Stavros Kourtzidis and Nickolaos G. Tzeremes
The purpose of this paper is to use tenets of the complexity theory in order to study the effect of various determinants of firm’s performance, such as CEO’s compensation and age…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use tenets of the complexity theory in order to study the effect of various determinants of firm’s performance, such as CEO’s compensation and age, for the case of 72 insurance companies.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors identify the asymmetries in the data set by creating quantiles and using contrarian analysis. Instead of ignoring this information and use a main effects approach, all the available information in the data set is taken into account. For this purpose, the authors use qualitative comparative analysis to find alternative equifinal routes toward high firm performance.
Findings
Five configurations are found which lead to high performance. Every one of the five configurations is found to be sufficient but not necessary for high firm performance.
Originality/value
The research findings contribute to a better understanding of the determinants of firm’s performance taking into account the asymmetries in the data set. The authors identify alternative paths toward high firm performance, which could be vital information for the decision maker inside a firm.
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Janine Burghardt and Klaus Möller
This study examines the relationship between the use of management controls and the perception of meaningful work. Meaningful work is an important driver of individual performance…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the relationship between the use of management controls and the perception of meaningful work. Meaningful work is an important driver of individual performance of managers, and employees and can be enabled by sufficient use of management controls. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on bibliometric analyses and a structured literature review of academic research studies from the organizational, management and accounting literature, the authors develop a conceptual model of the relationship between the use of management controls and the perception of meaningful work.
Findings
First, the authors propose that the use of formal management controls in a system (i.e. the levers of the control framework) is more powerful than using unrelated formal controls only. Second, they suggest that the interaction of a formal control system together with informal controls working as a control package can even stretch the perception of meaningful work. Third, they argue that the intensity of the control use matters to enhance the perception of meaningful work (inverted u-shaped relationship).
Originality/value
This study presents the first conceptual model of the relationship between the use of management controls and the perception of meaningful work. It provides valuable implications for practice and future research in the field of performance management.
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Sam Njinyah, Simplice Asongu and Ngozi Adeleye
The purpose of this study is to assess the interaction effect of government non-financial support and firms' regulatory compliance on firms' innovativeness. Firms' regulatory…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to assess the interaction effect of government non-financial support and firms' regulatory compliance on firms' innovativeness. Firms' regulatory compliance with environmental and safety issues has been suggested as one of the reasons why firms innovate. Such compliance provides legitimacy, improves reputation and corporate image, and enhances customer loyalty and competitive advantages, which influence firm innovativeness. However, regulatory compliance is costly and with limited resources, the role of government support is crucial as a moderator, to help firms become more compliant and influence their innovativeness.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses data from the World Bank Enterprise Innovation Survey for seven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Findings
Regulatory compliance has a positive and significant effect on firm innovativeness. Increased use of government non-financial support enhances the level of firm regulatory compliance and the effect of regulatory compliance on firm innovativeness.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature on compliance and firm innovativeness in Africa by showing how the positive effect of regulatory compliance on firm innovativeness is stronger when firms benefit from government non-financial support.
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Anni Rajala and Tuire Hautala-Kankaanpää
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often operate in environments marked by high levels of turbulence. Such firms adopt digital technologies and platforms that provide…
Abstract
Purpose
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often operate in environments marked by high levels of turbulence. Such firms adopt digital technologies and platforms that provide access to external real-time information and establish digital connectivity between firms to remain competitive. This study aims to focus on SMEs’ downstream and upstream platform-based digital connectivity (PDC).
Design/methodology/approach
This study examines the effects of PDC on SMEs’ operational performance under conditions of environmental turbulence. The data was gathered from 192 SMEs operating in the manufacturing arena.
Findings
The results show that the adoption of PDC does not directly affect an SME’s operational performance. However, in highly turbulent environments, PDC can improve operational performance. The results indicate that the performance effects of PDC vary according to the level and type of environmental turbulence.
Research limitations/implications
This research offers insights into the relationship between PDC among SMEs and operational performance and encourages future research examining other possible conditional effects that could explain the contradictory results found in previous research.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the knowledge of supply-chain digitalization among SMEs and its performance effects in varying environmental conditions. Further, this study contributes to the prior research by focusing on the interorganizational aspects of digitalization in SMEs.
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Raheem Bux Soomro, Sanam Gul Memon and Marvi Soomro
This paper is an empirical investigation of the effect of knowledge, skills and entrepreneur competencies on the performance of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is an empirical investigation of the effect of knowledge, skills and entrepreneur competencies on the performance of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) operating in Upper Sindh, Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from owners/managers of MSMEs operating in major cities of Upper Sindh. A total of 1,100 respondents were identified through snowball and social contacts tools. A total of 316 respondents permitted researchers to visit their firms and collecting data from them by a survey questionnaire.
Findings
The findings shows that entrepreneurial skills and networking have a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial competency. Then, entrepreneurial skills, networking and entrepreneurial competency have a positive effect on enterprise performance. The findings show a significant mediation effect of entrepreneurial competency on the relationships between entrepreneurial skills and networking and enterprise performance.
Originality/value
This paper provides useful conclusion in understanding the entrepreneur’s characteristics and their impact on performance MSMEs, which is crucial for promoting entrepreneurial activities and for enhancing socio-economic conditions among low-income households located in Upper Sindh, Pakistan. The government must make preparation in organizing trade fairs, seminars and road shows on certain services/ products to which MSMEs’ entrepreneurs, consumers and suppliers might be invited to ease their connections.
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Darija Aleksić, Kaja Rangus and Alenka Slavec Gomezel
The purpose of this research is to better understand the human aspects of open innovation in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by exploring how intrinsic and extrinsic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to better understand the human aspects of open innovation in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by exploring how intrinsic and extrinsic motivation influence enjoyment in helping others, knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding and consequently firms' open innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
We collected data with a survey among CEOs in 140 SMEs and performed confirmatory factor analysis applying structural equation modeling in IBM SPSS AMOS (v. 26).
Findings
Results reveal that intrinsic motivation is positively associated with helping behavior and knowledge sharing and negatively associated with knowledge hiding. We also confirm the positive relationship between extrinsic motivation and knowledge sharing. Moreover, we find that knowledge sharing increases and knowledge hiding decreases the firm-level open innovation. Especially in high-tech industry, knowledge sharing is a vital determinant of open innovation.
Originality/value
Responding to the calls for a deeper understanding of the individual-level factors that determine organization-level open innovation, in this research we focus on the human aspect of open innovation in SMEs. Open innovation is a widely recognized and implemented concept among large corporations and facilitates better understanding of new technological and market developments both within and outside of organizations. However, understanding of the microfoundations of open innovation in smaller firms is still limited, but this steam of research is growing rapidly.