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Public listing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) stimulates unremitting transformations into their corporate governance (CG) practices. These transformations in CG are likely to impact the financial performance (FP). The current study examines how individual corporate CG mechanisms and their mutual interactions (configurational approach) stimulate the FP of listed SMEs. The study selects promoters’ ownership (PO), the board (B-INX) and information disclosures (DISC) as individual CG mechanisms. In addition, market competition (COMP) is considered a form of external governance/regulation.

The study uses five years of panel data (2018–2022) of 80 SMEs listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange’s (BSE) SME listing platform in India. Panel data fixed effects and cluster robust standard errors estimated. In addition to the impact of individual CG mechanisms, their mutual interactions (configurational approach) are tested using moderated hierarchical regression and confirmed by slope tests.

The results signify the ineffectiveness of individual CG mechanisms when acting in silos. However, their mutual interactions drive the FP. A hierarchy of results is obtained. PO is the dominant form of internal CG, negatively influencing the relevance of B-INX and DISC. B-INX tends to adhere to good governance by positively moderating the impact of DISC on FP. Lastly, COMP acts as external governance that dominates the ownership effects. Findings reveal that the interactions among individual CG mechanisms are essential to the FP of listed SMEs. Such interactions adjust the agency theory dynamics of CG in these firms.

The study takes a holistic approach to investigate the agency theory dynamics via the mutual interactions among multiple CG forms. It highlights how the presence of a dominant form of CG can adjust the financial effect of others, thereby adjusting agency theory dynamics.

These results hold practical significance for SMEs in multiple ways. SMEs should embrace configurational approach to comprehend their agency dynamics. The configurational approach of CG mechanisms is the way forward for SMEs, which are known to be financially constrained. In other words, the fact that the resiliency of SMEs is very often questioned calls for the configurational approach, where different CG mechanisms coexist to drive FP.

The study is by far the first of its kind to investigate the CG of listed SMEs against the backdrop of the configurational approach. The findings will benefit industry practitioners, academics and regulatory bodies to visualize the governance practices through the lenses of configurational approach.

Miles and Snow’s (1978) model posits that organizational performance is dependent upon the degree of consistency (fit) that managers establish between organizational and environmental elements. However, different interpretations of the concept of fit coexist in the literature. We argue that in this model, consistency can be defined as a pattern of “equivalent covariance”, which is operatively created through the use of confirmatory factor analysis. The form of fit as covariance leads to the view of “configuration as quality”, in that the basic subject is the study of the interrelationships among organizational and environmental elements. The concept of fit as covariance is decidedly different from the traditional concept of fit as difference, which regards configuration as a typology or taxonomy. The covariance perspective of configurational theory is underused; for this reason, we apply this analytical perspective to a sample of 229 companies. The empirical results confirm that consistency positively influences organizational performance.

Considers the Smart Manufacturing Techniques project designed to implement team‐based manufacturing cells in participating Australian companies. Draws on case studies of the three participating groups to explore the nature of socio‐technical implementation processes. Argues that an improved understanding of socio‐technical systems is needed, and that action research is the best method to do that. Concludes by presenting a configuration process model and applies this to show how it can illuminate the implementation of team‐based cells in the three case study companies.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the organizational literature and improve the understanding of the slack and performance link by: examining the slack and performance relationship using a configurational approach and by considering equifinality and its possible effects on this relationship.

Using cluster analysis, ANCOVA, and means comparisons this study identifies different configurations of slack and their associated performance implications.

The results show that configurations with higher levels of slack outperform those with lower levels of slack suggesting a positive relationship between slack and firm performance. The findings also demonstrate that alternative configurations of slack can result in similar levels of performance suggesting the existence of equifinality in this relationship.

This study contributes to prior research by moving beyond traditional linear and contingency views of slack and considering a configurational approach. An important contribution of this study is that while level of slack may be important it appears that how the various types of slack are bundled also serves as an important factor in firm outcomes and should be examined by future researchers.

