Organizational Inertia Research Articles

THE ROLE OF DECARBONISATION IN ENHANCING SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT PRACTICES IN THE U.S

In an era marked by escalating environmental concerns and the pressing need for sustainable practices, this paper delves into the transformative potential of decarbonisation in enhancing sustainable procurement practices, with a specific focus on the U.S. context. The study commences with a comprehensive overview of the prevailing procurement practices in the U.S., elucidating their environmental ramifications, particularly in terms of carbon emissions. The discourse then transitions to the broader implications of decarbonisation on a global scale, highlighting its multifaceted benefits beyond mere carbon reduction. Central to the paper’s narrative is the exploration of how decarbonisation can catalyse sustainable procurement. By integrating decarbonisation strategies into procurement processes, entities can mitigate their environmental footprint, realise long-term economic advantages, foster innovation, and fortify stakeholder relationships. However, this metamorphosis lacks challenges, ranging from organisational inertia and economic considerations to stakeholder apprehensions. The paper furnishes a blueprint for policymakers and industry leaders, guiding them through sustainable procurement’s intricacies and spotlighting its potential boons and inherent challenges. The study offers tangible exemplars of sustainable procurement’s potential through real-world case studies, illustrating how diverse entities can effectuate meaningful change. The paper concludes with a call to action for stakeholders, emphasising the collective effort required to transition towards sustainable procurement practices. This study underscores the pivotal role of sustainable procurement, underpinned by decarbonisation, in steering the U.S. and, by extension, the global community, towards a sustainable and prosperous future.

Climate policy uncertainty and corporate green innovation performance: From the perspectives of organizational inertia and management internal characteristics

AbstractThe impact of policy uncertainty caused by climate change has attracted widespread attention, but there are few studies on the relationship between climate policy uncertainty and corporate green innovation performance. This paper uses a sample of the A‐share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2007 to 2020 to explore the impact of climate policy uncertainty on corporate green innovation performance. And this paper also studies the moderating effect of organizational inertia and the joint moderating effects of managerial openness and organizational inertia, as well as managerial risk‐taking propensity and organizational inertia. The results show that climate policy uncertainty positively affects corporate green innovation performance. And organizational inertia can positively moderate the impact of climate policy uncertainty on corporate green innovation performance. Besides, managerial openness and organizational inertia, as well as managerial risk‐taking propensity and organizational inertia, jointly moderate the impact of climate policy uncertainty on corporate green innovation performance. When both managerial openness and organizational inertia are higher, the positive impact of climate policy uncertainty on corporate green innovation performance is the strongest. When both managerial risk‐taking propensity and organizational inertia are lower, the positive impact of climate policy uncertainty on corporate green innovation performance is the weakest.

Speed of Decision-Making Process: The Role of Inconsistent Feedback and Organization Inertia

Speed of Decision-Making Process: The Role of Inconsistent Feedback and Organization Inertia

Bibliometric Analysis Study about Organizational Change and Innovation

Organizational change is both a challenging obstacle and a common occurrence in high-tech companies. Change can improve adaptability and leverage knowledge based on the dynamic capability perspective, but according to the organizational inertia perspective, it can also increase coordination costs and provoke conflict. Moreover, innovation is essentially a bilateral or coupling activity. On the one hand, it involves identifying a need or, in economic terms, a demand. The marketability of a novel product or process entails technical knowledge, which may be accessible to the general public but may also include novel scientific and technical knowledge resulting from original research. We present a quantitative analysis of bibliometrics. By analyzing 456 articles, we identify the prominent academic institutions, countries, journals, authors, and co-authorship networks and their position within these variables.

