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Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that can facilitate agility in higher education and to analyze the interrelationship between the factors.

A structured model of factors facilitating agility in higher education was developed using total interpretive structural modeling (TISM). Cross-impact matrix multiplication (MICMAC) analysis helped in classifying the factors on the basis of their driving and dependency power.

An extensive literature review and expert opinion helped in identifying eight enablers that can promote agility in higher education. The ability to sense the environment, organizational structure, adoption of ICT, organizational learning, human resource strategies, leadership, readiness to change and collaboration with the stakeholders were the eight factors identified. The structural model revealed leadership as the most crucial enabler followed by human resource strategies and organizational structure.

The model has incorporated and prioritized all the crucial drivers of agility that can help universities and colleges design, adopt and implement policies and practices that would facilitate agility.

So far, the research on agility in higher education has looked into each factor in isolation. This research provides a comprehensive list of the factors and establishes the interplay between the factors making this study new and original.

The latest models on knowledge management (KM) recognize four phases for its practice: acquisition, storage, distribution, and knowledge utilization. The KM is characterized as a multidisciplinary discipline, involving both technical and social aspects. Therefore, the purpose of this research is both social and of coordination, aiming to identify contextual factors, internally developed in the organizations, which support the KM process in the Brazilian companies in the automotive sector.

To achieve the research purpose, a quantitative research method was employed, based on a survey research in the automotive sector.

The results point to the existence of eight contextual factors that support the KM process in the organizations. These factors are mainly related to the human being, responsible for the retention and transformation of primary knowledge, and the development of an organizational context that encourages the learning process through the culture and structure designed for this purpose.

One of the limitations is that the study is based on constructs derived from a theoretical background, however it does not offer an empirical test to validate the selected constructs. Future studies could create a metric to evaluate the constructs' consistency and use regression analysis to validate them. The second limitation relates to empirical research. The survey achieved a return of 78 companies and a larger sample could provide more robust data.

Practitioners need to take cognizance of the fact that KM process must not be confused nor focused on IT deployment. The development of an organizational context is much more complex and important to the success of KM. By characteristics of mapped factors, it is possible to conclude that KM process is focused on the development of individuals. It is from their employees that the organization promotes the knowledge exploitation in problem solving activities and incremental improvements, and knowledge exploration, rebuilding the competences to innovate the processes.

The main contribution of this paper is to identify the factors that companies in the Brazilian automotive industry must develop in order to promote KM. Furthermore, the research shows the relationship between these factors and KM process.

The present study sets out to propose and validate a measurement scale that aims to capture the organisational capability to learn, based on a comprehensive analysis of the facilitating factors for learning. The organisational learning capability scale consists of 14 items grouped into five dimensions: experimentation, risk taking, interaction with the external environment, dialogue, and participative decision making.

Data were collected from eight Spanish ceramic tile manufacturers. The survey was addressed to shop floor workers. A total of 157 valid questionnaires were obtained, representing a response rate of 61 per cent. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the construct measurement model was tested and the scale was validated.

The results of the study indicate that the operational measure developed here satisfies the criteria for unidimensionality, reliability, and validity.

Because of the sample features, final results should be considered with caution. Further research is needed to validate the organisational learning capability scale in other contexts and addressed to other kinds of respondents. However, this study contributes to organisational learning research by providing a valid and reliable operational measure that is expected to help researchers in future theory testing.

The proposed measurement scale for organisational learning capability could be implemented as an audit tool. Thus, managers could unveil which organisational learning issues are strong and which are weak. This would provide guidance for improvement.

This paper provides a new measurement instrument for organisational learning capability.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the usability of the Cultural Framework Analysis Process, a strategy designed to examine cultural factors in mentoring endeavors and to identify whether there are patterns of cultural elements that served to hinder or facilitate mentoring programs across a variety of organizations and contexts. The process also involves identifying methods for overcoming the barriers and enhancing the facilitating factors.

Graduate students in a class on mentoring were given an assignment to analyze a mentoring program using the Cultural Framework Analysis Process. They were also asked to share their most significant learning outcomes. Data were gathered by two student groups over a two-year period. Researchers determined the usability of the analysis process by evaluating the quality of the student submissions. They aggregated the data and conducted a content analysis on the facilitating and hindering factors to determine commonalities and the lessons learned.

The Cultural Framework Analysis Process appears to be a useful tool in examining and dealing with cultural elements in mentoring programs and relationships. The barriers and facilitating factors were closely related to one another. The five barriers to success were matching processes; mentee attitude toward matching; lack of organizational support; static or closed organizational culture; and organizational or community culture. The five factors that facilitated mentoring endeavors were: comprehensive and flexible matching; mentee/mentor attitudes; training; organizational culture and demonstrated commitment; and a focus on mentees.

The ability to examine the cultural elements in the context of mentoring is vital in assuring mentoring success. Having a description of how the process was conducted should be of value to those wanting to engage in similar analyses. The findings related to the factors identified should help guide those engaged in mentoring endeavors to become more aware of elements to consider and deal with as they create and operationalize their programs.

There is a need to enhance the knowledge about the cultural factors involved in mentoring programs and relationships. This research study expands the understanding and presents findings about barriers and supports to mentoring that have not been previously reported. It also provides a mechanism for others to conduct similar analyses as they develop, implement and research mentoring endeavors.

