Boundary-spanning Function Research Articles

Improving the Effectiveness of Emergency Management and Emergency Response Through Synchrony Created by Boundary Spanning Functions

Improving the Effectiveness of Emergency Management and Emergency Response Through Synchrony Created by Boundary Spanning Functions

The role of public relations in shaping service ecosystems for social change

PurposeWicked problems require holistic and systemic thinking that accommodates interdisciplinary solutions and cross-sectoral collaborations between private and public sectors. This paper explores how public relations (PR) – as a boundary-spanning function at the nexus of corporate and political discourse – can support societies to tackle wicked problems.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper synthesizes literature on PR with a service ecosystem perspective. The authors use the service ecosystem design framework to structure the PR literature and develop a model of service ecosystem shaping for social change, which highlights the important role that PR can play in shaping processes.FindingsThe authors explicate how PR can (1) facilitate value cocreation processes between broad sets of stakeholders that drive positive social change, (2) shape institutional arrangements in general and public discourse in particular, (3) provide a platform for recursive feedback loops of reflexivity and (re)formation that enables discourse to ripple through nested service ecosystems and (4) guide collective shaping efforts by bringing stakeholder concerns and beliefs into the open, which provides a foundation for collective sense-making of wicked problems and their solutions.Originality/valueThis paper explains the complexity of shaping service ecosystems for positive social change. Specifically, it highlights how solving wicked problems and driving social change requires reconfiguration of the institutional arrangements that guide various nested service ecosystems. The authors discuss in detail how PR can contribute to the shaping of service ecosystems for social change and present a future research agenda for both service and PR scholars to consider.

Forging connections: The role of ‘boundary spanners’ in globalising clusters and shaping cluster evolution

Synthesising the endogenous-centred evolutionary economic geography perspective, and the globally oriented ‘global pipelines’ and global production networks frameworks, this article develops the ‘boundary spanner’ concept to propose a theoretical framework to illustrate how resourceful actors, as boundary spanners, globalise clusters and in turn drive cluster evolution. This framework comprises four interrelated cluster boundary-spanning functions, namely, discursive construction, innovation promotion, production coordination and market reach. This article aims to advance the cluster literature by unpacking how clusters’ global connections are constructed and maintained, conceptualising the multidimensional role of the agency of boundary spanners and demonstrating boundary spanners’ contributions to cluster evolution.

Towards the third generation universities: The core innovative function approach.

Background: Undoubtedly, economic and social value added depends on the functions of universities. Moving toward third-generation universities (3rd GU) is an inevitable process. These universities need different functions than traditional ones; therefore, identifying and determining their functions is essential. The purpose of this study is to collect, match and explore the functions of universities in the transition to 3rd GU and ultimately offer a functional model of the 3rd GU for the use of professors, academics and policymakers in order to evaluate and promote universities. Methods: A critical review method was adapted. Literature was included based on their relevant empirical data to research objectives and referral rates, and texts with more conceptual richness entered the study without time limitations. Results: A total of 20 texts were included in the final analysis. While presenting the basic model, extracts the overarching concepts associated with the success of 3rd GU. These key concepts include the 7 core functions of innovative and entrepreneurial activities, supportive activities (financial and non-financial), entrepreneurial education ( curriculum and academic workforce empowerment), creation and provide applied knowledge, boundary-spanning function or communications and interactions with other elements of the national innovation system (state and industry), develop innovative and entrepreneurial culture and institutional governance and leadership in the direction of economic growth and development. Conclusion: Using new functions at universities would be a move toward 3rd GU, economic growth and development in the country. So, these functions are a practically useful guide to policymakers to estimate the rate of success in each university and deliver the necessary suggestions to provide the mechanisms for the establishment of a successful university.

The social imperative in public relations: Utilities of social impact, social license and engagement

Public relations is recognized as an organizational boundary-spanning function accountable for communication engagement with diverse stakeholders in ways that facilitate social relationships, co-creation, and communication. It is this perspective that underpins the claim that social license and social impact have utility for public relations theory, as organizational decisions have intended and unintended impacts on communities. This perspective also underscores the need for organizations to find better ways to understand and attend to public expectations in an authentic manner. The notion of an organization or industry having a social license to operate and needing to consider their social impact has never been more important. This special section in Public Relations Review on Engagement, Social License to Operate (SLO) and Social Impact responds to the call to articulate the utility of SLO and social impact by situating and conceptually strengthening these concepts within public relations scholarship and outlining future research for public relations theory building. This editorial conceptually situates SLO and social impact for public relations and engagement, and identifies future research opportunities. The papers in this special section are introduced, highlighting the links between the concepts and public relations.

