Insights into emergence and influence of cultural diversity are becoming more important, due to an ongoing upward trend towards diversified societies. Yet, there is little scientific evidence on the specific attitudes of managers regarding cultural diversity, especially for technical and scientific professions. The present qualitative study examined the experiences, social influences, and competencies of managers in the STEM sector, which are important for managing cultural diversity. The results show that only a few of the respondents were aware of the opportunities and risks of cultural diversity and the specific challenges for people with a migration background. Furthermore, the respondents´ own experiences and sensitivity, their own identification with the company and previous diversity measures in the context of the companies ‘position seemed to be relevant for the formation of attitudes. The respondents also stated a lack of interpersonal and intercultural competencies among junior managers, which should be addressed by both companies and educational institutions.

Should managers be more trained in the topic of diversity? Must they develop specific skills and competences? Which strengths and weaknesses regarding diversity management do managers have? A qualitative investigation tried to answer these questions. Around 70 interviews with managers and employees of large DAX companies were conducted. It could be shown that there are tensions between self-perception and perception of others and the assessment of the significance of diversity attitudes and measures, competences, and their actual implementation. These findings suggest that there is the need to train competences, in particular intercultural competence.

Hospital providers are facing unprecedented challenges such as ambitious sustainability targets while remaining resilient to adverse events, e.g. COVID-19. However, instead of leveraging the collective knowledge of all UK National Health Service (NHS) hospital providers, Hospital Estates and Facilities Management (HEFM) departments have to resort to using their own resources to find guidance and innovative solutions to their safety-critical infrastructure issues. This exploratory study draws upon academic studies from four domains: the institutional complexity of public healthcare systems, facilities management (FM), the ability to effectively manage change and inter-organisational knowledge sharing (KS). Various studies have stressed the lack of effective KS among NHS HEFM departments. However, so far, research studies exploring KS barriers and channels have either focused on KS among clinical disciplines or on FM organisations unaffected by the complexity of healthcare systems. Therefore, this paper develops a theoretical framework illustrating the underlying concepts and addresses the following question: What KS barriers and channels exist among NHS HEFM departments? Due to the complexity of the UK healthcare system, a complete understanding of the environment is needed before being able to understand the system itself. A systems approach is adopted, utilising mixed methods to study the dysfunctions of the existing system by understanding the interactions on multiple levels and identifying barriers to KS. The research incorporates a thorough review and analysis of the literature and 12 exploratory qualitative interviews with healthcare stakeholders and academic experts. The findings uncover a multitude of barriers throughout the KS process. Continuous structural reorganisations of the NHS, silo-thinking, inter-hospital competition, a lack of investment in professional development and additional complexities due to different ownership and service outsourcing models create a challenging environment for effective inter-organisational KS. Regarding KS channels, the NHS is still lacking a holistic strategy through which different types of documented and undocumented knowledge can be shared.

In modern-day organizations, managers are expected to rely on business analytics tools and models when making decisions. Business analytics related literature offers various business analytics related capability models that should help organizations to increase the role of data in managerial decision making. However, these models do not seem to take into consideration that the ultimate decision making accountability often lies in the hands of an individual manager, whose task is to select and combine various types of knowledge in order to understand the aspects of different types of decision-making situations, and to come into feasible conclusions in different contexts. To be able to better support their managers and to ensure they can realize the expected value of their business analytics investments, organizations should pay more attention to what kind of knowledge their individual managers use in decision-making situations, and how they use it. With the help of four initial propositions, this paper demonstrates the underlying reasons for individual managers to use various types of knowledge when making decisions, even when they are expected to make data-driven decisions supported by business analytics. Based on these initial propositions, further research ideas are suggested, to help increase the understanding on how different types of knowledge are affiliated into managerial decision making.

