Evangelia Siachou

This research investigates the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and change leadership on educator engagement and productivity within the Lebanese educational sector. This study is grounded in both social cognitive theory (SCT) and dynamic capabilities theory (DCT), and it examines how AI adoption and change leadership, together with the human-centric factor of educator engagement, influence educators’ productivity in the context of a developing country. Data were collected from educators from various institutions in Lebanon. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to verify the validity and reliability of the latent factors under consideration. The hypothesized model derived from SCT and DCT and the literature was tested with structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that change leadership significantly improves educator engagement and productivity, highlighting its important role in supporting technological transformation in educational institutions. AI has an indirect impact on productivity through educator engagement, which acts as a key mediating factor. These findings stress the significance of promoting a human-centered approach to digital transformation in education. The research offers important insights for policymakers, educators, and institutional leaders who seek to use AI effectively, particularly in environments with limited resources.

The job crafting theory implies, but does not explicitly present the relationship between the self and the job. To fill the gap, we theorize upon the holistic view of the self, and selfergy, a new concept reflecting the unique manner by which employees craft their jobs. Based on the principles of the self‐determination theory, we have advanced the job crafting theory by incorporating the concept of ‘selfergy’ to capture the integration of the self in the job crafting process. We conducted an inductive qualitative study, based on the Gioia methodology, consisted of 29 semi‐structured interviews, within the field of education. The findings highlight that selfergy is a bi‐dimensional concept manifested through personalized crafting and self‐revelation. It is immersed in all job crafting forms (cognitive, task, relationship) and further expressed as selfergetic job crafting. By adopting a sensemaking approach, we present a process model that shows the transition from cognitive to behavioral crafting and the way selfergy is integrated within those. The study introduces the role of emerging themes in the job crafting theory, such as the role of practical wisdom and other/me orientations in the judgment phase as well as the outcome of the personal mark. The findings shed light on the importance of selfergy at work and provide insights to facilitate employees' transition to the selfergetic job crafting process. The outcomes are applicable to the education sector, as well as others with deeper ethical, emotional, and societal implications enabling employees to align with the requirements of the future workplace.

The study looks at the impact that the three dimensions of financial inclusion (FI) (i.e., access, usage, quality) may have on poverty alleviation. In doing so, the study relies on demand and supply-side data to measure Nigeria’s FI. The demand-side data were derived from the 2021 Global Findex data, and the supply side data were sourced from the IMF Access survey database (2004–2021). The supply-side data were analysed using the ordinary least squares regression (OLS), while the demand-side data were analysed using the probit regression model. The study outcomes revealed a negative and significant relationship between financial access and poverty rate, further indicating that those who use financial services are less likely to experience poverty. The study recommends that financial service providers tailor their financial products to align with the educational level of the target population to encourage savings.

Purpose: In the post-COVID-19 era, the hospitality industry is rapidly moving towards digitalization, which requires employees to upgrade their knowledge and skills. Some employees resist those changes and refuse to upgrade their knowledge, skills and ways of doing things. Therefore, there is a need to understand this unexplored area and so this study examines employee intentions to embrace digital technology from the perspective of upgrading their skills and knowledge. The study investigates the moderating role of the employees' resistance to change motive (RCM) on their intention to embrace digital technology, especially in the post-COVID-19 pandemic scenario.Design/methodology/approach: The research is conducted using dynamic capability view (DCV) theory and status quo bias (SQB) theory. Drawing on the existing literature in this area, a theoretical model is developed, which is validated using the structural equation modelling technique to analyse data from hospitality industry employees.Findings: The results indicate that employees' dynamic capability plays a significant role in employees' upgrading their skill and knowledge capabilities, and this significantly improves employee intention to embrace digital technology. It also finds that the employee RCM plays a significant role in the relationship between upgrading skill capability and their knowledge capability to relation to embracing digital technology.Originality/value: The findings could be used by hospitality managers to better understand employee intentions with regard to adopting digital technology, challenges faced and the way forward.

