General Management Literature Research Articles

The openness of open innovation in ecosystems – Integrating innovation and management literature on knowledge linkages

Open innovation has rendered increased interest both in practice and research, and has expanded from dyadic transfers of ideas, to ecosystem levels. Knowledge is at the heart of open innovation, and this paper describes and discusses knowledge-transfer linkages for open innovation. It does so based on a literature review. The paper links together open innovation research with general management research to categorise and discuss linkages among parties in terms of their openness and how they relate to knowledge management. Conclusions indicate that openness needs to be considered in different dimensions that also links to different knowledge management outcomes. The paper's contribution consists of how it connects open innovation research to the general management literature, and how it builds a practical understanding of how linkages between firms can be categorised to aid firms to consider which mechanisms they may choose and why.

Mitigating agency risk between investors and ventures’ managers

The general management literature has long focused on the agency risks involved in the relationship between general managers and shareholders. Shareholders can deploy contractual and noncontractual mechanisms to reduce these inefficiencies. This study examines—based on a broad international sample of investment contracts—how the use of contractual and noncontractual mechanisms is related to the degree of risks associated with the venture’s development stage as well as how these practices differ across countries. Hypotheses are tested using a proprietary data set of 265 hand-collected investment contracts associated with ventures in the United States, Israel, and nine European countries. Findings suggest that the use of mitigating contractual and noncontractual mechanisms is related to the degree of agency risks and that these practices vary across countries. This study draws implications for how investors can best deploy their capital in different institutional settings while nurturing their relationships with managers and entrepreneurs.

GENDERING DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES IN MICRO FIRMS

ABSTRACT Gender issues are well-researched in the general management literature, particular in studies on new ventures. Unfortunately, gender issues have been largely ignored in the dynamic capabilities literature. We address this gap by analyzing the effects of gender diversity on dynamic capabilities among micro firms. We consider the gender of managers and personnel in 124 Ukrainian tourism micro firms. We examine how a manager's gender affects the firm's sensing capacities and investigate how it moderates team gender diversity's impact on sensing capacities. We also investigate how personnel composition impacts seizing and reconfiguration capacities. We find that female managers have several shortcomings concerning a firm's sensing capacity but that personnel gender diversity increases this capacity. Team gender diversity has positive effects on a firm's seizing and reconfiguration abilities. Our study advances research on gender diversity and its impact on firm capabilities and illustrates its relevance for staffing practices in micro firms.

Corporate social responsibility: reviewed, rated, revised

PurposeThis paper is a critical literature review of corporate social responsibility (CSR) research in both general management and hospitality management literature. This paper aims to discuss trends, commonalities and inconsistencies to better understand the state of contemporary scholarship, and it calls for a context-specific conceptual engagement with the phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachSystematic literature review, noting and critiquing a general tendency towards measurement of financial and other internal benefit impacts.FindingsHospitality management is well-positioned to evaluate the opportunities and challenges of CSR; yet, research has uncritically adopted the instrumental emphasis on assessing processes, perceptions and private profitability from the general management literature, without engaging on a contextually specific and/or theoretical level.Research limitations/implicationsCSR research is abundant and therefore difficult to summarise in one paper. The primarily Anglo-American and Asian contextual bias is reflected in this review.Practical implicationsConsistently inconsistent results challenge the portability of financial impact studies. Studies are needed to re-evaluate the concept of CSR, as it pertains to hospitality and measure the effectiveness of CSR activities relative to context and resource availability.Social implicationsFurther research into the scope of CSR in hospitality management, with an emphasis on recuperating social value, would lead to widespread positive social implications.Originality/valueThis critical review offers a new perspective on CSR in the hospitality literature and industry, calling for a reconsideration of the concept in context, and formulates a working definition.

