Unconventional Contexts Research Articles

Residents' Support for Major Sporting Events in the Postponement Context: A Case Study of the 31st Summer Universiade

ABSTRACTThe COVID‐19 pandemic forced the postponement of some international events, such as the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which negatively impacted residents and the local tourism industry. Therefore, it is necessary to understand residents' support for hosting major sporting events. We surveyed 769 residents using a structural equation model and applied social exchange theory (SET) to analyse the 31st Summer Universiade and examine their support for hosting major sporting events. The results revealed a significant relationship between postponement risk perception and the perceived costs and benefits, which affected the residents' support for hosting major events. These findings confirmed perceived benefits and costs as key factors determining residents' support for/opposition to major events. We proposed the residents' postponement risk perception concept, integrated it into the event tourism research model, and expanded the explanatory power of SET in unconventional contexts, providing stakeholders with references for planning and hosting events under special circumstances.

The Impact of the Professor’s Ethical Leadership on the Students’ Deviant Behaviors

Over the past two decades, the organizational world has shown a particular interest in ethics. The majority of studies and research on the subject of ethics have been conducted within the framework of organizations, considered as a conventional environment; a few studies have, on the contrary, adopted a research framework in a unconventional context. This is the case with our current research on ethics in the academic and university environment in the context of Moroccan universities. As we shall demonstrate influence of the leader, or leadership can lead an individual to engage in deviant behavior as the ethical climate, which also serve as a reference for the behaviors to be adopted.

Entrepreneurship amid armed conflicts: Insights from Artsakh

Armed conflicts are exogenous shocks that engender multifaceted turbulence. This article explores the corporate behavior of companies operating in the active conflict of Artsakh and their strategic responses to the devastating war of 2020 by using multiple case studies. Building on the Business for Peace literature, this article contextualizes the mission and governance mechanisms of companies and their interlinkages with the company activities perceived as peace-enhancing. The research findings support existing evidence indicating that (semi)hybrid business forms are appropriate in unconventional contexts. The article unfolds the mechanisms that enable companies to work through conflict and identify key moderating factors that significantly affect their development perspectives. This study is the first to illuminate how companies from several sectors in a conflict-affected zone in the South Caucasus pursue different combinations of social and economic goals, maintain and develop relationships with stakeholders, and interact progressively with markets and institutions.

Draw & Doodle Simulation: A colorful strategy to prepare medical teams for electronic dance music festival emergencies

Educational challenge Electronic dance music (EDM) festivals – crowded, loud, low-resource environments – pose unique challenges to event medical teams. Simulation can prepare teams to manage clinical presentations in this unconventional context. Without access to simulation infrastructure, a low-technological, low-fidelity simulation modality is warranted. Solution Draw & Doodle Simulation (D&D SIM) is a low-fidelity simulation where patients are hand-drawn (i.e. on paper, whiteboard, or digitally) instead of utilizing manikins or live actors. Facilitators draw all patient findings, while participants doodle any possible interventions. Solution implementation Two D&D SIM cases (serotonin toxicity and refractory anaphylaxis) were piloted in classrooms. Participants included paramedics, medical students, lifeguards, and first aiders. Facilitators conducted simulations using chart paper, with each participant doodling contributions using differently colored markers. Lessons learned Participants responded positively, rating the serotonin toxicity case 4.31/5 (n = 13) and refractory anaphylaxis case 4.53/5 (n = 15). Participants appreciated the ‘low-stakes’, useful ‘visual’ representation of progress, ‘fun and [interactivity]’, and appropriate ‘[realism]’ of D&D SIM. However, D&D SIM was perceived as ‘less life threatening’, would not be appropriate for physical skills (e.g. CPR), required everyone to be ‘oriented in the same direction to see the drawing’, and the chart paper risked becoming cluttered. Next steps Next steps include writing new cases, implementing D&D SIM in other teaching contexts, exploring its use in digital platforms, and studying its effectiveness against higher-fidelity simulation.

