Management

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Research Topic Summary.

Today, in the context of dynamic business environment and Industry 4.0 requirements, project managers are becoming the main leaders of projects of significant strategic importance for the future of companies. Project managers are responsible for high value creation including social value of projects also (Liu et al., 2019). Project social value is a practical vehicle for realising the sustainable development goals at company or country level (Dobrovolskienė et al., 2017). Stakeholder engagement is vital for project social value creation. Project managers face with challenges how to develop project social value based on close and active engagement of stakeholders (Rezvani et al., 2016; Sydow & Braun, 2018; Mazur et al., 2014; Xingyong et al., 2018). Stakeholders are often concerned about the conflict of their interests within the network of project (Lin et al., 2017; Wallbauma et al., 2010). Emotional intelligence (EI) is considered to be important for project managers to affect project performance and balance different interests of stakeholders (Zhu et al., 2021; Xiong & Li, 2018). In the scientific literature separate conceptions such as project manager EI, project social value and engagement of project stakeholders are extensively analysed and researched. However, there is gap of knowledge and research analysing the links between these three concepts and their impact on social value creation. Scientific problem: What competencies of the project manager EI strengthen the engagement of project stakeholders? How does the engagement of project stakeholders affect the creation of social value of the project? The aim is to theoretically substantiate and empirically test the links between project manager EI competencies and the engagement the project stakeholders in terms of creating the social value of the project. Objectives: 5. To analyze the concepts of the social value of the project and the engagement of the project stakeholders, to identify the factors determining the stakeholder’s engagement and the links with the creation of the social value of the project. 6. To define the concept of EI, identifying the relevant project manager EI competencies and links to the engagement of project stakeholders in creating the social value of the project. 7. After evaluating the results of theoretical and empirical research on the role of the project manager in the engagement of stakeholders in creating the social value of the project, to develop a conceptual model that includes the links between the project manager's EI competencies, stakeholder engagement and the social value of the project. 8. To develop a research methodology and to substantiate the conceptual model of the links between the project manager's EI competencies, stakeholder engagement and the social value of the project being developed. 9. Summarize the results of the research, provide recommendations and further research directions.

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Research Topic Summary.

Today’s world is complicated due to financial crises and the COVID-19 pandemic, which shakes the global social, economic and psychological life—complicated and challenging due to emerging phenomena such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, blockchains or the Internet of Things (IoT) (Kniahynyckyj, 2017) . Society wants to have a global digital network tailored to their needs. However, many understand this phenomenon in a relatively narrow sense . Relate only to the introduction of information technologies, resist digitalisation or acquire new dependencies (Berryhill et al. (2019), Aoki, 2020, Kuziemski and Misuraca (2020), Zhu et al. (2021), Robles Carrillo (2020), Luckey et al. (2020)). Artificial intelligence is an area of research and technology that can have a significant impact not only on business but also on public policies and services. In just a few years, it is expected that it will be possible to free up almost a third of civil servants’ time, allowing them to move from day-to-day tasks to high-value jobs. However, this area is still vague. It is believed the possible problem statement could be: artificial intelligence – a phenomenon that changes the scope of social, economic and cultural dimensions of communities. Indisputable that it exists practical and scientific attempts to highlight the possibility of AI application in different spheres. However, a structured understanding of the content of AI is still missing. Moreover, its application in the public sector is understood vaguely in society. The research should attempt to answer several research questions (RQs) arising from the problem listed above: What is the scope of understanding AI application in the public sector? What is the history of AI development? How can AI be applied in the public sector? The main aim of the PhD theses could be – propose measures and actions how to improve Lithuanian public sector governance in the context of global change through the use of artificial intelligence. The research plan is proposed: 1. To systemise the aspects of European global change in the context of globalization (retrospective and perspective analysis.) 2. To analyse theoretical and practical specifics (analysis of European good practice examples; case studies) of public sector governance. 3. Summarize the new approach to AI, with a particular emphasis on ethical issues in governance models. 4. Create methodology enabling to research the situation of AI application in governance of public sector. 5. To conduct an empirical study to determine the situation of the application of AI in the Lithuanian public sector. 6. To analyse empirical research results.Primary research methods: systematic literature review (MAXQDA programme will be used), qualitative research (document analysis and interviews (structured and open). Possible results of the research: 2 types of recommendations for policy makers and public servants how to apply AI for the improvement of public services governance. Research results will be presented as scientific publications and presentations in the scientific conferences. Research ethical questions would be evaluated according the KTU statement for scientific research.

