Leadership Meets Management: Blurring Boundaries for Success

This study explores the complementary effects among environmental innovation, organizational innovation, and training for innovation and their effect on firm productivity, within a supermodularity framework. Furthermore, it attempts to understand whether different innovation practices are complements or substitutes for firm profitability according to the industrial environmental regulation context by distinguishing between clean and dirty industries. Using a Spanish technological innovation panel survey over the period 2008–2015, our findings indicate that the interrelationship between different innovation practices is complementary rather than substitutive, and the pattern of complementarity among innovation practices differs according to the environmental regulation under which an industry operates. Engaging in a broad range of innovation practices such as environmental and organizational innovations, clean industry can strengthen productivity. For dirty industries, our results indicate a greater affinity between training activities and environmental innovation than between environmental innovation and organizational innovation on firm productivity achievement. Taken all together, these results provide managers with considerable insights in terms of how to adapt the various combinatorial practices to the industrial environment in which they are embedded, taking market and regulatory pressure into account.

Purpose: The article refers to a valid and current research area related to business sustainability. The main objective of this article is to identify the relationship between different types of environmental innovations and sustainable outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: For the needs of this article, the researches were conducted in 293 companies operating in Poland. In the course of the research, an additional division of environmental innovations derived from the Oslo Manual classification was taken into account, and the following were distinguished: environmental process innovations, environmental product innovations, environmental organizational innovations, and environmental marketing innovations. In addition, for the analysis of sustainable business performance, it was divided into economic, environmental, and social performance. The relation between the level of types of innovation and organizational outcomes is examined for each of these categories, and three models are presented. Findings: Empirical research confirmed that different types of environmental innovations are essential factors for sustainable outcomes and, as a result, their growth. Research also revealed differences and similarities between different sustainable outcomes and their relationship to innovations of different types. Research limitations/implications: First, although outcomes were measured using subjective indicators consisting of a limited number of items, using objective indicators or collecting data through in-depth interviews would have provided more detailed data. Second, increasing the size of the research sample and expanding the research to include companies operating in other countries (replication of research) would allow for generalization of the results, as the results obtained may be specific to companies operating in Poland. Originality/value: The main value of this article is a broad and holistic view, which made it possible to use the four types of environmental innovations and link them in the model to organizational outcomes and clarify the relationship between them. It seems crucial to take a systemic view of what innovations collectively build the model and to note that organizational innovation appears as an element present in each of the models obtained. Thus, it is an indication that organizational activities should support process, marketing, or product innovations to lead to sustainable results of environmental innovation implementation. Keywords: business sustainability, environmental innovations, sustainable outcomes, management. Category of the paper: Research paper.

Entrepreneurship and organizational innovation -- Intra-entrepreneurship -- Organizational innovation -- Culture and organizational behaviour -- Work challenges and changes -- Communication, participation and involvement in innovative environments -- Competitive management practices -- Human resource management -- Matching human and innovative organizations needs -- Motivating people in an innovative environment -- Developing leadership / entrepreneurial skills -- Global management -- Team building and innovation -- Strategic management -- Employee motivation and entrepreneurship -- Conflict management and work challenges -- Learning skills and styles in work innovation.

Temporal cognition, environmental innovation, and the competitive advantage of enterprises

In Israel, as in other countries, budgets and funds for nonprofits have been considerably reduced. The occurrence of crises shows the importance to proactively assess hostile influences and quickly react in accordance to stakeholders' expectations. Organizational innovation and organizational adaptation are both strategies that enable operating in synchronicity with the environment following the occurrence of crisis. When crises are experienced important lessons are learned that enable nonprofits to better handle processes towards increased adaptation and innovation.

