The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the digitalization of the majority of universities, prior to which they were largely operating using face-to-face modes of learning. Increased competition in the ...digital environment places universities under greater pressure to offer an innovative learning experience. The purpose of this paper is to understand the effects of the sudden pandemic on the ongoing process of digital transformation (DT) and how the learning value proposition of higher education institutions (HEIs) has been affected. The research is based on a single case study of a born digital university, focusing on the changes made to the learning value proposition, and particularly to the multimode learning offer. The paper uncovers the relation between multimodality and customized and personalized learning, all of which are dependent on the use of digital educational technology. The originality of this paper is its longitudinal look at a single case, observing how the significant DT process already underway prior to the pandemic has been impacted by it, accelerating the process, and clarifying the envisaged post-pandemic future for HEIs. Another distinctive aspect is the consideration of the learning proposition as a core element and part of a larger and interdependent value proposition within the overall HEIs business model.
The recycling target for plastics is expected to increase Europe-wide from 22.5% to 55% by 2025, hence the relevance of incentive schemes and the need to reach conclusions about how to encourage ...families to recycle more. Following this objective, a pilot project was implemented and a virtual reward token called RECICLOS created to encourage recycling among families, using incentives and awards to improve recycling behaviour and a webapp prototype to register the recycled plastic. By the end of the 6-week pilot project, 1053 families were registered on the scheme, representing 10% of the targeted population in the pilot area of the county of Pla de l’Estany, Catalonia, Spain. The novelties were the introduction of a token, the gamification of incentives through raffles and lotteries, webapp-based direct communication with citizens, and feedback after collecting and registering the recycled material. The multidimensional aspects of recycling activities, their strong relation with human behavioural patterns, and the high demand for communication and interaction mean that mobile technologies find significant application in this field. The results show that people can be influenced and their recycling habits changed by means of varied, effective, and innovative incentive schemes.
Although the implementation of innovative organizational concepts is considered to be highly important for a company's competitiveness, so far there has been little research on possible approaches to ...measure and monitor organizational innovations in large-scale surveys. Based on an item-oriented typology of organizational innovations which serves as the precondition for a common understanding, we describe and compare how organizational innovations have been measured through existing surveys in Europe. Using a large-scale survey comprising data of 1450 German manufacturing companies, we show how these different approaches lead to significantly different results regarding the organizational innovativeness of companies within one and the same sample. We derive four implications for the future measurement and monitoring of organizational innovations. Our findings contribute to the further development of an adequate methodology for an organizational innovation monitoring system.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse if and to what extent the relation between implementing new technologies and organizational practices has a direct moderating effect on operational ...performance. Regression analysis technique was performed using data corresponding to the Spanish sub-sample of the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS) 2015 edition containing the responses of 101 manufacturing firms. The results present a positive relation between implementing organizational practices and operational performance. Implementing technologies individually has a negative effect on firm performance, but when this is mediated with organizational practices the effect becomes positive. The present study also brings implications in the direction of separate and joint effect of the impact of digitalisation and organisational practices on operational performance. The value of this research lies in its contributing novel, original data about the importance of applying flexibility enhancing technologies and organizational concepts.
Companies aiming to increase their firm performance implement specific practices known as High Performance Work Systems (HPWS). Uncertainty remains, however, about the structures included in them. ...The main purpose of this paper is to analysis the difference between implementing specific HPWP separately or as a HPWS, and their effect on performance aspects, using the Spanish subsample of the European Manufacturing Survey. The results show that these firms’ implementation rates are relatively low compared to the European average, despite over 50% of respondents implementing some of the practices studied (individually or as a bundle).
The number of smart city initiatives is growing worldwide at an incredible pace. Their ambition is to add to the competitiveness of local communities through innovation while increasing and ...attracting users, financial capital and talent by offering an environment suited to current needs. Digital implementation plays a key role in this evolution, facilitating cities' ability to offer and advanced urban environment tailored for its users and stakeholders. In this paper, we examine how digital technology implementation affects the attractiveness of cities in terms of intra- and international talent flows and the creation of innovative companies. Our analysis is based on a dataset of 20 Italian cities over an 11-year period. We use the GLS (Generalized Least Square) panel data estimation method, considering both direct and u-shaped effects to evidence the relationship between digital technology implementation and the attractiveness of cities for intra- and international talents, and to explore an advancing urban environment conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship. Based on empirical outcomes, this study offers valuable insights for both academics and policymakers in understanding and balancing the current interplay between digital implementation, innovative companies, and talents in contemporary cities.
•This article assesses the effect of digital technology in cities on attracting new talent and innovative companies.•The results show a direct relationship between digital technology implementation, talent inflow, and innovative companies.•Moreover, the results show a reverse U-shaped effect on the interaction between digital technology and innovative companies•The paper provides practical implications for the role of smart cities in the existing urban and economic trajectories.
This article presents an empirical comparative assessment of the measurement quality of two instruments commonly used to measure fuzzy characteristics in computer-assisted questionnaires: a graphic ...scale (a line production scale using a slider bar) and an endecanary scale (a 0–10 rating scale using radio buttons). Data are analyzed by means of multitrait–multimethod models estimated as structural equation models with a mean and covariance structure. For the first time in such research, the results include bias, valid variance, method variance, and random error variance. The data are taken from a program that assesses entrepreneurial competences in undergraduate Economics and Business students by means of questionnaires administered on desktop computers. Neither of the measurement instruments was found to be biased with respect to the other, meaning that their scores are comparable. While both instruments achieve valid and reliable measurements, the reliability and validity are higher for the endecanary scale. This study contributes to the still scarce literature on fuzzy measurement instruments and on the comparability and relative merits of graphic and discrete rating scales on computer-assisted questionnaires.
The interrelation between the innovation activity of enterprises and various types of network cooperation is of practical importance for the effective strategic management of network structures. In ...the present study, on the basis of indicators that measure innovation and technological effects and are adapted to the standards of statistics of the EU countries, the weighted aggregate innovation index of light industry companies in Ukraine and the EU countries is justified and calculated. On the basis of correlation and regression analysis, the relationships of varying strength are established between the integrated innovation index and different types of network innovative cooperation of light industry companies of the EU countries. The high-strength relationship is revealed between the innovation index of light industry and the indicators of the share of companies that had partners within their group of companies; that were involved in any type of network innovation partnership; that had partners in innovative cooperation among universities; that were involved in any type of partnership with a foreign partner from the EU countries, the EFTA countries or the candidate countries for accession to the EU. The construction of a correlation-regression model of the dependence of the innovation index of light industry on the share of innovation-active companies involved in any type of network innovation partnership and the share of innovation-active companies involved in network cooperation with a foreign partner from the EU countries, the EFTA countries or the candidate countries for accession to the EU given the possibility to predict the level of innovation of domestic companies of light industry depending on the level of their involvement in different types of network innovative cooperation.
A critical aspect for the continuity of family businesses (FB) is the existence of willing successors. In this article, we use the imprinting theory to ground an explanation of how the family ...imprinting process shapes siblings’ willingness to become a successor in the FB. We stylize three family imprinting types based mainly on different family motivations: the FB-centric, the entrepreneurship-centric, and the free-will-centric. The uniqueness of this approach is that it offers an imprinting-based process model capable of explaining the origins of homogeneity and heterogeneity in succession willingness at both the inter- and the intra-family levels.
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