Maurizio Massaro

On the shoulders of giants: undertaking a structured literature review in accounting

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to present a method for a structured literature review (SLR). An SLR is a method for examining a corpus of scholarly literature, to develop insights, critical reflections, future research paths and research questions. SLRs are common in scientific disciplines dominated by quantitative approaches, but they can be adapted in accounting studies since quantitative and qualitative approaches are commonly accepted. Design/methodology/approach - – A literature review, as a piece of academic writing, must have a logical, planned structure. The authors also argue it requires tests based on qualitative and quantitative methods. Therefore, the authors describe ten steps for developing an SLR. Findings - – The SLR method is a way that scholars can stand “on the shoulders of giants” and provide insightful and impactful research that is different to the traditional authorship approaches to literature reviews. Research limitations/implications - – Traditional literature reviews can have varied results because of a lack of rigour. SLRs use a process that, through a set of rules, potentially offers less bias and more transparency of the execution and measures and techniques of validation and reliability. Practical implications - – SLRs provide an approach that can help academics to discover under-investigated topics and methods, nurturing, therefore, the development of new knowledge areas and research approaches. Originality/value - – The paper presents accounting researchers with an opportunity to develop insightful and publishable studies, and also serves as a basis for developing future research agendas in the accounting field. The authors advocate the SLR method especially to higher degree research students and emerging scholars as a way of potentially developing robust and defensible research agendas and questions.

Public sector knowledge management: a structured literature review

Purpose – This paper aims to review and critique the public sector knowledge management (KM) literature, offers an overview of the state of public sector KM research and outlines a future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach – Articles published in KM journals are analyzed using a structured literature review methodology. The paper analyzes 180 papers published within ten journals specializing in the field of KM. Findings – Public sector KM is a research area of growing importance. Findings show that few authors specialize in the field and there are several obstacles to developing a cohesive body of literature. Low levels of international cooperation among authors and international comparisons mean that the literature is fragmented. Some research topics and some geographical areas within the public sector theme are over-analyzed, while others are under-investigated. Additionally, academic researchers should re-think their methodological approach if they wish to make significant contributions to th...

Knowledge management in small and medium enterprises: a structured literature review

Purpose This paper aims to review and critique the knowledge management (KM) literature within small and medium enterprises (SMEs), offers an overview of the state of research and outline a future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach Papers published in KM journals are analysed using a structured literature review methodology. The paper analyses 89 papers published in ten journals specialising in the field of KM. Findings KM within SMEs is a research area of growing importance. Findings show that literature on KM in SMEs is fragmented and dominated by unrelated research, with few comparative studies between countries and several countries receiving little attention. Additionally, different definitions of SMEs are used and different kinds of SMEs (e.g. micro, small and medium) are often treated as equivalent, making comparison almost impossible. The results show a failure to address the implications of findings for practitioners and policymakers, which risks relegating the KM research on SMEs to irrelevance. Originality/value The paper presents a comprehensive structured literature review of the articles published in KM journals. The paper’s findings can offer insights into future research avenues.

Where there is a will there is a way: IC, strategic intent, diversification and firm performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether strategic intent influences developing intellectual capital (IC) and if IC affects performance measured in terms of product and service diversification within small and medium enterprises over time. Design/methodology/approach – This study discusses if and how structural equation models can be located within the third stage of IC research, and subsequently presents an analysis developed using 1,392 questionnaire responses through a temporal lens. Findings – Empirical results show how relational, human and structural capital strongly connects to support a firm’s performance measured in terms of product and service diversification. Additionally, IC and strategic intent influence each other creating a constraint effect on one side and an ambition effect on the other. Interestingly, the constraint effect is much higher than the ambition effect, and this falls in line with a contingency approach to strategic intent. Practical implications – Several prac...

Intellectual capital management in the fourth stage of IC research: A critical case study in university settings

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of a university that uses a collective intelligence approach for managing its intellectual capital (IC). Specifically, the authors investigate how one of Europe’s oldest business schools, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy), manages IC through stakeholder engagement to achieve academia’s third mission so contributing to social and economic development. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected through semi-structured interviews and Ca’ Foscari University’s strategic plan. Secundo et al.’s (2016) collective intelligence framework is used to analyse the data. Alvesson and Deetz’s (2000, pp. 19-20) critical management tasks – insight, critique and transformative redefinition – are adopted to frame and discuss the results. Findings On the assumption that a university is a collective intelligence system, the findings demonstrate that IC management needs to change to incorporate an ecosystem perspective, reflecting the fourth stage of IC research. The IC management at the university incorporates its core goal (what), the collective involvement of internal and external stakeholders to achieve the goal (who), the motivations behind the achievement of the goal (why) and, finally, the processes activated inside the university (how) and indicators to assess value creation. Research limitations/implications A new perspective for managing IC in universities that adopts a collective intelligence approach is further developed. Contributions to the fourth stage of IC research – IC in an ecosystem – are highlighted that expand the concept of IC value creation beyond universities into wider society. Practical implications Two key consequences of this case study are that more stakeholders have become involved in IC management and that IC management requires critical rethinking, given the universities’ evolving role. Originality/value This paper brings together issues that are usually dealt with in separate domains of the literature: IC management and collective intelligence in the university setting.

