Abstract: The present work studies the engagement of prosocial behavior as an antecedent of affective commitment within for-profit organizations. In order to accomplish this, the work focuses on the role of positive feelings. It tests a partial least square-structural equation model using a cross-sectional survey of 144 professional employees from several Colombian industries. Results obtained show that prosocial behavior is associated with affective commitment, but only with the intervention of meaningfulness at work. These associations provide insight into professional employees’ attitudes towards the search for intrinsic motivation and engagement in for-profit organizational environments. Further implications revolve around the justification for working on practices that not only found and foster prosocial behavior in the workplace but also promote skill variety, task identity, and task meaningfulness to obtain adequate levels of engagement and commitment. Finally, since most studies have been conducted in developed countries, this study also contributes to a better understanding of the topic in previously unexplored contexts. In this case, a Latin American emerging economy, like Colombia. Resumen: El presente trabajo estudia el comportamiento prosocial como un antecedente, tanto del trabajo significativo como del compromiso afectivo en el contexto de las organizaciones con fines de lucro. Para ello, el trabajo se enfoca en el papel de los sentimientos positivos y prueba un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales basado en mínimos cuadrados parciales, a partir de la aplicación transversal de un instrumento a 144 empleados profesionales de varias industrias en Colombia. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que el comportamiento prosocial está asociado con el compromiso afectivo, pero solo gracias la intervención de la experiencia de tener un trabajo significativo. Estas asociaciones proporcionan conocimiento sobre las actitudes de los empleados profesionales hacia la búsqueda de la motivación intrínseca y la participación en entornos organizacionales con fines de lucro. Las implicaciones giran en torno a la justificación para trabajar en prácticas gerenciales que no solo encuentran y fomentan el comportamiento prosocial en el lugar de trabajo, sino que también promuevan la variedad de habilidades, la identidad de la tarea y la significancia de la tarea para obtener niveles adecuados de responsabilidad y compromiso. Finalmente, dado que la mayoría de los estudios se han realizado en países desarrollados, este estudio también contribuye a una mejor comprensión del tema en contextos previamente inexplorados; en este caso, una economía en vías de desarrollo, como la colombiana.

Abstract: Law 160 of 1994 in Colombia marks a point of transit between the sterile attempts for agrarian reform in the 20th century and a series of market-based land policies. However, this law also marks the end of a cycle of peasant mobilization, especially in border areas, and with it a partial recognition of the peasant settlers is achieved, through what the law named Peasant Reserve Zones (PRZ). These zones allow basically three main things to the inhabitants of frontier zones: the titling of the land that the settlers have transformed and that they informally possess, the closure of the agricultural frontier through a control of the amount of land that can be owned inside the zone, and the peasant governance of the zone. The peasant governance is manifested through processes of territorial ordering, in which the peasant associations that impulse each zone regulates the social and economic activities of it. The majority of the academic literature that has analyzed the PRZ in the last 25 years has focused its attention in particular zones treating them as case studies. Through these cases, this literature has presented the PRZ as a reaction of the peasant communities to the processes of capital accumulation and capital penetration in the Colombian countryside. Nevertheless, this literature has done this analysis without considering in depth the variation in the strategies the PRZ have used in developing a repertoire of contention against the implementation of land policies before the law 160 was issued and after it, and focusing mainly in the critical geography discussion of the dynamics of territorialization. Through a sociological and historical analysis, this paper offers an initial exploration of the dynamic process of formation of a repertoire of contention of the Colombian PRZ. This paper analyzes in a parallel way the formation of the Colombian state and the formation of a peasant social movement. It concludes arguing that the PRZ have developed two repertoires of contention through which they have at the same time resist and create the Colombian state, and 5 strategies that have enabled them a margin of maneuver between the two repertoires.

