Business, Economics and Management

Abstract: This study examines how integrating organizational design, competency management, and workforce planning can improve coordination and operational capacity in a Colombian technology company. Drawing on information processing theory and a competency-based approach, it develops a single-case study combining document analysis, functional mapping, aggregated workforce data, and a survey of 41 employees. The findings reveal hierarchical dependence, poorly defined responsibilities, and frictions across interdependent processes. Based on this evidence, the ON Competency Model and an integrated framework are proposed to guide organizational redesign and workforce sizing. The study concludes that workforce composition should be determined according to demand, interdependencies, and required capabilities. Future research should validate the proposed framework through longitudinal studies.

Abstract: In today's complex and dynamic organizational environment, a single leadership style is often ineffective in addressing diverse management needs. Authoritarian-benevolent leadership (ABL)—an ambidextrous leadership model that blends benevolence and authority and is rooted in Chinese culture—is expected to be a positive factor in improving employee behavior and enhancing employee innovation performance when benevolent and authoritarian leadership are simultaneously high. However, existing research is still unclear about the inherent mechanism of this influence process. This study, based on social exchange theory and conservation of resources theory, explores the cross-level influence path of the two dimensions of ABL on employee innovation performance in the Chinese context. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data from 52 work teams and 403 employees. The results showed that ABL had a significant positive impact on employee innovation performance. Employee resilience plays a mediating role between the two; Power distance orientation (PDO) negatively moderates the relationship between ABL and employee resilience. That is, under the condition of low PDO, ABL has a more significant positive impact on employee resilience.

Abstract: Digital technologies can change organizational work without changing the dependencies through which work is coordinated. This article examines the cases in which those dependencies do change. Dependency restructuring is defined as a change in what organizational activities require from one another, or from technological and external providers, after a technology is put into use. The analysis separates changes in activities from changes in dependencies and from the coordination needed to manage them. Individual dependency relations may be created, eliminated, or redirected to a different provider; previously separate sets of dependencies may also become connected. Two conditional propositions follow from this distinction. The first concerns situations in which local autonomy increases while reliance on a shared technological or external capability also increases. The second concerns situations in which different technologies produce similar coordination requirements because they generate similar dependency configurations under similar organizational conditions. Two evidence-based illustrations—enterprise cloud migration and artificial-intelligence integration in organizational workflows—show how the approach can be applied without treating the cases as tests of the theory. The result is a bounded meso-level account of when technological enactment changes what organizational activities require, from whom or from what, and how those changes affect coordination.

Abstract: Problem-solving is widely recognised as a critical capability for addressing contemporary societal challenges, including those associated with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite this recognition, initiatives aimed at strengthening problem-solving capacity often yield limited or uneven results. This article argues that one reason for this persistent gap lies in how problem-solving development is conceptualised. Rather than being understood as a discrete individual skill or a set of transferable techniques, problem-solving capability is framed here as an emergent property of a complex adaptive ecosystem. Drawing on systems thinking and causal loop diagramming, the article presents an ecosystem model that explains how problem-solving skills and dispositions develop, stagnate, or decline over time. The model highlights the interaction of educational practices, professional environments, incentive structures, learning opportunities, and reflective processes, showing how these interactions give rise to reinforcing and balancing feedback loops. Particular attention is given to the tension between quick-fix approaches prioritizing speed and deep-fix approaches emphasizing long-term impact. The article addresses conditions under which problem-solving capacity can be strengthened across contexts, treating SDG 4 (Quality Education) as a key leverage point for sustainable development.

