meta-synthesis method

Environmental challenges in industrial parks have become increasingly critical, marked by improper waste disposal and resource depletion. Addressing these issues requires innovative solutions for sustainable industrial development. Industrial symbiosis networks represent a promising approach to tackling these complex environmental and economic challenges. This study focuses on developing a model for designing the requirements of an industrial symbiosis network tailored for an industrial park in Babel, Iraq.

This research is descriptive in its objectives and applied in nature. The study employs a qualitative meta-synthesis method for data collection, utilizing academic resources published between 2016 and 2023. Before formulating the model, the identified components were screened and aligned with the conditions of the study area using the Delphi method. The Delphi panel consisted of 15 experts, including 8 senior managers from Babel Industrial Park (each with at least 10 years of experience), 4 university professors specializing in production management and supply chain, and 3 industrial consultants experienced in industrial symbiosis. The Delphi process was conducted in three stages. Finally, the validated requirements were incorporated into the final model using Atlas.ti software.

After screening books, theses, and journal publications indexed in reputable scientific databases, 46 academic articles were selected. Following Sandelowski and Barroso’s seven-step approach, 46 design requirements for industrial symbiosis networks were identified and categorized into five main dimensions: technical, organizational, economic, social, and institutional. After expert validation, 16 essential requirements were selected, and the final model was constructed using Atlas.ti. To validate the model, hypothesis testing based on relationships between variables was conducted. The results confirm the validity of the designed model.

This research provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and implementing industrial symbiosis networks in Babel, Iraq. The proposed model integrates five key dimensions in a unified structure: organizational, economic, social, institutional, and technical. Each dimension plays a distinct role in the network's success while simultaneously interacting with others. The organizational dimension is foundational for fostering collaboration among network members. It encompasses factors such as organizational capacity, mutual trust, knowledge sharing, and managerial attitudes. In terms of its novelty, the study addresses a significant gap by focusing on the practical identification of requirements and developing a tailored model for industrial symbiosis networks. Research on industrial symbiosis in developing countries remains limited. Additionally, while most previous studies employed quantitative or grounded theory approaches, this research leverages meta-synthesis to consolidate existing findings and offer a systematic and holistic model.

Digital-only banking is a form of banking in which all processes are done in a non-physical form and on the platform of digital systems. In the last two decades, digital transformation has greatly changed the platforms and forms of banking. In Iran, the banking industry is one of the pioneers in the implementation of digital transformation; however, Iran's banking industry suffers from obstacles that frustrate its development towards digital-only banking and thus prevent it from reaching the banking standards in developed countries. This research attempts to identify the barriers to the realization of digital transformation in Iran's banking industry by examining past research in this field. In this review, 128 papers have gone under preliminary study and of those, 25 have been chosen to be studied in greater depth. The mentioned literature, which covers a 16-year period (from 1385 to 1401 AP) has been used to propose a coherent classification of the obstacles in the path of implementation of digital transformation in this industry using the meta-synthesis method. The thematic analysis method has been used to analyze the data in the literature; in which 88 basic themes have been extracted in the form of 7 organizing themes and 2 inclusive themes. The findings of this research indicate that in order to remove the obstacles to the realization of digital transformation in Iran's banking industry, attention should be paid to the content and software factors of digital leadership, the organization, the culture, the knowledge, and the skills associated with it, in addition to the technical, financial and legal/political infrastructure. Digital-only banking can only be realized with a comprehensive approach.

In recent years, digital transformation has created a revolution in the way companies do business and their relationships with customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders, and has led to the growth of innovation and increased value offered to customers. On the other hand, some organizations, lacking a deep understanding of the concept of digital transformation, consider it a partial and project concept; This is despite the fact that digital transformation is a complex and continuous activity that can significantly affect a company and its activities. In fact, digital transformation can be seen as a deep transformation of business activities, processes and technologies to take advantage of opportunities and changes through a combination of digital technologies. Now, in this article, we are going to examine the digital transformation with the Meta Synthesis method. The present research is applied from the point of view of the goal, and in this research, the Meta Synthesis method and the approach of Barroso and Sandelowski (2007) have been used to review the research literature. The statistical population of the research includes research conducted in the field of digital transformation. The data collection tool is open coding to identify themes and components of digital transformation. In this study, to identify the components of digital transformation, 36 codes were identified as basic themes. Among these, 16 codes were selected as organizing themes and 4 codes were identified and formed as overarching themes with the titles of "planning, soft structures, capabilities, technology and communication".

