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Grounded in contingency theory and strategic fit theory, the goal for this research was to determine if managers differentiate in terms of the degree of partnership when allocating resources for planning, joint operating controls, communication and other management components to relationships and if this differentiation is based on the Partnership Model (Lambert et al., 1996).

In total, 381 managers representing 31 relationships participated in one-and-a-half-day partnership meetings, and the authors analyzed how the management components were implemented in each relationship compared to the recommendations in the Partnership Model.

Managers did not differentiate types of partnerships which led to over-resourcing relationships with low potential and under-resourcing those with the highest potential for creating value. The principles of contingency theory and strategic fit were not used for managing relationships.

Contingency theory combined with the relationship view suggests that management components should not be implemented at the same level for all relationships, but in the 31 relationships studied different partnership types were not managed based on their potential.

The research reinforces the need for a formal structure like the Partnership Model to establish joint goals for a relationship and guide management in implementation.

Effective supply chain management depends on the ability of managers to differentiate among partnership types and fit relational mechanisms that are appropriate. However, researchers tend to generalize their findings to all partnerships regardless of potential. The authors found support for the Partnership Model published in IJLM in 1996 as a method to resource different types of partnerships following the contingency perspective and strategic fit theory.

This paper aims to investigate the interrelated role of relational commitment and dependence as drivers of key performance outcomes. Specifically, the authors provide a conceptual model of the impact of commitment on relationship value dependence and switching cost dependence. The authors further investigate how these dimensions of dependence offer differing noneconomic and economic paths to strategic and financial performance.

Survey data was collected from 296 purchasing agents across multiple industries located in the USA. The conceptual model and accompanying hypotheses were tested via partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results show that the relational path is driven by affective and normative commitment, which are related to relationship value dependence. Conversely, calculative commitment is related to switching cost dependence. This economic path is related to both strategic and financial performance, whereas the relational path is more closely related to strategic as opposed to financial performance outcomes.

This study extends research on Business-To-Business (B2B) relationships by leveraging social exchange theory to examine the interrelated roles played by two forms of dependence on performance outcomes. Thus, the authors answer Scheer et al.’s (2015) call for research into the two distinct types of dependence – relationship value and switching cost dependence – and their roles in determining B2B relationship outcomes. The findings contribute to the literature by integrating social exchange and relationship marketing concepts to develop a dual pathway approach to B2B partnerships.

The results suggest that dependence is not necessarily negative for firms. Specifically, buyers can and do still exhibit positive performance, both strategic and financial, in relationships with suppliers even when dependent on the relationship. Regardless of whether buyers are dependent due to a relationship or economic factors, both can, in different ways, lead to positive strategic and financial outcomes. Together, the authors contribute to the understanding of B2B partnerships by offering guidelines for both buyers and suppliers in the dyad.

The authors derive a comprehensive model depicting primarily relational and economic paths to performance through different types of commitment and dependence. The authors contribute to the literature by demonstrating that relational and economic paths to success are not the same, highlighting how firms could influence performance even when the relationship is not necessarily characterized by generally positive relational benefits and behaviors.

This paper aims to provide a framework regarding Information Technology (IT) Flexibility in Supply Chain and its relationship with the benefits we could see from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Furthermore, this research explores the moderating effect of Process Integration Capability in the relationship between IT flexibility and ERP benefits.

This research model will help organizations get additional benefits from their ERP systems that incurred huge costs, time and multiple resources at their implementation. The technique used for analyzing data is structural equation modeling (SEM), and data is collected from 107 respondents through a questionnaire from Business and IT Professionals.

The study findings reveal a positive and significant relationship between IT flexibility and ERP systems benefits; moreover, results also confirmed that the organization's process integration capability significantly increased the benefits of ERP systems. The findings also highlight empirical evidence about the significance of the top-to-bottom approach investing in IT flexibility and the bottom-to-top approach during the implementation of IT systems for successful implementations.

This study has various implications for practitioners that help them successfully implement and long-term viability of their IT infrastructure.

This study's findings will help IT managers and strategists make effective decisions for creating IT flexibility in alignment with the strategic goals to realize the desired results expected from ERP systems and implementations of new IT systems.

