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Enhancing performance of agri-business through sustainable project management and technological orientation: institutional theory perspective
Abstract
Purpose
The agribusiness sector faces mounting pressure due to a persistently challenging business environment, rapidly increasing population and rising food demand. Drawing on institutional theory, this study aims to explore the role of sustainable project management in enhancing the short- and long-term performance of agri-business projects, with a particular focus on technological orientation as an alternative to traditional approaches.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative research design was employed using a questionnaire survey, with data collected from 342 project managers engaged in agri-business infrastructure projects.
Findings
The findings confirm that sustainable project management has both direct and indirect positive effects on project performance through technological orientation. These results highlight the critical need for agriculture managers to integrate advanced technologies alongside sustainable project management practices across all project phases – from planning to completion – to effectively address current and future agricultural demands in the context of rapid population growth.
Originality/value
This study was the first of its kind to examine how the short- and long-run performance of agricultural business projects can be enhanced through sustainable project management and technological orientation to meet the demands of foods.
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This article addresses the strategies for minimizing the carbon footprint within the agricultural supply chain, focusing on sustainable practices and emerging technologies. The primary aim is to explore how the adoption of sustainable farming techniques, renewable energy sources, and precision agriculture can significantly reduce carbon emissions and enhance environmental stewardship in agriculture. Key strategies discussed include the implementation of organic farming practices, which avoid synthetic inputs and enhance soil health, and agroforestry, which integrates trees into farming systems to sequester carbon and support biodiversity. The use of renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and biogas, is examined for its role in reducing reliance on fossil fuels and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Precision agriculture technologies, including GPS and IoT sensors, are highlighted for their ability to optimize resource use and reduce waste. Additionally, the article covers advancements in carbon tracking and management technologies, which provide accurate measurement and reporting of emissions, and sustainable logistics and packaging practices aimed at minimizing the environmental impact of transportation and packaging. The findings underscore that integrating these strategies not only contributes to significant reductions in carbon emissions but also presents opportunities for improving efficiency and sustainability across the agricultural supply chain. The article concludes with implications for industry stakeholders, emphasizing the need for continued innovation and policy support to drive widespread adoption of these practices and technologies. By adopting these strategies, the agricultural sector can make substantial progress toward mitigating climate change and fostering a more sustainable future.
Global warming is one of the greatest threats to the social development of human beings. It is a typical example of global climate change, and has profoundly affected human production and life in various aspects. As the foundation of human existence, agricultural production is particularly vulnerable to climate change, which has altered environmental factors such as temperature, precipitation, and wind speed, and affected crop growth cycles, the frequency of extreme weather events, and the occurrence patterns of pests and diseases directly or indirectly, ultimately influencing crop yield and quality. This article reviews the latest research progress in this field, summarizes the impact of global climate change on agricultural production as well as the feedback mechanisms of agricultural activities on climate change, and proposes strategies for agricultural production to cope with global climate change. This paper aims to provide a scientific basis and suggestions for ensuring the sustainable development of agricultural production.
This research will analyze how communication mechanism implemented by local government in conducting coercive bargaining with the foreign investors. It aims to describe the coercive bargaining mechanism and communication actions in the process of managing FDI in Indonesia. This research covers areas that lack academic research, namely the mechanism of coercive bargaining in FDI negotiations in the regions. By studying the mechanism of coercive bargaining, this research reveals the input side of FDI process in influencing people's economy. This research also shows the considerations used in encouraging coercive bargaining and its relation with the bargaining power of the local government and investors.
Despite the numerous contributions from farm entrepreneurship to economic development, including food security and rural poverty alleviation, most farm enterprises often fail due to institutional challenges in developing countries. Based on this perspective, the study investigates the effect of different institutional contexts, such as regulatory, normative, and cognitive institutions, on the performance of farm enterprises. The study further evaluates the mediating role of farm Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) in the Institution-Venture performance relationship. We employ the PLS-SEM technique to analyze data collected from 371 farm enterprises in Ghana. The findings from the study emphasize that Regulatory, Normative, and Cognitive institutions have positive and significant indirect effects on farm business performance through the partial mediating role of EO. While regulatory and normative institutions have a negative direct effect on farm venture performance, the results show that cognitive institutions have positive and significant effects on farm business performance. The study confirms the positive and significant impacts of institutions on farm-level EO. The findings imply that farm entrepreneurship can be improved by strengthening regulatory, normative, and cognitive institutions to offer conducive support for farm businesses in developing countries.
Stakeholder engagement (SE) is an important factor in making a project successful. Steered by the resource-based value (RBV) and stakeholder theories, this paper aims to explore not only the correlation between sustainable project management (SPM) and sustainable project success (SPS), but also the moderating effect of SE on this connection. Data was gathered from 365 questionnaires distributed to construction project professionals in China. Structural equation modelling was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results confirm that both SPM and SE positively affect SPS, but the positive moderating effects of SE were found to be insignificant. This article provides the basis for the Chinese construction industry to determine how to achieve SPS through the enhanced implementation of SPM and effective SE.
