European Journal of Innovation Management

Chen, Qian; Magnusson, Mats; Björk, Jennie

doi: 10.1108/ejim-02-2018-0045pmid: N/A

New opportunities to nurture good ideas for innovation arise as firms use web-based ideation platforms for collective idea generation and development. What influences creative performance in firm-internal collective idea development is however not as well researched as idea generation and thus an important area of research is the feedback and commenting on ideas. More specifically, the purpose of this paper is to explore the role of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap between feedback providers and ideas in collective firm-internal online idea development.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical study has been performed, drawing on data collected from a Swedish multi-national company using a web-based system for collective firm-internal ideation. The investigation explicitly captures the effects on ideation performance played by idea development contributions, in terms of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap between feedback providers and ideas.FindingsThe empirical results show that idea development is significantly influenced by feedback timeliness as well as by the knowledge overlap between feedback providers and ideas. Specifically, it is found that longer time to feedback and an increased knowledge overlap result in an increased likelihood of idea acceptance. However, beyond a certain point, the positive effects of a longer time to feedback and increased knowledge overlap decrease, resulting in curvilinear relationships with idea acceptance.Research limitations/implicationsThe results do not only shed new light on theory about collective idea development, but also provides management implications for collective firm-internal ideation. As the data used in the study has been collected in one single firm, care should be taken in generalizing the results to other domains.Practical implicationsThe results inform managers that it is not always better to involve more individuals in these emergent and distributed ideation systems, but that it might be beneficial to take measures to exercise some control in terms of when distributed and diverse employees can freely join in and out, especially considering the diversity of ideas, comments and creators.Originality/valueThe results from the empirical study reveal the effects of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap on idea development. This provides us with new insights on the complex dynamics at place in collective firm-internal idea development and offers implications for how we can fruitfully manage this process.

Ben Rejeb, Wajdi; Berraies, Sarra; Talbi, Dorra

doi: 10.1108/ejim-06-2018-0110pmid: N/A

The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between board of directors’ roles namely strategy, service and control roles and ambidextrous innovation. This study also aims to determine whether the independence and gender diversity of boards have mediating effects in this relationship.Design/methodology/approachOn the basis of a quantitative approach, the authors conducted a survey on all Tunisian-listed firms. A partial least square method was used to analyze the quantitative data. The authors also conducted semi-structured interviews with a sample of boards’ members of the surveyed firms followed by a thematic analysis of the discourses to discuss the results.FindingsResults revealed that ambidextrous innovation is negatively linked to board’s control role. The outcomes of this research show also that ambidextrous innovation is positively associated with board’s service role and that the gender diversity moderates positively this link. Findings do not indicate a significant relationship between board’s strategy role and ambidextrous innovation but show evidence that the relationship is negatively moderated by independent directors, while positively moderated by gender diversity.Originality/valueThis research sheds light on the effects of Boards’ roles on ambidextrous innovation and the moderating effect of board’s gender diversity and independence as well. This paper addresses the gap in the literature as this thematic has not been studied, offering key insights with regard to corporate governance of companies looking to achieve ambidextrous innovation.

Raziq, Muhammad Mustafa; Rodrigues, Cristina Doritta; Borini, Felipe Mendes; Malik, Omer Farooq; Saeed, Abubakr

doi: 10.1108/ejim-06-2018-0135pmid: N/A

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) encourage their subsidiaries to develop and transfer their unique knowledge and expertise back to the MNE as it is critical for the development of the MNE as a whole. However, what underlies the subsidiary ability to create such specialized knowledge that can be transferred to the MNE is less clear. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of MNE entrepreneurial strategy, subsidiary initiatives and expatriation on reverse knowledge transfers in a cross-country comparative context.Design/methodology/approachData are gathered through surveys from 429 foreign subsidiaries operating in New Zealand and 164 subsidiaries in Brazil, and these are analyzed using variance-based structural equation modeling.FindingsSubsidiary initiatives partially mediate the relationship between MNE entrepreneurial strategy and reverse knowledge transfers in case of subsidiaries operating in Brazil, but they fully mediate in case of New Zealand. Furthermore, expatriation, in case of the latter, has a negative interaction in the relationship between subsidiary initiative and reverse knowledge transfers, but, in case of the former, it has no moderating role. Overall, the results suggest that the influence of MNE entrepreneurial strategy and expatriation on reverse knowledge transfers can be explained by contingencies such as the subsidiary host economy and the heterogenous HQ–subsidiary relationships.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to literature by identifying some contingencies with regard to the occurrence of reverse knowledge transfers. It addresses some research calls with regard to examining reverse knowledge transfers and the role of expatriation across different empirical contexts.

