IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v63y2010i3p310-320.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can formalization, complexity, and centralization influence knowledge performance?

Author

Listed:
  • Pertusa-Ortega, Eva M.
  • Zaragoza-Sáez, Patrocinio
  • Claver-Cortés, Enrique

Abstract

Based on the theory of organizational design and on the theory of knowledge, this paper analyzes how the traditional variables which define a firm's organizational structure (formalization, complexity, and centralization) influence knowledge performance (the degree to which a firm generates knowledge internally and uses it to reach a competitive advantage). The paper tests three hypotheses using a sample of 164 large Spanish firms. The results show that organizational complexity and centralization exert a positive and a negative influence, respectively, on knowledge performance, which confirms the two hypotheses related to these variables. However, the analysis reveals no empirical evidence to confirm the hypothesis according to which formalization and knowledge performance have a positive relationship.

Suggested Citation

  • Pertusa-Ortega, Eva M. & Zaragoza-Sáez, Patrocinio & Claver-Cortés, Enrique, 2010. "Can formalization, complexity, and centralization influence knowledge performance?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 310-320, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:63:y:2010:i:3:p:310-320
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148-2963(09)00093-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David J. Hall & Maurice A. Saias, 1980. "Strategy follows structure!," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(2), pages 149-163, April.
    2. Anja Kern, 2006. "Exploring the Relation Between Creativity and Rules: The Case of the Performing Arts," International Studies of Management & Organization, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 63-80, January.
    3. Anil K. Gupta & Vijay Govindarajan, 2000. "Knowledge flows within multinational corporations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 473-496, April.
    4. Markus C. Becker & Nathalie Lazaric & Richard R. Nelson & Sidney G. Winter, 2005. "Applying organizational routines in understanding organizational change," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 14(5), pages 775-791, October.
    5. Graham, Ann B. & Pizzo, Vincent G., 1996. "A question of balance: Case studies in strategic knowledge management," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 338-346, August.
    6. Armstrong, J. Scott & Overton, Terry S., 1977. "Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys," MPRA Paper 81694, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Stanley F. Slater & Eric M. Olson, 2000. "Strategy type and performance: the influence of sales force management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(8), pages 813-829, August.
    8. Bénédicte Reynaud, 2005. "The void at the heart of rules: routines in the context of rule-following. The case of the Paris Metro Workshop," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 14(5), pages 847-871, October.
    9. Gerardo A. Okhuysen & Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, 2002. "Integrating Knowledge in Groups: How Formal Interventions Enable Flexibility," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(4), pages 370-386, August.
    10. Cepeda, Gabriel & Vera, Dusya, 2007. "Dynamic capabilities and operational capabilities: A knowledge management perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(5), pages 426-437, May.
    11. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1996. "What Firms Do? Coordination, Identity, and Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(5), pages 502-518, October.
    12. Ikujiro Nonaka, 1994. "A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 14-37, February.
    13. Bénédicte Reynaud, 2005. "The void at the heart of rules: Routines in the context of rule-following," PSE Working Papers halshs-00590855, HAL.
    14. Steven Postrel, 2002. "Islands of Shared Knowledge: Specialization and Mutual Understanding in Problem-Solving Teams," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 303-320, June.
    15. Nielsen, Bo Bernhard, 2005. "The role of knowledge embeddedness in the creation of synergies in strategic alliances," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(9), pages 1194-1204, September.
    16. Hall, Richard & Andriani, Pierpaolo, 2003. "Managing knowledge associated with innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 145-152, February.
    17. Rahinah Ibrahim & Mark Nissen, 2007. "Discontinuity in Organizations: Developing a Knowledge-Based Organizational Performance Model for Discontinuous Membership," International Journal of Knowledge Management (IJKM), IGI Global, vol. 3(1), pages 10-28, January.
    18. Patrick Cohendet & Frédéric Creplet & Morad Diani & Olivier Dupouët & Eric Schenk, 2004. "Matching Communities and Hierarchies within the Firm," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 27-48, March.
    19. Sridhar Seshadri & Zur Shapira, 2003. "The flow of ideas and timing of evaluation as determinants of knowledge creation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 12(5), pages 1099-1124, October.
    20. Julie Smith David & Yuhchang Hwang & Buck K. W. Pei & J. Hal Reneau, 2002. "The Performance Effects of Congruence Between Product Competitive Strategies and Purchasing Management Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(7), pages 866-885, July.
