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Driving success for women entrepreneurs in KSA by leveraging AI and agility: insights from the theory of technology dominance (TTD)
Abstract
Purpose
This research aligns with Saudi Vision 2030 and aims to investigate the impact of AI assimilation on entrepreneurial performance, focusing on the mediating role of entrepreneurial agility and the moderating effect of AI proficiency, guided by the theory of technology dominance (TTD).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a sample of 390 women entrepreneurs in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, engaged in small and medium-sized enterprises within low-technology service industries, where the adoption of intelligent decision aids is on the rise. The dataset was analyzed by using the structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique to ensure robust empirical validation and hypothesis testing.
Findings
The findings indicate that AI assimilation enhances entrepreneurial performance through increased agility. However, AI assimilation alone is insufficient for achieving optimal agility and improved entrepreneurial performance; the proficiency of the entrepreneur in AI is also crucial. When an entrepreneur’s skills and expertise align with AI assimilation, their agility is significantly enhanced, leading to better entrepreneurial performance.
Originality/value
In line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, this study emphasizes how crucial it is for Saudi Arabian women’s enterprises to embrace AI to improve their agility and decision-making. To guarantee alignment with organizational systems, which will increase innovation and workforce involvement, entrepreneurs should place a high priority on AI expertise. To assist these initiatives, policy improvements should concentrate on AI education, certifications, training and funding.
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Drawing on the combined strengths of Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and Information Processing Theory (IPT), we explored the relationship between technological turbulence and knowledge hiding, with employees’ awareness of AI as a key mediating factor. We also examined the dual moderating effects of hierarchical flatness in an organization and change leadership to test the theoretical synergy of COR and IPT. Data were collected from 315 women-owned manufacturing firms and analyzed through PLS-SEM. The findings reveal that employees’ AI awareness mediates the link between technological turbulence and knowledge-hiding behaviors. A flatter organizational structure aids in spreading AI awareness among employees, while effective change leadership serves as a crucial moderator, reducing knowledge hiding by influencing employee behavior. The survey highlights that increased AI awareness can lead to fears about AI's impact on job security, driving knowledge hiding. However, skilled leadership can mitigate this by promoting innovation and encouraging collaboration with external partners. This study provides original insights by developing and empirically validating a model of knowledge hiding in response to technological turbulence in women-owned manufacturing sectors in Punjab, Pakistan. It deepens the understanding of knowledge management by examining the interplay between organizational flatness and AI integration, areas often overlooked in existing literature.
Purpose
This paper investigates the mediating role of employee awareness of artificial intelligence (AI) in the relationship between technological turbulence and knowledge hiding, with a focus on the moderating impact of change leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
The survey study adopted a quantitative approach to propose and test a model based on predictors of knowledge hidings. The survey approach received 320 respondent firms in the hotel management sector. The structural and measurement model was calculated using SmartPLS.
Findings
Employee AI awareness mediates the relationship between technological turbulence and knowledge hiding. Change leadership significantly moderates this relationship, reducing knowledge hiding by promoting innovative discussions and collaboration. High employee AI awareness can lead to knowledge hiding due to perceived threats to job security, but effective leadership mitigates this by fostering a collaborative environment.
Originality/value
The study highlights the importance of effective leadership in reducing knowledge hiding and emphasizes the need for a collaborative environment where employees view external partnerships as opportunities for learning and acquiring AI knowledge.
This study aims to provide an evidence-mapping of the knowledge base of Arab female entrepreneurship. It reviews 107 articles on Arab FE published in both Arabic and English language journals between 1990 and 2020. Being a systematic review, this study utilizes the basic bibliometric analysis to uncover the field’s structure and dynamics, gain deeper insights, and enrich conversation on the subject. The results identified some patterns as well as gaps, inter alia the modest contribution of mainstream Arab universities; the tiny number of articles written in the Arabic language; the shyly addressed topics besides some that are totally absent. The results show that the Arab FE scholarship is promising and has the potential to mature should gaps be addressed. This study contributes in many ways. First, it provides a focused analysis of Arab FE research published since the 1990s. In addition, it outlines areas for future research in scholarship on Arab FE. In this sense, it responds to the calls to explore FE in diverse geographical settings, to conduct research that reflects the actual rather than the assumed status quo, and to celebrate the diversity, richness, and complexities of women’s experiences.
This article focuses on how different theological perspectives may influence AI acceptance in diverse faith communities. It highlights differences between Western and Eastern Christian traditions, suggesting that the historical emphasis on intellect in Western Christianity might make it more open to AI, though challenges in church integration are acknowledged. Global examples of AI assimilation in religious practices, from a robotic Buddhist preacher to a blessing-delivering robot in a German church, are discussed. The article argues that theological doctrines shape AI perspectives, influencing ethics and raising profound questions about human identity. The ongoing debate questions whether AI threatens theology or fosters enriching dialogue. The article suggests, through historical parallels and the dynamic interplay of theological doctrines and technology, that the relationship between AI and theology could evolve into constructive engagement rather than inherent conflict.
