Thomas Keil, Pasi Kuusela and Nils Stieglitz
How do organizations respond to negative feedback regarding their innovation activities? In this chapter, the authors reconcile contradictory predictions stemming from behavioral…
Abstract
How do organizations respond to negative feedback regarding their innovation activities? In this chapter, the authors reconcile contradictory predictions stemming from behavioral learning and from the escalation of commitment (EoC) perspectives regarding persistence under negative performance feedback. The authors core argument suggests that the seemingly contradictory psychological processes indicated by these two perspectives occur simultaneously in decision makers but that the design of organizational roles and reward systems affects their prevalence in decision-making tasks. Specifically, the authors argue that for decision makers responsible for an individual project, responses given to negative performance feedback regarding a project are dominated by self-justification and loss-avoidance mechanisms predicted by the EoC literature, while for decision makers responsible for a portfolio of projects, responses to negative performance regarding a project are dominated by an under-sampling of poorly performing alternatives that behavioral learning theory predicts. In addition to assigning decision-making authority to different organizational roles, organizational designers shape the strength of these mechanisms through the design of reward systems and specifically by setting more or less ambiguous goals, aspiration levels, time horizons of incentives provided, and levels of failure tolerance.
Details
Keywords
Charlotte Reypens and Sheen S. Levine
Measuring behavior requires research methods that can capture observed outcomes and expose underlying processes and mechanisms. In this chapter, we present a toolbox of…
Abstract
Measuring behavior requires research methods that can capture observed outcomes and expose underlying processes and mechanisms. In this chapter, we present a toolbox of instruments and techniques we designed experimental tasks to simulate decision environments and capture behavior. We deployed protocol analysis and text analysis to examine the underlying cognitive processes. In combination, these can simultaneously grasp antecedents, outcomes, processes, and mechanisms. We applied them to collect rich behavioral data on two key topics in strategic management: the exploration–exploitation trade-off and strategic risk-taking. This mix of methods is particularly useful in describing actual behavior as it is, not as it should be, replacing assumptions with data and offering a finer-grained perspective of strategic decision-making.
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the impact mechanism of the degree of innovation failure on breakthrough innovation in Chinese listed companies, and examines the moderating effect of the company’s own knowledge-based capabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on organizational learning theory and using the innovation failure data of invention patents from Chinese A-share listed companies on the main board from 2003 to 2017 as research samples, this study constructs and examines a comprehensive framework and its impact on breakthrough innovation regarding “what kind of innovation failure will promote breakthrough innovation”, focusing on innovation failure, enterprise knowledge base, and breakthrough innovation.
Findings
Empirical research has found a U-shaped relationship between innovation failure and breakthrough innovation. In other words, both a low level of failure and an extremely high level of failure can significantly promote breakthrough innovation in enterprises. Furthermore, when the depth of enterprise knowledge is high, it further strengthens the non-linear relationship between innovation failure and breakthrough innovation.
Originality/value
The research results enrich the study of the failure predicament and breakthrough innovation of Chinese technology innovation enterprises, revealing effective paths for Chinese technology innovation enterprises to get rid of the passive situation of innovation failure, and providing theoretical support and practical reference for “breaking new ground and achieving breakthrough innovation”.
