Socially and privately optimal shareholder activism

This paper aims to evaluate the private and social gains of shareholder activism in an optimal contracting framework involving dispersed shareholders who may become active. The social gains are based on the welfare to stake holders in the firm, whereas the private gains are based on shareholder wealth only. Active shareholders influence the contracting game with the CEO, and therefore also the size and the distribution of the surplus to be split between the shareholders and the CEO. Although the model is very simple and focussing on the creation and distribution of welfare between the shareholders and the CEO, we nonetheless identify surprising divergence between the private and social profitability of shareholder activism. Shareholder activism that is privately profitable is not necessarily socially profitable. The distributional effects of shareholder activism may dominate the efficiency effects to make shareholder activism a negative social NPV project.      

Recalibrating Management: Feminist Activism to Achieve Equality in an Evolving University

In this paper we examine the process of incorporating gender equality into a higher education institution as it evolves into a managerial university. The case illustrates the ongoing processes between structure, activism and features of gender equality, and provides insights into how activists adapt to changes in governance and influence managerial responses to equality. Tracing the interaction of employee activism with new managerialism over nearly two decades, four phases of change are identified. These provide a basis for generating two concepts – managerial recalibration and individual activism – while challenging the social abeyance hypothesis of social movements.     

Organizational interventions: A research-based framework for the evaluation of both process and effects

Abstract

Organizational interventions are often recommended when organizations want to improve employee psychological health and well-being. Research, however, has revealed inconsistent results and reviewers have called for research on why interventions either bring about desired change or fail to do so. Answering the “how” and “why” of intervention outcomes requires a close examination of the elements that hinder or facilitate desired outcomes, thus moving beyond evaluation of only the overall effects. In this paper, we present an evaluation framework based on recent intervention research and process-oriented organization theory. The framework offers suggestions for which elements to include when evaluating organizational interventions. Within the framework, elements crucial to intervention evaluation are grouped into four overarching categories that we argue are crucial to evaluation over the five phases of an intervention programme. These categories are: the organizational “actors”; the mental models of those actors; the context of the intervention; and intervention design and process. Evaluation during the process as well as of the overall effects, as recommended by this framework, should throw light on what works for whom, why, how and under which circumstances.     

Decoding the Signal Effects of Job Candidate Attraction to Corporate Social Practices

This article seeks to go beyond the implied assumption from previous research that job candidate attraction to corporate social practices is equivalent across individuals. To this end, we propose a framework for categorizing individuals' attraction to different corporate social performance profiles. Our framework is grounded in relational models theory and Mitroff's model of managers' “ideal organizations.” An inductive approach was used to elaborate upon the model and assess the extent to which candidates preferences vary. Data were collected from prospective job seekers regarding their attraction to social practices that benefit or harm various stakeholders, and these responses were used to develop profiles of job candidates' attraction to distinct profiles of organizations' social practices. The results provide a guide for managers who wish to improve the likelihood that an organization's social practices reflect what is best about its culture.     

Research on Markets for Inventions and Implications for R&D Allocation Strategies

Several streams of literature have examined the phenomenon of “markets for inventions”, that is, the trade of elements of knowledge which are “disembodied” from individuals, organizations, and products. The aims of this paper are to bring together the various streams of research in this area and discuss their major assumptions and limitations, in order to provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the phenomenon, and identify promising paths for future research. We start our review by identifying the object of market exchange—that is, an invention whose knowledge has been codified and disembodied from individuals, organizations, or artifacts. We then identify those factors that enable firms to trade inventions, distinguishing between institutional-, firm-, and industry-level factors. We close our analysis of the extant literature by discussing the implications of markets for inventions for firm behavior and performance. Against this background, we highlight an important avenue for future research. A neglected implication of the development of invention markets is that firms are confronted with a wide variety of technological paths from which to choose, because the opportunity to acquire technologies on the market offers them a greater variety that can their internal R&D departments. However, the streams of research on markets for inventions and on R&D allocation strategies have been surprisingly disconnected so far. Hence, in the final section, we start to establish and explore the link between these literatures, and to identify a research agenda in this domain.     

