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The insurance industry has been slow to adopt digital technologies due to high barriers to entry, product complexity, capital reserves, solvency requirements, and regulatory constraints. This chapter focuses on how insurtech is disrupting the insurance industry, resulting in a transformation from a traditional structure to a dynamic user-centric ecosystem. Next, it highlights the insurtech ecosystem by providing an in-depth analysis of the new paradigm on how insurtech is transitioning from the linear value chain to a more dynamic and interconnected value network. Finally, this chapter defines a perspective of insurtech's impact by identifying three waves of transformation within the insurance industry and understanding the evolution and chronology of insurtech's influence. Thus, this chapter provides insights into the opportunities and challenges of this technological breakthrough, offering a comprehensive view of insurtech's transformative journey within the insurance landscape.

The purpose of this paper is to bring into the public domain converging ways of thinking about reality and human systems, exploring parallels between the theory of Physical Vacuum and the concept of Qi in Medical Qigong science.

The approach adopted in this paper includes: review of the relevant literature; dialogues between the first two authors over an eight-month period; review of the findings and discussion of interpretations by all.

There is evidence for the existence of an ideal information field. This field is a real space-time torsion structure. Qi is a torsion field. It spreads with superluminal velocity and connects the whole Universe. Any entity is in a constant dynamic connection with everything else in the Universe.

This paper offers limited discussion of the wider area of scientific discoveries.

The findings may impact future interdisciplinary research, health/well-being practices and public policy.

There is no known to us publication interpreting the parallels between the theory of the Physical Vacuum and the concept of Qi.

The purpose of this study is to present a systematic and comprehensive review of personalized, adaptive and semantic e-learning systems.

Preferred reporting items of systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines have been used for a thorough insight into associated aspects of e-learning that complement the e-learning pedagogies and processes. The aspects of e-learning systems have been reviewed comprehensively such as personalization and adaptivity, e-learning and semantics, learner profiling and learner categorization, which are handy in intelligent content recommendations for learners.

The adoption of semantic Web based technologies would complement the learner’s performance in terms of learning outcomes.

The evaluation of the proposed framework depends upon the yearly batch of learners and recording is a cumbersome/tedious process.

E-Learning systems may have diverse and positive impact on society including democratized learning and inclusivity regardless of socio-economic or geographic status.

A preliminary framework of an ontology-based e-learning system has been proposed at a modular level of granularity for implementation, along with evaluation metrics followed by a future roadmap.

This study investigates the application of collaborative inquiry within innovation management, employing platform thinking to address challenges of generalizability and relevance. The aim is to integrate Collaborative Inquiry methods, characterized by participatory, diffuse, and reflective practices, to transform research into a tool for impactful change in organizations in the field of innovation management.

A longitudinal participatory case study approach focuses on the IDeaLs case—a research platform that collaborated with multiple companies over several years. The data gathered and analyzed comes from the research project within the research platforms over the first two editions and from the research platform management and coordination activities.

The study introduces the Collaborative Research Platform Approach (CRPA), demonstrating its effectiveness in addressing typical constraints of traditional research methodologies through a real-world application within the IDeaLs case. The findings highlight the CRPA's potential in fostering a dynamic, co-creative research environment that bridges theoretical knowledge with practical applications, thus enhancing both scholarly and organizational outcomes while pursuing a future change within the organizations.

There are two main research implications. First, it proposes platform thinking as a theoretical lens to read a multi-stakeholder phenomenon in the research domain, confirming its nature of value-creation mechanisms, using it outside the business model and strategic space. Second, it offers a methodological contribution by presenting the CRPA framework.

The CRPA framework offers organizations a structured approach to managing collaborative research projects that align with both academic rigor and practical relevance. Companies engaged in the study reported enhanced ability to implement actionable insights from research, influencing real-time decision-making processes.

By fostering collaborative engagements across multiple stakeholders, the CRPA promotes a research culture that values inclusivity and practical impact, potentially leading to broader societal benefits through improved innovation management practices.

This paper contributes to the innovation management field by proposing the CRPA, which integrates principles of Platform Thinking with Collaborative Inquiry. This novel approach is designed to improve the applicability and scope of innovation research, offering a robust framework that enhances engagement and utility across academic and business domains. It uses platforms as a theoretical lens to read a multi-stakeholder environment in the research domain.

There is an emerging interest in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) inclusion among researchers and practitioners. However, the interplay of macro-, meso- and micro-level factors that influence the behavior of various agencies, systems, structures and practices in different national, cultural and social contexts still needs to be researched. This paper aims to examine how organizations meaningfully engage with the marginalized and underrepresented workforce, especially the LGBTQ community, to promote diversity and inclusion through comprehensive policies and practices, thereby developing a sustainable inclusivity culture.

Adopting a practice theory lens and using a case study design, including multilevel interviews with 28 different stakeholders, this study examines how organizations institutionalize LGBTQ inclusion practices in an emerging market context with a historically low acceptance of the LGBTQ community.

Findings indicate that macro influences, such as regulatory, societal and market pressures and adopting international standards and norms, impact meso-level structures and practices. At the organizational level, leadership evangelism and workforce allyship serve as relational mechanisms for institutionalizing LGBTQ-inclusive practices. Furthermore, collaboration, partnerships and enabling systems and processes provide the structural frameworks within which organizations build an LGBTQ-inclusive culture. Lastly, at the micro level, cisgender allyship and the LGBTQ micro work environments provide the necessary psychological safety to build trust for authentic LGBTQ self-expressions. This study also indicates that organizations evolve their LGBTQ inclusion practices along a trajectory, with multiple external and internal forces that work simultaneously and recursively to shape HRM policies and practices for building an inclusive culture.

