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The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of agency on basis of a pragmatist philosophy framework of analysis. Agency is a key analytical concept in management studies, debated in terms of its theoretical elements and its degree of empirical substantiation. Agency is commonly either assumed to be the case, understood as some generic human capacity to act with integrity, or, alternatively, agency is considered to be derived from social structures, say professional norms or occupational identities acquired through socialization. In contrast, in an attempt to escape the agency/structure model, agency may be considered as what is generated in and through meso-level interactions, constituted as recurrent practices wherein accomplishments in the past serve as the template for new activities that further reinforce agential capacities.

Drawing on the work of pragmatist philosopher Donald Davidson and what he calls the principle of charity, this paper presents an analytical model wherein agency is generated on basis of a shared everyday language wherein beliefs and preferences are constituted and thereafter serve as the basis of agential action.

Davidson’s externalist theory of action is supportive of the theory and study of meso-level interactions and helps to overcome the question whether agency is exogenously given or the effect of social structure.

This paper reviews recent social science literature on agency and introduces pragmatist philosophy concepts to better examine under what conditions social actors can reasonably have faith in an interaction being premised on beliefs that are held on basis of rational and reasonable grounds. This adds to an integrated theory of agency, being of importance for social theory and organizational analysis more specifically.

The International Journal of Organizational Analysis (IJOA) is a leading journal that has published high-quality research focused on various facets of organizational analysis since 1993. This paper aims to conduct a retrospective analysis of the IJOA journey from 2005 to 2020.

The data used in this study was extracted using the Scopus database. The bibliometric analysis, using several indicators, is adopted to reveal the major trends and themes of the journal. The mapping of bibliographic data is carried using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny.

The study findings indicate that IJOA has grown for publications and citations since its inception. Five significant research directions emerged, i.e. organizational diagnostics, organization citizenship behaviour, organizational commitment to employee retention, psychological capital and firm performance, based on cluster analysis of IJOA’s publications.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of IJOA. The study presents the key themes and trends emerging from a leading journal, considered a high-quality journal, for researching various facets of organizational functioning by academicians, scholars and practitioners.

As video-based interventions are continuously utilized as alternatives to physical site visits, directing students' attention to specific learning contents within videos could increase their comprehension and stimulate their interest. Students' knowledge of construction practice can be reinforced, misconceptions and improper inferences can be reduced by calling out significant learning concepts. However, few studies have formalized practice concepts that could be beneficial in preparing students for the workplace. This paper presents an investigation of construction practice concepts, based on site visits that would be beneficial in complimenting classroom teaching to prepare students for the realities of practice.

A mixed methods research approach was employed combining qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. An online questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and a focus group were conducted with industry practitioners and instructors to identify the topics and practice concepts significant for supporting classroom teaching with site visits.

The findings suggest that the most relevant topics typically supported with site visits are preconstruction management, excavation and foundation work, construction equipment, construction means and methods, project management, road construction, sustainability, building systems, structures, construction technology, building construction, capstone, site logistics and safety. Practice concepts were identified for each of these topics.

The study will guide researchers in the design of video-based pedagogical tools to be used as an effective complement of or alternative to site visit experiences. The findings will support instructors on how to structure their teaching practices to prepare students for some of the complexities of the workplace.

This study adds value to the existing literature by providing insights into industry perception of practice concepts for complementing classroom teaching.

In this study, the authors use the actor-network theory (ANT) as a theoretical framework to better understand constructing learning as part of the networking process to produce innovations. Focussing on the antecedents of innovation within three teams in an engineering company, the authors propose a framework to enhance understanding of the innovative processes. The authors apply ANT to examine how informal learning is distributed amongst human and non-human actors.

Based on 27 interviews in a large Australian engineering company, the authors' qualitative investigation shows that innovation can have very different antecedents. The authors mobilised ANT as the authors' vantage point to explore inanimate actors and their effect on social processes or, more specifically, networks and informal learning.

