Search results

Earlier studies have shown that individuals with business education and the personality traits listed in the big-five model are more inclined to pursue entrepreneurial activities. The Big-Five Model of personality is one of the prominent taxonomies, which highlights five fundamental human's traits. However, the big-five model does not cover all baseline personality features essential for pursuing an entrepreneurial career. Drawing on the trait-factor theory of career choice, this study discusses action-oriented traits as a driving force for individuals to pursue entrepreneurship as a foremost career choice in the context of developing economies.

Data of 599 recent graduates, who just completed their university degrees and about to join the job market, were collected through surveys and analyzed after achieving the model-fit.

Results highlighted that three action-oriented traits (innovativeness, risk-taking and competitiveness) aspire individuals to pursue entrepreneurial careers. In addition, a multi-group analysis of business vs. non-business educational backgrounds revealed that business related education is not the only strong precursor leading to the pursuit of an entrepreneurial career.

This study draws attention to the belief of higher educational consultants, institutes and policymakers that investment in certain trait development can increase the number of new entrepreneurs in an economy.

Competitiveness is an individual difference variable that incorporates factors generally associated with the desire to excel in comparison to others and the enjoyment of competition. There is still much debate on whether it is helpful or harmful, which may stem from the scattered ways in which it is studied. Thereby, this study aims to properly synthesize the literature concerning the prevailing correlates, underlying theory and frequent applications of competitiveness and to set forth an outline of domains in need of further research and exploration.

The authors do so by using two methods of analysis on a representative sample of 546 peer-reviewed publications.

The authors find that competitiveness research has and will continue to grow expeditiously, but its complexity and cloudiness have not yet been attenuated.

The study uncovers opportunities for pertinent future research on competitiveness to grow more productively and collaboratively by highlighting salient works and identifying the fragmentations that have led the literature into a state of disarray.

Gamification is a booming motivational approach in information systems. Leaderboards play a key role in gamification; however, there are mixed findings regarding the heterogeneous motivational impacts of leaderboard positions. This study aims to clarify the motivational effects of high and low leaderboard positions by assembling diverse behavioral measures and self-reports. The measures used in this study shed a light on the quantitative and qualitative dynamics of motivation facilitated by leaderboard positions. The authors inspect motivation in relation to satisfaction and frustration of competence need.

The authors conducted an online experiment set in a crowdsourcing context, asking the participants to compete in an image tagging game. Participants' leaderboard positions were manipulated to be either high or low for five consecutive rounds. The number of clicks, tags, duration of tagging and persistence on the task were measured as indicators of motivation.

High ranks on leaderboards induced complacent behaviors choosing easy ways to maintain their positions, while low ranks led the participants to stick to the right process of the task with intensified motivation round after round. However, neither of the motivations seemed to be of intrinsic nature.

The present study provides conclusive evidence on the varying motivational impact of leaderboard positions. The authors also demonstrate how the “needs-as-motive” model (Sheldon and Gunz, 2009) applies to gamification. Its implications in self-determination theory and gamification literature are discussed.

The digital transformation is dramatically changing the business-to-business (B2B) sales environment, challenging long-standing views regarding the critical competencies required of salespeople. This paper aims to explore the personal traits associated with sales performance in a digital selling environment.

Using template analysis, the researchers captured and coded over 21 h of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with senior sales leaders from various industry sectors, exploring their perceptions of the personal traits now required of B2B salespeople in the digital landscape.

The research identifies three high-level trait types critical to sales success within a digital selling environment: “analytical curiosity” – the natural motivation and ability to gather and synthesize sales-related knowledge, “empathetic citizenship” – the ability to establish initial rapport while building long-term trust and “disciplined drive” – the exertion of selling effort in a highly focused and methodical manner across all stages of the sales process.

The present data came from interviews with sales leaders in Canada. A more global sample may lead to additional insights. Moreover, the sample was drawn from long-cycle B2B sales environments; conclusions may differ for short-cycle or business-to-consumer markets.

This paper presents a framework for hiring and developing salespeople in the digital sales environment, identifying personal trait types that sales leaders should look for when hiring: analytical curiosity, empathetic citizenship and disciplined drive. The paper identifies how these trait types influence sales success, suggesting that sales leaders could coach and educate their teams to make the best use of them.

This paper presents a conceptual framework for hiring in the digital sales environment and introduces the trait of analytical curiosity not previously discussed in the literature.

A nation's economic development is adversely affected by the rising population and the lack of employment opportunities, necessitating the promotion of entrepreneurial activities. This study aims to unfurl the critical factors shaping university students' entrepreneurial intentions (EI) in an emerging economy.

The study assessed the EI of 640 university students across India's top 5 central universities through structural equation modeling by extending the entrepreneurial event model (EEM) and dark triad theory. Mediation and moderation techniques were used to examine the model's direct and indirect linkages.

The results show that propensity to act (PTA), perceived resilience (PRS) and narcissism (NAR) magnify desirability, significantly increasing students' EI. The association between the underlying constructs is partially mediated by the PTA and perceived desirability (PD). In addition, the linkage between PD and students' EI is strengthened by the pursuit of excellence (PoE) and weakened by perceived risk (PR).

