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International Journal of Technology Management and Sustainable Development

Volume 6 Number 2 © 2007 Intellect Ltd
Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/ijtm6.2.135/1

Leadership for sustainable innovation

Bart A.G. Bossink VU University, Amsterdam

Abstract Keywords
This article explores and explains the effects of a manager’s leadership style on sustainability
sustainable, that is environment friendly, innovation processes. It uses an analyt- sustainable innovation
ical framework, based on the literature, to investigate a manager’s influence on leadership
sustainable innovation in the Dutch building sector. An empirical research project management
observes a manager in a series of sustainable innovation processes in four building building industry
projects. The research shows that a manager’s charismatic, instrumental, strate-
gic, or interactive leadership style substantially contributes to the development of
sustainable innovation processes. It also shows that the exchange of knowledge
and information in the organisation affects the sustainable innovation process. It
concludes that a manager’s performance of an innovation leadership style is
(un)successful where it is (not) combined with the management of knowledge.

Introduction
In many situations, the improvement of the sustainable performance, that
is environmental friendliness, of an organisation means that the organisa-
tion needs to innovate. A manager who wants to guide and steer the sus-
tainable innovation processes has to be, or become, an innovation manager
with substantial leadership competence (cf. Jung et al. 2003; Krause
2004; Lloréns Montes et al. 2005), and a broad repertoire of leadership
skills (cf. Chakrabarti 1974; Roberts and Fusfeld 1981; Kim et al. 1999;
Hauschildt and Kirchmann 2001). However, much of the discussion
focuses on the influence of leadership on innovation, and the body of liter-
ature on a leader’s influence on sustainable innovation processes is not yet
well developed. To contribute to the development of a body of knowledge
in this area, this article investigates the characteristics and effects of lead-
ership on sustainable innovation processes. It concentrates on two basic
research questions:

• What are the characteristics of leadership for sustainable innovation

processes?
• How does leadership affect sustainable innovation processes?

This article provides an analytical framework that enables an in-depth

investigation of a manager’s sustainable innovation stimulating behaviour.

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It introduces an overview of effective sustainable innovation leadership

styles, and offers a set of empirically grounded examples of fits and failures
of innovation leadership.
The article is in six sections. Following this introductory section,
Section 2 reviews the innovation leadership literature. Section 3 explains
the research methodology; Section 4 reports four in-depth case studies of
leadership for sustainable innovation. Section 5 discusses the case studies’
findings. Section 6 draws some conclusions from the discussions of the
paper.

Innovation leadership styles

The literature frequently defines innovation leadership as a manager’s
style, largely influenced by individual behaviour. Repeatedly mentioned
leadership styles in the literature are charismatic (cf. Nadler and Tushman
1990; Stoker et al., 2001), instrumental (cf. Nadler and Tushman 1990;
Eisenbach et al. 1999), strategic (cf. Harmsen et al. 2000; Waters 2000),
and interactive leadership (cf. Burpitt and Bigoness 1997; Eisenbach et al.
1999). This section reviews these styles.

Charismatic leadership
A charismatic leadership style communicates an innovative vision, ener-
gises others to innovate and accelerates innovation processes. Barczak and
Wilemon (1989), and Nadler and Tushman (1990) write that charismatic
leadership generates energy, creates commitment and directs individuals
towards new objectives, values or aspirations. Howell and Higgins (1990)
claim that leadership contributes to the development of new products.
They argue that the charismatic leadership style neglects organisational
boundaries, uses visionary statements and stimulates co-workers’ contri-
butions to renewal. Nonaka and Kenney (1991) state that charismatic
leadership catalyses innovation. It creates a context for selecting the rele-
vant people, and helps them to overcome barriers. This is also emphasised
by Eisenbach et al. (1999). They substantiate that a charismatic leader
develops a vision that is attractive to followers, that considers the underlying
needs and values of the key stakeholders, and is intellectually stimulating.

Instrumental leadership
An instrumental leadership style structures and controls the innovation
processes. Nadler and Tushman (1990) argue that it ensures that the
employees’ activities are consistent with new goals. They conclude that an
instrumental leadership style sets goals, establishes standards, and defines
roles and responsibilities. It creates systems and processes to measure,
monitor and assess results, and to administer corrective action. Nadler
and Tushman (1990), Eisenbach et al. (1999), Norrgren and Schaller
(1999), and Stoker et al. (2001) support these conclusions. In addition to
this, McDonough and Leifer (1986) reason that instrumental leaders use
delineated task boundaries. Barczak and Wilemon’s (1989) conclude that

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instrumental leadership heavily relies upon project planning, and inter-

faces between co-innovating departments in the organisation.

