Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

A Configurational Theory Of Generalized Exchange In Stakeholder-Oriented Firms, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Violet Ho, Douglas A. Bosse, Donal Crilly

Management Faculty Publications

Recent developments in stakeholder theory have refined our understanding of value creation via bilateral reciprocity. Generalized exchange is another important microfoundational mechanism in value creation, but because of the potential for free-riding it is surprising that some stakeholders contribute more resources to a firm’s value-creating nexus than would be expected based on contractual obligations, and even beyond what bilateral reciprocity would predict. This paper aims to identify the minimum conditions that promote generalized exchange in a firm’s value-creating nexus. Because generalized exchange is causally complex—it can occur in multiple contexts and through various combinations of explanatory factors—a configurational theorizing approach …

Tiger Investment Partners. “To Stream Or Not To Stream” Case Study, Roger R. Schnorbus

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Tiger Investment Partners (TIP) TIP is a boutique technology investment firm in Richmond, VA. It was founded in 2012 by its three principal partners and is managing over $300 million in investment funds. Its stated mission is to someday be as successful as Berkshire Hathaway with a focus on firms that were or would be major disruptors in their given industries.

Assessing The Efficacy Of Cites Restrictions On Malagasy Rosewood, Nicholas Cargill

Honors Theses

This paper seeks to determine whether the CITES trade restrictions on rosewood have been effective. Effectiveness will be measured by the amount of illegal logging the restrictions reduce. The Matt Hansen Global Deforestation dataset, which measures deforestation from year to year, will be analyzed in the Google Earth Engine Code Editor to determine the yearly amount of deforestation in Madagascar. This output will then be loaded into R and assessed using OLS estimation techniques to determine whether the ban had a significant impact on the amount of illegal logging occurring in Madagascar. Because CITES restrictions are lifted and restored with …

The “Right” Recipes For Security Culture: A Competing Values Model Perspective, Hwee-Joo Kam, Thoma Mattson, Dan J. Kim

Management Faculty Publications

This study argues that the effect of perceived organizational culture on the formation of security-related subjective norms and the level of compliance pressure will vary based on how the employees perceive their organization’s cultural values. These perceptions reflect on the assumptions and principles that organizations use to guide their security-related behaviors. To make these arguments, we adopt the competing values model (CVM), which is a model used to understand the range of organizational values and resulting cultural archetypes.

Making Energy Metrics Relevant To Service Firms: From Energy Conservation To Energy Productivity, Randle D. Raggio, Peter Ekman, Steve Thompson

Marketing Faculty Publications

Although energy conservation and reduction in environmental impact are on the international and most national agendas, service firms rarely include energy consumption metrics in their strategic decision-making. One reason for the omission is that for service industries, firm level energy utilization is most commonly measured in kilowatt hours per square meter of office space where changes often related to the space rather than the firm performance. The measure also presents several problems for firms in service industries. First, energy conservation and reduction may be counterproductive for service firms that are growing and require energy to sustain that growth. Second, it …

The Passion Bug: How And When Do Leaders Inspire Work Passion?, Violet Ho, Marina N. Astakhova

Management Faculty Publications

Drawing from signaling theory, we propose a work passion transfer model where leaders' passion is transmitted to employees through the former's leadership style and is contingent on employees' perceived importance of performance to self-esteem (IPSE). Data from 201 supervisor–employee dyads from the health-care industry show that leaders' harmonious passion led to employees' harmonious passion through charismatic leadership, whereas contingent reward leadership accounted for the transfer of obsessive passion; IPSE did not play a moderating role for either form of passion. Results from a supplementary study further reveal that the link between leadership and employee passion operated through employees' perception of …

Passion At Work: A Meta-Analysis Of Individual Work Outcomes, Jeffrey M. Pollack, Violet Ho, Ernest H. O'Boyle, Bradley L. Kirkman

