Francesco Caputo

• Ph.D.
• Associate Professor at University of Naples Federico II

Digital instruments, devices, and platforms are transforming socio-economic structures, giving rise to new ecosystem configurations that demand sustainable, smart, and inclusive growth strategies. This study adopts a meso-level perspective to analyze the critical role of technology readiness and the digital gap in shaping entrepreneurial and innova...

This paper employs the interpretative lens provided by stakeholder theory to garner novel insights for research and managerial practices within the framework of high-reliable organizations (HROs). It proposes an interpretative matrix for analyzing and explaining how stakeholders’ behaviors and interactions can transition from a “strategic” to a “re...

This study examines the complex and diverse process of how educational institutions incorporate digital technologies. The study examines the widespread incorporation of digital tools and methodology, analysing their influence on teaching methods, administrative models, and the overall educational experience for all involved parties. This essay thor...

The paper explores the interpretative significance of relevance in the systemic qualification of “intelligence,” particularly in the context of Intelligence Augmentation (IA). Using the Viable System Approach (VSA) matrix, it delves into Informational Variety and Systemic Relevance to understand the incremental impact of AI in complex decision-maki...

Digital instruments, devices, and platforms are exerting a transformative influence on trends and dynamics within socio-economic assets. This evolution leads to the emergence of novel configurations, exemplified by the concept of Smart Cities. It is crucial to comprehend and effectively manage the associated challenges, risks, and opportunities to...

Raúl Espejo has been President of wosc since 2017. He is also the Director of Syncho Research (uk), a member of the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetics Sciences (iascys), and a former Professor of Systems and Cybernetics at the University of Lincoln (uk) and Aston University (uk). He has been invited to deliver talks at many universit...

The paper elaborates on the goals and methods and examines the preliminary results of a series of events named CyberSystemic interactions (CSI) organised by WOSC. CSI build upon CyberSystemic concepts on personal and group capacities to share and build new knowledge (to learn) before, during and after interactions, and tries to increase the efficie...

Purpose The paper aims to enrich current debate about human–technology dichotomy in socio-economic settings by decoding and systematizing the main phases through which it has been approached in managerial and social studies. Design/methodology/approach A multi-interpretative framework is built thanks to the adoption of a qualitative approach inspi...

Recognizing the interdisciplinary debate about the digital devices and infrastructure needed to support the emergence and viability of smart cities, the latter can be considered one of the most challenging topics within recent decades due to its relevant role in supporting and enhancing citizens’ participation in public management. Using a deductiv...

This article enriches current debates about multisided digital platforms focusing on the domain of resilience in the light of microfoundations perspective. Three processes of resilience - anchoring, objectification, and legitimization - are proposed to explain structural and behavioral dimensions of resilience for multisided digital platforms. Thre...

Purpose In recognising the key role of business intelligence and big data analytics in influencing companies’ decision-making processes, this paper aims to codify the main phases through which companies can approach, develop and manage big data analytics. Design/methodology/approach By adopting a research strategy based on case studies, this paper...

Purpose HR Blog is one of the social technologies systems to allow employees to voice the issues they experience. However, employees’ trust becomes an emerging issue to use HR Blog. This paper aims to investigate the impact level of employees’ trust in using HR Blog and identifying the causes affecting employees’ trust in using HR Blog. Social exch...

Purpose This paper aims to recall the attention on a key challenge for customer relationship management related to the role of human agents in the management of the “switch point” for ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency in a customer-machine conversation. Design/methodology/approach This study contributes to the discussion about the firms’ a...

In a response to the appeal for securing the rice production efficiency to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, we adopted a geographic detector model to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution trajectory and driving forces of the rice production in the world’s largest rice-producing country, China. We have analyzed the spatio...

Smart Cities can be considered as one of the most challenging topics within the last decades. Overcoming the well analysed debate about the digital devices and infrastructures needed for supporting the emergence and viability of Smart Cities, the paper aims at investigating how citizens’ engagement in Smart Cities can be used for promoting positive...

This paper provides an overview of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), a new emerging concept in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. It introduces a typology of NBS, from minimal intervention to the highest degree of engineering, and provides examples of each. It also provides an overview of the ‘Life Metro Adapt’ project, which focused...

Digital transformation is a multidimensional challenge that is requiring to change consolidated approaches and managerial models. New organized entities are emerging because of this ongoing transformation and new competences are required for managing and living them. Thanks to the interpretative contribution provided by the systems thinking, the pa...

Abstract: The paper aims at contributing to the complex debate about the role of human resources in advancing or hampering companies’ internationalisation processes. Adopting a cognitive-based view, a set of variables for coding the role of human resources in internationalisation processes are identified, and their relations with companies’ retu...

