Showing papers in "Academy of Management Journal in 2002"
TL;DR: The authors examine how firms search, or solve problems, to create new products and find that firms position themselves in a unidimensional search space that spans a spectrum from local to distant search.
Abstract: We examine how firms search, or solve problems, to create new products. According to organizational learning research, firms position themselves in a unidimensional search space that spans a spectrum from local to distant search. Our findings in the global robotics industry suggest that firms' search efforts actually vary across two distinct dimensions: search depth, or how frequently the firm reuses its existing knowledge, and search scope, or how widely the firm explores new knowledge.
3,110 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines the role of professional associations in a changing, highly institutionalized organizational field and suggests that they play a significant role in legitimating change and suggest that professional associations play an important role in supporting change.
Abstract: This study examines the role of professional associations in a changing, highly institutionalized organizational field and suggests that they play a significant role in legitimating change. A model...
2,789 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the adoption of an organizational practice by subsidiaries of a multinational corporation under conditions of "institutional duality" is examined, drawing on institutional theory, and they identify...
Abstract: We examine the adoption of an organizational practice by subsidiaries of a multinational corporation (MNC) under conditions of “institutional duality.” Drawing on institutional theory, we identify ...
2,399 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a new construct, creative self-efficacy, tapping employees' belief that they can be creative in their work roles, was tested using data from two different firms.
Abstract: Using data from two different firms, this study tested a new construct, creative self-efficacy, tapping employees' belief) that they can be creative in their work roles. Results support the discriminant validity of the construct and indicate that job tenure, job self-efficacy, supervisor behavior, and job complexity contribute to creative efficacy beliefs. Creative self-efficacy also predicted creative performance beyond the predictive effects of job self-efficacy. Differences in results between white-collar and blue-collar samples suggest considerations for both theory and practice.
1,885 citations
TL;DR: In a longitudinal, randomized field experiment, this paper tested the impact of transformational leadership, enhanced by training, on follower development and performance and found that the leaders in the experimental group had a more positive impact on direct followers' development and on indirect followers' performance than did the leaders of the control group.
Abstract: In a longitudinal, randomized field experiment, we tested the impact of transformational leadership, enhanced by training, on follower development and performance. Experimental group leaders received transformational leadership training, and control group leaders, eclectic leadership training. The sample included 54 military leaders, their 90 direct followers, and 724 indirect followers. Results indicated the leaders in the experimental group had a more positive impact on direct followers' development and on indirect followers' performance than did the leaders in the control group.
1,819 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors put forth a call for papers on the study of institutional theory and institutional change, and they received over 75 manuscripts for review, with a focus on institutional change.
Abstract: Institutional theory has risen to prominence as a popular and powerful explanation for both individual and organizational action. It is a vibrant theory that has heen synthesized and contrasted with a number of other approaches. Although its scope has certainly heen expanded, institutional theory has often been criticized as largely being used to explain hoth the persistence and the homogeneity of phenomena. We helieve that this focus did little to tap the full power or potential of institutional theory. We find, for example, that institutions change over time, are not ttniformly taken-forgranted, have effects that are particularistic, and are challenged as well as hotly contested. Thus, we acknowledge that although institutions serve both to powerfully drive change and to shape the nature of change across levels and contexts, they also themselves change in character and potency over time. It was in this spirit that we put forth a call for papers on the study of institutional theory and institutional change. We also believed that the topic of institutional change has emerged as a central focus for organizational researchers. Therefore, we sought to provide new understandings of the manner in which institutions are created, transformed, and extinguished and the way in which institutional processes interact to affect institutional change. We received over 75 manuscripts for review. In-
1,637 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship between human resource practices, employee quit rates, and organizational performance in the service sector and found that quit rates were lower and sales growth was higher in establishments that emphasized high skills, employee participation in decision making and in teams, and human resource incentives such as high relative pay and employment security.
Abstract: This study examined the relationship between human resource practices, employee quit rates, and organizational performance in the service sector. Drawing on a unique, nationally representative sample of call centers, multivariate analyses showed that quit rates were lower and sales growth was higher in establishments that emphasized high skills, employee participation in decision making and in teams, and human resource incentives such as high relative pay and employment security. Quit rates partially mediated the relationship between human resource practices and sales growth. These relationships were also moderated by the customer segment served.
1,427 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose that stronger team reward contingencies stimulate collaboration and that increasing collaboration weakens the effects of surface-level diversity on team outcomes but strengthens those of deep-level (psychological) diversity.
Abstract: Time serves as a medium for collaboration in teams, allowing members to exchange personal and task-related information. We propose that stronger team reward contingencies stimulate collaboration. As time passes, increasing collaboration weakens the effects of surface-level (demographic) diversity on team outcomes but strengthens those of deep-level (psychological) diversity. Also, perceived diversity transmits the impact of actual diversity on team social integration, which in turn affects task performance. Results from four waves of data on 144 student project teams support these propositions and the strong relevance of time to research on work team diversity.
