the otherwise deleterious effects of abusive behavior occurring within NVTs. These results broaden existing knowledge regarding the dark side of entrepreneurship by expanding the conversation on this topic to include the NVT and providing evidence for why some NVTs, but not others, are able to sustain the growth of their firms despite the occurrence of abusive behavior between their members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author conducts an empirical diagnosis of managers' views and perceptions in the context of use of information obtained from marketing research in decision-making processes. It is argued that decision makers who take charge of management, despite their strong declarations and beliefs about the potential and usefulness of information in decisions, in reality prefer solutions based on intuition and irrational thinking. Therefore, the objective of the conducted study is to explore mechanisms of such paradoxes. However, through empirical research, the author endeavored to find the answers associated with the specific factors that are likely to favor such an unreasonable thinking and activities undertaken by managers in decision-making processes. Based on the sample (N = 213), which contained mainly information users, it was confirmed that managers, faced with a difficulty of information processing (e.g., due to information overloading problems and requirements of analytical thinking), or narrow cognitive capacities, limited memory, and strong reliance on personal experience, look for much simpler solutions in decision making. They preferably move toward the irrational sphere of making choices. Thus, the information, obtained from research, that is available to managers is rather neglected instead of being closely inspected (scrutinized). Moreover, the greater the surprise in information derived from marketing research (i.e., the wider is the discrepancy between the value of information provided by analysts and managers' expectations), the greater their inclination to reject any information and much greater exposure toward irrational thinking in decision making. As a matter of fact, the problems associated with information adaptation in decisions, as well as the problems of analytical thinking, put the question mark over the entire usefulness of information and further deliberate conducting of the marketing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media technologies have been widely adopted by governments to increase civic engagement, promote openness, and extend services. Previous research finds that public managers' attitudes are important predictors of social media adoption and successful implementation. Managers' attitudes may vary due to different organizational structures, functions, and operations based on department type or because departments vary along with key dimensions. This research investigates the following questions: (1) Does department type significantly predict public managers' attitudes toward social media, (2) does department type moderate the effect of predictors of managers' attitudes toward social media found in previous research, and (3) do the predictors of managers' attitudes toward social media found in previous research mediate attitude differences observed across different kinds of departments. Using data collected from a 2014 national web survey in the United States on technology in city government, we find department type is an important predictor of managers' attitudes toward social media use. The effects of other predictors of attitudes toward social media use were not moderated by department type. Instead, those predictors had similar effects regardless of department type. Some of the variables related to organizational characteristics and culture (e.g., social media use, innovativeness, and use of e-services) helped to explain differences between the attitudes of managers from different departments. Our findings are important for developing strategies to target managers' negative attitudes toward using social media, thus removing one of the barriers to successful technology implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utility of communicating hazard vulnerability to the public through monuments and historical markers commemorating and describing past disasters is explored in this paper. A survey of county emergency management directors in Wisconsin focused upon their awareness of such monuments and their attitudes regarding the effectiveness of disaster markers and commemoration in communicating hazard risk to the public, both residents and visitors. Emergency managers held disparate views regarding the effectiveness of the markers among the public, although managers in counties with markers tended to hold a higher opinion of their effectiveness in communicating hazard risk and to be more willing to commemorate future disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dominant, masculinised constructions of managerial identities are associated with expectations of being in control and strong, and not with vulnerability. Managers may conceal vulnerability and protect themselves through defensive identity work, and such responses may close down learning opportunities. We reconceptualise vulnerability and recognise its value for managerial identity and learning by drawing upon Butler's theory of vulnerability. Analysing interviews with middle and senior managers and presenting our own reflexive learning, we address a lack of empirical accounts of managerial vulnerability. We offer three