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This paper aims to explore how the time and temporal aspects are managed in a financial accounting outsourcing (FAO) transition process in an international interorganizational context. As a research outcome, the authors identify management interventions of both the service provider (SP) and the outsourcing company (OC) at both the corporate and operational levels.

The framework by Huy (2001a, 2001b) was used to analyze the qualitative data, which draw on observations, participation in 32 official meetings during the outsourcing process, informal discussions with key actors from the SP and the OC, and archival data of a single case company.

The authors illustrate how the time and temporal aspects of planned accelerated change are managed through management interventions during the FAO transition process. All four ideal intervention types (commanding, engineering, teaching and socializing) were used sequentially but also jointly to complement one another. The pacing was mostly rapid, owing to strong commanding interventions initiating almost every stage. When analyzing the FAO transition process, the authors identified four stages: contact, contract, convergence and control. Moreover, the authors focused on the role of the operational-level managers and accounting specialists of both organizations. The findings indicate that management interventions vary with the management level.

This study contributes to the interorganizational control literature by considering the time and temporal aspects in planned organizational change and the role of operational-level managers in managing large-scale changes.

The maritime industry is the transport mode that contributes most to air pollution. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) identified the reduction of air pollution by ships as a crucial issue. Since 1 January 2020, ships have had to adopt strategies and new technologies to eliminate air pollution. However, ship compliance with nitrate oxide (NOx) emission restrictions is more challenging. This paper aims to identify ship owners' challenges in investing in new technologies.

This paper applied a hybrid methodology combining a survey, a balanced scorecard and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) to identify and evaluate constraints and weights in investment decision-making for NOx technologies. A survey was carried out to validate constraints.

A survey was carried out, representing 5.1% of Greek-owned ships by deadweight capacity. The findings provide a weighted list of seven crucial technical and economic constraints faced by ship operators. The constraints vary from ship retrofit expenditure to crew training and waste management. Additionally, NOx emission technologies were compared. It was found that liquefied natural gas is the preferred investment option for the survey participants compared with selective catalytic reduction, exhaust gas recirculation and batteries.

Several studies have dealt with the individual technical feasibility of NOx reduction technologies. However, apart from technical feasibility for a shipowner, the selection of a NOx technology has several managerial and safety risks. Therefore, the originality of this paper is to reveal those constraints that have a higher weight on ship owners. With this cost-benefit approach, investment challenges for ship operators are revealed. Policymakers can benefit from the results of the employed methodology.

This paper aims to (1) unveil how artificial intelligence (AI) can be implemented in growth-hacking strategies; and (2) identify the challenges and enabling factors associated with AI’s implementation in these strategies.

The empirical study is based on two distinct groups of analysis units. Firstly, it involves 11 companies (identified as F1 to F11 in Table 1) that employ growth-hacking principles and use AI to support their decision-making and operations. Secondly, interviews were conducted with four businesses and entrepreneurs providing consultancy services in growth and digital strategies. This approach allowed us to gain a broader view of the phenomenon. Data analysis was performed using the Gioia methodology.

The study firstly uncovers the principal benefits and applications of AI in growth hacking, such as enhanced data analysis and user behaviour insights, sales augmentation, traffic and revenue forecasting, campaign development and optimization, and customer service enhancement through chatbots. Secondly, it reveals the challenges and catalysts in AI-driven growth hacking, highlighting the crucial roles of experimentation, creativity and data collection.

This research represents the inaugural scientific investigation into AI’s role in growth-hacking strategies. It uncovers both the challenges and facilitators of AI implementation in this domain. Practically, it offers detailed insights into the operationalization of AI across various phases and aspects of growth hacking, including product-market fit, user acquisition, virality and retention.

This study aims to explore the integration of machine learning (ML) in tribology to optimize lubrication interval decisions, aiming to enhance equipment lifespan and operational efficiency through wear image analysis.

Using a data set of scanning electron microscopy images from an internal combustion engine, the authors used AlexNet as the feature extraction algorithm and the J48 decision tree algorithm for feature selection and compared 15 ML classifiers from the lazy-, Bayes and tree-based families.

From the analyzed ML classifiers, instance-based k-nearest neighbor emerged as the optimal algorithm with a 95% classification accuracy against testing data. This surpassed individually trained convolutional neural networks’ (CNNs) and closely approached ensemble deep learning (DL) techniques’ accuracy.

The proposed approach simplifies the process, enhances efficiency and improves interpretability compared to more complex CNNs and ensemble DL techniques.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

The nature of virtual working means that firms invariably encounter different types of ethical issues broadly associated with people, culture and technology. Through measures that include training, education and implementation of processes, companies can successfully address these challenges and help teams perform more effectively in virtual settings.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This paper presents a framework that training professionals may utilize to develop training to align learner preferences with organizational objectives.

The authors of this paper present a framework they have used throughout the United States to prepare and develop training aligned with organizational objectives and learners' preferences in the workplace.

This paper highlights the importance of understanding organizational objectives and learner preferences when designing training and provides a framework to assist trainers. Using this framework, the authors have found that they can quickly adjust training sessions to a target audience with a broad range of personalities and preferences with good results.

This framework provides training practitioners with a step-by-step guide for quickly considering the alignment of organizational objectives to learner characteristics to enhance training design.

