Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of high-involvement human resource practices in the innovative work behavior of employees, with the mediation of supportive work environment conditions. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses regression analysis to test the hypotheses in a sample of 198 Spanish firms. Findings – The results indicate that ability-enhancing and opportunity-enhancing human resource practices are positively related to innovative work behaviors with the mediation of two work environment variables: management support and coworkers support. This study discusses results and highlights limitations and future research directions. Originality/value – Previous researchers have identified employees as important sources of innovation, but systemic empirical research has not been fully applied to examine the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and employees' innovative work behavior.

Based on a comparative study of two alliances, this paper provides an in-depth examination of the role of interpartner dissimilarities in Industry-University (IU) alliances. We make a conceptual distinction between routine-based dissimilarities (differences in partners' behavior) and orientation-based dissimilarities (differences in partners' goals and expectations), illuminating their joint implications for collaborative processes and outcomes over time. Our findings reveal that interpartner dissimilarities might not be problematic at the start-up or honeymoon stage in IU alliances. In the post-formation alliance stages, however, they are likely to complicate the collaboration. Orientation-based dissimilarities might frustrate partners' attempts to solve routine-based dissimilarities by impeding successful joint sensemaking. We conclude that different combinations of the two types of dissimilarities are likely to trigger particular coordination and cooperation patterns in IU alliances, eliciting different outcomes on both technological and relational levels.