Configurational Approach Research Articles

A configurational approach to job quality analysis: forms of inequalities at work in Europe

ABSTRACT While job quality is often described in a binary way, this article proposes a configurational approach to account for the interactions between the subjective and objective dimensions and to combine the relations between the micro-, meso- and macro-level variables in a single frame. Based on data from the EWCS (2015) in 29 European countries, this article uses a cluster analysis to identify five configurations of job quality in Europe. This approach renews the study of job quality and reveals differentiated registers of relationships to work, which are dependent on micro-level variables as well as meso-level variables (the context of the respondent’s company) and macro-level variables. The perception of job quality differs markedly between high-skilled occupations and low-skilled occupations, but there is also a segmentation of jobs at both the middle and the bottom of the European social space. Belonging to the public sector is a determining factor in the existence of critical relationships to jobs.

Catalyzing success in equity crowdfunding: trust-building strategies through signaling

Building trust is a major challenge in digital crowdfunding environments. The existing information asymmetries between fund-seeking entrepreneurs and potential investors require the implementation of signaling strategies between both economic agents in order to generate trust and incentivize investment. This study performs a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to explore the interplay of visual content and social networks as information cues signaling trust. The data are sourced from Startupxplore, a Spanish equity crowdfunding platform. Configurational analysis reveals a certain degree of substitutability between traditional visual cues (images, videos) and reporting presence in social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). The results show different information disclosure strategies using traditional visual cues and social networks that lead to crowdfunding success and overfunding: substitute, mixed and unique strategies. The originality of this research lies in identifying such strategies using a configurational approach that addresses the causal complexity behind success and overfunding phenomena in equity crowdfunding, and in targeting visual cues and social networks presence as signals. This entails theoretical contributions to signaling theory in digital financial environments as well as managerial implications for entrepreneurial fundraising.

Believing in climate change: help or hindrance for entrepreneurs’ resilience?

ABSTRACT In this paper, we examine in a holistic manner how entrepreneurs’ beliefs in climate change combine with psychological attributes and firm contextual conditions to produce high levels of personal resilience. To do so, we draw from complexity theory and employ a configurational approach with fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) using survey data from153 small business owners from Aberdeenshire, Scotland and Wyoming, USA, two regions where the local economies have traditionally been reliant on the fossil fuel industry. The analysis indicates that high entrepreneurial resilience arises from four unique configurations that capture the complex interactions of entrepreneurs’ beliefs about climate change with their psychological attributes of self-efficacy, optimism, and locus of control, along with the size and profitability of their firms. Analyzing patterns across the configurations reveals that efficacy-driven, optimistic internals (EOIs) develop high resilience through psychological synergy. Entrepreneurs who are climate conscious optimistic internals (CCOIs), climate conscious efficacy-driven internals (CCEIs) and climate conscious efficacy-driven optimists (CCEOs) use a mechanism of climate conscious empowerment shifting to achieve high levels of resilience. Demonstrating how beliefs about climate change complement other psychological attributes that impact entrepreneurs’ abilities to deal with adverse situations has important implications for entrepreneurship research and economic development policy.

Cluster-Based Hybrid Approach for PCI Configuration and Optimization in 5G EN-DC Heterogeneous Networks

Cluster-Based Hybrid Approach for PCI Configuration and Optimization in 5G EN-DC Heterogeneous Networks

Knowledge network reconstruction for manufacturing SMEs: from the inter-, internal- and network-level perspective

ABSTRACT Knowledge network reconstruction matters the innovation capability and developing orientation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We explore the paths of knowledge network reconstruction for SMEs in the manufacturing industry and the impact of multilevel factors on these paths. This research adopts the method of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on a sample of 287 manufacturing SMEs in China. The results show two types of paths – Capability & Information driven and Resource driven, which illustrate the importance of resource acquisition capability, and fsQCA enables the examination of configurational effects of different antecedents. This research integrates the views and factors from different levels of knowledge network reconstruction and discusses the conflicting arguments about factors in the existing literature. Furthermore, drawing on a configurational approach provides a more fitting path according to the situations of different enterprises, instead of a thorough investment.

