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Article
Publication date: 20 November 2023

Afrooz Moatari-Kazerouni, Dinesh R. Pai, Alejandro E. Chicas and Amin Keramati

The authors propose a blockchain platform for managing clinical trial data to enhance data validity, integrity, trust and transparency in the pharmaceutical research process. The…

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Abstract

Purpose

The authors propose a blockchain platform for managing clinical trial data to enhance data validity, integrity, trust and transparency in the pharmaceutical research process. The authors also provide an extensive review of how blockchain technology supports the business processes of clinical trials.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review was conducted to identify the existing applications of blockchain in pharmaceutical process management. A conceptual design for a blockchain infrastructure to address clinical trial challenges is developed by outlining the entire clinical trial value chain and identifying the coordination and communication among its stakeholders. A stakeholder analysis is conducted to ensure that the clinical trial processes satisfy the requirements and preferences of each stakeholder.

Findings

The proposed blockchain platform offers a promising solution for enhancing integrity, trust and transparency in the clinical trial process. Additionally, blockchain can help streamline communication and collaboration between stakeholders by enabling multiple parties to access and share data in real time, lowering the possibility of delays or errors in data analysis and reporting.

Practical implications

The proposed blockchain platform can benefit patients by empowering them to have better-controlled access to their data and by allowing researchers to maintain adherence to reporting requirements. Additionally, the platform can benefit granting agencies, researchers and decision-makers by ensuring the integrity of clinical trial data and streamlining communication and collaboration between stakeholders.

Originality/value

This study builds on existing blockchain applications in pharmaceutical process management by developing a blockchain framework that can address clinical trial concerns from an integrated perspective.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 July 2022

Junyun Liao, Jiawen Chen and Fei Jin

Recent years have witnessed the popularity of social free sampling (SFS). That is, firms on social commerce platforms (e.g. Amazon Vine and Pconline Try) offer free sample…

Abstract

Purpose

Recent years have witnessed the popularity of social free sampling (SFS). That is, firms on social commerce platforms (e.g. Amazon Vine and Pconline Try) offer free sample products for consumers' applications, and the selected applicants are required to write a product trial report on the sites as a return. The main advantage of SFS is to leverage users' product trial reports to increase product exposure and attract prospective consumers. Thus, product trial reports play a central role in SFS. Despite that scholars have examined the rating bias of product trial reports in recent years' knowledge concerning how product trial reports influence user (i.e. readers of product trial reports) engagement remains sparse. To address the research gap, this paper aims to examine the drivers of user engagement with product trial reports.

Design/methodology/approach

This study utilized the Poisson regression model to analyze 3,419 trial reports collected from a well-known Chinese SFS site.

Findings

Based on the ELM model, the empirical results indicate that product rating, vividness, opinion balance, and reputation of the trial user are positively associated with user engagement. However, longer reports and reports with higher emotional intensity lead to weaker user engagement. Furthermore, product prices strengthen the positive impact of opinion balance but weaken the positive impact of trial users' reputations.

Originality/value

This study is among one of the first studies to investigate the impact of trial reports on user engagement in SFS. It yields actionable guidelines for SFS campaigns.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 36 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 November 2023

Barbara Pernici, Carlo Alberto Bono, Ludovica Piro, Mattia Del Treste and Giancarlo Vecchi

The purpose of this paper is to show how data mining techniques can improve the performance management of the judiciary, helping judges in steering position with specific and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how data mining techniques can improve the performance management of the judiciary, helping judges in steering position with specific and timely measures. It explores different approaches to analyse the length of trials, based on the case of an Italian judicial office.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a temporal analysis to compare the timeliness of trials, using data and process mining approaches with the support of a specific software to represent graphically the results. Data were gathered directly from the office data base, improving precision and the opportunity to monitor specific phases of the trials.

