Kjell Gronhaug and J.S. Falkenberg
Managers and organizations need to understand their surroundingenvironments to exhibit purposeful behaviour. Due to limited cognitivecapacity their rationality is limited as well…
Abstract
Managers and organizations need to understand their surrounding environments to exhibit purposeful behaviour. Due to limited cognitive capacity their rationality is limited as well. Attribution and attributional research serves point of departure to capture how managers and organizations make sense of their internal and external environments, enabling them to act purposefully. Explores a set of tentative hypotheses in a small scale study and demonstrates differences in success attributions between managers and across managerial teams in high‐ and low‐performing organizations. Highlights theoretical and managerial implications.
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Guilherme Fowler A. Monteiro and Rinaldo Artes
This paper examines the relationship between entrepreneurs' internality of causal attributions and firm growth during an economic crisis. We propose a U-shaped relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the relationship between entrepreneurs' internality of causal attributions and firm growth during an economic crisis. We propose a U-shaped relationship between the two variables, arguing that the highest-growth entrepreneurs are those with either the highest or lowest levels of internal attribution (IA) during such periods.
Design/methodology/approach
To test our hypothesis, we analyze a database of 804 interviews with entrepreneurs in Brazil during a period of economic stress. Due to the existence of endogeneity, we estimate a model of simultaneous equations in two stages.
Findings
We find evidence of a U-shaped relationship. This means that during economic stress, the fastest-growing entrepreneurs are those who rely more on their own effort (high IA) and those who attribute their success to the economic crisis (low IA).
Practical implications
Tailoring interventions based on attribution patterns and recognizing the U-shaped relationship ensures effective support during economic stress. Entrepreneurial support programs should align with internality levels, emphasizing external awareness or skill development accordingly. Policymakers should take attributions into account when promoting financial resilience. Entrepreneurs would benefit from awareness programs on attributions for reflective decision-making. Ecosystems should foster collaboration by recognizing diverse attributions, enhancing a collective understanding of entrepreneurial responses in crises.
Originality/value
Our results have important implications for understanding the role of entrepreneurs in economic crises. Our results are relevant because they challenge the usual claim that entrepreneurs with high IA are the ones who perform better in situations where external economic conditions are adverse.
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Managerial success as an academic concept has not been researched and explored adequately in the management literature. The purpose of this research paper is to identify and…
Abstract
Purpose
Managerial success as an academic concept has not been researched and explored adequately in the management literature. The purpose of this research paper is to identify and analyze a set of success indicators that the working managers value most in their professional life. Further, these selective managerial success indicators were prioritized for different managerial hierarchies in the Indian context.
Design/methodology/approach
The data analysis was carried out using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique as the basis for the comparisons of the success indicators for various levels of managerial hierarchy as well as for the representing variables under each success indicator.
Findings
The results established the prioritization of the managerial success indicators for the senior, middle, and junior levels of managerial hierarchy. The aggregative analyses for the entire data set also prioritized the variables under each success indicator studied in this research.
Research limitations/implications
The study has practical implications for the top management in terms of providing them with the definitive success indicators of the working professionals, hence helping them achieve success by suitably facilitating these factors. The recruitment specialists can select the incumbent managers with the individualized characteristics identified in this study that facilitate professional success.
Originality/value
This research has addressed a relatively unexplored area of managerial success in the Indian context and outlined a framework for the prioritization of success factors by the Indian managerial community.
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Robert A. Fiore and Robert N. Lussier
The purpose of this paper is to empirically test for fundamental attribution error (FAE) – the naturally occurring bias of humans to over-attribute business success to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically test for fundamental attribution error (FAE) – the naturally occurring bias of humans to over-attribute business success to celebrity-entrepreneur disposition.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing a five-step process, this paper measures and tests for FAE bias in entrepreneurial situations. The methodology includes anecdotal historical evidence; developing a FAE survey instrument; having 101 respondents classify variables; statistically testing and validating the instrument; and then statistically identifying the importance of each factor with a sample 105.
Findings
Significant statistical evidence for an active FAE bias was found. People do tend to attribute business success to entrepreneurial dispositions, rather than team behavior and circumstantial outcome factors which can reduce the effectiveness of public policy.
Research limitations/implications
There is minimal research on FAE in entrepreneurship effecting public policy, thus there is a need for research to better understand factors of business outcomes actually based on entrepreneurial dispositions vs team behavior and circumstantial-situational factors.
