Mohammed Awad Alshahrani, Muhammad Zafar Yaqub, Murad Ali, Imane El Hakimi and Mohammad Asif Salam
Building on social cognitive theory and self-determination theory, this study aims to discern the innovative work behaviors of organizational employees as the process by which…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on social cognitive theory and self-determination theory, this study aims to discern the innovative work behaviors of organizational employees as the process by which they generate, develop and implement new and valuable ideas, practices, products or procedures shaped by entrepreneurial leadership by reinforcing intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy under the boundary condition of a firm’s innovative climate.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used partial least squares-based structural equation modeling on a sample of 203 employees of small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Saudi Arabia.
Findings
This study found that entrepreneurial leadership improves employees’ innovative work behavior by successively enhancing their intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy. Furthermore, the analysis confirmed that a firm’s innovative climate significantly moderates the strength of the indirect mediation effect between entrepreneurial leadership and employees’ innovative work behavior through sequential mediation.
Practical implications
The findings of this study yield substantial theoretical and practical implications resulting from a fine-grained understanding of the instrumentality of entrepreneurial leadership in fostering employees’ innovative work behavior. Effectively orchestrating these psychological mechanisms could enable entrepreneurial leaders to alleviate their behaviors.
Originality/value
This is an original study that outlines the importance of aligning entrepreneurial leadership and an innovative climate to shape intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy in employees’ innovative work behavior. It demonstrates how entrepreneurial leadership enhances innovative work behavior through the sequential mediation of intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy under the boundary condition of an innovative climate.
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This chapter discusses religious diversity and the religious minority student on the HBCU campus. The author discusses existing literature and research on religious minority…
Abstract
This chapter discusses religious diversity and the religious minority student on the HBCU campus. The author discusses existing literature and research on religious minority college students and the challenges and experiences of religious minorities on campus. The primary purpose of this chapter is to improve HBCU practitioners’ abilities to promote religious pluralism and tolerance of all faiths. Student affairs practitioners must first have a fundamental understanding of who is a religious minority.
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M. Tavakoli, M.R. Zakerzadeh, G.R. Vossoughi and S. Bagheri
Aims to describe design, prototyping and characteristics of a pole climbing/manipulating robot with ability of passing bends and branches of the pole.
Abstract
Purpose
Aims to describe design, prototyping and characteristics of a pole climbing/manipulating robot with ability of passing bends and branches of the pole.
Design/methodology/approach
Introducing a hybrid (parallel/serial) four degree of freedom (DOF) mechanism as the main part of the robot and also introduces a unique gripper design for pole climbing robots.
Findings
Finds that a robot, with the ability of climbing and manipulating on poles with bends and branches, needs at least 4 DOFs. Also an electrical cylinder is a good option for climbing robots and has some advantages over pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders.
Research limitations/implications
The robot is semi‐industrial size. Design and manufacturing of an industrial size robot are a good suggestion for future works.
Practical implications
With some changes on the gripper module and the last tool module, the robot is able to do some service works like pipe testing, pipe/pole cleaning, light bulb changing in highways etc.
Originality/value
Design and manufacturing of a pole‐climbing and manipulating robot with minimum DOFs for construction and service works.
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Kambiz Heidarzadeh Hanzaee and Mona Sadeghian
This study aims to evaluate the impact of the most important dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a part of social marketing (SM) according to the current…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the impact of the most important dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a part of social marketing (SM) according to the current economic crisis and conditions on customer satisfaction (CS) and corporate reputation in the automotive industry and also to create a new approach in the field of CSR with considering the minimum and major stakeholders by a localized model of the most basic and important responsibilities to open up a new perspective to managers to increase the efficiency of production in automotive and other industries.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors used descriptive statistics and a questionnaire survey of 245 executive managers of the market leader (Iran Khodro Co.) in automotive industry in Iran. The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique used to examine the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
The findings of this study conclude that legal and economic responsibilities can be considered as prerequisites for companies. There is no proportional correlation between execution of economic responsibility and CS and corporate reputation; instead, this is regarded as the basic responsibility of companies.
