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1 – 10 of 16Javier Amores-Salvadó, Jorge Cruz-González, Miriam Delgado-Verde and Jaime González-Masip
This paper investigates the impact of green technological distance (GTD) – environmental technological knowledge distance between the firm and the industry – on the adoption of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the impact of green technological distance (GTD) – environmental technological knowledge distance between the firm and the industry – on the adoption of proactive and reactive environmental strategies and whether this relationship is moderated by different manifestations of green structural capital, i.e. environmental incentives, senior environmental responsibilities and external environmental communication.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical analysis is conducted on a sample of 202 manufacturing companies from Spain. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the moderating effect of green structural capital.
Findings
Results show that the role of green structural capital as guiding factor of the environmental response of the firm and organizational support to cope with the GTD between the firm and the industry is diverse and depends on the manifestation of green structural capital under analysis. The establishment of environmental incentives for managers and the presence of environmental information in the firm's external communications – as two expressions of green structural capital – show a different behavior when facing the environmental technological challenge, supporting environmental reactive and proactive strategies respectively. In addition, GTD increases the adoption of reactive environmental strategies, while it has no direct effect on the implementation of proactive environmental practices.
Originality/value
Using the novel construct of GTD and the analysis of a so far unstudied interaction, the study contributes to the literature on intellectual capital and environmental strategy considering the technical change associated to the environmental challenge. In so doing, it improves the understanding of the role of green structural capital as a guiding factor of the environmental response of the firm and organizational support to cope with the GTD between the firm and the industry.
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Gregorio Martín-de Castro, Isabel Díez-Vial and Miriam Delgado-Verde
The phenomenon of intellectual capital in the firm has been deeply researched and immensely debated in the management literature in recent years. After three decades of evolution…
Abstract
Purpose
The phenomenon of intellectual capital in the firm has been deeply researched and immensely debated in the management literature in recent years. After three decades of evolution, it has become established as a mature field of research. At this point, a review of its theoretical foundations and current and future evolution provides us with the state of the art of intellectual capital in the firm. The purpose of this paper is to present a quantitative review of the existing literature on intellectual capital in the firm.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors present a quantitative review of the existing literature on intellectual capital in the firm. To do so, the authors searched the JCR-SSCI database from 1990 to 2016 and identified 553 citing documents; these were split into three main periods in order to identify the interactions and path dependencies existing between different foundations of research. In addition, areas of current and future research connected with the theoretical foundations were identified. For these purposes, the authors used both co-citation analyses as well as bibliographical coupling.
Findings
In this paper, three main stages of IC evolution have been identified with the main topics and research frames, as well as their path dependencies. Additionally, four main areas of current and future development of IC have been identified: IC measurement, IC in new business models, IC disclosure, and its role in social capital and human resource practices.
Research limitations/implications
The present bibliometric study is a quantitative review of papers published in the Web of Science database.
Originality/value
By its dimensions ‒ broad academic disciplines and longitudinal character ‒ this bibliometric study constitutes a new quantitative review of the IC discipline, both drawing its intellectual evolution in the last decades, and showing current and future research trends in IC and the firm.
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Gregorio Martín‐de Castro, Pedro López‐Sáez and Miriam Delgado‐Verde
The purpose of this guest editorial is to highlight the importance of knowledge management and organizational learning in firm innovation, offering an integrative framework to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this guest editorial is to highlight the importance of knowledge management and organizational learning in firm innovation, offering an integrative framework to understand this complex business phenomenon.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the literature review, the guest editorial shows a general review on “A Knowledge‐Based View of Firm Innovation” articulating and integrating a total number of ten theoretical and empirical contributions about this topic.
Findings
Theoretical and empirical works are organized in three main topics. The first one refers to the importance of external knowledge, networking, and relationships as key drivers of firm technological innovation, offering an “open or relational innovation framework”. The second one shows several papers on the growing importance of KIBS (Knowledge‐Intensive Business Services) in a Knowledge Economy and Society. Finally, this general review integrates papers about organizational context, and its role on knowledge management and firm innovation.
Research limitations/implications
The paper and special issue tries to offer some new relevant advances for the academic community in the growing body of knowledge management and firm innovation. Nevertheless, due to its special issue nature, the theoretical and empirical advances showed on it represent only a partial view of a “Knowledge‐Based View of Firm Innovation”.
Practical implications
Managers need to understand the precise nature and sources (internals and externals) of firm innovation. In this vein, this journal number shows empirical research developed in different countries and industries illustrating some interesting insights about this complex business phenomenon.
Originality/value
This general review shows new lines of theoretical and empirical research regarding knowledge management, organizational learning, and firm innovation in a useful integrative framework: “A Knowledge‐Based View of Firm Innovation”
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Jorge Cruz-González, Pedro López-Sáez, José Emilio Navas-López and Miriam Delgado-Verde
– The aim of the paper is to identify the different directions of external knowledge search and to investigate their individual effect on performance at the firm level.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to identify the different directions of external knowledge search and to investigate their individual effect on performance at the firm level.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical study is based on survey data gathered from two distinct informants of 248 large- and medium-sized high-tech manufacturing Spanish firms. In dealing with concerns on simultaneity and reverse causality, perceived time-lags among dependent and independent variables were introduced. Quantitative methods based on questionnaire answers were used.
