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1 – 10 of over 113000Resource mobilization has come to dominate contemporary discourse on the making and survival of social enterprises (SEs). Emphasizing the socially constructed nature of…
Abstract
Purpose
Resource mobilization has come to dominate contemporary discourse on the making and survival of social enterprises (SEs). Emphasizing the socially constructed nature of idiosyncratic firm resource environments, this study integrates bricolage and social exchange theory to explore the means at hand and the kinds of practices SEs in China employ to mobilize resources to address persistent social problems.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a qualitative multiple case design, the research contribution is developed in the context of four SEs based in two cities in China selected through a two-stage process. The main data for the inquiry come from 21 face-to-face, semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants in 2018 and 2019. The authors supplemented this with secondary data about each SE curated from social media platforms and publicly available documentary sources, including press statements, reports and popular press video interviews.
Findings
The research findings suggest that SEs in China tend to follow a two-step resource mobilization process: fraternize and exchange. Leveraging the means at hand – “social practice know-how” and the practice of “proactiveness,” SEs strategically engage with actors in their environment (fraternize) to understand and explore the possible sources of the resources they require. Nevertheless, fraternization alone is not sufficient; SEs must demonstrate exchange values (social, economic, functional and regulatory) to convince resource owners to either directly release resources (funds, the right of use of empty spaces, technologies, time and efforts) or offer them indirect support (certification, government procurement). The process of fraternizing within the contingencies of organizing, intertwined with social exchange practices, constitutes the success of resource mobilization. The combination and reconfiguration of the expanded repertoire of mobilized resources provide opportunities for the SEs to make do and, in return, help them maintain their status as valued SEs in China.
Originality/value
This study extends the understanding of bricolage through a social exchange lens to unpack the process through which SEs in China mobilize appropriate resources for their businesses. Emphasizing the importance of the social dimension of bricolage in resource mobilization, a two-step model, comprising fraternization exhibited in the form of social practice know-how and proactiveness and social exchange, is presented as an essential mechanism in SEs’ resource mobilization in China.
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Nathaniel A. Nakashima and Francis J. Flynn
We propose that social projection – assuming a connection between your and others’ attitudes – can promote participation in generalized exchange.
Abstract
Purpose
We propose that social projection – assuming a connection between your and others’ attitudes – can promote participation in generalized exchange.
Methodology/approach
Drawing on the social projection literature, we posit that false consensus (overestimating the similarity between our attitudes and others’) can increase people’s willingness to participate in generalized exchange. In contrast, we expect that pluralistic ignorance (underestimating the similarity between our attitudes and others’) can undermine the same motivation. We propose that false consensus will not only make people more inclined to participate in generalized exchange but also lead to more successful exchanges through an advantageous self-selection process. Finally, we propose that perceived similarity will lead to false consensus, and in turn, increased participation in generalized exchange, whereas perceived dissimilarity will lead to pluralistic ignorance.
Practical implications
We suggest several ways to influence false consensus in order to promote a healthy pattern of generalized exchange.
Originality/value
We put forth a set of novel predictions concerning the relationship between social projection and social exchange. Our theorizing contributes to the existing literature on antecedents of generalized exchange.
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Shane R. Thye, Aaron Vincent, Edward J. Lawler and Jeongkoo Yoon
This chapter analyzes the ways that individuals develop person-to-group ties. The chapter reviews the development and evidentiary basis of the theory of relational cohesion, the…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter analyzes the ways that individuals develop person-to-group ties. The chapter reviews the development and evidentiary basis of the theory of relational cohesion, the affect theory of social exchange, and the theory of social commitments.
Methodology/Approach
We survey twenty-five years of published literature on these theories, and review unpublished theoretical tests and extensions that are currently in progress.
Findings
The research program has grown substantially over the past twenty-five years to encompass more varied and diverse phenomena. The findings indicate that structural interdependencies, repeated exchanges, and a sense of shared responsibility are key conditions for people to develop affective ties to groups, organizations, and even nation-states.
Research Limitations/Implications
The research implies that if people are engaged in joint tasks, they attribute positive or negative feelings from those tasks to their local groups (teams, departments) and/or to larger organizations (companies, communities). To date, empirical tests have focused on microlevel processes.
Practical Implications
Our work has practical implications for how managers or supervisors organize tasks and work routines in a way to maximize group or organizational commitment.
Social Implications
This research helps to understand problems of fragmentation that are faced by decentralized organizations and also how these can be overcome.
Originality/Value of the Chapter
The chapter represents the most complete and comprehensive review of the theory of relational cohesion, the affect theory of social exchange, and the theory of social commitments to date.
