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In recent years, the robotic process automation (RPA) technology, a software-based method to automate routine tasks in business processes, has gained significant interest and adoption. However, many implementation projects fail and current literature lacks a synthesis and comprehensive overview of factors that challenge the implementation of RPA, have an impact on success or failure of projects, or, play an enabling role in an RPA project. Hence, the purpose of this research is to identify key factors that should be considered by organizations when conducting an RPA project.

The paper adopts a qualitative methodology based on data collected in a systematic literature review (SLR) and interviews with 10 RPA experts. Using inductive coding, an integrated framework of key factors is developed.

The results suggest that the key factors for a successful RPA introduction can be divided into human, organizational and technical factors. Important aspects include for example project management techniques, capabilities and skills of employees, as well as data security considerations.

The paper contributes to knowledge by synthesizing previously dispersed knowledge into an integrated framework, as well as by complementing previous results with new qualitative, empirical data. Additionally, the RPA-specific factors are put into the perspective of persistent problems in information systems development.

In recent years, the robotic process automation (RPA) technology has increasingly been used to automate business processes. While a lot of research has been published on the potential and benefits of the technology, only a few studies have conducted research on challenges related to RPA adoption. Hence, this study aims to identify and discuss challenges related to RPA implementation projects.

Following an inductive methodology, interviews have been conducted with consultants who were involved in multiple RPA implementation projects. Hence, their extensive experience and views contribute to a detailed and in-depth understanding of the phenomena under research.

The results suggest that there are various process-related, technical, resource-related, psychological and coordinative challenges that must be considered when conducting an RPA implementation project.

This paper contributes to knowledge by presenting a new typology of challenges, as well as providing an in-depth discussion of the individual challenges that organizations face.

Due to the disruptive nature of digital transformation, firms can hardly ignore the further digitalisation of processes and business models. Implementing such initiatives triggers enormous investments in infrastructure and software, making the evaluation of digital investments crucial for a firm’s competitive situation.

Given the dynamics and uncertainties inherent in digital transformation, a qualitative, inductive research approach based on semi-structured interviews with high-level finance executives has been employed.

Our findings indicate widespread dissatisfaction with traditional investment appraisal methods for evaluating digital investments. Data also suggest that non-financial considerations are frequently taken into account, albeit implicitly, as participants struggled to clearly conceptualize these criteria.

The literature indicates important research gaps regarding the applicability and usage of traditional, predominantly financial, investment appraisal methods in digital contexts. This research enhances our understanding of digital investment evaluation, by (i) developing an exploratory conceptual framework of potential qualitative evaluation criteria and (ii) providing an in-depth and detailed understanding of the barriers to implementing investment appraisal methods.

This study aims to examine the impact of communication style focusing on the family business brand’s roots and virtues on inferences of manipulative intent and willingness to pay a price premium, applying the persuasion knowledge model.

This study collects data involving 337 participants from France and applies partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypotheses.

The results demonstrate that communication style plays an important role in inferences of manipulative intent: focusing on the family business brand’s virtues has a positive effect while focusing on the family business brand’s roots has a nonsignificant effect. In turn, inferences of manipulative intent have a negative and significant effect on willingness to pay a price premium. Furthermore, age does not moderate the effect of communication style focusing on the family restaurant brand’s roots and inferences of manipulative intent but positively moderates the effect of communication style focusing on the family restaurant brand’s virtues on inferences of manipulative intent.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to try to unpack the differing effects of communication styles in the context of family business brands. In this vein, it has insightful theoretical and managerial implications for family business brands.

Women entrepreneurs face several challenges in creating and running ventures, especially in emerging and developing countries. In this sense, by aiming to generate inputs capable of helping overcome them, this study aims to categorize the policy, managerial and practical implications of articles whose empirical research was in one or more of the 155 emerging and developing countries. Further, although scholars have addressed female entrepreneurship in developed economies, there is scant literature in the context explored here. This article provides suggestions for new studies, helping academics fill gaps in the literature.

This article adopts a systematic literature review approach, performing content analysis and bibliometric description for the sample. The study comprises 77 articles selected from the Scopus and Web of Science databases.

Research concentrates on Asian countries, with lower incidences in Latin America and Africa. The policy implications focus mainly on the executive rather than legislative spheres. The practical implications focus mainly on entrepreneurial development agencies and women entrepreneurs. Among the suggestions for novel studies, those focusing on methodological choices and female enterprises stand out.

This paper maps and categorizes the policy, managerial and practical implications, helping to raise governments’, policymakers’ and practitioners’ awareness of the preferred strategies to overcome the challenges of female entrepreneurship.

This paper emphasizes reflections of mutual interest to researchers, policymakers and practitioners, filling gaps in studies that prioritize an academic audience. Regarding the academic audience, this paper contributes to innovatively categorizing suggestions for future research and building an extensive research agenda capable of guiding research in this area.

This paper documents the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) 34 literature, primarily in the areas of (1) accountability and improved reporting, (2) government-wide financial statements and accrual accounting and (3) infrastructure asset capitalization and the modified approach. The paper also evaluates the state of the research, recognizes implications for practice and standard setting, identifies knowledge gaps and proposes avenues for future research.

The authors identified the articles in this narrative review by searching Google Scholar and EBSCO for the years 2000 through 2023, using the keywords GASB 34, government-wide financial statements, government fund statements, infrastructure assets and modified approach.