Through the lens of social cognitive theory and role enrichment theory, this research explores on-the-job issues faced by low-income female college teachers working in Pakistan's higher education institutions (HEIs). This exploration aimed to trace the stimulus factors in full-time employees responsible for engaging in hybrid entrepreneurship. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted to obtain rigorous and trustworthy results. We used snowball sampling to approach 26 women academicians in HEIs for face-to-face interviews. Thematic inductive analysis was performed using NVivo 11 Plus software. The study's findings indicate that some teachers faced financial constraints due to low salary packages, single parenting, and time flexibility that forced them to move towards being part-time entrepreneurs. In addition, the economic and political conditions of the country were identified as influential factors in their decisions on entrepreneurial intentions and starting hybrid entrepreneurship. The result indicates another outcome stream that higher work pressure, job insecurities, entrepreneurial intentions, and financial constraints urge employees to make hybrid financial investment decisions. Our findings revealed the stimulus factors that women academicians in HEIs are directly or indirectly involved in hybrid entrepreneurship and how extra working time affects their family and work-life imbalance.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies are increasingly recognized as essential catalysts for enhancing productivity due to their capability to transform nearly all operations within and outside firms. However, the empirical research on how AI assimilation may promote firm-level outcomes such as absorptive capacity (AC), customer agility (CA), and firm performance (FP) is still in its infancy. Drawing from the dynamic capability view and using 417 valid responses collected through cross-sectional methods from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lebanon, this study examines the effect of AI assimilation on firm performance. The mediating roles of AC and CA were investigated. The moderating role of organizational agility (OA) was also explored. The findings support the hypothesized assumptions that continual advancement of technology evolves the industrial organizations' performance with CA and AC as parallel mediators, partially mediating the link between AI assimilation and FP and OA as a moderator, moderating the positive relationship between AI and CA and between AI and FP. The findings provide crucial insights for practitioners and advance the dynamic capability view framework. They provide compelling evidence that enriches the understanding of AI assimilation, demonstrating its positive impact on critical organizational outcomes and yielding performance benefits for SMEs.
This study's main objective is to evaluate the impact of growing market rivalry on managers at Taiwan's Telkom Corporation who work in the services sales division. The purpose of the study of the study includes examining how these managers impact customer orientation and customer showrooming behavior as investigating the role of firm innovativeness as a mediator. In addition, the investigation also focuses on determining the effect of supervisors' psychological service climate as a moderator variable on the relationship between these two variables and their collective impact on sales performance. A total of 300 customer front-line employees from Taiwan's Telkom Company who were engaged in service sales formed our sample; we analyzed their data with structural equation modelling to examine this area. It is also possible that some other variables affect these two main determinants, so further research is needed to understand how they collectively influence sales success. The results show that both customer showrooming behavior and customer orientation have a positive impact on sales performance. In addition, showrooming behavior, client orientation, and sales performance can be influenced by business innovativeness. Additionally, it shows how the supervisor's psychological service climate positively mediates the relationship between business innovativeness and sales success. The investigation of this study suggests that professionals in the services industry can derive two lessons, which are on showrooming behaviour management and client orientation promotion. Based on the findings, it has been shown that business innovation is a very important contributing factor towards improved sales performance. In addition, understanding how employees feel about their boss's psychological service environment is important for enhancing organizational practices. Many research opportunities can be undertaken in the future, which would involve various types of organizations and large samples from industries, even though the present study contributes substantially. Future research should, it is suggested, concentrate on particular facets of corporate innovation while also taking relationship length and consumer loyalty into account. Longitudinal research can also shed light on the changing trends in the services sector.
Purpose
In the rapidly evolving digital economy, businesses face formidable pressures to maintain their competitive standing, prompting a surge of interest in the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation (DT). This study aims to assess the impact of AI technologies on corporate DT by scrutinizing 3,602 firm-year observations listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The research delves into the extent to which investments in AI drive DT, while also investigating how this relationship varies based on firms' ownership structure.
Design/methodology/approach
To explore the influence of AI technologies on corporate DT, the research employs robust quantitative methodologies. Notably, the study employs multiple validation techniques, including two-stage least squares (2SLS), propensity score matching and an instrumental variable approach, to ensure the credibility of its primary findings.
Findings
The investigation provides clear evidence that AI technologies can accelerate the pace of corporate DT. Firms strategically investing in AI technologies experience faster DT enabled by the automation of operational processes and enhanced data-driven decision-making abilities conferred by AI. Our findings confirm that AI integration has a significant positive impact in propelling DT across the firms studied. Interestingly, the study uncovers a significant divergence in the impact of AI on DT, contingent upon firms' ownership structure. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) exhibit a lesser degree of DT following AI integration compared to privately owned non-SOEs.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the burgeoning literature at the nexus of AI and DT by offering empirical evidence of the nexus between AI technologies and corporate DT. The investigation’s examination of the nuanced relationship between AI implementation, ownership structure and DT outcomes provides novel insights into the implications of AI in the diverse business contexts. Moreover, the research underscores the policy significance of supporting SOEs in their DT endeavors to prevent their potential lag in the digital economy. Overall, this study accentuates the imperative for businesses to strategically embrace AI technologies as a means to bolster their competitive edge in the contemporary digital landscape.
The aim of this paper is to enhance comprehension of the integration of technology knowledge into higher education curricula by analyzing existing literature on technology knowledge in higher education curricula, research patterns, and future research possibilities. A total of 306 participants responded to an online questionnaire after an extensive examination of relevant academic research literature. Convenient sampling and snowball sampling were employed to gather data, and PLS/SEM version 4.0 was used to systematically analyze the results. The study discovered a significant connection between the inclusion of technology knowledge in higher education institutions’ (HEIs’) curriculum and sustainable development. However, the obstacles to integrating technology knowledge into higher education curricula had little effect on sustainable development. This study serves as a reference point for policymakers in Saudi Arabian HEIs in developing an appropriate curriculum that promotes technology integration among university students and improves university performance.
Purpose
In 2016, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) initiated Saudi Vision 2030, an ambitious plan to lessen the country's dependency on fossil fuels and increase economic diversification. The Vision 2030 framework strives to establish a thriving economy, a vibrant society, and an ambitious nation. This study aims to investigate the role of green service innovation (SI) and green work engagement (WE) in mediating the nexus between green human resource management (HRM) and green creativity (GC) under the conditional role of spiritual leadership (SL).
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was done of 300 female intrapreneurs working in the organization within Saudi Arabia. This study has collected data via a stratified random sampling technique. The framework was tested using PLS-SEM software.
Findings
The findings reveal that WE fully intervene in the nexus between green HRM and GC. Moreover, SL positively moderates the nexus between green HRM and SI.
