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Healthcare providers are under pressure due to increasing and more complex demands for services. Increased pressure on budgets and human resources adds to an ever-growing problem set. Competent leaders are in demand to ensure effective and well-performing healthcare organisations that deliver balanced results and high-quality services. Researchers have made significant efforts to identify and define determining competencies for healthcare leadership. Broad terms such as competence are, however, inherently at risk of becoming too generic to add analytical value. The purpose of this study is to suggest a holistic framework for understanding healthcare leadership competence, that can be crucial for operationalising important healthcare leadership competencies for researchers, decision-makers as well as practitioners.

In the present study, a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) was conducted to analyse competency descriptions for healthcare leaders. The descriptions were retrieved from peer reviewed empirical studies published between 2010 and 2022 that aimed to identify healthcare services leadership competencies. Grounded theory was utilised to code the data and inductively develop new categories of healthcare leadership competencies. The categorisation was then analysed to suggest a holistic framework for healthcare leadership competence.

Forty-one papers were included in the review. Coding and analysing the competence descriptions resulted in 12 healthcare leadership competence categories: (1) character, (2) interpersonal relations, (3) leadership, (4) professionalism, (5) soft HRM, (6) management, (7) organisational knowledge, (8) technology, (9) knowledge of the healthcare environment, (10) change and innovation, (11) knowledge transformation and (12) boundary spanning. Based on this result, a holistic framework for understanding and analysing healthcare services leadership competencies was suggested. This framework suggests that the 12 categories of healthcare leadership competencies include a range of knowledge, skills and abilities that can be understood across the dimension personal – and technical, and organisational internal and – external competencies.

This literature review was conducted with the results of searching only two electronic databases. Because of this, there is a chance that there exist empirical studies that could have added to the development of the competence categories or could have contradicted some of the descriptions used in this analysis that were assessed as quite harmonised. A CIS also opens for a broader search, including the grey literature, books, policy documents and so on, but this study was limited to peer-reviewed empirical studies. This limitation could also have affected the result, as complex phenomenon such as competence might have been disclosed in greater details in, for example, books.

The holistic framework for healthcare leadership competences offers a common understanding of a “fuzzy” concept such as competence and can be used to identify specific competency needs in healthcare organisations, to develop strategic competency plans and educational programmes for healthcare leaders.

This study reveals a lack of consensus regarding the use and understanding of the concept of competence, and that key competencies addressed in the included papers are described vastly different in terms of what knowledge, skills and abilities they entail. This challenges the operationalisation of healthcare services leadership competencies. The proposed framework for healthcare services leadership competencies offers a common understanding of work-related competencies and a possibility to analyse key leadership competencies based on a holistic framework.

This paper attempts to theorise about China’s strategy in combating the coronavirus pandemic with an embryonic framework - 3H (Heart-Head-Hand) framework. By adopting a descriptive approach, the paper introduces the case of coronavirus outbreak in China and how the public health administration coped with it. The 3H framework has been applied to analyse China’s strategy, and the framework’s assumptions are initially tested.

The pandemic case is created based on credible reports, press releases from different respected sources, World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, interview transcripts and broadcasting stations’ video clippings. Interpretive analysis with pragmatism approach has been conducted in analysing the data and information collected. Triangulation, wherever possible, has been done to validate the data and information.

As an exploratory study, its findings show that 3H framework distinguishes the effectiveness of a country’s strategy and practice for combating the pandemic. Countries, which failed to observe the assumed principles of 3H domains tend to have much more infected cases and deaths.

The 3H framework conceptualised a holistic management approach and its assumptions have been initially tested with this pandemic case. The framework shows its predictability value for a country’s pandemic management effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to develop Delphi methodology toward a holistic method for forecasting market change. Delphi methodology experienced its culmination in marketing research during the 1970s–1980s, but still has much to offer to both marketing scholars and practitioners in contexts where future market changes are associated with ambiguity and uncertainty.

This study revives the Delphi methodology by exemplifying how a recently developed framework on market change can be combined with the Delphi technique for data collection to support forecasting activities and research. The authors demonstrate the benefits of the improved methodology in an empirical study on the impact of the fifth generation of wireless communications technologies (5G) on the Finnish media market.

The developed methodological approach aids marketing scholars in categorizing and analyzing the data collected for capturing market change; and better guiding experts/respondents to provide holistic projections of future market change. The authors show that using a predefined theoretical framework in combination with the Delphi method for data collection and analysis is beneficial for studying future market change.

This paper develops Delphi methodology and contributes with a novel methodological approach to assessing market change.

