Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-01-19DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115976
Peter Clarkson , Ru Gao , Jiaxing You , Yankun Zhou
This study extends the line of inquiry into the role of appearance in analyst performance, shifting the focus from innate features such as physical attractiveness to deliberate choices analysts make in presenting themselves within professional contexts. We find based on a sample of Chinese sell-side analysts that those with online photo IDs that present a more professional image exhibit a lower forecast accuracy, cover firms with high earnings predictability, issue more optimistic forecasts, herd to other analysts, release more favourable recommendations, and are less likely to become a star-analyst. Subsequent analysis reveals that experience and education further condition the relation between professionalism in appearance and analysts’ professional outcomes. Our evidence highlights that such choices can be interpreted through the lens of symbolic self-completion theory as informative about the quality of analysts’ output.
{"title":"Symbolic self-completion: The case of sell-side analysts","authors":"Peter Clarkson , Ru Gao , Jiaxing You , Yankun Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115976","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115976","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study extends the line of inquiry into the role of appearance in analyst performance, shifting the focus from innate features such as physical attractiveness to deliberate choices analysts make in presenting themselves within professional contexts. We find based on a sample of Chinese sell-side analysts that those with online photo IDs that present a more professional image exhibit a lower forecast accuracy, cover firms with high earnings predictability, issue more optimistic forecasts, herd to other analysts, release more favourable recommendations, and are less likely to become a star-analyst. Subsequent analysis reveals that experience and education further condition the relation between professionalism in appearance and analysts’ professional outcomes. Our evidence highlights that such choices can be interpreted through the lens of symbolic self-completion theory as informative about the quality of analysts’ output.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Research","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 115976"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146036521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-01-16DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116002
Chao Zhang , Jinlian Luo , Zhu Yao
From the perspective of thedual-system theory of ethical decision-making, this study develops a model to explain how customer illegitimate tasks influence the service sabotage behavior of gig workers. Based on an analysis of 415 valid responses collected from food delivery riders, on-demand errand runners, and ride-hailing drivers, the findings suggest that customer illegitimate tasks significantly promote service sabotage behavior among gig workers. Further, such tasks increase moral disengagement, which in turn fosters service sabotage. They provoke anger, which also leads to the service sabotage behavior. Perceived platform procedural fairness moderates the relationship between customer illegitimate tasks and service sabotage via anger. Lower perceived platform procedural fairness strengthens the effect of customer illegitimate tasks on anger and, consequently, on service sabotage behavior. Higher perceived platform procedural fairness makes it less likely that these tasks will lead to sabotage through anger. These findings provide important theoretical and managerial insights for research on gig work and illegitimate tasks.
{"title":"Neither side gained: Exploring the impact of customer illegitimate tasks on service sabotage behavior of gig workers","authors":"Chao Zhang , Jinlian Luo , Zhu Yao","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>From the perspective of thedual-system theory of ethical decision-making, this study develops a model to explain how customer illegitimate tasks influence the service sabotage behavior of gig workers. Based on an analysis of 415 valid responses collected from food delivery riders, on-demand errand runners, and ride-hailing drivers, the findings suggest that customer illegitimate tasks significantly promote service sabotage behavior among gig workers. Further, such tasks increase moral disengagement, which in turn fosters service sabotage. They provoke anger, which also leads to the service sabotage behavior. Perceived platform procedural fairness moderates the relationship between customer illegitimate tasks and service sabotage via anger. Lower perceived platform procedural fairness strengthens the effect of customer illegitimate tasks on anger and, consequently, on service sabotage behavior. Higher perceived platform procedural fairness makes it less likely that these tasks will lead to sabotage through anger. These findings provide important theoretical and managerial insights for research on gig work and illegitimate tasks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Research","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 116002"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145981602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-13DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116048
Fulya Acikgoz , Abdelsalam Busalim , Theo Lynn , Noorminshah A. Iahad
Fast fashion production and consumption have undeniably contributed to environmental challenges, including climate change. At the same time, research on sustainable consumption consistently shows a gap between consumers’ pro-environmental intentions and their actual purchasing behavior. Drawing on consumer behavior theory and innovation resistance theory (IRT), this study examines the psychological barriers and functional barriers that shape the intention–behavior gap. We integrate environmental concern and sustainability knowledge with IRT to explore the impact of these drivers and barriers on Gen Z consumers. We analyse data from 684 respondents in the United States, India, and Malaysia using PLS-SEM and fsQCA. The results show that environmental concern and sustainability knowledge positively influence the intention to adopt sustainable fashion clothing (SFC), while image barriers reduce the likelihood of adoption. Although examined within the apparel sector, the study highlights mechanisms of resistance and consumer psychology that are relevant to broader sustainable consumption contexts.
