The objective of this study was to conduct research and analysis using Group Focus Interview to survey the between construction site workers and managers implementing for the Severe Accident Punishment Act. Focused on measures to improve safety management effectiveness for the effectiveness of establishing a safety management system. A plan to improve the efficient safety management system was presented to 50 construction industrial managers and workers. In order to ensure the industrial accident prevention policies appropriately, it is necessary to be aware of safety obligations for workers as well as business operators. In addition, despite the existence of a commentary on the Serious Accident Punishment Act, confusion in the field still persists, so in the event of a major accidents, the obligation to take safety and health education is strengthened, and effective case education is proposed by teaching actual accident cases suitable for actual working sites. It is necessary to make all training mandatory, and it is necessary to reconsider awareness through writing a daily safety log, awareness of risk factors, etc., and writing down risk information. Above all, at the construction ordering stage, it is necessary to keep the construction safety, request corrections and supplements for problems issues that arise, and consult between the orderer and the construction company about the problems issues. Rather than having only the construction company correct or supplement the safety management plan, the contents should be shared with supervisors and workers to establish a more practical solution. Results of this study will contribute to improving the effectiveness of the serious accident and construction safety management system.

Mid-sized manufacturing companies, which account for 0.7%(5,480 companies), 13.8%(1.169 million persons) of total employment, and 15.7% of total sales, have recently experienced a lot of difficulties in management activities due to the impact of COVID-19, the U.S.-China trade war, and the collapse of global supply chains. To overcome this, revitalization of quality management activities to strengthen corporate competitiveness is emerging as an urgent task. In order for these quality management activities to achieve their intended purpose, the positive leadership of corporate managers is very important above all else. There have been many studies related to positive leadership, but most have focused on charismatic leadership and transformational leadership centered on large companies or small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, this study aims to present ways to strengthen the leadership of managers by empirically analyzing how the positive leadership of managers of mid-sized manufacturing companies, which was relatively under-researched, affects quality management activities and Business performance(Balanced Score Card; BSC).

본 연구는 교육서비스 기업 경영자의 교육리더십이 조직의 학습조직화에 미치는 영향을 알아보고, 그 관계에서 조직 구성원의 자기효능감을 매개효과를 검토하는 것을 연구 목적으로 하였다. 이를 통해 교육서비스 기업의 개인적·조직적 주요 변인을 검증하여 교육적 조직으로서의 교육서비스 기업의 실제적 시사점을 도출하고 지속 가능한 성장 동력 확보 의 토대가 될 기초 자료를 제공하고자 하였다. 이상의 연구목적 달성을 위해 교육서비스 기업 임직원을 연구대상으로 설 정하여 온라인 설문을 실시하여, 총 409부의 설문지를 회수하였으며, SPSS 26.0을 활용하여 수집된 자료를 분석하였다. 수행된 연구를 통해 도출된 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 교육서비스 기업 경영자의 교육리더십이 조직의 학습조직화 에 정(+)적 영향을 주는 것으로 확인되었다. 둘째, 교육서비스 기업 경영자의 교육리더십이 조직 구성원의 자기효능감에 정(+)적 영향을 주는 것으로 확인되었다. 셋째, 교육서비스 기업 조직 구성원의 자기효능감이 조직의 학습조직화에 정(+) 적 영향을 주는 것으로 확인되었다. 넷째, 교육서비스 기업 경영자의 교육리더십과 조직의 학습조직화의 관계에서 조직 구성원 자기효능감의 매개효과가 나타나는 것이 확인되었다. 본 연구를 통해 교육리더십, 학습조직화, 자기효능감 등 교 육서비스 기업의 개인 및 조직 변인 관계를 확인하고 연구결과를 기반으로 이론적, 실무적 시사점을 제시하였다.

A secure digital platform (SDP) can provide B2B marketers with confidence to use communications technology (CT) and engage in information sharing that facilitates resource utilization. Interlinked digital platforms constitute the company’s ecosystem and barriers in the form of a lack of skills and knowledge in relation to governance and compliance can be overcome through organizational intervention that is external to an individual’s capability of control. A framework for an SDP was developed by utilizing network theory and data were collected via an online survey and analysed (n=207) using SEM, AMOS. Organizational intervention through an SDP can help B2B marketers to increase the organization’s resource capability through improved interaction. It can also help individuals to become pro-actively compliant and be less at risk from various threats (e.g., fake news) as the organization provides a safer digital environment.

