Background and Purpose: Digitalization brings a wide range of opportunities for both digital and sustainable transformation. One of the first steps on this journey is the digitization of business documents and digitalization of business processes. The European Commission has recognised the advantages of digitalization, particularly in the context of e-invoicing, which can contribute significantly to economic prosperity and align with public policy goals such as deficit reduction and sustainable development. Despite the successful adoption of e-invoicing in the public sector, the uptake of e-invoicing in business-to-business (B2B) transactions is surprisingly low. This research focuses on Slovenia, a small European country that imple-mented e-invoicing as mandatory between enterprises and the public sector in 2015. Methods: To investigate e-invoicing adoption in the wider population, we designed an online survey, which was conducted among 284 organizations in Slovenia. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 28 software. One sample t-test was used to evaluate the importance of identified advantages, barriers and incentives for e-invoicing usage. Further, we ran an inde-pendent sample t-test to identify statistically important differences in the importance of ad-vantages, barriers, and incentives between organizations with lower and higher levels of e-invoicing usage. Results: The results showed that organizations recognize the benefits of e-invoicing well and perceive them as important. The most important barriers to e-invoicing adoption are related to the business environment, unawareness and lack of knowledge about how to implement e-invoicing. Desired incentives for wider e-invoicing adoption are related to easier and lower costs of technical implementation, provided training and education, including best practices, as well as the availability of government grants and other support measures on the state level, including legislation, public directory of business entities using electronic document exchange and service providers. Conclusion: The paper provides important information for decision-makers and public ad-min-istrations to take appropriate measures and incentives to further support wider adoption of e-invoicing and exchange of other e-documents to exploit opportunities of digitalization better.
Background and Purpose: As outlined in the National Tourism Development Strategy until 2030, Croatia aims to provide higher value, innovative, sustainable, and authentic tourist experiences. There is a need to examine how the main tourism stakeholders can contribute to the transformation of traditional and commodified tourism products into premium-class offerings that add value throughout the entire value chain. It is important for premium-class hotels to take additional steps in improving their offerings to positively impact the entire destination and enhance service quality. This paper aims to: explore initiatives for promoting innovation in premium-class experiences within destinations focusing the cooperation between on hotel companies and DMOs; identify anticipated trends influencing the future of the tourism industry, and assess the future prospects of premium-class hotels in Croatia. Design/Methodology/Approach: The methodology incorporated both quantitative and qualitative approaches, driven by the structured nature of the questions in the online survey that target sales and/or marketing directors of hotel companies that have premium-class hotels in their portfolio. Suitable statistical methods were employed to conduct the analysis for the quantitative portion of the data. Content analysis was utilized to analyze the open-ended questions. For this purpose, the MAXQDA software for coding, categorizing, and exploring patterns within the data. Originality/value: This study represents one of the pioneering investigations into the essential initiatives that hotel companies need to undertake in order to orchestrate the development of a destination that relies on its premium-class experiences. Furthermore, the study examines the role of supporting institutions such as destination management organizations (DMOs) in facilitating this process. A conceptual model to improve the development of the premium hotel segment and destination at the same time, pursued by the responsible practices and initiatives of the hotel companies and strong partnerships with DMO and the local community, is proposed.
Background and Purpose: The changing ecosystem demands improvement in a company’s capabilities through its learning framework and respective dimensions. Using empirical testing, the purpose of this research is to gain a better understanding of the creation of dynamic learning capability through strategic alliances in the learning framework. Methodology: The data were collected via an online survey of 78 strategic alliances of a public institution. The structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the proposed model. Finding: Dynamic learning capability positively and significantly affects strategic alliance performance in a learning framework that comprises relationship capital, surfacing, joint learning structure, and knowledge acquisition dimensions. Conclusion: This research finds that all constructs in the learning framework (relationship capital, surfacing, joint learning structure, and knowledge acquisition) create dynamic learning capability, which has a significant effect on strategic alliance performance. Each construct within the learning framework (relationship capital, surfacing, joint learning structure, and knowledge acquisition) was empirically tested and can create the dynamic learning capability that contributes to the strategic alliance’s performance, notably within the business learning domain.
