Organization Theory Literature Research Articles

Measure Twice, Cut Once: Unit Profitability, Scalability, and the Exceptional Growth of New Firms

By studying three promising venture pairs with different business models in different nascent markets, we explore how some new firms grow into mature firms and some promising peers do not. The successful firms first use a learning process that begins with (1) focused attention on unit profitability (not growth), then broad (not narrow) learning, and finally active delay (not acceleration) of growth. They then use a capability-building process that (2) shifts to focused attention on unit-profitable growth, then makes long-term investments in profit-oriented capabilities, and finally leverages these capabilities into new products. In contrast, peers with focused attention on growth ironically fail to achieve it. Broadly, we contribute a process theory of exceptional growth that fills the gap between the growth of new firms in the entrepreneurship literature and the growth of mature firms in the strategy and organization theory literatures. Further, we add the importance of learning content—not just learning processes—to the entrepreneurship literature on new firm growth and a rare, novel, and grounded account of the origin of capabilities to the strategy literature on the resource-based view and mature firm growth. Finally, we add to practice the significance of product–market–profit fit and a precise definition of premature scaling. Funding: This work was supported by the Strategy Research Foundation [Grant SRF-2018-DP-9167].

Fostering employee autonomy through rewards: a self-determination theory perspective

Purpose This paper aims to explain and determine the effect of rewards on employees’ autonomy by investigating the mediating effect of enabling controls on their relationship. Design/methodology/approach A three-wave survey strategy has been used to collect data from the alumni of a French business school. Structural equation modelling has been used for measures validating and hypotheses testing. Findings The study reveals a positive relationship between rewards and autonomy, mediated by enabling controls. Practical implications The study guides the process of administrating rewards to employees in a way that maximizes their autonomy, highlighting the crucial role of supervisors through enabling controls. Originality/value The study strives to create consensus regarding the long-existing debate on the effect of rewards on employees’ autonomy with the help of organizational theory literature. By considering the role of enabling controls, it provides a unique, cohesive framework to illustrate the intertwined relationship between the constructs.

Managing the threat of decoupling in the U.S. affordable housing industry

AbstractDecoupling, or the practice of communicating different organizational values and goals than those rigorously pursued, is a concept discussed in the organization theory literature. Organizations engage in it when their legitimacy hinges on obtaining the support of stakeholders with disparate interests, and they attempt to appease some stakeholders with words and others with actions. One problem with decoupling is that it can lead organizations to operate in ways that are not reflective of their stated missions. With this concern in mind, the analysis presented here explores the prevalence of decoupling in the U.S. affordable housing industry and considers how, when, and why it occurs, and to what effect. Thematic analysis of interview data collected from industry practitioners suggests decoupling is common, comes in multiple forms, and must be effectively managed if municipal governments hope to partner with for-profit and nonprofit affordable housing providers to achieve their social policy goals.

Research on performance feedback path under the influence of organizational restructuring

In diverse and changing environments, organizations often need to reorganize their teams in order to adapt to market changes, improve performance and promote innovation. Team restructuring involves the merging, realignment, or reorganization of different departments or teams, usually accompanied by reassignment of personnel, changes in roles, and new job requirements. The innovation and organizational theory literatures argue that implementing radical innovation can be facilitated or hindered by the organization’s structural design (Abraham YNahm, 2003), a process in which the integration of elements and performance feedback become crucial factors that affect the success of the team and employee satisfaction. team success and employee satisfaction. Specialization, formalization, informal social relations and link mechanisms have positive significant effects on innovation capability (Mohammad Iranmanesh, 2021) The purpose of this paper is to analyze the feedback paths of factor integration and performance outputs of reorganized teams in the hope of providing a multifactorial theoretical support for reorganized teams and finding positive feedbacks of performance outputs.

