Search Results (230)

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly rely on digital technologies in everyday operations, often without having sufficient resources or structured mechanisms to manage the cyber risks that accompany this dependence. As digitalization deepens, cyber incidents in SMEs are shaped not only by technical vulnerabilities but also by human behavior and organizational practices. However, much of the existing research still approaches cyber resilience through fragmented technological or managerial lenses. This study takes a conceptual and theory-driven approach to examine cyber resilience in SMEs as a socio-technical system. Building on systems theory and adaptive management, the analysis draws on a structured synthesis of interdisciplinary literature to develop a systemic model of adaptive digital risk management. The model is developed through a structured conceptual process combining systematic exploration of interdisciplinary literature, analytical synthesis of recurring conceptual patterns, and system-level model construction informed by systems theory and adaptive management principles. Cyber resilience is therefore interpreted as a dynamic capability that develops over time, especially in digital environments characterized by increasing automation and evolving forms of human–technology interaction. The study contributes to cyber resilience research by offering a system-oriented perspective and provides SMEs with a conceptual basis for strengthening adaptive approaches to digital risk management. Full article

This paper discusses digital capability and its potential translation into sustainable organizational performance through the integration of sustainable management accounting and high-quality managerial decision-making. Even though previous studies acknowledge the importance of digital technologies and sustainability practices, the current literature mostly analyzes them separately, and no empirical models explain how digital capability can be translated into sustainability outcomes through internal decision-making and accounting processes. To fill this gap, this paper constructs and proves a Digital-Enabled Sustainability Management Accounting (DSMA) framework based on Dynamic Capabilities Theory, the Knowledge-Based View, and the Technology–Organization–Environment framework. Based on Survey data from 667 respondents in the financial services industry and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the results indicate that digital capability can significantly contribute to sustainability performance by increasing accounting integration and decision quality. Although technological readiness enhances such relations, it does so with only a low degree of influence, meaning it has a supportive rather than a transformative effect. The research is valuable because it contributes to sustainability theory, provides a solid empirical database that is understudied, and has practical implications for organizations striving to implement digitally enabled sustainability initiatives. Full article

The growing prevalence of severe and unpredictable disruptions has prompted logistics firms to restructure their supply chain strategies to ensure long-term sustainability. Therefore, this study developed a research framework with factors including supply chain innovation, supply chain empowerment, risk management capability, supply chain collaboration, and supply chain disruption, and investigated supply chain robustness. Moreover, this study conceptualized supportive HR practices as a moderating factor between supply chain robustness and supply chain velocity, highlighting their role in supporting sustainable supply chain performance. The study design is grounded in a quantitative research approach. Sample size was estimated using a priori power analysis. A research survey was administered using a purposive sampling approach. Overall, 253 valid responses were retrieved during the months of April and May 2024. These numerical responses were further analyzed with a structural equation modeling approach. The structural assessment indicated that supply chain innovation, risk management capability, supply chain disruption, supply chain empowerment, and supply chain collaboration explained 77.7% of the variance in supply chain robustness. Practically, this study proposes that supply chain innovation, risk management capability, supply chain disruption, and supply chain empowerment are key factors that boost supply chain robustness, contribute to sustainable operational performance, and hence need managerial attention. Similarly, this study suggests that managers could achieve supply chain velocity through supportive HR practices, which must be considered while developing sustainable supply chain strategies. This research is unique as it develops an integrated research model to investigate factors that impact supply chain robustness and supply chain velocity from a sustainability-oriented perspective. Full article

In an era increasingly defined by the imperative for sustainable development, the construction sector faces significant challenges, including resource limitations, environmental pressures, and high uncertainty. Within this context, the organizational capabilities of construction projects are widely recognized as a critical endogenous driver, closely linked to sustainable performance outcomes. Yet, empirical research to date has produced inconsistent conclusions, and a systematic understanding of how distinct dimensions of capability influence sustainability remains surprisingly fragmented. To address this gap, we employ a meta-analysis to synthesize 11,881 independent samples from 64 quantitative empirical studies. We systematically examined the overall relationship between organizational capability in construction projects and sustainable performance. It further compares the differential effects of project capabilities and dynamic capabilities across economic, social, and environmental performance. Additionally, the study investigated the moderating effects of key contextual and methodological factors. Our analysis yielded several important findings: (1) A significant, moderately positive correlation exists between organizational capability in construction projects and sustainable performance. (2) Project capability exerts a stronger association with economic and social performance, whereas dynamic capability demonstrates a more pronounced effect on environmental performance. This underscored distinct pathways through which different capability dimensions operate. (3) Moderation analysis revealed that the relationship between organizational capability and sustainable performance is stronger in emerging economies and collectivist cultural contexts. Methodologically, structural equation modeling tended to produce larger effect sizes compared to regression analysis. Although no significant moderation effect emerges across research time points, post-2015 studies generally showed slightly stronger effects. The findings enrich the application of the Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capability Theory within construction project contexts, emphasizing the multidimensional nature of organizational capabilities and their differentiated roles across triple-bottom-line performance. Consequently, this research offers valuable pathways for capability development and a strategic foundation for enhancing managerial practice in construction project management. Full article

