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Both high reliability theory (HRT) and “new school” supply chain resilience (SCR) promote a multi-layered, adaptable, transformational, and holistic perspective on organizing and managing. The authors explore whether, and if so how, HRT offer fresh perspectives on the SCR challenges experienced during COVID-19 and on organizing for future resilience.

Addressing SCR at the interorganizational network level, and blending theory synthesis and case study research, the authors assess if and how HRN constructs and practices can guide analysis of SCR in dynamic, complex networks, and help shape development pathways towards organizing for resilience. Findings draw on thick description and iterative coding of data (58 interviews and 200+ documents) on the buyer network responsible for managing the supply of critical medical products in the Netherlands.

HRT highlights the interconnectedness of challenges encountered during COVID-19 and helps design future resilience through three lessons. Organizing for SCR requires (1) both anticipation and containment strategies, (2) stable working relationships characterized by trust, and (3) a clear basis of command underpinned by experience-based legitimacy.

Distinctive from SCR, which views crises as “black swans”, HRT organizes around everyday consideration of the risk of failure. Taking a buyer network perspective, the authors move beyond the buyer-supplier network focus in SCR. The authors contend that emphasis on measures such as supplier base management, stockpiling, and domestic production are essential but not sufficient. Rather, HRT implies that deep structural and social ties within the buyer network should also be emphasized.

The purpose of this paper is to advance ongoing debates on the organizational impact of wider public sector reform in the field of organizational change management by presenting an analysis the regionalization of the fire service in the Netherlands. How regionalization has impacted the work floor of local fire stations, where the workplace majority comprises volunteers, requires further empirical investigation.

The authors apply an interpretive approach and qualitative methodology to study how volunteer firefighters and public management make sense of public reform and the ensuing organizational change.

Findings indicate that while the fire service has professionalized, notable tensions have emerged between public management and volunteers, the regional and local level of fire service and between professionalism and volunteerism which are problematised in the paper.

The originality of the paper is found in the insight it provides in the sensemaking of volunteer firefighters and public managers of diverse of change regions and fire stations during the regionalization process by applying an emergent perspective to change.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute an analysis of how crisis communication can make a difference in terms of the impact of an emergency on society.

The attitude of the response organisations with respect to communities is reflected in the planning model they adopt. Two ideal-typical planning models are distinguished in the literature. In order to analyse what role both planning models play in the dynamics of crisis communications, the authors selected two Dutch cases for a comparative case analysis on message contents and media responses to the crisis communication.

The content analysis revealed different crisis communication styles used by the emergency response organisation. The crisis communication in the first case focused primarily on denotative meaning-making while the crisis communication in the second case focused primarily on connotative meaning-making.

The authors argue that, in crisis communication, more attention should be paid to the way in which a response organisation approaches the situation, and to the dynamics of the interaction with the affected community.

More attention should be paid to the fact that emergency response and the affected community mutually shape each other; large-scale operations need to be moved out of their exclusivity and integrated into society.

Crises have a significant societal impact and do not occur in isolation from the broader social environment. The way in which people within society interpret the information from the authorities is important for the emergency response organisation in order that it can adapt to ongoing developments and match its communication more effectively to the affected communities.

The use of the concept of “agency,” in the sense of action that is to some extent free of “structural” constraints, has enjoyed enormous and growing popularity in the sociological literature over the past several decades. In a previous paper, we examined the range of theoretical rationales offered by sociologists for the inclusion of the notion of “agency” in sociological explanations. Having found these rationales seriously wanting, in this paper we attempt to determine empirically what role “agency” actually plays in the recent sociological literature. We examine a random sample of 147 articles in sociology journals that use the concept of “agency” with the aim of identifying the ways in which the term is used and what function the concept serves in the sociological explanations offered. We identify four principal (often overlapping) uses of “agency”: (1) purely descriptive; (2) as a synonym for “power”; (3) as a way to identify resistance to “structural” pressures; and (4) as a way to describe intelligible human actions. We find that in none of these cases the notion of “agency” adds anything of analytical or explanatory value. These different uses have one thing in common, however: they all tend to use the term “agency” in a strongly normative sense to mark the actions the authors approve of. We conclude that “agency” seems to serve the purpose of registering the authors' moral or political preferences under the guise of a seemingly analytical concept.

To develop an analytical framework through which the organizational cultural dimension of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations can be analyzed.

This paper is primarily based on a review of the literature.

ERP is an enterprise system that offers, to a certain extent, standard business solutions. This standardization is reinforced by two processes: ERP systems are generally implemented by intermediary IT organizations, mediating between the development of ERP‐standard software packages and specific business domains of application; and ERP systems integrate complex networks of production divisions, suppliers and customers.

