Search Results (71)

The accelerated transformations in the education system marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) require a rethinking of pedagogical approaches. The VUCA environment requires a new educational management system in line with new technological trends in order to respond effectively to all the internal and external factors that may affect the quality of teaching. A particularly important course of action is updating teaching methods by combining traditional teaching methods with new interactive methods that promote the introduction of certain digital applications during the teaching of new topics. In this sense, the quantitative research carried out in the present study among second-year students from the psycho-pedagogical program organized by the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania, has highlighted the fact that innovative teaching methods are more effective, contributing to the development of personality and communication skills among pupils and students. Also, the results obtained after applying the Mann–Whitney test showed that there is a significant difference between students involved in different educational activities and those who do not have contact with the educational environment in terms of perceiving the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the educational environment. At the same time, in the context of the VUCA world, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the teaching–learning process, teachers need to develop new skills such as stress management, adaptability, creativity, technological skills, and time management. Addressing the specific competencies that teachers need to acquire in order to improve their teaching and to respond effectively to the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in education, this study contributes to the creation of a sustainable education system, which is able to cope with all transformations (technological, legislative, socio-economic, etc.). The article is based on the results obtained in the postdoctoral research conducted at the end of 2024. Full article

Manufacturing serves as a vital indicator of a nation’s economic strength, technological advancement, and comprehensive competitiveness. In the context of the VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) business environment and globalization, uncertain market demand has intensified supply chain disruption risks, necessitating resilience strategies to enhance supply chain stability. This study proposes five resilience strategies—establishing an information sharing system, multi-sourcing, alternative suppliers, safety stock, and alternative transportation plans—while integrating sustainability requirements. A multi-objective mixed-integer optimization model was developed to balance cost efficiency, resilience, and environmental sustainability. Comparative analysis reveals that the resilience-embedded model outperforms traditional approaches in both cost control and risk mitigation capabilities. The impact of parameter variations on the model results was examined through sensitivity analysis. The findings demonstrate that the proposed optimization model effectively enhances supply chain resilience—mitigating cost fluctuations while maintaining robust demand fulfillment under uncertainties. Full article

Exploratory innovation plays a crucial role in the high-quality and sustainable development of organizations, but how enterprises engage in exploratory innovation within volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) contexts remains unclear. Drawing on strategy choice theory and continuous innovation theory, this study explores the positive effects of technological capability on exploratory innovation via entrepreneurial orientation while considering environmental uncertainty as a moderating variable to elucidate the internal logic of continuous innovation within organizations. We conducted a large-scale survey of 313 Chinese firms and found the following: (1) technological capability has a significant positive impact on exploratory innovation; (2) entrepreneurial orientation plays a partial mediating role between technological capability and exploratory innovation; and (3) environmental uncertainty exerts a differential moderating influence within this mediating framework: technological uncertainty enhances the positive effect of technological capability on entrepreneurial orientation, whereas demand uncertainty intensifies the supportive effect of entrepreneurial orientation on exploratory innovation. This study reveals the internal mechanism by which technological capabilities drive exploratory innovation through entrepreneurial orientation under environmental uncertainty, providing theoretical support for enterprises to deepen their technological capability and pursue exploratory innovation and sustainable development. Full article

The continuous evolution of technology compels higher education leaders to adapt to VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) and BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible) environments through innovative strategies that ensure institutional relevance. While VUCA emphasizes the challenges posed by rapid change and uncertain decision-making, BANI underscores the fragility of systems, heightened anxiety, unpredictable causality, and the collapse of established patterns. Navigating these complexities requires agility, resilience, and visionary leadership to ensure that institutions remain adaptable and future ready. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of digital academic leadership in higher education transformation, examining empirical studies, reviews, book chapters, and proceeding papers published from 2014 to 2024 (11-year period) in the Web of Science—Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). Using CiteSpace software (version 6.3. R1-64 bit), we analyzed 5837 documents, identifying 24 key publications that formed a network of 90 nodes and 256 links. The reduction to 24 publications occurred as part of a structured bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace, which employs algorithmic thresholds to identify the most influential and structurally significant publications within a large corpus. These 24 documents form the core co-citation network, which serves as a conceptual backbone for further thematic interpretation. This was the result of a multi-step refinement process using CiteSpace’s default thresholds and clustering algorithms to detect the most influential nodes based on centrality, citation burst, and network clustering. Our findings reveal six primary research clusters: “Enhancing Academic Performance”, “Digital Leadership Scale Adaptation”, “Construction Industry”, “Innovative Work Behavior”, “Development Business Strategy”, and “Education.” The analysis demonstrates a significant increase in publications over the decade, with the highest concentration in 2024, reflecting growing scholarly interest in this field. Keywords analysis shows “digital leadership”, “digital transformation”, “performance”, and “innovation” as dominant terms, highlighting the field’s evolution from technology-focused approaches to holistic leadership frameworks. Geographical analysis reveals significant contributions from Pakistan, Ireland, and India, indicating valuable insights emerging from diverse global contexts. These findings suggest that effective digital academic leadership requires not only technical competencies but also transformational capabilities, communication skills, and innovation management to enhance student outcomes and institutional performance in an increasingly digitalized educational landscape. Full article

