Kick Ul 2001

Journal of Management http://jom.sagepub.
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Breaking through boundaries for organizational innovation: new managerial roles

and practices in e-commerce firms
Jill Kickul and Lisa K. Gundry
Journal of Management 2001 27: 347
DOI: 10.1177/014920630102700307
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Pergamon
Journal of Management 27 (2001) 347–361
Breaking through boundaries for organizational

innovation: new managerial roles and practices in
e-commerce firms
Jill Kickul, Lisa K. Gundry
DePaul University, Department of Management, 1 E. Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604, USA
Received 5 May 2000; received in revised form 25 September 2000; accepted 9 January 2001
Abstract
The information age presents complex opportunities and challenges for organizations, leading to
the emergence of new managerial roles and practices. This research examined the influence of
management diversity and creativity on the assessment of opportunities for e-commerce organizations,
and on innovative internal and external managerial relationships and practices. Results from a sample
of 120 CEOs of e-commerce firms revealed that opportunity assessment mediates the interactive
effects of managerial diversity and creativity, influencing the adoption of innovative practices that
focus on employee relationships, external networks, and new products and services. This research is
one of the first empirical studies of managerial behavior in Internet organizations, and a suggested
research agenda for this area of inquiry is presented. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
With the rapid acceleration and availability of technology, electronic commerce is shaping
an evolution in organizational processes and practices. New forms of arranging work are
observable, such as collapsing boundaries between firms, suppliers, customers, and compet-
itors. New and expanding markets are creating increased competition, and greater consumer
choice (Morino, 1999). This phenomenon will play an increasingly important role in
organizations. However, because it is so recent very little is known about the role attributes
or innovative activities of managers in Internet organizations. Research is needed to identify
* Corresponding author. Tel.: ⫹1-312-362-6786; fax: ⫹1-312-362-6973.

E-mail addresses: jkickul@wppost.depaul.edu (J. Kickul), lgundry@wppost.depaul.edu (L.K. Gundry).
0149-2063/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 4 9 - 2 0 6 3 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 9 5 - 2
348 J. Kickul, L.K. Gundry / Journal of Management 27 (2001) 347–361
attributes of successful e-commerce firms, including managerial characteristics and pro-

