RAE-Revista de Administração de Empresas (Journal of Business Management), 2019. V. 59, N. 2

ARTICLES
The missing link between high performance work practices and perceived organizational politics
Adnan Riaz | Saima Batool | Mohd Shamsuri Md Saad
Relationship between innovation and performance: Impact of competitive intensity and the
organizational slack
Diego Armando Marín-Idárraga | Juan Carlos Cuartas-Marín
Social and family life impact of shift work from the perspective of family members
Daniela Costa | Isabel Soares Silva
Structural cartography for literature review: Revealing the underlying structure of a
literature through a bibliographic atlas
Joaquim Heck | Ion Georgiou
PERSPECTIVES
Ambidestria and coevolution in operations: Integrating theory and practice
Ely Laureano Paiva
The creativity dilemma
Elena Revilla
BOOK REVIEWS
From the Agreste to the world
Luiz Alex Silva Saraiva
RESEARCH AND
KNOWLEDGE
V. 59, N. 2,
March–April 2019
fgv.br/rae

1 © RAE | São Paulo | 59(2) | March-April 2019
RAE-Revista de Administração de Empresas (Journal of Business Management)
ISSN 0034-7590
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
80 HUMOR IN THE ACADEMIA AND RESEARCH ON HUMOR
Humor na academia e pesquisas sobre humor
Humor en la academia y investigaciones sobre el humor
Maria José Tonelli | Felipe Zambaldi
ARTICLES | ARTIGOS | ARTÍCULOS
82 THE MISSING LINK BETWEEN HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK PRACTICES AND PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
O elo perdido entre o sistema de trabalho de alto desempenho e a percepção de política organizacional
El eslabón perdido entre prácticas laborales de alto rendimiento y percepción de la política organizacional
95 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE: IMPACT OF COMPETITIVE INTENSITY AND THE ORGANIZATIONAL SLACK
Relação entre inovação e desempenho: Impacto da intensidade competitiva e do slack organizacional
Relación entre la innovación y el desempeño: Impacto de la intensidade competitiva y el slack organizacional
108 SOCIAL AND FAMILY LIFE IMPACT OF SHIFT WORK FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF FAMILY MEMBERS
Impactos na vida social e familiar do trabalho por turnos na perspectiva dos familiares
Impacto en la vida social y familiar del trabajo por turnos desde la perspectiva de los familiares
Daniela Costa | Isabel Soares Silva
121 STRUCTURAL CARTOGRAPHY FOR LITERATURE REVIEW: REVEALING THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE OF A LITERATURE THROUGH A
BIBLIOGRAPHIC ATLAS
Cartografia estrutural para revisão de literatura: Revelando a estrutura subjacente de uma literatura por meio de um atlas bibliográfico
Cartografía estructural para la revisión de literatura: Revelando la estrutura subyacente de una literatura por medio de un atlas bibliográfico
Joaquim Heck | Ion Georgiou
PERSPECTIVAS | PERSPECTIVES
144 AMBIDEXTERITY AND CO-EVOLUTION IN OPERATIONS: INTEGRATING THEORY AND PRACTICE
Ambidestria e coevolução em operações: Integrando teoria e prática
Ambidestría y coevolución en operaciones: Integrando teoría y práctica]
Ely Laureano Paiva
149 THE CREATIVITY DILEMMA
O dilema da criatividade
El dilema de la creatividad
Elena Revilla
BOOK REVIEW | RESENHA | RESEÑA
154 FROM AGRESTE TO THE WORLD
Do agreste para o mundo
Del agreste para el mundo
Luiz Alex Silva Saraiva

ISSN 0034-759080 © RAE | São Paulo | 59(2) | March-April 2019 | 80-81
EDITORIAL
Felipe Zambaldi
Editor-adjunto
Maria José Tonelli
Editora-chefe
HUMOR INTHE ACADEMIA AND RESEARCH ON HUMOR
We started the editorial of the previous edition—the first of the year—with a brief joke and were confronted by some
colleagues as if we had committed heresy: “What is this in an editorial?” Well, perhaps it was not a good joke, but the
question was great and calls for reflection. Does the academia necessarily need to be bland and colorless? Cannot
humor be part of researchers’ lives? Do we need to be stern and monotonous? To me, this view seems to disregard
studies that evidence the role of humor in increasing creativity, well-being, and health as well as producing better
results in organizations (Mesmer-Magnus, Glew, & Viswesvaran, 2012). Humor is embedded in work processes
(Korczynski, 2011) and is a fundamental element in the development of human relationships. Humor facilitates
work (Rodrigues & Collinson, 1995), as the seminal article on humor in the area of organizational studies, written
by the Brazilian researcher Suzana Braga Rodrigues, states. Humor is important for individuals, organizations, and
the society (Duarte & Duarte, 2016). There is even a journal focused exclusively on humor: The European Journal of
Humour Research. Reinforcing the positive role of this human trait for work, the articles by Romero and Cruthirds
(2006), considering the international context, and Castro Silva and Brito (2014), considering the Brazilian context,
show that humor has a positive impact on communication, group cohesion, and leadership. Humor is part of the
organizational discourse (Koester, 2010) and workspace (Chefneux, 2015; Vivona, 2014). In summary, the role of
humor in sociability at work seems to be fundamental for the proper functioning of organizations.
However, humor is not just a positive aspect of human behavior. It may carry cynicism, sexism, and
aggressiveness. It may also be the first step toward bullying and several prejudices that surround humans, the
most common being related to race, ethnicity, gender, and age (Irigaray, Saraiva, & Carrieri, 2010; Korczynski,
2011; Westwood & Johnston, 2012; Wood & Caldas, 2005). Humor is a form of resistance that may lead to sabotage
(Alcadipani, Hassard, & Islam, 2018; Medeiros & Alcadipani, 2016) and, sometimes, is the only way to demonstrate
dissatisfaction at work(Rodrigues & Collinson, 1995). It is also a way to express forms of control (Huber & Brown, 2017)
that may cause laughter (Valadão, Medeiros, & Teixeira, 2017). Because of new technologies, humor can take other
forms on the internet, leading to new strategies to criticize organizational processes (Furtado, Carrieri, & Bretas, 2014).
Humor permeates the world of work and organizations (Westwood & Rhodes, 2007) as well as various
spheres of life. However, what type of organization does not allow humor in the 21st century? Total institutions,
as Goffman (1974) has shown us in Manicômios, prisões e conventos (Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of
Mental Patients and Other Inmates) Humor may be appropriate or inappropriate (Huber & Brown, 2017; Vivona,
2014). Besides assessing humor, we may ask ourselves what the absence of humor means. It is worth researching
this to understand the role of humor in academia.
This edition includes four articles: “The missing link between the high performance work practices and the
perception organizational politics,” by Adnan Riaz, Saima Batool, and Mohd Shamsuri Md Saad; “Relationship
between innovation and performance: Impact of competitive intensity and the organizational slack,” by Diego
Armando Marín-Idárraga and Juan Carlos Cuartas-Marín; “ Social and family life impact of shift work from the
perspective of family members,” by Daniela Costa and Isabel Soares Silva; and, finally, “Structural cartography
for literature review: Revealing the underlying structure of a literature though a bibliographic atlas,” by Joaquim
Heck and Ion Georgiou. The Perspectives section includes two texts relevant to the area of logistics and operations:
“Ambidestria and coevolution in operations: Integrating theory and practice” and “The creativity dilemma,” by Ely
Laureano Paiva and Elena Revilla, respectively. In the Book review section, Luiz Alex Silva Saraiva, in “From the
Agreste to the world,” presents his point of view on the work Filhos das feiras: Uma composição do campo de
negócios agreste (Children of the fairs: A composition of the business field of the Agreste) by Márcio Sá.
Enjoy reading!
Maria José Tonelli1
| ORCID: 0000-0002-6585-1493
Felipe Zambaldi1
| ORCID: 0000-0002-5378-6444
1
Fundação Getulio Vargas
Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo,
São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Translated version
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-759020190201

