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Scholars have emphasized intellectual capital’s importance for universities in obtaining competitive advantages and creating value. The purpose of this paper is to identify the influences of two components of intellectual capital, relational and human capital at the international level, and psychological capital on international orientation of academic entrepreneurs, and the mediating effects of international relational and human capital.

On the basis of a literature review, a theoretical model is proposed to explain the relationship between the studied variables. Our hypotheses are tested on a sample of 173 academic spin-offs of Spanish universities using bootstrapping methodology.

The results show that the international market relational capital and international human capital of academic entrepreneurs influence their international orientation, and that their psychological capital is directly, and indirectly, related to international orientation through international human capital and international market relational capital.

This study provides a better understanding of the antecedents of the international orientation of academic entrepreneurs, which would provide an important contribution to the literature on intellectual capital, academic entrepreneurship and internationalization. The achieved results highlight important implications for training of academic entrepreneurs and for managers and management teams of companies willing to enter, or even those already operating in, international markets.

In this study, the international orientation of academic entrepreneurs is explained through the psychological capital that is studied jointly with two components of intellectual capital, relational and human capital at the international level. Although some recent work has focused on the study of the internationalization of academic spin-off, this line of research is still incipient.

Professional touching behavior (PTB), defined as intentional touching behavior that occurs between organizational members and that falls within the boundaries of appropriateness and professionalism in the workplace, is prevalent in organizations. Scholars from multiple disciplines, including human resources researchers, have acknowledged the importance of physical contact for facilitating interpersonal communication and relationship-building. However, PTB may not only elicit positive reactions from those who receive it but also negative reactions as well, with implications for social dynamics in organizations. PTB can, on the one hand, fulfill employees’ desires for interpersonal connection; at the same time, such physical contact at work can represent a threat to employees’ health. To explain the nature and implications of these divergent effects of receiving PTB, the authors draw upon sociometer theory and behavioral immune system (BIS) theory to model the emotional, cognitive, and physiological processes via which, and the conditions under which, receiving such behavior will result in socially functional responses and prompt subsequent prosocial behavior, and when PTB will be perceived as a health risk and prompt withdrawal behavior. The theoretical framework of this chapter expands our conceptual understanding of the consequences of interpersonal physical contact at work and has important human resources management (HRM) implications for organizational managers.

The study aims to describe the impact of supervisor’s and co-worker’s ostracism on the employee's responses (emotional, psychological and behavioral) through the mediation of employees' efficacy needs and relational needs. Moreover, psychological capital is treated as a moderator to handle the adverse responses of ostracized employees.

The study employed a three-wave quantitative research design to gather data from employees and their respective supervisors who belonged to various healthcare units (N = 510) using self-administered close-ended questionnaires. After that, SmartPLS software was used to analyze the data through a structured equation modeling (SEM) technique.

The empirical results of the study endorsed that ostracism adversely (negatively) affects employees' responses (comprised of emotional, behavioral and psychological). Moreover, the results revealed that employees' needs (efficacy and relational) mediate the relationship between ostracism experienced by employees (supervisor’ and co-workers’ ostracism) and their emotional, behavioral and psychological responses. In addition, it is also evidenced that employees' psychological capital improves the negative association between employees' needs and responses.

The literature in this domain is scarce, and the theoretical stance is weak due to the traditional approaches that are more concerned with the outcomes rather than analyzing the employee's conditional what they are going through. The present study enhances the knowledge of the transactional mode of coping and its application to ostracism in the workplace. The results of the current study may also support the practitioners in formulating interventions to foster a favorable workplace environment.

This study aims to identify the impact of ethical leadership on ethical voice by determining two paths covering relational identification and psychological safety. The first path focused on relational identification and psychological safety. Alternatively, the second path focused on organizational identification and psychological ownership leading to ethical voice. The specific objective of the study is to develop and test an integrated model of ethical leadership.

The objectives were achieved through the adoption of quantitative research techniques. Two hundred forty-eight samples were collected from the banking sector using quantitative research techniques, and data was gathered through a self-administrated questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used through AMOS to generate the results and test hypotheses.

The results suggested a significant impact of ethical leadership on ethical voice, while the other paths’ results, such as relational identification, psychological safety, organizational identification and psychological ownership, suggested partial mediation. The study result adds new insights into ethical leadership and social exchange theory since it tested overlooked paths in the literature, such as relational identification and psychological safety.

