Dialectical Perspective Research Articles

Integrating the dialectic perspectives of resource-based view and industrial organization theory for competitive advantage – a review and research agenda

PurposeAcademic dialogue related to ‘organizational performance’ in strategic management has primarily centred around the industrial organization theory (IO) and resource-based view (RBV). Both perspectives, though conceptually dialectic, have served as primary competing theories governing research studies in the domain of strategic management. However, the confluence of these theoretical perspectives has not been adequately explored to advance a shared view of competitive advantage. This study aims to explore the likelihood of embedded commonalities between RBV and IO.Design/methodology/approachA bibliometric analysis was conducted to visualize the intellectual map of studies and knowledge development encompassing these theories. This was followed by a comprehensive literature review to understand how the business environment (BE) and organizational capabilities have contributed towards attaining competitive advantage.FindingsThis study established that connecting the intellectual boundaries of these theoretical perspectives would facilitate better comprehension of the processes and outcomes in organizations. Integrating the knowledge emerging out of this methodological blend, a convergence framework connecting the intellectual boundaries of both theories was presented.Practical implicationsThe framework that emerged from this study would help in better understanding of organizational behaviour from a dual theoretical lens. It would also motivate future studies to consider RBV and IO as complementary theories rather than the current narrative of competing theories.Social implicationsThis study added to the efforts to achieve equilibrium between the BE and internal capabilities of organizations so as to maximize positive social externalities.Originality/valueThis study contributed to the limited attempts to leverage shared knowledge from a dual perspective using a comprehensive literature review in sequential combination with bibliometric analysis.

Dialectics in Transformations of Professional Sport

ABSTRACT In this article, I explore the relationship between competitive sports and the phenomenon of sports fandom as a unique symbiosis that qualitatively changes the nature of sport and reveals new aspects of human play in general. I note that spectators as consumers transform sport, in addition to indirectly and directly influencing and intervening in sports practice. As a result of this versatile involvement—from the initial form of competitive, formalized and unproductive game—sport can evolve through four successive stages: professional sport → sports show → ‘meta-play’ → “meta-sport “. The first of them has been sufficiently studied from two points of view, mainly: (a) control of training progress, effective coaching, and maximalised performance, and (b) management and marketing. The second form, sports show, is very rarely studied separately from the first stage (e.g.). Here I separate them. The third and fourth stages are proposed and studied here anew by a philosophical analysis of current and possible future developments and changes in the sports show. I analyse all these changes from a dialectical perspective and support it using the paradigm of tension between positive and negative freedom. From this point of view, all the mentioned transformations—from professional sport to meta-sport—are caused by changes (from synergy to tension and conflict) in the positive and negative freedom of spectators and sports organizations in a ‘dialectical symbiosis’. These are followed by the tensive contradiction between the principal freedom of human play and the self- and institutional restriction of freedom in the stage by stage evolving frames of game, sport, and professional sport. ‘Dialectical symbiosis’ is considered here as the fusion of entities, as a result of which one of them, at least, is transformed into a new quality.

The Dialectics of Altered Experience: How to Validly Construct a Phenomenologically Based Diagnosis in Psychiatry.

In this paper, we present how a dialectical perspective on phenomenological psychopathology, called Dialectical Phenomenology (DPh), can contribute to current needs of psychiatric diagnosis. We propose a three-stage diagnostic methodology: first- and second-person stages, and synthetic hermeneutics stage. The first two stages are divided into a pre-dialectical and a dialectical phase. The diagnostic process progresses in a trajectory of increasing complexity, in which knowledge obtained at one level is dialectically absorbed and intertwined into the next levels. Throughout the article, we offer some examples of each step. In overall, the method starts off from the patient's own narrative, proceeds to two stages of phenomenological reduction designed to guarantee the scientific validity of the object, and concludes with a hermeneutical narrative synthesis that is dialectically composed of the patient's and psychopathologist's shared narratives. At the end of this process, the initial first-person narrative is transformed into a specific scientific object, a full dialectical phenomenological psychiatric diagnosis. This form of diagnosis constitutes a comprehensive alternative for an integral assessment of the complexities of human psychological alteration, bringing together both the interpretation of the suffering person and the scientific categories of psychiatry.

