Organizing in a Digitized World

This qualitative paper sets out to build upon recent developments in public management and service science literatures to better understand the increasing engagement of individuals and communities in the co-production of knowledge within Citizen Science (CS) projects, i.e., research collaborations where tasks are performed by members of the public. Mapping the scattered geography of contemporary CS, the study focuses on two cross-cutting make-or-break factors: the role of ICT and the individual motivations to participate in CS. The paper argues that a broader appreciation of CS informed by a ‘service’ view becomes itself a potential source of new insights not limited to the CS field. In particular, the study proposes that framing CS as a ‘service ecosystem’ can provide public decision makers and IS designers with essential insights for the broader understanding of conditions, processes and outcomes of citizen’s online experience.

Sustainability of the enterprise is crucial to support long-term business survival and development. Unpredictable events such as Covid-19 highlights sustainability issues in enterprises. This empirical study aims to investigate sociotechnical sustainability in real world work practices. The focus is on employee involvement and problems in work practices concerning the economic, environmental, social, and technological area. The study draws on findings from the 2019 and 2020 analyses on sustainability development in employees’ work practices. Overall, there seems to be a lack of integration of sustainability in work practices and this does not support the employees in their efforts to co-create a sustainable future for the enterprise.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the adoption of proactive behaviours by smart workers and the role played by the remote support provided to employees in encouraging such behaviours during the COVID-19 lockdown. In detail, it aims at examining how two dimensions of proactivity, responsibility and self-regulation, can be fostered by the support from superiors, co-workers, and organisation. These topics are present in the debate on smart working (SW) among scholars and practitioners in the fields of human resource management and organisational behaviour and have assumed greater significance due to the sudden and unplanned switch to SW during the lockdown. A survey was carried out on a sample of 254 employees in Italy in May 2020. The findings demonstrate the importance of support from organisation and co-workers in encouraging proactive behaviours, as well as the positive role that such support, in turn, plays in reinforcing support from superiors.

Responding to recent calls in literature, this article aims at investigating the effect of digitalization and information and communication technologies (ICT) on job crafting, a proactive behavior defined as work personalization or individual job redesign. More specifically, through a qualitative pilot study, we examine the attitudes toward technology – namely the individual’s collection of beliefs which determines whether or not to engage in certain related behaviors – leading to these “do it yourself”, unstructured, and self-targeted practices in a working context that is increasingly digitalized. The inductive qualitative research with 28 interviews suggests the mediating role of two variables in the smartphone and general social media usage. Implications for theory and practice, suggesting optimal behaviors and functioning within organizations arising from positive and proactive attitudes and traits of individuals, are discussed.

Co-working is an exemplary case for exploring the organisation 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. 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 recognising its dynamic complexity.

This exploratory paper discusses disability management as a corporate social innovation process, based on the mapping of selected cases of enterprises often cited as international best practices. The aim of the study is to identify some critical success factors firms should consider when developing their disability management programs. To this end, the selected cases are analyzed based on a grid defined by comparing disability management guidelines published by international organizations generally considered as important points of reference for the job integration of persons with disabilities. The contribution of the paper is twofold. On the one hand, the results of the mapping can help firms to identify and classify different strategies and measures they can adopt to develop their disability management programs. On the other hand, the paper contributes to the bridging of a gap still present in the literature since disability management has so far received little attention in the literature on both corporate social responsibility and corporate social innovation.

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, 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.

Corporate reputation (CR) is one of the most important intangible assets for a firm. Even though the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has long been examined in building or destroying CR, findings from these studies are usually inconclusive. When it comes to studies related to the positive impacts of CSR disclosure on CR, more decisive results can be drawn if CSR disclosure is actually leading to a good perception of CSR among different stakeholder groups. This study argues that CSR disclosure alone does not guarantee positive sentiments from different stakeholders, so it is required to investigate how CSR is perceived and which levers can be used to stimulate value co-creation behaviours in the stakeholders. Hence, the present work aims at investigating the mediating role of CR on the relationship between CSR perception and customer citizenship behaviour (CCB) in the context of social identity theory. This study uses structural equation modelling to investigate these relationships in a sample of 278 fast fashion customers of Italy and found that CSR perception has direct positive effect on CCB and CR acts as mediator in the relationship between CSR and CCB.

