This survey overviews the literature on entrepreneurship and self-employment. The author catalogs the main contributions of this body of research and makes a distinction between…
Abstract
This survey overviews the literature on entrepreneurship and self-employment. The author catalogs the main contributions of this body of research and makes a distinction between issues on which there is now widespread agreement and those for which no consensus has yet emerged. This latter set of issues provides fertile ground for further research.
Barbara Van der Steen, Joke Van Saane and Gerda Van Dijk
In the leadership debate, one of the questions for public leaders nowadays is how to reflect and experience meaning in these complex and accelerated times. This article compares…
Abstract
Purpose
In the leadership debate, one of the questions for public leaders nowadays is how to reflect and experience meaning in these complex and accelerated times. This article compares three dominant theoretical narratives with the narratives of public strategic leaders in practice. The statement in literature is that leaders in organisations need to create time to reflect on “creating meaning” with others as an answer to the adaptive challenges. The limitation of these studies is that they do not explore leaders’ experiences in practice. We fill this gap by examining the experiences of public strategic leaders and exploring the implications.
Design/methodology/approach
We qualitatively explore the narratives of 25 public strategic leaders using interviews, group dialogues and surveys.
Findings
The central finding is a problematic gap between theory and practice. This is a concern because of the utopic ideology of reflectivity, which does not consider the forces present in political and bureaucratic organisations and the leaders’ perceptions of their role and position. The narrative exploration shows a pattern of leaders trying “to do good”, avoiding disruptions caused by doubts, emotions or intuitions.
Practical implications
The narratives of public strategic leaders show three persistent ideologies putting pressure on their reflective space in daily practice. These narratives offer a starting point for public organisations regarding the reflective practices of strategic leaders.
Originality/value
This article opens a debate about leadership and reflectivity paradigms in theory and practice. It offers a reality check for leaders’ and coaches’ daily practices, as opposed to the often utopic theories.
Details
Keywords
Brigitte de Graaff and Bert Steens
The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceived benefits of integrated reporting (IR) and factors influencing the motives that supervisory board members (SBMs) have for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceived benefits of integrated reporting (IR) and factors influencing the motives that supervisory board members (SBMs) have for advocating a change towards IR implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory survey study was conducted to investigate the influence of external market conditions, internal organizational conditions and observed benefits on the motivation to advocate IR adoption in companies that have not yet implemented IR. A unique set of survey data from 62 SBMs of Dutch companies was used for analysing the propositions derived from IR literature and based on institutional theory, legitimacy theory and diffusion of innovation theory.
Findings
The respondents indicated to be supportive of IR adoption. SBMs who had experienced the implementation of IR observed that IR offers benefits. Their motives for advocating a change towards IR in companies that had not implemented IR were influenced most by the observed benefits in IR companies. SBMs only involved in companies that had not adopted IR are motivated to support IR adoption to a similar extent. These findings suggest that directly observed benefits by SBMs need to exceed a considerable minimum level before these SBMs are more motived to advocate IR than their peers who have not witnessed the implementation of IR and that experiences are shared across companies. The motivation of both groups is influenced by external market conditions but not by internal organizational conditions.
Practical implications
The findings have implications for potential IR adopters and institutions promoting the further diffusion of IR as they emphasize the need for tangible benefits of IR and confirm that sharing good practices and benefits of IR can provide a catalyst for IR adoption. The findings contribute to the understanding of the motivation of SBMs as an important organizational condition for implementing IR as this study provides insights in the factors that drive this motivation of key actors influencing the decision to implement IR. Furthermore, the finding that these factors predominantly comprise tangible results and external market conditions is relevant from an organizational change perspective.
Social implications
Understanding the mechanisms of IR-adoption decisions provides a relevant basis for deploying programmes promoting IR as a general reporting standard. This could provide society and a broad range of stakeholders with access to information incorporated in integrated reports. It could ultimately have a major impact on society by improving decision-making and increasing the long-term sustainability of organizations and their relations with stakeholders.
Originality/value
This study provides preliminary empirical evidence concerning the perspectives of SBMs on their motives for advocating IR, based on a unique sample from a country that has been involved with IR from its start.