How geographic diversity and collaborative breadth prevent knowledge leakage during open innovation processes

Drawing upon insights from knowledge-based theory and the learning perspective, we explore safeguarding strategies in open innovation. Geographic diversity and collaborative breadth can effectively protect proprietary innovations that limit knowledge leakage concerns. Using a cross-industry sample from the Taiwanese Technological Innovation Survey III (TTIS III), which covered 1519 firms, we investigate the conditions under which partnership portfolios affect radical innovation. Our findings suggest that the partnership portfolio has an inverted U-shaped influence on radical innovation and that this relationship is moderated by geographic diversity and collaborative breadth. This work identifies a balance in the tension between diverse partnership portfolios and knowledge leakage with regard to open innovation activities. This study provides senior managers with an indication of the relationships between partnership portfolios and innovative knowledge protection, identifying the geographic diversity and collaborative breadth that serve as safeguards to prevent leakages of a firm’s innovative knowledge. This study makes an original contribution to the empirical exploration of innovation knowledge protection and provides new insights into the field of open innovation. We thus balance the tension between partnership portfolios and knowledge leakage

Three-Way Interaction Effect of Job Insecurity, Job Embeddedness and Career Stage on Life Satisfaction in A Digital Era

Along with the severe global employment challenges caused by the rapid rise of digital technologies, the job insecurity (JI)−life satisfaction (LS) association has attracted increasing attention. However, there is still a dearth of studies investigating the crucial boundary conditions of JI−LS relationships in non-Western contexts. To fill this gap, we choose China, the world’s largest emerging economy, which is undergoing a radical digital transformation, as our research setting. Building on the conservation of resource (COR) theory, we focus on exploring two critical buffers of the JI−LS mechanism, of which job embeddedness (JE) characterizes a significant psychological resource and career stage embodies the time dynamics of this model. Data were collected from a sample of 317 Chinese media organization employees and were analyzed by the moderated hierarchical multiple regression approach. Our results show that JI is negatively related to LS and this relationship becomes stronger when employees have low JE (vs. high). Further, this two-way interaction is moderated by career stage; the impact of JI on LS is (1) stronger only for mid−late career stage employees who experienced low JE, and (2) weaker also only for mid−late career stage employees who experienced high JE. This study enriches the existing body of knowledge on the JI−LS model by highlighting the three-way interaction effect of JI, a critical psychological resource (i.e., JE), and time effect (i.e., career stage) on LS; it implies that older people with a certain amount of career experience and resource accumulation may perceive the effect of JI on LS differently than younger people

Crafting Jobs for Occupational Satisfaction and Innovation among Manufacturing Workers Facing the COVID-19 Crisis

China’s manufacturing employees are confronted with unprecedent occupational and innovation challenges caused by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis coupled with the pressure of being replaced by digital technologies. To gain a better understanding of the rising occupational uncertainty during this critical time, based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, we examined the associations of employees’ job crafting behaviors (JCB) with their occupational satisfaction and innovation workplace behavior (IWB), as well as the mediating effect of work engagement on the above relationships. The final usable data were obtained from the formal survey of 311 employees of six manufacturing companies that have returned to work amid COVID-19. Structural equation modelling was adopted to analyze the data. Results show that employees’ JCB strengthens their occupational satisfaction and IWB via work engagement. Theoretically, our research enriches the existing body of knowledge about JCB from a cross-disciplinary angle integrating the perspectives of career and psychology. Practically, we offer valuable first-hand evidence about how manufacturing employees conducted JCB to re-orient their careers and to innovate in the face of the high unemployment situation

How Does the Paradoxical Leadership of Cross-Border e-Commerce (CBEC) Gig Workers Influence Chinese Company Performance: The Role of Psychological Well-Being

Cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) has attracted interest in the global marketplace. Meanwhile, CBEC gig workers have changed CBEC enterprises’ business models, eliminated outdated enterprises, and reset organizational structures. Consequently, CBEC enterprises must adopt new approaches to promote company performance (CP). However, in Chinese CBEC companies, the psychological well-being (PW) of gig workers is largely ignored. Although some enterprises have paid attention to this problem, the leadership is often not in line with the psychological reality of gig work. Moreover, few studies have focused on the impact of paradoxical leadership (PL) on gig workers’ PW in the CBEC industry. Therefore, this study investigates the link between gig workers’ PW and organizational performance under PL based on survey data from CBEC enterprises in China. Data were collected from a survey of 346 employees of CBEC enterprises in China. Results showed that PL exerts a significant positive impact on CP. The PW of Chinese CBEC gig workers positively mediates the relationship between PL and CP. Under different dynamic environmental conditions, CBEC enterprises in China should adopt appropriate leadership methods to improve their performance. This study provides new theoretical and practical perspectives for understanding the management of gigs in Chinese CBEC companies

How Does the Paradoxical Leadership of Cross-Border e-Commerce (CBEC) Gig Workers Influence Chinese Company Performance: The Role of Psychological Well-Being

Cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) has attracted interest in the global marketplace. Meanwhile, CBEC gig workers have changed CBEC enterprises’ business models, eliminated outdated enterprises, and reset organizational structures. Consequently, CBEC enterprises must adopt new approaches to promote company performance (CP). However, in Chinese CBEC companies, the psychological well-being (PW) of gig workers is largely ignored. Although some enterprises have paid attention to this problem, the leadership is often not in line with the psychological reality of gig work. Moreover, few studies have focused on the impact of paradoxical leadership (PL) on gig workers’ PW in the CBEC industry. Therefore, this study investigates the link between gig workers’ PW and organizational performance under PL based on survey data from CBEC enterprises in China. Data were collected from a survey of 346 employees of CBEC enterprises in China. Results showed that PL exerts a significant positive impact on CP. The PW of Chinese CBEC gig workers positively mediates the relationship between PL and CP. Under different dynamic environmental conditions, CBEC enterprises in China should adopt appropriate leadership methods to improve their performance. This study provides new theoretical and practical perspectives for understanding the management of gigs in Chinese CBEC companies