Beneath the surface: A historical exploration of trepanation practices across cultures and eras.

This research article explores the ancient origins of trepanation, unravelling its early instances and the associated cultural beliefs that have shaped cranial surgery. It scrutinises the medieval and Renaissance periods, elucidating the evolution of trepanation techniques within the context of advancements in medical knowledge and societal changes. In addition, the research investigates the diverse practices of trepanation across cultures, offering insights into the unique approaches, beliefs and rituals associated with this ancient surgical procedure. Examining the decline of trepanation in mainstream medicine, the article assesses the factors contributing to its diminishing prevalence and the emergence of alternative surgical methods. The study also delves into sporadic resurgences of trepanation in unconventional contexts, providing a nuanced understanding of its enduring fascination. In exploring trepanation's impact on modern medicine, the article sheds light on its contributions to the study of cranial anatomy, the evolution of surgical tools and the broader narrative of medical progress. Ultimately, this historical investigation contributes to a comprehensive understanding of trepanation, revealing the intricate interplay between medicine, culture and the human quest for knowledge and healing.

BRIDGING HORIZONS: Integrating knowledge beyond the psychological office

In this theoretical essay, we explore the imperative to reposition Clinical Psychology, emphasizing the challenges it faces due to limitations imposed by biases that restrict the utilization of its knowledge to conventional therapeutic settings. We contemplate the necessity to, at least partially, overcome the fragmentation of psychological knowledge to foster the emergence of more integrative approaches. We underscore the resistance that emerges from the broad association of Clinical Psychology with the medical model or the dichotomy of health versus disease. To address this misconception, we stress the importance of integratively linking knowledge constructed across various fields of Psychology. Examples are provided to illustrate the imperative use of innovative strategies in integrating transversal and heterodox approaches, incorporating contributions from Clinical Psychology. The application of adaptable clinical techniques for unconventional contexts, such as utilizing Psychodrama in socio-emotional education, underscores the relevance of this adaptation in addressing issues like violence and the deconstruction of prejudices. In conclusion, the promotion of a more integrative Psychology proves essential for delving deeper into knowledge and devising solutions for complex problems. By challenging prejudices and expanding the application scope of practical-scientific knowledge derived from Clinical Psychology, we highlight its potential contribution to constructing a more comprehensive understanding of the human experience.

Honing the Craft of Qualitative Data Collection in Extreme Contexts

Over the past several years, there has been ongoing dialog within our academic journals and the profession regarding the value of examining extreme, unconventional, or unsettling contexts in management research. These conversations have highlighted that perhaps more than ever, we as a society are facing unprecedented grand and perplexing challenges, and conducting research in unconventional or extreme settings can reveal complex dynamics or relationships that we may not understand otherwise. Less discussed, however, are methodological considerations for conducting research in unique contexts. As such, we aim to extend the explicit discussion of effective strategies for scholars who consider the perspectives and workplace realities of unusual or unconventional populations. We bring together a collection of reflective essays rooted in the authors’ experiences of collecting data from extreme contexts or unusual samples. We highlight how these rich experiences in the field required the authors to modify or extend methodological conventions with the goal of guiding scholars pursuing research in similarly unconventional contexts.

Broadening Work-Family Conflict Scholarship: Gig Workers' Sensemaking of Context-Grounded Pressures

Not all workers, navigating varying institutional contexts, experience work-family interface similar to a typical Western employee examined in the extant literature. In this qualitative study, drawing on institutional logics and sensemaking perspectives, we theorize the impact of institutional context on 64 App-based taxi drivers’ (ABTDs) work-family conflict (WFC) in a non-Western unconventional context. We contribute to work-family theory and practice by developing a process model that (a) identifies work and family pressures grounded in institutional context in which our participants navigated their work and family; (b) demonstrates how ABTDs make sense of context-grounded work and family pressures by interpreting them as first-order WFC and enacting them through the implementation of alleviating strategies at work or family; (c) conceptualizes first-order WFC defined as an incompatibility experienced when context-grounded pressures from one domain (e.g., work) constrain participation in the other domain (e.g., family), and (d) extends WFC to reflect how macro-level context can be manifested in workers’ WFC experiences.