Editorial
REFERENCES
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place resistance. Journal of Management Studies, 55(8), 1452-1487. doi:10.1111/joms.12356
Castro Silva, R. R. C., & Brito, M. J. (2014). Humor no espaço organizacional: um estudo interpretativo em um call
center. Revista Eletrônica de Gestão Organizacional, 12(2), 113-124.
Chefneux, G. (2015). Humour at work. Language and Dialogue, 5(3), 381-407. doi:10.1075/ld.5.3.02che
Duarte, S. R., & Duarte, L. C. R. de P. (2016). O humor nas organizações: Um estudo epistemológico. Revista Hospi
talidade, 13(2), 336-357.
Furtado, R. A., Carrieri, A. de P., & Bretas, P. F. F. (2014). Humor na internet: Trabalhadores utilizam novas estraté-
gias para protestar contra demissões e terceirizações. Revista de Administração (São Paulo), 49(1), 33-44.
doi:10.5700/rausp1129
Goffman, I. (1974). Manicômios, prisõese conventos.São Paulo,SP: Perspectiva.Huber, G., & Brown, A. (2017). Identi-
ty work, humour and disciplinary power. Organization Studies, 38(8), 1107-1126. doi:10.1177/0170840616677632
Irigaray, H. A. R., Saraiva, L. A. S., & Carrieri, A. de P. (2010). Humor e discriminação por orientação sexual no
âmbito organizacional. Revista de Administração Contemporânea, 14(5), 890-906. doi:10.1590/S1415-
65552010000500008
Koester, A. (2010). Workplace discourse. London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Korczynski, M. (2011). The dialectical sense of humour: Routine joking in a taylorized factory. Organization Studies,
32(10), 1421-1439. doi:10.1177/0170840611421256
Medeiros, C. R. de O., & Alcadipani, R. (2016). In the corporate backstage, the taste of revenge: Misbehaviour and
humor as form of resistance and subversion. Revista de Administração (São Paulo), 51(2), 123-136. doi:10.5700/
rausp1229
Mesmer-Magnus, J., Glew, D. J., & Viswesvaran, C. (2012). A meta-analysis of positive humour in the workplace.
Journal of Managerial Psychology, 27(2), 155-190. doi:10.1108/02683941211199554
Rodrigues, S. B., & Collison, D. L. (1995). Having fun? Humour as resistance in Brazil. Organization Studies, 16(5),
739-768. doi:10.1177/017084069501600501
Romero, E. J., & Cruthirds, K. (2006). The use of humour in the workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives,
20(2). doi:10.5465/amp.2006.20591005
Valadão, V. M., Medeiros, C. R. de O., & Teixeira, F. D. (2017). Luz, câmera, ação! Quando a resistência ao poder e
controle organizacional provoca o riso. Revista Interdisciplinar de Gestão Social, 6(2), 75-92. doi:10.21714/2317-
2428/2017v6n2p75-92
Vivona, B. D. (2014). “To laugh or not to laugh”: Understanding the appropriateness of humour and joking in the
workplace. The European Journal of Humour Research, 2(1). doi:10.7592/EJHR2014.2.1.vivona
Westwood, R., & Johnston, A. (2012). Reclaiming authentic selves: Control, resistive humour and identity work in
the office. Organization, 19(6), 787-808. doi:10.1177/1350508411422583
Westwood, R., & Rhodes, C. (Eds.). (2007). Humour, work and organization. London, UK: Routledge.
Wood, T., Jr., & Caldas, M. P. (2005). Rindo do quê? Como consultores reagem ao humor crítico e à ironia sobre sua
profissão. Organização e Sociedade, 12(34), 83-10. doi:10.1590/S1984-92302005000300006

ADNAN RIAZ1
adnanriaz.aiou@gmail.com
ORCID: 0000-0001-8185-9316
SAIMA BATOOL2
saimabatool601@gmail.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-2269-5494
MOHD SHAMSURI MD SAAD3
shamsuri@utem.edu.my
ORCID: 0000-0003-2655-2607
1
Allama Iqbal Open University,
Department of Business
Administration, Islamabad,
Pakistan
2
Army Public College of
Management and Sciences,
Islamabad, Pakistan
3
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia
Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia
ARTICLES
Submitted 01.21.2018. Approved 09.03.2018
Evaluated through a double-blind review process. Scientific Editor: Pablo Isla
Original version
THE MISSING LINK BETWEEN HIGH
PERFORMANCE WORK PRACTICES AND
PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
O elo perdido entre o sistema de trabalho de alto desempenho e a percepção
de política organizacional
El eslabón perdido entre prácticas laborales de alto rendimiento y percepción
de la política organizacional
ABSTRACT
A vast majority of research characterizes organizational politics as an aversive phenomenon and thus
recommends exploring the factors that minimize its intensity. This study primarily endeavored to exa-
mine the role of high performance work practices (HPWPs) in controlling organizational politics. The
moderating influence of Machiavellian personalities on HPWPs- politics was also evaluated. Through
a questionnaire survey, 243 responses were obtained from engineers working in a local industrial area
of capital city of Pakistan. The results showed an inverse relationship between HPWPs and perceived
organizational politics (POP), and the moderating role of Machiavellianism was substantiated. Practical
implications are presented based on the study results.
KEYWORDS | High performance work practices, Machiavellian, perceived organizational politics, engi-
neering sector, time-lagged study.
RESUMO
A grande maioria das pesquisas caracteriza a política organizacional como um fenômeno aversivo,
portanto recomenda que sejam explorados os fatores para minimizar a sua intensidade. Este estudo
objetivou principalmente examinar o papel das práticas do Sistema de Trabalho de Alto Desempenho
(STAD) no controle da política organizacional. A influência moderadora das personalidades maquiavé
licas também foi avaliada nos STAD em relação à percepção de política na organização (PPO). Por meio
de questionário, foram obtidas 243 respostas de engenheiros que trabalham na área industrial local. Os
resultados mostraram uma relação inversa entre STAD e PPO. Da mesma forma, o papel moderador do
maquiavelismo foi confirmado. A discussão e as implicações práticas são apresentadas com base nos
resultados do estudo.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE | Práticas de trabalho de alto desempenho, maquiavelismo, percepção de política na
organização, setor de engenharia, estudo demorado.
RESUMEN
Una vasta mayoría de investigaciones caracteriza a las políticas organizacionales como un fenómeno
aversivo, por consiguiente, recomendado para explorar los factores para minimizar la intensidad. Este
estudio intenta primariamente analizar el papel de las prácticas laborales de alto rendimiento (high per
formance work practices [HPWPs]) en controlar las políticas organizacionales. La influencia moderadora
de personalidades maquiavélicas también se evaluó en HPWPs para la relación de políticas percibidas.
A través de una encuesta con cuestionario, se obtuvieron 243 respuestas de ingenieros que trabajan
en el área industrial local. Los resultados presentados mostraron una relación inversa entre HPWPs y la
percepción de la política organizacional. Asimismo se corroboró el papel moderador del maquiavelismo.
El debate y las implicaciones prácticas se presentan con base en los resultados del estudio.
PALABRAS CLAVE | Prácticas laborales de alto rendimiento, maquiavelismo, percepción de la política
organizacional, sector de ingeniería, estudio retrasado.

