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Article
Publication date: 24 September 2024

José Antonio Gouvêa Galhardo and Cesar Alexandre de Souza

This study aims to investigate the regulatory challenges of emerging disruptive Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Brazil and the strategies regulators use to…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the regulatory challenges of emerging disruptive Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Brazil and the strategies regulators use to address them.

Design/methodology/approach

It is an empirical qualitative research on Brazil’s three administrative levels, focusing on the legislative houses’ specialised Science and Technology Committees. It combines archival analysis of public meeting records with elite interviews of parliamentarians and technocrats who participated in Public Hearings in 2019, which results in this paper analysed through the Theory of Communicative Action with a critical stance.

Findings

The research reveals that regulatory challenges gain new dimensions by involving discussions about emerging ICT. Factors such as time constraints, rapid technological evolution and widespread adoption compound these challenges, straining the preference for the incremental pace of regulation and the traditional model of specialised regulatory agencies. The research captures some regulators’ values, underlying concerns and perceived necessities for surmounting these challenges. It also outlines the preferred process for ICT regulation, revealing parliamentary assistants and executive intermediate-level specialists as gateways for interest groups’ action.

Social implications

The study's findings highlight the crucial role of specific actors as gateways to the covert action of interest groups, particularly Big Tech firms. This contribution is significant as it empowers civil society and academia to monitor and mitigate the risk of regulatory capture, thereby promoting a more transparent and equitable regulatory environment.

Originality/value

This research is original in directly engaging with the key figures (lawmakers, legislative assistants and specialised bureaucrats) involved in the critical and timely issue of regulating emerging disruptive technologies.

Details

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6166

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 July 2024

Bart Lameijer, Elizabeth S.L. de Vries, Jiju Antony, Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes and Michael Sony

Many organizations currently transition towards digitalized process design, execution, control, assurance and improvement, and the purpose of this research is to empirically…

Abstract

Purpose

Many organizations currently transition towards digitalized process design, execution, control, assurance and improvement, and the purpose of this research is to empirically demonstrate how data-based operational excellence techniques are useful in digitalized environments by means of the optimization of a robotic process automation deployment.

Design/methodology/approach

An interpretive mixed-method case study approach comprising both secondary Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project data together with participant-as-observer archival observations is applied. A case report, comprising per DMAIC phase (1) the objectives, (2) the main deliverables, (3) the results and (4) the key actions leading to achieving the presented results is presented.

Findings

Key findings comprise (1) the importance of understanding how to acquire and prepare large system generated data and (2) the need for better large system-generated database validation mechanisms. Finally (3) the importance of process contextual understanding of the LSS project lead is emphasized, together with (4) the need for LSS foundational curriculum developments in order to be effective in digitalized environments.

Originality/value

This study provides a rich prescriptive demonstration of LSS methodology implementation for RPA deployment improvement, and is one of the few empirical demonstrations of LSS based problem solving methodology in industry 4.0 contexts.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 30 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 August 2023

Jacob Guerrero and Susanne Engström

By adopting the “hard” and “soft” project management (PM) approaches from the PM-literature, this paper aims to problematize the expected role of client organizations in driving…

Abstract

Purpose

By adopting the “hard” and “soft” project management (PM) approaches from the PM-literature, this paper aims to problematize the expected role of client organizations in driving innovation in the transport infrastructure sector.

Design/methodology/approach

Addressing a large public client in Sweden, a case study design was initially applied to provide in-depth insights and perspectives of client project managers’ views and experiences of managing projects expected to drive innovation. In this paper, the concepts of “hard” and “soft” are used to discuss empirical findings on challenges associated with adopting a PM-approach for driving innovation in projects. The empirical material consists of interview data, complemented with observations and archival data.

Findings

Findings reveal challenges associated with combining hard and soft approaches, frequently demonstrating difficulties in balancing short-term project expectations with the promotion of innovation. In line with the literature, project managers note that there is a need for soft approaches to promote development and drive innovation. Yet, findings reflect a situation in which operational success criteria predominate, whereas soft approaches are not sufficiently used to create the grounds required for fostering innovation.

Originality/value

Insights are provided into how PM-approaches may impact construction innovation in the infrastructure sector, demonstrating a need for further research on the challenges and implications of applying and combining hard and soft PM-approaches.

Details

Construction Innovation , vol. 24 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-4175

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 July 2024

Mahmood Khosrowjerdi, Jamie Johnston, Kerstin Rydbeck, Andreas Vårheim, Isto Huvila, Máté Tóth, Ágústa Pálsdóttir and Anna Mierzecka

The purpose is to investigate the professional identity of public library, archive and museum (LAM) professionals in Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Norway and Sweden.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose is to investigate the professional identity of public library, archive and museum (LAM) professionals in Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Norway and Sweden.

