exchange relationships
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A core assumption across many disciplines is that producers enter market exchange relationships for economic reasons. This research examines an overlooked factor, namely the socio-emotional benefits of selling the fruits of one’s labor. Specifically, the authors find that individuals selling their products interpret sales as a signal from the market, which serves as a source of self-validation, thus increasing their happiness above and beyond any monetary rewards from those sales. This effect highlights an information asymmetry that is opposite to that in traditional signaling theory. That is, the authors find that customers have information about the quality of products that they signal to the producer, validating the producer’s skill level. Further, the sales-as-signal effect is moderated by characteristics of the purchase transaction that determine the signal strength of sales: the effect is attenuated when product choice does not reflect a deliberate decision and is amplified when buyers incur higher monetary costs. In addition, sales have a stronger effect on happiness than alternative, non-monetary forms of market signals such as Likes. Finally, the sales-as-signal effect is more pronounced when individuals sell their self-made (vs. other-made) products and affects individuals’ happiness beyond the happiness gained from producing.

Based on an exploratory study of Soufra, a women’s catering social enterprise in the Bourj al Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, we analyze how solidarity across difference can be organized. We conceptualize “difference” not in terms of “whole” individuals, but in terms of dividuals, the multiple roles and social positions that individuals occupy; this enables similarities between individuals of different ethnicities, nationalities, and statuses to become apparent. We find that, despite their extreme and protracted marginalization, Soufra does not seek to organize solidarity relationships with co-resisters joining their struggle against oppressors. Rather, they initiate exchange relationships with different others via carefully managed impressions of similar dividualities (e.g. professional cooks and businesswomen) and different dividualities (e.g. having refugee status and lacking any citizenship). These encounters provide opportunities for solidarity relationships to be created and underlying cultural predispositions to be transformed. Whether these opportunities are taken up or rejected is dependent, at least to some extent, on the willingness of participants to allow such transformations to occur.

This research extends social exchange theory by investigating unethical reciprocity induced by high compensation in employee–manager exchange relationships. Two experimental studies based on behavioral games showed that even after employees had reciprocated their managers’ wage offers with commensurate work efforts, managers’ previous compensation decisions still had potent effects on employees’ subsequent ethical behaviors. Specifically, Study 1 showed that high wages led employees to engage in unethical reciprocity to benefit their managers at the expense of honesty. In addition, when managers had the possibility of rewarding employees’ unethical reciprocity, only underpaid employees demonstrated more unethical reciprocity, and high-paid employees were not affected by their potential personal payout. Study 2 replicated Study 1’s results using different designs and behavioral games. Its results consistently showed that high-paid employees were more likely to act dishonestly to advance their managers’ interests, irrespective of their own payouts. Finally, Study 3 complemented our experimental results with initial field evidence, suggesting that higher salaries were positively related to the likelihood of police officers engaging in unethical and illegal actions to help their organization. We discuss our results by applying cross-disciplinary insights on exchange models and compensation to organizational studies.

PurposeThis paper proposes an Exchange-Based View of the value creation process. The Borrowing from marketing literature, the EBV advances that entrepreneurs and stakeholders are tied by exchange relationships, through which they co-create value by reciprocally making and realizing promises of value.Design/methodology/approachPropositions are developed and offered to advance the role of exchange in the entrepreneurial value creation process.FindingsThe authors conceptualize the enterprise as a system of exchange relationships between entrepreneurs and their stakeholders, thus proposing an exchange-based view of entrepreneurship.Originality/valueSuch an account of the role of entrepreneurs and of their relationship with the stakeholders has meaningful implications for our understanding of the entrepreneurial tasks of opportunity recognition and exploitation.

Purpose Understanding managers’ experiences of workplace dignity (WPD) is critical to working with others in an organization. However, there is limited research available on this subject. This study aims to expand the knowledge of WPD by exploring managers’ understanding of WPD and their experiences of both affirmation and denial of dignity at work. Design/methodology/approach Critical incident technique (CIT) has been used to explore the themes related to managers’ perceptions of WPD through their lived experiences. Affective event theory supports the use of CIT in the current study context. Findings Findings unfolded many new aspects of WPD, which have not been explored in the past. An exploration and analysis of the three research questions related to managers’ understanding, affirmation and denial experiences of WPD have added new insights to the existing literature. These have been further segregated under the following four main factors: internal, external, process and feelings. Finally, the authors conclude that external factors that arrive during exchange relationships play an important role in managers’ understanding and experiences of WPD in India. Originality/value To the best of the knowledge, this is a seminal study to have explored managers’ understanding of WPD in India. It aims to add to the literature by enriching the construct of WPD. Practical implications include a deeper managerial understanding of the affirmational practices and factors which will positively impact WPD.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide methodological guidelines and examples of how social network analysis (SNA) can be used in public management network research. SNA describes network structures formed by the patterns of relationships between different actors. Exchange relationships between government, market and society, which conceptualize public sector policies and goals, can be analyzed as a means to highlight underlying governance structures, coordination and management mechanisms, organizational capabilities and strategies of government activities.Design/methodology/approachDrawing from key aspects and concepts of network management, structuring, and modes of governance, research strategies are presented for the analysis of public networks through an illustrative study of relational patterns between providers and receivers of training in the public sector.FindingsSNA highlights prevalent modes of organizing – bureaucratic, market or collaborative (networked) – key actors, roles and strategies that influence network structure, and collective and individual results. Network data can provide information on the relationship between context, organizations' roles and characteristics, and the effectiveness of public policies.Practical implicationsInformation regarding patterns of exchange relationships such as services, resources, influence, knowledge and personnel, are relevant for policymaking processes and may subsidize new approaches and policy instruments that seek to optimize, develop and prescribe structural arrangements for better coordination and effective provision of public services.Originality/valueThe paper advances current literature by presenting a general methodological approach to large interorganizational networks, useful for the consistent theoretical development of governance network theory in the public administration field.