Professor Lebene Soga

The Elgar Encyclopedia of Leadership is a comprehensive resource that explores the multifaceted nature of leadership across various contexts and cultures. Providing insights into both classic and contemporary leadership theories and practices, each entry delves into key concepts, models, and ethical considerations that shape effective leadership. It aims to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the dynamic and evolving field of leadership, equipping them with the knowledge to navigate and excel in diverse organizational settings.

Purpose This study explores the dark side effects of continuous social media brand community (SMBC) participation on consumer psychological ill-being. Design/methodology/approach A two-wave online quantitative survey was conducted over a 12-month period, involving 805 consumers with prior experience participating in social media brand communities. The proposed model was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS 26.0. Findings The research indicates that individuals using social media for escapism are significantly linked to their SMBC participation and the experience of social media fatigue. Over time, participation in SMBC was found to greatly influence both social media fatigue and information overload. Notably, while negative emotions were closely tied to consumer psychological ill-being, information overload did not exhibit the same connection. Additionally, social media fatigue served as a mediator between SMBC participation and negative emotions. Similarly, negative emotions acted as a mediator between social media fatigue and psychological ill-being. Research limitations/implications This research examined the dark side of using social media as an escape and continuous participation in SMBC, employing a two-wave quantitative methodology. The study was confined to brand communities on the Facebook platform. This presents a limitation in terms of the broade applicability of the findings, as the analysis did not encompass a comprehensive range of social media platforms. Practical implications The study highlights the importance of managers maintaining order and promoting an environment of fairness on social media platforms to minimize negative emotions and reduce tensions among users. Additionally, governments can collaborate with social marketing agencies and NGOs to raise awareness about the potential adverse effects of excessive social media use, particularly focusing on protecting young people who are more susceptible to its negative impacts. Originality/value This research stands out as one of the few studies examining the potential negative aspects of SMBC activities, offering a meaningful addition to the existing body of literature on SMBC and psychological ill-being. Grounded in the theory of compensatory Internet use and the stressor-strain-outcome model, it provides valuable insights into the darker side of consumer social media escapism and participation in SMBCs, particularly in relation to their psychological ill-being.

This conceptual paper explores a potential entrepreneur's journey of possessing the intention to start a new venture, but not necessarily realising it. We use the perspectives of actor-network theory and affective events theory to argue that latent entrepreneurship is underpinned by micro- and macro-level factors. First, the would-be entrepreneur is inescapably connected to a heterogeneous entrepreneurial network of relations that may enable or constrain entrepreneurship. Second, contextual risks and uncertainties impact the would-be entrepreneur's cognitive appraisals of and behavioural responses to fear, either leading to latent entrepreneurship or emergent entrepreneurship. We propose a framework to depict the interplay between the individual and the context within the dynamics of latent and emergent entrepreneurship. Our contribution is twofold: First, we contribute to the actor-network theory by suggesting that fear is one of the tokens in a would-be entrepreneur's heterogeneous network of relations, and that it must be negotiated either for latent or emergent entrepreneurship. Second, we advance the understanding of the role of fear in the entrepreneurial process by conceptualising it as a context-specific phenomenon and highlighting its dualistic nature, showing how it could play both negative and positive roles in the shift from latent to emergent entrepreneurship.

Flexible working practice (FWP) has been acclaimed as the practice of the 21st century, and it is likely to continue as humans engage with new technologies in the world of work. Studies have signaled caution in the adoption of FWP, drawing attention to its many downsides. In this paper, we undertake an approximately 11-year systematic review (2011–mid-2021) of scholarship that has examined FWPs. We focus on the downsides and unintended consequences regarding this concept. Following the rapid growth in remote working arrangements in the digital era, we map out the intellectual structure of these studies and uncover the hidden costs of FWP as well as its implication for employees, managers of technological platforms, organizations, and society. We identify the gaps in understanding these pitfalls and propose a holistic approach with health, legal, and spatial dimensions while indicating directions for future research.

