This thesis investigates Generation Z’s perceptions of employer branding in the high-tech sector, where talent shortages intensify competition for skilled professionals. Gen Z enters the workforce with distinct expectations around growth, purpose, inclusion, and authenticity. Prior research often relies on student samples and treats Gen Z as a homogeneous group. This study instead examines young professionals already employed in high-tech industries, exploring how they interpret employer branding signals and form expectations of employers.

Using Q-methodology, 31 Gen Z employees in the Netherlands sorted statements based on the EmpAt model dimensions. Six distinct factors emerged, showing diverse patterns of employer attractiveness. Across all factors, participants valued growth opportunities and transferable skills, while nearly a quarter prioritized economic value through financial stability and job security. Unexpectedly, all participants who emphasized social value identified as male. A post-survey further revealed whether workplace expectations had been met, offering insight into how branding signals align with lived experiences.

The findings highlight Gen Z’s heterogeneity and the role of personalized psychological contracts. Trusted signals centered on empowerment and development, whereas prestige claims and vague innovation narratives were distrusted. Limitations include the small, Netherlands-based sample, underrepresentation of women and younger Gen Z participants, and the cross-sectional design.

This research investigated how Human Resource Management (HRM) practices, framed within the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) model, influence Open Innovation (OI) performance in high-tech organisations. The study asked: How can the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) enhancing HRM practices lead to firm-level OI performance in the high-tech sector? It explores how HRM practices can be systematically used to enhance OI performance. For this purpose, 13 in-depth expert interviews were conducted in the fields of biotechnology, AI, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing, which all fall under the high-tech sector. Key findings show that HRM has an influence on the OI abilities of companies through HRM practices that enhance AMO, including skill-based recruitment (Ability), purpose-driven motivation systems (Motivation), and collaborative platforms (Opportunity). Thematic analysis shows that about 41% of the data fell under motivation-enhancing practices, which makes it central to maintain employee-led OI. Conversely, ability and opportunity practices contributed 34% and 25% respectively, indicating that there was an integrated but uneven impact of each AMO dimension. The study finds that effective HRM not only empowers employees but also enables crossboundary knowledge sharing, team autonomy and alignment of strategies with the OI goals. It focuses more on the interdependence and temporal adjustment of the AMO practices at various phases of the innovation lifecycle. Theoretically, the study expounds the AMO theory by combining it with dynamic capabilities and resource-based views and redefines the role of AMO into a strategic facilitator of OI rather than only productivity. Practically, it offers actionable implications in developing the HRM systems that enhance knowledge absorption, team collaboration and innovation responsiveness. The results underline that motivation, particularly related to autonomy, purpose, and recognition, is the most reliable determinant of the OI performance. The data further shows that organisations can better respond to volatile knowledge-intensive markets when they dynamically deploy AMOenhancing practices across innovation stages and integrate them into their organisational cultures. For practitioners, the findings suggest three priorities for action examined in the thesis: (1) sustain ability through skill-based recruitment coupled with focused up-skilling aligned to each phase of the innovation life-cycle; (2) enhance motivation mainly with non-monetary reward and recognition schemes that focus on autonomy, purpose, and timely feedback; and (3) enhance opportunity by embedding collaborative platforms and cross-boundary project teams so knowledge transfers quickly across functions. These results are derived from a qualitative, cross- ii sectional data set of 13 expert interviews in biotechnology, AI, semiconductor, and advanced manufacturing firms, so their generalisability is necessarily limited. Future research should therefore try to test the AMO–OI model with larger and more diverse samples, consider longitudinal or mixed-method designs in order to be able to examine causality over time, as well as compare the relative salience of ability, motivation, and opportunity between industries and cultural contexts.