Driving a career in Tehran: Experiences of female internet taxi drivers

This qualitative study explores the career experiences of 34 female internet taxi drivers (FTDs) in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, and responds to the call for international and contextual perspectives on careers. We adopt the intelligent career framework and the institutional logics perspective to understand the FTDs' career given their institutional context. First, we shed light on why (i.e., financial needs, flexibility, passion for driving, and social relationships), how (i.e., preferring female passengers, driving skills, navigation skills, becoming less feminine, accessing a car, and self-protection), and with whom (i.e., internet-based taxi company, passengers, family, and citizens) our participants work. Then, we illustrate that normative (e.g., traditional division of labor) and structural (e.g., economic hardship) forces constrain and drive why, how, and with whom the FTDs navigate their career. Our findings unpack an understudied career in an unconventional context and extend the boundaryless career perspective to examine nonprofessional independent contract workers.

Migrant Gender and the Venture Funding Impact of Remittances to Developing Countries

There is substantial research on how women differ from men as new business (venture) founders, but little on how women may differ from men as venture funders. We respond with theory and evidence from an unconventional venture funding context: migrants’ remittances to developing countries. We propose that remitting migrant women are more likely venture funders consistent with a greater interest in assisting family members back home. Complementary empirical analyses of remittances to developing countries largely support our proposition. Cross-sectional data analyses of remitting tendencies among 718 migrants from 49 developing countries in 2011 suggest that migrant women are more likely to remit for investment purposes, particularly when family assistance motivates a specific remittance transaction. Panel data analyses of venture funding availability in 48 developing countries from 2001-2010 suggest that remittances from migrant communities with higher percentages of women increase venture funding more, particularly for migrant communities from developing countries with less wealth and less workplace gender inequality. In this unconventional context, women are more likely than men to step into (international) venture funding roles, particularly when socio-economic need and opportunity are greater.

Emergence in Interactive Embedded Art

This article is devoted to the problem of novelty in embedded art. Exciting possibilities of microelectronics for visual art are considered. Implementations of available microcontrollers, sensors and actuators are given. A new kind of interactions between spectators and artworks with embedded electronics was investigated. Special attention is paid to the effect of emergence, which is generated by this interaction. Computational artwork is being considered in a new unconventional context. An aesthetic difference between the deterministic and nondeterministic algorithms was shown. The combination of acrylic paintings with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was systematically studied to give useful recommendations for an artistic community. Produced artifacts were demonstrated at exhibitions and were used to teach students at the university and VHS Freiburg, Germany. The results showed a great public interest in embedded electronic systems and a tremendous theoretical and practical perspective for the permanently developing contemporary art.

Proposed application of the relationship marketing in interorganizational relations

Objetivo: O marketing de relacionamento é utilizado no estudo das relações de troca, sendo comumente estudado nas relações com os clientes ou com os fornecedores da empresa. Este estudo tem como objetivo propor um modelo conceitual para compreender a relação entre empresas concorrentes, a partir do marketing de relacionamento e da teoria das trocas sociais.Método: Realizou-se um ensaio teórico e utilizando-se de achados sobre o marketing de relacionamento foram desenvolvidas algumas proposições para a relação entre empresas concorrentes.Originalidade/Relevância: A pesquisa é relevante e inovadora ao utilizar uma teoria clássica dentro de um contexto não convencional.Resultados: Amparado pela teoria das trocas sociais, alguns aspectos do marketing de relacionamento influenciam positivamente nas relações entre empresas concorrentes (cooperação, confiança, compartilhamento de valores, comprometimento, comunicação, empatia e reciprocidade). Enquanto outros influenciam negativamente (poder coercivo, comparação de alternativas e comportamento oportunista).Contribuições teóricas/metodológicas: A contribuição do estudo é propor a utilização dos conceitos de marketing de relacionamento, como uma lente teórica para compreender as relações entre empresas concorrentes.Contribuições sociais / para a gestão: E a contribuição do gerencial está em fornecer subsídios para a manutenção de relações de longo prazo entre empresas concorrentes. Desse modo, o estudo estimula a discussão e o desenvolvimento de novas pesquisas para que a relação entre empresas concorrentes possa ser analisada empiricamente, através do marketing de relacionamento.

