A longitudinal study on newcomers’ perception of organisational culture

2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duygu Turker ◽  
Ceren Altuntas

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse how newcomers’ perceptions of organisational culture can change over time. The study tries to address whether initial working experience changes newcomers’ perceptions about the ideal organisational culture, and whether these perceptions converge with those of their supervisors. Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal survey was carried out on a sample of undergraduate students to measure shifts in their perceptions of organisational culture over time. In order to interpret the results in terms of actual organisational culture, a survey was also conducted with the students’ immediate supervisors. Findings – Applying a factor analytic procedure to the aggregate sample of study, the items of an existing scale were reduced to a six-dimensional structure. Based on the results of statistical analysis, the study revealed that initial working experience might affect students’ perception of organisational culture and make these perceptions converge with those of their immediate managers. Specifically, the students’ perceptions about the importance of stability and success orientation dimensions changed over time. By the end of the process, they found supportiveness and people orientation more important, similarly to their supervisors. Practical implications – This study reveals the critical role of supervisors in the transmission of organisational culture to newcomers. Additionally, it demonstrates the importance of work-based learning for acquiring work-related and technical beliefs, as well as obtaining initial ideas about the culture of a real organisation. Originality/value – The study can specifically contribute to the growing literature on organisational culture by demonstrating the impact of initial working experience on newcomers’ perceptions, and how they adopt the culture of their new organisations to become a part of this culture.

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Antonio Belso-Martinez ◽  
Isabel Diez-Vial

Purpose This paper aims to explain how the evolution of knowledge networks and firms’ strategic choices affect innovation. Endogenous factors associated with a path-dependent evolution of the knowledge network are jointly considered with a firm’s development of international relationships and increasing internal absorptive capacity over time. Design/methodology/approach In a biotech cluster, the authors gathered data on the firms’ characteristics and network relationships by asking about the technological knowledge they received in the cluster in 2007 and 2012 – “roster-recall” method. Estimation results were obtained using moderated regression analysis. Findings Firms that increase their involvement in knowledge networks over time also tend to increase their innovative capacity. However, efforts devoted to building international links or absorptive capacity negatively moderate the impact of network growth on innovation. Practical implications Practitioners have two alternative ways of increasing innovation inside knowledge networks: they can increase their centrality by developing their knowledge network interactions or invest in developing their internal absorptive capacity and new international sources of knowledge. Investing in both of these simultaneously does not seem to improve a firm’s innovative capacity. Originality/value Coupling firms’ strategic options with knowledge network dynamics provide a more complete way of explaining how firms can improve their innovative capacity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Kneale ◽  
Andrew Edwards-Jones ◽  
Helen Walkington ◽  
Jennifer Hill

Purpose This paper aims to focus on the undergraduate research conference as its sphere of study and investigate the impact of significance of participation and socialisation in such activities on student attitudes and professional development. Using situated learning to theoretically position the undergraduate research conference as an authentic learning context, connection is also made with the concept of graduate attributes. Design/methodology/approach The Vitae (2014) Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is used to provide a template for charting the experiences and development of undergraduate students as researchers. This can be applied to short-term activities and programmes and to long-term career plans. The insights from 90 undergraduate students participating in three national undergraduate research conferences were obtained through interviews, and thematically analysed to map the students’ skills development against the RDF criteria. Findings Three main aspects of undergraduate research conference participation were considered particularly important by the students: the value of paper presentations, the value of poster presentations and the value of the overall conference experience. Within these themes, participants identified a wide range of skills and attributes they felt they had developed as a result of either preparing for or participating in the conferences. The majority of these skills and attributes could be mapped against the different domains of the RDF, using a public engagement lens for comparing actual with expected developmental areas. Research limitations/implications This research helps undergraduate research conference organisers construct programme content and form it in such a way that students’ skill development can be maximised prior to, and during, the course of an event. Learning developers can also use these findings to help understand the support needs of students preparing to deliver papers at such conferences. So far, little empirical research has examined students’ skills development within the undergraduate research conference arena. Originality/value The outcomes of this study show the diversity of the skills that students developed and the value of the conference format for offering networking practice and enhancing the communication skills which employers value.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 306-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Geisler Asmussen ◽  
Bo Bernhard Nielsen ◽  
Tom Osegowitsch ◽  
Andre Sammartino

