Adm. Sci., Volume 10, Issue 3 (September 2020) – 39 articles

Managerial decision making is an integral process used in public and private organizations. Critical infrastructure entities are a strategically significant group dependent on the quality of decision-making processes. They aim to provide services necessary to ensure state security and to satisfy basic human needs. The quality of decision making is an important factor in the management of these entities. The quality level is determined by many factors, the key of which is risk management. For this reason, it is necessary for the operators to minimize risks affecting the elements of the critical infrastructure through which these services are provided. Risk management is commonly used for this purpose, making it possible to assess and manage these risks. However, there is a specific group of threats that affects the resilience of these elements. The indication of these threats is not possible through common risk management. Therefore, it is necessary to develop specific scenarios of negative impacts and procedures for assessing their impact on the resilience of elements of the critical infrastructure. To this end, this conceptual article introduces an entirely new managerial decision-making process for indicating the resilience of critical infrastructure elements. Full article

This paper analyses the role of study-abroad programmes in higher education by examining how students’ participation can foster competence development and employability expectations. Our research focuses on the acquisition of competences through the international mobility programme Erasmus+ of 191 students of an undergraduate programme in tourism, considering the different perceptions of male and female students. Our results confirm that five out of the six competences which students develop through Erasmus+ mobility have a positive and significant influence on their employability expectations. Our findings also confirm that male and female students have different perceptions concerning the influence on their employability expectations of those competences acquired during their experience studying abroad. Full article

Purpose: While traditional university programs primarily use regularly scheduled classes as the primary means for developing students, this program evaluation explores the direct effects of intensive entrepreneurial learning activity in the format of a hackathon. This is one of the first papers to explore the learning outcomes of hackathons as an intensive entrepreneurial pedagogy. Design/methodology/approach: The researchers implemented a pre-test/post-test model with students participating in an entrepreneurship hackathon and tested the changes in their confidence levels in the ability to craft a successful entrepreneurial venture. Findings: The results support a hackathon model of entrepreneurial learning. As the result of a one-day workshop, significant results were achieved for self-reported ability in identifying a viable entrepreneurial concept, and for having the ability to successfully launch a new venture. Further, class standing and prior entrepreneurial courses, as well as gender did not influence the learning outcomes. Importantly, while hackathon-generated increases in entrepreneurial self-efficacy proved to be statistically significant, same gains proved not to be significant in a traditional entrepreneurship class setting. Authors conclude that short, intensive entrepreneurship learning methods like hackathons may be more effective in developing entrepreneurial self-efficacy than semester long courses. Originality/value: A hackathon is likely an effective entrepreneurial learning methodology suitable for a general student population which includes students with limited knowledge of and interest in entrepreneurship. The usefulness of a hackathon for entrepreneurial learning has potential implications for educators, scholars and policy makers. For educators, a hackathon approach may outperform a number of traditional entrepreneurship pedagogies in the form of lectures, case studies, class discussions or even a business plan development over a semester-long course. A hackathon may also allow students to gain entrepreneurial skills and self-confidence much quicker and using less resources than in a traditional entrepreneurial course. The potential reasons for these findings as well as their implications are discussed along with future research areas. Full article

This research provides an exploratory analysis of how Muslim women perceive servant leadership in the context of Mosque. The study consists of 8 long interviews with Muslim women, and conceptualizes sources of servant leadership in the context of Mosque by investigating Muslim women’s perceptions of the Imam’s leadership style The emerging taxonomy illuminates five categories and fifteen sub-categories of Muslim women’s perceived servant leadership origin, relating to the impact Imam and Mosque have on: (1) Serviceability, (2) masculinity, (3) community, (4) accessibility, and (5) inclusivity. Findings show disparities between women and men and demonstrate the fact that Muslim women do benefit from Imam’s leadership, services, and resources offered in Mosque; however, the benefits to women are disproportionate and different from men. In addition to making a vital contribution to the scarce literature on Muslim women’s perspectives, this article provides stakeholders with a comprehensive set of issues which may evoke favorable/unfavorable perceptions and offers insight to direct improvement efforts in addressing these issues. Full article