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Research Topic Summary.

The major aim of the research to explore the position, dynamics and determinants of the Baltic catching up countries and regions in the context of industrial and technology upgrading within the wider Europe and internationally, including firm, sector and macro level implications on business model innovation for sustainable social and economic growth within Industry 4.0. The expected results are based on the development of the new, theoretically relevant and empirically grounded understanding of the relationship between R&D, technology and economic growth and competitiveness. In the course of PhD 4 papers in high level journals shall be developed (Technology forecasting and social change, R&D management, Management decision and the like), and at least 2 international conference presentations.

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Research Topic Summary.

The attitude - behavior gap has long been highlighted in sustainable consumption research. The large discrepancy between what consumers say and how they actually behave is one of the most enigmatic challenges for both academics and practitioners to understand and motivate sustainable consumption. There are indications that, among other factors, a significant part of the behavioral gap may be due to inaccuracies in traditional research methods, as respondents tend to provide socially desirable responses, especially in the context of sustainability research. There is a risk that marketing measures to promote sustainable consumption may be based on misleading information and may ultimately be ineffective. Despite the potentially significant consequences of socially desirable responses, research in the context of sustainable consumption is still largely based on traditional survey tools. Although various methods are used to address the issue of socially desirable responses (e.g., SDR Tendency scales, randomized response techniques), these methods are also associated with significant shortcomings (e.g., validity, ethics, cost). Recent research also includes the use of indirect (projection) techniques in sustainable consumption research to avoid the error of socially desirable responding. Indirect techniques derived from the field of applied psychology are argued to help address or at least reduce the attitude-behavior gap in consumer research. These methods exploit people’s tendency to more openly present true information when they can transfer their psychological states, which may be undesirable, to another entity. However, there are no systematic studies in the field of sustainable consumption, including indirect techniques and their potential impact on eliminating the socially desirable responding. The aim of this study would be to determine the impact of socially desirable responding on the emergence of an attitude - behavior gap in the context of sustainable consumption research. This would be done by assessing the impact of different methods (direct and indirect techniques) on the results obtained. Expected results: 1) evaluation of indirect techniques as a possibility to obtain more realistic answers in the context of sustainable consumption, at the same time determining the importance of socially desirable responding in sustainability research; 2) evidence of the validity of indirect techniques, while arguing the influence of the method on the results obtained.

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Research Topic Summary.

Digital platforms are prevailing in many sectors, including healthcare. There is a number of digital healthcare platforms operating along healthcare value chain and providing upstream or downstream healthcare related services to different users. Their origin and position along the value chain equip digital health platforms with different qualities and, thus, unique competitive advantage. In recent years, scholars have increasingly realized the importance of collaboration and complementarity among digital healthcare platforms to create value to the patient. However, it remains unexplored how different type of platforms such as adjacent downstream and incumbent-born upstream platforms transform their corporate identity and build dynamic capabilities to manage competitive dynamics. Despite both types of platforms have been analyzed separately by the scholars, still interplay between the adjacent downstream (e.g. Google Health, Amazon Health, Facebook Health and other) and incumbent-born upstream (e.g. Siemens Healthineers teamplay, Philips Health Suite, Hillron and others) platforms critical to advance personalized and value-based patient healthcare have received limited attention. This study contributes to addressing this issue. Research aim is to investigate the effect of corporate identity and dynamic capabilities on competitive dynamics among different types of digital healthcare platforms. To meet the aim, mixed research methods will be used. Expected results are new knowledge on the topic under the investigation, their dissemination, international publications and defended PhD thesis.

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Research Topic Summary.

Public Governance research group invites candidates to conduct methodologically cross-cutting research on public service provision, customer satisfaction, public administration, smart governance, algorithmic governance, EU governance and policies, generic policies, comparative public administration, pandemic management strategies, decision-making, public sector resilience, public sector ethics, tax evasion, tax moral, public trust, public participation, local, regional development and other topics in public governance or public management by applying agent-based modelling (multi-agent systems) (Bonabeau 2002) to simulate the interactions among various stakeholders/entities and the emergent properties of such systems. The candidate will have at least some experience with agent-based modelling or has Python or R skills.

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Research Topic Summary.

