Search results

Over the last few decades, a large number of research studies have been carried out on project manager's leadership competencies. However, systematic literature reviews are still scarce in the project management literature. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to conduct a systematic literature review on project manager's leadership competencies based on published empirical research studies.

The authors employed a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology to synthesize research in a rigorous manner and a total of 1,780 articles were identified in the first step and a final sample of 60 research studies were synthesized.

Synthesis of the findings in this SLR on project manager's leadership competencies revealed: (a) there is a lack of categorization or ranking of leadership competencies; (b) 20 research studies (46%) were conducted with sample sizes of less than 100; (c) only a few research studies (<10%) used interview data for analysis; and (d) none of the research studies reported adoption of a triangulation method.

This study synthesized clusters of leadership competencies and prioritized project manager's leadership competencies as “high priority”, “moderate priority” and “low priority”. We recommend a sample size between 200 and 300 to produce sophisticated results and enhance the credibility, generalizability and validity of clusters and priorities of project manager's leadership competencies through future research.

Future research studies are suggested to consider systematic literature review combined with face-to-face and group interview in addition to employing triangulation methods. Besides highlighting implications for practitioners, this SLR has advanced the understanding of how to conduct systematic literature reviews in a robust manner.

The purpose of this study is to identify the practical implications of Lean, Six Sigma (SS) and Lean SS (LSS) in the public administration sector. Determining the key themes of these practical implications is also an aim of the present study.

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted based on the databases of six well-known academic publishers, namely, Emerald, Elsevier/Science Direct, Springer Link, Taylor and Francis, Sage and Willey online. The review revealed 56 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2004 and 2020. The “affinity diagram” was applied to group the practical implications of Lean, SS and LSS into logical themes.

A plethora of practical implications of Lean, SS and LSS in the public administration sector are identified in the literature, examples of which are analytically presented. The analysis showed that the practical implications identified can be grouped into 14 meaningful themes, and these themes in turn into categories, formulating thus, a conceptual framework. The key themes that are supported in the literature by most references are the following: human factors involved in Lean/SS/LSS, Lean/SS/LSS benefits and Lean/SS/LSS implementation issues.

Although several databases were used, some publishers might have been missed out in this SLR. The subjectivity in applying the “affinity diagram” is also a limitation of this study. Based on these limitations, further literature review studies can be designed.

Twofold implications arise from the present study, meaning from the practitioner and the academic perspective. The practical implications identified as well as their meaningful themes revealed constitute useful guidelines for managers and decision-makers wishing to implement Lean/SS/LSS in the public administration sector and bridge their knowledge gap between theory and practice. Moreover, all the practical dimensions of Lean/SS/LSS included in the comprehensive conceptual framework formulated could serve as research avenues for academics.

The application of Lean/SS/LSS in the public sector has not been widely reviewed, while the stream of literature focuses on limited issues (critical success factors, benefits, challenges, etc.). Moreover, SLRs in services and specifically in the public administration sector are fewer. Stimulated by this gap and the suggestions of other researchers for future studies, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides the first SLR which analyzes the practical implications of Lean/SS/LSS in the public administration sector and determines their key themes.

The regulatory framework may be construed as the existence of supporting infrastructure that assists in control, direction/implementation of a proposed course of law, rule or action. The regulatory order is now more formalized, expert-driven, transparent, independent and pervasive across countries and sectors. As a result, regulatory reforms enable markets to function efficiently by providing a supportive environment for increased investment, private sector growth and market-led economic growth. This study aims to review previous literature for understanding the impact of sectoral regulatory framework on sectoral performance.

This paper has adopted a systematic literature review to understand dynamics between the sectoral regulatory framework and sectoral performance. While seven multidisciplinary databases were used to identify 51 research articles, the bibliometric research profiling was executed to broaden academic research.

The results are organized into three broad categories: research context, research area and research methods. The identified articles exhibited association with 12 distinct sectors/industries, with maximum articles belonging to telecom, energy and finance industries. The study has focused on evolution of regulatory studies, impact of regulatory framework on sectoral performance and commonality in regulatory studies. Among the 15 distinct research contexts identified in this systematic literature review (SLR), the highest mapping was registered (from 23 articles) by the research context “impact of regulatory framework on the sector–institutions, infrastructure and performance indicators.”

Public administration researchers are increasingly using mixed methods research approaches to add diverse and novel perspectives on wicked problems. The qualitative approach (grounded theory, action research, phenomenology and participant observations) is appropriate for understanding the native viewpoints of regulatory practitioners and reducing the gap between rigor and relevance.

The study addresses lack of systematic review of articles covering the impact of regulatory framework on sectoral performance encompassing all sectors by, inter alia, collating important bibliometric profiles of the identified articles.

The present study focuses on the cost of quality (CoQ) based on which organizations can evaluate their quality-related activities in economic terms. The purpose of the study is to identify the CoQ practical implications as well as to group them into logical themes.