This paper investigates the ethnographic researcher's positionality and its role in sensemaking within the research process. Using autoethnographic data of the first author - a black female West African (Yoruba) scholar in a Western organizational context, we adopt a critical sensemaking approach to make sense of the researcher's field experience. We propose a conceptualization of the researcher's positionality as one that is entwined in the field, being an active interaction of the researcher's formative context with her sensory capabilities. We demonstrate how openness to the researcher's entwined positionality generates interpretive frames of reference and uncovers nuances in the sensemaking process, which widens the scope for reflexivity. We offer a methodological roadmap for engaging entwined positionality in reflexive practice and contribute to the body of research which challenges the idea of the detached researcher; thus, we respond to the growing calls for integrating the elements of a researcher's positionality into research in a way that enhances reflexivity.

In recent years, there has been increased interest in fast-growing regions and the role played by entrepreneurship ecosystems (EEs) in regional economic development. Building on the entrepreneurship and economic geography literatures, we apply a complementarity perspective to demonstrate that the elements of the EE taxonomy are not independent of each other but in fact are able to work as complementors to each other. The EE taxonomy is therefore a dynamic taxonomy. Very few non-metropolitan regions will possess all four elements of the EE taxonomy in significantly strong levels. So, complementarity between the taxonomy elements within a region is crucial to supporting development for most EEs. We apply this complementarity perspective to the case of the Greater Reading region in the UK. We expect the readership to extend beyond the academic community to policy and entrepreneurship practitioner audiences interested in supporting EE development.

While companies have begin to lift their hiring freezes and are showing signs of improvement, reports show that promotions are still down 48% in the last 12 months. The authors found several reasons why promotions are down, including a surge in increasingly flat organization structures that make promotions more competitive, deterioration of meaningful workplace communication, and the rise of collaborative work creating ambiguity for managers assessing individual contributions. The authors’ research shows that while promotions might seem difficult to come by, they’re definitely not off-the-table for deserving employees. The authors dug deeper to find out why they had been promoted over others and found certain behaviors that made them stand out (and can help you, too). Stay connected: Make an effort to be in touch with your manager, share ideas and make your work visible. Also ask for feedback, at least once per quarter, showing that you’re willing to improve. Contribute: Share your opinions and ideas. At first, you might feel vulnerable, especially if your contributions struggle to gain traction, but the more you put out there, the more practice you will get developing better ideas, and the quicker you’ll become the go-to colleague people want to work with. Keep a record: Compile a list of your achievements and have them handy. Support your proposal for a promotion with evidence of your performance to demonstrate your ability to take on more responsibility. Network with other stakeholders: Sometimes opportunities for moving ahead in your career arise on other teams, not your own. In those cases, your boss won’t be the sole decision maker and may not have much influence.

Remote work has given many of us the opportunity to adapt to new ways of interacting with our colleagues. The ubiquity of collaborative technologies throughout the pandemic has amplified the push toward virtual work, by allowing teams to collaborate even when physical offices are closed. The market for collaborative technologies grew nearly 25% in 2020 alone, and with continued growth and demand expected, experts predict it will be a $50.7 billion industry by 2025. However, as this new gold rush for collaborative technologies increases, organizations risk developing a blind spot to the impact they have on relational dynamics between managers and employees.

Hiring managers are increasingly using freelancers to augment their workforce. But what does it take to succeed in this sector? How can new workers take advantage of the many benefits this path offers, including better work-life balance, flexibility, and more time with family? Know your worth: When freelancing, you can decide when to work, where to work, and your rates — or, essentially, how much you’re worth. One way to do this is to find your niche, become an expert in it, and then communicate your value, clearly and concisely. Build loyalty: While you might have to do extra work to get the client, you also have to work to keep them coming back. Repeat work is often considered a goldmine for freelancers because it leads to both consistency and referrals. Be adventurous: You can shape the job around your passions and your lifestyle, but staying too comfortable can also limit your ultimate potential. Put yourself out there and don’t be afraid to promote yourself and what you have to offer using social media. Hunt in packs: Be bold about approaching other freelancers with a proposal to take on projects together. Research shows that freelancers who teamed up got repeat jobs from the same client.

Traditionally, hierarchies have helped formalize the power structures embedded in different roles within an organization. In a virtual context, the formal hierarchical structure is often less visible than it is in face-to-face environments. In the absence of physical markers of rank and hierarchy, such as office locations, parking spaces, desk labels, badges worn, and so on, managers need to rely on other bases of power to continue to influence and manage employees in technology-mediated settings.

