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This study aims to capture how the association between a multichannel relational communication strategy (MRCS) and customer performance is contingent upon such customer performance (low- versus high-performance customers) and to reconcile past contradictory results in this marketing-related topic. To this end, the authors propose and validate the method of quantile regression as an unconventional, yet effective, means to proceed to that reconciliation.

This study collected data from 4,934 customers of a private pension fund firm and accounted for both firm- and customer-initiated relational communication channels (RCCs) and for customer lifetime value (CLV). This study estimated a generalized linear model and then a quantile regression model was used to account for customer performance heterogeneity.

This study finds that specific RCCs present different levels of association with performance for low- versus high-performance customers, where outcome customer performance is the dependent variable. For example, the relation between firm-initiated communication (FIC) and performance is stronger for low-CLV customers, whereas the relation between customer-initiated communication (CIC) and performance is increasingly stronger for high-CLV customers but not for low-CLV ones. This study also finds that combining different forms of FIC can result in a negative association with customer performance, especially for low-CLV customers.

The authors tested the conceptual model in one single firm in the specific context of financial services and with cross-sectional data, so there should be caution when extrapolating this study’s findings.

This study offers nuanced and precise managerial insights on recommended resource allocation along with relational communication efforts, showing how managers can benefit from adopting a differentiated-customer performance approach when designing their MRCS.

This study provides an overview of the state of the art of MRCS, proposes a contingency analysis of the relationship between MRCS and performance based on customer performance heterogeneity and suggests the quantile method to perform such analysis and help reconcile past contradictory findings. This study shows how the association between RCCs and CLV varies across the conditional quantiles of the distribution of customer performance. This study also addresses a recent call for a more holistic perspective on the relationships between independent and dependent variables.

The study aims to explore and validate the revised psychological contract scale in this new normal era.

To serve the purpose, four studies were conducted. Study 1 was conducted for item generation through the extant literature review and phenomenological study. Study 2 highlighted the expert review. Study 3 explained the confirmatory factor analysis. At the end of study 3, the new psychological contract content had 14 items along with 15 traditional psychological contract content items. The nomological study validated the scale with the help of antecedent, i.e. supervisor's support, and outcomes, i.e. well-being and innovative behavior.

The revised psychological contract was bifurcated into two categories: new and traditional. Further, the revised psychological contract scale was having two dimensions: content and breach/fulfillment. The new content was the outcome of changes in perceived obligations due to pandemic. The nomological study found that supervisor support had a positive impact on the content of the psychological contract and fulfillment/breach of the psychological contract. Further, it was found that the new content of psychological contract was impacting more on well-being and innovative behavior than the traditional psychological contract.

In the new normal era, the working style and patterns have changed. Thus, it was important to capture changes in perceived obligations and employees' perception regarding to which extent their organizations were able to meet these altered perceived obligations. The study has direct implications for the practitioners as the revised psychological contract scale enlisted the perceived obligations of the employee and the extent to which these obligations were fulfilled by the employer. The study is also helpful in developing new normal HR policies and practices in the organization.

The study is original as it creates a new scale to measure the content of psychological contract and fulfillment/breach of psychological contract during new normal.

Anti-racism has been practiced in various ways, with varying degrees of effectiveness. This chapter engages with the body of scholarship that focuses on approaches aimed at promoting anti-racist actions, policies and social change. It discusses some of the main anti-racism strategies that have been deployed across different countries and examines anti-racism practices in interpersonal, intergroup and community settings. These approaches encompass civil rights campaigns, legislative and policy interventions, affirmative action, diversity and inclusion training, prejudice reduction, intergroup contact, organisational development and holistic anti-racism approaches. Some anti-racism practices and policies, such as awareness campaigns, social marketing and diversity training, also extend to digital platforms, with social media and multimedia networks deployed to broaden the reach and impact of anti-racist endeavours. This chapter specifically engages with local anti-racism movements and draws principles for broader implementation of anti-racism policy and practice. It concludes with a brief discussion of the effectiveness of contemporary anti-racism approaches.

