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This purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the theoretical background and applications of inverse reinforcement learning (IRL).
Abstract
Purpose
This purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the theoretical background and applications of inverse reinforcement learning (IRL).
Design/methodology/approach
Reinforcement learning (RL) techniques provide a powerful solution for sequential decision making problems under uncertainty. RL uses an agent equipped with a reward function to find a policy through interactions with a dynamic environment. However, one major assumption of existing RL algorithms is that reward function, the most succinct representation of the designer's intention, needs to be provided beforehand. In practice, the reward function can be very hard to specify and exhaustive to tune for large and complex problems, and this inspires the development of IRL, an extension of RL, which directly tackles this problem by learning the reward function through expert demonstrations. In this paper, the original IRL algorithms and its close variants, as well as their recent advances are reviewed and compared.
Findings
This paper can serve as an introduction guide of fundamental theory and developments, as well as the applications of IRL.
Originality/value
This paper surveys the theories and applications of IRL, which is the latest development of RL and has not been done so far.
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At the end of last month's article the authors set out the four types of consequence, one of which must inevitably occur wherever behaviour takes place. These are now dealt with…
Afework G. Kassa and R. Satya Raju
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and employee engagement. Corporate entrepreneurship is one of the widely researched…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and employee engagement. Corporate entrepreneurship is one of the widely researched areas recently, as is employee engagement. Studies combining the two constructs, on the other hand, are generally scarce. Developing on this gap and based on existing literature, the basic purpose this study pursued was to explore the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and employee engagement using the corporate entrepreneurship assessment instrument (CEAI) and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES).
Design/methodology/approach
Within the tenets of the pragmatic approach, this study followed a descriptive survey design in a cross-sectional time. To capture primary data structured questionnaire was constructed based on the CEAI developed by Hornsby et al. (2002) for assessing the corporate entrepreneurial atmosphere and UWES (Schaufeli et al., 2002) to assess employee engagement. The sample constitutes 332 respondents taken from six leather footwear companies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The social exchange theory (SET) was used to describe the hypothesised relationships.
Findings
The findings of the current study reinforced the proposition by Saks (2006) that the SET can provide a meaningful theoretical basis for understanding and studying employee engagement. Accordingly, this study showed that the relationship between the organisation and its employees can be viewed as a mutually beneficial arrangement in a reciprocal exchange. Furthermore, it was shown that the five-factor model of the CEAI can be used to predict employee engagement and that a significant amount of the deviation in the engagement dimensions can be explained by the corporate entrepreneurial variables. Finally, it was indicated that different variables in the CEAI predict different engagement dimensions in the UWES.
Research limitations/implications
This study does not group the data based on demographic factors. Likewise, future studies can explore the effect of the CEAI on the dimensions of employee engagement, while considering different demographic groups like salary ranges, age groups, gender, experience, work position. Furthermore, the current study applies cross-sectional data; future studies might consider longitudinal data for better results.
Practical implications
The study findings suggest that it is important that practicing managers view the relationship between the organisation and employees as a two-way relationship guided by reciprocal exchange in which case when firm-specific entrepreneurial atmosphere is conducive, employees would respond by engaging themselves innovatively. Also, managers should know which CEAI variables affect which engagement dimensions for better outcomes.
Originality/value
Although there are scattered studies in corporate entrepreneurship and employee engagement separately, there is no attempt so far to relate the two concepts. Therefore, this study stood as a first attempt to relate the two constructs.
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José Varela Lopes and Beatriz Casais
This paper seeks to understand users' perceptions of their experiences in mobile applications (apps) with gamified loyalty programs (GLPs) that use rewards as the primary…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to understand users' perceptions of their experiences in mobile applications (apps) with gamified loyalty programs (GLPs) that use rewards as the primary engagement vehicle. The research focuses particularly on the motivations to further interact with GLPs and the motivational changes occurring after successive interactions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted weekly open qualitative interviews over a month (four rounds of interviews) with five Portuguese active users of the mobile app Yorn Shake It, from Vodafone, which is a relevant case study to illustrate GLPs in mobile apps.
