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This study aims to examine why and when employees engage in creative deviance to develop creativity in China. Drawing on strain theory, the authors examined creative deviance engagement as a mediator and transformational leadership as a moderator of the distinct relationships between emotional and rational status-striving orientations and radical and incremental creativity.

Multisource survey data were collected from 126 team leaders and 446 employees in Chinese firms. Multilevel path analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that emotional status-striving orientation relates to creative deviance engagement, which, in turn, has a stronger relationship with radical creativity than with incremental creativity. Furthermore, creative deviance engagement mediates the indirect relationships between emotional status-striving orientation and radical and incremental creativity. Moreover, transformational leadership moderates the above indirect relationships.

This study is among the first attempts to empirically test the distinct relationships between creative deviance engagement and radical and incremental creativity and further examine how creative deviance engagement mediates the indirect relationships between status-striving orientations and radical and incremental creativity. In addition, the boundary condition of the indirect relationships is investigated. The findings provide valuable insights for the extant literature on status and employee creativity.

Conspicuous consumption refers to the competitive and extravagant consumption practices and leisure activities that aim to indicate membership to a superior social class. Studies examining the symbolic role of luxury brands and status symbols, and the importance of interpersonal relations and upward social mobility via consumption choices, have been widely discussed in the marketing and consumer behaviour literature. There is, however, limited research on how the all‐encompassing concept of “conspicuous consumption” has evolved since the introduction of the term by Thorstein Veblen in 1899 in The Theory of the Leisure Class. This paper seeks to review some of the issues.

Using a chronological periodization the paper examines and discusses the impact of wider institutional and socio‐economic forces on the evolution of conspicuous consumption phenomena. The paper adopts a historical framework related to economics and marketing.

The paper shows how the concept of “conspicuous consumption” has been reinvented with different terminology during the twentieth century by marketing and consumer behaviour theorists.

The paper discusses and examines the socio‐economic factors behind the changing consumption patterns of “conspicuous consumers” throughout the twentieth century. It is valuable for marketing academics, students and marketing practitioners interested in the evolution of status symbols.

Purpose – In this chapter, we review the research on status hierarchies in groups and teams to assess the relative validity of two major models – the dominance and functionalist theories of status hierarchies. We find that these models cannot fully account for empirical evidence in the literature, and thus propose a new model of status hierarchies, Micropolitics.

Methodology/approach – We examine the relative validity of current major theories by reviewing the literature on status hierarchies in groups.

Findings – We find that, although most of the literature supports the functionalist theory of status hierarchies, this theory cannot explain some of the existing empirical evidence. Drawing on both functionalist and dominance perspectives, we propose a new theory of status, the Micropolitics model, to account for this evidence. Specifically, we propose that in the “micro” context of groups and teams, individuals attain status by convincing their group that they possess the skills and abilities needed to take charge – just as political candidates must convince voters they are the right people for the job.

Originality/value of paper – This paper proposes a new theory of status hierarchies in groups that may provide additional explanatory power for status researchers. It suggests that groups strive to attain meritocracy, but may put the wrong people in charge.

Private tutoring is a worldwide phenomenon, long-popular in Europe and Asia (Baker & LeTendre, 2005; Bray, 2003; Stevenson & Baker, 1992), and increasingly so in North America (Aurini, 2004; Aurini & Davies, 2004; Davies, 2004). However, this K-12 “supplementary education” or “shadow education” sector is being transformed. Until recently it has been a cottage industry of individual tutors and test prep companies, but corporate bodies are revolutionizing it around the globe. For instance, Kumon has spread from Japan to now boast 26,000 franchises in 43 countries.¹ Educate, Inc., the umbrella company for industry giant Sylvan Learning Center, currently operates 950 centers in North America, and 900 in Europe under the Schülerhilfe brand. Several franchises have expanded from their original target market of math and reading tutoring to aggressively enter new niches, including SAT/ACT prep, high school credits, online tutoring, and post-secondary programs.² These corporations are thriving in niches with relatively little competition from established public schools or non-profit institutions. The largest corporations are publicly traded and rank among top companies in business circles.

The 2008/2009 World Financial Crisis underlined the importance of social responsibility for the sustainable functioning of economic markets. Heralding an age of novel heterodox economic thinking, the call for integrating social facets into mainstream economic models has reached unprecedented momentum. Financial Social Responsibility bridges the finance world with society in socially conscientious investments. Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) integrates corporate social responsibility in investment choices. In the aftermath of the 2008/2009 World Financial Crisis, SRI is an idea whose time has come. Socially conscientious asset allocation styles add to expected yield and volatility of securities social, environmental, and institutional considerations. In screenings, shareholder advocacy, community investing, social venture capital funding and political divestiture, socially conscientious investors hone their interest to align financial profit maximization strategies with social concerns. In a long history of classic finance theory having blacked out moral and ethical considerations of investment decision making, our knowledge of socio-economic motives for SRI is limited. Apart from economic profitability calculus and strategic leadership advantages, this paper sheds light on socio-psychological motives underlying SRI. Altruism, need for innovation and entrepreneurial zest alongside utility derived from social status enhancement prospects and transparency may steer investors’ social conscientiousness. Self-enhancement and social expression of future-oriented SRI options may supplement profit maximization goals. Theoretically introducing potential SRI motives serves as a first step toward an empirical validation of Financial Social Responsibility to improve the interplay of financial markets and the real economy. The pursuit of crisis-robust and sustainable financial markets through strengthened Financial Social Responsibility targets at creating lasting societal value for this generation and the following.

This study aims to develop and validate a multidimensional scale to measure the motivating factors that lead to opportunity recognition in social entrepreneurship among higher education institute (HEI) students.

The scale was developed through two phases; in phase 1, semi-structured interviews with social entrepreneurs and aspiring students were conducted to explore themes for item generation. Phase 2 included developing and validating the scale using exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The sample included HEI students (n = 300 for EFA, n = 300 for CFA) with either academic background or volunteering experiences in social entrepreneurship.

A 24-item scale is developed in the study, with six factors measuring the motivating factors influencing opportunity recognition in social entrepreneurship: life experiences, social awareness, social inclination, community development, institutional voids and natural option for a meaningful career.

The scale facilitates the development of theories and models in social entrepreneurship. The scale also enables policymakers and social entrepreneurship educators to understand the motivating factors that lead to opportunity recognition among students. It would help them to provide target-specific support to students.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to develop a scale that measures opportunity recognition in social entrepreneurship based on specific motivating factors. The study used the model by Yitshaki and Kropp (2016) as the conceptual framework. This study is the first attempt to triangulate the model’s findings using a quantitative methodology and through the development of a measurement scale. Besides, the scale adds value to social entrepreneurship research, which lacks empirical research on HEI students.