The Low-Flying Communicator: Understanding public relations in a regional context

Abstract Most research on public relations (PR) roles takes the starting point of PR as an indispensable boundary-spanning function. Context may explain how PR is performed and which skills are important, but not the degree to which PR is necessary. In this article, we tackle the latter question by identifying and discussing the role of the low-flying communicator in the Danish region of North Jutland. The study is based on individual and focus group interviews with communication practitioners and students. The results show that many regional companies have established a communicative comfort zone “under the radar” of public attention. This leads to recruitment problems. Companies are less visible in the labour market and depend on graduates who stay in the region for personal reasons. A certain unwillingness to cross boundaries of social and public spaces feeds into sense-making but also contestable role understandings of PR practice and education in regional contexts.

The Determinants of the Boundary-spanning Functions of Japanese Self-initiated Expatriates in Japanese Subsidiaries in China: Individual Skills and Human Resource Management

Abstract Self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) who work for a subsidiary of a multinational enterprise from their country of origin and hence are familiar with both countries' language and culture can be expected to act as boundary-spanners between the assigned expatriates sent from the parent country and host country nationals, and between the headquarters and the subsidiary. We develop a new model of boundary-spanning that encompasses both individual and organizational antecedents and validate the model using survey data from Japanese-affiliated companies in China. We find that familiarity with Chinese language and culture and the potential dual allegiance of SIEs contribute to enhancing their boundary-spanning behavior. We also find that relationships of trust among the parties concerned (social capital) and global career opportunities for such self-initiated expatriates (geocentric staffing) have positive influences on their dual allegiance. Finally, normative and systems integration of human resource management are associated with increasing levels of social capital and geocentric staffing.

University–industry collaboration: A literature review and synthesis

This study applies a systematic literature review and qualitative content analysis to identify and synthesize key factors that enable collaborative innovation between industry and universities. Using a keyword search in the Web of Science database, the review identified 40 papers that were frequently cited on the topic. Results were summarized into seven main themes or central factors stimulating collaborative innovation: resources, university organization, boundary-spanning functions, collaborative experience, culture, status centrality and environmental context. This article elaborates on these ‘enabling factors’ and uses them to summarize a number of results from the reviewed studies regarding facilitators of collaborative innovation. The discussion focuses on how these factors relate and the extent to which they are amenable to policy intervention.

Towards improved process efficiency in vaccine innovation: The Vaccine Innovation Cycle as a validated, conceptual stage-gate model

Continuing investments in vaccine innovation are insufficiently translated into market entries of novel vaccines. This innovation paradox is in part caused by stakeholders lacking complete understanding of the complex array of steps necessary for vaccine development and collaboration difficulties between the wide variety of stakeholders involved. Models providing cross-domain understanding can improve collaboration but currently lack both comprehensibility and granularity to enable a prioritized view of activities and criteria.Key opinion leaders (KOLs) were asked to contribute to the definition of a vaccine innovation cycle (VIC). In a first step, 18 KOLs were interviewed on the stages (activities and results) and gates (evaluation criteria and outcomes) of vaccine innovation. This first description of the VIC was subsequently validated and refined through a survey among 46 additional KOLs.The VIC identifies 29 distinct stages and 28 corresponding gates, distributed in ten different but integrated workstreams, and comprehensibly depicted in a circular innovation model. Some stage-gates occur at defined moments, whereas the occurrence and timing of other stage-gates is contingent on a variety of contextual factors. Yet other stage-gates continuously monitor internal and external developments. A gap-overlap analysis of stage-gate criteria demonstrated that 5 out of 11 criteria employed by vaccine developers correspond with criteria employed by competent (regulatory) authorities.The VIC provides a comprehensive overview of stage-gates throughout the value chain of vaccine innovation. Its cyclical nature highlights the importance of synchronizing with unmet needs and market changes, and conceptualizes the difference between incremental and radical vaccine innovation. Knowledge on the gap between internal and external criteria will enhance the viability of newcomers to the field.The VIC can be used by stakeholders to improve understanding and communication in forming collaborative alliances and consortia. Such a boundary-spanning function may contribute to the reduction of process inefficiencies, especially in public-private partnerships.