본 연구는 기업의 중간관리자, 코칭역량 척도(CCSMM)의 신뢰도와 타당도를 검증하는데 목적이 있다. 타당화 연구를 위한 중간관리자의 코칭역량 척도의 문항 구성요인은 목표달 성, 커뮤니케이션, 대인관계, 자기주도의 4개 영역과 목표정하기, 목표달성, 경 청, 질문, 피드백, 상호존중 및 신뢰, 지지 및 지원, 자기효능감 및 성장/미래지향 성의 9개 요인 40문항으로 구성되어 있다. 상기와 같이 새롭게 개발된 중간관리자의 코칭역량 척도의 일반화를 위해 타 당도의 증거를 제시하고자, 기존의 타당화된 검사 도구와의 상관계수를 확인하 였다. 상관관계 분석결과 중간관리자의 코칭역량 척도와 Stowell(1986)의 코칭 리더십 척도 간에 높은 유의미한 정적상관을 보였다. 즉, 목표정하기, 목표달성, 경청, 질문, 피드백, 상호존중 및 신뢰, 지지 및 지원, 자기효능감, 성장/미래지향 성 등 중간관리자의 코칭역량 구성요인과 코칭리더십 척도 간에 모두 유의미한 정적상관이 있다는 것이 밝혀졌다. 결론적으로 본 연구는 기업의 중간관리자, 코칭역량 척도의 신뢰도와 타당도 의 타당화 검증을 통해 기업에 근무하는 중간관리자들의 코칭역량 향상에 기여 할 수 있는 계기가 되었다는 데 의의가 있다.

이 연구는 해양경찰조직의 발전을 위해 해양경찰공무원이 인식하는 권한 부여 리더십이 조직시민행동과의 관계를 검증 목적 으로 연구를 진행하였다. 리더십에는 다양한 유형이 있지만 해양경찰공무원은 직무 특성상 부여된 권한이 실무에서 더욱 효과적인 문제 해결에 도움이 될 것이며, 비록 비공식적 행동이지만 결과적으로 조직의 발전으로 연결되는 조직시민행동은 최근 조직발전과 관련된 연 구로 많이 진행된다는 점에서 접근하였다. 이 연구에서는 해양경찰공무원 168명을 대상으로 구조화된 설문지를 통해 연구가 진행되었으 며 연구 결과 해양경찰공무원의 직무는 위험성, 돌발성 등으로 인해 해양경찰공무원은 상호 의존적 직무 성격이 중요하므로 중간 관리자 의 목표에 대한 설명과 구성원에 대한 다양한 행동은 해양경찰 조직성과에 긍정적 결과로 연결된다는 점에서 정책적 제언을 하였다.

본 연구의 목적은 노인보호전문기관 중간관리자의 업무수행 어려움을 분석하 기 위해 수행되었다. 본 연구를 위해 노인보호전문기관 중간관리자 중 사회복지 전체 경력 10년 이상, 중간관리자 경력 5년 이상인 5인을 선정하여 총 3회 포커 스 그룹 면담을 진행하고 Colaizzi의 현상학적 이론으로 결과를 분석하였다. 연 구 결과, 노인보호전문기관 중간관리자의 업무수행 어려움에 관한 경험들은 175 개의 의미 있는 진술과 8개의 세부 주제, 2개의 주제 묶음이 도출되었다. ‘개인적 측면’에서는, ‘기관장님과 직원 사이에서 역할의 어려움’, ’자신의 감정을 표출하 지 않음‘, ’일과 가정 양립의 불균형‘으로 나타났고, ’조직적 측면‘에서는, ‘책임의 광범위성’, ‘과중한 행정업무 담당’, ’민원인 응대‘, ‘인력 부족‘, ‘직원들의 잦은 이 직’으로 나타났다. 본 연구 결과를 토대로 노인보호전문기관 중간관리자의 업무수행 어려움에 대하여 실제적으로 이들을 이해하고 개입할 수 있는 제도를 모색해 보고 이들을 지원하기 위한 실천적, 정책적인 함의를 조망했다는 데 의의가 있다.