cesses that enable these emerging organizations to achieve effective performance. Such
identification will inform the development of the growing research base in this area, and it
will facilitate the subsequent comparison of key variables and relationships found in firms
engaging in e-commerce with those of traditional brick and mortar firms.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of top management team charac-
teristics and creative processes on opportunity assessment and on the development of
innovative internal and external organizational practices. This study represents one of the
first empirical investigations of managerial perceptions and behaviors in Internet organiza-
tions. Thus, it attempts to contribute to the development of a research agenda in this area, also
presented in this paper. Further, this study focuses on e-commerce organizations that
encompass the Internet, conducting multiple transactions on the web, rather than on orga-
nizations that use the web only as an additive to their business for customer advertising and
information gathering purposes.
1.1. ‘Net’ organizations and their emerging managerial role demands
Electronic commerce has experienced dynamic and rapid growth in the late 1990s. By the
end of 1998, it was estimated that there were 97 million web users worldwide, with on-line
businesses yielding $7.8 billion in revenues (Forester Research, 1999; International Data
Corporation, 1999). These same sources predict that by the year 2002 this number will jump
to 320 million users, with projections for on-line business revenues approaching $108 billion.
These statistics reflect the increasing numbers of ventures that will be launched on the
Internet.
The rise of the world wide web and electronic commerce has created one of the most
challenging environments for innovative organizational behavior in recent history, where
market needs and the technology required to meet these needs can change even while the
product or service is still under development (Iansiti & MacCormak, 1997). This framework
demands that managers strive for “relentless innovation,” leading their firms through the
continual infusion of new ideas, emphasizing constant innovation, experimentation, and
rapid change (Cohen & Jordan, 1999). Such an orientation is similar to what Miller and Blais
(1992) characterized as ‘maverick’ behaviors, in which firms adopt innovative modes based
on their competencies, competitive situations, or managerial preferences. The environment
of e-commerce enables managers to rapidly try new approaches, quickly share successes and
failures, and monitor what is new and useful (Oliva, 1998). E-commerce will enable
managers to become quicker in how they gather, synthesize, utilize, and disseminate
information, and those that are willing to experiment with new product and service offerings
will be positioned to compete most effectively (Hodgetts, Luthans & Slocum, 1999). The
extent to which these managers capitalize on the conditions presented by e-commerce, and
engage in experimentation and innovation is of major interest in this research. Because of the
demand for innovative managerial behavior present in e-business, this is an important
domain to study.
Whether the managerial emphasis on innovation and change results not only in the
creation of new products, services, or markets, but also on the nurturing and establishment
J. Kickul, L.K. Gundry / Journal of Management 27 (2001) 347–361 349
Fig. 1. Proposed model of managerial roles and practices in e-commerce organizations.
of innovative internal and external relationships is the focus of our investigation. Specifi-
cally, this study seeks to understand the impact of managerial functional diversity and
creative processes on the assessment of new e-commerce opportunities for the organization.
Further, it investigates the relationship between opportunity assessment and innovative
