Víctor J. García-Morales

Antecedents and consequences of organizational innovation and organizational learning in entrepreneurship

Purpose – To analyze a series of strategic capabilities/factors that affects organizational innovation (OI) and organizational learning (OL) (personal mastery, transformational leadership, shared vision, proactivity and environment) and demonstrate that OL and innovation are positively related to organizational performance.Design/methodology/approach – Based on prior research, the paper develops a number of testable hypotheses. It examines how personal mastery, transformational leadership, shared vision, proactivity and environment influence improvements in performance. The paper uses inter‐factor correlations matrix and multiple regressions analyses and empirically tests these hypotheses using a sample of 408 Spanish organizations.Findings – Considers OI and OL jointly to promote organizational entrepreneurship and to increase competitive advantages. Empirically reflects the need to strengthen different strategic capabilities to achieve an adequate level of both organizational issues and thus improve per...

The Effects of Transformational Leadership on Organizational Performance through Knowledge and Innovation

Todays information and knowledge society requires new leaders who can confront a reality based on knowledge and foster innovation to achieve improvements in organizational performance. However, organizations sometimes fail to achieve sustainable competitive advantage due to their limited understanding of the relationships between these strategic variables. To date, very little research has analysed the direct and indirect relationships between these variables. Our study seeks to fill this research gap by analysing theoretically and empirically how the leaders perceptions of different intermediate strategic variables related to knowledge (knowledge slack, absorptive capacity, tacitness, organizational learning) and innovation influence the relation between transformational leadership and organizational performance. Based on the literature, we develop a theoretical model that shows the interrelations between these variables. We then test the model using data from 408 Spanish organizations, discuss the findings and provide several implications for business practitioners.

Influence of transformational leadership on organizational innovation and performance depending on the level of organizational learning in the pharmaceutical sector

Purpose – This empirical study aims to examine the influence of transformational leadership (TL) on organizational innovation (OI) and performance (OP) depending on the level of organizational learning in technological firms.Design/methodology/approach – The research examined a sample of 164 pharmaceutical firms. A global model is formulated and the hypotheses are tested using structural equations.Findings – First, the study shows a positive relation between TL and OI, between TL and OP and between OI and OP. Second, the study verifies that these relationships are more strongly reinforced in organizations with high‐organizational learning than in organizations with low levels of organizational learning. Third, the study supports the theoretical arguments made but not demonstrated empirically in the prior literature.Practical implications – Organizational learning takes places in a technological community of interaction in which knowledge is created and expands in a constant dynamic between the tacit and t...

Effects of Technology Absorptive Capacity and Technology Proactivity on Organizational Learning, Innovation and Performance: An Empirical Examination

Abstract Technology is crucial for organizations in the knowledge society, but little empirical research has been conducted on technology absorptive capacity and technology proactivity. Based on existing theoretical studies, this article formulates a global model to analyse how technology absorptive capacity and technology proactivity influence organizational learning and organizational innovation, and how these dynamics capabilities affect organizational performance. The model also shows how organizational learning affects organizational innovation. The hypotheses are tested using data from 246 Spanish technological firms. The paper discusses the findings and provides several implications for future research. The findings are important for management practice, especially for firms where technology is the main strategic element.

Environment-Flexibility Coalignment and Performance: An Analysis in Large Versus Small Firms

This paper takes a wide‐ranging transnational look, within the frame of he European Union, at the differences between large and small firms based on practices of flexibility. More specifically, the research aims to evaluate whether small firms form a homogeneous body in applying flexible practices as opposed to large firms, as well as observing the differential effects on performance when there are discrepancies in the coalignment levels between a firm’s actual flexibility and that required by the environment. The hypotheses are tested using data from 417 European firms. The results reveal that (1) good coalignments between actual and required flexibility (flexibility fit) have a greater influence on business performance in the case of small firms; (2) there are significant differences between small and large firms as regards operative flexibility, strategic flexibility, financial flexibility (organizational slack), and performance. The large firms analyzed coalign their flexibility fit better in their various dimensions (structural, operative, and strategic); (3) the degree of metaflexibility can be greater among small firms, which represents a greater information processing capacity, thus enabling the flexibility fit to be constantly coaligned to changes in the environment. However, a greater metaflexibility is not immediately reflected in the flexibility fit; and (4) this greater flexibility fit among large firms can be favored by their greater financial flexibility.

