Purpose – Although servant leadership (SL) improves the overall effectiveness of individuals and teams, it remains understudied. The aim of this paper is to provide insight into the mediating mechanisms through which perceived SL affects salespersons’ proactive and adaptive behaviors. Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered from 145 industrial salespeople and their supervisors across a variety of businesses and sectors in Spain. Findings – SL enhances salespeople’s adaptivity and proactivity by positively affecting their self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, SL directly shapes the development of adaptive behaviors among salespeople, although this direct influence is not significant when considering proactivity. Additionally, the use of outcome-based control mechanisms enhances the positive effects of SL on salespeople’s intrinsic motivation. Practical implications – The results demonstrate that sales managers can promote more proactive and adaptive behaviors among sales staff by recognizing the importance of service and their moral responsibilities to the success of their subordinates. Originality/value – Cognitive evaluation theory was used to examine the direct and indirect effects of perceived SL on two emergent change-oriented behaviors (adaptivity and proactivity) using a matched sample of industrial salespeople from a variety of industries, thus providing a basis for the generalization of results. Moreover, in analyzing the moderating effects of outcome control, the conditions under which SL is more or less effective were examined.

Purpose -Innovation has been traditionally considered as a generator of competitiveness, which leads to superior performance. Considering that innovation is a complex phenomenon, it is interesting to understand how innovations are linked with organisations' performance. In this sense, the purpose of this paper is to understand the conditions that make innovation profitable. Design/methodology/approach -The methodology used in the analysis is a multi-case comparative research of low-tech, small and medium-sized furniture firms from Italy, Spain and Finland.Findings -The study shows some evidence that innovation positively influences business performance. In particular, the results suggest that different performance levels are linked to the type of innovation developed. Practical implications -The study presents direct implications for companies aiming at improving their innovation effectiveness. First, it is recommended that firms consider the environment in which they operate; second, they should coordinate future innovation plans by considering the synergistic process among the product, market and process innovations to arrive at a combination that will yield optimal levels of performance. Additionally, the study points out the crucial role that the management style plays in developing innovation capabilities. Originality/value -The paper offers an insight to explain why some companies are more successful at starting and developing innovation than others. The finding that a successful innovation profile is related to the performance of the company represents an interesting contribution to the management of firms.

Purpose This paper aims to test trust and commitment as mediators between economic and non-economic satisfaction in seller business relationships in contrast to previous studies on buyer business relationships. Design/methodology/approach Based on a cross-industry sample of Norwegian companies with sales or marketing managers/directors or key account managers. Key informants were selected to participate who adhered to specific criteria, such as their designations should be sales or marketing managers/directors or key account managers. Findings Trust and commitment mediate between economic and non-economic satisfaction in seller business relationships in line with what has been previously tested and retested across contexts and through time in buyer business relationships. Research limitations/implications This study helps in establishing an extended foundation to assess the structural properties between economic and non-economic satisfaction, as well as trust and commitment, in business relationships based on seller and or buyer perspectives. Practical implications The tested seller business relationship research model provides a corporate foundation for assessing the seller perspective of business relationships. It also provides a corporate foundation for combining the seller perspective with that of the customer perspective. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study based on seller business relationships that validates the research model reported in multiple previous studies based on buyer business relationships.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether employee’s perceived organizational support and organizational identification (OID) have a mediating role in the relationship between supervisor’s servant leadership and employee’s organization member performance. Design/methodology/approach The sample used in this study consists of 181 salespeople and 83 sales managers. The model entails a cross-level mediation process that was tested using dyadic data and multilevel structural equation modeling. Findings Findings show that sales managers’ servant leadership is directly and positively related to salespeople’s organization member performance. In addition, sales managers’ servant leadership is indirectly related to salespeople’s organization member performance through the salespeople’s perceived organizational support – salespeople’s OID chain. Practical implications In order to increase employee’s organizational member performance, employees with a “we” mentality and who feel the need to serve should be selected for and promoted to supervisors. To enhance employees’ perceived organizational support and OID is also important, as these factors will encourage employees to behave in the best interest of the organization. Originality/value This is the first study to provide evidence for the relationship between servant leadership and organization member performance, as well as the mediating roles of employee’s perceived organizational support and OID on this relationship.

Purpose: Innovation has been traditionally considered as a generator of competitiveness. Despite the increasing importance of innovation in the literature, there is no agreement about its antecedents. This clearly makes difficult and risky for the managers to choose suitable strategies to promote and develop successful innovations. The present research attempts to contribute to this important area by providing some critical insights on the origins of the innovative behaviour of the firms; namely: market orientation and entrepreneurial proclivity.Design/methodology/approach: To reach our goal we used in-depth case research methodology in furniture firms from Italy, Spain and Finland.Findings: The article contributes to the understanding of why some firms are more innovative than others. The study shows some evidence that market orientation and the entrepreneurship can be considered as antecedents of innovation.Research limitations/implications: We provide evidence that the furniture industry shows a tendency to innovate based on its market orientation along with its entrepreneurial proclivity probably due to the fact that it is a traditional, non-globalized low-tech sector. Future studies might also address other variables related to different competitive settings.Practical implications: This work presents direct implications for companies aiming at improving their innovation capabilities. First, it is recommended that entrepreneurial firms should promote a market orientation philosophy, and second, they also need the top management commitment in terms of people and financial resources to achieve its goals.Originality/value: This article offers an insight to explain why some companies are more successful at starting and developing innovation than others. The finding that a successful innovation profile is related to entrepreneurship and the market orientation of the company represents an interesting contribution to the management of firms.