ABSTRACT. The paper aims to explore the self-attribution bias impact on investor perception about cryptocurrency market efficiency with mediating role overconfidence in the relation of self-attribution with perceived market efficiency. We opted to collect data via a convenience sampling technique by using electronic questionnaires and limiting our study to European cryptocurrency investors. Structural Equation Modelling outcomes indicate no significant impact of self-attribution bias on perceived market efficiency. Whereas, it was found that overconfidence bias has a significant effect on perceived efficiency. Further, the decomposition analysis indicated the presence of the mediating effect of overconfidence in the relationship of self-attribution with perceived market efficiency.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. Digital technologies have created new alternative sources of entrepreneurial finance that start-ups and entrepreneurs can benefit from. Among them, Ini-tial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have attracted a significant amount of attention from the start-up community and from investors. Despite all the hype around them the rush growing number of new ICOs being launched on a dai-ly basis, little is known about the characteristics of successful ICOs. This study aims to fill this gap in the literature by exploring whether and how the linguistic styles adopted in the white paper affects the success of the ICO as measured by the amount raised by the offering. Our results are based on a primary dataset of 131 ICOs that were completed between June 2017 and October 2018. Our results suggest that the use of precise language is positively associated with the amount funded while the use of a concrete language and more numerical terms is negatively associated with the amount funded. This study contributes to the growing literature on ICOs by providing novel insights into the role of the communication strategy adopt-ed by the token issuers.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. Part of the international literature highlights the need of the public sector to change its managerial approach towards choices oriented to the so-called "Smart governance" (Wilke, 2002). In this logic, some authors propose to review the management of the public sector through "smart" management elements such as openness and decision making, open information sharing and use, stakeholder participation, and collaboration, improving government operations and services, all through the use of intelligent technologies as they act as a facilitator of innovation, sustainability, competitiveness, and livability (Scholl and Scholl, 2014). This work will focus on the analysis of the digitization process of the public sector in Italy the so-called “digital administration codex” (CAD), highlighting the effects produced in terms of the introduction of the so-called new technologies to optimize investments in the area and possibly attract them through financing instruments other than those traditional (Di Pietro, Prencipe, & Majchrzak, 2018). Through the analysis of reports of national agencies such as AGID and data elaborations by AGICOM, will be shown in the state of the art of the Italian public sector in terms of digitization and introduction of new technologies. The results will highlight how, despite the efforts made by the central government, the Italian public administration has enormous difficulty in exploiting the enormous potential offered by new technologies and digital innovation by not allowing the complete passage towards the so-called "Smart Governance".(Heeks, 2000).

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates the role of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in the relationship between Intellectual Capital Disclosure (ICD) on the one side, and non-audit fees (NAF) and audit fees (AF) on the other side, charged to UK listed companies. The prior literature confirmed mixed effects of ICD on the assessment of Audit Risk (AR) and AF charged to audited companies. By pertaining to the relationship between ICD and AF, many authors affirmed that the variation of the AF is primarily determined by auditor’s effort. However, audit firms can provide both audit and non-audit services, which are associated to NAF, despite the questions on the independence of auditors. However, the relationship between AF and NAF is ambiguous, especially in conditions of instability. Therefore, to test the significance of ICD and NAF on the assessment of AF, an empirical analysis has been performed. The period of the GFC has been investigated in order to test whether the different economic conditions affect the relationships. Data from Thomson Reuter have been analyzed, by extracting data of UK listed firms for the years 2004, 2008, and 2011. Empirical findings show that ICD directly affects neither AF nor NAF, since its effect is mediated by AR. The mediated relationship between ICD on one side, and AF and NAF on the other, varies depending on different economic conditions. Considering the relationship between AF and NAF, a positive relationship has been found during the GFC.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. Corporate reputation has long been seen as one of the most important intangible assets for a firm. However studies investigating the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate reputation are mostly inconclusive. This study argues that corporate social responsibility disclosure alone does not guarantee positive sentiments from different stakeholders. When it comes to studies related to positive impacts of corporate social responsibility disclosure, more conclusive results can be drawn if corporate social responsibility disclosure is actually leading to a good perception of CSR among different stakeholder groups. This study examines the mediating role of corporate reputation in the relationship between CSR perception and Customer citizenship behaviour in context of Social identity theory. This study uses structural equation modelling to investigate these relationships in the sample of 278 fast fashion customers of Italy and found that corporate reputation mediates the relationship between CSR perception and customer citizenship behaviour.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. The massive open online courses (MOOCs) can be considered as one of the most recent training paradigms in distance education. As for other technologies the success of MOOCs depends on its adoption and learners' continuance usage. Drawing upon the information system continuance model (IS continuance model), the information system success model (IS success model), and the perceived reputation factor, a theoretical model was developed for examining learners' continuance intention to use MOOCs. Based on survey data from 143 university students in Cameroon, the usage of the partial least square (PLS) through a structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for data analysis, and the results of this study indicate that perceived usefulness, service quality, and satisfaction were significant determinants of the continuance intention of learners. These results also show an unexpected discovery, as the relationship between perceived usefulness and satisfaction have not been shown as significant according to the context of the study.

