Journal of Strategy and Management

Haumer, Florian; Schlicker, Laura; Murschetz, Paul Clemens; Kolo, Castulus

2021 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/jsma-08-2020-0207

This study strives to improve one’s understanding of tailored messaging as an organizational communication strategy that amplifies processes of organizational change at an individual level of personality traits.Design/methodology/approachA scientific experiment was conducted to test the effects of tailored messages on self-reported employee engagement during an organizational change process.FindingsThe results show that tailored messaging improves employee engagement for change when messages fit the specific needs of different personality types. Conversely, message tailoring can lower employee engagement when messages do not match personality types. Further, message tailoring has different impacts at different stages of a change project.Research limitations/implicationsAn employee's ability to change as a function of his professional skill set as well as the project type (e.g. digital transformation project, post-merger integration project, leadership change project) should not be neglected in an overall model that aims to explain the success factors of change management.Practical implicationsObviously, proper targeting, timing, as well as the implementation of a valid, legal and feasible method for identifying an employee's personality as well as other individual characteristics are equally important and challenging to improve change management outcomes.Originality/valueThis study adds value to the discussion on the efficacy of message tailoring as a communication strategy for organizational change.

Peterson, Dane K.; Van Landuyt, Cathryn; Pham, Courtney

2021 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/jsma-09-2020-0241

This paper examines how the inferred motives for corporate philanthropy relate to the types of charitable causes supported.Design/methodology/approachPublished data were obtained for 256 publicly traded and private corporations from a variety of sources.FindingsThe results demonstrated that a number of motives were not significantly related to total charitable giving, but were related to how charitable funds were distributed to various charitable causes. Thus, the study provides insights on the strategic use of corporate charity as means of achieving various business objectives and advancing a theoretical understanding of corporate philanthropy strategies.Research limitations/implicationsThis study only investigated some of the presumed motives for corporate philanthropy. Even for the motives investigated in this study, no attempt was made to examine all the motivational factors that determine the level of need for a specific motive. Thus, while the present study provides some of the first evidence of a relationship between motivational factors and data on the types of charitable causes supported, there are other motivational factors that could be investigated in future studies.Practical implicationsThe results have a number of implications for managers of nonprofit organizations such as marketing/targeting potential donors. Additionally, the results could be useful for managers of for profit firms in terms of comparing corporate strategies with competing firms.Originality/valueThe study provides a framework for investigating the relationship between motivational factors and types of charitable causes supported.

Ojha, Atma Prakash; Nandakumar, M.K.

2021 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/jsma-01-2021-0007

The purpose of the paper is to establish the need to study the shame-proneness trait of entrepreneurs – what is it and why is it important to study.Design/methodology/approachIn this conceptual paper, the authors argue that shame-proneness is an important understudied trait of entrepreneurs and put up a case for further research. The authors argue that shame-proneness moderates the effect of social acceptability on opportunity exploitation decisions. The authors also argue that productive entrepreneurship can be promoted and unproductive entrepreneurship can be prevented through policy intervention, and the level of intervention can be determined by knowing the shame-proneness level of entrepreneurs.FindingsThe key argument is the following: an entrepreneur is homo economicus and homo sociologicus, i.e. she is driven both by rational economic value consideration and by the prevalent social norms, which influence opportunity exploitation decisions. Since shame enforces compliance with social norms, it is vital to study entrepreneurs' shame-proneness to understand entrepreneurial founding across different regions. Knowing the level of shame-proneness of entrepreneurs in a given region would help the government devise effective interventions to promote productive entrepreneurship and deter unproductive or destructive entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThis paper is an original creation of the authors.

Ibarra-Cisneros, Manuel-Alejandro; Demuner-Flores, María del Rosario; Hernández-Perlines, Felipe

