management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
type: channel
description: management revue - Socio-Economic Studies is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary European journal publishing both qualitative and quantitative work, as well as purely theoretical papers that advance the study of management, organization, and industrial relations. The journal publishes articles that contribute to theory from several disciplines, including business and public administration, organizational behaviour, economics, sociology, and psychology. The journal is indexed in the Web of Science™ Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), ABS Academic Journal Guide 2018, Elesevier's Scopus and the RePEc services IDEAS and EconPapers.
publisher: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft
language: en
publication name: management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
issn: 0935-9915
items: Guiding distinctions of management and organisation research. An introduction
items: Self-Programming Dynamics: Exploring Generative AI-User Interactions through Luhmann’s Systems Theory
items: What is in organisation? Contents of a self-contained container
items: The more independent, the more efficient? Can R&D independence increase business groups’ innovation in both quantity and quality?
items: Regulation as Distinction – A Generalized Approach to Leadership Based on Social Systems Theory
items: From Neglect to Resonance? - The Twin Transition and Luhmann’s Legacy
items: Reframing race beyond black and white: the case of Pardos in Brazil and the global challenge of rigid racial classifications - a systems approach
items: From Fixed Groups to Fluid Groupings: Identity Regulation in Contemporary Organisations
items: Students, industry, funding, deans – Group identity forming in a university
items: The Impact of Shared Values on Employee Voice: How Openness, Value Congruence, and Complicity Shape Managers' Perceptions
items: Double binds in dialogue: Unraveling paradoxical communication in business families and family businesses
items: Constantly evolving and adjusting temporary agency workers' experiences of multiple identities
items: Identity conflicts between social subunits in growing SMEs
items: Transformative potential or symbolism? Reflections on the influence of introducing post bureaucratic management concepts on group construction and identity in organizations
items: Green transformation and shifting group identities: “old” and “new” engineers in German automobile industry
items: Alumni management: the construction of an alumni social group to extend the current organizational group
items: When Two Worlds Collide: Understanding Group Dynamics During the Adoption of Big Data Analytics
items: Rethinking organizational identities: The role of identity work and regulation in a merger integration process
items: New Employees - New Organisation? On Start-ups as Sites of Creolisation
items: Uncertainty about the organisational identity? Constructing belonging and not-belonging in civil society organisations
items: Extended Abstract Group Making
items: The Ambivalence of Ingroup Identification Among Police Employees: Authoritarianism and Fairness
items: The role of transformational leadership in coping with followers’ technostress. A quantitative analysis
items: Digital Natives and Signaling in Employment Interviews: An Inquiry into the Acceptance and Perceived Fairness of Different Interview Modes
items: Performing managerial functions during the Covid-19 crisis: A systematic literature review
items: Digitalization of Labor and Delusion of Freedom: A Philosophical Inquiry into Work and Leisure Time in Flexible Work Arrangements

Guiding distinctions of management and organisation research. An introduction
type: item
description: This article examines the role of guiding distinctions in management and organisation research. Drawing on social systems theory in the tradition of Niklas Luhmann, it highlights how distinctions such as shareholder/stakeholder, purpose/profit, and economy/society/environment not only shape theoretical discourse but also act as pivotal frameworks for addressing empirical challenges. The analysis distinguishes between true and false distinctions and proposes a typology that categorises different types of false distinctions. By engaging with the contributions to this special issue, the study explores the impact false distinction might have for theory development in management and organisation research. The article argues for rethinking guiding distinctions as a means of bridging theoretical stasis and empirical dynamism in the digital era, also offering a research agenda that integrates past, present, and emerging distinctions to foster digitally attuned management and organisational theories.
subject: SI Guiding Distinctions
  topic: section
creator: Steffen Roth
creator: Lars Clausen
creator: Margit Neisig
creator: Augusto Sales
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04

