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This paper aims to explore explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) in democracy, proposing an applicable framework. With artificial intelligence’s (AI) increasing use in democracies, the demand for transparency and accountability in AI decision-making is recognized. XAI addresses AI “black boxes” by enhancing model transparency.

This study includes a thorough literature review of XAI. The methodology chosen was design science research to enable design theory and problem identification about XAI’s state of the art. Thereby finding and gathering crucial information to build a framework that aims to help solve issues and gaps where XAI can be of major influence in the service of democracy.

This framework has four main steps to be applied in the service of democracy by applying the different possible XAI techniques that may help mitigate existing challenges and risks for the democratic system. The proposed artifact intends to display and include all the necessary steps to select the most suitable XAI technology. Examples were given for every step of the artifact to provide a clear understanding of what was being proposed.

An evaluation of the proposed framework was made through interviews with specialists from different areas related to the topics in the study. The interviews were important for measuring the framework’s validity and originality.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has received much attention due to its promethean-like powers to transform the management and delivery of public sector services. Due to the proliferation of research articles in this context, research to date is fragmented into research streams based on different types of AI technologies or a specific government function of the public sector (e.g. health, education). The purpose of this study is to synthesize this literature, identify challenges and opportunities, and offer a research agenda that guides future inquiry.

This paper aggregates this fragmented body of knowledge by conducting a systematic literature review of AI research in public sector organisations in the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS)-ranked journals between 2012 and 2023.

The search strategy resulted in the retrieval of 2,870 papers, of which 61 were identified as primary papers relevant to this research. These primary papers are mapped to the ten classifications of the functions of government as classified by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the reported challenges and benefits aggregated.

This study advances knowledge by providing a state-of-the-art of AI research based the OECD classifications of government functions, reporting of claimed benefits and challenges and providing a research agenda for future research.

The research aims to provide a longitudinal case study to understand how digital transformation can be embedded in municipal reporting frameworks. The central role of such technology becomes increasingly evident as citizens demand greater transparency and engagement between them and governing institutions.

Utilising a longitudinal case study methodology, the research focusses on Turin’s Integrated Popular Financial Report (IPFR) as a lens through which to evaluate the broader implications of digital transformation on governmental transparency and operational efficiency.

Digital tools, notably sentiment analysis, offer promising avenues for enhancing governmental efficacy and citizenry participation. However, persistent challenges highlight the inadequacy of traditional, inflexible reporting structures to cater to dynamic informational demands.

Embracing digital tools is an imperative for contemporary public administrators, promoting streamlined communication and dismantling bureaucratic obstructions, all while catering to the evolving demands of an informed citizenry.

Different from previous studies that primarily emphasised technology’s role within budgeting, this research uniquely positions itself by spotlighting the transformative implications of digital tools during the reporting phase. It champions the profound value of fostering bottom-up dialogues, heralding a paradigmatic shift towards co-creative public management dynamics.

This study aims to propose and apply a sustainability assessment model (SAM) for the mineral extraction industry developed on the basis of elements of dialogic accounting.

Distinct from other similar exercises, ours is also one in external accounting that focuses on a set of mining companies operating in a specific geographical location. It was undertaken based on different perspectives from various stakeholders, including mining workers and city dwellers, retrospectively, using publicly available information, entirely independently of the set of companies regarding which impacts the authors try to offer an account and without their approval. Twenty indicators were identified from the perspective of value for society.

The results for all environmental externalities appeared to be negative, as companies’ attitudes continue to be reactive and on the threshold of legal requirements. This assessment of the selected social indicators emphasizes that accelerated expansion of mining activities poses a threat to the mining area in the long term, as it reduces the useful lives of mineral deposits and expands social and environmental externalities.

The authors propose to expand the horizon of accounting through a framework that combines elements of the SAM technology, dialogic accounting and external accounting. This investigation contributes to the development of social and environmental accounting practices through the discussion, proposal and use of an SAM, built with the cooperation of several social actors and from the perspective of the other rather than the entity.

The authors tried to show how an SAM approach can be used in combination with dialogic accounting processes, increasing the accountability and awareness of the different groups of stakeholders, focusing on marginalized stakeholders, to offer an external account of the impacts of a set of companies from the mining sector operating in a specific geographical area.

