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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the important process of how entrepreneurial identity is formed and constructed, with the perspective that entrepreneurial identity is social and dynamic, constantly shaped by various life episodes and human interactions, rather than static and unchanging.

This qualitative study comprises 30 in-depth interviews with Chinese immigrants in West Canada. These immigrants had been employed professionals under the “Skilled Workers” immigration category but later became entrepreneurs. None of the entrepreneurs in this study had prior business ownership experience, and many of them said that they had never thought about running businesses until they came to Canada.

A process model of entrepreneurial identity construction is presented. This paper advances the literature on entrepreneurship through the identification of three stages in the development of entrepreneurial identity: identity exploration, entrepreneurial mindsets building, and narrative development.

This study has important implications for the understanding of the exploratory and discovery mode of entrepreneurial identity construction. This study also moves away from the contextual and structural hypotheses as the sole explanations for the high rate of self-employment among immigrant entrepreneurs, and provides a useful starting point for a deeper understanding of the agency of immigrant entrepreneurs.

To be denied the status of formal worker is to be denied the rights and protections of the formal sector. Such classification is a source of insecurity and uncertainty for many. When employers privilege disembedded employment arrangements, workers in precarious semi-formal settings face many financial and relational challenges, yet receive limited support. In hostile economic, social, and legal contexts, what practices and discourses do these workers draw on to respond to their work situations? When, and against whom, do they struggle for labor embeddedness? Analyses of ethnographic and interview data from two fieldwork projects studying semi-formal work – one study of inmate labor in a US prison and one of a local independent culture industry – reveal that workers engage in collective and independent classification struggles in search of formal and symbolic reclassification. A typology of such struggles is presented. By viewing these practices through this lens, this chapter aims to reveal parallels in the experiences of workers in seemingly disconnected fields and advance our understanding of worker action and embeddedness in contemporary capitalism.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the linkages between two theories of firm performance, aspiration theory and the resource-based view (RBV), possible ways in which these theories may interact, and how the culture from which the firm originated can be a factor in how the firm may react to Schumpeterian shock issues suggested in RBV of the firm.

This paper takes a theoretical approach.

Firms generally look to firms sharing their own cultural backgrounds when selecting similar others. However when the environment is no longer beneficial to firms sharing these goals and objectives, the focal firm may consider firms from other cultural backgrounds when forming aspiration levels.

Empirical studies would be necessary to verify these finding: do firms show a preference to firms from their own cultural backgrounds when choosing firms to serve as reference groups for goals and objectives? Would Schumpeterian Shocks cause firms to seek other firms outside of their own culture to set new goals and objectives?

Firms should be aware of their own possible biases when deciding which firms to base its goals and objectives on, and widen the cultural scope of their competitive views to include firms from other cultural backgrounds, diversifying their repertoire of strategies and improving the survivability of the organization.

The combination of different managerial theories is not common in management literature, and the author was unable to find an article combining the RBV, Aspiration Theory and cultural theories. If management theories are valid, then it is important to understand the relationships between these theories.

This paper suggests that motives for engaging in affiliative‐promotive “helping” extra‐role behavior is related to cross‐cultural differences. The cultural dimensions of in‐group collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, performance orientation, and humane orientation, and their differential effect on helping extra‐role behavior in a diverse workforce are examined. Theoretical implications provide guidance for future empirical research in this area, and provide managers with more realistic expectations of employee performance in the workplace.

Integrating economic and green initiatives into firm strategies is a challenge for firms in various industries. The study aims to incorporate multiple views, i.e. green innovation theory (GIT), the green institutional perspective (GIP) and the natural-resource-based view (NRBV), to develop a comprehensive model to explore why and how firms implement green product innovation (GPI).

The study explores the relationships among institutional pressure, the firm's green resources and GPI. The research also distinguishes two different types of GPI: exploratory GPI and exploitative GPI. A total of 270 valid questionnaires were collected from electrical and electronics manufacturers in Taiwan. The authors employed structural equation modeling (SEM) using analysis of moment structures (AMOS) 23.0 to test the hypotheses.

The results show that institutional pressure has a significant positive correlation with the firm's green resources. Furthermore, institutional pressure has a significantly positive influence on exploratory GPI and exploitative GPI, respectively. The firm's green resources also have a significantly positive effect on both exploratory GPI and exploitative GPI. In addition, institutional pressures have significantly positive indirect effect on both exploratory GPI and exploitative GPI.

Economic benefits and environmental sustainability are the most pressing issues faced by the electrical and electronics industry today. The study's investigation covers Taiwanese electrical and electronics manufacturers only, so the test of the research model has limited generalizability. The authors suggest that to expand the generalizability of the findings, future research should examine this model in the context of other regions such as Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, etc.

The study has many interesting implications for both practitioners and policymakers. The authors' findings suggest that while Taiwanese electrical and electronics manufacturers face significant pressure from customers, competitors and regulation requirements (e.g. waste electrical and electronic equipment [WEEE], restriction of hazardous substances [RoHS] and energy using product [EuP] directives), firms in that sector should efficiently and effectively deploy their green resources and then perform proper GPI (e.g. exploratory GPI or exploitative GPI). These results also serve as a reminder to policymakers that balancing coercive (command-and-control) mechanisms with incentives and voluntary mechanisms is the best means by which to develop motivational and effective GPI policies.

First and foremost, the paper divides GPI into exploratory GPI and exploitative GPI. Furthermore, the research incorporates two important schools of thought, i.e. the GIP and NRBV, thus providing a more holistic view by which to explore why and how companies adopt GPI.

The study aims to examine the extent to which age and job satisfaction levels were predictive of organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB). From a practical perspective, understanding age- and job satisfaction-related participation in OCB would benefit management’s decisions regarding workers’ adaptability, general work effectiveness and the effective handling of demographic-dependant organizational characteristics. Members of the sample were 320 Ghanaian industrial workers.

