Search results

This paper aims to analyse the role of a network in the development of female business experiences through the study of the Industrie Femminili Italiane (I.F.I.) (Italian Women’s Cooperative Enterprise), founded in 1903 in Rome to promote women’s work and their economic conditions.

This study applies the embeddedness theory for women’s empowerment that provides a valuable lens to explore the interactions between female entrepreneurs and their social, cultural and economic contexts.

With this study, the authors found that the network structure was used at the beginning of the past century in Italy as a useful instrument for female emancipation and empowerment, extending to common/not exceptional women entrepreneurial opportunities otherwise reserved for rich and noble women. In the interplay among the different “contexts” (political, social, cultural and cognitive), it seems to emerge the incidence of female social relationships in facing an unfavourable political and cultural context, breaking out the norms and allowing the business to exist and influencing, with the activity of the high social standing women, the cognitive structure of the other female workers, make them active participants in this entrepreneurial activity.

This is a single case study that has shed light on a specific female network, and the authors’ findings and considerations are influenced by the shortage of data and sources available. Demonstrating that I.F.I. is the result of the collaboration of women from different social classes involved at different organisational levels, this work shows, from a historical perspective, the importance of female mutual support for their emancipation and the role played by the network structure as an amplifier of possibilities otherwise limited to rich women, the emancipation of women and minorities in countries characterised by important barriers to entrepreneurship.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper analysing a female entrepreneurial network from a historical point of view and its role in overcoming gender barriers within the analysis of the interplaying contexts.

This study aims to synthesize extant literature on the concept of reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) built up over the past two decades with the help of bibliometric analyssis and also to suggest promising new areas for research in this field.

The study adopts a literature review methodology combined with bibliometric and network analysis based on 117 papers identified from the Scopus database. In particular, this study has tried to identify and capture themes not previously fully captured or evaluated by other reviews on this topic.

The authors have identified research themes and research gaps in the area of RKT. Overall, the review shows the main outlets that have published papers on RKT and the theoretical background this research is built on. This study exhibits core themes in this area that have persisted and grown consistently such as the subsidiary’s role in RKT. In addition, the review highlights less researched themes such as role of boundary spanning in RKT, which open exciting avenues for new research opportunities.

This study finds that RKT research has experienced remarkable growth from a complete viewpoint in recent years. There was a surge in publications in the area from 2008 onwards, and many of its influential papers seemed to have been published between 2013 and 2018. Prominent themes in this body of research have been identified and potential for future studies has been explored.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to map, synthesize and discuss the literature concerning RKT.

Machine learning (ML) analytical tools are increasingly being considered as an alternative quantitative methodology in management research. This paper proposes a new approach for uncovering the antecedents behind product and product–service innovation (PSI).

The ML approach is novel in the field of innovation antecedents at the country level. A sample of the Equatorian National Survey on Technology and Innovation, consisting of more than 6,000 firms, is used to rank the antecedents of innovation.

The analysis reveals that the antecedents of product and PSI are distinct, yet rooted in the principles of open innovation and competitive priorities.

The analysis is based on a sample of Equatorian firms with the objective of showing how ML techniques are suitable for testing the antecedents of innovation in any other context.

The novel ML approach, in contrast to traditional quantitative analysis of the topic, can consider the full set of antecedent interactions to each of the innovations analyzed.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) remains a prevalent topic for businesses worldwide, especially for those operating in developing countries. The attention on small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs') CSR engagement in developing countries has been neglected, although SMEs play a vital role in socio-economic development in African countries like Kenya. This paper aims to conceptualize the relationship between the SME manager's values, ethics, emotional commitment to long-term socio-economic development and the firm's CSR practices.

The authors conducted seven semi-structured interviews with Kenyan and German SMEs located in Nairobi. A deductive-inductive analysis approach was chosen, confirming previous findings and contributing new ideas to the International Business (IB) literature.

