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Doctoral programs play a crucial role in promoting innovation and technology transfer in universities. To design these programs effectively and with a co-design perspective, it is essential to consider all stakeholders involved in the process, including teachers, students and employers. The main objective of this study is to enhance postgraduate programs to improve students' employability.

This empirical study was conducted over a three-year period and employed semi-structured interviews as its primary research methodology. In the first phase, 21 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from various sectors. The second phase involved 20 interviews, and the final phase of the study included 18 interviews with the same managers from previous phases.

The study's main results revealed that the international networks, language proficiency and analytical skills of doctoral students were highly valued by employers. The main findings come from companies with doctoral students. Therefore, the skills were identified during the learning experience of the PhD graduates in the companies.

The study's results can guide improvements in postgraduate program curricula and design to enhance students' employability.

This research presents a novel approach to its findings. On the one hand, the study's conclusions may provide valuable insights for business agents, encouraging them to hire PhD students. On the other hand, it aims to drive necessary changes that promote more PhD students' focus on non-academic careers, creating significant value for research and innovation in the private sector.

This article aims to analyze individual-, organizational- and country-level factors that determine the use of home-based telework across Europe according to the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the technology–organization–environment model.

To examine the impact of individual-, organizational- and country-level factors on telework, multilevel models are estimated to prevent problems derived from biased standard errors when micro- and macro-level data are combined.

The main findings show that, according to the usefulness side of the TAM, employees with family responsibilities, those that live away from their work and highly qualified workers use more home-based telework. Additionally, and according to the ease of use side of the TAM, empowerment in firms facilitates home-based telework. At the country level, lower power distance, individualism and femininity, better telework regulations and technology developments are also facilitators of home-based telework.

The study is limited by the cross-sectional nature of the data. This prevents the estimation of causal effects. Additional research would benefit from the use of panel data and from a more detailed analysis of the effects of country dimensions.

From an applied perspective, politics related to cultural dimensions are suggested to stimulate home-based telework.

The research contributes to previous literature by: (1) considering a large sample to conduct an empirical analysis of the use of home-based telework across Europe, (2) including micro and macro factors, (3) providing a theoretical framework to explain home-based telework, (4) applying a rigorous definition of home-based telework and (5) focusing on employees who are able to adopt home-based telework.

This paper aims to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to seize the potential of Big Data in their marketing strategies to leverage a competitive advantage in the rising digital marketplace and lead the post-pandemic economic recovery. However, Spanish SMEs have had serious difficulties in working with Big Data.

In this study, a roadmap is designed to pave the way for a successful Big Data implementation.

SMEs with updated information on how to access the historic funding opportunities might profit to this opportunity. It not only generates financing opportunities for SMEs but also grants continuity to their strategies by offering the most profitable techniques by which they can efficiently analyse data and gain consumer insights, thus overcoming the many problems they face when working with Big Data as well as helping them to monetise their marketing strategies.

The main advantage of this research is its innovative approach to business strategy as it provides. The value added by this paper lies in its holistic and updated approach to supporting SMEs’ Big Data strategies.

This paper aims to shed light on the perception of the consequences of implementing home teleworking (TW) for employers and employees amid the pandemic. By doing so, the research analyzes the factors that explain employers' and employees' perceptions of home TW and the symmetry of their impact on its acceptance and rejection.

The analysis is done over the survey “Trends in the digital society during SARS-COV-2 crisis in Spain” by the Spanish “Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.” The explanatory variables were selected and classified using the well-known taxonomy of Baruch and Nicholson (i.e. individual factors, family/home, organizational and job-related).

The global judgment of HTW is positive, but factors such as gender, age, children in care or being an employer nuance that perception. While some factors, such as the attitude of employees toward information communication technologies (ICTs), perceived productivity or the distance from home to work, have a significant link with both positive and negative perceptions of HTW, other factors can only explain either positive or negative perceptions. Likewise, the authors observed that being female and having children on care had a detrimental influence on opinions about HTW.

A clearer regulation of TW is needed to prevent imbalances in rights and obligations between companies and employees. The authors also highlight the potentially favorable effects of telecommuting on mitigating depopulation in rural areas.

The authors have also measured not only the significance of assessed factors on the overall judgment of HTW for firms and workers but also whether these factors impact acceptance and resistance attitudes toward TW symmetrically.

The swift and unanticipated integration of telework by European companies due to COVID-19 gave rise to distinct features of telework. These attributes underscore the necessity of analysing its impact on employees’ well-being. This paper explores how telework experiences impact well-being by influencing work–life balance and job satisfaction. Additionally, it investigates whether employee preferences for telework are a contributing factor.

Based on the data provided by the “living, working and COVID-19” e-survey, structural equation models (SEM) were used to test the hypotheses. Specifically, a multiple-mediation approach and path analyses were applied to measure the relationship between the variables under study. The moderating role of preference for telework was also tested.

