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The research process is commonly viewed as a succession of linear, structured and planned practices that exclude informal and unplanned practices, engaging with the unexpected or the uncertain. The authors’ aim is to explore this aspect of researching in connection with the narratives of researchers as they oscillate between past and present, theory and empiricism.

The authors first draw on the concept of “bricolage” to validate informal research practices as researchers seek to lend “thickness” to their research. To deal with the apparent “messiness” of research narratives, they apply the concepts of kairotic time and action nets. Kairotic times are key moments in research narratives when actions, under tension, interconnect to form action nets, which, in turn, generate meaning or knowledge.

The authors analyse two research episodes. The first recounts how personal experiences and contingencies influence a researcher's choice of research objects and his associated theoretical reflections. The second highlights how some concrete difficulties in choosing a field and gaining access trigger a set of actions that force a researcher to review his initial choices and to reposition himself methodologically. Discussing the concept of kairotic time, the authors show the importance of context and timing and demonstrate how stories build around a gravitational point. From there, they discuss how the concept of action nets, breaking linearity, helps to envision research practice not as a sequence, but as networks of actions that produce scientific outcomes.

This paper provides an operational method of using kairotic time and action nets to account for, and acknowledge, the messiness in research narratives.

The Guest Editors’ intent with this special issue is to tell tales of the field and beyond, but all with the serious end of rendering visible the largely invisible. This paper aims to introduce the articles forming the special issue, as well as reviewing extant work that foregrounds the hidden stories and uncertainties of doing qualitative research.

The authors advance their arguments through a literature review approach, reflecting on the “state of the field” with regard to doing research and offering new directions on reflexivity as an ethical consideration for conducting qualitative research.

Far from consigning the mess entailed in doing qualitative research to the margins, there is much to be learned from, and considerable value in, a more thoughtful engagement with the dilemmas we face in the field and beyond, one that shows the worth of what we are highlighting to both enrich research practice itself and contribute to improving the quality of what we produce.

This paper turns the spotlight onto the messiness and storywork aspects of conducting research, which are all too often hidden from view, to promote the kinds of dialogues necessary for scholars to share their fieldwork stories as research, rather than means to a publication end.

Develop an integrated model to analyze conflicts at work and apply it to a case study. The core of the conceptual model is constituted by the interpersonal relationships modalities using the Palo Alto school theorization (symmetrical and complementary relations framework in people's relative positioning). This model also articulates inside this interpersonal relationships structure five other dimensions: Perception processes, Life dynamics, Habitus from Bourdieu and developed by Lahire, psychosociological processes and sociological factors (including cultural ones). We apply this model to the case study of a Community center in a French city where a serious conflict happens with the final consequence of the closure of the center.

In-depth case study by long conversations (more than interviews) with the main protagonists of the Community center and of the conflict. These talks have been completed by secondary sources and extended review of newspaper articles.

Our model revels to be pertinent to enlighten the multiple dimensions of the conflict. In particular, we show that the dynamics of interpersonal relationships is central in the conflict development and is embedded in multiple psychosociological processes (perceptions processes with deep perceptive divergences between people, personal construction of Social Identity by protagonists, group thinking, active minority construction, etc.). The sociological factors, as well of personal habitus, have an effect but are not determinants of people's behavior. People are partially conscious of the occurring phenomena but cannot be considered as omniscient, purely strategic actors.

1-Application of the conceptual model is applied only on one case study. 2-More attention should be given to prospective dimension of stories and storying (antenarrative).

The case analysis based on our reactional model of conflicts leads to point out several mistakes in the management of the considered organization and more precisely in the management of the conflictual relationships. Change of level 2 has been misconducted by the top manager of the Community center and we show which alternative decisions could have been made in order to avoid the burst of the conflict. More general conflict management methods can be deduced from our analysis.

Articulation of these different concepts in an integrated model has never been previously made neither applied in a case study.

This paper presents the modeling of a current transformer by various methods with the FLUX3D software. The technique used is based on the finite element method coupled with electric circuits. A magnetic scalar potential reduced versus T₀ formulation (T₀ϕ−ϕ) taking into account the electric circuits with an air‐gap is used for this purpose. The air‐gap is described either by a thin volume region or by a surface region.

A numerical model dedicated to external eddy current inspection of tubes has been developed using the volume integral method (VIM). The purpose of this paper is to suggest new discretization schemes based on non‐uniform B‐splines for the solution of the state equation with the method of moments (MoM).

VIM is a semi‐analytical approach providing fast and accurate results for the simulation of eddy current testing (ECT) of pieces with canonical geometries. The state equation derived with this formalism is solved using the Galerkin variant of the well‐known MoM.

