Purpose This article develops a multi-level cybernetic framework conceptualising trust as the primary complexity-reducing medium in digital financial inclusion (DFI) systems, integrating Luhmann's social systems theory, Beer's viable system model (VSM) and the algorithmic-trust accounts of Esposito and Coeckelbergh. Design/methodology/approach Following Jaakkola's (2020) typology, this is a theory-synthesis article. Each source tradition's role is tiered: core ontology (Luhmann), core structure (Beer), algorithmic bridge (Esposito and Coeckelbergh), micro–macro connector (Sessions and institutionalisation theory) and empirical domain (DFI scholarship). Five theoretically derived propositions are developed. Findings DFI is modelled as an operationally semi-autonomous sub-system: self-referentially closed over its own recursive decision communications while remaining programmatically subordinate to the economy's payment code. Within it, trust attenuates environmental variety across three modalities – interpersonal, institutional and algorithmic – mapped onto Beer's five systems via explicit derivation rules that constitute a preferred, rule-governed mapping. Second-order reflexivity explains how trust deficits destabilise inclusion pathways and how trust repair stabilises the ecosystem under turbulence. Practical implications The mapping locates systemic vulnerabilities, the S2 channel specifies how actors at different levels mesh and the framework supports maturity-stage-differentiated regulation and gender-responsive trust architecture (SDG 5). Originality/value The article (1) clarifies the code/programme status of inclusion/exclusion, (2) maps tri-modal trust onto VSM levels through explicit derivation rules, (3) extends Luhmann to algorithmic actors and (4) establishes second-order reflexivity – a recursively interacting, five-component capacity – as an independent determinant of trust resilience.
Purpose This theoretical review examines a fundamental epistemological error in public administration: the tendency of the state to act as a “first-order external observer”. From this perspective, the state apparatus designs policies by viewing society as a predictable “Trivial Machine”, expecting perfectly linear outcomes. Observations, however, suggest that citizens operate as highly complex systems equipped with memory and the capacity for strategic adaptation. Design/methodology/approach The present analysis identifies one overarching theoretical gap in the literature, which unfolds across three interconnected dimensions. Drawing on a corpus of 128 studies, we construct the Synthetic Causal Loop Model through a Theory Building Review methodology following PRISMA standards, combining systematic review with rigorous conceptual synthesis. Findings The framework suggests that the compliance costs imposed by the state ultimately rebound against it, not as a result of individual discretion but as a structural management failure. The model identifies four dynamic phases: Bureaucratic Trivialization, Non-Trivial Adaptation, Administrative Debt Accumulation and Reflexive Governance. It proposes a shift towards second-order cybernetics, where the administration actively reprograms its own rules, expanding citizen options in accordance with the Ethical Imperative. Originality/value This paper distinguishes Reflexive Governance from classical Street-Level Bureaucracy (Lipsky, 1980), framing institutional flexibility as second-order systemic reprogramming rather than individual discretion. It introduces Administrative Debt as a stock variable within a system dynamics architecture, offering a diagnostic and prognostic framework for public policy failure.
Purpose This study maps Heinz von Foerster's intellectual legacy through bibliometric analysis. Whether von Foerster's influence forms an integrated program or fragmented streams has not been tested. Design/methodology/approach A bibliometric analysis of 252 Scopus-indexed articles (1981–2025) was conducted using the Bibliometrix R package (Biblioshiny) and VOSviewer, integrating co-authorship, keyword co-occurrence, co-citation and thematic evolution analyses. Findings Fourteen collaborative clusters emerge, each developing distinct aspects of von Foerster's legacy. Three novel insights emerge: (1) von Foerster's legacy is structurally fragmented with minimal cross-citation, (2) he functions as a boundary object appropriated by diverse communities and (3) a temporal shift from epistemology (1981–2005) to application (2022–2025) confirms his aspiration for a useful science while deepening fragmentation. Research limitations/implications Reliance on a single database (Scopus), exclusion of non-English publications and temporal coverage from 1981 onwards. Future research should expand the data sources and conduct qualitative cluster analyses. Originality/value This first bibliometric mapping of von Foerster's legacy offers a data-driven corrective to narrative accounts presenting second-order cybernetics as coherent. Revealing structural fragmentation, boundary object dynamics and epistemological-to-applied shifts opens new agendas for managing fragmentation to enrich the field's diversity without sacrificing intellectual coherence.
