This study examined the motivational factors influencing African immigrants in New Zealand to become entrepreneurs and the factors that ensured their business success. Data were collected from 117 participants through survey questions employing the Qualtrics platform and its link was sent to participants in the Auckland region. Auckland was decided on for data collection, being the most populated city and the business nerve centre of New Zealand. The research was conducted using a descriptive and quantitative approach. From the analysis, the study found that passion for business entrepreneurship, flexibility, financial independence, generic independence, autonomy, and being one’s own boss are the most highly motivational factors for influencing African immigrants in New Zealand to opt for business ownership. The study also found that the six highest-rated reasons for African immigrants’ entrepreneurial business success in New Zealand were readiness to make sacrifices to succeed, always giving the best in everything that had to be done, the importance of action, a belief that everything is possible if the entrepreneur believes he/she can do it, the challenge of taking on new projects, and learning lessons from past failure. These findings are the most important factors helping African immigrant business owners in New Auckland Zealand to attain entrepreneurial and business success. This research maintains that the results shed light on why African migrants adopt business entrepreneurship and gear themselves up for success in New Zealand.

Despite prior research on political capabilities and their relationships with meaningful outcomes at work, it remains unclear why certain employees are incapable of successfully navigating workplace politics. To clarify this, our research develops and validates a measure of political self-efficacy at work (PSEW) across seven independent and varying samples. Evidence from faculty members and subject-matter experts in Study 1 provides initial support for the content validity of the new PSEW scale. Then, in Studies 2 and 3, we employ two separate samples to confirm the scale’s convergent and discriminant validity and factor structure. We repeat this process, in Study 4, on several new nomological neighbors (e.g., the Dark Triad traits, general political behavior, impression management, and political will). In Studies 5 and 6, using multi-wave and multi-source data, we assess the criterion-related and predictive validity of the PSEW scale, and in Study 7, we test our full theoretical model. Altogether, these findings verify the nomological network and validity of the new PSEW measure and provide theoretical and practical developments surrounding organizational politics.

As hybrid work arrangements have become more prevalent in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the alignment between jobs and workers has also evolved, arguably in ways that research has yet to fully capture. We build on the theoretical foundation of person-environment fit – and person-job fit specifically – to investigate how employees’ work arrangements and their perceived fit with their work arrangements influence important personal (e.g., work-life balance, stress) and work-related (e.g., organizational commitment, engagement) outcomes. Quantitative evidence from a survey of 427 hybrid workers supports the idea that the extent to which an individual’s desires, needs, and values align with their work arrangement plays an important role in their personal and work-related well-being. We advocate for expanding the conceptualization of person-job and person-environment fit models to incorporate work arrangements and provide recommendations for research and practice.

Workplace bullying is a persistent issue despite extensive research, with most studies focusing on targets rather than managerial perspectives. This study explores how New Zealand managers conceptualize workplace bullying, shedding light on cultural and organizational influences. While bullying affects roughly one in 10 New Zealand workers, definitions remain inconsistent, complicating prevention and response efforts. This research investigates whether managers distinguish bullying from other forms of conflict and aggression, and how their views align with regulatory definitions such as those from WorkSafe New Zealand. A randomized Qualtrics panel of 316 managers completed an anonymous online survey, including open-ended questions. Responses were analysed using six-phase thematic analysis, enabling candid reflection and rich insights into bullying behaviours, impacts, and organizational dynamics. The findings highlight the importance of understanding bullying within its communication context and suggest that clearer, less stigmatized definitions may support more effective reporting and intervention by managers.

This study examines the impact of organizational gossip on workplace outcomes, including affective organizational commitment, loneliness, and turnover intention, with a focus on differences between the public and private sectors. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research combines qualitative and quantitative data from surveys conducted with Turkish citizen partners and in-depth interviews with employees in both sectors. The findings reveal that positive gossip enhances social bonds and commitment, while negative gossip leads to loneliness and increased turnover intention, especially in the private sector where job insecurity is higher. The study introduces an integrated framework linking gossip dynamics to organizational processes. Practical implications suggest that managers should address negative gossip while promoting positive gossip to strengthen workplace relationships. This study highlights the dual role of gossip in shaping employee experiences and retention strategies.

