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This study aims to examine how the legitimacy of internal auditing is reconstructed during enterprise resource planning (ERP)-driven technological change.

The study is based on the comparative analysis of internal auditing and its transformation due to ERP implementations at two case firms operating in the food sector in Egypt – one a major Egyptian multinational corporation (MNC) and the other a major domestic company (DC).

Internal auditors (IAs) at MNC saw ERP implementation as an opportunity to reconstruct the legitimacy of internal auditing work by engaging and partnering with actors involved with the ERP change. In doing so, the IAs acquired system certifications and provided line functions and external auditors with data-driven business insights. The “practical coping mechanism” adopted by the IAs led to the acceptance (and legitimacy) of their work. In contrast, IAs at DC adopted a purposeful strategy of disengaging, blaming and rejecting since they were skeptical of the top management team's (TMT's) sincerity. The “disinterestedness” led to the loss of legitimacy in the eyes of the stakeholders.

The article offers two contributions. First, it extends the literature by highlighting a spectrum of behavior displayed by IAs (coping with impending issues vs strategic purposefulness) during ERP-driven technological change. Second, the article contributes to the literature on legitimacy by highlighting four intertwined micro-processes – participating, socializing, learning and role-forging – that contribute to reconstructing the legitimacy of internal auditing.

This research empirically analyzes gaps in performance among development stages of integration in supply chain management (SCM). The used variables are integration such as internal and external and performance such as cost and service. The population is international freight forwarders in the Republic of Korea and the sample frame is the membership list of the Korean International Freight Forwarders Association. The used methodology in this research is various: Cronbach’s alpha, factor analysis, cluster analysis, analysis of variance and post hoc analysis. It is important to ascertain the position in which they are included and the position is concerned with internal integration and external integration because the aim of this research is to ascertain where the forwarders are in development stages of integration. According to prior research, development stages of integration are regarded as the flow from internal to external. However, this research suggests that development stages of integration do not explain the flow of the stages but explain the strategic choice concerned with their current decision-making.

This paper aims to investigate the antecedents of process innovation to provide more alternates for Vietnamese firms as they are still struggling to find an appropriate innovation strategy.

The research analyzes the separate impacts of each innovation strategy on process innovation using logistic regression models. Data were collected using a stratified random sampling method.

The results show that having an innovation strategy is good for innovation, regardless of whether the strategy is internal or external. Internal and external strategies are proved not complements but substitutes. However, the internal strategy seems to be most beneficial. Weak institutional settings further strengthen the importance of internal strategies, whereas strong institutional settings favor external strategies.

This paper analyzes the impact of different innovation strategies on process innovation in Vietnamese firms using firm-level data. The findings strongly recommend that in weak institutional settings such as Vietnam, firms should focus on an internal strategy because the emphasis on external innovation strategies might be a western bias stemming from research in mostly strong institutional contexts.

There are three aims of this research. One is to verify the mutual effects between internal collaboration and external collaboration, another is to prove performance improvement among different levels of supply chain collaboration, and the third is to analyze gaps between the two viewpoints. The population is Korean FDI firms in China and 208 data are used in the analysis. The data are treated with various methods: exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, SEM, cluster analysis, ANOVA, MANOVA and post hoc analysis. The results are as follows. First, external collaboration and internal collaboration have positive effects on each other, which have a positive effect on performance. This means that efficiency of internal processes is the cause of promoting connection with external processes and information generated from the market is the basis of a variance of internal processes, followed by high performance. Second, service performance improvement is more definite than cost performance improvement among different levels of supply chain collaboration. Firms can achieve more definite results in service performance when they perform supply chain collaboration. Third, this research verifies both the viewpoint of directions of supply chain collaboration and the strategic choice viewpoint of supply chain collaboration to better understand supply chain collaboration. Both viewpoints approach supply chain collaboration from different viewpoints but they do explain the methods for performance improvement.

