{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T00:18:58Z","timestamp":1780877938677,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,9]],"date-time":"2017-10-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1507507200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JEIM"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>Literature on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has so far produced limited evidence on how these firms pursue their organizational flexibility with information and communication technology (ICT) and ad hoc work practices. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the extant literature by focusing on how SMEs use flexible work practices that provide latitude with respect to when employees work, where they work and via which communication medium. Specifically, the authors analyze how such practices are related to the conditions that SMEs face in reference to their competitive environment and their patterns of ICT usage.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>A survey was conducted on 304 Italian SMEs, with the aim of identifying the contextual dimensions where flexible work is chosen and the different typologies of flexible work implemented by companies.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>Flexible work in SMEs is chosen for different reasons associated to different conditions in the competitive environments and in ICT usage where SMEs operate. In general, SMEs use flexible work when they are more capable of improving their external orientation toward suppliers, customers, and the entrance in new markets with ICT. This duality is more likely in the competitive environments where external orientation and information processing is more needed, namely, environments that are uncertain and complex for product and breadth of the geographical complexity (scope) covered.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Research limitations\/implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>In this paper, the authors offer an analysis on the contextual characterizations of flexible work practices. Future studies should disentangle more in depth the ways these characterizations are related to different ICT usages.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Practical implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>In uncertain and complex environments, SMEs should increase their external information processing with ICT and organizational practices that support the latitude of employees involved in boundary spanning with respect to where, when, and how they work.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>This paper offers an interpretation of flexible work as an organizational mechanism used to cope with uncertain and complex environments where more external orientation is needed. This paper also shows that there are four different typologies of flexible work implemented by companies, namely, flexible work for cheaper input costs, flexible work for operational drivers, flexible work for strategic drivers, and flexible work for individual motivations, and that in some cases the conditions under which they are chosen are different.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/jeim-04-2016-0090","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,25]],"date-time":"2017-08-25T07:22:29Z","timestamp":1503645749000},"page":"922-943","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Flexible work practices and the firm\u2019s need for external orientation"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"30","author":[{"given":"Paolo","family":"Neirotti","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elisabetta","family":"Raguseo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emilio","family":"Paolucci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1177\/0145482X7707100103","article-title":"Orientation and mobility for persons with low vision","volume":"71","year":"1977","journal-title":"Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness"},{"issue":"7","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1250","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.41.7.1250","article-title":"Global disaggregation of information-intensive services","volume":"41","year":"1995","journal-title":"Management Science"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"259","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.1040.0065","article-title":"Friends or strangers? Firm-specific uncertainty, market uncertainty, and network partner selection","volume":"15","year":"2004","journal-title":"Organization Science"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2575.2007.00252.x","article-title":"Collaborative technologies in knowledge telework: an exploratory study","volume":"18","year":"2008","journal-title":"Information Systems Journal"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1306","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.2013.0882","article-title":"The semiformal organization","volume":"25","year":"2014","journal-title":"Organization Science"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.1111\/1468-005X.00062","article-title":"At home on the electronic frontier: work, gender and the information highway","volume":"15","year":"2000","journal-title":"New Technology, Work and Employment"},{"issue":"6","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"605","DOI":"10.1016\/j.im.2014.05.007","article-title":"Job performance through mobile enterprise systems: the role of organizational agility, location independence, and task characteristics","volume":"51","year":"2014","journal-title":"Information & Management"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref008","first-page":"583","article-title":"Managing dispersed workers: the new challenge in knowledge management","volume":"26","year":"2006","journal-title":"Technovation"},{"key":"key2020120507431533200_ref009","volume-title":"Microsoft Secrets: How the World\u2019s Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People","year":"1998"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"181","DOI":"10.1016\/j.im.2008.10.002","article-title":"IT capabilities and firm performance: a contingency analysis of the role of industry and IT capability type","volume":"46","year":"2009","journal-title":"Information & Management"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref011","first-page":"121","article-title":"Putting the enterprise into the enterprise system","volume":"76","year":"1998","journal-title":"Harvard Business Review"},{"issue":"12","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1453","DOI":"10.1002\/smj.2135","article-title":"The role of external knowledge sources and organizational design in the process of opportunity exploitation","volume":"34","year":"2013","journal-title":"Strategic Management Journal"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"28","DOI":"10.1287\/inte.4.3.28","article-title":"Organization design: an information processing view","volume":"4","year":"1974","journal-title":"Interfaces"},{"key":"key2020120507431533200_ref014","unstructured":"Galpin, S. and Sims, D. (1999), \u201cNarratives and identity in flexible working and teleworking organisations\u201d, in Jackson, P. (Ed.), Virtual Working: Social and Organisational Dynamics, Routledge, London and New York, NY, pp. 76-94."},{"issue":"5","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"467","DOI":"10.1177\/0266242605055908","article-title":"Management development key differences between small and large businesses in Europe","volume":"23","year":"2005","journal-title":"International Small Business Journal"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"777","DOI":"10.1016\/j.dss.2013.03.003","article-title":"Complementarity between client and vendor IT capabilities: an empirical investigation in IT outsourcing projects","volume":"55","year":"2013","journal-title":"Decision Support Systems"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"237","DOI":"10.1111\/ntwe.12052","article-title":"Flexible work designs and employee well-being: examining the effects of resources and demands","volume":"30","year":"2015","journal-title":"New Technology, Work and Employment"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"196","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-005X.2010.00248.x","article-title":"Beyond flexibility: reallocation of responsibilities in the case of telework","volume":"25","year":"2010","journal-title":"New Technology, Work and Employment"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref019","first-page":"180","article-title":"Practising mobile professional work: tales of locational, operational, and interactional mobility","volume":"6","year":"2004","journal-title":"Information"},{"key":"key2020120507431533200_ref020","first-page":"1","article-title":"Effects of work-family and family-work conflicts on flexible work arrangements demand: a gender role perspective","year":"2016","journal-title":"The International Journal of Human Resource Management"},{"key":"key2020120507431533200_ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kim, Y.-Y. and Oh, S. (2015), \u201cWhat makes smart work successful? Overcoming the constraints of time geography\u201d, 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, IEEE, Kauai, HI, pp. 1038-1047.","DOI":"10.1109\/HICSS.2015.128"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref022","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"40","DOI":"10.5465\/amr.1978.4296354","article-title":"Organizational\/environmental interchange: a model of boundary spanning activity","volume":"3","year":"1978","journal-title":"Academy of Management Review"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref023","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"519","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.10.5.519","article-title":"Prolegomena on coevolution: a framework for research on strategy and new organizational forms","volume":"10","year":"1999","journal-title":"Organization Science"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref024","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"377","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.13.4.377.75","article-title":"Research commentary: the next wave of nomadic computing","volume":"13","year":"2002","journal-title":"Information Systems Research"},{"key":"key2020120507431533200_ref025","article-title":"Enterprise 2.0: the dawn of emergent technologies","year":"2006","journal-title":"MIT Sloan Management Review"},{"key":"key2020120507431533200_ref026","article-title":"Deploying far-flung teams: a checklist for managers","year":"2003"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref027","first-page":"11","article-title":"Virtual workspace technologies","volume":"46","year":"2005","journal-title":"MIT Sloan Management Review"},{"key":"key2020120507431533200_ref028","year":"2004"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref029","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1108\/09534810810847011","article-title":"Telework adoption, change management, and firm performance","volume":"21","year":"2008","journal-title":"Journal of Organizational Change Management"},{"issue":"6","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref030","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"805","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jm.2004.05.002","article-title":"Virtual teams: what do we know and where do we go from here?","volume":"30","year":"2004","journal-title":"Journal of Management"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref031","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"247","DOI":"10.1007\/s10672-007-9051-1","article-title":"Managing telework programs effectively","volume":"19","year":"2007","journal-title":"Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref032","first-page":"139","article-title":"On the contingent value of IT-based capabilities for the competitive advantage of SMEs: mechanisms and empirical evidence","volume":"54","year":"2016","journal-title":"Information & Management"},{"key":"key2020120507431533200_ref033","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Neirotti, P., Paolucci, E. and Raguseo, E. (2011), \u201cDiffusion of telework: myth or reality? Some stylized facts on telework diffusion in Italian firms\u201d, 10th International Conference on Mobile Business, IEEE Computer Society, Como, Washington, DC, June 20, pp. 320-330.