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Disaster response operations require the cooperation of agencies that seldom interact in their daily operations. The result is a complex coordination problem, which has been in the focus of many case studies. In an effort to facilitate cross‐case learning, this study presents a review of empirical studies on the multi‐agency coordination of disaster response operations. The review covers 80 empirical studies and highlights the importance of training, expertise, planning and plan enactment, leadership and personal acquaintance between the actors in emergent multi‐agency response networks. The analysis results also show that while some areas have received extensive coverage in scholarly publications (e.g., training, skills), a number of important topics have yet to be studied in sufficient depth (e.g., leadership and role taking, plan enactment). Based on these insights, a research agenda is proposed and a number of recommendations for practical disaster response management are made.

The spatial environment shapes sensemaking in complex situations. While we know that actors in high-reliability task contexts often have a certain degree of control over their spatial environment, it remains unclear how they enact it and which effect this has on their sensemaking. In this paper, we use micro-ethnographic video data from two maritime mass rescue exercises to fill this gap. We find that actors that are under a high cognitive load enact space incidentally and fail to re-enact their spatial environment when problems arise. Instead, actors engage in micro-activities that temporarily mitigate the problems created by their space enactment. We develop a model on space and sensemaking in high-reliability task contexts that distinguishes between unenacted, enacted and lived space. Our findings point towards nested sensemaking, where the enacted spatial environment becomes part of the overall 'story' of an operation. Our findings have implications for our understanding of space and sensemaking in high-reliability task contexts, provide opportunities to improve high-reliability organizations' performance and add to research on space and organising.

Retaining key employees is often one of the most crucial goals when an acquirer buys a target firm. However, what determines whether employees stay or leave once the firm has been bought? This article investigates how organizational and occupational identification influence employee exit intentions. Based on a longitudinal configurational study in two acquired hospitals, our findings challenge the popular belief that identification with the organization consistently increases retention, and we stress the important effect of occupational identification, which has been largely neglected by research on post-acquisition integration. We find that under certain conditions, occupational identification increases employees' exit intentions but that neither identification with the firm nor identification with the occupation are necessary or sufficient to entice employees to stay or leave. Instead, their effects are contingent on the professionalization of an occupation and the degree to which employees' expectations have been disappointed. Our findings further suggest that attention is an important mediating mechanism linking identification and exit intentions, as employees focus predominantly on topics that relate to the social entities they most strongly identify with. This article develops theory on the effects of social identification on exit intentions after acquisitions and contributes to research on multi-focus identification and post-acquisition integration.

Firms often need to acquire external financial resources to maintain and develop their business. To attract these resources, firms employ various substantive and rhetorical signals, such as publishing press releases, showcasing prototypes of new products, and hiring renowned managers. However, despite the relevance of signals, we still know little about how they interact—whether they strengthen, weaken, or neutralize one another—in attracting resources. Traditional signaling theory downplays the importance of rhetoric while management research acknowledges its relevance, creating a disconnect between these two camps and a shortcoming that deserves further investigation. To address this shortcoming, we advance the concept of signal portfolios. Signal portfolios may combine rhetorical signals with substantive signals. We employ this concept to explain how the interaction of the two affects financial resource acquisition in high-noise environments—settings where firms send multiple signals simultaneously. Based on longitudinal data on crowdfunding, an exemplary high-noise environment, we find that rhetorical signals complement substantive signals in certain situations and, thus, strengthen their impact on a firm's financial resource acquisition. Contrary to our expectations, however, we find that under specific conditions, rhetorical signals may also weaken the impact of substantive signals. Our research has implications for signaling theory, crowdfunding research, and management practice. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1195 .

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between team political skill, i.e., the mean level of political skill among team members, and team performance. Specifically, it proposes that the link between team political skill and team performance is ambiguous and contingent upon a common professional background as well as collective team commitment within the team.Design/methodology/approachData from 45 service teams with 295 team members and their supervisors were analyzed. Hypotheses were tested using OLS regression.FindingsThe results show that a common professional background and collective team commitment serve as crucial contingencies for the relationship between team political skill and team performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study complements previous individual-level research demonstrating a positive relation between political skill and relevant outcomes by highlighting that the link between team political skill and team performance is ambiguous and contingent upon other team characteristics.Practical implicationsTo enhance team performance, managers should carefully consider the interplay between team political skill and other team characteristics when making staffing decisions.Originality/valueThe study highlights the relation of political skill with team performance and points to a potential downside of political skill in organizations.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between team political skill, i.e., the mean level of political skill among team members, and team performance. Specifically, it proposes that the link between team political skill and team performance is ambiguous and contingent upon a common professional background as well as collective team commitment within the team. Design/methodology/approach - Data from 45 service teams with 295 team members and their supervisors were analyzed. Hypotheses were tested using OLS regression. Findings - The results show that a common professional background and collective team commitment serve as crucial contingencies for the relationship between team political skill and team performance. Research limitations/implications - This study complements previous individual-level research demonstrating a positive relation between political skill and relevant outcomes by highlighting that the link between team political skill and team performance is ambiguous and contingent upon other team characteristics. Practical implications - To enhance team performance, managers should carefully consider the interplay between team political skill and other team characteristics when making staffing decisions. Originality/value - The study highlights the relation of political skill with team performance and points to a potential downside of political skill in organizations.

Innovationen sind der Motor regionaler Entwicklung. Hochschulen werden zunehmend als wichtige Akteure in regionalen Innovationsprozessen angesehen. Dieses Buch untersucht die Bedeutung von Hochschulen für Innovationsaktivitäten und für eine regional orientierte Innovationspolitik am Beispiel von vier ostdeutschen Regionen. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Frage, wie das Wissen der Hochschulen in die private Wirtschaft gelangt. Dabei kommt im Rahmen verschiedener empirischer Erhebungen dem Wissenstransfer in Form der direkten Zusammenarbeit zwischen Hochschulen und privaten Unternehmen zentrale Bedeutung zu. Die Autoren untersuchen die Motive für und die spezifischen Probleme von solchen Kooperationen sowie die Frage, inwieweit hiermit positive Wirkungen für das regionale Umfeld der Hochschulen verbunden sind. Weitere Schwerpunkte der Analyse liegen bei der Bedeutung von Hochschulpatenten für den Innovationstransfer sowie den Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Wirksamkeit von Patentverwertungsagenturen und Technologietransferstellen. Die Handlungsempfehlungen zur Intensivierung des Wissenstransfers richten sich sowohl an die Politik als auch an die Hochschulen selbst

Entrepreneurs need to mobilize funds, but they do so under considerable uncertainty about resource holders' preferences, leading often to fundraising attempts that perform below entrepreneurs' aspirations. Past research has offered contrasting theorizing and evidence for why entrepreneurs then make changes to their product offering during such attempts as well as for why entrepreneurs refrain from taking such action. This paper develops and tests behavioral theory to reconcile this tension, explicating when and why entrepreneurs change their product offering during underperforming fundraising attempts. Specifically, we argue that entrepreneurs draw on three sources of information that are inherent to fundraising attempts and that inform the extent of their actions to change their product offering: the degree to which they perform below their own fundraising aspirations, the degree to which they fall below peer fundraising performance, and the time that remains until the deadline for the fundraising attempt. Longitudinal data on 576 fundraising campaigns (6,758 observations) published on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter support our theory. By developing novel behavioral theory on when and why entrepreneurs take action during resource mobilization, we offer contributions to research on entrepreneurial resource mobilization, the crowdfunding literature, and the Behavioral Theory of the Firm. Funding: This work was supported by KölnAlumni. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2020.13803 .