Showing papers on "Embeddedness published in 2021"

The Role of External Embeddedness and Knowledge Management as Antecedents of Ambidexterity and Performances in Italian SMEs

Abstract: Sourcing and leveraging knowledge from an external network is only half the battle for firms that would become more successful. In fact, the mere access and acquisition of the knowledge itself through embedded ties does not secure to perform exploration and exploitation activities, and consequently, to achieve better performance because knowledge has to be managed. Firms' knowledge management (KM) orientation may help in the process of knowledge acquisition, sharing, and transfer, consequently, improving firms' ambidexterity and competitiveness. Thus, this paper proposes that the KM plays a key role in determining the outcomes of firm's external embeddedness, i.e., the characteristics and ties of the external network, on the ambidexterity and performances of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). An empirical analysis has been developed by using structural equations modeling with data collected from CEOs in 119 Italian SMEs in the ceramic tile industry. Findings show that the KM plays a significant role in mediating the effects of the external embeddedness on the firm's ambidexterity that in turn enhances the performances of Italian SMEs in our sample. Based on our results, implications for academics and managers and future line of research are proposed.

The influence of expatriate cultural intelligence on organizational embeddedness and knowledge sharing: The moderating effects of host country context

Abstract: This study advances our understanding of the contextualization of the effects of cultural intelligence (CQ). Drawing from trait activation theory and institutional theory, we develop a multi-level model showing how host countries’ informal and formal openness towards foreigners facilitate or constrain the importance of expatriates’ CQ in becoming embedded in the host organization. Furthermore, this study positions organizational embeddedness as a mediator in the association between expatriates’ CQ and a central element of expatriates’ jobs – knowledge sharing in the foreign workplace. Results from a cross-lagged survey of 1327 expatriates from 100 different nations residing in 30 host countries combined with secondary data indicate expatriate CQ relates positively to organizational embeddedness. Cross-level interaction analyses further suggest that in-group collectivism, the proxy for host countries’ informal openness towards foreigners, facilitates the importance of CQ as a predictor of expatriates’ organizational embeddedness. In contrast, CQ was not found to interact with the proxy for host countries’ formal openness towards foreigners, i.e. national immigration policies. Consistent with predictions, we identified that CQ relates positively to knowledge sharing and that organizational embeddedness carries an indirect effect. We discuss the implications for theory and practice.

Inching to Impact: The Demand Side of Social Impact Investing

Abstract: Social impact investing (SII) is transforming the availability of private capital for nonprofits and social enterprises, but demand is not yet meeting supply. This paper analyzes the perceived barriers faced by nonprofits in engaging with SII, arguing the need to assess differences using a policy field framework. Four parameters of a subsector are conceptualized as shaping participation in SII: the scale of investment required, embeddedness in place, the need for radical innovation, and the configuration of intermediaries (such as loan funds and market brokers). Based on 25 interviews with leaders of nonprofits and intermediaries in affordable housing and community economic development in Canada, the study finds that significant barriers are a lack of knowledge of the market, inadequate financial literacy, and the challenges of measuring and valuing social impacts. In addition, nonprofits report that, in spite of the inherent importance of social impact in this form of investing, they currently make limited use of evaluation and impact metrics, and perceive that intermediaries and investors, particularly in affordable housing, still put a greater emphasis on financial over social returns.

Knowledge frontiers and boundaries in entrepreneurship research

Abstract: While the disruptive potential of knowledge has been receiving growing attention in small business economics and entrepreneurship research and application over the last decade, its boundaries and frontiers, including technological, spatial, institutional, cognitive, and cultural has not been fully explored. Here we present some reflections and a collection of papers on the role of knowledge investment across different cultural, institutional, geographical, and industrial contexts for this emerging area in entrepreneurship and management research. While being careful of the swift changes in knowledge creation, dissemination, and testing in a digital age, geography of knowledge diffusion, knowledge embeddedness into industries and places, skills, and strategies continue to change the way firms assimilate, absorb, create, and transfer knowledge. In this special issue, we extend our knowledge boundaries through knowledge collaboration theory, resource theory, open innovation theory, knowledge and creativity spillover of entrepreneurship theory, economic geography, and creative class and institutional theories. We give researchers and practitioners future directions for a very relevant and fast-growing area of entrepreneurship and small business research.