Sustainability through digital transformation is essential for contemporary businesses. Embracing sustainability, micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) can gain a competitive advantage, attracting customers and investors who share these values. Moreover, incorporating sustainable practices empowers MSMEs to drive innovation, reduce costs, and enhance their reputation. This study aims to identify how owners or senior managers of MSMEs can initiate a sustainable digital transformation project. A systematic literature review was carried out, including 59 publications from 2019 to 2023. As a result, this research identifies the first steps owners of MSMEs can take to begin the transition by identifying critical organizational capabilities necessary for successful transformation, explores the technologies that can support MSMEs in their sustainability goals, and emphasizes the significance of stakeholders in achieving a successful digital transformation journey. Firstly, owners or senior managers should change the organizational culture to support decisions and strategies focus on sustainability. Secondly, the leading role of stakeholders is in the innovation process that allows businesses to be more competitive locally and globally. Finally, big data is the technology that can provide the most significant benefit to MSMEs because it will enable analyzing data of all kinds and contributes disruptively to decision-making.
According to the United Nations (UN), the global population may skyrocket to 9.8 billion people in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, placing an overwhelming burden on food security as the world will have to meet this growing demand. Maize is the largest staple grain crop produced in developing countries. The maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais, is one of the most destructive post-harvest pests of stored cereals and grains. The maize weevil contributes up to 40% of total food-grain losses during storage, mainly in developing countries. Current synthetic pesticides are ineffective, and, moreover, they raise serious environmental safety concerns as well as consumer health hazards. Drawing from past oversights and current environmental realities and projections, the global population has been switching to green living by developing sustainable strategies. In our context, these new greener strategies include the utilization of medicinal plants to control maize weevil infestation, which unlocks unlimited innovative possibilities, and, thus, improves the yield, quality, and safety of maize. Medicinal plants are less toxic, easily biodegradable, and capable of protecting grain from pests. This paper systematically outlines the literature on host plants as well as the feeding and associated diseases of the maize weevil. In light of this, we cement medicinal plants as excellent candidates in the pursuit of greener, sustainable, more potent, and cost-effective pesticides.
Although many studies have focused on digital transformation and sustainability within the realm of project management, there has been a lack of research that comprehensively reviews the current state of the art of the aforementioned subject using a holistic approach. This oversight hampers the amalgamation of DT and sustainability in project management, waning the steps to be taken for the realisation of a smart and sustainable built environment. To fill the identified knowledge gap, this study presents a science mapping approach to meticulously examine the literature published on DT and sustainability within the realm of project management. In doing so, a bibliometric review together with a comprehensive Scientometric mapping analysis was carried out on the literature published from 2011 to 2022. The findings obtained in this study provide insightful accounts for both project managers and academics. Project managers are not only enlightened on revamping their business models but are also given insights into utilising digital strategies for bringing the maximum level of sustainability into their projects. Meanwhile, researchers are given insight into the emerging trends, timelines, and emerging streams that will be explored in future endeavours.
The rapid ongoing digital transformation creates new opportunities to generate value but also challenges companies in the manufacturing industry to adapt to the recent changes. Moreover, committing to sustainability is essential to maintain competitive advantages, build a more resilient company, and manage increasing societal demands and regulations. Referred to as a “twin transition”, the digital transformation can positively impact firms’ commitments to environmental sustainability. This paper explores challenges that small technology solution providers face on their path toward developing sustainable production solutions for their manufacturing customers. An empirical study was conducted in an industrial cluster of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) providing innovative, tailor-made production technology solutions to manufacturing companies. As a result, a collaborative process model was suggested for such SMEs to overcome internal and external barriers to obtaining sustainability, thus better supporting the manufacturing companies, i.e., their customers, to strive towards more sustainable production.
The rise and spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has created an imbalance in all sectors worldwide, massively disrupting the global economy. Social distancing, quarantine regulations, and strict travel restrictions have led to a major reduction in the workforce and loss of jobs across all industrial sectors. One of the sectors completely exposed was the agriculture and food sector. The initiation of a nationwide lockdown by the government resulted in the shutdown of industries globally impacting the overall supply chain from farmer to consumer. The need of the hour is to propose effective solutions which can serve the dual purpose of market growth as well as customer satisfaction. This paper reviews the impact of COVID-19 on the agro-food system and its economy stressing critical factors like food production, demand, price hikes, security, and supply chain resilience. To conserve natural resources and meet the sustainable development goals (SDG), importance has been given to adopting sustainable agricultural practices with a prime focus on techniques like urban agriculture, crop rotation, hydroponics, and family farming. Possible advancements like the use of digital tools, mainly artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and block-chain technology, in the agro-food sector have been discussed as they could be a promising tool to develop a self-reliant society. This work would be a perfect platform to understand the growing impact of the pandemic as well as supporting cost-effective solutions for a green ecosystem.
This study has aimed to investigate the impact of sustainable project management on sustainable project planning and success in manufacturing firms. Data was collected from project management professionals in a manufacturing firm in Malaysia. A total of 231 responses were analyzed using the partial least square (PLS) method. The findings revealed that sustainable project management has a significant impact on sustainable project success and sustainable project planning. Sustainable project planning is positively correlated with sustainable project success. The results also indicated that sustainable project planning mediates the effect of sustainable project management on sustainable project success. The findings have significant insight into the body of knowledge of the project life cycle and indicated that sustainable project planning is a crucial tool attributed to project management towards the project success of the manufacturing firm. The results can be used as a guideline for organizations, providing direction in project management to achieve sustainable development for business.
