This review of Prepare to Chair: Leading the Dissertation and Thesis Process provides a comprehensive overview of the essential skills needed by new faculty members assuming the role of dissertation committee chair. Drawing from personal experiences, the authors offer practical advice on communication, leadership, and managing the dissertation process. The book emphasizes the importance of empathy, clear expectations, and the chair’s role in guiding students through the challenges of dissertation writing. While highlighting useful frameworks such as situational leadership and mindfulness, the review also points to the need for further exploration of the power dynamics involved in this role.
This review examines Bad Company by Megan Greenwell, which exposes how private equity firms dismantle essential institutions—such as hospitals, housing, and journalism—in pursuit of profit. It highlights the book’s relevance for management educators, especially in ethics, strategy, and public policy. By critiquing shareholder primacy and advocating for stakeholder-based leadership, the review positions the book as a timely resource for courses focused on responsible capitalism, governance, and systemic impact.
The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study with embedded units was to explore the opportunities and challenges African American women faced while having successfully ascended the corporate ladder in STEM fields. Qualitative data from six semi-structured interviews, reflective journaling, and archival data on career trajectories and labor statistics of African American women in the STEM industry were collected and triangulated to answer the central research question. This study was grounded in theories that included two key concepts: (a) Bourdieu’s (1977b) concept of social capital and (b) Collins’ (2015) concept of intersectionality. Three identified themes were revealed from the thematic analysis of data: (a) the importance of mentorship, (b) the sense of self or belonging, and (c) success strategies: overcoming the barriers. This study’s results indicate that African American women in STEM fields successfully overcame obstacles to break the discriminatory barriers they faced while progressing toward diversity and inclusion goals that afforded them leadership opportunities. This study may drive positive social change by highlighting the benefits of diversity and inclusion and equal opportunities that promote and support the value of processes to advance African American women to executive-level positions.
This teaching case explores how Namibia—an emerging leader in Africa’s green hydrogen sector—leverages digital diplomacy to build international trust, attract investment, and manage domestic stakeholder expectations as part of its Green Industrialization Roadmap. Centered on the leadership of President Hage Geingob, the case examines how digital platforms are used to navigate competing pressures from global investors, local communities, environmental advocates, and regional partners. Designed for MBA, Executive DBA, MPA, and international affairs programs, the case engages students in a real-world leadership dilemma involving ethical trade-offs, stakeholder complexity, and geopolitical opportunity. It supports a range of immersive learning activities including stakeholder mapping, digital strategy design, executive simulation, and ethical debate. Grounded in theories of public diplomacy, stakeholder theory, sustainability governance, and transformational leadership, it equips students with tools to analyze complex systems and communicate across sectors. For faculty, this case provides a flexible, interdisciplinary resource that integrates strategy, ethics, communication, and global leadership in a single cohesive format. It is especially useful in courses seeking to move beyond Western business environments or to expose students to high-stakes decision-making in resource-constrained settings. While focused on Namibia, the themes and decision points mirror challenges faced by U.S.-based executives, public officials, and nonprofit leaders working in sustainability, stakeholder engagement, and international development. The case offers both global perspective and domestic relevance, making it an ideal addition to faculty teaching portfolios.
This paper presents a critical analysis of factors that influence company profitability in the retail industry. The goal was to present four factors that contribute to financial success in three retail leaders in the United States. Those factors include voluntary employee turnover, employee wages, capital spending, and inventory turnover. The four factors were chosen to have a representative range of employee and financial factors. The methodology used for this research was a regression analysis using R Studio and Excel with extracted data from financial reports of three leading United States retailers. The results of this study were mixed among the four factors. Increased wages did not support lower turnover rates among employees. From a financial perspective, capital expenditure and profitability indicate that spending on long-term assets does not always lead to improved financial performance. This study further supports the need for more research on the factors that support profitability in an ever-changing retail industry.
