Referring to the Effects of Transformational Leadership on Innovation - Research Paper Example

 1. Introduction The development of business research needs to be based on specific criteria ensuring that the themes involved are covered and that the findings presented have been adequately tested for their credibility. However, the terms for the evaluation of a business research paper as successful or not cannot be standardized. Each business researcher is expected to use his/ her approaches in developing an empirical study. Usually, the research methods applied on other – similar – studies are likely to affect the decision of a business researcher on the research methods employed in his study. The criteria and the methods used in business research are discussed in this study. Reference is made to a specific article: the empirical research study developed by Gumusluoglu & Ilsev in 2009; the above study which is entitled as ‘Transformational Leadership and Organizational Innovation: The Roles of Internal and External Support for Innovation’ focuses on the examination of the relationship between the transformational leadership and the organizational innovation. The structure, the criteria and the research methods used in the particular paper are presented and discussed in this study. Moreover, the success of the specific paper is evaluated – referring to the level at which the paper offer clear and credible information on the issues under examination. It is concluded that the paper of Gumusluoglu & Ilsev (2009) contributes to the increase of available information on the effects of transformational leadership on organizational information. The overall structure and the reasoning involved are quite satisfactory while the research methods used are carefully designed and developed. The presentation of the findings could be more analytical – but it was probably a structure chosen by the researchers in order to minimize the complexity of their paper. 2. Critique on the study of Gumusluoglu & Ilsev (2009) 2.1 Nature of the study The study of Gumusluoglu & Ilsev (2009) focuses on the examination of an important issue: the effects of transformational leadership on organizational innovation. The area in which the study belongs – the business research – has certain standards as of the structure and the methods used in the development of each relevant study. Through a generic view, it could be noted that the specific article meets all the requirements of a business research paper. The particular elements of the above article are analyzed in the sections that follow. In order for the paper’s structure and research tools to be appropriately evaluated it is necessary to refer primarily to its themes and issues; also its purposes have to be analytically explained – in order to understand whether the researchers managed to achieve the targets set in their study or not. 2.1.1 Themes of the article The key issue of the study of Gumusluoglu & Ilsev (2009) is the examination of the effects of transformational leadership on organization innovation. Moreover, the potential influence of internal and external support on these effects is explored. At this point, the specific study is differentiated from the others that refer to the particular subject; most of studies that have been developed in regard to the transformational leadership and organization innovation are not likely to refer to the role of the internal and external support – as contextual factors – in the relationship between transformational leadership and innovation. Therefore, the uniqueness of the study under examination can be primarily identified on its research themes. 2.1.2 Overall purposes of the study As noted above, the study of Gumusluoglu & Ilsev (2009) focus on the identification of the effects of transformational leadership on organization innovation with reference to the role of the contextual framework (internal and external support). The study’s purpose is not only to show the interaction between the transformational leadership and the organization innovation but also to highlight the aspects of this relationship especially in small and medium size firms. This fact is considered as an advantage of the study since the specific approach has not been used in other business research articles that are related to the specific field. In other words, the study under evaluation aims to highlight the potential use of transformational leadership for achieving innovation in small and medium size firms. The above target is achieved through two different ways: a) by presenting the literature that has been published on the specific subject and b) by presenting the views of employees/ managers of small/ medium size firms – as these views have been identified through two appropriately customized questionnaires. In accordance with the above, the researchers used the literature and the empirical research in order to explore whether it is possible for firms of small and medium size to achieve innovation by using transformational leadership practices. The achievement of the above purpose can be evaluated by referring to the study’s structure, characteristics and quality – as analyzed in the sections that follow. Then suggestions can be made in regard to the points of the study that would be possibly amended – if necessary. 