The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive structural model to understand the outcomes of organizational ambidexterity (OA) within the manufacturing and service sector. It focuses on ...evaluating the effects of OA on business performance and strategic flexibility while also exploring the under-researched relationship between strategic flexibility and business performance. To accomplish this objective, an empirical survey was carried out among a sample of 370 Greek manufacturing and service firms. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were utilized to extract and validate the latent constructs examined. Finally, the structural relationships among these latent constructs were determined using structural equation modeling (SEM). The study’s findings reveal the significant contributions of OA to both firm performance and strategic flexibility. Additionally, the results demonstrate the positive influence of strategic flexibility on business performance. This research sheds light on the multifaceted impacts of ambidexterity, offering valuable implications for managers, decision-makers, and practitioners. The outcomes underscore the importance of ambidexterity in various dimensions of business performance and highlight its role in fostering strategic flexibility. This study stands out by offering a holistic model that explicates the outcomes of OA within the manufacturing and service sector. It places particular emphasis on the interplay between business performance and strategic flexibility, an area that has received limited attention in prior research. By empirically examining these relationships and providing practical guidelines, the proposed model enriches our understanding of ambidexterity’s significance and supports further research in this domain within organizations.
In this study, based on a resource-based view, we investigate the influence of ambidextrous leadership (reflected in transformational and transactional leadership styles) on sustainability ...performance (reflected in economic, environmental, and social performance) through the serially mediating mechanisms of organizational ambidexterity (reflected in explorer and exploiter attributes) and the circular economy (reflected in fields of action). By applying structural equation modelling analyses to survey data collected from private and public Greek organizations, which operate in manufacturing, services, and trade sectors, under an externally dynamic environmental context, we found that (a) organizational ambidexterity and the circular economy fields of action positively mediate the relationship between ambidextrous leadership and sustainability performance and (b) the mechanism originating from transformational leadership has a higher impact on sustainability performance compared to the mechanism that originates from transactional leadership. Accordingly, this study addresses the aspect of the special issue that refers to modern approaches to management and leadership for sustainable business performance research and makes several theoretical and practical implications.
Abstract
The innate immune response is, in the first place, elicited at the site of infection. Thus, the host response can be different among the infected cells and the cells surrounding them. ...Effector-triggered immunity (ETI), a form of innate immunity in plants, is triggered by specific recognition between pathogen effectors and their corresponding plant cytosolic immune receptors, resulting in rapid localized cell death known as hypersensitive response (HR). HR cell death is usually limited to a few cells at the infection site, and is surrounded by a few layers of cells massively expressing defense genes such as Pathogenesis-Related Gene 1 (PR1). This virtually concentric pattern of the cellular responses in ETI is proposed to be regulated by a concentration gradient of salicylic acid (SA), a phytohormone accumulated around the infection site. Recent studies demonstrated that jasmonic acid (JA), another phytohormone known to be mutually antagonistic to SA in many cases, is also accumulated in and required for ETI, suggesting that ETI is a unique case. However, the molecular basis for this uniqueness remained largely to be solved. Here, we found that, using intravital time-lapse imaging, the JA signaling pathway is activated in the cells surrounding the central SA-active cells around the infection sites in Arabidopsis thaliana. This distinct spatial organization explains how these two phythormone pathways in a mutually antagonistic relationship can be activated simultaneously during ETI. Our results re-emphasize that the spatial consideration is a key strategy to gain mechanistic insights into the apparently complex signaling cross-talk in immunity.
Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades have pivotal roles in plant innate immunity. However, downstream signaling of plant defense-related MAPKs is not well understood. Here, we provide ...evidence that the Nicotiana benthamiana WRKY8 transcription factor is a physiological substrate of SIPK, NTF4, and WIPK. Clustered Pro-directed Ser residues (SP cluster), which are conserved in group I WRKY proteins, in the N-terminal region of WRKY8 were phosphorylated by these MAPKs in vitro. Antiphosphopeptide antibodies indicated that Ser residues in the SP cluster of WRKY8 are phosphorylated by SIPK, NTF4, and WIPK in vivo. The interaction of WRKY8 with MAPKs depended on its D domain, which is a MAPK-interacting motif, and this interaction was required for effective phosphorylation of WRKY8 in plants. Phosphorylation of WRKY8 increased its DNA binding activity to the cognate W-box sequence. The phospho-mimicking mutant of WRKY8 showed higher transactivation activity, and its ectopic expression induced defense-related genes, such as 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reducíase 2 and NADP-malic enzyme. By contrast, silencing of WRKY8 decreased the expression of defense-related genes and increased disease susceptibility to the pathogens Phytophthora infestans and Colletotrichum orbiculare. Thus, MAPK-mediated phosphorylation of WRKY8 has an important role in the defense response through activation of downstream genes.
Purpose
Drawing on the contingency perspective between business strategies and human resource (HR) practices, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of human resource management (HRM) ...system (which integrates both content and process of HR practices) on both proximal organisational outcomes (such as job satisfaction, motivation, and organisational commitment) and distal organisational outcomes (such as employee engagement, organisational citizen behaviour (OCB), co-operation among employees, intention to quit, and operational performance).
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is based on a sample of 996 Greek employees working in 108 private organisations and the statistical method employed is structural equation modelling with bootstrapping estimation.
