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Using Brandenburger and Nalebuff's 1995 co‐opetition model as a reference, the purpose of this paper is to seek to develop a tool that, based on the tenets of classical game theory, would enable scholars and managers to identify which games may be played in response to the different conflict of interest situations faced by companies in their business environments.

The literature on game theory and business strategy are reviewed and a conceptual model, the strategic games matrix (SGM), is developed. Two novel games are described and modeled.

The co‐opetition model is not sufficient to realistically represent most of the conflict of interest situations faced by companies. It seeks to address this problem through development of the SGM, which expands upon Brandenburger and Nalebuff's model by providing a broader perspective, through incorporation of an additional dimension (power ratio between players) and three novel, respectively, (rival, individualistic, and associative).

This proposed model, based on the concepts of game theory, should be used to train decision‐ and policy‐makers to better understand, interpret and formulate conflict management strategies.

A practical and original tool to use game models in conflict of interest situations is generated. Basic classical games, such as Nash, Stackelberg, Pareto, and Minimax, are mapped on the SGM to suggest in which situations they could be useful. Two innovative games are described to fit four different types of conflict situations that so far have no corresponding game in the literature. A test application of the SGM to a classic Intel Corporation strategic management case, in the complex personal computer industry, shows that the proposed method is able to describe, to interpret, to analyze, and to prescribe optimal competitive and/or cooperative strategies for each conflict of interest situation.

This study aims to investigate whether the three-dimensional leisure constraints model which is adapted to holiday tourism shows the same structure for mono- and bicultural people and perceptions of these groups differ from each other.

Separate surveys are conducted on Turkish people who are resident in Turkey, representing the mono-cultural structure, and Turkish people who live in Germany, representing the bicultural structure. The model is tested by factor analysis for each group, whereas perception differences on holiday tourism constraints are compared with t-tests.

The analysis results showed that the factorial structure of the leisure constraints model is not the same in the holiday tourism context. Hence, new constraints dimensions were obtained in each case. A comparison of the holiday tourism constraints also showed that the perceptions of the mono- and bicultural people were significantly different from each other.

The current study has contributions to the literature in terms of examining the holiday tourism constraints by using the adapted version of the leisure constraints model. Moreover, targeting Turkish people who live in Turkey and Germany, as the study samples, indicates a unique representation of mono- and bicultural structures.

Although the multi-criteria technique analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has successfully been applied in many areas, either selecting or ranking alternatives or to derive priority vector (weights) for a set of criteria, there is a significant drawback in using this technique if the pairwise comparison matrix (PCM) has inconsistent comparisons, in other words, a consistency ratio (CR) above the value of 0.1, the final solution cannot be validated. Many studies have been developed to treat the inconsistency problem, but few of them tried to satisfy different quality measures, which are minimum inconsistency (fMI), the total number of adjusted pairwise comparisons (fNC), original rank preservation (fKT), minimum average weights adjustment (fWA) and finally, minimum L1 matrix norm between the original PCM and the adjusted PCM (fLM).

The approach is defined in four steps: first, the decision-maker should choose which quality measures she/he wishes to use, ranging from one to all quality measures. In the second step, the authors encode the PCM to be used in a many-objective optimization algorithm (MOOA), and each pairwise comparison can be adjusted individually. The authors generate consistent solutions from the obtained Pareto optimal front that carry the desired quality measures in the third step. Lastly, the decision-maker selects the most suitable solution for her/his problem. Remarkably, as the decision-maker can choose one (mono-objective), two (multi-objective), three or more (many-objectives) quality measures, not all MOOAs can handle or perform well in mono- or multi-objective problems. The unified non-sorting algorithm III (U-NSGA III) is the most appropriate MOOA for this type of scenario because it was specially designed to handle mono-, multi- and many-objective problems.

The use of two quality measures should not guarantee that the adjusted PCM is similar to the original PCM; hence, the decision-maker should consider using more quality measures if the objective is to preserve the original PCM characteristics.

For the first time, a many-objective approach reduces the CR to consistent levels with the ability to consider one or more quality measures and allows the decision-maker to adjust each pairwise comparison individually.

Currently on additive manufacturing, extensive research is directed toward mitigating the main challenges associated with multi-material in fused filament fabrication which has a weak bonding strength between dissimilar materials. Low interfacial bonding strength leads to defects, anisotropy and temperature gradient in materials which negatively impact the mechanical performance of the multi-material prints. The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of different interface geometry designs in terms of the mechanical properties of the specimens.