The authors propose a framework to better understand innovative processes by exploring the network aspects of non-human actors and their connection to learning. More specifically, findings contribute towards a more granulated understanding of how networks, learning and non-human actors contribute towards innovations in organisations.

This study has three significant implications for managers and organisations looking to improve their innovation processes. Firstly, fostering open communication is essential for developing successful innovation processes. Secondly, a close relationship with the customer and/or the final users has often been found to positively contribute to innovation processes. Finally, intrateam motivation is also critical when it comes to creating an environment that supports innovation processes.

Surprisingly, leadership, communication and motivation did not give the best innovative outcome as the authors expected. Challenging traditional theorisations, low teamwork spirit and high individual performance orientation were some of the powerful drivers of highly innovative teams.

This study aims to understand in what way international cooperation between universities and/or firms can be seen as a vehicle in the transfer of knowledge and innovation for implementation of environmentally sustainable practices.

To do so, a qualitative approach was adopted, resorting to the case study method: the EdgeWise project. Data were obtained from interviews, documentation provided by partners and observation, and the content analysis technique was also used.

The results lead to the conclusion that this type of international cooperation is supported by solid dimensions, such as knowledge transfer and appropriate choice of partners. In addition, the dimension related to organisational culture is not considered a barrier in the cooperation process studied here, but rather as a form of learning among partners.

The empirical evidence suggests that it will add value to the understanding of the various issues surrounding resources (water and energy) that differ from country to country. However, the administrative-bureaucratic dimension is identified as a barrier to this type of cooperation/project, with its analysis being suggested for future studies.

This innovative study shows that the literature and the case study made identified various dimensions; motivations, barriers and drivers, of knowledge transfer, choice of partners and organisational culture. In addition, this study contributes for international universities-firms cooperation in sustainability area.

The purpose of the study was to examine the factors that are important for strengthening university–industry collaboration (UIC). This study also investigates the outcome of UIC in the light of creativity, skill, knowledge, and research work.

A survey method has been used to collect data for the study. This study applied a purposive judgmental sampling technique where particular types of respondents like university faculty members and the top officials of the organizations were selected who are knowledgeable and can provide the desired information. The current study used the structural equation modeling method to analyze the data. In the first stage, this research assessed the demographic factors of the respondent. Then this study conducts confirmatory factors analysis and convergent and discriminant validity and reliability test. Finally, the hypotheses are tested by using nonparametric.

This study finds that knowledge transfer mechanism, governmental factors, organizational design factors, technology transfer and the collaborative network has a significant impact on strengthening UIC, which ultimately facilitates creativity, knowledge creation, skills development and supply of graduate according to the requirement of the industry, good research work.

The current study identified some important determinant that has a substantial influence on strengthening UIC. According to the study organizational design, government, technology, collaborative network and mechanism for knowledge transfer play very crucial roles in strengthening collaboration that ultimately increases the creativity, skills, knowledge and research capability of graduates.

This research aims to identify the key factors affecting Outbound Open Innovation between Startups and Big organizations using the multiple criteria decision-making analysis (MCDM) approach. The MCDM technique ranks the four key factors identified from the literature study that can help to improve collaboration opportunities with Startups.

Identification of key factors affecting Outbound Open Innovation between Startups and big organizations based on extant literature. A questionnaire is prepared based on these four identified key factors to gather views of the startup's employees, from the designer level to the startup's founder. MCDM techniques are used to evaluate the questionnaire. The ensemble technique is used to rank the key factors coming from three different MCDM methods.

The findings from the MCDM approach and Ensemble techniques give insight to the big organizations to facilitate outbound Open Innovation effectively. It also provides insight into the requirements of the startups and the kind of support they seek from the big organizations. The ranking can help the big organization close the gaps and make an informed decision to increase the effectiveness of the collaborations and boost innovation.

This is a unique research work where the MCDM approach is used to identify the ranking of key factors affecting outbound open innovation between startups and big organizations. The MCDM technique is followed by the ensemble method to rationalize the findings. Technology Relevance ranks highest, followed by Innovation Ecosystem, Organization commitment and Knowledge Sharing.