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As research emerged in terms of how narcissism, a negative or dark trait, has been found to be constructive in enhancing entrepreneurial behaviour, there are mixed results regarding the significance of narcissism in the field of entrepreneurship. Additionally, this previous research has mostly been conducted on student or nascent entrepreneur samples within developed economies. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore how narcissistic traits of established entrepreneurs in an emerging economy context infuence their entrepreneurial behaviour both positively and negatively.

Gioia methodology was applied in the qualitative study by means of in-depth interviews, which allowed for the unpacking of narcissistic traits among established entrepreneurs in South Africa. Four themes emerged from the data, and included insights related to entrepreneurial experience influencing behaviour; business growth linked to personal development; opportunity identification versus loss; and identity separation in relation to authentic identity versus an entrepreneurial identity.

The findings of the paper contribute to creating an understanding of how to hone individual narcissistic traits for positive influences that develop entrepreneurs while also contributing to their business development, opportunity realization and identity. In addition, the findings highlighted a separation between established entrepreneurs’ authentic personality and the inputs that end up resulting in the entrepreneurial personality.

This paper highlights the possibility of narcissism functioning as a business process involved in entrepreneurship rather than a necessary personality trait. An interesting dynamic contributed to what seems to be a constant battle between the authentic identity and the entrepreneur identity, gaining deeper insight surrounding established entrepreneurs’ experiences to survive and, more importantly, thrive as entrepreneurs.

This study aims to examine the phenomenon of self-perceived age (SPA) identity for Generation X (GenX) women in the UK. Squeezed between the more ubiquitous “boomer” and “millennial” cohorts, and now with both gender and age stigma-related challenges, this study looks to provide insights for understanding this group for marketing.

This study adopts an existential phenomenological approach using a hybrid structured/hermeneutic research design. Data is collected using solicited diary research (SDR) that elicits autoethnographic insights into the lived experiences of GenX women, these in the context of SPA.

For this group, the authors find age a gendered phenomenon represented via seven “age frames”, collectively an “organisation of experience”. Age identity appears not to have unified meaning but is contingent upon individuals and their experiences. These frames then provide further insights into how diarists react to the stigma of gendered ageism.

SDR appeals to participants who like completing diaries and are motivated by the research topic. This limits both diversity of response and sample size, but coincidentally enhances elicitation potential – outweighing, the authors believe, these constraints. The sample comprises UK women only.

This study acknowledges GenX women as socially real, but from an SPA perspective they are heterogeneous, and consequently distributed across many segments. Here, age is a psychographic, not demographic, variable – a subjective rather than chronological condition requiring a nuanced response from marketers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first formal study into how SPA identity is manifested for GenX women. Methodologically, this study uses e-journals/diaries, an approach not yet fully exploited in marketing research.

Negotiations with venture capitalists (VCs) play a crucial role in the entrepreneurial financing process. Habitual entrepreneurs are generally able to secure more venture capital funding and on better deal terms than novices. This study investigates the disparities in negotiation competencies between habitual and novice entrepreneurs during VC funding negotiations.

This study employed a qualitative approach to investigate the variation in negotiation competencies between habitual and novice entrepreneurs, utilizing the negotiation competency model (NCM). The data analysis and interpretation adopted an inductive concept development approach. A total of 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with seasoned VCs located in Europe, all of whom had actively engaged in funding negotiations with both habitual and novice entrepreneurs.

The findings revealed substantial disparities between novice and habitual entrepreneurs in VC negotiations. Although not all competencies of the NCM exhibited variances, the results indicate three primary dimensions contributing to these differences: expertise, reputation, and negotiation competence.

This study is groundbreaking as it represents one of the earliest empirical investigations into the entrepreneurial negotiation competencies within VC negotiations. The findings endeavor to narrow the gap between novice and habitual entrepreneurs in VC negotiations by pinpointing the distinct variations between these two groups, which hold significant practical implications. Furthermore, this study expands the conceptual framework of the NCM by identifying supplementary competencies within the realm of VC negotiations.

The importance of learning in development in increasingly dynamic contexts can help individuals and organizations adapt to disruption. Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a disruptive technology, with increasing adoption by various human resource management (HRM) functions. However, learning and development (L&D) adoption of AI is lagging, and there is a need to understand of this low adoption based on the internal/external contexts and organization types. Building on open system theory and adopting a technology-in-practice lens, the authors examine the various L&D approaches and the roles of human and technology agencies, enabled by differing structures, different types of organizations and the use of AI in L&D.

Through a qualitative interview design, data were collected from 27 key stakeholders and L&D professionals of MSMEs, NGOs and MNEs organizations. The authors used Gioia's qualitative research approach for the thematic analysis of the collected data.

The authors argue that human and technology agencies develop organizational protocols and structures consistent with their internal/external contexts, resource availability and technology adoptions. While the reasons for lagging AI adoption in L&D were determined, the future potential of AI to support L&D also emerges. The authors theorize about the socialization of human and technology-mediated interactions to develop three emerging structures for L&D in organizations of various sizes, industries, sectors and internal/external contexts.

The study hinges on open system theory (OST) and technology-in-practice to demonstrate the interdependence and inseparability of human activity, technological advancement and capability, and structured contexts. The authors examine the reasons for lagging AI adoption in L&D and how agentic focus shifts contingent on the organization's internal/external contexts.

While AI-HRM scholarship has primarily relied on psychological theories to examine impact and outcomes, the authors adopt the OST and technology in practice lens to explain how organizational contexts, resources and technology adoption may influence L&D. This study investigates the use of AI-based technology and its enabling factors for L&D, which has been under-researched.