The concept of fit in services flexibility research: an empirical approach

The research attempts to evaluate whether services firms form a homogeneous body when applying managerial flexibility as compared to manufacturing firms. The paper examines the differential effects that exist regarding performance when faced with divergences in the levels of fit between the firms real flexibility and that required by the environment on a strategic, structural and operational level. The hypotheses are tested using data from 417 European firms. The results show that a good fit between real and required operational flexibility has a more positive influence on business performance in service firms than in the manufacturing sector. Service firms, in the day‐to‐day context should have the capacity to change rapidly when successful operational practices in their adjacent environment change.

Strategic capabilities and their effects on performance: entrepreneurial, learning, innovator and problematic SMEs

This paper analyses the differences among entrepreneurial, learning, innovator and problematic SMEs based on Organisational Learning (OL) and Organisational Innovation (OI) and on the capabilities of personal mastery, transformational leadership, shared vision, absorptive capability, teamwork and organisational performance. This investigation develops a number of testable hypotheses on the influence of these capabilities on performance in the four different groups of organisations we have surveyed. The hypotheses are tested using data from 299 Spanish SMEs. The results show that: (1) personal mastery, transformational leadership, shared vision, absorptive capability, teamwork capability, OL and OI are positively linked and linked to performance in SMEs; (2) entrepreneurial SMEs possess a higher level of these capabilities and performance than learning, innovator or problematic SMEs; (3) learning SMEs make the above strategic capabilities more possible than innovator SMEs or problematic SMEs; (4) innovator SMEs make the strategic capabilities more possible than problematic SMEs; (5) OI is significant and positively linked to performance in innovator and entrepreneurial SMEs; and (6) OL is significant and positively linked to performance in learning and entrepreneurial SMEs.

Organisational learning categories: their influence on organisational performance

We propose that conscious organisational learning, level II/III learning and learning from internal and negative experience produce greater organisational performance than unconscious organisational learning, level I learning and learning from external and positive experience. We also propose that level I learning is sufficient in a well-understood environment, while level II/III is better for an ambiguous environment and that vicarious learning produces better organisational performance than congenital learning.

Factors affecting institutional change: a study of the adoption of Local Agenda 21 in Spain

Purpose – This paper aims to examine how Spanish local councils respond to changes in their institutional context by implementing a sustainable practice: Local Agenda 21 (LA21). Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses the institutional approach to explain the factors influencing the adoption of LA21. It develops a series of hypotheses about how specific institutional factors affect the town and city councils that have implemented an LA21, as well as the differences between local councils with high versus medium implementation levels. Findings – The analysis reveals some institutional factors that explain the process of institutional change, the outcomes of LA21, and the differences between local councils. Research limitations/implications – Only one respondent from each local council completed the questionnaire. The authors tested for common method bias and did not find it to be present. Practical implications – From a more practical point-of-view, the authors consider LA21 to be an effective instru...

Inter-departmental collaboration and new product development success: a study on the collaboration between marketing and R&D in Spanish high-technology firms

This research paper presents an analysis model formed by 12 hypotheses containing predictions about the influence that collaboration between the RD thus, allows us to make a significant contribution to the issue under analysis. The hypotheses have been verified empirically with a sample of 104 Spanish firms belonging to various high-technology activities. The results obtained support the proposed hypotheses and highlight the relevant role of variables related to organisational climate as opposed to that of variables associated with organisational structure. The influence of business context factors has also proved to be important for final results.