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Telepresence robots have gained prominence as a novel technological modality for mobile videoconferencing. Although the technology has mass appeal in the realm of telehealth and patient–health provider communication, its integration in community living settings for older adults has not been extensively studied. The aim of this study was to gather the perspectives of residents, trainers and staff at a retirement facility on their experience with a telepresence robot during and following a five-week wellness program.

The study employed semi-structured interviews with ten stakeholders who were involved in the wellness program followed by a qualitative content analysis of the data. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology served as the interview framework to explore the facilitators and barriers to the implementation of the robot.

Independent coding of the data by the study investigators identified discrete as well as interconnected categories among the stakeholders. Residents expressed their changing ideation of the robot, affinity toward the technology, preference for human connection and future value. Perspectives of the trainers, the fellow residents (ambassadors) and staff pertained to their need for increased engagement, growing comfort with the technology, usability challenges and importance of coordination and training.

Older adults' outlook and comfort with telepresence robots improve with continuing exposure to the technology for healthcare and social connectivity needs. However, in-person care is also preferred initially and periodically to engage with their health providers meaningfully and effectively via the robot. To address long term feasibility and usability, the authors propose a hierarchical approach when integrating telepresence robots in community living facilities for older adults. Information technology education, staff training and reliable internet connectivity are the precursors to optimizing the value and perceived usefulness of the technology.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the role of relationality in buyer–supplier negotiations and how it varies across cultural settings.

Using a multisession simulation design, this study recruited research participants (n = 82) from diverse cultural backgrounds to play the role of either buyer or supplier for two negotiation tasks. Regression analyses were used to test the relationships among relational constructs as well as the moderating role of relational culture.

Results show that negotiators’ relational self-construal enhances their relational commitment to the ongoing negotiations, which leads to a higher level of relational capital accumulated at the end of negotiations. The impact of relational self-construal on relational commitment and that of relational commitment on counterparts’ relational capital are stronger for negotiators from a high (as opposed to low) relational cultural background. Furthermore, intercultural negotiation context, when compared with intracultural context, weakens the impact of relational commitment on relational capital.

This research is among the first to empirically examine the culturally varied relationality in negotiations. The findings offer important theoretical and practical implications regarding how relationality, when interacting with cultural factors, has varying impacts on business negotiations.

This paper aims to advance an integrative perspective of dynamic relationality in negotiation research by providing a symbiotic solution to modeling the cultural adaptation process in intercultural negotiations.

Based on a solution-oriented symbiotic approach, the authors analyze negotiators’ combination strategy to propose the dynamic convergence of dyadic relational negotiation behavior (RNB) both as a descriptive framework and a prescriptive solution to behavioral congruence in intercultural negotiations. The authors use spreadsheet platform with artificial data input to simulate various RNB dynamics between negotiators.

The authors identify the research gap between the arelational, static paradigm in negotiation literature and the relational, dynamic reality in negotiation practices, develop a fourfold typology of the existing negotiation research and propose the construct of RNB. The authors simulate the dyadic dynamics of RNB in a symbiotic framework. Results illustrate varied dyadic patterns of convergent RNB dynamics, demonstrating the effectiveness of the symbiotic solution to achieving behavioral congruence under multiple conditions. Propositions are then presented to predict negotiators’ initial relational behavior, describe dyadic coevolution of RNB in intercultural negotiations and explicate the relevant chronic consequences regarding relational and economic capital.

This paper fills a significant knowledge gap in the extant cross-cultural negotiation literature by addressing dynamic behavioral adaptation through a relational lens. This symbiotic framework is both descriptive in its predictive capacity to simulate the complexity of non-linear negotiation environment, and prescriptive in its directive capacity to guide negotiators’ plan of action given each other’s observed behavior with a probability estimation.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the first-mover decision as one decision of a set of strategic decisions that ultimately determine performance.

The author used survey data collected from foreign-invested firms in Sichuan, China, to test for evidence that first-movers perform better than late-movers.

The results reveal that there is a first-mover advantage when the other strategic variables are not included in the model. When the entire set of strategic variables is included, however, the first mover variable loses its significance and the willingness of the foreign partner to commit additional resources becomes the best predictor of performance. Consequently, it was argued that foreign investment strategies should be analyzed as a set of strategic decisions managers make to formulate the best mix.

The empirical evidence for the first-mover advantage may not be as well grounded as many have thought. When the first-mover strategic decision is analyzed in isolation from other strategic variables, which is commonly done in many empirical studies, it indicates that firms that enter China before their competitors perform better. Unfortunately, it is more logical to assume that managers dynamically develop a set of strategic decisions that ultimately determine the firm’s performance. To extrapolate one static decision from the strategic decision set and make broad assertions about its effect of performance is an over-simplification of the strategic decision process.

Taking on a corporate political activity (CPA) perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how CPA affects environmental sustainability disclosure among firms in China and whether the disclosure level varies across ownership structures and environmental sensitivity statuses.

The sample comprises 652 corporate social responsibility reports released by firms in China during 2008-2010. Data are coded through a content analysis procedure before being analyzed using regression analysis.

The authors find a significant and positive association between CPA and environmental sustainability disclosure. However, the effect of CPA on environmental sustainability disclosure is significantly negative among firms in the environmentally sensitive industries (ESIs) and privately owned enterprises (POEs). More specifically, a firm’s environmental disclosure level is lower when the proportion of board members with a significant status, such as party chief of the Communist Party, is higher among firms in ESIs and POEs. This implies that firms with guanxi (i.e. Chinese-specific CPA) are more likely to be free from trouble.

This empirical study offers important evidence on the fulfillment of environmental sustainability policies and the effectiveness of regulatory controls that China has used in the development toward a low-carbon economy.