Details
Keywords
Farzana Nahid and Sudipa Sarker
Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can play a significant role in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) as they have the ability to reduce unemployment…
Abstract
Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can play a significant role in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) as they have the ability to reduce unemployment. Digitalization helps MSMEs in a number of ways, including lowering transaction costs, quickening access to information, and bettering communication with extended supply chain members. This chapter aims to understand the level of digitalization in MSMEs in an emerging economy such as Bangladesh. MSMEs in Bangladesh account for 25% of the gross domestic product and employ 87% of civilians. This chapter builds on qualitative data from 60 MSMEs from various manufacturing and service sectors such as textile, retail, food delivery, IT companies, etc. The interviews were semi-structured and followed an interview protocol. The length of interviews varied between 40 and 50 minutes. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings suggest that counterintuitively the level of digitization in MSMEs is not low in Bangladesh. Many micro and small enterprises use MS Excel to help them manage customer and product data. Medium Enterprises use Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for planning enterprise-wide resources. Some medium enterprises also use powerful data analytics software such as Oracle, Power BI, Google Analytics, Python, and SPSS. Results also reveal barriers to digitization in MSMEs, which include a lack of employee awareness, training, and motivation of top management. This chapter maps the digitalization levels in MSMEs in Bangladesh and provides implications for SGDs. The chapter also presents policy recommendations for improving the digitalization level in emerging economies.
Details
Keywords
A.D. Beardsworth and E.T. Keil
The main findings of a detailed qualitative study of themotivations, beliefs and attitudes of practising vegetarians and vegansare reported. It is concluded that vegetarianism…
Abstract
The main findings of a detailed qualitative study of the motivations, beliefs and attitudes of practising vegetarians and vegans are reported. It is concluded that vegetarianism, while remaining very much a minority option, is increasing steadily in the UK population, although the rate of increase appears to vary by such factors as age, gender and socio‐economic category. Those who opt for a non‐meat‐eating dietary pattern may well represent the vanguard of a form of ethical consumerism to which food producers, processors and retailers will need to be increasingly responsive in the near future.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the dominance of an ascetic discourse of veg*anism in social research literature, and to relate it to a dominant hierarchical…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the dominance of an ascetic discourse of veg*anism in social research literature, and to relate it to a dominant hierarchical ordering of Western diets (to refer collectively to veganism and vegetarianism).
Design/methodology/approach
A review of the extant social research literature on veg*anism was undertaken in order to discern whether a consistent type of descriptive language existed. This facilitated an understanding of the way in which that language is constitutive of research generated understandings of veg*anism.
Findings
An ascetic discourse of veg*anism is dominant in social research. This is reflected in the phraseology used by authors. Typical descriptive terms of a veg*an diet include “strict”, “restrictive”, or “avoidance”. This ascetic discourse reproduces the hierarchical ordering of Western diets such that veg*anism is denigrated and made to seem “difficult” and abnormal.
Research limitations/implications
Veg*anism arguably promises multiple benefits for human, environmental, and nonhuman animal well‐being. The potential to realize those benefits is hampered by the perpetuation of an understanding of veg*anism as an ascetic practice.
Originality/value
This paper provides the first comprehensive examination of the language used to describe veg*anism within social research. It can enhance reflexivity on the part of social researchers interested in veg*anism, and help inform research design. In providing an alternative hedonic discourse of veg*anism, this paper also makes a contribution towards realizing the potential benefits of veg*anism through making it a more attractive dietary practice.
Details
Keywords
Alan Beardsworth and Teresa Keil
Examines the dimensions of stability and change in the foodways ofcontemporary Britain. The structural and cultural origins of change areoutlined and various sociological…
Abstract
Examines the dimensions of stability and change in the foodways of contemporary Britain. The structural and cultural origins of change are outlined and various sociological explanations of these phenomena are discussed. Subsequently, both the positive and negative implications of the contemporary state of flux are investigated, particularly with reference to the argument that a state of gastro‐anomy pertains. This view is subjected to critical examination and the argument is put forward that a state of anomy may be a transitional one on the road to a more open and pluralistic nutritional order.
