The Impact of Information System Personnel Skill Discrepancies on Stakeholder Satisfaction

System development efforts depend to a large degree upon how well information systems (IS) managers, IS specialists, and IS users work together in a project team structure. Yet, these individuals frequently work under different perceptions about matters of importance to development, management, and success. This paper introduces a framework for examining IS specialists' skill requirements from a multiple‐stakeholder perspective. Derived from discrepancy theory, the framework concedes that different stakeholders hold a variable set of expectations for IS personnel skill levels as well as a perception of skills held by IS personnel. We examine differences in expectation and performance expressed by each group and describe the impact of the discrepancy on user satisfaction, career satisfaction of IS specialists, and on job performance evaluations by IS managers. Results confirm that a discrepancy between an IS specialist's expectations of skill and their perceived skill self‐proficiency impacts career satisfaction. Similar relations hold for IS managers and users. Since different stakeholders may hold different perceptions, satisfaction of all parties becomes problematic unless a common frame of reference can be determined.     

Exploring the Career Capital Impact of International Assignments within Distinct Organizational Contexts

The existing expatriation literature concentrates on what individuals need to perform in an international assignment (IA) but neglects what they gain from their foreign work experience. Using a dual‐dependency perspective this study presents results from 26 in‐depth interviews with international secondees within two UK‐based organizational contexts. The paper explores the perceived impact of an IA on the career capital of individuals, showing that the outcomes of IAs can be equivocal for expatriates. Each firm concentrated their human resource mechanisms on developing different types of career capital and this focused individual behaviour on diverse career capital activities. In one of the organizations there was an internal misalignment between organizational and individual assignee focus. Based on the research a number of propositions were developed. This study provided an exploratory insight into points of departure rather than complementarity in individuals' international careers in organizations, which has been at the core of much recent research and writing. A more complex, contextualized picture of the effects of IAs on the careers of individuals emerged.     

The Meanings of Career Revisited: Implications for Theory and Practice

In everyday conversation, the term 'career' is generally understood to refer to the sequence of work-related experiences one has over the course of one's working lifetime. For many people, a career is distinct from a job, since it also conjures up images of steady, even logical, progression up organizational hierarchies. It is not simply about what one does for a living, but about what one has done, does now and might do in the future; the notion of career therefore embraces the dimension of time. In light of widespread organizational restructuring and economic uncertainty since the late 1980s, many of the taken-for-granted assumptions which have underpinned traditional notions of career, and in particular the organizational career, no longer seem valid. Both individuals and organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to conceptualize the idea of a logical, long-term sequence of work-related experiences; there is thus no longer a clear and mutual understanding of what the career means to both. This paper argues that individuals and organizations can meaningfully redefine the notion of career by reconsidering its broader, theoretical underpinnings.     

Enhancing the Practical Relevance of Research

This article seeks to encourage scholars to conduct research that is more relevant to the decisions faced by managers and policymakers, and addresses why research relevance matters, what relevance means in terms of a journal article, and how scholars can increase the relevance of their research. I define relevant research papers as those whose research questions address problems found (or potentially found) in practice and whose hypotheses connect independent variables within the control of practitioners to outcomes they care about using logic they view as feasible. I provide several suggestions for how scholars can enhance research relevance, including engaging practitioners in on‐campus encounters, at managerial conferences, and at crossover workshops; conducting site visits and practitioner interviews; working as a practitioner; and developing a practitioner advisory team. I describe several ways that scholars can convey relevant research insights into practitioners, including presenting at practitioner conferences, writing for practitioners in traditional crossover journals and in shorter pieces like op‐eds and blogs, and attracting the interest of those who write columns, blogs, and articles about research for practitioners. I conclude by describing a few ways that academic institutions can encourage more relevant research, focusing on journals, professional societies, and doctoral programs.     

Performance measurement system for business processes

All companies need to know at what level and to what extent they are complying with their objectives. We present a system called PMS-BP (performance measurement system for business processes) which has been designed to define indicators and evaluate company performance. The system is used to measure performance through the integrated management of business processes and to define indicators or parameters at all levels of the company. It also detects the linkages that exist between parameters at different levels and associates them with the company's objectives and strategies through critical success factors. PMS-BP has been built around three components: a methodology, an architecture and a performance measurement structure. The interconnection between the different components makes it easy to constantly trace the relationships between the different performance measurement elements at different levels (enterprise, business entity, processes, etc.). Processes are analysed by means of different types of graphs which make it simple to read and interpret the entire context of the company. We describe a real-life case in which the PMS-BP was applied to an SME in the metal/mechanics sector.     

Personality traits and career satisfaction of human resource professionals

Occupational choice frameworks suggest that personality factors influence person-job fit. This paper focuses on personality factors and career satisfactions of human resources (HR) managers. ‘Big Five’ and narrow personality traits as well as managerial style variables were drawn from an archive of 1846 HR managers and 1375 non-managers. Results indicated that HR managers differed from 51,297 individuals in other occupations and from non-managerial HR specialists on many of the study variables, most of which were also related to career satisfaction. Implications for differentiation selection and development of HR managers were discussed.     