Findings

The results highlight the progress that can be reached using data mining approaches to develop performance analyses helping courts to correct inefficiencies and to manage the personnel distribution, overcoming the critical comments arisen against traditional KPI (Raine, 2000). The work proposes a methodology to analyse cases deriving from different juridical matters useful to set up a performance monitoring system that could be diffused to different courts.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations of the research regard the analysis of a selected, limited number of cases in terms of judicial matters.

Practical implications

Data mining techniques can improve the performance management processes in providing more accurate feedback to the judicial offices leaders and increasing the organisational learning.

Social implications

The performance of the judiciary is one of the relevant issues that emerged in the recent decade in the field of public sector reforms. Several reasons explain this interest, which has gone beyond the specific legal disciplines to involve public policy, management, economics and ICT studies.

Originality/value

Considering the literature on the judiciary (Visser et al., 2019; Di Martino et al., 2021; Troisi and Alfano, 2023) the contribution differs as both the methodological approach and the predictive analysis considers the intrinsic differences that define cases belonging to different juridical matters performing a cross-sectional analysis, with a specific focus of process variants.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 37 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 December 2023

Marylyn Carrigan, Victoria Wells and Kerry Mackay

This study aims to investigate whether consumers and small businesses can transition from disposable to reusable coffee cups, using a community social marketing intervention, led…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate whether consumers and small businesses can transition from disposable to reusable coffee cups, using a community social marketing intervention, led by a Social Purpose Organisation.

Design/methodology/approach

An emergent case study approach using multiple sources of data developed an in-depth, multifaceted, real-world context evaluation of the intervention. The methodology draws on citizen science “messy” data collection involving multiple, fragmented sources.

Findings

Moving from single-use cups to reusables requires collective commitment by retailers, consumers and policymakers, despite the many incentives and penalties applied to incentivise behaviour change. Difficult post-COVID economics, austerity and infrastructure gaps are undermining both reusable acceptance and interim solutions to our dependence upon disposables.

Research limitations/implications

Although the non-traditional methodology rendered gaps and omissions in the data, the citizen science was democratising and inclusive for the community.

Practical implications

Our practical contribution evaluates a whole community intervention setting to encourage reusable cups, integrating multiple stakeholders, in a non-controllable, non-experimental environment in contrast to previous research. This paper demonstrates how small community grants can foster impactful collaborative partnerships between an SPO and researchers, facilitate knowledge-exchange beyond the initial remit and provide a catalyst for possible future impact and outcomes.

Originality/value

To assess the impact at both the outcome and the process level of the intervention, we use Pawson and Tilley’s realist evaluation theory – the Context Mechanism Outcome framework. The methodological contribution demonstrates the process of citizen science “messy” data collection, likely to feature more frequently in future social science research addressing climate change and sustainability challenges.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 June 2023

Rupak Rauniar, Greg Rawski, Qing Ray Cao and Samhita Shah

Drawing upon a systematic literature review in new technology, innovation transfer and diffusion theories, and from interviews with technology leaders in digital transformation…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing upon a systematic literature review in new technology, innovation transfer and diffusion theories, and from interviews with technology leaders in digital transformation programs in the US Oil & Gas (O&G) industry, the authors explore the relationships among O&G industry dynamics, organization's absorptive capacity and resource commitment for new digital technology adoption-implementation process.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employed the empirical survey method to gather the data (a sample size of 172) in the US O&G industry and used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the measurement model for validity and reliability and the conceptual model for hypothesized structural relationships.

Findings

The results provide support for the study’s causal model of adoption and implementation with positive and direct relationships between the initiation and trial stages, between the trial stages and the evaluation of effective outcomes and between the effective outcomes and the effective implementation stages of digital technologies. The results also reveal partial mediating relationships of industry dynamics, absorptive capacity and resource commitment between respective stages.

Practical implications

Based on the current study's findings, managers are recommended to pay attention to the evolving industry dynamics during the initiation stage of new digital technology adoption, to utilize the organization's knowledge-based absorptive capacity during digital technology trial and selection stages and to support the digital technology implementation project when the adoption decision of a particular digital technology has been made.

