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The aim of this paper is to synthesize and assess the published literature relating to critical success factors for continuous improvement projects (CIPs).

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to obtain the most relevant papers from four platforms: EBSCOhost, Engineering Village, ProQuest and Web of Science. The literature was assessed and synthesized based on analysis of characteristics relating to publications, authors and the content of publications.

From the SLR, 98 publications were identified and analyzed. One primary finding is that this research area appears to demonstrate characteristics of an emerging field, not yet well established across all relevant aspects. Second, a comprehensive set of 53 factors were extracted from the publications identified. These factors were analyzed according to frequency in the published literature. This set of factors can be used in future empirical research to develop a more complete understanding of the relative contribution of each to influencing CIP success.

The SLR methodology does not guarantee that all of the publications related to a given research area will be identified; however, the researchers took different actions to mitigate this limitation. Further, not all relevant information from the publication set could be included in this work because of space constraints.

To the authors’ knowledge, this paper presents the most comprehensive list of factors, and associated definitions, relevant to CIP success.

Evidence suggests that hospitals are having problems achieving continuous improvement project (CIP) goals or sustaining their results. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify those critical success factors (CSFs) most strongly related to CIP success in hospitals (Lean-Kaizen project, Lean Six Sigma project, Six Sigma projects, and Quality Improvement projects).

A retrospective survey was applied to any CIP leaders/facilitators from hospitals that conducted at least one CIP during the last two years.

Three main findings were obtained from the 116 valid responses. First, the level of importance of 47 out of 53 CSFs to achieve CIPs success in hospitals was assessed as very important or higher (4 or higher on a six-point scale). Second, there are important differences between the CSFs to achieve CIP success in hospitals in this research and previous investigations. Third, the type of CIP affects the level of importance of 16 out of 53 CSFs to achieve CIP success in hospitals.

Practitioners involved with CIPs activities in hospitals could use the knowledge extracted from this investigation to improve the impact of their CIPs. Future research should continue in two lines: test if the 53 CSFs for CIPs measure a unique factor and identify the main relationships or paths between CSFs for CIPs and CIP outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a continuous improvement project (CIP) at a Mexican university designed to increase engineering graduate student loyalty.

A plan-do-check-act problem-solving methodology was implemented, and a SERVQUAL survey was conducted on 67 master’s engineering students.

Five factors were found to affect student loyalty: facility cleanliness; faculty teaching skills; evening student services; master’s degree student management roles at work; and master’s degree students’ ages. After the implementation of the improvement and control actions, there was a 7.7% increase in the engineering master’s degree students’ loyalty scores.

However, there were several research limitations: data availability (such as student loyalty, student satisfaction and a small master’s degree student population size) and factors outside the CIP’s scope (such as the country’s economic situation, university rankings, master’s programme accreditations and COVID-19).

The findings from this research study could be used by other higher education institutions (HEIs)to improve student loyalty and as a reference when conducting similar studies in other service organisations such as hospitals and hotels.

This research work took a different approach in assessing student satisfaction and student loyalty in a HEI by using the SERVQUAL survey as the data collection instrument for conducting CIP.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the current research on hospital continuous improvement projects (CIPs) from an author characteristics’ perspective. This work addresses the following questions: who are the predominant research authors in hospital CIPs? To what extent are the research communities collaborating in distinct research groups? How internationalized has hospital CIPs research become with respect to author location?

A systematic literature review was conducted, identifying 302 academic publications related to hospital CIPs. Publications were analyzed using: author, quantity, diversity, collaboration, and impact.

Hospital CIPs are increasingly attracting new scholars each year. Based on the authors’ analysis, authors publishing in this area can be described as a relatively new international community given the countries represented.

This paper describes the current hospital CIP research by assessing author characteristics. Future work should examine additional attributes to characterize maturity such as how new knowledge is being created and to what extent new knowledge is being disseminated to practitioners.

The objective of this paper is to assess and synthesize the published literature related to the application of data analytics, big data, data mining and machine learning to healthcare engineering systems.

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to obtain the most relevant papers related to the research study from three different platforms: EBSCOhost, ProQuest and Scopus. The literature was assessed and synthesized, conducting analysis associated with the publications, authors and content.

From the SLR, 576 publications were identified and analyzed. The research area seems to show the characteristics of a growing field with new research areas evolving and applications being explored. In addition, the main authors and collaboration groups publishing in this research area were identified throughout a social network analysis. This could lead new and current authors to identify researchers with common interests on the field.

The use of the SLR methodology does not guarantee that all relevant publications related to the research are covered and analyzed. However, the authors' previous knowledge and the nature of the publications were used to select different platforms.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper represents the most comprehensive literature-based study on the fields of data analytics, big data, data mining and machine learning applied to healthcare engineering systems.

The objective of this paper is to contribute to Australian berry supply chains with a relevant identification regarding the possible data driven interventions that stakeholders can take while the berries are in transit.

An exploratory series of semi-structured interviews was conducted through six Australian experts in the industry with more than 20 years of experience in Australian berry supply chains and the Australian perishable food industry, to identify key possible in-transit interventions that could be implemented in the Australian berry industry.

The analysis of the interviews revealed a total of 18 possible in-transit interventions. An important finding is that in-transit interventions are made possible by the use of real-time data gathered through IoT devices such as Active Radio Frequency Identification, Time and Temperature Indicators interacting with Wireless Sensor Networks. Another key finding is that Australian berry growers and retailers do possess the technologies and the resources necessary to make in-transit interventions possible, however they have yet applied these technologies to operational decision-making and interventions based on the product, rather focussing on supply chain transactions and events.

Since the research focusses on an Australian context, its findings may or may not be applicable to other countries. The research is exploratory in nature, and its findings should be verified by future research, in particular to test whether the in-transit interventions proposed here can be implemented in a cost-efficient way.

To the authors' knowledge, this publication is the first known academic article to provide a clear understanding of the Australian berry industry from a supply chain and logistics perspective, and the first to explore possible data driven in-transit interventions in perishable food supply chains.

This paper unifies previous research literature on employee participation in continuous improvement (CI) activities through the development and validation of a conceptual model. The purpose of this model is to illustrate how organizational drivers foster organizational and individual enablers which, in turn, strengthen employee participation in CI. The article also discusses the results and managerial implications.

Firstly, the article introduces the main variables affecting employee participation in CI, looking at the different possible relationships proposed in existing literature. In accordance with the Kaye and Anderson (1999) framework, these variables are categorized into organizational drivers, organizational and individual enablers and individual outcomes. Based on these categories, a model was put forward and empirically validated using data collected from three Spanish companies (n = 483) and using partial least squares structural equations modelling (PLS–SEM).

A model was put forward, proposing PIRK systems (power, information, rewards, knowledge) as the main organizational driver of employee participation in CI activities. PIRK impacts positively on social influence (organizational enabler), self-efficacy and job satisfaction (individual enablers). These enablers, together with employee intention of participating, help determine employee participation in CI activities.

Organizations with CI programmes should develop systems based on employee empowerment, information, rewards and knowledge in order to foster their self-efficacy and seek out a culture where social influence may help to improve job satisfaction. By suitably managing these organizational drivers, managers can help to further develop certain organizational and individual enablers responsible for fostering employee participation in CI activities.

By unifying different behavioural and CI-related frameworks, this paper carries out an in-depth study into the process of fostering employee participation as the key aspect in helping organizations sustain CI programmes. This paper shows the importance of managing PIRK organizational drivers as levers in the process of developing certain organizational and individual enablers, which are responsible for enhancing employee participation in CI.