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Charles D.T. Macaulay and Ajhanai C.I. Keaton
This paper explores organization-level racialized work strategies for maintaining racialized organizations (Ray, 2019). It focuses on intentional actions to maintain dominant…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores organization-level racialized work strategies for maintaining racialized organizations (Ray, 2019). It focuses on intentional actions to maintain dominant racial norms, demonstrating how work strategies are informed by dominant racial structures that maintain racial inequities.
Design/methodology/approach
We compiled a chronological case study (Yin, 2012) based on 168 news media articles and various organizational documents to examine responses to athlete protests at the University of Texas at Austin following the death of George Floyd. Gioia et al.’s (2013) method uncovered how dominant racial norms inform organizational behaviors.
Findings
The paper challenges institutional theory neutrality and identifies several racialized work strategies that organizations employ to maintain racialized norms and practices. The findings provide a framework for organizations to interrogate their strategies and their role in reproducing dominant racial norms and inequities.
Originality/value
In 2020, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement was reinvigorated within sporting and corporate domains. However, many organizations engaged in performativity, sparking criticism about meaningful change in organizational contexts. Our case study examines how one organization responded to athlete activists’ BLM-fueled demands, revealing specific racialized work strategies that maintain structures of racism. As organizations worldwide disrupt and discuss oppressive structures such as racism, we demonstrate how organizational leadership, while aware of policies and practices of racism, may choose not to act and actively maintain such structures.
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Kaan Kasaroğlu and Simge Kömürcü Sarıbaş
Wars all over the world have changed the course of history, affected communities and ways of life, and caused much pain, sadness, and destruction. Today, these areas are seen as…
Abstract
Wars all over the world have changed the course of history, affected communities and ways of life, and caused much pain, sadness, and destruction. Today, these areas are seen as tourist attractions and are visited by many people with different motivations every year. In these travels, which are described as battlefield tourism, intermediary institutions serve as a bridge between the consumer and the producer, in other words, between the tourist and the touristic product. In this section, first the factors that have led people to travel throughout history are discussed, and then the history, purposes, activities, and importance and contributions of intermediary institutions within the tourism industry are explained. Afterward, battlefield tourism, a relatively new concept, was mentioned, and the importance of intermediary institutions in travels to battlefields was explained. Finally, intermediary institutions that organize tours to various major battlefields in the world are listed, and brief descriptive information is given about the wars in question and the tours organized to these areas.
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Geoff Ryan, Robert J. Emmerling, Lee Fergusson and Shayne Baker
This research investigates the types of critical business situations worked on by multinational corporations' senior managers and the competencies they employ to achieve desired…
Abstract
Purpose
This research investigates the types of critical business situations worked on by multinational corporations' senior managers and the competencies they employ to achieve desired outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a database of N = 440 critical success incidents obtained from semi-structured interviews with a sample of 143 senior managers during competency-based consulting projects over a 25-year period from 1995 to 2019. Content analysis was used to categorise critical success incidents, by similarity of business intent, into groups labelled as critical business situations. Behavioural coding was used to identify competencies.
Findings
Nine critical business situations were found, and 10 competencies identified, accounting for 79% of behaviours displayed by the senior managers. Five competencies were found to be used more universally and five were more dependent on the specific critical business situation.
Research limitations/implications
This research provides an overview of the initial stage of this topic. Further empirical validation including applicability in contemporary business contexts, testing of competency relationships with critical business situation criterion-referenced outcomes, and temporal and geographic usage will be presented in an accompanying study.
Practical implications
Knowledge of the specific competencies and their relative frequencies when displayed in different critical business situations provide the potential to give more targeted development suggestions to senior managers facing similar situations.
Originality/value
This study examines concurrently, both the business situations and associated competencies of senior managers, a group for whom extant research is significantly limited.
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Sarah Lee, Vafa Saboorideilami, Xiaotian Zhang and Yung-Jae Lee
The case study draws on structured interviews with Rob Chase, Founder and CEO of NewGen Surgical, as well as secondary data sources to analyze the effectiveness of these solutions…
Abstract
Research methodology
The case study draws on structured interviews with Rob Chase, Founder and CEO of NewGen Surgical, as well as secondary data sources to analyze the effectiveness of these solutions in mitigating the risks and enhancing the company’s competitive advantage.
Case overview/synopsis
This case study examines how NewGen Surgical, a small- to medium-sized medical equipment manufacturer based in the USA, navigates a supply chain crisis caused by post-pandemic (COVID-19) supply and demand distress, trade restrictions, and the US–China trade war in 2022. It outlines the journey of CEO and Founder, Robert Chase, as he started, grew and is maintaining the company and its various challenges. The case study reviews the risks and vulnerabilities of the company, which heavily relies on Chinese suppliers for most of its operations. To address the supply chain challenges, the case study explores alternative solutions such as insourcing, reshoring, diversifying the supplier base, changing safety stock and implementing new technologies. The case can be designed to teach business courses such as global business, supply chain and entrepreneurship.
Complexity academic level
This case study is intended for undergraduate and graduate students in courses such as global business, supply chain and entrepreneurship. In addition, this case study may be incorporated with modules on learning organizations, knowledge management and entrepreneurship to aid students in comprehending the principles of global sourcing, offshoring and supply chain management.
