@article{GeorgeErtugBapujietal., author = {George, Gerard and Ertug, Gokhan and Bapuji, Hari and Doh, Jonathan P. and Mair, Johanna and Prasad, Ajnesh}, title = {COVID-19 and Management Scholarship: Lessons for Conducting Impactful Research}, series = {Business \& Society}, volume = {63}, journal = {Business \& Society}, number = {4}, issn = {0007-6503}, doi = {10.1177/00076503241237047}, pages = {715 -- 744}, abstract = {The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity for management scholars to address large-scale and complex societal problems and strive for greater practical and policy impact. A brief overview of the most-cited work on COVID-19 reveals that, compared with their counterparts in other disciplines, leading management journals and professional associations lagged in providing a platform for high-impact research on COVID-19. To help management research play a more active role in responding to similar global challenges in the future, we propose an integrative framework that emphasizes a phenomenon's impact, the conditions that the phenomenon creates at multiple levels, and the responses of actors to such conditions, as well as the dynamic relationships and interactions among these actors. By shifting attention to phenomena and their overall impact, this framework can help scholars better position their work to address large-scale and complex problems and also to assess research for its contribution to generate impact beyond academia.}, language = {en} } @article{KourulaGeorgallisHenriquesetal., author = {Kourula, Arno and Georgallis, Panikos and Henriques, Irene and Mair, Johanna}, title = {Introduction to the Special Issue on the Role of Place in Sustainability: Key Trends and Agenda for Future Research}, series = {Organization \& Environment}, volume = {37}, journal = {Organization \& Environment}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1177/10860266241283157}, pages = {363 -- 375}, abstract = {This editorial reviews key themes, trends, and assumptions of organizational research on place and sustainability and introduces the special issue on the "Role of Place in Sustainability." While recent theorizing has often emphasized global issues such as grand challenges, planetary boundaries, and climate change, this special issue revisits the local by focusing on the role of place in sustainability. We discuss trends and subdomains of research on place and sustainability and identify key assumptions at the interplay between global and local perspectives. Instead of advocating for universal solutions or exclusively context-specific approaches, we highlight the concept of "senses of place," emphasizing the connections among diverse notions of place and intrinsic links to these locations. We demonstrate how the four insightful articles featured in this special issue provide a broader dialogue on place and sustainability. Finally, we outline a research agenda that identifies underexplored themes in place-based sustainability studies.}, language = {en} } @article{LechtermanMair, author = {Lechterman, Theodore M. and Mair, Johanna}, title = {Social Enterprises as Agents of Social Justice: A Rawlsian perspective on institutional capacity}, series = {Organization Studies}, volume = {45}, journal = {Organization Studies}, number = {9}, doi = {10.1177/01708406241261435}, pages = {1301 -- 1323}, abstract = {Many scholars of organizations see social enterprise as a promising approach to advancing social justice but neglect to scrutinize the normative foundations and limitations of this optimism. This article draws on Rawlsian political philosophy to investigate whether and how social enterprises can support social justice. We propose that this perspective assigns organizations a duty to foster institutional capacity, a concept we define and elaborate. We investigate how this duty might apply specifically to social enterprises, given their characteristic features. We theorize six different mechanisms through which social enterprises might successfully discharge this duty. These results affirm the value of conversation between organizational studies and political philosophy and shed new light on debates regarding social enterprise, institutional theory, and several other topics.}, language = {en} } @article{ChuaMiskaMairetal., author = {Chua, Nathania and Miska, Christof and Mair, Johanna and Stahl, G{\"u}nther K.