Maximizing the Potential of Contemporary Workplace Monitoring: Techno‐Cultural Developments,Transactive Memory,and Management Planning

Nonintrusive data collection and analysis technologies are increasingly being used to monitor worker behavior in the global workplace. This essay explores the factors that can affect the extent to which management, work teams, and even individuals can benefit from real‐time data monitoring of worker productivity, coordination, and performance. Leveraging organizational information processing and transactive memory systems theories, I develop a theoretical framework for how access to real‐time data can impact team coordination activities and how the implementation of work monitoring technology and analytics might be best approached. Last, I present a set of future research opportunities that supply chain scholars should pursue to examine how the real‐time monitoring of work affects team performance.     

Can a good organizational climate compensate for a lack of top management commitment to new product development?

This study examines the marketing—R&D relationship at different levels of top management commitment to determine if such commitment moderates the effect of the climate between departments on new product performance. Four key variables of relationship marketing-cooperation, communication, trust, and internal commitment-serve to measure the interfunctional climate, and the measures of top management commitment rely on both top management support and risk aversion. According to surveys of R&D directors from 178 Spanish innovative firms pertaining to 345 products, low top management commitment enhances the importance of effective cross-functional communication flows for new product performance. Furthermore, this unique research (1) uses a relationship marketing approach to investigate intrafunctional relationships, (2) measures new product performance as a formative construct, and (3) includes top management commitment as a possible moderator.     

Contingent effects of managerial guanxi on new product development success

A survey of new product development (NPD) managers finds both a linear, positive relationship between managerial guanxi and new product speed to market and an inverted U-shaped relationship between managerial guanxi and new product innovativeness. In addition, both transaction-specific investments (TSIs) and relationship commitment have a positive moderating impact on the relationship between managerial guanxi and new product speed to market. However, TSIs increase the damaging effect of managerial guanxi on new product innovativeness, whereas relationship commitment reduces such an effect. The results from this study can help business practitioners use guanxi to improve NPD performance under different contexts of inter-firm relationships.     

Crafting an environment to foster integration in new product teams

The integration of functionally diverse members in new product teams is a long-standing managerial challenge. This study addresses two questions to help meet this challenge: 1) how can the environment around teams be crafted to foster integration, and 2) does integration help teams to create superior or more advantageous new products? Based on a survey of 206 cross-functional new product teams, we learned that certain environmental factors (market-oriented reward system, planning process formalization, managerial encouragement to take risks, and managerial involvement in new product projects) facilitate integration in teams, which, in turn, leads to the creation of superior or more advantageous new products.     

Ambidexterity in new ventures: The impact of new product development alliances and transactive memory systems

Unlike established firms, new ventures often lack the resources and structure necessary to simultaneously pursue exploration and exploitation activities in the process of developing and introducing new products into markets. Thus, it remains unclear whether and how ambidexterity (i.e., simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation activities) can develop in new ventures. This study posits that product development alliances and the transactive memory systems of entrepreneurial teams contribute to new venture ambidexterity. Moreover, we propose that the two mechanisms reinforce one another. Data collected from 148 new Chinese ventures support these hypotheses.     

Team learning,transactive memory system and team performance: A longitudinal study based on the IMOI approach

This study examines how team learning behaviors transfer into team effectiveness, and analyzes the dynamic mechanism of team learning within a time series framework. 99 teams were recruited as our initial sample at the first stage, and 55 teams were traced at the second stage. We employed the input-mediator-output-input (IMOI) approach as proposed by Ilgen et al. (2005), instead of the traditional input-process-output (I-P-O) model in industrial and organizational psychology. Results show that the mediating effect of transactive memory system (TMS) on the relationship between team learning and performance is significant at both stages, which means TMS can adequately account for how team learning influences team performance as a mediator. Team performance, as an output received at the end of stage one, also acts as an important input variable at stage two, which in turn positively influences the subsequent team learning process. The circular causal model based on path analysis shows that the IMOI approach can be used to explain organizational mechanisms better than the classic I-P-O approach; the result is consistent with the new trends within the team relevant IO psychological understanding. Findings suggest that developing and maintaining a TMS is critical to achieving team outputs under a team learning setting. In addition, performance evaluation and feedback are also important factors within team learning processes. We argue that organizational behavior research based on an IMOI approach would have more generalizability and ecological validity than the traditional I-P-O model.     