The paper aims at providing specific evidence on the quite unexplored area of SME (Small-Medium Enterprises) strategies concerning environmental and techno-organisational innovations dynamics. The objective is to analyse what innovation drivers, with a particular focus on environmental innovations, are spurring SME labour productivity, the principal source of firm competitiveness. Results show that training and organisational innovations are the main “non environmental” significant drivers, operating effects through various different elements. The role of mere process/product innovation is instead not relevant. Environmental strategies appear to impact positively on firm productivity even with a short lag. Environmental R&D rarely available as a measure in eco-innovation studies- re-integrates into the picture the role of technological innovation inputs. Environmental policy-related costs do not seem to exert any negative effect on performances, as possibly expected. As a whole, comprehensive innovative SME strategies seem to effectively impact on firm performances both through organisational innovation levers and new eco-innovation strategies.JEL Codes: Q2, L60, Q13, O31

PurposeResearch deals with aspects of systemic thinking that explain environmental innovation in organizations, especially in the construction sector. The paper aims to address the issues.Design/methodology/approachThe research for this paper is based on the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, dialectal systems theory (DST), environmental management systems (EMS), life cycle analysis (LCA) and recycling.FindingsThe research results show that systemic thinking (and environmental innovations) are still a novelty; it can be regarded as an engine for novel changes in social, economic and political arrangements in companies and other organizations as well as for society as a whole. Research is aimed at finding an answer to the question: what dialectal system approach can bring in the long‐run sustainable development?Research limitations/implicationsResearch was limited to management of construction.Practical implicationsEnvironmental innovation efficiency and processes in organizations with a systemic thinking can be innovated more easily.Originality/valueThis paper breaks new ground in using systemic thinking to explain environmental innovation. In research, a model is proposed for recycling isolating materials, made of hard polyurethane and lightweight concrete with aggregates containing expanded glass, based on DST, EMS, LCA and recycling. This is the first attempt, to the best of one's knowledge, to make a new synergy of the dialectal systems theory, environmental management system and innovations supporting sustainable development, decision making and action.

Innovation is a complex construct and overlaps with a few other prevalent concepts such as technology, creativity, and change. Research on innovation spans many fields of inquiry including business, economics, engineering, and public administration. Scholars have studied innovation at different levels of analysis such as individual, group, organization, industry, and economy. The term organizational innovation refers to the studies of innovation in business and public organizations. Studies of innovations in organizations are multidimensional, multilevel, and context-dependent. They investigate what external and internal conditions induce innovation, how organizations manage innovation process, and in what ways innovation changes organizational conduct and outcome. Indiscreet application of findings from one discipline or context to another, lack of distinction between generating (creating) and adopting (using) innovations, and likening organizational innovation with technological innovation have clouded the understanding of this important concept, hampering its advancement. This article organizes studies of organizational innovation to make them more accessible to interested scholars and combines insights from various strands of innovation research to help them design and conduct new studies to advance the field. The perspectives of organizational competition and performance and organizational adaptation and progression are introduced to serve as platforms to position organizational innovation in the midst of innovation concepts, elaborate differences between innovating and innovativeness, and decipher key typologies, primary sets of antecedents, and performance consequences of generating and adopting innovations. The antecedents of organizational innovation are organized into three dimensions of environmental (external, contextual), organizational (structure, culture), and managerial (leadership, human capital). A five-step heuristic based on innovation type and process is proposed to ease understanding of the existing studies and select suitable dimensions and factors for conducting new studies. The rationale for the innovation–performance relationship in strands of organizational innovation research, and the employment of types of innovation and performance indicators, is articulated by first-mover advantage and performance gap theory, in conjunction with the perspectives of competition and performance and of adaptation and progression. Differences between effects of technological and nontechnological innovation and stand-alone and synchronous innovations are discussed to articulate how and to what extent patterns of the introduction of different types of innovation could contribute to organizational performance or effectiveness. In conclusion, ideas are proposed to demystify organizational innovation to allure new researches, facilitate their learning, and provide opportunities for the development of new studies to advance the state of knowledge on organizational innovation.

