Search results

This article aims to report on the development and validation of a bribery measurement index for the business sector, which, based on institutional theory, seeks to overcome the limitations of traditional measurements, recognizing the dynamics that originate the phenomenon and identifying process components.

To construct the index, correlational and principal component analysis techniques were used, as well as rigorous statistical tests, validating the instrument in a sample of 2,963 companies in Latin America, including Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru.

The result was an instrument composed of two dimensions: (1) anti-bribery game rules, composed of regulations knowledge and anti-bribery efforts, and (2) bribery as a perceived habit, allowing an objective representation of reality due to its internal consistency, concurrent and discriminant validity.

This instrument is one of the few that focuses on measuring bribery in the business sector in terms of corrupt practices, applicable for both public and private institutions to promote game rules against bribery. Additionally, the proposed theoretical model can be used to measure other phenomena with similar characteristics.

This article empirically highlights different variables that make bribery possible. The results can be helpful in the design of strategies to prevent this type of behavior. It also highlights the importance of designing mechanisms to record information related to bribery and the different expressions of corruption in order to explain its different nuances.

Este artículo informa sobre el desarrollo y validación de un índice de medición de soborno para el sector empresarial, que, basado en la teoría institucional, busca superar las limitaciones de las mediciones tradicionales, reconociendo las dinámicas que originan el fenómeno e identificando los componentes del proceso.

Para la construcción del índice se utilizaron técnicas de análisis correlacional y de componentes principales, así como rigurosas pruebas estadísticas, validando el instrumento en una muestra de 2.963 empresas de América Latina, entre ellas Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, México y Perú.

El resultado fue un instrumento compuesto por dos dimensiones: (1) reglas de juego antisoborno, compuestas por conocimiento normativo y esfuerzo antisoborno (2) soborno como hábito percibido, permitiendo una representación objetiva de la realidad debido a su consistencia interna, validez concurrente y discriminante.

Este artículo pone en evidencia empírica diferentes variables que hacen posible el soborno. Los resultados pueden ser útiles en el diseño de estrategias para prevenir este tipo comportamiento, también destaca la importancia de diseñar mecanismos para registrar la información relacionada con la lucha contra el soborno.

Este instrumento es uno de los pocos que se enfoca en medir el soborno en el sector empresarial en términos de prácticas de corrupción, útil para instituciones tanto públicas como privadas para promover mejores reglas de juego en contra del soborno. Adicionalmente el modelo teórico propuesto puede ser utilizado para medir otros fenómenos con características similares.

Crowdfunding (CF) is a digital-financial innovation that, bypassing credit crisis, bank system rigidities and constraints of the capital market, is allowing new ventures and established companies to get the needed funds to support innovations. After one decade of research, mainly focused on relations between variables and outcomes of the CF campaign, the literature shows methodological lacks about the study of its overall behavior. These reflect into a weak theoretical understanding and inconsistent managerial guidance, leading to a 27% success ratio of campaigns. To bridge this gap, this paper embraces a “complex system” perspective of the CF campaign, able to explore the system's behavior of a campaign over time, in light of its causal loop structure.

By adopting and following the document model building (DMB) methodology, a set of 26 variables and mutual causal relations modeled the system “Crowdfunding campaign” and a data set based on them and crafted to model the “Crowdfunding campaign” with a causal loop diagram. Finally, system archetypes have been used to link the causal loop structure with qualitative trends of CF's behavior (i.e. the raised capital over time).

The research brought to 26 variables making the system a “Crowdfunding campaign.” The variables influence each other, thus showing a set of feedback loops, whose structure determines the behavior of the CF campaign. The causal loop structure is traced back to three system archetypes, presiding the behavior in three stages of the campaign.

The value of this paper is both methodological and theoretical. First, the DMB methodology has been expanded and reinforced concerning previous applications; second, we carried out a causation analysis, unlike the common correlation analysis; further, we created a theoretical model of a “Crowdfunding Campaign” unlike the common empirical models built on CF platform's data.

Our study examines how artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance decision-making processes to promote circular economy practices within the utility sector.

A unique case study of Alia Servizi Ambientali Spa, an Italian multi-utility company using AI for waste management, is analyzed using the Gioia method and semi-structured interviews.

