Pub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2025.02.001
Isabelle Le Breton-Miller, Danny Miller
We review the dominant motivational literature on leadership, finding its prescriptions to be controversial, abstract, overly demanding, and optional for most leadership positions. We then propose a more modest and preliminary hygiene approach to avoiding very basic leadership deficits, any one of which can cause harm in virtually any leadership context. These deficits may be cognitive, social, motivational, emotional, or moral. Although social deficits of abuse and toxicity have been studied, the others have received little attention.
{"title":"Looking at leadership differently: A hygiene perspective","authors":"Isabelle Le Breton-Miller, Danny Miller","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2025.02.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2025.02.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We review the dominant motivational literature on leadership, finding its prescriptions to be controversial, abstract, overly demanding, and optional for most leadership positions. We then propose a more modest and preliminary hygiene approach to avoiding very basic leadership deficits, any one of which can cause harm in virtually any leadership context. These deficits may be cognitive, social, motivational, emotional, or moral. Although social deficits of abuse and toxicity have been studied, the others have received little attention.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 4","pages":"Pages 541-547"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144829622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2025.06.002
Pawel Korzynski , Autumn Edwards , Mahesh C. Gupta , Grzegorz Mazurek , Jochen Wirtz
The development of humanoid robots and artificial intelligence (AI) agents represents two distinct but complementary advancements in replicating human capabilities in physical and digital environments. This duality reflects a broader shift toward physical AI a term used to describe embodied AI systems capable of interacting with the physical world through movement and perception - of which humanoid robots are a prominent example. Our paper explores how these technologies reshape and extend established management theories across three disciplines—human resource management (HRM), marketing and consumer behavior (CB), and operations management (OM). Specifically, we propose that in HRM, humanoid robots challenge team role theory by introducing machine-oriented roles, such as trainers and testers, while AI agents prompt a rethinking of social learning theory through their capacity to enable behavior simulation and dynamic feedback loops. In marketing and CB, AI agents reconfigure value co-creation within service-dominant logic by acting as autonomous co-creators of value, while humanoid robots influence social agency theory by altering perceptions of trust and power dynamics. In OM, these technologies drive new opportunities for throughput, agility, and process optimization by integrating real-time predictive analytics and adaptive workflow automation. These insights emphasize that while many traditional theories remain relevant, they require adaptation to account for human–machine collaboration, machine agency, and the hybrid roles emerging in organizational contexts.
{"title":"Humanoid robotics and agentic AI: reframing management theories and future research directions","authors":"Pawel Korzynski , Autumn Edwards , Mahesh C. Gupta , Grzegorz Mazurek , Jochen Wirtz","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2025.06.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2025.06.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><span><span>The development of humanoid robots<span> and artificial intelligence (AI) agents represents two distinct but complementary advancements in replicating human capabilities in physical and digital environments. This duality reflects a broader shift toward physical AI a term used to describe embodied AI systems capable of interacting with the physical world through movement and perception - of which humanoid robots are a prominent example. Our paper explores how these technologies reshape and extend established management theories across three disciplines—human resource management (HRM), marketing and consumer behavior (CB), and </span></span>operations management (OM). Specifically, we propose that in HRM, humanoid robots challenge team role theory by introducing machine-oriented roles, such as trainers and testers, while AI agents prompt a rethinking of </span>social learning theory<span><span> through their capacity to enable behavior simulation and dynamic feedback loops. In marketing and CB, AI agents reconfigure value co-creation within service-dominant logic by acting as autonomous co-creators of value, while humanoid robots influence social agency theory by altering perceptions of trust and power dynamics. In OM, these technologies drive new opportunities for throughput, agility, and process optimization by integrating real-time predictive analytics and adaptive </span>workflow automation. These insights emphasize that while many traditional theories remain relevant, they require adaptation to account for human–machine collaboration, machine agency, and the hybrid roles emerging in organizational contexts.</span></div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 4","pages":"Pages 548-560"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144828097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2024.03.009
Joaquín García-Cruz, Francisco Rincon-Roldan, Susana Pasamar
We examined whether institutional pressures explained sustainable company behavior based on sustainable Human Resource Management. Additionally, given that company voluntariness is a key factor of sustainable behavior, we analyzed the role of organizational engagement in employees. A sample of 206 firms in the chemical and chemical manufacturing industries as well as in the base metal manufacturing sector was used to test the hypotheses, using Partial Least-Squares Structural Equation Modelling. Our findings suggest that institutional pressures explain sustainable Human Resource Management and that organizational engagement mediates the relationship between institutional pressures and sustainable Human Resource Management. Moreover, a circular relationship develops that may play an even more pivotal role at the early stage of the diffusion of these practices.