Purpose Quiet quitting has emerged as a growing concern particularly in healthcare settings where discretionary effort is critical for coordination, resilience and patient care. Against this backdrop, this study examines how despotic leadership (DL) shapes quiet quitting (QQ) in hospital settings. Grounded in conservation of resources theory and self-regulation perspectives, we theorize that DL drains employees’ self-control resources, thereby fostering withdrawal and that supervisor organizational embodiment (SOE) alters the strength of these associations. Design/methodology/approach A sequential, multi-method design was used. Study 1 employed an experiment with healthcare employees in China (N = 137). Study 2 was a time-lagged field study collected in three waves with hospital management units (N = 320). Findings Our analysis reveals that higher DL was associated with stronger QQ. Ego depletion (ED) mediated this relationship in both the experimental and field settings. In Study 2, SOE moderated the indirect path such that the ED pathway from DL to QQ was stronger when employees perceived supervisors as strong embodiments of the organization. Practical implications This study spotlights how DL and SOE shape employees’ willingness to contribute, revealing actionable levers to curb quiet quitting. The findings guide policymakers and employers on supervision, resource protection and identity-safe communication. Originality/value The research reframes quiet quitting as a resource-driven withdrawal response to DL, extending the phenomenon beyond generic disengagement accounts. By integrating COR and self-regulation perspectives with SOE, it offers a coherent process explanation for how and when DL encourages withdrawal.
Purpose This study aims to examine how digital cultural values, collaboration, innovation and customer-centricity enable successful technological adoption in the banking sector's digital transformation journey. It explores how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), blockchain and metaverse-based interfaces are integrated to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency, with emphasis on the role of shared values in shaping strategy, leadership and organizational readiness. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative, case-based exploratory design is adopted. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with senior managers across strategy, innovation, technology and customer experience functions. These were supplemented with secondary sources, including policy documents, digital strategy reports and industry analyses. Thematic analysis was used to identify cultural patterns and organizational factors influencing digital adoption in a regulated banking context. Findings The findings show that digital cultural values are critical enablers of successful technological adoption. Collaboration enhances cross-functional coordination and accelerates integration of emerging technologies. Innovation fosters experimentation and openness to AI, ML and immersive tools. Customer-centricity ensures that digital investments improve accessibility, transparency and service quality. Collectively, these values strengthen adaptability, operational efficiency and ecosystem integration, highlighting that cultural alignment is as important as technological capability in digital transformation. Originality/value The study positions digital cultural values as central enablers of technology adoption, extending digital transformation literature beyond technological capability perspectives. It contributes to theory by showing how shared values mediate the relationship between emerging technologies and service transformation in regulated banking environments. Practically, it offers guidance for building culturally aligned digital strategies that improve adoption, trust and customer experience.
Purpose This perspective article argues that cybernetic epistemology can help family business and business family research address problems that are difficult to capture through entity-based categories, linear causal explanation and insufficiently reflexive accounts of observation. It shows that cybernetics is particularly suited to phenomena in which family and business recursively constitute, irritate and transform one another through communication, feedback, conflict, paradox and observation. Design/methodology/approach The article reviews family business and business family research for explicit and tacit uses of cybernetic concepts and reconstructs these uses as indications of an underdeveloped cybernetic sensibility in the field. Building on second-order cybernetics, it then outlines abductive cybernetic theorising as a way of developing viable explanatory models of recursive family-business dynamics. Findings The article shows that cybernetic concepts such as circularity, feedback, double bind, schismogenesis, coevolution, paradox and communication patterns already inform parts of family business research, often without being explicitly recognised as cybernetic. Making this epistemological background explicit allows researchers to move from static distinctions between family and business to relational models of recursive coupling, conflict escalation, succession, governance and identity formation. Originality/value The article contributes by reframing cybernetics not as an additional conceptual vocabulary, but as a distinct mode of theorising family business phenomena. It specifies how cybernetic epistemology can generate new research questions, distinctions and explanatory models, and how it can support more reflexive research and practice in a field marked by circular causality, paradox and observer-dependent realities.