The Impact of Digital Economy on Innovation Efficiency of New Energy Enterprises: Evidence from the Perspective of Innovation Value Chain

ABSTRACT Based on the perspective of the innovation value chain, this paper divides the technological innovation of new energy enterprises into research and development and results transformation stages, uses the panel data of listed Chinese new energy enterprises from 2016 to 2021 to test the impact of urban digital economy development on the two-stage innovation efficiency, and examines the moderating role of organizational inertia and entrepreneurship on the relationship between the two. The study found that the development of the digital economy has significantly improved the efficiency of enterprises’ two-stage innovation, but its role in promoting the stage of research and development is more obvious; Organizational inertia and entrepreneurship have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the two; Further research found that there are regions, urban class and population size, and enterprise nature differences in the impact of digital economy development on the efficiency of two-stage innovation of enterprises.

When the time is right: testing for dynamic effects in collaborative performance

ABSTRACT Evaluations of public service collaborations tend to ignore time and timing as potential explanatory variables. Drawing on theories of environmental dynamism, organizational inertia, accountability ‘drift’, and isomorphism, we test whether the timing of inter-municipal cooperation, and its duration, affect financial performance for solid waste collection inter-municipal partnerships in the Spanish region of Catalonia over the period 2000–2019. Though still present and significant, the cost advantages of cooperation declined over this period due to population growth and reduced interdependence between municipalities. Timing of cooperation has no effect on savings; although early-adopter and follower groups differ in policy objectives.

Blockchain technology adaptation and organizational inertia: moderating role between knowledge management processes and supply chain resilience

PurposeSupply chain resilience and knowledge management (KM) processes have received increasing attention from researchers and practitioners. Nevertheless, previous studies often treat the two streams of literature independently. Drawing on the knowledge-based theory, this study aims to reconcile these two different streams of literature and examine how and when KM processes influence supply chain resilience.Design/methodology/approachThis research develops a conceptual model to test a sample of data from 203 Chinese manufacturing firms using a structural equation modeling method. Specifically, the current study empirically examines how KM processes affect different forms of supply chain resilience (supply chain readiness, responsiveness and recovery) and examines the moderating effect of blockchain technology adaptation and organizational inertia on the relationship between KM processes and supply chain resilience.FindingsThe findings show that KM processes positively affect three dimensions of supply chain resilience, i.e., supply chain readiness, responsiveness and recovery. Besides, the study reveals that blockchain technology adoption positively moderates the relationships between KM processes and supply chain resilience, whereas organizational inertia negatively moderates these above relationships.Originality/valueThis research linked the two research areas of supply chain resilience and KM processes, further bridging the gap in the research exploration of KM in the supply chain field. Next, this study contributes to supply chain resilience research by investigating how KM systems positively impact supply chain readiness, responsiveness and recovery. In addition, this study found a moderating effect of blockchain technology adaption and organizational inertia on the relationship between KM processes and supply chain resilience. These findings provide a reference for Chinese manufacturing firms to strengthen supply chain resilience, achieve secure supply chain operations and gain a competitive advantage in the supply chain. This studys’findings advance the understanding of supply chain resilience and provide practical implications for supply chain managers.

Organizational Inertia, Digital Capabilities, Digital Transformation, and Firm Competencies

Research Aims: This research aims to look at the impact of organizational inertia on digital capabilities and digital transformation to optimise firm competencies. Design/Methodology/Approach: The dataset was produced through a quantitative survey of 125 Indonesian businesses using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) to analyse the data. Research Findings: The results of this study indicate that digital capabilities and digital transformation indirectly impact business competencies due to organizational inertia. While organizational inertia affects digital capabilities but not digital transformation, the latter affects both a firm's skills. Theoretical Contribution/Originality: This study contributes to the literatures on organizational behaviour and strategic management by investigating the impact of organizational inertia on the achievement of digital transformation and its impact on firm competencies. Managerial Implication in the South East Asian context: The research findings embrace digital transformation practices by enhancing firms' digital capabilities, particularly in digital transformation response, digital opportunity identification, innovative digital technology product development, acquisition, and mastery of cutting-edge digital technologies. Research Limitation & Implications: The findings of this study reflect the conditions of numerous enterprises operating in several industry sectors in Indonesia during the chaotic post-COVID-19 pandemic period. Furthermore, the survey respondents represent a diverse range of businesses at varying stages of digital transformation implementation. Keywords: Inertia, Digital Capabilities, Digital Transformation, Firm Competencies

