Wajda Wikhamn

International Journal of Human Resource Management 37(5) p. 719-746 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2026.2674216

R&D Management 56(3) p. 519-529 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/radm.70035

ABSTRACT How do video game developers balance the pursuit of creative freedom with the demands of market responsiveness? Based on 62 in‐depth qualitative interviews with Swedish game developers, this article advances a theory of individual ambidexterity in the creative digital industries. We identify two core dimensions: creative autonomy, characterized by experimental playfulness, personal vision and independence, and resistance to market conformity, and market alignment, marked by responsive iteration, stakeholder engagement, and commercial mobilization. Rather than operating as simple trade‐offs, these dimensions constitute generative tensions that developers actively navigate and leverage. The study contributes to research on ambidexterity and paradox theory in innovation management by showing that contradictory demands in creative work are managed not only through structural and temporal separation but also through emergent, situated practices that allow creative intent and market logic to dynamically interpenetrate. By conceptualizing ambidexterity as a contextually enacted individual capability shaped by cognitive reframing, the study offers a practice‐based perspective on innovation in R&D‐intensive, culturally embedded sectors. These insights have important implications for how organizations structure autonomy, engage users, and sustain creative innovation under commercial constraints.

Work & Stress - An International Journal of Work, Health & Organisations 37(3) p. 373-396 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2023.2176945

Constant connectivity is prevalent in modern workplaces, aided bysmartphones and email. Supervisors may further pressure theirsubordinates to remain connected to work through their after-hours communications. We develop the concept ofsupervisor off-work boundary infringements (SBI)or supervisor intrusions duringsubordinates’nonwork hours, which are becoming widespreaddue to expectations of immediate accessibility. Through theconservation of resources theory lens, we explore whether theseunnecessary intrusions by supervisors increase subordinate strainoutcomes (i.e. job tension and depressed mood at work). We alsoexamine the role of perspective-taking, a cognitive resourcedeployed as a coping strategy that allows individuals tounderstand the viewpoint of others, which in turn facilitateschanges in one’s attitudes and behaviours. Specifically, wepropose that employee perspective-taking can lessen the adverseeffects of SBI. Across a four-study constructive replication, wefindevidence that SBI positively relates to job tension and adepressed mood at work. Heightened levels of perspective-takingattenuated this relationship. Our study presents evidence thatindividuals who engage in perspective-taking can protectthemselves by buffering the adverse effects of SBI. Importantly,we advocate for corporate policies and laws that protect workersfrom SBI and encourage supervisors to cease such infringementson their employees.

Human Resource Management Journal Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12485

Talent management (TM) continues to attract considerable attention from both practitioners and academics. Existing research investigating employee reactions to being awarded talent status has not elucidated the processual nature of such reactions. This study extends TM research by providing a nuanced understanding of how employees react to talent designation over time and why. Specifically, it distinguishes between short- and long-term reactions and uses the lenses of psychological contract (PC) theory and social identity theory (SIT) to unpack mechanisms underlying immediate positive, and delayed negative, employee reactions to talent designation. Results from qualitative analysis of interviews with talents in three organizations show how—as time elapsed and no identity-relevant events occurred—perceptions of “talent emptiness” and “indeterminacy” developed. The study unfolds the complex interaction between SIT and PC (including breach and violation) to explain talents’ evolving reactions over time. As such, it contributes to TM literature by providing a nuanced understanding of the processes underlying employee reactions in exchanges involving socioemotional resources.

International Journal of Human Resource Management Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2022.2054285

This paper proposes a framework for firm use of HRM when engaging in open innovation. Whereas open innovation has gained wide recognition in the innovation management field, as firms open their boundaries to knowledge inflow and outflow to advance innovation, very few empirical papers link the HRM literature to this phenomenon. We base our analysis on an exploratory qualitative study of the pharmaceutical corporation AstraZeneca and its implementation of an open innovation initiative called BioVentureHub. We identify three main areas of HRM work: inbound, outbound, and coupled HRM work. Furthermore, we illustrate how these HRM activities relate to the development of the open innovation initiative and to current HRM and open innovation literature. The framework identifies HRM activities that target not only internal employees, but also external human resources engaged in the open innovation initiative. This HRM work is mainly conducted through informal means, separate from the host corporation’s business as usual. Our empirical study contributes to the limited and mainly conceptual research connecting open innovation with HRM, increasing our knowledge of how corporations use HRM work to manage open innovation initiatives in practice.