Our study reviews scientific papers that have been published in high-quality journals on supply chain resilience (SCR) with regard to the latest developments registered in this field in the pre- and post-Covid-19 era. Adopting a rigorous method for review, i.e., systematic literature review (SLR), our work is a snapshot of the preliminary results of a broader analysis on the available literature on this topic. Although studies on SCR have been widespread for at least twenty years, our findings show that scholars’ interest in SCR has been boosted by the pandemic period led by SARS-CoV-2, with publications on SCR nearly doubled in 2021 from the previous year. The preliminary thematic content analysis of our review showed three principal macro-pillars in SCR domain that are worth of further investigations. We also discuss what are, according to our review, the principal gaps in these sub-topics that offer avenues for future research. We ascertain that the main issue these three topics have in common is the fact that unitarian views of the phenomena are actually missing or very underexplored, while single-perspective studies are more frequent. Finally, conclusions and limitations of the study are discussed at the end of the paper.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has broken healthcare systems globally and locally in this on-going uncertain time. In that instance, the European Union (EU) was not an exception. The main aim of this study is to highlight the contemporary challenges faced by the pharmaceutical industry in the European Union region (EU). Importantly, this topic is emerging but under-researched in the existing literature. For this reason, this study attempts to bridge the research gap by examining the issues. Methodologically, this study employed a systematic literature review method to generate new knowledge. Our study conducted data analysis with Microsoft Excel software. This study analysed 27 published studies from Web of Science, Scopus, and indexed journals from the top reputed Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS). Our study highlighted the complexity of EU pharmaceutical industry through the systematic literature review method. The systematic review revealed that the vulnerability of EU pharmaceutical industry, such as default patent system, ineffective research and development (R&D), debate on the role of alliances, low level of expertise in EU health care system and pharmaceutical supply chain management.

Organizations experience multiple challenges in the modern era, and to maximise performance and value creation, they typically require resilient and committed employees. Despite the body of literature on HRM and organizational behaviour, there is a rare studies which examined the impact of learning organization on employee resilience, especially in the service sector (banking) in developing countries like Pakistan. This study aims to develop a serial mediation model that addresses research gap between adaptability and self-efficacy in learning organizations with this commandment in mind. The findings of this study are based on the principles of resource conservation theory. A cross-sectional survey of 298 employees in Pakistan’s banking sector was used in this study. Structural equation modelling was used to test the study hypothesis empirically. According to the findings, learning organisation has a positive impact on employee resilience. Furthermore, our findings revealed that serial mediation analysis of adaptability and self-efficacy positively mediates the relationship between learning organization and employee resilience. Theoretically, this study offers valuable insights to HR managers for improving workplace resilience, which can help create a suitable engaged workforce. The future implications of human resource management principles and practices are discussed.

Digital Transformation and Business Model Innovation, in which Digital Age became a crucial enabler of development and competitiveness for organisations. Despite the relevance of this topic, which has recently increased due to the Covid-19 , the search for solutions and ways to support tourism and cultural organisations in the adoption of digital innovations has not yet been structurally explored. In this sense, and in order to broaden the research stream, the article below aims, through the analysis of a case study of a Innovation Lab to support tourism organisations in promoting digital transformation and business model innovation to overcome the crisis, enabling growth dynamics, to highlight methods and approaches useful for both scholars and practitioners to promote innovation in organisations in times of crisis, starting from the identification of challenges and the consequent transformation into opportunities for growth and development.

In today’s digital age, companies are challenged to invest in digital innovation and adapt their business models to the challenges of the digital world. In recent years, various studies have addressed the question of how organisations can foster digital innovation attitudes and skills to respond to the new challenges and embrace digital transformation. Organisations are taking and implementing various initiatives to deal with the challenges of digital transformation. These initiatives range from adopting, developing, and integrating new digital technology solutions to create new business processes and customer experiences or modify existing ones, to creating an innovative organisational culture and mindset to meet changing value paths and ways of working. An analysis of the current theoretical and practical literature on digital transformation shows that this important process is associated with an increase in several dimensions of organisational performance, including innovativeness, financial performance, firm growth, and reputation. However, as reported in a recent Forbes survey (2020), these positive outcomes are not assured. The failure rate of all digital transformation initiatives is 70%. This failure is not surprising since, as Gartner (2017) and Forbes (2020) pointed out in their recent surveys, nearly half of CEOs do not have metrics for digital business transformation and lack systems of record for the work and impact of digital initiatives. Indeed, one of the reasons for the failure of the digital initiatives is the lack of a performance measurement capable of tracking and adequately managing the progress in the digital transformation of an organisation. In this vein, based on an abductive approach derived from an extensive literature review on digital transformation, business model innovation and related performance measurement and management models, including those in R&D, this paper proposes a framework for assessing and managing digital transformation initiatives and their impact on organisational performance. The proposed framework provides new insights into both the key challenges in assessing digital transformation processes and their impact on organisational performance, and the role that performance measurement models play in the design and implementation of digital transformation initiatives. In addition, the framework represents a first attempt to shed light on the approaches required to measure and evaluate the impact of digital transformation initiatives on organisational performance.

