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Service organizations operate in an increasingly complex and uncertain context that makes decision-making challenging. Despite well-recognized changes in the operational context of government as service organization, service literature has given surprisingly limited attention to what these changes imply for organizational decision-making. This study aims to face with the lack of fit of decision-making theorizing with the reality, within which most service practitioners operate, in order to foster the relevance of decision-making in service research and properly approach the false assumptions and misguided instructions for action.

To rectify the situation, the purpose of this paper is to advance a more holistic understanding of decision-making in government as service organization. The authors do so by reviewing the sparse, though insightful, prior literature on decision-making in service research and identifying four foundational assumptions of decision-making in the service context, that radically differ from the traditional assumptions of decision-making within the wider management literature.

The authors contribute to service research by further advancing the emerging dynamic understanding of decision-making by developing eight systems thinking-informed research propositions and a connected research agenda. In doing so, the paper offers the essential ground work that can revitalize the field of service management and equip it for facing the challenges that government as service organization is encountering in the 21st century.

The formulated eight research propositions demonstrate that decision-making in a government as service organization occurs within complex adaptive systems composed of multiple subsystems and is characterized by a high degree of unpredictability. It is a process influenced by multiple actors part of the system and subsystems, through multiple feedback loops, where the implications of prior decisions inform the future decisions.

The main objective of this study was to design a dynamic adaptive decision support model for healthcare organizations facing deep uncertainties by considering promising dynamic adaptive approaches. The main argument for this is that healthcare organizations have to make strategic decisions under deep uncertainty, but lack an approach to deal with this.

A Dynamic Adaptive Decision Support model (DADS) is designed using the Design Science Research methodology. The evaluation of an initial model leads, through two case studies on ongoing and strategic decision-making, to the final design of this needed model for healthcare organizations.

The research reveals the relevance of the designed dynamic and adaptive tool to support strategic decision-making for healthcare organizations. The final design of DADS innovates Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty (DMDU) approaches in an organizational context for ongoing and strategic decision-making.

The designed model applies the Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways approach in an organizational context and more specifically in health care organizations. It further integrates Corporate Real Estate Management knowledge and experience to develop a most needed tool for decision-makers in healthcare. This is the first DADS designed for an organization facing deep uncertainties in a rapidly changing healthcare environment and dealing with ongoing and strategic decision-making.

The elevator installation in old communities (EIOC) can effectively improve the public infrastructure of urban communities. However, differences in the decision-making behaviours of stakeholders lead to frequent conflicts, thereby hindering the implementation of EIOC. The purpose of this study is to explore the decision-making behavior of core stakeholders which are the government, community owners and elevator enterprises at different stages in the EIOC using the evolutionary game method.

A tripartite evolutionary game model involving the government, community owners and elevator enterprises was developed, and their evolutionary stabilisation strategies were explored in different stages. The dynamic change of the stakeholders' decision-making behaviours at different stages of the project and the influencing mechanism of the key factors on the decision-making behaviours of the three stakeholders were analysed through numerical simulation.

The results of this study showed that: Divergent interests led the government, community owners and elevator enterprises to adopt distinct decision-making behaviours at different stages, resulting in diverse attitudes and actions among stakeholders. A dynamic reward and penalty mechanism effectively motivated community owners and elevator enterprises to engage actively, fostering broad participation. However, the high regulatory cost diminished the government's regulatory effectiveness. This imbalance between penalties and incentives posed a challenge, impacting the overall effectiveness and efficiency of implementing the EIOC.

Existing research lacks exploration of the decision-making behaviours of stakeholders in community public infrastructure. This study developed a dynamic tripartite evolutionary game model in the EIOC from the gaming perspective. The results of this study provide a reference for dealing with the stakeholders' interests in the community public infrastructure and contribute to the theoretical basis for establishing an effective supervision mechanism.

Expanding on the real-world financial market framework and considering the current market turmoil, with cryptocurrencies (where contracts for difference (CFDs) are extremely common) (Hasso et al., 2019) displaying unprecedented volatility, the authors aim to test in an online laboratory setting whether displaying a risk warning message is truly effective in reducing the level of risk taken and whether the placement of this method makes a difference.

