Work conformity as a double-edged sword: Disentangling intra-firm social dynamics and employees' innovative performance in technology-intensive firms

IF 5.5 Q1 MANAGEMENT

Asia Pacific Management Review Pub Date : 2023-02-09 DOI:10.1016/j.apmrv.2023.01.003

Yu-Yu Chang , Wisuwat Wannamakok , Yi-Hsi Lin

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Abstract

Employees' innovative performance determines an organization's long-term sustainability and competitive advantages, particularly in the technology sector. Drawing on social exchange and work conformity theory, we investigate how employees' informational and normative conformity relates to their innovative performance through the lens of instrumental and expressive ties. R&D managers and professional-level employees from Taiwan's 2000 largest high-tech firms participate in the survey. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling with a valid sample of 399 responses from the participants. The findings reveal that, through the mediating roles of instrumental and expressive ties, employees' informational conforming behaviors promote their innovative performance. In contrast, normative conformity may reduce employees' innovative performance by weakening their social ties. Conformist behaviors have long been deemed as the inhibitor of creativity and innovation. Nevertheless, this study adopts a social exchange perspective and clarifies how conformity can both promote and hinder professional employees' innovative performance by affecting their social networking. The paper concludes with managerial implications, discussion, and recommendations for future research.

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工作从众是一把双刃剑:技术密集型企业内部社会动态与员工创新绩效的关系分析

员工的创新表现决定了一个组织的长期可持续性和竞争优势，尤其是在技术领域。利用社会交换和工作从众理论，我们通过工具关系和表达关系的视角，研究了员工的信息从众和规范从众如何与他们的创新绩效相关。台湾2000家最大的高科技公司的研发经理和专业级别的员工参与了调查。使用结构方程模型对来自参与者的399个有效样本进行假设检验。研究发现，员工的信息顺从行为通过工具性纽带和表达性纽带的中介作用，促进了员工的创新绩效。规范从众会削弱员工的社会联系，从而降低员工的创新绩效。从众行为一直被认为是创造力和创新的抑制剂。然而，本研究采用社会交换的视角，阐明从众如何通过影响职业员工的社交网络来促进和阻碍职业员工的创新绩效。本文总结了管理意义、讨论和对未来研究的建议。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Asia Pacific Management Review MANAGEMENT-

CiteScore

8.00

自引率

4.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： Asia Pacific Management Review (APMR), peer-reviewed and published quarterly, pursues to publish original and high quality research articles and notes that contribute to build empirical and theoretical understanding for concerning strategy and management aspects in business and activities. Meanwhile, we also seek to publish short communications and opinions addressing issues of current concern to managers in regards to within and between the Asia-Pacific region. The covered domains but not limited to, such as accounting, finance, marketing, decision analysis and operation management, human resource management, information management, international business management, logistic and supply chain management, quantitative and research methods, strategic and business management, and tourism management, are suitable for publication in the APMR.