PurposeFirms are increasingly depending on supplier portfolios in the quest for firm innovation. However, whether concentrated supplier portfolios are beneficial to innovation remains highly disputed. This study aims to investigate the effect of supplier portfolio concentration on firm innovation and the contingencies that shape this effect.Design/methodology/approachThe authors build on the knowledge search view to theorize a U-shaped effect of supplier portfolio concentration on firm innovation and further propose that the U-shaped effect is contingent on financial slack and growth opportunities. The authors collected panel data from 1,320 manufacturing firms in China. The negative binomial regression analyses were performed to test the hypotheses.FindingsSupplier portfolio concentration has a U-shaped effect on firm innovation. This U-shaped effect is weakened and flipped by financial slack but strengthened by growth opportunities.Originality/valueThe findings extend current understandings of the influence of supplier portfolio on firm innovation by clarifying the U-shaped effect of supplier portfolio concentration on innovation and the circumstances under which supplier portfolio concentration is more effective for firm innovation.
PurposeAlthough social media is widely used for organizational communication, studies have begun to show its controversial effects on job performance in the workplace. To investigate these effects, this study developed a conceptual framework for how social media interactivity affects communication quality and work interruption, as well as how such effects impact job performance.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed theoretical model was empirically validated through a survey study of 556 employees in China.FindingsThe results verified a social media interactivity paradox that indicated social media interactivity increased both communication quality and work interruptions. The results further showed that high levels of social media dependency were a detriment to organizations.Originality/valueThis study verified the existence of a social media interactivity paradox in the use of social media for workplace communication. Moreover, results revealed that the effect of social media interactivity on organizational outcomes depends on its respective dimensions.
PurposeOver 83.72 million Chinese firms employing more than 775 million employees. It is essential to explore employee relationships and conflict management practices in China. Although collectivism can influence employee cognition and emotions, the psychological mechanism that links collectivism and job satisfaction is still unclear. Researchers have found existing empirical findings on conflict–performance relationships to be mixed and inconsistent, and have identified the need to pinpoint the explanatory mechanisms and boundary conditions that underlie the effect of conflict on job performance. This study aims to provide some clarification to this important yet relatively unclear issue.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey was conducted in China to collect data. The authors received completed questionnaires from 466 employees.FindingsAnalysis of questionnaire results reveals that job satisfaction mediates the relationships between conflicts and perceived job performance, and that collectivism moderates the relationships between conflicts and job satisfaction. Specifically, the positive relationship between task conflict and job satisfaction is amplified by high levels of horizontal collectivism (HC) and vertical collectivism (VC), while the negative relationship between relationship conflict and job satisfaction is strengthened by HC.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation is that this study used a cross-sectional design, meaning that causality in relationships cannot be established from results. Despite this limitation, the present findings provide insights into conflict management, job satisfaction and culture value literature.Originality/valueThis paper examines the moderating role of employees' collectivist orientation (not national culture) on the relationships between conflicts and employee job satisfaction at the individual level. It also explores HC and VC and identifies their differential effects on the relationships between conflicts and job satisfaction.
PurposeThe paper aims to combine TMS with knowledge management outcomes to investigate their impact on team performance based on an integrative research framework. Two types of social ties (instrumental ties and expressive ties) are also investigated as moderators to explore their impact on the relationship between TMS and knowledge quality.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conduct a survey to test their research hypotheses. Their final data set consisted of 249 individuals from 61 teams in 34 companies.FindingsResults indicate that TMSs have a positive impact on team performance mediated by knowledge management outcomes. The authors further found that instrumental ties could strengthen the relationship between specialization and knowledge quality, while weakening the influence of coordination on knowledge quality. In contrast, the results showed that expressive ties weaken the relationship between specialization and knowledge quality, while strengthening the influence of coordination on knowledge quality.Research limitations/implicationsThis study involved a cross‐sectional design instead of investigating team work from a long‐term perspective. Future research could conduct a longitudinal project to investigate how TMSs form and how TMSs at different levels of maturity may affect team performance through perceived knowledge satisfaction. Further, the authors only examined a few of the factors as intermediate outcomes of KM from the knowledge perspective rather than the capability of the team.Practical implicationsWhen initiating KM projects, managers should focus on employees' perceived knowledge satisfaction since the essence of KM is to focus on people, specifically the way people think, work and interact. Simply assigning employees with different types of expertise into a single team is unlikely to produce the desired results unless they can develop mutual credibility and coordinate their tasks effectively. To achieve such outcomes, they will need to feel comfortable in their work context – and comfortable to exchange knowledge with their team members.Originality/valueThe authors' research makes significant contributions to research and practice. This study advances theoretical development in the areas of TMS and KM by illustrating their combined impact on team performance. It contributes to a better understanding of how TMS can enhance team performance through KM mechanisms. Moreover, while the relationship between TMS and team performance has been confirmed in previous research, the underlying mechanisms have seldom been explored. This study fills the gap by considering KM outcomes, comprising knowledge quality and perceived knowledge satisfaction. Although both have been shown in previous research to be related to performance, the authors investigated them specifically as mediators between TMS and team performance through a KM perspective. The present research proposes and confirms the positive influence of perceived knowledge satisfaction on team performance. The study also highlights the need to examine TMS' dimensions separately, not as a single construct.