BİR YÖNTEMİ HATIRLAMAK: TARİHSEL-POLİTİK KONULARA DİYALEKTİK BAKIŞ

The method in scientific research is a purposeful research plan, an understanding, a perception. It is the collection of mental attitudes and thought attempts that enable science to achieve its purpose. It is the foundation of science. To do scientific research in the social sciences means to try to find the true essence of social reality or human phenomena. The dialectical method aims at this. This study claims that national or international historical-political issues should be handled from a dialectical perspective. In the study, first, it was focused on what the method is, then the dialectical method, its application and the position of the researcher were mentioned. Finally, it was revealed how the subjects should be examined with the dialectical method with case studies.

The Role of Internet Development in China’s Grain Production: Specific Path and Dialectical Perspective

With the development of the internet in China, information asymmetry in traditional agriculture production has been alleviated, and the information on modern agricultural technologies and production factor mobility has been widely disseminated, significantly impacting the country’s grain productivity and output. The pertinence and effectiveness of food security system arrangement can be ensured by revealing the influence of the internet on grain production. Based on the panel data of 30 provincial administrative regions in China from 1997 to 2018, a mediation model and a moderation model were used to evaluate the effect of internet development on grain output and constraints. The results showed that grain output could be promoted as internet penetration directly increases, and can also be boosted by enhancing technology usage and promoting operation scale expansion through the internet. However, the positive effect of this cycle could be inhibited by rural population aging, as there are many barriers faced by the elderly using information and communication technology (ICT). Strengthening agricultural technology utilization and promoting large-scale operation can encourage the development of rural internet, consequently improving the national food security guarantee capacity. It is equally important to simplify internet usage to alleviate the adverse impact of population aging on grain output. This study contributes to three sections of literature on (i) the factors influencing grain output, (ii) the mediating effects of the information transmission function of the internet, (iii) and the potential impact of aging in the information era. Exploring agricultural growth from an innovative perspective of the internet can provide a reference for ensuring food security and agricultural informatization.

“Love is a microbe too” : Microbiome dialectics

Whereas the Human Genome Project was an anthropocentric research endeavour, microbiome research entails a much more interactive and symbiotic view of human existence, seeing human beings as holobionts, a term coined by Lynn Margulis to emphasise the interconnectedness and multiplicity of organisms. In this paper, building on previous authors, a dialectical perspective on microbiome research will be adopted, striving to supersede the ontological divide between self and other, humans and microbes, and to incorporate the microbiome as a crucial dimension of human existence, not only corporally, but also in terms of mood and cognition. On the practical level, microbiome insights promise to offer opportunities for self-care and self-management, allowing us to consciously interact with our microbiome to foster wellness and health. How to distinguish realistic scenarios from hype? Here again, an interactive (dialectical) approach is adopted, arguing that practices of the self should result from mutual learning between laboratory research and life-world experience.

Abstraction and embodiment: exploring the process of grasping a general

This paper reports from a case study which explores kindergarten children’s mathematical abstraction in a teaching–learning activity about reflection symmetry. From a dialectical perspective, abstraction is here conceived as a process, as a genuine part of human activity, where the learner establishes “a point of view from which the concrete can be seen as meaningfully related” (van Oers & Poland Mathematics Education Research Journal, 19(2), 10–22, 2007, p. 13–14). A cultural-historical semiotic perspective to embodiment is used to explore the characteristics of kindergarten children’s mathematical abstraction. In the selected segment, two 5-year-old boys explore the concept of reflection symmetry using a doll pram. In the activity, the two boys first point to concrete features of the sensory manifold, then one of the boys’ awareness gradually moves to the imagined and finally to grasping a general and establishing a new point of view. The findings illustrate the essential role of gestures, bodily actions, and rhythm, in conjunction with spoken words, in the two boys’ gradual process of grasping a general. The study advances our knowledge about the nature of mathematical abstraction and challenges the traditional view on abstraction as a sort of decontextualised higher order thinking. This study argues that abstraction is not a matter of going from the concrete to the abstract, rather it is an emergent and context-bound process, as a genuine part of children’s concrete embodied activities.