Although the relevance of knowledge assets dimensions influencing EE is widely recognized, a holistic knowledge-based perspective about EE is missed. The paper provides a literature review on EE through knowledge management lenses. Drawing on the results of the literature review, the paper proposes a framework describing knowledge assets categories founding an EE program, i.e. “Knoware Tree for EE programs”. The study, through the proposal of the conceptual framework “Knoware Tree for EE programs”, identifies the knowledge assets dimensions grounding EE programs. The assets are grouped into two main pillars: i) structural knoware and ii) stakeholder knoware. The framework “Knoware Tree for EE programs” allows to identify, analyse, manage and assess knowledge assets grounding an EE program. It represents, indeed, a useful tool that practitioners can adopt to disentangle knowledge roots of EE programs and to effectively design, manage improve and assess them. From a theoretical point of view, this paper contributes to further develop the literature on EE by providing an analysis of EE programs through knowledge management lenses. Moreover, the research extends the applicability of the conceptual framework “Knoware Tree”, by testing and implementing it in the setting of EE programs.

The ongoing pandemic has forced public and private organizations to shift from in-person to virtual teaching and learning, giving new emphasis on the usefulness of virtual learning spaces. (Karam et al., 2021; Krishnamurthy, 2020) In such a context, how to assess the performances of virtual learning spaces has become a key topic. Despite that, to date assessing the performances of virtual learning spaces remains under-investigated. This study proposes a conceptual framework that highlights the relevant variables and dimensions of a virtual learning space (VLS) to assess. For this purpose, the study combines a theoretical approach with empirical evidences. First, a literature review is carried out to describe learning spaces, their features and forms, and their main performance dimensions. Then, a conceptual framework for assessing virtual learning spaces performances is developed. The framework is tested on a case example that allowed to enrich the theoretical insights with practical findings. The theoretical findings suggest specific variables and dimensions to consider in assessing learning spaces supported by digital technologies. Moreover, the paper provides managers with a conceptual framework for the assessment of the performances of virtual learning spaces.

The main contribution of this paper is the development of a methodology for conducting a systematic literature review implemented in a software named SMILE. The methodology and the SMILE tool are applied, as an example, to the field of human resource management in the context of Industry 4.0 or HR4.0. After analysing characteristics of main approaches for systematic literature review (SLRs), we highlighted limitations of methods and tools currently used to support researchers in SLRs and defined an original methodology for automating the SLR phases. The methodology, that can overcome limitations of other methods, has been implemented in a digital tool, SMILE To validate the correctness of the methodology and test the robustness of SMILE, a SLR has been carried out to the case of HR4.0 and main results have been reported. First, a methodology of automatic extraction of the most relevant contributions in the literature is presented. The methodology regards the implementation of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) as an unsupervised method of topic modelling that enables the identification of relevant topics from a collection of contributions selected from scientific literature. Second, SMILE, a digital tool for conducting systematic literature reviews, has been implemented in the form of a decision support system (DSS). SMILE supports the proposed methodology and is based on machine learning (ML) for natural language processing (NLP) and text analytics technique. Compared to the previous review contributions, in this paper the authors propose an automatic methodology for the optimal choice of parameters used by Latent Dirichlet Allocation, such as the optimal number of topics calculated through iterative runs to perform best results in terms of words coherence in topics. SMILE reduces the effort of researchers by the implementation of an interactive procedure that allows the supervision of all the fundamental phases envisaged by the SLR

