Research has shown an association between proactive adoption of environmental management practices and firm performance; however little of this research, particularly in the small firm context, has ...examined the impact of human resources management (HRM) practices on that association. Using data drawn from a sample of 158 small firms in the Australian machinery and equipment-manufacturing sector, this article contributes an empirical test of the moderating effect of HRM on the association between proactive environmental management and firm financial performance. In so doing, we draw on the concept of 'Green' HRM; that is to say, practices aligned with environmental sustainability goals and which aim at developing employees' abilities, motivation and commitment, and involvement in support of those goals at the firm level. The findings reveal that Green HRM positively moderates the association between proactive environmental management and financial performance, such that a high level of Green HRM increases the financial benefits of proactive environmental management compared with low levels of Green HRM. The findings show the added value that Green HRM provides when used as an enabler of proactive environmental management; this study should help allay concerns of small firms about the potential cost burden they may face from increasing governmental and social demands for environmental sustainability.
•Several combinations of strategies (recipes) can be used to manage the risks of innovating.•Recipes vary by the agency size, novelty of innovation, and degree of risk aversion.•Both high and low ...risk-averse agenciescan gain high benefits from service innovations.•Integrated strategy is most effective for low-risk-averse small agencies and high-risk-averse larger agencies.•Risk-averse culture in public agencies is not a stumbling block to innovation success.
This study applies a holistic approach grounded in configurational theory to a sample of 2505 innovative public administration agencies in Europe to explore the effect of organizational risk aversion on the benefits from service innovations. The analyses, using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), identify several combinations of strategies (varying by the agency size and the novelty of innovation) that managers in risk-averse agencies can use to work effectively around the risks of innovating. The findings show that the managers of both high and low risk-averse agencies can achieve high benefits from their innovation efforts, but their strategizing behaviors differ. An integrated strategy that combines collaboration, complementary process and communication innovations, and an active management strategy to support innovation is the most effective method for ‘low-risk-averse’ small agencies and ‘high-risk-averse’ larger agencies to obtain high benefits from either novel or incremental service innovations. Our results point to the need to rethink the conventional assumption that a culture of risk aversion in public sector agencies is a cause of management ineffectiveness and a stumbling block to innovation success.
Proactive corporate social responsibility (CSR) involves business strategies and practices adopted voluntarily by firms that go beyond regulatory requirements in order to manage their social ...responsibilities, and thereby contribute broadly and positively to society. Proactive CSR has been less researched in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) compared to large firms; and, whether SMEs are ideally placed to gain competitive advantage through such activity therefore remains a point of debate. This study examines empirically the association between three specified capabilities (shared vision, stakeholder management and strategic proactivity), proactive CSR and financial performance in SMEs. Using quantitative data collected from a sample of 171 SMEs in the machinery and equipment sector of the Australian manufacturing industry, we find that all specified capabilities are positively associated with adoption of proactive CSR by SMEs, and that proactive CSR is, in turn, associated with an improvement in firm financial performance. Evidence of a fully mediating role for proactive CSR on the association between capabilities and financial performance presented in this study aligns with RBV theory that suggests adoption of valuecreating strategies that make the most effective use of a firm's capabilities is essential to financial success. The study contributes to the CSR literature by demonstrating a case for SMEs being able to maximise financial returns whilst proactively making progress towards CSR.
Public universities are now expected to play a pivotal role in the knowledge economy/society, by being engaged, entrepreneurial and, more importantly, relevant to the wider society in which they ...operate. However, the challenge of complexity (partly arising from the embedded nature of public universities within the higher education, innovation, and other social systems) makes managing a public university remarkably difficult. This article suggests a way forward for creating resilient public universities capable of making the contributions expected of them. The authors recommend that universities position their business as services, embrace open service innovation, and redesign their business model to maximize shared value for society.