본 연구는 에니어그램 배형의 중소기업 경영자가 인식하는 리더십 유형과 특 성을 파악하기 위해 과학적으로 주관적인 의미를 측정할 수 있는 Q 방법론을 활용하여 분석하였다. 인터뷰와 선행연구를 통하여 200개의 Q모집단을 구성한 다음 40개의 진술문으로 Q 표본으로 선정하였다. 연구에 사용된 P샘플은 중소 기업 경영자 중 에니어그램 배형 23명을 선정하여 Q분류 과정을 통해 나온 자 료를 QUANL 프로그램을 사용하여 주성분 요인 분석을 실시하였다. 연구결과 유형 1은 ‘팔로워의 성장을 돕는 비전제시형’ 유형 2는 ‘팔로워에 대한 책임감이 강한 외강내유형’ , 유형 3은 ‘일보다 사람이 우선인 팔로워중심형’, 유형 4는 ‘팔 로워에게 모범이 되는 자기관리형’으로 나타났다. 이상의 연구 결과를 통하여 에니어그램 배형의 중소기업 경영자가 인식하는 리더십을 유형별로 확인할 수 있었으며, 유형별 특성을 통해서 에니어그램 배형 중소기업 경영자의 특성을 이 해하는데 기초 자료를 제공하였다는 점에서 의의가 있다.

본 연구는 인상학의 여러 관점사 중 부(富)에 대한 연구로서 한국의 재벌기업 창업자 13인과 게임기업 창업자 21인을 대상으로 동양의 전통적 상학인 인상학의 이론을 적용하여 두 집단의 인상의 공통점과 차이점을 분석하기 위한 것이다. 이를 위해 삼정(三停), 이마, 귀, 눈썹, 눈, 코, 입 등 7개 부위를 얼굴의 길이와 상대비율로 측정하여 통계분석 하였다. 분석결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 이 두 집단 간의 공통점은 귀의 길이와 코의 길이가 한국의 표준형에 비해 길다는 점이다. 이는 인상학의 고전 이론과 부합하는 점이라 할 수 있다. 둘째, 두 집단 간의 차이점은 귀길이, 귓불길이, 코의 세로길이는 재벌창업주가 더 길었고, 눈썹과 눈사이를 의미하는 전택궁 역시 재벌창업주가 더 길고 넓다는 점이다. 이는 재벌창업주의 인상이 고전 상법과 더욱 일치함을 의미한다. 그러나 게임기업 창업주는 코의 가로길이가 더 길었는데 이는 코가 넓고 두툼하다는 것을 의미하는 것이다. 반면 고전 상법에서는 귀끝이 눈썹 끝보다 높아야 한다는 전제가 있는데 사례자 전원은 반대였다. 이는 고전 인상학의 기준이 현대에는 적용되지 못함을 의미한다고 볼 수 있다. 인상 부위 중 두 집단의 공통점은 코와 귀로 나타났다. 이에따라 귀길이, 귀 불길이, 전택궁길이, 코세로길이, 코가로길이의 5개 변수를 대상으로 판별분석을 실시하였다. 그 결과 판별적중율은 82.4%로 높은 판별율을 나타내어, 두 집단 간의 인상의 차이점이 특징적으로 존재함이 나타났다. 전체적으로 재벌창업주의 인상은 고전 인상학의 이론과 부합되었지만, 게임기업 창업주의 경우 불일치 하는 경우도 나타났다. 따라서 인상학이 현대의 학문영역으로 진입하기 위해서는 실증과 검증이 필요함과 동시에 현대에 맞는 이론으로 전화되어야 한다는 과제를 안겨주고 있다.

There is a growing interest in project management knowledge, project management information systems, and process improvement to systematically project execution in public sectors, achieve high performance and value, and increase the effectiveness of the overall industry. In particular, the software industry is a knowledge-intensive industry centered on professional manpower. This study examines the effect of the project managers' competences of regional SW promotion agencies on and project performance and the moderating effect of the level of project management maturity. We collected data using a questionnaire to the project managers of regional SW promotion agencies. In this study, a structural equation model was used to analyze the relationship between project managers’ competences and performance. In addition, a multi-group structural equation model was used to analyze the moderating effect according to the high and low project maturity. As a result of the analysis, it was found that only contextual competence among the competences of the project manager had a positive effect on project performance. It was found that technical and behavioral competence did not have a positive effect on management and completion performance. It was found that the moderating effect according to the maturity of business management of local institutions was not significant.

