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1 – 10 of over 176000Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and…
Abstract
Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).
The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.
This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.
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Accounting for quality and improved organizational performance has recently received attention in management control research. However, the extent to which process innovation…
Abstract
Accounting for quality and improved organizational performance has recently received attention in management control research. However, the extent to which process innovation changes have been integrated into management control research is limited. This paper contributes to that integration by drawing from institutional adaptive theory of organizational change and process innovation strategies. The paper utilizes a 2 by 2 contingency table that uses two factors: environmental conditions and organizational change/learning strategies, to build a process innovation framework. A combination of these two factors yields four process innovation strategies: mechanistic, organic, organizational development (OD) and organizational transformation (OT).
The four process innovation typologies are applied to characterize innovations in accounting such as activity based costing (ABC). ABC has been discussed as a multi-phased innovation process that provides an environment where both the initiation and the implementation of accounting change can occur. Technical innovation can be successfully initiated as organic innovation that unfolds in a decentralized organization and requires radical change and double loop learning. Implementation occurs best as a mechanistic innovation in a hierarchical organization and involving incremental change and single loop learning. The paper concludes that if ABC is integrated into an OD or OT intervention strategy, the technical and administrative innovation aspects of ABC can be utilized to manage the organization’s operating activities.
Ana Azevedo, Kam Jugdev and Gita Mathur
This research draws on the resource-based view of the firm from strategic management and applies it to a study of competitive advantage in the project management context. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This research draws on the resource-based view of the firm from strategic management and applies it to a study of competitive advantage in the project management context. The relationship between the characteristics of project management resources, focusing on organizational support for the project management process, and outcomes of the project management process are examined.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses data gathered from 437 North American project management professionals with an existing survey tool that was used in a prior smaller sample study. The study uses Barney’s VRIO framework that assesses resources as valuable (V), rare (R), inimitable (I) and organizationally supported to leverage their value (O). The conceptual model hypothesizes relationships between the project management asset characteristics (valuable, rare, and inimitable), organizational support for the project management process, and project management performance outcomes (both project and firm level). Hypotheses are tested using factors extracted from a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The factors extracted include two factors representing valuable project management asset characteristics, one factor representing rare project management asset characteristics, one factor representing inimitable project management asset characteristics, two factors representing organizational support for the project management process, one factor representing project-level performance and one factor representing firm-level performance.
Findings
Project management assets that are considered valuable and organizational support for the project management process are found to contribute positively to project management process outcomes. No advantage was perceived from rare and inimitable project management assets. Project-level performance was found to significantly mediate the relationship between organizational support and firm-level performance.
Practical implications
This study draws managerial attention to organizational support for the project management process as a source of competitive advantage through its positive affect on both project-as well as firm-level performance.
Originality/value
The study uses a survey tool from previous research with a new, larger dataset to contribute to the understanding of the importance of organizational support for the project management process in a quest for both project success as well as a firm's competitive advantage.
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Silvio Cardinali, Alessandro Pagano, Elisa Carloni, Marta Giovannetti and Lorenzo Governatori
This study aimed to provide an exploratory analysis of digitalization processes in small professional service firms (SPSFs) by examining their main drivers and barriers and their…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to provide an exploratory analysis of digitalization processes in small professional service firms (SPSFs) by examining their main drivers and barriers and their impact on customer management practices, considering the intra-organizational, inter-organizational and service offering dimensions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a qualitative, exploratory and inductive research methodology based on in-depth interviews with 19 owners or consultants of small tax/accounting firms, focusing on the role of digitalization in their internal and external processes.
Findings
The findings reveal external and internal barriers to and drivers of digitalization, as well as its effects on customer management practices. They also reveal the emergence of tensions related to the intra-organizational, inter-organizational and service offering dimensions.
Originality/value
This work contributes to the research on the role of digital technologies in the professional service sector, with a focus on SPSFs, which has thus far received limited attention. This research highlights the complexity of combining increasingly standardized processes and services with the need to maintain flexibility and informality in internal and external interactions.
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This paper aims to tie together insights from the body of research on knowledge management (KM) and management accounting control systems to propose a conceptual model in which…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to tie together insights from the body of research on knowledge management (KM) and management accounting control systems to propose a conceptual model in which performance measurement systems (PMS) can play a role in translating knowledge resources into enhanced performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The underlying assumption of the “fit-as-mediation” approach signifies that knowledge features can play a role in the determination of the structure and implementation of particular managerial processes and this, in turn, may support information processing and lead to desirable results within organizations.
