IC and welfare in the fifth stage of Intellectual Capital. Insights from the topic of sustainability

The thesis merges the topic of Intellectual Capital (IC) with some themes of welfare, more in details sustainability and its sub-theme female entrepreneurship. The \u201cFifth Stage of Intellectual Capital\u201d is a recent research trend that sees the concept of \u201cvalue\u201d go beyond the boundaries of the firm to pursue \u201cthe greater good\u201d for the stakeholders and the community. In this perspective, Financial, Environmental, and Social Sustainability and welfare are the key topics. The purpose of the first research (papers 1 and 2) is to investigate the relationship between IC and sustainability using practitioners\u2019 perspectives and by developing an analysis of comments and practices published in 1,651 blog posts in one of the leading online sources of sustainability research. A total of 1,651 posts, with more than 1.5 million words, published by experts are analyzed using Leximancer and content analysis. The results reveal IC and sustainability to be complex topics under active discussion by practitioners, and several links to the IC literature are compared. The findings focus on the managerial practices applied by leading companies, that show IC and sustainability influence each other in answering a plurality of demands. The research identifies the need to study the managerial practices proposed by practitioners, rather than their company reports. The research recommends developing a trading zone for IC researchers and practitioners. It reflects on the role of new communication tools to connect IC and sustainability. The research concludes that the relationship between IC and sustainability could benefit from the fifth stage of IC research that considers the justifications of the worth of IC and sustainability practices. Practitioners require scholars to reduce the ambiguity between IC and its expected results. This would open the door to a potentially productive way of understanding IC and the complexity of economic, social, and environmental value. Researchers should change their research questions from, \u201cWhat is IC worth to investors, customers, society, and the environment?\u201d to \u201cIs managing IC a worthwhile endeavor?\u201d The second research (paper 3) concentrates on one topic, female entrepreneurship as a social sustainability issue. For several decades support for women\u2019s entrepreneurship has been present on the political agenda internationally. The arguments vary, ranging from economic growth and new jobs to human resource utilization to justice and equality. Gender equality is a right recognized and promoted by the United Nations. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders in 2015 embody a roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind. Achieving gender equality and women\u2019s empowerment is integral to each of the 17 goals, ensuring the rights of women to get justice and inclusion, economies that work for all, and sustaining shared environment. Entrepreneurship is seen as a vital asset for the economic growth, and public entities should foster it by dedicating specific mentoring programs and funding. Women entrepreneurship is seen as a relevant asset too. Female entrepreneurs are more devoted to the welfare, equity, and care more about sustainable development. The study employs a mixed method approach by collecting data from a Regional program which took place in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, during the years 2011-2012. The idea is to investigate the differences between men and women in terms of experience and complexity of the initiative and to understand the issues that prevent women to open their own business. Using a single case study approach, we investigated the role of relational capital,a vital element of the contemporary economy, and a critical asset for female startups. The purpose of the study is to contribute to the debate regarding issues affecting the opening of new companies as well as the link between relational capital and female enterprises.The thesis merges the topic of Intellectual Capital (IC) with some themes of welfare, more in details sustainability and its sub-theme female entrepreneurship. The \u201cFifth Stage of Intellectual Capital\u201d is a recent research trend that sees the concept of \u201cvalue\u201d go beyond the boundaries of the firm to pursue \u201cthe greater good\u201d for the stakeholders and the community. In this perspective, Financial, Environmental, and Social Sustainability and welfare are the key topics. The purpose of the first research (papers 1 and 2) is to investigate the relationship between IC and sustainability using practitioners\u2019 perspectives and by developing an analysis of comments and practices published in 1,651 blog posts in one of the leading online sources of sustainability research. A total of 1,651 posts, with more than 1.5 million words, published by experts are analyzed using Leximancer and content analysis. The results reveal IC and sustainability to be complex topics under active discussion by practitioners, and several links to the IC literature are compared. The findings focus on the managerial practices applied by leading companies, that show IC and sustainability influence each other in answering a plurality of demands. The research identifies the need to study the managerial practices proposed by practitioners, rather than their company reports. The research recommends developing a trading zone for IC researchers and practitioners. It reflects on the role of new communication tools to connect IC and sustainability. The research concludes that the relationship between IC and sustainability could benefit from the fifth stage of IC research that considers the justifications of the worth of IC and sustainability practices. Practitioners require scholars to reduce the ambiguity between IC and its expected results. This would open the door to a potentially productive way of understanding IC and the complexity of economic, social, and environmental value. Researchers should change their research questions from, \u201cWhat is IC worth to investors, customers, society, and the environment?\u201d to \u201cIs managing IC a worthwhile endeavor?\u201d The second research (paper 3) concentrates on one topic, female entrepreneurship as a social sustainability issue. For several decades support for women\u2019s entrepreneurship has been present on the political agenda internationally. The arguments vary, ranging from economic growth and new jobs to human resource utilization to justice and equality. Gender equality is a right recognized and promoted by the United Nations. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders in 2015 embody a roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind. Achieving gender equality and women\u2019s empowerment is integral to each of the 17 goals, ensuring the rights of women to get justice and inclusion, economies that work for all, and sustaining shared environment. Entrepreneurship is seen as a vital asset for the economic growth, and public entities should foster it by dedicating specific mentoring programs and funding. Women entrepreneurship is seen as a relevant asset too. Female entrepreneurs are more devoted to the welfare, equity, and care more about sustainable development. The study employs a mixed method approach by collecting data from a Regional program which took place in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, during the years 2011-2012. The idea is to investigate the differences between men and women in terms of experience and complexity of the initiative and to understand the issues that prevent women to open their own business. Using a single case study approach, we investigated the role of relational capital,a vital element of the contemporary economy, and a critical asset for female startups. The purpose of the study is to contribute to the debate regarding issues affecting the opening of new companies as well as the link between relational capital and female enterprises

