Search results

Due to the disruptive nature of digital transformation, firms can hardly ignore the further digitalisation of processes and business models. Implementing such initiatives triggers enormous investments in infrastructure and software, making the evaluation of digital investments crucial for a firm’s competitive situation.

Given the dynamics and uncertainties inherent in digital transformation, a qualitative, inductive research approach based on semi-structured interviews with high-level finance executives has been employed.

Our findings indicate widespread dissatisfaction with traditional investment appraisal methods for evaluating digital investments. Data also suggest that non-financial considerations are frequently taken into account, albeit implicitly, as participants struggled to clearly conceptualize these criteria.

The literature indicates important research gaps regarding the applicability and usage of traditional, predominantly financial, investment appraisal methods in digital contexts. This research enhances our understanding of digital investment evaluation, by (i) developing an exploratory conceptual framework of potential qualitative evaluation criteria and (ii) providing an in-depth and detailed understanding of the barriers to implementing investment appraisal methods.

The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyse the potential of existing buildings in the UK to contribute to the net-zero emissions target. Specifically, it aims to address the significant emissions from building fabrics which pose a threat to achieving these targets if not properly addressed.

The study, based on a literature review and ten (10) case studies, explored five investigative approaches for evaluating building fabric: thermal imaging, in situ U-value testing, airtightness testing, energy assessment and condensation risk analysis. Cross-case analysis was used to evaluate both case studies using each approach. These methodologies were pivotal in assessing buildings’ existing condition and energy consumption and contributing to the UK’s net-zero ambitions.

Findings reveal that incorporating the earlier approaches into the building fabric showed great benefits. Significant temperature regulation issues were identified, energy consumption decreased by 15% after improvements, poor insulation and artistry quality affected the U-values of buildings. Implementing retrofits such as solar panels, air vents, insulation, heat recovery and air-sourced heat pumps significantly improved thermal performance while reducing energy consumption. Pulse technology proved effective in measuring airtightness, even in extremely airtight houses, and high airflow and moisture management were essential in preserving historic building fabric.

The research stresses the need to understand investigative approaches’ strengths, limitations and synergies for cost-effective energy performance strategies. It emphasizes the urgency of eliminating carbon dioxide (CO₂) and greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming and meet the 1.5° C threshold.

This conceptual paper aims to present a perspective on how to engineer sustainability through the prism of Industry 4.0 technologies and outline propositions to guide future research.

This study presents a literature review developing four research propositions, focusing on the nine leading technologies underpinning Industry 4.0 to engineer economic, environmental and social sustainability dimensions.

The authors derive benefits and challenges of Industry 4.0 technologies across all three business model elements: value creation, value delivery and value capture. The authors derive those for the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability. Thereupon, we develop several propositions for future research.

The authors provide suggestions to practice how to better achieve value in all three sustainability dimensions through implementing a business model perspective, ecosystem thinking, societal demands and Data Governance and AI integration.

By linking societal aspects of Industry 4.0 technologies with environmental, and economic aspects, the authors provide several suggestions how to implement Industry 4.0. For instance, policymakers are recommended to support entire ecosystems than isolated solutions.

The paper contributes to extant literature by conceptualising how Industry 4.0 can leverage value in reaching sustainability in all three dimensions and produce broader ecosystems-wide impacts.

The purpose of this article is to propose a detailed methodology to estimate, model and incorporate the non-constant volatility onto a numerical tree scheme, to evaluate a real option, using a quadrinomial multiplicative recombination.

This article uses the multiplicative quadrinomial tree numerical method with non-constant volatility, based on stochastic differential equations of the GARCH-diffusion type to value real options when the volatility is stochastic.

Findings showed that in the proposed method with volatility tends to zero, the multiplicative binomial traditional method is a particular case, and results are comparable between these methodologies, as well as to the exact solution offered by the Black–Scholes model.

The originality of this paper lies in try to model the implicit (conditional) market volatility to assess, based on that, a real option using a quadrinomial tree, including into this valuation the stochastic volatility of the underlying asset. The main contribution is the formal derivation of a risk-neutral valuation as well as the market risk premium associated with volatility, verifying this condition via numerical test on simulated and real data, showing that our proposal is consistent with Black and Scholes formula and multiplicative binomial trees method.

Research on college student leadership is evolving, with more scholars studying the influence of social identities on the development of student leaders. The evolving literature includes research on how race influences the leadership identity development of college students, which can support their retention and graduation from postsecondary institutions. Gaps exist in the literature on how the definitions of leaders and leadership influences leadership identity development for many social identities in numerous institutional contexts, including for Latino men. Using a case study methodology, we studied the how definitions of leaders and leadership influenced the leadership identity development of Latino men and how that influenced their placement in the LID model (Komives et al., 2005). Thirteen Latino men in the Southeastern U.S. were interviewed. Participants’ definitions and perspectives of leaders and leadership placed them all in the Leader Identified stage of the LID model. Implications for leadership educators regarding practice and research are provided.

The purpose of this study is to chart the development of Makerspaces in higher education (MIHE), by building a map of existing research work in the field. Based on a corpus of 183 manuscripts, published between January 2014 and April 2021, it sets out to describe the range of topics covered under the umbrella of MIHE and provide a holistic view of the field.

