Micro design in inter-organizational hybrid governance: a study on product adaptation, reverse knowledge transfer and integration mechanism

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Novi Lailatul Khoirunnisa ◽  
Rangga Almahendra

Purpose This study aims to explore the extent to which inter-organizational hybrid governance manages the micro design for optimum reverse knowledge transfer in the open innovation context. The authors use two essential facets of micro design in hybrid governance: product adaptation and integration mechanism. Design/methodology/approach Data for this study were collected from franchisees through structured questionnaires in Indonesia. Findings Results indicated that product adaptation has a positive relationship with reverse knowledge transfer. This study also found that the formalization strengthens the relationship between product adaptation and reverse knowledge transfer. However, the socialization does not have a moderation effect. Research limitations/implications This research estimates the knowledge transfer from the agent’s side only. Therefore, further research is expected to estimate the reverse knowledge transfer in dyads (from agent and principal) to get a detailed understanding of reverse knowledge transfer. Practical implications This study offers guidelines to managers, especially in inter-organizational hybrid governance. The authors suggest reverse knowledge transfer as a form to manage the dispersed knowledge from their agents. Governing institutions should change their view that agents have diverse knowledgebase from experience adapting to local conditions and can improve their open innovation through reverse knowledge transfer. From the results, it is found that giving agents the flexibility to adapt products can boost reverse knowledge transfer to support open innovation. Originality/value This study provides an understanding of the utilization of external knowledge sourcing in the context of open innovation from agent to principal in hybrid governance through reverse knowledge transfer, which has thus far been empirically under-researched.

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 2057-2078
Author(s):  
Sayed Muhammad Fawad Sharif ◽  
Yang Naiding ◽  
Yan Xu ◽  
Atiq ur Rehman

Purpose Organizational networking has been acclaimed as a useful tool for knowledge transfer. However, the demerit associated with knowledge transfer is the leakage of commercially valuable information/knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to empirically establish a useful framework for helping collaborative projects reduce potential knowledge leakages. Design/methodology/approach The study applies a hybrid methodology to collect data. Postulates are tested through SPSS 23 and Process Macro 3.0 model 7. Findings The study finds that knowledge leakage is negatively influenced by contract completeness. Contract completeness has a positive effect on trust and a negative effect on distrust. Partner’s learning intent moderates the relationship of contract completeness with trust and distrust. Trust and distrust negatively mediate the relationship between contract completeness and knowledge leakage. Research limitations/implications The study contributes to the theories of information processing and knowledge management by empirically stating how contract completeness, an organizational structure, supports knowledge management under the influence of partner’s opportunism. The study sees positivism in distrust and explains how practitioners maintain an observatory eye on partner’s opportunism by virtue of distrust ultimately adding value to the distrust literature. Originality/value The conceptual framework is novel because this is the first attempt to investigate the moderation effect of partner’s opportunism on the relationship of contract completeness and relational factors; and the mediation effects of trust and distrust between contract completeness and knowledge leakage.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqian Ye ◽  
Zequn Wang ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Huifeng Li

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the moderation effect of person-organization fit and perceived career and repatriation support on the relationship between knowledge governance and knowledge transfer intention of repatriates at multinational corporations.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected from 243 repatriates who had been contacted beforehand from MNCs in China. Hierarchical regression, AMOS, and PROCESS tools were used to examine the data.FindingsThe results revealed that the repatriate knowledge governance mechanism was positively related to repatriate knowledge transfer intentions. What's more, person-organization fit and perceived career and repatriation support significantly moderate the effect of knowledge governance mechanisms on repatriate knowledge transfer intention.Originality/valueThis is the initial empirical research on the influence of person-organization fit and perceived career and repatriation support on the relationship between knowledge governance and repatriate knowledge transfer; it may help readers understand the complex process and relationships associated with repatriate knowledge transfer, and the results may be useful for repatriate knowledge governance in multinational corporations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-648
Author(s):  
Daniel Jiménez-Jiménez ◽  
Micaela Martínez-Costa ◽  
Raquel Sanz-Valle

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: to study the relationship between reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) and headquarters’ innovation, examining potential moderators of such relationship, and to analyze the role of headquarters’ absorptive capacity (AC) and the coordination mechanisms they adopt as antecedents of RKT. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative data were collected from 104 Spanish multinational companies. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses. Findings Findings provide the evidence of a positive relationship between RKT and headquarters’ innovation. This relationship is higher when the knowledge transferred from subsidiaries to parent units is of a more tacit nature, and also when the organizational distance between them is larger. The results also show that the parent unit’s AC and the use of mechanisms for coordinating company units can facilitate RKT. Practical implications MNCs that wish to be more innovative should be aware that it is worth the effort of fostering RKT, especially when knowledge is more tacit and comes from subsidiaries with different organizational practices and culture because these two variables increase the positive relationship that it was found between effective RKT and the development of innovation in the headquarters. Additionally, results show that in order to facilitate RKT, the improvement of headquarters’ AC and the use of mechanisms of coordination between them and its subsidiaries can be useful. Originality/value Up to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that examines the link between RKT and headquarters innovation, and one of the few that focuses on headquarters characteristics as determinants of RKT. Thus, the findings contribute to the literature that highlights the benefits of RKT for MNC’s competitiveness, and that seeks to know how to promote RKT.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Germán Frank ◽  
Guilherme Brittes Benitez ◽  
Mateus Ferreira Lima ◽  
João Augusto Bonzanini Bernardi