Virtual Relations and Value Creation for female enterprises during the Covid-19 pandemic era

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Artificial intelligence and new business models in agriculture: a structured literature review and future research agenda

Purpose Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a growing technology impacting several business fields. The agricultural sector is facing several challenges, which may be supported by the use of such a new advanced technology. The aim of the paper is to map the state-of-the-art of AI applications in agriculture, their advantages, barriers, implications and the ability to lead to new business models, depicting a future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach A structured literature review has been conducted, and 37 contributions have been analyzed and coded using a detailed research framework. Findings Findings underline the multiple uses and advantages of AI in agriculture and the potential impacts for farmers and entrepreneurs, even from a sustainability perspective. Several applications and algorithms are being developed and tested, but many barriers arise, starting from the lack of understanding by farmers and the need for global investments. A collaboration between scholars and practitioners is advocated to share best practices and lead to practical solutions and policies. The promising topic of new business models is still under-investigated and deserves more attention from scholars and practitioners. Originality/value The paper reports the state-of-the-art of AI in agriculture and its impact on the development of new business models. Several new research avenues have been identified

Ethically Driven Stakeholder Management: A Structured Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

The discipline of business ethics is moving fast to the forefront of stakeholder management research. On the one hand, scholars are studying management's behaviour and the promotion of ethical behaviour in stakeholders. On the other hand, a complex interplay exists among ethics, the maximization of shareholder value, and meeting stakeholder claims. The aim is to build on and update in a systematic fashion a previous literature review on stakeholder management theory (SMT) which did not bring ethics to the forefront. Following a strict protocol, this structured literature review examines 108 articles, covering 61 journals from 1989 to 2021. It highlights citation classics and their research impact through total citation and citation-per-year analysis. Content analysis focuses on the findings of quantitative, qualitative, and conceptual articles. Coder triangulation ensures the reliability of the findings, which analyse location and sector, stakeholder type, research methods, research question, conceptual lenses, and foci of articles under review. A specific section outlines directions for future research and provides suggestions for the development of a future research agenda on a topical issue

Blockchain in the accounting, auditing and accountability fields: a bibliometric and coding analysis

Purpose This study aims to offer a bibliometric and coding analysis of blockchain articles published in the accounting, auditing and accountability fields. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected using the Scopus database and a bibliometric and qualitative coding analysis with the keywords “blockchain” and “accounting” or “auditing” or “accountability.” Of the 514 initial sources, 93 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and conference proceedings in the areas of business, management and accounting were finally selected. Nonscientific sources such as nonpeer-reviewed books and white papers were excluded. Findings This study reveals a promising and multidisciplinary field of research dominated by scholars and less by practitioners. Qualitative research, especially discourse analysis, is the most used method among authors. This study gives some useful insights about blockchain's definition and characteristics, business models, processes involved, connection with other technologies and relationships with accounting theories. Among the most interesting insights, the results confirm that technology as an external force can create an intersection among several research areas: accounting, auditing, accountability, business, management, computer science and engineering fields. Finally, in terms of research themes, although blockchain has a clear effect on auditing accounting, the links with the area of accountability are less clear and validated. Originality/value This study highlights the current state of the field, combining methodological approaches and providing valuable future research insights. Additionally, it is also a starting point for professionals to fully understand blockchain's characteristics and potential with a constructive and systemic approach

Evaluation of muscle energy in isometric maintenance as an index of muscle fatigue in roller speed skating

Roller speed skating is a discipline in which muscle fatigue plays an important role in athletes; in this work, we wanted to evaluate whether a methodological approach based on the energy required to maintain an isometric muscle contraction for one minute, indexed on the MVIC (maximum voluntary isometric contraction), i.e. % RMS/MVIC can give results similar to the frequency decay analysis/time in terms of usability for athlete training and injury prevention. Right and left gluteus maximus and vastus lateralis muscles (involved in the propulsive phase of skating ) were examined separately by surface electromyography in three competitive athletes in short-track speed skating on asphalt. The results showed an asymmetry between the right (less resistant) and left (more resistant) lower limb, in all three athletes, from the point of view of fatigue, in both investigated muscles. Furthermore, a trend in terms of fatigue resistance was found that was directly proportional to skill in both muscles studied. This can be of help in better planning the training of street speed skaters (which although similar to the discipline on ice is not completely superimposable) with the dual purpose of improving their performance and preventing injuries, often linked to the degree of right-left muscle asymmetry

Business models beyond Covid-19. A paradoxes approach

The Covid-19 crisis has undermined and disrupted several business fields. Organizations are called to address the new challenges by rethinking their business models. Employing an EFTE approach, the paper highlights 50 paradoxes to be taken into consideration in the strategic transformation process

Editorial EJKM Volume 18 Issue 3: Advances in Health Knowledge Management: New Perspectives

Editorial EJKM Volume 18 Issue 3: Advances in Health Knowledge Management: New Perspectives by Maria Jose Sousa, Francesca Dal Mas and Renato Lopes Da Cost

Can the Blockchain lead to new sustainable business models?

New technologies can foster the development of new sustainable business models (SBMs). Our paper wants to investigate how the blockchain can facilitate the development of new SBMs, by analyzing some real-world case studies. Findings highlight how the characteristics of the blockchain can extend existing theories in leading to new SBMs

The Rehabilitation Tailor: Applying Personalized Medicine to Cancer Recovery

Abstract not availabl