Individual-level Perspective Research Articles

An integrative review of acculturation perspectives in management research: the role of HRM

Acculturation is becoming an increasingly important and discussed topic in management research, with important implications for human resource management (HRM). However, although current managerial and organizational reviews include the concept of acculturation, little research has explored the concept of acculturation itself. Different perspectives on acculturation seem to exist, suggesting that the topic of acculturation has not grown uniformly in the field, and these differences have not been fully explored. This paper conducts an integrative review to examine the main perspectives of acculturation at the individual and organizational levels in management research, along with the strategic role HRM has played in them. Individual-level perspectives include a nonwork-cultural perspective, a work-cultural perspective, and a work-nonwork perspective. Organizational-level perspectives include a merger-fit perspective, a merger-integration perspective, an organizational-distance ­perspective, a diversity-management perspective, and an organizational-socialization perspective. We identify similarities, gaps, and limitations of research on acculturation at both the individual- and organizational-levels and discuss implications for future research.

Short-Term Mindsets and Crime

We propose the concept of short-term mindsets as an alternative to self-control as envisioned in Gottfredson & Hirschi's self-control theory (SCT). We lay out a competing perspective, short-term mindsets theory (STMT), based on this novel concept. STMT assumes that short-term mindsets are partly rooted in enduring individual differences and in part develop in response to criminogenic environments, events, and experiences. STMT connects individual-level perspectives to sociogenic views by explaining how several risk factors of crime (e.g., negative parenting, delinquent peers, substance use) all impact on short-term mindsets. Exposure to one risk factor encourages short-term mindsets that, in turn, make exposure to other risk factors more likely, thereby increasing the likelihood of crime. We show that STMT enjoys stronger empirical support than SCT, better aligns with other theory, and can account for phenomena typically considered at odds with, or outside the purview of, SCT.

Collective response capacity: Developing crisis leadership in organisations

AbstractHow can crisis leadership be developed before an organisational crisis occurs? This article addresses this important question by reviewing three individual‐level leadership perspectives (leader personality traits, leadership styles, and functional leadership) and three organisational level perspectives (leadership as contextual, leadership as collective, and leadership as dynamic), on how to develop crisis leadership with regard to recruitment, selection, and training. While crisis leadership is often perceived as something individual “leaders are born with” or as a variant of general leadership abilities, such an understanding leaves much to chance in terms of who will be effective leaders in a crisis, as well as the development of leadership capacity in organisations before a crisis actually occurs. This passive approach not only contradicts research on what constitutes effective crisis leadership but also is perceived to be unethical in terms of the potential consequences ineffective leadership can have in a crisis. This article provides an integrative overview of current and hitherto dispersed crisis leadership development research, showing how recruitment, selection and training to achieve collective crisis leadership capacity encompasses switching between organisational and individual level perspectives. We suggest implications for theory and future research as well as for practitioners responsible for developing crisis leadership in organisations.

Racial discrimination in entrepreneurship: a synthesis and conceptual framework

PurposeThis study aims to synthesize and conceptualize the highly fragmented yet important literature on racial discrimination in entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachA bibliometric analysis and literature review were performed that involved 523 articles containing 26,926 references.FindingsThe bibliometric analysis identified three dominant research themes that comprehensively illustrate the state of research in this domain: strategic, sociocultural and individual-level perspectives. The synthesis of extant literature helped in formulating a holistic conceptual model that portrays the genuineness of racial discrimination in entrepreneurship. The sources, factors and impact of racial discrimination faced by entrepreneurs were identified. Based on the review and analysis of keywords, certain fruitful future research directions were formulated that will take the field forward.Originality/valueThis work is the first attempt to review the literature that narrows down the focus to racial discrimination in entrepreneurship (from other discriminations such as gender, cultural and religious discrimination) as one form of discrimination due to its unique origins and consequences.

Assessing the Relationship Between Compulsory Voting and the Over-Representation of Extreme Parties

In this paper, we address the issue of partisan bias in compulsory voting systems. Given the current global trends – declining trust in mainstream political parties, rising support for left- and right-wing radicals, growing populism and anti-elite sentiment – we seek to determine how they manifest themselves in an environment where citizens are required to vote by law. To answer this question, a quasi-experimental design is proposed. The data show that forced activity does not affect either extreme forces support rates (from a cross-country perspective) or the rationality of their voters (from an individual-level perspective). As far as we know, this is the first attempt to generalize the role of compulsory voting in extreme politics, as well as the first one to refute this role with ample evidence.