Self-Programming Dynamics: Exploring Generative AI-User Interactions through Luhmann’s Systems Theory
type: item
description: This paper explores the self-programming dynamics between generative AI and its users, drawing on Luhmann’s systems theory to frame the interaction. By tracing the development of generative AI from early models to advanced architectures like foundation models, the paper illustrates how these systems approximate contextual understanding and respond dynamically to user inputs. The concept of self-programming is extended to users, who adapt their engagement strategies through repeated interactions, developing prompt scripts and styles that enhance the usefulness of AI outputs. The study highlights the recursive feedback loop between AI and users, wherein both entities influence and modify each other’s operations. Additionally, the paper investigates the structural coupling of these interactions, emphasising how user inputs and AI responses form a shared textual medium that evolves over time. Despite advancements, the research identifies persistent paradoxes in AI-mediated interactions, particularly the balance between specificity and generality, and the tension between novel and familiar information. It calls for further examination of these paradoxes to foster more meaningful and adaptive forms of AI-user interactions.
subject: SI Guiding Distinctions
  topic: section
creator: Dong-hyu Kim
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04

What is in organisation? Contents of a self-contained container
type: item
description: The purpose of this article is to resolve the apparent opposition between the container metaphor of organisation and the idea that organisations are constituted by communication. Drawing on works by Niklas Luhmann, George Spencer Brown, and Louis Kaufman, I develop a dynamic, communicative concept of containment, or “continence”. Using this concept, I demonstrate how organisations can simultaneously be constituted by and contain communication (within their environment). I conclude that management and organisation researchers must adopt an organisational view of organisations that first abstracts from most of the contents of this self-contained container, before reloading it with diverse forms and topics of organisational communication.
subject: SI Guiding Distinctions
  topic: section
creator: Steffen Roth
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04

The more independent, the more efficient? Can R&D independence increase business groups’ innovation in both quantity and quality?
type: item
description: This study examines whether research and development (R&D) independence helps business groups (BGs) achieve incremental innovation both quantitatively and qualitatively as a means of boosting their innovation performance. Based on a sample of Chinese listed companies, we find that R&D independence, especially the establishment of R&D subsidiaries by BGs, will significantly improve the quality and quantity of innovation. R&D independence will trigger the delegation of internal authority and the acquisition of external resources, thereby enhancing the innovation performance of BGs. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of R&D independence in promoting innovation is limited by institutional factors. Overall, this research reveals the innovation effect of R&D independence and its boundary, shedding new light on the theory of BGs’ innovation in the Chinese environment.
subject: Articles (open submission)
  topic: section
creator: Lianchao Yu
creator: Peinan Ji
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

Regulation as Distinction – A Generalized Approach to Leadership Based on Social Systems Theory
type: item
description: In view of the digital transformation of business and society, management literature discusses leadership not only as a function within organization, but as a broader and more commonplace phenomenon. Social systems theory has so far favoured a more constrained concept of leadership. Its conceptual repertoire, however, also allows for a more general approach to capture a broader bandwidth of literature. The article at hand develops such an approach based on the regulatory character of leadership. It argues that regulation reflects a general act of distinction in human action, shifting from the participant to the observer perspective. This shift is a commonplace phenomenon in society, generating asymmetries in human interaction that differentiate leaders from followers. At the same time, this distinction presupposes some sort of agreement on the perspective from which a system is observed, the performance indicators that can trigger interventions and the execution of interventions. This agreement can be expected to result form autopoietic dynamics. Social systems theory can be used to address these dynamics. Furthermore, the different aspects of regulation provide the basis for a deeper investigation of leadership styles and the diverse accounts given of systems operation therein.
subject: SI Guiding Distinctions
  topic: section
creator: Albrecht Fritzsche
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04