Findings
Findings reveal six distinct external search patterns and indicate that, while market sources such as customers and competitors are positively associated with performance, knowledge acquired from general information sources, other firms beyond the core business and patents and databases have no significant effect. Moreover, knowledge obtained from science and technology organizations and from suppliers displays an inversed U-shaped effect on firm performance.
Research limitations/implications
Conclusions can only be generalized to high-tech manufacturing firms from developed countries and, although well-established methodological procedures were followed, the nature of the study remains cross-sectional. Yet, an important implication emerges from this work: more openness to external knowledge is not always better. It is necessary to carefully evaluate the potential gains and pains of each type of partner and source.
Practical implications
This research provides guidance to managers about how to shape their companies’ inter-organizational networks, i.e. the specific external agents on which they should focus, as well as the efforts they should devote to each of these key partners.
Originality/value
By considering distinct directions of external knowledge search instead of a single dimension, the paper contributes to shed some more light to the mixed results reported by the scarce empirical studies that have investigated the effect of openness towards external knowledge on performance at the firm level.
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Angeles Montoro‐Sánchez, Marta Ortiz‐de‐Urbina‐Criado and Eva M. Mora‐Valentín
The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of knowledge spillovers on innovation and collaboration among firms located in science and technology parks (STPs). To do so…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of knowledge spillovers on innovation and collaboration among firms located in science and technology parks (STPs). To do so, whether knowledge spillovers imply a greater degree of innovation in its various forms – product, process, organisational and commercial – and greater inter‐organisational collaboration on research and development (R&D) is analysed. Explicitly, this article examines these effects by identifying and distinguishing between firms located on and off STPs.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a quantitative approach. After reviewing the literature, the study tests the hypotheses empirically using a sample of 784 firms, and performing several logistic binomial regressions to analyse the impact of each type of knowledge spillover on each type of innovation and on the likelihood of firms establishing inter‐organisational collaborative R&D agreements.
Findings
The results show that knowledge spillovers have a positive impact on firm propensity to innovate and on the probability of firms engaging in inter‐organisational R&D collaboration. Furthermore, firm location within an STP is found to influence the intensity of the effect of spillovers on innovation and on R&D cooperation. Thus, the magnitude of the effects of spillovers differs according to the type of the spillover.
Originality/value
Given the special features of spillovers and the scarce evidence available analysing the relationship between spillovers, innovation and cooperation and the location on STPs, this work contributes significant empirical evidence to the existing literature.
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Previous literature notes that more remains to be understood about the relationship between organizational knowledge and innovation. In this article the author seeks to argue that…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous literature notes that more remains to be understood about the relationship between organizational knowledge and innovation. In this article the author seeks to argue that innovation depends on efficient knowledge integration, while the latter depends on factors internal and external to product development teams.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes a conceptual framework that takes into account firm‐internal knowledge integration of human and technological assets. In particular, the author analyzes and discusses knowledge integration mechanisms which a firm strategically deploys in the innovation process.
Findings
Knowledge‐relatedness, the extent to which product development teams are specialized in related scientific or technological fields, is proposed as an important moderator for the relationship between operating routines and innovative performance. If many product development teams perform well, innovative firm performance will increase.
Research limitations/implications
The author notes the need for empirical inquiry which can build on the theoretical model. Other possible moderators, such as the physical proximity of knowledge‐related product development teams and the frequency of knowledge‐related personnel transfer from one product development team to another, would be interesting avenues for further research.
Practical implications
Specifying operating routines with respect to integrating functional and technological knowledge can result in innovative firm performance.
Originality/value
The article adds to the knowledge‐based view of the firm while analyzing how a firm can make use of its heterogeneous knowledge for innovation. The author shows how knowledge‐relatedness moderates the relationship between operating routines for new product development teams and innovative performance.
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The literature on interfirm networks devotes scant attention to the ways collaborating firms combine and integrate the knowledge they share and to the subsequent learning…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature on interfirm networks devotes scant attention to the ways collaborating firms combine and integrate the knowledge they share and to the subsequent learning outcomes. This study aims to investigate how motorsport companies use network ties to share and recombine knowledge and the learning that occurs both at the organizational and dyadic network levels.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a qualitative and inductive approach with the aim of developing theory from an in‐depth examination of the dyadic ties between motorsport companies and the way they share and recombine knowledge.
Findings
The research shows that motorsport companies having substantial competences at managing knowledge flows do so by getting advantage of bridging ties. While bridging ties allow motorsport companies to reach distant and diverse sources of knowledge, their strengthening and the formation of relational capital facilitate the mediation and overlapping of that knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis rests on a qualitative account in a single industry and does not take into account different types of inter‐firm networks (e.g. alliances; constellations; consortia etc.) and governance structures. Cross‐industry analyses may provide a more fine‐grained picture of the practices used to recombine knowledge and the ideal composition of inter‐firm ties.
