We examine idea championing as a key intermediary process of the idea journey linking idea generation and idea implementation in teams. Building upon multilevel framework of emergence we theorize about how compositional and compilational emergence of idea generation along with idea championing behaviors translate team members' creative ideas into team-level innovative solutions. We adopt a two-study research design including a two-wave two-source field study (309 employees nested into 92 teams with direct supervisors) and an experimental study (423 students nested into 79 teams) to test our conceptual model. The results of field study show that team innovation process featuring strong compilational (selected actor-maximum) idea generating followed by compilational idea championing leads to best team-level innovative solutions. Using a sociometric approach as a part of an experimental study, we further show that individuals exhibiting the strongest idea generating activity are also significantly more likely the ones engaging in most intense idea championing behavior. While having team members exhibiting such exceptional behaviors is relatively more effective in an unstructured team innovation setup, structured idea journey setups result in better team-level innovative solutions, when idea championing behaviors are more equally distributed among team members. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

This paper reviews the common motives and major impacts of sports sponsorships undertaken by sponsoring organisations. Following a systematic review of 72 relevant articles, seven key motives for engaging in sports sponsorship were identified. Marketing, customer retention, and brand equity emerged as the most frequently studied, while the sponsorship of emerging sports associations for brand promotion was the least examined. Regarding impacts on employees, findings from 28 articles indicated that high retention and brand identification were the most researched topics, with no studies addressing potential negative effects. The study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting overlooked motives and effects of sports sponsorships. We recommend that future research focuses on the less-studied motives and investigates potential negative impacts on employees within sponsoring organisations.

In this paper, we critically examine the assumption that most employees, and especially those not identified as talents, find exclusive talent management less fair than inclusive talent management. Across two factorial survey studies-one of which manipulates talent status experimentally (N = 300), the other using field data on meta-perceived talent ratings (N = 209)-we examine the extent to which the perceived fairness of talent management is predicted by self-interest (i.e., the extent to which you yourself are seen as talented) versus principle (i.e., a dispositional preference for equality-vs. merit-based allocations). We found a clear effect of talent status, indicating that perceived fairness is at least partly determined by self-interest (i.e., whether one personally stands to gain or lose from exclusive talent management). We also found an effect for preferred allocation norm-implying that fairness perceptions are influenced by matters of principle, independently from self-interest-but only on the boundary condition that organizations provide a transparent justification for their chosen (inclusive or exclusive) talent philosophy. Two major gaps are addressed: the lack of data on how employees perceive and experience talent management practices, and the inability of common study designs to make causal claims.

Compensation benchmarking has become a common practice for determining executive compensation in companies. The key motive for compensation benchmarking is to identify an appropriate way of compensating executives, with the primary goal of human capital retention. In this study, we argue that compensation benchmarking leads to convergence in executive compensation by directing attention and informational cues following two mechanisms: a) direct peer influence through the selection of compensation peers, and b) indirect peer influence through exposure to the same compensation peers. Using an extensive panel of executive compensation data of publicly traded U.S. companies we show that compensation benchmarking leads to convergence in executive compensation levels and mix and in turn reduces the likelihood of executive mobility to peer companies. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.

We explore institutional and cultural effects on anticipatory psychological contracts (APCs) of young labour market entrants in four countries: China and South Korea (Confucian East Asia) and Poland and Slovenia (Central and Eastern Europe). We identify prevailing APC types and compare country APC scores, applying the concept of a Confucian work ethic. Using matched country samples of 953 undergraduate business students as future labour market entrants, our results challenge the hypothesised prevalence of the transactional APC type within this generational cohort. Overall, the balanced APC type was most desirable for employee obligations, while the relational APC type was most desirable for employer obligations. Expectations regarding personal development (balanced APC) were universally high. However, a Confucian work ethic can be linked to higher performance orientation (balanced APC) in terms of employee obligation and higher loyalty (relational APC) in terms of employer obligation in China and South Korea. We discuss implications for attracting, managing and retaining young talents.

