Environmental Contingencies Research Articles

Intrafirm Network Structure and Firm Innovation Performance: The Moderating Role of Environmental Uncertainty

An interpersonal network within a firm serves as a primary knowledge base for organizational innovation. In this article, we propose that intrafirm network connectivity, which is measured by the transitivity of an intrafirm network, has a nonlinear effect on firm innovation performance. Furthermore, on the basis of the literature on environmental contingency, we propose that two dimensions of environmental uncertainty (i.e., environmental munificence and dynamism) moderate the influence of intrafirm network connectivity on firm innovation performance. To examine our hypotheses, we collect the profiles of firms in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries from the COMPUSTAT database and patent data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office database for the period of 1991–2012. Our longitudinal study finds an inverted U-shaped relationship between intrafirm network connectivity and firm innovation performance, and such a relationship is moderated by environmental munificence but not by environmental dynamism.

Effects of product imitation on customer equity

PurposeThe aim of this study is to investigate the differential effects of pure and creative imitation on customer equity and the moderating roles of market contingency (i.e. competition intensity) and institutional contingency (i.e. enforcement inefficiency).Design/methodology/approachA lab experiment with 181 subjects and a survey of both senior and middle managers from 149 pharmaceutical firms in China were conducted.FindingsPure imitation decreases customer equity, but creative imitation increases it. Competition intensity attenuates the negative effect of pure imitation and the positive effect of creative imitation, whereas enforcement inefficiency only attenuates the negative effect of pure imitation.Practical implicationsThe findings have significant implications for managers seeking to implement product imitation strategies in emerging economies. They can help managers understand the effects of two kinds of imitation strategies on customer equity. Furthermore, this shows that product imitation strategies should be aligned with various market and institutional contingencies to achieve better performance.Originality/valueThe authors distinguished between pure and creative imitation. Whereas previous studies have investigated the effects of pure and creative imitation on financial and market performance, the focus was on their differential effects on customer equity and the moderating roles of environmental contingencies at the market and institutional levels.

Sustainability Accounting and Reporting in the Public Sector: Towards Public Value Co-Creation?

The economic, social, and environmental contingencies of the last two decades have called into question the need for public sector organizations to align accounting practices with sustainable concerns. Sustainability refers to the ability of organizations to co-create economic value in the long run, involving all stakeholders, safeguarding the environment, and generating well-being for the community. While this topic attracts increasing interests from several perspectives, there is a lack of a comprehensive assessment of how academia is debating it. Therefore, this paper reviews the field of sustainability, accounting, and reporting (SAR) in the public sector in order to develop insights into how the literature is developing the theme of public value (PV) co-creation, offer a critique of the state-of-the-art to date, and outline future research opportunities. The study is based on a structured literature review (SLR) methodology that enables studying the corpus of scholarly literature, developing insights, critical reflections, and future research paths. The results highlight that, although the involvement of stakeholders appears as crucial for developing SAR practices in the public sector, scholars have not yet adopted a PV co-creation perspective to this phenomenon, since, at best, previous studies only focused on the stakeholders’ involvement, without considering other aspects such as synergistic integration of resources and alignment of purposes. Therefore, academics should rethink their research setting and implications to provide a significant contribution by conducting studies capable of leading future development of SA in the public sector.

Armed against Unhappiness: Psychoanalytic Grammars in Buenos Aires.

Psychoanalysis has produced an ensemble of institutions, expertise, procedures, and practices for rendering the psychoanalytic subject legible and, through this, psychic life as an actionable site of intervention, dislocation, and struggle. This article examines how diverse psychoanalytic communities in Buenos Aires have produced unique grammars that influence how individuals articulate ideas about health and well-being. Descriptive, culturally specific, historically informed, and always provisional, this grammar is empirically grounded in lived experience. Through presenting several case studies, I flesh out how this grammar, as a deictic expression of/for the unconscious is deployed, reworked, and embodied in everyday interactions. I demonstrate how psychic life is enmeshed within social and political experience. In doing so, I consider how interpersonal, existential, environmental, social, and political contingencies shape divergent notions of well-being and structure desires of what it means to live "a good life."

