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Based on definition and characteristic analysis, this paper seeks to propose a formation mechanism of knowledge rigidity, which is constituted by the effects of three precipitating factors: time‐effectiveness of knowledge, reinforcing effectiveness, and sunk cost effect in knowledge selection mechanism.

By presenting knowledge time‐effectiveness model, reinforcing effectiveness model, and knowledge selection mechanism, the paper theoretically analyzes firms' rigid behavior of knowledge application. Theories of increasing returns and sunk cost are introduced to explain the formation process of knowledge rigidity in firms. Two cases are presented to analyze the knowledge rigidity in industrial firms basing on the proposed models and mechanism.

First, the lifecycle of knowledge rigidity is dynamically defined by knowledge time‐effectiveness. Second, the degree of rigidity and firm's dependence on specific knowledge are enhanced by reinforcing effectiveness during the process of application. At the end of the life cycle, the sunk cost mainly hinders a firm's decision making to replace ineffective knowledge.

Quantitative research is needed to further explore the formation mechanism of knowledge rigidity and to present operational approaches for practitioners. The proposed models and mechanism are useful for understanding the knowledge rigidity and analyzing its formation mechanism in firms.

This paper provides theoretical support to realize knowledge rigidity in KM practice. Three indicators were proposed to evaluate the rigidity and action suggestions were given to help control knowledge rigidity in firms.

Causal analysis models and a formation mechanism are proposed to show how knowledge rigidity forms.

The current work seeks to analyze the different effects of three alternative strategic marketing orientations – market orientation, sales orientation, and product orientation – on non‐profit organizations' effectiveness, specifically their economic and social effectiveness.

In order to test the hypotheses proposed, an empirical analysis of 182 Spanish museums was conducted.

The study reveals that social effectiveness relates highly to product and customer orientation, whereas economic effectiveness mainly depends on sales orientation and inter‐functional coordination.

The results suggest that applying a marketing orientation centered on the product and knowing the visitor is critical for successfully fulfilling the objectives of conservation and diffusion of culture. Moreover, the organization needs to focus on sales, on the internal customer, and on the coordination between the managing institutions, to be able to achieve satisfactory economic results.

This work makes an empirical contribution to the analysis of market orientation on cultural organizations. Although previous research has underlined the relevance of a market orientation for museums and cultural organizations, few empirical analyses have been developed until now.

The growing number of publications on knowledge management (KM) has addressed heterogeneous topics that lack integration and classification. This article closes the classification gap by presenting a classification scheme, providing an integrated overview of KM publications.

The development of the classification scheme follows a multistep approach. By applying a taxonomy development method, the results of a previous content analysis of 4,290 publications were processed to integrate 3,780 keywords into a classification scheme.

The classification scheme consists of 13 main categories and subcategories with six levels of detail. The scheme covers not only KM-specific keywords but also keywords from related disciplines, indicating a strong interdependence with related research domains.

The scheme provides a starting point for ongoing collaboration within the KM community with the aim of improving the classification results and refining the scheme to manifest the core identity.

The scheme is helpful in understanding whether KM implementation activities in organisations are aligned with overall research activities and topics covered by publications.

Developing a scheme based on a prior content analysis turns out to be a unique and innovative approach that has never before been done in the KM domain.

In this paper, the authors review the extant literature on e-learning effectiveness in higher education (HE) to investigate how teachers are affected by the actions that the management of higher education institutions (HEIs) need to take to address the success factors that are critical for e-learning effectiveness. E-learning, in the context of this study, encompasses the delivery of and access to a coordinated collection of learning materials and instructions over an electronic medium using a web server to provide the materials and a web browser to access them.

To address the study's aims the authors employ a narrative literature review methodology. Since the area under review is comprehensive and it entails the examination of several topics, the authors have selected this methodology to ensure thorough coverage, and a narrative literature review approach can provide the required degree of thoroughness as it covers a wide range of topics within the thematic area under review. The authors focus on contemporary scientific studies published between January 2017 and May 2022 on how teachers involved in e-learning are affected by management actions taken to achieve success factors for e-learning effectiveness within the HE sector, after identifying and grouping the success factors identified in prior literature into dimensions that reinforce effectiveness.

