Search results

Based on the knowledge-based theories of the MNC, this research aims to develop and test a holistic model to analyse the relationship between the strategic knowledge management (SKM) processes undertaken by subsidiaries and MNC performance. Additionally, it focuses on determining the impact that the relational context can have on knowledge creation and transfer inside the internal network of an MNC.

The research hypotheses are tested by partial least squares (PLS) with data from a sample of Spanish subsidiaries of foreign multinational firms belonging to high-technology and knowledge-intensive sectors.

The results confirm that: the implementation of a SKM by a subsidiary positively impacts on knowledge creation; the knowledge created by a subsidiary positively influences knowledge transfer, increasing the knowledge existing in the MNC; the knowledge transfer across all MNC units has a positive impact on MNC performance; the subsidiary’s relational context arises as a mediating variable between the knowledge created by a subsidiary and its transfer to the rest of the MNC.

The research proposes a holistic model that contemplates the joint interaction of the variables knowledge creation, knowledge transfer and performance. In addition, the proposed model contemplates the variable SMK of the subsidiary as the beginning of the knowledge creation-knowledge transfer-performance process. Finally, the mediating role of the relational context in the relationship between knowledge creation and transfer is analysed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the use of high-performance work systems (HPWSs) facilitates the development of organizational ambidexterity directly or through a mediating variable such as ambidextrous organizational culture.

The theoretical model and the hypotheses proposed were tested using a sample of 100 Spanish hotels. The data analysis method used was the partial least squares.

The results of the research confirm that HPWSs exert a direct influence on organizational ambidexterity. HPWSs shape and integrate exploitative and exploratory activities through the construction of a culture that promotes organizational diversity and shared vision, which are needed to shape a suitable context for ambidexterity. Therefore, ambidextrous organizational culture emerges as a mediating variable between HPWSs and organizational ambidexterity. Finally, the ambidexterity of hotels has a positive impact on their performance.

The present paper presents new alternatives when undertaking research on organizational ambidexterity. More specifically, this research incorporates a mediator variable called ambidextrous organizational culture between HPWSs and organizational ambidexterity, which has not been considered before.

The purpose of this paper – based on the conviction that the human resource is by far the most strategic or distinctive resource available to firms competing in hospitality and tourism industries – is to objectively analyze the research on HR developed in the domain of tourism and hospitality management between 1997 and 2016. The aim is to “identify” and “represent” the “intellectual structure” of the field examined.

“Bibliometric” methods are utilized: document citation and co-citation analyses, as well as social network analysis (SNA).

The paper provides an interesting inventory of the theoretical foundations of knowledge developed around HR in the field under study by different theoretical frameworks and scientific disciplines, such as marketing or psychology. However, its main contribution is to identify an important gap in the literature in the specific area of management.

The present study has several limitations resulting from the utilization of “bibliometric” methods applied in the analyses performed. As for the implications, these are more than obvious.

The authors believe that research developed here provides – through a kind of “meta-analysis” – a valuable outlet from which future researchers could benefit, giving them easier access to the theoretical foundations on which HR research in the field in question is based. This work also suggests some paths for future development or research in the field within the context of hospitality and tourism industries.

In recent years, author and document citation and co-citation analyses have often been applied to map the “intellectual structure” of different scientific fields, including management and international business. However, the technique of bibliographic coupling between scientific documents, which seeks to identify active research fronts in a scientific field or discipline, has been less commonly used. This study utilized this technique to identify and visualize the research fronts in the context of papers on emerging markets multinational enterprises (EM-MNEs) recently published in a wide variety of journals. The aim is not only to complement and expand the results obtained in prior studies that have used other types of systematization, such as qualitative content analysis methodology but also to propose avenues for future research.

The primary databases utilized to carry out the present research work – both comprised in the Web of Science™ (WoS) Core Collection – were: the Social Sciences Citation Index® (SCI) developed by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and the Emerging Sources Citation Index. A total of 496 “peer-reviewed journal articles” published between 2014 and December 30, 2019 were retrieved. With regards to the methodology, bibliometric methods were utilized, as well as social network analysis (SNA).

Particularly, the analytical techniques employed – adopting a “quantitative” method of a deductive character – allowed the identification of the most active research “fronts” in international research related to the topic under analysis: the phenomenon of EM-MNEs.

The present study has several limitations resulting from the utilization of bibliometric methods applied in the analyses performed.

The authors believe that this research is of value for future researchers since it allows the identification of research “fronts,” which shape the vanguard of knowledge and reveal current trends and future directions in the area under examination.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to analyze which policies of human resource management (HRM) contribute to exploratory learning and which to exploitation learning; and second, to determine the influence of the two types of learning on organizational performance.

