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The purpose of this paper is to explore conceptualizations of mindset across disciplines with particular attention to scholars’ care in defining and operationalizing the construct of mindset. Theories of mindset have witnessed increased attention through a variety of disciplines for their applicability as processes with the potential to influence individual and/or organizational outcomes. Exploration of mindset conceptualizations and characterizations reveal substantial divergences.

This conceptual paper generally examines the utilization of mindset constructs via a multidisciplinary review of literature and specifically details three mindset theories (implemental and deliberative, global and growth and fixed mindsets) to illuminate such disparities.

This paper categorizes the significant variations of the mindset construct and research via three distinct streams. Each stream highlights knowledge as instrumental in the mindset construct; however, the ways in which varying aspects of knowledge, knowledge mechanisms or knowledge as a component of an individuals and/or organization’s identity correspond to the inherent presuppositions of varying articulations of mindset theory and praxis.

Effectively influencing an individual and/or organization’s mindset necessitates an accurate assessment of the mindset construct. Further, evaluating the applicability of mindset research and/or feedback from a consultant warrants attention to the assumptions undergirding the mindset construct.

Generally, mindset studies and theories have scantly attended to both the historical development of mindset research as well as divergences in the research record within and across disciplines. This paper attempts to address this deficiency. Further, this paper appears to be the first attempt to compare and identify varying conceptualizations and characterizations of mindset theory and, therefore, identifies previously unidentified assumptions.

Consumers subscribe to different mindsets or implicit theories of personality malleability, namely, fixed and growth mindsets. This study aims to investigate how and why consumers’ mindsets can influence their word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions toward a brand and the consequent implications for a brand’s personality.

Three mall-intercept studies and one online study demonstrate the influence of consumers’ fixed and growth mindsets on their WOM intentions. The first two mall-intercept studies identify motivations underlying consumers’ WOM intentions as a function of their mindset orientations. The third mall-intercept study examines the implications of such mindset-oriented WOM intentions for a brand’s personality dimension and the underlying psychological mechanism. The fourth study tests the link between WOM intent and behavior.

Results show that fixed (growth) mindset individuals exhibit greater WOM intentions than growth (fixed) mindset individuals for motives of “impression management” (“learning and information acquisition”). Findings further demonstrate that brands that exhibit dual personality dimensions simultaneously, one salient and the other non-salient at any instant, garner equivalent WOM intentions from both fixed and growth mindset individuals, contingent on the fit between the salient brand personality dimension and the dominant consumer mindset. Finally, using a real brand, it can be seen that WOM intentions actually translate into behavior.

The study measures offline WOM intent but not offline WOM behavior.

This study sheds new light on branding strategy by demonstrating how and why dual-brand personalities may attract consumers with both kinds of implicit self-theory orientations. Relatedly, it also demonstrates a technique of framing ad-appeals that support the dual-brand personality effect.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to propose and demonstrate the use of simultaneous dual-brand personalities as an optimal branding strategy.

Fitness service organizations often promote the personal training service by attributing competent features, qualifications, or/and service provision of fitness service providers to efforts or talents. This study aims to investigate whether and when the promotional attribution of fitness service providers' competent features, qualifications, or/and service provision contributes to customers' compliance with service instructions.

The authors developed the experimental stimuli of performance attribution promotion (i.e. effort attribution and talent attribution) and validated them via a pretest (N = 400). Utilizing the validated stimuli, the authors conducted an experiment (N = 400) employing a single-factor (performance attribution promotion: effort vs talent) between-subject design. The authors performed partial least squares structural modeling (PLS-SEM) to test our hypotheses.

The results revealed the interaction effect of performance attribution promotion and customers' implicit mindset on customer participation expectation. Specifically, when customers were high in implicit mindset (i.e. incremental-minded), attributing competent features, qualifications, or/and service provision of fitness service providers to effort (vs talent) increased customer participation expectation. Yet, when customers were low in implicit mindset (i.e. entity-minded), such an effect did not occur. Further, the authors identified customers' intention to comply with service instructions as a downstream consequence of the aforementioned interaction effect.

