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1 – 10 of over 64000Mohamad Hassan Wafai and Ghassan Aouad
The construction industry has shown an inherent inability to adopt advanced technological innovations. The construction innovation literature is highly fragmented and outlines an…
Abstract
Purpose
The construction industry has shown an inherent inability to adopt advanced technological innovations. The construction innovation literature is highly fragmented and outlines an overwhelming number of factors that arguably influence the transfer of technological innovations in construction. Factor-based research in the construction innovation literature tends to set out technological innovations and their adoption as socially neutral events, overlooking the role of context in the adoption process. Hence, the authors’ understanding of how technological innovations are transferred and implemented in the construction industry remains limited by the constraints of reductionist approaches adopted by factor-based research. This paper aims to advance the authors’ understanding of the actual experiences of technological innovations transfer in construction. Instead of introducing another set of factors, the research, through empirical investigation, develops a comprehensive and holistic framework to re-interpret the existing factor-based literature taking into consideration the role of the construction context and the socially constructed nature of technological innovations.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a participatory exploratory multiple case study design strategy, which has much in common with action research. The factors that could influence the transfer of technological innovations were investigated in three selected case studies over an extended period of time. During the research, a prototype system application of construction integration was used as a basis to discuss the adoption of technological innovations.
Findings
The findings suggest moving from the commonly held beliefs in the rational school of technological innovation and the functionalist paradigm towards constructivist approaches to capture the role of context and the stoically constructed nature of technological innovations. It is suggested that construction companies need to develop management capabilities to manage the changing political environments of the adoption process. The research supports the emerging view of technological innovations in construction as a collaborative-based innovation, which is a function of relationships and context.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited by the settings of the action research design and the use of an interpretive approach. Because the focus was on investigating the “why” question, little attention was given to the “how” question. Accordingly, the findings provide little insights into the way organizations can manage the changing political and social environment of the adoption process. The authors also acknowledge that in spite of their best efforts to build a theoretically grounded framework of factors, they may have overlooked some relevant studies. However, the objective of this research was not to conduct a systematic literature review or to come up with a framework that quantitatively captures all previous research studies; instead, the objective was to build a holistic framework that can be used as a base to analyze the role of construction context and the socially constructed nature of technological innovations in the adoption process.
Practical implications
The research offers several practical insights. First, it suggests that construction companies need to develop management capabilities to be able to lead the changing political environment of the adoption process successfully. Second, the research supports the emerging view of technological innovations in construction as a collaborative-based innovation that is a function of relationship. From a policy perspective, the research provides the basis to reconsider the effectiveness of federal and provincial policies that promote advanced technological Initiatives. The majority of these policies focus on the technical aspects in assessing the adoption of technological innovation, providing little incentives to companies to manage the changing political and social environment of the adoption process.
Originality/value
This research offers several theoretical and methodological contributions. First, it advances the authors’ understanding of the actual experiences of the transfer of technological innovations in construction organizations. Second, instead of introducing another set of factors, the research develops a framework to re-interpret the existing factor-based literature, considering the role of construction context and the socially constructed nature of technological innovations. The research uses the theoretical lens of the social construction of technology framework to analyze the adoption process. The existing literature suggests that such research is scarce and highly needed. Third, unlike the mainstream reductionist approaches, this research adopts an exploratory action research inquiry design that uses both inductive and deductive inquiry approaches to understand the socially constructed nature of innovation transfer in construction. The adopted research design offers a valuable methodological contribution to the existing body of knowledge.
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Arvind Upadhyay, Julius Oluwasunkanmi Ayodele, Anil Kumar and Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes
This paper aims to explore the challenges and opportunities of blockchain technology adoption from the lens of the technological–organisational–environmental (TOE) framework for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the challenges and opportunities of blockchain technology adoption from the lens of the technological–organisational–environmental (TOE) framework for operational excellence in the UK automotive industry context.