From Neglect to Resonance? - The Twin Transition and Luhmann’s Legacy
type: item
description: Luhmann's theory of ecological communication examines how modern society addresses climate and ecological challenges through its functionally differentiated structure. Even though the functionally differentiation enables society to manage complexity, it also leads to challenges in addressing cross-cutting issues like climate and ecological concerns. This has resulted in the neglect of such problems, as no single subsystem, neither functional nor organizational systems, is equipped to address ecological concerns comprehensively. Luhmann suggests that society's response to ecological challenges depends on the ability of these subsystems to adapt their communication processes to resonate with ecological considerations. In this paper, we highlights the importance of the reflective capacity, linked to Luhmann’s concept of observation, semantics and communication. We discuss if the Twin Transition, since Luhmann passed away, has changed the recurrent criticism about modern society’s neglect, and what it means for organization, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We find that important issues related to observation, reflection and semantics have changed, but the theme regarding neglect is still relevant. We also discuss an intervention strategy based on a digital learning platform and engaged scholarship in a regional polycentric network. We find that it demonstrates potential regional impact on inclusion of challenged SMEs, but to achieve broader European effects, such initiatives must, however, be scaled up and tailored to the specific contexts across Europe. Keywords: The modern differentiated society, Luhmann’s criticism, functional systems’ neglect, Included/excluded as meta coding, Twin Transition, change of observation, reflection and semantics, Digital Learning Platform, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, (JEL: D83, M10, O33, Q56, R50)
subject: SI Guiding Distinctions
  topic: section
creator: Margit Neisig
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04

Reframing race beyond black and white: the case of Pardos in Brazil and the global challenge of rigid racial classifications - a systems approach
type: item
description: Brazil's rich racial diversity, shaped by centuries of intermingling among Indigenous, European, African, Asian, and Middle Eastern populations, resists simplistic categorization. However, prevailing societal and institutional frameworks enforce a restrictive black/white binary that marginalizes pardos—mixed-race individuals comprising nearly half the population. This study employs a systems approach, integrating Niklas Luhmann's social systems, to analyze how these guiding distinctions perpetuate exclusion in social policies and organizational contexts. Through case studies of affirmative action policies in Brazil's public universities, including the experiences of Glauco Dalalio do Livramento and André Correia Lopes, the research exposes the limitations of phenotype-based assessments in capturing the complex identities of multiracial individuals. By drawing parallels with Afro-Germans, the study highlights the global challenge of rigid racial classifications and advocates for a multidimensional framework that incorporates self-identification, ancestry, and social experiences. Additionally, genomic research underscores the necessity of moving beyond binary frameworks, revealing extensive genetic admixture that traditional categories overlook. By redefining racial classifications and addressing false distinctions, Brazil can lead in decolonizing racial discourse, fostering equity, and celebrating its multifaceted population. This research contributes to the global dialogue on race and identity, emphasizing the importance of flexible and inclusive guiding distinctions in diverse societies.
subject: SI Guiding Distinctions
  topic: section
creator: Augusto Sales
creator: Juliana Carvalho
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04

From Fixed Groups to Fluid Groupings: Identity Regulation in Contemporary Organisations
type: item
description: In contemporary organisational contexts, group identities are often conceptualised as stable and bounded phenomena (e.g. Katzenbach & Smith, 2015; Maloney, Bresman, Zellmer-Bruhn, & Beaver, 2016). Traditional approaches to teams and groups assume somewhat fixed memberships and delineated structures, obscuring the fluid and dynamic nature of these forms of working together. Grounded on a relational and performative ontology, this conceptual paper proposes a shift from the notion of ‘group’ to ‘grouping’, with a view of groups as emergent, processual, and continuously reconfigured through practices. We draw on Latour’s (2005) notion that groupings exist only through their ongoing (re)formation, and seek to extend the nascent research on a further conceptualisation of grouping (e.g. Perriton, 2023). We argue that grouping better reflects the lived realities of organisations, where groups are in constant flux as we demonstrate through relations of temporality, spatiality and materiality. Traditional views of temporality are often centred on synchronised, linear timeframes – clock time – that govern the rhythms of daily work activities within organisations (Hernes, 2022; Orlikowski & Yates, 2002). However, in dispersed contemporary organisations, temporality is now acknowledged as a complex and multifaceted concept, reflecting the growing mobility of work and of information technologies (Kitchin, 2023). Indeed, research is now acknowledging time as a process (Reinecke & Ansari, 2017). Theorists such as Orlikowski and Yates (2002) have explored how technology reconfigures the temporal structures of organisations, arguing that information and communication technologies enable a stretching of time across geographical boundaries, creating what they term as ‘chronoscopic time’. This form of time is characterised by fluidity, where work activities are not bound by traditional work hours but may occur asynchronously across different time zones (Orlikowski & Yates, 2002). The sh…
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Marianne Storgaard
creator: Emma Perriton
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