Abstract: Entrepreneurial Companies play a fundamental role in economic growth, the creation of employment, local and regional development, and social cohesion. Start-ups will not necessarily become the largest source for employment, but they are considered economic drivers that commercialize innovation, expand internationally and create economic value. With the recent increase in prominence of new entrepreneurial ventures all over the world, much attention has been devoted to the creation of new firms. Belgium consists of three main regions: Brussels, Flanders, and Wallonia. The breakdown of start-ups according to these regions is the following: Brussels: 31.5%, Flanders: 53.4%, and Wallonia: 15.1%. Note that Brussels, despite hosting only 11% of all active companies in Belgium, is doing exceptionally well regarding its share of start-ups and scaleups; almost 50% of all Belgian start-ups are concentrated in and around the cities of Brussels, Ghent, and Antwerp. It is no surprise that, being the largest cities of Belgium, students make up for a significant portion of the population. More than half of the companies are active in the following categories: eCommerce, Software as a Service (SaaS), consumer mobile/web applications, industrial technology/production, and education. Half of the companies are at the start-up stage (i.e. completion of MVP or initial customers/revenue). 22% is in the seed stage and 24% in growth stage - 85% of the companies are mainly in B2B. While the majority (55%) of entrepreneurs believe that their product or service is a novelty in the world, only 4% realizes that their product or service is not a market innovation. In addition to that, 23% of startups do not have employees (Mohout, 2016). The supplying side of the market for informal capital consists of high net-worth individuals with considerable business experience, commonly known as Business Angels (BAs). Business Angels invest a portion of their wealth in high-risk, high-return start-ups (Coveney & Moore, Business Angels: Securing Start-up Finance, 1998). While it is difficult to precisely quantify the size of the angel market (due to its informal nature), some studies estimate its size to be twice the size of the institutional venture capital market (Freear, Sohl, & Wetzel, 1995). This suggests that Business Angels provide the largest amount of capital among early-stage ventures and fund a greater number of firms than venture capitalists (VCs) do. After receiving a first investment from a Business Angel, start-ups face a new critical question: whether to raise new funding under the form of debt or equity and, in the case of equity, involving new Business Angels or migrating to Venture Capital. Literature suggests that these young enterprises more often than not receive funds from equity in the early stages. However, in the case of demand for more resources and having a BA as back up, the entrepreneur may appeal to traditional financing sources in order to maintain the ownership. Resumen: Las microempresas juegan un rol fundamental en el crecimiento económico de un país, la creación de nuevos empleos y el desarrollo local y regional. Start-ups no se convierten necesariamente en la mayor fuente de empleo pero si son considerados impulsadores económicos que comercializan innovación, se expanden internacionalmente y crean valor económico. Después de recibir una primera inversión de un Ángel Inversionista, Start-Ups tienen que enfrentar una nueva y critica pregunta: ¿es mejor conseguir nuevos fondos adquiriendo una deuda o nuevo capital proveniente de inversionistas y en caso de recurrir a inversionistas, conseguir un nuevo ángel inversionista o migrar a un fondo de inversión? La literatura sugiere que estas nuevas empresas a menudo reciben fondos de capital en las primeras etapas de inversión. Sin embargo, teniendo un Ángel inversionista como respaldo, el empresario puede optar por métodos de financiación más tradicionales con la intensión de mantener propia la empresa.

Abstract: The adoption of teleworking as a work modality in organizations has grown exponentially due to the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis. This phenomenon has allowing the development of remote activities that are normally carried out in person. However, there is a concern among managers and employers due to the apparent absence of control and decreased productivity when using teleworking. For this reason, this article reviews, through two case studies of teleworkers surveillance and control software, the way in which their use provide support to the theory of formal and informal control, and how it can improve perception about the teleworking application and offer guarantees to employers. Similarly, the manuscript discusses the effects on the quality of life and personal behavior of employees who are involved within this modality. Resumen: La adopción del teletrabajo como modalidad laboral en las organizaciones ha crecido exponencialmente debido a la crisis actual de pandemia por COVID-19. Esto ha permitido el desarrollo de actividades a distancia que normalmente se realizan de forma presencial. Sin embargo, existe una preocupación en los gerentes y empleadores por la aparente ausencia del control y disminución de la productividad en su uso. Por tal razón el presente artículo revisa, a partir de dos casos de estudio de softwares de vigilancia y control de teletrabajadores, la forma en que su utilización brinda soporte a la teoría del control formal e informal, y cómo puede mejorar la percepción en la aplicación del teletrabajo al ofrecer garantías a los empleadores. De igual manera, se discuten las afectaciones en la calidad de vida y comportamiento personal de los empleados involucrados en esta modalidad.