This thesis investigates the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into Human Re-source Management (HRM) practices and its resulting impact on innovation at both the individual and organizational levels. As AI continues to transform business func-tions HRM is increasingly adopting AI-driven tools across recruitment, training, per-formance management and talent development. HRM which was once seen as a primarily administrative role is now undergoing a significant transformation to strate-gic partner in fostering innovation.
Academic research has explored AI applications in various business domains includ-ing HRM. Studies have examined AI’s role in automating tasks, personalizing learning and enhancing analytics. Others have looked at AI’s influence on employee engage-ment, decision support and productivity. But the intersection between AI-integrated HRM and innovation outcomes remains underexplored in current literature. This re-search seeks to fill this gap by employing a systematic literature review of 42 peer-reviewed articles and the findings through interviews with HR professionals in high-tech industries...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly transforming knowledge work in high-tech industries by reshaping how information is created, combined, and applied. While prior research has focused on efficiency gains, limited attention has been given to AI’s role in enabling exploration - a key behaviour through which innovation emerges. This study examines how AI supports exploration among knowledge workers in Dutch high-tech organisations. A qualitative approach was employed, based on semi-structured interviews with professionals across multiple industries. The findings show that employees primarily use AI as an augmentative technology that enhances problem-solving rather than replacing human judgment. AI broadens knowledge search, facilitates knowledge recombination. stimulates learning, and supports rapid prototyping while relieving routine workloads. However, its effectiveness remains contingent on its reliability, the organisational context in which is emploied and AI literacy of the users. The study contributes to the knowledge-based view of innovation by demonstrating empirically that AI functions as a cognitive partner that amplifies human capabilities, thereby enabling exploration and supporting innovation in high-tech work environments.

This thesis investigates the impact of market-specific factors on user acquisition for the HomeID app across various international markets. Utilising a qualitative approach, the study integrates primary data from semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and secondary data from internal company documents. Key findings reveal that cultural relevance, technological readiness, economic conditions, and administrative regulations significantly influence user acquisition. The research underscores the importance of tailored strategies for different markets, highlighting the need for localised marketing efforts, community engagement features, and adaptive pricing models. These insights provide a strategic framework for enhancing user acquisition and sustaining growth in diverse international contexts.

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in performance management, particularly among knowledge workers in traditional organizational settings, is the focal point of this thesis. The study aims to understand the current state of AI adoption, anticipated benefits, challenges, and effective strategies for adoption, considering the critical role of employees in this process. Performance management is crucial for employee motivation and overall performance, and its measurable nature aligns with AI's capabilities to enhance efficiency and objectivity. However, there is a gap in AI's adoption and perceived utility, indicating considerable resistance and skepticism. From the outset, this study faced a unique challenge: no companies using AI in performance management agreed to participate. This underscores a broader reality; the topic is complex and shrouded in both excitement and secrecy. This reluctance highlights the sensitive nature of performance management. Moreover, the adoption of AI into human-centric processes is far from neutral. This study employs an exploratory qualitative research design, with data collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 HR managers and professionals who indirectly represented employees. Participants were selected from sectors actively engaging with AI technologies through direct implementation or consultancy services to capture diverse perspectives. The findings reveal a nuanced perspective on the role of AI in performance management. While there is some use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, the overall adoption remains minimal among companies in the Netherlands. HR professionals recognize AI’s potential to enhance decision support, personalization and engagement, operational efficiency, and strategic planning. However, there is skepticism about AI's ability to fully capture employee performance, highlighting objectivity as both a benefit and a challenge. Key challenges identified include technology-, organization-, people-, and environment-related aspects. Among the challenges are diverse workforce perceptions, resistance to AI, and data quality issues. Assessing non-quantitative performance dimensions, such as competencies and skills, the variability in performance criteria, and the subjective nature of evaluations, remain significant hurdles. While AI offers data-driven insights, it does not yet solve these fundamental challenges in performance management. Despite optimistic expectations, significant challenges persist in early stages of AI adoption in performance management, indicating the need for further research before widespread implementation can be achieved. Practically, this research provides valuable insights for HR managers, guiding them to critically assess their current technological landscape and evaluate the applicability of AI within their specific organizational context compared to other technologies. Companies should assess their performance management goals and criteria to determine if AI can effectively address these needs. The development of AI technology for performance management should be watched closely, as advancements could enable AI to automate more tasks. Effective AI adoption in performance management requires comprehensive strategies integrating technology, organization, people, and environmental factors during the initiation and adoption phases. Robust data management practices are essential to ensure the reliability and value of AI applications. Including employees in the process is vital for successful AI adoption. Additionally, maintaining a human touch is essential to ensure that technology enhances human capabilities rather than replaces them. Shaped by the nascent stage of AI adoption in performance management, both in literature and practice, this study focused on theoretical explorations and anticipated challenges rather than real world experiences. Future studies should focus on organizations actively adopting AI to assess whether the anticipated potentials, challenges, and strategies identified in this study hold in practice.