Existing research has primarily examined coping strategies for dirty work while giving less attention to employees’ satisfaction. Much of this work has considered the phenomenon from an identity perspective, despite its underlying connections to job demands and resources. Drawing on the Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) model, this study investigates the relationship between dirty work and employee satisfaction, with emotional exhaustion as a mediating variable and self-consciousness as a moderator. Data collected from 234 participants in dirty work occupations with a 4-week time lag show that dirty work is positively associated with emotional exhaustion, which negatively impacts job, career, and life satisfaction. The findings further indicate that employees with higher self-consciousness report greater emotional exhaustion, while those with lower self-consciousness experience less emotional exhaustion. These results provide theoretical contributions to the dirty work literature and offer practical implications for mitigating emotional exhaustion in these roles.

Workplace exclusion – often subtle and difficult to detect – significantly contributes to employee disengagement and turnover, costing US organizations over $1 trillion annually. This study examines how exclusionary behaviors (EBs) influence turnover intentions (TOIs) through disruption of psychological needs, using Rock’s SCARF model (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness) and self-determination theory. A two-wave survey of full-time US employees (N = 277) assessed EB, SCARF-based need satisfaction, and TOI. Partial least squares structural equation modeling revealed that EB significantly undermines all five SCARF domains, but only fairness and status mediated the EB–TOI link. Certainty, autonomy, and relatedness did not have significant effects. These findings suggest turnover risk intensifies when employees feel unfairly treated or socially devalued, rather than merely disempowered or disconnected. The study advances theoretical integration between SCARF and SDT and offers practical guidance for managers seeking to reduce attrition by fostering inclusive, respectful, and psychologically safe workplace environments.

To explain why nurses intend to stay or leave their organizations after perceiving a psychological contract breach (PCB), we investigated whether perceived organizational support (POS) among nurses moderates the relationship between PCB and turnover intention (TI). We used a survey methodology targeting currently employed nurses. After controlling for nursing unit, POS accentuated the positive relationship between PCB and TI. The study contributes to literature by demonstrating (1) the impact of PCB on TI and (2) that POS explains why the strength of the positive relationship between PCB and TI varies among individuals. Results highlight the importance of fulfilling obligations and promises made by supervisors and managers to nurses. The findings suggest that when nurses with high POS perceive PCBs, the consequences may be more detrimental.

A new form of human–machine collaborative capabilities has been called to complement traditional capabilities to ensure higher but more responsible performance. We reviewed the extant literature on leadership in the artificial intelligence context to identify the leaders’ essential artificial intelligence-driven capabilities and synthesize the systematic review findings into an integrated conceptual framework to highlight how artificial intelligence-driven organizations could lead more responsibly. We conducted the systematic review and thematic analysis based on 37 papers identified from Emerald Insight, EBSCOhost Business Source Complete, and ScienceDirect databases. We found organizational leaders require technical, adaptive, and transformational capabilities to lead in an artificial intelligence-driven disruptive organizational environment. Our findings contribute to dynamic managerial capability and responsible leadership for performance theories by showing how these three uncovered capabilities enable organizational leaders to deploy dynamic managerial capabilities – sensing, seizing and reconfiguring more responsibly.

The sharing economy has expanded rapidly, reshaping consumption, labor, and service delivery across sectors. While much research highlights its benefits, critical perspectives on its limitations remain fragmented. This study addresses that gap through a systematic literature review, identifying and categorizing the main drawbacks of the sharing economy across five dimensions: social, legal, technological, economic, and environmental. By synthesizing these critiques into a cohesive framework, the study offers a more comprehensive understanding of the structural challenges associated with sharing economy platforms. It draws on interdisciplinary perspectives to highlight issues such as platform power asymmetries, regulatory gaps, and labor precarity – concerns that have intensified in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper contributes to theory by integrating insights across academic domains and to practice by offering targeted recommendations for policymakers and managers. These include differentiated regulation and improved governance strategies to support fairer, more sustainable platform models.

