Search results

Research suggests that engaging in networking behaviors can affect individual work outcomes. However, relatively less is known about how internal versus external networking behaviors influence work outcomes, and whether gender moderates these relationships. Drawing on social capital theory and social role theory, the authors propose a positive relationship between employees' internal and external networking behaviors and their work outcomes (job commitment and career success), and the moderating effect of gender. The authors also explore employee preference in networking.

Based on a sequential mixed-method research design with a four-month time lag, Study 1 data on networking behaviors and employee outcomes were collected via a survey of middle managers and their supervisors from 10 private sector organizations in Sri Lanka. Study 2 data were collected via interviews from a sample of those middle managers and their supervisors.

Study 1 findings indicate a positive relationship between internal networking behaviors and job commitment, and external networking behaviors and career success. The authors also found that internal networking behaviors enhance job commitment. Study 2 findings indicate men and women network differently and benefit differently from that networking but achieve equitable workplace benefits.

This study provides pioneering evidence that internal networking behaviors enhance job commitment among women. It appears that past research did not test the moderating effect of gender for internal versus external networking behaviors separately. Moreover, this study refines the evidence that internal and external networking behaviors differentially impact employee outcomes and explains the processes through a qualitative inquiry.

This study aims to explore the different effects of inter-community group networks and intra-community group networks on group innovation.

The authors used a pooled panel dataset of 12,111 self-organizing innovation groups in 463 game product creative workshop communities from Steam support to test the hypothesis. The pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) model is used for analyzing the data.

The results show that network constraint is negatively associated with the innovation performance of online groups. The average path length of the inter-community group network negatively moderates the relationship between network constraint and group innovation, while the average path length of the intra-community group network positively moderates the relationship between network constraint and group innovation. In addition, both the network density of inter-community group networks and intra-community group networks can negatively moderate the negative relationship between network constraint and group innovation.

The findings of this study suggest that network structural characteristics of inter-community networks and intra-community networks have different effects on online groups’ product innovation, and therefore, group members should consider their inter- and intra-community connections when choosing other groups to form a collaborative innovation relationship.

This study aims to explore the serendipitous discovery of integrated reporting (IR) by Alpha, an Italian small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). Alpha piqued the curiosity when the authors discovered that it experimented with IR alongside other management accounting practices, such as the Balanced Scorecard. As the authors reflected on Alpha’s experiences, the authors had to opportunistically develop a new framework to understand the change that was taking place at Alpha fully. Thus, the authors developed the serendipitous drift framework. This study contributes to addressing the gap between management accounting research that sees change as a planned, ordered process versus research that sees it as an unmanageable drift.

The authors ground the research on a qualitative methodology based on a single case study. This methodology allows us to focus on understanding what has happened at Alpha to discover new themes and provide theoretical generalisations. The authors developed the framework using middle-range thinking and fleshed it out using empirical findings from the case study. Middle-range thinking implies going back and forth between the theory and the empirical material. Therefore, the authors develop the serendipitous drift framework from prior theories and use it to inform the empirical study. In turn, the empirical material collected in Alpha helps refine and flesh out the serendipitous drift framework. The framework explains how Alpha leveraged serendipity to steer change towards favourable outcomes for them.

The authors find that the search for change undertaken by Alpha’s managers was non-specific but purposeful. Their dispositions were sagacious enough to recognise the potential value found in management accounting practices, such as IR and the Balanced Scorecard. They chanced upon new and unforeseen practices through trial and error, iteration, internal engagement and networking.

Overall, the results indicate that Alpha’s managers shaped the disorder of management accounting changes, even though it followed unexpected, uncertain and messy paths. Indeed, appropriate informal controls can act as a frame of reference for choosing, adapting and implementing new management accounting practices to shape the disorder. Informal controls can both guide and bound the experimentation process towards desirable outcomes.

The authors contribute to management accounting change theory by developing a framework rooted in serendipity and drifting theories. The framework identifies how searching, sagacity and chance are essential for making positive, unexpected discoveries. Therefore, the authors provide novel insights on how and why IR and other management accounting practices are eventually translated and adopted in the case company. Moreover, the serendipitous drift framework has the potential to help managers frame cultural controls to actively seek opportunities for valuable serendipitous eureka moments through networking and experimentation.

