Search results

This study mainly aims to examine whether entrepreneurs’ utilization of political connections is purely egoistic. Addressing this issue could shed light on traditional debate which concerns whether political connections still have strategic value at advanced stage of institutional transition today in China. Here, at the background of Chinese economic transformation, the utilization of political connections is studied, and a double-role model of the pro-self-mechanism and the pro-social mechanism between political connections and performance in China is put forward.

This study uses survey of questionnaires randomly from 363 entrepreneurs in Jiangsu, Anhui and Shandong Provinces of China and adopts the first stage and direct moderation model in examination.

The results show that there exists mediated mechanism of both pro-self and pro-social mechanism in the relationship between political connections and firm performance. The authors conclude that utilization of political connections is not only purely egoistic but also altruistic. So, both dark-side and bright-side mechanisms of political connections in China are of equal importance. In addition, the authors take into consideration of the contingency effects of institution, industry and firm-level factors of this moderation model. The pro-self and pro-social mechanisms have differences in terms of moderator-within and moderator-between comparisons of these three contingency effects. Among these comparisons, the pro-self-mediating mechanism is most sensitive to changes of institutional quality, whereas the pro-social mediating mechanism is most sensitive to the uncertainty of industry competition.

This evidence furthermore verifies that the process of institutional transition is nonlinear and political connections still have strategic value in advanced stage of institutional transition today.

This study combines the dual perspectives of “give” and “take.” The former implies the pro-social motivation, while the latter implies the pro-self-motivation. Based on the framework of “resource-conduct-performance,” this study explores how these two mechanisms mediate the relationship between political ties and firm performance. In addition, the authors adopt the framework of “Strategy Tripod,” which was proposed by Peng et al. (2009) and examine the difference between pro-self and pro-social motivation at different level of institution environment improvement, industry dynamics and firm absorptive capacity.

This study aims to investigate how different kinds of leadership styles (transformational and transactional leadership) influence different components of trust (affect-based and cognition-based trust), mediated by organisational justice mechanisms (distributive, procedural and interactional justice) during COVID-19 conditions in South Africa.

This study conducted a quantitative study by collecting survey data from 366 leaders in three organisations in South Africa, using valid and reliable scales. Given the number of latent constructs, the statistical technique used for this research was partial least squares-structural equation modelling, which enabled the authors to evaluate the strength and significance of the mediating relationships.

Findings show unexpectedly that neither distributive nor procedural justice has any significant mediating effect between transformational and transactional leadership and between the components of trust (affect-based and cognition-based trust). However, interactional justice was found to have a significant positive mediating effect between transactional leadership and affect-based trust as well as cognition-based trust. The same did not apply to transformational leadership.

Given the context of this study, which was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, these findings support the notion that it is the responsibility of leaders in organisations to communicate effectively, clearly and transparently to their followers at all times but particularly during times of extreme uncertainty. These increased levels of perceived fairness result in the development of trust within the organisation.

Close links between buyers and suppliers are increasingly cited as a critical differentiator of high and low performers in global supply chains. While the application of performance measures to manage supplier relationships has been well‐identified and encouraged in the literature, comparatively little research exists on the inter‐organizational socialization mechanisms that underlie the flow of learning and information within supply chains. The authors aim to develop a model positing that socialization mechanisms play an important role in mediating the relationship between supplier performance measures and performance outcomes.

A structural equation model, using a sample of 142 manufacturing and service firms based in the UK, tests this hypothesised model.

The theoretical framework was supported, with results indicating that socialization mechanisms fully mediate the effects of supplier performance measures (communication and operational‐based) on firm performance.

This study provides additional insights for purchasing managers seeking to improve the management of their strategic supplier relationships. The authors find that monitoring supplier performance is not of itself sufficient, rather, it is the process of socializing the buyer and supplier that is critical to success.

As far as the authors are aware, no previous supply chain research has examined how supplier performance measurement systems, socialization mechanisms, and firm performance are related. The paper makes a significant contribution to this literature embedding an established theoretical construct (socialization) into the supply chain literature.

While the literature on multitier supply chain management traditionally assumes that first-tier suppliers belong to the visible proportion of the supply base, intermediaries might limit focal firms' visible horizon already at this stage. High power asymmetries promoting centrality and complexity in the supply network are seen as a particular root cause that limits the impact of governance mechanisms for sustainability. To map the space for governance mechanisms in a network-sensitive context more comprehensively, the study analyzes supply network characteristics from a power perspective.

