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Organizations are consistently seeking innovative strategies and novel pathways to enhance business processes and create differentiation. The global business ecosystem is changing and there is growing demand for multi-modal digital technologies, big data consolidation and data analytics to harness a cost-competitive agile system. Technological convergence and integration of digital systems is one of the preferred methodologies that facilitates new and effective workflows and revives business processes. The progressive interlinking of digital technologies with business operations leads to the convergence and blending of management disciplines, devices and applications. The growing inconsistencies in managerial understanding regarding the benefits of convergence prompts a comprehensive examination of digital convergence pathways, identifying the impacts on converging entities and business objectives. The State bank of India (SBI) mega-merger case study was selected to investigate the pragmatic framework of digital convergence and to understand the impacts on interlinked entities such as: business operations, strategic management, project team that support value creation and competitive differentiation. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the phenomena of techno-fusion of emerging technologies creating new opportunities, business models and unique strategies for global banking and financial service organizations.

This study applies the qualitative, inductive research method using critical reflection of before and after the implementation of convergence and digital integration strategies. The SBI case study employs this research strategy based on the premise that banks must stay agile and highly responsive to the changing environment to enhance its value proposition and competitive differentiation objectives. The study methodology incorporates cooperative inquiry and multiple levels of analysis using data collection techniques of exhaustive review of archives, informal interviews, questionnaires and observations to identify the synergistic process improvement pathway. The study is grounded on the concept that the convergence of diverse business pathways involves innovative and interlinked project, strategic and information technology (IT) workflows that results in open innovative systems.

The studies identify that organizational innovation and creative solutions are a result of ecosystem turbulence, environmental force diversity, competitive pressure and the need for differentiation. Organizations that harness the power of digital fusion and convergence of management, systems and data generate a competitive advantage. The technological convergence strategy pulls multiple business and technology processes (project, strategic, IT, Cloud, AI and business process management) at the organizational, divisional or functional level generating new opportunities and threats, new business models and unique growth strategies for global banking and financial services organizations. Organizations that fully integrate techno-fusion of business and digital strategies produce synergistic effects and enhance adaptability, innovation and resiliency in the face of competitive challenges.

Additional areas that can be explored further as an extension of this study are listed below: identifying factors to improve the speed of convergence; the current results are limited to large size organizations where formal management and technology functions are distinctive. Similar studies on smaller organizations are warranted.

This study focuses on the evolving field of technology innovation, which is increasingly being intertwined with business operations. Innovative digital technology is enabling the convergence of the disciplines of management, digital devices and applications. This facilitates the creation of a pragmatic framework that supports convergence of business operations, strategic management and digital fusion which leads to value creation and competitive differentiation. The techno-fusion of emerging technologies and digital strategies generates new opportunities and threats, new business models and unique growth strategies for organizations.

Most successful companies have adopted some type of improvement methodology to achieve optimum performance, high quality, lower costs and productivity. Some of the structured methodologies employed indiscriminately are total quality management, quality control, agile, lean and Six Sigma which yield varied results. The purpose of this paper is to explore how to harness the power of an integrated system of quality tools and techniques to create operational excellence. An integrated framework involves matching quality tools and techniques to the multi-phases (input, transformation and output) of lean manufacturing or service ecosystem.

Current research of lean quality systems provides a conceptual understanding of core tools employed by manufacturing and service organizations. Interviewing domain experts from a series of manufacturing and service organizations highlighted a common challenge. The challenge was lean tools and methodologies were selected and employed arbitrarily for the different operational phases, which resulted in selective synergies of tools between operational phases. This limitation resulted in rework and duplication of quality efforts through the diverse phases of the transformation system. This study is based on the hypothesis that all phases of an operational system must be linked by common tools and methodologies which enables harnessing quality benefits and synergies throughout the entire operational system. The study methodology trailed through cooperative inquiry using a case study approach to design an integrated framework of tools that facilitates a common platform for manufacturing or service ecosystems.

This study suggests that quality systems in a complex competitive environment must consider an integrated iterative approach. An iterative development of lean quality tools for multiple phases produces an integrated quality system. Such systems employ blending and extending of lean quality tools to multiple phases of the transformation system to synthesize agile and versatile quality system.

A limitation of this study is that the research of integrated framework is based on repertory grid technique only; it should be supplemented by other methods. Second, the proposed framework does not consider the complexity added by the internal and external stakeholders as they interface with the integrated system at different points with reference to phases of the system.

One of the advantages of this method is its generality, instead of delivering a monolithic system at the culmination of long transformation process we rely on smaller quality sprints which are implemented sequentially at each stage or phase of the transformation system. The phenomena of incremental clustering of time-series of quality sprints for different phases results in true integration from end to end for a transformation system.

