Sanna Sekki, Hannele Kauppinen-Räisänen, Eliisa Kylkilahti and Minna Autio
Research has largely disregarded consumer–packaging interaction in contexts other than retail. Focusing on the powerful cue of colour and consumers’ pleas for sustainability and…
Abstract
Purpose
Research has largely disregarded consumer–packaging interaction in contexts other than retail. Focusing on the powerful cue of colour and consumers’ pleas for sustainability and drawing on the customer journey and moments of consumption, this study investigates how packaging colour meanings are redefined from retail to home and how the meaning of sustainability for colour transforms.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative methodology was employed with 27 informants, who were interviewed in pairs or in small groups of three.
Findings
First, colour meanings emerge outside the retail context, confirming the idea of the packaging journey. Colours are dynamic, as meanings are redefined throughout the voyage. In retail, colour conveys brand, product, environmental and origin-related meanings, while at home it conveys product, food- and health-related meanings. At the end of the journey, colour communicates disposal, environmental, health and origin-related meanings. Second, the meaning of sustainability for colour transforms during the voyage from being conveyed by a colour hue to being perceived as a material and, therefore, as a waste and recycling concern.
Originality/value
The study adds insight into the role of colour in the packaging life cycle, wherein colour transforms from a visual packaging cue to an issue of materiality. The recyclability of colours is a prevailing sustainability issue that deserves attention within the packaging industry. The study argues that although the consumer–packaging interaction in the retail context is essential, managers should recognise that the interaction continues with colours from in-store purchase decisions to consumers’ homes (use and recycling).
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Emilia Kangas, Sanna Joensuu-Salo and Anmari Viljamaa
This study aims to investigate the relationship of corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimensions on the financial and nonfinancial performance of Finnish small and medium-sized…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationship of corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimensions on the financial and nonfinancial performance of Finnish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) amidst crises.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data was collected from 204 SME owner-managers in Finland during the COVID-19 pandemic using a purposive sampling technique, focusing on SMEs in South Ostrobothnia representing Finnish SMEs. The study tests the direct and indirect effects of CSR dimensions on both financial and nonfinancial performance during challenging times using linear regression analysis and path analysis with SEM.
Findings
The analysis reveals that CSR systems thinking competence positively affects financial performance but does not significantly impact nonfinancial performance. On the other hand, community social responsibility and socially responsible human resource management positively influence nonfinancial performance and have an indirect effect on financial performance.
Originality/value
This research underscores the beneficial performance outcomes of SME engagement in CSR during challenging times, emphasizing the enduring value of investing in employees. It highlights that despite industry performance affecting financial outcomes, CSR systems thinking competence contributes to financial performance and community social responsibility and socially responsible human resource management maintain a positive association with nonfinancial performance. Furthermore, this study enriches the existing literature on the CSR-SME performance relationship by exploring its effects within the unique context of a Nordic welfare society facing a crisis.
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Ilona Toth, Sanna Heinänen and Aino Kianto
In response to a growing interest in worker well-being in a work-life which is experiencing fundamental transformations, this paper builds and tests a research model on the role…
Abstract
Purpose
In response to a growing interest in worker well-being in a work-life which is experiencing fundamental transformations, this paper builds and tests a research model on the role of psychological capital (PsyCap) in three different forms of engagement at work. Engagement at work has been identified as one of the most significant drivers of successful work performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a quantitative research design, data were collected from 396 highly specialized knowledge workers through anonymous questionnaires. Research hypotheses were tested with linear models.
Findings
Analysis results indicate that all three forms of engagement are affected by PsyCap which consists of self-efficacy, resilience, hope and optimism, but the effect of individual dimensions is not the same for different forms of engagement at work.
Practical implications
It is argued that paying more attention to personal resources, such as the dimensions of PsyCap, and acknowledging diversity among individual workers offer possibilities for increasing employee performance. HR personnel can benefit organizational performance by boosting different dimensions of employees’ PsyCap for different engagement purposes.
Originality/value
This paper takes a wider perspective on engagement at work, arguing that also organization engagement and social engagement, together with work engagement, are important factors for employee well-being and performance in work society.
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Anmari Viljamaa, Sanna Joensuu-Salo and Elina Varamäki
The purpose is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurs’ exit strategies and modes of entry. The topic of exit strategies in the context of approaching retirement…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurs’ exit strategies and modes of entry. The topic of exit strategies in the context of approaching retirement warrants further attention.
Design/methodology/approach
We apply logistic regression to analyse 1,192 responses to an online survey of firms with entrepreneurs aged over 55.
Findings
Family successors are more likely to choose family succession and buyers to choose to sell, but the association between founding and exit mode cannot be confirmed. Firm size is also significant. Our findings suggest that entry and exit via a business transfer are linked. Entrepreneurs might be influenced by their form of entry when choosing their exit strategy.