Students, industry, funding, deans – Group identity forming in a university
type: item
description: tba
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Henry Larsen
creator: Jacob Buur
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

The Impact of Shared Values on Employee Voice: How Openness, Value Congruence, and Complicity Shape Managers' Perceptions
type: item
description: In today's rapidly changing world, organisations are increasingly recognising the importance of social sustainability and fostering a sense of shared identity among their members. Within this context, employee voice emerges as a critical mechanism for driving positive change and promoting organisational adaptability. This paper examines the role of three key recipient characteristics – openness, value congruence, and complicity – in shaping managers' perceptions of employee voice. Through semi-structured interviews with 15 managers from diverse industries and hierarchical levels, this qualitative study explores how these factors influence the reception of both promotive (improvement-oriented) and prohibitive (problem-focused) employee voice. Drawing on persuasion theory, person-supervisor fit theory, and the critical incident technique, the study employs a thematic analysis approach to uncover key patterns within the data, shedding light on the nuanced ways in which managers perceive and respond to employee voice. The study's findings highlight the crucial link between shared values and effective voice mechanisms within organisations. When employees perceive a sense of value congruence with their managers and the broader organisational culture, they are more likely to feel psychologically safe in expressing their ideas and concerns. This, in turn, can contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable organisational environment where diverse perspectives are valued and acted upon. The study's findings broadly replicated the four key factors influencing message persuasiveness as outlined in persuasion theory: the source, the message content, the manner of communication, and the recipient. Delving deeper into the role of recipient characteristics, the study revealed the following: Managers' openness to change was found to be more likely to indirectly influence voice endorsement by fostering an environment conducive to further elaboration and development of ideas, rather t…
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Simon Jebsen
creator: Sylvia Rohlfer
creator: Kayonzo Pommerenke
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

Double binds in dialogue: Unraveling paradoxical communication in business families and family businesses
type: item
description: Business families are confronted with different complex social systems that require them to oscillate between different systems logics and expectations. Consequently, family members tend to use double bind communication, which may result in paradoxical communication and increasing tensions. This qualitative study aims to achieve a deeper understanding of expectation structures and the emergence of paradoxes in business families due to different systems logics. Drawing from a Luhmannian systems-theoretical perspective, we will explore 1) how the business family handles the confrontation of the different systems logics of family and business within its communication, 2) how in-depth interviews can be analyzed that help to better understand how paradoxical communication occurs, and 3) how communication patterns, expectation structures, and sense-making can be explored by systems logics. Through this exploration, we aim to reveal insights into complex interrelationships and paradoxes in business families.
subject: SI Guiding Distinctions
  topic: section
creator: Theresa Arnold
creator: Steffen Roth
creator: Heiko Kleve
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04

Constantly evolving and adjusting temporary agency workers' experiences of multiple identities
type: item
description: Introduction The nature and organization of work have changed significantly for many workers in contemporary labor markets (Kalleberg, 2000; Selenko et al., 2018). Non-standard employment contracts, encompassing various short-term and precarious jobs such as independent contractors, on-call employees, day laborers, fixed-term workers, and temporary agency workers (TAWs), have become an established part of employment in different industries (Cappelli & Keller, 2013; Chambel & Sobral, 2018; Kalleberg, 2000; Lopes et al., 2019; Winkler & Mahmood, 2018). Unlike traditional full-time, permanent jobs, TAW is unique due to its triangular relationship involving the worker, the staffing agency, and the client organization (Chambel & Sobral, 2018; Gossett, 2016; Kalleberg, 2000). This characteristic of the TAW presents an interesting theoretical shift compared to the traditional employment relationship; thus, this study focuses on TAWs because their dual identification with the staffing agency and the client firm affects the level of control each can exert over them. Previous research indicates that TAWs can escape unfavorable job conditions by requesting reassignment from their agency (Chambel & Sobral, 2018; Gossett, 2016). However, managing and controlling TAWs at client firms presents challenges, as highlighted by Gossett (2016). TAWs can choose to either retain or disregard their staffing agency identity while working at the client firm, potentially exploiting the dual management system to their advantage (Mitlacher, 2005). Temporary agency work is highly fragmented and sensitive to economic conditions, causing fluctuations in job availability. According to a 2023 report from the World Employment Confederation (Report, 2023), Europe, the largest region for agency work, contributed 32% of the global turnover, with nine of the top 15 markets. For instance, after the COVID-19 lockdowns, these markets have had significant growth: Spain (34.4%), Belgium and Italy (31%), Austr…
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Mustafa Khalil Mahmood
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

