Purpose Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a critical pillar of the European economy, contributing to employment, regional and global development. However, many SMEs face heightened failure risks linked to limited financial resources, labour market pressures and significant knowledge loss. Developing strong managerial competencies has emerged as a key strategy for improving organisational performance and long-term sustainability. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift from traditional training to online learning, yet research remains limited, this paper examines how digital learning environments can support the development of managerial capabilities within SMEs. Design/methodology/approach To understand how online learning can enhance knowledge acquisition, retention and sharing within management teams in European technology SMEs, Ireland was chosen as a case study in the tech sector to identify start-ups launching trends through FAME database analysis, followed by a critical literature review to design a theoretical framework that adopts pedagogical approaches to business education. Findings The findings contribute to theory by developing a conceptual framework which helps start-up executives reassess their role in working with knowledge as a critical managerial capability through online learning mechanisms. This pathway leverages critical enablers, overcomes barriers and boosts managerial skills development. This framework supports knowledge acquisition, retention practices and knowledge sharing across teams to support business performance and competitive advantage. Originality/value The effectiveness of online learning depends on organisational culture, digital readiness and alignment between learning goals and managerial tasks. The conceptual framework developed in this study highlights the pathways by which SMEs can leverage online learning to build robust knowledge management capabilities. In addition, the framework offers practical managerial recommendations for its use.
Purpose This study aims to examine how artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled human resource (HR) practices foster agile talent deployment within startup firms, particularly highlighting the mediating role of trust in AI and the moderating influence of digital culture climate. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on self-determination theory, the authors propose and empirically test a moderated mediation model using data collected from a three-wave, multisource survey of 298 employees working in three technology-oriented startups in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Structural equation modeling was used to examine the measurement and structural models and to test the hypothesized relationships among AI-enabled HR practices, trust in AI, digital culture climate and agile talent deployment. Findings Results reveal that AI-enabled HR practices positively influence agile talent deployment through increased employee trust in AI. In addition, the mediated relationship is stronger within organizations characterized by a robust digital culture climate, indicating that a digitally supportive organizational context enhances the effectiveness of AI-enabled HR initiatives. Originality/value The paper advances AI-enabled human resource management research by framing trust in AI as a mechanism translating supportive, transparent HR systems into agile talent deployment rather than technology acceptance. It identifies digital culture climate as an enactment condition enabling trust to become adaptive action. Practically, HR leaders should align explainable AI, trust-building practices and digital norms to strengthen workforce agility.
Purpose This paper aims to explain why digitally supported continuous improvement can remain visibly active while becoming learning-weak in enacted practice under trace visibility. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative, mechanism-oriented cross-case analysis of eight external case accounts from industrial manufacturing settings of different organizational sizes, supplemented by one reflective practitioner account used solely as contextual contrast, the study reconstructs phase-internal profiles of learning conditions, trace cues, recurrent distortions and boundary conditions. Findings Trace-producing improvement systems can sustain visible activity while enacted learning weakens under conditions of social exposure. The analysis identifies four corpus-grounded configurations: symbolic participation, scope retreat, parallel coordination channels and visibility without shared interpretation. Reporting drift is retained only as a bounded risk within the Value realization lens, while continuation without documented reconsideration is retained as a tentative risk pattern in the Renewal lens. Research limitations/implications The paper offers a bounded mechanism-based explanation rather than prevalence estimates, outcome claims or intervention-effect evidence. It supports analytic generalization about learning-weak enactment under trace visibility without proposing a maturity model. Originality/value Rather than adding another list of workplace-learning antecedents, the paper specifies how durable, attributable and reviewable digital traces can redirect established learning conditions within CI phases and synthesizes this distinct mechanism space of within-phase learning weakness into a compact Mechanism Atlas.
Purpose Despite widespread recognition of the importance of continuous learning, small and micro businesses often struggle to prioritize training and development. Operating under conditions of limited time, resources and immediate operational pressure, learning is frequently positioned as secondary to day-to-day survival. This paper aims to examine how attitudes toward training are constructed, negotiated and sustained within small and micro business contexts, drawing on the perspectives of key stakeholders involved in training decision-making and delivery. Design/methodology/approach This paper, part of a wider doctoral study, adopts a grounded theory methodology to develop an explanatory account of training attitudes in small and micro businesses. Data were generated through 35 in-depth, semistructured interviews with owner-managers, human resource (HR) consultants, policymakers, training providers and employees in small and micro businesses. Data were analyzed using iterative grounded theory coding procedures supported by MAXQDA, progressing from initial coding to focused category development and constant comparison across stakeholder groups. Findings Findings reveal that attitudes toward training are not fixed but are constructed through the interaction of operational pressures, stakeholder position and the perceived immediacy of value. Owner-managers commonly prioritize immediate operational demands, often viewing formal training as a discretionary activity, while HR consultants, training providers and policymakers emphasize its longer-term strategic value. These differing positions shape how training is evaluated, with activities more likely to be accepted when they are directly linked to immediate operational outcomes. Learning is frequently informal, embedded in daily work practices contingent on immediate business needs. Constraints such as time, cost and perceived relevance do not operate in isolation but function as conditions that reinforce the positioning of training as secondary unless aligned with business-critical needs. Originality/value This study contributes to workplace learning literature by providing an explanatory account of how training is constructed as a discretionary or necessary activity within small and micro business contexts. By developing a grounded theory of training attitudes, this paper advances understanding of learning in resource-constrained workplaces and offers implications for practitioners and policymakers seeking to design training approaches that align with the operational realities of small and micro businesses.
Purpose This paper aims to present a practitioner-oriented Safety Ethogram for military exercises. Its purpose is to make safety-related learning practices easier to observe, discuss and improve during planning, execution, debrief and after-action review. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on qualitative content analysis of interview material on safety planning, coordination, deviation, intervention and learning in military exercises. Of 42 interview transcript files, 38 were readable and analysed through 74 traceable meaning units using a structured coding framework focused on interview-described safety practices. Findings Four recurring areas of practice were identified: formal safety governance and risk work, deviation and drift from intended practice, intervention to correct or redirect exercise activity and learning through experience and institutional memory. Together, these areas show that safety in exercises is not maintained by rules alone. It also depends on how governance is translated into action, how drift is recognised, whether intervention is legitimate and usable and whether lessons identified are carried forward into future planning. Research limitations/implications The framework is based on interview-described practice rather than direct observation. It should therefore be read as a practice-informed tool that requires further testing in live exercise settings. Practical implications The safety ethogram offers a practical vocabulary for those who plan, lead, observe and evaluate exercises. It can be used to strengthen observation, structure debriefs, diagnose drift and improve the link between after-action learning and future safety governance. Originality/value This paper contributes a practice-based framework for examining how safety is enacted in military exercises as workplaces. Rather than treating safety as an abstract cultural property, it makes visible the concrete patterns through which safety is supported, weakened, corrected and learned.
