Strategic Management Policy Commons^™

Competitive Repertoire Complexity: Governance Antecedents And Performance Outcomes, Brian L. Connelly, Laszlo Tihanyi, David J. Ketchen Jr., Christina Matz Carnes, Walter J. Ferrier

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Research summary: Past inquiry has found that implementing complex competitive repertoires (i.e., diverse and dynamic arrays of actions) is challenging, but firms benefit from doing so. Our examination of the antecedents and outcomes of complex competitive repertoires develops a more nuanced perspective. Data from 1,168 firms in 204 industries reveal that complexity initially harms performance, but then becomes a positive factor, except at high levels. We use agency and tournament theories, respectively, to examine how key governance mechanisms—ownership structure and executive compensation—help shape firms’ competitive repertoires. We find that the principals of agency theory and the pay gap of tournament …

Motivating Employee Referrals: The Interactive Effects Of The Referral Bonus, Perceived Risk In Referring, And Affective Commitment, Jenna R. Pieper, Jessica M. Greenwald, Steven D. Schlachter

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Research has provided compelling evidence that employee referrals result in positive outcomes for organizations and job seekers, but it has been limited on how organizations can increase the likelihood of obtaining employee referrals. Using the theoretical lens of social exchange theory and tenets from expectancy theory, we tested two common assumptions of most employers: A referral bonus motivates employees to refer, and higher bonus amounts incite greater likelihood of referring. We theoretically developed and tested a model integrating the effects of perceived risk in referring and affective commitment and their interactions with the referral bonus to better explain the likelihood …

My Family Made Me Do It: A Cross-Domain, Self-Regulatory Perspective On Antecedents To Abusive Supervision, Stephen H. Courtright, Richard G. Gardner, Troy A. Smith, Brian W. Mccormick, Amy E. Colbert

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Drawing on resource drain theory, we introduce self-regulatory resource (ego) depletion stemming from family–work conflict (FWC) as an alternative theoretical perspective on why supervisors behave abusively toward subordinates. Our two-study examination of a cross-domain antecedent of abusive supervision stands in contrast to prior research, which has focused primarily on work-related factors that influence abusive supervision. Further, our investigation shows how ego depletion is proximally related to abusive supervision. In the first study, conducted at a Fortune 500 company and designed as a lagged survey study, we found that, after controlling for alternative theoretical mechanisms, supervisors who experienced FWC displayed more …

Pay-For-Performance’S Effect On Future Employee Performance: Integrating Psychological And Economic Principles Toward A Contingency Perspective, Anthony J. Nyberg, Jenna R. Pieper, Charlie O. Trevor

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Although pay-for-performance’s potential effect on employee performance is a compelling issue, understanding this dynamic has been constrained by narrow approaches to pay-for-performance conceptualization, measurement, and surrounding conditions. In response, we take a more nuanced perspective by integrating fundamental principles of economics and psychology to identify and incorporate employee characteristics, job characteristics, pay system characteristics, and pay system experience into a contingency model of the pay-for-performance–future performance relationship. We test the role that these four key contextual factors play in pay-for-performance effectiveness using 11,939 employees over a 5-year period. We find that merit and bonus pay, as well as their multiyear …

Positive Psychology In Sales: Integrating Psychological Capital, Scott B. Friend, Jeff S. Johnson, Fred Luthans, Ravipreet Sohi

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

As positive psychology moves into the workplace, researchers have been able to demonstrate the desirable impact of positive organizational behavior. Specifically, psychological capital (PsyCap) improves employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Advancing PsyCap in sales research is important given the need for a comprehensive positive approach to drive sales performance, offset the high cost of salesperson turnover, improve cross-functional sales interfaces, and enrich customer relationships. The authors provide an integrative review of PsyCap, discuss its application in sales, and advance an agenda for future research. Research prescriptions are organized according to individual-level, intra-organizational, and extra-organizational outcomes pertinent to the sales field.