The aim of the dissertation thesis - to explain and gain insights in the relevance of the environmental identity and the mechanisms (individual and social drivers and barriers) through which the environmental identity empowers the shift to lasting sustainable consumer behavior. Moreover, these interventions will suggest strategies that could be used to design programs to address climate change. Objectives: 1. Theoretically base individual and social drivers and barriers through which the environmental identity empowers the shift to lasting sustainable consumer behavior. 2. Based on the results of the theoretical analysis and modelling, the descriptive research as well as possible interventions, i.e. experiments, empirically validate the impact of interventions on environmental identity and sustainable behavior. 3. Propose the theoretically and empirically proved strategies that let to shift consumer behavior to address climate change.

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Research Topic Summary.

Sustainable career is related to the inclusive approach and highlights the relevance of positive experiences at work due the human-centered HRM practices, allowing employees to fully utilize their potential at work and ensuring physical and mental health. The term of sustainable career has recently been gaining popularity. However, the extent and nature of sustainable career is still under discussion. According to Newman (2011), sustainable career must include the opportunities for recovery from work, be flexible and adaptable from the perspective of the organization and the employees and include opportunities for integration across life spheres and experiences that lead to wholeness, completeness and meaning. Valcour (2015) also mentions the need to recover from work and adds such features of sustainable career as continuous learning, security that comes from employability, and a harmonious fit with one’s skills, interests, and values. De Vos et al. (2018) describe sustainable career in terms of happiness (psychological dimension), health (physical dimension), and productivity (economical dimension). Other scholars emphasize the need of sustainable careers across the lifespan. Van der Heijden et al. 2020; Heslin et al. 2020). Nevertheless, throughout lifespan the employees experience career shocks caused by different reasons which might result in unsustainable careers. In the context of a sustainable career, idiosyncratic deals are treated controversially. Some scholars (Knering et al. 2019; Kossek, 2020) emphasize that idiosyncratic deals enable employee development and presuppose sustainable careers, while other researchers also see negative consequences for career sustainability (Marescaux et al., 2016; Ng, 2021). Idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) are personalized employment arrangements negotiated between individual employees and employers that intended to benefit each party (Rousseau et al., 2006). In human resource management practice, development of i-deals often manifest as challenging work assignments, special training opportunities, or career development opportunities in the organization (Marescaux et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2020). They help meet employee needs and expectations when standard practices fall short (Rousseau et all., 2016), have a positive effect on employee attitudes (Brzykcy et al., 2019), increase innovative behavior (Ng, 2021). Nevertheless, Marescaux et all. (2016) notes the negative impact of inequitably perceived i-deals on sustainable career, Håkansson et al (2020) emphasize the likelihood of stress when there is a mismatch between work ability and requirements of i-deals, moreover, that could increase employee turnover Zhang (2021). Thus Duality of idiosyncratic deals referring to sustainable career supposes the research questions: how to evaluate the impact of i-deals on sustainable career and how to mitigate the negative impact of i-deals. Research aim: is to disclose the dual nature of i-deals, revealing HRM practices mitigating the negative i-deals impact on sustainable career. Research objectives: 1) Disclose the dual nature i-deals 2) Identify the methods to evaluate the impact of i-deals on sustainable career; 3) reveal HRM practices mitigating the negative i-deals impact on sustainable career. Expected results. The research would contribute to the development of sustainable career research in the context of i-deals: doctoral dissertation summarizing theoretical and practical contribution; 2 articles published in ISI WoS with citation index.

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Research Topic Summary.

Our society faces multiple global challenges such as climate change, digital workforce, algorithmization, datafication, exploitive labor, extreme poverty, gender inequality, mass migration, aging populations, or increasing disaster risks (Ferraro et al., 2015). The key issue is that of societal risk and uncertainty. Remarkably there has been scant attention in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature to pandemics and similar global societal risks. However, COVID-19 has highlighted the role of business both as: (i) a source of such risks; and (ii) an actor that is highly exposed to such new risks and needs to play a role in addressing them. CSR research needs to shift from an individual to a societal conception of risk and examine how this plays out in CSR theory and practice (Crane, Matten, 2021). CSR entails the “policies and practices of corporations that reflect business responsibility for some of the wider societal good” (Matten & Moon, 2008: 405). Are CSR initiatives providing the societal good that they promise? With corporations filling institutional voids and better positioned than governments to address many social problems (Besley & Ghatak, 2007), it is important to understand how well these initiatives fulfill their aims. Moreover, given that the resources firms allocate to CSR are limited and societal needs are not, it is essential to understand how these initiatives can be more effective, so that greater societal good can be generated from them (Barnett et al., 2020). Organizational quality management (QM) practices can contribute to the achievement of CSR goals. The fifth generation of QM, Quality 5.0, broadens the definition of stakeholder satisfaction to include societal satisfaction with sustainability perspectives—that not only consider environmental and economic needs, but also critical societal needs— where future generations are viewed as today’s customers (Deleryd, Fundin, 2020). The question that stands out is how CSR and quality management practices can be organized in order to create outcomes that have beneficial impacts for society and the natural environment, and are not restricted to outputs that primarily impact the financial performance of shareholders? The aim is to explore the enhancement of organisational social impact through CSR and quality management practices.

