Search results

The innovation expected by clients is identified as a business success factor of industrial companies in the current decade and the accountability of it is primarily attributable to Research and Development (R&D), which makes it a strategic topic for studies on the decision-making process. In light of this, the purpose of this paper is to present a decision aiding methodology used to support R&D management in the technology-based company, specialised in refrigeration solutions and world leader in the hermetic compressor market.

It is an exploratory study and has deductive-inductive logic and uses a quail-quantitative approach. It uses the Knowledge Development Process Constructivist (ProKnow-C) to systemically revise the literature surrounding the theme in order to identify research opportunities in the subject and adopts the Multi-Criteria Decision Aiding Constructivist (MCDA-C) methodology as an instrument of organisational performance evaluation to fulfil the research opportunities identified.

In the theoretical aspect, this research fulfilled the opportunities observed in recent and qualified literature about R&D performance evaluation. The paper also offers practical implications for the performance evaluation in R&D, since the methodology allowed the R&D manager to build knowledge to understand the consequences of his decisions in the criteria deemed important by himself.

The importance of this work covers academic and practical interests, as it documents the application of MCDA-C and increases knowledge concerning R&D management, whilst developing a recurrent tool of decision aiding in the context of the company studied.

The purpose of this paper is to know what scientific literature presents about the theme evaluation of seaport performance, thus enabling the construction of knowledge in the researchers and the identification of gaps in the research that will lead to advances in the area from the identification of the characteristics of a portfolio of relevant international publications.

From the basic philosophical (constructivism), of the kind strategy (research-action) and the method used for the accomplishment of such strategy (structured process knowledge development process – constructivist (ProKnow-C)) the current research has a qualitative approach.

From the analysis of the bibliographic portfolio composed of 23 articles, the main results were: focus of the evaluation of seaport performance is on operational and tactical efficiency rather than on strategic and global performance; the majority of the studies does not relate to the reality experienced by seaport managers due to the limited interaction with these managers, evidencing a distance of the researchers from the object of their research; and performance evaluation was barely used/explored as a tool to support management, only for the sake of evaluation itself.

The search occurred in the databases Web of Science, Scopus, Proquest, Ebsco, Sciece Direct and Wiley.

The identification of gaps that might promote advances in this field of knowledge, once the seaport segment is not exploring the potential that performance evaluation can offer and is already available in literature.

This study aims to examine the characteristics of scientific publications that address the management of higher education institution (HEI) libraries from a sustainability perspective, through a bibliometric analysis, to contribute to the development of knowledge and to identify opportunities for further research.

The knowledge development process-constructivist instrument was used to select a portfolio of 24 articles that are scientifically acknowledged and aligned with the theme “Sustainable Management of Libraries in Higher Education Institutions” and delimited by the authors. This study, guided by a constructivist perspective, was carefully conducted to discern selections that differ from traditional definitions. The analysis followed a qualitative approach and used the following variables: fruitful authors, connection networks between authors and vision of sustainability (the degree of dimensional coverage).

The analysis of the literature highlighted the partnerships of authors from countries belonging to the American continent as the most involved in research on the subject and the evolution from a one-dimensional view – centred on the environment – to a multidimensional view.

The understanding is that library management in HEIs, from a sustainability perspective, is an essential aspect of institutional legitimacy for the stakeholders. Therefore, sustainability should be treated in a multidimensional way and integrated with the institution’s values.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to choose a set of scientific articles about performance measurement in public utilities regulation. The method is designed to identify references with high academic relevance in databases accessed via the internet, and, through these articles, to perform a mapping of these publications and conduct a systemic analysis.

The study is characterized as exploratory and descriptive with a qualitative and quantitative approach. Incorporates an inductive logic, and draws on primary and secondary data sources. The research involves the application of a technical procedure for selection and study of selected articles. To this end, the process selected was the Knowledge Development Process – Constructivist (ProKnow-C).

The result was a set of 16 renowned scientific articles and, for these papers, the main periodicals, papers, authors and keywords of the topic stood out. The content analysis allowed the identification of highlights and opportunities for future research.

The originality of the paper lies in presenting a structured process for identifying relevant academic articles relating to the research context and, for these articles, find prominences and opportunities for a research theme without similar papers.

The study aims to analyze the previous literature on government initiatives to implement health information systems (HISs).

