Search Results (19)

Background: The increasing complexity of global supply chains and environmental expectations has highlighted the strategic importance of digital transformation in the transport, forwarding, and logistics (TFL) sector. Despite a growing portfolio of available tools, adoption rates—particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Central and Eastern Europe—remain low. This study investigates the barriers and motivations related to the implementation of digital planning tools supporting intermodal transport planning. Methods: A structured online survey was conducted among 80 Polish TFL enterprises, targeting decision-makers responsible for operational and digital strategies. The questionnaire included 17 closed and semi-open questions grouped into three thematic sections: tool usage, implementation barriers, and digital readiness. Results: The findings indicate that only 20% of respondents use dedicated route planning tools, and merely 10% report satisfaction with their performance. Key barriers include lack of awareness, organizational inertia, and the prioritization of other initiatives, with financial cost cited less frequently. While environmental sustainability is declared as a priority by most enterprises, digital support for emission tracking is limited. The results highlight the need for targeted education, integration support, and differentiated platform functionalities for SMEs and larger firms. Conclusions: This study offers evidence-based recommendations for developers, policymakers, and logistics managers aiming to accelerate digital adoption in the intermodal logistics landscape. Full article

There is no consensus in existing research on whether the application of digital technology diversification strengthens or weakens export resilience. This study fills this gap by exploring the influence mechanism of digital technology diversity on enterprise export resilience. Based on organizational inertia theory, dynamic capabilities perspective, and organizational learning theory, this study uses data from Chinese listed export manufacturing companies from 2019 to 2023 in order to empirically examine the relationship between digital technology diversity and enterprise export resilience. The results show that digital technology diversity significantly inhibits enterprise export resilience, supply chain finance plays a partially mediating role in this relationship, and digital interlock alleviates the inhibitory effect of digital technology diversity on supply chain finance. The findings provide guidance for the digital technology application strategy of export enterprises in adversity. Full article

This study explores the factors driving employees’ sustainability-switching behaviors (SSBs) by integrating the Push, Pull, and Mooring (PPM) model with the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). A quantitative, cross-sectional survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 132 professionals actively involved in organizational sustainability initiatives across diverse industries and global regions. The findings reveal that leadership commitment significantly fosters both affective and normative employee commitments, with normative commitment positively influencing SSB. Surprisingly, organizational trust showed a negative impact on SSB, suggesting that employees may delegate responsibility for sustainability to the organization when trust is high. Inertia emerged as a strong barrier to behavioral change, independently inhibiting sustainability efforts. The study highlights the complex dynamics among leadership, trust, and inertia, offering practical insights for organizations aiming to foster sustainability. Addressing inertia directly and promoting shared responsibility for sustainability are critical for successful organizational transitions. Future research should explore the psychological mechanisms behind inertia and further investigate the paradoxical role of trust in sustainability initiatives. Full article

Digital transformation (DT) has become a crucial driver of competitiveness in the shipping industry. However, many small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) encounter barriers that result in digital transformation dead zones (DTDZs), where digital initiatives stagnate or fail to achieve the expected outcomes. This study investigates the key factors contributing to digital stagnation specifically within Vietnamese shipping SMEs, adopting the lens of the dynamic capabilities theory (DCT)—a framework that emphasizes firms’ abilities to sense opportunities, seize them, and reconfigure resources to maintain competitiveness in rapidly evolving environments. The DCT provides a dynamic and process-oriented perspective on how organizations adapt to technological change by building flexible and integrative capabilities. Based on quantitative data collected from 588 respondents across the Vietnamese shipping sector, the study employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to empirically assess the relationships among critical digital transformation variables. The findings reveal that inadequate sensing capabilities and a lack of data analytics are the most significant barriers, limiting firms’ ability to identify and act on digital opportunities. Additionally, limited ecosystem collaboration and supply chain fragmentation further exacerbate digital inertia. While poor reconfiguration capabilities and weak seizing capabilities also contribute to digital stagnation, their effects are comparatively weaker. The study offers theoretical contributions by extending the DCT, the resource-based view (RBV), and the ecosystem theory to the maritime sector, emphasizing the interplay between organizational, technological, and external barriers. Practical implications highlight the need for strategic investments in data analytics, ecosystem collaboration, and adaptive leadership to overcome digital stagnation. Full article

