Showing papers in "Academy of Management Journal in 1996"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the development and validation of a new instrument, KEYS: Assessing the Climate for Creativity, designed to assess perceived stimulants and obstacles to creativity in organizational work environments.
Abstract: We describe the development and validation of a new instrument, KEYS: Assessing the Climate for Creativity, designed to assess perceived stimulants and obstacles to creativity in organizational work environments. The KEYS scales have acceptable factor structures, internal consistencies, test-retest reliabilities, and preliminary convergent and discriminant validity. A construct validity study shows that perceived work environments, as assessed by the KEYS scales, discriminate between high-creativity projects and low-creativity projects; certain scales discriminate more strongly and consistently than others. We discuss the utility of this tool for research and practice.
5,240 citations
TL;DR: The field of strategic human resource management (SHRM) has been criticized for lacking a solid theoretical foundation as mentioned in this paper, however, contrary to this criticism, the SHRM literature has a strong theoretical foundation.
Abstract: The field of strategic human resource management (SHRM) has been criticized for lacking a solid theoretical foundation. This article documents that, contrary to this criticism, the SHRM literature ...
4,017 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the independent and joint contributions of employees' creativity-relevant personal characteristics and three characteristics of the organizational context were examined, i.e., job complexity, job complexity and suppor...
Abstract: This study examined the independent and joint contributions of employees' creativity-relevant personal characteristics and three characteristics of the organizational context—job complexity, suppor...
3,397 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe why human resource management (HRM) decisions are likely to have an important and unique influence on organizational performance, and their hope is that this research forum will help advance...
Abstract: We describe why human resource management (HRM) decisions are likely to have an important and unique influence on organizational performance. Our hope is that this research forum will help advance ...
3,140 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors found positive associations between human resource management practices, such as training and staffing selectivity, and perceptual firm performance measures, and suggested methodological issues for consideration in examinations of the relationship between HRM systems and firm performance.
Abstract: In 590 for-profit and nonprofit firms from the National Organizations Survey, we found positive associations between human resource management (HRM) practices, such as training and staffing selectivity, and perceptual firm performance measures. Results also suggest methodological issues for consideration in examinations of the relationship between HRM systems and firm performance.
3,093 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on conflict as the crux of this paradox and provide evidence from two different samples of conflict's consistent yet contradictory effects on decision quality, consensus, and affective acceptance.
Abstract: Top management teams make strategic decisions, and the products of their decision making influence organizational performance. However, a subtle paradox is embedded in this relationship. This study focuses on conflict as the crux of this paradox and provides evidence from two different samples of conflict's consistent yet contradictory effects on decision quality, consensus, and affective acceptance.
2,464 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined two alternative views of the human resources-performance relationship in manufacturing settings and found that human capital enhancement was directly related to multiple dimensions of operational performance (i.e., employee productivity, machine efficiency, and customer alignment).
Abstract: This study examines two alternative views—universal and contingency—of the human resources (HR)-performance relationship in manufacturing settings. Results from a survey of 97 plants primarily support a contingency approach to human resource management (HRM). An HR system focused on human capital enhancement was directly related to multiple dimensions of operational performance (i.e., employee productivity, machine efficiency, and customer alignment), but subsequent analysis revealed that this main effect was predominately the result of linking human-capital-enhancing HR systems with a quality manufacturing strategy. Other manufacturing strategies also moderated the HR-performance relationship.
2,304 citations
TL;DR: In this article, interview data from China are used to test an argument that executives develop personal connections in societies with underdeveloped legal support for private businesses, and such connections can be used to predict the success of private businesses.
Abstract: Interview data from China are used to test an argument that executives develop personal connections in societies with underdeveloped legal support for private businesses. In China, such connections...
2,132 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a set of hypotheses based on emerging theory on high-involvement systems describes expected relationships between social structural characteristics at the level of the work unit (perceptions of role ambiguity, span of control, sociopolitical support, access to information and resources, and work unit climate) and feelings of empowerment.
Abstract: A set of hypotheses based on emerging theory on high-involvement systems describes expected relationships between social structural characteristics at the level of the work unit (perceptions of role ambiguity, span of control, sociopolitical support, access to information and resources, and work unit climate) and feelings of empowerment. The hypotheses are examined with data on a sample of middle managers from diverse units of a Fortune 50 organization. A work unit with little role ambiguity, strong sociopolitical support, access to information, and a participative unit climate is found to be associated with managerial perceptions of empowerment, as is working for a boss who has a wide span of control.
1,693 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors suggest that there is an inverse U-shaped relationship between slack and innovation in organizations: both too much and too little slack may be detrimental to innovation.
