With a mix of native people, European settlers, and immigrants from around the world, Canada is a truly multicultural society. Moreover, the nation takes pride in its social philosophy of promoting a "cultural mosaic" with groups maintaining their distinct cultural heritages, rather than abandoning them and blending into a cultural "melting pot." Extending this metaphor, the beauty of a mosaic when viewed from a distance comes from both the uniqueness of each tile and the way in which they combine to make a whole. The success of this cultural mosaic model in the workplace depends, therefore, on individuals maintaining part of their cultural uniqueness as they become integrated into the Canadian workforce. In order to make this cultural mosaic a reality, Canada must face the challenges of integrating its many cultural groups into a productive workforce while at the same time allowing individuals to maintain their cultural identities. We see this as a challenge of balancing cultural identities and practices to build a multicultural mosaic in the workplace.

Working in a multicultural environment creates many pressures as individuals with different cultural values and work norms come together. There are pressures for employers to accommodate employees’ native culture beliefs and practices, and also for employees to adopt a common mode of interaction, most often a Canadian one that may be foreign and uncomfortable for them. Research on diversity in work groups shows that in such settings trust, commitment, and cooperation may be difficult to establish, and conflict may flourish. Yet we also know from this literature that in some cases resisting acculturation and maintaining different cultural identities can foster creativity and performance. Hence, the challenge of building a multicultural mosaic in the workplace by balancing cultural identities leads us to ask: how can employees partner their native cultural identities with Canadian workplace identities to promote individual and organizational benefits? Continuing with the metaphor, if we consider the Canadian workplace a cultural mosaic, what workplace practices will generate the most brilliant tiles, i.e., individuals who are satisfied, trusting, committed, and high performers?

To tackle this broad question, we apply existing theory about acculturation, self­verification, social identity, and psychological attachment to a multicultural management and business setting. We propose a set of interrelated studies that develop a measure, and also examine antecedents and consequences of a cultural mosaic in the workplace. In Study 1 we develop a measure, and both test and validate it in the context of the naturally unfolding process of acculturation and adjustment experienced by immigrants to Canada. We ask whether workgroup environments that can be characterized as cultural mosaics enhance individuals’ well­being, participation, and productivity on the job. In Study 2 we explore a common workplace social interaction ­ negotiation ­ and ask whether promoting a cultural mosaic by reinforcing one’s cultural identity during a cross­cultural negotiation improves performance, trust, and satisfaction. In the third study, we measure cultural mosaic in multicultural workgroups and ask whether an individual difference ­ group attachment style ­ interacts with the degree of cultural mosaic present to dramatically alter the development of identification, trust and cooperation among group members.

The proposed research program builds on the team’s prior research and expertise, specifically Dr. Brodt’s work on group conflict, trust, and psychological attachment, Dr. Adair’s work on social identity and cross­cultural negotiations, and Dr. Lituchy’s work on acculturation and cross­cultural management. We propose to work collaboratively on the proposed studies, with data collection and graduate student training occurring simultaneously at Queen’s University, University of Waterloo, and Concordia University. Objectives of the program of research include concept and theory development and dissemination of empirical results to academic, business, and government outlets.

Based on our empirical findings, we will also create training tools for use in business and community organizations with multicultural membership, schools and universities with a multicultural student body, and government policy relating to management and maintenance of national heritage.

The growth of electronic commerce, coupled with the continuing growth of the service sectors of the global economy, has spawned newfound attention to IT­based service systems. However, despite growing attention to IT­enabled customer service, research efforts have failed to identify significant market adjustments that have resulted from these systems. The primary motivation for our proposal is to acquire funding to further develop the notion of customer managed interactions (CMI) (Watson, Piccoli, Brohman, Parasuraman 2005); our current definition of CMI is a market condition where Information Technology enables customers and suppliers to build and execute an optimal customized solution. An optimal customized solution is one that offers the best match between the customer’s current requirements and the supplier’s current strategic objectives. It is our vision that in the world of CMI, customers will control the mode, content, and timing of interactions with firms.

