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This paper aims to contribute to research on the broad theme of knowledge-sharing (KS) behaviours and the impact that different organizational tenure may have on them. In this relationship, the relevance of the leader in enhancing sharing dynamics among employees is highlighted.

This study focuses on KS attitudes among employees with different numbers of years spent in the same organization, seen through the theoretical lens of a social exchange perspective. Specifically, the role of the leader in building a social exchange with co-workers is investigated as a managerial lever able to favour KS among a more experienced workforce. This paper starts by considering the relationship between organizational tenure and employees’ KS attitude. Furthermore, the specific role played by the leader–member social exchange with regard to this relation is described. The study’s hypotheses are tested on data collected from employees (N = 150) working in a non-profit organization located in central Italy.

The results suggest that a negative relationship exists between employees’ organizational tenure and KS attitude. In addition, the critical role of a leader’s support is demonstrated in moderating the effect of different organizational tenures on the KS attitude.

This paper has both theoretical and managerial implications.

This paper contributes to the research on the important role of leaders in enhancing KS behaviors among co-workers when the number of years in the same organizations is a variable of interest.

The purpose of this paper is, first, to examine the role of two key organizational determinants of work engagement among employees operating in human service organizations – organizational justice and leader–member exchange (LMX) – in nonprofit organizations – i.e. social cooperatives in Italy – and, second, whether any interaction effect exists between these two variables, more specifically if LMX plays a moderating role in the relationship between organizational justice perception and employees’ engagement.

The analysis was developed through the administration of a questionnaire to 290 employees operating in ten nonprofit human service organizations in Italy.

The results support the hypothesis of a positive relation between both distributive and procedural justice and work engagement. In addition, the aforesaid relation was moreover found to be stronger among employees experiencing high levels of LMX than those reporting little LMX.

Despite some limitations, the paper has both theoretical and managerial implications.

This paper contributes to the research on the important role of organizational justice in enhancing employees’ work engagement and the pivotal interacting role of the leader in boosting this relationship.

The study aims to deepen existing knowledge on the specific role of soft total quality management (TQM) practices in the ferry sector. Over the last decade, TQM practices have been thoroughly restructured, allowing us to develop an appropriate framework through which the relevance of each practice to this particular sector can be explained.

A narrative case study has been conducted to enhance the quality orientation and soft TQM practices adopted by a medium-sized company in the ferry sector.

The study identifies five soft TQM practices that offer valuable contributions in terms of quality orientation. These are organised into a configurational and systemic approach according to a three-level framework. At the macro level, a customer-orientated approach is paramount, as this orientation clearly points out the fundamental values of TQM. Coherently, at the micro-level, employees should be trained, involved, and empowered to truly internalise and behave according to a quality orientation. At the meso-level, dedicated leadership should support these practices and foster their effectiveness across the organisational structure.

The main limitation of this study is related to its narrative analysis. More empirically-grounded research should be used in the future to test the validity of the model.

TQM practices can leverage soft aspects, finding mutual integrations and offering reciprocal support if a bundle of practices is enforced and co-present across several layers of an organisational structure.

The model offers a configurational approach to help the ferry sector in leveraging soft TQM practices to implement TQM initiatives successfully. This is subject to external contingencies and thus requires adaptability and flexibility.

This chapter aims to build a systematization of the current theoretical and empirical academic contributions on smart working (SW) in the organization studies domain and to examine which are the main paths that researchers are concerning themselves with, with specific attention being paid to the new meaning that the work itself has acquired in the model proposed by SW. Particular consideration is devoted to an analysis of the characteristics of the present debate on this construct and the meaning of SW, identifying two different – and contrasting – approaches: one considers it as a totally new concept; the other is notable for its continuity with previous arrangements such as telework. Further, some relevant concepts, strictly related to that of SW in working environments are considered. In the last part of the chapter, some key points for further research are proposed to create stimuli for discussion in the community of organization studies and HRM scholars and among practitioners, given from the perspective of deepening the change in progress, the relevance for which there is general consensus.

This study aims to examine the relationship between work engagement and leadership styles in human service organizations (HSOs). Specifically two leadership styles are investigated that are: participative and instrumental leadership style.

A questionnaire was used for data collection, and analysis of data were carried out using descriptive statistics and regression analysis.

By examining workers (n=251) operating in nine HSOs in Italy, this study shows that the three dimensions of work engagement relate to leadership styles. The data analysis found that while the participative leadership style of supervisors is particularly significant in predicting vigour and dedication among employees, the instrumental leadership style is positively related to vigour and absorption.

The study has some limitations that could represent stimuli for future research. The analysis is cross-sectional, and variables were measured using a common method and source. Furthermore, since the study involves only a small number of Italian HSOs, the results cannot be generalized and must be interpreted accordingly.

The findings from this study give rise to implications for the development of employees' engagement in HSOs. It additionally provides useful suggestions on effective leadership style among supervisors in HSOs.

An important contribution of the present study to current debate on work engagement is an insight into the construct of leadership styles as antecedents of work engagement. Furthermore, support is provided to the current debate that calls for a multi-dimensionality of work engagement and therefore suggests that the three dimensions may be differently affected by the antecedents. A third contribution is a greater understanding of ways to manage human resources in HSOs through the lever of leadership style.

Following the current debate on the importance of external sources of knowledge as predictors of small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) performance, this chapter aims to open the black box of the innovation process. Since it is still unclear how and what internal capabilities are involved in that process, this chapter demonstrates the relevant mediating role of knowledge integration mechanisms (KIMs) as facilitators of firms’ innovation. A sample containing 98 Italian SMEs operating in different industries is analyzed to test the proposed theoretical model through a regression analysis. The results suggest that KIMs operate as a full mediator in the relationship between the depth of external knowledge sources and opportunity exploitation. In conclusion, theoretical and managerial ­implications of this study are presented.