Divergent maturational patterns of the infant bacterial and fungal gut microbiome in the first year of life are associated with inter-kingdom community dynamics and infant nutrition

BackgroundThe gut microbiome undergoes primary ecological succession over the course of early life before achieving ecosystem stability around 3 years of age. These maturational patterns have been well-characterized for bacteria, but limited descriptions exist for other microbiota members, such as fungi. Further, our current understanding of the prevalence of different patterns of bacterial and fungal microbiome maturation and how inter-kingdom dynamics influence early-life microbiome establishment is limited.ResultsWe examined individual shifts in bacterial and fungal alpha diversity from 3 to 12 months of age in 100 infants from the CHILD Cohort Study. We identified divergent patterns of gut bacterial or fungal microbiome maturation in over 40% of infants, which were characterized by differences in community composition, inter-kingdom dynamics, and microbe-derived metabolites in urine, suggestive of alterations in the timing of ecosystem transitions. Known microbiome-modifying factors, such as formula feeding and delivery by C-section, were associated with atypical bacterial, but not fungal, microbiome maturation patterns. Instead, fungal microbiome maturation was influenced by prenatal exposure to artificially sweetened beverages and the bacterial microbiome, emphasizing the importance of inter-kingdom dynamics in early-life colonization patterns.ConclusionsThese findings highlight the ecological and environmental factors underlying atypical patterns of microbiome maturation in infants, and the need to incorporate multi-kingdom and individual-level perspectives in microbiome research to improve our understandings of gut microbiome maturation patterns in early life and how they relate to host health.5AtmDGbifCkZAT-p1B-BuFVideo

Identifying leadership practices to support the uptake of reusable elastomeric half mask respirators in health delivery settings.

An increase in reusable Elastomeric Half Mask Respirators (EHMRs) among healthcare personnel has been documented during pandemic emergencies; however, research has not detailed leadership practices to support their use. Forty-three organizations implemented EHMRs received from the United States federal government which prompted interviews with 73 individuals who managed respirator distribution and fit testing between October 2021 and November 2022. Interview data was qualitatively analyzed. Themes around organizational culture and leadership practices emerged when discussing how elastomeric half mask respirators were integrated into health delivery settings including communication and outreach methods to aid worker support. Example included on-line and hands-on training, peer support, leadership support, and a culture that supports respirator use. To support a shift to reusable respiratory protection being procured and implemented, organizational- and individual-level perspectives are needed. Employee engagement, respirator champions, and updated verbal and written communication mechanisms are important takeaways for leaders to consider during any routine or emergency scenario.

The Norwegian Memory Tasks: Using Pensioner Auto-Biographies to Study Religion in a Secularizing Country

Declining traditional religious practice and beliefs have been observed in Norwegian survey data since the mid-twentieth century. Individual-level data before that time, when higher religiosity may have been more normative, is lacking. We introduce a unique autobiographic database consisting of 1270 digitized entries written by Norwegian pensioners in 1964 and 1981, called “Memory Tasks,” and assess its potential to study religion in the daily lives of Norwegians. We sample from the Memory Tasks ( n = 45), and code religion mentions falling into six categories: identity, public participation, private practice, personal importance of religion, supernatural worldview, and miscellaneous mentions. We report the frequency of each category and present excerpts to highlight the depth of available information on religion. Nearly all Memory Tasks from our sample included at least one mention of religion. The most common categories are identity, public participation, and miscellaneous religious activities such as Christmas celebrations. Selected excerpts describe confirmation requirements, religious activities and social life, revivals, and folk beliefs. The Memory Task data can extend our understanding of individual-level perspectives on religion in Norway for a time period when survey data is unavailable. We invite other researchers to design studies using this data source.