This study aims to clarify why and when digital business strategy (DBS) helps manufacturing firms generate value co-creation (VC) with different stakeholders in the digital context of China. This study considers external network capability (ENC) and internal network capability (INC) as mediation mechanism, and strategic flexibility (SF) as theoretical boundary.

Questionnaires were used and filled out by executives from manufacturing firms. The manufacturing samples from 289 different fields in China were used for hypothesis testing, and the structural equation model was the main analytical method.

This study found that DBS of manufacturing enterprises has a positive impact on VC. Specifically, DBS affects firm-partner VC and firm-consumer VC through the indirect positive effect of ENC, and affects firm-employee VC through INV. The positive effects of ENC on firm-partner VC and firm-consumer VC, as well as INC on firm-employee VC, are weak at high (or low) SF, and are strongest at moderate SF.

This study provides manufacturing firms with practical insights into why and when they can implement DBS to generate VC, with a particular emphasis on the weighted role of SF.

This study spotlights gaps in the literature on why and when manufacturing firms can reap the benefits of DBS, focusing on one important business outcome – VC. The authors clarify the mediating role of differences in ENC and INC, as well as the inverted U-shaped moderating role of SF.

The ongoing paradigm shift in the energy sector holds paramount implications for the realization of the sustainable development goals, encompassing critical domains such as resource optimization, environmental stewardship and workforce opportunities. Concurrently, this transformative trajectory within the power sector possesses a dual-edged nature; it may ameliorate certain challenges while accentuating others. In light of the burgeoning research stream on open innovation, this study aims to examine the intricate dynamics of knowledge-based industry-university-research networking, with an overarching objective to elucidate and calibrate the equilibrium of ambidextrous innovation within power systems.

The authors scrutinize the role of different innovation organizations in three innovation models: ambidextrous, exploitative and exploratory, and use a multiobjective decision analysis method-entropy weight TOPSIS. The research was conducted within the sphere of the power industry, and the authors mined data from the widely used PatSnap database.

Results show that the breadth of knowledge search and the strength of an organization’s direct relationships are crucial for ambidextrous innovation, with research institutions having the highest impact. In contrast, for exploitative innovation, depth of knowledge search, the number of R&D patents and the number of innovative products are paramount, with universities playing the most significant role. For exploratory innovation, the depth of knowledge search and the quality of two-mode network relations are vital, with research institutions yielding the best effect. Regional analysis reveals Beijing as the primary hub for ambidextrous and exploratory innovation organizations, while Jiangsu leads for exploitative innovation.

The study offers valuable implications to cope with the dynamic state of ambidextrous innovation performance of the entire power system. In light of the findings, the dynamic state of ambidextrous innovation performance within the power system can be adeptly managed. By emphasizing a balance between exploratory and exploitative strategies, stakeholders are better positioned to respond to evolving challenges and opportunities. Thus, the study offers pivotal guidance to ensure sustained adaptability and growth in the power sector’s innovation landscape.

The primary originality is to extend and refine the theoretical understanding of ambidextrous innovation within power systems. By integrating several theoretical frameworks, including social network theory, knowledge-based theory and resource-based theory, the authors enrich the theoretical landscape of power system ambidextrous innovation. Also, this inclusive examination of two-mode network structures, including the interplay between knowledge and cooperation networks, unveils the intricate interdependencies between these networks and the ambidextrous innovation of power systems. This approach significantly widens the theoretical parameters of innovation network research.

Research examining the joint role of serial acquisitions and subsidiary autonomy in holistic value provision within servitizing industrial firms is scarce. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the role of serial acquisition and subsidiary autonomy in providing value within servitizing industrial networks.

A conceptual framework is developed based on the case study of a large Swedish industrial group specializing in selling industrial products and providing industrial solutions to business customers through its numerous subsidiaries.