processes of relational vulnerability: (1) recognising and claiming vulnerability, (2) developing social support to share vulnerability with trusted others, and (3) recognising alternative ways of conceptualising and responding to vulnerability. Rather than defensiveness in the face of vulnerability constructed as weakness, the value of vulnerability lies in its openness and its generative capacity for alternative ways of managerial being and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agency problem of listed companies in East Asia is closely related to their typically concentrated ownership structures. Tight control creates an entrenchment problem that allows the controlling owners' self-interested behaviors to go unchallenged internally by the boards of directors or externally by takeover markets. The primary objective of this paper is to explore the association between the ownership and control structure and innovation. The ownership and control structure is measured first as the divergence between the ultimate owner's voting rights and the ultimate owner's cash flow rights, and second by the presence of ultimately controlling shareholder's family member as CEO or Chairman of the board, or both. Innovation is measured by patent quantity and patent quality. This paper uses patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to measure innovation activities. We find that innovation is significantly and negatively related to the level of agency problems. We further find that innovation is lower for firms whose controlling owner is also either the chief executive officer or the chair of the board of directors. Our findings appear to be robust with respect to examining patent count and patent quality variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of the observation that today's executives increasingly possess significant international experiences, this study of foreign subsidiary executive staffing strategies looks beyond the local/expatriate dichotomy and shifts the theoretical and empirical focus from executive nationality to a more nuanced examination of subsidiary executives' international experience portfolios. The intended contribution of this study is to explore the relationship between home country–host country institutional differences and the quantity and quality of subsidiary executives' previous international experience. I draw on executive cognition theory and the literature on international experience to hypothesize that variety and specificity of previous educational and professional international experiences facilitate subsidiary executives' abilities to manage liabilities of foreignness arising from institutional distance. The findings indicate a positive relationship between home country–host country institutional distance and the presence of subsidiary executives with higher duration, count, and variety of international experiences. However, the findings provide no statistical evidence of higher levels of institutional distance being associated with a higher presence of subsidiary executives with specific international experiences that are relevant to the home country–host country pair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article comments on the article, Involuntary Benchmarking and Quality Improvement: The Effect of Mandated Public Disclosure on Hospitals, published in the June 1, 1997 issue of the Journal of Accounting Auditing & Finance. The contribution of this paper is best appreciated in the context of the considerable prior research in accounting and finance that has documented a shift in managerial behavior resulting in an improvement in a performance measure when a manager's incentive compensation contract is modified to include that measure. In contrast to the above, managers at the Pennsylvania hospitals examined by the author did not experience systematic or common changes in their incentive compensation contracts. A key assumption implicit in the analysis of the authors is that the incentives of Pennsylvania hospital managers are linked to hospital profitability. While the authors do not present direct evidence to support this assumption, it is plausible considering the emphasis on profitability in the health care industry in recent years.

This paper presents a discussion on the article, Why is Financial Reporting So Inefficient? written by Hakansson. Hakansson's article follows on a theme he has been developing for information disclosure. His interest in examining the consequences of being an uninformed investor led him to conclude the need for mandatory disclosure of quarterly reports. In earlier years, Hakansson was content to talk about mandatory disclosure or quarterly reports. Now that quarterly reports are required of registered companies, he carries that theme further. While in the present article, he does nor hold much hope for regulatory reform, his discussion continues to focus on the timeliness and presumed relevance of information revealed through public financial reporting. Financial disclosure in this construction can take on two states, one is timely, relevant and comparable disclosure (TRCD) and the other, late, irrelevant and untimely disclosure (LUND). Presumably, if information can be acquired privately at cost, its subsequent disclosure in financial reporting is LUND. Information will have value only if it can be used to form profitable trading strategies. In his article, Hakansson presented several interesting observations as indicators of the claim that managers prefer LUND over TRCD.

