Ostracism is a negative social event that diminishes employees’ sense of power. Drawing on power dependence theory, this study investigates how employees’ prior engagement in crafting either social or structural job resources differentially moderates this relationship. We hypothesize that employees who previously increased social resources experience a weaker negative impact of ostracism on power, whereas those who increased structural resources experience a stronger effect. An experiment study supported these hypotheses. This research advances the ostracism, job crafting, and power literatures by showing how pre-ostracism job crafting behaviors can either mitigate or exacerbate ostracism’s negative effects on sense of power.

Analyzing Korean listed firms from 2014 to 2022, we report that 1) firms are less likely to issue sustainability reports following environmental rating downgrades, and 2) when they do, they include less green terminology in the reports. Notably, these disclosure patterns are only salient for firms with multiple downgrades (i.e., when multiple ESG raters issue downgrades). Interestingly, downgraded firms with more green terminology reduce carbon emissions to a lesser degree than those with less green terminology. Our results suggest that downgraded firms’ reactive disclosures are more of a strategic response than a demonstration of genuine commitment to environmental improvement.

This study examines how AI explanations affect human-AI collaborative decision-making. We test whether explainable AI (XAI) improves accuracy, speed, confidence, and reliance when distinguishing correct from incorrect AI suggestions. Using call center agents in three conditions―human only, human with AI, and human with XAI―we evaluate decisions made with classifiers and LIME-based explanations. Results show that explanations significantly increase decision accuracy, reduce overreliance on AI, and promote appropriate non-reliance. These findings emphasize the critical role and applicability of AI explanations in human-AI collaboration and contribute practical insights into designing AI assistants.

This study examines how business group affiliation influences corporate innovation and its economic implications in product markets. Using patent data from Korean public firms, we find that business group-affiliated firms (i.e., chaebols) file more patents than their non-chaebol counterparts. We explore two potential mechanisms underlying this difference: the responsiveness of R&D investment to growth opportunities and intra-group knowledge spillovers. We find suggestive evidence that chaebol firms may allocate R&D more efficiently in response to investment opportunities and benefit from innovation generated by affiliated firms. Moreover, the positive effects of patents on future profitability are more pronounced for chaebol firms. Finally, while chaebols’ patenting activities are associated with increases in their market share, they does not appear to contribute to overall industry growth. Taken together, our findings highlight the role of innovation in reinforcing chaebols’ competitive advantage and market dominance.

We attempt to identify the benefits of multi-unit chain membership and study the boundary conditions of the effects of chain affiliation. We test our arguments in the context of the U.S. hospital industry by examining the number of hospitals affiliated with hospital systems. We find that the number of hospitals in the system is positively associated with establishment performance. We find that the level of market competition positively moderates the relationship between the number of hospitals and establishment performance. Lastly, we find that the level of product scope negatively moderates the relationship between the number of hospitals and establishment performance.

Classic recruitment theory suggests that applicant attraction is predicted by objective job attributes, critical recruitment contacts, and employer image. However, research on employer image has been relatively scarce. This study develops a measure of Employer Brand Personality (EBP) based on Aaker’s brand personality model and tests its validity in Korea. Using data from undergraduate and MBA students in a Korean university, we found that a five-factor model (sincerity, excitement, competence, ruggedness, and peacefulness) effectively describes the EBP of Korean companies. Results also show that EBP significantly impacts organizational attractiveness and intention to apply. Theoretical and practical implications for developing recruitment strategies are discussed.

This study generates new knowledge on how digital content marketing affects customer engagement and purchase intention. While Phase I of the study is conducted on Indian youngsters to understand their expectations of brand’s content by employing the Theory of Consumption Values, for Phase II of the study, a hypothetical content (stimuli) is developed based on the findings of Phase I. Thereafter, the stimuli is used to gauge consumers’ attitude towards content marketing, engagement, and purchase intention. The study uncovers customers’ expectations from digital marketers and provides significant insights into what works and what doesn’t in content marketing.

Moderated regression models (MRMs) are widely used in business research to investigate how the relationship between a predictor and an outcome changes across different levels of a moderator. A common issue in MRM is multicollinearity, and mean-centering is often applied to address this problem, though its effectiveness is debated. This study reveals that the t-test for the main effect of the focal predictor at the mean of a moderator in a mean-centered MRM is equivalent to testing the overall simple effect of the predictor as a population-level effect, independent of specific moderator levels. This insight provides a fresh perspective on the utility of mean-centering in MRMs. Beyond mitigating multicollinearity, mean-centering offers a practical and efficient approach for understanding the average impact of a predictor across varying contextual conditions. By assessing both main effects and interaction effects within a single model, researchers can derive more nuanced insights into complex business phenomena, ultimately supporting more informed strategic decision-making.

Workplace ostracism places individuals in challenging situations, but ostracized employees may overcome the negative effects. This research explains how ostracism induces anxiety, which leads to specific job crafting behavior: increasing social resources (ISR). A two-wave longitudinal survey supports our hypotheses that ostracized employees feel more anxiety, anxiety is positively related to ISR, and anxiety mediates the relationship between ostracism and ISR. This study enriches the ostracism literature by linking ostracism and ISR, and reveals that workplace ostracism affects job crafting through anxiety. Our study suggests that those ostracized can overcome their negative situation partly through job crafting.

I examine whether public firms’ financial reporting has spillover effects on the amount and efficiency of other public firms’ investment and quantify the relative importance of these indirect spillover effects vis-a-vis the direct effects due to firms’ own financial reporting. Using structural estimation, I examine the effect of financial reporting on aggregate output from the public corporate sector’s investment and estimate that a significant portion―roughly half of the total effect of financial reporting and a quarter of the marginal effect of an incremental change in financial reporting precision―is due to spillover effects.