This paper expands the Theory of Planned Behavior to explore the role of leaders’ normative expectations in driving employees’ service performance. Two quantitative studies in the context of retailing indicate that leaders’ normative expectations for high-quality service are related to employee service performance, through employee self-expectations for quality service (Study 1; N=75), and service role identity (Study 2; N=226). Both studies apply Kelman’s Theory of Social Influence by exploring how leaders influence employees’ expectations and corresponding behaviors, through the three processes of social influence: compliance, identification, and internalization. Leaders’ normative expectations for high-quality service enhances employee service performance not only by adjusting self-expectations to comply with an authority figure’s expectations or by identification with the leader as a role model, but rather as a deep-rooted process where the leader’s normative expectations are internalized into employee’s role identity. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The literature on the job demands–resources (JD-R) theory has flourished for the past decade due to the theory's simplicity and its applications in many areas of work life. However, the literature is lacking on how leaders can utilize this theory to manage employees, especially in the Asian leadership context. Using the JD-R theory, the current study investigated each aspect of paternalistic leadership (i.e., benevolent leadership, authoritarian leadership and moral leadership) and its influence on employees' job resources (i.e., work meaningfulness and influence at work), job demands (i.e., emotional and cognitive demands), work engagement, burnout and the processes involved. Four hundred and thirty-one (431) full-time working employees (mean age: 31.58; female: 57.8%) from various organizations in Malaysia participated in the study. Using structural equation modelling, the study's results showed that the benevolent aspect of paternalistic leadership was related to higher work engagement and lower burnout through work meaningfulness (but not through influence at work). In contrast, the authoritarian aspect of paternalistic leadership was related to higher burnout through emotional demands (but not through cognitive demands), while the moral leadership aspect had no significant relationship to employees' job demands or job resources, with a mediation process not found in either relationship. Overall, the study revealed three contrasting mechanisms for each aspect of paternalistic leadership and suggested how paternalistic leadership may be practised in Asian countries.

Guanxi refers to the quality of social interaction outside of work, developing through social activities. This article explores the antecedent (core self-evaluation, CSE) and consequence (job satisfaction) of the supervisor–subordinate guanxi for identifying the beneficial effect of guanxi. I also consider the effects of (dis)similarity of CSE which refers to individuals’ appraisals of their own worthiness, effectiveness, and capability. The data include 89 supervisors and their corresponding 437 subordinates from financial banks in Taiwan. The results indicate that CSE of the supervisor and subordinate positively relates to their own perceptions of guanxi and job satisfaction. Guanxi acts mediation between CSE and job satisfaction for supervisors and subordinates. The similarity effect of CSE is mostly prevalent for guanxi and job satisfaction. The findings offer implications for selecting an appropriate employee who are comparatively fit with management.

Play as practice literature has long been dominated by studies on the serious play. Focusing on a play that develops in artificial settings and requires managerial intervention, these studies overlook other playful manifestations, which are employee-driven and situated in the natural work habitat. This paper extends current play as practice reflections by adopting the notion of informal play as an alternative to prevailing views that espouses the employee rather than the managerial perspective. Drawing upon insights from play and practice literature, we incorporate five practice-based constructs into the systematic analysis of informal play in the world of work. We advance an integrative framework that highlights the constitutive relationships between the retained constructs and acknowledges different enactments of informal play for generating productive outcomes or cynically resisting authority. A multi-domain agenda for future inquiry that may contribute to a more nuanced understanding of informal play as practice in organizations concludes the paper.

