Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Social Media At Work: The Roles Of Job Satisfaction, Employment Status, And Facebook Use With Co-Workers, Brett W. Robertson, Kerk Kee

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Limited research has studied workplace satisfaction in a computer-mediated context, particularly with the use of social media. Based on an analysis of an online survey of working adults (N=512) in various companies and organizations in a metropolitan area in Southern California, we tested the relationships among time spent on Facebook interacting with coworkers, employment status, and job satisfaction. Results show that an employee’s satisfaction at work is positively associated with the amount of time they spend on Facebook interacting with co-workers. Contrary to our initial predictions, results to the second and third hypotheses revealed that part time employees reported having …

Executive Compensation Incentives Contingent On Long-Term Accounting Performance, Zhi Li, Lingling Wang

Business Faculty Articles and Research

The percentage of S&P 500 firms using multiyear accounting-based performance (MAP) incentives for CEOs increased from 16.5% in 1996 to 43.3% in 2008. The use and design of MAP incentives depend on the signal quality of accounting versus stock performance, shareholder horizons, strategic imperatives, and board independence. After the technology bubble, option expensing, and the publicity of option backdating, firms increasingly use stock-based MAP plans to replace options, resulting in changes in pay structure, but not in pay level. While firms respond to the evolving contracting environment, they consider firm characteristics and shareholder preferences and do not blindly follow the …

Firing Threats: Incentive Effects And Impression Management, Brice Corgnet, Roberto Hérnan-Gonzalez, Stephen J. Rassenti

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

We study the effect of firing threats in a virtual workplace that reproduces features of existing organizations. We show that organizations in which bosses can fire up to one third of their workforce produce twice as much as organizations for which firing is not possible. Firing threats sharply decrease on-the-job leisure. Nevertheless, organizations endowed with firing threats underperformed those using individual incentives. In the presence of firing threats, employees engage in impression management activities to be seen as hard-working individuals in line with our model. Finally, production levels dropped substantially when the threat of being fired was removed, whereas on-the-job …

A Dynamic Model Of Competitive Entry Response, Matthew Selove

Business Faculty Articles and Research

I develop a dynamic investment game with a “memoryless” research and development process in which an incumbent and an entrant can invest in a new technology, and the entrant can also invest in the old technology. I show that an increase in the probability of successfully implementing a technology can cause the incumbent to reduce its investment. Under certain conditions, if the success probability is high, the incumbent allows the entrant to win the new technology so that firms reach an equilibrium in which they use different technologies, and threats of retaliation prevent attacks; but if the success probability is …

How Do Firms Become Different? A Dynamic Model, Matthew Selove

Business Faculty Articles and Research

This paper presents a dynamic investment game in which firms that are initially identical develop assets that are specialized to different market segments. The model assumes that there are increasing returns to investment in a segment, for example, as a result of word-of-mouth or learning curve effects. I derive three key results: (1) Under certain conditions there is a unique equilibrium in which firms that are only slightly different focus all of their investment in different segments, causing small random differences to expand into large permanent differences. (2) If, on the other hand, sufficiently large random shocks are possible, firms …

Innovators And Imitators In Product-Market Competition And Accounting Reporting, Carlos Corona, Lin Nan, Ran Zhao

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

In this study, we examine firms’ investments in explorative initiatives and their choices of capitalization method in a product-market competition setting. Since the capitalization of exploration expenditures may contain information on whether a firm’s exploration investment is successful, financial reports may reveal important information to competitors, and thus may have real consequences in product-market competition. In our paper, we identify two driving forces that induce firms to choose different capitalization methods: an information-spillover effect and a preempting effect. We also find that enforcing an accounting method that requires firms to capitalize expenditures of only successful explorations may increase or decrease …

You Can't Put Old Wine In New Bottles: The Effect Of Newcomers On Coordination In Groups, Matthew Mccarter, Roman M. Sheremeta

Business Faculty Articles and Research

A common finding in social sciences is that member change hinders group functioning and performance. However, questions remain as to why member change negatively affects group performance and what are some ways to alleviate the negative effects of member change on performance? To answer these questions we conduct an experiment in which we investigate the effect of newcomers on a group's ability to coordinate efficiently. Participants play a coordination game in a four-person group for the first part of the experiment, and then two members of the group are replaced with new participants, and the newly formed group plays the …

The Organization Of Banking And Supervision, Introduction And Overview, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

"The focus of this Special Issue is on organizational reforms in the financial sector in the aftermath of the financial crisis 2007-2009 and the subsequent euro-zone crisis. In particular, the perception that many banks were too big and too complex to fail during the crisis, which led to very costly bailouts at tax-payers expense in several countries, has fueled a number of proposals to limit the size and the complexity of financial institutions, as well as proposals to reorganize public authorities responsible for supervision and crisis management."