Investigating investment decisions in equity crowdfunding: The role of projects' intellectual capital

The study aims to investigate the signalling role played by the intellectual capital of entrepreneurial projects towards crowdfunders. The study argues that information on; the intellectual capital of entrepreneurial projects posted on equity crowdfunding platforms can be perceived by external small investors or crowdfunders as signals of the venture's quality and can induce them to invest. By leveraging on the role of signalling theory in the mitigation of information asymmetries, the study argues that the intellectual capital of projects looking for equity crowdfunding is a powerful signal that positively affects the investment decisions of crowdfunders. Three components of entrepreneurial projects' intellectual capital – human, structural, and relational capital – are considered as factors affecting the success of equity crowdfunding campaigns, measured in terms of funding collected and the number of investors. The findings reveal that relational capital positively affects the investment decisions of equity crowdfunders and thus explains the success of equity crowdfunding campaigns. Factors related to human capital and structural capital have a positive impact on investment decisions, but only to a limited extent. This study provides valid implications for entrepreneurs, platform managers, and policy-makers/authorities.     

The impact of international business education on career success—Evidence from Europe

In today's globalized world, career paths are becoming increasingly international, and so managers need respective cross-cultural strengths in order to act effectively in various cultural environments. Even though education—especially business education—is progressively becoming more international to meet these organizational demands, little is known about whether the extent of international business education influences careers, and in particular career success. In addressing this research deficit, we explore whether and how international business education affects career success. As the major contribution of this paper we suggest a conceptual framework which posits global identity and international experience as mediators of this relationship. The assumptions of this framework are confirmed by an investigation amongst 450 alumni of a European business school. Additional contributions include that we extend the limited body of research on the construct of international business education and its measurement, by providing an all-encompassing definition and much-needed operationalization. Furthermore, we contribute a European perspective on international business education through our empirical evidence.     

Work–Family Conflict and the Senior Female International Manager

The particular focus of this paper is on the workÐfamily conflict experienced by senior female international managers within a European context. This research is particularly relevant as existing European studies have not specifically addressed issues pertaining to the senior female international manager. For the purpose of this study 50 senior female expatriate managers were interviewed, representing a wide diversity of industry and service sectors. The study establishes that work–family conflict still prevents many female managers from progressing to senior management. The results of the study show that the senior international career move has largely been developed along a linear male model of career progression, a development which, together with gender disparity both in organizations and family responsibilities, frequently prevents women employees from reaching senior managerial positions. The study extends work primarily in the international human resource management literature, while also contributing to the research literatures on women in management and career theory.     

日本制造企业新产品开发过程中模糊前端创新的效果分析

本文对日本制造企业新产品开发(NPD)过程中模糊前端(FFE)创新成功的关键因素进行了大样本分析,开发并构建了FFE创新要素与NPD项目绩效之间的因果关系模型.根据513家日本制造企业NPD项目的调查数据,运用AMOS验证因果关系模型,我们得出两个重要结论:在FFE阶段,技术和市场的不确定性减少越多,NPD项目的效率越高;开发前项目初始规划强度越大,开发过程中市场和技术的不确定性就越少.而且相对服务企业而言,制造企业的管理层更容易做出对降低市场不确定性有重大影响的初始规划.     

Understanding top managers’ careers: How does career variety impact tenure on the board?

Career variety has recently received attention in management literature in general, and top management literature in particular. While existing publications have predominantly linked career variety to individual adaptability, agility or competences, this paper focuses on the relationship between top managers’ career variety and their tenure on the board. We rely on the boundaryless career approach and argue that there is a negative relationship between career variety and board tenure. Drawing on a sample of executive directors in UK FT 100 firms, we provide empirical evidence that increased career variety leads to shorter tenure on the board. We also reveal that this relationship is further strengthened with international educational experience. In addition, we show that in-house work experience mitigates the negative association between career variety and board tenure. We contribute to the literature on top managers’ careers by unravelling the consequences that career variety during early and mid-stages of a career has on tenure on the board – and hence on career stability in later stages of a career.     

The Career Advancement Prospects of Managers and Professionals: Are MIS Employees Unique?

The present study examined the career advancement prospects of MIS and non-MIS employees, as well as the relationships of career advancement prospects with job performance evaluations, job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and organizational commitment for MIS and non-MIS professionals and managers. Participants included 134 MIS professionals and managers and 397 non-MIS professionals and managers of a large communications company. The results provided no evidence that MIS employees experience more restricted career advancement prospects than non-MIS employees. In addition, job performance evaluations generally had positive effects on career advancement prospects; career advancement prospects had a number of positive effects on job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and organizational commitment; and job satisfaction and career satisfaction had positive effects on organizational commitment. These findings are related to prior research, suggestions for future research are offered, and implications for the management of MIS employees are identified.     