Shafique, Imran; Ahmad, Bashir; Kalyar, Masood Nawaz

doi: 10.1108/ejim-12-2018-0269pmid: N/A

The purpose of this paper is to answer two questions. What is the impact of ethical leadership on followers’ creativity and organizational innovation? What are the mechanisms through which ethical leadership influences creativity and organizational innovation?Design/methodology/approachConsidering a market-oriented criterion to measure organizational innovation, the data were collected from 322 small-sized information technology firms working in Pakistan. Multilevel modeling and hierarchical regression analyses were used to explore the direct and indirect effects of ethical leadership on creativity and innovation, respectively.FindingsThe results show that ethical leadership is an important predictor of both individual and organizational creativity. For the individual level, the results of multilevel modeling indicate that there is a positive link between ethical leadership and employee creativity. Furthermore, ethical leadership affects employee creativity through knowledge sharing and psychological empowerment. At the organizational level, the results reveal that ethical leadership is positively associated with organizational innovation directly.Practical implicationsThe findings imply that ethical leadership is an important tool to promote creativity and for the advancement of innovation for developing countries as well as for newly developed industries.Originality/valueThis study is first to highlight the role of ethical leadership for organizational innovation. The main contribution of the study is to explore creativity as potential mediator for ethical leadership–organizational innovation nexus; where a market-oriented criterion is taken as proxy of organizational innovation.

Martínez-Alonso, Rubén; Martínez-Romero, María J.; Rojo-Ramírez, Alfonso A.

doi: 10.1108/ejim-09-2018-0210pmid: N/A

The purpose of this paper is to offer new insights regarding an issue that has attracted the interest of multitude academics and practitioners in business management and family firm literature: technological innovation (TI). Specifically, this study brings new knowledge regarding both the impact of TI efficiency on firm growth and the moderating role of family involvement in management on such relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a matched-pairs design and an ordinary least squares regression analysis to examine a sample of 152 Spanish manufacturing firms.FindingsFirst, the authors show that firms obtaining higher TI efficiency are also those that achieve superior growth. Second, the authors reveal that as family involvement in management increases, the positive effect that TI efficiency exerts on firm growth is strengthened.Practical implicationsThis study suggests that family managers should essentially consider various aspects such as tacit knowledge, social capital and long-standing collaborations with stakeholders to reinforce the relationship between TI efficiency and firm growth.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyses the effect of TI efficiency on firm growth, as well as, when and to what extent family involvement in management influences the TI efficiency–growth relationship. Thus, this paper provides a deeper understanding of the importance that family managers could have on firm growth deriving from TI efficiency.

Wang, Chunhsien; Chen, Min-Nan; Chang, Ching-Hsing

doi: 10.1108/ejim-04-2018-0072pmid: N/A

The purpose of this paper is to investigate alliance partner diversity (APD) as a driving force that potentially enhances firms’ innovation generation (IG) in interfirm open alliance contexts. The authors propose that APD enhances IG but that the effects depend on both alliance network position and the double-edged external knowledge search strategy. Building on the knowledge-based view and social capital theory, the authors formally model how external knowledge search strategies can lead to productive or destructive acquisitions of external knowledge in interfirm open alliance networks. The authors theorize that when an individual firm adopts a central position in a complex interfirm open alliance network, its propensity toward beneficial IG depends on its knowledge search strategy (i.e. its breadth and depth) due to the joint influence of network position and knowledge search strategy on innovation.Design/methodology/approachUsing an original large-scale survey of high-tech firms, this study shows that the relationship between partner diversity and IG is contingent on a firm’s network position and knowledge search strategy. The authors also offer an original analysis of how knowledge search strategy (i.e. its breadth and depth) in network centrality (NC) affects the efficacy of knowledge acquisition in interfirm open alliance networks. Empirically, the authors provide an original contribution to the open innovation literature by integrating social capital and knowledge-based theory to rigorously measure firm IG.FindingsOverall, our findings suggest that the knowledge search strategy imparts a double-edged effect that may promote or interfere with external knowledge in IG in the context of the diversity of alliance partners.Research limitations/implicationsThe work has important limitations, such as its analysis of a single industry in the empirical models. Therefore, further studies should consider multiple industries that may provide useful insights into innovation decisions.Practical implicationsExternal knowledge search is valuable, particularly in the high-tech industry, as external knowledge acquisition generates innovation output. This study serves to raise managers’ awareness of various approaches to external knowledge searches and highlights the importance of network position in knowledge acquisition from interfirm open alliance collaborations.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to investigate the double-edged effect of knowledge search on interfirm open alliance networks. It also contributes to the theoretical and practical literature on interfirm open alliance networks by reflecting on external knowledge search and underlying network centrality and APD factors.

Molina-Castillo, Francisco-Jose; Meroño-Cerdan, Angel-Luis; López-Nicolás, Carolina

doi: 10.1108/ejim-12-2018-0259pmid: N/A

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the differences and similarities that arise between manufacturing and service firms with regard to the impact of business model objectives on marketing innovation activities.Design/methodology/approachThis study focuses on business model objectives and marketing innovations activities. As described by Oslo Manual, marketing innovations involve changes in product design, promotion, placement and pricing. Relationships between business model objectives and marketing innovations are based on the analysis of 9,525 firms, 5,488 of which are manufacturing companies and 4,037 of which are service companies.FindingsFindings reveal distinctive results in the adoption of marketing innovation, depending on the business model objectives being pursued and the type of companies (manufacture or service) considered.Research limitations/implicationsThis research goes further than prior studies by identifying more precisely the particularities that differentiate the manufacturing and service sectors.Practical implicationsFirm’s age and size are not significant restrictions to introduce new marketing innovations in manufacturing or service sectors. In contrast, the business model objective to enter a new market is a significant driver of marketing innovations in most cases.Originality/valueThe focus on business model objectives and their impact on marketing innovations is novel. In addition, this study focuses on a large-scale sample that allows us to compare differences between manufacturing and service companies.