Pilar Giráldez-Puig, Ignacio Moreno, Leticia Perez-Calero and Jaime Guerrero Villegas
This study investigates the relationships between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) controversies and insolvency risk in the insurance sector. Drawing from legitimacy…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the relationships between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) controversies and insolvency risk in the insurance sector. Drawing from legitimacy and stakeholder theories, the authors explore the impact of ESG controversies on insurers’ insolvency risk and the moderating effect of ESG practices on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilises a dataset comprising 120 stock insurance firms spanning from 2011 to 2022. The authors employed system-GMM estimations to control for potential endogeneity and conducted several robustness checks.
Findings
ESG controversy positively influences insurers’ insolvency risk, with ESG practices mitigating these positive effects. The Governance (G) component of ESG practices plays a key role in counteracting the effects of ESG controversies on insurance companies’ insolvency risk.
Originality/value
This is the first study to investigate the direct relationship between ESG controversies and insolvency risk in the insurance industry. It underscores the critical influence of stakeholders’ perceptions of the company’s legitimacy, which is determined by the number of ESG controversies undertaken by the insurer company, on its insolvency risk. Additionally, by examining the three components of ESG practices individually, the authors offer insights into how managers can gain a competitive edge, particularly by utilising governance practices as safeguards against the adverse effects of ESG controversies on their financial risk.
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Manuel Nieto-Guerrero, Mirko Antino and Jose M. Leon-Perez
There is increasing evidence about the key role that intragroup conflicts have for teams’ performance and its members’ well-being. However, the existing measures in the…
Abstract
Purpose
There is increasing evidence about the key role that intragroup conflicts have for teams’ performance and its members’ well-being. However, the existing measures in the Spanish-speaking context to address intragroup conflicts suffer from important theoretical and methodological flaws. In response, this study aims to provide a valid and reliable scale to measure intragroup conflicts in organizational settings: the Intragroup Conflict Scale in its 14-item version (ICS-14: Jehn et al., 2008).
Design/methodology/approach
In a cross-sectional survey design, the authors analyze the ICS’s internal consistency and reliability, factor solution and external validity by using a multilevel approach in a sample consisting of 588 workers nested in 55 production teams from a Spanish company.
Findings
Results indicated that the ICS-14 exhibited good Cronbach’s alpha (0.62-0.95), omega (0.63-0.95) and multilevel alpha coefficient (0.82-0.98). In addition, in line with the theoretical conception of three types of intragroup conflicts, results from a multilevel confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a three multilevel-factor solution presented the best fit to the data. Finally, multilevel analyses also showed that intragroup conflicts are associated to burnout, engagement at work and perceived team’s quality of service, which provided additional support for using the ICS-14 in the Spanish context.
Practical implications
This study offers a reliable and valid measurement of intragroup conflict, considering the whole instrument and its different dimensions, which can be used to develop team strategies and evaluate the effect of specific interventions on conflict.
Originality/value
The authors validate the most recent 14-item version of the ICS-14 by applying a multilevel approach to a group-level construct that overcomes previous methodological flaws.
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Inés Alegre, Jasmina Berbegal-Mirabent and Adrian Guerrero
Mission statements are a key element of any organization. Ideally, the mission statement should be written at the initial stages of an organization’s life to be a useful tool to…
Abstract
Purpose
Mission statements are a key element of any organization. Ideally, the mission statement should be written at the initial stages of an organization’s life to be a useful tool to guide future organization’s decisions and strategy. However, at the early stages of an organization’s life, the organization might still be under development with the objective and stakeholders not yet well-defined, and therefore, stating the mission so early on, might neglect some important elements. In this paper, the authors explore the difference in mission statement quality between missions that have been created at the birth stage of an organization versus missions that are just explicitly formulated once the organization is already well-established and an underlying implicit mission already exists. The authors use as an empirical setting university research parks.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors evaluate mission statement quality using content analysis. The authors then test the differences on mission statement quality between two groups of research parks, those that have followed a creation strategy versus those that have followed a formulation strategy, using mean of differences test.
Findings
The authors find that a formulation strategy produces more complete mission statements than the creation strategy. Research parks that have followed a formulation strategy include in their mission statements more references to relevant stakeholders, such as investors, than parks following a creation strategy with respect to their mission statement.
Research limitations/implications
The research setting is Spanish Science Parks. This research setting is appropriate to answer the research question, as two Park creation strategies, planned and unplanned, allow the researchers to clearly differentiate between two mission conception strategies. However, the sample size is rather small.
Practical implications
Research has shown that a well-defined mission helps organizations focus and strategy formulation. The authors’ research offers some guidance on how to achieve a high-quality mission statement which will, in turn, help organizations have a better definition of their purpose.
Originality/value
Research until now has assumed that the mission statement should be formulated at the initial stages of the organization’s life. The authors’ research shows that defining the mission statement later in the process creates higher-quality mission statements that better reflect the organizations purpose and relevant stakeholders.
