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This article introduces the special issue of Learning and Development in Highly-Dynamic VUCA Contexts. The issue reviews the concept of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity), highlights its implications for the learning and development function and argues that learning and development play a critical role in helping organisations, people and the societal context in which they operate to work within and navigate VUCA contexts.

The contributions to this special issue propose a novel learning and development framework that will inform L&D as the provision of training, learning and development activities in organisations within highly dynamic VUCA contexts and ensuring a strong external focus including organisational, people, community, economic and societal sustainability.

We, the authors, propose seven features of a strategic sustainability L&D function and L&D professional role that are a fit with highly dynamic VUCA contexts.

The proposed framework has important implications for the way in which L&D is structured, its key priorities and plans and the competencies of L&D professionals to add value to all stakeholders. We also emphasise that the work on the L&D function in highly dynamic VUCA contexts needs to be broader and move beyond a performance orientation.

The proposed strategic sustainability role for the L&D function expands theoretically our understanding of how L&D can have impacts at the nexus of the organisation and highly dynamic VUCA contexts, in addition to broadening the constellation of stakeholders that it potentially enhances.

This research seeks to unveil an integrative perspective on talent management (TM) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly through a multilevel approach and within the French context. Drawing on dynamic capability theory and focusing on French SMEs as a rich domain for multilevel studies, the research aims to elucidate how these enterprises operationalize TM while addressing and integrating their distinct capabilities and requirements, internal dynamics and challenges.

Through an integrative study based on a qualitative approach, we collect data from 15 French SMEs. In total, 20 semi-structured interviews with individuals from different levels, managing and working in SMEs, were conducted and analyzed thematically to identify patterns across all SMEs. Companies and interviewees represented a variety of sectors such as telecommunication, high-tech, circular economy, etc.

We present an integrative multilevel approach through TM in French SMEs, describing how SMEs operationalize TM. Across three main levels (organizational, collective and individual) and key SMEs’ capabilities, our results underscore the significance of top management commitment capabilities and SMEs' assessment capabilities, the involvement of line managers in facilitating strategic agility and cultivating the talent ecosystem and the outcomes of TM in driving SMEs' reconfiguration, extending beyond mere TM-level integrations and articulations. We address these findings for foreign SMEs intending to enter the French context and SMEs’ actors on the importance of contextual issues and level articulations while calling for future research focusing on group-level and managers’ roles in TM.

This article moves the TM research towards an integrative multilevel view in SMEs as a fertile ground for studying multilevel TM. As part of recent studies on TM in French SMEs within the broader European competitive context, it expands the integrative approach in SMEs by accommodating the unique requirements, the multilevel dynamics and the challenges that they encounter with TM, especially when compared to multinational enterprises (MNEs).

The paper covers the topic of power strategies between actors and the interplay between the service ecosystem and the actor(s), and vice versa. The paper addresses the lack of conceptual development concerning power considerations beyond dyadic, rigid and role-based models found in general marketing literature. Further, the paper opens the area of power relationships, using the service ecosystem as conceptual framework.

The paper has a systemic and sociological view on service-ecosystems using mainly Giddens' structuration theory. Service-dominant logic literature from 2004 to 2021 is systematically reviewed for power issues and qualitatively analyzed. Mayring's step model of, firstly, inductive and, secondly, deductive category development is applied. Subcategories were identified, subsumed and finally grouped into five categories to increase the level of abstraction.

The article investigates power considerations and enables marketers to create power through (1) imbalance, to find strategies and counterstrategies for (2) actor's behavior, to understand the (3) actor's embeddedness within a service ecosystem and its dynamic nature, to learn about (4) institutions and actor's institutional work. A set of seven propositions is presented for the conceptualization of power strategies in a service ecosystem.

The consideration of power on different levels supports both the zooming-in and zooming-out to observe and understand the power phenomena in a service ecosystem. Seven propositions about episodic as well as systemic power relations are presented. Power is conceptualized in service ecosystem as transformative capability of an actor to intervene on institutions and in some way alter them, recognizing that power relations are co-created, dynamic and context-dependent.

The article recognizes different levels (micro-meso-macro) of power considerations and helps practitioners and marketers to create power through (1) imbalance, find strategies and counterstrategies for (2) actor's behavior, understand the (3) actor's embeddedness within a service ecosystem and its dynamic nature, learn about (4) institutions and actor's institutional work. This enables managers to find an appropriate choice of action in their specific context to transform the service ecosystem(s) they are embedded in.