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ARTICLES | THE MISSING LINK BETWEEN HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK PRACTICES AND PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
83 © RAE | São Paulo | 59(2) | March-April 2019 | 82-94
INTRODUCTION
Organizational politics has been a key topic of discussion since
many decades, primarily for two reasons. First, politics is inevitable
and prevailswithvarying intensity, irrespective ofthe nature, culture,
and size of the organization (Witt, Andrews, & Kacmar, 2000).
Second, politics is mostly perceived to be harmful, so there is a
need to address it by exploring its causes (Meisler &Vigoda-Gadot,
2014). Various organizational and job-related factors have been
highlighted as key antecedents of organizational politics. Despite
categorical studies on minimizing politicking in the organization,
extant research lacks any clear understanding of the impact of high
performance work practices (HPWPs) on organizational politics.
Previous studies highlight the role of certain human resources (HR)
practices to control organizational politics (commonly measured as
perceived organizational politics [POP]). However, HPWPs are not
used as a holistic construct to predict POP, as pointed out by Atinc,
Darrat, Fuller, and Parker (2010). Since organizations have keenly
realized the importance of HR practices to cope with adversities
and future challenges (Paré &Tremblay, 2007; Peacock, 2017), this
study would help to address the negative effects of organizational
politics by applying a specific set of key HPWPs.
Organizations of all types have to face politics in their
working environments in different forms (Bodla & Danish, 2009).
Initially, research in this particular domain was more focused on
examining the nature, causes, and consequences of politics in
broad sectors and regional areas. By accepting politics as a reality
of organizational life, recently, researchers’ focus has shifted to
examining models of organizational politics among professional
groups, such as nurses (Basar & Basim, 2016), teachers (Gibson,
2006), and frontline hotel employees (Karatepe, Babakus, & Yavas,
2012)—especiallygroupsthatare largelyresponsible for the success
and failure of any organization. Engineers and employees involved
in highlyspecialized tasksare morevulnerable to politicsbecause of
their resource dependence and dominantrole in organizationallife.
By contrast, relationships between organizational-
level factors and outcomes are susceptible to personality and
dispositional factors (Kooij et al., 2013; Sendjaya, Pekerti, Härtel,
Hirst, & Butarbutar, 2016). For most of the early management
researches, researchers focused on possible moderators changing
the strengths and directions of the relationships (Dawson,
2014). Neglecting situational factors may challenge the causal
relationships. Relationships between HPWPs and outcomes
may vary due to individual differences. Previous studies have
shown the Machiavellian dark side of personality attributes,
wherein these personalities not only involve themselves in
political maneuverings but are also considered the proponents
of politics (Kacmar, Bozeman, Carlson, & Anthony, 1999;
O’connor & Morrison, 2001). Therefore, it would be interesting to
scrutinize the HPWPs-POP association for Machiavellian and non-
Machiavellian personalities. The environment plays an important
role in shaping personalities (Göllner et al., 2017) . Machiavellian
(or Mach) tendencies are believed to be developed in retrenched
environments (Tucker, Lowman, & Marino, 2016). Particularly,
culture plays an important role in developing and helping Dark
Triad personalities (O’Boyle, Forsyth, Banks, & McDaniel, 2012).
It would be interesting to observe the extent to which engineers
show Mach tendencies and how these tendencies affect the
postulated HPWPs-POP relationship.
In sum, this study contributes in different ways. First,
although organizational politics has been an area of interest
for various scholars, the relationship between HPWPs as
a consolidated measure and POP is yet to be established
(Atinc, Darrat, Fuller, & Parker, 2010). Second, Mach has been
conclusively found to be a key personality trait that perceives
and exercises politics in the organization (Valle & Perrewe,
2000). In this study, Mach’s role as a moderator is explored
on the postulated relationship. Lastly, this study also strives
to satisfy the concern of Hofstede and Hofstede (2005) who
categorically emphasized that theories and research findings
should be generalized cautiously. Dissimilarities among countries
with respect to cultural dimensions recommend the need for
country-specific findings. Hence, this study conducts detailed
analysis of the impact of HPWPs on POP with the moderating
role of Machiavellianism among employees working as engineers.
LITERATURE REVIEW
HPWPs
HPWPs are defined as a set of consistent, integrated, and
interdependent HR practices (Guthrie, 2001; Huselid & Becker,
1995; Pfeffer, 1998; Zacharatos, Barling, & Iverson, 2005). They
play an important role in developing organizational competencies
and promoting a social relationship among employees (Shin &
Konrad, 2017). Therefore, organizations need to know the specific
bundle of HPWPs that best suits their requirements and helps
them acquire the desired competencies (Posthuma, Campion,
Masimova, & Campion, 2013). According to Harley, Allen, and
Sargent (2007), it is difficult to determine the best combination
of HPWPs. However, some examples of HPWPs include
procedural hiring, training and skill development opportunities,
compensation, decision-making participation, flexible working
hours, information sharing, empowerment, and job design

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(Combs, Liu, Hall, & Ketchen, 2006; Rabl, Jayasinghe, Gerhart,
& Kühlmann, 2014). For this study, we follow Bamberger, Biron,
and Meshoulam (2014)’s integrated HPWPs model comprising
selective recruitment, training and development, career
progression, internal promotions, job guarantee, target-based
performance, incentives and rewards, and active participation.
As summarized by Ma, Long, Zhang, Zhang, and Lam (2017),
HPWPs play a significant role in fostering social harmony among
organizational employees. The focus of this study is to validate
the link between HPWPs and positive organizational behavior by
examining engineers who are generally thought to be professionals
and responsible for organizational success and failure (Hiebert,
2001; Lobontiu, 2010). Following the tenet of the social exchange
theory (Blau, 1964), organizations offering the best HR bundles are
basically developing psychological reservoirs for the employees to
face workplace challenges. Employees feel honored upon receiving
extra care from the organization and may reciprocate accordingly
during deleterious situations (Gouldner, 1960).
POP
POP is defined as the extent to which employees perceive political
behavior and maneuvering in their work environment that lead
to unjust and unfair results (Ferris, Russ, & Fandt, 1989). It
is widely believed that individual behavior is the outcome of
perception rather than reality itself (e.g., Gandz & Murray, 1980;
Porter, Crampon, & Smith, 1976). Empirical results also support
the strong association between perceived reality and employees’
actions and performances (Purves, Morgenstern, & Wojtach, 2015).
This is the reason POP has resulted in adverse consequences. For
example, Ferris et al. (1998) concluded that POP led to employees’
withdrawal behavior, reduced job involvement, job anxiety, and
job dissatisfaction. Some other empirical evidences found POP to
be an antecedent to psychological strain, job dissatisfaction, low
performance, and low organizational citizenship behavior (Chang,
Rosen, & Levy, 2009; Miller, Rutherford, & Kolodinsky, 2008). To
counter organizational politics, a number of factors have been
highlighted. For example, a transparent and fair environment, role
clarity, growth opportunities, and resourcefulness are among the
few factors to control POP (Muhammad, 2007; Poon, 2003; Thau
& Mitchell, 2010; Valle & Perrewe, 2000).
HPWPs and POP
The shared mental model (SMM) explicates the mutually held
assumptions and perceptions that correspond with collective
conduct (Fiore, Salas, & Cannon-Bowers, 2001). SMMs display
a dominant influence over individuals’ behavior (Maynard &
Gilson, 2014). Unique and consistent HPWPs such as extensive
staffing, training, decentralization, open communication, and
performance-oriented compensation result in shared feelings
of care, equality, support, responsiveness, and trust in the
organization. This subsequently reduces the perception of
inequality, favoritism, and self-serving behavior, which are termed
as organizational politics in organizational behavior literature.
Employees also have a shared understanding of the procedures,
practices, and policies of the organization, as well as the type
of behaviors that are desired and appreciated. Organizational
support ultimately refrains them from exhibiting any illegitimate
behavior not sanctioned by the organizational authorities (Bowen
& Ostroff, 2004). Thus, we may hypothesize the following:
H1: HPWPs may reduce the POP in the organization.
Mach Personality
The Mach is an antagonistic and hostile personality trait (Christie,
Geis, Festinger, & Schachter, 2013). Wilson, Near, and Miller
(1996) defined Machiavellianism as a strategy to manipulate
others for one’s self-interest even at the cost of the others. Machs
are intrinsically inclined to be manipulative, conniving, and
deceptive. They use other people as stepping-stones to pursue
their own agenda. Studies ascertain that Machs have strong
interpersonal skills to influence people, which they use optimally
to manipulate and persuade others (Belschak, Muhammad, &
Den Hartog, 2016; Cohen, 2018).
Mach Personality and POP
According to Adams, Treadway, and Stepina (2008), personality
traits are the most influential factors for predicting POP, compared
to any other personal variable. This is because they stimulate the
pattern of how employees identify and understand organizational
politics. Machs are perceived to be strongly related to POP,
because high-Machs have an innate tendency to understand
human instincts and can do almost anything to promote their
self-interest (Bereczkei, 2017). According to Sussman, Adams,
Kuzmits, and Raho (2002), high-Machs can exercise different
impression management and political tactics to obtain results
for personal success and growth. Previous researchers have
shown a strong positive relationship between Machiavellianism
and POP (O’connor & Morrison, 2001; Valle & Perrewe, 2000).
The famous model of POP presented by Ferris et al. (1989) also
characterizes Mach personalities as the strong predictors of POP.