Can Children Have Ordinary Expectable Caregiving Environments in Unconventional Contexts? Quality of Care Organization in Three Mexican Same-Sex Planned Families.

The aim of this research was to explore the elements that configure the quality of care among three Mexican same-sex planned families: two female-parented families (through donor insemination) and a male-parented one (through adoption). The first family consisted of two mothers and a 3-year-old daughter; the second one had two mothers and a 1.5-year-old set of boy twins and the third family consisted of two fathers and a 2-year-old girl. It was assumed that Ainsworth’s notions of quality of care organization are useful in order to understand caregiver–child attachment relationships, regardless of the parents’ sexual orientation. A collective case study was selected due to the fact that these families shared their “unconventionality” (i.e., parents were not heterosexual) and the fact that they were planned, but each one constituted a particular case with a unique configuration. Four trained independent observers used the q-sort methodology (Maternal Behavior Q-Sort and Attachment Q-Sort) to describe parents’ and children’s behavior, respectively. The findings showed that parents were highly sensitive and all children used them as a secure base. To provide an in-depth examination of which elements configure the quality of care, a semi-structured interview with each parent was carried out. Through a thematic analysis, an over-arching theme named Affections and Emotions was identified, together with six subthemes: (1) Creating an affective environment; (2) Being available; (3) Acknowledging and expressing emotions; (4) Perceiving, interpreting and responding adequately to the child’s real self; (5) Taking the child’s perspective into account; and (6) Agreeing on roles and dividing the tasks. In order to showcase the particular configuration of gay parenting, the male-headed family narrative is reported in detail, because gay parents have been perceived as violating traditional gender roles as well as the hegemonic model of masculinity. The findings were consistent with the notion of quality of care as proposed by Ainsworth and her collaborators. The implications of the methodological device and research regarding same-sex planned families are discussed so as to understand the organization of the caregiving environment.

Liquids-Rich Permian Showcased as a Model Basin

This year’s edition of the SPE Liquids-Rich Basin Conference in Midland, Texas, merged topics that have dominated recent industry discussions: technologies centered on big data, interwell communication, and Permian Basin production. Given its location in “one of the hottest shale plays in the world right now,” the September event was “more accessible to those most directly working” in the basin, including committee members, presenters, and attendees, said Amber Voithofer, chair of the conference’s program committee. Presentations involved several big Permian operators, top oilfield service firms, and engineering and technology companies. “There is a real focus in the industry to start doing more with all the data we have been collecting,” Voithofer said. “We have all of this data and really have not utilized it to its full potential.” As a result, further discussion in the coming years will revolve around machine learning, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics. To address these advancements in an unconventional context, the conference was weighted toward the application of data analytics on local data sets and knowledge gained from modeling on themes such as parent-child well interaction, bashing, and sequencing. Special attention was paid to well spacing and well performance analysis methods. Two presentations that sought to provide simpler answers to complex problems generated much interest. In SPE 191777, Schlumberger “challenged the status quo” on how estimated ultimate recovery is calculated, Voithofer noted. “Instead of fitting a curve through all the historic production data and extending it into the future, the paper proposed we match segments of well production, taking into account changes after well interventions.” In SPE 191783, Apache offered a glimpse into how operators are attempting to manage uncertainties around well spacing. “The Permian is hot, and as companies continue to invest in development out here, I expect we will see more novel processes or technologies coming out of the basin,” Voithofer said, adding that there’s another liquids-rich basin to watch going forward: the Powder River.

