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Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between sense of calling and career satisfaction of hotel frontline employees and to analyze the mediation role of knowledge sharing with organizational members given the rapidly growing academic interest in the meaning of work. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a survey of 357 frontline employees in 12 super-deluxe hotels in Korea, this study performed confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling analysis to test the hypothesis of causal relationships in the research model. Findings – Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this study shows that sense of calling has a positive and significant effect on the career satisfaction of hotel frontline employees and that the relationship was mediated by active participation in knowledge sharing with supervisors and coworkers. Practical implications – The research result highlights the significance of service providers’ calling orientation on career satisfaction and their pursuit of skills and knowledge for higher personal development and performance to achieve career success. Originality/value – Based on SDT, this study deepens our understanding on the process of how calling orientation leads to career satisfaction and knowledge sharing behavior in organizations.

Successful collaborations between university and industry (U-I) promise numerous mutual benefits. In order to realize these benefits, both parties need effective governance mechanisms to overcome organizational and cultural barriers. Until 2004 in Japan, national universities were government organizations, and as such, they were prevented from actively pursuing collaborations with industry. Under this restriction, U-I collaborations were established through informal interpersonal networks. Joint R&D projects were inherently small and seldom likely to generate concrete results for industry. After a series of institutional and organizational reforms by the Japanese government, universities and industries adopted a new strategic approach in the early 2000s to form inter-organizational alliances. Based on the case of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, this paper analyzes how the inter-organizational alliances are managed and investigates their impact on joint R&D projects, in comparison with the traditional interpersonal networks. Additional research indicates that most national and private universities adopt management schemes similar to those presented in the case study. The findings suggest that inter-organizational U-I alliances, being equipped with contractual arrangements, organizational commitments, specialized coordination, and formal evaluation procedures, enable alliance partners to initiate more explorative research, to organize interdisciplinary projects with faculties in different research fields, and to establish largerscale R&D projects. R&D Management 41, 2,

Purpose Research and development (R&D) personnel are an organization’s ultimate source of creative knowledge. Thus, their job performance ensures an organization’s innovative capability. Focusing on the process nature of creativity and innovation in organizations, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of R&D personnel’s active knowledge sharing on their job performance and highlight the significance of social skills by examining their moderation effect. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted a survey of 252 R&D personnel in 60 R&D organizations in large South Korean firms. Data reliability and validity were confirmed, and regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses. Findings The authors found that R&D personnel’s knowledge sharing has a significant effect on their job performance. Furthermore, social skills significantly moderate the relationship between knowledge sharing and job performance. Originality/value This study addresses the existing literature’s limited understanding of the process nature of creativity and innovation by examining knowledge sharing as a personal engagement in the innovation process, which has a positive effect on job performance. The study also casts new light on the importance of social skills in fortifying personal engagement in the innovation process. The overall results will prove valuable in the selection of effective R&D personnel and the design of competency development programs for R&D organizations.

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