Today, the oil and gas industry is facing challenges due to its importance to the country's income generation. In the same field, studies have been conducted in the field of Iran's oil and gas industry scenarios, each of which has predicted and presented scenarios in one or more aspects. Although there are a few studies that have generally introduced the future scenarios of Iran's oil and gas, there is no comprehensive study in which a comprehensive model is presented that can determine a comprehensive model to achieve the desirable scenarios. The lack of a comprehensive model in previous studies has made it very important to pay attention to this issue. In this research, the main goal is to provide a comprehensive model to achieve the desirable scenarios for Iran's oil and gas.

To achieve this goal, the Meta-Synthesis method has been used. This method analysis past studies and includes seven steps, which were initially identified by specifying the purpose and systematic study of literature, and related articles were searched and identified. Among the 108 articles found in the last 13 years, 47 articles were selected by studying the abstract of the article to enter the next stage, and among the selected articles, 22 were the most suitable for the purpose of the research, and in them, from the scenario writing method to forecasting the future of the oil industry. and gas had been discussed, they were selected. Next, the necessary information was extracted from the articles, and the scenarios obtained in the articles were analyzed, combined, and coded. In the coding stage, four categories international communication, the future of energy, technology and innovation, and political-economic changes were identified.

The Kappa coefficient was used for quality control of the identified categories and codes. The numerical value of the Kappa coefficient using SPS software was 0.782, which indicates the reliability of the research. Also, in order to validate the results of the initial model, experts' opinions were used, and the initial model was adjusted. Finally, the comprehensive design model, results, and suggestions were presented. According to the analysis, international communication is one of the main drivers of the uncertainties affecting future scenarios for crude oil. With the increase in energy demand, instead of fossil fuels, policies of energy supply and demand management should be used, replacing wind and solar renewable energies. Also, in the category of economic and political changes, an economy dependent on oil production will weaken economic security, and sanctions as a political tool are considered a decisive action against the country. In the category of technology and innovation, risk analysis and various uncertainties that can exist in the field of technology and innovation in the oil and gas industry, as well as the discussion of flexibility and a time schedule for applying the desired technology, should be considered. In addition, the existing equipment, methods, and technologies should also be standardized with advanced technical knowledge to increase the storage capacity of tanks, develop new pipelines, and strengthen the pressure of gas tanks with the aim of entering international markets.

To achieve the main objective of this research, a comprehensive review of the literature revealed that no existing model covers all aspects of the oil and gas industry. Therefore, a systematic literature review and meta-synthesis method were employed to develop a comprehensive model for optimal scenarios in Iran’s oil and gas industry. Initially, relevant articles were identified using appropriate keywords, resulting in 108 articles. After reviewing the titles, abstracts, and full texts, 22 relevant articles were selected for detailed study. These articles were coded, yielding 72 codes, of which 8 were discarded, leaving 64 validated codes. These codes were grouped into 15 themes, which were categorized into 4 main categories. Consequently, a comprehensive model was proposed, encompassing four categories: economic changes, energy changes, international communications, and technology and innovation. In the energy changes category, due to the increasing global demand for energy and the inability of neighboring countries to meet this demand, there will be a significant need for Iran’s gas market. As a result, energy intensity levels will rise, and the status of other energy sources, as well as energy consumption patterns and culture, will

Tax , as the most important source of governments revenue, plays a special role in financing governments. Although some countries, such as Iran, do not pay as much attention to tax revenues as they deserve due to access to alternative benefits such as oil, but they emphasize and acknowledge the essential role of taxes in their budget structure and are looking for ways to increase their potential tax capacities. Despite the efforts made in recent years to develop the country's tax system, the country's tax system is still facing many challenges. One of these challenges is fair tax collection, which plays an important role in taxpayers' tax compliance. The purpose of this article is to provide a model for the fair collection of the country's taxes. Since no model has been presented for the fair collection of taxes in the country, in this article, by analyzing the writings related to the fair tax collection and among the 180 searched sources, 30 reliable sources were selected in this regard, and by using the qualitative approach and the meta-composite method of collection characteristics, tax fairness is presented to provide a basis for designing such a model. By analyzing these sources, 7 concepts and 46 codes for fair tax collection have been obtained.