This paper challenges the common belief that pattern bargaining largely ended in the 1980s. Applying a measure of pattern bargaining- the dispersion of log wages-to wage data drawn from the same data set that Audrey Freedman used in her widely quoted studies of this subject, the author shows that the extent of pattern bargaining was actually greater in 1983 than in 1977. The evidence suggests that manager's perceptions of changes in the bargaining process, which are the basis for Freedman's claim that pattern bargaining has eroded, are inconsistent with actual changes in wage patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on a manager’s understanding of leadership and how this guides – or does not guide practice. The paper reports an empirical in-depth study of a middle manager in an international manufacturing company. We link our discussion to both – the mainstream leadership studies, which assume that managers have a solid type of leadership behavior, and authors with a meaning-oriented, linguistic approach to leadership, in which language, self-awareness, and behavior are linked. The present study suggests that leadership attempts can vary, be divisive, and that a manager’s advocacy efforts are driven by a multitude of different, partly opposing, forces, meaning a decoupling of ideas and behavior in leadership practice. The paper raises the question of whether managers’ meanings of leadership correspond with what they do in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have focused on the role of managerial gender on attitudes toward diversity issues mainly in either the public or private sector, but there is little research that compares managerial attitudes on diversity across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. This article identifies important distinctions among the sectors that may influence gender differences in managerial priority placed on diversity. Using a national survey of nearly 1,000 top-level managers in public, private, and nonprofit hospitals in the United States, we analyze how managerial gender combined with cross-sector differences shape managerial priority on diversity. We find female managers place a higher priority on diversity than their male counterparts in nonprofit and private organizations compared with managers in public organizations. The differing effects of managerial gender on the priority placed on diversity are shaped by the organizational contexts of the three sectors. This research provides systematic evidence of sector differences in the patterns of managerial priorities regarding diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a performative theory of resistance. It uses Judith Butler’s and Karen Barad’s theories of performativity to explore how resistance (to organizational strategies and policies) and resistants (those who resist such strategies and policies) co-emerge, within and through complex intra-actions of entangled discourses, materialities, affect and space/time. The article uses empirical materials from a case study of the implementation of a talent management strategy. We analyse interviews with the senior managers charged with implementing the strategy, the influence of material, non-sentient actors, and the experiences of the researchers when carrying out the interviews. This leads to a theory that resistance and resistants emerge in moment-to-moment co-constitutive moves that may be invoked when identity or self is put in jeopardy. Resistance, we suggest, is the power (residing with resistants) to say ‘no’ to organizational requirements that would otherwise threaten to render the self abject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the constructs of work meaning and work meaningfulness have been differentiated, and multidimensional measures of the latter have been developed. In the present study, we administered one such measure—the Comprehensive Meaningful Work Scale (CMWS)—to a gender-balanced and age-diverse sample of managers and conducted a multivariate analysis of CMWS scores that explored the contributions of participants’ gender and their adult career stage. As hypothesized, the CMWS subscale scores were negatively correlated with participants’ scores on an independent measure of work stress. Results also revealed a significant multivariate effect associated with their career stage that was limited to one CMWS subscale (i.e., “balancing tensions”), with managers in their “prime work years” (i.e., 40–54) evidencing less favorable scores than those in either the “settling in” (i.e., 25–39) or “approaching retirement” (i.e., 55–65) stages. The implications of these findings for future research on work meaningfulness are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both fascinating and perplexing for scholars and managers, dual executive leadership (DEL) is also challenging for the two leaders at the top level of the organization whose roles cut across professional and managerial functions and logics. Conflict may often be present in such duos and can undermine DEL success in the organization. Scholars of plural leadership suggest that trust is a key success factor for DEL relationships, although it has not been closely studied with history and context in mind. This research on DEL in eight non-profit arts organizations provides insights on how past history casts a shadow that influences trust development over time within a DEL relationship and can influence the effectiveness of leadership on the organization. Implications are drawn for research in trust and plural leadership, as well as for boards of directors and current duos in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dissimilarities in governance, clientele, and organizational imperatives between the nonprofit and public sectors suggest that understanding employee job satisfaction requires distinction between the two. This study examines similarities and differences in what affects managers’ job satisfaction in nonprofit and public organizations, focusing on managers’ perception of their organization, job, and top management. While the results suggest that pride in the organization is a determining factor of managers’ job satisfaction in both sectors, they also reveal that certain attributes of job satisfaction influence managers’ job satisfaction differently between the two sectors. In particular, the findings suggest that nonprofit organizations should establish clear definitions of employees’ tasks and roles and allow employees more autonomy to increase their job satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides insights into the important but relatively unexamined issue of destructive leadership in a non-Western country. Although tentative, the article also provides some guidance for expatriate managers in adapting their own behavior to avoid being categorized as “destructive” by non-Western subordinates. In the following pages, we