organizational practices (see Fig. 1). These innovative practices are operationalized as
external relationships (network membership with vendors, customers, and competitors),
internal relationships (recruitment, retention, and rewarding of top talent in the organization)
and generating new products and services.
1.2. Diversity in top management teams
The composition of the top management team in organizations has received much research
attention (Ancona & Caldwell, 1992; Pelled, Eissenhardt & Xim, 1999; Simons, Pelled &
Smith, 1999). A diverse team brings a variety of perspectives and levels of creativity to bear
on the assessment of new business opportunities, involving problem analyses, alternative
idea generation and selection that are difficult to duplicate when that diversity is absent
(Lattimer, 1998).
Building on the recent research investigating possible moderators of the relationship
between top management team diversity and performance (Simons, Pelled & Smith, 1999),
in the present study we explore the potential moderating effects of managerial creativity,
including openness of communication, sharing of information, and the generation of novel
ideas and opportunities. We propose that managers’ creative exploration of diverse perspec-
tives and information moderates the effect of top management team functional diversity on
the assessment of e-commerce opportunities.
1.3. Managerial creativity
Past research has examined creativity as it is applied to the solving of common managerial
problems (Shalley, 1995; Shalley et al., 2000). The present study seeks to extend this line of
research to examine creativity applied to the assessment of new opportunities, a managerial
practice that is essential to the effectiveness of the e-commerce firm. Successful organiza-
tions employ imagination to define a new position or to find new value in whatever position
they have (Porter, 1991). Moreover, unstable and ambiguous environments such as that of
e-commerce actually facilitate the creative process by providing a rich supply of random data
on which managers can use their imaginative abilities to come up with creative solutions to
their strategic problems (Anthony, Bennett, Maddox & Wheatley, 1993; Ogilvie, 1998).
Woodman, Sawyer, and Griffin (1993) developed a conceptual model that identifies the
interactions among individual, group (including diversity), and organizational characteristics
that influence the process resulting in creative output for the organization. Further, Oldham
and Cummings (1996) and Cummings and Oldham (1997) provide additional support for the
interactive approach to understanding creativity. Their research uncovered relationships
among personal attributes, supervisory supportiveness, job complexity (the contextual fac-
tors), and innovative outcomes in the form of patents and suggestions.
Because of the interactive nature of creativity, in the present study, the potential of
managerial creativity to moderate the effects of top management team diversity on oppor-
tunity assessment is investigated. Moreover, to date there has been no research examining the
creative process employed in e-commerce organizations to more effectively generate ideas
and opportunities on which these organization can capitalize. Given that previous research on
successful e-commerce strategies has highlighted the need for managerial emphasis on
innovation and change (Cohen & Jordan, 1999), it is of interest to examine the degree of
openness, sharing of information, and idea generation fostered by top managers in these firms
as the previous scholars have done. Therefore, the following hypothesis has been developed:
H1: Managerial creativity will moderate the influence of functional diversity, thereby
allowing diversity to enhance the assessment of e-commerce opportunities.
1.4. The opportunity assessment process: interactive effects of diversity and creativity
It is anticipated that the ability of managers in e-commerce firms to assess opportunities,

