Research Roundup: October 2024

Dive into our monthly Research Roundup, showcasing the latest insights from the business education community to keep you informed of new and noteworthy industry trends. Here are this month’s selections:

Green Choices and Guilt Trips Shape Employee Engagement

• Researchers: Irmela Fritzi Koch-Bayram and Torsten Biemann, University of Mannheim
• Output: “How Corporate Social (Ir)Responsibility Influences Employees’ Private Prosocial Behavior: An Experimental Study,” Journal of Business Ethics, 2024
• Overview: A company’s commitment to the environment doesn’t just impact the planet; it shapes the actions of its employees beyond the workplace. A recent study conducted at Mannheim Business School explored the impact of corporate social (ir)responsibility on employees’ private prosocial behavior.
  
  Researchers aimed to examine how environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) and environmental corporate social irresponsibility (ECSIR) influence employees’ willingness to volunteer and donate outside of work. The study introduced key concepts such as environmental self-identity, which refers to how employees view themselves with the environment and how that perception influences their prosocial actions.
• Findings: The study revealed a clear link between corporate environmental actions and employee behavior. Employees exposed to ECSR were around 32 percent more likely to volunteer, showing increased donations and a greater willingness to support environmental causes. For example, employees working for companies with robust recycling programs and tree-planting initiatives often felt more motivated to participate in local cleanup events.
  
  Conversely, exposure to ECSIR, such as working for companies known for their polluting practices, reduced engagement to just over 9 percent. These employees experienced feelings of guilt, which led them to avoid activities like donating to environmental nonprofits. These findings underscore how an organization’s environmental actions shape the personal contributions of its employees.

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Entrepreneurs Harnessing the Power of Networks

• Researchers: Frances Y.M. Chang, Cynthia M. Webster, and Francesco Chirico, Macquarie University; Muhammad Aftab Alam, Edith Cowan University
• Output: “Entrepreneurs’ Network Bricolage: Reconfiguring Social Ties for Resource Creation,” Journal of Business Research, 2024
• Overview: Entrepreneurs today are not only resource-seekers but also resource-creators, a concept highlighted in a recent study on network bricolage. In this networking approach, entrepreneurs creatively repurpose their existing social ties to overcome resource limitations and unlock new opportunities.
  
  By analyzing 55 dyadic relationships within four entrepreneurial networks, researchers focused on how the structural characteristics of these networks—including size, density, and diversity of relationship types—influence an entrepreneur’s ability to create new products and access new markets through network bricolage.
• Findings: The study revealed that entrepreneurs engage in network bricolage when they leverage the diversity of their social connections, such as suppliers, distributors, business partners, and family, to develop new products, access untapped markets, or enhance operational efficiency.
  
  The research indicates that the strength of network ties is not the only important factor; the variety of roles within the entrepreneur’s network is critical. Entrepreneurs who actively combine resources from different relationships tend to unlock more innovative outcomes. For instance, those with diverse networks could repurpose relationships, leading to faster product development and market expansion.

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Human Touch Amplifies Sales in the Digital World

• Researchers: Sara-Maude Poirier, Sarah Cosby, Sylvain Sénécal, Constantinos K. Coursaris, Marc Fredette, Pierre-Majorique Léger, HEC Montréal
• Output: “The Impact of Social Presence Cues in Social Media Product Photos on Consumers’ Purchase Intentions,” Journal of Business Research, 2024
• Overview: As social media continues to shape online commerce, the role of brand-generated photos has become increasingly vital in influencing consumer behavior. A recent study explored how social presence cues in product photos influence consumers’ purchase intentions, such as whether a human is physically or implicitly present.
  
  Researchers aimed to determine how different levels of social presence (none, implicit, or physical) could impact emotional and cognitive responses to these photos. They explored how these visual cues could both evoke positive emotions in consumers and enhance their ability to assess the product’s features and quality (known as “photo diagnosticity”).
  
  While the emotional response makes the product more appealing, the cues also help consumers visualize the product in use, leading to a more confident evaluation. The study also examined how a consumption background, such as showing a product in use, might alter these effects.
• Findings: The results revealed that social presence cues positively influence consumer emotions and purchase intentions. Consumers exposed to photos with either physical or implied human presence reported stronger emotional reactions, such as excitement, which heightened their intent to purchase.
  
