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Most developing countries, such as Sri Lanka (SL), are now looking for the support of foreign construction companies for large-scale infrastructure projects in return for expertise and resources. Thus, foreign companies may enter into agreements with local contractors through joint ventures (JVs). However, the priorities of construction project stakeholders may differ, which may ultimately end up in conflicts. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the most suitable conflict management strategies for international construction JVs (ICJVs) considering the SL context.

The mixed method was used for the research choice by selecting a questionnaire survey and expert interviews. Completed questionnaires (n = 78) were analysed using statistical techniques. The expert interviews with six industry practitioners were piloted to increase the validity and credibility of survey findings through a triangulation process where the collected data was analysed through content analysis.

The findings confirm that JV parties should first seek collaborative solutions in a conflict and seek legal redress only when those efforts are unsuccessful. Collaborating and compromising were recommended as the most appropriate tactics if an informal approach to conflict management was chosen. Alternative dispute resolution and litigation were identified as formal conflict management strategies.

This study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, will be the first of its kind in SL, which will lead to a better understanding of conflict management in IJCVs and will encourage other researchers to extend this study through further work.

This paper aims to determine the impact of perceived virtuality on team dynamics and outcomes by adopting the Input-Mediators-Outcome (IMO) framework. Further, it also investigates the mediating role of team processes and emergent states.

The authors collected survey data from 315 individuals working in virtual teams (VTs) in the information technology sector in India using both offline and online questionnaires. They performed the analysis using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM).

The authors investigated two sets of hypotheses – both direct and indirect (or mediation interactions). Results show that psychological empowerment and conflict management are significant in managing VTs. Also, perceived virtuality impacts team outcomes, i.e. perceived team performance, team satisfaction and subjective well-being.

The interplay between the behavioural team process (conflict management) and the emergent state (psychological empowerment) was examined. The study also helps broaden our understanding of the various psychological variables associated with teamwork in the context of VTs.

Findings from this study will aid in assessing the consequences of virtual teamwork at both individual and organisational levels, such as guiding the design and sustainability of VT arrangements, achieving higher productivity in VTs, and designing effective and interactive solutions in the virtual space.

The study examined the interplay between behavioural team processes (such as conflict management) and emergent states (such as psychological empowerment). The study also theorises and empirically tests the relationships between perceived virtuality and team outcomes (i.e. both affective and effectiveness). It may serve as a guide to understanding team dynamics in VTs better.

This exploratory study attempts to enhance the current understanding of the research and practice of VTs within a developing economy.

When coping with uncertainties, three characteristics distinguish firms: agility, adaptability and alignment (triple-A). Based on significant field research, the triple-A highlights the significance of coordinating agility, adaptability and alignment. Start-ups are facing a lot of challenges in this turbulent environment. However, this sector is undergoing a major transformation. Agility, adaptability and alignment concepts have had a major influence on the supply chain, but their implementation in start-ups has been less visible. This paper aims to identify, analyze and categorize the enablers for agility, adaptability and alignment in start-ups using the total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) approach.

In addition to the scheduled interview, a closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect data. To identify how the factors interact, the TISM technique is used, and the Matriced’Impacts Croises-Multipication Applique’ and Classment method is used to rank and categorize the agility, adaptability and alignment enablers.

This study identified ten agility, adaptability and alignment factors for start-ups. It has been found that the key importance should be given to management involvement, conflict management, collaboration and information integration.

This study primarily focused on the agility, adaptability and alignment factors in start-ups.

This study will help academics and key stakeholders understand the aspects that lead to agility, adaptability and alignment in start-ups.

Agility, adaptability and alignment concepts have had a major influence on the supply chain, but their implementation in start-ups has been less visible. Therefore, this is a novel attempt in this industry’s agility, adaptability and alignment.

This study aims to examine task and relationship conflict and their linkage with defensive communication strategies, i.e. mature, neurotic and immature defensive communication. Furthermore, Study 1 also investigated the mediating impact of relationship conflict and the moderating impact of a manager’s active-empathic listening in dealing with task conflicts and the defensive communication of the employees. Study 2 intended to assess the causal direction of task conflicts and defensive communication strategies.

