Innovativeness: Redefining the concept

The main objective of this research is to highlight the need to reconceptualize the theoretical construct of innovativeness. There is a large body of research on the adoption of innovations. Although research studies in this area are motivated by fundamentally different objectives, there is a common thread that runs through all of them—the identification of innovative firms.In order to identify innovative firms, a variety of unidimensional measures of innovativeness have been employed in past research. Thus, innovation diffusion research studies have used the time of innovation adoption as a measure of a firm's innovativeness. Other studies have assessed innovativeness on the basis of the number of innovation adoptions. This research contends that the conceptualization of innovativeness as a unidimensional construct is incomplete. Innovativeness, we believe, is an enduring trait that is consistently exhibited by innovative firms over a period of time. In other words, a valid measure of innovativeness must represent this temporal dimension. This study proposes and tests the validity of a multidimensional measure of innovativeness.     

Innovativeness as an Unintended Outcome of Franchising: Insights from Restaurant Chains

A growing trend in improving innovation outcomes is to go outside the firm's boundaries. One mechanism by which firms extend organizational boundaries is through franchising their channels. Yet, the effects of franchising on innovation outcomes have been overlooked in the literature. We propose that a firm's emphasis on franchising will affect its organizational innovativeness, conceptualized as product and process innovativeness, independently and with other firm characteristics—franchising experience, firm size, financial leverage, and slack resources. We find support for our hypotheses using a nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression model estimated using panel data from 38 U.S. restaurant chains between 1992 and 2005. The positive effect of the emphasis on franchising on product innovativeness is stronger for firms with high financial leverage, but weaker for firms with high slack resources. For process innovativeness, the effect is stronger for firms with high financial leverage but weaker for large firms, and for firms with high franchising experience and high slack resources. The findings indicate that a firm's emphasis on franchising has contingent effects on product and process innovation outcomes. Thus, franchising emerges as a competing mechanism (to alliances and joint ventures) that extends organizational boundaries and affects organizational innovativeness.     

The Effect of Perceived Novelty on the Adoption of Information Technology Innovations: A Risk/Reward Perspective

A fundamental characteristic of any innovation is its novelty, the newness or freshness of the innovation in the eyes of the adopter. Past research has often considered novelty to be inherent to an information technology (IT) innovation, yet it is also likely that perceptions of novelty differ widely across individuals. Nevertheless, the role that the novelty of an IT innovation plays in adoption is not well understood. The primary goal of this research effort is to frame the perceived novelty of an IT innovation as a salient affective belief in the nomological network related to adoption. Further, we examine how perceived novelty influences the way individuals reconcile their perceptions of risk versus reward when considering the adoption of an IT innovation. Two empirical studies with 424 and 138 participants, respectively, examine the effect of perceived novelty on IT innovations from a risk/reward perspective. Results indicate that perceived novelty is a salient affective belief that plays a significant role in the adoption of IT innovations. Implications for both theory and organizational decision making are examined.     

移动支付服务初始采纳模型及其实证研究

基于中国移动商务情景,从社会影响、个体特征和技术属性的整体视角对移动支付用户初始采纳行为进行了实证研究.采用结构方程模型对收集的240份初始采纳样本进行分析发现,技术属性视角的2个正效用(相对优势和兼容性)对采纳意愿存在正向影响,2个负效用(感知风险和感知成本)对采纳意愿存在负向影响;个体特征视角的个体创新对初始采纳意愿施加了直接和间接的双重正向影响;社会影响视角的主观规范和形象对初始采纳意愿存在直接和间接的双重正向影响.     

Antecedents of Innovativeness in Technology‐Based Services (TBS): Peering into the Black Box of Entrepreneurial Orientation

Innovativeness is the organization's capability for developing and introducing innovations. We argue that new combinations and recombinations of prior and new knowledge (by way of creating, assembling, and transforming knowledge) result in innovativeness in an organization. We further assert that a knowledge‐based focus on innovativeness is particularly important for firms that are technology‐based. The majority of studies focusing on innovativeness are in the entrepreneurship arena, and a large number of studies consider innovativeness as one of three dimensions of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) construct, the other two dimensions being proactiveness and risk‐taking. However, recent research has suggested peering into the black box of EO by disaggregating the EO construct and examining the interrelationships among its three components. Hence, using the knowledge‐based view and drawing from multiple disciplines, our study conceptualizes innovativeness as a criterion variable and investigates the antecedent role of proactiveness and risk‐taking propensity on innovativeness in the context of technology‐based services (TBS). We hypothesize that both proactiveness and risk‐taking propensity exhibit a curvilinear relationship with innovativeness and introduce organizational structure formality as a moderator to further explicate these relationships. Our results show that proactiveness has a curvilinear (inverted U relationship) with innovativeness, and that this relationship is attenuated by organizational structure formality. Additional analysis indicates that in TBS firms, risk‐taking propensity has a positive linear relationship with innovativeness, and this relationship is accentuated by organizational structure formality. Finally, we discuss important conceptual and practical implications of our study and provide suggestions for future research.     