  Pictures with implied human presence—like a cup of coffee on a desk—were just as effective as those with actual human figures, making the product feel relatable without unnecessary distractions. Furthermore, product photos with a clear and uncluttered background were more effective in allowing consumers to focus on the product’s features, leading to a higher photo diagnosticity score.
  
  The study suggests that strategically using social presence in product photos can be a powerful tool for businesses to enhance emotional appeal and their products’ perceived value.

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Misaligned AI and Its Impact on Consumer Identity

• Researchers: Ana Rita Gonçalves, IPAM Porto; Diego Costa Pinto, Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Héctor Gonzalez-Jimenez, ESCP Business School; Marlon Dalmoro, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul; Anna S. Mattila, Pennsylvania State University
• Output: “Me, Myself, and My AI: How Artificial Intelligence Classification Failures Threaten Consumers’ Self-expression,” Journal of Business Research, 2024
• Overview: In a world where artificial intelligence (AI) influences every aspect of life, our sense of self is becoming increasingly tied to the accuracy of the technology’s digital predictions. This study explores how failures in AI classification can negatively impact consumers’ self-identification and self-expression.
  
  Drawing on identity-based motivation frameworks, researchers sought to understand how AI’s incorrect classifications could lead to adverse outcomes such as regret and dissatisfaction with the service provider. By examining AI’s role in personalizing content (e.g., in streaming platforms), the study aimed to identify how AI failures affect consumers’ sense of self when they use AI-powered recommendations to express their identity.
  
  This research is particularly important for industries that rely heavily on AI for customer interaction, such as media and retail.
• Findings: The research found that when AI misclassifies a consumer’s preferences, it disrupts their ability to express themselves, leading to negative emotions like regret. In cases where consumers rely on AI to make decisions that reflect their identity (e.g., selecting music or movies that align with their personality), classification failures heightened feelings of being misunderstood.
  
  This misalignment reduced satisfaction and led to adverse behaviors such as discontinuing service subscriptions or avoiding future AI interactions. For business leaders, these outcomes suggest the need for AI systems to carefully balance personalized recommendations, as failures in this area can significantly impact customer retention and overall experience.

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Redefining Vision Creation in Teams

• Researchers: Paola Bellis, Politecnico di Milano; Roberto Verganti, Stockholm School of Economics; Federico Paolo Zasa, Politecnico di Milano
• Output: “Who Drives the Creation of a Novel Vision? The Role of Individual Insights and the Ability of ‘Letting Go,’” Journal of Business Research, 2024
• Overview: Unlocking the power of innovation often requires more than just fresh ideas—it demands the ability to let go of old ones. A recent study delves into how new product visions emerge within top management teams during the early stages of innovation, referred to as the front end of innovation.
  
  It examines two pathways to vision creation: one where a creative lead proposes the vision and another where the vision emerges collaboratively from team contributions. Using the lens of sensemaking—a process of understanding and interpreting ideas—the researchers focus on “letting go” or “sense-breaking.” This involves discarding earlier ideas to make room for new insights.
  
  The study aimed to understand how vision dynamics evolve as team members integrate their ideas and how this process affects the novelty and effectiveness of the resulting product vision.
• Findings: The findings reveal that successful vision creation is not strictly tied to having a dominant creative lead or a fully balanced collaborative effort. Instead, the key factor is the team members' ability, including the creative lead, to let go of their initial ideas and adapt to new ones through intense sense-breaking. This process leads to more innovative outcomes, encouraging team members to revise and rebuild their concepts.
  
  The study analyzed 26 top management teams and found that higher levels of letting go were associated with greater novelty in the final product vision. For business leaders, fostering an environment where team members feel comfortable discarding old ideas in favor of new directions can be pivotal in achieving innovative product concepts.
  
  While collaboration is important, the willingness to reshape initial insights may be more critical to innovation than strictly balancing contributions.

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If you have new research from your school share with the business education community, please submit a summary and relevant links to AACSB Insights via our online submission form at aacsb.edu/insights/articles/submissions.