Geothermal energy is a crucial component of climate adaptation and sustainability transitions, as it provides a dependable, low-carbon source of baseload power that can accelerate sustainable energy transitions and enhance climate resilience. Yet, in East Africa—one of the world’s most promising geothermal regions, with the East African Rift—a unique climate-energy opportunity zone—the harnessing of geothermal power remains slow and uneven. This study examines the contextual conditions that facilitate the successful and sustainable development of geothermal power in the region. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 17 experienced professionals who have worked extensively on geothermal projects across East Africa, the analysis identifies how technical, institutional, managerial, and relational circumstances interact to shape outcomes. The findings indicate an interdependent configuration of success conditions, with structural, institutional, managerial, and meta-conditions jointly influencing project trajectories rather than operating in isolation. The most frequently emphasised enablers were resource confirmation and technical design, leadership and team competence, long-term stakeholder commitment, professional project management and control, and collaboration across institutions and communities. A co-occurrence analysis reinforces these insights by showing strong patterns of overlap between core domains—particularly between structural and managerial factors and between managerial and meta-conditions, highlighting the mediating role of managerial capability in translating contextual conditions into operational performance. Together, these interrelated circumstances form a system in which structural and institutional foundations create the enabling context, managerial capabilities operationalise this context under uncertainty, and meta-conditions sustain cooperation, learning, and adaptation over time. The study contributes to sustainability research by providing a context-sensitive interpretation of how project success conditions manifest in geothermal development under climate transition pressures, and it offers practical guidance for policymakers and partners working to advance SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), and SDG 13 (Climate Action) in Africa. Full article

In the era of digital transformation, organizations increasingly invest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance competitiveness, yet persistent evidence shows that AI investment does not automatically translate into superior firm performance. Drawing on the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT), this study aims to explain this paradox by examining how AI-enabled dynamic capability (AIDC) is converted into performance outcomes through organizational mechanisms. Specifically, the study investigates the mediating roles of organizational data-driven culture (DDC) and organizational learning (OL). Data were collected from 254 senior managers and executives in U.S. firms actively employing AI technologies and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that AIDC exerts a significant direct effect on firm performance as well as indirect effects through both DDC and OL. Serial mediation analysis reveals that AIDC enhances performance by first fostering a data-driven mindset and subsequently institutionalizing learning processes that translate AI-generated insights into actionable organizational routines. Moreover, DDC plays a contingent moderating role in the AIDC–performance relationship, revealing a nonlinear effect whereby excessive reliance on data weakens the marginal performance benefits of AIDC. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the dual role of data-driven culture: while DDC functions as an enabling mediator that facilitates AI value creation, beyond a threshold it constrains dynamic reconfiguration by limiting managerial discretion and strategic flexibility. This insight exposes the “dark side” of data-driven culture and extends the RBV and DCT by introducing a boundary condition to the performance effects of AI-enabled capabilities. From a managerial perspective, the study highlights the importance of balancing analytical discipline with adaptive learning to sustain digital efficiency and strategic agility. Full article

Against the backdrop of accelerating servitization transformation in the global manufacturing sector, how digital platform capability effectively drives improvements in innovation performance has become a critical issue. Existing research mainly focuses on the instrumental attributes of digital technologies, while relatively few studies examine their strategic role in servitization transformation, particularly the systematic explanation of the “capability–behavior–context–performance” transmission mechanism. To address this gap, this study integrates dynamic capability theory and the opportunity window theory to construct a moderated mediation model that uncovers the internal mechanisms and boundary conditions through which digital platform capability influences servitization innovation performance. Based on survey data from 237 manufacturing firms in Guangdong Province, the empirical results indicate that: (1) digital platform capability and value co-creation both exert significant positive effects on servitization innovation performance; (2) value co-creation mediates the relationship between digital platform capability and servitization innovation performance; and (3) although organizational distance was theoretically expected to function as an important contextual variable, this study does not find evidence supporting its inverted U-shaped moderating effect, suggesting that its role in digital contexts may be more complex. This study not only extends the application of dynamic capability theory and opportunity window theory in servitization innovation settings but also provides managerial insights for manufacturing firms to optimize digital platform strategies and build more resilient and sustainable innovation systems. Full article

