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This study aims to offer a strategic management response to societal disruptions of the magnitude triggered by the agricultural, industrial and information revolutions. These pose challenges that are much greater and different in kind than the industry-wide disruptions that businesses have learned to manage. Pandemics, climate change, biotech and artificial intelligence guarantee that such societal disruptions will be an inescapable and recurring reality.

The paper builds on the strategic management responses to wicked problems, which possess in microcosm the chaotic ambiguity that characterizes societal disruptions.

The authors propose a management process that affirms a sense of identity, identifies robust actions, adopts a real-options approach and uses a platform organization.

The primary limitation is that the recommendations and findings are extrapolations of organizational practices in analogous situations. No examples of formal management processes specifically designed to address societal disruptions were identified.

The practical implications are significant. The specific recommendations in the paper directly address strategic management practice in organizations.

The social implications are integral to the motivation of the paper as it describes the intrinsic characteristics of societal change and transformation, enabling organizations to interact with society on a dynamic basis.

While there has been growing interest and research into business and industry disruptions, the challenge of societal disruptions, which is the focus of this paper, has not been directly addressed.

This paper aims to empirically verify the impact of the mandatory dividend law on the investment of publicly traded companies.

The sample includes 212,595 observations from publicly traded companies from 47 different countries over the period from 2000 to 2016. The authors estimated a regression model by panel data methods to show the impact of the mandatory dividend on firm’s investment, more specifically in their sensitivities of investment to cash flow and to growth opportunities. In addition, the average treatment effect on the treated was estimated through sample matching.

The results indicate that the mandatory dividend have a direct and indirect impact on corporate investment.

Legislators and economic agents can use the results of the present research to evaluate the continuity or implementation of this legal mechanism (mandatory dividend) to evaluate economic moments favorable to its use or to create different legal rules to smooth the impact of this mechanism on the investment of companies.

The paper aims to promote the development of intelligent materials and the 4D printing technology by introducing recent advances and applications of additive layered manufacturing (ALM) technology of intelligent materials and the development of the 4D printing technology. Also, an arm-type ALM technology of shape memory polymer (SMP) with thermosetting polyurethane is briefly introduced.

This paper begins with an overview of the development and applications of intelligent materials around the world and the 4D printing technology. Then, the authors provide a brief outline of their research on arm-type ALM technology of SMP with thermosetting polyurethane.

The paper provides the recent developments and applications of intelligent materials and 4D printing technology. Then, it is suggested that intelligent materials mixed with different functional materials will be developed, and these types of materials will be more suitable for 4D printing.

This paper overviews the current developments and applications of intelligent materials and its use in 4D printing technology, and briefly states the authors’ research on arm-type ALM technology of SMP with thermosetting polyurethane.

The information technology (IT) sector has been seen as central to society's transformation to a more just and sustainable society, which underlines teachers’ responsibility to foster engineers who can contribute specifically to such ends. This study aims to report an effort to significantly update an existing engineering programme in IT with this ambition and to analyse the effects and challenges associated with the transformation.

This study is based on a combination of action-oriented research based on implementing key changes to the curriculum; empirical investigations including surveys and interviews with students and teachers, and analysis of these; and a science and technology studies-inspired analysis.

Respondents were generally positive towards adding topics relating to sustainability. However, in the unmaking of traditional engineering subjects, changes created a conflict between core versus soft subjects in which the core subjects tended to gain the upper hand. This conflict can be turned into productive discussions by focusing on what kinds of engineers the authors’ educate and how students can be introduced to societal problems as an integrated part of their education.

This study can be helpful for educators in the engineering domain to support them in their efforts to transition from a (narrow) focus on traditional disciplines to one where the bettering of society is at the core.

This study provides a novel approach to the transformation of engineering education through a theoretical analysis seldom used in studies of higher education on a novel case study.

This paper aims to apply the debt sustainability framework using various ratios to review the current state of sovereign debt of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member countries.