Turnover intention constitutes a challenge for organizations. Meaningful work and employee engagement can reduce turnover intention, but their relationship is complex. This study aims to understand how meaningful work, work and organizational engagement, and turnover intention interact with each other. Using a structural equation model with data from 562 employees, meaningful work was examined as the independent variable, turnover intention as the dependent variable, and work and organizational engagement as serial mediators. Results show that work engagement partially mediates the relationship between meaningful work and organizational engagement, and organizational engagement partially mediates the link between work engagement and turnover intention. Additionally, a serial mediation effect of work and organizational engagement on the relationship between meaningful work and turnover intention was confirmed. Therefore, we encourage organizations to provide meaningfulness to their employees’ jobs and engage them within their job and organization not only to promote retention, but also to develop an engaged, healthy and sustainable workforce that supports both organizational sustainability and general societal well-being.

This study investigates the impact of communication delays and recruitment selection stages on candidates’ perceptions of fairness and recruitment selection outcomes and explores the moderating role of employability. Employing a mixed-method approach across two independent studies involving 264 and 259 mid-level position candidates, two variables – communication timeliness and recruitment stages – are manipulated, while employability is investigated as a moderating variable. Our results indicate that timely communication of rejection, especially during the initial selection stages, significantly enhances candidates’ satisfaction, fairness perceptions, intentions to reapply, and intentions to recommend the organisation to others. Employability moderates the relationship between perceived fairness and recruitment outcomes, strongly influencing the likelihood of peer referrals and reapplication intentions. These findings underscore the importance of strategic communication management in recruitment selection processes to enhance employer branding and the job candidate experience.

The evaluation of services has become a common strategy in service management, and there is a wide variety of tools available. The objective was to evaluate user satisfaction at a sports center using the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) techniques, comparing the information provided by each. To this end, this study involved 1,433 users of a sports center, analyzing the responses to the NPS® tool and subsequently to the IPA tool developed ad hoc with 11 attributes. The NPS® tool revealed 29.58% detractors, 30.36% passives, and 40.06% promoters, highlighting a negative impact on the overall score. The IPA tool offered detailed insights into attributes varying across the three NPS groups, identifying four critical attributes requiring strategic attention, enabling segmented marketing strategies. This research demonstrates the complementary value of combining NPS and IPA tools for strategic service management, providing actionable insights to enhance customer satisfaction and competitive positioning.

Research on workplace bullying often considers those in managerial positions as perpetrators or resources in the process. There is a lack of studies focusing on them as targets, with most existing research centred on upward bullying. The aim of this study was to investigate all forms of bullying, comparing first-line managers with those higher up in the hierarchy and with workers, and examining how perceived social support and laissez-faire leadership affect exposure. Using a probability sample of the Swedish workforce, the results showed that managers are generally as exposed to bullying as workers. For first-line managers, exposure depended on the perception of laissez-faire leadership from their immediate superior. Social support was beneficial for all but did not have a differential effect. Organizational efforts to mitigate bullying must ensure that anti-bullying measures explicitly include all hierarchical levels, with extra focus on first-line managers.

