Theresa M. WelbourneUniversity of Alabama | UA · Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute and Management Department Culverhouse College of Business
Theresa M. Welbourne
PhD
Research on entrepreneurial growth, IPOs, employee resource groups (ERGs) and human energy at work.
About
150
Publications
138,186
Reads
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5,916
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Additional affiliations
August 2016 - present
September 2011 - August 2016
Position
- Managing Director
Description
- Additional affiliations: President and CEO, eePulse, Inc., www.eepulse.com and Affiliated Research Scientist, Center for Effective Organizations, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
Publications
Publications (150)
Firms often succumb to a growth imperative, yet little is known about how congruence between various forms of growth affects firm value. We argue that the (in)congruence between net hiring rates (e.g., growth in the number of employees) and sales growth has significant implications for firm value, assessed via Tobin's Q. We further contend that R&D...
The topic of employee engagement has received tremendous attention. With this large body of work has come numerous definitions, varied measurement systems and diverse employee-based interventions designed to improve engagement. In this article, we suggest that a variant on this work, employee engagement intent, can provide a useful framework for re...
Most research on employee stock plan participation investigates the effects of such forms of ownership on employee attitudes, leaving our understanding of the individual differences that contribute to employee ownership largely unknown. Drawing from the consumer behavior literature, our study explores the effect of organization‐based identity on th...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that employee resource groups (ERGs) are a valuable addition to organizations and should be an important focus of research, particularly given the diversity and inclusion challenges faced by many businesses and communities today.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors review the ERG literature...
Identity has been studied extensively in several fields including organizational behavior, sociology, and psychology. Even though there have been significant advances, two areas of work deserve more attention. First, most empirical investigations have looked only at one or two identities at a time despite theoretical perspectives that indicate a ne...
This chapter is dedicated to featuring new ways of thinking about HR from eight academic leaders in the HR field, including John Boudreau, Wayne Cascio, Denver, Jay Conger, Ed Lawler, David Lewin, Dave Ulrich, Al Vicere, and Theresa Welbourne. These thought leaders prepared their contributions to this book independently, and their views are their o...
Employee resource groups (ERGs) are within-organization groups, staffed by employee volunteers, which have evolved since their inception in the 1960s. Originally called affinity groups, they began when racial tensions escalated in the United States and were focused on diversity and inclusion goals. Recently, their purpose has transformed to include...
A mixed methods study that investigates both the motivations and the outcomes of participation in employee resource groups.
Over the last few decades, research focused on building competitive advantage through human resource (HR) practices and human capital resource (HCR) strength has expanded. Numerous literature reviews suggest that HR has a positive impact on firm performance; however, the specific ways in which this happens continues to be a black box. In this resea...
Identity at work has been studied extensively, focusing primarily on organizational identity. Even though identity theory can be readily applied to human behavior at work, there has been little application in the human resource management (HRM) domain to date. We speculate that this may be due to the need for a more holistic approach to understandi...
Employee engagement has gained in popularity exponentially. However, with all the practitioner and academic interest in the topic, there continues to be inconsistent definitions, low reports of causal research and we suggest missing answers to an important question: engaged in what? In order to explore this issue, we apply role theory to specifical...
Purpose – In this paper the authors aim to introduce a concept that they call the “entrepreneurial growth ceiling” (EGC). They develop arguments that new venture IPOs hit the EGC prior to their IPO, and the ceiling is part of the impetus for going public. The paper argues that proceeds from the IPO will aid firms in breaking through the ceiling if...
In order to better understand the relevant resources in the resource based view of the firm, this study examines which resources executives in initial public offering (IPO) firms think are important to their success two years after the IPO. Results indicate that managers recognized five different resources as important, with the executives consider...
This research considers the effect of pace on employee and firm performance. Population ecology and protection motivation theory suggest that to achieve success in a fast paced environment, companies should create an environment where employees feel they are valued. The theories emphasize that both fast pace and value are needed for higher performa...
Employee engagement is a topic that has evolved considerably. As it has increased in popularity, the quest to define what it is has continued. For example, Storey, Ulrich, Welbourne & Wright (2009), in their chapter on employee engagement, discuss the various groups that provide definitions of the topic. They start out talking about the definitions...
When internationalization goes beyond simply having international sales to having international operations, organizations can benefit from diversity of ideas and knowledge. Our study focuses on a special class of companies called new venture firms. As younger organizations, they may be well equipped to embrace the unique benefits of international d...
This study explored possible underpinnings of findings from earlier research in which women's overall leadership competence was less favorably evaluated than men's. The authors examined perceptions held by senior managers, 34% of whom were CEOs, of women's and men's effectiveness at 10 key leadership behaviors. Respondents generally perceived that...
The aspiration to involve, engage and win commitment from employees has long been high on the agenda of a select portion of enlightened management. However, there has been a notable resurgence of interest in employee engagement in recent times and it seems that the phenomenon has evolved and been redrawn. Distinctive posts are now advertised which...