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Kangning Liu, Bon-Gang Hwang, Jianyao Jia, Qingpeng Man and Shoujian Zhang
Informal learning networks are critical to response to calls for practitioners to reskill and upskill in off-site construction projects. With the transition to the coronavirus…
Abstract
Purpose
Informal learning networks are critical to response to calls for practitioners to reskill and upskill in off-site construction projects. With the transition to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, social media-enabled online knowledge communities play an increasingly important role in acquiring and disseminating off-site construction knowledge. Proximity has been identified as a key factor in facilitating interactive learning, yet which type of proximity is effective in promoting online and offline knowledge exchange remains unclear. This study takes a relational view to explore the proximity-related antecedents of online and offline learning networks in off-site construction projects, while also examining the subtle differences in the networks' structural patterns.
Design/methodology/approach
Five types of proximity (physical, organizational, social, cognitive and personal) between projects members are conceptualized in the theoretical model. Drawing on social foci theory and homophily theory, the research hypotheses are proposed. To test these hypotheses, empirical case studies were conducted on two off-site construction projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. Valid relational data provided by 99 and 145 project members were collected using semi-structured interviews and sociometric questionnaires. Subsequently, multivariate exponential random graph models were developed.
Findings
The results show a discrepancy arise in the structural patterns between online and offline learning networks. Offline learning is found to be more strongly influenced by proximity factors than online learning. Specifically, physical, organizational and social proximity are found to be significant predictors of offline knowledge exchange. Cognitive proximity has a negative relationship with offline knowledge exchange but is positively related to online knowledge exchange. Regarding personal proximity, the study found that the homophily effect of hierarchical status merely emerges in offline learning networks. Online knowledge communities amplify the receiver effect of tenure. Furthermore, there appears to be a complementary relationship between online and offline learning networks.
Originality/value
Proximity offers a novel relational perspective for understanding the formation of knowledge exchange connections. This study enriches the literature on informal learning within project teams by revealing how different types of proximity shape learning networks across different channels in off-site construction projects.
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Alexander Serenko and Nick Bontis
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of exchange modes – negotiated, reciprocal, generalized, and productive – on inter-employee knowledge sharing.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of exchange modes – negotiated, reciprocal, generalized, and productive – on inter-employee knowledge sharing.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the affect theory of social exchange, a theoretical model was developed and empirically tested using a survey of 691 employees from 15 North American credit unions.
Findings
The negotiated mode of knowledge exchange, i.e. when a knowledge contributor explicitly establishes reciprocation conditions with a recipient, develops negative knowledge sharing attitude. The reciprocal mode, i.e. when a knowledge donor assumes that a receiver will reciprocate, has no effect on knowledge sharing attitude. The generalized exchange form, i.e. when a knowledge contributor believes that other organizational members may reciprocate, is weakly related to knowledge sharing attitude. The productive exchange mode, i.e. when a knowledge provider assumes he or she is a responsible citizen within a cooperative enterprise, strongly facilitates the development of knowledge sharing attitude, which, in turn, leads to knowledge sharing intentions.
Practical implications
To facilitate inter-employee knowledge sharing, managers should focus on the development of positive knowledge sharing culture when all employees believe they contribute to a common good instead of expecting reciprocal benefits.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to apply the affect theory of social exchange to study knowledge sharing.
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Bach Quang Ho and Kunio Shirahada
The purpose of this paper is to develop a process model for the role transformation of vulnerable consumers through support services.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a process model for the role transformation of vulnerable consumers through support services.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on four years of participant observation at a community-based support service and in-depth interviews with the consumers. Visual ethnography was used to document the process of the consumers' role transformation through service exchanges.
Findings
The main outcome of this study is a consumer transformation model, describing consumers' role transformation processes, from recipients to generic actors. The model demonstrates that vulnerable consumers will transform from recipients to quasi-actors before becoming generic actors.
Social implications
Vulnerable consumers' participation in value cocreation can be promoted by providing social support according to their dynamic roles. By enabling consumers to participate in value cocreation, social support provision can become sustainable and inclusive, especially in rural areas affected by aging and depopulation. Transforming recipients into generic actors should be a critical aim of service provision in the global challenge of aging societies.
Originality/value
Beyond identifying service factors, the research findings describe the mechanism of consumers' role transformation process as a service mechanics study. Furthermore, this study contributes to transformative service research by applying social exchange theory and broadening service-dominant logic by describing the process of consumer growth for individual and community well-being.