The transfer of knowledge between universities and businesses has attracted the attention of many stakeholders. This process of knowledge transfer poses several challenges for universities such as the difficulties and barriers to the commercialization of patents. These assets need to be enhanced and communicated to third-parties to increase their impacts outside the university. In order to promote and increase the valorisation of university patents, in recent years new platforms have been activated, as well as the number of dedicated initiatives (e.g. the innovation fairs) has significantly increased. The technology transfer offices (TTOs) manage the patent portfolio of the universities and they face some challenges such as an effective transfer of knowledge to third parties, a proactive commercialization of university patents, and a promotion of these assets aimed at maximizing their impact. TTOs and inventors communicate patent information to third parties through short presentations/pitches and marketing sheets. The characteristics and attributes of patents can act as useful signals to reduce information asymmetries towards third parties. This qualitative research offers an analysis of the main characteristics and attributes of patents that influence investment or acquisition decisions by third parties. Interviews were carried out with several entrepreneurs and investors with specific experience in the field of university patents, and revealed key information on the main characteristics and attributes of the patents that are of prime importance to them. These parameters could help TTOs, inventors and universities to implement their communication strategies and to improve their presentations/pitches or marketing sheets with the categories of characteristics/attributes that emerge from this research. This study could have interesting implications for some stakeholders such as universities, TTOs, inventors, innovation managers, platform managers, policy-makers, governments and public agencies.

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) aims to involve stakeholders and society actively in innovation processes, making them more responsible and collaboratively while tackling pressing societal challenges. Facing difficulties in translating this concept from theory into practice, co-creation has been identified as a potential approach to operationalize RRI involving organizations into concrete initiatives. As a non-linear process, it involves multiple stakeholders in an iterative, collaborative development procedure of products, services, policies, or systems intended to obtain a satisfying solution for all involved actors. This contribution investigates co-creation applied and assessed in a learning-by-doing process to explore the dynamics and results of knowledge exchange and capacity building. Knowledge is gained from the H2020 project SISCODE, which examines the operationalization of RRI through co-creation in concrete contexts with real-life experimentations. With the setup of an experiential learning process, ten pilot experimentations using co-creation to tackle various societal challenges across Europe were conducted. To monitor and assess the direct results, mid-term outcomes, and the potential of long-term impact, an assessment framework was developed as part of the project. It consists of monitoring practices and tools that focus on collaborative data collection to foster self-reflection and track changes over time. The dimensions investigated aimed at obtaining a perspective of capacities built and learning processes triggered as indirect results of the process to sustain co-creation and Responsible Innovation in the long term beyond the single initiative. The capacities developed as a result range from soft skills (like empathy) to the capability of systemic thinking and the application of co-design tools. Activating a broader reflection, it is finally discussed the roles of prototypes as boundary objects for learning processes, the need to create a safe and encouraging space as a learning environment and long-term strategies for in-depth change.

With the purpose of verifying the existence of different profiles of firms based on the level of sophistication of their PM core processes, and testing the impact of the interplay between PM supporting dimensions, namely patent strategy and organization for patenting, on the level of sophistication of PM core processes, we collected data from 82 patent management professionals. This data is analyzed with factor analysis, cluster analysis, and regression analysis. The results show that patent strategy positively and significantly impacts patent management sophistication, and that the patent organization positively moderates this relationship.

This research was motivated by numerous challenges of collaboration in loosely connected partnership networks and strived to propose suggestions, applicable especially for critical cross-border infrastructures. Such need was induced by the necessity of secure and uninterruptible character of their services, significant of even dangerous impacts of possible malfunctions and inherent presence of nationally specific differences. As a possible solution, we propose a conceptual model of a governing framework for such types of industrial partnerships, considering several types of their structural and behavioural aspects. In the organizational context, situation awareness was included as a physical function in the second level of the Work domain analysis framework (WDA) in a form of a qualitative knowledge-based model. Its layered structure allows interconnection of situation awareness with principles of organizational performance, cybersecurity and trust, as well as the synthesis of related joint metrics. Toward the collaborating partners, there are two main outputs from WDA framework, performance and availability. Based on the continuously shared set of momentary values of these indicators, governing level of partnering network can efficiently plan further joint steps and develop or optimize own collaborative procedures. Methodologically the presented solution combines WDA with traditional methods and tools of system thinking into the resultant Causal loop diagram, characterizing dynamics of mutual trust among collaborating partners. This diagram can be either analysed directly or conveniently adjusted for specific cases. Its individual or team analyses can provide a useful insight into the dynamic aspects and consequences of efficient extra-organizational collaboration. Besides the optimization of joint performance, such a complex knowledge-based model can also decrease the overall vulnerability and help organizations to safely recover from undesirable effects of fast global dynamics, including, e.g., the total impacts of the ongoing pandemics.

