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This paper aims to examine the interrelation between two innovating strategies (product and process) on total factor productivity (TFP) growth and the dynamic linkages between these strategies, for Colombia. The authors first explore whether ex ante more productive firms are those that introduce innovations (the self-selection hypothesis) and if the introduction of innovations boosts TFP growth (the returns-to-innovation hypothesis). Second, the authors study the firm’s joint dynamic decision to implement process and/or product innovations. The authors use Colombian manufacturing data from the Annual Manufacturing and the Technological Development and Innovation Surveys.

This study uses a four-stage procedure. First, the authors estimate TFP using a modified version of Olley and Pakes (1996) and Levinsohn and Petrin (2003), proposed by De Loecker (2010), that implements an endogenous Markov process where past firm innovations are endogenized. This TFP would be estimated by GMM, Wooldridge (2009). Second, the authors use multivariate discrete choice models to test the self-selection hypothesis. Third, the authors explore, using multi-value treatment evaluation techniques, the life span of the impact of innovations on productivity growth (returns to innovation hypothesis). Fourth, the authors analyse the joint likelihood of implementing process and product innovations using dynamic panel data bivariate probit models.

The investigation reveals that the self-selection effect is notably more pronounced in the adoption of process innovations only, as opposed to the adoption of product innovations only or the simultaneous adoption of both process and product innovations. Moreover, our results uncover distinct temporal patterns concerning innovation returns. Specifically, process innovations yield immediate benefits, whereas implementing both product innovations only and jointly process and product innovations exhibit significant, albeit delayed, advantages. Finally, the analysis confirms the existence of dynamic interconnections between the adoption of process and product innovations.

The contribution of this work to the literature is manifold. First, the authors thoroughly investigate the relationship between the implementation of process and product innovations and productivity for Colombian manufacturing explicitly recognising that firms’ decisions of adopting product and process innovations are very likely interrelated. Therefore, the authors start exploring the self-selection and the returns to innovation hypotheses accounting for the fact that firms might implement process innovations only, product innovations only and both process and product innovations. In the analysis of the returns of innovation, the fact that firms may choose among a menu of three innovation strategies implies the use of evaluation methods for multi-value treatments. Second, the authors study the dynamic inter-linkages between the decisions to implement process and/or product innovations, that remains under studied, at least for emerging economies. Third, the estimation of TFP is performed using an endogenous Markov process, where past firms’ innovations are endogenized.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between organizational learning (OL) and work engagement (WE) in the Middle East region amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to test the mediating role of employee resilience (ER) and psychological empowerment (PE) on this relationship.

The sample size was 208 respondents working in the Middle East area during COVID-19. Hypotheses were tested using regression analysis with bootstrapping.

The findings indicate a significant positive impact of OL on WE. Moreover, both constructs – ER and WE – were identified as mediators for this relationship.

Practical implications within this study call for organizations to focus on promoting a learning culture in order to adapt and respond effectively to unprecedented external challenges.

The current study extends previous research and strengthens the antecedents of WE, namely, OL, ER and PE in the Middle East region while controlling for COVID-19 perceptions.

The purpose of this study is to provide a bibliometric analysis of global research publications on virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies in the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

The SciVerse Scopus database was used to retrieve relevant documents using a validated search strategy for the study period from 1980 to 2021.

In total, 1,233 research articles were found. Research in this field has experienced steep growth since 2017; was disseminated by journals in the fields of clinical psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry and computer sciences; was mainly carried out by scholars in high-income countries with advanced digital technology; has a relatively high number of authors per article but with a relatively poor cross-country research collaboration; was led by researchers and institutions mainly from the USA, Spain and Italy; and has received the highest number of citations for articles on anxiety and phobias.

Bibliometric methodology is a useful tool for identifying evolution growth patterns and research hot topics in the use of emerging technologies in clinical practice. Research on implementing AR/VR technologies in medicine will be enhanced by strengthening international research collaboration. More research attention should be paid to new emerging technologies in the mental health field.

The use of VR/AR technologies became popular as an alternative to or adjunct to traditional therapy in mental health practice. The rapid increase in research publications in recent years suggested that AR and VR technologies were both acceptable and simple to use. A wide range of mental health disorders could be managed by AR/VR technologies. Training medical and nursing students on various new technologies is important to cope with the digital revolution.

Based on the volume and growth patterns of research publications, there is a promising future for the use of VR/AR technologies in the field of mental health. Teaching and training health-care professionals on the proper use of VR/AR are needed to support their potential future use.

This paper aims to find the incidence of university sustainability, as sustainability practices, in university performance at private universities.

Quantitative research using structural equation modelling. Data collection and analysis followed sustainability and performance scales from previous research. The scales were validated by surveying students, teachers and administrative staff of five private universities in Medellin, Colombia. The responses (i.e. 5,344 useful answers) were collected between April 2019 and December 2020 and analysed using the Smart partial least square (PLS) software and the PLS calculation methodology.

The results confirmed the reliability and validity of the sustainability and performance university measurement models and validated the dimensions proposed to determine sustainability and performance holistically in private universities. The results confirmed that universities implementing sustainability holistically in their system positively impact their performance as higher education institutions. The university sustainability is forecasting the University Performance in about 60% of the universities analysed, with a considerable contribution from sustainability in outreach and strategic management.

This study was cross-sectional and empirically validated the model of sustainability and performance at five private universities in a single period and territory. A broader validation from longitudinal studies considering other universities in Colombia and Latin America is suggested to understand local and regional trends better.