This study aims to investigate factors that influence e-government adoption among public sector departments with the view to determine how such factors may be used to better facilitate e-government adoption across United Arab Emirates (UAE) public sectors. The use of e-government is advocated for the central government in the UAE.

Using random sampling, a total of 172 participants from ten departments and organisations in Dubai and Sharjah completed the online survey for this pilot study.

The authors found that performance expectancy and facilitating conditions have positive effects on e-government adoption. Furthermore, this study revealed the factors that encourage more e-government adoption between government organisations in the UAE. This study reveals three facilitating conditions may encourage e-government adoption in UAE public sector organisations when short- and long-term performances have positive effects on e-government usage.

This study provides middle managers clarity on factors that would influence government-to-government (G2G) uptake in more government organisations across the country. For uniformity and consistency, middle managers are now better informed as a result of this study to determine how best to use the six factors to motivate subordinates for more effective G2G.

The scope and results of this study is a contribution to e-government studies because it identifies the factors that positively influence G2G adoption. This scope exceeds the studies by Chan et al. (2021) and Habib et al. (2020) which focuses on the use of e-government for citizens or the public. This study focuses on the use of e-government within the government and between government departments.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between the extent of adoption of TQM, using Kaynak’s (2003) core TQM practices (quality data and reporting, supplier quality management, product/service design, process management) model and competitive advantage. In addition, the study examines the antecedent role of organisational-related factors (intensity of market competition, information technology (IT), expert systems and the supplier evaluation programme) in respect to the extent of adoption of TQM.

A survey was conducted of 673 business units of garment organisations in a developing country, Bangladesh.

The findings indicate that the extent of adoption of TQM practices was positively associated with competitive advantage. In addition, two organisational-related factors (intensity of market competition and IT) were positively associated with the extent of adoption of TQM.

The findings provide an insight into the ability of TQM to facilitate competitive advantage in developing countries. Practitioners are also provided with an insight into which organisational factors facilitate the adoption of TQM practices.

The findings provide an important insight into the use and value of TQM practices in developing countries.

The paper responds to calls in recent research for a model that shows how the business case should be used throughout the project's lifetime to achieve sound governance and thereby project success. The aim of the paper is to advance theory about the effective use of the business case.

Besides the processes and information required, the literature identified 43 organizational facilitating factors, structured into 5 categories, which are required for effective use of the business case. To offer a useful model, the authors' approach was to do a factor analysis, based on existing survey data, to reduce the number of facilitators and to validate their categorization.

The findings of the paper were as follows: (1) the classification of the proposed facilitating factors was validated; (2) the number of facilitators needed to ensure that the business case is used effectively was substantially reduced and (3) a “business case effectiveness model” is proposed to clarify the relationship between the organizational facilitating factors, the business case processes and the information required to effectively use the business case.

This is the first time that a business case effectiveness model has been proposed. Besides consolidating business case theory, it can be used to guide people and organizations on simple, affordable ways to improve their use of the business case to achieve sound governance and hence business/information technology project success.

This paper aims to, prompted by a recent paradigm shift in the organizational sciences, to explore some antecedents of organizational learning capability, focusing on altruism and relationship conflict.

To test the hypotheses, the structural equation technique was applied to data from a survey of Spanish firms with recognized excellence in human resource management.

The results of this research show that, in these firms, altruism facilitates learning capacity both directly and indirectly (through relationship conflict). Relationship conflict is posited as a mediating variable that explains how altruism improves organizational learning.

The limitations of this study include excessive heterogeneity of the sample size and industrial sector and the type of firm included in the sample. Due to the potential benefits that altruism seems to have for organizations, future research could continue to investigate the consequences of altruism in organizations.

Altruism provides organizations with a value that can facilitate organizational learning capability not only directly, but also by reducing relationship conflict. Altruism may offer organizations a tool they can use to improve their success in dealing with the challenges of today’s uncertain and constantly changing economic environment.

This study proposes a common altruistic approach that is far removed from traditional self-interested models in organizational literature. This study identifies altruism and relationship conflict as antecedents of organizational learning capability.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between altruistic leader behaviors, organizational learning capability and organizational performance.

The sampling frame consists of several databases or listings of business that consider people as a key element of the organization and are considered by their employees to be good firms to work for or organizational environments where human resources management has high priority (n=251). The authors use structural equation modeling to test if the relationship between altruistic leader behaviors and organizational performance is mediated by organizational learning capability.

Results suggest that organizational learning capability fully mediates between altruistic leader behaviors and organizational performance. Thus, organizational learning capability plays a key role in explaining how altruistic leader behaviors affect organizational performance, essentially because it facilitates the creation of a creative, participatory and dialogue-based environment that promotes organizational learning.

The database used in the study is very heterogeneous. Future research might delimit the database by organization size or sector. Qualitative studies may also improve our understanding of the relationships studied and enable other concepts to be included.

This study provides evidence of the positive relationship between altruistic leaders and performance. However, recruiting and fomenting altruistic leaders is not sufficient on its own to improve performance, and should be accompanied by implementing other facilitating factors of organizational learning such as dialogue or experimentation.

In recent years some studies have linked leadership with organizational learning. However, this is one of the first studies to concentrate on altruistic leader behaviors as such, a concept that has received scant mention in the literature despite its importance in a number of leadership styles, and its relevance today as an alternative to the egotistic leader. The authors offer empirical evidence of the role of altruistic leader behavior as an antecedent of organizational learning capability and subjective measures of performance.