1,406 citations
TL;DR: An interactive model of social undermining and social support in the workplace was developed and tested among police officers in the Republic of Slovenia as discussed by the authors, and social undermining was signi cally signi cant be avoided.
Abstract: An interactive model of social undermining and social support in the workplace was developed and tested among police officers in the Republic of Slovenia. As predicted, social undermining was signi...
1,199 citations
TL;DR: The institutional entrepreneurship implicit in a firm's sponsorship of its technology as a common standard is beset by several challenges as mentioned in this paper, which arise from a standard's property to enabl...
Abstract: The institutional entrepreneurship implicit in a firm's sponsorship of its technology as a common standard is beset by several challenges. These challenges arise from a standard's property to enabl...
1,124 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the process and the results of different conceptualizations of functional diversity in teams and found that different conceptualisations might lead to different results, without careful attention to the consequences.
Abstract: Functional diversity in teams has been conceptualized in a variety of ways without careful attention to how different conceptualizations might lead to different results. We examined the process and...
TL;DR: In this paper, a sample of 154 new auditors was surveyed to investigate how patterns of social relationships affected socialization, and the structure of the newcomers' friendship networks related to their social integration and organizational commitment.
Abstract: A sample of 154 new auditors was surveyed to investigate how patterns of social relationships affected socialization. Characteristics of the newcomers' informational networks (size, density, strength, range, and status) related to three different indicators of learning: organizational knowledge, task mastery, and role clarity. Also, the structure of the newcomers' friendship networks related to their social integration and organizational commitment. By linking socialization outcomes to social network structure, this study sheds new light on the role of relationships in newcomer learning and assimilation.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship between governance and corporate innovation strategies, and found that differences among governance constitue a barrier between innovation and corporate success, in opposition to the assumption that owners have a unified voice.
Abstract: Examining the relationship between governance and corporate innovation strategies, we found, in opposition to the assumption that owners have a unified voice, differences among governance constitue
TL;DR: In this article, a four-year study of the collaborative activities of a small nongovernmental organization in Palestine suggests that collaborations that are both highly embedded and have highly involved partners are the most likely to generate proto-institutions.
Abstract: We argue that collaboration can act as a source of change in institutional fields through the generation of “proto-institutions”: new practices, rules, and technologies that transcend a particular collaborative relationship and may become new institutions if they diffuse sufficiently. A four-year study of the collaborative activities of a small nongovernmental organization in Palestine suggests that collaborations that are both highly embedded and have highly involved partners are the most likely to generate proto-institutions.
TL;DR: This article examined relations between creative performance and the extent to which employees received support for creativity from both work (supervisors/coworkers) and non-work (family/friends) sources.
Abstract: We examined relations between creative performance and the extent to which employees received support for creativity from both work (supervisors/coworkers) and non-work (family/friends) sources. We also examined whether (1) employees' mood states mediated the support-creativity relations and (2) creative personality characteristics moderated these relations. Results demonstrated that work and nonwork support made significant, independent contributions to creative performance. Positive mood mediated these relations, and employees with less creative personalities responded most positively to nonwork support.
TL;DR: This paper present an analysis of institutionalization as an interplay between three interrelated yet separate components, actors, actions, and meanings, and examine the role of organization members as carriers of institutions and their agency in infusing actions with meanings through interpretation.
Abstract: In this article, I present an analysis of institutionalization as an interplay between three interrelated yet separate components—actors, actions, and meanings. Drawing on ethnographic data of a rape crisis center in Israel, where the entry of therapeutically oriented members resulted in the infusion of new meanings into originally feminist practices, I examine the role of organization members as carriers of institutions and their (possible) agency in infusing actions with meanings through interpretation; how meanings connect actors with actions; and institutional meanings as political resources.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors test a theory of how a craft and profession-based industry adopted multidivisional organization, examining higher education publishing from 1958 through 1990, and combine interviews and...
Abstract: This study tests a theory of how a craft- and profession-based industry adopted multidivisional organization, examining higher education publishing from 1958 through 1990. I combined interviews and...
TL;DR: In this paper, the performance of 94 groups on 13 different open-ended tasks was studied and support was found for new cross-level processes, labeled as team creativity-relevant processes.
Abstract: The performance of 94 groups on 13 different open-ended tasks was studied. At the individual-team-member level, domain knowledge and performance-relevant behavioral measures of the three components of Amabile's (1983, 1996) theory of individual creativity related in predicted ways to individual differences. Support was found for new “cross-level” processes, labeled “team creativity-relevant processes.” At the group level, these processes moderated the relationship between aggregated individual creativity and group creativity.