Practical implications
FAE bias may lead the general public, entrepreneurs, and public policy makers to overemphasize the impact of the entrepreneur’s behavior and especially the dispositional factors of the celebrity-based entrepreneur when assessing causation of firm performance. This would under-emphasize the value of other organizational factors. Misidentification of true cause-effect factors may lead to inappropriate managerial conclusions and introduction of error in public policy decisions.
Originality/value
Although FAE is primarily a psychological literature concept, this is the first study to contribute empirical evidence of the FAE of professionals employed in business as it applies to entrepreneurship and economic outcomes.
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Sabrina Loufrani-Fedida and Bénédicte Aldebert
This paper aims to improve the understanding of competence management in innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through a multilevel approach.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to improve the understanding of competence management in innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through a multilevel approach.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a three-part structure to propose a conceptual and theoretical framework. It first explores the full scope of multilevel approaches to human resource management research, both in theory and in practice. It then reviews the literature on competence management in innovative SMEs, before demonstrating that the topic is a multilevel phenomenon. Finally, it reflects on the research and methodology implications, identifies limitations and provides suggestions for future research.
Findings
This literature review shows that competence management in innovative SMEs is a multilevel phenomenon. It outlines the research and methodology implications, identifies limitations and suggests future research directions.
Originality/value
The overarching contribution is to offer a literature review and a research agenda for a multilevel approach to competence management in the development of innovative SMEs.
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Ulf Bengtsson works for Motorola Inc. as an Organization Effectiveness consultant. In this role he works in the area of change acceleration, organization design, and other…
Abstract
Ulf Bengtsson works for Motorola Inc. as an Organization Effectiveness consultant. In this role he works in the area of change acceleration, organization design, and other strategic OD initiatives. His undergraduate degree is in Organizational Communication from Cleveland State University and he earned a Masters in Management and Organizational Behavior (concentration in OD) from Benedictine University. He has done award-winning papers and presentations and has numerous publications on topics including organizational behavior, organization development, and appreciative inquiry. A Swedish citizen, he now resides in Chicago. Ulf can be reached at: Ulfl@motorola.com.Allen C. Bluedorn (Ph.D. in sociology, University of Iowa) is the Emma S. Hibbs Distinguished Professor and the Chair of the Department of Management at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has taught and studied management and the organization sciences, first at the Pennsylvania State University, then for the last 23 years at the University of Missouri-Columbia. These efforts have produced seven major teaching awards, over 30 articles and chapters, and his recently published book, The Human Organization of Time (Stanford University Press, 2002). He has served as president of the Midwest Academy of Management, as a member of the Organizational Behavior Teaching Society’s board of directors, as a representative-at-large to the Academy of Management’s board of governors, as associate editor of Academy of Management Learning and Education, and as division chair of the Academy of Management’s Organizational Behavior Division.David Coghlan is a member of the School of Business Studies at the University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland. His research and teaching interests lie in the areas of organisation development, action research, action learning, clinical inquiry, practitioner research and doing action research in one’s own organisation. His most recent books include Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization (co-authored with Teresa Brannick, Sage, 2001), Changing Healthcare Organisations, (coauthored with Eilish Mc Auliffe, Blackhall: Dublin, 2003) and Managers Learning in Action (eds. D. Coghlan, T. Dromgoole, P. Joynt & P. Sorensen, Routledge, 2004).Paul Coughlan is Associate Professor of Operations Management at the University of Dublin, School of Business Studies, Trinity College, Ireland where, since 1993, he has researched and taught in the areas of operations management and product development. His active research interests relate to continuous improvement of practices and performance in product development and manufacturing operations. He is President of the Board of the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management, and a member of the board of the European Operations Management Association.Fariborz Damanpour received his Ph.D. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the Graduate School of Management at the Rutgers University in 1985. Currently he is a professor at the Department of Management and Global Business of the Rutgers Business School, where he served as the chairperson of the management department from 1996 to 2002. Prior to his academic career, he worked as an engineer, an organizational development consultant, and the manager of a start-up unit in a large organization. His primary areas of research have been management of innovation and organization design and change. His papers have been published in several management and technology management journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, Journal of Management Studies, Management Science, Organization Studies, and Strategic Management Journal. He serves on the editorial boards of the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, and Journal of Management Studies.Joyce Falkenberg is Professor of Strategy and Associate Dean of the School of Management at Agder University College (HiA) in Kristiansand, Norway. She received a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 1984. Her dissertation focused on strategic change and adaptation as a response to changes in the environment. Her research has continued the focus on strategic change with an emphasis on implementation. Recent work has combined this emphasis with the strategy issues of congition, strategizing, and resource based perspective. Before coming to HiA in the summer of 2003, Joyce Falkenberg was a member of the faculty at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. She taught in many international programs, including NHHs Masters of International Business; executive masters programs in Russia and Poland; and held seminars in Latvia, China, Switzerland, and Germany. Falkenberg has served on the Executive Board of the Academy of Management Business Policy Division and on the Editorial Board of the Academy of Management Review.Mary A. Ferdig Ph.D., is Director of the Sustainability Leadership Institute in Middlebury, Vermont, a research and education organization dedicated to developing leadership capacity for building a more sustainable world. Her research interests focus on leadership for sustainable organizational and social change, grounded in complexity and social constructionist perspectives. She consults with leaders in not-for-profit and business sectors as well as teaching process consultation and leadership communication in the Management and Organizational Behavior Master’s program at Benedictine University and the Public Administration and Community Services program at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. She also serves as an External Examiner in the Doctoral Program in the Complexity Management Centre, Hertfordshire University, London, U.K.Robert T. Golembiewski is Distinguished Research Professor, Emeritus at the University of Georgia, where he is part of the Public Administration program. Bob G is an internationally-active consultant in planned change, and he is the only pracademic who has won all of the major research prizes in management: the Irwin in business, Waldo Award in PA, the NASPAA Award in public policy, two McGregor awards for excellence in the application of the behavioral sciences, and the ODI Prize for global programs in planned change.
