Disengagement in Open Innovation: A Cognitive Perspective

The central tenet of open innovation (OI) is that useful knowledge is widely distributed. By purposively engaging in knowledge sourcing and sharing (KSS) activities, organisations can create and capture value through collaborative exchange with others. Organising for OI relies on the assumption that individual managers tasked to bring it to fruition will enact behavioural responses conducive to external KSS. However, understanding what characterises and informs managers’ disengagement in OI remains an unresolved challenge. The interactions between managers’ in-role demands in OI and their self-concept, which guide behavioural responses, are under-investigated. Drawing on cognitive dissonance theory (CDT), this article conceptualises the sources of managerial dissonance and situates discussions on underlying influencing mechanisms, culminating towards a cognitive model of disengagement in OI. Bridging OI, psychology and management literature, hypotheses are developed to stimulate investigations into what characterises and influences managers’ disengagement in OI. Managerial implications are discussed to curate approaches that can help manage managerial dissonance in order to attain the desired organisational OI goals.     

Impact of marital and psychological distress on therapeutic alliance in couples undergoing couple therapy

In this study, we describe the psychometric properties of the Couple Therapy Alliance Scale--revised (CTAS-r) and investigates the impact of marital and psychiatric distress on alliance. Seventy-nine couples in therapy completed a French version of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and of the Psychiatric Symptoms Index at session one, and a French version of the CTAS-r at session three. Results indicate that the French version of the CTAS-r has adequate psychometric properties, although the subscales of the instrument are highly intercorrelated. Furthermore, marital adjustment predicts alliance scores, whereas psychiatric symptoms do not. Finally, male marital adjustment and female psychiatric symptoms are lower in couples where spouses have divergent perceptions of the alliance. Future research directions are discussed.     

Making corporate governance count: the fusion of ethics and economic rationality

Corporate governance codes extensively appeal to ethical standards of conduct. Rather than being articulated alongside economic axioms, ethical and moral precepts are intertwined within neo-classical economic argumentation across corporate governance standards. This paper explores the fusion between ethics and modern economic rationality and reflects on the scientisation of economics and ethics in academic discourse. The argument is then made that the enlistment of ethics within the epistemologically privileged posture of economics characterises corporate governance codes. The UK Combined Corporate Governance Code of 2006 is analysed to draw out the paper’s contention.