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New non-equilibrium systems theory is a very important theoretical and methodological base of survey and understanding of contemporary economic systems and processes. Equilibrium is considered one of the basic conditions of existence and evolution of natural and social systems, according to scientific literature. Generally speaking, it can be presented as true. But the problem is that classical imagination perceives equilibrium as something real and stable – something more stable than basic condition of evolution of systems. Non-equilibrium state was usually understood as something negative, something destructive and something which has to be eliminated. Non-equilibrium state was understood as an anomaly, as an expression of weakening of system security and as a road to extinction. Thermodynamics comes with an idea that equilibrium is a “short” state of the system, equilibrium is very relative and all systems try to meet it, but they will never reach it. Equilibrium is usually connected with classical science and non-equilibrium state is connected with thermodynamics paradigm, with a new methodology of science. Non-equilibrium state is often seen as a basic condition – as an internal source of system evolution and its activities. Non-equilibrium state is a base of new arrangement of systems. Misunderstanding of contemporary non-equilibrium state theory and new expressions or aspects of dynamic processes can bring about negative impacts on the survey and establishment of new global economic system, e.g. new national and local economic systems. Therefore, the non-equilibrium state theory is a methodological base of new perception and survey of contemporary economic systems.

A study of non-equilibrium thermodynamics.

Irreversibility and non-equilibrium, occurring in each process and evolutionary phase of economic systems, are connected with accidents and openness. Openness of systems enables (and causes) diversification toward wider system or environment and penetration of external elements and processes to internal structure of the system. A system like this is more sensitive to external and internal changes. Considering this, it is very important to be aware of the fact that entropy has different behavior in “closed” systems – different from behavior in open systems. Open economic systems communicate with external environment, interact with external systems and they exchange the energy. They consume energy of external environment and penetrate it. Elements, nodes and joints in open systems can communicate, connect and integrate with elements, nodes and joints from external systems. The growth of entropy is “smoother” and equilibrium of the system, its sub-systems and elements proceeds despite the non-equilibrium state of elements of the own system. They have to communicate and exchange the energy with external environment. This is because of the non-equilibrium state.

This is an original thermodynamic approach to the importance of non-equilibrium in the development of economic systems.

This study aims to understand workplace conflict outcomes (WCO) literature and identify the research gaps by mapping its knowledge base and theoretical evolution.

This study combines bibliometric and qualitative analysis and encompasses 1,043 Scopus-indexed documents published between 1972 and 2022. The bibliometric analysis used VOSviewer, Excel and Tableau software for descriptive statistics, citation and co-citation analyses of publication patterns, authors, documents and journals. The qualitative analysis critiqued main theoretical perspectives and topical interests.

This study revealed a significant increase in literature after 2000, with authors representing 70 societies, primarily the USA, China, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands. Influential authors and their canonical articles were identified, including Jehn, De Dreu, Spector, Amason and Pelled. Highly cited articles focused on task, relationship, role and process conflict. Four main theoretical schools were categorized: conflict type paradigm, individual differences, conflict cooccurrence and conflict dynamics. Influential journals spanned psychology, management, negotiation and decision-making and business and marketing fields, including JAP, AMJ, ASQ, JM, JOB, AMR, IJCMA and OS.

This study provides implications for future bibliometric analyses, theoretical and empirical studies, practitioners and society based on its quantitative and qualitative findings.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first bibliometric review of WCO literature, serving as a baseline for tracking the field’s evolution and theoretical advancements.

The aim of this paper is to present a framework that can be used to identify detrimental team processes in high reliability teams (HRTs), such as conflict, asymmetric perceptions and stress and coping appraisals, and develop interventions that eliminate these detrimental team processes. In addition, this paper suggests new directions for future disaster management and conflict research.

This framework is developed based on past theories (i.e. Intragroup Conflict Theory and Biopsychosocial Model of arousal regulation) and their associated empirical studies.

The present article brings a multi-method, multi-level approach to examine the prevalence of detrimental team processes in HRTs, their impact on performance and stress-related health outcomes and how they can be prevented or managed.

This paper provides a novel conceptual framework that highlights the importance of considering human factors and team processes in improving the response speed, accuracy and efficiency of high reliability team members and ensuring the health and well-being of both responders and recipients of care.