Debt sustainability framework using various ratios (which include the present value approach, Country Policy and Institutional Assessment debt policy assessment ranking and solvency ratio of external debt) for the period 2010 and 2017 were used for the analysis to determine external debt sustainability and solvency of ECOWAS members.

The findings indicate that most ECOWAS countries are already turning at the unsustainable debt path and may renege in their debt obligations, thus creating a vicious cycle of external borrowing that could lead to capital flight.

This paper offers the empirical evidence to identify which of the ECOWAS countries are already at the threshold of external debt stress, and in the likelihood to renege on their debt obligations.

This study aims to determine how Internet of Things (IoT) risks and benefits affect both the intention to use and actual use of a smartwatch.

The stimulus–organism–behavior–consequence (SOBC) hypothesis is used to explain the mechanisms underpinning the discontinuity between intention and technology usage. A total of 394 questionnaires distributed to smartwatch users were analyzed, using convergent analysis, discriminant analysis and structural modeling.

The IoT’s technical features, such as continuous connectivity and real-time value, serve as effective stimuli for smartwatches, positively influencing individuals’ responses and behavioral consequences associated with smartwatch usage. While IoT risks such as data, performance and financial have no negative relationship with the usefulness of smartwatches, data and financial risks have a negative influence on their ease of use. Additionally, as ease of use and usefulness have a positive impact on intention to use, users’ behavior is positively influenced by their intentions to use a smartwatch.

The study applies technology acceptance theory and the SOBC paradigm to smartwatches to determine if users’ intentions to use them impact their behavior. Furthermore, the research analyzed the technical elements of smartwatches in terms of IoT advantages and risks.

El objetivo del presente estudio es determinar cómo los riesgos y beneficios del Internet de las Cosas afectan tanto a la intención de uso como al uso real de un smartwatch.

Se utiliza el modelo Estímulo-Organismo-Comportamiento-Consecuencia (SOBC) para explicar los mecanismos que sustentan la discontinuidad entre la intención y el uso de la tecnología. Se analizaron 394 cuestionarios distribuidos a usuarios de smartwatches, empleando análisis convergente, análisis discriminante y modelización estructural.

Las características técnicas del IoT, como la conectividad continua y el valor en tiempo real, sirven como estímulos efectivos para los smartwatches, influyendo positivamente en las respuestas de los individuos y en las consecuencias conductuales asociadas al uso del smartwatch. Mientras que los riesgos de la IO, como los datos, el rendimiento y los financieros, no tienen una relación negativa con la utilidad de los smartwatches, los riesgos de los datos y los financieros influyen negativamente en su facilidad de uso. Además, dado que la facilidad de uso y la utilidad tienen un impacto positivo en la intención de uso, el comportamiento de los usuarios está positivamente influenciado por sus intenciones de usar un smartwatch.

El estudio aplica la teoría de la aceptación de la tecnología y el paradigma SOBC a los smartwatches para determinar si las intenciones de uso de los usuarios influyen en su comportamiento. Además, la investigación analiza los elementos técnicos de los smartwatches en cuanto a las ventajas y los riesgos del IoT.

本研究的目的是确定物联网的风险和利益如何影响智能手表的使用意向和实际使用。

刺激-组织-行为-后果（SOBC）假说被用来解释意图和技术使用之间不连续的基础机制。对发放给智能手表用户的394份调查问卷进行了分析, 采用了收敛分析、判别分析和结构模型法。

物联网的技术特点, 如持续连接和实时价值, 作为智能手表的有效刺激, 对个人的反应和与智能手表使用相关的行为后果产生积极影响。虽然数据、性能和财务等物联网风险与智能手表的有用性没有消极关系, 但数据和财务风险对其易用性有消极影响。此外, 由于易用性和有用性对使用意图有积极影响, 用户的行为受到他们使用智能手表的意图的积极影响。

该研究将技术接受理论和SOBC范式应用于智能手表, 以确定用户的使用意图是否影响其行为。此外, 该研究还从物联网的优势和风险方面分析了智能手表的技术要素。