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This to show how critical success factors (CSFs) from practitioner-oriented research can be tested and used to generate new theory.

This paper uses an extended example regarding the integration of IT departments following organizational mergers and acquisitions to illustrate in proof of concept that such practitioner-oriented research can generate new substantive theory and be used to begin a cycle of representation-testing leading to enhancing domain knowledge. The method used consists of the identification of an exemplary practitioner-oriented research article, restatement of CSFs into testable propositions, gathering data through interviews with phenomenon participants, analyzing and interpreting data relative to these CSFs, then presenting the results pertaining to these CSFs and observations from examining them holistically.

No CSFs were affirmed in all cases, neither were they rejected in all cases. The pattern of answers reveals a significant difference between factors representing general management best practices and technical practices. The higher frequency among management factors shows a relative universality to these items, whereas the technical issues are noted less frequently as they each apply to smaller subsets of all post mergers and acquisitions integrations but remain critical when they do apply. This set of responses suggests that the frequency of responses does not indicate the importance of any given factor across settings.

This study suggests (1) CSFs, while generally helpful, can also be misleading when applied such that, where of potential importance, they can be brought into a theorizing mode for refinement and extraction of additional knowledge; (2) that CSFs can be sorted into those tending toward general management principles that apply most frequently in contrast to those of critical importance but applicable across fewer situations; and (3) that as a proof of concept the case to theory transformation method can work to introduce heuristic knowledge into a process-initiating theorizing, raising prospects for subsequent continued improvement.

Assuming robust reporting of CSFs in well-conducted cases, this study knows that at least in one setting these factors were important in achieving particular results. However, this study does not know, without subsequent testing and theorizing, whether the factor applies across circumstances and whether it requires particular handling (e.g. timing may be critical but relies on varied conditions to indicate when actions need be taken). By theorizing based upon CSFs for important IS phenomena, the authors create a bridge between knowledge as used in practice and the scientific tools for increasing its value over time.

Although the authors know of case and multiple case studies surfacing best practices in post mergers and acquisitions integrations, they know of no broad studies across numerous organizations; they also know of no studies demonstrating the relationship of management and technical CSFs in an IS phenomenon. Further, although there are other techniques advocated for theory initiation and building, the authors know of none that transforms heuristic or anecdotal knowledge for subsequent theorizing and continual improvement at a more detailed level than mid-range theory.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the dividend initiation announcements made by firms in the information technology sector as defined in a modern system of industrial classification.

On the basis of a modern classification of the information technology industry, the authors examine a wide range of corporate performance and management measures to discriminate between the two theories of the information revealed by the announcement of dividend initiations, the signaling, and life cycle theories.

The empirical results are more consistent with the corporate life cycle theory of dividends than with the information signaling hypothesis. This finding helps clarify the nature of the information revealed by the announcement.

The paper has clear implications for investors who are interested in the growth prospects of technology firms, or for others interested in their prospective stability and degree of maturity.

Based on gender role theory, this study aims to test a moderated mediation model in which gender, mediated by shame, affected salary negotiation initiation and writing pay raise justifications before the negotiation moderated gender effects, by boosting women’s negotiation initiation and lowering their shame.

Mixed-methods approach: in a scenario experiment, participants (N = 172; 92 women) imagined initiating salary negotiations with real employers, and shame and the inclination to actually initiate the negotiation were measured. About half the sample wrote pay raise justifications as part of the task. In the qualitative phase of the study, justifications were analyzed.

The model’s predictions were not supported. Women were neither less inclined to negotiate nor reported higher shame than men. Across gender, shame related to lower negotiation initiation and was alleviated by justifications’ preparation. Writing justifications did not affect men’s negotiation initiation, but lowered women’s. The qualitative analysis revealed that while all participants preferred communal themes in their justifications, women used themes of confidence, entitlement and power less than men.

The study provides original evidence in negotiation literature, on the effects of shame, on the practice of preparing pay raise justifications and on specific patterns in justifications’ content.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and test customer perceptions of four types of value co-creation (VCC), explore VCC a priori condition of relatedness, operationalized as commercial friendship, examine customer voluntary participation in VCC through initiation (customer vs company), and the influence of these factors on relational outcomes of VCC: satisfaction, loyalty and trust.

A scenario-based 2×2×4 experimental design was set in a destination resort context: weak vs strong commercial friendship, customer vs company co-creation initiation and four types of VCC. The 248 resort guests were equally and randomly assigned to experimental conditions. Multivariate analysis of variance and repeated measures analysis of variance was utilized.

Results demonstrated that customers perceived VCC processes differently. Co-creation of experience and co-recovery outcomes had significantly higher relational outcomes when compared to co-creation of marketing and co-innovation. Experiencing stronger commercial friendship, as customer–company relatedness and being invited to co-create resulted in stronger customer relational outcomes.

The core theoretical contribution of this study is the comparative analysis of customer perceptions of four distinctly different types of VCC: co-innovation, co-creation of experience, co-creation of marketing and co-recovery. A priori conditions of relatedness and co-creation initiation were established as antecedents of VCC processes among customers and service providers. When a service provider initiates VCC, it can positively affect customers’ relational outcomes of satisfaction, loyalty and trust.

