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Is there a link between how a firm manages its internal and external stakeholders? More specifically, are firms that give employees stock ownership and more say in running the enterprise more likely to engage with external stakeholders? This study seeks to answer these questions by elaborating on mechanisms that link employees to external stakeholders, such as the community, suppliers, and the environment. It tests these relationships using a sample of 347 private, mostly small-to-medium size firms, which completed a stakeholder impact assessment organized by the non-profit B Lab. The results support the hypotheses that both employee ownership and employee involvement are positively associated with external stakeholder engagement. Further, we found that certification plays a role, as employee ownership contributes to external stakeholder engagement only in certified B Corporations, and not in firms that merely completed the B Lab Impact assessment. Our findings have import for stakeholder engagement frameworks, as we show that there is interplay between internal employee stakeholders and external stakeholders that may be important to overall firm-stakeholder management.

This study examined the interactive effects of workplace diversity and employee involvement on organizational innovation. Using a sample of 182 large Canadian organizations, we found a three-way interaction between level of employee involvement, variation in involvement, and racioethnic diversity on innovation. In organizations with high levels of employee involvement, high variation in involvement was associated with higher involvement levels among racioethnic minorities, resulting in a stronger association between diversity and innovation. Furthermore, the association between White employee involvement and innovation was significantly more positive under the condition of high involvement among racioethnic minority group members. Thus, ensuring high levels of involvement among members of historically marginalized racioethnic groups enhances the innovation effects of employee empowerment systems.

Purpose - The effects of lean on employees have been debated ever since the concept was introduced. The purpose of this paper is to review the scientific literature on the effects of lean on the working environment and employee health and well-being.Design methodology approach - Relevant databases were searched for studies of lean and the working environment. In total, 11 studies with quantitative effects of lean are included in this review. The methodology and results are analysed to extract information about lean and the effects on working environment.Findings - There is strong evidence for the negative impact of lean on both the working environment and employee health and well-being in cases of manual work with low complexity. However, since examples of positive effects were also found in the literature, it is important to move from a simple cause-and-effect model to a more comprehensive model that understands lean as an open and ambiguous concept, which can have both positive and negative effects depending on the actual lean practice used on the shop floor.Research limitations implications - The evidence remains limited with regard to the effect of lean on the working environment outside of manufacturing industry. The literature reflects, only to a limited extent, on the significance of implementation strategy and production context.Practical implications - Organizations working with lean should make efforts to avoid an impaired working environment for manual employees. Involvement of employees in lean's practical application is one possible way of developing a healthy working environment.Originality value - This is the first paper to make use of the existing research evidence to examine the complex and ambiguous relations between lean and the working environment.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between empowering leadership style and two types of open innovation: inbound and outbound. The intervening mechanism of employee involvement climate in these relationships is also investigated.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses data collected using a questionnaire survey from middle and top managers working in various firms in northern India.FindingsResults reveal that empowering leadership positively affects both types of open innovation. Thus empowering leadership supports followers to seek, integrate and diffuse new ideas and knowledge to improve open innovation outcomes. Further, the mediating role of employee involvement climate is established for empowering leadership-inbound open innovation link. This suggests that an empowering leadership style creates an employee involvement climate that empowers employees and involves them in relevant decision-making which consequently enhances a firms inbound open innovation performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study used a cross-sectional research design and a relatively small sample size. These limitations can affect generalizability of the findings.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to leadership and open innovation literatures and provides insights into how the practitioners can use an appropriate leadership style to maximize success in the open innovation paradigm. The study is one of the first to empirically shed light on this strand of open innovation research.

Purpose Although customer co-creation has received a significant amount of attention in both practice and academics, most of the previous studies have been conducted from the customer perspective while how service employees are involved in the customer value co-creation process has been rarely examined. To fill in this gap, the purpose of this paper is to develop a scale of employee involvement in customer value co-creation, and test a theoretical model that investigates the antecedents and consequences of employee involvement in customer value co-creation. Design/methodology/approach Based on a comprehensive literature review and 12 in-depth interviews with service employees, a scale of employee involvement in customer value co-creation was developed in Study 1. The items were purified, and the construct validity and reliability were evaluated via a survey (n = 178). In Study 2, the newly developed scale was cross-validated in a new service context and a conceptual model was tested by estimating a structural equation model with survey data collected from service employees (n = 225). Findings The newly developed scale of employee involvement in customer value co-creation has demonstrated sufficient construct validity and reliability across different service contexts. Moreover, the results show that both customer orientation and perceived organizational support are positively associated with employee involvement in customer value co-creation, which, in turn, influences employees’ job satisfaction and job stress. In addition, firm cross-functional cooperation strengthens the relationships between perceived organizational support and employee involvement in customer value co-creation. Research limitations/implications Future research from other service contexts and countries is needed to confirm the generalizability of the new scale and the findings. Practical implications The findings of the study will provide implications to service managers regarding where to focus their organizational resources and how to facilitate employee involvement in customer value co-creation. Originality/value This study takes an initial step to develop a scale of employee involvement in customer value co-creation and test the antecedents and consequences of employee involvement in customer value co-creation.

