143 research outputs found
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Boldly Going Where No AACSB Standard Has Gone Before: How AACSB Business Colleges Are Complying with the New Standard 9
Full text linkIn July 2020, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) released its 2020 Guiding Principles and Standards for Business Accreditation, which consists of nine standards centered around the three pillars of engagement, innovation, and impact. To emphasize the importance of considering all business stakeholders, the updated standards included the new Standard 9: Engagement and Societal Impact, centered on business schools incorporating societal impact into their curriculum, scholarship, and activities. However, because many schools have not undertaken a Continuous Improvement Review (CIR) visit since this new adoption, many are struggling to meet Standard 9. This first-of-its-kind study reports the findings of a survey sent to AACSB-accredited business schools to investigate their United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) selection and measurement rubrics. The findings as to which SDGs were chosen, why they were chosen, and how they will be measured elicit valuable discussions regarding accreditation compliance in general and societal impact more specifically. The results also illuminate potential issues such as refusals to align societal impact with the suggested SDGs, schools selecting too many SDGs, and measurement rubrics that are too broad to evaluate success. The results of this survey will help AACSB business schools comply with this new standard and hopefully produce a lasting impact in the business community beyond just the bottom line.
Millenials in the Mirror: Work Motivation Factors for Generation Z (Gen Z)
Full text linkAt twenty percent of the population, Generation Z (Gen Z) will soon become a substantial segment of the workforce in the United States. Gen Z has unique characteristics apart from their predecessors, the Millennials. This creates a challenge for organizations as they seek to recruit and retain both Millennials and Gen Z. This study applied the Work Motivation Inventory, used by Calk & Patrick (2017) to examine Millennials’ workplace motivating factors, to determine the motivating factors for Gen Z and how Gen Z differs from their predecessors. Results show that Gen Z is more primarily motivated by factors such as salary and benefits and meaningful work while the previous study showed Millennials being primarily motivated by the desire for recognition and the opportunities for interactions while working as part of a team
Brand Personification and Money: The Effect of Collective vs. Solo Brands on Monetary Decisions
Full text linkFor decades, marketing professionals have crafted brands with human-like traits, like Mr. Clean and Tony the Tiger, to create emotional connections and influence buying behavior. Scholars have explored brand personification, examining its effects and mechanisms. This research investigates anthropomorphic collective branding, which involves using multiple anthropomorphized brand entities to create a collective brand presence. Two experiments revealed that consumers evaluate collective brands more positively than solo ones, particularly in financial decisions such as Buy Now Pay Later services or donations. Trust was found to mediate this effect, enhancing positive evaluations. These findings contribute to the understanding of brand anthropomorphism, highlighting the effectiveness of collective branding strategies in specific decision-making contexts. Future research could explore how these strategies influence consumer behavior in diverse financial settings, like gambling or other financial transactions. For marketing professionals, this study emphasizes the nuanced impact of different types of brand anthropomorphism on brand evaluation, depending on the consumer decision context. Leveraging these insights can help optimize branding strategies to better engage consumers
The Role of Gender in Transformational Information Technology Leadership: Extending the Glass-Cliff Theory
Full text linkThe glass cliff phenomenon refers to a tendency to appoint women to leadership positions when organizational performance is declining, often resulting in lower levels of female leader success. This phenomenon is well documented in management literature, however, the social and psychological mechanisms that lead to these appointments are still poorly understood and have not been investigated in the Information Technology (IT) field. Therefore, this study fills a gap in the literature by developing a model of predicted IT leadership success and predicted transformational IT leadership. Results of a scenario-based experiment indicate that expectations tend to be higher for female candidates. Additionally, when members of a leader hiring team score higher in terms of sexism, they tend to rate transformational information technology (IT) leadership of female leaders higher. This may explain the glass cliff phenomenon since transformational IT leaders are believed to be better suited to turning around poor-performing teams. Implications of gender for IT researchers, hiring teams, and leader evaluation boards are discussed
Mired in Myth: Students’ Misguided Expectations of Marketplace Behavior
Full text linkThis study evaluates whether business and non-business students have different impressions of the attitudes and behaviors that lead to success in business. The extent to which business and non-business students are similar, or dissimilar, has important implications for the business curriculum. To teach business ethics effectively, professors ought to understand students’ beliefs before entering the classroom. This study focuses on the degree to which selfish, self-interested, and self-sacrificing attitudes impact behavior in commercial settings. The data analyzed are from a survey administered at 14 colleges and universities across the country. The final data set contains 665 responses. Results from this study suggest that both business and non-business students believe that selfish and self-interested behavior is common in business. Students believe that to be successful, business decisions need to be motivated by these antisocial attitudes. This finding reveals a level of ignorance regarding the role of prosocial attitudes and behaviors in commerce. It also reveals that societal metanarratives, rather than business education alone, are likely fueling student perceptions. This provides an opportunity to move the business curriculum towards highlighting the prosocial attitudes that contribute to success in business. Antisocial attitudes and behaviors should not be ignored, but they need to be put alongside examples of businesspeople contributing to the common good
