Morteza Akbari

Digital platform innovation has become increasingly complex as platforms enable product-service innovation, business process transformation, and ecosystem-level value creation simultaneously. However, existing research remains fragmented regarding how governance configurations shape different innovation pathways across digital platform ecosystems. This study addresses this gap by synthesizing research on product and service innovation (PSI), business process innovation (BPI), and hybrid innovation (HI) through an integrated Antecedents–Decisions–Outcomes (ADO) and Theories–Contexts–Methods (TCM) perspective. Based on a PRISMA-guided systematic literature review of 57 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2026, this study identifies recurring governance configurations linking ecosystem conditions, managerial decisions, and innovation outcomes. The findings suggest that governance configurations provide an analytical lens for explaining how ecosystem conditions correspond to differentiated innovation pathways. PSI is primarily characterized by openness, modularity, complementor participation, and market-facing value creation, whereas BPI emphasizes coordination, standardization, scalability, and process optimization. HI emerges when product-service, process, and ecosystem innovation logics intersect, requiring governance configurations that balance openness and control, exploration and exploitation, and multiple levels of value creation. This study contributes by reconceptualizing ADO as a configuration-based framework for explaining platform innovation pathways beyond linear antecedent–outcome relationships. The findings provide insights into how platform managers can align governance choices with ecosystem conditions and innovation objectives. By integrating ADO and TCM perspectives, this review advances a contingent governance view of digital platform innovation and identifies directions for future research and managerial practice.

Purpose: Research on networked ambidexterity still tends to separate structural accounts of alliance networks from micro-foundational accounts of managerial action. This study examines how managers in Iranian biotechnology SMEs sustain exploration and exploitation under institutional voids and how these practices support productive entrepreneurship in a resource-constrained setting. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative grounded theory design was used. Eighteen in-depth interviews were conducted with senior managers from biotechnology SMEs in Iran, and the material was analyzed iteratively through open, axial and selective coding following Strauss's procedures. Findings: The analysis identifies the core managerial role of the “paradoxical bridge,” through which managers translate between scientific exploration and commercial exploitation. Four steering mechanisms support this role: relational/power governance, pragmatic knowledge governance, situational conflict resolution and proactive network reconfiguration. These mechanisms culminate in six contingent archetypal configurations that sustain ambidexterity and productive entrepreneurship in different ways under institutional constraints. Practical implications: The findings highlight the importance of the bridging role, deliberate network design and context-sensitive steering routines for managers in constrained innovation ecosystems. For policymakers, the study points to the value of strengthening intermediary support, regulatory transparency and coordination mechanisms that enable productive entrepreneurship. Originality/value: The study offers an empirically grounded mechanism-based account of networked ambidexterity in an emerging-economy setting. It shows how cognition is enacted through relational practice, clarifies how institutional voids shape managerial steering and develops a contingent configurational framework rather than a universal model of ambidexterity.

Purpose: Aligning human resource management (HRM) with sustainability has become increasingly crucial for organizations seeking long-term competitive advantage and sustainable performance. This research proposes a mathematical decision-making model for optimizing sustainable HRM performance based on the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) in Oil Industry (IOI).,Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on stakeholder theory, five core HRM practices were operationalized across multiple implementation modes. Their costs and contributions to social, economic, and environmental outcomes were assessed through expert interviews and a fuzzy Delphi process. A hybrid optimization approach—combining Genetic Algorithms with Taguchi parameter design—was employed to identify cost-feasible HRM configurations that maximize sustainability performance while meeting minimum threshold requirements across the three TBL dimensions. Robustness was examined through sensitivity analyses.,Findings: Structured optimization enables organizations to reconcile stakeholder conflicts and achieve balanced sustainability outcomes. Social thresholds emerged as the most influential constraint, underscoring the centrality of employee trust, well-being, and community ties in driving sustainable performance. The model provides actionable guidance for managers to allocate limited budgets effectively and design HRM systems that enhance scalability and resilience.,Originality/value: This research advances the literature by integrating stakeholder theory into a data-driven optimization framework for HRM. Unlike prior conceptual studies, it offers a practical decision-support tool that demonstrates how HRM can simultaneously deliver economic efficiency, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship. The study highlights HRM's role as a strategic lever for sustainable value creation in resource-intensive industries and contributes methodological innovation by applying GA–Taguchi optimization to HRM research.