본 연구의 목적은 지방공무원 중간관리자의 코칭역량이 부하직원의 조직몰입 및 직무스트레스에 어떠한 영향을 미치는가를 객관적으로 파악하고 논의하는 것이다. 이러한 목적을 달성하기 위해서 경기도 Y시와 충청남도 S시의 지방공무원 313명을 대상으로 관련 설문을 실시하여, 최종적으로 235명의 자료를 분석 하였다. 연구결과, 지방공무원 중간관리자의 코칭역량은 부하직원의 조직몰입과 직무 스트레스에 통계적으로 유의한 영향을 미치고 있었다. 구체적으로 중간관리자 코칭역량의 하위요인 중 목표정하기와 지지 및 지원은 조직몰입에 유의한 정적 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났으며, 경청과 질문은 유의한 부적 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 또한, 중간관리자 코칭역량의 하위요인 중 목표정하기와 상호 존중 및 신뢰, 자기효능감은 직무스트레스에 유의한 부적 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 대부분의 코칭관련 연구에서 관리자나 리더의 코칭역량은 조직원의 조직몰입에는 정적인 영향을, 직무스트레스에는 부적인 영향을 나타낸다. 하지만 본 연구에서 특이하다고 할 만한 것은 지방공무원 중간관리자의 경청과 질문이 부하 직원의 조직몰입에 부적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 확인되었다. 이처럼 선행연구의 결과와 상반된 현상에 대해서는 설문연구의 표피적 한계로 인해 심층적 내막 을 파악하기 어렵다. 단지, 지방공무원조직의 특성이나 조직문화 등에서 그 이 유를 찾아볼 수 있을 것이라는 기대를 한다. 따라서 향후 현상에 대한 심층적 접근을 가능하게 하는 연구 패러다임을 통해 추가적인 논의가 필요하다.

본 연구는 중간관리자를 대상으로 리더십 변화신념, 리더십 개발활동, 상태불안과 이직의도 간의 경로를 분석하여 인과관계를 확인하고자 시도되었다. 이를 위해 중간관리자 600명을 표집하여 설문조사를 실시하였으며 수집된 데이터를 바탕으로 경로모형을 검증하였다. 본 연구 모형에 대한 직접효과를 살펴본 결과, 리더십 고정신념과 증진신념은 모두 리더십 개발활동에 정적 영향을 주었으며, 리더십 개발활동은 다시 상태불안에 부적인 영향을 미치고, 상태불안은 이직의도에 정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 리더십 고정신념이 상태 불안에 미치는 직접효과는 없는 것으로 나타난 반면 리더십 증진신념은 상태불안에 부적인 영향을 주었으며, 리더십 고정신념은 이직의도에 정적인 영향을 미친 반면, 리더십 증진신념은 이직의도에 아무런 영향을 미치지 않았다. 결과적으로, 리더십 변화신념인 고정신념과 증진신념이 각각 이직의도에 미치는 영향은 리더십 개발활동과 상태불안이 매개하고 있는 것으로 나타났으며, 여기서 리더십 개발활동은 상태불안과 이직의도를 감소시키는 중요한 보호요인으로 작용 하였다. 이러한 연구결과를 토대로 본 연구의 시사점과 제한점에 관하여 논의하였다.

This study enrolled enterprise business owners/managers in the U.S. as the subjects to investigate the relationship among four factors: personal motivation, the social expectation of stakeholders, business performance, and their CSR toward the local community. The research results showed that: (1) small enterprise’s perceived expectation from stakeholders has a positive effect on their decision to engage in CSR toward community; (2) their perception of business performance has a positive effect on their decision to engage in CSR toward the community. Based on these research results, public policymakers or relevant units are advised to further achieve the goal of nurturing a flourishing community by increasing awareness of stakeholder’s expectations for small enterprise’s CSR commitment. Also, it is clearly pronounced in this study that regardless of their personal motivation to support the local community, unless financially successful, small businesses are less likely to engage in CSR toward the local community. This result makes a good sense that having a successful business operation is a necessary condition for small enterprises to pay attention to a higher-level value such as CSR toward the local community.