This paper aims to evaluate the usefulness of two conceptual frameworks: levers of control (LOC) (Simons, 1995) and performance management systems (PMSs) (Ferreira and Otley, 2009) for studying PM practices using a case study.

A case study method is used whereby data are collected through semi-structured interviews, examination of the group’s annual reports and internal documents.

A key finding of this study is the use of a PMS at the case company which is formally structured and with objectives, mechanisms and processes designed beyond a mere “performance measurement system.” While the case analysis indicates that most of the key components of the two frameworks are featured in the company’s PMS design, the uses of Simons’ (1995) LOC, however, are not consistent with the notion of “balance” as advocated by the model.

The evidence presented in this study is based on one large manufacturing company, and hence the findings cannot be generalized.

The findings of this study can be used in enriching the design of current proposed theoretical frameworks and also in encouraging management accounting researchers to continue the efforts of studying performance management (PM) practices.

A deeper understanding of PM practices using holistic frameworks has yet to receive more contested efforts from management accounting researchers. This paper attempts to contribute to this endeavor and fill in the gap in this area of research.

Outsourcing of logistics has great importance in disaster relief. Aid agencies spend several billion US dollars every year on logistics services. However, the concept of outsourcing has not been established adequately in literature on humanitarian logistics, leading to a fragmented view of the practice. This paper provides a holistic perspective of the concept by constructing a conceptual framework to analyze both practice and research of outsourcing in humanitarian operations. Based on this analysis, we explore future trends and identify research gaps.

The paper is based on a structured review of academic literature, a two-round Delphi study with 31 experts from aid agencies and a complementary full-day focus group with twelve experts from aid agencies and logistics service providers.

The paper systemizes the current practice of outsourcing in humanitarian logistics according to a conceptual framework of five dimensions: subject, object, partner, design and context. In addition, it reveals ten probable developments of the practice over the next years. Finally, it describes eight important research gaps and presents a research agenda for the field.

The literature review considered peer-reviewed academic papers. Practitioner papers could provide additional insights into the practice. Moreover, the Delphi study focused on the perspective of aid agencies. Capturing the views of logistics service providers in more detail would be a valuable addition.

The paper establishes the academic basis for the important practice of outsourcing in humanitarian logistics. It highlights essential research gaps and, thereby, opens up the field for future research.

Organisational strategy becomes reality by connecting organisation’s resources and capabilities in daily operations, and physical workspace is one of the environments in which this takes place. This study aims to explore to what extent factors required for successful strategy implementation are considered when designing, using and managing workspaces of knowledge-intensive organisations.

For the study, managers in 25 large and medium-sized knowledge-intensive organisations were interviewed. The semi-structured interviews focused on organisation’s strategy, strategy implementation practices and workspace design and management. To form a comprehensive framework of strategy implementation success factors for the study, the factors of 11 frameworks were analysed, grouped and renamed.

Current workspace design, usage and management mainly support human-related strategy implementation factors. However, both organisation- and human-related factors are needed for the strategy implementation to be successful. Therefore, the organisations studied may have unused potential in their workspaces to ensure strategy-aligned operations and behaviour.

Due to the potential imbalance between organisation- and human-related strategy implementation factors, a more holistic, organisational-level approach to workspace design, usage and management is recommended to ensure the success of strategy implementation.

Workspaces have extensively been studied from individual strategy implementation factors’ as well as employees’ perspectives. Prior to this work, there are only few studies exploring workspace in the holistic, strategy implementation context.

This paper aims to define hybrid reality (HyR) as an ongoing process in which artificial intelligence (AI) technology is gradually introduced as an active stakeholder by using reasoning to execute real-life activities. Also, to examine the implications of social responsibility (SR) concepts as featured in the HyR underlying common framework to progress towards the redefinition of global society.

A combination of systemic tools is used to examine and assess the development of HyR. The research is based on evolutionary and learning concepts, leading to the new meta-system development. It also builds upon the viable system model and AI, invoking SR as a conceptual framework. The research is conducted by using a new approach: using system dynamics based interactions modelling, the following two models have been proposed. The state-of-the-art HyR interactions model, examined using SR concepts; and a SR concept-based HyR model, examined using a smart vehicle case.

In the HyR model, interaction asymmetry between stakeholders is identified, possibly leading to pathological behaviour and AI technology learning corruption. To resolve these asymmetry issues, an interaction model based on SR concepts is proposed and examined on the example of an autonomous vehicle transport service. The examination results display significant changes in the conceptual understanding of transport services, their utilisation and data-sharing concepts.

As the research proposal is theoretical in nature, the projection may not display a fully holistic perspective and can/should be complemented with empirical research results.

