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This study aims to focus on the subcontracting relationship between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and business group buyers and analyze the effect of the level of buyer dependency on R&D intensity. The primary prediction is that buyer dependency and R&D intensity have a non-linear relationship, showing an inverted U-shaped relationship. Furthermore, the moderating effect of founder CEOs and internationalization is explored.

A sample of 546 firm-level survey responses were collected from Korean subcontracting SMEs provided by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Venture Business Association.

A lower level of dependency on business group buyers promotes R&D investment, while excessive dependence reduces R&D investment. Moreover, founder CEOs and internationalization decrease the effect of buyer dependency on R&D investment, implying that both firm characteristics are associated with a long-term focus and promote R&D investment.

This research contributes to the literature on the special form of the buyer–supplier relationship, that is, subcontracting. Subcontracting has a contradictory effect on R&D investment based on large group buyer dependency, and this relationship is moderated by the founder CEO and internationalization.

This study provides insights to managers and practitioners governing SME subcontracting by showing that the level of buyer dependency is better managed in promoting innovation, and the long-term perspective allows SMEs to be less affected by buyer dependency.

This study extends the literature by focusing on the non-linear relationship between buyer dependency and R&D intensity of subcontracting SMEs. This approach addresses the contradicting results suggested by prior supply chain management literature and suggests that the level of buyer dependency should be considered when analyzing the subcontracting relationship.

Because of the changing psychological contract between employers and employees over time, the primary responsibility for career development has shifted from organizations to employees. As the role of individuals in career development has become important, personal growth initiative (PGI), individuals' positive and proactive stance toward change and continuous self-improvement, can be a pivotal construct in the fields of human resources (HR), organizational behavior (OB) and career management. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of person–organization fit (POF), authentic leadership and work empowerment on PGI.

Data were collected from 235 employees of a leading telecommunication company in South Korea. Most respondents were highly educated male managers in their 30s and 40s. With an overall confirmatory factor analysis, the four-factor measurement model indicated a good fit to the data. The relationships between variables and the relative importance of each independent variables were tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, along with a bootstrapping to examine the mediation effect of work empowerment.

Based on a moderated mediation model, this study examined the integrative effects of POF, authentic leadership and work empowerment on PGI. The authors found that employees demonstrated a high level of PGI when they perceived themselves fit with the organization and when they were empowered in their work. While the direct effect of authentic leadership was non-significant, supportive, transparent and ethical leadership behavior significantly moderated the relationship between POF and PGI. Lastly, based on a bootstrap analysis, this study found that work empowerment partially mediated the relationship between POF and PGI.

This empirical study contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of HR, OB and career management. This study introduced a relatively less explored construct, PGI, using data from knowledge workers in South Korea. The authors integrated diverse research streams such as person–environment fit, leadership and engagement research. Lastly, this was the first study that investigated the effects of contextual factors on PGI in the workplace.

The purpose of this study is to critically review current studies on job crafting to identify contextual factors related to employees’ job crafting and to integrate the findings to help organizations improve employees’ job crafting.

Based on the guidelines provided by Torraco (2016), the authors reviewed 44 quantitative studies on job crafting published between 2001and 2020.

The authors identified 35 contextual antecedents of job crafting at the job (11), group (6), leadership (12) and organizational (6) levels. The findings reveal that a significant number of studies have focused on contextual aspects related to employees’ job crafting. In particular, multiple studies discussed the important role of empowering leadership, servant leadership, transformational leadership, leader-member exchange in job crafting.

The authors emphasize contextual factors influencing job crafting including job, group, leadership and organizational levels. Based on the review, the authors suggest a future research agenda on job crafting in terms of job, group, leadership and organizational antecedents.