Researchers require more innovation surveys in tourism, but have pointed out the deficient quantitative instruments used to measure this innovation. They have questioned whether hidden innovation may explain the low innovation rates in the tourism industry. Two tourism surveys have been conducted in Norway recently. One uses the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) to measure innovation and the other a modified CIS instrument. The surveys produce quite different results. The CIS survey shows low innovation rates and the modified survey shows high innovation rates, which highlights the need for more research on the use of the CIS in tourism research. The purpose of this study is to explore and identify how the CIS can be improved and be a more valid instrument for measuring innovation in tourism. Senior managers and department managers from different tourism businesses were interviewed after having completed the CIS survey. The findings indicate that the CIS is too concerned with R&D and technology, and does not capture important innovation in relation to service characteristics. In addition, the terminology and the categorization of four innovation types might distract and confuse the respondents. Furthermore, the survey lacks procedures for capturing all innovations developed at the departmental level within the companies. Thus, the findings indicate that parts of significant innovation are hidden. The article contributes with several suggestions regarding how the CIS can be improved in a more integrative direction, and concludes that the CIS should not be dismissed as an instrument for measuring innovation, but rather should be improved. ARTICLE HISTORY
Background It is important to understand how and in what ways a leadership style is capable to promote health professionals job performance. In this study we explore a relatively new leadership style, termed ambidextrous leadership. Ambidextrous leadership encompasses a leader capability to stimulate both exploitative and explorative activities in employees. Specifically, ambidextrous leadership is linked to two types of job-directed performance of health professionals’, respectively service quality of care and creativity. The study also examine what role employee ambidexterity seems to have in this relationship. Methods To test the conceptual model of this study, a cross-sectional survey was developed and data was gathered through convenience sampling of a total of N = 258 health professionals in home care services across nine various municipalities based in Norway. The study tested and analyzed the proposed hypotheses of this study through structural equation modeling partial least square, with SmartPLS 3 software. In addition to testing the direct relationships, the study also examined the indirect relationship through mediation testing by bootstrap. Results Ambidextrous leadership were found to have a direct impact on both employee’s service quality (\(\beta\) = 0.236) of care and employee ambidexterity (\(\beta\) = 0.395). The direct relationship between ambidextrous leadership and employee creativity were insignificant. However, the relationship ambidextrous leadership and service quality of care and creativity were both mediated of employee ambidexterity. Finally, the results reveal that employee creativity mediated the relationship between employee ambidexterity and service quality of care. Conclusions Although there are some differences, both ambidextrous leadership and employee ambidexterity are capable to promote job-directed performance of health professionals. Thus, a practical implication on the basis of the findings is that healthcare organizations should recruit, train and develop their leaders to become ambidextrous leaders. Doing so will have a direct impact on level of service quality as well as employee ambidexterity. In addition, acquiring ambidextrous leadership practices will also positively transform employee ambidexterity in a positive direction and indirectly stimulate employee’s creativity as well as strengthening health professionals service quality of care offering. Consequently, health organizations should be conscious of the multiple direct- and indirect effects of practicing ambidextrous leadership.
In the innovation studies literature, the process of innovation has been described as an interactive process that engages many different actors over time in the development and regeneration of goods and services. In the development and regeneration of tourism services, this often includes community actors. Yet, little attention has been paid to the way in which actors grasp the societal environment with which they interact, for example in intimate relationships or interactions with a wider community, and how such interaction formats may in turn affect the innovation process; for example, its desirability and visibility. The paper contributes to service and tourism innovation research by drawing on the concept of engagement to explain three cognitive formats of social interaction between innovators and their social environment. These are familiar engagement, engagement in plan, and engagement in justifiable action. The contribution to service and tourism innovation literature is to show how the varied capabilities of engagement impact innovation. Furthermore, based on a case study on a tourism service, the paper argues that the different formats of engagement typically must be combined and balanced in the innovation process.
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