Diversity management research in hospitality and tourism: past, present and future

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a review of diversity management research published in hospitality and tourism-specific and business discipline-based journals. The study objectives include attempting to assess the progress of diversity management research in hospitality and tourism, identifying gaps between the general business diversity management literature and the hospitality and tourism literature and providing hospitality and tourism scholars with suggestions to advance knowledge in diversity management.Design/methodology/approachThe study is a critical review of the existing diversity management literature in the general business and hospitality and tourism disciplines in an attempt to identify gaps and make suggestions for expanding this knowledge in the hospitality and tourism fields.FindingsThere are significant gaps between the diversity management scholarship conducted in hospitality and tourism disciplines and the general business field. Diversity management research in general business is far more in-depth and uses sociological and social psychological theoretical frameworks.Research limitations/implicationsThere are lessons to be learned from the general business literature that uses strong theoretical foundations deeply grounded in sociological, psychological, social-psychological and management theories. The general management literature also explores the conditions under which diversity management adds value or creates challenges for organizations.Practical implicationsThe hospitality and tourism industry has employed large numbers of ethnic minorities, women and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community for decades. As such, it is critical that scholars explore the implications of such a diverse workforce not only on organizational outcomes, but also on individual and group performance. The general business diversity management research suggests that workgroup composition can influence individual and group performance, as well as the quality of co-worker relationships. Given the team-oriented, interdependent nature of work in the hospitality and tourism industry, it is imperative that researchers conduct studies that help practitioners understand the most effective perspectives and approaches to diversity management.Social implicationsThe critical literature review demonstrated that there is extremely scarce research on diversity management focusing on employees with disabilities. It is imperative to shed more light on best diversity management practices, workplace etiquette of this under-represented group of employees and their interaction with their co-workers.Originality/valueThis study’s results provide insight into areas of exploration that can significantly enhance the scholarship on diversity management in the hospitality and tourism literature.

When public services fail: a research agenda on public service failure

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on public service failure and develop a research agenda for studying public service failure alongside private service failure. The general services management literature has devoted relatively little attention to public services, whereas developments in the private service management literature have not reached public management. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper drawing on the public management literature. Different failure types and causes are discussed, including service failures that are specific to public sector settings. This is linked to the specific public context within which public services operate. Customer reactions to public service failure are then introduced, as well as service recovery. Findings Service failures in a public and a private context are different. There are different failure types and different standards of failure. Public management literature mainly studies collective and political reactions to service failure, whereas the private service management literature tends to focus on individual reactions. Finally, attention for service recovery was found to be very limited in the public services literature. Social implications Studying public service failure is important because failure can have dramatic consequences for customers, public organisations, and society. Social inequalities that arise as a result of public service failure need to have a prominent role in future research. Originality/value This paper develops the concept of public service failure and sets a novel research agenda for studying processes, causes, and consequences of such failure, as well as public-private differences.

The Whitbread Umbrella: A Structural Response to Shareholder Activism

This article investigates a structural ownership model that is used to protect firms from unwelcome capital market intrusion: a multiple-share arrangement. It details the evolution of one of the United Kingdom’s most successful former family firms, Whitbread, in the post-World War II era. In investigating the formation and operation of the so-called Whitbread Umbrella, the study poses the question of whether it was a positive factor in long-term strategic decision making at Whitbread. The emerging popularity of multiple-share ownership structures in the United States, as well as their endurance in other jurisdictions, positions this historic analysis in wider debates on structure, ownership, and corporate governance in the finance, economics, and general management literature.

Scientific Review of Literature Pertaining to Women in Management: With Special Reference to Management Styles and Managerial Effectiveness

The structure of the workplace is undergoing dramatic changes in the 2000s. The current trend towards change-an increasing number of women in the workplace, especially those visible in managerial position. The traditional hierarchical structure associated with male-dominated management ranks is inadequate to accommodate properly this trend. The growing impact of women in the workforce has kept the leadership style and managerial effectiveness of women on the research agenda. Reviews some of the current thinking on women and leadership, drawing on general management literature. Looks at alternative management structure theories which support the view of a genderless management structure. Conclude with a synopsis of some of the factors that may account for differences in leadership styles and managerial effectiveness. Recommends that managers should begin to adopt an nontraditional management style which will not only foster a blend of so-called masculine and feminine behaviors, but also lead to better leaders. Wayamba Journal of Management 2013 4(1): 11-21

