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1 – 10 of over 11000Ibrahim Yahaya Wuni and Khwaja Mateen Mazher
Modular integrated construction (MiC) is a modern construction method innovating and reinventing the traditional site-based construction method. As it integrates advanced…
Abstract
Purpose
Modular integrated construction (MiC) is a modern construction method innovating and reinventing the traditional site-based construction method. As it integrates advanced manufacturing principles and requires offsite production of volumetric building components, several factors and conditions must converge to make the MiC method suitable and efficient for building projects in each context. This paper aims to present a knowledge-based decision support system (KB-DSS) for assessing a project’s suitability for the MiC method.
Design/methodology/approach
The KB-DSS uses 21 significant suitability decision-making factors identified through literature review, consultation of experts and questionnaire surveys. It has a knowledge base, a DSS and a user interface. The knowledge base comprises IF-THEN production rules to compute the MiC suitability score with the efficient use of the powerful reasoning and explanation capabilities of DSS.
Findings
The tool receives the inputs of a decision-maker, computes the MiC suitability score for a given project and generates recommendations based on the score. Three real-world projects in Hong Kong are used to demonstrate the applicability of the tool for solving the MiC suitability assessment problem.
Originality/value
This study established the complex and competing significant conditions and factors determining the suitability of the MiC method for construction projects. It developed a unique tool combining the capabilities of expert systems and decision support system to address the complex problem of assessing the suitability of the MiC method for construction projects in a high-density metropolis.
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Muhammad Saleem Sumbal, Quratulain Amber, Adeel Tariq, Muhammad Mustafa Raziq and Eric Tsui
The new disruption in the form of ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for organizations to enhance their knowledge management and decision-making capabilities. This article explores…
Abstract
Purpose
The new disruption in the form of ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for organizations to enhance their knowledge management and decision-making capabilities. This article explores how ChatGPT can enhance organizations' KM capability for improved decision-making and identifies potential risks and opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
Using existing literature and a small-scale case study, we develop a conceptual framework for implementing artificial intelligence on the internal organizational knowledge base of big data and its integration with a larger knowledge base of ChatGPT.
Findings
This viewpoint conceptualizes integrating knowledge management and ChatGPT for improved organizational decision-making. By facilitating efficient information retrieval, personalized learning, collaborative knowledge sharing, real-time decision support, and continuous improvement, ChatGPT can help organizations stay competitive and achieve business success.
Research limitations/implications
This is one of the first studies on the integration of organizational knowledge management systems with ChatGPT. This research work proposes a conceptual model on integration of knowledge management with generative AI which can be further tested in actual work settings to check it's applicability and make further modifications.
Practical implications
The study provided insights to managers and executives who, in collaboration with IT professionals, can devise a mechanism for integrating existing knowledge management systems in organizations with ChatGPT.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies exploring the linkage between ChatGPT and knowledge management for informed decision-making.
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Aws Al-Okaily, Manaf Al-Okaily and Ai Ping Teoh
Even though the end-user satisfaction construct has gained prominence as a surrogate measure of information systems performance assessment, it has received scant formal treatment…
Abstract
Purpose
Even though the end-user satisfaction construct has gained prominence as a surrogate measure of information systems performance assessment, it has received scant formal treatment and empirical examination in the data analytics systems field. In this respect, this study aims to examine the vital role of user satisfaction as a proxy measure of data analytics system performance in the financial engineering context.
Design/methodology/approach
This study empirically validated the proposed model using primary quantitative data obtained from financial managers, engineers and analysts who are working at Jordanian financial institutions. The quantitative data were tested using partial least squares-based structural equation modeling.
Findings
The quantitative data analysis results identified that technology quality, information quality, knowledge quality and decision quality are key factors that enhance user satisfaction in a data analytics environment with an explained variance of around 69%.
Originality/value
This empirical research has contributed to the discourse regarding the pivotal role of user satisfaction in data analytics performance in the financial engineering context of developing countries such as Jordan, which lays a firm foundation for future research.