}, title = {Purpose in Management Research: Navigating a Complex and Fragmented Area of Study}, series = {Academy of Management Annals}, volume = {18}, journal = {Academy of Management Annals}, number = {2}, doi = {10.5465/annals.2022.0186}, pages = {755 -- 787}, abstract = {Management research on "purpose" is dispersed. This is because scholars apply different perspectives on purpose, each associated with distinct approaches to its study. We find that one perspective views purpose as embedded in the business-society context or as embodied within organizations. A second perspective looks at the purpose of the organization and its purpose to specific stakeholders. We reviewed management literature on purpose conducted over the past two decades to unearth this fragmentation further and uncover possibilities for integration. We identify four themes that anchor the disjointed literature: identity, performance, objectives, and change. In addition, we organize the literature across six dimensions of purpose as a concept. Each dimension surfaces existing dichotomies in research: property, scope, stability, materiality, motive, and rationality. Both the anchoring themes and conceptual dimensions establish the groundwork for a programmatic agenda for future research, aimed to support purpose research as a distinct area of study in management.}, language = {en} } @article{PalmieMieheMairetal., author = {Palmi{\´e}, Maximilian and Mieh{\´e}, Lucas and Mair, Johanna and Wincent, Joakim}, title = {Valuation entrepreneurship through product-design and blame-avoidance strategies: How Tesla managed to change the public perception of sustainable innovations}, series = {Journal of Product Innovation Management}, journal = {Journal of Product Innovation Management}, doi = {10.1111/jpim.12732}, abstract = {Developing innovative, eco-friendlier products that gain traction in the mass market remains a persistent challenge for many firms. To bring consumers to choose "greener" alternatives over conventional products, firms need to overcome prevailing product evaluations that favor traditional solutions. Research on valuation entrepreneurship examines the strategies that actors apply to induce changes in established evaluations. Adding to the emerging literature on valuation entrepreneurship, our study analyzes how the car maker Tesla, Inc. used product design—material artifacts' properties of form and function—to advance the public perception of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). When Tesla entered the market, several firms had tried to promote BEVs as a way of making private mobility more environmentally friendly, but with limited success. In contrast, Tesla produced well-received BEVs that generated enormous consumer interest and led to a more favorable assessment of BEVs as a whole. Drawing on 54 interviews and nearly 2000 pages of archival data, our abductive study identifies three product design strategies that increased the appeal of Tesla's initial models: (1) incorporating discontinuous technological solutions; (2) optimizing the products on traditional evaluation criteria (e.g., driving performance, comfort, space, status); and (3) creating an ecosystem of complementary products. Since some design choices came at the expense of a minimal environmental footprint, they risked attracting blame for compromising on the environmental performance of potentially eco-friendly cars and for committing "greenwashing." To minimize this risk, Tesla complemented its design strategies by employing three strategies of reputational politics to avoid such blame. After Tesla's initial, lavish models had improved the public perception of electric cars, Tesla and other car makers were able to sell less excessive and more sustainable BEVs in much greater quantities than ever before. Our findings contribute to three literature streams and generate valuable insights for management practice.}, language = {en} } @article{ClaassenMairBidet, author = {Claassen, Casper Hendrik and Mair, Johanna and Bidet, Eric}, title = {Social Enterprises Within the Public Sector's Purview: A Taxonomy-Based Study on South Korea}, series = {VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations}, journal = {VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations}, issn = {0957-8765}, doi = {10.1007/s11266-023-00622-7}, abstract = {This study applies a hierarchical clustering approach to identify social enterprise models that have appeared in a setting of public sector-led incubation. Within such a context, a high degree of conformity ought to be apparent due to the coercive isomorphic pressures associated with public sector patronage. We nominate South Korea for our analysis, given that the rising number of social enterprises in the country is closely related to a regulatory intervention. Based on an analysis of 468 social enterprises, we find, contrary to expectations, that distinct clusters of government-certified social enterprises have emerged, namely social utility niche, job outsourcing, market opportunity, and integrated balanced models. We typologize these models according to their strategic orientation, mission focus, and institutional alignment. In doing so, we contribute to social enterprise research by illustrating how organizational pluralism may manifest when the growth of a population of social enterprises is directly linked to public sector intervention and regulation.}, language = {en} }