Correction: Production and perception across three Hong Kong Cantonese consonant mergers: Community- and individual-level perspectives

​​This article details a correction to the article: Cheng, L. S. & Babel, M. & Yao, Y., (2022) “Production and perception across three Hong Kong Cantonese consonant mergers: Community- and individual-level perspectives”, Laboratory Phonology 13(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/labphon.6461

Fairness of inequality and support for redistribution: directly comparing citizens and legislators

Economic inequality constitutes a defining challenge of our time and it remains puzzling why rising levels of inequality have not led to more redistribution. In this article a novel individual-level perspective is taken, with a focus on how much legislators and citizens agree on questions of redistribution and inequality, and what causes these mismatches. The study compares legislators’ views to a representative citizen sample in Switzerland. The results show considerable disagreement between the groups with legislators being more sceptical towards redistribution and seeing inequality as fairer outcome. The mismatch is only partially explained by legislators’ higher social status. Ideology plays a fundamental role as more polarisation according to ideological lines is found among elites and their attitudes are also more rooted in their ideology. In sum, the findings point to some underexplored angles of the puzzle of why not more redistribution has been observed and thus offer a valuable addition to the existing literature.

Factors Influencing Entrepreneurial Intention: Focusing on Individuals’ Knowledge Exploration and Exploitation Activities

With rapid changes in industrial environments, the role of start-ups and their initial attempts toward the market are regarded as critical initiates. To increase the number of young start-up entrepreneurs, it is important to understand the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and its antecedents. Drawing on the organizational learning theory, we adopt the concept of exploration and exploitation as mediating roles of entrepreneurial intention as individual-level perspectives. Additionally, we consider innovativeness, self-efficacy, and internal locus of control as antecedents of two learning activities. The results indicate that each learning activity successfully supports the entrepreneurial intention, which requires a complex decision-making process and long-term efforts. This research discusses practical implications and guidelines for entrepreneurship education programs further.

An Investigation of Job Attribute Preferences of Disadvantaged Beneficiaries of Hybrid Organizations

While scholarship in hybrid organizing of social enterprises has gained maturity in recent years, most existing studies have examined hybrid organizing at the internal and organizational level, and lesser is known about the tensions, balance and trade-offs within individual beneficiaries that served by social enterprises. Given the centrality of the employment of marginalized individuals served in the value creation of social enterprises, it is necessary to deepen our theoretical understanding of whether, how, and to what extent disadvantaged beneficiaries of social enterprises make employment decisions. Adopting an individual-level perspective, this study embarked on a quantitative exploration by testing how disadvantaged employees of social enterprises evaluate different job attributes and their attribute levels using the discrete choice experiment method. We found that opportunities to build social relations, employee recognition, potential earnings, career advancement opportunities, and workplace support had positive and significant influences on disabled individuals’ job preference decisions. Among all, the economic dimension had the greatest importance. This paper contributes to social entrepreneurship research by examining job attribute preferences of disadvantaged employees within the theoretical logic of hybridity as it is nested within individuals. We also stimulate a new conversation on an understudied domain of “individual preferences” within the discourse on social entrepreneurship.

Modelling livestock infectious disease control policy under differing social perspectives on vaccination behaviour.

The spread of infection amongst livestock depends not only on the traits of the pathogen and the livestock themselves, but also on the veterinary health behaviours of farmers and how this impacts their implementation of disease control measures. Controls that are costly may make it beneficial for individuals to rely on the protection offered by others, though that may be sub-optimal for the population. Failing to account for socio-behavioural properties may produce a substantial layer of bias in infectious disease models. We investigated the role of heterogeneity in vaccine response across a population of farmers on epidemic outbreaks amongst livestock, caused by pathogens with differential speed of spread over spatial landscapes of farms for two counties in England (Cumbria and Devon). Under different compositions of three vaccine behaviour groups (precautionary, reactionary, non-vaccination), we evaluated from population- and individual-level perspectives the optimum threshold distance to premises with notified infection that would trigger responsive vaccination by the reactionary vaccination group. We demonstrate a divergence between population and individual perspectives in the optimal scale of reactive voluntary vaccination response. In general, minimising the population-level perspective cost requires a broader reactive uptake of the intervention, whilst optimising the outcome for the average individual increased the likelihood of larger scale disease outbreaks. When the relative cost of vaccination was low and the majority of premises had undergone precautionary vaccination, then adopting a perspective that optimised the outcome for an individual gave a broader spatial extent of reactive response compared to a perspective wanting to optimise outcomes for everyone in the population. Under our assumed epidemiological context, the findings identify livestock disease intervention receptiveness and cost combinations where one would expect strong disagreement between the intervention stringency that is best from the perspective of a stakeholder responsible for supporting the livestock industry compared to a sole livestock owner. Were such discord anticipated and achieving a consensus view across perspectives desired, the findings may also inform those managing veterinary health policy the requisite reduction in intervention cost and/or the required extent of nurturing beneficial community attitudes towards interventions.

