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Collaborative innovation requires space for different parties to meet, exchange information, engage in dialogue, and eventually create new solutions. Despite the increased scholarly and practical interest, understanding how such spaces are initiated and sustained remains scarce. In this study, we focus on a national data economy initiative to investigate a virtual and mental space where relevant and interested cross‐sectoral parties can join, share information and identify shared interests for research and development in the data economy. We investigate the early phases of collaborative innovation through the lens of liminality and show how individuals' sensemaking narratives manifest the different dimensions of liminality. We contribute to the research on collaborative innovation and spaces by theorising liminality in the context of our paper as a three‐dimensional concept of confusion–clarity, isolation–communal, and stagnation–movement that creates a threshold for collaborative innovation. Our study offers a more nuanced understanding of the less studied, yet critical, early phase of collaborative innovation, hence contributing to the research and practice of the emergence of collaborative innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this paper, the authors describe the step-by-step approach used to develop a trust-repair construct and a valid measurement scale for assessing employee perceptions of the most effective employee trust-repair practices. Design/methodology/approach: The initial employee trust-repair scale (ETRS) was completed by 282 employees of a non-profit organization and validated by 101 employees of the administrative unit of the Finnish Army. Findings: The 14-item seven-factor model was found to be reliable, valid and stable across the samples. Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to the current literature on trust repair by presenting the first validated measure for employee trust repair. Practical implications: The findings provide a valuable instrument for practitioners to assess the state of employee trust-repair practices. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study in an organizational context demonstrating an operationally valid and comprehensive measure for employee trust-repair practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the work realm moves toward digital environments, the antecedents of knowledge worker digital creativity remain poorly understood. This study investigated the digital work environment as a sociotechnical environment and contextual enhancer of knowledge worker digital creativity. We proposed a research model that links perceived organizational support, sense of virtual community and digital creativity. Furthermore, we proposed an indirect moderation model suggesting that the relationship between organizational support and digital creativity is moderated by the sense of virtual community that, in turn, is facilitated by technology ease of use. We tested the model with data collected from platform knowledge workers (N = 159) using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that organizational support positively relates to digital creativity, and that the sense of virtual community moderates the effect of organizational support for digital creativity, whereas technology ease of use facilitates a sense of virtual community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how the transition to remote work during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is experienced by employees. We investigate to what extent perceived work stressors relate to psychological strain through perceptions of social support, work–life conflict, and adjustment to remote work. The findings expound the mechanisms underlying psychological strain in the context of sudden organizational change. Specifically, this study shows that both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors have negative impact on adjustment to remote work, whereas hindrance stressors are more strongly negatively related to social support. The study further demonstrates that there is hardly any buffering impact of job control, work structuring, and communication technology use on the implications of these work stressors. These findings contribute to our theoretical understanding and provide actionable implications for organizational policies in facilitating employees' adaptation to remote work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of virtual community trust on work engagement and person–job fit in the context of digital work platforms. The emergence of the platform economy is changing the work environment fundamentally. It has enabled the appearance of alternative work arrangements, such as temporary organizing and the increase of independent contracting, also among highly specialized knowledge workers. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected with an online survey and used to test the relationships between virtual community trust, work engagement and person–job fit. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the goodness of a theoretical model. Findings: Based on the data of 127 experts contracting on digital work platforms, virtual community trust positively affects both work engagement and person–job fit. In addition, the relationship between work engagement and person–job fit in the context of digital work platforms is significant and positive. Practical implications: This study shows that trust among independent contractors working on digital platforms is important for work engagement and that platform providers can improve work performance through person–job fit by assisting in the creation of trust among members of their platforms. Originality/value: The research literature on knowledge work in the changing context of work is scarce, and the role of trust in the context of digital work platforms needs clarification. This paper tests a theoretical model on the effects of trust among highly skilled experts working in the digital platform context as independent contractors and provides evidence for the importance of building