A literature review of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on sustainable HRM

The ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to emerge across all facets of the world of work, including the field of human resource management (HRM). Sustainable HRM, drawing on the triple bottom line elements of the economic, environmental and social pillars of sustainability, provides an ideal basis from which to understand the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and HRM. In this systematic literature review, we analyze peer reviewed articles published in the nexus of the pandemic and sustainable HRM, identifying the dimensions and extent of research in this topical area of study. Our CEDEL model—complicator–exposer–disruptor–enabler– legitimizer—conceptualizes our understanding of the role of COVID-19 in sustainable HRM. This paper provides a framework from which future studies can benefit when investigating the impacts of COVID-19, and a comprehensive identification of future research avenues. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Optimizing Fresh Agricultural Product Distribution Paths Under Demand Uncertainty

Consumers' demand for fresh agricultural products (FAPs) and their quality requirements are increasing in the current agricultural-product consumption market. FAPs' unique perishability and short shelf-life features mean a high level of delivery efficiency is required to ensure their freshness and quality. However, consumers' demand for FAPs is contingent and geographically dispersed. Therefore, the conflicting relationship between the costs associated with the logistics distribution and the level of delivery quality is important to consider. In this paper, the authors consider a fresh agricultural-product distribution path planning problem with time windows (FAPDPPPTW). To address the FAPDPPPTW under demand uncertainty, a mixed-integer linear programming model based on robust optimization is proposed. Moreover, a particle swarm optimization algorithm combined with a variable neighborhood search is designed to solve the proposed mathematical model. The numerical experiment results show the robustness and fast convergence of the algorithm.</p

Recall patterns and risk of primary liver cancer for subcentimeter ultrasound liver observations: a multicenter study

BACKGROUND: Patients with cirrhosis and subcentimeter lesions on liver ultrasound are recommended to undergo short-interval follow-up ultrasound because of the presumed low risk of primary liver cancer (PLC). AIMS: The aim of this study is to characterize recall patterns and risk of PLC in patients with subcentimeter liver lesions on ultrasound. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study among patients with cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis B infection who had subcentimeter ultrasound lesions between January 2017 and December 2019. We excluded patients with a history of PLC or concomitant lesions ≥1 cm in diameter. We used Kaplan Meier and multivariable Cox regression analyses to characterize time-to-PLC and factors associated with PLC, respectively. RESULTS: Of 746 eligible patients, most (66.0%) had a single observation, and the median diameter was 0.7 cm (interquartile range: 0.5-0.8 cm). Recall strategies varied, with only 27.8% of patients undergoing guideline-concordant ultrasound within 3-6 months. Over a median follow-up of 26 months, 42 patients developed PLC (39 HCC and 3 cholangiocarcinoma), yielding an incidence of 25.7 cases (95% CI, 6.2-47.0) per 1000 person-years, with 3.9% and 6.7% developing PLC at 2 and 3 years, respectively. Factors associated with time-to-PLC were baseline alpha-fetoprotein \u3e10 ng/mL (HR: 4.01, 95% CI, 1.85-8.71), platelet count ≤150 (HR: 4.90, 95% CI, 1.95-12.28), and Child-Pugh B cirrhosis (vs. Child-Pugh A: HR: 2.54, 95% CI, 1.27-5.08). CONCLUSIONS: Recall patterns for patients with subcentimeter liver lesions on ultrasound varied widely. The low risk of PLC in these patients supports short-interval ultrasound in 3-6 months, although diagnostic CT/MRI may be warranted for high-risk subgroups such as those with elevated alpha-fetoprotein levels

Meant to be a generator or adaptor : how founder birth order influences innovation?

An individual’s birth order has been suggested as one of fundamental and engrained human early-life family-domain experiences that shape his or her behaviors in adulthood. In spite of the importance of birth order, very little understood at how birth order influences an individual’s innovation preferences. By integrating sibling rivalry theory and social identity theory, we propose that later-born founders generate more product innovation generation, while earlier-born founders produce more product innovation adoption. We further theorize that the former relationship will be negatively moderated by the extent of sibling rivalry and positively moderated by founder social identity, while the later relationship will be positively moderating by both the extent of sibling rivalry and founder social identity. Based on the analysis of 186 high technology entrepreneurial firms, the empirical results support our theorizing and provide valuable practical implications for entrepreneurs to link their childhood experience with their entrepreneurial goals in product innovation. Our theorizing and findings advance understanding in both birth order and entrepreneurial innovation literatures

How B2B relationships influence new product development in entrepreneurial firms? The role of psychological tension

Although tension commonly exists in business-to-business (B2B) relationships, past research pays little attention to the potential dark side effects of psychological tensions, especially those between entrepreneurial firms and their client firms, despite their significant impact on these firms’ performance. We address this important research gap by exploring the nature and impact of psychological tensions between entrepreneurial firms and their client firms during the conceptualization and commercialization stages of the new product development (NPD) process. We employ a qualitative approach to conduct semi-structured interviews with 19 entrepreneurial firms operating in the artificial intelligence field in China, and identify two types of psychological tensions at the conceptualization stage (fear of losing the B2B relationship and divergent expectations) and one type of psychological tension at the commercialization stage (attention embeddedness). We also find that fear of losing the B2B relationship and divergent expectations lead to technological decontextualization, while attention embeddedness yields singular learning