In today’s corporate landscape, team innovation plays a critical role in maintaining competitive advantage, as organizations increasingly rely on project teams to develop creative solutions and implement new processes or products. However, the shift toward more virtual and hybrid work environments, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has introduced significant communication
challenges. Effective communication, characterized by clear information exchange, timely feedback, and mutual understanding among team members, is crucial for facilitating collaboration and driving innovation. This research investigates how varying Levels of Virtuality (LoV) influence communication methods within corporate project teams and explores how these methods adapt across different stages of innovation, from idea generation to implementation. By addressing these challenges, the study aims to provide insights into optimizing communication strategies for enhanced team performance.
Using a deductive approach, the research conducted semi-structured interviews with project managers and team members across three technology-focused companies. The research draws upon contingency theory to establish a framework for the analysis, highlighting that there is no single best communication strategy for all teams. Instead, the effectiveness of communication methods is contingent on factors such as the stage of innovation and the team's Level of Virtuality (LoV). LoV refers to the extent to which team members interact through virtual means rather than face-to-face communication, ranging from fully remote to entirely in-person work environments. The research identifies that during the Idea Generation phase, informal and synchronous communication methods (e.g., brainstorming sessions, face-to-face meetings) are most effective for fostering creativity and spontaneity. Conversely, during the Implementation stage, formal and asynchronous methods (e.g., emails, reports) become more critical to ensure coordination and accountability. The research concludes that for corporate project teams to optimize their innovation outcomes, they must adapt their communication strategies according to both the stage of innovation and their Level of Virtuality (LoV). Project managers should actively encourage informal and synchronous communication
methods, such as brainstorming sessions and video calls, during the Idea Generation phase to foster creativity and spontaneity. In contrast, during the Implementation phase, they should introduce formal, structured methods like project management tools, detailed reports, and scheduled check-ins to ensure coordination and accountability. Additionally, managers must consider their team’s LoV when selecting communication tools. For high virtuality environments, prioritizing synchronous tools like video conferencing and collaborative platforms can reduce misinterpretation and maintain immediacy. In low virtuality settings, project managers should leverage face-to-face interactions for discussions while integrating asynchronous tools, such as shared documents and emails, to maintain effective
documentation and coordination. The research concludes that for corporate project teams to optimize their innovation outcomes, they must adapt their communication strategies according to both the stage of innovation and their LoV. Practical implications for project managers include the need to carefully select communication methods that suit both the current phase of the project and the team's virtual work environment. Additionally, the research highlights the importance of organizational support in providing the necessary tools and training to ensure effective communication in hybrid and virtual settings. In conclusion, the research highlights the complex interplay between LoV, stages of innovation, and communication methods, demonstrating that effective team communication is contingent on these factors. By recognizing and addressing these contingencies, corporate teams can enhance their communication strategy.

This research explores the relationship between sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and innovative work behavior, considering work engagement as a mediator. The study addresses a significant knowledge gap regarding how sustainable HRM practices impact innovative work behavior and work engagement within organizations. While prior research has examined these concepts separately, their interplay and mechanisms remain unclear. Furthermore, this study seeks to provide insights on whether sustainable HRM practices can drive innovative work behavior, which is valuable for HR managers and organizational leaders striving to foster innovation and sustainable practices.

