This research examines the integrated effects of external network ties and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on innovation performance. It also investigates how environmental dynamism affects the ...network ties-EO-innovation performance relationship. Drawing on the dynamic capability perspective of EO and the contingency view of network ties, we posit that business ties influence innovation performance through EO, while political ties affect innovation performance through business ties and EO. Moreover, we hypothesize that the indirect effects of business ties (through EO) and political ties (through business ties and EO) on innovation performance are stronger in more dynamic environments. Using a sample of 218 industrial firms from China, the findings support our arguments. Our in-depth examination of the relationship between network ties, EO and innovation performance results in some theoretical and managerial implications for discussion.
Drawing on the eco‐innovation and resource‐based view, this research attempts to contribute to the eco‐innovation‐performance debate by examining the effects of eco‐innovation on business ...performance. In particular, we propose that the eco‐innovation–performance relationship is contingent on environmental orientation and resources commitment. The analysis of 83 green‐oriented SMEs in New Zealand suggests that eco‐innovation has a positive effect on business performance. More interestingly, the findings show although environmental orientation does not directly influence business performance, it enhances the positive effect of eco‐innovation on business performance. The results further suggest that green‐oriented firms will reap more performance benefit of eco‐innovation when they commit more organizational resources.
Although human capital has been widely recognized as a valuable asset that helps firms to develop core competences to achieve competitive advantage, little is known about how HR (human resource) ...practices enhance employee capabilities in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Building upon the resource-based view of HRM (human resources management) and the proactivity literature, we explore the effects of the HR system as an integration of bundles of HR practices on employee capability and how employee proactivity helps explain this relationship in the SME context. Using survey data collected from 213 employees working in service SMEs in New Zealand, we applied partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test our hypothesis. The results show that the HR system in SMEs facilitates employee proactivity with this, in turn, enhancing employee job capability. Our findings suggest that the HR system, as a source of human capital, is important for SMEs to exploit. Specifically, our findings validate the notion that the HR system is beneficial to employee capability through facilitating a proactivity mechanism in the SME context. These findings yield both theoretical and managerial implications, which are discussed.
This paper explores critical questions about the antecedents and performance outcomes of innovation ambidexterity. Specifically, while prior research has acknowledged that entrepreneurial orientation ...(EO) and HRM can each influence ambidexterity, little is known about whether and how EO and HRM interact to affect innovation ambidexterity and whether innovation ambidexterity is a mechanism through which EO and HRM together contribute to firm performance. Building on the dynamic capability view of ambidexterity and the interplay of EO and HRM, we propose that (1) the interaction between EO and capability-based HRM facilitates innovation ambidexterity, and (2) its relationship with firm performance is mediated by innovation ambidexterity. A sample of 264 industrial firms from China is used to test our theoretical model. The results provide support for the significant effects of the interaction between EO and capability-based HRM on innovation ambidexterity. Further, the results suggest innovation ambidexterity acts as an effective mechanism through which EO and capability-based HRM together contribute to firm performance. The theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are also discussed.
•Entrepreneurial orientation and capability-based HRM interactively foster innovation ambidexterity.•Innovation ambidexterity enhances firm performance.•Innovation ambidexterity plays a mediating role in the relationship of entrepreneurial orientation and capability-based HRM with firm performance.
PurposeExtant research documents the importance of lean thinking for organizations, however, as prior research has largely focused on hard lean practices, but little is known about the effects or the ...significance of soft lean practices. This research attempts to address this issue by examining how soft lean practices enhance organizational lean readiness, and in turn increase the success of lean implementation.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopts a single case study design in a small-medium enterprise livestock feed manufacturing organization, and investigates the period from late 2011 through the end of 2019 covering two attempts at lean implementation – an initial failed attempt followed by a successful introduction of lean within the case organization. The research analyzes interviews with 29 managers and employees from all organizational levels and departments within the case organization. Secondary data including organizational documents and performance measures and metrics were also incorporated into the research design.FindingsDrawing on agency theory, the authors advance a principal-agent interaction perspective to conceptualize organizational lean readiness – specifically, the authors consider the “state or condition” of four agency factors (goal conflict, information asymmetry, risk aversion and length of relationship), and explore if these four agency factors can be utilized as proxies for organizational readiness for lean implementation. The authors identify the formation of a shared vision and identity within the organization as an effective mechanism through which soft lean practices enhance organizational lean readiness. Finally, the analysis offers an understanding of how the long-term success of lean implementation is improved by the introduction of soft lean practices as a prerequisite to create organizational readiness for the implementation of hard lean practices.Originality/valueThe study is unique in the sense that it empirically links agency theory and the role of soft lean practices in developing organizational lean readiness in a small-medium enterprise context by defining the ideal state of four agency factors as proxies for organizational readiness.
