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This paper aims to test the positive relationship between audit quality (AQ) of outsourced information technology controls (ITC) and information technology audit quality (ITAQ).

Factor analysis, ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions and simulations.

Scoping and planning phases of the audit cycle account for about 69 per cent of ITAQ. The AQ of outsourced ITC is strongly and directly related to ITAQ. Improvement of AQ of outsourced ITC may be achieved through evaluation of control design and operating effectiveness by service auditor as well as direct evaluation by the client in service provider location.

Sample size and input items in factor analysis.

Companies and auditors could improve ITAQ through a better organization of the scoping and planning activities; they could also improve the AQ of outsourced ITC using direct evaluation in the service provider location supplemented with service auditor reports. Regulators could refine or change laws and frameworks to take into account the factors of ITAQ and the methodology of evaluation of outsourced ITC.

Private data collected by questionnaire. The measures of ITAQ and the OLS model could be tested in future research, in countries with different frameworks and regulations related to AQ, different weight of outsourced information technology and other characteristics related to clients, service providers and service auditors.

Medical imaging applied to archaeological human remains represents a powerful tool for the study of specimens of exceptionally fragile nature. Here, the authors report a tomographic computerized investigation on the naturally mummified human remains from the Takarkori rock shelter (Libyan Sahara), dated to the Middle Pastoral Neolithic (ca. 6100-5600 uncal BP). The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Medical radiological techniques allowed us to discriminate and isolate the tissues preserved thanks to their different electron density, driving us to detailed examinations of features of interest.

With a focus on anatomy and taphonomy, the authors infer on post-depositional phenomena in a way that could not be achieved through traditional approaches.

The investigation of digital data allows to acquire new sets of information with no risk for the original object. This case study is especially important considering that the human remains from Takarkori are currently not available to the scientific community due to political instability in Lybia.

In this paper, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of customer feedback literature, highlighting the burgeoning role of artificial intelligence (AI). Customer feedback has long been a valuable source of customer insights for businesses and market researchers. While previously survey focused, customer feedback in the digital age has evolved to be rich, interactive, multimodal, and virtually real time. Such explosion in feedback content has also been accompanied by a rapid development of AI and machine learning technologies that enable firms to understand and take advantage of these high-velocity data sources. Yet, some of the challenges with traditional surveys remain, such as self-selection concerns of who chooses to participate and what attributes they give feedback on. In addition, these new feedback channels face other unique challenges like review manipulation and herding effects due to their public and democratic nature. Thus, while the AI toolkit has revolutionized the area of customer feedback, extracting meaningful insights requires complementing it with the appropriate social science toolkit. We begin by touching upon conventional customer feedback research and chart its evolution through the years as the nature of available data and analysis tools develop. We conclude by providing recommendations for future questions that remain to be explored in this field.

Management education has assumed phenomenal prominence in India in recent years, with branding being a prime factor used as a yardstick, rather a benchmark or point of reference, for one institution having an edge over the other. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors leading to branding of management education in India. It proposes two frameworks using Total Interpretive Structural Model (TISM) for public and private sector management colleges. For this purpose, variables are extracted using systematic literature review, which play a crucial role in changing the dynamics of college rankings. The inquiry distinctly examines the nature of relationship between them for public and private colleges offering higher education. The study further proposes strategies for improvement of rankings by discussing the hierarchy and interrelationship among the enablers.

The study uses Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) to ascertain the linkages between the variables, and employs TISM to validate the reasons of association. The model was fabricated by consulting the experts from various spheres closely allied to branding and higher education, including the private agencies and decision makers in the selected colleges. The variables were furthermore structured for classification using Matrice d’Impacts Croises-Multiplication Appliqué an Classment Analysis.

It was observed that the variables behave differently when studied from the perspective of private sector colleges and public sector colleges; the former have seven levels of arrangement while it is only four for the latter. Quality of Faculty and Research were the key areas of concern for private sector colleges while infrastructure featured as a focal point for those in public sector. It was also evident that the placement of variables and their flow were different. Rankings should thus be premeditated differently for both the sectors and different weights should be assigned to rank the colleges.

The study is confined to branding of management education institutes in India, without considering other important disciplines for generalizing the framework. It is based on literature review followed by ISM, while other approaches such as ethnographic research methods and appreciative inquiry could have been possible alternatives as well.

The paper helps in developing different frameworks for private and public sector institutes, which would assist them to have a homogenous completion within their respective sectors. The study can be used to measure the performance of colleges on various parameters and gives them linking variables to enhance their productivity.

The paper discusses the need for developing a different barometer to measure the performance of private sector and public sector colleges offering higher education.

The purpose of this paper is to propose that the resources that a firm owns and has full control (firm-level resources) and resources that a firm access through direct connection with other firms (network-level resources) will impact firm innovation when effectively deployed by the firm. While previous research examined these factors separately, the author takes a holistic view and looks into their effects on innovation simultaneously. The author also introduces the moderating effects, i.e. the variables that can enhance firm innovation through their interaction with internal and external resources.

The author tested the role of financial resources and slack resources in the form of cash slack and human slack at the firm level, and network size, network tie strength, and network diversity at the network level on the firm innovation. Using generalized negative binomial model with Huber-White procedure, the author analyzed 306 firms from the biotechnology industry over a span of 17 years.

The analysis suggests that cash slack impact innovation negatively. However, this link is moderated by firm size such that for large firms cash slack affects innovation positively. Network-level resources all positively impact innovation and have more economic impact on firm innovation than firm-level resources. Furthermore, although human slack negatively affects innovation, its interaction with network size enhances innovation.

The research makes important contributions to both strategic management and innovation literatures especially when, the author considers the role of firm-level slack in driving firm innovation. Previous research reported conflicting findings about the availability of slack resources and firm performance. The results showed that the relationship between slack resources and firm innovation is negative and significant, both for available slack and human slack. This finding parallels with previous research which reported that constraints such as lack of slack resources can actually facilitate innovation. The author also contributes to the literature by introducing boundary conditions which can enhance firm innovation through their interaction with firm-level internal and network-level external resources. In this respect, to the author’s knowledge, this is among the first studies to combine the slack literature focusing on firm-level resources with the literature on network-level resources.