The research employs a quantitative approach, using a structured questionnaire to collect data from employees currently working under contracts in the Netherlands. The sample includes 88 usable responses from diverse industries in the Netherlands. Measures used encompass the three dimensions of sustainable HRM (respect-oriented, openness-oriented, and continuity-oriented), innovative work behavior facets (idea exploration, idea generation, idea championing, and idea implementation), and work engagement dimensions (vigor, dedication, and absorption).

The analysis of the gathered data reveals no significant direct relationship between sustainable HRM dimensions and innovative work behavior. However, there is a statistical significance proving a link between sustainable HRM dimensions and work engagement. However, work engagement does not mediate the link between sustainable HRM and innovative work behavior, as there is no relationship found between work engagement and innovative work behavior.

The results advocate for continued integration of sustainable HRM practices by HR departments, despite the lack of direct relationship with innovative work behavior. The reason for this, is that this study proves that sustainable HRM practices demonstrate a positive link with work engagement, which contributes to employee well-being and organizational success.

Organizations with different organizational structures organize innovation differently. Thus, it is likely that organizational structures impact employee-driven innovation (EDI) as well. This thesis researches this topic; the research question is: ‘How do different organizational structures impact employee-driven innovation?’. The research explores this question through interviews with employees, innovation managers, and consultants, leveraging their perspectives and expertise to discern optimal strategies for fostering EDI within different contexts. These insights reveal the intricate connections between organizational structures and EDI-supporting structures.
Based on the information, common relations between organizational structures and EDI-supporting structures are found. Furthermore, a taxonomy between the different organizational structures is created, and important factors within organizations are identified. Additionally, a taxonomy in EDI-supporting methods is identified. The thesis finds that the freedom of communication and autonomy within an organization relates to whether a structure is necessary to facilitate the ability of employees to communicate their ideas. The second most important factor is the importance of building community. In organizations where community building is a priority, the employees should be involved in the innovation process as much as possible. In organizations where community building is not a priority, events or innovation managers who preside over the innovation process are the better practice to support EDI.

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have emphasized the role of businesses in addressing global environmental and social challenges. As a result, companies are increasingly focusing on sustainability and integrating sustainable development goals into their business models. However, this transition presents complex and uncertain challenges, often referred to as wicked problems, as they involve multiple stakeholders with competing values. The complexity of sustainability challenges requires businesses to stimulate innovation and adapt their business models to be more inclusive, environmentally friendly, and innovative. In addition, managing innovation for sustainability is challenging, as it demands specific competencies and the ability to engage in broad activities by driving innovation for sustainable competitive advantage.

Previous research has made significant strides in examining competencies that are essential for leaders in addressing sustainability challenges and promoting innovation. However, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the specific competencies that leaders in companies should possess to tackle sustainability challenges and drive innovation effectively. The challenge lies in establishing a solid understanding of the relationship between sustainability competencies and their role in solving organizational sustainability issues. Consequently, the primary goal of this study is to investigate how managerial competencies can drive innovation for sustainability within organizations. By establishing this research objective, a corresponding research question was formulated.

How do individual sustainability competencies drive innovation for sustainability?

In order to address the question at hand, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to gain an understanding of the various definitions of innovation, the explored sustainability competencies, the role of leadership in sustainability innovation, and the existing arguments regarding competencies and innovation in prior studies. The insights obtained from the literature review were then used to formulate specific research questions, which guided the study's approach of utilizing semi-structured interviews to gather relevant data. Thirteen individuals representing three distinct industries were selected to participate in the interviews, sharing their experiences and perspectives on the subject matter. Following data collection, the gathered information was coded and analyzed, focusing on identifying common themes based on a similar context.

The study provides valuable insights into the fields of management and innovation by highlighting the significance of possessing diverse sustainability competencies for managers. These competencies play a crucial role in shaping the innovation capabilities of managers, thereby acting as a bridge in enhancing innovation and expanding organizational capabilities. The research identifies three distinct patterns that emerge as a result: organizational learning capabilities, collaboration capabilities, and stakeholder engagement capabilities.

