PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of “generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)”on managerial job satisfaction in “small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs)”, with a specific focus on work quality and decision-making effectiveness. Design/methodology/approachGrounded in the “unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT)” and the “expectation-confirmation model (ECM)”, this study also incorporates additional constructs such as ethical use, perceived GenAI value, and available resources. A survey of 163 SME managers was analyzed using “partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM)”. FindingsThe findings revealed that security and privacy, ethical use, perceived GenAI value and available resources significantly enhance managerial job satisfaction. In contrast, ease of use, expectation confirmation and social influence were not statistically significant. Additionally, job satisfaction positively influences both work quality and decision-making effectiveness. Practical implicationsResults offer guidance for SME managers, developers and policymakers seeking to maximize the benefits of GenAI adoption and boost managerial job satisfaction. Organizations should strengthen data protection measures and establish ethical GenAI governance frameworks to build trust and accountability, while policymakers can support these efforts through clear national standards. Enhancing infrastructure, providing targeted training and ensuring equitable access to resources help managers integrate GenAI confidently. Aligning GenAI initiatives with employee well-being and professional development fosters engagement. Developers can embed secure, transparent and user-centered features to enhance reliability. Collectively, these actions support sustainable GenAI use that improves satisfaction and decision-making. Originality/valueThis study is original in its focus on managerial-level outcomes of GenAI adoption within manufacturing SMEs a perspective largely overlooked in existing literature. Unlike prior research that centers on technological performance or firm-level benefits, this study investigates the individual manager's experience, integrating underexplored constructs such as ethical use and perceived GenAI value. It also offers novel theoretical empirical evidence to an emerging research area and provides a practical framework to inform GenAI adoption strategies in resource-constrained SME environments.
Purpose Although the drivers of corporate misconduct are widely discussed in the literature, the organizational conditions that enable misconduct to persist are rarely analyzed. This article addresses this gap by using Luhmann's organizational theory to explore how inadequate responses to money laundering warnings are connected to organizational decision premises. Design/methodology/approach We use Luhmann's concept of decision premises, which includes three key elements – communication channels, programs and persons – to analyze the Danske Bank money laundering scandal from 2007 to 2015. Specifically, we examine the bank's inadequate responses to repeated warnings about suspicious activities and deficiencies in its internal control and compliance setup. Findings We show how frequent organizational changes and high personnel turnover weakened the organization's internal complexity and its capacity to respond to information about money laundering risk. Practical implications The article emphasizes the importance of establishing and maintaining stable and sufficiently differentiated decision premises despite organizational change and personnel turnover to support organizational responses to information about potential misconduct. Originality/value This study highlights the organizational conditions for persistent misconduct. Furthermore, it shows the relevance of Luhmann's organizational theory – particularly the concept of decision premises – in understanding how organizational misconduct can emerge and persist.
Purpose This article addresses a persistent tension in public-sector organisations. Communicative reforms proliferate, conflict becomes more visible and participation expands, yet core decision programmes frequently remain stable. The study asks why conflict rarely culminates in reprogramming of organisational decision premises. Drawing on Luhmann's systems theory, it shifts the explanatory focus from individual expression to organisational selection and retention and develops a structural account of why communicative variation often circulates without becoming programmatically consequential. Design/methodology/approach The article develops a conceptual framework grounded in systems theory. Organisations are theorised as autopoietic decision systems structured by decision premises that condition selection. Feedback, engagement and conflict are reconstructed as differentiated communicative operations. The argument is illustrated through empirical material from a national public legal bureaucracy to demonstrate how conflict-generated variation is processed and retained without premise revision. Findings Conflict introduces communicative negation and expands variation, but transformation depends on retention as modification of decision premises. In multifunctional public organisations, anticipated redistribution of uncertainty across legal, political and reputational couplings raises the threshold for premise revision and favours procedural stabilisation over structural reprogramming. Research limitations/implications The study is conceptual in design and builds on a prior empirical study of a national public bureaucracy (Sales et al., 2025), from which the illustrative material is drawn. The theoretical framework developed here therefore awaits broader empirical examination. Future research should explore comparative and longitudinal configurations to assess how varying degrees of multifunctional coupling shape the conditions under which communicative variation is (or is not) retained as premise revision. Practical implications Of the three communicative mechanisms examined here, conflict is the only one that introduces genuine communication negation, the variation required for reprogramming. Feedback stabilises existing evaluative criteria; engagement expands participation without altering selection. Conflict alone renders established decision premises contestable. Yet even conflict is not sufficient; under multifunctional conditions, it is routinely translated into procedural elaboration rather than premise revision. Practitioners should therefore resist the temptation to manage conflict away. The more productive question is not whether dissent was voiced or resolved, but whether the programmes guiding future decisions have actually changed. Social implications The findings clarify why public reforms often generate visible responsiveness while preserving institutional continuity and legitimacy structures. Originality/value The article introduces the concept of reprogramming failure and specifies a systems-theoretical mechanism linking multifunctionality to selective stabilisation in public organisations.