본 연구는 기업 및 공공부문의 노동자를 대상으로 조직수준의 윤리적 조직문화가 개인수준의 윤리적 리더십과 선제적 행동(발언행동, 도움행동)에 미치는 영향을 다수준 관점에서 분석하였다. 또한 조직수준 의 윤리적 조직문화와 구성원의 선제적 행동의 관계에서 윤리적 리더십의 매개역할을 규명하였다. 기업 및 공공기관 등 72개 조직의 1,674명의 노동자를 대상으로 한 분석 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 조직수준의 윤리적 조직문화는 구성원들의 선제적 행동(발언행동, 도움행동)에 긍정적인 영향을 주었다. 둘 째, 조직수준의 윤리적 조직문화는 중간관리자의 윤리적 리더십에 긍정적인 영향을 주었다. 셋째, 개인수준에서 중간관리자의 윤리적 리더십은 구성원들의 선제적 행동(발언행동, 도움행동)에 긍정적인 영향을 미쳤다. 마지막으로 중간관리자의 윤리적 리더십은 윤리적 조직문화와 구성원들의 선제적 행동과의 관계 에서 부분매개역할을 하였다. 즉, 조직수준의 윤리적 조직문화는 구성원들의 선제적 행동에 직접적으로 영향을 주기도 하지만 중간관리자의 윤리적 리더십을 통해 간접적으로도 영향을 주었다. 이러한 연구결과를 바탕으로 시사점과 연구의 한계점 및 향후 연구방향이 논의되었다.

본 연구는 기업 관리자의 코칭리더십과 조직구성원의 문제해결능력 및 대인관계능력간의 구조모형의 타당성과 코칭리더십과 문제해결능력이 대인관계능력에 미치는 경로에 따른 영향력을 규명하고자 하는 목적을 가지고 연구를 수행하였다. 이러한 연구목적을 달성하기 위하여 국내 주요 대기업에서 근무하는 사무/관리직 492명을 대상으로 실증연구를 실시하였다. 이러한 분석을 위한 통계처리에는 SPSS와 AMOS 통계프로그램이 사용되었다. 연구결과 코칭리더십은 문제해결능력에 직접적인 영향을 미치고 문제해결능력을 매개로 대인관계능 력에 간접적인 영향을 미친다는 구조모형은 타당한 것으로 밝혀졌다. 그리고 기업 관리자의 코칭리더십 과 조직구성원의 문제해결능력이 다양한 구조적 경로를 통하여 조직구성원의 대인관계능력 향상에 긍정 적인 기여를 하는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 즉, 직무기반 코칭리더십과 관계기반 코칭리더십 모두가 문제해결능 력 향상에 긍정적인 기여를 하고, 이중 관계기반 코칭리더십이 직무기반 코칭리더십보다 문제해결능력 에 더 큰 영향을 미치고, 코칭리더십이 조직구성원의 문제해결능력을 매개로 대인관계능력 향상에 긍정 적인 기여를 하는 것으로 확인되었다.

The present paper is an addition to the relevance debate in marketing literature. Research is said to be ‘relevant,’ if it leads to change, alteration or validation of how managers think, talk or act. However, the majority of the literature on relevance debate talks about the decline in relevance, yet no study has scientifically measured it. The present study uses content analysis to analyze the trends in different types of relevance across three different eras of marketing eras (i.e., commoditization, generalization and post-debate era). We also conducted a second study to check the relative importance of different types of relevance to the managers using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results reveal a U-shaped curve of the relevance across these different eras. They also reveal the influence of the relevance debate on the research conducted by academicians. Out of the eight types of managerial relevance identified, “Forecasts” was ranked the highest, followed by “Rhetoric devices” and “Uncovering causal relationships.” Finally, the study also presents a view for an academician to shape his/her research concerning the current needs of the industry.

Digitalization has generated massive amounts of available data sources (Wedel and Kannan 2016). Consequently, firms aim to exploit this additional value – particularly in decision-making (Barton and Court 2012). However, potential misleading consequences of Big Data for companies have not been examined yet – neither in practice nor in research. Addressing this research gap, the current investigation first uncovers questionable managerial outcomes and behaviours generated by Big Data. The results of a first paper-and-pencil experiment show that executives tend to rely on Big Data even in a domain where this may be misleading (i.e., innovation) (Martin and Golsby-Smith 2017). Interestingly, this relationship is found to be particularly evident for top-managers. A second online study does not only replicate the findings in a correlational setting but beyond sheds light on its mechanism. We show that Big Data activates top-executives’ promotion focus leading them to become more risk seeking and egocentric. In study 3, we replicate these findings through experimentation and moderation underlining its robustness. Finally, we detect a lever to avoid that Big Data leads to less defensive decision behaviour (study 4).

