British Journal of Management最新文献

While asymmetric information causes discouraged borrowing, understanding of how firm-side learning and cognitive bias affects discouraged-borrowing dynamics is limited. We therefore develop and test a dynamic Bayesian-learning model of firm-borrowing decisions incorporating cognitive bias. We show while credit-rejection experiences increase discouragement probabilities, this effect is nonhomogeneous over firm life cycles. The effect of rejection on discouragement initially decreases with age but increases among older businesses suggesting confirmation bias affects learning (as increasing pessimism with age causes over-weighted rejection experiences). Discouragement also increases with age as businesses learn prior rejection-probability beliefs were over-optimistic. Moreover, discouraged borrowers have, on average, the same approval probability as loan applicants, and this probability does not decrease with age. Thus, while experiential learning reduces asymmetric information, we show firm-side learning neither reduces discouraged borrowing nor improves credit-market efficiency.

Critical of a literature which examines corporate political connections with scant attention to their dynamic nature, we blend political theory with inter-organizational exchange research to propose and test a framework based on which firms’ earnings management (EM) method can vary predictably with their political tactic. Using hand-collected data on political money spent by US firms, we reveal an unknown dichotomy. Firms taking a transactional approach to politics tend to use the least costly EM method, substituting accruals-based EM (AEM) for real EM (REM). Conversely, firms following a relational approach, concerned that possible detection may alienate career-focused politicians, substitute REM for AEM. Consistent with the goodwill trust in the firm–politicians relationship moderating the EM trade-off, firms revert to AEM when the trust is impaired and they no longer perceive the need to insulate politicians from reputational damage. Notwithstanding the firm's political tactic, the total EM remains unaffected, suggesting perfect substitution. As a refined and dynamic lens for examining firm–politicians exchanges, our framework reconciles the conflicting evidence of prior studies on how political connections affect reported earnings and is generalizable to other third-party affiliations that may have important reputational stakes but no monitoring capacity over the production of financial information.

Whereas extant literature treats social voice, that is, complaining via brand-managed social media pages, as a mere channel for existing consumer complaining behaviours (CCBs), like voice and negative word of mouth, this research aims to assess it as a distinct CCB. We draw from CCB theory and its associated taxonomies towards this goal. To identify the unique palette of motives and antecedents of social voice, we adopt a mixed-method research design by extracting archival social voice posts and interviewing social voicers across four sub-studies. Our analysis reveals the motives, CCB process stage, antecedents and other peculiarities associated with social voice, thereby demarcating it from other CCBs. Further, social voice is identified as a predominantly secondary-stage CCB, triggered by a blend of constructive and vindictive motivations. This work is among the few examining social voice from a consumer viewpoint and attempts to place it within the overall CCB framework as divergent from its standalone assessments. We thus pave a foundation for examining behavioural changes implied by the Internet and social media within the CCB landscape and provide managerial guidelines towards reducing primary social voice while optimizing its secondary-stage incidence.

Much of the literature on coordination engages it as a phenomenon driven by presence of certain facilitating structures, like plans or roles, or arising from members’ past work. In some contexts, however, supplementary mechanisms may be required. We argue that in creative, time-pressured settings, generating coordination relies on managers’ purposeful emotion-based manipulation of group moods, which we term managerial mood work. Our argument builds on the observation of stage preparation of Paris fashion shows. We see such shows as particularly valuable empirical exemplars, in that they include time-pressured technical preparations with both creatively complex and simple outcomes, enabling comparison. This allows us to show how managers purposefully generate coordination in creative, time-pressured settings via three mechanisms: countering the group mood to trigger coordination, calibrating the group mood to progress coordination forward and settling the group mood to signal temporary resolution to coordination. Our contribution is a conceptualization of managerial mood work as a supporting mechanism for coordination in creative, time-pressured settings, adding to understanding of the role of emotions and group moods in coordination, and of managers as their facilitators.

