Ali Mohamad Mouazen and Ana Beatriz Hernández-Lara
Smart cities attract efficient and profitable economic activities, contribute to the societal welfare of their citizens and foster the efficient use and conservation of natural…
Abstract
Purpose
Smart cities attract efficient and profitable economic activities, contribute to the societal welfare of their citizens and foster the efficient use and conservation of natural resources. Developing smart cities has become a priority for many developed countries, but as they are preferred destinations for migrants, this raises sustainability issues. They attract people who are seeking a better quality of life, smart services and solutions, a better environment and business activities. The purpose of this paper is to review the state of the art on the relationship between smart cities and migration, with a view to determining sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
A bibliometric review and text mining analyses were conducted on publications between 2000 and 2019.
Findings
The results determined the main parameters of this research topic in terms of its growth, top journals and articles. The role of sustainability in the relationship between smart cities and migration is also identified, highlighting the special interest of its social dimension.
Originality/value
A bibliometric approach has not been used previously to investigate the link between smart cities and migration. However, given the current relevance of both phenomena, their emergence and growth, this approach is appropriate in determining the state of the art and its main descriptors, with special emphasis on the sustainability implications.
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Ana B. Hernández-Lara and Juan P. Gonzales-Bustos
Boards of directors of large companies all over the world frequently have a certain number of shared directors, which can be motivated by social structures that foster different…
Abstract
Purpose
Boards of directors of large companies all over the world frequently have a certain number of shared directors, which can be motivated by social structures that foster different types of links, including investments and vertical relationships. The purpose of this paper is to identify the effects that board interlocking exerts on innovation, considering the different nature of shared directors that finally determines the type of links dominating the boards.
Design/methodology/approach
Panel regression analyses were conducted using data collected from 69 Spanish listed innovative sector companies during the period 2010–2014, which provided an unbalanced panel of 325 data observations.
Findings
The results suggested that the typology of interlocks determined their effects on innovation, which had a positive influence when independent and extra-industry directors held multiple directorships, whereas it was negative in the case of intra-industry and women interlocking directors.
Practical implications
This study provided evidence for the diverse effects of interlocking directorates and contributed to the open debate on the best board composition for improving business innovation, considering the common feature of shared directorships.
Originality/value
The value of this research was twofold. On the one hand, the study considered a wide typology of interlocking directorates, such as women, affiliated and independent directors, intra- and extra-industry directorships, as well as shared directors from the same country. On the other hand, the effects of these different interlocking directorate typologies were analysed on innovation by considering different innovation indicators.
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Angels Niñerola, Maria-Victoria Sánchez-Rebull and Ana-Beatriz Hernandez-Lara
The purpose of the paper is to analyse the entry mode choice of the Spanish companies in China, the factors that influence it and the barriers that they found.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to analyse the entry mode choice of the Spanish companies in China, the factors that influence it and the barriers that they found.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach is used by interviewing the partners of management consulting firms (MCFs) specialised in internationalisation processes in China.
Findings
The decision on the entry mode choice depends on whether the firm has incentives for investment with a partner rather than the size or the international experience of the board and the top managers. The barriers faced by Spanish companies in China are related to legal issues, bureaucracy, culture, language, trust and human resources.
Practical implications
Companies must have a differential factor to succeed in China and use a legal form that lets them to protect this advantage regardless of the entry form chosen. MCFs pointed out the need to collaborate with local people and to rely on a management team capable of overcoming the barriers.
Originality/value
One of the major contributions of this study is the methodology, as the view of the consultants in the internationalisation process of companies had not been studied before.
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Luqi Yang, Xiaoni Li and Ana Beatriz Hernández-Lara
The purpose of this study is to investigate the recovery and resilience tourism strategies and possible future development of four main Chinese tourism cities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the recovery and resilience tourism strategies and possible future development of four main Chinese tourism cities.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected data from the official accounts of tourism administrations of these cities, tourist attractions and opinions from media and newspapers in Sina Weibo platform. The authors adopted an inductive approach in observing relevant social media posts and applied content analysis to identify main China’s tourism prevention and recovery strategies.
Findings
During the mass pandemic infection period, top-down prevention and control measures were implemented by the Chinese central and local governments, with feasible and regional recovery policies and protocols being adapted according to local situations. Measures related to tourism industrial re-employment, improvement of international images and governmental financial supports to re-boost local tourism in Chinese cities were paid great attention. Digitalization, close-to-nature and cultural heritages became important factors in the future development of China’s tourism. Dark tourism, as a potential tourism recovery strategy, also obtained huge emergence, for the memory of people deceased in the pandemic and for the inheritance of national patriotism.
