bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The challenges of organizational agility: part 2
Authors: Appelbaum Steven H. , Calla Rafael , Desautels Dany , Hasan Lisa N. 
Published: January 2017

Purpose
Planned episodic change programs, rigid processes and traditional structures, optimized for efficiency rather than agility, are no longer appropriate in a context where competitive advantage is fueled by high-speed innovation, supported by a more entrepreneurial mindset. The purpose of this paper is to offer a review of relevant research to provide an informed case for continuous strategic transformation facilitated by enhanced organizational agility. The concept of agility is explored, defined and a framework for categorizing agility-enhancing capabilities is presented. Specific aspects of this agility framework are examined to better understand how these interrelated competencies contribute to overall corporate performance in this fast-paced world.

Design/methodology/approach
A range of published empirical and practitioner research articles were reviewed to study the concepts of organizational agility and transformation as critical factors contributing to sustained competitive advantage, organizational performance and survival in the increasingly competitive global context. This literature review explores how organizations are overcoming the challenges imposed by their traditional structures, cultures and leadership models and identifies dynamic competencies to be developed to achieve a greater level of corporate agility.

Findings
Increased organizational agility increases the ability to respond proactively to unexpected environmental changes. The commitment to continuous transformation and agile strategies implies changes at all levels of the organization from its structure, through its leadership and decision-making dynamics, down to the skills and interpersonal relationships of the individuals implementing the agile mission.

Research limitations/implications
There is a gap in the literature with respect to agility, namely that most research focuses on the characteristics of agile organizations, with little attention given to how to develop agile capabilities and embed the commitment to continuous change deep into the corporate DNA, beyond the process level, into the psyche of the people driving the organization.

Practical implications
Managers should consider agility as an overarching principle guiding strategic and operational activities. Fostering agility-enhancing capabilities will be paramount in ensuring the successful integration of agility as a performance enhancing paradigm.

Social implications
For small- and medium-sized companies with limited resources, this reality makes staying relevant an uphill battle but also opens windows of opportunity. The challenge of the next century for large organizations will be to rekindle their innovative agile beginnings and for start-ups to continue to foster their dynamic capabilities as they grow.

Originality/value
The paper provides practical and empirical evidence of the importance of enterprise agility and specific dynamic capabilities on firm performance.
Tools and techniques to resolve organizational conflicts amicably
Authors: Rao M.S. 
Published: January 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer tools and techniques to resolve organizational conflicts amicably.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper explains types, merits and demerits of conflicts. It outlines innovative tools and techniques to resolve conflicts. It unveils five conflict management styles. It draws a blueprint to resolve conflicts amicably.

Findings
It enlightens that conflicts cannot be eliminated in organizations. They can only be minimized if leaders adopt proactive attitude.

Practical implications
The tools and techniques to resolve conflicts can be applied in any industry and in any size of organization.

Social implications
The social implications of this research suggest that leaders can resolve conflicts amicably with people-orientation without compromising their goals and objectives.

Originality/value
It offers appropriate conflict-handling styles and modes as per the conflict and context. It offers practical ideas and innovative tools and techniques to resolve conflicts.
Resistance to change in the case of mergers and acquisitions: part 1
Authors: Appelbaum Steven H. , Karelis Catherine , Le Henaff Anne , McLaughlin Beverly 
Published: January 2017

PurposeMergers and acquisitions (M&A) are inherent to firms evolving in today’s business world, whether they be corporate giants, SMEs or start-ups. While the ultimate objective of an M&A is to improve the newly constructed firm’s performance, financial and technical impacts are but some of the considerations the organization will need to face. Indeed, employee resistance appears to be a major factor in the overall success of this strategic move. The purpose of this paper, three part, is to provide a thorough overview of the forces at play in employee resistance to change, its influence on the M&A’s success, and the ways to address such resistance.Design/methodology/approachBased on existing empirical studies, industry expert findings and academic reviews, this paper sought to link together the concepts of communication at a time of change, leadership, employee involvement, feeling of adherence to the firm (the four key pillars) and their respective influences in how they may handicap or aid the firm in achieving its M&A objectives.FindingsAlthough it may seem like a straightforward concept, resistance to change in the turbulent time that is a merger and acquisition situation is anything but simple. Classic assumptions of resistance being a negative force or participation being a requisite part of overcoming resistance are challenged. At the same time, leadership and employee feeling of adherence to their previous organization play a supporting role when compared to the significant influence of communication pre, during and after the merger. The ensuing portrait is thus multifaceted and underscores the complexity of handling an M&A at the human resources level.Research limitations/implicationsWhilst the paper allowed to identify and link the different factors at play, a thorough empirical study in order to compare and contrast those factors at an M&A’s different stages (pre-during-post), and thus evaluate their respective importance, would be commendable.Practical implicationsIn providing an overview of several aspects at play in employee resistance to change, this paper allows a management practitioner to consolidate their knowledge on the process’ four key pillars.Social implicationsBy illustrating not only its – expected – negative outcomes, but by also providing a glimpse at some potential benefits in terms of increased merger performance, this paper gives managers incentives to not always challenge but also embrace their employee’s resistance to change as a healthy part of the firm’s transformation process.Originality/valueThis literature review provides an overview of resistance to change and draws parallels between the concepts explored herein and the M&A situation, which would be useful to the general practitioner undergoing an M&A.
Consumer choice of multichannel shopping
Authors: Chiou Jyh-Shen , Chou Szu-Yu , Shen George Chung-Chi 
Published: January 2017

