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The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of organizational level on employees' perceptions and reactions to a complex organizational change involving proposed work force redesign, downsizing and a physical move to a new hospital.

Participants included executives, supervisory and non‐supervisory staff in a major tertiary hospital. Recorded in‐depth interviews were conducted with 61 employees about the positive and negative aspects of the change.

A total of 12 themes were identified from content coding, including emotional responses and attitudes toward the change, issues about the management of the change process and about change outcomes. Supervisory and non‐supervisory staff referred more to conflict and divisions, and expressed more negative attitudes toward the change, than did executives. Executives and supervisory staff focused more on planning challenges and potential outcomes of the change than did non‐supervisory staff. Finally, compared to other staff, executives focused more on participation in the change process and communication about the change process.

This study examines the organizational change at only one time point in one organization. Perceptions of the change may change over time, and other identities like professional identity may influence perceptions.

These findings suggest that change agents should consider the needs of different organizational groups in order to achieve effective and successful organizational change.

This study clearly shows the impact of organizational level, identifying similarities and differences in perceptions of change across level.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrative model where perceived competence, perceived warmth and “clean green image” of an exporting country are drivers for Chinese consumers' trust in food quality and food safety, which in turn predict their willingness to buy fresh fruit from this country.

Participants (N = 1,583) from the three metropolises in China were surveyed on their perceptions of the competence, warmth and clean green image of seven contrasting exporting countries and their trust in quality, trust in safety and willingness to buy fresh fruit imported from those countries.

Results support the proposed integrative model, explaining 39%–55% of the variance in willingness to buy. Clean green image was the strongest predictor of willingness to buy through enhanced trust in food quality. The effects of country competence and warmth on willingness to buy through trust in food safety and quality varied with exporting country.

The integrative model and findings of this study can help agri-food industries develop an in-depth understanding of Chinese consumers and to develop targeted strategies to increase willingness to buy through improving consumer trust in food quality and safety.

This study extends the country image framework which previously only consisted of human characteristics (i.e. perceived competence and warmth) by incorporating environmental characteristics (i.e. clean green image) in examining consumers' willingness to buy imported fresh fruit.

The aim of this paper is to describe the factors that contribute to understanding how collaboration improves performance in operating rooms (ORs) after introducing the concept of cross‐functional OR scheduling teams.

The concept was investigated at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center (RUNMC) in The Netherlands and used on an innovative path based on socio‐technical systems (STS) principles designed to address non‐routine tasks, variety, interferences and errors related to OR scheduling, with the aim of increasing both staff productivity and patient safety. The effects of implementing preoperative cross‐functional teams in the OR were compared qualitatively. The researcher observed all of the team meetings, available data and documentation, and 13 semi‐structured interviews were performed with team members for collecting additional data.

In the literature, it was found that the theory of socio‐technical systems and the fields of group dynamics and self‐managing teams fit the OR setting. The author applied six elements of these theories (setting common goals, cohesion, openness, single‐loop and double‐loop learning, feedback, and control options) to the aspects found in the study. The qualitative findings revealed that high‐performing teams were able to identify bottlenecks in order to improve continuity of care. The cross‐functional teams used several performance indicators to gain insight into their own performance. Consequently, through collaboration, these teams were able to minimise interference and therefore learn. Cross‐functional teams learned how to address interferences and improve their quality of service through improved collaboration and the improved use of control mechanisms.

This research highlights the importance of team‐based approaches and the need to improve collaboration between healthcare professionals.

The paper confirms the value of implementing the socio‐technical systems theory to improve collaboration between healthcare professionals. This case study is a valuable contribution, as it focuses on team‐based organisation in preparing an OR schedule.

In this chapter, we review relational demography literature underpinned by the similarity–attraction paradigm and status characteristics and social identity theories. We then develop an uncertainty reduction model of relational demography, which describes a two-stage process of uncertainty emergence and reduction in a workgroup setting. The first stage depicts how structural features of the workgroup (workgroup composition) and occupation (the legitimacy of its status hierarchy) induce two forms of uncertainty: uncertainty about group norms and uncertainty about instrumental outcomes. The second part of the model illustrates employees' choice of uncertainty reduction strategies, depending on the type of uncertainty they experience, and the status of their demographic categories. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

In this chapter, we develop a theoretical model of group splits, culture shifts, and creativity in diverse groups. This model explains how the strength of informational faultlines can elicit a culture shift from a desired to an actual culture of creativity in a team, which then might differentially influence team creativity and group performance. We further argue that subgroup support and team creative efficacy may enhance the interaction of informational faultlines with a desired culture of creativity to facilitate the shift toward an actual culture of creativity. We also discuss future research directions and practical implications for stimulating creative behaviors in organizations.

