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For start-ups or growing firms, to effectively navigate the unpredictable nature of digital development and achieve superior innovative performance, it is crucial to have a workforce comprised of creative and innovative employees. Drawing upon the principles of social information processing theory, this study aims to investigate whether specific combinations of organizational internal and external environments, as well as work characteristics in the digital age, can foster a high level of employee innovative behavior.

By collecting a multilevel and multisource data set comprising 693 employees and 88 CEOs from 88 start-ups or growing firms, this study used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to examine the distinctive configurations associated with achieving a high level of employee innovative behavior.

The study found that six solutions enabled employees to innovate more effectively, but six solutions led to the absence of employee innovative behavior.

The findings of this study offer important theoretical and practical implications to motivate employee innovative behavior in Chinese enterprises.

First, this study contributes to the literature on employee innovative behavior by addressing the need to explore the impact of the digital context on promoting innovation among employees. Second, this study adds to the existing literature on employee innovation and entrepreneurship by examining multiple organizational contexts and their influence on innovative behavior. Third, this study makes a significant contribution to the field of employee innovative behavior by examining the macroenvironment surrounding digital transformation within enterprises and integrating both internal and external organizational factors.

Innovation is a process that enables organizations to sustain and prosper in a competitive business environment. This study aims to understand the key drivers of innovation within organizations from the lens of employees.

This study uses a grounded theory approach based on semi-structured in-depth interviews of 20 professionals working in information technology (IT) firms. Judgmental sampling was adopted to select the respondents. Open coding, inductive analysis was conducted on the interview transcripts to generate relevant themes.

Emerging themes indicate that innovation within organizations can be triggered as a response to client requirements or the employees’ inherent urge to innovate. Certain factors such as user engagement, formal organizational processes and practices, informal collaborative practices, the role played by experts and leaders and upskilling were seen to enable innovative outcomes within organizations.

Findings from this study will allow leaders to activate the identified drivers by designing suitable organizational processes and strategies to nurture a successful innovation culture within their teams.

This grounded theory-based study looks at drivers of innovation within IT organizations from the perspective of employees.

There are several studies on various aspects of the disclosure of companies but there is little research on elements related to the disclosure of innovation in particular. The work aims to fill this important gap by examining to what extent the companies listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, which prepare the sustainability report (non-financial declaration – NFS), disseminate information relating to innovative activities.

The methodology used to achieve the research goal has used multiple linear regression models (OLS), to study the factors that influence disclosure. The data were collected through the content analysis. The sample is made up of 171 companies listed on the Italian stock exchange which prepared a sustainability report for the period of four years 2016–2019 (Sustainability Reports and Integrated Documentation) and which contain information on innovative activity.

The research confirms a positive relationship between information on innovation and the economic variables of corporate investment. In addition, an important relationship emerges linked to the disclosure of innovative information and the business sector, innovation investments and R&D activity.

The work suffers from some limitations: the short period of observation subject to analysis, the lack of sustainability report 2020, the extension of the variables taken into consideration for the implementation of the regression models; it is desirable to consider a wider pool of variables in the future in order to implement further specific tests.

On a practical level, the research suggests the adoption of a framework on the dissemination of innovative activity that allows easy reading of information (regardless of the sector and company size), built starting from the most representative keywords of the activities innovative, to be included in a specific section of the Sustainability Report. This work contributes to filling a cognitive gap connected to the disclosure of the innovative activity. There is much research on disclosure related to business activities, but no specific research regarding the communication of innovation.

The study conducted contributes to fill a gap in the literature related to the disclosure of the innovative activity. The latter is a strategic element for effective and clear communication with stakeholders.

In the most recent years, social, innovative, economic and political changes in the European context have characterized consumers' behaviours. The paper aims to understand if the use of electronic commerce differs in a situation characterized by uncertainty.

An innovative approach to categorising online consumer behaviour considers the self-determination theory and basic psychological needs in an uncertain scenario. The research is based on a quantitative analysis obtained by clustering algorithms on a sample of 1,000 digital users in European countries. A structured questionnaire was administered online and distributed through the leading online social platforms and direct mailing.

The results show online activities during changes in consumer behaviour patterns and retailers' strategies. This research will allow online retail managers and practitioners to obtain important information to help them define appropriate customer-oriented strategic actions to enhance value in the electronic context for both customers and firms.

The innovation of this research approaches the categorization of online consumer behaviour by exploiting the self-determination theory in an uncertain scenario. Precisely, the novelty of this research is to highlight three detailed categories of electronic commerce consumers, namely, unwilling, halfback and digital, to collect, store and disseminate information about these categories of Online Consumers Behaviours.