Unravelling the internal and external drivers of digital servitization: A dynamic capabilities and contingency perspective on firm strategy

Despite the increased interest in using digital technologies for servitization purposes, little is known about what drives firms towards a digital servitization strategy. Using a dynamic capabilities lens, we look into the relationships between two organizational mechanisms – exploitation and exploration – and firms' orientation towards digitization, servitization and digital servitization. On top, we examine the influence of two environmental contingencies – technological turbulence and competitive intensity – as potential influencers of these relationships. We collected and analyzed data of 139 Belgian firms through hierarchical regressions. Exploitation and exploration are positively associated with digital servitization, but exploration trumps the effect of exploitation when firms do both. Technological turbulence is positively associated with digitization regardless of the firm's level of exploration or exploitation, and competitive intensity only relates positively with servitization when firms emphasize exploration. Theoretically, we contribute to the literature by unravelling the relationship between firms' dynamic capabilities and their environment. In order to fully understand firms' strategic transition towards digital servitization, both should be considered. As managerial implications, we suggest that firms pay close attention to adapting their strategy to fit an increasingly changing environment.

Chief marketing officer presence and firm performance: assessing conditions under which the presence of other C-level functional executives matters

This research extends understanding of the relationship between chief marketing officer (CMO) presence and firm performance by investigating how it is affected by the presence of three other functional heads (or CXOs) under various environmental and strategic contingencies. Results based on a panel of 401 U.S. manufacturers reaffirm the positive CMO presence–firm performance relationship and establish that the linkage is (a) strengthened by chief sales officer presence when industry sales volatility is high, (b) strengthened (weakened) by chief technology officer presence when industry innovation and firm differentiation (cost leadership) are high, and (c) strengthened (weakened) by chief supply chain officer presence when firm diversification (differentiation) is high. The study: expands top management team research by investigating executive dyads formed by the pairing of heads of functions advocated in the organizationally embedded view of marketing; delineates CXOs’ roles and orientations to clarify mechanisms that aid or hamper the CMO; and, identifies industry and firm-level contexts that affect the CMO–CXO interfaces. Additionally, the findings underscore the importance of appointing CMOs and, of CMOs spanning organizational silos.

Examining the Effectiveness of a Group-Based Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression among Veterans

To date, the utility of behavioral activation (BA) as a treatment for depression has been primarily demonstrated in an individual therapy format, with few empirical investigations exploring group-based delivery. In addition, little is known about the utility of such interventions within veterans, a population known to have increased rates of depression. To this end, the purpose of the proposed study was to examine the potential therapeutic benefits of BA delivered in a group-based format to an outpatient sample of veterans with a primary depressive diagnosis. The sample consisted of 32 veterans presenting for psychological services within a general mental health clinic at a large, Southeastern Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital. Depression and quality of life symptoms were measured pre- and post- delivery of the Brief Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression-Revised (BATD-R; Lejuez et al. Behavior Modification, 35(2), 111–161, 2011), a 10-session manualized protocol designed to address depressive symptoms by increasing patient contact with reinforcing environmental contingencies. Consistent with prediction, engagement in BATD-R led to reductions in depression symptoms and increases in overall life satisfaction from pre- to post-treatment. The present study provides preliminary support for the effectiveness of BATD-R delivered in a group-based format among an outpatient sample of veterans.

STRATEGIC TRANSACTIONS, INNOVATION AND INTEGRATION

ABSTRACT Different theoretical attempts were made in the past to explain and predict a firm's integration strategies which is isomorphic to the theory of the firm. Transaction cost theory was the most dominant theory until recently. However, this position has been challenged by emerging theories that were developed in adjacent academic disciplines including resource and capability-based view of the firm. This paper examined the influence of both transaction cost and resource & capability view to explain exchange governance decision for different types of transactions under two different types of innovation changes. Three different transactions, i.e., generic transaction, strategic transaction without competition, and strategic transaction under competition, are identified. In addition, two different types of innovation – exogenous and endogenous – were considered as environmental contingency. Specific propositions are made for the choice of exchange governance by considering all the types of transactions and innovations. Keywords Transaction Cost, Innovation, Strategy

Sustainable entrepreneurship, innovation, and business models: Integrative framework and propositions for future research

AbstractThis article introduces the business models for sustainability innovation (BMfSI) framework to study how business models mediate between sustainability innovations and business cases for sustainability. The BMfSI framework integrates two major perspectives (implicitly) found in the sustainable business model literature. The first is the agency perspective. It takes into consideration that some form of agency is needed, that is, “someone” who takes decisions and acts. Sustainable entrepreneurs are discussed as those agents who align their new or existing business models with sustainability innovations in order to be successful in business and to create value with and for stakeholders. The second perspective is the systems perspective, which acknowledges that business models are always embedded within sociotechnical contexts through which, for example, public policies, private financing, or stakeholder interests influence whether and how business models can be developed. The agency and systems perspectives are integrated in the so‐called business model mediation space. This theoretical notion embraces the decisions and activities pursued by sustainable entrepreneurs as they align their business models with sustainability innovations on the one hand and the influence of environmental contingencies, barriers, and stakeholders from the sociotechnical context on the other hand. The paper concludes with propositions for future research derived from the BMfSI framework.