According to contemporary literature, stakeholder management (which is one of the identified clues of sustainable project management) plays a significant role in successfully delivering construction projects. However, the literature focuses on the issues of stakeholder management/analysis mainly for large projects, and the authors could not find any items related to small construction projects. The aim of the article is to present the results of research conducted in small construction companies in the context of stakeholder management of their projects against the background of project success and sustainability. Many researchers have concluded that stakeholder management is one of the success factors of projects (including construction projects). Based on the conducted quantitative research, the needs in the field of stakeholder management of small construction companies’ projects were determined and the approaches used in this area were diagnosed. The research results indicate a low level of maturity of small construction companies in managing project stakeholders, which is a surprising result considering the fact that the literature on the subject emphasizes the importance of taking care of the project stakeholder management area and associating it with the project’s success.
The agricultural industry is getting more data-centric and requires precise, more advanced data and technologies than before, despite being familiar with agricultural processes. The agriculture industry is being advanced by various information and advanced communication technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT). The rapid emergence of these advanced technologies has restructured almost all other industries, as well as advanced agriculture, which has shifted the industry from a statistical approach to a quantitative one. This radical change has shaken existing farming techniques and produced the latest prospects in a series of challenges. This comprehensive review article enlightens the potential of the IoT in the advancement of agriculture and the challenges faced when combining these advanced technologies with conventional agricultural systems. A brief analysis of these advanced technologies with sensors is presented in advanced agricultural applications. Numerous sensors that can be implemented for specific agricultural practices require best management practices (e.g., land preparation, irrigation systems, insect, and disease management). This review includes the integration of all suitable techniques, from sowing to harvesting, packaging, transportation, and advanced technologies available for farmers throughout the cropping system. Besides, this review article highlights the utilization of other tools such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for crop monitoring and other beneficiary measures, such as optimizing crop yields. In addition, advanced programs based on the IoT are also discussed. Finally, based on our comprehensive review, we identified advanced prospects regarding the IoT, which are essential tools for sustainable agriculture.
Expanding populations, the impacts of climate change, availability of arable land, and availability of water for irrigation collectively strain the agricultural system. To keep pace and adapt to these challenges, food producers may adopt unsustainable practices that may ultimately intensify the strain. What is a course of technological evolution and adoption that can break this cycle? In this paper we explore a set of technologies and food production scenarios with a new, reduced-order model. First the model is developed. The model combines limitations in the sustainable water supply, agricultural productivity as a function of intensification, and rising food demands. Model inputs are derived from the literature and historical records. Monte Carlo simulation runs of the model are used to explore the potential of existing and future technologies to bring us ever closer to a more sustainable future instead of ever farther. This is the concept of a moving sustainability horizon (the year in the future where sustainability can be achieved with current technological progress if demand remains constant). The sustainability gap is the number of years between the present and the sustainability horizon. As demand increases, the sustainability horizon moves farther into the future. As technology improves and productivity increases, the sustainability horizon is closer to the present. Sustainability, therefore, is achieved when the sustainability horizon collides with the present, closing the sustainability gap to zero. We find one pathway for water management technology adoption and innovation that closes the sustainability gap within the reduced-order model’s outputs. In this scenario, micro-irrigation adoption, minimal climate change impacts, reduced food waste, and additional transformative innovations such as smart greenhouses and agrivoltaic systems are collectively needed. The model shows that, in the absence of these changes, and continuing along our current course, the productivity of the agricultural system would become insufficient in the decade following 2050.
The transport infrastructure can be defined as a factor that guarantees the growth and economic development of the region, due to the functions of traversing space in terms of the movement of people and the exchange of goods. The effects of the impact of transport infrastructure on the economy of the region largely depend on how the society uses the services offered by infrastructure facilities and devices. The study examines the impact of transport infrastructure on the sustainable socio-economic development of the Wałcz Lake District. To conduct the analysis, a questionnaire addressed to entrepreneurs from this region was used. In the second part of the research, the indicators of sustainable development at the regional level were applied: the level of transport infrastructure and the level of socio-economic development of the studied area. The study is an attempt to fill the cognitive gap for areas outside the country’s main transport corridors. The existing differentiation in both the development of infrastructure and the economic attractiveness of urban and rural areas was shown. Factors influencing the effectiveness of implementing the concept of sustainable rural development were indicated.
The article is devoted to the study of the problems of infrastructure developing that ensures the economic security of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship in the agro-industrial complex, the analysis of factors restricting the development of SMEs and their support institutions is carried out, measures to overcome the problems of developing the infrastructure ensuring the economic security of SMEs are proposed. Infrastructure development depends on the capabilities of SMEs, and the opportunities are due to the influence of the external environment. To assess the situation, a survey of agricultural entrepreneurs was conducted, and according its results entrepreneurs noted the most significant factors limiting the development of SMEs: difficult access to loans, external financing; lack of own funds for business development; taxation; strong competitors, etc. Among the problems that hinder the development of infrastructure were noted: the financial illiteracy of start-up entrepreneurs, the low level of entrepreneurial activity and the income received by SMEs, the disproportion in the distribution of support institutions across the Orenburg region and, as a result, their absence in remote areas and rural areas. To overcome these problems, the creation of institutions for training and retraining entrepreneurs and the “Business Center for Small and MediumEnterprises”.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to answer the research question: “does the incorporation of sustainability as a new school of thought in project management support project success?” The authors carried out a systematic literature review (SLR) on relevant empirical studies before 2018 to answer this question.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors carried out an SLR by selecting, extracting, analysing and critically appraising relevant literature that met pre-specified criteria by using transparent, well-organised and replicable steps. The main sources are publications in peer-reviewed journals regardless of their impact factor because the topic of incorporating sustainability in project management practices is restrained by a lack of research.