This review finds that GASB 34 requirements improved accountability and reporting, but GASB can still make improvements. The addition of the MD&A section requirement improved readability but placed a burden on preparers. Analysis of government-wide statement research indicates that the accrual-based Statement of Net Assets provides value in credit decisions, while the accrual-based Statement of Activities does not. The research on infrastructure accounting requirements shows limited adoption of the modified approach and some comparability issues with choices involving capitalization thresholds, baselines and asset management systems (AMSs). Based on this review, the authors also present suggestions to further this line of research.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first article that reviews over 20 years of GASB 34 related literature. The review and suggestions for future research are timely as GASB is in the process of reexamining some of GASB 34's requirements.

Recognizing novel entrepreneurial opportunities arising from a crisis is of paramount importance for firms. Hence, understanding the pivotal factors that facilitate firms in this endeavor holds significant value. This study delves into such factors within a representative empirical context impacted by a crisis, drawing insights from existing literature on opportunity recognition during such tumultuous periods.

The authors conducted a qualitative inspection of 14 Italian firms during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The authors collected a rich body of multi-source qualitative data, including 34 interviews (with senior managers and entrepreneurs) and secondary data (press releases, videos, web interviews, newspapers, reports and academic articles) in two phases (March–August 2020 and September–December 2020).

The results suggest the existence of a process model of opportunity recognition during crises based on five entrepreneurial influencing factors (entrepreneurial knowledge, entrepreneurial alertness, entrepreneurial proclivity, entrepreneurial personality and entrepreneurial purpose).

Various scholars have highlighted that, in times of crises, it is not easy and indeed very challenging for entrepreneurs to identify novel entrepreneurial opportunities. However, recent research has shown that crises can also positively impact entrepreneurs and their capacity to identify new entrepreneurial opportunities. Given these findings, not much research has analyzed the process by which entrepreneurs identify novel entrepreneurial opportunities during crises. This study shows that some entrepreneurial influencing factors are very important to identify new entrepreneurial opportunities during crises.

Although the literature recognizes that coopetition plays a significant role in the success of international construction joint ventures (ICJVs), the impacts of coopetition on the performance outcomes of ICJVs remain largely unknown. This study extends this line of research by theorizing coopetition from three dimensions, i.e. coopetition intensity, coopetition balance and coopetition structure, and examining the relationships between coopetition and ICJV performance outcomes from both the contingency and configuration perspectives.

The hypotheses were tested using survey data from a sample of 188 ICJVs. Structural equation modelling was employed for the contingency approach to estimate the relationships between the three dimensions of coopetition and performance. For the configuration approach, cluster analysis was utilized to identify coopetition patterns. Subsequently, an analysis of variance was employed to analyse the relationships between these coopetition patterns and performance.

The contingency results indicate that while coopetition intensity is positively related to all types of performance, coopetition balance is only positively related to project performance and partner performance. Moreover, coopetition structure is only related to partner performance and socioenvironmental performance. The configuration approach identifies six patterns of coopetition, manifesting different levels of project, partner and socioenvironmental performance.

These findings, therefore, contribute to the ICJV literature by extending the understanding of how coopetition dimensions individually and jointly influence ICJV performance.

The recent trends of managing how to achieve communication in a safe cyberspace have attracted the particular attention from scholars worldwide. The strategic initiative of having an active organization of communication pathways is required for further scholarly elaboration to enable a subsisting safe community in cyberspace. An example of the challenges is the issue of trust in information or questionable issues denoting lack of detail and clarity. Thus, this obviously refers to a dubious circumstance that needs to explain the situation on addressing the critical issue of trust-based quality information. To respond to such an apparent situation, this paper aims to critically explore the insightful value of trust in information as essential element of quality assurance. Such arranged strategy would enable individual capacity and accountability in achieving the efficient communication management for a safe cyberspace.

The study attempted a critical review of recent literature by analysing peer-reviewed articles from journals, books, proceedings and book chapters related to theme of communication management for safe cyberspace.

The finding reveals that the strategic approach of enabling effective communication management for safe cyberspace is actualized through advancing trust-based quality information.

This paper aims to contribute towards enhancing communication management for safe cyberspace by addressing issues relating to trust that would lead to the quality of information.

The main goal of the article is to identify, analyze and evaluate the mediating role of HRM outcomes in the relationships between employee retention (ER) and company performance results, with a specific focus on discerning any shifts or differences in this mediation across non-crisis and crisis times in the foreign subsidiaries of MNCs.

The empirical research covered 200 MNCs headquartered in Central Europe. A Computer-Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI) method was used for data collection. The raw data was adjusted using the Efficiency Index (EI) to accurately represent the relationships between the variables under study. The research hypotheses were examined, and the mediating effects were assessed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).

The research findings provide valuable insights by exploring the mediating role of HRM outcomes between ER and company performance results, highlighting HRM’s crucial role in enhancing results in finance, innovation and quality, particularly during crises. They underscore the strategic importance of HRM in fostering organizational resilience and innovation.

The study offers a new methodological contribution through introducing the EI for a precise quantitative evaluation of the relationships between ER, HRM and company performance results. However, the greatest added value of this article is the creation of the ER-HRM Mediation Theory of Organizational Resilience through Innovativeness in Crisis.