Search results
1 – 10 of over 1000Udani Chathurika Edirisinghe, Md Moazzem Hossain and Manzurul Alam
This study aims to explore the managerial conception of the determinants and barriers of sustainability integration into management control systems (MCS) of manufacturing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the managerial conception of the determinants and barriers of sustainability integration into management control systems (MCS) of manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka. Although existing literature has explored the factors that influence the adoption of specific management controls to handle environmental and social issues, the role of management conception has been underrepresented. Specifically, literature is scarce in identifying contextual and organisational factors that influence corporates beyond mere adoption of controls but to integrate with regular controls, especially in developing countries such as Sri Lanka.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple case study approach has been used to identify the management conception of barriers and enablers for sustainability control integration. The analysis is conducted based on a theoretical framework extending the work of Gond et al. (2012) and George et al. (2016). To obtain an in-depth and multifaceted view, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers in charge of different functional departments of five manufacturing companies.
Findings
The findings identified managers’ perceived factors, such as environmental impact, stakeholder pressure (customer, competitor and regulatory authorities) and top management commitment, showing a clear difference between strongly and weakly integrated companies. Contrary to the literature, domestic regulatory pressure and multinational ownership do not sufficiently drive MCS sustainability integration.
Practical implications
The findings have implications for managers and practitioners to anticipate the potential barriers and determinants of sustainability integration and provide guidance to take proper measures to deal with them when designing and implementing their MCS.
Originality/value
The study adds value to the literature by presenting a theoretical framework based on the triangulation of different theories to recognise the significance of management idea in sustainable integration. Furthermore, because sustainable integration of MCS is a novel idea, this research is one of the earlier attempts to highlight problems from the perspective of developing countries.
Details
Keywords
Joan Carlini, Rachel Muir, Annette McLaren-Kennedy and Laurie Grealish
The increasing financial burden and complexity of health-care services, exacerbated by factors such as an ageing population and the rise of chronic conditions, necessitate…
Abstract
Purpose
The increasing financial burden and complexity of health-care services, exacerbated by factors such as an ageing population and the rise of chronic conditions, necessitate comprehensive and integrated care approaches. While co-created service design has proven valuable in transforming some service industries, its application to the health-care industry is not well understood. This study aims to examine how health consumers are involved in health-care service co-creation.
Design/methodology/approach
The study searched 11 electronic databases for peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2019. Additionally, hand searches of reference lists from included studies, Google© citation searches and searches for grey literature were conducted. The Whittemore and Knafl integrative framework guided the systematic review, and Callahan’s 6 Ws framework was used to extract data from the included articles, facilitating comparisons.
Findings
The authors identified 21 articles, mainly from the UK, North America and Australia. Despite the need for more research, findings reveal limited and geographically narrow empirical studies with restricted theory and method applications. From these findings, the authors constructed a conceptual model to enhance nuanced understanding.
Originality/value
This study offers four contributions. First, it introduces the Health Service Design Transformation Model for Comprehensive Consumer Co-Creation, illustrating health consumers’ multifaceted roles in shaping services. Second, consumer vulnerabilities in co-creating services are identified, linked to diverse consumer groups, power dynamics and decision complexity. Third, this study suggests broadening participant inclusion may enhance consumer-centricity, inclusivity and innovation in service design. Finally, the research agenda explores consumer experiences, organizational dynamics, value outcomes and co-creation theory for health-care service advancement.
Details
Keywords
Elina Ilén, Farid Elsehrawy, Elina Palovuori and Janne Halme
Solar cells could make textile-based wearable systems energy independent without the need for battery replacement or recharging; however, their laundry resistance, which is…
Abstract
Purpose
Solar cells could make textile-based wearable systems energy independent without the need for battery replacement or recharging; however, their laundry resistance, which is prerequisite for the product acceptance of e-textiles, has been rarely examined. This paper aims to report a systematic study of the laundry durability of solar cells embedded in textiles.
Design/methodology/approach
This research included small commercial monocrystalline silicon solar cells which were encapsulated with functional synthetic textile materials using an industrially relevant textile lamination process and found them to reliably endure laundry washing (ISO 6330:2012). The energy harvesting capability of eight textile laminated solar cells was measured after 10–50 cycles of laundry at 40 °C and compared with light transmittance spectroscopy and visual inspection.
Findings
Five of the eight textile solar cell samples fully maintained their efficiency over the 50 laundry cycles, whereas the other three showed a 20%–27% decrease. The cells did not cause any visual damage to the fabric. The result indicates that the textile encapsulated solar cell module provides sufficient protection for the solar cells against water, washing agents and mechanical stress to endure repetitive domestic laundry.