This research is conceptual. To better understand power imbalances and mutual dependencies from network centrality and complexity, network configurations were constructed drawing on resource dependence theory. These configurations allow deducing the impact of (non-)mediated governance mechanisms for a sustainable development in the supply network. An agenda to stimulate future empirical and model-based research is accordingly presented.

The research shows that those networks with densely interconnected first-tier suppliers promote network centrality and complexity, leading to an inverted U-shape relationship between the focal firm's exertion of coercive power and the sustainability performance in the supply network. The findings allow a more comprehensive theoretical grounding for mapping governance approaches in a network-sensitive context and provide insights on how to avoid negative effects from power asymmetries.

The findings suggest the need for accompanying, indirect governance mechanisms already at the stage of first-tier suppliers based on non-mediated forms of power, such as referent power, also promoting disintermediation. Purchasing companies may also consider using digital platform technologies that foster disintermediation, such as blockchain technology.

By studying intermediaries from a power and network perspective, the conceptualization adds to the discussion on governance in multitier sustainable supply chain networks in various industries. Furthermore, it contributes to the increasing efforts of middle-range theorizing in logistics and supply chain management. The results partially challenge previous assumptions on the moderating role of specific network characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the serially mediating mechanisms of organisational justice, organisational trust, and employee reactions in the relationship between transformational leadership and organisational performance.

The study is based on a national sample of 133 organisations from the public and private sectors in Greece and on data obtained from 1,250 employees at three hierarchical positions. The statistical method employed is structural equation modelling.

The findings of the study suggest that responsive and supportive transformational leadership behaviour have a positive impact on organisational growth. Additionally, this impact is mediated by organisational procedural justice, organisational trust integrity and dependability, and organisational commitment.

The study does not allow for dynamic causal inferences because the data were collected using a questionnaire at a single point in time. Furthermore, the findings of the study may not generalise across borders, because the study was applied in the Greek context, which is experiencing a severe economic and financial crisis.

The major message of the study to decision makers and practitioners is that leaders should work at fostering organisational commitment by improving perceptions of fairness and trust, consistent with the context where the organisation is activated.

There is hardly any research that has been conducted to examine the serially mediating relationships of justice, trust, and employee reactions using multi-dimensional constructs in investigating the relationship between transformational leadership and organisational performance.

The purpose of this paper is to show empirically how knowledge management, particularly knowledge integration (KI), acts as a mediator between different leadership styles and Enterprise Systems (ES) success. It proposes a model of KI as a mediator between two leadership styles (the transformational and transactional leadership styles). The study also aims to expose the most relevant leadership styles to be practiced by leaders when managing the ES post-implementation stage.

Valid data were collected from 263 survey respondents in Malaysian companies. The authors employed structural equation modelling and used the path modelling approach to investigate the underlying relationships between the variables. The authors then tested the mediating effects of KI by using the bootstrapping procedures proposed by Preacher and Hayes, which suits the path analysis method.

The results provide empirical evidence on the relationships between the variables and on the role of KI mechanisms as a mediator between leadership styles and ES success, especially in the ES post-implementation phase. Both leadership styles have to be practiced by leaders while managing an ES.

Future research can investigate the role of KI mechanisms as moderators between both leadership styles. The study can also be expanded by looking in-depth at other leadership styles.

This paper is useful for management researchers and as a guide to management practice for business managers.

This paper proposes a model that examines the vitality of KI effect in ES post-implementation stage by different leadership styles. The results expose the importance of leaders’ adoption of KI mechanisms and call for manager attention to the importance of using the right leadership styles when managing ES.

Family businesses often lack sufficient knowledge about digital business model innovation digital business model innovation (BMI). This study's purpose was to analyze how and when organizational readiness for digital innovation exerts a positive impact on family businesses' digital BMI. To do so, the authors examined the mediating effect of the familiness learning mechanism and the moderating effect of family involvement on this relationship.

A quantitative survey method was used to collect the data for this study. Using a sample of 282 family businesses involved in manufacturing in China, the authors conducted hierarchical regression analyses to evaluate the authors' theoretical model.

The results of this work demonstrate a positive relationship between organizational readiness for digital innovation and family businesses' digital BMI, and the find that the familiness learning mechanism mediates this relationship. The findings also show that second-generation family involvement in management moderates the direct effect of organizational readiness for digital innovation on the familiness learning mechanism, as well as the indirect effect of organizational readiness for digital innovation on digital BMI via the familiness learning mechanism. Moreover, the results establish that family involvement in ownership moderates the direct effect of the familiness learning mechanism on digital BMI, as well as the indirect effect of organizational readiness for digital innovation on digital BMI via the familiness learning mechanism.

