Antonio G. Leal-Millán

The role of cultural barriers in the relationship between open‐mindedness and organizational innovation

Purpose – There is no empirical evidence, particularly in relation to small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), to support the concept of cultural barriers and how they relate to open‐mindedness (OM). Some of these cultural barriers can be linked to outdated knowledge, which can impede the adoption of new configurations. The purpose of this paper therefore is to test the role of cultural barriers in the relationship between OM and organizational innovation.Design/methodology/approach – These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 133 SMEs.Findings – The results show that the relationship between OM and organizational innovation is likely to suffer if a firm does not overcome previously its cultural barriers. An explanation for this could be thatoutdated knowledge can impede the adoption of new configurations. Therefore, it is important for organizations to provide an appropriate environment for overcoming cultural barriers. Otherwise new knowledge will not be acted on or incorpo...

IT and relationship learning in networks as drivers of green innovation and customer capital: evidence from the automobile sector

Purpose Despite the positive effects of customer capital (CC), questions remain over how managers enable CC growth by applying their skills and capabilities through managerial actions and strategies, such as developing information technology (IT) capability, fostering relationship learning (RL) activities and developing green innovation performance (GIP) with clients. These questions are especially pertinent in small and medium-sized enterprises and automotive industry companies that operate through supply chains, where knowledge about customers is likely to result from personal contact between customers and organisational members. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the extent to which these managerial actions were more likely to lead to the successful creation of CC. Design/methodology/approach Using the partial least squares technique, this paper studies how these three managerial actions impact on CC. To do so, data from 140 companies in the Spanish automotive components manufacturing sector have been used. Findings The findings support the influence of RL on both GIP and CC. RL is a key managerial action in exploiting customer information and knowledge advantages, enabling firms to structure and reconfigure resources to produce new ways to compete and to satisfy stakeholders. In addition, results show that GIP is a determinant of CC because of its contribution to achieving sustainable competitive advantage, with GIP performing a mediating role in the relationship between RL and CC. A second contribution shows that IT is not in itself able to yield a competitive advantage, thereby validating the existence of complementary or co-focused strategic assets such as RL and GIP, which enhance IT’s influence on CC. Research limitations/implications The authors were unable to explore the subtleties of the processes over time. Future research should include a longitudinal study. Practical implications This study considers RL an essential factor in achieving both GIP and CC. Consequently, managers should seek to build strong RL cultures. In addition, this study shows that IT is not in itself able to yield a competitive advantage, thereby validating the existence of complementary or co-focused strategic assets such as RL and GIP. Originality/value No study has ever examined these three antecedent variables (IT, RL and GIP) together, with the aim to examine their effects on CC.

Finding the hospital‐in‐the‐home units' innovativeness

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of an organizations unlearning context and information systems (IS) capabilities on the organizations ability to challenge basic beliefs and to implement processes that are explicitly or tacitly helpful in the reception of new ideas (absorptive capacity). The authors also seek to examine the relationship between absorptive capacity and the existence and enhancement of innovativeness.Design/methodology/approach – These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 54 doctors and 62 nurses belonging to 44 hospital‐in‐the‐home units (HHU) in Spain.Findings – The results show that absorptive capacity is an important dynamic determinant for developing a HHUs innovativeness. Moreover, this relationship is best explained with two related constructs. Firstly, the HHUs unlearning context plays a key role in managing the tension between potential absorptive capacity and realized absorptive capacity. Secondly, the results also shed l...

Workplace Bullying among Managers: A Multifactorial Perspective and Understanding

The aim of this paper is to study certain factors that may be determinant in the emergence of workplace bullying among managers—employees with a recognized and privileged position to exercise power—adopting the individual perspective of the subject, the bullied manager. Individual, organizational, and contextual factors integrate the developed global model, and the methodology utilized to accomplish our research objectives is based on the binary logistic regression model. A sample population of 661 managers was obtained from the micro data file of the 5th European Working Conditions Survey-2010 (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions) and utilized to conduct the present research. The results indicate that the chance for a manager to refer to him/herself as bullied increases among women that hold managerial positions and live with children under 15 at home, and among subjects that work at night, on a shift system, suffering from work stress, enjoying little satisfaction from their working conditions, and not perceiving opportunities for promotions in their organizations. The present work summarizes an array of outcomes and proposes, within the usual course of events, that workplace bullying could be reduced if job demands were limited and job resources were increased. The implications of these findings could assist directors/general directors in facilitating, to some extent, good social relationships among managers.

