Yuliani Suseno

The influence of financial participation and participation in decision-making on employee job attitudes

This study investigates the direct and indirect effects of financial participation (FP) and participation in decision-making (PDM) on employee job attitudes. The central premise is that both financial participation and participation in decision-making have effects on job attitudes, such as integration, involvement and commitment, perceived pay equity, performance-reward contingencies, satisfaction and motivation. After reviewing the theoretical and empirical literature and testing two theoretical frameworks, developed by Long (1978a) and Florkowski (1989), a new model was constructed to consider a combined effects of both FP and PDM, herein referred to as employee participation (EP). The underpinning of the model is based on the assumption that both (a) the combination of financial participation and participation in decision-making (‘employee participation’), and (b) participation in decision-making produce favourable effects on employee job attitudes. The test of the new model showed that employee partic...

Understanding emotions in higher education change management

Purpose – The authors explore employees’ emotions during a structural change (merging departments) in the higher education sector. The purposes of this paper are to identify how employees’ perceptions shape their emotional responses toward organizational change; and the variation of collective employee emotions pre-merger and post-merger. Design/methodology/approach – This interpretative study uses phenomenography to better understand the phenomena of change. Findings – Employees perceived their experiences as being promising (an opportunity to look forward to), threatening (a threat to be carefully managed) or inevitable (unavoidable). Emotional responses are collective, with male/older/more senior respondents experiencing different emotions as compared to others. Research limitations/implications – This study is exploratory and is limited by small sample size, location and temporal specificity. Practical implications – Managers should recognize that employees’ experiences of change are perceived quite d...

The significance of human capital and social capital: professional–client relationships in the Asia Pacific

Abstract Professionals working in professional service firms rely on their human capital and social capital to deliver value in their service provision and delivery to clients. However, research to-date is limited regarding investigations into the relationship between human capital and social capital at the level of professional–client relationships, particularly in the context of the Asia Pacific where changes in business environment, professional jurisdiction and ways of working have been commonplace for many firms operating in this region. In this study of Australian corporate law firms and client organizations, our results reveal significant evidence of relationships between social capital and human capital in the form of knowledge acquisition, where social capital facilitates professionals’ capacity to acquire knowledge from clients and increases the overall amount of knowledge acquired. More research on social capital and knowledge acquisition has the potential to advance our understanding of the influence of professional–client relationships on human capital development in the Asia Pacific.

The war for talent: human capital challenges for professional service firms

Abstract Professional service firms face particular human capital challenges. This study reflects on the distinctive characteristics of professional service firms through the concepts of knowledge intensity, low capital intensity and professionalized workforce. Based on in-depth interviews with 21 partners of Australian law firms, we provide empirical evidence on the war for talent challenges faced by professional service firms and in particular, law firms. The findings point to talent management challenges including reputation building and maintenance, employee autonomy, knowledge acquisition, revenue and profitability through internationalization, managing knowledge across borders, managing employee mobility, talent acquisition and retention, talent engagement, performance management and developing leadership capability. These challenges are important issues to be considered by professional service firms as they attempt to compete more effectively in global business contexts.

Challenges in addressing professional competence expectations in human resource management courses

Although research has identified many of the competences that human resource management (HRM) professionals need, limited research examines how competence expectations can be met in HRM courses. This study sought to generate the knowledge required to align HRM courses with competence statements in the recently revised Australian Human Resources Institute Model of Excellence. To accomplish this aim, focus groups and interviews were conducted with HRM professionals from private, public and not-for-profit organisations. Findings suggest that the process of aligning course curricula with the MoE is challenging for several reasons, including: competence statements are subject to varied interpretation; subjecting each statement to a learning needs analysis is complex; it is difficult to cluster the wide range of knowledge areas that must be covered into coherent units of learning. This paper explores the appropriateness of using a generic competence model in a curricular-influencing role and outlines implications of our findings for practice and research.

Future orientation and foreign entry mode choice in the internationalization of professional service firms

The purpose of this study is to examine the future orientation dimension of national culture on the choice of foreign entry mode in the context of the internationalization of Australian law firms. Our findings indicate short-term orientation for the firms’ choice of entry mode to international markets, with top-tier firms preferring joint venture arrangements, while both mid-tier law firms and boutique law firms prefer ‘fly-in, fly-out’ methods of internationalization. Our study provides guidance for scholars and managers seeking to examine and reflect on firm internationalization, particularly the future orientation dimension and market entry strategies.

Entrepreneurial Competencies and Firm Performance in Emerging Economies: A Study of Women Entrepreneurs in Malaysia

This study examines the effects of the different types of entrepreneurial competencies on firm performance in ventures founded by women entrepreneurs in Malaysia. Focusing on the concept of entrepreneurial competencies incorporating competencies of analytical planning, innovation, enforcement/implementation, leadership, teamwork and networking, we tested the relationships between these different types of entrepreneurial competencies and firm performance using data collected from 117 women entrepreneurs in Malaysia. Our findings indicate that only enforcement/implementation and network competencies have significant effects on firm performance. In particular, we find that network competency firm performance. The paper sheds some light in relation to women’s entrepreneurship in emerging economies, and recommends further research that could assist policymakers in implementing more effective initiatives to encourage and develop women entrepreneurs for the success of the economy.

Assessing value creation in digital innovation ecosystems: A Social Media Analytics approach

Abstract This paper explores the creation of value through the interactions of consumer and professional stakeholders in digital innovation ecosystems. We examine this by applying the methodological approach of Social Media Analytics (SMA) which is an interdisciplinary approach that seeks to combine, extend and adapt methods for analysing social media data. By utilising the SMA framework to track user-generated contents published on social media platforms, we assess how consumer and professional stakeholders associate value to Storytel, a new entrant in the Swedish publishing industry that is offering digital subscription service for streaming audiobooks. Drawing from a dataset of 2633 user-generated contents, our findings illustrate the value-creating practices in which stakeholders in Storytel’s ecosystems associate value to Storytel’s digital innovation. Our findings further highlight that the value-creating practices arising from the interactions of consumer and professional stakeholders in social media give rise to the hybridisation of value, where multiple values drawn from existing value categories become merged in the studied case. This study contributes to extant literature on management of innovation and information systems by (i) shedding light on how value is created by examining value-creating practices as a result of the interactions between stakeholders and (ii) examining the resulting merging of value categories within digital innovation ecosystems and thus exploring the hybridisation of value.

National innovation performance: the role of human capital and social capital

Despite the relevance of human capital and social capital as antecedents of innovation, quantitative evidence at the national level is scarce. This study aims to examine the influence of human capital and social capital on national innovation performance, using secondary data of the OECD countries. Our findings indicate that both human capital and social capital have a significant effect on national innovation performance. We also found significant differences between clusters of countries in terms of human capital, social capital, and national innovation performance. The implications of the study contribute to research and practice particularly in policy decision making for business and society.

Social capital in service-oriented firms: future directions

Abstract This collection aimed to provide a broader picture of the implications of social capital in service-oriented firms. In this piece, we identify trends for future research on social capital with a focus on the services industry, an important sector of the economy. We focus on three future directions: the internationalization of service firms, social capital for service-oriented social enterprises and public policy programmes to create social capital, particularly in the context of Asia Pacific. We then identify how the contributions to this collection are related to these future directions to encourage more confirmatory work in this dynamic field of research and practice on social capital in service-oriented firms in the Asia Pacific region.