Originality/value
Thus, based on findings, it is recommended that female intrapreneurs prioritize environmentally responsible operations to gain and sustain a competitive edge over rivals in the Saudi competitive market.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are pushed to introduce new technologies due to diferent requirements and changes in the business setting. The SMEs’ transformation to exploit new technologies is challenging given their lack of resources and the complexity of technological transformation, which encompasses technology assimilation and business model innovation (BMI). Although studies recognize the complementarity of technology assimilation and BMI for benefting
from technology, the literature is fragmented, and the technological transformation phenomenon remains abstract, especially in the SMEs’ context. To improve understanding of technological transformation in SMEs, a systematic literature review
was performed on 165 peer-reviewed papers published from 1999 to 2022, building upon BMI and technology assimilation constructs. The descriptive analysis outlines the feld’s evolution in terms of research and technological trends. The content
analysis shows that: most papers focus on factors; the literature falls short of providing theoretical conceptualization and guidelines for the technological transformation
process; only a few studies are dedicated to assessing the outcomes of technological transformation in SMEs; and the papers suggest that SMEs present a low transformation level. Finally, we inductively built a framework for technological transformation and suggest five research avenues
Purpose
This study aims to examine the moderating effect of supportive organisational culture (SOC) on the differential impact of work-based learning (WBL) on employee agility, ambidexterity and proactive goal generation.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey was conducted using an online structured questionnaire with 443 respondents in Ghana. The data set was analysed using structural equation modelling.
Findings
The outcomes of the study show that WBL has a significant and positive impact on employee agility, ambidexterity and proactive goal generation. However, the effect on employee agility was higher, followed by proactive goal generation and employee ambidexterity. The moderating effect of SOC on H1 , H3a and H3b was found to have a decreasing effect.
Originality/value
This study augments knowledge by examining how different approaches to WBL collectively affect proactive goal generation, agility and ambidexterity. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to examine the differential impact of summative WBL approaches on employee outcomes.
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of Consciousness personality on women entrepreneurs’ behavioral biases by focusing on financial literacy which is taken as a mediator while the mindfulness as a potential moderator. A random sample of 210 female entrepreneurs working in Pakistan was collected through stratified sampling technique and data are analyzed by using Structural Equation Modeling through SMART-PLS. The results divulged a significant mediating impact of financial literacy in reducing mental accounting bias among consciousness personality possessing women entrepreneurs; however, financial literacy was found related to the risk aversion bias through mindfulness. The moderation analysis further revealed interesting indirect impacts, such that financial literacy strongly reduced mental accounting and risk aversion bias for women who were more conscious of proper financial mindfulness. Nonetheless, financial mindfulness did not catalyze financial literacy and herding bias relationship. By encompassing the concepts of financial literacy, mindfulness, and behavioral biases in consciousness personality’s women entrepreneurs, we offered a comprehensive theoretical framework with practical implications for women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Thus, we suggest new avenues for the longstanding dilemma related to the factors instigating suboptimal financial decision-making in women entrepreneurs in developing markets.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been suggested to have transformative potential for public sector organizations through enabling increased productivity and novel ways to deliver public services. In order to materialize the transformative potential of AI, public sector organizations need to successfully assimilate AI in their operational activities. However, AI assimilation in the public sector appears to be fragmented and lagging the private sector, and the phenomena has really limited attention from academic research community. To address this gap, we adopt the case study approach to explore three Saudi-Arabian public sector organizations and analyze the results using the attention-based view of the organization (ABV) as the theoretical lens. This study elucidates the challenges related AI assimilation in public sector in terms of how organizational attention is focused situated and distributed during the assimilation process. Five key challenges emerged from the cases studied, namely (i) misalignment between AI and management decision-making, (ii) tensions with linguistics and national culture, (iii) developing and implementing AI infrastructure, (iv) data integrity and sharing, and (v) ethical and governance concerns. The findings reveal a re-enforcing relationship between the situated attention and structural distribution of attention that can accelerate the successful assimilation of AI in public sector organizations.
Managing artificial intelligence (AI) marks the dawn of a new age of information technology management. Managing AI involves communicating, leading, coordinating, and controlling an ever-evolving frontier of computational advancements that references human intelligence in addressing ever more complex decision-making problems. It means making decisions about three related interdependent facets of AI-autonomy, learning, and inscrutability-in the ongoing quest to push the frontiers of performance and scope of AI. We demonstrate how the frontiers of AI have shifted with time, and explain how the seven exemplar studies included in the special issue are helping us learn about management at the frontiers of AI. We close by speculating about future frontiers in managing AI and what role information systems scholarship has in exploring and shaping this future.
Despite heightened interest, integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into businesses remains challenging. Recent surveys show that up to 85 % of AI initiatives ultimately fail to deliver on their promises. Studies on successful AI applications that could provide invaluable lessons for organizations embarking on their AI journey are still lacking. Therefore, this study aims to understand how AI technology, people, and processes should be managed to successfully create value. Building on the resource orchestration perspective, this study analyzes the successful applications of AI at Alibaba's e-commerce fulfillment center. The findings indicate that the key AI resources include data, AI algorithms, and robots. These resources must be orchestrated (e.g., coordinated, leveraged, deployed) to work with other related resources, such as warehouse facilities and existing information systems, to generate strong AI capabilities. The key AI capabilities generated include forecasting, planning, and learning. More importantly, AI capabilities are not independent – they interact and coevolve with human capabilities to create business value in terms of efficiency (e.g., space optimization, labor productivity) and effectiveness (e.g., error reduction). The implications of understanding these social informatics of AI for research and practice are discussed.
The ability of organizations to sense and respond to changes–defined as organizational agility–is considered by senior executives among their top information technology (IT) concerns as an important ability for organizations on their quest toward sustained competitive advantage. However, every transformation toward agility also comes at a cost, requiring resource commitment and IT landscape changes. We present examples of successful and unsuccessful attempts at achieving agility while leveraging IT. Our presented cases focus on information systems development agility, customer agility, and entrepreneurial agility. Our findings suggest that agility is neither achieved easily, nor is a guarantor for success. Depending on the context and implementation of organizational agility, however, it can significantly improve process and product performance. We develop a three-pronged view consisting of a functional, temporal, and ambidextrous view to resolve these challenges. We end with three recommendations for practitioners that seek to shape their organization’s journey toward agility.