Strategic leadership
The person performing the strategic leadership style uses hierarchical
power to innovate. Harmsen et al. (2000) substantiate that managers per-
forming a strategic innovation leadership style know the strategic compe-
tences of the organisation. Waters (2000) concludes that top management
commitment to innovation is a basic characteristic of innovative organisa-
tions. Nam and Tatum (1997), and Eisenbach et al. (1999) argue that a
highly effective strategic innovation leader has the authority to approve
key ideas. Moreover, Norrgren and Schaller (1999) report that a strategic
innovation leadership style facilitates the development of the innovative
capabilities of employees. Managers of innovative companies score rela-
tively high on the aspects commitment, and risk taking. They strategically
commit themselves to innovation, make bold decisions despite the uncer-
tainty of their outcomes and invest in innovation, even when faced with
decreasing profit margins (Saleh and Wang 1993).

Interactive leadership
The interactive leadership style tries to empower employees to innovate
and to become innovation leaders themselves. Eisenbach et al. (1999)
support the conclusion that an interactive innovation leadership style
concentrates on individualised consideration when providing support,
coaching and guidance. Because of this leadership style, employees some-
times develop into innovation leaders who assist the overall leader. Nadler
and Tushman (1990) argue that only exceptional individuals can handle
the behavioural requirements of performing all leadership styles at the same
time. Thus, an effective alternative for leaders who do not combine one or
more styles is to develop leadership throughout the organisation. Rice et al.
(1998), Markham (1998) and Burpitt and Bigoness (1997) draw similar
conclusions. They stress the effectiveness of multiple leadership and
empowered innovation teams.

Research methodology
The research project explores and explains the influence of a manager’s
leadership style on sustainable innovation processes in four cases, and
within the structure of an analytical framework. This section describes the
research design. It introduces the methods to collect and analyse data in
connection with the case studies, and it categorises and defines the ele-
ments of the analytical framework.

Research design
The study consists of four building projects in the Dutch house-building
sector. Each project was innovative in terms of sustainability. The same
municipal manager coordinated all four projects, and performed a distinctive

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leadership style, that is charismatic, instrumental, strategic or interactive

leadership, in each project. An organisation, accredited by the Dutch gov-
ernment, and responsible for the support and evaluation of all sustainable
building projects in the country, monitored and evaluated the projects’
sustainable innovation results.
The projects were the subject of a case study research approach, which
aimed to observe the charismatic, instrumental, strategic and interactive
leadership style of the project manager, and to document and explain the
influence of these styles on the outcomes of the four sustainable building
projects, in real time (cf. Cunningham 1997; Creswell 2003; Yin 2004).

Data collection
A research team observed and documented the building projects, from the
first meeting until the final design meeting. It interviewed the municipal
manager on a regular basis – every two months, over a two-year period. It
observed all official design meetings with the participants in the projects,
that is the rough draft-meetings, the preliminary design-meetings, and the
final design-meetings. In addition to this, it collected and analysed the
rough drafts, preliminary designs and final designs. Table 1 summarises
the interviews, observed meetings and studied documents.

Case Data collection

Charismatic leadership Documents: the schedule of requirements; the final
specifications and plans
Meetings: 3 schedules of requirement-meetings
Interviews: 13 interviews with the municipal manager
Instrumental leadership Documents: 2 feasibility studies; the rough draft; the
preliminary design; the final design; the design
process evaluation report
Meetings: 2 rough draft-meetings; 2 preliminary
design-meeting; 2 final design-meetings;
3 final design-exhibitions
Interviews: 13 interviews with the municipal
manager; 2 interviews with the municipal engineer
Strategic leadership Documents: the rough draft, preliminary design, and
final design for town and country planning;
the design process evaluation report
Meetings: rough draft-meeting; preliminary
design-meeting; final design-meeting
Interviews: 13 interviews with the municipal manager;
an interview with the municipal designer
Interactive leadership Documents: 7 rough drafts; 7 preliminary designs;
7 final designs
Meetings: two rough draft-meetings; 2 preliminary
design-meetings; a final design-meeting
Interviews: 13 interviews with the municipal
manager; 7 interviews with the architects

Table 1: Data collection.

