Jing Yang, Jing Zhang and Deming Zeng
The environment in high-tech industries is highly dynamic, and after COVID-19, it has become even more unpredictable. Hence, it has become critical for firms to develop strategies…
Abstract
Purpose
The environment in high-tech industries is highly dynamic, and after COVID-19, it has become even more unpredictable. Hence, it has become critical for firms to develop strategies to cope with a highly dynamic environment. This paper aims to analyze how the impact of the scientific collaboration networks with URIs (universities and research institutes) on firm innovation performance is contingent on technological and market dynamics.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 174 Chinese firms in the new-energy vehicle industry during 2004–2015, the authors applied a random-effects negative binomial modeling approach to model these relationships.
Findings
A broad and strong scientific collaboration network promotes firm innovation network effects are contingent on technological and market dynamics. While technological dynamics strengthen the effect market dynamics weaken it due to the different purposes of collaboration for firms and URIs.
Practical implications
Firms should adjust the structure of scientific collaboration networks with URIs when facing different environments. The government should encourage firms to jointly research with diverse URIs and play an active role in stabilizing market environments.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the academic debate on university-industry scientific collaborations. Applying the temporary competitive advantage (TCA) framework, we provide nuances to the literature that studies the factors that condition the effects of networks. This study also adds to the research on firm scientific collaboration networks by measuring networks based on the coauthorship between firms and URIs.
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Wenjie Liu, Jing Zhang, Chenfan Wu and Xiangyun Chang
The purpose of this paper is to identify most favorable (or quasi-preferred) industry characteristics of remanufacturing industry and most favorable (or quasi-preferred) industry…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify most favorable (or quasi-preferred) industry characteristics of remanufacturing industry and most favorable (or quasi-preferred) industry factors which have an effect on these characteristics so as to improve these factors.
Design/methodology/approach
Grey system theory has prominent advantage of using few data and uncertainty information to analyze many factors. Therefore, it is more suited for system analysis than traditional statistical analysis methods like regression analysis, variance analysis and principal component analysis, which require massive data, certain probability distribution in the data and few variant factors. So in this paper, grey incidence analysis method, which is an important part of grey system theory, is used to identify industry characteristics and key industry factor of remanufacturing industry in China and then put forward appropriate industrial policies and countermeasures to improve these industry factors.
Findings
According to the results of this study, it reveals that there are no most favorable industry characteristics and no most favorable industry factors in remanufacturing industry of China. “Annual sale of remanufacturing industry” is identified as quasi-preferred industry characteristic, and “total number of employees with master degree or above in remanufacturing enterprise” is identified as the quasi-preferred industry factor. “Total building area of remanufacturing enterprise” is referred as the most unfavorable industry factors.
Practical implications
Judging from the findings of this study, four practical implications are summarized as follows: “annual sale of remanufacturing industry” should be given great importance because it is a quasi-preferred industry characteristic. “Total number of employees with master degree or above in remanufacturing enterprise” and “total number of research institution and university participated in remanufacturing” should be further strengthened by establishing an industry-university-research institute collaboration network, due to the fact that they are the top two quasi-preferred industry factors. “Total investment of remanufacturing industry” and “total annual R&D expenditures” have not played their due role in improving remanufacturing industry, so they should be moderately controlled so as to reduce waste of investment. “Total building area of remanufacturing enterprise” must be strictly controlled because of its little impact on remanufacturing industry.
Originality/value
In this research, grey incidence analysis is applied to identify key industry factors of remanufacturing industry for the first time. It helps in finding industry factors which are in urgent need of improvement and assists in making appropriate industrial policies and countermeasures to improve them by studying relationships between industry characteristic and industry factors.
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Hongyan Jiang, Mengmeng Xu, Peizhen Sun and Jing Zhang
Mixed products, while presenting new business opportunities, raise considerable concerns among managers and researchers. However, whether mixed products (functionally vs…
Abstract
Purpose
Mixed products, while presenting new business opportunities, raise considerable concerns among managers and researchers. However, whether mixed products (functionally vs culturally) trigger positive or negative consumer reactions is controversial. Hereby, the present research seeks to resolve the conflicting effects by examining the moderating role of service provider type (humanoid service robot vs human employee) in the impact of mixed products on consumer reactions.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies were conducted to explore the effect of mixed products on consumer reactions. Specifically, study 1 was developed to examine the interplay of mixed products and service provider type in shaping consumers' product attitudes and purchase intentions under an offline shopping scenario; study 2 further provided evidence for the mediating roles of perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment in the above processes under an online-shopping context.
Findings
The convergent findings of two studies conclude that, when served by a humanoid service robot (vs human employee), consumers exhibit more positive attitudes and higher purchase intentions toward functionally (vs culturally) mixed products. Furthermore, such effect is driven by the perceived usefulness (vs perceived enjoyment) when served by humanoid robot (vs human employee).