Purpose This paper addresses a persistent limitation in second-order cybernetics: the lack of a formal differentiation capable of distinguishing between modes of structural stability and modes of relational viability in complex systems. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a theoretical and conceptual approach, grounded in the operational epistemology of second-order cybernetics. It critically examines the role of interaction, information and recursive observation as dominant explanatory frameworks and situates their limitations within recent developments in systems theory and cybernetics. Building on this analysis, it introduces triferential relational logic (TRL) as a minimal relational differentiation. Findings The analysis shows that interactional density, informational throughput and recursive closure are insufficient to discriminate between configurations that remain stable and those that remain viable under conditions of relational complexity. TRL addresses this limitation by introducing three relational invariants - position, function and sense - that operate as conditions of relational viability. This allows for distinguishing configurations that conserve relational coherence from those that, despite stability, become structurally vulnerable. Originality/value The paper contributes to cybernetic theory by proposing a formal extension that shifts the analytical focus from recursive observation toward relational viability. Rather than introducing a new level of recursion, it provides a minimal relational differentiation compatible with second-order cybernetics. As a viewpoint contribution, it offers a theoretically grounded proposal that opens new directions for analyzing organizational, social and socio-technical systems.
Purpose This study aims to examine the evolving challenges and emerging solutions related to students' academic integrity in higher education amid the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), particularly tools such as ChatGPT. It explores how these technologies are reshaping students' approaches to learning, authorship, and assessment, while simultaneously challenging established notions of originality, ethical conduct, and academic responsibility. Design/methodology/approach A narrative review methodology was employed, encompassing a broad range of scholarly and policy-oriented sources published between 2019 and 2025. The reviewed literature includes peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, books, theses, and other relevant scholarly contributions. The initial search identified 532 studies, which were systematically screened based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Following duplicate removal, title and abstract screening, and full-text assessment, 101 publications were retained for qualitative synthesis. A thematic analysis was conducted to identify key challenges and corresponding response strategies, with particular emphasis on student behavior, assessment practices, and institutional responses within GenAI-integrated learning environments. Findings The review identifies ten major challenges to students' academic integrity in the GenAI era, including ethical ambiguity, the absence of clear institutional policies, vulnerabilities in assessment design, and the limited effectiveness of AI-detection tools. Journal articles constituted the dominant publication type, accounting for approximately 84% of the reviewed studies (85 out of 101), indicating strong and sustained scholarly engagement with the topic. The temporal distribution of publications reveals a sharp increase in academic interest from 2023 onward, with the most substantial growth occurring in 2024 and continuing into 2025. Proposed responses emphasize assessment redesign, the integration of digital and AI literacy initiatives, student-centered ethics education, and the development of institutional frameworks that promote responsible and transparent AI use. Originality/value This paper provides a timely and comprehensive synthesis of current research on students' academic integrity in the context of generative AI. It highlights the urgency of safeguarding core academic values while embracing technological innovation and advocates for balanced, evidence-based strategies that support responsible student engagement with AI tools. By offering a nuanced understanding of how generative AI intersects with student ethics, learning practices, and institutional governance, this study contributes to ongoing scholarly discourse, informs educational policy development, and supports the cultivation of integrity-driven practices in AI-enhanced academic environments.
