Exposing under which conditions management innovation diffuses within firms, this study investigates at the individual level the mediating influence of middle managers’ voice behavior on the relationship between CEOs’ empowering leadership behavior and perceived management innovation. We also propose that the magnitude of this relationship depends on middle managers’ collectivist orientation. This study exploits a unique Moroccan sample of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and utilizes structural equation modeling to analyze the studied relations. We found that the positive relationship between CEOs’ empowering leadership behavior and management innovation is mediated by middle managers’ voice. This effect is conditioned by middle managers’ collectivist orientations, which positively influence their attention to CEOs’ signals and the value and frequency of their contributions to management innovation. While research has identified the external and organizational factors that shape management innovation, our study concentrates on the individual level and accentuates that middle managers’ closeness to management processes, combined with their access to technical knowledge, renders them essential to management innovation. We contradict arguments that middle managers may be less inclined to help management innovation to emerge. SMEs can systematically invest in management innovation by advancing their managerial capabilities and considering individual value orientations.

Understanding drivers of deforestation is essential for developing any successful intervention to reduce forest degradation or loss, yet there remains relatively little consensus or clarity on how drivers should be identified and classified. To capture the full range of values and mediating factors that may contribute to land-use behaviours, an approach derived from a shared values perspective that includes a range of values associated with whole landscapes and ecosystems is required. We developed a model that combines behavioural theory with the Capability Approach as a conceptual framework through which to investigate the value–action gap. We used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of Likert-scale responses to belief statements in order to identify land users’ shared values in the Sarstún Motagua region of Guatemala. We then qualify and quantify the role of capabilities in mediating between the shared values of different cultural groups of land users (Q’eqchi Maya and Ladinos) by comparing their factor scores with their self-reported forest cover change behaviours. Our results indicate that Maya and Ladinos share a set of values, but hold different value orientations that predict their behavioural intentions. We find that their different value orientations reflect behavioural intentions, but an understanding of the capabilities available to different groups is also necessary to fill the value–action gap. These findings have implications for behavioural theory, providing empirical links between shared values, capabilities and behaviour and identification of the role of value orientations, as well as demonstrating a useful approach for decision-makers seeking to understand drivers of change at landscape and whole-ecosystem levels.

This article is a comparative study of regional differences in social and political value orientations. I identify four central sets of value orientations: two Old Politics orientations – religious–secular and economic left–right; and two New Politics orientations – libertarian/authoritarian and green values. I use the international value studies from 15 West European countries as my empirical base. The article addresses three major research problems: (1) Which of the four value orientations is most strongly anchored in regional differences, and in which countries do we find the largest value differences between the regions? (2) Do we find the same ranking of the regions across the four value orientations, or do the value orientations group the regions in separate ways? (3) Can the other socio-structural variables explain the impact of region on value orientations, or is that impact unique? The average correlations between regions and each of the four value orientations are similar but somewhat larger for religious value and libertarian/authoritarian values. With regard to the second research problem, I hypothesize one-, two-, and three-dimensional solutions based on different spatial configurations. The one-dimensional configurations implied that there exist some (centre) regions that have secular, economic rightist, green, and libertarian regions, and (peripheral) regions with opposite value orientations. This pattern is clearly found in four countries. The expected two-dimensional solution with an Old Politics and a New Politics dimension was found in four countries, whereas the expected three-dimensional solution with two Old Politics and one New Politics dimension was found in three countries. In the multivariate analysis examining the causal impact of region, only a small portion of the correlation between region and value orientations was spurious when controlling for the other (quasi-)ascriptive variables. Furthermore, only a small portion of the impact of region was transmitted via social class variables.

Gerontological inquiries into understandings of successful ageing have been culture-specific. This means that they have only been studied in the specific cultural settings that have given them their meaning. Understandings of successful ageing that are simultaneously influenced by two cultures have yet to be studied. This study is based on a newly-designed culturally-relevant theoretical framework for the study of successful ageing, and focuses on the context of migration where culture of origin and host culture meet. Interviews based on vignettes have been conducted with 30 Iranian immigrants in Sweden in order to reveal if, and how, the pre- and post-migration understandings of successful ageing differ. The findings show that cultural contexts determine how the construct in question is understood and that migration between different cultures can challenge these understandings.

In spite of the many studies conducted over the past decades, the field of inquiry known as cross-cultural gerontology remains atheoretical. This is because of its shortcomings in generating culturally-relevant theoretical frameworks of its own. In this article, I address this failure and adapt Kluckhohn's model of value orientations for use in the study of ageing-related concepts. I discuss possible applications of the adapted model and, in particular, its application to one of the most frequently debated concepts in gerontology, successful ageing. In the light of this discussion, I conclude that the culturally-relevant theoretical framework hereby proposed could lead to the rectification of the current atheoretical predicament of cross-cultural gerontology.