Smart Maintenance: a research agenda for industrial maintenance management

How do modernized maintenance operations, often referred to as “Smart Maintenance”, impact the performance of manufacturing plants? This question is a pressing challenge for practitioners and scholars in industrial maintenance management, in direct response to the transition to an industrial environment with pervasive digital technologies. This paper is the second part of a two-paper series. We present an empirically grounded research agenda that reflects the heterogeneity in industrial adoption and performance of Smart Maintenance. Focus groups and interviews with more than 110 experts from over 20 different firms were used to identify contingencies, responses, and performance implications of Smart Maintenance. The findings were transformed into a contingency model, providing the basis for a research agenda consisting of five principal areas: (1) environmental contingencies; (2) institutional isomorphism; (3) implementation issues related to change, investments and interfaces; (4) the four dimensions of Smart Maintenance; and (5) performance implications at the plant and firm level. The agenda can guide the field of industrial maintenance management to move from exploratory work to confirmatory work, studying the validity of the proposed concepts as well as the magnitude and direction of their relationships. This will ultimately help scholars and practitioners answer how Smart Maintenance can impact industrial performance.

Models of Cognition and Their Applications in Behavioral Economics: A Conceptual Framework for Nudging Derived From Behavior Analysis and Relational Frame Theory.

This paper puts forward a rounder conceptual model for interpreting short- and long-term effects of choice behavior. As a further development of dual-process theory, Kahneman (2003) distinguished between intuition and reasoning, which served as the respective precursors of the cognitive processing systems 1 and 2. We maintain that they reflect the more rigorous distinction between brief and immediate and extended and elaborated relational responding, which may be reinterpreted through an analysis of their functional properties. Repertoires of relational responding are offered by the multi-dimensional multi-level model. Specifically, we provide a conceptual account of how nudging, or the manipulation of environmental contingencies, works on the creation and modification of relational framing. Educative nudges, or boosts, are a subset of nudges that may more easily maintain target choice behavior in the future. The central role of verbal behavior is essential toward formulating rules, which inform and guide choice behavior over time. Although nudges are traditionally regarded as System 1-steered aspects, they are herein regarded as cues for responding to relational frames, which may induce System 2-steered aspects. We suggest adopting the implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP) to inform how coherent and immediate responding to novel relational responding may occur in the presence of choice behavior. Several examples are included to support the claim of encompassing relational responding and choice behavior. We address the instances of consumer behavior, stereotypy and prejudices, eating behavior, and overcoming cognitive biases. The conclusions depict a promising way forward for the study of choice: an improved model for interpreting and overcoming human errors, due to changes in the contingencies of behavior.

Functional Assessment of Challenging Behavior

The purpose of this review is to evaluate recent research on functional assessment procedures to identify recent advances and best practices. Indirect assessments are the most limited form of functional assessment, but their value increases when conducted by behavior analysts rather than caregivers. Direct assessments produce more valid outcomes than indirect assessments, but do not demonstrate a functional relationship between the environmental contingencies and the behavior. Functional analysis procedures are the most rigorous and valid approaches. Recent research has evaluated functional analysis variations, such as the interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis, that are more efficient and flexible for use in a variety of settings. The implementation of a functional assessment continues to be best practice for developing effective functional interventions for challenging behavior. Indirect assessments have value for informing direct assessments and functional analyses. Using indirect assessment findings to develop functional analysis procedures can increase their efficiency while maintaining the validity of the functional assessment process.

Influence of directive and supportive leadership styles on employee job satisfaction in commercial banks in in Kenya

The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of directive and supportive leadership style on employee job satisfaction in commercial banks in Kenya. The study adopted the positivism research philosophy and descriptive correlational research design. The target population of the study was 15,030 employees in all the 43 commercial banks licensed to operate in Kenya as of June 2018. Using a stratified sampling technique, the study drew a sample size of 386 employees reporting to middle-level managers. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The results of the study showed that a directive leadership style and supportive leadership styles positively and significantly predicted employee job satisfaction. The results of the regression analysis after moderation showed that environmental contingency factors significantly moderated the relationship between path-goal leadership style and employee job satisfaction.

Reversal learning in Drosophila larvae.