Abstract: Psychological control — the extent to which an organization shapes employees’ inner thoughts, feelings, and self-expression rather than merely their outward behavior — is a pervasive but understudied feature of Korean workplace culture. This study examined how psychological control is experienced by Korean employees, how it is perceived to function (as a management tool) and dysfunction (as a source of psychological strain), and how these perceptions relate to the broader Korean organizational-cultural context. Using a descriptive-correlational design, a structured online questionnaire was completed by 403 Korean employees across a range of occupations and tenure levels. Respondents reported experiencing a high degree of psychological control at work (M = 4.00, “Agree”), most strongly reflected in having sacrificed personal values to meet organizational expectations and having hidden opinions for fear of negative consequences. Respondents also strongly endorsed the dysfunctional consequences of psychological control (M = 4.20, “Strongly Agree”) — increased competition and tension, suppressed emotion, reduced trust, and higher turnover intention — while agreeing only moderately that control brings functional benefits such as focus, responsibility, and efficiency (M = 3.54, “Agree”). Experienced psychological control was significantly and positively correlated with perceived dysfunctional outcomes (ρ = .569, p < .001) and with the perceived cultural normalization of organizational conformity (ρ = .307, p < .001), but only weakly correlated with perceived functional benefits (ρ = .240, p < .001), and functional and dysfunctional perceptions were themselves statistically unrelated (ρ = .080, p = .111). These findings suggest that, in the Korean workplace context studied, psychological control is experienced primarily as a source of strain rather than a motivational tool, and that beliefs about its benefits operate largely independently of beliefs about its costs.

Abstract: Purpose: This paper develops and articulates a three-dimensional conceptual framework for understanding employee discretionary behaviours in organisations. The framework integrates target orientation (interpersonal–organisational), role boundary (extra-role–in-role), and change orientation (reactive–proactive) to provide a holistic lens for analysing employee behavioural patterns. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a conceptual and narrative approach, reviewing relevant literature in organisational behaviour, human resource management, and work psychology to identify core discretionary behavioural dimensions. These dimensions are synthesised into a three- dimensional space, allowing behaviours to be positioned simultaneously across multiple continua. Findings: The proposed framework demonstrates that employee discretionary behaviours cannot be adequately understood through single-dimension or binary classifications. By integrating three behavioural dimensions, the model reveals a multidimensional behavioural space in which in-role and extra-role behaviours, interpersonal and organisational targets, and reactive and proactive orientations can coexist. The framework offers a structured basis for mapping, comparing, and interpreting diverse employee discretionary behaviours. Theoretical implications: The study contributes to organisational behaviour theory by extending existing discretionary behaviour classifications into a unified multidimensional model. It provides a foundation for future theory development by enabling researchers to examine interactions among behavioural dimensions rather than treating them in isolation. Practical implications: For managers, the framework offers a diagnostic tool for understanding discretionary work behaviour patterns, informing performance management, leadership development, and other HR interventions. Originality/value: The paper introduces a novel three-dimensional behavioural framework that advances conceptual clarity in employee discretionary behaviour research. Through the integration of the three fundamental behavioural dimensions, the model offers a flexible and extensible platform for both empirical testing and practical application.

Abstract: The electricity grid is a collective good that tends toward monopoly. It links private electricity generation to private electricity use. Its design converged near-globally at the end of the 20th century. Large-scale producers have separated ownership from transmission system operators. Quasi-markets link them. New challenges and opportunities render that design obsolete. Solar and wind energy are low-cost but intermittent. Secondary electricity, decentralized, becomes low-cost as well. Fast switches enable real-time adjustments in electricity production and use. Low-cost High-Voltage Direct Current lines centralize while also enabling decentralized frequency control. Centralizing and decentralizing options do not fit the currently fragmented markets and grid. Their integrated redesign is due. Key design elements include: a multi-layered meshed grid; multiple independent grid nodes; market rules that prohibit ownership of multiple linked nodes; real-time nodal pricing; equal prices for all purchasers at a node; and automatic nodal and full-grid equilibrium. The new driving mechanisms improve electricity system efficiency and resilience, contributing to several SDGs. They include a single real-time integrated market, car batteries replacing in-grid batteries, and system expansion linking to low-cost renewables. Costs are reduced by 1/4 in North America and Northeastern Asia and by 2/3 (!) in Western Europe-Mediterranean, currently highly fragmented.