Findings
Synthesizing theory from performance measurement and the knowledge-based view of the firm, the paper’s analysis and discussions elucidate how the implementation of an overarching PMS, i.e. diversity of measurement, could translate the knowledge-related factors, i.e. knowledge resources and knowledge process capabilities, into enhanced performance. In particular, the proposed model shows that a comprehensive PMS plays an intervening role between KM and organizational performance.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed model may inspire a new research agenda to show how knowledge initiatives are managed and measured in organizations and how they are properly aligned with specific managerial processes to deliver real value.
Practical implications
Drawing upon the conceptualized associations among KM, PMS and organizational performance, this paper recommends some practical guidelines by highlighting the importance of PMS whereby organizations may reap maximum benefit from their KM initiatives.
Originality/value
This paper sheds new light on the links between KM and organizational performance, and it appears to be the first study to propose an intervening effect of PMS between KM and organizational performance.
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Nizar Mohammad Alsharari, Robert Dixon and Mayada Abd El-Aziz Youssef
– This paper aims to introduce and discuss a new contextual framework to explain the processes of management accounting change in various organizations.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce and discuss a new contextual framework to explain the processes of management accounting change in various organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Having an institutional perspective, the paper develops a “conceptual contextual framework” of management accounting change. The methodology to accomplish this theory building consists of an integration of a number of different works summarizing the common elements, contrasting the differences and extending the work in some fashion. Particularly, it draws on theoretical triangulation by adopting three approaches: old institutional economics for internal processes and factors (Burns and Scapens, 2000); new institutional sociology for external processes and pressures (Dillard et al., 2004); and power and politics mobilization (Hardy, 1996).
Findings
The proposed framework provides an understanding of the complex “mixture” of interrelated factors that may influence management accounting change at multi-institutional levels: political and economic level, organizational field level and organizational level.
Research limitations/implications
The framework extends institutional theory-based management accounting research as well as provides a comprehensive basis for examining dynamics of accounting in the institutionalization process. Through further research, the framework will be extended and refined.
Practical implications
The paper has practical implications for practitioners and officers as well as for the accounting profession and academics alike.
Originality/value
The proposed contextual framework provides insights into the processes of change by focusing attention on the underlying institutions that encode accounting systems or practices in three institutional levels: political and economic level, the organizational field level and organization level. Examining the tension between institutionalized beliefs and values that may occur between these three levels of institutions will enhance our understanding of management accounting change in organizations.
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Nobin Thomas, Angela Randolph and Alejandra Marin
Research in entrepreneurial cognition has called for a better understanding of interactions between contextual variables and cognitive processes. Based on previous work done on…
Abstract
Purpose
Research in entrepreneurial cognition has called for a better understanding of interactions between contextual variables and cognitive processes. Based on previous work done on organizational learning and social networks, the purpose of this paper is to propose a formal model in which information acquisition, distribution and interpretation are tested as a function of cognition-based trust, perceived expertise and tie strength between organizational members in two different corporate entrepreneurship (CE) types.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct a quantitative analysis based on network data in two companies located in India. Special procedures known as quadratic assignment procedure and multiple regression quadratic assignment procedure were used to run the correlations and multiple regressions, respectively. The authors complement this analysis with interviews and qualitative information to build a rich description in each of these cases.
Findings
The results indicate moderate support for the model. The evidence suggests that between both types of CE types, domain redefinition requires higher levels of tie strength, trust and perceived expertise. Sustained regeneration shows moderate significant results in tie strength, and cognition-based trust.
Originality/value
The authors combined insights on social network and organizational cognitive processes to analyze interactions between context and cognition. The authors were also able to compare two different companies. The authors found consistent results regarding tie strength, but the authors also found differences between both companies, which suggest that different CE types tend to require different dynamics between context and cognitive processes.
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Rupert Lawrence Matthews, Bart L. MacCarthy and Christos Braziotis
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how organisational learning (OL) can occur through process improvement (PI) activities, leading to sustained improvements over time in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how organisational learning (OL) can occur through process improvement (PI) activities, leading to sustained improvements over time in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors study PI practices in six engineering-oriented SMEs via interview-based case studies. The authors draw from a range of literature and use an OL conceptual framework informed by Crossan et al.’s (1999) 4I framework as an analytical lens.
