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This study aims to introduce and evaluate the COPULA framework, a construction project monitoring solution based on blockchain designed to address the inherent challenges of construction project monitoring and management. This research aims to enhance efficiency, transparency and trust within the dynamic and collaborative environment of the construction industry by leveraging the decentralized, secure and immutable nature of blockchain technology.

This paper employs a comprehensive approach encompassing the formulation of the COPULA model, the development of a digital solution using the ethereum blockchain and extensive testing to assess performance in terms of execution cost, time, integrity, immutability and security. A case analysis is conducted to demonstrate the practical application and benefits of blockchain technology in real-world construction project monitoring scenarios.

The findings reveal that the COPULA framework effectively addresses critical issues such as centralization, privacy and security vulnerabilities in construction project management. It facilitates seamless data exchange among stakeholders, ensuring real-time transparency and the creation of a tamper-proof communication channel. The framework demonstrates the potential to significantly enhance project efficiency and foster trust among all parties involved.

While the study provides promising insights into the application of blockchain technology in construction project monitoring, future research could explore the integration of COPULA with existing project management methodologies to broaden its applicability and impact. Further investigations into the solution’s scalability and adaptation to various construction project types and sizes are also suggested.

This research offers a comprehensive blockchain solution specifically tailored for the construction industry. Unlike prior studies focusing on theoretical aspects, this paper presents a practical, end-to-end solution encompassing model formulation, digital implementation, proof-of-concept testing and validation analysis. The COPULA framework marks a significant advancement in the digital transformation of construction project monitoring, providing a novel approach to overcoming longstanding industry challenges.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in transforming the healthcare sector, with a focus on how AI contributes to entrepreneurship and value creation. This study also aims to explore the potential of combining AI with other technologies, such as cloud computing, blockchain, IoMT, additive manufacturing and 5G, in the healthcare industry.

Exploratory qualitative methodology was chosen to analyze 22 case studies from the USA, EU, Asia and South America. The data source was public and specialized podcast platforms.

The findings show that combining technologies can create a competitive advantage for technology entrepreneurs and bring about transitions from simple consumer devices to actionable healthcare applications. The results of this research identified three main entrepreneurship areas: 1. Analytics, including staff reduction, patient prediction and decision support; 2. Security, including protection against cyberattacks and detection of atypical cases; 3. Performance optimization, which, in addition to reducing the time and costs of medical procedures, includes staff training, reducing capital costs and working with new markets.

This study demonstrates how AI can be used with other technologies to cocreate value in the healthcare industry. This study provides a conceptual framework, “AI facilitators – AI achievers,” based on the findings and offer several theoretical contributions to academic literature in technology entrepreneurship and technology management and industry recommendations for practical implication.

The paper aims to provide an understanding of how the transfer of progressive human resource management (HRM) practices may or may fail to render multinational enterprises (MNEs) institutional entrepreneurs creating change in job quality and decent work to underprivileged workers in the low-pay retail sector in Japan.

The paper draws on survey questionnaire data and interviews with workers and management in a foreign retailer in Japan.

The findings suggest that even where MNEs may provide some measurable material improvements in job quality, in this case equal pay for equal work, the total outcomes are nevertheless shaped by institutional context and constraints. In this case, the improvement in pay was intertwined with flexibility demands that were possible to meet for some workers but not others. In particular, women with care responsibilities and competing demands on their time were not able to experience “decent work” in the same way as others.

The study had a relatively low response rate, due to lack of discretion over time experienced by workers in Japan, as well as limited data on program outcomes, with interviews conducted with a small number of participants.

The study suggests that spaces and opportunities exist for MNEs to diverge from dominant practices in given host country locations and exercise a level of agency as emissaries of decent work but successful outcomes require a very thorough understanding of individual worker experiences within the institutional constraints of given environments.

The study offers insights into the complexities of initiatives by MNEs to contribute to the provision of decent work, particularly for workers in underprivileged positions including women in low-pay sectors such as retail, as firm-level practices lead to variable outcomes when filtered through local institutions.

The study brings together a focus on firm-level practices that inform much of the international HRM and international management scholarship with an emphasis on the experiences of workers, which is pursued in the sociology of work, to investigate whether MNEs can be actors in the realising of the Sustainable Development Goals around decent work.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate both the impact of different reward types and the adoption of knowledge-sharing practice on a crowdsourcing-based open innovation contest. Despite the benefit of knowledge sharing, contestants could struggle to find a balance between knowledge sharing and knowledge protection in open innovation.