Abstract: Employee-turnover warning in finance and taxation education must account for different job roles, repeated monthly records, rare departures, and uncertainty about when some fields became available. This study analyzed 1,397 de-identified employee records and reconstructed 6,935 monthly records for predicting voluntary turnover within 90 days. It compared 22 classifiers with the Hierarchical Risk Encoding XGBoost–CatBoost Ensemble (HRE-XCB), which combines Raw-XGB, HRE-XGB, and native CatBoost. Before model development, 278 employees were selected without reading their out comes. None of their earlier records entered feature screening, tuning, encoding, weighting, or cutoff selection. The search evaluated 152 base structures and selected weights of 0.65, 0.15, and 0.20. The June 2022 evaluation contained 278 separated employees and 24 departures. HRE-XCB achieved recall 0.7500, F1 0.3750, and PR-AUC0.3477. Among the equally tuned shortlist, random forest obtained the highest PR-AUC (0.3772), Extra Trees the highest F1 (0.4324), and histogram gradient boosting recall 0.7917 with the lowest Brier score (0.0752). A separate lower-tuning screen was led by preset gradient boosting (PR-AUC 0.4229). In 5,000 employee-cluster bootstrap samples, no tuned model had a PR-AUC difference from HRE-XCB whose 95% interval excluded zero. Component ablation showed that Raw-XGB alone had nearly the same PR-AUC as the complete ensemble (0.3481 versus 0.3477), while Raw-XGB plus HRE-XGB reached 0.3492. The study therefore supports employee-separated evaluation and decision-specific model choice, but not a universal-best algorithm or exact individual departure probabilities.

Abstract: Leadership has become one of the most critical determinants of organizational resilience, institutional effectiveness, societal transformation, and sustainable development. Yet despite decades of research, leadership scholarship remains fragmented across multiple theoretical traditions—including transformational, authentic, servant, adaptive, strategic, distributed, and complexity leadership—each emphasizing particular behaviors, competencies, or relational processes. Existing approaches have significantly advanced the understanding of leadership but provide limited capacity to compare leadership readiness across organizations, sectors, or countries using a standardized and multidimensional measurement framework. Consequently, no internationally recognized index currently exists to assess leadership capacity in a manner comparable to widely used composite indicators such as the Human Development Index or the Global Innovation Index.This article addresses this gap by introducing the Leadership Capacity Index (LCI), a novel conceptual and methodological framework designed to measure leadership capacity as a multidimensional capability rather than a collection of isolated leadership traits or styles. The article argues that leadership capacity is an emergent systemic property reflecting the ability of individuals, organizations, and institutions to mobilize people, knowledge, ethical values, innovation, and adaptive learning to achieve sustainable and regenerative transformation under conditions of complexity and uncertainty.Building upon an extensive review of leadership theories and organizational capability research, the paper proposes the Leadership Capacity Theory (LCT), which conceptualizes leadership capacity as a dynamic interaction among ten complementary dimensions: visionary capacity, ethical capacity, adaptive capacity, learning capacity, innovation capacity, collaborative capacity, systems thinking, cultural intelligence, ecological stewardship, and regenerative leadership. These dimensions are integrated into the Leadership Capacity Framework (LCF) and operationalized through the proposed Leadership Capacity Index (LCI), accompanied by a Leadership Capacity Maturity Model and a Leadership Diagnostic Toolkit.Rather than presenting a fully validated quantitative instrument, this article establishes the theoretical foundations for an international leadership measurement system. It outlines future directions for operationalization, psychometric validation, mathematical modeling, artificial intelligence-assisted assessment, and cross-cultural benchmarking. The Leadership Capacity Index is intended to support evidence-based leadership development across governments, businesses, universities, civil society organizations, and international institutions. Ultimately, the article argues that measuring leadership capacity is becoming as strategically important as measuring economic performance, innovation, or human development in addressing the complex challenges of the twenty-first century.