trust among members of a virtual work community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organization-sponsored sharing platforms extend the sharing economy to workplaces by connecting employees in a private online community where they can socially exchange goods and services with coworkers. Employees share costs but do not earn income during this collaborative consumption. Furthermore, employers pay for their employees to have access to the platform technology and any related transaction fees. Trust is a crucial antecedent for engagement on sharing platforms because it helps mitigate risks during collaborative consumption. However, the literature on trust in the sharing economy has focused almost exclusively on platforms that broker peer-to-peer rental transactions rather than social exchanges. There is also a lack of research about providers' perspectives. We address these gaps by investigating the nature of trust among employees who initially provide goods and services on an organization-sponsored sharing platform. We also explore how these employees' initial trust influences their collaborative consumption with coworkers. Through abductive analysis of 22 interviews with 15 providers on an organization-sponsored sharing platform, we shed light on how employees initially develop trust when providing goods and services to coworkers. By integrating prior research on initial trust among employees and cognitive framing with in-depth qualitative insights, we develop a conceptual model depicting how identity, interaction and issue frames shape these providers' beliefs about coworker trustworthiness and intended sharing strategy. In particular, our empirical findings reveal that employees' social categorization, illusions of control and engagement motive framed their initial trust and enactment of collaborative consumption as citizens in a community or consumers in a marketplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Trust and control through contracting have been juxtaposed in many studies addressing interorganizational collaboration and knowledge exchange. In this study, the authors move from the opposite ends of a continuum between trust as an attitude and control exercised through formal contracts toward the center of the continuum where trust and contracting start to show similar features. The authors ask how trust in its analytical form and control gained through establishing informal protection for knowledge assets affect the innovation and market performance of firms engaged in research and development (R&D) alliances. Design/methodology/approach: The authors examine the existing literature and conduct a quantitative empirical study to answer the research question. Findings: The authors find, first, that controlling an organization's own knowledge assets in R&D alliances with informal means of protection can be more effective than a strategy of controlling the alliance through formal contracts. Second, the authors find that an analytical audit of partner trustworthiness, and especially partner capabilities and goodwill can be more effective than trust as an attitude. Research limitations/implications: The findings support softening the sharp distinction between trust and control and provide evidence on the relevance of highlighting the firm point of view in knowledge management in R&D alliance governance. Originality/value: The study adds to the existing understanding of trust and control in R&D alliance governance. Specifically, the authors turn the focus from interorganizational governance to intra-organizational knowledge management measures, and particularly toward how a focal actor can take an analytical approach to evaluate partner trustworthiness and use informal control in protecting its own knowledge assets. Consequently, this study also provides a plausible explanation for the contradictory findings in studies that examine the relationship between trust and control. The study indicates that depending on the specific nature of trust and control, they can be either a complement or a supplement factors: the extreme forms of trust and control are notably different from those forms that share similar features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Innovation-form or I-form organization and the knowledge-based theory of the firm. An overview of the evolution of business and organizational models in the economic eras of standardization, market segmentation, and market exploration, the emergence of the innovation era and the I-form organization in the 1970s, the examples of entrepreneurial collaboration at Syndicom and Blade.org which are collaborative communities of firms, the governance structure of I-form organizations, and collaborative knowledge sharing are discussed.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how Chinese and Finnish managers in cross-cultural supply-chain relationships evaluate their business partners’ trustworthiness and distrustworthiness.Design/methodology/approach Representatives of two Finnish companies and their Chinese and Finnish suppliers were interviewed to collect qualitative data from 23 managers.Findings The Chinese managers emphasized relationship-specific, personalized trustworthiness. They highlighted personalized communication and benevolence, which manifested in respect and reciprocity, rooted in the Chinese notion of “guanxi” as personal ties. In contrast, the Finnish managers’ view of trustworthiness was more associated with depersonalized organizational attributes. They emphasized the dimension of integrity, especially promise-keeping. In addition, tentative signs of trust ambivalence, as a balance between trust- and distrust-related factors, were identified for both the Chinese and the Finns.Research limitations/implications Due to the exploratory nature of this study the validity of the findings is limited to these data and context. Future studies could explore other national contexts as well as the effects of industry, market position, and position in the supply chain.Practical implications The findings of this study bring a valuable understanding of the potential pitfalls and unique challenges in cross-border inter-firm transactions. These can enhance inter-firm trust building in a cross-cultural context.Originality/value This study enriches the view of trust as a holistic process of simultaneous evaluation of both trustworthiness and distrustworthiness. In this process, trust ambivalence could serve as the intermediate construct between trust and distrust. These two contrary yet complementary opposites constitute a duality to be managed from the perspective of yin-yang balancing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study how the motivation in firms to safeguard the prerequisites of innovation relates to the strength of the employee-related protection mechanisms that deal with knowledge leaking and knowledge leaving, and the moderating effect of organizational trust in the relationship.Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses were tested on a sample collected in Finland from 80 companies engaged in R&D. A partial least squares was used for the analyses.Findings Knowledge leaking and leaving from a firm can be approached with both formalized and soft types of employee-related mechanisms; that the motivation to secure innovativeness positively relates to both forms; and that the presence of organizational trust is especially effective in reinforcing employee-related practices that can prevent knowledge leaving.Research limitations/implications The data were gathered in a single western European country and that may have affected the results.Practical implications The managers would do well to introduce both formalized and soft forms of protection so as to mitigate the effects of knowledge both leaving and leaking. Building on the findings of this study, managers could prioritize between the different categories and mechanisms depending on the market and industry they operate in.Originality/value This study adds to the literature by studying quantitatively the employee-related protection mechanisms and the effect of organizational trust in the usage of those mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that different human resource (HR)-related practices and mechanisms play a role with regard to knowledge and innovation protection. We further suggest that the relationship between the protective HR mechanisms-softer and harder, more or less restrictive forms-and innovation performance is affected by contingency factors, especially organizational trust. Theoretical and empirical examination indicates that the different HR mechanisms are associated with improved innovation performance. Furthermore, according to the findings, trust exerts a positive moderating effect when access to knowledge needs to be limited within the firm boundaries with the help of restrictive mechanisms and when the commitment increasing soft mechanisms are used to limit knowledge leaving. Furthermore, we find a negative moderating effect when legal, hard HR mechanisms direct the use of knowledge within the firm. Hence, the current study interprets trust as a contingency factor capable of enhancing collective understanding of the need for knowledge protection. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how the propensity to trust, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation drive the intentions of individuals to share knowledge in idea crowdsourcing. Building on motivation theories and Uses & Gratifications (U&G) approach, we conducted a web-based survey within IdeasProject, an open innovation and brainstorming community dedicated to harvesting ideas. Based on a sample of 244 users, our research shows that the key driver of knowledge-sharing intentions is made up of two intrinsic motivations - social benefits and learning benefits. We also found that recognition from the host company affects intention to share knowledge. From the management point of view, the relative importance of social integrative benefits calls for better facilities available for users to be able to help each other in formulating and developing their ideas. Learning and creativity could be inspired by feedback from professionals and experts, while providing insight into technological advances and features dealing with the current tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper approaches manager's storytelling as a means for promoting organizational aims and for constructing leadership, and examines the intentions of managers in this process. We focus on the context of storytelling and the content of the stories told by managers in order to identify areas of influence on subordinates. Storytelling in relation to building a narrative identity for the manager is also studied. Design/methodology/approach – This is an exploratory empirical study that draws on 13 thematic interviews with Finnish managers working in different fields. A qualitative thematic analysis is used in order to analyze the data. Findings – As a result of the study we found that managers tell stories in order to evoke leadership characterized by six areas of influence: motivation, inspiration, defusing conflict, influencing superiors, discovering a focus and constructing trust. According to the findings, the managers see stories as an effective means of building trust between leaders and their subordinates. It was also found that managers can use stories self-reflectively and as a means of self-development. Practical implications – Storytelling can empower leadership and support interaction with subordinates. One application of this study is informing elements of leadership development such as business education programmes for managers and future managers. Originality/value – Narrative leadership is a highly valued but still under-researched approach to leadership. This study seeks to fill this gap in the research by providing an empirically based contribution to the field, emphasizing the intentional nature of storytelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing stream of research unraveling individual motivations to participate in idea crowdsourcing and online user communities. While the current research has largely focused on individual user characteristics and overlooked the features of