Data were collected by cross-sectional self-reports. The internal consistency reliability was tested with Cronbach’s alpha. A one-way ANOVA and post-hoc analyses were used to compare the mean scores of the four age-cohorts. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to test the main and interaction effects of age and job satisfaction on OCB. A two-way interaction effect of age and job satisfaction on OCB was produced and illustrated graphically.

Both independent variables were predictive of OCB. Age was a significant predictor of OCB in this sample. In contrast to Western studies, older workers were more active in citizenship behaviours than their younger counterparts. The data also indicated job satisfaction to be a significant predictor of citizenship behaviours. Compared to older workers, younger workers’ citizenship behaviours were significantly influenced by job satisfaction. Results were interpreted in the context of East/West cultural values, with special emphasis on Ghanaian cultural influences on OCB. Implications of the findings are discussed.

The study explored for the first time, the joint impact of age and job satisfaction on citizenship behaviours.

This study aims to explore the relationships among institutional pressures, commitment of resources and returns management. Returns management is regarded as a part of supply chain management. However, the research in returns management has received much less attention. To bridge the gap, this study concerns key concepts from two important schools of thought, i.e. institutional theory and the resource-based view, to build up the research model.

Retailers and maintenance providers in the 3C industry (computers, communication and consumer electronics) in Taiwan were surveyed, and the statistical methods of hierarchical and moderated regression were used to examine the relationships among institutional pressures, commitment of resources and returns management.

Institutional pressures, comprising non-market and market pressures, affect the implementation of returns management (product return practices and product recovery practices). Commitments of resources positively and significantly moderate the relationship between the pressures imposed by non-market and market actors and product return practices and product recovery practices.

This study investigates only the factors that drive returns management. Future research can examine the relationship between the antecedents and consequences of returns management. Furthermore, returns management may become increasingly critical for firms to develop and perform corporate social responsibility (CSR). Therefore, future research can investigate the relationship between CSR practices and returns management.

This research suggests that managers under institutional pressures should continually pay attention to the effects of external factors on returns management. Additionally, the results reveal that a commitment of resources can reinforce the relationship between the pressures imposed by non-market and market actors and the implementation of returns management. Under significant institutional pressures and resource constraints, managers may increase the effectiveness of returns management while attending to the concerns of non-market and market actors.

This study presents a model that considers three major explicative variables: institutional pressures, resources commitment and returns management. It is the first investigation to integrate three streams of literature on institutional theory, the resource-based view and returns management.

This study seeks to identify the factors influencing the performance of green new product development. Additionally, an examination of the relationship between green performance and financial performance is carried out.

The study employed survey instrument data collected from 181 companies in hi‐tech industries including electrical, electronics, and information industries of Taiwan. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regressions were used for hypothesis testing.

Corporate environmental commitment, environmental benchmarking, R&D strength, and cross‐functional integration significantly positively influenced financial performance. Additionally, green product innovation performance has a positive effect on financial performance.

A longitudinal research design is necessary to validate these claims of causality. Furthermore, since respondents provided data on both the independent and dependent variables, there is the possibility that the correlations were inflated as a result of single‐source bias.

The identification of the specific actions of both top management support and environmental benchmarking must be implemented for green new product development to occur. Additionally, successful GNPD needs to be underpinned by an environmental product strategy that is explicit, clearly defined, and linked to the overall strategy of the firm.

Taiwan's rapid industrialization has generated numerous environmental problems. Moving forward, the Taiwanese government should implement advanced green management concepts to keep abreast of the global environmental movement. Enterprises have to be dedicated to developing GNPD; achieving GNPD success will bring great challenges for firms in Taiwan.

The integration of innovation, new product development, and green management philosophies is explored in order to develop and empirically test a theoretical framework of the organizational factors. This paper is the first to conduct a large sample survey of the hi‐tech industries including the electrical, electronics, and information industries in Taiwan to examine organizational factor effects on GNPD success, and the relationship between green product innovation performance and financial performance.

This is the first study to examine AIDS activism among African American women. It also argues for womanism as a framework that can more accurately examine activism among African American women. Based on in-depth interviews with 36 African American women AIDS activists, this chapter explores factors that encourage activism among this sample of women. Intersectionality, and its emphasis on notions of identity and intersecting oppressions and social justice, is used as the theoretical framework to examine AIDS activism among these women. Findings suggest that their identities as activists and African American women, as well as their spirituality and notions of community uplift and survival have informed their activism efforts. These findings are discussed along with the limitations of utilizing intersectionality as the theoretical framework. Womanism is suggested as a theoretical framework that can extend the notions of identity and activism among people of color emphasized by intersectionality, as it addresses identity and social justice, but also highlights the importance of spirituality and community uplift among this sample of women.

The purpose of this paper is to examine service level agreements (SLAs) in the retail industry and uses empirical data to draw conclusions on the relationships between SLA parameters and retailer financial performance.

Based on prior SLA theories, hypotheses about the impacts of SLA confidentiality, choice of chargeback mechanisms and chargeback penalty on retailer inventory turnover are tested.

Retailer inventory turnover could vary by the level of SLA confidentiality, and the variation of retailer inventory turnovers could be explained by chargeback penalty.

The research findings may not be readily applicable to SLAs outside of the retail industry. Also, most conclusions were drawn from publicly available SLAs.

The significant relationships between SLA parameters and retailer inventory turnover imply that a retailer could improve its financial performance by leveraging its SLA design.

Not only does this study contribute to the understanding of retail SLA design in practice, but it also extends prior theories by investigating the implications of SLA design on the retailer inventory turnover.