The research hypotheses are tested by partial least squares with data from a sample of 100 Spanish hotels.

The results confirm that, in order of importance, selective staffing, comprehensive training and an equitable reward system lead to exploratory learning. Exploitative learning seems to be fundamentally driven by comprehensive training and an equitable reward system (but in a different way than with exploratory learning). Finally, both types of learning have a positive impact on performance.

Both exploratory and exploitative learning result from HRM practices. To maintain performance expectations managers should develop both learning types, which entails the utilization of the best HRM practices.

This study presents empirical evidence around the findings of other studies (Laursen and Foss, 2014; Minbaeva, 2013) which call for further research into whether strategic HRM configurations have positive effects on the two learning types. The results find some practices that have a positive effect in both cases, but with different intensities in their explanations. This finding reveals the need for more detailed exploration around which combinations of HRM practices, in terms of exploratory vs exploitative learning, are advisable for organizations. The study also finds that the two learning types have a positive influence on organizational performance.

The present paper analyses how small Spanish manufacturing firms develop supplier partnerships with the aim of improving their competitiveness. More precisely, the study tries to find out, on the one hand, the causes for the creation of alliances, whereas, on the other hand, the interest focuses on the examination of the benefits derived from such partnerships, as well as some of the features that define them.

The aim of the present study is to synthesise the main aspects associated with human resources and their influence on the success or failure of strategic alliances. With this purpose, and starting from the strategic process of co‐operation, we analysed the role played by such variables as the management and leadership system, and the corporate culture or human resources practices in general in the formulation and implementation of an agreement. The study was carried out both from the perspective of the co‐operating firm and from the alliance's point of view. It also considers the particular characteristics of international alliances and its influence on the human resources management and the corporate culture.

The aim of the paper is to identify which variables of training policy have a significant and positive impact on organisational performance.

A targeted literature review was conducted to identify and collate a comprehensive range of human resource management and training conceptualisations/investigations. This was the basis for the approach to contrast hypotheses. The paper used a sample of Spanish companies and the method of analysis was regression.

The results obtained in this paper do suggest that the training policy positively correlates with organisational performance, both using objective result measures (productivity and financial performance) and in the subjective measure of perceived financial performance and in intermediate result measures.

The study was confined to the analysis of a single Spanish region, and specifically referred to its hotel industry, which means that the results obtained must be situated within that specific context examined. To this must be added that the data were collected from a single source (CEOs) and, of course, it would have been more appropriate to use data from multiple sources.

From an academic point‐of‐view, the research initiative presented here is placed within the new line of development for research into training and performance that tries to overcome the restrictions faced in other publications, trying to go one step further in the search for more specific connections between human resources and performance. From a practical viewpoint, this research work could help hotel entrepreneurs in two ways: first, by providing evidence that the resources allocated by hotel firms to the training of their staff have a positive impact on their profit levels; and second, by showing which variables should be considered to achieve this relationship.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) research intellectual structures are analysed and compared on the basis of the main international journals of management and tourism.

Document co-citation, author co-citation and word co-occurrence are carried out using UCINET and NODEXL, software for social network analysis (SNA).

Differences and similarities between both research fields are provided, study limitations are pointed out and future research lines are suggested.

The main works concerning the topic of CSR are identified for each area of knowledge management and tourism. These are the basis for constructing the corresponding knowledge, and co-citation patterns among them are shown graphically.

This study aims to identify factors that managers can influence to improve effectiveness by examining the relationship between leadership and effectiveness in small and medium-sized independent hotels.

In total, 272 valid questionnaires were collected from managers of 83 small and medium-sized independent hotels in the Netherlands by using selective and snowball sampling techniques. A two-stage structural equation modelling approach was used to test the hypotheses.

Surprisingly, in contradiction to previous studies, neither transactional nor transformational leadership had a direct effect on organisational effectiveness. Instead, the effect was through the intervening variables of ability to acquire resources and reward mechanisms.

The contradiction between this and previous studies may be due to the fact that constructs used in this study do not have the universal applicability that is customarily assumed and further investigation is needed.

This study suggests that managers in this type of hotel, first, should be adaptable in their leadership style and not rely on transactional leadership alone; second, managers must pay attention to resource acquisition; and third, managers must retain staff by using the right reward mechanism.

This study contributes to the literature of leadership and effectiveness in small and medium-sized independent hotels by being the first to focus on the impact of ability to acquire resources and reward mechanism. It also makes an important contribution to the growing body of hospitality literature that probes the supposed universal validity of organisational studies’ constructs.