This study aims to examine the relationship between knowledge management and career development in an era characterized by high levels of youth unemployment and a demand for specialized skills. Despite the increasing transition to a knowledge-based economy, there is a significant gap between young people’s skills and career readiness, necessitating an in-depth analysis of the role of knowledge management at the individual, organizational and national levels.

The authors conducted a qualitative study using the theory-context-characteristics-methodology approach based on a systematic literature review. The authors created an ecological framework for reflecting on knowledge management and career development, arguing for a multidisciplinary approach that invites collaboration across sectors to generate innovative and reliable solutions.

This study presents a comprehensive review of the existing literature and trends, noting the need for more focus on the interplay between knowledge management and career development. It emphasizes the need for businesses to promote the acquisition, storage, diffusion and application of knowledge and its circulation and exchange to create international business human capital.

The findings may help multinational corporations develop managerial training programs and recruitment strategies, given the demand for advanced knowledge-based skills in the modern workspace. The study also discusses the influences of education, experience and job skills on business managers’ performance, guiding the future recruitment of talents.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this review is among the first to assess the triadic relationship between knowledge management, career development and the global unemployment crisis. The proposed multidisciplinary approach seeks to break down existing silos, thus fostering a more comprehensive understanding of how to address these ongoing global concerns.

With the growing need for employees to be innovative, public-sector organizations are investing in employee training. This study aims to examine the effects of a combined Lean Six Sigma and innovation training, using action learning, on public-sector employees’ creative role identity and innovative work behavior.

The authors studied a public service agency in Singapore in which a five-day Lean Innovation Training was implemented, using a combination of Lean Six Sigma and Creative Problem-Solving tools, with a simulation on day one and subsequent team-based project coaching, spread over six months. The authors administered pre- and postintervention surveys among all the employees, and initiated group interviews and observations before, during and after the intervention.

Creative role identity and innovative work behavior had significantly improved six months after the intervention, enabled through senior management’s transformational leadership. The training induced managers to role-model innovative work behaviors while cocreating, with their employees, a renewal of their agency’s core processes. The three completed improvement projects contributed to an innovative work culture and reduced service turnaround time.

Starting with a role-playing simulation on the first day, during which leaders and followers swapped roles, the action-learning type training taught all the organizational members to use various Lean Six Sigma and Creative Problem-Solving tools. This nimble Lean Innovation Training, and subsequent team-based project coaching, exemplifies how advancing the staff’s creative role identity can have a positive impact.

The aim of this study is to understand the relationship between economic challenges, tribalism and the use of the wasta informal network in the workplace across Middle East and North Africa (MENA) organizations, with Jordanian public organizations taken as an illustrative case.

A qualitative approach was applied, and a total of 28 semi-structured interviews were conducted with human resource (HR) officials working in different public organizations such as state-owned enterprises (SOEs), ministries, government agencies (GAs) the military forces and security agencies.

The authors' findings show that employees who live in rural areas are more likely to use wasta in public organizations than the counterparts living in the capital Amman. This contrast is accounted for by major differences between mentalities, the strength of tribalism, norms and living standards among residents of urban and rural areas. The authors argue that these differences play a pivotal role on the use of wasta informal networks in the workplace.

The outcomes obtained in this study have proven to be unique and important due to the authors' holistic theoretical understanding of wasta, which offers important insights into its emergence, evolution and use in the workplace. The outcomes of this study also serve as guidance for organizations in understanding the “hidden force” of wasta and the extent to which the organizations' businesses may be impacted by this, based on the type of employees the organizations already have or intend to hire and employees' tribal ties. This study accounts for the wide use of informal networks in managerial activities, based on important social and economic realities that have not been previously explored in the literature.

Emerging economies are dominated by an unorganized retail landscape, with complex sociocultural norms dictating the behavior of retailers and customers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the phenomenon of consumer embarrassment in an emerging marketing, India.

This research adopts a grounded theory approach and undertakes 31 in-depth interviews with consumers in India. The data is analyzed inductively and iteratively simultaneously with data collection.

The study uncovers that sociocultural normative influences, the retail environment’s structural constraints, interaction-based buying processes and customers’ perceptions play a role in eliciting embarrassment in traditional stores. The traditional format retailers play a significant role in evoking embarrassment and, surprisingly, also in facilitating coping. Contrary to the extant findings, purchasing embarrassing products online may not ensure anonymity and elicit embarrassment. The findings contribute to understanding the phenomenon of embarrassment in emerging markets.

There is a dearth of research examining consumer embarrassment in emerging markets, with extant studies investigating the phenomenon in the modern retail setup of developed economies. The retail landscape of India is predominantly unorganized, with distinct transactional processes and physical characteristics that are starkly different from modern retail stores. Moreover, sociocultural normative forces have distinct influences on the informal setup of unorganized retail.

This article examines the overlooked literature on algorithmic profiling in public employment services (APPES) in the field of public administration. More specifically, it aims to provide an overview and connections to identify directions for future research.

To understand the existing literature, this article conducts the first systematic literature review on APPES. Through inductive coding of the identified studies, the analysis identifies concepts and themes, and the relationships among them.

The literature review shows that APPES constitutes an emerging field of research encompassed by four strands and associated research disciplines. Further, the data analysis identifies 23 second-order themes, five dimensions and ten interrelationships, thus suggesting that the practices and effects of algorithmic profiling are multidimensional and dynamic.

The findings demonstrate the importance of future research on APPES undertaking a holistic approach. Studying certain dimensions and interrelationships in isolation risks overlooking mutually vital aspects, resulting in findings of limited relevance. A holistic approach entails considering both the technical and social effects of APPES.

This literature review contributes by connecting the existing literature across different research approaches and disciplines.