The authors' approach follows a stylised contest model in a game-theoretical setting in which contestants first decide on their efforts and then the contest sponsor chooses the winner. Moreover, the outcome of an open innovation contest is delineated as either intermediate goods that require further refinement and risk-taking versus a market-ready end product for the contest sponsor. The authors also investigate how knowledge sharing among contestants would be influenced by reward types such as fixed-monetary prizes vs performance-contingent awards.

The contest sponsor will lower the prize level after adopting knowledge sharing. Therefore, the total effort will decline regardless of the reward type. Moreover, the choice of reward types depends on the contest sponsor's characteristics because the performance-contingent award is suitable for a large market size but the fixed-monetary prize can more efficiently raise the quantity of contestant inputs.

Prior studies have tested the connection between contest performance and knowledge sharing in crowdsourcing-based contests; however, there is not an integrated framework to best design the operation of a contest when considering different reward types and knowledge-sharing practices.

This paper finds the returns from soil conservation practices and examines whether the welfare implications of adopting the conservation practices are heterogeneous across the farming groups in Indian agriculture.

The study uses an endogenous switching regression (ESR) method on the data collected from the 77th round of National Sample Survey (2019–21) to quantify the returns from adopting soil conservation practices.

It finds that farmers adopting soil health conservation practices would have reduced their crop yield by 13% if they did not implement them. Similarly, smallholders who have not adopted soil health management practices would have increased crop yield by 16% if they had adopted the practices. The authors also observed that the returns from adopting soil health management practices vary across farming groups, where marginal and large farms tend to gain higher yields. Finally, the authors find that regardless of farm size, smallholders who did not adopt soil health management practices would benefit from adopting these with increased crop yields of 29%–31%.

More data could have been better for drawing policy implications, since the number of soil card users are relatively less.

This research work uses nationally representative data, which is first in nature on this very aspect.

As video-based interventions are continuously utilized as alternatives to physical site visits, directing students' attention to specific learning contents within videos could increase their comprehension and stimulate their interest. Students' knowledge of construction practice can be reinforced, misconceptions and improper inferences can be reduced by calling out significant learning concepts. However, few studies have formalized practice concepts that could be beneficial in preparing students for the workplace. This paper presents an investigation of construction practice concepts, based on site visits that would be beneficial in complimenting classroom teaching to prepare students for the realities of practice.

A mixed methods research approach was employed combining qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. An online questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and a focus group were conducted with industry practitioners and instructors to identify the topics and practice concepts significant for supporting classroom teaching with site visits.

The findings suggest that the most relevant topics typically supported with site visits are preconstruction management, excavation and foundation work, construction equipment, construction means and methods, project management, road construction, sustainability, building systems, structures, construction technology, building construction, capstone, site logistics and safety. Practice concepts were identified for each of these topics.

The study will guide researchers in the design of video-based pedagogical tools to be used as an effective complement of or alternative to site visit experiences. The findings will support instructors on how to structure their teaching practices to prepare students for some of the complexities of the workplace.

This study adds value to the existing literature by providing insights into industry perception of practice concepts for complementing classroom teaching.

This paper aims to examine the mechanism of how circular economy practices (CEP) and circular economy entrepreneurship (CEE) promote sustainable supply chain management (SCM) and facilitate sustainable performance (SP) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food value chain in emerging economy. In this context, this mechanism involves the mediating role of sustainable SCM in the relationship between CEP and SP. Simultaneously, it involves the moderating role of CEE in the link between CEP and sustainable SCM.

The paper follows a quantitative approach. Based on systematic literature review on the field, the nexus amongst the constructs were proposed. The Smart partial least square (PLS) version 3.3.2 was employed to analyze structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate the relationships between constructs and latent variables. There were 457 valid responses obtained from the survey participants, those are managers at senior and middle levels. The data collected was then used for quantitative analysis and assessment.