The paper aims to investigate the comfort-related performances of an innovative solar shading solution based on a new composite patented material that consists of a cement-based matrix coupled with a stretchable three-dimensional textile. The paper’s aim is, through a performance-based generative design approach, to develop a high-performance static shading system able to guarantee adequate daylit spaces, a connection with the outdoors and a glare-free environment in the view of a holistic and occupant-centric daylight assessment.

The paper describes the design and simulation process of a complex static shading system for digital manufacturing purposes. Initially, the optical material properties were characterized to calibrate radiance-based simulations. The developed models were then implemented in a multi-objective genetic optimization algorithm to improve the shading geometries, and their performance was assessed and compared with traditional external louvres and overhangs.

The system developed demonstrates, for a reference office space located in Milan (Italy), the potential of increasing useful daylight illuminance by 35% with a reduced glare of up to 70%–80% while providing better uniformity and connection with the outdoors as a result of a topological optimization of the shape and position of the openings.

The paper presents the innovative nature of a new composite material that, coupled with the proposed performance-based optimization process, enables the fabrication of optimized shading/cladding surfaces with complex geometries whose formability does not require ad hoc formworks, making the process fast and economic.

Purpose: The main goal of this discussion is to explain how competitiveness could be an important source of knowledge and economic power in a society, especially in the period of higher demands on knowledge, innovation and organisational base growth. Our focus of the discussion will be tourism as an important service sector economic activity in countries all over the world.

Methodology: The chapter will be conceptually based on its goal to develop the theories of competitiveness and to discuss how competitiveness influences knowledge, organisational processes and forms with a focus on tourism services.

Findings: Competitiveness in tourism depends on many factors. As an intangible source of knowledge, organisational culture processes and organisational forms generally influences tourism activity. For this reason, not only is comparative advantage important in the competitiveness concept, but also competitive advantage and the way of deploying resources play an important role.

Significance: Resources are not only based on labour, capital and land (neoclassical theory approach), but resource-advantage theory underlines the importance of financial, physical, legal, human, organisational, informational and relational capital. In this process, new processes and organisational forms must be created, as well as innovative approaches to processes and the importance of knowledge capital.

Practical Implications: New ideas about this process could be helpful for researchers and practitioners to recognise the importance of competitiveness for their work and research.

Literature has recognised entrepreneurship education as the main conduit through which entrepreneurial behaviours, attitudes and actions can be built, enacted and delivered. Since the founding of new ventures is largely a resourceful founder-driven enterprise, entrepreneurship education has largely centred on galvanising and shifting the mindsets and cognition of the entrepreneur. Yet, despite over 60 years of delivering entrepreneurship education programmes, hard evidence of the generation of high-growth-oriented and sustainable ventures has been scarce as student entrepreneurship intentions do not always translate into successful venture creation. This is largely because of the complexities of the practicality of entrepreneurial education particularly, the dissonance between acquired education in business schools and the knowledge and competencies needed in the entrepreneurial field. Such dissonance can be attributed to the lack of clarity on the pedagogical approach that most resonates with entrepreneurial action, the diversity in assessment methods and the scholarly illusion pertaining to how pedagogical approaches can be channelled to the generation of growth-oriented ventures. Drawing on Girox's concepts of transformative critical pedagogy (including pedagogy of repression), Socratic dialogue, Hegelian dialectic and Yrjö Engeström's transformative expansive agency, I demonstrate how a flipped transformative critical pedagogy can be harnessed in digitally enhanced learning environments to create new entrepreneurial possibilities for facilitating critical inquiry, complex problem-solving, innovation for the market and fostering tolerance for failure in ambiguous entrepreneurial contexts.

In recent years, sustainable supply chain practices (SSCPs), including corporate social responsibility (CSR), have been recognised as important means of developing firms’ sustainability performance (SP). However, empirical findings on the SSCP–SP interaction are inconsistent and even contradictory. This research presents a quantitative meta-analysis that aims to uncover SSCP–SP interactions based on the correlations found in previously published empirical studies.

Based on the main and moderating variables and selection criteria, 64 sample studies were selected after a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

The findings confirm a positive correlation (0.438) between SSCP and SP. The results also reveal various critical moderators identified through meta-regression.

This study provides insights for operations managers and policymakers regarding the significance of control variables (e.g. ISO certification, type of economy, innovation approach, data collection method) on the relationship between SSCP and SP for business operations. This research uncovers the impacts of ISO regulations and proposed hypotheses through the lens of the natural resource-based view (NRBV) and institutional-based view (IBV).

This research is unique in that it provides a systematic view of the SSCP–SP interaction, validates the results through a theoretical lens (NRBV and IBV) and generalises the results by evaluating the moderation effects via checking prior literature.