{"title":"When the stars align: The effect of institutional pressures on sustainable human resource management through organizational engagement","authors":"Joaquín García-Cruz, Francisco Rincon-Roldan, Susana Pasamar","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.03.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.03.009","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examined whether institutional pressures explained sustainable company behavior based on sustainable Human Resource Management. Additionally, given that company voluntariness is a key factor of sustainable behavior, we analyzed the role of organizational engagement in employees. A sample of 206 firms in the chemical and chemical manufacturing industries as well as in the base metal manufacturing sector was used to test the hypotheses, using Partial Least-Squares Structural Equation Modelling. Our findings suggest that institutional pressures explain sustainable Human Resource Management and that organizational engagement mediates the relationship between institutional pressures and sustainable Human Resource Management. Moreover, a circular relationship develops that may play an even more pivotal role at the early stage of the diffusion of these practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 4","pages":"Pages 594-604"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140401329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2024.05.002
Jori Pascal Kalkman , Jeroen Wolbers , Erik de Waard , Myriame T.I. Bollen
Organizing an effective crisis response requires that actors collectively make sense of a situation by exchanging their interpretations and understandings. Current sensemaking studies predominantly adopt a short-term perspective on this process, focusing on how actors recognize and respond to deviant cues. This focus tends to obscure how organizational politics influences the sensemaking process. In this paper, we study how actors exert influence over sensemaking processes by analyzing how organizational members frame situations and challenge one another's understandings. Empirically, we focus on the response of Dutch Border Security Teams to the “migration crisis” at Chios, Greece, drawing from a 2-year multisite study consisting of two field visits and 47 interviews. Our analysis shows that organizational members used discursive, symbolic, and situated framing practices to influence one another's sensemaking. Based on these theoretical constructs, we are able to explain how frame hegemony emerged that entirely countered initial adaptive sensemaking at the frontline. We contribute to the sensemaking literature by theorizing the politics of sensemaking in turbulent environments.
{"title":"The politics of sensemaking: Framing contests in border control during the EU “migration crisis”","authors":"Jori Pascal Kalkman , Jeroen Wolbers , Erik de Waard , Myriame T.I. Bollen","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.05.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.05.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Organizing an effective crisis response requires that actors collectively make sense of a situation by exchanging their interpretations and understandings. Current sensemaking studies predominantly adopt a short-term perspective on this process, focusing on how actors recognize and respond to deviant cues. This focus tends to obscure how organizational politics influences the sensemaking process. In this paper, we study how actors exert influence over sensemaking processes by analyzing how organizational members frame situations and challenge one another's understandings. Empirically, we focus on the response of Dutch Border Security Teams to the “migration crisis” at Chios, Greece, drawing from a 2-year multisite study consisting of two field visits and 47 interviews. Our analysis shows that organizational members used discursive, symbolic, and situated framing practices to influence one another's sensemaking. Based on these theoretical constructs, we are able to explain how frame hegemony emerged that entirely countered initial adaptive sensemaking at the frontline. We contribute to the sensemaking literature by theorizing the politics of sensemaking in turbulent environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 4","pages":"Pages 584-593"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141026329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2024.04.008
Tamara Mohammad , Tamer K. Darwish , Osama Khassawneh , Geoffrey Wood
Building on the comparative capitalism literature, we aim to understand the impact of HRM practice on hospitals performance within the healthcare sector in Jordan, and the role of HRM in mitigating and overcoming systemic shortfalls. Two different surveys were distributed for both hospital and HR managers across all hospitals. Our findings indicate that certain HR practices are positively associated with performance, despite contextual challenges such as informal networks and cultural limitations that could undermine efficiency. We further tested the potential impact of HR complementarities on performance; nevertheless, the results did not significantly surpass the explanatory power of the individual HR practices. It might have been anticipated that mutually supportive bundles of practices might compensate for systemic weaknesses. However, it may be the case that players have devised solutions in other areas of managerial practice that may be more effective than HRM in compensating for systemic limitations. Our study also highlights that in oligopolistically structured markets, common in private healthcare systems, the effectiveness of HR practices may be less crucial for profitability, though this does not diminish their broader relevance for societal and community outcomes which are beyond the scope of this work.