What drives solo and team startups at European universities? The interactive role of entrepreneurial climate, gender, and entrepreneurship course participation

ABSTRACT Student entrepreneurship can take the form of solo or team efforts. While a positive and supportive university context is likely to increase entrepreneurial activities in general, it is unclear whether this effect is equally strong on both forms of entrepreneurship and for all types of students. Focusing on students embedded in universities, we study the entrepreneurial climate of universities and its combined effects with gender and entrepreneurship education on solo and team entrepreneurship. Drawing from organizational theory and team formation literature, we hypothesize that a positive entrepreneurial climate stimulates both, solo and team entrepreneurship. Yet, we argue that this effect is contingent on individuals’ intrinsic preferences for independence or growth which may differ by gender and entrepreneurship course participation. We test our hypotheses by means of a multilevel and longitudinal research design, using a large international dataset on student entrepreneurs (GUESSS). We find that a positive entrepreneurial climate indeed fosters solo and team startups of students, with gender and entrepreneurship education having an interactive effect. Our results suggest that a positive climate leads to more solo startups of women and more team startups of men. We contribute to a better understanding of student entrepreneurship and, specifically, the formation of solo and team startups. Our results elucidate the hitherto overlooked person-context dynamics and help explain why a supportive university context can unintentionally widen the gender gap in team startups.

Configuring International Growth of Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises: A Compositional Springboarding View in the Context of India

AbstractThe rapid international growth of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) has become widely researched in the international management field. The compositional springboarding view (CSV) provides a theoretical understanding of amalgamation‐ambidexterity‐adaptability elements that impact EMNEs' internationalization. Here we utilize the CSV to conduct a configurational analysis of factors explaining Indian firms' rapid international growth. Using fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of a survey‐archival data set matched with a sample of listed manufacturing firms from India, we identify five configurational solutions for Indian multinational enterprises (MNEs) to achieve international growth. We further develop a taxonomy of Indian MNEs' CSV configurations supporting rapid international growth that we name as amalgamator, adapter, augmentor, explorer, and springboarder. Through the configurational approach, we extend the EMNE literature in the international management field by exploring the efficacy and complementarity of compositional springboarding factors that enable Indian MNEs' rapid international growth. We also contribute to the organization theory and strategy literatures by addressing the tension alleviation between reconfiguring existing resources and creating new ones. Our theoretical extension opens new opportunities for CSV to guide strategic analyses across various resource reuse and creation scenarios.

CEO overpower and stock price crash risk: Evidence from family businesses in Vietnam

We examine how powerful CEOs affect stock price crash risk. We focus on family businesses in Vietnam because they contribute 25% of the national GDP. This study employs the Ordinary Least Squares and Fixed Effect Models and dynamic system Generalized Method of Moments to analyze a balanced panel of 983 annual observations of listed family businesses from 2005 to 2020. Our findings indicate that family businesses with CEO duality have about 60% higher crash risk than firms without CEO duality. However, higher CEO ownership reduces the stock price crash risk in the family businesses. The findings are robust after enacting the Law on Enterprises in Vietnam. Our findings align with agency theory, managerial power theory, information asymmetry theory, organizational theory, and prior literature. Our study contributes practical corporate governance implications for managing stock price crash risk in family businesses.

A Dynamic Perspective on Collaborative Innovation for Smart City Development: The role of uncertainty, governance, and institutional logics

Collaborative innovation is at the heart of smart city development, yet also notoriously challenging due to fundamental differences between public and private sector actors that need to collaborate, while dealing with high levels of uncertainty. Whereas existing practice-based work on collaborative innovation describes various relevant antecedents, barriers and success factors, this prior work potentially underestimates the true complexity of collaborative innovation initiatives. Therefore, scholars have increasingly called for a more dynamic, theoretical understanding of collaborative innovation. In response to these calls, our study draws on institutional theory to build a dynamic understanding of collaborative innovation for smart city development. Specifically, we conduct a longitudinal in-depth case study to develop a causal loop model, grounded in rich qualitative data, to capture and theorize the key behavioural patterns of a collaborative innovation initiative for smart city development. The model describes how the dynamic interplay between uncertainty, adherence to own institutional logics and governance complexity can both enable and undermine collaborative initiatives. We contribute by developing a dynamic theoretical perspective on collaborative innovation, one that promotes cross-fertilization at the intersection of the smart city theory, organization theory and collaborative innovation literature. Moreover, our findings highlight the important role of organization theory, specifically institutional logics, in explaining the collaborative dynamics of smart city development.