With the advancement of Industry 4.0, customer preferences are continuously evolving, and product life cycles are becoming shorter. Consequently, new product development (NPD) processes have become indispensable for companies. Achieving sustainable industries necessitates a process where emerging risks are mitigated. In other words, integrating risk management concepts into the NPD process can significantly improve organizational performance. The primary goal of this research is to develop a framework for risk management within the NPD process specifically tailored for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).

Initially, relevant research on NPD was reviewed, defining the concepts of NPD process, risk, and FMCG to clearly articulate the problem statement and the need for risk management in this domain. This section was presented in two main parts: theoretical literature and empirical literature. Subsequently, a detailed review of 18 risk management models was conducted, selected from a pool of 95 articles, to identify prominent studies in this area.

The results indicated that while these articles examined specific phases or steps of the five-phase risk management models, often introducing variations, none of them comprehensively covered all activities and phases. Employing the meta-synthesis method and utilizing Sandelowski and Barroso's seven-step model, while considering the shortcomings and strengths of the reviewed models, a novel risk management model was proposed for enhancing the NPD process. This model consists of six steps and introduces the implementation details of the stages, steps, and sub-steps. Beyond incorporating the strengths of existing models, this model also addresses their deficiencies. Its innovation lies in its in-depth articulation of the risk process steps and its focused attention on improving the path for determining risk response strategies. The FMCG industry's impact on this model is evident in the independence of risk management and risk monitoring. This research was derived from existing models and grounded in the meta-synthesis method. It was further refined through consultations with risk management experts, FMCG specialists, and a case study of the current product status at Golrang Company. The key criteria for assessing the validity and reliability of the measures were examined. Validity assessment was initially conducted through an extensive review of the literature. Subsequently, the identified components and indicators were evaluated by experts in this field and received final approval. Additionally, two sets of interviews were conducted to gather the necessary data. The first set of interviews aimed to identify existing risks within the NPD process. The second set focused on determining response strategies for each prioritized risk.

The feedback loop is a critical factor for FMCG products, as ignoring feedback and failing to adjust the development process can lead to a product's competitive decline. Experts emphasize the need for independent risk management and risk monitoring in FMCG due to the high perishability of these products. Lost opportunities can result in irreparable losses, highlighting the critical importance of speed in risk management for FMCG. Given the short life cycle of these products, any delay in decision-making can lead to significant losses. Therefore, rapid risk management is essential for these products. To achieve the desired outcomes, developing data collection and analysis systems for assessing risks associated with these products is imperative.

Human resource management as a scientific and practical field is growing and developing amazingly, but due to various factors, it faces challenges that can turn it into pure opportunities and a competitive advantage in the case of correct and timely measures achieved. Such a function of human resources at the national and macro levels can become a platform for the economic progress and development of the country, thus, the purpose of the current research is to identify the factors affecting the management of national human resources with an emphasis on the challenges of human resources in three structural, contextual, and behavioral dimensions.

The research method is based on library studies and using meta-synthesis method. The sampling method is purposeful and available sampling, and domestic and foreign scientific databases are also referred to in the collection databases. Among the internal databases, Magiran, Irandoc, ensani.ir, Noormags, and SID can be mentioned.  From the foreign databases, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Emerald sites were also examined. In the first step, based on the collection of previous studies, effective factors were extracted in the form of themes, then based on the meta-synthesis process in the framework of the three-pronged model, these factors were categorized in the three dimensions of structure, context and behavior.