that is, to consider, review and evaluate multiple alternatives, relies on the interaction of top
management functional diversity and a managerial creative process that fosters an open
atmosphere of discussion and debate from which novel ideas are generated. Lawrence (1997)
noted that additional work is needed since little empirical work exists for mediated expla-
nations. To contribute to this effort, we have investigated managerial creativity as a potential
moderator, and opportunity assessment as a potential mediator of the interactive effects of
top management functional diversity and managerial creativity in e-commerce firms. Thus,
we attempt to extend the literature in this area by investigating the effects of diversity and
managerial creativity (including debate) on additional outcome variables: external business
relationships, employee recruitment, retention and reward practices, and on product and
service innovations. The following hypothesis has been developed:
H2: Opportunity assessment will mediate the interactive effects of functional diversity
and managerial creativity on innovative organizational practices.
2. Method
2.1. Participants
Participants were one hundred twenty CEOs of e-commerce organizations whose business
activities encompass the Internet. The CEOs and their respective firms were randomly
sampled by the Internet sector of the CorpTech® Company Profiles Database. The majority
of the CEOs were male (92%), with over 19 years of business experience and 15 years of
industry experience. Previous studies have utilized responses from the CEO on measures of
top management team diversity and other variables (Miller, Burke & Glick, 1998). Over 80%
of the e-commerce organizations had 50 or fewer employees and the average age of the firms
was 7.09 years (median ⫽ 5 years). Twenty percent of the firms had annual sales greater than
$8 million; 30% had sales of $8 million to $2 million; 17% had sales of $2 million to $1
million; 33% had sales of less than $1 million per year. Approximately 84% of the
participating organizations are privately held. According to CorpTech®, the expected annual
growth rate, in terms of sales, of the e-commerce firms in our study is 41.6%.
2.2. Overview and procedure
All information was gathered from the CEOs over a three-week period, utilizing a new
methodology for data collection: on-line survey completion. E-mails were sent to the CEO
of the e-commerce organization, asking for their participation in the study. Within the text
of the email was a hyperlink that would direct them to our on-line questionnaire. Although
this type of surveying may require sophisticated programming expertise (over the traditional
mail format which are paper and pencil based), the software used to develop the question-
naire can be programmed automatically to collect summaries of the data that can be readily
tabulated and analyzed. Researchers who have compared on-line and traditional mail re-
spondents have concluded that there are no significant responses biases between these two
methods on demographic and/or attitudinal data (refer to Bachmann, Elfrink, & Vazzana,
1996; Mehta & Sivadas, 1995; Tse, 1998).
All CEOs were told that we were conducting research to better understand top managerial
roles and practices in Internet-based organizations. The CEOs were informed that their
candid opinions would help us to clarify the different approaches CEOs and their top
management teams take in finding and implementing new ideas and opportunities within
their respective markets. In addition to answering a series of questions on personal charac-
teristics, the CEOs were asked to provide information regarding the types of business
practices and innovations implemented into their Internet organizations. Upon completion of
the survey, their responses were submitted to a secured Internet database.
2.3. Measures
2.3.1. Top management team diversity

This measure is defined in this study to represent the diversity of functional backgrounds
that the assemblage of top management members brings to the team and decision-making
responsibilities. Similar to the measure used by Simons et al. (1999), top management team
diversity scores are higher on our measure when teams are comprised of many diverse
functional specialities.
2.3.2. Managerial creativity

Managerial creativity was assessed with six items developed for the purpose of this study.
Our measure examines the degree of openness, sharing of information, and idea generation
fostered by the CEO within the top management team. CEOs were asked to indicate the
extent to which they agree with the statements using a five-point Likert scale (1 ⫽ ’strongly
disagree’; 5 ⫽ ’strongly agree’). Cronbach’s alpha indicated a scale reliability of 0.88.
2.3.3. Opportunity assessment