As all social systems are power systems, a service ecosystem can only be fully understood by integrating the elementary concept of power. As such, power considerations within actor strategies and the service ecosystem are relevant to improve the understanding of transformation of the service ecosystem. Power, in the sense of the transformative capability of actors, changes the social and material world.

Power issues are important to understand the “hows” of resource integration in service ecosystems and its transformation or stability.

During the supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19, logistics service providers (LSPs) have invested heavily in innovations to enhance their supply chain resilience capabilities. However, only little attention has been given so far to the nature of these innovative capabilities, in particular to what extent LSPs were able to repurpose capabilities to build supply chain resilience. In response, using the concept of exaptation, this study identifies to what extent LSPs have discovered and utilized latent functions to build supply chain resilience capabilities during a disruptive event of high impact and low probability.

This conceptual paper uses a theory building approach to advance the literature on supply chain resilience by delineating the relationship between exaptation and supply chain resilience capabilities in the context of COVID-19. To do so, we propose two frameworks: (1) to clarify the role of exaptation for supply chain resilience capabilities and (2) to depict four different exaptation dimensions for the supply chain resilience capabilities of LSPs.

We illustrate how LSPs have repurposed original functions into new products or services to build their supply chain resilience capabilities and combine the two critical concepts of exploitation and exploration capabilities to identify four exaptation dimensions in the context of LSPs, namely impeded exaptation, configurative exaptation, transformative exaptation and ambidextrous exaptation.

As one of the first studies linking exaptation and supply chain resilience, the framework and subsequent categorization advance the understanding of how LSPs can build exapt-driven supply chain resilience capabilities and synthesize the current literature to offer conceptual clarity regarding the varied implications and outcomes linked to the repurposing of capabilities.

To investigate the influence of logistics and transportation workers’ perceptions of their management’s simultaneous safety and operations focus (or lack thereof) on related worker safety and operational perceptions and behaviors.

This multi-method research consisted of two studies. Study 1 aimed to establish correlational relationships by evaluating the impact of individual-level worker perceptions of operationally focused routines (as a moderator) on the relationship between worker perceptions of safety-related routines and workers’ self-reported safety and in-role operational behaviors using a survey. Study 2 aimed to establish causal relationships by evaluating the same conceptual relationships in a behavioral-type experiment utilizing vehicle simulators. After receiving one of four pre-task briefings, participants completed a driving task scenario in a driving simulator.

In Study 1, the relationship between perceived safety focus and safety behavior/in-role operational behavior was strengthened at higher levels of perceived operations focus. In Study 2, participants who received the balanced pre-task briefing committed significantly fewer safety violations than the other 3 treatment groups. However, in-role driving deviations were not impacted as hypothesized.

This research is conducted at the individual (worker) level of analysis to capture the little-known perspectives of logistics and transportation workers and explore the influence of balanced safety and operational routines from a more micro perspective, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of how balanced routines might influence worker behavior when conducting dynamic tasks to ensure safe, effective outcomes.

This study aims to conduct a comprehensive methodological review, exploring the strategies used to address endogeneity within the realms of corporate governance and financial reporting.

This research reviews the application of various methods to deal with endogeneity issue published in the 10 journals covering the corporate governance discipline included in the Web of Science’s Social Sciences Citation Index.

With a focus on empirical studies published in leading journals, the author scrutinizes the prevalence of endogeneity and the methodologies applied to mitigate its effects. The analysis reveals a predominant reliance on the two-stage least squares (2SLS) technique, a widely adopted instrumental variable (IV) approach. However, a notable observation emerges concerning the inconsistent utilization of clear exogenous IVs in some studies, highlighting a potential limitation in the application of 2SLS. Recognizing the challenges in identifying exogenous variables, the author proposes the generalized method of moments (GMM) as a viable alternative. GMM offers flexibility by not imposing the same exogeneity requirement on IVs but necessitates a larger sample size and an extended sample period.

The paper sensitizes researchers to the critical concern of endogeneity bias in governance research. It provides an outline for diagnosing and correcting potential bias, contributing to the awareness among researchers and encouraging a more critical approach to methodological choices, recognizing the prevalence of endogeneity in empirical studies, particularly focusing on the widely adopted 2SLS technique.

Practitioners, including corporate executives and managers, can benefit from the study’s insights by recognizing the importance of rigorous empirical research. Understanding the limitations and strengths of methodologies like 2SLS and GMM can inform evidence-based decision-making in the corporate governance realm.