Proknow-C (Knowledge Development Process-Constructivist) was used in the selection of the literature and in the bibliometric and systematic analysis.

The research identified a portfolio composed of 33 articles aligned with the research theme and with scientific recognition, as well as periodicals, authors, papers and keywords that stood out the most. Amongst the government initiatives in the 24 identified countries, England has been the most studied nation, and there is a certain prominence of research arising from developed countries. Electronic health records (EHRs) have been the most explored technology. Efficiency and safety of health care delivery, integration of information and among health organizations, cost reduction and economicity are the most expected benefits from government programs. The difficulties found are related to the broader context in which the system is inserted, to the management of the program, to technology itself and to individuals. The most emphasized difficulties identified in most countries were previous context marked by a lack of standardization/interoperability, acceptance of providers and users and project financing. The findings of the present article provide a theoretical framework for future studies, in addition to yielding a replicable process for future use.

This research may be considered original as it analyzes – through a constructivism-structured process (Proknow-C) – the phenomenon under investigation by gathering bibliometric and systematic review data concomitantly. The countries and technologies reported emerge from the process itself.

The aim of this paper is to present a framework to create a better understanding of the context and to aid the environmental disclosure management process. The paper seeks to present a case study illustrating the proposed methodology for assessing environmental disclosure management.

The ProKnow‐C process is used to identify the opportunities in the literature and the MCDA‐C methodology is used in order to build up the environmental disclosure management (MED) model.

First the ProKnow‐C process was used to identify opportunities in the literature about environmental disclosure and later the MCDA‐C methodology was used to discover the opportunities and to show a process for generating actions to promote improvement in environmental disclosure.

The case study allowed the manager to develop an understanding of environmental disclosure, showing that organizational performance is the key factor according to managers' perception. This knowledge allowed the manager to identify what the company needs to improve in its environmental disclosure regarding the following aspects: targets for using water, energy program, management of effluent and waste, biodiversity, adaptation to emergency plans, training and environmental awareness, expanding the coverage of the certification process and increasing operational performance in specific indicators relating to the electricity sector (pruning control, fire and oil spill).

The structured process of the MCDA‐C methodology enabled a model to be built that showed graphically and numerically the systemic diagnosis of environment disclosure, allowing the manager to know the consequences of a decision a priori and to suggest a set of improvement actions.

This study analysed international publications related to the performance evaluation (PE) theme to compare the public and private sectors with a focus on the metrics and a reflection on the consideration of each sector's characteristics.

In total, two bibliographic portfolios (BPs) were selected with the aid of the Knowledge Development Process-Constructivist (ProKnow-C) instrument, and the literature was systematically and critically reviewed to construct a theme literature map; the metrics analysed the performance evaluation systems (PESs) used in the studies and identified each sector's characteristics and PES behaviour based on these characteristics.

The two sectors stand out because of the low incidence of articles with cardinal scales, which enable the measurement and identification of the consequences of performance that are below or above the target. The behaviour of the sector characteristics was unusual, especially regarding the user and the organisational structure; it was found that the presence or absence of critical factors, such as communication, may prove to be a differential of success or failure. An absence of the organisation's particularities when designing and using a PES was noted.

The contributions relate to (1) identification of the public and private sector characteristics based on the selected literature, which helps in understanding the critical success and failure factors of an organisation's PES, especially with regard to metrics adequacy for each context; and (2) verification of the paths taken by the literature in both sectors.

The purpose of this paper is to collect data and select a bibliographic portfolio (BP) of the literature on the performance evaluation of business process management (BPM) governance, in order to highlight studies aligned with business process governance, and with scientific recognition and its bibliometric parameters.

The research method is qualitative and the process of identification, selection, and analysis of the articles in the BP took place through evaluation and interpretation by the authors of this research. Regarding data collection, this research used primary data in the selection of the BP, and secondary data when the authors analyzed the articles.

The paper selects a set of 19 articles with scientific recognition and aligned with the research topic, which refers to the performance evaluation of BPM governance. This set is called the BP, and highlights and contains the most often present journals, articles, authors, and keywords found in the search performed by the authors.

This research uses thorough procedures for the selection process that differ from traditional procedures: the selection process is structured in a way that allows checking of each research stage; the research topic is fragmented into many areas of study and the search is carried out simultaneously in all these areas; and the researchers interact with the search process and as they expand their learning they adjust the search direction.