Managing the development of e-ID in a public e-service context

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse and understand the contemporary management of electronic identification (e-ID) development to: identify and formulate challenges and reflect upon the use of a combination of perspectives. To generate knowledge on this issue, we investigate e-ID development in Sweden from: an e-government systems development lifecycle perspective and a project challenge and critical success factor (CSF) perspective.Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative case study covering an analysis of the three years in a larger project focusing e-ID in a public e-service setting. Empirical sources have been face-to-face interviews; official documents and different kind of forums for presentations and discussions in, for example, hearings arranged by authorities; meetings with the coordinating agency, and practitioners’ networks events.FindingsThis study concludes that there are significant challenges involved in managing e-ID development because of its contextual and integrated character. Challenges involve the organization and management of the program and can be traced back to e-government, general project management literature and theory on path dependency. Based on this study, we can question, e.g. governance models, centralization and a narrow focus on the technical artefact. Our study is also an illustration of a possible way to analyse e-ID within an e-government initiative.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study shows that an e-ID can be considered as a back office-enabler for launching e-services, but also highlights the need for management of the artefact as an integral part of e-service development because it is intertwined with the use of e-services from a user perspective. This aspect together with the insights related to challenges and success factors including path dependency provides implications for future practice of e-ID management and development in particular and information systems artefact development in general.Originality/valueThis paper addresses challenges related to the development of e-ID in a public e-service setting. Few studies have theoretically combined a lifecycle perspective on challenges and success factors related to e-ID development while also focusing different dimensions of path dependency as an example of a challenging area within a program frame. Studying e-ID as a contemporary phenomenon from a contextual perspective in line with sociomaterial thinking – with a focus on the interplay between technology and people –can also help us to understand and discuss artefact development in general.

Bridging Mechanisms for Multilevel Learning in Organizational and Project-based Contexts

The organizational learning literature recognizes that learning is a dynamic and multilevel phenomenon that occurs across individual, team and organizational levels. Existing literature begins to identify linking mechanisms between the levels, but the research explaining how these mechanisms operate to influence multilevel learning remains scarce. This paper systematically brings together the research on multilevel learning and focuses on explaining the process of learning through the role of bridging mechanisms, identified in the literature, influencing learning paths of interactions between the levels. We investigate this phenomenon in the context of project-based organizations due to their temporal and structural learning challenges, but also refer to the general management literature. Future research directions are proposed for scholars who wish to further contribute to this important and growing field.

Job Satisfaction and Regime Change: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

ABSTRACTLittle is known about the effects of regime change on government workers’ job satisfaction. Conventional theories of work satisfaction have identified various individual or organizational antecedents of public employees’ well-being in many different contexts. In this study, we add an additional level of analysis to the study of job satisfaction. The German reunification in 1990 constitutes a natural experiment where public employees’ institutional work environment changed dramatically. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we show that, after the reunification, East German public employees who stayed in their jobs experienced a “satisfaction shock” by substantially decreasing their levels of job satisfaction. This finding is in line with what has been labelled as “survivor syndrome” in the general management literature. We also find that, after three years’ time, differences in satisfaction levels between East and West Germans reverted to pre-reunion levels. These findings are robust to various model specifications and alternative estimators. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

Understanding the divide between the theory and practice of organisational change

This paper reviews the different ways that academics and practitioners write about and discuss change management, to develop an understanding of whether there is a divide between the theory and practice of change management. This research used scientometric research techniques to compare three corpora: one based on the most cited research in the general management literature on change management; one based on the most cited research in specialist change management journals; and one based on interviews with practising change managers.It was found that the general management literature emphasised an abstract understanding of knowledge management and the learning organisation, while the change management literature focused more on issues associated with value, culture and social identity. The practitioners emphasised issues at the individual, project and team levels, the need for the effective use of targeted communication to achieve organisational change objectives, and the value of rapidly identifying key drivers in a new context. This research found significant differences between these three corpora, which lends support to other researchers’ claims of a divide between theory and practice in change management.

Absence of malice: a meta-analysis of nonresponse bias in counterproductive work behavior research.

Despite the alleged frequency of counterproductive work behavior (CWB) in the population, most samples exhibit exceedingly low base rates. One potential explanation for this incongruence is nonresponse bias, which leads to range restriction in the CWB distribution. We investigated this possibility by determining whether response rates within CWB research were lower than that found across management research and whether range restriction could explain reduced CWB engagement. We also examined whether range restriction attenuated CWB's relations to other variables. Our primary findings are that reported response rates for studies containing CWB measures are substantially lower (37%) than response rates reported within the general management literature (53%) and that range restriction is likely present in the CWB literature, resulting in low base rates and attenuated relations to CWB. In addition, tests of publication bias indicated that low response rates are less likely to be reported, and the true response rate within the CWB literature may be considerably lower.

