A New Issue of Organization Science
Great reading for a long-needed vacation. . .
The new March/April issue of Organization Science is out! Again, authors from around the globe investigate diverse contexts using a broad range of methods and data. There are field experiments, ethnographies, Notably, the Bocconi folks seem to have outdone their 2024 Winter Conference ubiquity by landing four papers in this issue. In fact most papers in this issue have at least one author outside the U.S., with four continents represented (NA, Europe, Africa, and Asia).
This collection takes us on a journey through everyday gender discrimination in remote versus on-site work, radical pivots by women entrepreneurs employing theory-driven strategies, and the impressive gains Tanzanian agribusinesses achieve through theory‐and‐evidence–based decision‐making. The articles also spotlight creative network mobilization, probe the gap between online promises and offline follow-through, and explore “cautious exploitation” as a way to manage learning-productivity trade-offs. They delve into leadership transitions and gender dynamics, revealing how board diversity can broaden CEO strategic attention, how interim CEO appointments affect firm performance, and how loyalty can bind us even to indirect ties in moral dilemmas. Together, these studies push the boundaries of organizational research, offering fresh, critical insights for scholars and practitioners alike. We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we do!
Remember that submissions for the special issue on Remote and Hybrid Work are still open for the next three months or so. If you’ve been following the news, there’s a ton of important research to be done on mass recalls of employees to the the office in both the public and private sectors—in many cases where “the office” doesn’t actually have workspace to accommodate everyone.
Lamar was going to include another column with this, but he finally decided to take a vacation and chose to decision some papers on the plane instead of trying to write something funny. So this is your big opportunity to go back and reread the tuber metaphor column on paper overlap. We continue to get a number of papers that substantially overlap existing working and published papers, but the editorial team does appreciate that most (note: not all) are fully disclosing this. That’s the most important thing of course. We’ll have several columns and posts coming in a couple of weeks, including some exciting news not involving editorial pets.
Enjoy the great papers!
-Shirley and Lamar
Location Matters: Everyday Gender Discrimination in Remote and On-site Work by Laura Doering, András Tilcsik
This study finds that professional women report less everyday gender discrimination when working remotely compared to on-site, especially younger women and those interacting mostly with men.
Mavericks and Diplomats: Bridging Commercial and Institutional Entrepreneurship for Society’s Grand Challenges by Eric Volmar, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt
Analyzing two EdTech ventures, this paper identifies two distinct yet effective “Maverick” (competitive) and “Diplomat” (cooperative) strategy‐formation processes—both grounded in a hybrid decision‐weaving structure—that enable commercial success and field‐level change.
Does a Theory-of-Value Add Value? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial with Tanzanian Entrepreneurs by Rajshree Agarwal , Francesca Bacco , Arnaldo Camuffo, Andrea Coali, Alfonso Gambardella, Haji Msangi, Steven Sonka, Anna Temu, Betty Waized, Audra Wormald
A field experiment reveals that Tanzanian agribusiness entrepreneurs who adopt a theory‐and‐evidence–based decision‐making approach enact more coordinated changes in their businesses and achieve higher economic performance than those using only an evidence‐based approach.
A Cognitive Network Perspective on Creativity: Theorizing Network Mobilization Scripts by Claudio Biscaro, Fabrizio Montanari
Using an inductive study of a small organization, the authors show how individuals’ subjective cognitive networks generate distinct network mobilization scripts—differentiated by how many ties are activated and in what manner—thereby shaping creative idea elaboration.
Let Us Not Speak of Them, But Look and Pass? Organizational Responses to Online Reviews by Saverio Dave Favaron, Giada Di Stefano
In the French restaurant industry, organizations’ offline responses do not always match their online promises to correct problems, with the likelihood of “decoupling” shaped by features of the reviews, the restaurants, and the respondents themselves.
A Model of CEO Succession Planning as a Risky Investment: Anticipated Costs, Uncertain Results, and Contingency Conditions by Donald C. Hambrick, Eric Y. Lee
This paper frames CEO succession planning as a potentially risky investment—incurring various costs, with results that may be unfavorable—whose ultimate value depends on multiple contingencies at the CEO, firm, industry, and broader environmental levels.
The Transmission of Economic Shocks in Multidivisional Organizations: An Empirical Analysis of the Global Retail Industry by Timo Sohl, Brian T. McCann, Govert Vroom
Examining multinational retailers, the authors find that financial crises in a parent’s home country curb asset growth in foreign divisions, and that factors at the parent, parent‐division, and division levels moderate the severity of this internal shock transmission.