Purpose
Consumers display complex shopping behaviors in the multichannel environment, which includes traditional retail stores and the internet. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the customer-sales associate relationship, customers’ receptiveness to online store shopping, and their interaction effects on the customer’s attitude toward multichannel shopping behavior when the firm decides to establish an online store as the online channel. The authors also examine how customers’ multichannel shopping behavior affects their future spending intentions.

Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected by soliciting 231 customers who purchased cosmetics in department stores within the past three months. Subjects were asked to give their overall evaluation of their offline and online shopping experiences in the last three months.

Findings
Results show that the customer-sales associate relationship significantly reduces customers’ attitude toward searching offline but purchasing online. Receptiveness to online store shopping has significant effects on customers’ attitude toward multichannel shopping behaviors regardless of whether they search or purchase via the online channel. The customer-sales associate relationship also moderates the relationship between customers’ receptiveness to online store shopping and multichannel shopping behaviors. Finally, unlike other types of online and offline multichannel shoppers who display higher future spending intentions when the physical store decides to open an online store, those who prefer physical stores for both information searching and product purchasing display lower spending intentions.

Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to use customer-sales associate relationships to investigate consumers’ attitude toward multichannel shopping behavior. The findings provide meaningful implications for service providers that use sales associates to increase consumers’ value via face-to-face service, but find it challenging to go online.
Why so serious? Gamification impact in the acceptance of mobile banking services
Authors: Baptista Goncalo , Oliveira Tiago 
Published: January 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the potential impact of the utilization of game mechanics and game design techniques in the acceptance of mobile banking services.

Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical model was tested in a quantitative study using structural equation modelling, conducted in Brazil, with actual local banking customers.

Findings
The findings show that there is a direct and strong relationship between gamification and intention to use mobile banking services, supporting that, when used and designed properly, gamification can help make banking activities more exciting, more interesting and more enjoyable, and in turn increase customer acceptance, engagement and satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications
The research extends the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2), and prior research to include gamification impact. The result is a more descriptive model that better explains consumers’ decision to use mobile banking services.

Practical implications
For practitioners, understanding the key constructs is crucial to design, refine and implement mobile banking services that achieve high consumer acceptance and value, and with the right amount of game techniques in them.

Originality/value
The globalization of business and systems is fuelling the need to acquire a deeper understanding of the impact of gamification in acceptance within the financial industry. This is the first time to the knowledge that UTAUT2 theory and a gamification construct are combined in a mobile banking acceptance work, supported by data from a South American country, enriching the existing literature on this subject and providing new insights into how game techniques influences individual behaviour.
The determinants of corporate internet reporting in Egypt: an exploratory analysis
Authors: Ahmed Ahmed H. , Burton Bruce M. , Dunne Theresa M. 
Published: January 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide exploratory evidence about the use of the internet for disclosure purposes by non-financial companies listed on the Egyptian Exchange – and influences thereon – at two points in time: 2010 and 2011. Selection of these periods permits direct investigation of the extent to which the disruption caused by the popular uprising in early 2011 impacted on practice.

Design/methodology/approach
The sample comprises all of the 172 non-financial listed companies at the end of 2010. A disclosure index was developed to evaluate the content of the investigated websites in 2010 and 2011. Univariate and multivariate analysis is used to examine the cross-sectional determinants of disclosure both in total and in terms of three specific content categories.

