Vlerick Repository

• Determinants of job satisfaction in a lean environment

  Rodriguez, Denise; Van Landeghem, Hendrik; Lasio, Virginia; Buyens, Dirk (Emerald Publishing Limited, 2017)

  The purpose of this paper is to analyze the situational and dispositional determinants of job satisfaction in environments created by implementing employee-supportive lean. Design/methodology/approach The research uses a questionnaire to measure the determinants of job satisfaction (perceived job demands, perceived job autonomy and core self-evaluations) and job satisfaction. Afterwards, the paper proposes a conceptual framework and uses hierarchical multiple regression to test the relationships among perceived job demands, perceived job autonomy, core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. Additionally, the study describes the implementation of employee-supportive lean in four small companies using an action research approach. Findings The findings reveal that perceived job demands has a negative impact on job satisfaction. In addition, the authors find that perceived job autonomy and core self-evaluations have a positive impact on job satisfaction. Finally, the results show that core self-evaluations buffer the impact of perceived job demands on job satisfaction. Originality/value The present research underscores the importance of work and personal characteristics for employees’ job satisfaction in an environment created by implementing employee-supportive lean.
• Hitting the right notes:Reactions to voice as a function of voice style and cultural beliefs

  Davidson, Tina; Wang, Xiao-Hua; Buyens, Dirk (2018)

  The present study takes a Chinese cultural perspective to address some of the current challenges in the realm of voice outcomes (e.g., types of voice consequences, tactics, and target characteristics) from a relatively novel angle. More specifically, we draw on self-presentation theory to examine when and why individuals react more or less positively toward change-oriented suggestions delivered in different self-presentational voice styles by their peers. Our selection and conceptualization of voice styles (self- promoting vs. self-effacing), outcome domains (behavioral and relational), and target characteristics (individual vs. group agency beliefs), capture the diversity of proto-typically Western and Chinese perspectives on these concepts. Results from a laboratory experiment provide general support for the proposed second-stage moderated mediation model, whereby the indirect effect of voice style via denigration of the voicing peer’s competence affects behavioral and relational outcomes, especially for those targets holding group agency beliefs. We discuss the implications of our findings for research on voice, culture, and self-presentation in general.
• Risico management en financieel beheer

  Slagmulder, Regine (2016)
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  SMEs, foreign direct investment and financial constraints: The case of Belgium

  De Maeseneire, Wouter; Claeys, Tine (Elsevier, 2012)

  This paper explores the problems experienced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with international ambitions in gaining access to debt and equity finance for foreign direct investment (FDI) projects. We develop several arguments for why such small businesses are expected to face severe financing constraints for foreign investments and provide an explorative empirical study with both the demand and supply side of FDI finance. We have interviewed thirty-two Belgian SMEs that carry out FDI, five banks and five venture capitalists. Based on the SME discussions, we have composed a questionnaire that was sent to the interviewed SMEs. The information problems and lack of collateral that often characterize international investment, the home bias of financiers and the capital gearing method used by banks to evaluate small firms’ foreign projects give rise to financial constraints for SMEs’ FDI projects. The reported finance gap hinders small firms’ (international) development and leads to suboptimal home and FDI host country development.
• The three layers of strategy

  Verweire, Kurt; Peeters, Carine (2018)

  In the past, strategy was simple. You could identify a profitable industry, build a competitive advantage and then protect that advantage at all costs. But in today’s complex and turbulent world, traditional models don’t always apply. Rather than focus on building a sustainable advantage, today’s organisations need to be flexible and agile – ready to move rapidly from one advantage to the next. They need to experiment and innovate. And managers who want to build a sound business strategy need to think in the present, the near future and the further-away future – all at the same time. This white paper examines different theories of strategy and combines them into a new, single, integrated approach – the three layers of strategy.

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