Religion and Organization: A Critical Review of Current Trends and Future Directions

Given the profound role that religion continues to play in contemporary societies, it is surprising that management researchers have not explored the intersection between religion and organization in a more meaningful and determined way. This may be because religion is considered too far removed from the commercial organizations that form the empirical focus of much work in the discipline, or simply because it is deemed too sensitive. Whatever the reason, the upshot is that we know relatively little about the dynamics of religious organizational forms or the influence of these forms (and the values and practices that underpin them) on broader social processes and other kinds of organization. This paper is designed to highlight the potential of religion as a domain of study in management and to provide concrete suggestions for taking forward research in this area. The paper consists of three parts. I begin by reviewing some of the key literature in the sociology of religion and religious organizations. I then evaluate the existing literature on religion and organization, noting the salient contributions to date and highlighting some of the issues raised by this body of work. In the third and final main section, I suggest promising directions for future research.     

Emergence of Industries: A Review and Future Directions

This paper reviews the literature on the emergence of industries and the theoretical and methodological approaches employed. The analysis reveals that industry emergence can be depicted as a three‐stage process. In the first, initial stage, a disruption to the existing industrial order triggers the second, the co‐evolutionary stage, which includes four sub‐processes related to developments in technology, markets, activity networks and industry identity. The convergence of these sub‐processes leads to the third stage, a growth stage and the birth of a new industry. While these three stages and the four sub‐processes are well covered in the literature, the authors find that there is a lack of understanding in terms of the transitions between the stages, the interactions and interdependencies between sub‐processes and moderating factors of industry emergence. Future research can bridge these gaps by exploring the different origins and initial conditions of industries, the processes and interactions in the earliest stages of industry emergence, and the role of facilitating and managing industry emergence. This implies a shift in the research focus from the industries that have emerged to the nascent processes of emergence.     

Electronic Data Interchange: Research Review and Future Directions*

For nearly two decades, electronic data interchange (EDI) has been widely viewed as a technology pivotal to supply chain management that has also provided benefits to firms on multiple levels. Despite a substantial body of literature, there are a number of conflicting and inconclusive research results in this field. In this study, we synthesize the diverse body of research in EDI by organizing the literature into an initial theoretical framework. Based on a meta‐analysis of results from the empirical literature, we seek to clarify conflicting results from the literature in order to develop a more unified theoretical framework of contextual variables associated with EDI adoption factors and outcomes. From a managerial standpoint, our literature‐based framework offers a set of guidelines for making successful EDI adoption and implementation decisions.     

Understanding the Self‐initiated Expatriate: A Review and Directions for Future Research

The study of self‐initiated expatriates (SIEs) has gained pace in the last decade, focusing on these individuals, their motivations, their behaviours and their relevance to the global workforce. Published works produced between 1996 and 2011 are reviewed. A thematic analysis indicates that key topics of focus in current research cover: characteristics of the self‐initiated and their work‐related experiences and management; comparative studies of company‐backed versus self‐initiated expatriation and the self‐initiated as global talent flow. This paper identifies a need for clarification of the construct of SIEs, expands on the theoretical perspectives used to examine SIEs and offers a framework to facilitate coherence in the direction of future research and the application of knowledge to practice in this field of study.     

Dynamic Capabilities: Current Debates and Future Directions

The field of dynamic capabilities has developed very rapidly over the last ten years. In this paper we discuss the evolution of the concept, and identify two major current debates around the nature of dynamic capabilities and their consequences. We then review recent progress as background to identifying the contributions of the seven papers in this special issue, and discuss the relative merits of qualitative and quantitative studies for investigating dynamic capabilities. We conclude with recommendations for future research arguing for more longitudinal studies which can examine the processes of dynamic abilities over time, and for studies in diverse industries and national contexts.     

Dynamic Capabilities: Current Debates and Future Directions

The field of dynamic capabilities has developed very rapidly over the last ten years. In this paper we discuss the evolution of the concept, and identify two major current debates around the nature of dynamic capabilities and their consequences. We then review recent progress as background to identifying the contributions of the seven papers in this special issue, and discuss the relative merits of qualitative and quantitative studies for investigating dynamic capabilities. We conclude with recommendations for future research arguing for more longitudinal studies which can examine the processes of dynamic abilities over time, and for studies in diverse industries and national contexts.     

社会网络分析在组织管理研究中的应用与展望

试图从社会网络分析的3个重要概念出发,探究社会网络分析范式、社会网络分析法以及社会网络理论三者的区别与联系,以助于学者们更好地理解社会网络分析的本质。在此基础上,比较社会网络理论与管理学经典理论,指出社会网络理论不是对管理学理论的批判与取代,而是一种建设性的深化与补充。最后,总结了社会网络分析在组织管理中的研究现状,分析了国内研究的不足,并提出了建议与展望。     

Plan Evaluation: Challenges and Directions for Future Research

Plan evaluation is a well-established part of the planning canon. While this subject has received considerable attention from planning scholars in recent years, plan evaluation methods are not commonly used in practice. This paper examines the factors that contribute to the underuse of plan outcome evaluation in local government planning practice. The concept of evaluation is explained, and the relationship that exists between program evaluation and plan evaluation is explored.     

Capacity Management in Health Care Services: Review and Future Research Directions*

Health care has undergone a number of radical changes during the past five years. These include increased competition, fixed-rate reimbursement systems, declining hospital occupancy rates, and growth in health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations. Given these changes in the manner in which health care is provided, contracted, and paid for, it is appropriate to review the past research on capacity management and to determine its relevance to the changing industry. This paper provides a review, classification, and analysis of the literature on this topic. In addition, future research needs are discussed and specific problem areas not dealt with in the previous literature are targeted.     