Exploring teachers’ career self-management. Considering the roles of organizational career management,occupational self-efficacy,and learning goal orientation.

The current study examines how organizational career management – i.e. activities undertaken by schools in order to plan and manage teachers’ careers – relates to teachers’ career self-management – i.e. teachers steering their careers by means of searching for opportunities, networking, or seeking supervisory support. Moreover, it examines the mediating roles of occupational self-efficacy and learning goal orientation in this relationship. Mediation analysis in SPSS, using the PROCESS macro of survey data from 220 Dutch secondary school teachers, showed that positive relationships between organizational career management and career self-management were mediated by occupational self-efficacy and learning goal orientation.     

The sense of it all: Framing and narratives in sensegiving about a strategic change

Managers leading strategic change processes have to be skilled language users in order to convince others of the necessity of change and to shape the interpretations of their followers in a preferred direction. This paper asks how and why managers employ certain forms of language in their sensegiving during strategic change, and when these managers are effective in their language use to change the sensemaking of others in the organization. On the basis of a longitudinal case study of a European multinational corporation, we find that effective sensegiving is about providing organizational members with a pragmatic form – a way of making sense rather than, as previous research suggests, about providing them with pre-packaged meanings. We extend prior research by distinguishing the effects that the different linguistic forms of managerial sensegiving have on organizational sensemaking. Furthermore, the managers we studied were effective in their sensegiving when they combined framing and narratives. These two forms of language supported each other by amplifying the overall effect on organizational sensemaking. This notion of a combined use of framing and narratives complements previous research, which has largely studied them separately.     

Strategies for Knowledge Creation in Firms *

We extend the knowledge‐based view by providing an explanation of how firms develop the capability to create knowledge. We take the view that firms are distributed knowledge systems composed of individuals who embody knowledge, and theoretically identify and empirically test the existence and effectiveness of two strategies – organization and project team – that promote their interactions to develop this capability. On the one hand, building on what we call the organization‐level innovation literature, we identify the organization strategy, which suggests investment in organization‐level integrative management practices to facilitate interactions to create knowledge among individuals situated in different parts of the system, independently of when a knowledge‐creation task is established and individuals are organized to create knowledge. On the other hand, building on what we call the team‐level innovation literature, we identify the project team strategy, which suggests investment in project team‐level integrative management practices to facilitate interactions to create knowledge among individuals once a knowledge‐creation task is defined and individuals are placed into teams to create knowledge. The two strategies are substitute approaches for the development of the capability, although the organization strategy appears to better predict outcomes of the capability. However, this approach might be more costly, so not all managers will choose to follow it.     

Crescendo Model of Career Motivation and Commitment: Identity, Insight, and Resilience

This paper provides an experiential exercise to increase understanding of employees' career motivation and commitment and its relation to employees' perception of identity, insight, and resilience. Three separate conditions influencing employee attraction to career orientation are self-identity, insight, and resilience. These three component dimensions of employee career motivation are outlined and used to define an eight-phase crescendo model through which individuals tend to pass in their decision to form an affective career commitment. The analysis supports the notion of a stepwise movement from identity to insight to resilience in strengthening employees' career motivation and demonstrates how progressive phases are associated with career commitment. Although the levels and phases are progressively prepotent and valenced in predicting employee propensity to form an enduring career commitment, different patterns and paths through the phases for individuals are indicated.     

Decision Making,Risk and Gender: Are Managers Different?

This paper explores differences in the nature of decisions taken by males and females. Women are playing an increasingly important role in business management and managers are ultimately tested and evaluated in terms of their success in making decisions. Consequently any difference in the character and quality of decisions taken by male and female managers will have important implications for organizations. This paper reviews the literature, and reports two pieces of empirical work which investigate the connections between gender and decision making. The decision-making characteristics of males and females in a ‘non-managerial’ population in which the majority of individuals have not undergone formal management education are contrasted with a ‘managerial’ population of potential and actual managers who have undertaken such education. It is argued that women are often excluded from managerial positions of authority and leadership due to stereotypes, which have been constructed by observing ‘non-managerial’ populations at large. The paper concludes, however, that these stereotypes may not apply to managers as in the ‘managerial’ sub-population males and females display similar risk propensity and make decisions of equal quality.     

When does part-time employment allow managers with family responsibilities to stay on the career track? A vignette study among German managers

The present study examines the specific conditions under which part-time (PT) arrangements in managerial jobs allow parents with childcare responsibilities to stay on the career track. By integrating economic signaling theory and gender role congruity theory, a vignette study among German managers revealed that substantial PT hours, flexible working schedules, and flexible childcare arrangements positively influence decision makers’ personal promotion decisions. Further, we found a significant fatherhood bias with male PT managers receiving less favorable promotion decisions than female PT managers. The study further reveals that decision makers’ evaluations of managers’ levels of advancement motivation mediate several significant relationships. The paper discusses practical impactions and future research directions.