Theory Building Research Articles

How can big data analytics improve outbound logistics in the UK retail sector? A qualitative study

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore how big data analytics (BDA) as a potential information technology (IT) innovation can facilitate the retail logistics supply chain (SC) from the perspective of outbound logistics operations in the United Kingdom. The authors' goal was to better understand how BDA can be integrated to streamline SCs and logistical networks by using the technology, organisational and environmental model.Design/methodology/approachThe authors applied existing theoretical foundations for theory building based on semi-structured interviews with 15 SC and logistics managers.FindingsThe perceived benefits of using BDA in outbound retail logistics comprised the strongest predictor amongst technological, organisational and environmental issues, followed by top management support (TMS). A framework was proposed for the adoption of BDA in retail logistics. Contextual concepts from previous literature have helped us understand how environmental changes impact BDA decision-making, as such: (i) SC maturity levels and connectivity affect BDA utilisation, (ii) connected SCs improve data accessibility and information exchange, (iii) the benefits of BDAs also affect adoption and (iv) outsourcing complex tasks to experts allows companies to focus on core businesses instead of investing in IT infrastructure.Research limitations/implicationsOutside the key findings listed, this study shows that there is no one-size-fits-it-all approach for use within all organisational settings. The proposed framework reveals that the perceived benefit of BDA is non-transferrable and requires top-level management support for successful implementation.Originality/valueThe existing literature focusses on the approaches to applying BDA in SC and logistics but fails to present a deep dive into retail outbound logistics activity. This study addresses the “how” and proposes a social-inclusive framework for a technology-enabled topic.

Issues, Publics, Organizations, and Personal Networks: Toward an Integrated Issue Engagement Model

ABSTRACT This study examines publics’ issue engagement to extend theory building about publics regarding their sociological dynamics. Integrating the situational theories, the framework of engagement, organization–public relationships, and personal networks, this study constructs an issue engagement model consisting of cognitive and affective issue engagement, issue engagement with organizations, and intra–public issue engagement. We hypothesized and confirmed with a nationally representative sample that individuals’ perceptions, feelings, and communicative actions about an issue are positively associated with the communicative resources in their networks. Individuals’ substantive actions were mobilized by the norms and expectations perceived from their issue discussants (i.e., people who discuss an issue with them). These findings extend the situational theories by revealing the social forces shaping publics’ issue engagement in addition to the psychological and perceptual factors. Importantly, recognizing and accounting for these social forces can equip practitioners with ways to mobilize publics via their social ties.

HOW EMOTIONS ARE DEVELOPED: INSIGHTS FROM VYGOTSKY’ AND LEONTIEV’S WORKS

Teacher and learners’ emotions are a significant factor that influences the implementation of adult education. The research aim is to explore the works of Vygostky and Leontiev for modelling the development of emotions in adult education. Theoretical analysis aimed at theory building about emotion development in adult education was applied to the present research. Exploratory type of research was implemented and described in this paper. The present work reflects the insights from the theory of Activity by Leontiev, and the theories of Interiorization, Cultural-historical Activity, and Concept Formation by Vygotsky. The research results in conclusions that teacher’s and learners’ emotions develop in adult education through the educational process. The educational process is gradually implemented in certain sequence. The educational process starts from teaching and external emotions in Phase 1, moves to peer-learning and quasi-emotions in Phase 2, and proceeds further to learning and internal emotions in Phase 3. The inter-connections between intrapersonal and interpersonal levels of emotions were described. The research allows building a theory on emotion development. The research limitations were identified. Directions of further work were proposed.