Purpose This study addresses three underexplored areas in environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance research: (1) how outside-in capabilities (i.e. market-sensing, absorptive and adaptive) enable stakeholder pressures into implementable ESG strategies and execution, (2) the limitations of symmetric regression models in identifying causal asymmetry and equifinal pathways and (3) the lack of investigation into short-term, customer-facing outcomes such as sales performance, despite their growing managerial relevance in ESG assessment. Design/methodology/approach A dual-method approach integrates hierarchical regression and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (FsQCA) using survey data from 497 US manufacturing firms. This design captures both average effects and configurational patterns, offering a nuanced understanding of ESG-capability interactions on sales performance. Findings Regression results show that environmental and social activities positively affect sales performance, whereas governance activities alone have a negative effect that turns positive when coupled with strong outside-in capabilities. FsQCA identifies five distinct ESG-capability configurations, revealing multiple equifinal paths to high sales performance across different resource and market contexts. Originality/value This study contributes to the ESG literature by proposing an ESG-outside-in capabilities interaction model and revealing various pathways through which ESG activities impact short-term performance combined with outside-in capabilities. This study provides actionable guidance for firms aligning ESG initiatives with strategic capabilities to optimize sales outcomes.
Purpose Indonesia, with over 17,000 islands and one of the world's longest coastlines, faces escalating geopolitical dynamism, maritime tensions, and transnational threats such as narcotics trafficking, piracy and illegal fishing. As the principal naval defense force, the Indonesian Navy must enhance its organizational change capacity (OCC) to remain agile within a rigid command structure. This study examines the effects of dynamic managerial capability (DMC) and artificial intelligence capability (AIC) on OCC and investigates whether transformational leadership (TL) moderates these relationships. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative, cross-level design was employed, utilizing 1,215 naval personnel and 81 naval units. Multi-source survey data were analyzed using Mplus 8.3 to test cross-level relationships and moderation effects. Findings Neither DMC nor AIC had a direct effect on OCC. However, TL significantly strengthened the positive impact of both DMC and AIC on OCC. OCC, in turn, positively and significantly influenced organizational performance. These findings indicate that in highly mechanistic military organizations, managerial and technological capabilities require enabling leadership to translate into change capacity. Originality/value This study extends dynamic capability theory by identifying a boundary condition in hierarchical public-military contexts. It shows that DMC and AIC do not automatically enhance OCC without the presence of transformational leadership. It also underscores the strategic alignment of AI integration and leadership development to bolster change capacity in defense institutions.
Purpose This study examines how geopolitical risk (GPR) affects the banking sector by influencing financial stability, bank behaviour, risk exposure and organisational decision-making. Evidence remains fragmented across banking, finance and management studies, and this review addresses the gap by synthesising how geopolitical shocks are transmitted to banks and how financial institutions respond through governance, risk management and strategic adaptation. Design/methodology/approach A PRISMA-inspired systematic literature review of 58 peer-reviewed articles (2000–2026) was conducted using Scopus and Google Scholar, with bibliometric profiling, structured content analysis and thematic synthesis. Findings GPR affects banks through financial, institutional, economic and behavioural channels, increasing credit risk, market volatility, capital allocation constraints and systemic fragility. Bank responses depend on governance quality, capital strength and strategic flexibility, while managerial mechanisms and organisational adaptation processes remain underexplored. Research limitations/implications The framework is inductive and requires empirical validation. Evidence on micro-level managerial responses remains scarce, with only three studies addressing organisational adaptation at the firm level. Practical implications The findings support bank executives, regulators and policymakers in embedding GPR indicators into enterprise risk management, scenario-based stress testing and governance frameworks. Originality/value The study advances the GPR literature by developing a multi-level integrative framework that makes the firm-to-bank transmission channel explicit, incorporates four bank risk categories (credit, market, liquidity/funding and operational/cyber) and identifies governance quality and institutional capacity as key moderating mechanisms, a conceptual structure absent from prior narrative reviews in this domain.