2.2 Structure of the paper – analysis and evaluation of the paper’s elements The structure of business research articles is usually standardized; an abstract is set in the beginning of the paper in order to offer to the reader an overall view on the issues examined in the paper and the research methods employed – a justification of the subject chosen may also included in the abstract - the introduction section is used in order to present the overall framework of the study, the literature review follows and then, the empirical research part is presented – including the description/ justification of the research methods chosen, the findings revealed and the discussion on the results. Finally, the conclusion/ recommendations section is used in order to summarize the findings of the research, highlight the problems/ implications of the study and, potentially, suggest issues for further research. The paper of Gumusluoglu & Ilsev (2009) has a similar structure: a) an extensive abstract has been used in order to explain the reasons that the authors have chosen the specific subject; moreover in the abstract, explanations are offered regarding the research methods used and the overall framework of the paper’s aims. Most important, in the abstract, the issues under examination are clearly presented. Also, reference is made to the findings of the empirical research – aiming to show the value of the study in the particular field of knowledge, b) the introduction offers further explanations on the criteria on which the choice of the specific subject has been based; the literature related to this subject is briefly presented in order to prove that the area on which the paper focuses is not adequately explored in existing literature. At the next level, the aims of the paper are analyzed and an appropriate form of empirical research is provided: the empirical research employed in the specific article is based on a model developed by the authors – this model represents the relationship between the transformational leadership and organization innovation. After referring to the gaps identified in the existing literature and the needs for empirical research on the specific subject, the authors justify the uniqueness of the study in its business research area, c) the Literature Review section of the paper is entitled as ‘Theoretical background and Hypothesis’; this section is divided into three parts: in the first part, existing theories on transformational leadership and organization innovation are presented, in the second part the role of the internal support in organization innovation is analyzed – referring to relevant literature while in the third part emphasis is given on the influence of external support on organization innovation; each of these parts is followed by an hypothesis – derived through the literature presented in the particular section. In this way, the hypotheses of the paper are developed using existing literature, a fact that verifies their credibility while it also increases the credibility of the study – since these hypotheses are the basis for the empirical research, also used in the specific article, d) the research methodology section of the paper is also divided into sub-sections, explaining analytically the research criteria and tools; the following sub-sections can be identified in the specific part of the paper: Sample, procedure and measures – the latter is further divided in sections highlighting the variables used for measuring the views of participants on each particular subject, e) the findings of the empirical research are presented in a separate section; in this section, two major sub-sections can be identified: descriptive statistics and hypothesis tests. The results of the hypotheses’ testing are analytically presented – using appropriately customized tables; in regard to the specific section the following remarks could be made: 1) in general, the presentation of the findings can be characterized as satisfactory – being based on a format common for studies of this type; however, it would be really helpful – in terms of the readability of the study – if the results would be also presented in a different format – simultaneously; the use of summaries of the findings would be a possible solution, 2) the variables used for the hypotheses’ testing are many – as presented in the paper’s ‘Methods’ section; however, when the results of these tests are presented they are not categorized; in this way their order or relevance with the variables presented is difficult to be identified, f) the findings of the empirical research are analytically discussed in a separate section – that follows the ‘findings’ section of the paper; the specific part, entitled as ‘Discussion’ includes the following elements of the paper: the conclusion part of the paper – even if it is not clearly stated, it can be assumed by its content, the suggestions for further research and the implications of the research. As of this part of the paper, no particular problem of quality or structure seems to exist. However, the following issue needs to be highlighted: the findings of the research are not discussed separately from the conclusion. More specifically, in most research papers, the findings of the empirical research are discussed separately from the conclusion section of the paper. The latter is used for highlighting the main – most important – findings of the research and the most important views of the literature. Also, any assumptions of the authors on the findings – of the literature and the empirical research – are included in the conclusion section of the study. Therefore, it is suggested that the conclusion part of the paper would be divided from the ‘discussion on findings’ section of the paper – even if both were included in a section entitled as Discussion. 