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1 – 10 of over 64000Beatriz Ortiz, Mario J. Donate and Fátima Guadamillas
This paper concentrates on the antecedents of external knowledge acquisition of companies based on their inter-organizational relationships. Specifically, it considers social…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper concentrates on the antecedents of external knowledge acquisition of companies based on their inter-organizational relationships. Specifically, it considers social capital (i.e., the result of a firm’s inter-organizational relationships) as an essential precursor of knowledge identification capabilities and deliberated knowledge acquisition strategies. This study aims to propose that cognitive and relational dimensions of a firm’s inter-organizational social capital are mediating factors of the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge identification capabilities and the relationship between structural social capital and the deliberated acquisition of external knowledge, respectively. The relationship between knowledge identification capability and external knowledge acquisition is also analyzed.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a cross-sectional quantitative study with a sample of 87 firms from Spanish biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. From an extensive literature review, we developed three hypotheses that were tested using the partial least squares technique and structural equations model.
Findings
The results only support a mediating effect of cognitive social capital in the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge identification capability and a partial mediation effect of relational social capital in the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge acquisition. In addition, the findings show that firms with more advanced abilities to identify and assess the value of external knowledge will be likely to develop optimal deliberated strategies to acquire effectively such knowledge from its network partners.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of this study are small sample size and the cross-sectional nature of the study. The study also focuses on only two specific and innovative industries.
Practical implications
Managers should understand that “good” management of inter-organizational social capital allows the firm to develop dynamic capabilities for the identification and acquisition of valuable knowledge. The results of the study show that managers should concentrate on building knowledge identification capabilities and should also be aware of the possibilities that social capital can provide to a firm to formulate and implement effective strategies for external knowledge acquisition.
Originality/value
To date, there are relatively few studies focussing on knowledge identification capability and its relationships with the dimensions of a company’s social capital as enablers of external knowledge acquisition. For managers, the identification of valuable knowledge by using inter-organizational relationships and networks is an essential issue, especially in innovative industries characterized by continuous change. Theoretically, this research highlights that social capital contributes to the development of dynamic capabilities, allowing the firm to sense and seize business opportunities based on external knowledge acquisition to achieve competitive advantages.
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Leticia Pérez-Calero, Ma del Mar Villegas and Carmen Barroso
The purpose of this paper is to examine in greater depth the concept of “board capital”, which the authors consider to be a bundle of three types of capital, and believe to be a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine in greater depth the concept of “board capital”, which the authors consider to be a bundle of three types of capital, and believe to be a clear antecedent of the board’s ability to perform its roles, which have positive consequences for the firm’s performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Through 83 firms listed on The Madrid Stock Exchange during the period 2005-2010, the authors test empirically the relationships between different dimensions of board capital and firm performance, and specially how internal social capital moderates the relationships between board human capital and external social capital with firm performance.
Findings
The results show that certain characteristics of human capital (average board tenure) and external social capital (directors’ interlocks) are positively related to the firm performance. The empirical findings also indicate that the internal social capital, measured by board density, is positively related to the firm performance and moderates these above relationships, increasing the potential of the resources contributed by the board members and influencing to a large extent on a firm’s performance.
Practical implications
The results of the investigation will help both executives and scholar in two ways. First, they will assist firms when they have to select board members, as they can now understand how the resources that board members bring with them can affect the firm performance. To be more effective, boards need to have members that have experience as firm’s directors, external connections to other boards and many internal ties among them. Second, in this context, internal social capital is especially relevant, so the firms should look for possible ways of encouraging internal ties between directors. In this paper, the authors have opted for study the participation of directors in committees.
Originality/value
The authors propose that these three types of capital (human, external and internal social capital) need to be synergistically combined to create a group of directors with access to a complete set of skills, knowledge and connections, but which can still work as a compact social group when making decisions.
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The paper aims to propose a conceptualization of two types of team social capital: team-bonding and team-bridging social capital. Throughout the conceptual effort, the paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to propose a conceptualization of two types of team social capital: team-bonding and team-bridging social capital. Throughout the conceptual effort, the paper provides suggestions for future research avenues that link team social capital, as a distinct team-level construct, with other team research topics.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptualization of team social capital is based on a review and synthesis of prior research about social networks. The propositions about the relationships of team social capital with other team process and effectiveness variables are developed within the classical input-mediator-output framework.
Findings
The conceptualizations of team-bonding and team-bridging social capital and the common measures for each are provided. Moreover, a series of testable propositions regarding the associations between team social capital and team process, the influence of team social capital on team effectiveness and the antecedents of team social capital are made.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.
Originality/value
This paper elaborates the concept of team social capital and specifies its implications to various team phenomena. With this conceptual effort, this paper has advanced our knowledge about the nature and role of team social capital in team research.