Identity conflicts between social subunits in growing SMEs
type: item
description: The research contribution’s aim is to investigate the consequences when social groups manifest in organizations by analyzing identity conflicts between social subunits in growing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In the success-critical phase of early organizational development, the company's social character is subject to a considerable dynamic of change. The planned contribution explains the conditions for the development of group identities in social subunits from the perspective of differentiation theory. In particular, the associated potential for social conflict is at the center of the analysis.
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Larissa Binder
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

Transformative potential or symbolism? Reflections on the influence of introducing post bureaucratic management concepts on group construction and identity in organizations
type: item
description: The paper investigates the influence of post bureaucratic management concepts (PBMCs) on identity work within organizations. It illustrates how PBMCs have the power to initiate a community that produces a different image of themselves, thereby creating a distinct shared ‘post bureaucratic identity’ within and in contrast to the remaining organization. This point is made through an empirical case study taken at a large-scale German corporation. A Foucauldian-inspired heterotopic analysis delineates the distinctions of the ‘post bureaucratic identity’ the community draws upon mainly through discursive identity work (Brown, 2017) on (corporate) social media platforms. Ultimately, the paper highlights the productive and transformative potential of management fashions on identity construction while also discussing the possible pitfalls of communicating and constructing an identity based on PBMC. In doing so, the papers’ contribution is an empirical enrichment to the research discussion on how a discourse derived from specific management peculiarities such as PBMC’s may be used as a strategic resource for identity work and change. Context of post bureaucracy The study is contextualized within organizational and corporate action in the ‘post bureaucratic era’ (Josserand et al. 2006). Around the debate on this ‘new’ age, we hear anti-bureaucratic, managerial claims like ‘bureaucracy must die’ (Hamel 2014), as well as organization scholars that have questioned and criticized bureaucracy and its mechanisms for not being suitable in dynamic environments. Hodgson (2004, p. 83) describes the new ‘ideal type’, ‘the post bureaucratic organization’, as ‘a utopian organizational form’ and that the concept is an increasing ‘popular management theme: much cited but typically poorly defined, with nebulous links to other fashionable concepts such as the ‘Knowledge Economy’, the ‘Virtual Organization’, the ‘Network Organization’, the ‘Boundaryless Organization’, and so on’. Whereas other…
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Melissa Köhler
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

Green transformation and shifting group identities: “old” and “new” engineers in German automobile industry
type: item
description: The automotive industry is amid a twin transformation: digitalisation and electromobility are arriving in the workplace, in some cases in duplication and close temporal overlap. Partly because this complexity and dynamism are difficult to grasp in quantitative terms and qualitative research lags behind, the discourse on the green transformation of the industry is strongly characterised by the question of the quantitative consequences for employment. Especially in the case of electromobility, negative employment effects are primarily associated with the reduction in working hours per vehicle, and/or a reduction in parts, hitting mostly employment in production and engineering. Engineers in the sector are not only one of the most relevant groups of employees for the necessary innovations of the ecological transformation, but they are also traditionally a group that has always been closely identified with the combustion engine, both in terms of their own self-description and in terms of external attribution. Based on a quantitative survey (n>4.000), and a qualitative study (> 100 interviews), the article takes a deep empirical look into the transformation engineers currently experience in the German automotive sector. The focus lies not on employment insecurity, but on the subjective experience of engineers, their trust in future and relevant actors in management, work councils, and politics. The study will compare differences between those engineers who are actively involved in the ecological transformation towards electromobility, and those who are still and solely working on the combustion engines, looking for shifts in group identities.
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Sabine Pfeiffer
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

