Rainer Hensel and Ronald Visser
The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to analyse what personality traits impact entrepreneurial cognitive and social strategic decision-making skills, originating from…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to analyse what personality traits impact entrepreneurial cognitive and social strategic decision-making skills, originating from the effectuation framework.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 128 participants from an entrepreneurial pre-launch programme were assessed by experienced incubator and business coaches. Personality was measured by a Big Five test. Based on a confirmatory factor analysis, the relationships were analysed between personality and three core dimensions of the effectuation framework: the bird-in-hand principle, the crazy quilt principle and the pilot in the plane principle.
Findings
Specific patterns (moderation effects) as opposed to levels of personality traits proved to be relevant. The bird-in-hand and the crazy quilt principles are related to the moderating effect between sensitivity to feedback, sociability and ambition. The pilot in the plane principle was related to the whole pattern of entrepreneurial key qualities embedded in the extraversion domain. Furthermore, relationships of personality with key issues in the effectuation framework were found, examples being reflecting on a high diversity of means or on own talents, conducting a thorough risk analysis and engaging in inspirational networking. The final model revealed a direct positive influence of the capacity to conduct a thorough risk analysis on the overall capacity to apply the effectuation principles.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation of this study is the exclusion of the lemonade principle from the final model. This being based on unsatisfying model fit indices. Another limitation is the cross-sectional design, as well as the chosen research context: the pre-launch entrepreneurial programme.
Practical implications
The research results shed a light on the impact that personality plays in adoption of effectual decision making.
Social implications
The effectuation framework is widely used by individual entrepreneurs, SMEs and start-ups, to design innovative business models or implement an up-scaling strategy.
Originality/value
Little is known about the underlying mechanisms of the effectuation framework. Moreover, evidence-based insights are offered to entrepreneurs that intent to mobilise effectual behaviours.
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Rainer Hensel and Ronald Visser
The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to better understand which personality traits and personal values impact transformational leadership qualities in self-directed…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to better understand which personality traits and personal values impact transformational leadership qualities in self-directed entrepreneurial teams as perceived by team members.
Design/methodology/approach
A cohort consisting of six self-directed entrepreneurial teams was selected. A multi-rater system was applied to assess the perceived transformational leadership qualities. A model was developed, using three dimensions of transformational leadership as dependent variables: inspiring others, stimulating interaction among group members and communicating a strong vision.
Findings
The ability to inspire others was predicted by friendliness, measuring a positive labeling of social phenomena. In addition, two positive moderation effects emerged as being related to inspirational capacities: assertiveness and despondency, and assertiveness and emotional empathy interacted. The second moderation effect also impacted the capacity to stimulate group interaction. The personality traits “modesty” and the personal value “human relations” were negatively related to the perceived capacity to communicate a strong vision. Furthermore, a significant but moderate effect of team membership on the capacity to inspire others respectively stimulate interaction seems to exist.
Practical implications
The research results offer valuable opportunities to enhance or to develop those informal, transformational leadership qualities positively influencing entrepreneurial effectiveness.
Social implications
As entrepreneurship in small, self-directed teams is a popular phenomenon, research results add to the understanding of group interaction related to informal leadership.
Originality/value
Shared or informal transformational leadership in the context of self-directed, entrepreneurial teams is a relatively new phenomenon. Integrating a multi-rater assessment of leadership with personality combines interesting perspectives.
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Marija Cerjak, Rainer Haas and Damir Kovačić
The aims of this paper is to determine, via an empirical study of beer consumers in Croatia, the influence of tasting on the validity of conjoint analysis (CA) under presence of…
Abstract
Purpose
The aims of this paper is to determine, via an empirical study of beer consumers in Croatia, the influence of tasting on the validity of conjoint analysis (CA) under presence of familiar or unfamiliar brands.
Design/methodology/approach
The research comprised a face‐to‐face survey with 403 beer consumers. The respondents were divided into four groups regarding CA experiment (familiar/unfamiliar beer brand in combination with presence or absence of beer tasting). CA validity was measured with five criteria: face validity, convergent validity, internal validity, predictive validity and subjective evaluation of conjoint task. In addition to the CA experiment, a structured questionnaire was used consisting of a few questions regarding respondents' socio‐economic characteristics, beer purchasing, and consuming behaviour.
Findings
The research results confirmed that tasting as an additional presentation method has significant influence on validity of CA. However, the results of the study indicate that tasting should be used as a stimulus presentation method for CA with food and beverage products/brands, which are unfamiliar to the consumers. When testing familiar brands and brands with established perceptions, simpler and less expensive verbal stimulus presentation can be used.