Key findings support that telework experience has a positive impact on well-being, both directly and indirectly, particularly via work–life balance. Although preference for telework strengthens the relationship between telework experience and well-being, it does not enhance the predictive power of the mediated model.

These results have important implications from an applied perspective. Human capital departments as well as managers should design telework programmes to create a positive experience since this will ensure a positive influence on the perception of work–life balance, job satisfaction and well-being.

COVID-19 as a sudden environmental constraint forced the implementation of telework without proper planning and training. Thus, how the employees experience this major change in their working conditions has affected their well-being. The present paper contributes to clarifying how the proposed variables relate under such constraints.

This research aims to conduct, to the best of our knowledge, the first systematic review of the implementation of Industry 4.0 in BRICS. This review facilitates the identification of main factors that affect the readiness to adopt Industry 4.0 in BRICS and the role of different agents, such as multinationals, the public sector or educative institutions.

Key publications published from 2010 to 2019 have been analysed. A total of 61 papers have been selected from the systematic review.

Three factors of convergence of BRICS to developed economies in terms of Industry 4.0 are identified: (1) the public initiatives that can also result in the attraction of talent from developed countries to BRICS; (2) the role of multinationals and (3) the implication of educational institutions.

This review has some limitations. First, some grey literature, such as reports from non-governmental organisations and front-line practitioners' reflections, were not included. Second, only research studies in English were reviewed

The heterogeneity of BRICS amongst themselves affects the implementation of Industry 4.0 policies. Therefore, public policies should differ among countries to achieve the different readiness of companies within each country. Industry 4.0 cannot be understood as a manufacturing strategy against delocalisation, as emerging countries, such as BRICS, are also aware of the potential of automation.

Based on a systematic review, this article shows that the strategy created by Germany to increase industrial productivity has been also introduced in BRICS countries as a critical factor to improve their competitiveness.

This article aims to analyse the impact of data analytics and robots on firms' performance across Europe.

This paper aims to examine the impact of data analytics and robots on companies' performance, multilevel models are estimated. Empirical research is based on the fourth round of the European Company Survey 2019.

The main findings show that human resource management practices (HRMP) are relevant to explain firms' profits. Therefore, human resource practices and technology are complementary resources to achieve higher results. A positive and significant relation between profits and the use of data analytics to monitor employee performance was found. In addition, positive and significant relations between human resource practices and profitability were obtained.

From a practical perspective, this article helps to understand the role of technological and human factors in profitability, and it emphasises the relevance of human resource strategies and technology to accomplish business outcomes.

This study’s findings reinforce the concept of Industry 5.0 which highlights the role of humans in the digitalisation process.

Mental well-being of employees has decreased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the data collected by Eurofound in the electronic survey “Living, working and COVID-19” (2020), this paper aims to identify which aspects of the work-related quality of life and other sociodemographic variables can explain the mental well-being of workers in, especially, convulsive times like those experienced during COVID-19 and beyond. The main objective is to improve labor welfare in the future.

With a sample of 8,777 observations (Round 2), cross-sectional analyses were conducted.

The results indicated that all factors of work quality of life such as working conditions, work–family interface, job stress and job satisfaction were predictors of the mental well-being of workers. Likewise, being a woman, being of mature age, having a partner and having good training/education were variables also associated with mental well-being.

The research revealed that the pandemic in Europe had a greater impact on the psychological well-being of women compared to men. Also, younger populations exhibited decreased levels of mental health.

Industry 4.0 implies that global challenges exist within the manufacturing sector. Both theoretical and empirical research has been developed to support these transformations and assist companies in the process of changing. The purpose of this paper is to gather previous articles through an updated review and defines a research agenda for future investigation based on the most recent studies published in the field.

Key articles on the subject are analysed. The articles were published in 39 journals from which 107 papers dating from 2005 to 2018 have been selected.

The main findings imply the definition of a research agenda where: a common terminology should be created; the levels of implementation of Industry 4.0 should be defined; the stages of the development of Industry 4.0 should be identified; a lean approach for this industry is defined and the implications of Industry 4.0 in either a sustainable or circular economy should be understood; the consequences of human resources should be analysed; and the effects of the smart factory in the organisation are the areas identified and studied in the mentioned research agenda.

This review has some limitations. First, a number of grey literature, such as reports from non-governmental organisations and front-line practitioners’ reflections, were not included. Second, only research studies in English and Spanish were reviewed.

This review helps practitioners in their implementation of Industry 4.0. Moreover, the identified future research areas may help to define priorities in this implementation.

After examining previous research, this paper proposes a research agenda covering issues about Industry 4.0. This research agenda should guide future investigations in the smart industry.