Findings
The OL perspective provides new insights to conceptualise the nature of PI as a multi-level practice in SMEs. Effective PI practices within SMEs are shown to be consistent with OL concepts, enabling firms to translate individually identified improvement opportunities into organisational-level changes that result in sustained benefits. A new conceptual model is presented that explains how SMEs can learn through improvement activities. The key role of management support, both operational and strategic, is highlighted. It is necessary for management to provide sufficient PI opportunities to enable and sustain beneficial learning.
Research limitations/implications
The study is based on a sample of engineering-oriented SMEs located in the UK. Further case-based, longitudinal, and survey-based research studies with firms of different types will enhance the generalisability of the findings, allowing the confirmation and extension of the new conceptual model.
Practical implications
The findings provide a theoretically underpinned framework for achieving OL in engineering-oriented SMEs through PI activities. The new model highlights the key mechanisms that enable learning from improvement activities. The findings highlight the key role played by management in introducing additional learning opportunities in the form of new business that requires exploratory learning. Without this, the reduction in improvement opportunities reduces the benefits that can be realised from PI.
Originality/value
OL provides a multi-level perspective to understanding how smaller firms are able to undergo systematic improvements and the support required to continually improve.
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Tharnpas Sattayaraksa and Sakun Boon-itt
The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect effects of CEO transformational leadership on product innovation performance. This research investigates the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect effects of CEO transformational leadership on product innovation performance. This research investigates the mechanism between CEO transformational leadership and product innovation performance, to understand the process through which transformational CEOs exert their influence.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is a quantitative research. Data were collected from 269 manufacturing firms in Thailand through a mail survey. This research applied a two-step structural equation modeling process.
Findings
The results indicate that CEO transformational leadership indirectly affects product innovation performance through an innovation culture, organizational learning, and the new product development (NPD) process. CEO transformational leadership has a strong effect on innovation culture and organizational learning. Organizational learning is strongly associated with the NPD process, which significantly leads to product innovation performance. By integrating the knowledge of leadership and operations management fields, this study helps extend the understanding of how leaders at the top of an organization influence the NPD process and product innovation outcomes.
Practical implications
For practical implications to be more effective, CEOs focusing on product innovation should develop their skills and behaviors of transformational leadership to foster innovation culture and organizational learning, which in turn will affect product innovation performance.
Originality/value
This study makes a contribution to the literature by filling the research gaps proposed by several prior studies and offering a theoretical framework of the relationship between CEO transformational leadership and product innovation performance.
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S.E. Gouvea da Costa and E. Pinheiro de Lima
Although, the advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT) benefits and potentialities are already known, issues regarding the management process, from the planning to the…
Abstract
Purpose
Although, the advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT) benefits and potentialities are already known, issues regarding the management process, from the planning to the implementation, represent the main barriers to the effective use of such technologies. The actual benefits of the AMT incorporation to the manufacturing system, classified as systemic, will only be obtained and recognized if the current design and organizational structure become compatible with the change being introduced. The purpose of this paper is to present the rationality for the organizational design development related to AMT adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
The developed theoretical synthesis integrates two refined and tested frameworks: the organizational design and the strategic selections of AMT. The company's manufacturing strategy, specifically the manufacturing vision, defines a set of statements, the required competences, which constitute the organizational design specifications. By approaching the AMT as resources related to the manufacturing vision competences, it could be assured the cohesion between the organizational design and the technology to be introduced. The theoretical development is illustrated by some empirical data, particularly in the cases of competences, capabilities and manufacturing vision statements formulation.
Findings
This paper is a theoretical construction that organizes and synthesizes the issues that are being studied in the main theme: “The adoption of the automated systems,” focusing the discussion on the manufacturing strategy and organizational design domains.
Research limitations/implications
The generated framework is theoretical in essence and needs to be tested, although the theoretical exercise integrates tested frameworks.
Practical implications
The understanding of the relationships between the process of AMT adoption and the required changes in the organization contribute to the attainment of the benefits related to those technologies.
Originality/value
The main value of the present paper is the theoretical exercise to generate a set of recommendations of the organizational design‐revision process. The systemic design approached used will found future research to generate practical solutions for the design process, contributing to the AMT integration to the manufacturing system.
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