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This chapter describes and analyzes the result of an active, cooperative learning design adopted in “Change Management,” an elective course at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya…
Abstract
This chapter describes and analyzes the result of an active, cooperative learning design adopted in “Change Management,” an elective course at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), which is a fully online university. The paper describes the context and foundations that support the learning design, outlines the learning activities and their evolution, and presents the results of a student survey to assess the design’s effectiveness in reaching its main goals. The results of the survey suggest that students perceived this design as enhancing their teamwork abilities, while being interesting and motivating, as well as useful in learning the course’s content. Therefore, the desired goals were attained and the design was kept, with minor changes, in subsequent editions of the course. In addition, students without prior teamwork experience valued the collaborative activities more than students who had previously worked in teams in other subjects of their degrees. In contrast, no differences were found for individual learning activities. This suggests that the design can be useful in introductory courses where students are asked to learn in virtual teams for the first time.
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Rosa Azalea Canales García and Oscar Javier Montiel Méndez
Entrepreneurship and family businesses are fundamental factors in economic activity since, through the generation of new ideas, it is possible to generate new businesses that…
Abstract
Entrepreneurship and family businesses are fundamental factors in economic activity since, through the generation of new ideas, it is possible to generate new businesses that trigger employment, innovation, and economic growth. Recently, an emphasis on seeing both research streams from a kaleidoscope perspective has given new insights into the development and evolution of this area. Thus, exploring the differentiation between true and false entrepreneurs seems vital for today's efficient allocation of resources. A theoretical model is proposed, including micro, meso, and macro analytical spheres, adding the behavioral aspects that determine whether a person is a true or false entrepreneur and the effects that can have on the business. To observe the viability of the approach, the case of an enterprise, called “family business S,” is examined. Specifically, the results show the feasibility of applying the analytical proposal to observe the positive and negative behaviors of the family business. In the case of S, these are false entrepreneurs, given that free time and unemployment were the main reasons for starting the company, but they lacked the will and long-term vision. Also, a novel view on how to diagnose a real entrepreneur for taking over a family business is proposed, where a clinical history approach might help in the succession process.
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Cristina Cruz, Shainaz Firfiray and Luis R. Gomez-Mejia
This chapter takes a socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective to explain the adoption of human resource (HR) practices in family-controlled firms. Previous studies on human…
Abstract
This chapter takes a socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective to explain the adoption of human resource (HR) practices in family-controlled firms. Previous studies on human resource management (HRM) in family firms have focused only on a small range of HR practices and have rarely utilized strong conceptual frameworks. As a result, these studies have overlooked important factors that contribute to the distinctiveness of HRM in these organizations. Based on ample evidence that shows family businesses' preference for non-economically motivated objectives collectively labeled as SEW, we propose that the presence of SEW influences HR practices in family firms.
Consequently, we reexamine existing empirical evidence of the determinants of HRM in family-controlled firms under the SEW approach. We also reinterpret existing theoretical models of family-controlled firms and their implications for HRM under the SEW umbrella. Our final goal is to establish an integrated framework through a set of sound propositions on HRM in family businesses. By integrating the literature, we aim to fill theoretical gaps in our understanding of the determinants of HR practices in the family business context and direct future research in this area.
Hoai Than Nguyen and Elaine Quintana Borazon
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted various systems that drove people to adapt to certain technologies, such as electronic government services, for daily survival and to meet…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted various systems that drove people to adapt to certain technologies, such as electronic government services, for daily survival and to meet social distancing requirements. Therefore, this study aims to determine the antecedents of e-government use based on prospect theory and modified unified theory of acceptance use of technology (UTAUT) during a pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
Convenience sampling of 368 respondents from Vietnam was conducted, and questionnaires were distributed personally or by email. The data were analyzed following a two-stage structural equation modeling (SEM) using SPSS v23 and AMOS v23. The validity and reliability of the instrument were tested and ensured.
Findings
Results show that perceived severity drives government support and social influence while perceived security drives government support, social influence and trust. Social influence enhances government support and trust, which both drives e-government use. Mediation analysis shows that government support mediates perceived the influence of perceived severity on e-government use.
Practical implications
The integration of prospect theory and UTAUT brings into light what will drive the adoption of e-government in the context of Vietnam. Supporting mechanisms, such as security measures, trust-building, government support and social influence, will drive citizens to adapt to technologies provided by the government but would also rely on the perceived risks and benefits.
Originality/value
This study integrates prospect theory and a modified version of UTAUT to explain the drivers of e-government use. The results reveal that under uncertainties, government support is critical in driving the use of e-government for people to manage the daily lives for survival.
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Abeer F. Alkhwaldi, Buthina Alobidyeen, Amir A. Abdulmuhsin and Manaf Al-Okaily
This paper aims to propose a user adoption model of human resource information system (HRIS) in the Jordanian public sector by integrating the task technology fit (TTF) model and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a user adoption model of human resource information system (HRIS) in the Jordanian public sector by integrating the task technology fit (TTF) model and the unified theory of acceptance and usage of technology (UTAUT).
Design/methodology/approach
Using a quantitative approach, survey data were collected using an online survey from employees working in four different public organizations in Jordan, and structural equation modelling has been used to validate the research model.
Findings
The study found that among the constructs of the UTAUT model performance expectancy, social influence and facilitating condition have a significant effect on users’ behavioural intention to adopt HRIS. Furthermore, the results also reveal that effort expectancy has an insignificant effect on adoption behaviour. The findings also show that all TTF hypotheses were supported by the data collected. Both task characteristics and technology characteristics have a significant effect on the TTF construct, which further determines users’ adoption behaviour.
Originality/value
These findings contribute to the extant academic literature and have practical implications, improving the understanding of the HRIS adoption and use in public sector organizations.