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Purpose -This paper seeks to explore career centrality, belief in gender disadvantage, and career success definition as the determinants of career persistence among women software professionals in emerging economies like India. The control variables used are marital and parental status. Design/methodology/approach -A survey questionnaire was administered to 190 software women professionals and statistical analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Findings -Belief in gender disadvantage and objective success definition are differentiators for career persistence while career centrality is not. Marital status and parental status are relevant control variables.Research limitations/implications -Further exploration is needed of the dimensions of career centrality constructs and control for demographic variables. Practical implications -Organizations should consider investments in child care support and other flexible work options so that women continue to remain in their careers. Originality/value -This is the first known study to explore career persistence among women with a focus on culture unique to Asian countries like India.

Organizations face increasing pressure from stakeholder groups to adopt sustainable practices and improve their environmental performance. Contemporary frameworks on corporate environmental responsibility observe that stakeholders positively influence organizational response in the form of adoption of sustainable operations practices. However, these frameworks provide little evidence on the distinction between the influences of different stakeholder groups on shaping organizations’ environmental responses. This paper proposes and empirically tests how different stakeholder groups, directly and indirectly, influence organizational adoption of sustainable operations practices. Based on a sample from an emerging economy, we show that the primary stakeholders, because of the reciprocal and direct transactional relationship with the firm, directly influence an organization's environmental policies. By contrast, secondary stakeholders try to influence organizations indirectly via primary stakeholders. The results indicate that there is a distinction between different stakeholder groups, and secondary stakeholders can exercise their influence over organizational environmental decisions via primary stakeholders.

Purpose Contemporary frameworks on institutional theory and corporate environmentalism observe that institutional fields positively influence a firm’s environmental response in the form of implementation of environmental practices. These frameworks, however, provide little evidence on why firms facing similar institutional field differ in their environmental response. This paper aims to incorporate the intra-organizational dynamics within the traditional institutional theory framework to address this heterogeneity, examining specifically the role of absorptive capacity for environmental knowledge in the organizational implementation of corporate environmental practices. Design/methodology/approach Integrating the institutional theory and resource-based view, this paper examines the mediating role of absorptive capacity in the relationship between institutional pressure for corporate environmentalism vis-a-vis the implementation of corporate environmental practices. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used for hypotheses testing based on data obtained from the Indian apparel and textile industry. Findings The results support the mediating role of absorptive capacity in the relationship between institutional pressure and implementation of corporate environmental practices. Further, this study highlights the importance of acquisition and utilization of environmental knowledge in driving environmentalism through developing absorptive capacity; the findings also suggest that the role of institutional pressure in the implementation of environmental practices should not be analyzed in isolation but rather in conjunction with the development of absorptive capacity that forms the internal basis of implementation. Practical implications Managers need to focus on the development of organizational capabilities for acquiring and exploiting environmental knowledge to complement their preparedness in responding to any institutional pressures for environmental sustainability. Firms also need to link their environmental orientation with various sources of environmental knowledge and capabilities residing outside the organizational boundaries. It is important to note here that the development of absorptive capacities for the exploration and exploitation of external knowledge is indeed both required and necessary to build sustainable organizational capabilities. Originality/value This paper is among the very few studies that address the issue of knowledge and development of related organizational capabilities for corporate environmentalism. Recognizing that environmental knowledge resides outside organizational boundaries with regulatory agencies and special interest groups, this paper highlights the importance of developing organizational capabilities for the acquisition and exploitation of environmental knowledge.

This study examined the importance of reference group variables in the understanding of drug use in college students. Other studies have investigated the role of peer orientation, and this study further elaborates on the issue by specifically looking into parents and peers as reference groups for the students. This study supports the importance of reference group variables in understanding the students' use of marijuana and/or hashish. In addition, it shows that the sociodemographic variables cannot predict drug use behavior as well as the reference group variables can.