Alumni management: the construction of an alumni social group to extend the current organizational group
type: item
description: While organizational membership was long understood as a dichotomy (Rafaeli, 1997), it was overlooked that former members (alumni) can remain on the organizational boundaries (Dachner & Makarius, 2022; Eury et al., 2018) or can return as boomerang employees (e.g. Shipp et al., 2014; Swider et al., 2017). Here, they can have various functions, such as business partner (e.g. Carnahan & Somaya, 2013; Somaya et al., 2008), advocate (Weerts et al., 2010), or brand ambassador (e.g. Dachner & Makarius, 2022; Iyer & Day, 1998), and they can be used strategically. As interest in strengthening relationships with alumni increases (e.g. Makarius et al., 2023; Paluch et al., 2024), this conceptual article combines Social Identity Theory and a temporal-spatial view to address the specific hurdles related to alumni. It argues that by creating interactions with alumni, for example through an alumni association, an alumni social group is constructed which extends the organization's current social group. Thereby, organizational activities are necessary which bridge the temporal-spatial distancing of alumni and create clarity about their belonging to the extended organizational social group.
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Sophia Bittner-Zähr
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

When Two Worlds Collide: Understanding Group Dynamics During the Adoption of Big Data Analytics
type: item
description: Big data analytics (BDA) promises great business value but also entails several challenges for organizations. Scholars have investigated BDA adoption on the organizational and individual levels, but research from a group perspective remains scarce. In fact, the group level is prone to conflicts due to the diverse subgroups involved, i.e., data science experts and business users. By referring to an in-depth case study of an international tool manufacturer, we aim to unpack the group dynamics during BDA adoption and reveal the underlying mechanisms that drive them. Thus, the following research question guides our study: Which group constellations and dynamics emerge during the adoption of big data analytics in organizations, and how can these group dynamics be understood? To grasp the group constellations and dynamics during BDA adoption in organizations theoretically, we refer to two theoretical approaches: social identity theory (Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel & Turner, 1979, 2004) and Bourdieusian power-sensitive theory of social action. We could reveal several inner- and inter-group practices at the work team level and compile underlying habitual schemes and group identity issues that might jeopardize successful BDA adoption. With our study, we contribute to research in group construction in organizations during digitalization and organizational change by providing insights into the group dynamics and competition for power during the BDA adoption phase. Thereby, we raise awareness for the interrelation of organizational arrangements with these social occurrences. Our results also offer contact points for organizations regarding change management strategies and organizational arrangements.
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Angela Graf
creator: Janine Hagen
creator: Thomas Hess
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

Rethinking organizational identities: The role of identity work and regulation in a merger integration process
type: item
description: Introduction In management research and theory, the concept of organizational identity is a widely explored topic and discussed in connection with a variety of organizational processes, such as employee engagement, strategic alignment and decision-making. It describes “[...] members’ collective, shared sense of who they are as an organization” (Corley & Gioia, 2004, p. 175), thus emphasizing the internal perspective of employees and their understanding of who they are and what differentiates them as a company (Clark et al., 2010, p. 397). In fact, group formation with reference to a shared self-image can lead to the emergence of organizational identities that promote teamwork but may also result in the exclusion of individuals or even groups of people and thus hinder successful cooperation. As existing research has shown, organizational identities – either intentionally created through corporate management practice or generically grown as part of everyday work, or a mixture of both – may change when put under pressure from the outside, for example through market adaptations, or internally, through reorganization and restructuring (cf. Brown, 2019). A specific case of organizational identity change is mergers and acquisitions where established concepts of corporate identity are called into question and new corporate values may be adopted. In fact, conflicts around distinct group identities and related work practices frequently permeate post-merger companies, often resulting from managerial “pressures for sameness” (Langley et al., 2012, p. 137), that is, the managerial effort to install a consistent organizational identity in the company after the merger. Such managerial measures are described as “identity regulation” so as to underline the exercise of control that is related to the induction of, for instance, corporate values, compliance guidelines or ideal worker norms (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002, p. 625). In fact, by determining the existing and regulating narrativ…
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Katja Schönian
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

