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This conceptual paper aims to add context and support to the field of Motivating Language Theory around the area of change and transformation. With this paper, the direction and shape of the change within the field of Motivating Language Theory for practitioners and scholars alike has been expanded.

The design and approach of this conceptual paper is to expand upon the existing literature to create a new framework for organizational learning and a new model for leadership development to support change and change leadership through the integration of Kotter’s Stages of Change, Bolman and Deal’s Four-Frame Model, and Motivating Language Theory. The “methodology” is the infusion of the W. Author & S. Colleague Four-Frame-MLT model with the Bolman & Deal and Kotter – Four-Frame model into one seamless MLT supported/driven Four-Frame change model.

The findings of this conceptual paper are in the form of an integration table that integrates the Bolman and Deal (2021) Kotter Stages of Change and the Four Frames with Motivating Language Forms and Constructs based upon ideas and assertions (guidance) from the Kotter (2007) article. These findings highlight the three concrete steps of the infused model (1) identify the appropriate Stage of Change, (2) select the best frame or frames that address the stage of change, and (3) utilize the appropriate MLT form (action) and construct (language) to execute the change effectively.

The originality of this conceptual paper is in the fusion of Kotter’s Stages of Change, the Bolman and Deal Four-Frames, and Motivating Language Theory. The three components have not been brought together before this paper. In terms of value, this conceptual paper creates an opportunity for those in the real world to have a useful framework to explore change, action/communication, and leadership. For those in academic positions, this paper creates a new starting point for exploring motivating language theory and change.

This research sought to examine the potential association between workers’ financial worry and counterproductive work behavior. Based on the basic psychological need theory, we propose that psychological need satisfaction explains this relationship and we position this volitional pathway as an alternative to a cognitive capacity pathway based on the cognitive load theory.

We conducted a two-week interval-lagged survey study with three measurement points among 180 US workers. The mediation models were tested using structural equation modeling.

The results support the conclusion that, while cognitive capacity could have an impact on counterproductive work behavior, its mediating effect is less strong than that of need satisfaction.

Based on the results, we recommend that organizations design their compensation and benefits system to shield employees from financial worries. At the same time, we advise offering the employees who do experience financial worries assistance in managing their budgets and offering other forms of financial coaching.

This study is innovative because we show that the negative effects of financial worry extend much further than initially thought and affect not only employees' cognition but also their motivation.

Based on signaling theory, this paper aims to explore the impact of supply chain transparency (SCT) on firms' bank loan (BL) and supply chain financing (SCF) in the context of voluntary disclosure of supplier and customer lists.

Based on panel data collected from Chinese-listed firms between 2012 and 2021, fixed-effect models and a series of robustness checks are used to test the predictions.

First, improving SCT by disclosing major suppliers and customers promotes BL but inhibits SCF. Specifically, customer transparency (CT) is more influential in SCF than supplier transparency (ST). Second, supplier concentration (SC) weakens SCT’s positive impact on BL while reducing its negative impact on SCF. Third, customer concentration (CC) strengthens the positive impact of SCT on BL but intensifies its negative impact on SCF. Last, these findings are basically more pronounced in highly competitive industries.

This study contributes to the SCT literature by investigating the under-explored practice of supply chain list disclosure and revealing its dual impact on firms' access to financing offerings (i.e. BL and SCF) based on signaling theory. Additionally, it expands the understanding of the boundary conditions affecting the relationship between SCT and firm financing, focusing on supply chain concentration. Moreover, it advances signaling theory by exploring how financing providers interpret the SCT signal and enriches the understanding of BL and SCF antecedents from a supply chain perspective.

The case was developed from two 2-h interviews with the Chief Operating Officer of A-Basin, Alan Henceroth; there is no CEO of A-Basin. The second interview was recorded on a Zoom call to provide accuracy of quotations and information. A variety of secondary sources were used in terms of better understanding the current state of the ski industry, as well as its history.