The study's findings could assist educators, universities, aspiring entrepreneurs, financial institutions, policymakers, investors, venture capitalists, incubators and accelerators in reinforcing entrepreneurial culture in India by establishing a link between crucial personality traits and intentions to start entrepreneurial ventures.

Personality traits such as NAR, resilience and the PoE have not received much attention in the entrepreneurship literature and call for a rigorous inquiry. The study tries to embrace these dominant personality traits by broadening the perspectives of EEM and dark triad theory via a comprehensive conceptual model. It also explores the role of the PoE and PR as moderators to examine the possible association between the identified constructs.

Following the trait activation theory, this study aims to shed light on the influence of tourists’ personality traits on their value co-destruction (VCD) behavior in “revenge tourism”, considering the moderating effect of perceived risk as the environment factor.

A pilot study (n = 204) was first conducted to check the reliability of the measurement scale and remove inappropriate items. Thereafter, a convenience sampling method was used for data collection in the main survey among people (n = 330) who have at least one traveling experience after COVID-19 tourism restrictions have been terminated. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were performed for data analysis to testify the theoretical framework proposed.

Results of SEM analysis show that both resilience and altruism of tourists reduced their VCD behavior. What’s more, perceived risk has been found to moderate the relationship between altruism and VCD behavior. As perceived risk increased, the negative impact of altruism on VCD behavior would be weaken.

VCD have been recently emphasized as a key block to the development of tourism industry. This study examines VCD behavior following the trait activation theory. Results of the study can provide new insights on how to mitigate VCD, which would contribute to the preparation for future tourism crisis management, such as the next pandemic.

根据特质激活理论, 本研究旨在揭示游客人格特质及环境因素对“报复性旅游”中价值共毁行为的影响。

本研究先通过预调研检验测量量表的可靠性, 并删除不适当的项目。正式调研采用便利抽样法, 研究对象为COVID-19旅游限制终止后有过至少有一次旅行经历的人群, 共收到330份有效问卷。本研究采用验证性因子分析及结构方程模型进行数据分析, 对提出的理论模型进行验证。

SEM分析结果显示, 游客的弹性和利他主义都降低了他们的价值共毁行为。此外, 感知风险调节利他主义与价值共毁行为之间的关系。随着感知风险的增加, 利他主义对价值共毁行为的负面影响会减弱。

价值共毁是旅游业发展的一个重要障碍。本研究以特质激活理论为基础, 研究游客价值共毁行为。本研究可以为如何减少价值共毁行为提供有价值的建议, 有助于为未来的旅游危机管理做好准备, 如下一次大流行病。

Siguiendo la Teoría de la Activación del Rasgo, el estudio tiene como objetivo arrojar luz sobre la influencia de los rasgos de la personalidad de los turistas en su comportamiento de codestrucción de valor en el “turismo de venganza”, considerando el efecto moderador del riesgo percibido como el factor de entorno.

En primer lugar, se realizó un estudio piloto (n = 204) para comprobar la fiabilidad de la escala de medición y eliminar los ítems inadecuados. Posteriormente, se utilizó un método de muestreo de conveniencia para la recogida de datos de la encuesta principal entre personas (n = 330) que tuvieran, al menos, una experiencia de viaje tras la finalización de las restricciones turísticas derivadas del COVID-19. Para la evaluación del marco teórico propuesto se utilizó el análisis factorial confirmatorio y los modelos de ecuaciones estructurales.

Los resultados del análisis de ecuaciones estructurales muestran que tanto la resiliencia como el altruismo de los turistas redujeron su comportamiento de codestrucción de valor. Además, se ha comprobado que el riesgo percibido modera la relación entre el altruismo y el comportamiento de codestrucción de valor. A medida que aumenta el riesgo percibido se debilita el impacto negativo del altruismo en el comportamiento de codestrucción de valor.

Recientemente se ha destacado que la codestrucción de valor es un obstáculo clave para el desarrollo de la industria turística. Este estudio examina el comportamiento de codestrucción de valor siguiendo la Teoría de la Activación del Rasgo. Los resultados del estudio pueden proporcionar nuevos conocimientos sobre cómo mitigar la codestrucción de valor, lo que contribuiría a la preparación de la gestión de futuras crisis turísticas, como la próxima pandemia.

According to the literature, general personality traits are less strongly related to the creation of new ventures than specific/proximal personality traits. Therefore, this study aims to understand the different proximal personalities that influence the entrepreneurial intention to start a new venture and the relationship between them.

Data were gathered through a self-administered questionnaire filled in by students of entrepreneurship or related courses at the end of the second semester (2019/2020 academic year), and the research option is based on covariance-based structural equation modelling.

The results of this study show that entrepreneurial intentions can be predicted by specific individual traits, namely, risk-taking, entrepreneurial alertness, creativity, proactivity and self-efficacy. Moreover, it was found that risk-taking mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and proactivity. On the other hand, students’ creativity mediates the relationship between risk-taking and proactivity. Finally, students’ self-efficacy mediates the relationship between proactiveness and entrepreneurial intention.

