Wencang Zhou

Revealed or Concealed? Transparency of Procedures, Decisions, and Judgment Calls in Meta-Analyses

The authors examined the degree to which meta-analyses in the organizational sciences transparently report procedures, decisions, and judgment calls by systematically reviewing all (198) meta-analyses published between 1995 and 2008 in 11 top journals that publish meta-analyses in industrial and organizational psychology and organizational behavior. The authors extracted information on 54 features of each meta-analysis. On average, the meta-analyses in the sample provided 52.8% of the information needed to replicate the meta-analysis or to assess its validity and 67.6% of the information considered to be most important according to expert meta-analysts. More recently published meta-analyses exhibited somewhat more transparent reporting practices than older ones did. Overall transparency of reporting (but not reporting of the most important items) was associated with higher ranked journals; transparency was not significantly related to number of citations. The authors discuss the implications of inadequate reporting of meta-analyses for development of cumulative knowledge and effective practice and make suggestions for improving the current state of affairs.

Entrepreneurial Team Diversity and Performance: Toward an Integrated Model

Abstract A research need exists to systematically evaluate the status quo of research on the link between entrepreneurial team diversity and performance, identify challenges, and advance the entrepreneurial team research. By analyzing 31 empirical studies on entrepreneurial teams, the current study fulfilled three main purposes. First, we conduct a comprehensive, systematic review of the possible association between entrepreneurial team diversity and performance by summarizing, quantitatively synthesizing, and analyzing the quantitative studies in this area. Second, we further examine these theoretical accounts by evaluating whether diversity impact varies with situational factors. Third, we identify research gaps and propose an integrated model that directs future research.

Does organizational learning lead to higher firm performance?: An investigation of Chinese listing companies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for studying organizational learning, firm innovation and firm financial performance. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the effects of organizational learning on innovation and performance among 287 listed Chinese companies. Findings – The results indicate a positive association between organizational learning dimensions and firm performance (both objective financial performance and perceptual innovation measure). Research limitations/implications – The sample includes only firms for which secondary data are available. Different results might have been obtained if we include smaller, private firms into the sample. This paper only includes a limited number of measures of financial performance to assess the relationship between organization learning dimensions and firm performance. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further with different performance measures. Practical implications – The resul...

Team composition of new venture founding teams: does personality matter?

Purpose – First, using the task-relationship dichotomy as a framework, the purpose of this paper is to examine the direct effects of team personality level and team personality diversity on new venture growth. Second, the study examines the interaction effects of team personality level and diversity on venture growth. Design/methodology/approach – The sample consisted of 154 teams in a technology incubator in China. Data were collected through an online survey. Findings – Results indicate that high level but low diversity of team task-oriented personality was beneficial for new venture founding teams. Diversity of team task-oriented personality would hurt the new venture growth more when the level of task-oriented personality was low. Relationship-oriented personality diversity, but not the level of relationship-oriented personality, influenced new venture growth. Research limitations/implications – These findings advance research in entrepreneurship, groups, and teams, and provide practical policy implic...

Conflict of Interest: What It Is, Its Causes and Consequences

Given the persistent prevalence of conflict of interest in our society, the authors ask the question: What exactly is conflict of interest? Based on an extensive analysis of conflict of interest cases in the popular press, the authors come up with a typology of conflict of interest: personal conflict of interest versus organizational conflict of interest. Furthermore, the authors develop a model of the causes and reactions to conflict of interest. The authors identify four antecedents to conflict of interest which include delegation of authority, guanxi and guanxi practice, law and ethics code, and moral & values. At the same time, the authors find that the characteristics of conflict of interest, which include network strength, exchange value, and transparency will influence peoples reactions to the conflict of interest and perception of impaired judgment and decision making.