Download full paper

ABSTRACT. The Covid-19 era asks for a reduction in face to face relationships. For this reason, the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are becoming the main tool able to substitute the direct relationship among people. So, one tool able to support health authorities in monitoring and mitigating the ongoing COVID-19 was Mobile Applications (mApps), by facilitating follow-up among patients and practitioners and providing direct guidance to citizens in order to play their part in the control of the disease. The main purpose of this paper, is to know and analyze features and functionalities of the mApps for COVID-19, currently available in the widely used smartphones applications stores, like Play Store and iTunes. The first results obtained at this stage of the research have permit to give a preliminary taxonomy of the mApps specifically oriented to COVID health management in Italy. The research found n°71 mApps operating on principle stores, by underlining features and aspects useful to make users more responsible and self management regarding own health. MApps in COVID period could represent one organizational support for mantaining a useful relationship among patients and health operators regarding health care assistance. In order to do this it's necessary to determine optimal capabilities and evaluate utility and clinical benefit of these tools. This work permits to recognize and obtain first informations to this regard.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. Being drawn in the emerging relevance of the diffusion of m-health services, this work analyses the weight of digital tools in promoting Physical Activity as preventive therapy for people at risk of Cardiovascular Disease. We examined the issue at public policy level, investigating about factors able to favor the adoption of m-health in this field. The paper reports about the initial deducing findings coming from the conclusion of a first piloting study, in which we executed exploratory targeted qualitative interviews to privileged witnesses able to be informative as experts of the area. These findings appear to claim – before looking at technological aspects – for a change in the framework of intervention in the general public policy setting, pushing for a change in vision, approach, institutional framework, and cultural setting. Aspects such as: absence of guidelines, lack of specific training as well as the necessity to rethink governance and accountability frameworks have been found as challenges to be faced at policy level before actually thinking about certification and effective adoption of the most effective digital tool.

Download full paper

ABSTRACT. Society is facing an increasing amount of frail older persons in need of home care services, as the population grows older. Digital assistive technology has the potential to relieve the home care service workers, still providing high-quality service for the frail older persons, as this technology can replace some of the services provided by human hands. This technology is designed to enable change, which implies that the employees need to learn how to use this technol-ogy. This paper aims at exploring the knowledge needed for realizing work-re-lated learning in home care services in conjunction with the implementation of digital assistive technology. The data collected used come from an ongoing lon-gitudinal study that started in 2017 which includes municipalities located in a cross-border area of Sweden and Norway. This geographical area is a sparsely populated region comprising municipalities where about a third of the population is over 65 years. The results show the need for different knowledge types namely situational, conceptual, procedural, and dispositional knowledge to realize the ongoing transformation of the work practices in the home care service. The study shows the reshaping of the staff’s work identity, where previous ways of per-forming home care services are changing to a work that requires the use of digital assistive technologies, and where the staff has to teach frail older persons the use of these technologies.

Download full paper

ABSTRACT. This paper explores the role of knowledge spillover and human capital in the regions as a driver of equity crowdfunding investment. Preliminary results show that knowledge inbound has a significant effect on the adoption of crowdfunding campaigns.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. In this article we discuss the importance for production clusters and firms to continuously generate innovation if they are to sustain their long-term competitiveness in today's global economy. The study of the complexity brought about by globalization has been investigated by the global value chain (GVC) framework, which has improved the understanding of how clusters and firms compete globally. However, neither the cluster theory nor the GVC framework address firms' innovation through an explicit dynamic perspective and dedicate only partial attention to the role of entrepreneurial ventures. We draw elements from the developing entrepreneurial ecosystems literature to complement the cluster-GVC perspective and offer a finer-grained approach to the study of innovation in the global economy.

