Exploring Digital Ecosystems

The aim of this study is to analyse the Romanian and Italian smart cities from a knowledge management perspective, and thus 6 smart cities represent the units of analysis (Ancona, Craiova, Padova, Perugia, Sibiu, Timisoara) while a smart city model (which includes 6 dimension and 28 components) is taken into consideration. Each of these components is analysed from a knowledge management perspective due to the fact that the difference among cognitive, emotional and spiritual knowledge may influence the tools which policy-makers could use for smart city development. The results prove that smart city development is based on two pillars: the first one is represented by citizens’ values and beliefs, their vision for the future while the second one reunites what they are able to do in order to transform their vision into reality. Thus, it can be stated that the smart cities model has both a visionary pillar (which incorporates spiritual knowledge) and a practical one (in which knowledge is converted into action). Beyond this, the best Romanian and Italian performers concentrate their efforts on economy, mobility and people. In other words, they focus on creating and disseminating cognitive and emotional knowledge (innovations, emotions, feelings). These findings have both theoretical and practical implications as, on the one hand, they provide the nexus between knowledge management and urban development, while on the other, they bring forward the elements on which the policy-makers should focus in order to foster smart city development.

In 2018, I interviewed seven people from the ‘silent generation’ to find out what they thought about information technology, whether they were averse to it, and why. Using this snap-shot image from Hornchurch Tapestry day care centre, this paper analyses the human activity system that frames how the elderly interact with the technology that surrounds them. It details what these interactions consist of, investigates how the participants view the purpose of the technology and explores how they ‘feel’ about their interactions with it. Ultimately, this paper challenges a societal assumption that elderly people are averse to information technology. The elderly use different technologies for different purposes and in different contexts. The Tapestry interviews highlight how critical family pressure was in determining how the elderly feel about information technology and their decisions to interact with it.

This research-in-progress paper provides some preliminary insights to scholars who intend to investigate value co-creation process within online communities. This contribution presents the results of a literature analysis using bibliometric data of 246 articles debating this specific topic. The analysis shows the main research areas discussing value co-creation issues within online communities, selecting and describing the main cited references. Moreover, using social network analysis tools, it was possible to recognize the main connection among the most cited references (co-citation analysis) and the most used keywords and the connections among them. This quantitative bibliographic analysis represents just the starting point of a literature analysis process. Further steps will aim at conducting a systematic literature review of ongoing debate on value co-creation within online communities and to propose and test a research model for investigating the determinants of value co-creation within online communities.

This paper investigates the relationship between disability and new technologies, specifically home automation, evidencing how the application of new technologies can effectively promote the social inclusion of people with disability. New technologies in all their forms significantly changed the social and economic activities, recording an increasing application in any organizational settings, also allowing people with disability to be significantly involved by improving their social status and commitment in the social daily life. New technologies can facilitate and promote the social integration of disabled persons, allowing them to participate into several social daily activities, acquiring some kind of autonomy. There is an explosion of technology applications in the disabled people’s daily life in different ways, but this phenomenon is still under researched in the literature. This paper aims to identify and evidence the role and function of home automation, for people with disability, specifically we aim to outline if and how the home automation solutions and devises can support people with disability improving their social inclusion. This theoretical study, conducted through a deep review of the contributions in the literature and in the practice through an online search from a 30-year period (1998–2018) on the link between technology/home automation and disability, as an interesting research starting point, contributes to systematize and clarify the main contributions on this phenomenon, also identifying new research perspectives.

Although Open Science currently enjoys widespread support across scientific and technological communities, institutional and cultural barriers remain, as does the lack of investment in knowledge to foster Open Science. Generally, open research processes are based on information system infrastructure, such as informatics platforms where efficient web interfaces should be developed to easily record and share open data. Moreover, Open Science requires a systemic shift in current practices to bring transparency across the system, to ensure the ongoing sustainability of the associated social and physical infrastructures, and to foster greater public trust in science. Until now, the literature has focused its attention more on the final phases of the research process and, in particular, on Open Access, which is only one of the final steps of the Open Science research process. From this perspective, our research focuses on Open Science infrastructure, considering the openness and transparency attributes, with the aim of identifying a theoretical model able to assess web interfaces of Open Science platforms.

