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Since the seminal work by Hackman and Oldham (1975) there has been a growing body of literature demonstrating how work characteristics can positively both organizations and their employees. While the very nature of the task or job at hand is well explored, insufficient attention has been given to the social and cultural context in which the work is done (Spreitzer & Cameron, 2012). Based on Meynhardt’s public value approach (2009, 2015), we investigate whether organizational public value acts as an additional work characteristic in the Job Characteristics Model (JCM), thus extending the model. Specifically, we theorize that organizational public value is an additional unique resource for employees and social context work characteristic in the JCM that is positively related to employees work engagement. Additionally, our study analyzes that the positive relationship between the work characteristics, including organizational public value, and work engagement is mediated by self-efficacy. Moreover, we analyze whether employees working in industries with a public focus integrated into their core business will experience higher levels of public value in their jobs than employees in other industries. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a representative online survey in different public and non-public organizations in Switzerland (N = 949). Overall, the results support our hypotheses and contribute to close the gap by taking social context factors into the JCM and to reveal processes between the macro-level (organizational public value, work characteristics) and micro-level (employees work experience). Further theoretical and practical implications as well as future research avenues are discussed in the paper.
The creation of a common European currency has been scrutinized in the context of optimum currency area theory since its origin in Mundell (1961). The debate gained particular prominence in light of the endogeneity hypothesis (Frankel and Rose 1998), which argues that once two countries establish a common currency, their economic structures and cycles increasingly align due to strengthening intra-industry trade. By contrast, the specialization hypothesis (Eichengreen 1992; Krugman and Venables 1996) argues that the creation of a currency union will predominantly increase inter-industry trade, ultimately lowering business cycle correlation. To test these views, we establish several indices of bilateral trade intensity across EU members using input–output data, measuring gross and so-called value-added trade, which also considers the contribution of intermediary goods in the production of final exports. The results of the fixed effect panel data framework indicate a strong and robust empirical relationship between growth correlations and intra-industry trade, much in line with both Mundell’s and Frankel and Rose’s theories. However, we cannot establish a similarly robust relationship between total trade intensity and growth correlations. We reconcile these results by identifying a statistically significant relationship between economic alignment and trade when only considering industrial production, highlighting the importance of pan-European industrial supply chains for European economic integration. Rerunning our regression framework on the subsample of the eurozone indicates that the common currency area displayed even stronger properties of an optimum currency area than the entire European Union.
The Ukraine war, the aftermath of COVID-19, Brexit and shifting US geostrategic interests are putting pressure on the European defence situation, strategy and budgets. The current crises expose warfare capability gaps in the European armed forces and capacity constraints of the European defence industry after decades of the peace dividend. More nations are calling for stronger engagement of the EU in the defence sector to overcome these challenges and complete the European defence sector integration that started in the late 1990s. It is estimated that more cooperation in defence procurement and research could save up to 30% of the current 290 bn total EU27 defence budgets. Can this combination of recent factors provide new impulses towards a unified European defence market, more cooperation on defence procurement and industry consolidation? We conducted a literature review ('meta-synthesis') of 172 journal articles, studies and think-tank papers since 1995 to build a holistic picture. The analysis aims to describe the progress and challenges of European defence market integration from an economic viewpoint. It provides future researchers with a basic understanding of defence industrial challenges, motivations and economic drivers of European defence integration as well as of reasons for resistance and potential scenarios.
This research explores the characteristics of green influencer messages on follower engagement by examining the interplay between message framing (gain vs. loss), construal level (high vs. low), and post timing (weekdays vs. weekends). Green influencers (also: greenfluencers or sustainable influencers) are considered a key agent for a change to more sustainable consumption. A pilot field study of 1000 green influencers, however, indicates that the current communication practices of green influencers (which strongly focus on gain frames, low construal, and posts during the week) are not ideal for maximizing engagement and sustainable behavioral intentions. Two experiments replicate this finding and establish the process through which green influencer posts affect engagement: gain frames increase fluency, which increases engagement; low construal levels decrease psychological distance, which increases engagement. Timing moderates these processes in that weekend posts increase the engagement with gain frames and week posts increase the engagement with low-construal frames. These findings highlight that there is no silver bullet in green influencer messages, but that green influencers need to adapt the framing and construal of their messages to the posts' timing to increase their contribution to more sustainable lifestyles and the greater good.