The analysis of 14 interviews with the five subsidiaries and seven customer firms and secondary data reveals interesting findings concerning the role of serial niche acquisition strategy and subsidiary autonomy in customer value provision in servitizing organizations. In particular, the authors find that the role of acquisitions in industrial firms extends beyond growth to customer sensing and proximity. Likewise, the authors find that subsidiary autonomy facilitates value provision to customers in industrial networks.

The paper provides a more nuanced understanding of how serial acquisitions and subsidiary autonomy are intertwined and jointly affect industrial firms’ value provision activities amidst the servitization transition in an intraorganizational network.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between capabilities and renewal of organizational and business know-how in franchise networks.

This work uses a comparative case study of adaptive, absorptive and innovative capabilities to investigate knowledge renewal in 16 franchise networks.

The findings show that adaptive and innovative capabilities complement each other to foster know-how renewal. Furthermore, networks without internal R&D need to mobilize adaptive, absorptive and innovative capabilities to renew both organizational and business know-how. The findings also highlight that the three capabilities are interconnected.

The results of this research could provide insights for franchise networks to regenerate their knowledge base and ensure their long-term survival.

The underlying capabilities that explain organizational and business know-how renewal in franchises have not been investigated.

The authors’ contention in this paper is that the expression of subsidiary strategy in IB literature has become fragmented and incomplete. Therefore, this study aims to propose a rethink on how IB scholarship approaches the important issue of subsidiary strategy by holistically examining the discrete and integrated set of activities, choices and decisions that constitute the subsidiary strategy process for, in this context, assuming a competence-creating role within the multinational enterprise (MNE).

A conceptual model is designed to illustrate the holistic process of subsidiary strategy from assigned to assumed role and how a subsidiary can navigate a pathway to elevated performance and survival.

The paper identifies the key integrated elements that constitute a holistic strategic process that can enhance a subsidiary’s standing within the MNE and maximise its survival prospects.

Particular focus is placed on subsidiaries that strategise to advance their internal corporate role to competence creator via upgraded knowledge capabilities.

This paper offers a roadmap for IB scholars to contribute to a future discourse around the subsidiary strategy process for assuming a competence-creating role.

The usage of social media at the workplace has become an undeniable reality, yet the role of social media use (SMU) in job-related outcomes is still unclear. This study uncovers a chain process through which SMU may strengthen job security perception of employees through social media disorder (SMD) and networking behavior.

This quantitative study used ratings of 197 Emirati students enrolled in a higher education institution located in United Arab Emirates (UAE). The respondents were professionals serving in different public and private organizations in UAE.

The statistical results supported a significant serial mediation of SMD and networking behavior between SMU and job security perceptions of employees.

This study offers implications for employees and their supervisors about the usage of social media for strengthening their perceptions of job security.

This study contributed to the existing stream of research on SMU to explain a chain process through which employees may benefit from social media to strengthen their perceptions of job security.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how enterprises can effectively perceive and use the digital opportunities brought about by digital technologies and dynamic environments and how they can enhance their capabilities to realize digital transformation and adapt to the development of the digital economy era.

Based on the windows of opportunity theory and strategic cognition theory, this paper conducts an empirical analysis of the questionnaire data of 268 enterprises and discusses the influence of external windows of opportunity and internal windows of opportunity on the digital transformation of enterprises, as well as the action mechanism of strategic cognition and entrepreneurship.

The results show that both the external windows of opportunity and the internal windows of opportunity have significant positive effects on the digital transformation of enterprises. Strategic cognition plays a partial mediating role in the external windows of opportunity and the internal windows of opportunity influencing the enterprise digital transformation process. Entrepreneurship plays a positive regulatory role in the process of external windows of opportunity and internal windows of opportunity influencing strategic cognition.

This paper deepens the relationship between internal and external windows of opportunity and enterprise digital transformation and contributes a new theoretical cognition. This paper integrates the strategic cognition theory to clarify the complex process mechanism of digital transformation using external situational opportunities and internal capabilities. This paper introduces entrepreneurship into the path mechanism of digital transformation and expands the characteristics of the study of digital transformation antecedents to the individual level within the enterprise.