{"title":"HRM, institutional complementarities, and performance: The case of the healthcare sector in Jordan","authors":"Tamara Mohammad , Tamer K. Darwish , Osama Khassawneh , Geoffrey Wood","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.04.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.04.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Building on the comparative capitalism literature, we aim to understand the impact of HRM practice on hospitals performance within the healthcare sector in Jordan, and the role of HRM in mitigating and overcoming systemic shortfalls. Two different surveys were distributed for both hospital and HR managers across all hospitals. Our findings indicate that certain HR practices are positively associated with performance, despite contextual challenges such as informal networks and cultural limitations that could undermine efficiency. We further tested the potential impact of HR complementarities on performance; nevertheless, the results did not significantly surpass the explanatory power of the individual HR practices. It might have been anticipated that mutually supportive bundles of practices might compensate for systemic weaknesses. However, it may be the case that players have devised solutions in other areas of managerial practice that may be more effective than HRM in compensating for systemic limitations. Our study also highlights that in oligopolistically structured markets, common in private healthcare systems, the effectiveness of HR practices may be less crucial for profitability, though this does not diminish their broader relevance for societal and community outcomes which are beyond the scope of this work.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 4","pages":"Pages 605-616"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140787350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2024.06.003
Sami Ben Larbi , Ali Dardour , Adam Elage
Drawing on stakeholder and legitimacy theories, this study investigates the influence of CEO incentive pay on corporate social performance (CSP) and the moderating effect of the economic crisis on this relationship within the French context. Using a sample of 460 firm-year observations of listed French firms, we provide new empirical evidence of a positive relationship between CEO incentive pay and CSP, as well as each of the process dimensions governing this construct (Leadership, Implementation, and Results). However, this relationship is altered by the economic crisis, which affects only one dimension of CSP (Leadership). These findings indicate that due to economic concerns, CEOs may shift efforts toward communicating rather than implementing CSP; however, they also might reflect defensive strategies intended to reassure stakeholders in a strained global economic context marked by declining of the financial performance.
On a managerial level, this study provides evidence for executives, analysts, and policymakers that CEO incentive pay can serve as a potent strategic lever to enhance CSP. Nevertheless, our findings urge various stakeholders involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR) to strengthen their control over the effectiveness of the firm's social performance rather than merely accepting the firm's declarations that might be amplified in times of crises without a real commitment to CSP activities.