Women face invisible barriers and obstacles that hinder their career advancement, often referred to as the broken rungs on the corporate ladder. This exploratory study examined whether emotional intelligence (EI)—conceptualized as perceived relationship awareness and leader-member exchange (LMX)—contributes to explaining women’s career advancement and career satisfaction, beyond the effects of self-reported gender biases in the workplace. The study assessed six related but distinct gender-related workplace biases: self-shielding, unequal standards, queen bee effect, lack of mentorship, challenges to competence, and glass cliff. The research design was a cross-sectional survey that adapted validated multi-item scales, with a sample of 165 full-time employed women across various industries. Findings indicate a more consistent negative relationship between self-reported gender workplace biases and career satisfaction versus career advancement. Relationship awareness and LMX each had significant positive relationships to both career variables. However, in hierarchical regression analyses, only LMX had a significant positive additive impact for explaining both career advancement and career satisfaction, beyond controlling for demographic and gender workplace bias variables. Relationship awareness had a significant positive additive impact for only career advancement. These results reinforce awareness that relational competencies can add to understanding career outcomes for professional women beyond experienced gender workplace biases.
This editorial urges scholars to reimagine leadership and governance as mechanisms for protecting the global social commons—resources essential to humanity’s well-being. Drawing on adaptive leadership, systems thinking, and servant leadership, the author critiques power-centric governance models and advocates for accountability, cooperation, and long-term stewardship. Using examples from nuclear policy and economic interdependence, the piece challenges behavioral and applied management scholars to contribute actively to peacebuilding, responsible leadership, and systemic reform. It frames the protection of shared global assets not as idealism, but as a strategic and moral imperative in an increasingly interconnected world.
This paper puts forward a nuanced theoretical framework that sheds light on how organizations handle internal conflicts when pursuing sustainable mobility initiatives. Focusing specifically on the organizational level, the framework brings together key ideas from stakeholder theory, research on organizational change, and the literature on sustainability transitions (Freeman, 1984; Geels, 2002; Kotter, 1996). Rather than viewing acceptance as a straightforward or passive result, the paper interprets it as a complex and ongoing negotiation shaped by internal hierarchies, competing interests, and deeply rooted value-based resistance. Importantly, the framework includes both temporal and normative aspects, acknowledging that how organizations respond to change evolves over time. By addressing a notable gap in current research on internal organizational dynamics, the study offers a more layered theoretical perspective on why sustainability efforts either take root or falter in complex institutional settings. The final section offers practical guidance for practitioners tasked with steering such initiatives through organizational tensions.
This review examines Kenneth Wilcox’s The China Business Conundrum, a firsthand account of navigating Chinese business, political, and cultural systems while leading the Silicon Valley Bank joint venture in Shanghai. Kimmel highlights Wilcox’s insights into guanxi, government influence, mutual-benefit dynamics, and the risks Western firms face in pursuing China’s market. The book blends personal narrative, organizational analysis, and reflections on SVB’s U.S. operations, offering lessons for practitioners, scholars, and leaders working in cross-cultural environments. The review underscores the book’s relevance for understanding strategy, culture, and relational complexity in China’s evolving landscape.
This editorial examines the profound shifts in workplace culture and leadership research that emerged during the early 2020s, a period shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Resignation, and unprecedented employee turnover. Drawing on recent scholarship across organizational psychology, leadership studies, and human capital theory, the piece highlights how workplace research has expanded beyond identifying toxic behaviors to emphasize recovery, psychological safety, and structural alignment. Hughes analyzes the rise of interdisciplinary inquiry and the increasing visibility of leadership concepts in mainstream media, noting how academic insights now circulate through social platforms, influencers, and public discourse. This mainstreaming of research presents both opportunities for broader impact and risks of oversimplification. The editorial argues that this era represents a “great reflection,” prompting organizations to reassess leadership practices, accountability systems, and the conditions required to sustain engagement and retention. It concludes by calling for evidence-based approaches to cultural realignment and continued integration of research and practice to support healthier, more resilient workplaces.
Despite the critical role played by aircraft maintainers in the U.S. Air Force (USAF), research on the perceived effects of burnout on maintainers’ decision-making remains limited, creating a significant gap in the literature. This paper seeks to address this gap by presenting the results of phenomenological interviews with five veteran USAF maintainers who recently served in this career field and who experienced the effects of burnout on their decision-making capacity and quality. Our analysis of interview data, field notes, and observations revealed five key themes: toxic work culture, job tempo, self-efficacy, leadership support quality, and job satisfaction. These themes are analyzed in the context of existing literature on burnout, decision-making, and leadership to provide insights that can inform future management and leadership practices in the USAF maintainer field, with the goal of mitigating the effects of burnout on decision-making effectiveness.