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Data analysis
The research project analyses the effects of the leadership styles on sustain-
able innovation processes within the structure of an analytical framework.
Table 2 introduces the basic elements of this framework. It consists of
two parts. The first part translates the literature review into a list of lead-
ership styles. The second part defines the tangible sustainable innovation
processes and results (cf. Bossink 2002). The rationale behind the use

Innovation leadership style Indicator sustainable innovation

Charismatic: The leader is innovation personified: Design processes: new sustainable creation activities
Communicating with vision: The leader informs
employees about the innovation direction;
Energising employees: The leader generates
innovative activity;
Accelerating innovation processes: The leader
speeds up the innovative activity.
Instrumental: The leader uses management
methods to create innovation processes:
Structuring innovation processes: The leader Construction processes: new sustainable
creates systems and processes that produce realisation activities
innovative products and services;
Controlling innovation processes: The leader
establishes and uses goals and measures for
the innovative systems and processes;
Rewarding innovators: The leader gratifies Designs: new sustainable plans and images &
persons who contribute to the innovative
systems and processes.
Strategic: The leader uses his or her position to
create innovation structures and processes:
Using power to innovate: The leader uses the
hierarchical position to authorise innovative
activity and processes;
Committing employees to innovation: The
leader assigns innovative tasks and
responsibilities to subordinates;
Enabling employees to be innovative: The
leader assigns innovative competences
to subordinates.
Interactive: The leader cooperates with other
managers, employees and subordinates:
Empowering innovators: The leader stimulates Objects/areas: new sustainable artefacts and spaces
and allows subordinates to develop and
realise innovative ideas;
Cooperating with innovative employees: The
leader works together with innovators to
develop and realise their innovative ideas;
Developing additional leadership: The leader
teaches others how to be an additional
innovation leader in the innovation processes.

Table 2: The analytical framework.

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of the framework is twofold. It structures the description of the projects’

leadership styles and innovation processes and results. In addition, it
enables a discussion and analysis of the relationship between leadership
styles and the innovation results.
The analytical framework distinguishes between charismatic, instru-
mental, strategic, and interactive leadership styles. It divides each innova-
tion leadership style into three characteristics. The first column of Table 2
defines the innovation leadership styles and their characteristics.
The analytical framework uses two indicators for tangible sustainable
innovation. The indicators are new sustainable processes, and new sus-
tainable products. Furthermore, it divides the indicators into two charac-
teristics. First, it characterises new sustainable processes as new
sustainable design practices and new sustainable construction practices.
Second, it characterises new sustainable products as new sustainable
designs and new sustainable objects/areas. The second column of Table 2
defines the indicators and characteristics of sustainable innovation.

Effectiveness of leadership for sustainable innovation

In each studied project, the municipal manager performed one of the four
leadership styles. Within the structure of the analytical framework, and
for all projects, this section describes the effects of these leadership styles
on the sustainable innovation processes.

Case 1: Charismatic leadership and sustainable innovation

In the first case, the manager coordinated a municipal project to design
and construct various civic facilities with environmentally friendly materi-
als in an urban area of 250 houses. The manager performed a charismatic
leadership style to direct the design activities of a municipal design team,
communicated in visionary images about a sustainable society, and organ-
ised meetings to stimulate the team to discuss various sustainable topics.
The team members complained about the so-called vague ambitions of the
project, the absence of realistic goals and measures and fuzzy manage-
ment. The municipal manager tried to energise the participants, and
invited them to express their visions on sustainable building. They did not
respond and did not develop new ideas. In a last attempt to accelerate the
team members’ contribution, the municipal manager organised meetings
and invited the participants to brainstorm on the specifications of a sus-
tainable design for civic facilities. The project members did not know what
to say and what to do. The overall outcome of the charismatic leadership
style in this project was a completely traditional design, without sustain-
able innovations (see Table 3).
In terms of sustainable building, this project failed. The municipal
manager lacked knowledge of sustainable building, did not absorb useful
information and knowledge during the project, and did not hire internal or
external consultants to inject the project with the knowledge needed. The
manager coordinated a project team, consisting of members without

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Innovation leadership style Indicator sustainable innovation

Charismatic leadership: the leader started
to energise project members, then
communicated with vision, and
then accelerated the innovation
process.
Design processes: a municipal innovation
team was responsible for the
production of a sustainable design
for civic facilities.
Construction processes: -
Designs: -
Objects/areas: -

Table 3: Charismatic leadership and sustainable innovation.

competence in the field of sustainable building, and believed that a charis-

matic leadership style inspired the team members to develop expertise. This
approach had the opposite effect. The team members were not able to trans-
form the manager’s visionary ambitions into practical results. They chose
to blame the manager.