PurposeOpen innovation breadth (OIB) considers the diversity of external collaboration partners for innovation. The authors investigate the moderating effect of OIB on the relationship between industrial innovation activities (innovation inputs) and industrial innovation results (innovation outputs).Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on secondary data from the Brazilian innovation survey, representing more than 30,000 innovative companies across 55 industrial sectors.FindingsThis study’s results show that OIB has different moderating effects regarding the several innovation input–output relationships. While OIB benefits some relationships, others are hampered by the diversity of collaboration partners.Originality/valueFew studies have addressed OIB at the macro level. Using the perspective of transaction cost economics (TCE), the authors discuss the contributions and limitations of OIB at the industry level.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thammanoon Charmjuree ◽  
Yuosre F. Badir ◽  
Umar Safdar

PurposeThis study is among the very few to examine the firm's simultaneous use of both dimensions of open innovation and its influences on the firm's process innovation performance (PIP). Specifically, the authors consider the relationship between firm's external technology acquisition (ETA) and external technology exploitation (ETE) and examine their direct, indirect and mediating effect on the firm's PIP. The authors also examine the moderating effect of the organizations' unabsorbed slack (UASL) on the relationship between ETA and ETE.Design/methodology/approachAnalyzing data collected from 311 small- and medium-sized software development firms in emerging market; Thailand, we show that both ETA and ETE have a positive effect on PIP and that ETE fully mediates the relationship between ETA and PIP.FindingsThe authors show that both ETA and ETE have a positive effect on PIP and that ETE fully mediates the relationship between ETA and PIP. Moreover, the relationship between ETA and ETE is positively moderated by the firms' unabsorbed slack (UASL) and that the influence of ETA on PIP through ETE is stronger under higher unabsorbed slack.Originality/valueThe authors extend the “traditional” performance outcome of outbound dimension of open innovation concept, which focuses exclusively on commercialization and market (Chesbrough, 2003b), by showing that ETE positively influences the firm's PIP. Moreover, the study explains the mechanism through which ETA influence the firm's PIP by proposing that ETE fully mediates the relationship between ETA and PIP.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Barjak ◽  
Fabian Heimsch

PurposeThe relationship between corporate culture and inbound open innovation (OI) has been limited to two sub-constructs: a culture for openness and an innovation culture, but until now a richer conceptualization of corporate culture is missing.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply Quinn and Rohrbaugh's (1983) competing values framework and regress these together with company internal and external control variables on five measures of inbound OI, reflecting product innovation, process innovation and the sourcing of innovation activities. The authors use data from a survey of more than 250 Swiss companies, primarily SMEs.FindingsThe importance of the firms' market environments suggests that the results are affected by the specific situation in which the firms found themselves at the time of the survey: after a strong currency shock, inbound OI activities seem to be a reaction to external pressure that favored planning and rule-oriented (formal) cultures to implement cost-cutting process innovations.Practical implicationsCompanies should develop a vision and a strategy, ensure open and transparent communication, have suitable reward and support mechanisms in place, adjust structures and processes, and institutionalize and formalize any change whenever they are confronted with a situation that requires a quick reaction and an adjustment to their degree of openness.Originality/valueThe paper clarifies the relationship between cultural traits and inbound OI, using a well-established understanding of corporate culture and differentiating between innovation types. It points to the importance of the external environment in order to understand the role of culture.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chansoo Park

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess how the transfer of explicit and tacit knowledge is affected by the knowledge disseminative capacity of a foreign parent firm, with an emphasis on the moderating role of psychic distance, by developing and testing a theoretical model of international joint venture (IJV) learning. Design/methodology/approach The author tested the hypotheses with survey data collected from 199 IJVs in South Korea, estimating a structural equation model using AMOS 23.0. Findings The authors found that the capacity of the foreign parent to disseminate knowledge to the IJV has a greater impact on explicit knowledge transfer than tacit knowledge transfer. He also found that the relationship between disseminative capacity and explicit knowledge transfer is significantly moderated by psychic distance, but the relationship between disseminative capacity and tacit knowledge transfer is not. Originality/value The results are critical for IJVs and parent firms seeking to improve knowledge transfer, as they establish the importance of parent firms’ disseminative capacities and the moderating role of psychic distance in the process of both tacit and explicit knowledge transfer. This research addresses the research gap regarding disseminative capacity by providing empirical evidence.


