Recent research suggests that rational choice and social influence theories provide complementary explanations for individual selection and use of communication media in organizations. Focusing specifically on e-mail selection and use, our study builds on this research by investigating the determinative role of individual differences. We find that individual differences influence e-mail use directly, as well as influence the relation between other predictor variables and e-mail use. Specifically, favorable attitudes toward innovation and change, computer self-efficacy, and computer experience directly and positively influence e-mail use, and in addition, attitudes toward innovation and change influence (moderate) the relationship between social context and e-mail selection and use. These findings point to the need for a more comprehensive and complex model of the process determining the selection and use of e-mail. lectronic mail is ubiquitous in contemporary organizations. E-mail liberates the communicator from the time and space constraints of
There has been much debate in the management literature between neo-Darwinists (who believe in the natural selection of populations of organizations) and adaptationists (who contend that changes in organization structure and behavior occur in response to the environment). The general thesis of neo-Darwinism is that species are blindly selected for survival by the environment. The latest empirical support for the dominant neo-Darwinism perspective adopted by most biologists is based primarily on the experiments conducted by Salvador Luria who claims to have conclusively demonstrated that genes mutate randomly. Recently, however, biologists have re-examined Luria's research methods and, after replications of his experiments, now question some aspects of the validity of his results. Moreover, there is now new research which provides support for the earlier adaptationist position, namely, the existence of evolutionary drivers and directors existing within self-organizing systems. Of particular importance to the present study is the experimental indication that self-organizing systems play a conscious role in their own evolution. We propose that similar mechanisms or processes operate in organizational adaptation, thus pointing toward a theoretical modification of neo-Darwinism that embraces both adaptation and natural selection in a general, unified theory.
PurposeThis paper proposes to explore the circumstances of the word management's entry into English usage, to deepen understanding of this neglected chapter in management history, and to urge further historical research into seminal management terms and concepts. It also aims to offer a brief explanation of John Florio's role in the introduction of management into English and of that of the Italian Renaissance's influence in England.Design/methodology/approachThe paper's guiding theoretical premise is historian Daniel Rodgers' observation that concepts in government and business often pass from one country to another through “cross fertilization,” effected by the movements and offices of highly connected, cosmopolitan individuals. The sources for this exploration include Florio's World of Words, histories of Florio's circumstances and of the Italian Renaissance, and Evans' edition of La pratica della mercatura (ca 1340) by Francesco Balducci Pegolotti of the fourteenth century Florentine banking firm of Bardi.FindingsThe exploration's findings reinforce Rodgers's account of the spread of government and business concepts and rediscovers a vital link between business practice and humanistic studies.Research limitations/implicationsModern business education, e.g. in its frequent omission of a foreign language requirement in business college curricula, tends to obscure this linkage, now critical in our global economy. The implication is that this linkage should be revived.Originality/valueDeeper knowledge of the Italian Renaissance roots of management and of the business practices it denoted brings new light to the interplay between humanistic studies associated with the Italian Renaissance and Renaissance business practices in an international context. Accordingly, the authors believe that this exploration turns a page, albeit the first page, of a neglected chapter in the history of management thought and practice.
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