Life Beyond The Like: Uses And Gratifications Of Sharing Business Facebook Page Content, Sara M. Nash

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

One of the main reasons businesses create a Facebook Page is to solidify relationships with existing customers who are Facebook users and to leverage those relationships to gain new customers. Many studies have asked Facebook users to articulate the gratifications they receive when “liking” a business Facebook Page. These studies help explain what gratifications users gain by connecting to businesses via Facebook. To expand on these findings, the current pilot study applied the uses and gratifications theory to identify Facebook users’ motivations to “share” business Facebook content within their own personal network. Understanding users’ reasons for “sharing” will help businesses …

7 Tips To Grow Your Rural Business With Purpose And Meaning, Connie I. Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. The purpose of this article is to help rural entrepreneurs discover ways to grow their businesses with Living with Purpose and Meaning Megatrend.

Become A Future-Focused Leader: Use Three Megatrends To Grow Your Rural Business, Connie Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. This article discusses three megatrends shaping the future of rural businesses:

1) The Rise of the #GigEconomy

2) Living with Purpose and Meaning

3) The Decentralized Marketplace

The article also provides coaching tips for rural entrepreneurs on how to use megatrends to grow their businesses.

While many companies are struggling to keep up with the rapid rate of change, …

Dispersion Of Marketing Capabilities: Impact On Marketing’S Influence And Business Unit Outcomes, Michael T Krush, Ravipreet Sohi, Amit Saini

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

The marketing function of firms continues to evolve into many configurations, including the dispersion of marketing capabilities. This study evaluates the effects on the marketing function’s influence when marketing capabilities are dispersed across multiple boundaries. Using a sample of marketing executives, we study the effects of two forms of marketing capabilities dispersion: intra-organizational dispersion and inter-organizational dispersion. We examine the impact of these forms on marketing’s perceived influence within the firm. We also investigate marketing’s influence on customer responsiveness, along with three distal outcomes: marketing strategy implementation success, relationship portfolio effectiveness, and business unit performance. Our findings reveal that marketing’s …

The Age Of Quality Innovation, Sang M. Lee

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

In this inaugural issue of International Journal of Quality Innovation, the Editor-in-Chief reports the evolution of quality management and the need for innovative research for creating new quality values.

Diffusion Of Innovation: Customer Relationship Management Adoption In Supply Chain Organizations, Vicky Ching Gu, Marc J. Schniederjans, Qing Cao

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The successful diffusion of innovations in rapidly changing supply chain technological environments is essential to support operations and supply chain management functions. In this paper we conceptualize and develop a framework for research into the diffusion of innovations in organizations pertaining to software adoption in supply chain management. Incorporating Task-Technology Fit theory with a network externalities model, we develop a novel approach in customer relations management (CRM) software adoption. An empirical study using Partial Least Squares (PLS) on data from US supply chain managers is utilized to confirm the usability of the proposed framework as well as confirming the efficacy …

The Influence Of Exploration On External Corporate Venturing Activity, Varkey K. Titus Jr., Jenny M. House, Jeffrey G. Covin

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

We utilize the exploration/exploitation framework to examine how a firm’s engagement in exploration influences its portfolio of external corporate venturing (ECV) activities. Three forms of equity-based ECV are considered: corporate venture capital investments, joint ventures, and acquisitions. The organizational learning literature is used to investigate how a firm’s engagement in exploration influences its usage of acquisitions relative to its overall portfolio of ECV activities. The investing firm’s industry technological dynamism is posited as a moderator of the relationship between exploration and the relative usage of acquisitions. Utilizing a sample of 1,326 firm-year observations between 1996 and 2008, we find that …

Quality Management And Innovation: New Insights On A Structural Contingency Framework, Dara Schniederjans, Marc Schniederjans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