The approach adopted in this research includes development of the 2014–2021 MIHE corpus; literature overview and initial coding scheme development; refinement of the initial coding scheme with the help of a focus group and construction of the MIHE map version 1.0; refinement of the MIHE map version 1.0 following a systematic approach of content analysis and development of the MIHE map version 2.0; evaluation of the proposed structure and inclusiveness of all categories in the MIHE map version 2.0 using card-sorting technique; and, finally, development of the MIHE map version 3.0.

The research trends in the categories of the MIHE map are discussed, as well as possible future directions in the field.

This paper provides a holistic view of the field of MIHE guiding both junior MIHE researchers to place themselves in the field, and policymakers and decision-makers who attempt to evaluate the current and future scholar activity in the field. Finally, it caters for more experienced researchers to focus on certain underinvestigated domains.

The purpose of this paper is to obtain new empirical evidence about the connections between equity trading activity and five possible liquidity determinants: market capitalisation, dividend yield, earnings yield, company growth and the distinction between recently listed firms as opposed to more established ones.

The authors use a sample of 172 stocks from four European markets and estimate models using the entire sample data and different sub-samples to check the relative importance of the above determinants. The authors also conduct a factor analysis to re-classify the variables into a more succinct framework.

The evidence suggests that market capitalisation is the most important trading activity determinant, and the number of years listed ranks thereafter.

The positive relation between trading activity and market capitalisation is in line with prior literature, while the findings relating to the other determinants offer further empirical evidence which is a worthy addition in view of the contradictory results in prior research.

This study is of relevance to practitioners who would like to understand the cross-sectional variation in stock liquidity at a more detailed level.

The originality of the paper rests on two important grounds: the authors focus on trading turnover rather than on other liquidity proxies, since the former is accepted as an important determinant of the liquidity-generation process, and the authors adopt a rigorous approach towards checking the robustness of the results by considering various sub-sample configurations.

This integrated care study seeks to highlight how voluntary sector “wellbeing co-ordinators” co-located in a horizontally and vertically integrated, multidisciplinary community hub within one locality of an Integrated Care Organisation contribute to complex, person-centred, co-ordinated care.

This is a naturalistic, mixed method and mixed data study. It is complementing a before-and-after study with a sub-group analysis of people receiving input from the wider hub (including Wellbeing Co-ordination and Enhanced Intermediate Care), qualitative case studies, interviews, and observations co-produced with embedded researchers-in-residence.

The cross-case analysis uses trajectories and outcome patterns across six client groups to illustrate the bio-psycho-social complexity of each group across the life course, corresponding with the range of inputs offered by the hub.

To consider the effectiveness and mechanisms of complex system-wide interventions operating at horizontal and vertical interfaces and researching this applying co-produced, embedded, naturalistic and mixed methods approaches.

How a bio-psycho-social approach by a wellbeing co-ordinator can contribute to improved person reported outcomes from a range of preventive, rehabilitation, palliative care and bereavement services in the community.

To combine knowledge about individuals held in the community to align the respective inputs, and expectations about outcomes while considering networked pathways based on functional status, above diagnostic pathways, and along a life-continuum.

The hub as a whole seems to (1) Enhance engagement through relationship, trust and activation, (2) Exchanging knowledge to co-create a shared bio-psycho-social understanding of each individual’s situation and goals, (3) Personalising care planning by utilising the range of available resources to ensure needs are met, and (4) Enhancing co-ordination and ongoing care through multi-disciplinary working between practitioners, across teams and sectors.

Business process management (BPM), as a pillar of information systems (IS) research, has become more complex with the advent of new technologies, emphasizing the need for moral and ethical perspectives. To foster moral behavior and responsible action, including ethical values in IT systems and processes can be a solid option. By incorporating a socio-technical perspective, we are able to analyze the various aspects of BPM and organizational processes and the incorporated values. We find an overall acknowledgment of the importance of values and ethics in BPM.

This publication explores ethical values within BPM through a systematic literature review (SLR). The study aims to identify the ethical dimensions inherent in BPM and their practical implications in process management and task execution. The methodological approach adopted is a SLR (Boell and Cecez-Kecmanovic, 2015), adapting the PRISMA guidelines (Page et al., 2021) to identify 82 articles from 21 top IS journals suggested by Lowry et al. (2013).

A descriptive framework is developed to explain the use and application of ethical values within business processes. This framework enables practitioners and researchers to categorize and understand the various ethical considerations involved in BPM. It provides a structured approach highlighting the interrelation between process perspectives and ethical values, demonstrating how different BPM approaches may have varying ethical implications. We compare past and future research in business processes, identifying areas for further investigation and theoretical development. A historical analysis of values and literature also helps contextualize contemporary discussions on ethics in BPM, shedding light on the evolution of ethical considerations within this domain.

Our study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of BPM, highlighting the importance of considering ethical values and socio-technical perspectives in designing and implementing business processes. These findings contribute to understanding the values associated with different types of processes and their employment and highlight potential areas for future research. Our study provides ethics-oriented research in IS with novel insights by examining BPM from an ethical value perspective. We contribute to the BPM literature by examining which values are applied in which process types from which perspective. In addition, our research suggestions provide food for thought for both research streams.