Collaborative entrepreneurship research suggests that organizations will soon pursue more collaborative relationships throughout
a worldwide network of firms, driving a strategy of continuous innovation, specially small- and medium-size firms (SMEs).
Tapping into a body of literature that focuses on the importance of human capital in driving long-t...
In this issue we have several articles that touch directly on technology. Even the articles that are not focused on technology made ample use of technology to collect data, type articles, share with coauthors, and then work with
HRM in the publication process. At the journal, we not only like but embrace technology. We think it has a critical role...
An untested assumption in the gainsharing and group incentive literatures is that peer monitoring is an activity that employees will engage in, and this behavior will be supported by their managers. This study tests that assumption by examining how managers respond (via performance ratings of workers) to peer monitoring under two different pay cond...
This chapter started out with a different title. The intention was that I write a chapter about editing a niche journal; however, as I wrote and rewrote, I came to the conclusion that Human Resource Management (HRM), for which I am editor-in-chief, is not really a niche journal at all. In fact, since taking on the editor’s role three years ago, our...
The authors examine the effect of having women on the top management teams of initial public offering (IPO) firms on the organizations' short- and long-term financial performance. Looking at three different samples, the authors found that trend data indicated IPO firms were gaining in the number of women they employ in their top management teams. U...
Employing survey and archival data from a sample of IPO firms, and extending the ideas of the Behavioral Agency Model, this study examines the influence of various forms of risk bearing created within the compensation contract on perceived risk taking. The results show that employment risk and variability in compensation each corresponds to greater...
No abstract. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55966/1/231_ftp.pdf
This paper analyzes the behavioral consequences of employee psychological involvement in gainsharing. We propose that employee satisfaction with gainsharing influences both active and passive forms of peer monitoring, which, in turn, leads to entrepreneurial and organizational citizenship behaviors. The hypotheses were supported in a longitudinal f...
Academics often are criticized for doing research that is irrelevant and esoteric. Additionally, the review cycle is lengthy, and even when high quality research is produced, results are unlikely to reach the practitioner for years. Thus, in order to address the needs of both scientists and practitioners, a monthly survey of entrepreneurs was begun...
In an effort to understand how to optimize employee energy at work, we borrow from the sports physiology literature to develop and test several concepts that have now been used in more than 75 large and small organizations (e.g., automobile firms, banks, hospitals, manufacturing, high technology, service businesses, financial services, and more). O...
This paper theoretically and empirically connects the literature on high-reliability organizations (HROs) to a broader set of organizations, which we call reliability-seeking organizations. Unlike HROs, which operate high-hazard technologies, reliability-seeking organizations operate in high-hazard environments. Reliability-seeking organizations ar...
Venture capitalists’ preference for complete, well-balanced founding teams is well established. In addition, the strategic human resource management literature posits that superior performance might accrue to firms that have a member of the top management team responsible for human resources. In this paper, we test whether or not venture capitalist...
Welbourne and Andrews (1996) studied IPO firms and found that Tobin's Q, at the time of the IPO, was lower for firms that they coded as having higher levels of human resource value (HR Value). However, those same firms were more likely to survive five years after the IPO. Given that finding, this study examines one factor that may influence the fir...
Despite considerable practitioner interest in gainsharing compensation programs, understanding how gainsharing works and, thus, how to improve it in practice is hampered by a lack of a theoretical foundation upon which to build empirically testable models. We use a risk-sharing framework to develop a model of gainsharing that we hope will provide t...
There is some evidence that women have equal or higher pay satisfaction than similarly situated men, even though they may earn less than these men. Using Major's (1994) model of entitlement, this study examined gender differences in pay satisfaction in two companies before and after gainsharing bonus programmes were introduced. Results indicated th...
[Excerpt] There is much discussion about HRM becoming strategic, in part by hiring a senior HR executive. This study explores whether that recommendation can help entrepreneurial, growth-oriented companies. By applying organizational inertia concepts, we study whether having a senior HRM executive, reporting to the CEO, affects firm performance in...
Agency theory is used to develop hypotheses regarding the effects of ownership proliferation on firm performance. We examine the effects of CEO ownership, executive team ownership, and all employee ownership, in addition to the moderating effect of risk, on firm survival and stock price. Firms with low CEO ownership outperform those with high level...
In a departure from the organizational development literature, this study hypothesized that managerial responses to organizational change are influenced by 7 dispositional traits (locus of control, generalized self-efficacy, self-esteem, positive affectivity, openness to experience, tolerance for ambiguity, and risk aversion). Data were collected f...
Projects
Projects (4)
Focused on taking employee engagement to the next level ; uncovering the "engaged in what" challenge.
Explore the determinants of successful firm-level growth. Because an influx of cash is often needed to spur growth, we have a large study focusing on initial public offerings (IPOs). We have created several large data bases with archival and survey data from cohorts of IPOs. Also, we are studying the uniqueness of entrepreneurial growth as a strategy.