A configurational perspective for the generalisation of healthcare innovations: The case of a new screening programme

This paper analyses the process of generalisation of an innovative government-led public practice in the healthcare sector. The scaling and embedding involved in this generalisation process are assumed to be dependent on the multiple implementation processes (consecutive or simultaneous) that lead to a routine use of the innovation in different adopters. This paper, therefore, proposes the use of a configurational theory approach to conceptualise each implementation of the innovation during the generalisation process and shed light on the generalisation's scaling and embedding efforts. It suggests a set of recommendations and practices for generalisation managers, most notably: i) they should regard generalisations as organic processes where their main role is to create space for experimentation, learning and negotiation, and ii) they should adopt different modes of governance to identify adequate mechanisms and strategies and guide their actions. This configurational perspective allows them to monitor and manage the evolution of implementations, informs the valuable learning processes that take place in a generalisation and has been found to be a useful tool to support the crucial collaboration among the actors involved in a generalisation.

How marketers influence product platform decisions: A configurational approach

AbstractThis study identifies the political behavior marketers use to ensure the market fit of a new product platform. Drawing on two political NPD literature streams and configuration theory, the authors explain how (i) soft and hard influence tactics, (ii) reason, (iii) marketers' experience (with product and portfolio decisions), and (iv) the type of product platform (smart vs. conventional), together determine marketers' political effectiveness in gaining support for design modifications from the development team. The framework and hypotheses are tested using data from a sample of 100 influence attempts by marketers. A fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis reveals no single, optimal solution but three “influence recipes.” First, we find a generic solution for both smart and conventional product platforms that combines marketer experience with reason and coalition building. Second, we note two additional solutions for smart product platforms: one consisting of marketer experience with coalition building and another one combining marketer experience with reason and assertiveness. Regression results reveal a positive relationship between marketers' influence behavior and platform performance in the marketplace, in support of a complementary and functional role of marketers' political behaviors in innovation management.

Fast imaging of local perturbations in a unknown bi-periodic layered medium

We discuss a novel approach for imaging local faults inside an infinite bi-periodic layered medium in R3 using acoustic measurements of scattered fields at the bottom or the top of the layer. The faulted area is represented by compactly supported perturbations with erroneous material properties. Our method reconstructs the support of perturbations without knowing or reconstructing the constitutive material parameters of healthy or faulty bi-period layer; only the size of the period is needed. This approach falls under the class of non-iterative imaging methods, known as the generalized linear sampling method with differential measurements, first introduced in [2] and adapted to periodic layers in [25]. The advantage of applying differential measurements to our inverse problem is that instead of comparing the measured data against measurements due to healthy structures, one makes use of periodicity of the layer where the data operator restricted to single Floquet-Bloch modes plays the role of the one corresponding to healthy material. This leads to a computationally efficient and mathematically rigorous reconstruction algorithm. We present numerical experiments that confirm the viability of the approach for various configurations of defects.

A configurative analysis investigating how new technology-based firms gain the first financing round

AbstractNew technology-based firms (NTBFs) present high levels of information asymmetry since knowledge base, the intangibility of assets, and appropriability issues are particularly pronounced. Investors experiment with difficulties in evaluating the quality of NTBFs and look into insights representing the venture's promises and outlooks, and NTBFs need to face limited financing opportunities. Therefore, information asymmetries and moral hazards may influence the financing system of NTBFs. Based on the signaling theory, we propose a configurative approach built on five accessible signals (founders’ education and work experiences, property rights, alliances, and size) to identify combinations of signals conducive to the NTBF reaching a first financial round. By adopting a configurative approach through the qualitative comparative analysis, we advance our understanding of the intricate dynamics between NTBFs and investors, shedding light on the complexity and interplay of various factors influencing the financing outcomes.

Disentangling organizational levers and economic benefits in transitional care programs: a systematic review and configurational analysis

BackgroundPromoting safe and efficient transitions of care is critical to reducing readmission rates and associated costs and improving the quality of patient care. A growing body of literature suggests that transitional care (TC) programs are effective in improving quality of life and reducing unplanned readmissions for several patient groups. TC programs are highly complex and multidimensional, requiring evidence on how specific practices and system characteristics influence their effectiveness in patient care, readmission reduction and costs.MethodsUsing a systematic review and a configurational approach, the study examines the role played by system characteristics (size, ownership, professional skills, technology used), the organizational components implemented, analyzing their combinations, and the potential economic impact of TC programs.ResultsThe more organizational components are implemented, the greater the likelihood that a TC program will be successful in reducing readmission rates. Not all components have the same effect. The results show that certain components, ‘post-discharge symptom monitoring and management’ and ‘discharge planning’, are necessary but not sufficient to achieve the outcome. The results indicate the existence of two different combinations of components that can be considered sufficient for the reduction of readmissions. Furthermore, while system characteristics are underexplored, the study shows different ways of incorporating the skill mix of professionals and their mode of coordination in TC programs. Four organizational models emerge: the health-based monocentric, the social-based monocentric, the multidisciplinary team and the mono-specialist team. The economic impact of the programs is generally positive. Despite an increase in patient management costs, there is an overall reduction in all post-intervention costs, particularly those related to readmissions.ConclusionsThe results underline the importance of examining in depth the role of system characteristics and organizational factors in facilitating the creation of a successful TC program. The work gives preliminary insights into how to systematize organizational practices and different coordination modes for facilitating decision-makers’ choices in TC implementation. While there is evidence that TC programs also have economic benefits, the quality of economic evaluations is relatively low and needs further study.

