Publication database

Drawing on identity and social comparison theories, we propose and test a model of motivation to lead based on two types of self-to-role comparisons (i.e., self-comparisons with specific leaders and with more abstract representations of the leadership role). We propose that these comparisons imply different identity verification purposes and have different consequences on the motivation of individuals. The results obtained by using structural equation models and response surface techniques among a sample of 180 executives support our predictions. We hypothesize and find that a perceived similarity with a significant leader has a positive effect on the motivation to lead and that this relationship is mediated by self-efficacy perceptions. We also find that the affective, but not the social-normative component, is higher when there is self-role congruence with respect to leadership dimensions such as “power” and “affiliation”. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for leadership and the subjective fit at work.

Technology diffusion processes are often said to have critical mass phenomena. We apply a model of demand with installed base effects to provide theoretically grounded empirical insights about critical mass. Our model allows us to rigorously identify and quantify critical mass as a function of installed base and price. Using data from the digital cellular telephony market, which is commonly assumed to have installed base effects, we apply our model and find that installed base effects were generally not strong enough to generate critical mass phenomena, except in the first cellular markets to introduce the technology.

With permission of Elsevier

This paper analyzes the strategic use of bilateral supply contracts in sequential negotiations between one manufacturer and two differentiated retailers. The first main result is that, despite the feasibility of general supply contracts which are functions of own quantity (but cannot be contingent on the rival's quantity), the first contracting parties have incentives to manipulate their contract to shift rent from the second contracting retailer and these incentives distort the industry profit away from the fully-integrated monopoly outcome. The second main result is that if the contract terms between the manufacturer and the first retailer can be renegotiated from scratch in the event that the second retailer has no agreement, then the monopoly outcome can be achieved, often with full rent extraction from the second retailer. Moreover, there are conditions under which renegotiation from scratch yields higher joint profit for the firstly contracting parties than no renegotiation. These results do not depend on the type of retail competition, the level of differentiation between the retailers, the order of sequential negotiations, the level of asymmetry between the retailers in terms of their bargaining power vis-à-vis the manufacturer, or their profitability from being the monopoly retailer.

With permission of Elsevier

Users often interact and help each other solve problems in communities, but few scholars have explored how these relationships provide opportunities to innovate. We analyze the extent to which people positioned within the core of a community as well as people that are cosmopolitans positioned across multiple external communities affect innovation. Using a multimethod approach, including a survey, a complete database of interactions in an online community, content coding of interactions and contributions, and 36 interviews, we specify the types of positions that have the strongest effect on innovation. Our study shows that dispositional explanations for user innovation should be complemented by a relational view that emphasizes how these communities differ from other organizations, the types of behaviors this enables, and the effects on innovation.

© 2012 INFORMS

The importance of intellectual property (IP) rights for commercializing innovation is well established. Moreover, separate streams of literature have shown a positive relationship between IP rights and both product licensing and third-party (especially VC) financing. However, since raising third-party finance enables an innovating firm to continue commercializing its innovation alone, it is not clear how obtaining IP rights will impact the choice between licensing product rights and continuing to commercialize the product alone. This paper attempts to reconcile these two alternative effects of obtaining IP rights and the implications for commercialization strategy. The paper empirically examines the relationship between the status of the primary patent covering an innovation and whether the innovating firm’s licenses its innovation or raises external finance. The results show that while filing and allowance of the primary significantly increases the likelihood of raising finance at certain stages of the firm/product’s development, and thereby enable the firm to delay licensing, obtaining patent rights has a much larger, positive effect on licensing. While it is not possible to identify the drivers of these different effects from the empirical analysis, the theory suggests that patent filing may act as a signal to financial investors that enable early-stage firms to raise finance, but ultimately they are most valuable as appropriability mechanisms for facilitating financing.