The contribution of this paper is twofold. It enriches the performance attribution literature by finding its new consequences and boundary condition. Moreover, the findings aid fitness service practitioners in developing strategies for eliciting customers' compliance with service instruction through performance attribution promotion.

The purpose of this paper is to explore perspectives of secondary (9–12) teachers on how to sustain growth mindset concepts within instructional practices as well as identifying barriers to sustainment.

This study employed an exploratory case study to obtain the lived experiences of participants. An inductive analysis process was utilized on the data collected through structured interviews and a semi-structured focus group.

Four major themes emerged from an in-depth analysis process: embed growth mindset practices in daily classroom instruction, communicate verbal affirmations and implement growth mindset learning tasks, allow students to experience academic successes and failures and teachers should receive continual support.

The study was limited to secondary grades (9–12). Therefore, it is recommended to expand the study to grades K-8.

Due to a gap in the literature, this study provided insights into sustaining an innovative psychological approach, growth mindset, within academic instruction. Growth mindset concepts have been supported through the work of seminal researcher Carol Dweck and other prevalent educational researchers (e.g. Robert Marzano) to provide teachers with effective classroom instructional practices that can academically progress students.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the personal identity of Donald Trump in the US presidential election using the mindset agency theory framework and content analysis.

The qualitative evaluation of identity type is determined by the personality mindset agency theory (PMAT). This measures qualitatively by assigning a type to the personal identity. The methods being adopted are content analysis, and a coding frame is constructed that arises from the key words defined in PMAT.

Using PMAT, the authors determine that Trump’s personal identity is of the type hierarchical popularism (HP), from which behavioural patterns are derived, supposing that this is consistent with his public identity type measured using agency MAT (AMAT), which will be assessed in part 3 of this paper.

Appropriate image management can be used in an attempt to hide problematic purely self-interest aspects of a personality. This paper shows that it is possible to evaluate personality mindsets using content analysis. In a later paper, exploration of agency mindsets will occur that is indicative of the potential for behaviour.

Few marketing studies have studied consumer mindsets about sustainable products in developing countries. This paper examines the influence of fixed and growth mindsets on buying sustainable foods in Iran.

To reach this goal, the authors designed a conceptual model and specified hypotheses. A non-probability survey of 622 people was conducted through a multistage cluster random sampling from two provinces in north Iran: Gilan and Mazandaran. Data were collected through a face-to-face questionnaire. A chi-square test, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, the bootstrapping method and the PLS product-indicator approach were used for analyses.

Results show that fixed and growth mindsets have a positive impact on buying sustainable foods. In addition, these two mindsets have a significant effect on consumers' health concerns and warm glow. The study demonstrates that health concerns, environmental values and convenience orientation mediate the relationship between growth mindset and sustainable shopping. However, for a fixed mindset, environmental values are not a mediator. Further, peer influence significantly moderates the effect of both mindsets and motivational variables—environmental values, convenience orientation and warm glow—on purchasing sustainable foods. This study emphasises the critical role of peer influence and motivation factors, including health concern, convenience and warm glow, on purchasing sustainable foods.

This research introduces a new framework concerning consumer behaviour, in particular, consumer psychology towards buying sustainable foods.

Based on the cybernetic agency theory of part 1, the paper creates a parallel theory to Maruyama's Mindscape theory called mindset theory, relying on the three-trait organisational value system of Sagiv and Schwartz that arises from extensive theoretical and empirical work on cultural values originally undertaken by Shalom Schwartz. The derived normative personality types are embedded into a cultural system and interacting with a social system. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

First, the paper deals with Sorokin's theory of the immanent cultural dynamics arising from swings between more sensate or more ideational culture. For characterisation of interaction with the social environment, the paper relies on the dramatist/patterner trait from empirical work by Shotwell et al., which acts as an attractor of agency behaviour. Thus, the paper designs a five trait agency model, with one trait that serves as an attractor of agency behaviour, three formative normative personality traits, and one social trait that directs the how of behaviour.

The Sagiv-Schwartz mindset types reveal the missing four types of the Maruyama-universe, as sought by Boje. Sagiv-Schwartz mindset types create generic transparency and a theoretical and empirical base for the selection of mindset meta-types. Through its perfect match with Mindset Agency Theory as developed in part 1, this research creates a structural model that has the potential to distinguish between normal and pathological personalities within the same framework.

