A cross-country configurational approach to international academic mobility: exploring mobility effects on academics’ career progression in EU countries
This study takes a novel perspective on mobility as career script compliance to explore the factors that might influence how mobile academics in a country perceive the impact of international mobility on their overall academic career progression and job options. We conduct a country-level qualitative comparative analysis on a sample of 24 European Union (EU) countries, based on data from European Commission’s MORE3 indicator tool. We find that these perceptions about the impact are shaped by the dominant patterns of mobility in that country, and the general perception of academics in that particular country that international mobility is rewarded in the institutional promotion schemes. This…
Assessing the impact of organizational learning capability on product innovation performance: An empirical test
This paper examines how organizational learning capability affects product innovation performance. We define organizational learning capability through five dimensions or mechanisms: experimentation, risk taking, interaction with the external environment, dialogue and participative decision making. The impact of these mechanisms on product innovation performance is also analyzed. We use structural equations modeling to test our research hypotheses on a data set from the ceramic tile industry. Results support our conceptual model and underline the importance that learning has for innovation performance. Implications of the findings for both academics and practitioners are examined. © 2007 El…
Adoption and use of work-life initiatives: Looking at the influence of institutional pressures and gender
Under the lens of Institutional Theory, this paper examines how coercive, normative and mimetic pressures on employers encourage the adoption and use of work-life balance. Analyzing a sample of Spanish private firms, we find that the diffusion of work-life practices may be explained as an isomorphic process in which particular normative pressure significantly influences the adoption and use of work-life programs, while mimetic pressures only affect the level of use. Interestingly, the presence of women in organizations is found to be relevant to the adoption and use of work-life benefits only when this presence refers to managerial positions.
Unraveling the link between managerial risk-taking and innovation: The mediating role of a risk-taking climate
Scholars have proposed that taking risks in organizations is important for explaining innovation performance. Scholars traditionally have analyzed this link from two unconnected perspectives. From a managerial perspective, entrepreneurial orientation and leadership theories have been used to explain the positive relation between manager's risk-taking and innovation. On the other hand, research on creativity suggests that a risk-taking climate helps to explain the generation of novel ideas. However, there is little empirical research analyzing this link. This study examines the possibility of a connection between managerial risk-taking propensity, risk-taking climate and innovation performan…
Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction: the role of organizational learning capability
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and job satisfaction, by taking into consideration organizational learning capability (OLC).Design/methodology/approachData were collected from eight Spanish ceramic tile manufacturers. The survey was addressed to shop floor workers, and 157 valid questionnaires were obtained, representing a response rate of 61 per cent. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test this theoretical model.FindingsThis paper proposes that OLC plays a significant role in determining the effects of EI on job satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsOwing to certain features of the sample and the use of meas…
The relationship between knowledge search strategies and absorptive capacity: A deeper look
Abstract The present study analyzes how the breadth and depth of search strategies affect the dimensions of a firm's absorptive capacity: exploration, transformation and exploitation. Results of an analysis of a sample of 467 Spanish manufacturing firms reveal that openness of external knowledge search contributes to firms' exploratory, transformative and exploitative learning processes in different ways. In particular, a strong curvilinear effect of external knowledge search breadth on exploratory and exploitative learning was found. It is also important to establish deep relationships with external agents to achieve transformative and exploitative learning up to a certain point after whic…
Measuring organisational learning capability among the workforce
PurposeThe present study sets out to propose and validate a measurement scale that aims to capture the organisational capability to learn, based on a comprehensive analysis of the facilitating factors for learning. The organisational learning capability scale consists of 14 items grouped into five dimensions: experimentation, risk taking, interaction with the external environment, dialogue, and participative decision making.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from eight Spanish ceramic tile manufacturers. The survey was addressed to shop floor workers. A total of 157 valid questionnaires were obtained, representing a response rate of 61 per cent. Using confirmatory factor analysi…
Transformational leadership and absorptive capacity: an analysis of the organisational catalysts for this relationship
ABSTRACTResearch analysing the antecedents of a firm’s absorptive capacity suggests that transformational leadership (TL) is one of its main determinants. However, the few studies focusing on the relationship between these two variables do not explicitly assess why transformational leaders facilitate knowledge acquisition, sharing and retention inside firms. This paper suggests that the reason is that the former contributes to the creation of an organisational context that favours learning processes. We test our research model on a sample of 467 Spanish industrial firms. Findings provide evidence that TL is positively related to the firm’s absorptive capacity and that this relationship is m…
Analysing the link between export intensity, innovation and firm size in a science-based industry
Abstract The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between export intensity, innovation and size in a particular technological setting: a science-based industry. Using a sample of 121 firms in the French biotechnology industry, we have found that firm size is not a determinant for innovation or for export intensity. However, the results show a positive and significant link between innovation and export intensity. Our findings open a new agenda for policy-makers when interpreting how they should promote innovation and exports in science-based firms.
Exploring the role of knowledge management practices on exports: A dynamic capabilities view
Abstract Drawing on dynamic capabilities view, this work provides empirical evidence on the role of knowledge management practices on export intensity in SMEs in a mature and global, non-high-tech industry. A quantitative study with structural equation modeling was carried out on a sample of 157 Spanish and Italian manufacturing companies in the ceramic tile industry. Our results suggest the existence of a mediating effect of dynamic capabilities on exports, hence the implementation of knowledge management practices is a necessary but not sufficient condition to improve exporting, requiring the existence of dynamic capabilities to reconfigure these capabilities. Findings highlight the relev…
Measuring innovation in long product development cycle industries: an insight in biotechnology
This paper examines and measures innovation in the context of biotechnology firms by analysing the link between R&D, innovation performance and organisational growth. We conceptualise innovation performance as a latent construct with two dimensions: innovation efficacy and innovation efficiency. We use structural equations modelling to test the hypotheses on a data set from the biotechnology industry. Results support our innovation performance conceptualisation which is found to be especially useful to measure innovation in industries with long product development cycles. Findings also underline the importance of R&D knowledge creation for biotechnology firms.
The role of tacit knowledge in connecting knowledge exchange and combination with innovation
Using the Resource-Based View, this paper aims to provide a better understanding of the effect of knowledge on innovation. With this general aim in mind, we relate knowledge’s nature (tacit vs. exp...
Organizational Learning, Innovation and Internationalization: A Complex System Model
Research on organizational learning, innovation and internationalization has traditionally linked these concepts through linear causality, by considering any one of them as the cause of another, an approach that might be considered contradictory and static. This paper aims to clarify these relationships and proposes a dynamic theoretical model that has mutual causality at its core and is based on ideas originating in complexity theory. The final model results from case studies of two clothing sector firms. The authors consider that the three concepts constitute a complex system and can adapt and transcend, as any alteration can take the system to the edge of chaos. Adaptability is fostered …