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The exploration-exploitation framework purports that firms maintaining an adequate balance between exploration and exploitation activities tend to be more successful. While much prior research has investigated a positive linear link between exploration activites and firm performance, a few scholars have started to uncover situations where an overemphasis on exploration is undesirable. This paper is concerned with studying the link between relative exploration and firm performance under different industry, stability, and munificence conditions; by relying on novel Computer-Assisted-Text-Analysis (CATA) methodology, and on a 5-year longitudinal sample of 2,245 firms listed on the S&P 500. Curvilinear relationships are uncovered, suggesting that moderate levels of relative exploration are associated with the highest level of performance for service firms, while the opposite is found for manufacturing firms. Additionally, moderate relative exploration may be preferable for firms operating in stable environments, while unstable environments may require either an underemphasis or overemphasis on relative exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosocial crowdfunding is a new international business phenomenon which allows entrepreneurs from emerging nations to post microloan requests online for fundraising. Drawing on institutional theory, we investigate whether lenders reward borrower profiles that are distinctive or similar to other profiles from same country. In an analysis of 127,597 profiles nested within 37 countries, we find that cultural alignment on two dimensions-temporal awareness and commonality-is positively related to funding time, thus suggesting that a cultural misalignment is preferred by lenders. Our discussion highlights why nonconformity to local culture is likely to be interpreted as legitimate distinctiveness in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosocial crowdfunding is a new business phenomenon which is transforming the microfinance sector, as more and more microloans are posted online for fundraising. Recent research suggests that prosocial lenders registered on crowdfunding platforms seek non-financial returns from their investments, such as warm-glow feelings associated with the creation of value for the social good. This study adds moral ethics to the crowdfunding equation by drawing on Moral Foundations Theory (MFT). It is posited that cues of moral foundations embedded within borrower profile descriptions are likely to inform prosocial lenders about a borrower's potential for social value creation, thus triggering lending decisions. A Computer-Assisted-Text-Analysis (CATA) of 130,964 funded microloan profile descriptions on a crowdfunding platform suggests that prosocial lenders fund borrowers who cue universal moral foundations (Harm/Care and Fairness/Reciprocity) more quickly than those who cue primarily conservative moral foundations (Ingroup/Loyalty, Authority/Respect, and Purity/Sanctity). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]