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Increasingly, organizations have been employing self-managing teams to circumvent bureaucratic controls and stimulate innovation. However, this goal is not easily achieved; in many situations, informal controls replace formal controls. This study develops a multi-level perspective of control. We explicitly analyze control mechanisms at different levels of the organization and how they affect innovative team output. We theorize and empirically investigate a potential downside of horizontal social control mechanisms at the team level (i.e., peer pressure) affecting self-managing teams’ innovative outcomes. We also discuss managerial control mechanisms at the organizational level (i.e., interactive and diagnostic management control systems) that may help to mitigate such negative effects. We theorize how they may influence the innovative output of self-managing teams, both directly and interactively. We chose a multi-level, multi-source setting for our study and ran three parallel surveys with employees in a Fortune 500 firm. 248 team members, 126 internal team leaders, and 97 organizational leaders enabled us to create a unique database of 97 self-managing software development teams. Our findings confirm that peer pressure is common among established agile teams and that it negatively influences the innovative output of the agile teams. Moreover, our findings show that the magnitude of the effect of peer pressure is contingent on control mechanisms at higher levels within the organization. This enables us to provide new theoretical insights regarding the paradoxical effect of managerial control systems when it comes to flat organizations and autonomous teams. Additionally, we provide practical guidelines for managers who increasingly adopt agile practices but at the same time face issues with regard to innovation.

In this paper, we study a legacy technology that instead of disappearing, it re-emerged during a process of value and meaning redefinition. Specifically, we explore vinyl records as a cultural icon that reemerged in the digital era. The appearance of digital music formats initially led vinyl records sales to reach an all-time low, but they gradually regained market share, currently competing against digital music formats. To better understand the processes that vinyl records went through, we conducted a netnography within 9 communities of vinyl records enthusiasts on 3 major online platforms, followed by 22 semi-structured interviews with executives from the music industry, while we further collected 240 open-ended questionnaires from vinyl records enthusiasts. Our findings demonstrate that this re-emergence, contrary to similar examples, originated on the consumer side, where enthusiasts ascribed on vinyl records an additional, non-utilitarian value, while generating online and offline traction, creating an initial sales boost. This gave rise to a ripple effect, which increased the demand for vinyl records amongst the general public. We discuss the significance and implications of our work for both research and practice, and delineate an agenda for future research on the topic.

PurposeThis study uses a critically acclaimed digital game as an instructional tool to explore the role of emotional design elements on psychological flow and perceived learning.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ transportation theory to generate a set of antecedents of psychological flow and the theory of flow to connect the gaming experience to positive learning outcomes. The authors investigate the subjective learning experience of players with the use of a psychometric survey, and the authors employ structural equation modelling (SEM) to unearth the direct as well as the indirect effects amongst narrative, aesthetics, flow and learning outcomes.FindingsThe findings of this study demonstrate that narrative and aesthetics in serious games positively influence the perceived learning by facilitating a state of psychological flow.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to better understanding and theorizing the role of narrative and aesthetics on learning outcomes in the context of serious games.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study bear valuable implications for the design of serious games as they highlight the importance of elements often disregarded as not directly related to the learning process and are typically absent from the design of serious games.Originality/valuePrior studies have identified aesthetics and narratives as design elements that contribute to the perceived enjoyment of a game; this study empirically investigates the role of narratives and aesthetics in enhancing perceived learning through psychological flow.

The primary aim of this paper is to identify and theoretically validate the relationships between core game design elements and mechanics, user motivation and engagement and consequently learning. Additionally, it tries to highlight the moderating role of player personality traits on learning outcomes and acceptance and suggest ways to incorporate them in the game design process. To that end, it outlines the role of narrative, aesthetics and core game mechanics in facilitating higher learning outcomes through intrinsic motivation and engagement. At the same time, it discusses how player goal orientation, openness to experience, conscientiousness, sensation seeking and need for cognition influence the translation of the gameplay experience into valuable learning outcomes and user acceptance of the technology.

The ability of an organization to cope with radical technological change is regarded to be heavily dependent on its ability to absorb and apply knowledge from its environment. This study investigates the role of organizational structure in driving absorptive capacity and uncovers the role of the emergent phenomenon of organizational energy as the enabler of this relationship. A field study was conducted among firms that are challenged by the disruptive nature of Cloud computing. Our results show that organizational design affects the degree of mobilization of an organization's affective, cognitive and behavioral resources, which in turn influence the effectiveness of learning processes related to the absorption and exchange of knowledge within the organization. Furthermore, they reveal the positive relationship between the enactment of absorptive capacity and the successful adoption of Cloud technology for incumbent firms. The findings contribute to our understanding of the micro-foundations of absorptive capacity and how positive organizational phenomena facilitate effective adoption and implementation of emerging technologies.

This study empirically investigates the contingent effect of STARA (Smart Technology, Artificial Intelligence Robotics and Algorithms) awareness on perceived job insecurity for employees working in industries that are expected to face high degrees of automation. More specifically we empirically investigate the moderating role of learning culture and authoritative culture on the relationship between STARA awareness and job insecurity, among 291 individuals. Our findings show a significant positive relationship between STARA awareness and perceived job insecurity. An authoritarian organizational culture further enhances the effects of STARA awareness on perceived job insecurity. Contrary to expectations, the moderating effect of retraining expectations was not statistically supported.

In this paper we will discuss how positive psychology can contribute to the design of digital games and in particular training applications like Serious Games. While digital games have been known for their ability to deeply immerse users, stimulate the senses and tap into a broad range of emotions, it has proven rather challenging to use them as a vehicle for pedagogy. Relevant research is still at its infancy and many of the mechanisms that foster knowledge creation and enhance learning need to be mapped out before scripted in the game. The theory of psychological flow and the role of positive emotions in broadening people’s thought-action repertoires bring some practical insights and pave the path for tackling some important design questions. Yet there are still major challenges and uncharted waters to be explored in order for the technology to deliver what has been promised.

Digital games are gradually entering our workplaces and educational institutions in the form of learning/training platforms. Due to their ability to engage and motivate players their educational po...

The ability of an organization to prosper in highly volatile and often disruptive environment is mainly dependent on its ability to profitably manage its internal and external sources of knowledge. Two key structural factors such as centralization and formalization have been suggested in the literature to play an important role in this process. Organizations however, are socially constructed entities and knowledge related capabilities, remain socially founded primarily in the emotions and cognition of individual members. By adopting a behavioral strategy lens, we explore the underlying mechanism connecting structure to AC by investigating the mediating role of organizational energy (i.e. the mobilization of the emotional, cognitive and behavioral resources of an organization). A survey was conducted among firms that are challenged by the disruptive effect of cloud computing. The results suggest that energy mediates the impact of decentralization on absorptive capacity, while the equivalent effect of forma...

Digital game technology has been recently introduced in formal training and education through Serious Games applications. Advocates of the new technology highlight the capacity of games to intrinsi...

In crisis situations access to information is key to reduce uncertainty and enable effective decision making. With the advent of modern information technologies there is an abundance of possibilities to obtain, process, and share information. The number of actors that can potentially provide information has grown concomitantly. The challenge therefore is no longer the availability of information but rather the ability to find and connect with actors providing information in a volatile and dynamic environment. This requires of organizations to be aware of the actors and their information potential, and actively build informational awareness. In this paper we propose a model for the development of the awareness of organizations of the information landscape during critical events. We validate this model using two case studies and extract key factors that contribute to the challenges and success of leveraging information potential of actors in a crisis.