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The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between the implementation of Lean shop floor (LSF) practices and Lean supply chain management, and their effect on quality and inventory turnover.

A survey-based research method was conducted and data were collected from 110 plants located in Brazil. The research constructs were validated through rigorous procedures (unidimensionality and discriminant validity and reliability) through confirmatory factor analysis and two hypotheses were tested using ordinary least square regression.

The results indicate that: Lean supplier relationship positively moderates the effect of LSF practices on inventory turnover; Lean customer relationship negatively moderates the effect of LSF practices on inventory turnover; and Lean supplier relationship positively moderates the effect of LSF practices on quality.

From a theoretical perspective, the results of this study provide evidences supporting the importance of understanding the systemic relationships between Lean implementation at the shop floor and the firm’s relationships with supply chain partners, that was not tested before. As managerial implications, the results suggest that managers should take a decision to foster a Lean supply chain management depending on which performance metrics they need to improve: quality or inventory turnover.

This study aims to provide an overall framework that connects and explains a macro-perspective of the findings from the five studies of this special issue. Through this, we aim to answer two main questions: How can Lean and Industry 4.0 be integrated, and what are the outcomes for workers from such integration?

The special issue received 64 papers that were evaluated in multiple stages until this final sample of five papers that describe different facets of the integration between Lean and Industry 4.0 and their relationship with worker activities. In this introduction, we review the main findings of these five studies and propose an integrative view and associated propositions. A discussion provides directions to advance the field further.

The framework shows that when Lean and Industry 4.0 are integrated, companies will face two types of tensions, dialectical and paradoxical, which require different managerial approaches. By managing such tensions, the Lean-Industry 4.0 integration can help improve social performance, as well as develop systematic problem-solving and cumulative learning capabilities. Five important themes for this field of research are outlined: the importance of work routines, legitimation, competence, sense and mental flexibility.

This study brings a new theoretical perspective to the integration of Lean with Industry 4.0-related digital technologies. The results go beyond the usual view of improving operational performance and dig into the effects on workers. It also shows that the integration process relies on and can enhance human capabilities such as learning and problem-solving.

The database of the Web of Science (WoS) was searched for publications from January 1945–May 7, 2020 on the topic of domestic violence in titles, abstracts and keywords. The references were analyzed using the R bibliometrix package, and abstracts were analyzed using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) with collapsed Gibbs sampling to obtain topics related to domestic violence.

The aim of the study is to explore and provide an overview of research carried out on domestic violence, in its various aspects, over the past fifty years.

As a result of the research, the authors can assert that in the last fifty years, 32,298 authors have produced 19,495 documents on the theme of policing strategy and related subjects in 111 countries. Scientific production in this area grows at a rate of 12.81 per year. The United States of America is the leading country in publications with 48.14%, followed by the United Kingdom with 7.57% and Australia with 6.05%. Regarding universities, the highlight is the University of California with 664 publications, followed by the University of London with 515 and the University of North Carolina with 484. As for journals, the highlight is the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Journal of Family Violence and Violence Against Women, which account for more than 14.32% of all indexed literature. Regarding the authors, the highlight is Campbell J.C and Feder G. Probabilistic topic modeling revealed that 18% of the topics concentrate 90% of all tokens. Topic 1 accounts for 27.9% of the sample and conducts research related to intimate partner violence.

As a practical implication of using the LDA in the bibliographic review, we infer that its capacity to explore large masses of data allows the researcher to explore an infinitely greater amount than the traditional methods of systematic literature review.

The value of these studies is summarized in the presentation of an overview on the theme in the last fifty years, offering the opportunity for other researchers to use this research as a starting point for other analyses.

Given that an industrial cluster contains a high concentration of numerous stakeholders, a firm in an industrial cluster often ends up forming relationships with many of the stakeholders. The research questions are as follows: Does stakeholder-based management always lead to greater value creation? What are the moderators in this association? This paper proposes that although relationships with stakeholders can act as a “catalyst” for value-creation, they can also act as a “retardant.” A combination of (1) the strategic nature of the relationships and (2) the policy environment determines whether the relationships with stakeholders act as catalysts or retardants.

Using relationship-focused theory, a conceptual framework that adopts a relational view of stakeholder theory is developed. Given the high concentration of stakeholders in industrial clusters, the conceptual framework uses stakeholders in industrial clusters as a setting. A firm can form relationships with a variety of stakeholders in an industrial cluster. The strategic nature of a relationship with a stakeholder is assessed in terms of variations in strategic intent and intellectual spillover.

