scholarly journals Cultural aspects of organizational agility affecting digital innovation

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 13-46
Author(s):  
Dulce Goncalves ◽  
◽  
Magnus Bergquist ◽  
Richard Bunk ◽  
Sverker Alänge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Approach ◽  
Innovation Capability ◽  
Competing Values ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Organizational Agility ◽  
Digital Innovation ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
New Business ◽  
Market Cultures

The purpose of this study is to understand how the cultural aspects of organizational agility affect digital innovation capability. In the context of increasing demand for fast-paced digital innovation, organizational agility becomes strategically crucial for large incumbent companies to increase their competitiveness. The literature on organizational agility shows that incumbents, with their vast access to resources, still can have limited ability to innovate and respond to change. This is in sharp contrast to startups, who sometimes are impressively innovative despite their very limited resources. Sometimes the incumbents are even outcompeted and disrupted by startups because of their ability to embrace change, and rapidly seize new business opportunities. However, we know little about why some incumbents are not able to use their resources efficiently for digital innovation and why some smaller startups can transcend these resource limitations. In this context, we find that cultural aspects are especially crucial as enablers for organizational agility in digital innovation. We designed a comparative study to investigate the differences in the influence of culture on organizational agility; and how it hinders or enables digital innovation, at both incumbent firms and startups in the automotive industry. We applied a qualitative research approach and selected semi-structured interviews as our main research method. The Competing Values Framework was used as a tool to categorize different cultures that affect organizational agility, but also to identify how and when tensions between values supported or hampered the organizations’ ability to innovate. Our findings show that, while a blend of Hierarchy and Market cultures inhibited the innovation capability, Clan and Adhocracy cultures promoted innovation. In our sample, the incumbents predominantly adhered to the first two cultures, while the startups typically belonged to the second group. The most successful startups were even able to create a combination of Clan and Adhocracy cultures — a concept we here term ‘Agile culture.’ This culture allowed them to reach a beneficial state of digital innovation growth. When it comes to the implications for research and practice, we found the need to analyze the role of culture for organizational agility; and how to utilize culture as an asset to enable digital innovation growth. One contribution is the identification of ‘Agile culture’ that is an amalgamation of Clan and Adhocracy culture. The value agile culture creates when applied, enables organizational agility, which can enhance digital innovation capability.

The learning pathways of Brazilian surf coach developers

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinicius Z Brasil ◽  
Valmor Ramos ◽  
Michel Milistetd ◽  
Diane M Culver ◽  
Juarez V do Nascimento
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Sport Participation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Socialization Process ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Learning Pathways ◽  
Formative Experiences

The purpose of this study was to explore the learning pathways of five Brazilian surf coach developers, in order to understand how they became coach developers. A case study was conducted with five surf coach developers working in the sport participation context, and linked to a legally organized Brazilian surf federation. Three main research topics guided the semi-structured interviews: participants’ experiences as a surfer, as a surf coach, and as a coach developer. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis to explore the participants’ perceptions of the experiences around becoming a surf coach developer. The study revealed a pattern of formative experiences for the participants, across their lives and careers. Their experiences as a surfer and as a surf coach, as well as their exposure to the surfing environment and their contact with significant others, influenced in their engagement in surfing and in the surf coach context; leading them eventually to the desire to share knowledge with others. Becoming a surf coach developer in this study corresponded to a mutual socialization process across a lifetime. This process was marked by situated socio-cultural aspects of different life phases, strongly influenced by the social relations established in immediate contexts (family) and with other specific groups (surfers, coaches, and developers).

scholarly journals Californian innovation ecosystem: emergence of agtechs and the new wave of agriculture

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei Mikhailov ◽  
Carlos Oliveira ◽  
Antonio Domingos Padula ◽  
Fernanda Maciel Reichert
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Data ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Innovation Ecosystem ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Radical Innovations ◽  
Innovation Ecosystems ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
New Business ◽  
Fast Pace

