THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL ON FIRM SUBSTANTIAL AND SYMBOLIC PERFORMANCE IN THE CONTEXT OF E-BUSINESS

Social capital is increasingly regarded as a crucial predictor of performance improvement. However, the Internet is challenging the previous understanding of social capital. In this study, we conduct a research to empirically test the social capital theory in the context of e-business. Specifically, we investigate the influence of social capital on firm substantial and symbolic performance, and compare the influence of social capital on substantial performance to on symbolic performance in the context of e-business. Data were obtained from a survey administered to 205 firms in China. The results suggest that structural and relational capital could influence substantial and symbolic performance significantly. However, we find that cognitive capital could not impact substantive performance significantly, but can influence symbolic performance significantly. We conclude with implications and suggestions for future research

Beyond politics: Do directors with a political background make firms greener?

This study examines whether former politicians on corporate boards may be helpful for the implementation of green strategies. Following a resource-based view of the firm, we argue that directors with a political background can provide firms with resources and capabilities that are valuable for meeting communication and implementation challenges of creating an effective and substantive environmental management strategy. We also consider the possibility that appointments of politicians to the board are purely symbolic acts intended to enhance the public´s image, without any change in the environmental performance of the firm. We develop testable hypotheses for each of these ideas.Corporate governance

New Directions in Compensation Research: Synergies, Risk, and Survival

We describe and use two theoretical frameworks, the resource-based view of the firm and institutional theory, as lenses for examining three promising areas of compensation research. First, we examine the nature of the relationship between pay and effectiveness. Does pay typically have a main effect or, instead, does the relationship depend on other human resource activities and organization characteristics? If the latter is true, then there are synergies between pay and these other factors and thus, conclusions drawn from main effects models may be misleading. Second, we discuss a relatively neglected issue in pay research, the concept of risk as it applies to investments in pay programs. Although firms and researchers tend to focus on expected returns from compensation interventions, analysis of the risk, or variability, associated with these returns may be essential for effective decision-making. Finally ,pay program survival, which has been virtually ignored in systematic pay research, is investigated. Survival appears to have important consequences for estimating pay plan risk and returns, and is also integral to the discussion of pay synergies. Based upon our two theoretical frameworks, we suggest specific research directions for pay program synergies, risk, and survival

Understanding the Drivers of Sustainable Entrepreneurial Practices in Pakistan’s Leather Industry: A Multi-Level Approach

Purpose: The main objective is to analyse the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial practices in SMEs operating in a developing economy. The secondary objectives are to explore the relationship between these drivers and to draw out the implications for policy and practice. Design/methodology/approach: The research is informed by the literature on sustainable entrepreneurship, and on the drivers of pro-environmental practices in SMEs. It reports on the results of an intensive multi-level empirical study, which investigates the environmental practices of SMEs in Pakistan’s leatherworking industry using a multiple case study design and grounded analysis, which draws on relevant institutional theory. Findings: The study identifies that coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphic pressures simultaneously drive sustainable entrepreneurial activity in the majority of sample SMEs. These pressures are exerted by specific micro, meso and macro level factors, ranging from international customers’ requirements to individual-level values of owners and managers. It also reveals the catalytic effect of the educational and awareness-raising activities of intermediary organisations, in tandem with the attraction of competitiveness gains, (international) environmental regulations, industrial dynamism and reputational factors. Practical implications: The evidence suggests that, in countries where formal institutional mechanisms have less of an impact, intermediary organisations can perform a proto-institutional role that helps to overcome pre-existing barriers to environmental improvement by sparking sustainable entrepreneurial activity in SME populations. Originality/value: The findings imply that the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial activity do not operate in a ‘piecemeal’ fashion, but that particular factors mediate the emergence and development of other sustainability drivers. This paper provides new insights into sustainable entrepreneurship and motivations for environmental practices in an under-researched developing economy context

Voluntary disclosures as a form of impression management to reduce evaluative uncertainty during M&A

This study develops and tests a set of hypotheses on how to manage investors’ evaluative uncertainty during M&A through a specific form of impression management, namely, interim news events. We suggest that voluntary disclosures are key in influencing investors’ reactions during M&A. Empirical support for our theoretical arguments is shown in a sample of 36,376 deals and 163,023 associated interim news events carried out by NYSE and NSDQ listed organizations over 10 years. Our research contributes to literature on voluntary disclosures, impression management, and managing M&A

SMEs and Certified Management Standards: The Effect of Motives and Timing on Implementation and Commitment

Existing research on certifiable management standards (CMS) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) tends to focus on large companies and is characterised by disagreement about the role of these standards as drivers of CSR. We contribute to the literature by shifting the analytical focus to the behaviour of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that subscribe to multiple CSR related standards. We argue that, in respect of motive and commitment, SMEs are not as different from large companies as the literature suggests, as they are guided by similar institutional and economic motives. Results, based on ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified SMEs in Greece, demonstrate that later adopters are more susceptible to coercive and mimetic motives and are less likely to commit fully to the CMS requirements, while earlier adopters react to normative motives and considerations of internal efficiency gains and tend to carry out CMS requirements with greater diligence

Overcoming Resistance to Diversity in the Executive Suite: Grease, Grit, and the Corporate Tournament

Once we open the corporate governance/human resources nexus to deeper inquiry, mutual scholarly interest in diversity and discrimination follows naturally. Firms have complex motives to take nondiscrimination and the promotion of diversity seriously. First, at least certain forms of discrimination are both unlawful and socially illegitimate and hence present threats of potential liability and injury to reputation. Second, human resources demands are such that attracting and motivating a diverse workforce is a competitive imperative. At the same time, however, offsetting economic forces may exist that favor subtle forms of discrimination and hostility to diversity, even if intentional and overt racial or gender-based bias is mostly outdated. In sum, the process of promoting diversity and ending discrimination, whether to avoid liability or simply to remain competitive, is a difficult challenge faced by many firms. It demands a close look at the efficacy of the internal decisionmaking and authority structures of the firm

The marriage of Bourdieu and private ordering on Gretna's football field

This paper presents an in-depth study of the insolvency of Gretna football club. It sets the insolvency within the wider context of the field of football in Scotland and the special rules of the field which apply immediately upon the insolvency of a club and which are arguably at odds with general insolvency regulation in the UK. Insolvency presents a unique opportunity to study fields since it is at this point when there is a shortfall of funds that the field's power relations become most clear and the struggles on the field more visible. In order to provide a more nuanced complex picture of the football field, its actors and regulations, especially those relating to insolvency, this paper draws upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu. It also draws upon the concept of private ordering since the insolvency rules set by the governing body of the Scottish Premier League (a private company) have an impact that extend beyond the members of the League

Emotional assuring, trust Building, and resource mobilization in start-up organizations

Based on a five-year field study of six new ventures, we investigate whether and how organization foun-ders use affective influence, a form of emotion management, with diverse stakeholders, namely investors, board members, customers, and employees. We found wide differences in founders' propensity to use affective influence actions and that not all affective influence actions were effective in mobilizing re-sources for the new firm. We identified a particular form of beneficial affective influence we call "emo-tional assuring," which refers to affective influence actions that seek to build three different dimensions of trust in regard to the new firm: (1) the firm's integrity, (2) the founder's competence as an entrepreneur, and (3) the founder's benevolent character. Although firms that practiced little emotional assuring could mobilize adequate resources as well as firms that did it in munificent environments, the latter gained an upper hand and were more resilient under tough economic conditions. We also identified the moderating conditions and limitations of emotional assuring.Affective influence; emotional assuring; emotion; entrepreneurship; organization creation; resource mobilization; trust;