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Despite agreement on the importance of adopting governance structures for developing competitive advantage, we still know little about why or how governance mechanisms are adopted in the first place. We also acknowledge that family businesses with formal governance mechanisms in place still resort to informal means to make decisions, and we lack knowledge about why certain governance mechanisms are sometimes, but not always, effective and functional. Given these research gaps, and drawing on institutional theory, we aim to explore: How are governance structures adopted and developed in family firms? Once adopted, how do family businesses perceive these governance structures?

Using Mokken Scale Analysis, a method suitable to uncover patterns/sequences of adoption/acquisition over time, we analyze a dataset of 1,488 Spanish family firms to explore if there is a specific pattern in the implementation of governance structures. We complement the analysis with descriptive data about perceived usefulness of such structures.

Our findings highlight two important issues. Family businesses follow a specific process implementing first business governance (board of directors, then executive committee), followed by family governance (family council then family constitution). We suggest they do so in response to institutional pressures, given the exposure they have to business practices, and their need to appear legitimate. Despite formal adoption of governance structures, family businesses do not necessarily consider them useful. We suggest that their perception about the usefulness of the implemented governance structures may lead to their ceremonial adoption, resulting in a gap between the implementation and functionality of such structures.

Our article contributes to the family business literature by bringing novel insights about implementation of governance structures. We take a step back to explain why these governance mechanisms were adopted in the first place. Using institutional theory we enrich governance and family business literatures, by offering a lens that explains why family businesses follow a specific process in adopting governance structures. We also offer a plausible explanation as to why governance structures are ineffective in achieving their theorized role in the context of family businesses, based on the family's perception of the unusefulness of such structures, and the concept of ceremonial adoption.

There is no single recipe that can serve the multiple needs of different family businesses. This indicates that family businesses may need diverse levels of development and order when setting up their governance structures. Accordingly, this study constitutes an important point of demarcation for practitioners interested in examining the effectiveness of governance structures in family firms. We show that an important pre-requisite for examining the effectiveness of governance structures is to start by investigating whether these structures are actually being used or are only adopted ceremonially.

Our paper expands current knowledge on governance in family firms by taking a step back hinting at why are governance structures adopted in the first place. Focusing on how governance is implemented in terms of sequence is novel and relevant for researcher and practitioners to understand how this process unfolds. Our study uses institutional theory, which is a strong theory to support the results. Our paper also uses a novel method to study governance structures in family firms.

The objective of this paper is to address the predictive validity of the behavioral approach of EI by Boyatzis and Goleman. There are two research questions guiding this study: emotional and social competencies are positively and significantly related with job performance; and emotional and social competencies will be more successful in predicting performance than universal personality dimensions, like the Big Five personality traits.

The paper is based on the data of three medium‐sized Spanish organizations (n=223) that were involved in a competency management project based on emotional and social competencies. SPSS and structural modeling techniques available in the SEM program LISREL 8.51 software are used to enter the empirical analyses of the paper.

Results show that emotional competencies and personality traits are valuable predictors of job performance as measured by the nominations procedure in the study. In addition, competencies seem to be more powerful predictors of performance than global personality traits.

The sample size is small.

The paper will provide reflective practitioners with useful conceptual and developmental handles for emotional competencies within organizations.

The paper helps to build a body of research that contributes to overcoming the paucity of evidence for the predictive validity of EI measures claimed by many authors.

In a computer simulation experiment, the sociocybernetic concepts of self‐referencing control, disturbances from the environment, goal‐oriented behaviour, and morphogenesis are subsequently included in a model. With this model, a large variety of trajectories with quite different behaviours can be generated by only minor changes of initials and coefficients, which leave the structure of the model fully intact. Shows that the same trajectory can be generated by models which have a completely different structure. Thus, the “fit” between observed and generated trajectories is an insufficient criterion to warrant decisions regarding acceptance or rejection of the model, and the theory behind it. Additional criteria have to be introduced in model‐testing methodology. The sociocybernetic concept of self‐referentiality even requires a radical change in this methodology.

Mirele Cardoso do Bonfim is Professor of Psychology at Salvador University, Brazil, and she is psychologist at Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology, Bahia (IFBA). She received her master's degree in Organizational Psychology from Federal University of Bahia. Her primary researches have been focused on emotions at work and emotional labor. C.V.: Available at http://lattes.cnpq.br/2452149954749191

This study seeks to improve the understanding of physician leaders' leadership work challenges.