Tracy L. Gonzalez-Padron, G. Tomas M. Hult and O. C. Ferrell
Further understanding of how stakeholder marketing explains firm performance through greater customer satisfaction, innovation, and reputation of a firm.
Abstract
Purpose
Further understanding of how stakeholder marketing explains firm performance through greater customer satisfaction, innovation, and reputation of a firm.
Methodology/approach
Grounded in stakeholder theory, the study provides a conceptualization of stakeholder orientation based on cultural values that is distinctive from stakeholder responsiveness and examines the relationship of stakeholder responsiveness to firm performance. The study determines the mediating role of marketing outcomes on the impact of stakeholder responsiveness on firm performance. Multiple regression analysis tests hypotheses using a data set consisting of qualitative data obtained from corporate documents and quantitative data from respected secondary sources.
Findings
Our findings provide support for stakeholder marketing creating a strong relationship to organizational outcomes. There exists a positive relationship between stakeholder responsiveness and firm performance through customer satisfaction, innovation, and reputation.
Research implications
Our definition implies that stakeholder responsiveness is acting in the best interests of the stakeholder as a responsible business. This study shows that stakeholder marketing may not always represent socially responsible marketing. Further research could explore how and why firms may not respond ethically and responsibly to stakeholders.
Practical implications
We further the discussion whether stakeholder marketing equates to sustainability. Marketers can build on expertise of managing customer relationship and generating customer value to develop a stakeholder marketing approach that addresses the economic, social, and environmental concerns of multiple stakeholders.
Originality/value
We further the discussion whether stakeholder marketing equates to sustainability. Marketers can build on expertise of managing customer relationship and generating customer value to develop a stakeholder marketing approach that addresses the economic, social, and environmental concerns of multiple stakeholders.
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This chapter presents trailing research (TR) as an approach for studying organization change in real time. I argue that TR can contribute in bridging the practitioner-scholar…
Abstract
This chapter presents trailing research (TR) as an approach for studying organization change in real time. I argue that TR can contribute in bridging the practitioner-scholar divide as well as generating methodologically rigorous, theoretically strong, and practically relevant research. I contrast the method with more traditional ways of researching change, such as positivistic research and action research and discuss various phases of the research process by drawing on my own experience with TR. While the objectives of the research are more similar to action research, the role of the researcher differs from both action research and positivistic research.
L.E. Falkenberg, M.L. Monachello and L.C. Edlund
One of the major challenges for managing human resources in the 1990s is to appropriately respond to employees having to manage the dual responsibilities of home and work (Paris…
Abstract
One of the major challenges for managing human resources in the 1990s is to appropriately respond to employees having to manage the dual responsibilities of home and work (Paris, 1989). Balancing work and family has been considered a women's issue, with the question being whether women could handle both the home demands and the responsibilities of a paid job. Yet the entrance of women into the workforce has also required major role adjustments by their husbands. According to the traditional model of work, husbands prioritize work over family with the wife providing the necessary emotional and physical support to keep the husband in “good working order” (Pleck, 1977). In today's society, this model is no longer widely applicable, as men in dual earner families receive less emotional support than their single‐earner counterparts (Burke, & Weir, 1976; Keith, & Schafer, 1980) and tend to assume greater family responsibilities (Holahan, & Gilbert, 1979; Weingarten, 1978).