British Journal of Management最新文献

To shed light on the interrelationship between risk and logics, we explore how multiple institutional logics shape management educators’ experiences of risk in classroom teaching. Using a two-case research design, we analyse an empirical case study of management educators in a UK business school during the COVID-19 pandemic and a case study of emergency physicians during the Ebola epidemic. Comparing these two focal cases of different types of frontline professional work during global health crises, we develop a model of how perceptions of risks and their mitigation shape, and are shaped by, experiences of compatibility, contestation and rejection among multiple logics. Our study extends the literatures on institutional logics and risk by providing insight into the role of multiple logics in the social construction of risk. We also contribute to the management education literature by focusing attention on the risks of physical harm in classroom teaching and by theorizing when, how and why management educators apprehend these risks as ordinary or extraordinary to their normal professional role. Finally, our study has practical implications for risk mitigation at individual and organizational levels and for creatively and safely adapting teaching and learning practices with students during extreme events.

In a world increasingly influenced by digital technologies, incumbent organizations are urged to equip their employees with digital skills to unlock the transformative power of digitalization for their strategy and business model. Yet, extant research lacks guidance on how to mobilize and implement effective initiatives to develop digital skills in incumbents. Therefore, through an in-depth case study of a utility company, this paper explores how an incumbent can mobilize its digital skills to embrace digital transformation. Based on the process perspective of resource mobilization, we shed light on the mechanisms for searching, accessing and transferring digital skills, namely: (i) unearthing dormant digital skills; (ii) awakening digital skill-holders; and (iii) disseminating digital skills. In the investigation of these mechanisms, we uncover the agentic role of digital champions, who become an organizational capability for mobilizing digital skills in incumbents. We also document how digital technologies, as operant resources, can transversally support all stages of the mobilization of digital skills aimed at developing and leveraging digital skills in incumbents. In doing so, we explore the role of digitalization, both as the content of resource mobilization, in terms of digital skills, and as the means through which mobilization is enacted, in terms of digital assets and initiatives. Based on the findings of this study, we contribute to knowledge at the interface between digitalization and resource mobilization in the broader context of digital transformation.

Resource mobilization is a significant challenge for firms seeking survival and competitive advantage, especially in the context of digital transformation. Data has emerged as a vital resource, but its intangible nature adds complexity to the interactions between resource holders and seekers. This paper aims to address the gaps in understanding data resource mobilization by integrating perspectives on information, dependence, and orientation asymmetry using a social exchange perspective. The study focuses on the regulated animal healthcare industry, where a large established organization acts as the resource holder, universities act as intermediaries, and startups act as resource seekers. Through three years of data collection, the study finds that the context is rich in all three types of asymmetries and characterized by high uncertainty surrounding data as a resource. Actors engage in direct social exchanges to address information asymmetries and in generalized exchanges through intermediaries to deal with dependence and orientation asymmetries. The study contributes to theory by providing insights into the complex dynamics of resource mobilization in the context of digital transformation and proposes practical implications for managing multiple asymmetries and mobilizing data effectively for firm performance in regulated environments.