This study, grounded in the resource-based view (RBV) and the organisational role perspective, examines the role of human resource managers in businesses as a pivotal factor in the connection between talent management (TM) and organisational performance. A total of 112 human resource managers in Spain completed a survey. Structural equation modelling and the Hayes PROCESS macro were utilised to examine the relationship between transformational management and organisational performance, whereby the mediating effect of human resources was considered. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the three roles of Human Resources (strategic business partner, agent of change, and employee champion) produced positive results, and a unidimensional model was validated. This position is designated as the High-Performance Role (HPR) of human resource managers and serves to connect talent management with organisational performance. These findings both clarify the role that human resource managers can assume to improve their effectiveness and also serve as a framework for their forthcoming training and development initiatives.
The objective of this research is to explore scientific production related to e-commerce in the field of tourism over the period 2002–2025. To this end, bibliometric analysis is applied as the main methodology, supported by mapping and longitudinal analysis techniques using VOSviewer and bibliometrix software. The study integrates various analytical approaches based on co-citation and co-occurrence analyses of keywords and the temporal evolution of research topics. Similarly, theories and factors frequently used in academic literature to address the subject under study are presented. Among these theories, Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (TPB) (1991) and Davis's technology acceptance model (TAM) (1989) stand out. Mapping techniques have provided evidence of the centrality of lines of research linked to trust in collaborative economy environments, risk perception, technological adaptation, and the use of social networks in hotel establishments. For its part, longitudinal analysis has identified emerging lines of research associated with customer engagement, strategic tourism management, and service quality. The findings afford a holistic and multidimensional view of e-commerce in the tourism sector, providing relevant information for the formulation of policies aimed at designing management strategies and promoting tourist destinations through digital platforms.
Emerging economies present significant growth opportunities for the medical device sector, yet these markets remain underexplored and face substantial financial, regulatory, and operational challenges. This study examines the key strategic factors for long-term business sustainability in untapped medical device markets in emerging economies, focusing on the prosthetics and orthotics industry within Pakistan’s economic and healthcare landscape. Using a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process–based multi-criteria decision-making framework, business growth drivers were evaluated and ranked based on expert opinions from the healthcare and business sectors, providing a comprehensive analysis of criteria. The findings identify finance as the most critical factor, followed by research and development and strategic supply chain management, highlighting the importance of strong financial planning, sustained innovation investment, and efficient supply chain integration for sustainable business growth. The analysis further indicates that supportive policy measures, regulatory improvements, and investment incentives are also essential for enhancing market scalability and strengthening enterprise development in emerging economies. The findings offer actionable insights for businesses, policymakers, and investors seeking to expand medical device enterprises in underserved markets. By integrating multi-criteria decision-making methodologies with healthcare economics, this study contributes to the business growth literature by proposing a structured priority-ranking system tailored to the challenges of emerging economies. It also provides a useful foundation for sustainable business expansion, innovation, and market development in the medical device sector.
This paper analyzes how different dimensions of financial literacy (financial knowledge, financial attitudes, and financial behavior) are associated with levels of risk aversion among owner-managers of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), adopting a gender-based configurational approach. Using survey data from Spanish SMEs collected by the Bank of Spain, this research applies fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to identify causal configurations of the dimensions of financial literacy that are linked to high levels of risk aversion and to examine gender-based differences in these configurational pathways.The results show that financial behavior constitutes a necessary condition for high risk aversion for both men and women. Beyond this shared condition, the sufficient configurations differ by gender. Among men, high risk aversion is associated with a single configuration combining financial knowledge and financial behavior. Among women, high risk aversion emerges through two alternative configurations in which financial behavior combines either with financial knowledge or with financial attitudes.Overall, the findings highlight the central role of financial behavior within financial literacy and suggest that gender differences in risk aversion are better explained by configurational patterns than by isolated financial literacy components.