参照依赖的消费者选择及其建模方法回顾与展望

参照依赖的消费者偏好和选择一直是营销学者的热点研究领域。学者们对如何在定量营销模型中考虑参照依赖的消费者偏好进行了诸多探索和方法创新,然而,目前却没有相关研究对这些建模方法进行较为系统的总结和梳理。为了填补这个研究空白,本研究回顾了消费者行为和决策领域中参照点的相关文献,并对参照依赖模型进行了系统的梳理。本文首先对参照点的定义和分类标准进行了综述和讨论。在此基础上,本文详细分析了现有实证研究中融入参照依赖的模型结构,并从模型使用的理论框架和参照属性的数量等几个方面对现有实证模型进行了分类和比较。最后,本文总结了现有相关研究的不足,并指出了该领域将来的研究方向。     

Introduction to Innovation WITHIN and ACROSS Borders: A Review and Future Directions

Innovation is an integral part of every firm's ongoing operations. While new product and service creation is an essential task to ensure a firm's immediate success in the marketplace, process and supply chain innovations can also create a unique source of competitive advantage for the future. Encouraging innovative thinking, developing new innovations, and managing the processes by which those innovations are developed are critical aspects of today's firm. Consequently, research which aids in the creation and maintenance of innovative firms is an important topic of inquiry for research communities on innovation management, including the operations management and information systems communities. We review the literature in this important area and offer suggestions for future research on the following topics: innovation within a firm and across the supply chain, technology management, and new product and service development.     

Employee Voice Behavior: Integration and Directions for Future Research

Within organizations, employees continually confront situations that put them face to face with the decision of whether to speak up (i.e., voice) or remain silent when they have potentially useful information or ideas. In recent years, there has been a rapidly growing body of conceptual and empirical research focused on better understanding the motives underlying voice, individual, and situational factors that increase employee voice behavior, and the implications of voice and silence for employees, work groups, and organizations. Yet this literature has notable gaps and unresolved issues, and it is not entirely clear where future scholarship should be directed. This article, therefore, is an attempt to review and integrate the existing literature on employee voice and also to provide some direction for future research.     

中国本土管理研究的进路

随着经济全球化进程的加快, 本土管理研究的重要性日趋突显.然而,目前中国管理研究以引入西方管理理论为主,缺乏相应的本土管理研究.主要探讨了本土管理研究的目的,如何有效建立本土管理学,以及本土管理学的发展方向,以期对壮大本土研究有所裨益.认为本土管理研究主要有4种发展道路:发展创新的、具有文化普遍性及影响力的理论、开展单一文化或者跨文化本土研究,以及进行动态协同的跨文化研究.     

Flow Coordination and Information Sharing in Supply Chains: Review,Implications, and Directions for Future Research

Advances in information technology, particularly in the e‐business arena, are enabling firms to rethink their supply chain strategies and explore new avenues for inter‐organizational cooperation. However, an incomplete understanding of the value of information sharing and physical flow coordination hinder these efforts. This research attempts to help fill these gaps by surveying prior research in the area, categorized in terms of information sharing and flow coordination. We conclude by highlighting gaps in the current body of knowledge and identifying promising areas for future research.     

Performance Appraisal,Performance Management,and Firm-Level Performance: A Review,a Proposed Model,and New Directions for Future Research

Abstract

There has been a long history in management and industrial/organizational psychology of studying methods to improve performance at work. These efforts have traditionally been concerned with individual-level performance (with some attention paid to team performance as well); even when research began to more broadly consider the topic of performance management instead of just performance appraisal. However, the often unstated assumption was that, if an organization could effectively improve the performance of individual employees, this would accrue to improvements in firm-level performance as well. A review of the literature suggested that this link had never really been established in a direct way. Instead, we found considerable support for relating “bundles” of human resource (HR) practices to firm-level performance, and several models for how these practices could create the transformation from individual-level to firm-level performance. We drew upon several of these models, from somewhat diverse literatures, to propose a model whereby bundles of HR practices, when aligned with the strategic goals of the organization, can be used to create a climate for performance that could transform generic knowledges, skills, and abilities (KSAs) into specific KSAs needed to improve firm-level performance.     

Time and Organizational Learning: A Review and Agenda for Future Research

This paper examines the time dimensions of organizational learning. While several recent studies have addressed aspects of time in relation to organizational learning, the topic of time has received little attention in reviews of the field, and this promising domain of research is fragmented. The objective of this paper is to bring these dispersed conceptualizations and findings together and to provide a more solid conceptual foundation for the time dimensions of organizational learning as a new research avenue. Three sets of mechanisms are discerned: concerning time as duration; the timing of organizational learning; and the role of the past, present and future in organizational learning. Each of these perspectives offers unique insights, which when integrated can help map new directions for future research.     

Informal Mentoring at Work: A Review and Suggestions for Future Research

This paper reviews the literature on informal mentoring at work. Based on two basic premises of interpersonal relationships, it discusses four promising areas in current mentoring research that could be cultivated further by future research. The first premise that we hold is that relationships never exist in a vacuum. Traditionally, however, mentoring literature has often overlooked the context of mentoring. We propose that the developmental network approach can be further extended to gather more insight into the interplay between mentoring dyads and their context. Also, mentoring literature could pay more attention to temporal influences in mentoring studies. The second premise that is applied is that relationships are not only instrumental in nature. However, mentoring research to date has mostly applied a one‐sided and transactional view to mentoring. Relational mentoring theory could be helpful in examining relational motivations of both members. Also, mentoring literature can achieve more explanatory power by examining the underlying mechanisms of mentoring, next to social exchange principles, that cause these developmental changes. In summary, in each of these four research areas, we identify and discuss fundamental questions and developments in research that can advance mentoring theory and practice.