For researchers, HyR provides a new paradigm and can thereby articulate potential research frameworks. HyR designers can recognise projected development paths and the resources required for the implication of SR concepts. Individuals and organisations should be aware of their not necessarily passive role in HyR and can therefore use the necessary social force to activate their status.

For the first time, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the term HyR is openly elaborated and systemically examined by invoking concepts of SR. The proposed model provides an overview of the current and potential states of HyR and examines the gap between them.

The objective of this study is to construct a theoretical framework concerning wage determination, grounded in principles and supplemented by conventional theories. It discusses the Islamic perspectives on minimum wage and examines contemporary challenges and intricacies in its application.

This study uses thematic analysis to create the conceptual framework, drawing upon a review of pertinent literature such as academic papers, books and articles published up to 2023.

The framework encompasses various categories, namely, employee characteristics, job characteristics, market factors, compensation practices and Islamic principles. Each category consists of multiple variables. The resulting framework offers a holistic and ethically grounded methodology for wage determination, aligning with both Islamic and conventional perspectives. This study notes the absence of a universally agreed-upon minimum wage. Islamic economics faces challenges due to the unclear application of principles, limited awareness, legal constraints and a lack of empirical evidence on wage systems, along with complexities in their implementation.

The paper’s limited scope focuses solely on the Islamic perspective on wage determination, without comparing it to the conventional viewpoint. This may have implications for future research.

The insights on Islamic principles and wage determination guide scholars and policymakers interested in promoting just and equitable wages.

This study is distinct in its integration of various factors to propose an all-encompassing framework for wage determination, rooted in the Quran and principles, while also reinforcing the framework with conventional theories. Additionally, it adds to the growing body of literature by investigating the Quran’s stance and principles on minimum wage, as well as discusses the challenges involved in implementing an Islamic approach to wage determination, which has received limited attention in Islamic literature.

The purpose of this paper is to present a Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) methodology that connects several methods, from geometrical design to post-process selection, into a common optimisation framework.

A design methodology is formulated and tested in a case study. The outcome of the case study is analysed by comparing the obtained results with alternative designs achieved by using other design methods. The design process in the case study and the potential of the method to be used in different settings are also discussed. Finally, the work is concluded by stating the main contribution of the paper and highlighting where further research is needed.

The proposed method is implemented in a novel framework which is applied to a physical component in the case study. The component is a structural aircraft part that was designed to minimise weight while respecting several static and fatigue structural load cases. An addition goal is to minimise the manufacturing cost. Designs optimised for manufacturing by two different AM machines (EOS M400 and Arcam Q20+), with and without post-processing (centrifugal finishing) are considered. The designs achieved in this study show a significant reduction in both weight and cost compared to one AM manufactured geometry designed using more conventional methods and one design milled in aluminium.

The method in this paper allows for the holistic design and optimisation of components while considering manufacturability, cost and component functionality. Within the same framework, designs optimised for different setups of AM machines and post-processing can be automatically evaluated without any additional manual work.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to improve the effectiveness of university–industry collaboration (UIC). This work enhances the existing body of literature and knowledge regarding collaboration and offers concrete steps to be taken for effective collaboration between universities and industries.

A literature review to study the best practices, impediments to collaboration and the various models proposed in the past for successful UIC was conducted. A workshop and focus-group meetings of practitioners and academic researchers was designed and organised to explore the current state of the university–industry engagement within the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) region and gather inputs regarding possible approaches to improve collaboration. The findings from the literature review and the results from this qualitative research regarding the approaches to improve the effectiveness of the collaboration were analysed.

The study discovers that various measures have been proposed in the form of best practices or models to improve the effectiveness of UIC. However, these measures often address a specific concern such as technology transfer, intellectual property (IP), etc. There is a scope for a comprehensive holistic framework to address many aspects of UIC in order to improve effectiveness and achieve success. A framework for improving the effectiveness of collaboration considering a comprehensive list of factors operating in a broad context within the collaboration system was proposed.

The framework builds on previous literature dealing with measures for successful UIC. However, it is the first of its kind, in the researcher's knowledge, in terms of comprehensiveness of the factors contributing to establishing and sustaining successful collaboration. The value of the individual experience of the participants in this qualitative research, which is on average more than 10 years in the software engineering field, validates the importance and quality of the data collected. The addition of these results to the framework increases its validity.The framework can be utilised by universities and industry practitioners to foster successful and effective collaboration. The results have significant relevance, particularly within the Australian context as the government has intensified the adoption of measures to encourage and improve collaboration between universities and the industry.