    21. Norman, Patricia M., 2004. "Knowledge acquisition, knowledge loss, and satisfaction in high technology alliances," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 610-619, June.
    22. Forrester, Rosalind H., 2000. "Capturing Learning and Applying Knowledge: An Investigation of the Use of Innovation Teams in Japanese and American Automotive Firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 35-45, January.
    23. Fariborz Damanpour, 1996. "Organizational Complexity and Innovation: Developing and Testing Multiple Contingency Models," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(5), pages 693-716, May.
    24. Frans A. J. Van den Bosch & Henk W. Volberda & Michiel de Boer, 1999. "Coevolution of Firm Absorptive Capacity and Knowledge Environment: Organizational Forms and Combinative Capabilities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(5), pages 551-568, October.
    25. William G. Ouchi, 2006. "Power to the Principals: Decentralization in Three Large School Districts," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(2), pages 298-307, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Claver-Cortés, Enrique & Pertusa-Ortega, Eva M. & Molina-Azorín, José F., 2012. "Characteristics of organizational structure relating to hybrid competitive strategy: Implications for performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(7), pages 993-1002.
    2. Sreedhar Madhavaram & Andrew C. Gross & Radha Appan, 2014. "Knowledge needs of firms: the know-x framework for marketing strategy," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 4(3), pages 63-77, December.
    3. Forés, Beatriz & Camisón, César, 2016. "Does incremental and radical innovation performance depend on different types of knowledge accumulation capabilities and organizational size?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 831-848.
    4. Soufiane Mezzourh & Walid A Nakara, 2009. "Governance and innovation : A Knowledge-based approach [La gouvernance de l'innovation : une approche par la connaissance]," Post-Print halshs-01955966, HAL.
    5. Rogerio S. Victer, 2020. "Connectivity knowledge and the degree of structural formalization: a contribution to a contingency theory of organizational capability," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 9(1), pages 1-22, December.
    6. Schriber, Svante & Löwstedt, Jan, 2015. "Tangible resources and the development of organizational capabilities," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 54-68.
    7. Bauer, Florian & King, David & Matzler, Kurt, 2016. "Speed of acquisition integration: Separating the role of human and task integration," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 150-165.
    8. Stefano Brusoni & Lorenzo Cassi & Simge Tuna, 2021. "Knowledge integration between technical change and strategy making," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(5), pages 1521-1552, November.
    9. Alex Eapen & Rekha Krishnan, 2019. "Transferring Tacit Know-How: Do Opportunism Safeguards Matter for Firm Boundary Decisions?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 715-734, July.
    10. TINA M. Jose Vega & Dennis M. López, 2012. "Evaluating The Effect Of Industry Specialist Duration On Audit Quality And Audit Fees," Working Papers 0023, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    11. Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, Pia & Nätti, Satu, 2012. "Network orchestration for knowledge mobility: The case of an international innovation community," jbm - Journal of Business Market Management, Free University Berlin, Marketing Department, vol. 5(4), pages 244-264.
    12. Chengli Shu & Cuijuan Liu & Shanxing Gao & Mark Shanley, 2014. "The Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship in Alliances," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(4), pages 913-940, July.
    13. W. Sofka, 2008. "Globalizing Domestic Absorptive Capacities," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 769-792, December.
    14. Jiménez-Jiménez, Daniel & Sanz-Valle, Raquel, 2011. "Innovation, organizational learning, and performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 408-417, April.
    15. Tzu-Hsin Liu & Yung-Chang Hsiao, 2019. "Fitting cooperative mode in inter-organizational strategic alliance: a perspective from innovative and financial performances," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 73-96, February.
    16. Li Chen & Shaoming Zou & Hui Xu & Yiwen Chen, 2020. "Entrepreneurial Orientation in Multinational Corporations: Antecedents and Effects," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 123-148, February.
    17. Lívia Lopes Barakat & Torben Pedersen & Marcio Amaral-Baptista & Sherban Leornardo Cretoiu & Paulo Bento, 2022. "Too Much of Two Good Things: Explicating the Limited Complementarity Between Drivers of MNC Headquarters’ Absorptive Capacity," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 393-426, June.
    18. Zerbini, Fabrizio & Borghini, Stefania, 2015. "Release capacity in the vendor selection process," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 405-414.
    19. Cynthia A. Lengnick-Hall & Robert J. Griffith, 2007. "Knowledge Resources, Exploration, and Exploitation: A New Perspective on the Interplay Between Innovation and Application," Working Papers 0027, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    20. Yu, Wantao & Jacobs, Mark A. & Salisbury, W. David & Enns, Harvey, 2013. "The effects of supply chain integration on customer satisfaction and financial performance: An organizational learning perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 346-358.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:63:y:2010:i:3:p:310-320. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.