This study aims to explore the key drivers contributing to supply chain resilience, with specific attention on agility, absorptive capacity and ambidexterity. It focuses on the roles of supply chain absorptive capacity (SCAC), supply chain ambidexterity (SCAB), supply chain agility (SCAG) and supply chain flexibility (SCF) in enhancing supply chain resilience (SCR).

A survey based on a questionnaire with established scales for SCAC, SCAB, SCAG, SCF and SCR was conducted among professionals in various industries within India, receiving 356 responses. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypothesis.

The study reveals significant relationships between SCAC, SCAB, SCAG and SCR. SCAC and SCAB are positively correlated with SCAG, which in turn positively influences SCR. Further, SCF directly influences SCR and moderates the relationships between SCAC/SCAB and SCAG, enhancing the agility and resilience of the supply chain. These findings underline the importance of integrating knowledge management, adaptability and flexibility in supply chain strategies to cope with the dynamic business environment.

The uniqueness of this study lies in its integrated investigation of absorptive capacity, ambidexterity, agility and supply chain flexibility, with a specific focus on the moderating role of flexibility. This research is unique in demonstrating how these dynamic capabilities transform disruptions into innovative and growth opportunities for supply chain management.

Customer–provider relationships unfold through multiple touchpoints across different channels. However, some touchpoints are more important than others. Such important touchpoints are viewed as “moments of truth” (MOTs). This study examines the impact of a series of touchpoints on an MOT, and the role MOTs play in determining future profitability and other behavioral outcomes (e.g. customer retention and customer cross-buy) in a business-to-business (B2B) context.

Building upon social exchange theory, a conceptual model is proposed and tested that examines the impact of human, digital, and physical touchpoints and past MOTs on customer evaluation of a current MOT and on future customer outcomes. This research employs a longitudinal methodology based on a unique panel dataset of 2,970 B2B customers.

Study results show that all touchpoints significantly contribute to MOTs, while human and physical touchpoints maintain their primacy during MOTs. The impact of MOTs on future customer outcomes is also demonstrated.

This study highlights the need for prioritizing human and physical touchpoints in managing MOTs, and for carefully managing MOTs across time.

Given its B2B outlook and longitudinal approach, this research contributes to the multichannel and interactive marketing literature by determining relevant touchpoints for B2B customers.

Security assurance evaluation (SAE) is a well-established approach for assessing the effectiveness of security measures in systems. However, one aspect that is often overlooked in these evaluations is the assurance context in which they are conducted. This paper aims to explore the role of assurance context in system SAEs and proposes a conceptual model to integrate the assurance context into the evaluation process.

The conceptual model highlights the interrelationships between the various elements of the assurance context, including system boundaries, stakeholders, security concerns, regulatory compliance and assurance assumptions and regulatory compliance.

By introducing the proposed conceptual model, this research provides a framework for incorporating the assurance context into SAEs and offers insights into how it can influence the evaluation outcomes.

By delving into the concept of assurance context, this research seeks to shed light on how it influences the scope, methodologies and outcomes of assurance evaluations, ultimately enabling organizations to strengthen their system security postures and mitigate risks effectively.

The purpose of this paper is to present a method that addresses the data sparsity problem in points of interest (POI) recommendation by introducing spatiotemporal context features based on location-based social network (LBSN) data. The objective is to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of POI recommendations by considering both spatial and temporal aspects.

To achieve this, the paper introduces a model that integrates the spatiotemporal context of POI records and spatiotemporal transition learning. The model uses graph convolutional embedding to embed spatiotemporal context information into feature vectors. Additionally, a recurrent neural network is used to represent the transitions of spatiotemporal context, effectively capturing the user’s spatiotemporal context and its changing trends. The proposed method combines long-term user preferences modeling with spatiotemporal context modeling to achieve POI recommendations based on a joint representation and transition of spatiotemporal context.

Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms existing methods. By incorporating spatiotemporal context features, the approach addresses the issue of incomplete modeling of spatiotemporal context features in POI recommendations. This leads to improved recommendation accuracy and alleviation of the data sparsity problem.

The research has practical implications for enhancing the recommendation systems used in various location-based applications. By incorporating spatiotemporal context, the proposed method can provide more relevant and personalized recommendations, improving the user experience and satisfaction.

The paper’s contribution lies in the incorporation of spatiotemporal context features into POI records, considering the joint representation and transition of spatiotemporal context. This novel approach fills the gap left by existing methods that typically separate spatial and temporal modeling. The research provides valuable insights into improving the effectiveness of POI recommendation systems by leveraging spatiotemporal information.