The resilience of the cooperative model: How do cooperatives deal with the COVID-19 crisis?

Abstract: The centrality of user-members in cooperatives and cooperatives' embeddedness in their community and in a global network influence positively their resilience in times of crisis, as illustrated by cases of cooperatives that acted entrepreneurially during the COVID-19 crisis Cooperatives are hybrid organizations that maximize value, instead of profit They are owned, governed, and controlled by their members They are more resilient than the conventional enterprises in times of crisis, thanks to their peculiar governance characteristics that ensure member centrality Next to member centrality, the embeddedness of cooperatives in their local environment and a global movement enhances mission centrality as well as trust and solidarity among their members, local communities, and other cooperatives

Strategic orientation toward digitalization to improve innovation capability: why knowledge acquisition and exploitation through external embeddedness matter

Abstract: This study aims to analyze the mediating effect of the open innovation processes of knowledge acquisition and exploitation as external embeddedness strategy on the relationships between strategic orientation toward digitalization and the three dimensions of the innovation capability: client, marketing and technology.,The research model was tested using a structural equation modeling design based on survey data from a financial and insurance sector multinational enterprise with direct operations in seven emerging countries. This sector is classified as being highly digitalized.,The results show that strategic orientation toward digitalization has an effect on innovation capability, with a greater impact on the client and technology dimensions than on the marketing dimension. However, the relationships with clients and technology are partially mediated by acquisition, while the one with marketing is mediated by exploitation.,This finding widens the current purpose and theoretical sense of external embeddedness as a type of inter-organizational arrangement key for digitalization in the literature, which is focused on the adaptation of digital technology of the head office to the needs of the subsidiaries and the systems of their local allies. By contrast, the study results show that external embeddedness is key for the multinational to be able, from its global way of creating value through digital technologies, not only to improve operating efficiency, but also to meet costumer experience expectations in each host country and innovate in local commercialization strategies, on account of the knowledge transfer between the multinational and the local players on customer preferences and technology uses in local markets.

Best of both worlds: How embeddedness fit in the host unit and the headquarters improve repatriate knowledge transfer

Abstract: Knowledge transfer within multinational enterprises is a source of competitive advantage. However, we know little about repatriates’ role in reverse knowledge transfer upon their return to headquarters (HQ). Using an organizational embeddedness perspective, we conceptualized how embeddedness fit – individuals’ perceived match between their knowledge and skills and the job requirements – during the expatriation assignment and upon repatriation predicts repatriate knowledge transfer. To test the hypotheses, we collected multi-wave survey data from 129 repatriates and their supervisors and developed a repatriate knowledge transfer scale. The results show that perceived organizational support from HQ positively influences embeddedness fit, both in the host unit during expatriation and in the HQ upon repatriation. Further, embeddedness fit in the HQ upon repatriation has a direct effect, while embeddedness fit in the host unit during expatriation has an indirect effect on repatriate knowledge transfer via increased communication frequency with the former host unit. In addition, we found that knowledge transfer is particularly pronounced for repatriates with both high levels of embeddedness fit in the HQ upon repatriation and frequent communication with colleagues in their former host unit. Our results highlight the critical importance of helping expatriates increase their perceived embeddedness fit for reverse knowledge transfer to occur.

Understanding the gender gap in immigrant entrepreneurship: a multi-country study of immigrants’ embeddedness in economic, social, and institutional contexts

Abstract: Given the rising rate of migration across the globe, immigrant entrepreneurship is more than ever a topic of high theoretical and practical relevance. Immigrant entrepreneurship can offer host societies a win-win situation, generating incomes for immigrant entrepreneurs and contributing to knowledge transfer, innovativeness, and economic growth within the host economy. However, studies reveal that immigrant entrepreneurship is primarily male dominated and our understanding of the drivers and contextual factors that explain the gender gap is limited. Based on the mixed embeddedness approach, this multi-country study investigates the effects of immigrants’ embeddedness in supportive economic, social, and institutional environmental conditions on the gender gap in immigrant entrepreneurship. Our key findings are threefold: First, the results confirm that a gender gap in immigrant entrepreneurship exists. Female immigrants, compared with their male counterparts, are less likely to start and run their own business. Second, the results reveal that female immigrant entrepreneurship is encouraged by a supportive entrepreneurial environment, showing that policy can enhance female immigrant entrepreneurship through supportive conditions. Third, we find the same pattern of results for forced immigrants and opposite results for natives, suggesting that entrepreneurship is a “Plan A” employment strategy for (forced) female immigrants, whereas it is only a “Plan B” employment strategy for female natives.