Fostering Agility Through Public Procurement Reforms: The Role of Experienced Procurement Officers

ABSTRACT In an attempt to respond to the public in a more agile way, some governments have implemented procurement reforms. By reducing red tape, policymakers expect to decrease contracting lead-times and improve quality standards in public procurement. Nevertheless, achieving improved performance also depends on the public officers involved in procurement functions. This paper examines a law change designed to improve procurement agility in the Brazilian public procurement context. Our findings suggest that the new procurement regime has helped to decrease contracting lead-times. However, the results also suggest that procurement managed by more experienced procurement officers tend to take longer. The paper concludes that more experienced procurement officers tend to be more susceptible to organizational inertia because existing goal ambiguity along with incentive structures in the public sector amplify the misalignment between existing practices and expected policy goals. This suggests that policymakers should pay attention to organizational traits, such as public officers’ accumulated experience, when designing reforms to make governments more agile.

A Systematic Review of the Organizational Inertia Literature and Future Outlook

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of organizational inertia, including its influencing factors, practical implications, future trends, and development directions. A systematic literature review is employed to analyze and synthesize the existing body of knowledge on organizational inertia. The review highlights the complexity and multifaceted nature of organizational inertia, its impact on change and adaptation, and potential strategies for overcoming it. This study offers a holistic perspective on organizational inertia by integrating findings from various disciplines and addressing limitations in the current literature. Current research on organizational inertia faces limitations in research methods, content, application scenarios, and conceptual scope, necessitating future exploration in these areas. The findings of this review provide valuable theoretical and practical guidance for organizational reform and development, aiding organizations in overcoming inertia and fostering innovation.

Tension between the safe flow of government data across organizational boundaries and fragmentations in secure collaboration: the Chinese e-government

PurposeThe study focuses on influential factors of collaboration on government data security by the Chinese government.Design/methodology/approachThe article explores the case of e-government in the Chinese centralized unitary state system context, using a structured–pragmatic–situational (SPS) approach and the boundary theory as an analytical lens.FindingsThe findings indicate that e-government operates in highly interconnected environments where the safe flow of government data requires collaborative and cross-boundary strategies. Any organization is a potential “weakest link”. In addition, collaboration is fragmented by ambiguous accountability and organizational inertia across government departments, resources differences and limited visibility and measurability of security efforts across government levels and conflicts and uncertainties in principal–agent relationships. The solutions for those obstacles are also discussed from the multi-function, multi-level and multi-actor dimensions, respectively. A multi-dimensional overarching security model for the flow of government data is proposed.Originality/valueThe study advances the technology-oriented micro-analysis of previous studies on government data security to cross-organizational revealing at the macrolevel by connecting streams of research in information systems and public administration. These findings will contribute to making the safe flow of government data more resilient in the transformation of e-government.

Enterprise digitalization, employee digital literacy and R&D cooperation: the moderating role of organizational inertia

PurposeThis study aims to explore the effect of digitalization on the promotion of enterprise R&D cooperation, and it analyzes the microimpact mechanism and boundary conditions of enterprise digitalization on enterprise R&D cooperation.Design/methodology/approachBased on survey data sourced from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys of the business environment of Chinese enterprises in 2012, this study applies multiple regression methods to test theoretical hypotheses.FindingsEnterprise digitalization positively affects the breadth and intensity of enterprise R&D cooperation. Employees’ digital literacy plays an intermediary role between enterprise digitalization and enterprise R&D cooperation. The subordinate attributes of enterprises weaken the positive relationship between enterprise digitalization and the breadth and intensity of enterprise R&D cooperation. The shareholding of state-owned enterprises reinforces the positive relationship between digitalization and the intensity of enterprise R&D cooperation. However, such shareholding shows no significant regulatory effect on digitalization and the breadth of enterprise R&D cooperation.Originality/valueFocusing on the digital transformation of the enterprise, this study discusses its impact mechanism on enterprise R&D cooperation, including the impact on the intensity and breadth of R&D cooperation. The study further examines the regulatory effect of organizational inertia on enterprise digital and R&D cooperation from two aspects: resource rigidity and routine rigidity. It emphasizes the significance of the digital literacy of employees in enterprise digitalization and discusses the micromechanism of enterprise digitalization and enterprise R&D cooperation.

