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This study examines the dynamic relationship between UK entrepreneurs' engagement with society and the economic climate surrounding the 2008 financial crisis – before, during and after it. We investigate whether such crises strengthen or weaken the connections between entrepreneurship and society, considering gender differences.

We employ individual-level data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the UK Longitudinal Study (UKLS) to assess changes in entrepreneurs' social engagement during crises. We use panel logit and Poisson regressions to estimate trends in social engagement over time and in response to economic turmoil.

We discover that entrepreneurs are more likely to join social organisations during economic turmoil. This engagement varies by gender, with female entrepreneurs more inclined to engage with social organisations than males. This suggests that female entrepreneurs perceive crisis risks differently, seeking support to navigate uncertainty. Additionally, we find evidence supporting the idea that female entrepreneurs take longer to recover from major economic shocks than their male counterparts.

Entrepreneur behaviour during crises remains understudied. The role of social ties and networks in aiding entrepreneurs during systemic crises is particularly unexplored. This study addresses this gap, highlighting gender-based behavioural differences during crises and paving the way for further research. It represents a crucial step in integrating crisis literature into entrepreneurship studies.

This study aims to evaluate the usability of Google Drive (GD) in addition to measuring the effectiveness of GD and the challenges faced while using this cloud storage application among public library users of Lahore.

The study adopted a sequential explanatory mixed method design comprising the quantitative (QUAN) and qualitative (QUAL) parts. For the QUAN phase, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 384 users of public libraries through purposive sampling. For the QUAL phase, the think aloud technique was performed on several tasks during experiments and verbalized their thoughts and experiences while interacting with the system. The cloud usability model (CUM) was used to measure the “usability” of GD.

Findings indicated that most users were satisfied with GD's obvious features and inherent functions. QUAL results indicated that respondents did most tasks easily, whereas only some could complete the task.

The study is valuable as it is the first time used CUM to measure the perceived usability of GD. Second, the study used a mixed method study to get insights into perceived usability, effectiveness and challenges while using GD. The findings might be helpful for cloud support teams, including GD, as they can enhance certain features of usability, which lead to increased usage among users.

This research work is based on MPhil thesis.

This study uses social exchange theory to describe, explain and propose the influence of dyad partners' leadership position structure, which includes the roles they play and their existing and prospective common experience, on their commitment to their dyad and their cooperation.

The study uses the case of equally empowered co-CEOs in a family business, who play the roles of family member, owner and executive; co-CEOs in a startup firm, who play the roles of owner and executive; and co-CEOs in a merger and acquisition (M&A), who play the role of executive. Co-CEOs in family businesses benefit from longer existing and longer prospective dyad longevity than co-CEOs in startups, who, in turn, benefit from longer existing and longer prospective dyad longevity than co-CEOs in M&As.

The study proposes that the roles the partners play in the dyads, and the existing and prospective longevity of their relationship, positively influence the partners' commitment to the dyad and their level of cooperation.

The study offers a model that has the potential to direct scholars at the formulation of the theory of top management symmetric formal power dyads dynamics and assist family business owners, startup partners, board of directors and co-CEOs in formulating and implementing upper echelons leadership plans to enhance cooperation and coordination between equal partners.

Drawing on social learning theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between team cohesion and employee adaptive performance directly and through employee ambidexterity. The study also investigates the moderating role of team empowerment climate in the relationship between team cohesion and employee adaptive performance.

Time-lagged data were collected in two waves from a sample of 212 employees from 43 teams working in software houses in Pakistan. R (lavaan package) was used to analyze the multilevel framework.

The findings reveal that both team cohesion and employee ambidexterity positively relate to employee adaptive performance. Moreover, employee ambidexterity mediates the cross-level relationship between team cohesion and employee adaptive performance. The results also support that team empowerment climate (a contextual boundary condition) moderates the direct relationship between team cohesion and employee adaptive performance.