With increasing market competition, organizations are striving for greater innovation in products and services. Quality management has the potential to invigorate an organization’s product, process and administrative innovation when strategically aligned with internal contingencies. This paper seeks to address the relationship between social and technical quality management with innovation. Moreover, this paper empirically assesses contingency factors including organization size, task and managerial ethics which play roles in moderating the relationship between quality management and innovation. Based on an empirical study we find social quality management practices, not technical quality management practices, are positively associated with innovation. We also find a …

Racial Differences In Job Attribute Preferences: The Role Of Ethnic Identity And Self-Efficacy, Jakari N. Griffith, Gwendolyn M. Combs

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Using a sample of 149 white and 190 black business students, the authors examined racial differences in job attribute preferences. Results of this study indicate there were significant racial differences in 19 of 21 job attributes examined, with black students placing greater importance on job attributes than white students. Investigation of the mechanisms contributing to this difference reveals that the relationship between race and job attribute preferences was mediated by ethnic identity. Furthermore, the relationship between ethnic identity and job attributes was moderated by personal efficacy, with higher self-efficacy levels leading to greater importance placed on job attributes.

The Paradox Of Knowledge Creation In A High-Reliability Organization: A Case Study, Ivana Milosevic, A. Erin Bass, Gwendolyn Combs

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

We employed an instrumental case study of a multisystem hydroelectric power producer, a high-reliability organization (HRO), to explore how new knowledge is created in a context in which errors may result in destruction, catastrophic consequences, and even loss of human life. The findings indicate that knowledge creation is multilevel, nested within three levels of paradox: paradox of knowing, paradox of practice, and paradox of organizing. The combination of the lack of opportunity for errors with the dynamism of the HRO context necessitates that individuals work through multiple paradoxes to generate and formalize new knowledge. The findings contribute to the literature …

Contagion Effect Of Global Leaders’ Positive Psychological Capital On Followers: Does Distance And Quality Of Relationship Matter?, Joana S. P. Story, Carolyn M. Youssef-Morgan, Fred Luthans, John E. Barbuto Jr., James A. Bovaird

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

A key assumption of effective international human resource management (IHRM) is that global leaders influence and serve as role models for their followers, regardless of the inherent distance (physical and frequency of interaction) between them in today’s global context or the quality of the relationship. Although considerable attention has been devoted to cultural differences between global leaders and their diverse followers and teams, this study investigates the impact that distance and quality of the relationship has on a sample of a Fortune 100 multinational firm’s global leaders’ level of positive psychological capital (PsyCap) contagion effect on their followers located around …

Quarterly Business Indicators: 2nd Quarter 2014, Lincoln Partnership For Economic Development

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Summary of Business Conditions

►The Quarterly Business Indicators for the 2nd quarter of 2014 show a surging Lincoln economy. Nearly all segments of the Lincoln MSA economy are growing, and many growing strongly.

►The Lincoln MSA unemployment rate continues to decline (Figure 1) and remains less than half of the U.S. rate (Figure 2). Employment growth is very strong. Non-farm employment, which is measured via a survey of business, grew by a rapid 2.6% in the Lincoln MSA between the 2nd quarter of 2013 and 2014 (Figure 4). Local employment estimates based on a survey of households indicated 1.6% growth …

Business Intelligence In Risk Management: Some Recent Progresses, Desheng Dash Wu, Shu-Heng Chen, David L. Olson

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Risk management has become a vital topic both in academia and practice during the past several decades. Most business intelligence tools have been used to enhance risk management, and the risk management tools have benefited from business intelligence approaches. This introductory article provides a review of the state-of-the-art research in business intelligence in risk management, and of the work that has been accepted for publication in this issue of Information Sciences.

