Paulo Sergio Altman Ferreira and João Pedro Reis
The purpose of this study is to explore how conflicting factors create tensions that hinder the development of effective policies. It specifically focuses on the broken…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore how conflicting factors create tensions that hinder the development of effective policies. It specifically focuses on the broken connections between government policies and social-economic sectors. The study intends to explain how differing and often opposing interests in creating government policy influence the learning process.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a research methodology that combines developmental work research as a framework with historical case studies for collecting data. The process starts by identifying a problem and challenges related to the Brazilian “Diesel Crisis”. Following this, an analysis of the activity system was undertaken to uncover contradictions and tensions related to policy development.
Findings
The key results of the study focus on the learning process of public policy by (1) spotting gaps between government policies and socio-economic areas, (2) finding potential sources for a learning path and shared growth, (3) identifying various conflicting interests in the development of government policy, (4) creating learning possibilities in a complex and diverse environment and (5) offering solutions for resolving conflicting relationships in government policy development.
Originality/value
This study highlights the importance of recognizing the complicated social setting where public policy learning takes place, emphasizing the duality of collaboration and conflicting interests among different government bodies, policymakers and community members as they use tools and rules to reach their objectives.
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Luís Jacques de Sousa, João Poças Martins and Luís Sanhudo
Factors like bid price, submission time, and number of bidders influence the procurement process in public projects. These factors and the award criteria may impact the project’s…
Abstract
Purpose
Factors like bid price, submission time, and number of bidders influence the procurement process in public projects. These factors and the award criteria may impact the project’s financial compliance. Predicting budget compliance in construction projects has been traditionally challenging, but Machine Learning (ML) techniques have revolutionised estimations.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, Portuguese Public Procurement Data (PPPData) was utilised as the model’s input. Notably, this dataset exhibited a substantial imbalance in the target feature. To address this issue, the study evaluated three distinct data balancing techniques: oversampling, undersampling, and the SMOTE method. Next, a comprehensive feature selection process was conducted, leading to the testing of five different algorithms for forecasting budget compliance. Finally, a secondary test was conducted, refining the features to include only those elements that procurement technicians can modify while also considering the two most accurate predictors identified in the previous test.
Findings
The findings indicate that employing the SMOTE method on the scraped data can achieve a balanced dataset. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the Adam ANN algorithm outperformed others, boasting a precision rate of 68.1%.
Practical implications
The model can aid procurement technicians during the tendering phase by using historical data and analogous projects to predict performance.
Social implications
Although the study reveals that ML algorithms cannot accurately predict budget compliance using procurement data, they can still provide project owners with insights into the most suitable criteria, aiding decision-making. Further research should assess the model’s impact and capacity within the procurement workflow.
Originality/value
Previous research predominantly focused on forecasting budgets by leveraging data from the private construction execution phase. While some investigations incorporated procurement data, this study distinguishes itself by using an imbalanced dataset and anticipating compliance rather than predicting budgetary figures. The model predicts budget compliance by analysing qualitative and quantitative characteristics of public project contracts. The research paper explores various model architectures and data treatment techniques to develop a model to assist the Client in tender definition.
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Raquel Vieira and João Pedro da Ponte
This paper focuses on prospective teachers’ (PTs) participation in a lesson study (LS) that prompted them to research their own practice. We seek to describe the dimensions of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focuses on prospective teachers’ (PTs) participation in a lesson study (LS) that prompted them to research their own practice. We seek to describe the dimensions of PTs’ knowledge of student learning developed during the process and the LS features fostering it.
Design/methodology/approach
The participants were two PTs, a teacher educator, a cooperating teacher and a researcher. The LS was integrated into a Portuguese initial elementary teacher education program. Following a qualitative approach, we used participant observation.
Findings
The PTs developed their knowledge of students’ learning of the concept of area in four dimensions: theories; students’ interests and expectations; ways students interact with the content and students’ strengths and weaknesses in learning the concept. To support this development, the LS design considered follow-up sessions and emphasised collaborative work.
Originality/value
This study focuses on PTs researching their practice and disseminating the results, which has been overlooked in previous research of LS with PTs. The results highlight the potential of LS to motivate PTs to research their practice and emphasise the importance of involving them in disseminating LS results.
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Tiago Oliveira, Helena Alves and João Leitão
This systematic literature review aims to identify the main areas of study related to co-creation and innovation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), as well as the main…
Abstract
Purpose
This systematic literature review aims to identify the main areas of study related to co-creation and innovation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), as well as the main external and internal stakeholders with whom co-creation is made.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical approach is based on 258 articles selected from the Web of Science (WoS), Clarivate Analytics and Scopus, Elsevier databases, with analysis of titles, abstracts and keywords following a research protocol. VOS viewer and CitNetExplorer software were used, with the twin aim of identifying publications with a higher number of citations and designing maps of reference word co-occurrence.
Findings
The analysis led to three clusters being identified: Cluster 1. Management and transfer of knowledge from HEIs to companies; Cluster 2. Co-creation and innovation in HEIs through cooperation between universities and companies; and Cluster 3. Universities’ third mission and their role in developing entrepreneurship education. The results of the literature clusters analysis led to proposing a conceptual model of analysis.