Tensile test specimens were printed using: mono-material without a boundary interface, mono-material with the interface geometries (Face-to-face; U-shape; T-shape; Dovetail; Encapsulation; Mechanical interlocking; and Overlap) and multi-material with the interface geometries. The materials chosen with high and low compatibility were Tough polylactic acid (PLA) and TPU.

The main results of this study indicate that the interface geometries with the mechanical constriction between materials provide better structural integrity to the specimens. Moreover, in the case of the mono-material parts, the most effective interface design was the mechanical interlocking for both Tough PLA and TPU. On the other hand, in the case of multi-material specimens, the encapsulation showed the highest ultimate tensile strength, whereas the overlap and T-shape presented more robust bonding.

This study examines the mechanical performance, particularly tensile strength, strain at break, Young’s modulus and yield strength of different interface designs which were not studied in the previous studies.

COVID-19 continues to spread, and cause increasing deaths. Physicians diagnose COVID-19 using not only real-time polymerase chain reaction but also the computed tomography (CT) and chest x-ray (CXR) modalities, depending on the stage of infection. However, with so many patients and so few doctors, it has become difficult to keep abreast of the disease. Deep learning models have been developed in order to assist in this respect, and vision transformers are currently state-of-the-art methods, but most techniques currently focus only on one modality (CXR).

This work aims to leverage the benefits of both CT and CXR to improve COVID-19 diagnosis. This paper studies the differences between using convolutional MobileNetV2, ViT DeiT and Swin Transformer models when training from scratch and pretraining on the MedNIST medical dataset rather than the ImageNet dataset of natural images. The comparison is made by reporting six performance metrics, the Scott–Knott Effect Size Difference, Wilcoxon statistical test and the Borda Count method. We also use the Grad-CAM algorithm to study the model's interpretability. Finally, the model's robustness is tested by evaluating it on Gaussian noised images.

Although pretrained MobileNetV2 was the best model in terms of performance, the best model in terms of performance, interpretability, and robustness to noise is the trained from scratch Swin Transformer using the CXR (accuracy = 93.21 per cent) and CT (accuracy = 94.14 per cent) modalities.

Models compared are pretrained on MedNIST and leverage both the CT and CXR modalities.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences in learning experiences in mono- and intercultural workplace interactions and to address the research question of how employees experience learning in mono- and intercultural interactions.

The author reports and compares the main findings from two samples and 63 in-depth interviews with employees involved either in monocultural interactions or intercultural interactions, namely, 25 and 38 subjects, respectively. The abductive approach was used to analyze the data in interplay between empirical findings and theoretical lens of the job demands-resources (JD-R) model.

Learning was more often emphasized in intercultural interactions than monocultural interactions, which can be associated with the constellation of specific job demands and job resources in mono- and multicultural workplaces. The subjects involved in mono- and intercultural interactions portrayed learning, using slightly different vocabulary.

The research gives some insights about workplace learning experiences and illuminates learning in social interactions and the JD-R model. In particular, it emphasizes the role of work design in promoting learning and identifies, using the JD-R model, job demands and job resources that can relate to learning in mono- and intercultural interactions. The results may contribute to the literature on workplace learning in culturally homogenous or heterogeneous social interactions. Moreover, they shed some new light on organizational learning via mono- and intercultural contact at work. Finally, they draw attention to the potential embedded in intercultural interactions and multicultural workplaces. Yet, the explorative character of the research does not allow for a broader results’ generalization.

The results suggest that job design may be of vital importance in stimulating learning at work. Thus, organizations should enable social interactions of their employees, especially intercultural ones, which are likely associated with more learning. Furthermore, to enhance workplace learning, they need to provide more organizational resources and support via HR interventions the development of personal resources of their staff to help individuals to deal with job demands and reduce strain, which impedes employee learning.

By applying the theoretical lens of the JD-R model to the analysis, the author exposes differences in learning experiences in mono- and intercultural interactions. The specific job demands (cultural differences and adaptation, the necessity to speak a foreign language) and resources (learning opportunities) inherent in multicultural workplaces can be perceived as a trigger of workplace learning.

The aim of this research is to evaluate the conditions of production of methodological knowledge on innovation management. It seeks to present the experience of an applied research team working with practitioners of R&D by means of an inter‐disciplinary research team in social sciences. The theoretical framework aims to present two approaches for knowledge production: collaboration with practitioners and interdisciplinary research in social science.