Determinants of innovativeness in SMEs: disentangling core innovation and technology adoption capabilities

This paper studies innovativeness in SMEs from a set of innovation indicators at the firm level, capturing various types of innovation (product, process, organisational, and marketing innovations) and the level of innovativeness in these firm’s developments. The article identifies two separate dimensions in the innovativeness of Spanish SMEs, using factor analysis techniques. One dimension is associated with the capabilities for core/internal innovation and the other with the capabilities for the adoption of technology. The paper shows that significant differences exist in the personal and organisational factors that favour these two dimensions. The entrepreneur’s motivation, business planning, and cooperation in R&D activities constitute significant factors when considering the core dimension of a firechnology adoption. However, the use of external consultancy services seems to have no significant effect on the core dimension of the innovativeness of an SME, whereas it is a relevant factor for its technology adoption. Furthermore, it is shown that the entrepreneur’s education plays a more significant role in the core dimension of a firm’s innovativeness than in its capabilities for technology adoption. Depending on the policy objectives, these differences should lead to the application of specific policy approaches when an attempt to stimulate innovation in SMEs is made.     

Organizational context, climate and innovativeness: adoption of imaging technology

Managers make decisions to adopt technological innovations within an organizational context. This research explores the role of organizational climate as it affects the impacts of organizational context on innovativeness. Context refers here to organizational size, slack resources, and organizational age. We analyze three known climate dimensions as moderator variables: risk orientation, external orientation, and achievement orientation. Data describe the adoption of medical imaging technologies by 70 hospitals. Climate measures come from several technology decision-makers within each organization. Technology measures of radicalness and relative advantage are ratings by five outside experts in the use of these 68 technologies. The study also includes the traditional measure that counts the overall number of innovations adopted. Innovativeness is a multi-dimensional composite variable composed of radicalness, relative advantage, and number of innovations adopted. As expected, results show that organizational size and slack are positively related with innovativeness. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that the climate measures of risk orientation and external orientation interact significantly with the context dimensions of organizational size and organizational age. The model developed and tested in this project explains over 50% of the total variance in innovativeness.     

消费者创新性、消费者特性与新产品采用行为关系的实证研究

通过对重庆市主城区消费者的实地调查,用结构方程模型和回归分析检验消费者创新性、消费者特性以及新产品采用行为的关系。结果发现消费者创新性比消费者特性能更好的预测新产品采用行为,且消费者家庭月收入和受教育程度是消费者创新性和新产品采用行为的调节变量。     

Effect of green innovation on job satisfaction of electronic and electrical manufacturers’ employees through job intensity: personal innovativeness as moderator

Green innovation is currently receiving increased international attention as a result of the growing concern on natural resource degradation and environmental pollution among consumers, governments, and communities in general. Although previous studies have indicated the positive effects of green innovation on the performance of manufacturing firms, practicing green innovation may conflict with job satisfaction, which in turn could negatively impact the performance of firms. This study examines job intensity to investigate the effects of green product and process innovation on job satisfaction. In addition, the moderating effect of personal innovativeness is investigated. Data from a survey of 191 respondents in the Malaysian electronic and electrical (E&E) manufacturing firms were analysed using partial least squares technique. Results showed that green product and process innovation have a positive direct effect on job intensity and a negative indirect effect on job satisfaction through job intensity. Personal innovativeness negatively moderates the relationship between green process innovation and job intensity. Theoretical and practical contributions of this study are discussed as well.     

Understanding the Adoption Process of National Security Technology: An Integration of Diffusion of Innovations and Volitional Behavior Theories

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. government initiated several national security technology adoption programs. The American public, however, has been skeptical about these initiatives and adoption of national security technologies has been mandated, rather than voluntary. We propose and test a voluntary behavioral intention formation model for the adoption of one type of new security technology: portable radiation detectors. Portable radiation detectors are an efficient way of detecting radiological and nuclear threats and could potentially prevent loss of life and damage to individuals’ health. However, their functioning requires that a critical mass of individuals use them on a daily basis. We combine the explanatory advantages of diffusion of innovation with the predictive power of two volitional behavior frameworks: the theory of reasoned action and the health belief model. A large sample survey (N = 1,482) investigated the influence of factors identified in previous diffusion of innovation research on portable radiation detector adoption intention. Results indicated that nonfinancial incentives, as opposed to financial incentives, should be emphasized in persuasive communications aimed at fostering adoption. The research provides a new integration of diffusion of innovation elements with determinants of volitional behavior from persuasion literature, and offers recommendations on effective communication about new security technologies to motivate public adoption and enhance national safety.     