2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (11) ◽  
pp. 2781-2797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiram Ting ◽  
Ernest Cyril de Run ◽  
Jun-Hwa Cheah ◽  
Francis Chuah

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to serve as groundwork to investigate the determinants of ethnic food consumption intention in the context of developing markets. Using the theory of planned behaviour as the underlying basis, it is aimed to explain the effect of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behaviour control on consumption intention towards Dayak food. Since Dayak food is relatively unfamiliar compared to conventional food in Malaysia, food neophobia is incorporated into the model so as to assess its moderation effect on every postulated relationship. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative approach via self-administered questionnaire was adopted. In all, 300 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to non-Dayak Malaysians, and 211 usable copies were subsequently collected, suggesting that non-response bias was not a major issue. A post hoc Harman single-factor analysis was also performed to ensure the variance in the data was not explained by one single factor, thus addressing the common method bias. Structural equation modelling using partial least squares approach was then utilized to assess the relationships of variables under investigation and the moderation effect of food neophobia. Findings After ensuring the data have acceptable reliability and validity, structural model assessment was performed to test the hypotheses. The findings show that attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control all have positive effect on consumption intention of non-Dayak Malaysians towards Dayak food. However, food neophobia is only found to have a moderation effect on the relationship between subjective norm and consumption intention. Research limitations/implications First, the sample is largely consisted of college and university students in Malaysia who are believed to be more daring to try new things, including new food. Second and more importantly, the dearth of literature and empirical studies on Dayak food and ethnic food in Malaysia might have actually pointed to the limitation in using only quantitative questionnaire in the study. As salient beliefs are the antecedents in the theory of planned behaviour, knowing consumers’ specific beliefs about Dayak food would have provided a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of consumption intention and the moderating effect of food neophobia. Practical implications The moderation effect of food neophobia on the relationship between subjective norm and consumption intention towards Dayak food implies the importance of recommendations and favourable word-of-mouth from the significant ones, such as family members and peers, to make people willing to try and consume it. This corresponds to earlier findings pertaining to the collectivistic culture in Malaysia. Unlike countries with individualistic cultures, Malaysians tend to conform to the consumption choices of significant others. This implies that those whom they hold in high regard, are able to influence them both positively and negatively through their advice or opinions. Originality/value The present study has not only extended the use of theory of planned behaviour in the context of Dayak food consumption intention in a developing country, but it has also deepened the theory by incorporating food neophobia as the moderator to provide additional theoretical explanation to ethnic food consumption intention. Given the wealth of Asian culture, and its significant role in the global marketplace, the understanding of ethnic food consumption intention of the local and foreign consumers using the extended theory of planned behaviour would contribute knowledge not only to consumer behaviour, but also to food and service industry and tourism.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 1217-1231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Peris-Ortiz ◽  
Carlos Alberto Devece-Carañana ◽  
Antonio Navarro-Garcia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between open innovation (OI) and radical and incremental innovation success in knowledge-based companies. The company’s human resources and organizational learning capability are considered as the fundamental nexus of this relationship.Design/methodology/approachAt the conceptual level, the paper analyzes the relationships between dynamic capabilities and OI and between OI and innovation success. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was used to study how innovation is implemented in 29 companies.FindingsFsQCA identifies combinations of factors that facilitate incremental innovations. These combinations reveal the path to implementing company policies that enable incremental innovation and foster radical innovation.Research limitations/implicationsThe nature of the study sample means that the findings should be generalized with precaution. The most valuable implication is the identification of combinations of factors that help companies manage innovation.Originality/valueScarce literature links organizational learning factors and OI to different types of innovation. The use of fsQCA to analyze the cases also marks a breakthrough in the innovation literature.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 720-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huiping Zhou ◽  
Yanhong Yao ◽  
Huanhuan Chen

Purpose This paper aims to explore the direct effects of open innovation (OI) on firms’ innovative performance, and to examine the moderating effects of knowledge attributes, including knowledge distance, knowledge embeddedness and partner opportunism on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Survey data of 247 samples from China were used to test the proposed model through hierarchical regression analysis. Findings The findings indicate that the dimensions of OI are positively related to innovative performance. The results also reveal that knowledge distance positively moderates the relationship between inbound OI and innovative performance, whereas knowledge embeddedness negatively affects that relationship. Knowledge embeddedness negatively affects the relationship between inbound OI and innovative performance, whereas knowledge distance positively moderates that relationship. Thus, a new finding is proposed that knowledge attributes could align effectively with specific OI type to achieve superior innovation outcomes. In addition, the empirical results suggest that partner opportunism plays a negative moderating role on the relationship between outbound OI and innovative performance. Originality/value The proposed view that a firm’s innovation outputs will be superior when its knowledge attributes effectively align with OI enriches studies of the OI context and expands the literature of both the resource-based view and the knowledge-based view. Furthermore, this study provides insights into how OI benefits can be influenced by external contexts from the perspective of partners’ opportunistic behaviour.


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