Internationalisation begins with companies’ decision to enter global markets to develop knowledge and experience as key competitive factors in the global economy, which has been the subject of much empirical research. Decision-making, knowledge management, and effective internationalisation have become key strategic tools for all companies, especia...

Purpose The COVID-19 wave spread all over the global market, affecting all industries. This paper aims to develop the understanding of how service systems can enhance their viability when facing rapid systemic changes. Design/methodology/approach The authors use data from Reddit, and particularly the subreddit r/coronavirus, to identify posts that...

Innovative behavior (IB) is an important issue in academic and other sectors. The increasing uncertainty caused by COVID-19 has resulted in rising job insecurity for employees in the e-commerce industry. This has jeopardized career sustainability (CS). Numerous studies have explored the influence of supportive leadership (SL) on IB, but so far ther...

The paper investigates the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on Innovative Work Behavior (IWB). The mediating role of passion and organizational commitment is investigated for understanding the effect of CSR on companies' performances by adopting a behavioral perspective. Based on the exploratory literature review conducted during...

Recognizing the key role of innovation in ensuring the definition of managerial and organizational model able to support companies in facing the multiple challenges of sustainable development, the paper focuses on the domain of Responsible innovation (RI) with the aim to depict the role of cross‐cultural legitimacy for RI in Asian‐Pacific business...

Purpose Recognising the increasing relevance of digital platforms in socio-economic dynamics, the paper aims at investigating in which ways digital platforms can influence the economic performances of Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) actively engaged in foreign countries. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts the interpretative l...

Purpose Operating in a variety of countries, multinational companies (MNCs) experience a high variety and variability of physiological and contextual dynamics, requiring a more careful knowledge management approach. In this scenario, this paper aims to investigate the entrepreneurial facets and managerial aspects (entrepreneurial orientation/manage...

With the rapid growth of emerging technologies and services, smart city has been extensively studied with the development of modern societies. There are various applications and strategic views in different smart city domains such as smart urban planning or smart mobility, for designing smart services. However, it is still very complex to understan...

Entering in the international market to increase sales presents challenges, problems, and various factors that must be considered to make an effective decision. Nevertheless, the nature of companies' scale is also an essential parameter, which is inherently limited in small and medium-sized enterprises compared to large corporations. The study's pr...

Purpose Through the human resources (HR) and knowledge management (KM) perspective as human-centric processes, the aim of this study is to explore how companies’ engagement in diversity (DIV), inclusion (INC) and people empowerment (PEMP) policies influences companies’ organizational performance, to support organizations in the shift to the Industr...

The increasing fluidity of social and business configurations made possible by the opportunities provided by the World Wide Web and the new technologies is questioning the validity of consolidated business models and managerial approaches. New rules are emerging and multiple changes are required to both individuals and organizations engaged in dyna...

Managerial studies have long approached socioeconomic settings as “isolated” domains interested in defending themselves from the “external environment”. As a consequence, several managerial models have been developed to address employees and decision makers in protecting ‘internal resources’ as a means to ensure organizations’ suitable long-term su...

Purpose The paper aims at investigating antecedents and predictors of consumers' buying and consumption processes within the Italian Solidarity Purchasing Groups (SPGs) to enrich current debate about drivers and levers on which act for fostering ethical consumption in food sector. Design/methodology/approach Building upon the theory of planned beh...

In an ever increasingly competitive and unstable global market, multinational corporations (MNCs) are greatly pressurised to use inherent capacities and develop effective cross-border business models (CBMs) that can transform value into the desired outcome. Amid high uncertainties, MNCs are required to develop some critical capabilities to operate...

Purpose The aim of the paper is to analyze the impact of cooperativeness of managers who occupy central positions in interaction networks on the performance and stress levels of a whole organization. Design/methodology/approach To explore this relationship, a multi-parameter agent-based model is proposed which implements the prisoner’s dilemma gam...

Come ampiamente riconosciuto, la sostenibilità è un dominio multi e transdisciplinare potenzialmente in grado di influenzare azioni, decisioni e comportamenti a tutti i livelli delle organizzazioni socioeconomiche. Riflettendo sulla natura pervasiva del dominio della sostenibilità, il documento propone una panoramica sul percorso evolutivo delle st...

Purpose With the aim to enrich the ongoing debate about healthcare management, the paper has a twofold intent: [1] to emphasise the interpretative contribution that intellectual capital can provide to a better understanding of the relevant role of patients in the healthcare sector and [2] to investigate the relationships between the three main dime...

Purpose This paper aims to enlarge ongoing debate about corporate social responsibility (CSR) proposing reflections about the role of cognitive and information flows in influencing companies’ approaches and market expectations related to CSR. Design/methodology/approach The paper builds upon the research streams related to the information asymmetr...