Originality/value
This study enriches the current literature in urban tourism recovery studies analyzing the specific case of Chinese tourism cities and fulfill some voids of previous research mostly focused on the first wave of the pandemic and the recovery strategies mainly of Western cities. It also provides valuable suggestions to tourism practitioners, destinations and urban cities in dealing with regional tourism recession and finding possible solutions for the scenario associated to the COVID-19 and other similar health crisis.
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Ana Beatriz Hernández-Lara, Alexandre Perera-Lluna and Enric Serradell-López
With the growth of digital education, students increasingly interact in a variety of ways. The potential effects of these interactions on their learning process are not fully…
Abstract
Purpose
With the growth of digital education, students increasingly interact in a variety of ways. The potential effects of these interactions on their learning process are not fully understood and the outcomes may depend on the tool used. This study explores the communication patterns and learning effectiveness developed by students using two basic synchronous and asynchronous communication tools in e-learning environments, specifically business simulation games.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct a quasi-experiment research with 478 online business students, 267 of whom used online discussion forums and 211 interacted via an instant messaging app. The application of learning analytics and text mining on natural language processing allows us to explore the student communication patterns with each of tools and their effectiveness in terms of learning.
Findings
The results confirm the complementarity of the communication tools, asynchronous tools being especially the suitable for task-related communication and synchronous ones for speeding up and facilitating student social interactions.
Originality/value
The main value of this research lies in the use of data analytics and text mining to access and analyse the content of student interactions to assess the learning process in greater depth, comparing synchronous and asynchronous learning modes, considering that little is known about the impact of online synchronous interaction or instant messaging, and even less about the different features, content and performance that emerge when these two learner interaction modalities are compared.
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Ali Mohamad Mouazen, Ana Beatriz Hernández-Lara, Jawad Chahine and Ali Halawi
The purpose of this study is to explore the potential impact of Industry 5.0 on businesses and management by integrating advanced technologies to develop smart cities (Society…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the potential impact of Industry 5.0 on businesses and management by integrating advanced technologies to develop smart cities (Society 5.0) and digital value chains, leading to Innovation 5.0 and triple bottom line sustainability. We propose an Organization Value Chain 5.0 model to describe the ecosystem interactions that leverage organizational innovative behavior through knowledge management.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a systematic literature review methodology, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of 968 Industry 5.0 articles, 297 Innovation 5.0 articles and 510 Society 5.0 articles from the WOS and Scopus databases. This analysis supports the development of our conceptual model.
Findings
This allowed us to propose the conceptual model for the new notion of Organization Value Chain 5.0 and its ecosystem components.
Originality/value
This study provides a detailed analysis of Industry 5.0, its technological elements and its relevance to creating Society 5.0, smart cities and digitalized value chains. It highlights the importance of stakeholder engagement and integration for effective digital industrial transformation.
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Raquel Ferreras-Garcia, Ana Beatriz Hernández-Lara and Enric Serradell-López
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to study which perceived and attained entrepreneurial competences acquired by students while developing a business plan are rated most…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to study which perceived and attained entrepreneurial competences acquired by students while developing a business plan are rated most highly; and second, to analyse the differences observed in entrepreneurial competences, depending on whether the business plan developed is real or fictitious.
Design/methodology/approach
To analyse the role played by business plans in perceptions and attainment of competence, data were collected from students enrolled on a final project course of a bachelor’s degree, specifically the Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Management at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. The course in question focussed on entrepreneurship and business plans. The data on perceived and attained competences were obtained through questionnaires and assessment rubrics, respectively. Mean comparison analyses were conducted to investigate any differences in entrepreneurial competences existing between students developing real or fictitious business plans.
Findings
The paper finds evidence that the process of creating a business plan results in entrepreneurial competence being highly rated and that whether the business plan is real or fictitious does not affect the level of entrepreneurial competence.
Research limitations/implications
A longitudinal study will be required to analyse how entrepreneurial competences evolve during the business plan creation process.
Originality/value
This paper finds that few studies have been conducted to explore entrepreneurial competences in relation to business plan development and shows that more complete research is required. Moreover, both perceived and achieved competences are considered, an analysis not previously carried out.
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Beatrice I.J.M. Van der Heijden, Pascale M. Le Blanc, Ana Hernandez, Vicente Gonzalez-Roma, Jesus Yeves and Juan P. Gamboa
The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the antecedents of the quality of graduates’ jobs when they enter the job market after university graduation.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the antecedents of the quality of graduates’ jobs when they enter the job market after university graduation.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data collected from 173 Spanish bachelor and master’s degree university graduates at two time points (two months before and six months after graduation, approximately) were analyzed by means of path analysis.
Findings
A moderated mediation model was tested, where the relationship between the horizontal fit (HF) between the university degree subject and the student’s job and the quality of the graduate’s job after graduation is mediated by self-perceived employability and moderated by the time devoted to a student job. Results showed that the relationship between HF and job quality was partially mediated by self-perceived employability. However, contrary to the proposed hypothesis, this relationship did not depend on the time devoted to a student job.
