Intermediaries in the relevance-gap debate: A systematic review of consulting roles

A highly contested issue in management science is its relevance to practice. Despite third parties’ potentially significant role in changing the interaction between divided parties, the long-standing literature on the relevance gap has paid third parties little systematic attention. Drawing on a boundary-spanning perspective, and the concept of brokerage in particular, we review how the consultant role is discussed as an intermediary third party between management science and management practice. Based on a systematic literature review of 133 articles, we identify different intermediary consultant roles linking management science to management practice. Our findings detail how the practices associated with intermediary consultant roles performed by academics or practitioners relate to several key relevance criteria, how management knowledge flows when including intermediaries and how intermediaries in different roles relate to different audiences. Based on the findings, we develop a third-party model of intermediary consultant roles and knowledge flows. The model indicates the theoretical significance of third parties in shaping the interaction and knowledge flows between management science and management practice and has theoretical implications for understanding the persistence of the relevance gap. Regarding practical implications, we suggest how management scientists could target third parties as new key practitioner audiences. Considering third parties, and thus moving away from a two-party view, opens up promising directions for further research on the roles and role shifts of various intermediary actors and on how different intermediary audiences may appreciate different types of academic knowledge.     

Venture Capital Investment Opportunities in Biodiversity Markets

A consumer-driven change in commodity markets has generated the birth of a number of emerging markets for products and services. These markets represent an alternative to traditional management of natural resources that have destroyed our biodiversity. Organic production, ecotourism, sustainable fisheries, sustainably harvested forest products,are all sectors with a positive link with biodiversity. The markets for these products and services have all emerged as a reaction to consumer demand, influenced by awareness campaigns, and have developed through the participation of independent certifiers.Biodiversity-linked markets are still small and informal in many ways. However, as this article will show, the number of participants, volumes traded and degree of institutional organization are growing at incredibly fast rates. In our opinion, these markets present interesting investment opportunities for current players in the markets, as well as for smart venture capitalists. We describe each biodiversity-linked market, the main players (producers, traders, certifiers and retailers), under what rules they operate, and why, in our opinion, they present interesting investment opportunities. We illustrate our argument with some example of investments undertaken through the fund management activities of A2R, specifically through the management of Terra Capital.¹     

“To thine own self be true”: The effects of enactment and life storytelling on perceived leader authenticity

Although researchers have emphasized the importance of antecedents to the construct of authentic leadership, very little empirical research exists to confirm this notion. Combining theoretical approaches from dramaturgy and narrative research, we were able to identify possible antecedents that help followers perceive a leader's authenticity. Using two online experimental designs, we analyzed the concept of perceived leader authenticity. Specifically, we examined how a leader's enactment—that is, a leader's physical actions—(Study 1, n = 105) and a combination of leader enactment and life storytelling (Study 2, n = 334) influenced followers' perceptions of the leader's authenticity, and how this may impact leadership outcomes. The results of these studies, in which leader enactment in the context of authentic leadership was operationalized for the first time, indicate that leader enactment predicts perceived leader authenticity. Life storytelling, however, only partially predicted followers' perceptions of the leader's authenticity. Findings further revealed that followers' trust in the leader and positive emotions are outcomes of perceived leader authenticity. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Beyond Authenticity? Humanism,Posthumanism and New Organization Development

In recent debates, the relevance of traditional objectivist organization development (OD) approaches has been questioned in terms of their appropriateness for contemporary organizations. A new OD has emerged wherein change is viewed as a socially constructed process and where there are multiple rather than singular authentic possibilities. We explore these possibilities by drawing on employees' discussions of how they manage conflicting interpretations of organizational change. Using the example of emotional labour, we compare traditional and new OD approaches in terms of how they view authenticity and then discuss posthumanist analysis, in which authenticity (or lack thereof) is no longer of focal concern. In particular, under traditional OD, where authenticity can be ‘discovered’, the need to negotiate multiplicity and to downplay ‘negative’ responses is a problem to be addressed. Under new OD such multiplicity becomes data for dialogue and discussion of future potentials. In contrast, a posthumanist analysis, while relational, neither reframes nor tempers authenticity but decentres the very notion of autonomy on which authenticity is based. The social constructionism of new OD is recast and implications for theory and intervention are discussed.     

Knowing me,knowing us: Personal and collective self-awareness enhances authentic leadership and leader endorsement

In the present research, we examine how two aspects of leader self-awareness — namely, leader awareness of their (a) personal identity and (b) collective (group) identity — influence perceptions of authentic leadership and leader endorsement. Study 1 provides experimental evidence that (a) leader personal self-awareness has a somewhat stronger impact on perceptions of their authentic leadership than leader collective self-awareness, but that (b) leader collective self-awareness has a stronger impact on leader endorsement. These findings are replicated in a second field study with political leaders, and in a third experimental study with workplace supervisors. Results suggest that for leaders to be seen as authentic and garner support, they need to be seen as aware not only of who they are as individuals, but also of who they are as members of the collective they seek to lead. Implications for theories of the nature of self, authenticity, and leadership are discussed.     