Adjustment Effect and Optimization Strategy of Credit Structure under the Double Carbon Goal—Research Based on the Power Industry

This paper focuses on the power industry in China, through the construction of production function model, solves the optimization problem of high-carbon and low-carbon enterprises in power industry, and discusses the adjustment and optimization strategy of credit structure in it. The highlight of the article is to look at the impact of the inclination of credit resource allocation to the green and low-carbon field from a more holistic and dialectical perspective. Research shows that the credit mortgage rate adjustment policy is more conducive to the withdrawal of backward production capacity in high-carbon industries, while the interest rate policy is more conducive to expanding production capacity by supporting technological progress in new industries. When adjusting the high-carbon and low-carbon credit interest rates, adopting the “small-then-large” interest rate adjustment path with a gradually increasing range is more conducive to realizing the industrial structure adjustment and ensuring the power capacity supply at the same time. Therefore, in order to avoid the phenomenon of “moving carbon reduction” under the dual carbon goal, banks can consider the strategy of “focusing on interest rate instruments in the early stage and mortgage rate control in the middle and late stages” when formulating credit policies for the power industry, so as to help better realize the continuous transformation of old and new kinetic energy under the dual carbon goal.

Analysis of the Questioning and Dialectical Relationship between the Pursuit of Intensity in School Physical Health Education.

In the rapid development of the country and schools, physical education and health programs have gradually become an essential part of schools in order to improve students' core physical education skills and literacy, and have a very important role and impact on students' physical and mental health development. The school P&H program not only conveys to teachers and students the knowledge and training skills to improve school sports and enhance physical fitness but also fully develops the awareness and ability of teachers and students to work hard and collaborate with each other. This paper examines and analyzes the problems and dilemmas associated with the pursuit of health and sport-specific intensity in school sports and combines theories of health and exercise, physical education, training, and moral education through literature review, logical analysis, and value analysis. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the different logics and orientations of specific sport intensity regulations, school sport health pursuits, and school sport teaching and to clarify and correct related issues, so as to provide theoretical and practical support for school sport to better implement the concept of “health first” and further promote school sport reform and sound development. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between exercise and health in physical education programs of teachers and schools from the perspective of natural dialectics and find out some outstanding problems that may exist in them, so as to effectively promote the development of students' physical and mental health.

Dialectic tensions driving niche creation – A case study of a local energy system

Local energy systems (LESs), such as energy communities and microgrids, are seen as significant contributors to the energy transition, but their creation requires contested institutional changes to the centralized energy regime. We explore the creation process of a groundbreaking LES project from the multi-level and dialectic perspectives. Our results show a tension-driven institutional change process that includes the dialectic perspective's four principles: institutional contradictions, praxis, social construction, and totality. Based on the learnings of the case study, we highlight the effect of institutional contradictions on incumbent actors’ agency, boundary spanners’ role in triggering praxis, and tensions in niche–regime interactions. We show with the case study that the dialectic perspective together with the multi-level perspective aid in understanding the creation process and further aid in designing future LES creation processes by providing normative descriptions of contradictions, tensions, and opportune solutions for them beforehand. We also discuss the limitations of the approach.

Assimilation, Integration or Inclusion? A Dialectical Perspective on the Organizational Socialization of Migrants

Given the increasing importance of migrations around the world, and the challenges that migrants face in entering the labor market, the process of socialization of migrants into organizations deserves more attention from management scholars. Indeed, societal discourses promoting equality and diversity often appear to be in contradiction with the unequal power relations migrants experience on entering the workforce. Drawing on a dialectic perspective and a qualitative meta-synthesis methodology, we show how the practices engaged in by organizations to socialize migrant employees are deeply embedded in and influenced by macro-social contexts that may place migrants at a disadvantage, giving rise to emerging tensions. We examine a range of contingencies that can mitigate the inequalities that migrants experience, and we reveal a variety of dynamic dialectical pathways surrounding migrant socialization practices through which they may be reproduced or transformed depending on the mutual relationships between situated conditions, emerging tensions and human praxes.