Details
Keywords
J.R. Ford, A. Bryman, A.D. Beardsworth, M. Bresnen, E.T. Keil and R. Jenkins
A series of studies over the last decade have indicated that considerable change has been taking place in the way in which organisations recruit their workers. In particular…
Abstract
A series of studies over the last decade have indicated that considerable change has been taking place in the way in which organisations recruit their workers. In particular, several authors have pointed to the growing prominence of both internal labour market (ILM) recruitment and word‐of‐mouth recruitment. This conclusion is supported by studies that consider job seeking and job seekers, for example, studies by Granovetter, Leeand Martin and Roberts, as well as by studies of employers' recruitment practices. Although care must be exercised when comparing these studies, as has been discussed by Manwaring, together they provide a general view of the direction of change with regard to the management of labour recruitment. In particular, some of the studies indicate a growth in the use of the internal market and word‐of‐mouth recruitment, for example, Jenkins et al., while others, such as Wood and Manwaring, suggest that such channels are increasingly prominent, not as a result of increased usage, but because these channels have been maintained during the recession, while other forms of recruitment, such as the use of the job centre or press advertisements, have been ignored or minimised.
Shona M. Bettany and Ben Kerrane
Using the family activity of hobby stock-keeping (“petstock”) as a context, this paper aims to extend singularization theory to model the negotiations, agencies and resistances of…
Abstract
Purpose
Using the family activity of hobby stock-keeping (“petstock”) as a context, this paper aims to extend singularization theory to model the negotiations, agencies and resistances of children, parents and petstock, as they work through how animals become food within the boundaries of the family home. In doing so, the authors present an articulation of this process, deciphering the cultural biographies of petstock and leading to an understanding of the emergent array of child animal food-product preferences.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from petstock-keeping parents through a mixture of ethnographic, in-depth interviewing and netnographic engagements in this qualitative, interpretive study; with parents offering experiential insights into animal meat and food-product socialization behaviours played out within the family environments.
Findings
The findings discuss the range of parental behaviours, motivations and activities vis-à-vis petstock, and their children’s responses, ranging from transgression to full compliance, in terms of eating home-raised animal food-products. The discussion illustrates that in the context of petstock, a precocious child food preference agency towards animal meat and food products is reported to emerge.
Research limitations/implications
This research has empirical and theoretical implications for the understanding of the development of child food preference agency vis-à-vis animal food products in the context of family petstock keeping.
Practical implications
The research has the potential to inform policy makers around child education and food in regard to how child food preferences emerge and can inform marketers developing food-based communications aimed at children and parents.
Originality/value
Two original contributions are presented: an analysis of the under-researched area of how children’s food preferences towards eating animal food products develop, taking a positive child food-choice agency perspective, and a novel extension of singularization theory, theorizing the radical transformation, from animal to food, encountered by children in the petstock context.
Details
Keywords
Tae-Ung Choi, Grace Augustine and Brayden G King
Organizational theorists and strategy scholars are both interested in how organizations deal with ambiguity, especially in relation to implementation. This chapter examines one…
Abstract
Organizational theorists and strategy scholars are both interested in how organizations deal with ambiguity, especially in relation to implementation. This chapter examines one source of ambiguity that organizations face, which is based on their efforts to implement moral mandates. These mandates, which are related to areas such as environmental sustainability and diversity, are inherently ambiguous, as they lack a shared understanding regarding their scope and associated practices. They are also often broad and systemic and may be unclearly aligned with an organization's strategy. Due to these challenges, in this chapter, we theorize that collective action at the field level is necessary for organizations to advance and concretize moral mandates. We examine this theorizing through the case of the implementation of sustainability in higher education. We hypothesize and find support for the idea that when an organization's members engage in collective action at the field level, those organizations have an increased likelihood of achieving sustainability implementation. To gain insight into this field-to-organization relationship, we qualitatively examine 18 years of conversations from an online forum to develop a process model of moral mandate implementation. We theorize that collective action functions as a field-configuring space, in which actors from a variety of organizations come together to (1) refine the scope of the mandate and (2) create an implementation repertoire that actors can draw on when seeking to bring sustainability to their own organizations. Overall, our study provides a model of how ambiguous moral mandates can be implemented by highlighting the important role of collective action across organizations in concretizing those mandates and providing actors with the tools for their implementation.