The service encounter is the point where employees and customers interact both positively and negatively. When things go wrong (service failure), initially it is the employee who is required to remedy the situation (recover the service). While positive service recovery outcomes are well investigated, there is little research that investigates whether specific service recovery strategies can be used to reduce customer anger and retaliation. Further, there is little research regarding whether an organisation's acceptance of blame has an effect on customer anger and retaliation. These gaps are addressed using a quasi-experimental study of 120 respondents that examines customers' emotional and behavioural responses to specific service recovery strategies following a service failure. The results show that high-level service recovery strategies directly reduce the occurrence of retaliation, as well as indirectly reduce retaliation through the mediating effects of customer anger. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

The English National Health Service (NHS) is a public sector organisation with a longstanding objective to deliver high quality healthcare that is free at the point of use. In order to achieve this, the NHS has endured an evocative and controversial theme of reform across many decades. Despite such high levels of reform, the recent Operating Efficiency Framework declared that the NHS is about to enter its toughest ever financial climate. This paper will illustrate the complexities and tensions of implementing service improvement in the NHS in a climate of persistent policy reform, reduced budgets and tough regulation. The paper reports findings of three case studies of hospital trusts in the UK in relation to the implementation of Lean improvement methodologies, highlighting key complexities of a hospital context and the corresponding tension with service improvement activity.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether different supervisory styles are relevant in facilitating or inhibiting job crafting, and whether job crafting plays a significant role in promoting self-competence and work performance. Data were gathered from 162 employees in a large manufacturing company. We found a positive relationship between promotive control and job crafting, and a negative relationship between restrictive control and job crafting. Some job crafting behaviors positively affect both self-competence and performance, while others have a negative effect. Our results suggest that organizations interested in promoting job crafting should encourage a promotive style of leadership.

The historical evolution of corporate governance is considered, highlighting the different eras of governance, the dominant theoretical and practical paradigms, the reformulation of paradigms and counter paradigms. Two alternative and sharply contrasting theorizations, one collective and collaborative (the work of Berle and Means), the other individualistic and contractual (agency theory and shareholder value) are focused upon. The explanatory potential of Blair and Stout's team production theory is elaborated, and its conception of the complexity of business enterprise, with a mediating hierarch (the board of directors) securing a balance between the interests of different stakeholders. The potential for reform of corporate purpose, corporate governance and directors’ duties is examined with reference to the UK Modern Company Law Review. The impact of the intensification of the financialization of corporations is analysed, with the increased emphasis upon short-termism. The origins of the global financial crisis in shareholder value orientations and the continuing reverberations of the crisis are explored. Finally, the imperative of the advance of sustainable enterprise is argued, and the critical changes necessitated in corporate purpose and directors’ duties.

Within the traditional business organizational climate in which an executive coach operates, the identity of ‘the coached’ (coachee) can be quite clearly differentiated from the business identity. This is not the case within the world of family business, where the incumbent family business leader, the successor, the business and the family culture, are interwoven. This unique feature of family business means that, for executive coaching to be effective within the family business environment, a radically different approach to that used in traditional business environments must be adopted – namely, the consideration of what generally are thought of as noneconomic variables. This article represents a first attempt to effectively address the key and unique variables executive coaches need to know to work within the family business environment.

This paper explains how organisational myths and stories are vehicles of communication management (Kaye 1993; 1994). Contemporary scholars (eg Brown 1992; Boje 1991b) have argued that stories and myths are not only important communicative tools for learning within organisations but also powerful media for bringing about changes in people and in the culture of their workplace. People-associated changes include ways in which professional relationships and interpersonal communication are affected. In turn, the effects of mythologising and storytelling on organisational behaviour and communication are likely to have further-reaching consequences in shaping the culture of human systems.

Myth-making in organisations involves the identification of heroic and legendary archetypes. Such archetypes often serve as exemplars or role models for people-in-systems. The telling of stories involving heroic role models can have a marked influence on the shaping of communication between managers and their staff. Often the exploits of heroes become embellished through repeated oral versions. Stories gradually acquire a mythical quality or status. Significantly, the incorporation of stories into an organisation's culture will depend a lot on the credibility of the storyteller. When managers are perceived to have high credibility, they have a powerful means of helping those they supervise to learn, to achieve professional goals, and thus to contribute to the strategic growth of their organisations.