Our study discovers the proactive role of the user in waste management processes, the importance of economic incentives to increase the usefulness of the technology and the role of AI in waste management transformation processes (e.g. glass waste).

The present study enhances the circular economy model (transformation, distribution and recovery), uncovering AI’s role in waste management. Finally, we inspire managers with algorithms used for data-driven decisions.

The study investigates the use of early forms of environmental accounting in the implementation of environmental strategies in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany between the 16th and 17th centuries.

The study adopts the Foucauldian concept of raison d’État to shed light on the ways in which environmental accounting practices were used by Tuscan Grand Dukes to form a detailed knowledge of the territory to be governed and act accordingly.

Financial and non-financial information relating to environmental issues enabled the Grand Dukes to “visualise” the territory to be managed as an enclosed disciplinary space whereby the conduct of people living therein could be decisively influenced. Accounting practices as a tool for the implementation of environmental strategies did not merely aim to protect the environment but were a means to reinforce the power of the State.

The paper can inform future works that investigate the ways in which environmental policies and accounting are used to pursue far-reaching governmental goals. It encourages scholars to examine further the origins of environmental accounting and its early forms.

The study documents how environmental strategies and the related use of accounting can have a significant influence on how individuals are allowed to conduct themselves. It also shows that environmental accounting practices can be an important tool in a State’s machinery of power.

The study offers a novel perspective on the use of environmental accounting information as a tool in the exercise of State power. It explores explicitly the interrelations between accounting, sustainability and power. It also adds new evidence to historical research that has engaged with early forms of environmental accounting.

This research examines the impact of integrating lean manufacturing (LM) principles and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) into the product development process (PDP) of manufacturing companies in southern Brazil, with the objective of improving market performance (MP).

A survey was conducted with 110 product development managers to evaluate the level of LM and I4.0 principles, PDP phases, and the improvement of MP. Quantitative analysis was employed to analyse the data, including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and ordinary least squares (OLS) hierarchical regression.

The study reveals that integrating LM and I4.0 principles in the PDP enhances product development and positively impacts the MP of manufacturing companies. Additionally, I4.0 partially mediates the LM-PDP relationship, while LM partially mediates the I4.0-PDP relationship, highlighting their interdependence rather than one being a prerequisite for the other.

The study has limitations regarding its narrow focus on product development managers in Brazil and the absence of multiple case studies.

The study emphasises the importance of coordinated efforts in manufacturing companies to adopt and manage both LM and I4.0 principles, as they positively impact all phases of the PDP and ultimately contribute to the overall MP of the companies.

The novelty of this study lies in its systemic approach, examining the relationships and effects of LM and I4.0 principles on the PDP, and demonstrating how these effects manifest in manufacturing companies.

Innovation goes beyond creation, concentrating on enhancement, which is essential for advancement. Since 1998, the European Journal of Innovation Management (EJIM) has been a leading forum dedicated to thought leadership and research on the advances in innovation management. Given that EJIM has run over two decades, the time is now opportune to reflect on the journal's contributions to innovation management. Thus, this paper aims to retrospectively review the productivity, impact and knowledge of innovation management research in EJIM.

This paper adopts a bibliometric methodology to engage in a retrospective review of EJIM. The bibliographic data of 757 papers published in EJIM from 1998 to 2021 were retrieved from Scopus and analyzed using performance analysis and science mapping techniques.

The productivity (publication) and impact (citation) of innovation management research curated by EJIM have grown prolifically over time. Though EJIM operates with a European title, the journal receives and publishes contributions worldwide (e.g. Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania). Noteworthily, the knowledge of innovation management research in EJIM can be divided into four categories: basic themes (general), which comprise innovation, open innovation, new product development and product and process innovation; motor themes (well-developed), which consist of organizational culture and innovation and leadership and creativity; niche themes (very specialized), which include dynamic capabilities and business model innovation; and emerging or declining themes (weakly developed or marginalized), which is made up of research and development (R&D) and green innovation.

This paper offers a seminal retrospection of EJIM and the journal's productivity, impact and contribution to innovation management.

The innovation process demands an interaction between environment agents, knowledge generators and policies of incentive for innovation and not only development by companies. Universities have gradually become the core of the knowledge production system and, therefore, their role regarding innovation has become more important and diversified. This study is aimed at identifying the mechanisms of university–industry (U–I) collaboration, as well as the operationalization steps of the U–I collaboration process.

