Anand Nair

Purpose: This study aims to develop a new typology of crises to illuminate how firms manage different innovation configurations during them. From a paradoxical perspective, we integrate insights from problemistic search logic and threat-rigidity logic to theorize paradoxical innovation configurations within each type of crisis in our typology. Design/methodology/approach: Based on time (imminent vs. latent) and space (internal vs. external) dimensions, we develop a typology of crises (i.e. imminent internal crises, latent internal crises, imminent external crises, and latent external crises). Using the configurational theorizing approach and case studies, we develop propositions for paradoxical innovation configurations within each type of crisis. Findings: In the time dimension, imminent (latent) crises trigger short-term (long-term) innovation as the primary response, supplemented by long-term (short-term) innovation. In the space dimension, internal (external) crises require knowledge-deepening (knowledge-broadening) innovation as the primary response, supplemented by knowledge-broadening (knowledge-deepening) innovation. Overall, imminent internal crises foster short-term knowledge-deepening innovation as the primary approach, supplemented by long-term knowledge-broadening innovation; while latent external crises foster long-term knowledge-broadening innovation as the primary approach, supplemented by short-term knowledge-deepening innovation. For imminent external crises and latent internal crises, either configuration (short-term knowledge-deepening innovation supplemented by long-term knowledge-broadening innovation, or vice versa) is possible, and the specific choice depends on the slack resources available to firms. Originality/value: Our study extends the literature on organizational crises by theorizing the coexistence of negative (i.e. survival threats) and positive (i.e. development opportunities) framing, which shapes firms' paradoxical innovation configurations as a response. In particular, we develop a new typology of crises to offer novel and fine-grained insights into the different innovation configurations under distinct types of crises.

Purpose: This study addresses the inconsistent evidence on whether environmental, social, and governance (ESG) hinders or enhances performance. Drawing on the practice-based view (PBV) and the competitive progression theory (CPT), we argue that this inconsistency stems from how firms approach sustainability, prioritizing ESG reporting over the operational foundation for ESG integration. We conceptualize this foundation as Operational Excellence (OE), a firm-wide commitment to excellence through the persistent adoption of multiple practices and theorize that OE results in ESG adoption and effectiveness. We also hypothesize about the mediating effect of OE-driven ESG adoption on performance. Design/methodology/approach: Using a longitudinal panel of 3,394 U.S. manufacturing firm-year observations (2010–2023), we apply System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to test the role of OE in ESG adoption and effectiveness. To capture the key elements of our OE conceptualization, we consider the breadth (number of practices) and persistence (the consistency of adoption over time). Several robustness tests are conducted to ascertain the findings. Findings: OE facilitates sustainability engagement and the adoption of a broad range of ESG practices. It also enhances ESG effectiveness, as performance gains occur when ESG practices are grounded in prior OE. Results reveal a sequential pattern: firms first adopt OE practices, then ESG practices, leading to improved performance. This reflects temporal mediation, where OE influences performance through ESG practices. Originality/value: We conceptualize OE as a firm-wide commitment to excellence that underpins ESG effectiveness—enabling ESG to improve performance by being fully integrated into core operations and aligned with other practices.

Purpose: The article has three objectives. First, drawing on transaction cost economics (TCE), it examines the mediated relationship between asset dedication and the benefits that suppliers derive from customer relationships by means of legal contracts. Second, drawing on relational exchange theory (RET), it examines the moderating effect of both personal loyalty and personal conflict on the relationship between suppliers’ asset dedication to customers and the extent of legal contracts. Thirdly, it investigates how these interpersonal dynamics moderate the link between the extent of legal contracts and the benefits that suppliers derive from customer relationships. Design/methodology/approach: Survey data was obtained from 506 managers or senior managers of Australian small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), which in Australia are defined as organizations with less than 200 employees. Findings: We found support for a mediated relationship between asset dedication and the benefits that suppliers derive from customer relationships through the extent of legal contracts. Contrary to our hypothesis, the results show that personal loyalty strengthens the relationship between asset dedication and the extent of legal contracts, while personal conflict does not show any moderating effect. Further, as expected, the results show that personal loyalty diminishes the relationship between the extent of legal contracts and the benefits derived by suppliers, while personal conflict enhances the relationship. Practical implications: The findings call for attention to firms that rely on their representatives in managing interorganizational relationships. Firms need to establish a solid system that provides clear behavioral guidelines for the firms’ representatives when negotiating with other firms in order to limit the influence of personal and subjective issues on business matters. Furthermore, legal contracts will help ensure the fulfillment of the goal of interorganizational relationships in situations of personal conflict. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, integrating TCE and RET, this is the first study to examine the interaction between interpersonal and interorganizational relationships within a supply chain context. Specifically, our findings highlight the dual role of personal loyalty in contract formation and contract enforcement with it strengthening the former and weakening the latter.

Challenged by constrained healthcare resources, hospitals encounter barriers to accommodating patient demand during public health emergencies. Building on a comprehensive literature review of information and knowledge exchange in healthcare, disaster management, and humanitarian operations management, this study explores the influence of treatment‐based medical countermeasures (T‐MCM) on ICU bed utilization during the Covid‐19 pandemic, investigating whether participation in a regional health registry (HReg) facilitates better management of care capacities. We use a difference‐in‐differences approach with propensity score weighting to analyze a panel dataset of 735 observations from Michigan hospitals, finding that health systems that used T‐MCMs experienced modest reductions of 1.8% of ICU bed utilization. However, the reduction increased by an additional 27.1% among hospitals that participated in the HReg. Hospitals that used T‐MCMs without HReg participation experienced a 10.8% increase in ICU bed utilization, suggesting resource overload. These results underscore the importance of adaptive learning and strategic investment in information‐sharing infrastructures to optimize healthcare delivery during crises. We discuss theoretical, managerial, and policy implications when managing healthcare capacity during pandemics.