The purpose of this paper is to find out whether corporate diversification provides a favourable environment for earnings management (agency conflicts hypothesis) or whether it mitigates this phenomenon (earnings volatility hypothesis).

Based on a sample of US firms and making an explicit distinction between industrial and geographic diversification, univariate and multivariate analyses are used to test whether firm diversification has an impact on earnings management.

Results show that the average diversified firm in the sample has somewhat more earnings management problems than a similarly constructed portfolio of stand‐alone firms chosen to approximate the segments of the conglomerate. Consistent with the agency conflicts hypothesis, the authors find that geographic diversification increases earnings management whereas industrial diversification decreases it, consistent with earnings volatility hypothesis. Moreover, industrial and geographic diversification combined reinforce this phenomenon. These findings are consistent with the view that the costs of geographic diversification outweigh the benefits.

The paper makes an important contribution to the accounting literature by providing new and significantly different evidence on the relative roles of corporate diversification in the earnings management. By linking two streams of research, earnings management and corporate diversification, one is taken into the unexplored area of the sources of the difference in earnings management between diversified and focussed firms. More specifically, this study provides evidence that earnings management is more intensively practiced in geographically diversified firms and even more so in firms that are both industrially and geographically diversified.

How to depict conflict characteristics? Previous literature has overwhelmingly used intensity and frequency of conflict, resulting in an incomplete understanding of conflict itself and its impacts. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper aims to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework for conflict attributes.

Through a systematic and integrative literature review, this study has achieved the objectives by synthesizing the current state of knowledge on conflict and borrowing insights from event system theory.

A total of 16 conflict attributes were identified to constitute the event-oriented conceptualization of conflict, describing conflict from three dimensions – strength, time and space. Four promising areas for future conflict inquiry are proposed: linking the effectiveness of conflict to its attributes; exploring the interplay and configuration of multiple conflict attributes; progressing from variance- to process-oriented conflict theories; and developing symmetric/asymmetric views of conflict.

This paper conceptually clarifies conflict attributes from the event perspective and offers a nuanced understanding of conflict, which contributes to the current fragmented knowledge of conflict attributes. Scholars can build on this study’s findings to fill gaps and move conflict research forward. It also enhances researchers’ awareness of time and space and thus encourages more longitudinal exploration into the dynamics of conflict.

Sustainability approaches across product supply chains are well-known, while similar knowledge on transport supply chains (TSC) is limited. The purpose of this paper is to explore sustainability approaches and managerial challenges in extending sustainability across a TSC.

This paper presents a case study of a TSC with a shipper, a third-party logistics firm and a hauler. Each actor’s views on sustainability-related communication and relations with other TSC actors are analyzed through the lens of agency theory.

Each dyad in the TSC reveals different, more or less collaboration-based approaches. Challenges are revealed, including the lack of shipper understanding for the TSC context and the use of immature contracts, which disincentivizes sustainability compliance. The multi-tier study object reveals the silencing of distant actors and the need for actors to take on mediating roles to bridge information asymmetries.

Combining literature perspectives (relations, communication and agency theory) provides a deeper understanding of the approaches applied and identifies different challenges. The inclusion of agency theory reveals principal problems such as information asymmetries between agents and less-informed principals and suggests complementary labels of supply chain actors.

Practical contributions include the highlighting of managerial challenges, which can aid managers in extending sustainability across TCSs.

The case study method offers insights into collaboratively improving sustainability in supply chains (such as using contracts), thus having social and environmental implications.

The paper narrows knowledge gaps about managing sustainability among logistics service providers and analyzes data from multi-tier actors.

Psychological safety climate has been commonly conceptualized as a facilitative team property. Despite the literature review and meta-analysis conducted recently, little is known about the potential dark side of psychological safety climate. The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework to advance our understanding of both the bright and dark sides of psychological safety.

Drawing on extant theories and previous literature, the authors propose a conceptual framework of the mechanisms and boundary conditions underlying the relationship between psychological safety climate and dysfunctional team behavior.

The authors propose that the relationship between psychological safety climate and dysfunctional behaviors in the team is directly contingent on psychological safety climate strength, and indirectly contingent on task interdependence, group faultlines, group conflict asymmetry and team power distance differentiation.