{"title":"Understanding Gen Z consumers’ perceptions of sustainable fashion clothing:a PLS-SEM and fsQCA approach","authors":"Fulya Acikgoz , Abdelsalam Busalim , Theo Lynn , Noorminshah A. Iahad","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116048","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116048","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fast fashion production and consumption have undeniably contributed to environmental challenges, including climate change. At the same time, research on sustainable consumption consistently shows a gap between consumers’ pro-environmental intentions and their actual purchasing behavior. Drawing on consumer behavior theory and innovation resistance theory (IRT), this study examines the psychological barriers and functional barriers that shape the intention–behavior gap. We integrate environmental concern and sustainability knowledge with IRT to explore the impact of these drivers and barriers on Gen Z consumers. We analyse data from 684 respondents in the United States, India, and Malaysia using PLS-SEM and fsQCA. The results show that environmental concern and sustainability knowledge positively influence the intention to adopt sustainable fashion clothing (SFC), while image barriers reduce the likelihood of adoption. Although examined within the apparel sector, the study highlights mechanisms of resistance and consumer psychology that are relevant to broader sustainable consumption contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Research","volume":"208 ","pages":"Article 116048"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146191410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-09DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116044
Jinyun Duan , Yue Zhu , Xiaotian Wang , Lixiaoyun Shi
Practitioners and scholars are increasingly concerned with environmental sustainability while remaining attentive to economic efficiency. Addressing these dual priorities, this research adopts a regulatory fit perspective to examine how alignment between regulatory focus and external environments predicts financially and environmentally relevant outcomes at both the employee and firm levels. Drawing on data from two multi-wave survey studies, we find that employees’ (CEOs’) promotion focus is positively associated with performance goal commitment, which in turn enhances task performance (firm performance) under conditions of high perceived industry competition. Conversely, employees’ (CEOs’) prevention focus is positively related to environmental goal commitment, which, in turn, promotes green performance (green human resource management) when perceived government environmental pressure is strong. Theoretically, this research contributes to the motivational micro-foundations of financial and environmental performance and extends regulatory focus theory by revealing its multifaceted performance implications across organizational levels. Practical implications are also discussed.
{"title":"A regulatory fit explanation of financial and environmental performance","authors":"Jinyun Duan , Yue Zhu , Xiaotian Wang , Lixiaoyun Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116044","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116044","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Practitioners and scholars are increasingly concerned with environmental sustainability while remaining attentive to economic efficiency. Addressing these dual priorities, this research adopts a regulatory fit perspective to examine how alignment between regulatory focus and external environments predicts financially and environmentally relevant outcomes at both the employee and firm levels. Drawing on data from two multi-wave survey studies, we find that employees’ (CEOs’) promotion focus is positively associated with performance goal commitment, which in turn enhances task performance (firm performance) under conditions of high perceived industry competition. Conversely, employees’ (CEOs’) prevention focus is positively related to environmental goal commitment, which, in turn, promotes green performance (green human resource management) when perceived government environmental pressure is strong. Theoretically, this research contributes to the motivational micro-foundations of financial and environmental performance and extends regulatory focus theory by revealing its multifaceted performance implications across organizational levels. Practical implications are also discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Research","volume":"208 ","pages":"Article 116044"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-07DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115967
Xiaoru Zhang , Wei Jiang , Chuanqing Wu
In the digital era, data factor marketisation, supported by data ownership rights, data trading and data circulation, is expected to stimulate a new wave of labour transformation. Based on data from Chinese listed companies from 2011 to 2022, this study uses data trading platforms as a quasi-natural experiment and employs a staggered difference-in-differences model to explore the impact of data factor marketisation on firms’ labour income share. Our findings indicate that data factor marketisation increases firms’ labour income share by 6.4%, with human capital upgrading, resource allocation efficiency optimisation and financing constraint alleviation playing key mediating roles in this process. We also demonstrate that this effect is more pronounced for labour-intensive firms, state-owned enterprises and those located in regions with a high depth of data factor marketisation. Extended analysis reveals that the impact of data factor marketisation on firms’ labour income share is primarily reflected in wage growth, contributes to improving internal income distribution within firms and facilitates the substitution of conventional jobs with employment in non-traditional tasks. Our findings provide valuable insights for accelerating data factor marketisation and enhancing the labour income share.