Firstly, individual competencies such as system thinking, future thinking, tech competencies, and continuous learning enhance knowledge on an individual level, necessitating organizations to develop their own organizational learning capabilities to integrate and benefit from these competencies. Secondly, competencies such as emotional empathy, embracing diversity, and interpersonal skills contribute to collaboration capabilities at the organizational level, fostering better communication, positive relationships, and innovative solutions. Lastly, competencies related to stakeholder engagement, such as integration, influencing, and practical communication, empower individuals to drive the adoption of sustainability in innovation projects, facilitating effective communication with customers and involving diverse actors in decision-making processes. These patterns are developed when managers actively engage in collaboration with both internal and external stakeholders and involve them in sustainability innovation activities on an ongoing basis.

While the study primarily explores individual competencies, the discussion highlights the significance of organizations in fostering a supportive environment and establishing routines that enable individuals to effectively utilize their competencies in driving innovation. Therefore the study also delivered a framework targeted to individual and organizational management to enhance sustainability competencies at the individual level. Managers are encouraged to engage in industry-specific training programs actively, embrace a dynamic mindset that promotes continuous learning and the adoption of emerging best practices, and possesses intrinsic motivation, where individuals are driven by personal values and a desire to contribute to a better future. Simultaneously, at the organizational level, effective communication of sustainability objectives require to be delivered. At the same time, it is crucial to implement sustainability initiatives throughout all project levels of the organization. Lastly, through the recruitment process, organizations should prioritize candidates whose competency profiles align with the organization's sustainability strategies.

This thesis focuses on driving innovation in organizations by involving employees in the innovation processes. Emphasis is laid on the involvement of ICT and the organizational climate in stimulating the innovative behavior of employees to create more innovativeness in the organization. The thesis holds a case study at a large-sized multinational in engineering & consultancy, from which qualitative research has been conducted through the use of a survey. The focus of the study is on construction engineering, a sector that has shown signs of stagnating growth through a lack of innovativeness. Through the qualitative analysis and based on the findings, a model is proposed on how employee-driven innovation can be managed in construction engineering in order to stimulate innovation in this sector.

Agile development approaches are becoming more popular the last years. With large success in the software industry, the interest in using agile methods has shifted to the development of physical products. Since agile has been originally developed for the software industry, it does not cover aspects of the hardware development environment. However, some companies do want to switch from a traditional approach to a hybrid or even complete agile approach. Reasons for this can vary from the wish to reduce time-to-market, improve communication and collaboration among the teams, or because they do not want to lack behind their competitors even though they did not know if the method will be effective for their own company. The problem is that the implementation and use of the agile methodology in the traditional approach face some issues concerning effectiveness, performance, and mismatch with expectations. The objective of this research is to look into the implementation and use of the agile methodology in the traditional models in the hardware industry. This has led to the research question: How to effectively implement and use the agile methodology in the hardware environment?

A literature review has been conducted on the success factors and barriers of agile implementation in the hardware environment. Furthermore, the benefits and challenges of the use of agile are investigated and an overview is created. Moreover, a qualitative research approach is used to dive into the perceptions and best practices of agile by doing a case study with multi-person interviews at a large hardware development company. The findings of the success factors, barriers, benefits, and challenges are identified and compared with the literature. Remarkably, the success factors and barriers are difficult to see independently of each other, as they are often linked and can reinforce one another.

The way of implementing and using the agile method must match the company and the people. For the implementation, the mindset of the people should be right in place and the pilot can show if the proposed way of working is right. For the use, it is of significant value that besides the people aspect, the tools, and organizational structure are aligned. Also here, the rituals, prototyping, training, and way of specialization should match the company and the teams. The findings of this thesis can be used as a guideline to implement and use the agile methodology in large-scale hardware companies.

In today's knowledge-intensive economy, innovation has become essential for securing a competitive advantage, assisting firms in thriving, and ensuring their survival. Corporations have realised that experts are just some of the ones responsible for innovation. Employee involvement in developing innovation processes thus represents a significant cultural shift from established company practices. This realisation has led to the emergence of employee-driven innovation (EDI). There is academic work that studies different contributing factors to EDI. Management practices and leadership are crucial for implementing EDI initiatives by creating a supportive environment, encouraging innovation, and providing autonomy and guidance to employees. Recent work looks into creativity and employee work behaviour. There is also work around digital EDI, and some studies look into the organisation of EDI.