Job Crafting is a rigorous, modern take on job redesign that empowers workers to transform the jobs they have into the ones they want.

Using the metaphor of 'navigating in uncertain waters', the book is a unique and accessible introduction to the area of leading and managing change.

How connected are the customers, employees and the organisation in your organisation? This book helps you build deep connections between each to serve your customers and build a successful brand.

Abstract

Working-from-home (WFH) models represent one of several types of flexible work practices gaining ground in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of particular interest is the increase in the use of digital technology platforms for work collaboration and communication. These have been largely well received in terms of their potential to mitigate disruptions to business activity and employee work life in the absence of in-person work contexts. Research indicates that the sales and adoption of many digital platforms have witnessed sharp increase since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. These have contributed to creating seamless organisational collaborations, shared access to electronic data and new organisational processes to mirror previous in-person work arrangements. Many organisational members have had to upskill at rapid rates to catch up with these developments. Despite the benefits to employees, managers and organisations in terms of facilitating continued remote work, we illuminate the hidden inequities within this work model and highlight the unintended consequences from the standpoint of gender, race and the digital divide. We identify key aspects of WFH that represent underlying factors which create conditions for inequities and illustrate these with a case study. Additionally, we analyse the role of technology as a platform for WFH, noting impacts on employee well-being, team dynamics, as well as manager-employee relations. We conclude by raising implications for managers, offering recommendations to rebalance the inequities identified, such as developing an inclusive organisational culture, creating systems to access and evaluate employee feedback as well as developing appropriate response mechanisms that support particularly vulnerable groups.

Purpose This study examines some pertinent individual-level factors and consequences of consumers' continuous social media brand engagement (SMBE) practices. Further, this study examines the moderating effect of other-efficacy to deepen the understanding. Design/methodology/approach Online survey data collected from 785 respondents, through a convenience sampling technique on Facebook, was analyzed through structural equation (SEM) modeling with AMOS 23.0. Findings The findings suggest that compatibility with lifestyle, perceived information quality and escapism, which significantly drive consumers' continuous engagement with brands on social media. However, perceived enjoyment does not. Other-efficacy duly moderates consumers' continuous SMBE practices. While continuous SMBE significantly drives consumer-based brand equity (CBBE), continuous SMBE does not have any significant relationship with consumers' subjective well-being (SWB). Research limitations/implications This study reports robust findings on the effects of individual-level factors that drive consumers' continuous SMBE practices. However, the study only focused on Facebook brand pages. This is a limitation for generalizability of results because the research did not take a holistic view of all types of social media. Practical implications The research suggests a need for managers to project their brands and share relevant and stimulating information throughout their continuous SMBE with consumers to build strong consumer–brand relationships. Managers should also engage consumers with interesting social media messages as well as both informative and transformative creative strategies to excite them. This will further give consumers a reason to continuously interact with the brand on social media platforms. Originality/value This study is one of the very few works to tease out pertinent factors that drive consumers' continuous SMBE practices. The paper integrates the consumer-level factors and moderating effects of other-efficacy through the lens of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) to make a significant contribution to the SMBE literature.

This chapter critically examines how Tracy Kidder's story The Soul of a New Machine was received over the past three decades by the academic community as against the non-academic media punditocracy. Bruno Latour, upon examining Tracy Kidder's story, observes that the heroic tale of engineers who worked on Eagle, a 32-bit minicomputer, was actually inspired by a machine! Over the years, however, this Latourian viewpoint seems to have been ignored. The chapter exposes how these two different viewpoints of the story reinforce the assumptions about how we approach narratives about technology. The arguments indicate that non-academic reviews focused largely on heroism, whereas in the academy, the story was approached in light of the prevailing academic discourses in management theory per any given decade of the book's journey, thus making the Latourian viewpoint an important voice of reason.