This paper investigates the factors behind the runaway women and the untapped phenomenon of family structures where
such incidents are reported. We used broader concept of women empowerment to explore the runaway causes through
the provision of living, wage jobs, education, medical and health facilities in targeted population. The respondents are
selected from the shelter homes of Punjab province in Pakistan where data are collected through in-depth interviews from
the Runaway women and the management of different shelter homes. The transformation of data is conducted through
thematic analysis. Our result indicates that domestic violence, physical & sexual abuses, life threats, and forced marriages
are the reasons behind women’s runaway. The shelter homes’ management added that illiteracy and perceived destructive
role of media are the additional causes in runaway incidents. Our results provide important insights on backdrop of women
runaways in developing societies. Accordingly, there is an immediate need for the government and social policy agencies to
take cohesive measures to support socially affected women at their door step in order to minimize such social violence.
The usage of enterprise social media (ESM) has rapidly increased in the workplace. Firms adopt the ESM platform for the knowledge sharing and work-related communication of employees. However, the efficient use of the ESM technology in the workplace remains a challenge for organizations and business leaders. Previous studies have inconsiderably focused on this domain of research. The existing research investigates the influence of ESM usage on employee agility through meta-knowledge considering the moderation role of digital fluency. Using 263 responses from Chinese employees, this study investigates how ESM usage improves employee agility through meta-knowledge. Results confirm that organizations can improve the meta-knowledge of employees through investment in the ESM technology and that ESM usage is significantly related to individual agility via meta-knowledge. Digital fluency strengthens the relationship between ESM usage and employee agility and supports the correlation between ESM usage and employee agility via meta-knowledge. Finally, on the basis of the results, the theoretical and managerial implications of the study are discussed.
The main purpose of our study is to analyze the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on firm performance, notably by building on the business value of AI-based transformation projects. This study was conducted using a four-step sequential approach: (i) analysis of AI and AI concepts/technologies; (ii) in-depth exploration of case studies from a great number of industrial sectors; (iii) data collection from the databases (websites) of AI-based solution providers; and (iv) a review of AI literature to identify their impact on the performance of organizations while highlighting the business value of AI-enabled projects transformation within organizations.
This study has called on the theory on IT capabilities to seize the influence of AI business value on firm performance (at the organizational and process levels). The research process (responding to the research question, making discussions, interpretations and comparisons, and formulating recommendations) was based on a review of 500 case studies from IBM, AWS, Cloudera, Nvidia, Conversica, Universal Robots websites, etc. Studying the influence of AI on the performance of organizations, and more specifically of the business value of such organizations’ AI-enabled transformation projects, required us to make an archival data analysis following the three steps, namely the conceptual phase, the refinement and development phase, and the assessment phase.
AI covers a wide range of technologies, including machine translation, chatbots and self-learning algorithms, all of which can allow individuals to better understand their environment and act accordingly. Organizations have been adopting AI technological innovations with a view to adapting to or disrupting their ecosystem while developing and optimizing their strategic and competitive advantages. AI fully expresses its potential through its ability to optimize existing processes and improve automation, information and transformation effects, but also to detect, predict and interact with humans. Thus, the results of our study have highlighted such AI benefits in organizations, and more specifically its ability to improve on performance at both the organizational (financial, marketing and administrative) and process levels. By building on these AI attributes, organizations can therefore enhance the business value of their transformed projects. The same results also showed that organizations achieve performance through AI capabilities only when they use their features/technologies to reconfigure their processes.
AI obviously influences the way businesses are done today. Therefore, practitioners and researchers need to consider AI as a valuable support or even a pilot for a new business model. For the purpose of our study, we adopted a research framework geared towards a more inclusive and comprehensive approach so as to better account for the intangible benefits of AI within organizations. In terms of interest, this study nurtures a scientific interest, which aims at proposing a model for analyzing the influence of AI on the performance of organizations and, at the same time, filling the associated gap in the literature. As for the managerial interest, our study aims to provide managers with elements to be reconfigured or added in order to take advantage of the full benefits of AI, and therefore improve organizations’ performance, the profitability of their investments in AI transformation projects, and some competitive advantage. This study also allows managers to consider AI not as a single technology but as a set/combination of several different configurations of IT in the various company’s business areas because multiple key elements must be brought together to ensure the success of AI: data, talent mix, domain knowledge, key decisions, external partnerships, and scalable infrastructure.
This article analyses case studies on the reuse of secondary data from AI deployment reports in organizations. The transformation of projects based on the use of AI focuses mainly on business process innovations and indirectly on those occurring at the organizational level. Thus, 500 cases studies are being examined to provide significant and tangible evidence about the business value of AI-based projects and the impact of AI on firm performance. More specifically, this article, through these case studies, exposes the influence of AI at both the organizational and process performance levels, while considering it not as a single technology but as a set/combination of the several different configurations of IT in various industries.
Given the significant political and socio-economic transformations occurring in the challenging yet under-researched Arab world nowadays, this study seeks to (1) systematically review the literature in the leading mainstream management journals; and (2) develop a future research agenda that would enhance our understanding of the region. To do this, we conducted a systematic review of 176 published management studies (2000-2016). Our thematic analysis revealed three overarching themes. These were (1) avenues for economic development and improved performance, (2) leveraging and adapting to changing local institutional contexts and (3) overcoming legitimacy concerns/barriers in the Arab world. Our recommendations on the future research agenda of these themes were intended to provide key insights for researchers and managers interested in proactively contributing to the development of a timely research agenda for these promising markets.