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Later, the study of Stepanski, Kershaw, and Arkakelian (2000) also
supported this relationship. Hence, we may assume the following:
H2: Machiavellianism significantly influences POP.
A Machiavellian as Moderator between HPWPs
and POP
Machs are thoroughly concerned with advancing their self-
interest while disregarding organizational well-being (Sakalaki,
Richardson, & Thépaut, 2007). They may exercise a variety of
influence tactics for building political connections, including
deliberate self-disclosure and intimidation (Elias, 2015).
In a colloquial sense, the political atmosphere becomes
characteristically risky, signifying that those who hoard supremacy
and inspiration may enjoy success (Christie et al., 2013; Pilch
& Turska, 2015; Ruiz-Palomino & Bañón-Gomis, 2016). In
organizational life, Ferris et al. (1989) claimed that Machs are
the proponents and predecessors of political behaviors. Recently,
a few empirical findings concluded that Machiavellianism is
a strong predictor of incivility (Furtner, Maran, & Rauthmann,
2017), poor job performance (Blickle, Schütte, & Genau, 2018),
counterproductive work behaviors (Cohen, 2018), and workplace
bullying (Pilch & Turska, 2015). It has already been tested as a
moderator between various organizationally desired relationships
in different settings (Reimers & Barbuto, 2002; Wei & Chen, 2012;
Zagenczyk et al., 2013). Machs, being self-promoting in nature,
disregard any contribution from either an individual, group, or
organization. Their self-centered ideology forbids them from
acknowledging the support given by the organization (Bereczkei,
2017). Based on these arguments, we may reasonably assume
the following:
H3: Machs moderate the relationship between HPWPs and
POP such that the relationship is weaker for individuals
who have high-Mach tendencies.
METHODOLOGY
Subjects / Sample
The objective of this study was to examine the POP among
qualified engineers in association with HPWPs at their workplace.
Qualified engineers for this survey comprised employees who (a)
worked on permanent (full-time) basis, (b) had one year of job
experience, (c) and whose supervisors had conducted at least
one performance appraisal of them. The sample frame was drawn
from the HR departments of the respective organizations, while
the selection of respondents was based on the simple random
sampling method. The contacts of the second author helped
us throughout the questionnaire administration process, being
incumbent in the HR department of one of the organizations.
The engineering job involves relatively more administrative
conflicts as it is highly technical and focused, has over-arching
goals, and must provide support services to diverse customers
(Leckie, Pettigrew, & Sylvain, 1996). The POP can be held at any
hierarchical level, and therefore engineers working at different
hierarchical levels constituted the population of the study.
The questionnaire was divided into two parts with
a covering letter explaining the purpose of study, strict
confidentiality measures, and contact information of the principal
investigator. The first part was about the items related to HPWPs
and Machiavellianism, whereas the second part was about
measuring POP. Since the data were collected at two different
points of time, both parts contained demographical information
of the respondents with a unique code assigned for further match
making. Considering the level of understanding of engineers,
all the measures were in English and adopted from tested and
authentic sources. The questionnaires were distributed in sealed
envelopes through either postal mail or focal persons responsible
for administering them within their organizations. To ensure
confidentiality, the survey was anonymous, and the respondents
were required not to reveal their identities. Moreover, to control
the social desirability response, respondents’ participation in the
survey was voluntary, and they could leave at any point during
the data collection process. Furthermore, respondents could
send the questionnaire directly to the principal investigator if
they wished to do so.
This was basically a time-lagged study. In the first interval
(T1), respondents were required to fill part-I. Then, after one month
(T2), part-II had to be filled in along with the demographical part.
Unique codes assigned to each questionnaire helped us to make
a match, while demographical information further validated the
same respondents.
A sample size of 250 and above is deemed appropriate to
test the postulated relationships (MacCallum, Widaman, Zhang,
& Hong, 1999). Therefore, more than 400 questionnaires were
distributed to the target population using email and the local
postage service. At T1, a total of 288 questionnaires were received,
which were subsequently recorded using IBM SPSS 20.0. After T2,
a total of 243 responses were received. Thus, 243 total responses
were analyzed to test the hypotheses. Studies conducted in the
Asian context generally reflect a high response rate (Abbas,
Raja, Darr, & Bouckenooghe, 2014). A few questionnaires were
dropped from the analysis based on the following shortcomings
(not attempted in true spirit):

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• Incomplete responses,
• Reverse entries cautions, and
• Delayed responses / responses received much later
than the stipulated one-month time period.
The demographic data show that 59% of the respondents
belonged to the information technology department, and a
majority were males (92%). Around 55% respondents were aged
between 31 to 40 years. The sample data also revealed that 72%
of respondents had acquired a master’s degree, and 83% were in
middle-level job positions. The data also reflected considerable
variation in the service duration, as 39% had 6–10 years’ service,
37% had 10 or more years of service, and 18% had 1–5 years
of service length. Moreover, 17% of respondents had income
of $600–$700, 42% had income of $700–$800, and 22% had
income of $800–$900.
Measures
All the statements were anchored on a five-point Likert scale
ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
POP
POP was measured using the 12 items on the POP scale from the
study of Kacmar and Ferris (1991). This shorter version has helped
different studies and was found reliable by Kacmar and Carlson
(1997) (α = 0.87) and Vigoda and Cohen (2002) (α = 0.77).
Machiavellianism
To measure the Mach personality, five items were taken from the
study of Christie and Geis (1970). Each respondent (engineer) was
asked to specify the magnitude of his or her agreement with every
item. This smaller version was also found reliable by Christie and
Geis (1970) with α = 0.87.
HPWPs
Following the suggestion of Becker and Huselid (1998), different
researchers (Delery & Shaw, 2001; Guest, 1999) had combined the
measurements of various HR practices to form the consolidated
HPWPs items set. Following the same analogy, a scale comprising
27 items was adopted from Bamberger and Meshoulam (2000) to
measure the unified HPWPs. The scale had already been found
reliable (α = 0.76) by Sun, Aryee, and Law (2007).
Control Variables
In the current study, two demographical factors, that is, Income
and Service Duration showed significant effects on POP and
were used as control variables. A one-way analysis of variance
comparing POP across Income (F = 3.44, p<0.005) and Service
Duration (F = 3.003, p< 0.005) revealed significant differences in
the outcome variable.
RESULTS
Scale Validity and Reliability
Reliability of constructs was ascertained by calculating the
Cronbach’s alpha, which was higher than 0.93 for all constructs
above the threshold of 0.7 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). However,
Cronbach’s alpha has been criticized for being oversimplified
and a lower-bound statistic to gauge true reliabilities. Therefore,
composite reliabilities (CR) were also evaluated, which, if higher
than 0.7, indicate good reliability (Churchill, 1979; Hair, Black,
Babin, Anderson, & Tatham, 1998). The CR values in our study
range from 0.95 to 0.97, indicating relatively good reliabilities of
the measured constructs.
The construct validity of the measurement model was
evaluated with the help of confirmatory factor analysis (Hair
et al., 1998) using the AMOS program Version-18. Convergent
validity of the measurement was ensured by examining the
standardized factor loadings and average variance extracted
(AVE). The factor loadings ranged from 0.51 to 0.81 (p<0.05),
satisfying the criteria prescribed by Bagozzi and Yi (1991).
Secondly, the AVE of all three constructs were above 0.5 (Hair
et al., 1998), which shows that more than 50% of the variance
of the measurement items can be accounted for by the latent
variables.
To assess discriminant validity, Fornell and Larcker (1981)
recommended considering the AVE, which, if higher than the
squared correlation or maximum shared variance, provides
evidence of discriminant validity. For variance-based models,
Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson, and Tatham (2010) advised the use
of the square-root value of the AVE to compare the inter-construct
correlations. The bivariate correlations between all constructs
ranged from 0.01 to 0.51, far below the corresponding AVE and
square-root of AVE. Table 1 ensures the discriminant validity based
on all these criteria. In sum, both the convergent and discriminant
validities confirmed the overall construct validity. Having such
qualities, the researcher could safely move toward testing the
proposed hypotheses.

