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This paper brings attention to the role of hybrid middle managers. In particular it explores the relationship of organisational purpose and role requirements.

The primary research question for the original research was: What does it mean to hybrid managers to lead and deal with imposed changes (restructuring) to services? A novel narrative approach based on a synthesis of Czarniawska, Gabriel and Boje was applied. Accounts from interviews were condensed into narratives by initially using the categories defined by Gabriel (2000) as epic, tragic, comic and romantic and then further categorised into stories, themes and a serial (Czarniawska, 1997). The final stage of the three-way synthesised narrative approach incorporated Boje’s (2001) notion of “antenarrative” to include pre-emplotment elements.

Four narratives are provided that give insight to the nature of the struggles the hybrid middle managers were in the midst of. A struggle to address incongruent demands being placed on them that cause tension with their sense of purpose, organisational goals and their hybrid clinical roles and management roles. In the midst of these struggles the narratives illustrate the dynamic of ethical resistance that seeks a way forward. However, this appears to come at a health and well-being cost to the middle managers.

The paper offers up the notion of an added third bind to the traditional double, that of “ethical resistance”, a struggle to align organisational purpose with clinical and management role requirements. Theorising this third bind provides a new insight into understanding the context and dynamics of the hybrid middle manager role and behaviour. Indeed, the idea of ethical resistance may cause a revision of how resistance is understood.

The purpose of this study is to identify the financial and non-financial factors contributing to the success of hybrid offerings among Pakistani multinational enterprises (MNEs).

To capture the complexity and interdependence of success factors, this study employed fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Data were collected from 213 chief executive officers (CEOs) of Pakistani MNEs.

The findings indicate that organizational support for service plays a vital role in hybrid offerings. Specific paths, such as a service-oriented corporate culture and management commitment to service, are necessary conditions for successful hybrid offerings.

The study sheds new light on the causal relationship underlying hybrid offerings in Pakistan, one of the Next Eleven countries, which is among the fastest-developing economies. We identified various paths to the financial and non-financial success of hybrid offerings within the Pakistani manufacturing MNE sector, which, to the best of our knowledge, has been underexplored. Additionally, we considered the digitalization dimension, which integrates and strengthens previous configurational models.

During the 1990s, Italian healthcare organisations (HOs) underwent a process of corporatisation, and the most innovative HOs introduced the balanced scorecard (BSC) to address the need for broader accountability. Currently, there is a limited understanding of the dynamics and outcomes of such a process. Therefore, this study aims to explore whether the BSC is still considered an effective performance management tool and analyse the factors driving and hindering its evolution and endurance in public and non-profit HOs.

We conducted a retrospective longitudinal analysis of two pioneering cases in the adoption of the BSC: one in a public hospital and the other in a non-profit hospital. Data collection relied on accessing institutional documents and reports from the early 2000s to the present, as well as conducting semi-structured interviews with the internal sponsors of the BSC.

We found evidence of three main categories of factors that trigger or hinder the adoption and development of the BSC: (1) the role of the internal sponsor and professionals’ commitment; (2) information technology and the controller’s technological skills; and (3) the relationship between the management and professionalism logics during the implementation process. At the same time, there is no evidence to suggest that specific technical features of the BSC influence its endurance.

The paper contributes to the debate on the key factors for implementing and sustaining multidimensional control systems in professional organisations. It emphasises the importance of knowledge-based assets and distinctive internal capabilities for the success of the business. The implications of the BSC legacy are discussed, along with future developments of multidimensional control tools aimed at supporting strategy execution.

For this paper, the authors focus on Porter’s competitive advantage. Hybrid strategy refers to how a firm creates value vis-à-vis competitors by simultaneously relying on lower costs and greater differentiation to achieve a competitive advantage. This strategy emphasises both and aims to provide much more monetary value to customers through the combination of reduced cost and a higher rate of differentiation. In addition, this research focuses on family small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), because they have particularities arising from the incorporation of family members both as owners of the SME and in managerial positions. The porpose of this study is to analyse whether the existing differences produced by the role of the family in strategic decision-making and the concentration of family power have a higher impact on performance and innovation than non-family SMEs.

