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The purpose of this paper is to understand how those involved in executive pay determination in large publicly quoted UK businesses see the role of diversity within remuneration committees (Remcos) as enabling the input of different perspectives, which can enhance their decision-making and potentially improve pay outcomes.

Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 18 high-profile major-enterprise decision-makers and their advisers, i.e. non-executive directors (NEDs) serving Remcos, institutional investors, executive pay consultants and internal human resources (HR) reward specialists, together with data from three focus groups with 10 further reward management practitioners.

Remco members recognise the benefits of social category/demographic diversity but say the likelihood of increasing this is low, given talent pipeline issues. The widening of value diversity is considered problematic for Remcos’ functioning. Informational diversity is used as a proxy for social category/demographic diversity to improve Remcos’ decision-making on executive pay. While the inclusion of members from wider social networks is recognised as potentially bringing a different informational perspective, the social character of Remcos, reflecting their elite nature and experience of wealth, appears ingrained.

Our original contribution is to extend the application of upper echelons theory in the context of Remco decision-making to explain why members do not welcome widening informational diversity by appointing people from different social networks who lack value similarity. Instead, by drawing views from employees, HR acts as a proxy for social network informational diversity. The elite, upper-echelons nature of Remco appointments remains unchanged and team functioning is not disrupted.

Due to the constantly increasing competitiveness along with the complexity of knowledge, firms perceive collaboration as a key strategy that preserves firms' radical innovation performance. In this context, this paper aims to examine how firms’ partners’ diversity in open innovation activities influences the development of radical innovations, critical for social development. In particular, this study analyzes how the functional and geographical breadth of the firm’s collaboration portfolio affects its radical innovation performance. Furthermore, it also explores the role of firm size as a moderator in the relationships proposed.

This research employs panel data analysis, using a sample of 4,677 Spanish firms, with data sourced from the PITEC database.

The results of this study show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the functional and the geographical breadth of collaborations and the firms’ radical innovation performance. Moreover, this study finds partial support for the moderating role of firm size, in the sense that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large firms vary in their optimal number of diversity of partners.

This research provides a better understanding on how partners’ functional and geographical diversity, along with organizational characteristics such as firm size, affect how firms benefit from collaboration for innovation. This study shows that both SMEs and large firms experience diminishing returns when their collaboration networks become overly diverse in pursuit of radical innovation, due to increased costs. However, in SMEs, the turning point occurs at a later stage, consistent with the idea that small firms need broader functional networks to access complementary and novel resources they usually lack.

This paper deconstructs the boundary-spanning technology innovation (BSTI) of manufacturing enterprises based on dual-meta and dual-degree perspective. We aim to explore the impact of differentiated internal reconfigurations on networking capabilities and, thus, different BSTIs and then reveal the optimal transformation paths of different BSTIs.

We use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to conduct an empirical study on 128 manufacturing enterprises in China to reveal the heterogeneous combinatorial path of internal reconfigurations on BSTI through the networking capability, and the case analysis in specific technology fields of Haier, Gree, Midea and TBEA is used to verify our results. The transfer entropy (TE) method is used to reveal the best transformation paths of different BSTIs.

The results show that the manufacturing enterprises follow the “I,” “T,” “⊥” and “|” reconfiguration logic to effectively realize multiple boundaries breakthrough (MBB), tick boundaries breakthrough (TBB), multiple boundaries reproducing (MBR) and tick boundaries reproducing (TBR) BSTI, respectively. The BSTI has two adjacent transformations named “dual-meta transformations” and “dual-degree transformations.” Nonadjacent transformations follow the “clockwise” transformation law. In “quality transformation,” “degree” transforms first and then “meta” follows, while in “feature transformation,” “meta” transforms first and then degree follows.

Firstly, the scientific classification of BSTI is carried out to guide enterprises to carry out accurate BSTI. Secondly, the “internal reconfiguration-networking capability-BSTI” paths of manufacturing enterprises are explored. Finally, the different laws of different BSTIs’ transformations are revealed.

Prior literature has long argued that knowledge networks contain great opportunities for innovation, and researchers can identify these opportunities using the properties of knowledge networks (PKNs). However, previous studies have examined only the relationship between structural PKNs (s-PKNs) and innovation, ignoring the effect of qualitative PKNs (q-PKNs), which refer to the quality of the relationship between two elements. This study aims to further investigate the effects of q-PKNs on innovation.

Using a panel data set of 2,255 patents from the Chinese wind energy industry, the authors construct knowledge networks to identify more PKNs and examine these hypotheses.