Originality/value

The empirical research contributes literature on digital technology adoption and implementation by identifying and demonstrating the importance of industry dynamics, absorptive capacity and resource commitment factors as mediating variables at various stages of the adoption-implementation process and empirically validating a process-based causal model of digital technology adoption and a successful implementation project that has been missing in the current body of literature on digital transformation.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 February 2024

Patrizio Monfardini, Silvia Macchia and Davide Eltrudis

Knowledge-intensive public organizations (KIPOs henceforth) rely heavily on knowledge as the primary resource to provide public services. This study deals with a specific kind of…

Abstract

Purpose

Knowledge-intensive public organizations (KIPOs henceforth) rely heavily on knowledge as the primary resource to provide public services. This study deals with a specific kind of KIPO in the judiciary system: the courts. The paper aims to explore the court’s managerial and organisational change resulting from the national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP) reform in response to Covid-19, focussing on how this neglected KIPO responds to change, either by showing acts of resistance or undergoing a hybridisation process.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts a qualitative research design, developing an explorative case study to investigate the process of a court’s managerial and organisational change caused by NRRP reform and to shed light on how this neglected KIPO reacts to change, showing resistance acts and developing the hybridisation process. Thirty-one interviews in six months have been conducted with the three main actors in Courts: judges, clerks and trial clerks.

Findings

The paper shows that in this understudied KIPO, judges fiercely resist the managerial logic that decades of reforms have been trying to impose. The recent introduction of an office for speeding up trials (Ufficio Per il Processo (UPP)) was initially opposed. Then, the resistance strategy changed, and judges started to benefit from UPP delegating repetitive and low-value tasks while retaining their core activities. Clerks approached the reform with a more positive attitude, seeing in UPP the mechanism to bridge the distance between them and the judges.

Originality/value

Considering their relevance to society, courts must be more addressed in KIPOs' studies. This paper allows the reader to enter such KIPO and understand its peculiar features. Secondly, the article helps to understand micropractices of resistance that may hinder the effectiveness of managerial reforms.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 November 2023

Clémence Demay and Mathilde Krähenbühl

This paper aims to explore how the argument of “eco-reproductive” concerns was mobilized in climate change trials in Switzerland. Looking at social movements' advantages and…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore how the argument of “eco-reproductive” concerns was mobilized in climate change trials in Switzerland. Looking at social movements' advantages and constraints when having recourse to the law, the authors interrogate why the symbolism of reproduction and kinship represented a political opportunity to defend the activists in a judicial system where judging is seen as an apolitical act.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is grounded in legal research and research on social movements. While legal research focuses mainly on the study of legal and written sources, the authors used ethnography and conducted interviews to cross the perspectives of activists, their lawyers and judges.

Findings

In a context where positivist legal tradition remains strong, the “eco-reproductive” argument represented the advantage of being “apolitical,” thus audible in court. Used as socio-political tools, “eco-reproductive” concerns translated the activists' political claims into the legal arena. However, judges' conservative beliefs on family reinforced the depoliticization of activists' claims.

Originality/value

While research on “eco-reproductive” concerns has been significantly quantitative and exploratory, the authors look in depth at one case of application and highlight the limits of “eco-reproductive” concerns to appeal to decision-makers.

Details

Journal of Organizational Ethnography, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6749

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 August 2023

Xingrui Zhang and Eunhwa Yang

Housing market is predominantly driven by supply and demand, and the measurement of housing supply plays a crucial role in understanding market dynamics. One such measure is the…

Abstract

Purpose

Housing market is predominantly driven by supply and demand, and the measurement of housing supply plays a crucial role in understanding market dynamics. One such measure is the number of building permits (BPs) issued. Despite the importance of BPs as an economic indicator, direct links have yet to be drawn between BP and housing value index (HVI). The purpose of this paper is to establish links between HVI and BP.