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted based on well-known academic publishers, such as Emerald Insight, Elsevier/ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Taylor & Francis, Wiley and Scopus. Sixty-seven peer-reviewed journal articles in the field of CoQ were collected, which were published between 2010 and 2019. The “affinity diagram” was applied to group the practical implications identified into logical themes.

A plethora of CoQ practical implications were identified and grouped into the following meaningful themes: benefits of CoQ measurement, effects of CoQ, business sectors measuring CoQ, factors influencing CoQ measurement, CoQ elements, future research in CoQ and the role of government.

The limited number of the publishers and keywords used to search for the articles of interest, as well as the subjectivity of grouping the large number of the practical implications into themes are the main limitations of the present study. These limitations constitute the basis upon which future literature review studies can be designed.

The present study by presenting analytically and in summary (through the themes revealed) the CoQ practical implications, provides all the respective available literature in a single study for the benefit of practitioners and academics. Thus, clear and straightforward guidelines are given to practitioners with regard to CoQ issues and academics with regard to research topics of high interest.

No previous SLR study focusing on analyzing the practical implications of CoQ has been published so far.

The present study aims to synthesize and conceptualize, through a systematic literature review (SLR), the current state of gamification knowledge in the tourism and hospitality (T&H) sector, providing a roadmap for future research recommendations for service research and practice.

The research is based on a systematic literature review and adopts a systematic quantitative approach to summarize existing evidence on gamification usage in the T&H sector, focusing on relevant service literature on gamification. The authors analyze 36 papers published between 2011 and 2019.

The authors synthesize existing knowledge into five themes describing gamification's role in T&H (Edutainment, Sustainable behavior, Engagement factors, Service provider-generated content and User-generated reviews). Then, a cross-analysis of the five themes reveals the pivotal elements (affordances, behavioral and psychological outcomes, and benefits) generated by gamification mechanics in T&H, simultaneously highlighting potential implications and relevant insights for service literature. The review identifies critical issues affecting gamification research and provides a future research agenda, considering opportunities for T&H and service research.

The study provides the first SLR investigating gamification in T&H. The findings present potential implications and relevant insights for T&H contributing to the construction of a more holistic understanding of gamification adoption in service research.

A rich agenda for future research in the field of Lean Manufacturing (LM) is available in the academic literature. The purpose of this paper is to determine the LM future research methodologies suggested in the literature and to classify them into themes. Classifying these themes into broad categories is also an aim of the present study.

For the purpose of the present study, a systematic literature review (SLR) of peer reviewed journal articles in LM was conducted. A total of 214 articles published in 46 journals during 2010–2020 were collected from four major management science publishers, namely, Emerald Online, Elsevier/Science Direct, Springer Link and Taylor and Francis. To organize the qualitative data into meaningful themes and these themes into broad categories, the quality tool “affinity diagram” was applied.

The review of LM articles that are increasing over time reveals the “vital few” academic journals, which have published most of the sample articles. The plethora of the suggested future research methodologies are analytically presented and classified into meaningful themes, namely, the size of the research sample and its composition, several types of study (other than surveys), longitudinal studies, applying advanced statistical analysis and (mathematical) modeling techniques, objective, real and quantitative data, surveys, mixed/multiple research studies, reliability and validity analysis, using computer-aided technology for data collection and processing and research collaborations. These themes in turn are classified into broad categories, namely, study, data and statistical analysis and modeling.

This SLR is not comprehensive because the number of the databases searched is restricted to four. Moreover, the literature review is limited to peer reviewed journal articles regarding Lean only in the manufacturing sector, while the subject reviewed is limited to the future research methodologies. The subjectivity of classifying the large number of the future research methodologies into themes and these themes into broad categories is also a limitation of the present SLR. Based on these limitations, future literature review studies can be carried out.

Researchers can be analytically informed about the future research methodologies suggested in the literature and their respective key themes and broad categories, to design original research studies of high academic and practical value.

This study goes beyond previous SLRs on LM by presenting analytically the plethora of the future research methodologies suggested in the literature as well as by identifying natural patterns or groupings of these methodologies.

Given the critical role of project prioritization and selection process in Six Sigma efforts, this study aims to analyse the relevant literature to answer this question: What types of project prioritization and selection methods have been used in Six Sigma research?

The study implemented the systematic literature review (SLR) method to identify and review all relevant previous studies.

The study revealed that 59 articles focused on the topic used 111 methods, analytic hierarchy process appeared as the most frequently used method with 12 articles (20%) and one-third of the methods used in the current Six Sigma project selection literature contained multi-criteria decision-making methods. In total, 61% of 59 articles were not published in the journals ranked by the ABDC’s list. Only 17% of the articles reviewed in this study were published in journals ranked as B category and 12% of the articles were published in A category journals.

The findings of this literature review may help Six Sigma practitioners and researchers accurately identify project prioritization and selection methods, considering that qualitative and quantitative scientific methods guarantee to make better decisions than “gut feelings” of the decision makers in this process.