To explore the impact of risk disclosure framing on risk-taking behavior, the authors conducted an online pair-wise lottery choice experiment. In addition to manipulating risk awareness through the presence or absence of risk warning messages of varying intensity, the authors also considered dynamic inconsistency, cognitive ability and questionnaire-based financial risk tolerance (FRT) scores. The authors aimed to identify potential relationships between these variables and experimentally elicited risk aversion. The authors' study offers valuable insights into the complex nature of risky decision-making and sheds light on the importance of considering dynamic inconsistency in addition to risk awareness and aversion.

The authors' results provide statistical evidence for the efficacy of informative and very salient messages in mitigating risky decision, hinting at several policy implications. The authors also provide some statistical evidence in support of the relationship between cognitive abilities and risk preferences. The authors detect that individual with low cognitive abilities scores display great risk aversion.

This study investigates the impact of risk warning messages on investment decisions in an online laboratory setting – a unique approach. However, the authors go beyond this and also examine the potential influence of dynamic inconsistency on decision-making, adding further value to the literature on this topic. To ensure a comprehensive understanding of the participants, the authors collect data on cognitive ability and FRT using questionnaires. This study provides a simple and cost-effective framework that can be easily replicated in future research – a valuable contribution to the field.

This study aims to assess National Health Service (NHS) decision-making protocols during the pandemic, with two primary objectives: (1) to establish whether decision-making protocols changed during the pandemic and (2) to evaluate if these changes could inform future decision-making strategies beyond the pandemic. By focusing on the shift from traditional to emergency decision-making processes, this research seeks to derive actionable insights for enhancing policy and practice in crisis conditions.

We employ a mixed-methods approach, gathering data through an online survey targeted at senior NHS decision-makers involved in the pandemic response. Our survey collected quantitative and qualitative data to assess changes in decision-making protocols. The analysis included statistical techniques to quantify changes and thematic analysis to explore their implications, providing a detailed understanding of decision-making adaptations during the crisis and their potential future impact.

Our findings clarify the role of the NHS values and constitution, which prioritize patient welfare, dignity and equitable access to healthcare, guiding all decision-making. During the pandemic, the urgency to respond swiftly necessitated modifications to these guiding principles. Traditional processes were adapted, allowing for more rapid decision-making while still aligning with the core values, effectively balancing immediate response needs with long-term healthcare commitments.

Our research contributes to decision-making under crisis conditions within a healthcare context and brings together a theoretical background which has accommodated the development of models and approaches that can be utilized by both service and manufacturing organizations. In addition, we have sought to bring together the importance of decision-making protocols under crisis conditions using observations from respondents who experienced decision-making at a senior level prior, during and beyond the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has assisted in the models developed in this paper. In addition, our empirical research demonstrates the importance that the values of the organization have upon decision-making and how such values need to be adjusted in the light of crisis operations.

Our research provides insightful observations relating to the pressures upon decision-making protocols under crisis conditions and provides senior decision-makers with an approach to realigning values to cope with unusual and highly pressurized operating environments. Notably, there is a clear requirement for decision-makers to communicate clearly to staff the need to temporarily alter the modus operandi to reflect crisis operations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore decision-making in the NHS during a pandemic and to clearly demonstrate how such decision-making needs to be adapted to reflect the nature and scope of delivering a complex healthcare service under crisis conditions.

This study aims to enrich the field of entrepreneurial marketing (EM) by examining decision-making processes in the unique context of start-up ventures. To do so, it extends research on the distinct EM dimensions to the behavioral context by revealing how causation and effectuation principles shape entrepreneurs’ actions.

The study investigates EM behavior through 12 semi-structured interviews with 10 start-up founders and two founder associates in Germany. Use of established frameworks of the EM dimensions and causation/effectuation principles paves the way for an in-depth analysis. This methodology uncovers a distinct pattern of decision-making behaviors characterizing various activities within start-ups.

The findings show that causal logic prevails in start-ups’ EM, and effectual reasoning serves a complementary role. On the dimensional level, the findings reveal a predominant goal-driven focus on customer intensity and value-creation processes. Predictive logic guides opportunity focus, proactiveness and risk management, with nonpredictive behaviors providing adaptability. The principle of affordable loss is also evident in risk management. Finally, start-ups exhibit a blend of causal and effectual logic in innovativeness and resource-leveraging.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to illuminate the interplay of behavioral logics in start-up firms’ EM by exploring the nuanced principles underpinning the decision-making processes of entrepreneurs. In doing so, it advances understanding of the marketing–entrepreneurship interface and enriches decision-making literature.