Purpose
Literature on entrepreneurial resourcefulness (ER) has grown constantly in the last two decades. ER is a construct that describes the specific behavior of entrepreneurs, focusing on the generation and deployment of resources to pursue an opportunity. Since the ER literature has expanded and diversified, the purpose of this study is to integrate its findings with existing knowledge about the construct.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies a systematic literature review approach, following the methodology of Tranfield et al. (2003). The authors identify and synthesize 31 studies focusing on ER.
Findings
The literature on ER can function on four different levels: (1) individual, (2) organizational, (3) contextual, and (4) effectual level. Studies on ER concentrate on either the individual or the organizational level, with the contextual and effectual levels appearing as additional study categories for the studies. Behind this categorization, research views ER either as an antecedent influencing a specific effect or as an outcome resulting from a particular context.
Originality/value
This paper is the first of its nature, structuring the existing ER research and proposing a research agenda on ER with seven concrete research avenues and their research questions. Based on the systematic literature review, the authors develop a framework consolidating the interrelations of the different levels.
In today's data-driven era, ubiquitous concern about environmental issues pushes more startups to engage in business model innovation that promotes environmentally friendly technologies. The goal of these startups is to create technology-based products and services that enhance environmental sustainability. In this context, artificial intelligence promises to be a key instrument to create, capture, and deliver value. However, the existing literature lacks a deep understanding of how startups using AI innovate their business models to achieve a positive environmental impact. Therefore, this paper investigates how green technology startups utilize AI from a business model innovation perspective for environmental sustainability. We conduct a qualitative, exploratory multiple-case study using the Eisenhardt methodology, based on interview data analyzed using qualitative content analysis. We derive five predominant manifestations for AI-driven business model innovation and identify archetypical connections between business model dimensions. Further, we establish three overarching archetypical associations among the cases. In doing so, we contribute to theory and practice by providing a deeper account of how green technology startups attempt to maximize their positive environmental impact through AI. The results of this study also highlight how business model innovation driven by AI can support society in securing a more environmentally sustainable future.
The Shapley value equals a player's contribution to the potential of a game. The potential is a most natural one-number summary of a game, which can be computed as the expected accumulated worth of a random partition of the players. This computation integrates the coalition formation of all players and readily extends to games with externalities. We investigate those potential functions for games with externalities that can be computed this way. It turns out that the potential that corresponds to the MPW solution introduced by Macho-Stadler et al. (2007, J. Econ. Theory 135, 339-356) is unique in the following sense. It is obtained as the expected accumulated worth of a random partition, it generalizes the potential for games without externalities, and it induces a solution that satisfies the null player property even in the presence of externalities.
Purpose
When CEOs are publicly weighing in on sociopolitical debates, this is known as CEO activism. The steadily growing number of such statements made in recent years has been subject to a flourishing academic debate. This field offers first profound findings from observational studies. However, the discussion of CEO activism lacks a thorough theoretical grounding, such as a shared concept accounting for the heterogeneity of sociopolitical incidents. Thus, the aim of this paper is to provide an archetypal framework for CEO activism.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a multiple case study approach on 145 activism cases stated by CEOs and found seven distinct statement archetypes.
Findings
The study identifies four main structural design elements accounting for the heterogeneity of activism, i.e. the addressed meta-category of the statement, the targeted outcome, the used tonality and the orientation of the CEOs’ positions. Further, the authors found seven distinguishable archetypes of CEO activism statements: “Climate Alerts”, “Economy Visions”, “Political Comments”, “Self-reflections and Social Concerns”, “Tech Designs”, “Unclouded Evaluations” and “Descriptive Explanations”.
Research limitations/implications
This typology classifies the heterogeneity of CEO activism. It will enable the analysis of interrelationships, mechanisms and motivations on a differentiated level and raise the comprehensibility of research-results.