To measure opportunity assessment, we adapted three items from Simons et al.’s (Simons
et al., 1999) decision comprehensiveness scale. These items assessed how top management
teams evaluate new ideas or opportunities. An additional item (reverse-scored), “Members of
my management team often fail to consider the ideas or opportunities of other team
members,” was also included in our opportunity assessment scale. Cronbach’s alpha of this
scale was 0.76.
2.3.4. Managerial practices and innovations

In order to measure the types of innovative managerial practices implemented in our
sample of e-commerce firms, we selected items from Hartman, Sifonis, and Kador’s (2000)
Internet Readiness Measure. Because the focus of this study was on product/service inno-
vations, external business relationships, and internal business relationships, we chose four
items measuring each of the three areas. CEOs indicated how much they agree or disagree
with the statements on a five-point Likert scale (1 ⫽ ‘strongly disagree’; 5 ⫽ ‘strongly
agree’).
2.3.5. Control variable

We followed the recommendations and work of Miller et al. (1998) and Simons et al.
(1999) by controlling for the age of organization in the first step of our regression analyses.
Age of organization, the years since founding reported by the CEO, has been identified as a
factor that can influence team decision-making processes and outcomes (Miller et al., 1998).
Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the scales of managerial creativity,
opportunity assessment, and managerial practices and innovations. All scales were found to
be acceptable following standard practice (Bentler & Bonett, 1980, Hinkin, 1995). Details of
the confirmatory factor analyses are available from the first author.
The means, standard deviations, zero-order correlations, and reliabilities for our constructs
Table 1
Descriptive statistics, correlations, and internal consistency reliabilities
Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1. Age of organization 7.09 3.68 (---)
2. Functional diversity 5.25 1.79 .05 (---)
3. Managerial creativity 4.27 0.69 .12 .16 (.88)
4. Opportunity assessment 3.79 0.65 ⫺.04 .07 .42** (.76)
5. Product/service innovations 4.06 0.90 .15 .00 .28** .32** (.87)
6. External business relationships 3.47 0.91 ⫺.07 .12 .47** .49** .49** (.71)
7. Internal business relationships 3.41 0.98 .04 .14 .39** .44** .49** .52** (.87)
N ⫽ 120; Internal consistency reliabilities are provided along the diagonal in parentheses.
**p ⬍ .01
are reported in Table 1. The reliabilities of the measures used were all over the 0.70
minimum established by Nunnally (1978).
3. Results
We used hierarchical regression analyses to test our model and hypotheses. The control
variable, age of organization, was entered in the first step. To examine the first hypothesis,
which predicts that managerial creativity will moderate the influence of top management
functional diversity on the assessment of e-commerce opportunities, we regressed opportu-
nity assessment on the control variable of age of organization, the main effect variables of
functional diversity and managerial creativity and the interaction of diversity and creativity
in three sequential steps. A significant change in R2 from step 2 to step 3 indicates that there
is an interaction (Cohen & Cohen, 1983) between functional diversity and managerial
creativity on opportunity assessment. In order to test our second hypothesis that examines the
mediating role of opportunity assessment, we followed the mediated regression approach
recommended by Baron and Kenny (1986).
Table 2 presents the results of the multiple regression analyses conducted to test our
hypotheses. Support was found for hypothesis 1 which predicts that the interaction of
functional diversity and managerial creativity (demonstrated by openness, sharing of infor-
mation, and the generation of novel ideas and opportunities) will enhance the assessment of
e-commerce opportunities. As shown in Model 1, the interaction term was significant.
Support was also found for the second hypothesis, which predicts that opportunity
assessment will mediate the interactive effects of functional diversity and managerial cre-
ativity on managerial practices and innovations. As shown in Model 2, each dependent
variable (product/service innovations, external business relationships, and internal business
relationships) was regressed on the predictors and produced significant results for the
interaction of functional diversity and managerial creativity. In Model 3, however, the
dependent variable was simultaneously regressed on the predictors and opportunity assess-
ment. In this last model tested, opportunity assessment was significant, while the functional
diversity-by-managerial creativity interaction was no longer significant.
354
Table 2
Results of hierarchical regression analysis for opportunity assessment and managerial practices and innovations
Predictor variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Opportunity Product/ External Internal Product/ External Internal
assessment service business business service business business
innovations relationships relationships innovations relationships relationships
Step 1: Control variable
Age of organization ⫺.02 .02 ⫺.03 ⫺.03 .03 ⫺.03 .04
Step 2: Main effects
Functional diversity ⫺.42* ⫺.63* ⫺.60* ⫺.55* ⫺.51t ⫺.41 ⫺.36
Managerial creativity ⫺.04 ⫺.34 ⫺.05 ⫺.15 ⫺.31 ⫺.02 ⫺.15
R2 .19 .09 .26 .16
Step 3: Interaction
Functional diversity X .10* .14* .15* .14* .11 .10 .09
Managerial creativity
R2 .22 .13 .29 .19
⌬R2 .03* .04* .03* .03*
Step 4: Mediator
Opportunity assessment .31* .43** .50**
R2 .18 .36 .26
Overall Model F 8.18** 3.90** 11.01** 6.00** 4.50** 11.97** 7.53**
The unstandardized regression coefficients are from the final step in the hierarchical regression analyses. Model 1 includes one regression for opportunity
assessment. Model 2 includes three regressions, one for each business innovation and practice measure. Model 3 includes three regressions, one for each
business innovation and practice measure. Hypothesis 1 is examined with Model 1 and Hypothesis 2 is tested, using the mediated regression approach of
J. Kickul, L.K. Gundry / Journal of Management 27 (2001) 347–361
Baron and Kenny (1986), with Models 1, 2, and 3.

