The logic of innovation in construction

The paper investigates the logic of innovation in construction by addressing four questions: What is actually being renewed in construction? How is it being done? Who is involved? and Why do or do not the companies innovate? The paper draws on a combination of an industrial network perspective and the exploration–exploitation dichotomy to analyze data from a study of innovation in the Norwegian and Swedish construction industries. The findings show that construction companies are increasingly working more systematically to turn project-level ideas into company-wide knowledge. This indicates an innovation logic that is oriented towards exploitation of new combinations through the internal network. The companies are also increasingly concerned with establishing closer connections to customers and users, which have traditionally been weak. This has led to an orientation towards exploitation through the external network, at least on the customer side. In turn, this may lead to more innovative behavior and renewal in the industry as a whole. However, it requires that not only the customer relationships, but also the relationships on the supply side must change. Companies in the construction industry should be conscious about their innovation logic, in terms of whether they base their innovation behavior on a biased orientation towards exploitation or exploration or towards the internal or external network. A balance is needed.     

Use of celebrity and non-celebrity persons in B2B advertisements: Effects on attention,recall, and hedonic and utilitarian attitudes

Images of people are often featured in business-to-business print advertisements. In some cases, person images in B2B ads may be perceived as having little or no pragmatic purpose in promoting the brand or product. The current research examines the effects of the presence of a celebrity or non-celebrity person in a B2B print ad on attention to the ad, hedonic and utilitarian attitudes towards the ad, and on aided brand recall. An eye-tracking study featured three experimental B2B ad conditions (i.e., no person, non-celebrity person, and celebrity person) conducted with business managers. The findings of this study suggest that while the presence of a celebrity endorser causes managers to pay more attention to the ad, the increase in time focusing on the advertisement brings about more negative hedonic attitudes towards the ad. Further, a celebrity endorser can reduce utilitarian attitudes towards the ad. An ad featuring a non-celebrity produced the highest brand recall.     

Taking part in technology education: elements in students’ motivation

The purpose of this study was to determine the elements motivating comprehensive school students to study technology education. In addition, we tried to discover how students' motivation towards technology education developed over the period leading up to their school experience and the effect this might have on their future involvement with technology. The research was carried out as a qualitative case study and the material was collected through individual theme interviews. The study group consisted of four 15 to 16-year-old students, each representing a totally different case of motivation towards technology education. In choosing individuals for the study the main criteria were gender and negative or positive motivation towards technology education. This study found that the artefact to be made in school and the student’s freedom of choice had the most significant effect on motivation. Although, we must be careful with final conclusions as the research group was relatively small.     

The proceduralization of telecommunications law

The trend towards ever more technical regulatory regimes associated with the reform of telecommunicaitons provision and regulation in the industrialised countries appears to be reversing itself, as changes across a number of jurisdictions occur which may be loosely characterized as a process of proceduralization. These changes have three facets: a shift towards more general regulatory norms; greater emphasis on procedural, as opposed to substantive, regulatory rules; and greater reliance on regulatory institutions of a general rather than sector-specific character. Explanations are offered not simply by reference to the external pressures, but also the adapation of the legal system itself.     

Are cultural values associated with organizational and union commitment and citizenship behavior? A study of Chinese manufacturing workers

This paper examines the association between individual-level cultural values and employees’ commitment to, and citizenship behaviors towards, their employing organization and union. Based on a study of Chinese manufacturing workers, several significant findings emerged, most notably that workers distinguished clearly between the organization and union as foci for commitment and that horizontal, but not vertical, collectivism was positively associated with union commitment and union citizenship behavior. Our results suggest the need to differentiate between horizontal and vertical collectivism when considering the effects of cultural values on attitudes towards unions and collective action.     

Environmental dynamism,industry 4.0 and performance: Mediating role of organizational and technological factors

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) has gained a lot of consideration as it can address the challenges of today's dynamic manufacturing environment. This paper empirically examines whether environmental dynamism (ED) can drive firms to implement I4.0 technologies, and mediating effect of critical factors on this relationship. We adopt “Human-Organization-Technology” (HOT) theory to categorize the critical factors for I4.0. The paper also examines the effect of I4.0 on environmental and market performance. The proposed framework is tested by partial least squares (PLS) using the survey data from Indian manufacturing industries. The results show that ED drives firms towards I4.0, and positive effect of I4.0 on performance outcomes. Further, organizational and technological factors mediate the relationship between ED and I4.0. The findings can be useful for firms considering to make a transition towards I4.0. It can aid managers to formulate specific strategies for transitioning to I4.0, contribute towards sustainable development, and improve market performance.     