The results indicate that managerial attention should be paid to not only identifying appropriate levels and types of slack for the organization but also to appropriate ways to bundle theses resources.

This study provides an important contribution to the literature by determining if certain slack bundles result in higher levels of performance and if there are multiple ways of bundling slack resources that result in similar performance outcomes.

Extant work in international business (IB) involves a partial contingency-theoretic perspective: a holistic view of the impact of bundles of contingencies on an outcome variable is missing. The purpose of this paper is to adopt a contingency approach to study multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiary performance in the appropriate context of European transition economies at the beginning of the current millennium.

Methodologically, the authors introduce abduction as a line of inquiry into IB and management to develop new theoretical insights, and apply the novel empirical general interaction method to estimate bundle effects. In so doing, the authors contribute to the further development of a theoretical and empirical toolkit to revitalize holistic, or configurational, quantitative research in IB and management.

The authors find that capability fit is a necessary condition for high MNE subsidiary marketing performance, whilst environment fit is particularly critical for high MNE subsidiary financial performance.

A key limitation is that this is a cross-section study.

This study offers insights as to subsidiary fit into Eastern Europe, indicating fitting entry and establishment modes.

This paper offers a novel holistic approach to IB, both in terms of theoretical and empirical methodology.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance across different levels of environmental hostility and market growth. The contingency approach of two-way interactions of EO with each environmental variable is contrasted with the configurational approach of three-way interactions of EO simultaneously with different levels of both environmental variables.

Hierarchical regression analysis is applied for the pooled data set of 163 Finnish and Russian small- and medium-sized enterprises, and supplemented with post hoc analysis of the differences in regression slopes across environmental configurations.

Results show that EO is directly and positively associated with firm performance. However, the strength and direction of this relationship varies by configurations of the external environment variables. Firms achieve superior performance when adopting EO in environments with high levels of both hostility and market growth. In contrast, in favorable environments with low hostility and high market growth, EO adoption leads to lower firm performance.

The study contributes to the EO literature by demonstrating different effects of EO on firm performance across various environmental configurations. It uses cross-sectional data from two countries. Replication studies using different samples may further corroborate the results.

In order to take advantage of opportunities and achieve better performance, managers of firms should analyze multiple elements of the environment concurrently and align EO to those conditions.

The configurations of environmental hostility and market growth, representing both favorable and unfavorable elements of business context, have not been previously investigated together in one model of the EO-performance relationship.

This study analyses configurations of national culture as boundary conditions of countries’ national systems of innovation (NSI). Drawing from the NSI approach, we argue that culture’s role is that of a contingency factor shaping the relationship between investments in innovation and national innovation outputs.

We assessed the moderation effect of national culture through a systematic, two-stage approach using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), which allows the analysis of changes induced by the moderator variables. Analyses were conducted with a diverse sample of 61 countries over a period spanning 12 years, from 2011 to 2022.

Findings reveal that investments in innovation, but not individual cultural dimensions, is a necessary condition for high innovation outputs. Furthermore, several configurations of cultural dimensions were identified as moderators of the relationship between investments in innovation and innovation outputs.

This study provides insights into cross-national innovation research by exposing the role of cultural configurations, rather than just individual cultural dimensions, as boundary conditions involved in the achievement of high levels of innovation.

Design approaches to innovation are booming in both the academic and practitioner worlds. Tech giants are proposing different methodologies to develop technological innovation leveraging design principles, for example, Amazon with working backward and Google with Design Sprint. However, little is known on the role of these methodologies in managing the knowledge translation among different stakeholders. This paper aims to investigate how Design Sprint approaches can face digital challenges and foster collaborations.

Through interviews and participatory observations of ten exploratory cases of SME adoption of the Design Sprint methodology, data were collected, organized, clustered and then validated. Furthermore, by adopting a configuration theory perspective, the data have been processed to contribute to the emergence of two Design Sprint organizational taxonomy.