The authors of the present study have identified and outlined the most prevalent success factor dimensions by performing a narrative review of the extant literature on the topics of e-learning effectiveness and success factors, and by grouping the various success factors identified into the overarching dimensions presented. These dimensions must also be examined in terms of their relevant importance to the most significant e-learning stakeholder groups. Prior studies have made attempts to obtain relevant stakeholder views on success factors for e-learning, with the student perspective naturally being the most widely covered point of view in terms of e-learning success factors prioritization. More studies are needed that tackle the teachers' perspective as well, since this would enable researchers to determine how teachers view e-learning effectiveness success factors.

The authors also discover that the main success factors in literature are not discussed nearly enough from teachers' perspectives. The authors, therefore, highlight the importance of addressing teachers' perspectives, mainly because this will reinforce teacher acceptance of the e-learning system adopted by an HEI, and the authors also outline future research avenues through which the perception of teachers could be obtained. The authors have identified the technique of knowledge management as a potential method to involve teachers in the decision-making process concerning the management of e-learning more, by taking their views into account and documenting them. The authors have discerned that teachers' acceptance of e-learning would be reinforced by supportive management actions since as a result, teachers see improvements in their technological literacy and pedagogical skills, and this would bring about increased motivation, satisfaction and acceptance of e-learning systems.

This paper aims to take an economic transaction governance approach to explore the determinants for the effectiveness of the social practice of client entertainment in facilitating business relationships in China.

The analysis is based on a broader theoretical framework which posits that exchange relationships are regulated through a combination of market, legal and social relational mechanisms and client entertainment plays a governance role by reinforcing social relational governance to regulate the behaviors of economic actors. Upon this framework, this study proposes that the social behavioral features of client entertainment affect the effectiveness of client entertainment in facilitating exchange relationships and that time moderates such effects. These hypotheses were tested on survey data collected from a sample of Chinese sales managers.

Empirical results indicate that the effectiveness of client entertainment in facilitating exchange relationships is associated with its social behavioral features that could reinforce social relational governance, including intensity (i.e. value and frequency) and format (i.e. intimacy and observability) of entertainment activities, and the time factor plays a moderating role.

This study can potentially help policymakers to regulate client entertainment, and business practitioners to manage entertainment spending, more effectively and efficiently without causing legal and ethical problems.

This is the first study that takes an economic transaction governance perspective to directly explore how the social practice of client entertainment plays a constructive role in China’s economic life and what factors affect its effectiveness in playing such a role. It offers guidelines for policymakers, business managers and future research to manage and study this practice.

Research on organizational climate has shown a significant upward trend in the recent past. The purpose of the present study is to propose a conceptual model that empirically examines the relationship of dimensions of organizational climate with managerial effectiveness in Indian organizations.

A data set of 245 managers/executives was collected from Indian organizations through a survey instrument. The collected responses were subsequently tested by using structural equation modeling (SEM). Further, the hypothesized model was tested by employing five stages of hierarchical multiple regressions.

The findings suggest that organizational climate dimensions, i.e. organizational process, altruistic behaviour, role clarity and communication, results‐rewards orientation and certain aspects of interpersonal relationships play a significant role in increasing managerial effectiveness.

The results indicate ways in which organizations might develop supportive climates in order to reinforce effectiveness of the organizational members.

The role of organizational climate in employee effectiveness is currently under‐researched in the Indian context. The present study is an earnest effort in this direction to analyse the link between organizational climate and managerial effectiveness.

This conceptual paper aims to offer a theoretical contribution that explicates the “blind spot” cultural diversity and reward diversity team conflict contingencies, and personal audit as a mechanism for managing the consequences.

The paper suggests a framework for analysing and managing diversity (cultural and reward) driven team conflicts. Given the theoretical foundation, personal audit among team members is recommended as a tool for managing the consequences of such conflict factors.

This paper underlines the team building intervention utility for team effectiveness. It reinforces theoretical foundation that highlights conflict as a determinant of team effectiveness, and reviews two diversity dimensions of team conflicts. Finally, it suggests and explains an “active learning” personal audit model for achieving the conceptualised team effectiveness perspective.

The paper highlights critical but usually overlooked team conflict intricacies in football team management. This framework offers practical relevance in enabling understanding of “attitudes and behaviours” of team members and human resource management in football marketing. Managers would benefit from this perspective and improve team effectiveness, performance and organisation's performance.

The paper offers valuable conceptual insight for development, one that serves the interest of management of football clubs and academia.

This paper aims to present performance comparison of fiber sheet-strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) beams bonded with geopolymer and epoxy resin under ambient and fire conditions.