Enacting the ‘true self’: Towards a theory of embodied authentic leadership

This paper argues that although authentic leadership may be rooted in the notion of a ‘true self’, it is through the embodiment of that ‘true self’ that leaders are perceived as authentic or not. In making this claim, we consider ways in which a somatic sense of self contributes to the felt sense of authenticity, and how through engaging with somatic cues, leadership can be performed in a way which is experienced as authentic, both to the leader and to those he or she seeks to lead. In developing our ideas further, we draw from the acting theory of Stanislavski (1936a, 1936b, 1961) to explore how authentic dramatic performances are created, focusing on the role of emotional memory, the magic ‘if’ and physical action in performances. We propose three key components of a resulting theory of how embodied authentic leadership is created: self exposure, relating, and making leaderly choices.     

Only human: Exploring the nature of weakness in authentic leadership

While the construct of authentic leadership includes the nondefensive recognition of weaknesses as well as strengths, scholars rarely hypothesize the role weaknesses play in strengthening authenticity and the effectiveness of authentic leaders. We begin by exploring possible unintended consequences of an overly positive strength based view of authentic leadership. We then propose that there are weaknesses associated with cognitive abilities, motivation, social cognition and group dynamics that spring from the need to belong that are part and parcel of human nature such that their integration into one's sense of authenticity not only enhances the authentic leadership attributes of self-awareness, balanced processing, moral indentify and relational transparency but also benefits those who are led. We end with suggestions for future research on these attributes supplementing existing measures of authentic leadership with the use of implicit measures, promising assessment instruments and idiographic techniques.     

Managing Socially-Responsible Buying:: How to Integrate Non-economic Criteria into the Purchasing Process

Companies are increasingly scrutinized by various audiences and are made accountable not only for their internal practices, but also for their suppliers’ behavior. Many purchasing managers and executives are not accustomed to seeing the purchasing function receive so much attention from different parties. As a result, a number of them do not know how to embrace the trend toward socially responsible buying (SRB). The present paper offers a helping hand by (1) shedding some light on the nature of SRB and (2) explaining how companies can incorporate social responsibility criteria into their purchasing decisions.     

THIRD-PARTY REACTIONS TO EMPLOYEE (MIS)TREATMENT: A JUSTICE PERSPECTIVE

To date, theory and research on organizational justice has tended to focus on the victim’s (i.e. the employee’s) perspective; the third party’s perspective has received relatively little systematic attention. In this chapter we develop a model describing how third parties make fairness judgments about an employee’s (mis)treatment by an organization or its agents (including supervisors and peers). Our model also identifies factors that can predict whether third parties will act on their unfairness perceptions. We identify several distinctions between the victim’s and third party’s perspectives. We conclude by explaining how the third party’s perspective offers numerous opportunities and challenges for research.     

“行高人非”:旁观者不道德侵害“好公民”的原因及其机制探析

组织公民行为是组织成功的关键因素。现有研究主要以"好公民"为视角,探讨了组织公民行为的前因与后果,至今少见从第三方(旁观者)视角的组织公民行为研究。对旁观者而言,他们可能对"好公民"的组织公民行为本身、动机以及结果形成负面认知,因而可能做出伤害"好公民"的不道德行为。为系统探讨组织公民行为的这种不道德旁观者效应及其机制,本研究提出了在"认知-情感-行为"框架下研究"旁观者不道德侵害好公民"之问题的新思路,分别依据社会比较理论、情感事件理论以及归因理论分析了这一现象的原因和过程机制。这一前瞻性的探索工作,不仅剖析了旁观者为什么以及如何对"好公民"做出不道德行为,而且也为研究"组织公民行为的黑暗面"探究了一种新的可能方向,推动了组织公民行为的理论发展和创新。     

A reconceptualization of authentic leadership: Leader legitimation via follower-centered assessment of the moral dimension

We explore some challenges that face authentic leadership scholarship including problems related to how the construct is understood and measured. We present a model of authentic leadership that looks at it, not as a leadership style, but as an outcome of a legitimation process. Authentic leadership represents legitimated follower perceptions of a leader's authenticity which are activated by moral judgments. We explain how a follower-centered assessment of the moral component helps explain leadership dynamics in situations involving ethical relativism, thus alleviating concerns regarding the presumed moral component of the construct. The overlap between leaders' and followers' value systems leads to impressions of authenticity, even in cases in which there are no clear universal moral standards. An authentic person's behavior cannot be labeled as “leadership” unless it is embraced by a follower who grants moral legitimacy to the leader. We then discuss the implications of our study for scholars and practitioners.     

渠道结构对第三方负责回收闭环供应链的影响

研究了四种渠道结构对第三方负责回收闭环供应链的影响。分别建立了四种再制造闭环供应链模型,给出了这些模型的最优零售价格、批发价格、回收比例以及各方的最优利润,并对这四种模型进行了比较分析。研究发现回收方制定回收策略时需考虑回收品价格和回收努力成本的大小,闭环供应链中任意两方的战略联盟有利于另外一方利润的增加,而且,闭环供应链中的任意两方都有战略联盟的动机。     

Asset Management Performance and Reputation Building for Large US Firms

Corporate audiences construct the reputation of firms by interpreting informational signals about the firms from various monitors. Of importance to these parties are signals about asset management. The results of our empirical study of 114 large US firms supported the general hypothesis that corporate audiences construct reputations on the basis of information about firms' asset management performance, specifically using market and accounting signals indicating size of the assets, market assessment of the value of the assets in place, asset turnover and profit margin.     

