Iranian Journal of Management Studies
Volume:16 Issue: 3, Summer 2023

The present investigation aims to identify and analyze the antecedents and consequences of experience co-creation in Iran’s sports tourism. The present study is a mixed study that was conducted with the participation of 10 sports tourism experts and researchers in the field of co-creation in the qualitative phase and 15 tourism specialists in the quantitative phase who were selected purposefully. In the qualitative section, the data collection tool was a semi-structured interview and in the quantitative part of the study, data were collected by using a custom questionnaire.  The findings showed 38 basic and 7 organizing themes corresponding to the antecedents and 36 basic and 7 organizing ones related to the consequences.  Results of the quantitative section indicated that individual capabilities and the tourism economy (in the antecedents), along with social capital promotion and the booming tourism economy (in the consequences), are the most effective and the most impressionable components, respectively. Moreover, organizational dynamism and the booming tourism economy were the most significant components in antecedents and consequences, respectively. It is suggested that decision-making organizations should focus on the influential and significant factors and use incentive programs to create an enjoyable experience for sports tourists.

There is a growing interest in knowledge management (KM) within academia and universities. Despite the high level of understanding and appreciation for Knowledge Management Models (KMMs) and their relevance to knowledge at universities, the role of KM models and approaches is rarely investigated. This study examines and ranks factors associated with KMM at universities in Tehran, Iran.

This study employs a mixed method approach, combining qualitative techniques (a three-phase Delphi method) and quantitative methods (Best-Worst method [BWM] and MARKOV). MARKOV is applied here as an integrated Machine Learning-Markov approach to enhance the performance of KM implementation at universities. The relevant factors are processed through a Markov-based model, enabling the identification of future KMM factors. BWM is utilized to determine first-stage weights, and the Markovian weighted average of KMM factors is considered the optimal result. A questionnaire with open-ended questions is employed to collect accurate data, with thirty experts selected to participate in the survey.

Nine factors were extracted from the literature review and Delphi method. The Markov model is employed to trace the priorities of KMM factors, serving as a predictive tool for modeling KM factors. The final weights of the factors are closely ranked as follows: (1) Information Technology; (2) applying knowledge; (3) structure; (4) Measuring knowledge; (5) culture; (6) Sharing knowledge; (7) leadership style; (8) Maintaining knowledge; and (9) Collecting knowledge.

Originality: 

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first assessment and prediction of KMM factor usage at universities in Iran, an important country in the Middle East. The authors introduce new and customized factors for KMM. Predicting behaviors over time assists managers and university decision-makers in recognizing the fundamental dimensions of KM success. This study contributes by identifying and predicting the behaviors of KM context factors at universities in Iran.

This research paper investigates the impact of employees' perceptions of HRM system and practices on employee affective commitment. Additionally, it explores the mediating role of employee psychological capital in the relationship between employee perceptions of the HRM system, practices, and affective commitment. Data was collected from employees of private banks in Pakistan. The collected data was analyzed using the structural equation modeling technique. The findings indicate that HPWPs groups and HRM system strength positively influence employee affective commitment. However, the mediation results only partially support the hypothesis. These findings encourage scholars to delve deeper into the relationship between these variables.

In traditional data envelopment analysis (DEA) models, the relative efficiency of decision making units (DMUs) is usually evaluated in a particular period of time such that the status of each measure from the input or output viewpoint is certain. However, in many applications, the performance of organizations should be measured over multiple periods of time while the status of some factors called “flexible measures” from the perspective of input or output is uncertain. The purpose of this study is to propose approaches to evaluate the efficiency of the multi-period systems where flexible measures are presented. For this reason, oriented and non-oriented DEA-based approaches from the standpoints of individual DMU and aggregate efficiencies are rendered to measure the overall and period efficiency of multi-period systems with flexible measures. Also, efficiency changes between two periods are estimated using the Malmquist productivity index (MPI). A dataset is provided to validate the proposed approach.

This study attempted to investigate some socio-economic parameters concerning the development of entrepreneurship of the banks’ members. For this purpose, researchers chose Grameen Bank (GB) of Bangladesh, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. On the basis of proportionate stratified sampling, respondents were selected from different branches (2200) of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. The total sample of the study included 750 respondents. A constructed questionnaire was used to collect data, and SPSS and Decision Analyst Stats 2.0 software packs were used for analyzing data. Different statistical tools (T-test, Correlation Coefficient, and ANOVA) were also used to analyze data. The results of the study show that the level of new small business initiatives by the Banks’ customers has increased significantly. The results also show that the new business opening rate was high at the beginning of the membership. Therefore, the data reveal that the contribution of the Grameen Bank in providing funding to small and medium enterprises. Empirical evidence suggests that socio-economic conditions have significantly persuaded customers to become entrepreneurs  by the bank’s loan and credit program. The outcomes of the present study will be helpful for GB authority, policy makers, and customers to make appropriate decisions and make friendly policies about entrepreneurial development and enterprise proliferation.

This study aimed at investigating the effect of transformational leadership and organizational identity on the green behavior of physical education teachers with the mediating role of well-being. A quantitative approach employing 176 respondents was applied and data were collected in West Azerbaijan, Iran. The results showed that transformational leadership and organizational identity positively affect physical education teachers’ well-being and their green behaviors. The findings further revealed that well-being does not influence green behavior and has no mediating role in the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational identity with green behavior.  The findings suggest that transformational leadership can be used as a medium to motivate employees to adapt green environmental behaviors. The study offers both practical and theoretical implications.

