Because of the predominance of the assumption of profit maximization as the goal of the firm and its decision makers, especially in the competitive strategy literature, research has yet to investigate how differences in objectives might influence competitive actions such as entry, exit, and pricing decisions. This represents an important gap in the literature given the fundamental role of objec...

Progress towards understanding human behavior has been hindered by discipline-bound theories, dividing our efforts. Fortunately, these separate endeavors are converging and can be effectively integrated. Focusing on the fundamental features of Picoeconomics, Expectancy, Cumulative Prospect Theory, and Need Theory, Temporal Motivational Theory (TMT) is constructed. TMT appears consistent with th...

In a sample of 166 hospital workers, this study investigated the extent to which negotiating individual, idiosyncratic conditions of employment impacted worker relationships with the employer. Confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence of three types of idiosyncratic arrangements, Development (career-focused), Flexibility (schedule), and Reduced Workload (hours and effort); and the two poin...

Theories and technologies are needed to understand and integrate knowledge of student affect (e.g., frustration, motivation, and selfconfidence) into models of learning. One goal of this research is to integrate tools that model student affect into intelligent tutors and enable tutors to elicit, sense, communicate, measure and respond to student affect. This article presents multiple solutions ...

This commentary argues for a functional perspective of the value–engagement relationship, proposing that evaluation determines engagement. I compare this causal direction—from value to engagement—to regulatory engagement theory, which proposes that engagement determines evaluation. I demonstrate the functional view in self-control research, which finds that people overcome obstacles for goal pu...

Many business faculty have expressed the idea that there is “nothing as practical as a good theory.” And, while that statement is likely true, it is also important to demonstrate how the theories and concepts discussed in undergraduate business courses are applied in the business world. This paper presents the case of a successful ERP implementation in a small US manufacturing company. Its prim...

This article explores the feedback individuals give, seek, and respond to in the course of pursuing their goals. We propose that positive feedback motivates goal pursuit when it signals an increase in goal commitment, whereas negative feedback motivates goal pursuit when it signals insufficient goal progress. We review research suggesting that whether individuals are drawn to evaluate their lev...

Regulatory engagement theory [Higgins, E. T. (2006). Value from hedonic experience and engagement. Psychological Review, 113, 439–460.] proposes that value is a motivational force of attraction to or repulsion from something, and that strength of engagement contributes to value intensity independent of hedonic and other sources of value direction. This paper reviews different sources of engagem...

Prior research has demonstrated that attachment styles are important antecedents of interpersonal relationship quality and psychological well-being. Despite this, the theory of attachment styles has been largely ignored by researchers interested in workplace phenomena. The present paper aims to explain the theory of attachment styles, why researchers have overlooked attachment styles as an ante...

This paper proposes a model of self-managing work team (SMWT) effectiveness derived from several theories of organizational behavior and empirical work. Four classes of predictor variables are included: (a) an organizational context that supports employee involvement, (b) encouraging supervisory behaviors, (c) group task design, and (d) group characteristics. Three dimensions of effectiveness a...