Practical implications
This research can present CSR as a useful tool that can aid companies' long-term performance and its benefits can become visible in future with preserving their sustainability.
Originality/value
Although the importance of CSR is more obvious to managers, this study opens up a new aspect of CSR by considering it as an informal structure of corporations.
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Naceureddine Bekkari and Aziez Zeddouri
Modeling Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) constitutes an important tool for controlling the operation of the process and for predicting its performance with substantial influent…
Abstract
Purpose
Modeling Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) constitutes an important tool for controlling the operation of the process and for predicting its performance with substantial influent fluctuations. The purpose of this paper is to apply an artificial neural network (ANN) approach with a feed-forward back-propagation in order to predict the ten-month performance of Touggourt WWTP in terms of effluent Chemical Oxygen Demand (CODeff).
Design/methodology/approach
The influent variables such as (pHinf), temperature (TEinf), suspended solid (SSinf), Kjeldahl Nitrogen (KNinf), biochemical oxygen demand (BODinf) and chemical oxygen demand (CODinf) were used as input variables of neural networks. To determine the appropriate architecture of the neural network models, several steps of training were conducted, namely the validation and testing of the models by varying the number of neurons and activation functions in the hidden layer, the activation function in output layer as well as the learning algorithms.
Findings
The better results were achieved with an architecture network [6-50-1], hyperbolic tangent sigmoid activation functions at hidden layer, linear activation functions at output layer and a Levenberg – Marquardt method as learning algorithm. The results showed that the ANN model could predict the experimental results with high correlation coefficient 0.89, 0.96 and 0.87 during learning, validation and testing phases, respectively. The overall results indicated that the ANN modeling approach can provide an effective tool for simulating, controlling and predicting the performance of WWTP.
Originality/value
This work is the first of its kind in this region due to the remarkable development in terms of population and agricultural activity in the region, which drove to the increase of water pollutants, so it is necessary to use the modern technologies to modeling and controlling of WWTP.
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Tensions between the Gulf states and Iran have escalated significantly in 2016, in the wake of Iran's signing of a landmark deal in 2015 that brought to an end the decade-long…
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB212704
ISSN: 2633-304X
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Geographic
Topical
Morteza Akbari, Afsaneh Bagheri, Saheb Imani and Mohammad Asadnezhad
The crucial importance of innovation leadership for high technology small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) has been suggested in the literature. However, few studies empirically…
Abstract
Purpose
The crucial importance of innovation leadership for high technology small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) has been suggested in the literature. However, few studies empirically examined the impact of leadership style on innovation work behavior (IWB) of employees in the context of SMEs. Furthermore, our knowledge is limited about how leaders of high technology SMEs influence the IWB of their employees. The present study explores the effect of entrepreneurial leadership on IWB of employees and introduces creative self-efficacy and support for innovation as the mechanisms through which the leaders encourage their employees' IWB in information and communications technology (ICT) SMEs in Iran.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample was selected from high technology ICT SMEs using the simple random sampling method and included 175 CEOs and owner-managers of the businesses. We used validated questionnaires to test the hypothesized relationships between entrepreneurial leadership, IWB, creative self-efficacy and support for innovation.
Findings
The findings show that entrepreneurial leadership has a significant and positive impact on IWB of employees in ICT SMEs. Furthermore, employees’ creative self-efficacy and leaders’ support for innovation mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and IWB. Implications of the results and suggestions for developing IWB among the employees of high technology SMEs are suggested.
Originality/value
The study makes important contributions to both entrepreneurial leadership and the innovation behavior literature and theory development specifically in high technology SMEs in the transitioning economy of Iran. The findings also contribute to the existing empirical studies on how entrepreneurial leadership affects IWB of employees by examining the mediating role of creative self-efficacy and support for innovation and in the settings of ICT high technology SMEs.