2021 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/jsma-05-2020-0121

The purpose of this article is to study the moderating effect of absorptive capacity, defined as the set of organizational routines and processes through which companies acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit knowledge to produce a dynamic organizational capacity (Zahra and George, 2002), in three strategic orientations: market orientation; technology orientation and entrepreneurial orientation and their positive relationship in the performance of the medium and large Mexican manufacturing firms. Likewise, it is determined whether these three combined SOs influence firm performance.Design/methodology/approachThe data was collected from 171 medium and large-sized Mexican manufacturing firms. The proposed hypotheses are tested using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsDespite the importance of knowledge for the development of firms, the results indicate that the moderating effect of absorptive capacity is only present in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. That is, firms cannot take advantage of knowledge simultaneously between the three strategic orientations. For their part, market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation exert a positive influence on firm performance.Practical implicationsThe main practical implication for the manufacturing industry is that they must develop mechanisms to detect what kind of knowledge affects each strategic orientation, in this way it can make the absorptive capacity influence the relationships between SO and FP.Originality/valueThe main contribution consists of studying the moderating effect of the absorptive capacity on the relationship between three strategic orientations and firm performance, and not concentrating solely on the simultaneous use of these strategies as is commonly done.

Markovitch, Dmitri G.; O'Brien, Jonathan

2021 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/jsma-10-2020-0288

Research finds that investors initially under-react to increases in R&D intensity. The phenomenon is commonly viewed as mispricing. We draw on behavioral theory of the firm (BTF) to propose an alternative explanation that increased R&D intensity is often indicative of problemistic search in firms. We empirically explore three contextual factors that may help discriminate between mispricing and problemistic search effects when capital markets frown on increased R&D intensity.Design/methodology/approachWe use econometric methods to analyze longitudinal data on 4,561 US manufacturing firms.FindingsWe find that market reactions to R&D investments are consistent with the view that managers often engage in R&D-based search to correct anticipated problems. We show that increased R&D intensity is a stronger indicator of diminished expected future performance for firms with greater inertia, including larger firms and high-performing firms. However, greater R&D intensity is less indicative of problemistic search in slack-rich firms.Originality/valueWhilst the BTF has been used extensively in management research, ours is one of the few studies which link the BTF to stock market phenomena.

Tam, Steven; Gray, David E.

2021 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/jsma-07-2020-0184

This study examines employees' learning preferences in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at different life-cycle stages.Design/methodology/approachThe study has two phases. Phase I classified a sample of 30 Hong Kong SMEs into three different life-cycle stages (inception, high growth or maturity). Phase II then explored/compared their employees' learning practices in terms of importance using a mixed-method design through an online learning questionnaire followed by face-to-face semi-structured interviews.FindingsBased on a list of 32 learning practices common to SME workplaces, the study identified how SME employees perceive the importance of a learning practice. The top 5 and the bottom 5 learning practices in SMEs across life-cycle stages are presented to promote best interests for SME executives.Research limitations/implicationsWhile SME learning is highly varied, this study sheds light on some traceable context about it as an SME grows. Similar studies with additional SMEs, including SMEs in other locations, are encouraged to strengthen the findings.Practical implicationsThe findings help SME executives understand what learning practices are most important (or least important) for their employees, given the life-cycle stage of the firm. Aligning a business with employees' learning preferences in a timely fashion is a managerial decision to be made for driving organizational effectiveness.Originality/valueIt is among the first studies connecting employee learning in SMEs and organizational life cycle to address a critical but missing inquiry.

Lin, Liang-Hung; Ho, Yu-Ling

2021 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/jsma-03-2020-0051

This study concerns two aspects of the integration process critical for the success of acquisitions: (1) levels of human integration and task integration and (2) speeds of human integration and task integration. The purpose of this study is to examine the interaction effects of human/task integration level and human integration speed advantage on acquisition performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study collected data of companies in the Taiwanese high-tech industries at the financial, organizational and industrial levels to examine the proposed hypotheses. Corporate financial and patent data were collected from the Taiwan Securities and Futures Commission databases and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) databases. The organizational level data were collected from 142 publicly traded related acquisitions from 2008 to 2009 in the Taiwanese high-tech industries.FindingsThe results show that (1) a high level of human integration positively affects technological performance; (2) the interaction term of human integration level and human integration speed advantage (i.e., relatively faster human integration coupled with slower task integration) positively affects technological performance; and (3) the interaction term of task integration level and human integration speed advantage positively affects technological performance.Originality/valueThe originality of this study lies in advancing our understanding of how complex interactions between human/task integration level and human integration speed advantage affect acquisition performance.

Baker, Amy Nicole; King, David; Nalick, Michael; Tempio, Melissa; Gupta, Vishal K.; Pierce, Charles A.

