Knowledge that Transforms

Prior research on the effects of leader humility implies that the more humility the leader exhibits, the greater the positive effect on recipients (e.g., followers and teams). However, little or no attention has so far been paid to the effects on the actors (e.g., leaders), who espouse humble behavior. In response to recent calls to theorize and examine how humility impacts these actors, this research draws on moral licensing theory, adopting an actor-centric approach to examine the mechanisms through which leader humility can lead to unethical behavior, such as unethical behavior for an organization (pseudobeneficial) and unethical behavior toward the organization (detrimental). Ultimately, we propose leader relational accountability as a moderator to mitigate the moral licensing effect of humble leaders. Results from a survey study provide support for the proposed hypotheses.

Despite many studies investigating how lobbying expenditures enhance performance outcomes, limited attention has been given to understanding the underlying mechanisms driving firm lobbying behaviors—and, particularly, where firms target their lobbying expenditures. We argue lobbying breadth serves as a risk management strategy to both hedge against possible government intrusion and minimize disapproval of firm actions from government officials. As such, we posit firms’ strategic risk will positively relate to breadth of lobbying firms’ target. Further, if lobbying breadth serves as risk management strategy, then other aspects that affect decisions about the amount of risk protection a firm may need should also affect this relationship. We argue that CEOs’ ownership and firms’ political uncertainty may exacerbate exposure from firm risk taking to government actions, thus strengthening the insurance relationship. Similarly, we argue available slack, as a form of internal insurance against government actions, will weaken the relationship between strategic risk taking and lobbying breadth. We find support for most of our arguments in a sample of U. S. manufacturing firms. This research extends understanding of lobbying beyond the predominant focus on expenditures and securing beneficial outcomes. Exploring how lobbying breadth serves an important risk management role also offers insights into firm nonmarket strategy.

Many companies prominently espouse their virtuous character in communications with investors, with a view toward influencing investor perceptions about the firm’s standards of behavior. While there are benefits to investors perceiving an organization to be virtuous, what happens if the firm violates those standards by engaging in unethical behavior? In this study, we use expectancy violations theory to argue that virtue rhetoric sets investors up for disappointment. When an organization claims to be virtuous but then acts unethically, investors respond to the ethics violation more negatively than they would otherwise. We also theorize about scenarios where investors may overlook unethical behavior or intensify their disapproval of it. To test our ideas, we assemble a unique sample of unethical events committed by S&P 500 companies over a 12-year period, combined with analysis of the virtue rhetoric found in their annual letters to shareholders. Our main finding is that investor reaction to unethical behavior is more negative for companies that claimed to be virtuous prior to the violation than for those that did not make such claims. This relationship is less strong when the company has high expected future value.

We examine the influence of founders’ prior shared international experience on the timing of their new ventures’ first entry into foreign markets. We propose that this experience, which is gained by founders working concurrently for the same international firm prior to the founding of the current company, provides them with shared knowledge and routines that they can use to enter foreign markets for the first time earlier in the venture’s life. Further, we propose that founders’ diversity strengthens this relationship, because diverse groups of founders have a broader range of knowledge, skills, and perspectives, which facilitates the adaptation of their prior shared international experience to their new venture setting. This is likely to further reduce the time it takes them to enter foreign markets for the first time. We also argue that industry dynamism weakens the relationship between founders’ prior shared international experience and the time to first foreign market entry, because this type of experience is likely to become obsolete in a rapidly changing environment. Finally, we hypothesize that early internationalizers enjoy higher performance than late internationalizers. We test these predictions using a sample of Swedish new ventures. Our results contribute to the literatures on founders’ shared experience and early internationalization.

Barney’s elaboration on the resource-based view had a major impact on research in strategic human resource management (SHRM) and beyond. In this article, I reflect on its influence and use in SHRM research and analyze the strengths and limitations of the original work. I also review various spinoffs and expansions of the original work as well as trends in empirical SHRM research.

