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1 – 10 of 64Katherina Kuschel, María-Teresa Lepeley, Fernanda Espinosa and Sebastián Gutiérrez
Women in entrepreneurship can have a significant impact on economic and social development globally and particularly in developing countries. But the challenges entrepreneurial…
Abstract
Purpose
Women in entrepreneurship can have a significant impact on economic and social development globally and particularly in developing countries. But the challenges entrepreneurial women face are unique and multiple, pressing the need for research and policies to maximize impact. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the challenges women start-up founders face to secure funding in the technology industry. The tech industry was selected because it is a non-traditional industry for women with high potential for role models to bridge an existing gap in information on women start-up founders to secure capital financing to attain business sustainability. It covers venture capital investors’ role, Latin American cultural reasons, and gender.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on an inductive, qualitative approach and in-depth interviews with 20 women entrepreneurs and start-up founders from Latin American countries who received support from the Chilean Government sponsored accelerator “Start-Up Chile.”
Findings
The analysis uncovered ten aspects that impact entrepreneurial women founders’ access to capital in three categories: capital needs, networks, and individual characteristics.
Originality/value
This study identifies factors that affect women entrepreneurs in raising capital and in facing the following challenges: first, working in a non-traditional field for women as it is the technology industry, and second assuming a leadership role as start-up founders. The results offer recommendation with potential to drive public policies in Latin America, which may be scalable to other developing and also to developed countries where market systems prevail. The findings show that women entrepreneurs, but also men, seeking start-up financing and alternatives are a viable source of employment and economic sustainability to mitigate the effects of increasing levels of unemployment worldwide.
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Ander Garcia, Maria Teresa Linaza, Aitor Gutierrez and Endika Garcia
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to present gamified mobile experiences as valid tools for DMOs to enrich the experience of tourists, and to present the benefits provided to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to present gamified mobile experiences as valid tools for DMOs to enrich the experience of tourists, and to present the benefits provided to DMOs by analytics tools integrated on gamified mobile experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
Staff from three DMOs have generated a gamified mobile experience using a custom authoring tool designed and developed to fulfil their requirements. This gamified experience has targeted families with children visiting Basque Country during off-peak season. The experience has been validated over a period of seven weeks within a pilot project promoted by the local tourist information offices of the DMOs. Data directly provided by tourists and data gathered from analytic tools integrated on the gamified mobile experience have been analysed to fulfil the research objectives presented on the paper.
Findings
Both DMOs and tourists can benefit from gamified mobile experiences. The integration of analytics tools to gain insights into the behaviour of tourists can be a relevant information source for DMOs.
Research limitations/implications
The pilot project has targeted a niche tourism market, families with children visiting Basque Country, and has been running during off-peak season. Further studies focusing on other tourist types and different tourism season and destination types will be required to strengthen the validation of the research objectives presented on this paper.
Practical implications
The paper promotes both the development of gamified mobile experiences and the inclusion of analytics tools for DMOs to obtain relevant information about tourists and the mobile experiences.
Originality/value
A gamified mobile experience is generated by DMOs, validated on the basis of experience of real tourists. The analytics tools inside the gamified mobile experience provide DMOs with relevant information.
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Juan Manuel Maqueira-Marín, Sebastián Bruque-Cámara and Beatriz Minguela-Rata
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of Technology Providers, Public Administrations and R&D Institutions on Cloud Computing adoption. This research also…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of Technology Providers, Public Administrations and R&D Institutions on Cloud Computing adoption. This research also considers Killer Applications and Success Cases as other environmental factors.
Design/methodology/approach
Factorial analyses and structural equation models were used on a sample of high-technology firms located in technological parks in Southern Europe, with more than ten employees and sustained investments in R&D.
Findings
Results show that Technology Providers and Success Cases are determinant in Cloud Computing adoption. Moreover, Killer Applications are a forerunner for Success Cases.
Practical implications
An appropriate fit between the tools and resources provided by suppliers and the internal resources of the company is needed to create competitive advantages. Firms should evaluate Technology Providers, identify Success Cases to Cloud Computing adoption and implement technological benchmarking.
Originality/value
This study contributes to Cloud Computing adoption literature because it includes Technology Providers, Public Administrations and R&D Institutions simultaneously as well as other variables as Killer Applications and Success Cases. The importance of the external agents on information technology (IT) adoption, especially when the technologies to be adopted are new and in an emergent stage, together with the lack of prior investigations focusing on specific environmental factors affecting the adoption of these new, emerging IT, justify the value of this research.