**p ⬍ .01; *p ⬍ .05; tp ⬍ .10
These results in the last model indicate full, not partial mediation. Thus, opportunity
assessment mediates the relationship between the interaction of functional diversity and
managerial creativity and each of our three managerial practices and innovations. Opportu-
nity assessment functions as a critical link among the interactive effects of functional
diversity and managerial creativity for e-commerce firms to engage in product/service
innovations, external business relationships, and internal business relationships.
4. Discussion
The results uncovered in this research represent one of the first empirical investigations
into the managerial roles and processes associated with e-commerce firms. As a first and
foundational step to increasing our understanding of managerial practices in e-commerce
organizations, this study examined CEOs’ perceptions surrounding key firm behaviors that
foster innovation. The emphasis of recent work by Iansiti and MacCormak (1997), Hodgetts
et al. (1999), and Shannon (1999) has been on the significant roles of adaptation, innovation,
experimentation, and change in the environments of e-commerce organizations. The neces-
sity of realigning managerial roles and practices so that these organizations can take
advantage of emerging opportunities has been proposed. Accordingly, our study attempted
to empirically measure some of the managerial processes that stimulate innovation. If, as
scholars have suggested, e-commerce firms must innovate to survive, we have begun to
explore the prerequisites and primary influences on this critical set of actions. The results of
our study yield information that will be useful in guiding future research addressing key
factors present among these top management teams, including comparative studies between
e-commerce and traditional, brick-and-mortar organizations. Exploring the new managerial
roles and practices, such as the development of innovative relationships with suppliers,
customers, competitors, and employees of these businesses, will facilitate the construction of
new models to predict success factors for managing e-commerce organizations.
4.1. Diversity and creativity in the top management team
The effects of management diversity found in this study have shown how CEOs can
capitalize on differences in background and perspective within their top management teams,
and channel these differences into creative discussion and debate in the assessment of
e-commerce opportunities for their organization. In exploring this finding, it is likely that in
the e-commerce firms sampled, the CEO’s intentions to foster creativity within the top
management team encourages the adoption of several managerial practices. These include
open, honest, and supportive communication that relies on careful listening and consideration
of the ideas, opinions, and perspectives of all team members. These CEOs tend to share
information with the team that permits managers to push through traditional boundaries
towards new knowledge in order to generate breakthrough ideas. As one CEO responded,
I am offering a growth-based environment. . . fun and team-based management that expects
opinions, attitude, and contribution along with the permission to make some mistakes.
Such creative management practices have been linked with innovation and other organi-
zational outcomes in previous research (Amabile, 1998; Cummings & Oldham, 1997;
Oldham & Cummings, 1996). In our study, managerial creativity draws on the functional
differences of management team members to enhance the opportunity assessment process.
Thus, the CEOs who tapped into the diversity of perspective present within their top
management teams and fostered openness and creative exploration, were able to more
successfully consider and evaluate new opportunities for their organizations. These findings
lend support to what Woodman et al. (1993) described as the symbiotic relationship between
creativity and organizational change. We have attempted to contribute these new findings in
response to Woodman et al.’s recommendation for behavioral research that links diverse
literature and research traditions, specifically those of creativity and innovation.
4.2. Stimulating innovation through opportunity assessment
Top management’s ability to harness the richness in breadth of perspective made available
to them by functionally diverse team members is a key component of innovative actions. But
a further step is needed to make the creative exploration useful in the form of actionable ideas
and opportunities. Our research has shown that effective opportunity assessment has a
mediating effect on the interaction of diversity and managerial creativity, facilitating the
formation of external and internal organizational relationships as well as the introduction of
new products and services. Thus, it enables managers to form strategic alliances necessary
to achieve market growth and to develop methods to attract and retain the top talent so in
demand by Internet organizations. Exploring the direction of such behavior contributes to our
understanding of the changing roles, challenges and opportunities confronting managers in
e-commerce firms.
The development of innovative internal management relationships was operationalized in
this study as finding unusual and creative ways to recruit, retain, and reward employees.
These are emerging as one of the most significant management challenges of the information
age. The predominance of knowledge workers has shifted the balance of traditional organi-
zational resources of equipment, capital and people; while historically production workers
have been replaced with technology leading to strong productivity gains, the same scale of
substitution is not possible in knowledge-based organizations (Pottruck & Pearce, 2000).
These authors concluded that the most critical parts of the human resource in an organization
cannot be synthesized, and these are the creative brain, imagination, and spirit that fuel the
information economy. Some of the new managerial practices of the CEOs in our sampled
firms included unusual methods of retaining top talent in their organizations, as show in these
responses:
We are more than an employee’s paycheck. The firm is committed to the belief that it shares
a large part of the responsibility for the overall well-being of a given employee and this
spiritual belief alone is what helps us keep our best employees. They see us putting their
welfare at a higher priority than the numbers on the quarterly profit reports, and they wind
up sticking around when the going gets rough for a while.