The aim of this paper is to contribute with increased knowledge of the complex role of internal communication during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, the authors want to address the following research questions. How can the overall approach to internal crisis communication during the pandemic be interpreted, and what view of internal crisis communication does this approach reflect? What has been characteristic of the leadership communication during the pandemic? What do coworkers think of their communication role and how well does the internal communication support that role?

This article is based on a case study of an authority with 1,000 employees. The empirical material consists of both documents and interviews. The analyzed documents include steering documents, e-mails to managers from the support function and newsletters from the top manager. The 17 interviews comprise managers, coworkers and communication managers. All interviews were recorded and the authors have conducted verbatim transcriptions.

The pandemic is an example of a wicked problem that involves a lot of ambiguity. Often organizations try to handle wicked problems by trying to control it through traditional management skills and practices. A pandemic demands a leadership, culture and communicative approach that highlights the importance of coworkers. In the studied organization the authors found knowledge and rhetoric about the value of coworkers and communicative coworkership. However, top management does not encourage, support and award practices that are in line with the espoused culture. The key to success is top managers that walk the talk and act as role models.

Crisis managers and crisis communicators need to focus more on improvisation, flexibility, listening and how to approach and make sense of the uncertain. In general, there is a tendency to rely too much on simple tools and to oversimplify complexity. Complex crises such as the pandemic raise new demands on leadership. Effective crisis leadership in a complex crisis seems to be much more democratic and collaborative than often assumed. If coworkers are expected to act as ambassadors or organizational representatives, they also need to be given better support for that role.

This article highlights the importance of closing the gap between espoused and enacted culture in order to change from a managerialistic internal crisis communication to a process internal crisis communication approach.

Motivated to know more about the internal means through which accountability for sustainability takes shape within organisations (in what ways and by whom), this paper aims to explore how accountability for sustainability is constructed within an organisation during a process of establishing a control system for sustainability.

This paper adopts a qualitative case study approach of a decentralised industrial group, operating mainly in Scandinavia, between 2017 and 2020. Both primary and secondary data are used (e.g. document analyses, semi-structured interviews, informal conversations and site visits) to inform the findings and analysis.

The findings reveal a multi-faceted path towards accountability for sustainability that involves several concerns and priorities at organisational and individual levels, resulting in a separate sustainability control systems within each subsidiary company. Although hierarchical structures for accountability exist, socialising accountability activities are needed to (further) mobilise sustainable accounts.

Successful sustainable control systems require employees making sense of formalised accountability instruments (e.g. policies and procedures) to establish their roles and responsibilities in organisations.

This paper proposes socialisation processes as important for driving forward sustainability solutions.

This study elaborates on the internal accountability dynamic for the construction of sustainable accounts. Its novelty is built upon the interaction of hierarchical and socialising accountability forms as necessary for establishing a control system for sustainability. It furthermore illustrates the relationship between the external and internal pathways of accountability.

This paper analyzes how the distribution and structure of employees' attention influence idea survival in an organizational internal crowdsourcing session.

Data from an online internal crowdsourcing session carried out within a multinational company with headquarters in Sweden were used to explore how idea attention influenced idea survival.

Our findings indicate that the positive relationship between attention allocation and idea survival is mediated by idea appreciation, i.e. positive comments and suggestions that employees provide in response to ideas. In addition, we find that competition for attention negatively moderates the relationship between idea attention and positive comments. Finally, our results indicate that ideas are more likely to survive if they are submitted earlier in the crowdsourcing process and when the elapsed time since previously posted ideas in the session is longer.

This study provides organizers of internal crowdsourcing sessions with new insights about factors influencing idea survival and about potential systematic biases in idea selection due to timing and competition between ideas.

This paper contributes to the literature highlighting the relevance of attention-based theory in the context of crowd-based creativity and innovation management.

The purpose of the study is twofold: first, it is to develop each aspect of maṣlaḥah ḍarūriyah (essential needs), i.e. dīn (faith/religion), nafs (soul), ʿaql (intellect), naṣl (descendants) and mal (wealth), into various aspects of organisational essential needs; second, it is to formulate maṣlaḥah-based performance measurement.