Purpose This study examines whether the adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices in response to institutional pressures influences firms' relationships with key stakeholders and the resulting implications for environmental competitive advantage. In addition, it analyzes the moderating role of B2B market characteristics in the relationship between institutional pressures and GSCM adoption. Design/methodology/approach Theoretical argumentation and hipothesis developments. A sample was taken from the high performance manufacturing (HPM) project, which included 330 manufacturing plants across 16 countries. The partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to test the hypotheses. Findings Empirical findings shows that supplier collaboration helps companies address institutional pressures and build legitimacy through reinforced stakeholder relationships, thereby gaining a competitive advantage. Although B2B market moderating effect varies by pressure and practice, achieving competitiveness through GSCM practices is independent of market segment. Originality/value The original contribution of this study lies in its comprehensive exploration of the interplay among institutional pressures, GSCM practices, and environmental competitive advantage, while considering how the B2B market context shapes this dynamic. Furthermore, incorporating stakeholder relationships as a mediator between GSCM practices and competitive advantage, this study offers evidence that building stakeholder relationships around environmental legitimacy serves as a key source of competitiveness.
Purpose This study explores the governance tensions that arise during the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), examining how the same mechanisms that create value also introduce frictions and risks. It identifies the Assure-Account-Align (AAA) routine as a process-oriented framework for navigating these tensions, in which observability and authorisation serve as gating constructs that mediate the progression from experimental to embedded GenAI use. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a qualitative, exploratory multi-case design based on 14 semi-structured interviews with experts and users from three organisations in Northern Italy, complemented by internal documents and direct observation. Data were analysed using a hybrid deductive-inductive coding scheme in NVivo, structured around the integrated Technology–Organisation-Environment (TOE) perspective and the Dynamic Capabilities (DC) framework. Findings The findings reveal that GenAI adoption progresses not through model performance alone, but through a conjunction of observability (provenance, replayability, intervention capability) and authorisation (regulatory, contractual, professional and reputational approval routes). These mechanisms simultaneously enable value creation and introduce governance tensions – workflow overhead, approval bottlenecks and deskilling anxieties – that the AAA routine helps organisations navigate iteratively. Originality/value The study conceptualises governance tensions in GenAI adoption as inherent paradoxes arising from the same mechanisms that create value. It proposes the AAA routine, on an exploratory basis and grounded in three heterogeneous cases, as a candidate bridge between contextual conditions (TOE) and dynamic action (DC), offering a sensitising device for future research rather than a validated framework.
Purpose This study challenges the dominant assumption that paradoxical thinking is inherently superior for managing organizational tensions. Focusing on the sustainability-profitability tension, it explores how paradoxical and business case cognitive frames influence individual emotional and behavioral responses, revealing that paradoxical thinking can lead to unintended psychological and relational costs. Design/methodology/approach Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, this qualitative study draws on in-depth interviews with managers at a construction firm. It investigates how individuals cognitively frame the sustainability-profitability tension and how these frames shape their emotional experiences, actions and organizational relationships. Findings The study identifies three core dimensions Framing, Responding and Relating – that explain how individuals engage with tensions. Managers using a paradoxical frame perceived sustainability and profitability as interdependent and pursued both, yet experienced emotional strain, organizational disconnection and limited influence, resulting in what is termed a “paradox loop.” In contrast, managers using a business case frame subordinated sustainability to profitability and avoided personal engagement, which reduced emotional strain and maintained organizational alignment. The findings show that paradoxical thinking, while fostering nuanced sensemaking, does not necessarily yield more effective action or individual wellbeing. Originality/value This study contributes to paradox theory by integrating emotional dynamics into the microfoundations of paradox and introducing the concept of the paradox loop. It reveals that paradoxical cognition, while often idealized, can impose psychological burdens and hinder engagement. The study calls for more balanced, emotionally grounded understandings of paradoxical thinking in organizational contexts, particularly within corporate sustainability.