基于随机网络的创新扩散研究

基于ER随机图模型建立创新扩散网络,通过虚拟潜在采纳个体的决策过程,研究了创新潜在采纳主体行为、扩散网络结构与性质对创新微观采纳和宏观扩散的影响。实验结果表明,内部影响和外部影响共同决定一个成功的创新扩散。潜在采纳个体越倾向于从同质邻居个体处获取创新的评价信息,创新的扩散深度越大。随着潜在采纳者数量的增大,创新扩散的深度呈现周期性波动的特点。潜在采纳者的平均邻居数、扩散网络的聚集系数和平均路径长度与创新扩散的深度存在非单调的变化关系。创新潜在采纳主体行为、扩散网络结构与创新扩散的速度无关。实验结果有助于创新推广者制定有效的创新营销策略。     

Phases of the Adoption of Innovation in Organizations: Effects of Environment,Organization and Top Managers1

Multidimensional empirical examinations of the adoption of innovations in organizations, and the influence of factors within each dimension on the phases of adoption, are scarce. This study examines the effects of environmental, organizational and top managers' characteristics on the initiation, adoption decision and implementation of innovation. Using a sample of approximately 1200 public organizations in the United States, we found that while each dimension accounts for unique variance in the adoption of innovation, organizational characteristics and top managers' attitudes toward innovation have a stronger influence than environmental and top managers' demographic characteristics. We also found no difference in the direction of effects of any antecedent, but did find differences in the significance of effects of several antecedents, on the phases of innovation adoption. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest ideas for future research.     

Testing an organizational innovativeness integrative model across cultures

Most previous within-discipline research on innovativeness as an organizational trait does not account for cross-disciplinary perspectives, leading to incomplete findings. This paper develops an integrative model of organizational innovativeness, based on research in several disciplines to identify antecedents to, characteristics of, and outcomes of organizational innovativeness. Cross-sectional, questionnaire-based data from Israeli, Lithuanian, and Slovakian public organizations were used to test the model. Market and learning orientation enhanced organizational innovativeness, whereas internal politics and centralization reduced it. Organizational innovativeness enhanced two individual-level outcomes (satisfaction and commitment), as well as innovation performance, which, in turn, improved overall organizational performance.     

个体企业家导向视角的管理创新引进机理研究

为揭示作为组织创新与变革直接负责人和承担者的企业核心管理者在引进新管理实践或方法的决策过程中的具体作用机制,揭开管理决策黑箱,尝试从核心管理者个人层面的企业家导向视角出发,在回顾相关文献的基础上,构建企业家导向的3个维度(技术创新性、先动性、风险倾向性)通过创新意愿的中介作用影响管理创新引进水平的研究框架,并对浙江、四川、广东和辽宁等地的237份有效问卷进行四阶段多元回归分析,验证相关假设。研究结果表明,管理者个人层面企业家导向的3个维度均显著影响管理创新引进水平;企业家导向通过创新意愿影响管理创新决策,3个维度之间符合行为理论从态度到意愿到行为的实现过程;创新意愿部分中介企业家导向与管理创新引进水平之间的关系。     

Organizational innovativeness: Exploring the relationship between organizational determinants of innovation, types of innovations, and measures of organizational performance

This research study examines the relationships between innovativeness of firms, their organizational characteristics, and organizational performance. Previous studies that have examined these relationships have yielded conflicting results. A fundamental assumption of this research is that these conflicting results may be due to a narrow definition of the construct of innovativeness. This research demonstrates that by using a multidimensional measure of innovativeness, the reasons for the conflicting findings of past research becomes evident. The results of this study show that substantive relationships do exist between organizational factors, organizational innovativeness, and organizational performance. These relationships, however, are complex, and can only be detected if innovativeness is measured as a multidimensional construct. Each of the organizational factors examined in this study showed significantly different effects on each dimension of two types of organizational innovativeness — technical and administrative innovativeness. Further, the results show that innovativeness does improve organizational performance. However, each dimension of the two types of innovativeness affects different aspects of organizational performance.     