Geographical indications and local development: the strength of territorial embeddedness

Abstract: Can Geographical Indications (GIs) promote local economic development in rural areas? This paper explores the impact of GIs that identify and endorse agri-food products which are strictly embedded within the territory from which they originate. Examining Italian wine protected by GIs through an innovative dataset and by means of propensity score matching and difference-in-differences models make it possible to compare the local economic development trajectories of rural municipalities afforded GIs with the correspondent dynamics of a counterfactual group of similar municipalities without GI status since 1951. Rural municipalities with GIs experience population growth and economic reorganization towards non-farming sectors, which frequently involve higher value-added activities.

The business of policy: a review of the corporate sector’s emerging strategies in the promotion of education reform

Abstract: This paper examines the increasingly diverse range of roles played by the corporate sector in shaping education policy. While a growing body of scholarship has documented the deepening embeddedness...

Regional entrepreneurial ecosystems: how family firm embeddedness triggers ecosystem development

Abstract: Regional business development is driven by family firms, which are generally deeply embedded in their region, particularly in rural areas. This study explores how family entrepreneurs’ embeddedness drives an entrepreneurial ecosystem as a regional context for innovation. For this purpose, the study brings together entrepreneurship research on embeddedness and on ecosystems, and develops the entrepreneurial ecosystem embeddedness framework to better understand the connection of entrepreneurs to their local environment along three dimensions. Analyzing qualitative interviews from the hospitality context with a pattern matching approach, we highlight the role of family entrepreneurs’ (1) horizontal embeddedness in the economic and socio-political environment, their (2) vertical embeddedness in industry regimes, in particular the family, and their (3) spatial embeddedness in the region for value creation. Thereby we contribute to a differentiated understanding of how embeddedness as a social fabric relates to entrepreneurial ecosystems. The propositions of this study recommend raising awareness for managing entrepreneurs’ embeddedness along these three dimensions since unilateral engagement and a lack of coordinated embeddedness can restrict value creation.

Entrepreneurial Opportunities of Refugees in Germany, France, and Ireland: Multiple Embeddedness Framework

Abstract: Recently, the entrepreneurial potential of refugees has received growing attention from scholars and policymakers. However, the literature on refugee entrepreneurship suffers from the fragmentation of previous research findings, which has been mainly attributed to the fact that refugees have heterogeneous backgrounds. Tackling this challenge, this study conceptualized the framework for the multiple embeddedness of refugee entrepreneurs by applying and extending the concept of mixed embeddedness. Based on 50 semi-structured interviews with refugee entrepreneurs who relocated to Germany, France, and Ireland, we identified six patterns in which refugees’ multiple embeddedness and their actions as entrepreneurial agencies interacted to develop entrepreneurial opportunities: (i) value creation with homeland resources, (ii) acting as transnational middleman minorities, (iii) integration facilitation, (iv) qualification transfers, (v) homeland-problem solving, and (vi) creative innovation. This study contributes to the literature on refugee entrepreneurship by considering multiple contexts in which refugees can be embedded in and by elaborating on the interactions between opportunity structure emerging within the multiple embeddedness, actions, and capabilities of refugees as entrepreneurial agencies.

Collide or Collaborate: The Interplay of Competing Logics and Institutional Work in Cross-Sector Social Partnerships

Abstract: An increasing body of institutional research has examined organizations’ response to conflicting institutional logics, but few studies have looked into how cross-sector organizational actors experiencing institutional complexity strategize their response mechanisms to create value in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We conduct a comparative case study of nine social partnerships between multinational companies (MNCs) and nonprofits in China. We identify a partnership logic among the value-creating partnerships where partners guided by an either/and mindset take joint ownership of the social or sustainability issue/cause and integrate it into their core set of activities and goals. By contrast, the less successful partnerships guided by an either/or mindset pursue a substitution logic in which the issue and project are kept separate and marginalized from core activities and goals. We contribute to an understanding of the value creation of cross-sector social partnerships by revealing the institutional embeddedness of such partnerships and deriving a process model of collaborative value creation through institutional works in social partnerships.