Research limitations/implications
This study used rigid monocrystalline silicon solar cells. Flexible amorphous silicon cells were excluded because of low durability in preliminary tests. Other types of solar cells were not tested.
Originality/value
A review of literature reveals the tendency of researchers to avoid standardized textile washing resistance testing. This study removes the most critical obstacle of textile integrated solar energy harvesting, the washing resistance.
Details
Keywords
Md. Rabiul Awal and Md. Enamul Haque
This paper aims to explore students’ intention to use and actual use of the artificial intelligence (AI)-based chatbot such as ChatGPT or Google Bird in the field of higher…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore students’ intention to use and actual use of the artificial intelligence (AI)-based chatbot such as ChatGPT or Google Bird in the field of higher education in an emerging economic context like Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study uses convenience sampling techniques to collect data from the respondents. It applies partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for analyzing a total of 413 responses to examine the study’s measurement and structural model.
Findings
The results explore that perceived ease of use (PEOU) negatively affects intention to adopt AI-powered chatbots (IA), whereas university students’ perceived usefulness (PU) influences their IA positively but insignificantly. Furthermore, time-saving feature (TSF), academic self-efficacy (ASE) and electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM) have a positive and direct impact on their IA. The finding also reveals that students' IA positively and significantly affects their actual use of AI-based chatbot (AU). Precisely, out of the five constructs, the TSF has the strongest impact on students’ intentions to use chatbots.
Practical implications
Students who are not aware of the chatbot usage benefits might ignore these AI-powered language models. On the other hand, developers of chatbots may not be conscious of the crucial drawbacks of their product as per the perceptions of their multiple users. However, the findings transmit a clear message about advantages to users and drawbacks to developers. Therefore, the results will enhance the chatbots’ functionality and usage.
Originality/value
The findings of the study alert the teachers, students and policymakers of higher educational institutions to understand the positive outcomes and to accept AI-powered chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Outcomes also notify the AI-product developers to boost the chatbot’s quality in terms of timeliness, user-friendliness, accuracy and trustworthiness.
Details
Keywords
Mee San Kiu, Kai Wen Lai, Fah Choy Chia and Phui Fung Wong
The digitization of electronic document management (EDM) in the construction industry has become more common in nature with the evolution of technology. However, there are still…
Abstract
Purpose
The digitization of electronic document management (EDM) in the construction industry has become more common in nature with the evolution of technology. However, there are still some limitations in EDM in the common data environment which can be improved with the integration of blockchain technology. The purpose of this paper is to identify the limitations of the current EDM system in the construction industry, to determine the potential of blockchain in improving the EDM system in the construction industry and challenges towards blockchain-based EDM.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine (9) respondents with background from the construction industry and blockchain expertise. Content analysis was used to analyze the primary data.
Findings
Current EDM system in the construction industry possessed limitations such as system maturity, high cost, slow adoption of technology and security concerns. Blockchain is able to make improvements in the current EDM system in terms of data integrity, data tracking, data immutability, data security, data trustability, and data accountability. Several challenges such as costs, blockchain scalability and industry knowledge, industry culture and hardware need to overcome prior blockchain-based EDM systems can be widely applied in the construction industry.
Originality/value
The research findings provide insight on future EDM in the construction industry and aids future research in this field.
Details
Keywords
Mohammed Jawad Abed and Anis Mhalla
The paper aims to present a grid-connected multi-inverter for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to enhance reliability indices after selected the placement and level of PV solar.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to present a grid-connected multi-inverter for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to enhance reliability indices after selected the placement and level of PV solar.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the associated probability is calculated based on the solar power generation capacity levels and outages conditions. Then, based on this probability, dependability indices like average energy not supplied (AENS), expected energy not supplied and loss of load expectations (LOLE) are computed, also, another indices have been computed such as (customer average interruption duration index (CAIDI), system average interruption frequency index (SAIFI) and system average interruption duration index (SAIDI)) addressing by affected customers with distribution networks reliability assessment, including PV. On the basis of their dependability indices and active power flow, several PV solar modules installed in several places are analyzed. A mechanism for assessing the performance of the grid's integration of renewable energy sources is also under investigation.
Findings
The findings of this study based on data extracted form a PV power plant connected to the power network system in Diyala, Iraq 132 kV, attempts to identify the system's weakest points in order to improve the system's overall dependability. In addition, enhanced reliability indices are given for measuring solar PV systems performance connected to the grid and reviewed for the benefit of the customers.