Purpose Organizations increasingly operate under persistent digital technological turbulence, where traditional capability-outcome explanations offer limited insight into how they sustain decision-making under continuous perturbation. This study addresses this gap by reconceptualizing organizational digital resilience as decision continuity, a second-order system property reflecting the capacity to maintain recursive decision processes. By shifting from linear causality to systemic self-regulation, the study aims to provide a theoretically grounded explanation of how organizations remain viable in digitally mediated environments characterized by complexity, uncertainty and rapid technological change. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on second-order cybernetics and systems theory, digital ambidexterity and digital agility are interpreted as mechanisms of structural coupling and temporal regulation, respectively, while digital technological turbulence is conceptualized as environmental perturbation. Survey data were collected from 311 managers in digitally intensive organizations. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed as an observational analytical device to examine relational patterns among constructs, with parameters interpreted as indicators of structural alignment rather than causal effects. Findings The results reveal stable and statistically significant relational patterns among constructs. Digital ambidexterity is strongly associated with digital agility (ß = 0.471, p < 0.001) and organizational digital resilience (ß = 0.502, p < 0.001), while digital agility also shows a positive association with resilience (ß = 0.228, p < 0.01). The model explains 40.4% of variance in agility (R2 = 0.404) and 48.5% in resilience (R2 = 0.485). These patterns support the interpretation of resilience as an emergent property of aligned structural and temporal regulation under turbulence. Originality/value This study advances digital resilience research by introducing a second-order cybernetic perspective that reframes resilience as a process of recursive self-regulation rather than a capability-driven outcome. Methodologically, it demonstrates the use of PLS-SEM as a non-causal observational tool. The findings offer a novel systemic lens for understanding organizational viability and contribute to ongoing debates on complexity, digital transformation and systems thinking.
Purpose- This study investigates how digital communication is transforming social addressing in modern, functionally differentiated society. Drawing on Niklas Luhmann's systems theory, it examines the shift from polycontextural addressing - where individuals are addressed differently across functional systems - to monocontextural, profile-based addressing enabled by persistent digital user profiles. It also evaluates whether it is scientifically meaningful to grant social addressability to machines such as chatbots. Design/methodology/approach- The analysis employs a functional-structural approach grounded exclusively in sociological systems theory. Building on a systems-theoretical understanding of social addresses, addressability is conceptualized as a medium of loosely coupled elements and empirically tested through systematic investigation of developments in the fields of digital identification, surveillance technologies, biometric data and social credit mechanisms. Findings- Digital communication has enabled a societal shift from polycontextural to monocontextural addressing through user profiles, Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) - card registration, biometric identification and digital identity systems. This monocontextural addressability allows personal characteristics to take precedence over functional and factual criteria, enabling organizational regulation of access to social spheres - as was observable during the COVID-19 lockdowns, in the Chinese social credit system, and in morally charged culture wars. This development carries the potential for totalitarian organizational forms. Regarding chatbots, scientifically meaningful addressability presupposes autopoiesis based on transistor-bound operations, which have not yet been realized. Originality/value- The study reconceptualizes addressability as a societal medium and provides a novel systems-theoretical diagnosis linking digital communication, the erosion of functional differentiation and the decoupling of social addresses from individual consciousness. It connects chatbot addressability to broader structural transformations rather than treating it as an isolated technological phenomenon.
