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This article is a commentary on The “Global Implications of the Indigenous Epistemological System from the East: How to Apply Yin-Yang Balancing to Paradox Management” (Li, 2016), which is a timely and important piece. Li (2016) offers epistemological insights into what Yin-Yang is, why Yin-Yang can serve as a guiding frame of thinking, and how to apply this frame of thinking to paradoxical issues to organizations that compete in a complex cross cultural world. Western management philosophies and perspectives have dominated the mainstream theories in organization and management around the world over the past five decades, paying very limited attention and appreciation to Eastern philosophies that exist already for over 2500 years (e.g., 551–479 BC’s Confucianism). In this commentary, we added more explanations, suggesting that given intensified complex and competing needs to fulfil for today’s businesses, the indigenous Eastern epistemological wisdom of Yin-Yang balancing is an important guide to understand paradoxes and tensions. Yin-Yang balancing provides a holistic comprehension concerning our complex reality. It treats two opposite elements of any paradox as partial trade-off as well as partial synergy within a spectrum of holistic and dynamic balancing. We reinforce that the duality perspective has good potential to help us better understand the process of a multitude of conflictual and competing needs organizations must simultaneously accomplish. This potential is deemed to work not merely for firms competing in the East or other developing countries but can extend to organizations, large or small, in the West or developed countries as well.

This commentary echoes Li’s point (2016) that Yin-Yang balancing has significant and extensive applications when a growing number of organizations, local and foreign, are compelled to become ambidextrous when facing complex new business realities and having to deal with intensified competing needs they have to simultaneously, interactively and dynamically satisfy. This commentary discusses some distinctive characteristics of Eastern philosophies, followed by articulation of some critical lacuna, we think, concerning the Yin-Yang duality that should be answered. In this commentary, we amplify Li’s main points, along with our suggested agenda for future research that can further develop Yin-Yang balancing to a theory of managing paradox.

Eastern philosophies have long been dominated by five pillars or five schools of mastery thoughts originating mainly from China – Confucianism (Ru Jia), Taoism (Tao Jia), Legalism (Fa Jia), Militarism (Bing Jia), and Buddhism (Fu Jia). The Yin-Yang philosophy is one of the central notions of Taoism which teaches us how to act in accordance with nature. Founded by Laozi and Zhuangzhi, Taoism is rooted in an understanding of the “way” (i.e., Tao), which is the shapeless force that brings all things into existence and then nurtures them. That is, Tao means the natural course, which is spontaneous, eternal, nameless, and indescribable. Unlike Confucianism, Taoism favors philosophical anarchism and pluralism. Tao manifests itself through natural principles or philosophies, including Yin-Yang duality, circular nature of changes, wu-wei (natural course of action), and harmony with internal and external environments.

We endorse Li's view (2016) that Western and Eastern management philosophies have their respective strengths and weaknesses, neither one alone is sufficient to manage all types of problems. Thus, a better solution is the one that can integrate Eastern and Western epistemological systems into a geocentric meta-system. The world is entering into a globally-interconnected era, requiring both the organic complexity and ambiguity and the mechanistic simplicity and clarity. Increased global interconnectivity accentuates complexity and interdependence while increased competition fortifies dynamism and uncertainty. This will cause more, not less, paradoxes than before. To this end, Yin-Yang balancing is an audacious and judicious frame of thinking toward paradoxes because this philosophy embodies a unique ability to address the key challenges of ambiguity, complexity, and uncertainty and embraces multiplicity, diversity and inter-penetrability.

After centuries of Western economic dominance, China, India and the rest of the East, alongside emerging economies more broadly, are beginning to challenge the West for positions of global industry leadership. At a deeper level, the transformation from “West Leads East” to “West Meets East” heralds the need for ambidextrous or ambicultural thinking: making simultaneous use of opposites, or simultaneously balancing seemingly contradictory forces and needs, such as efficiency and flexibility, competition and cooperation, stability and adaptation, exploitation and exploration, global and local, privatization and state-ownership, market-based and relationship-based strategies, individualism and collectivism, and long-term and short-term

Enlightened by Yin-Yang balancing, there is a great potential of co-evolution, convergence and co-reinforcement of different philosophies. It will not be easy for any single study to reveal a roadmap for this, but it is feasible for the management research community to finally make the trip with our continuous and collective efforts. Some Western management theories, such as organizational ambidexterity, loose coupling, collaborative competitive advantage, co-opetition, transnational solution (integrated global integration and local responsiveness), to name a few, share some core values of Yin-Yang balancing, even though such sharing has never been articulated explicitly. Similar to the same difficulty facing any other philosophies to be transformed into actionable theories, we have a long journey to navigate in quest for extending Yin-Yang balancing to a universally accepted theory of managing paradoxes. Li’s article (2016) sheds much light for us to forge ahead to this direction.