Background: Personalized cancer medicine (PCM) tailors cancer treatments based on individual genetic profiles, enabling more precise and effective therapies. Despite its potential, integrating PCM into clinical practice remains challenging because of organizational and systemic barriers. This study examined the factors influencing PCM implementation at a major cancer center in Stockholm, Sweden. Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 medical professionals and management staff from Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet. Content analysis was used to identify key themes related to PCM implementation. This study followed the established Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research guidelines to ensure methodological rigor and transparency. Results: Informants framed PCM as both a technological innovation and a patient-centered approach. However, significant barriers to implementation were identified, including organizational inertia, fragmented funding models, and ethical challenges related to access and equity. Structural silos between academic and healthcare institutions complicate integration. Key facilitators include leadership commitment, cross-sectoral collaboration, and a supportive policy environment. Participants emphasized the need for integrated infrastructure, real-time data-sharing mechanisms, and interdisciplinary training programs to support PCM. Conclusions: Successful PCM implementation requires overcoming entrenched organizational and systemic barriers through a multi-stakeholder approach involving healthcare providers, researchers, policymakers, and patient advocates. The findings underscore the necessity of a “third-form organization” to mediate between academia and clinical care. Addressing these challenges requires adaptive governance models, evidence-based policy reforms, and sustainable funding frameworks. Future research should explore comparative contexts to enhance the scalability and generalizability of PCM integration strategies. Full article

This study investigates the impact of public participation on corporate greenwashing behavior among listed companies in China from 2011 to 2019, set against a backdrop of increasing global environmental regulations. Corporate greenwashing, characterized by misleading environmental claims, poses a significant barrier to sustainable development. Despite the recognition of public participation in social governance, organizational inertia often prevents companies from responding effectively. Our analysis reveals that public participation leads to stricter environmental regulations, thereby reducing greenwashing practices. This finding remains robust through various tests, including variable substitution and model adjustments. However, we also find that higher levels of organizational inertia weaken the positive influence of public participation on combating greenwashing. Thus, this study underscores the necessity of establishing mechanisms for public participation that can effectively shape corporate decision-making, offering crucial insights for enhancing corporate accountability and advancing sustainable practices. Full article

Ambidextrous innovation is key to the high-quality and sustainable development of enterprises, but it remains unclear how digital capabilities affect knowledge management and ambidextrous innovation in the digital economy era. Based on organizational learning theory, this paper explores the impact pathways of digital capabilities on knowledge management and ambidextrous innovation, while also analyzing the moderating effect of knowledge inertia. Empirical research on 253 technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) demonstrates that digital capabilities have a significant positive effect on both exploitative and exploratory innovation, and they influence both types of innovation through the mediating role of knowledge management. Furthermore, knowledge inertia negatively moderates the impact of digital capabilities on knowledge management and exploratory innovation. This study reveals the internal mechanism by which digital capabilities drive ambidextrous innovation through knowledge management, providing theoretical support for enterprises to deepen digitalization and carry out ambidextrous innovation. Full article

Hierarchical regression is used to empirically investigate the impact of digital capabilities on green innovation performance, as well as the mediating role of organizational agility and the moderating effect of knowledge inertia. Based on the data from a large sample of 383 middle and senior managers from manufacturing companies, the dynamic capability theory is applied to SPSS 27.0. The results show that digital capability contributes to green innovation performance; knowledge inertia moderates the inverted U-shape between digital capability and green innovation performance; and two dimensions of organizational agility, market agility and operational adjustment agility, partially mediate the relationship between digital capability and green innovation performance. This paper contributes new ideas for companies to develop organizational agility, control knowledge inertia, enhance green innovation performance, and finally, sustainably gain a competitive advantage position. Full article