Originality/value
This study contributes to improving the understanding about how and why university students’ work experience is related to the quality of their jobs as fresh graduates.
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Ana María Vallina-Hernandez, Hanns de la Fuente-Mella and Rodrigo Fuentes-Solís
The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the international trade characteristics of commerce between Latin American countries and some of the top economies in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the international trade characteristics of commerce between Latin American countries and some of the top economies in the world, in order to identify new business opportunities for LATAM firms in dynamical external markets.
Design/methodology/approach
A triple indexed gravity model, correcting with robust standardized errors clustered, and a panel data analysis was used to obtain the relationship between Latin American countries and advanced and other emerging economies.
Findings
The main finding of this paper is that innovation overcomes gravity effects and parameters typical of a knowledge society are the significant ones to explain trade among different regions. The model that includes an innovation proxy accommodates with the new international theories of trade. Besides, communication capacity is essential to reach consumers abroad with newer and more complex products. Moreover, the constant is significant when innovation is included, which may imply intersectoral trade that behaves relatively stable in bilateral trade.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that the economies that have some relevance in trade, have increasing numbers regarding patents. Thus, the empirical findings relate to the theoretical models which state that comparative advantages may be dynamic due to technological innovation.
Originality/value
This paper shows that innovation is a central parameter to engage in intratrade and develop a knowledge-based economy. Latin America sometimes appears to be a puzzle as to how to improve its economic performance and overcome its social and economic problems. Intratrade seems to be the route to increase Latin American business participation in world trade.
Objetivo
El propósito de este documento es comparar y contrastar las características comerciales internacionales del comercio entre los países latinoamericanos y algunas de las principales economías del mundo, con el fin de identificar nuevas oportunidades de negocios para las empresas de LATAM en mercados externos dinámicos.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
Se utilizó un modelo de gravedad triple indexado el que se corrigió con errores robustos estandarizados clusterizados, y un análisis de datos de panel para obtener la relación entre los países latinoamericanos y las economías avanzadas y otras economías emergentes.
Resultados
Uno de los principales hallazgos es que la incorporación de la innovación en el modelo anula el efecto de las variables típicas asociadas a la gravedad. Por lo que se podría suponer que, los parámetros propios de una sociedad del conocimiento son más importantes para explicar el comercio entre las diferentes regiones. El modelo incluye un variable de innovación que se adapta a las nuevas teorías internacionales del comercio. Otro hallazgo es que la capacidad de comunicación es esencial para llegar a los consumidores en el extranjero con productos más nuevos y complejos. Por último, la constante es significativa cuando se incluye la innovación, lo que podría implicar un comercio intersectorial que se comporta relativamente estable en el comercio bilateral.
Limitaciones de la investigación/implicaciones
Los resultados sugieren que las economías que tienen cierta relevancia en el comercio poseen un número creciente de patentes. Por lo tanto, los hallazgos empíricos se relacionan con los modelos teóricos que establecen que las ventajas comparativas pueden ser dinámicas debido a la innovación tecnológica.
Originalidad/valor
Este documento muestra que la innovación es un elemento central para participar en el comercio interno y desarrollar una economía basada en el conocimiento. América Latina a veces parece ser un enigma sobre cómo mejorar su desempeño económico y superar sus problemas sociales y económicos. El comercio intraindustrial parece ser la ruta para aumentar la participación empresarial de América Latina en el comercio mundial.
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Ali Mohamad Mouazen and Ana Beatriz Hernández-Lara
The negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic situation, especially in certain countries, have compelled organizations to shrink their hierarchies…
Abstract
Purpose
The negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic situation, especially in certain countries, have compelled organizations to shrink their hierarchies, reduce working hours, freeze hiring, and rely on gig workers to perform tasks. While these circumstances may be seen as a threat, certain vulnerable labor groups, such as women, seized the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills and launch their own firms. Others addressed smart platforms to engage in gig economy activities. This research investigates the aspects that drive women to be entrepreneurs, exploring the relationships between the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the gig economy, and women's entrepreneurship in a developing country.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 300 female entrepreneurs in Lebanon through questionnaires that measured the indicators and variables of the proposed model, which was tested applying partial least square.
Findings
The results show a positive influence of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and gig economy on women's entrepreneurship, stronger in the case of entrepreneurial ecosystem elements and almost similar for opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
This research achieves empirical evidence on the relationship between the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the gig economy, and women's entrepreneurship in the case of a developing country. The originality of this paper lies in its empirical and gendered approach, considering together the effects of entrepreneurial ecosystem factors and gig economy practices on women's entrepreneurship, especially relevant in a regional context like Lebanon, where digital economy may constitute an opportunity for economically vulnerable groups.