In this study, we integrate work–family enrichment and upper echelons theories to examine how and when chief executive officers’ (CEOs’) family experiences impact their firms’ performance. We argue that CEO family harmony has an indirect effect on their firms’ product innovation performance through top management team (TMT) behavioral integration. Additionally, we propose that CEO founder status strengthens the effects of CEO family harmony. Our analysis of data from 101 CEOs and 458 TMT members in various high-tech industries in China indicates that the positive relationship between CEO family harmony and firms’ product innovation performance is mediated by TMT behavioral integration. Moreover, CEO founder status increases the direct effect of CEO family harmony on TMT behavioral integration and its indirect effect on firms’ product innovation performance through TMT behavioral integration. These findings have theoretical and practical implications and provide new research directions in the study of CEO family–work spillover and CEO–TMT interfaces.

Using a person-oriented approach with a broad sample of 200 employees across several sectors, we identified four victim subgroups sharing similar configurations of frequency and severity of aggression: high–high (high levels of frequency and severity; 15%), moderate–moderate (moderate levels of frequency and severity; 15%), high–low (high frequency but low severity; 26.5%), and low–low (lowest levels of frequency and severity; 43%). Further, we examined the relationship between victim groups, social demographics, and victim disposition. The results showed that women, young, and lower-tenured employees are at risk of belonging to the high–high victim group. In addition, employees with high negative affect and psychopathy traits are at risk of belonging to the high–high victim group. Drawing upon learned helplessness theory, we examined whether victim groups differed concerning internalizing problems. Results suggest that high–high group victims experienced the highest anxiety, loss of confidence, and social dysfunction, whereas low–low group members experienced the lowest levels.

This study details the possible escalation of employees' perceptions of pandemic threats into diminished job performance, while considering a mediating role of their sense of job insecurity and a moderating role of their emotion regulation and improvisation skills. Results based on multisource, three-wave data show that employees' perceived pandemic threats compromise their work-related performance, because they believe that their job is at risk. This mediating role of perceived job insecurity is mitigated by employees' greater ability to control their emotions and come up with novel ideas on the spot. This study accordingly pinpoints employees' conviction that they may not be able to keep their jobs as a crucial mechanism by which the hardships of a global pandemic generate negative performance consequences, as well as how organizations can contain this risk by helping employees hone their pertinent personal skills.

Organisational psychology literature is abounded with empirical evidence of the mitigating effect that social support seeking (SSS) behaviour has on stress. However, it is unclear if this phenomenon is present in a collectivist context where workers might be hesitant to seek social support when under stress. A total of 123 employees from China completed a longitudinal survey over 4 weeks assessing their appraisals of an ongoing work stressor, coping strategies, and stress level. Path-analysis, hierarchical regression and means comparison determined the degree of fit of two theoretical perspectives (stress-buffer and main effects) to Chinese employee's SSS behaviour, and its frequency of use against other coping strategies. Results showed that SSS was not elicited by primary and secondary appraisals, but instead may be better explained by employees' collectivistic aspirations. Implications of the results were addressed in relation to stress management strategies and human resource support initiatives. Future research directions were also discussed.

Drawing on systems theory, this paper aims to search for a leverage point in a high-performance work system (HPWS) wherein a small change of a constituent part significantly enhances the effect of the whole system on organizational performance (OP). Based on meta-analysis of 59,207 firms and establishments from 240 sample studies up to December 2021, the paper examines the effect of HPWS composition, coupled with country of origin and industrial affiliation, on the HPWS–OP relationship. The paper finds that training and development serves as a leverage point to significantly strengthen the synergy of HPWS. However, this leverage point works in advanced countries rather than developing countries, and in service industries rather than manufacturing industries. The finding indicates that a leverage point is not omnipresent, but contingent on country of origin and industrial affiliation. This study has practical implications for managers, highlighting the importance of a leverage point to the HPWS–OP relationship and the contingency nature of the leverage point.

Responding to calls for more knowledge about the motivations (and changing motivations) of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), this qualitative research examines 58 Australian SIEs working in culturally (dis)similar host contexts, to address the question: Why are Australian SIEs motivated to expatriate to South Korea or the United Kingdom? The findings demonstrate that, although personal/lifestyle considerations are important to SIEs, career-related considerations are either primary or become more prevalent following expatriation. The findings reveal that, while SIEs expatriate with particular motivations, over time their motivations may change as other factors determine desire to stay/leave a host country. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), the research highlights variations in extrinsic and intrinsic motivations of SIEs including those who intended to utilise their expatriation as part of a boundaryless career and those who unintentionally found themselves focused on career. Knowledge of (changing) motivations is salient to organisations' selection decisions and support for international employees.

