I n this paper we examine social capital and its relationship with performance at the organizational level. We predict that both internal and external social capital will have a positive effect on organizational performance. We test our hypotheses in 88 urban public schools where we collected data from principals, teachers, parents, and students. Results indicate that both internal social capital (relations among teachers) and external social capital (relations between the principal and external stakeholders) predict student achievement in mathematics and reading. These effects were sustained over time for reading achievement, providing support for a causal relationship between social capital and performance. We provide evidence that social capital's impact on student achievement in math-but not reading-is mediated by the quality of instruction provided by teachers. These results underscore the importance of context in studies of social capital.

We focus on two fundamental dimensions of corruption in organizations: (1) whether the individual or the organization is the beneficiary of the corrupt activity and (2) whether the corrupt behavior is undertaken by an individual actor or by two or more actors. We use these dimensions to define a new conceptualization of corruption at the organization level: the organization of corrupt individuals. We contrast this conceptualization with the prevailing concept of organizational corruption and develop propositions that highlight their differences.

We examine the relationship between lean manufacturing practices and environmental performance as measured in terms of air emissions and resource use. We draw on two unique surveys of 31 automobile assembly plants in North America and Japan, which contain information on manufacturing practice and environmental performance, as well as in-depth interviews with 156 plant level employees at 17 assembly plants. Our survey results and interviews suggest that lean management and reduction of air emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are associated negatively. Lean manufacturing practices contribute to more efficient use of paints and cleaning solvents, but these in-process changes are not sufficient to meet the most stringent air regulations. We found some evidence to support the link between lean practices and resource efficiency. While our survey results were in hypothesized direction, they were not statistically significant. In-depth semi-structured interviews, however, suggest a more robust relationship, and we use them to describe some mechanisms by which all three aspects of lean management (buffer minimization, work systems, and human resource management) may be related to environmental management practices and performance. (LEAN MANUFACTURING; ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE; HIGH-INVOLVEMENT WORK; RESOURCE USE) *

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Modular design practices provide a lens on the link among product architecture, imitation, and the dynamic capabilities that sustain long-term performance. Looking at closed product systems, we propose that simplified links between design and performance outcomes in modular environments facilitate imitation. The same reduction in complexity drives development of dynamic capabilities. These take the form of more rapid and reliable search processes for incremental and radical innovations. The scope and timing of a firm's modular strategy influence the development of these capabilities, which are critical to sustainable modular performance advantages.

We investigated the effects of teacher human and social capital on growth in student performance in a sample of 1,013 teachers organized into 239 grade teams. We found that teacher human capital that is specific to a setting and task, and some indicators of teacher social capital, predicted student performance improvement. At the team level, average educational attainment and horizontal tie strength were significant predictors of student improvement. We provide some evidence that team horizontal tie strength and density moderate the relationship between teacher ability and student performance. Implications of our multilevel analysis for theory, research, and policy are discussed. We wish to thank Christie Hudson, Iryna Shevchuk, and Brenda Ghitulescu for assistance with data collection. We appreciate the insightful comments and suggestions of Associate Editor Chip Hunter and those of Vikas Mittal and Natasha Sarkisian.

The digitalization of intra‐ and inter‐organizational processes offers significant opportunity for research in the field of operations and supply chain management (OSCM). This essay summarizes the contributions of the special issue articles, highlighting their focus on additive manufacturing and the encapsulation of design and production information in a digital artifact. We conceptualize the digital artifact as containing the digital genes of the associated physical object. Digital encapsulation thus involves the integration of product design information with additional information on how that design is to be translated into a physical object, delivered to the customer, and used. Building on insights from the special issue articles, we identify three pathways by which digital encapsulation affects OSCM practice, as well as theory elaboration and extension. First, digital encapsulation allows each unique digitally encapsulated artifact to be acted on independently by OSCM systems. Second, digital encapsulation enables the redistribution of activities across organizational and geographic landscapes. Third, digital encapsulation facilitates interactivity of the digital artifact with external environment inputs. We conclude with a number of directions for future research.

This article provides a theoretical framework for understanding why high‐involvement work practices are adopted more rapidly by some organizations than others. Drawing on evolutionary economics and innovation literature, we identify three key drivers: (1) the level of complementary human resource practices and technology; (2) performance achieved with previous practices; and (3) factors that alter the cost of introducing new practices. Empirical analyses of a unique longitudinal data set of forty‐three automobile assembly plants worldwide provide support for hypotheses about complementary HR practices (but not complementary technologies) and partial support for hypotheses about past performance and factors that alter adoption costs.