surrounding communities, our research turns the focus onto the actual community where knowledge is shared and created. We investigate the relationships between perceived support from a crowdsourcing community, and the users' intentions to share knowledge. Our research is based on a survey of 241 Chinese users of IdeasProject and shows that (1) for com-munity trust, trust in the hosting firm has a significant effect on knowledge-sharing intentions, while collaborative norms do not; (2) for community support, both technology-based support and knowledge-based support have an effect on knowledge-sharing intentions. From a community management viewpoint, our results demonstrate the importance of providing continued support for knowledge integration, such as more opportunities for user-to-user interaction and features for providing constructive feedback [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to identify key capabilities in knowledge-intensive service business. Current service research lacks evidence on this topic, since knowledge-intensive services constitute a very heterogeneous group, making the identification of key capabilities challenging. To bridge this gap, a conceptual framework is developed, integrating discussion on knowledge intensity with the classical service features. Empirical data are collected from two case firms with the help of focus groups, theme interviews and a survey. Based on the developed framework and analyzed data, we identify four specific capability categories of knowledge management, service productization, project management, and relationship orchestration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – Modern organizations face an increasing need for trust, yet there are fewer opportunities for the development and maintenance of interpersonal trust, so they cannot rely only on that. There is therefore a need for complementary forms of organizational trust. It is believed that the impersonal element of organizational trust is a useful concept and should be incorporated into the measures. This paper seeks to conceptualize and clarify the impersonal element of organizational trust and develop scales on which to measure it. Design/methodology/approach – The hypothesized model is tested on a sample of 166 respondents with different organizational backgrounds. Confirmatory factor analysis is used. Findings – It was found that impersonal trust in the organizational context consists of two dimensions: capability and fairness, the final scales containing 18 and 13 items, respectively. Research limitations/implications – A more holistic approach to organizational trust is proposed and a measuring instrument for the impersonal element is provided. Practical implications – It is suggested that organizational trust is critical for contemporary organizations. Further evaluation and development of the concept require a comprehensive measurement instrument incorporating both interpersonal and impersonal elements. This paper identifies the conceptual domain for the less studied impersonal element of organizational trust, and provides a measurement scale. Originality/value – The construct of impersonal trust and the measurement scale developed and validated in this study represent a step forward towards the effective and reliable measurement of organizational trust. To the best of the researchers' knowledge, this is the first study to provide a comprehensive, psychometrically sound, operationally valid measure of impersonal trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we sketch a "problem-based perspective" of the service business, following the latest theoretical developments in the field of the knowledge-based view of the firm and the related problem-solving perspective. In particular, we approach services as "problems to be solved" for and with the customer. Our paper outlines a framework in which the knowledge processes regarding service delivery are conceptualized on two axes: 1) the intensity of knowledge sharing and co-creation of services between the provider and the customer and 2) the nature of the problem-solving process regarding the service delivery. Based on the developed conceptual framework, we provide implications concerning the organizing of various types of services in terms of the different problem- solving processes they require. Furthermore, after identifying the distinctive problem-solving processes with the help of the typology, theoretical and practical implications for service and knowledge management are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics of relational and contractual governance mechanisms in vertical buyer-supplier R&D projects requiring both knowledge sharing and protection. Prior literature has recognised the mutual impact of relational and contractual governance on knowledge sharing, but treats the linkages in a rather static way. This research introduces a more explicit process perspective, and combines four concepts: trust, relational norms, contracts and intellectual property rights (IPRs). The paper concentrates on the roles and interplay of both types of mechanisms in the different project phases. We collected qualitative interview data from four buyer-supplier R&D collaboration projects, each pair serving as a unit of analysis. Our findings indicate that both contractual and relational governance mechanisms play a role in buyer-supplier R&D collaboration but their relative importance varies according to the collaboration phase. Whereas in the exploration phase trust may even substitute contractual governance, both mechanisms support each other in the development phase. Contractual mechanisms are emphasised in the finalisation phase, although relational mechanisms also play a role. The lesson for management understanding is that both types of mechanisms should be considered simultaneously throughout the collaboration process. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of culture in university–industry R&D collaboration and knowledge interaction in the context of multinational corporations in China. Earlier university–industry studies focus primarily on one-way technology and knowledge transfer; however, the present study argues that in the studied context more interactive types of knowledge interaction like knowledge co-creation should be of key concern. The main challenge of the R&D collaboration lies in the understanding of culture in general and Chinese guanxi (interpersonal relationship) in particular in collaborative knowledge creation, in which the dominant type of knowledge involved is most often tacit, future oriented, complex and context-specific. This is particularly important when dealing simultaneously with multi-disciplinary applied research where cultural challenges appear prominent. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores orchestration capability as a concept defining the firm's ability to purposefully build and manage innovation networks. Due to the lack of empirical research on the subject as well as the focus on the organizational level in earlier studies, we approach the issue from a multi-level perspective. By utilizing expert panel discussions and an in-depth case study in an innovation network, we show that orchestration capability consists of both organizational and individual level determinants. Distinct capabilities and skills are identified and illustrated. Furthermore, we identify mechanisms suggesting that the two levels are interconnected in several ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of the dimensions of organisational trust on organisational innovativeness in a relatively large survey sample of the information and communication technology (ICT) and paper and pulp industries in Finland. Design/methodology/approach – Organisational trust is deemed to consist of both interpersonal and impersonal types of trust. The empirical part of the study shows the relationship between various types of trust and dimensions of organisational innovativeness. Quantitative empirical analysis is based on a survey of 40 organisational units and 214 respondents within the ICT and paper and pulp industries. Findings – The impact of different types of organisational trust on dimensions of organisational innovativeness was analyzed. The results imply that the impersonal form in particular, namely institutional trust, has an important role in determining organisational innovativeness. Research implications – This study contributes both to the literature on organisational innovativeness, as well as to the emerging theory on trust, in its approach to trust as not only an interpersonal issue, but also as something with impersonal aspects. Practical implications – It is suggested that managers should pay special attention to impersonal forms of trust, i.e. to the institutional dimension of organisational trust. Above all, institutional trust and its development could be seen as a strategic question for companies. Originality/value – This study makes a significant theoretical contribution by examining the linkages between various dimensions of organisational trust and organisational innovativeness, which have previously been studied only to a very minor extent. It thus provides a richer understanding of the relationship between organisational trust and innovativeness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of trust, asymmetry and contracting in R&D collaboration. At best, asymmetry brings major benefits to collaborating firms, but it may also become the basis of dissimilar orientation towards informal and formal governance methods, which makes managing the collaboration and reaching goals more complex. These issues are studied among 87 small Finnish ICT firms and the findings indicate that drawing overly straight generalizations on the roles of trust, contracting and asymmetry in R&D collaboration is risky. They all are closely bound together, affect each other differently, and have multiple dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Virtual teams offer the potential for the efficient combination of a dispersed workforce and the potential for leveraging diffuse knowledge and skills effectively for collaborative innovation. Information technology plays an important role in virtual teams, but virtual teamwork also involves significant social redesign. Trust is argued to be an important component in team development and effectiveness, and within this paper we explore the role and development of trust in the early stages of a virtual team. • On the basis of findings from a web-based questionnaire and interviews with global virtual team members in a major telecommunications company it appears that communications technology supports relationship building in tasks related to information sharing and storing and relational communication to a lesser degree. The antecedents of trust in the virtual team identified are similar to the antecedents of trust in a traditional collocated team context, and it appears that virtual team leaders and members approach virtual teams as an extension of traditional teamwork. • On the basis of the research results it is argued that relational communication and psychosocial factors such as trust, commitment and communication play an important role in the functioning of virtual teams. It is also suggested that where virtual team leaders and members attempt to approach virtual teams as an extension of traditional team-work, many of the potential benefits may not be realized while much of the expense related to virtual teamwork remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the authors delineate the challenges of a dynamic environment to R&D management. The authors build on most recent ideas, such as the dynamic capability view of the firm, as strategic foundation for modern R&D management. Collaboration is emphasized as a meta-capability for innovation. These ideas are merged into a‘Networked R&D Management’ approach that emphasizes internal and external collaboration networks as critical for companies operating in a dynamic business environment. The approach is illustrated with ICT industry as an example. The implementation of Networked R&D Management is reflected in the illustrative case discussion of R&D management of Sonera Corporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]