The present research deals with the influence of managers’ construal level and anticipatory regret behavior on evaluations of customers’ and employees’ ideas in innovation contexts. While prior research focused on positive outcomes of open innovation, we provide theory and evidence to suggest that managers’ avoidance behavior in idea evaluation processes can result in negative side effects for the assessment of employees’ ideas. We conducted an experiment with 113 managers to reveal that top managers tend to higher creativity ratings of ideas from customers in comparison to identical ideas from employees. Lower level managers showed no difference in their creativity evaluations, but differentiated their feasibility rating in favor for customers’ ideas, whereas top managers did not. Our findings contribute to existing managerial decision making research and provide initial evidence on negative outcomes of open innovation for managers’ evaluation of employees’ ideas.

Although the internationalization decision making process amongst managers from developed nations has been extensively studied, this phenomenon has been sporadically explored among managers from newly opened and transition economies. Given the risks and commitment inherent in international market entry, a thorough understanding of the decision making process of managers in such dynamic markets becomes crucial in charting the firms’ future direction. Hence, drawing on concepts from cognitive science, this study aims to explore cognitive biases and mental models for international market entry decision making among managers from a transition economy, namely Myanmar. Myanmar is recognized as Asia’s last large economy to become globally linked. Myanmar has long posted a negative trade balance, with the import value nearly double that of exports. The country’s population of 54 million, its abundance of natural resources, and its economic integration in the fastest growing region of the world have attracted firms of global brands such as KFC and VISA, who strive to gain market access. After decades of military rule, Myanmar’s ‘open’ economy is dominated by state-run enterprises in heavy industries, with growing opportunities for the private sector to aid in the growth of the domestic market as well as to exploit foreign market opportunities. Scholars from a diverse range of disciplines have argued that elements of an organization’s international strategic abilities stem from managers’ cognitive processes that balance national, industry, organizational and functional issues (Prahalad & Doz, 1987). This study explores Myanmar decision-makers’ strategic cognition, which describes the information-filtering or sense-making process by which strategic issues are interpreted (Finkelstein, Hambrick & Cannella, 2009). The fact that management and marketing research in Myanmar contexts is virtually nonexistent, understanding the strategic decision making processes of managers in Myanmar is warranted, given the significant business opportunities for and within this country in transition. Strategic cognition describes the how cognitive structures relate to the decision process in terms of strategy formulation and implementation (Narayanan & Zane, 2011). Cognitive structures refer to the manager’s beliefs about the environment, the state of the organization, and the business portfolio. The strategic cognition perspective presumes that managers rely on their belief structures when undertaking a strategic decision task (Hambrick & Mason, 1984). According to Finkelstein et al. (2009), managers’ ability to deal with complex decisions is inhibited by cognitive biases as well as interpretive frames. Such biases, in part, influence which information is attended to and how it is interpreted. ‘Biases’ and ‘frames’ in decision making receive considerable attention in the strategic decision making literature because they often lead to committing decision errors. While there are a number of cognitive biases, our interest lies in framing bias (Kahneman & Tversky, 1984) because the interpretation of economic gains and losses are highly relevant for strategic decision making. Framing bias occurs when modifications in the way a decision problem is presented, focusing either on the potential gains or on the potential losses of alternatives, result in a change in the decision-makers’ initial preference, such as when a decision maker becomes risk-averse when gains are highlighted while becoming more risk-taking when losses are. Two propositions are tested in this study. First, if we assume that framing bias influences strategic decision making under complex and uncertain contexts, we should discover substantive differences in managers’ risk preferences. More specifically, differences should be found when managers are presented with alternative versions of elaborated problem scenarios that are the same in all aspects except for the fact that the alternatives have been systematically manipulated in terms of (1) the potential gains (positive presented version) or (2) the potential losses (negative presented version). Second, prior research reports that strategic cognition is influenced by personal characteristics (e.g. educational background) and values as well as organizational characteristics (e.g. firm size, firm age) (Finkelstein et al., 2009; Hambrick & Mason, 1984). With this in mind, we should observe significant differences in risk preferences between participants of different demographic and trait groups. This study implemented an experimental investigation into the potential framing and priming effects arising from a strategic marketing decision problem of whether to develop a new marketing plan to serve the home market or to commit marketing resources to the export market. The stimuli were adapted from those