Knowledge that Transforms

To date, only one empirically tested measure of the observed frequency of unethical behavior in the workplace exists. This widely used measure focuses on intraorganizational cheating and thus covers only a limited part of the much broader spectrum of unethical behaviors in the workplace. Given the importance of a valid measure, this article uses stakeholder theory as a conceptual basis to develop a broader and multidimensional measure of unethical behavior in eight consecutive steps. Exploratory factor analysis generates five subscales comprising 37 items of unethical behavior primarily related to financiers, customers, employees, suppliers, and society. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrates that a five-factor model has a superior fit to a one-factor model. The subscales display good internal reliability. Preliminary evidence of nomological and criterion-related validity is also provided.

This article provides a conceptual integration and synthesis of the literature on power and influence in multinational corporations (MNCs). To provide some focus to their synthesis, the authors concentrate on the situation facing, and the strategies pursued by, low-power actors within the MNC network, that is, actors who are currently positioned in relatively weak or low-status positions vis-à-vis other actors. Drawing inspiration from Ghoshal, the authors make a clear separation between ends and means: between the objectives pursued by low-power actors (their ends) and the strategies or tactics they pursue to achieve these objectives (their means). This approach allows the authors to pull together some strands of literature that had previously been entirely separate.

Despite previous calls to examine trust from the perspectives of both the manager and subordinate, most studies have exclusively focused on trust in the manager. The authors propose that trust in the subordinate has unique consequences beyond trust in the manager. Furthermore, they propose joint effects of trust such that subordinate behavior and intentions are most favorable when there is high mutual trust. Findings reveal unique relationships of trust in manager and trust in subordinate on performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and intentions to quit. Furthermore, the interaction of trust in manager and trust in subordinate predicts individual-directed OCB in the hypothesized direction.

This research seeks to extend previous findings concerning the relationship between entrepreneurs' social skills and new venture performance. Two potential mediators of such effects (entrepreneurs' success in obtaining information and essential resources) were investigated, and data were collected in a culture not included in previous studies (China). Results indicate that several social skills (e.g., social perception, expressiveness) are significantly related to measures of new venture performance and that these effects are indeed mediated by the two proposed mediating variables. Implications of these findings for efforts to understand how micro-level variables influence macro-level measures of new venture performance are discussed.

Much of the human resource management literature has demonstrated the impact of high performance work systems (HPWS) on organizational performance. A new generation of studies is emerging in this literature that recommends the inclusion of mediating variables between HPWS and organizational performance. The increasing rate of dynamism in competitive environments suggests that measures of employee adaptability should be included as a mechanism that may explain the relevance of HPWS to firm competitiveness. On a sample of 226 Spanish firms, the study's results confirm that HPWS influences performance through its impact on the firm's human resource (HR) flexibility.

Leveraging knowledge from geographically disparate subsidiaries is a crucial source of competitive advantage for multinational corporations (MNCs). This study investigates the determinants of knowledge transfers to and from newly acquired subsidiaries in three transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe. It is hypothesized that the determinants of conventional knowledge transfers from MNC parents to subsidiaries and reverse knowledge transfers from subsidiaries to MNC parents are based on different transfer logics. A sample of 105 acquired subsidiaries revealed that organizational characteristics are important in conventional knowledge flows from headquarters, so that subsidiaries acquired with competence-creating objectives receive significantly larger inflows. Knowledge characteristics are important in reverse flows to headquarters so that subsidiaries whose knowledge is more relevant are able to transmit significantly larger outflows. Host country locations have significant moderating effects. The significance of the directional context in knowledge transfers is an important new finding.

Organizational configurations are sets of firms that are similar in terms of important characteristics. This article is intended to help close three gaps in the literature on organizational configurations. First, the authors propose clear definitions that may facilitate progress in the literature. Second, they provide the first major review since 1993 of accomplishments and struggles within organizational configurations research. Third, they describe how the configurational approach to organizations can make greater contributions within its traditional domains of organization theory and strategic management and can be extended to inform areas such as human resource management, organizational behavior, ethics, entrepreneurship, and international business.

This study examines the relationships among positive psychological traits (hope, optimism, resiliency), transformational leadership, and firm performance in high-technology start-up (n = 49) and established firm (n = 56) contexts, using structural equation modeling. Results reveal that the positive psychological traits of CEOs positively relate to transformational leadership ratings. Furthermore, the extent to which leaders are rated as transformational fully mediates the relationship between the leaders' positive psychological traits and their firms' performance. Last, transformational leadership is more strongly related to firm performance in start-up than in established firms. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The engagement of firms in multiple simultaneous strategic alliances with different partners has become a ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s business landscape. This article offers a review of the extant alliance portfolio literature and organizes it around three key research areas: (a) the emergence of alliance portfolios, (b) the configuration of alliance portfolios, and (c) the management of alliance portfolios. The article also highlights existing gaps in the present understanding of alliance portfolios and outlines a research agenda by identifying key research questions and issues in the areas where further research is needed.

The purpose of this study is to identify the universities and research scholars who have had the greatest impact on the field of management during the past quarter century and the factors that influence their impact. Using bibliometric techniques, the authors examined 30 management journals to identify the 100 most-cited universities and 150 most-cited authors from 1981 to 2004. The analysis included more than 1,600 universities and 25,000 management scholars across five individual time periods. The findings showed that (a) a relatively small proportion of universities and scholars accounted for the majority of the citations in the field; (b) total publications accounted for the majority of the variance in university citations; (c) university size, the number of PhDs awarded, research expenditures, and endowment assets had the biggest impact on university publications; and (d) total publications, years in the field, graduate school reputation, and editorial board memberships had the biggest effect on a scholar's citations.