This study presents experimental results of bending tests at ambient temperature and fire resistance tests on two control beams and eight fiber sheet-strengthened RC beams. The test variables include fiber sheet type (carbon fiber [CF] and basalt fiber [BF] sheet), number of layers of fiber sheet (one and two layers) and adhesive agent type (geopolymers and epoxy resin). Data generated from these tests were used to evaluate and compare the strengthening effectiveness of CF-reinforced polymer (CFRP) and CF-reinforced geopolymer (CFRG) at ambient temperature and under fire exposure conditions.

Test results clearly show that the CFRG system can provide good strengthening effectiveness on RC beams at ambient temperature, as the CFRP system, owing to excellent bond properties of geopolymers. Although geopolymers possess better bonding properties at high temperature than organic matrix, the strengthened beams bonded with geopolymer do not exhibit better fire resistance than that those bonded with epoxy resin, owing to early falling-off of fire insulation. Thus, in CFRG-strengthened beams, relevant measures are to be taken to minimize falling-off of fire insulation to achieve good fire resistance.

The presented results are from unique fire tests and provide valuable insight (and information) on the performance of fiber sheet-strengthened RC beams bonded with geopolymer and epoxy resin under ambient and fire conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to deepen and expand our understanding on how strategic/market orientation (SO/MO) and a cohesive/shared social vision affect performance in the social enterprise (SE) context.

A survey was conducted in Greek SEs. Stepwise and simple regression analyses were applied in order to test the hypothesized relationships among the study variables. Additionally, Baron and Kenny’s (1986) recommendation for exploring mediating effects was followed.

The results indicate the crucial role of customer orientation dimension of SO/MO in enhancing commercial effectiveness and subsequently profitability, whilst a cohesive/shared vision was found to have positive direct associations with the social effectiveness and profitability elements of SEs performance. Moreover, the findings provide some indications for the mutually reinforcing relationship between the social and commercial aspects of SEs functioning.

The current paper contributes to the ongoing quest to understand the strategic management element of SEs and the challenge they face in managing rival logics. Also, it addresses the gap related to the type (mainly qualitative) and geographical concentration of SE research.

The purpose of this paper is to decipher the possibility of ensuring the effectiveness of sales training by focusing on selected organization-related variables and thereafter aims at making recommendations for enhancing the overall sales training effectiveness. Variables that are under organizations’ control, like training transfer climate, training evaluation and degree of choice (mandatory or by choice) were selected for this study. The study also attempted to understand how these variables influence at pre-training stage and post-training stage.

This cross-sectional research involved both exploratory and conclusive phases. To test the postulated hypotheses, data were collected in two phases from sales executives of a large oil and gas petrochemical company having the presence across India. A total of 370 sales executives, who were the part of a sales training program, were approached twice, one before the training and once after the eight weeks of training. Data from the respondents who completed both pre- and post-training survey (255) were used for analyses.

The results indicate that all the three predictor variables – training awareness, perceived transfer climate and the presence of an appropriate training evaluation mechanism, influence trainees’ motivation to learn. The results depict that motivation to learn mediates the association between the predictor variables and the resultant variable. Also, degree of choice was found to moderate the association between motivation to learn and sales training effectiveness. The research reinforces the significance of pre-training factors in designing sales training programs to ensure its better effectiveness.

The present study captures organizational-level variables as they are under the control of the organization and can be managed. The study included both motivation to learn and training effectiveness in the hypothesized model to understand the motivational issues in a holistic perspective. The outcomes of this research strengthen the role of trainees’ motivation to learn as a connecting variable between organizational-level variables and sales training effectiveness. Thus, the outcome of this study contributes to the literature on training motivation as well as training effectiveness.

The findings of this study are significant for sales organizations or the organizations offering sales training aiming to enhance overall training effectiveness. Training managers must focus on these factors and ensure that all the pre-training organizational-level variables are very well-taken care of. This implies that the trainees need to be well informed about the training calendar, training policies, training content, expectations from them and how the program will be evaluated after training, along with appropriate positive transfer climate. Organizations should also include proper training evaluation mechanism to measure training at different levels.

This study is an attempt to decipher the possibility of ensuring the effectiveness of sales training by focusing on select organization-related variables, and thereafter aims at making recommendations for enhancing the overall sales training effectiveness. The study’s uniqueness lies in simultaneous examination of influence of various variables, and that too at two different points of time (before and after the training). These two perspectives are apparently missing in the existing sales training literature.