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This study aims to identify and categorize the barriers and motivators to value co-creation and to establish its theoretical link with the five axioms of value co-creation.

The study used a qualitative approach based on a bibliographic literature review for identifying barriers and motivators of value co-creation. Subsequently, this study grouped those barriers and motivators into three categories. It further linked those barriers and motivators with five axioms of value co-creation using the grounded theory.

Results based on the categorization of barriers show that the first category “organization and system-related barriers” is associated with Axioms 1, 2 and 5 of the service-dominant logic. The second category “customer-oriented barriers” is associated with Axioms 2, 4 and 5. The third category of barriers “social environmental and economic barriers” is related to only Axiom 3. Results based on the motivators show that the first category “organization and system-related motivators” is associated with Axioms 2 and 4. The second category of “customer-oriented motivators” is associated with Axioms 1, 2, 3 and 5. The third category of motivators “social environmental and economic motivators” is related to Axioms 3 and 5.

These results provide insights to managers for eradicating barriers from the value co-creation process by emphasizing strategic intrusion into those axioms that contain a high percentage of barriers. Similarly, it also provides insights to managers for expediting motivators of value co-creation by strategic intrusion based on the axioms that contain a high percentage of motivators. Overall, this study will serve for greater value co-creation by eradicating barriers and promoting motivators. This study also provides a theoretical foundation for future studies intended to establish a theoretical connection between the barriers and motivators with value co-creation in other industries.

This study is novel in terms of identifying barriers and motivators of value creation by categorizing those identified barriers and motivators into three sub-categories. This study is the first one for linking barriers and motivators with five axioms of value creation for a micro-level policy formulation.

Our understanding of what intervention strategies are effective in improving the well-being of older adults experiencing elder abuse and self-neglect (EASN) is severely limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of a method called “teaming,” a wraparound approach to provide enhanced social support to older adults experiencing EASN. A teaming intervention was administered by advocates in Maine, USA, as a component of a larger community-based EASN intervention, Repair harm, Inspire change, Support connection, Empower choice (RISE), implemented to complement adult protective services.

Qualitative interviews and a focus group were conducted with RISE advocates (n = 4). A descriptive phenomenological approach involving two independent assessors was used to code transcripts into themes and subthemes.

Three domains were identified: (1) team and support forming process, which describes the development of a supportive network based on each client’s needs; (2) techniques, which refers to the specific strategies advocates use to promote collectivity and shared responsibility around the client; and (3) implementation challenges, which discusses the difficulties advocates encounter when using teaming with people experiencing EASN.

This study represents the first in-depth exploration of teaming in the context of EASN intervention. Preliminary findings on the experiences of advocates suggest that teaming is a beneficial approach to support the individualized needs of each client, and to promote improved and sustainable case outcomes for clients.

Canada's population is aging and there are concerns that the welfare system may not support the increased demands on it. Integrated health and social care (IHSC) produces positive health and system outcomes but it needs to be better understood within a Canadian context. The purpose of this collective case study of three IHSC initiatives in Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia was to determine the factors that support successful services integration among different healthcare and social services organizations serving older adults within a Canadian context.

This study used the Cheng and Catallo (2020) IHSC conceptual framework (CF) to guide the research. Primary data were based on key informant interviews of representatives from organizations that comprised each case and focus groups. A cross-case analysis was undertaken to determine common themes.

The cross-case analysis revealed that the three cases shared common integration and external influence factors based on the Cheng and Catallo (2020) CF. Some new factors were identified.

The study revealed that the Canadian context was important in influencing integration in the three cases and that there is a unique Canadian aspect to IHSC. The study offers up practical insights for government leaders and service administrators to improve IHSC for older adults. The study also identifies how the Cheng and Catallo (2020) IHSC CF can be enhanced and points to research opportunities to test the framework.

This study aims to mitigate the inherent challenges associated with implementing project-based learning (PjBL) by integrating it with the service engineering methodology (SEEM). The study demonstrates that combining PjBL with a methodological approach provides a step-by-step procedure that facilitates the practical application of PjBL and preserves the development of competencies inherent to PjBL.