和谐管理理论指导下的合法性与独特性动态平衡机制研究

针对组织制定发展战略时不可避免的合法性与独特性权衡问题,基于和谐管理理论,选取案例研究的方法,探究组织如何实现最低合法性基础上的最优独特性。研究表明:“系统性整体设计、和谐主题制定与调整、围绕和谐主题的谐则-和则体系优化及动态耦合”可作为组织实现最低合法性基础上的最优独特性的指导性研究框架。此外,阐述了西交利物浦大学处理“求同还是存异”问题的办学实践与该研究框架的融合,于整体化的视角提出了独特性与合法性的权衡过程是一个有限干预下复杂系统的设计和演化问题。     

Generations in organizations

Despite a rich tradition of scholarship across many disciplines, organizational research on the topic of generations has been relatively scarce. In this article we develop a framework for studying generations in organizations that draws on multiple conceptualizations across multiple disciplines. Our framework distills two distinct critical elements that give ‘generations’ agency in organizational settings – chronology (the idea that a unique location in time creates a ‘generation’) and genealogy (the idea that generations are linked through the transmission/descent of ideas/values/skills/knowledge). After an historic overview of the evolution of the topic of generations, we review generational research across the fields of political sociology, family sociology, psychology, social anthropology, cultural sociology, demography, and gerontology. Our framework elucidates how linkages between generations, based on chronology and genealogy, can be characterized in organizations and how the nature of intergenerational contact and transfer predicts a wide range of organizational outcomes such as change/innovation, conflict, turnover, and socialization. We outline the implications of this framework for future research on generations in organizations.     

POM Forum: Transfer of Changing Production Know‐How

Even with the rich literature on knowledge management, we still don't know enough about how the rate of change in production‐know‐how affects the choice of mechanisms for its transfer. Codifying tacit know‐how helps, but codification becomes more challenging as the know‐how changes more frequently. Transfer of tacit know‐how becomes much more complicated when it changes often. We need more research in this area, particularly to help production and operations managers who must ultimately use the new know‐how and change their companies' production processes. The paper suggests a framework as a step in that direction. The framework focuses on the interplay between the level of codification and the rate of change of production know‐how, and identifies four zones for classifying production know‐how: “slow and codified,” “slow and tacit,” “fast and codified,” and “fast and tacit.” Examples from McDonald̂s, Club Med, Intel, and AOL are used to illustrate primary transfer mechanisms for each zone (manuals and systems, people, joint‐development, and projects, respectively). Appropriate absorptive capacities in the production units for each zone are also identified. Since the ultimate responsibility of operations managers is to improve (i.e., change) their production know‐how as fast as possible, they would be wise to adopt policies that are closer to those suited for the “fast and codified” zone. Intel and Toyota show good models.     

Employee Misuse of Information Technology Resources: Testing a Contemporary Deterrence Model

Recent research in information systems and operations management has considered the positive impacts of information technology (IT). However, an undesirable side effect of firms’ increasing reliance on IT to support the distribution and delivery of goods and services to customers is a greater exposure to a diverse set of IT security risks. One such risk is intentional employee misuse of technology resources. In this article, we draw upon modern deterrence frameworks to develop a predictive model of technology misuse intention that incorporates formal and informal sanctions as well as employment context factors. The model specifies previously untested relationships between formal and informal sanctions, thereby providing fresh insight into the role of sanctions in deterring technology misuse in organizations. Our results suggest that a predisposition toward the need for social approval and moral beliefs regarding the behavior are key determinants of technology misuse. Contrary to criminological research that has questioned the relative importance of formal sanctions in the deterrence process, we also found that the threat of formal sanctions has both direct and indirect influences on technology misuse intention. Further, from an employment context standpoint, employees who spend more working days away from the office (i.e., “virtual” mode) appear more inclined to misuse their organization's technology resources. The findings have implications for the research and practice of technology management.     

社会危机背景下的联结行动说服策略研究 ——基于社交媒体中的用户生成内容文本分析

近年来的社会危机事件表明,社交媒体平台已成为传播信息、开展联结行动的主流社会报道工具。基于决策与推理的双系统说服模型—启发式与系统式处理,本文通过微博平台定量地探讨了联结行动中积极分子的用户生成内容(UGC)与公众参与间的复杂关系。借鉴道德判断和认知加工文献,视道德呼吁内容为启发式线索,功利呼吁内容为系统式线索,考察其重要性,并从情绪唤醒的角度研究了社会危机中常见的两种消极离散情感:焦虑和悲伤。利用两个不同社会危机期间(2016年魏则西事件和2018年泰国沉船事件)的数据集,结合机器学习算法与负二项回归模型,发现两类呼吁性内容均可刺激普通用户作为扩散者参与联结行动。同时,嵌入在UGC中的悲伤情绪增加了道德呼吁的重要性,而焦虑情绪则促进了功利呼吁的正向影响。实证结果对联结行动的行动者、危机管理者和应急救援部门都具有重要的现实意义。     