Democratic Stakeholder Representativeness

Abstract Stakeholder theory has been advocating the inclusion of affected parties in organizational processes to increase the legitimacy and effectiveness of organizational governance. However, organizations can fail to achieve these objectives if there is no systematic link between stakeholders and their constituency. Based on democratic notions of representation, we argue that democratic stakeholder representativeness is an essential virtue of stakeholder governance processes. We conceptually derive authorization and accountability as normative elements of stakeholder representativeness and operationalize the construct by proposing empirical indicators of stakeholder representativeness as well as procedural guidance on their adoption in a practical governance context. By doing so, we contribute to the advancement of practical stakeholder governance as well as to the public management and organizational theory literature by specifying and operationalizing a construct that had previously been only vaguely defined.

PANDEMİ NEDENİYLE YÜRÜTÜLEN ACİL UZAKTAN ÖĞRETİM SÜRECİNİN ARDINDAN ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARINDA DEĞİŞİM YORGUNLUĞUNUN İNCELENMESİ

Education has gone through rapid changes during the emergency remote teaching period resulting by the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes, in part, have been associated with educational institutions attempting to implement a viable solution to the problem of distance education. Although organizational management theory literature suggests that great change in very little time results in a detrimental psychological phenomenon called change fatigue in employees and that this phenomenon has even been investigated in the context of teaching staff in the past; there have been no attempt at understanding change fatigue from a student perspective. This quantitative study attempts at proposing a structural equation model towards the understanding of how change fatigue and other variables, namely, digital literacy, online learning attitude and school alienation that might have been influenced by it have affected teacher candidates after resuming face-to-face education followed by a 1.5 year of emergency remote teaching period. Results indicated that change fatigue predicts school alienation and yet; does not predict online learning attitude; hinting that there might be another category of alienating organizational change that universities have gone through that does not solely involve online education. Nevertheless, digital literacy is a beneficial skill for all students that helps bolster online learning attitude and reduce overall school alienation.

THE EFFECTS OF ISLAMIC MICROFINANCING, HUMAN CAPITAL AND ICT USAGE ON WOMEN MICRO-ENTREPRENEURS’ PERFORMANCE IN MALAYSIA

This study examines the influences of Islamic microfinancing, human capital development, and information and communication technology (ICT) usage on the performance of Malaysian women micro-entrepreneurs funded by an Islamic microfinance institution (IMFI). It considers Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) as the study setting and adopts a quantitative approach involving 120 women micro-entrepreneurs. The questionnaire was distributed to women micro-entrepreneurs in Selangor state employing a convenience sampling method. The model was analysed utilising the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that Islamic microfinancing, human capital, and ICT usage positively influence the performance of women micro-entrepreneurs. The empirical findings enhance the literature by extending the resource-based view (RBV), a soft theory in the organisational theory literature, by incorporating Islamic microfinancing in the context. It is hoped the study will assist IMFIs and governments in strengthening infrastructures, developing comprehensive business strategies, and educating women micro-entrepreneurs about the possibilities of the digital economy for long-term business sustainability and development.

Managerial Dilemmas and Entrepreneurial Challenges in the Ambidexterity of SMEs: A Systematic Review for Execution System

According to the organizational learning theory, there are two types of corporate activities, exploitation and exploration, for enhancing and improving corporate performance. However, organizations are continually faced with choosing between these two conflicting activities that require different organizational structures, strategies, and environments, respectively. This study’s objective is to use a systematic review methodology to investigate how implementing organizational ambidexterity affects managerial performance in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although there is a general consensus about the relationship between ambidexterity and firm performance, few studies have probed into the mechanism of how it is applied to management process and what antecedents affect the implementation of OA in SMEs. The qualitative method was conducted to investigate the influence of the ambidexterity strategy of SMEs on firm performance. According to the findings, organizational ambidexterity in SMEs has a positive impact on the firm’s managerial performance. SMEs must make decisions that consider environmental factors. Making practical decisions based on accurate formation, considering organizational human resources for implementing ambidexterity, and sharing specific performance goals are all important considerations. This study is also important for SMEs’ top management teams to make proper decisions for the firm’s sustainable growth via OA, and shed new light on the literature of organization theory that operates in a more turbulent environment.