This paper shows that an accuracy improvement is achieved in MoM by using B‐splines with degree 1 or 2 as projection functions in MoM instead of pulse functions. Moreover, comparisons between simulation results show that, for all ECT configurations tested, the use of degree 1 B‐splines is sufficient to get this improvement.

The use of B‐splines functions has already been proposed for MoM in the literature, but not in the framework of the Galerkin variant of MoM. This paper also shows quantitative comparisons between experiment and simulation as well as a study of the minimal degree required to get an accuracy improvement in MoM.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of simulation tools dedicated to eddy current non destructive testing (ECNDT) on planar structures implying planar defects. Two integral approaches using the Green dyadic formalism are considered.

The surface integral model (SIM) is dedicated to ideal cracks, whereas the volume integral method is adapted to general volumetric defects.

The authors observed that SIM provides satisfactory results, except in some critical transmitting/receiving (T/R) configurations. This led us to propose a hybrid method based on the combination of the two previous ones.

This method enables to simulate ECNDT on planar structures implying defects with a small opening using T/R probes.

Digitalization and marketing technologies have made it possible to overcome some barriers to pricing – a multidisciplinary field between marketing, finance and IT – and have set the stage for a paradigm shift in the pricing profession. Value creation, the pricing process, and price communication have been transformed by innovative business models and advanced algorithmic and human–machine solutions. This chapter synthesizes the literature to date and provides a comprehensive framework for an all-encompassing 360° pricing approach that broadens the understanding of pricing in the context of digital business across all steps of the price management process. Starting from product attributes and motivational beliefs in consumers' value assessment and adoption of (technological or digital) products or services, new business models and pricing models emerge in the digital economy, human–machine solutions for price implementation and repricing are increasingly applied, and price search and communication take place through a variety of digital communication channels. Each stage of this framework discusses concrete examples, highlighting the freemium strategy, the subscription model, price tracking and repricing tools, and digital price information channels such as e-commerce, marketplace, or price comparison platforms. The implications for price management in a digital, technology-driven landscape are discussed from the executive level to the analyst level.

This study aims to identify the challenges of new urban housing zones in Algeria that have permitted the emergence of many habitat neighbourhoods deprived of all services. The objective is to promote social interaction by departing from the zoning and introducing the notion of urban mix.

This study tries to catch different elements that contribute to promote the degree of social interaction. This step ultimately has led to the need to improve the quality conditions of the living environment and focus the analysis on urban mix advantages. The latter aims to organize space by balancing functional, social and spatial magnitudes. Different methods have been adopted to assess each dimension. Starting with the assessment of the functional mix, the functional mix coefficient (C.Mix f) was calculated in a quantitative approach, and attendance rates of various targeted functions were determined in a second qualitative one. However, regarding the social mix, several evaluation criteria were selected. Finally, the spatial mix was evaluated via three modes of occupation; mix on the islet, mix on the parcel and mix on the building.

The results of this research confirm that urban mix is imperative to counteract problems generated by zoning. It also concludes that urban mix can be assessed through a grid of indicators. The case study of Ayouf-Jijel revealed that it benefits from good coverage of amenities and businesses; the authors also found that most indicators present some qualitative rather than quantitative deficiencies. This concerns the location of businesses in collective and individual housing. This phenomenon is scattered in the neighbourhood’s development.

The objective of this paper is to contribute to the argument on how to develop neighbourhoods in a city in general and particular to the city of Jijel through the urban mix by taking into account several indicators under three measurements: functional, social and spatial. In addition, the paper contributes to discuss new methods for the evaluation and implementation of urban mix. Finally, this paper reveals an opportunity to rethink neighbourhoods regarding new approaches and reflections of cosmopolite development versus zoning.

In an era where complex technological advances increasingly govern service delivery, it is incumbent on service firms to pioneer innovative strategies to sustain customer engagement and cultivate loyalty. This conceptual paper examines the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in the realm of online customer communities, with a particular focus on its creation, management and enhancement facets. The authors explore how AI can revolutionize the dynamics of customer interaction, feedback mechanisms and overall engagement within the service industry.

This conceptual paper draws from marketing and management literature focusing on customer communities and AI in service and customer engagement contexts with a robust future research agenda.

A classification of online customer community engagement is provided along with a conceptual framework to guide our understanding of the integration of AI into online customer communities.

This exploration underscores the imperative for service firms to embrace AI-driven approaches to online customer community management, not only as a means to optimize their operations but as a vital strategy to stay competitive in the ever-evolving digital landscape. This paper examines the novel combination of AI with online customer communities and provides the framework in the form of an input-process-output (IPO) model for future research into this integration.