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to model and test the dynamics of home-regional and global penetration by multi-national enterprises (MNEs). Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on international business (IB) theory, the authors model MNEs adjusting their home-regional and global market presence over time. The authors test the resulting hypotheses using sales data from a sample of 220 of the world’s largest MNEs over the period 1995-2005. The authors focus specifically on the relationship between levels of market penetration inside and outside the home region and rates of change in each domain. Findings – The authors demonstrate that MNEs do penetrate both home-regional and global markets, often simultaneously, and that penetration levels often oscillate within an MNE over time. The authors show firms’ rates of regional and global expansion to be affected by their existing regional and global penetration, as well as their interplay. Finally, the authors identify differences in the steady states at which firms stabilize their penetration levels in the home-regional and the global space. The findings broadly confirm the MNE as an interdependent portfolio with important regional demarcations. Originality/value – The authors identify complex interdependencies between home-regional and global penetration and growth, paving the way for further studies of the impact of regions on MNE expansion.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Clara Carvalho Tourinho ◽  
Sabrina Andrade Barbosa ◽  
Özgür Göçer ◽  
Klaus Chaves Alberto

PurposeUsing the campus of a Brazilian university as case study, this research aims to identify which aspects of the outdoor spaces are the most significant in attracting people.Design/methodology/approachThis research relies on the application of different post-occupancy evaluation (POE) methods, including user tracking, behavioural mapping and questionnaires, on one plateau of the campus.FindingsThree group of aspects (socialization, proximity and infrastructure) were identified as key elements in explaining the impact of the campus physical characteristics on users’ behaviour. The results indicate that having characteristics of at least one group of aspects in those spaces can guarantee their vitality and, if there is presence of attributes of more than one group, liveliness can be increased.Research limitations/implicationsFurther studies should be conducted on an entire campus to identify other spatial elements in the three groups.Practical implicationsThis research contributes to the planning of future campuses and to solutions to the existed ones, indicating the most relevant spatial characteristics to be considered. Additionally, the combination of different methods may be useful to future research.Originality/valueMost of the investigations on the university campuses focus on the buildings, and little research has investigated the outdoor spaces, although they play a critical role in learning and academic life, where people establish social, cultural and personal relationships. In addition, studies using several POE allowed a consistent and complete diagnostic about the aspects of the campus, giving recommendations for future projects.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunaina Shrivastava ◽  
Gaurav Jain ◽  
JaeHwan Kwon ◽  
Dhananjay Nayakankuppam

Purpose Traditionally, it has been held that strong attitudes are a result of the conscious cognitive process of elaboration where one engages in effortful issue-relevant thinking. The purpose of this study is to show that attitude strength can follow from processes not just limited to elaboration – as a function of certain embodied states. This study examines bodily manipulations that could alter perceptions about the quality of the information describing a target (e.g. notion of “hard/soft” evidence), and, find that such an embodiment leads one to have strong attitudes toward the target object. This study proposes an attitude-rehearsal-based mechanism to explain the phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach This study have relied on lab experiments as a methodology – undergraduate students and American residents served as participants. This study have conducted a pre-registered study as well. Findings In the work, the study shows that strong attitudes can result from processes not just limited to elaboration, as a function of certain embodied states. This paper examines bodily manipulations that could alter perceptions about the quality of information describing the target (e.g. notion of “hard vs soft”; “converging vs diverging” information), and, find that such an embodiment leads one to have strong attitudes toward the target. This study consistently observed that the bodily manipulations influence attitude accessibility, a direct and operational indicator of attitude strength. This study further validates an attitude-rehearsal-based mechanism to explain the observed phenomenon. Originality/value While much work has investigated the impact of embodiment on attitudes, little attention has been paid to whether, and, how embodied states can impact the “strength” of the attitude without impacting the attitude itself – to the knowledge, this paper is the first to document this. Moreover, traditionally, it has been held that strong attitudes are a result of the conscious cognitive process of elaboration where one engages in effortful issue-relevant thinking. This study however shows that attitude strength can follow from processes not just limited to elaboration – as a function of certain embodied states.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 1329-1346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Huang ◽  
Julie Fitzpatrick

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of donation amount and framing on financial products, this research investigates consumers’ attitudes and behaviors toward cause-related credit cards with different donation sizes and framing types. Design/methodology/approach This research investigates consumers’ perceptions of green credit cards using two experiments with a between-subject design (n =297) and a mixed design (n =238), respectively. All the participants, recruited from a major state university in the USA, are undergraduate students who use credit cards. Findings A medium-size donation optimizes the outcome of a cause-related credit card offer. Moreover, a donation framed as cash rewards has stronger effects on a consumer’s perception and consequent reactions to the “green” credit cards than an annual percentage rate framing. Finally, consumers with high levels of environmental concern and propensity to volunteer have stronger intention to adopt and are more likely to recommend the proposed credit card. Originality/value Building upon the theories of social exchange and symbolic interaction, this research is the first to provide empirical evidence regarding the application of volunteerism and perceived consumer effectiveness for financial institutions and their cause-related marketing campaign partners in selecting suitable environmental causes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torbjörn Ljungkvist ◽  
Börje Boers ◽  
Joachim Samuelsson