Practical implications
According to the research results, it could be concluded that when performing CA with strong familiar brands, it is not necessary to use CA with tasting since tasting increases research complexity and costs and it does not achieve better results. However, tasting as a stimuli presentation method gives better results than pure verbal CA in the case of unfamiliar brands.
Originality/value
The paper is one of the first to deal with tasting as a presentation method in conjoint analysis and its results have direct implications for the future use of CA with food and beverages.
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David J. Good and Robert W. Stone
The variables impacting marketers’ motivation to work smarter are examined. These influencing variables are the manager’s venturesomeness, job challenge, effort and skill results…
Abstract
The variables impacting marketers’ motivation to work smarter are examined. These influencing variables are the manager’s venturesomeness, job challenge, effort and skill results, as well as self‐esteem. The model is empirically tested using 273 responses to a questionnaire distributed to marketers using a purchased, national mailing list. The empirical tests were done using a structural equations approach and maximum likelihood estimation. The results indicate that the motivation to work smarter is directly and positively impacted by the manager’s job challenge, effort and skill results, and venturesomeness. The manager’s self‐esteem has positive, indirect impacts on the motivation to work smarter through each of the manager’s venturesomeness, effort and skill results, and job challenge. Based on these results, recommendations on how marketers can be encouraged to work smarter are made.
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Kurt Rachlitz, Benjamin Grossmann-Hensel and Ronja Friedl
In this paper, the authors aim to clarify the relationship between organization and society. They argue that the proliferation of organization in modernity has not yet been…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, the authors aim to clarify the relationship between organization and society. They argue that the proliferation of organization in modernity has not yet been properly understood in light of the absence of organization in premodern times. The authors therefore ask: Why do organizations proliferate? Why do they proliferate in such manifold organizational forms? And how can these heterogeneous forms nevertheless be related to a common problem to which organizations provide a solution? A comparative historical analysis based on the theory of social systems reveals that organizations fill a gap which the decline of morality as an integrative success medium created.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper develops a conceptual framework focusing on the theory of media within Luhmann’s theory of social systems as a point of departure. The authors discuss the concept of “interpenetration” to assess the relation between morality and organization. They raise several follow-up questions for future empirical research, most prominently pertaining to the relationship between organization and digitalization.
Findings
The main finding is that morality can be conceptualized as a specific success medium (alongside religion and symbolically generalized communication media) which used to structure premodern societies by means of social and interhuman interpenetration at once. Modern society instead employs two differentiated forms of interpenetration: Social interpretation through organizations and interhuman interpenetration through love relationships. These centripetal counterforces help to mediate the centrifugal forces unleashed by the full development of modern success media. Modern society critically depends on the proliferation of organizations.
Originality/value
This paper examines the relationship between morality and organization not from the perspective of interaction or organization, but from the perspective of society. This approach provides novel insights in that it opens up promising avenues of comparison between organization and other social forms. Understanding the distinctively modern “success story” of organization as a social form makes it possible to ask about corresponding potentials and limitations, but also alternative possibilities. In doing so, the authors depart from most studies of organizations grounded in social systems theory as the authors primarily focus on Luhmann’s theory of media (as opposed to the theory of differentiation).
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Hemin Ali Hassan, Xiaodong Zhang and Ahmad Bayiz Ahmad
This paper builds on and extends the theory of planned behavior (TPB) by examining empirically the underlying mechanism through which red tape is associated with employee…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper builds on and extends the theory of planned behavior (TPB) by examining empirically the underlying mechanism through which red tape is associated with employee change-supportive intention (CSI). It investigates red tape as an antecedent of CSI and examines the mediation role of change-related attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control (PBC) in the relationship between red tape and CSI.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the study's hypotheses, cross-sectional data were collected from 183 employees working at a public organization in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that was going through a major change. Regression analyses and the PROCESS macro for SPSS were used.
Findings
Consistent with our expectations, the results indicate that red tape negatively predicts CSI. Red tape also predicts change-related attitude, subjective norm and PBC, which consequently predict CSI. The results also reveal that the relationship between red tape and CSI is mediated by change-related attitude and subjective norm.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited in using cross-sectional data at a point in time and in investigating intention only, rather than actual behavior.
Originality/value
While prior work shows that red tape is a relevant factor that may affect employee responses to change in public sector, the psychological processes on which this relationship is based are still not fully explained. Therefore, this is the first study that aims to shed some light on this relationship.