Partnerships are increasingly important to firm product innovation. They also increasingly involve parties that are attached to different institutional logics. We examine the effect of firm and partner attachments to the same and different institutional logics. Findings suggest that when partners are attached to the same institutional logic, new product development performance is positively influenced. However, when partners are attached to different institutional logics, new product development is negatively influenced. When controlling for attachment to different institutional logics, partnerships with private companies are more beneficial than partnerships with government research institutions.

This paper describes commissioned research on how a Wānanga, a Maori focused post school institution in New Zealand, perceived its strategic options following the publication of the Labour-led government's Tertiary Education Strategy 2007–2012 and the Statement of Education Priorities 2008–10 (Ministry of Education 2006). The research used a Delphi panel process that looks for consensus answers to specific research questions: How should the Wānanga respond to the policies sketched in the Tertiary Education Strategy and the Statement of Education Priorities? What is the range of issues that may need to be addressed as a result of this new policy framework? What options does the Wānanga have in addressing these issues? The Delphi process enabled a clear set of priorities to be established: provide quality teaching and learning reflecting Māori values and practices; develop a consistent internal philosophy based on tikanga and āhuatanga Māori; and provide second chance education for Māori and other learners.

This research uses signaling theory to combine the perspective of investment results with existing venture capital (VC) standards and reexamines the factors that influence the attractiveness of innovative internet tech startups to VC from the perspective of equal opportunity startups. Taking the financing status of 310 startups in China's sharing economy as an example and using regression analysis, we empirically test the influence of entrepreneur and firm characteristics on attracting VC. Our results show that among founder characteristics, the entrepreneur's entrepreneurial experience alone is insufficient to attract VC. Industrial experience and political background have a positive influence on attracting VC. Among firm characteristics, market-entry order and business group (BG) affiliation positively influence attracting VC. This is a new and relevant discovery. In the Chinese market, investors are more inclined to provide financial support to entrepreneurs or startups that have already gained legitimacy from the government or business groups.

Research on interorganisational collaboration is longstanding however the role leadership plays in such collaborations is often neglected. Using grounded theory, we present a process model of ‘leadership by cavea’ whereby the relationships across organisations involved in a collaborative project were structured according to hierarchies of privilege, determined by the inherent power of ‘bonding’ social capital. While it emerged that cultural capital was a more valuable resource, this was recognised too late in the leadership process for it to make a necessary contribution. Our findings demonstrate that when seeking to practice collaborative leadership across organisations, individuals and the organisations they represent must be aware of the power they hold and wield, even needing to share or relinquish power to ensure that hierarchies of privilege do not hinder efforts to achieve mutual goals.

Addressing major global environmental and social challenges requires transformation of the private sector. Small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute 90% of private organisations globally, resulting in calls for research into the strategic roles SMEs can play in shaping sustainable futures through adopting sustainable business models (SBMs). The purpose of our study is to understand the factors that allow SMEs to successfully adopt SBMs. We used an exploratory qualitative approach drawing on interviews with SMEs implementing SBMs. Our findings extend contemporary insights by revealing the important role of the external support (‘enabling’) environment, and identifying—potentially transformative—capabilities that can help steer SMEs’ transitions to SBMs. These include persistence, tenacity, flexibility, adaptability, and a willingness to learn and fail. They enable SMEs to successfully operate in times of uncertainty and rapid changes in the external environment, and respond to new requirements through changes to their business models.

There is a widely held but scarcely challenged belief that most organizational changes fail, especially in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Failure of M&A is often attributed to factors such as differences in organizational cultures, contested identities, perceived injustice, lack of trust, ineffective leadership and poor communication. A qualitative study was conducted in an acquiring company and two target companies to identify the criteria of a successful change, to explore perceptions of the degree of success of the acquisition(s) they had experienced, and to investigate the factors influencing these perceptions. The findings demonstrated that M&A can be considered successful when attention is paid, not only to integration of practices, but also to socio-cultural factors in managing M&A processes. The overall evaluation of these two acquisitions was that they had been successful. Implications for theory and practice include the possible differences between small- and large-scale M&A experiences.

This study investigates the managerial approaches family SMEs adopt to address sustainability in the context of the Blue Economy. Using a qualitative methodology, we conduct nine case studies of family firms operating in Sicily's COSVAP Fishing District area. The data are collected via semi-structured interviews with the founders/managers and analyzed using the Gioia method. The results reveal that family SMEs approach sustainability by adopting three managerial approaches. In the first approach, SME managers conceive sustainability as a threat to the economic sustainability of their firms. The second approach implies that sustainability must undergo specific compromises. The third approach considers sustainability as an opportunity whereby social, environmental, and economic sustainability goals are balanced. Regarding the theoretical implications, our work provides a comprehensive account of managerial approaches of family SMEs toward sustainability. The study offers insights for practitioners and policymakers concerning how to facilitate the transition of family SMEs – and, specifically, fisheries – toward sustainability.

This paper explores teaching business students research methods using a psychogeographical approach, specifically the technique of dérive. It responds to calls for new ways of teaching in higher education and addresses the dearth of literature on teaching undergraduate business students qualitative research methods. Psychogeography challenges the dominance of questionnaires and interviews, introduces students to data variety, problematizes notions of success and illuminates the importance of observation and location. Using two studies with undergraduate students, the authors emphasize place and setting, the perception of purpose, the choice of data, criteria of success and the value of guided reflection and self-reflection in students’ learning. Additionally the data reflect on the way students perceive research about management and the nature of management itself. The paper concludes that the deployment of psychogeography to teach business research methods although complex and fraught with difficulty is nevertheless viable, educationally productive and worthy of further research.

