Paul J. Thambar, Aldónio Ferreira and Prabanga Thoradeniya
This study aims to examine the role of performance management systems (PMSs) in enabling logic blending to manage institutional complexity and tensions arising from coexisting…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the role of performance management systems (PMSs) in enabling logic blending to manage institutional complexity and tensions arising from coexisting institutional logics.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a case study of an Australian non-government organisation (NGO) operating in an institutional field dominated by the state government, in which policy reform jolted the balance between institutional logics. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, archival documents and observations.
Findings
We find the policy reform required the NGO to transform from a wholly care focus to accommodate a more balanced approach with a focus on care coupled with efficiency, outcome delivery and performance measurement. The NGO responded by revising its purpose, strategy and operational model and by seeking to address the imperatives of two dominant and often competing care and managerial logics. We find this was achieved through logic blending, in which PMSs played a pivotal role, with the formalisation and collaboration processes mobilising different elements of PMSs, mobilising some elements differently or not mobilising some elements at all.
Originality/value
This study highlights the central role of PMSs in managing tensions between and the complexity arising from coexisting institutional logics through logic blending, a form of enduring compromise. This study extends the accounting logics and performance management literature by developing the understanding of what constitutes logic blending and how it is distinct from other forms of compromise.
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Thomas Lopdrup-Hjorth and Paul du Gay
Organizations are confronted with problems and political risks to which they have to respond, presenting a need to develop tools and frames of understanding requisite to do so. In…
Abstract
Organizations are confronted with problems and political risks to which they have to respond, presenting a need to develop tools and frames of understanding requisite to do so. In this article, we argue for the necessity of cultivating “political judgment” with a “sense of reality,” especially in the upper echelons of organizations. This article has two objectives: First to highlight how a number of recent interlinked developments within organizational analysis and practice have contributed to weakening judgment and its accompanying “sense of reality.” Second, to (re)introduce some canonical works that, although less in vogue recently, provide both a source of wisdom and frames of understanding that are key to tackling today’s problems. We begin by mapping the context in which the need for the cultivation of political judgment within organizations has arisen: (i) increasing proliferation of political risks and “wicked problems” to which it is expected that organizations adapt and respond; (ii) a wider historical and contemporary context in which the exercise of judgment has been undermined – a result of a combination of economics-inspired styles of theorizing and an associated obsession with metrics. We also explore the nature of “political judgment” and its accompanying “sense of reality” through the work of authors such as Philip Selznick, Max Weber, Chester Barnard, and Isaiah Berlin. We suggest that these authors have a weighty “sense of reality”; are antithetical to “high,” “abstract,” or “axiomatic” theorizing; and have a profound sense of the burden from exercising political judgment in difficult organizational circumstances.
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Kaouther Toumi, Nabil Ghalleb and Mikael Akimowicz
This paper aims to explore individuals’ economic empowerment and political empowerment association and the moderation role of entrepreneurship development programs on this…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore individuals’ economic empowerment and political empowerment association and the moderation role of entrepreneurship development programs on this relationship in the context of post-revolution Tunisia, which is a newer developing democracy.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a quantitative approach based on econometric modeling. A questionnaire was designed and administrated to a stratified random sample of 343 participants in the Entrepreneurship for the Participation and Inclusion of Vulnerable Youth in Tunisia program, funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund and implemented in rural northwestern Tunisia between 2017 and 2021. A coarsened exact matching method is also applied for robustness analysis.
Findings
The analysis shows that when individuals have enhanced economic decision-making agency and are involved in economic networks, they are more likely to demonstrate higher political empowerment. It also shows that expanding rural individuals’ economic opportunities by providing entrepreneurial resources, such as entrepreneurial training and microcredit, strengthens individuals’ economic empowerment and political empowerment association.
Practical implications
The study provides practical implications for policymakers in newer developing democracies. Citizens’ political empowerment and inclusion in rural areas could be promoted by developing entrepreneurship development programs, which could help reinforce the citizens-state relationship and establish more stable social contracts. The research also provides practical implications for the international development community, donor agencies and program designers through duplicating similar programs in other countries with weak central government structures (i.e. post-conflict environments, post-revolution).
Originality/value
The research attempts to contribute to the ongoing debates linking entrepreneurship, economic empowerment and political/citizen empowerment. It focuses on a Middle East and North Africa country, Tunisia, characterized by socioeconomic issues and low civic participation.
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Cristian Armando Yepes-Lugo, Robert Ojeda-Pérez and Luz Dinora Vera-Acevedo
This paper aims to evaluate the evolution of the organizational field in the Colombian coffee industry between 1960 and 2020 and explain how peripheral actors influenced…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the evolution of the organizational field in the Colombian coffee industry between 1960 and 2020 and explain how peripheral actors influenced institutional change.
Design/methodology/approach
The methods analyze historical processes from a hermeneutical and interpretative perspective. The authors used data collection techniques through interviews, archive data, publications and media reports, embracing an interdisciplinary and qualitative documentary approach. This approach helps the authors unravel the temporal dimensions of the historical discourse related to coffee and the involvement of various actors within organizational structures.