The results show that q-PKNs significantly influence recombinant innovation (RI), reflecting the importance of q-PKNs analysed in this study. Moreover, the results suggest that the combinational potential of an element with others may be huge at different levels of q-PKNs.

This study advances the understanding of PKNs and RI by exploring how q-PKNs impact RI. At different levels of PKNs, the potential of the elements to combine with others and form innovation are different. Researchers can more accurately identify the opportunities for RI using two kinds of PKNs. The findings also provide important implications on how government should provide support for R&D firms.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how network theory and methods can provide insights into the forces shaping architectural learning agendas and knowledge construction in architectural schools.

The methodology involves conceptualising learning as a constructivist process and the agenda as an interconnected network of actors, concepts and relations. Network analysis techniques, including centrality and brokerage metrics, are used to identify roles and knowledge flows using the data locally collected from Turkish universities as well as from the OpenSyllabus open-source database.

The analysis reveals the enduring influence of early modernists, signalling imbalanced canon formation in the architectural learning system. However, marginal voices highlight struggles in integrating unconventional perspectives. Limited integration of local figures indicates a consolidation of Eurocentric epistemes. Identifying these hidden forces is vital for reimagining learning agendas and socio-culturally engaged forms of learning. Pioneering figures demonstrate potential for synthesis when situated as brokers, not bifurcated schools.

The outcomes are limited by the geographical and temporal boundaries of the data and the analysis method employed. Despite limitations, the diagnostic network framework reveals architectural learning as an open, contested ecosystem demanding pluralistic pedagogies concerning not only the global but the local, both canonical and marginal. Further research covering more data could enrich the understanding of qualitative complexities.

The network perspective prompts critical reflexivity about power, ideology and exclusion in knowledge construction. Strategic inclusion and diversification of voices provide pathways to bridge divides and ground learning locally.

This research offers a methodology model to examine forces and influences shaping architectural education by elucidating hidden and remote roles and knowledge gaps in learning agendas. Extending the techniques more widely can enable strategic interventions toward inclusive, impactful learning across disciplines, time and geographies.

Much of the existing research conducted on dynamic capabilities and the microfoundations of innovation has focused either on individual or organizational factors without considering mechanisms. This paper aims to address this “process” gap by developing an integrated conceptual framework based on individual, processual and structural microfoundations as well as the interaction between and among them with respect to innovation.

To understand the theoretical and empirical landscape in building our conceptual model, we conducted a content analysis of existing research microfoundations, dynamic capabilities and innovation. Using NVivo 12, we identified and examined the individual and organizational behavior microfoundations and their interplay to propose possible processual mechanisms. We framed these process mechanisms using the sensing, seizing and reconfiguring dynamic capabilities framework.

The study emphasizes certain microfoundations that facilitate innovation-dynamic capabilities at various organizational levels. It is posited that both formal and informal strategic intelligence processes, along with directed and undirected information research methods, constitute crucial microfoundations for identifying opportunities for innovation. For the internal capture and seizing of these opportunities, we assert that the diversity of individual internal networks and the mechanisms for social integration will prove to be critical. Furthermore, the paper suggests that reconfiguring microfoundations, specifically an organization’s flexible structure and the involvement of external directors with diverse experiences, are pivotal in spurring innovation.

We combine the microfoundations approach (individual, structural and processual) with the dynamic capabilities theory (sensing, seizing and reconfiguring) to offer an integrated conceptual framework underlying innovation’s dynamic capabilities. This sets us apart from existing research by both introducing processual aspects and their multilevel interactions.

The prevalence of independent contractors in the US workforce is growing. This research examines the social environment and career outcomes of labor and employment arbitrators, a unique profession of high-skilled and high-status independent contractors who play a significant role in facilitating organizational justice. Previous research has focused on the employment relationships that independent contractors have with hiring organizations and the characteristics of individuals who become independent contractors; however, little attention has been given to how relational factors influence the career outcomes of high-skilled independent contractors or how such influences differ by gender. Building upon theories of social networks and unequal network returns (UNR), our study investigates the informal social relationships among arbitrators, the association between interpersonal relationship patterns and arbitrators’ career success, and how these associations vary based on gender.

A social network survey is used to collect the social networks, attitudes and fee information of 407 labor and employment arbitrators working in North America. A multi-level regression analysis was used to examine the proposed relationships among social networks, gender and career outcomes of the arbitrators.