NORM ENFORCEMENT: ANGER,INDIGNATION, OR RECIPROCITY?

The enforcement of social norms often requires that unaffected third parties sanction offenders. Given the renewed interest of economists in norms, the literature on third‐party punishment is surprisingly thin. In this paper, we report the results of an experiment designed to replicate the anger‐based punishment of directly affected second parties and evaluate two distinct explanations for third‐party punishment: indignation and group reciprocity. We find evidence in favor of both, with the caveat that the incidence of indignation‐driven sanctions is perhaps smaller than earlier studies have hinted. Furthermore, our results suggest that second parties use sanctions to promote conformism while third parties intervene primarily to promote efficiency.     

Leader and follower attachment styles: Implications for authentic leader–follower relationships

Authentic leadership theory posits that the authenticity of leaders and followers is influenced by their personal histories. Attachment theory states that individuals have internal working models that are influenced by both early developmental experiences and relationships later in life. These models guide how people interact with close others and tend toward three styles of attachment: secure, insecure-ambivalent, and insecure-avoidant. We argue that securely attached persons are most likely to exhibit authentic leadership/followership. We review empirical work which suggests that secure attachment is positively related to each of the four components of authentic leadership/followership (self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective). We then develop an attachment-based typology for variations in authentic leader–follower relationships, with emphasis on relationships that include an insecurely attached party. Finally, we draw from the attachment and authentic leadership literatures to suggest interventions to foster the development of authentic leadership/followership, thereby enhancing authentic leader–follower relationships.     

Aesthetic leadership

We introduce aesthetic leadership as a promising approach in leadership studies. Two current movements in leadership research, the inclusion of followers in leadership models and the exploration of subjective leadership qualities, make taking an aesthetic perspective in leadership especially attractive and timely. Aesthetics relates to felt meaning generated from sensory perceptions, and involves subjective, tacit knowledge rooted in feeling and emotion. We believe the aesthetics of leadership is an important, but little understood, aspect of organizational life. For example, while we know followers must attribute leadership qualities such as charisma and authenticity to leaders to allow for social influence, we know little about how these processes operate. We propose that followers use their aesthetic senses in making these assessments. We relate aesthetic leadership to several current topics in leadership research, and outline the assumptions and methods of aesthetic leadership.     

An Operations Perspective on Product Take‐Back Legislation for E‐Waste: Theory,Practice, and Research Needs

Agrowing stream of environmental legislation enforces collection and recycling of used electrical and electronics products. Based on our experiences with producers coping with e‐waste legislation, we find that there is a strong need for research on the implications of such legislation from an operations perspective. In particular, as a discipline at the interface of systems design and economic modeling, operations focused research can be extremely useful in identifying appropriate e‐waste take‐back implementations for different business environments and how producers should react to them.     

Glaubwürdigkeit – Das Wesentliche wirken lassen,bis es wirkt

Credibility as an actor means credibility as a person. It has much more to do with reality than appearance, and isn’t just about pretending. Credible personalities convince as credible actors do: They draw from within and create a living connection with others. The most important prerequisite is trusting in your own identity by being rooted in authentic experiences, because every performance develops from inside a person regardless of content, form or methodology. The author describes her personal coaching approach where credibility and materiality are at the center. Furthermore, the credibility model proved to be valuable in transfer to other audiences.     

不同权力结构下供应链概率销售策略比较研究

考虑供应链不同权力结构，探讨产品概率销售问题，分析消费者对产品不完全匹配敏感程度、概率产品组合比例等因素变化对其所产生的影响，并对三种不同权力结构进行比较分析。从研究结果来看，三种不同权力结构下产品批发价格、边际利润有所不同，且消费者对产品不完全匹配敏感程度及概率产品组合比例变化均对其产生影响，但影响程度在不同权力结构下会不同。数值分析进一步表明，弱化消费者对产品不匹配敏感程度或提升消费者购买概率产品的不确定性将有利于供应链实施概率销售策略。     

The effects of crisis,cynicism about change,and value congruence on perceptions of authentic leadership and attributed charisma in the 2008 presidential election

The current study examines leadership in the context of the 2008 presidential election. Longitudinal data were collected across three regions of the United States to yield 414 responses. Perceptions of crisis were positively related to attributed charisma but not perceptions of authentic leadership. Value congruence moderated the relationship between cynicism and attributed charisma for Obama (but not for McCain) and between cynicism and perceptions of authentic leadership for McCain (but not for Obama). Attributed charisma was found to have augmenting effects over authenticity in predicting voting behavior. The contributions made to the charismatic, authentic, and crisis leadership literatures are discussed and directions for future research presented.