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This study examines how technical drivers as well as social drivers influence organic communication and top management involvement (TMI) in new product development (NPD) projects. Technical drivers are of strategic importance and product innovativeness and social drivers are of intrinsic and extrinsic relevance. Organic communication is defined as continuous, bidirectional and informal communication between top management and the NPD teams. Further, arguing that TMI must be studied as a multifaceted construct, it is conceptualized to occur as guidance, active motivation and providing resources and creating a tolerant climate. Subsequently, the effect of TMI and organic communication on NPD performance is investigated.

The data set, collected via surveys from top managers and project managers involved in 86 NPD projects in 85 firms, is analyzed using PLS structural equation modeling.

The authors show that the strategic importance of the project has a positive influence on TMI through active motivation, providing resources and creating a tolerant climate for innovation, but does not have an effect on guidance. Results also show that active motivation and organic communication improve budget and schedule adherence, whereas providing guidance and stimulating a tolerant climate have detrimental effects. In summary, the results show that only active motivation enhances all types of performance while stimulating a tolerant climate appears to have the opposite effect. The results revealed that organic communication between top management and the NPD team has a strong positive effect on all elements of TMI (providing guidance, actively motivating the NPD team, providing resources and creating a tolerant climate). In other words, when top management communicates with the NPD team throughout the project in an informal way and listens to them in addition to engaging in a one-way communication, they are more likely to be seen by the team as being deeply involved in the project.

Executives must walk a managerial tightrope to actively motivate and to assist in providing resources, yet they must not be overbearing with direct guidance and must limit their tolerance for failures.

Involvement of key organizational actors such as top management and the link to project performance has attracted significant attention in research. However, nuanced empirical insights into the dyad of top management and project teams has so far been absent. The study’s findings detail the effect of technical and social drivers of top management involvement in new product development projects. Most notably, (1) the effect of motivation and stimulating a tolerant climate on performance, and (2) the effect of organic communication on top management involvement. Moreover, this study is unique in that it empirically examines TMI from both top management and team perspectives.

The authors build on a recent article which highlighted the difficulty that many managers have in understanding why knowledge management (KM) is important for them personally and their organisation. It argued that the issue can be addressed by ensuring that KM is understood in ways that illustrate its managerial currency, actionability and relevance and described how to achieve currency and actionability of the KM idea. This second paper addresses “personal relevance”, the other essential characteristic of usable ideas. The authors illustrate how different managerial roles can appreciate this personal relevance by focusing their activity selectively on different domains of managerial knowledge and specific, targeted knowledge management activities. KM is revealed as a usable idea which enhances their personal effectiveness, organisational influence and credibility as well as long‐term organisational interest. A personal KM audit is presented.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the links between individual investors' subjective evaluations of certain companies' products and brands, on one hand, and their willingness and decisions to invest in those companies' stocks, on the other. The authors aim to challenge the traditional assumption that individuals would make stock investment decisions purely on the basis of expected financial returns and risks.

Survey data were collected from 293 individuals who invest in the stock market of a European country and analyzed with PLS path modeling.

In the clear majority of the consumers' stock investment decisions that were analyzed, the consumers exhibited some willingness to invest in a chosen stock beyond its expected financial returns/risk. Two variables are found to elicit willingness to invest in a company's stock beyond its financial returns: the personal relevance that the individual attaches to domains (activities or areas of interest; ideas or ideals) supported or represented by the company's products; and the individual's affective evaluation of the company's product brand.

Replicating the study with different companies from different industries and with consumers from different countries will be important. Overcoming a potential retrospection bias in the reported study is also a task for further research.

The findings provide insights that can serve segmentation, targeting, and positioning when it comes to marketing a company in the stock market so as to attract investors.

The paper provides new evidence on the influence of product and brand evaluations in consumers' stock investment decisions – suggesting that positive product evaluations elicit extra willingness to invest in a company's stock, over and beyond its financial returns.

This study aims to identify factors behind the intention to sign e-petitions, focusing on three aspects, i.e. information (argument quality), the source of information (source credibility) and personal perspective (personal relevance and altruism).

Data collection is done by using a quantitative approach through an online questionnaire. This study involved 211 respondents who were internet users in Indonesia who had signed an e-petition. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling approach with IBM Amos version 22.0.

The findings revealed that there are three factors shaping internet users’ attitudes toward e-petitions, namely, altruism, AQ and personal relevance, of which altruism was the strongest factor. Those who have a positive attitude toward e-petitions seemed to have higher intention to sign e-petitions. Additionally, we discovered that internet users believe credible e-petition initiators deliver better arguments, which drive them to sign e-petitions.

The finding related to elaboration likelihood model has revealed that not only the dual processing of central routes and peripheral routes but also the possibility of peripheral routes influencing the factors in the central route. Hence, future studies need to include the examination of this relation. Finally, altruism is identified as the major factor that influences people to sign e-petitions. Therefore, people should be aware of this factor while examining the environment that likely has voluntary aspects.

To improve the adoption of the e-petition system, it is important for the e-petition websites to maintain attitude factors to achieve the e-petition goals. It is also important that e-petition websites provide credibility information of the e-petition initiators and make it visible to everyone. The e-petition sites must be able to be personalized so that users can be categorized based on their profiles or interests. Finally, as altruism is the most influencing factor in shaping internet users’ attitude toward e-petitions, e-petition initiators need to write a persuasive and arousing information and images for their e-petition. Some templates, tips or even online training to persuasive public petitions also need to be provided.