Actor-based macroscopic modeling and simulation for smart urban planning

• A lightweight pre-processing tool for agent-based simulation of mobility initiatives. • From the agent-based model of Tangramob to an actor-based model via Timed Rebeca. • ToolTRain: automatic generation and evaluation of Timed Rebeca models. • A comparative evaluation supports the approach on a real-case scenario. • Investigation on the usability of ToolTRain for contexts other than mobility. Assessing the impacts of a mobility initiative prior to deployment is a complex task for both urban planners and transport companies. Computational models like Tangramob offer an agent-based framework for simulating the evolution of urban traffic after the introduction of new mobility services. However, simulations can be computationally expensive to perform due to their iterative nature and the microscopic representation of traffic. To address this issue, we designed a simplified model architecture of Tangramob in Timed Rebeca (TRebeca) and we developed a tool-chain for the generation runnable instances of this model starting from the same input files of Tangramob. Running TRebeca models allows users to get an idea of how the mobility initiatives under study affect the traveling experience of commuters, in a short time and without the need to use the simulator during this first experimental step. Then, once a subset of these initiatives is identified according to user's criteria, it is reasonable to simulate them with Tangramob in order to get more detailed results. To validate this approach, we compared the output of both the simulator and the TRebeca model on a collection of mobility initiatives. The correlation between the results demonstrates the usefulness of using TRebeca models for unconventional contexts of application.

Re-examining the Travel of Ideas: Of Editing, Generativity & Temporality

Management research has demonstrated a striking interest in diffusion research over the past decades. Our conceptual understanding of how diffusion happens has been greatly altered from deterministic to probabilistic models as well as from realist to phenomenological perspectives by drawing on an eclectic theoretical toolkit. It is time to revisit these theoretical advancements vis-à-vis contemporary socio-political and economic developments and charter new territory. This symposium brings together a range of perspectives from scholars studying diffusion across a variety of seemingly unconventional contexts (including the transformation of yoga into a market, the importation of technology entrepreneurship ideals into Kenya, the establishment of active ownership in Switzerland after an earlier failure at importing the idea and the semiotic negotiations of transparency in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative). Taken together, these papers wrestle with the dynamic nature of diffusion processes and shed new light on the role that editing, generativity and temporality play when ideas, concepts and innovations “get from here to there.” From Patañjali to the Gospel of Sweat: Yogas Transformation into a Multi-Billion Dollar Market Presenter: Kamal A Munir; U. of Cambridge Presenter: Shahzad Ansari; Cambridge U. Presenter: Deborah Brown; U. of Cambridge Globalization in Action: Templates and Strategies of Action in Kenyan ICT Entrepreneurship Presenter: Tim Weiss; Stanford U. Presenter: Klaus Weber; Northwestern U. Legacy Effects of Social Movements: Activists in Abeyance and the Diffusion of Active Ownership Presenter: Daniel Waeger; Wilfrid Laurier U. Presenter: Sébastien Mena; Cass Business School, City, U. of London Negotiating and Editing Transparency in a Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Presenter: Lisa Baudot; U. of Central Florida Presenter: Joel Bothello; John Molson School of Business, Concordia U. Presenter: David Cooper; U. of Alberta

English

This study aims to analyse the potential organizational impacts related to introduction and implementation of new managerial concepts methods and tools in Italian entrepreneurship associations using direct observation through daily presence as methodology in the structure. The results revealed that although the context of entrepreneurial associations assumes a certain degree of proactivity and dynamism in dealing with change, those who work there still cannot take decisive steps towards innovation. The analysed structure is strongly traditional, conservative, and unwilling to accept changes in software, roles and responsibilities, with the resulting difficulties being operating in a context that is increasingly turbulent. As the study is based on a case study, the conclusions achieved can be limited to the specific context examined. Investigating how the society can face the necessary change in skills and capabilities will make clear if the traditional stativity of the association quoted in the literature have been confirmed or not and, no less important, how such changes are perceived and managed by the structure. From the direct observation of reality, ideas and suggestions on how to handle the criticalities, therefore, favorability and optimization of the association's evolution could be achieved. This research thus showed the possibility of making a significant change that is developed and shared by the structure. In addition, the fact that these applications are studied in a rarely analysed and unconventional context, such as that of entrepreneurial associations, strengthens the originality of the study.   Key words: Entrepreneurial association, business intelligence, change management.