Building permits ensure construction meets codes and regulations, but the traditional permitting process is often complex and inefficient. This perspective paper examines the current state and maturity of digitizing and automating building permits. We studied current permit workflows and the recent literature to identify digitization opportunities like online portals, automated code-checking, and data integration. Most jurisdictions are only in the early digital stages, focused on implementing electronic document management and online portals. Some leading cities have piloted more advanced capabilities like automated code compliance checking, but widespread adoption lags. The greatest challenges exist around fragmented IT environments, data integration, organizational inertia, and failing to adapt to technological advancements, such as the example of AI. Achieving higher digital permitting processes requires optimized data sharing, instant feedback loops, and automation-enabled plan reviews. While pockets of innovation exist, mainstream adoption lags behind visionary potential. Realizing the future permitting paradigm demands open data standards, configurable software infrastructure, and organizational commitment to digitize end-to-end. This paper presents regulators and innovators with a perspective framework to evolve permitting towards smarter, faster, and more integrated digital systems and strategies. Full article

The financial situation of clubs is a major issue in professional sports. Their vulnerability can be explained by the structure of income (not diversified enough) or by the breakdown of expenditure (too much investment in sports talent). This state of affairs has prompted an interest in their economic models, specifically in the context of French clubs from 2008/2009 to 2019/2020. How did these clubs evolve over time, and how were they able (or not) to transform their economic model? Principal components and k-means analyses of financial data reveal four main types of economic models. Even if some clubs kept the same model over this period, many clubs also substantially changed their economic models. Interviews with professional clubs were performed to understand the factors underlying change and stasis as appropriate. Although visionary leadership partly explains the changes at certain clubs, exogeneous shock played at least as great a role. However, such external factors are not sufficient to overcome some clubs’ organizational inertia, often due to a fear of change that clubs rationalize in terms of their limited local potential. This paper could be helpful in assisting clubs to fight against attribution biases and to understand how to transform their economic models to become less vulnerable. Full article

The expansion of government size will have dual effects on a country’s green innovation. An appropriately sized government size increases marginal productivity and stimulates the development of green innovation by increasing government expenditure. On the contrary, an excessively sized government creates a huge administrative agency, which not only increases the tax burden but also damages social welfare by excessive intervention. Therefore, the effect of government size on green innovation is not linear. In order to prove this proposition, this study examines the impact of government size on green innovation in 166 countries between 1995 and 2018, using a two-way fixed effects model. The results reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between government size and the level of green innovation, indicating that optimal government size may maximize a country’s green innovation output. The results further suggest that this inverted U-shaped relationship is mainly influenced by environmental regulations and financial support. Finally, our heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the inverted U-shaped relationship is more pronounced for countries with high organizational inertia and more R&D expenditure than for those with low organizational inertia and less R&D expenditure. This finding makes up for the research gap between government size and green innovation and provides a reference for countries to formulate the optimal government size to improve the level of green innovation. Full article

Inefficiencies naturally form as organizations grow in size and complexity. The knowledge required to address these inefficiencies is often stove-piped across different organizational silos, geographic locations, and professional disciplines. Crowdsourcing provides a way to tap into the knowledge and experiences of diverse groups of people to rapidly identify and more effectively solve inefficiencies. We developed a prototype crowdsourcing system based on design thinking practices to allow employees to build a shared mental model and work collaboratively to identify, characterize, and rank inefficiencies, as well as to develop possible solutions. We conducted a study to assess how presenting crowdsourced knowledge (votes/preferences, supporting argumentation, etc.) from employees affected organizational Decision Makers (DMs). In spite of predictions that crowdsourced knowledge would influence their decisions, presenting this knowledge to DMs had no significant effect on their voting for various solutions. We found significant differences in the mental models of employees and DMs. We offer various explanations for this behavior based on rhetorical analysis and other survey responses from DMs and contributors. We further discuss different theoretical explanations, including the effects of various biases and decision inertia, and potential issues with the types of knowledge elicited and presented to DMs. Full article

