Search results

The purpose of the paper is to advance a framework that can analyze the impact of the egocentric alliance network on firm ambidextrous innovation holistically. On this purpose, the framework involves and integrates structural holes (SH), alliance functional diversity (AFD) and alliance partner geographical diversity (APGD) that measure network characteristics from structural, relational and nodal perspectives, respectively.

The authors collected multi-source matching panel data including alliance deals, technical patents and financial information during 2000–2017 of the 106 top high-tech firms in the computer, communications, electronics and biopharmaceutical industries and conducted a three-way interaction model to uncover the complex mechanisms from a contingency perspective.

Empirical results show that SH as structural capital is positive to both exploitative and exploratory innovation. Both AFD as relational capital and APGD as cognitive capital positively moderate the SH-exploitative innovation nexus rather than the SH-exploratory innovation nexus. APGD and AFD co-moderate the relationship between SH and firm ambidextrous innovation in the way that when APGD and AFD are both high, SH has the strongest positive impacts on firm exploitative and exploratory innovation.

This research provides new insights into the benefit-cost paradox of the structural brokerage position (SH) by uncovering relational (AFD) and nodal (APGD) network characteristics that impact the trade-off. Also, it contributes to social capital theory by differentiating three dimensions of network capital (structural, relational and cognitive capital) and integrating them into ambidextrous innovation research. Finally, the findings give firms enlightenment to configure their egocentric alliance network for innovation ambidexterity.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence approach between team leadership and research and develop (R&D) team creativity in one joint‐venture firm of Chinese hi‐tech industries.

Data were collected from 14 R&D teams in one leading electronic joint‐venture firm in China based on questionnaires. Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis to test the mediate effect of knowledge sharing on the relationship between leader's empowerment behavior and team creativity.

The results reveal that, after the effects of leader's empowerment behavior had been controlled, tacit knowledge sharing contributed significantly to the explained variance of team creativity, while the explicate knowledge sharing was not significantly affect the creativity. Thus, tacit knowledge sharing partially mediated the relationship between leader's empowerment behavior and team creativity. The limitations of this study include it just selects the self‐report questionnaire to do the data collection, and the samples just come from one company in China.

This empirical study implicates that it is necessary for R&D team leader to manage team communication, such as management the team communication channel and work place, as team communication is the pre‐requirement of the team divergent thinking. Second, team leaders can use the empowerment behaviors to encourage team members do tacit knowledge sharing. This might be a challenge of Chinese R&D team leaders in the hi‐tech industries. It means instead of maintaining personal authority which is the traditional leadership behavior in China, R&D team leader should learn to do more empowering behavior to improve the team creativity.

This paper points out team communication is the important approach between team leader's empowering behavior and the team creativity under the merging contexts. Furthermore, it empirical finds that the tacit knowledge share rather than the explicit knowledge sharing has such mediation effect.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effect of employee emotional intelligence on the relationship of intra‐department communications and employee's reaction to organizational change in China.

Based on the literatures in organizational change, organizational communications and emotional intelligence, the authors derived three hypotheses which were tested with data collected in a large state‐owned enterprise (SOE) in the telecommunication industry. Factor analysis and regression analysis were combined for the hypothesis tests.

It was found that intra‐department communications positively influenced employee's reaction to organizational change with employees' emotional intelligence moderating the relationship. When employee's emotional intelligence is higher, intra‐department communication has greater positive effect on employee's reaction to change.

With the adopted western measurement scales, this study was unable to reveal the Chinese contextual aspect of organizational communications. As the data were self‐reported, they may have common source deviation.

To foster and maintain employees' positive reactions to change, managers and organizations may consider developing strategies to improve employees' emotional intelligence, so as to embrace future changes.

This is an initial effort in examining the joint effect of intra‐department communications and employee's emotional intelligence on employee's reaction to organizational change. It may lead to additional research on organizational change management.