Industry 4.0 has been creating new jobs for several years, and people are already being employed in work positions that did not exist ten years ago. Due to the speed and complexity of the changes brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it will be necessary to respond adequately and flexibly to this challenge. This research paper is devoted to the issue of Industry 4.0 outbreak into industrial enterprises, while the issue of job structure will become an increasingly urgent one. The main objective of this problem-oriented quantitative type of research is based on the analysis of the state and course of Industry 4.0 implementation process to estimate the impact of Industry 4.0 concept implementation on job creation in small and medium-sized enterprises and family businesses in Slovak Republic. A questionnaire survey in small and medium-sized enterprises in Slovak Republic was chosen as the fundamental research method. The results have shown that new technologies will increasingly displace physical labor in particular, and emerging jobs will put ever-increasing demands on human intellect. The conclusions from our findings can be the basis for the creation of educational programs not only within the workplace but also in the educational system in Slovak Republic. Full article

In this paper we build a pragmatic model on competition in oligopoly markets. To achieve this goal, we use an approach based on studying the response functions of each market participant, thus making it possible to address both Cournot and Bertrand industrial structures with a unified formal method. In contrast to the restrictive theoretical constructs of duopoly equilibrium, our study is able to account for real-world limitations like minimal sustainable production levels and exclusive access to certain resources. We prove and demonstrate that by using carefully constructed response functions it is possible to build and calibrate a model that reflects different competitive strategies used in extremely concentrated markets. The response functions approach makes it also possible to take into consideration different barriers to entry. By fitting to the response functions rather than the profit maximization of the payoff functions problem we alter the classical optimization problem to a problem of coupled fixed points, which has the benefit that considering corner optimum, corner equilibria and convexity condition of the payoff function can be skipped. Full article

Institutional entrepreneurship comprises the activities of agents who disrupt existing social institutions or create new ones, often to enable diffusion, especially of radical innovations, in a market. The increased interest in institutional entrepreneurship has produced a large number of scholarly publications, especially in the last five years. As a consequence, the literature landscape is somewhat complex and scattered. We aim to compile a quantitative overview of the field within business and management research by conducting bibliometric performance analyses and science mappings. We identified the most productive and influential journals, authors, and articles with the highest impact. We found that institutional entrepreneurship has stronger ties to organization studies than to entrepreneurship research. Additionally, a large body of literature at the intersection of institutions and entrepreneurship does not refer to institutional entrepreneurship theory. The science mappings revealed a distinction between theoretical and conceptual research on one hand and applied and empirical research on the other hand. Research clusters reflect the structure–agency problem by focusing on the change agent’s goals and interests, strategies, and specific implementation mechanisms, as well as the relevance of public agents for existing institutions, and a more abstract process rather than agency view. Full article

Although hotels usually have clients from different nationalities, the research analyses the multicultural effects on hotel customers’ satisfaction is still scant. This paper aims to contribute to the realm of hotel management by providing interesting managerial insights into how different nationalities perceive hotel attributes differently using two hotels located in Saint Petersburg as a case study. To that end, a fuzzy hybrid method based on the technique of similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) is proposed. The results are based on a sample of 447 guests and show that: (1) nationality influences the hotel guests’ satisfaction; (2) customers are, in general, more elastic in three-star hotels than in four-star hotels; (3) welcome gifts in the room and in the bathroom are key attributes in the clients’ satisfaction; and (4) Italian and Spanish guests are the least and the most satisfied customers, respectively. The study offers a number of important managerial insights to hotel managers and practitioners. The average figures obtained by general hotel satisfaction surveys usually hinder important peculiarities that need to be addressed when managers develop strategic satisfaction enhancement programmes. In particular, our results show that managers need to adapt the programmes to the differences observed by nationalities. Full article

The implementation and smooth functioning of e-administration depends on many technical and organizational factors but also on psychosocial factors, including the sense of fear. In this paper, the authors treat fear as a subjective and perceptible sense of threat. They recognize that employees may express various concerns. Previous research has shown that employees may be afraid of losing their jobs as a result of implementing e-administration. The introduction of technology brings with it the threat of dehumanization. There are also numerous concerns that the development of modern technologies will not ensure adequate economic growth because it will be too slow. This paper discusses issues related to the fear of the changes taking place in the present, in particular those related to the introduction of modern technologies, as well as problems related to the possibility of reducing unethical behavior. The research has been carried out in local administration offices using a qualitative research procedure. The results of the research indicate the existence of relationships between the quality of e-administration and fears or threats experienced or perceived by employees. If e-administration does not simplify work and does not reduce employees’ workload, the only fears are employees’ fear of change and their inability to master new information technologies. The data obtained allow management practitioners to overcome barriers related to the implementation of e-administration. Full article

