Sonia Moi, Fabio Monteduro and Luca Gnan
Recent literature on nonprofit boards of directors has extensively investigated the composition, role, responsibilities, and characteristics of boards. Given the growing number of…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent literature on nonprofit boards of directors has extensively investigated the composition, role, responsibilities, and characteristics of boards. Given the growing number of studies on nonprofit boards, which added new impulse to the debate on the role and characteristics of these players, it is time to analyze the state of the art and systematize the current knowledge. On the other hand, despite the presence of some literature reviews, a research comparing the debate among the nonprofit, private, and public sectors is still lacking. Using Gabrielsson and Huse’s (2004) framework, we wanted to identify factors that can influence research on nonprofit boards and compare our results with existing studies on private and public sector.
Methodology/Approach
We conduct a systematic literature review, selecting empirical articles published in international scientific journals from 1992 to 2012.
Findings
We found similarities and differences in relation to research on boards among sectors. As a common result, we found that evolutionary studies still remains a neglected area in all of three realms. Finally, whereas input–output studies prevail in the private sector and contingency studies prevail in the public sector, behavioral studies prevail in the nonprofit sector, demonstrating, also, that the sector itself can make a difference in the board’s research.
Research Limitations/Implications
This literature review provides some suggestion for further research on boards for all of three sectors. For example, we suggest complementing research on boards on all three sectors, especially in relation to evolutionary studies.
Originality/Value of Paper
This paper fills the need to clarify the status of research on nonprofit boards, in order to address scholars in the understanding of the phenomenon.
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Andrea Tomo, Danila Scarozza, Alessandro Hinna, Ernesto De Nito and Gianluigi Mangia
The study aims to contribute to the literature on board behavior and performance in public sector organizations, by investigating conflicts as a fundamental and inevitable part of…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to contribute to the literature on board behavior and performance in public sector organizations, by investigating conflicts as a fundamental and inevitable part of interactions between board members. Despite impressive advances in studying the behavioral dimensions of governing bodies, several gaps still remain in our knowledge, especially for public sector boards. These face specific challenges related to multiple, conflicting, and ambiguous goals.
Methodology/approach
Earlier studies identified four different types of conflict (affective, cognitive, interest, and authority conflicts). These were used to guide a systematic literature review considering the source and the nature of conflicts to classify and describe the state of knowledge on the topic.
Findings
Most academic contributions emphasized cognitive and interest conflicts, suggesting that solving them was essential to improve board performance and enable boards to create value. The results suggest the utility of broadening the perspective of the governing board role, moving beyond agency and institutional theory, taking into consideration resource dependence theory as an alternative perspective to investigate board roles and task expectations.
Originality/value
Understanding conflicts within public boards is an interesting challenge from several perspectives. First, it provides a deep look inside board decision-making processes using a behavioral perspective. Second, analyzing the nature and sources of conflict places boards in a better position to address complex political issues. Finally, resolving conflicts may lead boards to channel their energies into collaborative activities that stimulate best practices, facilitate mutual awareness, and generate commitment to cooperation inside and outside the boardroom.
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Gregory Murphy and Neil Tocher
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) commonly struggle to acquire needed financial, human, and technological resources. The above being stated, recent scholarly research argues…
Abstract
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) commonly struggle to acquire needed financial, human, and technological resources. The above being stated, recent scholarly research argues that SMEs that are able to successfully navigate the legitimacy threshold are better able to gather the resources they need to survive and grow. This article provides an empirical test of that claim by examining whether the presence of a corporate parent positively influences SME resource acquisition. Results of the study show that SMEs with corporate parents, when compared to like-sized independent SMEs, have higher credit scores, have more complete management teams, use more computers, and are more likely to be on the Internet. These differences are most pronounced for very small firms and diminish in significance as firm size increases. Study implications include the notion that presence of a corporate parent likely represents a successful navigation of the legitimacy threshold, positively increasing SME resource acquisition.
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Ebenezer Afum, Kassimu Issau, Yaw Agyabeng-Mensah, Charles Baah, Essel Dacosta, Emmanuel Essandoh and Emmanuel Agyenim Boateng
Anchored on the natural resource-based view and stakeholder theories, this study aims to investigate the mediating roles of sustainable supply chain management and green radical…
Abstract
Purpose
Anchored on the natural resource-based view and stakeholder theories, this study aims to investigate the mediating roles of sustainable supply chain management and green radical product innovation (GRPI) in the link between sustainable entrepreneurial orientation (SEO) and sustainability performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The comprehensive research model developed in this study is empirically tested by using data garnered from 248 managers of Ghanaian small and medium-sized enterprises. Partial least square structural equation modeling is applied as the methodological technique to test all the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Results of the study indicate that SEO has a direct significant positive impact on environmental performance and social performance but not financial performance. However, through sustainable supply chain management and GRPI (both mediating variables), SEO tends to have significant impact on all sustainability performance dimensions (environmental, financial and social performance).
Originality/value
This study offers fresh empirical evidence by developing a unified research model that validates the specific mediation role of sustainable supply chain management between SEO and green radical product innovation, as well as the mediating roles of both sustainable supply chain management and GRPI between SEO and sustainability performance dimensions.
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Caleb Kwong, Charan Raj Bhattarai, Min Prasad Bhandari and Cherry W. M. Cheung
Literature on the relationship between social performance and economic performance of social enterprises has long been inconclusive. This paper aims to investigate whether and, if…
Abstract
Purpose
Literature on the relationship between social performance and economic performance of social enterprises has long been inconclusive. This paper aims to investigate whether and, if so, how social performance contributes to economic performance of social enterprises. Specifically, drawing from the resource-based view and signalling theory, the study examines how the development of reputation, which enables social enterprises to signal the enterprises' stakeholders' commitment towards social causes, mediates the relationship between the two.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing a quantitative research design, data were collected from a sample of 164 social enterprises in the UK and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).