Structural equation modelling was used to analyse Spanish firms with fewer than 250 employees. This study randomly selected SMEs operating in Spain from the Spanish Central Business Directory (2021) database. The overall sample design was based on stratified sampling.

SMEs are facing new challenges, and this has led to the emergence of new competitive strategies. Companies have started to combine differentiation strategies with cost strategies to achieve superior performance and better adapt to these changes. This study confirms a positive relationship between the adoption of hybrid strategies and market performance in SMEs. In addition, hybrid strategy reinforces innovation, which has a mediating role between hybrid strategy and market performance. Finally, the findings indicate that family SMEs achieve a greater impact of hybrid strategy on innovation than non-family SMEs. Moreover, innovation plays a mediating role only in the case of family firms, which enhances the relationship between hybrid strategy and market performance.

For SMEs to survive in turbulent environments, this study proposes the adoption of hybrid strategies instead of pure strategies. The novel model links hybrid strategy (as opposed to “stuck in the middle”), innovation and market performance. The research is valuable for owners and managers of family SMEs because this study finds differences in the relationships studied compared to non-family SMEs.

Hybrid organizations offer an innovative approach to promote social impact. However, hybrids face the challenge of reconciling the dual mission (social/financial). The purpose is to understand how hybrids and information and communication technologies (ICT) interact, unveiling opportunities ICT offers for hybrids regarding the dual mission.

We used affordance theory and adopted a predominantly inductive approach inspired by the so-called “Gioia template.” The research design was based on semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs, specialists, and people working in institutes, foundations, and accelerators, i.e. social actors operating in the hybrid organizational ecosystem in Brazil.

Our findings suggest that the affordances of the relationship between organizational and ICT resources act as facilitators. A theoretical contribution is conceptualizing “affordance of conciliation,” indicating how ICT resources might facilitate achieving social/financial goals, thus minimizing efforts to reconcile mission duality. Furthermore, we list categories and aggregate dimensions and elucidate how results aligned with goals are generated through the process-based model. We show that ICT has a significant role in helping hybrids overcome challenges.

Our results extend affordance theory with theoretical and practical implications. We highlight fundamental components that contribute to proposing the new concept of “affordance of conciliation.” We contribute to information systems literature by better understanding the social interactions between ICT and hybrids. Finally, we help hybrids understand the support of ICT resources to fulfill their dual mission.

This article focusses on the hybrid strategy, a simultaneous combination of cost leadership and differentiation strategy. The study aims to examine the impact of hybrid strategy on firm performance through its anticipated positive effects on process and product innovation. In addition, we study the moderating role of adaptive capacity in the direct relationships of hybrid strategy with process and product innovation.

Structural equation modelling was used to analyse 1,842 Spanish firms with fewer than 250 employees. We randomly selected small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in Spain from the Spanish Central Business Directory (2021) database. The overall sample design was based on stratified sampling.

We found that hybrid strategy is positively related to firm performance and to process and product innovation. Additionally, in firms implementing hybrid strategies, process innovation fostered firm performance. Finally, adaptive capacity strengthened the relationships of hybrid strategy with process and product innovation. This sheds light on how and when hybrid strategy is most effective in fostering SME performance.

We highlight that SMEs need to establish strategies that use diverse resources and capabilities and not just generate competitive advantage using one strategy (cost leadership or differentiation strategy). This requires an agile and flexible systems and structures.

Our research provides novel results by proposing the adoption of hybrid strategies instead of pure strategies (cost leadership and differentiation strategy) as a way for SMEs to survive during crises. Unlike “stuck in the middle” strategies, our study demonstrates the importance of hybrid strategies in a comprehensive model that links them to innovation and firm performance, with adaptive capacity being a determining factor.

This research investigates the personal experiences of hybrid workers, exploring their perspectives on their health and well-being when undertaking hybrid working arrangements. The research further explores how organisations can proactively support the health and wellbeing of hybrid workers, mitigating any potential health risks.

A cross-sectional, qualitative online survey was used to collect data from 412 hybrid workers. The data were analysed thematically. This approach allows for nuanced insights into the personal experiences of hybrid workers to be understood.