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICMB.2011.24"},{"key":"key2020120507431533200_ref034","volume-title":"The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation","year":"1995"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref035","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"793","DOI":"10.1093\/icc\/dth070","article-title":"Organizational routines as a unit of analysis","volume":"14","year":"2005","journal-title":"Industrial and Corporate Change"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref036","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"479","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.6.4.479","article-title":"Hardwiring weak ties: interorganizational computer-mediated communication, occupational communities, and organizational change","volume":"6","year":"1995","journal-title":"Organization Science"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref037","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"229","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijinfomgt.2005.02.002","article-title":"Teleworking in the information sector in Spain","volume":"25","year":"2005","journal-title":"International Journal of Information Management"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref038","first-page":"1","article-title":"Smart work: supporting employees\u2019 flexibility through ICT, HR practices and office layout","volume":"4","year":"2016","journal-title":"Evidence-Based HRM: A Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref039","first-page":"1","article-title":"Exploring the tensions behind the adoption of mobile work practices in SMEs","volume":"21","year":"2015","journal-title":"Business Process Management Journal"},{"issue":"7","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref040","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"929","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jbusres.2011.05.005","article-title":"The differing effects of technology on inside vs outside sales forces to facilitate enhanced customer orientation and interfunctional coordination","volume":"65","year":"2012","journal-title":"Journal of Business Research"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref041","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"865","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.1070.0285","article-title":"The influence of information technology on the use of loosely coupled organizational forms: an industry-level analysis","volume":"18","year":"2007","journal-title":"Organization Science"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref042","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"237","DOI":"10.2307\/30036530","article-title":"Shaping agility through digital options: reconceptualizing the role of information technology in contemporary firms","volume":"27","year":"2003","journal-title":"MIS Quarterly"},{"issue":"6","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref043","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"509","DOI":"10.1108\/13673270910997150","article-title":"Web 2.0 and the empowerment of the knowledge worker","volume":"13","year":"2009","journal-title":"Journal of Knowledge Management"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref044","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"463","DOI":"10.2307\/23044052","article-title":"Competing perspectives on the link between strategic information technology alignment and organizational agility: insights from a mediation model","volume":"35","year":"2011","journal-title":"MIS Quarterly"},{"issue":"8","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref045","first-page":"892","article-title":"Innovation practice and its performance implications in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector: a resource-based view","volume":"31","year":"2010","journal-title":"Strategic Management Journal"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref046","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"383","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.49.4.383.14427","article-title":"Relational embeddedness and learning: the case of bank loan managers and their clients","volume":"49","year":"2003","journal-title":"Management Science"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref047","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"94","DOI":"10.1057\/palgrave.crr.1540070","article-title":"Building the flexible firm: how to remain competitive","volume":"2","year":"1998","journal-title":"Corporate Reputation Review"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref048","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"224","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-005X.2012.00289.x","article-title":"Good to be home? Time-use and satisfaction levels among home-based teleworkers","volume":"27","year":"2012","journal-title":"New Technology, Work and Employment"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref049","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.1016\/j.im.2009.12.004","article-title":"Identifying the ideal fit between mobile work and mobile work support","volume":"47","year":"2010","journal-title":"Information & Management"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120507431533200_ref050","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"483","DOI":"10.2307\/25148853","article-title":"Predicting different conceptualizations of system use: the competing roles of behavioral intention, facilitating conditions, and behavioral expectation","volume":"32","year":"2008","journal-title":"MIS Quarterly"}],"container-title":["Journal of Enterprise Information Management"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/JEIM-04-2016-0090\/full\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/JEIM-04-2016-0090\/full\/html","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T22:31:12Z","timestamp":1753396272000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emerald.com\/jeim\/article\/30\/6\/922-943\/204616"}},"subtitle":["An empirical study of SMEs"],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,9]]},"references-count":50,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,9]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1108\/JEIM-04-2016-0090"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/jeim-04-2016-0090","relation":{},"ISSN":["1741-0398"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1741-0398","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,9]]}}}