Innovativeness and performance: the joint effect of relational trust and combinative capability

PurposeThis work aims to develop a configurational model to explain how relational trust and combinative capability can jointly improve the relationship between innovativeness and firm's performance.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical study was developed on a sample of 224 companies in the footwear industry in Spain. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses in order to confirm the proposed configurational model.FindingsThe partial results demonstrate the significant effect of relational trust on the innovativeness-performance relationship but, unexpectedly, reveals the non-significant effect of combinative capability on this relationship. The triple interaction effects model provides new insights into the positive effect of combinative capability on the innovativeness-performance relationship once firms gain relational trust from their contacts.Research limitations/implicationsThe cross-sectional nature of the study imposes a limitation on the results. Nevertheless, due to the detailed information required to achieve the aims of the research, a longitudinal study could be excessively complex. In any event, the cross-sectional approach of the study accomplishes the proposed aim.Practical implicationsManagers should involve the employees of the firm in order to improve the effectiveness of continuous innovation, encouraging them to establish trusting relationships with external agents and contributing to combine the relevant external knowledge with the individual and collective knowledge available in the firm.Originality/valueThis work contributes to the existing literature with a more complete picture of the influence of innovativeness on firms' performance, highlighting that performance is affected by the coherence of the configuration of innovativeness, relational trust and combination capability.

Urban Segregation and Socio-Spatial Interactions: A Configurational Approach

Urban segregation is an inherent feature of cities and becomes a problem when excluding or hindering certain groups from accessing services, activities and spaces. In Brazil, segregation by social class is dominant in the structure of cities and public policies rarely address urban configuration as part of the segregation problem. This work addresses segregation with a shift in emphasis from traditional housing segregation to segregation as the restraint of socio-spatial interactions, thus including other facets of the phenomenon that have not yet been properly explored and seeking new spatially relevant metrics. This paper aims to present a methodology of segregation analysis based on configurational models and develop an empirical application in a Brazilian city. Representing the probabilities of interaction between different socio-economic groups in public spaces, a configurational model was used, addressing retail-residence spatial relationship. The attributes of population size, household income and number of retail establishments were considered. The results allowed identifying the probabilistic residence-retail trajectories for high and low income groups, providing a first measure of spatial segregation. The conclusions seek to highlight the importance of configurational approaches for segregation studies, as well as to show potentialities and limits of this methodology.

Tackling the Complexity of the Pro-environmental Behavior Intentions of Visitors to Turtle Sites

This empirical study improved our understanding of how to simulate visitors’ pro-environmental behavior intentions (PEBIs) during interpretive marine turtle tours in Cyprus. Complexity theory was applied as a sufficient theoretical basis of the proposed configurational model that was tested using fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) as an innovative set theoretic approach. Four configurations—demographics, values, beliefs, and norms and attitudes—were used to explore causal recipes leading to both high and low PEBI scores. The findings highlighted the heterogeneity issue in predicting PEBIs, addressed by determining the positive or negative role of PEBI indicators along with attributes of other indicators in causal recipes. The fsQCA results of four configurations suggested 12 recipes for attaining high PEBI scores. Further insight was obtained via configurational modeling of visitors’ PEBIs during endangered species tours, which contributed to the current knowledge of tourism management in protected areas. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.