R&D tax incentives and innovation: unveiling the mechanisms behind innovation capacity

PurposeThere is a scarcity of empirical evidence in the literature on the chain of causality involving tax incentives for Research and Development (R&D) activities and their subsequent transformation into innovation. This study aims to assess the influence of R&D tax incentives on the organizational attributes of Portuguese firms to identify how they are converted into innovation.Design/methodology/approachA structural research model consisting of 339 companies that benefited from the Fiscal Incentive System supporting R&D in Enterprises, during the period from 2013 to 2016, was developed. This was done to assess the role of R&D tax incentives on the organizational attributes that form the innovation capacity. The model was validated using the multivariate statistical technique of structural equation modeling with partial least squares estimation (partial least squares structural equation modeling – PLS-SEM).FindingsThe results found suggest that although it is not possible to unequivocally identify the mechanisms used to convert tax incentives into innovation, it is possible to conclude that they play an important spillover effect for the construction and strengthening of organizational attributes. These form the basis of innovation capacity, to the extent that they positively influence the firms’ total assets, equity, liabilities, number of employees and sales. Hence, contributions are brought to both the literature on tax incentives and the general literature on innovation.Originality/valueFor policymakers, the evidence points to the fact that in addition to the incentives provided, novel mechanisms need to be established to help firms develop their absorptive capacity. The objective is to effectively convert the incentives received into innovation through the organizational attributes analyzed. From the firms’ point of view, the results found suggest that tax incentives act as a catalyst for making R&D investments. Additionally, there is an influence on employability, which effectively enhances the chances of innovation in the long run. Tax incentives received by Portuguese firms also have the effect of promoting economic dynamism – by enhancing the following: investments in infrastructure, the hiring of employees and the increasing of sales, generating positive externalities for both firms and society.

Why Join? How Civil Society Organizations’ Attributes Signal Congruence and Impact Community Engagement

Civil society organizations (CSOs) can facilitate collective action. This makes understanding what shapes whether people are likely to engage with CSOs critically important. This paper argues that whether an organization is perceived as congruent – similar to an individual in values – is a key determinant of whether individuals will engage with it. I use a conjoint survey experiment to test how organizational attributes signaling congruence influence respondents’ willingness to attend a hypothetical organization’s meetings. I find that individuals are more likely to choose organizations that are more likely to be congruent with them, except when it comes to funding. These findings imply that an individual’s level of comfort with a CSO matters for engagement; thus, CSOs need to consider how they match to their publics when reaching out to potential joiners. Furthermore, donors seeking to support CSOs need to pay attention to their impact on perceptions of congruence.

Agents of Representation: The Organic Connection between Society and Leftist Parties in Bolivia and Uruguay

Parties are central agents of democratic representation. The literature assumes that this function is an automatic consequence of social structure and/or a product of incentives derived from electoral competition. However, representation is contingent upon the organizational structure of parties. The connection between a party and an organized constituency is not limited to electoral strategy; it includes an organic connection through permanent formal or informal linkages that bind party programmatic positions to social groups’ preferences, regardless of the electoral returns. This article analyzes how the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement toward Socialism, MAS) in Bolivia and the Frente Amplio (Broad Front, FA) in Uruguay developed two different forms of relationship with social organizations that result from the interplay of historical factors traceable to the parties’ formative phases and party organizational attributes. Party organizational features that grant voice to grassroots activists serve as crucial mechanisms for bottom-up incorporation of societal interests and demands.

Organizational attributes of interprofessional primary care for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in ontario, Canada: a multiple case study

Background Access to high-quality primary care has been identified as a pressing need for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Adults with IDD live with complex physical and mental health conditions, use health services differently than the general population and continue to face challenges when accessing health services. Interprofessional primary care teams offer comprehensive and coordinated approaches to primary care delivery and are well-positioned to address the needs of adults with IDD and other vulnerable populations. Although interprofessional primary care teams are recommended, there is currently limited understanding of how interprofessional care is delivered and how access to a team of providers improves the health of this population. The aim of this paper is to describe the organizational attributes of interprofessional primary care for adults with IDD within and across models of team-based care in one local health service context. Methods A multiple case study was conducted with five interprofessional primary care teams in Ontario, Canada. Multiple methods were used to generate data including: a survey, document review, electronic medical record report and qualitative interviews. Pattern matching was the primary analytic approach for the within and across case analysis. Results Adults with IDD were found to be a small part of the patient population served and this group was poorly identified in three of five teams. Key organizational attributes that support the delivery of interprofessional primary care for adults with IDD were identified. Two examples of targeted programs of care for this group were also found. Despite the presence of interprofessional health providers in all teams, there were limited organizational processes to engage a wide-range of interprofessional services in the care of this group. There was no consistent reporting of outcomes or processes in place to measure the impact of interprofessional services for this population. Conclusions This study provides important insights into the current state of interprofessional primary care for adults with IDD in Ontario and highlight a critical need for further work in the field to develop organizational structures and processes to engage in team-based care and demonstrate the value of the approach for this population.