This paper seeks to examine an emerging synergetic model of organizational leadership that is founded on Chinese Taoism and complex adaptive system (CAS).

The paper is formed around a comparative analysis of two conceptual models – the CAS model that is founded on what is known as the new science and a more ancient model that is based on Chinese Taoism.

While the two models were developed more than 2,500 years apart, this paper shows a degree of alignment between Eastern wisdom and the latest Western scientific theory. The essence of what is characterized as Taoistic leadership emphasizes alignment with “The Way” and is based on the interplay of “Yin/Yang.” This is similar to the core elements of CAS that emphasizes the importance of “the Attractor” and the interplay of “Order/Disorder.”

This paper points out the promise of a convergence of ancient wisdom from China, with the latest new science view on organizational behavior. The outcome is a complementary leadership model that is undergirded by both ethical values and scientific support.

This paper goes one step beyond traditional analyzes by dissecting the two key streams of Chinese philosophy, comparing and contrasting these with CAS.

Chinese leaders today tend to be influenced by a leadership style that can be broadly characterized as reflecting principles of Confucianism. These principles support a more hierarchical formulation of leadership and organizations that are more centralized and less adaptive to today's dynamic environment. This paper offers an alternative leadership model, grounded in the Tao philosophy that is said to be more accommodating of the complexities of organizational behavior today. It also offers value to Western leaders in appreciation of the ancient wisdom and values in Taoism relating to today's organizational behavior and leadership.

In the aftermath of the global economic crisis, the pursuit of new perspectives and different growth models is imperative. One of the most significant trends of our time is the rise of Asia in the world economy. After centuries of Western economic dominance, China, India, and the rest of the East, alongside emerging economies more broadly, are beginning to challenge the West for positions of global industry leadership and underlying managerial philosophies and perspectives. In this paper, I review some key philosophical insights from Asia that have underpinned the success of many Asian businesses for generations, hoping that it will encourage more efforts – conceptually, theoretically, and empirically – leading the discourse on fresh new perspectives on business in emerging economies in general, and on Asian management in particular.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the individual effects of boundary-spanning search from suppliers (supplier-side search (SS)). It is proposed that SS contributes to innovation ambidexterity (IA) and then business performance (BP). Further, this paper includes buyer–supplier relationships (BSRs) and competitive intensity (CI) as moderators to clarify boundary conditions.

An ordinary least squares regression was employed to test hypotheses, based on 184 sets of data from Hong Kong manufacturing firms. The SPSS version of PROCESS was utilized.

The results show that IA partially mediates the relationship between SS and BP. Contingently, the direct effect is negatively moderated by BSRs and CI.

This paper confirms the partial mediating effect of IA on the relationship between SS and BP. Additional mediators, such as organizational innovation and marketing innovation, can be examined in the future.

This paper contributes to practice by suggesting that suppliers are a rewarding single source for firms to undertake boundary-spanning search. IA plays a significant role in reinforcing the effects of SS on BP and should be implemented with sustaining efforts. BSRs and CI can be detrimental and should be responded to cautiously.

This paper highlights the individual effects of SS on BP. Furthermore, the underlying process and boundary conditions are analyzed. The exploitation-exploration framework is applied throughout the entire study.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance impact of supplier involvement, based on the knowing processes and contingencies of knowledge-based view. Ambidextrous innovations (i.e. exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation) are taken as intermediary processes. Furthermore, product smartness is considered to clarify boundary conditions.

The ordinary least squares regression was conducted, based on the two-source data collected from 125 high-tech firms in China.

Ambidextrous innovations positively mediate the relationship between supplier involvement and financial performance. Product smartness weakens the indirect impact via exploratory innovation but not exploitative innovation.

This study reveals the knowledge application and recombination mechanisms of ambidextrous innovations to mediate between supplier involvement and financial performance. It also highlights digital encapsulation function of product smartness as a contingent factor.

This study is based on knowledge-based view to examine the relationships among buyer–supplier interaction, ambidextrous innovation and business performance. It includes competitive intensity and dysfunctional competition to clarify boundary conditions.

