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This paper aims to analyze unexplored connections between economic, environmental and social dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and knowledge management (KM) strategies (exploration, exploitation), also considering environmental dynamism as an influencing variable on these connections. The predicted CSR-KM interplay suggests, from stakeholder and knowledge-based views of the firm, the existence of ideal configurations between CSR and KM strategies that generate differentiated impacts on companies’ innovation capabilities, especially in dynamic environments.

Structural equation modeling by means of the partial least squares technique was used to test the study’s hypotheses after collecting survey data from Spanish companies of the renewable energy sector.

The study findings show that in highly dynamic environments, companies will tend to commit prominently in CSR, although their orientation (economic, environmental, social) and effects on innovation capabilities will depend mainly on the selected KM strategies. Social and environmental CSR are found to be highly related to KM exploration, whereas economic CSR is highly related to KM exploitation. Nevertheless, while a significant indirect effect of economic CSR by means of the KM exploitation strategy on innovation capabilities is found, the proposed indirect effect of both environmental and social CSR through the KM exploration strategy on innovation capabilities is not significant.

The results suggest that company managers should be aware of the advantages of following specific paths of investment in KM and CSR initiatives in highly dynamic environments, as there is a potential payoff in terms of innovation capability improvement. The results also suggest that “good” relationships with stakeholders, built from specific CSR investments, make firms able to get valuable knowledge that it is useful to develop KM strategies for innovation capability development.

Previous studies do not consider the interplay between KM strategies and CSR as a catalyzer for developing a firm’s innovation capabilities. This paper contributes to the KM and innovation literatures by introducing CSR into the conversation about how to improve innovation capabilities in dynamic and sustainable industries by using configurations of KM strategies and specific CSR investments in economic, social and environmental areas.

Congruent with the world-wide call to combat global warming concerns and advance intellectual capital (IC), organisations are being pressured to ensure that IC is managed effectively to encourage green initiatives. In this regard, green entrepreneurial orientation (GEO) is emerged as a relevant IC. GEO is recognised as a mitigating factor of environmental degradation in the literature. Although prior literature has observed the nexus between GEO and firm performance, the role of GEO in leveraging sustainable performance has been limitedly explored. This study explored the relationship between IC as a GEO and enterprises' sustainable performance through the moderating roles of environmental consciousness and green technology dynamism (GTD) in the context of two developing countries (Pakistan and Malaysia).

Data provided by 296 respondents from 264 manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan and Malaysia were analysed through a three-wave research design. AMOS 23 software was used to perform covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM), while hierarchical regression analysis was applied using the SPSS 25 software to examine the causal relationships in the model.

IC as a GEO significantly influences sustainable performance, akin to environmental consciousness and GTD. Besides, GTD has a significant moderating effect between GEO and financial and environmental performance in Pakistan and Malaysia but not between GEO and social performance. Environmental consciousness has a significant moderating role in the impact of GEO on financial performance in Pakistan and Malaysia, but not on social and environmental performance.

The study's findings are useful for managers of Pakistani and Malaysian manufacturing SMEs to identify ways to encourage GEO to improve sustainable performance in their firms. The findings suggest that managers should effectively implement GTD and environmental consciousness to strengthen the GEO and sustainable performance relationship. Managers can use GEO concretely as a reference for the companies that intend to support the United Nation SDG-2030 agenda and to find new business opportunities for the implementation of sustainable development.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to examine the link between GEO and sustainable performance in developing countries such as Pakistan and Malaysia. Although the influence of various intangible assets or IC on sustainable performance has been widely examined in the literature, the role of GEO as IC has been limitedly explored. This study extends the literature by adding to the knowledge of GEO as a form of firms' IC that enhances boundary conditions in developing countries.

The purpose of this article is to develop a configurational approach based on the TOE framework (technology, organization and environment) to understand the degree of implementation of I4.0 technologies in manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, the study considers technological infrastructure and competence, I4.0 integration capabilities, organizational agility and strategic flexibility, environmental dynamism and industry-specific forces as simultaneous pre-conditions for achieving an effective implementation of I4.0 technologies.