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Table 1. Results of confirmatory factor analysis
Constructs and items
Standardized
factor loadings
AVE MSV α CR
Perceived organizational politics (POP) 0.73 0.29 0.97 0.97
Favoritism rather than merit determines who gets ahead around here. 0.88
There is no place for yes-men around here: good ideas are desired even when it
means disagreeing with superiors. (R)
0.87
Employees are encouraged to speak out frankly even when they are critical of well-
established ideas. (R)
0.81
There has always been an influential group in this department that no one ever
crosses.
0.83
People here usually don’t speak up for fear of retaliation by others. 0.81
Rewards come only to those who work hard in this organization. (R) 0.83
Promotions in this department generally go to top performers. (R) 0.86
People in this organization attempt to build themselves up by crossing others. 0.83
I have seen changes made in policies here that only serve the purposes of a few
individuals, not the work unit or the organization.
0.86
There is a group of people in my department who always get things their way
because no one wants to challenge them.
0.86
I can’t remember when a person received a pay increase or a promotion that was
inconsistent with the published policies. (R)
0.90
Since I have worked in this department, I have never seen the pay and promotion
policies applied politically. (R)
0.90
Machiavellian personality (Mach) 0.80 0.29 0.95 0.95
Never tell anyone the real reason you did something unless it is useful to do so. 0.89
It is wise to flatter important people. 0.88
It is hard to get ahead without cutting corners here and there. 0.91
The best way to handle people is to tell them what they want to hear. 0.89
Anyone who completely trusts anyone else is asking for trouble. 0.90
High performance work practices (HPWPs) 0.62 0.10 0.97 0.97
Great effort is taken to select the right person. 0.84
Long-term employee potential is emphasized. 0.80
Considerable importance is placed on the staffing process. 0.80
Very extensive efforts are made in selection. 0.77
Extensive training programs are provided for individuals in customer contact or
front-line jobs.
0.72
Employees in customer contact jobs will normally go through training programs
every few years.
0.77
There are formal training programs to teach new hires the skills they need to
perform their job.
0.78
Formal training programs are offered to employees in order to increase their promo
ability in this organization.
0.79
Employees have few opportunities for upward mobility. (R) 0.78
Employees do not have any future in this organization. (R) 0.81
Promotion in this organization is based on seniority. (R) 0.82
(continue)

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Constructs and items
Standardized
factor loadings
AVE MSV α CR
Employees have clear career paths in this organization. 0.77
Employees in customer contact jobs who desire promotion have more than one
potential position they could be promoted to.
0.78
Employees in this job can be expected to stay with this organization for as long as
they wish
0.78
Job security is almost guaranteed to employees in this job. 0.76
The duties in this job are clearly defined. 0.79
This job has an up-to-date description. 0.87
The job description for a position accurately describes all of the duties performed
by individual employees.
0.80
Performance is more often measured with objective quantifiable results. 0.75
Performance appraisals are based on objective quantifiable results. 0.80
Employee appraisals emphasize long term and group-based achievement. 0.76
Individuals in this job receive bonuses based on the profit of the organization. 0.86
There is close tie or matching of pay to individual/group performance. 0.79
Employees in this job are often asked by their supervisor to participate in decisions. 0.72
Individuals in this job are allowed to make decisions. 0.75
Employees are provided the opportunity to suggest improvements in the way things
are done.
0.76
Supervisors keep open communications with employees in this job. 0.85
Note: R = reverse-coded item. The standardized factor loadings were significant at the 0.05 level. AVE = average variance extracted; MSV = maximum shared variance; α =
Chronbach’s alpha; CR = composite reliability.
Hypothesis Testing
Table 2 shows the results of the descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and composite reliabilities. The HPWPs’ correlation
with POP (r=-0.274, p<0.01) is significant and in the assumed direction. Similarly, Machs significantly correlate with POP (r=0.514,
p<0.01). All the measures were found to be reliable as given in the diagonal.
Table 2. Means, standard deviations, correlations, and reliabilities
Mean Std. deviation 1 2 3 4 5
1 Income 3.61 1.26 1
2
Service
duration
3.04 0.89 -0.393**
1
3 POP 3.62 0.66 -0.006 -0.101 (0.85)
4 Mach 3.73 0.85 -0.018 -0.017 0.514** (0.80)
5 HPWPs 3.55 0.064 0.019 -0.114 -0.274** -0.312** (0.79)
Note: N=243. The diagonal elements (boldface) are the square root of the average variance extracted. POP = perceived organizational politics; HPWPs = high performance
work practices; Mach = Machiavellian personality. **p<0.05; *p<0.01;***p<0.001.
Results of the multiple linear regression given in Table 3 revealed HPWPs as significant predictors of POP (β = -0.144, p<
0.05), which confirmed Hypothesis 1. Similarly, Mach was also found to be a significant predictor of POP (β = 0.364, p<0.001), thus
confirming Hypothesis 2.
Table 1. Results of confirmatory factor analysis (conclusion)

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Likewise, Hypothesis 3 stated that Mach would moderate the
relationship between HPWPs and POP such that the relationship
would be weaker for high-Mach personalities compared with low-
Machs.To validate Hypothesis 3, the moderated multiple regression
analyses technique was used (Cohen, Cohen, West, & Aiken, 2013).
In the first step, the control variables were entered (income and
service duration), followed by the independent and moderator
variables in the second step. In the third step, we entered the
interacting term calculated by multiplying the independent
and moderator variables (HPWPs x Mach), which, if significant,
confirmed moderation. By following all these steps, the effect of the
interacting term (HPWPsx Mach) on POP was significant (β=0.352,
p=<0.001), thus confirming Hypothesis 3.
Table 3. Results of the main effects and moderated
regression analysis

Perception of politics
β ΔR²
Step 1
Income -0.052
Service duration -0.001 0.010
Step 2
Income -0.056
Service duration -0.002
Mach 0.364***
HPWPs -0.144* 0.28***
Step 3
Income -0.068
Service duration 0.017
Mach 0.274***
HPWPs -0.372***
HPWPs x Mach 0.352*** 0.099***
Note: n=243. HPWPs = high performance work practices; Mach = Machiavellian
personality. * p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.
We plotted the significant interactions for the high and
low (M+SD) values of the moderator. Plots of the significant
interactions are displayed in Graph 1, which shows that the
negative relationship of HPWPs-POP was stronger when the Mach
was high. Simple slope tests using the procedure recommended
by Aiken and West (1991) showed that the slope for low levels of
Mach was significant (β=-0.66, p<.001) compared with individuals
with high-Mach personality (β=0.08; ns).
Graph 1. Interactive effects of HPWPs and Mach on POP
Note: HPWPs = high performance work practices; POP = perceived organizational
politics.
DISCUSSION
Employees belonging to technical domains have different
aspirations, needs, and job requirements (Hernaus & Mikulić,
2014). Engineers and technical staff are treated as the key
functional group in any organization. Considering the unique
nature of engineers’ job profile, role expectations, and likely
challenges, the engineering sector becomes an interesting
segment to study organizational politics. This study primarily
investigated the impact of HPWPs on POP. This was recommended
by Atinc et al. (2010) in his famous meta-analytical review as a
fruitful area for research. In addition, the moderating role of Mach
personalities was also examined on the HPWPs-POP relationship.
The results revealed a significantly inverse relationship
between HPWPs and POP. Moreover, the moderating role of
Machiavellianism was confirmed on the HPWPs to POP relationship.
It is important to note that the above relationship had not been
studied so far, even though Ferris et al. (1998) generally explored
an association between a few HR practices and POP.
As the results indicate, HPWPs significantly reduce POP in
organizations. This is consistent with the finding that HPWPs can
offer a win-win situation for organizations and employees (Machin
& Wood, 2005). Organizations emphasizing HPWPs usually have a
more contented and satisfied workforce (Appelbaum, 2000; Guest,
1999; Hall, Hochwarter, Ferris, & Bowen, 2004). This in turn leads
to strong attitudinal development and behavioral affiliation, thus
controlling the POP among employees (Drory&Vigoda-Gadot, 2010).
Our measurement to gauge HPWPs synthesized items
including recruitment and selection, career management, job
security, role clarity, performance management, participation
in decision making, and open communication. A reasonable
match was obtained between the demographical information of
respondents and the results. For example, most of the employees