Among Us: Reading and Writing with Muriel Dimen

ABSTRACT Muriel Dimen penned many introductions to books and panels. In this essay that became the first chapter of Reading with Muriel Dimen/Writing with Muriel Dimen: Experiments in Theorizing a Field, I follow Dimen’s manner of hopscotching among self-reflection, mentoring, and theory building. I riff on Dimen’s call for a new genre of psychoanalytic text and read Dimen’s 1986 memoir/novel, Surviving Sexual Contradictions, finding Dimen fomenting revolution on the page as in the consulting room, where paradox and contradiction spark innovation in personal, interpersonal, and professional space. I challenge the genre of editor’s introduction to put personal narrative to political task (here, the story of my decision to shift the focus of this volume from collected works to collective writing). I place Dimen in conversation with authors whose lens trained on race during the years she pursued gender. In the vulnerability that Dimen bravely forded as she turned to the study of sexual boundary violations in her late work, I find permission to call for psychoanalytic publishing to go tilt-o-whirl in service of revolution in the field.

Biodiversity management: A supply chain practice view

This paper addresses biodiversity management in supply chains. Biodiversity loss is one of the most critical environmental issues currently facing the planet, and yet, rather surprisingly, has received little attention by management scholars and researchers in supply chain management. This paper aims for greater theoretical and practical understanding of the issue by examining firms’ purchasing and supply chain management practices that specifically relate to managing biodiversity. This qualitative study involves interviews with representatives of six firms and other organizations in Finland and New Zealand. The research shows how these firms adopt or develop biodiversity management practices that reduce or eliminate negative biodiversity outcomes or even contribute to biodiversity restoration and regeneration. Using an inductive theory building approach and integrating insights from the supply chain practice view into theorizing, this paper develops a theoretical framework of practices adopted and developed by firms to manage biodiversity.

The messy practice of decolonising a concept: Everyday humanitarianism in Tanzania

AbstractThis article1 explores the messy practice of decolonising a concept through collaborative work between scholars researching together the meaning of everyday humanitarianism in Tanzania. Humanitarianism is typically understood as the state-centric, formal, Northern-driven helping of distant others in crisis. Using the concept of everyday humanitarianism, our article challenges these assumptions in three ways. First, it explores the everyday humanitarian actions of ordinary citizens in times of crisis. Second, it explores these responses in a Southern context. Third, it focuses explicitly on the givers and not only the receivers of humanitarian help. Our work grounds decolonisation in the actual practices of research aimed at theory building as an iterative back-and-forth exchange with particular attention to power, rather than as a transplant of Northern theory on the South, or its opposite. Our first argument is that the objective of collaborative research to capture the local politics of giving and then use these practices to interrogate the theoretical concept of everyday humanitarianism can be decolonising. Second, we argue that the practices of the academic labour that produces knowledge or inductive theory can also be decolonising. Understanding both the challenges and the possibilities of decolonising ‘humanitarianism’ will provide an opportunity to document and thus legitimate the complexity that is inherent in decolonising a discipline.

TWO TYPES OF COUNTER-MEASURES AGAINST INBOUND OVERTOURISM IN JAPAN: CASE STUDIES IN KAMAKURA AND KYOTO

Purpose. In this study, destination management organization (DMO) structure and its performance are discussed. Two leading tourist destinations in Japan, Kyoto and Kamakura, are used as a case study to illustrate the types of countermeasures against overtourism. It adheres to the traditional management theory and contingency theory, while expanding on its limitations. Then, advice is given regarding the implementation of new research on DMO structure. Based on the case study, a new DMO study direction is proposed.Method. The context of the article concerns exploring and confirming what happened in DMOs. In this case, a qualitative research method should be appropriate, namely case study. Specifically, a comparative case study was employed because the research is synonymous with the scientific method of discovering and establishing general empirical propositions. However, in our study, the theory building aspect is important.Findings. Based on the case study, the DMO in Kyoto was prompted to employ a new device against overtourism, however, Kamakura passed a legislation regulating entry regulations. An initial hypothesis is made and differences of their organizational structure features are discussed.Research conclusions and limitations. DMO structure would match its performance, however, only one case study was discussed in the research.Practical implications. Although not intended to be prescriptive solutions, the findings of this study could be used as a blueprint for DMO structure design theory. DMO structure should correspond to the kind of destinations developed.Originality. This article advances the knowledge of designing effective DMOs. Their memberships are quite important because they influence what resources and technologies need to be selected when the DMO rationally and reasonably develops the destination.Type of paper. Case study.