Why don't more people engage in green practices in China? A policy-oriented approach to promoting green transformation in five consumption areas

Green consumption policies (GCP) are an essential measure to achieve carbon peak and neutrality targets and have attracted widespread attention in social media. However, few studies analyze public perceptions of GCP using social media data. Based on the Implementation Plan for Promoting Green Consumption, this study built a dataset of the Chinese public posts on Sina Weibo about GCP from five aspects: green food, green building, green transportation, green products, and green tourism. Firstly, we analyzed the participation level of users and the spatial differentiation of green consumption network attention. Secondly, the fine-tuning bidirectional encoder representation from transformers was used to classify the sentiment of comments. Finally, topic modeling was performed using a class-based TF-IDF procedure to mine barriers to GCP implementation from the negative comments. The results are as follows: (1) public concern about GCP is positively correlated with the level of local economic development; (2) policy makers do not adequately consider the continuity, universality, and timeliness of policies; (3) policy implementers' differences in understanding of policies and organizational inertia cause inadequate implementation; (4) public imbalance of income and expenditure and their level of trust in policies affect consumers' green consumption behavior. To further strengthen the GCP system, this study proposes the following policy recommendations: improve policy implementability, develop policy details according to local conditions, rationalize the use of institutional constraints and spiritual cultivation of the implementation system, play the role of role models, and reduce income disparity.

How to mitigate the inhibitory effect of organizational inertia on corporate digital entrepreneurship?

As a novel way for incumbent firms to discover and utilize entrepreneurial opportunities in the digital era, corporate digital entrepreneurship (CDE) is significant for realizing digital transformation through dealing with organizational sclerosis and bureaucratization. Previous studies have identified the variables having positive effects on CDE and put forward practical solutions to promoting CDE. However, the majority of them have ignored the variables having negative effects on CDE and how to mitigate the inhibitory effects. In order to fill the research gap, this study investigates the causal relationship between organizational inertia (OI) and CDE and examines the moderating roles of internal factors such as digital capability (DC) and entrepreneurial culture (EC) as well as external factors such as institutional support (IS) and strategic alliance (SA). Based on multiple linear regression (symmetric) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (asymmetric) using survey data from 349 Chinese firms, the results demonstrate that OI has a significant negative effect on CDE. In addition, DC, EC, and SA play negative moderating roles in the relationship between OI and CDE, which means that they could reduce the inhibitory effect derived from OI when incumbent firms implement CDE. Moreover, dividing OI into three dimensions discovers that the moderating roles of DC, EC, and SA present different features. This study enriches the literature on corporate entrepreneurship and provides valuable practical implications for incumbent firms to achieve successful CDE by revealing how to overcome the inertia deeply embedded in organizations.

How Fear, Exogeneous Shocks and Leadership Impact Change: The Case of Economic Models of the French Men’s Professional Basketball Clubs

The financial situation of clubs is a major issue in professional sports. Their vulnerability can be explained by the structure of income (not diversified enough) or by the breakdown of expenditure (too much investment in sports talent). This state of affairs has prompted an interest in their economic models, specifically in the context of French clubs from 2008/2009 to 2019/2020. How did these clubs evolve over time, and how were they able (or not) to transform their economic model? Principal components and k-means analyses of financial data reveal four main types of economic models. Even if some clubs kept the same model over this period, many clubs also substantially changed their economic models. Interviews with professional clubs were performed to understand the factors underlying change and stasis as appropriate. Although visionary leadership partly explains the changes at certain clubs, exogeneous shock played at least as great a role. However, such external factors are not sufficient to overcome some clubs’ organizational inertia, often due to a fear of change that clubs rationalize in terms of their limited local potential. This paper could be helpful in assisting clubs to fight against attribution biases and to understand how to transform their economic models to become less vulnerable.