Previous research on the association between organizational emotional capability and organizational innovation still stays in the conceptual framework stage with inadequate empirical studies. According to affective events theory, this study proposed and examined a multiple mediated moderation model of how emotional capability affects innovation performance. Based on matched multi‐source surveys of R&D department managers and employees and employees in 435 Chinese high‐tech innovating firms, we found that organizational commitment and organizational learning acted as mediators on the relationship between organizational emotional capability and innovation performance, external environmental dynamics moderated the relationship between emotional capability and commitment, external environmental competitiveness moderated the relationship between organizational commitment and learning, and environmental dynamics and competitiveness have a positive joint moderating effect on the relationship between emotional capability and organizational commitment. The findings of this study make essential contributions to the research of organizational capability and innovation in dynamic and competitive environments.

Implementing complex innovations in fluid multi-stakeholder environments: Experiences of ‘telecare’

Innovation is widely accepted as an important determinant of organizational competitiveness, whereas there has been relatively little relevant research conducted in nonprofit organizations. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the linkages among environmental uncertainty, customer orientation and organizational innovation in the nonprofit context. After reviewing the literature on organizational innovation and its relationship with environmental uncertainty and customer orientation, this paper analyzes those relationships using a sample of 136 nonprofit organizations. Results of structural equation modeling analysis indicate that customer orientation is positively associated with innovation and that environmental uncertainty can promote both customer orientation and organizational innovation. The results reflect that customer orientation partially mediates the relationship between environmental uncertainty and organizational innovation in nonprofit organizations. Implications of the findings and possible future research directions are discussed.

To clarify the drivers of environmental innovation, this study selected 50 independent samples from 49 publications to investigate the effects of four major factors—policy, market, resource capacity, and organizational characteristics—on environmental innovation using a meta‐analysis, as well as demonstrating the moderating role of cultural background and industrial diversity. The results show that both environmental regulations and government subsidies positively promote environmental innovation and that cultural background and industrial diversity do play moderating roles in how environmental regulations impact environmental innovation. Furthermore, customer demand is also shown to have a positive impact on environmental innovation and is moderated by industrial diversity. However, market concentration is not shown to significantly affect environmental innovation. The results also show that knowledge sources, technological capabilities, organization's performance, and environmental management systems positively influence environmental innovation. Additionally, cultural background plays a moderating role between an organization's performance and environmental innovation, and industrial diversity can moderate technological capability and environmental innovation. Finally, the size of an organization is shown to positively affect environmental innovation and is also moderated by cultural background.

How to reinforce the effectiveness of the EU emissions trading system in stimulating low-carbon technological change? Taking stock and future directions

Academic librarians' support of autistic college students: A quasi-experimental study

PurposeThrough an illustrative case study, the paper seeks to demonstrate the implementation and use of new performance improvement software.Design/methodology/approachPast research in the field of performance measurement and management has tended to focus on what to measure. The reality, though, is that most of the value in performance measurement lies not in the measures selected, nor even in how the data are presented visually (using SPC where applicable) but in the decisions and actions that flow from insights provided. Deriving maximum value from performance measurement requires linking powerful insights from data to appropriate decision making, action and feedback.FindingsEspecially in situations of fast‐moving, operational data, it is possible to improve rates of innovation, adaptation and learning in organizations dramatically through a combination of: implementing the new genre of performance improvement software that currently has no name; structuring and enabling the performance planning and review process; and creating the necessary updraught of management attention.Originality/valueThis paper describes the impact of a new genre of performance improvement software implemented alongside novel concepts in performance planning and review. Performance measurement and management frameworks are analogous to new washing machines in the sense that they need to be properly plumbed‐in, connected‐up and switched‐on before they can deliver value. Given that achieving faster rates of innovation, adaptation and learning is now widely recognized as a key challenge for the coming decade, the message is that “plumbed‐in performance improvement” offers huge potential benefits for organizations that spot the opportunity first.