A Sociogenomic Perspective On Neuroscience In Organizational Behavior, Seth M. Spain, Peter D. Harms

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

We critically examine the current biological models of individual organizational behavior, with particular emphasis on the roles of genetics and the brain. We demonstrate how approaches to biology in the organizational sciences assume that biological systems are simultaneously causal and essentially static; that genotypes exert constant effects. In contrast, we present a sociogenomic approach to organizational research, which could provide a meta-theoretical framework for understanding organizational behavior. Sociogenomics is an interactionist approach that derives power from its ability to explain how genes and environment operate. The key insight is that both genes and the environment operate by modifying gene expression. …

Impact Of Authentic Leadership On Performance: Role Of Followers’ Positive Psychological Capital And Relational Processes, Hui Wang, Yang Sui, Fred Luthans, Danni Wang, Yanhong Wu

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Authentic leadership has received considerable attention and research support over the past decade. Now the time has come to refine and better understand how it impacts performance. This study investigates the moderating role followers’ positive psychological capital (PsyCap) and the mediating role that leader–member exchange (LMX) may play in influencing the relationship between authentic leadership and followers’ performance. Specifically, we tested this mediated moderation model with matched data from 794 followers and their immediate leaders. We found that authentic leadership is positively related to LMX and consequently followers’ performance, and to a larger degree, among followers who have low rather …

Going Beyond Research On Goal Setting: A Proposed Role For Organizational Psychological Capital Of Family Firms, Esra Memili, Dianne H.B. Welsh, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Kotlar and De Massis found that membership assortment and the number of organizational members, as well as the imminence of succession, influence goal diversity in family firms. They also showed that goal diversity can be managed and family-centered goals can be stabilized through professional and familial social interactions, driving the formation of collective commitment to family- centered goals (CCFG). Using this research as a point of departure, we propose that CCFG may impact family firm economic and noneconomic performance. Furthermore, we introduce to the family firm literature the organizational psychological capital (OPC), consisting of hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism. We …

Participation In Decision Making As A Property Of Complex Adaptive Systems: Developing And Testing A Measure, Ruth A. Anderson, Donde Plowman, Kirsten Corazzini, Pi-Ching Hsieh, Hui Fang Su, Lawrence R. Landerman, Reuben R. Mcdaniel

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Objectives. To (1) describe participation in decision-making as a systems-level property of complex adaptive systems and (2) present empirical evidence of reliability and validity of a corresponding measure. Method. Study 1 was a mail survey of a single respondent (administrators or directors of nursing) in each of 197 nursing homes. Study 2 was a field study using random, proportionally stratified sampling procedure that included 195 organizations with 3,968 respondents. Analysis. In Study 1, we analyzed the data to reduce the number of scale items and establish initial reliability and validity. In Study 2, we strengthened the psychometric test using a …

Reclaiming “Anthropology: The Forgotten Behavioral Science In Management History” – Commentaries, Fred Luthans, Ivana Milosevic, Beth A. Bechky, Edgar H. Schein, Susan Wright, Davydd J. Greenwood

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Purpose – This collection of commentaries on the reprinted 1987 article by Nancy C. Morey and Fred Luthans, “Anthropology: the forgotten behavioral science in management history”, aims to reflect on the treatment of the history of anthropological work in organizational studies presented in the original article.

Design/methodology/approach – The essays are invited and peer-reviewed contributions from scholars in organizational studies and anthropology.

Findings – The scholars invited to comment on the original article have seen its value, and their contributions ground its content in contemporary issues and debates.

Originality/value – The original article was deemed “original” for its time (1987), …

Shareholder Influence Over Director Nomination Via Proxy Access: Implications For Agency Conflict And Stakeholder Value, Joanna Tochman Campbell, T. Colin Campbell, David G. Sirmon, Leonard Bierman, Chris S. Tuggle

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Corporate governance research indicates that corporate boards of directors may be overly beholden to management, which can be detrimental to firm value creation. Drawing upon agency theory and the governance law literature, we examine the effects of a new SEC rule designed to lessen managerial power by increasing large, long-term shareholders’ influence in the director nomination process. We predict and find support for a positive overall market reaction to the rule’s announcement as well as a greater reaction for firms with characteristics that suggest compromised board independence or greater CEO control. Moreover, we examine the implications of greater shareholder voice …

