This paper assesses the impact of perceived HRM practices on organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and whether leader membership exchange (LMX) mediates this relationship. The required research data were retrieved from four different departments within a logistics and supply chain management organisation. The results show that there is a significant relationship between the HRM practices as perceived by a subordinate and their level of organisational citizenship behaviour. The relationship that subordinates have with their frontline manager (LMX) acts as a significant mediator. In the final section, of this paper the findings are discussed and recommendations for future research and practical implications are given.
In this mixed methods study, a moderated mediation model predicting effects of leader-member exchange (LMX) and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) on innovative work behaviors, with employability as a mediator, has been tested. Multi-source data from 487 pairs of employees and supervisors working in 151 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) supported our hypothesized model. The results of structural equation modelling provide support for our model. In particular, the benefits of close relationships and high-quality exchanges between employee and supervisor (LMX), and fostering individual development as a result of employees’ OCB have an indirect effect on innovative work behaviors through positive effects on workers’ employability. Innovative work behaviors depend on employees’ knowledge, skills, and expertise. In other words, enhancing workers’ employability nurtures innovative work behaviors. In addition, we found a moderation effect of organizational politics on the relationship between employability and innovative work behaviors. Secondly, qualitative methods focusing on experiences of the antecedents and outcomes of employability were used to complement our quantitative results. All in all, this study has important consequences for managerial strategies and practices in SMEs and call for an awareness of the dysfunctional effect of perceived organizational politics.
Energy transition is key to achieving a sustainable future. In this transition, an often neglected pillar is raising awareness and educating youth on the benefits, complexities, and urgency of renewable energy supply and energy efficiency. The Master Energy for Society, and particularly the course “Society in Transition”, aims at providing a first overview on the urgency and complexities of the energy transition. However, educating on the energy transition brings challenges: it is a complex topic to understand for students, especially when they have diverse backgrounds. In the last years we have seen a growing interest in the use of gamification approaches in higher institutions. While most practices have been related to digital gaming approaches, there is a new trend: escape rooms. The intended output and proposed innovation is therefore the development and application of an escape room on energy transition to increase knowledge and raise motivation among our students by addressing both hard and soft skills in an innovative and original way. This project is interdisciplinary, multi-disciplinary and transdisciplinary due to the complexity of the topic; it consists of three different stages, including evaluation, and requires the involvement of students and colleagues from the master program. We are confident that this proposed innovation can lead to an improvement, based on relevant literature and previous experiences in other institutions, and has the potential to be successfully implemented in other higher education institutions in The Netherlands.
This project establishes a collaborative network centered around the Amsterdam Museum, comprising key stakeholders from prominent cultural institutions, including the Centraal Museum Utrecht and the Rotterdam Museum. The consortium is designed to explore the transformative potential of co-creation in museums, focusing on enhancing visitor engagement, fostering inclusivity, and integrating digital technologies into cultural practices. Key personnel will provide interdisciplinary expertise in communication and cultural heritage, facilitating a robust understanding of stakeholder dynamics and collaborative processes. The research aims to analyze how co-creation can bridge the gap between museums and their diverse audiences, creating a sense of ownership and connection. Initial observational findings suggest that co-creation practices significantly enhance visitor experiences while revealing stakeholders' desires for deeper collaborative opportunities. To achieve these objectives, qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic observations will be employed, delivering rich insights into the impact of co-created programming. An essential output of this project will be an academic publication aimed at foundational research on effective co-creation practices within the cultural sector. Furthermore, the consortium will pursue a larger grant application to secure sustainable funding for ongoing research initiatives, ensuring the long-term viability and impact of this collaborative network. This will not only advance academic discourse but also facilitate knowledge transfer between academia and museums, enriching cultural engagement strategies. Ultimately, the project aspires to enhance the visibility and societal relevance of cultural institutions, fostering innovative solutions to contemporary challenges through collaborative research and community involvement.
Collaborative networks for sustainability are emerging rapidly to address urgent societal challenges. By bringing together organizations with different knowledge bases, resources and capabilities, collaborative networks enhance information exchange, knowledge sharing and learning opportunities to address these complex problems that cannot be solved by organizations individually. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the apparel sector, where examples of collaborative networks for sustainability are plenty, for example Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals, and the Fair Wear Foundation. Companies like C&A and H&M but also smaller players join these networks to take their social responsibility. Collaborative networks are unlike traditional forms of organizations; they are loosely structured collectives of different, often competing organizations, with dynamic membership and usually lack legal status. However, they do not emerge or organize on their own; they need network orchestrators who manage the network in terms of activities and participants. But network orchestrators face many challenges. They have to balance the interests of diverse companies and deal with tensions that often arise between them, like sharing their innovative knowledge. Orchestrators also have to “sell” the value of the network to potential new participants, who make decisions about which networks to join based on the benefits they expect to get from participating. Network orchestrators often do not know the best way to maintain engagement, commitment and enthusiasm or how to ensure knowledge and resource sharing, especially when competitors are involved. Furthermore, collaborative networks receive funding from grants or subsidies, creating financial uncertainty about its continuity. Raising financing from the private sector is difficult and network orchestrators compete more and more for resources. When networks dissolve or dysfunction (due to a lack of value creation and capture for participants, a lack of financing or a non-functioning business model), the collective value that has been created and accrued over time may be lost. This is problematic given that industrial transformations towards sustainability take many years and durable organizational forms are required to ensure ongoing support for this change. Network orchestration is a new profession. There are no guidelines, handbooks or good practices for how to perform this role, nor is there professional education or a professional association that represents network orchestrators. This is urgently needed as network orchestrators struggle with their role in governing networks so that they create and capture value for participants and ultimately ensure better network performance and survival. This project aims to foster the professionalization of the network orchestrator role by: (a) generating knowledge, developing and testing collaborative network governance models, facilitation tools and collaborative business modeling tools to enable network orchestrators to improve the performance of collaborative networks in terms of collective value creation (network level) and private value capture (network participant level) (b) organizing platform activities for network orchestrators to exchange ideas, best practices and learn from each other, thereby facilitating the formation of a professional identity, standards and community of network orchestrators.
