Nexus among intellectual capital, interorganizational learning, industrial Internet of things technology and innovation performance: a resource-based perspective

PurposeThe authors observe the influence of intellectual capital (IC) on innovation performance with the mediating role of interorganizational learning (IOL) in the Pakistani automotive industry. Besides, industrial Internet of things (IoT) technology is used as moderating variables between IOL and innovation performance.Design/methodology/approachStructural equation modeling (SEM) presents scholars with extra flexibility and enhanced research conclusions. SEM is described as a statistical methodology and the best tool used for hypothesis testing. The authors used partial least squares SEM for testing hypotheses. The simple random sampling technique followed to collect data from respondents, and 492 questionnaires were used for analysis.FindingsThe outcomes reveal that IC enhances innovation performance and IOL. Moreover, IOL increases innovation performance. IOL significantly mediates between IC and innovation performance. Industrial IoT technology improves innovation performance. Finally, industrial IoT technology strengthens the positive association between IOL and innovation performance.Practical implicationsThis study concentrates on the issue of how managers use IOL and industrial IoT technology to take higher advantage of IC that increases innovation performance.Originality/valueThis is the initial study that builds a theoretical framework to integrate IC, IOL, industrial IoT technology and innovation performance. Although prior researchers observe the association between IC and innovation performance, less concentration was paid to understand the role of interorganizational leadership and industrial IoT technology in leveraging organizational IC.

Learning from interorganizational projects

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to consolidate the existing research on interorganizational projects and to explore how organizations learn by closely examining multilevel learning, that is, organizational and interorganizational learning.Design/methodology/approachThis article adopts a single case study approach, examining the Islamabad–Rawalpindi Metro project in Pakistan, with data consisting of interview results and archival data. An inductive approach is used for data analysis.FindingsAn empirically grounded learning model was developed based on an interorganizational project following eight lessons: capacity building, personality traits of leadership, working procedures, impeccable planning and implementation, involvement of stakeholders, design compatibility, investigation of underground services, conditions and maintenance of databases, and conceive rational timelines. These lessons learned were classified into three categories: (1) organizational capacity, (2) organizational embeddedness and (3) collective awareness.Originality/valueThis paper develops a novel learning model that can deepen our understanding of the practices and processes involved in multilevel learning. This study contributes to and extends the literature on organizational and interorganizational learning by studying an interorganizational setting.

Interrelations Between Process and Institutionalization of Organizational and Interorganizational Learning with Performance

This study aims to verify the interrelations between process and institutionalization of organizational learning (OL) and interorganizational learning (IL) with organizational performance. We have proposed and tested a theoretical model applied to 181 companies from 14 cooperation networks of the southern region of Brazil, through a survey and using the Structural Equation Modeling. We have identified that OL process influences OL institutionalization, that in turn influences IL process, IL institutionalization and company performance. IL process influences IL institutionalization and relationship-based corporate performance, as well as company performance impact on relationship-based corporate performance. We have rejected the hypotheses regarding the relations between OL process with IL process, IL process and institutionalization with company performance and IL institutionalization with relationship-based corporate performance. The results have reinforced that although OL and IL are conceptually different, they are complementary.

Rivals or Collaborators? Relational Ambidexterity and Absorption Speed

This study investigates how the configuration of rivals and collaborators within a firm’s alliance portfolio affects its speed of absorbing external knowledge (i.e., absorption speed). While prior research on learning alliances has predominantly focused on interfirm overall knowledge flows, we contend that absorption speed plays a critical role in technology-intensive industries where time-based competition is paramount. Additionally, most previous studies do not clearly distinguish a firm’s rivals from its collaborators within the alliance portfolio. Building on interorganizational learning theory, we propose that a simultaneous and balanced presence of both rivals and collaborators within a firm’s alliance portfolio, which we term relational ambidexterity, increases the firm’s speed of absorbing external knowledge. We further contend that while a firm’s internal knowledge variety strengthens the positive relationship between relational ambidexterity and absorption speed, the number of common third parties between a firm and its partner weakens this positive relationship. The results of an event history study of 467 firms in the pharmaceutical industry of the United States from 1990 to 2010 provide general support for our hypotheses.

Absorptive capacity, co creation and tourism A mixed analysis method

Absorptive capacity is considered as an important innovation enabler since it can reduce risks and costs associated with innovations developed entirely by the companies themselves (Apriliyanti & Alon, 2007). Absorptive capacity can be understood as the ability to recognize the value of new external information and its application (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990). The number of publications about absorptive capacity have increased in recent years and, amongst the main streams studied in this field, there exist interorganizational learning and knowledge transfer dynamics (Apriliyanti & Alon, 2007). In this context, the level of new external information availability was considered to be one of the main absorptive capacity enablers (Zahra & George, 2002). However, this availability is not only related to the amount of external information, but also to how this information is transferred (Markovic & Bagherzadeh, 2018). Consequently, co-creation has been highlighted as an important way to enhance knowledge sharing and to facilitate the absorption of new external information (Markovic & Bagherzadeh, 2018). Concerning co-creation, it can be considered as a “new paradigm in the management literature” (Galvagno & Dalli, 2014: 643) and can be defined as a process that “involves the participation in the creation of the core offering itself. It can occur ... with customers and any other partners in the value network” (Lusch & Vargo, 2006: 284). Thus, it can be understood as a relationship between stakeholders (Azevedo, 2009) that emerged from active, creative and collaborative experiences (Campos et al., 2018; Kazadi, Lievens & Mahr, 2016) through which value is created (Haahti, 2006). Therefore, co-creation results in developing new products and services in a faster, more relevant and innovative way than traditional processes. It is a process that brings the opportunity to continue interaction between the firm and customers in which the firm is willing to work with external stakeholders and obtain more value through this collaboration with customers (Hamidi, Gharneh & Khajeheian, 2020). On the other hand, one of the ways to synthesize knowledge effectively is by developing the capacity for innovation, which has the virtue of establishing processes that take advantage of absorbed knowledge to incorporate new functions or create new products, and also to mitigate the impact of negative externalities, identify new sources of raw materials, access new services that add value, enter new underserved markets, improve operational processes, or adopt new activities for commercialization and business management (Rodríguez, Barón & Guaita, 2020).

Organizing care during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of accounting in German hospitals

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide insight into the roles of accounting in the management of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in five German hospitals.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted three rounds of interviews, ethnographic observations of meetings and document analyses in five German hospitals between February and August 2020.FindingsThe authors found that actors repeatedly used a central set of indicators (the number of beds for COVID-19 patients) when adapting a healthcare infrastructure to the pandemic. Accounting figures allowed actors to problematize prior configurations, organize processes to make uncertainty plannable and virtualize changes to resume treating non-COVID-19 patients.Practical implicationsThe authors offer suggestions about scenario planning and interorganizational learning which have implications for healthcare practitioners.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the accounting in crisis literature by adding an organization-focused study. Adding nuance to key themes in the literature, they show how the organizations and the field level interact and how organizing locally preceded economizing. They also offer a nonbinary answer to the question of whether or not changes revert back to “normal” after a crisis event.