E-commerce is quickly increasing purchasing behavior across the globe, but little is known about how psychological paradigms underscore online buying intentions for locally essential items as nomadic local foods. The primary goal of this research is to examine the effects of some important psychological constructs and motivational values on predicting consumers’ intention to purchase nomadic and local foods via online e-commerce platforms, such as Ashayershop. This study followed the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and looked at direct and mediated effects of attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms on intention to purchase. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was conducted, based on data collected from a representative sample of consumers who were familiar with online shopping for local foods. The results highlight that attitude towards online shopping for local foods was the strongest direct predictor of intention to purchase (β = 0.383, T = 9.487, p < 0.001). Perceived behavioral control (β = 0.220, T = 5.316, p < 0.001), hedonic value (β = 0.213, T = 4.907, p < 0.001), utilitarian value (β = 0.187, T = 3.719, p < 0.001), and subjective norms (β = 0.149, T = 3.493, p < 0.001), received a significant positive effect on intention. In addition, hedonic and utilitarian values bountifully mediated the relation between psychological antecedents (attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms) and purchase intention. For instance, attitude indirect effect via hedonic value was β = 0.080 (T = 3.783, p < 0.01), and indirect effect via utilitarian value was β = 0.040 (T = 3.058, p < 0.01), indicating the importance of these values as mediators. This research makes a contribution to the literature by showing that motivational values serve as not only an outcome but also as cognitive–affective mediators in the behavioral process thus expanding the TPB in the context of digital food markets. In general, these results provide valuable insights to e-commerce platforms and policymakers who desire to promote consumer engagement with products stemming from culture and tradition on line by developing new integrated strategies that address the cognitive, emotional, and social components.

Over the past 40 years, microfinance has been widely used to support self‐employment, reduce poverty, and empower economically disadvantaged groups. As microfinance products target underserved individuals and households, this research critically explores their impact on consumers' economic behavior, access to services, and well‐being. This paper systematically reviews the microfinance literature from 1982 to 2023, applying the ADO (antecedents, decisions, and outcomes) and TCM (theories, contexts, and methods) frameworks. This study employs bibliometric analysis as the primary method, complemented by systematic literature review (SLR) principles to ensure a structured and comprehensive examination. Findings synthesized through the ADO‐TCM framework offer a comprehensive analysis of the trends and gaps in, and the impacts of microfinance studies. Key findings include the identification of three principal research areas: financial inclusion as a foundational antecedent, sustainability, and governance mechanisms driving institutional decisions, and poverty alleviation as a measurable outcome of microfinance programs. This dual approach offers a nuanced perspective on microfinance, examining the adaptability of financial solutions and the contextual limitations that affect their impact. The study contributes to the field by refining the ADO‐TCM framework, bridging theoretical constructs and practical applications, and pinpointing critical research gaps, such as the need for gender‐sensitive models and psychological studies of group lending. Our bibliometric analysis highlights trends, identifies research gaps, and organizes the literature into themes: financial inclusion, institutional sustainability, and poverty alleviation. Content analyses reveal core research streams and provide a conceptual framework for ADO, along with associated TCM. The review identifies significant issues, such as debt dependency, mixed sociocultural impacts, and sustainability concerns, offering a balanced assessment for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners. These insights advance our understanding of microfinance dynamics and propose actionable directions for future research. This comprehensive overview lays a foundation for future research, promoting an informed understanding of microfinance's potential and its limitations as a tool for financial inclusion and how these affect the consumption behavior, risk mitigation, and financial inclusion of low‐income consumers.

Purpose: This paper investigates the relationships between absorptive capacity, R&D, ambidexterity and technological innovation. The study explores the mediating roles of ambidexterity and R&D in the connection between absorptive capacity and technological innovation. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 139 technology-based businesses. Data analysis is conducted using the partial least squares (PLS) technique, and the SmartPLS3 software is utilized. Findings: Our result revealed absorptive capacity had a meaningful influence on technological innovation; also, the effect of ambidexterity on technological innovation is significant. Finally, R&D as a mediator had a negative significant indirect impact on the relationship between absorptive capacity and technological innovation. In addition, the findings show that ambidexterity has a considerable indirect influence on absorptive capacity and technological innovation. Originality/value: The findings of this study advance our knowledge of the processes by which technological innovation is influenced by absorptive capacity and the mediating roles that ambidexterity and R&D play in this connection.