Resumen: Este artículo ilustra el papel del populismo en la defensa de empresas estatales transgresoras, a partir del estudio del caso de la empresa Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) y su relación con el Estado venezolano durante la era del autodenominado “socialismo del siglo XXI”. Para ello se hace una investigación descriptiva y de sistematización de datos sobre algunos eventos de transgresión socioambiental en los que incurrió la compañía entre 2010 y 2020. Los resultados apuntan al uso continuo de una retórica incendiaria, constituida por el antielitismo, la defensa de la soberanía popular y la consideración de una ciudadanía homogénea y virtuosa. Esto sugiere que el populismo también puede ser utilizado como un estilo discursivo particular para defender la legitimidad de empresas transgresoras subordinadas al poder. Abstract: This work illustrates the role of populism in defending transgressing state-owned companies, based on the case of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and its relationship with the Venezuelan state during the self-titled era of ‘21st-century socialism.’ To this end, a descriptive research design and systematization of data was performed on some socio-environmental transgressions by this company between 2010 and 2020. The results point to the continued use of inflammatory rhetoric, represented by anti-elitism, defense of popular sovereignty, and the consideration of homogeneous and virtuous citizenship. These findings suggest that populism can be used as a particular discursive behavior meant to defend the legitimacy of transgressing, subservient-to-power companies.

Tokyoa beautiful yet cold city, full of life and twinkling lights. There resides Subaru Sumeragi, the thirteenth head of his clan and a powerful onmyouji. Aided by his glamorous twin sister, Hokuto, and the veterinarian who claims to love him, Seishirou Sakurazuka, he solves the supernatural troubles that plague the citizens of Tokyoboth living and deceased!

Abstract: This study examines outsourced workers’ assessment of job satisfaction and the degree to which it can be affected by their perception of the reputation of the outsourcing company (i.e., their employer), that of the user company (i.e., their client), and their level of affective commitment to each one of them. Therefore, this study proposes a partial least squares structural equation model with four correlational hypotheses and two mediation hypotheses. A cross-sectional instrument was administered to 138 outsourced workers employed by the same outsourcing company in Colombia. The results indicate that the outsourcing company’s reputation has a slight influence on its employees’ affective commitment to said company, but not on their job satisfaction. Finally, the user company’s reputation has a strong influence on its outsourced workers’ affective commitment, and the latter variable plays a partial mediating role in the link between the user company’s reputation and outsourced employee satisfaction. Resumen: El presente estudio se propuso indagar por la forma en que los trabajadores en condición de tercerización laboral conciben su nivel de satisfacción en su trabajo, y el grado en que dicha valoración puede ser afectada en función de su propia percepción de reputación sobre la empresa subcontratista (su empleador) y la empresa usuaria (su cliente), así como de su nivel de vinculación afectiva con respecto a cada una de ellas. Para ello se planteó un modelamiento de ecuaciones estructurales mediante mínimos cuadrados parciales, empleándose cuatro hipótesis correlacionales y dos hipótesis de mediación. De esta manera, se aplicó un instrumento transversal sobre una muestra de 138 trabajadores tercerizados, vinculados a una misma empresa subcontratista en Colombia. Los resultados obtenidos indican que la reputación de esta empresa parecería incidir ligeramente sobre la vinculación afectiva de los trabajadores con respecto a ella misma, más no sobre su propia satisfacción en el trabajo. Finalmente, se observa una fuerte incidencia de la reputación de la empresa usuaria sobre la vinculación afectiva de sus trabajadores, variable que a su vez ejerce un rol de mediación parcial dentro del vínculo existente entre la misma reputación (de la empresa usuaria) y la satisfacción de los trabajadores.

Abstract Purpose: By considering the organizational legitimacy framework, this work examines how offending companies decouple their narratives from the facts as a communication strategy when handling environmental crises in the Latin American context. It also considers the implications of such behavior in terms of its potential inconsistency with the organizational value system, and therefore with the ethical sense of the crisis communication practice. Design/methodology: The research relies on a multi-case study approach, where four major environmental incidents involving four extractive companies in Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina are analyzed. By scrutinizing public sources, these companies’ crisis communication processes are examined to allow for the linking of theory and practice. Findings: Results obtained suggest that to defend their legitimacy, companies deliberately conveyed untruthful messages and decouple their communication in crisis from reality, which in turn exposes a delinking between values and actions, resulting in ethical concerns for the practice of both crisis management and crisis communication. This work identifies four different decoupling-based crisis communication strategies performed by companies and the way these are accompanied by secondary strategies. Research limitations/implications: By emphasizing the connection between legitimacy and crisis communication, the study illustrates how narrative-fact decoupling (i.e., untruthful crisis communication practices) can be an indicative of more profound organizational contradictions. However, due to the constraints of case studies, it is acknowledged that the results obtained have boundaries for generalization. Originality/value: Instead of approaching decoupling as a trigger for crisis, the present investigation considers decoupling as a communicational strategy some companies engage with, when handling crisis. Furthermore, by focusing on Latin America, the study reflects the potential impact that the geographical context may have on the bodies of knowledge of organizational crisis communication and legitimacy.