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Diana Gómez-Bruna, Clara Martín-Duque, Aurkene Alzua-Sorzabal and Aurora Ruiz-Rua
Assessing the impacts generated by tourism has become an essential element for the industry’s sustainability. The increasing intensity of the impacts and the need to evaluate them…
Abstract
Purpose
Assessing the impacts generated by tourism has become an essential element for the industry’s sustainability. The increasing intensity of the impacts and the need to evaluate them from a resident’s perspective calls for new approaches to assist tourism management. This paper aims to advance from the pressure-state-response framework (PSR) to measure the tourism impacts in urban destinations with a holistic model called PSR-ti.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple linear regression method was adopted to apply the PSR-ti model in the city of Madrid, estimating the relationship between the pressure (objective) and state (subjective) variables. Local statistical yearbook data was used to construct the pressure variables. Regarding the state variables, a survey was designed to assess residents’ perceptions of tourism. A total of 652 responses were obtained.
Findings
The results obtained from the study of pressure indicators unveil that these indicators can support decision-making processes as an underused management tool. This work represents a step forward in considering the transversality of tourism concerning urban planning, the development of equipment and infrastructures or activities such as commerce and culture for the analysis of the state indicators; the results obtained determine the need to periodically evaluate the perception of residents on the impacts of tourism, given its crucial role in the sustainability of the destination.
Originality/value
The PSR-ti model offers a holistic vision, including objective and subjective indicators in the model, which enhances the appraisal of the impacts of tourism by identifying pressure and state factors as a starting point for possible responses by the decision makers of the tourist destination.
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Arantza Zubiaurre, Eduardo Sisti and Jabier Retegi
This paper aims to analyze how integration into global value chains has impacted the evolution of the Basque machine tool cluster from the 1990s to the present day.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze how integration into global value chains has impacted the evolution of the Basque machine tool cluster from the 1990s to the present day.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was carried out in three steps. First, a comparative analysis was made of the renewal process of the 1990s and the current situation. Next, a quantitative analysis was undertaken to test whether the cluster has entered a new maturity period, and finally, qualitative data was gathered about the past and present challenges facing the companies in the cluster.
Findings
The empirical evidence of the present study shows that integration into global value chains has led to a hierarchization of the strategic trajectories and performances of the companies in the cluster. Additionally, evidence of a sustained period of new maturity and decline has been observed. The period of maturity and foreseeable challenges of the coming years were mentioned repeatedly during the interviews.
Research limitations/implications
Although the participants in the interviews were relevant individuals with a broad view of the cluster’s situation, their limited number and the lack of representation of companies that closed down during the renewal process, despite the efforts made by the authors, could be considered a limitation.
Practical implications
This paper sheds some light on the renewal/transformation period facing the cluster. Several of the main challenges and two extreme, hypothetical scenarios are discussed. The companies in the cluster will have to establish a position somewhere between those two scenarios.
Social implications
This paper presents two possible cluster transformation scenarios. The authors offer suggestions as to how to go about transforming the cluster with a view to secure a better position for dealing with future challenges.
Originality/value
Using quantitative and qualitative data, the paper reflects on the hierarchization and decline of the Basque machine tool cluster and provides new insight into the transformation and renewal needs of the cluster in a globally competitive environment.
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Katherine Gajardo, Félix Lobo de Diego, Guillermo Alejandro Campos Cancino and Enrique-Javier Díez-Gutiérrez
The study aims to provide relevant information on the educational processes experienced by university students in Spain during the period of compulsory confinement. To this end…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to provide relevant information on the educational processes experienced by university students in Spain during the period of compulsory confinement. To this end, the key factors of the emergency educational model implemented by the country's universities have been analysed.
Design/methodology/approach
The study investigated, through qualitative, exploratory research and 30 in-depth interviews, how university students have lived the process of change to alternative forms of education during the crisis, what training experiences stand out and what factors related to virtual education they identify as relevant keys.
Findings
Participants usually focus on three main topics: (1) The impacts of changes in training development with regard to methodologies and forms of assessment; (2) The facilities and difficulties in this new modality of online training; and (3) The consequences of the crisis on higher education in the medium and long term.
Originality/value
Students participating in the study offer relevant and critical information on the adaptations developed by Spanish universities during the Coronavirus crisis. This information can be fundamental for the conscious decision making of the institutions, so that they can develop educational processes more adequate to the needs and possibilities of the university students in times of crisis.