Complex innovation incorporates more than one innovation type. Using the number of dimensions of the 'most significant innovation' implemented by each public employee's workgroup as a proxy for ...innovation complexity, this study explores factors that are associated with complexity and examines how complexity affects innovation outcomes. Employing a sample of 4,369 Australian Government employees, we find that the more complex the innovation, the greater the number of barriers a workgroup has to face in its implementation. A broader (but selective) range of idea sources and a more decentralized workplace where both individual and team creativity is encouraged increase the likelihood of implementing complex innovations. Innovation complexity is positively correlated with the variety of beneficial outcomes, suggesting both policy and management interest in supporting complex innovation in the public sector.
This study explores the configurations of innovation capabilities (“recipes”) that enable firms in low-technology industries (“low-tech firms”) to achieve high innovative performance. Using a sample ...of 614 Brazilian low-tech firms, the study employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to identify how the four capabilities – development, operations, management and transaction – combine to produce high innovative performance. The analyses identify two recipes for innovation success, both of which include high levels of development and transaction capabilities. However, these two capabilities (while necessary) are not sufficient for achieving high innovative performance: they are meaningful only when combined with either a management or an operations capability. The study contributes to a comprehensive understanding of innovation in low-tech industries by showing that low-tech firms, even with limited research and development capacities, can successfully innovate when they develop and use an appropriate set of capabilities. The study results should help managers uncover potential ways of combining capabilities for innovation success and suggest that low-tech firms could benefit from policy support and training to develop such capabilities.
Using data from a sample of 301 Australian disability nonprofit organizations (NPOs), this study applies configurational thinking to identify combinations of organizational capabilities that lead to ...Nonprofit Social Innovation (NSI)—a new service or process that promotes social inclusion of people with disabilities—and examines whether NSI is a sufficient condition for high societal impacts to be achieved. The conceptualization and components of the NSI framework were developed in our previous research through a two-month researcher-in-residency at disability NPOs. In this study, we employ fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to identify several “recipes” of capabilities (varying by organizational size and geographical location) for NSI development. The analyses find that high societal impacts from NSI occur when organizations adopt diverse perspectives, and embrace either person-focused approaches or operate in a risk-tolerant environment. These findings provide valuable linkages to managerial practice in nonprofits and advance emerging theoretical understandings of social innovation.
This study assesses progress in innovation and knowledge management research during 1980–2014, using a sample of “highly cited” journal publications. The assessment reveals a transformation in ...research from incremental to transformative innovation. The study discusses the nature of this transformation and outlines a future research agenda for the development of better research design and new competencies in theory and practice.
Proactive corporate social responsibility (CSR) involves business practices adopted voluntarily by firms that go beyond regulatory requirements in order to actively support sustainable economic, ...social and environmental development, and thereby contribute broadly and positively to society. This empirical study examines the role of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of proactive CSR on the association between three specific capabilities—shared vision, stakeholder management and strategic proactivity—and financial performance in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Using quantitative data collected from a sample of 171 Australian SMEs in the machinery and equipment manufacturing sector and employing structural equation modelling, we find that the adoption of practices in each CSR dimension by SMEs is influenced slightly differently by each capability, and affects financial performance differentially. The study also demonstrates the importance of the interaction between the three dimensions of proactive CSR in positively moderating the deployment of each individual CSR dimension to generate financial performance. Paying primary attention to the economic dimension of proactive CSR and selectively focusing on social and environmental elements of proactive CSR that drive and support the economic dimension are of key importance to sustainable long-term financial success for SMEs.
This study uses an abduction-based approach to identify the capabilities harnessed by nonprofit organizations (NPOs) as they develop social innovations. The context of this study is the Australian ...disability sector currently undergoing a once-in-a-generation social policy reform with the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Data from extensive field observation and 52 interviews were collected during “researcher-in-residences” at two disability NPOs and analyzed using thematic coding and practice–theory iteration to arrive at a “working” hypothesis. The findings reveal many capabilities used by disability NPOs on the path to social innovation development. The complex interplay of these capabilities forms five pivotal capabilities (i.e., transformational empathy, place-based relationing, diversity learning, paradoxical change making, and complexity leadership) for eliciting nonprofit social innovation (NSI) with community and system-level impacts.
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