International Training and Management Development Policies and Practices of South Korean MNEs in China

International training and management development has to date received little research attention. This study aims to contribute to the international human resource management literature by empirically exploring international training and management development policies and practices for both expatriates and host‐country nationals (HCNs) of South Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in China. The data for this study were collected through in‐depth interviews with both HCN managers and expatriate managers of 10 Korean MNEs. The results show that in our sample, South Korean MNEs provide expatriates with inadequate and low‐rigor predeparture cross‐cultural training and leadership training. However, the sample MNEs provide extensive predeparture and postarrival language training and regular postarrival technical and professional training. On‐the‐job training is provided mainly to HCN production workers in order to improve productivity and work safety. Selected high‐performance HCN middle managers and employees are sent back to headquarters for training. This, however, is not regarded for career development but for rewarding good performance. The sample South Korean MNEs pay little attention to management development for both expatriates and HCNs. Consequently, this has a negative effect on employees’ organizational commitment and retention. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The role of top management teams in transforming technology-based new ventures' product introductions into growth

The literature highlights the importance of top management teams (TMTs) for technology-based new ventures' success in achieving growth, which is often achieved through product introductions. The human capital theory suggests that TMT members' skills, which are typically derived from their education and experience, can facilitate the transformation of new product introductions into growth. We also propose that multiple products that must be managed and brought to the marketplace smoothly and flexibly benefit from the lower coordination needs and conflicts that are typical of functionally homogeneous teams. Using a unique, multi-source dataset on 374 US technology-based new ventures during the period from 2005 to 2014, we find that new product introductions help technology-based new ventures grow only when the TMT has startup experience and is not functionally diverse. Our findings lead us to echo calls in the TMT literature to move away from simple direct-effect models to more situation-dependent analyses of TMT diversity.     

基于资源保存理论视角的心理资本与员工创新行为关系研究

文章基于资源保存理论，构建一个跨层次模型，探讨了员工心理资本对创新行为的影响以及变革开放性和交互记忆系统分别在其中的中介及调节作用。数据分析结果表明：心理资本可以有效预测员工创新行为；员工的变革开放性部分中介心理资本和创新行为；交互记忆系统在心理资本-变革开放性-创新行为这一中介机制中起正向调节作用，即交互记忆系统水平越高，变革开放性对心理资本-创新行为的中介作用越强。文章有助于打开心理资本影响员工创新行为的“黑箱”并能够有效指导企业对员工创新行为的管理。     

The Japanese employment system in transition

In the post-bubble era, Japan is going through major structural upheavals and the relevance of the five perspectives presented here on the implications of these changes for the Japanese employment system can hardly be overstated. The institutions and practices of the Japanese employment system are closely linked to the Japanese model of skill formation, human resource management and innovation. The relevance of “lifetime employment” for the accumulation and preservation of knowledge within companies has been documented for example in comparative studies on the Japanese and US semiconductor industries. The knowledge sharing, problem solving capacities and high commitment of Japanese employees are very much enhanced by the late selection characteristics as implied by “seniority” based promotion schemes. If the skills, the innovative capacities and the commitment of Japanese employees have been so much supported by the salient features of the Japanese employment system, it is essential to see what is happening to the latter when reflecting on the future of the former. This is the prime purpose of this article. Each of the following sections looks at specific changes in the economic environment, that are challenging the further viability of “traditional” human resource management practices: In particular, the first section looks at the rapid aging of the work force as a key “domestic” factor, while the second section looks at the implications of Japanese internationalisation in the post-bubble era and, especially, the “hollowing out” of the industrial system due to increasing competitive pressures from low labor cost countries. Adaptations necessitated by these challenges have already transformed the Japanese employment system and will continue to do so, as is discussed in the third section. It is not difficult to guess that this will have repercussions on the process of knowledge creation and transfer in the Japanese economy and the final section therefore looks specifically at the changes to the Human Resource Management system in the Japanese Innovation System.     