Agile Leadership and Digital Transformation in Savings Cooperative Limited: Impact on Sustainable Performance Amidst COVID-19

Savings Cooperative Limited in Thailand is a financial institution that operates under strict legal regulations and self-imposed limitations to mitigate potential risks arising from its business activities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the adoption of agile leadership within the organization becomes crucial in reducing inertia and facilitating the digital transformation process, leading to sustainable financial and non-financial performance. This research aims to investigate the direct and indirect effects of agile leadership and organizational inertia on sustainable financial and non-financial performance, with digital information playing a significant role.The study comprised 100 managers or deputies from Savings Cooperative Limited in Thailand, selected through purposeful sampling to meet specific criteria. Data collection involved a questionnaire based on concepts and theories, administered via email, phone, and mail. Subsequently, the collected data underwent analysis using structural equation modelling (SEM) to yield results. The findings of this study demonstrate a positive relationship between agile leadership and digital transformation, as well as sustainable financial and non-financial performance. Furthermore, organizational inertia was found to have a negative impact on digital transformation. However, the relationships between other variables were not statistically significant. These results contribute to a better understanding of the definition of agile leadership, highlighting its inability to eliminate the influence of external factors such as legal constraints. Therefore, it is recommended that authorities responsible for enforcing laws consider providing leniency during crisis conditions, allowing Savings Cooperative Limited to employ agile leadership in practical ways. Any leaders within Savings Cooperative Limited in Thailand aiming to implement digital transformation and achieve success should prioritize the selection of agile leadership based on these findings. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2023-04-01-04 Full Text: PDF

Resiliency of the Iranian healthcare facilities against the Covid-19 pandemic: challenges and solutions

BackgroundHealth care facilities are responsible for preventing and controlling diseases and must be resilient enough to deal with crises. The Iranian health care facilities have faced challenges in managing COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges faced by the Iranian health care facilities during the Covid-19 epidemic and to provide solutions.MethodsThis qualitative study was conducted with a phenomenological approach and using semi-structured interviews with 59 healthcare policy makers, managers, and employees, and medical university faculty members. The participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.ResultsOverall, 43 challenges to the resilience of health care facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic were identified and grouped into 8 themes (i.e., leadership and management, planning, organizational culture, organizational learning, employee management, customer management, resource management, and process management. The most important resilience challenges were: fragmented management system; poor leadership; incompatible health network structure; lack of a national holistic plan; poor case detection; insufficient resources; inefficient information system; negative attitude of managers and employee; organizational inertia; failure to build on lessons learned from crises; low workforce preparedness; lack of community-based management; and improper monitoring and evaluation. Managers should use community-based, evidence-based, and integrated management to build health system resilience against COVID-19, have sufficient knowledge and experience to organize operations, use appropriate and effective coordination models, develop a creative and participatory culture, reengineer processes, and provide necessary resources.ConclusionThe Iranian health care facilities face challenges that prevent them from becoming resilient, responsive, and efficient in managing COVID-19. Policy makers and managers should increase the resilience of health care facilities to shocks and crises by using the suggested measures.

