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The purpose of this paper is to analyze efficiency and its evolution in teams that played in the UEFA Champions League during nine seasons. The aim is to present a research procedure for determining the most accurate data envelopment analysis to estimate and compare the efficiency.

First, the authors analyzed the existence of a temporal trend using the S-statistic. The authors calculated the Kruskal–Wallis statistic to verify if there is stability in relative ranks. The results of the aforementioned tests have indicated that window analysis is an accurate methodology to apply to the sample. The authors analyzed 94 clubs with a sample of 288 observations, obtaining 768 efficiency ratios. They have been calculated using super-efficiency which enables to discriminate efficient units.

Results indicate that there is a low efficiency level in the nine seasons observed. There is a strong correlation between sports results and the efficiency of semifinalists. The authors conclude that improvement in a club’s efficiency could enhance its sports results. Finally, as practical implications, the authors highlight benchmark teams and alternative sports tactics to help clubs become more efficient and achieve better sports results.

This paper contributes to sports efficiency literature by presenting a research procedure to identify the most accurate methodology to be applied to panel data. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first empirical study on international football competitions applying WindowDEA to incomplete panel data.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existence of patterns that combine innovation and information and communication technologies (ICT) use, and the factors explaining them in the European Union.

The authors use data for firms and households at the regional level in the EU-27. Factorial and cluster analyses are used to the determine combined patterns for both dimensions and to elaborate a taxonomy of the European regions, respectively. Finally, the multiple discriminant analysis serves to identify the factors that characterize the patterns detected.

The results show the existence of three regional clusters that capture different combinations of patenting and ICT use. Research and development (R&D) expenditure in the business sector, government quality, gross domestic product per capita, the number of researchers, and employment by the highest level of education attained are the key variables explaining the disparities in innovation and ICT use in the European regions.

The conclusions point to the key role played by business R&D and knowledge resources within an institutional framework that facilitates actions oriented to benefiting regions through both knowledge creation and knowledge diffusion derived from the combined activities of innovation and ICT use.

The paper provides for the first time a characterization of the European regions that jointly considers innovation and ICT use. It also contributes to the literature by exploring differences in ICT use by households and firms, and the factors explaining them. The study can provide new insights into the design of public policies that may consider the common factors that explain combinations of innovation and technology use.

This paper analyses the determinants of sports participation and attendance in 40 sports and recreational activities in Spain. Ordered probit models are used to identify determinants in each case and to test for possible relationships. The results show that the two types of involvement, participation and attendance, are very different, the former constrained by economic, sociological and psychological variables such as gender, age, time availability and motivational factors, the latter explained by variables such as age, gender and size of household.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the specific relationship between information and communication technologies (ICT) and high performance work practices (HPWP) at employee level, both generally and per job category.

Generalized ordered logit and logit models are estimated in relation to data from 31 European countries using the fourth European Working Conditions Survey.

This paper reveals a generally positive association between ICT use and HPWP participation by workers but different results when ICT and HPWP variables are analysed separately. Worker autonomy and participation in autonomous teams are linked to greater ICT use, but the cases of job rotation and task variety are not so clear. Additionally, the authors find how worker occupation conditions such links and note divergences between high and low-skilled positions.

The cross-sectional nature of the data does not allow the authors to report causal relations.

The results suggest that depending on the work practices to be considered, as well as occupation, some ICTs are more suitable than others.

Two main features make this paper novel. First, previous studies on the link between ICT and HPWP made use of indexes, rendering the generation of assorted results impossible. Thus, the authors study how different ICT variables are related to different HPWPs at employee level. Second, the authors test whether employee occupation is a moderator in such relationships.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to provide empirical evidence on the relationships among new technologies, innovative work practices and upskilling in the Spanish case. Design/methodology/approach – Using detailed plant‐level data from a survey of Spanish manufacturing firms, we apply estimation methods, such as tobit and ordered probit models, to test the hypothesis that the use of ICT, AMT, and innovative work practices is positively related to upskilling. Findings – As available empirical evidence shows for other countries, we have found that AMT, ICT and innovative work practices are positively related to skills, although they have different effects on workforce composition and training. We have also found several significant effects of the interactive terms of the three technologies and work practices considered on the selected variables of upskilling. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation is the lack of time series data. Cross‐sectional data do not allow the use of lagged variables and make it impossible to analyse the evolution of the adoption of new technologies and work practices by firms and their dynamic effects on skills, or to study causalities among variables. In addition, the study relates only to manufacturing industries. Further research should consider expanding the analysis to the service sector and studying possible complementarities between technology and work practices, in terms of labor cost savings. Originality/value – This paper offers empirical evidence for Spain on the relationship between new technologies, innovative work practices and upskilling considered jointly. It analyses two different technologies: ICT and AMT. The paper also focuses on different dimensions of upskilling.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether information and communication technologies (ICT) resources, including investment and use of specific types of ICT as well as innovative work practices, have a positive impact on several dimensions of firm performance, taking into account both direct and indirect effects and both short and long‐term effects.

An empirical study using data from a sample of 267 Spanish manufacturing SMEs was conducted. Path analysis was used to study direct and indirect ICT impacts and OLS regression was the estimation method employed.

The findings show a positive relationship between ICT adoption and all the measures of perceived performance analyzed, although the impact is not always immediate since the lag effects and length differ according to the type of ICT. Managers' perceptions of ICT impact are related to the adoption of new work practices but the effects also depend positively on the number of years since new work practices were implemented. ICT impact on final performance (market share and profits and margin) takes place mainly indirectly through the improvement of internal and external communication, as well as through operational performance.