In recent years, corporate innovation has faced growing pressures from macroeconomic fluctuations and intensifying industry competition, making the maintenance of uninterrupted innovation increasingly crucial. This study selected Chinese listed firms from 2015 to 2022 as samples and adopted a panel fixed-effect model to examine the impact of corporate ESG performance on sustained innovation, with particular attention to external environmental pressures, including macroeconomic uncertainty, industry competition, and market attention. The results demonstrate that corporate ESG performance significantly promotes corporate sustained innovation. Mechanism analyses indicate that from the dual perspectives of resource effects and governance effects, ESG performance primarily enhances sustained innovation by increasing investment in R&D funding and personnel, as well as avoiding managerial myopia. Specifically, macroeconomic uncertainty dampens the positive effect of ESG performance, whereas, under industry competitive and market scrutiny pressures, the beneficial impact of ESG performance on sustained innovation becomes more evident. The research findings expand the internal drivers for sustained innovation, enrich the study of economic consequences of ESG performance, and clarify the differentiated moderating effects of various external pressures under VUCA scenarios. By integrating internal drivers and external complex environments, the paper offers practical insights for firms to leverage ESG practices for innovation resilience and long-term growth, particularly under dynamic market conditions. Full article

In the context of an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) business environment, the ability of an enterprise to develop a robust and resilient business model is critical for its long-term sustainability. Although existing research has delved into the relationship between enterprise behavior and business model resilience, most of these studies, which predominantly adopt an enterprise-centric perspective, rely on qualitative methodologies. Consequently, there is a notable gap in quantitative research examining the relationship between enterprise–user interaction and business model resilience. To bridge this research gap, this study, grounded in dynamic capability theory, conducts an empirical investigation using a sample of 300 questionnaires to explore the intricate internal mechanisms underlying the impact of enterprise–user interaction on business model resilience. The findings reveal that enterprises engaging in more frequent interactions with users tend to exhibit stronger business model resilience. Furthermore, dynamic capability serves as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between enterprise–user interaction and business model resilience. Additionally, knowledge-oriented leadership, as an emerging leadership style, plays a moderating role in the relationship between enterprise–user interaction and dynamic capability, as well as in the mediating effect of dynamic capability. This study contributes to the literature by deepening the understanding of the interplay between enterprise–user interaction and business model resilience. Moreover, it offers practical insights for enterprises seeking to enhance their business model resilience in the VUCA era. Full article

The increasing digitalization of the world underscores the critical importance of both social and technical aspects in software engineering practice. While prior research links socio-technical congruence (STC) to positive workstream outcomes, the current convergence of digital products, technologies, and social systems introduces novel and often unpredictable results, driven by the complex interplay of leadership, organizational culture, and software engineering practices operating as a complex adaptive system (CAS). This paper proposes a novel model for adopting socio-cultural practices to bridge the social and technical divide through the lens of STC. The innovation of the model lies in its socio-technical evolutionary journey, built upon dual systems: (1) an analytical System-I focused on enhancing robustness via compliance with Lean and Agile socio-cultural practices, and (2) a holistic System-II emphasizing resilience through an acceptance of interdependence of system actors that requires sense-making techniques. A methodology based on this model was piloted across six case studies: three in an Enterprise IT organization and three in two business units undergoing transformations on Lean and Agile plus DevOps adoption. System-I’s robustness was evaluated through surveys and structured STC maturity assessments (self and guided ones). System-II employed sense-making techniques to foster resilience within the system of work (SoW), laying the groundwork for their evolutionary journeys. The findings reveal a significant need for greater alignment between management (as transformation agents) and software engineering practices. However, the study suggests actionable guidelines, grounded in new principles and mental models for operating within a CAS, to cultivate enhanced resilience and robustness in a VUCA world. Full article

