Industrial clusters are perceived as potential drivers of small and medium‐sized enterprises development and efficient policy instruments to lead national and regional innovation and growth. However, these clusters in developing economies are typically placed in complex environments that impose a mix of serious challenges that adversely affect their overall performance. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the nature of these challenges and understand their dynamics using a case study of a carpet industry cluster in Iran. Using multiple sources of evidence, the study reveals two distinct, yet interrelated, levels of challenges: micro and macro. Under each level, a number of key dimensions were identified and theoretically linked which helped to conceptualize the structure of these challenges and model their dynamics.
Purpose
This paper aims to theorize and empirically examines the role of perceived spirituality in developing organization competitiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a quantitative approach, where the structural equation modeling approached was applied to analyze a unique dataset collected from 550 health-care staff in two international hospitals in Iran.
Findings
The results show that although the workplace spirituality (WS) can indirectly enhance the development of competitive advantages by affecting the level of organizational commitment; however, the direct relationship of WS and competitive advantage has a higher path coefficient than its indirect one. Also, interestingly, it is found that, although WS affects the three dimensions of organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative commitment), but only WS by mediating role of affective commitment can affect the competitive advantage at understudied hospitals.
Originality/value
This study makes important theoretical contributions by conceptualizing and validating the effect of WS on the development of organization competitive advantage. As such, the authors explicate the commitment-related paths through which WS can affect organization overall performance.
Bearing in mind the important role of trust in the creati on and development of networks, including clusters, the main purpose of the paper was to assess the level of trust of the surveyed enterprises to competi tors and cooperators, as well as to identi fy factors, which have an impact on the trust level. The text presents the results of the research collected in 317 Polish enterprises operati ng in four industries: constructi on, food, metal, and machinery, as well as wood and furniture. The basic method of data collecti on was a survey. The respondents in the study were only representati ves of the management or owners of enterprises qualifi ed for the study, possessing knowledge about interorganizati onal cooperati on, the so-called key informants. The results presented in the text indicated low trust among both competi ti ve and cooperati ng enterprises. The presented results do not inspire opti mism in the scope of possibiliti es of creati ng and developing other network connecti ons beside clusters. The defi cit of Polish enterprises in terms of trust in other companies that are not even their competi tors will limit not only their ability to establish cooperati on with domesti c but also foreign companies. The considerati ons carried out in the text contribute to bett er recogniti on of interorganizati onal trust issues in the context of networking, including clusters. Sti ll, they are not free from certain restricti ons, which result, in parti cular, from the methodological approach used and, primarily, from the inability to generalize the results. Therefore, an additi onal directi on of further scienti fi c research may be to undertake replicati on studies carried out on a representati ve sample. Interesti ng research topics also include conducti ng similar research not only in Poland but also in other countries, both similar and completely diff erent from Poland. They would allow a bett er recogniti on and understanding of the impact of culture and context on building trust. It may also be interesti ng to identi fy universal contextual factors aff ecti ng trust and their impact on changes in the meaning and intensity of trust.
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