Path-Dependence

The intertemporal linkages that both constrain and enable an organization are central to its adaptive properties. The most narrow expression of path-dependence is the process of state-dependence—having a particular asset stock at one point in time impacts the distribution of asset stocks that can be reached at a subsequent period. Development, how an organizational form unfolds over time, can change those dynamics. A considerable literature has sprung up around the idea of “dynamic capabilities.” This broad idea is broken down into five distinct facets: accessibility of organizational states, robustness of organizations to changes in the state of nature, capacity to influence future states of “nature,” cost of accessing future sets of attributes, and capacity to value the set of organizational attributes. However, this discourse tends to treat “capabilities” as isolated attributes and not to view the organization as a complex adaptive system, a perspective developed here.

Human Trafficking-Terrorism Nexus: When Violent Non-State Actors Engage in the Modern-Day Slavery

Why do some militant organizations participate in human trafficking? We investigate this question by introducing a new dataset that records insurgent organizations’ involvement in four types of human trafficking: sexual exploitation, forced recruitment, slavery, and kidnapping. Marrying our data to the BAAD2I population of insurgent organizations, we uncover the organizational attributes related to human trafficking. We find that groups with wide alliance networks and territorial control are more likely to commit human trafficking. Organizations that are losing command of the territory and suffering rank-and-file losses are also more likely to turn to human trafficking. Our study sheds theoretical light on insurgent groups’ involvement in crime. It also contributes to the empirical scholarship on sexual violence by violent groups by studying different forms of human trafficking in both conflict and non-conflict environments. Our paper presents an original dataset and empirical analysis of insurgent groups’ human trafficking patterns.

Organizational Attributes as Determinant of Women Academicians' Career Development in Multan (Pakistan)

The study aims to explore Organizational attributes and their relation to career development. The career development of females was necessary for the country's economic progress. The data was collected through questionnaires from universities and two college female academic staff. The sample size was determined through a multi-stage sampling technique. The total sample size of the study was 301. The data were analyzed by applying simple linear regression. The findings of the study show that there are many issues related to the career development of females in organizational, but some have great influence such as Organizational/institutional behavior towards female employment, recognition of their work, standers of success, workplace harassment, biased attitude, glass ceiling, and transportation problems. Further researches must explore this problem at a broad level and include other sector female employees to identify their problems in career development. The government must formulate female-friendly policies to make it easier for females to work outside the home

Workforce Composition of Public R&D and Performance: Evidence from Korean Government-Funded Research Institutes

How do the organizational attributes of public R&D organizations affect their performance? Recent researchers have focused on the relationship between R&D investments and performance or efficiency, and others suggest that performance may be affected by organizational factors. However, we focus on the attributes of R&D workforce excellence and diversity of R&D workforce, which can affect the performance of public R&D organizations. Therefore, we conduct a panel negative binomial regression and a focus group interview after empirical analysis to derive interpretations and implications. The results show that the effects of the diversity and excellence of an R&D workforce can vary depending on the type of performance: scientific, technological, or social. Overall, we call for a human resources and resource-based approach to consider the importance of R&D workforce composition, specifically diversity and excellence, in evaluating the performance of public R&D organizations.

The Impact of Managers and Network Interactions on the Integration of Circularity in Business Strategy

Integrating circularity in business strategy is difficult to achieve for companies as it requires impactful changes in core business processes. While research has focused on identifying key barriers, little is known about the organizational attributes that can assist businesses in integrating circularity in their strategies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the implications of organizational managers and network interactions for the integration of circularity in business strategy. Through using survey data from 627 SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) in the Netherlands, this study shows that managers who interpret circularity as an opportunity can have a positive direct and indirect effect on the integration of circularity in a company’s strategy. The results furthermore highlight the importance of circular network interactions for the integration of circularity in business strategy. This article contributes to recent calls for more empirical research into the integration of circularity and offers relevant insights for companies aiming to integrate circularity.