infonet-economy

Given the importance of personality to predict consequential outcomes in the workplace, it is important to be able to measure it accurately. To date, no research has examined if people leave valid cues of their personality in résumé photographs. This research examined to what extent résumé photographs provide accurate information about the personality traits of their owner. Two observers rated 97 résumé photographs on four aspects: color photograph, photograph background, smile and professional attire. These ratings were compared with an accuracy criterion of the big five dimensions (self and peer reports). Results indicate that three out of the four cues are linked to extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and emotional stability. These results suggest that résumé photographs can convey valid information about personality.

A principal-agent relationship exists between hotel owners and the management companies which often operate their hotels. In addition, they both act as principals to a mutual agent, the hotel's General Manager, who is tasked with trying to achieve each parties' objectives. Extensive research on hotel management agreements which govern the owner-operator relationship has demonstrated that these objectives are often incongruent. However, the property-level managerial and performance implications of their goal incongruence has not been empirically examined. This study analyzes these issues using a matched sample of surveys from both owners and operators across 64 hotels operated under hotel management agreements. Using structural equations modeling, we demonstrate that owner-operator goal congruence positively impacts hotel performance and that this relationship is both mediated and moderated by the hotel General Manager's autonomy.

Entrepreneurship and the startup phenomenon have received considerable attention from researchers, with a particular focus on topics such as the identification of: new ventures’ success factors, conditions that foster entrepreneurial processes and new venture creation (Grimaldi & Grandi, 2005; Maine et al., 2015; Roberts, 1991; Smilor, 1987; Sternberg, 2014; Stuart & Abetti, 1987; Timmons et al., 1999). Accelerators are part of a wide range of initiatives aimed at stimulating and supporting entrepreneurship (Pauwels et al., 2016). The acceleration concept aims to link innovative startups, access to capital and training in order to accelerate the growth of early-stage ventures, and thus speed up the transformation process from startup to a sustainable company. Accelerators assist ventures by providing mentorship and training to a specific cohort of startups through a structured and fixed-term program (Cohen & Hochberg, 2014). In addition, accelerators may offer financing (Christiansen, 2009; Miller & Bound, 2011). While accelerators do have certain common traits, they also differ widely depending on their funding sources, industry focus, start-ups base (customer), network, and resources. These differences give rise to different acceleration models. In this paper, we identify five (different) main types of accelerators: Independent Accelerators (IA), Corporate Accelerators (CA), Hybrid Accelerators (HA), University Accelerators (UA), and Government Accelerators (GA). We then describe their main features, similarities, and differences on the basis of what we define as the accelerators’ ‘characterizing’ variables (institutional mission/strategy, industry vertical, location, market orientation, origin of projects, stage, program duration, sources of revenue, support offered, management, network). We argue that the diversity of acceleration models has been driven by the innovative power of startups to develop new technologies, new business models, and foster the regional and economic development of the region in which they operate. By studying the dynamics of the accelerator industry, we identified two main acceleration models, Model 1 and Model 2, which provide accelerators with useful strategic indications on how and where to position themselves in an ecosystem. To exemplify our results, we report empirical evidence from case studies of eight Swiss accelerators. Going through the accelerators’ characterizing variables allowed us to capture the main differences between the five types of accelerators to support our two-accelerator-models (view). In our conclusions, we highlight the importance of a range of accelerators, offering various benefits to satisfy different startups. Accelerators need to understand their strategic positioning within their ecosystem, and realize how their focus matches the variety of demands and expectations coming from startup ventures.

While business model innovations are critical to a company’s long-term strategy, they are still poorly understood compared to other kinds of innovations. In this paper, we investigate prior research and reframe business model innovation through a top management lens. We report on a content analysis of interviews with top managers of small and medium enterprises in the technology industry, with the aim of recording their definition of business model innovation ans their impact on strategy. This research intends to contribute to a better understanding of the meaning of business model innovation from a practitioners’ perspective and its impact on strategy. These findings open new directions for theory development and empirical studies in the business model and strategic management literature.

Accelerators assist early-stage ventures by offering networking opportunities, access to funding and training. We map business accelerators in five categories: Independent Accelerators (IA), Corporate Accelerators (CA), Hybrid Accelerators (HA), University Accelerators (UA), and Government Accelerators (GA). We argue that accelerators can be described by two main acceleration models (Model 1 and Model 2), providing accelerators with valuable information on how to position themselves strategically in the ecosystem. We identify a list of accelerators’ ‘characterizing’ variables that allows for differentiating the five accelerator categories and describing the various acceleration models. Empirical evidence is provided on the two acceleration models based on a case study of eight Swiss acceleration programs.

The business model innovation construct is gaining substantive attention in management literature. However, little advancement has been made toward a holistic, theory-based understanding of the nature of business model innovation, along with its context-specific antecedents and outcomes. Combining the theoretical insights of the literature on organizational routines and ‘activity system’ perspectives on business models, we refine the conceptualization of a business model as a cluster of interrelated routines, with its internal change dynamics determining the process and scope of business model innovation. Within the developed process model of business model innovation, we distinguish between potential and realized business model innovation processes, and derive theoretical propositions regarding external and internal environment, business model innovation, and value creation and value capture.

Accessing online health content of high quality and reliability presents challenges. Laypersons cannot easily differentiate trustworthy content from misinformed or manipulated content. This article describes complementary approaches for members of the general public and health professionals to find trustworthy content with as little bias as possible. These include the Khresmoi health search engine (K4E), the Health On the Net Code of Conduct (HONcode) and health trust indicator Web browser extensions.