Purpose: When the management of an information technology (IT) manufacturing firm perceives a need for innovation due to any threat in the external environment, it will be prompted to use organizational resources to support innovation and improve organizational performance through the implementation of the innovation. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether an IT manufacturing firm’s budget slack, information quality of information system (IS), process innovation and product innovation would interact to collectively form an innovation capacity, which is termed “innovation capability configuration (ICC)”, and whether ICC mediates the relationship between perceived innovation requirement and organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach: To answer these questions, a structural equation model was built and a questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from research and development and production managers of IT manufacturing companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and Over-The-Counter markets. Findings: The results showed that budget slack, IS information quality, process innovation and product innovation are all significantly related to ICC, in which high-quality information and low level of budget slack are the key factors that underpin the innovation capacity. In addition, ICC has a full mediation effect, that is, perceived innovation requirement positively influences ICC, which, in turn, improves organizational performance. Research limitations/implications: Because all items in a questionnaire were answered by a manager, the common method variance might exist in this study. In addition, the effective recovery rate of the questionnaire was not high due to which the non-response bias might occur. Following the research limitations, several future research recommendations are proposed. Practical implications: This study offers managerial implications for the development of an IT manufacturing firm’s innovation strategy and structure to smooth the implementation of innovation in the severe environment. Originality/value: The study is the first attempt to integrate the four elements clearly illustrating the ICC, which is a more complete innovation strategy, thus contributing to improve the past fragmental studies and clarify some controversial points existing in the extant innovation research.

Background: The sunk cost effect is the scenario when individuals are willing to continue to invest capital in a failing project. The purpose of this study was to explain such irrational behavior by exploring how sunk costs affect individuals’ willingness to continue investing in an unfavorable project and to understand the role of cognitive dissonance on the sunk cost effect. Methods: This study used an experimental questionnaire survey on managers of firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and Over-The-Counter. Results: The empirical results show that cognitive dissonance does not mediate the relationship between sunk costs and willingness to continue an unfavorable investment project. However, cognitive dissonance has a moderating effect, and only when the level of cognitive dissonance is high does the sunk cost have significantly positive impacts on willingness to continue on with an unfavorable investment. Conclusion: This study offers psychological mechanisms to explain the sunk cost effect based on the theory of cognitive dissonance, and it also provides some recommendations for corporate management.

As the relationship between the execution of budget participation and innovation performance is still full of controversy, and the innovation capability formed by the important control elements of the organization is the key to bring about product innovation performance, this study aims to explore the impact of the formation of product innovation capabilities on product innovation performance under the demand for budget participation. This study proposes the concept of budget participation capacity configuration (BPCC), which is the integration of procedural justice, self-efficacy, and trust in superiors. This study adopted a questionnaire survey to collect sample data from production managers of the electronics-related companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and employed structural equation modeling to verify measurement model fit and research hypotheses. The study results present that budgeting participation requirement does not directly affect product innovation performance and confirms that the three organizational control elements together constitute BPCC, which plays a fully intermediary role between budget participation requirement and product innovation performance. The contribution of this research for academic theory is to put forward an explanation of the budget participation-innovation performance dispute, and propose an integrated viewpoint for organizational control elements instead of fragmental studies in the past. For practice, this research provides new evidence for budget participation requirements and sources of innovation capabilities.

The purpose of this study is to explore how combined effect of feedback frequency of investment performance and manager's affective commitment on reduction of the sunk cost effect. To this end, we designed an experimental questionnaire to collect data from production managers of electronics manufacturing companies listed on Taiwanese stock markets and used a hierarchical regression model to examine the relationships among variables. The results from 336 samples showed that just considering performance feedback frequency or affective commitment does not necessarily reduce the sunk cost effect. Only high feedback frequency jointed with high affective commitment can suppress the willingness of manager to continue a disadvantageous investment project.

Most prior studies found that job well-being and job performance are in a linear relationship. Audit firms are a type of highly professional organization. Based on the affective events theory, this study argues that job well-being can accelerate the improvement of audit performance thus forming a curvilinear relationship. Additionally, auditing is a job that demands highly professional skills and responsibility. This study argues that an auditor’s passion for work can strengthen the relationship between job well-being and audit performance. The study employed a quantitative survey approach, collecting data from 178 auditors who are in a position of in-charge, deputy manager, and manager in the Big Four CPA firms in Taiwan. The empirical evidence confirmed that job well-being and audit performance are in a curvilinear relationship. In addition, the effect of job well-being on audit performance is greater in the presence of high passion and will diminish when the passion is low. According to the research results, the managerial implications for audit firms are provided.

How does cognitive dissonance influence the sunk cost effect? [Corrigendum] Chung SH, Cheng KC. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2018; 11:37–45. On page 37, Introduction section, 4th sentence reads “Over the past half century, research of the suck cost effect has focused on exploration of probable factors that explain the cause of the sunk cost effect” it should have been “Over the past half century, research of the sunk cost effect has focused on exploration of probable factors that explain the cause of the sunk cost effect”. Read the original article