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Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.

The purpose of this study was to explore rapid role shifts at work and to describe the factors that facilitate or inhibit such role shifts, and how these factors affect the employee.

A qualitative study was conducted with 12 participants from four public sector organizations. The participants systematically documented their work role shifts over the course of three days. Based on these data, they were interviewed about their shifts in work roles. All data were analyzed thematically.

Rapid role shifts do not work without extensive mental preparation and commitment. The role changes were perceived as stimulating if there was clarity about purpose, context and the significance of one’s own role, and if there was time both to switch between different roles and to reflect.

This study was only performed in public sector organizations, and with a relatively small sample of interviewees. To generalize the results a more comprehensive collection of data would be required, including independence between researchers and subjects.

Adequate work structures, well-thought-out plans, time set aside for adjustment and reflection, and, not least, well-functioning information technologies are essential to teamwork commitment and satisfaction. As occasional teams, virtual teams and remote work become more common in the future, attention must be paid to rapid work role shifts by governments, policymakers and employers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic study of the challenges involved in rapid shifts in work roles.

This study aims to investigate factors that influence e-government adoption among public sector departments with the view to determine how such factors may be used to better facilitate e-government adoption across United Arab Emirates (UAE) public sectors. The use of e-government is advocated for the central government in the UAE.

Using random sampling, a total of 172 participants from ten departments and organisations in Dubai and Sharjah completed the online survey for this pilot study.

The authors found that performance expectancy and facilitating conditions have positive effects on e-government adoption. Furthermore, this study revealed the factors that encourage more e-government adoption between government organisations in the UAE. This study reveals three facilitating conditions may encourage e-government adoption in UAE public sector organisations when short- and long-term performances have positive effects on e-government usage.

This study provides middle managers clarity on factors that would influence government-to-government (G2G) uptake in more government organisations across the country. For uniformity and consistency, middle managers are now better informed as a result of this study to determine how best to use the six factors to motivate subordinates for more effective G2G.

The scope and results of this study is a contribution to e-government studies because it identifies the factors that positively influence G2G adoption. This scope exceeds the studies by Chan et al. (2021) and Habib et al. (2020) which focuses on the use of e-government for citizens or the public. This study focuses on the use of e-government within the government and between government departments.

In spite of facilitating and motivating factors in the external environment, the implementation of new management‐accounting techniques as activity‐based costing (ABC) in companies is disappointing. The aim of the study is to determine factors that catalyse, facilitate and motivate the decision to implement ABC in Jordanian industrial companies. Additional objectives include determining the problems associated with ABC implementation and assessing the degree of success of ABC implementation in Jordan.

A sample of the Jordanian industrial companies was selected and a questionnaire survey was employed using a five‐point Likert scale to collect data from the financial managers, descriptive and analytical statistics were used to analyze the collected data.

The findings indicate that the most important factor that facilitates the decision to implement ABC was the provision of adequate training and the most influential factors which motivate the process of ABC implementation include an increasing proportion of overhead costs, and an increasing number of product variants. Consequently, this study found that the interaction of three types of factors (catalysts, facilitators and motivators) create the potential for change in these companies. Barriers to change could make the change process slower, hindering, and even preventing change; and barriers to change were identified that may explain the differing implementation rates of ABC in the Jordanian industrial sector. The greatest barrier to implementing ABC was found to be its high cost of implementation, followed by the high cost of ABC consultancy and computer staff time.

The study adds new elements to the institutional approach, and integrates it with concepts from psychology and organizational culture, to create a better understanding of management accounting. The results of study contribute to existing knowledge in the area of understanding the factors which act as catalysts, facilitate, and motivate ABC innovation and of those factors that create barriers to ABC implementation in Jordan.

The digital transformation towards Industry 4.0 (I4.0) has become imperative for manufacturers, as it makes them more flexible, agile and responsive to customers. This study aims to identify the factors influencing the manufacturing firms’ decision to adopt I4.0 and develop a triadic conceptual model that explains this phenomenon.

This study used a qualitative exploratory study design based on multiple case studies (n = 15) from the manufacturing industry in Malaysia by conducting face-to-face interviews. The data were analysed using NVivo. The conceptual model was developed based on grounded theory and deductive thematic analysis.

Results demonstrate that driving, facilitating and impeding factors play influential roles in a firms’ decision-making to adopt I4.0. The major driving factors identified are expected benefits, market opportunities, labour problem, customer requirements, competition and quality image. Furthermore, resources, skills and support are identified as facilitating factors and getting the right people, lack of funding, lack of knowledge, technical challenges, training the operators and changing the mindset of operators to accept new digital technologies are identified as impeding factors.

Due to its qualitative design and limited sample size, the findings of this study need to be supplemented by quantitative studies for enhanced generalizability of the proposed model.

Knowledge of the I4.0 decision factors identified would help manufacturers in their decision to invest in I4.0, as they can be applied to balancing advantages and disadvantages, understanding benefits, identifying required skills and support and which challenges to expect. For policymakers, our findings identify important aspects of the ecosystem in need of improvement and how manufacturers can be motivated to adopt I4.0.

This study lays the theoretical groundwork for an alternative approach for conceptualizing I4.0 adoption beyond UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology). Integrating positive and negative factors enriches the understanding of decision-making factors for I4.0 adoption.

