Management and Strategy - HKU Business School

11 September

The Boundaries of Remote Work: How Autonomy Creates Divergent Consequences of Working from Home

SPEAKER

Prof. Wei Jee Ong
Assistant Professor
Department of Management & Organisation
National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Remote work has flourished in the post-pandemic world, revealing both benefits and drawbacks for employees. Where extant theory has delineated numerous positive consequences of remote work, its negative effects are less well understood despite emerging recognition that remote work can also disrupt the work-home boundary. Integrating boundary theory with theories of work autonomy, I develop a theoretical model accounting for both effects, suggesting that the jobs in which remote working is more accessible are also the jobs in which it is less satisfying. Specifically, I propose that autonomy moderates the effects of remote working frequency on job satisfaction. Across one large-scale longitudinal study (Study 1) and one preregistered experiment (Study 2), I find that in higher-autonomy jobs, individuals experience reduced satisfaction the more they work remotely. In contrast, in lower-autonomy jobs, individuals experience more satisfaction the more they work remotely. Study 2 further establishes that changes in decision making loads involving boundary management mediate these effects. Results ironically suggest that the job conditions that facilitate remote work also make it less satisfying, pointing to important implications for boundary theory and job design for remote work.

11 September

Volunteering, Social Capital, and Strategic Human Capital

SPEAKER

Mr. Lambert (Zixin) Li
Ph.D. Candidate in Organizational Behavior
Stanford University

ABSTRACT

When and why does volunteering affect employee productivity and well-being? I conducted an intervention tournament in which 1,092 primary care doctors in 21 Chinese rural hospitals were randomly assigned to eight different types of volunteering programs. I used a factorial design to test the competing theoretical mechanisms, based on three factors of whether the activities related to regular work (health promotion vs. environmental sustainability), whether doctors attended alone or with co-workers, and whether doctors had direct contact with community members. We measured the treatment effect on quality of care using a gold-standard audit study in which 32 standardized patients presented one of 8 common conditions (lower back pain, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, or diabetes mellitus × simple or complex scenarios) and scored doctors’ diagnosis and treatment behaviors. We traced changes in administrative records of turnover and the validated measures of burnout as secondary outcomes. We found that volunteering largely improved productivity, decreased 6-month turnover, and reduced burnout. Moreover, the effect of volunteering depended more on social interactions than on the types of activities. Specifically, volunteering with co-workers improved productivity, which was mediated by received informational support; volunteering that built community ties reduced burnout and turnover, which was mediated by received emotional and appraisal support, respectively. By contrast, the effects were similar regardless of whether the volunteer activity was health promotion or environmental sustainability. Taken together, volunteering creates strategic human capital by building social capital, beyond the apparent mechanisms of prosocial motivation and skill development.

05 September

Caught Between Algorithms and Peers: Consequences of Algorithm-Assisted Evaluation on Human Learning and Performance in Software Development

SPEAKER

Mr. Jong Sig (Sik) Chung
Ph.D. Candidate
McCombs School of Business
The University of Texas at Austin

ABSTRACT

Human-algorithm augmentation is becoming increasingly common in organizations, where algorithmic assistance during mundane tasks frees up humans to perform other high-level tasks. While augmentation literature generally predicts a synergistic integration between humans and algorithms, this perspective often overlooks potential negative spillover effects of algorithmic assistance on human performance. Focusing on the autonomy of algorithms that operate without human involvement, this study argues that it may stifle interactions among humans, an essential source of human learning. Specifically, I examine the introduction of autonomous algorithms to assist humans in evaluating each other’s contributions in knowledge-intensive projects, a process traditionally conducted through human interaction and discussion. As manual evaluation is resource-intensive, many projects have adopted algorithms to assist human’s evaluation. Using a stacked cohort generalized Difference-in-Differences design and data about software development projects on GitHub, the study finds that although the adoption of Continuous Integration (CI) bot within a project—algorithms that assist evaluation—reduce the burden of developer’s evaluation within the project, it also decreases interaction among developers during evaluation. This leads to a decline in developer’s performance in two essential tasks: monitoring fatal bugs and searching for new features within the project. Plus, it increases total un-resolved fatal problems within the project, possibly due to reduced developer’s performance. Lastly, I find that the benefits and pitfalls of the bot adoption magnify when the project receives contributions from diverse knowledge domains. These findings challenge prevailing assumptions about human-algorithm augmentation, highlighting the need for a balanced approach to integrating algorithmic assistance.