There is a scarcity of research exploring how the major aspects of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) influence individual and organizational performance. To fill this gap in the GHRM literature, the researchers undertook a systematic review of 66 articles to examine the ways in which different dimensions of organizational performance are influenced by various facets of GHRM. This systematic review identified prevalent themes in the literature centered on the five key aspects of GHRM: Green Performance Management, Green Compensation and Rewards, Green Recruitment and Selection, and Green Training and Development, and their impact on both sustainable employee and organizational performance. The review further revealed that Green Compensation and Rewards has been the subject of limited investigation, whereas Green Training and Development has received the most attention. Finally, a set of potential future research areas was identified, including various dimensions of organizational and individual performance and their relationship with GHRM practices.

PurposeThe current study aims to investigate the temporal mechanisms in HRM systems by focusing on how HRM systems evolve over time and how such changes affect organizational innovation.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on organizational entrainment theory to examine how pace of change in employee involvement programs (EIPs) influences innovation via data from an eight-year longitudinal survey collected by Statistics Canada. The final sample includes 15,679 workplace–year observations.FindingsThis research shows that the effects of HRM programs on performance are more than just the mean effect – the pace of change by which changes are implemented in HRM programs matters in the long run. The optimal level of change pace occurs when the EIPs are changing at a pace that entrains (or synchronizes) with organizational rhythm of strategic changes. Results suggest that change pace in EIPs has an inverted-U-shaped relationship with both pace and quality of innovation. The curvilinear effect is more pronounced for organizations with relatively lower mean level of EIPs.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, this study captures only key measures of the EIPs and may not be generalizable to other dimensions of the HR systems. Second, the results of this paper should be interpreted at the HR program level or bundles of HR practices – the findings may not be generalizable to lower levels of analysis. Third, as a result of annual measurement, this study cannot capture short-lived minor dynamic HR misfits where workplaces quickly adjust to regain alignment. Fourth, to attain meaningful and consistent measures of strategic HR change, this study only includes surviving workplaces with at least five years of observations.Practical implicationsThis paper provides insights to managers and business leaders on how to implement strategic changes in HRM systems effectively to attain sustained innovation outcomes in the long run. To achieve an optimal level of innovation, organizations need to consider not only what and how many EIPs should be used but also how to strategically change EIPs to meet dynamic internal and external changes.Originality/valueThe current research introduces organizational entrainment theory to explain and empirically test the conflicting predictions of the universalist and contingency perspectives on the effects of strategic changes in HRM.

PurposeThis study aims to propose a novel research model to test the nexus between green human resource management processes, strategic excellence and the sustainability of educational institutions in Iraqi academic settings.Design/methodology/approachThis examination in Iraqi higher education is finalised across three key stages: determining the knowledge gaps, reviewing the literature and building the hypothesised conceptual model. A case study complemented by a quantitative methodology using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) was performed.FindingsGreen human resource management processes significantly impact the sustainability of Iraqi educational institutions through their strategic excellence.Originality/valueThis research provides new insights into green human resource management processes, strategic excellence and the sustainability of educational institutions in emerging economies such as Iraq.

Purpose – This paper aims to study front-line employees’ contribution to service innovation, when they contribute and how they are involved in service innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on a multiple-case study on service innovation in four organizations with extensive front-line employee involvement. The main data collection methods are interviews and observations. Findings – The paper suggests that front-line employees contribute customer knowledge, product knowledge and practice knowledge during five phases of the service innovation process – project formation, idea generation, service design, testing and implementation – and that front-line employee involvement ranges from active to passive. Research limitations/implications – Statistical generalization of the results is needed. Practical implications – The paper reveals that early and active front-line employee involvement in the service innovation process creates conditions for a positive contribution to service innovation. Originality/value – The paper suggests that early and active knowledge contributions by front-line employees to the service innovation process are associated with the creation of attractive value propositions.

Purpose: The role of the top management in Quality Management System (QMS) is undeniable and emphasized by many researchers. On the other hand, the employees' involvement is recognized as one of the main prerequisites for improvement of QMS. Although investigated to a certain extent, the influence of the top management and the employees' involvement on the successful transition from ISO 9001 QMS to TQM is still a vague area. The main objective of the presented research is to investigate the influence of top management commitment on the state of QMS, through optimal management of employees' motivation. Design/methodology/approach: In order to identify the influential factors, a comprehensive literature survey was conducted, followed by survey of the companies in the food industry in the Republic of Macedonia. The selected influential factors on QMS and employee motivation are used as initial set of variables for creation of the dynamic model. Findings: As a result, the findings demonstrate how the top management can influence on the state of QMS and implementation of TQM practices in a shorter period of time. In that sense, numerous experiments with SD model have been carried out and most appropriate ratio of coefficient of commitment of top management has been determined. Originality/value: The model represents a kind of a platform for further analysis in direction of improvement the QMS towards the TQM under the influence of employees' motivation.