Net-zero carbon configuration approach for direct air carbon capture based integrated energy system considering dynamic characteristics of CO2 adsorption and desorption

Direct air carbon capture (DAC) is a promising negative carbon technology to balance unavoidable carbon emissions from distributed sources. Deploying DAC into the integrated renewable energy system provides an effective way to achieve regional carbon neutrality. Developing a reasonable configuration approach for the DAC-based integrated energy system (IES) is the premise to ensure the stable, flexible, economic and net-zero carbon operation. However, DAC system captures CO2 from the air through adsorption and desorption with a much lower respond speed than other energy generation, conversion and storage equipment in the IES. Meanwhile, the CO2 adsorption/desorption rate varies significantly with time, making the energy consumption of DAC does not fully correspond to the amount of CO2 being captured. Conventional steady-state IES configuration methods fail to reflect such characteristics of the DAC, which may lead to non-optimal or even infeasible configurations. To this end, this paper develops a configuration-oriented dynamic model for the DAC process to correctly reflect the energy consumption characteristics under given internal operating conditions and the variations of the CO2 adsorption/desorption rate over time. The DAC model is embedded into the configuration framework of the DAC-based IES, formulating a novel configuration approach that optimizes the investment, operation and maintenance, carbon reduction and renewables utilization performance. The optimal capacity of DAC and the corresponding time periods for adsorption, desorption and shutdown operation in typical scenario are determined, revealing the coordinated manner of DAC system with other devices within the IES. Case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed configuration approach, which can meet the carbon neutral target with the lowest economic cost. Further comparisons also verify the advantages of flexible operation of the DAC system to achieve better coordination with renewable generations and more efficient CO2 capture.

Strategic contexts, strategic orientations and organisational technology adoption: A configurational approach

AbstractDespite the broad application of the technology–organisation–environment (TOE) framework to explain firms' adoption of technology, prior research tends to over‐emphasise the independent effects of TOE elements while neglecting decision makers' strategic orientations when making organisational technology adoption decisions. This over‐simplistic interpretation of the TOE framework has culminated in inconsistent findings within extant literature. Considering the interdependencies among the three TOE elements in shaping organisational technology adoption and also decision‐makers' inclination to weigh the three TOE elements differently based on their strategic orientations, this study views organisational technology adoption from a systems standpoint based on a configurational approach. Particularly, we differentiate between two types of strategic orientations, namely functional orientation, which accentuates the technology‐induced efficiency gains and symbolic orientation, which stresses the image or reputation afforded through technology adoption. We advance a configurational model for organisational technology adoption that: (1) conceptualises organisational technology adoption as an outcome arising from distinct configurations of TOE elements, and; (2) extends the TOE framework by incorporating strategic orientation as an inevitable aspect of decision‐making for organisational technology adoption. To validate our proposed model, we conducted a field survey of 183 firms to collect data on their considerations underpinning organisational technology adoption before employing fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to derive configurations of TOE elements responsible for driving such adoption. Analytical results reveal that the TOE configurations vary across three types of organisations (namely performance enhancer, image builder and strategic transformer). The theoretical and practical implications of our study are also discussed.

A configurable mining approach for enhancing the business processes' performance

AbstractBusiness is a war to get the attention you deserve from your enemies, and many competitors strive to gain a prominent position. Organizations are constantly seeking innovative ways to work to stay in a competitive business environment. Business process reengineering (BPR) is one of the most management approaches that are adopted by many organizations in order to achieve a dramatic increase in performance and cost reduction. Since the risks enfolded and failure rates related to BPR projects are very high, it is necessary to find ways to support success of BPR in a systematic approach. The major target of this article is to find the implementation of the proposed model to reengineer business processes (BPs) successfully via integrating critical success factors (CSFs) of BPR and BPs' performance. It is created to detect the inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the business process, decrease costs, time and increase quality of business processes, enhance financial environment and make an effective and efficient performance of the business process. It also applies a mining technique of association rule to examine the link between CSFs and several BPs and measures business processes' performance (intended BPR success) by process time, cycle time, quality and cost pre and post reengineering BPs. Thus, it uses a way to select the appropriate model for each business process. The proposed model will be implemented using a real world the Egyptian tax authority case study in order to prove its usefulness and efficiency. Then, inferred CSFs were applied according to each process, which proved the validity and success of the proposed model.