This study helps investigate the personal constructs that users and managers employ to interpret and select quality tools or methodologies for the different phases of lean transformational system.

This study aims to understand the impact of blending quality and business process improvement tools and methodologies to enhance outcomes. The basis of this study is “the power of multiplicity” through which a diverse collection of improvement paths is pooled into an integrated framework of quality tools for lean and efficient operations.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the evolving field of hybrid services within the customer service domain. The distinguishing characteristic of hybrid services is its rapid advancements and intersection of technology innovations mixed with customer service approaches.

Extensive research and analysis has identified numerous models to measure service quality and most of these models are derived from the SERVQUAL. Since SERVQUAL is not clearly focused to analyze the customer’s experience, the authors have used mixed methods of data collection. The two sources of data are both primary and secondary data. Primary source of research is semi-structured feedback with key operations manager and front line employees involved in the business process outsourcing industry. Secondary source of data is based on case studies of organizations engaged in information technology and ecommerce.

In this study, the author suggests multivariate hybrid pathways to streamline and deliver exceptional customer experience, which enhances the customer retention and firm’s competitive advantage. This study emphasizes on the imminent growth of hybrid services within the customer service domain. The distinguishing characteristic of hybrid services is its rapid advancements and intersection of technology innovations mixed with customer service approaches. The customers’ interactions with a firm are gaining proportional complexity due to the intercourse of human and technology interactions.

This study integrates the diverging but distinct pathways that influence customer experience. The study is centralized on the theme that there is a progressive dependence of human interactions with technological developments. It highlights the advent of new digital technologies that are the catalyst for personalized customer experiences.

To sustain firm profitability, it is critical for sales managers to direct business-to-business (B2B) salespeople to generate revenues by simultaneously acquiring new customers and selling to current customers. However, emerging research indicates territory-based B2B salespeople have a preferred customer engagement orientation that reflects a tendency for engaging in selling activities to new (i.e. hunters) and/or existing (i.e. farmers) customers, suggesting that managerial ambidexterity directives could have deleterious effects on salespeople. This paper aims to address this possibility by investigating the moderating effects of salesperson regulatory focus on the relationship between managerial directives for salesperson ambidexterity and salesperson job satisfaction.

The study uses a mixed-method approach by using a field study of 106 matched sales manager–salesperson dyads from a large Fortune 500 B2B industrial distributor sales force and an experiment involving 152 B2B salespeople from a cross-section of industries.

The results indicate that sales manager ambidexterity requests reduce salesperson job satisfaction. However, the findings also demonstrate that salesperson regulatory focus moderates these negative effects such that the negative effect of manager ambidexterity requests on job satisfaction is reduced for salespeople with high vs low levels of regulatory focus ambidexterity balance. The results from the cross-sectional experimental study illustrate the cognitive mechanism that helps explain why this occurs.

The Fortune 500 firm used in Study 1 uses a territory-based generalist sales force model where salespeople are not incentivized to prioritize hunting over farming (and vice versa). As a result, the findings may not generalize to firms with hunting/farming incentive systems or to those that operate in particular industries requiring a focus on either hunting or farming.

The findings show why managers attempting to direct territory-based salespeople to increase their ambidexterity behaviors may undermine the job satisfaction of certain salespeople by triggering a decrease in motivation while the same directives have the opposite effect for other salespeople. The findings also demonstrate salesperson reactions to ambidexterity requests, which provide additional insights for effective salespeople hiring, training and management.

The findings have implications for better understanding the effectiveness of sales management leadership directives. The study also offers a promising direction for future research to investigate salesperson receptivity to managerial controls.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the implementation of the flipped classroom method in teaching the course and to investigate the student’s perceived helpfulness, learning outcomes and satisfaction in respect of the pre-class learning videos.

Pre-class learning videos were integrated into a course to encourage students to acquire knowledge before lectures and workshops. Having completed the flipped classroom, a delivery questionnaire containing all items was distributed to all of the participants. The data collected were analysed statistically, using a structured equation modelling technique.

Findings indicate that the perceived quality of experience of using videos before lectures and workshops has a positive influence on the perceived helpfulness of the pre-class learning videos. Furthermore, the perceived helpfulness of the pre-class learning videos has a positive effect of the acquisition perceived learning outcomes. The perceived helpfulness of the pre-class learning videos also has a positive impact on the student satisfaction with the course. Finally, there is a positive and causal relationship between the perceived learning outcomes and student’s satisfaction with the course.