We discovered that occupying a central position within advice networks is positively associated with occupational satisfaction. On the other hand, having strong ties is associated with achieving high employment arbitration fees. Notably, we found that the advantages of strong ties for arbitration fees are comparatively weak for female arbitrators relative to their male counterparts.

This research examines the relationship between social networks and career outcomes for independent contractors in the unique context of arbitrators. It further highlights inequalities experienced by female arbitrators in a male-dominated profession where their social networks offer fewer rewards relative to their male counterparts.

This study aims to investigate the influence of network power on exploratory and exploitative innovation and examines the moderating effects of power distance and procedural justice on these untested relationships.

This study uses survey data collected from firms in China and explores the influential mechanisms of network power, power distance and procedural justice in firm innovation.

This study empirically shows that network power has an inverted U-shaped effect on exploratory and exploitative innovation. Power distance weakens the effect of network power on exploratory and exploitative innovation, and procedural justice enhances the effect of network power on exploratory and exploitative innovation.

This study extends resource dependence theory and contributes to the literature on innovation management. Future studies should use different collection channels or research methods to provide more evidence for model promotion. In addition, the dynamic power game among network members and the roles of other mediators or moderators warrant further consideration.

Managers should exercise power strategies properly and ensure that their innovation income exceeds expenditures. Managers need to pay serious attention to power distance and procedural justice in the network and formulate suitable cooperation strategies based on actual conditions.

This study applies the resource dependence theory to investigate the influence of network power on exploratory and exploitative innovation. In addition, the moderating roles of power distance and procedural justice in the above relationships, which have rarely been discussed in previous studies, were tested.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are currently showing an increasingly open innovation (OI) approach. Public policies supporting the adoption of OI by SMEs are becoming a priority for policymakers. Therefore, the aim of this article is to contribute to the literature by mapping scholars' policy recommendations for implementing OI among SMEs.

The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature (SRL) on the topic to achieve this purpose. A total of 99 academic articles were selected from the Web of Science and Scopus databases to suggest the main scholars' policy recommendations to implement OI among SMEs.

Results indicated that scholars' policy recommendations for OI adoption in SMEs can be organized into: research and development (R&D), networking, collaboration, knowledge and intellectual property rights (IPR), ecosystem, managerial capabilities, funding and incentives and sustainability policies.

Only relevant articles about this topic have been included due to the reliance on the interpretations of the authors. The analysis of the literature revealed that the authors did not always distinguish policies dedicated to SMEs and those dedicated to large companies. Moreover, policies are not matched according to each OI dimensions (e.g. inbound, outbound and coupled OI).

The article uses a systematic literature review method that combines qualitative and quantitative analyses. This method contributes to theoretical development of OI policies dedicated, in particular to SMEs. This paper also provides policymakers and researchers with insights on the scope of OI policies that could support economic growth.

As sustainable performance has a central role in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance literature, this study aims to examine the influence of networking capabilities in enhancing sustainable performance through knowledge workers’ productivity and digital innovation. It also examines the sequential mediating role of knowledge workers’ productivity and digital innovation on networking capabilities and SMEs’ sustainable performance relationship.

Data were collected from 308 knowledge workers in the information technology sector and analyzed using the Hayes Process Macro bootstrapping method to test the proposed hypotheses.

Results indicate that knowledge workers’ productivity and digital innovation individually and sequentially mediate the relationship between networking capabilities and SME’s sustainable (economic and environmental) performance, surprisingly, they do not act as a mediator between networking capability and SME’s social performance. SMEs should prioritize investments in the professional development of their knowledge workers through training and skill enhancement programs. This investment equips knowledge workers with the tools to effectively use the knowledge and resources acquired through networking. Thus, knowledge workers may improve performance by using these resources to tackle challenges.

Although this research focused on this specific context, it is prudent to acknowledge that additional factors may also exert influence on sustainable performance within SMEs, factors that managers may consider when making decisions. Methodologically, the cross-sectional design of this research poses a potential limitation, as it does not allow for the complete elimination of endogeneity concerns. However, it is worth noting that scholars have endorsed the use of cross-sectional data in cases where management researchers aim to expand beyond well-documented and longitudinal data sets.

This research offers practical recommendations for SMEs to improve their sustainable performance through networking. SMEs should seek partnerships with complementary knowledge to improve operations and for other performance-oriented benefits.

This study adds significantly to the literature on sustainable SME performance by studying the interdependent effects of networking capabilities. It also represents the individual and sequential mediation mechanism that links networking capabilities to SME success through knowledge worker productivity and digital innovation.