This study examines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the role of university teachers and transforming the foundations of academic work in the digital age. Building on the Dynamic Capabilities Theory (sensing–seizing–transforming), the article proposes a theoretical reframing of university teachers’ perceptions of AI. This approach allows us to bridge micro-level emotions with meso-level HR policies and macro-level sustainability goals (SDGs 4, 8, and 9). The empirical foundation includes a survey of 453 Ukrainian university teachers (2023–2025) and statistics, supplemented by a bibliometric analysis of 26,425 Scopus-indexed documents. The results indicate that teachers do not anticipate a large-scale replacement by AI within the next five years. However, their fear of losing control over AI technologies is stronger than the fear of job displacement. This divergence, interpreted through the lens of dynamic capabilities, reveals weak sensing signals regarding professional replacement but stronger signals requiring managerial seizing and institutional transformation. The bibliometric analysis further demonstrates a theoretical evolution of the university teacher’s role: from a technological adopter (2021–2022) to a mediator of ethics and integrity (2023–2024), and, finally, to a designer and architect of AI-enhanced learning environments (2025). The study contributes to theory by extending the application of Dynamic Capabilities Theory to higher education governance and by demonstrating that teachers’ perceptions of AI serve as indicators of institutional resilience. Based on Dynamic Capabilities Theory, the managerial recommendations are divided into three levels: government, institutional, and scientific-didactic (academic). Full article

This study establishes a comprehensive structural isomorphism between Conway’s Game of Life and the entrepreneurial process, analysing the latter as a complex adaptive system governed by non-linear dynamics rather than linear predictability. Through a rigorous qualitative approach based on a systematic literature review and abductive inference, the research identifies and correlates four fundamental dimensions: uncertainty, adaptability, growth, and sustainability. Transcending traditional metaphorical comparisons, this paper introduces a novel mathematical model that modifies Conway’s deterministic logic by incorporating an «Agency» variable (A). This critical addition quantifies how an entrepreneur’s internal capabilities can counterbalance environmental pressures (neighbourhood density) to determine survival thresholds, effectively transforming the simulation into a «Game of Life with Agency» where participants actively influence their viability potential (Ψ). The analysis explicitly correlates specific algorithmic configurations with real-world business phenomena: high-entropy initial states («The Soup») mirror early-stage market uncertainty where outcomes are probabilistic; «gliders» represent the necessity of strategic pivoting and continuous displacement for survival; and «oscillators» symbolise dynamic sustainability through rhythmic equilibrium rather than static permanence. Furthermore, the study validates the «Gosper Glider Gun» pattern as a model for scalable, generative growth. By bridging abstract systems theory with managerial practice, the research positions these simulations as «mental laboratories» for decision-making. The findings theoretically validate iterative methodologies like the Lean Startup and conclude that successful entrepreneurship operates on the «Edge of Chaos», providing a rigorous framework for navigating high stochastic uncertainty. Full article

This study utilizes data from Chinese listed small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 2010 to 2023. Based on dynamic capability theory and behavioral theory, we examine how corporate digital transformation influences new quality productivity and analyze the mediating role of managerial ability. The results indicate that digital transformation significantly and positively impacts the development of new quality productivity in SMEs, with managerial ability exerting a mediating effect. Furthermore, industry technological turbulence, ESG ratings, and digital intellectual property protection amplify the promotional effect of digital transformation on new quality productivity. Additionally, digital transformation plays a crucial role in enhancing new quality productivity for enterprises operating in more competitive industries, high-tech enterprises, and specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative (SRDI) enterprises. This study extends the digital transformation literature by integrating managerial ability as a key internal mechanism linking digitalization to new quality productivity within SMEs, offering evidence derived from a large-scale longitudinal dataset. Full article

This study examines how digital transformational leadership (DTL) drives superior and enduring organizational performance through the mediating roles of organizational agility (OA) and digital transformation (DT) while assessing the contingent moderating role of digital culture (DC). Anchored in the Resource-Based View (RBV), the study conceptualizes DTL as a strategic intangible capability that enables the orchestration of digital and agile resources into sustained performance outcomes in digitally turbulent environments. Data were collected from 284 senior and middle managers across 13 Palestinian commercial banks—a highly regulated sector undergoing intensive digital pressure in an emerging-economy context—using an online survey. The proposed relationships were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4.0. The results reveal that DTL significantly enhances both OA and DT, which in turn contribute positively to organizational performance. OA and DT operate as both independent and sequential mediators, uncovering a multistage capability-building pathway through which leadership fosters long-term adaptability and resilience. The findings further indicate that digital culture conditions the effectiveness of leadership-driven transformation, shaping how digital initiatives consolidate into enduring organizational routines rather than short-term efficiency gains. By reframing sustainable transformation as the continuity of organizational performance through agility, digital renewal, and cultural alignment—rather than as an ESG outcome alone—this study refines RBV boundary conditions in digital contexts. The study contributes theoretically by clarifying how leadership-enabled capabilities generate sustainable competitive advantage and offers actionable managerial insights for cultivating agility, embedding digital transformation, and strengthening cultural readiness to support long-term organizational resilience. Full article

