PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore two basic research questions: what are the effects of information technology (IT) capability and employee empowerment on the innovativeness of small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), and what are the effects of innovativeness and IT capability on firm performance in SMEs?Design/methodology/approachData from 109 Polish SMEs were collected. In order to identify empirical dimensions of innovativeness, empowerment and IT capability, a factor analysis was carried out. Multiple regression analysis was employed to examine the effects of IT capability and employee empowerment on innovativeness, and the effects of IT capability and innovativeness on firm performance.FindingsThe following results are offered: innovation activity of SMEs is positively related to technological turbulence, climate for innovation, investments in innovation and use of IT in internal communications; innovation activity and IT knowledge have a positive effect on subjective measures of firm performance; and subjective measures of firm performance are significantly correlated with objective ones. The results of this study do not confirm that IT capability has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between innovativeness and firm performance.Practical implicationsThe findings identify the factors that are significantly related to innovation activity and the dimensions of the constructs under study that contribute to firm performance in SMEs.Originality/valueTo the knowledge of the authors, no previous studies conducted with regards to SMEs have examined the relationships between innovativeness, empowerment, IT capability and firm performance in an integrated way. The findings suggest some direct and indirect relationships between different dimensions of these constructs.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of two types of trust (vertical and horizontal trust) on knowledge sharing (knowledge donating and knowledge collecting) and the impact of knowledge sharing on innovative work behavior (idea generation and idea realization). The study also explores the mediating role of knowledge sharing.Design/methodology/approachPartial least squares path modeling and data collected from 252 participants at one large Polish capital group were used to test the research hypotheses.FindingsThe results showed that both vertical trust and horizontal trust are positively related to knowledge donating and knowledge collecting. Contrary to knowledge collecting, knowledge donating is significantly related to idea generation, which is highly correlated with idea realization. There is no direct relation between knowledge sharing behavior and idea realization. Knowledge donating mediates the relationship between vertical trust and idea generation.Research limitations/implicationsSelf-reports and the cross-sectional nature of the data collection are the main limitations of this study.Practical implicationsThe results allow managers to better understand what factors and processes contribute to greater employee innovativeness.Originality/valueTo the best of the author's knowledge, the study is the first to examine the relationships among vertical trust, horizontal trust, knowledge donating, knowledge collecting, idea generation and idea realization in an integrated way. This paper answered the questions (1) which type of trust is more important for knowledge sharing, and (2) which type of knowledge sharing behavior is more important for innovative work behavior. This paper investigated whether differences in the strength of relationships between constructs are significant.

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PurposeAlthough employees' innovative work behaviors are crucial for innovativeness and the success of modern organization, the impact of individual unlearning and critical reflection on innovative work behaviors is underresearched. This study's goal is to empirically examine relationships between job characteristics, critical reflection, unlearning and innovative work behaviors.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses survey data from 252 Polish employees and the partial least squares method.FindingsThe results indicated that, among three considered job characteristics, only problem-solving demands were related to critical reflection. This study also shows that critical reflection is both direct and indirect, through individual unlearning, related to both idea generation and idea realization. However, nonmanagers have stronger relationships between unlearning and innovative work behaviors than do managers, while managers have stronger relationships between critical reflection and innovative work behaviors.Practical implicationsResults of this study may be used by human resource development managers to improve employees' innovative work behavior.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the limited empirical research on the role of critical reflection and individual unlearning for innovative work behavior. This study also explores which job characteristic affects critical reflection.

Purpose Specific research on the meaning of organizational memory (OM), including databases, for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their performance is limited. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between open-mindedness culture (OMC), OM, SME innovativeness and customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Five hypotheses were formulated and tested using the partial least squares method. The survey data were collected from 120 Polish SMEs. Findings A positive and significant relationship between OMC and OM was found. OM has both direct and indirect impacts on customer satisfaction through firms’ innovativeness. The results confirmed the correlation between firms’ innovativeness and customer satisfaction. Research limitations/implications The focus on SMEs in a single country limits the generalizability of the results. Practical implications The findings of this research can inform SME managers who are willing to improve operational performance. This study suggests that OMC is a prior stage in building, updating and using OM in the form of databases. Leveraging databases is a way to incrementally increase firms’ innovativeness and customer satisfaction. Originality/value This paper fills an important gap in the extant literature by empirically testing the relationship between OMC, OM, firms’ innovativeness and customer satisfaction. This study is the first ever to study these relationships within the context of SMEs.