The ordinary least squares regression was conducted to test hypotheses. The survey data were collected from 182 Hong Kong manufacturing firms.

Buyer–supplier interaction facilitates ambidextrous innovation, namely exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation. In turn, exploitative innovation enhances business performance, whereas exploratory innovation has no influence on business performance. Competitive intensity strengthens while dysfunctional competition weakens the impact of buyer–supplier interaction on ambidextrous innovation.

This study is based on the knowing processes of knowledge-based view. It contends that business performance is derived from ambidextrous innovation, which depends on the utilization of acquired supplier knowledge and the influence of external competitive environment. The test of relationships is constrained by the single-source and cross-sectional data.

Firms should engage in buyer–supplier interaction to acquire and utilize supplier knowledge. Meanwhile, they should monitor competitive environment to seize opportunities and avoid threats.

This study builds a holistic framework for buyer–supplier interaction, which reconciles the mixed arguments by distinguishing its effects on ambidextrous innovation, and by clarifying boundary conditions in terms of competitive intensity and dysfunctional competition.

This study aims to explore the conditional relationships between supplier involvement and financial performance. From a problem-solving perspective, this study takes the focal firm as a problem-solving system. It is postulated that supplier involvement enhances financial performance by helping solve complex problems of new product development. Furthermore, product modularity and smartness are considered contingent factors to clarify the boundary conditions.

The ordinary least squares regression was conducted to test the hypotheses based on survey data from 136 high-tech firms in China.

Supplier involvement is positively related to financial performance. Product modularity weakens the impact of supplier involvement on financial performance. Furthermore, product smartness strengthens the negative influence of product modularity on the relationship between supplier involvement and financial performance.

This study combines supplier involvement with product attributes. It takes a problem-solving perspective to rethink suppliers’ roles in new product development as problem-solvers rather than resource holders. Furthermore, this study advances the encapsulation effects of product modularity and smartness to influence the supplier involvement–financial performance link.

This study investigates how role overload in the sharing economy leads to emotional exhaustion, which restricts value co-creation activity, and also investigates the moderating effect of perceived platform support.

Two experimental investigations and field research questionnaires were given to respondents with shared mobility industry expertise.

First, role overload detrimentally affects service providers' value co-creation behavior; second, emotional exhaustion acts as a mediator between role overload and value co-creation behavior; and finally, perceived platform support moderates the adverse effect of role overload on emotional exhaustion.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to explore the antecedents of value co-creation behavior from the service provider's perspective, extending the application of COR theory in a sharing economy context.

First, alternative mediators between role overload and emotional exhaustion were not identified. Second, other dimensions of role overload and their impacts were not examined. Lastly, this study did not explore broader perspectives beyond algorithms.

This study recommends that managers reduce role overload ex ante in terms of clarifying responsibilities and obligations, providing substantive resource support and rationalizing order allocation, respectively.

This study aims to explore the hidden connectivity among words by semantic network analysis, further identify salient factors accounting for customer satisfaction of coffee shops through analysis of online reviews and, finally, examine the moderating effect of business types of coffee shops on customer satisfaction.

Two typical major procedures of big data analytics in the hospitality industry were adopted in this research: one is data collection and the other is data analysis. In terms of data analysis, frequency analysis with text mining, semantic network analysis, CONCOR analysis for clustering and quantitative analysis with dummy variables were performed to dig new insights from online customer reviews both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Different factors were extracted from online customer reviews contributing to customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and among these factors, the brand-new factor “Sales event” was examined to be significantly associated with customer satisfaction. In addition, the moderating effect of business types on the relationship between “Value for money” and customer satisfaction was verified, indicating differences between customers from different types of coffee shops.

The present study broadened the research directions of coffee shops by adopting online customer reviews through relative analytics. New dimensions such as “Sales event” and detailed categorization of “Coffee quality”, “Interior” and “Physical environment” were revealed, indicating that even new cognition could be generated with new data source and analytical methods. The industry professionals could develop their decision-making based on information from online reviews.

The present study used online reviews to understand coffee shop costumer experience and satisfaction through a set of analytical methods. The textual reviews and numeric reviews were concerned simultaneously to unearth qualitative perception and quantitative data information for customers of coffee shops.