In many parts of the world, labor shortages are likely to affect the activities of SMEs. Consequently, SMEs needs to adopt attractive HRM practices. This study analyzes the impact of one type of sustainable HRM (SD-HRM) on employees’ attraction and retention factors such as employees’ motivation, the quality of image and customer satisfaction in SMEs context. It also looks at the impact of SME managers’ value-intentions, calculative (egoist-strategic) and non-calculative (altruist-institutional) on this relationship.

Drawing on part of a survey of 409 Quebec SME managers’ commitment to sustainability, a mediation model is used to consider the impact of the manager’s values-intentions on potential workforce attraction and retention factors.

The results show that the implementation of SD-HRM practices has a positive impact on the outcomes considered, as it was expected, but show the counterintuitive results that it is altruistic values (non-calculative), rather than egoistic values, that helps to maximize the desired effects.

SME managers could adopt SRHRM practices to attract and retain employees. To maximize positive impacts, they might strategically integrate this approach while remaining authentic to their altruistic values. Purely institutional intentions are insufficient. By being both personally committed and strategic, managers can improve both employee well-being and organizational performance.

The original aspect of this research is the integration of expectations of spin-offs (positive or neutral) in relation to SD-HRM, based on the values and intentions of SME managers. This allows to recognize the multiple profiles, justifications and objectives of SMEs, which do not form a monolithic whole and need to be understood and supported by considering their differences.

This research aims to scrutinize the dwelling of digital nomads in postmodernism’s social, cultural and political context and to illuminate their post-tourist characteristics.

Using a conceptual approach and sociological considerations, the study closely investigates the characteristics of digital nomads and offers a postmodernist ontological, epistemological and methodological stance.

The study highlights the ambiguity of the concepts of digital nomadism and tourism. Furthermore, since every digital nomad is a potential tourist with a work-leisure balance, it points out the need to grasp tourism and work from a different perspective than the dichotomy of modernism.

The postmodernist perspective offers a fruitful approach to illuminate the social conditions in which digital nomads dwell and concomitantly encompasses the tourist and nomad by rejecting dichotomies. The study also points out the need to place the agency of digital nomads in a broader context and analyze these mobilities from local and global interactions in addition to the nomads' point of view.

This study provides a new perspective on the relationship between digital nomads, postmodern conditions and their role as post-tourists.

This study aims to integrate Delone and McLean’s information system success (DMISS) model with the innovation resistance model to evaluate the relationship between behavioural intention to use (BIU) and innovation resistance in the context of neo-banking. The primary objective of this study is to identify the drivers of neo-banking adoption and the barriers to its adoption and incorporate constructs such as e-trust (ETR) and personal innovativeness (PIV) to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing neo-banking adoption.

A structured survey-based questionnaire was used to gather data from a diverse sample population in India. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) model was employed to further examine the adoption of neobanking services and users' intention to use neobanking services.

This study reveals a significant correlation between BIU and the uptake of neobanking services, demonstrating the value of consumers' readiness to embrace these offerings. However, resistance to usage has emerged as a major obstacle for consumers concerned about data security, technology reluctance and perceived risks associated with digital-only neobanks.

Analysing the driving and restraining factors will provide substantial information on the formation of consumers' decision-making processes in the Indian banking industry, which is undergoing rapid digital transformation. This information is of great importance to scholars, practitioners and policymakers, as it highlights the factors that may facilitate or impede the adoption of neobanking in India. The outcomes of this analysis will be of particular interest to researchers, experts and stakeholders in the field as they will provide valuable insights into the dynamics of consumer behaviour in the Indian banking sector.

This study represents an initial effort to examine BIUs and usage resistance within the rapidly developing neobanking sector in India. The findings of this study build on the existing research in this area and contribute to the ongoing discussion on the adoption of neo-banking.

The present work aims to prepare biocomposites blend based on linear low density polyethylene/ starch without using harmful chemicals to improve the adhesion between two phases. Also, the efficiency of essential oils as green plasticizers and natural antimicrobial agents were evaluated.

Barrier properties and biodegradation behavior of linear low density polyethylene/starch (LLDPE/starch) blends plasticized with different essential oils including moringa oleifera and castor oils wereassessed as a comparison with traditional plasticizer such as glycerol. Biodegradation behavior forLLDPE/starch blends was monitored by soil burial test. The composted samples were recovered then washed followed by drying, and weighting samples after 30, 60, and 90 days to assess the change in weight loss. Also, mechanical properties including retention values of tensile strength and elongation at break were measured before and after composting. Furthermore, scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to evaluate the change in the morphology of the polymeric blends. In addition to, the antimicrobial activity of plasticized LLDPE/starch blends films was evaluated using a standard plate counting technique.

The results illustrate that the water vapor transition rate increases from 2.5 g m⁻² 24 h⁻¹ for LLDPE/5starch to 4.21 g m⁻² 24 h⁻¹ and 4.43 g m⁻² 24 h⁻¹ for castor and moringa oleifera respectively. Also, the retained tensile strength values of all blends decrease gradually with increasing composting period. Unplasticized LLDPE/5starch showed highest tensile strength retention of 91.6% compared to the other blends that were 89.61, 88.49 and 86.91 for the plasticized LLDPE/5starch with glycerol, castor and M. oleifera oils respectively. As well as, the presence of essential oils in LLDPE/ starch blends increase the inhibition growth of escherichia coli, candida albicans and staphylococcus aureus.

The objective of this work is to develop cost-effective and environmentally-friendly methods for preparing biodegradable polymers suitable for packaging applications.