2021 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/jsma-07-2020-0188

The goal of this study is to examine the association between managers' sexually-oriented behavior in publicly traded firms and subsequent stock market reactions. Both sexual harassment and nonharassing sexually-oriented behavior (i.e. workplace romance) are associated with negative shareholder reactions. The authors also examine factors that may alter the stock market reaction and those that may reduce the risk of lawsuit in sexual harassment cases.Design/methodology/approachInformation about incidents of sexually-oriented behavior was collected from media reports and content coded. An event study with a stock market reaction was used to measure the impact of disclosed sexually-oriented behaviors. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between incident characteristics and sexual harassment lawsuits.FindingsDisclosure of managers' sexually-oriented behavior is associated with a negative stock market reaction. Interestingly, the reaction was not more severe for sexual harassment disclosures compared to nonharassing behavior (i.e. workplace romance). Results also suggest that terminating a manager prior to disclosure of an event is negatively related to a harassment lawsuit.Originality/valueThe authors report this as the first study to focus on the stock market reaction of sexually-oriented harassing and nonharassing behavior of managers. This work complements research that documents the negative impact of sexual harassment on individuals by demonstrating these behaviors are associated with loss and risk at an organizational level.

Arora, Nischay; Saggar, Ridhima; Singh, Balwinder

2021 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/jsma-06-2020-0162

The study aims to explore the unexplored domain by examining the impact of risk disclosure on corporate reputation in an emerging economy, like India, characterized by huge information asymmetry and uncertainty.Design/methodology/approachIn total two measures of corporate reputation, i.e. market capitalization and excess of market value over book value have been deployed to measure reputation. Automated content analysis has been executed to measure the extent of total risk disclosure. The empirical analysis is premised on a sample of S&P BSE-100 index spanning over the period of ten years from 2009–2010 to 2018–2019; which eventually gets reduced to 58 nonfinancial firms. In order to unearth the risk–reputation relationship, a panel regression technique has been employed.FindingsThe main findings unmask that corporate risk disclosure has a positive bearing on corporate reputation. Substantiating legitimacy theory, its alternative measures like market capitalization and excess of market value over book value divulged to positively influence corporate reputation.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has certain limitations: since there is no standard method of measuring reputation, the results may vary subject to the changes in proxies of corporate reputation. The study also analyzed S&P BSE 100 index in India, and future research needs to approach a larger sample and in other emerging economies to fill up enough empirical evidence in this domain.Practical implicationsThe findings provide insight into the managers on making higher divulgence of material risk information for augmenting corporate reputation. In other words, it indirectly propels the firm to exhibit higher risk information for building reputational capital. From the investor's standpoint, they should admire such firms which dispel more risk information and should have positive outlook toward them, which in turn prompts them to disclose more risks.Originality/valueThis study is unique as it is the first longitudinal study examining the impact of risk disclosure on corporate reputation in Indian settings. It, thus, assists in furthering the risk disclosure literature where there is hardly any study that comprehensively looks into risk–reputation liaison among Indian nonfinancial companies.

Cruz, Marina de Almeida; Corrêa, Victor Silva; Diniz, Daniela Martins; Borini, Felipe Mendes

2021 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/jsma-02-2020-0045

The dynamic capabilities (DC) literature focuses primarily on top managers. Although recent studies have drawn attention to middle management's (MM) relevance, these professionals have not been the focus of much attention in the DC literature. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and how MM influences DC dimensions.Design/methodology/approachThrough a qualitative strategy and case-study method, 13 MM professionals from four Brazilian companies embedded in competitive and dynamic contexts were investigated. The “micro-practices” approach was used to operationalize the DC construct.FindingsThe evidence shows that MM influences DC dimensions. This influence appears to emanate from 19 identified and named micro-practices.Practical implicationsBy examining how micro-practices (micro-level) influence macro-level DC dimensions, this article raises the significance of including the micro-practices identified herein in management-training programs.Originality/valueThe first relates to the identification of micro-practices within the MM scope. The second relates to the association of micro-practices with management functions. The third relates to the association of micro-practices with DC dimensions. Thereby, this article highlights how DC work in organizations' daily activities. The fourth is the construction of a framework that demonstrates how to integrate the DC micro (micro-practices), meso (managerial functions) and macro (DC dimensions) scopes. Fifth, this paper affirms the emerging research stream that stresses MM's relevance for DC generation.