Download full paper

ABSTRACT. The ability to leverage external networks for knowledge acquisition and exploitation it is extremely important for new ventures. Crowdfunding offers the possibility to leverage crowd investors’ to acquire competences, skills and network. In this paper we introduce a conceptual framework which considers the potential enablers of crowd funders involvement in funded company’s activities. We consider proximity – in its three main facets, i.e. geographical, social and cognitive − as relevant factors that may increase crowd funders activism.

Download full paper

ABSTRACT. Today’s pervasive use of information systems (IS) not only comes with many opportunities, but also with considerable risks especially in relation to cyberattacks, which become increasingly sophisticated and dangerous. Especially organizations providing critical infrastructures are at risk, which are held to account by governments to ensure sufficient protection. Governments request information to monitor cybersecurity levels of critical infrastructure providers over time, which are today subject to respective nationwide legislation in developed economies. Following guidelines of design science research, this study offers a generic framework that supports continuous monitoring and benchmarking of an organization’s cybersecurity status. It is generic allowing application by different critical infrastructure providers and usage by government institutions to help achieve oversight of the national cybersecurity status. Our design proposition is supported by an extensive review of academic literature, the consultation of relevant industry standards, and two main rounds of field interactions. The framework includes 15 major risk areas, and a collection of associated metrics and controls, which cover material and social mechanisms. We would like to note that our domain of study would require more design work that targets knowledge accumulation spanning academic research and industry practice.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. Since the 28 years ago, the relationship of sustainability and accounting was developed in the academic literature. From the sustainability point of view, accounting discipline has to play a major role in accounting, reporting and auditing of sustainability performance. The aim of this study is to explore the sustainability and performance discourse in the accounting field. For this purpose, we selected the articles from 3, 4 and 4* accounting journals and analysed the sustainability trend with each dimension of sustainability separately and jointly. Based on our analysis, findings revealed that environmental sustainability is much focused as compared to economic and social in the accounting field. By analysing the performance aspects of ac-counting, we found that accounting and auditing have been much focused on top accounting journals as compare to auditing. Reporting aspect is covering the social, economic and environmental sustainability equally, while on the accounting side, much attention is given to environmental sustainability than social and economic. Assurance has been found to be the emerging topic in the accounting field. With the limitations of the current study, we proposed bibliometric analysis in order to capture the large data set and generalization of accounting and sustainability discourse in the accounting field.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. Digital Transformation (DT) is affecting organizations at all macro, meso, and micro levels. The present study investigates the DT with a micro-level approach to shed some light on who is managing the DT in small and medium enterprises (SME). Furthermore, how DT is managed in SME is compared with large firms to better differentiate roles and activities in the two different organizational contexts. In order to explore these two research gaps, a multiple-case study research base on 7 large firms and 31 SME is developed. Results suggest that roles and approaches toward DT are consistently different between SME and large firms, resulting in what this study calls managerial and entrepreneurial approach to DT. While the entrepreneurial has developed in SMEs where was spotted an informal bottom-up approach guiding DT, in larger firms, the managerial approach driving the necessary changes across the company tends to be more hierarchical and formalized. Many other differences regard the grade of understanding of the phenomenon, the approach to e-skills training and the culture shift, the organizational design parameters, the digital-enabling investments realized, and the management of the wide amount of data provided by digital technologies.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. Collaborative networked organizations (CNOs) strive to achieve a common goal. Collaboration within CNOs relies on information technology (IT) and trust. Trust appears in different forms, such as relational, contractual, and competence trust that strengthens the relationships. In addition to trust, da-ta sharing is fundamental to CNOs, as it can improve business-to-business transactions. In this paper, we show how distributed ledger technology (DLT) can increase trust and improve data sharing. We created a decision model, using a design science research (DSR) approach, that provides a mapping between DLT-characteristics and trust antecedents in order to se-lect appropriate DLT. We use an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach to establish the trust antecedent ranking within the CNO for European law enforcement (ELE), Europol and its operational partners. Our research pro-vides an evaluated model to determine the DLT-characteristics that can increase trust and data sharing in a CNO.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. The paper explores the concept of cultural proximity and its effects on firm innovation, paying specific attention to the moderator role played by digital technologies. In order to improve the innovative performance, firms should construct and maintain relationships with the members of other organizations and should develop and take care of the relationship between the members inside the firm. Previous studies show that innovation is easily reached through the joint efforts of different actors, such as competitors and suppliers, and customers. Cultural proximity refers to cultural compatibility, identity, and shared creativity norms of organization members or between different firms. Similar firms can communicate, transfer, and acquire knowledge more effectively and efficiently. In this paper, we explore the relationship between cultural proximity and innovation. Moreover, we investigate the moderator role of digital technologies on the relationship between cultural proximity and firm innovation. The development of digital technologies allowed firms to implement a remote production control and to promote innovative forms of work organization such as smart working. After the digital revolution, people started to adopt different tools to communicate, cooperate, and be connected with. The virtual face-to-face interactions facilitates economic activities; digital technologies enable the development of shared values stimulating collaborations and interactions between people located in different places. The relationships between people belonging to different cultures (i.e., with low cultural proximity) are facilitated by employing digital tools. Developing testable propositions, we contribute to the debate about the importance of cultural proximity and the development of digital-based interactions on innovative activities.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. In the fast-changing environment, organizations need to be agile in innovating and adapting their business processes and operations. Agility is a fundamental capability in companies that want to exploit the full potential of digital innovation in their operations. Drawing on an action research study, the purpose of this study is to answer the research question of how organizations achieve operational agility. By using action research methodology, we not only solve the real problem of a pharmaceutical firm, but also expand our understanding and literature. We discuss the problem, actions, reflections and lessons learned from two interventions aimed at improving process innovation in the pharmaceutical company.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. A challenge to be addressed in the coming years is the management of health in increasing population and needs, combining it with growing and demanding public spending. Technology, hardware or software, plays a fundamental role in the healthcare sector, but also related units, such as the first hospital wards or the follow-up centers. Among all the impacting innovations, this work focuses on the communication between patients and the health system, trying to understand the organizational model that focuses on ill persons, involves them, empowers them in the creation of the value, including their family entourage. Healthcare technologies changed existing relationships and paradigms, both for the hospital organization and for the roles of the system players. This new inclusive logic makes treatment more effective and efficient, especially in the case of chronic pediatric diseases, as the case of a public hospital in central Italy shows.