Discrepancies between chronological age and personal age as a reflection of unrelieved worker stress

The general proposition that stress-related variables will be associated with discrepancies between chronological age and perceived personal age of working adults was examined. Responses from a field survey of day, afternoon, and night fixed-shift workers in a large manufacturing organization (n = 1674) were used to explore the relationships between a variety of reported stress-related variables and personal age constructs. Discrepancies between perceived personal age and chronological age were reported by a large proportion of the workers surveyed. Three categories of stress-related variables each accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in discrepancies. As hypothesized, the reported presence of stressors and the frequency/extent of strains (stress-related outcomes) were positively correlated with feeling older than one's chronological age. In addition, the reported presence of support mechanisms for coping with stressors was negatively correlated with feeling older than one's chronological age. The manner in which work and non-work stress may impinge upon personal age perceptions is discussed, and appropriate avenues for future research in this domain are considered.     

财务策略对新技术采用决策的影响

假定未来随机出现的技术创新会造成现有新技术价值的下降,给出新技术价值估计和采用决策模型,进而分析杠杆融资时新技术的投资(采用)决策.研究结果表明,财务危机和融资约束会延缓新技术的采用;债务融资对新技术投资门槛值的影响依其融资水平的变化而发生变化;由于财务策略的作用,随着技术创新速度和创新程度的增加,企业可能加快对新技术的采用.     

Measuring intrapreneurship at the individual level: Development and validation of the Employee Intrapreneurship Scale (EIS)

Although employees are recognized to be key for organizational new venture creation and strategic renewal (i.e., intrapreneurship), the current literature on intrapreneurship from an individual-level perspective is fragmented, and a valid measurement instrument is lacking. We address this gap and start with presenting a review of the current literature on employee intrapreneurship. Based on this review we define employee intrapreneurship as an agentic and strategic work behavior aimed at new venture creation and strategic renewal. Next, two studies are presented aimed at developing and validating a measurement instrument that captures employee venture behavior and strategic renewal behavior as two facets of employee intrapreneurship: the Employee Intrapreneurship Scale (EIS). In Study 1, the EIS was created and its factorial validity examined in three departments of a public organization (total N = 1,475). In Study 2, using a sample of private sector employees (N = 243), the convergent and discriminant validity of the EIS was tested using self-ratings of personal initiative, reward sensitivity, and punishment sensitivity, as well as their innovativeness and risk-taking behavior as rated by a close colleague. The results indicate that the Employee Intrapreneurship Scale is a valid and reliable instrument for capturing employee intrapreneurship in multiple contexts. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

External technology acquisition and product innovativeness: The moderating roles of R&D investment and configurational context

An increasing number of studies in technology/innovation management contribute to the understanding of the relationship between external technology acquisition and product innovation performance. On the other hand, the meta-analytic reviews of new product development literature indicate a positive impact of product innovativeness on product innovation performance. However, existing research has not examined the link between external technology acquisition and product innovativeness. This study, therefore, aims to fill this gap of knowledge by investigating the external technology acquisition—product innovativeness relationship and examining the moderating roles of R&D investment and configurational context on this link. Based on a panel sample of 105 high-technology firms over a six-year period, a least squared dummy variable s model reveals interesting results. First, external technology acquisition has a positive impact on product innovativeness. Second, R&D investment increases the effect of external technology acquisition on product innovativeness. Lastly, firm size exhibits a negative effect on the contribution of external technology acquisition to product innovativeness. However, firm age positively impacts the relationship between external technology acquisition and product innovativeness. In addition, this study reveals a positive effect of product innovativeness on firm growth.     

Discrepancies between chronological age and personal age as a reflection of unrelieved worker stress

Abstract

The general proposition that stress-related variables will be associated with discrepancies between chronological age and perceived personal age of working adults was examined. Responses from a field survey of day, afternoon, and night fixed-shift workers in a large manufacturing organization (n = 1674) were used to explore the relationships between a variety of reported stress-related variables and personal age constructs. Discrepancies between perceived personal age and chronological age were reported by a large proportion of the workers surveyed. Three categories of stress-related variables each accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in discrepancies. As hypothesized, the reported presence of stressors and the frequency/extent of strains (stress-related outcomes) were positively correlated with feeling older than one's chronological age. In addition, the reported presence of support mechanisms for coping with stressors was negatively correlated with feeling older than one's chronological age. The manner in which work and non-work stress may impinge upon personal age perceptions is discussed, and appropriate avenues for future research in this domain are considered.