Management Faculty Publications

Academic research on passion is much more complex than the extant literature or popular press portray. Although research on work-related passion has progressed rapidly over the last decade, much remains unknown. We are now just beginning to recognize the different theoretical underpinnings and empirical operationalizations that work passion research has adopted, and the confusion this has generated hampers our understanding of the construct and its relationship to workplace outcomes. Accordingly, we use a meta-analytic examination to study the work-related outcomes of three dominant literature streams of work passion: general passion, dualistic passion (i.e., harmonious passion and obsessive passion), and role-based …

The Liability Of Disruption, Valentina Marano, Stephen Tallman, Hildy J. Teegan

Management Faculty Publications

Research summary. We study the internationalization-related legitimacy challenges of firms with disruptive business models by using a case comparison of leading sharing economy companies Airbnb and Uber. We show that they are insulated from many traditional legitimacy challenges to multinationals entering host markets, but exposed to others that have not been noted previously. Specifically, we identify a novel market-entry legitimacy challenge, ‘liability of disruption,’ which manifests as regulatory, incumbent business and societal pushback against firms with disruptive business models. After presenting our cross-case analysis, we theorize about the nature and impacts of these three distinct but interconnected forms of host …

Uber, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Bryant Holden, Kelli Mckenna, Scott Mcquiddy, Alex Wiles

Robins Case Network

Uber focuses primarily on the ride-hailing industry, which puts the company in direct competition with regular taxis. The company is like a lot of tech-driven, fast growing entrepreneurial firms in that it still struggles for profitability. Also, the popularity of this new form of transportation has put the company and its close competitors, such as Lyft, in the spotlight of government lawmakers and regulators. If they classify Uber drivers as employees rather than independent contractors, it could dramatically alter the Uber business model. This case is written in the aftermath of the ouster of one of the company’s co-founders as …

Human Capital Is Not Enough: How Offshore Bpo Professionals Use Social Support To Deal With Strenuous Work Conditions, Jonathan W. Whitaker, Violet Ho, Sunil Mithas, Dongwon Lee

Management Faculty Publications

The past decade has witnessed explosive growth in the segment of information technology (IT) professionals who work in the offshore business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. BPO positions are highly regimented and standardized with coercive and normative controls to deter employees from deviating from prescribed work procedures and exercising independent judgment. Coping with these challenges requires a different set of skills than human capital and technical competencies that are discussed in most prior information systems (IS) research. This paper develops theory on the role of social support in employee compensation, and tests the theory using a unique data set of 8,000+ …

Stakeholder Theory At The Crossroads, Jay B. Barney, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Management Faculty Publications

The stakeholder perspective has provided a rich forum for a variety of debates at the intersection of business and society. Scholars gathered for two consecutive years, first in North American, and then in Europe, to discuss the major issues surrounding what has come to be known as stakeholder theory, to attempt to find common ground, and to uncover areas in need of further inquiry. Those meetings led to a list of “tensions” and a call for papers for this special issue to help address them. In this article we introduce the resulting articles and provide some brief commentary on their …

Digital Transformation Of Global Business Processes: The Role Of Dual Embeddedness, Peter Ekman, Peter Thilenius, Steven M. Thompson, Jonathan W. Whitaker

Management Faculty Publications

While much existing research on MNC digital transformation has followed a linear design and implementation logic using cross-sectional data, the multiple and divergent needs of headquarters (HQ) and subsidiaries suggest that MNC digital transformation actually involves a more iterative journey. In this paper, we apply the theoretical perspective of embeddedness to better define the complexities of MNC digital transformation, and identify how HQ and subsidiaries can navigate the complexities. This paper presents a longitudinal multi-case study of five Forbes Global 2000 firms that are HQ in Europe with large subsidiaries in the U.S. We find that the process of digital …

Values-Based Rivalry: A Theoretical Framework Of Rivalry Between Activists And Firms, Theodore L. Waldron, Chad Navis, Olivia Aronson, Jeffrey G. York, Desiree F. Pacheco

Management Faculty Publications

In this article we develop a theoretical framework to explain values-based rivalry between activists and firms by integrating and advancing key insights from competitive dynamics and social activist research. The first part of our framework conceptualizes the unique tensions, actions, and responses that characterize values-based rivalry and distinguish it from rivalry between firms. The second part of our framework conceptualizes the role of managers’ perceptions in shaping their firms’ likelihood of responding to activists’ actions during values-based rivalry. Overall, our conceptualization primarily expands competitive dynamics research to account for rivalry between dissimilar actors and, in doing so, broadens social activist …

