Search results

Managing megaprojects is challenging due to their inherent complexity and uncertainty. Collaborative project delivery models have been introduced as an alternative to traditional project management in public infrastructure megaprojects and are often realized through collaborative contracts. These project organizations act as institutional arenas for logic interaction as actors with differing institutional backgrounds interact within the project. This paper aims to study the delivery phase of three megaprojects through an institutional lens, investigating the institutional interaction and alignment of logics therein.

A multiple case study was employed to reach deep insight into the phenomenon. Sixty-one interviews were conducted over 3 cases with representatives from all levels of the project hierarchy. Respondents were selected through snowball sampling. In two cases, observations of the shared project office were conducted. Data analysis built on first-order codes and second-order themes, collected into a theoretical framework.

The empirical evidence demonstrates the dynamics shaping institutional logics and gives evidence for changing logics in projects with a well-applied collaborative contract. However, there is a risk of resistance and a return to traditional logics since institutional change is slow and an unsuitably applied collaborative contract can lead to adherence to the conventional way of work.

Current research has focused on the regulatory framework and procurement phase of such models, but little attention has been given to the delivery phase and the interaction of conflicting logics. This paper can serve as an exemplar of the different logics found within public infrastructure projects and their interaction and alignment. Contributions include a heightened emphasis on the start of the project as a meeting point for differing institutional logics and the role change necessary when using a collaborative contract.

While the potential for digital innovation (DI) to transform organizational practices is widely acknowledged in the information systems (IS) literature, there is very limited understanding on the socio-political nature of institutional interactions that determine DI and affect organizational practices in social cash organizations. Drawing on the neo-institutionalist vision, the purpose of the study is to examine the unique set of institutional exchanges that influence the transition to digital social cash payments that give rise to new institutional arrangements in social cash organizations.

The paper draws on an in-depth case study of a government social cash organization in Pakistan. Qualitative data were collected using 30 semi-structured interviews from key organizational members and stakeholders.

The results suggest that DI is determined by the novel intersections between the coercive (techno-economic, regulatory), normative (socio-organizational), mimetic (international) and covert power (political) forces. Hence, DI is not a technologically deterministic output, but rather a complex socio-political process enacted through dialogue, negotiation and conflict between institutional actors. Technology is socially embedded through the process of institutionalization that is coupled by the deinstitutionalization of established organizational practices for progressive transformation.

The research has implications for government social cash organizations especially in the Global South. Empirically, the authors gained rare access to, and support from a government-backed social cash organization in Pakistan (an understudied country in the Global South), which made the data and the consequent analyses even invaluable. This made the empirical contribution within this geographical setting even more worthy, since this case study has received little attention from indigenous scholars in the past. The empirical findings showcased a unique set of contextual factors that were subject to BISP and interpreted through an account of socio-cultural sensitivities.

The paper provides practical implications for policymakers and practitioners, emphasizing the need to address institutional challenges, including covert power, during the implementation of digitalization projects in the public sector. The paper has certain potential for inspiring future e-government related (or public sector focused) studies. The paper may guide both private and government policy-makers and practitioners in presenting how to overcome certain institutional challenges while planning and implementing large scale multi-stakeholder digitization projects in similar country contexts. So while there is scope of linking the digitization of public sector organizations to anti-corruption measures in other Global South countries, the paper may not be that straightforward with the private sector involvement.

The paper offers rich social insights on the institutional interchanges that occur between the social actors for the innovation of technology. Especially, the paper highlights the social-embeddedness nature of technology that underpins the institutionalization of new organizational practices. These have implications on how DI is viewed as a socio-political process of change.

This study contributes to neo-institutional theory by theorizing covert power as a political force that complements the neo-institutional framework. This force is subtle but also resistive for some political actors as the force shifts the equilibrium of power between different institutional actors. Furthermore, the paper presents the social and practical implications that guide policymakers and practitioners by taking into consideration the unique institutional challenges, such as covert power, while implementing large scale digital projects in the social cash sector.

Referring to transaction costs theory, resource based view and social exchange theory, this paper examines the interplay between selected dimensions of suppliers’ relationships with foreign buyers, specifically relational trust, contract specificity and relationship-specific investments, as well as analyzes the effects those dimensions have on the suppliers’ product innovation.

This study uses survey data from 179 small- and medium-sized Polish manufacturing suppliers of high-tech products. Information was collected on dyadic relationships with their key foreign buyers and used as an input to a structural model consisting of multiple linear regressions.

It was discovered that trust and investments have a mutual positive impact on each other and individually contribute to the supplier’s product innovation. However, once both trust and investments were included in the model, only the latter showed significant effect. Contracts, on the other hand, showed different impact on innovation depending on how it was measured.

Managers should treat trust only as a mechanism to create supportive environment for investments, which exclusively have the power to improve supplier’s product innovation. Contracts’ role, in turn, should be limited to facilitating business relationships.

Only single quantitative studies analyzed trust, investments and contracts as determinants of supplier’s product innovation. Also, focus was not placed on high-tech SMEs in relationships with foreign buyers. As a result, our study provides unique insights on such relationships and unveils new details on an indirect link between trust and product innovation.

The employment rate of autistic people is low, and they are often employed in low-paying jobs or in jobs involving tasks that fall short of their skills and competence. To address this situation, the individual placement and support method (IPS) offers promising perspectives for personalized and long-term support measures. This evidence-based method has produced positive results in several countries. IPS has been used in France only since 2016. This paper aims to examine the experience of autistic people in France who have benefitted from supported employment measures.