Research limitations/implications
Despite only employing two databases and the content analysis criteria, the three found clusters are linked, recognising the interplay between co-creation and innovation in HEIs, knowledge transfer to enterprises and the influence on HEIs' third goal.
Practical implications
This systematic literature review highlights and gives a picture of the state-of-the-art in co-creation and innovation in HEIs, as well as presenting a model of co-creation and innovation in HEIs that can contribute to reinforcing the University-Industry-Community ties.
Social implications
This study can lead to a better knowledge of the issue of co-creation and innovation at HEIs, as well as a deeper analysis of the sorts of relationships between HEIs and their stakeholders, as well as its impact on surrounding areas and influence.
Originality/value
The research highlights the interaction between HEIs and their stakeholders on a basis of value co-creation and innovation, providing mutual benefits for all involved, as well as greater development and recognition of HEIs and their surrounding regions’ image andreputation. A future research agenda is also presented on the topic of co-creation and innovation in HEIs.
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José Carlos Pereira de Morais, Nelson Castro Neves, Luís Abranches Soveral and João Lima
There is a growing urgent concern in involving higher education institutions (HEIs) towards an international effort in implementing a more suitable role as conductors of…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a growing urgent concern in involving higher education institutions (HEIs) towards an international effort in implementing a more suitable role as conductors of sustainable development. This paper/study aims to present the application of light emiting diode (LED) technology in an HEI assuming technology innovation as part of a larger institutional innovation management strategy addressing multiple dimensions in sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
Investments in LED technology are analyzed for their impact on consumption results and quantitative comparisons between 2008 and 2022 are impaired with detailed information on the types of luminaires and the amount of installed energy.
Findings
The collected data shows a clear economic advantage of using LED technology, and the results subsidize institutional planning, considering not only ongoing technological innovation, but also educational components and community involvement in the organization sustainability strategy.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to a specific HEI and further comparative research should be carried out.
Practical implications
A holistic approach on sustainability objectives encourages further investment in environmental-friendly technology, example to other HEIs.
Social implications
The strategic vision of innovation is confirmed with the involvement of the community, at various levels, such as the academic community, local community, scientific international community.
Originality/value
This study addresses the lack of examples in the literature of structural planning and management systems that see sustainability as a strategy built in HEIs. The elaboration of an environmental sustainability plan places environmental sustainability at the confluence of themes such as education, investigation, use of natural resources, waste separation. For each topic are listed measures, actions, environment improvements, institution improvements and their results.
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Mehroosh Tak, Kirsty Blair and João Gabriel Oliveira Marques
High levels of child obesity alongside rising stunting and the absence of a coherent food policy have deemed UK’s food system to be broken. The National Food Strategy (NFS) was…
Abstract
Purpose
High levels of child obesity alongside rising stunting and the absence of a coherent food policy have deemed UK’s food system to be broken. The National Food Strategy (NFS) was debated intensely in media, with discussions on how and who should fix the food system.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a mixed methods approach, the authors conduct framing analysis on traditional media and sentiment analysis of twitter reactions to the NFS to identify frames used to shape food system policy interventions.
Findings
The study finds evidence that the media coverage of the NFS often utilised the tropes of “culture wars” shaping the debate of who is responsible to fix the food system – the government, the public or the industry. NFS recommendations were portrayed as issues of free choice to shift the debate away from government action correcting for market failure. In contrast, the industry was showcased as equipped to intervene on its own accord. Dietary recommendations made by the NFS were depicted as hurting the poor, painting a picture of helplessness and loss of control, while their voices were omitted and not represented in traditional media.
Social implications
British media’s alignment with free market economic thinking has implications for food systems reform, as it deters the government from acting and relies on the invisible hand of the market to fix the system. Media firms should move beyond tropes of culture wars to discuss interventions that reform the structural causes of the UK’s broken food systems.
Originality/value
As traditional media coverage struggles to capture the diversity of public perception; the authors supplement framing analysis with sentiment analysis of Twitter data. To the best of our knowledge, no such media (and social media) analysis of the NFS has been conducted. The paper is also original as it extends our understanding of how media alignment with free market economic thinking has implications for food systems reform, as it deters the government from acting and relies on the invisible hand of the market to fix the system.
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The central hypothesis of the chapter is that Brazilian colonialism and slavery produced different material conditions or different governmentalities, from those at the base of…
Abstract
The central hypothesis of the chapter is that Brazilian colonialism and slavery produced different material conditions or different governmentalities, from those at the base of the disciplinary project of the Global North, conditions that re-signified the penitentiary reform proposal. This chapter is structured into five sections: the first section introduces the hypothesis that the houses of correction were not the institutions that originated the Brazilian penitentiary system. The following section develops this idea based on an analysis of the social and economic dimensions of Brazil’s colonial formation. Unlike the global North, which officially envisioned the penitentiary as the institutional foundation of a democratic society, the penitentiary in Brazil was first envisioned as a mere symbol of modernity, then as an instrument for preserving order. The third section describes how the first prisons emerged without industrialization and how the material conditions for a prison reform discourse based on discipline remained absent. The fourth section indicates the inapplicability of the original conception of discipline in a context without Protestantism, presenting the Jesuit experience as the one closest to a project of moral reform and constraint to work. Being absent the category of disciplinary power in its original form, at least regarding its economic dimension, the national penitentiary project was born from the dungeons where public and private power overlapped for the corporal punishment of the enslaved. The last section analyzes the importation of the penal reform discourse and its adaptation in the context immediately following the abolition of slavery in 1888.