Female Entrepreneurs Targeting Women: Strategic Redirection Under Scientific Decision-Making by Luisa Gagliardi, Elena Novelli
Three randomized controlled trials show that female entrepreneurs with female‐targeted ideas pivot more radically when using a “theorize and test” approach to decision‐making, which leads to superior performance in launching and sustaining their ventures.
Taking a Broader View: Female Directors, CEO Strategic Attention Breadth, and Firm Performance by Lingling Pan, Gerry McNamara, Cynthia E. Devers, Lindsey M. Yonish
Using data from S&P 1500 firms, the authors demonstrate that having more women on the board broadens CEO strategic attention, thereby improving firm performance, with CEO characteristics (gender, tenure, overpayment) influencing the strength of this effect.
When Your Friend is My Friend: How Loyalty Prompts Support for Indirect Ties in Moral Dilemmas by Zachariah Berry, John Angus D. Hildreth
Across 11 studies, individuals loyal to a “broker” extend that loyalty to support the broker’s indirect ties—even if those ties are accused of wrongdoing—unless the broker has previously worked to create divisions among connections.
Interim CEO Successions: Implications for CEO Successor Selection and Subsequent Firm Performance by Robert Langan, Nicolas Deuschel
In S&P 1500 data, the authors find that firms appointing an interim CEO generally suffer lower subsequent performance, but the extent of this penalty is moderated by how difficult it is to gather and interpret information for selecting a permanent successor.
Increasing Black Employees’ Social Identity Affirmation and Organizational Involvement: Reducing Social Uncertainty Through Organizational and Individual Strategies by Cynthia Wang, Gillian Ku, Alexis Nicole Smith, Bryan Edwards, Edward Scott, Adam D. Galinsky
Through surveys, experiments, interviews, and text analysis, this research shows that “authenticity climates” and employee perspective‐taking jointly reduce social uncertainty for Black employees, increasing their social identity affirmation and organizational involvement.
Atypicality and Accountability: Evidence from Five Experiments by Nathan Betancourt, Inga J. Hoever, Filippo Carlo Wezel
Across five experiments, the authors find that when evaluators anticipate having to justify decisions, atypical organizations are more likely to be devalued—unless the evaluator’s audience explicitly prefers atypicality, which flips the effect to a positive one.
Path Coherence and Disruption in Routine Dynamics by Inkyu Kim, Brian T. Pentland, Kenneth A. Frank, Julie Ryan Wolf
Drawing on evidence from medical clinics undergoing an EHR upgrade, the authors propose that “path coherence”—the continuity of who, what, when, and where across sequential events—helps explain how routines persist or change after disruptions.
Do Boards Reward and Punish CEOs Based on Employee Satisfaction Ratings? By Khaled Abdulsalam, Dane M. Christensen, Scott D. Graffin, John Li
Using Glassdoor data and a difference‐in‐differences approach, this study finds that CEOs receive larger bonuses when employee satisfaction increases and face higher dismissal risk when satisfaction declines, particularly under certain firm‐ and board‐level conditions.
Cautious Exploitation: Learning and Search in Problems of Evaluation and Discovery by Daniel A. Levinthal, Daniel Schliesmann
Simulation results suggest that slow learning (belief updating) combined with a highly exploitative strategy—“cautious exploitation”—facilitates effective organizational adaptation in both discovery‐oriented and evaluation‐oriented search problems.
Can You Go Home Again? Performance Assistance Between Boomerangs and Incumbent Employees by Thorsten Grohsjean, Gina Dokko, Philip Yang
Investigating rehires in a large organization, the authors find that boomerangs provide more performance assistance to both former and new colleagues, whereas incumbents do not reciprocate more assistance to boomerangs, underscoring asymmetrical effects of prior relationships.
Difference in Deference: When Competitors Do Not Give in Despite Having Lost by Rodolphe Durand, Henning Piezunka, Philipp Reineke
Using Formula One data, this paper shows how intense rivalry and the potential for non‐focal gains lead certain losing actors to refuse to concede deference—challenging the norm that losers should “give in” after the contest is decided.
Coordination in Dynamic Teams: Investigating a Learning–Productivity Trade-Off by Anna T. Mayo, Anita Williams Woolley, Liny John, Christine March, Selma Witchel, Andrew Nowalk
A field experiment with hospital physician teams finds that external coordination improves team efficiency, internal coordination fosters individual learning, and a balance of both can mitigate the tension between productivity and members’ developmental needs.
Shareholder Activism and the Deterrence Effect of Democratic Politician Shareholders by Mark R. DesJardine, Wei Shi, Timothy Werner
Analyzing S&P 1500 firms, this study shows that having Democratic politician shareholders deters financially motivated shareholder activism, particularly when those politicians are publicly prominent or the firm’s board leans Democratic.