Organizational Slack Research Articles

Does green process innovation affect a firm's financial risk? The moderating role of slack resources and competitive intensity

PurposeOver the last two decades, corporations have increasingly adopted green innovation to lessen the unsuitable impact on the environment and gain competitive advantage at the same time. However, researchers have paid more attention to green product innovation and the firm's financial risk (FFR) relationship than green process innovation. Such neglect of green process innovation has failed to produce an elusive understanding of green process innovation and FFR relationship, and this relationship is necessary to understand for the ongoing debate on “does it pay to be green?” Thus, the purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between green process innovation performance (GPRIP) and FFR, and it also examines the moderating role of slack resources and competitive intensity in facilitating this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected 202 publicly listed Thai manufacturing firms' data using questionnaire survey and firms' financial statements, and this research employed hierarchical moderating regression analyses to test hypotheses.FindingsResults demonstrate that GPRIP negatively influences the FFR. Competitive intensity reinforces the negative relationship between GPRIP and FFR, whereas organizational slack has an unfavorable moderating effect, i.e. firms with ample organizational slack are less likely to reduce their financial risk from higher GPRIP.Originality/valueThe research model contributes to an ongoing debate on “does it pay to be green?” by providing a thorough understanding of GPRIP and FFR relationship, as to the authors' best knowledge, no work to date has examined this relationship. This research also sets out the boundary conditions of the GRPIP and FFR relationship and highlights the critical role of firm-specific condition, i.e. slack resource and market condition, i.e. competitive intensity to reap higher financial benefits from GPRIP.

“Work is easy or very tired”: the impact of the heterosexual leadership structure on enterprise innovation investment

PurposeInnovation is the most important quality of enterprise management. It is an important and controversial issue whether the heterosexual leadership structure of the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) makes the work “easy” or “very tired” in enterprise innovation. This study investigates the specific impact of the heterosexual leadership structure on enterprise innovation investment, and further explores influence mechanism between them from two perspectives. Specifically, from the perspective of enterprise leaders including the chairman and CEO, this paper analyzes the impact of surname sharing, intergenerational differences and top management team (TMT) external social network between the heterosexual leadership structure and enterprise innovation investment. And from the perspective of enterprise itself, this study explores the impact of ownership and organizational slack between the heterosexual leadership structure and enterprise innovation investment.Design/methodology/approachBy using ordinary least squares regression (OLS), this study mainly takes the unbalanced panel data of A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2019 in Shanghai and Shenzhen as the research sample to empirically analyze the relationship and influence mechanism between the heterosexual leadership structure and enterprise innovation investment.FindingsThe results show that the heterosexual leadership structure of the chairman and CEO has a negative impact on enterprise innovation investment. Surname sharing and ownership positively moderate the negative impact of the heterosexual leadership structure of the chairman and CEO on enterprise innovation investment. Intergenerational differences and TMT external social network negatively moderate the relationship between the heterosexual leadership structure of the chairman and CEO and enterprise innovation investment. In addition, the moderating effects of intergenerational differences and TMT external social network on the relationship between the heterosexual leadership structure and enterprise innovation investment both depend on organizational slack. When organizational slack is lower and intergenerational differences are higher, the negative impact of the heterosexual leadership structure of the chairman and CEO on enterprise innovation investment will be the strongest. And when organizational slack is lower and TMT external social network is higher, the negative impact of the heterosexual leadership structure of the chairman and CEO on enterprise innovation investment will be the strongest.Originality/valueBy exploring the influence and the boundary mechanism of the heterosexual leadership structure of the chairman and CEO on enterprise innovation investment, the “heterosexual difference effect” is verified in this paper, that is, when men and women work together, work is very tired. This not only enriches the existing research of enterprise innovation investment, but also provides practical guidance for effectively improving enterprise innovation investment from a new perspective. In addition, it broadens the moderating mechanism of the impact of the heterosexual leadership structure of the chairman and CEO on enterprise innovation investment, which is conducive to reasonable response to improve enterprise innovation investment.

Measuring and Evaluating Clinical Context in Implementation Science Research.

Measuring and Evaluating Clinical Context in Implementation Science Research.

