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In this paper, we argue that work should be recognized as “commons.” We call for a new approach to how managers define their role and responsibility regarding the problem of work flexibility and of its societal implications. We argue that, in the global and digitized economy, it is in the best interest of all the company’s stakeholders that managers choose combinations of work arrangements and human resource policies considering the externalities of these decisions. Managers’ responsibility spans to the costs and risks that the broader social system of organizational stakeholders will bear because of their decisions. When labor market institutions are “thin,” it is management’s responsibility to contribute structuring and shaping them, so that the interests of workers, independent of the work arrangements, are considered.

This work examines the intersection between traditional human resource management and the novel employment arrangements of the expanding gig economy. While there is a substantial multidisciplinary literature on the digital platform labor phenomenon, it has been largely centered on the experiences of gig workers. As digital labor platforms continue to grow and specialize, more managers, executives, and human resource practitioners will need to make decisions about whether and how to utilize gig workers. Here the authors explore and interrogate the unique features of human resource management (HRM) activities in the context of digital labor platforms. The authors discuss challenges and opportunities regarding (1) HRM in organizations that outsource labor needs to external labor platforms, (2) HRM functions within digital labor platform firms, and (3) HRM policies and practices for organizations that develop their own spin-off digital labor platform. To foster a more nuanced understanding of work in the gig economy, the authors identify common themes across these contexts, highlight knowledge gaps, offer recommendations for future research, and outline pathways for collecting empirical data on HRM in the gig economy.

The goal of this study was to empirically determine whether creative capital can be distinguished at the firm level and to determine what role external labour plays in enhancing firm-level creative capital.

This study was conducted using a qualitative design. Interviews were held with eight managers knowledgeable on HR implementation and the use of creativity within their firms.

Creative capital was identified on the organizational level. The use made and roles given to external labour, in the form of contract and project-based employees as well as consultants and specialists for core activities, are important aspects in enhancing firm-level creative capital. We also found support for the claim that the use of labour market intermediaries in involving external labour differs between organizations with low and high levels of creative capital. Further, the findings indicate that more use is made of external labour in highly creative capital organizations when they are operating in dynamic environments.

Given out sample limitations, future research should develop a study design that allows our findings to be generalized to a larger population, including a focus on specific distinguishing departments within organizations.

Organizations can enhance their innovation performance through using firm-level creative capital, using external labour to acquire and retain the KSAOs needed.

The study is highly original and adds value to existing theory as it is the first to explore the relationship between external labour and firm-level creative capital.

In the past, leadership scholars have tended to focus on leadership as a force for good and productivity (Ashworth, 1994; Higgs, 2009; Padilla, Hogan, & Kaiser, 2007). However, recently attention has been given to the ‘dark side’ of leadership (see Higgs, 2009; Judge, Piccolo, & Kosalka, 2009). The aim of this chapter is to explore dark leadership from the perspective of the narcissistic leader using a fictional character from a popular film.

Using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, 1994 (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) as an operational definition of narcissistic personality disorder we explore the psychology of the narcissistic leader through a fictional character study in a popular film.

We have created a psychological profile of a narcissistic leader which identifies specific behavioural characteristics within a toxic organizational culture.

This study has implications for employees within any organizational culture. It is significant because it can illustrate how dark leadership can impact negatively within organizations.

The use of actual living persons on which to base case study material in the study of dark leadership is problematic and constrained by ethical issues. However, the use of characters in fiction, such as contemporary film and drama, represents an excellent source of case study material. Given that little empirical works exists on narcissistic leaders and leadership, the chapter adds originality and value to the field.

Many workers today are employed under a variety of nonstandard work arrangements, such as contract work and agency temporary work. While prior research has shown that the use of nonstandard workers can be detrimental to standard workers’ attitudes and behaviors, producing conflict between nonstandard and standard employees, that research has not shown how or why. We propose a model in which threat to status of, and accommodation by, standard workers cause negative reactions to nonstandard workers, contingent upon the competence of nonstandard workers. The model helps explain how subtle differences among seemingly similar nonstandard work arrangements can produce dramatically different challenges to work group effectiveness. Implications for the effective blending of work groups are discussed.

‘IT MIGHT BE SUGGESTED’, wrote George Blake in 1956, introducing the BBC radio‐drama series Annals of Scotland, ‘that Robin Jenkins is potentially the most interesting of the younger Scottish novelists’. Nor has the potential gone unrealized: in October 1969 he received a Scottish Arts Council publication award of £300 for his most recent book, The Holy Tree. On that occasion the Scotsman critic remarked that Jenkins ‘should need less introduction than one feels he does’, and this summarizes the paradox which must for long enough now have been troubling his admirers. Jenkins, besides being a prolific and highly praised novelist, is a remarkably neglected one.

This paper aims to analyze the influence of externalization in the workforce on creating a work context that supports innovation and the moderation of this relationship by different contextual variables.

These relationships were studied using a sample of 249 workers from five firms. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to contrast the hypotheses.

The results of the study indicate that externalization affects the permanent worker's orientation to innovation negatively and that this relationship is moderated by contextual variables such as group potency and monitoring.

The aim of this paper is to stimulate new lines of research on externalization and orientation to innovation and their repercussions for the firm.

Back in 1988, Lord Brightman said in his Spycatcher judgment that:

DURING much of the Second World War, the affairs of the Library Association were conducted for the Council by an Emergency Committee. The record of its meeting on 10th June 1941, includes the following: “A resolution having been received suggesting that a committee be formed to consider post‐war reconstruction, it was resolved that by means of a notice in the LIBRARY ASSOCIATION RECORD, Branches and Sections should be invited to formulate suggestions for the consideration of the committee. A draft questionnaire for the purpose of an enquiry into the effects of the war on the public library service was approved”. In July, the Committee reported “further arrangements … for carrying out an exhaustive survey designed to give the necessary data for full and detailed consideration and ultimate recommendation as to the future of public libraries, their administration and their place in the social services”. The promised notice appeared as an editorial in September.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the consequences of externalization from the perspective of the employees. The paper contributes to this line of research by examining how externalization influences internal employees’ perceptions of flexibility.

The hypotheses were tested with data collected from 249 internal workers in five organizations. To contrast the hypotheses, the paper used hierarchical regression analysis.

The results of the study indicate that externalization has a negative and significant effect on the climate of flexibility among internal workers. These negative consequences decrease in a context of group potency, but increase among employees with greater supervisory responsibility.

The results obtained add evidence to the small body of theoretical research that has studied the negative effects of externalization on internal employees’ perceptions.