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While there is an established body of literature that discusses the importance of stakeholder management, and also the need for involvement of all stakeholders so that all values of a heritage site can be captured in a heritage management plan, the concepts are not generally developed in ways that make them useful in practice. This research seeks to bring greater clarity to the practice of stakeholder engagement in built heritage, so that organisations can manage their stakeholders in ways that meet their strategic goals. This study proposes a novel method to identify stakeholders, a stakeholder preference mapping approach, which will depict their influence on decisions based on a of power-interest scale.

This research posits a stakeholder preference mapping approach. Virtual Stakeholder Groups (VSG) were identified and stakeholder's significance impacts were measured using the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 to determine in-depth consideration of each stakeholder's power and interest against differing stages of a heritage project. Participants were convened through a 5-day workshop, consisting of 20 Malaysian and 19 international participants (80% academics and 20% Malaysian civil servants). The Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis (MADA) technique was then used to demonstrate how stakeholder identification and analysis can be used to help heritage teams meet their mandates.

The research identified eight virtual VSG (Extremist, Expert, Economic, Social, Governance and Tourists) and their scale of power-interest influence at different stages of the heritage management process. The findings reveal varying levels of engagement from each of the different groups of stakeholders at each work stage – with Stage 5 (Construction) being the least engaged.

It is anticipated that through stakeholder preference mapping, heritage teams can increase the robustness of their strategies by identifying and effectively managing the important concepts; heritage teams can effectively manage the interface between the many (often competing) demands of differing stakeholders. Using Georgetown as a case study, the research team were able to delineate the interaction and interplay between the various stakeholders in the complex decision-making processes for a UNESCO heritage site. Applying the RIBA 2013 Plan of Work as a framework to the heritage management process enables a formalised mapping approach to the process.

Restrictions on social interaction and travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic have affected how researchers approach fieldwork and data collection. Whilst online focus groups have received attention since the 2000s as a method for qualitative data collection, relatively little of the relevant literature appears to have made use of now ubiquitous video calling software and synchronous, interactive discussion tools. Our own experiences in organising fieldwork aimed at understanding the impact of different “future-proofing” strategies for the European agri-food system during this period resulted in several methodological changes being made at short notice. We present an approach to converting in-person focus group to a virtual methodology and provide a checklist for researchers planning their own online focus groups. Our findings suggest data are comparable to in-person focus groups and factors influencing data quality during online focus groups can be safeguarded. There are several key steps, both before and during the focus groups, which can be taken to ensure the smooth running of such events. We share our reflections on this approach and provide a resource for other researchers moving to online-only data collection.

Stakeholder management is not yet incorporated into the standard practice of most healthcare providers. The purpose of this paper is to assess the applicability of a comprehensive model for stakeholder management in mental healthcare organization for more evidence-based (stakeholder) management.

The assessment was performed in two research parts: the steps described in the model were executed in a single case study at a mental healthcare organization in the Netherlands; and a process and effect evaluation was done to find the supporting and impeding factors with regard to the applicability of the model. Interviews were held with managers and directors to evaluate the effectiveness of the model with a view to stakeholder management.

The stakeholder analysis resulted in the identification of eight stakeholder groups. Different expectations were identified for each of these groups. The analysis on performance gaps revealed that stakeholders generally find the collaboration with a mental healthcare provider “sufficient.” Finally a prioritization showed that five stakeholder groups were seen as “definite” stakeholders by the organization.

The assessment of the model showed that it generated useful knowledge for more evidence-based (stakeholder) management. Adaptation of the model is needed to increase its feasibility in practice.

Provided that the model is properly adapted for the specific field, the analysis can provide more knowledge on stakeholders and can help integrate stakeholder management as a comprehensive process in policy planning.

This research investigates how the value creation interests and activities of different stakeholder groups within one open source software (OSS) project influence the project's development over time.

The authors conducted a case study of OpenSimulator using textual and thematic analyses of the initial four years of OpenSimulator developer mailing list to identify each stakeholder group and guide our analysis of their interests and value creation activities over time.

The analysis revealed that while each stakeholder group was active within the OSS project's development, the different groups possessed complementary interests that enabled the project to evolve. In the formative period, entrepreneurs were interested in the software's strategic direction in the market, academics and SMEs in software functionality and large firms and hobbyists in software testing. Each group retained its primary interest in the maturing period with academics and SMEs separating into server- and client-side usability. The analysis shed light on how the different stakeholder groups overcame tensions amongst themselves and took specific actions to sustain the project.

The authors extend stakeholder theory by reconceptualizing the focal organization and its stakeholders for OSS projects. To date, OSS research has primarily focused on examining one project relative to its marketplace. Using stakeholder theory, we identified stakeholder groups within a single OSS project to demonstrate their distinct interests and how these interests influence their value creation activities over time. Collectively, these interests enable the project's long-term development.

The purpose of this study is to develop and assess the real-time multiuser virtual reality (VR) application that can be used in the design review process. In particular, the application was aimed to accommodate the design review meetings conducted among participants who are in different locations, which has become commonplace during the COVID-19 outbreak.

This paper presents a methodology for the development of a real-time multiuser immersive VR application, to support remote collaboration during the design review process. The developed application can immerse remote project participants into the same virtual environment and provide virtual face-to-face discussions. An experiment was conducted with 44 university students to investigate the applicability and performance of the developed application by comparing it with the traditional approach.

Results indicated that the group of students who used the developed immersive VR application outperformed the group that used the traditional approach. This was measured by the percentage of correctly identified design errors during a building inspection experiment.