In a World of Paradoxes, Conflicts and Contradictions the Need for Disambiguation

Today we begin to have the knowledge that allows us to face man in a dynamic and dialectic perspective, as we have long desired (see, for example, the definition of health by the World Health Organization, 1948, as a state of equilibrium – therefore dynamic). However, an intention is not enough. We have to better understand the phenomena, of course. And differently. There is a need for a rupture in strategies, methodologies, instruments (conceptual and material), an adequate conception and with the appropriate degrees of freedom. This work intends to be as a contribution to this rupture (see Thomas Kuhn). Not only in health, but in general, because man is always, (as a phenomenon, as a sign or as the observer), a fundamental part of our visions. In this article we propose two conceptual tools: ARAT (aggression / reaction / adaptation / transformation - as a factor of transformation) and Mental Schemes (as a factor of stability - which, therefore, goes beyond a centralization in the nervous system). Tools that allow us to access causalities (not only in their consequences, which are the facts, events, where we often focus our attention), because they guide and justify (substantiate the functionality) the action of man in every field (in education, health, sport, leisure, politics, economics, tourism, etc.) showing how and why man works.

Visualizing the cultural landscape gene of traditional settlements in China: a semiotic perspective

China has a deep traditional culture and a long history, and is rich in traditional settlements (designated as “Famous Historic-Cultural Villages/Towns”, “Chinese Traditional Villages” by Chinese Government). To help people develop these traditional settlements to achieve the great goal of Chinese National Rejuvenation, Chinese scholar put forward the Cultural Landscape Genes of Traditional Settlements (CLGTS) in 2003. Since then, CLGTS theory has been employed to solve the issues of Chinese traditional settlements, such as the identification and regionalization of cultural landscape genes in traditional settlements, and the understanding of architectural features. Although CLGTS theory has made great strides in many application fields, there is still a lack of scientific findings in exploring the symbol mechanism from a perspective of semiotics. To explore this, we firstly examined the core features of CLGTS through a dialectical perspective. We analyzed two features of CLGTS in depth. First, CLGTS is the dialectical combination of macro settlement image and micro cultural factors of traditional settlements, material appearance and inherent traditional cultural implications, overall features and local self-renewal mechanisms, qualitative and quantitative methods, superiority of cultural factors and rich cultural connotation. Second, CLGTS is famous for its nonlinearity, self-organization, and self-iteration due to various spatial shapes and complex structures. Based on the above, we first proposed the concept of Symbolization Method of CLGTS (SM-CLGTS). Then, we further explored the key features, classification methods, and corresponding representation methods of CLGTS symbols. Finally, by using Visual C#.net program language, we developed a prototype system of the Traditional Landscape Genetic Symbol Database (TLGSD) to create and centrally manage CLGTS symbols. Test results show that TLGSD can meet the needs of constructing a CLGTS symbol database for a given region. This study is of great significance to explore and contribute to visualizing the CLGTS symbols.