Stakeholder Reporting: The Role of Intermediaries

Corporate social responsibility encompasses a multiplicity of different concepts, such that its nature is confused, and it remains difficult to operationalize because opening dialogue with and responding to the various expectations of diverse stakeholders is beyond the capacity of many companies. This paper adapts Mayston's normative “information beneficiaries” framework and focuses on intermediaries who might potentially use published financial information to open a restricted form of dialogue with companies, which might benefit unsophisticated stakeholders. The paper examines the Mayston framework using interviews conducted in organizations that might act on behalf of three stakeholder groups associated with gas and electricity suppliers in the United Kingdom, these being: consumers, employees, and the environment. While a long chain of communication exists between utility company and stakeholder, and many organizations do not fulfill their full potential as information intermediaries, there is some evidence that Mayston's framework might well operate in practice.     

Non‐financial Shareholder Activism: A Process Model for Influencing Corporate Environmental and Social Performance*

Shareholders have become increasingly active in endeavouring to influence companies’ environmental and social practices. In comparison with the mature field of financially motivated shareholder activism, limited enquiries have been carried out on its non‐financial counterparts. This paper synthesizes the knowledge base through a review of the academic literature, exploring shareholder activism intended to affect corporate environmental and social performance. Theoretical perspectives appropriate to this phenomenon are critically appraised: in particular, insights from social movement theory, Hirschman's theory of exit, voice and loyalty and stakeholder salience theory, as well as the roles of signalling and symbolic management actions. Data from the literature are organized into a process model of non‐financial shareholder influence. Underpinned by the influencing context, this conceptualization centres on three primary shareholder interventions: divestment, dialogue and shareholder proposals. These interventions are enabled through a range of actors and tools: coalitions, non‐governmental organizations, codes and indices, the media and regulators. The interaction between interventions and the enabling actors and tools helps to determine managers’ perceptions of shareholder salience. These perceptions subsequently shape the organizational behaviours that affect companies’ symbolic and substantive environmental and social performance. An agenda to direct future research in this burgeoning field is articulated.     

The shifting landscape of LGBT organizational research

Over the past generation, sexual minorities—particularly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons—have gained increased visibility in the public arena. Yet organizational research has lagged behind in recognizing and studying this category of organizational members. This article offers a critical review of this growing body of research. More specifically, we identify and discuss four dominant scholarly frames that have informed LGBT organizational research from the late nineteenth century to date. The frames include a “medical abnormality,” “deviant social role,” “collective identity,” and “social distinctiveness” view of sexual minorities. We argue that these frames have profoundly shaped the scope and range of organizational scholarship devoted to sexual minorities by showing that scholars using such contrasted frames have been drawn to very different research questions with respect to sexual minorities. We document and discuss the main and contrasted questions asked within each of these frames and show how they have both enabled and constrained LGBT organizational research. We conclude by calling for more attention to the frames organizational scholars adopt when studying sexual minorities, but also for more research on both minority and majority sexual orientations in organizations.     

Union Activism,Workers’ Satisfaction and Organizational Change

Abstract. This paper investigates the reaction of active union members towards workplace organizational changes. We use micro‐data from a large firm and estimate an empirical model which deals explicitly with the potential endogeneity of the union activist status. The data indicate that workers who become union activists are more likely to complain than members. Moreover, after proper allowance is made for the endogeneity of union activism, we find this effect to be reinforced. This result suggests that activists are not inherently against organizational changes, as compared to non‐activists, though they report higher dissatisfaction in anticipation of the greater loss in union rents that is likely to be associated with the change.     

Soziale Kompetenz – was ist das?

Within modern organizations, the ability to interact socially competent represents one of everybody’s main tasks. This article looks into the concept of “social skills” and deals with the question whether there is a common understanding on the concept of “social skills” in the German speaking area. To that purpose, the landscape of (scientific) literature was studied to find out about differences and similarities in definition, within and between the different disciplines. In a comparative presentation, these similarities and differences are demonstrated in scientific discourse. Finally, considerations for the practical implementation of advising organizations are negotiated.     

