Angela Lumpkin and Rebecca M. Achen
It is important students learn about leadership. The purpose of this study was to assess whether a leadership course for sport management graduate students led to gains in…
Abstract
It is important students learn about leadership. The purpose of this study was to assess whether a leadership course for sport management graduate students led to gains in knowledge of leadership and understanding of themselves as leaders. Using quantitative (pre- and post-surveys) and qualitative (email interviews) data, this study found a one-semester course in sport leadership led to gains in theoretical and applied knowledge of leadership. Additionally, students grew personally as leaders and felt more comfortable practicing leadership in their current jobs and more prepared for future professional lives. Teachers should consider using a mix of active learning, case studies, and writing assignments to help students learn leadership concepts, practice making leadership decisions, and reflect on their leadership capabilities when educating effective leaders.
Nancy Njiraini, Angela Ndunge and David Mathuva
Despite social ministries and enterprises by Catholic sisters being established under stable foundation and for several years, there have been cases of failures or stalled…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite social ministries and enterprises by Catholic sisters being established under stable foundation and for several years, there have been cases of failures or stalled projects. The purpose of this study was to examine whether this phenomenon is simply failure or a case of mission drift.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this objective, primary data drawn from four African countries, 59 congregations and 172 respondents were subjected to a mixed methods approach to find out what explained this failure. The 172 respondents were drawn from a set of congregational leaders.
Findings
The findings revealed some level of inactive projects largely in farming and agricultural production. The authors found that the identified 19 causes of social enterprise failures emanated both from internal, commercially driven to external, pro-social reasons.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of the study revealed the need to strategically review the utilisation of the resources at the disposal of the congregations. Capacity building, proper succession planning and setting the right tone at the top were critical imperatives congregational leaders need to pay attention to minimise project failures and mission drift. Finally, the study called for innovative funding models together with a change in mindset about the sustainability of the social enterprises.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is perhaps the first to focus on social enterprises run by Catholic sisters with a view towards establishing why they tend to fail.
Details
Keywords
Nobin Thomas, Angela Randolph and Alejandra Marin
Research in entrepreneurial cognition has called for a better understanding of interactions between contextual variables and cognitive processes. Based on previous work done on…
Abstract
Purpose
Research in entrepreneurial cognition has called for a better understanding of interactions between contextual variables and cognitive processes. Based on previous work done on organizational learning and social networks, the purpose of this paper is to propose a formal model in which information acquisition, distribution and interpretation are tested as a function of cognition-based trust, perceived expertise and tie strength between organizational members in two different corporate entrepreneurship (CE) types.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct a quantitative analysis based on network data in two companies located in India. Special procedures known as quadratic assignment procedure and multiple regression quadratic assignment procedure were used to run the correlations and multiple regressions, respectively. The authors complement this analysis with interviews and qualitative information to build a rich description in each of these cases.
Findings
The results indicate moderate support for the model. The evidence suggests that between both types of CE types, domain redefinition requires higher levels of tie strength, trust and perceived expertise. Sustained regeneration shows moderate significant results in tie strength, and cognition-based trust.
Originality/value
The authors combined insights on social network and organizational cognitive processes to analyze interactions between context and cognition. The authors were also able to compare two different companies. The authors found consistent results regarding tie strength, but the authors also found differences between both companies, which suggest that different CE types tend to require different dynamics between context and cognitive processes.
Details
Keywords
Alexandru Capatina, Dragos Sebastian Cristea, Adrian Micu, Angela Eliza Micu, Giuseppe Empoli and Federica Codignola
This study aims to outline the influence of various combinations of antecedent conditions for startups being accepted into business incubators in Italy and Romania. The degree to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to outline the influence of various combinations of antecedent conditions for startups being accepted into business incubators in Italy and Romania. The degree to which these conditions affect acceptance is referred to here as the Business Ideas Acceptance Degree (BIAD). The antecedent conditions considered are business idea potential, business plan quality, entrepreneurial team features, business project progress stage, available financial resources, debts of potential incubated companies, commitment to apply for national/EU funds, business area related to incubator mission, proposed technological content level, technological transfer from university/research centres and spin-off of a partner-entity of the incubator.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodological toolkit used was mixed: correlation-based analysis (CBA), machine learning (ML) techniques and fsQCA. Principal component analysis enabled the selection of the most representative antecedent conditions from both business incubator samples in Italy and Romania, further used in fsQCA analyses. XGBoost algorithm has been also used. K-Means clustering, an unsupervised learning algorithm that groups unlabeled dataset into different clusters, led to the configuration of two clusters associated to each of the countries involved in this study (Romania and Italy).
Findings
The findings reveal the differences between the different antecedent conditions that can contribute to startups being accepted into business incubators in Italy and Romania. The validation of the fsQCA equifinality principle in both samples shows that the selected antecedent conditions, mixed in combinations of “causal recipes”, lead to a high BIAD by business incubators from both countries.
Originality/value
This study reveals the differences between different antecedent conditions, capable to contribute to the start-up acceptance within business incubators from Italy and Romania. Furthermore, the validation of fsQCA equifinality principle in both samples highlight that the selected antecedent conditions, mixed in combinations of causal recipes, lead to a high degree of business ideas' acceptance in business incubators.
Details
Keywords
Angela Dettori and Michela Floris
This study aims to explore the main drivers that family businesses possess to strengthen their resilience during the COVID-19 crisis.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the main drivers that family businesses possess to strengthen their resilience during the COVID-19 crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
This study followed a quantitative method analysis through a multiple regression analysis based on a sample of 570 Italian family firms.
