Showing papers by "Zhenzhong Ma published in 2019"

Transformational leadership and employee knowledge sharing: explore the mediating roles of psychological safety and team efficacy

Abstract: This paper aims—based on past research works which have shown that transformational leadership has positive impact on knowledge sharing—to explore the impact of different leadership dimensions of transformational leadership on knowledge sharing and further to explore the mechanism through which transformational leadership affects employee knowledge sharing in China.,Based on the transformational leadership theory and the team learning theory, it is proposed that all four dimensions of transformational leadership, including intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation and idealized influence, have unique impact on employee knowledge sharing. It is further proposed that psychology safety and team efficacy mediate these relationships. Then data were collected from over 400 employees from knowledge-based companies in China to empirically test the proposed relationships with the method of structural equation modeling.,The results show that psychological safety fully mediated the impact of intellectual stimulation on knowledge sharing, and team efficacy fully mediated the impact of inspirational motivation on knowledge sharing. Both factors also mediated the impact of individualized consideration on knowledge sharing. The results thus provide empirical support for the impact of transformational leadership on employee knowledge sharing in an international context.,The past years have seen increasing interest in leadership and knowledge sharing in emerging markets, yet the mechanism through which leadership affects employee knowledge sharing remains understudied. This study explores the impact of different dimensions of transformational leadership on employee knowledge sharing, and further shows that psychological safety and team efficacy mediate these relationships in a collectivistic society where knowledge sharing is consistent with cultural norms. The findings help develop more robust knowledge sharing theories in the international context and provide insightful suggestions for management practitioners in emerging markets.

The impact of overseas human capital and social ties on Chinese returnee entrepreneurs’ venture performance

Abstract: Entrepreneurship research clearly documents the importance of human and social capital and stresses the way in which entrepreneurs take advantage of their own social affiliations and network strategies in pursuit of their entrepreneurial goals, yet the research on returnee entrepreneurs’ human and social capital is not sufficiently studied in the international context, in particular when returnees’ overseas human capital and social capital may be a misfit with local business environment. Using the data from Chinese returnee entrepreneurs’ venture activities in China, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of returnee entrepreneurs’ overseas capital (human and social) and domestic capital (human and social) on their venture performance in China, and further explore the interaction effect of different social and human capital with China’s entrepreneurial environment.,This study surveyed 500 start-up businesses created by returnee entrepreneurs in China to collect data. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data on their demographic information, the information about the human and social capital of these returnee entrepreneurs, including domestic and overseas capital, various performance measures, and other control variables ending up with 226 usable questionnaires.,The results show that Chinese returnee entrepreneurs’ overseas human capital and social capital, as well as their domestic social capital, but not domestic human capital, have a significant impact on their venture performance. In addition, while domestic entrepreneurial environment does not affect the impact of overseas human and social capital on venture performance, it does provide an important contextual setting for domestic capital to improve returnee entrepreneurs’ venture performance.,The findings help enrich the understanding of the dynamic interplays among Chinese returnee entrepreneurs’ domestic human capital and social capital, overseas human capital, and social capital, as well as the entrepreneurial environment for returnee entrepreneurs’ success, which makes an important contribution to the international entrepreneurship theory by showing that overseas human capital and social capital are not a misfit with local markets. It also provides empirical support for the mediating effect of entrepreneurial opportunity identification. The important role of entrepreneurial opportunity is empirically supported in an international context: entrepreneurship is all about the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities and exploitation of this opportunity to create viable business entities for new products and services, even in the Chinese context, a culture which is very different from the ones where the entrepreneurship theory was developed.

The Mediating Effect of Decision Quality on Knowledge Management and Firm Performance for Chinese Entrepreneurs: An Empirical Study

Abstract: While it is well-known knowledge management is crucial for an organization’s competitive advantage, relatively little research has explored the process whereby knowledge management affects firm performance in a collectivistic culture such as China. This study is to explore the mechanism through which knowledge management helps improve firm performance and then to examine the mediating role of decision quality in the Chinese context. Using a self-administered questionnaire to collect data from Chinese entrepreneurs and with structural equation modeling, this study shows that knowledge accumulation, internal sharing, and external knowledge sharing all have a positive impact on firm performance, and decision quality partially mediates the impact of knowledge management on firm performance. This study adds value to the knowledge management literature by introducing decision quality as a mediating variable to examine the impact of knowledge sharing on firm performance in China. The findings of this study can help enrich the literature on knowledge management and firm performance and highlight the important impact of decision quality on knowledge management and firm performance. Management practitioners can also benefit from the findings.

Success Factors for Product Innovation in China’s Manufacturing Sector: Strategic Choice and Environment Constraints

Abstract: This study examines what factors contribute to firm innovation performance as a result of successful launch of new products in China. Rather than simply applying theories of product innovation ofte...

Personality Effects on the Endorsement of Ethically Questionable Negotiation Strategies: Business Ethics in Canada and China

Abstract: This study explores personality effects on the endorsement of ethically questionable negotiation strategies in Canada and China. With a sample of over 400 business professionals, this study examines the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and the perceived appropriateness of five categories of negotiation strategies in the two cultures. The results show that the Big Five personality traits strongly affect the endorsement of ethically questionable negotiation strategies (EQNS) both in Canada and in China, but in different ways. For Canadian negotiators, individuals high in conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness are more prone to use EQNS, and individuals high in emotional stability and agreeableness are less likely to use them. For negotiators from Mainland China, only agreeableness and emotional stability are negatively associated with the endorsement of the EQNS. Implications for research on business ethics and for negotiation practitioners and policymakers are then discussed.

Intelligent entrepreneurship and firm performance: A cross-cultural investigation

Abstract: This is a cross-cultural study that explores the relationship between entrepreneurs’ social intelligence and firm performance in six countries (China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, France, Ireland, and Turkey). These firms were founded during the 7 years preceding the study. Data for this study were collected with questionnaires from three managers of each firm who rated their founding CEOs on social intelligence and performance of their firms. Data from each firm were averaged. Data analyses in each sample with structural equations models suggest that CEOs with greater social intelligence contributed more to firm performance in each country. Implications for management, directions for future research, and limitations of the study are discussed.