The main limitations of the research stem from the specific geographical context under consideration and restrictions relating to the cross‐sectional nature of the data.

The results reveal the wide scope of the benefits of ICT adoption in SMEs and point to the need for persistence in use so as to obtain good results in some areas. They also stress the positive effects of adopting ICTs together with organizational innovation.

This research extends the scope of the analysis of ICT payoff literature by analyzing direct and indirect effects and by focusing on a broad range of technologies, a variety of performance measures and several time lags to study ICT adoption impacts in SMEs.

This article focusses on the hybrid strategy, a simultaneous combination of cost leadership and differentiation strategy. The study aims to examine the impact of hybrid strategy on firm performance through its anticipated positive effects on process and product innovation. In addition, we study the moderating role of adaptive capacity in the direct relationships of hybrid strategy with process and product innovation.

Structural equation modelling was used to analyse 1,842 Spanish firms with fewer than 250 employees. We randomly selected small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in Spain from the Spanish Central Business Directory (2021) database. The overall sample design was based on stratified sampling.

We found that hybrid strategy is positively related to firm performance and to process and product innovation. Additionally, in firms implementing hybrid strategies, process innovation fostered firm performance. Finally, adaptive capacity strengthened the relationships of hybrid strategy with process and product innovation. This sheds light on how and when hybrid strategy is most effective in fostering SME performance.

We highlight that SMEs need to establish strategies that use diverse resources and capabilities and not just generate competitive advantage using one strategy (cost leadership or differentiation strategy). This requires an agile and flexible systems and structures.

Our research provides novel results by proposing the adoption of hybrid strategies instead of pure strategies (cost leadership and differentiation strategy) as a way for SMEs to survive during crises. Unlike “stuck in the middle” strategies, our study demonstrates the importance of hybrid strategies in a comprehensive model that links them to innovation and firm performance, with adaptive capacity being a determining factor.

The outbreak of COVID-19 is one of the most serious health events in recent times. In the business landscape, its effects may be more detrimental to micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) because they tend to have limited financial and human resources to manage the challenges caused by COVID-19. To help MSMEs enhance their resilience, this paper aims to discuss how they can leverage mass collaboration to build social media-based knowledge ecosystems to manage interactions among internal and external stakeholders for knowledge creation and innovation.

The paper proposes a model for MSMEs to build an online knowledge ecosystem and a standalone text analytics tool to use the advanced data analytics, e.g. topic modeling, to analyze and aggregate collective insights. Design science research methodology is used to develop the model and the tool.

Through mass collaboration using social media and advanced data analytics technology, MSMEs can generate new business ideas, leading to enhanced resilience to meet the challenges caused by COVID-19 or other unexpected or extraordinary circumstances, such as natural disasters and financial crises.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first papers in social media adoption for knowledge creation and innovation research, providing detailed approaches for MSMEs to build a knowledge ecosystem on social media and to use advanced data analytics to mine the meaning of the generated data.

This study aims to examine the relationship between blockchain technology (BCT) adoption and firm performance (FIP) mediated by cyber-security risk management (CSRM) in the context of Vietnam, a developing country. Besides, the mediating effect of risk-taking tendency (RTT) has been considered in the BCT–CSRM nexus.

Data is collected using a survey questionnaire of Vietnamese financial firms through strict screening steps to ensure the representativeness of the population. The ending pattern of 449 responses has been used for analysis.

The findings of partial least squares structural equation modeling demonstrated that CSRM has a positive effect on FIP and acts as a mediator in the BCT–FIP nexus. Furthermore, RTT moderates the relationship between BCT and CSRM significantly.

This study introduces the attractive attributes of applying BCT to CSRM. Accordingly, managers should rely on BCT and take advantage of it to improve investment resources, business activities and functional areas to enhance their firm's CSRM. Especially, managers should pay attention to enhancing their RTT, which improves FIP.

This study supplements the previous literature in the context of CSRM by indicating favorable effects of BCT and RTT. Additionally, this study identifies the effectiveness of RTT as well as its moderating role. Ultimately, this paper has been managed as a pioneering empirical study that integrates BCT, RTT and CSRM in the same model in a developing country, specifically Vietnam.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the digital divide on e-government development.

The study takes a multidimensional and integrative approach in order to examine the various ways in which different contextual factors affecting the digital divide (i.e. economic, social, political, demographic, cultural and ICT infrastructure) interact to influence e-government development. To test the hypotheses, authors perform a correlation and multiple regression analysis using SPSS.

After analysing several global data sets such as those of the World Bank and the United Nations, the study finds that the digital divide is a multidimensional construct that has a significant impact on e-government development in various ways. In contrast to the consensus view of a correlation existing between economic status on the one hand, and the digital divide and e-government development on the other, this study finds that economic status is not a significant predictor of the digital divide or e-government development.

The findings should help inform public policy makers when developing strategies to deal with issues of the digital divide and e-government development by encouraging analysis in a holistic and integrative way. Simply addressing the digital divide alone is unlikely to be sufficient to stimulate an increase in the uptake of e-government. Moreover, our model helps identify areas of strengths as well as weaknesses for improvement.

The authors develop a multidimensional and integrative research model to study the digital divide and e-government development and the relationship between the two, and validate the model through systematically testing it with empirical data. This study is among the first to take such an approach.