Motivated team innovation: Impact of need for closure and epistemic authority

New members are important sources of innovative perspectives in groups. However, it can be very difficult for newcomers’ ideas to be heard. It is likely that group members with high (vs. low) levels of need for closure (NFC) are more resistant to newcomers’ innovative ideas. Moreover, when group epistemic authority (EA) is high, members should “freeze” on the group’s ideas, regardless of the newcomer’s EA. In contrast, when group EA is low, members would be expected to “seize” the ideas proposed by newcomers with high EA. Study 1 confirmed that high (vs. low) NFC group members are more resistant to newcomers’ innovative ideas. In Study 2, in high NFC groups, evidence was obtained for seizing but not freezing. In Study 3, for group members with heightened NFC, both freezing and seizing results were obtained. Findings suggest that both NFC and EA play important roles in receptivity to newcomers’ ideas.

CSR and SDGs in Early-Stage Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship conditions the sustainable development of a society by the economic, social, and environmental impact of new ventures. Specifically, startups, due to their high level of innovation and scalability, have an important role in fostering and accelerating the implementation of sustainable practices. An empirical analysis is carried out through data collected in the framework of the GEM project to define the extent in which startups innovation impact SDGs. The results highlight that the most frequently addressed goals belong to the economic sphere (e.g., SDG 8 and SDG 9), while environmental and social aspects are scarcely considered. More than half of the SDGs are addressed by less than 10% of the startups. A change in policies to promote SDGs is needed to foster the implementation of CSR strategies from early entrepreneurial stages, increase startups awareness, and face the lack of attention that some SDGs are receiving from the currently emerging innovation.

Assessment method of the urban development level in the context of knowledge and innovation economy

The assessment method of the level of industrial city (Zaporozhіzhia) development influence affected by knowledge and innovation economy has been proposed in the article. Assessment of the sustainable development level is represented by three components: economic, social and environmental, each of which is characterized by certain indicators. The algorithm has been worked out to determine knowledge and innovation impact for urban sustainable development. It is comprised of three successive stages: indicators characterizing a certain sub-vector are determined in the first stage; sub-vector indexes are calculated in the second stage: the knowledge and innovation index; the knowledge and innovation index is calculated based on the additive and multiplicative model in the third stage. The knowledge and innovation index is defined as “stimulus” (booster) and “restriction” (depreciation) of urban sustainable development, that is, defined as specific ratios. To substantiate the importance of knowledge and innovation impact, not only quantitative approach to evaluation, but also qualitative analysis based on matrix methods have been applied. Changing specific ratios and the degree of specific ratios impact on urban sustainable development allows to analyze changes (increase or decrease) of sustainability level amid weights alterations. Changing specific ratios forms the priorities of economic policy and strategic landmarks.

Organization’s Characteristics that Facilitate the Innovation Process and Techniques- Case of Oman

Many global organizations today have shown tremendous growth year after year and the measure of their success is beyond what the competition has achieve. The most common characteristic of the globally successful organizations is their continuous engagement in innovation that not only changes the playing field in the competition, but also creates a disruption in which the influence of the innovation impact social, economic, and political dynamics of the modern world. Facilitating innovation requires strategic approach by organizations in the processes of implementation. Some of the key characteristics of an organization that successfully facilitates the innovation process includes flexibility, openness, agility, adaptiveness, and cultivation. In the case of Oman, facilitating innovation and strategically applying the techniques to achieving positive outcome is a challenge that organizations are striving to overcome. Notable examples of innovation process approach by Omani organizations include creating a network of other organizations that are willing to partake in information exchange. Another example is collaboration in which a less capable organization collaborate with larger firms creating a mutually beneficial partnership to facilitate innovation and development.

Tapping the Power of Social Media on Innovation Performance

Objective - This study investigates the relationship between social media and innovation performance among SMEs in Malaysia. This study also extends social media literature by investigating the underlying mechanism of open innovation in the relationship between social media and innovation performance. Methodology/Technique - A questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. A total of 173 samples from data collection were then used to test the hypotheses by using the SPSS and SmartPLS software. Finding - The result has revealed that social media has a significant effect on innovation performance. Besides, outbound innovation is also found to mediate the relationship between social media and innovation performance. Novelty - This study contributes to the literature on social media and innovation by providing new evidence regarding outbound innovation impact on performance among SMEs. It also provides a great idea of social media's importance to SME managers in improving innovation performance in an organization. Type of Paper - Empirical. Keywords: Social Media, Innovation Performance, Open Innovation, Smes, Malaysia JEL Classification: URI: http://gatrenterprise.com/GATRJournals/GJBSSR/vol9.2_4.html DOI: https://doi.org/10.35609/gjbssr.2021.9.2(4) Pages 143 – 151

Can Social Innovation Make a Change in European and Mediterranean Marginalized Areas? Social Innovation Impact Assessment in Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, and Rural Development

Social innovation (SI) impacts are long-term changes that affect different dimensions of territorial capital (i.e., economy, society, environment, governance) for the territory in which SI occurs. Yet, systematic empirical evidence and theoretically sound assessments of the impacts of SI are scarce. This paper aims to fill the gap and assess the different aspects of SI’s impacts in European and Mediterranean areas that are characterized by marginalization processes. To assess the impacts of SI in marginalized areas, we use the evaluation framework developed within the Social Innovation in Marginalized Rural Areas (SIMRA) Horizon 2020 project and apply it to nine SI initiatives related to the fields of agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and rural development. Our findings show that SI produces cross-sectoral (societal, economic, environmental, and governmental) and multi-level impacts (on individuals, community, and society), which have improved the societal well-being, and contributed to the reduction of certain forms of marginality, mainly inside the territory in which SI occurred.