A guarantee that their voice will always be heard in decision-making.
Our arrangements permit a literal network of top level, talented and proven services and
professionals to ”morph“ to suit the problematic demands of new clients. The organization
is truly a team, with me as ”leader“ but without any hierarchical or concomitant structure.
Only via affiliate resourcing can this be accomplished in the information sector where ‘trust
is paramount’ and ‘content is everything’ in terms of both branding and perceived reliability.
One CEO represented the feelings of many in the following expression of frustration in
response to the challenge of attracting and retaining employees:
Whatever we do it is not enough, as the competitive arena in this location makes success for
us extremely difficult.
This scenario undoubtedly contributes to the necessity of taking innovative steps to meet
the organization’s internal strategic goals. Ester Dyson, one of the foremost thinkers on the
implications of the Internet for business and for society as a whole (Pottruck & Pearce, 2000)
has said: “The limitation on the application of technology will never be ideas or capital. It
will be finding enough people who are trained and excited about taking the ideas of the
technologist and making them real in the world” (Dyson, 1997, p. 69).
This study also found that CEOs engaged in forming innovative external relationships
with their key constituents including suppliers, customers, and competitors. This increased
connectivity may allow e-commerce organizations to become responsive and flexible in
meeting each of their customers’ particular needs and demands (Neese, 2000). Contracting
with other organizations also allows the e-commerce firm to have a more decentralized,
nonhierarchical organization that may foster the implementation of new product/service
ideas and solutions (Morino, 1999). Kelley and Rice (1999) found that the rate of alliance
and interfirm formation was directly related to the rate of new product introductions in new
firms. Having interfirm relationships that are fluid may also be necessary in the marketing
and distribution of information about the value of the firm’s products and services. The
nature of these relationships is described by the following responses of CEOs in our study:
We use what others would call competitors a lot. We have no competition, just resources we
have not used yet!
We rely upon strategic partners around the globe. They are the keys to our success.
4.3. Limitations of the study
One of the limitations of this study is that the relationship between the predictors
(interactive effects of functional diversity and managerial creativity), the mediator (oppor-
tunity assessment), and outcomes (practices and innovations) included common method
variance. The measures used to tap each of these constructs were taken from one source (the
CEO). These associations could, therefore, be attributed to a response bias on the part of the
CEO. Future research should investigate multiple team member perceptions of some of the
variables examined in our research, including managerial creativity and opportunity assess-
ment.
Moreover, the study was cross-sectional, yet the hypothesized model and relationships
suggests causal direction. Causal inferences created from cross-sectional designs are only
inferences (Spector, 1981). Future research should examine many of the same relationships
in our study with longitudinal data to assess causality. Finally, because of the growing
popularity of the Internet, the use of on-line surveys has become more prevalent. However,
with on-line surveys, potential respondents (CEOs) who have access only to email, and not
to the world wide web may not be able to complete this type of questionnaire (Dommeyer
& Moriarty, 2000). While Internet data collection may be a limiting factor in exploratory
organizational research, it can reasonably be assumed that for our sample, the CEOs had
Internet access.
4.4. Towards a research agenda on emerging managerial practices in e-commerce firms
This study has uncovered some of the managerial characteristics and processes that
influence opportunity assessment and innovation in a sample of e-commerce organizations.
To contribute to the development of a research agenda for this area, the results of our study
lead us to form several key questions that will benefit from future work.
1. How do diverse top management teams reinforce creative processes throughout their
organizations? The emphasis on continual innovation and experimentation in e-com-
merce firms may require creativity skills, such as supporting and rewarding openness
and risk-taking in employees, to be added to the set of relevant managerial behaviors.
One CEO put it this way: “One of my challenges is in managing young, creative minds
that may not have seasoned experience and perhaps haven’t made enough mistakes yet
to bring high value life perspective.”
2. Are creative managerial practices transferable across organizational environments?
Amabile (1998) and others have identified specific management practices that support
creative environments in traditional (brick-and-mortar) organizations that may be
useful to managers in e-commerce firms. Comparative studies would be useful in
understanding the requirements within each environment.
3. In addition to managerial creativity and opportunity assessment, what other manage-
rial behaviors are associated with successful innovation in Internet firms? For exam-
ple, do decision-making, allocating resources, or risk-taking influence innovation
processes?
4. What specific human resource practices are critical to the success of these firms? One
CEO noted “The HR practices of the traditional company simply are not applicable in
the Internet environment,” and, another, “We stress the intangibles of the working
environment and keep pay competitive.” Clearly, more research is warranted to un-
cover the strategies that work in this evolving form of business.
5. What degree of managerial proactivity is demanded in e-commerce organizations?
Many of the CEOs in our study affirmed the need to stay ahead of the customer, as
evidenced by the following response:
We must get in front of our clients in both technology and the way in which we leverage
that technology. You need to know your customer and his needs better than he knows them
himself!
Work has been conducted on the role of entrepreneurial proactivity and its relationship
to new venture creation and other outcomes (Bateman & Crant, 1993; Becherer &
Maurer, 1999). This may prove an interesting variable to investigate in Internet

