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While different attempts have been made to use artificial intelligence (AI) to codify communicative behaviors and analyze startups’ video presentations in relation to crowdfunding projects, less is known about other forms of access to entrepreneurial finance, such as video pitches for candidacies into startup accelerators and incubators. This research seeks to demonstrate how AI can enable the startup selection process for both entrepreneurs and investors in terms of video pitch evaluation.

An AI startup (Speechannel) was used to predict the outcomes of startup video presentations by analyzing text, audio, and video data from 294 video pitches sent to a leading European startup accelerator (LUISS EnLabs). 7 investors were also interviewed in Silicon Valley to establish the differences between humans and machines.

This research proves that AI has profound implications with regards to the decision-making process related to fundraising and, in particular, the video pitches of startup accelerators and incubators. Successful entrepreneurs are confident (but not overconfident), engaging in terms of speaking quickly (but also clearly), and emotional (but not overemotional).

This study not only fills the existing research gap but also provides a practical guide on AI-driven video pitch evaluation for entrepreneurs and investors, reshaping the landscape of entrepreneurial finance thanks to AI. On the one hand, entrepreneurs could use this knowledge to modify their behaviors, enabling them to increase their likelihood of being financially backed. On the other hand, investors could use these insights to better rationalize their funding decisions, enabling them to select the most promising startups.

This paper makes a significant contribution by bridging the gap between theoretical research and the practical application of AI in entrepreneurial finance, marking a notable advancement in this field. At a theoretical level, it contributes to research on managerial decision-making processes – particularly those related to the analysis of video presentations in a fundraising context. At a practical level, it offers a model that we called the “AI-enabled video pitch evaluation”, which is used to extract features from the video pitches of startup accelerators and incubators and predict an entrepreneurial project’s success.

The a priori identification and development of army personnel competencies are necessary to enable effective and efficient responses to rapidly changing climate conditions. Accordingly, this study aims to identify the performance requirements of a military flood responder and the competencies (knowledge, skills and abilities) required to perform it.

Using an abductive approach, the authors conducted both secondary and primary research to generate a validated framework of performance criteria and competencies for army personnel responding to floods. This literature review integrated both the peer-reviewed academic literature and public sector grey literature. Using the critical incident technique, the authors then conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) who had previously been tasked with flood response operations. Participants were asked about the tasks required while conducting flood response operations. Interview transcripts were then content analysed to identify themes regarding those tasks, and the competencies needed to perform those tasks were then extracted and contrasted with the literature review findings. Inter-rater reliability for the analysis was established via iterative discussion between the two co-authors.

The primary data reinforced and expanded the list of performance expectations that the authors deductively identified from the integrated literature review, adding granularity to each. It also identified competencies (including both hard and soft skills) and highlighted previously neglected contextual antecedents of military flood response effectiveness.

though knowledge saturation was achieved from the 15 interviews conducted, further research with larger samples could more deeply ground the evidence discovered in this study. Nevertheless, the competencies identified in this paper could serve as a starting guide to staffing and/or training interventions targeted at improving these competencies for personnel responding to flood scenarios.

The theoretical findings also have immediate practical relevance to training for flood response operations. In particular, the subtle challenges in competency crossover from military operations to flood response operations may facilitate not only more efficient, targeted training (that could improve the effectiveness of army personnel involved in humanitarian roles), but could be applied to the selection of army personnel as well. This study may also help provincial/municipal operators and emergency planners by better communicating the strengths and limitations of army personnel in addressing civilian military cooperation for humanitarian operations. Thus, the findings of this research study represent an important first step in prompting attention to the strategic human resource planning studies required to make all responders more efficient and effective in their respective division of labour within the humanitarian domain.

