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Publication date: 2 December 2013

Dominiek Coates

While a number of scholars have observed that the contemporary self has to negotiate a “push and pull” between autonomy and a desire for community (Austin & Gagne, 2008; Bauman…

Abstract

Purpose

While a number of scholars have observed that the contemporary self has to negotiate a “push and pull” between autonomy and a desire for community (Austin & Gagne, 2008; Bauman, 2001a, p. 60; Coles, 2008; Giddens, 2003, p. 46, the struggle between the “self” and “others” that is at the heart of symbolic interactionist (SI) understandings of the self is often missing from sociological discussion on the “making of the self” (Coles, 2008, p. 21; Holstein & Gubrium, 2000), and the current chapter contributes to this literature.

Design/methodology/approach

To gain insight into “the making of the self,” in-depth life history interviews were conducted with 23 former members of new religious movements (NRMs) specific to their construction of self. Interview data was analyzed for variations in the ways in which individuals describe their construction of self. To make sense of these variations, SI understandings of the self are applied.

Findings

Analysis indicates that the extent to which individuals are informed by the social versus the personal in their self-construction is a continuum. From an SI perspective the self is conceptualized as to varying degrees informed by both the personal and the social. These two “domains” of the self are interrelated or connected through an ongoing process of reflexivity that links internal experiences and external feedback. From this perspective, “healthy” selves reflexively balance a sense of personal uniqueness against a sense of belonging and social connectedness. While a reflexive balance between the “self” and “others” is optimal, not everyone negotiates this balance successfully, and the extent to which individuals are informed by the social versus the personal in their self-construction varies and can be conceptualized as on a continuum between autonomy and social connectedness. The current findings suggest that where individuals are positioned on this continuum is dependent on the availability of cultural and personal resources from which individuals can construct selves, in particular in childhood. Those participants who described themselves as highly dependent on others report childhood histories of control, whereas those who described themselves as disconnected from others report histories of abuse and neglect.

Research limitations

The problems of relying on retrospective accounts of former members should be noted as such accounts are interpretive and influenced by the respondents’ present situation. However, despite their retrospective and constructionist nature, life history narratives provide meaningful insights into the actual process of self and identity construction. The analysis of retrospective accounts is a commonly recommended and chosen method for the study of the self (Davidman & Greil, 2007; Diniz-Pereira, 2008).

Social implications/originality/value

The current findings suggest that significant differences may exist in the way in which individuals construct and narrate their sense of self, in particular in regards to the way in which they experience and negotiate contemporary tensions between social connectedness and individuality. In particular, the findings highlight the importance of childhood environments for the construction of “healthy” selves that can negotiate contemporary demands of autonomy as well as social connectedness.

Details

Social Theories of History and Histories of Social Theory
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-219-6

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Article
Publication date: 1 May 1991

Michael Carver

Many facilities managers are expected to contribute to keydecisions regarding building maintenance without having any backgroundknowledge of engineering services. The contents of…

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Abstract

Many facilities managers are expected to contribute to key decisions regarding building maintenance without having any background knowledge of engineering services. The contents of two courses which address this need are described. The courses are designed to create an awareness of the value of good engineering and to give some insight into some of the more important concepts in building engineering.

Details

Facilities, vol. 9 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-2772

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Article
Publication date: 31 May 2011

Rana Sobh and Brett A.S. Martin

Marketers spend considerable resources to motivate people to consume their products and services as a means of goal attainment. Why people change their consumption behaviour is…

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Abstract

Purpose

Marketers spend considerable resources to motivate people to consume their products and services as a means of goal attainment. Why people change their consumption behaviour is based largely on these goals; many products and services are used by consumers in an effort to attain hoped‐for selves and/or to avoid feared selves. Despite the importance for marketers in understanding how current performance influences a consumer's future efforts, this topic has received little attention in marketing research. The aim of this paper is to fill some of the gaps.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides a theoretical framework and uses two studies to test this. Study 1, of 203 women, aged 27‐65, examines the predictions in the context of women and visible signs of skin aging. Feedback information is measured and approach and avoidance regulatory systems are manipulated by priming hoped‐for and feared possible selves. Study 2, of 281 undergraduate men and women, replicates the findings of Study 1 with manipulated feedback, using a different context (gym training) and a sample of both male and females.

