The current study draws on the upper echelons theory to examine the nature of the relationship between top management team (TMT) tenure and a firm's level of entrepreneurial orientation (EO). We find evidence of an inverted-U relationship between TMT tenure and EO using data from firms across three industries with varied industry dynamics. We further introduce a contingency element by demonstrating that TMT industry background heterogeneity moderates the relationship between TMT tenure and EO, where the inverted U-shaped relationship will be more pronounced when the heterogeneity is low and will flatten when the heterogeneity is high. The findings demonstrate the complexity CEOs and governing bodies face while shaping a diverse TMT that can affect EO.

In this special issue titled ‘Sustainability and SMEs: Opening the black box’, we compile eight articles that dissect the multifaceted relationship between small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and sustainability. This special issue promoted interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the design, management, organisation, and reporting of sustainable actions in the context of SMEs. Stemming from the need to apply different theoretical and analytical lenses to the study of sustainability in SMEs than in large corporations, each paper provides unique insights into the formal and informal approaches, drivers, barriers, and enablers of sustainable practices in SMEs. The collection not only furthers the dialogue on the role of SMEs in sustainable development but also paves the way for future research directions and practical applications in this dynamic and still underexplored field.

Paradoxical leadership is an emerging leadership style which describes leadership behaviours that are ostensibly contradictory but in reality are interrelated and address workplace demands simultaneously and over time. The present study is based on affective events theory (AET), which states that occurrences or events at work result in prompt positive or negative affect in employees. The purpose of the study is to examine the mediating role of positive affect on the relationship between paradoxical leadership and employee organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). We also examine the moderating role of procedural fairness on the relationship between employee positive affect and OCB. Data collected in two phases in small- and medium-sized Chinese companies indicate that positive affect fully mediates the relationship between paradoxical leadership and employee OCB, and this relationship was found to be stronger when procedural fairness was higher rather than lower. We provide theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

We use attribution theory to show that firms that make more internal attributions to positive performance outcomes engage slack resources more freely for corporate entrepreneurship (CE) than firms that make fewer of such attributions. In addition, we show that the way in which companies make external attributions to performance outcomes moderates this relationship. To examine this empirically, we explore how top management teams discuss the factors that contribute to firm performance. Specifically, we look at attributions provided in the Management's Discussion and Analysis section of the annual reports of 144 pharmaceutical firms over a 2-year period. In line with our predictions, we find that greater internal attribution to positive performance outcomes leads to increased use of slack resources for CE. Furthermore, we find that this effect is stronger when firms make more external attributions to negative performance outcomes than positive performance outcomes.

Anchored in conservation of resources theory, this study considers how employees' experience of job stress might reduce their organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB), as well as how this negative relationship might be buffered by employees' access to two personal resources (passion for work and adaptive humor) and two contextual resources (peer communication and forgiving climate). Data from a Mexican-based organization reveal that felt job stress diminishes OCB, but the effect is subdued at higher levels of the four studied resources. This study accordingly adds to extant research by elucidating when the actual experience of job stress is more or less likely to steer employees away from OCB – that is, when they have access to specific resources that hitherto have been considered direct enablers of such efforts instead of buffers of employees' negative behavioral responses to job stress.

Safety voice helps organizations to identify safety issues timely and is critical to the long-term growth of the organization. Safety voice has become a hot research topic in organizational safety, and different scales have been developed. However, the unique cultural context in China has led to the need to redevelop safety voice measurement tools. In this paper, we developed an initial scale of safety voice for employees in Chinese organizational contexts fusing in-depth interviews and mature scales. The initial scale based on two samples (n1 = 205, n2 = 420) was revised and validated using item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability analysis to finalize the final scale. We finally found that the safety voice scale in Chinese organizational contexts contains two dimensions: promotive safety voice and prohibitive safety voice. The scale developed in this paper is a reliable tool to measure safety voice behavior of Chinese employees.

Our field has reached a critical juncture. Authentic leadership, which once promised to illuminate how leaders inspire and influence through genuine actions, has become mired in conceptual ambiguity and ideological bias. Much of the research is based on evaluations of behaviour conflated with antecedents and outcomes, presuming an oversimplified, positive view of authenticity. To advance, we must refocus on what authentic leaders actually do – their discrete behaviours – as signals of leadership. In this editorial, we redefine authentic leadership through signalling theory to address unresolved critiques and provide a platform for meaningful progress. We then summarise and synthesise the articles in this special issue, which systematically review the literature, present dynamic models of authenticity, introduce ‘bounded authenticity’ in leadership roles, advocate for rigorous experimental methods, and offer empirical support. Collectively, these papers advance authentic leadership theory with greater theoretical precision and a conceptual nuance that reflects the modern organisational leadership landscape.

