Purpose The existing literature does not clearly specify how institutional strategy signals affect the local practices of middle academic leaders, particularly when they operate under conditions of professional autonomy and institutional constraint. This study provides a process-based model explaining how institutional strategy signals are translated into localized middle-management practices under conditions of professional autonomy and structural constraints. Design/methodology/approach This study employs an integrative theoretical approach drawing on strategy-as-practice, institutional complexity and middle-management perspectives to develop a recursive framework for strategy translation under institutional constraint and a set of propositions describing the relationships among signal multiplicity, interpretive ambiguity, dual positioning, institutional constraints and localized variation. Findings Middle academic leaders are positioned as actors who interpret, negotiate and enact institutional strategy signals through bounded, iterative translation processes shaped by dual accountability and structural constraint. The model demonstrates that institutional coherence can coexist with variation in local enactment and positions the ambiguity associated with policy implementation as a function of structure (i.e. the system) rather than communication (i.e. a lack of information or poor communication). Research limitations/implications The study provides an empirical conceptualization of signal multiplicity, dual structural positioning and institutional constraint. Therefore, future studies could operationalize these concepts to test the propositions developed in this study using data from multiple types of organizations. Practical implications The framework identifies how multiple institutional signals create interpretive demands on middle academic leaders, and implies that senior leadership and governance systems should align consequential and aspirational signals to reduce unnecessary ambiguity, and that institutions may benefit from structured cross-level dialog and clearer accountability design to support bounded strategy translation. Social implications Understanding how institutional strategy signals are translated under structural constraints will lead to greater transparency and coordination within the governance structures of professionalized organizations. A better understanding of this translation process may also help limit symbolic compliance and enable more coherent strategy enactment in knowledge-intensive environments. Originality/value This study provides a structurally grounded explanation of strategy implementation in professionalized and pluralistic workplaces by identifying translation under constraint as a mechanism linking institutional intent to situated practice.
Purpose This study examines whether and when digital capability helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) cope with the liability of outsidership (LoO). Drawing on Metanational Theory and the Information Processing View, it conceptualises LoO as generating a metanational capability gap that constrains firms' ability to sense, mobilise, and operationalise dispersed international knowledge, and introduces Digital Metanational Capacity (DMC) as a digitally enabled capability for performing these functions despite limited foreign-market presence. Design/methodology/approach Survey data from 257 middle managers of internationally active Vietnamese SMEs are analysed using PLS-SEM. Supplementary analyses include PLSpredict, CVPAT, Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA), Gaussian-copula, nonlinearity, and heterogeneity tests. Findings LoO is negatively and DMC positively associated with international performance, and DMC negatively moderates the LoO–performance relationship. The performance return to DMC is greatest when outsidership is low and contracts by roughly two-thirds between low and high levels of outsidership, supporting bounded complementarity rather than substitution. A median-split NCA suggests that the minimum level of DMC required for high performance is higher under stronger outsidership. DMC thus appears to become more necessary but less sufficient as outsidership intensifies. Originality/value The study advances a bounded digital metanational view of SME internationalisation. It distinguishes DMC from adjacent digital and network capabilities and suggests that digital capacity can extend, but not replace, the relational gateways through which dispersed international knowledge is converted into international performance.
Purpose This study examines how multinational enterprises (MNEs) strategically respond to rising bilateral political tensions by deploying corporate rhetorical nationalism (CRN) in their home-country communications. We investigate whether political tensions prompt Chinese MNEs to increase CRN, identify the conditions under which such strategies become more salient and evaluate their economic consequences. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on institutional duality and stakeholder theory, we conceptualize CRN as a symbolic signal that enables MNEs to navigate competing legitimacy pressures in politicized environments. We assemble a longitudinal dataset of Chinese listed MNEs from 2003 to 2023, combining information on bilateral political relations, firm-level financials and MD&A text data. We employ fixed-effects panel models and moderation analyses to test the hypothesized relationships. Findings We find that heightened bilateral political tensions lead MNEs to increase their use of CRN in home-country disclosures. This relationship is shaped by factors tied to the government, media, consumers and investors. Moreover, CRN is associated with improved domestic market valuation while not impairing performance in host-country subsidiaries, suggesting that it functions as an effective strategy for managing geopolitical legitimacy challenges. Research limitations/implications This study focuses on Chinese listed MNEs, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to firms operating under different institutional configurations. Future research could incorporate cross-country samples or explore alternative forms of symbolic corporate communication in response to geopolitical shifts. Practical implications We offer practical implications regarding how MNEs navigate domestic legitimacy challenges amidst geopolitical conflicts. Originality/value This study advances institutional duality research by theorizing CRN as a distinctive expressive strategy through which MNEs can balance conflicting legitimacy demands under geopolitical tension. By integrating institutional theory with stakeholder theory, we highlight how firms exercise rhetorical agency and identify the boundary conditions that amplify or constrain such signaling. Our findings also demonstrate that CRN delivers measurable strategic value, offering MNEs a flexible way to maintain legitimacy amid escalating political conflict.
