Intention to Use eSanjeevani-OPD App: An Empirical Investigation Using Health Belief Model

Digital health interventions have become an essential component of every public health system since the COVID-19 pandemic. 'eSanjeevani OPD - Stay at Home OPD' is a telemedicine system that connects doctors and patients launched as part of the Ayushman Bharat project of the Indian government. This study analyses various factors affecting the intention to use eSanjeevani. A theoretical model integrating the health belief model and the theory of reasoned action was framed and empirically tested. Responses were collected using a survey questionnaire(n=248). A partial least square-structural equation modeling was used to analyze the linkages between the constructs. Perceived susceptibility and benefits were found to be the most contributing variables. Attitude has a significant mediating effect on the intention to use eSanjeevani. © 2023 IEEE.

Validity and reliability of sustainable supply chain management frameworks in Indian smart manufacturing industries

PurposeSustainable supply chain management (SSCM) ensures integration of socially, environmentally and economically feasible practices in entire supply chain. SSCM principles can be implemented to improve efficiency and productivity of a system by different attributes of the system. The purpose of this article is to identify the most appropriate existing (SSCM) framework that can be implemented suitably in Indian smart manufacturing industries.Design/methodology/approachValidity and reliability analysis on the existing SSCM frameworks was carried out with the help of empirical data collected using questionnaire survey methodology from various Indian smart manufacturing organizations. The empirical data were gathered from various experts from top- and middle-level management in different smart manufacturing organizations across the country. Further, factor analysis was carried on the collected data to estimate the unidimensionality of each SSCM frameworks. Cronbach's alpha value was used to assess reliability of each framework. Subsequently, the frequency distribution analysis was done to obtain familiar elements in the segregated frameworks based on validity and reliability analysis.FindingsThe work observed that only five SSCM frameworks have shown unidimensionality in terms of the elements or constructs. The work further found that these segregated frameworks have not shown sufficiently high level of reliability. Additionally, this work attempted frequency distribution analysis and observed that there were very few elements which were being repeatedly used in numerous frameworks proposed by researchers. Based on the findings of this work, the work concluded that there is acute need of a new SSCM framework for Indian smart manufacturing industries.Research limitations/implicationsThis study gathered empirical data from 388 Indian smart manufacturing organizations. Thus, before generalizing the findings of the study across the sectors, there is a possibility of some more explication.Originality/valueThe main purpose of this article is to explore the feasibility of the existing SSCM frameworks in Indian smart manufacturing sector. The study also assumes that the manufacturing managers and executives may have the complete understanding on the existing sustainable manufacturing frameworks and a chance to executing proper suitable framework in the respective manufacturing organization.

Exploring usage, expected benefits and perceived usefulness of social media in travel agencies: an empirical investigation in Italy

Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to investigate travel agencies' social media usage and its perceived effectiveness by small- and micro-Italian travel agencies;the pre-pandemic period is compared to the forecasts for the post-Covid-19 period and different characteristics of firms and entrepreneurs are considered. Furthermore, the study analyses the expected benefits in terms of marketing objectives, such as improving brand image and/or personalizing the offer. Design/methodology/approach: The research was developed through a questionnaire administered electronically to travel agents (282 respondents). The resulting data was analyzed by applying the McNemar test, a pairwise t-test and the multivariate analysis of variance. Findings: The results show that social media are strategically significant for travel agents, even though their adoption is influenced by different agency aims;the perceived effectiveness results are diversified according to varying agency typologies. Research limitations/implications: The two main limitations of the study are its focus on the Italian context only and the missing consideration of the consumer's point of view. The latter prevents an exhaustive assessment of future trends regarding the use of social media in the client–agency relationship. Originality/value: The study, which focuses on a little debated topic concerning the relationship between social media and SMEs, organically explores various dimensions related to the adoption of social media by small agencies, also considering the impact of the Covid-19 on the perception of travel agents. As a further element of originality, the research takes into consideration the main social platforms separately rather than the set of tools as a whole. © 2023, Simone Splendiani, Mauro Dini, Francesca Rivetti and Tonino Pencarelli.

Italians and smart working: A technical study on the effects of smart working on the society

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, "smart working” (hereafter SW) has become the norm for millions of workers around the world. A new way of working for most workers and in particular in Italy, a country where the use of SW was extremely rare before the pandemic. The aim of this paper, was to highlights whether smart working, adopted to face and survive global crises, could be really a suitable tool to generate benefits for companies, society, reduce environmental impacts and guarantee autonomy and flexibility for workers as well as a balance between private life. The analysis was conducted on a sample of 2753 individuals based in Italy during the period January and February 2021 using PLS-SEM model. The contribution of this study to research is identified in clarifying the potential of SW to create sustainable Smart Cities. © 2022 Elsevier Inc.

Italians and smart working: A technical study on the effects of smart working on the society

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “smart working” (hereafter SW) has become the norm for millions of workers around the world. A new way of working for most workers and in particular in Italy, a country where the use of SW was extremely rare before the pandemic. The aim of this paper, was to highlights whether smart working, adopted to face and survive global crises, could be really a suitable tool to generate benefits for companies, society, reduce environmental impacts and guarantee autonomy and flexibility for workers as well as a balance between private life. The analysis was conducted on a sample of 2753 individuals based in Italy during the period January and February 2021 using PLS-SEM model. The contribution of this study to research is identified in clarifying the potential of SW to create sustainable Smart Cities.