Case 2: Instrumental leadership and sustainable innovation

In the second case, the manager coordinated a municipal project to develop
a green design for an urban area of 500 houses. The municipal manager
led a design team, consisting of architects of a commercial firm and
designers of the municipality. The manager performed an instrumental
leadership style and organised several design meetings. In the meetings, the
design team discussed the transformation of the basic requirements into a
detailed town and country design. In all meetings, the design team evalu-
ated the environmental quality of the preliminary designs. The manager
used a formal planning scheme to assure the quality of each step in the
design process.
During the project, a municipal engineer who also participated in the
project team developed a sustainable system for drainage. The municipal
manager integrated this contribution into the designs of the town and
country project. The overall result of the instrumental leadership style was
a design with many sustainable innovations. It protected the natural envi-
ronment, contained many green areas, and utilised sustainable building
materials (for a specific summary of all sustainable innovations, see Table 4).
In terms of sustainable innovation, the performance of the instrumental
leadership style was successful. The main reasons were that the manager:

• hired three designers from an external architect’s firm with sustainable

competence;
• was assisted by a municipal engineer with relevant sustainable
knowledge;
• defined sustainable project goals;
• selected green building methods;
• introduced checklists for green design; and
• used project management methods to plan, realise, and control the
sustainable building process.

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Innovation leadership style Indicator sustainable innovation

Instrumental leadership: Design processes: (1) an inter-organisational
the leader started to innovation team, consisting of three designers
control the innovation of an architect’s firm, the municipal manager,
processes, and then and a municipal engineer, was responsible for
structured the the preparation of a sustainable town and
innovation process. country design; (2) a municipal engineer
was committed to the design process, and
generated sub-designs to integrate into the
sustainable town and country design.
Construction processes: -
Designs: the process delivered a feasible town and
country design with a high sustainability score.
Sustainable options were integrated in the
design, such as:
• the preservation of existing natural elements
within and around a stream;
• intensive planting of clusters of trees, lawns,
bushes, and other green organisms;
• application of a sophisticated public transport
infrastructure;
• a rainwater preservation system, consisting
of natural streams, wells, drains, and reservoirs;
and
• a car-friendly, but restrictive, and bicycle-
preferring infrastructure.
Objects/areas: the town and country design was
realised with minor alterations.

Table 4: Instrumental leadership and sustainable innovation.

Case 3: Strategic leadership and sustainable innovation

In the third case, the manager coordinated a municipal project to develop
an ecological garden, for an urban area of 50 houses. The manager used a
strategic leadership style and hired a managing designer of an architect’s
firm to develop the design. The manager directed the architect’s activities.
The architect had to adjust the rough draft and preliminary design to the
wishes and demands of the commissioning manager.
The municipal manager showed the rough draft, preliminary design
and final design to a municipal designer. The manager enabled the munic-
ipal designer, who was highly motivated to contribute to the design
process, to develop several sustainable sub-designs and integrate them in
the overall sustainable garden design.
The result of the strategic leadership style was a sustainable garden
design, consisting of many existing, renewed and new natural elements. It
integrated natural elements such as trees, bushes and fields and urban ele-
ments like houses, lanes and playgrounds (for a specific summary of all
sustainable innovations, see Table 5).

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Innovation leadership style Indicator sustainable innovation

Instrumental leadership: the
leader started to commit
project members to
innovation, used power
to innovate, and then
enabled project members
to be innovative.
Design processes: (1) an inter-organisational
innovation team, consisting of a managing
designer of an architect’s firm, the municipal
manager, and a municipal designer, was
responsible for the production of a sustainable
garden design; (2) the municipal designer was
committed to the design process, and generated
ideas to integrate into the sustainable garden
design.
Construction processes: -
Designs: the project introduced a feasible garden
design with a high sustainability score.
Sustainable options were integrated in the
design, such as:
• preservation of existing green organisms;
• reduction of earth moving;
• connections between green surfaces;
• creation of natural dividing lines between properties;
• planting of bushes and trees with fruit;
• construction of water reservoirs; and
• use of natural material, for instance shells,
gravel, and stones for paving.
Objects/areas: the garden design was realised with
minor alterations.