Education is one of the means of achieving sustainable development. Universities are responsible for training and generating skilled personnel needed in attaining holistic development; to accomplish the goals for which universities were established, effective leadership is required. The beliefs upheld by leaders about their ability to accomplish targets and deliver as expected is an indispensable constituent of university administration. Therefore, this research study examined connections between leaders’ self-efficacy and faculty members’ organizational commitment in Saudi Arabian universities. Therefore, 400 faculty members were randomly selected from three different public universities in the central, south-western and northern part of the country. Using the Pearson product correlation coefficient, it was found that positive connection occurs amongst leaders’ self-efficacy and affective commitment. Additionally, there is a positive association among leaders’ self-efficacy and continuance commitment. Leadership self-efficacy has a positive connection with normative commitment. In order to improve organizational commitment of faculty members, leaders must step up their self-efficacy and provide an enabling environment for team work and innovation. Full article

The present research focuses on whether the different combinations of the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) international scale and scope affect their international performance differently. The major purpose of this research is to study the paramount relationship between the SMEs’ international strategies and international performance. With a sample composed of 307 international SMEs, our empirical analysis defines three different strategic groups regarding the scale and scope of internationalization, that is, a high, medium and low international exposure of the firms. The scope, as an important international strategic dimension, is taken from two angles, the number of countries and the number of regional blocs where the firms operate. We assessed the strategic groups’ implications on the firms’ international performance. The latter was taken as a multidimensional construct composed of the financial, strategic and overall international performance respectively. We used the hierarchical regression analysis to test our hypotheses, and major results emerged. Higher levels of commitment with the international markets lead to better financial, strategic and overall international performances. These results are of utmost importance from the theoretical point of view and for the strategic decision-making of SMEs, opening new avenues for future studies. Full article

The self-leadership construct has received great attention from scholars over the last 40 years due to its capacity to influence personal effectiveness. However, despite strongly influencing individuals’ self-efficacy, performed studies did not determine whether self-leadership is connected, and how, with the Core-Self Evaluation (CSE) trait—a complex personality disposition based on self-efficacy, self-esteem, locus of control, and emotional stability—that has been found impacting decision-making processes within organizations. Moreover, it has not been identified whether individuals with a high level of self-leadership are more prone to be victims of some cognitive biases in decision-making processes, such as the internal attribution of successes and external attribution of failures (i.e., Self-Serving Bias, SSB) that are usually led by the strong belief of individuals in their own capacities. The outlined gaps can be substantiated by the following two research questions: “How is self-leadership related with CSE?” and “How does self-leadership influence the attribution of successes/failures?”. To answer these questions, the following were identified and analyzed for 93 executives: (i) the tendency in the attribution of successes and failures, (ii) the CSE, and (iii) their self-leadership level. Results show that: (i) a high level of CSE is connected with high levels of self-leadership; (ii) high levels of self-leadership bring individuals to the internal attribution of successes and external attribution of failures. This work reinforces the stream of (the few) studies that considers a high level of CSE and self-leadership as not always being desirable for managerial decision-making processes and consequent performance. This paper aims to enrich the debate concerning the relations between, on the one hand, self-leadership and, on the other hand, personality traits between self-leadership and decision making. Full article

Sustainability has evolved into one of the key topics for organizations and organizational researchers alike. To meet changing societal demands, organizations have to adapt their long-term strategies and incorporate environmental and social aspects into their product offerings and decision-making. However, at the same time companies must satisfy short-term profitability interests and demands from shareholders. An organization’s sustainability commitment, strategy, or view is impacted by several influential factors, e.g., by the top management commitment or stakeholder integration. These factors have largely been studied individually without linking them. As such, the following study aims at creating a holistic view and framework for organizational influences and on sustainability. The framework is validated by a comparison to industrial practice in interviews with sustainability managers from the chemical and automobile industry, which are both highly relevant in the context of sustainability. Interview results suggest that the identified influential factors attributed to the four framework layers organization, top management, project team and project are relevant for industrial representatives. The view on and impact of specific influential factors can vary between companies and industries. The study further gives insights into the actual status and future direction of the management of corporate sustainability (CS) in practice. Full article