In the realm of energy behaviour studies, very little research has been done to understand industrial energy behaviour (IEB) that influences the willingness to adopt (WTA) energy-efficient measures. Most of the studies on energy behaviour were focused on the residential and commercial sectors where the behaviour under investigation was under volitional control, that is, where people believe that they can execute the behaviour whenever they are willing to do so. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing the industry’s intentions and behaviour that leads to enhanced adoption of energy efficiency measures recommended through energy audits. In particular, this paper aims to extend the existing behaviour intention models using the total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) method and expert feedback to develop an IEB model

TISM technique was used to determine the relationship between different elements of the behaviour. Responses were collected from experts in the field of energy efficiency to understand the relationship between identified factors, their driving power and dependency.

The results show that values, socialisation and leadership of individuals are the key driving factors in deciding the individual energy behaviour. WTA energy-saving measures recommended by an energy auditor are found to be highly dependent on the organisational policies such as energy policy, delegation of power to energy manager and life cycle cost evaluation in purchase policy.

This study has a few limitations that warrant consideration in future research. First, the data came from a small sample of energy experts based on a convenience sample of Indian experts. This limits the generalizability of the results. Individual and organizational behaviour analysed in this study looked into a few select characteristics, derived from the literature review and expert feedback, which may pose questions about the standard for behaviours in different industries.

Reasons for non-adoption of energy audit recommendations are rarely shared by the industries and the analysis of individual and organisational behaviour through structured questionnaire and surveys have serious limitations. Under this circumstance, collecting expert feedback and using the TISM method to build an IEB model can help to build strategies to enhance the adoption of energy-efficient measures.

Various policy level interventions and regulatory measures in the energy field, adopted across the globe, are found unsuccessful in narrowing the energy-efficiency gap, reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global warming. Understanding the key driving factors can help develop effective intervention strategies to improve energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions.

The industry energy behaviour model with driving, linking and dependent factors and factor hierarchy is a novel contribution to the theory of organisational behaviour. The model takes into consideration both the individual and organisational factors where the decision-making is not strictly under volitional control. Understanding the key driving factor of behaviour can help design an effective intervention strategy that addresses the barriers to energy efficiency improvement. The results imply that it is important to carry out post energy audit studies to understand the implementation rate of recommendations and also the individual and organisational factors that influence the WTA energy-saving measures.

The purpose of this paper is to confirm predictions that employee reports of psychological climate, appraisals of change and levels of adjustment during a change programme would be more positive for employees in higher status groups (operationalized as hierarchical level in the organization and occupational role).

Two questionnaire studies were conducted and data were analysed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). Study one examined differences among 669 public sector employees as a function of status (organizational hierarchal level). Study two examined differences among 732 hospital employees as a function of role (occupational group) and status (managerial responsibility).

The results of study one revealed that upper level staff reported more positive attitudes during change, across a range of indicators. The results of study two showed that non‐clinical staff reported more negative attitudes during change than other occupational groups. In addition, managers appraised change as more stressful than non‐managers, but felt more in control of the situation.

A limitation of the paper is the cross sectional and self‐report nature of measurement. Future research could utilize a longitudinal design and collect alternative sources of data to indicate the constructs of interest, e.g. supervisor ratings of employee adjustment during change.

Together, the results of both studies highlighted the importance of implementing change management interventions that are targeted at the sub‐group level.

The findings of the paper add empirical evidence to the emerging literature on group differences in adjustment during organizational change. The paper will be of interest to academics and practicing managers, particularly those concerned with the effective management of change programmes.

The learning outcomes are as follows: understanding of the principles of choice overload and the impact of consumer choice overload on company sustainability and growth prospects; understanding of how several heuristics inform consumer decision-making; applying nudge theory to interpret and clarify the impact and consequences of nudges on consumer decision-making; and considering the challenge of a newly appointed CEO to influence consumer choice.

The case study and teaching note offers insights into the use of behavioural economics principles in consumer choice. The case study methodology was used to design, analyse and interpret the real-life application of behavioural economics in the retail sector. The case demonstrates how choice overload, dual process theory, decision heuristics and nudge theory play a role in consumer decision-making. The case offers insights into the application of behavioural economics to support the sustainability of a company in an emerging market context. Managers can use the findings to consider how to use behavioural economics principles to drive consumer choice. The application of behavioural economics to an industry facing challenges of sustainability offers new insights into how to design spaces and cues for consumer choice.

The case study is suitable for course in business administration, specifically at postgraduate level.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing