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This paper aims to provide an overview of the application of blockchain to agri-food supply chains, including key issues and trends. It examines the state of the art and conceptual structure of the field and proposes an agenda to guide future research.

This article performs a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer software on a sample of 205 articles from the WoS database to identify research trend topics.

The number of publications in this area has increased since 2020, which shows a growing research interest. The research hotspots are related to the integration of blockchain technology in the agri-food supply chain for traceability, coordination between all actors involved, transparency of operations and improvement of food safety. Furthermore, this is linked to sustainability and the achievement of the sustainable development gtoals (SDGs), while addressing key challenges in the implementation of blockchain-based technologies in the agri-food supply chain.

The application of blockchain in the agri-food supply chain may consider four key aspects. Firstly, the implementation of blockchain can improve the traceability of food products. Secondly, this technology supports sustainability issues and could avoid disruptions in the agri-food supply chain. Third, blockchain improves food quality and safety control throughout the supply chain. Fourthly, the findings show that regulation is needed to improve trust between stakeholders.

The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the blockchain phenomenon in the agri-food supply chain by optimising the search criteria. Moreover, it serves to bridge to future research by identifying gaps in the field.

The purpose of this paper is to bring new insights into the underexplored mediating role of psychological empowerment (PE) in the link between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and employees’ affective commitment. Furthermore, given the distinct behaviour that the different dimensions of PE have shown in previous studies, we have followed the call for more empirical research in this field by considering such specific dimensions. Thus, the present paper examines, from a multilevel perspective, the extent to which Spreitzer’s (1995) employee PE dimensions (meaning, competence, self-determination and impact) mediate the relationship between HPWS and employee affective commitment.

A multilevel approach, with matched data from HR managers and a sample of 504 core employees in 142 Spanish firms, is used to test the hypotheses through structural equation modelling methodology.

We corroborate that three of the dimensions of employee PE (meaning, self-determination and impact) mediate the relationship between HPWS and employee AC.

The study contributes to the existing literature by elucidating the importance of generating motivating feelings in employees as a way of promoting affective reactions in organisations. More specifically, it highlights the usefulness of examining and boosting different segments of the psychological empowerment construct when seeking committed employees.

This paper aims to define the efficiency achieved by urban transport companies in Spain concerning the resources they use, considering the type of management used for implementation, public-private, and size.

This study consisted of an analysis of the efficiency of 229 public-private urban transport operators during the period 2012–2021 using Data Envelopment Analysis, the Malmquist Index and inference estimators to determine productivity, efficiency change into Pure Technical Efficiency Change (PTECH), and scale efficiency change.

Based on the efficiency analysis, the authors concluded that of the 229 companies studied, more than 35 were inefficient in all analysed periods. Considering the sample used, direct management is considered significantly more efficient. It cannot be concluded that the size of these companies influences their efficiency, as the data show unequal development behaviours in the studied years.

This study provides arguments on whether there is a significant difference between the two types of management in the urban transport sector. It also includes firm size as a study variable, which has not been previously considered in other studies related to urban transport efficiency. Efficiency should be a crucial factor in determining funding allocation in this sector, as it encourages operators to optimize and improve their services.

This paper aims to explore the Spanish Self-Initiated Expats’ (SIEs) motivations and factors involved in the choice of the host destination.

Through an exploratory and qualitative study, drawing upon SIE literature on motivations and careers, 22 Spanish SIEs were interviewed in a semi-structured way.

Most SIEs clearly detailed the line of reasoning behind the host destination choice (specific destination); a second group considered a limited number of potential countries to relocate to (alternative destinations), and the smallest one did not choose a specific location. Career motivations were the most mentioned ones and different degrees of career planning were found: those with a very defined career planning process relied upon one potential destination, while those with a less defined one considered several alternative host destinations. The European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students experience was one of the most mentioned factors influencing the choice of the host destination, which may be common to other European Union (EU) nationals. As to the limiting ones, the visa requirements outside the EU were identified. Other factors were particular to Spain, such as the perceived need for English proficiency for a successful global career and the degrees of career planning.

These findings may assist Talent Management Managers to align organizational strategies with SIEs motivations. They may also help future Spanish and European SIEs in their individual career management process.

This study contributes to a better understanding of the expatriation motivations and factors influencing the destination location of Spanish SIEs, adding to the SIE and global career literature.

Environmental protection and conservation have been closely linked with the promotion of sustainable tourism across destinations. This is underpinned by the assumption that the environment and tourism have an interdependent relationship – where tourism activities need to support the preservation and conservation of environmental areas so that such economic activities can be sustained. That is a balance must be struck between the two. Within these two areas, women have been recognized to play a crucial role – in tourism, women were seen to dominate the industry's workforce globally; in environmental efforts, women were believed to play a key role in supporting such initiatives across societies. In both areas, women's efforts, despite being crucial to the achievement of sustainability, are often perceived as small and thus overlooked. Despite these, little has been said about their experiences in promoting sustainable tourism. To contribute to discourses promoting the idea of “thinking small,” this chapter looks at women's tourism-related environmental efforts that are often seen as small and overlooked, alongside their experiences in being involved in these initiatives.

This study aims to explore the impact of different contextual factors and their interactions on university students' entrepreneurship, specifically start-up activities.

The paper used a multilevel hierarchical model with four contextual factors: i) industry and technological, ii) institutional and policy, iii) organizational-university; and iv) cultural. Each of these factors might influence university students’ start-up activities differently. To address this exploratory direction, the study used a sample of 34,200 nascent entrepreneurs from 34 countries included in the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit students’ Survey, along with data from the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, Global Entrepreneurship Index and Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Index.

The results show that, in general terms, contextual elements impact university students’ start-up activities. Nevertheless, when these factors are combined, their effect increases strongly with the performance-based culture but decreases with a high level of a socially supportive culture.

Regarding the study of university students’ start-up activities, most scientific evidence has an individual-level approach without considering the influence of the context. The paper adopts a multilevel approach for such analysis to reflect the multilevel and context-dependent nature of the topic under study.

Este estudio explora el impacto de diferentes factores contextuales y sus interacciones en el espíritu empresarial de los estudiantes universitarios, concretamente en las actividades de puesta en marcha.

El trabajo emplea un modelo jerárquico multinivel con cuatro factores contextuales: i) industriales y tecnológicos, ii) institucionales y políticos, iii) organizativos-universitarios; y iv) culturales. Cada uno de estos factores podría influir de forma diferente en las actividades de puesta en marcha de los estudiantes universitarios. Bajo un enfoque exploratorio, el estudio utilizó una muestra de 34.200 emprendedores nacientes de 34 países incluidos en la Encuesta Global de Estudiantes Universitarios con Espíritu Emprendedor (GUESSS por sus siglas en inglés), junto con datos del Índice de Competitividad Global (GCI), el Índice de Espíritu Emprendedor Global (GEI) y el Índice Global de Liderazgo y Eficacia del Comportamiento Organizacional (GLOBE).

Los resultados muestran que, en términos generales, los elementos contextuales influyen en las actividades de creación de empresas de los estudiantes universitarios. Sin embargo, cuando se combinan estos factores, su efecto aumenta considerablemente en países con una cultura basada en el rendimiento, pero disminuye en las de un alto nivel de apoyo social.

En lo que respecta al estudio de las actividades de creación de empresas de los estudiantes universitarios, la mayoría de las pruebas científicas tienen un enfoque a nivel individual sin tener en cuenta la influencia del contexto. Nuestro trabajo adopta un enfoque multinivel para dicho análisis con el fin de reflejar la naturaleza multinivel y dependiente del contexto del tema estudiado.

Este estudo explora o impacto de diferentes fatores contextuais e suas interações no empreendedorismo dos estudantes universitários, especificamente nas atividades de start-up.

O artigo utilizou um modelo hierárquico multinível com quatro fatores contextuais: i) industrial e tecnológico, ii) institucional e político, iii) organizacional-universitário, e iv) cultural. Cada um desses fatores pode influenciar de maneira diferente as atividades de start-up dos estudantes universitários. Para abordar essa direção exploratória, o estudo utilizou uma amostra de 34.200 empreendedores de 34 países incluídos na Pesquisa Global sobre o Espírito Empreendedor dos Estudantes Universitários (GUESSS), juntamente com dados do Índice de Competitividade Global (GCI) do Fórum Econômico Mundial, do Índice Global de Empreendedorismo (GEI) e do Índice de Liderança Global e Eficácia Organizacional (GLOBE).

Os resultados mostraram que, em termos gerais, elementos contextuais impactam as atividades de start-up dos estudantes universitários. No entanto, quando esses fatores são combinados, seu efeito aumenta fortemente com a cultura baseada em desempenho, mas diminui com um alto nível de cultura socialmente solidária.

No que diz respeito ao estudo das atividades de start-up dos estudantes universitários, a maioria das evidências científicas tem uma abordagem em nível individual sem considerar a influência do contexto. Nosso artigo adota uma abordagem multinível para tal análise, a fim de refletir a natureza multinível e dependente do contexto do tema em estudo.

In this vein, this paper aims to provide empirical evidence on the following questions: Which expansion strategies offer better operational and economic performance? What effects does performance-related diversification have? How do other factors such as size, quality, service offered, location or seasonality interact with performance.

In this paper, the analysis of the effects of growth strategies and hotel attributes on performance is carried out with a sample of 255 hotels that operate internationally. Using panel data and quantile regression, this study evaluates the effect of expansion and diversification on the hotels’ performance.

From these findings, it appears that the equity strategy (own hotels) outperforms non-equity strategies (hotels under rental, franchise and management contract) at the operational level. However, the economic return of the property, both adjusted and unadjusted to risk, is lower under the property ownership strategy than under the franchise and management strategies because, in general, it requires a higher investment. Regarding diversification, the growth strategy based on related diversification in food and beverage services has a negative impact on performance, calling into question the synergies between the two businesses. However, an exception to this effect is seen among those hotels, mainly those in the Caribbean, that opt to provide all-inclusive services, since these hotels achieve better occupancy rates and more stable results.

