Abstract Business schools are often criticized for reproducing growth‐oriented norms, but alternative pedagogies remain difficult to normalize. Drawing on Butler's theory of subversive performativity, this study examines how art‐based pedagogy enables academics to challenge growth logics in business schools by transforming their identities over time. Based on a 17‐year study of the Improbable seminar, combining autoethnography, archival analysis and visual semiotic analysis of 90 student artworks, we develop a process model of subversive performativity comprising three phases: doing, undoing and redoing growth norms. Across these phases, distinct identity perceptions, leveraging practices and layered conditions of possibility interact across organizational, pedagogical, student and field levels. Our findings show how professors come to inhabit hybrid academic‐activist identities that make post‐growth pedagogical practices both legitimate and institutionally viable, thereby contributing to research on performativity and management education.

Abstract This study investigates how global city characteristics shape the acceptance of non‐mainstream cultural goods—focusing on K‐pop—as they diffuse across digital platforms. While prior research emphasizes fandom, soft power or media strategies, this research highlights the role of urban infrastructure in cultural globalization. Global cities, with their high levels of connectivity, digital infrastructure and cosmopolitanism, serve as hubs for transnational cultural flows. Drawing on international business, marketing and media studies, the study theorizes that four urban factors—Korean foreign direct investment (FDI), diaspora presence, ICT infrastructure and educational attainment—positively influence K‐pop popularity. It furthers proposes that these effects vary by platform: YouTube's visual, algorithm‐driven environment may amplify the effects of FDI and ICT, while Spotify's audio‐focused, user‐curated model may be more influenced by diaspora and education. Using rare‐event logistic regression on data from 3786 K‐pop hits across 710 US cities (via YouTube and Spotify), the study finds robust support for these hypotheses. Overall, it offers a new perspective on the intersection of urban infrastructure and digital platforms in facilitating the global spread of cultural products, with K‐pop servicing as a revealing case of how emerging‐market content circulates in the contemporary media landscape.

Abstract What enables market‐driving behaviour, and is it a worthwhile business strategy? This fundamental question intrigues both managers in firms and researchers in marketing and strategic management, yet surprisingly, it remains underexplored. To this end, we assess the antecedents and consequences of market‐driving capability. Using the resource‐based view as our theoretical underpinning, we develop a conceptual model and empirically test the hypotheses with a sample of 416 managers via partial least squares structural equation modelling. We find that learning capability and big data analytics capability significantly influence market‐driving capability in contemporary, data‐intensive contexts, resulting in firms not only having a competitive advantage but also achieving improved financial and market performance. A follow‐up study, conducted 4 years after the original study, provides exploratory evidence that market‐driving capability can contribute to changes in market structure over time. Overall, this paper enhances our understanding of capabilities that enable firms to drive markets and highlights the implications for individual firm performance and overall market structure.

Abstract Drawing on theories of strategic communication, legitimacy, impression management and moral capital, this study investigates whether firms use political risk disclosure to offset negative perceptions associated with corporate lobbying. Using a sample of 10,120 observations from 1362 US firms between 2002 and 2018, we find that firms with greater lobbying expenditure and frequency provide more political risk disclosure. This positive association is stronger for firms with higher corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance, suggesting that CSR‐performing firms disclose more to align their actions with stakeholder expectations. However, firms lobbying for CSR‐related issues disclose less, relying on the reputational insurance CSR provides and aiming to avoid disclosing firms’ political risk that may contain sensitive information. Our findings contribute to the voluntary disclosure and lobbying literatures and offer practical insights into how firms strategically manage stakeholder perceptions and moral capital.

Abstract Destructive leadership manifests in multiple distinct behaviours (e.g. bullying, micromanaging, unethical behaviour). Yet, treating it as a monolithic construct risks conceptual ambiguity and obscures the unique causes and consequences of its different forms. Furthermore, research has largely neglected how followers’ personality tendencies shape their interpretations of and responses to these distinct forms of destructive leadership. Adopting a person‐situation perspective, the present study examines how different destructive leadership behaviours interact with followers' personality derailers to influence their emotions, behavioural reactions and job‐related outcomes. Using an experimental vignette design, we find distinct patterns of subordinate response: followers’ personality derailers align with interpersonal orientations (i.e. Moving Away, Moving Against, Moving Toward) that can yield adaptive or maladaptive outcomes depending on context. In doing so, this study advances a more nuanced understanding of destructive leadership processes and follower differences.

Abstract Despite significant attention from researchers, practitioners and policymakers, the impact of implementing modern slavery management practices on business benefits remains an unanswered question, particularly in the digital age. This study examines how modern slavery management capabilities (MSMCs) affect firm performance, specifically exploring the role of inclusive digital culture (IDC). We gathered survey data from China's manufacturing sector ( N = 210) to examine the hypothesized effects. Our findings reveal that IDC has a significant positive impact on MSMC and social sustainability, ultimately leading to improved market performance. Interestingly, IDC directly enhances MSMC rather than moderating the MSMC–firm performance relationship. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that MSMC and social sustainability play a significant mediating role in the IDC–market performance relationship. Our empirical findings suggest that managers should cultivate an IDC to create a supportive digital atmosphere for effectively implementing modern slavery management practices and enhancing social sustainability. This study answers a crucial question from practitioners by demonstrating that building MSMC can deliver business value rather than harm it.

Abstract The dark side of leadership has been employed as an umbrella term to cover an array of concepts typically concerned with the dysfunctionality and/or toxicity of individual leaders. As the field of leadership studies moves towards ‘post‐heroic’ perspectives, we apply the same ontological positioning, adopting a ‘post‐villainous’ perspective in order to explore the wider network of influence that facilitates and enables the dark side of leadership to emerge and thrive. Through analysis of four high profile case studies of corporate bankruptcies attributed to the dark side of leadership (Enron, Purdue Pharma, Theranos and Wirecard), this paper takes a subjective collective approach that reveals the dark side of leadership as a multi‐faceted phenomenon with varying perceptions and interpretations. We propose a three‐dimensional, dark pyramid comprising internal (f)actors (similar to the original framework), external (f)actors, regulatory (f)actors and outcomes (the word ‘(f)actors’ is used to denote the potential for the influence to be an actor or another factor). By conceptualizing the dark side of leadership as a multidimensional phenomenon, we offer new ways of theorizing, researching and/or addressing the factors that contribute towards the dark side of leadership in organizations.

Abstract Climate change poses challenges to firms and society, yet the theoretical understanding of how board size shapes climate risk exposure remains limited, with existing evidence often fragmented and context‐dependent. Our study seeks to answer three questions: (1) Does board size influence firms’ exposure to climate risk? (2) Do sustainability governance mechanisms—specifically, sustainability committees and ESG‐linked executive compensation—moderate this relationship? (3) How do internal governance quality and external institutional pressures, such as market scrutiny and the Paris Agreement, shape the board size–climate risk nexus? Using panel data comprising 27,092 firm‐year observations from 48 countries, we find that larger boards are associated with greater climate risk exposure. This finding suggests that larger boards can suffer from coordination challenges, diluted accountability and slower decision‐making processes, which can undermine their responsiveness to climate risk exposure. However, this positive effect is less likely in firms with strong corporate sustainability governance frameworks. Additional analysis shows that the positive association between board size and climate risk exposure is less likely in firms subject to rigorous internal governance, external market discipline and commitment to the Paris Agreement. Overall, our findings are robust to endogeneity concerns and provide actionable insights for decision‐makers and regulators.