Download full paper

ABSTRACT. Co-working is an exemplary case for exploring the organization and significance of work. Two main thrusts prompt co-working arrangements: the idea of exploiting information and communication technology (ICT) to share experiences and knowledge, and the idea of joining forces to survive economically. While extant research has recognized the need to understand how these new spatial work arrangements function in practice, the time has come for an analysis of co-working informed by a socio-technical perspective. Drawing upon a scoping review, this qualitative paper argues that the role of ICT artefacts in studies on co-working takes a back seat. Invoking technology ‘in name only’ prevents research from connecting the social to the technological. We claim it is crucial to bring technology into the analysis to better understand how co-working ‘works’. We could do that by considering co-working as a ‘work-oriented infrastructure’ and recognizing its dynamic complexity.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. High Reliability Organizations (HRO) need to devise and implement organiza-tional processes aimed to minimize the risk of failure, facing high risks and high stakes. In this paper, we look at the case of military HRO operating under Mis-sion Command principles. Mission Command is a doctrine born to address unexpected circumstances through diffused leadership. Nonetheless, digital enabled Command and Control (C2) systems may challenge this doctrine. Remote-control technologies, automatic arms systems and tracking tools have seen a widespread application in modern warfare. Such advancements may favor purely vertical approaches whereby commanders can monitor and control the battlefield from afar. We investigate the tensions between digital enabled Mission Command and Control systems and the centripetal force of purely vertical C2 structures. This scenario contrasts with Mission Command as leaders may veer to more task-oriented approaches, which in turn may lead to a progressive decrease in accountability of subordinates. This is problematic for the entire command pyramid. We contribute to the HRO literature by shedding light on the paradoxical role of digital technologies in mission-oriented organizing.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. Digital transformation poses different challenges to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Governments and policymakers are launching several initiatives to engage SMEs in Open Innovation (OI) and to promote collaborative models oriented to facilitate the adoption of new digital technologies. However, most of the OI literature focuses on large companies and high-tech start-ups and the positive aspects of collaborative innovation. Studies on the barriers to OI in low- and medium-tech SMEs are still scant, especially in the context of inter-organizational projects. This paper draws on a multiple embedded case-study on seven Italian R&D pre-competitive collaborative projects in the domain of Industry 4.0. We have collected semi-structured interviews, triangulated with participant observation and document analysis to develop an exploratory analysis to individuate the barriers to OI in traditional SMEs in inter-organizational projects. We classified barriers in four different dimensions (administration/finance, organization, strategy, and collaboration), analyzing every dimension in detail.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. This paper introduces the description of an under-construction pipeline, named YMemory, which, starting from recent Google trends, allows a decision-maker to monitor the sentiment of microblogging platforms regarding these trends, and allows the choice of geographic areas, even narrow ones, and their following auditing. In addition to the positive/negative sentiment about Google trends, YMemory offers the possibility to display, on the same dashboard, the emotions that Google trends arouses in the observed population. As a whole, the pipeline allows to monitor social networks and local sites, in real time, starting from the sensations that emerge from Google trends. The pipeline proposed has no expectation of forecasting the trends traced. Instead, it aims to provide the user with a guide that, starting from Google trends, can support decision-makers (e.g., journalists, analysts, social scientists, doctors and so on) in the creation and development of ad hoc content that can satisfy specific geographical reference communities, with respect to different real-world phenomena (e.g. epidemiology, economics, social sciences, and so on).