This paper aims to determine the impact of perceived virtuality on team dynamics and outcomes by adopting the Input-Mediators-Outcome (IMO) framework. Further, it also investigates the mediating role of team processes and emergent states.

The authors collected survey data from 315 individuals working in virtual teams (VTs) in the information technology sector in India using both offline and online questionnaires. They performed the analysis using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM).

The authors investigated two sets of hypotheses – both direct and indirect (or mediation interactions). Results show that psychological empowerment and conflict management are significant in managing VTs. Also, perceived virtuality impacts team outcomes, i.e. perceived team performance, team satisfaction and subjective well-being.

The interplay between the behavioural team process (conflict management) and the emergent state (psychological empowerment) was examined. The study also helps broaden our understanding of the various psychological variables associated with teamwork in the context of VTs.

Findings from this study will aid in assessing the consequences of virtual teamwork at both individual and organisational levels, such as guiding the design and sustainability of VT arrangements, achieving higher productivity in VTs, and designing effective and interactive solutions in the virtual space.

The study examined the interplay between behavioural team processes (such as conflict management) and emergent states (such as psychological empowerment). The study also theorises and empirically tests the relationships between perceived virtuality and team outcomes (i.e. both affective and effectiveness). It may serve as a guide to understanding team dynamics in VTs better.

This exploratory study attempts to enhance the current understanding of the research and practice of VTs within a developing economy.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise a research study to examine leadership as a relational concept between leaders and followers. The context is within surgical practice examining how motivated consultant surgeons are to lead junior doctors and which type of leadership style they use. From a follower perspective, the motivation of junior doctors will be explored, and their leadership preferences will be correlated with those of the actual style of consultant surgeons.

In this paper, the authors provide a detailed description of the methods for an international quantitative research study, exploring sequentially how motivated consultant surgeons are to lead and how leadership styles impact on the motivation of junior doctors. The objectives, method and data collection of this study are explained, and the justification for each method is described.

The findings for this outline study illustrate how critical it is to redefine leadership as a relational concept of leader and follower to ensure adequate support is provided to the next generation of consultant surgeons. Without consideration of the relational model of leadership, attrition will continue to be a critical issue in the medical workforce.

The research limitations are that this is a proposed quantitative study due to the need to collect a large sample of data from surgeons across the UK, Egypt and Germany. This research will have immense implications in developing new knowledge of leadership as a relational concept in medicine and healthcare. This study additionally will impact on how leadership is conceptualised in the curriculum for specialist surgical practice.

The practical implications are that relational leadership is supportive of generating a supportive leadership culture in the workplace and generating more effective teamwork.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to look at a relational model of leadership in surgical practice between consultant surgeons and surgical trainees. This study will also identify any specific country differences between the UK, Germany and Egypt.

This cross-sectional study had several objectives. This paper aims to study the direct effect of teleworking on interpersonal conflict, the mediating role that interpersonal conflict can play between teleworking and psychological well-being, the moderating role emotional intelligence (EI) can play between teleworking and interpersonal conflict and whether this moderation effect can, in turn, be associated with psychological well-being (moderated mediation effect).

Path analyses using Mplus software were performed on a sample of 264 employees from 19 small- and medium-sized organizations.

While teleworking was associated with lower interpersonal conflict, it was not associated with enhanced psychological well-being. Interestingly, workload seemed to be associated with higher interpersonal conflict, while decision authority and support garnered from one’s supervisor seemed to be associated with lower interpersonal conflict. Teleworking was indirectly associated with higher psychological well-being via interpersonal conflict. Finally, EI played a moderating role between teleworking and lower interpersonal conflict. This was, in turn, associated with higher psychological well-being.

EI is an essential skill to develop in the workplace.

A deepened understanding of the role played by EI at work could help organizations to provide positive work environments, both in person and online. This is especially relevant today, with the continued increase in teleworking practices and the resulting rapidly changing interpersonal relationships.