This research integrates the Job Demands–Resources framework, Conservation of Resources theory and Conflict Expression framework. Data from 124 professionals in India’s tertiary industry was gathered using a longitudinal approach. Study 1 analyses the dynamics between conflicts and defensive communication while considering managers’ active-empathic listening as a potential mitigating factor. Study 2 was conducted after a 10-month interim to delve into the intricate causal connections between defensive communication strategies and task conflicts. For analysing the data, SPSS was used for conducting confirmatory factor analysis. Furthermore, to analyse the conceptual framework and the hypothesised relationships in this study, partial least squares (PLS) modelling was performed using Smart-PLS 4.0.

Task conflicts have a significant negative association with mature and neurotic defensive communication, whereas they have a strong positive relationship with immature defensive communication. Relationship conflict significantly mediates the association between task conflict and immature defensive communication. The moderating role of the manager’s active-empathic listening was not supported. In addition, the relationship between immature defensive communication and task conflict is significantly positive, outlining their bidirectional association. In contrast, the association between mature defensive communication is significantly negative. This highlights the potential of immature defensive communication to create escalatory conflict spirals and of mature defensive communication to de-escalate them.

Defensive communication strategies, commonly explored in the psychological realm, particularly within family and romantic relationship contexts, have received limited attention in organisational behaviour. This longitudinal study offers a unique perspective on the evolution of defensive communication and its impact on task conflict over time, enhancing the understanding of how individuals adapt their communication strategies as conflicts persist or dissipate. The investigation also advances the understanding of conflict spirals, illustrating the potential of mature defensive communication to de-escalate conflicts while revealing a bidirectional connection between immature defensive communication and task conflicts.

Leaders need to prioritise addressing task conflicts, particularly those that might spiral into relationship conflicts. This would present managers with the ability to make task conflicts more functional in nature, which could help to enhance both team and organisational achievements. The bidirectional relationship between task conflict and immature defensive communication points towards the exigency for managerial and organisational initiatives to prevent the development of conflict spirals at the workplace.

This study offers crucial interdisciplinary perspectives into the body of literature with the longitudinal investigation of the connections between managers’ active-empathetic listening, task conflict, relationship conflict and the various defensive communication strategies. With the help of insights from this study, managers and leaders will be empowered to take the necessary actions to reduce employee defensive behaviours and foster a supportive culture for evoking positive and desirable performance.

Diversity management is of great importance in the hospitality industry, resulting in a host of constructive consequences if managed effectively. However, there is a deficiency of investigation surrounding the outcomes of diversity management on the employees' attitudes and behavior in the hospitality industry. This research sought to investigate the influence of diversity management on workers' performance and conduct in the hospitality industry.

This quantitative study used survey data from 565 hospitality industry employees. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships from the research model.

This study identified a relationship between diversity management and positive workforce-related outcomes, including job performance, service innovation behavior and employee engagement in the hospitality industry.

The findings of this study will push the confines of diversity management scholarship and initiate new paths of academic inquiry. Hospitality industry managers can also identify the benefits of effective diversity management as a consequence of this study.

This research contributes to the growing literature on diversity management as an essential aspect of human resources management in promoting positive employee attitudes and behaviors.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between board composition and a firm’s commitment to combatting climate change. Specifically, this study investigates how various characteristics of the board, namely its size and presence of independent directors, and of the directors themselves, including gender diversity, age, educational background and national homogeneity, affect the corporate-level climate change orientation. From a theoretical standpoint, the authors take a cross-fertilizing perspective, bridging upper echelons theory with agency, resource dependence and critical mass theories.

The study uses ordered probit regression models on a hand-collected multi-country and multi-industry sample of 35 listed firms included in the Global Climate Change Liquid Equity Index (GALPLACC) provided by ECPI. This index is particularly relevant as it focuses on firms that have demonstrated a commitment to climate change, providing a robust dataset for the analysis.

The findings underscore the importance of disentangling various characteristics of corporate boards and directors. Specifically, the orientation toward climate change is negatively influenced by both board size and having a higher number of independent directors, while it is positively affected by reaching a critical mass of women on the board. Conversely, factors such as average age, educational background and the level of national homogeneity do not show significant effects.