Purpose To formalize Watzlawick, Beavin and Jackson’s pragmatics of human communication as a level-separated, testable axiom system suitable for second-order cybernetics, so that paradox, reflexivity and context-dependence are treated as phenomena to be modeled rather than pathologies to be excluded. Design/methodology/approach We restate five classical propositions as axioms for unavoidability, meta-inevitability, code choice, observer-dependent punctuation and relational dynamics (A1–A5), and extend them with five interactional axioms (A6–A10) for turn-taking, repair, common ground, relevance defaults and public–private channel separation. We derive short theorems, specify counter-models to test axiom independence, and propose interpretive posterior entropy as an observable for code-variance and leakage effects. Findings The axiom set preserves Watzlawick–Bateson insights while making them empirically usable. It explains how divergent punctuation can produce reciprocal blame, how repeated meta-signals stabilize complementary or symmetric dyads and how code/leakage choices constrain interpretive uncertainty. The framework applies to human–human and socio-technical (human–AI, multi-agent) interaction. Research limitations/implications The paper is primarily theoretical; empirical validation requires interactional corpora annotated for relational/meta content, timing/repair moves and code/leakage features, plus experimental manipulations of observer segmentation. Future work can implement belief-update operators (e.g. AGM-style) and compare entropy-based predictions across media. Practical implications The axioms can inform the design of dialogue protocols, training for mediation/facilitation and human–AI interfaces that accommodate mis-punctuation and repair. Implementing A6–A8 in dialogue managers should reduce human–machine misunderstandings. Social implications By formalizing how escalation and relational locking emerge from observer-dependent segmentation, the framework helps diagnose and pre-empt interactional pathologies in organizational, intercultural and participatory/SDD settings. Originality/value The article shows that pragmatic interaction can be rendered in an observer-dependent, second-order cybernetic calculus that yields testable predictions — something often considered impossible for paradox-rich communication. It bridges Bateson–Watzlawick pragmatics, conversation analysis and contemporary systems/cybernetics.
Purpose - Policy integration has gained a lot of attention in the past few decades; however, many existing studies focus on policy process integration, and much fewer on policy product integration (based on the policy content or designs themselves), which is due to a lack of valid and reliable methods. This research provides insights into a conceptual systems perspective to study policy product integration from a policy design-as-content perspective. The argument is that policy content is an abstractable unit of analysis in policy design and integration, making it amenable to the systems-based integrative propositional analysis (IPA) method, which studies policy content and their interactions as conceptual systems. The theoretical point of departure is that there are deep structural similarities between the domains of systems (including physical, conceptual, social, etc.) and that the insights of one system allow for similarities to be exploited and transferred to understanding the other. Design/methodology/approach - The systems-based IPA is used in an illustrative case study of three Nigerian policies that are aligned to nutrition, which enables policy interaction assessments and the building of policy landscapes (integrated conceptually) based on the mapping capabilities enabled by the IPA. Findings - Using the illustrative case study of three Nigerian policies aligned to nutrition, preliminary findings suggest that: (1) the propositions in policy content provide a "universal language" to facilitate policy product integration, (2) there are various modes of interaction between policies in a policy landscape and (3) there are various degrees of integration based on the structure of the policy landscape. Practical implications - When developing policies, the policy interaction based on the mapping of policy statements into a larger system of interaction, the policy landscape, is useful throughout the public policy process, providing some diagnostic and descriptive insights for policy makers. Originality/value - This systems-based analysis of policy product integration using the IPA provides a methodology to study the interactions of policies and develop a policy landscape (integrated policy map) of various policies, which has not been possible with current approaches.