Retail corporate groups: Challenges of omnichannel management in Japan

The omnichannel varies across countries due to different retail environments and retailers’ growth strategies. The Japanese big retailers’ omnichannel can be characterized by having multiple retail formats, such as department stores, general merchandise stores, convenience stores, specialty stores, Internet stores, and so on. They have grown by multiplying retail formats to appeal to different customer segments, and they have unique challenges in managing an omnichannel with many retail formats. These are (1) extremely wide variety of merchandise, (2) enormous quantity of data from transaction, inventory, logistics, and customers, (3) different organization structures and management, and (4) unique organizational capabilities in each retail format. From these challenges, we could propose further research issues as follows: (1) theoretical consideration of boundary-spanning functions among retail formats, (2) international comparative analysis reflecting the different conditions in each country, and (3) clarifying the characteristics of the omnichannel shopper in the Japanese omnichannel environment.

The role of translation in cross-cultural knowledge transfer within a MNE’s business networks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how translation activities influence knowledge transfer across cultures in Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs). Although translation is recognized as a critical instrument for MNEs to enhance cross-national knowledge flow, scholars have not put much emphasis on the importance of translation in international business research. Design/methodology/approach – This paper proposes a novel hierarchical framework to delineate the five major boundary-spanning functions regarding translation for knowledge transfer in China (i.e. exchanging, linking, manipulating, facilitating and intervening). Due to the paucity of relevant literature, the authors used exploratory case studies investigating two large Chinese MNEs to illustrate how individuals as boundary spanners handle the translation requirements associated with cross-cultural knowledge transmission within a MNE’s business network. The data coding approach was used to examine the assumed model. Findings – The findings demonstrate that translators indeed play a vital role in cross-border knowledge exchanging, linking people with crucial knowledge, manipulating the flow of knowledge for protecting confidentiality, facilitating the cross-cultural interaction of various knowledge sources and intervening to prevent the occurrence of misunderstanding in MNE contexts. The authors also reveal how translators overcome the three constraints of language interpretation concerning knowledge transfer (i.e. lack of equivalence, cultural interference and ambiguity). The proposed research framework was fully supported. Research limitations/implications – The results provide insightful implications for MNEs to treat translation as a significant “re-codification” rather than a mundane task. Knowledge transfer within MNEs involves not only knowledge regarding products, technology and operations but also involves “whole organizations” including business models, organizational visions, missions and strategies. Originality/value – The main value of this paper is to propose a novel model regarding the role of translation in cross-cultural knowledge transfer in China. Language is a container of contexts; the translation procedure in MNEs is actually dynamic and contingent in nature and can be seen as an act of knowledge creation per se.

Network Dynamics and Knowledge Transfer in Virtual Organizations: Overcoming the Liability of Dispersion

Product development within and across community-based and geographically dispersed virtual organizations is becoming an increasingly important mechanism through which individual knowledge holders create and disseminate knowledge in joint efforts to generate products. Without the benefits of face-to-face communication, such organizations face a particular set of constraints in their exposure to knowledge and know-how. This “liability of dispersion” increases the importance of the architecture of network ties that undergird the distinct development efforts, the embedded social structures, and the particular relationships involved in their product-generating efforts. In this paper, we examine whether particular network structures foster knowledge transfer among distinct open-source projects. We conjecture that Star developers — actors characterized by increasing levels of embeddedness and the associated ability to form ties with several projects within a network — serve boundary-spanning functions that facilitate an organization’s ability to collect, assimilate, and apply external information. We find support for this conjecture in our investigation of a network of open-source software projects and developers compiled from a dataset drawn from Sourceforge.net. We also show that becoming part of a giant network component is associated with relatively large changes in project performance.

Development of boundary-spanning organisations in Japanese universities for different types of university–industry collaborations: a resource dependence perspective

Based on a historical analysis of university–industry collaboration (UIC) in Japan, this paper elucidates the relationships between a variety of UIC types and the functional differentiation of boundary-spanning organisations to promote UIC from a resource dependence perspective. To overcome the traditional limitations of informal, inter-personal collaboration, the Japanese government has made intensive institutional and organisational reforms to establish formal boundary-spanning organisations in universities since the late 1980s. This paper investigates the roles, effects, and limitations of boundary-spanning organisations, such as (1) UI Cooperative Research Centres initiated in 1987, (2) Approved Technology Licensing Organisations in 1998, and (3) Intellectual Property Headquarters in 2003, which have mediated different types of UIC. The research results suggest that formal boundary-spanning organisations can significantly drive the growth of UI collaborations and that the different types of UIC require a functional specialisation in boundary-spanning organisations by developing coordinative expertise, human resources, institutional arrangements, and organisational structures. Furthermore, for instituting effective organisational management of UIC in university, this research emphasises the significance of integrity and coherence among different boundary-spanning functions.