Peering a little beyond these research findings, human-induced climate change is expected to continue increasing the frequency of such events (IPCC, 2021), and a timely, national force is likely to be increasingly required for Canadians impacted by major disasters stemming from natural hazards when local resources become overwhelmed. Yet, there is some concern from the CAF that increasing responsiveness to disaster operations will affect their military readiness (Leuprecht and Kasurak, 2020). One can indeed envision a paradox whereby the CAF is both a “force of last resort” while increasingly becoming a “first choice for domestic disaster and emergency assistance”. The practical implications from this research also suggest that military personnel, while fully capable of successfully conducting flood response operations, may become overburdened and less able to adopt yet greater capacity and training for other additional humanitarian work. Nevertheless, the competencies highlighted by participants can help inform the next flood response operation in Canada.

Most literature in the field of emergency response focuses on cooperation between civilian and military resources and other strategic-level themes. The findings address critical granularity missing at the operational and tactical levels of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief research. The authors also draw implications beyond the military context, including for local/regional governmental players (operators and emergency planners) as well as for volunteers in flood response roles.

This research is motivated by the increasing need for international interactions during the gradual recovery of the tourism industry. By recognizing the paucity of research on cultural closeness and accommodation categories, this research aims to illuminate the influencing mechanisms of psychological closeness and travelers’ willingness to book an accommodation-sharing property while booking an accommodation.

The authors employ a mixed-methods approach, including an experiment and semistructured interviews.

Results show that hosts’ higher cultural identity congruence leads to travelers’ higher willingness to book an accommodation-sharing property. Psychological closeness mediates the positive effect of cultural identity congruence on travelers’ willingness to book. The authors further explore the moderating role of room types (entire room vs. private room) and find that the mediation effect is stronger for booking an entire room.

The current research underlines the importance of cultural identity congruence and accommodation type on travelers’ willingness to book an accommodation-sharing property and psychological closeness.

Using and understanding social media in the context of networked publics enhances crisis communication. This chapter describes models and ideas for integrating social media into the communication strategies of rescue organisations. The authors develop their recommendations for the use of social media by these organisations from both a summary and comparison of communication processes during the 2013 Central European floods in Austria, and from the perspective of an organisation actively using social media in the chosen model region of Alkoven. The chapter presents basic recommendations, recommendations inspired by content strategy and recommendations based on web and social media literacy in order to support the further development of crisis communication in the digital age.

It is common for professionals in technical and science-related careers to interact with colleagues and the general public frequently in their daily work. However, most do not receive any education or practice developing interpersonal skills. Thus, these professionals may struggle to create positive interactions, especially while in leadership roles or interacting with stakeholders or clientele. We worked with the Wildlife Services National Training Academy to develop and deliver a half-day training on leadership competencies including emotional intelligence, power and influence, and conflict management. This application brief describes the training, including learning activities implemented, and reports evaluative feedback from participants and the workshop developers and facilitator. Recommendations for implementing similar leadership development programming for technical audiences is included.

This study aims to illuminate the contribution of neurophysiological techniques in the field of marketing and consumer decision-making and to highlight avenues and research questions that marketing researchers can take advantage of from neuroscience and psychology to inform marketing phenomena.

The authors first reviewed the roots and definition of consumer neuroscience. Then, the authors outlined the main characteristics of the most commonly used neurophysiological tools (namely, skin conductance, facial electromyography, electrocardiogram, eye-tracking, electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, magnetoencephalography and transcranial magnetic stimulation) with a special emphasis on their advantages and weaknesses. Finally, the authors propose the development of research lines that could be implemented by marketing researchers with an appropriate application and understanding of tools and theories of neuroscience and psychology.

The authors propose research questions to be addressed within four thematic areas: opportunities in product decisions (predicting product purchasing decisions, consumer responses to branding efforts and packaging), pricing, communication and retailing scenarios. The authors also incorporate insights into the complementarity of neurophysiological tools to traditional ones and situations in which these tools are useful for enhancing marketing theory. The authors finally shed light on the moral–ethical criticisms of this new branch of marketing.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research constitutes the first study in identifying the research opportunities that marketing researchers could take advantage from neuroimaging and physiological tools to inform marketing theory and practice.