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Ghiwa Assaf and Rayan H. Assaad
Project bundling is an innovative practice that groups or bundles several infrastructure projects into a single contract. While project bundling has various benefits, agencies are…
Abstract
Purpose
Project bundling is an innovative practice that groups or bundles several infrastructure projects into a single contract. While project bundling has various benefits, agencies are facing some challenges when bundling their projects, including properly assessing the feasibility (or infeasibility) of project delivery methods (PDMs) of interest. More specifically, project owners face the challenge of properly selecting between traditional and alternative PDMs for their bundled projects. Although some research efforts were devoted to providing guidelines in relation to different aspects related to project bundling, no previous study was conducted to help project owners performing PDMs-related feasibility analysis for bundled projects, which differ from normal, singly delivered projects. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper develops a decision-support tool that assists agencies in deciding whether they should select a traditional or alternative PDM (i.e. whether to go with the Design-Bid-Build (DBB) PDM or not) for their bundled projects.
Design/methodology/approach
An analytical methodology comprised of four main steps was followed in this paper. First, an expert survey was developed and distributed to industry experts to quantify the importance of 25 project bundling objectives. Second, principal component analysis was used to determine the weights for the different project bundling objectives. Third, a series of statistical tests was implemented to identify different feasibility tiers. Fourth, a user-friendly decision-support tool was developed, and its capabilities were demonstrated.
Findings
The results showed that six tiers exist to classify the feasibility (or infeasibility) of traditional PDMs (i.e. the DBB method) for bundled projects. The research outcomes have also reflected that the following five project bundling objectives contribute the most to making traditional PDMs (i.e. the DBB method) more feasible for bundled projects: (1) Having well-defined design features; (2) Requiring prior knowledge or experience with similar project size and scope; (3) Completing the overall project on schedule; (4) Keeping rate of expenditures within cash flow plan; and (5) Acquiring specific legislative, regulatory and jurisdictional requirements early on.
Originality/value
This research adds to the body of knowledge by equipping agencies and project owners with a decision-support system that helps them identify whether traditional or alternative PDMs are more appropriate for the specific objectives of their bundling program(s). By making the right PDM decision, project owners can enhance their bundling practices (especially in relation to the PDM proper selection) and ultimately the performance of their bundled projects.
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Mawloud Titah and Mohammed Abdelghani Bouchaala
This paper aims to establish an efficient maintenance management system tailored for healthcare facilities, recognizing the crucial role of medical equipment in providing timely…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to establish an efficient maintenance management system tailored for healthcare facilities, recognizing the crucial role of medical equipment in providing timely and precise patient care.
Design/methodology/approach
The system is designed to function both as an information portal and a decision-support system. A knowledge-based approach is adopted centered on Semantic Web Technologies (SWTs), leveraging a customized ontology model for healthcare facilities’ knowledge capitalization. Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) is integrated to address decision-support aspects, including equipment criticality assessment, maintenance strategies selection and contracting policies assignment. Additionally, Semantic Query-enhanced Web Rule Language (SQWRL) is incorporated to streamline the retrieval of decision-support outcomes and other useful information from the system’s knowledge base. A real-life case study conducted at the University Hospital Center of Oran (Algeria) illustrates the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Findings
Case study results reveal that 40% of processed equipment is highly critical, 40% is of medium criticality, and 20% is of negligible criticality. The system demonstrates significant efficacy in determining optimal maintenance strategies and contracting policies for the equipment, leveraging combined knowledge and data-driven inference. Overall, SWTs showcases substantial potential in addressing maintenance management challenges within healthcare facilities.
Originality/value
An innovative model for healthcare equipment maintenance management is introduced, incorporating ontology, SWRL and SQWRL, and providing efficient data integration, coordinated workflows and data-driven context-aware decisions, while maintaining optimal flexibility and cross-departmental interoperability, which gives it substantial potential for further development.
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Jianhua Zhang, Liangchen Li, Fredrick Ahenkora Boamah, Dandan Wen, Jiake Li and Dandan Guo
Traditional case-adaptation methods have poor accuracy, low efficiency and limited applicability, which cannot meet the needs of knowledge users. To address the shortcomings of…
Abstract
Purpose
Traditional case-adaptation methods have poor accuracy, low efficiency and limited applicability, which cannot meet the needs of knowledge users. To address the shortcomings of the existing research in the industry, this paper proposes a case-adaptation optimization algorithm to support the effective application of tacit knowledge resources.
Design/methodology/approach
The attribute simplification algorithm based on the forward search strategy in the neighborhood decision information system is implemented to realize the vertical dimensionality reduction of the case base, and the fuzzy C-mean (FCM) clustering algorithm based on the simulated annealing genetic algorithm (SAGA) is implemented to compress the case base horizontally with multiple decision classes. Then, the subspace K-nearest neighbors (KNN) algorithm is used to induce the decision rules for the set of adapted cases to complete the optimization of the adaptation model.