According to the findings, the most important factors in the structural dimension include "architectural and structural maturity of human resources management", "amendment of processes and structures and laws of human resources policy at the national level", "reconstruction of social, economic and political structures related to human resources management in national level", "modification of education and empowerment structures at the national level"; and the most important factors in the context dimension include "state of development of the country", "maturity of innovation in human resources management systems", "globalization and internationalization of human resources", "cultural and contextual differences in countries", "participatory governance in human resources management", "technology and its role in human resource management" and the most important factors in the behavioral dimension include "attention to cultural and social components in the management of national human resources", "reconstruction of social attitudes, perceptions and behaviors in the management of national human resources", "attention to multinational components and ethnic differences", "the importance of leadership and networking in the management of national human resources" have been identified in the policy making process of national human resources.

The special achievement of the research, based on the review and analysis of previous studies, pointed out that in the design of the national human resources management system, it is necessary to pay special attention to structural components, contextual components, and behavioral components at the same time, and therefore, in accordance with the identification of these causes, solutions for the system management was provided. Moreover, the knowledge-building and practical contribution of the current research can be seen in considering the challenges of human resources at macro and national levels and from an institutional perspective.

As most researchers agree and acknowledge, Iranian administration is transitioning from a new public affairs administration and evolving into a new public service provider. However, a number of traditional viewpoints and opinions are yet to achieve some necessary revision, as the quality and quantity of services remain vague and ineffective for the audience and recipients of these services. The present research attempts to study the existing public services and welfare policies, in comparison with the ideal situation and conditions, in order to reveal the inconsistency between them, from a pathologic perspective. To this end, among the qualitative research approaches, the content analysis method was adopted, and the meta-synthesis method was used to extract the necessary key concepts and content codes from 32 papers. Peer-reviewed research and analysis papers were used as references and inspected to collect information and data. After extracting the content codes, a focus group consisting of 15 participants was consulted and deliberated with, until validity was confirmed and the necessary indicators were obtained. Regarding the desirable range of these indicators, 31 elite field members of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare, were queried. On the other hand, 350 questionnaires were distributed among a ministry clientele to determine the status quo regarding the quality and quantity of service provision and reception. Findings indicate disagreement between elite members and managers of the ministry versus service recipients and people. As such, we are still far away from an ideal society and governance when it comes to provision of public services..

Supply chain disruption is an event that disrupts the production of goods and services. Resilience refers to the ability of an organization to manage disruptions or the ability of the supply chain network to quickly return to its previous state, ultimately positively impacting the company's performance. Many companies cannot maintain productivity during disruptions, losing competitiveness, increasing business continuity risk, and incurring financial losses. Sustainability considerations in supply chain operations have become a key issue. A common concept in sustainability is the triple approach: economic, environmental, and social, which must be observed by supply chain members. Sustainable supply chain management development is not a limiting factor but an approach to improve performance.

This applied research study was conducted using a mixed qualitative-quantitative analysis with a cross-sectional survey method. The qualitative sample included academic and industry experts, while the quantitative sample comprised managers, heads, and experts in the studied company's headquarters, operations, and projects. Data collection tools included documentary studies, expert surveys, and a researcher-made questionnaire. Factors were identified using the meta-synthesis technique, screened with the fuzzy Delphi technique, and validated with partial least squares. The SWARA method was used for weighting and ranking factors. Supply chain processes were defined based on the SCOR model and ranked using the WASPAS method. The thinking process tools identified limitations in the third-level bottleneck process, and improvement solutions were presented.

The meta-synthesis method extracted the desired indicators, which were screened and localized using the fuzzy Delphi technique and confirmed by experts in 7 dimensions and 39 indicators. The initial model was validated with partial least squares. Among resilience and sustainability factors, the "Risk Management" dimension with a weight of 0.2241 and the "Considering the risk factor in decision-making" index with a weight of 0.1224 were the top priorities. It was concluded that risk management is crucial for business continuity and dynamism. Supply chain managers should facilitate their participation in identifying and controlling risks and opportunities while continually increasing their subordinates' knowledge and skills. Evaluations identified the "sourcing and supply process," "goods and logistics supply process," and "purchase planning" as the most critical bottleneck processes. The root of disruptions in the "purchase planning" process was found to be in the identification, estimation, and allocation of human, infrastructural, and financial resources. 