Inspired by a pursuit of higher returns on human resource management (HRM) investments as well as a trend towards the individualization of HRM, several scholars have focused on the phenomenon of HR differentiation, that is, the differential allocation of resources across employees through the use of HRM practices. Yet, different definitions and angles to study HR differentiation have been used. As a result, ambiguities render it difficult to compare research findings and draw meaningful conclusions about HR differentiation and its consequences. Based on a systematic analysis of 164 articles from five different research streams (i.e., strategic HRM, talent management, i-deals, pay dispersion, and diversity management literatures), we identify four properties of HR differentiation (its basis, formalization, resource, and purpose) and propose a more fine-grained definition of the construct. Next, drawing from optimal distinctiveness–based inclusion theory, we develop an integrated multilevel model with propositions that helps explain the social psychological consequences of HR differentiation at three integrated levels of analysis (employee, workgroup, and organization). Subsequently, we derive an agenda for future research. In doing so, we contribute by developing a common language for scholars with different disciplinary backgrounds and inspire future research on HR differentiation.

Focusing on the interface between CEOs and top management teams (TMTs), we argue that CEO self-monitoring positively impacts a firm's pursuit of corporate entrepreneurship through the intervening role of TMT behavioral integration. We additionally argue that the impact becomes stronger as the firm's discretionary slack decreases because decreased slack creates an organizational context more favorable to the influences of both CEO self-monitoring and TMT behavioral integration. Results based on multisource (CEOs and TMTs) and multiwave data from 110 firms support the model and associated hypotheses.

Impostorism, a phenomenon whereby a person perceives that the role they occupy is beyond their capabilities and puts them at risk of exposure as a “fake,” has attracted plentiful attention in the empirical literature and popular media. However, despite evidence that impostorism is frequently experienced by people in leadership positions, there has been little consideration of why this happens. In this theoretical article, we explain why formal leadership roles—roles that are characterized by elevated expectations, high visibility, and high levels of responsibility—are fertile ground for impostorism experiences. We also discuss how the associated self-conscious emotions of shame and fear, can increase leaders’ risk-aversion and enhance leader role performance, yet at the same time drive emotional exhaustion, and reduce their motivation to lead. This can ultimately inhibit leaders from seeking, claiming, and thriving in leadership roles. We offer individual-, dyadic-, and organization-level contextual characteristics that can either enhance or reduce this phenomenon. We also discuss how supportive organizations can mitigate leadership impostorism. Furthermore, we highlight how women and minority-status leaders may be more vulnerable to this experience and conclude by suggesting the practical implications of the leader impostorism phenomenon for individuals and organizations.

Team membership in today’s open talent economy is more fluid and interchangeable than ever before. In light of these dynamics, we consider how team members’ signaling of human and social capital, in the form of challenging or supportive voice, informs our understanding of how individuals across an organizational network self-assemble into temporary work teams. We test our hypotheses in two separate multiwave studies and find support for our hypotheses above and beyond the effects of homophily. In Study 1, we find support for a human capital pathway in which challenging voice in a team fosters perceptions of quality work that enhance one’s personal reputation in the broader network. Personal reputation, in turn, predicts team assembly decisions. In Study 2, we consider a social capital pathway alongside the human capital pathway. We find that supportive voice in a team fosters friendship that enhances the extent to which one is trusted in the broader network, and trust subsequently influences team assembly decisions. Potential team members appear to prioritize the social capital signaled by supportive voice more so than the human capital signaled by challenging voice, although those who possess both human and social capital are also highly sought during team formation. We discuss the implications of these findings for the literatures on voice and team assembly.

Many organizations have turned to “just-in-time” pay systems to manage fluctuations in demand for products and services. For example, the trucking industry commonly pays truck drivers by the mile, and retail organizations fluctuate hours available to work to align with holiday demand. Based on the Unfolding Model of Turnover, we propose that the pay volatility, that is, fluctuations in individual pay over time, created by such systems create shocks that initiate thoughts of leaving the organization. We propose that these thoughts increase turnover likelihood. We also propose that pay level and pay trajectory moderate the pay volatility and turnover relationship. Based on a large dataset containing information on objective pay and turnover for truck drivers over a period of 34 weeks, the results of this study support the role of pay volatility, pay level, and pay trajectory in affecting voluntary turnover. Specifically, the results show that all three factors predict turnover likelihood and that pay volatility and pay level interact to predict turnover likelihood. The findings indicate that pay volatility has organizational downsides due to its effects on employee turnover in addition to its known upsides (i.e., flexibility).