Design thinking has attracted considerable interest from practitioners and academics alike, as it offers a novel approach to innovation and problem‐solving. However, there appear to be substantial differences between promoters and critics about its essential attributes, applicability, and outcomes. To shed light on current knowledge and conceptualizations of design thinking we undertook a multiphase study. First, a systematic review of the design thinking literature enabled us to identify 10 principal attributes and 8 tools and methods. To validate and refine our findings, we then employed a card sorting exercise with professional designers. Finally, we undertook a cluster analysis to reveal structural patterns within the design thinking literature. Our research makes three principal contributions to design and innovation management theory and practice. First, in rigorously deriving 10 attributes and 8 essential tools and methods that support them from a broad and multidisciplinary assortment of articles, we bring much needed clarity and validity to a construct plagued by polysemy and thus threatened by “construct collapse.” Second, aided by the identification of perspectives of scholars writing about design thinking, we provide detailed recommendations for relevant topics warranting further study in order to advance theoretical understanding of design thinking and test its applications. Third, we identify the enduring, yet essential, questions that remain unresolved across the extant design thinking literature and that may impede its practical implementation. We also provide suggestions for the theoretic frames, which may help address them, and thus advance the ability of scholars and managers alike to benefit from design thinking’s apparent advantages.

His main areas of expertise are design and innovation management, strategy implementation, and performance management. He has published in various journals including Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Research Policy, Journal of Product Innovation Management, and International Journal of Operations and Production Management. He has worked as a practitioner and a management consultant with over 50 organizations. Currently he is carrying out research on design thinking and digital transformation in large firms.

PurposeAs an integral part of intellectual capital (IC), social capital (SC) has been studied as an asset crucial to social relationships among individuals and groups of individuals, which in turn have a significant impact on organizational performance outcomes. This study investigates the impact of organizational social capital (OSC) on employee creativity through the mediation role of knowledge sharing (KS) and moderation of work meaningfulness (WM).Design/methodology/approachThe authors base the analysis on employee-level data gathered via a cross-sectional survey designed for this study. The authors surveyed 217 employees of the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan. The authors run a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and use structural equation modeling (SEM) and Hayes method to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe authors find that OSC positively affects employees’ willingness to share their knowledge with colleagues, which in turn has a positive effect on employee creativity (EC). The results also show that the relationship between social capital and knowledge sharing is moderated by work meaningfulness.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the IC in general and the SC literature in particular, by providing empirical evidence that shows how creativity could be a focal and pivotal performance outcome of organizational social capital through the moderated mediation roles of work meaningfulness and knowledge sharing.Originality/valueThe authors adopt the concept of SC from the organizational level to the individual level, examining how an individual's perception of organizational capital influences his or her creative behavior and exploring the role of KS and job meaningfulness (JM) in this relationship.

PurposeAlthough the use of project teams is on the rise, there is a limited understanding of how project managers can ensure project team success. Research to date is relatively broad and does not pinpoint how and why leadership influences success in a project team context. Along these lines, we draw from social learning theory to illustrate that ethical leadership influences project success through leader trust and knowledge sharing.Design/methodology/approachWe collected data from 175 project team members from the information technology and software industry to evaluate our hypotheses. The results were analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsOur findings support our hypotheses, illustrating that ethical leadership is related to leader trust and knowledge sharing, and that leader trust and knowledge sharing mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and project success.Research limitations/implicationsOur work illustrates that the behaviors inherent in ethical leadership may be particularly well-suited for these project team challenges. Ethical leaders help team members understand that project success is possible when team members are transparent with one another, discussing their goals and challenges, and then working together to ensure their actions are coordinated in a way that increases the success of the overall project.Practical implicationsFor those in industries or organizations where project teams are commonly used, our study may help to attract, select, and retain project managers that exhibit ethical leadership tendencies. Project managers are likely to be attracted to settings that align with their leadership style. Thus, organizations could focus on developing a culture that focuses on process over results.Originality/valueWe sought to align with the contingency approach to leadership, which suggests that the ideal leadership style depends on the followers, and the context in which the leader and followers interact. Specifically, we investigate ethical leadership as an ideal approach for project managers influencing members of their project teams. Our study demonstrates how ethical leadership is an ideal, context-specific approach that project managers can apply to increase the chances of project success.

No abstract

PurposeThis article aims to explore the relationship among high performance work systems (HPWS), innovation, and knowledge sharing in project-based organizations.Design/methodology/approachUsing the ability, motivation, and opportunity (AMO) framework under the theory of HPWS, our article hypothesizes that the AMO enhancing practices of project-based organizations lead to better innovation performance of their employees through the mediating role of knowledge sharing. Time-lagged data of AMO practices and knowledge sharing practices were collected from the employees of these organizations over three weeks. Furthermore, the innovation performance data were collected from the supervisors of these employees over an additional three-week period.FindingsOur results confirm the initial hypothesis of the causal relationship of two of the AMO HRM practices, that is, ability and motivation with innovation performance with the mediation of knowledge sharing, while the third hypothesis of opportunity enhancing HRM practice was not accepted.Originality/valueThis research has implications for both theory and practice and it can help the project managers of these organizations to better design HRM practices in order to improve the creativity and innovation performance of their employees. Accordingly, this is one of the first studies dealing with the effectiveness of HRM on AMO, and the key role of knowledge sharing.

No abstract

The involvement of customers as data analysts enables firms to gain valuable insights and create value from big data. We provide a theoretical explanation, drawn from the resource‐based view, for the influence of the involvement of customers as data analysts and of the development of big data analytics (BDA) capabilities in business‐to‐business contexts as routes to manufacturing agility and performance. Our study empirically tested a framework in which organizational creativity and the involvement of customers as data analysts may differentially influence the relationship between BDA capabilities and manufacturing agility. We further tested whether the relative impact of manufacturing agility depends on organizational creativity and the involvement of customers as data analysts. To test our proposed framework, we took a partial least‐squares structural modelling approach using data collected through a survey involving 179 engineering manufacturers operating across different industrial sectors in Pakistan. We provide evidence for organizational creativity and customer involvement, presenting a promising opportunity for manufacturers to gain better insights from resources, and for the deployment of BDA capabilities leading to better manufacturing agility and performance.