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had worked for around 10 years in their organizations, and the
majority were mid-career workers. At this level, employees usually
have ample clarity about work roles and responsibilities, enjoy
job security, and get opportunities to participate in important
decisions. In open and secure environments, any feeling about
political maneuvering is diffused. Our analysis provides evidence
of the effectiveness of performance management systems in
engineering organizations. Political behavior, perception, and
tendencies are naturally reduced when employees are goal oriented
and strive to achieve excellence. Our results further show that
respondents had acquired 16 years of education, which is necessary
to carry out the highly specialized engineering tasks. Reasonable
education and training opportunities help employees to develop
skills and competencies. It has been proved that if organizations
are responsive to employees’ needs, they become a cornerstone in
coping with cynical attitudes about the organizational environment
(Chiaburu, Peng, Oh, Banks, & Lomeli, 2013).
We believe that our judgment would bolster this line of
thought and affirm that HPWPs can be helpful in alleviating POP
and political activities in the organization. The inverse relationship
between HPWPs and POP is also in line with the conclusion drawn
by Van De Voorde & Beijer (2015), which suggests that HPWPs
help to control aversive conditions.
The results of this study further confirm that a Mach
personality moderates the inverse relationship between HPWPs
and POP among employees. The ideology of Machiavelli presented
around 500 years ago still poses a challenge to managers and
practitioners in organizational life. High-Machs have the genetic
tendency to perceive their environment as thoroughly politicized,
where everyone is pursuing their self-interest (Mohtadi, 2013;
Sibia, 2016). Since a man is the product of his environment (Young,
2012), becoming involved in political behavior is quite natural.
High-Machs exert pressure using various means and look at ways
to extend their political affiliations (Furnham, Richards, & Paulhus,
2013). Political settings are characteristically uncertain, signifying
that power and influence will be the key to their rise (Hall et
al., 2004). Thus, people with high-Mach personalities translate
activities and occasions into political terms (Buchanan & Badham,
2008) and tend to capitalize political situations for maximizing
their personal interests (Czibor & Bereczkei, 2012). Analysts also
highlight that Machiavellianism entails gathering the negative
perspectives about human instinct, becoming involved in
unethical practices, and utilizing different manipulative strategies
to fulfill one’s objectives (Johns, Xie, & Fang, 1992). However,
regardless of these instinctive hypothetical associations between
Mach and POP, very little conclusive investigation has overtly
scrutinized the moderating influence. Our results invite attention
from managers, as the majority of respondents were male. The
Machiavellian trait is highly gender specific, and male workers
usually exhibit such attitudinal and behavioral manifestations
(Ali, Amorim, & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2009; Fehr & Samsom,
2013). Considering our findings, HPWPs may lose their impact on
individual outcomes in cases of high-Machiavellian personalities.
In addition, a vast majority of research on HR practices and
perceived politics originates from the U.S. and European countries,
which are different in terms of cultural dimensions(Hofstede, 2003).
Our investigation is an answer to the call of Giorgi, Lockwood,
and Glynn (2015) to understand the context of the models and
established relationships. Overall, our findings are in line with the
existing empirical evidence reported on the western culture, which
is marked high in individualism and low in power distances. Thus,
we may conclude that the organizationally desirable outcomes
resulting from HPWPs and POP are less susceptible to cultural
differences and are well generalized in Pakistan, a country marked
high in power distance and collectivism. The results of this study
could be a significant building block for understanding and
controlling politics in various cross-cultural settings, especially
within the Pakistani and South Asian organizational context. For
further generalization, future research needs to be conducted in
different cultures and industries.
THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS
Our study has extended the research of the organizational
politics domain in various ways. First, we conceptualized the
effects of HPWPs on POP, which were not deliberated much in
the extant research. Second, this study confirmed the moderating
role of Mach personalities on the HPWPs-POP relationship. The
study examined all the relationships by collecting data from the
engineering sector of Pakistan. Recent focus of the researchers
in organizational behavior domain is shifted over to examining
organizational politics with respect to a specific population.
Hence, engineers working in local industries constituted a unique
area of investigation.
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
Our results provide a sound base to control politics in the
professional work environment. Managers should be cautious
about the harmful effects of workplace politics. They should
consider all potential means, such as clear governing rules,
regulations and policies, open communication supported by
feedback and guidance, developmental opportunities, and

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an attractive career path to address political maneuvering.
Organizations should revisit their hiring processes by focusing on
personality tests to induct employees. New inductees should have
positive and authentic personality traits. For existing employees,
training interventions may help to reshape personality traits by
developing positivity and harmony.
STRENGTHS, LIMITATIONS, AND
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Similar to other studies conducted in social sciences, this study
also has a few limitations. Considering the unique nature of
the engineering sector, the implications of this study should
be treated with caution. Other workgroups may have different
perceptions about the variables of interest and can come up with
different strengths and directionality of the relationships. Second,
we explored the relationship between HPWPs and POP in the
presence of the Mach personality only, while future research may
go further by integrating other DarkTriad personalities (narcissism
and psychopathy) as moderating variables. Similarly, they may
concentrate on a different set of HPWPs to determine their impacts
on POP. Moreover, this study was conducted in Pakistan. As
Pakistan exhibits different socio-economic conditions, future
research may be conducted in neighboring countries and in other
parts of Asia as well to compare results.
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ARTICLES
Submitted 03.07.2017. Approved 08.31.2018
Evaluated through a double-blind review process. Scientific Editor: Adriana Takahashi
Translated version
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INNOVATION AND
PERFORMANCE: IMPACT OF COMPETITIVE
INTENSITY AND ORGANIZATIONAL SLACK
Relação entre inovação e desempenho: Impacto da intensidade competitiva e
do slack organizacional
Relación entre la innovación y el desempeño: Impacto de la intensidad
competitiva y el slack organizacional
ABSTRACT
Innovation is a key factor in organizational performance. Although there are references from strategic
theory to understand the relationships between these two variables, there are still many gaps that need
to be filled. Thus, more empirical validation is necessary. This study aimed to verify how the relationship
between innovation and performance is affected by the presence of precursor variables such as compe-
titive intensity and organizational slack. This study involved conducting explanatory and cross-sectional
investigations by applying structural equation modeling to a sample of small and medium-sized enter-
prises in Bogotá, Colombia. The results make a relevant contribution to the literature on strategic
management by showing that competitive intensity and organizational slack induce innovation and
positively impact performance.
KEYWORDS | Innovation, performance, competitive intensity, slack, Cladea 2017.
RESUMO
A inovação é um fator-chave no desempenho organizacional. Embora a teoria estratégica tenha forne
cido as referências para entender as relações entre essas duas variáveis, ainda há muitas lacunas a
serem preenchidas e falta uma validação mais empírica. O objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar como
a relação entre inovação e desempenho é afetada na presença de variáveis precursoras como intensi
dade competitiva e slack organizacional. O estudo foi realizado através de uma investigação de tipo
explicativo e corte transversal, aplicando um modelo de equações estruturais a uma amostra de PMEs
bogotanas. Os resultados trazem uma contribuição relevante para a literatura e gestão estratégicas, ao
mostrarem que a intensidade competitiva e o slack induzem a inovação, gerando um impacto positivo
no desempenho.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE | Inovação, desempenho, intensidade competitiva, slack organizacional, Cladea 2017.
RESUMEN
La innovación es un factor clave en el desempeño organizacional. Si bien la teoría estratégica ha pro
porcionado los referentes para comprender las relaciones entre estas dos variables, aún faltan muchos
vacíos por llenar y más validación empírica. El objetivo de este estudio fue verificar cómo se afecta la
relación entre la innovación y el desempeño ante la presencia de variables precursoras como la inten
sidad competitiva y el slack organizacional. El estudio se llevó a cabo mediante una investigación de
tipo explicativo y de corte transversal, aplicando un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales a una muestra
de pymes bogotanas. Los resultados representan una contribución relevante para la literatura y gestión
estratégicas al mostrar que la intensidad competitiva y el slack, inducen la innovación, produciendo un
impacto positivo en el desempeño.
PALABRAS CLAVE | Innovación, desempeño, intensidad competitiva, slack organizacional, Cladea 2017.
DIEGO ARMANDO MARÍN-
IDÁRRAGA1
diego.marin@utadeo.edu.co
ORCID: 0000-0002-5021-6331
JUAN CARLOS CUARTAS-MARÍN1
juanc.cuartasm@utadeo.edu.co
ORCID: 0000-0003-1432-8528
1
Universidad de Bogotá
Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogotá,
Colombia