Moderated Mediation Effect in the Relation of HPWS and Firm Performance: Roles of Firm-Level Organizational Commitment and Organizational Slack

본 연구는 고성과작업시스템이 기업성과에 미치는 영향에 대한 기존의 이해를 제고하고자, 보편적관점(universalistic approach)과 상황적 관점(contingency approach)을 통합하여 고성과작업시스템과 기업성과의 관계를 실증적으로 규명하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 구체적으로, 사회교환이론(social exchange theory), 사회정보처리이론(social information processing theory), ASA 이론(attractionselection- attrition theory) 등을 토대로 고성과작업시스템이 기업수준의 조직몰입을 높여 기업성과를 높일 것이라는 보편적 관점에 대한 논의와 함께, 조직슬랙(여유자원)이 충분한 조직은 전술된 고성과작업시스템의 긍정적 효과를 더욱 향상시킬 수 있을 것이라는 상황적 관점을 통합적으로 고찰하였다. 이를 바탕으로 고성과작업시스템-기업수준의 조직몰입-기업성과 간의 매개효과(mediation effect) 와 조직슬랙의 조절효과(moderation effect)를 함께 고려하는 조절된 매개효과(moderated mediation) 를 가설로 상정하였다. 실증분석을 위해 인적자본기업패널 2차 자료부터 6차 자료를 통합한 불균형 패널데이터(기업 수 340개, 관측 수 917개)를 구축하였고, 확률효과모형을 토대로 패널분석을 진행하였다. 실증분석 결과, 고성과작업시스템은 기업수준의 조직몰입에 긍정적인 영향을 미치고 이는 기업성과의향상으로 이어지는, 보편적 관점을 지지하는 결과가 확인되었다. 또한, 고성과작업시스템과 기업수준의조직몰입의 관계는 조직슬랙에 따라 조절되는 것이 확인되어, 조직슬랙이 높을수록 고성과작업시스템이기업수준의 조직몰입에 미치는 정(+)의 효과가 더욱 강화된다는 상황적 관점을 지지하는 결과도 확인되었다. 최종적으로 조직슬랙은 고성과작업시스템, 기업수준의 조직몰입, 기업성과의 매개관계를 조절하게되는, 조절된 매개효과가 확인되었다. 이러한 연구는 고성과작업시스템의 효과성에 대한 논의가 보편적관점과 상황적 관점의 통합적 접근이 가능함을 보여주는 실증결과로서, 전략적 인적자원관리 분야에이론적으로 기여하는 바가 있다. 또한, 고성과작업시스템이 어떻게 조직성과에 기여하는지 메커니즘을설명해 주는 한편, 고성과작업시스템의 효과성을 향상시키기 위한 경계조건을 함께 제시하였다는 점에서 실무적인 시사점을 제공한다.

Maximizing Organization Performance: The Role of Travel Business in Jakarta?

This research have a purpose to analyze the affect of competitive intensity, dynamic capability, organization slack and organization innovation on organization performance on travel business in Jakarta. The sampling method was carried out by researchers utilizing non-probability sampling with the number of questionnaires distributed randomly to 100 travel business owners. The results of this study show the results of testing 4 (four) hypotheses: competitive intensity has an effect on organization innovation, organizational slack has an effect on organization innovation and; organization innovation has an influence on organization performance and dynamic capability has no influence on organizational innovation. This research has a novelty on competitive intensity, organization slack and organization innovation actually improve organization performance in tourism travel businesses in Jakarta. This study, making policies related to dynamic capability on organizational performance was do not have the ability to seize opportunities and turn organizational resources into more productive.

Comparing government support, firm heterogeneity, and inter-firm spillovers for productivity enhancement: Evidence from the Korean solar energy technology industry

Numerous issues have deterred investment in innovation, including technological and market uncertainty and the avoidance of long-run investment in renewable energy technologies by financial decision makers. To address this issue, we investigate the direct and indirect (inter-firm spillover) effects of government support and firm heterogeneity on productivity. Using panel data from Korean solar energy technology manufacturers, we determine the significance of firm heterogeneity in improving productivity. Specifically, we establish the positive impact of physical capital and organizational slack on productivity in the short and long run, and we find a long-run positive-spillover effect of intellectual capital on productivity. The results also show that productivity increases only when government support interacts with firm heterogeneity. This increase is related to the short- and long-run direct effects of the interaction between intellectual capital and non-R&D (Research and Development) subsidies, between organizational slack and R&D subsidies, and the long-run spillover effect via the interaction between non-R&D subsidies and organizational slack. Lastly, the policy and strategic repercussions of firm-level productivity enhancement in the solar energy technology industry are deliberated based on the findings of this study.

