Research has shown that NPD project leaders should engage in boundary-spanning activities. The present study tested the impact of four boundary-spanning activities on NPD project performance and analyzed the antecedents of these activities. We hypothesized that NPD project leaders' abilities to perform these activities depend on the characteristics of their personal networks -structural holes, strength of ties, vertical and horizontal bridging ties. A Partial Least Squares test on 73 NPD projects showed that (a) "obtaining political support" and "scanning for ideas" are the boundary activities with the greatest impact on performance, (b) project leaders with strong ties in their network are more effective at these activities, (c) project leaders with structural holes in their networks are more effective in another boundary activity, "protecting the team", although this activity does not affect NPD outcomes. These results represent an important contribution to understanding how team leaders contribute to project performance.
Les déterminants de l'intention de créer une entreprise chez les étudiants : un test empirique Les déterminants de l'intention de créer une entreprise chez les étudiants : un test empirique Cet article s'interroge sur les croyances et attitudes des étudiants vis-à-vis de l'entrepreneuriat et sur la façon dont elles peuvent agir sur leur intention de se lancer dans ce type d'activité après leurs études. Le but est d'obtenir des pistes sur le type de contenu à donner aux formations dans le contexte de mise en oeuvre des maisons de l'entrepreneuriat. Au plan théorique, cette recherche s'appuie sur la théorie du comportement planifié ; l'intention de créer une entreprise est supposée dépendre de trois éléments : l'attrait perçu de la création d'entreprise ; le degré d'incitation à entreprendre perçu dans l'environnement social ; la confiance qu'a l'individu en sa capacité de mener à bien le processus entrepreneurial. Ce modèle est testé sur 655 étudiants grenoblois. Les résultats confirment le pouvoir explicatif de la théorie du comportement planifié. Ils contribuent également à enrichir cette théorie en identifiant un effet modérateur : l'impact de la capacité perçue sur l'intention n'est pas le même selon que l'étudiant est proche ou éloigné dans le temps d'une entrée sur le marché du travail. Une deuxième série de régressions permet d'identifier les types d'attentes professionnelles qui expliquent le plus l'attrait des étudiants pour la création et les tâches critiques pour réussir une création d'entreprise qui ont la plus grande influence sur le sentiment qu'a l'étudiant d'être capable de créer à l'issue de ses études.
We examine how small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) chief executive officers' (CEOs) social capital (as measured by strength of ties and structural holes) can help them bring business to their firms through the spread of positive referrals. Based on a sample of 408 French SME CEOs, we find a direct effect of social capital. Such effect is contingent on the CEO's personality, with social capital being most beneficial to CEOs with low levels of conscientiousness. CEOs' social ties facilitate the distortion of information, thereby leading personal contacts to give referrals to and endorse a focal CEO, even in the presence of negative signals, such as low conscientiousness.
International audienceCentral consumers in a group often are influential, because their social prominence commands conformity from other members. Yet, there can be another contradictory effect of centrality, such that other members regard it as a threat to their attitudinal freedom and express reactance instead of conformity. Whether a group member conforms or reacts to the evaluation of a more central member might depend on the strength of their relationship, which determines the social cost of disagreeing. We provide evidence of such an interaction between centrality and relational strength with an experiment where participants with preexisting affective ties of varying strengths taste a snack in groups (Study 1) and a field study where participants connected by instrumental ties consume a complex service (Study 2). A scenario-based experiment manipulating centrality and strength of ties provides further evidence that reactance underlies the observed effects (Study 3)
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