The double-edged sword effects of leader workaholism on team performance

<p id="p00005">Currently, workaholic leaders are prevalent in the workplace, and the relevant research has substantially increased. However, regarding the effectiveness of leader workaholism, researchers have found inconsistent and even contradictory results. In addition, prior research has mostly centered on the effects of leader workaholism at the employee or firm level while ignoring its impacts at the team level. To address these gaps, the current research aims to investigate the double-edged sword effects of leader workaholism on team performance. Based on social information processing theory, we propose that leader workaholism influences team performance through two distinct mechanisms: on the one hand, leader workaholism enhances team job involvement, which has a subsequent positive effect on team performance, and on the other hand, leader workaholism induces team negative affect, which in turn negatively influences team performance. In addition, we also expect that team task significance can mitigate the negative effects and enhance the positive effects of leader workaholism. <p id="p00010">We conducted a multitime, multisource questionnaire survey on a property management company in China. Before collecting the data, all participants were assured that their responses would be confidential and used only for academic research. In Wave 1, the team leader rated his or her workaholism, and team members rated team task significance. In Wave 2 (one month later), team members were asked to complete the questionnaire containing questions on team job involvement and team negative affect. In Wave 3 (one month after Wave 2), general managers were invited to evaluate each team’s performance. The three rounds of data collection resulted in 105 matched team leader-team member responses (105 team leaders, 512 team members), with a 69.08% overall response rate for team leaders and a 61.03% overall response rate for team members. <p id="p00015">Before testing the hypotheses, we conducted a measurement model assessment to verify whether the manifest variables could accurately measure the theoretical constructs. Then, we performed a path analysis through Mplus 7.0. The results showed that leader workaholism was positively related to team job involvement, resulting in higher team performance. However, leader workaholism also heightened team negative affect, thus decreasing team performance. Moreover, team task significance moderated the above two mediating paths. Specifically, when team task significance was higher, the negative mediating effect of team negative affect was attenuated, and the positive mediating effect of team job involvement was enhanced. <p id="p00020">The current research makes essential theoretical contributions and has practical implications. First, this study is among the first to examine the relationship between leader workaholism and team performance, answering the call for more research on the effects of leader workaholism at the team level (Clark et al., <xref xml:base="bibr" rid="b6">2016</xref>). Second, based on social information processing theory, we examine two mechanisms through which leader workaholism affects team performance and demonstrate the coexistence of opposite effects in this process, which is helpful for understanding the complicated relationship between leader workaholism and team performance. Third, we elaborate on the moderating role of team task significance, which provides important insights about the contingency factors that shape the effectiveness of leader workaholism. Practically, we suggest that organizations take a dialectical perspective to consider the role of leader workaholism in team management and adopt selection procedures to identify qualified managers.

Coopetition in Yin-Yang and Dialectic Perspectives

In pursuing economic goals, firms involve in coopetition. Coopetition is an advanced relationship for firms to play dual roles as cooperators and competitors for common development. This paper considers that the essence of coopetition is a pursuit of common value creation and private value appropriation, with the inevitable coopetitive contradiction. How to maximize the common and private benefits of each coopetitive firm at the same time is the core concern of both academics and practitioners in the coopetition field. The goal of this paper, therefore, is to offer a renewed understanding of inter-firm coopetition based on the paradox theory, distinguishing the paradox of coopetition under two different perspectives—Yin-Yang and dialectic with East and West culture backgrounds. Building the two dynamic models of Yin-Yang and dialectic perspectives, the paper provides a new way for future research and business practices to deal with inter-firm coopetition.

Identity work of individuals in disparate professions

I examined the identity work of 31 individuals who are simultaneously working in disparate professions (e.g., a church worker and an engineer). I found that such individuals typically experienced both identity conflicts and identity synergies. I also found that the identity work of such individuals involved synthesizing this dialectic between identity conflicts and identity synergies. My findings offer two theoretical insights. First, by showing the coexistence of identity conflicts and identity synergies, my study is different from previous studies that have predominantly examined the relationship between identities as a binary, i.e., as either conflicting or synergizing. Second and consequently, I offer a dialectical perspective to identity work as opposed to prior studies that have taken a linear perspective to identity work.

Ecosystem orchestration: Matching new ventures and established organizations to catalyze innovation

Innovation ecosystems have emerged as novel ways how to facilitate resource mobilization in order to develop innovative products and services. In such multi-actor settings, orchestrating firms play an especially interesting role; however, it is not fully understood how they attract, guide, and bring actors together. To comprehensively address this question, we draw on existing insights on network orchestration and combine them with novel theory on ecosystems. We seek to explore which mechanisms innovation ecosystem orchestrators use to identify matching resources among new ventures and established organizations, and how these ecosystem orchestration mechanisms differ from known network orchestration mechanisms. We conduct a single-case study of a Germany-based innovation ecosystem managed by one orchestrating firm. We thereby generate insights into general ecosystem management and specialized innovation programs in which the orchestrator “matches” established organizations and new ventures to identify opportunities for value co-creation. We illuminate how ecosystem orchestrators enable new ventures and established organizations to identify non-generic, multilateral complementarities. In this regard, we distinguish the outcomes of formal matchmaking programs and more informal engagement in the ecosystem. In addition, we show how the ecosystem orchestrator blends stakeholder-based network orchestration approaches with ecosystem-specific attitudes and practices. Lastly, our research adds to the dialectical perspectives on ecosystems by pointing towards key tensions that orchestrators need to manage.