Practical implications
This study provides some interesting implications for scholars and managers concerned with the management of innovation activities at the interfirm level. From a managerial point of view, the recognition of the different roles played by network spanning connections is particularly salient and raises issues concerning the effective design and management of interfirm ties.
Originality/value
Although much of the literature emphasizes the role of bridging ties in connecting to diverse pools of knowledge, this paper goes one step further and investigates in more depth how firms gather and combine distant and heterogeneous sources of knowledge through the use of strengthened bridging ties and a micro‐context conducive to high quality relationships.
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Eric Quintane, R. Mitch Casselman, B. Sebastian Reiche and Petra A. Nylund
The purpose of this paper is to provide clarity to the concept of innovation and its various definitions.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide clarity to the concept of innovation and its various definitions.
Design/methodology/approach
The article reviews the innovation literature and proposes that innovation has been conceptualized either from a process or from an outcome perspective. Also, the authors show that there is a substantive difference between innovation seen in the traditional innovation literature and innovation as conceived in the knowledge management literature.
Findings
The paper proposes a general framework to categorize the existing views of innovation and show that innovation as an outcome has not been clearly defined from a knowledge perspective. To address this gap, the authors develop a new definition of an innovation outcome based on knowledge elements.
Research limitations/implications
The research lays the groundwork for more comprehensive methods of measuring innovation and innovativeness, which is particularly useful for the study of service innovation.
Practical implications
The framework and definition expand the ability of managers to measure and understand the key factors of innovation.
Originality/value
The research contributes to the literature by developing a comprehensive knowledge‐based, outcome‐oriented definition of innovation.
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Tatiana Andreeva and Aino Kianto
The purpose of this paper is to examine innovation from a knowledge‐based view by exploring the effect of knowledge processes and knowledge intensity on innovation performance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine innovation from a knowledge‐based view by exploring the effect of knowledge processes and knowledge intensity on innovation performance.
Design/methodology/approach
First, a theoretical model of the connections between knowledge processes, knowledge intensity and innovation performance is presented. The posited hypotheses are then tested statistically, using a survey dataset of 221 organizations.
Findings
The result shows that while all knowledge processes have a beneficial impact on innovation, knowledge creation impacts innovation the most and fully mediates the impact of knowledge documentation, intra‐organizational knowledge sharing and external knowledge acquisition on innovation performance. Furthermore, knowledge intensity increases all knowledge processes. Knowledge intensity also moderates the relationship of documentation and knowledge sharing with knowledge creation. The interaction effect is negative, meaning that firms in less knowledge‐intensive conditions will benefit more from documentation and knowledge sharing for their knowledge creation purposes, and ultimately innovation.
Research limitations
The data are limited to companies from Finland, Russia and China.
Practical implications
To promote innovation, managers should pay close attention to knowledge creation processes in organizations. Furthermore, knowledge creation can be facilitated by ensuring efficient documentation procedures, and internal and external knowledge sharing and acquisition practices. Documentation and knowledge sharing are especially effective means to promote knowledge creation for non‐knowledge intensive firms.
Originality/value
This paper makes a contribution to the existing literature by building and testing a knowledge‐based model of firm innovation and articulating the inter‐relations of knowledge processes and knowledge intensity with innovation performance.
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The purpose of this paper is to shed more light on the crucial initiation stage of service innovation in professional service firms (PSFs) by individual professionals and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to shed more light on the crucial initiation stage of service innovation in professional service firms (PSFs) by individual professionals and the implications for knowledge management.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper builds theory, based on an in‐depth review of the relevant literature. The developed theory is illustrated with a case study of PricewaterhouseCoopers AG (PwC), one of the Big Four accounting and consulting firms. Formal and informal interviews about innovation, learning in client interactions, and knowledge management were held with more than 70 employees of PwC over a three‐year period.
Findings
The paper shows that entrepreneurial opportunity recognition is a suitable framework to explain the initiation of service innovation in PSFs. Prior knowledge, alertness and search are identified as bases for the recognition of opportunities and hence the initiation of service innovation in PSFs. Therefore, the author argues that knowledge management should raise the alertness of individual professionals to engage in opportunity recognition and also provide a fruitful environment to enable active search for opportunities on the basis of relevant prior knowledge at hand.
Practical implications
The findings aim to help managers in PSFs to understand better the initiation of innovation in their companies and enable fostering of innovation through the application of dedicated knowledge management initiatives.
Originality/value
Previous research has not yet taken an in‐depth look at the initiation stage of service innovation by individual professionals in PSFs. In this paper, entrepreneurial opportunity recognition is presented and applied for the first time as a framework to explain the activity of professionals in the initiation of service innovation in PSFs. In doing this, the paper also contributes to the understanding of the under‐researched corporate entrepreneurial role of professionals in PSFs.
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