Findings
The findings suggest the rapid enrichment of data, information and tacit knowledge in the field of practice has led to low efficiency and low utilization of knowledge dissemination, and this algorithm can effectively alleviate the problems of users falling into “knowledge disorientation” in the era of the knowledge economy.
Practical implications
This study provides a model with case knowledge that meets users’ needs, thereby effectively improving the application of the tacit knowledge in the explicit case base and the problem-solving efficiency of knowledge users.
Social implications
The adaptation model can serve as a stable and efficient prediction model to make predictions for the effects of the many logistics and e-commerce enterprises' plans.
Originality/value
This study designs a multi-decision class case-adaptation optimization study based on forward attribute selection strategy-neighborhood rough sets (FASS-NRS) and simulated annealing genetic algorithm-fuzzy C-means (SAGA-FCM) for tacit knowledgeable exogenous cases. By effectively organizing and adjusting tacit knowledge resources, knowledge service organizations can maintain their competitive advantages. The algorithm models established in this study develop theoretical directions for a multi-decision class case-adaptation optimization study of tacit knowledge.
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Tachia Chin, T.C.E. Cheng, Chenhao Wang and Lei Huang
Aiming to resolve cross-cultural paradoxes in combining artificial intelligence (AI) with human intelligence (HI) for international humanitarian logistics, this paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Aiming to resolve cross-cultural paradoxes in combining artificial intelligence (AI) with human intelligence (HI) for international humanitarian logistics, this paper aims to adopt an unorthodox Yin–Yang dialectic approach to address how AI–HI interactions can be interpreted as a sophisticated cross-cultural knowledge creation (KC) system that enables more effective decision-making for providing humanitarian relief across borders.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is conceptual and pragmatic in nature, whereas its structure design follows the requirements of a real impact study.
Findings
Based on experimental information and logical reasoning, the authors first identify three critical cross-cultural challenges in AI–HI collaboration: paradoxes of building a cross-cultural KC system, paradoxes of integrative AI and HI in moral judgement and paradoxes of processing moral-related information with emotions in AI–HI collaboration. Then applying the Yin–Yang dialectic to interpret Klir’s epistemological frame (1993), the authors propose an unconventional stratified system of cross-cultural KC for understanding integrative AI–HI decision-making for humanitarian logistics across cultures.
Practical implications
This paper aids not only in deeply understanding complex issues stemming from human emotions and cultural cognitions in the context of cross-border humanitarian logistics, but also equips culturally-diverse stakeholders to effectively navigate these challenges and their potential ramifications. It enhances the decision-making process and optimizes the synergy between AI and HI for cross-cultural humanitarian logistics.
Originality/value
The originality lies in the use of a cognitive methodology of the Yin–Yang dialectic to metaphorize the dynamic genesis of integrative AI-HI KC for international humanitarian logistics. Based on system science and knowledge management, this paper applies game theory, multi-objective optimization and Markov decision process to operationalize the conceptual framework in the context of cross-cultural humanitarian logistics.
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Abla Chaouni Benabdellah, Kamar Zekhnini, Surajit Bag, Shivam Gupta and Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour
This study aims to propose a collaborative knowledge-based ontological research model for designing a collaborative product development process (PDP) while considering different…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose a collaborative knowledge-based ontological research model for designing a collaborative product development process (PDP) while considering different design for X techniques.
Design/methodology/approach
This study follows a thematic literature analysis to identify the key design concepts needed to assess environmental, service, safety, manufacture and assembly, supply chain and quality concerns in developing a collaborative PDP.
Findings
The proposed model provides a guide for methodology, engineering and ontology evaluation metrics (verification, assessment and validation). The findings benefit both practitioners and managers because they address the key knowledge taxonomy needed to assist them in storing information, promoting teamwork and making decisions in a collaborative PDP while incorporating various design for X approaches and product life cycles.
Originality/value
This study introduces a novel knowledge-based collaborative ontological research model, which is specifically designed to tackle the challenges of developing collaborative products in the contemporary landscape. The model presents a significant and valuable contribution to the field by introducing an ontological approach for acquiring, representing and leveraging knowledge in a computer-interpretable format to support the design of collaborative products. In addition, it provides a comprehensive guide for evaluating the effectiveness and efficacy of the ontology developed.