Adjusting behavior to changed environmental contingencies is critical for survival, and reversal learning provides an experimental handle on such cognitive flexibility. Here, we investigate reversal learning in larval Drosophila. Using odor–taste associations, we establish olfactory reversal learning in the appetitive and the aversive domain, using either fructose as a reward or high-concentration sodium chloride as a punishment, respectively. Reversal learning is demonstrated both in differential and in absolute conditioning, in either valence domain. In differential conditioning, the animals are first trained such that an odor A is paired, for example, with the reward whereas odor B is not (A+/B); this is followed by a second training phase with reversed contingencies (A/B+). In absolute conditioning, odor B is omitted, such that the animals are first trained with paired presentations of A and reward, followed by unpaired training in the second training phase. Our results reveal “true” reversal learning in that the opposite associative effects of both the first and the second training phase are detectable after reversed-contingency training. In what is a surprisingly quick, one-trial contingency adjustment in the Drosophila larva, the present study establishes a simple and genetically easy accessible study case of cognitive flexibility.

Influence of Supportive and Directive Leadership Styles on Employee Job Satisfaction in Commercial Banks in Kenya

Abstract
 Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of supportive and directive leadership style on employee job satisfaction in commercial banks in Kenya.
 Methodology: The study adopted positivism research philosophy to guide the study and limited itself to descriptive correlational research design to analyze and provide responses to the research questions. The research design was preferred because it allows description and comparison of characteristics of populations based on data collected from samples through questionnaires. The target population of the study was 15,030 employees in all the 43 commercial banks licensed to operate in Kenya as of June 2018. Using stratified sampling technique, the study drew a sample size of 386 employees reporting to middle level managers. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, which included factor analysis, correlational analysis, chi-square, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and Windows’ Microsoft excel programs.
 Results: From the findings of multiple linear regression analysis, it was established that directive leadership style had a positive and significant relationship with employee job satisfaction, R2 = .228, F(1, 362) = 53.396, p < .05; β = .454, p < .05. The results from multiple linear regression analysis also showed that supportive leadership style positively and significantly predicted employee job satisfaction, R2 = .603, F(1, 366) = 278.269, p < .05; β = .716, p < .05. In addition, the study tested the moderating influence of environmental contingency factors and was confirmed that environmental contingency factors significantly moderated the relationship between path-goal leadership style and employee job satisfaction, R2=0.090, F(5,364) = 35.04, p < .05; β= 0.229, p<.05.
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study makes a contribution to the literature of the influence of directive and supportive leadership styles from Kenyan commercial banks’ perspective and adds an impetus to employees, management and policymakers to address issues that are impeding employee job satisfaction. The future researchers should include all bank employees in their study to determine the influence of directive leadership style and supportive leadership style on employee job satisfaction.

Environmental orientation, sustainable behaviour at the firm-market interface and performance

Abstract This study aims to enrich sustainability research and practice by being the first study to systematically review empirical studies from the past ten years on how corporate-level environmental orientation influences environmental marketing and firm performance and improves the understanding of the roles of environmental contingencies. A review of the extant literature describes how the investigation of this field has evolved over the past ten years, provides a managerially relevant meta-framework of variables based on previous studies and suggests areas for future research. Structural equation modelling of cross-sectional survey data from 296 firms in Hungary shows that the environmental orientation of the firm is an important driver of environmental marketing, which in turn, has a weak, positive effect on performance. Environmental contingencies have more influence on how firms profit from environmental marketing initiatives than on how firm-level environmental attitudes and visions translate into behaviour. Stringent environmental regulations and the environmental orientation of competitors reinforce the profit outcomes of environmental marketing, while the environmental norms of customers and the natural environment do not influence this effect. This study concludes with important sustainability implications for policy makers and managers.

Effect of new product alliances on building cross-functional capability: cross-fertilisation or cannibalisation?

ABSTRACTThe extant literature has focused mainly on how establishing alliances helps firms develop their capabilities within focal functional areas, while paying limited attention to the cross-functional effects of alliances. Drawing on the knowledge-spillover literature and resource-dependence theory, this study investigates the effects of new product development (NPD) alliances on building cross-functional capabilities, testing the influences of important organisational, strategic, and environmental contingencies. Based on survey data collected from 212 Chinese firms, the findings reveal that, for resource-abundant firms, R&D-focused NPD alliances have cross-functional fertilisation effects on marketing capabilities; whereas for resource-constrained or highly innovative firms such alliances cannibalise marketing capabilities; in dynamic markets, marketing-focused NPD alliances cross-fertilise technological capabilities, but such an effect is weaker in firms adopting a highly incremental innovation orientation. Overall, this study sheds new light on how NPD alliances affect cross-functional capabilities under important contingencies.