How to front the physical distancing requirement within workforce scheduling: empirical investigation through an optimization model

This work is focused on workforce scheduling for assembly lines with the additional constraint of workforce distancing. The aim is to warrant the necessary safety and health requirements due to COVID-19. The research stems within an industrial case in which a methodology has been developed with the objectives of i) developing a constraint optimization model considering the social distancing of workers as part of the workforce scheduling requirements and ii) investigating how the workforce distancing can affect certain production performances. Through an empirical investigation the impact of distancing on workforce allocation is appraised in terms of daily production capacity. Then, different distancing thresholds are assessed to seek the optimal balance among production performances and safety requirements. The research resulted in a tool able to adapt the scheduling sequence to those health/safety situations where the production manager needs to minimize losses in terms of production capacity, warranting the safest working conditions. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Examining the Significance of Internal Mobility Hiring in Determining the Individual Vs Organizational Outcomes: An Empirical Investigation from ADNOC FURSA Platform During Recent Pandemic of COVID-19

Objective Scope: ADNOC group of companies introduced the Fursa platform which is an internal online website where HR acquisition partners among the 13 companies can post vacancies and employees from any of the 13 companies can apply to those vacancies. The aim of this initiative is to move ADNOC's employees internally to reskill, fill department gaps, and cross-collaborate to get a project done or hit an organizational goal with minimizing hiring cost and accelerate recruitment process. This study considers the above stated program as an explanatory factor to determine the individual's as well as organizational outcomes in ADNOC group of companies. Methods, Procedure, Process: To address the study objectives, qualitative and quantitative methods are adopted. More specifically, for quantitative approach, structural questionnaire was developed through adopting different items from the literature. Whereas qualitative analysis are conducted while using the information from structured interviews. Results, Observations, Conclusions: The study findings indicates that both individual and organizational outcomes are positively and significantly determined by internal mobility program. Similarly, analyses through qualitative approach confirms that internal mobility program helps to provide learning and development of the employees, productivity and performance in terms of individual outcomes, and sales and growth to reflect the concept of organizational outcomes. It is stated current program Enabled employees to find their next position, project, or mentor internally, and maximized ADNOC workforce potential and unlock the capacity to meet the corporate objectives. Other interesting outcomes are It takes less time and money to source (and saves money on relocation costs and as known during pandemic situation there is a restriction on international movement between countries);it enables faster onboarding and ramping up. Additionally, during internal mobility the company is confident that the candidate shares your mission and vision, and It also implies that you are aware of a candidate's most recent performance. Novel/Additive information: the study is unique in the sense that it is done in one of the giant oil and gas companies which employees working in different aspects of the business;upstream, downstream, and mid-stream. The study introduces modern ways of work in a speedy, natural manner, and the use of MS Teams to do virtual interviews. Fursa platform allows companies to act quickly. It only takes a few seconds to determine where talent should be directed, and a few more seconds to deploy it. © Copyright 2021, Society of Petroleum Engineers

A Tacit-Knowledge based Requirements Elicitation Model Supporting COVID-19 Context

Effective software requirements elicitation plays a vital role in the success or failure of a project. However, ambiguity in the requirement’s statements indicate the presence of a tacit knowledge, which ultimately act as a root cause of critical complications in later stages of software development as user’s needs might remain hidden. Additionally, the existence of numerous stakeholders escalates the problem as their perceptions may contrast mainly due to their experiences and roles in a specific application domain. Hence, witlessness of relevant stakeholder(s) and ambiguous requirements cause the compromise for a product quality. Eventually, it paves the way towards the failure of a project. Furthermore, COVID-19 has affected all walks of life, more specifically requirements elicitation process as it heavily depends on human-to-human interaction. Motivated by this, current study aims at identifying the requirements elicitation techniques and challenges through a systematic literature review protocol. Furthermore, we have performed an exploratory study to identify the traditional elicitation techniques that can be used specifically for eliciting the tacit requirements. Additionally, we validate the top 15 critical challenges in a normal and pandemic scenario. To validate the result’s authenticity and legitimacy, appropriate statistical tests have been applied on the obtained results. Based on the attained results, it is observed that transfer of tacit knowledge remains a most crucial challenge. To effectively handle the tacit knowledge challenge, we propose a novel conceptual model supporting COVID-19 context. Similarly, we employ expert-validation mechanism for empirically evaluation of the proposed conceptual model. Moreover, the current study provides the guidelines for the practitioners to mitigate the highlighted effects on the requirements elicitation process during current pandemic time. Finally, we believe that proposed conceptual model supports the practitioners in effectively gathering the tacit-knowledge based requirements in the COVID-19 context. Author

Pandemic planning, sustainability practices, and organizational performance: An empirical investigation of global manufacturing firms

Disruption events like pandemic crises and natural disasters are unpredictable and therefore, most organizations are implementing an emergency plan to mitigate the unforeseen risks. This paper presents a research framework based on sustainability theory perspectives (i.e., crisis life cycle and management cycle). To test a research model that defines key variables, we assess and validate the hypothesized relationships using a large-scale survey. The respondents are from global food, pharmaceutical, and medical manufacturing companies (n = 301). We use a polynomial regression method coupled to response surface analysis. Results suggest that in the COVID-19 pandemic context, pandemic emergency planning dimensions are positively related to organizational performance metrics (e.g., sales, net profit, on-time orders, and quality) of the food, medical and pharmaceutical industries. The response surface analysis also shows that prudent firms implement triple sustainability practices--economic improvement practices, socially responsible practices, and environmental practices--to ensure their market competitiveness and corporate reputation during critical times. Theoretical and managerial implications are presented for future studies.