First, the authors attempt to expand psychological safety climate literature by considering its potential damaging outcomes. Second, they contribute to the theory of psychological safety climate by suggesting a theoretical model consisting of the boundary conditions wherein psychological safety climate could reduce team effectiveness. Finally, the authors incorporate climate strength into the psychological safety literature to probe the antecedents of psychological safety climate strength and when it matters to the subsequent negative outcomes.

Extant research documents the importance of lean thinking for organizations, however, as prior research has largely focused on hard lean practices, but little is known about the effects or the significance of soft lean practices. This research attempts to address this issue by examining how soft lean practices enhance organizational lean readiness, and in turn increase the success of lean implementation.

This research adopts a single case study design in a small-medium enterprise livestock feed manufacturing organization, and investigates the period from late 2011 through the end of 2019 covering two attempts at lean implementation – an initial failed attempt followed by a successful introduction of lean within the case organization. The research analyzes interviews with 29 managers and employees from all organizational levels and departments within the case organization. Secondary data including organizational documents and performance measures and metrics were also incorporated into the research design.

Drawing on agency theory, the authors advance a principal-agent interaction perspective to conceptualize organizational lean readiness – specifically, the authors consider the “state or condition” of four agency factors (goal conflict, information asymmetry, risk aversion and length of relationship), and explore if these four agency factors can be utilized as proxies for organizational readiness for lean implementation. The authors identify the formation of a shared vision and identity within the organization as an effective mechanism through which soft lean practices enhance organizational lean readiness. Finally, the analysis offers an understanding of how the long-term success of lean implementation is improved by the introduction of soft lean practices as a prerequisite to create organizational readiness for the implementation of hard lean practices.

The study is unique in the sense that it empirically links agency theory and the role of soft lean practices in developing organizational lean readiness in a small-medium enterprise context by defining the ideal state of four agency factors as proxies for organizational readiness.

Personality differences may be a major reason of conflict, as well as the perception of conflict and preference for handling that conflict. This study aims to explore the role of personality traits in determining conflict and performance. The authors also studied the moderated mediated relationship between personality and performance through conflict and conflict management styles.

A field survey was conducted with a sample of 153 employees to test the hypotheses.

As hypothesized, agreeable persons perceive less conflict and extraverts are more likely to use integrating, obliging, compromising and avoiding styles. Emotionally stable people opt for integrating style whereas neurotics opt for dominating style. Conscientiousness, openness and emotional stability have a direct effect on performance, but the interactions between conflict and conflict management styles determine the relationship between personality traits and performance.

The cross-sectional nature of data and somewhat reliable coefficients for personality measures reduce confidence in the results. Future research should use different or multiple measures of personality. Personality traits may be explored in view of the degree of each personality trait or interactions between personality traits.

People are sensitive about engaging in conflict and handling conflict differently because of their personality characteristics. The personality traits should, therefore, be understood and considered for conflict experience, conflict management and performance.

The paper adds to management research by investigating the relationship between personality traits, conflicts, conflict management styles and performance.

The purpose of this paper is to articulate propositions on how collaborating multi-national corporations (MNCs) can manage their supplier base in order to reduce the risk of suppliers’ non-compliance with shared codes-of-conduct.

The study utilises a conceptual theory development approach. In doing so, it utilises key tenets of agency theory that are applied in a multi-principal–supplier relationship context and synthesised in a series of propositions.

The study shows that MNCs have a variety of mechanisms for reducing the risk of suppliers’ non-compliance by decreasing information asymmetry, increasing their bargaining power and simultaneously use of both rewards/sanctions, and reputation-based safeguards.

This is a conceptual theory development study, offering testable propositions, which have then to be empirically validated.

The study showcases that managers of MNCs who find themselves in relationships with non-compliant suppliers have at their disposal a variety of mechanisms to reduce the risk of suppliers’ non-compliance.

This is one of the first studies that explore suppliers’ non-compliance with codes-of-conduct at the level of a relationship, rather than a single firm. In this way it proposes a theoretical framework grounded in agency theory on managing relationships between multi-principal collaborators and their suppliers.