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Insufficient productivity development in the global and Finnish infrastructure sectors indicates that there are challenges in genuinely achieving the goals of resource efficiency and digitalization. This study adapts the approach of capability maturity model integration (CMMI) for examining the capabilities for productivity development that reveal the enablers of improving productivity in the infrastructure sector.

Civil engineering in Finland was selected as the study area, and a qualitative research approach was adopted. A novel maturity model was constructed deductively through a three-step analytical process. Previous research literature was adapted to form a framework with maturity levels and key process areas (KPAs). KPA attributes and their maturity criteria were formed through a thematic analysis of interview data from 12 semi-structured group interviews. Finally, validation and refinement of the model were performed with an expert panel.

This paper provides a novel maturity model for examining and enhancing the infrastructure sector’s maturity in productivity development. The model brings into discussion the current business logics, relevance of lifecycle-thinking, binding targets and outcomes of limited activities in the surrounding infrastructure system.

This paper provides a new approach for pursuing productivity development in the infrastructure sector by constructing a maturity model that adapts the concepts of CMMI and change management. The model and findings benefit all actors in the sector and provide an understanding of the required elements and means to achieve a more sustainable built environment and effective operations.

Construction progress monitoring (CPM) is considered a difficult and tedious task in construction projects, which focuses on identifying discrepancies between the as-built product and the as-planned design. Computer vision (CV) technology is applied to automate the CPM process. However, the synergy between the CV and CPM in literature and industry practice is lacking. This study aims to fulfil this research gap.

A Delphi qualitative approach was used in this study by conducting two interview rounds. The collected data was analysed using manual content analysis.

This study identified seven stages of CPM; data acquisition, information retrieval, verification, progress estimation and comparison, visualisation of the results and schedule updating. Factors such as higher accuracy in data, less labourious process, efficiency and near real-time access are some of the significant enablers in instigating CV for CPM. Major challenges identified were occlusions and lighting issues in the site images and lack of support from the management. The challenges can be easily overcome by implementing suitable strategies such as familiarisation of the workforce with CV technology and application of CV research for the construction industry to grow with the technology in line with other industries.

This study addresses the gap pertaining to the synergy between the CV in CPM literature and the industry practice. This research contributes by enabling the construction personnel to identify the shortcomings and the opportunities to apply automated technologies concerning each stage in the progress monitoring process.

The paper aims to understand why and how paratextual elements are included in annual reports, hence how meaning is made through the workings of language and imagery.

A comprehensive framework of analysis, combining Genette’s paratextual elements with Barthes’ rhetoric and denotation and connotation concepts, is applied to the case study of the dstgroup, a Portuguese engineering and construction group.

The study demonstrates the potential of the annual report as a communication tool between an organisation and its stakeholders. The framework of analysis evidences that the paratextual elements highlight and supplement accounting information and that the denotative and connotative meanings associated with them make visible and enhance intangible features of the organisation.

The paper extends theories from other interdisciplinary fields to accounting communication and proposes a comprehensive framework that combines the writings of Genette and Barthes. By exploring the Portuguese under-researched context, it also adds to the literature by analysing the rationales and choices of the preparers on the inclusion of paratextual elements in annual reports.

Este artículo pretende entender por qué y cómo se incluyen elementos paratextuales en los informes anuales y, cómo se construye el significado a través del funcionamiento del lenguaje y las imágenes.

Se desenvolvió un marco de análisis global, que combina los elementos paratextuales de Genette y los conceptos de retórica y denotación y connotación de Barthes. Este marco se aplicó al estudio de caso del grupo dst, un grupo portugués de ingeniería y construcción.

El estudio muestra el potential del informe anual como herramienta de comunicación entre una organización y sus grupos de interés. El marco de análisis evidencia que los elementos paratextuales resaltan y complementan la información contable y que los significados denotativos y connotativos asociados a ellos hacen visibles y realzan rasgos intangibles de la organización.