However, organisations still struggle with implementing EDI. This research aims to identify key factors and practices that effectively organise EDI within high-tech organisations. The qualitative and inductive study used semi-structured interviews to generate theory and draw general conclusions. The target population includes change managers, senior managers, and employees in high-tech organisations. Twelve people from different organisations in The Netherlands participated in the study. I recorded, transcribed and anonymised the video interviews. These anonymised documents were further used for coding to identify emergent themes.

The results provide valuable insights into the participants' understanding, perception, and outcomes of EDI initiatives. Initially, they showed limited awareness of EDI, but after being informed, they recognised its importance in leveraging the creative potential of all employees. The participants discussed examples of EDI initiatives, highlighting the use of digital platforms, collaborative sessions, competitions, and off-site activities to foster innovation. They acknowledged various benefits of EDI, such as cross-functional collaboration, diversity of thought, self-leadership, and persistence. However, their definition of success varied, with some focusing on idea integration while others emphasised factors like customer satisfaction or alignment with organisational priorities. Challenges associated with EDI were also identified, including organisational resistance, managing the number of ideas generated, and the lack of clear definitions for innovation and success.

This study fills a research gap by offering practical insights into organising and implementing EDI effectively. The findings emphasise the importance of creating an innovative environment, recruiting individuals with specific characteristics, and organising EDI activities that are engaging and connected to daily work experiences. The highlights include leadership advocacy, fostering a supportive culture, and recognising employee efforts. The study proposes a shift in the assumption that all employees are willing to innovate and suggests integrating EDI into daily work routines. Theoretical implications indicate introducing an idea selection phase in the EDI process. Practical implications include balancing business and creativity, providing incentives, managing time effectively, promoting collaboration, and establishing transparent criteria for idea selection. The study proposes an EDI intervention framework that serves as a roadmap for organisations, emphasising idea generation, selection, implementation, cultural enablement, and transparent processes. Overall, this study contributes to understanding EDI and provides recommendations for fostering a culture of innovation.

A growing perspective on innovation suggests that significant innovation can stem from employees' daily activities. Traditional innovation practices often delegate decision-making to a select group, typically R&D departments or specialized units. However, this approach overlooks the innovation potential distributed across all employees in an organization. Recent understanding challenges this traditional view, emphasizing that all employees possess the potential for innovation. Recognizing and harnessing this potential can lead to more distributed and effective innovation practices within organizations. This concept is referred to as Employee-Driven Innovation.
In the context of Employee-Driven Innovation (EDI), collaboration is crucial for successful development and implementation. Effective collaboration, reliant on structures promoting knowledge exchange, skill development, and resource sharing, amplifies an organization's performance by capitalizing on individual strengths and expertise. However, the specific impact of collaboration on EDI practices is not well-understood, creating a gap in the literature and an opportunity to explore how collaboration influences EDI. Understanding these dynamics can inform and shape effective EDI practices. Therefore, it's essential to investigate the influence of collaborative activity on EDI, guiding the formation of effective strategies and driving successful EDI practices.
This research narrows its focus to the development and implementation phase of Employee-Driven Innovation (EDI), as the literature suggests this phase is most influenced by collaborative activities and the organizational context allows deeper research into this specific phase. The central question being explored in this research is: how do collaborative activities drive the development and implementation of EDI initiatives?
To address this, a case study is conducted within a single organization, Stedin, a grid operator in the Netherlands. The study encompasses several EDI initiatives and involves questioning both the initiators of the initiatives and collaborators during the development and implementation phase. A semi-structured interview format is used to gather insights.
This research reveals key insights into the contrasting collaborative activities of the "fuzzy front end" and the "back end" of the development and implementation process of EDI initiatives. The fuzzy front end, characterized by exploration, thrives on dynamic, distant, and informal collaboration. These characteristics facilitate swift interactions, overcome organizational resistance, and prevent collective decision-making structures, thus promoting speed and flexibility.
Conversely, the back end, typically more specialized and complex, benefits from stable, intimate, and homogeneous collaboration. This phase involves a time-consuming and complex role transfer, transitioning the EDI to an innovation that can be adopted organization-wide. Stable, homogeneous and intimate collaboration ensures effective implementation and a smooth transition of ownership...