This study established an empirical structural equation model to examine whether the adoption of green shipping practices (GSPs) will influence customer satisfaction and customer retention in the container shipping industry from the perspective of freight forwarders, while accounting for the effectiveness of marketing activities. Through questionnaire survey, 114 responding data were collected from freight forwarders in the Taiwan area. The main results discovered are as follows: (1) adoption of GSPs was found to positively influence companies’ environmental performance in terms of perceived green capability (PGC); (2) the most significant finding in this study is the irrelevance of PGC to both CS and CR from the perspective of freight forwarders. In addition, after discussing the managerial implications, this study examined whether adopting GSPs to improve the environmental and productivity performance of liner carriers remains an ongoing debate and if it warrants a further investigation. Full article

This study examines how Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) is linked to sustainable organizational performance, encompassing environmental, economic, and social outcomes through the capability-building mechanisms of green innovation (GI) and green organizational culture (GOCL) in emerging manufacturing systems. Drawing on the Resource-Based View and capability-based sustainability perspectives, GHRM is conceptualized as a strategic organizational capability that enables firms in developing economies to beyond short-term regulatory compliance toward measurable and integrated sustainability performance outcomes. Survey data were collected from 446 managerial and technical respondents in Ethiopia’s garment and textile industrial parks, one of Africa’s fastest-growing industrial sectors facing significant sustainability challenges. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with bootstrapping-based mediation analysis, the results show that GHRM is positively associated with sustainable organizational performance, with GI and GOCL operating as key mediating mechanisms that translate HR-related practices into measurable sustainability outcomes. The findings highlight the role of GHRM in strengthening firms’ adaptive and developmental sustainability capabilities by fostering pro-sustainability mindsets and innovation-oriented behaviors, which are particularly critical in resource-constrained and weak-institutional contexts. The study contributes to sustainability and management literature by explicitly linking Green HRM to triple-bottom-line performance through a capability-building framework and by providing rare firm-level empirical evidence from a low-income emerging economy. Practically, the results provide guidance for managers and policy makers to design, monitor, and evaluate HRM systems that intentionally cultivate human, cultural, and innovative capabilities to support long-term organizational sustainability transitions. Full article

Background: Patient-centered care (PCC) is a cornerstone of quality, yet its translation into managerial decision-making remains underexplored. Middle nurse managers (MNMs) play a pivotal role in enabling patient-centeredness, but their perspectives on PCC decisions are rarely investigated. Aim: This study explored MNMs’ perceptions of what constitutes a patient-centered decision in hospital settings and identified the essential dimensions underpinning such decisions. Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was adopted using semi-structured interviews. Thirty-eight MNMs from three hospitals in central Italy were included. Data were analyzed using Elo and Kyngäs’ content analysis approach. Results: Two overarching themes emerged as central to patient-centered managerial decision-making (PCMDM): “Meaning and definition of PCMDM,” and “Influencing dimensions of PCMDM”. MNMs described PCMDM as an evolving and adaptable process shaped by patient needs and organizational constraints and unfolding across distinct phases. Key influencing dimensions included the manager’s role, organizational environment, human resource management and knowledge of the patient. Conclusions: PCMDM is a continuous, ethical, and reflective process mediated by MNMs, who reconcile institutional priorities, team dynamics, and patient needs to create conditions for high-quality PCC. Implications for Practice: Strengthening PCMDM requires coordinated action aimed at equipping nurse managers with advanced leadership capabilities, building organizational structures that sustain patient-centered decisions, and empowering patients to actively co-shape the care process. Full article

Between 2018 and 2025, alternative finance expanded while micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises in emerging economies continued to face a substantial funding gap. This study examines how entrepreneurial frugality articulates frugal ecosystems, access to alternative finance, resilience and SME performance within a single explanatory framework. Following PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-S, we conduct a systematic review of Scopus, Web of Science and Cairn; out of 1483 records, 106 peer-reviewed studies are retained and assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool and a narrative synthesis approach. The findings show that frugal ecosystems characterized by pooled assets, norms of repair and modularity, and lightweight digital tools reduce experimentation costs and develop frugal innovation as an organizational capability. This capability enhances access to alternative finance by generating readable quality signals, while non-bank channels provide a financial buffer that aligns liquidity with operating cycles and strengthens entrepreneurial resilience. The article proposes an operationalized conceptual model, measurement guidelines for future quantitative surveys, and public policy and managerial implications to support frugal and inclusive innovation trajectories in emerging contexts. Full article