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This paper aims to provide an overview of the application of blockchain to agri-food supply chains, including key issues and trends. It examines the state of the art and conceptual structure of the field and proposes an agenda to guide future research.

This article performs a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer software on a sample of 205 articles from the WoS database to identify research trend topics.

The number of publications in this area has increased since 2020, which shows a growing research interest. The research hotspots are related to the integration of blockchain technology in the agri-food supply chain for traceability, coordination between all actors involved, transparency of operations and improvement of food safety. Furthermore, this is linked to sustainability and the achievement of the sustainable development gtoals (SDGs), while addressing key challenges in the implementation of blockchain-based technologies in the agri-food supply chain.

The application of blockchain in the agri-food supply chain may consider four key aspects. Firstly, the implementation of blockchain can improve the traceability of food products. Secondly, this technology supports sustainability issues and could avoid disruptions in the agri-food supply chain. Third, blockchain improves food quality and safety control throughout the supply chain. Fourthly, the findings show that regulation is needed to improve trust between stakeholders.

The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the blockchain phenomenon in the agri-food supply chain by optimising the search criteria. Moreover, it serves to bridge to future research by identifying gaps in the field.

This study aims to conduct performance and clustering analyses with the help of Digital Government Reference Library (DGRL) v16.6 database examining the role of emerging technologies (ETs) in public services delivery.

VOSviewer and SciMAT techniques were used for clustering and mapping the use of ETs in the public services delivery. Collecting documents from the DGRL v16.6 database, the paper uses text mining analysis for identifying key terms and trends in e-Government research regarding ETs and public services.

The analysis indicates that all ETs are strongly linked to each other, except for blockchain technologies (due to its disruptive nature), which indicate that ETs can be, therefore, seen as accumulative knowledge. In addition, on the whole, findings identify four stages in the evolution of ETs and their application to public services: the “electronic administration” stage, the “technological baseline” stage, the “managerial” stage and the “disruptive technological” stage.

The output of the present research will help to orient policymakers in the implementation and use of ETs, evaluating the influence of these technologies on public services.

The research helps researchers to track research trends and uncover new paths on ETs and its implementation in public services.

Recent research has focused on the need of implementing ETs for improving public services, which could help cities to improve the citizens’ quality of life in urban areas. This paper contributes to expanding the knowledge about ETs and its implementation in public services, identifying trends and networks in the research about these issues.

The potential growth in cryptocurrencies has raised serious ethical and religious issues leading to a new investment rethinking. This paper aims to identify the influence of religiosity on cryptocurrency acceptance through an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) model.

In the first phase, this research develops a conceptual model that extends the theory of the TAM by integrating the religiosity component. In the second phase, the proposed model is tested using search volume queries in daily frequencies from 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2022 and structural equation modeling (SEM).

The empirical results demonstrate a significant positive effect of religiosity on the intention to use cryptocurrency, the users' perceived usefulness (PU) and ease of use (PEOU). Besides, the authors note that PEOU positively influences the intention. Furthermore, religiosity indirectly affects the intention through the PEOU and positively impacts the intention through the PU. In the same way, PEOU has a considerable indirect effect on the intention through PU.

This study has practical and theoretical contributions by providing insights into the cryptocurrency acceptance factors. In other words, it contributes to the literature by extending TAM models. Practically, it helps managers determine factors affecting the intention to use cryptocurrencies. Therefore, they can adjust their industry according to the suitable characteristics for creating successful projects.

Identifying the effect of religiosity on cryptocurrency users' choices and decisions has a social added value as it provides an understanding of the evolution of psychological variants.

The findings emphasize the importance of integrating big data to analyze users' attitudes. Besides, most studies on cryptocurrency acceptance are investigated based on one kind of religion, such as Christianity or Islam. Nevertheless, this paper integrates the effect of five types of faith on the users' intentions.

This study aims to investigate why and how shared service centres (SSCs) are implemented as well as how they affect audit firm practice and audit quality.

In this qualitative study guided by the theoretical framework of institutional theory, the authors conducted 25 semi-structured interviews in seven European countries, including 16 interviews with audit partners from Big 4 firms, 6 with audit team members, 2 with interviewees from second-tier audit firms and 1 with a member of an oversight body.

The authors show that the central rationale for audit firms to implement SSCs is economic rather than external legitimacy. The authors find that SSC implementation has substantial effects on audit practices, particularly those related to standardisation, coordination and monitoring activities. The authors also highlight the potential impacts on audit quality.

By exploring the motivation for and effects of SSC implementation amongst audit firms, the authors offer insights into the best practices related to subsequent change processes and audit quality.