Impact of Corporate Environmental Responsibility on Firm’s Financial Performance: Moderating Role of Organizational Slack and Industry Competition

Due to speedy trade and industry expansion in the emerging economies it is creating stern environmental corrosion. Effluence makers’ enterprises are mostly responsible for environmental deterioration. Therefore, it is the responsibility of those firms to take steps to control this corrosion in the environment. This research explains the effect of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) on corporate financial performance (CFP) with the moderating effect of organizational slack and industry competition. Data was collected from annual reports of 50 KSE 100 index companies from 2012-2019, containing total 450 observations. Dynamic penal model was used to test the study hypothesis by using Eviews, different pre and post estimations are applied to confirm the data validity. Empirical results indicate that corporate environmental responsibility has significant positive effect on corporate financial performance, while the moderating effect of organizational slack is negative. Industry competition has significant positive moderating effect on the relationship, i.e., if there is high competition in industry then firms will invest more in environment to attract more consumers and to create good will in market. The study reveal that those firms will lead where competition is high and who will focus on their responsibility towards environment.

The interface of organisational slack with innovation: a study of a textile company

The interface of organisational slack with innovation: a study of a textile company

Feeling in Control: The Relationship Between a CEO’s Childhood Socio-Economic Status (SES) and Duality

Duality is the most direct form of control over firm decision-making by CEOs. Yet, while the downstream firm effects of duality have been studied in detail, why certain CEOs are more likely to assume a dual role remains understudied. I propose childhood socio-economic status (SES) as an important driver of a CEO’s propensity to serve as chair of the board. During their upward social transition, CEOs from a low-SES background develop a heightened internal locus of control (i.e., the belief that they themselves are in control of their lives) and consequently become more likely to seek control over their environment. This will be reflected in a higher probability by low-SES CEOs to assume a dual role compared to their non-low SES counterparts. I expect that this relationship will be weakened by factors that act as indirect forms of control over the firm – higher stock price and organizational slack. Drawing on a dataset of Fortune 100 CEOs from 2000 to 2016 I find results in line with the hypothesized relationships.

Top Management Team Stability and Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Effects of Performance Aspiration Gap and Organisational Slack

Although studies on the impact of senior executives on corporate social responsibility (CSR) are relatively sufficient, they take a static perspective when investigating the different attitudes of senior executives towards fulfilling social responsibility. Few studies consider the impact of the dynamic changes in a top management team (TMT) on sustainable corporate development, especially social responsibility. We perform regression analysis on 2010–2019 data from Chinese listed firms to examine the relationship between TMT stability and CSR performance and consider the moderating roles of the performance aspiration gap and slack resources. We find that TMT stability has a positive impact on CSR performance and that the performance aspiration gap and slack resources negatively moderate the relationship between TMT stability and CSR performance. This study expands the current literature on the relationship between TMT characteristics and social responsibility, sheds light on what situations can cause agency problems, and provides practical guidance for the sustainable development of a firm and adequate performance of CSR.

Unravelling Mickey Mouse: The Effect of Supply Chain Position and Organisational Slack on the Uneven Balance of Sustainability Dimensions

This paper contributes to a less-studied area on how a firm’s position in the supply chain influences triple-bottom-line considerations in strategic decision making. We also contribute to previous research on a nuanced understanding of unabsorbed organisational slack as an antecedent to the triple-bottom-line dimensions of sustainability. The research data comprises survey data and financial reporting data from 508 manufacturing and trading firms operating in Finland, divided among four supply chain tiers. The economic dimension dominates the decision making on all tiers, followed by social and environmental considerations, resembling the shape of Mickey Mouse. Unabsorbed organisational slack is negatively related to the importance of economic considerations and positively related to environmental considerations. The results help firms in evaluating their position in terms of sustainability and in their redesigning efforts accordingly. The findings will also be useful in terms of promoting sustainability practices among supply chain members and policymakers in their practical efforts towards sustainable development.

