The recent research published by the faculty of ICO NIDA, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol, indicates that one crucial characteristic of entrepreneurs that could contribute to the survival of SMEs during the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is “Improvisational behavior”.

Improvisational behavior is a spontaneous action guided by intuition, produced or carried out in the spur of the moment instead of going through intentional thought and evaluation processes. Basically, individuals who possess improvisational behavior can be described by three main characteristics. First, they have the ability to perform tasks effectively under time pressure. Second, they tend to be innovative in how to combine and use resources at hand toward new problems and opportunities. Third, they generally have perseverance and do not give up easily when experiencing setbacks and failure.

Improvisational behavior is particularly imperative during the crisis when entrepreneurs have little time, expertise, or inclination for contingency planning. Because the unpredictable economic impacts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted virtually every aspect of business activities, entrepreneurs who rigidly depend on preplanned routines and decision-making could suffer from the inability to respond quickly to the disruption brought on by the crisis. With improvisational behavior, entrepreneurs can make decisions on the spot to solve unexpected problems, thereby enhancing the proactiveness of their business to deal with contingencies caused by the pandemic. It also gives them more flexibility to make adjustments and be more responsive to a changing and uncertain business environment during the economic crisis.

The results from his research, which collected data from the sample of 312 SMEs during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand, supports the positive relationship between the improvisational behavior of entrepreneurs and firm performance. Moreover, the positive impact of improvisational behavior on firm performance tends to be stronger for firms that encountered a higher level of competitive intensity and for firms that possessed a higher level of financial and human resources.

His research provides important recommendations regarding the competency development of entrepreneurs that are required to enable them to manage their business successfully during the economic crisis. Considering the disruptive nature and the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic which constrained the ability of entrepreneurs to rely on formalized strategic decision-making or long-term strategic planning to deal with the volatility of the business environment, improvisation is recommended as the competency that entrepreneurs need to develop to enhance their capability to deal with contingencies that arise during the crisis.

Source:

Charoensukmongkol, P. (2021), Does Entrepreneurs’ Improvisational Behavior Improve Firm Performance in Time of Crisis?, Management Research Review. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-12-2020-0738

Ms. Ling Peng, a recent Ph.D. graduate of ICO NIDA, published her dissertation in the Scopus database journal “Problems and Perspectives in Management”. Her work is under supervision of Dr. ZhongWu Li. More detail of the paper can be found via https://www.businessperspectives.org/index.php/journals/problems-and-perspectives-in-management/issue-380/psychological-contract-organizational-commitment-and-knowledge-innovation-a-perspective-of-open-innovation?fbclid=IwAR1r0lONxvK5XKVtrlu_J0iwiS1KXxyJkWU-B04z2_TORI6lSR048x9lNj8

Mr. Haifeng Gao has recently published his dissertation in the “Microprocessors and Microsystems”, which is ranked in the “SCImago Quartile 3”. His work is under supervision of Dr. ZhongWu Li.

     Ms. Huayun Wang, a recent Ph.D. graduate of ICO NIDA, published her dissertation in the “Journal of Technology Analysis & Strategic Management”, which is ranked in the “SCImago Quartile 2”. Her work is under supervision of Dr. Chih-Cheng Fang (Francis)

     Corporate networks are important channels through which external resources can be acquired, but the effect of corporate networks on competitive advantage remains unclear. Therefore, we use a structural equation model to examine the relationship between corporate networks, ambidextrous innovation, and competitive advantage with a sample of 384 high-tech enterprises gathered from Zhongguancun in Beijing and Shenzhen High-tech Industrial Development Zone. The results show that both corporate networks and ambidextrous innovation had positive effects on competitive advantage; moreover, the relationship between corporate networks and competitive advantage was mediated only by ambidextrous combination. The results of the multi-group analysis also show corporate networks had a stronger effect on manufacturers’ competitive advantage and ambidextrous combinationth an that of service enterprises; while the ambidextrous combination had a greater effect on competitive advantages of service enterprises. These findings suggest that enterprise executives should pay more attention to ambidextrous combinations to increase the efficiency of corporate networks, and also suggest that the Chinese Government should use manufacturing companies in pilot schemes for innovative reform due to their resource advantage.

Huayun Wang & Chih-Cheng Fang (2021) The influence of corporate networks on competitive advantage: the mediating effect of ambidextrous innovation, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, DOI: 10.1080/09537325.2021.1934436

     Dr Zhongwu Li and Dr Yapeng Lin published their academic paper in the Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education. This journal is in Scopus database. The title of the paper is Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Job Performance.