The concept of CMI as an emerging market condition is shared by an active industry forum based out of London, England. The forum, called Right Side Up (a Buyer Centric Commerce Forum (BCCF)), is committed to a vision that 21st century economies are being reconfigured around a new centre of gravity: improving the economics of individuals (as distinct to improving the economics of companies). Earlier this year, the BCCF published a similar notion to CMI called ’Person­centric commerce’ on their website (http://www.rightsideup.net); they state, "Person­Centric Commerce is set to transform how individuals and organisations interact and transact, and change the way our economy works." To date, no formal alliance has been developed between our research team and the BCCF. Funding from SSHRC would provide us with the opportunity to work with the BCCF to promote our work and ensure our research program stays aligned with the challenges and interests of organizations on an international landscape.

Over the past several years the authors have been involved in a series of qualitative and empirical research studies that were funded by an initial SSHRC grant entitled "Net­based Customer Service Systems". Resulting from our previous research efforts were the development of two of the three primary CMI market conditions: data completeness (Brohman, Watson, Piccoli, Parasuraman 2003) and process completeness (Piccoli, Brohman, Parasuraman, Watson forthcoming 2009). In our research, we posit that organizations capable of developing appropriate strategies for each of these conditions will be perform better in a CMI world. The third market condition is discovery completeness; conceptually, it enables the discovery of the optimal combination of products and services that fulfill both customer and organizational needs. Further defining CMI, specifically CMI evolution and discovery completeness strategies, represents the first project in this research program. Our research team aims to build a theory that describes how CMI emerges that may lead to the development of a general theory of the process by which IT­enabled transformations occur. Consistent with our initial SSHRC research study, this research proposal will also examine the impact of CMI from both the organization and customer perspectives. From the organizational perspective, we seek to understand how organizations need to adjust in order to capitalize on the impending market shift toward CMI. From the customer perspective, we propose to examine how a CMI market will create value for customers and identify the drivers of customer adoption of CMI­oriented transactions.

Results from the proposed research program will have implications for both research and practice. The theory of CMI will make a significant contribution to the study of information systems and emerging markets. CMI frameworks and models will help managers and executives adjust their organization’s strategy and design to embrace the emerging CMI market. Our work will also contribute to computer science research with the development of a conceptual model that shows how a customer service system can automatically translate specifications set by customers and organizations at the business model level into workflows at the service system level. Finally, this research program will bring Canada to the table of the BCCF; in collaboration with the BCCF Steering Group, we hope to build academic research projects that will both complement and extend their ideas and principles to both academic and practitioner audiences in North America.

The research extends an on­going program of research examining Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in a marketing context. The purpose of the proposed study is to understand and explain successful stakeholder engagement. We will determine the key facilitating and constraining variables that impact successful engagement within an interconnected network of stakeholders, develop measures for the variables that have not been operationa1ized to date, test a model of stakeholder engagement, and extend and integrate theory development in this area.

CSR and stakeholder engagement have particular relevance to marketing. The new definition of marketing takes a stakeholder perspective and recognizes the social role of the marketing profession, stating that marketing must "create value for customers, clients, partners and society at large" (American Marketing Association 2007). As a relationship focused discipline, marketing provides a rich context for this study (see for example Smith 2003; Sen and Bhattcharya 2001; Ellen, Webb and Mohr 2006, Maignan and Ferrell, 2004).

