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The topic of employee engagement has received tremendous attention. With this large body of work has come numerous definitions, varied measurement systems and diverse employee-based interventions designed to improve engagement. In this article, we suggest that a variant on this work, employee engagement intent, can provide a useful framework for research and practice. Through a review of the evolution of employee engagement, we utilize two unique concepts that have emerged over time. One is that employee engagement is about the individual employee bringing more of himself or herself to work, and the second is that engagement initiatives are focused on encouraging employees to engage in behaviors that go above and beyond the core job at work. To help unify these two concepts and provide a theoretical basis for studying intent, we tap into role theory and specifically five roles at work. Intent is defined as the degree to which employees engage in non–core job roles to bring more of themselves to work (for personal interest) while also helping meet company-specific objectives. We use the model of engagement intent to suggest specific interventions that should help organizations interested in improving individual and business performance through intentional engagement programs.

The book shows one individual's (the author) experience of the world, through contacts with government officials and scholars in the Middle East and Asia, Europe and Latin America during the post-Second World War years up to the later 1960s; and then that individual's reflections and study during the succeeding decades, up to and including the first decade of the 21st century, concerning the future of the world and the critical choices that confront the world both in inter-state relations and in maintaining the security of the biosphere

Existing studies on employers' preferences towards institutions of class cooperation suggest that certain types of employers support these institutions because they provide economic benefits. To test this thesis, this paper examines attitudes of German employers towards board-level codetermination. It compares firms' attitudes at the individual and the collective level: individual firms' attitudes are analysed using survey data and media statements from individual executives; collective attitudes are analysed using policy statements from the national business federations. The paper finds considerable support for board-level codetermination among individual firms but continued opposition from the federations. The paper suggests that this difference arises from the federations strategically over-representing dissatisfied members. The promotion of voluntary arrangements allows the federations to campaign against board-level codetermination without alienating the satisfied members. The paper highlights the need to complement a micro-foundational analysis of preference formation with an analysis of intra-associational processes of preference aggregation. Adapted from the source document.

In the corporate governance debate, the short-term versus longterm contention has grown into perhaps today's most controversial topic. In this debate, descriptions of institutional investors tend to present a dichotomic nature. These investors are alternatively portrayed as homogenously short-termist or as consistent "forces for good," focused on targeting underperforming companies. This Article moves beyond this dichotomy. It shows empirically that aggregate institutional investor behavior presents nuances that depend on a variety of factors, including individual firm characteristics, institutional ownership levels, and institutional propensity toward activism.

Explores how countries manage competitiveness to enhance national prosperity, how companies maximise it to create value and profit, and how individuals can apply it to their own skills and competencies in order to be successful. Here, the author identifies four forces driving national competitiveness and uses them to create a model for business

AbstractThe UK Financial Conduct Authority has developed and implemented policies targeting individuals for regulatory non‐compliance in the post‐2008 crisis period. This article develops a tripartite framework that differentiates between individual–firm, regulator–individual, and regulator–firm interactions to capture the complexity of these enforcement proceedings. Drawing on interviews with stakeholders, administrative decisionmaking observations, and documentary analysis, it outlines the process of individualizing responsibility for non‐compliance and finds that this approach poses evidential and investigative challenges for the regulator as a result of individual and corporate responses. The evidence shows that individuals are more likely than firms to engage in an adversarial response to an investigation rather than to settle. At the same time, through an inverse process of "corporatization" of the enforcement proceedings, firms may employ resources and strategies aimed at obscuring individual responsibility or binding together more closely the corporate and the individual case. The article concludes that the prospects of a successful outcome in investigating individuals depend not only on regulators' activities but also on corporate responses and on which managers are considered assets to the firm and which may be thrown to the wolves.

AbstractThe main goal of this paper is to empirically investigate the regional dimension of productivity determinants for 24 regions of Ukraine using micro-level dataset for individual firms in 2013. The novelty of our analysis is the comparison of the determinants of productivity in the manufacturing and service sectors. We estimate both pooled regressions for all regions and separate regressions for particular regions. The estimation results obtained for the entire country demonstrate that the majority of our explanatory variables are statistically significant for the manufacturing sector and all are statistically significant for the service sector although at different levels of significance. At the same time, the estimation results obtained separately for each region show a large degree of heterogeneity across the regions and sectors and the lack of scale economies at the firm-level.