Findings
The results illustrate that whilst the direct relationship between social and economic performance is inconclusive, social performance contributes indirectly to improve economic performance through improving social enterprise reputation.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first of this kind in the context of social enterprises which sheds light on the long-standing conflicting literature on the relationship between the dual objectives (i.e. social and economic) by providing reputation as the mediating variable.
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This study aims to examine the relationship between artistic orientation and entrepreneurial performance and how other central entrepreneurial resources, namely, entrepreneurial…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between artistic orientation and entrepreneurial performance and how other central entrepreneurial resources, namely, entrepreneurial orientation and financial literacy, affect this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Regulatory focus theory was used to develop the model. A survey of 375 small creative business entrepreneurs was conducted in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and a hierarchical linear regression was used for data analysis.
Findings
The results reveal a positive correlation between artistic orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, financial literacy and entrepreneurial performance. Therefore, artistic orientation affects a creative firm’s financial and nonfinancial performance. In addition, artistic orientation and financial literacy provide a positive influence on the overall performance of a creative venture. However, the interaction effect of entrepreneurial orientation and financial literacy on the artistic orientation – performance relationship – is invisible
Practical implications
This research provides guidance on how creative firms may focus on the acquisition, development and protection of useful resources, namely, artistic orientation and financial literacy
Originality/value
This research is the first systematic empirical test evaluating the relationship between artistic orientation and entrepreneurial performance
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Misagh Tasavori and Charan Raj Bhattarai
Social enterprises (SEs) offer a unique context as they have the challenge of finding solutions that not only improve their economic performance but also their social performance…
Abstract
Purpose
Social enterprises (SEs) offer a unique context as they have the challenge of finding solutions that not only improve their economic performance but also their social performance, simultaneously. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether learning orientation and new product development capability can support SEs to enhance both their economic and social performances.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative research design has been employed and data have been collected from a sample of 164 SEs in the UK.
Findings
The findings of this study illustrate that if SEs want to enhance their economic performance, they should ensure that learning orientation leads to new product development capability. Otherwise, learning orientation cannot improve their economic performance. However, surprisingly, learning orientation can impact SEs' performance not only by developing new product development capability but also by having a direct impact on their social performance.
Originality/value
This article contributes to the social entrepreneurship literature by illustrating the role of learning orientation and new product development capability in enhancing the economic as well as the social performance of SEs.
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Patrick J. Murphy, Jack Smothers, Milorad M. Novicevic, John H. Humphreys, Foster B. Roberts and Artem Kornetskyy
This paper examines the case of Nashoba, a Tennessee-based social enterprise founded in 1824 by Scottish immigrant Frances Wright. The Nashoba venture intended to diminish the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the case of Nashoba, a Tennessee-based social enterprise founded in 1824 by Scottish immigrant Frances Wright. The Nashoba venture intended to diminish the institution of slavery in the USA through entrepreneurial activity over its five years of operation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study methodology entailed mining primary source data from Wright’s letters; communications with her cofounders and contemporaries; and documentations of enterprise operations. The authors examined these data using social enterprise theory with a focus on personal identity and time-laden empirical aspects not captured by traditional methodologies.
Findings
The social enterprise concept of a single, self-sustaining model generating more than one denomination of value in a blended form has a deeper history than the literature acknowledges. As an entrepreneur, Wright made strategic decisions in a context of supply-side and demand-side threats to the venture. The social enterprise engaged injustice by going beyond market and state contexts to generate impact in the realms of institutions and non-excludable public goods.
Research limitations/implications
This study generates two formal implications for the development of new research questions in social enterprise studies. The first implication addresses the relation between social entrepreneurs and their constituencies. The second implication pertains to the effects of macro-level education, awareness and politics on social enterprise performance and impact. The implications herald new insights in social enterprise, such as the limits of moral conviction and the importance of social disruption.
Originality/value
This paper broadens the current understanding of how social enterprises redress unjust and unethical institutions. It also contributes new insights into social enterprise launch and growth based on shared values within communities and coordinated strategic intentions across communities.
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Hui Lei, Shiyi Tang and Ao Zan
This study aims to empirically study the effect of process constraints and the combinative effects of different constraints on enterprise digital transformation.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to empirically study the effect of process constraints and the combinative effects of different constraints on enterprise digital transformation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper selects the World Bank's business environment survey of Chinese enterprises in 2012 as the research sample to empirically study the effect of process constraints and different kinds of constraints on enterprise digital transformation.
Findings
The authors find that process constraints have an inverted U-shaped effect on enterprise digital transformation and that employee digital literacy plays an intermediary role in this process. That is, process constraints have a too-much-of-a-good-thing effect on employees' digital literacy, which further affects enterprise digital transformation. The increase in the number of input and output constraints will make the inverted U-shaped relationship between the process constraint and digital transformation steeper.
Originality/value
The constraints faced by enterprises are everywhere and of many kinds. This paper not only discusses the influence of process constraints on enterprise digital transformation but also analyzes the interactive influence of different kinds of constraints on enterprise digital transformation and explores its micromechanism. This approach is helpful for enterprise managers in thinking about how to make full use of different kinds of constraints to activate the power of enterprise digital transformation, regard constraints as challenges and opportunities, and use them to stimulate the ability to improve the resource integration and utilization.