Practical suggestions for company managers and decision-makers include employing expert personnel in purchasing planning, drafting executive plans, using advanced tools for measurement, analysis, forecasting, resource allocation, identifying uncertainties, determining prerequisites, and managing main and support suppliers and changes, and reviewing and modifying the existing mechanism.

This study aims to design a marketing policy package in free trade zones, specifically focusing on the Arvand Free Trade Zone. The statistical population for the meta-synthesis section comprises 415 articles on marketing policies, from which 47 articles were selected using the Barroso and Sandelowski method (2007). In the Delphi section, the statistical population includes all experts, academic faculty members, and members of the Free Trade Zone organizations, totaling 40 individuals, with 15 selected purposefully as the sample. Data collection tools in this study include the CASP questionnaire and Delphi rounds questionnaires. To obtain the reliability of the research instruments in the quantitative section, Cronbach's alpha method was used. Given the nature of the research, both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. Through the meta-synthesis method, 12 components and 56 indices were identified within the frameworks of political marketing strategic planning, strategic capabilities, operational capabilities, practical capabilities, internal capabilities, external capabilities, geographical aspects, social and cultural aspects, political aspects and political decision-making, government policies, economic aspects and economic management, and institutional contexts. Using the Delphi method and conducting two rounds, the components were reduced to 11 with 51 indices. Subsequently, considering the filtered policies of the free trade zones, a marketing policy proposal for the free trade zones was developed and designed in the form of mother policies (main actions), supportive barrier-removing policies, and supportive facilitating policies.

Workplace democracy and psychological capital jointly provide positive insights for organizations and can lead to improved psychological states to improve engagement, employee energy and sense of learning, and increase vitality in the workplace. The aim of the current research is an analysis of organizational democracy using the hybrid method. This research is developmental in terms of its purpose and was carried out with the qualitative approach and Sandelowski and Barroso's Meta-Synthesis Method (2007). The statistical sources of the research include the documentary sources of the countries that had an organizational democracy model. It should be mentioned that these articles were selected based on the criteria for entering the metasynthesis process. Qualitative content analysis method was also used to analyze the data. In this study, to identify the components of organizational democracy, 32 codes were identified as basic themes. Among these, 28 codes were selected as organizing themes, and finally 9 dimensions were extracted as overarching themes, which are: organizational commitment, shared governance, fair organizational climate, organizational dignity, transparency, effective relationships, culture of organizational freedom, Organizational competitiveness and occupational justice.

Today, employee experiences have gained recognition as a new concept and approach in human resource management, and their significance for the success of individuals and organizations cannot be overlooked. Hence, the objective of this study is to identify the dimensions and components of employee experiences. This research employs a descriptive design with a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative techniques such as meta-synthesis and quantitative methods including fuzzy Delphi and analytic hierarchy process. In the qualitative phase, we conducted a systematic search   in databases to achieve the research objective, employing a seven-step method developed by Sandelowski and Barroso for meta-synthesis. All relevant articles were reviewed, and the thematic analysis method was used to analyze and code each dimension and component of employee experiences with the assistance of MAXQDA software. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool and content validity method were utilized to ensure the validity of the qualitative and meta-synthesis section. Reliability was assessed through the intercoder reliability method and the calculation of the kappa coefficient. In the quantitative section, the fuzzy Delphi technique was employed to refine and validate the indicators. Finally, the analytic hierarchy process was used to prioritize the research findings. The results reveal that employee experiences encompass four dimensions and fourteen components, with the organizational dimension being the most important, having a weight of 0.443. The development of a comprehensive model through the integration of meta-synthesis and fuzzy Delphi represented the innovative aspect of this research, which can serve as a framework for future studies.

In supply chain management, decision making for supplier selection is a key issue that has become a strategic goal for organizations in recent years. The problem of supplier selection due to multiplicity and variety of qualitative and quantitative indicators is a multi-attribute decision-making problem and can be used known techniques in solving the problem. The present study tries to explain and prioritize the indices of supplier’s assessment with a meta-synthesis approach.

