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Bringing Digital Innovation Strategies and Entrepreneurship: The Business Model Canvas in Open Data Ecosystem and Startups
No full textThe aim of this paper is to examine and analyze how actors in an open data ecosystem collaborate, as well as their activities, to generate value. Thirteen interviews were conducted with actors in the open data network. The information gathered was used to estimate how the existing ecosystem provides new entrepreneurial opportunities for entities who provide data and for those who utilize data. The business model canvas was used to analyze the findings, and the outcomes are represented from the perspective of each entity in the network. For the purpose of increasing open data’s value, a mind map was developed to show how the findings are connected in an attractive and easy-to-follow manner. Results show that even though there is a lot of interest in open data, a new type of business ecosystem is needed to make a win–win situation possible for everyone in the available data ecosystem. Many reasons and benefits were found in the interviews about why people want to be a part of the open data ecosystem. However, several obstacles must be thoroughly explored and overcome.14512
Calculation and Assessment of CO2e Emissions in Road Freight Transportation: A Greek Case Study
No full textRoad freight transportation is already contributing significantly to global warming, and its emissions are predicted to grow dramatically in the following years. Carbon footprint calculation can be used to assess CO2e emissions to understand how an organization’s activities impact global sustainability. To this end, the main objective of this paper is initially to assess the impact of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions stemming from road freight transportation. Subsequently, we adopt the EN 16258 standard to calculate the carbon footprint of a truck fleet of a freight transport operator in Greece. Based on the obtained results, we assess the performance of the company’s fleet by adopting relevant sustainability indicators. We also evaluate the use of CNG as an alternative fuel and its impact on CO2e emissions and operational costs. The paper concludes with a list of additional measures toward further reduction and offsetting of CO2e emissions.14171072
Career resilience and self-efficacy of Greek primary school leaders in times of socioeconomic crisis
No full textEducational leaders are trying to adapt to day-to-day changes by developing career resilience and self-efficacy to successfully meet their leadership roles, in times of deep socioeconomic crisis. This paper investigates the levels of career resilience and self-efficacy of principals of primary school units, identifies the relationship between them and determines the effect of the demographic elements of the sample on their career resilience and self-efficacy. The Kodama Career Resilience Scale (2015) was used to measure career resilience, while Tschannen-Moran and Gareis’ Principal Self-Efficacy Scale (2004) was used to measure self-efficacy. The results of the survey showed that principals have high levels of career resilience and very high levels of self-efficacy. There are four factors that form the levels of career resilience: a) problem solving skills b) social skills c) interest in innovation and d) optimism for the future. Demographic factors play a role in shaping career resilience as they affect two of the four factors. There are two factors that shape levels of self-efficacy: (a) self-efficiency in administration and (b) self-efficiency in moral leadership. Demographic factors play a role in shaping the factor of self-efficacy that refers to administration. Finally, there was a high positive correlation and a causal relationship between career resilience and self-efficacy.36216417
Designing Social Robots as Embodied Mediators in Education : the Potential of Participatory Design
No full textIn the last decades, robotic research and development started to aim beyond industrial applications and focus on designing social robots. In this transitional era of Robotics, some aspects of their design seem to need reconsideration, particularly the embodiment dimension. The participatory design approach has been implemented successfully in designing products and processes related to humans, with a user-centered methodology, including the stakeholders in the early design stages. This work presents two cases of participatory design implementation in social assistive robots development. In the case of the STIMEY robot, a human-like toy-sized robot for students, an extensive participatory design process took place with qualitative focus group discussion (127 stakeholders). A deductive qualitative content analysis approach led to five combinations of dimensions used to design a SAR, which could be considered general design guidelines. In the case of the DAISY robot, a flower-like robot for students with autism, the participatory design was intended to define part of the features and characteristics of the robot. The researchers decided on the rest of the design issues based on the relative educational theories. This combinational approach made it possible to quickly and thoroughly address all design issues and come up with a unique and defined final choice.In both cases, the evaluation of the prototype robots through a task-oriented robot-assisted learning sequence indicated that participants endorsed the final design of the robots for physical interventions. The different implementations of participatory design in the above two cases could show the adaptability and the potential of the participatory method in the design process of social robots' appearance, physical presence and embodiment.IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA
Effectiveness of government policies in response to the first COVID-19 outbreak
No full textThis paper assesses the quantitative impact of government interventions on deaths related to the first COVID-19 outbreak. Using daily data for 32 countries and relying on the stringency of the conducted policies, we find that the greater the strength of government interventions at an early stage, the more effective these are in slowing down or reversing the growth rate of deaths. School closures have a significant impact on reducing the growth rate of deaths, which is less powerful compared to the case where a number of policy interventions are combined together. These results can be informative for governments in responding to future pandemics.24e000024
Examining the mediating role of work-family balance in the core self-evaluations – organizational performance relationship: a multilevel study
