Smart Tech is all Around us – Bridging Employee Vulnerability with Organizational Active Trust‐Building

Posted on by

Abstract

Public and academic opinion remains divided regarding the benefits and pitfalls of datafication technology in organizations, particularly regarding their impact on employees. Taking a dual-process perspective on trust, we propose that datafication technology can create small, erratic surprises in the workplace that highlight employee vulnerability and increase employees’ reliance on the systematic processing of trust. We argue that these surprises precipitate a phase in the employment relationship in which employees more actively weigh trust-related cues, and the employer should therefore engage in active trust management to protect and strengthen the relationship. Our paper develops a framework of symbolic and substantive strategies to guide organizations’ active trust management efforts to (re-)create situational normality, root goodwill intentions, and enable a more balanced interdependence between the organization and its employees. We discuss the implications of our paper for reconciling competing narratives about the future of work and for developing an understanding of trust processes.

How do Status Differentials Affect the Unplanned Dissolution of Alliances?

Posted on by

Abstract

Previous research suggests that firms tend to form alliances with counterparts of similar status. However, it remains unclear whether the principle of status homophily helps or hinders the alliance process. In this study, we contend that status differentials, rather than status similarity, can reduce the likelihood of the unplanned dissolution of an alliance, as a clearer order of status helps to resolve interfirm discrepancies and conflicts during collaborative processes. The results based on a sample of joint ventures in the US computer and telecommunications industries support our arguments. Further, we find that the effect of status differentials on the unplanned dissolution of alliances is strengthened when the high-status firm performs better than the low-status firm and when the two firms are from more related industries. Our findings call into question the emphasis on status homophily in the management of alliances following their formation.

The Impact of Sustainable Investing: A Multidisciplinary Review

Posted on by

Abstract

We conduct a multidisciplinary review of how sustainable investing impacts the environment and society. Our review starts from the insight that shareholders can create impact not only through (1) portfolio screening and (2) shareholder engagement (two impact strategies most used by mainstream shareholders) but also through (3) field building (an impact strategy most used by shareholders at the periphery of the financial sector). Based on this framework of three impact strategies, we integrate insights from four disciplines (management, finance, sociology, and ethics/sustainability) to reconstruct how each impact strategy influences corporate sustainability. We identify 15 impact mechanisms through which the impact strategies produce three types of impact: portfolio screening and shareholder engagement mostly create direct impact on companies, while field building creates indirect impact via other shareholders and indirect impact via the institutional context. Our review suggests that shareholder impact emerges gradually as different types of shareholders build on each other's efforts, which we use to outline a research agenda on shareholder impact as a distributed process.

Developing ‘fresh perspectives’ on ‘entrepreneurial intuition’

Posted on by
The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Ahead of Print.
This note presents a fresh perspective on Entrepreneurial Intuition, which developed between the main author, a serial entrepreneur-doctoral student and his supervisor, an experienced entrepreneurship professor. Using their combined knowledge, they utilise their personal experiences and entrepreneurial logic to draft a practical conceptual model. The note reviews extant literature, contextualises and outlines the key argument advanced that because Entrepreneurial Intuition involves ‘praxis’ any model developed must take cognisance of it, reports on the development of the model – taking cognisance of entrepreneurial praxis and extant theory whilst shedding light on intuitive behaviour.

How Professionals Adapt to Artificial Intelligence: The Role of Intertwined Boundary Work

Posted on by

Abstract

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has generated extensive debates about the future of work in the professions. However, few studies take account of the potential for AI's disruptive effects to trigger robust defence by professionals of their interests and resources. By examining the adoption of AI in accounting and law professional service firms (PSFs), we show how professionals respond through intertwined boundary work, this being the process by which professionals respond to disruptions and protect interests and resources by engaging in multiple interdependent modes of boundary work. We also examine the way professionals collaborate with other groups as part of intertwined boundary work, and the implications for some key features of PSF organization. Our study reveals that the responses of professionals to AI are leading to new types of professional work and services. This means that rather than spelling the ‘end of the professions’, AI is leading to reconfigured forms of professional activity, jurisdiction, and PSFs.