Despite the importance of stakeholder engagement to CSR success, much of the extant literature is normative and descriptive in nature. The management literature, in particular, views stakeholder engagement in a mechanistic fashion, with the firm positioned at the centre of a stakeholder network (Amaeshi and Crane 2007; Rowley 1999). A contrasting perspective is emerging in the literature, however, where networks of stakeholders form around common social issues and the firm is embedded within a network of stakeholders (Ede1enbos and Klijn 2006; Roloff 2008; Wheeler, Colbert and Freeman 2003). The result of this new perspective is a shift in focus from the finn’s engagement of stakeholders to the firm’s engagement with stakeholders. When organizations engage with stakeholders, "organizations may achieve outcomes which were unimaginable and unattainable without the engagement of the community" (Bowen, Newenham­Kahindi and Herremans 2008, p. 14).

Our preliminary research which underpins this proposal suggests that stakeholder engagement is a more complex process than the current literature acknowledges. It is an open­system, network­based phenomenon characterized by shifting alliances, struggles for legitimacy and power, varying levels of respect, and battles for moral high ground. It is an emotional process simultaneously characterized by both collaborative and competitive strategies. There are important contingency variables one has to consider. Our research also suggests that three dynamic (versus static) variables are critical: power, respect and emotion. Our research will focus on these and other variables that emerge over the course of the project which are critical to successful stakeholder engagement.

The research will be conducted in three phases: (1) a qualitative phase consisting of participant observation and elite interviews to further refine our understanding of key variables and processes; (2) a measure development phase ­ measures will be developed for variables without strong existing measures, such as successful stakeholder engagement and respect; and (3) a model testing phase. Theoretical contributions arising from the study will include an extension of relationship marketing theory and integration of this with other theories that only partially explain successful stakeholder engagement (i.e., social network theory, institutional theory, theory of communicative action). Empirical contributions include developing measures and testing a more complete model of stakeholder engagement that includes important but under researched variables (i.e., power, respect, emotion and other emergent variables). It will also make managerial contributions by furthering a greater understanding of what drives successful stakeholder engagement in complex networks of interdependent stakeholders.

Two decades ago, Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley coined the term "productivity paradox" to refer to the fact that information technology (IT) "appears everywhere except the bottom line". Since then, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) have continued to question the value of IT and the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). In this research, we investigate the extent to which CEOs are themselves responsible for the IT productivity paradox. We hypothesize that IT role perceptions held by CEOs are locked within a self­reinforcing loop with IT role effectiveness by the mechanisms of in­group favouritism and self­fulfilling prophecy. That is, CIOs are cast in roles that align closely with strongly held perceptions by CEOs.

According to Social Identity Theory (SIT), people are inclined to perceive those who are similar and familiar to them (in­group members) more favourably than those who are different from and unfamiliar to them (out­group members). CEOs tend to form limited, unfavourable perceptions about IT, because IT has only recently emerged as a top­management function. Prior to this shift, IT was ensconced in computer science, evincing a jargon that was difficult to comprehend for any but the cognoscenti. These lingering perceptual biases are perpetuated by the small size of IT groups within organizations: smaller groups tend to be perceived more negatively than majority groups, even when they exhibit the same proportion of positive to negative behaviours.

Our research program comprises four related studies. The first study extends our previous research by focusing on the nature and variation among existing role perceptions held by CEOs. Interviewing pairs of CIOs and CEOs from 24 different organizations allows us to explore critical aspects of their personal relationships, interaction on key IT decisions, and differences in perceptions regarding the value of IT and the role of the CIO. These interviews also provide an opportunity to investigate possible antecedents of CEO perceptions and the presence of out­group favouritism as evidenced by differential treatment of CIOs compared to other senior business executives. We hypothesize that CEOs tend to perceive CIOs less favourably than other business executives such as chief financial officers. Results from this study will establish a reference base for gauging CEO perceptions at other organizations.