{"title":"Does data factor marketisation effect labour income share? Evidence from Chinese A-share listed companies","authors":"Xiaoru Zhang , Wei Jiang , Chuanqing Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115967","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115967","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the digital era, data factor marketisation, supported by data ownership rights, data trading and data circulation, is expected to stimulate a new wave of labour transformation. Based on data from Chinese listed companies from 2011 to 2022, this study uses data trading platforms as a quasi-natural experiment and employs a staggered difference-in-differences model to explore the impact of data factor marketisation on firms’ labour income share. Our findings indicate that data factor marketisation increases firms’ labour income share by 6.4%, with human capital upgrading, resource allocation efficiency optimisation and financing constraint alleviation playing key mediating roles in this process. We also demonstrate that this effect is more pronounced for labour-intensive firms, state-owned enterprises and those located in regions with a high depth of data factor marketisation. Extended analysis reveals that the impact of data factor marketisation on firms’ labour income share is primarily reflected in wage growth, contributes to improving internal income distribution within firms and facilitates the substitution of conventional jobs with employment in non-traditional tasks. Our findings provide valuable insights for accelerating data factor marketisation and enhancing the labour income share.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Research","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 115967"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145922344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-10DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115916
Xianyi Long , Yunwei Shao , Tianfei Yang , Yanyan Chen , Xinming Deng
The behavioral outcomes of incongruent corporate social responsibility (CSR)—in which firms prioritize external over internal CSR—have received increasing scholarly attention. While prior research has primarily examined employees’ negative reactions, little is known about how employees communicate their concerns to the organization. Addressing this gap, this study develops a moderated mediation model to examine how and when employees engage in destructive versus constructive voice in response to incongruent CSR. Using data from a scenario-based experiment (n = 234) and a two-wave, multi-source survey (n = 487), the results show that employees may engage in both forms of voice behavior. Specifically, the relationship between incongruent CSR and destructive voice is mediated by affective rumination, whereas the relationship with constructive voice is mediated by problem-solving pondering. Moreover, employees with a high controllability attributional style (CAS) exhibit lower levels of affective rumination and higher levels of problem-solving pondering when confronted with incongruent CSR, thereby reducing destructive voice and promoting constructive voice. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.
{"title":"Helpless or hopeful? How and when incongruent CSR motivates employees’ voice behavior","authors":"Xianyi Long , Yunwei Shao , Tianfei Yang , Yanyan Chen , Xinming Deng","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115916","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115916","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The behavioral outcomes of incongruent corporate social responsibility (CSR)—in which firms prioritize external over internal CSR—have received increasing scholarly attention. While prior research has primarily examined employees’ negative reactions, little is known about how employees communicate their concerns to the organization. Addressing this gap, this study develops a moderated mediation model to examine how and when employees engage in destructive versus constructive voice in response to incongruent CSR. Using data from a scenario-based experiment (n = 234) and a two-wave, multi-source survey (n = 487), the results show that employees may engage in both forms of voice behavior. Specifically, the relationship between incongruent CSR and destructive voice is mediated by affective rumination, whereas the relationship with constructive voice is mediated by problem-solving pondering. Moreover, employees with a high controllability attributional style (CAS) exhibit lower levels of affective rumination and higher levels of problem-solving pondering when confronted with incongruent CSR, thereby reducing destructive voice and promoting constructive voice. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Research","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 115916"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145922414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-10DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115987
Laurence Dessart , Willem Standaert , Michael Schyns , Elena Mazurova
Nostalgia, a powerful emotion frequently used in marketing, has been linked to subjective wellbeing. While virtual reality (VR) offers many benefits for brands and consumers, its connection to wellbeing remains underexplored. Drawing on self-determination theory, we explore the relationships between subjective wellbeing, types of nostalgia, and VR features. Our qualitative research focuses on Eternelle Notre Dame and involves various participant groups. Our analysis reveals that VR-evoked nostalgia supports three manifestations of wellbeing: temporal relatedness, self-realization and experience mastery. We also provide evidence of the VR features that relate to these dimensions. By exploring how VR experiences, nostalgia, and subjective wellbeing intersect, we clarify the psychological and sociocultural mechanisms that underlie VR experiences and their impact on wellbeing. This study also provides insights for practitioners designing VR experiences to enhance wellbeing.