Cloud computing applications have entered the stage of popularization and wide adoption as part of e-Government. Improving the implementation and assimilation of e-Government cloud applications (e-Gov cloud) to create public value has become an important issue. Based on theories of information technology (IT) assimilation, IT value, and organizational ambidexterity, this study develops a model of e-Gov cloud assimilation and explores the individual and joint effects of the depth and breadth dimensions of e-Gov cloud assimilation on public value. The model was tested with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using a survey of local government agencies in China. The empirical results show that the two dimensions of e-Gov cloud assimilation - depth and breadth - have significantly positive effects: (1) directly on operational public value and (2) indirectly on strategic public value through operational public value. Moreover, the complementary fit strategy of the depth and breadth of e-Gov cloud has a significantly positive effect on strategic public value, while the balanced fit strategy has no significant effect. These findings contribute to both academic research and practical implications, advancing our understandings of e-Government cloud assimilation on public value creation.
Purpose
Currently, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) concentrate on developing their employees’ potential to ensure high job performance. Enhancing the perception of efficacy is important to encourage employees to perform their responsibilities with increased self-confidence. Perceived environmental support and knowledge sharing are also significant factors that boost employees’ potential to achieve targets. The purpose of this paper is to examine how self-efficacy (SE) relates both directly and indirectly to employee job performance through perceived environmental support and knowledge sharing.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data were garnered from a sample of 344 admins working at SMEs in Central Thailand and structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed relationships.
Findings
SE had a strong positive influence on employee job performance, perceived environmental support and knowledge sharing, while perceived environmental support and knowledge sharing positively influenced employee job performance. Perceived environmental support and knowledge sharing were considered to be partial mediating factors of SE in the employee job performance model.
Originality/value
This research extends understanding of the relationship between SE and employee job performance. The findings shed light on mediating roles of perceived environmental support and knowledge sharing regarding the relationship between SE and employee job performance.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to enhance every component of information systems (IS) at the individual, organizational and societal level. However, AI technologies are being developed and commercialized at an unprecedented speed making it hard for IS researchers and practitioners to keep up with these technologies and how they can enhance IS. The technologies have evolved so fast in the last decade that many companies have tried and failed to implement AI without truly understanding what it is. Therefore, understanding AI from the perspective of the leading developers of related technologies is crucial for its adoption, use and impact on IS. In this paper, we provide a systematic review and synthesis of practice-based literature on AI, highlighting what leading industry entities and experts understand by AI. We use these findings to propose an AI adoption, use and impact classification framework for IS research and propose a corresponding research agenda.
Today's business environment is becoming increasingly dynamic, and the concept of agility is gaining attention in the corporate world and in academia. The objective of our research is to explain how talent management (TM) can shape talents as key human resources, according to company‐specific agility needs, and thus contribute to gaining competitive advantage in dynamic firm environments. We approach this task by viewing it from the perspective of dynamic capabilities. A total of 24 semistructured interviews were conducted with senior TM professionals working in German companies differing in terms of size, age, structure, industry, and ownership. As a result, we identified three different types of dynamic TM capabilities promoting organizational agility to various extents. By rooting our qualitative study in the research fields of TM and agility in the under‐researched theoretical realm of dynamic capabilities, we contribute to the theoretical as well as the empirical discussion by addressing the specific challenges of an increasingly dynamic environment. As a result, we provide a contextualized viewpoint from which to explain the process inherent in dynamic TM capabilities that continuously shape talent and organizational agility.
International tourism and foreign direct investment (FDI) constitute the bedrock of economic vitality, propelling growth and progress in the economies. This study delves into the intricate relationships among international tourism, FDI, and economic growth within the context of Thailand. Nevertheless, a tourism development index is created by pooling distinct components of global tourism to evaluate the aggregate effect on economic growth. Using data from 1991 to 2021 and the ARDL bound testing approach to cointegration, this study indicates that international tourism and FDI have long-term positive impacts on Thailand's economic growth. The sensitivity and stability tests were used to assess the robustness of these results. The study's results promise to influence policy choices and shape industry approaches while enriching discussions on the economic impacts of the factors investigated.
Purpose
To date, few studies have incorporated female entrepreneurship into the context of a country that relies heavily on natural resources and still has a wide gender gap due to historically established cultural norms. This study aims to investigate the impact of entrepreneurial ecosystem factors on women’s ability and desire to become entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applied a quantitative method using secondary data from the Adult Population Survey conducted by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and built upon the recently proposed “Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Approach,” which has three levels: institutional, organisational and individual.
Findings
The findings demonstrate the significant roles that different entrepreneurial ecosystem dimensions can play in determining female entrepreneurial activity. Relationships were found among the variables of the three dimensions, indicating that broader institutional conditions can impact women becoming entrepreneurs.
Research limitations/implications
A multi-year analysis could not be performed because the country data from one year limited the research to conditions in that time frame.
Originality/value
The findings advance entrepreneurial research by empirically examining the influencers' factors on women becoming entrepreneurs in a fast-growing emerging economy, collectivist society and non-European and non-North American institutional environment. The research tested a framework that gives more insight into the diverse factors affecting women in entrepreneurship at different levels.
SYNOPSIS
Accounting firms continue to develop digital decision aids (DDAs) that reinforce consistent use of firms’ audit methodology and provide assurance for meeting regulator expectations. Firms actively promote use and reliance on DDAs, but relying on such systems risks over-reliance, impacting decision quality and heightening technology dominance. Surveying 725 Danish auditors, we sought to determine the level of reliance practicing auditors have on DDAs and understand how auditors experience these potentially deleterious effects in the field. Results show auditors rely more on DDAs when auditors are inexperienced, task complexity is high, there is familiarity with the DDA, and/or there is cognitive congruence. Junior auditors rely significantly more on DDAs than senior auditors, whereas auditors indicating low usage rely significantly less on DDAs. Overall, senior auditors and auditors not heavily using DDAs have deskilling concerns and are less positive on junior auditors’ as well as the profession’s skill development when using DDAs.
JEL Classifications: M15; M41; M42.
Purpose - This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the adoption intention of artificial intelligence (AI) by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Jordan.
Design/methodology/approach - The study adopts the technology–organization–environment (TOE) model. It examines the moderating effects of innovation culture, employee digital skill level and market competition on the relationships between the independent and dependent variables. A survey was utilized to collect data from 537 MSME owners or managers in Jordan and employed partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses.