developed by Hodgkinson et al. (1999), which were crafted to solicit responses to a case scenario that described a convincing strategic investment decision encountered by a firm that provides innovative automotive vehicle fast paint-drying systems. This scenario was deemed appropriate for the Myanmar context given that the participants were familiar with automobiles and auto painting services. The scenario was moderately adapted to suit the Myanmar context, with a fictitious local firm, Yannawa Co., which was faced with domestic intensified competition and up-and-coming advanced technology product substitution. The case scenario was explained with about 260 words that describe Yannawa’s 10-year history, the domestic industry environment and Yannawa’s objective to achieve a profit of $3 million. A photo of a modern fast-drying automotive painting system was included in the stimuli. Participants were instructed to assume the role as one of Yannawa’s board of directors and were asked to choose one option between a ‘less-risky’ alternative (focus on the domestic market) with a higher likelihood of occurrence and a ‘riskier’ alternative (invest in overseas markets) that had two possible outcomes that had different likelihoods of occurrence. Framing effects were manipulated as positively and negatively worded versions. In the negatively framed version, participants had to choose between (A) developing a new marketing plan to serve its home market with a 100% chance this option will lead to profits of US$1 million below management’s targeted level or (B) committing its marketing to the export market overseas, with a 33% chance to reach the targeted level and a 66% chance to earn profits of US$3 million below management’s targeted level. In contrast, in the positively stated version, participants were asked to choose between (A) developing a new marketing plan to serve its home market with a 100% chance to earn profits of US$1 million or (B) committing to the export market with a 33% chance for profits of US$3 million and a 66% chance to make no profits at all. To control for potential priming effects, the presentation order of the alternatives varied, with the ‘less-risky’ higher likelihood of occurrence alternative presented first in the stimuli followed by the ‘riskier’ alternative, and vice versa in the other versions. Altogether, we developed four experimental conditions: positively versus negatively framed decision scenarios, with lower risk versus higher risk in alternate sequence. The research instrument also included items asking participant demographic characteristics. The decision task was also accompanied by a free-elicitation method to capture a mental model of the variables that the participant considered while making the decision. In other words, participants were asked in an open-ended question, “Please write in sequence the variables that you thought about while making your decision.” Unlike the stimuli of Hodgkinson et al. (1999), which provided a list of 18 variables, which participants could rely on to complete the cognitive mapping task, our free-elicitation method was deemed necessary in order to gain better insights to Myanmar managers’ thought processes. Both studies involved Myanmar professionals who were enrolled in a global MBA program being offered at campuses in Yangon and Mandalay where English is used as the medium of instruction. Study 1 comprised a sample of 118 students enrolled in the Marketing Management course, which is the first course taken in the program. The sample comprises 35 (29.7%) males and 83 (70.3%) females, with a majority (72%) within the age range of 22 to 31 years, and 62 (52.5%) with a Science education, 26 (22%) in Economics/Business and 21 (17.8%) in Arts/Language. A count of 46 (39.0%) occupy top/senior management positions, 36 (30.5%) are business owners, and the remaining 36 (30.5%) hold entry-level organization positions. Each participant was assigned randomly one of the four stimuli versions. The task was administered in class and participants were given 30 minutes to provide their responses. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings on a sample of 81 final semester MBA students in the same program. The sample composition of Study 2 is similar to that of Study 1. Data were analyzed using nonparametric approaches to test the significance of joint frequency distribution of cases. The statistical analyses indicate that the distribution of risk preferences are consistent in both Study 1 (i.e. participants new to the MBA program) and Study 2 (i.e. more experienced MBA students) (χ2 = 0.64, p = 0.27), which is similar to the findings of Bateman and Zeithaml (1989). Also, the risk preferences are consistent in both Yangon and Mandalay subgroups (χ2 = 0.00, p = 0.57). Thus, the data collected from both studies were pooled for further analyses. As for the control of priming effects, we find a significant difference in risk preferences (χ2 = 5.32, p = 0.04, 113 vs. 86), with a larger proportion of the second listed marketing alternative (i.e. more recent) being selected, irrespective of whether that alternative is higher-risk or lower-risk. With respect to a test of our first proposition of a framing effect, we found no support (χ2 = 0.32, p = 0.35) of a systematic association between framing and decision choice. The distribution of decisions shows that irrespective of whether the alternative was positively framed or negatively framed, a larger proportion of the participants chose to higher-risk alternative to focus on exporting. As for testing our second broad proposition that there would be significant risk preference differences between demographic groups in the sample, we found no support for sex (χ2 = 0.58, p = 0.27), age (χ2 = 0.29, p = 0.96), education background (χ2 = 