This paper develops a concept linking the values and beliefs of the SME manager with the firm's CSR practices in developing countries via the manager's emotional commitment to local long-term socio-economic development. The Kenyan managers tend to show a higher degree of emotional commitment, which the authors explain by two drivers: (1) philanthropic, self-motivated driver and (2) expectation-based, environment-motivated driver. The authors' findings add to the literature on SMEs' CSR engagement in developing countries by looking at the individual level of analysis.

This paper develops a concept linking the values and beliefs of the SME manager with the firm's CSR practices in developing countries.

Crowdfunding platforms are important innovations that allow nascent entrepreneurs to gain access to financial resources and crowd inputs to better refine and develop their business idea. The purpose of this paper is to investigate user-generated content (UGC) from both reward-based and equity-based crowdfunding platforms, in order to determine its implications for open and user innovation.

A total sample of 200 most funded technology products was extracted from four distinct crowdfunding platforms. A latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) analysis was performed in an attempt to identify critical latent factors. The analysis was carried out through the theoretical lens of innovation literature, in an attempt to uncover the implications for open and user innovation.

The authors were able to highlight the implications of crowd inputs for open and user innovation, as backers provided nascent entrepreneurs with several types of feedback, ranging from product co-development to strategy and marketing. Furthermore, the study provided an overview of the key differences emerging between reward-based and equity-based crowdfunding platforms in terms of crowd inputs.

The present study features intrinsic limitations of the LDA approach being adopted. More specifically, it only provides a “snapshot” in time of the current sample, rather than investigating its development over time.

The present study solidifies the value of UGC as a resource to mine for trends and feedback.

The study contributes to both the innovation literature and the crowdfunding literature. It bridges several gaps found in both literature streams, by providing empirical evidence to test and verify pre-existing exploratory research.

The purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual model explicating the development of expatriate social capital and its influence on expatriate effectiveness in terms of knowledge transfer and adjustment. Drawing upon social capital theory and weak tie theory, we elucidate the process through which expatriate social capital facilitates expatriate knowledge transfer and adjustment via greater access of role information and social support.

This study reviews and distills research on expatriate social capital development and proposes a conceptual model of expatriate effectiveness and suggests potential research avenues for global mobility scholars.

This study contributes to the understanding of the development of expatriate social capital in the host country and its impacts on expatriate effectiveness as a process. With regard to expatriates’ social capital accumulation, this study also highlights the important but less-known role of accompanying spouse/family members as expatriates’ weak tie enablers. We articulate a framework that outlines the sources of social capital for expatriates and the processes through which social capital transmits (via expatriates’ access to role information and social support) and then enhances expatriate effectiveness. This conceptual model aims to establish a basic “roadmap” for use by practitioners and researchers.

Before the proposed conceptual model can be theoretically refined or extended by future research, its veracity needs to be tested empirically. Although we do not incorporate “time,” “personal characteristics” and “context” in our model, we recognize their potential importance and urge future researchers to incorporate them in studying the role of social capital on expatriate effectiveness.

A conceptual model is presented that enables multinational corporations (MNCs) to map their current (and future) strategies to enhance expatriate effectiveness by further strengthening the expatriate social capital.

Drawing upon social capital theory and weak tie theory, this paper links various sources of expatriate social capital to expatriates’ access to role information and social support in supporting expatriate effectiveness. From this, several avenues of future research are drawn.

In this study, the authors explore the association between employee education level and the efficiency of corporate investment using data from a sample of Chinese listed firms during the period from 2011 to 2018. By examining the impact of education on investment efficiency, the authors' study provides valuable insights that contribute to a deeper understanding of the underlying economic mechanisms related to education.

The authors conduct multivariate regression analyses to examine the relationship between investment efficiency (following Richardson, 2006) and the level of employee education, along with a series of control variables. To ensure the reliability of the authors' findings, the authors subject the their results to a comprehensive set of robustness tests, such as a staggered difference-in-difference (DiD) regression approach, an instrumental variable (IV) method and the use of alternative employee education level and investment efficiency measurements.