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Lu Chen, Wei Zheng, Baiyin Yang and Shuaijiao Bai
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the forces driving organizational innovation, particularly CEO transformational leadership as it affects external and internal social…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the forces driving organizational innovation, particularly CEO transformational leadership as it affects external and internal social capital in top management teams.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey questionnaires were administered to 90 Chinese top management teams. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Both internal and external social capital mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational innovation.
Practical implications
Organizations should strengthen internal and external capital of top management teams to reap maximal innovation outcomes from transformational leadership.
Originality/value
The findings contribute to the transformational leadership, social capital, and innovation literature first by showing how leadership influences innovation through largely neglected mechanisms – internal and external social capital. Second, a social capital focus challenges the tacit assumption that transformational leadership has only internal influences by showing that it potentially spills over to the external domain.
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Beatriz Ortiz, Mario J. Donate and Fátima Guadamillas
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the mediating effect of the identification of valuable external knowledge on the relationship between the development of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the mediating effect of the identification of valuable external knowledge on the relationship between the development of inter-organizational ties (structural social capital) and the acquisition of external knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 87 firms from Spanish biotechnology and pharmaceutics industries, the authors have tested the proposed mediation hypothesis by applying the partial least squares technique to a structural equations model.
Findings
The study results show that those firms with stronger, more frequent and closer inter-relationships are able to increase the amount of intentionally acquired knowledge, partly due to the greater level of development of their knowledge identification capability. Thus, firms with a higher capability to recognize the value of the knowledge embedded in their inter-organizational networks will be more likely to design better strategies to acquire and integrate such knowledge into their current knowledge bases for either present or future use.
Originality/value
This research contributes to knowledge management and social capital literature by means of the study of two key determinants of knowledge acquisition – structural social capital and knowledge identification capability – and the explanation of their relationships of mutual influence. The paper thus tries to fill this literature gap and connects the relational perspective of social capital with the knowledge-based view from a strategic point of view.
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This study analyzes the impact of different types of social capital (structural, relational, cognitive) from different sources (internal and external) generated in electronic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study analyzes the impact of different types of social capital (structural, relational, cognitive) from different sources (internal and external) generated in electronic social networks on organizational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
We test our hypotheses using OLS regression analysis of data obtained from nonprofit organization (NPO) fundraising on a popular online social networking website.
Findings
The results provide insights into the multifaceted, complex nature of social capital in electronic environments. We find that electronic social capital does indeed impact organizational outcomes, but that these impacts vary depending on the type of social capital, the type of outcomes, and roles within the social network.
Originality/value
These results clearly indicate the need to further research exploring social capital, in all its forms, within increasingly popular online and electronic social networks. While specifically applicable to NPOs, the findings also provide important insights for a wide variety of organizations.
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Myoung-Soung Lee and Jaewon Yoo
This study investigated the effects of social capital on frontline bank employee's adaptive selling behavior via the psychological process. Frontline bank employees' positive…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated the effects of social capital on frontline bank employee's adaptive selling behavior via the psychological process. Frontline bank employees' positive social relationships enhance their perception of the work environment and encourage work engagement. With the multiple mediation model, both internal and external social capital have direct and indirect influence on the frontline bank employee's adaptive selling behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for this study were collected from a cross-sectional sample of retail banking industry in Korea. Specifically, using two-step procedures, employees of financial service or insurance sales department in banks were selected and online survey questionnaires were distributed to them. Data from 330 employees were collected and analyzed.
Findings
The results of this study showed how social capital affects frontline bank employees' person–job fit as a cognitive psychological process, leading to work engagement as an emotional psychological process and, in turn, more adaptive selling behavior. Using multiple mediation analysis, the results showed that work engagement on its own exerts a mediating effect on social capital, whereas a person–job fit does not.
Research limitations/implications
This study applied both aspects of the social capital concept by dividing it into internal and external social capital, and exploring each separately. This study examined the influence on psychological processes and behavioral response by distinguishing between the two forms of social capital. Second, this study expands the previous studies by introducing social capital as an antecedent factor of frontline bank employees' adaptive selling behavior. Finally, this study explains how frontline bank employees' relational resources (i.e. social capital) influence their emotional aspect (i.e. work engagement) and cognitive aspect (i.e. person–job fit), which ultimately influence performance-driven behavior (i.e. adaptive selling behavior).
Practical implications
This research showed the importance of hiring frontline bank employees with excellent social capital capabilities. Furthermore, this study underscored the fact that organizations require preparing and providing practical management methods that can improve the social capital of their current frontline employees. Last, organization need to design the job in a way that innately improves frontline employees' social capital. Therefore, these jobs provide many opportunities for frontline bank employees to use their ability to build relationships in their interactions with customers and make practical decisions to achieve job performance.