In this paper, myth-making and storytelling are considered to be specialised facets of communicative competence and analysed in terms of the Adult Communication Management Model (Kaye 1993; 1994). Attention is given to the effect of myth-making and storytelling on the covert ‘shadow-side’ culture of human systems. It is argued that the understanding and management of shadow-side communication is an integral component of effective organisational behaviour and survival. It is also proposed that such understanding and the ability to manage shadow-side communication is closely related to managers' awareness of prevailing myths and stories within their organisations. Finally, it is argued that managers who are skilled storytellers have the opportunity to help their staff develop communication abilities in a workplace conducive to learning.

In recent years there has been a growing scholarly interest in authentic leadership, a leadership style that fosters positive psychological capacities and a positive ethical climate. This study focuses on the Certified Public Accounting profession, which is known as a detail-oriented occupation. We examined if Certified Public Accounting managers exhibiting an authentic leadership style were capable of strengthening the commitment of their subordinates and, at the same time, reducing role-stress and intentions to leave. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 512 Certified Public Accountings in Israel using structural equation modeling. Results revealed that perceived authentic leadership was negatively related to role-conflicts and role-ambiguity, directly and through the mediation of affective commitment. In addition, the negative correlation between authentic leadership and intention to leave was fully mediated by affective commitment. Limitation and applications for organizations are discussed.

Collective entrepreneurship (CE) is the ability of several individuals to jointly innovate and create within organisations. In this exploratory study, we investigate whether the relationship between some specific leadership styles and more effective CE is affected by moderator variables. The unit of analysis were staff members of a Portuguese group of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A total of 204 questionnaires were returned, representing almost half the employee population we approached. For measurement, we employed 19 items to gather the six latent variables related to our model. For data analysis, we used partial least squares. We found that participative leadership style had the highest joint and indirect effect on more effective CE. Job satisfaction appears to be an important moderator for the occurrence of CE. The impact of employees’ organisational commitment and collaboration on CE is rather weak. Our study contributes to advancing knowledge in the fields of organisational psychology and entrepreneurship. We combine and extend previous research, which allows us to reconcile the sometimes contradictory findings so far concerning leadership and CE in the realm of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

We study the international innovation strategies of Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) firms in the European context, to explain their investment motives, knowledge flows and innovation performance. Our thematic analysis of seven case studies suggests that ANZ investors' motives for innovation in Europe are often both market- and knowledge-seeking and that some are also motivated by diversification and cooperation. While the strategic intent is often for the knowledge to flow in multiple directions among subsidiaries and headquarters (HQ), distance poses challenges to the efficiency of the process. European subsidiaries are often seen as potentially playing a key role in firms' global innovation systems, particularly with regards to radical innovation. However, because of distance and communication bottlenecks (e.g., time zone differences), HQ does not always recognise this potential. We develop a model proposing that HQ–subsidiary trust and strategic motives are moderators in the process of international knowledge connectivity and knowledge creation.

This paper investigate the degree to which environment uncertainty affects inter-organisational alliance partner selection in small to medium-sized enterprises and blends the resource-based view in a multiple-mediator model in which different dimensions of alliance motivation (cost and strategy) act as mediating mechanisms that transmit the positive effects of environment uncertainty to partner selection criteria. Four hypotheses are developed and then tested on a survey data sample of 108 firms in the Taiwanese steel industry. Our research findings show the mediating effects of alliance motivation cost and strategy and understanding how environment uncertainty impacts alliance motivation (cost and strategy) within small to medium-sized enterprises.