Abstract: Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) and their governing structures are responsible not only to their shareholders but to a wide variety of stakeholders due to the scale of their business activities and their impact on societal and environmental levels. This study builds on such premise and investigates the relationship between the educational background of MNEs chief executive officers – CEOs and the firm’s corporate social performance (CSP). It also examines whether this relationship is moderated by the organizational visibility of the firm and/or by the institutional quality of the country where it is headquartered. First, while prior literature has predominantly focused on demographic characteristics of the firm’s dominant coalition that are likely to influence the company’s engagement with CSR activities, the current study examines their impact on the social performance of the company. Particularly, it focuses on the CEOs education background as a construct of both level and field of education. Second, building on the ‘upper-echelons’ and the stakeholder’s theories, the study theorizes and empirically investigates the mentioned relationships through a quantitative approach using a sample comprised by the Fortune Global 500. The study reveals that there is no significant correlation between CEOs educational background and firm’s CSP. Moreover, that neither the institutional quality nor the organizational visibility have a moderating effect on said relationship. Results are discussed and suggestions are made for further research. Resumen: Las empresas multinacionales (EMN) y sus estructuras de gobierno son responsables no sólo ante sus accionistas sino ante una gran variedad de partes interesadas debido a la escala de sus actividades comerciales y su impacto en la sociedad y el medio ambiente. El estudio se basa en tal premisa e investiga la relación entre la formación académica de los directores ejecutivos de las empresas multinacionales y el desempeño social empresarial de la compañía. Así mismo, examina si esta relación está moderada por la visibilidad organizacional de la firma y / o por la calidad institucional del país donde tiene su sede principal. En primer lugar, aunque la literatura previa se ha centrado predominantemente en las características demográficas de la coalición dominante de la empresa, las cuales tienden a influenciar los niveles de compromiso de la compañía con las actividades de responsabilidad social empresarial – RSE, el estudio actual examina su impacto en el desempeño social de la empresa. En particular, se centra en la formación académica de los directores ejecutivos, entendiéndola como una construcción de dos elementos a saber, el campo de estudio y el nivel educativo. En segundo lugar, basándose en las teorías de las ‘coaliciones dominantes’ y de los grupos de interés, el estudio teoriza e investiga empíricamente las relaciones mencionadas a través de un enfoque cuantitativo utilizando una muestra compuesta por las empresas del ‘Fortune Global 500’. El estudio revela que no existe una correlación significativa entre la formación académica de los directores ejecutivos y el desempeño social empresarial de las compañías. Adicionalmente, que ni la calidad institucional ni la visibilidad organizacional tienen un efecto moderador sobre dicha relación. Se discuten los resultados y se hacen sugerencias para futuras investigaciones.

Abstract: We explore inflation dynamics in the period following the Great Recession for ten different countries for which we have data on the natural rate of unemployment and agents’ inflation expectations. We find that, out of the ten countries analyzed, there is evidence of missing disinflation for seven of them, and, furthermore, the traditional Phillips curve predicts several quarters with negative average inflation (deflation) for six of those that experienced missing disinflation episodes. While analyzing possible explanations within the framework of an expectations-augmented Phillips curve, we find that controlling for the unemployment gap, accounting for a possible flattening of the Phillips curve across time, and considering either households’ or professionals’ inflation forecasts as proxies for firms’ inflation expectations can account for the absence of strong disinflationary pressures since 2009. Resumen: Exploramos las dinámicas inflacionarias de diez países para los que tenemos datos sobre la tasa natural de desempleo y expectativas de inflación de los agentes económicos, en el período posterior a la Gran Recesión. Encontramos que, de los diez países analizados, hay evidencia de una ausencia de desinflación en siete de ellos y, además, la curva de Phillips tradicional predice varios trimestres con inflación promedio negativa (deflación) para seis de los que experimentaron episodios de desinflación ausente. Al analizar las posibles explicaciones en el marco de una curva de Phillips con expectativas aumentadas, encontramos que controlar por la brecha de desempleo, tomar en cuenta un posible aplanamiento de la curva de Phillips a lo largo del tiempo, y considerar los pronósticos de inflación de los hogares o los profesionales como sustitutos de las expectativas de inflación de las empresas pueden explicar la ausencia de fuertes presiones desinflacionarias desde 2009.