13 June

Unpacking the Gender Gap in Technology Entrepreneurship: A Set-analytic Approach

SPEAKER

Prof. Peer C. Fiss
Professor of Management & Organization
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern California

ABSTRACT

The gender gap in technology entrepreneurship has been extensively documented, and a number of recent studies have sought the impact of individual factors such as education or professional experience. However, education and professional experience are highly related, and potentially offer compounding advantages or disadvantages to entrepreneurs. In this paper, we use a set analytic approach which allows us to understand the combination of factors that successful founders commonly exhibit. We find that men have more pathways to entrepreneurship, and that these pathways are less complex (more flexible) which in turn enables a greater share of individuals to become founders. Reducing the gender gap in entrepreneurship requires finding opportunities for women from a greater share of business and educational backgrounds to become founders.

11 June

When (Not) To Follow SOEs In Foreign Direct Investments: Evidence From Chinese Non-SOEs’ FDI Location Choices

SPEAKER

Prof. Yan Anthea Zhang
Fayez Sarofim Vanguard Professor of Management
Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business
Rice University

ABSTRACT

Prior literature has documented that firms imitate others in entering new foreign markets. We advance this line of research by examining imitation between state-owned enterprises (SEOs) and non-SEOs. We argue that SEOs receive support from their home country government in foreign markets, which may be spilled over to non-SOEs from the same home country, and as a result, non-SOEs tend to follow SOEs in their foreign market location choices. We further argue that this relationship will be stronger in host countries have high political risk since non-SEOs have stronger need for home country government’s support in politically risker host countries. Moreover, we argue this positive interaction effect will become weaker when the host and home countries have weaker diplomatic ties since the home country government’s support is less useful, if not harmful, in the host countries. With data on Chinese non-SOEs’ foreign direct investment (FDI) location choices in 2001-2013, we find strong empirical evidence to support these propositions. Our study can contribute to the literatures on FDI location choices, inter-firm imitation, SOEs, and the interplay between firms and government.

11 June

Getting Ahead by Pleasing Stakeholders? Linking Rosy Strategic Decision-Making to Promotion in Investment Banks.

SPEAKER

Prof. Mathew Hayward
Professor
Monash University

ABSTRACT

We examine whether and how over-optimistic decision-making affects professionals’ short-term promotion prospects. Specifically, we study whether over-optimistic professionals are more likely to be promoted than more accurate and pessimistic ones. Because decision-making arises in a social context, we further examine institutional factors that moderate the link between over-optimistic judgment and promotion. Analyzing hand and machine-collected LinkedIn observations on sell-side security analysts’ promotions, we find that those making upside or optimistic errors in judgment tend to be promoted relative to those who are accurate (i.e., realists) and those who make downside errors in judgment (i.e., pessimists). Promotion tends to be even more likely when analysts comply with the normative expectations of their industry.

20 May

From Overwhelmed to Empowered: How Artificial Intelligence Augments Managers in Employee Training

SPEAKER

Prof. Nan Jia
Dean’s Associate Professor in Business Administration
Associate Professor of Strategic Management
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern California

