Silvia Baiocco

Purpose: This study aims to better understand how intellectual capital (IC) of tourism destinations is formed and developed for sustainability by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI). Notably, co-evolution allows conceiving destinations as ecosystems in which relationships between the various stakeholders involved at multiple-levels are circular, with mutual influence and dialectical. Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual framework is developed building on some insights from evolving IC research, the co-evolutionary perspective in tourism and AI- and machine learning-based methods for destination modelling. The framework is then operationalised through an AI-driven data model, which is designed, developed and applied to two Italian destinations (Costa dei Trabocchi and Gargano) following the participatory action research approach. Findings: The AI-driven data model serves as a core component of the structural capital of the investigated destinations, shaping their human capital at different levels, which in turn contributes to reinforce, and is reinforced by, relational capital. Within this dynamic, the strategic intentionality of policymakers and decision makers, inter-organisational knowledge exchange, team learning and multistakeholder decision making are identified as key determinants that enable AI-generated information to effectively orient multilevel stakeholders towards shared goals, thereby supporting effective co-adaptations within tourism destinations that create value for all involved. Originality/value: Our interdisciplinary research provides a novel AI-driven data tool and a co-evolutionary explanation of the processes it leverages, which drive tourism destinations' IC for sustainability.

This paper aims to better understand the complex interplay and co-shaping of relationships among quadruple helix actors, i.e. universities, firms, institutions, and civil society, underlying the dynamics of knowledge exchange networks for the entrepreneurial valorization of academic research, and related impacts. A longitudinal co-evolutionary analysis of a successful case study regarding a network among quadruple helix actors operating in Italy (Start Cup Lazio) has been conducted by adopting participatory action research. The co-evolutionary lens adopted in the paper looks at the relationship between actors of the network, the network itself, and the external environment as circular, mutually influential, and dialectical, considering them as forces that co-determine organizational adaptation. Results draw attention to the dialectical nature of the relationships among quadruple helix actors involved, the reciprocal influence between them and eight factors, internal and external to universities, in shaping the network dynamics, leading to societal impacts. The latter are comprehensively assessed through a set of proposed indicators. Findings suggest conceiving positive societal impacts generated by such networks as a result of multilevel co-evolutionary adaptations among quadruple helix actors and between the network itself and the rest of society. Systemic approach is identified as the main determinant of effective co-adaptations. Results extend prior research by providing a novel co-evolutionary explanation of network dynamics and related societal impacts in the context of complex adaptive systems. Practical implications for quadruple helix actors suggest how to engage in a network of relationships to co-create innovative solutions from entrepreneurial valorization of research that address societal needs.

Purpose: This paper aims to better understand how business model innovation (BMI) occurs in the context of sustainable entrepreneurship, emphasizing the dialectical nature of entrepreneurial relationships. To do so, key interdependencies and reciprocal influences between internal/firm-specific and external/environmental factors underlying BMI for sustainability are analysed through co-evolutionary lenses.Design/methodology/approach: A co-evolutionary framework is developed and applied to a longitudinal business model (BM) analysis of 15 Italian widespread hotels, which creatively use historic villages at risk of abandonment to establish their hotels.Findings: Largely influenced by the interplay between internal and external factors, BMI of widespread hotels occurs through multilevel co-adaptations, which are recognised as virtuous by all stakeholders involved. Effective variations of the BM value elements are selected resulting in circular economy practices, which are retained for successful BMI, radical (first) and incremental (thereafter). Knowledge of specific local and multi-local conditions, time awareness and a future-oriented temporal perspective, by both entrepreneurs and policymakers, favour this dynamic.Practical implications: Developing targeted policies and practices based on increased organisational knowledge supported by indicators can help in selecting and retaining successful variations of BMs appropriately in/with time with positive effects on firms' performance and sustainable development.Originality/value: This study provides a novel co-evolutionary framework that explicitly links sustainable entrepreneurship and BM concepts in the accommodation sector. It further proposes a dynamic and holistic explanation of BMI for sustainability from which the crucial roles of the time-knowledge binomial and circular practices emerge.

Purpose: This study aims to provide a systematic and comprehensive examination of the underlying factors enabling the emergence of unicorn firms. By addressing this research gap and offering an integrative framework, it seeks to support future research efforts in understanding this phenomenon and contribute to the academic debate around it.Design/methodology/approach: This study employs a systematic literature review (SLR) approach and thematic analysis of articles retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science databases.Findings: The study sheds light on internal characteristics, ranging from the entrepreneurial (human capital and knowledge) to firm-specific level (business model, corporate governance, resources) and external ones related to the funding factors (financial patterns, venture capitalists, firm evaluation) and the ecosystem (entrepreneurial and technology) around the phenomenon of unicorn firms.Originality/value: This is the first systematic literature review on unicorns that offers insights into the internal and external factors driving the emergence of such firms, contributes to shed light on the main criticalities that blur their understanding and presents a research agenda for developing this field of research.