As the world becomes increasingly reliant on open‐source software (OSS) development platforms, collaborative communication networks are becoming more complex, resulting in non‐trivial effects on project performance. This study examines the impact of communication network characteristics on project performance, measured in terms of the number of issues closed within OSS projects. Additionally, this research examines how this project outcome is affected by project managers' active participation in these communication networks. Using a panel dataset of 1599 projects spanning 104 weeks, with a total of 120,243 observations, we find that the density of communication network has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with project performance, that is, as the density of the communication network formed by team member interactions increases, project performance initially increases but then starts to decrease. Meanwhile, a project manager's participation in the communication network has no direct positive impact on project performance, but it flattens the inverted U‐shaped relationship, that is, it reduces the rate of decrease in project performance after the density of the communication network formed by project team members crosses the inflection point. These results provide valuable insights into the dynamics of communication networks in OSS projects and can help develop strategies for improving project performance.

This study examines inter-firm buyer–supplier relationships through an ethical lens. Drawing on the concept of reciprocity in social exchange theory as well as resource dependence theory, we examine the effect of customers’ unethical practices on their suppliers’ intention to continue their business relationships with their customers. Specifically, we distinguish two types of unethical practices: unfair business practices, which directly target suppliers and socially irresponsible practices, which have an impact on wider society. Integrating social exchange theory and resource dependence theory, we investigate the effects of two moderating factors: suppliers’ dependence on their customers and the benefits derived from the supplier–customer relationship. Using data obtained from 506 managers from small-to-medium-sized firms, our findings show that both customers’ unfair business practices and socially irresponsible practices have negative relationships with their suppliers’ intention to continue the relationships. These effects are moderated by supplier dependence and benefits derived from their customers. Overall, our study shows that intention to continue in these relationships, in response to unethical practices by customers, is bounded by supplier self-interest and resource dependence. Our study is one of the few to examine suppliers’ responses to unethical practices and our findings are consistent with the notion of weak reciprocity, rather than strong reciprocity that predominates in the literature.

Disasters affect hundreds of millions of people every year and the response of governments is crucial in alleviating the suffering of those affected. Despite the importance of contracting in response to disasters, research on this topic is conspicuous by its absence. This paper begins to address this gap by investigating the choice of procurement contract type by US federal agencies during disaster management operations. The research relies on 47,560 contracts issued by the US federal government in response to 14 major disasters between 2005 and 2016. We build on agency theory to investigate the choice of the contract type made by federal agencies at the different stages of a relief operation. This research provides empirical evidence of the key factors underpinning the choice of contract in the context of disaster management, namely the amount of spend per contract and the type of acquisition (product or service), and reveals the moderating role of the stage of the relief operation.

Ensuring continuity of care for patients after an intensive hospitalization episode is a complex dilemma that plagues the US health‐care system. Despite its influence on health outcomes such as mortality and readmissions, it is difficult to construct policy instruments such as report cards or penalties for improving continuity of care due to the fragmented nature of post‐intensive hospitalization care. However, policy instruments that target other related health outcomes can also benefit continuity of care. We examine whether a quality regulation that penalized hospitals for excess readmissions has implications for an unregulated aspect, that is, continuity of care through intra‐ailment and spillover effects. Intra ‐ailment effects occur from the effects of penalty regulation on the continuity of care of ailments targeted for regulation. Spillovers occur from the effects of penalty regulation on continuity of care for ailments that were not targeted by the policy but share complementarities with targeted ailments. We conduct difference‐in‐differences analyses using patient‐level data for 2004–2014 from the state of California. Our empirical strategy utilizes the nature of the hospital production function, which is organized by medically related specialties. We construct three cohorts of patients, all of whom belong to specialties that house the ailments targeted for readmission penalties. These include (1) ailments targeted by the penalty policy for readmissions, (2) closely related, non‐targeted ailments, and (3) unrelated ailments. Results reveal evidence of intra‐ailment effects, which manifest as increases in continuity of care of targeted ailments, and spillovers, which manifest as increases in continuity of care of non‐targeted but related ailments. We find that processual mechanisms, such as the source of patient admissions and length of stay, and structural mechanisms, such as system size, accentuate the intra‐ailment effects. Our study provides novel insights into how quality regulation can have intra‐ailment and spillover effects and bespeaks the importance of incorporating these effects in the regulatory benefit‐cost calculus.

Low‐income markets have unique constraints that trigger the co‐evolution of innovation and disruption in such markets. When disruptions occur in global supply chains, and in particular, in low‐income markets, they spur innovations that may be necessary to address both existing and potential future disruptions. However, such innovations in turn create disruptions to existing supply chains, and they may also create new supply chains. Therefore, this study theorizes in support of the mutual causality between innovation and disruption in low‐income markets. The focus is on low‐income market contexts because of the unique opportunities and constraints that exist in these contexts, resulting in interesting and unique dynamics between innovation and disruption. Further, the mechanisms through which innovation‐disruption mutual causality occurs—as well as the boundary conditions for these mechanisms—are identified. This culminates in a theoretical framework surrounding the interrelationship between disruption and innovation in low‐income markets. Theoretical and practical implications are explored, and potential areas for future research are delineated.