Table 5: Strategic leadership and sustainable innovation.

In terms of sustainable innovation processes, the performance of a

strategic leadership style was fruitful. The main reasons were that the
municipal manager:

• hired a designer from an external consultant’s firm with sustainable

competence;
• had a municipal designer with knowledge of sustainable gardens; and
• concentrated on directing their activities.

The municipal manager used the power to commit, enable and sometimes
force the designers to develop innovative ideas and solutions.

Case 4: Interactive leadership and sustainable innovation

In the fourth case, the manager coordinated a municipal project to develop
200 environmentally friendly houses. The manager used an interactive lead-
ership style and worked with seven real estate agents, each represented by a
manager. All seven real estate agents coordinated the development of ten to
fifty houses on an area owned by the municipality. The real estate agents and
the municipality agreed that the municipality had to sell the ground to the
real estate agents. It enabled the latter to sell the houses on the commercial
market. Part of this transaction was that the real estate agents allowed

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the municipal manager to co-direct their design processes. As an informal

commissioner, the municipal manager requested the real estate agents to
work with sustainable architects and they all agreed. The municipal manager
convinced the real estate agents and their architects to use environmentally
friendly materials and sustainable design checklists. The manager also organ-
ised workshops to evaluate the designs. All real estate agents and their archi-
tects participated and took notice of each other’s results. Furthermore, the
manager facilitated the architects to act as additional innovation leaders, and
they all did. They developed housing designs with a high sustainability score.
The result of the interactive leadership style in the housing project was a set
of seven highly sustainable designs for ten to fifty houses each (for a specific
summary of all sustainable innovations, see Table 6).
In terms of sustainability, the performance of an interactive leadership
style succeeded. Main reasons were that the municipal manager:

• became an informal commissioner in all project teams;

• convinced all real estate agents to hire a sustainable architect; and
• supported these architects to become innovation leaders.

Leadership styles and knowledge management

The manager’s leadership style and active capability to coordinate the
necessary information and knowledge exchange jointly support the innov-
ativeness of the studied projects. In all cases, the managers showed distinct
leadership styles. In the first case, that is the project that failed, the
manager did not coordinate and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and
information. In each of the other three cases, that is the projects that suc-
ceeded, the manager actively managed the exchange of knowledge and
information between co-workers.
The innovation leadership literature does not explicitly emphasise the
importance of a leader’s efforts to manage knowledge, stimulating sustain-
able information and knowledge exchange. On the other hand, the litera-
ture on knowledge management concentrates on this capability (cf. Lloyd
1996; Grant 1997; Cavaleri and Fearon 2000; Bresnen et al. 2003;
Huang and Newell 2003; Liebowitz and Megbolugbe 2003; Viitala 2004).
Kangari and Miyatake (1997), and Veshosky (1998) argue that infor-
mation gathering is an important innovation driver. In addition to this,
Toole (1998) specifies that a firm’s capacity to gather and process infor-
mation about new technology is a significant stimulator of innovation. In
the failing project, the manager did not collect information about sustain-
ability and sustainable technology. In all three innovative projects, the
manager hired consultants and designers with knowledge of the techno-
logical aspects of sustainable building. Goverse et al. (2001) underpin the
importance of the creation, stabilisation, and upgrading of knowledge net-
works. In the project that failed, the manager did not participate in a
knowledge network, and did not have contacts with universities, research
centres or other knowledge providers. In all three successful projects, the

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Innovation leadership style Indicator sustainable innovation