Design/methodology/approach

The data have been gathered through the administration of three questionnaires. A comprehensive analysis is conducted to explore the variations in the professionals’ perceptions of their professional proximities to the other LAM professions and other related professions, considering demographic factors such as age, education, gender and immigrant background of participants.

Findings

Through a lens of micro- and macro-professional identities, the findings underscore both clearly perceived role separation between the LAM professions and notable points of convergence, suggesting opportunities for collaborative efforts. The implications of these discoveries are discussed, offering a foundation for future research endeavors.

Originality/value

The study highlights the professions perceived to have the most and least similarity to LAMs based on questionnaire responses, providing valuable insights into the interplay between various professional domains.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 80 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 July 2024

Dewi Mustika Ratu and Dian Kartika Rahajeng

The inadequate enforcement of anti-corruption policies in the private sector in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries is the motivation for this study to…

Abstract

Purpose

The inadequate enforcement of anti-corruption policies in the private sector in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries is the motivation for this study to investigate how a company’s anti-corruption disclosure (ACD) affects earnings management. Moreover, the underrepresentation of women in supervisory roles makes this aspect of particular interest. Hence, this study highlights the question of whether their participation in audit committees can impact the organization's policies.

Design/methodology/approach

This research employs archival methods to examine 30 of the largest non-financial companies from each of the ASEAN-5 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines) from 2016 to 2018. Lastly, the authors also utilize a robustness test.

Findings

As expected, the results indicate that the low willingness to disclose anti-corruption activities encourages earnings management practices. This relationship is significantly more potent in firms with fewer women on their audit committees. The findings remain robust after assessing alternative measurements.

Practical implications

The findings of this study imply that a company’s anti-corruption policies and the role of women in supervisory activity influence rent-seeking behavior. Thus, investors should consider elements that promote transparency in companies. Additionally, regulators must evaluate regulations to promote gender diversity and eradicate corruption by establishing exact policies, providing whistleblowing protection and simplifying indicators for effective disclosure.

Originality/value

The consequences of the anti-corruption policy in the ASEAN-5 countries are relatively under-researched and still focus on a single country. Furthermore, while examining the connection between ACD and earnings management, this study also considered how addressing the supervisory factor is urgent in terms of corporate transparency.

Details

Asian Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 9 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2459-9700

Keywords

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 23 September 2024

Grégoire Croidieu and Walter W. Powell

This paper seeks to understand how a new elite, known as the cork aristocracy, emerged in the Bordeaux wine field, France, between 1850 and 1929 as wine merchants replaced…

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand how a new elite, known as the cork aristocracy, emerged in the Bordeaux wine field, France, between 1850 and 1929 as wine merchants replaced aristocrats. Classic class and status perspectives, and their distinctive social closure dynamics, are mobilized to illuminate the individual and organizational transformations that affected elite wineries grouped in an emerging classification of the Bordeaux best wines. We build on a wealth of archives and historical ethnography techniques to surface complex status and organizational dynamics that reveal how financiers and industrialists intermediated this transition and how organizations are deeply interwoven into social change.

Details

Sociological Thinking in Contemporary Organizational Scholarship
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83549-588-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2024

Sichu Xiong, Antony Paulraj, Jing Dai and Chandra Ade Irawan

Firms are increasingly digitalizing their business processes and expanding them into digital platforms, which are believed to generate digital and relational resources that can…

Abstract

Purpose

Firms are increasingly digitalizing their business processes and expanding them into digital platforms, which are believed to generate digital and relational resources that can facilitate and deliver innovations for firms. Instead of focusing on the extent of digital integration capability (DI), this paper seeks to empirically evaluate whether the DI asymmetry between the buyer and supplier firms influences bilateral information sharing and the buyer’s product innovation. We also examine the moderating effects of firms’ external (environmental dynamism) and internal (innovative climate) environments on these relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary and secondary archival data on 180 buyer-supplier Chinese dyadic relationships were collected and analyzed using multiple linear regression models. Additionally, the Process macro was used to shed a nuanced light on the moderation effects of environmental dynamism and innovative climate.

Findings

The results show that DI asymmetry negatively impacts buyer firms’ product innovation through decreased information sharing. Environmental dynamism weakens the negative relationship between DI asymmetry and information sharing. Meanwhile, the innovative climate negatively moderates the relationship between information sharing and product innovation.