This study attempts to fill the research gap by examining factors from three domains, i.e. information source (the e-petitioners), information/AQ and personal perspective (personal motivation) of the e-petition signers. The authors enrich the research model with altruism factors that influence attitude in signing petitions. This study illustrates the characteristic of Indonesian internet user’s and provides important implications for how the e-petitions site should improve the functionality of the sites.

The purpose of this study is to fill the gap by researching the direct effects of media and personal characteristics on online participation in climate change, indirect effects when mediated by interpersonal communication and personal characteristics as predictors of media communications as sources of information about climate change.

A structured questionnaire is distributed to collect data about the uses of communication sources and online responses toward climate change by using a quota sampling technique. The structural equation modeling by using Smart PLS 4 is used to explore the effects’ size.

Small levels of direct and indirect effects are found. Direct effects are found in online newspapers, YouTube, television news, personal relevance toward climate change and political interest in online participation in climate change. Indirect effects are found of WhatsApp on online climate participation through interpersonal communication. Personal relevance toward climate change has motivated respondents to take information about climate change from Facebook. Climate skepticism is found among respondents who have received information from television news/talk shows, printed newspapers and WhatsApp.

University teachers in Pakistan will have to work on educational strategies to increase the knowledge of university students about energy generation through carbon and renewable energy sources.

The results of this study highlight the communicative-cultural dimensions of online discourse about climate change in the context of the less-researched country of Pakistan. This is the first study of researchers’ knowledge that comprehensively defines the digital media ecology in the context of climate change considering Pakistan.

Purpose – When organisations behave irresponsibly, a question remains: Can they use a messaging strategy based in the organisation's commitment social responsibility to effectively respond to the crisis? The purpose of this chapter is to analyse stakeholder attitudes and their antecedents in such a case. Because of its scope, magnitude and use of a response strategy based on messages of social responsibility, the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico serves as an excellent case for measuring the effectiveness of such a messaging strategy.

Methodology/approach – The present study drew from two data sources: a content analysis of interactions on BP's Facebook page (N=1,515) as well as an image survey of BP (N=749).

Findings – BP's messaging strategy had limited positive effects in terms of (1) being viewed as a ‘socially responsible’ organisation and (2) creating significant good will towards the company. However, these data also reveal that BP has effectively opened lines of communication between stakeholders and the company.

Practical and social implications – This study has two central implications. First, for both organisations and activists, personal investment and the relevance of issues are both critical in order to change stakeholder attitudes about organisations. Second, based on this research, we can begin to develop stakeholder profiles based on age, sex and political identity.

Originality/value – In the last couple of years, considerable attention has been paid to describing and analysing the response strategies that organisations deploy; however, scant attention has been paid to measuring stakeholder evaluations of those crisis response strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to test how framing of CSR messages, based on a value-theoretical framework, impacts consumer perception of the CSR message.

Quantitative study in the form of an online survey strongly inspired by classical experimental design.

Findings demonstrate that explicit communication of CSR framed as a corporate competence, and to some extent also as something personally relevant to the receivers, positively impacts evaluations of CSR messages and the companies behind them.

Findings indicate that CSR messages could increasingly emphasize corporate competence with a lesser focus on moral ideas and commitments, and that framing strategies can be effective in creating CSR messages that will be positively evaluated by young consumers.

This study contributes by providing new insights into how value-based framing of CSR messages can increase credibility and relevance and thus help facilitate the complicated task of communicating CSR by way of suggesting a new CSR communication strategy framework.

Conceptualizes a model of customer service‐based segmentation derived from the elaboration likelihood model (ELM). Logistics organizations are utilizing improved customer service to achieve competitive advantage. However, these firms must segment customers to avoid escalating their service platform to those unlikely to provide adequate return. Based on ELM‐established relationships, proposes the following model: buying firms that demonstrate a high level of involvement with a product offering and show high organizational visioning are more likely to give ample consideration to the service improvements in their purchase decisions. In turn, these customers’ commitment to that product offering will be persistent and resistant to change ‐ leading to improved buyer loyalty.

This theoretical paper introduces a conceptual framework for Personal Cultural Heritage Management (PCHM), derived from prior research on migrants' information practices. It elaborates on the literature background and the development of the PCHM framework, highlighting the role of personal information management (PIM) and personal collections in the creation, access and utilization of cultural heritage information.

The study describes and explains the construction of the PCHM framework as a structured and self-motivated approach to personal heritage and identity learning.

Following the theoretical background and assumptions, along with the presentation of the key building blocks, the paper describes the key components of the framework, outlines their definitions and provides examples.

Theoretically, PCHM extends the current literature by encapsulating processes and actions employed by individuals to manage personal collections for cultural identity purposes, thereby underscoring the critical role personal collections play in both preserving and communicating cultural heritage.

PCHM can guide the development of support systems and policies to enhance cultural continuity and integration, thus empowering individuals to navigate their cultural identities confidently.

The PCHM framework creates a unique intersection between PIM and cultural heritage, providing a new perspective for understanding the dynamic evolution and formation of cultural identity among migrants.