دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی چگونه تهییج انگیزه، استعداد رشد یافته را جذب می کنند؟ نقش واسطه ای یادگیری کارکنان - الزویر 2018

ABSTRACT

This study explores the antecedents of a firm's absorptive capacity by examining the role of innovation incentives. Building on expectancy theory and equity theory, we argue that innovation incentives enhance absorptive capacity through promoting employees learning; and the effectiveness of incentives is positively moderated by teamwork (i.e., horizontal relation) but negatively moderated by transformational leadership (i.e., vertical relation). To test our hypotheses, we employ a multi-respondent research design based on a sample of 102 Chinese automotive companies. The results show strong support for the hypotheses and demonstrate the positive impact of innovation incentives on a firm's absorptive capacity through the mediating role of employee learning, as well as the moderating effect of the relational context in shaping the influences of innovation incentives.

5. Discussion and conclusion

Building on expectancy and equity theories, we examine how innovation incentives facilitate firms' AC. The results based on a multirespondent survey of Chinese automakers highlight the mediation role of employee learning, as well as the importance of the relational contexts in shaping employees' subjective perceptions of justice that significantly influence the effectiveness of incentives. These findings note three pertinent issues for theory and management practices.

First, we contribute to the literature on the antecedents of absorptive capacity, a dynamic capability critical to organizational innovativeness and long-term success (Lane et al., 2006; Zahra & George, 2002). Given the distinction between organizational capability and motivation, as well as the growing interest in microfoundation of capabilities among strategic management researchers (Foss, 2011), this study establishes the motivation-capability link by examining the critical role of employees in developing AC, echoing the idea that AC “is inherently a multi-level construct, the capability to absorb knowledge ultimately resides within individuals, while synergies are manifested at the organizational level” (Minbaeva et al., 2013, p. 7). We find that innovation incentives can facilitate the development of firms' AC, and such positive effect is achieved through promoting employee learning. Inspired by Zahra and George (2002), who divide AC into its potential and realized components, later studies suggest that each component of absorptive capacity may be influenced by a different set of antecedents (e.g., Ebers & Maurer, 2014; Jansen et al., 2005). We conduct additional analyses and find that the effect of incentives largely holds across different AC sub-dimensions (although the mediation role of employee learning seems to have decreased from potential to realized components of AC). This provides further evidence to suggest that managers aiming to develop AC should consider adopting innovation incentives in firms.