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The paper presents a research methodology that could be used to carry out a systematic literature review on the current state of the art of the technological development in the field of the digitalization and unphysicalization of supply chains (SCs). A three-dimensional conceptual framework focusing on the relationship between Digital Technologies (DTs), business processes and SC performance is presented. The study identifies the emerging practices and areas of SC management that could be positively affected by the implementation of DTs. With this in mind, the emerging practices have a high probability to be considered future best practices.

A systematic literature review was conducted on DTs in SC management. The methodology used aims to algorithmically and objectively standardize the information incorporated into thousands of scientific documents. Selected papers were analyzed to investigate the recent literature on SC digitalization and unphysicalization. A total of 87 DTs were selected to be analyzed and subsequently grouped into 11 macro-categories. 17 business processes linked to SC management are taken into account and 17 different impacts on SC management are presented. From a set of 1,585 papers, 5,060 emerging practices were collected and singularly summarized combining DT, business process and impact on SC performance.

A unique analytical perspective provided represents an important evolution when trying to organize the current literature on SC management. The widely used DTs in the practices and the most considered business processes and impacts are highlighted and described. The three-dimensional conceptual framework is graphically represented to allow for the emergence of the best combinations of DT, business process and impact on SC performance. These combinations suggest the most promising areas for the implementation of the emerging practices for SC digitalization and unphysicalization. Additional findings identify and define the most important contexts in which Big Data contributes to SC performance.

The research methodology used is offering progress through which to systemize the current practices as well as detect the potential of digitalization and unphysicalization under the three-dimensional conceptual framework. The paper provides a structured proposal for promising future research directions, assuming that the five research gaps as findings of this research could be the basis for prescriptions, as well as a future research agenda and theory development. Moreover, this research contributes to current managerial issues concerning SC management, referred to data and information management, efficiency and productivity of SC processes, market performance, SC relationship management and risk management in SC.

This study aims to explore how small and medium-sized accounting practices (SMPs) make sense of and position themselves against the changing demand for services. It is argued that changing demand for services from pure compliance to advisory acts as a trigger for sensemaking among SMP owners.

A qualitative multiple case study research approach is adopted, including semistructured interviews with key informants from seven Norwegian SMPs as well as document analysis.

The findings suggest that there is heterogeneity in the small practitioner segment of the accounting profession in making sense of changing demand for the nature of services. Three different situations emerged due to sensemaking, thus, the three distinct positions. Metaphors, namely, chameleons, turtles and bulls, are used to represent the positioning of SMPs. The sensemaking of actors as an adaptation led them to act as chameleons while distancing and resistance resulted in their positioning as turtles, and bulls, respectively.

Despite the richness of data indicating a clear variation in interpretation among actors, the study is case based, with a limited number of SMPs, and caution should be exercised when generalising its conclusions.

The centrality of people as a driving force for positioning among SMPs and diversity among SMPs in value creation provide insights for both SMPs and their customers.

This study highlights the meaning and patterns of value creation and the positioning of accounting firms according to their sensemaking within an under-studied segment of the accounting profession.

With the increasing acclaim of Wireless Sensor Networks and its diverse applications, research has been directed into optimising and prolonging the network lifetime. Energy efficiency has been a critical factor due to the energy resource impediment of batteries in sensor nodes. The proposed routing algorithm therefore aims at extending lifetime of sensors by enhancing load distribution in the network. The scheme is based on the chain-based routing technique of the PEGASIS (Power Energy GAthering in Sensor Information Systems) protocol and uses Ant Colony Optimisation to obtain the optimal chain. The contribution of the proposed work is the integration of the clustering method to PEGASIS with Ant Colony Optimisation to reduce redundancy of data, neighbour nodes distance and transmission delay associated with long links, and the employment an appropriate cluster head selection method. Simulation results indicates proposed method’s superiority in terms of residual energy along with considerable improvement regarding network lifetime, and significant reduction in delay when compared with existing PEGASIS protocol and optimised PEG-ACO chain respectively.

The increasing push towards centralisation and bureaucratisation in higher education, further exacerbated by the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, calls for a better understanding of the nature of collegiality in contemporary universities. We address this issue by looking into the necessary conditions and barriers to sustaining a collegiate environment. The empirical focus is on academics, academic leaders and professional support staff at Anonymous Business School (ABS), a department in a large civic UK university. We interviewed 32 participants across the school, ranging from early-career academics to experienced professors and members of department leadership teams. The findings suggest multiple emerging perspectives on collegiality, with features of horizontal collegiality perceived as key to successful academic responses to the crisis. The findings also indicate how sustaining a collegiate environment within the department requires both choice and effort from leadership and from staff, particularly when decision-making is primarily located at the centre of the university. The choice and effort made across different collegiate pockets contribute to the department becoming an ‘island of collegiality’ within the increasingly centralised and bureaucratised university hierarchy. In this sense, the actions of the department leadership to establish supporting mechanisms, and the actions of the staff to, in turn, embrace and build interpersonal relationships and professional identities, are key to sustaining a collegiate environment.

This study aims to describe nurse leaders’ experiences of work-related well-being and its association with background variables, working conditions, work engagement, sense of coherence and burnout.

An electronic survey design was used. Data was collected between December 2015 and May 2016 with an instrument that included demographic questions and four internationally validated scales: the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, QPS Nordic 34+, the shortened Sense of Coherence scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Data was analysed using statistical methods.

A total of 155 nurse leaders completed the questionnaire, giving a 44% response rate. Most of them worked as nurse managers (89%). Participants’ work-related well-being scores ranged from 8 to 10. Statistically significant relationships were found between participants’ work-related well-being and their leadership skills, current position, sense of coherence and levels of burnout. In addition, there were statistically significant relationships between work-related well-being and all dimensions of working conditions.