The extensive and growing population of remote workers has left traditional leaders with many challenges managing a team remotely, and virtual leadership has been introduced as a remote management style. The increasing use of workplace surveillance technology in organisations has resulted in considerable debate over the years. This qualitative study aimed to explore virtual leadership in practice and investigate the potential of using workplace surveillance technology to support effective virtual leadership. The results of the research will provide an answer to the following question: “How can workplace surveillance technology support virtual leadership in the new normal era?”.
Existing research suggests that there is no single theory for virtual leadership and that more research should be conducted. The use of workplace surveillance technology lacks practical evidence and does not keep pace with continual change, vast technological advancements, and expectations by followers for transparency. The methodology used for this research consists of ten in-depth interviews with leaders and followers from the same organisation within three different sectors. Interviews were conducted utilising a semi-structured interview format. They produced data based on the lived experiences of virtual leadership and participants' views on workplace surveillance technology relating to whether virtual leaders could become more effective by implementing that.
The findings of this research supported that there is not a single virtual leadership style, and continual change was recognised as an ongoing theme. Acceptance of change, adaptability, and personal attention were necessary for successful virtual leaders. The participants indicated that they saw some potential in using workplace surveillance technology for virtual leaders under certain conditions. The research has found that threats to using sensitive data information should be considered before deployment. When considering the needs and threats, participants argued that this could result in more effective virtual leadership depending on how virtual leaders act upon the information being gathered. Therefore, it is recommended to consider the threat that there is not a standard design of workplace surveillance technology and the potential of this technology is context-specific. Additional research should be conducted to evaluate virtual leadership, in general, to understand motivations and barriers to widespread adoption regardless of the use of workplace surveillance technology. Further research should be conducted on the operational and practical issues surrounding workplace surveillance technology in virtual work environments.

In the business world, international mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are often adopted. To localize technology afterward, international technology transfers (ITTs) are often carried out. Human Resource Management (HRM) practices can help the technology transfer process achieve better performance. However, human resource interactions within organizations are complex, and a generic definition of HRM can lead to inconclusive results. How human resource activities are implemented in organizations and how they function in ITT have to be emphasized and realized in detail.
Utilizing a case study of ITT between a Chinese company and an acquired Dutch medical company, this thesis analyzes the role of three HRM practices: staffing, performance-related rewards, and training in ITT. Thus, bringing clarity on how more specific features within HRM can be utilized to improve an ITT performance. The case study also defines criteria for the ITT process and establishes the difficulties in an ITT process and the implementation of HRM practices. Then it analyzes the role of HRM practices in ITT.
Based on the contingency theorists, the assessment clearly addressed the use of HRM practices aligned with the business strategies. The research agrees that it is crucial to acknowledge the situation of the business context, which requires consideration of industry, organizational structure, resources, etc. Interviews are used to collect data. The details of implementing the HRM practices within the organizations are also introduced. The criteria for the ITT are defined. The connections between HRM practices and the performance of ITT are built. Then models are proposed for the effects of training, performance-related rewards, and staffing on successful ITT. The models are disassembled into details.
In the studied case, the use of the HRM practices can benefit ITT performance by benefiting collaboration and communication between two organizations, transfer of tacit knowledge, and technology integration with local industries. The influence of training is the most recognized among the three HRM practices. Hard skills training is considerably more efficient than soft skills training with acquiring tacit knowledge. Recruiting and training can also help organizations gain abilities outside the organizations. Internal mobility helps transfer tacit knowledge and experience from the technology-giving side. The influence of rewards is relatively small. In the organizations studied, intrinsic rewards influence more the motivations of employees than extrinsic rewards. Cultural and organizational factors can significantly affect the implementation of HRM practices and the influence HRM practices had on ITT.