Originality/value
First, this is one of the first studies to conceptualize mixed products as the two-dimensional construct (i.e. functionally mixed and culturally mixed), and the findings sheds light on the mixed products literature. Second, this paper introduces service provider type as the boundary condition for the impact of mixed products on consumers' product attitudes and purchase intentions, which expands the match-up hypothesis and schema theory in service marketing. Third, the current research explores the mediating roles of perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment in the above effects, which could make significant contribution to the motivation theory.
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Chang Lu, Bo Yu, Jing Zhang and Dan Xu
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between two types of open innovation (OI) strategies (OI breadth and depth) and innovation performance of small- and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between two types of open innovation (OI) strategies (OI breadth and depth) and innovation performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. The study examines how firms’ absorptive capacity and government institutional support affect these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data from 236 manufacturing SMEs in China were used to test the proposed model using hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings
The results show that both OI breadth and depth are positively related to innovation performance of SMEs. Moreover, this study finds that realized absorptive capacity serves as a mediator in the relationships between OI breadth and depth and innovation performance. The potential absorptive capacity and government institutional support moderate the relationship between OI breadth and innovation performance.
Originality/value
The effectiveness of OI strategies is significantly different among SMEs. One possible explanation is that SMEs adopt different types of OI strategies. Another is that a firm’s absorptive capacity and government institutional support may influence the effectiveness of OI. This study integrates these two possible reasons by investigating the effect of the interplay between different OI strategies, absorptive capacity and government institutional support on SMEs’ innovation performance. This study enriches the research on the relationships between OI strategies and innovation performance of SMEs in the Chinese context.
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Fiona Edgar, Alan Geare and Jing A. Zhang
The positive psychology movement suggests organisational behaviourists should accentuate the positive by increasing the attention paid to the enhancement of employee wellness…
Abstract
Purpose
The positive psychology movement suggests organisational behaviourists should accentuate the positive by increasing the attention paid to the enhancement of employee wellness. This fits comfortably with the ethos of human resource management which is rooted in notions of social exchange, reciprocity and mutual gain. The purpose of this paper is to inject some positivity into HRM research by examining the mediating role of positive emotions in the HRM–performance relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
To examine the role played by positive emotions in the relationship between HRM and citizenship behaviours, the authors surveyed a sample of 250 employees from 14 organisations in New Zealand service industries. Sobel and bootstrapping tests were used to examine the mediation model.
Findings
Results show positive emotional states, both personal and job-related, to positively and partially mediate the HRM–contextual performance relationship.
Research limitations/implications
Theoretically, this finding opens up HRM’s black box affording support for the inclusion of a wider range of psychological states than those presently studied.
Practical implications
Support is provided for HRM approaches which are more progressive than remedial in nature.
Originality/value
Emotions are malleable and this study suggests that fostering positive emotional states might hold the key to performance, unlocking desirable employee behaviours.
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Adeel Akmal, Nataliya Podgorodnichenko, Richard Greatbanks and Jing A. Zhang
Extant research documents the importance of lean thinking for organizations, however, as prior research has largely focused on hard lean practices, but little is known about the…
Abstract
Purpose
Extant research documents the importance of lean thinking for organizations, however, as prior research has largely focused on hard lean practices, but little is known about the effects or the significance of soft lean practices. This research attempts to address this issue by examining how soft lean practices enhance organizational lean readiness, and in turn increase the success of lean implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopts a single case study design in a small-medium enterprise livestock feed manufacturing organization, and investigates the period from late 2011 through the end of 2019 covering two attempts at lean implementation – an initial failed attempt followed by a successful introduction of lean within the case organization. The research analyzes interviews with 29 managers and employees from all organizational levels and departments within the case organization. Secondary data including organizational documents and performance measures and metrics were also incorporated into the research design.
Findings
Drawing on agency theory, the authors advance a principal-agent interaction perspective to conceptualize organizational lean readiness – specifically, the authors consider the “state or condition” of four agency factors (goal conflict, information asymmetry, risk aversion and length of relationship), and explore if these four agency factors can be utilized as proxies for organizational readiness for lean implementation. The authors identify the formation of a shared vision and identity within the organization as an effective mechanism through which soft lean practices enhance organizational lean readiness. Finally, the analysis offers an understanding of how the long-term success of lean implementation is improved by the introduction of soft lean practices as a prerequisite to create organizational readiness for the implementation of hard lean practices.
Originality/value
The study is unique in the sense that it empirically links agency theory and the role of soft lean practices in developing organizational lean readiness in a small-medium enterprise context by defining the ideal state of four agency factors as proxies for organizational readiness.
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Xiaoxia Dong, Colin Brown, Scott Waldron and Jing Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to analyze price transmission in the Chinese pork market between 1994 and 2016 and examine any incidence and causes of asymmetric price transmission.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze price transmission in the Chinese pork market between 1994 and 2016 and examine any incidence and causes of asymmetric price transmission.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach uses threshold autoregressive models, asymmetric error correction models and autoregressive moving average models to examine the price transmission using monthly pig and pork prices from 1994 to 2016.