This research aims to unpack how digital technologies can facilitate the flourishing of circular business practices in small- and medium-sized enterprises by structuring a detailed going circular path that explains businesses’ evolution toward circularity. In doing so, it outlines how the observed organizations have adopted – or are adopting – circular economy principles thanks to business digitalization. Following an inductive approach based on a multiple case study methodology, we investigated 16 small- and medium-sized enterprises operating in industries that put considerable pressure on the environment (e.g., manufacturing, chemical, construction, fashion, food, and beverage). Our findings confirm how digital technologies, as well as Industry 4.0 structures, play a fundamental role in shaping, enabling, enhancing, and refining circular products and processes development. Accordingly, we outline a generalizable step-by-step process to pursue circular economy by employing digital technologies. The present study represents a practical handout for guiding companies through their going circular path.

This paper explores how proactive behavior and constructive deviance relate to affective organizational commitment and turnover intention through idea championing. Based on a two-wave study (N = 310), structural equation model analyses revealed that constructive deviance had an inhibitory effect and proactive behavior a facilitatory effect on idea championing. In turn, idea championing was related to increased affective commitment and reduced turnover intention. The analyses of indirect effects further indicated that proactive behavior and constructive deviance had opposite indirect effects on affective commitment and turnover intention. This research underlines the importance of acting proactively upstream rather than deviating from the norm to promote innovation and build employee loyalty to the organization. Finally, this study also indicates that proactive and constructive deviant behaviors are conceptually different and exert opposite effects despite their similar orientation toward innovation and change.

To unpack the relationship between employees' work-induced sleep deprivation and their organizational citizenship behavior, this study details a mediating role of their propensities to dehumanize their organizational leaders, as well as a moderating role of perceived job formalization. Survey data collected from employees who work in the oil distribution sector show that a critical reason that persistent sleep problems, caused by work, reduce the likelihood that they engage in voluntary work efforts is that they treat organizational leaders as impersonal objects. Perceptions of the presence of job formalization or red tape invigorate this detrimental effect. For organizational practitioners, this study accordingly reveals a notable danger for employees who have trouble sleeping due to work: They do not take on extra work that otherwise could add to their organizational standing. This counterproductive dynamic is particularly salient when employees believe that their work functioning is constrained by strict organizational policies and guidelines.

The purpose of this paper is to build on personal engagement and role theory to develop a conceptual definition of engagement to different organizational roles (job, organization, supervisor, and coworkers) and create and validate the Role-Based Engagement Scale (RBES). Data were collected from four samples (n = 1,302) of employees, including three from multiple organizations and one from an aircraft manufacturer. Results across three studies consistently support the four dimension structure of the RBES, its internal consistency, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity based on a series of confirmatory factor analyses. The RBES is a psychometrically sound instrument that measures engagement to job, organization, supervisor, and coworkers. This instrument will provide more targeted information for human resource management (HRM) professionals tasked with developing training methods and processes to improve low-scoring dimensions of engagement, optimizing HRM interventions.

Indigenous entrepreneurial ecosystem development is not addressed in research. We define and characterise Indigenous entrepreneurial ecosystems and their evolution based on a qualitative study comparing Indigenous entrepreneurship in Chile and in Aotearoa New Zealand. We draw on interviews with 10 Mapuche entrepreneurs in Araucanía and 10 Māori entrepreneurs in the Bay of Plenty, observation, and a literature review to address the question – how does an Indigenous entrepreneurial ecosystem develop along with the social, economic, and political development of mainstream society? We find that Indigenous entrepreneurial ecosystems evolve with the economic and social environments of their countries because of an internal imperative towards cultural continuity and the resilience of culture to change. We find that mature Indigenous entrepreneurial ecosystems are associated with higher states of development and support a broader range of business models. Implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed.

This paper addresses an important knowledge gap regarding the internationalization of family businesses. To understand the specific factors that influence the internationalization of these firms, this paper investigates the role and articulation of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and family social capital (FSC) on internationalization performance. Our findings reveal that the more entrepreneurial the family business, the higher the likelihood of identifying and exploiting business opportunities in foreign markets. The moderating effect that FSC can have on the dynamics between EO and internationalization indicates that this relational family specific asset facilitates organizational stability and performance enhancement.

We explore how relational identification (RI) complements the influence of relational exchange within work role-relationships. In two temporally-lagged studies, we examine the contribution of RI, after accounting for relational exchange quality (REQ), in predicting organizationally-relevant behaviors and attitudes – namely, (1) interpersonal citizenship behaviors (ICBs; person-focused and task-focused), (2) job satisfaction, and (3) affective organizational commitment. Across samples of ‘non-professional’ (N = 152) and ‘professional’ (N = 197) employees, we found that RI (after accounting for REQ) significantly predicted outcomes. Indeed, we found RI to be the only predictor (after accounting for REQ) with affective commitment (‘non-professional’ sample only), person-focused ICBs (both samples), and task-focused ICBs (both samples). We discuss potential approaches for better specifying both identification and exchange as well as their unique and interactive effects within work role-relationships as well as managerial implications, limitations, and future research directions.