report the findings of a study of destructive leader behaviors among convenience samples of Australian, American, and Iranian leaders. No differences were found between Australian and American leaders in regard to the nature and frequency of destructive behaviors. As a result, the Australian and American data were combined and compared to a sample of Iranian leaders. Destructive leader behavior was measured using the Destructive Leadership Questionnaire developed by Shaw et al. (2011). Although relatively small in magnitude, results consistently indicated that the worst, middle, and best leaders differed significantly from one another in both samples in terms of the level of destructive leader behavior exhibited. In general, the pattern was similar for both the Australian–American and Iranian samples, although small, consistent differences were observed across the two samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine the influence of providing multiunit housing (MUH) managers with a resource manual for MUH smoke-free policy implementation on manager perceptions of smoke-free policies.Design: One-group within-subject pretest-posttest design examining manager perceptions of smoke-free policies.Setting: Random sampling of MUH managers in Oklahoma.Participants: Forty-six MUH managers.Intervention: The SMOKEFREE Landlord Manual (SLM) provides information on smoke-free policies and implementation resources.Measures: Beliefs regarding implementation of smoke-free policies were measured on a Likert scale before and after receiving the manual.Analysis: A general linear model examined changes in beliefs regarding implementation of a smoke-free policy.Results: After receiving the manual, managers were more likely to agree with positive beliefs about smoke-free policies (Wilks λ = 0.59, F[18, 70] = 2.68, P < .01).Conclusion: The MUH managers endorsed more positive beliefs regarding smoke-free policies following the receipt of the SLM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on attitudes of business leaders on the role employee health plays with performance and productivity. It mentions on the influence workforce health has on business outcomes including a survey by the Health Enhancement Research Organization of business leaders on the disconnect between upper executives and the importance of employee health promotions. It examines case studies of Schwan Food Company, Intermountain Healthcare, and financial services company American Express.

In this article, we elucidate that exploring managerial talk through the lens of metaphor might offer an opportunity to bridge the often acclaimed gap between rigour and relevance in management research and education. Building on an interpretative research approach and a qualitative field study among managers from the Netherlands, Poland and the United States, we reveal that managers view their day-to-day interactions in relationships with suppliers and clients as if they perform acts, play games and fight battles. These findings corroborate extant research, but they also show that combining (a) the use of metaphor as an analytical tool with (b) a focus on managers’ perceptions of their own and others’ micro-level behaviours offers substantial potential for synthesising theory with practice. More specifically, we argue that the layered nature of metaphors – on a primary level helping us imbue meaning to raw observations, and on a theoretical level drawing our attention to potentially interesting constructs – propels confrontation and symbiosis between research and practice. Simultaneously, a focus on micro-level behaviours enhances recognisability for practitioners, while facilitating the emergence of fine-mazed patterns underlying emerging constructs on a theoretical level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The question of whether lawyers and managers behave selfishly or fairly has inspired discussion for a long time. Empirical evidence, however, is sparse. Using data from an experiment with 359 law and business administration students, we investigate this question empirically and provide first evidence. Our results suggest that law students and business students behave reciprocally, but the degree of reciprocity is higher for lawyers. Surprisingly, it is not university education that makes business students more selfish: candidates seem to undergo a self-selection process before they begin their studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stage on which impressions are managed is no longer purely a physical one but is increasingly mediated by various communication technologies that offer different affordances. This study examines the interplay of media affordances, impression management, and dialectical tensions in relationships between managers and their subordinates. Based on 91 semi-structured interviews and observations from six project teams operating in the consumer health, insurance, and engineering industries located in Sweden and the United States, we identify and explore three sets of impression management tactics. Our analysis reveals that the actions of managers and subordinates were often in dialectical tension, playing out through multiple media in a tactic–countertactic dynamic that played an important role in shaping manager–subordinate relationships. We discuss how these tactics complement and extend theory on impression management, dialectical tensions, and media use in organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Formal and informal partnerships have become key features of education policy and practice in many countries and managing such collaborative arrangements is an important dimension of the role(s) of leaders of educational organizations. Recent research has shown both the tensions and conflict that can develop in partnerships as well as the opportunities and benefits of partnership working for organizations and individuals. This article focuses on the characteristics of partnerships that contribute to their effectiveness, sustainability and success, filling a gap in the literature on educational partnerships. The research data emanate from a qualitative study of partnership working in England. The study used a grounded approach and inductively linked characteristics of partnerships found in the partnership literature with empirical data from a case study of a sub-regional partnership of education and training organizations. This combined evidence is used to conceptualize partnership as a continuum of weak to strong forms of partnership and to develop a table of characteristics which underpin such partnerships. The findings reveal the extent to which trust, networks, norms and values support effective, sustained and successful partnerships. These characteristics are differentiated and may fluctuate during the lifecourse of a partnership but remain fundamental features of partnership working and significantly contribute