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The need to make a “theoretical contribution” is a presumed mandate that permeates any researcher’s career in the Social Sciences, yet all too often this remains a source of confusion and frustration. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on, and further develops, the principal themes discussed in the “OM Theory” workshop in Dublin in 2011 and the special sessions at the 2011 and the 2013 EurOMA Conferences in Cambridge and Dublin.

This paper presents six short essays that explore the role and use of theory in management research, and specifically ask what is a good or meaningful contribution to theory. The authors comment on the current state of theory in Operations Management (OM) (Harry Boer), the type of theories the authors have in OM (Chris Voss), the role of theory in increasing the general understanding of OM problems (Roger Schmenner), whether the authors can borrow theories from other fields or actually have theory “of our own” (Matthias Holweg), the different ways in which a contribution to theory can be made (Martin Kilduff), and how to construct a theoretical argument (Mark Pagell).

The authors argue that theory is fundamental to OM research, but that it is not the inevitable starting point; discovery and observation are equally important and often neglected avenues to contributing to theory. Also, there is no one right way to making a contribution, yet consistency between ontology, epistemology, and claimed contribution is what matters. The authors further argue that the choice of theory is critical, as a common mistake is trying to contribute to high-level theories borrowed from other fields. Finally, the authors recommend using theory parsimoniously, yet with confidence.

The paper presents a collection of viewpoints of senior scholars on the need for, and use of, theory in OM research.

The purpose of this paper is to look at how the nature and contribution of leadership is evolving in step with developments in the environment and our organizations.

The authors argue that a collective or network leadership strategy is most suitable for the information age. This is based upon research and executive education and consultancy engagements with a range of organizations around the world and draws upon published research by the authors. They share further a case study of a public sector organization in the UK working to implement a network leadership strategy to transform a complex, bureaucratic structure into a lean, agile and knowledge rich one.

Organizations need to let go of previously held notions of leadership in order to embrace a new leadership concept and strategy more suited to today's environment. Future organizations will necessarily rely upon knowledge‐intensive networks of highly connected and autonomous talent, empowered to rapidly converge on singular intersections of common interest without guidance from above. Such co‐ordination will not be achieved through centralized command and control, but through network leadership – in effect, self‐direction in the interests of a common purpose and guided by shared values.

Enabling coalitions, coexistence and collaboration within and across networks will be the characteristic qualities of the new leadership.

This article is of value to organizations seeking to transform their capabilities and structures to embrace the contribution of the many and not simply the few. It addresses issues resonant with all organizations, irrespective of sector or geography, and argues that leadership in the information age requires us to challenge many closely held truths such as the inimitability of natural leadership qualities and traditional methods of work organization in favour of network‐based approaches.

The purpose of this study is to provide a granular description of how organizational members construct common knowledge practices in the context of organizational meetings.

A longitudinal interpretative case study methodology was used to collect data from a US-based organization involved in an information system implementation project.

Findings revealed that during meetings common knowledge was constructed through four practices of discernment, compliance, reconstruction and expedition. Findings also revealed that these four practices were influenced by intervening conditions such as calibration challenges and scenario-sharing tools.

The findings of this study have research implications related to common knowledge construction and co-participation practices in the context of organizational meetings. This study has limitations related to statistical generalizability that have been mitigated through a holistic approach to case study methodology that favors analytical generalizability of research findings.

This study provides managers with recommendations that suggest a more strategic use of meetings as useful organizational contexts that may help construct common knowledge practices and shared understanding.

This study contributes to current theorizations of common knowledge by providing an in-depth understanding of the construction of common knowledge practices in organizations. This study also sheds some light on the strategic role of organizational meetings to manage knowledge in project-based organizational contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of digital technologies adoption on the forms of organization of large architecture and engineering (A/E) firms. Network theory has attracted scholarly and managerial attention, particularly from the perspective of the changes of project organization. However, little research focuses on network theory as a lens for understanding and managing the new forms of firms’ organization. Additionally, conventional organizational analyses are hampered by the lack of methods for understanding the changes in roles and relationships due to the adoption of digital technologies and examining their impact on organizational structures.

To address this gap, this research adopted a mixed-method case-study approach. This approach combined interviews, regular check-ins, and document analysis with data mining and social network analysis (SNA) to capture the changes of intra-organizational roles and relationships and for understanding their impact on the firm’s organizational structure. Using the data gathered, the authors created a dendrogram that shows the formal organizational structure, a sociogram that displays the informal organizational structure and a network map that visualizes the interplay between the two structures.

From this analysis, the authors identified four main findings: informal roles – as go-to people for advice and information about digital technologies – play within A/E firms facing digital transformation; such go-to people operate through informal networked relationships and beyond their formal roles; most of these relationships do not overlap with the formal reporting relationships; the combination of both these roles and relationships create an informal social network. The authors also show how managers can use SNA to understand the changes in roles and relationships due to the adoption of digital technologies and to diagnose their impact on organizational structures.