Strategic orientations and performance of young ventures

PurposeConsidering that entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and market orientation (MO) are antecedents of firm performance, and that technological turbulence (TT) and competitive intensity (CI) are present in different degrees in the business environment, the purpose of this paper is to address the following question in the context of young ventures: What is the contingent effect of TT and CI on MO–performance and EO–performance relationships?Design/methodology/approachThis paper follows a deductive research approach. First, the literature on strategic orientation, opportunities, and dynamic capabilities (DCs) view are reviewed to formulate hypotheses. Then moderated hierarchical regression analysis is used on data collected from entrepreneurs/top managers of a multi-country (India and the UK) sample of young ventures.FindingsThe results of this study provide empirical evidence to the argument that both EO and MO, when looked from the universal approach, positively affect young ventures’ performance. The results show that young venture should consider environmental contingencies while choosing a strategic orientation. For resource-starved young ventures, EO is beneficial when the environment is intensely competitive, and MO is advantageous when the environment is technologically turbulent.Originality/valueThis study relies on the literature on opportunities and DCs view to arrive at hypotheses specific to young ventures. The paper empirically tests the assertions, finds support for the majority of them and reports unbiased estimates of the coefficients. It also clarifies the contrary observation made by some researchers in their study of orientation–performance relationship.

Glucocorticoid-sensitive ventral hippocampal-orbitofrontal cortical connections support goal-directed action – Curt Richter Award Paper 2019

In an ever-changing and often ambiguous environment, organisms must use previously learned associations between antecedents and outcomes to predict future associations and make optimal choices. Chronic stress can impair one’s ability to flexibly adjust behaviors when environmental contingencies change, particularly in cases of early-life stress. In mice, exposure to elevated levels of the primary stress hormone, corticosterone (CORT), during early adolescence is sufficient to impair response-outcome decision making later in life, biasing response strategies towards inflexible habits. Nevertheless, neurobiological mechanisms are still being defined. Here, we report that exposure to excess CORT in adolescence causes a loss of dendritic spines on excitatory pyramidal neurons in the lateral, but not medial, orbital prefrontal cortex (loPFC) of mice, and spine loss correlates with the severity of habit biases in adulthood. Excess CORT also reduces the presence of ventral hippocampal (vHC) axon terminals in the loPFC. To identify functional consequences, we inactivated vHC→loPFC projections in typical healthy mice during a period when mice must update response-outcome expectations to optimally acquire food reinforcers. Inactivation impaired the animals’ subsequent ability to sustainably choose actions based on likely outcomes, causing them to defer to habit-based response strategies. Thus, vHC→loPFC projections are necessary for response-outcome expectancy updating and a target of excess glucocorticoids during early-life development. Their degradation is likely involved in long-term biases towards habit-based behaviors following glucocorticoid excess in adolescence.

Influence Of Supportive And Directive Leadership Styles On Employee Job Satisfaction In Commercial Banks In Kenya

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of supportive and directive leadership style on employee job satisfaction in commercial banks in Kenya. The study adopted positivism research philosophy to guide the study and limited itself to descriptive correlational research design to analyze and provide responses to the research questions. The research design was preferred because it allows description and comparison of characteristics of populations based on data collected from samples through questionnaires. The target population of the study was 15,030 employees in all the 43 commercial banks licensed to operate in Kenya as of June 2018. Using stratified sampling technique, the study drew a sample size of 386 employees reporting to middle level managers. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, which included factor analysis, correlational analysis, chi-square, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and Windows’ Microsoft excel programs.From the findings of multiple linear regression analysis, it was established that directive leadership style had a positive and significant relationship with employee job satisfaction, R2 = .228, F(1, 362) = 53.396, p < .05; β = .454, p < .05. The results from multiple linear regression analysis also showed that supportive leadership style positively and significantly predicted employee job satisfaction, R2 = .603, F(1, 366) = 278.269, p < .05; β = .716, p < .05. In addition, the study tested the moderating influence of environmental contingency factors and was confirmed that environmental contingency factors significantly moderated the relationship between path-goal leadership style and employee job satisfaction, R2=0.090, F(5,364) = 35.04, p < .05; β= 0.229, p<.05.The study makes a contribution to the literature of the influence of directive and supportive leadership styles from Kenyan commercial banks’ perspective and adds an impetus to employees, management and policymakers to address issues that are impeding employee job satisfaction. The future researchers should include all bank employees in their study to determine the influence of directive leadership style and supportive leadership style on employee job satisfaction.