Originality/value
This study improved our understanding regarding the importance of employees' social capital by revealing the psychological process of how frontline bank employees' social capital affects adaptive selling behavior. Second, this study expands on the literature by introducing internal and external social capital as an antecedent factor affecting the adaptive selling behavior of frontline bank employees. Furthermore, this study advances understanding on the manner in which relational resources of frontline bank employees (i.e. social capital) influence the emotional (i.e. work engagement) as well as the cognitive aspects (i.e. person–job fit), which ultimately influence performance-driven behavior (i.e. adaptive selling behavior).
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Michele Stasa Ouzký and Ondřej Machek
The goal of this paper is to examine the mediating role of organizational social capital between family firms' organizational culture, characterized by their group vs individual…
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this paper is to examine the mediating role of organizational social capital between family firms' organizational culture, characterized by their group vs individual orientation and external vs internal orientation, and their performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A structural equation model is developed and tested in a sample of 176 US family firms recruited through Prolific Academic.
Findings
The authors show that group vs individual cultural orientation fosters bonding social capital, while external vs internal cultural orientation fosters bridging social capital. In turn, family firm performance is only enhanced by bridging social capital, not bonding social capital, which appears to have neutral to negative direct performance effects. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that bonding social capital facilitates the establishment of bridging ties, leading to overall positive performance outcomes.
Originality/value
The understanding of how organizational culture influences family business heterogeneity and performance, along with the clarification of how bonding social capital fosters or hinders performance, provides novel insights for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand the complexities within the unique context of family businesses.
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Emmanuel Josserand, Achim Schmitt and Stefano Borzillo
This paper aims to analyze how business units can use their employees’ external social capital to explore and exploit the resources available in their environment. Based on…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze how business units can use their employees’ external social capital to explore and exploit the resources available in their environment. Based on multiple interviews with the employees of the global commodity firm Gamma Chemical (around 50,000 employees), the research aims at gaining an understanding of the contextual conditions required to successfully build and leverage individuals’ external social client network ties for business unit ambidexterity.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a single-case study at Gamma Chemical that entailed 33 semi-directive interviews, each of which lasted 1-4 h, at different organizational levels (ranging from top-level management to production workers). We had access to three regional business units. The interviews addressed the links between the individuals in the business units and external actors. The authors also collected information about the company’s strategic objectives, the local competitive environment and work organization. Open-ended questions were used to allow the interviewees to freely relate anecdotes about their own network development. In particular, the authors asked the respondents to identify business contacts with whom they interacted privately and to describe the relationships.
Findings
The research findings are two-fold. First, and contrary to prior studies, the authors find that individuals’ social capital contributes to both exploration and exploitation at the business unit level. Second, developing and leveraging individuals’ external social capital requires a specific organizational context at the business unit level that allows employees to develop and nurture their personal business relationships with clients.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited by the scope of the sample (a study of one large multinational firm). Further research conducted in similar contexts may therefore be useful for comparability purposes and to generalize the results.
Practical implications
Several practical recommendations describe how managers can effectively make use of their employees’ social connections with clients. In particular, the results suggest that managers should seek business unit flexibility on the basis of team-based structures, an autonomous leadership style and by actively creating a degree of critical social network tie redundancy, encouraging a shared network culture. These three specific conditions allow employees’ personal client networks to not only flourish but also contribute to business unit ambidexterity.
Originality/value
Prior social capital studies have analyzed intra-firm and inter-firm relationships in terms of contributing to firm ambidexterity. However, these findings have often been difficult to translate into specific organizational levels. Given business units’ critical role in identifying and implementing business opportunities for a firm, the authors focus on the micro-foundations of exploratory and exploitative learning by using a social capital perspective to explore the link between employees’ private external social relationships with clients and business unit ambidexterity. In this way, we contribute to the social capital literature and research on business unit ambidexterity and to extant contextual ambidexterity research by specifying the conditions that help firms develop and leverage their employees’ own external social capital for exploration and exploitation.
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Jing Yang, Thomas G. Brashear Alejandro and James S. Boles
This paper aims to understand how organizational and interpersonal relationships influence selling centers, and how to form an effective selling center to establish cooperation…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand how organizational and interpersonal relationships influence selling centers, and how to form an effective selling center to establish cooperation among the functional departments to satisfy customer needs.
Design/methodology/approach
The selling center and social capital literatures are reviewed. A social network perspective is employed to explore the internal and external relationships of corporate selling centers.
Findings
Building upon social capital literature and team literature, the authors propose that selling center performance is influenced by its internal and external social capital. Social capital influences selling center performance through facilitating knowledge transfer and absorption within and across the selling center.
Practical implications
The findings help sales managers diagnose the problems of the social networks among their selling center members, to improve their selling center performance in the future.
Originality/value
The paper investigates the relationships among social capital, knowledge transfer and absorption and team performance in the selling center context. By considering both intra‐firm relationships and inter‐firm relationships, this study provides a relatively complete picture of selling center performance and adds knowledge to the field.
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