Abstract: Organizations increasingly require integrated mechanisms to continuously interpret human, structural, and cultural signals often overlooked by conventional business intelligence and human resource systems. This study presents IntellicaHR, a web-based socio-technical Organizational Intelligence System integrating role-based workflows, normalized performance indicators, Large Language Model–supported semantic analysis and interpretation, gamification, and established management theory. The platform operationalizes the McKinsey 7S Framework for continuous organizational alignment monitoring and uses Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge to structure executive-level explanations and recommendations. Because real workplace data on emotional climate, leadership behavior, skill alignment, and conflict are ethically and practically difficult to obtain, the system is demonstrated using three literature-grounded synthetic organizational scenarios: a Healthy Organization, a Skill-Misaligned Organization, and a Toxic Management Environment. Scenario characteristics are formalized through fuzzy linguistic states and overlapping membership functions to generate synthetic users, reports, assessments, project interactions, and managerial communications over a 45-day simulation. These artifacts are processed through IntellicaHR’s native analytics and interpretation pipeline. The resulting metric profiles matched the intended scenario definitions and were clearly distinguishable. The Healthy Organization exhibited high participation, strong skill adequacy, positive emotional tone, and low conflict; the Skill-Misaligned Organization showed capability and execution deficiencies; and the Toxic Management Environment exhibited elevated conflict, negative emotional patterns, and weaker managerial responsiveness. These findings demonstrate the functional coherence and scenario-sensitive behavior of IntellicaHR as a proof-of-concept artifact but do not establish real-world diagnostic accuracy, predictive validity, or organizational effectiveness, which require future longitudinal evaluation with real users and organizational data.

Abstract: Job satisfaction has become a significant factor in organizational performance, particularly in operational sectors such as port activities, where efficiency, coordination, and safety are essential. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between job satisfaction and perceived productivity among technical workers at port companies in Guayaquil, Ecuador. A mixed-methods approach with a convergent design was employed, integrating ordinal data obtained via surveys with qualitative data from semi-structured interviews. The survey, based on a 7-point Likert scale, was administered to 54 port technicians to measure job satisfaction and perceived productivity. The qualitative component consisted of semi-structured interviews with industry experts. Descriptive statistics and Spearman’s correlation coefficient were used to analyze the ordinal data, while the qualitative information was analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed high levels of job satisfaction (59.3%) and perceived productivity (85.2%). Furthermore, a strong, statistically significant positive association was identified between the two variables (ρ = 0.770, p&lt;0.001). Qualitative results reinforced these findings, highlighting motivation, recognition, and organizational climate as key elements influencing work performance. The study concludes that higher levels of job satisfaction are associated with higher levels of perceived productivity. The findings contribute to the social sustainability literature by showing how job satisfaction, recognition, motivation, and organizational climate are associated with perceived productivity in a highly demanding port context. The study highlights the importance of labor well-being and positive work environments as social sustainability dimensions that may support more sustainable and productive port operations.

Abstract: This perspective article argues that a critical weakness in contemporary Indian corporate governance lies in the inadequacy of the due diligence processes through which independent directors are appointed. Drawing on agency theory, resource dependency theory and the busyness hypothesis, it examines some major governance failures between 2022 and 2025. While these organizations differed in ownership structures, regulatory environments and business models, they exhibited recurring governance patterns despite the formal presence of independent directors. The article contends that prevailing governance reforms have focused primarily on structural compliance while paying insufficient attention to the substantive qualities that determine effectiveness. Synthesizing theoretical insights and contemporary governance evidence, it proposes that effective independent directors are distinguished by four interrelated attributes: domain expertise, time commitment, independence and a willingness to challenge management where appropriate. The article further argues that nomination and remuneration committees should function as rigorous due diligence institutions rather than procedural gatekeepers. By shifting attention from formal independence to functional effectiveness, the article contributes to ongoing debates on board governance, director accountability and corporate oversight in emerging markets. It offers a practical framework for strengthening independent director appointments and improving board effectiveness in promoter-dominated corporate environments.

Abstract: The tourism and hospitality industry relies fundamentally on the quality of human interactions, yet the sector continues to grapple with significant challenges in effectively and consistently training its workforce using resource-intensive traditional methods. This study addresses these challenges by presenting the design, development, and validation of an intelligent agent for training and evaluation, powered by Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model. The system processes internal organizational documentation to build a knowledge base, generates diverse question types for training, and provides automated evaluation and personalized feedback. Validation was conducted in a controlled laboratory environment corresponding to Technology Readiness Level 4 (TRL 4). The system achieved an overall success rate of approximately 82% across all test cases. It demonstrated perfect performance (100%) in social interaction and guided training capabilities. Notably, the automated evaluation engine achieved a 92% agreement rate with expert benchmarks, even for open-ended responses. However, limitations were identified in managing ambiguity and performing deep inferential reasoning beyond explicit documentation. The findings confirm the technical and functional viability of LLM-powered agents for automating hospitality training. This technology offers a scalable, objective solution that significantly reduces resource requirements while enabling personalized learning, although future optimization is needed for complex inference scenarios.