Organizational antecedents and multiple paths of knowledge-sharing behavior of construction project members: evidence from Chinese construction enterprises

PurposeLack of knowledge-sharing behavior (KSB) among construction project members hinders propagation of expertise, working methods, and lessons learned within an organization, and deprives the organization of a sustainable competitive edge. The present study investigates the combined effect of organizational antecedents of construction projects on members' KSB and provides a reference for developing management initiatives to motivate KSB.Design/methodology/approachBased on organizational theory and organizational behavior literature, five organizational antecedents associated with KSB from organizational culture and structure were identified. Subsequently, the authors used survey data from 152 organization members in Chinese construction enterprises to conduct the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and reveal configurations of organizational antecedents influencing KSB.FindingsThis study identifies five configuration paths that are sufficient for shaping the KSB of construction project members, integrated into two types of driving modes, namely “trust-driven” and “incentive-driven”. Relevant discussions can guide managers of construction project organizations to position the driving strategies of KSB that match different organizational scenarios or constraints.Originality/valueBy analyzing the configuration effects of organizational antecedents on KSB, novel clues are provided for governing the deficiency of KSB among construction project members. This contributes to the literature on knowledge transfer and organizational behavior. The findings provide actionable insights for improving knowledge flow in construction project organizations and designing KSB guidance regimes.

Organizational and team culture as antecedents of protection motivation among IT employees

The rapid development of technology and information systems has led to higher information security-related issues in an organization. The age of remote working (i.e., telecommuting) has further increased information security related incidents that need to be adequately addressed. This paper extends the protection motivation theory by drawing insights from organizational and institutional theory literature to examine how organizational culture and subcultures such as team culture impact information security compliance. The primary objective of this study is to understand the impact of the dimensions of organizational culture and team culture on employees' perceived threats and coping motivation associated with information security compliance. The study applied structural equation modeling to analyze survey responses of 341 IT employees in the United States. The result of the study indicates that both organization and team culture impacts employees' perception to appraise threat and coping, which in turn impacts behavioral intention to comply with information security policies. The findings of this study contribute to the information security compliance research by demonstrating the importance of developing an information security culture within an organization and its subgroups.

Rediscovering Epistemic Coalitions Twenty Years Later: Using the International Olympic Committee to Build toward A Literature on Epistemic Institutionalism

AbstractThis article aims to help the literature on global governance and international professionalism move beyond a myopic focus on epistemic communities by unpacking the underutilized term epistemic coalition. Epistemic coalitions are an international nonstate actor that employ a broadened notion of expertise to incorporate business and political advocates alongside technical experts. I differentiate epistemic coalitions from epistemic communities by synthesizing the international relations, organizational theory, and public policy literatures. These organizations differ in the breadth of their policy agendas, dynamics of internal cohesion, and capabilities to engage in global policy transfer. However, I note that it is still unclear how epistemic coalitions coordinate member action along different professions and what are the conditions under which epistemic coalitions’ membership balances will be viewed by national elites as professionally legitimate. I then examine the role of the International Olympic Committee in US steroid policy to induce two preliminary hypotheses that can potentially address these gaps. First, epistemic coalitions use a foundational narrative to coordinate action among professions. Second, perceptions of equitable membership balance stem from an ideational congruence between national and international elites. I conclude with how these hypotheses can be tested in the future.

Team autonomy and digital transformation

The organizational theory literature is reasonably unanimous that team autonomy is a key factor for employee well-being and motivation as well as organizational performance. However, team autonomy is challenged when its processes and outputs need to be aligned with actors and factors external to a team. There are likely challenges and conflicts between team autonomy and the need for coherence in the wider system. Team autonomy has a range of implications and is challenged by a number of factors, such as knowledge complexity and decision-making, learning, large-scale problems, product and technical interdependencies, the use of platforms, virtual collaboration and diversity. Alignment with the external is particularly necessary in multi-team environments with many technical interdependencies, where a single team’s failure to deliver a sufficient level of quality may lead to system-wide consequences. Therefore, teams in complex environments increasingly need to regulate and manage their work in cooperation with internal and external partners and systems. Such dependencies challenge team autonomy. In this special issue of AI&S, we want to address these topics in more detail, particularly in the context of software-intensive organizations and digital transformations. The scope and, thus, the consequences of a team’s work can be far-reaching when the team’s effort and output take place partially or completely in fully digitized contexts and processes. The articles in this special issue show various ways of dealing with the challenge of balancing autonomy and alignment with the external. A key focus is to show the buffering function: how teams, with the help of processes, technology, new organizational forms and time and space are able to find the buffer needed for maintaining team autonomy.