Relational governance, as a flexible and informal mechanism, plays a critical role in addressing the challenges of construction projects in the VUCA environment. However, existing research has rarely examined relational governance mechanisms from a resilience perspective. Furthermore, current studies on organizational resilience often overlook static characteristics, leaving the interplay between static and dynamic resilience underexplored. To address this gap, this study aims to explore how relational governance influences project performance through organizational resilience, with a focus on the mediating roles of static resilience and dynamic resilience. Empirical data were collected through 270 construction professionals, with questionnaire design refined through expert interviews and a pilot study to ensure validity and reliability. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to assess relationships. The findings indicate that relational governance positively influences addressing opportunistic behaviors of construction participants and improving project performance. Mutual trust and timely commitment among project participants in relational governance significantly impact both the static characteristics and dynamic capabilities of construction projects. Additionally, organizational resilience partially mediates the relationship between relational governance and project performance. This study advances the understanding of the mechanisms linking relational governance and project performance from a resilience perspective and provides actionable insights for fostering efficient governance practices. Full article

In the era of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) and technological disruption, Indonesia’s construction sector faces significant challenges. This study aims to identify and evaluate the key components of human capital agility, leadership agility, and project success within this sector. Using a combination of systematic literature reviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGD), and the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM), this research develops and refines assessment frameworks for these variables. The findings highlight that project success extends beyond the traditional dimensions of time, cost, and quality (iron triangle) to include sustainability, environmental performance, and stakeholder satisfaction. From 20 proposed components, 17 were validated for human capital agility, emphasizing flexibility, responsiveness, and proactivity as key elements. Similarly, leadership agility is characterized by resilience, emotionally intelligent, adaptable, and responsive, with 17 validated components out of 22. Furthermore, this study identifies critical project success factors, including time, quality, profitability, health, cost and safety, with defuzzification scores exceeding 0.89. This research contributes both theoretically and practically by providing a strategic framework to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of Indonesia’s construction sector. Stakeholders are encouraged to optimize human capital and leadership agility to effectively address dynamic project environments. Full article

In the VUCA (which means volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) era, companies increasingly value the emergence of employee leadership as a complement to formal team leadership. Meanwhile, employee innovative behavior, as an important source of firm innovation, has gradually become a key element for the sustainable development of enterprises. Both employee leadership emergence and innovative behavior have significant impacts on the sustainable growth of the employees and companies, yet the relationship between the two has been seldom studied. Whether employee leadership emergence can promote the informal leader’s innovative behavior, thereby achieving the mutual growth of employees and enterprises, has not been tested. Against this backdrop, this study constructs a moderated mediation model from the perspective of leadership role activation to explore the relationship and underlying mechanisms between employee leadership emergence and innovative behavior. By analyzing 304 paired sample data from technology companies in Guangzhou, China, this study finds that employee leadership emergence can influence informal leader’s innovative behavior through the sense of power. Employee self-efficacy strengthens the power perceptions brought about by employee leadership emergence, thus facilitating its positive impact on innovative behavior. This study provides insights into how companies can achieve sustainable growth for both employees and enterprises through employee leadership emergence by revealing the relationship and underlying mechanisms between employee leadership emergence and the informal leader’s innovative behavior. Full article

In the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) environment, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is a key engine for shaping supply chain resilience (SCR). This study employs the entropy method to develop an evaluation index system for SCR, incorporating two key dimensions: resistance and recovery capacity. Using a sample of Chinese-listed enterprises from 2009 to 2022, this study reveals that AI significantly enhances SCR, and CEOs’ sports experience can positively moderate the association between AI and SCR. Mechanism examination shows that AI promotes SCR through operational efficiency optimization, information, and knowledge spillover in the supply chain. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive impact of AI is more significant in firms with a high-skilled labor force, firms with high heterogeneity of the executive team’s human capital, high-tech industries, and regions with strong digital infrastructure. Moreover, the AI application has a diffusion effect on the upstream and downstream enterprises of the supply chain, improving AI adoption levels. Our research not only augments the existing literature on the economic ramifications of AI adoption and the strategic value derived from CEOs’ extramural experience but also offers both theoretical frameworks and empirical insights for executive recruitment and fortifying SCR. Full article