Action research methodology was used to assess the effectiveness of combining PjBL learning strategy with SEEM. Data was collected through observations, questionnaires and focus group discussions to evaluate students’ expectations and perceptions of this combination.

The results show that PjBL implementation combined with SEEM enabled the organization of class dynamics, helping to mitigate difficulties encountered in the application of PjBL. Students conveyed that the integration of PjBL with SEEM afforded them a guiding structure without compromising their autonomy in decision-making for proposed solutions. It proved efficacious in honing skills pertinent to service design and analysis, teamwork, solution formulation, creativity and innovation stimulation.

This research has been limited to four classes in one university in Brazil. Besides, PjBL was combined with only one methodology (SEEM). Therefore, this needs to be tested in broader settings and contexts.

The article highlights the potential benefits of PjBL in bridging the gap between academia and the professional world while acknowledging the challenges involved in its implementation, combining PjBL with a methodology that provides a sequence of steps to be followed.

The social implications of implementing PjBL in higher education in the Brazilian and international contexts are multifaceted. The adoption of PjBL encourages instructors to adapt their learning strategies and align them with the evolving needs of worldwide society. Through PjBL, Brazilian and international higher education institutions may contribute to the development of individuals who are not only knowledgeable but also capable of applying their knowledge effectively in practical situations around the world.

The theoretical contribution lies in suggesting that combining PjBL with a methodology that provides a sequence of steps to be followed (such as that exemplified through SEEM) can address intrinsic issues that consider the complexity of PjBL implementation, preserving the development of competencies inherent to PjBL.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between owner-manager or leader’s ambidextrous leadership style and its effect on human resource management (HRM) practices, contextual ambidexterity and knowledge-intensive small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs) strategic agility.

This study presents an in-depth qualitative case study analysis of two knowledge-intensive SMEs from India’s information technology and health-care products industry serving a range of global clients. Using the theoretical lenses of empowerment-focused HRM practices, ambidextrous leaders, contextual ambidexterity and strategic agility, semi-structured interview data of leaders, managers and employees of the case organizations were analysed. Through a two-staged analytical process, we abductively developed a novel conceptual framework at the intersection of the above theoretical lenses.

The findings suggest that the knowledge-intensive SME’s strategic agility, ambidexterity and empowerment-focussed HRM approach was influenced by the owner-manager or leader’s ambidextrous leadership style and their philosophy towards managing people and had a positive impact in creating a culture of trust, participation, risk-taking and openness, and led to delivering innovative products and services as well as several positive employee-level outcomes.

Recent literature reviews on HRM In SMEs highlight several gaps, including the impact of owner-manager or leader’s philosophy of managing people in shaping HRM practices and employee outcomes. This paper thus adds to the existing literature on HRM and knowledge-intensive SMEs.

We explore how NGO’s local entrepreneurial initiatives to empower women entrepreneurs can compensate for weak state policies for women in a context of male-dominated socio-cultural norms.

We use the case of a local entrepreneurial initiative launched in the Atlas region of Morocco, the Empowering Women in the Atlas Initiative (EWA). We collected data through 51 semi-structured interviews of women entrepreneurs in three cooperatives which exploit the natural resources of their region to establish a social venture. Our data are longitudinal as they were collected at two time periods: before and after the initiative.

The findings of this study suggest that local entrepreneurial initiatives can have a significant impact on rural women entrepreneurs’ empowerment. The improved perception of empowerment has not only helped them develop capacities to leverage the business opportunities linked to the natural resources of their region, but it has also increased their status and role within their family and community.

We make recommendations for policymakers to encourage this type of initiative to compensate for the absence of supporting policies geared toward women.

Our study is one of the first to look at empowerment as a policy instrument to develop women entrepreneurial activities in rural areas of developing countries. Our paper uses a unique hierarchical perspective and a multidimensional framework for analyzing social cooperative ventures and rural women entrepreneurs’ empowerment. Our paper unravels interesting insights for women entrepreneurs’ narration strategies.