The results have implications for entrepreneurship education given that a better understanding of the personality traits that influence entrepreneurial intentions can lead to the development of new approaches and pedagogical tools.

This model can be used as a diagnostic tool for designing an effective and efficient entrepreneurship curriculum and pedagogy, acting as an (ongoing) audit of students’ entrepreneurial intentions to get a scientific basis in case of further course/module adjustments.

Expressions of pride may elicit others’ envy. In the consumer context, prior research has repeatedly demonstrated that such envy significantly affects consumers’ attitudinal and behavioural responses towards the object of envy. This paper aims to investigate whether this pride-envy relationship is bi-directional. Does being envied by others affect consumers’ self-directed feelings of pride, as well as their subsequent attitude towards a product (i.e. the object of envy)?

Three experiments examined how emotional reactions of envy from others may influence consumers’ subsequent affective and attitudinal responses towards their own product or purchase. The first experimental study (n = 129) examined whether exposure to benign envy from others evokes higher levels of authentic pride and positively influences product attitude. The second experiment (n = 159) investigated whether exposure to malicious envy from others evokes high levels of hubristic pride, and therefore, negatively influences product attitude. The third study (n = 80) was a quasi-field experiment seeking to provide further empirical support for the relationship between benign (vs malicious) envy and authentic (vs hubristic) pride and their effects on attitude.

The first experiment showed that when participants observed expressions of benign envy towards them, they expressed authentic pride, which ultimately increased positive attitudes towards the product. The second experiment showed that when participants observed expressions of malicious envy towards them, they expressed hubristic pride, which, in turn, reduced positive attitudes towards the product. The effect of malicious envy was further moderated by susceptibility to social influence, whereby the indirect effect of malicious envy on product attitudes was only significant among participants with high susceptibility. The third experiment demonstrated the relationship between benign (vs malicious) envy and authentic (vs hubristic) pride and the effects on attitude in a quasi-field study.

The present paper aims to fill a research gap by showing how being the recipient of others’ malicious or benign envy affects consumers’ self-directed feelings of pride, as well as their attitude towards a product that is the object of envy.

The current research is among the first to show that the emotional expressions of other consumers can influence existing consumers’ affective responses and attitudes towards a product. These findings highlight the importance of building a positive culture and community around brands and products, whereby other consumers’ consumption of the brand or product is perceived positively.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first empirical evidence demonstrating that others’ expression of benign (malicious) envy may lead to the self-feeling of authentic (hubristic) pride, which has a downstream effect on attitude towards the product.

This study aims to investigate the negative interpersonal antecedents, emotional mediators and boundary conditions of knowledge sabotage behavior.

The authors collected data from 275 Chinese employees using convenience sampling and snowball sampling across three stages. Subsequently, the authors used both hierarchical regression and bootstrap methods to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results confirmed that workplace ostracism has positive effects on employee knowledge sabotage behavior both directly and via employee anger. In addition, the authors found that employee bottom-line mentality (BLM) moderates not only the direct effect of workplace ostracism on employee anger but also the indirect effect of employee anger in this context. Employee conscientiousness moderates only the direct effect of workplace ostracism on employee anger and does not moderate the indirect effect.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study not only explores the influence of workplace ostracism on employee knowledge sabotage behavior for the first time but also elucidates the underlying emotional mechanisms (anger) and boundary conditions (employee BLM and conscientiousness) by which workplace ostracism influences employee knowledge sabotage behavior, thus deepening the understanding of how knowledge sabotage emerges in organizations.

This paper aims to explore the increasing importance of the intraorganizational dimension of the sales role (IDSR) based on service-ecosystem theory. Specifically, it examines how firms can improve interactions both internally and with external actors and stakeholders to both create and sustain advantageous “thin crossing points” (Hartmann et al. 2018). Academic research on sales ecosystems has yet to fully harness the rich insights and potential afforded by the crossing-point perspective.

After developing and unpacking the paper’s guiding conceptual framework (Figure 1), the authors focus on crossing points and the diversity of interactions between the contemporary sales force and its many stakeholders. They examine the sales literature, identify opportunities for thinning sales crossing points and propose dozens of research questions and needs.

The paper examines the importance of improving interactions both within and outside the vendor firm to thin crossing points, further develops the concept of the “sales ecosystem” and contributes a series of important research questions for future examination.

The paper focuses on applying “thick” and “thin” crossing points, a key element of Hartman et al. (2018). The primary limitation of the paper is that it focuses solely on the crossing-points perspective and does not consider other applications of Hartman et al. (2018).

This work informs managers of the need to improve interactions both within and outside the firm by thinning crossing points. Improving relationships with stakeholders will improve many vendor firm and customer outcomes, including performance.

Integrating findings from the literature, the authors propose a conceptual framework to encompass the entire diversity of idiosyncratic interactions as well as long-term relationships the sales force experiences. They discuss the strategic importance of thinning crossing points as well as the competitive disadvantages, even peril, “thick” crossing points create. They propose an ambitious research agenda based on dozens of questions to drive further examination of the IDSR from a sales-ecosystem perspective.