to the strength and effectiveness of partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As the proportion of racial/ethnic minorities and women in the workforce has increased, there has been the growing concern of integrating them into the mainstream of the organization. This study explores how demographic diversity (racial and gender diversity) of management influences job satisfaction of employees in public organizations. It contributes to our understanding of the role of demographically diverse managerial teams in managing the workforce by analyzing the recent data from 191 federal agencies collected in 2008 and by using a methodologically rigorous method (multilevel modeling). The results show that the higher proportion of racial/ethnic minorities and women in managerial positions is negatively related to employee job satisfaction. Racial/ethnic minorities are more satisfied with their job and organization when there are higher levels of racial/ethnic diversity in managerial positions. No significantly different impacts of gender diversity on job satisfaction of men and women were found. Diversity climate positively moderates the relationships between racial/ethnic and gender diversity of managers and job satisfaction of employees, whereas procedural justice and leadership negatively moderated the relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposed a modified activity theory framework, complemented by a dynamic time axis, to analyze each organizational change stage of a two-phase capability maturity model integration (CMMI) maturity level adoption case. The study revealed the following results: At the planning stage, the involvement of senior executives determined the positive attitude toward change. At the getting started stage, employees' clear recognition of change objectives determined the change effectiveness. At the letting go stage, department heads got involved, understood, and provided both support and mediating activities to achieve the actual benefits. At the completion stage, performance was used as a measurement tool to help internalize the change into new capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on the perspectives of top managers and frontline workers by comparing and contrasting the ways in which administrators and frontline workers frame the challenges of welfare reform in rural areas. The study was conducted in 2005 and focuses on the implementation of West Virginia Works, a public assistance program adopted in response to new federal welfare law enacted in 1996. It suggests that the function of welfare agency and its culture continues to evolve.

Work attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment, etc.) have long been important indicators for managers and researchers in evaluating whether one is motivated to work. Existing empirical studies tend to suggest that public managers are less likely to exhibit positive work attitudes as compared with their private sector peers. However, literature about the comparison of work attitudes between public and nonprofit managers is scant. The current study addresses this topic. By using the National Administrative Studies Project-III (NASP-III) survey data, the author found that nonprofit managers are more likely than public managers to show positive work attitudes. This attitudinal difference, based on the results of mediation tests, originates from two important reasons. First, higher levels of rule constraints (i.e., red tape and personnel flexibility) in the public sector undermine managers’ work attitudes. Second, individuals attracted to work in the public sector have stronger extrinsic motivation, stronger amotivation, and weaker intrinsic motivation. These motivation styles compromise their work attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Significant research has been devoted to studying the factors that affect firm multinationality. In this study, the authors organize the vast multinationality literature by levels of analysis using a multilevel framework based on the interaction paradigm and conduct a meta-analysis that aggregates the empirical findings from 154 independent samples reported in 145 studies. The cumulative evidence provides strong support for the upper echelons theory that emphasizes the central importance of executives’ characteristics as major determinants of firm multinationality. Moreover, the results indicate that the accumulation of the international experience embedded in human and relational capital is the most significant firm-level factor that affects firm multinationality. The meta-analytic results also reveal that the measurement and sample characteristics of original studies explain the inconsistent findings pertaining to the effects of firm size, firm age, and top management team size on multinationality. On the basis of the meta-analytic findings, several directions for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Absorptive capacity is an important organizational capability constituted by exploratory, transformative, and exploitative learning processes. Leadership has been shown to affect such processes, but little is known about how the combined leadership styles of top and middle management influence absorptive capacity. This theory-building, exploratory qualitative case study discusses the need for top and middle management to be ambidextrous and to change their styles to better facilitate the three different learning processes. We found that an exploratory learning process was facilitated when both top and middle management used a transformational style, a transformative learning process was facilitated when top management used a transformational style while middle management used a transactional style, and an exploitative learning process was facilitated when both top and middle management used a transactional style. Furthermore, for each of the three learning processes, the leadership styles of top and middle management operated more effectively when certain attributes of the organizational context were emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women in India have struggled to establish an identity and create a space for themselves at their workplaces, especially in terms of leadership. This study explores and portrays women’s perceptions and dilemmas when confronted with the ideas and expectations of traditional society while conforming to a contemporary code of conduct at work. Women managers working in a leading public sector company were asked four key questions. Their responses highlight the values, attitudes and beliefs of the women and the challenges faced by them in their careers and within the family system, raising many issues and giving pointers for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article addresses the question: how can we help managers to understand the emotional and political dynamics that surround and permeate their