This study is aimed at identifying, based on a systematic literature review, the mechanisms of university–industry (U–I) collaboration, as well as the operationalization steps of the U–I collaboration process.

The analysis of the 72 selected articles enabled identifying 15 mechanisms of U–I collaboration, proposing a new classification for such mechanisms and developing a framework presenting the operationalization steps of the interaction process.

In this paper, the authors screened nearly 1,500 papers and analyzed in detail 86 papers addressing U–I collaboration, mechanisms of U–I collaboration and operationalization steps of the U–I collaboration process. This paper provides a new classification for such mechanisms and developing a framework presenting the operationalization steps of the interaction process. This research contributes to both theory and practice by highlighting managerial aspects and stimulating academic research on such timely topic.

This research examines the applicability of the Employer Branding (EB) Mix model developed by Rayón et al. (2022), one of the few empirically validated models, to promote organizational commitment within the context of the Spanish healthcare sector.

A questionnaire was administered to 310 employees of a national company in the Spanish healthcare sector. Several multiple regression models were run between the EB dimensions and those of employees’ organizational commitment.

The results show that the elements of the EB Mix model have a positive relationship with employee’s commitment, especially affective and value commitment.

The existence of causality cannot be affirmed, in view of the sectional design with a single sample taken from the Spanish private healthcare sector. Additionally, it would be worth extending the analysis of the effect of the EB Mix model on the behavior of potential employees.

This research is extremely relevant, given that it can help organizations in the health sector to implement EB programs. The model is an effective tool for retaining human talent and can generate a competitive advantage for organizations that use it.

The EB Mix model presents a conceptually-based and empirically validated model that incorporates the perception of employees as co-creators of the internal brand, which promotes the democratization of organizations and includes the four Ps of the marketing mix.

This study aims to identify the various dimensions of workplace spirituality (WPS) and determine whether these dimensions act as predictors of innovative work behaviour (IWB) among bank employees. This study also aims at studying the moderating role played by sense of God (SOG) between WPS and IWB.

The methodology involved both qualitative and quantitative approaches. This study was carried out in two phases. Item generation, questionnaire development and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were conducted in phase 1. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted in phase 2. Seven WPS dimensions originated through EFA, which got validated through CFA later. Structural equation modelling was used for hypotheses testing. To explore the proposed relationships, cross-sectional survey was done on a sample of bank employees from public, private and foreign banks.

The findings reveal that WPS is a seven-factor construct and affects the IWB of bank employees. The results indicated that four dimensions of WPS significantly increase IWB, and that SOG moderates the relationship between WPS and IWB.

With increasing globalization, there is a growing concern as to whether Indian employers would be able to meet employees’ spiritual needs. Indians tend to have high inclination towards God; through their religious associations, they try to develop a sense of spiritualism. Awareness about the effect of SOG and also the dimensions of WPS on IWB will help organizations in designing effective interventions for making employees more innovative.

The authors believe that the empirical studies testing the consequences of WPS on IWB in the banking industry are limited; also, SOG’s role as a moderator remains unexplored; thus, this study is an attempt to fill the gaps.

Most abuse affecting older adults in the UK, as across Europe, takes place within caring relationships, where one person is disabled and needs care/support. This paper critically appraises two of the key theoretical explanations. First, feminist theories of “intimate partner abuse” tell us that it is mostly men who perpetrate abuse against women. Second, “carer strain”: the stress caused by caring responsibilities, often with inadequate help from services. Neither fully reflects the complex dynamics of “dangerous care” leading to a lack of voice and choice in safeguarding responses. This paper aims to articulate the need for an overarching theoretical framework, informed by a deeper understanding of the intersectional risk factors that create and compound the diverse experiences of harm by disabled people and family carers over the life course.

The critical synthesis of the theoretical approaches informing UK policy and practice presented here arises from a structured literature review and discussions held with three relevant third sector agencies during the development of a research proposal.

No single theory fully explains dangerous care and there are significant gaps in policy, resources and practice across service sectors, highlighting the need for joint training, intersectional working and research across service sectors.

Drawing both on existing literature and on discussions across contrasting policy and practice sectors, this paper raises awareness of some less well-acknowledged complexities of abuse and responses to abuse in later life.