Findings
While a symmetric price transmission between pork and pig prices was identified for the period between June 1994 and June 2007, an asymmetric price transmission response between pork and pig prices was found for the period July 2007 to June 2016. Key factors behind the asymmetric price transmission include the chicken price and China’s provisional purchasing and stockpiling policy which is having a counter-productive impact on prices.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature by examining price transmission in two different periods: 1994 to 2007 where prices are lower and more stable; and 2007 to 2016 where prices are higher and volatile. The paper examines the impact of production and market policies on price transmission in the Chinese pork and pig market, with several policy implications.
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Fiona Edgar, Jing A. Zhang and Nancy M. Blaker
Drawing on the dynamic model of ability, motivation, opportunity (AMO) for human resource research, this study aims to examine how organizational system-level (i.e. the…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the dynamic model of ability, motivation, opportunity (AMO) for human resource research, this study aims to examine how organizational system-level (i.e. the high-performance work system (HPWS)) and individual-level AMO affect employees' performance. Specifically, this paper proposes that employee task performance is resultant from the integration of system- and individual-level AMO factors with employee contextual performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey design is employed with data collected from 250 employees working in New Zealand's service sector.
Findings
This study finds both organizational system (HPWS) and individual AMO dimensions have positive associations with employees' performance. At the system level, the supportive role played by contextual performance is highlighted with pro-social behaviors fully mediating the relationship between the HPWS and task performance. At the individual level, contextual performance is found to partially mediate the relationship between ability and task performance and fully mediate the relationship between motivation and task performance. Opportunity, on the other hand, is significantly associated with task but not contextual performance.
Originality/value
In acknowledging there are a plurality of factors that impact performance, this study enriches our understanding of AMO's influence in the context of people management.
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Wei Deng, Wenxin Zhou, Rui Song, Jie Li and Jing Zhang
The rise of digitalization brings new opportunities and challenges to female entrepreneurship (FE). This paper aims to systematically review the intellectual landscape of FE…
Abstract
Purpose
The rise of digitalization brings new opportunities and challenges to female entrepreneurship (FE). This paper aims to systematically review the intellectual landscape of FE research, identifying gaps and proposing future directions.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review was conducted on 1,918 highly relevant articles on FE, which were retrieved from the Scopus and Web of Science up to 2023.
Findings
While cyberfeminism is a rising perspective, the impact of digitalization on FE remains underexplored. Antecedents of FE are predominantly examined at the individual, family, organizational and environmental levels, overlooking team-level factors. Studies predominantly focus on outcomes at a single level and within a country, neglecting FE’s cross-level and cross-national complexity and diversity. The static analysis of mediating mechanisms in existing research fails to capture the dynamic process of FE. Furthermore, contextualization research often isolates family, institutional, social and mixed embeddedness, neglecting the simultaneous multiple contexts in which female entrepreneurs operate.
Originality/value
To bridge gaps in existing literature, this paper introduces an integrated research framework for FE. It suggests future research directions encompassing the impact of digital intelligence, heterogeneity of different groups of female entrepreneurs, the multiple contextual embedded nature of FE, dynamic process mechanisms for FE and cross-cultural comparisons. The proposed framework aims to inspire new insights and contribute to the evolving field of FE research.
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Jing A. Zhang, Shijiao Chen, Sara Walton and Sarah Carr
Consumer satisfaction towards a brand is one of a firm’s important performance outcomes. However, building a strong green brand to foster consumers’ satisfaction is often…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumer satisfaction towards a brand is one of a firm’s important performance outcomes. However, building a strong green brand to foster consumers’ satisfaction is often challenging for firms. Drawing on the dynamic capability and mechanism-enabling perspectives of ambidexterity. The purpose of this research is to explore mechanisms of perceived brand performance and green trust through which green brand ambidexterity acts as a facilitator of consumer satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypothesized relationships were tested by both partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM; symmetric approach) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA; asymmetric approach) with data collected from a green consumer questionnaire survey in Hong Kong.
Findings
The results from PLS-SEM indicate that green brand ambidexterity affects consumer satisfaction through multiple mediating paths of perceived brand performance, green trust-consumer and the sequential integration of perceived brand performance and green trust. Results from fsQCA further reinforced these findings.
Research limitations/implications
The present research provides a nuanced understanding of how ambidexterity enhances consumer satisfaction in the context of a green brand by identifying multiple mechanisms.
Originality/value
There is a lack of research on how green brand ambidexterity affects green brand outcomes from the perspective of value creation for consumers. The present research fills this gap by providing more comprehensive explanations of mechanisms for green brand ambidexterity to facilitate consumer satisfaction. It also offers a better understanding of how the effects of green brand ambidexterity are viewed on a path-dependency that is aligned with the dynamic capability perspective of ambidexterity and how green trust forms a critical path to enable green brand ambidexterity and perceived brand performance to enhance consumer satisfaction.