Findings - The results of the study support seven out of eight hypotheses. Business innovativeness, management support, perceived benefits and technological infrastructure have positive and significant effects on AI adoption intention, while perceived costs have no significant effect. However, the innovation culture, employee digital skill level and market competition were found to moderate the relationships between some of the independent variables and dependent variables.
Practical implications - The study provides valuable insights and recommendations for MSME owners, managers, employees, policymakers, educators and researchers interested in promoting and facilitating AI adoption by MSMEs in Jordan.
Originality/value - The current attempt extends the TOE framework by adding significant constructs representing the three contexts. Moreover, it is one of the few studies that analyzed the factors influencing the adoption intention of AI by MSMEs in Jordan, which are significant to the Jordanian economy and represent 99.5% of enterprises.
Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a transformative force in various sectors, including banking, healthcare, and scientific research. Initially conceptualized in 1956 by John McCarthy, AI has evolved from rule-based systems to advanced machine learning models. Machine learning, particularly deep learning, has been instrumental in enhancing AI's capabilities, enabling systems to learn from data and make predictions without explicit programming. AI's impact on society is profound, offering benefits such as increased efficiency, productivity, and innovation across domains. However, it also poses ethical considerations, including biases in AI systems and implications for employment. In scientific research, AI accelerates discoveries by analyzing large datasets and generating hypotheses. Despite its potential, challenges like data privacy and interpretability persist, requiring ongoing research and dialogue. In banking, AI enhances fraud detection, risk management, and customer service, leading to improved operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. The Middle East, particularly GCC countries, has shown significant interest in AI, driven by its potential economic impact. AI adoption in the banking sector of Bahrain is still emerging but holds promise for enhancing operational efficiency, customer experience, and risk management, contributing to a competitive banking landscape. As AI continues to evolve, addressing ethical and practical concerns is paramount to ensure its responsible use and maximize its benefits for society. Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is a multifaceted field of computer science that aims to create systems capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. AI encompasses a range of techniques and methodologies, including machine learning, natural language processing, robotics, and computer vision. The concept of AI has evolved significantly since its inception, and its applications have permeated various sectors, including banking, healthcare, transportation, and more. The term AI was first coined by John McCarthy in 1956 at a conference at Dartmouth College, marking the birth of AI as a scientific discipline (Xu et al., 2021). AI research initially focused on rule-based or symbolic approaches, which involved encoding expert knowledge into a system to enable it to perform specific tasks. These early AI systems, known as expert systems, were designed to mimic the decision-making abilities of human experts. AI systems are often categorized into two types: narrow or weak AI and general or strong AI. Narrow AI refers to systems designed to perform a specific task or set of tasks, such as language translation or image recognition. In contrast, strong AI refers to systems that possess the ability to
Incorporating generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in education has become crucial in contemporary educational environments. This research article thoroughly investigates the ramifications of implementing GAI in the higher education context of Saudi Arabia, employing a blend of quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Survey-based quantitative data reveals a noteworthy correlation between educators’ awareness of GAI and the frequency of its application. Notably, around half of the surveyed educators are at stages characterized by understanding and familiarity with GAI integration, indicating a tangible readiness for its adoption. Moreover, the study’s quantitative findings underscore the perceived value and ease associated with integrating GAI, thus reinforcing the assumption that educators are motivated and inclined to integrate GAI tools like ChatGPT into their teaching methodologies. In addition to the quantitative analysis, qualitative insights from in-depth interviews with educators unveil a rich tapestry of perspectives. The qualitative data emphasizes GAI’s role as a catalyst for collaborative learning, contributing to professional development, and fostering innovative teaching practices.
This study explores the barriers and challenges faced by Saudi women entrepreneurs along with the motivational forces that drives them towards entrepreneurship. This study employs a qualitative research design, and is based on the interview of 11 Saudi women entrepreneurs and includes a review of data on the motivational factors and challenges faced by them using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Research participants’ perspectives have been quoted for each distinct theme that emerged from the interview finding. The factors motivating Saudi women towards entrepreneurship have been identified as passion, identification of opportunity, dissatisfaction and family support. Barriers that are exclusive to Saudi women entrepreneurs are difficulty in maintaining work-life balance, lack of business networking, limited access to financial resources, lack of understanding of business-related tasks and functions, fear of deception, lack of trust, reservation about work-related travel, recruitment and training issues like lack of experienced and trained Saudi workers and negative attitude and non-willingness to work under female leadership. Decision-makers in government and other relevant organisations can develop a solid framework of focussed agendas, policies and measures to address the barriers identified in this study. Arab countries especially Saudi Arabia can use these results to fully utilise the entrepreneurial skills of Saudi women to boost economic growth and development. This pioneering study reveals the intricacy of Saudi women entrepreneurs’ experiences in the presence of gender-bias and internalising socio-cultural values and attributed gender roles during the formation of their entrepreneurial identities through a unique non-western viewpoint.
Recent studies examining the internationalisation of SMEs in emerging economies have observed that religion affects international market entry, which suggests that specific cultural aspects, such as religion, have not hitherto received enough attention. Hence, this study examines a theme that has seemingly escaped the research agenda: how does religion affect SMEs’ internationalisation? The study draws empirical evidence from 10 manufacturing SMEs located in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Through an embedded approach to case study research, the study queries the role of religion in the development of intra-Muslim internationalisation and contributes to the scant literature that examines the impact of Islamic values on international business activities. The findings show three dimensions of Islamic entrepreneurship, viz. regional rather than international networking orientation, risk aversion and proactiveness.
This paper analyses the link between the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and innovation performance in firms. Based on firm-level data from the German part of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) 2018, we examine the role of different AI methods and application areas in innovation. The results show that 5.8% of firms in Germany were actively using AI in their business operations or products and services in 2019. We find that the use of AI is associated with annual sales with world-first product innovations in these firms of about €16 billion (i.e. 18% of total annual sales of world-first innovations). In addition, AI technologies have been used in process innovation that contributed to about 6% of total annual cost savings of the German business sector. Firms that apply AI broadly (using different methods for different applications areas) and that have already several years of experience in using AI obtain significantly higher innovation results. These positive findings on the role of AI for innovation have to be interpreted with caution as they refer to a specific country (Germany) in a situation where AI started to diffuse rapidly.