{"title":"When the past meets the future: VR-evoked nostalgia as a pathway to subjective wellbeing","authors":"Laurence Dessart , Willem Standaert , Michael Schyns , Elena Mazurova","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115987","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115987","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nostalgia, a powerful emotion frequently used in marketing, has been linked to subjective wellbeing. While virtual reality (VR) offers many benefits for brands and consumers, its connection to wellbeing remains underexplored. Drawing on self-determination theory, we explore the relationships between subjective wellbeing, types of nostalgia, and VR features. Our qualitative research focuses on <em>Eternelle Notre Dame</em> and involves various participant groups. Our analysis reveals that VR-evoked nostalgia supports three manifestations of wellbeing: temporal relatedness, self-realization and experience mastery. We also provide evidence of the VR features that relate to these dimensions. By exploring how VR experiences, nostalgia, and subjective wellbeing intersect, we clarify the psychological and sociocultural mechanisms that underlie VR experiences and their impact on wellbeing. This study also provides insights for practitioners designing VR experiences to enhance wellbeing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Research","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 115987"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145922415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-14DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115996
Julia Pueschel , Shuyi Hao , Bernd Schmitt
This research investigates luxury shaming—the social act of assigning negative judgment or disapproval to individuals who engage in luxury consumption. We explore how consumers shame others, and how shamed consumers experience, feel, and cope with such judgments. Methodologically, we integrate traditional qualitative techniques and innovative Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) analysis. Results reveal that luxury shaming is enacted through distinct shaming categories found in the marketplace—intellectual, economic, socio-cultural, physical/aesthetic, and ethical/moral—and triggers emotional responses ranging from embarrassment to guilt and anxiety. Furthermore, we identify three bipolar coping dimensions—stylistic, social-interactive, and value-related—each encompassing two distinct strategies that consumers use to maintain engagement with luxury consumption. Key contributions include expanding the luxury consumption literature by examining its negative consequences, advancing the understanding of shaming-related emotions in consumer behavior, and, methodologically, demonstrating GenAI’s role in complementing qualitative analysis.
{"title":"Understanding luxury shaming: a multi-study exploration using qualitative inquiry and generative AI","authors":"Julia Pueschel , Shuyi Hao , Bernd Schmitt","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115996","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115996","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research investigates luxury shaming—the social act of assigning negative judgment or disapproval to individuals who engage in luxury consumption. We explore how consumers shame others, and how shamed consumers experience, feel, and cope with such judgments. Methodologically, we integrate traditional qualitative techniques and innovative Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) analysis. Results reveal that luxury shaming is enacted through distinct shaming categories found in the marketplace—intellectual, economic, socio-cultural, physical/aesthetic, and ethical/moral—and triggers emotional responses ranging from embarrassment to guilt and anxiety. Furthermore, we identify three bipolar coping dimensions—stylistic, social-interactive, and value-related—each encompassing two distinct strategies that consumers use to maintain engagement with luxury consumption. Key contributions include expanding the luxury consumption literature by examining its negative consequences, advancing the understanding of shaming-related emotions in consumer behavior, and, methodologically, demonstrating GenAI’s role in complementing qualitative analysis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Research","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 115996"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145978490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-13DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115985
Chiung-Yi Hwang, Hao-Chen Chen
Building on the resource-based view (RBV) and the social exchange theory (SET), this study advances the alliance theory by revealing configurational complementarity as a fundamental mechanism governing breakthrough innovation in R&D alliance portfolios. Through analysis of 455 U.S. information and communication technology firms, we demonstrate that optimal innovation outcomes emerge through strategic alignment between resource optimization and relational governance rather than independent factor maximization. We advance RBV from static resource accumulation toward dynamic resource optimization by showing that knowledge similarity—technological similarity and market knowledge similarity—operates through optimal thresholds rather than linear benefits. We refine SET through conditional exchange mechanisms, indicating that trust dimensions—goodwill trust and competence trust—create differential governance effects depending on alliance knowledge structure rather than universal reciprocity. These insights establish that breakthrough innovation requires configurational thinking, recognizing the interdependence between knowledge diversity and trust relationships.
