Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze if gained trust is intrinsically motivating and whether it is correlated to subjective person-job fit and occupational turnover intentions among Swedish real estate brokers. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical data was gathered via a survey targeting all real estate brokers in Sweden and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings: The results indicated that brokers are motivated by gained trust from their sellers and that gained trust is a vital part of person-job fit among brokers. In addition, the results show that higher levels of person-job fit reduce the occupational turnover intentions among brokers. Research limitations/implications: Being a real estate broker in Sweden might differ from being a broker in many other otherwise comparable countries. Another limitation is the lack of measurements of job satisfaction and/or intrinsic motivation connected to other job characteristics besides customer relations and gained trust. The high mean values of person-job fit, and intrinsic motivation connected to gained trust from customers are contributing to a more nuanced description of brokerage. Practical implications: This study gives insights about intrinsic motivation and its connection to person-job fit. Awareness of what drives brokes can be used by both workers and managers to reduce occupational turnover. Originality/value: This study is interesting from a person-job fit theory advancement perspective since the focus is given to the connection between specific situational work characteristics and person-job fit.

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze the occupational life cycle of Swedish real estate brokers.

Design/methodology/approachVoluntary turnover among real estate brokers could lead to occupational turnover and/or employee turnover and has been described as problematic by both practitioners and researchers alike. Most previous studies focusing on this issue have explored connections between real estate brokers' personality, economic and market conditions and turnover. Employee turnover involves shifting jobs within the profession (real estate brokerage), whereas occupational turnover concerns movement to a job not related to the real estate brokerage profession. Both perspectives on turnover are however lacking data about the average time spent as a broker. This study fills this gap by exploring real estate brokers' life cycle through data analysis using a cohort study consisting of a sample of 5,304 real estate brokers registered and/or deregistered over a ten-year period from 2010 to 2019.

Findings

The analysis show that the decline is almost linear, resulting in 50% of the newly registered real estate brokers remain in the occupation eight years after registration. These findings are not in line with previous assumptions as the real estate brokers' life cycle is substantially longer. The results also reveal that there are differences in life cycles due to gender and year of registration.

Originality/value

The analysis of longitudinal, aggregated data on the life cycle of real estate brokers is highly relevant as it serves as a point of reference for future longitudinal studies analyzing the motives for leaving the occupation.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the benefits and drawbacks that strategically imposed liminality inflicts upon inter-organizational digitalization efforts within the different phases of its utilization. Design/methodology/approach: This study empirically examines digitalization in a large multinational manufacturing company, Sandvik Machining Solutions, using data that were collected through interviews and a qualitative research design. Findings: This study shows that a liminal space separated from the structures in which one is supposed to inflict changes increases the risk of developing an incompatible system that will be rejected in the incorporation phase. An inter-organizational perspective on liminality thus contributes to our understanding of the benefits and drawbacks that liminal space can pose for the organizations involved. Practical implications: The study suggests that, in the separation phase, driving change processes by creating liminal spaces could be a way to loosen up rigid resource structures and circumvent network over-embeddedness. Finding the right amount of freedom, ambiguity and community within the liminal space is, however, essential for the transition of information as well as the incorporation of the imposed changes. Originality/value: Introducing an inter-organizational perspective on liminality contributes to our understanding of the stress that liminal space can place on individuals as well as the individual organization. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Purpose: Historically, a transactional perspective has dominated the business negotiation literature. This perspective includes the notions that business negotiations are a linear process that follows episodic or stage models, business negotiations are geared toward an outcome in the form of a one-time transaction, business negotiations focus on a single negotiator or negotiation in a dyad and the research has historically viewed negotiation as a “zero-sum” game. Inspired by a long tradition of empirical studies of business relationships, there is good reason to apply a conceptual analysis to challenge these four assumptions and propose an alternative view on the negotiation process. The purpose of this paper is to contrast how aspects of business negotiations are commonly conceptualized with the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) perspective and develop propositions that will contribute to future research by offering guidelines for the development of business negotiation literature.

Design/methodology/approach: To contribute to a discussion on the relation between conceptualization and research results, definitions within the existing literature regarding business negotiation are contrasted with similar definitions of concepts from the IMP perspective.

Findings: Four propositions have been formulated that further the conceptual understanding of business negotiation. Moreover, a need for future methodological deliberations is demonstrated, and suggestions for future research in the field are offered. Originality/value: Introducing a relational perspective into the conceptually rather underdeveloped stream of research would help to develop the existing critique within the business negotiation literature of its transactional, linear and dyadic focus.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze friction and controversies with interaction processes and their effects on forming new resource interfaces, through the lens of boundary objects.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical setting consists of two organizations that are trying to enhance their competitive advantage through digitalization. During the process of data collection four different boundary objects were identified. The study illustrates how these boundary objects were characterized in terms of their modularity, standardization, abstractness and tangibility. This paper provides an analysis of how respondents perceived that the development of these boundary objects affected the creation of novel resource interfaces, and the resulting friction and controversy between new and old structures.

Findings

The study concludes that within a producer?user setting a focal boundary object will take on tangible and standardized properties, and the interaction process will expose friction in terms of both power struggles and resource incompatibilities. On the other hand, a boundary object?s modularity gives the actors central to the interaction room to maneuver and avoid resource incompatibilities and the development setting will hence be characterized by controversies.

Originality/value

The analysis indicates that the way individuals perceive boundary objects is central to interaction processes, answering calls for studies that investigate the role of objects within subject-to-object interaction.

Purpose The purchasing of services is a significantly under-researched area. The purpose of this study is to suggest a conceptual model of service sourcing relationships, including the post-contract phase. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative methodology involving two longitudinal case studies that were analyzed with a grounded theory approach in order to build a conceptual model. Findings The proposed model consists of a core process that is termed ?business streamlining? and denotes the process by which four interrelated dimensions are managed in order to making the business processes of the buying organization simpler and more effective and/or productive. Research limitations/implications Although the research methodology is qualitative and does not allow statistical generalization, the study does provide valuable insights into the management of the service (out-) sourcing process. Practical implications The model proposed in this study can be utilized by managers to impose a useful conceptual structure on otherwise fluid and intangible processes, which makes them easier to analyze and facilitates strategic corporate decision-making. Originality/value The paper proposes a model that grasps the dynamics and reality of service (out-) sourcing relationships, including the ongoing relationship management process.

Purpose This paper aims to suggest a dynamic model incorporating the important dimensions that exist in negotiation processes. Design/methodology/approach To produce a general and conceptual theory of negotiation, the grounded theory methodology is deployed. Findings The core process in this model is dubbed ?goal-oriented balancing? and describes how he negotiator is continuously balancing opposing, and seemingly contrasting, forces in a situation specific and dynamic manner to reach agreements. Based on these findings, this study also suggests a concept to describe negotiations that is focused on collaboration and that is not an oxymoron as is the concept of ?win?win?. Practical implications This conceptual model can be used by managers and practitioners to navigate in a negotiation process. Originality/value This is the first grounded theory study in negotiation research and attempt to describe negotiation processes as dynamic events in which different dimensions are managed simultaneously.