Instrumental Stakeholder Theory Makes Ethically Based Relationship Building Palatable To Managers Focused On The Bottom Line, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Will Felps, Thomas M. Jones

Management Faculty Publications

We appreciate the opportunity to engage in this dialogue with Weitzner and Deutsch (2019) to clarify the meaning and intent of some of the arguments found in our article, “How Applying Instrumental Stakeholder Theory Can Provide Sustainable Competitive Advantage” (Jones, Harrison, & Felps, 2018). We are grateful for the high praise from the authors regarding the rigor and logic of our applications of resource-based criteria to instrumental stakeholder theory (IST). We begin this response by highlighting a few areas of agreement, followed by some points where we disagree.

Stakeholder Theory, Robert A. Phillips, Jay B. Barney, R. Edward Freeman, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Management Faculty Publications

Though there is clearly a “family resemblance” to the work that is typically done under its bailiwick, stakeholder theory continues to resist precise circumscription. Like the organizations it attempts to understand, the boundaries of the theory remain contentious. While various attempts have been made to clearly define the parameters of stakeholder theory (i.e., Clarkson Center for Business Ethics, 1999; Donaldson & Preston, 1995; Freeman, et al., 2010; Jones & Wicks, 1999; Phillips, 2003; Phillips, Freeman & Wicks, 2003), none of these efforts has gained universal acceptance. The following, which combines ideas from a variety of well-known sources (Freeman, 1984; Freeman, …

Sustainable Wealth Creation: Applying Instrumental Stakeholder Theory To The Improvement Of Social Welfare, Thomas M. Jones, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Management Faculty Publications

This chapter briefly reviews core ideas and research results in the existing instrumental stakeholder theory (IST) literature and then applies the IST concept to the simultaneous pursuit of two objectives—advancing social welfare, the presumed goal of morally legitimate social systems in general, and preserving the key elements of shareholder wealth enhancement—the traditional goal of the corporation. In so doing, we expand the range of ethical approaches to IST beyond deontological principles (e.g., treat stakeholders fairly; be trustworthy in dealing with stakeholders) present in extant versions of IST, to a consequentialist focus (i.e., a utilitarian concern for “the greatest good for …

Enhancing Consumer Engagement In An Online Brand Community Via User Reputation Signals: A Multi-Method Analysis, Sara Hanson, Lan Jiang, Darren Dahl

Marketing Faculty Publications

Generating and maintaining consumers’ engagement in online brand communities is critical for marketing managers to enhance relationships and gain customer loyalty. In this research, we investigate how the type of signal used to indicate user reputation can enhance (or diminish) consumers’ community engagement. Specifically, we explore differences in perceptions of points (i.e., point accrual systems), labels (i.e., descriptive, hierarchical identification systems), and badges (i.e., descriptive, horizontally-ordered identification systems). We argue that reputation signals vary in the degree to which they can provide role clarity—the presence of user roles that deliver information about expected behaviors within a group. Across several studies, …

How Does Customer Service Offshoring Impact Customer Satisfaction?, Jonathan W. Whitaker, M. S. Krishnan, Claes Fornell, Forrest Morgeson

Management Faculty Publications

Information technology (IT) plays a vital role in customer relationship management (CRM), because CRM processes include the collection and analysis of customer information, firms use technology tools to interact with customers, and IT created the conditions under which firms can offshore CRM processes. Customers have negative perceptions toward offshoring, which suggests that firms might be reluctant to offshore IT-enabled CRM processes. However, firms have significantly increased offshoring for CRM processes, presenting a conundrum. Why would firms increase offshoring for CRM processes if there could be a risk to customer satisfaction?