This study compares three soft-skills coaching chatbot configurations in higher education: traditional AI, hybrid AI, and generative AI-only systems. In collaboration with Rocky.ai, a prominent European AI coaching chatbot company, we investigate a sample of 120 higher education business students and their acceptance and behavioural intention to use these systems for the development of soft skills. The study builds on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) by incorporating Perceived Risk (PR) and Perceived Trust (PT) and by examining additional mediational relationships among core constructs. The findings indicate that PT and Performance Expectancy (PE) are the most consequential explanatory mechanisms of behavioural intention across the compared models, whereas PR plays a more limited role under the present design and measurement approach. The comparison across chatbot configurations further suggests that users do not evaluate traditional, hybrid, and generative AI-only systems through identical acceptance dynamics. Rather than supporting the mainstream assumption that newer generative systems are necessarily better received, the results indicate that, in this educational coaching context, behavioural intention depends strongly on how users assess expected usefulness and trustworthiness. This study contributes to the chatbot literature, and particularly to the nascent coaching chatbot literature, by clarifying how trust, PE, and system configuration interact in shaping users’ intention to use AI-based coaching systems in higher education.
Different approaches focused on international issues have traditionally been used to analyze regional dynamics, especially the Global Value Chain approach. However, they do not capture the complexity of the new digital context, which includes new actors that do not participate directly in the value chain. The widespread adoption of digital technologies has reinforced the importance of Ecosystems Theory for understanding value chain transformation in terms of the development of new digital activities and firms. Under Ecosystems Theory, this study explores the network structure and roles of established industrial actors and emerging digital ones in a digital ecosystem. Based on a qualitative case study of a traditional European automotive industry region, the results indicate that the different actors form a relational structure, which allows this network to be interpreted as an ecosystem. Although the density of linkages is low, this does not imply low ecosystem cohesion, but rather that the linkages are selective. Modularity and the identification of two communities suggest that the ecosystem is organized into two blocks focused on each of the digital outputs (digital start-ups and new digital activities). Entrepreneurial traditional actors, university research institutes, the technological center, and the cluster related to digital technologies occupy a central position in each block with a high connectivity capacity with firms. Public administrations play the role of funders and equity participators, while scientific parks and traditional cluster act as integrators for firms into existing networks.
Marketing is a broad concept that is measured differently across empirical studies. Based on a literature review, we classify marketing into five dimensions: (i) customer-oriented marketing, (ii) capabilities (operational), (iii) relationship marketing, (iv) technology/digital marketing, and (v) strategic marketing. Drawing on the contingency theory and dynamic capability view, we conducted a meta-analysis of 83 empirical studies to examine how these dimensions, along with contingent factors (firm size, economic classification, and industry focus), influence business performance. Subgroup analyses identified which marketing dimensions improve specific performance outcomes. The results show that customer-oriented marketing positively affects customer performance, while relationship marketing is more strongly associated with operational performance. Moreover, marketing capabilities enhance financial and innovation performance, and technology/digital marketing positively affects financial outcomes. Strategic marketing demonstrates broad benefits across customer, financial, and operational performance. This study organizes marketing constructs into five dimensions and demonstrates their distinct effects on business performance. Unlike prior meta-analyses that treat marketing generically, this study proposes a refined dimensional framework, incorporates underexplored areas such as digital marketing, and examines contextual subgroup effects across marketing dimensions and performance metrics.
This study identifies the organizational profiles of Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that perceive the usefulness of digitalization most positively. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), a two-stage quantitative analysis was conducted on a sectorally and geographically stratified sample of 2827 Spanish SMEs using data from FAEDPYME. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and prediction-oriented segmentation (PLS-POS) were applied, combining FIMIX-PLS and IPMA. Employee training and competitiveness are the external variables with the greatest impact on perceived usefulness. Two analytical profiles are identified: Segment 1, market-oriented, associates digitalization with competitive advantage and customer satisfaction; Segment 2 (predominant in service micro-enterprises) links usefulness to internal capacity building and the reduction of labor absenteeism. Policy-making institutions should transition from horizontal subsidies to support programs tailored to the strategic profile of the enterprise (growth versus internal stability). This paper applies prediction-oriented segmentation to the TAM framework within the context of SME digitalization for the first time, providing a replicable methodology to identify highly receptive business profiles.