Service researchers have been tasked with improving the well-being of consumers experiencing vulnerability. The current research aims to demonstrate how these consumers can experience empowerment through transformative service improvements to the traditional microfinance model.

To ground the research in a real-world setting with consumers experiencing vulnerability, the research team worked with a nonprofit microfinance organization offering loans to communities of Indigenous women entrepreneurs. The research team worked in six communities and conducted over 25 borrower interviews and 14 staff and volunteer interviews totaling 1,200 min of recorded content.

The present investigation of a unique approach to microfinance offers a new theoretical model, the service empowerment model (SEM), which illustrates how empowerment emanates from processes and outcomes at three distinct levels: micro, meso and macro. Recognizing that change occurs individually and also at familial and societal levels begins to challenge deeply rooted structural and cultural norms involved in the services ecosystem.

Originating from the microfinance service setting, the SEM can be explored, tested and implemented as a pilot program in a variety of service settings that involve transformative service initiatives (e.g. homelessness, refugees, etc.).

As society pursues solutions to the pressing problems of consumers experiencing vulnerability, the present research offers critical insights into how services should be designed.

The present research defines a new term, service empowerment, and creates a new theoretical model, the SEM, to aid in improving transformative service initiatives.

Regulation is critical for sustainable microfinance sector growth. Under this premise, the study aims to examine the different regulatory noncompliance (RNC) practices prevalent in the operations of microfinance institutions (MFIs) at the ground level.

Both the quantitative and qualitative (observations, interviews and focus group discussions) techniques are used to extract the findings.

The study highlights the different RNC practices exercised by the loan officers at the field level in their microfinance loan disbursements.

This study is based on the primary data collected from microfinance clients. The arguments put forth for the RNC practices are extracted from direct personal interviews with the loan officers and the clients. The role of various dilemmas/circumstances of the loan officers and the beneficiaries that implicate the MFIs in RNC is highlighted.

The growing number of people with multiple problems in different areas of life means that cross-domain interprofessional collaboration is becoming increasingly important. This study aims to focus on interprofessional collaboration between professionals from social work and financial and employment service organizations in The Netherlands. This type of cross-domain collaboration is still mostly superficial, and limited empirical knowledge is available about its beneficial factors.

The interprofessional collaboration model of Mulvale et al. (2016) was used as theoretical background for the research methodology and to reflect on the findings of our study. Data was collected through a qualitative study among professionals (N = 18) from social work and financial and employment service organizations in three different Dutch municipalities.

Similar team-level collaboration mechanisms of Mulvale et al.’s (2016) model were seen within this study. Joint client meetings were very beneficial for the interprofessional collaboration. Further beneficial factors include the decision-making process, team vision, client as an equal member, open communication and the appointment of a coordinator.

Further special attention is needed to determine how best to allocate co-ordinating tasks, and how organizational and policy contexts affect the functioning of interprofessional collaborative teams.

This study offers an empirical view on a cross-domain collaboration between social work and financial and employment service organizations, by using Mulvale et al.’s (2016) model. In addition, this study also offers special attention to the role of the client in interprofessional collaborative teams.

Big 4 professional services firms increasingly lay claim to recruiting and including staff of diverse genders, cultures, ages and sexualities. Drawing on Foucauldian insights, this study explores how LGBTIQ+ staff navigated shifting technologies of client power, at the time marriage equality was legislated in Australia.

This article explores changing experiences of LGBTIQ+ staff and allies, through 56 semi-structured interviews undertaken through 2018–2019.

Technologies of client power were central to shaping workplace experiences for LGBTIQ+ staff. However, each firm was also keen to carve unique and bold responses to changing societal attitudes regarding sexuality and gender. These progressive moves did not sit comfortably with all clients, and so this article provides insight into the limitations of client privilege within professional services firms. For staff, this increasing complexity of sometimes opaque, contradictory and shifting technologies of client and firm power, enabled agency to explore a sense of self for some, but continued to exclude others.

Little attention has been directed to exploring challenges for staff of sexual and gendered diversity within professional services firms, or to exploring how staff navigate changing perceptions of client power.