ABSTRACT

One in five employees at companies in the United States manages others. Effective management boosts workplace productivity and enhances employee well-being, but modern managers are increasingly overwhelmed by the growing organizational demands for various managerial skills. Artificial intelligence (AI) can provide valuable assistance, especially in analyzing workplace data to assess employee performance and to generate feedback for employees, a traditional managerial responsibility. Our randomized field experiment reveals two significant ways AI can enhance managerial effectiveness in employee training. First, we found that employees receiving AI-generated feedback via managers performed better than those trained solely by managers. This improvement was attributed to the superior quality of AI feedback. Second, the success of AI augmentation varied with managers’ leadership styles. Employees with managers demonstrating a transformational leadership style, characterized by strong interpersonal relationships, responded better to AI-assisted training. This leadership style led employees to value and adopt AI feedback more fully. Furthermore, our qualitative analysis indicated that the impact of managerial relationships only became significant when employees were uncertain about the feedback’s quality. Employees trained with AI and transformational leaders also reported a more positive workplace attitude. Our findings suggest that AI, when integrated with effective leadership, can not only boost productivity but also enhance employee well-being.

09 May

Seeking Credibility: Impartial Courts, Geopolitics, and Location Choice for Patent Litigation

SPEAKER

Prof. Minyuan Zhao
Associate Professor of Strategy
Olin Business School
Washington University in St. Louis

ABSTRACT

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) often engage in “forum shopping,” i.e., choosing courts that offer a good chance of winning while delivering an effective message to potential infringers worldwide. With heightened geopolitical tensions, however, litigation outcomes are often about the identities of the litigants rather than the merits of the cases, compromising their effectiveness in global deterrence. Thus, for firms originating from one antagonist country and suing competitors from the other, impartial courts immune from political pressures are particularly appealing. Using a large sample of global patent litigation cases, we find supportive evidence that the importance of court impartiality in firms’ litigation location decisions is enhanced when the geopolitical tension between litigants’ home countries increases, and the effect is weaker for industries with country-specific regulatory bodies.

25 April

Mastering Anticipatory Impression Management in Earnings Conference: Motivation, Casting, and Market Reactions

SPEAKER

Prof. Helen Hu
Professor of Strategic Management
University of Melbourne

ABSTRACT

This study investigates how Chinese listed firms may use earnings conferences for the purpose of anticipatory impression management (AIM) to proactively build a positive image before the disclosure of financial misconduct. The specific event timeline—after committing financial misconduct but prior to regulators’ misconduct announcement—allows us to predict whether the focal firm uses earnings conferences as an AIM tactic. Additionally, the number of earnings conferences will increase with the severity of the misconduct. Moreover, we unfold the mechanism that shapes the qualitative information delivered through AIM conferences, with a particular emphasis on casting, i.e., the attendance of independent directors. This casting depends on the independent directors’ AIM value for the focal firm and their monitoring capabilities in detecting financial misconduct. Lastly, we posit that AIM conferences will buffer investors’ perceptions of negative events, positively influencing market reactions to misconduct announcements. Drawing on data from all Chinese-listed firms that committed financial misconduct from 2016 to 2020, we identified 122 AIM conferences and provided evidence for our hypotheses.

08 April

CEO Contract Length and Contract Renewal: Impression Management of CSR Engagement

SPEAKER

Prof. Guoli Chen
Professor of Strategy
INSEAD

ABSTRACT

We examine the implications of chief executive officer (CEO)’s initial contract length for corporate social responsibility (CSR). We posit that, faced with greater time pressure to demonstrate their abilities, CEOs with shorter initial contract lengths are more likely than other CEOs to engage in impression management by making CSR efforts to impress their boards of directors. While CSR engagement generally enhances the probability of the CEO’s contract renewal, this effect is particularly strong for CEOs with shorter contracts. Nevertheless, firms with less busy boards are less likely than firms with busy boards to renew CEO contracts based on CSR efforts. Using a sample of U.S. firms with new CEO appointments between 1990 and 2017, we provide empirical evidence to support our theory and hypotheses. Our results are robust to a series of additional analyses, including using the U.K.’s Corporate Governance Code reform as an exogenous shock to address potential endogeneity issues. We also find that CEOs with shorter initial contracts are more likely to mention CSR key words in conference calls and engage in more visible CSR. We discuss our contribution to the CEO employment contract, CSR and corporate governance literature.