Explaining servitization failure and deservitization: A knowledge-based perspective

The literature on servitization suggests that manufacturers benefit from moving towards solution provision and closer integration with customers. Yet, empirical evidence indicates two notable deviations from this accepted wisdom: servitization failure and deservitization. This conceptual article seeks to explain these observed deviations by developing a knowledge-based perspective on servitization. Drawing on literature on knowledge-based theory, organizational search, organizational learning, and organizational capabilities, the article analyses the interorganizational structure of production between the solution provider and its customer. Reconceptualizing the integrated solution offering as a bundle of knowledge components, a coherent theoretical framework is developed for understanding servitization. This framework provides insight into the antecedents and consequences of servitization and offers multiple explanations for servitization failure and deservitization. The knowledge-based perspective also points towards several new avenues for future research on servitization.     

Straight to the Core — Explaining Union Responses to the Casualization of Work: The IG Metall Campaign for Agency Workers

The existing literature provides different accounts on the strategies of unions regarding marginal workers. It has been argued that under increasing labour market segmentation, unions have either to prioritize their core constituencies and to seek compromises with management, or to adopt inclusive strategies towards peripheral workers to counterbalance eroding bargaining power. This article shows that both strategies represent equally viable options to protect the interests of unions' core members. The strategic choice depends on the (perceived) competition between core and peripheral employees related to employers' personnel strategies; this affects the possible alignment of interests between unions' core members, on the one hand, and either management or peripheral employees, on the other. Our historical analysis of union strategies towards agency workers in the German metal sector illustrates this mechanism, and identifies institutional change towards liberalization as the trigger for aggressive segmentation strategies by employers and for inclusive union strategies.     

Managing tension in coopetition through mutual dependence and asymmetries: A longitudinal study of a Norwegian R&D alliance

Strategic alliances between competitors (coopetition) is perceived to be full of tensions that needs to be managed. This study explore the evolution of a Norwegian coopetition alliance, through how firms handle tensions over time. The study finds that the firms experience a mutual dependence towards one another and that this dependence evolves over time. In the early phases of a coopetition alliance firms handle tension by relying on a structural dependence with their partners whereas firms move towards a more harmonious relationship with their partners by building a psychological dependence through trust and generosity. Further, the results indicate these dependencies might reduce the possible tensions related to asymmetries in size and knowledge between firms.     

Progress Towards Gender Democracy in UK Unions 1987–2012

This article provides a detailed chronological account of the extent of overall change in women's representation in UK unions' structures of democracy and in unions' adoption of gender equality (GE) strategies over a 25‐year period (1987–2012). The findings reveal huge progress towards gender proportionality and towards getting women's concerns on the union agenda. The evidence strongly suggests that at least in part this progress can be attributed to the wide range of GE strategies increasingly adopted over the period. However, the article exposes persistent gaps and warns against regarding the union gender democracy project as finished business.     

Reviewing the relations between teachers’ knowledge and pupils’ attitude in the field of primary technology education

This literature review reports on the assumed relations between primary school teachers’ knowledge of technology and pupils’ attitude towards technology. In order to find relevant aspects of technology-specific teacher knowledge, scientific literature in the field of primary technology education was searched. It is found that teacher knowledge is essential for stimulating a positive attitude towards technology in pupils. Particularly, teachers’ enhanced Pedagogical Content Knowledge is found to be related to pupils’ increased learning and interest in technology. Six aspects of technology-specific teacher knowledge that are likely to play a role in affecting pupils’ attitude are identified and schematically presented in a hypothetical diagram. It is concluded that more empirical evidence on the influence of technology-specific teacher knowledge on pupils’ attitude is needed. The hypothetical diagram will serve as a helpful tool to investigate the assumed relations between teacher knowledge and pupils’ attitude empirically.     

The ethical implications of collecting data in educational settings: discussion on the technology and engineering attitude scale (TEAS) and its psychometric validation for assessing a pre-engineering design program

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - K-12 Engineering Education has placed a lot of attention on students’ attitudes or predispositions towards science and technology....     

Female Part-time Workers' Attitudes to Trade Unions in Britain

This paper discusses the reasons that can be offered for the lower trade union membership rates of female part-time workers in the UK and focuses in particular on female part-timers' attitudes to trade unions. The findings are based on original research: 50 qualitative interviews with female part-time workers in the retail industry. The paper argues that female part-timers are supportive of the aims of the trade union movement and concludes that an integrated approach is necessary in order to understand part-timers' unionization rates. This includes structural factors, the approach that trade unions have taken towards part-time workers and attitudes towards trade unions.     