We use attribution theory to show that firms that make more internal attributions to positive performance outcomes engage slack resources more freely for corporate entrepreneurship (CE) than firms that make fewer of such attributions. In addition, we show that the way in which companies make external attributions to performance outcomes moderates this relationship. To examine this empirically, we explore how top management teams discuss the factors that contribute to firm performance. Specifically, we look at attributions provided in the Management's Discussion and Analysis section of the annual reports of 144 pharmaceutical firms over a 2-year period. In line with our predictions, we find that greater internal attribution to positive performance outcomes leads to increased use of slack resources for CE. Furthermore, we find that this effect is stronger when firms make more external attributions to negative performance outcomes than positive performance outcomes.

This paper examines how national culture informs the sourcing of management knowledge through external consultancy. First, it hypothesises and compares the relationship between quantitative measures of Hofstede's cultural indices with adjusted expenditure on consulting in nine countries. Two cultural indices are found to correlate with consulting use – power distance (negatively) and individualism (positively). However, the disparity between our findings and prior research suggests limitations of generalisation in studies solely employing quantitative cultural indices to understand the purchasing of business knowledge. We therefore propose the use of supplementary, qualitative data with sensitivity to local contexts and briefly apply this by using secondary sources to provide historical narratives for two countries – the UK and Japan. Overall, we find and tentatively explain significant statistical relationships between Hofstede's cultural indices and adjusted expenditure on consultancy. We then draw attention to wider implications for consulting research and for practitioners involved in this context.

Drawing on social cognitive theory, this paper examines whether self-reflection mediates the association between workplace ostracism and team members' creativity, and whether this mediating effect is moderated by high-involvement work practices (HIWPs). We construct and test a cross-level model using multilevel path analysis to analyse data collected from 81 teams (a total of 393 members) in China. The results show that workplace ostracism negatively influences team members' reflection but positively influences rumination, which in turn affects individual creativity. Furthermore, HIWPs negatively moderate the effects of workplace ostracism on self-reflection, and moderate the linkages among workplace ostracism, reflection/rumination and team members' creativity. Finally, theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

This paper is an abridged and revised version of a report that was originally published in the Australian Research Council (ARC) report ‘Management Research in Australia’, jointly funded by the ARC and the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM). It documents the results of a Delphi study into the future of management research in Australia over the coming decade. An important finding was that there might be a ‘shortfall’ between the likely and desirable level and character of Australian management research. A dominant view of the panel was that management research will become more relevant to the needs of its important client groups, including students, government and business. Significant divergence within the respondent panel is also identified.

Discussions about deunionisation usually focus on lower levels of the workforce with managers seen as the initiators of deunionisation strategies. Managers, however, occupy contradictory positions as agents of capital, employees and possibly trade unionists. This can place them in the position of being both recipients and conduits in deunionisation strategies. The focus of the study is on Telstra, the major telecommunications carrier in Australia. Using a range of sources such as interviews and company and union materials, this qualitative research shows how between 1992 and 2000 Telstra's senior management's concerns over middle management agency prompted them to reframe the concept of a manager by using a set of managerial practices from the mining company CRA and the provisions of the Workplace Relations Act (1996) to individualise and deunionise their managerial ranks as a precursor to the deunionisation of the wider workforce.

The purpose of this study aims to explore the relationships between business portfolio reconfiguration and firm performance in developing countries as well as the moderating roles played by organizational slack, capabilities and ownership structure. By using the perspectives of dynamic capabilities, resources-based view and social network, this study proposes that there is a U-shaped relationship between business portfolio reconfiguration and firm performance. Furthermore, while R&D capability, marketing capability and foreign ownership are expected to positively moderate this U-shaped relationship, organizational slack, state and domestic ownership may potentially make this U-shaped relationship less pronounced. We draw our observations from Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges in China from 2008 to 2017, and obtain 26,151 firm-year observations, which are consisted of 3,508 publicly traded companies. The results generally support our hypotheses, and some theoretical and practical implications are extracted from this study.

Research on identity threat has predominantly focused on the consequences of threat to some ascribed or involuntary identities, while overlooking individuals' responses to occupational identity threat. Integrating identity theory with identity threat literature, we argue that encountering occupational identity threat promotes negative emotion and feedback-seeking behavior, and negative emotion further mediates the relationship between occupational identity threat and feedback-seeking behavior. Moreover, individuals' performance self-esteem strengthens both the direct effect of occupational identity threat on negative emotion, and the indirect effect of occupational identity threat on feedback-seeking behavior through negative emotion. The results from two experimental studies and one field study provide support for these predictions. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

The use of information technology (IT) in the health sector is critically important for enhanced patient care and ultimately cost savings. However, the uptake of IT in health has been slow when compared with other industry sectors, due to the range of issues and IT inconsistencies associated with the needs of its stakeholders. This study explored the challenges experienced by 108 New Zealand medical practitioners in their IT interface with other key primary and secondary health providers. We found IT interface challenges were negatively related to e-business activity (receiving) but held no effect on e-business activity (sending). Further, we tested for and found significant moderating effects of practice size, based on patient numbers. Large practices were able to buffer the negative influence of IT interface challenges on e-business activity (receiving), while small practices were severely hampered by IT interface challenges. The implications of operating in a modular industry structure are discussed.