As fertile soil for product promotion, online interest communities have gradually come into brands' view. However, existing research does not clarify whether brand engagement in consumer interaction is beneficial to the development of online interest communities. This study attempts to investigate the effects of brand engagement on the online interest community operation.

The authors propose a model that delineated the influence of brand engagement on consumers' citizenship behavior in the online interest community from the commitment-trust perspective. Scenario-based experiments were conducted and 536 data were collected by simple random sampling.

Results shows that a stronger perception of brand engagement has a positive influence on the relationship (trust and commitment) between the community and its users, which further influences online community citizenship behavior (feedback, advocacy and tolerance) of both posters and lurkers, especially for the posters. Although relationships are more complex, brand engagement activates the development of online interest communities to some extent.

This original study contributes to the commitment-trust theory by examining the impact of brand engagement on citizenship behavior via community commitment and trust in the online interest community context. In addition, this study compares the moderating effect of posters vs lurkers on the relationship between brand engagement and citizenship behavior in the online interest community.

Crafts embody the history and heritage of their country of origin and can play an essential role in the country's socioeconomic development by providing significant job opportunities for the rural population. This article investigates the significant challenges that artisan entrepreneurs face when creating, communicating and selling handcrafted goods to potential customers in emerging economies. This study attempted to rate the impediments based on their severity using the voices of artisan entrepreneurs.

A mixed-method approach combining qualitative and quantitative data analysis was followed to identify the leading causes of the artisans' pain points. In the first phase, empirical observations were gathered through focus group discussions with artisan entrepreneurs, and the identified factors were quantitatively ranked using the analytic hierarchy process in the second phase.

The mixed-method research assisted in identifying the primary constraints affecting the efficient and effective operation of the artisan-driven small handicraft business. This study identified six factors that were ranked based on the voices of artisan entrepreneurs during the survey, as barriers to effective handicraft marketing.

Few studies on the handcraft industry have sought to explore the issues faced by artisan businesses holistically. The voices of artisan entrepreneurs were gathered for this study to identify and rate the present obstacles influencing the functioning of small handicraft firms in emerging nations. Handicraft marketing will become more effective and efficient if these barriers are removed.

The post-COVID-19 era is characterised in the professional field by a deterioration in the psychological health of employees and by “The Great Resignation”. These phenomena require managers to rethink both organisational and HR strategies to protect their workers’ health, to retain them in their job and, in fine, to ensure the sustainability of the organisation. However, studies have demonstrated that high performance work systems (HPWS), which are currently the dominant approach in human resource management, are related to an intensification of work and consequently a deterioration of employees’ health (conflicting outcomes perspective). At the same time, workers’ well-being has been shown to be associated with numerous organisational outcomes, such as individual performance. However, relatively few articles have investigated win–win organisational practices or programmes that promote the well-being and consequently performance of workers. These include virtuous organisational practices (VOPs), which specifically aim to enhance employees’ well-being, considered not as a means to an end, but as an end in itself (mutual gains perspective). This paper aims to develop the general hypothesis that VOPs could increase employees’ performance by protecting their health and thus offer an alternative to HPWS.

We review relevant current research on psychological well-being and work performance and present innovative systems of organisational practices such as VOPs that create psychologically healthy workplaces and enhance workers’ optimal functioning (well-being and performance).

Based on theoretical arguments and empirical studies, we hypothesise that alternative practices such as VOPs can increase employees’ performance while protecting their health and encouraging them to stay in the organisation.

After this review, we discuss future avenues for research to encourage the scientific community to test this hypothesis.

Finally, we make a number of specific recommendations about how to (1) appraise, design and implement VOPs, (2) enhance organisational communication and managerial adherence to VOPs, and (3) train managers in R.I.G.H.T leadership behaviours.

Presentation of an original approach in this research field: the VOPs.

In today’s world, empowering individuals, promoting social cohesion and advancing economic development all hinge on access to high-quality education, prioritizing diversity, inclusion and equality. Rethinking current educational strategies using cyber-physical learning assets is necessary to accommodate the learning inclusivity and equity and escalating demands of a globalized world. There is a pressing demand for evidence to support the efficacy of collaborative learning in transforming curriculum and fostering learner inclusion. However, it is recognized as a pedagogical technique within the quality education domain. This study aims to address this knowledge gap by investigating how hybridized cybergogy paradigms facilitate collaborative learning, focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion, to improve educational quality in higher education.