{"title":"The Knowledge-Trust Nexus: Unraveling dual trust and knowledge similarity paths to breakthrough innovation in the ICT sector","authors":"Chiung-Yi Hwang, Hao-Chen Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115985","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.115985","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Building on the resource-based view (RBV) and the social exchange theory (SET), this study advances the alliance theory by revealing configurational complementarity as a fundamental mechanism governing breakthrough innovation in R&D alliance portfolios. Through analysis of 455 U.S. information and communication technology firms, we demonstrate that optimal innovation outcomes emerge through strategic alignment between resource optimization and relational governance rather than independent factor maximization. We advance RBV from static resource accumulation toward dynamic resource optimization by showing that knowledge similarity—technological similarity and market knowledge similarity—operates through optimal thresholds rather than linear benefits. We refine SET through conditional exchange mechanisms, indicating that trust dimensions—goodwill trust and competence trust—create differential governance effects depending on alliance knowledge structure rather than universal reciprocity. These insights establish that breakthrough innovation requires configurational thinking, recognizing the interdependence between knowledge diversity and trust relationships.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Research","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 115985"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145978506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115914
Kai Zeng , Duanxu Wang , Yujing Xu , Zhengwei Li
Employee entrepreneurs’ stealing from the parent firm where they were originally employed is a common phenomenon that has not traditionally been acknowledged as unethical behavior. Employee entrepreneurs’ unethical behavior (EEUB) not only causes economic losses to the parent firm but, more critically, constitutes a moral violation. Thus, parent firms tend to respond hostilely to EEUB. Drawing on deontic justice theory and the dual-process theory of moral judgment, this study conducted six investigations to examine the effect of EEUB on parent hostility, the underlying mechanisms, and the boundary conditions. Study 1, based on a survey of 646 employees, confirmed that EEUB triggers parent hostile attitude. Building on these findings, Study 2 implemented a scenario-based experiment involving 223 top executives to illustrate how EEUB prompts parent hostility. Finally, Study 3 conducted two surveys with 367 and 223 employee entrepreneurs respectively to test why and when EEUB provokes hostile behaviors in parent firms.
{"title":"Detesting evil: Why parent firms express hostility to resist employee entrepreneurs’ unethical behavior","authors":"Kai Zeng , Duanxu Wang , Yujing Xu , Zhengwei Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115914","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115914","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Employee entrepreneurs’ stealing from the parent firm where they were originally employed is a common phenomenon that has not traditionally been acknowledged as unethical behavior. Employee entrepreneurs’ unethical behavior (EEUB) not only causes economic losses to the parent firm but, more critically, constitutes a moral violation. Thus, parent firms tend to respond hostilely to EEUB. Drawing on deontic justice theory and the dual-process theory of moral judgment, this study conducted six investigations to examine the effect of EEUB on parent hostility, the underlying mechanisms, and the boundary conditions. Study 1, based on a survey of 646 employees, confirmed that EEUB triggers parent hostile attitude. Building on these findings, Study 2 implemented a scenario-based experiment involving 223 top executives to illustrate how EEUB prompts parent hostility. Finally, Study 3 conducted two surveys with 367 and 223 employee entrepreneurs respectively to test why and when EEUB provokes hostile behaviors in parent firms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Research","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 115914"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145765838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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