Purpose The current study examines the impact of happiness and well-being on science and technology perceptions. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon the World Values Survey (WVS), the dataset for the included six countries, one from each of the world's inhabited continents, contains a total of 12,126 observations of individuals. Findings The regression clearly confirms a relationship between happiness/well-being and technology perceptions. Females are generally less positive about technology. There is a tendency for old people (60+) to be less positive about technology compared to the young generation (<30 years). Overall, the findings indicate a more polarized view on technology in the global south compared to the global north. Social implications Governments should recognize that digital inclusion strategies are not merely about economic utility but also public well-being. Policies must ensure meaningful, empowering, and safe technology use, not just mere access. This could involve initiating digital literacy programs that focus on community building and mental health safeguards, rather than only basic mechanical skills. The polarization suggests a need for public dialogues to shape a shared vision of an inevitable, increasingly digital future. Originality/value Most of the literature explores the impact of technology on happiness, and consequently, less is known about how the level of happiness and well-being impacts science and technology perceptions. The current study attempts to address this gap in the literature.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to uncover the relevant environmental (macroeconomic, technological and demographic) predictors of crypto adoption at the country level through the lens of institutional and entrepreneurship theories.Design/methodology/approach The study utilizes three different empirical methods to examine the determinants of crypto adoption (1) automatic machine learning (AML), (2) SHAP analysis and (3) cluster analysis, using 20 independent variables, cross-sectional data of 137 nations. The different methods allow for the identification of the most important determinants, direction of influence, nonlinear relationships and clustering of the different countries. We also performed some robustness tests using OLS and Random Forest analyses.Findings The AML analysis identified governance stability, informal entrepreneurship and network readiness as the most critical predictors of national cryptocurrency adoption. Partial dependence plot (PDP) and SHAP analyses revealed a strong negative correlation for governance stability, while informal entrepreneurship and the network readiness index exhibit strong positive impacts on adoption. The models further indicate that cryptocurrency diffusion is positively driven by favorable crypto legality, higher inflation rates, mobile phone penetration and moderate unemployment, but is negatively impacted by strong fiscal balances, high Moody's credit ratings and high formal new business density. Finally, cluster analysis corroborates these complex dynamics, demonstrating that emerging economies characterized by lower governance stability achieve higher adoption rankings than highly stable, tech-ready developed economies.Originality/value We checked two leading theories - institutional and entrepreneurship - of crypto adoption and found that the Kirznerian entrepreneurship explanation is better suited. The leading variables show that worse institutions and informal entrepreneurship promote adoption, rather than discourage it. In addition, the cluster analysis reveals different typologies of adoption based on economic development.
Purpose The digital transformation of social research has significantly expanded the empirical and methodological capacities of the social sciences. Yet, social theory itself remains largely shaped by analogue modes of thinking and writing. This paper aims to explore what a digital transformation of social theory would entail, with particular attention to the implications for theory construction and academic writing. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a systems-theoretical and distinction-based perspective on social theorising. Building on the paradox of true distinctions, it outlines the basic operations of digital social theory as the construction, combination and recombination of distinctions. The argument is developed through conceptual analysis and illustrative examples, including the translation of prominent false distinctions into architectures of true distinctions. Findings The paper identifies two key implications of digitally transformed theorising. First, digital theory architectures possess the capacity to emulate diverse forms of analogue theory by translating false distinctions into true ones and generating further distinctions from these. This capacity introduces both a new criterion of theoretical robustness and a corresponding methodological challenge. Second, the linear format of conventional academic writing proves inadequate for representing and developing such architectures. This limitation points to the need for repository-based forms of academic writing and collaboration that allow for modular, iterative and problem-oriented theory development. Originality/value The paper contributes to the emerging research programme on the digital transformation of social research by shifting the focus from digital methods and empirical applications to the transformation of social theory itself. It introduces the problem of theory emulation as a central concern for digital theorising and proposes repository-based academic writing as a corresponding organisational form. In doing so, it outlines a pathway towards the development of social theoretical infrastructures capable of integrating and emulating both analogue and digital theories.
PurposeThe rapid proliferation of generative AI tools has reshaped brainstorming practices while introducing new technostress risks. Although prior studies have explored AI-induced technostress and its impact on user attitudes, the mechanisms through which specific AI characteristics trigger technostress in collaborative brainstorming remain unknown. To address this gap, this study applies the person-technology fit model to examine how key AI technology characteristics affect outcomes across two stages of brainstorming through technostress: creative performance during idea generation and idea selection preference during idea selection.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted with 409 participants recruited via Credamo, a professional online survey platform in China. The collected data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe results show that AI intransparency and knowledge hallucination positively influence AI control anxiety, which in turn negatively affects both user creative performance and user idea selection preference for AI-generated ideas. Furthermore, AI control anxiety mediates the relationships between AI technology characteristics and both creative performance and idea selection preference. Additionally, user coping flexibility was found to negatively moderate the relationship between AI control anxiety and creative performance, such that individuals with higher coping flexibility experienced a weaker negative effect of AI control anxiety on their creative performance.Originality/valueThis study revealed the antecedents of technostress in human-AI collaborative brainstorming from the perspective of AI technology characteristics. By introducing AI control anxiety as a key construct, this study extends the applicability of the person-technology fit model, and provides a new lens for understanding existing constraints in human-AI collaborative brainstorming tasks.