The development and maintenance of work relationships is the primary mechanism for effective socialization, yet emerging work relationships in early socialization are fragile. We hypothesize that their persistence is related to frequency of information-based support between newcomers and support providers and perceived responsiveness of support providers. We contrast this relational effect with a more established effect of organizational socialization practices. In a three-wave longitudinal study of 40 newcomers involved in 601 work relationships, we examined the persistence of newcomers' information-support relationships over time. We found support for arguing that the persistence of information-support relationships is positively related to the frequency of information support that newcomers receive from their support providers. Moreover, we show that the persistence of information-support relationships depends on relational factors - the perceived willingness of a support provider to provide informational support, while favourable socialization tactics as perceived by newcomers do not play a significant role. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.

SummaryEmployees can enhance their human capital through participation in organizationally sponsored development activities. However, there is little research on the extent to which the effects of such practices vary depending on national context. Adopting a human capital theory perspective, we hypothesized a positive relationship between human capital development practices experienced in one's career and objective and subjective career success (salary level and perceived financial success, respectively) and tested two country‐level institutional factors (country development and income inequality) as moderators. Results from our multi‐level analyses of a large‐scale sample of over 8800 managers and professionals from 28 countries showed that, as expected, experiencing a larger number of different human capital development practices was associated with higher salary level and greater perceived financial success. The relationship between development practices and salary level was stronger in the case of developed countries and weakly negatively affected for countries with higher income inequality. The relationship between development practices and perceived financial success was weaker for developed countries and unaffected by income inequality. Our research thus identifies boundary conditions to the application of human capital theory in different contexts and contributes to the comparative careers literature by showing that institutional factors affect the outcome of organizationally sponsored development activities.

Subjective career success continues to be a critical topic in careers scholarship due to ever changing organizational and societal contexts that make reliance upon external definitions of success untenable or undesirable. While various measures of subjective career success have been developed, there is no measure that is representative of multiple nations. In this study, we develop and validate a new subjective career success scale, which is unique from currently available measures in that it was developed and validated across a broad representation of national cultures. We validated the scale across four phases and several studies cumulatively involving 18,471 individual respondents from 30 countries based upon the GLOBE and Schwartz cultural clusters. This scale allows for addressing career success differences both within and across cultures. It is also easily applicable in everyday practice for companies operating in multi-country contexts. We explore theoretical and practical implications.

Contemporary careers are changing and face many challenges. This creates a need for innovative cross-cultural and multidisciplinary research. In this chapter, twenty-three participants in a European/South Korean research mega-project provide an overview of their diverse experiences of trans-national, trans-sectoral, and trans-generational work. First, the project’s architects explore the context and rationale in five countries, selection of partners, securing funding and the underpinning principles of ‘strategic entrepreneurship’ and ‘multi-sociation’. Key workstream leaders then outline the project content, including diplomacy in research design, reflecting gender, ensuring impact, capturing learning, communicating to various audiences. Major aspects of Implementation are described: quality management, managing academics and risk, transnational and trans-sectorial working (between academia and industry), novel methodologies and finally the career implications for PhD students involved. These are honest and pragmatic reflections on the way to best practice.

Drawing on human capital theory, our study examines the relationship between international work experience and individuals' career success in terms of promotions and subjective financial success. We propose that these relationships are mediated by external employability and hypothesise a moderating role of national-level economic freedom. Using data from 19,421 respondents, residing in 30 countries and working in different occupational groups (managers, professionals, clerical and blue-collar workers), our results suggest that international work experience is positively related to promotions and subjective financial success across our study's different national contexts. These positive relationships were mediated by individuals' perceived external employability. Some support for the moderation of the relationship between international work experience and employability through economic freedom was only found when we differentiate between different types of international work experience. The findings enhance our understanding of the association between international work experience and career success from a human capital perspective.

Purpose - This paper highlights the importance of employees and the internal branding process in building and sustaining powerful brands. Specifically, we explore the impact of internal brand communication on employee brand commitment. By including employee brand knowledge and employee-brand fit as mediators, organizations develop a more comprehensive understanding of how to enhance the affective brand commitment of their employees. Design/Methodology/Approach - A total of 226 employees of an international hotel chain participated in the study. Employee data were collected with a questionnaire and analyzed by applying structural equation modeling. Findings and implications - The results imply that what matters is not only the direct influence on employee commitment. Rather, by continuously enriching employee cognition and enhancing employee brand value congruence, organizations can achieve higher levels of affective brand commitment and, in turn, better customer service. The paper provides several practical implications for managers regarding how to manage communication and other internal branding efforts in their organizations, thus empowering employees and transforming them into brand champions. Limitations - Data on internal brand communication could also be collected from top management and direct supervisors to complement employee perspectives on internal branding. Originality/value - The inclusion of internal brand communication and employee brand knowledge in the internal branding process has led to more comprehensive understanding of how to enhance affective brand commitment of employees.