Findings
Based on the analysis, it seems that incorporating sustainability into project management may support project success. However, more evidence is required to support this finding as there are too few relevant empirical studies in the literature.
Research limitations/implications
Therefore, considering sustainability as a new school of thought in project management is premature, and there are recommendations for further research at the end of this study. There are several limitations to the studies chosen, which may have significantly affected results, and thus may affect outcomes in this study.
Originality/value
Project success needs to be the main endeavour when incorporating sustainability into project management, and it should be a key criterion when considering sustainability as a new school of thought in managing projects. The most challenging elements of project success that need to be addressed are cost and time. This study contributes to a better understanding of the impact of PSM on project success. It facilitates decision making in considering sustainability as a new school of thought in project management. Furthermore, it defines a need for more research work in this potential paradigm shift in managing projects.
Nowadays, quality of life and livability are controversial phenomenon. A high quality of life and livability are demanded in cities; however, rapid and unplanned urbanization creates a lot of challenges such as poverty, slums, social instability, insecurity, diseases, environmental challenges and climate change, unemployment, economic problems, etc., which threaten the livability of the world. Therefore, it is vital to tackle urbanization challenges and create a sustainable urban setting with a high quality of life in order to make the world a better place to live. In particular, literature reviews, surveys, exploratory case studies, and the Kiwi and Kampenhood methodology based on Persian Zarathustra that is utilized in social science, engineering and management are the main method tools in this study. Fundamentally, modern livable and sustainable urban settings are suggested as a path to deal with urbanization challenges in order to improve livability and quality of life. Although sustainable cities provide opportunities to improve quality of life, urban planning and good governance with effective regulatory frameworks to create such modern settings are required. Thus, an innovative sustainable project management is introduced as a tool to design modern livable and sustainable areas. Innovation is declared as an accelerator to achieve sustainable project management in this research.
Today, more than ever, achieving sustainability of business activities, intertwining social, economic, and environmental perspectives, is one of the most challenging objectives for companies. Project management processes are no exception. This paper aims to contribute to the current research knowledge through a systematic review of the literature on the integration of project management and sustainability. Specifically, the aim was to clarify the research domains of sustainable project management, and to understand the current state of development and the future research directions. Results indicate that academic literature about this topic is still in its infancy, but that scholars’ attention is growing, opening new research directions. Based on the literature review results, we propose a new conceptual framework linking five key dimensions of sustainable project management: corporate policies and practices, resource management, life cycle orientation, stakeholders’ engagement, and organizational learning.
Purpose
Despite the growing importance of digital innovation conceptualized as innovative digital solutions that enable digital transformation of businesses across industries, empirical study of factors related to digital innovation is still scant, creating a knowledge gap. To fill this gap, this paper aims to examine the effect of digital orientation and digital capability on digital innovation, and also the mediating effect of digital innovation on the link between organizational performance and digital orientation as well as digital capability.
Design/methodology/approach
This study tests a new conceptual framework using a survey data of 105 small to medium-sized IT firms in Malaysia and employing structural equation model (SEM) analysis from partial least square (PLS) approach.
Findings
The results show that digital orientation and digital capability have positive effect on digital innovation and also that digital innovation mediates the effect of technology orientation and digital capability on financial and non-financial performance.
Practical implications
The findings encourage the firms to take the opportunity of emerging digital technologies and digitalization trend in industries by being committed toward embracing new digital technologies and upgrading their digital capabilities to become innovation leaders and also to boost firms’ performance.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first studies that explain how emerging digital technologies can be leveraged to create innovative digital products and services and subsequently boost their business performance. It also fills the literature gaps related to driving factors of digital innovation and mediating role of digital innovation on the link between its driving factors and performance.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether insights into high reliability organizations (HROs) are useful for innovation management teams. HRO teams can keep failure to a minimum level due to high alertness and resilience. Project teams working on innovation management could benefit from HRO principles and thus reduce their chances of failure.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey among in total 260 team members and team leaders of project teams in innovation management was conducted to study the relation between, on the one hand, organizational features of HROs (“mindful infrastructure”) and HRO principles (adjusted as “innovation resilience behaviour”, IRB), and on the other hand, between mindful infrastructure and IRB and project outcomes.
Findings
From the results it could be concluded that mindful infrastructure associates with IRB, and that IRB has a mediating role in the relation between mindful infrastructure and project outcomes. Innovation management project teams can thus learn from the practice of HRO teams.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, HRO-thinking has not been applied to team behaviour in innovation management. A fruitful transfer of insights from the domain of safety and crisis management seems applicable to the domain of innovation.
Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging domain that promises ubiquitous connection to the Internet, turning common objects into connected devices. The IoT paradigm is changing the way people interact with things around them. It paves the way to creating pervasively connected infrastructures to support innovative services and promises better flexibility and efficiency. Such advantages are attractive not only for consumer applications, but also for the industrial domain. Over the last few years, we have been witnessing the IoT paradigm making its way into the industry marketplace with purposely designed solutions. In this paper, we clarify the concepts of IoT, Industrial IoT, and Industry 4.0. We highlight the opportunities brought in by this paradigm shift as well as the challenges for its realization. In particular, we focus on the challenges associated with the need of energy efficiency, real-time performance, coexistence, interoperability, and security and privacy. We also provide a systematic overview of the state-of-the-art research efforts and potential research directions to solve Industrial IoT challenges.
Through their role, entrepreneurs differently contribute to economic activity and economic development of national economies. Some of them are driven by the development of new products/services and new markets, others try to increase their business and number of employees in line with their company’s needs, while some of them see their opportunity in other markets, often beyond the borders of their country. The key issue, as well as the overall orientation of this research, is related to the analysis of the impact of entrepreneurs’ aspiration (innovation, growth and internationalization) on the technological orientation, i.e. the use of new technologies in entrepreneurial venture. In order to provide deeper insight into the subject of the research, the analysis extends to cooperation with other organizations for the implementation of the open innovation strategy. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of entrepreneurs’ aspirations on technological orientation of entrepreneurs and their cooperative capacities for the development of open innovations, and to analyze the impact of technological orientation of entrepreneurs on the implementation of the open innovation strategy. The main source of data of the analyzed factors (variables) in this study is the GEM research database for 2012. The results of path analyses of Structural Equation Modelling indicate a positive direct and indirect impact of innovation as well as entrepreneurs’ aspirations and business internationalization on technological orientation of entrepreneurs and cooperation with other organizations. The positive impact was not found during the analysis of the impact of business growth and its direct impact on the technological orientation of entrepreneurs, as well as the indirect impact on cooperation with other organizations. However, when observing the growth of business enterprise and its direct impact on cooperation with other organizations, the positive impact of the observed variable is identified. © 2018, Kauno Technologijos Universitetas. All rights reserved.
Diverse agricultural technologies are promoted to increase yields and incomes, save time, improve food and nutritional security, and even empower women. Yet a gender gap in technology adoption remains for many agricultural technologies, even for those that are promoted for women. This paper complements the literature on gender and technology adoption, which largely focuses on reasons for low rates of female technology adoption, by shifting attention to what happens within a household after it adopts a technology. Understanding the expected benefits and costs of adoption, from the perspective of women users in households with adult males, can help explain observed technology adoption rates and why technology adoption is often not sustained in the longer term. Drawing on qualitative data from Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania, this paper develops a framework for examining the intrahousehold distribution of benefits from technology adoption, focusing on small-scale irrigation technologies. The framework contributes to the conceptual and empirical exploration of joint control over technology by men and women in the same household. Efforts to promote technology adoption for agricultural development and women’s empowerment would benefit from an understanding of intrahousehold control over technology to avoid interpreting technology adoption as an end in and of itself.
In recent decades, the concept of sustainability has become increasingly prominent in agricultural policy debates. This has led more and more stakeholders to pay attention to the questions of monitoring and evaluation of agricultural practices, and raised the question of appropriate indicators to assess sustainability aspects of given practices. We provide here a review of indicators of sustainability for agriculture. We describe sustainability indicators used in the literature following the typology based on the three sustainability pillars: environmental, economic and social. The literature review shows that the environmental pillar has undergone an ‘indicator explosion’, due to the multitude of themes covered and the attention given by society to this dimension of sustainability. By contrast, economic indicators target a relatively small number of themes. Social indicators typically cover two main themes: sustainability relating to the farming community and sustainability relating to society as a whole.
The measurement of these social indicators is challenging as they are often qualitative and may therefore be considered subjective. Careful attention should be given to the choice of indicators, since the data measured will infl uence the calculation of that indicator and therefore the outcome of the analysis. It should first be decided whether individual or composite indicators are preferable, and whether single indicators or a set of indicators should be used. Also, sustainability assessments should be validated, credible and reproducible. Several selection criteria are provided in the literature, such as representativeness, transferability, adaptability and measurability at an acceptable cost.
This research identifies the key variables of sustainability in project management and explores the impact of these variables on project success. The methodological approach combined a literature review and an expert panel. The expert panel was conducted in two phases: interviews were conducted with five experts to validate the content of the identified variables, and a forum was held with 11 experts from 10 universities in 6 different countries. Research data were analyzed using content analysis, descriptive statistics, and analytic hierarchy process. Through systematic expert reviews, this research shows a succinct and relevant list of variables and their classification, reflecting the experts’ consensus, which can help practitioners and scholars introduce sustainability into project management. Similarly, the key variables for project success are identified and classified. Finally, the article explores the experts’ perspectives on the impact of sustainability on project success.
Sustainable development and the definition of indicators to assess progress towards sustainability have become a high priority in scientific research and on policy agendas. In this paper, we propose a consistent and comprehensive framework of principles, criteria and indicators (PC&I) for sustainability assessment of agricultural systems, referred to as the Sustainability Assessment of Farming and the Environment (SAFE) framework. In addition we formulate consistent and objective approaches for indicator identification and selection. The framework is designed for three spatial levels: the parcel level, the farm level and a higher spatial level that can be the landscape, the region or the state. The SAFE framework is hierarchical as it is composed of principles, criteria, indicators and reference values in a structured way. Principles are related to the multiple functions of the agro-ecosystem, which go clearly beyond the production function alone. The multifunctional character of the agro-ecosystem encompasses the three pillars of sustainability: the environmental, economic and social pillars. Indicators and reference values are the end-products of the framework. They are the operational tools that are used for evaluating the sustainability of the agro-ecosystems. The proposed analytical framework is not intended to find a common solution for sustainability in agriculture as a whole, but to serve as an assessment tool for the identification, the development and the evaluation of agricultural production systems, techniques and policies.