Practitioners’ views on intellectual capital and sustainability: From a performance-based to a worth-based perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and sustainability using practitioners’ perspectives and by developing an analysis of comments and practices published in 1,651 blog posts in one of the leading sources of sustainability research: CSRwire.com. Design/methodology/approach A total of 1,651 posts, containing more than 1.5 million words, published by experts in the field of sustainability are analysed using Leximancer and content analysis. Findings The results reveal IC and sustainability to be complex topics under active discussion by practitioners, and several links to the IC literature are identified and compared. The findings focus on the managerial practices applied by leading companies, as discussed by practitioners, that show IC and sustainability influence each other in answering a plurality of demands or logics. Research limitations/implications First, the authors identify the need to study the managerial practices proposed by practitioners, rather than their company reports. Second, the authors propose developing a trading zone for IC researchers and practitioners. Third, the authors reflect on the role of new communication tools, such as integrated reporting, to connect IC and sustainability. Finally, the authors conclude that the relationship between IC and sustainability could benefit from a fifth stage of IC research that considers justifications of the worth of IC and sustainability practices. Originality/value The paper is novel because it addresses concerns about the relationship between IC and sustainability by examining messages posted by practitioners, rather than examining company disclosures. This leads to an understanding of the impact of practices rather than the desires motivating practice. The results support the view that it is time to remove the boundaries of IC research and work towards reconciling the worth of IC to different people in different contexts. The authors argue that practitioners require scholars to reduce the ambiguity between IC and its expected results. This would open the door to a potentially productive way of understanding IC and the complexity of economic, social, and environmental value. In short, researchers should change their research questions from, “What is IC worth to investors, customers, society, and the environment?” to “Is managing IC a worthwhile endeavour?”

Approcci formali e informali al controllo negli innovation network. La relazione tra Leve del Controllo e Fattori della Fiducia

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in inter-organisational collaboration resulting in the emergence of hybrid organisational forms. This has led to recognition that management control can no longer be confined to the boundaries of a single organisation. Management control systems (MCS) must encompass networks of organisations. Inter-organisational relationships require both formal and informal controls. The latter are essentially mechanisms for encouraging self regulation. Significant among these mechanisms is trust. In inter-organisational collaborations high levels of trust can impact on the nature and the role of MCS. This paper elaborates a model of the link between the constituents of trust (trust factors) and the design of the MCS. We show how different trust factors (ability, benevolence, integrity) impact on different MCS’ approaches (belief, boundary, diagnostic and interactive systems) using Simon’s (1995) levers of control framework. The model demonstrates that an understanding of these relationships, especially in the innovation networks, can help managers employ the most suitable approach to management control in organisational network.

A Soft Skills Training Model for Executive Education

It is an imperative for executive education (EE) to assess the learning needs of participants, the course contents and the knowledge, skills, and teaching methods of instructors to be effective and sustainable. An increasing number of scholars are disagreeing with the way business schools are conducting their business (Andrews and Tyson, 2004; Mintzberg, 2004; Pfeffer and Fong, 2002). While many have long ago postulated that learning and contents must shift toward a global focus (Conger and Xin, 2000; Greenwalt, 1999), others acknowledge that business schools “are still on the wrong track” (Bennis and O’Toole, 2005), emphasizing a “relevance-rigor-gap” (Tushman et al., 2007). It seems that there has been a backlash which drove contents and teaching methods toward over-emphasizing hard core business techniques and neglecting soft skills and which has consequently focused on rules-based rather than on principles-based content.

When the investors speak: intellectual capital disclosure and the Web 2.0

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate intellectual capital (IC) discussions held between investors using Web 2.0 tools. More precisely, this paper investigates the determinants of IC disclosures (ICDs) on internet stock message boards (IMBs). Design/methodology/approach Four hypotheses were developed and tested through content analysis of 60,996 messages posted on two main IMBs, Yahoo!Finance and TheLion.com, followed by descriptive statistics and logistic regression testing. Findings The findings show that Web 2.0 is bringing new opportunities to disclose IC. Traditional theories, such as agency, stakeholder, signalling, and legitimacy theory, cannot be applied to the Web 2.0 context. Therefore, a new approach that focusses more on the personal motivations for disclosing IC is called for. At a glance, the results show that IC is disclosed on IMBs, and several elements influence both the quantity and quality of those disclosures. Sometimes “trolls” disturb the dialogue and discourage participation by other investors. Conversely, online influencers facilitate ICD. To filter messages, the time of posting, the length of the messages, and the sentiment the messages contain should be considered along with the author of the message. Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing literature by investigating the IC disclosed on IMBs. The findings provide insights about how ICDs are developed using Web 2.0 tools.

Earn-outs in Debt Restructuring Plans: Economics and Valuation

This topic is of particular relevance within the more general issue of troubled debt restructuring and option pricing methodologies. In general terms, earnouts are linked to the company’s performance. They are often structured as long-term long or short options (often, European call options) in which the underlying option is related to certain financial margins, ratios, or cash flows (revenues, EBITDA, operational cash flows, free cash flow, return on investments, or return on assets).