Research limitations/implications
The data were collected from a single European country, limiting generalisation. Future research should incorporate intervening variables not controlled for here, such as, entrepreneurial experience. Future studies should also seek to test the existence of imprinting directly, as it is implied rather than verified here.
Practical implications
If the entry mode has a lasting effect on the entrepreneur as our results suggest, thus influencing the exit strategy selected, entrepreneurs could benefit from greater awareness of the imprinting mechanism. Increasing awareness of imprinted biases could unlock the benefits of exit strategies previously overlooked.
Originality/value
The study is the first to consider sale, family succession and liquidation as exit strategies in relation to the original entry mode of ageing owners. It contributes to the understanding of exit strategies of ageing entrepreneurs and proposes using entrepreneurial learning and imprinting as lenses to clarify the phenomenon.
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Katja Zajc Kejžar and Tina Golob Šušteršič
This paper aims to study the decision of multinational enterprises (MNEs) whether to employ a host-country (HCN) or a parent-country national (PCN) manager in their subsidiaries…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the decision of multinational enterprises (MNEs) whether to employ a host-country (HCN) or a parent-country national (PCN) manager in their subsidiaries, focusing on the role of host market contestability.
Design/methodology/approach
We develop an empirical model for the probability of appointing a PCN manager in the population of all foreign-owned firms registered in Slovenia over a nine-year period. We combine four different micro databases: a matched employer–employee database, firm-level inward FDI data, firm-level outward FDI data and firm-level financial data, and apply a heteroskedastic probit model, a random effects probit estimator and a fixed effects panel data estimator. The final, fully merged database contains on average of about 28,000 firms per year.
Findings
We find that the propensity to appoint a PCN manager is higher in subsidiaries that compete with less-productive local rival firms in tacit knowledge-intensive industries with lower competition. The results also suggest that the likelihood of employing expatriates is higher in larger, younger and more export-oriented subsidiaries in less distant locations. In addition, cultural distance between the investing and host countries has been found to be more relevant than physical distance and to account for much of the differences between investors from different regions.
Originality/value
An important advantage of our paper is that we use comprehensive firm-level data on the entire population of firms operating in a host country, including both domestic and foreign-owned firms. This allows us to introduce a wide range of host-country market structure and local rival firm characteristics into our empirical model of the expatriation decision, which have not been previously tested. Additionally, we account for MNE heterogeneity in terms of investor origin, while controlling for investor country characteristics such as cultural, institutional and geographical distance from the host country.
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Andy Nguyen, Joni Lämsä, Adinda Dwiarie and Sanna Järvelä
Self-regulated learning (SRL) is crucial for successful learning and lifelong learning in today’s rapidly changing world, yet research has shown that many learners need support…
Abstract
Purpose
Self-regulated learning (SRL) is crucial for successful learning and lifelong learning in today’s rapidly changing world, yet research has shown that many learners need support for SRL. Recently, learning analytics has offered exciting opportunities for better understanding and supporting SRL. However, substantial endeavors are still needed not only to detect learners’ SRL processes but also to incorporate human values, individual needs and goals into the design and development of self-regulated learning analytics (SRLA). This paper aims to examine the challenges that lifelong learners faced in SRL, their needs and desirable features for SRLA.
Design/methodology/approach
This study triangulated data collected from three groups of educational stakeholders: focus group discussions with lifelong learners (n = 27); five teacher interviews and four expert evaluations. The groups of two or three learners discussed perceived challenges, support needs and willing-to-share data contextualized in each phase of SRL.
Findings
Lifelong learners in professional development programs face challenges in managing their learning time and motivation, and support for time management and motivation can improve their SRL. This paper proposed and evaluated a set of design principles for SRLA.
Originality/value
This paper presents a novel approach for theory-driven participatory design with multistakeholders that involves integrating learners, teachers and experts’ perspectives for designing SRLA. The results of the study will answer the questions of how learners’ voices can be integrated into the design process of SRLA and offer a set the design principles for the future development of SRLA.
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Sanna Joensuu-Salo, Anmari Viljamaa and Emilia Kangas
This paper aims to examine the growth rates of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over a three-year period, the relationship between firm size and firm growth in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the growth rates of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over a three-year period, the relationship between firm size and firm growth in the context of SMEs, and the effect of marketing capability (MC) on firm growth and how it relates to firm size. The theoretical framework is based on the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from Finnish SMEs (n = 214) and analyzed with Latent growth curve modeling (structural equation modeling). Respondents were chief executive officers or company owners.
Findings
Results show that firm size is unrelated to the rate of change, and MC has a significant effect on both the intercept and slope parameters. Smaller SMEs have less MC than larger SMEs.
Practical implications
While the overall human resources level of the SME is not linked to the rate of growth, MC is. This is an important point for small business growth studies, for it shows what type of personnel is called for during rapid growth. SMEs could advance significantly and rapidly if they invest in versatile human capital, especially in the marketing area.
