Turnaround user acceptance in the context of HR self-service technology adoption: an action research approach

Growing advancement in electronic human resource management (e-HRM) in general, and human resource (HR) self-service technology in particular, has afforded transformational opportunities in changing the design and delivery of HR services. Despite their importance, our understanding of how acceptance of these technologies can be improved remains limited. To address this shortfall, this study utilises the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to consider how HR can drive and influence the adoption of HR self-service technology in an organisation. Utilising an action research approach, this study documents and reflects on the experience of a UK building society in introducing a new version of HR self-service technology, and analyses how interventions can be used to reshape users' perceptions. Our findings show how HR can play a more proactive role in shaping and reshaping users' perceptions towards accepting such a technology by better understanding how systematic interventions can be developed, used and evaluated. Our contributions are not only limited to the theorisation of HR self-service technology based on TAM, but also lie in demonstrating how action research, although currently underused, can be a valid and valuable approach for HR research and practice.     

The Theory of Knowledge Spillover Entrepreneurship*

abstract The prevailing theories of entrepreneurship have typically revolved around the ability of individuals to recognize opportunities and then to act on them by starting a new venture. This has generated a literature asking why entrepreneurial behaviour varies across individuals with different characteristics while implicitly holding constant the external context in which the individual finds herself. Thus, where the opportunities come from, or the source of entrepreneurial opportunities, is also implicitly taken as given. By contrast, in this paper an important source of entrepreneurial opportunities is identified – knowledge and ideas created in an incumbent organization. By commercializing knowledge that otherwise would remain uncommercialized through the start‐up of a new venture, entrepreneurship serves as a conduit of knowledge spillovers. According to the theory of knowledge spillover entrepreneurship, a context with more knowledge will generate more entrepreneurial opportunities. By contrast, a context with less knowledge will generate fewer entrepreneurial opportunities. Based on a data set linking entrepreneurship to the knowledge context, empirical evidence is provided that is consistent with the proposition that entrepreneurial opportunities are not exogenous but rather systematically created by investments in knowledge by incumbent organizations.     

Breadth-of-impact frontier: How firm-level decisions and selection environment dynamics generate boundary-spanning inventions

In this paper, we provide an ex-ante explanation for why some technologies such as James Watt’s steam engine move successfully across broad technological fields, while other technologies do not. Using a sample of VC-backed biotechnology firms, we examine firm knowledge exploration choices along three dimensions—the decision to build from technologies across broad fields, the decision to explore application domains that are new to the firm, and the decision to mix these two options at the same time. We argue that firm-level invention decisions find differing responses when received by the selection environment. We find evidence of a “breadth-of-impact frontier” for technologies, wherein the choice of whether a firm should enter into a new application domain than those of the past should be informed by the degree to which the technology is citing prior work narrowly or broadly. The findings suggest that the belief that broad sourcing diversity will always result in greater citation diversity requires some caveats. The results contribute to the understanding of not only how entrepreneurial firms evolve but also how individual firms contribute to collective progress.     

The study of behavioral intention for mobile commerce: via integrated model of TAM and TTF

Mobile commerce systems allow customers to purchase products over the Internet without using a pc. It also creates a new mobile business model and change e-commerce paradigms, having an especially significant effect on the medical and insurance industries. Furthermore, the real estate industry is increasing in the booming market, but tends to become overheated. Thus, some innovative techniques (such as mobile commerce) were adopted by estate agent to enhance their competitive advantage. Consequently, identifying the match between mobile commerce technique and individual performance is a valuable focus of research. In fact, technology acceptance model (TAM) is a well-known theory regarding the adoption of information technology (IT), but ignores the focus on evaluating IT; meanwhile, the task-technology fit (TTF) model takes a directly rational approach by assuming that users choose to use IT that provides benefits but does not consider about users’ beliefs and attitude towards IT. Therefore, this study examined an integrated model of TAM and TTF that provided additional explanatory power via structural equation modeling. Analytical results confirm that the integrated model provides greater explanatory power than either TAM or TTF alone. Furthermore, several practical implications and recommendations are also discussed below.     