Research and technology commercialization at research-intensive universities has helped to develop provincial economies resulting in university startups, the growth of other new companies and associated employment. University technology transfer offices (TTOs) oversee the process of technology transfer into the commercial marketplace and these organizational units can be considered in the context of enabling effective knowledge management. However, what enables productive TTO performance has not been comprehensively researched. Therefore, this research study adopted the knowledge-based view as the theoretical construct to support a comprehensive investigation into this area. This was achieved through employing a systematic literature review (SLR) combined with a robust meta-analysis. The SLR identified an initial total of 10,126 articles in the first step of the review process, with 44 studies included in the quantitative synthesis, and 29 quantitative empirical studies selected for the meta-analysis. The research study identified that the relationship between TTO knowledge management and knowledge deployment as well as startup business performance is where TTOs secure the strongest returns. Full article

We provoke. In this conceptual piece, we challenge the value of two dominant models of the entrepreneurial process that have existed over the past two decades—the creativity school and the logic of effectuation. We point out their weaknesses and their unfulfilled promises, and we argue for the field to move on forward with different ideas. We identify the lessons our field should learn so as to minimize the possibility of potentially detrimental model dominance in the future. We then outline three alternative approaches to modeling entrepreneurial decision-making that suggest further skills and policies required in improve the entrepreneurial process. Full article

It can be said that business ethics are integrated into companies through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which cannot be defined in a single way, nor has its concept remained unchanged since its appearance in the business world. The contributions made in the field of research have been evolving towards models and theories that are more in line with principles that consider a plurality of stakeholders, from utilitarian or shareholder-centered approaches to others that are more integrative; the consideration of the demands and requirements of stakeholders, and the institutional drive through the establishment of regulatory frameworks aimed at providing conceptual frameworks of reference and indicators that make it possible to manage and make decisions taking into account the ethical dimension of problems or conflicts, are decisive. In this area, the objectives of sustainable development as part of Agenda 2030 are particularly relevant and are providing a boost to innovations aimed at improving the environment and the rational use of resources. This paper attempts to gather the main conceptual contributions on the situation and evolution of CSR, providing insights regarding future CSR studies, its objectives, and goals which, together with the interests and positions of the stakeholders from different perspectives, raises the possibility of analyzing CSR from different points of view, giving rise to different theories that try to serve as a framework for the study of CSR. Full article

Many organizations seek ways to stimulate and encourage staff innovation. One ofthese is leadership that can boost staff innovation behavior. The aim of thisarticle is to reflect on leadership and its contribution to stimulating innovation. To achieve the aim of the article—and to verify the hypotheses—deductive inference, the analysis of the subject literature and the author’s own questionnaire were used. The research was carried out with an original questionnaire to assess the role of a leader in stimulating innovative activity. The questionnaire consists of 28 statements.The analysis of the results of the empirical research has confirmed the research hypotheses that the role of a leader is to stimulate the creativity of employees and reward their innovative behavior.The analysis of the role of leadership in stimulating organizational innovation showed that the vast majority of statements concerning the role of leadership achieved a mean score above 5.0 (86%)—an average level. The research suggests that leaders should first and foremost play the following roles in stimulating innovation (e.g., a performer/creator of employee creativity and a promoter of rewarding the innovative behavior of employees). Full article

This paper empirically substantiates a novel tripartite framework for measuring learning outcomes of entrepreneurship education (EE) by employing structural equation modeling. Three types of learning outcome are estimated—cognitive, skill-based, and affective—following Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy of educational objectives. The study is based on a sample of 249 imminent and recent Bachelor-level graduates from the leading universities of Estonia. The key fit, reliability, and validity indicators show statistically that the tested framework can serve as an instrument for measuring the learning outcomes of EE. This novel instrument may also serve as an alternative to entrepreneurial intention-based models very frequently used in EE to evaluate the learning outcomes. The studied interrelationships demonstrate that (1) the affective outcomes correlate significantly with the cognitive outcomes (r = 0.273, p < 0.001) and with the skill-based (r = 0.368, p < 0.001) outcomes; a correlation between the cognitive and skill-based outcomes is also significant and comparatively high (r = 0.602, p < 0.001); (2) the learning outcomes explain more variance in the cognitive and skill-based outcome constructs (44.7% and 81.0%, accordingly) than in the affective outcome construct (16.7%). Conclusions and implications for entrepreneurship educators and researchers are discussed. Full article