Originality/value
Majority of the MC research involves larger corporations. This study brings new insights from SME perspective. In addition, this study suggests that it is imperative to consider different types of growth separately. This study contributes to this need by demonstrating the connection between employee growth rate and MC in SMEs.
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Ilona Toth, Sanna Heinänen and Kaisu Puumalainen
In response to the increasing interest in entrepreneurs' well-being in both the entrepreneurship and management research fields, this study builds and tests a research model on…
Abstract
Purpose
In response to the increasing interest in entrepreneurs' well-being in both the entrepreneurship and management research fields, this study builds and tests a research model on the role of entrepreneurial passion for inventing in work engagement in the context of modern knowledge work. The research argument is built on the job demands–resources model, the most commonly used frame for measuring employee well-being in work and organization psychology. The research setting in this study compares digital entrepreneurs and freelancers with traditional knowledge workers and part-time platform workers in terms of passion and engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a quantitative research design, the authors collected data from 349 highly specialized knowledge workers through anonymous questionnaires. The research hypotheses were tested with linear and logit models.
Findings
The results show that entrepreneurial passion is positively related to increased job demands and work engagement and that job demands can have a positive effect on work engagement in highly complex knowledge work.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by expanding the analysis of entrepreneurial passion outside the entrepreneurship context and into work engagement theory by adding passion for inventing as an important motivational factor in modern knowledge work. Extant literature on the consequences of work digitalization is still scarce, and this study provides insights into successful working on digital platforms.
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Rangapriya Saivasan and Madhavi Lokhande
Investor risk perception is a personalized judgement on the uncertainty of returns pertaining to a financial instrument. This study identifies key psychological and demographic…
Abstract
Purpose
Investor risk perception is a personalized judgement on the uncertainty of returns pertaining to a financial instrument. This study identifies key psychological and demographic factors that influence risk perception. It also unravels the complex relationship between demographic attributes and investor's risk attitude towards equity investment.
Design/methodology/approach
Exploratory factor analysis is used to identify factors that define investor risk perception. Multiple regression is used to assess the relationship between demographic traits and factor groups. Kruskal–Wallis test is used to ascertain whether the factors extracted differ across demographic categories. A risk perception framework based on these findings is developed to provide deeper insight.
Findings
There is evidence of the relationship and influence of demographic factors on risk propensity and behavioural bias. From this study, it is apparent that return expectation, time horizon and loss aversion, which define the risk propensity construct, vary significantly based on demographic traits. Familiarity, overconfidence, anchoring and experiential biases which define the behavioural bias construct differ across demographic categories. These factors influence the risk perception of an individual with respect to equity investments.
Research limitations/implications
The reference for the framework of this study is limited as there has been no precedence of similar work in academia.
Practical implications
This paper establishes that information seekers make rational decisions. The paper iterates the need for portfolio managers to develop and align investment strategies after evaluation of investors' risk by including these behavioural factors, this can particularly be advantageous during extreme volatility in markets that concedes the possibility of irrational decision making.
Social implications
This study highlights that regulators need to acknowledge the investor's affective, cognitive and demographic impact on equity markets and align risk control measures that are conducive to market evolution. It also creates awareness among market participants that psychological factors and behavioural biases can have an impact on investment decisions.
Originality/value
This is the only study that looks at a three-dimensional perspective of the investor risk perception framework. The study presents the relationship between risk propensity, behavioural bias and demographic factors in the backdrop of “information” being the mediating variable. This paper covers five characteristics of risk propensity and eight behavioural biases, such a vast coverage has not been attempted within the academic realm earlier with the aforesaid perspective.
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Alice Schmuck, Katarina Lagerström and James Sallis
This study aims to understand the performance implications of when a business internationalizes. Many managers take the performance implications of internationalization for…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the performance implications of when a business internationalizes. Many managers take the performance implications of internationalization for granted. Whether seeking a broader customer base or cost reduction through cross-border outsourcing, the overwhelming belief is that internationalization leads to higher profits.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper offers a systematic review, content analysis and cross-tabulation analysis of 115 empirical studies from over 40 major journals in management, strategy and international business between 1977 and 2021. Focusing on research settings, sample characteristics, underlying theoretical approaches, measurements of key variables and moderators influencing the multinationality and performance relationship, this study offers a detailed account of definitions and effects.
Findings
The findings of this study suggest a tenuous connection between internationalization and performance. No strain of research literature conclusively identifies a consistent direct path from internationalization to performance. The context specificity of the relationship makes general declarations impossible.
Research limitations/implications
Future researchers should recognize that internationalization is a process taking different forms, with no specific dominant form. General declarations are misleading. The focus should be on the process of internationalization rather than on the outcome.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the international business literature by exploring reasons for the inconsistent results and lack of consensus. Through a detailed account of definitions and effects, this paper explores the lack of consensus as well as the identified shapes of the relationship.