Grounded in the theoretical perspective of shared mental models, this study examines how team knowledge sharing influences team performance through team change capability. Specifically, it analyses team change capability as comprising learning, process, and context capabilities, and explores their roles in enhancing team performance. The study also investigates the moderating effect of collective efficacy on the relationship between team knowledge sharing and team change capability. Data were collected using a questionnaire distributed to 105 teams, with 673 respondents from group and multisource levels within the Regional Police at the resort and district police in Kalimantan province, Indonesia. The findings show that increased team knowledge sharing improves learning, process, and context capabilities, which subsequently enhance team performance. Furthermore, high collective efficacy strengthens the effect of team knowledge sharing on these capabilities. The article offers theoretical contributions and practical insights for police force administrators seeking to improve team performance.
Drawing on social presence and perceived value theories, this article uncovers key antecedents and consequences of perceived value in artificial intelligence-enabled mobile payment applications (AI-MPA). This research contributes to social presence and perceived value theories and advances the literature on artificial intelligence, mobile banking, and payments by empirically testing a conceptual model using a cross-sectional data set collected from AI-MPA users in Kazakhstan. Our findings indicate that perceived security and system quality are the key antecedent factors in the ISSM that predict perceived value. With regard to the outcomes of perceived value, our initial model shows that perceived value is a significant driver of e-WoM and sustained usage behaviour, but the ‘decomposed and respecified model’ analysis reveals that utilitarian value is the primary driver of these behaviours. Perceived value influences customer recommendation behaviour; however, this is also dependent on the availability of alternative service options. Utilitarian value drives recommendations and continued usage when attractive alternative service options are absent. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical study to investigate consumer perspectives on AI-MPA by integrating ISSM and perceived value theories, particularly in the context of competing alternative services.
Although ethical leadership (EL) is theorised to enhance employees’ commitment, the empirical base supporting this relationship is largely derived from Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic (WEIRD) contexts. Drawing on social exchange theory and the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity framework, we examine the relationship between EL and general commitment (GC), work-team processes, and perceived organisational performance in Peru. GC combines emotional attachment to the organisation with willingness to work towards organisational goals. Survey responses from 404 employees were analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling. EL was positively associated with GC, which in turn was positively related to work-team participation and consensus. Both GC and team participation were positively associated with perceived performance, whereas the direct EL–performance link was weak. Therefore, in this setting, EL appears to relate to performance mainly through GC and team processes. The study supports GC as a useful commitment dimension beyond classic affective commitment and offers guidance for managers seeking to build committed teams through ethical conduct.
What values drive financial risk-taking (FRT) in a household context? This study examines this question using a structured questionnaire survey on UK households, through the lenses of the theory of planned behaviour, value-belief-norm theory, and Rokeach values. The results indicate 1) a strong presence of intentional risk-takers (to whom risk is part of a household financial plan), 2) who rely on better financial knowledge to capitalize on FRT, and 3) reduce FRT if their perceived personal and family risks increase. Contrary to stereotypes, our results support that men are more risk-averse than women, due to higher uncertainty in the post-COVID period that affected household income and wealth. In the post-crisis period, there is an incentive to act on behalf of the household, influenced by altruistic values. There is a significant influence of risk adaptation in financially knowledgeable households. This challenges the traditional connection between risk and return: return is not only a function of perceived financial risk, but also associated with household and social risks. The results carry implications for financial markets, and potentially household and personal financial advice, given the rise of values in financial decision-making within and outside the household.