Defending social and political positions other than those that a company's clients might support has always been an avoidable risk. However, this practice, called ‘corporate activism,’ has gradually been integrated into the strategies of organizations. The object of this work is thus to understand the antecedents of corporate activism from the consumer's point of view. To understand this, we carry out structural equation modeling (SEM) based on a sample of 1,521 consumers. The results demonstrate that: (i) institutional credibility, corporate credibility, and authenticity act as antecedents of corporate activism; (ii) corporate credibility has a positive influence on corporate activism, while institutional credibility has a negative impact. These findings represent an interesting and novel contribution that helps to understand how these types of high-risk strategies should be adopted. The application of these results could enable companies to determine the conditions that favor a positive evaluation of corporative activism by consumers and avoid the use of such strategies in less favorable situations.

This paper examines whether CEO turnover affects company performance and the optimal time for CEO renewal during a turnaround process. Results, derived from data collected from Italian companies, highlight the necessity of introducing the new CEO before beginning an insolvency procedure. A later appointment can reduce his/her impact, probably due to the difficulty of managing negotiations with the creditors. Moreover, we show a positive and significant relationship between CEO turnover and the likelihood of a bankrupt firm re-emerging from an insolvency procedure. The analysis was based on the traditional logit model and more modern approaches like the random forest and the AdaBoost models, combined with the SHAP technique. Overall, our findings provide valuable insight for all company stakeholders, whose interests are significantly impacted by its default.

Prior crisis management research mainly studied the context of accidental and preventable crises which are generally within the organization's control, while the COVID-19 pandemic presents a public health crisis in which corporations do not have control over the extent of the impacts. Built upon the stakeholder salience framework, we propose and test the hypotheses that are derived from societal stakeholders' power, legitimacy, and urgent claims during the pandemic and reveal several corporate responses that address multiple stakeholders' interests, including customers, shareholders, community, suppliers, and employees. Specifically, corporations with a larger number of employees and social media followers tend to adopt more corporate responses that address various stakeholders' concerns. Further, in highly impacted industries, there is an increased influence of social media followers on customer-related corporate responses as well as a decreased influence of employees on employee-related corporate responses.

In this study, we explore how early career advancement affects the gender pay gap among top executives and argue that an employee's age at attainment of an executive position serves as a signal that helps reduce biases toward women, thereby lowering gender pay differentials. We analyze career data of 803 executives from public high-technology manufacturing firms in the United States by collecting information from ExecuComp, Marquis Who's Who, LinkedIn, and Bloomberg. Our results indicate that attaining a top management position at a young age has a positive effect on pay, particularly among women, and this effect is due to the variable portion of compensation, which represents a large proportion of compensation among top executives. Further, recent research has identified a pay premium among high-potential female managers, although its key drivers remain unclear. This paper explores age as an observable signal that influences this premium and reduces the gender pay gap.

This study examines the influence of founding conditions and decisions on new companies' performance, analysing how both environmental context and organisational dynamics interact to determine their success. It distinguishes between two different success indicators: survival and profitable growth. An empirical study conducted using a sample of 3,722 new agri-food companies in two different periods, one of economic stability and the other of recession, showed that founding conditions had long-lasting effects on post-entry performance. The economic context acted as a moderator of the relationship between individual factors and success. Adverse environmental conditions were also a determinant of success, making surviving firms more competitive and resilient. The results reflect the survival of the fitter principle by showing that early profitability reduced the risk of failure and made firms more likely to become profitable in the medium term. Internationalisation strategies developed organisational capabilities that created an imprint for adaptability and growth.

International alliances are important strategic vehicles to build geographic scope and enter foreign markets, especially for firms lacking the resources or facing limitations to direct foreign expansion. Addressing recent calls to study alliance structure, we investigate the design parameters of nonequity international alliances and their performance implications. Building on the resource-based view of the firm, we theorize the effect of three key structural dimensions – formalization, interface, and specialization – on firm effectiveness. Our empirical work focusses on the legal service industry where international interfirm alliances are common, and resources like expert workers and knowledge are essential. We study 121 French, German, Italian, and Spanish law firms; and our data include the structural features of the alliances to which they belong, as well as various measures of firm effectiveness. Our analyses via structural equation modelling point toward the importance of informality and strong interface for effectiveness in these contexts. This study contributes to a finer understanding of international alliances by directly addressing the structural variation among nonequity international alliances, and analyzes their implications for firms. We thus respond to calls to investigate structural dimensions of alliances, operationalizing relevant dimensions of alliance organizational structure. Second, we add to understanding of the performance effects of international alliances, showing the benefits of individual structural parameters for firm effectiveness. Finally, we extend research on the use of international alliances as a strategic vehicle to enter foreign markets, capturing essential aspects of the internal arrangements of these interorganizational collaborative relationships, and thus adding to understanding of this strategic entry mode.