Findings
The study reveals that 40.7 and 42.7 per cent of the sample companies provided some form of financial information via their websites in 2010 and 2011, respectively (i.e. pre and post the Spring 2011 political revolution). The results of the multivariate analysis indicate consistency across the two years in terms of total score determinants, but some variation in the disaggregated evidence.

Originality/value
This study indicates that Egyptian firms have started embracing the power of the internet as a disclosure channel, but the extent of these practices is still limited, with great variations evident amongst the sampled companies in this regard. Encouragingly, the disruption caused by the political upheaval in 2011 appears not to have caused reduction in the propensity to provide online disclosures.
A tool for measuring SMEs’ reputation, engagement and goodwill
Authors: Whiting Rosalind Heather , Hansen Paul , Sen Anindya 
Published: January 2017

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a rating and scoring tool for measuring small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) reputation, engagement and goodwill (REG), including internet presence and following on social media, by an exploratory study undertaken in New Zealand.Design/methodology/approachA discrete choice experiment (DCE) applying the PAPRIKA method via an online survey was conducted to determine weights representing the relative importance of six indicators related to SMEs’ REG. Usable responses were received from 159 people involved with SMEs. Cluster analysis to identify participants with similar patterns of weights was performed.FindingsThe six indicators, in decreasing order of importance (mean weights in parentheses), are: “captured” customer opinions about the business (0.28); contact with customer database (0.19); website traffic (0.16); Google Search ranking (0.15); size of customer database, (0.11); and following on social media (0.11). These indicators and weights can be used to rate and score individual SMEs. The cluster analysis indicates that participants’ age has some influence on their weights.Research limitations/implicationsOnly 159 usable responses for the DCE.Practical implicationsThe indicators and their weights provide a practical and inexpensive tool for measuring SMEs’ REG.Originality/valueThis is the first study to use a DCE to determine weights representing the relative importance of indicators included in a tool for measuring SMEs’ REG. The tool is innovative because it includes readily available indicators of firms’ internet presence and following on social media.
Moving from irrelevant intellectual capital (IC) reporting to value-relevant IC disclosures
Authors: Schaper Stefan , Nielsen Christian , Roslender Robin 
Published: January 2017

Purpose
Informed by the findings of a follow-up research study of companies originally involved in the Danish Guideline Project (DGP) for intellectual capital statements (ICS), the purpose of this paper is to provide valuable insights for a potential shift from intellectual capital (IC) reporting, largely informed by an accounting perspective, towards IC-related disclosures.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on data obtained from 21 semi-structured interviews with respondents in 16 companies. The respondents were contacted following a genealogical exercise carried out on the 102 companies involved in the DGP between 1999 and 2003.

Findings
The interviews suggested a rather critical perspective towards IC reporting using the ICS framework. Despite the attempt of the DGP to establish a reporting standard, a range of experiments resulted in changes to the framework’s original structure. Overall, a trend towards more integrated forms of reporting was discernible, in some part being motivated by the need to reduce the levels of reporting overload. Examples of integration designed to legitimise IC or corporate social responsibility reports, involving issuing them in tandem with a recognised reporting vehicle such as the annual report, were also encountered.

Research limitations/implications
The implications of this study are that timely, value-relevant IC disclosures and compliant reporting, primarily for accountability purposes, have the potential to coexist. In addition to the usual limitations of a semi-structured interview research design, respondents’ difficulties in clearly recalling events during the project after some 10-12 years is a further potential limitation. Additionally, the use of internet-based communication channels for disclosure purposes was in its infancy at the time of the DGP.

Originality/value
The paper provides important insights into the mechanisms of IC disclosure and IC reporting as seen from a practitioner perspective. Implications relevant to the continued development of integrated reporting are also identified.
The relationship of leaders’ humor and employees’ work engagement mediated by positive emotions
Authors: Goswami Ashita , Nair Prakash , Beehr Terry , Grossenbacher Michael 
Published: January 2017