Managing open innovation from a knowledge flow perspective: the roles of embeddedness and network inertia in collaboration networks

Abstract: Building on theories of inter-organizational knowledge flows and social network, we explored how two types of collaboration network embeddedness (NE) (i.e. structural embeddedness (SE) and relational embeddedness (RE)) drive firms' inbound and outbound open innovation (OI) practices from a knowledge flow perspective, and further examined these relationships are to what extent contingent on network inertia (NI).,In this empirical research, the authors collected a sample of patents in the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry over the period of 2000–2018. Then the authors examined the direct roles of SE and RE in collaboration networks on firms' inbound and outbound OI practices from a knowledge flow perspective, and the moderating role of NI by using negative binomial regression.,Empirical results from our study of 96 firms showed that both bridging structural holes position in collaboration networks (i.e. SE) and having stronger tie strength (i.e. RE) would positively affects firms' inbound OI practices, whereas only having stronger tie strength in collaboration networks (i.e. RE) would facilitate outbound OI practices. In addition, NI strengthens the relationships between SE and firm OI practice, but weakens the positive roles of RE on firm OI practice.,This empirical research provides new insights into whether and how firms can grasp the benefits of collaboration NE to conduct OI activities by exploring NI contingencies. It further sheds lights on the scope of the NE–OI issue from a knowledge flow perspective by extending its research context to UAV industry.

Impact of Role Conflict on Intention to Leave Job With the Moderating Role of Job Embeddedness in Banking Sector Employees

Abstract: This study investigates why some employees intend to leave their jobs when facing the conflict between family responsibilities and job routines. The present study also reveals the moderating role of on-the-job embeddedness between role conflict and intention to leave the job. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, the paper investigates the buffering effect of the three on-the-job embeddedness components (fit, links and sacrifice). Data were collected from banking officers because most of the employees have to face role conflict between family and job responsibilities as banking job is considered the most stressful job. Collected data were analyzed by applying structural equation modelling. Results indicate that the role conflict significantly influences on intention to leave the job. Furthermore, the study shows that on-the-job embeddedness moderates the relationship between role conflict and intention to leave. The results suggest that organizations can reduce turnover intention during work and life conflict times by developing employee on-the-job embeddedness. This study provides some insights to managers why many employees leave their jobs and how to overcome this problem. Management should also offer extra and available resources in periods of greater tension to minimize early thinking regarding quitting.

We Know their House, Family and Workplace:Trust in Entrepreneurs' Trade Credit Relationships in Weak Institutions

Abstract: This study explores the processes of trade credit relationship development and enforcement by SME entrepreneurs and the role of trust in a developing economy context. Drawing on institutional, trade credit and trust theories data was collected and analysed from 16 SMEs owner/managers trading across cultures using qualitative interview approach and thematic analysis. The results show that SMEs develop and enforce trade credit relationships through their embeddedness in institutional contexts. Secondly, they use personal trust and specific social-cultural norms in the enforcement of trade credit agreements in absence of formal institutional trust. Conclusion, implications, limitations and further studies are delineated.

A Quantitative Application of Enterprise and Social Embeddedness Theories to the Transnational Trafficking of Cocaine in Europe

Abstract: Illegal enterprise and social embeddedness theories have highlighted the importance of market forces and social factors, respectively, for analyzing organized crime and organized criminal activities. This paper empirically demonstrates the joint explanatory power of these respective theories in the case of the transnational trafficking of cocaine. It does so by conceptualizing transnational cocaine trafficking as a network of relationships among countries; a network whose structure reflects the actions of manifold organized criminal groups. The analysis utilizes exponential random graph models to analyze quantitative data on cocaine trafficking which are ordinarily difficult to capture in empirical research. The analysis presented focuses on a set of 36 European countries. The results yield insights into the nature of the relationship among economic incentives, social ties, geographic features and corruption, and how, in turn, this relationship influences the structure of the transnational cocaine network and the modi operandi of cocaine traffickers.