Testing The Waters: Using Collective Real Options To Manage The Social Dilemma Of Strategic Alliances, Matthew Mccarter, Joseph T. Mahoney, Gregory B. Northcraft

Business Faculty Articles and Research

We extend real options research by introducing the concept of collective real options and model how collective real options provide strategic alliances a mechanism to manage social uncertainty. Collective real options manage social uncertainty by producing relational small wins that develop trust. The amount of trust developed by acquiring a collective real option depends on the exposure of alliance partners. Alliance partner reputation also plays an important role in the impact of collective real options.

The Effects Of The Attacks Of 9/11 On Organizational Policies, Employee Attitudes And Workers’ Psychological States, Amy E. Hurley-Hanson, Cristina M. Giannantonio, Heidi Carlos, Jessica Harnett, Melanie Jetta, Madeline Mercier

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Problem statement: The attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11) on the United States have had a profound effect on organizations and their employees. These effects occurred in the days and weeks immediately following the attacks, as well as in the years since the attacks occurred. In commemoration of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, this study focuses on the impact that the attacks of September 11, 2001 have had on organizational policies, employee attitudes and workers’ psychological states. Approach: Managers were surveyed regarding the effects of 9/11 on these issues. Results: The results of the study indicate that …

Fairness-Trust-Loyalty Relationship Under Varying Conditions Of Supplier-Buyer Interdependence, Thani Jambulingam, Ravi Kathuria, John R. Nevin

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Relationship marketing plays a significant role in supply chain practice and academic studies. Using the resource advantage theory within the relationship marketing framework, we studied the mediating role of trust as a governance mechanism in the fairness-loyalty relationship under different types of interdependence structure between suppliers (wholesalers) and buyers (retailers). Our findings, based on data from retail pharmacies, demonstrate that only under conditions of symmetric independence, trust, as a governance mechanism, completely mediate the relationship between fairness and loyalty. Under conditions of both perceived independence (i.e., lack of interdependence) and asymmetric buyer dependence, however, trust does not mediate but fairness …

Competitive Priorities And Strategic Consensus In Emerging Economies: Evidence From India, Ravi Kathuria, Stephen J. Porth, N. N. Kathuria, T. K. Kohli

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to understand the competitive priorities of manufacturers in India, and examine the level of agreement or strategic consensus between senior executives and manufacturing managers on manufacturing competitive priorities in light of the prevalent culture.

Design/methodology/approach

– Survey data collected from 156 respondents from 78 manufacturing units based on a national sample in India are used to test the hypotheses using the paired samples t‐tests and multivariate analysis of variance.

Findings

– A relatively high emphasis by both levels of managers on quality, compared to the other three competitive priorities, is noteworthy and …

How Fairness Garners Loyalty In The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: Role Of Trust In The Wholesaler-Pharmacy Relationship, Thani Jambulingam, Ravi Kathuria, John R. Nevin

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to understand how fairness garners loyalty by breeding trust in the pharmaceutical wholesaler‐pharmacy relationship. Specifically, the paper seeks to understand if the two dimensions of fairness – procedural and distributive – contribute differently in fostering the two types of trust – credibility and benevolence. The paper further aims to examine how the two dimensions of trust mediate the fairness‐loyalty relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data from 156 retail pharmacies on their relationship with the pharmaceutical wholesalers are used to test the hypotheses. The mediation models are tested using the Barron and Kenny procedure.

Findings …

Optimizing Product Line Designs: Efficient Methods And Comparisons, Alexandre Belloni, Robert Freund, Matthew Selove, Duncan Simester

Business Faculty Articles and Research

We take advantage of recent advances in optimization methods and computer hardware to identify globally optimal solutions of product line design problems that are too large for complete enumeration. We then use this guarantee of global optimality to benchmark the performance of more practical heuristic methods. We use two sources of data: (1) a conjoint study previously conducted for a real product line design problem, and (2) simulated problems of various sizes. For both data sources, several of the heuristic methods consistently find optimal or near-optimal solutions, including simulated annealing, divide-and-conquer, product-swapping, and genetic algorithms.

International Growth Strategies Of Service And Manufacturing Firms: The Case Of Banking And Chemical Industries, Ravi Kathuria, Maheshkumar P. Joshi, Stephanie Dellande

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in growth strategies – domestic and international – of manufacturing and service firms. Hardly any literature exists that empirically investigates the differences on account of the distinctive characteristics of goods and services, and such studies rarely draw from the operations management field.

Design/methodology/approach

– Multiple analysis of variance is used to analyze longitudinal data from multiple secondary sources.

Findings

– Mixed services, such as banks, focus more on domestic growth and less on international growth. Manufacturers, such as chemical firms, focus more on international activities as compared to …

Image Norms: A Model Of Formation And Operation, Amy E. Hurley-Hanson, Cristina M. Giannantonio

Business Faculty Articles and Research

This paper presents a model describing the formation and operation of image norms. Image norms are discussed from both the individual and the organizational perspective. This is followed by a discussion of the implications of image norms for individuals’ career choice decisions. The implications of image norms for organizations are also presented. Suggestions for future research on image norms are provided.