Starting from the model of the initiation and evolution of inter-firm knowledge transfer in R&D relationships developed by Faems et al. (2007), the purpose of this paper is to refine and improve this model, assessing its reliability in a different and wider context and extending it according to the outcomes.

A multiple case-study approach was implemented, examining 34 dyadic inter-firm R&D relationships. This methodology suited the research goal of exploring the validity of a model in an area where little data or theory exists.

The theoretical model proposed by Faems et al. (2007) was improved, confirming the adequacy of the overall structure of their intuition and highlighting several differences in terms of factors that lead to the dissolution of R&D relationships. These differences mainly refer to partners’ similarities before starting R&D relationships, co-opetition situations, knowledge leakage/opportunistic behavior and reputation issues.

This work is the first to investigate two open research gaps related to the model of the initiation and evolution of inter-firm knowledge transfer in R&D relationships: the need for additional case studies in other contexts to develop a more general theory and the lack of research incorporating issues such as relational capital between partners, governance form and alliance scope in an integrated analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the influential agents that led to the successful acceptance and diffusion of the Concerto clinical workstation at the Northern District Health Board.

The paper draws on Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory to interpret and analyse the factors that enabled acceptance and successful implementation of the innovative Concerto clinical workstation.

The authors conclude that human factors (clinicians) and non-human factors (the software package) simultaneously influenced the ready acceptance of the innovation. The reason for the positive acceptance and full diffusion of Concerto as compared to iHealth is the increased functionality it offers and its ability to provide clinicians with comprehensive patient records over a period of time, which assists in making informed decisions regarding the treatment, discharge, hospitalisation and recommendations for the future well-being of patients.

The study focused on only one district health board (DHB); therefore, the outcomes may not be representative of all DHBs.

The study has practical implications for clinicians, DHB members and public health regulators. The outcomes illuminate the “agents” that positively influenced the diffusion of Concerto. The regulators and the DHBs can use this as a benchmark to determine how to lead the successful diffusion of information technology (IT) innovation in the public health sector.

The impact on society is evident in the paper, as the use of an innovation, such as Concerto, saves time taken by clinicians to make more informed decisions regarding their patient care.

This study contributes to new knowledge by investigating the diffusion process of IT innovation with an intention of establishing the factors that enabled this process.

This article identifies a comprehensive set of factors that cluster the beliefs of European forest products managers about the importance of incentives to export. Each of the identified factors has received some attention in the theoretical literature concerning international business activity. The ten factors of belief that were identified, however, are not equally salient in those discussions. The revealed incentive factors underscore the importance of the life‐cycle concept, with respect to the product, firm, and industry, to assessing the issue of export initiation. In addition, the results caution for more sharply delineating between strategic versus tactical motivations for understanding the involvement of a firm in export.

The main purpose of this paper is to present and use the particle simulation method to explicitly simulate the spontaneous crack initiation phenomenon in brittle materials, and to compare the particle simulation results with experimental ones on the laboratory scale.

Using the particle simulation method, the brittle material is simulated as an assembly of particles so that the microscopic mechanism of inter‐ and intra‐particle crack initiation can be straightforwardly considered on the microscopic scale. A laboratory test has been conducted using a gypsum sample model to validate the particle simulation method for explicitly simulating the spontaneous crack initiation phenomenon.

The paper finds that in terms of simulating the macroscopic sliding surface along or around the contact plane between a block and its foundation, both the laboratory test and the particle simulation have produced consistent results. This indicated that the particle simulation method is capable of simulating macroscopic cracks through simulating conglomerations and accumulations of microscopic crack initiation within the brittle material. Compared with other numerical methods, the particle simulation method is more suitable for explicitly and effectively simulating spontaneous crack initiation problems on the microscopic scale in brittle materials.

The particle simulation method can be used to explicitly and effectively simulate the spontaneous crack initiation on the microscopic scale in brittle materials. It can be also used to simulate the macroscopic sliding surface along or around the contact plane between a block and its foundation. The experimental results of simulating the spontaneous crack initiation on the laboratory scale in brittle materials are very valuable for validating the numerical simulation results obtained not only from the particle simulation method, but also from other numerical simulation methods.

The adoption of sustainable procurement in construction clients’ organisation remains a difficult concept. Current research of sustainable procurement adoption studies fails to focus on a multi-stage adoption process. The purpose of this paper is to develop an organisational adoption model in a multi-stage process for the adoption of sustainable procurement in construction.

The paper developed an organisational adoption model. The model was tested against data obtained from survey administered to 193 respondents of central and local government institutions with a response rate of 63.7 per cent. Structural equation modelling using the partial least squares was employed to determine and confirm the factor structure of the model, and to measure the relationships between the model constructs.

An organisational adoption model is developed, tested and is robust to aid the adoption decision process of sustainable procurement within construction organisations.

The study is limited in scope affecting generalisation of the results. Future study should expand the scope to include consultants, contractors and suppliers.

The adoption model will assist policy makers and top managers to understand the adoption decision process and prioritise on the technological, organisational and environmental factors that significantly affect sustainable adoption decision process within construction organisations.

This study appears to be among the first to empirically develop an organisational adoption model to aid the adoption of sustainable procurement in construction.