Inter-organizational relationships are high on the health policy agenda. Scholars and practitioners have provided heterogeneous views about the triggers of collaborative practices and the success factors that underpin the sustainability of inter-organizational relationships in the health care domain. The article proposes a literature review aimed at systematizing current scientific research that contextualizes inter-organizational relationships to health care. A mixed approach was undertaken, which consisted of a bibliometric analysis followed by a narrative literature review. A tailored search strategy on Elsevier’s Scopus yielded 411 relevant records, which were carefully screened for inclusion in this study. After screening, 105 papers were found to be consistent with the study purposes and included in this literature review. The findings emphasize that the establishment and implementation of inter-organizational relationships in health care are affected by several ambiguities, which concern both the governance and the structuring of collaborative relationships. The viability and the success of inter-organizational relationships depend on the ability of both central and peripheral partners to acknowledge and address such ambiguities. Failure to do so involves an opportunistic participation to inter-organizational relationships. This endangers conflicting behaviors rather than collaboration among partners. Full article

With the approach of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, the ski tourism market in mainland China is gradually heating up. As an important node city of the Silk Road Economic Belt, Urumqi is vigorously developing winter tourism to enhance its image as an urban tourism spot. In this study, visitors to the Urumqi Silk Road International Ski Resort during the winter were taken as the research object, and a quantitative study was carried out using a questionnaire survey. 278 questionnaires were recovered. A model of tourism motivation, satisfaction and revisit intention based on the push-pull factor was constructed, and the relationship among the three was verified by structural equation modelling. The research results can provide a theoretical basis and can reference suggestions for the development of ski tourism in destination cities and the strategic marketing of ski resorts. Full article

The United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to deliver an improved future for people, planet and profit. However, they have not gained the required traction at the business and project levels. This article explores how engineers rate and use the SDGs at the organisational and project levels. It adopts the Realist Evaluation’s Context–Mechanism–Outcomes model to critically evaluate practitioners’ views on using SDGs to measure business and project success. The study addresses the thematic areas of sustainability and business models through the theoretical lens of Creating Shared Value and the Triple Bottom Line. A survey of 325 engineers indicated four primary shortfalls for measuring SDGs on infrastructure projects, namely (1) leadership, (2) tools and methods, (3) engineers’ business skills in measuring SDG impact and (4) how project success is too narrowly defined as outputs (such as time, cost and scope) and not outcomes (longer-term local impacts and stakeholder value). The research study is of value to researchers developing business models that address the SDGs and also practitioners in the construction industry who seek to link their investment decisions to the broader outcomes of people, planet and profit through the UN SDGs. Full article

Start-up is an emerging micro-enterprise that has different characteristics to a larger and mature enterprise. Its viability depends mainly on a functioning business model. The purpose of the research study is to identify the basic types of business model regardless of the specific industry, and thus to penetrate deeper into the more general cognition of start-up business making. The research sample contains 106 start-ups, the business models of which are described using fourteen criteria, which are derived from the visualization of canvas. The research sample is divided by cluster analysis (Ward’s hierarchical agglomeration method) into nine clusters, hence types of business models. For a better understanding, the clusters were aggregated into four groups with similar business models. Grouping A is characterized by the model with a small range of processes, mostly with higher product differentiation, scarce resources and satisfying the common basic and higher needs. Grouping B is characterized by the model with a large range of processes and higher product differentiation and satisfying the common basic and higher needs or newer practical needs. Start-ups in grouping C have the model with considerable differentiation aimed at satisfying the common needs. Grouping D has the model based on cultivating relationships with customers, cheap satisfying of needs and use of ordinary resources. The models differ the most in the span of operational processes, segmentation and distribution, and differ the least in the relationships between customers, the cost–price ratio and protection against imitation. The practical use of the identified clusters lies in the fact that they are a reflection of the real behaviour of start-ups, they determine the real parameters of business models, and therefore they provide the founders of start-ups with verified patterns, the outlines of which are probably not definitive. Full article

Balance-sheet indicators may reflect, to a great extent, bank fragility. This inherent relationship is the object of theoretical models testing for balance-sheet vulnerabilities. In this sense, we aim to analyze whether systemic risk for a sample of US banks can be explained by a series of balance-sheet variables, considered as proxies for bank liquidity for the 2004:1–2019:1 period. We first compute Marginal Expected Shortfall values for the entities in our sample and then imbed them into a Random Forest regression setup. Although we discover that feature importance is rather bank-specific, we notice that cash and available-for-sale securities are the most relevant factors in explaining the dynamics of systemic risk. Our findings emphasize the need for heightened prudential regulation of bank liquidity, particularly in what concerns cash and immediate liquidity instrument weights. Moreover, systemic risk could be consistently tamed by consolidating bank emergency liquidity provision schemes. Full article