Purpose This study investigates how leader character strengths – specifically, the consistency and ambivalence of integrity and justice – and cultural values, namely power distance and collectivism, jointly shape the relationship between responsible leadership (RL) and employees’ organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE). Design/methodology/approach The study combines an experimental vignette methodology with Information Integration Theory. Data were collected from 300 employees across various sectors. Findings When supervisor integrity and justice are ambivalent (i.e. one is high and the other is low), the effect of RL on OCBE intention is weaker than when both are consistent (i.e. both are high or both are low). Furthermore, power distance attenuates the effect of RL on OCBE intention. The moderating role of collectivism is contingent on power distance: collectivism strengthens RL’s impact under low power distance but has little or even a negative influence when power distance is high. Practical implications Organizations should prioritize the development of managers’ justice-related character strengths while minimizing character ambivalence. They should also adopt culturally contingent strategies to promote employees’ OCBE. For organizations seeking to institutionalize RL, low-power-distance societies provide particularly favorable contexts. Originality/value This research introduces the concept of leader character ambivalence into the RL–OCBE literature and suggests its detrimental effect. It also helps clarify inconsistent findings regarding the roles of power distance and collectivism, offering a nuanced understanding of how RL effectiveness depends on both leader character consistency and cultural context.
Purpose With the advent of Industry 4.0, digital transformation has been accelerating, driving significant changes in the business environment. Technical challenges and the distinct characteristics of individual firms present obstacles to their successful digital transformation. Moreover, a firm’s operational focus may shape the relationship between digital transformation and firm performance. This study examines the impact of key digital transformation capabilities on firms’ financial performance. Design/methodology/approach Using regression analysis on survey data from 2,038 South Korean companies, it empirically validates the effect of digital transformation capabilities on firm revenue. The study also investigates whether this effect differs according to the firm’s operational strategy, categorized as productivity-oriented, quality-oriented or diversified. Findings The findings confirm that managerial and technological capabilities positively influence financial performance. However, their effects vary depending on the direction of operational strategy. This study highlights the challenges faced by SMEs, especially how resource constraints and technological complexity can hinder successful digital transformation. Given these challenges, aligning digital transformation capabilities with operational strategy emerges as essential for maximizing benefits. Originality/value The study underscores the importance of operational strategy alignment and provides guidance on digital transformation capabilities that firms should prioritize based on their goals. These insights carry valuable implications for practitioners and policymakers seeking a roadmap for effective digital transformation.
PurposeThis study explores whether obtaining B Certification affects company performance. Amid growing concerns over sustainability and greenwashing and grounded in signalling and legitimacy theories, our research examines how certification shapes market and operating performance. Design/methodology/approachWe analyse a multi-country longitudinal sample of 648 B Corps and non-certified firms using panel regressions and propensity score matching. Performance is measured through sales and return on assets (ROA), with fixed effects models and time-lagged regressions employed to assess both immediate and longer-term effects. FindingsB Certification increases short-term sales by enhancing legitimacy and customer trust. However, accounting performance initially drops due to substantial investments. Over time, firms depreciate the investments made to obtain certification and this process is reflected in an improvement in ROA and in the dissipation of the negative effect of certification. Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses on European countries where sustainability issues receive considerable attention, which may limit the generalisability of the findings to different institutional contexts. Practical implicationsManagers should view certification as a long-term strategic investment, not a short-term cost. Communicating benefits helps engage stakeholders and mitigate scepticism. Social implicationsB Certification strengthens stakeholder trust and counters corporate social responsibility-washing, contributing to more credible and transparent sustainability practices. Originality/valueThis is the first large-scale, longitudinal, multi-country study to overcome the small, single-country samples that dominate prior research. It clarifies how B Certification affects both market and accounting performance over time, offering a more comprehensive perspective on firm outcomes. Moreover, the study adopts a longitudinal design that tracks the impact of certification across multiple post-certification years.