TL;DR: In this article, a measure of personal learning, relational job learning and personal skill development was developed to examine antecedents and consequences of learning in the context of mentoring relationships, and they explored personal learning as a mediator between mentoring functions and organizational consequences.
Abstract: To examine antecedents and consequences of learning in the context of mentoring relationships, we developed a new measure of personal learning, relational job learning and personal skill development. The presence of a mentor and mentoring functions were found to be antecedents of personal learning. Job satisfaction, role ambiguity, intentions to leave a job (turnover intentions), and actual leaving (turnover) were found to be consequences of personal learning. This study also explored personal learning as a mediator between mentoring functions and organizational consequences. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
TL;DR: This article investigated how the transformation of institutional logics, the tearing down of old logics and the construction of new ones, opens up possibilities for actors to play roles in the new logics.
Abstract: This work reports on a study that investigated how the transformation of institutional logics—the tearing down of old logics and the construction of new ones—opens up possibilities for actors to ma...
TL;DR: In industries characterized by network externalities, a single technology standard often rises to dominance, locking out competing technologies as discussed by the authors, and despite the path dependability of path dependents, the standard often wins out.
Abstract: In industries characterized by network externalities, a single technology standard often rises to dominance, locking out competing technologies. This research demonstrates that despite “path depend...
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationships between multiple life roles, psychological well-being, and managerial skills in two studies of managerial women and found that the roles women played were significantly different from the roles men played.
Abstract: We examined the relationships between multiple life roles, psychological well-being, and managerial skills in two studies of managerial women. Qualitative results suggested that the roles women pla...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate a central tenet of the resource-based view of the firm that tacit knowledge often lies at the core of sustainable competitive advantage and attempt to articulate it.
Abstract: In this study, we investigate a central tenet of the resource-based view of the firm舒that tacit knowledge often lies at the core of sustainable competitive advantage舒and attempt to articulate it wi...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate how the age of the knowledge that firms search affects how innovative they are, and two seemingly contradictory propositions are examined: (1) old knowledge hurts by m...
Abstract: This study is an investigation of how the age of the knowledge that firms search affects how innovative they are. Two seemingly contradictory propositions are examined: (1) old knowledge hurts by m...
TL;DR: In a constantly changing business environment, firms with access to those who make public policy enjoy competitive advantage as discussed by the authors, and to gain such access, politically active firms engage in a variety of activities.
Abstract: In a constantly changing business environment, firms with access to those who make public policy enjoy competitive advantage. To gain such access, politically active firms engage in a variety of ta...
TL;DR: In this article, a longitudinal case study of the introduction of business planning and performance measures in cultural organizations is presented, where Weber's identification of types of rationality is used to identify the rationality of cultural organizations.
Abstract: Reporting on a longitudinal case study of the introduction of business planning and performance measures in cultural organizations, this article uses Weber's identification of types of rationality ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that resource scarcity drives and legitimacy enables institutional change and integrate resource dependency and institutional theory to argue that resources scarcity drives, and legitimacy enable, institutional change.
Abstract: We integrate resource dependency and institutional theory to argue that resource scarcity drives, and legitimacy enables, institutional change. Building on a historical account, we examine the sources and timing of innovation departing from standard human resource practices using event history analysis of over 200 principal offices of large law firms. Offices with human resource scarcity innovated to acquire alternative resources; highly prestigious offices had the legitimacy to be first or early adopters. Our findings highlight the value of looking to the resource side and to the notion of legitimacy in building an institutional theory of change.
TL;DR: This paper examined the moderating effects of individual differences and sources of support on the negative relationship between work-family conflict and career satisfaction and found that the relationship was significant for women irrespective of age but was significant only for men only in later career.
Abstract: In this study, we examined the moderating effects of individual differences and sources of support on the negative relationship between work-family conflict and career satisfaction. Data from 975 managers indicated that the relationship was significant for women irrespective of age but was significant for men only in later career. Moreover, the relationship was stronger for individuals who were in the minority gender in their work groups, but it was weaker for those who had strong community ties. Implications are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the performance impacts of successor type, post-succession senior executive turnover, and departing CEO tenure on the performance of a company following a leader transition.
Abstract: Highlighting the importance of succession context, this study examines the performance impacts of successor type, postsuccession senior executive turnover, and departing CEO tenure. Following a pow...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors advance the construct of symbolic isomorphism, or the resemblance of an organization's symbolic attributes, or attributes, with its corporate identity, symbolized by its corporate name.
Abstract: An organization's identity, symbolized by its corporate name, is rooted in institutional fields. We advance the construct of symbolic isomorphism, or the resemblance of an organization's symbolic a...