Critical thinking is as a systematic habit of being able to question information, confront different information sources seeking diversity of points of view, understanding statements, and being able to make inferences out of information. Critical thinking is an active behavior against information processing which influences in a positive way individual and organizational decision making. While we can observe different levels of critical thinking in different individuals, millennials are reputed to possess low critical thinking skills given their habit of passively receiving information through social media. In this paper, we study the critical thinking skills of millennials, and we explore the level of critical thinking shown in relation to the reported intensity of use of social media and other traditional media for information acquisition. The paper is based on a quantitative analysis of an incidental sample of 424 millennials.

Corporate identity is often defined as “what an organization is”. This concept relates to organizational identity. However, while organizational identity has an internal employee focus, corporate identity has an external focus. As such, it is often used as a synonym to organizational image that organizations project externally. Social media have created a multitude of ways for organizations, as well as for their employees, independently, to develop and disseminate corporate identity. However, although there have already been attempts to explore the role of employees’ personal social media profiles in projecting organizational identity externally, little is still known about how organizations use their social media profiles for these purposes. This empirical research, which is part of a broader doctoral research focusing on organizational identity and social media, aims to address this gap. Building on previous corporate identity and social media research, and adopting an existing framework explaining the relationship between social media and corporate identity, it analyses social media profiles of 12 international HR consulting companies. In particular, it explores the platforms they use, type of content they publish, their approaches for stakeholder engagement and interaction for building stronger organizational image/corporate identity. Diverse off-the-shelf applications were used for collecting social media data for the period between January and December 2017. We expect that the results of our analysis will help to understand how organizations (specifically HR consulting companies) use social media to project and strengthen their corporate identity, and what organizations from other sectors can learn from them.

The increasingly use of social online services has contributed to raising interest in studying a renewed active contribution of individuals to business development processes and value creation. As in knowledge-based organizations the phenomenon of value creation refers to intangible assets, in this study we apply a validated refined framework for intellectual capital (IC) analysis. Accordingly, IC can be grouped into three dimensions: (a) human capital (HC); (b) structural capital (SC); and (c) relational capital (RC). Because of their characterizations, Communities represent a privileged place for IC analysis on an individual and collective level. The unit of analysis of our integrated step-by-step methodology are two online communities of practice (CoPs), operating within one of the most important Italian telecommunication company (TIM S.p.A.). As a result of their empirical investigation, this integrated approach is able to provide both academics and practitioners with an effective tool for assessing intellectual capital and its related dimensions.

In a fast-changing environment, learning—the individual and organizational process of knowledge creation—can assist employees as well as their organizations in remaining competitive. Reflecting on what learning is and how it occurs should therefore be on the agenda of any organization. In this paper, we explore how learning is evolving, its meaning, and the most used learning models and learning methods, describing the present but also imagining the future. We collected data from 91 employees who answered an online quali-quantitative survey. Results show that digitally-enhanced models and methods are constantly growing in importance (more in terms of “expected” use than “desired” use), together with a need for more personalized learning.

While the bulk of the literature on intellectual capital focuses on its role as a source of competitive advantage, fewer studies have analyzed the mechanisms through which human, social and organizational capital translate into high organizational performance. Drawing on the resource-based view and intellectual capital research, this paper aims to analyze how the adoption of e-HRM tools and performance pay affects the contribution of intellectual capital to organizational performance. The analysis performed on a sample of 168 Italian large organizations from the CRANET survey (2015) shows that, while intellectual capital is positively related to organizational performance, such relationship is weakened in presence of high levels of e-HRM. Moreover, in contexts of high intellectual capital, the combined presence of high level of performance pay and e-HRM nullifies the positive impact of intellectual capital on performance, whereas in contexts of low intellectual capital they lead to higher performance. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

This paper aims at investigating the relationship between work changes and Information and Communication Technology usage for professional purposes. These two major concepts are at the heart in current research on working environment and its conditions for fostering job satisfaction, an important and well recognized outcome. In order to pursue our goal, the paper is organized in the following way. In the first part, a brief overview of work changes is provided, together with a review of recent literature linking current contributions within the two chosen areas of study, and hypothesis to test are suggested. In the second part, results of the analysis—carried out on a sample of European employees (N = 21,540) taken from the Sixth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS 2015) is described. Finally, first interesting counter-intuitive evidence is discussed and concluding remarks on managerial implications of our enquiry about a ‘good’ management of ICTs are reported.