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Research Topic Summary.

Rapid development and complexity of digital technologies have led to a paradigm shift regarding societal life and business models (Parida et al., 2019; Latilla et al., 2021; Hanelt et al., 2021). Literature emphasises a dual situation: on the one hand, digital technologies have become a new strategic imperative for businesses (Fitzgerald et al., 2014; Arslan et al., 2021) and on the other hand, multidimensional technological forces involving augmented reality, machine learning, the Internet of Things, and big data are substantially transforming work and organisations (Derks et al., 2015; Coupe, 2019; Mohanta et al., 2020; Arslan et al., 2021). Recently, digital technologies have been dynamically reinventing the human resource management (HRM) landscape (Galanaki et al., 2019; Iqbal et al., 2019; Strohmeier, 2020). The main topics include e-HRM (Bondarouk et al., 2017; Vahdat, 2021), Artificial Intelligence (IA) implications for the workplace (Arslan et al., 2021), the Internet of Things in HRM (Strohmeier, 2020), Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for HRM (McColl and Michelotti, 2019; Derks et al. 2021), and human-robot interactions (Moniz and Krings, 2016; Webster and Ivanov, 2020). Research demonstrates that digital technologies transform HRM practices, such as recruitment, training, and job performance. Moreover, technologies are increasingly used in HRM altering the organisations’ decision-making processes, introducing job replacement issues, and enabling collaboration between robots and employees (Vrontis et al., 2020). As digital technologies radically transform HRM, a question of implications for organisations and their stakeholders arises. Previous literatures is seemingly more inclined to emphasise the positive effects of technologies discerning lower costs and more efficient HRM processes (Korunka and Vartiainen, 2017; Webster and Ivanov; 2020). However, the “dark” side of digital technologies within HRM settings has been recently highlighted, while focusing on increased employee stress, job insecurity, declining work-life balance, rising income inequality, lower employee performance or less satisfied customers (Moiz and Krings, 2016; Dengler and Matthes, 2018; Zhang, 2019). Scientific literature analysis suggests that research with the intention to reveal the themes around digital technologies in HRM (for instance, intensity of use, nature) is still fragmented (Fenech et al., 2019; Nachit and Okar, 2020; Gilch and Sieweke, 2021; Vrontis et al., 2020). The holistic approach is still missing referring to the impact of the use of digital technologies in HRM for various stakeholders, namely the organisation itself, managers, employees, and other parties both in the short and long term. The potential tensions and paradoxes in selecting and implementing digital technology solutions that are compatible with employee well-being (Guest, 2017) and the sustainable development of business organisations are also underestimated. Therefore, the scientific problem is formulated by the question: What is the impact of digital technologies on different stakeholders in HRM settings? The research aim is to reveal the impact of digital technologies on different stakeholders in HRM settings. The following research objectives are raised to achieve the formulated aim of scientific research: 1. To describe the genesis, forms and changes of the use of digital technologies in HRM settings. 2. To prepare a conceptual model of the impact of digital technologies on different stakeholders in HRM settings by integrating possible tensions and paradoxes related to the use of digital technologies and by providing possible strategies for coping with tensions. 3. To validate the methodological approach of the research and to prepare the methodology for empirical research. 4. To present empirical evidence and practical implications.

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Research Topic Summary.