Effects of strategic flexibility and organizational slack on the relationship between green operational practices adoption and firm performance

AbstractThis study aims to explain why some firms improve their performance through the adoption of green operational practices (GOPs) while others do not. Researchers attribute this phenomenon to that some resources are necessary to capture the benefits of GOPs. Drawing upon relevant literature and the resource‐based view, this study identifies strategic flexibility and organizational slack as two potential resources that enable firms to improve their performance through GOPs adoption. In other words, this study examines the moderating effects of strategic flexibility and organizational slack on the relationship between GOPs adoption and firm performance (including environmental and financial performance). Based on the data from 213 Chinese manufacturing firms, hierarchical regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. The results show that GOPs adoption positively influences environmental and financial performance. Moreover, we find that strategic flexibility strengthens the relationship between GOPs adoption and environmental performance, but weakens the relationship between GOPs adoption and financial performance. Conversely, organizational slack strengthens the relationship between GOPs adoption and financial performance, but weakens the relationship between GOPs adoption and environmental performance. This study contributes to related literature and its findings provide new insights for managers and the government to manage the relationship between GOPs adoption and firm performance.

THE EFFECT OF EXECUTIVE INCENTIVES ON TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION OF DECLINING ENTERPRISES – THE MODERATING EFFECT OF DECLINE DEGREE AND ORGANISATIONAL SLACK

We examine the effects of different types of executive incentives on technological innovation of declining firms and the moderating effects of the degree of decline and organisational slack on executive incentives and enterprise technological innovation. We also assess the synergetic effects of different types of executive incentives on technological innovation of declining enterprises. We find the following: first, executive compensation incentive, equity incentive and control incentives are beneficial to promote technological innovation in declining enterprises. Second, the degree of decline negatively moderates the relationship between equity incentive and technological innovation. Third, organisational slack positively moderates the relationship between equity incentive and technological innovation, as well as the relationship between control incentives and technological innovation, especially for severely declining enterprises. Fourth, there are synergistic effects between executive control incentive and compensation incentive, control incentives and equity incentive on technological innovation. The contributions are as follows: first, taking declining enterprises as sample, we suggest that to increase the role of compensation incentive and equity incentive in promoting technological innovation in declining enterprises, the control incentives should be strengthened. Second, organisational slack should be fully exploited for severely declining enterprises so that executives should have the motivation and conditions to carry out technological innovation and further help declining enterprises to turnaround successfully.

Unpacking the effects of organisational slack on exploitative and exploratory innovation: a study of knowledge-intensive firms

ABSTRACT The intensities of exploitative and exploratory innovation vary across firms. From the perspectives of organisational slack and goal orientation, this study sheds light on how the actual proportions of exploitative and exploratory innovation are determined. It proposes and empirically tests the different effects of organisational slack on exploitative and exploratory innovation as well as the underlying mechanisms. The results show that organisational slack affects exploitative innovation negatively and has a positive effect on exploratory innovation. Performance goal orientation mediates the former, whereas learning goal orientation mediates the latter. Environmental munificence moderates the relationship between performance goal orientation and exploitative innovation negatively, and that between learning goal orientation and exploratory innovation positively.

Has healthcare rationalisation been rationale? Hospital beds and Covid-19 in Italy

The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the existence of a hospital bed shortage in Italy, as a result of a longstanding trend. The article analyses this process by an international comparison with other Western European countries, highlighting the intensity of hospital bed reduction in Italy, as a fundamental component of NHS rationalisation. Although it was based on solid grounds, international data suggest that hospital bed reduction was probably excessive, depriving the NHS of organisational slack. Moreover, de-hospitalisation would have been matched with a stronger development of primary and community care. The relative shortage of these services, along with the lack of integrated networks between hospital and non-hospital care, explains many difficulties experienced by hospitals in tackling Covid patients. Beyond investments in health care, these elements call to re-think the organisation of health care provision at local level, questioning the purchaser-provider split.

How does negative performance feedback affect a firm’s openness in its innovation search behaviour? The moderating role of organisational slack

ABSTRACT Using the behavioural theory of the firm as a theoretical lens, an integrated framework for this study was developed to examine how negative performance relative to aspiration as well as organisational slack shapes a firm’s openness in its innovation search behaviour. Furthermore, the study investigates whether the extent to which slack is committed to specific organisational procedures determines its moderating effect on the relationship between negative performance feedback and open innovation search behaviour. Patent archives and financial data from 1688 manufacturing firms publicly listed in the US were collected to construct a panel dataset of 13,685 observations. By examining the open innovation search behaviours of these manufacturers from 1986 to 2006, it was found that negative performance feedback encourages firms to be more open to external knowledge sources. The findings also revealed that the absorption degree of slack indeed determines its moderating role. Specifically, underperforming firms with more unabsorbed slack exhibited more openness in their innovation search behaviours, whereas absorbed slack failed to show significance. Possible explanations for the insignificance of absorbed slack are further discussed.