The modelling approach can be applied to social, economic and political situations, with the likelihood of anticipating the likely behaviour of social collectives like durable organisation and/or nation states. Analytical and empirical application in different contexts is yet to be provided.

The paper sets up a means by which patterns of behaviour can be analysed in different organisational or national contexts. Empirical analysis based on this theory has the potential to identify normal states and shifts away from normal states of social systems, which may shift into stages of tension and crises, and/or mobilise forces directed towards paradigm changes in social systems.

The paper draws on earlier work undertaken in the last few years by the same authors, who in a new way are pursuing new directions and extensions of that earlier research.

Why did some individuals have relatively little trouble balancing work and home demands during the COVID-19 lockdown, while others felt overwhelmed? Although ample studies have recently been generated regarding COVID-19 employment challenges, this question has not yet received sufficient scholarly attention. This research integrates work–home conflict theories with the paradox-mindset framework, in order to suggest a new theoretical approach for understanding individual differences in addressing work–home conflict.

During the first two weeks of the COVID-19 epidemic in Israel, the author gathered 117 completed questionnaires from their colleagues in the Israeli higher-education system, who were working remotely and teaching online during the lockdown imposed to control the epidemic. Based on a path-model analysis, the author examined whether their experiences of strain and tension in the work domain might be indirectly and positively associated with workplace outcomes via positive associations between these experiences and paradox mindset, as well as negative associations between paradox mindset and work-to-home conflict (WTH) and home-to-work (HTW) conflict.

The study findings highlight the beneficial effect of paradox mindset on the experience of work–home conflict and its outcomes. Although working remotely has great potential to increase the strain and tension experienced by employees, applying a paradox mindset reduces the experience of work–home conflict and is positively associated with certain work outcomes.

This research integrates work–home conflict theories with the paradox-mindset framework. The beneficial effects of a paradox mindset on the experience of work–home conflict and its outcomes are highlighted.

Building on theory in Part 2 of this paper, a relationship is developed between the strategic multiple identities considered there. Personality analytic pathologies arise when these identities are not consistent. This theory is then examined using the mindset agency theory (MAT) developed in Part 2 of the paper. Two classes of MAT models exist: a three-trait (MAT3T) and a five-trait (MAT5T). The former centres on personality traits, while the latter includes traits that are external to the personality. These are then applied to a case study of Donald Trump’s US election campaign.

By applying MAT3T and MAT5T to the Trump election campaign, personal and public identities are analysed using content analysis of his narratives.

Of the strategic identities, data can be accessed for two, and measured qualitatively using mindset theory, these indicating the likelihood of a personality with pathologies. It is found that Trump MAT3T and MAT5T take different values, suggesting that he has an analytical pathology in his political agency.

There is not currently any coherent dynamic theory of multiple identities able to provide measures indicative of personality pathologies.

An “IT mindset” significantly influences public sector information technology (IT) adoption in least developed countries (LDCs). The purpose of this paper is to explore the IT mindset concept and its relationship with IT knowledge and intention to explore IT in the workplace.

The research used a mixed-methods approach in two phases. Qualitative work was conducted to formulate the conceptual framework and hypotheses, followed by a survey of 228 public sector officials in Bangladesh to test the hypotheses.

The study showed that an IT mindset can be conceptualised as comprising personal innovativeness with IT and IT beliefs. The IT mindset was significantly related to intention to explore IT use in the workplace and its components were influenced by an individual’s IT skills and IT awareness.

Future research could further explore the IT mindset concept and its antecedents and consequences in LDCs, where it is often related to successful IT adoption, and also in public and private organisations elsewhere.

The study furthers understanding of barriers to IT adoption in LDCs’ public sectors. Building IT knowledge through IT skills and awareness is required to orient mindsets to IT adoption.

Improved efficiency, productivity and transparency in the public sector through IT use have flow-on societal and economic benefits. The paper provides insights into greater facilitation of e-government and IT in the public sector.

The study is theoretically significant because the IT mindset concept has lacked in-depth study and requires clarification of its nature and role.