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The digital transformation is dramatically changing the business-to-business (B2B) sales environment, challenging long-standing views regarding the critical competencies required of salespeople. This paper aims to explore the personal traits associated with sales performance in a digital selling environment.

Using template analysis, the researchers captured and coded over 21 h of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with senior sales leaders from various industry sectors, exploring their perceptions of the personal traits now required of B2B salespeople in the digital landscape.

The research identifies three high-level trait types critical to sales success within a digital selling environment: “analytical curiosity” – the natural motivation and ability to gather and synthesize sales-related knowledge, “empathetic citizenship” – the ability to establish initial rapport while building long-term trust and “disciplined drive” – the exertion of selling effort in a highly focused and methodical manner across all stages of the sales process.

The present data came from interviews with sales leaders in Canada. A more global sample may lead to additional insights. Moreover, the sample was drawn from long-cycle B2B sales environments; conclusions may differ for short-cycle or business-to-consumer markets.

This paper presents a framework for hiring and developing salespeople in the digital sales environment, identifying personal trait types that sales leaders should look for when hiring: analytical curiosity, empathetic citizenship and disciplined drive. The paper identifies how these trait types influence sales success, suggesting that sales leaders could coach and educate their teams to make the best use of them.

This paper presents a conceptual framework for hiring in the digital sales environment and introduces the trait of analytical curiosity not previously discussed in the literature.

Research focusing on psychological capital (PsyCap) has been mainly conducted at the individual level. However, recent research has expanded investigations to the collective level with a greater focus on team-level PsyCap. Although, as demonstrated by recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses, the relationships between individual-level PsyCap and the desirable/undesirable outcomes are fairly established in the literature, less is known about such relationships for team-level PsyCap. One of these important, yet least investigated, research areas is the research stream that focuses on the relationship between team-level PsyCap and the outcomes of health, Well-Being, and safety. This chapter aims to highlight the role of individual-level PsyCap as an important predictor of employees’ health, Well-Being, and safety outcomes, but also to go beyond that to provide insights into the potential role of team-level PsyCap in predicting such outcomes at both individual and team levels. To do so, the chapter first draws upon relevant theories to discuss the empirical research findings focusing on the relationship between individual-level PsyCap and the outcomes of health, Well-Being, and safety. It then focuses on team-level PsyCap from theoretical, conceptualization, and operationalization perspectives and provides insights into how team-level PsyCap might be related to health, Well-Being, and safety outcomes at both individual and team levels. Thus, this chapter proposes new research directions in an area of PsyCap that has been left unexplored.

In this chapter, I will outline the labels of giftedness and underachievement and present the theoretical debates surrounding these labels. A historicist examination of these labels follows, highlighting how the gifted underachievement (GUA) label emerges through the negation of “giftedness.” Subsequently, I explore the concept of GUA and its negative connotations, stemming from the positive valuation inherent in the term “giftedness” and its implications for what is considered “normal.” This chapter also reviews perspectives on shifting the focus away from the individual within the current paradigm of labeling giftedness and explores insights from systemic thinking and symbolic interactionism (SI). The conclusion underscores the necessity of a symbolic interactionist perspective to address the gaps in research on the labeling of giftedness and underachievement. Finally, I propose a generic definition that can be used in GUA research in the light of SI.

This study investigates the relationship between child gender and a CEO’s top management hiring decisions.

Hypotheses were tested using secondary data on 121 S&P 500 male CEOs, their children, and their top management teams.

Results indicate that child gender is associated with a male CEO’s TMT hiring decisions. Specifically, we find that male CEOs with only daughters were significantly more likely to hire women to their TMTs than male CEOs with only sons and those with both sons and daughters.

This study provides evidence for the roles of familiarity, learning, and empathy in reducing gender biases in selection decisions. Top management hiring decisions have wide implications for organizational settings in general and for the breaking of the glass ceiling in particular.

Reducing gender bias in top manager hiring decisions directly relates to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5 of achieving gender equality as women are consistently under-represented at the top of organizations across the world.

By focusing on the hiring of top managers, this study includes hiring decisions that directly impact firm operations. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between child gender and executive hiring decisions with a US S&P 500 sample.

This research aims to investigate the impact of exogenous shocks on individuals' risk tolerance, particularly when originating outside the economic or financial sphere. Focusing on Italy as the first Western country affected by COVID-19, this paper explores whether the pandemic led to a decrease in Italians' financial risk tolerance (FRT).

This study used a two-stage approach for data analysis. Initial examination of key variables used linear regression (ordinary least square [OLS]) with robust errors. Subsequently, a system of structural equations (structural equation model [SEM]) was used for a more nuanced exploration of hypothetical relationships between constructs and their observed indicators. SEM addressed reliability issues inherent in OLS, offering a robust analysis of structural models based on specified hypotheses. To assess the impact of COVID-19 on Italians' FRT, the Grable and Lytton Risk Tolerance Scale was used, measuring changes through a scored questionnaire with values ranging from 1 (greater risk aversion) to 4 (greater risk propensity).

This study used three distinct OLS regression models to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on Italians' FRT, considering mortality, infection and stringency rates. Findings revealed that older individuals exhibited lower risk tolerance across FRT dimensions, consistent with previous research. Men were more risk-prone, aligning with gender-related financial literacy disparities. Married respondents tended to be less risk-tolerant, supporting the idea that marital status influences risk attitude. Education level showed a slightly negative impact on investment risk. Professional instability, lower income and stock market inexperience were associated with lower risk tolerance. Notably, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant positive effect, making respondents more risk-averse. SEM methodology was used to examine the moderating effects of COVID-19 proxies on FRT changes.