Exploring the Impact of Dynamic Capabilities on the Sustainable Delivery of International Engineering Projects: A Configurational Approach

Exploring the Impact of Dynamic Capabilities on the Sustainable Delivery of International Engineering Projects: A Configurational Approach

Board-related processes and innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises: A continuum logic and configurational approach

Board-related processes and innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises: A continuum logic and configurational approach

The Reliability and Economic Evaluation Approach for Various Configurations of EV Charging Stations

The Reliability and Economic Evaluation Approach for Various Configurations of EV Charging Stations

Fundraiser engagement, third-party endorsement and crowdfunding performance: A configurational theory approach.

Reward-based crowdfunding is a typical two-sided platform (fundraiser side and backer side) with high information asymmetry. While existing research indicates that signals from fundraisers and backers can impact crowdfunding performance, the interplay among these signals warrants further investigation. Drawing on signaling theory, this study adopts a configurational perspective and utilizes the fsQCA method and linear regression to investigate the combined effects of fundraiser engagement (update and fundraiser comment), third-party endorsement (backer comment and Facebook sharing), and project preparedness (video, image, and description) on crowdfunding performance. Drawing data from the reward-based crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, this research pointed out that these signals cannot generate better crowdfunding performance alone and examined substitution and complementary effects among different signals. Based on the linear regression and fsQCA results, configurations that lead to high crowdfunding performance are identified. We found that project preparedness must work with other signals to produce high crowdfunding performance. Besides, we summarized these configurations into two patterns that may lead to high crowdfunding performance: a fundraiser engagement-driven pattern and a third-party endorsement-driven pattern. This study contributes a configurational perspective and valuable insights into how signals can work together to mitigate information asymmetry in crowdfunding.

A Configurational Approach to Maturity Model Development – Using fsQCA to Build a Multiple-Pathway Maturity Model

Maturity models can be used as tools to depict the developmental trajectories of entity classes in domains and evaluate the relative position of an entity within this framework. However, their development process has been the focus of researchers and practitioners ever since, resulting in different procedures, development approaches, and conceptual models. Thus, a major criticism of maturity models is the often missing conceptual and theoretical grounding when it comes to the interpretation of the concept of maturity. To address this shortcoming, our research approach focuses on the rigorous development of a multiple-pathway maturity model. By following a sequential, theoretically grounded process, the resulting maturity model can be viewed as an instantiation of the predefined conceptual components and characteristics in a predefined domain. We present and discuss the instantiated sector and size-specific maturity model for innovation capability in small industrial firms, which is developed by applying configurational methods on a dataset and thereby offers multiple pathways to maturity. This concept of equifinality is central to our approach. It has rarely been considered in maturity model development research, although it offers the potential to build more realistic models with greater applicability, especially in domains with many interdependencies.

Defending your own or trolling the haters? A configurational approach to incivility in online communities

This study explores the emergence of incivility in online communities, challenging the traditional perspective that attributes incivility to individual elements of sociotechnical systems. We argue that this narrow focus fails to recognize the complex interactions between these elements, leading to a rudimentary understanding of how incivility originates and evolves. To address this gap, our research employs fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), examining approximately 4.3 million posts from 100 diverse online communities on Reddit. Through this analysis, we identified five distinct paths that converged into two primary community configurations: close-knit and scattered communities. Each configuration exhibits unique affordances whose activation fosters incivility in different ways. Based on these findings, we expand the understanding of incivility to include subtle, indirect behaviors beyond overt forms such as trolling or hate speech and show how the interplay of multiple community elements produces affordances, avoiding the narrow view of individual affordances and shedding light on variations of social systems. Finally, we demonstrate that within the same digital platform, different social systems can impact user behaviors, including incivility.

Scenario Planning and Organizational Response in Changing Business Environment.

The paper has investigated how can scenario planning help organizations anticipate and prepare for future changes in the business environment. The paper used funnel approach to investigate the scenario planning from global, Africa and Nigeria based on Developmental Configuration Approach. The model paper sought to build a theoretical framework that predict relationships between concepts. The conceptual model describes issues that should be considered in the study. This model paper contributes to existing knowledge by delineating an entity, its goal being to detail, chart, describe, or depict an entity and its relationship to other entities.