Nineteen autistic adults in France took part in semistructured interviews. Interview questions focused on work and measures to support employment. The authors analysed the interviews using reflexive thematic analysis, within the paradigm of critical realism. The authors adopted a participatory approach; the project was led by an autistic researcher and autistic individuals were included at all stages.

This study identified six primary themes and three subthemes across the data: (1) The uphill battle to obtain adjustments in the workplace; (2) insufficient knowledge of autism; (2.1) explaining again and again: the educative burden; (3) the challenge of making oneself heard; (3.1) when the entourage steps in; (4) support measures as material assistance and reassurance; (4.1) between benevolence and condescension; (5) organizational factors that affect the quality of support; and (6) personal and professional life are closely intertwined.

This research provides a better understanding of how autistic people experience supported employment in France and highlights ways to improve it. Job coaches play a crucial role in offering practical help and reassurance, and their efforts to nurture an active personal life are perceived positively. However, supported employment also carries the risk of limiting autistic individuals' capacity for action and causing several difficulties if job coaches are not well-informed about autism, do not reflect on their own attitudes, do not assist in obtaining necessary accommodations and if there are organizational problems leading to a lack of resources.

Designing and developing responsible business practices can create various tensions for service organizations. The purpose of this research is to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between customer engagement (CE) and responsible business practices (e.g. environmental, social and/or governance [ESG], corporate social responsibility [CSR] and diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI]) and explore customer engagement tensions that service organizations may face.

This research develops a list of CE-related responsible business practice tensions and empirically explores their relevance through in-depth interviews with nine ESG professionals.

This paper makes three important contributions. First, we find support for nine distinct but related tensions with implications for CE that organizations must navigate when pursuing responsible business practices. Second, interview participants provide some suggestions for tackling these tensions, which we support with relevant theories. Finally, we develop a conceptual framework that may stimulate future service research and inform the implementation of ESG strategies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to conceptualize and empirically explore the tensions that emerge between responsible business practices and CE. The authors develop a novel analysis of the CE-related tensions that emerge when pursuing an ESG strategy.

The findings are based on a small sample of ESG professionals. Future research may take a quantitative approach to further evaluate the role that these tensions play in engaging customers.

This research provides a conceptual framework that may guide ESG professionals in understanding, framing and navigating CE-related tensions when pursuing responsible business practices.

A social benefit may be found when service organizations are better able to successfully navigate CE-related tensions when pursuing responsible business practices.

This study aims to help understand individual donors’ preferences over different designs of humanitarian–business partnerships in managing humanitarian operations and to help understand if donors’ preferences align with their actual donation behavior.

Choice-based conjoint analysis was used to understand donation preferences for partnership designs, and a donation experiment was performed using real money to understand the alignment of donors’ preferences with actual donation behavior.

The results show that partnering with the business sector can be a valuable asset for humanitarian organizations in attracting individual donors if these partnerships are managed well in terms of partnership strategy, partnership history and partnership report and disclosure. In particular, the study finds that the donation of services and products from businesses corporations to humanitarian organizations are preferable to individual donors, rather than cash. Furthermore, donors’ preferences are not necessarily aligned with actual donation behavior.

The results highlight the importance of presenting objective data on projects to individual donors. The results also show that donors value the provision of services and products by business corporations to humanitarian operations.

Partnerships between humanitarian organizations and business corporations are important for the success of humanitarian operations. However, little is known about which partnership designs are most preferable to individual donors and have the biggest chance of being supported financially.

This paper aims to suggest a multi-theoretical explanation using a success story to explain psychological well-being (PWB) among employees of K.C, a small enterprise found in Uganda, a developing country in Africa.

The study used qualitative methodology. Based on in-depth interviews with K.C employees, a story was developed describing the practical experience, focusing on the context, actions, results and lessons learnt. Regarding the sample size, the saturation point was attained on the seventh participant.

Findings reveal that employees that possess psychological capital set targets and generate avenues that allow them to achieve set goals, with personal initiative that makes them proactive to accomplish work tasks and individual adaptability that enables them to adjust their emotions and behavior to fit in a complex working environment, which makes them to think, feel and act positively. Furthermore, several theories, including broaden and build, personal initiative and complex adaptive systems theory, explain the manifestations of PWB of employees in small enterprises.

The study was limited by focusing on the context of a small enterprise. Future research may investigate other study contexts whose findings might be different. In addition, the study being hypothetical lacked statistical testing. It would be a meaningful effort if future studies statistically tested the suggested model. Irrespective of the limitations, the findings of this study remain significant.

In practice, employees may replicate these findings to nurture PWB which eventually contributes to enterprises’ success. This could provide answers to the psychological challenges experienced by employees of small enterprises, especially in the African developing countries like Uganda where this is a major challenge. Specifically, the workers of K.C enterprise may depend on their PWB to deal with workplace challenges and sustain the enterprise’s performance.

Socially, there is need to embrace positive social relationships among employees at the work place which will translate into well-being of society.

This paper is exceptional because it uses a success story showing practical experiences of how PWB of employees in small enterprises is nurtured in Uganda. In addition, a multi-theoretical perspective is used to explain the manifestations in the story, which is the greatest contribution of this paper. Further, a conceptual model is still proposed, depicting psychological capital, personal initiative and individual adaptability as antecedents of PWB.