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The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into how management accountants can become relevant business partners out of respect for existing locally developed accounts of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into how management accountants can become relevant business partners out of respect for existing locally developed accounts of economic performance for decision-making.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with local business actors, in this case, families from seven financially successful Danish dairy farms. The casework and the analysis have been informed by pragmatic constructivism.
Findings
The local business actors do not use the official accounting system for ongoing cost-management-related decision-making. Instead, they use several epistemic methods that include locally developed decision models, experiences, rules of thumb and intuition. The farmers use these vernacular accountings to compensate for the cost management illusion that the formal accounting system tends to create. What the study suggests is that when management accountants engage as business partners, they are likely to enter a space where accounting is already present.
Originality/value
This paper argues that local business actors practice epistemic methods where they develop and use vernacular accountings to support their managerial practice, also in the absence of a professional management accountant. These vernacular accountings may lead the local actors into an illusion because the vernacular accountings do not necessarily have an inherent economic logic and theoretical reliability. The role of the management accountant in such a setting is hence to understand, support and advance local epistemic methods. Becoming a business partner requires a combination of management accounting analytical skills and a sense of empathy and sensitivity regarding what is already at play and how this can become an object of discussion without violating the values of the other.
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Wajde Baiod and Mostaq M. Hussain
This study aims to focus on the five most relevant and discursive emerging technologies in accounting (cloud computing, big data and data analytics, blockchain, artificial…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to focus on the five most relevant and discursive emerging technologies in accounting (cloud computing, big data and data analytics, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics process automation [RPA]). It investigates the adoption and use of these technologies based on data collected from accounting professionals in a technology-developed country – Canada, through a survey.
Design/methodology/approach
The study investigates the adoption and use of emerging technologies based on data collected from accounting professionals in a technology-developed country – Canada, through a survey. This study considers the said nature and characteristics of emerging technologies and proposes a model using the factors that have been found to be significant and most commonly investigated by existing prior technology-organization-environment (TOE)-related technology adoption studies. This survey applies the TOE framework and examines the influence of significant and most commonly known factors on Canadian firms’ intention to adopt the said emerging technologies.
Findings
Study results indicate that Canadian accounting professionals’ self-assessed knowledge (about these emerging technologies) is more theoretical than operational. Cloud computing is highly used by Canadian firms, while the use of other technologies, particularly blockchain and RPA, is reportedly low. However, firms’ intention about the future adoption of these technologies seems positive. Study results reveal that only the relative advantage and top management commitment are found to be significant considerations influencing the adoption intention.
Research limitations/implications
Study findings confirm some results presented in earlier studies but provide additional insights from a new perspective, that of accounting professionals in Canada. The first limitation relates to the respondents. Although accounting professionals provided valuable insights, their responses are personal views and do not necessarily represent the views of other professionals within the same firm or the official position of their accounting departments or firms. Therefore, the exclusion of diverse viewpoints from the same firm might have negatively impacted the results of this study. Second, this study sample is limited to Canada-based firms, which means that the study reflects only the situation in that country. Third, considering the research method and the limit on the number of questions the authors could ask, respondents were only asked to rate the impact of these five technologies on the accounting field and to clarify which technologies are used.
Practical implications
This study’s findings confirm that the organizational intention to adopt new technology is not primarily based on the characteristics of the technology. In the case of emerging technology adoption, the decision also depends upon other factors related to the internal organization. Furthermore, although this study found no support for the effect of environmental factors, it fills a gap in the literature by including the factor of vendor support, which has received little attention in prior information technology (IT)/ information system (IS) adoption research. Moreover, in contrast to most prior adoption studies, this study elaborates on accounting professionals’ experience and perceptions in investigating the organizational adoption and use of emerging technologies. Thus, the findings of this study are valuable, providing insights from a new perspective, that of professional accountants.
Social implications
The study findings may serve as a guide for researchers, practitioners, firms and other stakeholders, particularly technology providers, interested in learning about emerging technologies’ adoption and use in Canada and/or in a relevant context. Contrary to most prior adoption studies, this study elaborates on accounting professionals’ experience and perceptions in investigating the organizational adoption and use of emerging technologies. Thus, the findings of this study are valuable, providing insights from a new perspective, that of professional accountants.
Originality/value
The study provides insights into the said technologies’ actual adoption and improves the awareness of firms and stakeholders to the effect of some constructs that influence the adoption of these emerging technologies in accounting.
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