     The influence of emotional intelligence on employee job performance has been attracting increasingly more attention from various scholars and enterprises. Based on previous relevant literature in the fields of emotional intelligence, organizational management. This research proposes and verifies a model to examine the internal mechanism and boundary condition of the relationship between emotional intelligence, emotional labor，perceived organizational support，job performance. Specifically, this study introduces emotional labor as a mediator in the relationship between emotional labor and employee job performance and perceived organizational support as a moderator in the relationship between emotional intelligence and emotional labor. Then, this research conducts questionnaire surveys on Chinese employees to collect the sample data. In total, 266 service employees were collected. The results suggest that emotional intelligence can promote employee job performance. Emotional labor can partly mediate the influence of emotional intelligence on employee job performance. perceived organizational support can positively moderate the influence of emotional intelligence on emotional labor. The conclusions from the analyses above not only further verify and develop some previous points on emotional intelligence and employee job performance but also derive certain management implications for promoting employee job performance from the perspective of organizational support.

Source

https://turcomat.org/index.php/turkbilmat/article/view/7140

     Her research investigates the benefits of using social media for export sales activities by using the survey data collected from 873 salespeople in Mainland China. The study found that using social media can promote customer qualification skills and adaptive selling behaviors of salespeople. The more interesting finding is that the benefits from using social media to make sales with foreign customer outside China tend to be much higher for salespeople who used Facebook (which is blocked in China, but can be accessed by VPN) than those who used the Chinese social media platforms (such as WeChat). Moreover, the study found that salespeople with good English language proficiency benefit more from using social media than those with low proficiency.

     From the findings, it seems that Facebook contributes to the effectiveness of Chinese export salespeople’s social media use in export sales. Therefore, Facebook should be accessible to Chinese export salespeople; and sales organizations should provide training about how to integrate Facebook and other social media platforms into sales processes to reap the benefits they deliver.

     Her research was under close supervision and guidance of her thesis adviser, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol.

Source: https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-12-2019-0377

Mr Yapeng Lin published his academic paper in the Journal of Psychology and Education. This journal is in Scopus database. The title of his paper is Research on the Influence of Service Employee Emotional Intelligence on Customer Satisfaction in the Context of Service Recovery. He is under the supervision of Dr Zhongwu Li.

     The research on the factors affecting the effect of service recovery has become a hot research topic, but the relationship between the emotional intelligence of service employees and the effect of service recovery has not received widespread attention. The article uses a service employee-customer matching questionnaire survey method, and uses empirical research to explore the relationship between service employee emotional intelligence, emotional labor and customer satisfaction after service recovery.

Source: http://www.psychologyandeducation.net/pae/index.php/pae/article/view/1004

     Ms Danna Hao published her academic paper in the Journal of Psychology and Education. This journal is in Scopus database. The title of her paper is Research on the Influent Factors of Relationship Performance by an Intrinsic Incentive Growth Model for Chinese Universities’ Teachers. She is under the supervision of Dr Zhongwu Li.

     The teachers of Chinese Universities, as a special group, how to improve their relationship performance through effective incentives is a problem for these universities. By establishing a structural equation model (SEM) of teacher’s intrinsic incentive growth model to analyze the influent factors and dimensions of Chinese Universities’ teachers on the relationship performance is the aim of current research. Through the research, the results shown that work achievement and personal value in intrinsic incentive growth have positive influences on the peripheral relationship dimension under relationship performance, also, the personal value factor in intrinsic incentive growth has a positive impact on the organizational contribution dimension under relationship performance.

Source: http://www.psychologyandeducation.net/pae/index.php/pae/article/view/3024

     Ms Huilin Wang published her second academic paper in the Journal of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. This journal is ranked in the SCImago Quartile 2. The title of her paper is Linking Perceived Policy Effectiveness and Pro environmental Behavior: The Influence of Attitude, Implementation Intention, and Knowledge. You can find more detail of her study via this link https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/2910/pdf.

     Ms.Na Wei, a Ph.D. graduate of ICO NIDA, published her dissertation in the Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity which is ranked in the “SCImago Quartile 1”.

     Her study aims to establish a theoretical framework to more deeply explore users’ intentions in mobile learning applications. You can find more detail of her study via this link https://www.mdpi.com/1016748