This research brings a novel perspective to the ongoing debate on exogenous shocks' impact on individuals' risk tolerance, particularly when originating outside the economic or financial domain. Focusing on Italy, the first Western country hit by COVID-19, this study uniquely investigates the pandemic's effect on Italians' FRT. With a large and representative sample, the findings contribute significantly to the literature on risk attitude, shedding light on the pandemic's impact. This study's originality lies in providing reliable evidence with policy implications, emphasizing the imperative for government intervention in addressing both health and economic issues in the wake of such external shocks.

Climate change, a complex global issue, has prompted a wide range of actors – from nations to tiny communities – to seek solutions to mitigate its consequences. The growing emphasis on collaborative governance has resulted in substantial research on the topic. This paper aims to address the existing research void by using a bibliometric approach to investigate the evolution of studies on collaborative governance in the context of climate change.

This study conducted a bibliometric mapping of research on collaborative governance on climate change issues from the first study presented in 2007 to the research conducted in 2023, using 222 articles derived from the Scopus database and Web of Science. Steps for comprehensive bibliometric literature mapping via the VOSviewer software.

The study includes a complete overview of significant themes, including the most cited research, contributions from authors, countries, and institutions, as well as network analysis including co-citation, bibliographic coupling, and co-occurrence. Notably, the study looks at which countries have made the most substantial contributions, with the United States dominating with 40 studies over the last decade. The analysis reveals that collaborative governance in climate change, emphasizing its importance as a tool for governments and communities to mitigate climate risks. This is consistent with research emphasizing the need for coordination across multiple players to accomplish effective climate adaptation. The paper focuses on nine diverse research clusters, including community engagement, urban governance, disaster response and economic implications.

This study is restricted to bibliometric analysis, which is conducted using sources from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Future research is required to investigate the use of additional databases that offer a wider range of sources. In the interim, this investigation provides an overview of the concept of Collaborative Governance, which has the potential to serve as a strategy for the adaptation and resilience to climate change in global regions, cities and urban areas.

This study conducts a rigorous bibliometric review that improves our theoretical knowledge and practical use of collaborative governance in addressing climate change. It reveals innovative trends, research gaps and important recommendations for future studies, strengthening the strategic approach to collaborative climate action.

English social work policies and regulatory bodies propel critical reflection as a professional requirement and a worthwhile activity. The purpose of this paper is to report on the current international and UK evidence that informs the understanding and use of critical reflection and associated terms – reflection, reflective practice and reflective supervision – in one-to-one practitioner supervision in local authority children and families social work in England.

A review of the evidence was undertaken using documentary policy analysis and a scholastic literature review to examine the history and current knowledge available as of December 2022.

The historical policy and professional context of critical reflection in one-to-one supervision in England is discussed. The current evidence review identified three themes – the role of critical reflection in models of supervision, the influences of national, organisational and professional cultures and the supervisor practitioner relationship. The nuanced nature of the presence of critical reflection in supervision and a lack of clarity when theorising and describing critical reflection has implications for policy, supervisory practice and research design.

Critical reflection in one-to-one social work supervision is under researched. This review draws on the evidence from international research and local policy to offer an understanding of the complexity of theorising, practicing and researching critical reflection in one-to-one supervision in local authority children and families social work in England.

This study uses a systematic review to explore the potential causes of previous findings related to e-government acceptance research. By identifying the most frequently used, best, promising or worst factors that affect the acceptance of e-government, this research presents a research agenda for e-government researchers.

Through conducting a systematic review following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) procedure, this research first selected 109 papers. Subsequently, this research analyzed the predictors and linkages of e-government acceptance by adopting a weight-analysis method proposed by Jeyaraj et al. (2006).

The results first revealed the five most frequently used predictors and five best predictors of e-government acceptance at a comprehensive level. Furthermore, this study summarized the best predictors affecting the acceptance of e-government from the perspectives of adopter types and e-government stages. The results also illustrated the promising and the worst predictors influencing e-government acceptance.

The contribution of this research is twofold. First, this study identified the linkages between e-government acceptance at the individual and organizational levels and between different e-government development stages. Second, this research provided a research direction that could offer useful insights for future e-government studies.

This study develops and tests a comprehensive model that examines whether dimensions of supervisors’ job demands and resources influence their work motivation through their job strain levels while managing disability accommodation (DA).

The proposed model leverages the assumptions of established job demand and resources theories, including demand-ability fit, job demand-control, job demand-control-support, and effort-reward balance models. Then, we tested with the quantitative data from 335 British, Canadian, American, Australian, Dutch, and German supervisors with recent DA experience.

This study found support for the proposed model. Job control and social support directly affected work motivation, while job strain did not mediate the relationship between job control and social support and work motivation. The results suggest that employers looking to improve the likelihood of DA success should focus on providing adequate job control, social support, and rewards to supervisors responsible for accommodating employees with disabilities.

This research enhances our understanding of how additional DA responsibilities impact supervisors and aids in the development of effective DA management policies and interventions, providing robust support for practitioners.

This study contributes to extending the DA literature by testing the applicability of different theoretical models to explain the effect of the additional DA responsibility on supervisors’ job demand, strain, and motivation levels and identify the resources to mitigate them.