The purpose of this study is to explore the shifting power dynamics within an inter-organizational relationship (IOR) over time through an institutional theory lens. Specifically…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the shifting power dynamics within an inter-organizational relationship (IOR) over time through an institutional theory lens. Specifically, this manuscript explores power by acknowledging its relationality, temporality and typology through a case study focusing on an international collegiate ice hockey tournament. This study seeks to demonstrate the complexity of power as a multi-dimensional, relational, and temporal concept that can ebb and flow given actors’ positionality.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a chronological case study that is an appropriate in-depth qualitative framework to explore the how and why of a particular phenomenon. Yin (2018) describes a case study as “investigat[ing] a contemporary phenomenon (the ‘case’) in depth and within its real-world context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context may not be clearly evident” (p. 45). Specifically, I used a chronological case study method as it provides the ability to document the chronology of events to determine important factors shaping the phenomenon (Yin, 2018). This includes collecting various types of data (organizational documents, news articles, interviews and observations) to create a robust understanding of a bounded chronological case over time.
Findings
Examining power dynamics is important as “power or its absence influences the mechanisms available to partners for initiating, challenging, and/or enforcing institutional change” (Gray et al., 2022, p. 3). This paper demonstrates the complexity of power as a multi-dimensional, relational and temporal concept that can ebb and flow given actors’ positionality. Further, the paper provides a case study showing how power asymmetries in an IOR can shift over time.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides a case study on an IOR wherein multiple international organizations collaborated to create an ice hockey tournament. Through the case study, I demonstrate how different partners navigate power imbalances and changes over time.
Practical implications
This study provides a textbook case study of a successful IOR. Entrepreneurial actors capitalized on a catalyst event to leverage a boundary-spanning document and their professional networks to form a new identity and shared vision through the formation of the tournament. Further, this study provides insight into how an organization in an IOR can work to balance asymmetrical power relations.
Social implications
As organizations seek to engage in collaborations, leveraging power through their contextuality can help create more equitable arrangements over time. Even when organizations may truly be at a disadvantage when entering an IOR, such as a local indigenous community partnering with an international corporation or non-profit, the status of particular locals or local organizations can be powerful in balancing an imbalanced relationship.
Originality/value
While a wealth of research documents the relational dynamics of IORs, there remains a significant gap in our understanding pertaining to the dynamics of power asymmetries in IOR partnerships. Existing research primarily focuses on the antecedents leading to sport organizations engaging in IORs and the various processes organizational leaders can employ to ensure an IOR’s success. However, several scholars acknowledge a profound gap in our understanding of how partners experiencing a power deficit in an IOR partnership work to balance power asymmetries.
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Rubee Singh, David Crowther and Kamalesh Ravesangar
Addressing the urgent issue of climate change and its impact on society requires immediate attention and innovative solutions. This chapter explores research that examines…
Abstract
Purpose
Addressing the urgent issue of climate change and its impact on society requires immediate attention and innovative solutions. This chapter explores research that examines previous studies about the strategies companies use in their human resources (HR) departments to lessen the impact of climate change and support good social results.
Methodology
This section conducted a thorough search of academic literature to find relevant studies on the connection between HR strategies, addressing climate change, and social impact. The inclusion criteria for this research targeted empirical studies on the relationship between HR practices and environmental and social outcomes. It employed particular keywords such as well-known academic databases.
Findings
This review discusses the important influence of HR strategies in addressing climate change and promoting positive social effects in companies. It evaluates successful HR practices that specifically endorse environmental and social goals through a comprehensive analysis of academic studies. The results offer useful knowledge for HR professionals and business leaders looking to align their HR strategies with climate change.
Implications
The findings of this chapter can benefit a diverse audience such as scholars who deal with human resource management, knowledge management and organizational innovation, HR personnel, business stakeholders and the employees.
Originality
This review offers a novel viewpoint by exploring the less-studied area of HR's potential to drive positive environmental and social changes. While past research has acknowledged HR's significance, this review goes further by analysing the specific HR approaches that have been successful in tackling climate change and enhancing social welfare.
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Irina Mihailova, Sini Rantanen, Veera Tahvanainen and Jouni Pykäläinen
This study aims to investigate how co-evolutionary interactions between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and local actors shaped resource-intensive industry development over…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how co-evolutionary interactions between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and local actors shaped resource-intensive industry development over several decades, examining the economic, industrial and social implications of these interactions. It details the long-term effects of MNEs’ activities on the host country’s economic and social development and unfolds the path-dependent sequence and mechanisms of occurrence.
Design/methodology/approach
In a historical case study of Uruguay’s forest-based pulp sector during the 1970s to 2023, the authors analyze data from interviews with local industry actors and from company archives, academic publications and public environmental organizations.