This paper is a throwback to The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder (Kidder, 1981b). Bruno Latour (1987), upon examining Tracy Kidder's story, observes that the heroic tale of engineers who worked on Eagle, a 32-bit minicomputer, was actually inspired by a machine! Over the years, however, this Latourian viewpoint seems to have been ignored. This paper thus examines how Kidder's story was received over the past three decades by the academic and non-academic communities. It exposes how various reviews of the story reinforce one's assumptions about how one approaches narratives about technology. A total of 228 reviews/analyses/commentaries about the story were analysed in a qualitative undertaking that also led the enquiry into a detailed analyses of the story's historico-cultural agency. The findings indicate that non-academic reviews focused largely on heroism, whereas in the academy, the story was approached in light of the prevailing academic discourses in management theory per any given decade of the book's journey; the story then became The Soul of a Lost Machine!

In our ever-growing remote work culture, teams are increasingly vulnerable to virtual distance. Its three dimensions — physical, operational, and affinity distance — play critical roles in how well teams work together in a virtual environment and, particularly, in how managers delegate. Physical distance relates to the geographic distance between workers, while operational distance characterizes organizational processes that have the potential to facilitate or impede team collaboration. Affinity distance describes a sense of emotional and mental connection between individuals as a result of familiarity, interdependence, and a sense of shared purpose in the organization.

The Elgar Encyclopedia of Leadership is a comprehensive resource that explores the multifaceted nature of leadership across various contexts and cultures.

This study examines the role of digital literacy, digital accessibility, and human capital in fostering entrepreneurial resilience among entrepreneurs in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These countries serve as exemplary models in digital transformation, particularly in navigating crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Grounded in the resource-based view and the theory of dynamic capabilities, this research investigates how these factors contribute to entrepreneurial resilience. This study employs structural equation modeling to analyze survey data from 317 individuals with entrepreneurial experience. According to the findings, digital literacy, accessibility, and human capital significantly enhance innovation, strengthening entrepreneurial resilience. Agility is identified as a key moderator, amplifying the positive impact of these competencies on resilience. Although the success of entrepreneurial ecosystems has often been attributed to entrepreneurial actors, resource providers, connectors, or entrepreneurial intentions, this study underscores the importance of fostering digital competencies and agility to build resilient entrepreneurial ecosystems. It offers policymakers and business leaders insights into the mechanisms that enhance resilience in dynamic and crisis-affected environments where the digital landscape is rapidly evolving.

This paper examines how the deployment of Web 2.0 technologies, specifically digital platforms for internal communication within organizations, influences the nature of the team relationship. Previous research on the impact of these technologies in teams call for new approaches and conceptualizations of leadership. However, there is no consensus in the literature to help us understand the nature of team relationships that are sustained by these technological intermediations. To address this gap, we theoretically explore how the intermediation of Web 2.0 technology within teams generates what we propose as the technologized team relationship, in which the technology is as much a part of the relationship as the humans involved. In doing so, we also highlight potential unintended consequences for individuals in this technologized team relationship. We underpin our analyses with Latourian actor-network theory, which recognizes the agency of objects such as digital technologies in social relationships with humans. We then propose a theoretical framework for understanding and researching the nature of this technologized team relationship.

Purpose This paper explores flexible working practices (FWPs) and takes a critical view that argues a need to consider not only access to digital technological resources but also the vast array of factors that constrain one’s ability to use technology for its intended benefits, as constituting the digital divide post-COVID-19 lockdown. Design/methodology/approach Using a critical evaluation of the extant literature, we engage in a conceptual undertaking to develop theoretical propositions that form the basis for future empirical undertakings. To theoretically ground the arguments raised, we deploy the ontological lens of actor-network theory to illuminate the socio-technical dimensions of the digital divide in light of FWPs. Findings Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to adopt socially distanced work practices has become a reality for many organisations. We find that the adoption of FWPs, enabled by digital technologies, simultaneously signals hidden inequalities. We also develop a conceptual framework which depicts user responses in different technology environments that can either be limiting or enabling for individuals’ work productivity. Originality/value With regards to the digital divide, attention has often focused on access to digital technologies, as the term “digital divide” portrays. The implication is that the array of factors and resources that individuals are heterogeneously networked to, which also constitute the digital divide, is often taken for granted. We take a different ontological view that brings to the fore other factors at play within an individual’s network of relations.

