Covadonga Gijón, Irene Albarrán Lozano and José M. Molina
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the innovation perception, in its different aspects, of the Spanish people. To this end, several ordered logit models have been developed…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the innovation perception, in its different aspects, of the Spanish people. To this end, several ordered logit models have been developed to determine the extent to which socio-demographic characteristics and other aspects of innovation affect the perception of innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyses the perception of individuals about innovation in Spain and the related factors. It uses 2015 and 2018 data on individuals from Spanish surveys. The data include various measures of innovation perception, age, gender, educational level and other socio-economic variables.
Findings
The results indicate that people have a better perception of innovation if they are being trained in innovation or have good information and communication technologies skills. Among the main results, there is a gender gap in the perception of innovation, as well as differences in terms of digital skills.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time of this kind of analysis in this country. The results are linked to the literature, but should nevertheless be taken into account, which is why some policy recommendations are presented below.
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Juan José Tarí, Jorge Pereira-Moliner, José F. Molina-Azorín and María D. López-Gamero
This paper aims to examine the impact of external and internal drivers on the dimensions of internalization (daily practices and continuous improvement) of quality standards, the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impact of external and internal drivers on the dimensions of internalization (daily practices and continuous improvement) of quality standards, the relationship between the dimensions of internalization and their effects on customer, employee, society and organizational results in hotels.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies a structural equations analysis to test these relationships using empirical data from 176 quality-certified hotels.
Findings
Hotels need internal drivers to internalize a quality system because the external drivers themselves are not able to explain significantly the quality internalization process. This paper shows the significant relationship between the dimensions of internalization (daily practices and continuous improvement) and the importance of continuous improvement (e.g. innovations from quality standards and reflection on how to improve the current work processes) for improved customer, employees, society and organizational results.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are no empirical studies jointly analyzing the drivers of internalization, the relationship between the dimensions of internalization and their effects on different dimensions of results (customers, employees and society) in hotels.
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Juan José Tarí, José F. Molina-Azorín, Jorge Pereira-Moliner and María D. López-Gamero
This paper examines the relationships between: (1) motives for internalization of a quality system, (2) the internalization of a quality system and (3) customer results, employee…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the relationships between: (1) motives for internalization of a quality system, (2) the internalization of a quality system and (3) customer results, employee results and social results in public organizations by means of replication research
Design/methodology/approach
First, the work applies a quantitative study to test hypotheses using structural equations based on the Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach. Then, a qualitative study is carried out to support the quantitative results obtained
Findings
Results show that internal and external motives affect internalization, and that the most important issues for internalization are commitment, communication, training, recognition and follow-up. In addition, continuous improvement is key in order to enhance customer results, employee results and social results
Originality/value
The contribution of this work is that it provides empirical support to prior research on internalization focused on manufacturing and service organizations, and extends these results to the case of public organizations
Propósito
Este trabajo analiza la relación entre: a) los motivos para interiorizar un sistema de calidad, b) la interiorización de un sistema de calidad y c) los resultados de clientes, empleados y sociedad en organizaciones públicas, a través de un estudio que replica los análisis previos sobre interiorización realizados en organizaciones manufactureras y de servicios.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
Interiorización de la calidad en organizaciones públicasPara conseguir este objetivo se realiza primero un estudio cuantitativo para comprobar las hipótesis a través de un análisis de ecuaciones estructurales desde el enfoque Partial Least Squares (PLS). Posteriormente se realiza otro estudio cualitativo para apoyar los resultados cuantitativos obtenidos.
Resultados
Los resultados muestran que los motivos internos y externos influyen en la interiorización y que los aspectos más importantes para interiorizar un sistema de calidad son la implicación, la comunicación, la formación, el reconocimiento y el seguimiento interno. Además, la mejora continua es clave para mejorar los resultados de clientes, empleados y sociedad.
Originalidad/valor
La contribución del trabajo es que proporciona apoyo empírico a los resultados de trabajos previos sobre interiorización centrados en organizaciones manufactureras y de servicios y extiende estos resultados al caso de organizaciones públicas.
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Beatriz Forés, Alba Puig-Denia and José Maria Fernández-Yáñez
This study draws on the natural resource-based view to analyze the effects of technologies, managerial commitment, and firm strategy on sustainability performance, in terms of…
Abstract
This study draws on the natural resource-based view to analyze the effects of technologies, managerial commitment, and firm strategy on sustainability performance, in terms of both environmental and social profits. It also examines how the effect of green technologies on sustainability performance can be triggered by a managerial commitment to sustainability issues, and by the adoption of a prospector strategy. Multiple linear regression was used to test research hypotheses on a sample of 426 Spanish tourism firms. The results provide important insights into the importance of the adoption of explorer strategies fostering the strategic exploitation of green technologies to obtain new efficient processes, organizational procedures, and products. This research also shows the contingent moderating effect that managerial commitment exerts on the strategic implementation of green technologies for sustainability performance.
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Nicolás Marín Ruiz, María Martínez-Rojas, Carlos Molina Fernández, José Manuel Soto-Hidalgo, Juan Carlos Rubio-Romero and María Amparo Vila Miranda
The construction sector has significantly evolved in recent decades, in parallel with a huge increase in the amount of data generated and exchanged in any construction project…
Abstract
The construction sector has significantly evolved in recent decades, in parallel with a huge increase in the amount of data generated and exchanged in any construction project. These data need to be managed in order to complete a successful project in terms of quality, cost and schedule in the the context of a safe project environment while appropriately organising many construction documents.
However, the origin of these data is very diverse, mainly due to the sector’s characteristics. Moreover, these data are affected by uncertainty, complexity and diversity due to the imprecise nature of the many factors involved in construction projects. As a result, construction project data are associated with large, irregular and scattered datasets.