The second study involves six case studies at organizations selected from Study 1. These detailed onsite investigations allow us to interview other senior business executives besides CEOs and CIOs. This triangulation enables us to corroborate and extend the results from Study 1. It also facilitates an in­depth understanding of the antecedents of CIO perceptions. The results will provide rich research cases and the verification of a set of research instruments to measure our key variables: IT perceptions, CIO role effectiveness, and CIO perception management. An additional outcome is an assessment of the causal links between the hypothesized relationships. In the third study, we test the performance impacts of CEOs’ role perceptions using large­survey data. According to the Self­fulfilling Prophecy Theory (SFP), we hypothesize that CEOs with more favourable CIO role perceptions communicate positive expectations to CIOs, encourage greater strategic involvement of CIOs, allocate resources sufficient to ensure IT success, and obtain superior firm performance. Study 4, which is also survey­based, focuses on the impact of CIOs’ perception management strategies (both substantial and symbolic) on CEOs’ role perceptions. As perceptions are socially constructed, CIOs can use symbolic means to alter CEO biases. We expect to observe that substantial perception management activities, which convincingly show that CIOs have adapted their roles in response to new situations, are also effective in altering perceptions. In sum, this research program aims to enhance our scientific understanding of the IT productivity paradox ­ its causes, effects and outcomes ­ by exploring linkages between perceptions and behaviours. It also aims to de­marginalize CIO roles by improving the accuracy of IT role perceptions.

The research program comprises two studies to provide empirical assessments of the consequences of accounting harmonization for market participants. In recent years, many countries, including European countries and Australia, have switched to International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). Canada has announced plans to adopt IFRS in 2011. Despite this trend toward convergence in accounting standards, there is little if any empirical evidence of the effects of convergence, and lively disagreements about the likely results persist. We will provide large sample evidence about the effects of harmonization that should be of interest to market participants, regulators and other academics interested in accounting harmonization.

The first study utilizes a unique database that identifies the location of financial analysts to examine how accounting harmonization affects (a) financial analysts’ decisions to cover firms internationally and (b) their accuracy in forecasting earnings for the international firms they do cover. Based on findings from the past literature, we hypothesize that adopting IFRS will attract foreign analysts, particularly those who already have IFRS experience or foreign analysts from jurisdictions that adopt IFRS at the same time as the covered firm, and will improve these analysts’ forecast accuracy. In addition, we expect the benefits of IFRS adoption to be more pronounced for firms from countries with strong enforcement of accounting standards since this enforcement will assure investors and analysts that IFRS will be strictly applied, resulting in enhanced comparability of financial results across similar firms. This study is a direct follow­up to work recently published by two of the team members that examined the effects of pre­harmonization accounting standard differences on financial analysts. The study is conducted by examining changes in analyst following and forecast accuracy from 1) a pre­announcement baseline period to 2) an announcement period after convergence has been announced but prior to implementation, and finally to 3) an adoption period after IFRS have been used by sample firms. We will also perform regression analyses that allow us to control for other factors that might affect analyst following and forecast accuracy. In particular, we will control for changes in country, firm and analyst characteristics that the past literature suggests could result in changes in analyst following or forecast accuracy.

The second study will examine how accounting standard harmonization affects firms’ overseas equity market listing decisions, thereby providing feedback on how harmonization affects financial statement preparers. We will again use time­series analysis to examine whether convergence between the accounting standards used in a firm’s home country and accounting standards required at foreign stock exchanges, such as simultaneous adoption of IFRS at both countries, will reduce firms’ economic costs arising from conforming to different accounting standards and thus encourage firms to list on foreign stock exchanges. If an internationally common platform of accounting standards reduces the need for films to prepare financial statements in conformity with a variety of different standards, then convergence potentially alters the direct costs of cross­listing shares. We will collect cross­listing information from the nine countries’ exchanges that attract the most cross­listed shares. We will test for increases in cross­listing by our sample firms on exchanges that permit international standards use by foreign films. We will also test for increases in cross­listing in adopting countries in those cases where IFRS adoption for local companies also results in the acceptance of international standards by foreign firms listing on local exchanges. We will again use regression analyses to control for other factors that are likely to influence firms’ cross­listing decisions. In particular, we will again control for country and firm characteristics that the past literature suggests could result in changes in cross­listing behaviour.