Findings

The research shows that when consumers pursue a hoped‐for self, it is expectations of success that most strongly drive their motivation. It also shows why doing badly when trying to avoid a feared self is more motivating than doing well.

Practical implications

The findings have important implications as they reveal how managers can motivate customers to keep using a product or service.

Originality/value

The paper makes several contributions to the consumer goal research literature since little is known about how positive (hoped‐for selves) and negative (feared selves) reference points in self‐regulation differentially influence consumer goal‐directed behaviour.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 45 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

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Article
Publication date: 23 September 2024

Tiago Ratinho and Saras D. Sarasvathy

Entrepreneurial action under uncertainty has captured the interest of scholars and practitioners alike. However, this growing body of research has yet to connect entrepreneurial…

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Abstract

Purpose

Entrepreneurial action under uncertainty has captured the interest of scholars and practitioners alike. However, this growing body of research has yet to connect entrepreneurial action with actual actions of entrepreneurs. We combine insights from effectuation theory and the psychology of entrepreneurship to investigate drivers of entrepreneurial actions involved in starting and running ventures, particularly optimism, self-efficacy and the use of causal and effectual logics.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employs a unique mixed-method approach combining a survey with experience sampling data. After measuring demographics, preference for effectual or causal logics and psychological variables, the 197 US entrepreneurs sampled entrepreneurs logged their daily actions in the form of asks during 60 consecutive days.

Findings

Results suggest that self-efficacy and causal logics are key drivers of entrepreneurial actions, while optimism serves as a deterrent. Interestingly, the impact of self-efficacy on actions is moderated by the entrepreneur’s experience level, measured both in years and past asking experience.

Originality/value

The potential of the ask as the basic mechanism for entrepreneurial actions is explored. Based on the findings, the authors offer new and fertile insights by linking psychological traits to entrepreneurial actions, causal and effectual logics and entrepreneurial expertise development.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 30 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

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Article
Publication date: 8 September 2020

Deepika and Jaya Chitranshi

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the leadership competencies of the Z generation (born after 1997) in the VUCA business environment. In today’s scenario, the business…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the leadership competencies of the Z generation (born after 1997) in the VUCA business environment. In today’s scenario, the business works differently than it used to previously. The young workforce wants not just to contribute their energy to the organisation but to their colleagues and themselves too, with the leading global sceneries.

Design/methodology/approach

An unstructured questionnaire was prepared by testing the reliability and validity of the data. Multiples linear regression analyses were used to derive results and to check whether the competencies are dependent on the VUCA skill sets. Entrepreneurial leadership, enabling leadership, operational leadership and architectural leadership are chosen to be the independent variables for this study.

Findings

The findings reveal that the dependability is on all the four factors for the VUCA business environment and hence the need is to practice the same in the organisation.

Research limitations/implications

The test has been done on a sample having 260 respondents. This study reveals data of the workspace environment only and not how Gen Z will behave to the conditions as individuals. Gender-perspective is not taken into account in this study.

Practical implications

The implications can be seen for the organisations’ understanding of how to deal with generation Z and empower them. The organisation-structure and processes that were developed previously will not be limited now just to making the organisations function but also impact self-development for Gen Z, the development that is focussed on work-teams of Gen Z and so the global market eventually.

Originality/value

The originality is in the variables that have been taken for this study. As the world is growing rapidly, the mind-set and the style in which the manager works are changing. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account what leadership style will affect the current business environment.

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Article
Publication date: 11 September 2017

Alexander Styhre

All scholarly writing must straddle the universal and the particular. The universal is commonly addressed in terms of theoretical frameworks and analytical models, supported by…

585

Abstract

Purpose

All scholarly writing must straddle the universal and the particular. The universal is commonly addressed in terms of theoretical frameworks and analytical models, supported by the objectivity norm that has guided scientific inquiry since its inception. The particularities, on the other hand, the details and the nuts and bolts of everyday life and organizational reality, are oftentimes associated with subjectivity and therefore raise concern regarding the scholar’s preferences and convictions. In order to better balance objectivity and subjectivity in the organization studies literature, it is important to pay attention to how the choice of literary style may apprehend and convey organizational realities. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Discussing the role of literature, and the work of the American short-story writer and poet Raymond Carver, more specifically, as a domain wherein language resonates with the pace and breathing of everyday life, it is suggested that an increased level of “lyrical sensibility” in scholarly vocabularies is conducive to more nuanced accounts of organizational practices. To substantiate Carver’s argument, ethnographies of occupational work is referenced and compared to Carver’s work.