When Does Charisma Matter for Top-Level Leaders? Effect of Attributional Ambiguity

One stream of leadership theory suggests that leaders are evaluated via inferential ob- server processes that compare the fit of the target to a prototype of an ideal (charismatic) leader. Alternatively, attributional theories of leadership suggest that evaluations depend on knowledge of past organizational performance, which is attributed to the leader's skills. We develop a novel theory showing how inferential and attributional processes simultaneously explain top-level leader evaluation, and, ultimately, leader retention and selection. We argue that observers will mostly rely on attributional mechanisms when performance signals clearly indicate good or poor performance outcomes. However, under conditions of attributional ambiguity (i.e., when performance signals are unclear), observers will mostly rely on inferential processes. In Study 1, we tested our theory in an unconventional context--U.S. presidential elections--and found that the two processes, due to the leader's charisma and country's economic performance, interact in predicting whether a leader is selected. Using a business context and an experimental design, in Study 2, we showed that CEO charisma and firm performance interact in predicting leader retention, confirming the results we found in Study 1. Thus, our results suggest that this phenomenon is quite general and can apply to various performance domains

Surrogacy, gay male couples and the significance of biogenetic paternity

Intentionally planned parenthood by gay male couples through commercial and altruistic surrogacy is gaining momentum in Australia and abroad. Very little is known about this group of male parents, including the relational considerations important to them in forming families through surrogacy. This paper, based on in-depth interviews with six Australian gay male couples who utilized altruistic surrogacy in the state of Victoria, and commercial surrogacy arrangements in the US, considers the meaning and management of biogenetic paternity in the creation of their family relationships. Despite the extent to which participants underplayed the importance of paternal biological connections in creating or defining the meaning of family, biogenetic paternity remains an important kinship resource that must be carefully managed – emotionally and socially – in creating and maintaining couple, parent–child and extended family relationships. First, there was a keen emotional significance attributed to the biogenetic connection for some men in the context of their own family history and lineage. Second, the careful management of information and sharing or alternating sperm provision constituted an attempt by couples to thwart speculation among friends, family members and acquaintances about the identity of the biogenetic father. Third, despite some interest in sharing sperm provision in the interests of symbolically establishing shared parenthood, explicit knowledge of biogenetic paternity through DNA paternity testing was regarded as an important kinship and identity resource for children as they grow up. The paper concludes that when gay male couples form families through commercial or altruistic surrogacy, a range of symbols and metaphors conventional to heteronormative nuclear family formation are in play in this ostensibly unconventional context.

From situated practice to informed theory

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine organizational practice to investigate what insights could be gained to support and extend existing theory.Design/methodology/approachAdopts a clinical approach, e.g. not a priori or an academic one where data are mangled to fit a theoretical stance.FindingsData analysis reveals four interconnected learning cycles and the enabling structures put in place to facilitate them. The practice‐based themes support many organization learning theories; in addition, the findings augment the systems perspective.Research limitations/implicationsChallenges traditional logical‐deductive (theory driven) stances. Findings do not pretend to be generalizable or definitive, but more evocative.Practical implicationsThe paper discusses practical implications in how firms might implement enabling structures for organizational learning; and what accompanying changes in management practices and leadership would be required in implementing these facilitative structures.Originality/valueThis paper provides value to all organizations, in that it outlined how personnel at all organization levels can think, plan, innovate, process information and coordinate in working together. In adopting the perspective of praxis within an unconventional organizational context, the empirical findings support and reinforce some theories of organizational learning, extend or refute others and add new insights.