This paper explores the impact that working within a servant leadership environment potentially has on individuals who perceive themselves employable, specifically examining its impact on emotional exhaustion and unethical behavior. Based on the social exchange theory (SET), we hypothesize that an individual low in employability will be more likely to experience emotional exhaustion and display unethical behavior. Using a sample of business professionals, we found support that social exchange theory is activated under conditions of servant leadership whereas the subordinates’ behavior is interdependent, resulting in a reduction in emotional exhaustion. Further, emotional exhaustion was related to unethical behavior. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Colleges and universities across the United States spend billions of dollars a year on consultants, and often, these consultants earn their fees by telling administrators how to be more similar to peer or competitor institutions. This paper seeks to understand the role of consultants in spreading institutional isomorphism across the higher education field. It draws on documentary evidence to ask whether, in cases where change is driven by consultants, it is accurate to say that changes have occurred due to mimetic isomorphism, or whether instead mimetic isomorphism is a convenient excuse enabling Breckert’s (2010) “distraction from authorship,” and advances a new model of metamimesis in which in which isomorphic pressures shape the hiring of consultants who themselves disseminate particular practices to the colleges and universities with which they work.
This study positions social capital—defined as the trust, reciprocity, networks, and collective norms that support societal cooperation—as a critical form of the commons. Building on foundational research into the tangible commons, the paper extends the concept to the “social commons,” arguing that social capital qualifies as a resource vulnerable to externalities yet essential to societal health. Identified as a subcomponent of the broader social commons, it is critical in fostering cooperation, mitigating social tensions, and enabling sustainable development. Through an interdisciplinary literature review and the application of Social Affinity Flow Theory (SAFT), the analysis also reveals how social capital impacts governance, leadership, and institutional trust. Historical examples and contemporary case studies demonstrate how intentional actions, such as fostering community cohesion or addressing systemic inequities, can either strengthen or erode this vital resource. The findings suggest that modern governance and leadership must prioritize the protection and enhancement of social capital to ensure societal resilience and equity. By framing social capital as a commons, this research offers a new lens for evaluating leaders and institutions while advocating for policies that safeguard the social fabric at all levels.
This study explores an integrated model of followership and leadership styles that functions optimally. Utilizing Kelley’s (1992) model of followership and Hersey and Blanchard’s (1982) situational leadership theory, Bjugstad et al. (2006) proposed a theoretical framework linking these constructs. However, empirical exploration remains limited in the literature. The analysis focused on variables, such as demographic factors, affective commitment, followership, and leadership. Affective commitment was measured as a reflection of follower productivity, given its known impact on job performance. All proposed hypotheses were rejected, indicating that exemplary and conformist followership styles are associated with higher productivity, independent of leadership styles. Active followership enhances affective commitment among followers. Post-hoc analyses revealed that followership (active) and leadership (task behavior) positively influence affective commitment, while their combination with leadership (relationship behavior) yields negative effects. These findings highlight the complex dynamics between followership and leadership in promoting affective commitment within organizations.
This review of Prepare to Chair: Leading the Dissertation and Thesis Process provides a comprehensive overview of the essential skills needed by new faculty members assuming the role of dissertation committee chair. Drawing from personal experiences, the authors offer practical advice on communication, leadership, and managing the dissertation process. The book emphasizes the importance of empathy, clear expectations, and the chair’s role in guiding students through the challenges of dissertation writing. While highlighting useful frameworks such as situational leadership and mindfulness, the review also points to the need for further exploration of the power dynamics involved in this role.
Founded in 1996, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) was formed as the counterpart to the men’s NBA (WNBA). Dean Oliver (2003), in his study of the NBA, identified four factors that contribute to a basketball team’s success: Shooting, Turnovers, Rebounding, and Free Throws. Our study examines the applicability of these four factors to the WNBA. While performance analytics have long been used to understand success in the NBA, little research has explored their relevance to women’s professional basketball. The purpose of this study is to address this gap, by providing empirical insights into what drives team success in the WNBA, how these factors may have changed over time, and how the findings relate to management principles. Findings reveal that the four factors hold for the WNBA, with Shooting being the most significant contributor, though Rebounding and Turnovers show distinct trends over time reflecting differences in gameplay. To extend the practical relevance of the findings, we introduce shared leadership as a fifth factor in a broader conceptual model. Our research connects performance analytics with management principles, providing actionable insights for team leadership across multiple contexts. Ultimately, this study bridges a critical gap, elevating the visibility of women’s sports while providing a framework for effective management practices.