The research highlights the significance of ethical voice as a desirable organizational behavior. Ethical voice contributes to a culture of accountability, transparency and ethical decision-making. Organizations should establish channels and platforms for employees to voice ethical concerns and suggestions. This may involve regular feedback sessions, anonymous reporting mechanisms and protection policies for whistleblowers. Leaders should actively encourage and value ethical voices as a valuable contribution to the ethical climate of the organization.

The study found that ethical leaders influence their followers in such a way that they adopt ethical behavior. It is also validated that organizational ethics are shared by employees who interact with ethical leaders. So, departments should train such leaders because ethical leadership positively affects followers’ attitudes and behaviors, and organizations should encourage ethical behavior in supervisors and subordinates. The study also found that relational and organizational identification helps employees develop psychological capabilities, which leads to reporting workplace misconduct. The current study tested these mechanisms collectively and found that ethical leadership significantly contributes to ethical voice.

The current study highlighted the role of ethical leaders in promoting ethical behavior, improving employee well-being and engagement, cultivating collaboration and inclusion, and making a contribution to the overall ethical climate within organizations and society as a whole. Organizations can have a positive impact on the social fabric by cultivating a culture of ethics, respect and social responsibility if they make these considerations their top priorities.

The current study is unique since it is intended to develop and test an integrated model of ethical leadership and ethical voice. This research combines an integrated model, focusing on employees’ identities and self-concepts and examining ethical voice as a behavioral outcome.

Job characteristics can potentially influence employees’ attitudes and behaviors. However, their impact on employees’ innovative behaviors, particularly in public sector organizations, has received little scholarly attention. Based on relational job design theory and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this study aims to examine the effect of job contact on public sector employees’ innovative work behavior through the mediator of happiness at work. It also assesses whether prosocial motivation strengthens the influence of job contact on innovative work behavior (via happiness at work).

The model was examined on a sample of 180 employee-supervisor dyads (90 supervisors and 180 employees) recruited from various government departments in the United Arab Emirates.

The findings support the proposed moderated mediation model in which job contact positively and significantly impacts innovative work behavior. The association between job contact and innovative behavior via happiness at work is found to be stronger for employees who are highly prosocially motivated.

The findings offer prescriptive insights into public sector employee happiness and prosocial motivation by illustrating when and how job contact influences innovative work behavior. The authors also present relevant managerial recommendations for promoting public sector employees’ innovative behavior.

Customer service conversations are becoming increasingly digital and automated, leaving service encounters impersonal. The purpose of this paper is to identify how customer service agents and conversational artificial intelligence (AI) applications can provide a personal touch and improve the customer experience in customer service. The authors offer a conceptual framework delineating how text-based customer service communication should be designed to increase relational personalization.

This paper presents a systematic literature review on conversation styles of conversational AI and integrates the extant research to inform the development of the proposed conceptual framework. Using social information processing theory as a theoretical lens, the authors extend the concept of relational personalization for text-based customer service communication.

The conceptual framework identifies conversation styles, whose degree of expression needs to be personalized to provide a personal touch and improve the customer experience in service. The personalization of these conversation styles depends on available psychological and individual customer knowledge, contextual factors such as the interaction and service type, as well as the freedom of communication the conversational AI or customer service agent has.

The article is the first to conduct a systematic literature review on conversation styles of conversational AI in customer service and to conceptualize critical elements of text-based customer service communication required to provide a personal touch with conversational AI. Furthermore, the authors provide managerial implications to advance customer service conversations with three types of conversational AI applications used in collaboration with customer service agents, namely conversational analytics, conversational coaching and chatbots.

The proliferation of non-fungible token (NFT)-based crypto-art platforms has transformed how creators manage, own and earn money through the creation, assets and identity of their digital works. Despite this, no studies have examined the drivers of continuous content contribution behavior (CCCB) toward NFTs. Hence, this study draws on the theory of relational bonds to examine how various relational bonds affect feelings of psychological ownership, which, in turn, affects CCCB on metaverse platforms.

Using structural equation modeling and importance-performance matrix analysis, an online survey of 434 content creators from prominent NFT platforms empirically validated the research hypotheses.

