Lulu Zhou, Shuming Zhao, Feng Tian, Xufan Zhang and Stephen Chen
The purpose of this paper is to explore how visionary leadership influences employees’ creativity in R&D teams in China, and the role of employee knowledge sharing and goal…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how visionary leadership influences employees’ creativity in R&D teams in China, and the role of employee knowledge sharing and goal orientation.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted on 331 professional technical engineers in R&D departments of 62 high-tech corporations in China. Hierarchical regression was used to model the relationships between visionary leadership style, employee goal orientations, knowledge sharing and employee creativity.
Findings
The results show that visionary leadership is positively associated with employee creativity in Chinese organizations and the relationship is positively mediated by employee knowledge sharing. Furthermore, employee “learning goal” orientation strengthens the relationship between visionary leadership and employee knowledge sharing, whereas employee “performance-avoid goal” orientation weakens the relationship between visionary leadership and employee knowledge sharing.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on the effects of leadership on employee creativity by showing that, contrary to western organizations, where a less directive leadership style is generally recommended to enhance employee creativity, in Chinese organizations, visionary leadership is positively associated with employee creativity, but the effect is contingent on employees’ goal orientations and knowledge sharing.
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Jintao Zhang, Stephen Chen and Hao Tan
This paper aims to examine the question, “How do firm-level, home-country and host-country environmental performance (EP) affect the outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the question, “How do firm-level, home-country and host-country environmental performance (EP) affect the outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs)?”
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examine the relationships between EP and OFDI propensity and between EP and OFDI intensity using a sample of 359 Chinese firms in industries with a significant environmental footprint between 2009 and 2019 (2,002 firm-year observations) and a Heckman two-stage model.
Findings
This study shows that the propensity for OFDI by Chinese MNEs is significantly and positively related to the firm’s prior EP and the country-level EP of China. However, the amount of FDI invested is significantly and positively related to the firm’s prior EP and negatively related to the EP of the host country.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest that FDI in a country by an MNE is determined by a combination of firm-level EP, home-country EP and host-country EP. This study finds that the decision to undertake FDI (propensity) and the decision about how much to invest (intensity) are determined by different factors. The propensity for FDI is determined by the home-country EP and firm-level EP. However, the intensity of FDI is determined by a combination of the host country EP and firm-level EP. A limitation is that this study only examines MNEs in China, so the findings may not apply to other countries.
Originality/value
This paper shows that MNEs’ EP is positively related to the propensity and intensity of their OFDI decisions. However, this paper shows that the home-country and host-country EP may also play an important role in determining the propensity or intensity of OFDI.
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This paper aims to propose a new theoretical perspective on the organizational design of offshoring service organizations by adopting an information processing perspective which…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a new theoretical perspective on the organizational design of offshoring service organizations by adopting an information processing perspective which incorporates the factors of collaborative information technologies, task commoditization and global customer service delivery that are characteristic of modern-day knowledge-intensive service (KIS) organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze data from a large multiyear survey of offshoring service providers conducted in 12 countries.
Findings
The authors show how use of collaborative technology is significantly and positively related to spatial and configurational dispersion, task commoditization is significantly and positively related to spatial and temporal dispersion and need for global customer presence is not related to spatial, temporal or configurational dispersion.
Research limitations/implications
The paper integrates concepts from management information system (MIS), operations management and international business to show how collaborative technology, task characteristics and customer service requirements affect the global dispersion of KISs.
Practical implications
The results show how use of collaborative technology, task characteristics and global customer service requirements need to be jointly considered in the global dispersion of activities by KIS providers.
Originality/value
The study sheds light on the effect of the key factors on different dimensions of global dispersion (i.e. spatial/temporal/configurational dispersion) in offshoring service provider organizations. Second, it shows how the traditional information processing perspective on organizations can be updated and applied to KIS organizations by incorporating the factors of global collaborative information technologies, task commoditization and global customer service.
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Culture has been identified as one of the main drivers of the “competitive productivity” (CP) of nations. However, research studies examining the relationships between culture…
Abstract
Purpose
Culture has been identified as one of the main drivers of the “competitive productivity” (CP) of nations. However, research studies examining the relationships between culture, competition and productivity are highly fragmented across different streams of literature, leaving researchers with a lack of a holistic view of the topic. This study reviews research studies that examined the relationships between culture and productivity and between culture and competitiveness, as well as the joint relationships between culture, productivity and competitiveness in leading economic, business and management journals in the period 2009–2018 in order to identify research gaps and opportunities for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a combination of bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer, text analysis using Leximancer and systematic review by expert reviewers to analyze 293 articles that consider culture, productivity and competitiveness published in leading business, management and economics journals in the period 2009–2018.
Findings
The findings indicate that, although productivity and competitiveness are often discussed jointly in some policy circles, research studies on the roles of culture on productivity and on competitiveness take place in quite different streams of academic literature, drawing on different sets of concepts and theoretical frameworks. The concept of innovation appears prominently in both sets of the literature as an antecedent of both productivity improvement and international competitiveness.