This study underlines the fact that work-related well-being should not be evaluated based on a single factor. The participants’ perceived work-related well-being was high, although almost half of them reported always or often experiencing stress. The results suggest that nurse leaders may have resources such as good leadership and problem-solving skills, supportive working conditions and a high sense of coherence that prevent the experienced stress from adversely affecting their work-related well-being.

Motivated to know more about the internal means through which accountability for sustainability takes shape within organisations (in what ways and by whom), this paper aims to explore how accountability for sustainability is constructed within an organisation during a process of establishing a control system for sustainability.

This paper adopts a qualitative case study approach of a decentralised industrial group, operating mainly in Scandinavia, between 2017 and 2020. Both primary and secondary data are used (e.g. document analyses, semi-structured interviews, informal conversations and site visits) to inform the findings and analysis.

The findings reveal a multi-faceted path towards accountability for sustainability that involves several concerns and priorities at organisational and individual levels, resulting in a separate sustainability control systems within each subsidiary company. Although hierarchical structures for accountability exist, socialising accountability activities are needed to (further) mobilise sustainable accounts.

Successful sustainable control systems require employees making sense of formalised accountability instruments (e.g. policies and procedures) to establish their roles and responsibilities in organisations.

This paper proposes socialisation processes as important for driving forward sustainability solutions.

This study elaborates on the internal accountability dynamic for the construction of sustainable accounts. Its novelty is built upon the interaction of hierarchical and socialising accountability forms as necessary for establishing a control system for sustainability. It furthermore illustrates the relationship between the external and internal pathways of accountability.

This study aims to explore the management learning during a long-term crisis like a pandemic. The paper addresses both what health-care managers have learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the management learning is characterized.

The paper is based on a qualitative case study carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic at two different public hospitals in Sweden. The study, conducted with semi-structured interviews, applies a combination of within-case analysis and cross-case comparison. The data were analyzed using thematic deductive analysis with the themes, i.e. sensemaking, decision-making and meaning-making.

The COVID-19 pandemic was characterized by uncertainty and a need for continuous learning among the managers at the case hospitals. The learning process that arose was circular in nature, wherein trust played a crucial role in facilitating the flow of information and enabling the managers to get a good sense of the situation. This, in turn, allowed the managers to make decisions meaningful for the organization, which improved the trust for the managers. This circular process was iterated with higher frequency than usual and was a prerequisite for the managers’ learning. The practical implications are that a combined management with hierarchical and distributed management that uses the normal decision routes seems to be the most successful management method in a prolonged crisis as a pandemic.

The gained knowledge can benefit hospital organizations, be used in crisis education and to develop regional contingency plans for pandemics.

This study has explored learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and found a circular process, “the management learning wheel,” which supports management learning in prolonged crises.

This study aims to identify how the involvement of female university students in volunteer organisations is contributing to their self-empowerment in Bangladesh.

A cross-sectional study with a qualitative approach was conducted. A total of 20 in-depth interviews with female student volunteers, two focus group discussions with student members of the volunteer organisation and ten key informant interviews with academics, gender experts and high-level representatives of civil society organisations were conducted. The data were collected from eight purposively selected universities in Dhaka. The data were collected between 1 January 2023 and 23 March 2023.

The inter-organisational environment appears to be supportive and welcoming, despite the fact that some male colleagues belittle women with insulting comments. Female students are predominantly involved in public presentation activities and their advice is rarely considered. To reach a top position, they have to show more commitment than their male colleagues. Subjective prejudices discourage women from taking on positions of responsibility. Participation in voluntary organisations strengthens the self-confidence, critical thinking, networking and social capital of female students, making it easier for them to gain employment. These factors contribute to the empowerment of female students.

This study is an excellent empirical document that establishes a link between the empowerment of female students and their participation in voluntary activities. The recommendations of this study pave the way for future research in different countries on how volunteering helps young people, especially female students, to shape their future by taking on social responsibility alongside their academic activities.

This paper contains an exploratory analysis of the business model innovations (BMIs) that management consulting firms (MCFs) undertake to remain competitive during digital transformation.

This paper uses data from a longitudinal multiple case study of the European practices of major global MCFs to provide an overview of how they reconfigure their business model (BM) to gain competitive advantages. It maps BMIs in MCFs through value creation innovation, value proposition innovation and value capturing innovation.

There is a shift in value proposition from solely giving advice or supporting information technology (IT) implementation to providing end-to-end digital solutions. To materialize value propositions, MCFs acquire new knowledge and digital assets through talent scouting, and mergers and acquisitions (M&As). MCFs rely heavily on complementary knowledge and capabilities of actors within ecosystems; thus, they focus on expanding, creating their ecosystems and adopting platforms' configuration and characteristics.

Inductively, the authors reached an analytical generalization through six propositions and a theoretical frame that embeds propositions in the previous literature. Future research should test them across the overall management consulting industry.

MCFs are recognized as drivers of innovation and BMIs in most client firms. However, MCFs are rarely analyzed with respect to their BMIs. Understanding how MCFs innovate their business models (BMs) to provide digital transformation (DT) consulting services is relevant for delivering management innovation across industries.

This is the first exploratory study on BMI inside global MCFs during DT.

The purpose of this paper is to expose the impact of innovation and patent registration, as a strategy that contributes to business success in the current competitive and globalized market conditions.

This paper presents a study on the innovation and contribution of the patent registry in the growth of economic sales of 1,746 companies in the Colombian manufacturing sector, whose applied methodology was a statistical correlation analysis and a binary logistic regression.

The results reveal a positive relationship among incremental product innovations with the achievement of sales success, although it is evident that patent registration negatively influences business success as a factor in innovation.

This study allows organizations to understand the importance of developing innovation processes and patent registration as a competitive factor that drives sales growth and success.