The findings offer compelling evidence that higher levels of education have a positive impact on firms' investment efficiency, and this effect remains robust across various model specifications and endogeneity considerations. Moreover, the influence of education is more pronounced in firms that prioritize employee training, maintain effective internal communication and offer attractive financial rewards. Furthermore, the results suggest that the relationship between education and investment efficiency is influenced by the firms' business nature and competitive environment. Factors such as business complexity, labor intensity and business location also play a role in shaping the impact of education on investment outcomes.

The study emphasizes the crucial role of education in influencing investment decisions and performance within firms. By delving into this previously unexplored area, the authors' research contributes to the existing literature, establishing that the level of employee education is a significant determinant of corporate investment efficiency. This valuable insight has substantial implications for firms aiming to enhance their investment decision-making processes and overall performance. Understanding the positive impact of education on investment efficiency can empower organizations to leverage their human capital effectively and achieve better investment outcomes, ultimately contributing to long-term success and competitiveness in the market.

This paper aims to understand how the global supply chain in the medical device industry embraces resilience by adopting agility approach following COVID-19.

This study adopts an interpretative approach to examine the qualitative data drawn from interviews and observation under dynamic capability theory. The data collection concerned multiple stakeholders involved in purchasing and supply management in the medical device market: manufacturing suppliers, channel partners, hospital management and end-users. The coding analysis uses an application that helps the researchers categorise the nodes and extend the existing literature.

The findings show that global supply chain leaders leverage the dynamic capability by centralising the business process decision to respond to the shifting demand from the local governments to the national health ministry, shaping the partnership style from the area- to the funnel-based agreement, even though it exposes a risk of product acceptability from the end-users, encouraging the distributor to convert just-in-time approach into holding safety stock to avoid penalty from missing the procurement target even and restructuring the local partners’ debts to manage long-term performance.

This study extends the emerging literature in international business by underpinning dynamic capability theory.

Companies target globally mobile workers and face the war for talent, while individuals are more reluctant to engage in global mobility. This scenario led us to propose a model to understand the individuals' decision process to engage in global mobility.

Building on the self-determination theory, the theory of planned behavior and the literature on decisions for global mobility, the authors propose mechanisms through which psychological variables and assignments' factual and perceived contextual aspects (directly or indirectly) explain the decision to engage or not in global mobility.

This study offers a conceptual model with the authors' novel propositions to explain individuals' decision to engage in global mobility.

The model provides a more comprehensive explanation of the individuals' decision-making process to engage in global mobility than previous models and potentially yields more effective organizational practices to attract both well-established and emerging phenomena of globally mobile workers.

In recent decades, managerial desire to use internal audit services to promote well-controlled organizational processes has significantly increased in the public sector. Yet, there is rare information on how internal audits may effectively be implemented in the public sector. The present research aims to design a comprehensive internal audit effectiveness model for the public sector.

This research is an applied mixed-methods (qualitative–quantitative) and descriptive survey study. The research population in both qualitative and quantitative sections included all internal and external audit managers and staff of Iraqi public organizations. The study sample of the qualitative section included 28 audit managers and staff selected using purposive sampling, and the study sample of the quantitative section included 399 individuals selected using convenience sampling. The data collection instruments in the qualitative and quantitative sections included semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, respectively. Data analysis was carried out using thematic analysis in Atlas.ti software in the qualitative section. Quantitative analysis and model validation were also performed using path analysis and structural equation modeling in Smart-PLS software in the quantitative section.

The results of the qualitative section led to the identification of 38 effectiveness factors among seven main categories, which were finally presented in the form of a comprehensive model. The main categories included the communication between internal and external auditors, granting independence and authority to internal auditors, providing specialized human resources, providing technological resources, developing management support, strengthening organizational culture and developing audit plans. In the qualitative section, the model was validated and confirmed. Quantitative results further showed that the compilation of audit plans and the development of management support were the most important factors.

The present study contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive framework on internal audit with an emphasis on resource-based theory and reducing the research gap in the field of agents influencing internal audit efficacy in the public sector of developing countries. Further, the study provides insights into an under-studied developing country, Iraq.