This paper presents a bibliometric analysis in the Mobile Commerce (MC) field to assess publication trends and thematic developments from 2000 to 2023. Using data from the Web of Science Core Collection and the SciMAT tool, the study identifies five stages in the evolution of MC, segmented according to technological advancements, and proposes a technology-driven periodization. Strategic diagrams and evolution maps are used to classify themes into motor, basic or transversal, specialised and peripheral, and emerging or declining categories.The results show a growing body of literature, reaching a peak in 2012 and maintaining sustained interest until 2022. Significant shifts in research themes are observed, moving from early technological aspects to user acceptance, satisfaction, consumer behaviour, trust, mobile marketing, and more recently, artificial intelligence and sustainability.The findings highlight that, despite ongoing challenges related to security and infrastructure, MC has a positive impact on economic growth and the continuous evolution of business practices. The study concludes by identifying future research directions, including customer journey analysis, value co-creation, and the integration of emerging technologies such as blockchain and augmented reality.
This study examines how positive emotions elicited by an entrepreneurial education programme influence university students’ entrepreneurial intention and self-perceived employability, in order to ascertain how affective states shape career-related decisions in higher education. An empirical research was conducted with 117 marketing and market research students from a Spanish public university who participated in two innovative entrepreneurship training activities. Emotions were captured through a neuroscience-based Emotion AI system using convolutional neural networks, while entrepreneurial intention, perceived behavioural control, social norms, personal attitudes and employability were measured using a theory of planned behaviour questionnaire administered before and after the activities, and the proposed model was estimated using the partial least squares path modelling (PLS-SEM) method. This method was employed due to its suitability for exploratory models and complex relationships. The results indicate that positive emotions significantly increase perceived behavioural control, which in turn reinforces entrepreneurial intention and, ultimately, students’ perceived employability. The study contributes to link entrepreneurial intention and employability using neuroscientific tools unlike previous studies. Additionally, it provides practical guidance for designing entrepreneurship programmes that deliberately evoke positive emotions and promote soft skills.
Influence tactics (ITs) are a crucial tool used by salespeople to persuade prospects and boost sales performance. This study examines the effect of influence tactics (ITs) on salesperson performance and the moderating role of simpatia in this relationship. A meta-analysis of 18 studies (N = 5187) and a field study with 230 salespeople in Chile were conducted to evaluate how different IT categories—rational, emotional, and coercive—affect performance outcomes. The findings indicate that the ITs-performance relationship is influenced by whether the salesperson employs rational, emotional, or coercive IT tactics. The effect of coercive tactics on performance is insignificant when salespeople use threats or personal appeals. Rational and emotional ITs, as well as promises, positively impact sales performance. Both rational and emotional effects ITs on performance are moderated by simpatia, an important yet understudied characteristic of Hispanic salespeople. Simpatia enhances the impact of emotional ITs on salesperson performance while reducing the effects of rational tactics. These findings help resolve previous inconsistencies in the IT–performance relationship by showing that tactic effectiveness depends on both its nature and the cultural-interpersonal context. Therefore, this study makes novel contributions to literature by identifying simpatia as a key factor in persuasive dynamics in sales. In practice, the results provide actionable guidance for salespeople and managers, encouraging them to adjust their influence strategies not only based on the type of tactic used but also on the cultural traits of their salesforce.
Contrary to the conventional view that strong leader-member relationships naturally guarantee proactive cybersecurity efforts, this study uncovers a more intricate reality: caring leadership without tangible employee empowerment and accountability can stall precaution-taking information security behaviour. Drawing on leader-member-exchange theory, we shift the focus from individual motivators to relational dynamics, emphasizing that employees’ extra-role security behaviours hinge on more than mere managerial support. Through a survey of 433 employees in Vietnamese firms, our findings reveal no direct effect of leader-member-exchange on precaution-taking information security behaviour; instead, accountability and psychological empowerment fully mediate this relationship. These results indicate that high quality leader-member-exchange is not, by itself, sufficient to explain sustained precaution taking security engagement. Instead, our evidence suggests that when leaders only care without simultaneously equipping employees with clear responsibilities (accountability) and genuine autonomy to take security precautions, and that elevated security expectations may lead to frustration or minimal compliance. By highlighting these tensions, this study expands the theoretical discourse on information security from main individualistic perspectives to the nuanced interplay of leader-employee interactions, offering a fresh rationale for why simply being supportive may not yield the desired secure behaviours. For practitioners, rather than relying on goodwill alone, organisations must ensure that accountability structures and empowerment practices are woven into the fabric of leadership styles to transform supportive relationships into robust, precaution-taking security practices.