This paper helps to resolve the conundrum by studying the …

Chronic Disease Management: How It And Analytics Create Healthcare Value Through The Temporal Displacement Of Care, Steven M. Thompson, Jonathan W. Whitaker, Rajiv Kohli, Craig Jones

Management Faculty Publications

The treatment of chronic diseases consumes 86% of U.S. healthcare costs. While healthcare organizations have traditionally focused on treating the complications of chronic diseases, advances in information technology (IT) and analytics can help clinicians and patients manage and slow the progression of chronic diseases to result in higher quality of life for patients and lower healthcare costs.

We build on prior research to introduce the notion of temporal displacement of care (TDC), in which IT and analytics create healthcare value by displacing the time at which providers and patients make interventions to improve healthcare outcomes and reduce costs. We propose …

Chameleonic Obsessive Job Passion: Demystifying The Relationships Between Obsessive Job Passion And In-Role And Extra-Role Performance, Marina N. Astakhova, Violet T. Ho

Management Faculty Publications

In seeking to address the theoretical ambiguity regarding how and when obsessive job passion (OJP) leads to work performance, we integrate both self-verification and person–environment (P-E) fit perspectives to propose and test a moderated mediation model linking OJP to performance. We argue that OJP is indirectly related to co-worker-rated in-role and extra-role performance through self-verification, and these indirect links are conditioned by perceived demands–abilities (D-A) fit and needs–supplies (N-S) fit. Results from 190 healthcare professionals and their co-workers collected at three different time periods revealed the contrasting roles played by these two moderators. Individuals with higher OJP self-verify …

Subsidiary Development Of New Technologies: Managing Technological Changes In Multinational And Geographic Space, Anupama Phene, Stephen Tallman

Management Faculty Publications

This study explores the co-evolution of the subsidiaries of the multinational firm with their global organizations and geographic locations. We examine when and how subsidiaries make sense of and respond to technological changes in these environments to expand their scope and develop new technologies. Using the concept of local search, we propose that technological changes in a subsidiary’s parent firm and host country, in areas specific to the subsidiary’s expertise and at the broad industry level, have differential effects on subsidiary development of new technologies. We further propose that subsidiary innovative capability acts as a moderator, enabling subsidiaries to respond …

Promoting Harmonious Work Passion Among Unmotivated Employees: A Two-Nation Investigation Of The Compensatory Function Of Cooperative Psychological Climate, Violet T. Ho, Dejun Tony Kong, Chay-Hoon Lee, Phillippe Dubreuil, Jacques Forest

Management Faculty Publications

This research draws on self-determination theory to investigate (a) the role of cooperative psychological climate in promoting harmonious work passion among employees with low intrinsic motivation; and (b) the mediating role of harmonious passion in linking cooperative psychological climate to behavioral outcomes. We propose that cooperative psychological climate facilitates harmonious passion and, in particular, plays a compensatory role among employees with low intrinsic motivation. In turn, harmonious passion is expected to facilitate both task performance and interpersonal helping, thereby linking cooperative psychological climate to these employee behaviors. We test the model using data from employees and their supervisors across two …

Business Models In Global Competition, Stephen Tallman, Yadong Luo, Peter J. Buckley

Management Faculty Publications

Multinational enterprises create and capture value through appropriate business models that fit both distinctive capabilities and dynamic markets. The key elements of a global business model include propositions for adding customer value and capturing a share of that value, methods to control, deploy and utilize critical resources, and integrated processes that deliver value to target global customers. These factors explain the diversity in business models, with international competition in geographically dispersed markets further fortifying this diversity and complexity. This paper demonstrates ways forward in theorizing about business models, applying these models in the global context, discussing capabilities and strategies necessary …

Predicting Entrepreneurial Burnout In A Moderated Mediated Model Of Job Fit, Eva De Mol, Violet T. Ho, Jeffrey M. Pollack

Management Faculty Publications

We introduce, and empirically test, a model of entrepreneurial burnout that highlights the relationships among job fit, entrepreneurial passion, destiny beliefs, and burnout. Using a sample of 326 individuals involved in entrepreneurial jobs, we tested the link between job fit and two forms of passion—harmonious and obsessive—and the moderating role of entrepreneurs' destiny beliefs about work (i.e., the belief that a successful career is “meant to be”). Findings illustrated that their job fit perceptions were positively related to harmonious passion, which in turn negatively predicted burnout. Additionally, the relationship between job fit and obsessive passion was moderated by destiny beliefs, …