The objectives of this study were to verify and group the unintended consequences (UCs) of performance evaluation systems (PESs) reported by empirical studies in the literature; and to determine whether these consequences manifest themselves at the managerial or the operational level of organisations.

A systematic review of the literature was undertaken using the intervention instrument Knowledge Development Process-Constructivist. In total, 33 scientifically relevant empirical articles were selected from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, representative of the theme of PESs’ UCs. The treatment of the data was due to critical reflection on the findings, synthesized in a literature map.

The study identified 24 UCs, most of which were negative. These were divided into two categories: feelings/emotions and attitudes/implications. Most conscious attitudes manifested themselves at the managerial level, whereas the unconscious ones appeared at the operational level. It was established that employees are more likely to be induced to adopt dysfunctional behaviours. Social aspects that interact with a PES, such as contextual and cultural factors, are fundamental for understanding how PES’s UCs occur.

The study provides insights for researchers and professionals in the field of performance evaluation who wish to delve deeper into the theme of UCs, based on the proposed structure of a literature map that consists of dividing consequences into feelings and attitudes; checking the occurrence level (managerial or operational); and identifying the nature of the attitude, whether it is conscious or unconscious.

This study aims to find evidence of a possible relationship between three constructs that are generally investigated separately: entrepreneurial orientation, understood as entrepreneurship on the organizational level; marketing capability, seen as a highly competitive factor for the organization; and business performance, highlighted as a focus of the entire organization.

A survey-based quantitative approach was adopted with a cross-sectional temporal perspective. To arrive at results that can be compared, the study uses factor analysis and structural equations modeling techniques, with estimations of maximum likelihood for testing the quality of fit of the measures to the structural models, using SPSS 21 and AMOS 16 software. Data were collected at the 27th EXPOSUPER, which is a trade fair at which 35,000 visitors were present. The data collection instrument used is a questionnaire previously validated by Reis Neto et al. (2013a). The first section covers control variables chosen to profile the firms, the second contains entrepreneurial orientation variables, the third comprises marketing capability variables and the fourth section contains business performance variables, all using seven-point Likert response scales.

Tests of the entrepreneurial orientation measurement scale produced interesting results in this application within the retail supermarket industry. The results of exploratory factor analysis indicated that a scale with three dimensions was significant. The relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and marketing capability (H1) is positive, through the intermediate dimensions of innovation, proactiveness and risk-taking, used by firms’ management, contributing to their efforts to research and manage the market, to develop products and services and to offer better prices. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis showed that four of the scale’s dimensions of the marketing capability were significant: market research, market management, new product development and pricing. Comparison of these results with those of Reis Neto et al. (2013a) reveals a difference, as although their result, achieved using structural equations modeling, also had four factors; the promotion dimension was the most significant and absorbed the other variables. Despite these differences, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations modeling demonstrated that this construct met the minimum conditions for adequacy, where (H2), formulated to test the relationship between the marketing capability construct, was confirmed. The final construct analyzed in this study was business performance, initially suggested by González-Benito et al. (2009), and also used by Reis Neto et al. (2013a). They used the dimensions profitability, market value and market response, and in the present study, after exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations modeling, the results were identical to those authors results, in that (H3), formulated with the objective of testing the relationship between the entrepreneurial orientation construct and business performance, was confirmed, and although this was not the most robust of the relationships postulated in the three hypotheses, but was of lower significance.

Although this study has achieved its objective, one of the study’s limitations relates to the data collection instrument, which was subject to failures in terms of the number of variables to be analyzed in each dimension. This led to elimination of certain dimensions during the analyses. Another limitation is related to the method used in the study. When questionnaires are used as data collection instruments, respondents often may not understand the true meaning of questions, which could lead them to choose any option, thereby stripping the results of credibility. In view of this limitation, it is suggested that future researchers conduct qualitative studies, using the case study method, which could offer greater clarity and increase understanding of the results related to these subjects. Even considering that this study has certain limitations and restrictions affecting generalization, it is hoped that it raises new questions, interests and inspirations, improving and complementing understanding of this strong social and economic sector.

It is identify the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and marketing capability, since to date there is no evidence from studies confirming the existence of such a relationship. This statement was based on the results of a bibliographic survey conducted using the ProKnow-C, knowledge development process-constructivist methodology, in which, this originality was positive and significant, offering new studies from this point of view.