This study used a qualitative approach with an exploratory design guided by an interpretive philosophical perspective. The data was gathered from 60 prospective teachers from the public sector university of Sindh, Pakistan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants. They were then analyzed using theme analysis to understand their views on the potential of hybridized cybergogy paradigms for collaborative learning to improve the quality of education provided at institutions.

The study results confirm that learners benefit from increased access to learning resources, improved critical thinking and problem-solving skills and a more diverse and inclusive classroom working together in a collaborative hybridized cybergogy setting. By fostering SDG 4 (Quality Education) and the 21st-century skills necessary for global marketplace engagement and competing in progressive environments, this creative method equips learners with the capabilities to face modern global challenges.

The study offers valuable practical suggestions to stakeholders in higher education, including faculty, policymakers and teacher education programs, for integrating hybridized cybergogy and collaborative learning to align curricula with sustainable development goals. Additionally, it bridges a significant gap in the existing literature, which will aid future researchers interested in exploring this area.

This study stands out as it explores an underexamined area while providing novel educational insights.

Online customer communities have become a strategic tool for business-to-business (B2B) firms to drive collaboration among customers around the company’s products and services. This paper aims to argue that the three social capital dimensions, that is, structural, relational and cognitive, themselves driven by brand community trust, can affect brand loyalty for the organization.

The authors use a survey to collect data and structural equation modeling to test the conceptual framework by collecting data from 214 participants across three online B2B communities operated by three technology firms in India.

Brand community trust is found to have a strong association with social network ties, identification and norm of reciprocity and shared vision. These three have concomitant effects on the quality of customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions. Such communication generates functional, emotional and social benefits, which, in turn, curate brand loyalty.

The authors’ findings guide community managers in leveraging such conversations in shaping customer loyalty for the corporate brand.

This work provides an integrated framework to explain the important role of C2C interactions in B2B online brand communities.

This paper aims to explore the mechanisms by which employees’ happiness at work (HAW) can be promoted. Drawing on the social exchange theory (SET), this study examined the relationships among discretionary human resource (HR) practices, perceived organizational support (POS), meaning of work (MOW) and HAW.

A three-path mediation model was developed to test the proposed relationships. The data were collected from Pakistani business professionals (n = 361), and hypotheses were tested using the PROCESS macro for SPSS .

The results suggest that POS mediates the relationship between discretionary HR practices and HAW. Also, MOW mediated the relationship between discretionary HR practices and HAW. Hence, both POS and MOW were found to be independent mediators. Further, the data provided support for the serial mediation of POS and MOW in the relationship between discretionary HR practices and HAW.

This research provides insights to organizations and their management on how discretionary HR practices can enhance employees’ POS, MOW and HAW.

The findings show that discretionary HR practices are associated with employees’ HAW. In addition, two mediators (POS and MOW) were found to serially mediate the aforesaid relationships. These findings are novel, as no prior research has used this nascent methodological approach to deepen our understanding by examining the associations between discretionary HR practices, POS, MOW and employees’ HAW.

This paper studies the interactive valuation discourses of an online user community (transfermarkt.de) that seeks to determine market values for soccer players. Despite their seemingly casual nature, these values have featured in newspapers, transfer negotiations, academic research, and capital market communication – and have thus become reified.

The paper employs netnographic research methodology to collect and thematically analyze a wide range of user entries on the platform. These entries are studied using theoretical insights from the sociology of quantification and valuation.

The analysis reveals how values are constructed in constant interaction between value-proposing users and value-justifying “experts.” This dynamic form of relational valuation positions players relative to one another as well as to actual transactions on the transfer market. In the absence of authoritative guidelines, it is this possibility and affordance for interaction that enacts a coherent valuation regime. The paper further reveals the platform's response to a disruptive event, which risked bringing the user-expert dynamics to a halt, requiring intervention from the platform to repair its valuation frame.

The paper responds to increased scholarly interests in the valuation of professional athletes. It contributes to the extant literature on valuation, first, by analyzing the dynamic valuation work that feeds into the social construction of values and, second, by studying platform participation and user interaction in a socially engineered online space.