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The aim of the research is to investigate the influence of leadership on firm financial performance and to explore the mediating role of employees' readiness to change.

The paper hypothesizes that employees' readiness to change mediates the relationship between leadership and firm financial performance. A total of 213 employees of Greek shipping firms completed questionnaires examining their firms' leadership style and concurrently, their supervisors appraised their readiness to change. The research model was tested with the use of Structural Equation Modelling.

The research findings note the importance of leadership in fostering firm financial performance; they describe how each leadership style influences employees' readiness to change; as well as, they confirm that employee readiness mediates the relationship between leadership and firm financial performance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are analysed.

Given that the research was conducted during the severe Greek economic crisis, a time when employees' behaviour is highly influenced by distinctive and complex internal and external relationships, there is scope for further work to verify that the relationships identified in this study remain valid during periods when market conditions are more favourable.

The findings provide further support on the significance of employees' readiness to change and the paper suggests policies for its development.

The originality of this study lies in the finding that employees' readiness to change mediates the relationship between leadership and firm financial performance. Further, the study was carried out in Greek shipping industry that plays a vital role in the international shipping industry which is responsible for the carriage of around 90% of world trade.

In the current competitive environment, each company faces a number of challenges: quick response to customers’ demands, high quality of products or services, customers’ satisfaction, reliable delivery dates, high efficiency, and others. As a result, during the last five years many firms have proceeded to the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. ERP is a packaged software system, which enables the integration of operations, business processes and functions, through common data‐processing and communications protocols. However, the majority, if not all, of these systems do not support the production scheduling process that is of crucial importance in today’s manufacturing and service industries. In this paper, the authors propose a knowledge‐based system for production‐scheduling that could be incorporated as a custom module in an ERP system. This system uses the prevailing conditions in the industrial environment in order to select dynamically and propose the most appropriate scheduling algorithm from a library of many candidate algorithms.

Perverse instantiation is one of many hypothetical failure modes of AI, specifically one in which the AI fulfils the command given to it by its principal in a way which is both unforeseen and harmful. A lot is already said about perverse instantiation itself, especially when such a failure mode presents an existential risk, as would be the case with a superintelligent AI. However novel these disaster scenarios may be, similar fictional cautionary tales already exist in many cultures: tragic stories about misinterpreted prophecies and grand wishes gone awry, from Croesus to Macbeth. Analysis of both old and new tales of perverse instantiation reveals that the core of the issue is an ancient philosophical and logical problem that even Socrates faced: the problem of defining terms. Unlike the Socratic problem, which focused on finding a good intensional definition, perverse instantiation encompasses problems that arise from both badly defined intension of terms (their internal content) and badly defined extension of terms (their range of applicability). However, models of machine learning that use vast amounts of training data hold the promise of resolving the issue of badly defined extension of terms. The issue of defining intension of terms remains. Further parallels can be found between scenarios of perverse instantiation and Socrates' dialogues with obstinate sophists, such as importance of philosophical reflection and discussion. This indicates that our future challenges in working with AI may still have a lot to do with retracing Socrates' steps.

Planning and scheduling are forms of decision making, which play a crucial role in manufacturing as well as in service industries. In the current competitive environment, effective sequencing and scheduling has become a necessity for survival in the marketplace. A great challenge for today’s companies is not only how to adapt to this changing, competitive business environment but also how to draw a competitive advantage from the way in which they choose to do so. Intelligent solutions, based on expert systems, to solve problems in the field of production planning and scheduling are becoming more and more widespread nowadays. Proposes an expert system, which uses the prevailing conditions in the industrial environment in order to select and “fire” dynamically the most appropriate scheduling algorithm from a library of many candidate algorithms.

Greece is a net importer of oil and gas and is among the most vulnerable countries of the European Union (EU) on energy supply disruptions. Furthermore, is considered a “crossroad” of existing and forthcoming infrastructure for importing energy to the EU. The purpose of this paper is the presentation of the web tool that implements the developed methodology for the quantification of socio‐economic risks of oil and gas corridors. The tool is applied to the main present and future oil and gas corridors to Greece, and the related outcomes are discussed.

A structured and coherent review on the future and present oil and natural gas (NG) corridors to Greece was elaborated, based on desk analysis and collection of the related data from national and international sources. Factor analysis was employed for the quantification of socio‐economic risks of each energy corridor. Particular emphasis was laid on the tool's design, so as to be user‐friendly, combining intuitive menus and navigation throughout the steps of the system.

The calculation of socio‐economic risks of the main oil and gas corridors to Greece provides operative and measurable concepts for supporting energy‐modelling processes. Indeed, this paper provides useful insights on the factors affecting the smooth energy supply and the reliability of oil and gas supply options to the Greek energy system. Moreover, the presented web tool can be used as a reference point for the researcher working on energy supply risks quantification.