Purpose
The global research evidences indicate that the technology adoption in case of agribusiness has a potential to enhance the performance and bring operational efficiency. India is the world’s largest producer as well as consumer of milk but struggles with yield per cattle, overall productivity, low rate of technology acceptance and adoption, health detection of milching units, animal data recording and presence of dairy products in the global market. The purpose of this study is to focus on identifying the challenges of technology adoption in dairy farms and constructing a hierarchical model using soft systems methodology.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses nominal group technique-based discussion with domain experts and personal interviews with dairy farm owners/managers for the identification of challenges, fuzzy interpretative structural modeling as well as FMICMAC to develop a hierarchical model of challenging elements and to divide the identified elements into four categories based on the dominance of driving-dependence power.
Findings
This research has developed a list of 12 challenges affecting the technology adoption in a dairy farm business unit, identified through the personal interviews with 60 dairy farms across three highest milk-producing states of India in terms of annual milk output – Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Lack of government support followed by lack of educational opportunities in dairy-based education were found as the most crucial and high driving challenges, whereas high cost, huge investment and low acceptance of decision-maker were found as the most dependent challenges of technology adoption.
Research limitations/implications
This research is one step ahead of interpretive structural modeling that considers the fuzzy-based dominance in the model to showcase the degree of relationship along with its existence, but it lacks to statistically validate the findings using techniques like SEM.
Practical implications
This paper has developed a list of challenges in adoption of technology along with their inter-relationships to highlight the required focus challenge that drives or is dependent on the other challenges. The goal is to bring performance improvement and assist Indian dairy farm business stakeholders or decision-makers in formulating strategic and action plans and help policy planners to make favorable policies based on the understanding of contextual relationship between challenges.
Social implications
In Indian context, dairy is an important part of agriculture sector, and milk is an essential item that facilitates income generation to small and rural households and a source item for several other businesses and activities. The results of this research suggested the policy planners and government to ensure subsidized and insured technologies, training support and facilities, educational opportunities and efforts for promotion of technology adoption among dairy farmers. The suggestions are purely on the basis of the relevance of challenges in the hierarchy and can play a significant role in improving the level of technology adoption and can ultimately uplift the social and economic well-being from micro-level of farmers to macro-stage concerning economic development of India.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is purely original and outcome of the research conducted by authors.
According to recent trends, food production must double by 2050 to meet the world's growing population's expected demand. To achieve this goal, agri-food companies have begun implementing different digital technologies to increase food production while utilising fewer resources, thus reducing production processes' environmental impact. This study aims to review Industry 4.0 and agri-food sustainability research published in the last decade. Text classification and data extraction machine learning techniques have been used to support the literature review process. Notably, text classification was used to support the screening phase of titles and abstracts, while data extraction was used to support the content analysis phase by identifying the main topics on which documents are focused. The descriptive analysis shows a summary of the leading scientific journals in the research field, as well as the most influential countries and the research topic evolution over time. The results of the study allowed us to identify ten main research clusters, providing in-depth discussions and perspectives on critical areas for future research avenues. Finally, this study provides significant implications for the agri-food industry, suggesting firms redesign their business models according to a logic that prioritises long-term, shared value creation over short-term efficiency, and profitability. Incorporating digital technologies may help control farming activities' impact on soil and air quality, minimising the use of natural resources, pollutants, and CO2 emissions, thus providing long-term economic, environmental, and social advantages.
The research aimed to explore the sustainability actions in the Australian horticulture and dairy industries and the influences on firms adopting sustainability. The research adopted a neo-institutional lens and examined the environmental, social, and economic issues faced by these two industries in their operations and their supply chains. The research adopted a qualitative approach with four case studies. Interviews were conducted with decision-makers in the focal firms as well as those in key supply chain partners. One key finding was that motivations differed in the take up of environmental and social sustainability actions, with business imperatives and mimetic influences found in the former, whilst reputation and normative influences were evident in the latter. Environmental actions focused on actions to reduce their carbon footprints such as environmentally friendly packaging, water efficiency, managing waste, and monitoring spray programs. In the dairy industry environmental actions are also related to animal welfare. Social actions predominantly focused on “giving back to the community”. And the adoption of automation was the main economic action. The horticulture sector demonstrated more concern about sustainability in its supply chain, especially in regard to environmental considerations due to economic interdependencies and industry and competitive pressures.
Another key finding was regarding sustainability challenges. A key social sustainability challenge was found to be the treatment of temporary backpacker labour which has the potential to seriously damage Australia's clean and green image. In terms of environmental sustainability, severe water shortage and the associated costs were found to be the most challenging. International competitive pressures were highlighted as a key challenge and the need to be sustainable economically was at the forefront of many concerns. In terms of the supply chain, processing firms (upstream) were found to exert a positive and substantial pressure in terms of sustainability practices of their supply chain, whereas, in the dairy sector, the duopoly of retail giants had a significant albeit negative influence on the supply chain's uptake of sustainability practices. Managers' values and links to the local and regional communities played an important part in the adoption of sustainability initiatives and their influence on the supply chain.
Purpose
Steered by upper echelon theory, this study aims to scrutinize the prevalence of project manager demographic factors (age, education and experience) in project sustainability management and project performance.
