A diagram on a conceptual-framework bridging mechanism in the consulting-cum-academic-oriented project type in the ALRA

A diagram on a conceptual-framework bridging mechanism in the consulting-cum-academic-oriented project type in the agile literature review approach (ALRA)

On the concepts-framework bridging mechanism

Mechanism 1: concepts-bridging: academic concepts that are pragmatic oriented (tor the consulting-oriented project consideration) may need to be reformulated to become more academic oriented (responding to specific research issues), and vice versa.

Mechanism 2: framework bridging: the consulting-oriented theoretical framework may need to be reformulated to be more academic oriented (responding to specific research issues), and vice versa.

The following Q&A with perplexity provides examples related to mechanism 1:

My question: "In the context of doing an MBA dissertation project that is equally consulting and academic oriented, please provide the 2 concept definitions (one being research issue-focused and the one being management concerns-focused [for the banking sector in Hong Kong] the following concepts:

Concept 1: leadership function Concept 2: organizational trust Concept 3: organizational resilience

The reply: "Leadership function and organizational trust are essential concepts for an MBA dissertation blending academic rigor with consulting relevance in Hong Kong's banking sector, where regulatory pressures like HKMA's OR-2 demand practical resilience strategies. Organizational resilience similarly bridges theoretical models with management imperatives amid economic volatility. Below are dual definitions for each concept, tailored to research issues (academic gaps, e.g., theoretical testing) and management concerns (banking-specific challenges, e.g., disruption recovery).

Leadership Function

Research Issue-Focused

Leadership function refers to the dynamic processes through which leaders influence organizational direction, resource allocation, and adaptive behaviors to address identified gaps in contingency theories, such as how transformational leadership mediates between environmental uncertainty and strategic outcomes in empirical studies. This definition targets academic inquiries into underexplored linkages, like leadership's role in fostering innovation amid digital disruptions, enabling hypothesis testing via mixed methods.​

Management Concerns-Focused

In Hong Kong banking, leadership function encompasses senior executives' accountability for embedding resilience frameworks, including vulnerability identification, crisis decision-making, and third-party risk oversight, as mandated by HKMA's Operational Resilience guidelines to ensure critical operations continuity during disruptions. This practical lens prioritizes board-level actions to align people, technology, and processes, directly tackling client concerns like regulatory compliance and service stability.​

Organizational Trust

Research Issue-Focused

Organizational trust constitutes the collective psychological state where members perceive reliability, benevolence, and integrity in intra-organizational relationships, highlighting research gaps in how trust moderates knowledge-sharing efficacy under high-stakes ambiguity, as critiqued in social exchange theory applications. Academically, it supports propositions testing trust's causal impact on performance metrics through longitudinal surveys or structural equation modeling.​

Management Concerns-Focused

For Hong Kong banks, organizational trust involves employee and stakeholder confidence in management's ability to safeguard operations against cyber threats and geopolitical risks, fostering accountability and rapid incident response as per HKMA's emphasis on senior management oversight. This consulting-oriented view addresses immediate concerns like retaining talent in a competitive market and maintaining client deposits amid volatility.​

Organizational Resilience

Research Issue-Focused

Organizational resilience denotes the capacity to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and recover from adversities while sustaining core functions, probing academic issues like the interplay between dynamic capabilities and resilience in volatile sectors, often underexamined in non-Western contexts. It facilitates dissertation aims to validate frameworks via scenario testing or comparative case studies.​

Management Concerns-Focused

In Hong Kong's banking sector, organizational resilience is the ability to deliver critical operations through disruptions—like technology failures or third-party dependencies—via structured frameworks for vulnerability mapping, tolerance thresholds, and annual self-assessments under HKMA's OR-2 policy. This definition aligns with consulting needs for executable strategies, including incident management and infrastructure upgrades to ensure market stability."