Many US states have adopted Employment Non−Discrimination Acts (ENDAs) to ensure workplace equity and prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This study examines if and how the staggered introduction of ENDAs across US states from 2001 to 2018 influences board gender diversity. Using a stacked difference-in-difference analysis with entropy-balanced matching, we identify a 4.3% increase in female board representation for firms headquartered in states that implement ENDAs, relative to the median level of board gender diversity. We employ both internal and external instrumental variable approaches to validate our primary findings. Notably, the effect is more pronounced in firms with female leadership and is reversed in firms led by Republican-leaning executives. Moreover, post-ENDA diversity increases are stronger in firms headquartered in Democrat-voting states and those where pre-existing diversity concerns are higher. Further analysis indicates that female board members are more likely to be independent directors and serve on compensation or audit committees. Drawing on isomorphism and spillover theories, our study provides original evidence that ENDAs embed prosocial norms within firms, generating a spillover effect, whereby the inclusivity and diversity fostered at state level in turn enhance board gender diversity at firm level.

How are institutions created is one of the most interesting questions in institutional theory. Some strands of literature favour heroic explanations: mythologizing individuals with vision, tenacity and drive and putting these individuals on the pedestal of the institution. Institutional work literature advocates a more diffuse model whereby the collective effort of institutional actors over time contributes to institutional creation. Drawing on our ethnographic study of the Scottish Parliament, we examined the roles of different institutional actors through the theoretical lens of materiality. We focused on the material base for the institution, the building that houses the Parliament. We asked two questions: How do institutional actors interact with the material nature of the building in institutional creation? And how do these institutional actors, individually and collectively, create the spirit of the place in a new building? We identified some mechanisms in which institutional actors interact with the material nature of the building: mythologizing the institution, searching for discursive legitimacy, accentuating differentiation from other institutions and making incremental changes in the fabric of the building. While acknowledging the importance of the heroic narratives in institutional creation, we draw analytic attention to the collective effort by institutional actors who create the institution and its building over time.

This inductive study investigates the phenomenon of narrative switching in accounts of failure within entrepreneurial contexts, which occurs when a narrator suddenly switches to an alternative story of the events within the same interaction. Using a stories-in-action perspective, we present the findings of a narrative analysis of in-depth interviews with corporate entrepreneurs following a failed collaborative R&D project. We analyse the triggers, functions and implications of narrative switching. Our findings challenge the assumption that narrators typically use one type of story to make sense of failure. Instead, we highlight the interpersonal actions performed when a narrator ‘changes the story’. These actions include altering the takeaway ‘message’, ‘moral’, or ‘coda’ of the story, shifting the presentation of self-identity and managing accountability related to the failure. Our research underlines the importance of narrative switching as a discursive device in failure accounts and contributes to the broader understanding of how narrative switching shapes sensemaking and identity construction in the face of entrepreneurial challenges.

A social enterprise may attempt to digitalize its value chain to better fulfil its dual mission; however, the outcomes depend on boundary conditions such as its emphasis on diverse stakeholders, a factor that is rarely examined in the extant literature. Drawing upon stakeholder theory and prior research on digital transformation, this study empirically investigates the strategic fit between stakeholder orientation and value chain digitalization of social enterprises. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and data collected from 103 private museums in China, this study identifies multiple equifinal configurations of stakeholder orientations (including visitor, donor and collaborator orientations) and value chain digitalization for social and economic value creation. This study also proposes a sand cone model for the digital transformation of private museums. It extends the application of stakeholder theory in the social enterprise context by highlighting the heterogeneity in stakeholder orientations and revealing the unique contribution of collaborator orientation to the dual mission. In addition, this study offers practical implications for social entrepreneurs and managers concerning digital transformation and value creation.

We study the impact on firm valuation of a novel exogenous shock to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data that affects how firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) gets measured by a third-party ESG data provider. Our analysis reveals a significantly higher sensitivity of firm values to CSR ratings for firms whose CSR ratings were affected by the change in ESG reporting methodology. Moreover, firms with low capital constraints or low institutional ownership tend to drive the value sensitivity of CSR ratings when ESG reporting gets revamped. These findings provide insight into how ESG rating providers could influence and shape firms’ actual CSR engagement.