PurposeThis study examines how firm-level Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities are associated with innovation trajectories and firm performance, with particular attention to sustainability-oriented (green) and efficiency-oriented (brown) innovation outcomes. It further investigates how government support relates to these innovation trajectories across firms with different capability profiles and whether AI capabilities are associated with subsequent AI adoption patterns. Design/methodology/approachThe study combines large-scale survey data from 6,732 Italian firms with LinkedIn-based information on AI-skilled employees. We construct a multidimensional AI Capability Index capturing tangible, human, and intangible knowledge sources and estimate a two-stage CDM-inspired empirical model linking capabilities, innovation outcomes, firm performance and AI adoption over a four-year horizon. FindingsStronger AI capabilities are associated with a higher likelihood of both brown and green innovation, although with different performance profiles over time. Brown innovation is associated with short-term efficiency and revenue gains, whereas green innovation is associated with more persistent productivity and growth effects. Government support is positively associated with green innovation among firms with stronger AI capabilities, but more closely associated with brown innovation in low AI capability settings. AI capabilities are also strongly associated with subsequent AI adoption, consistent with path-dependent capability dynamics. Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis focuses on Italian firms, which may limit generalizability to other institutional contexts. AI capabilities are measured cross-sectionally, constraining direct observation of capability evolution over time. Although LinkedIn data enables longitudinal tracking of AI adoption, adoption may be undercounted for micro firms or firms with limited online presence. Future research using panel data and cross-country settings could further strengthen causal inference and external validity. Practical implicationsFor managers, the results highlight the importance of developing balanced AI capabilities rather than focusing solely on technology acquisition. Firms with stronger capabilities appear better positioned to align AI-related innovation with long-term sustainability and growth objectives. For policymakers, the findings suggest that broad AI support mechanisms may be associated with different innovation trajectories depending on firms' underlying capabilities, underscoring the importance of capability-sensitive policy design. Social implicationsBy showing that AI capabilities are associated with different innovation orientations, the study highlights the societal importance of capability development in shaping the broader implications of AI adoption. Policy support aimed at strengthening firms' absorptive and organizational capacity may help align AI-enabled innovation with environmental and societal objectives, reducing the risk that public support becomes associated primarily with short-term efficiency-oriented innovation paths. Originality/valueThe study contributes to research on AI and innovation by introducing a multidimensional measure of AI capabilities and by empirically examining how firm capabilities and public support are jointly associated with AI-enabled innovation. Conceptually, the study develops the Triple Helix Twin as a capability-contingent analytical lens for understanding heterogeneous innovation trajectories under shared institutional conditions. The findings contribute to debates on AI adoption, industrial policy, sustainable innovation and the organizational implications of AI-driven transformation.
Purpose Grounded in self-determination theory, this study investigates how AI-enabled human resource management (HRM) shapes employees’ AI job crafting, with intrinsic motivation for learning AI as a mediator and growth mindset as a boundary condition. Design/methodology/approach Data from 436 employees across seven organisations were collected via a three-wave design. Hypotheses were tested using bootstrapped regression via the PROCESS macro, with latent moderated structural equations (LMS) for robustness. Findings The results showed AI-enabled HRM positively predicted AI job crafting both directly and indirectly via intrinsic motivation for learning AI. Growth mindset moderated these pathways: effects were amplified under high growth mindset and became non-significant under low growth mindset. Practical implications Beyond investing in AI-enabled HRM systems, organisations must actively cultivate employees’ intrinsic motivation for AI learning and growth mindset. Technological deployment alone is insufficient; psychological readiness and learning orientation are equally essential for maximising AI job crafting. Originality/value This study advances the emerging literature on AI in the workplace by uncovering the motivational mechanisms linking AI-enabled HRM to proactive employee behaviour, and by establishing growth mindset as a critical individual-level boundary condition that determines when AI-enabled HRM effectively energises AI job crafting.