This study aims to address the question of what coordination mechanism can be used for cultural production and, in particular, for the governance of music culture production. The authors locate their reflection within the specific institutional innovations introduced in Italy in 2017, focusing on the idea of shared administration and the public–private collaboration instituted in Trentino (a province located in northern Italy) in support of its cultural policy.

This study focusses on the Trentino’s music school system. This includes 13 organisations (musicians’ cooperatives as well as associations of musicians and students, plus one municipal school which do not overlap with the public school system). To analyse shared administration features, the authors rely on selected information from 50 interviews with Trentino Music Schools (TMS) teachers and administrators, and on the proceedings of the 1994 music school conference organised by the schools at the time when this novel educational system was created.

To offer an innovative educational service, the public actor (Provincia Autonoma di Trento [PAT]) and the schools (TMS) have developed a strong interdependence at the different levels of decision-making: PAT needs organisations that are sufficiently structured and organised to respect requirements of transparency and accountability, as well as educational standards, whereas TMS need public funding to maintain their service accessible for users, good labour conditions and be financially sustainable. Likewise, the success of TMS in educating thousands of students every year, including additional teaching programmes funded by PAT within general public schools, has contributed to decrease the exclusion from music education, raise interest in young people for music and fed enrolment in TMS as well as in the public schools related to the conservatoire filière. Conclusions emphasise the existence of a polycentric system of music culture production which needs to acknowledge the risk of being trapped in a static disequilibrium, while recognising change and the need to support and promote a culture of cooperation among schools and across layered institutional levels over time.

Further research can observe this system of cultural production over time, to appreciate changes and organisational tranformations, while introducing comparative analysis with other systems in different regions.

The relationship between the public and private sectors to design, organise and manage activities of collective interest (in the social, cultural, sporting and other fields) can increasingly become an effective and efficient alternative to the traditional bureaucratic as well as to the competitive method. For this to happen, however, all actors involved must be aware not only of areas of efficiency but also of inefficiency. To remedy the latter, corrective measures will have to be introduced. For example, fostering and improving “co-programmazione” and “co-progettazione” means giving all stakeholders involved the opportunity to actively participate. Should the number of participants increase, more discussion fora could be set up because one alone may not be sufficient to foster maximum involvement, to enhance different points of view, to allow for intersectoral and multidisciplinary interpretations and responses.

The system governance based on co-programming and co-design has allowed – despite limitations – to pursue educational purposes and thus well-being for the users, as well as for the teachers and the community as a whole. The continuity of this educational and cultural action has been guaranteed by the economic and financial sustainability of the schools, which is highly dependent on the public actor funding personnel costs, and in turn tied to the number of students (demand) attending each school. Actors embedded in the system need to build awareness of industry and cultural changes and knowledge of how to introduce more adaptive capacity. This points towards the need for strengthening networking capacity and collaboration among schools and other relevant stakeholders.

The case presented is a unique system of music culture production in Italy, and its governance has never been addressed by previous studies. It provides an application of shared administration to which public administrations and communities can learn to improve access to music culture and education. For public and private organisations to take advantage of the method of “co-programmazione” and “co-progettazione”, to make the production of a meritorious good more efficient and to favour its maximum accessibility, this study considers the strengths and weaknesses of this approach, or the areas of efficiency and inefficiency, for which new measures will have to be introduced.

In today’s digital age, technology is advancing at an unprecedented pace, and businesses that fail to keep up risk falling behind their competitors. This requires not only investing in technological resources but also creating a culture that values and encourages women in technological learning and innovation in the tourism and hospitality sector. This study aims to investigate the consequences of organizational learning on firm innovation directly and indirectly with cultural and technological perspectives.

The study carries out a quantitative approach, and data is collected from 398 women entrepreneurs from Thailand’s tourism and hospitality sectors. The statistical software Smart-PLS was used to analyze the data.

The findings revealed that organizational learning (the learning orientation and learning process) significantly influence firm innovation and organizational culture. Organizational culture also significantly mediates learning orientation, learning process and firm innovation, while learning leadership was found to be insignificant in relationship with organizational culture and firm innovation. However, technological knowledge has a significant moderating influence between organizational culture and firm innovation.

This study’s focus on the role of learning practices among women-owned small medium enterprises is a valuable contribution to the literature on innovation and entrepreneurship. These provided dimensions that can be helpful for women entrepreneurs to enhance firm innovation. The study shed light on the importance of diverse kinds of learning practices that change the patterns of innovation. This study also provides directions to practitioners to develop and implement business innovation strategies from women’s perspectives.