The key argument is the following: whether a relationship with a stakeholder becomes a catalyst or a retardant for value creation is contingent on the fit between the strategic nature of the relationship and the policy environment. For instance, in a probusiness policy environment, relying on relationships with stakeholders that maximize intellectual spillover can act as a catalyst for value creation. In contrast, in an antibusiness environment, not having to rely on intellectual spillover is a safer option.

Whereas the literature implicitly assumes that stakeholder theory has relational essence, the conceptual framework developed in this paper adopts a relational view of stakeholder theory in a very explicit way. This paper applies relationship-focused theory by making explicit the different forms of stakeholder relationships. Such an explicitly relational approach in theorizing can help in more in-depth research on the link between stakeholder relationships and value creation. The conceptual framework will allow future research to analyze value creation in an industrial cluster, especially in terms of how stakeholder relationships can act as either catalysts or retardants.

This paper aims to examine the role of social norms of justice and relationalism in salesperson–sales manager relationships, and their role in developing salesforce commitment and turnover.

This study uses structural equation modeling to analyze survey data from 402 business-to-business salespeople.

As discrete foundational norms, distributive, procedural and interactional (interpersonal, informational) justice develop higher-order norms of relationalism, which then reflect on increased commitment and reduced turnover intention of the salesforce. Among the justice norms, interpersonal justice has the strongest impact on relationalism.

The paper shows how each justice norm has a distinct impact in shaping relational norms, and that interpersonal justice has the highest impact. In addition, with enhanced relationalism salespeople become more committed and have lower turnover intentions. Future research could use a longitudinal study, present manager’s side in the model and measure and compare the impact of supervisor- versus organization-focused justice.

To enhance relationalism, and thus in turn increase commitment and decrease turnover intention of salesforce, sales managers should pay attention to the salespeople’s perceptions of justice norms (distributive, procedural, informational and interpersonal justice), especially interpersonal justice, as it has the highest impact on relationalism. The specific ways to enhance justice perceptions are discussed.

This paper is the first to show how each justice norm is unique in its importance to shape the relationship between sales manager and salespeople in a way that increases the quality of relational norms, governing the relational process into a highly committed one. It also shows that among the four justice norms, interactional justice has the highest impact on relationalism. In addition, this is the first study to show that relationalism decreases turnover intention of salespeople.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between strategic assets and the launch of new products in technology-based incubators (TBIs) in Brazil.

The authors applied two surveys, one for the universe of TBIs’ managers in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the other to the incubated firms’ managers/owners. Two statistical techniques were used: correlation analysis and multiple linear regression.

The main finding of this paper is that TBIs’ strategies focusing on the supply of knowledge assets and the creation of relationship assets are more effective than strategies focused only on the supply of physical infrastructure for firms located in incubators.

Because the sample of 100 respondents of incubated companies was the result of a non-probabilistic convenience sampling, the outcomes also cannot be generalized.

For managers of TBIs, there is a challenge to focus on the supply of intangible and high value added assets for incubated firms. For managers/owners of incubated firms, the authors provide an orientation to what they should seek or demand when deciding where to place their business in a TBI. For the government, the results of this research may help to formulate public policies to support and incentivize TBIs. For investors, the results can help to define where to seek the most innovative projects.

Innovation and entrepreneurship are understood as sources of wealth creation and social development.

The authors propose in this paper that there is a theoretical gap between traditional theories of innovation and entrepreneurship and the strategic behavior and performance of business incubators and their interconnected stakeholders. Here the authors seek to bridge this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss two important behaviors related to job mobility in the IT profession, namely, changing jobs to move to another organization (turnover) and changing the profession entirely (turnaway), during a national crisis. Based on the theoretical foundation of the push–pull–mooring perspective, a research model is developed that includes professional self-efficacy (PSE), job insecurity (JI) and job satisfaction (JS) as important antecedents.

Using a positivist approach and a survey method, the authors analyzed data from IT professionals from different economic segments in Brazil. Data collection occurred in two distinctive moments of the largest crisis in modern Brazilian history – a pre-awareness moment (first half of year 2015) and a crisis-conscious moment (first half of year 2016).

The findings reveal that PSE negatively influences JI and positively influences JS, JI positively influences turnaway intention, and JS negatively influences both turnover intention and turnaway intention. The effect of the national crisis was observed in that it further accentuated the intention of IT professionals to leave the profession. Another effect was related to age, as older professionals are less willing to turn over but more willing to turn away.

Besides developing a parsimonious model to study both the intention to leave the organization and the intention to leave the profession, the study sheds light on how IT professionals react to economic crises and how the reaction varies by age.