Este artículo extiende teorías de otros campos interdisciplinarios a la comunicación contable y propone un marco global que combina los escritos de Genette y Barthes. Explorando el contexto portugués, insuficientemente investigado, también se añade a la literatura mediante el análisis de las motivaciones y opciones de los preparadores de los informes anuales sobre la inclusión de elementos paratextuales.

In recent years, the robotic process automation (RPA) technology has increasingly been used to automate business processes. While a lot of research has been published on the potential and benefits of the technology, only a few studies have conducted research on challenges related to RPA adoption. Hence, this study aims to identify and discuss challenges related to RPA implementation projects.

Following an inductive methodology, interviews have been conducted with consultants who were involved in multiple RPA implementation projects. Hence, their extensive experience and views contribute to a detailed and in-depth understanding of the phenomena under research.

The results suggest that there are various process-related, technical, resource-related, psychological and coordinative challenges that must be considered when conducting an RPA implementation project.

This paper contributes to knowledge by presenting a new typology of challenges, as well as providing an in-depth discussion of the individual challenges that organizations face.

This study aims to investigate the consequences of middle managers’ sensegiving for organisational change in neglected workplaces, where middle managers are given insufficient resources because of receiving low attention from top management.

The authors conducted a case study of three call centres in the Japanese non-life insurance industry. To collect data, the authors conducted interviews with ten stakeholders and made multiple field observations.

The authors identified the following mechanism: in neglected workplaces, middle managers initially focus on sensegiving to employees because they recognise the difficulty of eliciting support from top management. However, as a result, they see sensegiving to employees as top priority and do not try to elicit the support of top management, which is necessary for further organisational change. As a result, organisational change stops at a certain level.

The authors identified the following mechanism: in neglected workplaces, middle managers initially focus on sensegiving to employees because they recognise the difficulty of eliciting support from top management. However, as a result, they see sensegiving to employees as their top priority and do not try to elicit the support of top management, which is necessary for further organisational change. As a result, organisational change stops at a certain level.

First, this study contributes to the body of research on the effects of sensegiving on organisational change. It shows the new problems hidden behind organisational change, which existing research merely regards as independent successes. Second, this study identifies middle managers’ behaviour during organisational change in neglected workplaces. Instead of focusing on the factors necessary for successful organisational change, as in existing studies, this study extends the knowledge of the role of middle managers in organisational change by focusing on their behaviours when success factors are not aligned.

Industry 4.0 has offered significant potential for manufacturing firms to alter and rethink their business models, production processes, strategies and objectives. Manufacturing organizations have recently undergone substantial transformation due to Industry 4.0 technologies. Hence, to successfully deploy and embed Industry 4.0 technologies in their organizational operations and practices, businesses must assess their adoption readiness. For this purpose, a multi-dimensional analytical indicator methodology has been developed to measure Industry 4.0 maturity and preparedness.

A weighted average method was adopted to assess the Industry 4.0 readiness using a case study from a steel manufacturing organization.

The result revealed that the firm ranks between Industry 2.0 and Industry 3.0, with an overall score of 2.32. This means that the organization is yet to achieve Industry 4.0 mature and ready organization.

The multi-dimensional indicator framework proposed can be used by managers, policymakers, practitioners and researchers to assess the current status of organizations in terms of Industry 4.0 maturity and readiness as well as undertake a practical diagnosis and prognosis of systems and processes for its future adoption.

Although research on Industry 4.0 maturity models has grown exponentially in recent years, this study is the first to develop a multi-dimensional analytical indicator to measure Industry 4.0 maturity and readiness.

The purpose of this study is to shed light on the twin transition in China in the organization of innovation processes in artificial intelligence (AI) and green technology (GT) development and to understand the role of foreign multinationals in Chinese innovation systems.

A qualitative research approach is used by interviewing executives from German multinationals with expertise in AI and GT development and organization of innovation processes in China. In total, 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted with companies, and the data were analysed with a thematic qualitative text analysis.