Design/methodology/approach
The research methodology of this study follows a systematic review approach, which analyses existing academic published research papers in the top 35 academic journals. There was no specific timeframe established for this study and shortlisting the articles through a set of used keywords. A sample of 71 articles was shortlisted and analysed to provide a discussion on technological and management challenges and opportunities of blockchain adoption from the lens of the TOE framework for operational excellence.
Findings
The findings of this study present significant theoretical and managerial implications and deep understanding for firms seeking to understand the challenges and opportunities of blockchain adoption for their operational excellence.
Research limitations/implications
The systematic literature approach was considered for the present study to explore existing academic papers on technological and management challenges and opportunities from the lens of TOE framework for operational excellence, whereas a more specified method meta-analysis can be considered for future research. The study has been explored in the UK automotive industry context, which has been considered as the limitation of generalisation across countries and industries.
Originality/value
This paper represents the most comprehensive literature study related to the technological and management challenges and opportunities of blockchain from the TOE framework angle for operational excellence.
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This study aims to explore the role of learning in value co-creation in the context of new technological B2B services. The research objective is approached from the customers'…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role of learning in value co-creation in the context of new technological B2B services. The research objective is approached from the customers' viewpoint, in terms of their motivation to make sacrifices in learning and to embark on value co-creation with a service provider.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a qualitative case study. The main source of data is 17 interviews with retailers who tested a new m-advertising service.
Findings
The findings show that the customer's motives to make sacrifices, their absorptive capacity and exploitative/explorative learning orientation are important in explaining the role of learning in value co-creation, because perceived value can vary significantly depending on the level of the absorptive capacity of the firm, the orientation towards learning, and the customer's sacrifices in learning.
Practical implications
The study can be of use to providers of new technological business services in showing how to persuade customers to learn to use the service and engage in value co-creation. This is important since the active participation of both actors is required to co-produce the technological B2B service.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the existing value theory by offering new critical insights into the essential role of customer learning in value co-creation. Closely related to this, the study explores customer motivation to make sacrifices in learning and to get involved in value co-creation with service provider, specifically in the context of new technological B2B services. In so doing, this study offers empirically-based insights into value co-creation and thus advances the current understanding of value phenomena.
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Briefly reviews previous literature by the author before presenting an original 12 step system integration protocol designed to ensure the success of companies or countries in…
Abstract
Briefly reviews previous literature by the author before presenting an original 12 step system integration protocol designed to ensure the success of companies or countries in their efforts to develop and market new products. Looks at the issues from different strategic levels such as corporate, international, military and economic. Presents 31 case studies, including the success of Japan in microchips to the failure of Xerox to sell its invention of the Alto personal computer 3 years before Apple: from the success in DNA and Superconductor research to the success of Sunbeam in inventing and marketing food processors: and from the daring invention and production of atomic energy for survival to the successes of sewing machine inventor Howe in co‐operating on patents to compete in markets. Includes 306 questions and answers in order to qualify concepts introduced.
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P. Saskia Bayerl, Gabriele Jacobs, Sebastian Denef, Roelof J. van den Berg, Nico Kaptein, Kamal Birdi, Fabio Bisogni, Damien Cassan, Pietro Costanzo, Mila Gascó, Kate Horton, Theo Jochoms, Stojanka Mirceva, Katerina Krstevska, Ad van den Oord, Catalina Otoiu, Rade Rajkovchevski, Zdenko Reguli, Sofie Rogiest, Trpe Stojanovski, Michal Vit and Gabriel Vonas
Technology is an important driver of organizational change and often strategically used to facilitate adaptations in organizational processes and cultures. While the link between…
Abstract
Purpose
Technology is an important driver of organizational change and often strategically used to facilitate adaptations in organizational processes and cultures. While the link between technological and organizational change is widely recognized, the role of macro‐context for this link remains undervalued. Based on data from technology implementations in European police forces the paper aims to illustrate the importance of integrating analyses of the macro‐context to understand the complexity of technology driven organizational change.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted 56 interviews and five focus groups with police officers from 13 countries on two of the major technology trends in European police forces: automatic number plate recognition systems (ANPR) systems and social media. They further conducted site visits to police forces in The Netherlands and the United Kingdom to observe technology usage first hand. Comparing accounts across countries they analyzed how macro‐context impacted adoption decisions and implementation processes. In this analysis they concentrated on the five macro‐contextual factors in the PESTL framework, i.e. political, economic, social, technological and legal factors.