Findings
The findings untangle the path-dependent co-evolution between MNEs’ activities and local actors and the resulting gradual development of the local industry. The increasing commitment of MNEs to the host country and their engagement with business and social communities impact the development of the industry’s technology basis, activity networks, identity and market. Spillovers and linkages occur in these interactions, driving industry development processes forward. The authors also reveal how MNEs attempt to address the social and environmental tensions associated with their operations to support their long-term presence in the host country.
Research limitations/implications
The authors contribute to the MNE-assisted development literature by untangling the specific mechanisms of MNEs’ engagement in local industry development over a long-term period and elaborating on its industrial and social implications. The authors enhance knowledge about spillovers by capturing a wide range of spillover and linkage effects and assessing their long-term impacts on industry development.
Practical implications
The authors offer insights into how policymakers can tailor instruments for attracting MNEs by adopting a long-term perspective regarding the implications for local development and accounting for economic, industrial and social impacts. This approach can maximize beneficial outcomes from MNEs’ presence and limit tensions between MNEs and local actors.
Social implications
This historical case study illustrates the complexity of MNEs’ engagement with local actors over time, including various tensions and positive developments. It illustrates the importance of social acceptance in achieving quality linkages between local and foreign actors.
Originality/value
This historical analysis untangles the path dependency in the long-term impacts of MNE-assisted development, illustrating the value of a temporal perspective.
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Matteo Pasquino and Caterina Lucarelli
The literature on the drivers affecting retail investor preferences towards socially responsible investments (SRIs) has increased significantly over recent years, revealing…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature on the drivers affecting retail investor preferences towards socially responsible investments (SRIs) has increased significantly over recent years, revealing several influencing factors. Given the wide variety and ambiguity of the available evidence, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the existing literature on this topic and develop a new unified approach to study this phenomenon.
Design/methodology/approach
We conducted a systematic literature review, followed by a research profile analysis and a thematic analysis, which uncovered four major emerging foci: the research outcome type, the external environment, sociodemographic characteristics and the internal dimension of retail investors.
Findings
Our analysis revealed that studies investigating investor preferences often neglected to consider the concurring influence of multiple perspectives. In fact, we observed how the literature has not yet adequately addressed the mediating and moderating effects of the various factors that determine retail investor decisions regarding SRI.
Research limitations/implications
In response to these shortfalls, we propose a new integrated conceptual framework that may inspire scholars to conduct further studies to refine our understanding of investor preferences towards SRI.
Practical implications
This framework offers some suggestions on how to expand future research and underline some managerial and policy interventions aimed at developing the retail demand for these products.
Originality/value
To our knowledge, this is the first study to perform a systematic review on the drivers of SRIs, elaborating a new conceptual framework to understand the dynamics of retail investor sustainable preferences.
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Sumon Bhattacharjee and Shimul Chakraborty
Borrowers’ intentional non-payment of bank loans despite being able to pay is a financial crime. This paper explores how willful loan defaulting became a societal practice in…
Abstract
Purpose
Borrowers’ intentional non-payment of bank loans despite being able to pay is a financial crime. This paper explores how willful loan defaulting became a societal practice in Bangladesh, where non-performing loans (NPLs) are assumed to surpass BDT 4 trillion mainly due to habitual defaults of large borrowers.
Design/methodology/approach
This study reviewed publicly available documents and interviewed bank managers, loan takers, regulators and industry experts. It drew on Pierre Bourdieu’s practice theory, specifically the concepts- habitus, capital and field, to explain the permeation of “intentional defaulting culture” in the banking industry.
Findings
Willful defaulting in Bangladesh is an outcome of a harmonious blend of defaulters’ mindsets and possession of capital supported by the structure and rules of the field. The socio-political context facilitates, rather than impedes, the “unwillingness to pay” motive of the habitual defaulters due to their possession of different forms of capital.
Research limitations/implications
Understanding of how the crime of willful defaulting emerges and persists in society may have policy and practice implications in economies suffering NPL problems.
Originality/value
This study explicates how individual intents and institutional structures jointly amplify financial crimes in society.
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Mohsin Rasheed, Jianhua Liu and Ehtisham Ali
This study investigates the crucial link between sustainable practices and organizational development, focusing on sustainable knowledge management (SKM), green innovation (GI…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the crucial link between sustainable practices and organizational development, focusing on sustainable knowledge management (SKM), green innovation (GI) and corporate sustainable development (CSD) in diverse Pakistani organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a comprehensive research methodology involving advanced statistical techniques, such as confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling and hierarchical linear modeling. These methods are instrumental in exploring the complex interrelationships between SKM, GI, moderating factors and CSD.
Findings
This research generates significant findings and actively contributes to sustainable development. The following sections (Sections 4 and 5) delve into the specific findings and in-depth discussions, shedding light on how industry regulation, organizational sustainability priorities, workplace culture collaboration and alignment between green culture and knowledge management practices influence the relationships between SKM, GI and CSD. These findings provide valuable insights for the research community and organizations striving for sustainability.