Science-practice interactions linked to climate adaptation in two contexts: municipal planning and forestry in Sweden

This paper examines the science-practice interface in the process of adapting to climate change in society. This paper analyses science-based stakeholder dialogues with climate scientists, municipal officers and private individual forest owners in Sweden, and examines how local experts both share scientific knowledge and experience and integrate it into their work strategies and practices. The results demonstrate how local experts jointly conceptualise climate adaptation, how scientific knowledge is domesticated among local experts in dialogue with scientific experts, the emergence of anchoring devices, and the boundary-spanning functions that are at work in the respective sectors.

Cross-Cultural Research Relevance in Public Relations: An Analytical Appraisal

This work is an examination of cross-cultural or intercultural research relevance in public relations. It adopts the analytical approach in exploring the fusion between fact-finding on the cultural environments of the publics of an organization and achievement of mutually beneficial relationship that organization and its publics. Therefore to learn more about public relations practice, it is important to explore the assumptions underlying the issue of cross-cultural research. It was recommended among others, that since public relations agencies, in most cases operate or engage clients who transcend various cultures, it becomes imperative that cross-cultural research would be, particularly, indispensable in achievement of public relations objectives. I. Introduction Professions, people, institutions and do not exist in a vacuum. They exist in a specific culture or socio-cultural environment. Public relations is a profession that basically deals with the maintenance of a good relationship between an organization and its publics. Public relations agencies operate within specific cultural settings. Be it an international or local agency, its operations factor in the cultural settings of the host community of the agency or that of the target audience. Culture is all-encompassing sphere which permeates every facet of life. Public relations is a profession that deals with various publics often sometimes existing in diverse cultures. For any business activity to survive it must thread cautiously in the cultural terrain in order not to hurt the sensibilities and value convictions of business owners, host community members, and target audience. If culture refers to patterns of behaviours and thinking that people living in a social group learn, create and share (Encata Encyclopedia, 2006), then it is a thread that lines the society and its various components, including the professions, disciplines, one of which is public relations. Ever since Ivy Lee handed out the first fact sheet about public relations to journalists in 1906, public relations has been described as a mediated communication activity used to reach out multiple publics. Prevailing opinion has been that public relations practitioners are in an ideal position to bridge the gap between the media and general public. While it is true that public relations practitioners often perform this boundary-spanning function, the media and the general public are not always the target of public relations activities and communication. In specific terms, the publics of any public relations activity vary according to the organizations mission/vision. It is, perhaps, for this reason that Taylor and Kent (2009:131) state that the practice of public relations focuses on a variety of key publics - shareholders, employees, suppliers, activists, the media and the consumers. However, it may be added that these publics are not stereotyped. They may vary in their intellectual capabilities, educational background, environmental settings, religious inclinations, political ideologies, etc. For this reason, therefore, public relations scholars have examined the roles, functions and assumptions about public relations practices and have found out that the conception and the execution of public relations campaigns/programmes are affected by the cultural nuances upon which the organization publics operate.

The interaction effect of relational norms and agent cooperativeness on opportunism in buyer–supplier relationships

In this study, we examined the effect of relational norms and agent cooperativeness on opportunism in buyer–supplier relationships. Drawing from the theoretical grounding of transaction cost economics, personality trait theory, and contingency theory, we proposed three distinct perspectives on opportunism mitigation in buyer–supplier relationships: (1) organizationalist, (2) individualist, and (3) interactionist, where relational norms, agent cooperativeness, and the interaction between them, respectively, serve as the key predictors in these three perspectives. The results of replicated experiments indicated that relational norms and agent cooperativeness interact with each other in mitigating opportunism and that the interactionist perspective yielded the highest explained variance in opportunism. This suggests that the interactionist perspective, a multi-level theoretical lens encompassing the dynamic interplay between organization-level and individual-level factors, was a more complete model in explaining opportunism than either the organizationalist or individualist perspectives. The consensus which emerged from post-experimental interviews of purchasing professionals is that agent personalities play an important role in buyer–supplier relationships. Some purchasing professionals had observed that uncooperative agents or personnel turnover in the boundary-spanning functions can substantially undermine even established relational exchanges. These qualitative findings are in line with our theoretical arguments and experimental outcomes.