Download full paper

ABSTRACT. This paper presents a qualitative evaluation of the possible transition from basic knowledge to renewable knowledge, addressing knowledge assets as renewable resources. The paper elaborates on positioning knowledge, acquired from various actors in Society, at the core of its processes, fostering sustainable societal growth. A scoping review of the literature is presented, to explore the value and relevance of the ”renewable knowledge” topic within the lens of the socio-technical agenda. The paper evaluates existing literature and extracts actionable knowledge for societal development, business performance, and further development of intelligence in systems. Our findings produce a first intention to formalize a knowledge base for data commons to help in the production of renewable knowledge. Further, using technology and automation artifacts, human actors may combine their skills to create new knowledge in the form of Information Common Goods. Data exchange, management, re-use, sharing of information and responsible management of common data are key drivers of the evolution of societies, the progress of humanity and competitiveness.

Download full paper

ABSTRACT. Our study examines how the topic of sustainable value creation of Industry 4.0 employs the social-technical perspective Sustainable Value Creation of Industry 4.0 is an emerging topic in the IS literature. The topic extends the IT value, a core topic of IS, focusing on the sustainable outcome of these leading-edge technologies adopted into the assembly line of manufacturing organizations which are often called with the term Industry 4.0. We performed a meta-review of three systematic literature reviews of this topic from which we extracted 23 empirical case studies. We address the gap employing the socio-technical framework. The study revealed that technical perspective in prominent in literature, but socio-technical perspective studies exist. We further propose research directions to make more socio-technical the discourse.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. Sustain the ability of the enterprise is crucial to achieving long-term development. Unpredictable events such as Coronavirus highlights sustainability lacks enter-prises. This research is an empirical study which aims to investigate sustainability in enterprise real work practices focusing on employee involvement and problems in practices concerning the economic, environmental, social, and technological ar-ea. The study compares findings from the 2019 and 2020 analyses on sustainability development in employees' work practices. Overall, there seems to be a miss integration of sustainability in practice that does not enable to co-create a sustainable future.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. The aim of this paper is to study the role of social media in political communication and their pos-sible influence on electoral results. For this purpose, we analyze the parties’ Facebook Fan pages in the last general election in Italy (March 2018) over two periods: from 1st February to 4th March 2018 (Election Day); and, from 5th March to 31st March 2018. Our results show that the more ef-fort made by parties to inform citizens through the use of Facebook before the elections, the bet-ter their electoral results. Nevertheless, we do not find any evidence that a higher engagement of citizens on a party’s Facebook Fan page before the election leads to this party having better elec-toral results. Finally, we explore if the parties change their political discourse before and after the election on their Facebook Fan pages, and find that there are, indeed, differences.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications

ABSTRACT. This study aims to explore the scholarly structure and trends in the scientific debate on socioemotional wealth (SEW) in family business studies. We ana-lyze 294 publications focused on SEW published to date in any sources of the Scopus database. Using a bibliometric analysis, we identify the scientific community debating SEW in terms of publication activity for authors, journals and countries and the publication’s impact measured in terms of citation for authors and per year. Moreover, to picture the main themes researched, we develop a co-word analysis on the most used keywords by authors using social network analysis tools. This paper provides a preliminary description of the state-of-art in SEW literature, identifying and potential future research directions for the consolidation of the literature on SEW.

Published on the LNISO series or on other external publications