High-involvement human resource practices,affective commitment,and organizational citizenship behaviors

Although understanding the concept of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) in a service context is important, very few studies have investigated what motivates frontline service employees to exhibit such behaviors. This study examines how high-involvement human resource (HR) practices influence affective commitment, which contributes to citizenship behaviors in service settings from the employees' point of view. Based on previous studies, this study proposed a conceptual model and hypothesized that five constructs of HR practices (i.e. recognition, empowerment, competence development, fair rewards, and information sharing) facilitate the development of frontline employees' affective commitment. This kind of organizational commitment in turn contributes to OCB (i.e. loyalty, participation, and service delivery). Data were collected from 172 contact employees of Taiwanese restaurants. The result indicated that high-involvement HR practices play an important role in determining contact employees' affective commitment. Moreover, affective commitment was found to be an effective linkage between high-involvement HR practices and contact employees' citizenship behaviors.     

Is the more always better? A comparative study of internal and external integration practices in new product and new service development

This study investigates the relationship between internal and external integration practices and innovation success of new products and new services. Building on the idea that key success drivers in new product and new service development may have implementing costs besides their obvious benefits, this article examines the possibility that a nonlinear relationship in the shape of an inverted U exists between innovation success and the antecedents examined in this research. The present study also addresses scholars' call for research to investigate differences in the drivers of new product and new service success. The findings suggest that differences exist in the nature of the relationship—that is, linear versus nonlinear—between cross-functional integration, customer integration, and interfirm collaboration and innovation success in a new product versus new service setting.     

Governance decisions for the offshore outsourcing of new product development in technology intensive markets

This study addresses how buyers organize their offshore outsourcing new product development relationships. Building on transaction cost economics and resource dependence theories, we propose a model of the influence of key new product development offshore outsourcing factors on two important buyers’ governance decisions (i.e., supply concentration and degree of supplier involvement). The antecedents, drawn from the marketing, management, and international business literatures, include: three sources of asset specificity (degree of modularity, strategic value of the project, and technology specificity) and two sources of uncertainty (cultural distance and technological discontinuity). The results, derived from an analysis of 200 offshore outsourcing new product development relationships, provide new insights for academics and practitioners.     

HRM in Chinese privately owned enterprises

Using an in‐depth case study approach, this study investigates human resource management (HRM) practices in Chinese privately owned enterprises (POEs). While HRM practices in POEs are marketoriented, there is a lack of HR planning, commitment to training and development, and employee involvement and participation. The pragmatic HRM practices in POEs contribute to greater efficiency and rapid expansion of the private enterprise economy, but at the same time are associated with low employee job satisfaction, employees' organizational commitment, and their experience of disadvantages. These are issues that are all likely to cause labor disputes to occur. The findings of this study have significant implications for practitioners and further research. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Capturing implicit texture–flavour associations to predict consumers’ new product preferences

New food product development involves explicit, sensory test phases, though these tests cannot identify consumers' automatic processes and do not consider influential links between perception and memory, so they often lead to biased responses. Rigorous implicit testing can reflect consumer decision making more accurately, by assessing automatic reactions, especially in the case of new food product development where affective reactions are one of the main drivers. Two studies demonstrate the feasibility (Study 1) and accuracy (Study 2) of an implicit sensory test involving the gustatory modality. A gustative priming protocol with a lexical decision task demonstrates that different textures are associated with different flavours in memory. An investigation of consumers’ preferences for products that match the strongest associations further reveals that implicit protocols can inform new product development. Implicit measures of associations are more predictive than explicit measures and can be used upstream during new product development.     