Arapahoe Basin (A-Basin) is a historic, moderately sized, ski area with proximity to metropolitan Denver, Colorado. For over 20 years A-Basin partnered with Vail, allowing skiers to use the Vail Epic Pass, for which A-Basin received some revenue from Vail for each skier visit. The Epic Pass allowed pass holders unlimited days of skiing at A-Basin. More and more skiers were buying the Epic Pass, thus increasing the customer traffic to A-Basin. However, the skier experience was compromised due inadequate parking, long lift lines and crowded restaurants. The renewal of the contract with Vail was coming due, and A-Basin had to consider whether to renew the contract with Vail. The case is framed primarily as a strategic marketing case. The authors use Porter’s five forces model to assess the external environment of A-Basin, and the authors use the resource-based view and the VRIO tool to assess A-Basin’s internal strengths. Both frameworks provide useful analysis in terms of deciding whether to continue A-Basin’s arrangement with Vail or end the contract and pursue a different strategy. In 2019, after consultation with the Canadian parent company Dream, A-Basin made the decision to disassociate itself from the Epic Pass and Vail to restore a quality ski experience for A-Basin’s customers. No other partner had ever left its relationship with Vail. An epilogue details some of A-Basin’s actions, as well as the outcomes for the ski area. Generally A-Basin’s decision produced positive results and solidified its competitive position among competitors. Other ski areas have since adopted a similar strategy as A-Basin. A-Basin’s success is reflected in a pending offer from Alterra, Inc., to purchase the ski area.

The A-Basin case can be used in both undergraduate and graduate strategic (or marketing) management courses. It is probably best considered during the middle of an academic term, as the case requires students to apply many of the theoretical concepts of strategy. One of the best books to enable students to use Porter’s five forces is Understanding Michael Porter by Joan Magretta (Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2012). Magretta was a colleague of Porter for many years and was an Editor of the Harvard Business Review. For a discussion of the VRIN/VRIO concept, see Chapter 4 of Essentials of Strategic Management by Gamble, Peteraf and Thompson (New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2019).

This study aims to benchmark the operational efficiency of fifty-eight public hospitals across Mexico between 2015 and 2018 and identifies the most critical inputs affecting their efficiency. In doing so, the study analyzes the impact of policy changes in the Mexican healthcare system introduced in recent years.

To measure the operational efficiency of Mexican public hospitals, data envelopment analysis (DEA) window analysis variable returns to scale (VRS) methodology using longitudinal data collected from the National Institute for Transparency and Access to Information (IFAI). Hospital groups are developed and compared using a categorization approach according to their average and most recent efficiency.

Results show that most of the hospitals in the study fall in the moving ahead category. The hospitals in the losing momentum or falling behind categories are mostly large units. Hospitals with initially low efficiency scores have either increased their efficiency or at least maintained a steady improvement. Finally, the findings indicate that most hospitals classified as moving ahead focused on a single care area (cancer, orthopedic care, child care and trauma).

This study examined the technical efficiency of the Mexican healthcare system over a four-year period. Contrary to conventional belief, results indicate that most public Mexican hospitals are managed efficiently. However, recent changes in public and economic policies that came into effect in the current administration (2018) will likely have long-lasting effects on the hospitals' operational efficiency, which could impact the results of this study.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines the efficiency of the complex Mexican healthcare system using longitudinal data.

Entrepreneurship has become a widely accepted concept in the past few decades due to its prominent role in economic activity and economic development of a nation. Promotion of entrepreneurship can be ensured with the help of entrepreneurship teaching and learning through higher education institutions. Similarly, entrepreneurship skills play a significant role in the promotion of students’ intentions to become entrepreneurs. This study aims to examine the role of universities and entrepreneurship skills on the entrepreneurial intentions of students.

Business simulation games is taken as mediator between university role and entrepreneurial intentions as well as entrepreneurship skills and entrepreneurial intentions. This research has used Smart PLS to perform a PLS-SEM technique with a data of 378 students from higher education institutions of Malaysia.

The results of data analysis show a positive role of universities and entrepreneurship skills in the promotion of student’s entrepreneurial intentions. Moreover, business simulation games positively mediates the relationship between dependent and independent variables.

