Absorptive capacity for need knowledge: Antecedents and effects for employee innovativeness

Innovation occurs when knowledge about unmet customer needs intersects with knowledge about technological solutions. Both knowledge types are often located outside the firm and need to be absorbed in order for innovation to occur. While there has been extensive research into absorptive capacity for solution knowledge, a necessary complement ? absorptive capacity for new customer needs ? has been neglected. In an individual-level study of 864 employees from a home appliance firm, we show that need absorptive capacity is theoretically and empirically distinct from solution absorptive capacity, and that both are positively associated with employee innovativeness. Interestingly, we find asymmetric extra-domain effects: prior solution knowledge is positively related to need absorptive capacity (cross-pollination effect), while prior need knowledge is negatively related to solution absorptive capacity (attenuation effect). We contrast the cognitive underpinnings of the two absorptive capacity types, contributing to emerging scholarly thinking on the domain-specificity and micro foundations of absorptive capacity.     

锺嵘《诗品》谢惠连条疏证

谢惠连才华横溢但生年不永,其五言名作《秋怀诗》和《捣衣诗》从结构、语言到情感表达皆显示出精巧的构思,可与谢灵运诗相媲美。其诗歌多借鉴南朝乐府民歌的表现手法和艺术特色,风格具有创新性,受到锺嵘的肯定与赞扬。锺嵘将谢惠连诗置于中品,评价可谓恰当。     

Understanding Teacher Change: A National Survey of U.S. Physical Educators

Physical education is critical to addressing childhood obesity, yet many school-based programs do not meet established quality standards and teachers are called upon to change. Little is known about how change is initiated and its associated internal and external factors. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate physical education teacher change that was self-initiated and externally initiated and to examine dispositions toward the change process relative to initiation. Method: A random national sample of physical educators representing each SHAPE America – Society of Health and Physical Educators regional district participated in a survey measuring past programming changes, primary initiators of change, and teachers’ dispositions toward change. In total, 2,423 teachers (46% response rate) completed electronic, paper, or telephone questionnaires. Results: Teachers most often made minor curriculum changes, and they added/subtracted student assessments (primarily informal assessments) least often. Self-initiated (bottom-up) change was most frequently (83.1% of the time) reported. Externally initiated (top-down) changes were less frequent and were most often associated with professional development. Teachers reported principals’ involvement in both top-down and bottom-up change processes was minimal. Teachers who were more disposed to making future changes reported making significantly (p < .01, η² = .046–.119) more past changes than those who were less disposed to change. Conclusions: Physical education teachers primarily self-initiated minor programming changes without involvement from administration. Externally initiated change was infrequent and mostly involved professional development. Dispositions toward change were individual and enduring such that teachers who had made more past changes were more likely to also make future changes.     

Predicting adventure seeking of young adults: The role of risk,innovativeness and status consumption

Extreme sports continue to grow and attract young adults. Research is needed to better understand what motivates athletes to participate in the adventure seeking of extreme sports beyond the need for thrills. The results of a survey utilizing a sample of young educated adults, those more likely to be able to fund adventure seeking, finds that those who are more innovative in the domain of extreme sports and who are less risk averse are more likely to participate in adventure seeking activities. The motivation to consume for status plays a key mediating role between innovativeness, risk aversion, and adventure seeking which suggests that status consumption is a vital individual difference variable in understanding and reaching the adventure seeking young adult. Furthermore, there is no difference by gender in the model tested. The implications for sport marketing managers and future research are discussed.     

模块化生产网络中的新产品绩效

从企业模块化战略对新产品绩效的影响出发,探索技术模块化、产品模块化与流程模块化三者间逻辑关系;其次通过对产品创新性和制造敏捷性的中介效应的发掘,力图揭示模块化策略对新产品绩效的影响机理,最后形成了一个模块化生产网络中新产品绩效的研究框架模型。研究发现:在本土模块化新产品开发企业主导的产品模块化生产网络中,产品技术模块化推动产品模块化发展,且产品模块化提升产品制造流程的模块化水平;产品模块化及技术模块化通过显著提升产品创新性,进而间接提振新产品绩效。