Findings
Participants' motivations to interact with the mentioned GLP are shaped by the reward incentive and users' perceptions of the gamified interactive experience. Motivational changes occur regardless of the presence of external contingencies and depend on contextual changes or perceived results of the gamified experience. This means that rewards also satisfy intrinsic needs, but users may remain connected to the system as long as fun experiences are provided without exhausting perceptions. Also, motivation may turn to reward contingencies when the challenge becomes boring.
Originality
This is the first qualitative study explaining the perceptions of gamified experiences after continued participation, extending knowledge about the importance of a fair balance between the value and achievement of rewards and the entertainment of the challenge provided after continued exposure. The findings provide insights to GLP marketing managers and developers to better engage target audiences according to their needs and past experience, creating levels of challenges and fair rewards to maintain motivation and prevent abandonment after continued exposure.
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Blaise J. Bergiel and Christine Trosclair
When modern‐day students of marketing turned from the economic explanation of consumer behavior, learning theory was one of the first resources in which they sought more useful…
Abstract
When modern‐day students of marketing turned from the economic explanation of consumer behavior, learning theory was one of the first resources in which they sought more useful alternative concepts. This was a logical move for two reasons: because of the abundance of research conducted in psychology and social psychology; and because learning is close to the central interest of many of those concerned with consumer behavior. However, marketing scholars have given little consideration to one of the most influential perspectives developed in psychology‐the instrumental‐learning approach stimulated by the work of B. F. Skinner. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of instrumental learning and demonstrate its application in a marketing situation.
Jinnan Wu, Mengmeng Song, Pablo Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara, Hemin Jiang, Shanshan Guo and Wenpei Zhang
This study investigated why employees' cyberloafing behavior is affected by their coworkers' cyberloafing behavior. By integrating social learning theory and deterrence theory…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated why employees' cyberloafing behavior is affected by their coworkers' cyberloafing behavior. By integrating social learning theory and deterrence theory, the authors developed a model to explain the role of employees' perceived certainty of formal and informal sanctions in understanding the effect of coworkers' cyberloafing behavior on employees' cyberloafing behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a survey that involved a two-stage data collection process (including 293 respondents) to test our developed model. Mplus 7.0 was used to analyze the data.
Findings
The results revealed that employees' cyberloafing was positively affected by their coworkers' cyberloafing both directly and indirectly. The indirect effect of coworkers' cyberloafing on employees' cyberloafing was mediated by the employees' perceived certainty of formal and informal sanctions on cyberloafing. Employees' perceived certainty of formal and informal sanctions were found to mediate the relationship both separately (each type of sanctions mediates the relationship individually) and in combination (the two types of sanctions form a serial mediation effect).
Originality/value
The study reveals an important mechanism – employees’ perceived certainty of formal and informal sanctions – that underlies the relationship between coworkers' cyberloafing and employees' cyberloafing, thus, contributing to the cyberloafing literature. It also demonstrates the importance of negative reinforcement (perceived sanctions) in the social learning process, which contributes to the literature on social learning theory because previous studies have primarily focused on the role of positive reinforcement. Lastly, the study reveals a positive relationship between employees' perceived certainty of formal sanctions and informal sanctions, which has important implications for deterrence theory.
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Akansha Mer and Amarpreet Singh Virdi
Introduction: Amidst Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA), turbulence is a vital component of an entrepreneurial landscape. VUCA world has set a new dynamic…
Abstract
Introduction: Amidst Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA), turbulence is a vital component of an entrepreneurial landscape. VUCA world has set a new dynamic in the business environment and organisation’s settings. In such an environment, it is pertinent for entrepreneurs to exhibit creativity, innovative service behaviour, and performance.
Purpose: The study investigates whether creativity, innovative service behaviour, and performance of entrepreneurs are fostered through employee engagement practices in a highly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment.
Methodology: The methodology involves a systematic review and meta-synthesis. By identifying the major topics, a systematic literature review helped critically analyse and synthesise the literature.
Findings: According to the study, corporate entrepreneurial factors like (management reinforcement, reward/reinforcement, job autonomy/discretion, time attainability, and organisational boundaries) entrepreneurial potential, entrepreneurial orientation, human capital, self-efficacy beliefs lead to employee engagement, which, in turn, fosters creativity, innovative service behaviour, and performance among entrepreneurs in the VUCA world.