This research examines the linkage between entrepreneurial orientation and sustainable innovation. Research shows that the effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the exploitation and exploration of sustainable innovation are significantly positive, whereby absorptive capacity acts in a significant mediating role. The interaction between entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity helps organizations overcome organizational inertia and strengthen the sustainability of innovation. By introducing the absorptive capacity theory and the view of organizational inertia, we have conducted empirical research on 392 Chinese environmentally friendly companies that have passed China’s national high-tech enterprise certification. We verified the relevant hypotheses in our framework in a structural model analysis using Mplus. To further look at the interaction terms of potential and realized absorptive capacity, we used PROCESS in SPSS to evaluate the conditional effects of absorptive capacity on coefficient paths between entrepreneurial orientation and the two types of innovation. The results show that entrepreneurial orientation improves the absorptive capacity of organizations, thereby promoting their sustainable innovation. Furthermore, based on the theory of sustainable innovation, we proved the positive impact of realized and potential absorptive capacity on the exploitation and exploration of sustainable innovation. Organizations could balance exploitation and exploration to implement sustainable innovation by adjusting their potential and realized absorptive capacities. Our results can help environmentally friendly organizations adjust the combination of entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity to overcome organizational inertia, manage exploitation and exploration, and implement sustainable innovation. Full article

Different and profound are the consequences of the further development of artificial intelligence (AI) on society. One of the manifestations of the upcoming changes is the plethora of novel ways in which companies may organize labor and capital. So far, the influence of AI on organizational structure has been mainly studied from either a technological or a broader decision-making perspective. Our paper provides a unique take on the topic, emphasizing the distinctive role of human agency and its function in the upcoming AI-driven organizational changes. Relying on the existing academic literature, we theorized a set of hypotheses concerning best fits to the AI contingency on both macro and meso-organizational levels. To test whether the hypothesized changes might encounter organizational inertia or resistance from jobholders, multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was applied to the online survey results. Four types of current and potential jobholders were distinguished according to their explicit attitudes towards hypothesized organizational changes: skeptics, doubtful skeptics, optimists, and doubtful optimists, the latter consisting primarily of emerging adults. Finally, we developed a model of intraorganizational response to the AI contingency based on four theoretical groups of individuals, as determined by the analysis. Our findings showed doubtful optimists to be the most important group, able to set organizational trends and positively influence skeptics and doubtful skeptics. Accordingly, promoters of AI-driven organizational changes are advised to design their communication efforts around emerging adults. As the survey was conducted amid the COVID-19 pandemic, its sociological and managerial implications are relevant to the looming reality of the postpandemic world. Full article

Background: Integrating Industry 4.0 technologies in organizations affects employees’ workplaces and working conditions. Works Council members play an essential role in this because as intermediaries of information between employees and management, they increase mutual trust and help introduce changes in the work environment. This article discusses the Works Council members’ autopoietic endowments that are necessary for their proactive activity, which we discuss as building blocks for creating constructive relationships with management and quality energy in an organization. As such, we were interested in examining whether the autopoietic endowments of Works Council members influenced the type of relationship with the Works Council and management, and whether this relationship affected Works Council members’ organizational energy. Methods: A questionnaire was developed, piloted and distributed to Works Council Members, and 220 completed questionnaires were returned. Results: We found that the higher the level of self-awareness, the better the relationship between Works Council members and management. Moreover, poor energy represented poor relationships, and poor relationships signified a higher degree of resigned inertia and corrosive energy. Conclusions: Our research provides managements with insights into the relationship between employees and management, and the quality of their organizational energy. Full article