Financial, structural, and social bonds positively affect psychological ownership, which in turn encourages CCCBs. The results of the importance-performance matrix analysis reveal that male content creators prioritized virtual reputation and social enhancement, whereas female content creators prioritized personalization and monetary gains.

We examine Web 3.0 and the NFT creators’ network that characterizes the governance practices of the metaverse. Consequently, the findings facilitate a better understanding of creator economy and meta-verse commerce.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how a career shock, like the COVID 19 pandemic, decreases entrepreneurial career commitment (ECC). The authors look at the specific effect of career shock on stress and emotional exhaustion mediating the commitment, and how organizational and relational resources offset the shock to keep the entrepreneurs committed to their career.

This study used a two-wave sample of 365 entrepreneurs collected four months apart. The authors initially recruited entrepreneurs three months after the pandemic started, then four months later, and tested these ideas with longitudinal data. The design was informed by the stress-strain-outcome (SSO) model to investigate career shock as stressors to entrepreneurs that are likely to produce emotional exhaustion and a decline in ECC.

The findings demonstrate that career shock affects stress, which in turn leads to a decline in commitment through the mediation effect of emotional exhaustion. Organizational resources (e.g. access to finance) do not impact ECC, stress or emotional exhaustion. However, relational resources (e.g. quality emotional support) are important for ECC by supporting a decrease in stress and emotional exhaustion.

This study makes three main contributions. Firstly, it advances career shock research in entrepreneurship, emphasizing its role in explaining entrepreneurial career commitment through stress-strain mediation. Secondly, it adds to the understanding of entrepreneurial career commitment and its impact on persistence in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial exit. Lastly, it supports the relevance of the Stress-Strain-Outcome model in entrepreneurship, demonstrating how career shock can decrease entrepreneurial career commitment through stress and emotional exhaustion. Further research is needed to explore the interaction of career identity and career planning in maintaining career resilience amidst career shocks.

This study has practical implications for policymakers and service providers in entrepreneurship. It highlights the significance of resources, particularly relational resources, in maintaining psychological health and entrepreneurial career commitment (ECC). The findings support the importance of the Stress-Strain-Outcome (SSO) model in entrepreneurship, emphasizing the need for entrepreneurs to have access to relational resources as coping mechanisms. Policymakers and service providers should focus on enhancing entrepreneurs' capacity to acquire, protect, and develop relational resources. Additionally, the study suggests that entrepreneurs should seek access to both relational and organizational resources to effectively navigate career shocks, such as the pandemic. Further research is needed to explore the role of other types of resources, such as social capital and psychological capital, in entrepreneurial well-being and persistence.

This study demonstrates that a career shock affects stress, which in turn leads to a decline in commitment only through the mediation effect of emotional exhaustion. The panel/longitudinal data analysis demonstrates the causality in the process, highlighting the positive role of the entrepreneur's relational resources. Specifically, it shows that an increase in access to relational resources causes a decrease in stress and emotional exhaustion, which in turn causes ECC to improve. Entrepreneurs are ill-equipped to face a career shock if they lack these resources.

Smallholder farmers in Tanzania were investigated in this paper to determine the dimensions and influence of psychological contracts on smallholder farmers' decisions to participate in the market.

Data were collected through structured questionnaires, of which a cross-sectional design was conducted in central Tanzania, the Dodoma region in which 467 smallholder farmers were surveyed. First, a preliminary Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted by involving psychological contracts and market participation items derived from previous studies. This was followed by the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to verify the items obtained in the EFA. The regression analysis was then performed to test the causal effects of psychological contracts on market participation among smallholder farmers.

The path analysis revealed that transactional, relational, and ideological contracts have a positive and statistically significant impact on the participation of smallholder farmers in the market. Therefore, smallholder farmers have own set of expectations for participating in the marketplace. As a result, smallholder farmers' relationships with market participation decisions can be strengthened.

This study covered only smallholder farmers. However, future studies can include large-scale farmers, because psychological contracts and market participation difficulties also apply to them. This may increase the generalizability of the findings.

Past studies have not extensively covered the psychological contracts in smallholder farming, especially in market participation. Based on prior empirical and theoretical research from other disciplines, the findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the psychological contract framework and the significance of multiple psychological obligations between smallholder farmers and market management.