It is time for corporations to take responsibility for the environment. This topic is of vital importance not only to corporations, but to Canada as a whole. There has been a growing awareness of the necessity to reverse the processes of environmental degradation and to move toward sustainable practices. However, in spite of the burgeoning list of ecological problems caused by energy use, many people, including the leaders of our most powerful organizations, often think of environmental problems as detached from their everyday lives and personal behavior patterns. For example, as we leverage our productivity with an ever increasing rate of information technology and system (IT/S) use, we often invisibly become a part of the larger problem. The use of IT/S is exploding, growing two times faster than the Gross World Product, and consuming large fractions of business, energy costs. In most cases, more than half of this energy is wasted by inefficient technologies, poorly designed systems, or uninformed behaviors. Consequently, this proposed multi­disciplinary research project will focus on increasing responsibility in organizations through the use of ’Green IT’, or ITIS initiatives addressing environmental sustainability.

Our multi­disciplinary research team, made up of social scientists and engineers, will take a three phased ’action research’ approach to work with organizations to significantly improve their environmental sustainability. We will first establish what IT/S actions organizations can take in order to significantly reduce their environmental impacts and then determine what types of interventions will best affect these changes. Some of these technical changes will be implemented at the organizational level (such as replacing servers with more energy­efficient models), and we will motivate these changes for management using modeling and cost­benefit approaches. Many other changes will be behavioral in nature and only work with employee buy­in and participation (such as professionals replacing travel with the use of collaboration technologies). For these employee initiatives, we will motivate their actions by drawing on environmental psychology (such as commitment) and management information systems (e.g., software design) research.

Too little research and practice have focused on environmental responsibility in business. For example, although many Canadian companies are undertaking some type of corporate social responsibility initiatives, most have been undertaken for reasons other than environmental responsibility, including the enhancement of social legitimacy and the building of firm reputation. In contrast, our proposed studies respond to SSHRC’s (2002) appeal for increased social science research on the environment and sustainability. As recommended by SSHRC, we will: comprise a small interdisciplinary research team that will meet frequently; conduct multiple­perspective, evidence­based research, emphasizing real world applications; address the "implementation gap" within sectors, that is, environment­economy decision making; increase support for social science graduate students’ study of the environment and sustainability; and take aggressive approaches to knowledge transfer between academic and other constituencies.

In recent years, the widely reported successes of revenue management (RM) in the airline and hotel industries and the expansion of online booking and retail sales systems have stimulated interest in RM and dynamic pricing (DyP) in many new areas. RM applications have been implemented or proposed in such diverse areas as freight transportation, automobile rental services, broadcast advertising, sports and entertainment event­management, style goods inventory clearance, medical services, real estate, and manufacturing. The rapid growth in internet sales channels and point­of­sale technologies has given many firms new capabilities for RM.

Also, experienced consumers may now behave strategically by timing their purchases to anticipated periods of lower price. The difficult problem of price competition faced by firms operating in an oligopoly is made an order of magnitude more complex by the potential for strategic behaviour of consumers. The proposed project will help Canadian businesses to improve their RM capacity and remain competitive in the global economy. The general objective of this work is to develop game­theoretic RM and DyP models and techniques to increase the efficiency and profitability of companies that are controlling and selling capacities of perishable inventories over time. A particular objective is to take different forms of competition into account and improve RM decisions for companies facing realistic conditions of competitor actions, incomplete information, and limited decision­making capabilities. An additional, related, objective is to understand how various market structures and complex consumer behaviours affect pricing and capacity decisions of competing companies and how these structures should be reflected in the design of RM systems.

I intend to train two doctoral and five master’s students in the area of RM and DyP. The doctoral students will be working on new theoretical aspects of RM and their practical applications. The master’s students will obtain the expertise and technical backgrounds necessary for implementing existing RM models.