Sharon F. Matusik

Absorptive Capacity in the Software Industry: Identifying Dimensions That Affect Knowledge and Knowledge Creation Activities

The ability of the firm to effectively use external knowledge (its absorptive capacity) is important to firm competitiveness and innovativeness. However, the wide array of approaches to studying absorptive capacity has obscured our understanding of what drives the effective use of external knowledge. The authors show that absorptive capacity is composed of mutliple dimensions: (a) the firm’s relationship to its external environment; (b) the structure, routines, and knowledge base of the main value creation group(s); and (c) individuals’ absorptive abilities. Their data illustrate that each of these dimensions contributes to increased knowledge or knowledge creation activities.

Understanding Tokenism: Antecedents and Consequences of a Psychological Climate of Gender Inequity

Extending tokenism theory, the authors investigate psychological climate of gender inequity as a way to understand how token women experience their work environments. In the first study, responses from a sample of 155 women across varied occupations confirm the expectation that token women tend to perceive their organizational climates to be inequitable for women. The results of a second survey of 196 female managers suggest that the subjective processes of tokenism give rise to inequitable climate perceptions. Finally, the responses of 312 women in the construction industry indicate that the climate of gender inequity is related to job attitudes and behaviors.

Embracing or embattled by converged mobile devices? Users’ experiences with a contemporary connectivity technology

In this qualitative study, we examine how converged mobile devices (e.g. BlackBerries, Treos, and iPhones) are experienced by users of this contemporary connectivity technology. Perhaps not surprisingly, users experience similar pressures to be accessible and responsive; however, the sources of these expectations extend beyond those internal to organizations to include sources external to organizations (e.g. family, friends, industry, CMD-user community, and society in general). Users’ reactions to responsiveness-accessibility pressures differ in this study, clustering into three different categories — ‘enthusiastic,’ ‘balanced,’ and ‘trade-offs.’ Further analyses reveal three emergent factors influencing users’ reactions: the number of expectation sources; specificity of the sources; and adoption motives. Our research builds on technology and work studies to include factors that are related to heterogeneity in interpretations and enactments. Moreover, findings suggest that in the context of this connectivity technology, the role of the organization may not be as central as it has been in many other studies of technology and work.

Goal orientations and the motivation to share knowledge

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a model that takes into account both personal and contextual factors in explaining individuals’ motivation to share their knowledge. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing from research on achievement motivation and social exchange, it is posited that goal orientations provide a framework for individuals’ knowledge sharing by shaping how they cognitively value the costs and benefits associated with sharing their knowledge. It is argued each of the goal orientations is associated with preferences for sharing specific types of knowledge and is that a focus on different aspects of the knowledge provider-recipient relationship. Research limitations/implications – The model provides a possible explanation for some of the inconsistencies in existing knowledge-sharing research on the factors that motivate knowledge sharing as well as expanding understanding of the conditions that facilitate knowledge sharing.

A Review and Road Map of Entrepreneurial Equity Financing Research

Equity financing in entrepreneurship primarily includes venture capital, corporate venture capital, angel investment, crowdfunding, and accelerators. We take stock of venture financing research to date with two main objectives: (a) to integrate, organize, and assess the large and disparate literature on venture financing; and (b) to identify key considerations relevant for the domain of venture financing moving forward. The net effect is that organizing and assessing existing research in venture financing will assist in launching meaningful, theory-driven research as existing funding models evolve and emerging funding models forge new frontiers.

Programmable Automation and the Locus of Decision-Making Power

Computer-based technology is often credited with making decentralized decision-making possible, helping firms to respond rapidly to changing market conditions. Research on this subject, however, shows contradictory effects: some studies support decentralization and others support centralization. This longitudinal study examines how one form of computer-based technology, programmable automation (PA), affects centralization. Unlike previous studies, it attempts to clear up some of the confusion surrounding technology’s effect on centralization by distinguishing between strategic and operating decisions, and between decision-making authority and influence. As expected, PA flattened the hierarchy. It had no effect on strategic decision-making power, but surprisingly, did influence centralized line-operating authority and influence. This finding is particularly striking because firms with decentralized line-operating decision-making are more likely to adopt PA.

Entrepreneurship, Competition, and Economic Development:

Entrepreneurial activity leads to the development and exploitation of new ways to do business, which in turn promotes competition either as a firm enters a market where there are other existing firms, or when it creates a new way (substitute) to meet the needs of its customers. This essay discusses indirect outcomes associated with these entrepreneurial activities, specifically in the form of knowledge spillovers, economic renewal, consumer surplus, and social value creation. In sum, entrepreneurship and the competition it engenders can create direct and indirect benefits to the entrepreneurs themselves, prospective employees, consumers, competitors, and localities and governments. Further, this essay notes that while most efforts to encourage entrepreneurial activity focuses on formal policy levers such as financial investment, public support programs, and tax and regulatory policy, it is also important to consider informal institutions and how they inhibit or encourage such activity.