Findings

Carver’s emphasis on writing stories and dialogs that do not hide behind jargon, nor impose unnecessary literary experiments or heavy-handed literary vocabularies on texts, is exemplary to organization researchers. In particular, Carver emphasizes the role of materiality and objects in his stories, the understated tension and concealed conflicts in social situations and relations, and points at how individuals interpret situations wherein they are located; in many cases, leading to apathy and indolence as the protagonists cannot consider meaningful ways to handle perceived issues or to move along. Carver’s emphasis on mundane experience is therefore conducive to a wider recognition of subjectivity in organization studies.

Originality/value

The paper broadens the discussion about organization studies writing by introducing the work of Raymond Carver, a seminal author only sparsely featured in organization and management studies.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

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Book part
Publication date: 13 March 2019

Susan Cosby Ronnenberg

The CW’s long-running horror-drama series Supernatural (2005–) has been accused of undoing progressive advances for women made by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1996–2003). While it’s…

Abstract

The CW’s long-running horror-drama series Supernatural (2005–) has been accused of undoing progressive advances for women made by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1996–2003). While it’s hard to deny the truth in that claim, Supernatural also problematizes conventional gender roles from a very different approach, one that plays with perceptions of masculinity and social class.

Buffy Summers may initially seem to have more in common with Supernatural’s Sam Winchester, a chosen one with special powers who wants a normal life away from the supernatural. However, Buffy shares more in common with Dean Winchester. Embodying popular gendered stereotypes in their introductions, it’s gradually revealed that there is more complexity to each. Both form alliances with Others; both recognize elements of the Other in themselves. Both transgress conventional gender boundaries, complicating the notion of a binary gender system. Both series introduce the seemingly familiar only to alter it into the uncanny. See the little cute blonde virginal cheerleader? She can kick your ass. See the stupid cocky womanizing jock? All he wants is family and a home. This chapter explores the increasingly gender-blended, social-class-crossing behaviours of Supernatural’s Dean Winchester as an heir to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Details

Gender and Contemporary Horror in Television
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-103-2

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Book part
Publication date: 23 September 2013

Michael Howe, Chu-Hsiang (Daisy) Chang and Russell E. Johnson

Research on self-regulation has tended to focus on goal-related performance, with limited attention paid to individuals’ affect and the role it plays during the goal-striving…

Abstract

Research on self-regulation has tended to focus on goal-related performance, with limited attention paid to individuals’ affect and the role it plays during the goal-striving process. In this chapter we discuss three mechanisms to integrate affect within a control theory-based self-regulation framework, and how such integrations inform future research concerning employee stress and well-being. Specifically, affect can be viewed as a result of velocity made toward one’s desired states at work. Fast progress results in positive affect, which enhances employee well-being and reduces the detrimental effects associated with exposure to occupational stressors. On the other hand, slow or no progress elicits negative affect, which induces employee distress. Second, affect can also be considered an input of self-regulation, such that employees are required to regulate their emotional displays at work. Employees who perform emotional labor compare their actual emotional display against the desired display prescribed by display rules. Third, affect can function as a situational disturbance, altering employees’ perceptions or assessments of the input, comparator, and output for other self-regulatory processes.

Details

The Role of Emotion and Emotion Regulation in Job Stress and Well Being
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-586-9

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Article
Publication date: 1 April 2000

D. Wayne Taylor

As in many countries today, health services across Canada are being restructured. Most jurisdictions within Canada are also restructuring and experimenting with the governance…

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Abstract

As in many countries today, health services across Canada are being restructured. Most jurisdictions within Canada are also restructuring and experimenting with the governance function of health‐delivery organizations. However, much of this governance reorganization is being done in a vacuum. New governance models have appeared lately that defy the first principles of good corporate governance. Identifies and examines the nine principles of good organizational governance as well as the five benchmarks of excellence in governance. An example of a governance “monster” – one of the latest experiments in corporate leadership in Canadian health care – is also critiqued. Presents conclusions, lessons and warnings which all health‐services managers – indeed, all public sector managers – should heed.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

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Book part
Publication date: 29 August 2018

Matt Bolton and Frederick Harry Pitts

Abstract

Details

Corbynism: A Critical Approach
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78754-372-0

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