The role of task conflict in cooperative innovation projects: An organizational learning theory perspective

Leader instigated task conflict and its effects on employee job crafting; the mediating role of employee attributions

The role of leaders in conflict management remains the favorite area of researchers. This study aims to introduce a unique role of leaders in conflict named as leader instigated task conflict. We proposed that leader instigated task conflict promotes job crafting behaviors of employees by considering attributions regarding leader instigated conflict as mechanism for this relationship. Data were collected from 247 employees working in teams in marketing departments of different organizations across Pakistan. Data analyses was conducted through multilevel structural equation modeling. Findings revealed that leader instigated task conflict is positively related to promotion-focused job crafting and negatively related to prevention-focused job crafting via the mediating role of constructive conflict instigation attribution and destructive conflict instigation attribution respectively. The current study contributes to the literature on conflict by suggesting that leaders can be a source of task based conflict to achieve its positive outcomes. However, employee attributions play a vital role in achieving the positive outcomes of leader instigated task conflict, hence leaders must be careful about shaping constructive attributions of followers regarding their conflict instigation behavior in order to promote constructive behavioral responses of employees.

Research on the social capital, knowledge quality and product innovation performance of knowledge-intensive firms in China

Given the importance of social capital for the success of knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs), scholars have investigated how social capital promotes product innovation through knowledge transfer. However, in contrast to the quantity of transferred knowledge, the role of knowledge quality has been largely ignored. Drawing on the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm, this study explores the influences of structural, relational, and cognitive social capital on product innovation and the mediating role of knowledge quality. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted from firm executives and core members of R&D department and data of 159 Chinese KIFs were obtained. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used for hypotheses testing. The results reveal that relational capital and cognitive capital have positive effects on product innovation performance, which are mediated by knowledge quality. However, the effect of structural social capital on knowledge quality is not significant. The results contribute to literature on firm innovation by examining how social capital indirectly affects product innovation performance through the quality of transferred knowledge. Moreover, the conclusions can help top management of KIFs to design more effective informal knowledge management approaches according to differentiated effects of three types of social capital on knowledge quality.

Discussões sobre aprendizagem em projetos: um estudo bibliométrico

O objetivo dessa pesquisa é apresentar o que está sendo estudado sobre aprendizagem em projetos. Nesse caso, utilizamos a base de dados Scopus para levantamento dos estudos, considerando as principais revistas da área de Gerenciamento de Projetos. A pesquisa se iniciou a partir de uma análise bibliométrica, com levantamento de 256 artigos e, após filtros e ajustes, foram considerados 48 artigos na amostra final. Após análise fatorial exploratória, chegamos a cinco fatores, relacionados à aprendizagem em projetos, o que indicou as frentes de pesquisas para revisão sistemática. Como resultado, identificamos que a aprendizagem individual, a aprendizagem entre projetos e a aprendizagem em organizações baseadas em projetos foram os tópicos de concentração abordados nas pesquisas nos últimos dez anos. No que diz respeito à contribuição desta pesquisa, entendemos que esses temas ajudam pesquisadores e a comunidade de Gestão de Projetos na compreensão das bases teóricas e suas relações com a aprendizagem em projetos, indicando, assim, novas possibilidades de estudos. 

How Servant Leadership Drives Project Team Performance Through Collaborative Culture and Knowledge Sharing

Drawing on social learning theory, this research compared and tested how two distinct mediating mechanisms—collaborative culture and knowledge sharing—influence the servant leadership–project team performance relationship. Survey data were collected from 275 employees representing 70 project teams, and multilevel structural equation modeling was adopted to test the hypotheses. The findings indicated that collaborative culture fully mediates, whereas knowledge sharing does not mediate, the servant leadership–project team performance relationship. These findings reveal collaborative culture as the intervening mechanism that translates servant leadership to project team performance. For project-based organizations, the research puts forth theoretical and practical implications.