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Julia V. Bondeli, Malena I. Havenvid and Hans Solli-Sæther
This paper aims to explore corrupt exchange as a type of socioeconomic interaction in private–public relationships and its effects on material flow in connected private-private…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore corrupt exchange as a type of socioeconomic interaction in private–public relationships and its effects on material flow in connected private-private relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a case study of a private–public network of an import firm in Russia. It focusses on corrupt exchange in routine interactions between the firm’s managers and officials in three regulatory authorities.
Findings
The study reveals how different types of corrupt exchange between firm managers, officials and intermediaries serve as a problem-solving tool that facilitates material flow through bureaucratic gates.
Research limitations/implications
The paper contributes to the industrial marketing and purchasing research by showing how the social capital concept is useful for explicating mechanisms of socioeconomic interaction in business networks and how the interaction context conditions actors’ roles and interdependencies.
Practical implications
The paper raises practitioners’ awareness of corrupt exchange in business networks and enables them to anticipate and manage upcoming challenges in bureaucratic procedures.
Social implications
The study shows how networks’ non-transparent and manipulative tendencies may provide favourable conditions for corruption in the business landscape.
Originality/value
The study provides a unique empirical insight into the socioeconomic mechanisms of corrupt exchange in business networks. It contributes theoretically by conceptualising corrupt officials as taking on the role of quasi-business actors in the personal possession of administrative authority as a resource and by using a novel conceptualisation of social capital to study private–public interaction in business networks.
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John L. Tarver and Robert C. Haring
Marketing (sales) occurs any time one social unit strives to exchange something of value with another social unit. Clearly, the essence of marketing (sales) is a transaction — an…
Abstract
Marketing (sales) occurs any time one social unit strives to exchange something of value with another social unit. Clearly, the essence of marketing (sales) is a transaction — an exchange — intended to satisfy human wants and needs. Recognising that there are numerous ways of classifying social units and potential exchange relationships, social units as sellers and buyers are focused on. Social exchange concepts as they relate to selling behaviour are summarised and how sales people can improve their performance by adopting a social exchange approach to selling is explained.
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Eunyoung Han, Kyung Kyu Kim and Ae Ri Lee
The purpose of this paper is to investigate which exchange structure, direct or generalized exchange, better promotes community solidarity in online communities (OCs)…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate which exchange structure, direct or generalized exchange, better promotes community solidarity in online communities (OCs). Furthermore, it examines the moderating effects of activity intensity on the relationship between exchange structure and community solidarity in order to resolve the conflicts in extant literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The research model is developed based on the social exchange theory (SET). It also accommodates social structures as determinants of exchange structure, such as organizational identity orientation (OIO) and distributive justice norms. Data in this study were collected from 376 OCs through an e-mail survey.
Findings
Generalized exchange has stronger effects on community solidarity than direct exchange. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the impact on community solidarity between generalized exchange and direct exchange at high-activity intensity levels, whereas no significant differences were found at low-activity intensity conditions. OIO significantly influences exchange structure. Additionally, equality norm significantly influences generalized exchange, whereas need norm significantly influences direct exchange.
Originality/value
In information systems research, there have not been any attempts to identify the determinants of exchange structure in OCs. Furthermore, only a couple of studies have empirically investigated the relationship between exchange structure and OC solidarity, and yet they found conflicting results. This research makes contributions to an enhancement of theoretical precision of the SET in two ways: by empirically examining the determinants of exchange structure, and by introducing a third variable, activity intensity, as a moderator of the relationship between exchange structure and OC solidarity.
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Francis Kasekende, John C. Munene, Joseph Mpeera Ntayi and Augustine Ahiauzu
The purpose of this paper is to examine the interaction effect of organizational climate and social exchanges and how they fuse to affect psychological contract in the public…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the interaction effect of organizational climate and social exchanges and how they fuse to affect psychological contract in the public service in Uganda.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a cross-sectional descriptive and analytical design. The authors employ structural equation modeling to test hypotheses. Using proportionate and simple random sampling procedures, a sample of 346 respondents was drawn from Uganda public service commissions and agencies of which a response rate of 61.5 percent was obtained.
Findings
The magnitude effect of organizational climate on psychological contract depends on social exchanges; implying that the assumption of non-additivity is met.
Research limitations/implications
Only a single research methodological approach was employed and future research through interviews could be undertaken to triangulate.
Practical implications
In order to boost the employee-employer relationship of public servants in Uganda commissions and agencies, managers should always endeavor to find a viable organizational climate-social exchanges mix or blend that can add value to employee-employer relationship.
Originality/value
This is one of the few studies that focus on testing the interactive effects of social exchanges on the relationship between organizational climate and psychological contract in Uganda public service commissions and agencies.
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