Abstract: This article suggests that there is an inverse U-shaped relationship between slack and innovation in organizations: both too much and too little slack may be detrimental to innovation. Two related ...
1,582 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conducted a study of the major U.S. film studios from 1936 to 1965 and found that property-based resources in the movie industry were more valuable than other resources.
Abstract: This article continues to operationally define and test the resource-based view of the firm in a study of the major U.S. film studios from 1936 to 1965. We found that property-based resources in th...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors test a central proposition of institutional theory, that organizational isomorphism increases organizational legitimacy, and they show that isomorphisms in the strategies of commercial businesses increase organizational legitimacy.
Abstract: This study tests a central proposition of institutional theory, that organizational isomorphism increases organizational legitimacy. Results show that isomorphism in the strategies of commercial ba...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined problems with sustained product innovation in 15 firms that averaged 96 years of age, 54,000 employees, and $9.4 billion in annual revenues.
Abstract: We examined problems with sustained product innovation in 15 firms that averaged 96 years of age, 54,000 employees, and $9.4 billion in annual revenues. Findings reveal that the inability to connec...
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that executive stock ownership and long-term institutional ownership are positively associated with corporate entrepreneurship, while short-term ownership is negatively associated with it, as is a high ratio of outside directors on a company's board.
Abstract: Corporate entrepreneurship is important for organizational survival, profitability, growth, and renewal. Data from 127 Fortune 500 companies show that executive stock ownership and long-term institutional ownership are positively associated with such entrepreneurship. Conversely, short-term institutional ownership is negatively associated with it, as is a high ratio of outside directors on a company's board. Outside directors' stock ownership somewhat mitigates the latter negative association. Outsiders, including stock owners, might lead companies away from internal product development, the traditional route to corporate entrepreneurship. Finally, an industry's technological opportunities moderate the associations observed between corporate governance and ownership variables and corporate entrepreneurship.
TL;DR: In this article, an integrated theoretical model that explains how strategies for participating in the market for corporate control (acquisitions and divestitures) affect internal control is presented, and the model is extended to analyze the effect of different strategies on internal control.
Abstract: This research examines an integrated theoretical model that explains how strategies for participating in the market for corporate control (acquisitions and divestitures) affect internal control mec...
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationships among international diversity, product diversity, and firm performance for large American industrial multinational enterprises (MNEs) and found that product diversity was correlated with international diversity.
Abstract: This study examined the relationships among international diversity, product diversity, and firm performance. For a sample of large American industrial multinational enterprises (MNEs), it showed a...
TL;DR: This article examined whether strategic decision-making processes are related to decision effectiveness, using a longitudinal field study design, and studied 52 decisions in 24 companies to determine the relationship between strategic decision making processes and decision effectiveness.
Abstract: This study examined whether strategic decision-making processes are related to decision effectiveness, using a longitudinal field study design. We studied 52 decisions in 24 companies to determine ...
TL;DR: This paper used self-report data provided by business school graduates after four months and ten months on new jobs to assess the effects of the six socialization tactics from Van Maanen and Schein's (1979) typology on newcomer adjustment and refinements of existing measures of the investiture tactic and role innovation.
Abstract: In this longitudinal field study, we used self-report data provided by business school graduates after four months and ten months on new jobs to assess (1) the effects of the six socialization tactics from Van Maanen and Schein's (1979) typology on newcomer adjustment and (2) refinements of existing measures of the investiture tactic and role innovation. Results indicate that the tactics, clustered into an institutionalized (vs. individualized) approach, were negatively related to attempted and actual role innovation, role ambiguity, role conflict, stress symptoms, and intentions to quit and positively related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational identification. Self-appraised performance was associated with more individualized socialization.
TL;DR: The authors examined the development of leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships via a model that extends and tests ideas presented but not yet fully tested in past theoretical models, using a longitudinal study.
Abstract: This longitudinal study examines the development of leader-member-exchange (LMX) relationships via a model that extends and tests ideas presented but not yet fully tested in past theoretical models...
TL;DR: This paper found that commitment to supervisors was positively related to performance and was more strongly associated with performance than was commitment to organizations, while internalization of supervisors' and organizations' values was associated with job performance but identification with these foci was not.
Abstract: Previous research has found that employee commitment and job performance are largely unrelated. However, prior work has not distinguished among individual foci (targets) and bases (motives) of commitment. We found, as expected, that commitment to supervisors was positively related to performance and was more strongly associated with performance than was commitment to organizations. Further, internalization of supervisors' and organizations' values was associated with performance but identification with these foci was not.