Design/methodology/approach
We used a sample of 209 project managers/supervisor/team leaders who were working in the projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Findings
The results indicate that project manager demographic factors have a significant influence on project performance (except experience) and project sustainability management. Moreover, project sustainability management partially mediates the relationship between age, education and project performance while it fully mediates the path between experience and project performance.
Practical implications
The research recommends senior, high educated and experienced managers for CPEC who promote sustainability and gain high project performance.
Originality/value
A number of studies have been carried out to assess the relationship between top managers’ attributes and environmental activities. However, so far, none of the studies has paid attention to the CPEC and projects working in Pakistan.
This article examines the phenomenon of uncertified producers of otherwise certifiable organic food embedded in value chains whose farm products conform to elevated environmental standards. Having embraced so called “beyond organic” cultivation approaches—including agroecology, biodynamic, and permaculture—producers undertaking restorative ecological practices on their farms are certification worthy, in principle, while remaining either unwilling or unable to pay to upgrade to premium markets, in practice. Confronted with the trade-off between allocating scarce resources to compliance and credibility—producers creating collective public goods may do so at the expense of being able to signal the credibility of their actions as environmental stewards along value chains, as through private, third party certification schemes. Drawing on insights from multiple waves of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Nicaragua beginning in 2007, I show how this credibility dilemma exacerbates challenges already facing smallholders—including livelihood insecurity, political instability, and environmental degradation—demanding new institutional innovations that effectively lower the cost of credibility. In Nicaragua, peasant associations responded to this challenge by advancing an innovative institutional arrangement—the Grupo de Promocion de Agricultura Ecologica (GPAE) marca de confianza, Group for the Promotion of Ecological Agriculture's trademark of trust—to commercialize fresh produce destined for local consumption and new niche markets via networks of trusted producer communities.
Three tenets of sustainable intensification should guide the fourth agricultural revolution: people, production, and the planet. Thus far, narratives of agriculture 4.0 have been predominately framed in terms of benefits to productivity and the environment with little attention placed on social sustainability. This is despite the fact that agriculture 4.0 has significant social implications, both potentially positive and negative. Our viewpoint highlights the need to incorporate social sustainability (or simply ‘people’) into technological trajectories and we outline a framework of multi-actor co-innovation to guide responsible socio-technical transitions. Through the greater inclusion of people in agricultural innovation systems guided by responsible innovation principles, we can increase the likelihood of this technology revolution achieving social sustainability alongside benefiting production and the environment.
Purpose
Recent research on construction project management (CPM) envisions addressing wider social good while delivering value to the funding organizations. It is complemented by a growing body of knowledge on social sustainability in construction projects. These two literature streams are currently scattered and there is a lack of holistic guidance on integrating social sustainability with CPM. The current study addresses this knowledge gap through a critical review of these two bodies of literature and thereby proposing a conceptual framework for socially sustainable CPM.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual modelling approach, involving sequential steps of knowledge acquisition, and knowledge abstraction and representation, has been used. Knowledge acquisition was based on a systematic search and short-listing of research articles and knowledge abstraction was performed through thematic analysis of the 81 shortlisted articles. The categories abstracted through thematic analysis were integrated and presented as the framework.
Findings
A framework for socially sustainable CPM, consisting of four social sustainability characteristics and six areas of social sustainability integration in CPM (SSI-CPM), has been proposed. It presents possibilities of integrating social concerns in CPM processes at various levels – ranging from permanent firms that provide resources to the temporary (project) organization that delivers value.
Originality/value
This study seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice of realizing social good through construction projects. To this end, a conceptual framework has been proposed along with an agenda for future research encompassing social sustainability and CPM.
Different experts and organizations define sustainability in different ways. This introductory chapter discusses these definitions and reviews the development of the field of sustainability since it emerged from the United Nations in the 1980s. Additionally, the chapter highlights how sustainability brings together important themes of environment, economics, and social equity to try to limit the impact of human activity on the planet. We highlight how sustainability is assessed and measured by summarizing a number of local, national, and international assessment schemes used in a variety of contexts. We also consider how the three pillars of sustainability (environmental protection, economic development, and social equity) are key to each of the case studies presented in this book. As we consider how the world is changing, society will look more and more to sustainability experts to try to find solutions to our emerging problems. The case studies presented in the book are an important contribution that provides examples on best practices on sustainability and highlights lessons learned and continued barriers and challenges related to sustainability.
This review assembles two highly referenced streams of research in organization and management studies over the past decade: institutional logics and categories. We present the gist of each literature focusing on the interaction within and between organizations vis-à-vis the institutional logics and category systems that condition behavior. Then, we suggest that both streams have compatible assumptions that warrant further integration and suggest opportunities for future research stemming from (1) complementarities related to inter-and intra-audience variance, formation and recombination of logics and categories, and actors’ identity and (2) differences related to theory level of analysis, incorporation of conflict, and methods of analysis. Integration can lead to better specified mechanisms, processes, and contexts important to improving accuracy and development of these research streams.
This study aims to propose and to validate a research model on project sustainability management. Moreover, it investigates the relation between project sustainability management and project success. The methodological approach is a survey-based research, using structural equation modelling to validate the research model. The hypotheses were tested based on a field study involving 222 projects distributed among eight industries and two countries. The results show a low degree of commitment to social and environment aspects of the surveyed projects. The structural model proposed shows a significant and positive relation between project sustainability management and project success and in reducing the social and environmental negative impact.
