Desiderio J. García-Almeida and Alicia Bolívar-Cruz
This paper aims to identify the main factors affecting the success of the knowledge replication process in service firms when new units/outlets are created or acquired.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the main factors affecting the success of the knowledge replication process in service firms when new units/outlets are created or acquired.
Design/methodology/approach
The quantitative approach of the study is based on a survey to the first general managers of new hotels integrated in Spanish hotel chains that implement a strategy of knowledge replication.
Findings
Transfer experience in the region; compatibility between the underlying cultural context of the knowledge and the recipients’ culture; recipients’ absorptive capacity; source’s and recipients’ motivation; and lack of adaptation in the transfer routines are key factors that influence several aspects of knowledge replication success in service firms.
Research limitations/implications
From an academic point of view, this work identifies the determinants of success in replication processes. Moreover, two dimensions in knowledge replication success have been identified: a functional dimension and an economic one. Industry and survey limitations must be considered.
Practical implications
Organizations that face a growth process where they want to replicate their corporate knowledge should consider several aspects that seem to be determinants of success in those projects.
Originality/value
Despite the prevalence of replication-based growth strategies in the service sector, there is a lack of research analyses about this phenomenon in the academic literature. The empirical-based research on knowledge transfer and service firms’ growth is scarce and fragmented. This work provides an integrated view of factors affecting knowledge replication success in new organizational units from an empirical quantitative approach.
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Tamara González-González, Desiderio J. García-Almeida and João Viseu
Frontline employees’ suggestions are relevant for employee-driven organisational change because their knowledge is partially constructed from direct contact with customers and…
Abstract
Purpose
Frontline employees’ suggestions are relevant for employee-driven organisational change because their knowledge is partially constructed from direct contact with customers and indirectly with competitors. The employee’s personality is a paramount individual characteristic that can exert a major potential influence on the proposal and implementation of those suggestions. This study aims to discuss the impact of the personality dimensions in the Big Five model (i.e. extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness to experience) on suggestions generated by frontline employees and implemented in their firms.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was prepared based on a review of the academic literature. The 5 presented hypotheses were tested with data from 167 frontline employees from hotels in Tenerife (Spain).
Findings
Results show the relevance of frontline employees’ three characteristics of personality regarding the employee-driven organisational change. Thus, their extraversion, neuroticism and lack of direction tend to be relevant drivers of the suggestion and implementation of change.
Practical implications
Frontline employees act as change agents in hospitality firms. Managers should develop recruitment processes that allow to select individuals prone to proposing innovative suggestions and creating a friendlier system for submitting and defending them.
Originality/value
Employee-driven organisational change becomes crucial for the survival and growth of hospitality firms. Relatively few studies have been conducted on the role of frontline employees as change facilitators in the sector. This study contributes to shedding light on this research gap from a personality approach and the study also provides practical implications to increase valid suggestions in the hospitality sector.
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Lidia Hernández López, Petra de Saá Pérez, Jose Luis Ballesteros Rodríguez and Desiderio García Almeida
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the theoretical and practical need for research into the learning conditions that influence a student’s self-assessment of their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the theoretical and practical need for research into the learning conditions that influence a student’s self-assessment of their competences in management education. By means of a theoretical review, the paper introduces a model that integrates various learning conditions related to a student’s affective learning ability and the role of the teacher that may have an influence on a student’s self-assessment of their competences in the field of management.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors describe the analysis of data from questionnaires on the experience of undergraduate students from business administration at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Findings
The results reveal the importance of a student’s motivation for professional development, their self-efficacy as well as the important role of the teacher in a student’s self-assessment of their competences.
Originality/value
The paper fulfils an identified need to study the conditions that influence a student’s self-assessment of their learning.
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Esther Hormiga and Desiderio Juan García-Almeida
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of an entrepreneur’s accumulated knowledge and firm’s innovation on the development of reputation in the early years of a new…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of an entrepreneur’s accumulated knowledge and firm’s innovation on the development of reputation in the early years of a new venture from a knowledge-based approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The study proposes a model that is tested with a sample of 130 firms in non-high-tech industries from the Canary Islands (Spain) using structural equation modelling. Data were collected through a survey.
Findings
This study provide interesting insights on the effect of reputation on the performance in new ventures, along with antecedents of the new firm’s reputation from the knowledge-based view. The findings confirm that innovation and prior knowledge play important roles in the development of reputation in the early years of a new venture and that reputation has a significant effect on the performance of a new firm. The entrepreneur’s stock of knowledge does not reveal itself as a significant determinant of innovation and knowledge creation in this context.
Research limitations/implications
The entrepreneur’s accumulated knowledge should be seen as a valuable existing asset for a new venture, and innovation and knowledge creation can be used to develop core competencies in orientating the strategic direction of a new venture. Both elements become fundamental despite addressing non-high-tech industries.
Practical implications
Entrepreneurs should be aware of the key role that the creation and the stock of knowledge play in the first years of company life and this research shows how significant this relationship with the initial reputation and performance of new venture in non-high-technology industries is.
Originality/value
There is a relative scarcity of studies on reputation-building strategies in new entrepreneurial ventures, and the present study adopts an original knowledge-based perspective to shed new light on the analysis of reputation.