Creating effective learning experiences matters for both employees and employing organizations as these experiences generate positive outcomes (e.g. improved performance). Organizations can create effective learning experiences by designing and implementing organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs). Yet, in many cases, they fail to do so. In this paper, we explore how employees perceive learning and their company’s efforts in providing OLMs. We also investigate whether the learning models (i.e. face-to-face vs. online vs. blended) that employees use to learn have an impact on their satisfaction and enjoyment, as well as their perceptions of the OLMs. We surveyed 67 employees and discovered that respondents that learn using multiple learning models, instead of just one, tend to be more satisfied with their learning experiences, and have a more positive perception of their company’s ability to put in place effective OLMs.

People with learning disabilities are often in isolation from the rest of society. This affects their development, their health and their full participation in society. Technologies are an indispensable answer to the problem of this marginalization and not only allows to promote their inclusion in societies but also to raise awareness of society while connecting them to the services and resources available. This paper aims at exploring guiding principles to cater for the needs for inclusive technology accessibility. We review the state of the literature and identify extant concepts in search for a set of Meta principles of technology accessibility design for users with learning disabilities.

Di Leva, Antonio Sulis, Emilio De Lellis, Angela Amantea, Ilaria AngelaThis contribution explores the role of business process simulation to address change management projects dealing with organizational growth. In particular, we consider the adoption of new ICT applications in the context of a growing Small Medium Enterprise based in northern Italy. As income doubled in few years, managers exploited the opportunity to implement a more efficient material resource planning together with an accurate business process analysis. First, the organization was modeled by adopting standard notation BPMN 2.0. Second, data analysis explores organization details as orders arrival, duration of activities, staff working hours. Finally, discrete-event simulation of business processes offers interesting suggestions by varying incoming transactions as well as different parameters in the model. The approach clearly shows how modeling, computational simulation and scenario analysis of business processes are suitable tools to support organizational change.

Amantea, Ilaria Angela Di Leva, Antonio Sulis, EmilioCompanies are currently forced to update their technologies to store and analyze data in order to remain competitive in a rapidly changing market. Digitalization and dematerialization of documents are increasingly needed especially for companies with a large amount of data to manage or store. The efficiency of the process must be balanced to risk management which is a key factor of success for organization as risks are part of every business activity. Compliance is an integral part of risk management with not only economic implications but also on the legal and liability level. This paper proposes a methodological framework to investigate risks and compliance in reorganizations by adopting a Business Process Management perspective that includes modeling and simulation of business processes. We applied our methodology to processes in a Blood Bank department of a large hospital. Our results show that a simulation-driven approach is an effective way to provide a decision support to guide department’s managers to the reorganization and verify, before implementation, the balance between efficiency of the reorganization of activities, risk management and compliance. In addition, digitalization in the health sector would facilitate the self-reporting of errors (methodology encouraged by the Joint Commission for accreditation and certification in Healthcare), that increase transparency. Reporting such incidents can provide a variety of information about successful error management practices as well as weaknesses.

With the possibility to exchange consumption information over the internet, rating websites have emerged in large quantity. Also, healthcare evaluations, especially physician ratings, are part of this trend. The volume of physician rating websites shows the same quantity of different rating criteria on which patients can evaluate their physician and healthcare service. We adapted patient satisfaction literature to generate a framework how these ratings constitute. A quantitative study in southern Germany was conducted to evaluate the research model using structural equation modelling. Our findings show several implications on how a rating framework should look like and also how patients should interpret physician ratings in terms of their information value. In essence, physician ratings cannot accurately predict the quality of the healthcare service, but are rather a measure how sympathetic the physician appears to the patient.

Due to the current remarkable growth of e-commerce, the last mile logistics has become a relevant problem. In this paper, the main issues of the last mile logistics in a smart city context are introduced. We propose a solution based on a shared Information Technology (IT) platform that needs no material investments. The principle of resource pooling is applied to the sharing of heterogeneous vehicles in the urban network. In particular, an IT platform powered by an optimization algorithm is proposed to allow couriers to make their deliveries more efficiently, that is, to reduce the total distance covered by the vehicles. This was achieved through the development of four software modules: an ETL, an optimizer, a web application and a map displayer. First results are promising, but further investigations should be done in order to evaluate more accurately the expected benefits and the possible positive externalities such as improvement of air quality in the city.

