Vesa Peltokorpi

Transactive Memory Systems

The literature on transactive memory (TM) continues to grow in several interrelated scholarly fields. Although this increased interest in TM systems has been beneficial, it has also led to a plurality and confusing interpretation of TM theory. To identify gaps and ambiguities in TM literature, this article provides a comprehensive overview of TM theory, distinguishes TM systems from related cognitive concepts, and reviews theory extensions and research in dyads, groups, and teams. Suggested areas for future research and theory extensions are face-to-face communication influencing TM systems, social interaction processes related to expert inferences, task context and levels of analysis, and extension of research to work teams.

Cross-cultural adjustment of expatriates in Japan

This study examines determinants of expatriate cross-cultural adjustment related to non-work- (interaction and general living adjustment) and work- (work adjustment and job satisfaction) aspects in Japan. It was hypothesized that cultural distance and expatriate gender, language proficiency, type (organizational or self-initiated expatriates), and stable personality traits (social initiative, emotional stability, cultural empathy, flexibility, and open-mindedness) have an influence on both non-work- and work-related adjustment. Hierarchical regression analyses, performed on data from 110 expatriates, indicate that expatriate language proficiency, type, and the personality traits of emotional stability and cultural empathy have a positive influence on both types of adjustment. Implications of these findings for practice are discussed.

Organizational expatriates and self-initiated expatriates: differences in cross-cultural adjustment and job satisfaction

Reflecting on recent trends in the international labor force, this study investigates and compares organizational expatriates (OEs), who are dispatched by their companies to international posts, with self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), who by their own volition move and work abroad. Findings from a survey of 57 OEs and 124 SIEs in Tokyo show several differences in individual- and job-related factors, cross-cultural adjustment and job satisfaction between OEs and SIEs. More specifically, mediation analyses show SIEs to have higher interaction adjustment because of their longer stay in the host country and higher host-country language proficiency. However, SIEs have lower job satisfaction because they work more often under host-country national supervisors.

Language policies and communication in multinational companies : Alignment with strategic orientation and human resource management practices

This article focuses on the degree of alignment among multinational company (MNC) strategic orientation, human resource management (HRM) practices, and language policies. On the one hand, the authors propose that the coherent, tight alignment among the HRM practices, language policies, and MNC strategic orientation, in terms of ethnocentricity, polycentricity, or geocentricity, is beneficial. On the other hand, they use international business research on language in MNCs to illustrate that what is good in theory is often more difficult in practice. For example, HRM practices and language policies in foreign subsidiaries may not be tightly aligned with the corporate-level activities, and some hybridization tends to occur, for example, because of contextual reasons in host countries.

Antecedents and the Performance Outcome of Transactive Memory in Daycare Work Groups

Laboratory experiments provide evidence that ongoing social interactions support the formation, functioning, and maintenance of transactive memory (TM), which in turn has positive performance implications in dyads and groups. Because most studies have been conducted with students, relatively little is known about TM in work settings. This study examined the mediating role of TM between interpersonal communication, group potency, supportive supervision, and self-reported group performance in 33 daycare work groups. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that TM fully mediated the interpersonal communication and group performance linkage, and partially mediated the group potency and group performance linkage. Implications and suggestions for future research are offered.

Wisdom, management and organization

The motive of success is not enough. It produces a short-sighted world which destroys the sources of its own prosperity ... A great society is a society in which its men of business think greatly about its function. Low thoughts mean low behaviour, and after a brief orgy of exploitation, low behaviour means a descending standard of life. (Alfred North Whitehead, Lecture given at Harvard Business School, 1932, published in Adventures of ideas, 1933, pp. 119–120)

Job embeddedness in Japanese organizations

In contrast to the vast literature on voluntary turnover, the job embeddedness theory describes why individuals choose to stay in their organizations. Because this theory has been developed and validated mainly in the USA, this study explores its applicability and functioning in Japanese organizations through 110 interviews with managers, employees and executive-search consultants. While the original theory provides a useful framework to explain the web of forces that embed people to their organizations, a distinctive set of cultural and institutional factors affected job embeddedness in Japanese organizations. In particular, on-the-job ties and sacrifices were important job embeddedness dimensions in Japanese organizations.

Transactive Memory System Coordination Mechanisms in Organizations: An Exploratory Case Study

This article integrates the organizational coordination and transactive memory system (TMS) literatures and provides an empirical study on organizational TMS coordination mechanisms. The study findings, based on 60 interviews in a Japanese manufacturing company, show that organization design (team-based structure, small unit size), human resource management (HRM) practices (recruitment and selection, training, promotion, and reward systems and performance evaluations), and relational interactions (roles, routines) coordinate organizational TMSs. Organization design and HRM practices as more formal coordination mechanisms also support and provide continuity to relational interactions. Contributing to the organizational TMS literature in which employees are described to form TMSs through informal, face-to-face interactions, the findings provide evidence of formal and informal coordination mechanisms and suggest that team-based structures without reinforcing vertical mechanisms are insufficient to coordinate organizational TMSs.

Transactive memory systems and team innovation: A curvilinear approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to hypothesize a curvilinear relation between transactive memory systems (TMS) and team innovation by integrating diverging conceptual and research findings in TMS research. While increasingly argued to enhance team innovation, TMS also have negative effects on team processes and outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – The authors tested the hypothesis through hierarchical linear regression analyses using data obtained from 124 technical research teams. Findings – Logistic regressions support the hypothesis, showing an inverse U-shaped relationship between TMS and team innovation, measured by patents received. Research limitations/implications – The average within team response rate was relatively low, and the findings are driven by a limited number of teams with patents. Practical implications – The findings suggest that research teams with moderate levels of TMS are the most effective in terms of patents received. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ kno...

Performance-related reward systems (PRRS) in Japan: practices and preferences in Nordic subsidiaries

An increasing number of companies in Japan have implemented performance-related reward systems (PRRS) due to the demerits in seniority-based reward systems, economic slowdown, increasing global competition, and an aging workforce. This study focuses on reward systems and preferences in foreign subsidiaries in Japan, an area that has been overlooked. In contrast to the convergence view that best practices are universally applicable, interviews conducted in 60 Nordic subsidiaries show that PRRS have faced considerable resistance, while seniority-based reward systems have proved robust, especially in older subsidiaries. Implications for practice and suggestions for future studies are provided.