The findings show that AI applications for GT are primarily developed in cross-company projects that are led by local and regional authorities through the organization of industrial districts and clusters. German multinationals are either being integrated, remaining autonomous or being excluded from these twin transition innovation processes.

This paper aims to fill the gap in the literature by providing one of the first qualitative approach towards twin transition innovation processes in China and exploring the integration of multinational enterprises in cluster organizations. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the first twin transition studies from this perspective in emerging economies.

This study aims to understand the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), analysing their current practices in the social, environmental and economic domain.

To fulfil this objective, an exploratory, qualitative approach was adopted, using the multiple case study methodology and focusing on eight cases (SMEs) in Portugal. Data were collected through interviews, since this technique allows proximity and interaction with decision makers and those responsible for firms’ sustainability.

From content analysis of the interviews held, the results show that SMEs are aware of and committed to sustainability and that the external context and some of its particularities have a significant impact on their sustainable development. These SMEs undertake various practices of a social, environmental and economic nature, highlighting especially environmental ones such as efficient resource consumption, using more sustainable resources, recycling waste and waste management.

This study contributes greater knowledge of the phenomenon of SMEs’ sustainable development and identifies practical examples that could increase this firm segment’s awareness of the importance of sustainable practices associated with developing their business.

In this study, new and innovative sustainability practices are presented in the SMEs. The authors can underline that this study contributes to reinforcing the theory about the topic investigated by adding knowledge about sustainable development in the SME context. It deepens knowledge in this scientific area, which can be spread in the scientific community and among SMEs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wrought havoc on economies around the world. The purpose of this study is to learn about the distributional impacts of the pandemic.

The authors contribute new theoretical and empirical evidence on the distributional impacts of the pandemic on different income groups in a multicountry setting. The authors analyze rich individual-level survey data covering 6,082 respondents from China, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. The results are robust to various econometric models, including ordinary least squares (OLS), Tobit and ordered probit models with country-fixed effects.

The authors find that while the outbreak has no impact on household income losses, it results in a 63% reduction in the expected own labor income for the second-poorest income quintile. The pandemic impacts are most noticeable for savings, with all the four poorer income quintiles suffering reduced savings ranging between 5 and 7% compared to the richest income quintile. The poor are also less likely to change their behaviors regarding immediate prevention measures against COVID-19 and healthy activities. The authors also found countries to exhibit heterogeneous impacts.

Designing tailor-made social protection and health policies to support the poorer income groups in richer and poorer countries can generate multiple positive impacts that help minimize the negative and inequality-enhancing pandemic consequences. These findings are relevant not only for COVID-19 but also for future pandemics.

The authors theoretically and empirically investigate the impacts of the pandemic on poorer income groups, while previous studies mostly offer empirical analyses and focus on other sociodemographic factors. The authors offer a new multicountry analysis of several prevention measures against COVID-19 and specific health activities.

The widespread lockdown restrictions brought by the global COVID-19 epidemic inculcated a culture of “work-from-home”. However, most rural areas lack reliable and effective community amenities including transportation, health and education, thereby impeding healthy living and productive employment. Therefore, the underlying goal of this research is to investigate the development of smart infrastructure (SI) in non-urban areas. However, governments' resource limitations must be addressed to develop SI, which urges the research on the potential for public-private partnerships (PPP) to supplement public sector resources when necessary.

This paper examined and evaluated the “benefits and enablers” and “barriers” to deploying PPPs to create SI in non-urban areas, using a thorough literature review, five expert interviews and analytic hierarchy process (AHP)-based questionnaire responses. The AHP technique and content analysis were used to analyse the results and generate the conclusions.

The availability of a favourable investment climate and legal framework were identified as the significant factors among the “benefits and enablers” of adopting PPP in SI developments in non-urban areas, while low community acceptance of the private sector involvement, and community culture and values were identified as the significant factors among the “barriers”. These highlight the significance of removing barriers connected to community culture and “values”.

The findings and conclusions of this study provide a strong foundation to support the growth of SI in non-urban settings, facilitating more sustainable development that is more evenly distributed in the post-COVID-19 future.