The difficulty of bringing remote stakeholders together in a virtual environment has impeded the implementation of VR technology in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. Most research has focused on the improvement of a single user’s experience. Most of the previous multiuser VR studies were conducted in other industries while similar research in the AEC industry is limited. The study presented in this paper contributes to the AEC industry by presenting the development of multiuser immersive VR applications for real-time remote collaboration and the empirical evidence to substantiate its potential benefits.

This study aims to propose a novel approach to developing an interactive and immersive virtual environment for design communication in the furniture, fixture and equipment (FFE) sector. The study further investigates its effectiveness in enhancing the design communication and coordination between the stakeholder.

Quasi-experimental research was adopted involving 12 FFE professionals, designers and end-users in single-group pre-test-post-test design. The tests were performed primarily to ascertain the impact of the application of interactive virtual reality on delivering furniture design selection and coordination tasks. Further interviews were used to elicit participants' views on the functionality and usefulness of the proposed approach.

The findings indicate that an interactive immersive virtual FFE environment: enhances the productivity of the design team through a collaborative virtual workspace offering a synchronised networked design testing and review platform; reduces the time required for the stakeholders to comprehend the design options and test those; enhances the design communication and quality of the design and encourages the collaborative culture in the industry; improves the design satisfaction of the stakeholders; and finally, requires significantly less time for design decision-making when compared to traditional methods.

Future studies should incorporate space planning concepts and explore non-experimental methodologies in a real-life FFE project setup.

The proposed approach provides opportunities for enhanced interpretation of design intent in FFE as well as efficiency in design selection and coordination tasks when compared with conventional two-dimensional methods of communication.

This study proposes a step change in the way furniture design is communicated and coordinated through an immersive virtual experience. Previous studies have not addressed the issue of impact on design coordination instead focussed on marketing and sales.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss whether existing organisations that seek to integrate a range of stakeholders (i.e. senior citizens, industry, academics, public authorities, civil society organisations and the media) in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) and ageing are adequately meeting the needs of each of these stakeholder groups, and to determine whether a new, or re‐organised, mechanism is needed to better meet the needs of stakeholders.

The authors identify, describe, assess and compare the adequacy of various candidate multi‐stakeholder mechanisms in order to improve stakeholder co‐operation.

The authors' principal finding is that the stakeholder co‐ordination mechanisms discussed in this paper are not adequate to foster e‐inclusion co‐operation, co‐ordination and collaboration among all different types of stakeholders.

This analysis offers direction in how a new organisation, or the expansion of an existing mechanism, could ensure that currently un‐met needs are addressed. The strengths and weaknesses of the stakeholder co‐ordination mechanisms discussed here demonstrate that some organisational types are better for performing certain tasks and for integrating particular types of stakeholder. Thus, a federated, multi‐dimensional organisation offers one possibility for addressing the needs of all different types of stakeholders.

This paper provides an avenue of response to various calls for closer stakeholder collaboration by the European Commission and other stakeholders, in order to improve the quality of life for older persons and to meet European social objectives.

The Furniture, Fixture and Equipment (FFE) sector is well placed to leverage virtual reality (VR) technology for competitive and operational advantages; however, the diffusion of VR applications in this sector has followed a steep curve. This study reports on the implementation of two novel VR applications in the FFE sector and also investigates the challenges and benefits associated with their use and adaptability.

A sequential exploratory mixed research methodology consisting of three phases was adopted for this study. This included identification of factors that affect/facilitate the implementation of VR (Challenges and Benefits) using experiments during in-house prototyping of VR applications, a rigorous literature review and questionnaire survey to solicit FFE Stakeholder's (n = 117) opinion on the utility and usefulness of the proposed applications and to the understand factors that facilitate and inhibit their implementation in FFE's context, particularly as a design communication and coordination tool.

The findings of this study revealed that distributed and single-user VR has become essential to digitalising the FFE sector's design communication with improved design communication being regarded as the most important benefit of its use. Conversely, the most critical challenge that inhibits the implementation of these two VR applications in the FFE sector is the perceived cost.

This study provides valuable insight to FFE's stakeholders to devise action plans to mitigate myriad complex and interrelated factors that affect the adoption of virtual reality technology in the FFE sector that are otherwise very hard to understand, and the consequential implementation of any mitigation plans cannot be devised.

German, Austrian and Swiss utilities are confronted with radical changes in the European energy sector. A dialogue between the utility companies and their various groups of stakeholders is gaining importance. Increasingly, utilities create their own Facebook presence enabling such a dialogue. Still, to the best of the author’s knowledge there exists no research which explicitly focuses the stakeholder dialogue of German, Austrian or Swiss utilities on Facebook. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyse Facebook as an instrument for dialogic communication in the energy sector.

An online survey was distributed to 1,280 German, Austrian and Swiss utilities, and 14 per cent of the utilities completed the survey, including 130 German, 19 Austrian and 25 Swiss companies. The participating utilities are primarily in public ownership.

The Facebook conversation of utility companies and their stakeholders meets the basic requirements of a virtual stakeholder dialogue. Nevertheless, less than half of the companies perceive their current stakeholder conversation on Facebook as truly interactive. Therefore, even if the basic requirements of a dialogue are met, most companies still do not seem to fully use the dialogue potential of Facebook.

This study provides first insights into virtual stakeholder dialogues in the energy sector. A suggestion to operationalise such a virtual dialogue is provided. Both operationalisation as well as the empirical results help researchers and practitioners to better understand virtual stakeholder dialogues.