•Although increasingly prominent in research ecosystems, principal investigators’ (PIs’) role identity remains ill-defined.•Develop a novel PI role identity learning framework showing the PI role ...identity is made up of four roles.•Roles are mutually reinforcing throughout the research process and form a hybrid science-business role identity.•Two distinct learning mechanisms – learning through experience and violation – are formative for PI role identity.•PIs, funding bodies and universities must work together to establish role clarity and professional development for PIs.
This paper examines the role identity of university based principal investigators (PIs), as well as the learning mechanisms that underpin this position. PIs have become the focus of increasing research attention which has argued that they, along with universities and funding bodies, form an increasingly crucial tripartite in public research environments. Although the PI position is well recognised among scientific peers and research institutions, a role identity is still emerging and remains ill-defined. This issue requires research attention as having a clear role identity is fundamental to performing a role effectively. Our analysis draws on interviews with 41 health science PIs in New Zealand to develop a PI role identity learning framework. We find that the PI role identity is made up of four roles – science networker, research contractor, project manager, and entrepreneur - that are mutually reinforcing throughout the research process, and which together form a hybrid science-business role identity. Furthermore, we identify two learning mechanisms – learning through experience and violation – and show how these are formative for role identity when transitioning to an ill-defined position. Based on our findings we discuss a number of practical implications for PIs, universities and funding bodies.
Widespread unethical corporate misconduct in an industry triggers industry-wide crises. This research investigates how industry misconduct affects consumers’ trust in the industry, by incorporating ...insights from a micro-level psychological aspect of institutions. The conceptual framework proposes that consumer legitimacy judgement lies at the core of industry trust, following an industry-wide crisis. The results demonstrate that perception of normalisation of misconduct (PNM) affects industry trust through consumer legitimacy judgement (CLJ) (Study 1). Moreover, the PNM-CLJ-industry trust relationship is stronger during industry-wide crises compared with crises that involve only one firm (Study 2), and this relationship is not dependent on the frequency of crises (Study 3). This research contributes to the knowledge of product-harm crisis by deepening understanding of the trust erosion mechanism during industry-wide crises, with a focus on legitimacy judgement. The findings have implications for prevention of industry-wide crises and for boosting ethically desirable business activities.
Drawing on resource dependency theory and the resource-absorbing perspective of risk-taking, this article examines how political connections provide firms with opportunities to gain government ...funding support to enhance financial slack, which can in turn benefit their entrepreneurial risk-taking. We employ both symmetrical (partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM)) and configurational approaches (fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA)) using a sample of 202 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. Our results from PLS-SEM suggest government financial funding support and financial slack play sequential mediating roles in the relationship between political connections and entrepreneurial risk-taking. The results of fsQCA further highlight the importance of political connections and financial slack as core conditions for entrepreneurial risk-taking and uncover the multiple pathways through which political connections influence entrepreneurial risk-taking. These findings advance our understanding of how entrepreneurial risk-taking in SMEs may require configurations of different resources.
Employees' ability to explore and exploit is a micro-foundational component of organizational ambidexterity and hugely influential for organizational performance outcomes. However, little research ...has directly examined the relationship between exploration and exploitation with a performance at the individual-level. Building on the hierarchical dynamic capability perspective of ambidexterity, we investigate how employee exploration and exploitation affect task performance. We argue that employees' ability to explore enhances task performance through employee exploitation. Furthermore, drawing on the strategic fit perspective, we examine how this employee exploration-exploitation-task performance relationship varies across different levels of organizational competitive orientation. Using a sample of 278 employees from three IT companies in China, our findings demonstrate that both employee exploration and exploitation have a positive effect on task performance, and employee exploitation acts as an effective mechanism which partially explains the relationship between employee exploration and task performance. Notably, we also find that the path relationship of employee exploration-exploitation-task performance is stronger when competitive orientation is low rather than high. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.
Although we know it is researchers at the micro‐level of universities that are the critical actors in acquiring external grant funding, it remains unclear to what extent universities provide a ...funding environment that suitably supports their pursuit and management of this funding. We address this subject through interviews with 41 publicly funded principal investigators (PIs) across four universities in New Zealand. We develop a grounded model that details an important distinction and void between funding success at the individual researcher level and having an effective funding environment at the institutional level. We also uncover a number of micro‐institutional level challenges based on the experiences of PIs and show how they are related to three reinforcing components that together, we further argue, comprise the university research funding environment: (1) pre‐grant funding support, (2) project implementation support, and (3) post‐grant recognition and motivation. Our findings offer a platform to develop dedicated policies and support structures within university strategies that are more explicitly focused on providing an effective institutional level funding environment. We make the case that these policies and supports must be tailored to meet the distinct needs of researchers at different stages of the funding process and with different levels of funding experience.
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