In this paper, ERP itself is presented as problematic, laying heavy burdens on organizations – ERP is a demanding technology. While in some cases recognizing the mutual shaping of technology and organization, research into ERP mainly addresses the economic‐technological rationality of ERP (i.e. matters of effectiveness and efficiency). We want to supplement and complement this perspective with a cultural approach. How do individuals in organizations define and experience ERP‐standards? How and to what extent are management and working positions redefined in the process of developing and implementing ERP? In the paper, we highlight three perspectives from which ERP systems can be experienced, defined and analyzed. These perspectives are specified as the “constitution” of ERP, ERP as a “condition” of organizations, and the (unintended) “consequences” of ERP.

The purpose of this paper is to apply the theory of sociomateriality to exhibit how the social and material are entangled and (re)configured over time and in practice in a particular organization of study.

The authors conduct an ethnographic case study of the North-South metro line project in Amsterdam and use the methods of participant-observation, in-depth interviewing and a desk study.

The authors showcase the process of sociomaterial entanglement by focussing on the history and context of the project, the agency and performativity of the material and sociomaterial (re)configuration via ritual performance. The authors found the notion of performativity not only concern the enactment of boundaries between the social and material, but also the blurring of such boundaries.

Sociomateriality theory remains difficult to grasp. The implication is the need to provide new lenses to engage this theory empirically.

The authors provide a multi-layered lens for organization researchers to engage sociomateriality theory at a contextual, organizational and practice level.

Insights from a historical and contextual perspective can help practitioners to become aware of the diverse and dynamic ways in which social and material entities are entangled and (re)configured over time and in practice.

The authors provide a unique empirical account to exhibit the entanglement and (re)configuration between the social and material in a particular organization of study. This paper studies a tangible organizational setting whereas prior research in sociomateriality mainly focussed on routines in IT and IS. Finally, the authors suggest the ethnographic method to study sociomaterial entanglement from a historical and contextual perspective.

This study aims to investigate the relationships between firms’ strategic planning (SP), leadership and technology transfer competence (TTC) by specifically incorporating the mediating role of strategic quality management (SQM).

This study performs structural equation modeling using AMOS on survey data collected from 200 Turkish firms operating in multiple industries and sectors.

This study finds that leadership in Turkish firms operating in multiple sectors is positively associated with SQM. This study further finds that SQM positively influences Turkish firms’ TTC and mediates the roles of SP and leadership in TTC.

A key research implication from this study relates to the mediating role of SQM in TTC in an emerging economy context. This study highlights that SP and leadership can play an essential role in TTC through the mediating mechanism of SQM. Consequently, SQM emerges as a crucial linking pin in conveying the impact of quality management practices on technology transfer in emerging markets.

An essential managerial implication of this study relates to the critical roles of leadership, SP and SQM in TTC. For the managers of firms operating in a relatively uncertain emerging context such as Turkey, it is essential to adopt a supportive and empowering leadership style, where open communication and innovative activities are viewed positively and SQM is adopted holistically. Also, SP should be streamlined throughout the firm and followed by SQM to support TTC.

This paper links the technology (and knowledge) management and the strategy and leadership literature streams by focusing on the mechanisms of technology transfer and delving into the linkages between SQM, leadership, SP and TTC. It specifically presents SP and leadership as precursors to SQM in their joint influence on TTC. Accordingly, this research bridges technology, strategy and leadership research and provides a broader picture of technology transfer that encompasses the joint role of different processes in firms’ TTC.

Although trust is considered a dyadic and bidirectional phenomenon, the majority of trust research has not considered it as such. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to closing this research gap by analyzing the influence of supervisor’s propensity to trust on salesperson trust in supervisor, considering the mediating role of servant leadership (SL). Additionally, the authors delve into the relationship between trust in supervisor and salesperson turnover by examining the moderating effect of perceived ethical climate (EC).

Information was provided by 145 salesperson–supervisor dyads from 145 companies across various industries. SEM and PROCESS procedures were used to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results indicate that a supervisor’s disposition to trust is positively related to employee trust in the leader via its impact on perceived SL behaviors. However and contrary to the expectations, supervisor’s propensity to trust is found to have a direct negative impact on trust in the supervisor, suggesting the presence of additional mediating variables. Finally, the trust dimension of EC moderates the negative influence of trust on salesperson turnover intentions.

The findings highlight the practical benefits of fostering trust in the workplace and confirm the significant role of trust in the identification of servant leaders. In addition, the study shows that a supervisor’s disposition to trust can have a relevant effect on salesperson’s turnover intentions. Moreover, the results demonstrate the beneficial role of an ethical work climate.

This study offers insight into how to improve the retention of efficient employees and the role of trust, analyzed at a dyadic level, in this process. In addition, the findings suggest why servant leaders adopt this leadership style.