This study represents one of the earliest attempts to bring together two siloed paradigms viz. design thinking and knowledge management process capabilities to propose a novel ambidextrous approach for developing dynamic capabilities in individuals. An alternative conceptualization of connection between design thinking and dynamic capabilities has been unfolded by empirically establishing that the effect of design thinking on dynamic capabilities of individuals is indirect and realized through the development of knowledge management process capabilities. Through rigorous statistical analysis, including subgroup analyses based on gender, design thinking training, and work experience, the study provides valuable insights for individuals and organizations seeking to cultivate dynamic capabilities. The newly developed assessment instruments can be used to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for development in these areas.

Authors examine the impact of potential repatriation taxes on U.S. multinationals’ pre-2018 tax planning actions and capital structure policies. We construct a proxy for exogenous changes to repatriation tax rates and find that repatriation-tax-sensitive multinationals are more likely to pursue tax-free repatriation techniques, with examples provided. We also find a positive relationship between repatriation tax increases and both bond issuance and debt ratios, but only for repatriation-tax-sensitive multinationals. These results are concentrated in firms with lower costs of debt capital, while no increased likelihood of inversions is found. Our findings have important implications for current and proposed U.S. tax policies.

Firms face significant challenges in effectively training employees in adopting complex information systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP). Gamified training has emerged as a promising means to address these challenges. Despite this, prior research has paid little attention to the factors affecting the effective use of gamified training. This study aims to identify the determinants of the effective use of gamified training. Based on technology affordances, coping, and gamification literature, the study proposes that team-based gamification affordances (e.g., collaboration and competition affordances) affect coping responses (e.g., task-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidance coping), leading to effective use. We utilized the ERP simulation game to empirically test the research model, employing a multi-study approach comprising two studies (Study 1 = 255 participants, Study 2 = 219 participants). Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Our results indicate that collaboration affordance significantly affects task-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidance coping. However, competition affordance influenced only task-focused coping. We also found that task-focused and emotion-focused coping affected effective use. This study contributes to IS literature by highlighting gamification affordances and coping responses as important predictors of effective use in gamified training, leading organizations and IS scholars to design impactful and engaging gamified training programs.

What is needed for organisations to succeed in digital transformation, and what is its advantage? Motivated by the ongoing high amount of failing digital transformations, this study identifies necessary predictors and outcomes of this prominent matter on the macro level. Drawing on strategic capabilities as enablers for the redefinition of business value and organisational identity in the digital era, we propose that the complementary synergies of strategic capabilities empower digital transformation success, improving firm performance. The results support the proposed model using structural equations modelling with multi-data from 154 organisations and complementary objective data. This study identifies synergistic facilitators for digital transformation success by providing an integrated portfolio of complementary capabilities (i.e., outside-in, spanning, and inside-out orientation). The study also contributes to IS research by offering a measurable conceptualisation of digital transformation success. In addition, findings empirically show the association between digital transformation success and firm performance to enable further investigations in the IS field. Finally, from the study's findings, practical implications can guide organisations toward digital transformation success and firm performance.

In interpersonal communication, humans tend to mimic one another verbally and non-verbally, producing beneficial outcomes for the mimicker. The growth in online communication has moved many manager-customer interactions from in-person to a virtual environment visible to others. Thus, we investigate whether and how managers’ conscious mimicking of wording from consumers’ online reviews affects the purchase intentions of third-party readers of the exchange. We propose that mimicking is a signal of the firm’s attentiveness that increases trust, resulting in increased purchase intentions. A series of experimental studies support this hypothesis under varying conditions, such as whether the valence of the customer’s communication is positive or negative, or the frequency of the use of mimicry varies. An examination of field data finds that the use of mimicry increases the ratings of subsequent reviews. Thus, we provide managers with a straightforward tool that can increase consumer trust, purchase intentions, and subsequent review ratings.

Prior literature shows that how creditors monitor borrowers and exercise control rights affect borrowers’ investment and financial policies, but little is known about their impact on borrowers’ operating decisions. The availability of a credit default swap (CDS) reduces creditors’ monitoring incentives ex ante but increases their liquidation incentives in the events of default ex post. After the inception of CDS trading, reference firms exhibit an increase in the elasticity of cost structure. Results are consistent in instrumental variable analyses and are robust with alternative matching samples. The increase in cost structure elasticity is more pronounced for firms with greater credit risk and more restrictive covenants, financially constrained firms, and those face greater product market competition and provide higher convexity in managers’ compensation. We provide the first evidence showing that managers choose a more elastic cost structure when creditors become less forgiving.

This paper examines whether common ownership along supply chains (i.e., vertical shareholding) is associated with better firm performance during supply chain shock. We find that supplier-customer dyads with vertical shareholding report higher combined monthly returns since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The dedicated common investors have the most positive effects, followed by the common quasi-indexers.

We use the dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) model to estimate daily-frequency mutual fund betas. Compared to traditional estimates, daily betas better capture changes in fund risk stemming from daily fund trading activity. Based on these beta estimates and a two-stage estimation procedure, we find significant evidence of market timing ability among actively managed U.S. equity funds that is not apparent via standard approaches. Unlike traditional measures, our timing estimates correlate positively with fund performance. Market timing is especially evident during down markets, with successful timers exhibiting low downside risk. Timing ability persists across time and attracts investor flows.

The paper bridges the contours of neuroscience and entrepreneurship to unveil the neuronal path to transfigure entrepreneur-level capabilities into enterprise-level capabilities without holding a priori assumptions about serendipity or application of the aggregation principle. It reveals that neural mechanisms through which efforts of entrepreneurs are aggregated and exploited at the enterprise level—mirror neuron system and neuroplasticity—do not represent a fortuity, but conscious endeavors on the parts of both entrepreneurs and the enterprise to bridge these distances. In doing so, this paper explains how the brains of various entrepreneurial actors can be trained like muscles, and how they can achieve bio-behavioral synchrony to facilitate such neurochemical changes in their brain wiring that induce cognitive, affective, and conative aspects of opportunity identification, opportunity exploitation, and successful reconfiguration, which are essential for an entrepreneurial brain. Moreover, the paper demonstrates how mirror neuron system can become the gateway to neuroplasticity and how this cross-modal matching can assist entrepreneurial actors in developing their capabilities. The conceptual framework proposed explains how entrepreneurial actors, and consequently, the enterprise, can move towards a more plastic mode of operation, one that helps disrupt the brain’s homeostasis to achieve enterprise plasticity, and ultimately develop robust enterprise-level capabilities.

Several manuscripts are adopting knowledge-based dynamic capabilities (KBDCs) as their main theoretical lens. However, these manuscripts lack consistent conceptualization and systematization of the construct. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to advance the understanding of KBDCs by – (a) clarifying the dominant concepts at the junction of knowledge management and dynamic capabilities domains, (b) identifying which emerging themes are gaining traction with KBDCs scholars, (c) demonstrating how the central thesis around KBDCs has evolved, and (d) explaining how can KBDCs scholars move towards finding a mutually agreed conceptualization of the field to advance empirical assessment.