The Role of Networks In the Diffusion of Technological Innovation*

This research considers the diffusion of computer-aided production management (CAPM) technology in the UK manufacturing sector during the mid to late 1980s, focusing on the role of inter-organizational networks in the diffusion process. Research on innovation diffusion has tended to adopt a ‘pro-innovation bias’ such that adoption of prescribed best practice technologies is always considered to be the best policy. In the UK, one particular form of CAPM (MRP/MRPII) has been heavily promoted by technology suppliers as best practice. However, the notion of ‘best practice’ de-emphasizes the importance of decisions about technology design when users attempt to develop firm-specific solutions. Crucial to these decisions are the inter-organizational networks through which potential adopters learn about relevant technologies. Using three case companies, where the introduction of CAPM occurred at approximately the same time, decisions regarding adoption, design and subsequent implementation, are explored in order to establish the influence of inter-organizational networks on the diffusion and subsequent appropriation of CAPM technologies. These cases revealed that potential adopters engaged in a range of inter-organizational networks through which they learned about new technologies. However, the knowledge diffused through many of these networks was shaped by technology suppliers who were promoting similar ideas about best practice. Thus, while involvement in inter-organizational networks gave potential adopters access to information about new technology, this information tended to reinforce supplier images of best practice and did not always lead these firms to develop appropriate technological solutions. Problematic relationships between the suppliers of the technology and the users was seen here to limit the redesign and further diffusion of CAPM.     

The relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and speed to the market: The case of incubator firms in Norway

Incubators and incubator firms work to promote the development and commercialization of technology and products. This study shows that entrepreneurial orientation can help achieve this aim. Using survey data from incubator firms, we show that entrepreneurial orientation has a statistically significant positive effect on ability to bring technology and products quickly to the market. This finding is important for managers of incubator firms and managers of incubators alike as they have a common interest in speed to the market. An implication of our study is that managers of incubators should try to enhance the entrepreneurial orientation of the incubator firms.     

制造企业电子商务技术采纳影响因素与采纳模型研究

本文通过对电子商务技术采纳,信息技术采纳的文献研究,同时对陕西省内制造企业调研后,以TAM模型和TTF模型为理论基础构建出了制造企业电子商务技术采纳的概念模型,提出了18个假设因子,由于是刚开始涉及到本研究课题,本文只提出了制造企业电子商务技术采纳概念模型,没有具体对模型进行论证,希望在后期进一步的研究。     

Evaluating the impact of prior experience in entrepreneurial intention

Although entrepreneurial behavior is proposed as part of the solution to fragile labor markets, in particular in periods of economic and social change, policy makers are struggling to find the right levers to promote it. Despite the extant prior research on entrepreneurial behavior, little is known on the entrepreneurial behavior drivers for the individuals of working age with experience. Prior research explores the influence of entrepreneurial knowledge to study the drivers of experienced individuals evaluating whether or not to engage in an entrepreneurial behavior. This research introduces entrepreneurial knowledge to study the impact of prior experience on entrepreneurial intention. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this research work analyzes the relationship between entrepreneurial knowledge and entrepreneurial intention, and the mediating effects of the TPB perceptual variables: personal attitude (PA), social norm (SN), and perceived behavioral-control (PBC). A structural equation model (SEM) has been used to analyze the responses of a sample of 431 experienced individuals of working-age that completed a questionnaire based on Liñan & Chen’s, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 593–618, (2009) Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ). The results showed that entrepreneurial knowledge positively influences entrepreneurial intention and that this influence is mediated by the perceptual variables of the TPB model (PA, SN, PBC). These findings contribute to the understanding of the entrepreneurial intention for experienced individuals and consolidate the use of the TPB model to study individual entrepreneurial intention. The findings suggest that policy makers should pay more attention to individual entrepreneurial knowledge, and strengthen the attractiveness of an entrepreneurial career, if they are interested in fostering entrepreneurial behavior among individuals of working age with experience.     

预测和解释人们对新事物接受的扩展模型研究

通过对理论文献的综述,分析和解释了人们对新技术的接受的基本过程。然而由于人们所处的环境不同,文化的不同等因素,技术接受模型在解释人们对新技术的采纳存在一定的局限。文中通过分析研究提出新的变量引入技术接受模型中,提升了模型对态度、意愿、行为的解释力,丰富了模型的应用,并提出了模型的在移动通信服务业中应用,对移动行业如何开展增值服务有一定的指导意义。     

Entrepreneurial motivation: a non-entrepreneur’s journey to become an entrepreneur

In entrepreneurship literature, much research effort is focused on differentiating entrepreneurs, recognizing or exploiting opportunities, resources available or required, or a combination of the three entrepreneurship-defining factors. There is, however, very little research on understanding a non-entrepreneur’s motivation to become an entrepreneur. This greatly limits our knowledge of the entrepreneurial process. It has hindered our understanding of how non-entrepreneurs are motivated to pursue entrepreneurial career options and has led to misinformed decisions by scholars and policy makers. In this paper, our goal is to develop a theory of entrepreneurial motivation that explains how non-entrepreneurs develop the motivation to pursue entrepreneurship. We argue that an individual’s self-assessment of their identity is the primary factor in individuals developing entrepreneurial motivation. The identity self-assessment leads individuals either to seek enhancement of their identity or establish a new identity that opens them to the influence of entrepreneurial motivation reinforcing entrepreneurial exposure in their social environment.     