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Robert Ford and Lindsay Schakenbach Regele
This historical example of the creation of the arms industry in the Connecticut River Valley in the 1800s provides new insights into the value of government venture capital (GVC…
Abstract
Purpose
This historical example of the creation of the arms industry in the Connecticut River Valley in the 1800s provides new insights into the value of government venture capital (GVC) and government demand in creating a new industry. Since current theoretical explanations of the best uses of governmental venture capital are still under development, there is considerable need for further theory development to explain and predict the creation of an industry and especially those industries where failures in private capital supply necessitates governmental involvement in new firm creation. The purpose of this paper is to provide an in depth historical review of how the arms industry evolved spurred by GVC and government created demand.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses abductive inference as the best way to build and test emerging theories and advancing theoretical explanations of the best uses of GVC and governmental demand to achieve socially required outcomes.
Findings
By observing this specific historical example in detail, the authors add to the understanding of value creation caused by governmental venture capital funding of existing theory. A major contribution of this paper is to advance theory based on detailed observation.
Originality/value
The relatively limited research literature and theory development on governmental venture capital funding and the critical success factors in startups are enriched by this abductive investigation of the creation of the historically important arms industry and its spillover into creating the specialized machine industry.
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Xiaoyu Xu, Syed Muhammad Usman Tayyab, Xin (Robert) Luo, Frank C. Lee and Qingdan Jia
There is a dearth of knowledge regarding how user dependency offers valuable resources to develop the intellectual capital of social streaming apps (SSAs) companies. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a dearth of knowledge regarding how user dependency offers valuable resources to develop the intellectual capital of social streaming apps (SSAs) companies. This study aims to integrate major conceptual components of the UandD model, identify contextualized goal-oriented SSA dependency and empirically evaluate their interrelated user-dependency relationships in the SSA context.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methods approach was utilized in this study. First, user gratifications were elicited through a qualitative approach, considering the exploratory stage of the SSA phenomenon. Second, statistical methods were applied to investigate and extract the sub-dimensions of SSA dependency. At last, a research model was developed grounded on the UandD model and empirically validated using the quantitative approach.
Findings
The results validated the gratification-dependency-attitude-behavior relationships hypothesized by the UandD framework in SSA. The role of user-SSA dependency in enhancing intellectual capital in the social media industry has been highlighted in this study.
Research limitations/implications
This research not only provides an opportunity for the UandD model to realize its theoretical potential as envisioned by scholars but also contributes to the scholarship on social streaming apps and media dependency theory by conceptualizing goal-oriented dependency in SSAs.
Practical implications
The research results will guide digital media practitioners to a more nuanced understanding of the relationships between their users and modern digital media apps and thus empower the practitioners to better manage their intellectual capital based on the facilitation of their users’ dependency.
Originality/value
This work is one of the pioneers in contextualizing the UandD model in the SSA field, refining and measuring the SSA dependency and its distinct subdimensions and employing mixed-methods to offer a comprehensive understanding of how user dependency boosts intellectual capital in the SSA industry.
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Yongchao Martin Ma, Xin Dai and Zhongzhun Deng
The purpose of this study is to investigate consumers' emotional responses to artificial intelligence (AI) defeating people. Meanwhile, the authors investigate the negative…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate consumers' emotional responses to artificial intelligence (AI) defeating people. Meanwhile, the authors investigate the negative spillover effect of AI defeating people on consumers' attitudes toward AI companies. The authors also try to alleviate this spillover effect.
Design/methodology/approach
Using four studies to test the hypotheses. In Study 1, the authors use the fine-tuned Bidirectional Encoder Representations from the Transformers algorithm to run a sentiment analysis to investigate how AI defeating people influences consumers' emotions. In Studies 2 to 4, the authors test the effect of AI defeating people on consumers' attitudes, the mediating effect of negative emotions and the moderating effect of different intentions.
Findings
The authors find that AI defeating people increases consumers' negative emotions. In terms of downstream consequences, AI defeating people induces a spillover effect on consumers' unfavorable attitudes toward AI companies. Emphasizing the intention of helping people can effectively mitigate this negative spillover effect.
Practical implications
The authors' findings remind governments, policymakers and AI companies to pay attention to the negative effect of AI defeating people and take reasonable steps to alleviate this negative effect. The authors help consumers rationally understand this phenomenon and correctly control and reduce unnecessary negative emotions in the AI era.
Originality/value
This paper is the first study to examine the adverse effects of AI defeating humans. The authors contribute to research on the dark side of AI, the outcomes of competition matches and the method to analyze emotions in user-generated content (UGC).
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Jinqi Men, Xiabing Zheng and Robert M. Davison
This article seeks to understand how live-streaming technology (i.e. interactivity and effective use of live-streaming shopping’s information presentation tool) impacts consumers’…
Abstract
Purpose
This article seeks to understand how live-streaming technology (i.e. interactivity and effective use of live-streaming shopping’s information presentation tool) impacts consumers’ credibility perception regarding live streamers.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors empirically examined their hypotheses with data (n = 405) collected from a survey of consumers who engage in live-streaming shopping.
Findings
The results demonstrate that vicarious learning strategies (both coactive and independent) can shape consumers’ benefit perceptions (i.e. virtual presence and psychological proximity), and further have a positive effect on consumers’ personal value (i.e. perceived live streamer credibility). Furthermore, the consumers’ perception of the live streamers’ credibility positively affects their purchase intention and ultimately influences their purchase behavior.
Originality/value
Building on the vicarious learning theory and means-end chain (MEC) model, this study investigates the mechanism of the IT features of live-streaming shopping in reducing consumers’ uncertainty about live streamers. This study reveals the value of vicarious learning experiences in reducing consumers’ uncertainty and further enhancing their purchase behavior.
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