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Mariusz Soltanifar, Mathew Hughes, Gina O’Connor, Jeffrey G. Covin and Nadine Roijakkers
While extant literature has advanced our understanding of senior and middle managers in corporate entrepreneurship, studies have only recently attended to the role of…
Abstract
Purpose
While extant literature has advanced our understanding of senior and middle managers in corporate entrepreneurship, studies have only recently attended to the role of non-managerial employees (NMEs). These organizational members bring ideas, resources and energy to the pursuit of innovative opportunities, yet the determinants of their entrepreneurial behavior are poorly understood.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors performed a systematical literature review on the subject of NMEs in corporate entrepreneurship to identify gaps and recommend an agenda for future research.
Findings
The review revealed gaps regarding (1) the distance of NMEs from decisions on corporate strategic intent, (2) agentic choices made by NMEs to use their subject matter expertise for their employers' benefit, and the influences of (3) job characteristics and (4) organizational infrastructural support of entrepreneurial behavior.
Originality/value
The authors present a theoretical framework and directions for future research.
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Nebojša Janićijević and Ljiljana Kontić
This study aims to investigate whether the model containing five organisational determinants of corporate entrepreneurship developed by Kuratko, Hornsby and Covin is valid in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate whether the model containing five organisational determinants of corporate entrepreneurship developed by Kuratko, Hornsby and Covin is valid in Serbia.
Design/methodology/approach
The model was tested on a sample that included managers and employees from four banks in Serbia. The Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument (CEAI) was used as the research instrument and factor analysis was used as the basic statistical method. This study examined whether the 48 items that compose the CEAI could be grouped in the context of the national culture of Serbia to provide the five determinants that were identified by Kuratko, Hornsby and Covin.
Findings
The results show that the factor analysis identified four determinants identical to those in the CEAI model. However, time availability failed the validity test in previous studies conducted in Serbia and other countries with collectivist cultures. It can be concluded that collectivism connected with high-power distance, uncertainty avoidance and the polychromatic concept of time caused the cultural limitation of time availability as a determinant of corporate entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
This study indicates that national culture could be a factor that determines the validity of organisational determinants of corporate entrepreneurship and that these factors cannot be taken for granted in cultures other than those in which the theory of corporate entrepreneurship arose. Finally, corporate entrepreneurship has been investigated in the banking industry, which is unusual because it is globally renowned for its conservatism.
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Timothy Galpin, J. Lee Whitttington and Greg Bell
The purpose of this article is to present a multidisciplinary model that can be used as both a road map for practicing managers to create a sustainability focused culture within…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to present a multidisciplinary model that can be used as both a road map for practicing managers to create a sustainability focused culture within their own organizations, and as a guide for future research into the relationship between organizational culture and sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
A narrative synthesis approach is used to integrate extant empirical and practitioner literature spanning various disciplines to build a comprehensive model, including key propositions, to assist both practitioners and researchers alike. Case examples illustrating each component of the model in practice and implications for future research based on the key tenets of the model are also provided.
Findings
Building an organizational infrastructure that fosters a culture of sustainability results in positive employee- and organizational-level sustainability performance.
Research limitations/implications
The model presented is an important advancement in the sustainability literature. It is applicable to various sustainability efforts, and it may be applied regardless of the industry or the size of the companies undertaking sustainability initiatives. The model provides a framework to guide research into the relationship between organizational culture and sustainability. Future research should focus on the relationship between the different organizational factors identified in the model, organizational culture and sustainability performance.
Practical implications
The multidisciplinary model presented can be used as a road map for practicing managers to create a sustainability focused culture within their own organizations.
Originality/value
A gap exists in both the empirical and practitioner literature regarding the development and assessment of the organizational factors that foster a culture of sustainability. Moreover, no clear model exists with the expressed purpose of helping leaders create such a culture, while providing a framework to guide research into the relationship between organizational culture and sustainability. In this paper, a comprehensive model, including key propositions, to assist both practitioners and researchers alike is presented. Case examples illustrating each component of the model in practice and implications for future research based on the key tenets of the model are also provided.
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