Lore Van Gorp

Eighteen Shades of Grey? An Explorative Literature Review into the Theoretical Flavours of Organizational Change Research

The purpose of this paper is to explore, how organization theoretically diverse research on organizational change research (OCR) is actually grounded, since superficially, these theoretical foundations are either diffuse – or repetitively boring. To gain a deeper insights about the selectivity, a selection of 85 articles on organizational change was made, published in top tier journals in 2010. We conducted a reference analysis based on 18 prominent organization theories and their main contributing authors. The findings show firstly a very strong theoretical selectivity in OCR, focussing on cognitive, learning, discursive and neo-institutional theories. Other theories are almost fully neglected. Secondly, our analysis indicate this practice as being a sign that current OCR struggles hard with transforming the cognitive frames of topical OT into own fruitful accesses to its object. The resulting of theory application appears as a dissatisfying escape strategy performed to cover theoretical antagonisms and to avoid a deeper confrontation with the underlying assumptions of the identity and conditions of OCR.

An exploratory study into organizational repatriates’ emotional support network

This qualitative study explores characteristics of repatriates’ emotional support providers. Although most scholars agree on the importance of support for ex/repatriates’ well-being, the sources of repatriates’ emotional support – that is, their emotional support network – remain largely unexplored. Analyses of 27 semi-structured in-depth interviews with organizational repatriates suggest that expat/adjustment empathy is a key attribute of organizational repatriates’ main emotional support providers. Analyses suggest that not only people who went abroad themselves are perceived as ‘expat-emphatic’ but also people who came to visit or people that are considering going abroad themselves. Next to this, results show that although partners are a main source of emotional support upon re-entry, they are at the same time important causes of distress as well. Finally, the results suggest that the cultural diversity of repatriates’ emotional support network is linked with characteristics of the assignment and that it impacts their re-entry experiences. This study adds to the understanding of repatriates’ emotional support networks generally and contributes to the IHRM literature by developing practical implications based on these new insights –such as, the possible benefits of spouse management or encouraging expatriates to invite home country friends when living abroad.

Networks in professional groups: a matter of connection or self-exile?

Purpose Integrating predictions of social exchange theory and implicit social cognition, this paper aims to investigate mechanisms of co-evolution between professional and personal support networks in a professional, non-hierarchical setting. Design/methodology/approach The study covers simultaneously people’s behaviours and their subjective interpretations of them in a cross-lagged network design in a group of 65 MBA students. Findings Results show that people build on their professional support network to develop personal support relations. People who have a high status in the professional support network appear to be afraid to lose them by asking too many others for personal support and people with a low status in the professional support network seem also be reluctant to ask many others for personal support. Practical implications Although personal support is a key social mechanism facilitating individual well-being and organizational success, support in the workplace often remains limited to professional topics. This research shows why people hesitate to expand their networks in professional settings and to what extent their fears have a basis in reality. Originality/value It goes beyond predictions of social exchange theory which inform most network evolution studies and tap into implicit social cognition predictions to expand the explanatory power of the hypotheses. The study’s network analysis takes into account both behaviours and social perceptions. The sample is a non-hierarchical professional group which allows a more ecological observation of how hierarchies are born in social groups.