The focus of job satisfaction literature remains on the subordinate even though supervisors are responsible for evaluating employee performance, determining employee pay, raises, promotions, growth opportunities, etc., all of which impact employees’ subsequent performance that contributes (or not) to organizational success. Using a psychological contracts lens, we develop and test theoretical arguments predicting supervisors’ response to contributions is not uniformly positive depending on the type and amount of contribution involved. Across two studies, we ask supervisors to evaluate subordinates’ delivered contributions relative to promised contributions. Our results challenge the assumption that supervisors always desire larger amounts of work from their subordinates; excess contributions were associated with lower supervisors’ satisfaction with subordinates for some types of contributions. The results imply that subordinates’ contributions of work to supervisors may influence supervisors’ satisfaction with subordinates perhaps affecting their performance reviews and career opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 significantly impacted Australia’s resources sector, particularly mining, oil, and gas industries, posing challenges for operational leaders. This study applied Adaptive Crisis Management Theory (ACMT) to understand how these leaders adapted during the crisis. Through interviews with 32 operational leaders, it was found that their roles evolved as crisis demands changed. Initially, they addressed immediate needs, then shifted focus to remote work facilitation and digital transformation, and finally emphasised recovery, trust, and resilience. These adaptations influenced leaders’ behaviours, highlighting the importance of flexibility in supporting employee wellbeing and organisational continuity during crises.

Board of directors (BOD) bring valuable human and relational capital to firms but may act as self-interested agents by design. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the compensation of BOD members in high-technology sectors affects overall firm performance. We tested our specific hypotheses using panel regression methodology on data gathered from the CRSP, Compustat, BoardEx, and ExecuComp databases. Our final sample consisted of 9,127 firm years, and the companies in our sample were all high-tech publicly traded U.S. firms from 1992 to 2019. Our results showed that there is an association between BOD’s pay structure and firm performance (accounting-based return on assets and market-based Tobin’s Q). Our findings demonstrate originality and contribute to the literature since we empirically demonstrate that the level of variable BOD pay has a diminishing effect on return on assets and Tobin’s Q. This study advances our knowledge of executive compensation in the high technology sector.

This study provides a holistic approach to the potential drivers of corporate environmental policy. Institutional and/or stakeholder theories are used to explain any influence on this type of policy in situations with different characteristics. Specifically, the analysis considers country-, industry-, and firm-level determinants of an international sample of listed companies. Exploratory factor analysis was first applied to the variables at the country level because their underlying interrelationships were unknown. Using ordered probit models clustered at the firm level, we found that some environmental characteristics of a country and some macro-level variables considered together affect corporate environmental policy, along with pressure from industry peers. Moreover, we observed that companies with better policies for stakeholders, greater board independence, and greater gender diversity tended to develop better environmental policies. This study offers insight into fostering environmental responsibility through policy incentives and effective corporate governance structures.

Access to heterogeneous knowledge resources is suggested in the literature as an important explanation of firm innovation and performance. The exchange of knowledge, however, can be a complex managerial challenge, especially between different epistemic communities. Our research focuses on the concept of epistemic communities to illuminate the complexity of tensions that arise in heterogeneous knowledge exchange in alliances, thus filling a gap in the literature. Using the Straussian grounded theory case study approach, our research investigates the emergence of horizontal, vertical, and inter-organizational epistemic tensions and explores management controls as instruments to guide the knowledge exchange in intermediary-driven research and development alliances. We find that the source of multiple epistemic tensions is rooted in the natural social behaviors of epistemic community members and further shows how these behaviors influence the effective use of inter-organizational management controls in facilitating heterogeneous knowledge exchange.

Former refugee women’s entrepreneurial journeys are embedded in social, cultural, and legal environments in their home, transition, and host countries. Their multiple context embeddedness creates contradictions and identity issues. Thus, women adopt behaviours that make them visible or invisible simultaneously when navigating these contradictions. Using intersectionality and translocational positionality lenses, this study explored this phenomenon. We collected narrative data using semi-structured interviews from refugee women resettled in New Zealand. The findings illustrate that multi-country social processes, that is, ‘translocational’ experiences, create (in)visibility paradoxes for women entrepreneurs. Women dynamically create visibility for themselves through reliance on or defiance of ethnic, cultural or refugee identities in their ventures and by creating a business identity aligning with the host country’s values. In contrast, cultural conformity and playing a role behind the ‘shopfront’ make women invisible. This study synthesises these paradoxical entrepreneurial strategies, develops a conceptual framework and contributes to women’s entrepreneurial identity studies.