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Afsaneh Bagheri, Morteza Akbari and Armin Artang
This paper explored the ways through which entrepreneurial leadership practices of chief executive officers (CEOs) enhance their employees' innovation at workplace in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explored the ways through which entrepreneurial leadership practices of chief executive officers (CEOs) enhance their employees' innovation at workplace in knowledge-based firms. Building on social cognitive theory and resource-based view of firms, this paper argues that entrepreneurial leadership fosters employees' innovation work behavior by enhancing their individual and team creativity self-efficacy.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample was selected from knowledge-based firms in Iran using the simple random sampling method. Two mediation models were tested using data from 41 CEOs and 207 employees in two separate phases.
Findings
The analysis supported that CEOs' entrepreneurial leadership improves their employees' innovation work behavior through enhancing their individual and team creativity self-efficacy.
Originality/value
The research contributes motivational and enabling mechanisms at both individual and team levels that entrepreneurial leaders use to improve employees' innovation work behavior in the context of knowledge-based firms. The findings may assist managers and business leaders in effectively leading innovation process.
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Kwaku Appietu-Ankrah, Ahmed Agyapong, Henry Kofi Mensah and Felicity Asiedu-Appiah
This study underscores the critical importance of knowledge management (KM) in the context of small and medium entrepreneurial firms (SMEFs) that aim to leverage their…
Abstract
Purpose
This study underscores the critical importance of knowledge management (KM) in the context of small and medium entrepreneurial firms (SMEFs) that aim to leverage their organisational learning capability (OLC) to enhance their product innovation performance (PIP). Drawing on the foundations of resource-based and contingency theories, this study delves into the impact of OLC on SMEFs' PIP through the intermediary role of KM, focussing on an emerging economy perspective. Additionally, this investigation explores how market dynamism (MDY) moderates the indirect connection between OLC and PIP via KM.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involved 262 SMEFs in Ghana, with data analysis conducted using PROCESS macros in SPSS 23.0 and LISREL 8.50.
Findings
This study's findings underscore the mediating role of KM in shaping the relationship between OLC and PIP. Furthermore, they reveal that, particularly in high MDY environments, the link between KM and PIP through KM is significantly strengthened.
Practical implications
The study clarifies that responding to MDY's demands is a complementary managerial capability enabling firms to channel their KM activities to improve PIP. Effectively, understanding the relationship between MDY and KM could substantially influence the policies and strategies managers adopt to improve PIP for organisational growth and survival.
Originality/value
This study extends the OLC–PIP research and contributes to the growing literature by offering a strong account of how OLC influences PIP and the prevailing boundary conditions that impact the KM-PIP relationship.
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Isaac Nyarko Adu, Kwame Owusu Boakye, Samuel Yeboah and Evelyn Twumasi
This study seeks to examine the mediating role of innovative work behavior (IWB) in the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership (EL) and employee performance.
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to examine the mediating role of innovative work behavior (IWB) in the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership (EL) and employee performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted the cross-sectional research design of quantitative approach where data were collected from 344 employees in Ghana’s food and beverages industry. The retrieved data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (partial least squares structural equation modeling).
Findings
Mainly, the study revealed that IWB positively and significantly mediated the relationship between EL and contextual and task performance (TP). The study found that EL has a significant positive relationship with task and contextual performance (CP). This indicates that leaders who demonstrate entrepreneurial qualities, such as innovation, proactiveness and risk-taking, are likely to enhance their team’s ability to complete specific tasks effectively (TP) and contribute positively to the broader organizational environment (CP).
Practical implications
Practically, organizations that prioritize EL qualities among managers and supervisors in the form of providing training programs, coaching and mentorship opportunities that emphasize innovation, risk-taking and pro-activeness in decision-making significantly influence their employee performance.
Originality/value
The originality and value of this study lie in its comprehensive exploration of the relationship between EL, IWB and performance outcomes.