Purpose This paper discusses strategies that nascent social enterprises adopt to recruit and retain their managers. Design/methodology/approach We used qualitative methods and conducted 35 in-depth interviews with social entrepreneurs and managers in the Indian context. We used NVivo version 11 to analyse the themes as part of our analytical approach. Findings Our findings suggest that social enterprises rely on managers' prior experience and P-O fit when recruiting. Further, they also emphasise the importance of industry-specific human capital related to social and commercial missions in their prior employment. Surprisingly, our results also indicate that social enterprises prefer to recruit those with prior experience in commercial rather than social settings. As part of their retention strategies, social enterprises rely on institutionalising interpersonal and other-oriented factors related to social mission, such as caring and sharing, which requires embedding the practices of the ethic of care. Combining these findings, we propose a compassion-centred HRM practice for recruiting managers in social enterprises. Originality/value This study advances social enterprise and strategic HRM literatures by shifting focus from entry-level staff socialisation to the strategic agency of mid-level managers. Moving beyond descriptive application, we elaborate the theory by establishing a conditional, contingency-based framework that links commercial manager preference to specific structural boundaries: venture stage, asset scarcity and founder competence gaps. Furthermore, we theorise compassion-centred HRM as an organisation-level mechanism rather than an individual antecedent, demonstrating how institutionalised care routines act as a structural buffer that stabilises long-term retention when traditional macro-buffers are absent.
Purpose As a practice-oriented contribution to The Practice of Making Decisions, this article addresses a recurring organizational problem: boards and CEOs may approve a strategy without agreeing how it can be executed under the authority, constraints, pressures and decision thresholds that actually exist. It translates established decision-making and governance research into a 30-min routine for converting those conditions into explicit governance choices. Design/methodology/approach The article presents a structured 30-min board–CEO conversation combining anchored prompts on executive decision orientation, perceived managerial discretion and current job demands with two brief decision narratives. The routine is illustrated through five core semi-structured CEO conversations and one later contrast case across four countries and several industries, supplemented by brief documentary and contextual checks. Findings Across contexts, similar stated risk orientations translated into different strategic behaviors depending on managerial discretion and job demands. High discretion supported bold but staged action through pilots and milestones, whereas more constrained discretion encouraged sequencing, stage gates and consensus-building. Where discretion was structurally limited by governance arrangements, strategic action shifted toward adjacent or incremental initiatives. Originality/value The routine translates established research on executive decision-making into a repeatable boardroom conversation whose output is a concise, one-page governance agreement comprising a dated execution-context snapshot and explicit governance choices. Boards and executive teams can use this agreement to clarify decision rights, evidence gates, escalation triggers and review cadence, thereby supporting strategic alignment and execution.
Purpose This article analyses the dynamic tension between formal and organic managerial controls as an antecedent of organizational resilience in cooperatives. Under the assumption of complementarity between the theory of social systems (TSS) and the theory of communicative action (TCA), we model the dynamics of managerial controls by reference to the notion of a cusp catastrophe. The distinctive governance principles that characterize the cooperative form are identified as theoretically generative, thereby shaping the meaning of organicity, legitimacy and communicative rationality. Design/methodology/approach The cusp technique was applied to archival research data obtained from 569 Brazilian cooperatives in the context of a panarchy framework. Findings A multilevel analysis revealed that the relationship between mechanicity and organicity exhibits an inverted U-shaped pattern. At the extremes of the panarchical structure (i.e. the macro and micro levels), organicity predominates as a resilience factor, whereas at the meso level, a balance between these two factors must be established. In organizations that lack institutional support, mechanicity is detrimental (negative coefficient), thereby reversing the original proposition. Research limitations/implications The results of this research demonstrate that the effectiveness of instrumental rationality (TSS) is contingent on the presence of communicative rationality (TCA) and that hierarchical support, which is evident in the panarchical remember mechanism, facilitates the employment of formal strategies that would otherwise be counterproductive in isolated organizations. Practical implications The results of this research suggest that investments in relational capital, team stability, occupational diversity and horizontal communication should precede the expansion of formal controls. Cooperative centrals that impose uniform formalization standards on affiliated cooperatives risk giving rise to coercive bureaucracy. Variance-based early warning signals provide prudential monitoring of the cooperative credit system. Social implications The findings of this research demonstrate that cooperative identity is maintained through scale-differentiated governance mechanisms, thus suggesting that regulatory policies that impose uniform requirements may undermine the democratic and participatory foundations of cooperative organizations. Originality/value These findings reconceptualize the effective paradox described by Chenhall and Morris (1995) as a phenomenon that is contingent on the relevant organizational level and institutional support and demonstrate the applicability of the cusp model in the context of longitudinal analyses of managerial controls.