Practical implications
The framework supports executives in understanding the heterogeneity of CEO activism and to analyse personality-fits.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this marks the first conceptualisation of activism developed cross-thematically. The work supports further theory-building on CEO activism.
Acting beyond concepts
(2022)
There is a lack of understanding about early-stage entrepreneurial actions, as existing research focuses on later stages and overlooks how experience impacts entrepreneurial actions. However, entrepreneurial experience has a pivotal role in shaping entrepreneurial actions, serving as a distinguishing factor within the scope of this study. Therefore, we employ a grounded theory research approach building on 112 in-depth interviews in which we differentiate between novice and experienced entrepreneurs. We analyzed the extensive data set following the methodology of Gioia et al. Our findings include the identification of three dimensions of entrepreneurial activities, namely Entrepreneurial Alignment, Resource Enhancement, and Value Generation, that are relevant for both novice and experienced entrepreneurs. In addition, we are able to identify 27 specific entrepreneurial actions distributed between the three dimensions but differing depending on whether the entrepreneur is a novice or experienced. Examining these results, we outlined differences and commonalities in the activities of the two groups: novice entrepreneurs follow a sequential, unconnected, and perfectionist-driven process, while experienced entrepreneurs adopt a parallel, interconnected, and iterative process across the three dimensions. Practitioners and researchers can benefit from the study’s results for entrepreneurship education and resource theories in the early-stage venture creation.
Die Bedeutung der Nachhaltigkeit beim Unternehmensgeschehen und am Kapitalmarkt hat in den letzten Jahren weiter zugenommen. Angesichts der sich verschärfenden Klimakrise und der zunehmenden Ressourcenknappheit erkennen immer mehr Unternehmen und Investoren, dass nachhaltiges Wirtschaften nicht nur eine moralische Verpflichtung, sondern auch ein wesentlicher Faktor für langfristigen wirtschaftlichen Erfolg ist. Die EU-Taxonomie-Verordnung (im Folgenden Taxonomie), die am 12.07.2020 in Kraft trat, ist ein zentrales Element dieser Transformation hin zu einer klimaneutralen Wirtschaft.
The complexity of the public value discussion has hindered the development of consensual measurement guidelines for use in public administration practice. This article explores the use of the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) framework in the transportation sector and considers its relevance in assessing public value. A case study is presented on the reconfiguration of a public transport network in the municipality of Arganil, Portugal. The CBA did not fully capture the effects of the network reconfiguration, demonstrating its limitations in assessing public value.
The new normal
(2024)
The recent surge in artificial intelligence (AI) adoption by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has garnered significant research attention. However, the existing literature reveals a fragmented landscape that hinders our understanding and application of insights about AI use in SMEs. We address this through a systematic literature review, wherein we analyze 102 peer-reviewed articles on AI adoption in SMEs and categorize states and trends into eight clusters—(1) compatibility, (2) AI readiness, (3) knowledge, (4) resources, (5) culture, (6) competition, (7) regulation, and (8) ecosystem—according to the technology–organization–environment model. Our research reveals valuable insights but also identifies significant gaps in existing literature, notably the oversight of trends identification as a pivotal driver and the neglect of legal requirements. Our study clarifies the AI implementation within SMEs, offering a holistic and theoretically grounded perspective to empower researchers and practitioners to facilitate more effective AI adoption and application within the SME sector.
Mit ihrer rasant wachsenden Präsenz auf Social Media haben sich Finfluencer als potenzielle neue Meinungsführer auf dem Kapitalmarkt platziert. Zuletzt standen sie jedoch häufiger im Fokus von medialer Kritik und Regulierungsbemühungen. Dieses Social-Media-Phänomen hat aber auch Implikationen für börsennotierte Unternehmen.
Translating AI ethics principles into practice to support robotic process automation implementation
(2024)
When organizations leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to automate processes previously performed by people, it frequently causes uncertainty and fear among those affected. An often suggested way for organizations to navigate such challenges is to seek guidance from AI ethics principles. Leaders, however, find it difficult to make practical use of these abstract, high-level principles. Based on a case study of the large-scale implementation of robotic process automation at an energy service provider in Germany, we provide recommendations for translating AI ethics principles into practice.