2.3 Criteria used for choosing the content – evaluation In order to understand the appropriateness of the content of the paper under examination it would be necessary to refer primarily to the elements of the paper – in terms of its content. As noted above, the paper is based on two different research methods: the review of the existed literature and the empirical research. The content of the paper will be evaluated by referring to the above elements separately. The literature reviewed for the particular study covers all the issues of the study’s subject; reference is made to studies that are related to innovation and transformational leadership in organizations. There are no specific criteria set – at least there is no such issue mentioned by the authors – regarding the choice of the studies used in the specific article. It is assumed that the studies used in this article have been chosen in accordance with their relevance with the issues under discussion. The following fact should be highlighted: the literature has been used in the following sections of the paper: the introduction section, the theoretical background and hypothesis section and the research section of the paper. The quality of the literature included in the first two sections will be examined in this chapter. The content of the research section of the paper will be evaluated in the next chapter. Also, in the Discussion part of the paper literature is used in order to support the arguments of the authors but it is quite limited (only 2 studies) so that it cannot be used for evaluating the quality of the paper’s overall literature. In the introductory section of the paper, there is no categorization of the literature in terms of subject; instead, a logical order is followed beginning from the content of innovation and then describing the nature and the role of transformational leadership. It could be stated that the literature of the introduction is the general literature – as being differentiated from the studies included in the Theory section of the paper, which focuses on specific issues. In terms of the quality of the literature of the introductory section, it should be noted that the studies are satisfactory – in terms of their relevance – but they are a bit out of date; indeed most studies are older than 2000, a fact that leads to the assumption that certain of the views included in the specific section do not reflect the actual status of the issues under discussion – referring mainly to innovation and transformational leadership. At this point it could be argued that certain of the theories presented in the introductory section were developed before 2000 and since they are important for the paper they had to be incorporated in the study. However, even if such approach is accepted, new studies should be also added – along with the older ones – in order to offer information on current form and role of innovation and transformational leadership. The importance of the lack of recent studies in the introductory part of the paper is proved by the following fact: it is in the introduction section of the paper that the authors justify their choice on the issues under discussion. In accordance with the authors, the lack of existing literature in regard to issues under discussion has been the main reason that led them to choose the specific subject (Gumusluoglu & Ilsev, p.266). However, if the literature presented in the introduction section is out of date how the above fact can be adequately proved? Perhaps, the authors refer to the whole of literature examined for this study, including the literature in the Theory section. In this case, the above question could be answered after evaluating the literature in the Theory section of the paper – main literature section. The literature included in the Theory Section has been categorized using the following criterion: the relevance of each study with the paper’s hypotheses. Three different hypotheses have been set in the specific paper; as a result there are three sub-sections where relevant literature studies are critically discussed – in order for their relevance with the particular issue to be proved. At this part of the paper also, the Theory part, problem seems to exist regarding the date of the studies involved. Again, like in the introductory section, most studies are older from 2000 – in fact most of them are published in the years 1993 and 1994. The studies are used for proving the research hypotheses of the paper. The following problem appears: if most studies used for supporting the hypotheses of the paper are old, how it can be assumed that the paper’s hypotheses can be verified today? It is possible that different theoretical frameworks and theories have been published proving the lack of validity (either in total or partially) of older studies. And the question set previously in regard to the first part of the paper – the Introduction section – needs to be answered. However, in the Theory section again most of the studies involved are old. How, the claim of the authors that their study is unique can be fully supported? It is made clear that the literature part of the paper should be reviewed – new studies would be added in order to ensure the alignment of the study’s findings with current market conditions and current theoretical frameworks regarding innovation and transformational leadership. The following issue should be noted: any weakness of the study in regard to the use of old theoretical studies could be covered – ever a part of it –using the findings of the empirical research which reflects the actual market conditions in regard to the issues under examination. At this point, the quality and the appropriateness of the research method chosen should be also evaluated – ensuring that these methods were identified using appropriate criteria. 