Jon C. Carr

Insights and New Directions from Demand-Side Approaches to Technology Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management Research

The authors review the progress of three rapidly growing macro management literatures—in technology innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic management—that have in common the use of a “demand-side” research perspective. Demand-side research looks downstream from the focal firm, toward product markets and consumers, to explain and predict those managerial decisions that increase value creation within a value system. Typical characteristics of demand-side, macro-level management research include clearly distinguishing value creation from value capture, emphasizing product markets as key sources of value-creation strategies for firms, viewing consumer preferences as dynamic and sometimes latent, and recognizing that managers’ differing decisions in response to consumer heterogeneity contribute to firm heterogeneity and, ultimately, value creation. The authors review recent demand-side findings showing that strategies based on consumer heterogeneity can result in competitive advantage even if the firm holds only obsolete or mundane resources, these advantages can be sustainable without resource- or ability-based barriers to imitation, successful innovations can be consumer driven rather than resource or technology driven, and consumer knowledge can play a key role in entrepreneurial idea discovery. These seemingly counterintuitive findings from demand-side research indicate the promise of future demand-side work for generating new knowledge useful to scholars and managers. The authors suggest directions for future demand-side research based on their review. What’s more, the research they review represents a start—but only a start—toward integrated theories that could attend to both the demand side and the producer side of the value creation equation.

The Moderating Effect of Work—Family Centrality on Work—Family Conflict, Organizational Attitudes, and Turnover Behavior†:

Research has explored the role of work—family conflict (WFC), including the antecedents and consequences of this construct. However, few studies have examined the specific role that work—family centrality plays in moderating the relationship between WFC and organizationally related outcomes. Using a sample of 129 employees from a manufacturing plant, we test the moderating influence of work—family centrality on the relationship between WFC and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and retention. Results indicate that when individuals view work as being more central to their lives, the negative relationships between WFC and organizational attitudes and organizational retention is suppressed.

The impact of work/family demand on work‐family conflict

Purpose – The current study seeks to argue that the constructs of work demand and family demand have been neglected in the work‐family conflict (WFC) literature. The authors aim to help clarify the definition and utilize direct measures of perceived work and family demand to test main effect, mediated, and interactive hypotheses.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 698 university employees participated in a comprehensive computer survey that considered various manifest indicators and multiple scales across work and family domains. Moderator hierarchical regression and LISREL 8.0 were used in analyzing the data.Findings – The results indicate that both forms of demand have significant direct effects on work interfering with family (WIF) and family interfering with work (FIW). Both demand constructs partially mediate the effects of three categories of domain variables on the two forms of conflict. Finally, the work demand‐WIF relationship is found to be stronger for those with relatively high family ce...

Prior Occupational Experience, Anticipatory Socialization, and Employee Retention

Research on organizational socialization processes has not firmly established the relationships among prior work experience, preentry variables, and postentry attitudes and behavior. Using a longitudinal sample of 218 newcomers, a survival model was developed to test whether the relationship between prior occupational experience and retention is mediated by such preentry variables as person-job (P-J) fit, value congruence, and organizational expectations. Results indicate that prior occupational work experience significantly affects retention in the short run, and this relationship is mediated by preentry P-J fit and value congruence.

Transnational Entrepreneurship: Determinants of Firm Type and Owner Attributions of Success

Building on a typology of transnational firm types, developed by Landolt, Autler, and Baires in 1999, we examine whether immigrant attitudes toward the host country and their degree of embeddedness in the home country can predict the specific type of transnational enterprise that an immigrant is likely to begin. We also investigate whether the determinants of success of transnational enterprises vary by firm type. Based on a sample of 1,202 transnational business owners drawn from the Comparative Immigrant Entrepreneurship Project database, our analyses indicate general support for our hypotheses. More specifically, we found that transnational entrepreneurs‘ positive perceptions of host country opportunities and greater embeddedness in home country activities helped predict the specific type of ventures they would undertake. Further, the degree of embeddedness in the home country may influence the determinants of success for these types of firms. Depending on firm type, owners attributed their primary success to either personal characteristics, social support, or to the quality of their products and services.

A Measure of Variations in Internal Social Capital Among Family Firms

Drawing on the social capital literature, this study develops a new measure to assess the internal social capital using a sample of family firms and its effect on economic and noneconomic performance. We collected data from two independent samples to explore the importance of family businesses’ internal social capital as assessed by a new instrument—the internal social capital among family business (ISC–FB). Results from confirmatory factor analyses, convergent and discriminant validity assessments, and predictive and incremental validity offered support for the ISC–FBs construct validity. Finally, we cross–validated the hypothesized factor structure with a second sample of family firms. Implications and future research using this measure are proposed.

Examining Market Orientation as Both Culture and Conduct: Modeling The Relationships Between Market Orientation and Employee Responses

The market orientation construct is central to the study of marketing; however, scholars have expressed concern about the multiple market orientation conceptualizations. This paper introduces and tests a model of market-oriented culture and conduct that reconciles the prevailing conceptualizations. In addition, it extends previous research by considering the effect of market orientation on individual-level responses. Findings support the proposed market orientation model. Findings also support a positive relationship between market-oriented responsiveness and salesperson customer orientation. The proposed model offers significant insight into the market orientation construct.

The Development and Validation of Scores on Perceived Work and Family Demand Scales

Two scales, Perceived Work Demand (PWD) and Perceived Family Demand (PFD), are developed and their scores validated using three diverse samples. The scales are of particular interest in the work-family conflict (WFC) area and provide needed clarification in predicting WFC. Scale development procedures were followed, and dimensionality, internal consistency, discriminant validity, and predictive validity results are discussed. The results provide support for both perceived work and family demand scales.

The contributions of Chester Barnard to strategic management theory

Chester Barnard’s The Functions of the Executive (1938) represents a book of historical significance to the study of management. Using the fundamental principles that Barnard outlines, an application of these principles is made to the area of strategic management. The analysis focuses specifically on two main areas: the movement from a static to a dynamic model and the role of the environment. Highlights the importance of returning to the work of early writers and their contribution to the future development of management disciplines.

Abusive supervision and citizenship behaviors: exploring boundary conditions

Purpose – Previous research indicates that employees reciprocate for abusive supervision by withholding discretionary organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the boundary conditions of the negative relationship between abusive supervision and OCBs, by investigating time and money (dyadic duration and pay satisfaction) as potential moderating variables to the abusive supervision‐OCBs relationship.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 357 bank employees in Kazakhstan was used to test hypotheses.Findings – Results indicate that the negative relationship between abusive supervision and OCBs is more pronounced when employees have been supervised by a particular manager for a longer period of time, as well as when employees are less satisfied with their level of compensation.Research limitations/implications – Limitations include the use of cross‐sectional data and the possibility of common method bias.Practical implications – Satisfaction with pay as a moder...