Ravarini, Aurelio Locoro, Angela Martinez, MarcelloThis paper sheds light on an overlooked aspect of Digital Transformation processes and projects: the managerial competences necessary to make them happen, evolve and be achieved. Many technology maturity models are discussed in the literature, but little or no mention is done regarding how to model and assess the broader set of managerial competences (i.e., knowledge, skill and experience) besides the technical ones, which managerial roles should exhibit in each phase of the maturity models proposed. This paper discusses some of these maturity models and motivates a new one focused on Digital Transformation maturity in the direction of filling this gap. The model is then presented in its conceptual design as well as in its empirical assessment. A couple of pilot interviews to Italian companies are also discussed as a preliminary test of the main feelings about it and as a ground for our final refinements and future works upon it.

In this work, we challenge the concept of design in the development of information systems. Information systems are usually considered to be so complex systems that they simply cannot be developed outside of a specific activity of planning. However, in the specialized literature, some voices have also been raised saying that it is this situated and contingent complexity that always prevents information systems from having been really effectively designed. These voices have so far criticized the formal and methodical approaches in IS design, and not design itself, thus exonerating the role of the modernist designer from the current rate of failure and user dissatisfaction in IT projects. The current idea of designer has reinforced over time a divide between modeling and practicing, design and use, and the hegemony of the planning mind over that of the performer. The current convergence of networked application paradigms and the Web 2.0 infrastructure has led to agile methods, open design concepts and on the idea of a prosuming user. This paper outlines some discourses in IS research that could challenge the more traditional ones in current IT design, and argues about the importance to revamp some of the most important socio-technical principles for maintaining a critical gaze on positivistic and automation stances, mitigating the effects of the modernist over-design attitude, and make IS development more sustainable.

This paper examines recombinability as a quality of digital infrastructures. The recombination of heterogeneous digital capabilities enables and increases the fit between the infrastructure and the practices it supports. However, there is yet limited understanding of how to design for recombinability in digital infrastructures. This issue is critical in the healthcare setting where information and data needs of patients and health personnel vary in scope and time. This study reports from a comparative case study on the design and use of two patient-centered digital infrastructures. We identify two design strategies for recombinability and analyze their rationales and challenges.

This paper reports the final validation step of the prototype of a Time Accounting System (TAS), which has been designed and developed to investigate the suitability and acceptability of a technology based service exchanges. TAS is able to facilitate service exchanges using local currency (i.e., time) in a developing country, namely in Bangladesh. The paper describes the results of usability tests, at the level of interface and user interaction. Heuristic evaluation was the method adopted for the usability testing. The results suggest addressing the following usability problems that occur in managing services: error prevention, aesthetic and minimalist design, user control and freedom.

The role of cloud computing in today’s world of globalization has seen as a major contribution for application development and deployment. Many enterprises see cloud computing as a platform for organizational and economic benefit. Managing digital identities and access control for cloud users and applications remains one of the greatest challenges facing cloud computing today. The aim of the paper is to summarise the results of the ProCIDA research project funded under Regional Operational Programme “Insieme x Vincere”, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, where a digital platform has been developed in order to simplify access to different kind of digital services (public and private) using the digital identity.

Berretti, Alberto Ciccarone, SimoneA new model for the local spread of some token (e.g. malware between mobile computing devices, information in a mobile social network, rumors in a moving crowd) is introduced. The diffusion of the information is analyzed both empirically by a Monte Carlo method and analytically by mean field theory, revealing the existence of a phase transition. The results are compared and found in strong qualitative agreement.

While there is no consensus in terms of what “smart government” includes and how it is related to emergent technologies and innovation in the public sector, in this paper smart working (SW) is regarded as one of the most important initiatives for building smart government. In the Italian public sector—according to the Law n. 81/2017—SW has emerged as a “new” way to define what is considered as an innovative approach to work organisation and human resource management. Analysing the Presidency of the Council of Ministers case study the paper aims to investigate to answer to the following questions: (i) to what extent is the interface between organisational model for working and new technology contextually bound? (ii) what are the combination of the different elements affecting the configuration of SW? (iii) what are the outcomes of SW likely to be for smar-workers, organisations and society?

This work focuses on how digital infrastructures of a complex inter-organizational system becomes visible and changes. While scientific research on infrastructures have addressed both theoretical and methodological issues, the way in which an inter-organizational and complex infrastructure is shaped and “cultivated” remains unexplored. The aim of this paper is to describe the most significant elements that characterize the interplay between human decisions and behaviors, infrastructure innovation and its visibility. These have been used as requirements to create a decision support system that could help experts to take decisions on an infrastructure for a planned change. In the paper, a longitudinal analysis is proposed with a focus on changes planned and implemented in the Air Traffic Management (a complex inter-organizational system adopted in all the European countries).