This paper has an exploratory nature and contributes to the ongoing debate on the crucial, yet controversial role played by board-level and directors’ sociodemographic characteristics in shaping a firm’s environmental stance. Moreover, this study offers potential recommendations for policymakers regarding board composition to enhance firms’ climate change orientation.

The link between relationship typologies and effectiveness of conflict resolution approaches remains to be tested despite its significance in conflict management in construction project delivery. By using the four relationships attributes based on the group attachment theory, the purpose of the study was to explore the cluster of relationships among project teams and organisations and the performance of conflict management strategies across these clusters in the Ghanaian construction industry.

Using a deductive questionnaire survey in the Ghanaian construction industry, a total of 137 responses were gathered and analyzed using cluster analysis, mean scores and ANOVA to reveal the relationship clusters and performance of conflict management strategies across these clusters.

The results revealed eight relationship clusters that exist among project teams and organisations with distinct influence of roles & tasks function, cognition, emotions and behavior attributes across the relationship clusters. In the aspect of the effectiveness of conflict management strategies, it was noted that the performance of these strategies were significantly different across the groups. For instance, integrating as a conflict management strategy was deemed to be effective in resolving conflict in unitary, adversarial, pluralist, mutuality, collaborative and partnering relationship clusters. In the case of coopetitive and coercive relationships, the performance of integrating as a conflict management strategy was less effective. This study thus has empirically proved that, different relationship clusters of teams and organizations exist within the Ghanaian construction industry, and that they perform different roles & tasks functions, cognition, emotions and behavioural attributes in their formation. Additionally, the performance effectiveness of conflict management strategies differed across the relationship clusters.

By aligning the relationship attributes to the dynamics of relationship clusters experienced in project teams and organisations, relationship quality, suitability and effectiveness of conflict management strategies can be optimized. The findings can inform project teams and stakeholders to develop fit-for-purpose relationship attributes among teams and organisations to enhance team effectiveness, relationship quality and conflict management in the industry.

Managing megaprojects is challenging due to their inherent complexity and uncertainty. Collaborative project delivery models have been introduced as an alternative to traditional project management in public infrastructure megaprojects and are often realized through collaborative contracts. These project organizations act as institutional arenas for logic interaction as actors with differing institutional backgrounds interact within the project. This paper aims to study the delivery phase of three megaprojects through an institutional lens, investigating the institutional interaction and alignment of logics therein.

A multiple case study was employed to reach deep insight into the phenomenon. Sixty-one interviews were conducted over 3 cases with representatives from all levels of the project hierarchy. Respondents were selected through snowball sampling. In two cases, observations of the shared project office were conducted. Data analysis built on first-order codes and second-order themes, collected into a theoretical framework.

The empirical evidence demonstrates the dynamics shaping institutional logics and gives evidence for changing logics in projects with a well-applied collaborative contract. However, there is a risk of resistance and a return to traditional logics since institutional change is slow and an unsuitably applied collaborative contract can lead to adherence to the conventional way of work.

Current research has focused on the regulatory framework and procurement phase of such models, but little attention has been given to the delivery phase and the interaction of conflicting logics. This paper can serve as an exemplar of the different logics found within public infrastructure projects and their interaction and alignment. Contributions include a heightened emphasis on the start of the project as a meeting point for differing institutional logics and the role change necessary when using a collaborative contract.

Drawing on the relational view and contingency theories, this study explores supply chain relationship conditions' roles in interrelationships between environmental, social and supply chain performance (SCP), i.e. triple bottom line (TBL).

The data from industries and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to validate the proposed model. Interviews with industry experts were conducted to further understand the findings.

The authors find that relationship conditions, such as inventory information sharing, dependency, opportunistic behavior and conflicts, moderate TBL linkages. Interestingly, power asymmetry does not moderate the linkages. Social performance mediates between environmental and SCP. This indirect effect is stronger than the effect of environmental performance on SCP.

This research is perhaps the first to bring a much-needed nuanced view on the importance of relationship conditions for TBL performance linkages. The research further underlines the importance of social performance in an emerging economy.