This study uses the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methodology as it allows for asymmetric and configurational-focused testing of proposition and sound theoretical development. In total, 305 responses were collected through a survey administered to SME managers in Europe and the United Kingdom (UK).

The study examines the influence of technology, organizational and environmental aspects on I4.0 technologies implementation in SMEs. High I4.0 degree of implementation is structured around 5 configurations, while other 4 configurations are related to low levels of I4.0 implementation.

This study proposes a configurational approach for SMEs to become I4.0 ready and how they may successfully implement I4.0 technologies. Such findings represent an original and novel contribution to existing research, offering a broad view on the I4.0 implementation by manufacturing SMEs.

Strategic flexibility (SF) has become increasingly important for firms because of the fast changes in the external environment. In line with the practical importance of SF, an emerging research field has developed around it that has attempted to understand the nature of SF and the key relationships. The aim of this study is to unveil the semantic structure of the recent literature on SF and to suggest new promising areas for future research.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review with a bibliographic analysis technique, which allows authors to identify the main recent streams in the literature, as well as offer reflections and suggestions for future research.

The authors uncover three main emerging areas in the research on SF, namely SF as a dynamic capability, the role of knowledge management for SF and the relationship between a firm SF and the external environment. The authors put forward three avenues for future research on SF: Avenue 1. SF, business model innovation (BMI) and other dynamic capabilities (DC), Avenue 2. Digital technologies and SF/organizational agility and Avenue 3. SF and sustainability. Articles included in the special issue entitled “A strategic perspective on flexibility, agility and adaptability in the digital era” contribute to Avenue 2, thus paving the way for filling some of the identified gaps regarding the relationship between SF and digitalization.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first literature review on SF that uses a bibliometric approach to draw conclusions on the findings in the literature. The review contributes to the theoretical understanding of SF by illustrating and explicating core topics that have persisted over time, as well as by presenting three main avenues for further developing authors’ knowledge around SF.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between top management team bricolage and performance and also examines unit ambidexterity's mediating role. More essentially, to understand the black box of organizational knowledge dynamism, a multilevel moderated mediating model is established by exploring the effects of two firm-level moderators, namely, potential absorptive capacity and realized absorptive capacity.

To test the cross-level moderated mediation model, this study used multisource data from 90 R&D units in 45 Taiwanese manufacturing firms through two-wave surveys and retrieving the archival data for assessing unit performance.

This study’s evidence revealed that unit-level ambidexterity mediates the effect between firm-level top management teams’ (TMT) bricolage and unit-level performance. This study also found that firm-level potential absorptive capacity positively moderates the effect between firm-level TMT bricolage and unit-level ambidexterity. Moreover, firm-level realized absorptive capacity strengthens the indirect relationships between firm-level TMT bricolage and unit-level performance via unit-level ambidexterity. The findings shed light on how and why TMT bricolage influences unit ambidexterity and performance in knowledge-intensive sectors.

This paper adds to the existing knowledge-based theory literature by disentangling the association between top management team bricolage and unit performance and identifying the pivotal role of absorptive capacity at both the firm and unit levels.

The aim is to expand the challenge-hindrance framework and develop a coherent theoretical framework that explains individual differences in the way small business owners appraise their job demands. Literature has shown that dealing effectively with job demands leads to competitive advantage and depends on individual appraisals.

For this qualitative study, 20 in-depth interviews were analyzed using a partially grounded theory approach.

Open and axial coding revealed a broader range of demands than have hitherto been studied, related to actions rather than job characteristics. Selective coding confirmed expectations based on the Conservation of Resources Theory that appraisals of demands differ between business owners and change over time depending on role identities, and material, social, personal and energy resource levels, via the valence (identities) and degree of anticipated outcomes. Business owners appraised certain demands as challenging when they were co-occurring with other demands usually categorized as challenges, whereas these same demands were appraised as hindering when co-occurring with demands usually categorized as hindrances.

The results imply that appraisals can be influenced by societal context, life events, processes of formal and informal learning, personal growth and aging. These topics would be interesting avenues for future research.

The results of this study challenge our understanding of job demands in general and current categorizations of job demands as challenges versus hindrances in specific, by providing an in-depth, contextualized and dynamic view of the appraisal of demands related to owning and running a business.