2.40, p = 0.30), and no support for occupation (χ2 = 7.33, p = 0.11). The qualitative responses obtained from the free-elicitation section of the instrument, were analyzed by categorizing responses as either concrete, i.e. a greater focus on specific details (e.g. mention of numbers, such as ‘a 100% chance’, ‘a 33% chance’ and ‘$1 million below’, ‘profits of US$3 million’) or abstract, i.e. focus on the bigger picture (e.g. such as ‘more competition’, ‘threat of new products’). Based on this approach, we find that 138 (69.3%) of the participants began their mental model with an abstraction and 105 (52.8%) of those participants relied on a mental model that was entirely abstract, absent of specific details. In contrast, 33 (16.6) of the participants constructed mental models that were completely concrete, while the remaining 61 (30.7%) of the participants developed mental models comprising both abstract and concrete information inputs. Interestingly, a statistical test of an association between these three different mental models and risk preference show no significant association (χ2 = 2.80, p = 0.25). This exploratory study contributes to the management and international marketing literature by providing initial evidence and insights of the strategic cognition of Myanmar managers. The fact that there were no framing effects nor any differences in the risk preferences between different demographic groups suggest that participants in our study may be relying on a common heuristic (i.e. rule of thumb) that guides them towards the option to seek foreign market opportunities. The marketing doctrine concept introduced by Challagalla, Murtha and Jaworski (2014), is indicative of the influence of institution-wide principles that guide all decision-makers throughout the institution. In the case of Myanmar, national trade policies emphasizing export initiatives and increased export promotion activities may be regarded as fundamental drives for economic growth. As such, managers may be adopting this national principle to simplify their decision task and therefore prefer to pursue foreign market opportunities. Relatedly, it is worth noting that among the participants that opted to focus on the home market, nearly half were employed by a non-government organization (NGO) operating in Myanmar. This reiterates earlier findings of the influence of organizational characteristics on the strategic cognition of managers (Finkelstein et al., 2009; Hambrick & Mason, 1984). From our sample, we found that managers working for a NGO may be accustomed to adhering to their own organizational principles, which emphasize the needs of the domestic market. From a practical perspective, caution should be taken when decision managers rely largely on a heuristic approach to decision making. Although recent studies report that heuristics can be a valuable approach in the wake of overwhelming data and information (e.g. Patterson et al., 2012 ), others show that accurate mental models bring about better decision rules (e.g. Gary & Wood, 2011). To ensure that the decisions made by managers align both their personal preferences and the logic of rational choice, a deliberate model designed to compare the underlying costs and benefits of the decisions must be carefully developed in such a way to prevent decision makers from minor distractions. To date, our study is the first to gain insights on the ‘black box’ of decision making among a sample of managers from Myanmar. Despite the valuable insights provided from our exploratory study, it is not without limitations. Although our sample comprises businesspeople from two major cities in Myanmar and represents businesspeople from a diverse range of industries and demographic characteristics, the generalizability of our findings is still limited. In addition, we only designed and implemented one hypothetical business scenario in our study due to the complex nature of the decision task. Using one hypothetical case may further limit the generalizability. Moreover, our results revealing the absence of framing effects but the presence of priming effects seem inconsistent with prior studies that have reported that such effects alter individual perceptions. Based on our preliminary findings, future studies are called upon to verify, confirm, and extend this current study to other contexts in Myanmar and other emerging and transition economies.

With signs of the redevelopment of the domestic sewing industry, national support agencies were established. This study aims to assess the present conditions of the domestic sewing industry and investigate the effectiveness of national sewing industry support policies. According to the results of a survey of 30 sewing companies managers, the biggest factor causing product defects was work being rushed because of tight delivery dates, and the reduction in sales was caused by a lack of orders. Moreover, sewing technicians are aging, and the biggest reason for their decrease in number is that people do not pursue the job because of the common understanding that it is difficult. Managers perceived that the government’s sewing technician training program was not a practical help. They were well aware of the support program to improve the work environment and the sewing equipment support program and showed high satisfaction with these programs, but they complained that the period for equipment rental was fixed. A majority of them thought that the Korean sewing industry environment had still not improved, and were skeptical about its future outlook. They identified its most urgent needs as the expansion of orders and the securing of manpower. The support programs that they wanted urgently included support for employees’ four major public insurances and the enactment of the increase of toll processing fees.