The relationship between sustainability and accounting has been continuously discussed in the academic literature over the last three decades. From a sustainability perspective, the accounting discipline must play a major role in the measurement, reporting, and auditing of sustainability performance. The aim of this study is to explore the discourse on sustainability and its performance in the accounting field. For this purpose, we selected articles from 3, 4, and 4* accounting journals and analysed the sustainability trend with each sustainability dimension, both separately and jointly. Based on our analysis, findings suggest that environmental sustainability is more discussed than economic and social sustainability in the accounting field. By examining sustainability performance management, we found that accounting and auditing have been highly emphasized in top accounting journals as compared to auditing. The aspect of reporting covers social, economic, and environmental sustainability equally. As regards accounting, on the other hand, higher attention is given to environmental sustainability compared to social and economic sustainability. Assurance has been found to be an emerging topic in the accounting field. With the limitations of the current study, we proposed a bibliometric analysis in order to capture the large dataset and generalization of the discourse on accounting and sustainability in the accounting field.

UK schools collect and store large amounts of data on their students, parents, and staff. This makes them attractive targets for both external and internal attackers. To respond to and manage security risks, many schools have developed and implemented Information Security policies. This paper explores and analyses the content of 100 UK schools’ security policies with an aim to examine the extent to which these policies address security risks faced by schools. Such exploration has the potential to assess the effectiveness and the relevance of security policies. The key findings show that many security policies are primarily centered on traditional technology-focused solutions and not on threats targeting the human elements in their organisations. In addition, it could be argued that between poor readability scores and large word counts, these policies are not very accessible to staff. This paper proposes that a socio-technical approach to information security would potentially result in better understanding of the role and application of security policies in schools and, therefore, improved information security.

High Reliability Organizations (HRO) need to devise and implement organizational 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 Mission 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.

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” [1] or “an abbreviation for the ensemble of principles, factors, and capacities that constitute a form of governance able to cope with the conditions and exigencies of the knowledge society”. This work will focus on the analysis of the digitization process of the public sector in Italy through the “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 attract them with innovative financing instruments. The analysis has been also considering the effects of the “Pandemic lock-down” showing that, despite the efforts made by the central government, the Italian public sector should not be considered as an exemple of “Smart Governance” as it seems to be still committed with “New Public Management Paradigm” [2, 3].

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 infra-structure providers over time, which are today subject to respective nation-wide 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 nation-al 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.

This paper focuses its attention on political connection and Board interlocking among firms. If abstractly, political connections and board interlocking influence is evident, its detection and disclosing appear very difficult. The idea at the base of the paper is that network science theories and data visualization technics might be suitable for political connection and board interlocking detection and disclosing. We investigate if and how Social Network Analysis (SNA) could be a revealing one. In particular we use SNA to `explore the hidden relationship among corporate organizations. Using, as case study, the data of Pakistan stock exchange for the period of 2009 to 2015, this work found the deep penetration of political connections and its board interlocking. SNA techniques allow us to find the web of network in which corporations build their relationship with the political connected firms for the valuable access of resources. More than 70% of the investigated firms were found interlocked through the consecutive years. Results were found stronger with the increase of the number of political connections in the board.

The first research question of this paper is whether and to what extent academics perform their search online. The second research question is whether and to what extent academics use current advanced search mechanisms, as an indication of their commitment to online discovery. The third research question is on the role played by online search in different phases of the research process, that is choosing a research topic, finding readings on the topic, and selecting citations. To help answer these questions, the paper presents the results of an empirical survey conducted with academics in the MIS field. Findings from 326 respondents unveil interesting insights on the literature search habits of academics and, overall, indicate that despite the consensus on the low quality of current online search mechanisms, only a tiny minority of users seems to be willing to trade search simplicity for relevance.

In this paper, we introduce the main topics and the initial settings of an Italian PRIN project aimed at investigating how the systematic adoption of systems for the evaluation of research in the Italian academic context may influence research outcomes. We motivate the need to adopt and adapt a conceptual framework, which may identify, define and describe the relevant entities involved in the evaluation process, their measurable properties and relations. We then present the first draft of an ontology derived from an existing ontology about the academic world, namely the VIVO ontology, and the criteria for its design. We report the steps taken to modify the received ontology in order to fit it to our purposes, with an interdisciplinary contribution to the selection and adaptation of entities. Novel considerations about the use of formal conceptual systems and the contribution of our work to the socio-technical view are finally drawn, and some further directions of the project are proposed.