Findings indicate that employees who undertake hybrid work experience both positive and negative effects on their subjective well-being; hybrid work arrangement has the potential to act as a job resource or job demand. The study further identifies actions that can support healthy hybrid work that will be of value to organisations offering these working arrangements.

Although empirical research has previously examined the relationship between remote work and employee well-being, there is a lack of in-depth understanding about employees’ experiences of well-being whilst undertaking hybrid work – an emerging and relatively unexplored working arrangement. This research therefore addresses a significant gap in the literature by providing a deep understanding of how hybrid work influences employee well-being. Furthermore, previous research has not yet explored how hybrid worker health can be enabled and supported by organisations and individuals themselves.

The study aims to understand the impact of psychological safety on employee creativity leading to innovative behaviour in a hybrid workforce. It further examines the drivers of psychological safety: inclusive leadership and affective climate as well as the interaction of employee creativity and proactive personality on innovative behaviour at remote work.

Using multi-source survey-based data, the study has been conducted in two phases for independent variables (IV) and dependent variables (DV). The first phase has gathered data for IVs from 515 team members and DVs from 105 teams’ leaders from various software development teams in the information technology and information technology enabled services sectors. The study has used component-based partial least square structural equation modelling to test various arguments developed in the paper.

The results of the study confirm the positive association of affective climate and inclusive leadership to psychological safety, which facilitates employee creativity leading to innovative behaviour. However, the results show there is no interaction of a proactive personality with employee creativity on innovative behaviour. Also, the results have supported the social network theory, which says that the strong ties among employees promote innovative behaviour.

According to the study, psychological safety might help strengthen and increase the social ties that bridge structural holes and improve collaboration across business units. This may encourage employee creativity, especially in remote work. Further, it highlights how employee creativity and proactive personality are important independent factors that facilitate innovative behaviour.

The study is a unique attempt to explore the role of psychological safety in enhancing creativity and innovative behaviour in hybrid mode of work setting.

The complexity of contemporary societal challenges in emerging countries reanimates the necessity of collective action to resolve them. What is required is system change, namely, transformations in policy, practice, power relationships, market dynamics and social customs that underlie social and environmental issues. Technological innovations, paired with intentional social changes, might play a transformative role in this effort. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the adoption of technologies in social enterprises (SEs) and their contribution to achieving system change. It also addresses the effects of their hybrid nature on this relationship.

The analysis relied on data collected through a survey of the global population of Ashoka fellows, which is largely based in emerging economies. Three models were developed concerning different pathways to achieve system change identified in the theoretical framework. These were tested using Probit regressions.

The investigation confirms that technology can support SEs in navigating complex pathways to achieve system change rather than merely enabling linear scaling operational strategies. The pursuit of economic value creation, in conjunction with a social mission, decreases the ability of SEs to achieve system change. This is because the scaling paths which hardly create revenues are neglected.

The study conceptualises a multifaceted model of system change. It tests the framework empirically to show that SEs can adopt technologies to unleash complex system change processes to generate societal impact, on top of merely demonstrating linear approaches to scaling or replication. The paper questions the capacity of SEs to facilitate system change without appropriate financial support and the inherent tensions between hybridity and the depth of system change dynamics.

Hybrid learning has become a reality due to the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students world over had to switch to this new learning format. This study aims to analyze the impact of innovation attributes of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and User Technology (UTAUT2) model and community of inquiry (COI) framework on the hybrid learning experience and the continued intention for it.

Using a cross-sectional research design, the study has adapted a scale from past studies and collected data using purposive sampling from the student community. The research has used the structural equation modeling technique using SMART-PLS to study the hypothesized relationships.

The study’s findings are that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, teaching presence, cognitive presence and social presence influence hybrid learning experience and continued intention. Further hybrid learning experience mediates the continued intention.

This study has several academic and practical implications for improving the hybrid learning experience. Various stakeholders can get insights on improving the user’s desire to pursue learning in a hybrid environment.

Hybrid learner experience is an upcoming area of research and yet unexplored in India as well as in other countries. A new hybrid experience model was developed by extending the UTAUT2 to include the COI framework and learner experience frameworks.