Purpose In a context where the process of creation of technology and innovation for agriculture is being disrupted at a fast pace, the authors proposed to study one of the most prominent agtech innovation ecosystems. Therefore, this paper aims to identify key characteristics that make California’s agtech innovation ecosystem remarkable. Design/methodology/approach The paper is an exploratory and descriptive research carried out in a twofold. First, data were collected through documental research focusing on actors such as universities, R&D centers and programs, business accelerators and venture capital platforms, agtechs, as well as multinational companies. Second, structured interviews were carried out to complement the secondary data collected and to obtain experts’ perception on the relationships between actors of the ecosystem and on the characteristics that make this ecosystem remarkable. Findings The paper provides empirical insights about the relevance of California's agtech innovation ecosystem to creation of radical innovations in agriculture. It has a differentiated environment, where educational and research institutions play a key role in developing new knowledge. It also shows how important funding is to allow new business to succeed. Additionally, it shows that actors interact in a complex network, with multiple roles. All these key characteristics allow this agtech innovation ecosystem to be so remarkable. Research limitations/implications Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to survey a larger number of actors of this and other agtech innovation ecosystems to test the identified key characteristics further. Practical implications The paper includes indication of characteristics necessary to develop a prominent agtech innovation ecosystem, which may contribute to decision makers to develop policies aiming to promote this type of ecosystem. Originality/value This paper fulfils an identified need to open the “black-box” of agtech innovation ecosystems, which may then allow radical innovations within the sector to be developed and taken to the market.

Management of Records in Adapted Buildings as Records Centres in Zimbabwe

Mousaion ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samson Mutsagondo ◽  
Getrude Maduyu ◽  
Godfrey Tsvuura
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Records Management ◽  
Personal Observation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Professional Management ◽  
The Government

This paper discusses the challenges of records management that arise from the use of adapted buildings as records centres in Zimbabwe, despite the advantages of using such buildings. A qualitative research approach was used as well as a case study research design. Data were collected from seven officers of the Gweru Records Centre through semi-structured interviews. Personal observation was used to triangulate findings from interviews. It was found that the use of adapted buildings as records centres was a cheaper and quicker way of establishing records centres throughout the country. However, a number of preservation, security and management challenges cropped up as the conditions of the buildings and the environment of the adapted buildings were not conducive to the proper and professional management of records. This study is important in that it explores the prospects and challenges of using adapted buildings as records centres in Zimbabwe, an area that has not been researched by many authors. This provokes archival authorities and the government to seriously consider establishing purpose-built records and archival centres.

scholarly journals An exploration into the opportunities and constraints for career progression into leadership roles for School Business Managers in the state sector in England

2021 ◽  
pp. 089202062199967
Author(s):  
Josephine Marchant
Keyword(s):  
Career Progression ◽  
The State ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Business Managers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
State Sector ◽  
Education Professionals ◽  
School Business ◽  
Survey Responses

Drawing on data from 116 survey responses by School Business Managers, and 7 semi-structured interviews with education professionals carried out between October 2017 and February 2018, this article reports on findings from a research project focussing on the opportunities and constraints for career progression into leadership roles for School Business Managers (SBMs) in the state sector in England. The article considers the differing roles and responsibilities of SBMs, how leadership is perceived in schools, the visibility of the SBM role, career aspirations of the SBMs who were surveyed, and the perceived constraints to progression to leadership roles. Analysis of the data was carried out using an inductive research approach using mixed methods. Snowballing was used to obtain a meaningful sample size for survey responses. Interviewees were chosen on the basis of judgement sampling. The sampling design for the survey and the interviews was one of non-probability. Findings suggest that leadership roles for SBMs do exist but that there are considerable constraints to these being achieved, not least the lack of appetite amongst SBMs to do so.

scholarly journals Lockdowns, lives and livelihoods: the impact of COVID-19 and public health responses to conflict affected populations - a remote qualitative study in Baidoa and Mogadishu, Somalia

