European Management Journal最新文献

We examine idea championing as a key intermediary process of the idea journey linking idea generation and idea implementation in teams. Building upon multilevel framework of emergence we theorize about how compositional and compilational emergence of idea generation along with idea championing behaviors translate team members’ creative ideas into team-level innovative solutions. We adopt a two-study research design including a two-wave two-source field study (309 employees nested into 92 teams with direct supervisors) and an experimental study (423 students nested into 79 teams) to test our conceptual model. The results of field study show that team innovation process featuring strong compilational (selected actor-maximum) idea generating followed by compilational idea championing leads to best team-level innovative solutions. Using a sociometric approach as a part of an experimental study, we further show that individuals exhibiting the strongest idea generating activity are also significantly more likely the ones engaging in most intense idea championing behavior. While having team members exhibiting such exceptional behaviors is relatively more effective in an unstructured team innovation setup, structured idea journey setups result in better team-level innovative solutions, when idea championing behaviors are more equally distributed among team members. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

This study explores how resilience is activated in pairs fostering innovation. On the one hand, a growing body of literature affirms pairs as a form of collaboration adept at instigating and developing breakthrough innovations. On the other hand, innovation inevitably entails failures and setbacks requiring resilience to thrive. As such, numerous scholars call for investigating how resilience works at different level of analysis in organizations: while much has been said at the individual and organizational levels, the literature is mostly silent on how resilience is activated and emerges through social connections. Therefore, this study explores how resilience emerges, and how it is nurtured and sustained in pairs facing innovation crises. Our multiple case study using data from ten innovation pairs in different industries shows that a pair's intimate environment enables resilience, and this intimacy activates two dynamics. First, it facilitates compassionate witnessing, the creation of cohesiveness within the pair, and mutual engagement to move forward. Second, it enables relational redundancy with actors both within and outside the pair's reference group, which is crucial to understanding who to trust and which direction to pursue. From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to the literature on resilience and pairs. From a managerial perspective, our study suggests relying on pairs as a possible form of collaboration to nurture resilience in innovation.

The political turmoil, civil war, economic crisis, and breakdown of the political systems in the Middle East and many African countries led to the global refugee crisis in 2015. Since then, policymakers and academics have recognized the entrepreneurial potential of refugees. Compared to migrants, due to forced displacement, refugees face significant adversities, such as psychological trauma and substantial institutional barriers. Consequently, refugee entrepreneurs need to develop and maintain a high degree of resilience to pursue an entrepreneurial path despite adversities. However, previous studies have treated resilience as a mere personal trait of refugees, neglecting its multi-layered, dynamic aspect. Against this background, this study examines how refugee entrepreneurs' resilience emerges and develops, and it analyzes the factors that influence the maintenance of their resilience. Based on 52 interviews with refugee entrepreneurs in Germany, this study finds that the fragile, unstable nature of refugees' resilience depends on various factors at the individual, relational, and institutional levels during venture development. Based on the findings, we theorize the dynamic process view of refugee entrepreneurs’ resilience.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the benefits of walking interviews in organizational research. We discuss five specific strengths of walking interviews and compare them to sit-down interviews and shadowing. Cognisant of the importance of place within which research is conducted, we analyze the walking interview method of collecting research material, and we put forward socio-spatial methodology for application in organizational research. The key theme running through this paper is that the place where research takes place matters; it matters when the focus of research is on materiality of organizations, but it also yields insights into other (place-sensitive) organizational phenomena. We identify five strengths of walking interviews: co-creation of meaning, reversal of power between interviewer and interviewee, places as prompts, the interview as a sensory experience, and insights into emotions. We discuss limitations of walking interviews, as well as strategies for mitigating these limitations.