Research limitations/implications
The findings highlight the need for more research studies which jointly examine culture, productivity and competitiveness and the relationships between them.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first attempts to systematically analyze the literature on the relationship between culture and CP.
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Nidthida Lin, Hao Tan and Stephen Chen
The purpose of this paper is to examine how three key dimensions of a firm’s offshoring portfolio – location diversity, functional diversity and governance mode – affect the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how three key dimensions of a firm’s offshoring portfolio – location diversity, functional diversity and governance mode – affect the financial and innovation outcomes of offshoring.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors investigate the relationships between the diversity of a firm’s offshoring portfolio and its offshoring outcomes using a sample of US, European and Asia Pacific firms engaging in offshoring activities.
Findings
The authors found that: location diversity shows a significant “flipped S-shape” relationship with innovation outcomes, but has a negative impact on financial outcomes, functional diversity has a significant and positive effect on innovation outcome and the use of an outsourcing governance mode significantly moderates these relationships, such that the degree of offshore outsourcing weakens some of these effects.
Originality/value
The authors conclude that firms which strategically coordinate all three dimensions of their offshoring portfolio are more likely to achieve better innovation or financial outcomes from their use of offshoring in global supply chain and sourcing.
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Stephen Chen and Chong Ju Choi
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of tacit knowledge in successful knowledge‐based cities. It focuses on a case study of Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan. The…
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of tacit knowledge in successful knowledge‐based cities. It focuses on a case study of Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan. The growth of successful knowledge‐based cities is dependent on three interrelated processes that create and transfer tacit knowledge in cities: local knowledge creation, transfer of knowledge from external sources and transfer of that knowledge into productive activities. Researchers need to focus on processes for the creation and transfer of tacit knowledge in cities, and designers and policy makers of knowledge‐based cities need to focus on creating tacit knowledge in cities. Discusses the connection between tacit knowledge and growth of global cities.
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Consumer-generated online product reviews (OPRs) have become a crucial source of information for consumers; however, OPRs are increasingly being incentivized. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumer-generated online product reviews (OPRs) have become a crucial source of information for consumers; however, OPRs are increasingly being incentivized. The purpose of this paper is to find a method of sponsorship and disclosure that could be considered ethically sound.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a quasi-experimental approach to clarifying how the method of sponsorship impacts reader perceptions of OPRs in terms of helpfulness, credibility and purchase intention. Two experiments were performed on an online platform using data from 480 participants. Hypotheses were tested using analysis of covariance.
Findings
Meaning under the premise that sponsorship information is disclosed and not withheld from the readers, Study 1 revealed that experiential sponsorship is the best sponsorship. Study 2 revealed that featuring reviewers with greater influence in the online community increases the positive influence of disclosing experiential sponsorship on OPR persuasiveness.
Originality/value
The findings in this study provide rational incentives for firms to disclose sponsorship information, i.e. demonstrate high ethical standards in marketing. This was shown to create a win-win-win situation for consumers, firms and reviewers. Managerial implications for online marketing managers are also discussed.
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Qiquan Chen, Ji Weng, Stephen Corcoran and Chenhao Fan
The performance of the building envelope of a large-scale public building significantly influences the energy consumption of such a building. This study aims to determine the best…
Abstract
The performance of the building envelope of a large-scale public building significantly influences the energy consumption of such a building. This study aims to determine the best strategy for the envelope by examining the engineering design of the building in Nanchang University. The building shape coefficient, sun-shading strategies, window–wall ratio, roof, and walls were studied through a method involving multilayer feed-forward neural network model simulations. Results show that the optimum shape coefficient value is 0.32. The combination of interior and exterior blinds and electrochromic glass is the ideal option to reduce the increase in the energy consumption of the architecture caused by solar radiation. Maintaining the window–wall ratio at 0.4 is ideal. A green roof exerts a minimal effect on building energy consumption decrease (only 0.4%). Applying the strategy of vertical greening to the external wall can reduce cooling energy consumption by as much as 5.4%. Adopting the best envelope strategy combination can further decrease energy consumption by 20.8%. This strategy is also applicable to the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River in China, which flow through Nanchang and have a climate similar to that of the said area. Future research should be directed toward applying artificial neural networks to quantitatively evaluate the effects of a design strategy and produce the best design strategy combination.
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Over the past three decade, China has established a housing finance system that borrows from the collective experiences of advanced economies. After examining the evolution of…
Abstract
Over the past three decade, China has established a housing finance system that borrows from the collective experiences of advanced economies. After examining the evolution of China’s housing finance system, the paper focuses on analyzing its challenges and recent changes. The paper argues that China’s highly-centralized financial system prefers financial stability but neglects financial liberalization, and then resulted in severe financial repression, which hurts the efficiency and equality of the housing finance service. After recovering from the 2008 financial crisis via high-cost financial intervention, China took some policy innovations to promote a decentralized finance mechanism, expand finance resources, and support affordable housing financing, through which China hopes to provide a more stable, affordable, and equal housing finance service to help more households own homes.