This research explores residents’ support for tourism by introducing—for the first time—the variable of residents’ word-of-mouth intention. The tested model proposes that residents’ support for tourism is influenced by residents’ word-of-mouth and tourism benefits; the model also examines the impacts of community attachment and community involvement on the benefits of tourism. The relationship between tourism benefits and residents’ word-of-mouth is the most significant indication of the tested model, followed by the linkage between tourism benefits and support for tourism. Besides this, the positive and significant effect of residents’ word-of-mouth on their support for tourism has been proven. The results stress the need for increased focus on the benefits of tourism by increasing community attachment, as they reveal that more attached residents lead to more positive perceptions of the benefits of tourism, consequently having a higher effect on their word-of-mouth intention and support for tourism. Full article

This article analyzes the patterns of financing for entrepreneurial firms in Canada. We compare the predictions of major theories of entrepreneurial finance and some more recent ideas (e.g., crowdfunding-related ideas/theories) with empirical evidence. Regression and correlation analyses were used to analyze the connections between firms’ financing choices (e.g., debt/equity ratio) and different variables such as firm age, firm owner origin, and the fraction of intangibles assets. We found strong evidence that the financing choices of entrepreneurial firms in Canada are consistent with flexibility theory and credit rationing theory. We did not find evidence that taxes play a significant role in explaining these choices. We also found that the likelihood of using crowdfunding is consistent with local bias ideas and internet access. We also provide an overview of literature related to entrepreneurial financing in Canada and discuss its major challenges and directions for future research. Full article

The aging workforce challenges companies to keep their aging employees employable in the workforce. This paper gives an indication as to which employees are more likely to be interested in further learning and employability. Specifically, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of chronological age and achievement goal orientations for informal and formal learning and employability. Data of 167 Austrian knowledge workers were gathered via electronic questionnaires to investigate the relationships between age, achievement goal orientations, learning activities, and employability using structural equation modeling. It was found that informal learning has a significant positive relation with several dimensions of employability. Furthermore, mastery-approach goal orientation also shows a significant positive relation with informal learning and employability. In addition, age had no significant relation with the achievement goal orientations. The paper stresses the need to consider characteristics other than chronological age, such as goal orientations, when considering employees’ learning behavior and employability. Full article

This article deals with the relationship between dynamic capabilities and core competencies of companies. Both categories extend the resource-based view of the firm. They are difficult to work out, but thanks to their durability and universality they enable to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Due to intensive changes in the business environment and increasing difficulty in forecasting them, the importance of adaptability based on both categories increases. The presented results of the research of two leading Polish companies—Panek S.A. and Cukiernia Sowa—are practical examples of the impact of dynamic capabilities on the creation of core competencies and indirectly core and end products and services. The analysis is the basis for improvement of future research. Full article

Managerial and Business Economics (ME/BE) aims at using quantitative and computational methods to make an efficient (ideally optimal) assignment of the scarce resources owned by firms and organizations. In the current global market, characterized by a fierce competition, an optimal use of the available resources is more important than ever for guaranteeing the economical sustainability of organizations and enterprises of any size. Heuristic optimization algorithms and simulation methods have been successfully employed to analyze and enhance complex systems and processes in a myriad of ME/BE-related fields. This paper reviews recent works on the use of these methodologies in competitive markets, as well as in imperfect markets considering externalities. The paper also discusses open challenges and how state-of-the art methods combining optimization, simulation, and machine learning can contribute to properly address them. Full article

Although many studies have shown that entrepreneurial intention can be explained according to a theory of planned behavior, some scholars have provided interesting insights into the role of job self-identity perception—in particularly the ones related to entrepreneurship—as significant precursor of entrepreneurial intention. A questionnaire has been administered to graduates and students of an Italian university (N = 153). A hierarchical regression analysis controlling for demographic variables has been performed in order to test the research hypotheses. The findings of this study have been discussed, with particular attention paid to the unexpected, weak, or non-significant effects of perceived behavioral control and social norms on entrepreneurial intention. Full article