Social marketing framework for anti-littering behavior: an integrated serial mediation model

PurposeLittering has been identified as a significant social issue in India that has negative impact on the environment as well as public health. Social marketing is a powerful tool for changing and sustaining pro-environmental behaviors, but so far no research has been found on the application of social marketing on changing littering behavior in India. This paper aims to integrate the two widely used social marketing models, health belief model (HBM) and theory of planned behavior (TPB), with an extra factor, environmental factors, in a holistic model to understand and predict anti-littering behavior in India.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 750 individuals were interviewed at 34 locations across the states of New Delhi and Punjab (India) in a field survey. For data analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model techniques in AMOS 21.0 have been used.FindingsThe results of the study suggest that the perceived benefits and perceived barriers have a significant direct effect on the attitude toward anti-littering behavior. No direct impact of perceived threat has been found on attitude toward anti-littering behavior. The results also confirm the role of attitude, subjective norms and self-efficacy in influencing the anti-littering intention with attitude and subjective norms having a greater impact on intention as compared to self-efficacy. Furthermore, the results also highlight that the environmental factors and intention carry more weights than perceived behavioral control in influencing anti-littering behavior. Recognizing the importance of sequential mediators in the present study, the results of the serial mediation analysis revealed that attitude and intention sequentially mediate the path linking perceived benefits, perceived barriers and anti-littering behavior.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current study in terms of theory building appears to be the first to integrate social marketing models HBM and TPB to explain and understand not only anti-littering behavior but also for setting a platform of behavior change in a larger context.

Design, development, and evaluation of an individual digital study assistant for higher education students

The growing number of students in higher education institutions, along with students’ diverse educational backgrounds, is driving demand for more individual study support. Furthermore, online lectures increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are expected to continue, further accelerating the need for self-regulated learning. Individual digital study assistants (IDSA) address these challenges via ubiquitous, easy, automatic online access. This Action Design Research-based study entailed designing, developing, and evaluating an IDSA that aims to support students’ self-regulated learning, study organization, and goal achievement for students in their early study phase with limited knowledge of higher education institutions. Therefore, data from 28 qualitative expert interviews, a quantitative survey of 570 students, and a literature review was used to derive seven general IDSA requirements, including functionalities, contact options, data-based responsiveness and individuality, a well-tested system, marketing strategies, data protection, and usability. The research team incorporated the identified requirements into an IDSA prototype, tested by more than 1000 students, that includes functionalities as recommending lectures based on individual interests and competencies, matching students, and providing feedback about strengths and weaknesses in learning behaviors. The results and findings compromise a knowledge base for academics, support IDSA theory building, and illustrate IDSA design and development to guide system developers and decision-makers in higher education. This knowledge can also be transferred to other higher education institutions to support implementing IDSAs with limited adaptations. Further, this research introduces a feasible functional system to support self-organization.

Race, Color, and the Application of Pool Theory

In today’s complex society, we encounter various societal issues. However, race as an attribute and as a major social form tremendously affects many aspects of individuals’ lives, as well as society as a whole. It continues to shape social, political, and economic hierarchies. Many sociological theories that have focused on race and racism, but few have focused on an in-depth understanding of subtle racism and its socio-historical constructs. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and explore race, color, and racism, particularly the subjective form of racism, utilizing the Pool Theory.Pool theory, based on acquired idea from the billiard game, asserts that racism is formed through people’s implicit attitudes, feelings, and behaviors. It emphasizes that race, like many other social concepts, is socially and culturally created by the dominant groups for labeling others to suit their own imagination and goals. Based on generalizations, the theory accentuates that race is subjective and implicit, and that skin color is highly valued in society. According to this theory, those who possess favorite colors are more likely to be seen as superior, influential, valued, and successful in constructing concepts that becomes social reality. The choice of colors and the position of the billiard balls could be the consequence of implicit feelings and biased beliefs about others. Power differentiation, disparity, and colorism are evident in this game. Pool theory refutes color blindness, which is the belief that racism is no longer an issue in American society. The main objective of this study is to encourage future research in theory building, emphasizing the implicit aspects of racism. Additionally, this study can serve as an avenue for literature review, particularly in relation to race and racism.