The paper used a social exchange lens to explore the impact of the quality of the relationship between supervisors and service employees on individual and organisational outcomes. The findings provide further evidence that the quality of the relationship between supervisors and service employees is a significant factor - in this case explaining almost half of the reasons as to why employees accepted or rejected organisational changes. Using the social exchange lens, the theory argues that the same characteristics evident in high quality leader–member exchange (LMX) relationships (effective levels of information, feedback and respect) are also likely to provide the ideal conditions for employees' to address their fears and answer their questions about potential organisational changes. As a result, service employees are more likely to accept the organisational changes. In addition, this study suggests that approximately half of job productivity and satisfaction is affected by the way LMX firstly affects employees' satisfaction with organisational communication processes, and secondly, their acceptance of organisational changes within SMEs.

This study investigated how cross-functional teams can influence their business model innovation and firm performance through team learning, consisting of multiple modes of within-team, cross-team, and market learning. Using a matched dyadic data set from a study of 330 cross-functional team members and their supervisors sampled from 165 electronics and information industries in China, the empirical results clearly indicate that within-team, cross-team, and market learning can improve business model innovation and firm performance. The results of the mediating model show how the business model innovation mediates the relationship between team learning and firm performance.

While it is well known that person–organization fit is an important antecedent of behavioral outcomes, little is known about needs–supplies fit in this relationship. In this way, we first want to extend our knowledge about defining and assessing work-related needs derived from employment quality indicators as the basis for needs–supplies fit. Second, following the Cognitive and Affective Personality System theory, we test the mediating role of organizational identification to better understand how needs–supplies fit is related to task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Data were collected in two companies: sample 1 (N=525) and sample 2 (N=525). Results show (a) that a specific needs–supplies fit perception (i.e., based on 12 work-related needs derived from employment quality indicators) is positively related to a global needs–supplies fit perception (i.e., based on an overall job perception), suggesting that needs–supplies fit may be a multidimensional concept and (b) the full mediating role of organizational identification in the relationship between needs–supplies fit and performance measures.

This paper extends the boundaries of theories in leadership studies to sub-cultures of a country. The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between the concept of an excellent leader and ethnicity in a multicultural society while formulating ten underlying dimensions for this concept. Data on leadership behaviour were gathered from 292 managers in Malaysia and were subjected to factor analysis, MANOVA analysis, regression analysis and structural equation modelling. The results suggest that, in Malaysia, strategic orientation acts through operational behaviours, producing excellence in leadership. However, the study demonstrates that there are significant ethnic differences in regard to the dimensions that relate to excellence in leadership. Studies such as this are useful in extending the understanding of the dimensions of leadership in pluralistic societies where the cultural frameworks of workers may not be the same. Most studies have looked at the leader from a mono-cultural perspective and this study addresses this deficit.

Management education has the responsibility to provide industry with graduates equipped with relevant management competencies (Christou 2002). This paper agrees with this view and reports on the first and second stages of a longitudinal study that explores tourism and hospitality students' perceptions of their competency development in the first and final year of the Bachelor of Business in Tourism program. A self-assessment instrument that measures perceived competence in management competencies and roles within the Competing Values Framework (CVF) (Quinn, Thompson, Faerman & McGrath 1996) was used. Results from this investigation indicate that since the outset of their tertiary studies, students perceive they have begun to develop a majority of the competencies and roles tested. Students' perception of improving skills and competencies in these roles indicates they are taking steps towards mastery of management (Quinn et al. 1996), and thereby acquiring competence in areas important to their careers in industry. The outcomes of this research contribute to development of appropriate educational experiences, which in turn assist competency development that enhances student career opportunities and experiences.

Organizational control is conventionally – from a critical stance – viewed as a negative and restrictive phenomenon, which in one way or another subjugates workers. In this theoretical paper, we argue that organizational control is often based on a particular understanding of power; an understanding that views power as repressive, equating it with domination and subjugation while paying little attention to its productive function. We question what the implications for understanding organizational control would be if we were also to see power as productive. We contend that the Foucauldian notions of pastoral power, disciplinary power, and governmentality can be used together through the concept of regime of practices to enrich our understanding of the workings of organizational control. We thus delineate an analytical framework for the study of organizational control based on an open-ended investigation of the regimes of control in local settings.