The study aims to explore the available academic literature on the decision-making frameworks used in additive manufacturing management (AMM).

This research formulates a systematic literature review to determine the research trend of the decision-making framework in AMM. Further, the theory, context, characteristics, and methodology (TCCM) framework is used to identify the research gaps and suggest future research directions.

The systematic literature review (SLR) delves into overarching research themes within decision-making frameworks in AMM. Additionally, it uncovers trends in article publication, geographical distribution, methodologies utilized, and industry applications. This review not only reveals research gaps but also proposes directions for future exploration.

The key novelty of this research lies in revealing the five most contributing themes of decision-making frameworks in AMM, with the highest contributing theme being AM process selection, followed by part selection for AM. This finding enables decision-makers to make informed decisions to address similar problems while exploring AM technology. Moreover, this research introduces an AM part fabrication roadmap inspired by the literature review. Lastly, the paper highlights key research gaps for future research.

This study seeks to comprehend how sociomateriality influences the openness paradox within the context of open strategising.

We adopted a qualitative approach and developed a case study as a research method. The data included 10 semi-structured interviews, direct observation and documentary analysis, including virtual documents, collaborative platforms and communication systems.

We found that sociomateriality influences the transition between openness and closure in open strategy (OS) dimensions, namely inclusion, participation and transparency, once organisational practitioners actively build on social relationships and engage with material elements within this paradoxical context.

The primary limitation was the challenge of managing extensive data, especially tracking all meetings and interactions. Nonetheless, we aimed to provide a comprehensive view and meaningful insights from the data. Future research could employ mixed methods to achieve a more holistic understanding of the phenomenon.

By understanding the role of formalisation and legitimation played by sociomateriality during open strategising, practitioners can navigate the complexities of balancing openness and closure, fostering innovation and engagement while ensuring the legitimacy of strategising. Recognising the coexistence of exclusions in social practices enables society to comprehend this paradox and highlight the need to address it, fostering an inclusive environment and promoting balanced openness in various social contexts.

Our study contributes to the OS literature by highlighting the role of sociomateriality in shaping the openness and closure interplay. Additionally, we emphasise the importance of formalisation and legitimation practices involving materiality in the balance between openness and closure in a context where openness is deemed essential for strategic success.

In an era marked by artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), this study presents a research paradigm centered on nurturing fundamental skills crucial for effective digital leadership in a paradoxical age where leaders are ambitious as well as skeptical for the adoption of such technologies. This study offers a strategic framework to seamlessly integrate diverse technologies into leadership development; the objective is to bridge the divide between theoretical understanding and practical implementation, especially through the lens of paradox theory.

This conceptual study delineates essential attributes that digital leaders must cultivate, drawing insights from the corpus of literature encompassing leadership, technology and organizational advancement. Synthesizing theoretical perspectives, the study proposes a comprehensive research framework that provides a systematic approach to harnessing the potential of AI, VR and AR to enhance leadership competencies. This conceptual study significantly contributes to paradox theory through method of “theory adaptation” as elaborated in the literature.

The study unveils a spectrum of foundational proficiencies, including technological acumen, adaptability, strategic acumen, effective communication, collaborative aptitude and ethical acumen, among others. These competencies underscore the multifaceted skill set required of digital leaders. To adeptly traverse the intricate digital terrain, foster innovation and align technological advancements with organizational objectives, these proficiencies are imperative for digital leaders to possess.

The distinctiveness of this study lies in its all-encompassing approach to digital leadership development by offering a paradoxical perspective and hence making a contribution to the body of knowledge for paradox theory. By amalgamating AI, VR and AR into a cohesive framework, the study enhances the comprehension of how these technologies collaboratively nurture leaders capable of cultivating organizational triumph in the digital age. This proposed paradigm serves as a bridge between cutting-edge digital technology usage and leadership proficiency paradox, furnishing pragmatic insights to benefit both academic researchers and industry practitioners.

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.