Born innovator? : how founder birth order influences product innovation generation and adoption in entrepreneurial firms

Individuals’ birth order may be a fundamental, engrained human early-life and family-domain experience that shapes their behaviors in adulthood. However, limited knowledge is available about the influence of birth order on individual innovation preferences. By integrating sibling rivalry theory and social identity theory and analyzing 186 high-technology entrepreneurial firms, we find that founder birth order is positively associated with product innovation generation (later-born founders pursue more innovation generation than do earlier-born founders) but is negatively associated with product innovation adoption (earlier-born founders generate more innovation adoption than do later-born founders). Further, both the age spacing between a founder and closestborn sibling and founder social identity moderate the relationships. Thus, our findings advance understanding in the literature on birth order and on entrepreneurial innovation

Entrepreneurship education and established business activities: An international perspective

This paper introduces a conceptual model with perceived opportunity and perceived capability as mediators in the process by which entrepreneurship education helps improve the established business activities. Specifically, we hypothesize that the prevalence of entrepreneurship education relates positively with the rate of established business activity, and that perceived opportunity and capability mediate this relationship. We find support for all our hypotheses using Poisson regression with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data collected from 826 participants across 107 countries during the 2001–2018 period. Our findings confirm that entrepreneurship education has a significant positive impact on the performance of established businesses by helping the entrepreneurs improve their perceived capabilities and opportunities. These findings extend the current research on the impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial activities at different stages of development for entrepreneurial businesses

Customer resistance and innovation of entrepreneurial firms: the mediating role of customer knowledge assimilation

Using the resource dependence theory as a basis, we contend that the resistance of customer firm's B2B relationship manager impedes the acquisition of customer knowledge by entrepreneurial supplier firms, which in turn hinders the product innovation of supplier firms. We conducted a study on a sample of entrepreneurial firms operating in the blockchain industry in a business-to-business (B2B) context toconfirm the negative impact of customer firms' B2B relationship manager's resistance on supplier firms' product innovation. We identified customer knowledge assimilation as the underlying mechanism through which the negative effects occur. Furthermore, we identified two firm-level boundary conditions, customer involvement capability and relational capability, that assist entrepreneurial supplier firms in mitigating the negative effects of customer firm's B2B relationship manager’s resistance on supplier firms' customer knowledge assimilation. This study contributes to the literature by introducing the mediating role of customer knowledge assimilation and examining the effect of customer firm's B2B relationship manager's resistance in a B2B and emerging technology sector context

Telling “white lies” within the entrepreneurial firm:How rationalized knowledge hiding between founder CEO and founder CTO influences new product development

Most knowledge hiding studies focus on its dark side. In contrast, we theorize the potential positive effect of rationalized knowledge hiding in the context of entrepreneurial firms’ new product development (NPD) speed. We extended and integrated theoretical perspectives of rationalized knowledge hiding and trust in theorizing that rationalized knowledge hiding accelerates NPD—a component considered critical to firm survival and growth. We developed and analyzed two datasets on the founder CEOs and the founder CTOs of 279 high-technology entrepreneurial firms in China to test this assumption. Empirical results suggest that CTOs’ rationalized knowledge hiding from CEOs accelerates these firms’ NPD. Further, such acceleration is slower (faster) when CEOs’ affective (cognitive) trust in CTOs is higher. Overall, we theorize that rationalized knowledge hiding has a positive impact on entrepreneurial firms’ NPD. The study offers a unique contribution to understanding the link between knowledge hiding and NPD, and practical implications for entrepreneurial firms

Telling “white lies” within the entrepreneurial firm:How rationalized knowledge hiding between founder CEO and founder CTO influences new product development

Most knowledge hiding studies focus on its dark side. In contrast, we theorize the potential positive effect of rationalized knowledge hiding in the context of entrepreneurial firms’ new product development (NPD) speed. We extended and integrated theoretical perspectives of rationalized knowledge hiding and trust in theorizing that rationalized knowledge hiding accelerates NPD—a component considered critical to firm survival and growth. We developed and analyzed two datasets on the founder CEOs and the founder CTOs of 279 high-technology entrepreneurial firms in China to test this assumption. Empirical results suggest that CTOs’ rationalized knowledge hiding from CEOs accelerates these firms’ NPD. Further, such acceleration is slower (faster) when CEOs’ affective (cognitive) trust in CTOs is higher. Overall, we theorize that rationalized knowledge hiding has a positive impact on entrepreneurial firms’ NPD. The study offers a unique contribution to understanding the link between knowledge hiding and NPD, and practical implications for entrepreneurial firms