The effects of the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), a general-purpose technology, on firm performance is an emerging and crucial issue. This study examines the impact of AI technology on firms’ productivity and employee profiles. We use the keyword-matching method to parse the text of Taiwan patent grants, and obtain matched firm-level data on AI innovations in Taiwan's electronics industry for the 2002–2018 period. Empirical estimations indicate that AI technology is positively associated with productivity and employment. Meanwhile, non-AI patents also generate pro-productivity and pro-employment effects with a magnitude similar to that of AI technology. Inventing AI technologies crucially alters firms’ workforce compositions, which reduce the share of labor force with educational qualifications of college level and below. Robustness checks reaffirm these findings.
Purpose
This paper presents a citation-based systematic literature review in the field of sustainability management for Arab countries. The aim is to assist potential researchers in this field to identify existing themes, gaps and other relevant information necessary for the further development of the research area.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive list of keywords has been searched in the SCOPUS database to identify all the relevant articles in the field of sustainability management in Arab countries. After applying the relevant restriction criteria, manual screening of titles, abstracts and keywords was performed to identify the final sample. The final sample consists of 410 articles published in 218 different journals by 907 authors. Bibliometrix R-tool was used to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the selected articles.
Findings
Findings indicate a growing trend of publications on sustainability management in the generally understudied Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Besides publication trends, citation analysis presents citation trends, most influential journals and authors, and most cited articles on sustainability management in Arab countries. Theme identification is shown through analyses of conceptual and intellectual structures. Finally, social networks in the field are discussed.
Practical implications
Information presented in this paper informs interested researchers about the current state in the field, relevant sources of knowledge, important literature on the topic, relevant authors and other valuable particulars. This systematic literature review helps researchers make further valuable contributions to the field of sustainability management in Arab countries.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper offers a first comprehensive citation-based systematic literature review on sustainability management in Arab countries.
Purpose
This paper aims to present a theoretical account of the connection between artificial intelligence (AI) enabled technologies and Muslim-friendly tourism experiences (MFTX) using the customer experience (CX) theory, reference group theory and theory of tourism consumption systems.
Design/methodology/approach
A model research design is adopted to build a theoretical framework that predicts relationships between constructs. Critical assessment in tourism and AI literature is used to explore AI-enabled technologies in Halal-friendly tourism.
Findings
The findings of this paper have conceptualised the CX theory for Muslim travellers satisfying their religious needs in Halal-friendly tourism by suggesting a new construct called the MFTX. It also offered a theoretical model for using AI-enabled technologies to improve the MFTX.
Originality/value
This study provides a new theoretical model for using AI-enabled technologies to improve the MFTX. This paper is also expected to provide suggestions for tourism operators and service providers to cater to Muslim tourists’ needs using AI technologies.
To date, entrepreneurship researchers have tended to avoid state-of-the-art artificial intelligence techniques; in this paper, we fill that gap. Based on eclectic entrepreneurship theory, we present an original work that uses artificial intelligence to forecast the macrolevel determinants of entrepreneurial opportunity. Modern artificial intelligence could open new areas for future research opportunities in entrepreneurship and help close the gap between theory and practice. Our empirical analysis offers two major results by using a panel dataset of 149 countries covering 2007–2018 and six machine-learning models. First, entrepreneurs prefer to exploit opportunities in countries with stable economic governance that provide high education standards, health, social capital, and a safe, natural environment. Second, CatBoost regression performs better in predicting entrepreneurial opportunity compared to linear regression and more advanced machine-learning models. Recommendations for policy-makers and managers and directions for future studies are also discussed.
Despite the popularity of big data and analytics (BDA) in industry, research regarding the economic value of BDA is still at an early stage. Little attention has been paid to quantifying the longitudinal impact of organizational BDA implementation on firm performance. Grounded in organizational learning theory, this study empirically demonstrates the impact of BDA implementation on organizational performance and how industry environment characteristics moderate the BDA-performance relationships. Using secondary data regarding BDA implementation from 2010 to February 2020, we find that BDA implementation has a significant impact on two types of business value creation: operational efficiency and business growth. Furthermore, the impact of BDA on operational efficiency is amplified in less dynamic and complex environments, while the BDA-business growth relationship is more pronounced in more dynamic, complex, and munificent environments. Collectively, this study provides a theory-centric understanding of BDA’s economic benefits. The findings offer insights to firms about what actual benefits BDA implementation may generate and how firms may align the use of BDA with the industry environments they are operating in.
The business intelligence (BI) has been often touted as a game-changer especially during the pandemic crisis. Although most managers are familiar with BI and agree that, it should be operationalized across their organizations. The BI is not well assimilated throughout adopting organizations. Rooted in institutional and upper echelon theories, this study proposes a theoretical model aimed toward explaining BI assimilation. We surveyed 174 respondents occupying leadership positions from174 auto-components manufacturing firms in India to gather data. The findings suggest that normative and mimetic (but not coercive) factors significantly influence top leader’s commitment to the BI initiatives. We found that the commitment of the top leaders influences the assimilation of BI via acceptance and routinization. Our study is an attempt to address the previous research calls related to BI assimilation. The findings of the study inform the information management scholars via theory-based research on phenomena related to post-adoption BI diffusion during a pandemic crisis. Practitioners can utilize the results of our study to design their policies that help assimilate BI such that forecasted benefits can be fully realized during an uncertain time.