TL;DR: In this paper, personal initiative, a concept akin to entrepreneurship and organizational spontaneity, was compared in East and West Germany and the differences were hypothesized to be the results of occupational socialization, particularly of work control and complexity rather than of a selection effect.
Abstract: Personal initiative, a concept akin to entrepreneurship and organizational spontaneity, was compared in East and West Germany. Differences were hypothesized to be the results of occupational socialization, particularly of work control and complexity, rather than of a selection effect. A representative longitudinal study was conducted in the East and a cross-sectional study in the West. Lower initiative at work was found in the East; control and complexity affected changes in initiative. The results speak for socialization and against selection.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined two versions of the person-environment fit approach to stress, one representing the fit between environmental supplies and employee values (S-V fit), and another the fit b...
Abstract: This study examined two versions of the person-environment (P-E) fit approach to stress, one representing the fit between environmental supplies and employee values (S-V fit), and another the fit b...
TL;DR: This article explored the effects of social capital, measured both absolutely and relatively, on CEO compensation in a sample of 61 CEO-compensation committee chairperson dyads, and controlled for var...
Abstract: This study explored the effects of social capital, measured both absolutely and relatively, on CEO compensation in a sample of 61 CEO-compensation committee chairperson dyads. We controlled for var...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that related diversification enhances performance only when it allows a business to obtain preferential access to strategic assets, those that are valuable, rare, imperfectly tradable, and costly to imitate.
Abstract: We argue that related diversification enhances performance only when it allows a business to obtain preferential access to strategic assets—those that are valuable, rare, imperfectly tradable, and costly to imitate. As the advantage this access affords will decay as a result of asset erosion and imitation by single–business rivals, in the long run only competences that enable a firm to build new strategic assets more quickly and efficiently than competitors will allow it to sustain supernormal profits. Both short– and long–run advantages are conditional, however, on organizational structures that allow the firm's divisions to share existing strategic assets and to transfer the competence to build new ones efficiently.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors extend agency theory to explain the design of compensation strategy in foreign subsidiaries competing within global industries and find that 100 subsidiaries in five countries in five continents were evaluated.
Abstract: This study extends agency theory to explain the design of compensation strategy in foreign subsidiaries competing within global industries. Results from 100 subsidiaries in five countries indicate ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose that hybrid organizational forms provide a way to overcome the agency problems of adverse selection and moral hazard in selecting, assimilating, and monitoring new managers.
Abstract: This study proposes that hybrid organizational forms provide a way to overcome the agency problems of adverse selection and moral hazard in selecting, assimilating, and monitoring new managers. Con...
TL;DR: In this paper, a framework for studying cross-functional teams in organizations that focuses on three domains: organizational context, internal process, and outcome measures was developed from qualitative data from over 200 individual and group interviews, written descriptions, and team observations.
Abstract: This article develops a framework for studying cross-functional teams in organizations that focuses on three domains: organizational context, internal process, and outcome measures. The framework was developed from qualitative data from over 200 individual and group interviews, written descriptions, and team observations. We then operationally defined this model through a set of questionnaire items and validated it through quantitative analysis of data from 565 members of cross-functional teams. The resulting framework provides a base for the future study of cross-functional teams.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show how social psychological and sociopolitical factors can create divergence in the preferences of an incumbent CEO and existing board regarding the desired characteristics of a new CEO, and how relative CEO/board power can predict whose preferences are realized.
Abstract: This study shows how social psychological and sociopolitical factors can create divergence in the preferences of an incumbent CEO and existing board regarding the desired characteristics of a new CEO, and how relative CEO/board power can predict whose preferences are realized. Using extensive longitudinal data, we found that more powerful boards are more likely to change CEO characteristics in the direction of their own demographic profile. Outside successors are also typically demographically different from their CEO predecessors but demographically similar to the boards.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors hypothesized that perceived discrimination is hypothesized to influence employee outcomes above and beyond other work stressors, and data from 139 Hispanic employees of multiple organizations supported this prediction.
Abstract: Perceived discrimination is hypothesized to influence employee outcomes above and beyond other work stressors. Data from 139 Hispanic employees of multiple organizations supported this prediction. ...
TL;DR: In this paper, a test of Lee and Mitchell's model of voluntary employee departure from an organization is reported, based on interviews with nurses who had recently quit their jobs and a mailed survey.
Abstract: We report a test of Lee and Mitchell's model of voluntary employee departure from an organization. Data gathered from interviews with nurses who had recently quit their jobs and a mailed survey wer...