Laura Rocca, Davide Giacomini and Paola Zola
Because of the expansion of the internet and Web 2.0 phenomenon, new challenges are emerging in the disclosure practises adopted by organisations in the public-sector. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Because of the expansion of the internet and Web 2.0 phenomenon, new challenges are emerging in the disclosure practises adopted by organisations in the public-sector. This study aims to examine local governments’ (LGOs) use of social media (SM) in disclosing environmental actions/plans/information as a new way to improve accountability to citizens to obtain organisational legitimacy and the related sentiment of citizens’ judgements.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyses the content of 39 Italian LGOs’ public pages on Facebook. After the distinction between five classes of environmental issues (air, water, energy, waste and territory), an initial study is performed to detect possible sub-topics applying latent Dirichlet allocation. Having a list of posts related to specific environmental themes, the researchers computed the sentiment of citizens’ comments. To measure sentiment, two different approaches were implemented: one based on a lexicon dictionary and the other based on convolutional neural networks.
Findings
Facebook is used by LGOs to disclose environmental issues, focussing on their main interest in obtaining organisational legitimacy, and the analysis shows an increasing impact of Web 2.0 in the direct interaction of LGOs with citizens. On the other hand, there is a clear divergence of interest on environmental topics between LGOs and citizens in a dialogic accountability framework.
Practical implications
Sentiment analysis (SA) could be used by politicians, but also by managers/entrepreneurs in the business sector, to analyse stakeholders’ judgements of their communications/actions and plans on corporate social responsibility. This tool gives a result on time (i.e. not months or years after, as for the reporting system). It is cheaper than a survey and allows a first “photograph” of stakeholders’ sentiment. It can also be a useful tool for supporting, developing and improving environmental reporting.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first to apply SA to environmental disclosure via SM in the public sphere. The study links modern techniques in natural language processing and machine learning with the important aspects of environmental communication between LGOs and citizens.
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Vicki Catherine Waye, Laura Rocca, Monica Veneziani, Christine Helliar and I. Gusti Ary Suryawathy
This study explores the impact of institutions, policies, and regulations at the global, national, and sectoral levels on digitalisation within the Italian and Australian wine…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the impact of institutions, policies, and regulations at the global, national, and sectoral levels on digitalisation within the Italian and Australian wine industries.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on qualitative research data collected from interviews with key personnel in the wine industry, this study shows that both jurisdictions are at a similar stage of emergent digital development despite very different settings.
Findings
Accordingly, the authors find that digitalisation is constrained by common policy and regulatory issues emanating at the global and national levels, such as a lack of data infrastructure and data governance, and the need for institutions at the local and regional levels to spur innovation, especially with SMEs.
Originality/value
This is the first study to analyse the role of policy, regulation, and institutional arrangements in digital diffusion using a cross-country comparison of the wine sector.
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Alessandro Lai and Riccardo Stacchezzini
This paper aims to trace subsequent steps of the sustainability reporting evolution in terms of changes in the organisation fields and professional jurisdictions involved. As…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to trace subsequent steps of the sustainability reporting evolution in terms of changes in the organisation fields and professional jurisdictions involved. As such, it highlights the (interrelated) organisational and professional challenges associated with the progressive incorporation of “sustainability” within corporate reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on Suddaby and Viale’s (2011) theorisation of how professionals reshape organisational fields to highlight how organisational spaces, actors, rules and professional capital evolve alongside the incorporation of sustainability within corporate reporting.
Findings
The paper shows organisational spaces, actors, rules and professional capital mobilised during the recent evolution of sustainability reporting, starting from a period in which there was no space for sustainability, to more recent periods in which sustainability gained increasing momentum beyond initial niches, and culminating in more integrated forms of sustainability reporting.
Research limitations/implications
Although the analysis is limited to empirical evidence collected by prior research and practice on sustainability reporting, the paper offers a view to imagine how the incorporation of sustainability within corporate reporting relies on and affects organisational fields and professional jurisdictions.
Originality/value
The paper offers a lens to interpret corporate and professional challenges associated with the more recent evolutions of sustainability reporting practice and standard setting. It also allows framing the papers accepted in the special issue on “new challenges in sustainability reporting” and concludes by suggesting an agenda for future research.
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Rosa Lombardi, Riccardo Tiscini, Raffaele Trequattrini and Laura Martiniello
The purpose of this paper is to explore the characteristics and personal values of a successful entrepreneur in order to understand the quality of such characteristics. Thus, this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the characteristics and personal values of a successful entrepreneur in order to understand the quality of such characteristics. Thus, this paper aims to investigate how these characteristics and personal values impact strategic decision-making and outcomes driving the success and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
The research question is answered through a single case study approach based on the case of the charismatic and flourishing entrepreneur and owner of Gemar Balloons, a balloon-manufacturing company established in the centre of Italy a century ago.