Purpose: This paper aims to enhance understanding of how sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) contributes to sustainable development in the tourism sector. To do so, specific factors that act as enablers or inhibitors of SE are identified according to a co-evolutionary lens.Design/methodology/approach: A co-evolutionary explanation of the firm? Environment relationship is adopted to undertake a qualitative empirical study of the Castelli Romani tourism destination (Italy), via 23 semi-structured interviews according to a narrative approach.Findings: The paper demonstrates that entrepreneurs play a crucial role in sustainable development but cannot act in isolation. In fact, according to the co-evolutionary approach, they influence and are influenced by 20 factors. Accordingly, SE can be conceptualised as resulting from effective co-evolutionary interactions between micro (i.e. entrepreneurs and their firm), meso (i.e. the destination where tourism firms are based) and macro (i.e. the wider socio-economic and natural system) levels.Practical implications: Several actions are suggested to entrepreneurs and policymakers to help achieve specific sustainable development goals. These actions focus on: (1) training courses, (2) investments in technologies, (3) creation of innovative business models, (4) exploitation of cultural and natural resources, (5) community involvement and (6) multi-level partnerships.Originality/value: This is the first study that adopts a co-evolutionary lens to investigate the influencing factors of SE in tourism, shedding light on the effects of their dynamic interdependence. Thus, it provides a more nuanced SE conceptualisation that takes a holistic and dynamic view of sustainability.

The link between the business model (BM) and sustainability is recognized in tourism research and practice, especially as far as its socioeconomic consequences are concerned. Moreover, prior studies have highlighted some key factors influencing the sustainable business models (SBMs) of tourism firms but have mainly done so by adopting static perspectives. Thus, how these firms can contribute to sustainability through their BMs with positive effects, particularly on natural resources, remains overlooked. Thus, we adopt coevolutionary lenses to explore the main processes surrounding tourism firms’ SBM. Coevolution conceives the firm–environment relationship as both circular, with mutual influence and reciprocal changes, and dialectical. Accordingly, we analyze 28 Italian agritourism firms during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency period focusing on the dynamics of their relationship with various multilevel actors (including institutions, local communities, tourists) by considering internal and external factors influencing their SBM. The dialectical nature of this relationship is stressed. We find three new factors: sustainable tourism culture, tourist loyalty, and local natural resource setting. Moreover, from the coevolutionary analysis of the findings, we derive a framework that conceptualizes agritourism SBMs as a virtuous coevolutionary process through effective coadaptations between multilevel actors influenced by 12 factors. Tourism entrepreneurs and policy-makers should carefully consider the factors influencing SBMs and try to act upon them to effectively organize and manage relationships of mutual functionality in light of current challenges, especially environmental concerns.

Key Management Tools for Managing Tourism Firms and Destinations ​​ Silvia Baiocco - Tor Vergata University of Rome, Faculty of Management & Law, Via Columbia 2, Rome, Italy Paola M...

How farms can create and maintain sustainable agritourism is yet to be fully addressed. Given its link with sustainable development, research on agritourism sustainability, while highlighting the positive consequences, has neglected the theoretical perspectives. We thus find a lacuna in holistically understanding its driving processes and, consequently, its conceptualization. In response, this article draws extensively on the ecological economics co-evolutionary framework to explain the intertwined dynamics underlying sustainable agritourism and its determinants. Co-evolution conceives the organizations–environments relationship as circular, with mutual influence, and dialectical. We analyze the dynamics of the farm–rural destination relationship through a longitudinal analysis of 20 Italian agritourism farms. We find that sustainable agritourism emerges within rural destinations through diffused multilevel interactions and feedbacks resulting in organizational practices that enhance the farm and region’s identities, and thus competitiveness. We offer an interpretative framework that conceptualizes sustainable agritourism through effective multilevel co-evolutionary adaptations and identify four determinants: strategic intentionality, rural lifestyle experience, systemic approach, and social responsibility. This approach may help farmers and policymakers develop destinations through sustainable agritourism. Implications for future research and practice in the sustainable tourism field emerge.

Industry is continuously evolving, reflecting changes in society. An important aspect of this evolution concerns how new digital technologies are used and their effects on innovation and sustainability. Thus, the relationship between university, industry, and government grows stronger, shifting the focus on technology transfer processes from university to industry, at local and national levels. To increase our understanding of how these processes take place, more theoretical and empirical research is required. This paper aims to respond to this call by examining the university technology transfer through a co-evolutionary approach. The study analyses the dynamics of the relationships at different organisational levels within universities able to create sustainability-oriented innovative university spin-offs and start-ups, through the Italian National Innovation Award case. The findings show that the creation of these spin-offs and start-ups are the result of effective multi-level co-evolutionary adaptations within universities, and among university, industry and government. The article contributes to the further understanding of the management of technology transfer by combining some elements from the literature about the co-evolution of social organisations and their environment with some elements from the Triple Helix model of innovation. Moreover, both theoretical and managerial implications emerge, together with suggestions for future research.

In recent decades, concepts such as sustainability, innovation, and competitiveness have become fundamental for the development of tourist destinations, and thus, particularly, for the generation of value co-creation processes. To understand the role of tourism firms in these processes, more theoretical and empirical research is required. This paper addresses this need by examining the increasing role played by religious accommodations, adopting a co-evolutionary approach to sustainability and the resulting value co-creation processes. The study focuses on the dynamics of the relationship between this new hospitality model, territories, and tourists, through the analysis of six case studies localized in the historic centre of Rome (Italy). Findings show that religious accommodations can be considered as a new sustainability-oriented hospitality model that, by creating effective multi-level co-evolutionary adaptations with its territory and tourists, positively affects sustainable development as well as the generation of value co-creation processes. The paper contributes significantly both to sustainability literature and to the study of new hospitality models. Thus, theoretical and managerial implications emerge, together with suggestions for future research.