Construction Project Leadership from the Perspective of Islam

It is commonly agreed in literature that leadership is the most critical factor in the success or failure of an organisation or institution (Bass 1990). It is subject that has long excited interest among people (Tirmizi 2002) and will continue to spark discussion, research and debates. Also, literature indicates, both leaders and managers, especially at the top management level, are keys to the success or failure of an organisation or business (Dahlena 2013). Effective leadership influences a group or organisation to achieve successfully and meet its goal and objectives (Osman & Shuhaimi 2012). The leadership acts as an extra ingredient to the sum of efforts of many people and help the organisation to achieve or accomplish more than the normal achievement (Hitt et al. 2005; Osman & Shuhaimi 2012). Thus, leadership is the energiser needed for people working a group or organisation, to get them motivated and moving effectively to achieve goals and eventually to achieve success, which management skills alone will be able to provide.The study of project leadership is not new also in project management. Leadership is of fundamental importance to effective management of construction projects, independent of size, sector or location (Dainty et al. 2005; Bogus & Rounds 2006) and therefore, leadership is important at all levels of construction administration from field supervision to company management (Bogus & Rounds 2006). The importance of leadership for the overall project execution and eventually leading to project success is increasingly recognised in the project management literature. For example, Skipper and Bell (2006) state that the need for improved leadership skills in the construction industry is gaining recognition as an important issue and has attracted much recent attention. Limsila and Ogunlana (2008) state that effective leadership is essential for construction projects. Leadership is widely accepted as one of critical factors in determining the success or failure of a project (Amason et al. 2007).Project managers are key players in projects and construction industry, and much of the fate of projects lies in their hands and rest on their shoulders. Their interpersonal skills and leadership in addition to the project management technical competencies will ensure smooth running of projects towards achieving its designated goals and success. The role of project manager is primarily to provide leadership to the entire project team from inception to completion to achieve project objectives and eventually project success (Zarina et al. 2012). In similar view, Gharehbaghi & McManus (2003) point out that a major task of the project manager is to provide effective leadership throughout the life of a construction project leadership. The project manager's ability to successfully lead a team and achieve goals is and will always be critical to the success of a project (Hyvari 2006). Literature and research in project management that suggest the practice of transformational leadership for project manager in construction projects is found to be enormous. Example of previous research on transformational leadership for project manager in project environment have been conducted by the following authors in their published research; Barber and Warn (2005), Keegan and Den Hartog (2004), Davis (2008), Prabhakar (2005) and Murugesan (2012). Dyett (2011) in her doctoral research has stated that many state of the art studies on project leadership have been on transformational model of leadership. Keegan & Den Hartog (2004) state that most of the current works and studies on leadership in both general management and project management literature have shown a great emphasis on the importance of transformational leadership. Barber & Warn (2005) and Murugesan (2012) suggest that to be effective, project manager need to exhibit both transactional and transformational leadership style. Davis (2008) state that the study of transformational leadership is pertinent in project management and strong empirical data were presented in the literature review that transformational leadership is an effective leadership style in various settings. …

The Consequences of Culture in International Business: A Long Overdue Commentary

It has been observed that “culture”―note the inverted commas―”is said to be one of the two or three most complex words in the English language” (Eagleton, 2000: 1). Despite Raymond Williams’ admonishment―“culture is ordinary” (Williams, 1958; see also Williams 1976, 1981)―over the years the general international business (IB) literature has been awash with definitions of this troublesome term. The dominant one in the general management literature is that of the Dutch scholar, Geert Hofstede, which by now must be as famous for its lasting power as for its content. In this contribution I am going to overwhelmingly confine the discussion about the influence of Hofstede to the academic discipline of cross-cultural management, which we might term the specialist sub-division of IB for leading―let us hope―the latest thinking about culture in the context of international business endeavour.1

Readiness factors for lean implementation in healthcare settings--a literature review.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the readiness factors that are critical to the application and success of lean operating principles in healthcare organizations through a review of relevant literature. A comprehensive review of literature focussing on lean and lean healthcare was conducted. Leadership, organizational culture, communication, training, measurement, and reward systems are all commonly attributed readiness factors throughout general change management and lean literature. However, directly related to the successful implementation of lean in healthcare is that a setting is able to authorize a decentralized management style and undertake an end-to-end process view. These can be particularly difficult initiatives for complex organizations such as healthcare settings. The readiness factors identified are based on a review of the published literature. The external validity of the findings could be enhanced if tested using an empirical study. The readiness factors identified will enable healthcare practitioners to be better prepared as they begin their lean journeys. Sustainability of the lean initiative will be at stake if these readiness factors are not addressed. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first paper that provides a consolidated list of key lean readiness factors that can guide practice, as well as future theory and empirical research.