This study examines gender dynamics in digital entrepreneurship in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), focusing on the challenges and opportunities encountered by male and female entrepreneurs. Drawing on institutional and gender role theories, the research explores how financial resources, technological development, and entrepreneurial networking impact entrepreneurial success and innovation capability. Using a quantitative approach, data from 400 entrepreneurs in the UAE digital sector were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings reveal that access to financial resources, technological development, and networking significantly influence entrepreneurial success, but their impact is stronger for male entrepreneurs due to societal norms and structural advantages. Female entrepreneurs face restrictive cultural barriers, particularly regarding access to financial resources and digital tools, which moderate their entrepreneurial success negatively. Innovation capability emerges as a key mediator in entrepreneurial success for both genders. The study highlights the need for gender-sensitive policies that enhance financial accessibility, technological literacy, and networking opportunities for female entrepreneurs. By providing empirical evidence from a Middle Eastern context, this research contributes to the broader discourse on gender disparities in digital entrepreneurship and offers policy recommendations to foster a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem. Future studies should explore cross-cultural comparisons and longitudinal analyses to deepen insights into the evolving gender dynamics in digital entrepreneurship.

This study examines gender dynamics in digital entrepreneurship in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), focusing on the challenges and opportunities encountered by male and female entrepreneurs. Drawing on institutional and gender role theories, the research explores how financial resources, technological development, and entrepreneurial networking impact entrepreneurial success and innovation capability. Using a quantitative approach, data from 400 entrepreneurs in the UAE digital sector were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings reveal that access to financial resources, technological development, and networking significantly influence entrepreneurial success, but their impact is stronger for male entrepreneurs due to societal norms and structural advantages. Female entrepreneurs face restrictive cultural barriers, particularly regarding access to financial resources and digital tools, which moderate their entrepreneurial success negatively. Innovation capability emerges as a key mediator in entrepreneurial success for both genders. The study highlights the need for gender-sensitive policies that enhance financial accessibility, technological literacy, and networking opportunities for female entrepreneurs. By providing empirical evidence from a Middle Eastern context, this research contributes to the broader discourse on gender disparities in digital entrepreneurship and offers policy recommendations to foster a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem. Future studies should explore cross-cultural comparisons and longitudinal analyses to deepen insights into the evolving gender dynamics in digital entrepreneurship.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become popular for enhancing organisational productivity, with tools available for administration, management, operations, manufacturing, production and decision-making. This chapter uses the case studies of Walmart and Amazon to discuss how the adoption of AI for productivity and inventory management influences contemporary issues faced by employees. It emphasises the importance of employees’ acceptance and response, which significantly influences engagement and our understanding of how AI affects employee roles and behaviours, job satisfaction and expectations, and therefore overall performance. While AI saves time and resources, potentially reducing reliance on human resources, employees’ acceptance and responses remain core to AI adoption. On the one hand, AI takes over routine tasks, granting employees more time for participative discussions, strategic planning and research, potentially increasing job satisfaction. On the other hand, AI implementation raises concerns about job displacement. These and other interrelated factors are discussed in this chapter.

In this paper, we offer an actor-network theoretical lens to leadership studies, embracing sociomateriality and network heterogeneity as domains for leadership practice. We espouse leadership as an enactment in a heterogeneous network of relations. Following, we engage the actor-network theory as a philosophical lens within which we propose to study leadership construct when leader collaborative activity in a Web 2.0 environment is analysed using this approach. We argue that academic research in leadership studies involving what are known as social technologies (Web 2.0) have implicitly embraced sociomateriality and yet have limited the units of analysis to individuals instead of heterogeneous networks. Such conceptualisation and approach place an overemphasis on the agency of the human while the technologies remain ‘black-boxed’ or taken-for-granted. The implications of the actor-network theory as an ontological lens for leadership and management are discussed.

