Thispaper develops process theory on how service firms deal with persistent economic decline and the practices they adopt to overcome it. It examines how a knowledge-based service activity— commercial archeology— attempts to overcome environmental constraints of increasing complexity and economic downturn, as it unfolded over an 8-year period.This longitudinal,multimethod field study illustrates how confronting an external crisis may actually lead surviving firms to attempt innovation actions, a critical factor in achieving organizational renewal. Findings suggest that therenewal ability of highly dynamic services hingeson which innovation activities firms select and adopt, whether they implement them effectively, and the consequences of such implementations. This article contributes to the development of theory about the role of organizational innovation in service adaptation by offering insight into the link between strategic renewal and innovation activities.
Building upon and extending Parker, Bindl, and Strauss’s (2010)theory of proactive motivation, we develop an integrated, multilevel model to examine how contextual factors shape employees’ proactive motivational states and, through these proactive motivational states, influence their personal initiative behavior. Using data from a sample of hotels collected from 3 sources and over 2 time periods, we show that establishment-level initiative-enhancing human resource management (HRM) systems were posi- tively related to departmental initiative climate, which was positively related to employee personal initiative through employee role-breadth self-efficacy. Further, department-level empowering leadership was positively related to initiative climate only when initiative-enhancing HRM systems were low. These findings offer interesting implications for research on personal initiative and for the management of employee proactivity in organizations.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine through a sensemaking lens the transforming nature of scientists’ work role in public research organizations (PROs), resulting from organizational innovations in the form of collaborative culture. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a symbolic-functionalist theory of work role transition, the paper uses interview data from a case study to explore scientists’ sensemaking of work role change. Findings – Work role transition and identity processes among scientists in traditional PROs reveal tensions regarding organizational restructuring to the extent that organizational innovations are changing scientific work conflict with organizational norms, procedures and reward structures in hierarchical, bureaucratic PROs. Research limitations/implications – As the paper is based on only one case study, further research should be carried out on the difficulties involved in transforming the nature of the scientific work role and the way scientists recognize, contradict and make sense of changes. Originality/value – The novelty of this paper is in th eun-discussed role of organizational innovations in enabling new work roles for scientists in public research centers and how scientists make sense of and react to these innovations. Therefore, this paper could be beneficial for PROs facing pressure to restructure.
Scholars studying intuition are frequently focusing on decision takers and to this day, they conceptualize intuition as a form of judgment. More recently, the notion of intuition in creativity has been challenged by the argument that although the creative process may contain intuitive judgments, any creative idea or solution is essentially the result of intuitive insight. This interpretivist study seeks an increased understanding of the role of intuition in the creative process by providing empirical evidence from in-depth interviews with expert chefs. The findings show that the interviewees describe their experiences of the creative process consistent with how the literature describes intuition and explain intuitive insight and judgment as instantaneous yet distinct and rapid processes.
As suggested by previous results, whether, when designing robots, we should make use of social stereotypes and thus perpetuate them is question of present concern. The aim of this study was the identification of the specific conditions under which people’s judgments of robots were no longer guided by stereotypes. The study participants were 121 individuals between 18 and 69 years of age. We used an experimental design and manipulated the gender and strength of robots, and we measured the perception of how a robot could be used in automotive mechanics for light and heavy tasks. Results show that the technical characteristics of robots helped to anchor people’s judgments on robots’ intrinsic characteristics rather than on stereotypical indicators. Thus, stereotype perpetuation does not seem to be the sole option when designing robots.
The aim of this article is to explore and to sum up essential elements in building a strong luxury brand. Contribution of this article to the academic discussion on branding is in critical review of the literature and collection of empirical insights from the Swiss watchmaking industry. The novelty of this project lies in the «industry-based» approach to the conceptual framework development (semi-structured interviews among watchmaking industry experts). The main findings of this research are ten pillars (axes) of strong luxury brand that gather the essential elements for creation of a strong brand in Swiss luxury watchmaking industry.
When designing and assessing a business model, a more visual and practical ontology and framework is necessary. We draw lessons from usage by practitioners around the world of the Business Model Canvas (BMC) method to define three maturity level. We propose new concepts to help design the dynamic aspect of a business model. On the first level, the BMC supports novice users as they elicit their models; it also helps novices to build coherent models. On the second level, the BMC allows expert users to evaluate the interaction of business model elements by outlining the key threads in the business models story. On the third level, master users are empowered to create multiple versions of their business models, allowing them to evaluate alternatives and retain the history of the business models evolution. These new concepts for the BMC which can be supported by Computer-Aided Design tools provide a clearer picture of the business model as a strategic planning tool and are the basis for further research.