The subjects of the empirical study were physician leaders (n = 23) in the largest central hospital in Finland.

A total of five largely identity-related, partially paradoxical dilemmas appeared regarding why working as “just a leader” is challenging for physician leaders. First, the dilemma of identity ambiguity between being a physician and a leader. Second, the dilemma of balancing the expected commitment to clinical patient work by various stakeholders and that of physician leadership work. Third, the dilemma of being able to compensate for leadership skill shortcomings by excelling in clinical skills, encouraging physician leaders to commit to patient work. Fourth, the dilemma of “medic discourse”, that is, downplaying leadership work as “non-patient work”, making it inferior to patient work. Fifth, the dilemma of a perceived ethical obligation to commit to patient work even if the physician leadership work would be a full-time job. The first two issues support the findings of earlier research, while the remaining three emerging from the authors’ analysis are novel.

The authors list some of the practical implications that follow from this study and which could help solve some of the challenges.

This study explores physician leaders' leadership work challenges using authentic physician leader data in a context where no prior empirical research has been carried out.

The purpose of this paper is to present well-being, leadership, and the development of each from a communal perspective in a Finnish primary school in the years 2000-2009.

The study included five sets of data. The quantitative research data were collected from the school staff using the Well-Being at Your Work index questionnaire in 2004 (n=36), 2005 (n=41), and in 2009 (n=34). In 2006, two group interviews were carried out with the school personnel (n=21), and in 2011, retrospective interview data were collected from an expert classroom teacher (n=1). Quantitative data were analysed statistically using descriptive statistics. The qualitative group interview data were analysed by an inductive content analysis, while the expert interview was analysed according to the methods of factual analysis.

During this period, several communal interventions were developed in the school to promote occupational well-being. Over the course of the study, staff members’ satisfaction with the actions and the support provided by the principal has improved, and leadership-related problems have decreased.

The results cover research findings from one school and therefore cannot be generalised to other Finnish school communities.

Schools’ work communities must be active in developing interventions to improve their own occupational well-being. Furthermore, leaders must be actively involved in the development of occupational well-being.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process by which the level of immersion in virtual reality-based behavioral simulation (VR-BS) impacts on the non-cognitive and cognitive outcomes. The cognitive outcome is measured using the increase in the level of Sharia financial literacy, while the noncognitive outcome is measured using the behavioral intention to use VR-BS.

The method consists of two parts: First, the development of VR-BS, in the context of sharia financial literacy, using the waterfall model. Second, testing the effectiveness of VR-BS using the theory of interactive media effects framework. The participants were 142 students from three secondary schools (two Islamic religious schools and one public school) in Yogyakarta and Central Java, Indonesia. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used for testing the hypotheses.

VR-BS creates a perceived coolness and vividness, which in turn has an impact on increasing the participants’ engagement. Also, the use of VR has an impact on natural mapping, which increases a user’s engagement through its perceived ease of use. As predicted, the user’s engagement affects VR’s behavior, mediated by the user’s attitude toward VR media. VR’s interactivity, however, does not impact on the cognitive aspect.

The participants were not randomly selected, as the data were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the majority of the participants had never tried VR before this study. The participants, however, were digital natives.

It is implied from the findings that Islamic financial business actors and the relevant government agencies (e.g. the Indonesian Financial Services Authority [OJK], the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology and the Ministry of Religious Affairs) should collaborate to best prepare the future generation of ummah by using VR-BS in their joint promotion and education programs. The results of the current study reveal that the use of VR-BS may attract people to engage in Islamic financial activities. By engaging in such activities, or at least engaging in real-life simulations/classes/workshops, people may gradually acquire more knowledge about Islamic finance.

As predicted, the user’s engagement has an impact on behavior toward VR-BS, which is mediated by attitude toward VR-BS.

Social media are increasingly being used in teaching and learning in higher education. This paper aims to explore multiple case studies to better understand how instructors decide to incorporate social media into learning.

This qualitative case study used the technology acceptance model (TAM) to explore five instructors' use of social media for teaching and learning, particularly the pedagogical reasons and goals driving their use of social media. Participant interviews, course documentation and social media observation data were collected to answer the research questions.

Findings suggest that an instructor's social media knowledge and awareness of instructional goals are important for the use of social media in learning. Three pedagogical objectives of the use of social media were found across five participants: collaborative learning, dialog and discussion, and authentic learning.

Previous studies have explored potential pedagogical uses of social media tools, however studies that attempt to understand how and why instructors decide to use particular social media tools are underreported.