PurposeThis paper aims to extend previous research investigating the effect of relationship benefits on firm outcomes by developing a model that includes the effect on individual employees in the buyer firm. The model also aims to address benefits beyond the functional in business‐to business (B2B) settings by including psychological and social benefits.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a survey of 275 B2B buyers in Australian manufacturing firms.FindingsThe findings reveal that functional benefits enhance firm‐level commitment to the relationship, whereas psychological and social benefits affect individual commitment to the relationship directly and firm‐level commitment indirectly, thereby emphasizing the importance of considering the individual as distinct from the firm. Given that the relationship is a process over time, and in recognition of the non‐static nature of relationship benefits, the paper also explores the changes in benefits over relationship stages, including their impact on commitment. In contrast to expectations results show that while all three types of benefits increase, there is no change in the impact of all three benefit types on commitment across relationship stages.Practical implicationsThe study recognizes that the individual in the firm also benefits from B2B relationships and offers a measure of both firm and individual relationship benefits for use in future studies. The measure may also be used as a point of discussion about relationship management.Originality/valueThe study is framed within social exchange theory and, is the first to simultaneously examine three types of relationship benefits and their interaction with both the individual and firm viewpoint. The study is also one of the first to empirically examine changes in relationships over the relationship stages.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the perception of individual Ghanaian shareholders on corporate social responsibility (CSR).Design/methodology/approachIn consequence of the largely unexplored nature of the issue of CSR, the authors use a qualitative analysis to offer the painstaking understanding needed about this issue. Individual Ghanaian shareholders who have absolute control over what companies they desire to invest were selected as the participants.FindingsThe findings show that individual shareholders believe there is the need for corporate directors and managers to take into consideration the interests of all corporate stakeholders-workers, customers, shareholders, suppliers, the local community and the environment- in fashioning out their CSR policies. It also shows the relevance individual shareholders attach to each of those CSRs within each corporate stakeholder group. For instance, the individual shareholders think that it is most relevant for firms to put implementable measures in place to reduce or minimise harm to the environment. Also, with respect to workers, firms are the first and foremost to ensure a hale and hearty and secured work environment. Further, with respect to customers, firms have to offer standard or quality products and services to them. More so, in regards to suppliers, corporate directors and managers have to offer them reasonable prices for their products. Finally, on the part of the local community, firms have to effectively assist them.Practical implicationsThe practical approach to problems and affairs of individual Ghanaian shareholders is indicated by how much importance they attach to each corporate responsibility matter, and also they appreciate that a firm cannot thrive or survive for long if it refuses or totally abandons the needs of other corporate stakeholder categories. It will thus be of relevance to firms to take executable steps to deal with the needs of other corporate stakeholder groups brought up by the individual shareholders. As a matter of fact, the vivid descriptions of each of the matters concerning CSR of the individual shareholders present an important policy guideline for corporate directors and corporate managers to establish good-natured relationship between their firms and other corporate stakeholder groups.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the knowledge on CSR by establishing that even though individual shareholders are interested in personal economic benefits, they want their firms to be socially responsible to meet the interests of other corporate stakeholder groups.

PurposeBy outsourcing or partnering with two or more firms to perform certain activities targeted toward customers, firms are engaging in service networks. This research begins to examine how customers evaluate firms in a strategic, B2B service network and how their assessment of firms involved in co‐producing after‐sales service affects their evaluations of a focal selling firm. These evaluations include the key relational outcomes of brand image, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual model examines the effects of partner firm performance on customers' evaluations of a focal selling firm. Key factors such as focal brand strength and the strength of the relationship between the partner firm and the focal selling firm are proposed to influence this relationship.FindingsPost‐sale business services provided directly to the customer are likely to play an important role in building a firm's brand image and equity, whether those services are provided by the firm or its partners.Research limitations/implicationsThe individual firm to individual customer dyad approach that currently dominates the literature does not adequately capture the complex nature of today's B2B service relationships. This research develops a conceptual model that directly addresses the way customers evaluate service when it is performed by multiple partners.Practical implicationsDiscovering how customers evaluate service experiences in which multiple firms co‐produce the service within a B2B service network can provide firms with the guidance needed to improve the performance of the entire network and the overall service experience of network customers.Originality/valueThis paper presents new theoretical developments in the area of business‐to‐business service networks. This research also addresses several gaps in the industrial marketing literature, particularly B2B services and branding.