This study provides practical contributions to the literature on family businesses and to public policy, providing concrete suggestions for fostering digital innovation in family enterprises. This study also enriches our understanding of the unique conditions by which family businesses can successfully implement digital BMI.

This research confirms that organizational readiness for digital innovation is an antecedent of digital BMI. This finding offers a new perspective that helps explain what might lead family businesses to engage in digital BMI. This study also places the familiness learning mechanism into a theoretical framework, which expands the current understanding of how organizational readiness for digital innovation facilitates digital BMI. Moreover, this work provides new insights into the boundary conditions by which organizational readiness for digital innovation affects the digital BMI of family businesses in terms of second-generation family involvement in management and family involvement in ownership.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between positive and negative emotional contagion by supervisors and innovative behavior by employees in the marketing department at China Mobile, as well as investigating the mediating roles of work engagement and surface acting in this path.

The authors analyzed emotional contagion on innovative behavior and investigated the mediation effect of work engagement and surface acting, and used structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses. Subjects in this study comprised 263 dyads of supervisors and employees (131 supervisors and 263 employees) in the marketing department at China Mobile.

The results indicated that positive emotions by employees mediated the positive effect of supervisors’ expression of positive emotions about employees’ work engagement; work engagement mediated the positive effect of employees’ positive emotions on their innovative behavior; and employees’ negative emotions mediated and did not significantly mediate the effect of supervisors’ negative emotions on employees’ surface acting and innovative behavior, respectively.

This study recommends that future studies examine emotional labor by team members and investigate the types of mechanisms (such as psychological safety and team learning) adopted by such teams to increase their members’ levels of emotional contagion.

The authors recommend that enterprises implement courses that are relevant to emotional management for supervisors to enhance their ability to regulate and manage their own emotions. The authors also suggest that organizations offer adequate job resources to employees to inspire work engagement among employees.

This study explored the role of work engagement among employees, which serves as a motivational mechanism between positive emotional labor by supervisors and innovative behavior by employees. In addition, it investigated the role of surface acting by employees, which serves as an energetic mechanism between negative emotional labor by supervisors and innovative behavior by employees.

This paper aims to theoretically propose and empirically test a research framework that investigates the relationship between high-performance work systems (HPWSs) and organizational performance through the serially mediating mechanisms of employee HPWS-experience attributions of well-being and exploitation, attitudes, and behaviors.

Multilevel structural equation modeling through Mplus was applied to a sample of 1,112 employees working at 158 Greek organizations.

The modeling's findings indicate that the serially mediating mechanism of employee HPWS-experience attributions of well-being, attitudes and behaviors improves organizational performance. Meanwhile, the serially mediating mechanism of employee HPWS-experience attributions of exploitation, attitudes and behaviors was found to weaken organizational performance.

This study shows that, to improve employees' well-being and weaken employee exploitation through employees' HPWS-experience attributions, senior and line managers should gain competencies and communication skills through training and development programs, successfully communicating HPWS messages to employees.

This study may be the first study to elucidate the serially mediating mechanisms of employees' well-being and exploitation through employees' HPWS-experience attributions, attitudes and behaviors in the relationship between HPWSs and organizational performance.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically demonstrate how knowledge management, particularly knowledge integration (KI), acts as a mediator in enterprise systems (ES) post-implementation stage and how transactional and transformational leadership styles are impacted toward ES success.

Drawing on the insights of 508 valid respondents from various business backgrounds that used ES in Malaysia, structural equation modeling was employed and the path modeling approach was used to investigate the underlying relationships between variables. The mediating effects were tested using the bootstrapping procedures presented by Preacher and Hayes.

The results support the mediating effects of KI mechanisms and both leadership styles toward ES success. The analysis revealed the importance of KI in an organization, especially by the leaders who manage the complexity of the ES in the post-implementation stage.

The study can be extended by analyzing other leadership styles in-detail.

This paper is useful for practitioners as it acts as a guide to conduct management practice for business managers.

The results demonstrate the importance of leaders’ adoption of KI mechanisms in various business domains. This study approach can be used to investigate which sub-items of the leadership styles are more likely to promote KI mechanisms.