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Novelty and new firm performance: The case of employment systems in knowledge-intensive service organizations

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  • Jennings, Jennifer E.
  • Jennings, P. Devereaux
  • Greenwood, Royston

Abstract

This paper investigates a question at the core of entrepreneurship research: how does novelty affect new venture performance? We address this question for a type of factor-market innovation deemed critical in the contemporary economy: novelty in employment systems. Our longitudinal study of new firms in a knowledge-intensive service industry shows that the relationship between employment-system novelty and organizational productivity is curvilinear and U-shaped. We also find suggestive evidence that new firms with employment systems exhibiting discrepant degrees of novelty (i.e., combinations of highly conforming and highly novel practices) are less productive than those with coherent employment systems.

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  • Jennings, Jennifer E. & Jennings, P. Devereaux & Greenwood, Royston, 2009. "Novelty and new firm performance: The case of employment systems in knowledge-intensive service organizations," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 338-359, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:24:y:2009:i:4:p:338-359
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    5. Strohmeyer, Robert & Tonoyan, Vartuhi & Jennings, Jennifer E., 2017. "Jacks-(and Jills)-of-all-trades: On whether, how and why gender influences firm innovativeness," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 498-518.
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    8. Tan, Justin & Shao, Yunfei & Li, Wan, 2013. "To be different, or to be the same? An exploratory study of isomorphism in the cluster," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 83-97.
    9. Eric Yanfei Zhao & P. Devereaux Jennings & Masakazu Ishihara & Michael Lounsbury, 2018. "Optimal Distinctiveness in the Console Video Game Industry: An Exemplar-Based Model of Proto-Category Evolution," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 588-611, August.
    10. Jennifer E. Jennings & P. Devereaux Jennings & Manely Sharifian, 2016. "Living the Dream? Assessing the “Entrepreneurship as Emancipation†Perspective in a Developed Region," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(1), pages 81-110, January.
    11. Schultz, Patrick L. & Marin, Alejandra & Boal, Kimberly B., 2014. "The impact of media on the legitimacy of new market categories: The case of broadband internet," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 34-54.
    12. Conger, Michael & McMullen, Jeffery S. & Bergman, Brian J. & York, Jeffrey G., 2018. "Category membership, identity control, and the reevaluation of prosocial opportunities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 179-206.
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    14. Jacek WOŹNIAK, 2017. "Some Factors Hindering Acceptance of Three Gamification Solutions in Motivation Systems, in Small and Medium Enterprises," Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, College of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, vol. 5(4), pages 663-680, December.
    15. Mikael Hilmersson & Stylianos Papaioannou, 2015. "SME international opportunity scouting—empirical insights on its determinants and outcomes," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 186-211, September.
    16. Goldenstein, Jan & Hunoldt, Michael & Oertel, Simon, 2019. "How optimal distinctiveness affects new ventures' failure risk: A contingency perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 477-495.
    17. Delmar, Frédéric & Wallin, Jonas & Nofal, Ahmed Maged, 2022. "Modeling new-firm growth and survival with panel data using event magnitude regression," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(5).
    18. Rodolphe Durand & Robert M. Grant & Tammy L. Madsen & Eric Yanfei Zhao & Greg Fisher & Michael Lounsbury & Danny Miller, 2017. "Optimal distinctiveness: Broadening the interface between institutional theory and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 93-113, January.
    19. Juan Bu & Eric Yanfei Zhao & Krista J. Li & Joanna Mingxuan Li, 2022. "Multilevel optimal distinctiveness: Examining the impact of within‐ and between‐organization distinctiveness of product design on market performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(9), pages 1793-1822, September.
    20. Hai Guo & Jintong Tang & Zhongfeng Su, 2014. "To be different, or to be the same? The interactive effect of organizational regulatory legitimacy and entrepreneurial orientation on new venture performance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 665-685, September.
    21. Corsini, Filippo & Rizzi, Francesco & Frey, Marco, 2018. "Institutional legitimacy of non-profit innovation facilitators: Strategic postures in regulated environments," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 69-78.
    22. van Werven, Ruben & Bouwmeester, Onno & Cornelissen, Joep P., 2015. "The power of arguments: How entrepreneurs convince stakeholders of the legitimate distinctiveness of their ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 616-631.

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