The primary novelty of this study lies in developing and examining a holistic conceptual framework for a multilevel model in the software industry that incorporates team cohesion (level 2) as an antecedent, employee ambidexterity (level 1) as an underlying mechanism, employee adaptive performance (level 1) as an outcome and team empowerment climate as a boundary condition (level 2).

In this paper, the authors study artistic improvising from a routine dynamics perspective, with a specific interest in how the performance of improvising is strategically enacted. While this dynamic is difficult to empirically study in the case of live improvisation on stage, as we know it from jazz, the specific situation of the recording studio allows the authors to investigate the research puzzle in great detail. First, the authors show how the performance of one specific routine, which the authors identify as the looping routine, makes systematic improvising possible. The authors describe how looping enables improvising through mobilizing the digital equipment in the recording studio. The authors further discuss how the performance of the looping routine allows for individual musical performances in improvising, as well as their emergence into and assembling of a coherent song and record. During the looping routine, the authors find not only artistic improvising but also strategic enactment. Therefore, the authors show how performing the looping routine in the studio enables the strategic enactment of the emerging musical patterns by the musicians and the producer. Thereby, the artistic ideas and performances of the musicians and producers involved are competitively valued and strategically positioned in view of industry-specific contexts.

Brands increasingly coappear in television programs while research in product placement has primarily focused on the placements of a single brand. Building on research related to product placement and cobranding, this study aims to systematically examine the roles of product competitiveness and brand competitiveness on the effectiveness of brand coappearance on television programs.

Extensive pretesting and four experimental studies were conducted. Real stimuli that had been digitally manipulated with fictitious brands were used in Study 1 (laboratory experiment involved student samples) and Study 2 (online experiment with a national sample) to examine the short- and long-term impacts of product competitiveness on brand coappearance. Real stimuli incorporated actual brands were used in Study 3 (involved advertisers’ key demographic) and Study 4 (alterative television program with a national sample) to examine the impacts of brand competitiveness and its interaction effect with product competitiveness.

The study found that coappearing with a product of high competitiveness significantly enhanced attitudes and purchase intention toward the coappearing products both in the short and long term. Product competitiveness further interacts with brand competitiveness to influence attitudes and purchase intention toward the coappearing brands suggesting a coopetition pattern for brand coappearances. The effect of brand coappearances did not vary substantially for low or high involvement products with or without character interaction.

The study develops a useful framework for explaining and understanding the potential spillover effects in brand coappearances. It contributes to the existing literature on product placement and cobranding, while also paving the way for future research opportunities.

When introducing new brands, marketers are advised to consider coappearance deals with more competitive brands in highly competitive product categories. Conversely, coappearance deals with less competitive brands in less competitive product categories should be adopted to promote well-known brands. Advertisers may also consider product or brand exclusivity arrangements with broadcasters to enhance the effectiveness of the product placement.

Although brand coappearance in media content is likely to continue to proliferate, little is known about the phenomenon and its effects. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to systematically examine the perceptions toward brands coappeared in television programs.

Because small firms are dependent on external knowledge to overcome various constraints, absorptive capacity (ACAP) is an important capability from a knowledge management perspective. Furthermore, extant research has noted the seemingly contradictory yet potentially complementary interaction of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) traits – humility and narcissism on knowledge management. This study aims to explore the impact of CEO humility and narcissism on ACAP and short-term firm performance.

This paper uses a quantitative approach using multisource data from small Indian firms comprising survey responses from 225 CEOs and 216 general managers of small automotive firms. The data were analyzed using partial least squares – structural equation modeling.

This paper sheds new light on the process through which small firms build ACAP and the role of CEO leadership traits in this regard. This study finds that in a highly turbulent environment, CEO’s humility and narcissism affect the development of a small firm’s ACAP. This study also discusses important implications for managerial practice and policy making.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to empirically examine the impact of the paradoxical leadership traits of narcissism and humility on the short-term performance of small firms, from a knowledge-based perspective through the lens of absorptive capacity.