Purpose -This paper highlights the importance of employees and the internal branding process in building and sustaining powerful brands.Specifically, we explore the impact of internal brand communication on employee brand commitment.By including employee brand knowledge and employee-brand fit as mediators, organizations develop a more comprehensive understanding of how to enhance the affective brand commitment of their employees.Design/Methodology/Approach -A total of 226 employees of an international hotel chain participated in the study.Employee data were collected with a questionnaire and analyzed by applying structural equation modeling.Findings and implications -The results imply that what matters is not only the direct influence on employee commitment.Rather, by continuously enriching employ-Sažetak Svrha -Rad naglašava važnost zaposlenika i procesa internoga upravljanja markom u izgradnji i održavanju jakih marki.Konkretnije, istražuje se utjecaj interne komunikacije na predanost zaposlenika marki.Uključivanjem zaposlenikova znanja o marki i podudaranja zaposlenika s markom kao medijatorom, organizacije razvijaju sveo-

We investigated the influences of vertical and horizontal team familiarity on the financial performance of fluid teams with undifferentiated members’ roles. By integrating resource theory with leader-member exchange and team-member exchange theories, we developed a conceptual model, which we empirically tested using objective secondary data. Our findings have provided support for the hypothesized mediating effect of horizontal team familiarity on the relationship between vertical team familiarity and financial team performance. We discuss implications of our findings for leadership of fluid teams with undifferentiated team member roles in contemporary business organizations.

A compelling issue for organizations and societies at large is to ensure external employability of the workforce across workers' entire work-life span. Using the frameworks of age norms, stereotyping and age meta-stereotypes, we investigate whether (a) age is negatively related to perceived external employability; and (b) the age-employability link is moderated by HR developmental practices (HRDPs) and unemployment rate. We argue that being aware of stereotypes and age norms in organizations, and holding also meta-stereotypes about their group, older workers perceive themselves as less externally employable. However, the context -HRDPs that one has experienced, and the country unemployment rate - would act as buffers. Using data from a large-scale survey from over 9000 individuals in 30 institutionally diverse countries, we found that the negative relationship between age and perceived external employability was significant across all countries. In addition, at the individual level, we found that HRDPs acted as a buffer for this negative relationship, such that the effect was less pronounced for individuals who have experienced more HRDPs during their working life. At the country level, the hypothesized moderating effect of unemployment rate was not observed. Limitations, future research directions, as well as practical implications of the study are discussed.

Careers exist in a societal context that offers both constraints and opportunities for career actors. Whereas most studies focus on proximal individual and/or organisational‐level variables, we provide insights into how career goals and behaviours are understood and embedded in the more distal societal context. More specifically, we operationalise societal context using the career‐related human potential composite and aim to understand if and why career goals and behaviours vary between countries. Drawing on a model of career structuration and using multilevel mediation modelling, we draw on a survey of 17,986 employees from 27 countries, covering nine of GLOBE's 10 cultural clusters, and national statistical data to examine the relationship between societal context (macrostructure building the career‐opportunity structure) and actors' career goals (career mesostructure) and career behaviour (actions). We show that societal context in terms of societies' career‐related human potential composite is negatively associated with the importance given to financial achievements as a specific career mesostructure in a society that is positively related to individuals' proactive career behaviour. Our career mesostructure fully mediates the relationship between societal context and individuals' proactive career behaviour. In this way, we expand career theory's scope beyond occupation‐ and organisation‐related factors.

This study examines the determinants for the integration of CSR related targets in executive compensation. The integration of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) metrics in incentive-based pay components is a recent development observed in executives’ compensation. Evidence suggests that these incentives positively affect companies’ CSR related activities, and firm value in total. However, there is no evidence on the underlying drivers. We refer to compensation peer groups, and examine how CSR-orientation of firms is the result of a) selection of compensation peers, and b) influence by the CSR orientation of competitors. Our results show that companies that already integrate CSR metrics select compensation peers which are similar in their CSR profiles, and that the dominant effect for integration is influence, implying that companies’ decision to integrate CSR is primarily the influential effect of competitors.