This study’s findings suggest there are opportunities for accountants to support social and environmental accounting, thereby contributing to community awareness and empowering transformative action.

This research aims to develop a blockchain smart contract–enabled framework to resolve power imbalance problems in construction payment.

This research adopts a design science research method to develop the blockchain smart contract–enabled framework. The authors then develop a prototype system. Finally, the authors evaluate its performance in solving power imbalance-induced payment problems.

The results show that the prototype system can resolve power imbalance problems in construction payment by allowing project participants to make transparent and decentralized decisions that are self-enforceable by blockchain smart contracts.

This study provides theoretical explanations for how blockchain smart contracts can resolve power imbalances in construction payment; based on that, it proposes a novel blockchain smart contract–enabled method to rebalance the power of stakeholders in construction payment. Thus, it contributes to the body of knowledge on blockchain technology and construction payment.

This study moves beyond a conceptual framework and develops a practical blockchain smart contract system for resolving power imbalances in construction payment, strengthening construction project members' confidence in using blockchain technology.

The proposed blockchain smart contract–enabled solution helps mitigate negative social impacts associated with late payment and non-payment. Furthermore, the research maximizes trust among participants in payment processes to inspire collaborative culture in the construction industry.

This paper introduces a novel blockchain smart contract integrated method, allowing project stakeholders to resolve power imbalance problems in construction payment through decentralized decision-making.

The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as its effects on education in general, has influenced the leadership landscape of school principals, which may have necessitated adaptations and transitions in their leadership orientation. To better comprehend any variations in the leadership orientation of school principals in response to the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study examines leadership orientation in both the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic periods.

In this quantitative research, the authors collected data from 297 school principals in the Balochistan province of Pakistan using the leadership orientation survey (LOS) in a quantitative research approach.

The results indicated that principals’ leadership orientation underwent an observable transition before and after the pandemic. Principals’ preferred leadership orientation notably changed from solely political before the pandemic to a combination of highly political and symbolic after the pandemic.

Using a survey, the study investigated the transition in school principals’ leadership orientation before and after the pandemic. However, the results do not explain what caused the transition in principals’ leadership orientation, which is the key limitation of this study. Future research within a qualitative approach can study the factors associated with changes in principles’ leadership frames.

The overall findings of the study have implications for scholars, policymakers and educational leaders to reexamine and gain a deeper understanding of the leadership roles of principals in the post-pandemic age. This is because principals now operate in a distinct context characterized by new difficulties and opportunities compared to the pre-pandemic period.

This is an original study that examined the transition of school principals’ leadership orientation before and after the pandemic. The body of literature related to the transition between pre- and post-pandemic is limited both in Pakistan and the rest of the world. This study illuminates the literature in this regard.

The article aims to ascertain the inclusiveness of urban governance in administering affordable housing issues; and to revisit the applicability of the one-third housing cost burden threshold in George Town World Heritage Site (GTWHS) of Penang state of Malaysia from the local perspective.

Main data was collected through a 318-respondent survey, complemented by in-depth interviews with key informants.

Findings suggest that housing in GTWHS is generally unaffordable. GTWHS is neither inclusive in its housing governance and administration, nor in terms of its urban livability and sustainability. A re-examination of the applicability of the 30-percent-of-income housing cost burden threshold reveals that the local community generally perceives a “reasonable rent” in GTWHS as being less than one-third of their earnings.

From a local perspective, the issues of affordable housing, its administration, and the applicability of the 30-percent-of-income housing cost burden threshold in GTWHS have received inadequate attention. These crucial issues are closely linked to the livelihoods of the GTWHS community.

This article examines the links between nonprofits and communities’ resilience during the COVID-19 crisis. Previous research on resilience has overlooked nonprofits, with limited studies on their ongoing resilience processes. While nonprofits’ potential to lead their communities’ resilience has been highlighted, we know little about how this potential can be fully achieved.

Nonprofit’s potential to lead their communities’ resilience has been highlighted. Yet, nonprofits are also deeply affected by crises, and little is known about their organizational resilience. This study explores the interplay between nonprofits’ organizational resilience and community resilience in the face of crises. We draw from an international comparative case study based on two participatory research designs in France and Quebec during the Covid-19 crisis.