This study aims to analyse how corporate governance and digitalisation factors influence the online reputation of Spanish wine cooperative societies. The study considers all cooperatives with their own corporate website and applies the fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to five analytical factors: board size, board gender diversity, online corporate social responsibility disclosure, website security, and corporate size. The results identify five causal configurations associated with higher levels of perceived online reputation. For example, online reputation emerges from multiple combinations of governance and digitalisation practices and underscores the strategic importance of cybersecurity and transparency for wine cooperatives. A key limitation is the study’s focus on a single country (Spain) and a single sector (wine industry). As a practical implication, the findings offer guidance for organisations seeking to strengthen their online reputation. Socially responsible practices and gender diversity on the governing board—two variables with notable social impact—also contribute to shaping online reputation. The study’s main contribution is its illumination of an underexplored topic in the wine sector (i.e. online reputation) with the aim of enriching academic literature and transferring the resulting insights to the business community.
The growing regulatory emphasis on sustainable finance has not translated uniformly into substantive changes in investments decision-making across financial institutions. This study investigates why similar regulatory pressures lead to different sustainability outcomes. It does so by examining the role of leadership styles and organizational culture as internal drivers shaping interest in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), knowledge of sustainable finance, and by incorporating Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria into investment decision-making. Using a qualitative approach based on Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCM) and expert input from senior professionals in the financial sector, the study models the casual relationships between leadership and organizational culture in sustainable investment decisions in a highly regulated context. The main results highlight that authoritarian leadership facilitates initial compliance with regulatory requirements, while transformational leadership and adhocracy cultures promote a deeper and more strategic integration of sustainability. Furthermore, variables such as commitment, training, and reputation emerge as key mediators in the adoption of sustainable practices. The study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that sustainable finance regulation alone is insufficient to ensure meaningful sustainability integration unless it is internalized through specific leadership and cultural configurations. These findings offer relevant insights for financial institutions and policymakers seeking to promote credible, effective, and strategically embedded sustainable investment practices.
Motivated by theoretical insights from the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities, and social network theories, we examine how internal capabilities, prior innovation experience, and collaborative ties jointly shape firms’ green innovation. Hence, we study the drivers of green innovation using firm-level panel data from Spain (2003–2016), leveraging lasso and double machine learning (DML) methods. Our findings highlight that internal R&D expenditures, firm age, external R&D partnerships, and lagged product and process innovations are robust and important predictors of green innovation. We provide new causal evidence of the path-dependent nature of green innovation, with prior innovations exerting persistent treatment effects across multiple periods. The mediation analysis further reveals that collaborative R&D serves as a critical channel through which innovation capabilities are mobilized. These results underscore the complementarity between internal resources and external knowledge access, which enables firms to reconfigure their capabilities in response to environmental imperatives. This evidence has implications for innovation policy design and suggests that targeted support for R&D investment and collaboration can enhance firms’ adaptive capacities for green innovation.
This study examines how robustness and renewal capabilities jointly determine firm resilience across the complete COVID-19 life-cycle crisis. Using survey data from 4100 firms worldwide and structural equation modelling, we analyse resilience dynamics across both the acute disruption phase and the subsequent recovery phase. The results confirm a sequential relationship: robustness capabilities significantly support short-term performance stability, while renewal capabilities drive post-crisis performance recovery. The interaction between both capabilities further amplifies sustainable performance outcomes, highlighting the importance of managing resilience as a dynamic capability process rather than a static attribute. Research rigour is ensured through multiple robustness checks, measurement validation and alternative model specifications. The findings contribute to the literature on resilience and stakeholder-driven strategies and offer managerial guidance on capability deployment before, during, and after major disruptions