Global supply chains are facing many changes after the COVID-19 pandemic. This change impacts the way each supply chain measures its key performance indicators and determinants for its competitiveness. Aquaculture supply chains (SCA) play an essential role in global trading and fluctuated significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic when many aquaculture supply chains from emerging countries faced disruption. Therefore, after the COVID-19 pandemic, these supply chains have changed their measures and determinants to improve global competitiveness. This paper examines the change in this measure and determinants of the aquaculture supply chain in Vietnam, one of the world’s top 10 biggest exporting countries of aquaculture products. The paper reviews the list of measures and determinants of the aquaculture supply chain before and after the COVID-19 pandemic from the literature. It forms the framework under the shade of Resource-Based View theory. A total of 38 interviews with managers and CEOs of 36 enterprises and two government agencies in the aquaculture supply chain in Vietnam were conducted to explore the strategic changes in the measures of determinants to cope with the new circumstances of current global trade. The findings contribute to enriching the theory in the new VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) business environment after the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, SCA should be defined by supply chain virtues that are associated with the new business environment, such as SC resilience, SC sustainability, SC reliability, SC integration, etc. This finding implies a new horizon for RBV applications, highlighting their adaptability. It suggests that the measures defining competitive advantage in the new business environment should extend beyond the traditional tangible and intangible resources under business certainty. They should also encompass those that differentiate the firms and their supply chain during business turbulence. Full article

In the face of a VUCA environment, organizational resilience has become a critical factor in sustaining enterprise performance. This study explores how digital transformation influences organizational resilience through its impact on the key components of organizational systems, specifically innovation capability and agile response. Using data from Chinese A-share listed firms over the period 2007–2023, the study finds that digital transformation significantly enhances organizational resilience, with robust results across various tests. The analysis highlights that digital transformation strengthens resilience by optimizing innovation capability and improving agility within organizational systems. Heterogeneity tests reveal that these effects are particularly strong in firms located in eastern and central regions, operating in capital-intensive industries, and at growth or maturity stages. These findings underscore the systemic role of digital transformation in building adaptive, resilient organizations that can better navigate uncertainty and complexity. This study contributes to understanding the dynamic interplay between digital technologies and organizational systems, offering practical insights for enterprises aiming to leverage digital transformation for sustainable growth and high-quality economic development. Full article

In this volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) era, resilient and sustainable construction methods, such as prefabricated construction, are essential for addressing the planet’s sustainability challenges. However, disruptions in the prefabricated construction supply chain (PCSC) frequently arise, seriously impeding the performance of prefabricated building projects. Therefore, this study aims to identify the factors influencing the prefabricated construction supply chain (RPCSC) and analyze their intrinsic interconnections. Initially, an exhaustive literature review was conducted to identify the primary factors affecting the RPCSC. Subsequently, the Delphi technique was applied to validate and refine the list of factors, resulting in the identification of 11 key concepts. Finally, the impact of these concepts on the RPCSC, along with their interactions, was assessed using the fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) approach. The results indicate that these factors can be ranked by their degree of effect on the RPCSC: information exchange/sharing, research and development, the performance of prefabricated components, decision alignment, the construction of prefabricated buildings, relationship quality among members, professional management personnel/labor quality, supply–demand consistency, cost/profit sharing, policies and regulations, and transport risk. Furthermore, this study elucidates both the individual and synergistic effects of these factors on the RPCSC by constructing a pathway map. Full article

In the era of VUCA, cultivating and enhancing the resilience of high-end manufacturing enterprises is critical. Based on existing research, this paper defines enterprise resilience at the beginning and constructs an enterprise resilience evaluation index system that includes three segmented capabilities: recognition and resistance, adaptation and adjustment, and recovery and rebound. Finally, the relationship between human capital investment, technological innovation, and high-end enterprise resilience is empirically studied. The research results show that human capital investment positively affects the resilience of high-end manufacturing enterprises, with breakthrough innovation and progressive innovation playing a mediating role. Digital transformation positively moderates the impact of human capital investment on the resilience of high-end manufacturing enterprises. Further, there is a higher threshold between human capital investment and technological innovation in improving the resilience of high-end manufacturing enterprises. Human capital investment has a significantly positive effect on high-end manufacturing enterprises’ ability to resist risks and adapt to adjustments but has no significant impact on recovery and rebound ability. Breakthrough and progressive innovation partially mediate the impact of human capital investment on the ability to resist risks and adapt to adjustments, while breakthrough innovation has no significant impact on the recovery of the rebound ability; however, progressive innovation completely mediates the relationship between human capital investment and the recovery of rebound ability. Compared with Chinese non-state-owned enterprises, state-owned enterprises’ efforts to increase investment in human capital only positively impact their ability to resist risks. Compared with large-scale enterprises, the increase in human capital investment in small-scale enterprises only has a significant positive impact on the ability to resist risks. Based on the above, this paper suggests that high-end manufacturing enterprises should enhance their strategic focus and constantly strengthen their investment in human capital and technological innovation; at the same time, they should further optimize the structure of human capital investment and introduce and cultivate cutting-edge talents. Full article