Findings
The results indicate that HRM content is more positively related to job satisfaction and motivation and less related to organisational commitment than HRM process. Moreover, HRM system is sequentially related to organisational outcomes (both directly and indirectly) and significantly influences employee job satisfaction and motivation, as well as OCB and co-operation among employees, and operational performance.
Research limitations/implications
The data were collected using a questionnaire at a single point in time, and thus, not allowing dynamic causal inferences. Considering that Greece is experiencing a severe financial crisis, the findings from this unique context may not generalise across other contexts.
Practical implications
The core messages to decision makers are that employee development and rewards are the major dimensions of the content of an HRM system and that consistency and distinctiveness are the principal features of the process of an HRM system, even in cases where the organisation is operating under an economic crisis environment.
Originality/value
Investigations into the relationship between HRM systems and organisational performance have become increasingly common. Nevertheless, empirical studies that measure the impact of HRM systems, which being contingent on business strategies integrate both content and process of HR practices on organisational performance are still rare. This paper partially fills this gap.
Recent works have established a key role for nitric oxide (NO) in activating disease resistance in plants. Nitrate reductase (NR) is one of the enzymes that are capable of producing NO in plants. In ...a previous study, we reported that pathogen signals induce expression of NR genes in potato, suggesting the involvement of NR in NO production induced by pathogen signals. In this study, we cloned NR genes from Nicotiana benthamiana and investigated their involvement in NO production induced by INF1, a major elicitin secreted by Phytophthora infestans. Treatment of protoplasts prepared from N. benthamiana leaves with INF1 elevated NO production to a maximum level 1-3 h after treatment. INF1-induced NO generation was suppressed completely by an NO-specific scavenger, but partially by a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor. To investigate the involvement of NR in INF1-induced NO production, NR genes were silenced by virus-induced gene silencing. The NR-silenced plants showed yellowish leaves which resemble the characteristic of Arabidopsis NR double mutants. Silencing of NR genes significantly decreased both NO2sup(-)-producing activity and INF1-induced NO production, indicating that NR is involved in INF1-induced NO production. In contrast, overexpression of NbNR1 encoding N. benthamiana NR by Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression elevated NO2sup(-)-producing activity nine times over the control; however, INF1-induced NO production in protoplasts overexpressing NbNR1 was comparable with that in control protoplasts. These results suggest that NR is involved in INF1-induced NO production, and post-translational modification of NR or availability of substrate NO2sup(-) may be a rate-limiting step of NO production by NR.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major global threat to women's health. Stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic were associated with an increase in IPV. The ...purpose of this study was to clarify IPV and the situation of women experiencing IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.
A semi-structured interview was conducted with five healthcare providers who gave support to women experiencing IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed in accordance with thematic analysis methodology.
Two categories concerning IPV and the situation of women experiencing IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic emerged from analysis of interviews: (1) the possibility that IPV might change during the pandemic; and (2) barriers that prevent women getting support. "Possibility that IPV might change during the pandemic" consisted of three subcategories: "Male partner takes his stress out on her"; "Male partner forced her out of the home"; and "Conflict occurred more easily at home". "Barriers that prevent women getting support" had four subcategories: "Difficulty in accessing outside support"; "Restricted access to get care due to financial difficulties"; "Lack of support from her family"; and "Women experience a loss of energy".
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were barriers to provide support for women despite increased IPV. Healthcare providers should support women using effective methods to protect women's health and safety.
This study investigates the impact of pre-hiring (ex-ante) and after-hiring (ex-post) negotiation on organizational citizen behavior (OCB), through three serially connected relationships: (1) between ...the timing of negotiation and career i-deals (idiosyncratic deals), moderated by feelings of self-worth; (2) between career i-deals and OCB, mediated by psychological contract fulfillment, and employee organizational commitment; and (3) between employer and employee psychological contract fulfillment, mediated by employee organizational commitment. To do so, it utilizes the social exchange theory, and a sample of 1768 employees working within 162 private organizations in the current context of high economic and financial uncertainties in Greece. Using a comprehensive framework tested by structural equation multilevel modeling, the study conclusions imply that in the less-competitive labor market of Greece, (a) core self-evaluation (CSE), which reflect individual differences, do not moderate the relationship between timing of negotiation and career i-deals, but independently predicts career i-deals; (b) career i-deals influence psychological contract expressed in promises fulfillment (PF); employee organizational commitment constitutes the binding epicenter of the relationships between employer and employees PF and between career i-deals and OCB. Based on these findings, the study has several theoretical and practical implications for high uncertainty contexts.
Blending insights from the contingency theory, the resource-based view, and the AMO theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the HRM-performance causal relationship in the Greek context. ...The empirical research is based on a sample of 178 organisations operating in the Greek manufacturing sector. Using structural equation modelling the results of the study revealed that the ability to perform (resourcing and development), motivation to perform (compensation and incentives), and opportunity to perform (involvement and job design) HRM policy domains are moderated by business strategies (cost, quality, innovation), and additionally, the motivation to perform is further moderated by managerial style and organisational culture. Further, the results indicate that the impact of HRM policies on organisational performance is fully mediated by employee skills, attitudes, and behaviour. The paper concludes that although the motivation to perform HRM policy domain causes organisational performance, through employee attitudes, it may be supported that organisational performance positively moderates the effectiveness of this HRM policy domain, raising thus the question of reverse causality.
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