The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.
Sustainability is one of the most important challenges of our time. Projects play a pivotal role in the realization of more sustainable business practices and the concept of sustainability has also been linked to project management. However, how managers of projects consider sustainability in their operational daily work is still to be explored. This paper uses Q-methodology to investigate the consideration of sustainability aspects in the decision making processes of project managers. The research question was How are dimensions of sustainability considered in the decision-making processes of project managers in relation to the triple constraint of time, cost and quality? Based on the Q-sort of selected respondents, the study found that the consideration of sustainability principles is underrepresented, compared to the triple constraint criteria. However, the analysis of the individual Q-sorts revealed four distinct perspectives that differ significantly in their consideration of sustainability principles and triple constraint criteria. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and Association for Project Management and the International Project Management Association.
Purpose
New services design and development are difficult to plan, execute, measure and evaluate. Particularly, new services that are capital-intensive and involve a long gestation and development time are considered extremely risky. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a list of innovative practices in various managerial aspects in designing, planning and development of a large scale infrastructure intensive public transportation service. A contemporary new public transportation service development is discussed as evidence of proven and benchmarked criteria.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a technical paper, where theoretical foundations of best practices in new service development project are discussed and supported by practice-based evidences from a real-life urban transportation project. A case study approach is adopted with secondary data.
Findings
Worldwide during and after economic recession of 2008, several projects were stalled or abandoned. The inference through this work is that through efficient management practices, a large capital-intensive new service development project can be made successful even during a turbulent economy in a region marred by more challenges than elsewhere.
Practical implications
Several issues in large scale services development, such as urban transportation are domain specific. Some of the issues faced in urban transportation are common to several Gulf countries; therefore the policy guidelines, managerial practices and development strategies reported in this paper can be replicated in many of them. The commercial impact of the service project is a significant drive towards fuel conservation and to save huge amounts of productive time.
Social implications
Public transportation with a high quality of networked service improves the quality of life to a large extent. Unless certain measurable demands are not met, an affluent society is less likely to endorse public transportation. In addition, endorsement of public transportation is been promoted in several parts of the world as a drive towards a green, energy efficient, low-carbon emission and sustainable environment.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, new services planning and development is a key operations management topic, on which very little is written about. Particularly no other paper has presented a real-world large scale infrastructure intensive project development to this detail, and along with a theoretical background to benchmark performance and development practices.
Topics of project management and sustainability have been addressed by countless studies, but research focusing on the intersection of these topics are needed. This research looks at sustainability through the triple-bottom line perspective: economic, social, and environmental. It aims to identify key aspects of sustainability in project management context and to understand its importance based on project managers' lens. A systematic literature review merging bibliometric and content analysis was applied toward an understanding of the key topics. Further, a survey of project managers was performed and analyzed through exploratory factor analysis. The results show that four factors stood out: Sustainable Innovation Business Model, Stakeholders Management, Economic and Competitive Advantage, and Environmental Policies and Resources Saving.
The working hypothesis of this study revolves around the lack of integration of sustainability and project management. Organisations, nowadays are increasingly keen on to include sustainability in their business. Project management can help make this process a success but little guidance is available on how to apply sustainability to specific projects. This work has analysed connections between the two disciplines by means of a comprehensive literature review covering more than 100 references. Sustainability has become a very important step, particularly in terms of environmental aspects. However, slightly less progress has been made socially. In any case, the ideal characteristics for a project and its management might be considered sustainable have still not been specified to this day. The main scientific contribution of this article is a new conceptual framework helping project managers deal with sustainable projects. This framework is based on the supposition that project products designed using sustainability criteria, sustainable project processes, organisations committed to sustainability that carry out projects, and project managers trained in sustainability are all necessary elements, although, maybe not enough, to attain sustainable projects. In addition, the article suggests a future research agenda that might specify how project management can help incorporate sustainability into organisations and their projects.
Applying institutional theory, we argue that environmentally legitimate firms incur less unsystematic stock market risk than illegitimate firms. Firms earn environmental legitimacy when their performance with respect to the natural environment conforms to stakeholders' expectations. This relationship was supported with the analysis of media reports and stock prices of 100 firms over a five-year period. The analysis also showed that firms with low environmental legitimacy can attenuate this effect by expressing commitment to the natural environment.
Our aim is to develop a set of leading performance indicators to enable managers of large projects to forecast during project execution how various stakeholders will perceive success months or even years into the operation of the output. Large projects have many stakeholders who have different objectives for the project, its output, and the business objectives they will deliver. The output of a large project may have a lifetime that lasts for years, or even decades, and ultimate impacts that go beyond its immediate operation. How different stakeholders perceive success can change with time, and so the project manager needs leading performance indicators that go beyond the traditional triple constraint to forecast how key stakeholders will perceive success months or even years later. In this article, we develop a model for project success that identifies how project stakeholders might perceive success in the months and years following a project. We identify success or failure factors that will facilitate or mitigate against achievement of those success criteria, and a set of potential leading performance indicators that forecast how stakeholders will perceive success during the life of the project's output. We conducted a scale development study with 152 managers of large projects and identified two project success factor scales and seven stakeholder satisfaction scales that can be used by project managers to predict stakeholder satisfaction on projects and so may be used by the managers of large projects for the basis of project control.