The methodology is a case study focused on the various forms of collaborative research. While the literature mainly considers only one form of collaborative research, the author distinguishes between mono‐disciplinary and inter‐disciplinary collaborative research on one hand, and between mono‐partner and multi‐partner collaborative research on the other, leading to four typical research situations. The paper examines empirically the rigor‐relevance debate as seen as the researchers and the practitioners.

The findings bring to light different criteria that influence the production of knowledge, within the rigor‐relevance dilemma, according to the collaborative research situations and the epistemological posture of researchers from various disciplines.

The practical implications concern the conditions under which a research program in social sciences can reach both rigor and relevance and produce methodological knowledge. It provides a guide for effective collaboration between social science academics and managers.

This research enlightens the conditions of collaboration between the academic world and the industrial world, which is key to foster innovation, particularly in social sciences.

The value of the paper is to illustrate that collaborative research requires a “boundary organization” to create new knowledge, which is a type of task force capable of mediation between academia, industrials and consultants.

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of organizational conflict management from a multicultural perspective in the context of higher education institutions (HEIs).

Besides a theoretical discussion about multiculturalism and leadership, a case study based extensively, but not exclusively, on oral history has been undertaken within a unit of a HEI in Brazil. The case study, which illustrates the cost when multicultural leadership is absent, is based on a combination of first‐hand information and facts reconstruction.

The research discussed in this paper showed that the system of constructing “otherness” and isolating it can actually be characterized as workplace bullying condoned by extremely mono‐cultural leaders. An alternative scenario with more multiculturally competent leaders is discussed, providing possible tools and avenues for organizational conflict management.

HEIs should be viewed as multicultural organizations, not only for the purpose of developing multicultural curricula but also for reviewing the impact of institutional practices and leadership on the organizational climate. Leaders should be ethically and multiculturally accountable for ensuring an institutional identity that is open to cultural plurality and to the challenge of the institutionalization of differences.

This paper goes beyond multicultural issues restricted to individual and group identities and incorporates institutional cultural climate and the role of multicultural leaders in organizational conflict management in the context of HEIs, hitherto not much discussed, which may open up new debates in the area.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how perceptions of team performance and teamwork processes relate to functional diversity appropriateness perceptions (FDAP), that is, whether one believes that the right functions are represented in a team. Thereby, the authors distinguish between perceptions of team managers and team members.

The study involved a cross-sectional survey study among 48 sourcing teams from 12 multinational companies, all from different industries.

Members’ and managers’ congruent perceptions of performance showed differential relationships with their perceptions of the team’s functional diversity appropriateness. For managers, perceptions of team performance and functional diversity appropriateness were directly and positively related. For team members, this relationship was moderated by teamwork behavior. Moreover, unlike team members, purchasing managers did not consider functionally diverse teams to be more suitable for executing sourcing tasks.

This study identified teamwork behavior as a critical element for explaining the differences in FDAP of members and managers of sourcing teams.

Rather than homogenizing team structures, managers should stimulate good teamwork behavior that allows for an the integration of interests and insights from different functional areas.

This study adds to functional diversity literature as well as perceptual distance literature by revealing how different team effectiveness criteria shape managers’ and members’ perceptions of functional diversity appropriateness.

To develop the notion of centrality in e‐government (EG) research, and to base the identification of central research areas on that principle. To pave the path towards a more integrated understanding of EG and its phenomena.

The paper analyzes which disciplines contribute to EG. It scrutinizes the scope and orientation of disciplines involved and invested EG. Key high‐level variables in EG are derived from the literature. It is analyzed to what extent major EG phenomena are impacted by those variables and their interaction, which leads to the development of the principle of centrality. Central research areas of EG are identified based on the centrality principle. The integrative interdisciplinary research approach in EG is linked to trends in global science.

The paper finds the areas of transformation, integration, participation, and (information) preservation to be central to EG. It also identifies strong drivers in central EG research towards an integrative interdisciplinary approach.

A systematic review of the extant EG literature is still missing but could be guided by the centrality principle.

When addressing the central areas, EG might manage to develop into an integrative science. In that case, its research results would likely be highly relevant to government practice and academia alike.

The paper develops and defines the principle of centrality in EG research. It identifies central research areas in EG and distinguishes those from non‐central research areas in EG. In so doing, the paper provides guidance and focus, particularly, for integrative EG research.