The purpose of this paper is to address issues of performance optimization through accounting for asymmetric responses of customer satisfaction to different types of product or service attributes: core, facilitating and “green” (eco‐friendly). The primary research inquiry was to explore how these attributes affect customer satisfaction and account for interactions among them in order to identify an optimal combination that would maximize customer satisfaction in lodging industry settings.

An experimental design and a web‐based survey were used to collect data from a convenience sample of faculty and staff of two US universities. Univariate and regression analysis were two primary methods of data analysis.

The findings confirmed non‐linear nature of customer satisfaction response and indicated that “green” attributes impact customer satisfaction similarly to facilitating attributes but differently from the core type of attributes in the context of lodging industry.

Generalizability of the findings is bounded by convenience sampling technique. Additionally, only limited number of hotel attributes was examined.

The current findings help to solve the problem of performance optimization and allow creating hotel offerings that yield maximum levels of customer satisfaction and optimal resource allocation.

The study provides additional knowledge about factor structure of customer satisfaction and points on the place and role of “green” attributes in formation of CS in the context of lodging industry.

The purpose of this paper is to understand consumers’ willingness to choose Islamic mortgage products as a way to help Islamic banks tap into the Islamic mortgage sector in Malaysia.

Using the Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour as a point of departure, this study proposes a framework that examines factors influencing consumers’ willingness to choose Islamic mortgage products. A total of 282 usable surveys are obtained from customers of Islamic banks and the data were analysed using partial least squares.

The results indicate that affect, social factors, and facilitating conditions influence willingness to choose Islamic mortgages. Besides these factors, the added factors, namely, perceived risk and perceived financial benefit, significantly influence consumers’ willingness to choose Islamic mortgages.

This study is confined to two public universities in Malaysia. Further testing of the proposed model across different population groups is necessary to determine the generalisability of this study’s findings. This study applies consumer factors such as affect, social factors, facilitating conditions, perceived risk and perceived financial benefit. Further testing on other factors is needed to expand the findings in this area.

The results could help bank managers make improved decisions about the factors which they need to effectively market Islamic mortgage products. This study provides insights and guidance for bank managers to manage Islamic mortgage products.

The main contribution of this paper is a proposed framework of consumers’ willingness to choose Islamic mortgage products which takes into account the key factors necessary to predict consumers’ demand.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that can facilitate agility in higher education and to analyze the interrelationship between the factors.

A structured model of factors facilitating agility in higher education was developed using total interpretive structural modeling (TISM). Cross-impact matrix multiplication (MICMAC) analysis helped in classifying the factors on the basis of their driving and dependency power.

An extensive literature review and expert opinion helped in identifying eight enablers that can promote agility in higher education. The ability to sense the environment, organizational structure, adoption of ICT, organizational learning, human resource strategies, leadership, readiness to change and collaboration with the stakeholders were the eight factors identified. The structural model revealed leadership as the most crucial enabler followed by human resource strategies and organizational structure.

The model has incorporated and prioritized all the crucial drivers of agility that can help universities and colleges design, adopt and implement policies and practices that would facilitate agility.

So far, the research on agility in higher education has looked into each factor in isolation. This research provides a comprehensive list of the factors and establishes the interplay between the factors making this study new and original.

This study aims to offer a mid-range theory conceptualization of factors central to understanding and facilitating business actor engagement (BAE). Reports on a study of real estate companies and their sustainable development goal (SDG) driven business initiatives. The aim is to identify the factors that need to be in place to facilitate positive engagement amongst actors in business-to-business (B2B) settings.

A case study of real estate companies (landlords of business premises) and their business customers (tenants of offices and warehouses) – comprising interviews and workshops – offer insights related to the factors that need to be in place to facilitate BAE types and outcomes.

The identified central factors of BAE – needed to understand and facilitate positive engagement to unfold – are the actors’ perception of: willingness (to act), resourcefulness (to contribute and solve issues) and influence (to affect decisions) regarding solutions related to the business initiative at hand. Failing to facilitate these factors may result in negative outcomes of BAE where “engagement” merely constitutes perceived obligations and responsibilities.

The study offers theoretical and managerial insights on how to manage the factors needed for BAE. It also sheds light on how actors can use SDG-driven business initiatives to achieve sustainability goals.

It contributes to the concept of BAE, by emphasizing the dynamics of engagement, from the motivational and behavioral dimensions specific to B2B settings. It offers insights how to managerially cogovern rather than control BAE. It presents central factors needed to include and capacitate customers, facilitating successful implementations of SDG-driven business initiatives to reduce absent or negative outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to respond to Hennart’s (2014) challenge to the existing born global literature. In his challenge, Hennart proposes a simpler explanation of why some firms internationalize earlier and more aggressively than others. However, such a parsimonious model of born global firms raises the awkward question of whether born global firms are indeed any different from firms that internationalize more gradually.

Using two extensive surveys of Australian exporters, this paper first explores the degree to which a set of six “facilitating factors” that Hennart puts forward are different across born global and non-born global firms. Next, it tests the second aspect of the debate highlighted above – i.e. whether born global firms behave differently from non-born global firms. This is done by testing for differences in the patterns of early market selection for born global and non-born global firms.

Support is found for both the role of facilitating factors and for the view that born global firms behave differently from non-born global firms. As a result, it is proposed that the Hennart and the RBV-oriented explanations of born global firms need to be viewed as complementary, rather than competing. Each may represent a necessary but not sufficient condition with respect to born global firms.

A systematic testing for differences in facilitating factors and market selection patterns across born global and non-born global firms are both issues that have major implications for the born global literature, and yet have been left largely unexplored to date.