PurposeThis study explores the interplays among Work–Family Conflict (WFC), burnout and life satisfaction in the case of Italian entrepreneurs and employees, as moderated by parental demand and social support from partner. Design/methodology/approachGrounded in the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, a complex theoretical model was developed and tested. The study employed a quantitative approach, analyzing survey data from two distinct samples of workers: 140 entrepreneurs and 371 employees. The relationships were assessed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to compare the structural paths between the two groups. FindingsFamily Interference with Work (FIW) was found to significantly increase burnout, in its two dimensions of disengagement and emotional exhaustion, only among entrepreneurs. Conversely, Work Interference with Family (WIF) impacted emotional exhaustion in both groups but influenced disengagement only among employees, partially supporting a “matching-domain” effect. For both employees and entrepreneurs, disengagement emerged as a stronger predictor of life satisfaction than emotional exhaustion. However, emotional exhaustion was a valid antecedent of life satisfaction only for employees. Moreover, social support from partner buffered the negative impact of disengagement on life satisfaction for employees but failed to mitigate the impact of emotional exhaustion, while parental demand exerted no significant moderating effect in either group. Research limitations/implicationsThis study advances the understanding of WFC, burnout and satisfaction within the Italian business and entrepreneurship landscape, while advocating for further cross-cultural validation. Practical implicationsThis research offers actionable insights to employees, entrepreneurs and policymakers. The findings can inform the development of targeted coping strategies and support systems designed to reduce the strains of WFC, mitigate the risk of burnout and poor life satisfaction. Originality/valueThis study extends the empirical literature on WFC by offering a nuanced, comparative analysis of the consequences of WFC on burnout and life satisfaction. By contrasting the distinct “resource ecology” of entrepreneurs and employees and examining key conditional effects, it provides a more precise understanding of how occupational roles shape the interface between work and family life and the dynamics of resource depletion and conservation among the groups.
Purpose This study aims to explore the determinants that shape the intentions of sports business managers to accept or object to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) within their organizations. This research addresses the gap in the management field regarding AI adoption in the sports industry, a sector undergoing rapid technological transformation but lacking empirical insights into managerial decision-making in this area. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts a quantitative approach using data collected from 200 sports business managers. A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data based on the Artificial Intelligence Device Use Acceptance (AIDUA) model. A structural equation modelling approach was applied to analyse the relationships between key constructs influencing AI acceptance. Findings The results indicate that both the social environment’s opinions and sports managers’ hedonic motivation are positively associated with their performance expectations of AI technologies. Furthermore, the perceived anthropomorphic characteristics of AI devices are positively related to both performance and effort expectations. Notably, only performance expectations significantly predict managers’ attitudes toward the usefulness and practicality of AI, which in turn positively influence AI acceptance and negatively influence managers’ objection to its use. Originality/value This study provides novel empirical evidence on the psychological and contextual factors shaping AI adoption decisions among sports business managers. It extends the application of the AIDUA model to the sports management context, enriching the theoretical understanding of how emotional, social and cognitive evaluations converge in managerial decisions. Moreover, it offers novel insights that can inform strategic and policy-level initiatives to foster AI implementation in the sports industry.
Purpose This study investigates how multiple directorships, often referred to as “busy” boards, influence corporate value orientation, as measured by long-term investor value appropriation (LIVA). Design/methodology/approach We draw data on US-listed firms from the Center for Research in Security Prices and Compustat. We measure corporate long-term orientation using LIVA. Using a sample of 12,581 firm-year observations, we estimate multiple regression models to analyze the relationship between busy directorships and firms’ long-term orientations. Findings The findings indicate a significant negative association between the number of directorships and LIVA, with stronger adverse effects for busy outside directors than for busy inside directors. The research also explores how internal and external organizational factors shape outside directors’ oversight capacity. Specifically, a one-standard-deviation increase in board busyness reduces LIVA by about 1.8 times the average firm-level LIVA, indicating substantial economic significance. Research limitations/implications The results suggest that governance frameworks that emphasize long-term objectives can mitigate oversight challenges associated with busy outside directors. Accordingly, firms should limit excessive board appointments, while regulators and investors should promote transparency in directors’ external commitments to strengthen sustainable corporate governance. Originality/value This study provides one of the first empirical examinations of how multiple directorships affect long-term value orientation. By integrating corporate governance and sustainability perspectives and leveraging unique large-scale datasets, the study offers novel evidence on how directors’ board commitments influence firms’ sustainability-related governance outcomes.