The results highlight similarities and differences in how nonprofits’ developed organizational resilience capabilities. These different organizational resilience processes affected in return the reactive and proactive roles the nonprofits could play in community resilience.

Limitations of the research method include its time boundaries, the specificity of the Covid-19 crisis, which differs from natural hazards which are traditionally studied in the resilience literature (e.g.: Roberts et al., 2021). The unicity of the cases fits the comprehensive purpose of the study, and generalizations of the results are limited.

Empirically, we offer an original approach of nonprofits and community resilience as ongoing interdependent processes.

The article contributes to the organizational resilience literature in refining how nonprofits’ characteristics and embeddedness in their community affect their development of resilience capabilities. We theorize the dynamic reciprocal links between nonprofits and community resilience.

In the context of the digital age, this study aims to investigate the impact of citizens' digital participation on the scientific and democratic decision-making processes of the government. Specifically, the authors focus on the factors influencing citizens' digital participation, with a particular emphasis on their digital skills.

Exploring the influence of citizens' digital skills on their digital participation is of great practical significance for eliminating the digital divide and for promoting a life characterized by enriched digital interactions with the public. This study selected the social consciousness survey database of Chinese netizens in 2017, used ordered Probit and OLS models, and comprehensively used the instrumental variable method (IV), causal stepwise regression method and bootstrap method to empirically verify and construct a mechanism model of the influence of digital skills on citizens' digital participation.

The empirical findings indicate a noteworthy positive association between citizens' proficiency in digital skills and their active engagement in digital activities. This relationship is positively mediated by factors such as political interest and attention to social issues, underscoring their role in encouraging greater digital participation. Conversely, national identity exhibits a counteractive influence on this mechanism, potentially discouraging digital engagement. Notably, the impact of digital skill mastery on digital participation is more pronounced among non-elderly individuals and those residing in metropolitan areas, highlighting the significance of demographic characteristics in this context.

These research results can help the government and other organizations make better decisions and facilitate improvement of citizens' digital participation by promoting their mastery of digital skills.

Sustainable urban development involves integrating intelligent technology into urban planning to promote economic growth, social services, and environmental preservation. It fosters inclusiveness, safety, resilience, and sustainability in urban environments. However, this strategy faces challenges balancing economic growth, social equality, and environmental preservation. Design experts must balance economic development with sustainability preservation to achieve sustainable urban development. They depend on technology for smarter communities. The paper aims to identify the criteria for sustainable urban design and design professionals' bias and their awareness of using the fourth industrial revolution technologies.

The research methodology involves a document review to identify criteria and weights for sustainable urban design. A questionnaire was conducted with 30 design professionals to understand their preferences and biases. A hierarchical framework was created, and pairwise comparisons were computed using an AHP Online System. The weight of each criterion was calculated by aggregating normalized pairwise values within each row and dividing by the total number of cells. The Consistency Ratio (CR) was determined by aggregating the values in the row to produce the weighted aggregate value for each principle.

The document review emphasizes the significance of sustainable urban design, livability, intelligence, and environmental conservation in sustainable communities. However, participants often overlook these aspects, focusing on comfort, privacy, security, and exclusiveness. They also ignore the need for smart city technologies and environmental protection. This lack of understanding may hinder Egypt’s achievement of SDG11.

The paper’s main limitation is the small sample size and composition, as all participants were Egyptians working in Egypt or the Arabian Gulf region. The findings cannot be generalized, and future research could involve a team from different regions. Egypt needs to address the lack of knowledge and awareness of sustainable urban design principles among design professionals to achieve SDG 11 goals. This can be achieved through educational initiatives, readjusting priorities towards sustainability, harmonizing policy and practice with sustainable urban design principles, and interdisciplinary teamwork. Design professionals should customize their methods to suit local requirements and ecological circumstances.

The paper reveals that many design professionals lack an integrated and holistic understanding of sustainable urban design principles that the document review outlined. Their responses and practices reveal an incomplete understanding of sustainable urban development, requiring attention to organizing the profession, training practitioners, and reforming planning education. The paper shows that AHP has the potential to serve as a suitable instrument for decision-making; nonetheless, it is essential to exercise caution when interpreting its outcomes.