Peer Identification as Social Stratification: Comparing Media and Network Measures of Status in US Universities
Full text linkThis research investigates the extent to which peer group identification serves as a measure of university status. Examining Association of American Universities (AAU) member institutions reveals that university peer groups exhibit many of the same stratification qualities as social networks. Specifically, higher-status universities tend to have more reciprocal ties with one another while lower-status universities, in addition to having more reciprocal ties with institutions of similar status, have more one-way ties with higher-status institutions. These findings are then used as a basis to illustrate how peer group networks can be used as an alternative measure of university status. Network-based measures are then compared with media rankings to illustrate a surprising disconnect between network-based status and media status
Strategic Choice and Firm Performance during COVID-19
Full text linkThis paper aims to identify successful strategies for private companies to increase liquidity during times of crisis. We define four strategic choices based on an introduction and/or discontinuation of new products or services: cannibalization, retrenchment, expansion, or entrenchment. We use a micro data set from a worldwide survey of 10,349 companies conducted between April and September 2020 by the World Bank. Our results show that for most companies liquidity during COVID-19 decreased or at best stayed the same. Due to the pandemic, firms applied one of the four strategies, with the majority of the firms applying an intrench strategy. The Chi-square test was used to assess which strategy is associated with increased liquidity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate that liquidity increased or stayed the same for the companies using the expansion strategy, followed by cannibalization, intrench, and retrench strategies. Expansion and cannibalization strategies are both associated with the introduction of new products and/or services, suggesting that innovation is the key to surviving a pandemic crisis
Perceived Value of HRM Professional Certification in a Disrupted Marketplace
Full text linkIn response to Lengnick-Hall and Aguinis’ (2012) call for examining the practical value of HR professional certification, and using Lengnick-Hall and Aguinis’ individual-level propositions as hypotheses, this study compares 123 HR practitioners’ evaluations of HR certification based on attained education, membership in professional associations, and commitment to the HR profession. Our analysis found that HR practitioners value certification equally regardless of attained education level, members of professional associations ascribe 16% more value to certification than nonmembers, and certified members have a higher commitment to the profession. Further, a comparison between the established HRCI certifications and the newly competing SHRM certifications on pay level, job offers, and promotions received mixed results, with the established HRCI credential yielding slightly more value for job offers than the new SHRM certifications
Modeling the Relationship between Trust in Science and Reliance on Formal News Sources
Full text linkCommunication of scientific information to the population presents challenges because of the need to balance being transparent with avoidance of complex scientific terminology. The spread of information and news through social media and other informal sources rose during this past decade. The focus of this study is to understand what relates to reliance on formal news media. Formal news sources influence businesses and people, making them more apt to believe in science as measured by their beliefs in scientific concepts such as vaccinations, climate change, and compliance with COVID protocols. While this study looked at science because of the timeliness of COVID-related communication, this is a major issue related to all areas of business. For example, consider that in the case of COVID vaccines which has a consumer product manufactured by pharmaceutical firms, manufacture of the physical products related to vaccines, the distribution, and administration of vaccines. Trust in the predictive modeling that suggests vaccinations and PPE protocols impact pandemic and health concerns help influence actions. This empirical research shows that belief in science is correlated with the formality of the news source. Having a population that uses scientific information leads to behaviors like controlling the spread of something like COVID which is good for business, and not doing so results in the potential to have shutdowns or restrictions that are bad for business. If one fully understands the process, the public trusts in scientific modeling information, the impacts of non-compliance, and the negative business impact of non-compliance can be minimized
An Investigation of the Perceptions Influencing the Intention to Major in Information Technology
Full text linkTalented and experienced personnel are essential to maintain an organization’s capacity to implement information technology initiatives. The demand for technology personnel relative to the supply of skilled personnel has formed a challenge with the recruiting and retention of technology personnel. This research study has compiled the perceptions and attitudes associated with information technology careers over five years. The study provides empirical insight into various factors which could influence the intention to select information technology as a higher education major. The results of this study found that aptitude and subjective norms are the most influential factors in the intention to major in technology. While resulting in a smaller influence, the regression model found two other significant factors including personal image and media. The personal image was the only negative influence on the intent to major. While this subject has been studied through various research studies, the outcomes reiterate the continuing disconnection related to career information and stereotypes associated with business technology professionals. The results of this research will offer employers and educational institutions (K-12 through higher education) various strategies to increase interest in business information technology careers. The challenges associated with increasing technology majors to fulfill market demand will continue without the implementation of new and refined strategies coupled with continuing assessment and published research