Interactive leadership: the
leader started to
cooperate with
innovative project
members, and then
developed additional
leadership in the
organisation.
Design processes: (1) 7 inter-organisational
innovation teams, each team consisting of a
realestate agent’s manager, an architect, and
themunicipal manager, were responsible for
10 to 50 sustainable housing designs each;
(2) themunicipal manager selected architects
that could act as additional innovation leaders
in the design projects, and organised workshops
in which knowledge and ideas were shared.
Construction processes: 7 inter-organisational
innovation teams, each team consisting of a
real estate agent’s manager, an architect, and
the municipal manager, were responsible for
10 to 50 sustainable housing designs each.
Designs: 7 feasible designs for 10 to 50 houses each
with a high sustainability score. All designs
integrated sustainable options, such as:
• orientation of the houses on the sun to use
passive solar energy;
• the use of high-efficiency boilers;
• the use of materials with relatively low embodied
energy or with a high score in a life cycle
analysis;
• improved energy performance of the houses;
• use of large windows on the sun-side to use
passive solar energy;
• use of solar cells for active solar energy;
• use of sustainable paint;
• water efficient showers and toilets;
• use of sustainable timber;
• situating the living rooms at the sun side of the
house;
• isolation of walls, floors, and roofs;
• use of high efficiency glass plates; and
• use of wooden frames.
Objects/areas: all designs were realised with minor
alterations.

Table 6: Interactive leadership and sustainable innovation.

manager had intensive working relationships with several universities,

research centres and consultancy firms. Seaden and Manseau (2001)
argue that collaboration programmes stimulate innovative cooperation
between organisations. All four building projects participated in a national
collaboration programme, funded by the government. The programme
supported the projects’ sustainable ambitions by means of subsidies, infor-
mation and free consultancy. In the unsuccessful project, the manager did
not ask for the programme’s support. In the three highly innovative pro-
jects, the municipal manager contacted the programme’s representatives
and arranged that the projects received subsidies and consultants’ advice.

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According to Nam and Tatum (1992), an integrated and informal

R&D-function strengthens the innovative capability of the organisation. It
creates attention to innovation in parts of the organisation that work
under market conditions. Neither the failing project, nor the successful
projects had an informal R&D-function. The project manager initiated
all innovative action individually, without support of an R&D-function,
R&D-department, or R&D-budget. Toole (1998) concludes that manufac-
turers and retailers of building materials, who provide information about
new products, substantially contribute to innovation in the industry. In
the failing project, the manager did not contact suppliers of sustainable
building materials, and did not search for the necessary information on
new sustainable applications. In the projects that were highly innovative,
the manager hired consultants who had intensive contacts with suppliers
of sustainable building materials. They informed the projects’ designers
about the specifications of sustainable materials. Finally, according to
Veshosky (1998), it is important that the organisation facilitates a project
manager to obtain information about innovation. All projects were part of
the municipal organisation, and the municipality did not provide extra
budgets, education, or time. The manager had to learn by trial and error.
The project that failed also was the manager’s first project in the field of
sustainability. The manager learned from this project and acted as a broker
of information and knowledge in the three projects that were successful.

Conclusion
The performance of a leadership style and the management of the addi-
tional knowledge exchange, jointly stimulate sustainable innovation in
building. A manager’s performance of an innovation leadership style is
(un)successful when it is (not) combined with knowledge management.
The research reported in this paper shows that an effective manager of
innovative sustainable building projects in the Netherlands would choose
an innovation leadership style with the view to stimulating the exchange
of sustainable building information and knowledge.
The research indicates that:

• managers of sustainable building innovation in the Netherlands have

to be leaders of both innovation and knowledge;
• managers of innovation in other countries, who lead comparable
sustainable innovative projects, would be expected to act in a similar
way; and
• managers of innovation in other countries, who lead innovative
projects in different technological fields, would be expected to assume
specific leadership styles and pay considerable attention to knowledge
management.

The research introduces a new literature-based framework to analyse

managers’ innovation leadership styles in their actual contexts. The empirical

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findings indicate that this analytical framework would need to be extended

in order to incorporate management of knowledge. To specifically explore
and explain the knowledge factor in innovation leadership, further research
has to integrate knowledge leadership in its literature-base, research design
and empirical analysis.

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Suggested citation
Bossink, B. (2007), ‘Leadership for sustainable innovation’, International Journal of
Technology Management and Sustainable Development 6: 2, pp. 135–149, doi:
10.1386/ijtm.6.2.135/1

Contributor details
Bart A.G. Bossink is Associate Professor of Economics at VU University Amsterdam.
Contact: Bart A.G. Bossink, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics
and Business Administration, Department of Management and Organisation,
De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
E-mail: bbossink@feweb.vu.nl

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