Innovating for the greater good: Examining innovation champions and what motivates them

AbstractGovernments have increasingly tasked the not‐for‐profit sector with supporting the provision of public goods and services. Alongside this role, not‐for‐profits have faced increasingly challenging external contexts, including heightened competition and tighter funding regimes. This makes effective innovation critical for the successful delivery of social goods within this setting particularly, and in other public service‐oriented organisations more broadly. However, we know little about how innovation occurs in such contexts and even less about the motivations of those who choose to expend the effort to drive innovation there. This study examines the motivations of a key innovation agent, the innovation champion, in the challenging and dynamic not‐for‐profit context. Via a multi‐case study, qualitative approach with 46 interviews, we utilise self‐determination theory to surface what motivates innovation champions to develop and drive new idea generation and implementation. The motivations for championing innovations in not‐for‐profits are varied, spanning intrinsic, prosocial, and other extrinsic drivers. With wider implications for public service‐oriented organisations, our work also suggests that champions in such contexts are variably motivated throughout an innovation project and appear to be simultaneously intrinsically and prosocially motivated. We also find that boredom, or its avoidance, can motivate champions toward innovative activities.Points for practitioners Innovation champions, with their passion for change and desire for stimulation, are a valuable agent to foster innovation and combat organisational inertia. Providing autonomous time, away from scheduled tasks and formal role requirements, can provide employees with the ‘cognitive space’ or ‘slack time’ required for innovative thinking. Fostering innovation championing can contribute to enhanced employee engagement and a sense of fulfilment in one's role. Innovation champions are not motivated in any one single way; their motivations span from self‐interest to contributing to a ‘greater good’. Where consistency exists, such individuals share an underlying passion for change and a desire to avoid boredom. Leaders can clearly articulate the organisation's mission as one way to enhance champion motivation, particularly where their work has longer term and/or indirect value to target beneficiaries.

Reframing governance possibilities for urban biodiversity conservation through systemic co‐inquiry

AbstractDespite decades of effort, biodiversity has not attracted effective political discourse, policies, or action to halt its decline. In cities in particular, biodiversity conservation is challenged by short‐term approaches, separately focusing on biodiversity or community well‐being rather than on their interconnection, and pervasive beliefs that urban citizenry lack the requisite ethic or skills for conservation action or biodiversity governance. We describe how a systemic co‐inquiry in Victoria Australia, conducted by citizen and agency practitioners alongside policy developers and academic researchers, modified understandings, practices, and institutional arrangements (governance) for urban biodiversity conservation. The most impactful outcomes of the early co‐inquiry period were (1) start‐up funding for a network to forge collaborations between community and local government actors that engage urban residents in supporting indigenous biodiversity in their gardens, and (2) empowered co‐inquiry members driving the network's development. These efforts have led to on‐going social learning and long‐term institutional arrangements for a burgeoning network of municipally based nature stewardship collaborations that are nurturing local human–nature relations. Key challenges include(d): maintaining the co‐inquiry, paradigms that undervalue urban biodiversity and the role of citizens, organizational inertia, and evaluation measures incommensurate with strengthening person‐nature relationships. Our research shows how systemic co‐inquiry involving citizen practitioners can surface misleading assumptions around biodiversity stewardship and governance, and help to empower citizen and agency actors to focus on nurturing sustainable human‐nature relations in cities.

Perception of Organizational Uncertainty as a Predictor of Teacher Inertia

The ability of organizations to adapt quickly to change and take action in uncertain situations brought about by a crisis or change is vital for their development and continuity. Teachers, who are education workers, form the basis of the education system by producing education services. Therefore, the power of the education system to take action against uncertainties is determined by whether teachers take action in the face of uncertainties. The purpose of this study is to look into the impact of teachers' perceptions of organizational uncertainty on organizational inertia. An explanatory and predictive pattern, one of the correlational research designs, was used in the study. The study sample consists of 307 teachers, determined by a simple random sampling method from the teachers working in the Eyüp District of Istanbul. Organizational Inertia Scale and Organizational Uncertainty Scale were used as data collection tools. As a result of the research, it was seen that there were significant differences in the perception of inertia and organizational uncertainty according to the demographic characteristics of the teachers. However, it was concluded that teachers' perceptions of organizational uncertainty predicted their inertia attitudes.