In their day-to-day operations, public sector organizations collect and use huge amounts of information that if made available for re-use would contribute to economic growth. Much of this information directly or indirectly can lead to the identification of ‘natural persons’ and, as such, the personal data protection regulation applies to it. According to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) issued by the EU in 2016, unless it is regulated by a specific legislation, personal information can be processed only based on the data subject’s explicit consent. This raises the question of what strategies public organizations could implement to make the data subjects willing to allow the (possible) re-use of their personal information. By elaborating on evidences from the economics and the psychology of privacy literature, the paper suggests that public sector organizations can implement a coproduction strategy to unlock the value of public sector personal information in a user-centric personal information ecosystem. More specifically, the paper argues that the data subjects can be made more willing to consent to the processing (and possibly to the re-use) of personal information by involving them as coproducers in the processes through which public sector organizations can support economic growth in the digital society.

This study quasi-replicates a previous work based on social communication strategies in the insurance sector, analyzing what happens in the Italian fashion industry. Our sample yields findings dissimilar to the earlier research and suggests new insights.

The resurgence of artificial intelligence (AI) has empowered organizations to concentrate their research efforts on enhancing decision-making and automation capabilities. This is being pursued with the goal of increasing productivity, whilst reducing costs. With this, it is perceived that the jobs within these organizations that are considered subject to ‘routine’, or repetitive and mundane tasks, are more likely to be automatable. However, it may be recognised that these jobs are more than a simple set of routine tasks. This study aims to address the concept of routineness from the perspective of the job occupants themselves. The findings reveal that jobs which are considered routine from an organizational perspective, realistically require a degree of human intervention. This suggests that the fear of mass unemployment at the hands of AI may be an unrealistic notion. Rather, the introduction of AI into jobs paves the way for collaborative methods of working which could augment current jobs and create new jobs. Furthermore, this paper accentuates that the acceptance of AI by stakeholders requires an alignment of the technology with their own unique contextual needs.

Several studies state information systems lead to organizational benefits improving organization efficiency and effectiveness. Cloud computing is nowadays an established strategy for adopting IS potentially providing many benefits. Among them IT costs savings are the most evident ones. However, literature remarks that the realisation of organizational benefits depends on contextual organizational factors and requires organizational change. Whether a cloud computing based strategy for IS delivers organizational benefits or just contributes to costs reduction can be disputed. Taking this point of view, the paper presents the results of an exploratory comparative study analysing 23 cases of different enterprises who run a cloud computing strategy. Using fs/QCA as a method of analysis in a multiple cases setting, the research paper explores the organizational benefits following cloud adoption other than cost savings.

This paper offers a literature investigation on Organizational Learning processes stemming from Organizational Change initiatives, based on SNA analysis of bibliometric data. The intentionally open, incomplete and question-provoking research outcomes offered by this initial literature analysis represent form one hand a limit, from the other hand they may be seen as an opportunity to listen to the voice of the research community, to collect new ideas and suggestions before proceeding forward towards a better understanding of the fascinating phenomena at the intersection of organizational change and learning.

Despite the increased level of awareness and concern towards social and environmental issues, many consumers have not yet modified their consumption and lifestyle behaviour. In response to this trend, previous works have shown that social and collective actions among customers, enabled by certain food system networks, have the potential to transform passive consumers into active citizens. The aim of this paper is to analyse if community-oriented motivations and knowledge sharing within a network have a positive effect on customers’ consumption in terms of purchase frequency and quantity. To do so we collected data from Italian Food Assemblies, a particular kind of alternative food network based on a digital platform enabling the direct trade between communities and local farmers and producers. The simultaneous coexistence of online and on-site elements characterizing Food Assemblies allowed us to individuate possible differences between knowledge sharing through online and onsite interactions. We developed a quantitative analysis based on a regression model, collecting data from a questionnaire submitted to 8497 Italian food assembly customers, finally receiving 2115 valid answers. The results show that community-oriented motivations and on-site knowledge sharing appear to be statistically significant for purchase frequency, while online knowledge sharing affects both frequency and quantity.