Purpose-This paper introduces Biovariety (BV), a triferential relational indicator designed to overcome the limitations of traditional biodiversity metrics by assessing the relational viability of ecosystems rather than their observable diversity. The purpose is to provide a non-compensatory, structurally transparent framework capable of distinguishing between apparent diversity and functional resilience. Design/methodology/approach-The study develops a formal architecture integrating three non-substitutable dimensions: Position (structural adequacy), Function (processual contribution), and Stability/Meaning (socioecological legitimacy). The index incorporates a viability threshold (V_req) and generates adaptive reserves (VNRe). Empirical validation is conducted through holomatrix-based modelling, comparative scenario analysis, and application to real ecological datasets. Findings-The results show that systems with moderate-high species richness may operate below their relational viability threshold (BV < V_req), while structurally coherent systems with lower taxonomic diversity may retain positive adaptive reserves (VNRe >0). BV reveals structural bottlenecks, detects functional nonequivalence, and captures stabilizing symbolic attributes overlooked by conventional indicators. The model enables early detection of latent collapse conditions. Research limitations/implications-BV requires distributed temporal and spatial data, and the operationalization of the Stability/Meaning dimension (Bs) demands standardized protocols. Further work should expand counterfactual simulations for stress-testing ecosystem interventions. Practical implications-BV supports real-time ecological management by integrating dashboards, weekly proxy monitoring, and non-compensatory thresholds. It enables earlier, more precise decision-making in conservation, restoration, and productive contexts by identifying relational degradation before functional collapse occurs. Social implications-The Biovariety Index challenges top-down conservation by formally integrating sociocultural meaning (Bs) into ecological health assessments. This empowers local and Indigenous communities, whose knowledge and symbolic practices are recognized as vital for ecosystem viability. The framework provides a transparent, auditable tool for environmental justice, ensuring that conservation strategies are not only ecologically sound but also socially legitimate and culturally sustainable. By quantifying the social dimension of resilience, it helps prevent conflicts and fosters co-designed, equitable land management. Originality/value-The paper provides the first relational, non-compensatory metric of ecosystem viability grounded in Triferential Relational Logic. It reframes biodiversity from accounting of components to analysis of relational plasticity, offering significant value for ecological modelling, environmental governance, and complexity-based sustainability science.
PurposeDigital transformation (DT) is widely recognised as a strategic imperative for organisations seeking to sustain competitiveness in increasingly digitalised environments. Despite extensive research, empirical evidence on how digital transformation translates into financial and non-financial performance remains inconclusive. This study addresses this gap by proposing and empirically testing a model that links digital maturity to organisational performance through internal process efficiency as a process-based mediating mechanism.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on survey data from 300 managers in Croatian enterprises across multiple industries and tests the proposed model using structural equation modelling (SEM) to examine both direct and mediated relationships.FindingsThe results show that both managerial and technological dimensions of digital maturity are positively associated with internal process efficiency, which in turn enhances financial and non-financial performance. The mediating role of internal process efficiency has been confirmed, particularly in contexts where strategic readiness alone does not translate into operational outcomes.Practical implicationsThe findings indicate that digital maturity should not be approached only as a technological upgrade, but as an organisational transformation that requires integrating strategic intent, technological capabilities, and internal process redesign. The proposed model helps decision-makers align digital investments with process optimisation to improve organisational performance.Originality/valueThis study advances the literature by introducing a two-dimensional operationalisation of digital maturity and empirically validating the mediating role of internal process efficiency in a transitional economy context. The findings provide novel empirical evidence on this mechanism within a European transitional economy.