This paper explores how feminist artists enact leadership through artistic organizing in the creative industries. Drawing on two case studies—Company Drinks and Homebaked—it examines how leadership emerges not through formal roles or strategic vision, but through practices of care. We highlight the interwoven dimensions that constitute feminist leadership and create infrastructures of belonging and continuity. To capture this, we propose the analytical device of the assembler : a feminist subject position through which leadership is enacted, and this involves the careful composition of relationships, materials, and conditions. Our analysis contributes to leadership studies by grounding calls for critical postheroic approaches in concrete feminist practices and to creative industries research by challenging dominant metrics of visibility, scale, and entrepreneurial charisma. We contend that the problem is not only the underrepresentation of women in leadership, but also the lack of feminist orientations to leadership. Artistic organizing demonstrates how leadership can be enacted otherwise while rehearsing alternative futures.

We live in an age of automation with easy access to machine learning, including algorithms based on artificial neural networks (ANN). This paper explains how automated machine learning (AutoML) and ANN can be used to develop an optimized model running several parallel machine learning algorithms to ascertain the best-performing prediction model for an important research question in business forecasting. This represents a fundamental departure in the methodological model, as traditional regression-based modeling is replaced with AutoML. The study demonstrates that AutoML can be utilized to improve forecasts of financial performance, measured as Tobin's Q, based on multiple indices and data from the Nordic Nasdaq Exchange firms. This analysis is used to assess how AutoML can be used to improve prediction models in business and social sciences. We contribute to business forecasting research on firm performance by demonstrating the utility of a longitudinal, multitheoretical approach. One of our key findings is that predictors of Tobin's Q grounded in the research on multinationality and firm performance were more impactful than strategic managementbased variables based on R&D and brands. The article concludes with a discussion of the potential implications and limitations of AutoML, ANN, and multiple regression in forecasting and social science research.

This paper investigates the factors influencing employees’ work engagement with focus on the experiences of employees in Slovenian and Malaysian organizations. Previous research has shown that the closer an employee's engagement is with an organization, the higher the employee's performance. To explore job characteristics that deliver employees’ work engagement, this study employs Hackman and Oldham's job characteristics model, focusing on the core elements of task identity, task significance, skill variety, feedback, and autonomy as a lens to investigate this phenomenon in two different countries. Data from organizations in Slovenia and Malaysia were gathered and analyzed using quantitative methodology. The findings highlight the fact that employees’ work engagement is not necessarily employee engagement; whereas the former examines engagement at the psychological level with an individual employee, the latter takes a broader approach in looking at factors that are also organizational. We find that work engagement is affected by job characteristics—task identity, task significance, skill variety, feedback, and autonomy—but these differ according to context, which we have shown can be in relation to the cultural setting of the organization. While in Slovenia, employees’ work engagement is influenced by skill variety and feedback (structure), in Malaysia, work engagement is affected by employees’ task identity and autonomy. These findings speak to a culture of direct communication in Slovenia as opposed to high‐power distance that is often argued in Malaysian organizations. In practice, context must be considered when designing jobs and policies for managing human resources as employees find meaning in work through different job characteristics.

Although there is a growing body of research on gaining legitimacy by entrepreneurial ventures in host markets, studies on the role of governing boards in legitimacy building are typified by a lack of clarity due to the fragmented nature of the extant literature. Drawing on an 11-year period (2011–2021) review of the literature on the role of boards of directors (BoDs) in building legitimacy for entrepreneurial ventures in host markets, we attempt to resolve this lacuna in the extant literature on legitimacy building. Specifically, we develop a unified conceptual framework, which provides clarity by mapping out the intellectual contributions on the dynamics of the role of BoDs in building legitimacy for new entrepreneurial ventures in host markets while highlighting the resultant outcomes of such dynamics in conveying legitimacy.

Although there is a growing body of research on gaining legitimacy by entrepreneurial ventures in host markets, studies on the role of governing boards in legitimacy building are typified by a lack of clarity due to the fragmented nature of the extant literature. Drawing on an 11-year period (2011–2021) review of the literature on the role of boards of directors (BoDs) in building legitimacy for entrepreneurial ventures in host markets, we attempt to resolve this lacuna in the extant literature on legitimacy building. Specifically, we develop a unified conceptual framework, which provides clarity by mapping out the intellectual contributions on the dynamics of the role of BoDs in building legitimacy for new entrepreneurial ventures in host markets while highlighting the resultant outcomes of such dynamics in conveying legitimacy.