The significance of big data analytics-powered artificial intelligence has grown in recent years. The literature indicates that big data analytics-powered artificial intelligence has the ability to enhance supply chain performance, but there is limited research concerning the reasons for which firms engaging in manufacturing activities adopt big data analytics-powered artificial intelligence. To address this gap, our study employs institutional theory and resource-based view theory to elucidate the way in which automotive firms configure tangible resources and workforce skills to drive technological enablement and improve sustainable manufacturing practices and furthermore develop circular economy capabilities. We tested the research hypothesis using primary data collected from 219 automotive and allied manufacturing companies operating in South Africa. The contribution of this work lies in the statistical validation of the theoretical framework, which provides insight regarding the role of institutional pressures on resources and their effects on the adoption of big data analytics-powered artificial intelligence, and how this affects sustainable manufacturing and circular economy capabilities under the moderating effects of organizational flexibility and industry dynamism.
Curiosity is an intriguing concept that has attracted the attention of scholars from a variety of disciplines. Yet, work‐related curiosity, a crucial factor in workforce agility—the ability of employees to react and adapt to changes in the workplace—has been neglected in organizational research. Here, we broaden our understanding of curiosity in an organizational context through an empirical investigation of the role of cognitive style on work‐related curiosity, and the impact of work‐related curiosity on the constructs of agility performance and creative process engagement. We argue that cognitive style plays a major role in the formation of work‐related curiosity, and hence it is positively associated with agility performance. We also argue that that creative process engagement acts as a mediating factor between work‐related curiosity and agility performance. Using structural modeling, and based on data collected from 210 participants in Turkey, we tested five hypotheses concerning these relationships. The results both contribute to the existing literature on work‐related curiosity and provide insights for firms wishing to transform their employees' innate curiosity into a valuable organizational resource.
Strategic agility is a fuzzy concept that may be counter intuitive as well as confounding to some scholars in terms of the agile strategies' contextual issues. At the same time, the need to be agile is crucial for firms, especially for Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) that operate in culturally different host countries. Thus, a deep understanding of strategic agility is very intriguing for both academics and executives, as several gaps are apparent in the extant literature. In this paper, we review mainstream studies on agility in the international business context, discussing its relevance and proposing main aspects of strategic agility to clarify further this indistinct concept. Moreover, we provide a novel conceptual framework based on the integration of agility in different operational areas (e.g. Information Technology, supply chain and production) that organizations should foster to become an “agile multinational”. Our synthesis represents an innovative strategic direction for MNEs to understand better strategic agility, which clearly extends the concept of flexibility, while managing stakeholder relationships in order to develop key dynamic capabilities. Finally, we also discuss the main contributions of the other articles included in this special issue, thus providing specific examples of agility in well debated IB contexts (e.g., emerging markets). We also suggest some future research areas for this complex and ambiguous concept.
The importance of big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning has been at the forefront of research for operations and supply chain management. Literature has reported the influence of big data analytics for improved operational performance, but there has been a paucity of research regarding the role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on the adoption of big data analytics. To address this gap, we draw on the dynamic capabilities view of firms and on contingency theory to develop and test a model that describes the role of EO on the adoption of big data analytics powered by artificial intelligence (BDA-AI) and operational performance (OP). We tested our research hypotheses using a survey of 256 responses gathered using a pre-tested questionnaire from manufacturing firms in India with the help of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The results from our analysis indicate that EO enables an organisation to exploit and further explore the BDA-AI capabilities to achieve superior OP. Further, our results provide empirical evidence based on data analysis that EO is strongly associated with higher order capabilities (such as BDA-AI) and OP under differential effects of environmental dynamism (ED). These findings extend the dynamic capability view and contingency theory to create better understanding of dynamic capabilities of the organisation while also providing theoretically grounded guidance to the managers to align their EO with their technological capabilities within their firms.
Drawing on the information technology (IT)‐enabled capabilities perspective, this study develops a model that extends our knowledge of the mechanisms through which IT contributes to business value. Specifically, we provide new insights to the stream of research that proposes organizational agility to be a higher order capability enabled by information systems (IS) capabilities that impacts firm performance, and we test the contingency effect of an important environmental factor—the technology intensity of the industry. To empirically study the proposed relationships, data were collected from 153 Spain‐based firms and analyzed using a partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results indicate that IS capabilities positively affect firm performance through the full mediation of organizational agility. Furthermore, a multigroup analysis reveals that the impact of IS capabilities on organizational agility is greater for companies in high‐tech intensity industries than for those in medium‐tech intensity industries. An important implication is the identification of some capabilities that might jointly enhance firm performance through their interplay, as well as the external environmental factors that influence these relationships. When designing firms’ IT strategies, managers seeking to optimize firm performance should embed appropriate IS capabilities into the key business processes to enable an agile response in the organization.
Enterprise social media (ESM) is an open and public platform that facilitates employee discussions on work-related issues. However, researchers and practitioners are vague about the advantages of ESM usage in the workplace to handle the work related uncertainties. This study investigated whether and how ESM usage, psychological safety can be positively associated with employee’s agility. Employee’s agility is the ability of the employee to react and adopt environmental changes more promptly and appropriately. Based on information processing theory, this study examines employee agility by considering the mediating effect of communication quality. Data was collected from 167 employees who adopted ESM in the workplace, the existing study supports our proposed hypotheses and mediating effect. The findings confirm the significant role of ESM usage and psychological safety in improving employee agility through communication quality. This research study contributes to the existing ESM literature by investigating communication quality and its role in developing employee’s agility in the context of ESM and suggesting managerial implications of ESM usage in improving the employee’s agility.
Drawing upon strategic leadership theory, this study develops a theoretical model to explore the impact of senior executives’ leadership behaviors on IS-Business strategic alignment in the context of Enterprise Systems (ES) assimilation. In particular, organizational culture is added as a critical moderator in the research model based on contingency theory. Empirical analysis results suggest that idealized influence and inspirational motivation leadership behaviors are significant drivers of IS-Business strategic alignment, which further has a positive influence on Enterprise Systems assimilation. Moreover, flexibility-oriented culture positively moderates the relationship between strategic leadership behaviors and IS-Business strategic alignment, while control-oriented culture negatively moderates the path relationships. Our study contributes to the extant literature in both leadership and IS-business strategic alignment.