Esta investigación tiene como objetivo esclarecer la contribución de las técnicas neurofisiológicas en el campo del marketing y la toma de decisiones de los consumidores y destacar las vías y preguntas de investigación que los investigadores de marketing pueden aprovechar de la neurociencia y la psicología para informar sobre los fenómenos del marketing.

En primer lugar, revisamos el origen y la definición de la neurociencia del consumidor. A continuación, esbozamos las principales características de las herramientas neurofisiológicas más utilizadas (a saber, la conductancia, la electromiografía facial, el electrocardiograma, el seguimiento ocular, la electroencefalografía, la resonancia magnética funcional, la espectroscopia funcional en el infrarrojo cercano, la magnetoencefalografía y la estimulación magnética transcraneal), haciendo especial hincapié en sus ventajas y debilidades. Finalmente, se propone el desarrollo de líneas de investigación que podrían ser implementadas por los investigadores de marketing con una adecuada aplicación y comprensión de las herramientas y teorías de la neurociencia y la psicología.

Proponemos preguntas de investigación para ser abordadas dentro de cuatro áreas temáticas: oportunidades en las decisiones de producto (predicción de las decisiones de compra de productos, respuestas de los consumidores a los esfuerzos de marca y envasado), precios, comunicación y distribución. También incorporamos ideas sobre la complementariedad de las herramientas neurofisiológicas con las tradicionales y las situaciones en las que estas herramientas son útiles para mejorar la teoría del marketing. Por último, arrojamos luz sobre las críticas ético-morales a esta nueva rama del marketing.

本研究旨在阐明神经生理学技术在营销和消费者决策领域的贡献, 并强调营销研究人员可以从神经科学和心理学中利用的途径和研究问题, 以告知营销现象。

我们首先回顾了消费者神经科学的根基和定义。然后, 我们概述了最常用的神经生理学工具（即皮肤电导率、面部肌电图、心电图、眼球追踪、脑电图、功能性磁共振成像、功能性近红外光谱、脑磁图和经颅磁刺激）的主要特点, 特别强调了它们的优势和劣势。最后, 我们提出了研究路线的发展, 这些路线可以由营销研究人员通过适当的应用和理解神经科学和心理学的工具和理论来实施。

我们提出了四个主题领域的研究问题：产品决策中的机会（预测产品购买决策、消费者对品牌推广工作的反应和包装）、定价、沟通和零售场景。我们还纳入了对神经生理学工具与传统工具的互补性的见解, 以及这些工具对加强营销理论有用的情况。最后, 我们对这个新的营销分支的道德伦理批评进行了说明。

纸张类型 – 研究论文

The purpose of this paper is to answer the call for CSR communication research to develop and substantiate outcomes that may better explain CSR communication strategies and practices. The paper takes the research a step further, exploring the role of legitimacy in CSR communication research.

A literature collection methodology, combined with directed content analysis, was used to identify central themes in the literature.

The following categories of studies were identified: perception, impact and promotion studies; image and reputation studies; performance studies; and conceptual/rhetorical studies. Addressed from a legitimacy perspective, the study found that the most important types of legitimizing communicative practices articulated in the four types of studies were related to: seeking knowledge about stakeholders through perception, impact and promotion activities; monitoring and controlling the environment through image and reputation activities; creating stakeholder value through collaboration and engagement; and persuading and convincing stakeholders through rhetorics, CSR models and concepts. The study also found that practices and activities related to perceiving stakeholders’ expectations, needs and requirements are assumed to be most effective for corporations aiming at building or maintaining legitimacy.

The key contribution of the paper lies in exploring how corporate legitimacy is anticipated and extrapolated in the CSR communication literature, including which pinpointed CSR communication strategies and practices are assumed to be more effective than others in bridging stakeholders’ perceptions of corporations’ social and environmental actions. Until date, no reviews exist of the role of legitimacy in CSR communication research.