Kevin Grant, Roman Matousek, Martin Meyer and Nickolaos G. Tzeremes
The purpose of this paper is to provide a fresh insight into the examination of the comparison between multinationality and firm performance, measured through technical efficiency…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a fresh insight into the examination of the comparison between multinationality and firm performance, measured through technical efficiency levels by overcoming methodological constraints and misunderstandings presented in earlier research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors estimate firms’ efficiency levels in a production function-type framework through technical efficiency levels using nonparametric data envelopment analysis. The authors include firms from both developed and developing economies, from different national origins and with different sectoral characteristics, with a particular focus on knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) and capital-intensive business services (CIBS).
Findings
The study confirms for the case of KIBS the existence of the three-stage sigmoid (S-shaped) hypothesis between multinationality and firm performance measured through technical efficiency levels. Finally, the empirical findings reveal that CIBS exhibit only the first two stages, thus forming a “U”-shape relationship.
Originality/value
The authors propose the application of different firms’ performance measurements, providing us with the ability to unpack a firms’ managerial decision processes with regards to determining the optimised investment(s) in technology and research and development and with a particular focus on KIBS and CIBS.
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Jie Wu, Xinhe Zhang, Shuaihe Zhuo, Martin Meyer, Bin Li and Haifeng Yan
The authors attempt to answer the basic questions: How is imitation tied to innovation? This question is addressed in the context of China's innovation system in the 2000s where…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors attempt to answer the basic questions: How is imitation tied to innovation? This question is addressed in the context of China's innovation system in the 2000s where Chinese industrial firms simultaneously implement innovation and imitation strategies in their new product developments.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors first build on lattice theory and supermodularity theory to provide a rigorous and careful mathematical proof. The authors further conduct the empirical analyses using an original data on Chinese manufacturing firms' innovation and imitation strategies in the development of new products in 2002.
Findings
This article reveals the complementarity relation between imitation and innovation strategies and identifies external knowledge search as the boundary condition that influences the extent to which two strategies reinforce each other.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of the imitation-innovation complementarity suggest that imitation is not only an indispensable strategy independent of innovation, but also is vital to the effectiveness of innovation itself.
Practical implications
The imitation-innovation complementarity finding provides some evidence for the contention that Chinese latecomers exploit the synergies of imitation and innovation, transforming themselves from imitators to innovators and vibrant competitors in the global market (Wu et al., 2016) and, as a result, national innovation system has evolved from a state-sponsored imitation program to the imitation-innovation mixture.
Originality/value
In contrast to earlier innovation studies in which innovation and imitation are unrelated, this study reveals that imitation complements innovation, and the extent of Chinese firms' external knowledge search affects the complementary relationship between imitation and innovation. These findings add important insights to the innovation management literature and contribute empirical evidence to the interplay of innovation and imitation enhancing national innovation system.
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Christine Mathies, Tung Moi Chiew and Michael Kleinaltenkamp
While researchers in other disciplines seek to determine the impact that humour has in personal interactions, studies of humour in service delivery are lacking. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
While researchers in other disciplines seek to determine the impact that humour has in personal interactions, studies of humour in service delivery are lacking. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether it is beneficial to deliberately use humour in service encounters.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper provides a comprehensive review of humour research in multiple disciplines to assess the applicability of their key findings to the service domain. By establishing the antecedents, types, and consequences of humour, the authors build a framework and propositions to help service researchers uncover the potential of injecting humour into service interactions.
Findings
The authors find that using humour in service encounters is an ingenious affiliative behaviour which strengthens rapport between service employees and their customers. Humour also permits frontline service employees to better cope with the emotional challenges of their work, thus promising to reduce emotional labour and increase well-being. The effectiveness of service recovery efforts may also grow if employees use humour successfully to soften unpleasant emotional reactions and accept responsibility.
Originality/value
The authors explore cross-disciplinary humour research to apply the findings to the use of humour in service encounters. The authors also attempt to identify situations in which humour usage is most promising or beneficial, as well as its main beneficiaries.
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Renate E. Meyer, Martin Kornberger and and Markus A. Höllerer
In this chapter, the authors introduce Ludwik Fleck and his ideas of “thought style” and “thought collective” to suggest a re-thinking of the divide between “micro” and “macro”…
Abstract
In this chapter, the authors introduce Ludwik Fleck and his ideas of “thought style” and “thought collective” to suggest a re-thinking of the divide between “micro” and “macro” that has perhaps more inhibited than inspired organization studies in general, and institutional theory in particular. With Fleck, the authors argue that there is no such thing as thought style-neutral cognition or undirected perception: meaning, constituted through a specific thought style shared by a thought collective, permeates cognition, judgment, perception, and thought. The authors illustrate our argument with the longitudinal case study of Sydney 2030 (i.e., the strategy-making process of the City of Sydney, Australia). The case suggests that – regardless of its actual implementation – a strategy is successful to the extent to which it shapes the socio-cognitive infrastructure of a collective and enables those engaged in city-making to think and act collectively.
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This study aims to test the relationship between employee exit and knowledge retention. The study also tests the moderating role of organizational structure on the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to test the relationship between employee exit and knowledge retention. The study also tests the moderating role of organizational structure on the relationship between employee exit and knowledge retention.
Design/methodology/approach
A purposive sample of 310 in India was used. The hypotheses were tested using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), structural equation modeling and moderating analysis using SmartPLS.
Findings
The results showed that employee exit positively affects knowledge retention. Moreover, the organizational structure does not moderate the relationship between employee exit and knowledge retention. Two factors were identified through the EFA, of which knowledge-based systems were found to be the most important, followed by management support.