The study puts to question the common belief that IT professionals are secure in the job market due to high demand for their skills and investments made by organizations to keep them on the job. Employers must pay attention to JI and turnover/turnaway intentions.

This study is among the few to study JI and aspects of the theory of human migration in IT. It is also possibly the first to discuss the effects of a national crisis on the mobility patterns of IT professionals.

Firefighting can pose a number of psychological health risks due to the nature of the job. Previous studies have examined the relationship between distress symptoms in firefighters and factors such as age, experience in the service, workload, sleep and alcohol use. However, the relationship between risk factors and mental health problems in firefighters remains unclear. In the present study, the authors aim to assess mental distress among Muscat firefighters using the Brief Symptom Inventory-18. The authors expected that this research will allow researchers to determine the prevalence of mental distress among Muscat firefighters and assess the role of the above risk factors on the ratio.

The assessment includes the prevalence of anxiety, somatization and depression symptoms among firefighters. The impact of sociodemographic factors, sleep problems and smoking on symptomatic cases was also evaluated. Data was collected from 110 firefighters then processed as per instructions in the BSI-18 manual to identify clinical cases in each of the three scales of the assessment.

Results show that all factors influence the number of cases to different extents. Young, single firefighters with high school level education were found to have the highest number of extreme cases followed by those who are non-smokers and satisfied with their job. This study did not find a relationship between sleep disorder and job dissatisfaction with regard to the number of critical cases. The prevalence of anxiety, somatic and depression cases among firefighters was found to be 11.8%, 10.9% and 10%, respectively. These findings have implications for fire service work-organization policies and for the development and monitoring of treatment programs for firefighters.

This work presents a comprehensive assessment on common factors that may impact prevalence of mental distress among an underrepresented firefighter community. These findings have implications for fire service work-organization policies and for updating current monitoring programs or updating new programs for firefighters.

This paper aims to identify the role of blogs in helping women victims of intimate partner sexual violence to restore their self-integrity.

The authors’ research uses an interpretive stance, supported by motivational and “self” theories to analyze 33 blogs reporting the experiences of women in Brazil who suffered sexual violence perpetrated by an intimate partner.

This study identifies the reasons why women who suffer violence from intimate partners write blog posts. It also develops an analytical framework that bridges the gap between the design and use of IT-artifacts and the context of sexual violence from an intimate partner. Women who suffer violence from intimate partners look for blogs in order to find a safe space for expression, a knowledge hub and a social support network. Blogs play a pivotal role in supporting the journey of reconstructing their self-integrity.

The results help to understand the role of blogs in helping victims in vulnerable situations trying to restore their self-integrity. It also contributes to improve the design and functionality of such platforms as an important resource for social support networks.

This study shows the positive impact of blogs as a tool to support victims in the process of restoring their self-integrity.

This study aims to promote the use of digital artifacts such as blogs as a complementary instrument to fight violence against women.

The analytical framework used in this paper helps to understand the role of IT-artifacts in the context of sexual violence from an intimate partner.

Rhetorical works (schemes and tropes) can increase advertisement liking. Because liking impacts advertising effectiveness, this study aims to investigate if positive processing, brand awareness, and persuasion outcomes previously associated with rhetoric are spurious and chiefly attributable to liking.

An experiment (n=448) employed natural advertising exposure conditions and a 3 (headline: nonfigurative, scheme, trope)×2 (copy length: long, moderate)×2 (involvement: high, low) between‐subjects factorial design.

Absent of liking differences, schemes and tropes are robust motivators of available resources devoted to processing (elaboration and readership). Favourable arguments only influence brand awareness and persuasion if processed. Consumers negatively view longer copy. Nonfigurative headlines encourage insufficient processing as copy lengthens. Insufficient processing decreases brand awareness and persuasion. However, schemes and tropes overcome negative copy length effects on brand awareness and persuasion regardless of involvement.

Without the benefit of increased liking, schemes interfere with copy point and brand memory similar to other creative attention‐getters – humour and sex appeals. Instead, schemes focus consumers on advertising style. The results are based on consumer responses; thus, error may make differences harder to detect. Another limitation is the focus on a single low‐risk, informational product, i.e. pens. Future research should investigate effects of rhetorical works with high‐risk and transformative products.

Advertisers should use rhetorical works to motivate processing, especially with longer copy explaining advantages of new, technical, or complex products. Also, effective rhetorical works need not create positive affect.

Isolating advertising rhetoric effects from liking differences explains anomalies in the literature (e.g. scheme versus trope superiority).