M. Muzamil Naqshbandi

Do Managerial Ties Support or Stifle Open Innovation

Purpose - Research investigating the role of factors affecting open innovation remains scarce. This paper thus examines the role of managerial ties in facilitating the two types of open innovation - inbound and outbound.Design/Methodology/Approach - Data are collected using the questionnaire survey method from 339 middle and top managers working in four high-tech industries in Malaysia.Findings - Results show that in most high-tech industries in Malaysia, managerial ties with universities and with government officials facilitate in-bound open innovation, while ties with managers at other firms do not significantly relate to it in any high-tech industry. Further, managerial ties are not found to relate significantly to out-bound open innovation in any high-tech industry except in the aerospace and electronics industries wherein ties with government officials relate negatively and positively to out-bound innovation, respectively.Practical Implications - This study provides empirical evidence about the managerial ties practitioners should and should not forge to succeed in the open innovation paradigm.Originality/Value - This study is probably the only study so far that gauges the impact of managerial ties on open innovation. The results of this study fill a major gap in the current open innovation theory besides providing insights for practitioners.

Managerial ties and open innovation: examining the role of absorptive capacity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and test an integrated model to examine the relationship between managerial ties and two types of open innovation (OI). It takes into account the mediating role of realized absorptive capacity and explains how a firm’s ability to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it and apply it to commercial ends can facilitate OI. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 259 middle and top managers working across different sectors in the United Arab Emirates. Findings Results obtained using structural equation modeling show that managerial ties facilitate both in-bound and out-bound OI. Results also establish the mediating role of realized absorptive capacity in these relationships. Research limitations/implications Use of cross-sectional data as was done in this study has been criticized for being inappropriate to test causal models. Besides the findings may not be generalizable to different industries/cultures/regions. Practical implications This study suggests that managerial ties act to support OI in firms thus giving the insight that managers should be appreciated to build ties with managers of other firms, universities and government officials. Doing so can help firms achieve better OI outcomes. Firms should arrange means of interaction of their managers with these external knowledge sources such as events and occasions where managers of different firms can interact with each other to foster strong ties among them. Originality/value The above findings contribute theoretically to OI and managerial ties literature while providing insights for practitioners on how to succeed or avoid failure in their OI initiatives. These insights are novel and are new to the OI and managerial ties theory.

Open Innovation in SMEs: Drivers and Inhibitors

Open innovation has of late emerged as a popular innovation management concept that advocates opening up of the innovation processes in firms. Despite researchers writing against open innovation being a new concept, research into open innovation activities of firms, as evidenced by the growing number of related research papers and books, has proliferated. In this concept paper, through a scrutiny of published open innovation research work, we look at the concept of open innovation in general and then zoom in on the factors that drive and inhibit its implementation especially in SMEs. The analysis shows that the drivers of open innovation include meeting customer demand, while employee resistance in the form of not-invented-here (NIH) and not-shared-here or not-sold-here (NSH) syndromes can inhibit open innovation. The paper, with implications for practice and theory, ends with a summary of open innovation and its drivers and inhibitors.

Effectiveness of innovation protection mechanisms in Malaysian high-tech sector

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effectiveness of innovation protection mechanisms in four high-tech industries in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach - – A questionnaire survey is administered to 339 managers working in four Malaysian high-tech industries. Findings - – The authors find that in most industries, patents are considered as the most effective innovation protection mechanism, while lead time is considered as least effective. In firms with private and foreign ownerships, patents and in firms categorized as “others” “moving quickly down the learning curve” are considered as the most effective protection mechanisms. It also emerges that “being first to market (lead time)” is considered as the least effective protection mechanism under all ownership structures. Further, young and middle-aged firms report patents, while old firms report secrecy as the most effective innovation protection mechanisms. Research limitations/implications - – This paper restricted analysis to the high-tech sector in Malaysia, and thus, the findings are not generalizable to other industries. Second, this paper took into consideration only four innovation protection mechanisms. The authors suggest that future research should investigate the issue at hand in other industries and consider other innovation protection mechanisms to have a holistic view of how Malaysian firms view different innovation protection mechanisms. Practical implications - – In addition to providing inputs for policy-making, the results of this paper are expected to help practitioners in deciding on the right kind of innovation protection mechanisms for their innovations based on their industry, ownership structure and firm age. Originality/value - – This paper is the first of its kind conducted in the Malaysian high-tech sector and as such is expected to help policy-makers to design and implement effectively innovation protection policies.

Organizational culture profile of Malaysian high-tech industries

Purpose – The role of organizational culture in determining success or failure of firms stands proven beyond doubt in numerous studies. The purpose of this paper is to examine organizational culture of the Malaysian high-tech sector and highlights the organizational culture dimensions most and least dominant in this sector. The study also examines differences with respect to organizational culture across the high-tech industries and different ownership types. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire survey method is used to collect the data from middle and top managers working in Malaysian high-tech industries. Findings – Five dimensions of organizational culture emerge in this study. Results indicate that harmony and social responsibility are the most and least dominant dimensions of organizational culture respectively. Significant differences are found in organizational culture across industries and ownership types. Originality/value – While organizational culture seems to be a fairly well-researched...