The research is an exploratory study that uses a two-stage design: defining the research question and developing the research design. The research question is how each element of maṣlaḥah ḍarūriyah can become an element of organisational essential needs. The research design developed is to formulate maṣlaḥah-based performance measurement.

The study concludes that maṣlaḥah ḍarūriyah could be developed as a basis for identifying organisational essential needs. The five elements of maṣlaḥah ḍarūriyah are developed into the following organisational essential needs: worship orientation, internal process orientation, talent orientation, learning orientation, customer orientation and wealth orientation. Maṣlaḥah-based performance measurement uses five variables: strategic objective, measure, formula, target and strategic initiatives and applies the modified plan – do – check – action cycle: performance planning, performance implementation, performance evaluation and performance action.

Organisational essential needs can be developed by Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) into performance measurement. IFIs have six essential needs that can be developed into performance variables. Key performance indicators that can be developed for each need are worship orientation (social responsibility, regulatory compliance and Sharīʿah compliance); internal process orientation (innovation process, digital adaptation and employee satisfaction); talent orientation (career development, talent pool, compensation and benefits); learning orientation (training programme, training evaluation and return on training investment); customer orientation (customer engagement, customer satisfaction, customer survey and promotion programme); wealth orientation (profitability, cost-cutting, share prices, dividends, cost efficiency and financial sustainability).

This paper contributes to new knowledge. The study attempts to discuss the organisational essential needs based on the maṣlaḥah ḍarūriyah concept, while previous studies discussed organisational needs based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In developing performance measurement, organisational performance is measured in a balanced manner. According to the concept of maṣlaḥah, not only financial factors but also worship, internal processes, talents, learning and customers define organisational needs. Thus, organisational needs are considered not only in terms of material factors but also in terms of spiritual (worship) factors.

This paper discusses logistics service providers' (LSPs’) energy efficiency initiatives for sustainable development, both from an evolutionary perspective and based on a framework consisting of actions, processes (i.e. at the operations interface) and services (i.e. at the customer interface).

Following a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with sustainability managers at LSPs and the data were analysed via inductive coding. Based on the results and the literature, the authors developed a maturity model for LSPs' transitions to environmental sustainability.

LSPs' sustainable development occurs via operational processes, services at the customer interface, and actions that support those processes and services. Energy efficiency efforts are characterised by process depth that helps LSPs to align with their customers' energy efficiency improvement processes. While services related to energy efficiency connect LSPs and their customers, actions in support vary depending on the logistics activities in which LSPs participate.

Further research is needed to test and verify the maturity model and to clarify the interdependency of its three dimensions.

By categorising energy efficiency initiatives and proposing a maturity model for LSPs' sustainable development via energy efficiency, the authors have developed a tool for logistics actors to assess their progress towards improved sustainability.

The paper contributes to the literature by providing a three-pillar framework to understand the sustainability transitions of LSPs through energy efficiency. Developing a maturity model using this framework also contributes to the literature with an approach to assess sustainability advancement in the logistics industry.

The purpose of the paper is to present a service design (SD)-based methodology developed to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) undertake organisational change.

This research used the design science research methodology, which enabled the creation of the Service Design for Organisational Change (SD4OCh) methodology. A real case study of a small service company specialised in neuropsychological disorders was used for the definition and validation of SD4OCh.

The main outcome of this study is the SD4OCh methodology, which is based on three key stages: diagnosis (knowing where to begin by detecting the organisation's strengths and weaknesses), innovation (improving the structure/processes and designing/redesigning services by employing a customer-centric approach), and implementation (enabling the definition of the route towards organisational change). There is also a transversal evaluation stage, which quantifies the organisational changes.

This study adds valuable knowledge to the service science research field and contributes to the awareness of the usefulness of SD theory within companies, especially those which are small and medium-sized, since those companies lack the tools and methods required to tackle organisational change, signifying that the challenges the companies confront are different to those of larger companies.

Although this is a SD-based research, the SD4OCh methodology was developed in order to enable companies to make holistic changes, namely, to innovate their services, structure, and processes, thus supporting and guiding organisational change.