Reconceptualizing entrepreneurial orientation

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO)—a firm's strategic posture towards entrepreneurship—has become the predominant construct of interest in strategic entrepreneurship research. Despite the ever‐increasing volume of nomological research on EO, there remain ongoing conversations regarding its ontology. Drawing from measurement theory, we outline an EO reconceptualization addressing the likely prevalence of Type II nomological error in the EO literature stemming from measurement model misspecification. Focusing on the question of whether EO is an attitudinal construct, a behavioral construct, or both, we propose a formative construction of EO viewing the exhibition of entrepreneurial behaviors and of managerial attitude towards risk as jointly necessary dimensions that collectively form the higher‐order EO construct. We present an empirical illustration of our reconceptualization followed by a discussion of future research opportunities. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship management: A sales role, or a state of mind?: An investigation of functions and attitudes across a business-to-business sales force

Commentators suggest that the business-to-business sales role is changing and evolving into relationship management. Previous research indicates that a relationship management role is very different from ‘traditional’ sales, and that it may require a different attitude on the part of the relationship manager. This research explores attitudes towards various aspects of relationship management across an entire international business-to-business sales force in a service industry context. We find that attitudes towards relationship management do not in fact align with job role. A cluster analysis reveals three attitudinal types of sales persons: Self-Directed; Team Leaders; and Strategic Sellers. Our findings suggest that some individuals may have attitudes that are inappropriate to their roles, and that attitudes should be taken into account when selecting relationship managers.     

Recruiting college students for the salesforce

Recruiting college students is a problem because of their negativism towards selling. To overcome student negativism towards selling as a career, recruiters—in their recruitment messages—could present selling in a favorable light by indicating to students that a sales job can satisfy their vocational needs. The article provides several suggestions for improving sales recruitment programs directed at male and female college students.     

The dynamics of just-in-time

This article analyses the impact of just-in-time production on the three resources of machines, materials and people, and suggests that JIT entails a redistribution of slack between these resources. The impact of JIT on an organization's human resources is particularly problematical; pressures towards both increased variety and intensity of work are apparent.     

Attitudes to intercity travel substitution

Potential intercity travel reduction by the substitution of teleconferencing is examined by analysing studies of business travellers' attitudes towards teleconferencing and the experience of organizations with operational teleconferencing systems. Important findings are cited, but neither the attitudes nor operational experience indicate a trend towards a travel reduction. It seems that teleconferencing first needs to be used as a supplemental form of communication before being accepted as a viable substitution for intercity business travel.     

Implementing studio-based learning for design education: a study on the perception and challenges of Malaysian undergraduates

Studio-based learning (SBL) is a teaching and learning methodology that combines different learning pedagogies such as social constructivist, problem-based, and active learning to mimic real-world working experience. Traditionally, SBL is practised in architecture and art programmes, however there is a growing number of research in other areas such as computer science, engineering, entrepreneurship and design courses. Nevertheless, in Malaysia, studies have only focused on architecture programmes. Therefore, this study focuses on reporting the experience and challenges of implementing SBL for a design course in the area of Visual Communication. By employing a qualitative methodology, findings show positive perception towards SBL where respondents reported awareness in improved design and communication skills, and increased acceptance towards team work. They found the critique sessions, facilitated their learning progress. Nevertheless, students reported challenges with inept teaching and learning facilities for design work, collaboration and communication breakdown with stakeholders. The study also reports on improvement strategies to enhance students learning experience through SBL.

     

There is power in a union? Union members' preferences and the conditional effect of labour unions on left parties in different welfare state programmes

This article studies the effect of labour unions on policy-making in six different parts of the welfare state (passive and active labour market policy, employment protection, old-age pensions, health care and education) in OECD countries after 1980 with a two-level strategy: At the micro-level, we investigate union members’ preferences. Ordered logit regression analyses indicate that union members favour generous social policies more strongly than non-members. Moreover, this effect is stronger for programmes closely related to the labour market than for programmes without a strong labour market link. At the macro-level, we investigate the conditional effect of unions on left parties expecting the former to push the left towards more generous labour market-related (but not towards less-labour market-related) programmes. Regression analyses essentially provide evidence for such a relationship. Overall, unions have been powerful in promoting their members’ social policy preferences via left parties in government but their power is recently vanishing.