The scope and focus of knowledge management has changed multiple times over the last decades, each shift revealing new challenges to management science. Recent change of perspective drawing from systems thinking is suggesting that knowledge is created through interaction between people. Complex network analysis is a rigorous method that can be used...

Recognizing internationalization as one of the more recently debated topics in the management field, this paper aims at investigating the influence of international R&D teams on companies’ innovativeness. More specifically, combining the transaction cost approach, the international product life cycle model, and the eclectic paradigm, an integrative...

The paper aims to contribute to the complex debate about the role of human resources in advancing or hampering companies’ internationalisation processes. Adopting a cognitive-based view, a set of variables for coding the role of human resources in internationalisation processes are identified, and their relations with companies’ return on sales (RO...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing debate regarding the relationship between relational capital (RC) and firm performance, by investigating the moderation effect of firm size and its key role in defining conditions for competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the interpretative lens of the re...

Purpose This purpose of this paper is to provide evidence regarding the contributions of ambidextrous workforces as a source of value for dynamic companies and organizations facing emerging market turbulence. Design/methodology/approach Using structural equation modeling, the paper analyses the data collected via a semi-structured questionnaire ad...

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the potential of knowledge management (KM) as a discipline in helping understand and manage social and economic complexity. The paper highlights some of the potential relationships between KM in organisations and their economic performance. Finally, the authors assess the role of human resources and technologi...

Purpose – The increasing variety and variability of social and economic dynamics is pushing both researchers and practitioners in developing approaches, models, and tools for supporting decision makers in observing, interpreting, understanding and managing emergent dynamics. For contributing to the ongoing debate, the paper aims at discussing possi...

Big Data is one of the most debated topics, as its implications for innovation management and entrepreneurship development are attracting interest from researchers and practitioners. Despite the increasing interest on this topic, a relevant research question remains unsolved: what are the conditions required for the effective management of Big Data...

This work is about how healthcare issues can be reframed from a sustainable and inclusive development perspective. Focusing on the case of orphan drugs and rare diseases, first, a country-based review of the main regulatory approaches to orphan drugs is conducted; then, the main contributions of the literature are reviewed to identify dominant view...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relations among soft skill, information technologies and Big Data for building a possible bridge able to link human and technology dimensions for increasing firm performance. Design/methodology/approach Using the Business-focused Inventory of Personality , work personality of 4,758 human reso...

The chapter aims at investigating the relationships between human resources and ICTs with the aim to underline what barriers and opportunities are emerging in digital societies. As a matter of fact, the production, through the concept of Industry 4.0, is requiring advanced training of the workforce. To address these challenges, the chapter specific...

The vibrant scenario in which companies, organisations, and institutions daily interact is underlying the increasing relevance and opportunities offered by the information and communication technologies. The world in which we live is progressively becoming a digital ecosystem in which all the interactions, relationships, and exchanges are supported...

The increasing market turbulence is recalling the attention of both researchers and practitioners interested in business dynamics on the need for developing conceptual and interpretative frameworks able to face the emerging challenges related to the on-going market changes. As a prominent domain of interest in business studies, corporate governance...

Il presente contributo mira a tracciare il percorso evolutivo del concetto di sostenibilità nell'ambito degli studi manageriali di matrice sistemica con particolare riferimento al contributo interpretativo fornito dall'approccio sistemico vitale (asv). L'attenzione è posta sugli effetti sinergici che emergono dall'interazione e contemporanea consid...

The increasing attention in the field of value management is highlighting multiple challenges for researchers and practitioners. Building on previous managerial contributions, the paper aims to define a possible path for combining the conceptual contributions related to value in exchange, value in use, and value in context in a common framework to...

In the last few years, service science has opened a debate on the need to adopt new approaches to better understand emerging social and economic dynamics. By following this direction, different multi- and transdisciplinary research pathways are requesting to consider an increasing number of new variables in the management of complex service systems...

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the possible enablers and barriers of value co-creation processes in pharmacy, with the aim of enriching previous managerial and organisational contributions in the pharmacy management domain. Design/methodology/approach Building upon the interpretative contributions provided by the service logic and system...

Sustainability seems to be a hot topic today upon which a paradigmatic transformation is going on; this affects many fields and sectors by revealing the significant implications for actors’ participation, such as in healthcare. Today, healthcare calls for renewing and increasing its own main processes of hospitalization, as inspired by the current...

Purpose - The topic of this paper is about Smart Service Systems (SSS), as recent evolution of service systems. The aim is to focus on the connection between structural/system traits of SSS and the value co-creation therein, and how the achievement of a co-creative experience is effectively supportive of the SSS viability.