New Employees - New Organisation? On Start-ups as Sites of Creolisation
type: item
description: Submitted document is extended abstract as per guidelines in CfP
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Mia Thyregod Rasmussen
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

Uncertainty about the organisational identity? Constructing belonging and not-belonging in civil society organisations
type: item
description: Civil society organisations (cso) are of central importance for democracy and society. They are characterized by their mediating role between individuals and the state. Cso fulfil various social functions as service providers, special interest groups and in creating opportunities for social participation (Priller and Zimmer 2003: 105; Baykara-Krumme et al. 2022: 10). That means: In being committed for so called “special interests” for example for the rights of workers or LGBTIQ-interests, civil society organisations have a great significance for the society as a whole. But organisations cannot be conceptualized as homogenous themselves, there exist groups within like people with migration biographies and their descendants, women, senior citizen, people with disabilities etc. A civil society organisation which is framed as “special interest” organisation – how can the relationship between groups within be described? How is organisational belonging and not-belonging discursively constructed? And what effects on the construction of the organisational culture and identity can be stated in these processes of internal group differentiation? We analyse these questions on the basis of debates, ethnographic fieldwork and guided interviews with officials and volunteers of the German civil society organisation ver.di (Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft), which were gathered in the research project “ZOMiDi – Civil Society Organisations and the challenges of migration and diversity”, realized at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Our data show: The demands of groups within the organisation for more representation and participation also generate resistance within the organisation (see also Lohmer/ Möller 2019). The resistance is due to the fact that changes to the organisational culture or even the organisational identity could become necessary in the future.
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Yvonne Albrecht
creator: Serhat Karakayali
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

Extended Abstract Group Making
type: item
description: The purpose of this study is to identify the relation and fluidity between micro-level, interpersonal discrimination and institutionalized discrimination in professional, organizational settings, through the gaze of an international employee at a large Danish company. I retrace the multi-layered victimization of an international employee as she reports mistreatment and misbehavior of employees to management using a formally established whistleblowing function.
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Klarissa Lueg
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

The Ambivalence of Ingroup Identification Among Police Employees: Authoritarianism and Fairness
type: item
description: This study examines the social mechanisms that contribute to a dysfunctional police culture(cop culture), focusing on ingroup identity, perceived fairness, and deprivation. Drawing on the social identity approach (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and the link between authoritarianism and group identification (Duckitt, 1989), we study how police officers' sense of ingroup membership influences their authoritarian attitudes. We examine how perceptions of organizational fairness – in terms of promotion opportunities, resource allocation, participation rights, and treatment by management influence these tendencies. In addition, we examine the impact of perceived deprivation, where officers feel they have less than they deserve in terms of income, prestige, career opportunities, and management roles. This research aligns with the Call for Papers (CfP) on group identities within organizational contexts, which addresses how ingroup dynamics and perceived fairness within the police force shape authoritarian attitudes. By understanding these relationships, we aim to provide insights that will inform interventions to promote a more just, fair, and democratic police culture.
subject: SI Group Identities
  topic: section
creator: Clemens Striebing
creator: Eva Groß
creator: Joachim Häfele
creator: Jannick Schneider
creator: Stefanie Kemme
creator: Johanna Wührl
creator: Matthias Weber
creator: Simon Schmaus
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

The role of transformational leadership in coping with followers’ technostress. A quantitative analysis
type: item
description: This study investigates the relationship between transformational leadership and digital work-related stressors and emotional exhaustion among 952 German followers regularly utilizing information and communication technology (ICT). Using structural equation modeling, we examine the influence of transformational leadership within the framework of the transaction-based model of stress and coping, identifying a dual impact of transformational leadership, amplifying perceived techno-stressors while also representing a valuable resource for followers in coping with these stressors. The findings offer practical insights for organizations navigating the interplay between leadership, technology, and followers’ well-being. Notably, recovery and techno-stressors emerge as competitive mediators in transformational leadership’s relationship with emotional exhaustion.
subject: Articles (open submission)
  topic: section
creator: Tim Rademaker
creator: Stefan Süß
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-07-08
publication date: 2025-07-08