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Amir Ardeshir, Mehdi Sharifi Khobdeh, Ian Fillis and Hossein Eghbali
This paper investigates the critical role of entrepreneurial computer engineers in driving innovation and accelerating economic growth through the creation of technological…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the critical role of entrepreneurial computer engineers in driving innovation and accelerating economic growth through the creation of technological businesses. By analyzing their contributions to innovation ecosystems, this paper aims to provide insights into the unique impact these engineers have within the entrepreneurial landscape. The study underscores the need for tailored policies that harness the potential of entrepreneurial computer engineers to achieve macroeconomic objectives amidst ever-changing economic complexities.
Design/methodology/approach
To examine the significance of entrepreneurial computer engineers within the innovation ecosystem, this study uses bibliometric analysis with VOS viewer to explore existing literature on engineering and entrepreneurship.
Findings
Using bibliometric analysis, the authors reveal a network of interconnected skills such as risk-taking, self-determination and project-based learning, evident in the co-occurrence of keywords.
Practical implications
The entrepreneurial computer engineer plays a central role in steering technical innovation and fostering sustainable economic growth within the field of computer engineering. The authors pinpoint specific skills and strategic pathways crucial for the growth and development of entrepreneurial computer engineers, emphasizing the unique contributions and challenges within this domain.
Originality/value
This paper addresses the under-researched topic of engineering entrepreneurship in relation to innovation, aiming to provide knowledge and insights into the intersection of engineering and entrepreneurship. By examining this nexus, the paper contributes to filling the gap in existing literature and offers valuable perspectives for both academia and industry.
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Kléber Formiga Miranda and Márcio André Veras Machado
This study examines the investment horizon influence, mediated by market optimism, on earnings management based on accruals and real activities. Based on short-termism, the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the investment horizon influence, mediated by market optimism, on earnings management based on accruals and real activities. Based on short-termism, the authors argue that earnings management increases in optimistic periods to boost corporate profits.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyzed non-financial Brazilian publicly traded firms from 2010 to 2020 by estimating industry-fixed effects of groups of short- and long-horizon firms to compare their behavior on earnings management practices during bullish moments. For robustness, the authors used alternate measures and trade-off analyses between earning management practices.
Findings
The findings indicate that, during bullish moments, companies prioritize managing their earnings through real activities management (RAM) rather than accruals earnings management (AEM), depending on their time horizon. The results demonstrate the trade-off between earnings management practices.
Research limitations/implications
This study presents limitations when using proxies for earnings management and investor sentiment.
Practical implications
Investors and regulators should closely monitor companies' operations, especially during bullish market conditions to prevent fraud.
Originality/value
The study addresses investor sentiment mediation in the earnings management discussion, introducing the short-termism approach.
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Panos T. Chountalas and Athanasios G. Lagodimos
Significant interest in Integrated Management Systems (IMS), as a key area within ISO-related Management System Standards (MSS) literature, has been evident from both academia and…
Abstract
Purpose
Significant interest in Integrated Management Systems (IMS), as a key area within ISO-related Management System Standards (MSS) literature, has been evident from both academia and industry over the past three decades. This study aims to map the evolution and current state of IMS research and propose possible directions for future studies.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive content and bibliometric analysis of 846 documents from the Scopus database across the period 1995 to 2023 was conducted. This included performance analysis to track publication trends and identify key contributors, and content analysis to specify dominant research methodologies and the MSS most commonly integrated. Furthermore, science mapping techniques—such as co-authorship networks, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and bibliographic coupling—were utilized to outline the collaborative networks and the conceptual and intellectual structure of the field.
Findings
The study identifies three principal IMS research themes: the practical implementation of IMS, their role in promoting sustainability and social responsibility, and their impact on continuous performance improvement. It also highlights the field’s evolution and key research constituents—including influential works, prolific authors, leading academic institutions and countries, and top publishing journals. It further reveals that IMS research exhibits strong collaboration across authors and countries, and a rich methodological plurality, notably with a marked increase in empirical surveys in recent years. Additionally, it identifies the most frequently referenced MSS for integration, prominently featuring ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001/OHSAS 18001.
Originality/value
This study is original in its application of a dual analytical approach—bibliometric and content analysis—to provide a holistic overview of IMS research. It offers new insights into the integration of diverse MSS and proposes several promising paths for future research. Among the most prominent are standardizing IMS fundamental specifications, conducting more empirical research with advanced methods to evaluate the effects of MSS integration, providing practical support for organizations in IMS implementation through tailored methodologies and tools, and exploring the potential of Industry 4.0 and 5.0 technologies to advance IMS practices.