Findings
In analyses of ANPR systems and social media the paper details how the macro‐context of police organizations impacted decisions to adopt a technology as well as the intra‐organizational alignments of processes and structures.
Practical implications
Organizational decision makers and implementers need to be aware not only of the strong agency of technology for organizations' structure and processes, but also of the relevance of the organizational macro‐context for the process and impact of technology implementations on the organizational as well as individual level.
Originality/value
The paper illustrates the impact of the macro‐context of organizations in shaping the link between technological change and organizational change.
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Seyed Mohammad Sadegh Khaksar, Rajiv Khosla, Mei-Tai Chu and Fatemeh S. Shahmehr
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new approach that enables service innovation models to incorporate a holographic perspective into their innovation-centric business…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new approach that enables service innovation models to incorporate a holographic perspective into their innovation-centric business models. The essence of the holographic approach to service innovation might provide us with an innovative organization that is enclosed in its components; a knowledge-centric approach that adapts each person as a vital component of a whole; and the ability of value co-creation by each part of the organization in ways that benefit the organization as a whole.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a narrative synthesis framework combining existing literature (by textual narrative technique) with expert opinion, based on search of Science-Direct and ProQuest academic databases.
Findings
A total of 114 top-cited and high relevant references were deeply reviewed. Nine principle dimensions were evolved from the final review to construct a comprehensive definition of service innovation. Then, the narrative synthesis helped us to bring forward a new approach to service innovation and applied it in the form of a conceptual model, as the literature was previously established on certain approaches. In the final stage, a comprehensive model of service innovation was designed to introduce the holographic approach to the existing literature.
Research limitations/implications
This paper reviewed top-cited and high relevant references published in English that were indexed in Science-Direct and ProQuest. The authors did not search any grey literature and other language publications, and hand-search any journals.
Practical implications
This research highlights how managers must consider service innovation as a whole.
Originality/value
This is the first critical review published in the peer-reviewed literature that explores the principle dimensions of service innovation and provide a new approach to the literature.
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Dina Ribbink, Hubert Pun and Tingting Yan
When developing a new product, a buying firm solicits revenue sharing bids from two competing suppliers. Bidding behaviors of suppliers do not always align with predictions from…
Abstract
Purpose
When developing a new product, a buying firm solicits revenue sharing bids from two competing suppliers. Bidding behaviors of suppliers do not always align with predictions from rational agent models due to task uncertainty and bounded rationality, which could result in non-optimal supplier offers and ultimately hurt buying firm interests. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors built an analytical model that considers the impact of supplier technological risk, buyer–supplier coordination cost and supplier loss aversion on the optimal bid of the supplier. Next, using limited information processing capacity as a theoretic lens, the authors explore antecedents to the size of a focal supplier's bidding error, the absolute difference between the actual bid and the optimal bid. The authors used quantitative lab experimental data to test the hypotheses.
Findings
(1) Bounded rational bidders often fail to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant competitive information when placing bids, (2) loss aversion of a bidder significantly affects not only levels of bids, particularly for bidders with competitive disadvantages, but also sizes of the bidding error and (3) competitive information that has clearer performance implications are more influential in reducing sizes of bidding errors.
Originality/value
The results provide a comprehensive view of the bidding behaviors of a bounded rational supplier in an innovation outsourcing context with competition. With the results, managers now have a better understanding of behavioral influencers behind non-optimal supplier bids in an innovation outsourcing context.