PurposeDrawing on the knowledge-based view, this study investigates how IT–business alignment influences business model design via organizational learning and examines the moderating role of data-driven culture in the relationship between IT–business alignment and business model design via organizational learning.Design/methodology/approachUsing multi-respondent survey data collected from 597 Chinese firms, mediation and moderated mediation analyses were used to examine this study's hypotheses.FindingsThe mediation test results revealed organizational learning served as a mediator between IT–business alignment and two types of business model design (i.e. novelty- and efficiency-centered). In addition, data-driven culture strengthened the indirect effects of IT–business alignment on these two types of business model design via organizational learning.Originality/valueThis study extends current understandings of the relationship between IT–business alignment and business model design by revealing the mediating role of organizational learning and investigating its indirect effects under various degrees of data-driven culture. As such, it contributes to the literature on the business model and IT–business alignment and provides insights for managers seeking to achieve the expected business model design.
PurposeThis study aims to explore how team task-related social media usage (TSMU) and social-related social media usage (SSMU) affect employees' perceptions of intra-team cooperation and competition and further individual creativity.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted a questionnaire survey on enterprises in China that have implemented social media and obtained 348 useable questionnaires from 55 work teams.FindingsThe results revealed that employees' perceptions of intra-team cooperation and competition can promote employees' creativity. Employees' cooperation perception can be significantly positively affected by TSMU and SSMU, whereas employees' competition perception can be significantly positively affected by TSMU. Regarding congruence, the results indicated that the more balanced between TSMU and SSMU, the stronger the competition perception.Practical implicationsManagers should pay critical attention to the role of team social media usage (SMU) in shaping employees' perceptions of their team environments. They should realize the different outcomes and the joint effects of the different types of SMU.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the social media literature by explaining the impact of team SMU on employees' perceptions and evaluations of team environments based on the social information processing theory. The study presents the relationships among team SMU, employees' perceptions of cooperation and competition and employee creativity. Moreover, this study expands research on the trade-off of SMU by exploring the impact of balanced and imbalanced SMU in a work team.
PurposeOrganisations have widely adopted enterprise social media (ESM) to improve employees' task performance. This study aims to explore the mediating role of perceived task structure on the relationship between ESM usage and employee task performance. The authors investigate the moderating effects of perceived team diversity on the relationship between ESM usage and perceived task structure.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a questionnaire survey in China on 251 working professionals who use social media in their respective organisations.FindingsResults showed that employees' perception of task structure considerably mediates the relationship between ESM usage and task performance. Findings also confirmed that perceived team diversity negatively affects the relationship between ESM usage and perceived task interdependence.Research limitations/implicationsPractitioners and/or managers should pay attention to the effect of ESM usage on employee's perceived task structure. Furthermore, they should focus on the level of team diversity when adopting ESM to enhance task performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the knowledge of perceived task structure in explaining the effect of ESM usage on task performance based on communication visibility theory. This work presents the relationship among ESM usage, perceived task structure, perceived team diversity and task performance. Moreover, this research enriches the literature on ESM usage by investigating the moderating roles of perceived team diversity whilst presenting the negative effects of perceived team diversity.
PurposeAlthough materializing the benefits of social media substantially depends on sustained user participation, social media service providers are experiencing a decline in the number of users. Despite the relevance of studying and managing discontinuance behaviors, a systematic empirical investigation remains lacking. The present study draws on the idea of a two-factor model and aims to examine the enabler, inhibitor and their antecedents in the context of social media discontinuance.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed theoretical model was empirically validated through an online survey study of 238 social media users in China.FindingsFindings indicated that two negative outcomes of social media use (i.e. social overload and invasion of privacy) induce regret experience and ultimately foster discontinuance intentions. The development of discontinuance intentions was undermined by the level of inertia, which is rooted in social media habit, sunk costs and affective commitment.Originality/valueThis study draws attention to the fundamental difference between continuance and discontinuance behaviors, advances the existing understanding of postadoption behaviors by focusing on discontinuance inhibitors (e.g. inertia) and develops the first two-factor model for social media discontinuance by integrating the regret and status quo bias literature.
Firms are attempting to integrate with their supply chain partners to achieve superior firm performance. This study draws on social capital theory and supply chain literature to investigate how top managers' managerial ties influence supply chain integration, which consequently improves firm performance. This study further examines how the relationship between top managers' managerial ties and supply chain integration is moderated by market turbulence. By using triple-respondent, matched data of 176 Chinese manufacturing firms, we find that top managers' business ties are positively related to supply chain integration, whereas their political ties are not. Supplier and customer integration contribute to firm performance. Furthermore, market turbulence negatively moderates the business ties–supply chain integration relationship, but it positively moderates the political ties–supply chain integration linkage.
This study examines the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and organizational innovation in new ventures. We also investigate the moderating role of entrepreneurs' cognition, namely regulatory focus, in the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and organizational innovation. Findings from data collected from 141 Chinese new ventures indicated that entrepreneurial passion is positively related to organizational innovation. Moreover, the regulatory focus of entrepreneurs moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and organizational innovation, such that the relationship is stronger under high promotion focus or low prevention focus. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
