Bottom-up innovation under uncertainty (Qu et al. 2026) | FT50 JIBS скачать в хорошем качестве

Bottom-up innovation under uncertainty (Qu et al. 2026) | FT50 JIBS

English Podcast starts at 00:00:00 Bengali Podcast starts at 00:12:51 Hindi Podcast starts at 00:28:21 Danish Podcast starts at 00:43:19 Reference Qu, J., Khapova, S.N. & Tang, Y. Bottom-up innovation under uncertainty: the role of face concerns in shaping overt and covert innovation across cultures. J Int Bus Stud (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-025-00... ‌Youtube Channel ⁠   / @weekendresearcher⁠   Connect over linkedin   / mayukhpsm   There is a particular kind of courage that never looks like courage. It does not announce itself in a meeting. It does not raise its hand. It does not wear the costume of boldness that business culture loves to applaud. Sometimes, it simply survives in a quieter place, behind a polite smile, inside the careful timing of when not to speak, and the even more careful timing of when to try anyway. ✨ Because innovation, for all our talk of disruption and moonshots 🚀, is still an intensely human act. It happens in the presence of other people. It happens under watchful eyes. And it happens under uncertainty that is not only about the task, but about the room. Today’s episode takes us into that room. We are discussing a fascinating new article: “Bottom-up innovation under uncertainty: the role of face concerns in shaping overt and covert innovation across cultures” by Jinzhao Qu, Svetlana N. Khapova, and Yipeng Tang, published online on 14 January 2026 in the Journal of International Business Studies, one of the most prestigious outlets in our field and proudly part of the FT50 journal list 🏛️📚. The paper begins with a paradox that feels almost like a riddle. If the standard story says bottom-up innovation thrives where risk-taking is celebrated, then how do cultures shaped by Confucian traditions, where harmony matters and conflict is something you step around, still produce extraordinary innovation outcomes? 🤔 Qu, Khapova, and Tang offer an answer with a beautifully social concept at its center: face concerns, that deeply felt desire to maintain and protect one’s social image. And they sharpen uncertainty into two blades 🗡️. One is task uncertainty, the uncertainty of the work itself. The other is social uncertainty, the uncertainty of what people will think of you when you try. Here’s where it gets compelling. Innovative coworkers can make the work feel clearer, lowering task uncertainty, but they can also raise the social stakes, increasing social uncertainty. In Anglo-Saxon contexts, that social pressure can become a promotion-focused drive that nudges people, especially those low in uncertainty avoidance, toward overt innovation, visible, formal, easy to point to. In Confucian contexts, it can become a prevention-focused vigilance that nudges people, especially those high in uncertainty avoidance, toward covert innovation, quiet, informal, hidden in plain sight 🕵️‍♀️💡. If you like research that respects culture without turning it into a cliché, you’re in the right place. And if you’re enjoying the show, please subscribe to “Revise and Resubmit” on Spotify 🔔, and follow the YouTube channel “Weekend Researcher” ▶️. You can also find the podcast on Amazon Prime and Apple Podcast 🍎🎧. Finally, sincere thanks to the authors, Jinzhao Qu, Svetlana N. Khapova, and Yipeng Tang, and to Springer Nature, the publisher of this research article 🙏📖. So let’s begin with the question that lingers when the meeting ends and the hallway goes quiet: when you choose not to be seen while innovating, are you protecting your face, or protecting your future? ❓