Findings
The authors found that, unlike the literature regarding the change in organizational fields, recently, within the coffee sector in Colombia, the institutional work of peripheral actors (small producers, local associative groups and coffee women, among others) is changing the field as follows: (1) women are changing traditional behaviors moving from hierarchical family structures and lack of gender awareness, to empowered, horizontal and sustained relationships, (2) indigenous people include rituals and other traditional practices in coffee production and (3) ex-guerrilla members are helping to strengthen the peace process implementation in Colombia through coffee production.
Research limitations/implications
The authors did not conduct statistical or computational analysis to simulate the emergence of new organizational forms. Instead, the authors attempted to elucidate narratives and discourses that reflect the tensions between central and peripheral actors from a historical perspective.
Practical implications
This study seeks to help leaders and managers overcome processes or organizational change in which peripheral actors are crucial. From that perspective, allocating resources and capabilities can become more effective.
Originality/value
This paper offers a new perspective of change within organizational fields from the roles of peripheral actors, which are fundamental in change processes within organizational fields, especially in the global south, where tensions between elites and vulnerable people are familiar.
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Axel van den Berg and Emre Amasyalı
Since its introduction by Anthony Giddens in the early 1980s, the use of the concept of “agency” as a way to accommodate an irreducible element of voluntarism into sociological…
Abstract
Since its introduction by Anthony Giddens in the early 1980s, the use of the concept of “agency” as a way to accommodate an irreducible element of voluntarism into sociological explanations has grown exponentially in the literature. In this chapter, we examine the most prominent theoretical justifications for adopting the notion of “agency” as an integral part of such explanations. We distinguish three broad sets of justifications: the meaningfulness/intentionality of social action, the need for “agency” to explain change in social structures, and the link between agency, social accountability, and human dignity. We find that none of these provides a convincing rationale for the analytical utility of agency. This raises the question of what work it actually does perform in the sociological literature.
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Meera Peethambaran and Mohammad Faraz Naim
This study aims to identify current trends in flourishing-at-work (FAW) research, highlight significant gaps in the literature and guide future research directions in this…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify current trends in flourishing-at-work (FAW) research, highlight significant gaps in the literature and guide future research directions in this important area.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a framework-based systematic literature review (SLR) approach, focusing on established theories, contexts and methods and antecedents, decisions and outcomes framework. The utilization of Web of Science and Scopus databases ensures the inclusion of high-quality, peer-reviewed articles, adhering to the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews framework.
Findings
This study found significant gaps in the literature of FAW. The summarized research gaps are reported using the Miles taxonomy of research gaps.
Practical implications
Organizations can enhance employee well-being by addressing identified gaps, implementing tailored practices and fostering supportive cultures.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to represent the first framework-based SLR on the holistic well-being construct, FAW. Using a rigorous methodology and comprehensive databases, our research offers valuable and unique insights, significantly enhancing the scholarly understanding of FAW.
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Grégoire Croidieu and Walter W. Powell
This paper seeks to understand how a new elite, known as the cork aristocracy, emerged in the Bordeaux wine field, France, between 1850 and 1929 as wine merchants replaced…
Abstract
This paper seeks to understand how a new elite, known as the cork aristocracy, emerged in the Bordeaux wine field, France, between 1850 and 1929 as wine merchants replaced aristocrats. Classic class and status perspectives, and their distinctive social closure dynamics, are mobilized to illuminate the individual and organizational transformations that affected elite wineries grouped in an emerging classification of the Bordeaux best wines. We build on a wealth of archives and historical ethnography techniques to surface complex status and organizational dynamics that reveal how financiers and industrialists intermediated this transition and how organizations are deeply interwoven into social change.
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The digital content distribution environment is undergoing a dramatic transformation due to the convergence of internet of things (IoT) and over-the-top (OTT) platforms, which…
Abstract
The digital content distribution environment is undergoing a dramatic transformation due to the convergence of internet of things (IoT) and over-the-top (OTT) platforms, which provide users with personalised and immersive experiences. OTT streaming platforms have not only grabbed the attention of customers for entertainment and quality content for binge-watch but also successfully changed the industry market trends. An empirical analysis of the deployment of IoT technology in OTT platforms is presented in this chapter. This chapter tries to explore the perception of viewers towards adoption of IoT in OTT streaming platforms. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology-2 (UTAUT2) model is the main framework for this chapter, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and stepwise regression is applied to analyse the responses. Findings suggested the consumer characteristics have significant effect on the attitude of the consumers. On the other hand, security and privacy issues with data become major obstacles. In order to balance innovation and user protection, the study concluded with recommendations for OTT service providers and legislators on how to support the responsible and successful implementation of IoT technology in the media and entertainment sector. The findings highlighted that viewers are adopting IoT while streaming OTT platforms. This chapter will help the interested parties and organisations by providing them insights regarding consumer behaviour across OTT services which they can utilise to formulate strategies.