Strategic relationships between boundary-spanning functions: Aligning customer relationship management with supplier relationship management

This review focuses on the potential impact of enhanced strategic relationships between the boundary-spanning functions in supplier organizations. Specifically, the concern is with alignment between the organizational groups managing: marketing, sales and strategic account management; purchasing and supply strategy; and, collaborations and external partnerships. The topic is framed by the organizational evolution being driven by market change, and the search for superior innovation capabilities and business agility. These changes bring new challenges in cross-boundary integration and managing complex market networks. The logic is that strategic external relationships (with customers, supplier and partners) should be mirrored in strategic internal relationships (between the functions with lead responsibilities for managing relationships with customers, supplier and partners). Approaches to enhancing this capability include process management, internal partnering strategies and internal marketing activities. The discussion identifies a number of implications for practice and new research directions.

Purchasing as a boundary-spanning function: effects of communication patterns on organisational permeability

A hallmark of the modern age is the expanded use of informal communication methods in professional and business relationships. Based upon theoretical insights from the organisational permeability and boundary literature, we develop and test a set of hypotheses exploring the changing nature of communication patterns between the purchasing function and its internal and external partners. Our results suggest that while external communications tend to have higher levels of formality than those with internal partners, both internal and external communication patterns trend towards less formality over time, with external formality dropping more markedly than internal formality. Furthermore, we find that trends in formal and informal communication patterns influence perceptions of supplier performance.

Technology Transfer from University-Based Research Centers

Since the 1980s American research universities have become increasingly involved in such technology transfer activities as technology business incubators (Mian, 1997), technology licensing offices (Massing, 1996), and technology parks. Another expression of academic capitalism (Slaughter & Leslie, 1997) in facilitating the transfer of technological innovations in order to contribute to local economic development (and to acquire increased funding for research) is through university-based research centers. The number of these organized research units has increased rapidly in recent decades (Cohen, Florida, & Gee, 1994). Research centers obtain much of their funding from sources external to the university and serve a boundary-spanning function in facilitating flows of information and resources between the university and its environment. The present article reports findings from an investigation of technology transfer from all 55 research centers at one research university, the University of New Mexico (UNM), which is located in technology-rich Northern New Mexico. We gathered data from each research center in order to answer the following research questions. 1. What is the nature of the typical research center at the University of New Mexico? 2. Why have the number of research centers, and their total funding, been increasing rapidly at the University of New Mexico during the 1990s? 3. Why are research centers founded? 4. What is the role of the director in creating and maintaining a research center? 5. How do university-based research centers transfer technology to private companies and to other organizations? 6. What determines the effectiveness of research centers in reaching their objectives? Past Research on Research Centers Considerable research has been conducted on various types of university-based research centers in science and engineering that are funded (at least initially and partially) by the National Science Foundation (for example, Eveland, 1985; Feller & Roesner, 1995; Gibson & Harlan, 1995; Gray, Gidley, & Koester, 1988; Gray, Hetzner, Eveland, & Gidley, 1986; Gray, Johnson, & Gidley, 1986; Grillon, 1995; Morgan, 1993; Tash & Stahler, 1997). However, research centers supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) comprise 1% or 2% of all university-based research centers (at the University of New Mexico only 1 of the 55 research centers was NSF-initiated). Much less scholarly research attention has been directed to university-based research centers in science and engineering that are not supported by the NSF. A 1990 nationwide survey of university-industry research centers in U.S. universities estimated that 12,000 professors and 22,300 doctoral-level researchers were involved, with total funding of $4.12 billion (Cohen et al., 1994). These are underestimates because the study by Cohen et al. only included research centers in science and engineering, which on the basis of available data we estimate are approximately half of all university-based research centers today. Tash and Stahler (1997) gathered survey data from 287 research centers that received industrial support at 114 of the 150 leading U.S. research universities. Most of the 287 research centers of study were in science and engineering fields. Our literature search disclosed no investigation of all the research centers at a single university, including those organized research units in the social sciences, medicine, education, law, and other fields. Technology is information put into use in order to carry out some task. Technology transfer is the application of information into use (Rogers, 1995). The information that is transferred results from research that is conducted, perhaps in order for it to be applied to the development and commercialization of new or improved products or services that are sold in the marketplace by private companies (Matkin, 1990). …

Spanning the Boundaries: Support for Media Rights Among Public Relations Practitioners, Journalists, and the Public

Although journalists, public relations practitioners, and the general public have common interests in protecting media rights, public support for those rights is historically weak. The boundary-spanning function of public relations—which relies in part on First Amendment rights—implies that practitioners might bridge the gap between the public's and the media's perspectives. To better understand support for media rights, we surveyed samples from all three groups. The public was least likely to support the 26 media rights addressed in the survey. Public relations practitioners' support fell between that of the public and journalists.