Navigating the Life Cycle of Trust in Developing Economies: One‐size Solutions Do Not Fit All

Trust is critical to the development and maintenance of collaborative and cohesive relationships in societies, broadly, and in organizations, specifically. At the same time, trust is highly dependent on the social context in which it occurs. Unfortunately, existing research involving trust remains somewhat limited to a particular set of developed economies, providing a window to explore a culture's stage of economic development as a key contextual determinant of trust within organizations. In this article, we review the state of the scholarship on trust and identify those qualities of trust that are common in organizations at similar stages of economic development, referred to as its etic aspects. We then also distinguish those elements of trust that are, to the contrary, culturally specific or emic in nature. We structure our discussion around the “life cycle of trust” (i.e., the creation, maintenance, and postfracture repair of trust) and consider unique factors in its application to developing economies. In doing so, we ground our examination in expository examples through field experience in Haiti. We conclude with the proposal of a framework for future research oriented toward the resolution of remaining theoretical and empirical queries as they relate to trust in developing economies.     

Chemicals,companies, and countries: The concept of diffusion in management research

In the field of organizational behavior, the term “diffusion” has come to be implicitly paired with the concept of innovation and a peculiar set of conceptual choices. We explore how this came about, and examine the evolution of the concept “diffusion” from its inception in the English language through its use in the natural and social sciences to its current meaning in organizational research. A sensemaking perspective on researchers’ cognition helps us explain the changing meaning of the concept, and alerts researchers to the subtle but far-reaching effects of revisions in a field's conceptual language. Even though the field of organizational studies ostensibly treats diffusion as a neutral phenomenon, it implicitly narrates diffusion as a mechanical and positive process that should be welcomed and encouraged. The implications of this reframing become even more important with the increasing focus on innovation in recent diffusion studies. The diffusion of new products among consumers and the diffusion of market institutions around the world are things of a rather different nature and consequence, but treating them as implicitly equivalent “innovations” that “diffuse” naturalizes and hence legitimates them. We conclude by noting implications of our findings for exploring the evolution of meaning for other concepts, and their utilization in research on organizations.     

Organizational Identity Formation and Change

Theory and research concerning organizational identity (“who we are as an organization”) is a burgeoning domain within organization study. A great deal of conceptual and empirical work has been accomplished within the last three decades—especially concerning the phenomenon of organizational identity change. More recently, work has been devoted to studying the processes and content associated with identity formation. Given the amount of scholarly work done to date, it is an appropriate time to reflect on the perspectives, controversies and outcomes of this body of work. Because organizational identity change has received the preponderance of attention, we first review that extensive literature. We consider the conceptual and empirical work concerning the three putative “pillars” of identity (i.e. that which is ostensibly central, enduring, and distinctive). We devote particular attention to the most controversial of these pillars—the debate pitting a view that sees identity as stable over time (a position we term as the “enduring identity proposition”) and a contrasting stance that sees identity as more changeable (the “dynamic identity proposition”). Following our review of the identity change literature, we next take up a review of the notably smaller compendium of work on identity formation. We consider the conceptual and empirical work devoted to studying the external influences on, as well as the internal resources used, to fashion a nascent identity. Finally, we discuss in more depth the controversies associated with the pillars of identity, assess the four prevalent views on organizational identity (the social construction, social actor, institutionalist, and population ecologist views), assimilate the research on both identity formation and change, and consider the prospects for future work on both phenomena.     

Social media? It's serious! Understanding the dark side of social media

Research and practice have mostly focused on the “bright side” of social media, aiming to understand and help in leveraging the manifold opportunities afforded by this technology. However, it is increasingly observable that social media present enormous risks for individuals, communities, firms, and even for society as a whole. Examples for this “dark side” of social media include cyberbullying, addictive use, trolling, online witch hunts, fake news, and privacy abuse. In this article, we aim to illustrate the multidimensionality of the dark side of social media and describe the related various undesirable outcomes. To do this, we adapt the established social media honeycomb framework to explain the dark side implications of each of the seven functional building blocks: conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, groups, and identity. On the basis of these reflections, we present a number of avenues for future research, so as to facilitate a better understanding and use of social media.