Agency theory: background and epistemology

Health Care Reforms, Power Concentration, and Receding Citizen Participation

The article highlights several outstanding features of French healthcare reforms in light of New Public Management (NPM). The paper exposes the economic, administrative, and social context of reforms. It investigates horizontal integration, as exemplified by the concentration of power within the Regional Health Organizations, the verticalization of the chain of command, and ensuing conflicts between the French welfare elite and the operating core (eg, the medical profession). Outcomes were below expectations in many areas. The NPM-endorsed fragmentation of public organizations has yet to take root in the French healthcare system. There was little consultation with the medical profession. Physicians' autonomy and patients' rights receded.

A two-decade history of women’s entrepreneurship research trajectories in developing economies context: perspectives from India

Purpose

This paper seeks to add a historical perspective to the contemporary debate concerning women’s entrepreneurship in India. This study aims to explore the quantitative and qualitative research map of the research field of women’s entrepreneurship. Through this exploration, the authors aim to portray the historical and contemporary factors related to women’s entrepreneurship development in India, the problems and the opportunities. Future research opportunities are also identified based on the keyword analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a systematic literature review to analyze the historical and theoretical perspectives of women’s entrepreneurship in India. The bibliometric analysis portrays the publication landscape, including the most popular journals, authors and countries, citation analysis and keyword analysis. The content analysis reveals the thematic clusters of the research field.

Findings

The content analysis of the management literature on women’s entrepreneurship reveals four primary clusters from the research: contextual embeddedness in women’s entrepreneurship, reasons for starting a business, microfinance interventions and empowerment of women entrepreneurs and marginalization dynamics for women entrepreneurs in India’s informal sector. The study also presents implications for policymakers and a women entrepreneurs’ development framework.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to comprehensively analyze the management literature on women’s entrepreneurship in India from a historical perspective. The study combines bibliometric mapping and content analysis for a holistic presentation of the research field of women’s entrepreneurship in India and future research opportunities.

Personality research in the 21st century: new developments and directions for the field

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to systematically examine and classify the multitude of personality traits that have emerged in the literature beyond the Big Five (Five Factor Model) since the turn of the 21st century. The authors argue that this represents a new phase of personality research that is characterized both by construct proliferation and a movement away from the Big Five and demonstrates how personality as a construct has substantially evolved in the 21st century.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a comprehensive, systematic review of personality research from 2000 to 2020 across 17 management and psychology journals. This search yielded 1,901 articles, of which 440 were relevant and subsequently coded for this review.

Findings

The review presented in this study uncovers 155 traits, beyond the Big Five, that have been explored, which the authors organize and analyze into 10 distinct categories. Each category comprises a definition, lists the included traits and highlights an exemplar construct. The authors also specify the significant research outcomes associated with each trait category.

Originality/value

This review categorizes the 155 personality traits that have emerged in the management and psychology literature that describe personality beyond the Big Five. Based on these findings, this study proposes new avenues for future research and offers insights into the future of the field as the concept of personality has shifted in the 21st century.

Overseas management in the English East India Company: a study of the Tonkin factory (1672-1697)

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate “corporate governance” of the English East India Company (EIC) in the late 17th century through a case study of the Tonkin factory (1672–1697).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws upon British primary materials relating to the Tonkin factory to examine and analyze the EIC’s style of management in Tonkin (Vietnam) and Bantam (Java). Qualitative and comparative methods are applied to the analysis of reports, records and letters written by EIC staff.

Findings

The paper finds that the EIC faced principal-agent problems as it had difficulties administering its distant agents and subsidiaries in the 17th century. London was strategically weakened, both by the limiting power of regional headquarters and by its use of experienced factors. Before 1682, London failed to temper the Bantam Council’s influence, and there were serious internal conflicts and power struggles between English Tonkin employees seeking to improve their positions. After 1686, London successfully forced Madras to adopt a noninterventionist stance in Tonkin’s business, but it faced the problem of “adverse selection.”

