Guiquan Li

A model for consumer knowledge contribution behavior: the roles of host firm management practices, technology effectiveness, and social capital

AbstractThis study examines the effects of host firm management practices, social capital, and technological factors on consumer knowledge contribution behavior. Results from 403 respondents in a large firm-hosted virtual community showed that two host firm practices, promoting interaction and organizing offline activities, have positive effects on knowledge contribution behavior through the mediating role of social capital, while the practice of providing incentives has a negative effect. In addition, the impacts of social interaction ties and shared language on knowledge contribution behavior are stronger when the perceived effectiveness of the reputation system is high. The perceived effectiveness of media richness moderates the relationship between trust and knowledge contribution behavior by strengthening the relationship when the perceived effectiveness of media richness is high. Our study suggests that host firms can play an important role in promoting knowledge contributions in virtual communities; and they need to understand the consequences of different management practices, hence able to actively influence and encourage knowledge contribution in virtual communities.

To gain or not to lose? The effect of monetary reward on motivation and knowledge contribution

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of reward type on knowledge contribution behavior. Individual knowledge contribution, which determines the effectiveness of information systems, benefits the organization at the cost of individual advantage as knowledge is usually considered highly private or even a source of individual prestige. Therefore, organizations provide rewards to compensate for their contributors’ knowledge loss. Surprisingly, some scholars report a positive relationship between reward and knowledge contribution, while others find this relationship to be insignificant or even negative. Based on regulatory focus theory, this study proposes and tests that such inconsistencies result from disparity between reward type and knowledge contribution measures. Design/methodology/approach A between-group laboratory experiment with 144 undergraduate student is designed and hierarchical regression is applied to test the hypotheses. Findings An incremental reward (additional reward for attaining outstanding achievements) aroused individual promotion focus, leading to an increase in self-perceived knowledge contribution (self-reported) and knowledge contribution quantity (experiment observers rated), but a decrease in knowledge contribution quality (peer rated). However, a decremental reward (deducted for errors) primed individual prevention focus, leading to an increase in self-perceived knowledge contribution (self-reported) and knowledge contribution quality (peer rated), but a decrease in knowledge contribution quantity (experiment observers rated). Originality/value The findings help explain why previous empirical results on the reward-knowledge contribution relationship were inconsistent and add to extant literature by introducing a new theoretical perspective for understanding motivation in knowledge management research.

A grounded theory study on leader authority formation process in China

Purpose This study aims to focus on the authority formation process of Chinese enterprise leaders, with the purpose of finding out how an ordinary newly established firm leader develops into a real top leader and achieves the status of legitimacy in a well-known enterprise. Design/methodology/approach Based on constructivist grounded theory, this paper investigates the formation mechanism of entrepreneurial authority in China by using the rich data of Liu Chuan-zhi’s leader activities. Findings In the “evolution” path of authority formation, leaders continually consolidate and improve their authority through two classes of exceptional management activities: “emergency rescue” and “promotion activities”. The successful realization of exceptional management activities benefits from a leader’s management experience accumulation and relationship maintenance with the government. In the “design” path of authority formation, leaders consolidate and improve their authority by exercising their position of power. Leaders’ legitimacy is reflected by making strategic decision and demonstrating discretion of position power. Additionally, passing on an inspiring leader’s thoughts and ideas to an organization’s members is accomplished through the construction of organization culture, institutionalization and convention. Research limitations/implications First, the findings are based on only Liu Chuan-zhi’s case. The authors still need more cases to compare and develop the findings and seek theoretical saturation in a broader sense. Second, the qualitative analysis is based on secondary data and future research could consider the introduction of interviews, video and other types of research data. Originality/value Under the parallel paths which are “evolution” and “design”, the dynamic leader authority formation model in China is founded.

Directive versus participative leadership: Dispositional antecedents and team consequences

Directive leadership and participative leadership are two fundamental sets of behaviours leaders employ to manage teams, yet little is known about their antecedents. Drawing on regulatory mode theory, we propose that team leaders high in locomotion orientation – the dispositional propensity to control movements and carry them forward – prefer directive leadership to ‘keep moving’, while team leaders high in assessment orientation – the dispositional propensity to compare between means and options – prefer participative leadership to ‘get the best’. We further hypothesize that directive leadership increases team efficiency but decreases team creativity, whereas participative leadership increases team creativity but decreases team efficiency. Based on multisource and time-lagged data from 75 management consulting project teams, regression and bootstrapping results support most of the hypotheses. Supplementary analysis reveals that participative leadership has an inverted U-shaped relationship with team efficiency when directive leadership is low, implying that leadership is a complex behavioural process rather than a simple choice between seemingly contradictory behaviours. We discuss the findings’ implications for the leadership, regulatory mode, and team literature.