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This paper aims to examine whether social comparison in a prior, nonconsumption circumstance (e.g. in an academic setting) affects consumers’ materialism and subsequent spending propensity, and explores the incidental feeling of envy as the underlying mechanism.

Four experiments have been conducted to test these hypotheses. Study 1 manipulated social comparison in an academic domain, and measured undergraduate students’ materialism after they compared themselves to a superior student or to an inferior student. Study 2 used a recall task to manipulate social comparison and examine the mediating role of envy. Study 3 examined which of the two types of envy (benign or malicious) affected materialism. Study 4 examined the downstream consequences on spending propensity in both public and private consumption contexts.

The results suggest that consumers place greater importance on material goods and are more likely to spend money on publicly visible products after making upward social comparisons than after making downward social comparisons or no comparisons. Furthermore, envy acts as the mediator for the observed effect of incidental social comparison on materialism.

First, this study improves our understanding of the consequences of social comparison and envy by demonstrating that incidental envy (both benign and malicious) experienced in a prior, unrelated social comparison can motivate materialistic pursuits. Second, the present research contributes to the compensatory consumption literature by revealing that, in a social comparison context, envy is the affective underpinning that gives rise to the motivation to engage in compensatory consumer behavior. Third, the findings also enrich materialism research by exploring an important situational antecedent in driving materialistic orientation.

This paper aims to clarify whether J. Walter Thompson (JWT)’s planning and research tradition gave rise to the concept of Account Planning. In addition, it seeks to analyse the different planning methodologies that preceded Account Planning to highlight how it emerged at JWT London. A further goal is to understand the impact of Account Planning, which sought to achieve effective advertising through detailed consumer insight and has transformed the multinational JWT as a whole and the advertising sector in general.

The methodology is based mainly on the analysis of primary research conducted on original files donated to Duke University Library (North Carolina, USA) by the multinational J. Walter Thompson.

Account Planning emerged in 1968 in London as a consequence of the research and planning tradition that already existed at JWT. JWT’s corporate culture established the importance of the Account Planning approach that was valued by advertisers and spread to all offices. The planning tools used by the multinational today are updated versions of those that were designed from 1960 onwards.

The historical approach taken here precludes an analysis of the current reality of Account Planning. In future research, it would be useful to carry out in-depth interviews with professionals to explore how they apply planning tools that represent updated versions of those that were developed 50 years ago.

This paper’s main interest lies in the fact that it is based on original, unpublished sources, an approach that makes it possible to reassess previous findings.

This paper aims to investigate whether relational agency fosters relational people management using evidence from micro and small enterprises in Uganda, an African developing country. Specifically, the paper examines whether the individual relational agency dimensions (shared learning, mutual cooperation, collective efficacy and interaction enablement) also affect relational people management.

A cross-sectional survey design using a quantitative approach was used in this study. Data were collected from 241 micro and small enterprises in Uganda using a structured questionnaire and were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists.

The results indicate that relational agency is positively and significantly associated with relational people management. Findings further indicated that collective efficacy, mutual cooperation, shared learning and interaction enablement individually matter in relational people management.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study may be among the first to demonstrate that relational agency and its individual dimensions (interaction enablement, shared learning, mutual cooperation and collective efficacy) foster relational people management in the context of micro and small enterprises of Uganda, an African developing country. Consequently, this study contributes to both theory and literature via the cultural historical activity theory, hence, adding to the scant existing literature on relational agency and relational people management.

Explores the issues which concerned auditing practitioners more than 100 years ago and reexamines them in the present day context. These issues include: the role and scope of the audit, audit independence, the auditor’s report, competition between auditors, litigation against auditors, and governance and regulation of the profession. Many of these concerns remain unresolved. Develops an historical perspective which helps to explain the endurance of these issues and informs policy makers in their endeavour to devise permanent solutions. Examines the determination of the profession′s early leaders to discuss the problem and publicly notes the contrast with the deafening silence emanating from their counterparts today.

Since the passage of P.L. 94–142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, on November 29, 1975, mandating that handicapped students be educated in the least restrictive environments possible, there has been an increasing demand for information related to the education of the handicapped. A common observation of teachers and administrators is that tedious hours of paperwork and conferences are required to plan individualized programs and meet governmental mandates.

In the 1970s, the United States Congress enacted two statutes that have had dramatic and far‐reaching effects on the education of handicapped children by public schools. These two laws, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Education For All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (known as Public Law 94–142), have required local public school agencies to provide new eductional programs for thousands of handicapped children not previously served by the public schools. Counselors, principals, and teachers were quickly informed of the law's requirements and willingly began the task of main‐streaming and assimilating these children into various curricula. Their physical needs were attended to rapidly; their societal and emotional needs, unfortunately, lagged behind. Within the past seven years, there has been an increase in books, articles, and films specifically addressed to counseling the handicapped. Unlike past literature which focused only on the vocational aspect of rehabilitation counseling, current writing emphasizes personal counseling meant to assist a disabled child to participate fully in the problems and joys of daily living.

This paper introduces this special issue and initially provides some contextual background to the field of psychodynamics, its significance to organisational studies and the understanding of behaviour in organizations. The internationally-based papers in this special issue are then introduced and summarised.

The study aims to learn how a small private university dedicated to Judaic studies successfully merged with a large public university? Our study investigates how Baltimore Hebrew University (BHU) successfully integrated into the much larger Towson University (TU), while maintaining its unique Jewish identity.

How did leadership facilitate a successful merging of a small private university with a large public university? Our case study investigates how BHU successfully integrated into the much larger TU. Given that past research has focused primarily on the financial aspects, the purpose of the present study is to analyze how leaders successfully navigated the complex processes of integrating the two institutions through envisioning, communicating and planning effectively. This research uniquely investigates the role of leadership as the driving force in moving the merger forward and facilitating the process. The authors analyzed the circumstances that facilitated the merger and discovered that leadership pushed this merger forward, particularly the confluence of three approaches—visionary, transformational and servant leadership. This research has implications for guiding future mergers of smaller colleges with larger universities. This case study is particularly timely, during this uncertain age of COVID-19, when many universities are considering creative solutions, including potential mergers with other institutions, in the face of increasing financial difficulties.

Implications of this research can help illuminate future mergers of smaller colleges with larger universities in cases where the smaller institution desires to retain its strong cultural or historical identity. The authors found that the “right leadership on the ground” is a crucial component needed for a successful merger, particularly in a higher education setting.

Our research provides a concrete example that can be used help campus administrators assess whether they have the leadership structure in place to successfully navigate a merger as a path forward.

This case study is particularly timely, during this uncertain age of COVID-19, when many universities are considering creative solutions, including potential mergers with other institutions, in the face of increasing financial difficulties.