Originality/value

This paper provides evidence from the Tonkin factory (1672–1697) to show the EIC’s governance in the perspective of the agency theory.

Application of Item Response Theory (IRT)-Graded Response Model (GRM) to Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Scale

The scale of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) assesses the perceptions about entrepreneurial ecosystem domains, finances, capital finances, support, support professions, policies, markets, human resources, and culture. The scales are always error-prone—these scales must possess properties that enable them it to provide maximum information and validity reliability. Convenient sampling data from (n = 474) founders, co-founders, and entrepreneurs were collected. The IRT-GRM model is used to validate and test the instrument-based on polytomous scales. IRT yields discriminating power—the level of difficulty of the items of the scale. The scale consists of 48 items. The item Pol5 (4.13) was found to have the highest discriminating value (4.13), the item mar5 had the lowest discriminating value (1.57), and all items had discriminating values greater than the threshold value of 0.60. The EE Scale showed good reliability based on McDonald’s omega and Cronbach’s alpha (0.80 and 0.88). The parallel and factor analysis showed good agreement of the one-dimesnionality of the scale. The model goodness of fit statistics based on the comparative fit index (CFI) and the Tucker–Lewis index, (TLI) and the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) showed a satisfactory level of fit; however, the root mean square error of approximation (RMSE) showed a poor fit. The item characteristic curves showed that the all item responses were properly ordered. The items of the scale showed a satisfactory level of discrimination power and level of difficulty, and it was found to have three levels of agreement about entrepreneurial ecosystem scale. It is concluded that the EE scale possesses good psychometric properties and that it is reliable and valid instrument to measure the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the given region.

The past masters: the impact of the evolution of management thought on history

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of evolution of management thought (EMT), a critically acclaimed text in management and organizational studies for its value in historicizing the practice of management.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors asked Daniel Wren and Arthur Bedeian in their own words to their contribution. In addition, the authors offer commentary and critique of 15 leading management historians who share their reflections on the intellectual significance of Wren and Bedeian, and the punctuation of EMT as a canonical text in the field of management history.

Findings

The legacy of Wren and Bedeian can be felt across the academy of historical research on business and organizations. Their work has separately made significant contributions to management studies but together they have forged a fruitful partnership that has given rise to multiple generations of scholars and scholarship that continue to shape the field to this day.

Originality/value

The contribution of the authors in this article is to mark the significant milestone of EMT’s five-decade success by hearing from the authors themselves about their longstanding success as well as giving space to critique about the past, present and future of our collective historical scholarship shaped by Wren and Bedeian’s legacy.

Agency theory utility and social entrepreneurship: issues of identity and role conflict

Social entrepreneurs are often at the forefront of remedying complex societal issues by linking the entrepreneurial mindset with approaches to solving these systemic societal issues. We build upon existing notions regarding the field of social entrepreneurship and existing forms of social entrepreneurship while deepening the understanding of the different roles that social entrepreneurs must embody on a daily basis. Agency theory is used by identifying principal and agent factors underlying social entrepreneurship in terms of role stressors and role conflict. We outline varying types of social entrepreneurs and discuss role duality, an area with room for much exploration. We also identify and discuss problems for principals and agents within these types of social entrepreneurship. Thus we contribute to the literature (1) by extending on the types of social entrepreneurs, (2) by identifying the threats that social entrepreneurs face through an agency lens; namely the dual role that social entrepreneurs must embark upon, and (3) by describing the boundary conditions of the different social entrepreneur types, we link the potential challenges of social entrepreneurship with a deeper look into the growing domain that is social entrepreneurship.

A conceptual model and empirical assessment of HR security risk management

Purpose

This study aims to develop a conceptual model and assess the extent to which pre-, during- and post-employment HR security controls are applied in organizations to manage information security risks.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual model is developed based on the agency theory and the review of theoretical, empirical and practitioner literature. Following, empirical data are collected through a survey from 134 IT professionals, internal audit personnel and HR managers working within five major industry sectors in a developing country to test the organizational differences in pre-, during- and post-employment HR security measures.