A Process Model for Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Evidence from a Highly Entrepreneurial European Region

Sustainable entrepreneurship creates social and environmental wealth and offers solutions to pressing sustainability issues. However, there remain major gaps in knowledge on how sustainable entrepreneurship actually unfolds. As a response, this study proposed a unique theoretical process model for sustainable entrepreneurship by conducting a multiple case study with evidence from the highly entrepreneurial region of Catalonia in Spain. Theoretical propositions suggest that the entrepreneurial process for sustainable entrepreneurship unfolds in the three phases of opportunity recognition, development, and persistence. The results of this study give evidence that sustainable entrepreneurs recognise opportunities in social or ecological problems, that they intend to achieve a hybrid nature of social/environmental and economic goals in the development phase, and that they manage to persist in the long-term through a participatory governance model and strong social networks. This study lays an important foundation for future theory building by specifying how the sustainable entrepreneurial process differs from the one of traditional entrepreneurship. For efficient policymaking, sustainability education, encouraging future entrepreneurs in their opportunity creation is needed, just as facilitated access to financing and support through adequate networking infrastructures.

Legitimising Emirati women’s expanding economic agency via narratives of the past

PurposeThe aim of this study is to investigate the highly dynamic cultural landscape relating to economically active Emirati women who are supported by government policy but may be exposed to some societal disapprobation.Design/methodology/approachNarrative methodology is used to explore how women respond to the perceived discord between their economic agency and enduring traditional norms associated with women.FindingsResults indicate that a prevailing discursive mode within participants’ narratives is that the working woman is not at all a new phenomenon in their society but has always been a feature of Emirati history.Originality/valueThis study’s contribution to theory building is its demonstration of how traditional Arab Islamic values and modern state policy are being combined in a way that blurs the apparent dichotomy between tradition and modernity.

Mobilizing Conceptual Spaces: How Word Embedding Models Can Inform Measurement and Theory Within Organization Science

Word embedding models are a powerful approach for representing the multidimensional conceptual spaces within which communicated concepts relate, combine, and compete with one another. This class of models represent a recent advance in machine learning allowing scholars to efficiently encode complex systems of meaning with minimal semantic distortion based on local and global word co-occurrences from large-scale text data. Although their use has the potential to broaden theoretical possibilities within organization science, embeddings are largely unknown to organizational scholars, where known they have only been mobilized for a narrow set of uses, and they remain unlinked to a theoretical scaffolding that can enable cumulative theory building within the organizations community. Our goal is to demonstrate the promise embedding models hold for organization science by providing a practical roadmap for users to mobilize the methodology in their research and a theoretical guide for consumers of that research to evaluate and conceptually link embedded representations with theoretical significance and potential. We begin by explicitly defining the notions of concept and conceptual space before proceeding to show how these can be represented and measured with word embedding models, noting strengths and weaknesses of the approach. We then provide a set of embedding measurements along with their theoretical interpretation and flexible extension. Our aim is to extract the operational and conceptual significance from technical treatments of word embeddings and place them within a practical, theoretical framework to accelerate research committed to understanding how individuals, teams, and broader collectives represent, communicate, and deploy meaning in organizational life. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.1686 .

A typology of U.S. metropolises by rent burden and its major drivers.