Examining the antecedents and consequences of pricing capability: evidence from SMEs

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to highlight the need for developing pricing capability (PC) for business-to-business firms to effectively manage and execute the pricing activities in the organization and succeed in a competitive market. Using the firms’ resource-based view, organizational learning theory and organizational capabilities literature, this study develops a conceptual framework in which market-focused learning and firm innovativeness are potential antecedents of PC and pricing value and business performance (BP) are consequences.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted an online e-mail-based survey to collect primary cross-sectional data from the 127 Indian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The partial least squares structural equation modeling technique was used to empirically validate a conceptual framework as well as the research hypotheses.FindingsThe findings indicate that market-focused learning and firm innovativeness have a substantial influence on PC, which in turn positively affects both pricing value and BP. Moreover, pricing value demonstrates a partial mediating effect on the link between PC and BP.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has certain limitations, namely, using cross-sectional data and limited sample size. More empirical research on the antecedents of PC is required.Practical implicationsThe empirical findings enlighten the SMEs on the significance of developing specialized PC in delivering superior pricing value to customers and achieving greater BP.Originality/valueThe existing literature lacks empirical data on the development and antecedents of PC, particularly in the SME context. The current study empirically examines the impact of market-focused learning and firm innovativeness on PC.

Talent management and performance in the public sector: the role of organisational and line managerial support for development

While research shows that talent management (TM) practices are linked to individual and organisational outcomes, little is known about the mechanisms through which these processes unfold, especially in the public sector of emerging market economies. This exploratory study investigates TM in the public sector context of Bahrain addressing an important research gap. Drawing on Organisational Support Theory (OST) and strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature, we test the role of line managerial support for development (LMSD) and organisational support for development (OSD) as mechanisms through which TM practices influence individual talent performance. Results from a survey based on a talent pool of a Bahraini governmental administrative institution show that LMSD fully mediates the relationship between TM practices and each of the individual talent performance indicators, apart from task performance. We also find that the indirect relationship between TM and individual talent performance was significant at low levels of OSD. The study contributes to unlocking the TM black box in the public sector of developing countries by highlighting the key role of line managers in the implementation of TM practices revealing a substitution effect between LMSD and OSD, as interchangeable sources of developmental support that can enhance talent performance in this context.

BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONAL ECOLOGY THEORY (OET): TO REVIEW PAST FOR DIRECTING THE FUTURE OF THE FIELD

In this study, 399 articles of the extant literature published in the Web of Science database between 1975 and 2020 were examined using bibliometric analysis to determine the extent of Organizational Ecology Theory (OET) literature and current research priorities. Bibliometric techniques such as performance analysis, citation analysis, co-word and co-citation analysis are used for this purpose. We extracted several thematically clusters from bibliometric networks using co-citation and co-word analysis, describing related but distinct subfields of inquiry within the OET literature. “Organizational change”, “organizational forms and identity”, and “organizational founding and mortality” are overlapping clusters. Topics such as new organizational type, organizational failure, first-mover advantage, organizational founding, and coevolution may be examined in future research. Therefore, the expected contribution of this study is to provide a helpful inventory of past research to direct future research on the post-covid-19 era to advance OET literature.

A sense-based perspective on market shaping: Theorizing strategies for the origination and propagation of new resource linkages

“Market shaping”—the deliberate origination and propagation of valuable new resource linkages—describes how actors seek to steer markets into desirable directions. Yet, the exact nature of new resource linkages and how these emerge and disseminate remains unclear in extant literature. Addressing this gap, this research builds on the understanding that the meaning which market actors ascribe to resources defines their value as well as the potential for and the value of new resource linkages. From this lens, without a shaping of meaning, there is no shaping of markets. To advance market shaping research along these lines, we develop a novel sense-based perspective of sensemaking, sensegiving, and sensebreaking activities in the market shaping process that emphasizes embodiment, continuity, and temporal indivisibility and thus enhances the clarity and depth of market-shaping theory's central concepts. Moreover, drawing on recent organization theory literature, we delineate four generic sensegiving/sensebreaking strategies that market shapers may enact to originate and propagate new resource linkages: inspirational, expansive, authoritative and suppressive sensegiving/sensebreaking. By illuminating the four strategies' roles in this sense-based market shaping process, we provide new insights into how market shaping capabilities may become expressed in practice. We conclude by discussing managerial implications, limitations and future research.