Purpose: The purpose of the study is to better understand the relationship between dynamic capabilities and firm competitive performance, and how innovation capabilities, specifically (a) product capability and (b) process capability, may play a mediating role in this relationship. Design/Methodology/Approach: Simple Random Sampling technique was adopted to choose SMEs to collect data based on information obtained from Hungarian SMEs associations. A total of 565 completed questionnaires were obtained, with response rate of 65.50%. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used with AMOS 24 to assess the reliability and validity; and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was additionally used to assess the dependability of the scales. The proposed model was put to the test using structured equation modelling (SEM). Results: The study results show that dynamic capacities have a significant direct effect on innovation capabilities: product capability and process capability. The study also proves that both product capability and process capability have a significant impact on a firm’s competitive performance. Conclusion: The study concludes that the relationship between dynamic capabilities and competitive firm performance is partially mediated by innovation capabilities. The study suggests that before enhancing product innovation capability, entrepreneurs should consider reorganizing and reallocating resources into process innovation capability. This study contributes to our understanding of the mediating mechanism of innovation capabilities through which dynamic capabilities enhance firm competitiveness performance.
Background and purpose: While the occupation of a train driver can be likened to other transportation professions like truck or bus drivers, it is essential to note that there are distinct hazards exclusive to this role that have a notable impact on the mental and physical well-being of train drivers. The study aims to define personal characteristics, work organisation and work characteristics, professional development and work in general in connection with risk factors among employees who perform the work tasks of train drivers in railway transport. Methodology: The study on train drivers in Slovenia was conducted with 179 participants, representing 13.3% of the total population of train drivers. The sample was predominantly male and varied in age, most hailing from the Podravska region. The OPSA digital tool was used to analyse risk factors and gauge psychosocial stress across 17 areas, using a questionnaire split into two sections. Data was collected through online and physical surveys, with voluntary and anonymous participation. Results: The study found that the personal characteristics of train drivers do not significantly impact their perception of workplace workload. While professional development factors negatively influenced workload perception, the impact was not statistically significant. However, general work characteristics strongly impact how train drivers perceive their workload. These findings suggest that interventions should focus on modifying general work characteristics to improve train drivers’ work conditions. Conclusions: These findings have important implications for the railway industry. They suggest that interventions aimed at improving the work conditions of train drivers should focus on modifying general work characteristics rather than targeting personal characteristics or professional development factors. Future research should explore these relationships and develop strategies to mitigate the identified risk factors.
Keywords: Work conditions, Well-being, Train drivers, Psychosocial risk factors
Background and Purpose: Incorporating autonomy in teams has been an increasingly popular practice, but the mechanisms that make autonomous teams effective still need to be completely understood. Adopting a multidimensional approach to team effectiveness, the aim of this study was to analyse the mediating role of team members’ supportive behaviours in the relationship between team autonomy and team effectiveness (team performance, team viability, quality of group experience and team process improvement). Methods: This research adopts a group-level analysis with a sample of 90 teams of 40 organisations from different sectors. Regression analysis was used to analyse the data, namely the product of the coefficients method. Results: A positive relationship between team autonomy and supportive behaviours, which, in turn, is positively related to the four criteria of team effectiveness, was found, suggesting that supportive behaviours are a team process that explains the relationship between team autonomy and team effectiveness. Conclusion: This research enriches our knowledge of the antecedents of team effectiveness and explains the mechanisms through which team autonomy relates to team effectiveness, encouraging organisations to incorporate autonomy into teams’ design to enhance supportive behaviours and team effectiveness.
Keywords: Work teams, Team autonomy, Team effectiveness, Supportive behaviours, Quality of group experience, Team performance
Background and Purpose: This study is based on the assumption that the novel, which is a modern narrative form, reflects the canon of the period in which it was written. In this context, the study tries to show how human resources management practices were carried out in large-scale industrial units in a period when the human resources management function was not specialized, with The Jungle novel by Upton Sinclair. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is based on a typology that Bruce E. Kaufman used while describing the early history of US HRM. Kaufman lists fourteen factors that characterize early HRM. One of them is the revealing activities of the Progressive movement. Therefore, the novel is considered here as a means of disclosure. Designed on this basis, the study analyses The Jungle novel around the following themes: the foreman’s empire, child labour, occupational health and safety, wages, job insecurity, career, and the blue-collar/white-collar divide. Results: The novel shows that although the scale of manufacturing units grew in the early 1900s, human management practices were not yet institutionalized and specialized. Therefore, HRM routines are carried out with the arbitrary attitude of foremen, wages are below the natural wage level, child labour is widely used, and there is a working life full of risks in terms of occupational health and safety. Conclusion: When the narrative of the novel about human management is read in parallel with the academic studies describing the period, the parallelism between the two narratives shows why the novels can be used as material for academic studies.
Keywords: Human resources management practices, Early history of human resources management, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