Abstract: The hospitality industry faces ongoing challenges when it comes to training and evaluating staff on critical operational procedures in an efficient and scalable way. Traditional training approaches are often expensive, time-consuming, and difficult to personalize for large teams. This paper presents the design, development, and validation of an intelligent conversational agent powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) aimed at automating training and assessment processes for hotel personnel. The proposed system leverages Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model, integrated into a conversational interface built with Chainlit, to support natural language interactions across four core modalities: general inquiries, structured training sessions, practice exercises, and formal assessments. The agent is capable of dynamically generating four types of questions—true/false, multiple choice, open-ended, and scenario-based—using internal hotel documentation as its knowledge base. It automatically evaluates user responses, delivers personalized feedback, and produces detailed performance reports enriched with data visualizations. A Technology Readiness Level 4 (TRL-4) validation was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting, where nine comprehensive functional test cases were executed. The results showed a 95% success rate across all validation criteria, demonstrating the system’s ability to accurately response to general queries, provide targeted training content, generate diverse assessment questions, perform objective evaluations with constructive feedback, etc. This proof of concept highlights the potential of LLM-based conversational agents to transform corporate training in the service industry by offering scalable, personalized, and cost-effective learning solutions. Future work will focus on advancing to TRL-5 validation through deployment with real users in operational hotel environments.

Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly expected to fill welfare gaps in rural communities, especially in transition economies where firms often provide schools, healthcare, infrastructure, and other quasi-public goods. If CSR improves rural living con-ditions, it should, in principle, help retain population. Yet migration theory suggests a more ambiguous possibility: development may not only reduce deprivation but also ex-pand the aspirations and capabilities that make mobility feasible. This study examines this paradox using district-level data from eight rural districts in Kazakhstan’s Akmola region from 2010 to 2021. Applying Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, we estimate how CSR, amenities, agricultural structure, and economic vitality shape net migration. The results show that CSR substantially improves local amenities, but ameni-ties alone do not generate a strong retention effect. Economic vitality remains the central driver of migration outcomes, while agricultural development has limited demographic effects. These findings suggest that CSR can improve rural welfare without necessarily preventing outmigration. In transition economies, corporate-led development may there-fore operate less as a demographic anchor than as part of a broader process through which rural residents become more capable of pursuing opportunities elsewhere.

Abstract: While generative AI enhances efficiency, it simultaneously undermines the professional authority of high performers, thereby posing an expert identity threat to these high performers. Contrary to traditional perspectives that view identity threats as triggers of passive defensiveness, this paper constructs a moderated mediation model based on the dual-dimensional structure of identity (centrality-solidarity). A two-stage questionnaire analysis of 323 employees reveals that: (1) high performers perceive stronger expert identity threats; (2) these threats conversely prompt them to guide colleagues in using AI; (3) task-AI fit positively moderates this mediation effect. This study breaks through the traditional defense paradigm, confirming that high performers achieve identity compensation and power regeneration through helping others and empowering them, providing insights for organizations to promote the transformation of excellent employees into "human-AI collaboration mentor ".

Abstract:

Against the backdrop of rapid digital acceleration and a tightening UK labor market, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly pressured to move beyond manual administrative processes to bridge the national "productivity gap." While digital transformation is often framed within a large corporate context, this research investigates the specific role of Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) in driving operational efficiency and strategic performance within resource-constrained SME environments. This study aims to evaluate how HRIS integration transforms HR functions from an administrative burden into a strategic asset, while identifying the unique implementation hurdles and performance outcomes experienced by resource-constrained UK firms.This study adopts an interpretivist, qualitative approach to examine how HRIS integration transforms HR functions from administrative burdens into strategic assets. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 HR managers across the hospitality, retail, and recruitment sectors, and analyzed using thematic analysis.The findings reveal a three-stage, non-linear process of value creation: (1) administrative liberation through automation, (2) strategic visibility via data-driven insights, and (3) digital friction arising from cultural and technical barriers. While HRIS enhances operational efficiency and decision-making capability, its strategic impact is contingent upon organizational readiness, particularly digital literacy and change management practices. This study contributes to the HRIS and SME digital transformation literature by conceptualizing "digital friction" as a critical mediating construct, demonstrating that value creation in SMEs is an iterative and context-dependent process rather than a linear implementation. For practitioners, the study provides a roadmap for navigating digital transitions, emphasizing that the "human element" of change management is as vital as the technological infrastructure. While limited by its qualitative scope, the research sets a foundation for future longitudinal studies to measure the long-term ROI of integrated HR platforms in diversifying SME sectors.