The Concept of Peace in the Qur’an: A Socio-Thematic Analysis of Muslims’ Contestation in Salatiga, Indonesia

&lt;p&gt;This research aims not only to understand the concept of peace in the Qur’an but also analyze Muslims’ contestation in Salatiga to lead to a peaceful life among religious believers. It requires an in-depth examination on dialectical perspectives between the ideal concept of peace in the Quran and the reality of a peaceful culture in the public sphere. Methodologically, this research combines literature review and semi-structured interviews to gather theoretical data based on social responses and literature of contemporary Qur’anic interpretation. The research subjects consist of (1) Muslims living with non-Muslim family members in the same house, (2) Muslims in a non-Muslim neighborhood, (3) religious figures, and (4) non-Muslims with Muslim family members. In order to interpret a special meaning of Qur’anic terms related to peaceful life, this research employs a hermeneutical approach of socio-thematic interpretation of the Qur’an. In conclusion, this research points out that Muslims in Salatiga play a significant role in building a peaceful life where some concepts, such as unity, freedom, honesty, and respect, are principles thriving vividly throughout society. Additionally, tolerance is a foundation of social interaction leading them to cooperate. Besides, several values, namely harmonization, tolerance, and coexistence, can be seen as dominant ideas within the communities, and practices such as cooperation and friendship can also be seen in their daily life. Thus, this research affirms that the Muslim majority can lead to tolerance and accommodate diversity as a way of life.&lt;/p&gt;

The Mystery of the Lorentz Transform: A Reconstruction and Its Implications for Einstein’s Theories of Relativity and cosmology.

The Lorentz Transformation (LT) is an arbitrary and poorly conceived mathematical tool designed to make Maxwell’s electromagnetism conform to Galilean relativity, which formed the basis of classical mechanics and physics. A strange combination of this transform with an axiomatic assumption by Albert Einstein that the velocity of light c is an absolute and universal constant has led to an idealist, geometrical and phenomenological view of the universe, that is at variance with objective reality. This conundrum that has lasted for more than hundred years has led to rampant mysticism and has impaired the development of positive knowledge of the universe. The present reconstruction of LT shows that the gamma term, which fueled mysticism in physics and cosmology is, on the contrary, a natural outcome of the subjective geometrical rendition of the speed of light and the idealist unification of abstract space and time into a 4D “spacetime” manifold; by Minkowski and Einstein. Only a materialist dialectical perspective of space and time can rid physics of all mysticism arising out of LT; from the quantum to the cosmic.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Post-Traumatic Growth in Dialectical Perspective: Implications for Practice

This article provides the conceptualization of the post-traumatic development (PTD) in terms of a dialectical unity of the processes of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and post-traumatic growth (PTG); practical implications for eco-centered facilitation of post-traumatic growth and development. The results of the research indicate that the process of personality development is paradoxical, irreversible and scarcely predictable. In dialectical perspective the attractor of change is not about the content of transient forms (such as trauma, success, flow) but the stabilization of their change: thesis – antithesis – synthesis. As compared to PTG, PTD’s outcome is the systemic transition to the novel (not better or positive) identity. PTSD as well as PTG constitute minor cycles within the major cycle of PTD. The core metaphor of change as personality development is the work of the immunity system (SPI) which has an ambivalent nature: on the one hand, it defends the personality from the influence of adversarial agents and on the other – proactively guards it from stagnation and lack of confrontation and discontinuity. Principals of PTD facilitation: (a) the situation of psychological help (PH) is a case of a transition to a social level of personality self-regulation; (b) an inquiry for PH contains a narrative with necessary and sufficient elements for post-traumatic growth and development; (c) these elements are objectified in paradoxes, contradictions, incongruences as the source of personality development; (d) the task of PTD facilitator is to support the explication of internal change programs by maintaining the position of ambiguity tolerance and sensitivity to accidental flow of events.