Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the social bottom line in subsistence markets or base of the pyramid. This examination aims to suggest that social strategies for the second bottom line should be focused at the community level in measurement, assessment and impact.

A discussion of the double bottom line is presented. Social strategies are then discussed in terms of impact assessment at the community level and an impact assessment framework is developed reflective of the subsistence marketplace perspective. Implications are discussed in terms of poverty alleviation in subsistence markets and business

This examination suggests social strategies for the second bottom line should be focused at the community level in measurement, assessment and impact. Focusing social strategies at the community level reframes the role of firms and promotes a business in service of the community approach. Assessing impact at the community level creates a long‐term sustainable focus to business in subsistence markets. This perspective is a more holistic view that incorporates the social, economic and environmental ecology of the community from a multi‐generational perspective that requires entrepreneurs to commit their life's work to developing and servicing the community they live in. Using “And beyond Africa” as a case example of the community‐level social strategy the theory and practice are integrated and the conceptual ideas can be understood as a holistic reflection of the community. Further, examining how social strategies at the community level are understood in terms of the individual and humanity level creates greater awareness of the importance of a social strategy at the community‐level. Suggesting that a social strategy focused on the community level can make the largest impact on all three levels (individual, community and humanity). By considering more than customer impact, a social strategy can look at a business's impact on the community and better understand its impact on humanity. This conclusion changes the role of the entrepreneur and business to be in the service of the community.

This paper develops a community‐level social strategy view to the double‐bottom line in subsistence markets or base of the pyramid.

The current study aims to aid in the theoretical development of the indecisiveness construct, create a definition of indecisiveness that reflects current research, and differentiate indecisiveness from other constructs in the field. An indecisiveness scale with positive psychometric properties is developed to measure the construct.

A total of 578 undergraduate participants answered an open ended question inquiring about a “big” decision they were facing in their life. Participants completed questionnaires on indecisiveness and decision‐making strategies.

Of the 578 total participants who completed the study, 465 (approximately 81 percent) stated that they felt indecisive with regard to their “big” decision. While researchers may be hesitant to study indecisiveness because the phenomenon is thought to be rare, the current study indicates that the presumed anomaly may exist more often than the literature reflects. What's more, the widespread occurrence of indecisiveness speaks the importance of studying the phenomenon. Results also suggest strong support for using the indecisiveness scale, with psychometric tests finding convergent validity with emotion‐focused decision‐making strategies and divergent validity with logic‐focused strategies.

Limitations include using a sample of undergraduate students to initially test the indecisiveness scale.

With a solid construct definition and psychometrically sound measurement instrument, this paper hopes to encourage future research on indecisiveness and its role in the decision‐making process. This work is especially critical in the upper echelons of organizations, where indecisiveness can affect millions of lives and cost billions of dollars.

Research studying indecisiveness is sparse at best, and the need to study the construct has been consistently overlooked in the literature. This study is the first of its kind to develop a solid definition of indecisiveness as it exists in the decision‐making process and an accompanying measurement instrument with positive psychometric qualities.

This paper seeks to describe the work of Ian Macneil, a legal scholar advocating the use of relational contract theory and behavioral norms to evaluate exchange relations in business. The aim is to show through bibliometric and comparative analyses that Macneil has influenced management scholarship and dialogue about relational contract theory to an extent not recognized by management scholars.

Evidence of impact is evaluated through a bibliometric analysis of primary and secondary citations. This is followed by a comparison of Macneil's theory with four theories – integrated social contract theory, stakeholder theory, transaction cost theory, and rational choice theory.

Results indicate that Macneil has had a substantial impact on researchers working in different business disciplines, from marketing to economics and management. Bibliometric analysis reveals that his work is widely cited, suggesting that Macneil's contribution extends beyond legal scholarship to influence business scholarship.

Implications are that Macneil's relational contract theory should be considered when developing frameworks for guiding research on workplaces that are increasingly relational, connected and global. This is especially relevant in cases where workplace exchange appears on the surface to be non-contractual and based on societal customs and norms.

This paper recognizes the work of a major legal scholar in the formulation and discussion of relational contract theory in business scholarship. It introduces concepts that can support and act as a guide for future research on forms of relational exchange and recognizes the importance of Ian Macneil's work in supporting that research stream.

The purpose of this research is to show that new conceptual work in the judgment and decision‐making research arena has suggested a nonconsequentialist perspective to decision‐making. The current study successfully tested and found support for a decision‐making model, which serves an alternative to expected utility theory.

Using a natural decision‐making setting, 578 participants completed a one time study using questionnaires attempting to test a nonconsequentialist decision‐making model, which includes indecisiveness as a vital construct.

Full mediation was found for the Nonconsequentialist Decision‐Making Model (NDMM), allowing us to discuss directionality and causality. Further, 81 percent of the 578 participants felt indecisive about their personal decision, highlighting the importance of examining this understudied construct. Research limitations/implications – The current study suggests that individuals facing a difficult decision would soon rather make a detrimental decision than stay in the decision‐making process. This means that the actual act of making a decision functions as a coping behavior in and of itself.

Understanding the decision‐making process is complex, and many individual and environmental variables play critical roles that lead the decision maker to a particular choice. Traditionally, the judgment and decision‐making literature has interpreted decision‐making as rational or irrational, with an attempt to understand and negate common flaws in logic. However, this study supports a nonconsequentialist perspective, suggesting that emotions play a significant role in the decision‐making process. By such an inclusion we can move beyond the sole focus of rational‐irrational and move toward a consequentialist‐nonconsequentialist paradigm in decision‐making. By making this shift, we are better able to deal with and understand individual emotions during the decision‐making process, and ultimately help individuals functionally cope and stay in the process, rather than escape and make a poorly thought through decision. This work is especially critical in the upper echelons of organizations, where nonconsequentialist dysfunctional decisions can affect millions of lives and cost billions of dollars.

Nonconsequentialist dysfunctional decisional coping behavior is a recently developed topic with significant conceptual work but insufficient empirical evidence. Loewenstein et al. (2001, p. 267) note that: “Virtually all current theories in decision‐making under risk or uncertainty are cognitive and consequentialist”. If Loewenstein et al.'s (2001) quote is accurate, then the current study offers empirical support for an alternative, nonconsequentialist model.

In a banking context, this study applies uncertainty management theory (UMT) to test the impact of managerial indecisiveness on salespersons' trust in their manager, perceived role ambiguity and turnover intentions. In addition, the moderating role of managers' leadership style on the link between indecisiveness perceptions and role ambiguity is tested.

A questionnaire was distributed among customer facing employees from a multinational bank in one of the large metropolitan cities in India. In total, out of 360 questionnaires distributed, 255 responses were coded for analysis resulting in a response rate of 71%. Structural equation modeling, mediation and moderation analyses were applied.

Perceptions of managerial indecisiveness strengthen role ambiguity, which negatively impacts trust in the manager, which in turn increases turnover intentions. The level of participative leadership moderates the link between indecisiveness and role ambiguity.

This is one of the first studies in the sales literature that examines how managerial indecisiveness, role ambiguity and trust in the supervisor can impact salespersons' turnover intentions. Thus, this research makes a useful contribution by examining how managers' decision-making style can shape employee cognition and behavior at the workplace.