Are public–private partnerships a healthy option? A systematic literature review

Governments around the world, but especially in Europe, have increasingly used private sector involvement in developing, financing and providing public health infrastructure and service delivery through public–private partnerships (PPPs). Reasons for this uptake are manifold ranging from rising expenditures for refurbishing, maintaining and operating public assets, and increasing constraints on government budgets stifle, seeking innovation through private sector acumen and aiming for better risk management. Although PPPs have attracted practitioner and academic interest over the last two decades, there has been no attempt to integrate the general and health management literature to provide a holistic view of PPPs in healthcare delivery. This study analyzes over 1400 publications from a wide range of disciplines over a 20-year time period. We find that despite the scale and significance of the phenomenon, there is relatively limited conceptualization and in-depth empirical investigation. Based on bibliographic and content analyses, we synthesize formerly dispersed research perspectives into a comprehensive multi-dimensional framework of public-private partnerships. In so doing, we provide new directions for further research and practice.

Multi-plant improvement programmes: a literature review and research agenda

Purpose– To advance the productivity of all plants in the network, multinational corporations develop and deploy multi-plant improvement programmes. In this paper, the authors systematically review and synthesise the emerging literature on multi-plant improvement programmes. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– Through a systematic manual search, the authors examine 15 top journals from operations management, general management and international business literature in the time span between 1998 and 2011.Findings– The authors found 30 papers that specifically deal with operational improvement programmes in a multi-plant international setting, of which only nine take a headquarter perspective. This low number contrasts sharply with the magnitude and importance of such programmes in industry. The authors discuss key dimensions that explain how multi-plant improvement programmes result in the adopting, adapting, acting or avoiding of programme practices in subsidiaries and propose a related research agenda.Research limitations/implications– The authors affirm that a new field is in the making, withIJOPMas the leading professional journal. Further empirical research is called for, but particular methodological caution must be paid to the phenomenon of acting in subsidiaries.Originality/value– No coherent stream of research has addressed multi-plant improvement programmes. This paper represents a focused review that supports the further development of the field.

The Effect of Family Business Professionalization as a Multidimensional Construct on Firm Performance

In family business literature, business professionalization is often simplified into a binary characteristic, that is, the presence of a nonfamily manager. We contend that other professionalization features, which may act simultaneously, can influence firm performance. This study addresses professionalization as a multidimensional construct, as intended by general management literature, and assesses the impact on business performance based on these underlying dimensions. Using a representative sample of 523 private elgian family businesses, we identify five different dimensions of the professionalization construct by means of an exploratory factor analysis. Further regression results revealed significant positive effects of increasing nonfamily involvement, implementing human resource control systems, and/or decentralizing authority on firm performance. However, nonfamily involvement only seems to improve firm performance if there is sufficient decentralization of authority and an average or even low amount of formal financial control systems.

Managing intragroup conflicts in construction project teams: case studies in Sri Lanka

Conflict is intrinsic to individuals, teams and organisations. Due to the unique and complex nature with various parties, conflict is inevitable in most construction projects. According to the general management literature, three distinct types of intragroup conflicts can be identified: task, process and relationship conflicts. However, very little consideration has been given in the literature addressing the three types individually in a construction project team setting. Therefore, this study has explored the existence of types of intragroup conflicts and their management in this context. This research was approached through case studies of six construction projects, which were operating under the traditional procurement method in Sri Lanka. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three distinct participants from each team. The findings revealed that both process and relationship conflicts offer disruptive effects to construction projects and teams, while task conflicts offer positive effects when they exist at low levels. Based on the most critical sources identified within the cases, suggestions are offered here to construction project team managers on how to manage intergroup conflicts proactively. Since the research is based on six case studies on traditional procurement arrangement in Sri Lanka, further research is required to generalise the findings across different contexts.