managerial roles? A conceptual framework is presented that is based on the integration of literature on space with literature that has taken a psychodynamic approach to management learning. The term spatial psychodynamics describes the way in which juxtapositions of material, relative and relational space in the management classroom can reveal dynamics that help managers to perceive the emotions and politics that are part of their roles. Three characteristics of spatial psychodynamics are presented: unconscious dynamics and the interpretation of learning space, the political effects of fantasy in learning space, and how juxtapositions of space create distinctiveness of place. An example is discussed in order to illustrate how this concept can improve our ability to engage with emotional and political dynamics in the management classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a sample of 229 nonfamily employees working in 52 small family-owned businesses, we examined the relationships between owner-managers’ leadership style and employees’ psychological ownership of the family business and their job. We also examined whether psychological ownership mediated the link between leadership style and employees’ organizational attitudes and behaviors. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis confirmed transformational and transactional leadership as contextual facilitators of psychological ownership for the family business and for the job. Passive (laissez-faire) leadership was negatively related to employees’ ownership feelings for the family business. Psychological ownership of the organization and the job mediated the relationship between leadership style and affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. In addition, feelings of psychological ownership for the family business mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Implications for research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision making is a fundamental activity for managers; however, satisfying the information needs of Chinese managers for decision making remains a challenge. In recent years, academic research on the development and application of Decision Support Systems (DSS) in China has grown quickly, but relatively little is known about the adoption and use of DSS in Chinese enterprises. In this paper, we explore the information behaviour with respect to decision making, drawing on data obtained from qualitative interviews with 18 Chinese managers and a large scale survey of 296 managers. We find that DSS is not extensively used in Chinese enterprises. Most managers show little interest in or need for using formal DSS tools in their management decision making, instead choosing either to rely on existing Information Systems (IS) applications with similar functionality considered to be adequate for decision support or to eschew formal IS tools altogether, simply relying on their own mental faculties. We discuss the reasons for this non-extensive-use of DSS in the Chinese context and then make recommendations for how DSS could be effectively used by managers who are familiar with both principles of information management and the decision context so as to contribute to a firm’s long term success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. This study tested a repeated-measures application of the Leading by Example (LBE) questionnaire, a self-report instrument measuring organizational leadership support for health promotion. Design. The efficacy of the LBE was tested, in a quasi-experimental health promotion, intervention trial. Twelve worksites were assigned to three intervention conditions (i.e., control, moderate, high intensity). Setting. The worksites were selected from a large U.S.-based chemical company. Subjects. Baseline data were collected from employees in various job roles in 2005 (N = 125). Follow-up data were collected in 2006 (N = 114) and 2007 (N = 106). Response rates ranged from 54% to nearly three-fourths of potential respondents. Intervention. Worksites assigned to both treatment conditions received changes in the built, environment via supports for weight management. Worksites assigned to the intense condition received additional elements designed to impact leadership's support for a positive health promotion climate. Measures. Four LBE factors measuring management support for health were assessed over time. Analysis. The Kruskal-Wallis H-test and analyses of variance/covariance were used to compare LBE scores. Results. Significant changes from baseline to 2006 were identified for the four factors (p = .000) of the LBE. No significant changes were found from 2006 to 2007. Conclusions. The LBE effectively captured perceptions of management support for health. Researchers and practitioners alike should consider using the LBE to track and evaluate perceptions of management support for health promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Miles and Snow's typology as a measure for organizational approach toward innovation, this study investigates the effect of CEOs' attitudes toward change on the extent of emphasis on innovation in competitive strategies. The data come from multiple respondents at nonprofit organizations and are gathered in a manner that eliminates the possibility of common method variance, a problem that has plagued past studies linking executives' attitudes and organization-level innovation. The findings suggest that organizations headed by CEOs with more liberal attitudes toward change follow prospector strategies characterized by high levels of exploration to develop innovations. Meanwhile, organizations managed by CEOs who have more conservative attitudes toward change were found to focus more on defender strategies that exploit existing advantages rather than innovations. Increasing CEO tenure was found to positively moderate this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The recovery of marketing’s “seat at the boardroom table” is determined in part by the satisfaction of senior executives with marketing’s contribution to firm performance. This study of senior executives in high-technology firms examines the relationship between top management perceptions of marketing performance measurement ability and marketing’s stature within the firm. Confirming and extending earlier studies, results indicate that marketing enjoys a higher status among top management when it is perceived to be accountable. Findings underpin the importance of current research attention on marketing accountability and metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the national evaluation culture of Romania from the perspective of shared values by contributors to the establishment of evaluation capacity. The author discusses differences in the values shared by the evaluation managers and by the evaluators, as well as the values that are and are not shared by the majority.