The last ten years witnessed the emergence of many radically new technologies. Many observers believe that these new technologies will lead to a disruptive change of the competition across the economy. At the center of the changes – ubiquitous digital technologies and connectivity. Digitalization denotes the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities. Digitalization enable new business models, allows decreasing costs, and contributes to increased organizational performance. Digital transformation denotes the overall effects of digitalization efforts on the organization. Digitalization maturity models and Industry 4.0 readiness frameworks guide digitalization efforts. At the firm level, such models include dimensions of digitalization (e.g., digitalization strategy, integrated operations, connected products, data-driven services, digital skills, etc.) and a description of their levels (e. g., low, medium, advanced). The best-known models of digitalization maturity at the enterprise level is the “Digitalization Gradient” model, followed by others. The most influential Industry 4.0 readiness model is the Impulse model, followed and others. Research on digitalization maturity, Industry 4.0 readiness models has made an important contribution to the development of knowledge about the digitalization of companies. They revealed the digitalization dimensions and their levels that are important for companies. They also disclosed the external factors that contribute to the success of manufacturing companies. On the other hand, this line of research is characterized by the following limitation. The models promote the “one best way” approach arguing that all digitalization dimensions constituting models are important for all companies despite their internal characteristics and environmental factors. Such universalistic claims are poorly against arguments of contingency and equifinality theories. Internal contingencies (e.g., size, strategic focus, presence of IT department) and environmental contingencies (e.g., nature of the industry, supply chain digitalization readiness) may be factors explaining different digitalization pathways. The research question of this inquiry is formulated by a question: how organizational and environmental contingencies influence the digital transformation of organizations? The proposed PhD study aims to shed light on whether digitalization models depend on organizations’ internal and external characteristics. The empirical part of the research will be executed using the empirical data on manufacturing companies collected as part of a project “AI-driven real-time digitalization roadmaps for upgrading small and medium manufacturing enterprises”.

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Research Topic Summary.

AI (artificial intelligence)-support tools are increasingly applied in management, driven by technological progress in AI systems and data collection & analytics. In the context of the management of new product development (NPD) and innovation, this dissertation investigates how AI systems can a) make meaningful contributions in human-centered domains, i.e. creativity, problem solving, and decision-making under complexity and uncertainty; b) initiate, improve and execute managerial processes in NPD in the early innovation stages; c) explore and describe the potential and the limitations of human ethics and societal norms on AI-driven innovation and managerial decision-making. The project is carried out in collaboration with international partners (CBS in Denmark, Ecole Polytechnique in France, ZHAW in Switzerland) in both academia and industry.

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Research Topic Summary.

This project aims to define, conceptualize, and develop a global R&D and innovation trade balance, with the purpose to inform national S&T and economic policy development, and corporate strategy making. The research is based on statistical empirical analysis of FDI data. Specifically, the ambitions in this project are: 1. Analyze the patterns of inbound global R&D attractiveness of countries over time. 2. Develop a global innovation trade balance indicator that measures pairwise global R&D and technology stock investments between net importing and net exporting countries. 3. Qualify and quantify the impact of national culture on global R&D flows. The project is carried out in collaboration with international partners (CBS in Denmark, HHL Leipzig, ZHAW in Switzerland) in both academia and industry.

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Research Topic Summary.

Relevance. Access to finance for SME‘s, widely discussed in academic literature, still remains a substantial problem for small and medium enterprises. One part of the problem is low corporate finance literacy. The recent wave of digital business transformation depends on a problem of access to finance even more and digital financial inclusion is becoming central in the debate on how to ensure that SME‘s, who face access to finance problems and are at the lower levels of corporate finance, and digital literacy. Various initiatives to expand financing of SMEs including partial guarantee schemes, building or improving financial infrastructure, commercial banking models, and other private sector initiatives have been developed to directly target SMEs. At the global level, the global partnership for financial inclusion (GPFI) enhances integrating artificial intelligence solutions in SME’s financial management decisions aiming to help SME’s to become more financially active. Fintech companies are using AI and its various applications to ensure that the goal of digital financial inclusion is realized that is to ensure that small and medium businesses participate in the mainstream financial market. Research objective: to investigate the impact of AI for SME’s on digital financial inclusion. Research questions: how to assess the impact of AI on digital financial inclusion of SME‘s. How AI could be employed on digital financial inclusion in areas related to risk detection, measurement, and management, addressing the problem of information asymmetry. Expected results: an investigation of AI-based tools, that could be adopted and scaled-up from both – finance providers (financial institutions and non-financial institutions and governments) and finance recipient (SME’s) sides - to reduce financial inclusion, that the vulnerable groups SME‘s, who are lacking financial literacy, could participate in the formal financial market with minimum challenges and maximum benefits.