Positive Global Leadership, Carolyn M. Youssef, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

In the wake of increasing globalization, today’s organizational leaders are faced with unprecedented complexity. To help meeting the challenge, this article proposes a new positive approach to global leadership. After first providing the background on positivity, positive global leadership is carefully defined and its similarities and differences with both the established and contemporary leadership theories are noted. The discussion then turns to how positive global leadership addresses three major challenges in the global context of distance, cultural differences and cross-cultural barriers. The article concludes that this new positive approach can help global leaders to leverage diverse strengths in themselves and …

Ownership Structure, Absorptive Capacity, And Innovation: Planting Vs Harvesting Innovation, Seung Hoon Jang

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation investigates the main research question: Which classification of innovation explains the heterogeneous timing of revenue realization? Given the significance of financial gain, researchers are recommended to pay attention to whether innovation outcomes result in commercial gains in the short term. Following this notion, a new category of innovation, planting and harvesting, is presented. While harvesting innovation seeks new resources in the expectation of commercial performance in the short term, planting innovation pursues potential resources creating value over a long time period. The interest in the determinants and financial contribution of these types of innovation leads to the second …

Emergent Organizational Capacity For Compassion, Laura T. Madden, Dennis Duchon, Timothy M. Madden, Donde Ashmos Plowman

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Our model of emergent organizational capacity for compassion proposes that organizations can develop the capacity for compassion without formal direction. Relying on a framework from complexity science, we describe how the system conditions of agent diversity, interdependent roles, and social interactions enhance the likelihood of self-organizing around an individual response to a pain trigger. When agents then modify their roles to incorporate compassionate responding, their interactions amplify responses, changing the system, and a new order emerges: organizational capacity for compassion. In this new order the organization's structure, culture, routines, and scanning mechanisms incorporate compassionate responding and can influence future responses …

Interorganizational Knowledge Transfer Through Corporate Venture Investment, Taewan Kim

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A single research question motivated this dissertation: How does corporate venture capital investment by a parent firm affect knowledge transfer from the start-up? In answering this question I employed two theoretical foundations. First, drawing on the concept of distant search, I argue that search for external knowledge through CVC investment provides a parent firm with an opportunity to source external knowledge from the start-up. Second, building upon literature on knowledge transfer, I suggest that types of CVC structure facilitate external knowledge transferred from the start-up to a parent firm. Finally, I posit that knowledge attribute of the parent firm improves …

Meta-Analysis Of The Impact Of Positive Psychological Capital On Employee Attitudes, Behaviors, And Performance, James B. Avey, Rebecca J. Reichard, Fred Luthans, Ketan H. Mhatre

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The positive core construct of psychological capital (or simply PsyCap), consisting of the psychological resources of hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism, has recently been demonstrated to be open to human resource development (HRD) and performance management. The research stream on PsyCap has now grown to the point that a quantitative summary analysis of its impact on employee attitudes, behaviors, and especially performance is needed. The present meta-analysis included 51 independent samples (representing a total of N = 12,567 employees) that met the inclusion criteria. The results indicated the expected significant positive relationships between PsyCap and desirable employee attitudes (job satisfaction, …

Psychological Capital And Employee Performance: A Latent Growth Modeling Approach, Suzanne J. Peterson, Fred Luthans, Bruce J. Avolio, Fred Walumbwa, Zhen Zhang

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The positive core construct of psychological capital (consisting of efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience) has been conceptually and empirically demonstrated to be related to employee performance. However, much of this work has relied on cross-sectional designs to examine these relationships. This study utilizes longitudinal data from a large financial service organization (N = 179 financial advisory-type employees) to examine withinindividual change in psychological capital over time and if this change relates to their change in performance. Latent growth modeling analyses revealed statistically significant within-individual change in psychological capital over time, and that this change in psychological capital was related to …