Big data and emerging market firms’ innovation in an open economy: The diversification strategy perspective

Big data development encourages emerging market firms (EMFs) to diversify strategies and increase competitive advantages by acquiring resources embedded in different markets and industries. This study draws on the composition-based view (CBV) and empirically examines how EMFs integrate resources through international and business diversification to improve innovation performance in open economies. Based on the data collected from Chinese listed companies, our findings show that international diversification and related business diversification positively improve firms’ innovation performance, whereas overall business diversification negatively impacts firms' innovation. International and business diversification substitute for each other to affect firms’ innovation outcomes. Further research found that these results are more significant in a higher big data development environment. Moreover, we examine the moderating role of organizational slack in the relationship between diversification strategies and firms’ innovation performance. This study contributes to the EMF innovation literature by highlighting the effects of diversification strategy from a CBV perspective. Firms creatively use and combine open resources to promote innovation in open economies. This study also contributes to diversification research in big data environments, arguing that EMFs that lack strong capabilities may suffer lower innovation performance if they concurrently apply international and business diversification at a high level.

Rapid internationalization and innovation performance

Although internationalization is an inherently dynamic process, the time dimension of international expansion has rarely been a major focus of international business research. Using an organizational learning perspective, we attempt to explain how time-based international expansion patterns influence parent companies’ innovation performance in emerging markets. We consider that the internationalization process could generate potential benefits attributable to knowledge transfer while being influenced by time compression diseconomies. Based on these two mechanisms, we test four hypotheses regarding parent companies’ innovation performance: 1) internationalization speed (main effect); 2) internationalization rhythm (two-way interaction); 3) organizational slack; and 4) competitive intensity (three-way interaction). Using unbalanced panel data of Chinese multinational enterprises between 2008 and 2014, we find a negative relationship between parent companies’ internationalization speed and innovation performance, and this relationship is stronger if the internationalization rhythm is irregular. The negative moderating effect of an irregular rhythm weakens with an increase in internal organizational slack and strengthens with an increase in external competitive intensity. These results suggest that firms should assess their internal capabilities and external competitive environment to judge whether a certain international pattern is feasible or necessary.

It Is A “Game of Thrones”: New Venture Team Power Hierarchy Skewness and New Venture R&D Intensity

This study examines how power configurations of new venture teams (NVTs) are associated with R&D intensity in new ventures. Drawing on the functional perspective of power hierarchy, we propose that the proportion of NVT members with high versus low power (i.e., power hierarchy skewness) has a positive effect on new venture R&D intensity. Moreover, this positive effect will be strengthened by hierarchy mutability and weakened by organizational slack. Based on a nine-year panel data of 363 new ventures with 1277 observations listed on the Growth Enterprises Market (GEM) in China, our hypotheses received general support. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings on new venture teams, power hierarchy and new venture innovation.

How Does the Facilitation Effort of Clinical Educators Interact With Aspects of Organizational Context to Affect Research Use in Long-term Care? Evidence From CHAID Analysis.

Organizational context influences the effect of facilitation efforts on research use in care settings. The interactions of these factors are complex. Therefore, the use of traditional statistical methods to examine their interrelationships is often impractical. Big Data analytics can automatically detect patterns within the data. We applied the chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) algorithm and classification tree technique to explore the dynamic and interdependent relationships between the implementation science concepts-context, facilitation, and research use. Observational, cross-sectional study based on survey data collected from a representative sample of nursing homes in western Canada. We assessed three major constructs: (a) Conceptual research utilization (CRU) using the CRU scale; (b) facilitation of research use measured by the frequency of contacts between the frontline staff and a clinical educator, or person who brings new ideas to the care unit; and (c) organizational context at the unit level using the Alberta Context Tool (ACT). CHAID analysis was performed to detect the interactions between facilitation and context variables. Results were illustrated in a classification tree to provide a straightforward visualization. Data from 312 care units in three provinces were included in the final analysis. Results indicate significant multiway interactions between facilitation and various aspects of the organizational context, including leadership, culture, evaluation, structural resources, and organizational slack (staffing). Findings suggested the preconditions of the care settings where research use can be maximized. CHAID analysis helped transform data into usable knowledge. Our findings provide insight into the dynamic relationships of facilitators' efforts and organizational context, and how these factors' interplay and their interdependence together may influence research use. Knowledge of the combined effects of facilitators' efforts and various aspects of organizational context on research use can contribute to effective strategies to narrow the evidence-practice gap in care settings.