Practical implications
The study’s findings have practical implications for organizations seeking to enhance their sustainability efforts and embrace a socially and environmentally conscious approach to organizational growth.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on sustainable practices and organizational development. Researchers and business people can learn a lot from it because it uses advanced econometric models in new ways and focuses on the link between knowledge management, GI and sustainable corporate development.
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The development of large language models (LLMs) has significantly enhanced capabilities in AI-powered text generation. The impact of this new technology, which is expected to…
Abstract
Purpose
The development of large language models (LLMs) has significantly enhanced capabilities in AI-powered text generation. The impact of this new technology, which is expected to significantly influence our work and private lives, on document creation is still largely unknown. This article is inspired by the article “What Kind of Science Can Information Science Be” by Buckland (2012).
Design/methodology/approach
Buckland’s (2012) considerations about the human’s central role in information science are applied to the question of how the human’s central role in documentation could be affected by the devolvement of LLMs. The Model of Documentation Activity (MoDA) (Donner, 2023) is used as a framework to evaluate the influence of LLM outputs as part of the documentation activity. LLM outputs are placed within the model after an analysis of their potential to be a document from conventional, functional and semiotic points of view.
Findings
An advanced and more detailed version of the MoDA, the MoDA2, is presented, which is intended to clarify the potential implications of LLMs on the documentation activity.
Originality/value
This article coins the term “artificially blended testimony” for LLM output as novel data provider along nature and testimony and demonstrates the value of the MoDA2 for exploring the impact of technological advances such as LLMs on the documentation process.
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Charunayan Kamath and Sivakumar Alur
Several businesses have begun to use memes as part of social media marketing. Although memes have been independently explored through various theories, their use in social media…
Abstract
Purpose
Several businesses have begun to use memes as part of social media marketing. Although memes have been independently explored through various theories, their use in social media marketing has not yet been explored. This study analyzes theories used to study memes and suggests popular marketing theories to do the same for memes in social media marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a mixed methodology. We used the Scopus database and the SPAR-4 protocol to gather, organize, and evaluate the literature. A bibliometric analysis was performed to understand the themes explored in the literature. Manual content analysis was performed to identify the theories used to elucidate study memes.
Findings
We profiled meme research through a bibliometric analysis. Relevance theory, Rhetoric theory, Theories of humor, Evolutionary theory, and the theory of conceptual blending are the most frequently used theories in meme literature. Furthermore, we found that the marketing theories used to study memes are limited.
Practical implications
The findings of this study will benefit academia, marketers, and social media managers by offering a comprehensive picture of theories used in meme research. It also suggests new avenues for conducting future research on memes based on identified theories.
Originality/value
This is one of the first known studies to employ both bibliometric and content analyses to review theories in meme literature. Furthermore, we suggest marketing theories and research questions to explain meme marketing.
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Dewan Mehrab Ashrafi and Mily Akhter
The ever-evolving landscape of financial technology (Fintech) has revolutionised payment methods and raised questions about what drives user behaviour in adopting these innovative…
Abstract
Purpose
The ever-evolving landscape of financial technology (Fintech) has revolutionised payment methods and raised questions about what drives user behaviour in adopting these innovative solutions. This study, using narrative transportation theory as an underpinning theory, aims to investigate into the dynamics of green user behaviour in adopting Fintech payments.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a deductive approach, and with data obtained from 635 respondents through the purposive sampling technique, partial least squares structural equation modelling was employed to yield significant insights.
Findings
The study found a positive association between green brand positioning and product differentiation. However, it unexpectedly didn't impact user attitudes towards Fintech payments. Green brand image and perceived performance positively influenced product differentiation. Perceived product differentiation fully mediated the association between green brand positioning and user attitudes. The study introduced fear of missing out's (FOMO) moderating role, enriching eco-conscious marketing insights and user behaviour understanding.
Research limitations/implications
This study reveals crucial implications for marketers, policymakers and user experience (UX) designers operating within the Fintech industry. It emphasises green brand positioning's impact on product differentiation, user attitudes and its mediating role. It advocates for sustainability integration, innovation, strategic messaging and user-centric improvements to optimise user perceptions and competitiveness in the evolving Fintech landscape. The study's cross-sectional design may limit the ability to establish causal relationships over time and overlook temporal changes in green Fintech adoption dynamics; thus, longitudinal studies are warranted to better understand the evolving nature of user attitudes and behaviours towards green Fintech payments.
Originality/value
This study adds novelty to the existing body of literature by introducing the dimension of innovation appeal to green brand positioning and employing narrative transportation theory in the Fintech realm. The findings also add novelty by highlighting the moderating impact of fear of missing out in predicting the association between green brand positioning and product differentiation in the realm of green Fintech and green use behaviour.