Although a variety of studies focused on the topic, an SLR is lacking in the area of Six Sigma project prioritization and selection. Therefore, this study was constructed using the SLR method to analyse the topic.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding social entrepreneurship via a systematic literature review (SLR) of the construct’s varied definitions to assess the means by and the context in which the phenomenon is studied.

The SLR follows a deliberative, replicable, methodical and transparent process, including a quality assessment tool of definitional sources. SLR results are organized around Gartner’s (1985) framework of new value creation, thus additionally analysing the dimensionality with which social entrepreneurship has been studied. Finally, a qualitative analysis of the definitions reviews commonalities of themes within definitions to assess trends.

Significant research has been dedicated to defining social entrepreneurship. However, many efforts do not explore the full dimensionality of the concept, as findings reveal that no definition explored the four dimensions of entrepreneurship posited by Gartner (1985). Further, a time-series review of definitions demonstrates limited advancement in definitional development. Geographic location of definition authors and key word analysis challenge previous research on the activation of social entrepreneurship in literature.

Although the SLR was conducted in a controlled manner, this study is time-bound and only reviews English-language publications. While results are analysed using a recognized framework (i.e. Gartner, 1985), other conceptual models are available. Although two researchers independently categorized and analysed definitions, assessment of quality was limited. The results offer an insight into how the conceptualization of social entrepreneurship may be advanced as well as the important role of practitioners in the development of the construct’s theory and practice.

The detailed appraisal of definitions may guide practitioners as they strive to define their own organizational efforts. The multi-dimensional conversation of social entrepreneurship in this study enables the leaders of different organizational types to ensure their social entrepreneurship activities consider all dimensions (i.e. environment, individual, organization and process). The SLR allows the practitioner to further engage in deep discussion on the future of the field by cataloguing their influence on the multi-dimensionality of the social entrepreneurship construct. Organizational leaders may also use the findings to generate more discussion around what is missing from the definitions (i.e. empathy, responsibility, resourcefulness and transparency).

The findings synthesize social entrepreneurship definitions across multi-disciplinary fields and contexts and within a multi-dimensional framework utilizing an infrequently used literature review method within social sciences.

This paper aims to review the existing literature systematically so as to contribute towards a better understanding of methodological problems of the classical statistical techniques, artificially intelligent expert systems and theoretical approaches to solve the corporate failure syndrome.

This paper presented a systematic review of 83 articles reporting 137 prediction failure models published within 1966-2012 in scholarly reviewed journals in four main disciplines, namely, accounting, finance, banking and economics. The authors performed the systematic literature review with five main sources, namely, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Wiley Interscience, Metalib, Web of Science and Business Source Complete of the Social Sciences. The review modified the approaches used by Aziz and Dar (2006), Ravi and Ravi (2007) and Balcaen and Ooghe (2006).

The results indicate significant body of prior literature on prediction of corporate failure, but a theoretically sound, highly accurate, simple and widely used corporate failure prediction model for stakeholders has yet to be developed.

This paper contributes towards a systematic understanding of the methodological problems associated with the statistical, artificially intelligent expert systems and theoretical approaches to solve the corporate failure prediction problems faced by firms in 11 countries.

The purpose of this paper is to review various themes of leanness, leanness assessment approaches, leanness assessment areas, and their evolution by a systematic literature review (SLR).

The eight types of literature review methodologies are identified and compared. The SLR is selected after critically analyzing the eight types of literature reviews. A four-phased SLR (i.e. plan, do, analyze/synthesize, and propose) has been carried out based on the peer-reviewed journal and conference articles on leanness assessment.

The existing literature on leanness assessment shows the lack of review-based papers on lean assessment. This study attempts to build a two-fold contribution to the field of leanness assessment: first, various types of themes, approaches, and assessment areas are identified; second, a framework for leanness assessment is proposed. The study shows that the research on leanness assessment is mainly empirical using qualitative judgment. The paper traces the changes in scope, areas, and approaches to leanness assessment. The scope of leanness assessment broadened from manufacturing process assessment to whole supply chain assessment including manufacturing process. The focus of earlier assessment was manufacturing and financial areas which now includes human resource, administration, new product development, suppliers, and customers also. Tool and technique based assessment has given way to outcome-based assessment using non-financial and qualitative parameters.

One of the limitations of the study is that literature search was mainly focused on peer-reviewed articles published in English language only; therefore, some papers in others languages may have been missed. Apart from this, the SLR has been conducted for the manufacturing sector only.

The study is expected to be useful for the lean practitioners to identify the causes of reported lean failures. Moreover, the authors also expect that the conducted SLR will provide the passage to the practitioners for not only fostering the concepts on leanness assessment but also provide the vital and significant knowledge about the leanness assessment to the managers for enhancing organizational performance.

As per the authors’ knowledge, this is the first SLR on leanness assessment. It is expected that this paper will help the researchers working in the area of lean manufacturing to identify new areas of research.