Fostering product innovation in industry networks: the mediating role of knowledge integration

The locus of innovation has shifted from single entrepreneurial firms to groups of networked firms. Inter-organizational cooperation rather than competition to exploit the value of knowledge through new product innovation lies at the heart of the knowledge-based economy. This paper focuses on the phenomenon of network product innovation and the holistic integration of distributed knowledge across organizational boundaries to foster production innovation. A new construct, knowledge integration, is found to have a strong positive impact on new product performance. Resource complementarity, market orientation, and information sharing are three antecedents that positively affect knowledge integration across organizational boundaries. Survey data also suggest that knowledge integration serves as a mediator between the three antecedents and product innovation performance. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Open standards,vertical disintegration and entrepreneurial opportunities: How vertically-specialized firms entered the U.S. semiconductor industry

This paper shows how the emergence of open standards has created large numbers of entrepreneurial opportunities in the semiconductor industry by enabling vertical specialization. Integrating data on firms and technology evolution, we find a gradual increase in the percentage of firms represented by newly-founded “de novo” entrepreneurial startups, instead of “de alio” ones, as open standards emerged in semiconductor products and processes over the life of the industry. This standardization reduced transaction costs and fostered specialization, thus facilitating the entry of vertically-specialized new ventures. Vise versa, the rise of such new ventures further pushed the adoption of open standards, and the vertical disintegration of the industry. Our theory on how standardization creates opportunities for new ventures and our analysis of the semiconductor industry contribute to the technology entrepreneurship literature, as well as the industry architecture literature that has primarily focused on the impact of standardization on the disintegration of vertically-integrated incumbents.     

Feeling the risks: effects of the development of emotional competences with outdoor training on the entrepreneurial intent of university students

Nowadays, one of the roles of universities is the promotion of entrepreneurship, particularly, among students. Research on entrepreneurship at an individual level of analysis focuses on the personal characteristics and the entrepreneurial attitude that stimulate its development, studying the factors affecting that some individuals discover and exploit opportunities by creating a company, while others do not. Yet, it has been proved that psychological characteristics of individuals affect their entrepreneurial intention. Additionally, experiential learning techniques, such as outdoor training have been showed as useful to change emotional competences. However, there is not any research on how changes in emotional competencies influence individual entrepreneurial intent in university students, particularly after participating in an outdoor training experience. This paper analyses quantitative and qualitative data of last-year university students who participated in an outdoor training experience, measuring its emotional competences and entrepreneurial orientation, before and after that experience. It contributes to the understanding on how changes in emotional competences affect the entrepreneurial intent of university students. Results indicate that changes in emotional competences, such as self-management, social awareness, and relationship management affect entrepreneurial orientation, particularly innovation and risk, affecting, thus, entrepreneurial intention.     

Network ties and entrepreneurial orientation: Innovative performance of SMEs in a developing country

This study investigates the role of intra-cluster ties, extra-cluster ties, and entrepreneurial orientation in shaping firms’ innovative performance. We conduct our analysis on a primary data set of 120 small and medium enterprises located in the Cibaduyut footwear-manufacturing cluster, Indonesia. We explore the effectiveness of knowledge acquisition through intra-cluster ties and extra-cluster ties on innovative performance. We find that extra-cluster ties mediate the relationship between proactiveness and innovative performance. Also, a combination of high extra-cluster ties and risk taking exert a positive impact on innovative performance. Surprisingly, we find that risk taking negatively moderates the influence of intra-cluster ties on innovative performance. Over-reliance on within-cluster knowledge sharing may result in the diffusion of redundant knowledge rather than making new knowledge available to the firm. Overall, our findings point to the synergistic effects of entrepreneurial orientation and extra-cluster ties on innovative performance.     

创业营销对创业绩效的影响研究:一个有调节的中介模型

先前学者们对于创业营销的研究大多聚焦于定性研究,文章从创业营销的创业导向与市场导向入手,通过实证研究的方法探究创业营销对创业绩效的提升机制。以创业导向作为自变量、市场导向作为中介变量、顾客导向为调节变量,构建一个有调节的中介模型。通过问卷搜集中国297家企业的数据检验假设,结果表明:创业导向、市场导向均正向影响创业绩效,且当市场导向作为中介变量时,对两者之间对创业绩效的总效应更加明显;顾客导向的调节作用并不明显。最后,提出了管理建议与未来的研究方向。     

Individual entrepreneurial orientation,value congruence,and individual outcomes: Does the institutional entrepreneurial environment matter?