With the trend of work-from-home and flexible working arising from the Covid-19 virus pandemic becoming increasingly popular, personal branding will play a growing role in the workplace. Practitioners in a few industries, such as public relations, have been at the forefront of personal branding and will continue to attract people from other industries and even graduates to start focusing on building and managing their personal brands. In the near future, personal branding may become mandatory for graduate jobseekers and even further popularized in university and college vocational education.
Previous studies have shown that personal branding can help improve graduates’ employability, which is done through a three-stage approach: firstly, establishing their brand identities, then positioning their brands to the audiences, and finally checking how well it matches the company’s brand for which they are seeking employment. This study conducted empirical research on 80 science/engineering graduates no more than two years ago to determine the level of correlation between each of the three and their perceived employability through PLS-SEM analysis. On this basis, the study also explored whether and to what extent perceived external marketability plays a role in the impact of personal branding on perceived employability.
The PLS-SEM analysis results show that the conceptual model is a good fit. According to our research, the impact of graduates' core personal brand identity and personal brand positioning on perceived employability is not significant. This finding makes us think about whether the current personal branding guidelines, which generally focus on improving personal brand positioning, are really useful. The study also found that extended personal brand identity had a direct contribution to graduates' perceived employability. The most important finding is that the fit between personal brand and company brand makes the most difference for graduates' perceived employability, and perceived external marketability also plays a significant mediating role. This reveals that future graduates should look more into their brand fit with the preferred company when seeking employment.
This study provides valuable new insights into the impact of personal branding on the perceived employability of science/engineering graduates. Although the results are encouraging, future researchers can build on this study with longitudinal or cross-sectional follow-up studies.

Open innovation ensures that there is a mutual flow of knowledge and skills between organizations. In this regard, the focus of open innovation is on forming mutually beneficial connections that can ensure competitive advantage. The market gets optimized processes and technologies, and the organization can achieve profitability. Although open innovation can have many benefits, it also brings challenges. The most important is the support within an organization to adopt open innovation. Employees are critical to open innovation. If organizations want to achieve successful open innovation, they must embed open innovation into the organization's mission and vision. This report maps the relationships between middle management leadership behaviors and employee open innovation behaviors. Leadership behaviors focus on developing the behaviors of employees and leaders themselves in relation to open innovation. Leadership encourages the development of employees' personal and professional skills. Leadership emphasizes decisions to build and maintain relationships and to promote open innovation behavior among employees, thus stimulating open innovation within the organization. Semi-structured interviews based on an exploratory qualitative method were used for this research. Interviews were conducted with 12 participants. Six leadership experts and six employees from different areas in the Netherlands were selected for this purpose. This research conducted a multilevel analysis and found that leadership behaviors drive important organizational changes related to open innovation and improve open innovation behaviors of employees. To implement open innovation within the organization, open innovation must be integrated into the mission and mandate of the organization. This creates effective collaboration between leaders and employees. Leadership can enable the use of leadership behaviors that can develop skills and competencies critical to open innovation. In addition, leadership behaviors have been found to influence employee behaviors related to open innovation when it comes to improving knowledge acquisition and sharing. In addition, employees are motivated to enter into external relationships with other organizations. Leadership behavior influences employee knowledge and skills. Leaders can influence the way employees acquire and share knowledge outside the organization and stimulate employees' open innovation behavior. Similarly, they can develop in the area of communication to foster useful long-term relationships. 9 In addition, more transparency, less time pressure, and the provision of support are important for gathering and sharing knowledge and building partnerships. This work has demonstrated effective leadership behaviors that can improve employee skills and competencies and specified the shift in organizational goals from open innovation to open employee innovation behaviors. Development within the organization can be accomplished by improving open communication and bonds between leaders-employees. In addition, there must be open communication between leaders and employees to motivate them to participate in open innovation activities. This research suggests that leadership behaviors can improve employees' open innovation behaviors by developing these behaviors in two phases of open innovation: obtaining ideas from external sources and idea integration. Open innovation involves individual employees and leaders, which can improve the output of open innovation in the organization.