Purpose: This paper aims to systematically review and evaluate extant literature on knowledge acquisition and transfer in international small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and to identify the requisite types of knowledge acquired and transferred in this context. The research further determines the mechanisms enabling SMEs to process this knowledge, unpacks the benefits of both knowledge acquisition and transfer for international SMEs and links them to the market success.Design/methodology/approach: The research has conducted a comprehensive systematic review of existing literature on market knowledge acquisition and its transfer, in the context of international SMEs, utilizing peer-reviewed articles published in top tier journals without any custom range of time.Findings: The search strategy resulted in 37 reviewed academic articles, whose analysis identifies and elucidates on the best practices of knowledge acquisition and transfer in the context of international SMEs; the type of the knowledge acquired and transferred; the form and mechanism of the intersection of these processes; and the benefits gained. The findings, crucially, also identify and illuminate extant research gaps and insufficiencies and develop a comprehensive research agenda for the way forward.Originality/value: The present study offers a uniquely comprehensive perspective on a topic of diachronic and, currently, rising significance to scholars and practitioners alike. Transcending its descriptive value, though, it further identifies extant knowledge deficiencies, it distils and consolidates critical knowledge and prescribes avenues for research towards the growth and development of international SMEs and born globals.

Purpose: This paper aims to advance the international marketing debate by presenting the results of a structured literature review (SLR) focusing on Big Data implementation in customer relationship management (CRM) strategizing. It outlines past and present literature and frames a future research agenda.Design/methodology/approach: The research analyzes papers published in journals from 2013 to 2020, deriving significant insights about Big Data applications in CRM. A sample of 48 articles indexed at Scopus was preliminarily submitted for bibliometric analysis. Finally, 46 papers were analyzed with content and a bibliometric analysis to identify areas of thematic specializations.Findings: The paper presents a conceptual multilevel framework demonstrating areas of specialization emerging from the literature. The framework is built around four coordinated sequences of actions relevant to “why,” “what,” “who” and “how” Big Data is implemented in CRM strategies, thus supporting the conception and implementation of an internationalization marketing strategy.Research limitations/implications: Implications for the development of the future research agenda on international marketing arise from the comprehension of Big Data in CRM strategy.Originality/value: The paper provides a comprehensive SLR of the articles dealing with models and processes of Big Data for CRM from an international marketing perspective. Despite these issues' relevance and the increasing literature focused on them, research in this area is still fragmented and underexplored, requiring more systematic and holistic studies.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the negative consequences of human resource analytics applications using the privacy calculus approach.Design/methodology/approach: By using the existing literature and privacy calculus theory, a theoretical model has been developed. This model helps to examine the benefits and risks associated with HR analytics applications. The theoretical model was validated using the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique with 315 respondents from different organizations.Findings: HR analytics provides multiple benefits to employees and organizations. But employee privacy may be compromised due to unauthorized access to employee data. There are also security concerns about the uncontrolled use of these applications. Tracking employees without their consent increases the risk. The study suggests that appropriate regulation is necessary for using HR analytics.Research limitations/implications: This study is based on cross-sectional data from a specific region. A longitudinal study would have provided more comprehensive results. This study considers five predictors, including other boundary conditions that could enhance the model’s explanative power. Also, data from other countries could improve the proposed model.Practical implications: The proposed model is useful for HR practitioners and other policymakers in organizations. Appropriate regulations are important for HR analytics applications. The study also highlights various employee privacy and security-related issues emerging from HR analytics applications. The study also discusses the role of leadership support for the appropriate usage of HR analytics.Originality/value: Only a few research studies have explored the issues of HR analytics and its consequences. The proposed theoretical model is the first to consider the negative consequence of HR analytics through privacy calculus theory. In this perspective, the research is considered to be novel.

Purpose: This paper explores critical failure factors (CFFs) in the context of knowledge sharing. It provides further insights into what can cause knowledge- sharing failures, inflexible knowledge-sharing strategies and ineffective knowledge- sharing mechanisms. It also examines how practitioners can reduce or even mitigate such dysfunctions.Design/methodology/approach: A case-based inductive approach was conducted. Data were collected from two studies applying mixed methods. The first data set included nine in-depth, semi-structured interviews with highly skilled personnel from an aerospace and defense organization. The second data source included 375 successfully completed questionnaires from participants employed at the same organization.Findings: The paper identifies six CFFs with an impact on knowledge sharing. It also reveals that managing organizational ignorance can play a key role in generating new knowledge and averting failure. Study findings provide insights into the importance of identifying these failures when sharing knowledge and propose relevant mitigation strategies.Originality/value: This paper identifies a range of empirically validated CFFs that complement the extant work on the complexity of knowledge sharing and have hitherto not been seen in the literature. It also provides a more nuanced understanding of why both organizations and their people often fail to share knowledge by exploring the role of organizational ignorance.