Organizational Alignment And Performance: Past, Present And Future, Ravi Kathuria, Maheshkumar P. Joshi, Stephen J. Porth

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify and define the types of organizational alignment – vertical and horizontal; to examine the evidence for the alignment‐performance relationship, and propose research questions and practical implications to advance the theory and practice of managing alignment.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study is a conceptual examination based on a thorough review of both theoretical and empirical research.

Findings

– The paper finds that vertical alignment has received considerably more attention in the literature. Studies of horizontal alignment within organizations are less common. When horizontal alignment is studied, the focus tends to be dyadic …

Competitive Priorities As Trade-Offs Or Mutually Supportive: Can We Call The Question Yet?, Ravi Kathuria

Business Faculty Articles and Research

As the field of operations strategy matures, we need to refine the theories and abandon weak models through cumulative research. This study contributes to the debate on whether competitive priorities present potential trade-offs or are mutually supportive.

The Role Of Institutional And Market Forces In Divergent Organizational Change, Thomas D'Aunno, Melissa Succi, Jeffrey A. Alexander

Business Faculty Articles and Research

This paper focuses on a radical change, in which organizations abandon an institutionalized template for arranging their core activities, that is likely to occur in organizational fields that have strong, local market forces and strong but heterogeneous institutional forces. We examine the role of market forces and heterogeneous institutional elements in promoting divergent change in core activities among all U.S. rural hospitals from 1984 to 1991. Results support the view that divergent change depends on both market forces (proximity to competitors, disadvantages in service mix) and institutional forces (state regulation, ownership and governance norms, and mimicry of models of divergent …

Selecting It Applications In Manufacturing: A Kbs Approach, Ravi Kathuria, Murugan Anandarajan, Magid Igbaria

Business Faculty Articles and Research

The use of the right type of Information Technology (IT) applications or manufacturing systems is expected to usher in a competitive advantage. Selection of the right type of IT application is, however, a challenging task. When a company, with a given dominant process structure, emphasizes two or more competitive priorities, such as quality, product flexibility, etc., an unaided manager faces a complex decision problem in choosing from alternative IT applications available in the areas of product design through distribution. In this paper, we present a Knowledge Based System (KBS) that would assist managers with the identification of IT applications that …

Quality And Work Force Practices: The Managerial Performance Implication, Ravi Kathuria, Elizabeth B. Davis

Business Faculty Articles and Research

This paper examines the managerial performance impact of work force management practices appropriate for manufacturing environments when quality is highly emphasized. The hypotheses are tested using data from 483 individuals in 99 manufacturing plants in the United States. The results indicate that when the emphasis is high on quality, certain work force management practices seem to play an important role in managerial performance in manufacturing settings.

Managing For Flexibility: A Manufacturing Perspective, Ravi Kathuria

Business Faculty Articles and Research

This paper investigates managerial practices that are conducive to the management of flexibility. Using data from manufacturing plants in the United States, this paper identifies managerial practices that manufacturing managers strongly demonstrate in plants that place a high emphasis on flexibility. The results indicate that managers who pursue flexibility, emphatically engage in team building, employee empowerment, and other relationship oriented practices that generate enthusiasm among employees. These practices seemingly motivate workers to deal with the uncertainty and changes, in the form of product mix, customer delivery schedule, capacity adjustments, etc., that characterize manufacturing flexibility. Furthermore, workers are entrusted with the …

Capital Structure And Product-Market Rivalry: How Do We Reconcile Theory And Evidence?, Dan Kovenock, Gordon Phillips

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

This paper presents empirical evidence on the interaction of capital structure decisions and product market behavior. We examine when firms recapitalize and increase the proportion of debt in their capital structure. The evidence in this paper shows that firms with low productivity plants in highly concentrated industries are more likely to recapitalize and increase debt financing. This finding suggests that debt plays a role in highly concentrated industries where agency costs are not significantly reduced by product market competition. Following the empirical evidence we introduce the "strategic investment" effects of debt and argue that this effect, in conjunction with agency …

Price Determination In A Competitive Industry With Costly Information And A Production Lag, Reuven Glick, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

We analyze the role of information for price and output adjustment when competitive firms with rational expectations cannot directly distinguish between industrywide and firm-specific cost disturbances. Firms may become informed about industrywide cost conditions by acquiring information at a cost. The sensitivity of price and output to cost disturbances decreases as more firms choose to purchase information. The equilibrium industry share of informed firms increases as the cost of information falls and total cost variability increases. The equilibrium share of informed firms is largest when there is a comparable degree of variability in both industrywide and firm-specific costs.