Design/methodology/approach

Trials were conducted using data at the national, state and metropolitan statistical area (MSA) levels. For each trial, the Granger causality test was used first to identify causal relationships between HVI and BP. Subsequently, the vector autoregression model was implemented in an attempt to observe impulse–response relationships and to create a forecast for HVI.

Findings

Bidirectional causal relationships were observed between HVI and BP at the national, state and MSA levels. The number of issued BPs proves to be an indicator for HVI. Impulse response functions indicate that HVI responds negatively to an increase in BP in the short term of 4–7 months but positively to an increase in BP with a lag of 10–12 months.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first in the body of knowledge that establishes the number of issued BPs as an indicator for housing value. The results drawn using impulse–response function are also novel and had not been observed in previous studies.

Details

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 May 2023

Welington Norberto Carneiro, Jose Carlos Tiomatsu Oyadomari, Paulo Afonso, Ronaldo Gomes Dultra-de-Lima and Octavio Ribeiro de Mendonça Neto

This paper seeks to understand kaizen in practice as it travels through time and space in the organisational setting.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to understand kaizen in practice as it travels through time and space in the organisational setting.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative case study was carried out at a multinational company using mainly interviews for the data collection that were analysed from an actor-network theory (ANT) perspective.

Findings

This paper finds that the company deals with a series of paradoxes while managing the kaizen process. Efficiency and quality paradoxes are the basis for starting kaizen projects. Furthermore, intrinsic, and extrinsic motivation, emerge in these processes, and paradoxes relate to how spontaneous ideas emerge in a deliberated context of cost-saving objectives. The supply chain finance team coordinates kaizen projects with the collaboration of plant managers, promoting the paradox of autonomy and control. In addition, as kaizen mobilises and enrols the actors, some trials of strength emerge, showing actors who oppose the kaizen network and create competing networks that mutually exist in the firm.

Practical implications

This study presents valuable insights for professionals to successfully implement kaizen methodologies that take advantage of developing a network for problem-solving in organizations.

Originality/value

This study highlights the supply chain finance team's role in enrolling the actors within a network built by practitioners engaged in kaizen projects. Usually, engineers, quality, or manufacturing teams lead kaizen projects, and only occasionally, accounting and financial teams participate, including multidisciplinary teams.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 May 2023

Adela Bâra and Simona-Vasilica Oprea

In this study, the authors propose a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to create a tenable measurement model and identify the factors that have the potential to enhance awareness…

Abstract

Purpose

In this study, the authors propose a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to create a tenable measurement model and identify the factors that have the potential to enhance awareness of pro-environmental measures. The successful implementation of demand response (DR) programs and their required infrastructure is significant for moving towards green energy communities and a better environment for living. Not only can renewable energy capacities contribute to this desideratum, but also electricity consumers who, until the last decade, have played a passive role.

Design/methodology/approach

To answer these questions, a complex data set of 243 post-trial questions created by the Irish CER are analyzed using first-order and hierarchical CFA models with several SAS procedures (PROC CALIS, MIANALYZE). The questionnaire was launched to over 3,000 electricity consumers from Ireland that were participants to a trial program after the installation of smart metering systems and implementation of DR programs.

Findings

The effect of five latent factors – positive attitude, negative attitude, perceived impact of own actions, price- and incentive-DR programs – is measured. With a bi-factor CFA measurement model, the authors assess that they significantly influence the electricity consumers' awareness.

Research limitations/implications

However, these findings have to be backed up by relevant information and simulations showing consumers benefits in exchange to their efforts. They have research implications on the design of the business models and DR programs pointing out the importance of benefits and fairness of value sharing mechanisms within energy communities.

Practical implications

Thus, the electricity consumers may change their consumption behavior as they positively perceive the implementation of DR programs.

Originality/value

This paper fulfills an identified need to study post-trial questionnaire and reveal latent factors that make electricity consumer change their behavior.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

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