This study has not taken into account the effect of hotel property revaluation on the performance of the ownership strategy, as there is no information on the historical average revaluation at the level of each individual hotel. This study has also been unable to include information regarding the level of competition and seasonality of sales.

This paper considers a wide number of factors that can influence the performance of hotels. Second, this is the only paper that studies the impact of growth strategies from the point of view of the hotel chain. Also, the sample considered uses data at the individual level on hotels and this research analyses not only operational performance but also economic performance.

This chapter explores how new tourism policy paradigms can emerge and settle in a wicked-problems scenario characterised by high labour informality. Acknowledging the growing importance of the tourism sector in Argentina, where labour informality has long been a concern, the authors focus on an ambitious and unprecedented tourism policy: PreViaje. Established in 2020, PreViaje is a program that promotes the selling of tourism services in advance to residents travelling within Argentina. It is designed around incentives to encourage formality via both tourism supply and demand. After looking at the outcomes of PreViaje, relevant matters to consider for future program editions are identified. These relate to temporal and spatial dispersal concerns, and trade-offs regarding economic, social and environmental matters.

In the last decade, the hospitality sector has undergone numerous changes in the organization and structure of its business models. Specifically, the adoption of new digital technologies has initiated transformative changes toward circular economy and sustainability. The present study aims to analyze whether the use of the digital reservation system in circular entrepreneurship businesses has an impact on entrepreneurs’ satisfaction and trust in the in circular economy.

The data collected via a survey of 317 entrepreneurs who use a circular economy strategy were analyzed using SEM in a proposed model based on circular entrepreneurship businesses and the adoption of digital reservation systems.

The results showed a positive relationship between usability and perceived ease of use and user satisfaction and trust in using digital reservation systems to boost circular entrepreneurship in hospitality. Therefore, it was identified that adopting a digital reservation system can increase the efficiency of entrepreneur resources, as well as lead to creation of sustainable knowledge, augment the use of new sources of user information, improve prediction of services and demand and, consequently, boost sustainability and circular economy.

Future research can use the results of the present study to investigate how digital technologies work and affect user trust, satisfaction, and use of these systems in entrepreneurs’ projects in hospitality. In addition, it would be interesting to explore how these factors influence hospitality in different business models that support circular economy in tourism. To this end, researchers can use the variables used in the present study, along with other variables, to extend the proposed model and deepen the authors' research. In summary, this study contributes to the literature on the use of applications in hospitality sector and offer useful insight on how the adoption and use of new technologies can drive the management of knowledge and technology development, decision making and acquisition of new data sources that improve the experience of both entrepreneurs and users that interact with their services to enable circular entrepreneurship.

Hospitality entrepreneurs can use the results of the present study to better evaluate how using these applications can affect the communication protocols with their employees and stakeholders. Furthermore, entrepreneurs operating in the hospitality sector can use the results to develop action plans focused on the circular economy, new knowledge creation, as well as development and adoption of new digital technologies that enable circular entrepreneurship. In this way, hospitality companies will be able to effectively combine both more traditional offline channels and new technologies, such as mobile applications or the Internet.

The authors' prediction of a strong positive link between perceived usefulness and user trust was also supported by the results of data analysis. The finding that perceived utility increases user trust in entrepreneurs when making adopting these technologies is also consistent with other similar studies. Finally, the results of this study also confirmed the hypothesized link between the perceived utility of digital technologies and user satisfaction. Taken together, the results also highlight the relevance of analyzing the use of digital reservation systems in the hospitality sector to enable circular entrepreneurship.

Taken together, the results highlight the relevance of analyzing the use of digital reservation systems in the hospitality sector to enable circular entrepreneurship and increase the perceived usefulness of new digital technologies so that to improve sustainable actions and the circular economy globally.

The paper aims to clarify the relationship between organizational work-family practices and employee work-family conflict in light of the boundary conditions of commitment-based human resource management (HRM) and employee human capital.

The paper opted for a multi-source, multi-level design and surveyed 1,717 individuals (including CEOs, HR managers and employees) from 159 firms in China. The model was tested using hierarchical linear modeling.

The paper provides empirical insights that the effect of work-family practices on work-family conflict is indispensably dependent on the adoption of commitment-based HRM. In addition, employee human capital further moderated this interaction in that the effect of work-family practices on reducing work-family conflict was most salient with high-education employees who were embedded in a high-commitment HRM system.

Testing the hypotheses in the Chinese context has both its merits and drawbacks. Specific results are pursuant to the Chinese context. Therefore, a cross-cultural comparative study is called upon.

The paper includes implications for organizations striving to minimize employee work-family conflict.

This paper primarily applies the resource-building perspective to examine the synergistic effects of organizational resources (targeting work-family practices together with general commitment-based HRM) and individual intellectual resources (human capital) on employee work family conflict.