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorien H. Braam ◽  
Sharath Srinivasan ◽  
Luke Church ◽  
Zakaria Sheikh ◽  
Freya L. Jephcott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Or Education ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Authorities in Somalia responded with drastic measures after the first confirmed COVID-19 case in mid-March 2020, closing borders, schools, limiting travel and prohibiting most group functions. However, the impact of the pandemic in Somalia thereafter remained unclear. This study employs a novel remote qualitative research method in a conflict-affected setting to look at how some of the most at-risk internally displaced and host populations were impacted by COVID-19, what determined their responses, and how this affected their health and socio-economic vulnerability. Methods We conducted a remote qualitative study, using Katikati, a 1-to-1 conversation management and analysis platform using short message service (SMS) developed by Lark Systems with Africa’s Voices Foundation (AVF), for semi-structured interviews over three months with participants in Mogadishu and Baidoa. We recruited a gender balanced cohort across age groups, and used an analytical framework on the social determinants of health for a narrative analysis on major themes discussed, triangulating data with existing peer-reviewed and grey literature. Results The remote research approach demonstrated efficacy in sustaining trusted and meaningful conversations for gathering qualitative data from hard-to-reach conflict-affected communities. The major themes discussed by the 35 participants included health, livelihoods and education. Two participants contracted the disease, while others reported family or community members affected by COVID-19. Almost all participants faced a loss of income and/or education, primarily as a result of the strict public health measures. Some of those who were heavily affected economically but did not directly experienced disease, denied the pandemic. Religion played an important role in participants’ beliefs in protection against and salvation from the disease. As lockdowns were lifted in August 2020, many believed the pandemic to be over. Conclusions While the official COVID-19 burden has remained relatively low in Somalia, the impact to people’s daily lives, income and livelihoods due to public health responses, has been significant. Participants describe those ‘secondary’ outcomes as the main impact of the pandemic, serving as a stark reminder of the need to broaden the public health response beyond disease prevention to include social and economic interventions to decrease people’s vulnerability to future shocks.

Enterprise education: pre-service further education teachers' impressions and aspirations

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Tiernan ◽  
Jane O’Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Education Data ◽  
Enterprise Education ◽  
The Future ◽  
Constant Comparative Analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes and impressions of pre-service Further Education teachers towards enterprise education. It also looks at the potential impact on their future teaching practices and aspirations. This study builds on the literature in this area by bringing a teacher education focus and by providing views from the underserved further education sector.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research approach was used to evaluate pre-service further education teachers' understanding of and attitudes towards, enterprise education. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 students in their final year of an initial teacher education degree.FindingsFindings emerged through constant comparative analysis of interview transcripts. These findings indicate that exposure to enterprise education greatly increased understanding of its importance and relevance, while also encouraging pre-service further education teachers to recognise the benefits of incorporating enterprise education into their classrooms of the future.Originality/valueWhile there is an array of literature on entrepreneurship and enterprise education outside of business contents, very few studies exist, which examine enterprise education in an initial teacher education context. Fewer still examine enterprise education from the perspective of further education. This study provides a unique qualitative view of pre-service further education teachers' impressions of enterprise education and their aspirations for the future.

Searching Dimensions and Directions for Digital Innovations Within the Insurance Industry

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-89
Author(s):  
Heini Hyttinen ◽  
Hannu Kalevi Kivijärvi ◽  
Anssi Öörni
Keyword(s):  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Knowledge Synthesis ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Process Automation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Organizational Capability ◽  
Pension Insurance ◽  
Digital Innovation

Discovery of digital innovations is a key organizational capability for sustaining competitive advantage. Despite its importance, discovery of digital innovations is still ill understood. In this paper, the authors seek to provide a theory-based practice for digital innovation discovery. To meet this objective, they source the theories of knowledge and knowledge combination. Data for this case study were collected through semi-structured interviews and a quantitative questionnaire from three pension insurance companies. The data were analyzed by using principal component analysis and by constructing biplots based of the results. Two significant dimensions in the digitalization needs that guide knowledge synthesis were recognized: the importance of adopting the enabler and the volume of resources needed to adopt the enabler. A closer look at the enablers revealed that the most business-critical current digital business enablers for the pension insurance industry are business process automation, online services, and big data.