Originality/value

This study adds knowledge to the literature regarding the dark side of “one-sided digitalization.” By exploring the influences of unbalanced DI in buyer-supplier relationships, this study yields essential theoretical and managerial implications for product innovation success in a digital era.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 23 September 2024

Brayden G King

Organizations remain a vital sociological topic, but organizational sociology, as a subfield, has evolved significantly since its inception. In this paper, I argue that…

Abstract

Organizations remain a vital sociological topic, but organizational sociology, as a subfield, has evolved significantly since its inception. In this paper, I argue that organization sociology is becoming increasingly disconnected from organizational theory, as currently conceived. The focus of sociological research on organizations has become more empirically grounded in the study of social problems and how organizations contribute to them. Sociologists continue to see organizations as important actors in society that play a role in shaping social order and as contexts in which social processes play out. I propose two main sociological approaches for organizational research, which I describe as “organizations within society” and “society within organizations.” The first approach examines the role of organizations as building blocks of social structure and as social actors in their own right. The second approach treats organizations as platforms and locations of social interactions and the building of community. These approaches are somewhat disconnected from the sort of grand theorizing that characterizes much of organizational theory. I argue that the problem-oriented sociology of these two approaches offers a vital way for organizational scholars to expand and theoretically revitalize the field.

Details

Sociological Thinking in Contemporary Organizational Scholarship
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83549-588-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 June 2024

Mahmud Al Masum and Lee Parker

This paper aims to investigate how the technical logics of a World Bank-led performance management reform interacted with the social, political and historical logics within a…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate how the technical logics of a World Bank-led performance management reform interacted with the social, political and historical logics within a developing country (DC) regulatory organisation. The institutional environment both within and outside the organisation was considered to understand the performance management reform experience.

Design/methodology/approach

An interview-based, longitudinal, qualitative case study approach was used to locate accounting in its technical, social and political space. A large regulatory organisation in Bangladesh was investigated as a case study to reveal how traditional organisational practices and public sector norms mediated a performance management reform. Informed by the institutional logics (IL) and economies of worth perspectives, interviews were used to locate IL at macro-level and associated organisational actors’ strategic responses that ultimately shaped the implementation of a performance management system (PMS).

Findings

This paper reveals how accounting, as a social and political practice, influences accountability reform within a regulatory organisation. It provides an account of both the processes and resultant practices of an accounting reform initiative. While a consultative and transparent performance management process was intended to enhance accountability, it challenged the traditional organisational authority structure and culture. The new PMS retained, modified and adjusted a number of its characteristics over time. These adjustments reflected an amalgamation of the influence of institutional pressures from powerful constituents and the ability of the local agents (managers) in negotiating and mediating the institutionalisation of a new PMS.

Practical implications

The findings of this paper carry major implications for policy makers, particularly with respect to the design of future reform programs on PMS.

Originality/value

This paper offers a theoretical mapping of IL and its organisation-level interpretations and practices. Thus, the authors locate power and influence at field and firm levels. The findings of this study reflect historical, political and cultural backgrounds of the case study organisation and how these contextual forces were active in shaping the meaning of reform logics. Though the institutional environment and agents were unique to the case study organisation, this research offers a “process generalisation” that reveals how a best practice PMS was translated and transformed by the traditional organisational practices in a DC regulatory context.

Details

Meditari Accountancy Research, vol. 32 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-372X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 June 2024

Cristina Gianfelici, Ann Martin-Sardesai and James Guthrie

This research explores how contextual elements and significant events influence the changing storylines within a company's directors' reports spanning a period of six decades…

Abstract

Purpose

This research explores how contextual elements and significant events influence the changing storylines within a company's directors' reports spanning a period of six decades. These elements and events encompass the internal dynamics of the family that owns the company, industry-specific advancements, political and socioeconomic climates, and explicit guidelines related to corporate reporting.

Design/methodology/approach

This research employs a case study methodology to analyse the directors' reports of Barilla, a prominent Italian food manufacturer, within the theoretical framework of historical institutionalism. A systematic content analysis is conducted on sixty directors' reports published between 1961 and 2021. The study also identifies and examines significant contextual events within this six-decade period, which are linked to four key institutional factors.

Findings

Based on the research findings, the directors' reports exhibited notable fluctuations throughout the studied timeframe in reaction to shifts in the institutional setting. Our investigation highlights that each institutional element experienced crucial pivotal moments, and given their interconnected nature, modifications in one factor impacted the others. It was noted that these pivotal moments resulted in alterations in the directors' reports' content across various thematic areas. Additionally, despite Barilla being a multinational company, it was found that national events within Italy had a more pronounced influence on the evolving narratives than global events.

Originality/value

Previous research on directors' reports or chairman's statements has primarily focused on the influence of macro-level institutional factors on the narratives. In contrast, our study considers both macro-level and micro-level institutions, specifically examining the internal events within a family business and how they shape the content of directors' reports. Our study is also distinctive in its analysis of specific critical junctures and their interactions with the investigated institutional factors. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, few existing studies span a timeframe of sixty years, particularly concerning an Italian company.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 37 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

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