{"title":"CEO incentive pay and corporate social performance: Evidence from French companies","authors":"Sami Ben Larbi , Ali Dardour , Adam Elage","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.06.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.06.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Drawing on stakeholder and legitimacy theories, this study investigates the influence of CEO incentive pay on corporate social performance (CSP) and the moderating effect of the economic crisis on this relationship within the French context. Using a sample of 460 firm-year observations of listed French firms, we provide new empirical evidence of a positive relationship between CEO incentive pay and CSP, as well as each of the process dimensions governing this construct (Leadership, Implementation, and Results). However, this relationship is altered by the economic crisis, which affects only one dimension of CSP (Leadership). These findings indicate that due to economic concerns, CEOs may shift efforts toward communicating rather than implementing CSP; however, they also might reflect defensive strategies intended to reassure stakeholders in a strained global economic context marked by declining of the financial performance.</div><div>On a managerial level, this study provides evidence for executives, analysts, and policymakers that CEO incentive pay can serve as a potent strategic lever to enhance CSP. Nevertheless, our findings urge various stakeholders involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR) to strengthen their control over the effectiveness of the firm's social performance rather than merely accepting the firm's declarations that might be amplified in times of crises without a real commitment to CSP activities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 4","pages":"Pages 664-675"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141503580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2025.06.001
Maral Muratbekova-Touron, Adina Dudau
{"title":"A platform for ideas that Matter: New paths for publishing in EMJ","authors":"Maral Muratbekova-Touron, Adina Dudau","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2025.06.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2025.06.001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 4","pages":"Pages 539-540"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144829621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2024.07.002
Joana S.P. Story , Pedro Neves
The interest in unethical behavior in organizations has grown over the past decades as ethical scandals have become mainstream. However, research on how organizational practices may prevent these behaviors is still scarce, particularly for those behaviors that are unethical but also benefit the organization. Across two studies guided by Uncertainty Reduction Theory, we examine the relationship between high-performance work systems and unethical pro-organizational behavior via perceptions of politics. In study 1 (N = 244), we found support for the indirect effect using a time-lagged design. In study 2 (N = 809), we confirmed our mediation hypothesis using unethical pro-organizational behaviors rated by the supervisor and reiterated the role played by perceptions of politics, by ruling out job insecurity as a second potential uncertainty reduction mechanism. Taken together, these findings have important theoretical and practical implications as they consistently demonstrate that high-performance work systems reduce uncertainty regarding the internal functioning of the organization (reflected in perceptions of politics), and by doing so, decrease the extent to which employees engage in unethical behaviors in favor of the organization.
{"title":"Curbing unethical pro-organizational behavior with high-performance work systems: Test of an uncertainty reduction mechanism","authors":"Joana S.P. Story , Pedro Neves","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.07.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.07.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The interest in unethical behavior in organizations has grown over the past decades as ethical scandals have become mainstream. However, research on how organizational practices may prevent these behaviors is still scarce, particularly for those behaviors that are unethical but also benefit the organization. Across two studies guided by Uncertainty Reduction Theory, we examine the relationship between high-performance work systems and unethical pro-organizational behavior via perceptions of politics. In study 1 (N = 244), we found support for the indirect effect using a time-lagged design. In study 2 (N = 809), we confirmed our mediation hypothesis using unethical pro-organizational behaviors rated by the supervisor and reiterated the role played by perceptions of politics, by ruling out job insecurity as a second potential uncertainty reduction mechanism. Taken together, these findings have important theoretical and practical implications as they consistently demonstrate that high-performance work systems reduce uncertainty regarding the internal functioning of the organization (reflected in perceptions of politics), and by doing so, decrease the extent to which employees engage in unethical behaviors in favor of the organization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 4","pages":"Pages 686-694"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141707019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2024.05.005
Liqing Tang , Tienan Wang , Feiyang Guan , Linbing Sun
This study investigated the differential effects of the ego-network density (i.e., ego-density) of the focal firm and its partner on the focal firm's competitive behavior toward its partner in technological areas, as well as the moderating role of relative structural holes in the whole alliance network. The empirical findings indicate that the ego-density of the focal firm has an inverted U-shaped relationship with technological invasion, whereas the ego-density of the partner firm has a negative effect. Relative structural holes also appear to strengthen the inverted U-shaped relationship between the focal firm's ego-density and technological invasion while attenuating the negative effect of the partner firm's ego-density on technological invasion. By concurrently considering both participants in this allying relationship and the synergistic interaction of the ego and whole alliance network, these results add to our understanding of the coopetition relationship within such networks.