Reaction of New Soviet Immigrants to Primary Health Care Services in Israel

1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 555-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa I. Remennick ◽  
Naomi Ottenstein-Eisen
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Medical Services ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Israeli Population ◽  
Primary Health Care Services ◽  
Diverse Cultures

The post-1989 immigration wave from the former U.S.S.R. has increased the Israeli population by over 12 percent, seriously affecting the host health care system. This study draws on semi-structured interviews with the immigrants visiting outpatient clinics in the Tel-Aviv area in order to explore organizational and cultural aspects of their encounter with the Israeli medical services. While instrumental aspects of care were seen as an improvement over the Soviet standards, communication between providers and clients was seriously flawed, reflecting both a language barrier and diverse cultures of illness and cure. Many interviewees complained of the impersonal, “technical” attitude of Israeli physicians toward patients and the lack of holism in care, which they allegedly enjoyed before emigration. Some immigrant patients feel deprived of the paternalism of the Soviet medical system, complaining that Israeli providers “forego responsibility” for patients' health. A consumerist approach to medical services is also a novelty, and immigrants have to learn to be informed and assertive clients. Most problems are experienced by the elderly patients; overall, women seem to adjust to the new system better than men.

scholarly journals Corporate real estate strategies and organizational culture

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 154-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilir Nase ◽  
Monique Arkesteijn
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Competing Values Framework ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Competing Values ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategic Fit ◽  
Corporate Real Estate ◽  
Market Cultures

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how strategic corporate real estate (CRE) management varies across different types of organizational culture. Additionally, the authors examine how a set of well-established strategies is categorized by CRE executives and investigate whether there have been any changes in priorities of managers’ rating in importance of these strategies compared to a post-GFC study. Design/methodology/approachA wide-scale survey of CRE managers was undertaken in summer 2016. Two key components of the survey are namely importance scoring of CRE strategies after the framework of Gibler and Lindholm (2012) and organizational culture assessment based on the competing values framework of Cameron and Quinn (2006). Analysis of CRE strategy importance is undertaken based on the average score comparison per each cultural family, and additional features are reported based on the industry sector, firm size and CRE department size. Principal component analysis is used to provide statistical evidence on the grouping of CRE strategies by practitioners. FindingsEmpirical evidence points toward a clear division on the organizational culture dimension that differentiates effectiveness criteria of flexibility and discretion from stability and control. More specifically, clan and adhocracy cultural types prioritize employee-centric CRE strategies, whereas hierarchy and market cultures consider “Reducing real estate cost” as their single most influential strategy. Research limitations/implicationsThe competing values framework has been adapted from the original ipsative scoring process to reflect the fact that only one respondent per firm assesses their organization’s culture. Practical implicationsThe findings of this study are useful to CRE managers striving for maximum strategic fit within their firms as they unveil clear patterns of CRE strategy prioritization among different organizational culture types. Originality/valueTo the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes the inter-relationships among CRE strategies and organizational culture variations. Additionally, the paper provides a categorization of CRE strategies through statistical methods that follow a clear pattern based on the scope of each strategy.

“If I have to clean, I clean my own shop”: Migrant entrepreneurship as a form of emplacement in times of crisis: The example of Italy

Ethnicities ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 414-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Lintner
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Immigration Laws ◽  
Migrant Entrepreneurship ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The One

This article analyses the relation between European economic crisis and immigration. It does so by analysing the establishment of migrants’ entrepreneurship activities in Italy, and by looking at how these activities unravel subjects’ agency in confronting constraining socioeconomic conditions and restrictive immigration laws. In this perspective, entrepreneurship should be understood as a possibility for transforming a person’s own incorporated cultural capital into a resource and, consequently, into an opportunity for self-created work performance. Interpreting entrepreneurship as a personal response of migrants to the economic recession offers a new perspective in the existing literature on migrant entrepreneurship. Crisis, in this paper, is not seen as an abstract and supernatural phenomenon leading and controlling the capacity of individuals to act, but is understood as a constructed set of meanings comprising social interactions and relationships and consolidated within public discourses. This study is based on a qualitative-explorative research approach and was carried out in South Tyrol, Italy. For the data collection, different qualitative methods were used: narrative interviews, informal discussions and semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was based on the coding processes described within the Grounded Theory. As the results show, crisis as such represents, on the one hand, a critical moment of transition or transformation of normality and the constituted ways of acting and thinking and, on the other hand, it is perceived as a new opportunity to change individual behaviour and to initiate innovative counter-strategies that will maintain a person’s capacity to act even in critical personal and structural situations. Nevertheless, showing resilience, which is powerful and leads to change, depends not only on personal motivational forces but also to given opportunity structures.

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