Findings

Using analysis of variance, the findings reveal significant differences among the organizations. Financial institutions perform better in employee background checks, terms and conditions of employment, management responsibilities, security education, training and awareness and disciplinary process. Conversely, healthcare institutions outperform other organizations in post-employment security management. The government public institutions perform the worst among all the organizations.

Originality/value

An integration of a conceptual model with HR security controls is an area that is under-researched and under-reported in information security and human resource management literature. Accordingly, this research on HR security management contributes to reducing such a gap and adds to the existing HR security risk management literature. It, thereby, provides an opportunity for researchers to conduct comparative studies between developed and developing nations or to benchmark a specific organization’s HR security management.

Hambrick and Mason’s “Upper Echelons Theory”: evolution and open avenues

Purpose

How has upper echelons theory (UET) (Hambrick and Mason, 1984) been evolving over time? Through the historical discussion, this paper aims to provide an updated – and also innovative from some aspects – big picture on this famous approach to strategic management. In fact, after more than 30 years since its original conceptualization, the authors believe that the UE field is mature enough for a critical attempt to provide all those scholars and practitioners interested in strategic leadership with a comprehensive ground for future analyses, a ground which, to the authors’ knowledge, is still missing.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors mostly use a historical narrative to offer a critical account of the conceptual and methodological developments occurring under UE lenses over time. The authors believe that the historical approach can be particularly useful because it can help understand and explain why and how these developments have been conjectured and implemented.

Findings

Two mainly intertwined insights emerge from our analysis: on the one hand, the developments subsequent to the seminal 1984 UE model have gradually, although constantly, reduced its strongly voluntarist assumptions on strategic leadership toward more moderated co-evolutionary lenses; on the other hand, the emerging psychological and cognitive moderators of UE variables are presently reinforcing the centrality of dominant coalitions, in that they affect their decision-making processes and strategic choices.

Originality/value

From the critical discussion, a possible updated UE model based on co-evolutionary lenses finally emerges. Prospective research avenues in this management field are also provided.

The changing relation between CEOs and shareholders

Purpose

This paper aims to present case study evidence on the changes in the relations between chief executive officers (CEOs) of large firms and shareholders in the past three decades of the twentieth century. In line with insights from agency theory, the CEOs have experienced increased scrutiny from their principals, the shareholders. This development has affected financial communication and investor relations as well as stock market prices.

Design/methodology/approach

The Dutch electronics firm Royal Philips NV in the transition period of 1971-2001 has been studied using publicly available disclosures and stock market prices. A descriptive case study approach is combined with event study methodology.

Findings

It was observed that the increased emphasis on shareholder interests has affected the interactions between Philips’ respective CEOs and the shareholders’ reactions to strategic decisions as measured by stock price changes. Around the beginning of the twenty-first century, clarity and openness in CEO communication was the norm and deviations were punished with volatile stock prices.

Research limitations/implications

The study relies on publicly available data.

Originality/value

The case study of Philips can be extrapolated to other exchange-listed firms in the late twentieth century, which faced changed expectations about the role of the CEO, investor relations and the CEO’s accountability toward shareholders. This transition is relevant not only as a historical observation, but also as a background to studies in finance and management about top management and financial markets.

The Sherifs’ contributions to management research

Purpose

Muzafer and Carolyn Wood Sherif are among the founders of social psychology. Their theoretical and empirical findings made important contributions to the management literature. This paper aims to attempt to underline these contributions and highlights the Sherifs’ interdisciplinary work and their impact on management research specifically.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a citation content analysis, the influence of the Sherifs on management research is detailed by examining how their work has contributed to research published in top management journals.

Findings

The Sherifs’ work has influenced numerous research streams related to organisational groups, social norms, assimilation contrast theory and a combination of various other topics. Additionally, these works helped originate team and workgroup research in organisation theory.

Originality/value

This is the first manuscript of its type to examine the influence of the Sherifs on management research. Their story is a testament to the impact that social psychology researchers have had in developing modern thought about organisational issues. This work also addresses potential areas for future research building on the Sherifs’ work.