Abstract: Over the last two decades, social enterprises in Romania have taken on an increasingly important role in the production and provision of social goods and services for vulnerable groups. Although forms of the social economy have long existed in Romanian society, sustainability remains a constant concern, particularly in the context of dependence on European Union structural funds. This study identifies the multidimensional factors influencing the sustainability of social enterprises in Romania, combining a quantitative analysis of 121 certified social enterprises from the National Register (2016–2022) with qualitative case studies of 15 selected organisations. Revenue diversification significantly contributed to financial sustainability (β = −0.28, p < 0.01), whilst high dependence on EU funding (>50% of revenue) negatively affected long-term viability (HR = 2.18, p = 0.002). Participation in networks increased three-year survival rates from 69.8% to 87.2%. Six key sustainability strategies were identified: hybrid revenue models, integration into the value chain, community inclusion, adaptive leadership, strategic partnerships, and effective communication of results and impact. The findings confirm the absence of an integrated support framework for the sustainable activities of the social economy and, in some cases, the limited capacity of public institutions to support vulnerable groups. Policy recommendations include phased funding mechanisms, transitional support instruments and the systematic development of regional ecosystems.

Abstract: Human Resource Analytics (HRA) promises to improve decision-making, workforce planning, and organisational performance through data-driven insights (Isson & Harriott, 2016; Marler & Boudreau, 2017; Minbaeva, 2021; McCartney & Fu, 2022a[M1.1]). Yet, despite growing interest in people analytics, many organisations still struggle to embed HRA into strategic and operational decision processes in ways that support innovation, effective governance, and long-term organisational sustainability. This article examines strategic misalignment as a critical but underexplored barrier to the adoption of HRA in the airline industry. Drawing on a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with 15 professionals connected to Portugal’s commercial aviation sector—including Experts in AI (n = 5), HR/Airline Professionals (n = 4), and HR/Airline Executives (n = 6)—the paper shows that HRA is constrained not merely by technical limitations but by the weak strategic positioning of HR itself and by governance arrangements that fail to integrate people-related evidence into executive decision-making. The findings indicate three interrelated barriers: the marginal role of HR in strategic decision-making, fragmented data and cross-functional silos, and inconsistent executive sponsorship for analytics-driven people management. These barriers reduce the practical value of analytics initiatives, weaken the governance of workforce-related decisions, and confine HRA to descriptive reporting rather than strategic intervention. The study contributes to the literature by reframing strategic alignment not as a secondary success factor, but as a prerequisite for meaningful HRA implementation and for building sustainable organisations able to connect workforce capability, operational resilience, and business value. Practical implications are discussed for organisations seeking to strengthen digital HR transformation in highly regulated and operationally complex sectors.

Abstract: This study examines how family background shapes individual occupational status within a behavioral science framework, using pooled data from the 2018 and 2020 waves of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Grounded in New Human Capital Theory, it further investigates the moderating roles of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities in this relationship. The results indicate that family background exerts a significant and persistent positive effect on both initial and current occupational status, suggesting the enduring influence of intergenerational advantage. Robustness checks using alternative indicators, including father’s occupational status and mother’s education, confirm the stability of the findings. In addition, digital skills, appearance investment, and selected Big Five personality traits—agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness—significantly strengthen the positive association between family background and occupational outcomes. These findings suggest that, beyond structural advantages, individual behavioral and psychological characteristics play a critical role in enabling individuals to effectively transform family resources into labor market success. Overall, the study provides empirical evidence on how behavioral factors interact with family background to shape occupational inequality in contemporary China.