Originality/value
The main contributions of this study are two methods for determining the reliability of PV generators taking into consideration the system component failure rates and the power electronic component defect rates in a PV system which depend on the power input and the power loss using electrical transient analysis program (ETAP) program.
Details
Keywords
WenFeng Qin, Yunsheng Xue, Hao Peng, Gang Li, Wang Chen, Xin Zhao, Jie Pang and Bin Zhou
The purpose of this study is to design a wearable medical device as a human care platform and to introduce the design details, key technologies and practical implementation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to design a wearable medical device as a human care platform and to introduce the design details, key technologies and practical implementation methods of the system.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-channel data acquisition scheme based on PCI-E (rapid interconnection of peripheral components) was proposed. The flexible biosensor is integrated with the flexible data acquisition card with monitoring capability, and the embedded (device that can operate independently) chip STM32F103VET6 is used to realize the simultaneous processing of multi-channel human health parameters. The human health parameters were transferred to the upper computer LabVIEW by intelligent clothing through USB or wireless Bluetooth to complete the transmission and processing of clinical data, which facilitates the analysis of medical data.
Findings
The smart clothing provides a mobile medical cloud platform for wearable medical through cloud computing, which can continuously monitor the body's wrist movement, body temperature and perspiration for 24 h. The result shows that each channel is completely accurate to the top computer display, which can meet the expected requirements, and the wearable instant care system can be applied to healthcare.
Originality/value
The smart clothing in this study is based on the monitoring and diagnosis of textiles, and the electronic communication devices can cooperate and interact to form a wearable textile system that provides medical monitoring and prevention services to individuals in the fastest and most accurate way. Each channel of the system is precisely matched to the display screen of the host computer and meets the expected requirements. As a real-time human health protection platform technology, continuous monitoring of human vital signs can complete the application of human motion detection, medical health monitoring and human–computer interaction. Ultimately, such an intelligent garment will become an integral part of our everyday clothing.
Details
Keywords
Mehdi El Abed and Adrian Castro-Lopez
Digitalization is revolutionizing the retail sector as today's consumers prefer a seamlessly integrated, fluid and irritation-free shopping experience enhanced with artificial…
Abstract
Purpose
Digitalization is revolutionizing the retail sector as today's consumers prefer a seamlessly integrated, fluid and irritation-free shopping experience enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered technologies. Literature highlights gaps in the understanding of the shopping experience in an omnichannel context, involving aesthetic, cognitive and affective experience dimensions. This research highlights the direct effects and the mechanism triggered in the presence of such device.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 259 consumers was interviewed at the point of sale. Data have been collected after a shopping experience in two concept stores belonging to the same fashion brand: (1) not equipped with AI-powered technology and (2) equipped with these tools. The measurement scales were validated through ANCOVA analysis and causal relationship analysis with structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results show that the presence of an in-store AI-powered technologies in a connected store generates a higher aesthetic reaction when visiting the store, a higher absorption when shopping through the flow and a higher intent to purchase. The authors further investigate the underlying mechanism triggered by the presence of this technology, which enables the authors to outline their consequences regarding purchase intention.
Originality/value
The study, conducted within an actual connected store in France, explores the impact of AI technology in connected retail environments on consumer responses. It is an early research in this field, shedding light on a rarely explored area. The authors’ research addresses a significant gap, providing insights into AI-driven retail experiences.
Details
Keywords
Candice L. Marti, Huimin Liu, Gurpreet Kour, Anil Bilgihan and Yu Xu
In an era where complex technological advances increasingly govern service delivery, it is incumbent on service firms to pioneer innovative strategies to sustain customer…
Abstract
Purpose
In an era where complex technological advances increasingly govern service delivery, it is incumbent on service firms to pioneer innovative strategies to sustain customer engagement and cultivate loyalty. This conceptual paper examines the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in the realm of online customer communities, with a particular focus on its creation, management and enhancement facets. The authors explore how AI can revolutionize the dynamics of customer interaction, feedback mechanisms and overall engagement within the service industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper draws from marketing and management literature focusing on customer communities and AI in service and customer engagement contexts with a robust future research agenda.
Findings
A classification of online customer community engagement is provided along with a conceptual framework to guide our understanding of the integration of AI into online customer communities.
Originality/value
This exploration underscores the imperative for service firms to embrace AI-driven approaches to online customer community management, not only as a means to optimize their operations but as a vital strategy to stay competitive in the ever-evolving digital landscape. This paper examines the novel combination of AI with online customer communities and provides the framework in the form of an input-process-output (IPO) model for future research into this integration.
Details