The work-from-home scheme (WFH) is increasingly being adopted in service firms. However, the blurred border between employees’ work and life can create work–life conflict (WLC) that negatively affects their well-being. Therefore, identifying factors that help employees overcome WLC and nurture their well-being is imperative. From a transformative service research (TSR) and personal psychology perspective, this study aims to explore the roles of service employee state of mindfulness and resilience in reducing WLC, alleviating its negative effects and ultimately nurturing their happiness.

A structural model was proposed. Data were collected from 339 WFH employees in various knowledge-based services such as professional services, information, education and training, financial consulting and marketing. Direct, indirect, mediating and moderating effects were estimated using the CB-SEM method.

Mindfulness is the overarching capability that helps reduce WLC and raise resilience. It nurtures WFH employee happiness not only directly but also via the mediation of resilience and WLC. Resilience, on the other hand, mediates the effect of mindfulness on happiness and moderates the negative impact of WLC on happiness.

Firms are recommended to organize mindfulness and resilience training programs, and encourage organizational- and job-related facilitators. WFH employees should actively participate in such programs and add them to their to-do-list practices.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first empirical studies of employee mindfulness and resilience in the WFH context. It contributes to the TSR research stream and enriches the concepts of mindfulness and resilience by elucidating different mechanisms in which each of these personal qualities operates to help employees nurture happiness in this specific working condition.

The purpose of this study is to investigate existing and emerging technology-driven stressors using the transactional model of stress and coping (TMSC).

In-depth semi-structured interviews with 36 professionals were performed to obtain qualitative data to explore emerging techno-stressors. The findings were validated a year into the pandemic with human resource (HR) professionals.

The authors identify a previously unreported techno-stressor, Techno-Isolation (TIS), which arises from a heavy dependence on information communication technologies for professional social interactions. Additionally, several considerations of interaction characteristics are identified that, based on the platform used, affect the experience of TIS, further expanding the TMSC with the addition of medium-interaction compatibility. The authors present a testable model and discuss implications.

This study identifies three new information communication technology (ICT)-based antecedents leading to a new techno-stressor, as well as the importance of medium-interaction compatibility in the experiences of stressors as strains. The authors discuss how these elements fit with and extend the existing stress literature.

To influence consumer pre-purchase decision-making processes, such as brand selection and perceived brand experience, brands are interested in adopting hyperconnected technological stimuli, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality, social media and tech devices. However, the understanding of different hyperconnected touchpoints remained shallow and results mixed in previous literature, despite the fact that these touchpoints span different technological interfaces/devices and may influence consumer brand selection. This paper aims to solidify the conceptual underpinnings of the role of online hyperconnected stimuli, which may influence consumer psychological reactions in terms of brand selection and experience.

This paper is conceptual and presents a discussion based on extant literature from various international publishers.

The authors revealed different technological stimuli in the online hyperconnected environment that may influence consumer online hyperconnected brand selection (OHBS), perceived online hyperconnected brand experience (OHBE), perceived well-being and behavioral intention.

The conceptual understanding of OHBS and perceived OHBE was mixed and inconsistent in previous studies. This paper brings together extant literature to establish the conceptual understanding of antecedents and outcomes of OHBS, i.e. perceived OHBE, perceived well-being and behavioral intention, and presents a cohesive conceptual framework.

The goal of this paper is to examine the mediating role of organizational social capital between family firms' organizational culture, characterized by their group vs individual orientation and external vs internal orientation, and their performance.

A structural equation model is developed and tested in a sample of 176 US family firms recruited through Prolific Academic.

The authors show that group vs individual cultural orientation fosters bonding social capital, while external vs internal cultural orientation fosters bridging social capital. In turn, family firm performance is only enhanced by bridging social capital, not bonding social capital, which appears to have neutral to negative direct performance effects. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that bonding social capital facilitates the establishment of bridging ties, leading to overall positive performance outcomes.

The understanding of how organizational culture influences family business heterogeneity and performance, along with the clarification of how bonding social capital fosters or hinders performance, provides novel insights for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand the complexities within the unique context of family businesses.