Results provided a model for better understanding the incidence of sustainability in performance holistically at private universities in developing countries such as Colombia. In addition, the proposed dimensions and model could help regional decision-making on higher education.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first attempts relating a structural equation model and inter-university research on the incidence of sustainability in private university performance. This work contributes to a local consensus on sustainability and performance models at private universities. Furthermore, from this research emerged a joint policy framework for incorporating sustainability holistically and regionally as an effective strategy for universities and their commitment to sustainable development.

The purpose of this research is to study the financial, family, and cultural incidences on the investment policy of unlisted Moroccan family firms passed on to the second generation or more in times of crisis.

The design is based on an innovative methodological approach of contextualization in times of crisis with 20 unlisted Moroccan family firms, 3 sociologists and 2 researcher-experts in times of crisis.

This research work gives rise to a result that can be summarized through a logic of combined rationality. Explicitly, in the family business, it is necessary to combine the two effects: financial rationality in times of crisis, and the emotionality that reigns in family logic (everything that is culture, family traditions and psychological backgrounds) to make arbitrations in terms of investments.

Thus, the originality of this research is rooted by a field made up of transmitted Moroccan family firms. The major problems related to the investment of the family firm begin to emerge once there are a multitude of generations involved in the management. This accentuates the family and socio-cultural effects of family reputation and religiosity and the firm's strategic imitation. In this sense, this paper proposes a way forward in the research on family businesses, by integrating family and cultural logics following a hybrid approach that integrates these factors with classical financial logics.

Despite the abundance of small-scale farms in the USA and their importance for both rural economic development and food availability, the extensive research on small business management and entrepreneurship has mostly neglected the agricultural context, leaving many of these farms' business challenges unexplored. The authors focus on informing a specific decision faced by small farm managers: selling directly to consumers (i.e. farmer's markets) versus selling through aggregators. By collecting historical data and a series of interviews with industry experts, the authors employ simulation methodology to offer a framework that advises how small-scale farmers can allocate their product across these two channels to increase revenue in a given season. The results, which are relevant for operations management, small business management and entrepreneurship literature, can help small-scale farmers improve their performance and compete against their larger counterparts.

The authors rely on historical and interview data from key industry players (an aggregator and a small farm manager) to design a simulation analysis that determines which factors influence season-long farm revenue performance under varying strategies of channel allocation and commodity production.

The model suggests that farm managers should plan to evenly split their production between the two distribution channels, but if an even split is not possible, they should plan to keep a larger percentage in the nonaggregator (farmers' market/direct) channel. Further, the authors find that farmers can benefit significantly from a strong aggregator channel customer base, which suggests that farmers should promote and advertise the aggregator channel even if they only use it for a limited amount of their product.

The authors integrate small business management and operations management literature to study a widely understudied context and present practical implications for the performance of small-scale farms.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit different industries and firms with widely differing degrees of severity. The authors investigate whether ownership structure (family vs non-family) might represent a differentiating factor. The article's purpose is to conduct an initial, descriptive analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on different stock and operating performance measures of listed German companies.

The authors use a sample of 299 listed companies in Germany and gathered operating as well as stock market performance data following the outbreak of COVID-19. For the purpose of this paper, the authors solely focus on static and descriptive observations thus far. The intention of this paper is to describe potential implications for more differentiated, especially multivariate causal research, on family businesses in a post-COVID world.

The results indicate that, over the last five years, stock returns of family businesses have been higher than those of non-family firms. This effect seems to have been more pronounced during the first month following the COVID-19 outbreak. When applying operating measures, the outperformance becomes even more evident. The findings therefore seem to support the hypothesis proffered in the literature that family involvement enhances the potential for resilience in such firms.

Scholars on COVID-19 crisis performance have begun to explore firm-level factors related to financial and organizational factors, industry characteristics and country-level factors. The research extends this line of inquiry by probing the importance of family involvement in ownership.

The aim of this paper is to develop and test a behavioral theory of chief executive officer (CEO) succession and its performance consequences in family firms. Building upon performance feedback and slack research, the study hypothesizes that the effect of selecting a non-family outsider CEO on post-succession firm performance is contingent upon pre-succession firm performance aspirations level and the available slack resources.

The hypotheses are tested using a panel of 430 CEO successions in Italian family firms.

The findings show that a non-family outsider CEO is particularly valuable when performance resides far below aspiration levels, and there is a high availability of slack resources.

The study provides novel insights of the benefits and drawbacks of selecting non-family outsider CEOs offering behavioral-based theoretical explanations of performance consequences of CEO successions.

While some countries have used debt to drive economic growth, the asymmetric effect on sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries has received little attention in the empirical literature. This paper therefore examines the asymmetric effect of external debts on economic growth.

The panel nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach was employed in the study for 29 sub-Saharan African countries from 1990 to 2021. The cross-sectional dependence test was used to determine the presence of cross-sectional dependence, while the second-generation panel unit root tests was used to examine the unit-root properties.

The empirical results show that external debt has an asymmetric effect on economic growth in both the short and long run. In the long run, a positive shock in external debts of 1% triggers an upturn in economic growth by 0.216% while a negative shock triggers 0.354% decline in economic growth. This implies that the negative shock of external debts has a much stronger impact on economic growth than the positive shock. In the short run, a positive shock in external debts by 1% triggers a decline in economic growth by 0.641%, while a negative shock of 1% triggers a fall in economic growth of 0.170%.

The paper used the NARDL model to examine the asymmetric impact of external debt on the economic growth of SSA countries, which has not been extensively studied. It is recommended that governments in the selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa should drive economic growth by promoting domestic revenue mobilization since external debts impede economic growth.