Production and perception across three Hong Kong Cantonese consonant mergers: Community- and individual-level perspectives

Individual variation is key to understanding phenomena in phonetic variation and change, including the production-perception link. To test the generalizability of this relationship, this study compares community- and individual-level variation across three long-standing consonant mergers in Hong Kong Cantonese speakers: [n]→[l], [ŋ̩]→[m̩], and [ŋ]↔Ø. Concurrently, we document these understudied mergers in a community that has undergone rapid social change in recent decades. Younger (college-aged) and older (middle-aged) Hong Kongers completed a reading production task followed by a forced-choice lexical identification perception task. Group-level results suggest mismatching production and perception: While the community overall distinguished merger pairs in production, younger listeners are more perceptually categorical than older listeners. However, aggregate results obscure the fact that individuals vary substantially in the extent of merging in both perception and production, including many who exhibit complete merger, and that individual-level production-perception correlations were found for [n]→[l] and [ŋ̩]→[m̩], though not [ŋ]↔Ø. Results are discussed in the context of previous research. We find that (i) these mergers have diverged from predicted trajectories of completion, and (ii) overall, prior findings on the production-perception link are generalizable to these consonant mergers.

Older Adults' Biobehavioral Fall Risks Were Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned for Future Fall Prevention Research to Incorporate Multilevel Perspectives.

Background and ObjectivesExamining the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on fall risks may provide insight into how multilevel factors as described in National Institute of Nursing Research's (NINR’s) draft strategic plan can guide future fall prevention research. This article describes the affect of COVID-19 on fall risks from the perspective of older adults who live in assisted living facilities (ALFs), and explores the needs and approaches to implement fall prevention interventions at individual, social, community, and policy levels.Research Design and MethodsExploratory survey study. Participants from a fall prevention study at 2 ALFs in Oregon were invited to the study. Survey questions asked about COVID experience, and changes in fall risks and day-to-day activities in Spring 2020. Quantitative responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Cohen’s d effect sizes. Qualitative responses were analyzed using conventional content analysis.ResultsThirteen participants (age: M = 87.08, standard deviation = 6.52) responded. More participants reported feeling unsteady compared to pre-COVID data (38% vs. 62%), while the proportion of those worried about falling remained the same at 38%. Participants reported negligible decreases in importance of fall prevention and small decreases in confidence of fall prevention (Cohen’s d = −0.13 and −0.21, respectively). The themes related to the affect of COVID on fall risks were: not to worry about fall risks but be cautious and physical activity is important, but it’s hard during COVID. Impact of COVID on day-to-day activities were: varying degrees of concern for COVID, lack of social and community support, and finding unique ways to cope with COVID.Discussion and ImplicationsThese individual-level perspectives suggest that older adults were at increased risk for falling. Results exemplify the influence of broader-level factors (e.g., social, community, and policy) on individual biobehavioral factors (e.g., fall risks and health behaviors), and illustrate the value of examining multilevel factors in future fall prevention research.

From connective actions in social movements to offline collective actions: an individual level perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the role of connective action characterised by interconnection and personal communication on social media (SM) for participating in collective action in the physical world of social movements.Design/methodology/approachA research model is developed integrating different modes of connective action into the social identity model of collective action (SIMCA) to investigate pathways to participating in offline collective action (CA) from an individual perspective. Following a survey design approach, data collected from 194 respondents in the background of Egypt's social movements are examined using partial least squares (PLS) path modelling and mediation analyses.FindingsThe authors' main results reveal that interactive socialisation (IS) on SM provides an important momentum for the user to internalise (consume) and externalise (share) content online from a social learning perspective. In terms of translating these activities to participating in offline CA, the authors find support for two independent causal chains: An “instrumental” chain building on content externalisation (CE) and efficacy considerations and an “obligatory” chain based on content internalisation (CI) and collective identity.Originality/valueThe authors' results highlight the individual-level origins of offline mobilisation in social movements, which are not only grounded in social-psychology, but also develop out of interrelated connective actions supporting social learning. Prior work has mainly conceptualised the value of SM in social movements for online political communication. The authors' conceptualisation is novel in terms of integrating online and offline behaviours with social-psychological perspectives and the application with primary data in a protest movement context that heavily relied on connective actions for offline mobilisation.