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the development of the five dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) over time by taking a founder’s perspective. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on an in-depth single-case study. It combines semi-structured interviews in the company with archival data, such as annual reports, press clips and interviews in business magazines. Findings The results indicate that the EO dimensions change from being personalized and directly solution-oriented to being intangible value-creation-oriented. Originality/value By suggesting ownership-based EO configurations, this study contributes insights into how different ownership forms propel EO. These configurations – that is, personal, administrative based and intangible focused – show the impact of the EO dimensions and provide a systematic and theoretical understanding of EO change over time.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 469-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni Romaniuk ◽  
Samuel Wight ◽  
Margaret Faulkner

Purpose Brand awareness is a pivotal, but often neglected, aspect of consumer-based brand equity. This paper revisits brand awareness measures in the context of global brand management. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the method of Laurent et al. (1995), this cross-sectional longitudinal study examines changes in brand awareness over time, with sample sizes of approximately 300 whisky consumers per wave in three countries: United Kingdom, Taiwan and Greece. Findings There is consistency in the underlying structure of awareness scores across countries, and over time, extending the work of Laurent et al. (1995). Results show that a relevant operationalisation of brand awareness needs to account for the history of the brand. Furthermore, the nature of the variation of brand awareness over time interacts with a brand’s market share. Research limitations/implications When modelling the impact of brand awareness researchers need to consider two factors – the brand’s market share and whether a more stable or volatile measure is sought. This avoids mis-specifying the country-level contribution of brand awareness. Practical implications Global brand managers should be wary of adopting a “one size fits all” approach. The choice of brand awareness measure depends on the brand’s market share, and the desire for higher sensitivity or stability. Originality/value The paper provides one of the few multi-country investigations into brand awareness that can help inform global brand management.


Author(s):  
Catherine Forbes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of vernacular architecture and traditional knowledge to building resilience in Nepal and the impact of modernisation on that resilience and architectural diversity. Design/methodology/approach Using an action research approach, including field observations and discussions with local community members, artisans, architects, engineers and other international experts, the study examines the resilience of traditional building typologies to natural hazards in Nepal, including earthquake; the changes that have occurred over time leading to the failure and/or rejection of traditional construction; and a review of post-earthquake reconstruction options, both traditional and modern. Findings Although traditional approaches have been cyclically tested over time, this study found that changes in building materials, technologies, knowledge and skills, access to resources, maintenance practices, urban environments and societal aspirations have all contributed to the popular rejection of vernacular architecture following the earthquakes. Research limitations/implications The research is limited to traditional timber and masonry construction in the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding mountain areas. Practical implications To improve resilience the study identifies the need for capacity building in both traditional and modern construction technologies; adoption of approaches that use local materials, knowledge and skills, whilst addressing local timber shortages and access issues; a transparent construction certification system; good drainage; and regular maintenance. Originality/value The study critically evaluates the impact of technological, environmental, social and economic changes over time on the resilience of vernacular housing in Nepal.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Costa ◽  
Rita Coelho do Vale

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the implications of communicating customer involvement in the ideation and concept stage of new product development (NPD). This paper assesses the extent to which the awareness that a product was co-created jointly by company professional designers and consumers affects observer consumers’ attitudes toward the product and the company. While earlier research has mainly emphasized the positive and desirable consequences of consumer participation in NPD, the present set of studies shows that labeling products as having been co-created is not always valuable; rather, it is dependent on the level of perceived complexity of the products. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses are tested in four experimental studies using several categories of product complexity (low, medium and high). The data have been collected on young adult samples, measuring the participants’ perceptions of a firm’s innovation ability and product purchase intentions. Findings The results suggest that there are benefits at the corporate level (higher perceptions of innovation ability) to inform the market about consumer involvement, particularly when consumers and company professionals work together. The findings also indicate that product complexity plays a critical role in translating the perceptions of greater corporate abilities (innovation) in purchase intention, and it is particularly beneficial for low-complexity products. Originality/value The previous research has mainly focused on the impact of involving consumers in firms and participating consumers; however, it has neglected the role of observer consumers. This study adds to the innovation literature by showing that the value of learning about other consumers’ involvement in firm NPD is not universally beneficial and that product complexity is a critical boundary condition.


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