Employee And Coworker Idiosyncratic Deals: Implications For Emotional Exhaustion And Deviant Behaviors, Dejun Tony Kong, Violet T. Ho, Sargam Garg

Management Faculty Publications

By integrating conservation of resources and social comparison perspectives, we seek to investigate how employees’ own i-deals, independently from and jointly with their coworker’s i-deals, determine their emotional exhaustion and subsequent deviant behaviors. We conducted a field study (131 coworker dyads) focusing on task i-deals, and used Actor–Partner Interdependence Model and polynomial regression to test the hypotheses. We found that emotional exhaustion not only mediated the negative relationship between employees’ own task i-deals and deviant behaviors, but also mediated the positive relationship between upward social comparison of task i-deals (i.e., a coworker’s vs own task i-deals) and deviant behaviors. These …

Artificial Intelligence And It Professionals, Sunil Mithas, Thomas Kude, Jonathan W. Whitaker

Management Faculty Publications

How will continuing developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning influence IT professionals? This article approaches this question by identifying the factors that influence the demand for software developers and IT professionals, describing how these factors relate to AI, and articulating the likely impact on IT professionals.

How Client Capabilities, Vendor Configuration And Location Impact Bpo Outcomes, Jonathan W. Whitaker, Sanjeev Kumar, M. S. Krishnan

Management Faculty Publications

Despite the increasing use of onshore and offshore business process outsourcing (BPO), a comprehensive literature review [38] finds that there has been limited empirical research on BPO outcomes. This article responds to the call for research by developing and testing a conceptual model for BPO outcomes using data from 50 firms publicly traded in the U.S., including 38 firms in the Forbes Global 2000. We find that client firm capabilities, vendor configuration, and country location lead to interesting tradeoffs in the BPO quality, cost, and time outcomes. For example, while multi-sourcing offers advantages such as risk mitigation, client firms encounter …

Are Social Networks A Double-Edged Sword? A Case Study Of Defense Contractors, Xiaobing Shuai, Christine Chmura

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

Utilizing a survey of defense contractors in the New England region, this study explores the effect of social networks on business performance—measured by annual employment growth and market diversification—during a time when defense spending in the United States was contracting. In contrast to prevailing literature focusing on entrepreneurial firms, this study offers insights on how social networks function in defense contractors, which tend to be mature firms. The main conclusion is that having more network connections is associated with faster short-term employment growth (from 2014 to 2015) for defense contractors, but there is a limit to that benefit. The analysis …

Buying Unicorns: The Impact Of Consumer-To-Consumer Branded Buy/Sell/Trade Communities On Traditional Retail Buying Behavior, Catherine Armstrong Soule, Sara Hanson

Marketing Faculty Publications

Branded buy/sell/trade (BBST) is a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) selling phenomenon that is both massive in scale and meaningful in its impact on consumer behavior and the traditional retailing landscape. Consumers buy, sell, and trade one focal brand’s products in these social media-hosted, consumer-initiated communities. This article introduces the phenomenon, differentiates it from other forms of C2C exchange, and explores relationships between members and the brand. Although brands may view these activities as a potential threat to retail sales, the effects are more complex and paradoxical. The authors present data collected from Facebook, in-depth interviews, and a survey. Findings suggest that buyer-sellers …

Friends With Benefits: Social Coupons As A Strategy To Enhance Customers’ Social Empowerment, Sara Hanson, Hong Yuan

Marketing Faculty Publications

Businesses often seek to leverage customers’ social networks to acquire new customers and stimulate word-of-mouth recommendations. While customers make brand recommendations for various reasons (e.g., incentives, reputation enhancement), they are also motivated by a desire for social empowerment—to feel an impact on others. In several multi-method studies, we show that facilitating sharing of social coupons (i.e., coupon sets that include one for self-use and one to be shared) is a unique marketing strategy that facilitates social empowerment. Firms benefit from social coupons because customers who share spend more and report greater purchase intentions than those who do not. Furthermore, we …