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This paper aims to propose and assess a framework to analyse the institutionalization of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) through a framing analysis.

The framework was developed by combining the institutional approach with orders of worth, drawing insights from a comprehensive literature review. To assess it, the authors conducted a qualitative analysis of annual reports from companies with the largest market capitalization over a six-year period and interviewed union representatives in Spain and Sweden.

The framework comprises five dimensions (industrial, market, civic, green and connectionist). The empirical results reveal that companies consistently frame I4.0 with an emphasis on industrial and market perspectives. In contrast, unions place a stronger emphasis on civic issues, with Spanish unions holding a more negative view of I4.0, expressing concerns about working conditions and unemployment.

The proposed framework brings interesting insights into the dispute over the meaning of I4.0. Although this empirical study was limited to companies and unions in Sweden and Spain, the framework can be expanded for broader investigations, involving additional stakeholders in one or more countries. The discussion outlined using the varieties of capitalism approach is relevant for understanding the connection between the meso and macro levels of this phenomenon.

In navigating the landscape of I4.0, managers should remain flexible, and ready to tailor their strategies and operations to align with the distinct demands and expectations of stakeholders and their specific institutional environments. Similarly, policymakers are urged to acknowledge these contextual intricacies when crafting strategies for implementing I4.0 initiatives across national settings.

Based on the empirical findings, this study underscores the importance of fostering social dialogue and involving stakeholders in the implementation of I4.0. Policymakers and other stakeholders should take proactive measures, tailored to each country’s context, to mitigate potential adverse effects on labour and workers.

The study presents a novel framework that facilitates the systematic comparison of I4.0 framing by different actors. This contribution is significant because the way actors frame I4.0 affects its interpretation and implementation. Additionally, the aggregate analysis of results enables cross-country comparisons, enhancing our understanding of regional disparities.

Since Howe (2006) first used the term crowdsourcing to define the outsourcing of activities by companies to individuals through the use of the internet, a growing literature has developed on the subject. Its emergence as a new paradigm in problem solving and value creation in the digital innovation ecosystem has produced significant publications in the management field, but publications about some aspects of organisations are still missing. Such is the case regarding the impact that these crowdsourcing initiatives have on organisations. This paper advances in that direction by proposing a new approach for the review of these activities through a detailed model of the elements of organisational levels that describe the crowdsourcing processes. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Crowdsourcing models in the literature are reviewed to propose the new model, complemented by a survey of scholars and practitioners to validate the approach introduced.

The results provide a detailed link between the two fields: crowdsourcing models and organisational levels, developed through the connection of the elements of organisational levels and the dimensions of different crowdsourcing models. The identification of the elements that constitute each organisational level, their inclusion in a new model and the order of relevance of the different elements in the crowdsourcing initiatives could have an implication for academics and practitioners involved in implementing crowdsourcing.

The originality of this research is the introduction of a new approach for the analysis of crowdsourcing initiatives, establishing a new framework model to connect crowdsourcing models and organisational levels for new organisations.

This research aims at the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) framework – How can cognitive traits for entrepreneurship be used by incubators and accelerators?

In this research the authors analyze the factors that catalyze the founding of new technology-based firms. From a practitioner stand-point, the GEM posits that these factors can be classified as contextual, social and individual factors. The present study focuses on the latter, looking into how demographic characteristics, possession of human capital and cognitive traits interrelate. The authors rely on a sample of 141 technological new ventures being incubated in Madrid, Spain, which is analyzed with the multilayer perceptron technique.

The results show that cognitive traits, as defined in the TPB, act as the “last mile” in the entrepreneurial decision process, while demographic and human capital factors appear to antecede them. These results are relevant for incubators and accelerators, which now gain a better, more complete understanding of success factors of their incubatees.

This research deals both with practitioners' view of entrepreneurship and with scientific literature, intertwining both with the purpose of providing valuable information for incubators and accelerators.