While companies are investing increasingly in sustainability measures, the effects of firms’ sustainability actions on consumer perceptions should not be taken for granted and deserve to be investigated. By adopting the interpretative lens of consumer culture theory, this paper defines a set of cognitive dimensions which can describe consumer perce...

Over the past decades, information and communication technologies (ICT) established themselves as the key force towards more effective and efficient usage of resources in our society, namely via better use of available information, automation, stakeholder involvement, and decision support. By analyzing recent advancements in knowledge offered by IC...

The challenges of sustainability requires to deeply rethink the way in which social and economic organizations are conceived, governed, and managed with particular reference to the values and strong beliefs that inspire individuals' and organizations' behavior. Believing that the mindfulness can play a relevant role to embed sustainability into ind...

Adopting the interpretative lens provided by the Systems Thinking and Service Logic, the paper pursues a twofold aim: 1] from one side it offers a wider picture of fashion sector with the aim to support both researchers and practitioners in defining more valuable and effective approaches and 2] from the other side it investigates the customers’ per...

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the role of Smart Technologies and Big Data as relevant dimensions in affecting the emerging social and economic dynamics of society with the aim to trace possible guidelines and pathways for decision makers and researchers interested in the governance of the Smart City’s ecosystem. The increasing attention t...

Purpose Analyzing the entrepreneurial ecosystem related to the ARCA consortium, the purpose of this paper is to study the relationships among the start-up firms inside an incubator. Design/methodology/approach Thanks to the adoption of the relationships concentric model and the density concentric model, the paper highlights the role of relational...

Destructive changes and breakthrough innovations are embraced in the development of Internet of Things (IoTs). These network-connected smart devices or machine-learning algorithms transfer information on consumers to the Internet by small sensors and computing processors. Companies thus track consumers' behaviour and offer personalised products and...

This paper proposes an analysis of the evolution of approaches to knowledge management in order to identify useful patterns and perspectives for the improvement of efficiency, effectiveness, and affordable of managerial models for the economic development. The contribution offered by the literature is analyzed in the social network theory perspecti...

Marketing represents a multidisciplinary research domain in which several instruments, models and approaches have been provided to both researchers and practitioners in order to better face the emerging social and economic challenges. Despite the relevance of all contributions provided by marketing studies, the academic marketing domain seems to be...

Management can be considered the science of decisions. Different researchers and practitioners have analysed the contents and boundaries of this vibrant domain, proposing multiple contributions and several perspectives. After a short overview of the principles of scientific management and their contribution to the definition of the modern idea of b...

La crescente attenzione alla razionalizzazione delle risorse e la sempre più spinta rilevanza attribuita alle variabili economico-aziendali rischia di compromettere la dimensione relazionale in sanità. L’incapacità dei tradizionali modelli di management di rispondere alle esigenze di un’utenza variegata i cui bisogni vanno oltre, e talvolta sono in...

In the last few years a vibrant multi- and trans-disciplinary debate has developed around the topic of sustainability in the management of human resources. The need to go beyond old approaches based on the “use” of human resources as “factor of production” has been outlined from different points of view. To contribute to the existing knowledge abou...

By underlining the relevance of the use of ICTs, knowledge sharing and electronic markets for SMEs, it emerges the need for stimulating a debate on digitisation process of supply chain management (SCM). Electronic infrastructure in the service sector are reducing each kind of cost and improving multiply buyer–supplier relationships, facilitating ne...

This article discusses microlevel actions undertaken by owner-managers, and how such actions affect stakeholders in enhancing the sustainability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the knowledge on which is lacking in the extant literature. The paper, by adopting an inductive analytical approach, draws key insights from the literature on microf...

Purpose Poverty, hunger, inequalities, diseases, unsustainable use of resources, etc., in spite of scientific progress, still remains unsolved worldwide issues. All these issues relate to the challenges of sustainability and sustainable development that now call for urgent answers. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the service research co...

Purpose Our paper addresses internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by specifically focusing on collaborative entry modes. Despite significant research done on market entry and internationalisation strategies of firms, the use of collaborative entry modes by SMEs during internationalisation has not received a lot of atten...

In the last few years a vibrant multi- and trans-disciplinary debate has developed around the topic of sustainability in the management of human resources. The need to go beyond old approaches based on the "use" of human resources as "factor of production" has been outlined from different points of view. To contribute to the existing knowledge abou...

Adopting the interpretative lens provided by the studies on T-shaped, the paper proposes a conceptual framework to support a better understanding of managerial and organizational contributions in the field of tourism management. The domains of smartness and sustainability are analysed as key elements of macro-level dynamics in tourism sectors and t...