No full textPurpose – The relationship between core self-evaluations (CSE) and organizational performance is yet to be explained. The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of work-family enrichment (WFE), family-work enrichment (FWE) and work-family balance (WFB) in the relationship between CSE and organizational performance.Design/Methodology/Approach - Data were obtained from a sample of 2,312 employees working within 188 public and private organizations operating in the current context of the post-2008 economic and financial crises that lasted until up to 2019 in Greece. Multilevel structural equation modeling analyses were used due to the nested nature of data.Findings - The results showed that (a) WFE and WFB serially and positively mediate the relationship between CSE and organizational performance; (b) FWE and WFB serially and positively mediate the relationship between CSE and organizational performance; (c) the constructs of the operating framework depend on factors such as gender, working hours, level of education, and position of employees in the organizational hierarchy.Research limitations / Implications – Data was collected at a short period in 2019, thus, restricting dynamic causal inferences into instant changes. The findings suggest that organizations will benefit from developing work-family balance policies and practices that can improve organizational performance.Originality/Value - Only a handful of studies have previously examined the relations between core self-evaluations, work-family enrichment, work-family balance, and organizational performance in an economic and financial crises environment.44113615
Green Advertising on Social Media: A Systematic Literature Review
No full textConsumer interest in environmental protection has grown in recent decades, alongside a shift in companies’ strategies to embrace a greener way of doing business. Green advertising is rapidly expanding and gaining popularity. With more and more consumers being actively involved in social media searching and purchasing products, social media advertising is transformed into a principal way of communication. Although prior research has addressed green marketing and advertising, their presence in social media has been largely neglected. Based on a systematic review approach, the present study addresses recent trends and developments in green advertising on social media. We used PRISMA for the systematic review of eighty-one articles published between 2011 and 2022. Green advertising content, and greenwashing in particular have attracted significant research interest. Green skepticism and the role of generations are gaining popularity. The descriptive analysis provides article, author, and journal-related information (i.e., citations, year of publications, journals, etc.). This systematic literature review reports the trends in the topic, highlights existing research gaps, and suggests future research avenues. Research and managerial implications are discussed.14211442
Human resources flexibility as a mediating mechanism between high-performance work systems and organizational performance: a multilevel quasi-longitudinal study
No full textPurpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) on organisational performance through the mediating role of Human Resources (HR) flexibility (expressed by functional flexibility, skills malleability, and behavioural flexibility).Design/methodology/approach – The study examines theoretical relationships in the Greek context, which reflects changing economic and financial crisis, based on multilevel structural equation modelling estimation, using three waves of sample data collected in years 2014, 2016 and 2018 from organizations operating in the private sector.Findings – The study finds that although HPWS positively influences all three HR flexibility dimensions, this positive effect is not transferred equally to organizational performance. The dominant effect on organizational performance is attributed to skills malleability, a smaller effect to behavioural flexibility, whist a negligible effect to functional flexibility.Research limitations/implications – Although the data collected refer to three different years, most of the companies and individuals responded to sampling were different. As such, the study does not allow for dynamic causal inferences due to its quasi-longitudinal nature.Practical implications – The findings of this study may influence managerial decisions in developing bundles of HPWS policies and practices in relation to HR flexibility attributes. Originality/value – Since most studies consider HR flexibility as an aggregated construct, this study is possibly of the very few studies that is examining the differential impact of the HR flexibility dimensions on organizational performance in turbulent times.17217419
Immersive mixed reality experience empowered by the internet of things and geospatial technologies
No full textAs Mixed Reality applications are penetrating people’s daily activities, strong synergies with Geospatial technologies and the Internet of Things are revealed. The first is due to the significance of the spatial reference of all involved actors of a Mixed Reality environment: the end-user, the real and the virtual objects. The second is due to the ever-increasing participation of sensors controlling devices and machines always and everywhere. This paper attempts to highlight these synergies and propose a case proving that they crucially empower a Mixed Reality experience.Fourteenth International Conference on Computational Structures Technolog
The influence of leadership on strategic flexibility and business performance: the mediating role of talent management
No full textPurposeThe aim of this paper is to determine whether leadership affects strategic flexibility and business performance taking into consideration the mediating role of talent management in these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed framework is tested by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and finally structural equation modeling (SEM), using the survey data from 462 Greek firms. The mediation effect of talent management was tested by the Sobel test.FindingsThe results show that leadership drives firms to strategic flexibility and business performance, but the introduction of talent management fully mediates these relationships. Strategic flexibility also affects business performance positively.Research limitations/implicationsThis study explores a formal style of leadership; many leadership styles remain unexplored. The field of talent management is in urgent need of more empirical research to explain its importance and how talent management is handled in the 21st-century.Practical implicationsThis study proves that managers should invest more in talent management; outstanding talent can be leveraged to implement the best operational practices while managers' motivation for talent management contributes to a deeper anchoring of strategic flexibility and performance efforts in firms.Originality/valueThe current state of knowledge of both theory and practice for critical organizational factors such as strategic flexibility and talent management will be extended.6092532255