Although entrepreneurial orientation (EO) at the firm-level is often conceptualized as a direct antecedent of performance, the findings of previous studies lending support to this association are inconsistent. Consequently, drawing on the attraction/selection/attrition and institutional theories and employing the moderated mediation analysis approach, this study conceptualizes the individual perception of a firm's EO or individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO). It examines the direct and indirect effects of IEO on individual outcomes measured in terms of performance expectation, job involvement, and organizational commitment. More specifically, it examines whether these effects are mediated by value congruence and moderated by the institutional entrepreneurial environment to understand these inconsistent findings better. Using a sample of 398 environmentally concerned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), and the PROCESS macro were employed to analyzed the research model. This study finds that value congruence mediates the association between IEO and performance expectation, job involvement, and organizational commitment. The moderated mediation model analysis also suggests that the mediating role of value congruence increases as the level of the institutional entrepreneurial environment increases. These findings offer useful theoretical and managerial implications of the IEO on individual outcomes.     

Regional knowledge production as determinant of high-technology entrepreneurship: empirical evidence for Germany

Similar to the creation and distribution of new knowledge through industrial R&D and university research, entrepreneurial activity tends to vary across regions. Therefore the regionalized production of new knowledge is a prerequisite of entrepreneurial innovation. Based on endogenous growth theory, in particular the so-called Griliches-Jaffe-Model of regional knowledge production, we investigate industrial and university characteristics as determinants of technologically oriented entrepreneurship. Using hand-collected data from multiple sources, our results clearly show that high-technology entrepreneurship is highly dependent on regional knowledge production by industry and university, while technology entrepreneurship does largely not dependent on these factors.     

Technology transfer, specific local knowledge and entrepreneurial partner control in international joint ventures

Previous research has sought to demonstrate the influence of control of an IJV on achieving the learning objectives of the partners involved. However, the effect that certain types of learning have on the control of the IJV, which are vital for the success of the internationalization of the entrepreneurial firm, has yet to be explored. The results from case studies of six IJVs show that, during the post-formation stage, the configuration of entrepreneurial partner control over the IJV is conditioned by both technology transfer and by learning specific local knowledge by the entrepreneurial partner. The study also shows that the negative relation between trust and control suggested by the literature is limited to cases where trust has broken down. Greater levels of trust are also compatible with greater control with a view to appropriately exploiting when firms see the need to intensify control or need to implement new control mechanisms in order to properly exploit the resources contributed to the IJV.     

Social influence in technology adoption: taking stock and moving forward

Social influence has been shown to profoundly affect human behavior in general and technology adoption in particular. Over time, multiple definitions and measures of social influence have been introduced to the field of technology adoption research, contributing to an increasingly fragmented landscape of constructs that challenges the conceptual integrity of the field. Consequently, this paper sets out to review how social influence has been conceptualized in technology adoption research. In so doing, this paper attempts to inform researchers’ understanding of the construct, reconcile its myriad conceptualizations, constructively challenge extant approaches, and provide impulses for future research. A systematic review of the salient literature uncovers that extant interpretations of social influence are (1) predominantly compliance-based and as such risk overlooking identification- and internalization-based effects; (2) primarily targeted at the individual level and non-social technologies, thereby precluding the impact of socially enriched environments; and (3) heavily reliant on survey-based and US/China-centric samples, which jeopardizes the generalizability and predictive validity of the findings. Building upon these insights, this paper develops an integrated perspective on social influence in technology adoption research that encourages scholars to pursue a multi-theoretical understanding of social influence at the interface of users, social referents, and technology.     

Sustainable development in small and medium enterprises: The role of entrepreneurial orientation in supply chain management

Organizations are under increased pressure to improve their sustainable performance through the adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have lagged behind larger corporations due to a number of factors. Chief among these factors is the lack of resources and capabilities. In this study, we investigate whether entrepreneurial orientation as a distinctive firm-level resource contributes to the successful implementation of GSCM practices within SMEs. We use primary data obtained from 316 manufacturing SMEs and analyze the data by using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Our findings show four equifinal configurations of GSCM practices and the components of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) that lead to high environmental performance. Two practices, “eco-design” and “internal environmental management”, are present in all configurations, with the latter being the single core condition. The components of EO are present in all the configurations. Three distinct configurations lead to the simultaneous achievement of high environmental performance and high economic performance. Some noticeable differences appear in these configurations: “internal environmental management” is no longer a core condition, instead external practices (“green purchasing,” “cooperation with customers including environmental requirements,” and “investment recovery”) and “risk-taking” become core conditions. We exptrapolate our findings into a set of propositions that expand theory on the link between entrepreneurial orientation and sustainable performance. Our study provides insights for managers who seek to infuse entrepreneurial thoughts and actions into their green supply chain initiatives.