本研究的目的在于通过网络评论分析了解网络评论中关键词之间的隐含联系, 然后探究影响咖啡店顾客满意度的因素, 最后验证不同咖啡店经营类型的调节作用。

本研究使用文本挖掘的频率分析、语义网络分析、聚类分析和通过虚拟变量进行的定量分析, 从网络评论中挖掘对咖啡店行业的新见解。此外, 还检验了咖啡店经营类型的调节作用。

从网络评论中提取影响顾客满意度的不同因素, 探索出“销售活动”对顾客满意度的显著影响。同时, 相较于连锁咖啡店, 独立经营咖啡店对“物有所值”到顾客满足度的关系具有调节作用。  

本研究通过使用相关的分析方法对顾客网络评论进行分析, 拓宽了咖啡店研究的方向。研究结果发现“销售活动”和“咖啡品质”的细分等新方面, 揭示了利用新的数据源和分析方法可以为相关产业提供全新的认知。本研究的研究结果表明行业从业者可以根据顾客网络评论来制定相应的营销策略。

本研究利用网络顾客评论及相关分析方法, 了解顾客咖啡店体验及满意度。本研究同时利用文本评论和数字评论来挖掘和分析咖啡店顾客的定性感知和定量数据信息。

关键词咖啡店 在线顾客评论 文本挖掘 语义网络分析 经营类型

文章类型： 研究型论文

Este estudio intenta explorar las relaciones encubiertas de palabras, mediante el análisis de redes semánticas, pero aún más, identificar los factores destacados que explican la satisfacción de los clientes de las cafeterías a través del análisis de reseñas online y, por último, examinar el efecto moderador de los tipos de negocios de cafeterías en la satisfacción al cliente.

En esta investigación se adoptaron dos procedimientos principales de análisis de “Big Data” en la industria hotelera, uno es la recopilación de datos y el otro es el análisis de datos. En términos de análisis de datos, se efectuó un análisis de frecuencia con minado de texto (text mining), análisis de red semántica, análisis CONCOR para agrupamiento y análisis cuantitativo con variables ficticias para extraer nuevas perspectivas de las reseñas de los clientes online, tanto cualitativa como cuantitativamente.

Diferentes factores fueron extraídos de las reseñas de clientes online que contribuyen a la satisfacción o insatisfacción de estos y, entre estos factores, se examinó que el nuevo factor “Evento de Ventas” está significativamente asociado con la satisfacción al cliente. Además, se verificó el efecto moderador de los tipos de negocios entre la relación de “Valor por Dinero” y la satisfacción del cliente, indicando las diferencias entre los clientes de distintos tipos de cafeterías.

El presente estudio amplia la perspectiva de investigación de las cafeterías, al adoptar las reseñas de clientes online a través de un análisis relativo. Se revelaron nuevas dimensiones como “Evento de Ventas” y la categorización detallada de la “Calidad del Café”, “Interior” y “Entorno Físico”, lo que indica que se podría generar una nueva cognición con una nueva fuente de datos y métodos analíticos. Los profesionales de la industria podrían llevar a cabo la toma de decisiones en función de la información obtenida a través de las reseñas en línea.

El presente estudio utilizó reseñas de clientes online para comprender la experiencia y satisfacción de los clientes de las cafeterías a través de un conjunto de métodos analíticos. Las revisiones numéricas y de texto se tomaron en cuenta simultáneamente para revelar la percepción tanto cualitativa como cuantitativa de la información de los clientes de las cafeterías.

Cafetería, Reseñas de clientes online, Minado de texto, Análisis de redes semánticas, Tipos de negocios

Trabajo de investigación

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the information about haze, a term used in China to describe the air pollution problem, is portrayed on Chinese social media by different types of organizations using the theoretical framework of the health belief model (HBM).

A content analysis was conducted based on the 756 posts retrieved from Sina Weibo, the top microbloging platform in China, following the simple random sampling method. χ2 analysis was conducted to examine the relationships across the three types of organizations (governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, and corporations) and the use of the HBM concepts (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy, and cues to action) in terms of haze and its threat to health.

The results of this study indicated that corporations posted more Weibo messages categorized as perceived benefit and most of these posts are related to their products, while governmental organizations posted fewer Weibo messages categorized as perceived severity.

This study provides health decision makers and media consumers with knowledge about how to use social media more effectively in terms of haze-related issues.

Given the severity of air pollution and the influential role microblogging takes, the study aims to fill the gap in the limited literature on haze information dissemination on social media in China. In addition, this study aims to shed theoretical light on HBM as applied to a non-westernized context.