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The purpose of this research is to enhance understanding of the sources of relational rents in supply chains and the nature of their relationships with performance. Using the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to enhance understanding of the sources of relational rents in supply chains and the nature of their relationships with performance. Using the relational view framework and contingency perspective, the study develops a model and hypotheses to understand the nature of the relationships of collaboration and resource specificity with operational performance under technology context contingencies.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for testing the hypothesized relationships in the conceptual model were collected through a survey of managers in the Hoover’s database of manufacturing firms. The survey sample included 115 responses from a wide variety of manufacturing forms.
Findings
Findings support the conventional wisdom relating collaboration and operational improvements. Notably, technological turbulence has a differential interactive influence on collaboration and resource specificity in predicting operational performance. In the former, the strength of the performance relationship is enhanced, while in the latter, it diminishes. Product complexity enhances the collaboration–operational performance linkage. The results, however, have to be further corroborated by more confirmatory analysis in future research.
Research limitations/implications
The research findings are not conclusive but of an exploratory initial evidence, as stepwise regression analysis has its limitations. Additionally, while the study specifically focused on demand-side collaboration aspects, supply chain management envelops upstream and internal collaboration as well. Investigating the performance implications and the interactive dynamics among all three partnerships in the supply chains provides a richer understanding of supply chain partnerships. Besides, more comprehensive insights could be obtained by modeling the interactive effects of other factors in the operating context.
Practical implications
Firms derive performance benefits from close collaboration with downstream partners because the operational enhancements from such relationships have customer service implications. Besides, the results provide a framework to managers for understanding the technology context conditions that may be best suited for leveraging collaborative initiatives and idiosyncratic investments in pursuit of operational performance improvements.
Originality/value
Much of the evidence on the rent generation capabilities in supply chain partnerships is still anecdotal and extant empirical research lacks adequate explanation. Another critical shortcoming in extant literature is research on the disentangled interactive influence of operating context factors on the supply chain sources of rent (i.e. capabilities)–performance relationships. The study contributes by addressing these issues.
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The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive research framework for understanding the adoption of techno‐relationship innovations. The second purpose is to examine the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive research framework for understanding the adoption of techno‐relationship innovations. The second purpose is to examine the factors influencing the adoption of electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) applications.
Design/methodology/approach
Existing adoption models were discussed and merged. Twenty potential determinant factors were proposed and a survey was conducted using a self‐administered questionnaire. Data were collected from 508 manufacturing small and medium manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand. Hypotheses were tested using discriminant analysis.
Findings
The research framework was validated. Seventeen factors have the ability to discriminate between eCRM adopters and non‐adopters. However, multivariate statistical analysis suggests that 12 factors have acceptable discriminate power and should be given priority. The top five influential factors are compatibility, industry pressure, customer pressure, subjective norm, and attitude.
Research limitations/implications
The study proposes a comprehensive research model for examining the adoption of techno‐relationship innovations. The model covers 20 factors from individual, technological, organisational, and environmental contexts. The empirical investigation is based on an Asian perspective but the research model is equally applicable in other countries.
Practical implications
The findings offer guidance to government/private agencies and technology suppliers who wish to encourage the adoption of the application of eCRM and its relevant components among manufacturing SMEs.
Originality/value
The concept of techno‐relationship innovation is introduced. The study suggests an inclusive way to understand factors influencing the adoption of techno‐relationship innovations.
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Managerial decision making regarding using organizational forms methodology to develop technological innovations in the context of technological strategy has not been the subject…
Abstract
Managerial decision making regarding using organizational forms methodology to develop technological innovations in the context of technological strategy has not been the subject of a prolific number of studies; nevertheless, it has proven to be an important matter. This is particularly notable in the Iberoamerican context, where a theoretical framework has not been developed yet. It is within such a context that this empirical research intends to determine the organizational forms used by companies of the machine‐tool sector of the Basque Country in their implementation of processes of technological innovation. This research is supported by the theoretical framework provided by transaction cost economics, evolutionary economics, and competitive strategy theories. It also uses the contrasting approach as a starting point for proposing some extensive ideas on this issue.
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