Scholarly work on rent burden, a rather scantily discussed topic within the broader realm of declining housing affordability, still lacks a firm theory. This article seeks to address this gap by developing a typology of U.S. metropolises which centers on their rent burden status and serves as an initial step toward theory building. We employ principal component and cluster analyses to identify seven distinct types of metropolises and their potential drivers of rent burden. An examination of these seven types suggests that rent burden has spatial randomness to it, since some metropolises in the seven types do not confine to specific geographies. Metropolises with pronounced specializations in education/medicine, information, and arts, recreation, and entertainment exhibit higher rent burden, whereas older Rust Belt metropolises have lower burden. Interestingly, emerging new-economy metropolises exhibit lower rent burden as well, likely reflecting the benefits of newer housing and a diverse economic base. Finally, rent burden, besides being an outcome of the housing demand/supply mismatch, is also a manifestation of income potentials that are affected in complex ways by local labor markets and regional economic specializations.

Extending the cultural-economic model of public relations through Bourdieu’s theoretical lens to inform public diplomacy efforts

Several scholars have addressed the convergence of public relations and public diplomacy theories, and many have argued that public diplomacy needs to move beyond normative theories of communication. Yet little scholarly work has been done to date. To fill this gap, this study explores how critical and postmodern theoretical approaches can inform public diplomacy practice by extending the cultural–economic model (CEM) of public relations through Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice. Based on interviews with organizational members of Sister Cities International (SCI), this study suggests that critical–cultural and postmodern perspectives can inform SCI’s public diplomacy efforts by considering larger structural factors in tension with agency. Thus, this study contributes to both the development of robust international public relations theory and theory building in the public diplomacy field. Findings indicate that drawing on Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice (1997), social capital contributes to the notion of institutionalized relationships, such as family or resources, that individuals acquire through group memberships as found in articulations within the CEM. Additionally, although the CEM explains the connection between culture and power in creating meaning, Bourdieu’s notion of cultural capital makes explicit a focus on education, which is a significant focus of many public diplomacy efforts. Therefore, the term cultural capital provides additional insight into the model to inform public diplomacy efforts. Thus, this study extends the CEM through Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice by indicating the role of social capital and cultural capital in SCI’s public diplomacy efforts.

Towards theorising corporate social irresponsibility: The Déjà Vu cases of collapsed forestry ventures

AbstractBased on case studies and secondary data, this study theorises how and why firms engage in corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR). Using the inductive process of theory building based on case studies of two forestry companies operating in China, this study explains how and why organisations with initial intentions towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) engage in CSIR based on paths taken and the behaviours across micro (individual), meso (organisational), and macro (industry) levels. Hence, there is a ‘grey zone’ between CSR and CSIR (Clark, C. E., Riera, M., & Iborra, M. (2021). Business & Society, 61, 1473–1511. 10.1177/00076503211015911). This study extends the path dependence literature on CSIR (Küberling‐Jost, J.A. (2019). Journal of Business Ethics, 169(3), 579–601) by integrating moral disengagement and the theory of planned behaviour, stakeholder agency, and institutional theory into path dependence theory based on observed behaviours across micro, meso, and macro levels.

Towards a dialogical and progressive educational policy framework: Manoeuvring a middle way among the polarised constructs.

Policy science and practice around the world, including educational policies, are dominated by popular, extreme approaches such as market-orientated approaches at one end and critical argumentative approaches at the other end. This study therefore aims to manoeuvre a middle way to propose a dialogical and progressive educational policy framework and explores the research question: 'how could a middle way (a dialogical and progressive framework) be manoeuvred among the polarised policy constructs?' The study embraces Lynham's five phases of theory building as the basis for this research, which includes conceptual development, operationalisation, confirmation/disconfirmation, application, and continuous refinement. The study explores some of the known existing policy frameworks for conceptual mapping, investigates the underlying dynamics and discourses to operationalise, uses diverse arguments in the literature to confirm/disconfirm and proposes to mark the emerging patterns, trends, and gaps in policy research to apply and refine. The study contends that if it is possible to have a polarised market-oriented and critical argumentative policy frameworks, it is then possible to have a dialogical, progressive middle-way policy framework. The study had to limit to the most important and related theories, and models to focus. Future works could explore a wide range of other relevant theories and models to further investigate this framework. Furthermore, application of the proposed dialogical, progressive educational policy framework in specific context/case may help to refine it.The study contends that the proposed middle way is not a perfect space but a potential space in which a dialogical and progressive educational policy may thrive.