The objective of this chapter is to introduce an approach based on a fuzzy multi-dimensional model and on line analytical processing (OLAP) operations in order to manage construction data and support the decision-making process based on previous experiences. On one hand, the proposal allows for the integration of data in a common repository which is accessible to users along the whole project’s life cycle. On the other hand, it allows for the establishment of more flexible structures for representing the data of the main tasks in the construction project management domain. The incorporation of this fuzzy framework allows for the management of imprecision in construction data and provides easy and intuitive access to users so that they can make more reliable decisions.
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José Ignacio Giménez-Nadal, José Alberto Molina and Jorge Velilla
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the time-allocation decisions of individuals who work from home (i.e. teleworkers), and compare them with their commuter counterparts.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the time-allocation decisions of individuals who work from home (i.e. teleworkers), and compare them with their commuter counterparts.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from the American Time Use Survey for the years 2003–2015, the authors analyze the time spent working, and the timing of work, of both commuters and teleworkers.
Findings
Results show that teleworkers devote 40 percent less time to market work activities than do commuters, and less than 60 percent of teleworkers work at “regular hours,” vs around 80 percent of their commuter counterparts. Using information from the Well-being Module for the years 2012 and 2013, the authors find that male teleworkers experience lower levels of negative feelings while working than do commuters.
Originality/value
This paper addresses the timing of work of workers working from home; and the instant well-being experienced, exploiting information at diary level.
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Jorge Pereira-Moliner, Eva M. Pertusa-Ortega, Juan José Tarí, María D. López-Gamero and Jose F. Molina-Azorín
The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between practices of quality management (QM) and the characteristics of organizational design, and QM and competitive…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between practices of quality management (QM) and the characteristics of organizational design, and QM and competitive advantage.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a partial least squares approach to test these relationships in 350 hotels in Spain.
Findings
The findings show that QM influences specialization, formalization and interdepartmental interactions, and that QM practices influence both cost and differentiation competitive advantage. The results also indicate the importance of QM strategic and operational systems as practices that have a key impact on the characteristics of organizational design. Similarly, the QM operational system is key in the relationship between QM and cost competitive advantage. Finally, the QM operational, information and strategic systems positively influence differentiation competitive advantage.
Practical implications
When hotels adopt QM practices, there will be significant changes in a number of organizational variables, including specialization, formalization and interdepartmental interactions. This paper provides empirical evidence that QM practices improve both cost and differentiation competitive advantage in the hotel industry.
Originality/value
There has been little research on the effects of QM on organizational design in the hotel industry. The contribution of this paper is that analyze the effects of QM on organizational design and competitive advantage, extending knowledge about these issues in a specific sector.
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Pedro M. García-Villaverde, Job Rodrigo-Alarcón, Maria Jose Ruiz-Ortega and Gloria Parra-Requena
The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of cognitive social capital (CSC) on firms’ entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and how knowledge absorptive capacity moderates this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of cognitive social capital (CSC) on firms’ entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and how knowledge absorptive capacity moderates this relationship. The purpose is aimed at completing the gap in the literature regarding determinants of EO linked with knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical study was carried out on a sample of 292 Spanish firms in the agri-food industry. Partial least squares (SmartPLS software) was used to evaluate the measurement and structural models.
Findings
CSC has a curvilinear influence (U-shaped) on EO. In addition, this relationship is accentuated with higher knowledge absorptive capacity.
Practical implications
Managers should promote cognitively close networks and reinforce shared goals and culture with their contacts to maintain a high EO. Furthermore, managers should strengthen their knowledge absorptive capacity to boost innovativeness, risk taking and proactiveness derived from cognitive proximity with their contacts.
Originality/value
This study adds value to social capital literature by pointing out a curvilinear relationship (U-shaped) between CSC and EO, in contrast to studies focussed on other dimensions of social capital, which have obtained divergent results. Furthermore, this study reinforces the key contingent role of knowledge absorptive capacity. The study provides a valuable theoretical framework of EO determinants connecting the cognitive perspective of social capital theory with a dynamic capability view.
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Hugo Valenzuela-Garcia, Miranda Jessica Lubbers and Jose Luis Molina
The aim of the paper is to ethnographically detail the poverty-shame nexus in contemporary Spain, and to highlight the contradictions of the newly adopted consumption-based models…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to ethnographically detail the poverty-shame nexus in contemporary Spain, and to highlight the contradictions of the newly adopted consumption-based models of inclusion led by charities.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on 39 cases out of a sample of 78 gathered through two long-term research projects, the paper employs a mixed-methods approach that mainly draws on a multi-sited ethnographic approach and interviews.
Findings
The paper ethnographically documents major contradictions that shed light on the complex relationships between poverty, shame, work and consumption in modern societies.
Research limitations/implications
This paper analyses the sources of shame in the experience of poverty and downward mobility, but also it opens new ground for understanding the complex poverty–shame nexus and lets some questions unanswered.
Practical implications
The contradictions highlighted shed light on the complex relationships between poverty, shame, work and consumption that may inform modern policies to fight poverty. Ethnography gives voice to these individuals that currently experience an increasingly precarious and unequal modern world.
Social implications
The paper contributes to a better understanding of the processes that underlie modern poverty and downward social mobility and points out the contradictions generated by consumption-based models of inclusion.
Originality/value
While the poverty-shame nexus has been already analyzed from the point of view of stigma and exclusion from the labor market, the links between a growing consumerism and the neo-liberal values that underlie our modern societies are largely unexplored. The ethnographic contribution and the detailed case studies are also original in the case of Spain.