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Xiaoqian Sun, Sebastian Wandelt and Anming Zhang
The current outbreak of COVID-19 is an unprecedented event in air transportation. In this study, we investigate the impact of COVID-19 on global air transportation through the…
Abstract
The current outbreak of COVID-19 is an unprecedented event in air transportation. In this study, we investigate the impact of COVID-19 on global air transportation through the lens of complex networks different at different scales, ranging from worldwide airport networks where airports are nodes and links between airports exist when direct flights exist, to international country networks where countries are contracted as nodes, and to domestic airport networks for representative countries/regions. We focus on the spatial-temporal evolutionary dynamics of COVID-19 in air transportation networks, discovering hidden patterns on flight frequency reduction. Our study provides a comprehensive empirical analysis on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation from a complex system perspective.
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Annette Kluge, Arnulf Sebastian Schüffler, Christof Thim, Jennifer Haase and Norbert Gronau
Insight has grown that for an organization to learn and change successfully, forgetting and unlearning are required. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the relevant…
Abstract
Purpose
Insight has grown that for an organization to learn and change successfully, forgetting and unlearning are required. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the relevant existing body of empirical research on forgetting and unlearning, to encourage research using a greater variety of methods and to contribute to a more complementary body of empirical work by using designs and instruments with a stronger reference to previous studies.
Design/methodology/approach
As the number of theoretical papers clearly exceeds the number of empirical papers, the present paper deals with the main insights based on the empirical state of research on unlearning and forgetting. So far, these empirical results have shown relationships between unlearning and other organizational outcomes such as innovation on an organizational level, but many of the other proposed relationships have not been investigated. The authors presents suggestion to apply a larger variety of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods in organizational research.
Findings
Unlearning and forgetting research can benefit both from more diverse theoretical questions addressed in research and from a more complementary body of empirical work that applies methods, designs and instruments that refer to previous research designs and results. To understand and manage unlearning and forgetting, empirical work should relate to and expand upon previous empirical work to form a more coherent understanding of empirical results.
Originality/value
The paper presents a variety of research designs and methods that can be applied within the research context of understanding the nature of organizational forgetting and unlearning. Additionally, it illustrates the potential for different methods, such as experience sampling methods, which capture the temporal aspects of forgetting and unlearning.
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Sebastián Valenzuela, Nicolás M. Somma, Andrés Scherman and Arturo Arriagada
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between social media use and protest participation in Latin America. It advances two questions. First, does social media…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between social media use and protest participation in Latin America. It advances two questions. First, does social media increase the chances of protest participation at the individual level, as prior research shows for advanced democracies? Second, in a region with glaring economic and political inequalities, does social media deepen or reduce the gaps in protest participation that exist among men and women, the young and the old, different social classes, or people with varying levels of political engagement?
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses cross-sectional Latin American Public Opinion Project survey data from 2012 representing the adult population of 17 Latin American countries. It presents binary logistic regression models with protest participation as the dependent variable, social media use for political purposes as the main independent variable, control variables, and interactions.
Findings
Using social media for political purposes significantly increases protest chances – it is the second strongest predictor. Additionally, social media reduces protest gaps associated with individuals’ age, gender, psychological engagement with politics, and recruitment networks.
Originality/value
First, the paper shows that the contribution of social media to collective protest travels beyond advanced democracies – it also holds for more unequal regions with weaker democratic trajectories like Latin America. Second, it shows that social media may mitigate participatory inequalities not only, as shown by past research, regarding institutional participation (e.g. voting), but also regarding contentious tactics.
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Elsayed Ali Abofarha and Ramez Ibrahim Nasreldein
This study attempts to figure out the factors that contributed to deposing certain elected presidents before the end of their constitutional terms, alongside tracing the new…
Abstract
Purpose
This study attempts to figure out the factors that contributed to deposing certain elected presidents before the end of their constitutional terms, alongside tracing the new political context that prevailed in Latin America since 1978 and its impact on direct political participation and military behavior during presidential crises.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses the comparative method to investigate the causes of presidential instability in three case studies.
Findings
The likelihood of presidential instability increases when a president enacts austerity economic policies that marginalize large sectors of the citizenry, becomes implicated in acts of corruption and develops a hostile relationship with members of the ruling coalition.
Originality/value
This study integrates the social movement theory with analytical perspectives from parliamentary behavior to explain presidential instability. It attempts to investigate the dynamics of interaction between the acts of furious citizens and disloyal legislators through the in-depth analysis of three case studies.
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