Designing successful agri-environmental schemes: A mechanistic analysis of a collective scheme for eco-system services in the Netherlands

In response to the challenges posed by the fragmentation of habitats and loss of native biodiversity, climate change adaptation and mitigation, diverse agri-environmental measures have been initiated across the European Union (EU) with the aim of fostering agricultural ecosystem service delivery. Previous studies adopting a governance perspective have identified various determinants of successful agri-environmental measures. However, the explanatory value of these studies is limited as the causal processes through which context and scheme design affect implementation success remain grey -boxed. This article uses a mechanism-based approach to uncover the causal processes that underlie actions and interactions within agri-environmental governance arrangements and provides insights into the role the interplay between context and scheme design plays in the successful implementation of agri-environmental measures. The empirical focus is the governance of a successful collective agri-environmental scheme in the Netherlands. In opening the grey box of the causal mechanisms that link contextual and scheme design with their results, the paper applies theory building process tracing methods. Results show that implementation success in the case is explained by the interplay between social learning and trust-building mechanisms. We argue that EU and domestic decision-makers aiming to improve the contribution of agri-environmental measures to climate change adaptation and mitigation must consider the contextual conditions that facilitate increased cooperation between stakeholders and, ultimately, successful implementation of measures.

What innovative practices and processes are used to deliver psychosocial care in India? A qualitative case study of three non-profit community mental health organisations

The global mental health field seeks to close the “treatment gap” for mental illness in low-and middle-income countries by scaling evidence-based interventions. The evidence base has often bypassed psychosocial interventions by local organizations who do not fit a biomedical approach to evidence building. In India, non-profit mental health organizations are addressing care gaps through novel approaches that emphasize social recovery and inclusion.This study seeks to better understand the nature and dynamic of this innovation by examining what was working well in the practices and processes of three such community mental health care organizations. A comparative case approach was chosen for its strength as an exploratory means for inductive theory building. Three case organizations in Kerala, West Bengal and Uttarakhand states were selected based on their diverse socio-cultural and health systems settings. Qualitative data was collected in 2018–20, to examine their practices and processes using mixed methods and data sources including interviews, focus groups, participant observation and document analysis.Common strategies observed across the three organizations, included engaging community, prioritising beneficiaries, co-opting resources, devolving care, reorganising communication and recovery and integration. These strategies were further categorized into three domains: constructing a sustainable resource base, managing knowledge and redefining meanings. In contrast with conventional problem-solving approaches, these cases used an approach that built on assets and strengths using inclusive governance which enabled coordination of the community health system.This study argues that these organizations incorporate reflexive practice and two-way flows of knowledge to enable them to address complex social determinants of mental health. This has implications for how psychosocial care in CMH is conceptualized. We argue that the ways the organizations respond to the complexities of mental health difficulties contributes to reframing mental health as a social development issue, centering inclusion of people with psychosocial disabilities. Our findings argue against a polarization between biomedical and psychosocial CMH models and illustrate ways of integrating both approaches and their centrality to effective mental health care.

Information Overload: A Conceptual Model

This age of massive production and usage of information ranging from online resources to print has constantly created the need to educate individuals on Information overload, which happens when one is saddled with the task of processing and accessing excessive information at work and in life generally. Information overload is the abundance of information with limited cognitive processing capacity to the receiver. Despite its widespread discussion, a universally accepted definition or explanation remains elusive due to the diverse terminology employed. This variation in terminology implies differing levels of information overload. There is a dire need to develop a variety of models that assist information designers in understanding, measuring, and determining when an individual becomes overloaded with information. Drawing on Dubin's theory, which provides a systematic framework for conceptual model development, this study utilizes the initial stages of theory building to create a Conceptual Model of information overload and its Primary Components together with their Sub-components. This model serves as a foundation for generating testable hypotheses and operationalizing the concept of information overload for further empirical investigations.