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine affective events theory (AET) by testing the mediating effect of employees’ positive affect at work in the relationships of leaders’ use of positive humor with employees’ work engagement, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs); and the moderating effect of transformational leadership style on the relationship between leaders’ use of positive humor and subordinate’s positive affect at work.Design/methodology/approachData were obtained from 235 full-time employees working for a large information technology and business consulting corporation. Moderated mediation (Hayes, 2013) was performed to test the proposed model.FindingsLeaders’ positive humor was related to creation of subordinates’ positive emotions at work and work engagement. Positive emotions at work did not mediate between leaders’ humor and performance or OCBs. In addition, leaders’ use of transformational leadership style made the relationship between leaders’ positive humor and employees’ positive emotions at work stronger.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides evidence of the positive relationship of leaders’ positive humor with employees’ positive emotions at work and work engagement. Such knowledge may help to inform the training workshops in humor employed by practitioners and potentially create a more enjoyable and fun workplace, which can lead to greater employee engagement.Originality/valueAET helps explain effects of leader humor, but the effects of are complex. Leader’s use of even positive humor is most likely to have favorable effects mainly depending on their leadership style (transformational) and if their humor successfully leads to positive emotions among employees.
The ideal and the counter-ideal follower – advancing implicit followership theories
Authors: Junker Nina M. , Stegmann Sebastian , Braun Stephan , Van Dick Rolf 
Published: January 2017

PurposeResearch on implicit followership theories – that is, individually held assumptions about how followers are and how they should be – is still in its infancy. The few existing approaches differ in what they define as the object of these theories. The authors consider the lack of two aspects in the existing literature: first, the authors consider it important to not only focus on effective but also on ideal followers – which allows investigating follower characteristics that go beyond just performance; and second, the authors demonstrate the importance of the study of characteristics which leaders explicitly see as undesirable for followers (i.e. counter-ideal follower prototypes). The purpose of this paper is to fill these gaps and to extend the literature by introducing the concept of implicit followership theories as assumptions of ideal followers.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first present three studies conducted to develop a scale to measure ideal and counter-ideal follower prototypes, respectively. In a fourth study, the authors apply this scale and compare it to existing measures of implicit followership theories regarding their value for predicting leaders’ follower ratings.FindingsResults show that the newly developed measure is reliable and valid, and comprises a useful tool for future research.Practical implicationsThe scale can be used for leadership development programs.Originality/valueThe study is among the few that provide theory and evidence for the relevance of implicit followership theories and is the first to consider the ideal follower in this regard.
The CEO-Chair relationship from a relational leadership perspective
Authors: Koskinen Satu , Anna-Maija Lämsä 
Published: January 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise how the chief executive officer (CEO) and chairperson of the board (Chair) construct their relationship through their leadership practices, and to analyse the meaning of these practices to the relationship. An empirical investigation from both partners’ viewpoint is conducted.

Design/methodology/approach
The data were gathered through in-depth interviews with 16 CEOs and 16 chairpersons from the same companies. Content analysis was used to analyse the data.

Findings
Four types of leadership practices in the CEO-Chair relationship were conceptualised: emergent practices on company- and person-related issues, and scheduled practices on company- and person-related issues. For the effectiveness of the relationship, emergent practices on company-related issues seem to be most important.

Research limitations/implications
The basing of the analysis on interviewees’ descriptions rather than on the observation of leadership practices in action can be considered a limitation.

Practical implications
Knowledge of leadership practices in the CEO-Chair relationship and their meaning to the relationship can be utilised in leadership training.

Originality/value
This research contributes to the relational leadership literature by highlighting a specific leadership relationship, the CEO-Chair relationship, from both partners’ viewpoint. Additionally, the value of the study is that it shows that the CEO-Chair relationship is more multifaceted than traditionally assumed in prior literature.
GDF8 inhibits bone formation and promotes bone resorption in mice
Authors: Chen Yu‐Si , Guo Qi , Guo Li‐Juan , Liu Ting , Wu Xian‐Ping , Lin Zhang‐Yuan , He Hong‐Bo , Jiang Tie‐Jian 
Published: January 2017

SummaryGrowth Differentiation Factor 8 (GDF8), also called myostatin, is a member of the transforming growth factor (TGF)‐β super‐family. As a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth, GDF8 is also associated with bone metabolism. However, the function of GDF8 in bone metabolism is not fully understood. Our study aimed to investigate the role of GDF8 in bone metabolism, both in vitro and in vivo. Our results showed that GDF8 had a negative regulatory effect on primary mouse osteoblasts, and promoted receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL)‐induced osteoclastogenesis in vitro. Intraperitoneal injection of recombinant GDF8 repressed bone formation and accelerated bone resorption in mice. Furthermore, treatment of aged mice with a GDF8 neutralizing antibody stimulated new bone formation and prevented bone resorption. Thus, our study showed that GDF8 plays a significant regulatory role in bone formation and bone resorption, thus providing a potential therapeutic pathway for osteoporosis.