{"title":"Don't ignore either side: The differential impact of ego-network density of the focal firm and partner on technological invasion","authors":"Liqing Tang , Tienan Wang , Feiyang Guan , Linbing Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.05.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.05.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigated the differential effects of the ego-network density (i.e., ego-density) of the focal firm and its partner on the focal firm's competitive behavior toward its partner in technological areas, as well as the moderating role of relative structural holes in the whole alliance network. The empirical findings indicate that the ego-density of the focal firm has an inverted U-shaped relationship with technological invasion, whereas the ego-density of the partner firm has a negative effect. Relative structural holes also appear to strengthen the inverted U-shaped relationship between the focal firm's ego-density and technological invasion while attenuating the negative effect of the partner firm's ego-density on technological invasion. By concurrently considering both participants in this allying relationship and the synergistic interaction of the ego and whole alliance network, these results add to our understanding of the coopetition relationship within such networks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 4","pages":"Pages 628-639"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141144574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2024.05.007
Elaine Berkery , Hilla Peretz , Siobhán Tiernan , Michael J. Morley
Viewing the acceptance of flexi-time as a social norm, and drawing on the notion of flexibility stigma, we theorize and test the effect of institutional context on the uptake of flexi-time and its impact on organizational outcomes. Specifically, we assess the explanatory power of formal institutional arrangements via the prevailing legislative framework governing flexi-time, as well as the impact of the informal institutional context via prevailing norms arising from the extent of cultural tightness or looseness. We then test our ideas using data from 22 countries. We found curvilinear relationships between flexi-time uptake, absenteeism, and employee turnover. These relationships were moderated by country-level formal and informal institutions. Thus, in culturally tight countries, and in those with no labour legislation related to flexi-time, the relationship between flexi-time uptake and organizational outcomes was curvilinear (i.e. an inverted U-shape) whereby when flexi-time uptake was 0% or >50%, absenteeism and turnover were at their lowest. Conversely, in culturally loose countries, and in those with labour legislation related to flexi-time, the relationship between flexi-time uptake and organizational outcomes was linear (i.e. the higher the flexi-time, the lower the absenteeism and turnover). Our findings underscore the importance of organizations taking account of the cultural and legislative aspects of their respective operating contexts when seeking to implement flexi-time arrangements. A misalignment between formal and informal institutions and flexi-time may reduce its uptake and have deleterious effects on absenteeism and turnover.
{"title":"The impact of flexi-time uptake on organizational outcomes and the moderating role of formal and informal institutions across 22 countries","authors":"Elaine Berkery , Hilla Peretz , Siobhán Tiernan , Michael J. Morley","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.05.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.05.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Viewing the acceptance of flexi-time as a social norm, and drawing on the notion of flexibility stigma, we theorize and test the effect of institutional context on the uptake of flexi-time and its impact on organizational outcomes. Specifically, we assess the explanatory power of formal institutional arrangements via the prevailing legislative framework governing flexi-time, as well as the impact of the informal institutional context via prevailing norms arising from the extent of cultural tightness or looseness. We then test our ideas using data from 22 countries. We found curvilinear relationships between flexi-time uptake, absenteeism, and employee turnover. These relationships were moderated by country-level formal and informal institutions. Thus, in culturally tight countries, and in those with no labour legislation related to flexi-time, the relationship between flexi-time uptake and organizational outcomes was curvilinear (i.e. an inverted U-shape) whereby when flexi-time uptake was 0% or >50%, absenteeism and turnover were at their lowest. Conversely, in culturally loose countries, and in those with labour legislation related to flexi-time, the relationship between flexi-time uptake and organizational outcomes was linear (i.e. the higher the flexi-time, the lower the absenteeism and turnover). Our findings underscore the importance of organizations taking account of the cultural and legislative aspects of their respective operating contexts when seeking to implement flexi-time arrangements. A misalignment between formal and informal institutions and flexi-time may reduce its uptake and have deleterious effects on absenteeism and turnover.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 4","pages":"Pages 640-649"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141137836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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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