This article explores workplace bullying in Britain and Sweden. It compares and contrasts the patterns of bullying in the two countries, examines the attitudes and responses of employers and explores the different legal frameworks. It adopts a contextualized approach and explores the possibility of a connection between workplace bullying issues and the distinctive patterns of industrial relations in the two countries. The article draws on previously published material to examine these questions, suggesting possibilities for new empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand 'hardiness' as defined and operationalized by senior health executives, and to explore the options for increasing the hardiness of the health-care workforce. Previous research has shown that hardiness is important in the workplace as a means to reduce or avoid the negative impact of stress, which then has an association with the maintenance of individual health. Hardiness has been thought to play an important role in assisting health-care workers deal with emotional and stressful work environments. In depth interviews were conducted with senior managers in a Victorian health service to explore hardiness and determine whether the senior executives had identified hardiness as a factor related to performance, how they recognized it within their staff and how hardiness might be enhanced within the organization. The senior managers were able to identify hardy members of their staff, whom they largely described as high performers. We argue that there is opportunity to strengthen health-care organizations by identifying and supporting hardy staff members. Our findings suggest that health-care organizations can teach the concept of hardiness, select hardy employees and develop strategies to assist employees to increase their levels of hardiness in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Third party contracting has fundamentally changed the relationship clients and consumers of social services have with state government and its agencies Because state legislatures have load shed service delivery responsibilities onto third party vendors social workers need to be more involved with administrative officials in the executive branch. This descriptive analysis examines the role of the social worker and ways social workers can become engaged in effective state-level executive policy development A model for practice is presented that seeks to contribute to existing literature through increasing social workers' awareness and involvement in advocacy practice. Critical to successful advocacy is knowledge about key targets in the executive branch and their roles Tactical strategies for advocacy, with examples, are included [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on recent research that stresses the important role of managers in the adoption process of telehomeworking, or telecommuting, this study examines the influence of the institutional context on managers' attitude formation. Drawing on large-scale survey data from 96 CEOs and 380 HR managers in Dutch organizations, we show that normative and mimetic pressures affect managers' beliefs, which are reflected in their perceptions of the relative (dis)advantage of telehomeworking. We also find that the perceived improvements of work outcomes and perceived social costs/benefits vary among managers from different 'occupational communities'. CEOs' beliefs are more susceptible to mimetic pressures, while HR managers' attitudes towards telehomeworking are positively fed by pressures from their occupational community. These findings support the view that current debates on work--life initiatives' diffusion and organizational changes in relation to these initiatives should pay much more attention to the importance of the institutional environment and managers' subcultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether managers' values intensities and self-concept salience influence their altruistic leadership behavior and performance. Hypotheses derived from the goal hierarchy model of personality and the positive psychology literatures were tested using multisource data. Two hundred and eighteen managers reported their self-transcendence and self-enhancement values intensity and hoped-for and feared possible selves. Nine-hundred and thirty-five subordinates rated their manager's altruistic behavior and 218 superiors provided ratings of managerial performance. Results of partial least squares analysis indicated that managers' collective self salience partially mediated the relationships between self-transcendence and self-enhancement values intensity and altruistic behavior. Subordinates' ratings of managers' altruistic behavior predicted superiors' ratings of managerial performance. Managers' self-monitoring moderated the relationships between self-construals, altruistic behavior, and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]