2.4 Research methods chosen – appropriateness, quality The empirical research conducted for the particular article has been based in two different questionnaires; the criteria used in the research and the theoretical model on which the research is based are presented in the Introductory section of the paper – in order to offer an overview of the research process. The research methods used in the paper are analytically described in the Method section of the paper – it is in that section that the variables set for testing the hypotheses of the paper are presented and explained. The number of the enterprises participated in the research is satisfactory: employees and leaders in 43 Turkish firms have accepted to participate in the research. The following advantage of the research – compared to other similar research methods – should be highlighted: the research sample is highly homogenous: all firms have from 3-17 employees, they all operate in the same sector (software development industry) and they are all small and medium size firms. In this way, the findings of the study show the actual condition of the specific industrial sector – in regard to the firms of the particular size; the credibility of the research is kept at high levels. Moreover, the process followed for identifying the firms participating in this study also shows the willingness of the authors to keep the quality of their research high: 325 firms were identified after visiting three technoparks; these firms were examined whether they meet the criteria of the study; at the first level, 90 firms were chosen while a second review of these firms’ structure and size showed that only 43 of them would be appropriate for the research developed for this study. Another part of the research process that further supports the quality of the specific part of the paper is the research tool engaged in the study: two different questionnaires were employed: the first was used for identifying the employees’ views on the issues under discussion while the second was used for leaders. The two questionnaires have been differentiated in terms of their content: the first one focuses on the examination of the role of internal support in regard to the relationship between innovation and transformational leadership; the second questionnaire focuses on the identification of the role of the external support in regard to the above relationship. The different variables used in the research also guarantee the credibility of the findings and their relevance with all the study’s issues. As of the presentation of the results, graphics have been used in order to make the findings of the study clearer to the readers. Again, both in the Methods section and the Results section – two sections in which the research methodology of the article is developed – the material is divided into sub-sections in order for the relevance of the findings and their role in the study to be understood. 2.5 Flow of the discussion The quality of the paper in regard to the flow of the discussion can be characterized as high. The arguments are appropriately set – in terms of relevance – and they are sufficiently backed with relevant literature. Moreover, the paper’s structure makes its reading easier – sections and sub-sections have been used in order to help the reader follow the thoughts of the author and the presentation of the findings. 2.6 Quality of reasoning The quality of reasoning used throughout the paper should be characterized as quite satisfactory; a problem exists only in regards to the date of publication of the studies presented across the paper – a problem described above. However, the findings and the information used for supporting the authors’ arguments are carefully chosen – in terms of their relevance – so that any potential problem regarding the provision of up-to-day information to be minimized; the use of the findings of the empirical research developed for this study further supports the achievement of the above target. 2.7 Value in terms of the issues addressed The issues discussed in this paper are quite important. In fact, both innovation and transformational leadership are common elements of organizations in all industrial sectors. On the other hand, innovation has been proved as related to the business performance. In this context, businesses in various industries would be interested in being informed on the methods leading to the enhancement of innovation across the organization. Moreover, since transformational leadership is used in many firms worldwide, current article could be used in order for transformational leaders to understand the ways in which they could promote innovation in their organization. 3. Conclusion In accordance with the issues discussed above, it can be concluded that the paper under evaluation meets the requirements set by its authors: a) a unique issue is explored – referring to the effects of transformational leadership on innovation as influenced by the contextual environment (internal and external support), b) reference is made to a country that is not yet developed, c) the study refers to small and medium enterprises, an industrial sector which has not been explored up today – especially regarding the issues discussed in this paper, d) the role of innovation within organizations in developing countries can be identified and evaluated. Moreover, the content, the structure and the quality of the paper have been proved to be quite satisfactory – the only problem identified has been related to the date of publication of the literature employed in the study, a problem which can be considered as partially addressed through the findings of the empirical research. Because of these reasons, it can be noted that the article under examination highly contributes in the specific area of knowledge presenting the overall framework for the explanation of the effects of transformational leadership on innovation especially regarding the small and medium firms. The findings of the study could be also used in case that a similar theme had to be discussed in regard the large firms operating in developing countries worldwide. References Article analyzed and evaluated: Gumusluoglu, L., Ilsev, A. (2009). Transformational Leadership and Organizational Innovation: The Roles of Internal and External Support for Innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management. 26: 264-277 Read More