Proposing Employee Level CSR as an Enabler for Economic Performance: The Role of Work Engagement and Quality of Work-Life

The aim of the current research is to foster the economic performance of a hotel enterprise through employee-level corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities with the mediating effect of work engagement (W.E) and quality of work-life (QWL). A hypothesized model was developed for this purpose. The data were collected from the hotel employees of a developing economy (n = 396). The hypothesized relations were tested by employing the structural equation modeling technique. The current work’s statistical outcomes validated CSR’s seminal role to influence W.E and QWL perceptions of hotel employees, which eventually contribute to the economic performance of a hotel enterprise. The findings of the current analysis have different theoretical and practical implications. To the extent of theory, the current work advances the fields of enterprise management and employee wellbeing from an individual-level perspective of CSR. Practically, the current study helps the hotel management to realize that a carefully planned CSR strategy not only improves the economic performance of a hotel enterprise through employees but also helps to fulfill its social responsibility, hence leading a hotel enterprise towards a win-win situation.

I want to work there: how public relations agencies communicate organizational culture and identity on Instagram

PurposeThis study examined Instagram content shared by public relations (PR) agencies, through the sensitizing framework of organizational identity theory, to determine what messages related to organizational identity, culture and image were communicated to external audiences. This study highlights the various ways that Instagram can be used for strategic organizational communication.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative, thematic analysis of Instagram content was conducted. The constant comparative analysis was guided by organizational identity theory, which provided an individual-level perspective for interpreting organizational messages within the posts.FindingsPR agencies use hashtags, employee sharing and communicating about agency outreach efforts and accolades to communicate organizational identity. PR agencies communicate aspects of its culture through employee engagement and development, employee cohesiveness and through communicating a commitment to diversity, philanthropy and community service. PR agencies influenced its organizational image by communicating content related to promotion and support of creative efforts, having a public Instagram account and retelling the history of the agency.Originality/valueThis study extends our understanding of corporate self-presentation strategies on social media.

Considering the Manager in Performance Feedback Theory: Towards a Multi-Level Theory

The Performance Feedback Theory (PFT) explains how organizational responses are motivated by organizational performance above and below aspirations. As such, it is formulated as an organization-level theory. However, numerous researchers directly or implicitly refer to individual-level theories and factors when developing empirical models or interpreting empirical results. Drawing on 114 empirical PFT studies, we address these incongruences and explore the empirical PFT literature to better understand the role of an individual-level perspective in explaining organizational performance feedback. Our review of the empirical PFT literature highlights the confusion about the role of the individual decision-maker in PFT models. We perform a meta-analysis to quantitatively separate effects of individual-level factors (and theories) from organizational-level factors (and theories) on organizational responses to performance feedback. We demonstrate that the effects of individual and organizational factors differ for performance above and below aspirations. We present empirical evidence suggesting the conceptual necessity for a multi-level theory (individual and organizational) to more precisely explain the organizational performance feedback process. This result provides an opportunity for future empirical studies to further explore specific individual-level factors and to extend the PFT.

Underpinnings of social contributions: conceptualizing behavioral patterns among socially contributive leaders in India

PurposeThis study aims to explore how some organizational leaders are making successful attempts toward making “social contributions” toward the underprivileged or needy stakeholders in the society. This study suggests empirical themes about behavioral patterns of such organizational leaders and illustrates the need to transcend erstwhile “avoid harm” socially responsible leadership.Design/methodology/approachData were collected on 52 Indian organizational leaders and were analyzed following the guidelines of constructionist grounded theory.FindingsFindings suggested that organizational leaders who facilitated some form of social contributions in the life of different stakeholders had “unconditional adherence to social contributions,” they were “pertinacious about going the extra mile” to facilitate social contributions and at times their “existence as an enthusiastically innovative change agent” also facilitated social contributions to the lives of different stakeholders.Social implicationsThis study might initiate discussion around the behavioral patterns of organizational leaders who are attempting to make society a better place by leading or facilitating social contributions. Identified exemplary behavioral patterns might encourage more exploratory studies directed toward the identification of other forms of socially contributive leadership attributes.Originality/valueEmphasis on investigating corporate social responsibility (CSR) from individual-level perspective advocated the importance of the psychological foundation of CSR. This study empirically identifies behavioral patterns that characterize organizational leaders who had a strong commitment to make social contributions to society. Patterns identified corresponded to cognitive and behavioral approaches of organizational leaders that were instrumental in actualizing social contributions to the Indian society.