Resumo em Inglês:

The theme of creativity has gained prominence among practitioners and academics, and the emergence of creative industries, which combine creativity and commercial logic, has rendered the topic even more relevant. Creativity is frequently associated with the existence of flexible organizational structures and organizational cultures that favor autonomy and freedom of action. However, organizations commonly impose limits on the actions of creative professionals because of the timescales, budgets, and business and customer demands inherent to the organizational context. Knowledge of creativity in academia has advanced considerably in recent decades. However, empirical studies investigating the restrictions imposed on creative work in organizations are lacking. This study addresses this gap in the literature. Our objective was to investigate creativity within advertising agencies, a creative industry sector. The results reveal that creativity in such environments is marked by collective work, conditioned by time pressures for performing tasks, and influenced by the tension that originates from the interaction between two dimensions: the search for originality and the need for acceptance. On the basis of this research, we propose the concept of bounded creativity, which reflects the weakening of the creative experience in organizations.

Resumo em Inglês:

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a reflective and critical rhetorical framework capable of replacing traditional approaches to change management and its education. This framework conceptualises managing change as the Mindful Mobilising of Maps, Masks and Mirrors and provides a comprehensive integration of the processual, practice and critical academic literature on change management. It adopts a drama-tic approach, combining dramaturgical and pragmatic approaches to organisations and change. This paper introduces the framework, the manner of its delivery as an MBA subject, and the varying perceptions of its nature and impact held by a number of mature middle management MBA students who had attended the course. The documentation of student interpretations draws on the learning diaries completed by MBA students in two deliveries of the subject at a leading business school in Australia. It is argued that the framework provides a working model of a reflective and critical approach to change management that resonates with mature managers, and concludes with recommendations for future research and development.

Resumo em Inglês:

Interorganizational agreements and cooperative business networks became an important strategy for companies facing competitive disadvantages. Specially small and medium firms adopted collaborative network models as a way to overcome common problems. Over 1,000 small-firm networks (SFNs) are estimated to have been created in Brazil since the year 2000. This study aimed to propose a SFNs life cycle model, applying it to a sample of twenty-eight SFNs established in two regions of southern Brazil. The results revealed that 68% of the analyzed SFNs are declining or no longer in business. Among the active business networks, 21% remain at the development stage, and only 11% have achieved consolidation. Most SFNs analyzed fell into a stage of decline early on in the life cycle, incapable of reaching Consolidation. Although results are restricted to the analyzed sample, our study highlights that major managerial efforts are necessary to reach the consolidation stage due to network complexity and expectations of network members. We conclude the paper by presenting subsidies for public policy makers and strategies that SFNs may adopt to reach the status of consolidated networks.

Resumo em Inglês:

The present study investigated the impact of team identification and team-sponsor fit on the sponsor's brand equity. The study's main theoretical references are (a) the Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979); (b) the Schema Theory (Singer, 1968) and (c) the Associative Network Theories (Collins & Loftus, 1975), both about the functioning of the human memory; and (d) customer-based brand equity (Keller, 1993). Research was conducted in Porto Alegre, RS, a Brazilian city where rival football (soccer) teams Grêmio and Internacional share their main sponsors, Banrisul and Unimed, since 2001 and 2002, respectively, a rare context that was previously studied only once before (Davies, Veloutsou, & Costa, 2006). The valid sample comprised 2,000 fans of both teams. The sample was non-probabilistic with equal gender and team quotas. Data analysis was performed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA); and the reliability, convergent, discriminant and nomological validity of the constructs were verified. To test the substantive hypotheses, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using the ADF technique was applied. The empirical results suggest that, in the studied context, the sponsor's brand equity is more influenced by team-sponsor fit than by team identification, which is different from a non-rivalry sponsorship context.

Resumo em Inglês:

Trust is essential in building relationships. In mobile commerce, as in electronic commerce, trust is even more valuable given the absence of human contact and direct observation of the service provider. Despite the importance of trust for mobile commerce, there has been little academic effort to study the relationships between mobile devices unique components of interactivity and customer trust, or the relationship between offline, online and mobile trust. This study proposes a trust-mediated model for customer attitude and transaction intentions in mobile commerce contexts that incorporates trust transference and unique factors present in mobile commerce. Data were collected in an online survey and analyzed via structural equations modeling. Results suggest that trust transferred from online contexts and ease of use have significant effects on mobile trust formation, while also indicating that mobile trust influences consumers' attitudes and intentions to purchase using mobile devices.

Resumo em Inglês:

The demand for improved environmental practices inside firms has increased around the world. However, in the process of implementation of environmental management, policy may be decoupled from practice, generating doubts about its effectiveness. This study investigates an overlooked middle step in the environmental management process, analyzing the strength of the main environmental drivers in improving environmental practices inside firms. We developed a set of hypotheses about the influence regulation, voluntary norms and stakeholder pressure have upon environmental management practices, considering the institutional context and different enforcement of these drivers. We use a cross-sectional survey of 150 Brazilian firms to gather information about environmental management and test our hypotheses in a Structural Equation Model. The findings confirm the importance of command and control instruments as well as stakeholder pressure in promoting better environmental practices inside firms. Yet, the results demonstrate that voluntary norms did not influence management practices even though they were perceived as a market opportunity.