Speed or quality? How the order of market entry influences the relationship between market orientation and new product performance

The role of market orientation as an antecedent of new product performance has been extensively documented in the literature. What is less clear, however, is how firms should make use of their market orientation under different market conditions. This study addresses this question by investigating how market orientation leads to superior new product performance for products that enter the market at different times. In particular, the study examines the moderating effect of order of market entry on the mediated relationship between market orientation and new product performance via product quality and innovation speed. Data from a sample of 244 new product development projects show that a firm's market orientation can improve the performance of first-to-market products and late entrants by facilitating the development of quality products, whereas it can improve the performance of early entrants by facilitating greater innovation speed.     

The Effect of Brand Management and Product Quality on Firm Performance: The Italian Craft Brewing Sector

The article contributes to the limited literature on marketing strategies of microfirms operating in new niches within mature industries. The study explores the effect of brand management processes and product quality on performance of microfirms in the Italian brewing industry. Preliminary qualitative interviews with eight entrepreneurs were realized. Then 92 questionnaires were collected from the entire population of 335 microbreweries operating in Italy for quantitative analysis. Findings suggest intrinsic product quality being the most relevant determinants of firms’ performance, while the adoption of brand management processes exerts a significant, negative impact. The article takes into account the relationship between brand management, quality, and performance by focusing on a single industry. Future research may enhance the significance of our findings by including multiple sectors. Entrepreneurs and microbusiness leaders should carefully assess both external (industry life-cycle stage) and internal (resource availability) factors before engaging in any brand management activity. In mature firms, it may be more beneficial and effective focusing on enhancing product quality. The article addresses an important gap regarding the adoption of brand management practices in microfirms, adding to the emerging strategic marketing literature in the small business field.     

西部返乡农民工创业环境指标体系的构建

良好的创业环境对于创业者至关重要。正确衡量创业环境必须建立一套评价环境指标的体系。基于GEM理论,根据西部的实际情况,以经济环境、市场环境、融资环境、人力资源环境、文化环境和交通、通讯环境6个一级指标和24个二级指标为主要内容,构建西部地区返乡农民工创业环境指标评价体系,可以更好的分析返乡农民工创业的制约因素以及优化创业环境应采取的政策措施,有针对性地推进返乡农民工自主创业。这对于解决好＂三农＂问题,促进城乡一体化发展,建设社会主义新农村,贯彻落实科学发展观具有重大意义。     

Colliding Employer‐Employee Perspectives of Employee Turnover: Evidence from a Born‐Global Industry

Set in the context of internationalization of the global division of labor, this article provides a deeper exploration of qualitative themes of conflicting accounts of employees’ reasons to quit and managerial strategies to prevent employee turnover in six business process outsourcing firms operating in India. Such differences in cognition and action between the two constituencies suggest that the decision to quit is not a linear and rational process as highlighted in most extant models of employee turnover. Our findings suggest that employees are attached more to a place or people they work with rather than the organization per se. Intergenerational differences between Generation Y knowledge workers and Generation X managers and the ineffectiveness of espoused human resource practices suggest the presence of “push” human resource management (HRM) systems. Our findings have implications for employee turnover models, intergenerational theory and high‐commitment HRM, and practitioners. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Strategic human resource practices and innovation performance — The mediating role of knowledge management capacity

This study examines the role of knowledge management capacity in the relationship between strategic human resource practices and innovation performance from the knowledge-based view. This study uses regression analysis to test the hypotheses in a sample of 146 firms. The results indicate that strategic human resource practices are positively related to knowledge management capacity which, in turn, has a positive effect on innovation performance. The findings provide evidence that knowledge management capacity plays a mediating role between strategic human resource practices and innovation performance. Finally, this study discusses managerial implications and highlights future research directions.