TQM and business success: Do all the TQM drivers have the same relevance? An empirical study in Spanish firms

Purpose – Prior studies by Salaheldin (2009) and Talib et al. (2011) have assessed the relationships between TQM critical success factors (CSF) and business results. The purpose of this paper is to build upon this research by considering the relationships between these CSFs and their sequencing during the implementation of TQM. Furthermore, the influence exerted by the maturity of TQM implementation on the link between instrumental drivers and performance is explored. Design/methodology/approach – The TQM drivers are clustered by means of three constructs: strategic enablers, tactical drivers and instrumental drivers and a model employed in which the strategic and tactical factors are treated as antecedents of the instrumental drivers. The direct effect of each cluster on business results and the indirect relationship of strategic and tactical factors via the mediating role of the instrumental drivers are assessed. These assessments use the partial least squares (PLS) approach which is a variance-based st...

Workplace bullying among teachers: an analysis from the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model perspective

This paper adopts the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model to analyze workplace bullying among teachers. The data used for this research are obtained from the 5th European Working Conditions Survey. Given the objective of this work, a subsample of 261 education employees is collected: 48.7% of these teachers report having experienced workplace bullying (N = 127), while 51.3% indicate not considering themselves as bullied at work (N = 134). In order to test the research model and hypotheses, this study relies on the use of partial least squares (PLS-SEM), a variance-based structural equation modeling method. The study describes a workplace bullying prevalence rate of 4.4% among education employees. This work summarizes an array of outcomes with the aim of proposing, in general, that workplace bullying may be reduced by limiting job demands and increasing job resources.

A comparative study of workplace bullying among public and private employees in Europe

Objectives: Workplace bullying emerges from a set of individual, organizational, and contextual factors. The purpose of this article is hence to identify the influence of these factors among public and private employees. Methods: The study is carried out as a statistical–empirical cross-sectional study. The database used was obtained from the 5th European Working Conditions Survey 2010. Results: The results reveal a common core with respect to the factors that determine workplace bullying. Despite this common base that integrates both models, the distinctive features of the harassed employee within the public sector deal with age, full-time work, the greater nighttime associated with certain public service professions, and a lower level of motivation. Conclusions: The present work summarizes a set of implications and proposes that, under normal conditions, workplace bullying could be reduced if job demands are limited and job resources are increased.

The Route Towards Sustainable Innovation and Entrepreneurship: An Overview

To what extent can the introduction and proactive embracement of proactive corporate environmental strategies, processes and activities lead to more innovative and entrepreneurial firms? Might sustainability be a core issue while attempting to cope with some of the world’s main challenges? This chapter presents some insights with regard to sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship, two topics that are receiving increased attention at the academic and managerial levels. Moreover, we underline the key contributions of the different chapters included in this book.

The Impact of TQM Critical Success Factors on Business Performance. The Mediating Role of Implementation Factors in Linking Enabler and Instrumental Factors

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management philosophy focused on customer satisfaction and continuous improvement, and positively related to organizational performance. TQM implementation programs sometimes fail, causing a loss of resources, distrust in top management and a lack of the outcomes expected. This chapter examines the relationship between the implementation of Critical Success Factors and Business performance. For a better understanding, we have divided these factors into three constructs, hypothesizing causal relationships between them and how they affect business performance. We use data collected from a sample of 113 Spanish organizations. Three hypotheses were tested simultaneously using Partial Least Squares, a variance-based Structural Equation Modeling technique. The results support the existence of a mediating role played by implementation factors in ties between enablers and instrumental factors. Our research findings provide practical insights for managers in order to prioritize those critical factors on which they focus their actions to enhance business performance.