Competences, type of design challenge and the process followed emerge from the cases as key drivers of different Design Sprint configurations. Moreover, the configuration theory helped in identifying two Design Sprint taxonomies named Willing and Wondering configurations. Finally, the paper provides managers with practical guidelines on how to leverage these configurations to make this approach more effective for SMEs and how this method helps the knowledge translation.

The value and originality of the paper are in defining Design Sprint from a theoretical point of view and offering practical guidelines on how to adapt it to the particular context of collaborative digital environments of SMEs. Moreover, it contributes to enlarging the relevance of configurational theory in the creative industries.

This paper aims to better understand the conditions that can lead to high and low opportunity entrepreneurship in countries with oil rents. Additionally, the study aims to find out the differences between countries with oil rents and countries without oil rents.

A configurational analysis based on fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was performed for a sample of 46 countries with oil rents and a sample of 20 countries without oil rents, using Country data from the World Bank World Development Indicators, World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

The results show that control of corruption is important to achieve high levels of opportunity entrepreneurship in countries with oil rents and countries without oil rents alike. It is highlighted that the abundance of oil resources in a given country is not a curse, if some conditions are met. Multiple configurations that lead to high levels of opportunity entrepreneurship in countries with oil rents are presented. The study shows that none of the antecedent conditions is necessary per se, it is the combination of conditions that leads to the outcome of interest. The study indicates that either high control of corruption or low taxes should occur, no matter the combination of conditions, to achieve high levels of opportunity entrepreneurship.

The relation between control of corruption and entrepreneurship is complex and, in spite of the insights that were gathered herein, much is still to be explored. The coverage rate of the solutions shows that there are countries with high levels of opportunity entrepreneurship that do not fit in any of the obtained configurations. The sample size is also a limitation. Furthermore, to compute the set membership thresholds, the anchors were based on the percentiles, given the lack of theoretical basis to do so. Thus, other methods should also be used in the future, if possible with a larger data sample.

The obtained results have implications for policy makers, authorities and potential entrepreneurs. In countries that are oil producers, policy makers aiming to promote opportunity entrepreneurship should take into account that it is the combination of conditions that is important, and not each condition by itself. They should consider that several solutions are possible. Authorities aiming to promote anti-corruption reforms, can leverage the findings of this study to demand for more resources to institute practices and structures to better control corruption, and should articulate among themselves the actions to carry on to improve the level of opportunity entrepreneurship in their country. Potential entrepreneurs can use the findings of this study to ask for anticorruption reforms and tax reforms, and they should use their entrepreneurial talent to try to speed up the change.

By overlapping streams of research in entrepreneurship, institutions and oil curse, this study makes several contributions to the entrepreneurship literature. Different from extant literature, the study uses a configurational approach and identifies the combinations of conditions that lead to high and low opportunity entrepreneurship in countries with oil rents. The non-linearity of the configurations is highlighted. Furthermore, for the first time, the study includes a panel without oil rents in the analysis, which enabled a comparison with the other set of countries and provides new insights about the importance of control of corruption to achieve high levels of opportunity entrepreneurship.

During the past few years, social media has faced the challenge of maintaining its user base. Reports show that the social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter experienced a decline in their users. Taking WhatsApp's recent change of its terms of use as the case of this study and using the push-pull-mooring model and a configurational perspective, this study aims to identify pathways for switching intentions.

Data were collected from 624 WhatsApp users recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk and analyzed using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The findings identify seven configurations for high switching intentions and four configurations for low intentions to switch. Firm reputation and critical mass increase intention to switch, while low firm reputation and absence of attractive alternatives hinder switching.

This study extends extant literature on social media migration by identifying configurations that result in high and low switching intention among messaging applications.

The study identifies factors the technology service providers should consider to attract new users and retain existing users.

This study complements the extant literature on switching intention that explains the phenomenon based on a net-effect approach by offering an alternative view that focuses on the existence of multiple pathways to social media switching. It further advances the authors’ understanding of the relevant importance of switching factors.