This study addresses the significant gaps in diversity and inclusivity research on LGBTQ employees and contributes to the literature in three significant ways. First, this study examines the diversity management mechanisms at the organizational level and explicates their interplay at the micro, meso and macro levels to create congruence, both internally and externally, for engaging with LGBTQ talent. Second, this study adopts a practice theory lens to examine the behavior of various actors, their agencies, the “flow” of underlying and emerging structures and processes, the continuous interplay between structure and action and how they enable inclusive culture for the LGBTQ community as a whole. Last, it addresses the call by diversity researchers for context-specific multilevel research design, including qualitative research, focusing on national, cultural and institutional contexts, where socio-organizational and historical factors and interactions among them shape diversity practices. Much of the literature on LGBTQ inclusion has, thus far, been within the Western context. By examining the emergence of inclusion practices in emerging markets like India, this study contributes to diversity and inclusion research.

In this chapter, we purport that “excessive entitlement” is directly linked to concepts of self/identity with the belief that how we come to regard self in relation to the Other is implicitly and explicitly taught. We view excessive entitlement as a manifestation of the privilege and infallibility of educators who take for granted the correctness of their actions. Through a critical examination of personal stories, theoretical literature, and common school practices, we create a collage of thoughts that highlight some of the complex factors that intersect with excessive entitlement, albeit considering what may be determined “excessive” and by whom.

We use a dialogic format, in this chapter, but do not engage in an actual duoethnography. We address the following questions: How does one (a) create an ethical habitus, constantly being aware of one's responsibility toward the Other, (b) reflexively and humbly practice self-accountability in a manner that recognizes one's positionality and status that is grounded in historical privileged, personal power dynamics, and systems of oppression, (c) develop dialogic ways of being in a neoliberal ethos of systemic accountability within prescriptive curricula, and (d) as teacher educators, assist students in understanding and practicing such dispositions.

We discuss how developing dialogic ways of being, treating others with respect, practicing humility in the face of other people, and learning to respect and build on difference disrupt excessive entitlement. We also explore complexities around the attempt to create “safe spaces” for students, given risks of self-deception and appropriation of students' meaning-making.

The variance between the winning bid and the owner's estimated cost (OEC) is one of the construction management risks in the pre-tendering phase. The study aims to enhance the quality of the owner's estimation for predicting precisely the contract cost at the pre-tendering phase and avoiding future issues that arise through the construction phase.

This paper integrated artificial neural networks (ANN), deep neural networks (DNN) and time series (TS) techniques to estimate the ratio of a low bid to the OEC (R) for different size contracts and three types of contracts (building, electric and mechanic) accurately based on 94 contracts from King Saud University. The ANN and DNN models were evaluated using mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), mean sum square error (MSSE) and root mean sums square error (RMSSE).

The main finding is that the ANN provides high accuracy with MAPE, MSSE and RMSSE a 2.94%, 0.0015 and 0.039, respectively. The DNN's precision was high, with an RMSSE of 0.15 on average.

The owner and consultant are expected to use the study's findings to create more accuracy of the owner's estimate and decrease the difference between the owner's estimate and the lowest submitted offer for better decision-making.

This study fills the knowledge gap by developing an ANN model to handle missing TS data and forecasting the difference between a low bid and an OEC at the pre-tendering phase.

The European funded project ADLIFE focuses on the application of digitally enabled integrated care for people with advanced chronic diseases. The implementation of the ADLIFE intervention required a robust practical tool that would be common to all pilot sites while allowing flexibility for local variations as well as the ability to adapt to unanticipated changes and problems.

The ADLIFE project combined the concepts of implementation research and formative evaluation with the standardized operating procedures (SOP) methodology. The ADLIFE project significantly modified the SOP approach and used it as a means to not only to define and organize the tasks that needed to be performed in preparing and implementing the ADLIFE intervention but also to create a deeper understanding of the unique challenges faced in each site, as well as a method for achieving a consensus.

The ADLIFE SOPs were developed by a dedicated working group, and they encompassed the preparatory phase leading up to implementation of the intervention. The SOP was also the basis for monitoring the implementation, and this created a structure for the dynamic ongoing tactical and even strategic changes necessitated by local diversity as well as many unanticipated changes.

The SOP methodology was useful in supporting the development of the ADLIFE SOP, which was a consensus-based approach to guide for managing the implementation process, both at project and local levels. It has supported continuous improvement and learning throughout the project. Both the process and the SOP produced by the process can be readily adapted and used in other similar projects.

Financial technology (fintech) refers to using new technology to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services. This chapter provides a brief introduction to fintech. It also includes the book's purpose, distinguishing features, intended audience, and structure. A synopsis of Chapters 2 through 23 is offered. The chapter concludes that fintech is constantly evolving and is reshaping finance. Fintechs offer a new paradigm of growth.

While corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been gaining support for the role it plays in employee outcomes, such as organizational identification (OID), the view of CSR from a social identity perspective is underdeveloped. This conceptual chapter explores the role of social identity processes grounded in organizational justice to develop a model of CSR attributions and the moderating role these attributions play in organizational member outcomes. CSR is understood as the relational processes happening with stakeholders, and these relationships engage specific organizational identity orientations. The social identity process flows from there, resulting in CSR attributions including strategic, relational, and virtuous. Using social identity, organizational identity, and organizational justice, this chapter makes two specific contributions: a CSR attribution typology grounded in organizational justice and the moderating impact of these attributions between activated justice dimensions and resulting organizational member outcomes.