Empirical investigations of multimodal o[r]ganizations and their operating environments

Abstract

Contemporary organizations manifest in several forms and function in vastly different operating environments. One group of such organizations that is of interest in this dissertation is those that harness technology as a means of survival. Three independent studies are conducted to examine three forms of such organizations, namely inter-relationships among organizations in fostering product (innovation) legitimacy (Study 1), competition among organizations for consumer interest and attention (Study 2), and cooperation between a serving organization and serviced corporate clients (Study 3). More elaborately, we applied a network organizations paradigm and extended resource-based view as the theoretical framework to unveil how internal and external resources affect organizational performance. Study 2 examines competition among online organizations for consumers' interest and attention. Taking a consumer's information search perspective, I seek to examine how information hosted from diverse media can facilitate online economic value. Study 3 examines cooperation between an organization and its corporate clients. Taking a longitudinal perspective, I seek to unveil how activities from different media can affect customer relationship management. Taken together, this dissertation examines how different forms of organizations survive and grow in vastly different operating environments.

Date of Award	14 Feb 2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Chuan Hoo TAN (Supervisor) & Kwok Kee WEI (Co-supervisor)