In this article, the most effective evaluation indicators of suppliers are examined. The research started by reviewing 467 titles of articles and then by evaluating them, 282 articles were selected by using the meta-synthesis approach. By analyzing them, supplier evaluation indicators were classified into 5 dimensions, 19 sub-dimensions and 112 components, and their effect coefficient was determined using Shannon entropy method.

The results showed that price, quality, on-time delivery, revenue, organizational structure, human resource management, energy management, environmental management, customer orientation and green management indices were identified as the most effective indicators in evaluating the suppliers.

Originality/Value: 

Supplier selection and evaluation play an imperative role in creating an effective supply chain. The production process has changed over the years from the production of most products to the outsourcing of major accessories. Obviously, suppliers have a key role to play in producing a product. The manufacturer must be careful when choosing a supplier. Therefore, identification, evaluation, and selection of suppliers are imperative. The results showed that by identifying and evaluating the indicators of supply chain suppliers, companies can gain a significant competitive advantage.

The circular economy as new non-linear and circular view in fields of production and consumption has been able to create many benefits for its supporters and has attracted the attention of many researchers, companies, countries and business decision makers.This research has tried to develop concept with the aim of comprehensively identifying the dimensions and effective factors in the circular economy at the macro, miso and micro levels.present study is applied in terms of purpose and meta-synthesis qualitative method has been used to screen the characteristics. Published articles related to the CE ranged from 2015 to February 2020(search date).A total of 346 English language articles were obtained, of which 113 articles were related to the Web of Science database and 233 articles were related to the Scopus scientific database and after going through the meta-synthesis steps, 104 articles were finally studied. According to the three levels of circular economy, analysis of extracted topics, in the form of goal, strategy, components, requirements, enablers, tools, evaluation indicators, key success factors and classification facilitators dimensions and were presented in the conceptual model. In order to evaluate the agreement between the research codings, SPSS software and kappa test were used and the value of kappa coefficient was 0.847, which indicates the agreement between codings. Among the suggestions of the research, we can mention the education and awareness of the society, the formulation of support standards, the legal and ownership ambiguity of the industrial partnership, and retargeting based on the interests of the environment and society

Poor time performance of construction projects is a common problem in the construction industry. Accordingly, from the past until now, numerous studies in different communities have tried to identify the causes of delay in construction projects and each of them, from a perspective, has enumerated them. Since delay is a context-specific phenomenon; there are different views on its causes and the lack of consensus among researchers in this field is obvious. Therefore, in order to bridge the gap, the present study tries to obtain a classified list of causes of delays in construction projects by using the systematic literature review. The research method is meta-synthesis in accordance with the seven-step approach of Sandelowski & Barroso (2006) and the target population of this research is all published research from 1995 to 2021 in ASCE database. After screening according to the selected method, out of 142 identified studies, 26 studies remained in the final list and became the basis for coding. The output of coding analysis was the emergence of 85 unique causes of delay under 21 concepts and 6 categories derived from data. These six categories, which are the main origin of the cause of delays in construction projects, were: Client, contractor, consultant, resources, project and environment.

The concept of co-creation has become important today due to the change in the role of customers.Various studies have been conducted in the field of value co-creation, the antecedents and consequences related to it. Due to the variety of results and the lack of clear classification, creating a comprehensive view of these factors is necessary. In this context, the aim of this study is to identify the antecedents and consequences of value co-creation in online environments using a meta-synthesis approach.

In this research, in order to extract valid articles based on a systematic approach, the meta-synthesis method and the seven steps introduced by Sandelowski and Barroso were used. Also, the tool for analyzing the data was thematic analysis in the MAXQDA software.

The results led to the identification of 34 final articles and the analysis of the data collected from these articles in the MAXQDA software resulted in the identification of 53 antecedents as affecting factors in the form of seven components and three general dimensions and 18 consequences of value co-creation in different sectors were in the form of two dimensions. In addition, 25 separate definitions of value co-creation were extracted.

Conclusion:

 Improvement of customer loyalty among the consequences and previous interactive experiences of the customer with the brand among the antecedents of value co-creation were identified as indicators with the highest frequency. Based on the results, various relational, perceptual and experiential factors are well able to shape the fields of value co-creation in online environments.