In a time when society is confronted with global concerns that have the potential to fundamentally transform the economy, the underlying social structures, work, education and science, the digital technologies particularly, and technology in general play a unique role in the development of remedies, in building up economic and social resilience, and in facilitating exchanges between individuals, organisations, communities and governments. As the intellectual capital (IC) is the prominent source of organisational knowledge and the foundation of innovation, it is important to assess the research concerning the relationships between IC, technology and innovation, in order to unveil the established interdependencies. The present study attempts to systematically review the literature dedicated to the aforementioned relationship, aiming to reveal its extent, focus, gaps and trends, for the benefit of future research.

Knowledge plays a crucial role in enhancing the quality of information system (IS) investment decisions. This study aims to explain which and how knowledge-related factors contribute to strategic alignment in IS investment decision-making. We conducted a narrative literature review of 32 papers and applied image theory to develop a conceptual model. Our results show that business understanding and shared domain knowledge are central to aligning strategic IS investment decisions. In addition, other factors enhance IS alignment, namely IT knowledge, education, awareness of impacts, system requirements, intangible benefits, IT governance, knowledge of justification methods, and metacognitive experience. Scientists might use this study to operationalize quantitative research about real decision-making, while practitioners might improve their decision process and seek suitable training thanks to this study.

The increasing rates of diet-related health problems remain a significant social issue of today, and even more in the incidence of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, even when the pandemic subsides, it is still vital to maintain healthier lifestyles, particularly concerning the choice of healthy food. Despite people’s inherent consciousness of the positive impacts of healthier food choices, there is still a need to stimulate further and encourage consumers to manifest the desired behaviour. Over the past years, evidence is growing on the use of “nudges” – a concept in the framework of nudge theory in behavioural economics, aiming to induce behavioural changes among people and consequently counter diverse social issues. Nevertheless, as the concept is still in its infancy, a paucity of knowledge remains as to the types of nudges empirically examined in the foodservice sector, their efficacy in in-store and online retail environments, and the subsisting concerns needed resolves in future research initiatives. In response to this, a comprehensive literature review was conducted. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, about 80 journal articles published from 2014-2021 in the Scopus and Web of Science databases were reviewed. The selection covers research papers that experimentally assessed the nudge as behavioural intervention in the healthy food choice. Key findings reveal many nudges tested in the existing literature and have proven their effectiveness in healthy consumer choices. Nevertheless, specific population characteristics may influence the effectiveness of the intervention. For instance, verbal prompts, internal commitment devices, and nudges with hedonic attributes eliciting entertainment and enjoyment seem more promising for children than adults. Meanwhile, descriptions (nutrition labelling), placement (proximity/visibility), and visual enhancement nudges work effectively on the adult population in real-world or lab-based experimental setups. The review findings likewise recognize the scarcity of knowledge on the use and effectiveness of nudge interventions in virtual environments. Hence, with the increasing relevance of off-site shopping, the examination of nudges towards healthier food choices among consumers is a promising research direction. Extant studies have suggested further investigation of healthy food nudging interventions in diverse environments (i.e., low-income countries and vulnerable population groups) to offer more conclusive and complement extant findings. Indeed, the problems associated with a healthy diet affect the health of society and, consequently, economic performance. Nudge interventions are simple, effective, and low-cost tools that can have a very invasive positive effect on consumers within healthier consumer choices. Acquiring comprehensive knowledge would be relevant to various online and offline enterprises in promoting healthier food choices among consumers and together support public policies to mitigate health-related issues in societies around the globe.

In the so-called ecosystem economy, new platform-based business models evolve rapidly based on the prospects of digital technology. Especially in the B2B context, data-driven platforms are highly relevant. Thus far, little research has been conducted on the supply side of data-driven platforms and especially on service providers, the so-called complementors. Therefore, this paper offers insights into the various facets of complementor relationship management (CoRM). The paper aims to develop a framework for the management of complementors of data-driven B2B platforms. For empirical evidence, we draw on 14 semi-structured expert interviews with platform managers and complementors. The findings outline two big areas of CoRM and discuss distinct characteristics of partner management and technology management. For partner management the differentiation into open and closed platform needs to be taken into account for complementor relationship management. Moreover, our study reveals the key factors of technology management which lead from platform infrastructure to digital applications like digital twins or predictive maintenance.