Purpose This study examines how political connections and ownership structure shape the performance consequences of strategic change in China. Building on the Resource-Based View and dynamic capabilities, we theorise that political embeddedness (executive National People's Congress (NPC) membership) and state ownership condition firms' ability and incentives to reconfigure resources. We focus on performance divergence by distinguishing profitability (return on assets) from market positioning (market share), asking when strategic change yields trade-offs between these outcomes in China's hybrid institutional environment. Design/methodology/approach We analyse a large firm-level panel dataset from China's National Bureau of Statistics covering 2003–2013. Political connection is measured as a binary indicator of senior executives' NPC membership, and ownership is coded as state-owned versus privately owned. Strategic change is captured using a composite index based on shifts in advertising intensity, R&D intensity, non-production overheads, and inventory levels. We estimate two-way fixed-effects regression models with firm and year fixed effects and cluster standard errors at the firm level. Findings Strategic change yields systematically different outcomes across institutional positions. Politically connected private firms do not realise market-share gains after strategic change, but they exhibit weaker profitability improvements than private firms without political ties. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) show market-share gains following strategic change regardless of NPC ties; however, politically connected SOEs experience a pronounced decline in profitability, indicating a market-share–profitability trade-off. Overall, ownership structure and political embeddedness jointly shape whether strategic change translates into profitability, market expansion, or divergence between the two. Research limitations/implications The study uses NPC membership as a single binary indicator of political connection and does not capture informal ties, intensity, or duration of political embeddedness. Ownership is operationalised dichotomously, which may obscure mixed-ownership variation. Although firm and year fixed effects reduce bias, endogeneity and selection into political positions may remain. Future research could employ quasi-experimental designs or instrumental variables, incorporate richer measures of political connectedness and ownership gradations, and test whether the observed strategic trade-offs persist in the post-2013 institutional context. Practical implications Managers should treat political ties as contingent resources that can enable strategic change but may impose obligations that dilute profitability outcomes. Private-firm leaders should weigh the legitimacy and access benefits of political embeddedness against pressures to pursue policy-aligned objectives that constrain profit maximisation. SOE leaders should recognise the risk that strategic change may be evaluated primarily through market expansion rather than financial efficiency; adopting balanced performance systems that incorporate profitability discipline may improve long-term competitiveness and resource allocation. Social implications The findings suggest that political embeddedness can redirect strategic change towards objectives aligned with state priorities, potentially supporting employment stability, industrial positioning, and broader social goals even when financial performance weakens. In China's state-capitalist setting, strategic change may therefore contribute to societal outcomes through market expansion and policy alignment rather than shareholder returns alone. Recognising these trade-offs clarifies how institutional arrangements shape the distribution of benefits from strategic change across firms, markets, and social stakeholders. Originality/value This study advances research on strategic change in emerging economies by integrating political connections and ownership structure into a unified framework and by theorising performance divergence rather than a single outcome. By distinguishing market share from profitability, it reveals institutionally conditioned trade-offs that are obscured in unidimensional performance models. The analysis shows that state ownership constitutes a form of political embeddedness that can render formal political ties redundant for market outcomes, while intensifying profitability sacrifices, thereby extending RBV and dynamic capabilities with a contextualised, institution-sensitive account.
Purpose The objective of this study is to examine the effects of CEO gender on female board appointments. Given the substantial influence of CEOs on director selection and board composition, this study concentrates on CEO attributes. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 3,001 US listed firms over the period from 1999 to 2014, this study examines the relationship between CEO gender and the appointment of female directors on corporate boards. Findings The results show that firms led by female CEOs appoint more female directors on their boards, consistent with the socio-psychological perspective of similarity-attraction rather than the signaling theory. Furthermore, the positive effect of female CEOs on female director appointments is stronger when the CEO's tenure is shorter and when the newly appointed female CEO succeeds a male CEO. Originality/value This study contributes to the corporate governance literature by examining the antecedents of board composition at the organizational level. As such, it provides empirical support that a CEO's needs and desires can be demand-side factors influencing the phenomenon of female director selection. This study also contributes to female leadership literature by providing a method that female CEOs can use (i.e. appointing more female directors) to overcome the difficulties they face.