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ARTICLES | RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE: IMPACT OF COMPETITIVE INTENSITY AND ORGANIZATIONAL SLACK
INTRODUCTION
Innovation has been recognized as a value-generating activity
for a company (Marín-Idárraga, Hurtado González, & Cabello
Medina, 2016; Rosenbusch, Brinckmann, & Bausch, 2011) and
a strategy that is a source of competitive advantage (Keupp,
Palmié, & Gassmann, 2012). Although some authors have
theoretically pointed out that innovation is a determinant of
organizational performance (Damanpour, Walker, & Avellaneda,
2009; Marín-Idárraga & Cuartas-Marín, 2016b; Stock & Zacharias,
2011; Walker, Damanpour, & Devece, 2011), several empirical
studies show contradictory results, especially in small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (Rosenbusch et al., 2011).
For instance, in such companies, some research studies show
a positive and significant relationship between innovation and
performance (Alegre & Chiva, 2013; Marín-Idárraga & Cuartas-
Marín, 2016a), while others show a negative impact (Freel &
Robson, 2004; Heunks, 1998). These results suggest that other
variables may be affecting the relationship between innovation
and performance. Hence, there is a need to study them from the
perspective of SMEs.
In this regard, although several studies have analyzed
precursor variables that affect the relationship between innovation
and performance (e.g., Alegre & Chiva, 2013; Chang, Hughes,
& Hotho, 2011; Vermeulen, De Jong, & O'shaughnessy, 2005),
there is still an opportunity to examine the different factors that
have possible impacts on this relationship. To do this, this study
evaluates whether competitive intensity and organizational slack
influence innovation, leading to an improvement in organizational
performance. This study is thus based on the following research
question: Is the relationship between innovation and performance
affected by the precursor variables of competitive intensity and
organizational slack?
These two variables were chosen given their relevance and
effects on performance. As far as is known, this matter has not yet
been studied, especially in Colombia and for SMEs. Competitive
intensity is understood as the environment of rivalry a company
faces. It is considered one of the main threats to an organization
and an important market factor affecting performance (Jaworski
& Kohli, 1993; Kim & Atuahene-Gima, 2010). Organizational slack
refers to uncommitted resources that are available for investment.
It is a good resource for a company to achieve greater performance
(Cyert & March, 1992; Singh, 1986).
The theoretical scheme was verified empirically using
a sample of SMEs from the city of Bogotá. This is particularly
relevant because, according to generic data from the Colombian
Ministry of Industry and Commerce, these companies represent
97% of the enterprises in Colombia. An explanatory research
was conducted using a structural equation model (SEM). The
results show that, when facing greater competitive intensity,
SMEs release their slack to use it for innovative activities, which
improves performance.
The importance and contribution of this study lies in the
following: i) It is innovative in nature, since it analyzes competitive
intensity and slack as precursor variables of innovation leading to
improved performance—which has not been studied previously.
ii) It is a reference for SMEs on how innovation can lead to
improved performance. iii) It is relevant in that confirmation of
the hypotheses will advance the knowledge on strategic theory.
The remainder of this paper is divided into seven sections.
The first one reviews the literature and proposes the hypotheses.
The second section explains the methodology. The third section
describes the results. The fourth section presents a discussion.
Then, the fifth section presents the conclusions and implications.
Finally, the last section explains limitations of the study, and
future lines of research.
LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS
DEVELOPMENT
Companies have to make decisions about organizational design
in an increasingly complex and unpredictable environment. They
seek to align the organizational culture, organizational structure,
and business strategy to face these environmental forces and
thus ensure their survival, durability, and greater performance
(Ánzola, Marín-Idárraga, & Cuartas, 2017; Burton & Obel, 2004;
Marín-Idárraga & Cuartas-Marín, 2013).
In light of this environmental influence, companies must
develop endogenous competencies that enable them to better
cope with rivalry in the market, where innovation is a key resource
to generate competitive advantages (Keupp et al., 2012). Studies
recognize innovation as a source of dynamic capabilities that can
contribute to greater performance that is sustainable over time
(Wang, 2014). Thus, the importance of innovation as a key factor
in facing rivalry is emphasized. Accordingly, its management is a
determining aspect in organizational growth, especially for SMEs
(Lecerf, 2012). An appropriate way to manage innovation is to
use slack to try out new operations and to leverage research and
development projects (Nohria & Gulati, 1996).
Within this general framework, this section presents the
main theoretical references that were reviewed for defining the
study’s variables and that served to substantiate the research
hypotheses.

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Innovation
Innovation is an organizational activity considered the focal
point of strategy, a crucial element of durability, and a source
of competitive advantage (Damanpour & Gopalakrishnan,
1999). According to Van de Ven (1986), innovation is defined
as the development and implementation of new ideas by
individuals who, over time, participate in transactions with
others within an institutional order. In this regard, different
studies agree to recognize innovation as a novel construct, of
not only ideas but also behaviors (Damanpour & Wischnevsky,
2006; Gopalakrishnan, Kessler, & Scillitoe, 2010). Therefore,
innovation often refers to certain behaviors related to creation
and development, driven by various changes that lead to
exploring new opportunities or exploiting current strengths
(Damanpour, 1996; Drucker, 1985; Wolfe, 1994).
Innovation has been subject to various taxonomies. For
example, there are technological and administrative innovations.
The first typology corresponds to process or product innovation,
while the second involves the organizational structure and
management practices. Technological innovation is, to a
great extent, associated with the organization’s main activity,
making it more tangible. Administrative innovation is less
observable as it is limited to managerial processes (Damanpour
& Gopalakrishnan, 1999).
Organizational Performance
Performance has become one of the most representative
variables in research agendas regarding strategic management
(Venkatraman & Ramanujam, 1986). Performance can have various
semantic connotations. Nevertheless, it is generally defined as the
scope of organizational effectiveness, which, in turn, is defined
as the concomitance between efficacy and efficiency. Efficacy is
the achievement of objectives, and efficiency is the optimal use
of resources (Auh & Menguc, 2005; Burton & Obel, 2004; Neely,
Gregory, & Platts, 1995).
Measuring organizational performance is still a matter of
debate among academics. This is because of its multidimensional
condition that makes this variable a complex—and sometimes
unobservable—construct (Cameron & Whetten, 1983). From the
economic point of view, performance is measured in accounting
and financial terms. In organizational theory and strategic
management, its measurement has transcended into financial
and non-financial areas (Neely et al., 1995; Venkatraman &
Ramanujam, 1986). In fact, at present, performance is considered
an integral construct in management measurement systems
through balance scorecards (Kaplan & Norton, 2005).
Competitive Intensity
Barnett (1997) defines competitive intensity as the context
wherein companies find themselves in zero-sum relations with
one another, directly or indirectly, in their dispute over the same
group of resources. Thus, when these companies compete in
the same niche, competition will be stronger, especially when
products and services are homogeneous (Yang & Li, 2011). This
can potentially lead to loss of opportunities for the companies’
future growth (Auh & Menguc, 2005).
Generally, competitive intensity refers to the degree of
competition a company faces in the market where it operates.
This means that customers have more alternatives to satisfy their
needs (Jaworski & Kohli, 1993). When competition intensifies,
companies experience strong pressures toward cost efficiency
and price reduction, resulting in narrower profit margins and a
more restricted organizational slack(Miller & Friesen, 1983; Zahra,
1996). Under such conditions, incremental innovation, through
continuous improvements to products, services, and processes,
is required to face competition. However, it is necessary to
promote radical innovation as a strategy to develop new sources
of competitive advantage (Jansen, Van Den Bosch, & Volberda,
2006; Lavie, Stettner, & Tushman, 2010).
Organizational Slack
Bourgeois (1981) and Nohria and Gulati (1996) argue that
organizational slack refers to a company’s resources that are
in excess of the minimum required for a given level of output.
These can be made quickly available to respond to internal and
environmental pressures, based on changes in strategy. Studies
show that organizations with the capacity to survive and adapt
to changes in the environment generate positive effects on
organizational slack (Cyert & March, 1992). Therefore, in light of
environmental forces affecting organizations, slack can be used
to improve organizational performance (Vanacker, Collewaert,
& Zahra, 2017).
Previous literature focuses on financial slack and its impact
on organizational performance and innovation (Nohria & Gulati,
1996). In addition, it deals with analysis of mainly two types of
slack: (i) Unabsorbed or financial slack—measured as the current
ratio—corresponds to the availability of current resources to meet