The research project AgilHybrid aims to support SMEs and traditional industrial companies in innovating digital and hybrid business models. The focus of the project lies on needed processes, structures and competences for the successful innovation of digitally networked business models in the era of digital transformation. To this end, an interorganizational learning platform was developed during the project which is examined in this paper. Consisting of two parts named iCourious (being an online course) and iAccelerator (as a business model innovation tool), the platform connects learners from varying organizations. As a practice-oriented contribution, the paper elaborates on how different learners have developed their competences when using the platform. Whereas digital experts improve their skills from a good competence level to a slightly higher level, it is digital beginners that benefit most from learning on the platform.
Industrie 4.0 bringt neben vielen Potenzialen auch eine erhebliche Komplexitätssteigerung mit sich. Um dieser effektiv zu begegnen, bieten Demonstratoren einen wertstiftenden Beitrag. Ihr Einsatz erlaubt eine nutzerzentrierte Systementwicklung mit einhergehender Komplexitätsreduktion durch Modellierung und Simulation. Dieser Beitrag untersucht ihre Potenziale am Beispiel des Projektes „ConSensE“ mit Fokus auf Sensortechnologien und deren Nachrüstung.
Recent years have seen a surge in research on artificial intelligence (AI)-driven business model innovation (BMI), reflecting its profound impact across industries. However, the field’s current state remains fragmented due to varied conceptual lenses and units of analysis. Existing literature predominantly emphasizes the technological aspects of AI implementation in business models (BMs), treating BMI as a byproduct. Additionally, there is a lack of coherent understanding regarding the scope of BMI propelled by AI. To address these gaps, our study systematically reviews 180 articles, offering two key contributions: (1) a structured analysis of evolving research dimensions in AI-driven BMI, differentiating between static and dynamic views of BMI, and (2) a framework presenting distinct research perspectives on AI-driven BMI, each addressing specific managerial focuses. This synthesis facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the field, enabling the identification of research gaps and proposing future avenues for advancing knowledge on the management of AI-driven BMI.
This study draws on dynamic capabilities to investigate ecosystem innovation, exploring the interplay between regulation and digitalization in shaping market landscapes. It particularly focuses on innovations in healthcare, examining how dynamic capabilities in ecosystems foster transformative solutions. The healthcare ecosystem is facing the challenge of adapting and innovating amidst strict regulations and diverse stakeholders. This presents a unique industrial landscape, with the need to consider innovations in the healthcare sector as a separate case. The existing literature emphasizes that dynamic capabilities, especially sensing, seizing, and transforming, are crucial for ecosystem players to effectively orchestrate long-term innovations. However, the specific role of these capabilities in addressing the unique challenges posed by regulation and diverse stakeholders in the healthcare sector remains largely unexplored. There is a lack of concrete insights into how these capabilities contribute to fostering innovations in the healthcare ecosystem. This study focuses on the German healthcare ecosystem as it tackles with the profound challenge of adapting and innovating within the constraints of stringent regulations and a diverse stakeholder landscape. The study aligns with the issuance of the Hospital Future Act which compels the entire healthcare ecosystem in Germany to undergo comprehensive digitization. By investigating this evolving landscape, this research aims to contribute valuable knowledge on the intersection of ecosystem innovation and dynamic capabilities, leveraging the German healthcare case as a timely and insightful example. To address the research question of how dynamic capabilities in innovation ecosystems foster transformative solutions, we adopt an embedded case study design, focusing on the German healthcare ecosystem. Applying the inductive approach for concept development this research paper builds on qualitative data collected through interviews from diverse actors in the German healthcare sector. This study offers a targeted framework to reveal the unique ecosystem innovation capabilities needed in the healthcare system. It specifically examines the convergence of regulatory structures and multiple stakeholders in creating innovative solutions for the healthcare sector. These findings not only offer valuable implications for scholars and practitioners navigating the evolving landscape of healthcare innovation, but also enhance the broader understanding of dynamic capabilities in innovation ecosystems.