Originality/value
The study attempts to test the relationship between employee exit and knowledge retention and also develops and validates the multidimensional measure of knowledge retention.
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Gloria Pritchett – the fiery and caring Latina mother in Modern Family – is believed to recreate cultural and gender stereotypes. This audience study was interested in situating…
Abstract
Gloria Pritchett – the fiery and caring Latina mother in Modern Family – is believed to recreate cultural and gender stereotypes. This audience study was interested in situating her as an intersectional representation to recognize that numerous social categories coproduce her characterization not just one. Textual analyses of open-ended questions reveal that participants tend to explicitly and exclusively discuss her stereotypes in ethnic and gender terms, with an emphasis on the former. However, a semantic analysis of the words/adjectives used to describe Gloria Pritchett suggested these share meaning across multiple social categories. Some aspects of her representation, like those based on ethnicity and gender (her Latina wisdom) or ethnicity and social class (her social mobility from Colombia to the United States), were found commendable, respectable, and likable. Eventually, the social identities encompassing Gloria Pritchett are taken apart and compounded, which in turn, suggest that her intersectionality was malleable for viewers.
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Rehab Iftikhar and Mehvish Rashid
Knowledge loss and retention are common phenomena not only for organizations but also for interorganizational projects, where multiple organizations are involved. This paper sets…
Abstract
Purpose
Knowledge loss and retention are common phenomena not only for organizations but also for interorganizational projects, where multiple organizations are involved. This paper sets out to understand why knowledge loss occurs and how to retain knowledge, particularly in the context of interorganizational projects. For this purpose, the Orange Line Metro Rail Transit System in Lahore, the Bus Rapid Transit in Peshawar and the Green Line Metrobus in Karachi, all in Pakistan, were examined.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-case study approach is employed in this paper. Empirical data were collected through semi-structured interviews and archival documents. To analyze the data, we used a three-step thematization procedure, which included data condensation, data presentation and conclusion.
Findings
The findings present the determinants of knowledge loss, including high time pressure, memory decay, lack of sharing of personal knowledge and tenuous relationships between salary and experience. For knowledge retention, the findings provide evidence of the transformation of the working environment, externalization, job shadowing, the hiring and rehiring individuals and the provision of incentives.
Originality/value
By examining knowledge loss and retention in interorganizational projects, this article contributes to the literature on knowledge-based theory.
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Shannon E. Finn Connell and Ramkrishnan V. Tenkasi
Organizations facing issues related to growth, innovation, and strategy are embracing design thinking, a problem-solving process. This study explores 40 design thinking…
Abstract
Organizations facing issues related to growth, innovation, and strategy are embracing design thinking, a problem-solving process. This study explores 40 design thinking initiatives and identifies operational practices emerge and empirical categories across various contexts. Quantitative analyses of the initiatives and qualitative interview data are used to distinguish four configurations of action analogous to races: training, emphasizing learning-by-doing; marathons, capturing personal reflection over a long project; relays, highlighting team collaboration; and sprints, reflecting fast-paced product innovation. The initiatives are differentiated as designer-led versus team-driven and, low-urgency versus high-urgency. Implications of practicing design thinking in Organization Development and Change are discussed.
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Coleen Meyers‐Martin and Lynn D. Lampert
This article aims to describe the many ways academic library outreach practices are evolving through online formats. It underscores the implications of moving communications and…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to describe the many ways academic library outreach practices are evolving through online formats. It underscores the implications of moving communications and resources online for educational opportunity program (EOP) students when considering these students' specific technology usage patterns and the need for face‐to‐face mentoring. The article seeks to make recommendations for libraries that intend to develop successful programming and interactions with transitional students online; and to bring to light the need for future research concerning the creation and usage of online educational support structures that specifically serve the EOP community.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review discusses technology and academic library outreach programming as well as the historic and current digital divide and learning styles of EOP transitional students. Recommendations are made for how to best meet EOP student needs online to support the traditional in‐person programming in which these students succeed.
Findings
Identifying successful learning structures and potential technology usage patterns of EOP students provided the foundation for this article. Developing library outreach and programming within the online platforms EOP students access and utilize is necessary to support continued face‐to‐face interactions in an academic setting. More research is necessary in order to support transitional students in a digital format.
Originality/value
This article describes digital outreach efforts targeting non‐campus and campus communities, in particular within EOP transitional programming. It inquires about how to best meet transitional students in a digital format when they have historically succeeded in face‐to‐face educational interactions and settings.
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Consumers frequently have to choose between products that differ in price and quality. This study aims to hypothesize that involvement would moderate the effect of message framing…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumers frequently have to choose between products that differ in price and quality. This study aims to hypothesize that involvement would moderate the effect of message framing on consumers' perceived monetary gain when considering cheaper products, as well as on product choice.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 238 participants were randomly assigned to either a positively or a negatively framed message, and either a high or low involvement condition.
Findings
The study finds that presented with a negative relative to positive frame, highly involved participants perceived a higher monetary gain when purchasing the cheaper product; no corresponding differences were found for low‐involved participants. Message framing did not affect either highly or low‐involved participants' product choice.
Research limitations/implications
Explanations for the results are offered and future research is suggested in order to determine whether the effect of message framing on the perceived monetary gain of highly involved consumers choosing cheaper products does affect their product choice.
Practical implications
If future research confirms this hypothesis, both retailers and highly involved consumers should consider the possible effect of message framing on the perceived monetary gain and on the choice between products that differ in price and quality.
Originality/value
This study is the first demonstration of the moderating effect of involvement on the effect of message framing on consumers' perceived monetary gain when choosing between products that differ in price and quality.