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short-term commitments; and (ii) Absorbed slack—measured as
the ratio between operating expenses and sales—corresponds
to disbursements for operating activities that are recoverable in
the short term due to their income-generating potential (Geiger
& Makri, 2006; Lavie et al., 2010). For companies in emerging
economies subject to unstable and dynamic environments,
unabsorbed slack becomes a fundamental aspect to sustain
competitive advantages (Su, Xie, & Li, 2009).
Prior research found that companies with reduced slack
do not develop innovations that enable them to endure over
time. Companies that maintain excesses over a certain volume
of slack are considered inefficient and inert (Mousa & Chowdhury,
2014). Therefore, organizations must monitor their level of slack to
promote their best use, for example, through innovative activities
that impact performance positively.
Competitive Intensity and Innovation
When companies face a highly competitive environment, the
impact of innovation on performance is contradictory to the above.
For instance, under strong competition, companies are found
trying to leverage current resources to take advantage of the
lessons learned and accumulated knowledge. This helps them
avoid risk, uncertainty, and the eventuality of additional costs,
which involves new searches and developments, a circumstance
that affects performance positively (Jansen et al., 2006; Kim &
Atuahene-Gima, 2010). In high-competitive-intensity scenarios,
companies are also found to resort to innovation to avoid
technological obsolescence and proactively anticipate changes
in the market. This allows them to enrich current processes and
expand their range of products to improve their market position
and obtain higher returns on investments (Abebe & Angriawan,
2014; Auh & Menguc, 2005; Chang et al., 2011).
Accordingly, this study presumes that SMEs in Bogotá
respond to their competitors’ pressures by carrying out innovative
activities to achieve a better market position. Thus, the following
hypothesis is proposed:
H1: Competitive intensity has a positive impact on
innovation.
Organizational Slack and Innovation
Some scholars have already proven that organizational slack is a
good resource for companies as it allows them to achieve greater
performance (Cyert & March, 1992; Singh, 1986). In the field of
innovation, some studies show that slack leads companies to
develop more search and experimentation activities, leading to
a greater propensity to innovate and thus enhancing performance
(e.g., Katila & Shane, 2005; Lavie et al., 2010; Sidhu, Volberda, &
Commandeur, 2004). It has also been demonstrated that planned
use of financial resources promotes product innovation and
positively impacts performance (Dunk, 2011).
Thus, this study presumes that organizational slack is
an explanatory factor of innovation for SMEs in Bogotá. This is
because availability of resources makes it easier to promote
innovative activities. Therefore, the following hypothesis is
set forth:
H2: Organizational slack has a positive impact on
innovation.
Innovation and Performance
In innovation management, companies make different decisions
regarding investment of resources. On one hand, they use a
defensive strategy to consolidate their presence in a given
market segment. They do this through endogenous actions
related to improving organizational routines, leveraging existing
capabilities, refining resources, and managing knowledge.
This allows them to have adaptive processes through gradual
changes. On the other hand, companies develop exploratory
strategies to broaden their client base and find new markets.
They do this through exogenous actions related to exchange
of resources and capabilities, inter-organizational relations,
research and development with suppliers and competitors, and
technology transfer and adoption. This allows them to have
adaptive processes through discontinuous changes (Bierly
& Daly, 2007; Zhan & Chen, 2013). These two organizational
behaviors provide relevant results in terms of incremental
and radical innovations that favorably impact organizational
performance (Atuahene-Gima, 2005; Yalcinkaya, Calantone, &
Griffith, 2007).
As demonstrated by Chang et al. (2011), the relationship
between innovation and performance is affected by different
internal and external antecedents. This study presumes that the
outcomes of SMEs in Bogotá are influenced, to a large extent, by
investment of slackin innovation to face the impact of competition.
Consequently, the following hypothesis is proposed:
H3: The relationship between innovation and performance
is strengthened by the influences of competitive intensity
and organizational slack.
Figure 1 summarizes the referential scheme guiding this
study’s hypothesis formulation.

ISSN 0034-7590
Figure 1. Conceptual model and study hypothesis
Competitive
intensity H1
H3
H2
Organizational
Slack
Innovation Performance
METHODOLOGY
The methodology applied in this study is described below.
Type of Study, Sampling, and Data
This is an explanatory, cross-sectional study, conducted using
an SEM to verify the hypotheses (Bentler & Weeks, 1980). The
SEM was selected because it leans towards the analysis of the
relationships between several independent variables and one
dependentvariable that, in turn, becomes independent for another
dependentvariable (such as the research model presented in Figure
1). To this end, the path analysis technique is used to evaluate the
defined or manifest—observable—variables (Hair, Black, Babin, &
Anderson, 2009) using the EQS 6.1 software (Bentler, 2006). Thus,
a two-phase procedure was conducted.The first phase included the
creation of an initial (singular) model that evaluates the relationship
between innovation and performance. The second phase involved
creating a sequence model whose first path evaluated H1 on the
relationship between competitive intensity and innovation. The
second path evaluated H2 on the relationship between slack and
innovation (first-order model). The third path evaluated H3 on the
effect of innovation on performance (second-order model).
This study took the firm as the unit of analysis. Exhibit 1
lists the characteristics of the target population.
Exhibit 1. Technical data of the study
Scope: Bogotá D.C.
Length: 12 months
Elements: Small and medium-sized enterprises of Bogotá
Sampling units: CIIU Rev. 3.1 A.C. - 2 digits
Sampling frame: BPR Benchmark Database™
Respondents:
Strategic-apex executives and middle-line
managers
The Benchmark Database was used as the sampling frame.
Following Babbie's (2010) and Malhotra's (1999) indications, the
companies were selected considering the following criteria: (i)
location in Bogotá; (ii) operations within the industrial, trade, or
service sectors; (iii) classification withinSMEs—in terms of amount
of employees; (iv) existence and validity; and (v) availability of
contact information and e-mails to send the questionnaire. The
result was 157,864 possible units to be evaluated. The probability
simple random sampling method was applied to the units using
the formula for finite populations, with an estimation error of 4.5%.
After the calculations, the sample comprised 579 companies for
a confidence level of 97%.
The information wascollected using a self-administered and
structured questionnaire addressed to the companies’ strategic
apex executives and middle-line managers. They were selected
because, according to Mintzberg (1979), they are in charge of the
organizational strategic direction and implementation and take
part in the decision-making processes. The questionnaires were
sent via e-mail. Then, to follow up, participants were contacted via
telephone to ensure the highest number of responses possible.
This was based on the mixed and tailored-design method
suggested by Dillman, Smyth, and Melani (2011).
Upon finishing field work, 419 completed questionnaires
were collected. Of these, 18 were discarded because they had
too many missing values according to the recommendations of
the literature (Malhotra, 1999). The final sample was 401 valid
cases representing a response rate of 69% (401/579). This rate
is acceptable for such type of studies (Baruch, 1999) and is much
higher than that in previous studies with similar methodology (e.g.,
Lee & Yang, 2011). Of the respondents, 53% (213) were strategic
apex executives and 47% (188) were middle-line managers.
To ensure there were no differences among the answers
obtained in the three sectors evaluated, the Kruskal–Wallis test
was implemented. For all cases, p > 0.05, which meant there were
no differences among the answers provided by executives in the
industrial, trade, and service sectors. Similarly, to verify there
were no differences among the answers obtained from the two
organizational levels, the Mann–Whitney U test was used. Again,
for all cases, p > 0.05, which meant there were no differences
among the answers provided by the strategic apex executives
and middle-line managers. Since part of the initial sample (78
of 579 companies) did not respond to the questionnaire, the
non-response bias was verified based on data known to the
whole population, such as the size and amount of annual sales
(Armstrong & Overton, 1977). The Student’s t-test analyses show
no significant differences among the respondents and non-
respondents (p > 0.05).

RAE-Revista de Administração de Empresas (Journal of Business Management), 2019. V. 59, N. 2

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