Findings
The results showed that job quality and innovation significantly stimulate family firms' resilience during the COVID-19 crisis.
Practical implications
The study has several academic implications. Firstly, the study contributes to family firm research by extending the studies on factors that significantly influence the concept of resilience; secondly, the work contributes to crisis management, offering suggestions to help other firms exceed the COVID-19 crisis.
Originality/value
The present study clarifies the role of family firms' resilience, and it reveals how job quality and innovation play a meaningful role during the COVID-19 crisis.
Details
Keywords
This study empirically explores one of the important channel issues – the relationship between various channel support given to channel partners and the perceived (by managers…
Abstract
This study empirically explores one of the important channel issues – the relationship between various channel support given to channel partners and the perceived (by managers) goal‐orientation of a firm. Results from an emerging market, India, indicate that perceived orientation towards both profitability and market share is not associated with any of the channel support considered. Growth orientation however is strongly associated with most of the channel support activities – both business (e.g., business advice, pricing and ordering assistance, and personnel training) as well as marketing (advertising support, sales promotional material, and inventory management assistance) oriented activities. In contrast, perceived sales volume orientation is only associated with advertising support and business advice, however, the relationship is negative. These findings have interesting implications for channel management and channel motivation.
Details
Keywords
Michela Floris, Angela Dettori, Camilla Melis and Cinzia Dessì
The paper aims to analyse the case of “Sa Panada srl”, a tiny Sardinian family firm, to provide intriguing insights for the study of entrepreneurial orientation in a context that…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to analyse the case of “Sa Panada srl”, a tiny Sardinian family firm, to provide intriguing insights for the study of entrepreneurial orientation in a context that is anchored in an apparent and hostile past.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory approach is used to analyse a single-case study through a narrative approach. Data were analysed through the hermeneutic trio consisting of three phases: (1) explication – contextualisation, reconstruction and synthesis of the history; (2) explanation – identification, description and understanding of the meaning of the narrative; and (3) exploration – discussion and identification of theoretical and practical implications.
Findings
The study introduces novel best practices that help enhance entrepreneurial orientation in a difficult setting based on change reluctance and past anchored culture.
Research limitations/implications
Theoretically, the study contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial orientation, internationalisation and innovativeness of family firms embedded in a hostile context. The main drawback of the study is its explorative analysis of a single case.
Practical implications
For practitioners, the research proposes the case study as a best practice able to inspire successful resilient behaviour and decisions for other firms that experience daily challenges.
Originality/value
The study elucidates the relevance of individual factors of family owners as endogenous elements that can balance contextual obstacles with ambitions of growth and development.
Details
Keywords
Bharat Mehra, Vandana Singh, Natasha Hollenbach and Robert P. Partee
This chapter discusses the application of community informatics (CI) principles in the rural Southern and Central Appalachian (SCA) region to further the teaching of information…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter discusses the application of community informatics (CI) principles in the rural Southern and Central Appalachian (SCA) region to further the teaching of information and communication technologies (ICT) literacy concepts in courses that formed part of two externally funded grants, “Information Technology Rural Librarian Master’s Scholarship Program Part I” (ITRL) and “Part II” (ITRL2), awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ (IMLS) Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program to the School of Information Sciences (SIS) at the University of Tennessee (UT).
Design/Methodology/Approach
The chapter documents ICT use in ITRL and ITRL2 to extend librarian technology literacy training, allowing these public information providers to become change agents in the twenty-first century. It discusses aspects of CI that influenced these two projects and shaped the training of future rural library leaders embedded in traditionally underrepresented areas to further social justice and progressive changes in the region’s rural communities.
Findings
The chapter demonstrates the role that CI principles played in the context of ITRL and ITRL2 from project inception to the graduation of the rural librarians with examples of tangible IT services/products that the students developed in their courses that were directly applicable and tailored to their SCA contexts.
Originality/Value
ITRL and ITRL2 provided a unique opportunity to apply a CI approach to train information librarians as agents of change in the SCA regions to further economic and cultural development via technology and management competencies. These change agents will continue to play a significant role in community building and community development efforts in the future.
Details
Keywords
Anna Wójcik-Karpacz, Sascha Kraus and Jarosław Karpacz
This article investigates (in)direct relationships between team-level entrepreneurial orientation and team performance, where team entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is measured as…
Abstract
Purpose
This article investigates (in)direct relationships between team-level entrepreneurial orientation and team performance, where team entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is measured as a team-level construct, not as concentration of team members' scores. In this article, the authors present and explore how EO-oriented behaviour within a team affect its performance, taking into account the team's trust in a manager and commitment to team and company goals.
Design/methodology/approach
This article focuses on a quantitative analysis of 55 teams operating within a large high-tech manufacturing enterprise, gathered through a traditional survey. The conceptual framework for this research was based on the theories of organisational citizenship, extra-role behaviour and social exchange. The authors explain how contextual factors establish a framework which enables team EO transformation towards higher performance of teams.
Findings
The results show that (team) performance benefits from EO-related behaviours. However, individual dimensions of EO are not universally beneficial and need to be combined with a mutual trust and/or commitment to team enterprise's goals to achieve high performance.
Originality/value
The findings provide important insight into which team factors may be targeted at the intervention or support of team members, including managers and immediate superiors who lack an active personality and are not willing to take risks at workplace. The authors adopted EO instruments, mutual trust and commitment from an individual scale to a team one, and also offer new opportunities to analyse such phenomena from a new level and evaluate them from the perspective of team managers.