organizations where it has not been previously studied.
6. How do Internet managers sustain the external relationships on which they focus? Our
study disclosed the importance of networks, partners, and other key stakeholders in the
development of the Internet firm’s innovative capabilities. How do these relationships
evolve and how are they sustained over time or the life cycle of the organization? Here
is the view of one CEO, who echoed the words of others in the sample:
We are strong believers in the Japanese concept of ‘Keiretsu.’ We have a cadre of
long-term suppliers that we value. When we are in a hurry, they give us priority. When
there is a problem, they always make it right. We understand their abilities, limitations, and
quirks, and do things to make their jobs much simpler and easier. Most of all we LISTEN
to them and they listen to us.
7. What types of innovative managerial behaviors and actions are most important to
e-commerce organizations? Some of the respondents reported:
. . . the need to shift from services to products and services, launching new product lines
that have never been done before.
This is a business that changes daily, it cannot be structured.
We are always dealing with moving targets. The challenge is to adapt quickly.
More research is needed to determine whether, in fact, ‘hyper-innovative’ practices are
required in these organizations that go beyond what would be considered in traditional
firms to be novel, different, and change embracing.
As more organizations enter the arena of electronic commerce, future research is needed
to examine how these firms effectively design and integrate new business processes and
practices. Although we believe that we have made an important first step in identifying
dimensions of innovative behavior associated with and found inside e-commerce firms, more
work should concentrate further on how these innovations relate to changes in organizational
training and development, channel management, and client and customer relationships.
These are all particularly relevant given that the expanded description of electronic com-
merce includes on-line information technology and communication that is used to enhance
customer service and support (Choi, Stahl & Whinston, 1997; Koshiur, 1997). We have
attempted to set out the foundation of a research agenda for managerial behavior in
e-commerce organizations. Much empirical research on these and other important questions
is needed to build our knowledge base in this rapidly growing sector of business.
5. Conclusion
We have seen that it is particularly critical for top management in e-commerce organi-
zations, who are within rapidly changing competitive environments, to have the ability to
creatively identify and assess multiple emerging opportunities. This competency is a strong
contributor to the implementation of innovative organizational practices needed to achieve
the high growth desired by these firms. CEOs who break through traditional management
roles and capture the creative prowess available within their top management teams will
enable their firms to select and implement opportunities offered by the marketplace. The
innovative relationships they cultivate both inside and outside their organizations contribute
to the development of new products and services for e-commerce. Breakthrough organiza-
tions demand leaders who break boundaries in pursuit of innovation. With the speed, agility,
and responsiveness demanded of Internet firms, the emerging managerial roles and practices
uncovered in this research will likely characterize the individuals who passionately and
successfully bring their organizations to the forefront of the information economy.
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Journal of Management http://jom.sagepub.

Breaking through boundaries for organizational innovation: new managerial roles

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Journal of Management 27 (2001) 347–361

Breaking through boundaries for organizational

* Corresponding author. Tel.: ⫹1-312-362-6786; fax: ⫹1-312-362-6973.

attributes of successful e-commerce firms, including managerial characteristics and pro-

1.1. ‘Net’ organizations and their emerging managerial role demands

Fig. 1. Proposed model of managerial roles and practices in e-commerce organizations.

1.2. Diversity in top management teams

1.3. Managerial creativity

It is anticipated that the ability of managers in e-commerce firms to assess opportunities,

2.2. Overview and procedure

2.3.1. Top management team diversity

2.3.2. Managerial creativity

2.3.3. Opportunity assessment

2.3.4. Managerial practices and innovations

2.3.5. Control variable

Baron and Kenny (1986), with Models 1, 2, and 3.

4.1. Diversity and creativity in the top management team

4.2. Stimulating innovation through opportunity assessment

4.3. Limitations of the study

4.4. Towards a research agenda on emerging managerial practices in e-commerce firms

Maurer, 1999). This may prove an interesting variable to investigate in Internet

International Data Corporation. (1999). E-commerce by the numbers. http://www.net-profit-center.net/bynum-

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