This research contributes to the literature of organizational design and change management from a network perspective in the context of the digital transformation of large A/E firms. It provides a systematic data-driven approach to understanding the changes of intra-organizational roles and relationships within A/E firms facing digital transformation and to diagnosing the impact of these changes on firms’ organizational structures.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and examine a consumer-perceived value (CPV) formation model in the context of Hawaiian attire (aloha attire). The effects of key socio-demographic factors on perceived values of aloha attire were empirically determined.

CPV is conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct including emotional value, social value, quality value, and price value. The investigated socio-demographic factors included residential status, age, gender, ethnicity, education level, income level, and type of retailers from which consumers usually purchase aloha attire. The primary data were gathered by a questionnaire survey of US consumers. Using 330 survey returns, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were utilized for data analysis and hypothesis testing.

The proposed model was proven valid and the four value constructs cumulatively accounted for 68.6 percent of the variance in CPV of aloha attire. Majority of variances of perceived values (social value at 74 percent, emotional value at 70 percent, price value at 67 percent, and quality value at 65 percent, respectively) can be accounted for by investigated socio-demographic factors. Gender and ethnicity significantly affected perceived social and emotional values. Income level and education level significantly affected all perceived values. Residential status only affected perceived price and emotional values, while retailer type significantly affected perceived social, emotional, and quality values.

Incorporation of gender, ethnicity, income level, education level, residential status, and retailer type information in developing marketing strategies and promotional programs can help companies more effectively convey desired values of aloha attire to target consumers.

This empirical study responded to the need for better understanding of consumer desired values for aloha attire to support more effective product development and marketing. The knowledge gained from this study provides valuable insights for both academicians and industrial practitioners.

Network analysis is a well consolidated research area in several disciplines. Within management and organizational studies, network scholars consolidated a set of research practices that allowed ease of data collection, high inter case comparability, establishment of nomological laws and commitment to social capital motivation. This paper aims to elicit the criticism it has received and highlight the unsettled lacunae.

This paper sheds light on Network Analysis’s breakthroughs, while showing how its scholars innovated by responding to critics, and identifying outstanding debates.

The paper identifies and discusses three streams of criticism that are still outstanding: the role of human agency, the meaning of social ties and the treatment of temporality.

This paper brings to fore current debates within the Network Analysis community, highlighting areas where future studies might contribute.

We propose an integrative model of how leaders (individual level) effectively relate to their social networks as a whole (network level). Additionally, we focus both on the leader constructs and the followers shared constructs about those networks.

Our conceptual paper uses the integration of literature from two main bodies of knowledge: individual and shared cognitions, fundamentally from psychology, and a structural perspective, mainly from sociology, organisational studies and social network analysis. We take a psycho-structural approach which allows the emergence of new perspectives on the study of leadership and more specifically on the study of relational leadership.

We propose a leader-network exchange (LNX) theory focussed on the behaviours and cognitions of leaders and followers as well as the relations between them.

Our model represents a new perspective on leader–followers relationship by stressing the importance of both followers and leaders' cognitions. We highlight the importance of the relationships between followers on the creation of shared meaning about the leader.

Our model helps leaders and managers make sense of the cognitions and behaviours of their teams. By considering the teams characteristics, i.e. cognitions and network structure, it allows leaders to adopt the most appropriate behaviours for effective leadership. Leadership and management development programmes designed around our model will enhance the use of networking skills.

Contrary to the traditional view of LMX, our approach considers the social context of leaders and followers. It also adds a new layer of knowledge going beyond what members think of their leaders by considering the social networks of leaders and followers.

Recent research provides useful insights on management accounting routines, yet little is written on their foundations. In particular, factors which may contribute to eventual management accounting routines have not been detailed in terms of the process of routinization. Thus, this paper aims to provide an initial theory-based understanding on the foundation of management accounting routines. In turn, it is hoped that this will raise further research interest on this topic.

Drawing on extant literature, a framework on foundations of management accounting routines is developed, and two empirical cases illustrate its operationalization.

The framework illustrates that a more complete understanding of change to management accounting routines can be gleaned when more is known about their foundations. The foundations are likely to be influenced by a combination and/or interaction of factors at the organizational level, the organizational field level and the economic and political level.

Because of the so far limited understanding of the foundation of management accounting routines, more research is required. This framework may be useful to guide such research.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of few papers to offer an initial theory-based understanding on the foundations of management accounting routines specifically. This understanding can be built on to improve our knowledge in the management accounting domain of the complex, but ubiquitous, concept of organizational routines.

Research on identity in organizations takes endurance overtime as a taken‐for‐granted expectation, but then often explores how identity changes. Conversely, research on memory in organizations takes change as a taken‐for‐granted expectation and then explores how particular memories might be maintained by purposeful action. We used both of these literatures as a basis for exploring what happened to two aspects of an organizational group's identity over the course of its first seven years. One aspect of identity centered on the group's mission and the other on the group's internal processes. Based on analysis of the processes involved in the evolution of the group's identity, we suggest several factors that foster stability in identity and several factors that foster change in identity. From the identification of these factors, and based on Lewin's Field Theory approach, we suggest a more complex depiction of what identity stability or change might mean overtime.