Digital Natives and Signaling in Employment Interviews: An Inquiry into the Acceptance and Perceived Fairness of Different Interview Modes
type: item
description: The paper investigates the signaling behavior of digital natives in employment interviews and analyses how applicant reactions differ in face-to-face versus video-mediated contexts. The social presence within the interview setting and the possibility to employ impression management tactics are of particular interest to understand the subjective acceptance and perceived fairness of the two types of selection procedures. The analyses of novel primary data from a German survey with 513 valid responses reveals that digital natives, similar to older applicants, appreciate signaling to lower information asymmetries. Regardless of interview mode, social presence and impression management are strong positive drivers of acceptance and perceived fairness. While members of the generational cohort still accept face-to-face interviews more than those mediated by videoconferencing technology, they perceive the former as less fair. This result, which may be explained by the specific characteristics of digital natives, contradicts the findings of studies that have investigated preceding generations. Hence, the paper complements the literature on applicant reactions by focusing on two younger generational cohorts, namely Generation Y and Z. Furthermore, the adoption of the signaling framework in this context reveals that the beneficial effects of signaling may stand vis-à-vis feelings of unfairness, which can be interpreted as additional psychological costs that are driven by moral considerations.
subject: Articles (open submission)
  topic: section
creator: Kay H. Hofmann
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2024-07-17
publication date: 2024-07-17

Performing managerial functions during the Covid-19 crisis: A systematic literature review
type: item
description: Managing businesses during the Covid-19 era was very challenging, mainly due to constant changes. Managers' experiences gained from these types of crises should be shared to be more prepared in case it happens again. The aim of this article is to research current literature to find out what changes in the performance of managerial functions were observed during the Covid-19 crisis. A systematic literature review was performed in the Web of Science (WoS) database to summarise findings on this topic. Eventually, only 18 publications were analysed (which indicated a significant research gap). Most of the identified changes were related to the function of leading (e.g., the necessity to motivate and communicate more clearly, as well as to support employees to adapt to remote working). In organising, managers faced problems regarding the shortage of employees, constant reorganisation, and the issues accompanying remote working. Planning in the Covid era was very challenging, but not many research papers dealt with it, same as with controlling. At the time of writing this article, no publication (on WoS) directly studied the changes in management functions due to the Covid-19 crisis. This article bridges the identified research gap by summarising the changes identified from the existing research and suggests the necessity of the research in this area.
subject: Articles (open submission)
  topic: section
creator: Marta Nosková
creator: Martin Januška
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2025-02-11
publication date: 2025-02-11

Digitalization of Labor and Delusion of Freedom: A Philosophical Inquiry into Work and Leisure Time in Flexible Work Arrangements
type: item
description: This paper delves into the philosophical inquiry of how the digitization of labor and flexible work arrangements impact individuals' freedom in the digital age. Specifically, it will examine how the digital realm affects productivity and leisure activities in two aspects: First, the widespread use of technology and the uptrend of remote working have made labor performance measurable. Workers in various sectors now have access to real-time data and information, which enables them to achieve multiple tasks in their work. Second, leisure time has become a part of the workforce. Flexible work arrangements and remote work organizations using technology have resulted in a notable disconnection between workers and their personal lives, causing a sense of alienation towards labor. While flexible working arrangements increase work quality and improve an individual's private life, flexibility in the workforce can blur the border between work and leisure time. It is essential to thoroughly examine the advantages and disadvantages of flexible work arrangements, specifically remote work, as well as the impact of digitalization on the workforce. Additionally, philosophical considerations regarding this issue are crucial.
subject: IUC Dubrovnik
  topic: section
creator: Cemre Ugural Yamuc
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 management revue - Socio-Economic Studies
date: 2024-04-28
publication date: 2024-04-28