Employee job performance

Purpose This paper examines the impact of emotion management ability of leaders on employee job performance by highlighting the mediating role of employee perception of job characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were developed and tested using multi-source data collected from 65 dyads of heads of department and their subordinates. Findings Results show that leader’s emotion management ability relates positively to employee job performance; and this relation is mediated by job characteristics. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional data were used to test the hypotheses. Generalizability of the findings is limited as the sample is taken from only one industry in India. Originality/value The findings contribute to HRM and leadership literatures. The study has implications particularly for jobs that require a high degree of interpersonal interaction with subordinates. Unique value also lies in the context of the study as this study is one of the first to explore the phenomenon in I...Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of emotion management ability of leaders on employee job performance by highlighting the mediating role of employee perception of job characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were developed and tested using multi-source data collected from 65 dyads of heads of department and their subordinates. Findings Results show that leaders’ emotion management ability relates positively to employee job performance, and that this relationship is mediated by employees’ perception of job characteristics. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional data were used to test the hypotheses. Generalizability of the findings is limited as the sample is taken from only one industry in India. Originality/value The findings contribute to HRM and leadership literature. The study has implications for jobs that require a high degree of interpersonal interaction with subordinates. Unique value also lies in the context of the study as this study is one of the first to explore the phenomenon in India.

To Facebook or to Face Book? An investigation of how academic performance of different personalities is affected through the intervention of Facebook usage

This paper investigates how students’ personality types influence their academic performance and how Facebook usage intervenes these associations. A survey questionnaire method was adopted to collect data from students in five public universities in Malaysia. An analysis of 1165 questionnaires shows that all five dimensions of personality from big five model predict academic performance. In addition, shyness also predicted academic performance positively while a negative relationship was found between loneliness and students’ academic performance. The mediating role of Facebook usage was established only in the relationships of academic performance with extraversion, agreeableness and loneliness. A discussion of these findings, limitations of the study and future research directions are provided.

Organizational Characteristics and Engagement in Open Innovation: Is There a Link?:

This study explores whether or not firms with different characteristics engage in open innovation (OI) differently. The aim specifically is to examine how firms differ in engaging in inbound and outbound OI based on their characteristics: type of industry, age, market orientation, firm ownership, size in terms of number of employees and annual revenue. Data were collected from 133 firms operating in various high-tech industries in Malaysia. Results obtained using several one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests show that a firm’s engagement in OI is a function of the type of industry the firm is operating in, its ownership structure and its size in terms of number of employees and revenue earned. However, engagement in OI was not found to be related to firms’ age or their market orientation. These findings shed light on the characteristics of firms that engage in OI more than others, thus having vital implications for theory and practice. The article presents a discussion of these findings along with limitations and future research directions.

The interplay of emotion management ability of leaders and employee perception of job characteristics in employee job performance

Purpose This paper examines the impact of emotion management ability of leaders on employee job performance by highlighting the mediating role of employee perception of job characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were developed and tested using multi-source data collected from 65 dyads of heads of department and their subordinates. Findings Results show that leader’s emotion management ability relates positively to employee job performance; and this relation is mediated by job characteristics. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional data were used to test the hypotheses. Generalizability of the findings is limited as the sample is taken from only one industry in India. Originality/value The findings contribute to HRM and leadership literatures. The study has implications particularly for jobs that require a high degree of interpersonal interaction with subordinates. Unique value also lies in the context of the study as this study is one of the first to explore the phenomenon in I...Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of emotion management ability of leaders on employee job performance by highlighting the mediating role of employee perception of job characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were developed and tested using multi-source data collected from 65 dyads of heads of department and their subordinates. Findings Results show that leaders’ emotion management ability relates positively to employee job performance, and that this relationship is mediated by employees’ perception of job characteristics. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional data were used to test the hypotheses. Generalizability of the findings is limited as the sample is taken from only one industry in India. Originality/value The findings contribute to HRM and leadership literature. The study has implications for jobs that require a high degree of interpersonal interaction with subordinates. Unique value also lies in the context of the study as this study is one of the first to explore the phenomenon in India.

Employee job performance: The interplay of leaders’ emotion management ability and employee perception of job characteristics

Purpose This paper examines the impact of emotion management ability of leaders on employee job performance by highlighting the mediating role of employee perception of job characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were developed and tested using multi-source data collected from 65 dyads of heads of department and their subordinates. Findings Results show that leader’s emotion management ability relates positively to employee job performance; and this relation is mediated by job characteristics. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional data were used to test the hypotheses. Generalizability of the findings is limited as the sample is taken from only one industry in India. Originality/value The findings contribute to HRM and leadership literatures. The study has implications particularly for jobs that require a high degree of interpersonal interaction with subordinates. Unique value also lies in the context of the study as this study is one of the first to explore the phenomenon in I...Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of emotion management ability of leaders on employee job performance by highlighting the mediating role of employee perception of job characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were developed and tested using multi-source data collected from 65 dyads of heads of department and their subordinates. Findings Results show that leaders’ emotion management ability relates positively to employee job performance, and that this relationship is mediated by employees’ perception of job characteristics. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional data were used to test the hypotheses. Generalizability of the findings is limited as the sample is taken from only one industry in India. Originality/value The findings contribute to HRM and leadership literature. The study has implications for jobs that require a high degree of interpersonal interaction with subordinates. Unique value also lies in the context of the study as this study is one of the first to explore the phenomenon in India.