The main finding of this study is twofold. First, it sheds light on how CEE associates in strengthening the influence of CEP on sustainable SCM. By this way, the better the CEE, the stronger the impact of the CEP on the sustainable SCM, leading to long-term sustainability. Second, it reveals how sustainable SCM mediates the link between CEP and SP. By this way, the better the CEP, the more the SCM is sustainable, ultimately leading to SP. This contribution is paramount because experimental research on this mechanism has not been intensively explored in the current literature.

The originality of this study is the provision of scientific knowledge and practical mechanisms for the introduction and application of CEP to business behaviors and practices in a real-world context that exists as a research gap in the current literature. In this respect, this study contributes to expanding the existing literature in the field by providing empirical evidence for the mechanism as stated. Furthermore, it provides a practical mechanism for SMEs in given context to enable them apply efficiently the circular economy perspective to their businesses to help them achieve SP. These contributions may be of interest to business practitioners, business leaders, academics and policymakers in the areas that are of their concerns.

The building commissioning (BCx) phase is a critical stage in a building's lifecycle. It is also a complex process that involves a large number of actors and activities. While the use of building information modeling (BIM) in the commissioning phase of building equipment and systems could be beneficial, few studies have investigated the processes behind its implementation. The research presented in this paper aims to investigate the implementation of BIM for the commissioning phase within a general contracting company through action-research.

Through direct involvement with the research partner, a large general contractor, a diagnosis on the current limitations of the commissioning process was conducted. An action plan to implement BIM for commissioning was developed and implemented in two pilot projects. Evaluation was performed through on-site observations and informal discussions with field staff. Learning was specified through the development of a formal protocol for BIM-enabled BCx.

This action-research project helped the partner organization identify the challenges and a way forward to formalize its BIM-enabled BCx process. The action plan aimed at countering the lack of knowledge about the status of equipment and system commissioning as well as the lack of standardization. The research team co-developed and tested a formal protocol, including BIM-enabled processes and technologies to address these observed problems. A complete implementation ecosystem was structured and deployed. Preliminary feedback indicated that improvements were obtained using a BIM-enabled approach over a traditional approach.

While past studies have investigated the BCx process, this study identified current challenges considering recent advances in BIM and focused on a large general contractor. This work provides an in-depth account of a large general contractor attempting to streamline its BCx process. The results of the study could help guide practitioners in implementing more streamlined BIM-enabled BCx processes.

This study aimed to determine the expectations of students from mathematics teachers in the planning phase of lesson study (LS) in mathematics classrooms.

This study reported only a part of large-scale action research. The participants were Grade 8 students selected by the convenience sampling method. The data were obtained through open-ended questions. The content analysis method was used to analyze the data.

Four categories emerged: connection, technology-supported teaching, use of concrete materials, practice, and teacher behavior and teaching style.

This study reveals how students in a different culture and education system, such as Türkiye, want to learn mathematics in the LS process of Japanese origin. It also gives some important clues for applying LS in a different culture.

This study may attract the attention of educational stakeholders who want to implement LS in mathematics classrooms by considering student perspectives.

Due to the nature of LS, this study may emphasize teacher–student and teacher–teacher interactions. Thus, it can draw attention to the importance of social learning environments where students take responsibility and interact.

This study emphasizes the importance of listening to student voices in LS. Some ideas about mathematics teaching in Turkey should also be given. Finally, it can provide a good basis for understanding and comparing LS practices in different cultures and understandings.

This study aims to examine the role of blockchain technology (BCT) in trust in financial reporting (TFR) and the use of smart contracts (USC). It aims to ascertain the mediating role of USC in the relationship between BCT and TFR, thereby contributing to the limited empirical literature in this domain.

Based on a sample of the accountants’ familiarity with BCT, a structural equation model was constructed and analyzed using AMOS 24. The model proposes and tests relationships between BCT, USC and TFR.

The study highlights BCT’s significant positive influence on TFR, with USC mediating this effect. It provides empirical evidence that supports the transformative potential of BCT and USC in enhancing TFR.

These findings have significant implications for practitioners, regulatory bodies and policymakers. By highlighting the effectiveness of BCT and USC in fostering TFR, the study makes one aware of strategies to mitigate financial malpractices. It promotes the adoption of BCT in accounting practices.

This study addresses a gap in the literature by investigating the complex interplay of BCT, USC and TFR. It offers a unique perspective by exploring the mediating role of USC, thereby enhancing our understanding of the mechanisms through which BCT can foster TFR.