Like other European countries, Germany is facing regional physician shortages, which have several consequences on patient care. This study analyzes how hospitals perceive physician shortages and which strategies they adopt to address them. As a theoretical framework, the resource dependency theory is chosen.

The authors conducted 20 semi-structured expert interviews with human resource officers, human resource directors, and executive directors from hospitals in the northwest of Germany. Hospitals of different ownership types, of varying sizes and from rural and urban locations were included in the sample. The interviews were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis.

The interviewees reported that human resource departments in hospitals expand their recruiting activities and no longer rely on one single recruiting instrument. In addition, they try to adapt their retaining measures to physicians' needs and offer a broad range of employment benefits (e.g. childcare) to increase attractiveness. The study also reveals that interviewees from small and rural hospitals report more difficulties with attracting new staff and therefore focus on recruiting physicians from abroad.

Since the staffing situation in German hospitals will not change in the short term, the study provides suggestions for hospital managers and health policy decision-makers in dealing with physician shortages.

This study uses the resource dependency theory to explain hospitals' strategies for dealing with healthcare staff shortages for the first time.

The objective of this paper is to study the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in supporting the supplier scouting process, considering the information and the capabilities required to do so.

Twelve cases of IT and information providers offering AI-based scouting solutions were studied. The unit of analysis was the AI-based scouting solution, specifically the relationship between the provider and the buyer. Information processing theory (IPT) was adopted to address information processing needs (IPNs) and capabilities (IPCs).

Among buyers, IPNs in supplier scouting are high. IT and information providers can meet the needs of buyers through IPCs enabled by AI-based solutions. In this way, the fit between needs and capabilities can be reached.

The investigation of the role of AI in supplier scouting is original. The application of IPT to study the impact of AI in business processes is also novel. This paper contributes by investigating a phenomenon that is still unexplored and unconsolidated in a business context.

The authors analyzed the relationship between learning orientation (LO) and performance in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) by investigating the moderating role of environmental dynamism to answer the need for systematic research of models between LO and firm performance (FP).

The authors investigated the (in)direct relationship between LO and FP. The authors collected data from 182 MSMEs operating in technology parks (TPs) in Poland. The authors used two methods in the quantitative empirical research. The authors used linear regression models to test the hypotheses, which allowed for a global assessment of relationships among all analyzed variables. Dynamic capabilities (DCs) framework guided the study.

The study results show that FP benefits from LO-related behaviors. LO is an important stimulant of FP. Meanwhile, the authors did not classify market dynamism (MD) as a moderator of the LO-FP relationship.

By design, the authors surveyed only MSMEs open to participate in the survey, which potentially limits generalizability. Furthermore, future researchers may consider other types of strategic orientations (SOs) to further explain the impact of multiple SOs on FP in specific industries.

This article presents arguments that allow for recognizing LO as a strategic organizational factor shaping FP.

This study investigates how small firms develop preferences for varying levels of alliance partner diversity by applying a behavioral perspective.

Data were collected via an original survey administered by the Swedish National Bureau of Statistics (SCB) of 1,026 Swedish firms with 50 employees or less. Hypotheses were tested by specifying a series of fractional response regressions.

The results show a U-shaped relationship between experienced and preferred alliance partner diversity in small firms and further show moderating effects of firm age, prior growth and environmental dynamism. The findings suggest that preferences towards diverse alliance portfolios in small firms may arise, not only from well-informed deliberate strategic thinking based on prior experience, but also as a consequence of cognitive bias.

The findings suggest that (1) small firms considering a wide variety of alliance partners should carefully investigate whether they are, in fact, capable of mastering a highly diverse alliance portfolio or if they are overconfident novices. (2) Holders of homogenous alliance portfolios should recurringly investigate whether homogeneity is due to informed strategy or inertia.

This study contributes to the literature on alliance partner diversity and behavioral alliance portfolio configuration by shedding light on the learning mechanisms that shape alliance portfolio strategies of small firms by explicating the complexity of how different experience levels of partner variety affect current alliance portfolio preferences.