The primary aim of this research is to examine the alignment between organizational design components and their influence on organizational performance to achieve efficiency and effectiveness. A survey was used as the data collection instrument, and empirical data were obtained from the general directorate of Sulaimania municipalities. The findings supported all hypotheses, indicating that environmental features and organizational context, including leadership style and climate, significantly influence the development of organizational design components. The results of the mediation analysis demonstrated the indirect influence of organizational design components on organizational performance through the mediating role of organizational strategy. This research has practical implications as it provides unique evidence to leaders and managers, highlighting that organizational design components, with the mediation role of strategy, have significant implications for organizations' ability to enhance efficiency and innovate new services. This research is original in that it constructed the model and investigated the impact of environmental features and organizational context (leadership style and climate) on organizational design components, while also testing the mediating role of organizational strategy in the relationship between organizational design components and organizational performance (efficiency and effectiveness).

This paper presents a novel super efficiency model based on the Andersen-Petersen model, which serves as a bridge between input-oriented and output-oriented models. The proposed model defines a path from the deleted decision-making unit to the efficiency frontier with the shortest step length. Initially formulated as a nonlinear programming model, the developed model is transformed into a multi-objective linear programming model and then further simplified into a linear programming model through variable changes and the application of nonlinear programming solving methods. The feasibility of the proposed path is discussed, and a weighted version of the shortest path model is introduced to incorporate preferences regarding the relative importance of inputs or outputs. Addressing a weakness of the AP methods, the inability to prioritize weights is resolved in the developed model. Real case studies in the context of Iranian education are conducted, and the results of the AP and shortest path analyses are analyzed to validate the proposed method.

Research on high-performance work systems (HPWS) has revealed a potential correlation between human resource management practices and organizational performance. However, most recent studies have primarily focused on developed countries, with limited representation from developing countries. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of HPWS, based on the AMO model (ability-motivation-opportunity), on financial, operational, and HR outcomes using scientific research journals in Iran's management field. The analysis includes 145 articles published between 2008 and 2019, which were examined through the meta-analysis method. The results demonstrate a positive effect of high-performance work systems on organizational performance. Additionally, HPWS practices exhibit a positive influence on financial and operational outcomes. However, the impact of HPWS practices on HR outcomes did not yield conclusive evidence. This study contributes to existing knowledge by categorizing organizational performance into three distinct outcomes and exploring the influence of these three HRM practices on such outcomes.

This study aimed to determine  by measuring the extent to which Integrated Reporting Framework content element is linked to value creation. The sample of the logistics industry study was gathered from Integrated Reporting Examples Database. Sentence-by-sentence content analysis was conducted on 11 integrated reports of logistics companies using a multi-weighted scoring tool and an Integrated Reporting Value Creation Checklist (IRVC) based on the literature and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) Integrated Reporting (IR) framework. Additionally, descriptive statistics were performed for subtitles of IRVC, Value Creation Scores, and the Integrated Report Specific Feature Scores. In the end, IR content disclosures of logistics companies were presented. The scoring results of the Content Analysis were interpreted in terms of each content element and each company scores. Additionally, descriptive statistics were applied for IRVC scores. The findings indicated that content items were highly aligned with value creation links, with the highest scores being determined in “business model” and the lowest scores in “performance,” “outlook,” and “risks and opportunities.” In addition, it has been observed that there are noticeable differences among the company value creation scores in the current practice.

The purpose of this research was to design a model focusing on the factors that had an influence on permission-based marketing in the banking sector, specifically Mellat Bank. In this regard, the initial conceptual model was extracted from related studies using a systematic literature review, then retrieved factors were refined by the organizational experts using the Delphi method. To select the Delphi panel, the purposive sampling method was used. The Delphi process was conducted in three rounds. Reaching the acceptable level of Kendall’s concordance coefficient was the criterion for stopping the rounds. The findings showed that permission-based marketing indicators in Mellat Bank can be categorized into two-factor groups of internal factors and factors relevant to customers and six subgroups of factors relevant to advertising, information technology, marketing capability, customer perception, relationship with customers, and customer attitudes and intentions.

Feature selection and parameter optimization are vital techniques in the data mining process, significantly impacting the computational costs of machine learning. Computational cost is a critical consideration in business analytics, making feature selection and parameter optimization research crucial for reducing operational costs. This study investigates the performance of 10 dimensionality reduction methods and 2 parameter optimization techniques in various business applications. The evaluation focuses on predictive accuracy and run time. The analysis reveals distinctive tendencies among the filtering methods, highlighting time-consuming behaviors in different business scenarios for Weight by Rule (WRul) and Weight by Relief (Wrel). Additionally, the study proposes a cost-effective approach to parameter optimization by utilizing grid search and evolutionary algorithms, particularly when the optimal parameter range is unknown.

This research aimed to investigate the role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), strategic flexibility (SF), and business model innovation (BMI) in the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the mediating variable of sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). The study was applied in terms of objective and descriptive-survey in terms of nature. A number of SMEs in Tehran province were selected as the statistical population. The sample size was calculated using G-Power software as 244 people. In this regard, 185 responses were collected from participants through an online survey and a simple random sampling method. Data analysis was carried out through Smart PLS 3. The findings revealed that EO, BMI, and SF enhanced the performance of SMEs. The present research extends the management literature by filling research gaps. Nowadays, companies need to change their obsolete strategies to be capable of understanding and meeting customer preferences faster and more competitively than other competitors in a highly competitive arena. Adopting EO, SF, and BMI improves the performance of SMEs and at the same time assists managers in improving the performance of their businesses in dynamic environments.