The introduction of the energy corridors perspective in the valuation of supply security is of significant importance, taking into account the constantly increasing energy dependence of EU countries. To the best of the authors' knowledge, a structured and coherent review of the future and present oil and NG corridors to Greece is not present in the international literature. In addition to this, the development of the web tool is a clear contribution towards the quantification of the economic and socio‐political risk analysis and a step forward of the existing studies.

The impacts of institutions on entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as the effects of technological development, have been subject to various research studies. While this theme inherently remains a focus for political decision-makers, there is very little knowledge on the combined role of institutions, entrepreneurial orientations and innovation capabilities on the technological development of countries. In this study, we examine the impacts of entrepreneurial orientation and the innovative capacity of countries through considering the moderating effect of technological development.

The data used in this study has been collected from various sources, including the World Economic Forum United Nations (UN), World Bank (WB), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) and Scimago. The study focuses on 86 countries that are either at stage 2 or stage 3 of development or in the transition from stage 2 to stage 3.

We have found that corporate governance, property rights and security institutions have a positive influence on a country’s entrepreneurial mindset and its ability to innovate. Additionally, we have noted that technological advancements also play a role in moderating this relationship. These findings have important implications for the theory, practice and public policies in this area.

This study emphasizes the substantial impact of institutional quality on the entrepreneurial mindset and innovation capabilities of businesses. It shows that perceiving institutions as more stable can have a positive effect on both entrepreneurial orientation and innovative capabilities, ultimately improving companies' competitiveness.

This paper focuses on the relationships that consumers develop with experiential objects in the context of the Biennale of Contemporary Art Exhibition, viewed from a dialogical and intersubjective approach. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the interpersonal relationships that visitors of the Biennale establish with contemporary artworks and to understand the characteristics of these relationships as well as their role in shaping Biennale visitors’ identity narratives.

This research employs an instrumental case study that draws on multiple data sources and examines consumers’ relationships with contemporary artworks.

The case study evidence introduces the relationships that emerged from Biennale visitors’ interactions with contemporary artworks and the identity narratives evolving from these relationships. The findings suggest that Biennale visitors’ relationships with the contemporary artworks take the form of I-thou and I-it relationships. These two modes of interpersonal relationships by entailing different characteristics led investigated visitors to live different types of experiences of contemporary art consumption.

The first limitation of this research is that it focuses on the establishment of interpersonal relationships at the microgenetic level. Further research can provide additional insights by conducting a longitudinal case study. The second limitation is that it provides limited insights into the relationships that are revealed by consumers’ experiences with possessive objects. Future research may examine interpersonal relationships in terms of consumers’ relationships with their brands.

The understanding of visitors’ interactions and relationships with contemporary artworks provides insights into curatorial and marketing practices for such art institutions.

The findings of the current research provide new theoretical insights into the interpersonal relationships that consumers develop with experiential objects and into the distinctive identity narratives that evolve from the establishment of different types of interpersonal relationships.

Recognizing the value and limitations of current knowledge of the appropriation process in the consumption of aesthetic experiences, this research aims to generate a localized account for novice and expert consumers of the varying role of cultural capital in the appropriation cycles and interpretative responses of an aesthetic experience.

This research uses a single case study design of Miró’s blockbuster exhibition, and draws on multiple sources of evidence, notably 50 in-depth visitor interviews, observations and archival records.

An evidence-based framework of the appropriation process for novice and expert consumers of aesthetic experiences is offered. This framework highlights the significance of appropriation pace and personal versus communal interpretations – amongst other features – in distinguishing distinct versions of the appropriation process in accordance with the varied accumulation of consumer cultural capital.

The transferability of the findings to other aesthetic or experience-based consumption contexts such as performing arts or sports is discussed, alongside the relevance of the proposed framework for researchers of aesthetic experiences.

The empirical investigation of the understudied connection between visitors’ cultural capital and their museum experiences provides insights into curatorial and marketing practices in terms of broadening, diversifying and engaging museum audiences.

This research provides new theoretical insights into the literature of appropriation process and consumption of art experiences by bringing together consumers’ cultural capital with the appropriation process and interpretive responses to an aesthetic experience.

This study aims to examine the factors shaping the intentions of people to visit a hostile outgroup.

An exploratory, qualitative research approach was followed. Specifically, 77 semi-structured interviews with citizens of the divided island of Cyprus were conducted.

This study identifies several categories of visitors and non-visitors, depicted along a continuum, and concludes that there is a multiplicity of factors in the socio-political environment which influence the travel intentions of people.

This study not only imparts insights into the way travel decision-making evolves in politically unstable situations but also serves as a stepping stone towards understanding the conditions under which reconciliation between hostile nations may be encouraged by travel.