Findings
The paper shows how the success of SMEs in a dynamic environment is influenced by the central resource, “the entrepreneur”, whose entrepreneurial mindset, culture and leadership are essential and partially replicable. They allow strategic management to seek opportunities and develop innovation, achieving competitive advantages and creating wealth.
Practical implications
This paper contributes to an understanding of how values and specific personal characteristics establish an entrepreneurial mindset, culture and leadership, and whether and how these factors are exportable and repeatable. In this way, it allows a better understanding of how possible it is to establish an entrepreneurial mindset and culture by working on a younger generation's values and characteristics. Moreover, it explains why and how entrepreneurial SME leaders are best able to make decisions and manage resources strategically to create competitive advantages.
Originality/value
The paper is new because it shows the distinctive values and characteristics influencing the emerging strategic decision-making model and corporate outcomes.
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Chuck Huff, Laura Barnard and William Frey
The purpose of this paper is to present a four component model of ethical behavior (PRIMES) that integrates literature in moral psychology, computing ethics, and virtue ethics as…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a four component model of ethical behavior (PRIMES) that integrates literature in moral psychology, computing ethics, and virtue ethics as informed by research on moral exemplars in computing. This is part 1 of a two‐part contribution.
Design/methodology/approach
This psychologically based and philosophically informed model argues that moral action is: grounded in relatively stable PeRsonality characteristics (PR); guided by integration of morality into the self‐system; shaped by the context of the surrounding moral ecology; and facilitated by morally relevant skills and knowledge (S).
Findings
The model seeks to explain the daily successful (and unsuccessful) performance of moral action by computing professionals and to provide groundwork for a pedagogy that emphasizes ethically effective performance.
Practical implications
The model has significant implications for how ethical action might be taught to computer professionals and other design professionals. It also makes recommendations about what is needed to measure to construct a complete picture of sustained ethical action in a profession.
Originality/value
Most accepted models of ethical behavior are unidimensional, emphasizing either principled reasoning or a simplistic model of integrity/character. This model brings together a variety of disparate literatures in the light of its emphasis on sustained moral action in the profession. It thereby provides researchers and educators with a picture of what is needed to construct a complete understanding of moral action in the profession.
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William Dextre-Martinez, Rosario Huerta-Soto, Eduardo Rocca-Espinoza, Manuel Chenet-Zuta and Luis Angulo-Cabanillas
The study set out to understand how the regional competitiveness index (RCI) in the department of Ancash related to the human development index (HDI) from 2008 to 2021. For a more…
Abstract
The study set out to understand how the regional competitiveness index (RCI) in the department of Ancash related to the human development index (HDI) from 2008 to 2021. For a more complete understanding of the findings, each component or dimension of the RCI was analyzed. Ancash's HDI and its competitiveness index over a 14-year period were used as the population for this applied, longitudinal, descriptive-correlational study, which was based on secondary data extracted from the “Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática” (INEI) and business school of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (CENTRUM) statistical databases. Multiple linear regression was used to find the relationship. The research found a strong and positive correlation between regional competitiveness and human development between 2008 and 2021. No correlations were found between the HDI and the health, education, employment, or institutional dimensions of regional competitiveness, but direct and significant correlations were established between the economic environment and the HDI and between the infrastructure dimension and the HDI.
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Christina M. Partin and Skyler Lauderdale
In this chapter, we offer a thorough research compendium that bridges together theories and perspectives from various disciplines including adult and higher education, psychology…
Abstract
In this chapter, we offer a thorough research compendium that bridges together theories and perspectives from various disciplines including adult and higher education, psychology and social psychology, sociology, and women's and gender studies in order to help instructors think about ways to expand on existing activities by incorporating mobile technologies in the learning process. Based on this review of literature, we discuss the importance of motivation, participation, community, voice, and learning in higher education and offer our Interdisciplinary Model for Student-Centered Classrooms as a guide for helping instructors who want to use mobile technologies in their own classes. In the second half of the chapter, we discuss suggestions for achieving this model through the use of mobile technologies, provide several opportunities for critical reflection of this model through problem-based scenarios to stimulate applications of our model, and consider the process of infusing mobile technologies into current pedagogical techniques. Overall, this chapter provides a theoretical basis and mandate for further research and implementation of mobile technologies as useful pedagogical tools in higher education capable of increasing student retention, engagement, and positive learning outcomes in higher education.
D. ANDREW ROBERTS and RICHARD B. LIGHT
A survey of the current state of documentation practice in museums is presented. This concentrates on the broad themes of the practice, making comparisons with analogous library…
Abstract
A survey of the current state of documentation practice in museums is presented. This concentrates on the broad themes of the practice, making comparisons with analogous library procedures, where appropriate. A brief introduction to museums and their organizational framework within the United Kingdom is given. With this as background, the methods of documentation used by museums are reviewed, and a survey presented of current developments on an international and national scale.