Results of this research prove that entrepreneurial skills and university support have a significant part in the promotion of entrepreneurship intentions of students. As students use the electronic resources such as business simulation games, their skills, attitude and practical knowledge is positively enhanced and eventually it positively impacts the intention of students to become entrepreneurs. Therefore, it is believed that promotion of entrepreneurial skills in students via business simulation games and positive role of universities in promoting entrepreneurship will have a significant positive influence on the students’ entrepreneurial intentions.

This study examines how informal business networks achieve marketing goals in socially uncertain contexts. Drawing from multiple historical sources, Shangbangs, a type of business network that thrived in pre-1949 China, are analyzed.

The Critical Historical Research Method (CHRM) undergirds a study of Shangbangs’ historicity (i.e. their socio-historically embedded multiplicity, including organizational forms, activities and connotations.

As informal regional, professional, project-based, special-product-based or mixed marketing networks, Shangbangs relied on “flexible specialization” and coupled multiple business needs to market goods and services, business organizations, specific social values and, when necessary, to debrand business rivals.

This analysis extends theories about marketing networks by probing their subtypes, diverse marketing activities, multipronged channels and relationship building with social entities (including underground societies, business associations and guilds) in response to pre-1949 China’s market uncertainties. Substantiating an alternative approach to “flexible specialization” and marketing innovations within the pre-1949 Chinese economy shows how a parallel theoretical framework can complement western-based marketing theories.

This first comprehensive analysis of Shangbangs, an innovative historical Chinese marketing network outside the conventional market-corporate dichotomy, can inform theory building for marketing strategy-making and management conditioned by social contexts.

This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of ethnically targeted ads in developing consumer–brand relationships through an application of social identification theory and elaboration likelihood model among African American consumers in the service sector.

Study 1 used a 2 (service type: hedonic vs utilitarian) × 2 (strength of ethnic identification: high vs low) between-subjects experimental design. Study 2 used the same experimental design, procedure and ads as Study 1.

Taken together, the findings from these two studies demonstrate how ethnically targeted advertising, in conjunction with service type, can influence consumer–brand relationships. The results showed that those with high strength of ethnic identification had more brand love, as well as higher intentions to spread positive word-of-mouth, purchase intention and brand loyalty for hedonic services, but that this effect was not significant for utilitarian services.

The environments in which advertisements appear (e.g. in an in-store display or a magazine advertisement) is important, and consumers’ reactions to targeted ads in various environments should be considered in future research. Future studies should also examine the role of individuals’ personality traits and level of acculturation in determining their relationships with brands.

Across two studies, the authors demonstrated that ethnic ads are more effective for African American individuals with high level of ethnic identification especially for hedonic services.

Agricultural banks likely respond differently to economic downturns compared to nonagricultural banks. Limited previous research has examined the performance of agricultural banks under economic crisis and in the presence of banking regulations. This study aims to explore agricultural banks' responses to economic and regulation shocks relative to nonagricultural banks.

This study uses bank-quarter level data from 2002 to 2022 for virtually all commercial banks in the U.S. In this research, the Z-score measures the bank’s default risk, the return on assets measures bank profitability and changes in amount of farm loans indicate the wider impact on the agricultural sector. Effects of the financial crisis, Basel III reforms to banking regulation and the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on these banking measures are assessed using distinct empirical frameworks. The empirical estimations use various subsamples based on bank types, bank sizes and time periods.

Economic downturns are associated with fluctuations in returns and the risk of default of commercial banks. Agricultural banks appeared to be more resilient to economic downturns than nonagricultural banks. However, Basel III regulated agricultural banks were more likely to fail amidst the pandemic-related economic shocks than the regulated non-agricultural banks.

This study examines the resiliency of agricultural banks during economic downturns and under postfinancial crisis regulation. This is one of the first empirical works to analyze the effectiveness of Basel III regulation across bank types and sizes considering the COVID-19 pandemic. The key finding suggests that banking regulation should consider not only size heterogeneity but also the heterogeneity in lending portfolios.