Business Commons^™

Real, Intended Change: Business Movements?, Gill Robinson Hickman

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

We are well aware that the economy, environment and organizations in today’s global context are highly interdependent and interconnected. This interdependence contributes to the blurring of lines among business, nonprofit and government entities to the extent that new forms of organization are emerging to tackle socioeconomic and sociopolitical issues that only the political system and social movements confronted in the past.

James MacGregor Burns proclaimed in his groundbreaking book, Leadership, that the effectiveness of leaders “will be tested by the achievement of purpose in the form of real and intended [emphasis added] social change.”¹ Burns explained that social …

A Model Of Idiosyncratic Deal-Making And Attitudinal Outcomes, Violet T. Ho, Amanuel G. Tekleab

Management Faculty Publications

Purpose: We disentangle the relationship between the request of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) and the receipt of such deals, and investigate the moderating roles of human capital (gender and industry experience) and social capital (LMX) in this relationship. Attitudinal outcomes of i-deals receipt are also examined.

Design: Data were collected from 244 alumni of a Midwestern public university.

Findings: The positive relationship between i-deals request and receipt was stronger at higher than at lower levels of LMX. Receiving i-deals was related positively to job satisfaction and affective commitment, and negatively to turnover intention.

Research implications: We provide …

A Self-Determination Perspective Of Strengths Use At Work: Examining Its Determinant And Performance Implications, Violet T. Ho, Dejun Tony Kong

Management Faculty Publications

We investigate the role of strengths use in the workplace by drawing on self-determination theory (SDT) to propose that strengths use at work can yield performance benefits in terms of task performance and discretionary helping, and that the social context, in the form of leader autonomy support, can promote employees’ strengths use. Further, consistent with an interactional psychology perspective, we contend that the relationship between autonomy support and strengths use will be stronger among individuals with strong independent self-construal. We tested the model using matched data from 194 employees and their supervisors and found evidence for the relevance of strengths …

Corporate Social Performance And Economic Cycles, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Shawn L. Berman

Management Faculty Publications

Do firms respond to changes in economic growth by altering their corporate social responsibility programs? If they do respond, are their responses simply neglect of areas associated with corporate social performance (CSP) or do they also cut back on positive programs such as profit sharing, public/private housing programs, or charitable contributions? In this paper we argue that because CSP-related actions and programs tend to be discretionary, they are likely to receive less attention during tough economic times, a result of cost-cutting efforts. However, the various CSP performance areas vary in terms of their resource requirements and their influence on financial …

Moocs And The Online Delivery Of Business Education: What's New? What's Not? What Now?, Jonathan W. Whitaker, J. Randolph New, R. Duane Ireland

Management Faculty Publications

Although the past 2 decades have produced much promise (and accompanying research) on the use of information technology (IT) in business school courses, it is not entirely clear whether IT has truly "transformed" management education. There are compelling arguments on both sides. On one hand, advocates for the transformative role of IT can point to several success stories. On the other hand, skeptics of the role of IT in management education can also point to support for their view. This lack of consensus has led researchers in Academy of Management Learning & Education to call for scholars to confront the …

The Volkswagen Scandal, Britt Blackwelder, Katerine Coleman, Sara Colunga-Santoyo, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Danielle Wozniak

Robins Case Network

Volkswagen is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. For years the company has focused on producing attractive and environmentally friendly automobiles, and recent initiatives have included a project to reduce CO² production, along with advertisements claiming lower emission of greenhouse gases. The world was shocked to hear that Volkswagen had been producing diesel engines for its cars that were able to trick emissions testing equipment. The engines were producing many times the EPA standards for emissions, yet they passed emission tests. This case provides detailed information about the scandal as well as information about the history, …

The Geography Of Learning: Ferrari Gestione Sportiva 1929-2008, Mark Jenkins, Stephen Tallman

Management Faculty Publications

This article considers the mechanisms that permit and enhance the movement of highly tacit component (technical) knowledge and geographically sticky architectural knowledge across borders and between clusters and firms. We address a number of critical research questions that relate to intra- and inter-locational knowledge transfer. We use a theory-driven, longitudinal, single case study to develop a conceptual framework to examine and describe how shifting the geography of knowledge sourcing can facilitate architectural change by following the transformation of one business unit within a specialist global organization through a series of evolutionary steps that involved internalizing new component knowledge from other …

Management Theory And Social Welfare: Contributions And Challenges, Thomas M. Jones, Thomas Donaldson, R. Edward Freeman, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Et. Al

Management Faculty Publications

In this Introduction to the Special Topic Forum on Management Theory and Social Welfare, we first provide an overview of the motivation behind the special issue. We then highlight the contributions of the six articles that make up this forum and identify some common themes. We also suggest some reasons why social welfare issues are so difficult to address in the context of management theory. In addition, we evaluate means of assessing social welfare and urge scholars not to make (or imply) unwarranted “wealth creation” claims.