Analysis reveals that the learning process and student satisfaction are improved by using pre-class learning videos.

This study aims to ascertain the mediating effect of task performance (TP) on the linkage between the psychological empowerment (PE) and job satisfaction (JS) of professional accountants.

Primary data was collected through a questionnaire-based survey of 132 professional accountants who were the units of analysis for the study. These accountants were domiciled in 11 Indian cities and worked in both service and manufacturing firms. The data was analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling method.

The study found that TP mediated the linkage between PE and JS, although, contrary to observations in developed economies, one of its sub-constructs – competence – displayed no such mediation capability. Counterintuitively, it was empirically observed that the accountants’ gender had no bearing on the mediating effect of TP.

The study makes three distinct contributions. First, it empirically confirms that the intrinsic motivation theory applies to accountants in the context of operations in emerging markets. Second, the paper contributes to the accounting behavioral literature by observing that competence, as a sub-dimension of the PE construct, does not significantly impact the JS level of accountants. Finally, the study also contributes to the development of sound business practices by confirming that gender differences do not impact the satisfaction levels of accountants in emerging markets.

The purpose of this study is to review the role of knowledge-sharing and its association with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). TPB is the most used theory in understanding knowledge-sharing behavior in many contexts.

Based on the bibliometric approach, this study extracted and analyzed 229 journal articles on the Web of Science. In addition, two analyses (bibliographic coupling and co-word) were performed to provide science mapping in presenting the knowledge structure on the present and future research direction on knowledge-sharing and TPB.

The findings of this study suggest that two stand-out clusters are determinants and antecedents of knowledge-sharing behavior based on TPB and the role of the virtual platform and social media in facilitating knowledge-sharing among users.

This study will benefit researchers and scholars in studying individual behavioral traits underpinning TPB in achieving organizational excellence.

This study extends the findings of the previous review because of their limitations on methods. This study confirms the determinants of knowledge-sharing intention and behavior. However, this study suggests integrating TPB with other theories to provide more insights into knowledge-sharing behavior and use online and technology-based platforms to facilitate knowledge-sharing behavior.

The study views accounting, control and governance dimensions in academia through the Foucauldian lens in the digital era. The study demystifies the dichotomy of controls and creative academic initiatives for enhanced learning outcomes by utilizing the works of Michel Foucault (1977, 1980, 1991a, b, 1979) in the context of digitally native actors.

The archival documents were studied to gain a clear insight into the academic processes. Next, the primary data was collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews of academic administrators (AA) and professors.

First, the study establishes that academia extensively models its systems and processes on the Foucauldian tenets of disciplinary control, self-surveillance, trust, empowerment and visibility, utilizing a blend of digital and non-digital technologies. Second, the study unpacks the shortcomings and offers a nuanced critique of digital governance in academic institutions. Such institutions extensively situate their systems, processes and routines on Foucauldian tenets. Third, digital platforms do reinforce injustice and exclusion. Such digital exclusion exists among the faculty, the students and the administrative staff. There are student groups which are marginalized in emerging economy settings. Furthermore, in a predominantly technology-driven ecosystem such marginalized students’ academic experience is significantly different from their privileged peers.

This study is one of the few studies that utilize the Foucauldian lens to understand the tension among accounting, controls and governance outcomes, at a granular level in an emerging market academic setting which is characterized by inequitable resource distribution. Second, by collecting rich primary data from knowledge agents, it supports the dominance of Foucauldian thought with respect to disciplinary control, self-surveillance, visibility, trust and power by embracing digital technologies.

Natural disasters cause serious operational risks and disruptions, which further impact the food supply in and around the disaster-impacted area. Resilient functions in the supply chain are required to absorb the impact of resultant disruptions in perishable food supply chains (FSC). The present study identifies specific resilient functions to overcome the problems created by natural disasters in the FSC context.

The quality function deployment (QFD) method is utilized for identifying these relations. Further, fuzzy term sets and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) are used to prioritize the identified problems. The results obtained are employed to construct a QFD matrix with the solutions, followed by the technique for order of preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) on the house of quality (HOQ) matrix between the identified problems and functions.

The results from the study reflect that the shortage of employees in affected areas is the major problem caused by a natural disaster, followed by the food movement problem. The results from the analysis matrix conclude that information sharing should be kept at the highest priority by policymakers to build and increase resilient functions and sustainable crisis management in a perishable FSC network.

The study suggests practical implications for managing a FSC crisis during a natural disaster. The unique contribution of this research lies in finding the correlation and importance ranking among different resilience functions, which is crucial for managing a FSC crisis during a natural disaster.