Environmental grand challenges such as marine pollution or climate change persist, highlighting the importance of environmental protection. As firms are a reason for these problems, they face increasing pressure from stakeholders to do business environmentally friendly. For example, policy makers introduce new regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive mandating firms to publish information on how their operations impact the environment. Therefore, green development has become an important issue for firms, with firms making significant green investments. A specific mode of green investments are Green Mergers and Acquisitions (GM&As) which allow firms to access green resources and capabilities and drive green development quickly. However, research on GM&As is scarce and controversial with motives and objectives for conducting such transactions being ambiguous. On one side, scholars argue that GM&As facilitate green transformation whereas other scholars claim that GM&As are a mere impression management tool to respond to external pressure. As GM&As have increasingly garnered attention from scholars and practitioners alike, gaining a differentiated understanding of the various types of GM&As is important. Furthermore, deriving a comprehensive picture over motives and objectives of GM&As holds great value to advance our limited understanding of those corporate activities and helps to clarify the rather ambiguous findings. Drawing on efficiency and legitimacy theory, this article conducts a multiple-case study based on firms from heavy polluting industries and low polluting industries which are headquartered in the European Union. Firms were chosen due to their theoretical importance (i.e. polar types). Based on the information gathered during semi-structured interviews, complemented by secondary data for each case, the paper derives a typology of four different GM&A types along the dimensions efficiency and legitimacy: 1) greenwasher, 2) responder, 3) opportunist and 4) transformer. While the greenwasher and opportunist are driven by external pressure to establish legitimacy, the opportunist’s objective is to become more efficient (e.g. more efficient manufacturing process) in its operations whereas the greenwasher’s objective is to use GM&As as an impression management tool. The transformer and responder are motivated internally, with the responder solely reacting to changing market environments (i.e. push to become more sustainable) without increasing efficiency. The transformer, however, strives to become more efficient in its operations with the objective to transform its operation to become more sustainable. By deriving this typology, this paper contributes to theory by highlighting the connection between the motivation and objective to conduct GM&As, shedding light on the interplay between them. Furthermore, understanding the interplay among the motives and objectives of firms pursuing GM&As provides stakeholders with a better understanding which firms strive to become more sustainable and which firms solely use such transactions as an impression management tool. Therefore, stakeholders, such as policy makers, can navigate the landscape of firms claiming to be sustainable and such firms which truly intend to transform themselves and act accordingly.
In the context of an ever-evolving and unpredictable external environment, the concept of resilience has garnered significant attention, particularly within family firms. Family firms, known for their unique challenges, are in dire need of strategies to enhance their resilience. While the importance of resilience is widely recognized, there remains a conspicuous gap in the understanding of how family firms react and adapt to a series of global economic adversities over time, such as COVID or the financial crisis. By examining the strategic patterns of family firms across different periods of adversity, the present study fills this critical gap, offering insights into the dynamic process of resilience-building in family firms. The methodological approach employs an in-depth multiple-case study of eight German family firms from different industries, with a varying size, ownership structure and family involvement. It combines semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and a thorough review of secondary materials, such as annual reports, newspaper articles, dossiers and site visits, for further triangulation of the data. This methodology not only ensures scientific rigor and validity of the findings, but it also provides a groundbreaking perspective on the resilience-building mechanisms employed by a diverse sample of family firms. Central to the findings are six aggregate dimensions entailing detailed strategic patterns identified as critical to the resilience-building of family firms. These dimensions are a continuous reflection on family values and dynamics, long-term business promises, the augmentation of social capital, proactive business development, efficacious crisis management, and an enhanced security mindset, which are then integrated in an overarching framework. For each strategic pattern, examples and case excerpts are presented that vividly illustrate their operating mechanisms, offering a granular view of how these strategies collectively contribute to the resilience of these firms. While immediate and short-term crisis response remains a crucial step to counter adversities, several strategic patterns in resilient family firms draw upon long-term oriented planning, relation management and mutual trust between family and businesses’ ecosystem. The theoretical and practical implications of the present study are profound. Theoretically, it contributes to the family firm resilience literature by proposing a new theoretical framework and appertaining patterns that capture the dynamic nature of resilience-building in family firms. Practically, it offers actionable insights for family business owners, managers, and policymakers, guiding them in the development and implementation of resilience strategies.