Thin Ice: Teasing Play as a Network-Forming Force in Organizations

Play is a deeply human constitutive activity of organizational life, which may manifest in several distinct processes. In the present study, the author compasses a particular culturally relative form of play, namely teasing in the workplace setting. Conducting a meta-synthesis of adjacent streams of literature, the author reframes the concept of teasing and inspects it through the analytical lens of play. The research unfolds how teasing behaviour may form an invisible meta-network in organizations, which may fundamentally affect group and organizational dynamics.

A Relational Foundation of Knowledge Production: Advice-Seeking in Knowledge-Based Organizations

In the past decade, the revolutionary advancement of technology brought the attention of academics and management practitioners to the innovative capability of organizations. Companies in knowledgeintensive industries increasingly focus on their ability of self-renewal and adaptation. Concurrently, organizational processes that support the amassment, management, sharing, and employment of knowledge have grown in importance. Organizational social network analysis provides the apparatus to explore knowledge networks in organizations by identifying relationships through which knowledge and information flow. Advice-seeking relationships have an essential role in knowledge production as they enable actors to acquire information, professional support, and knowledge elements they can recombine to form new knowledge. Advice-seeking always assumes trust between actors: by asking for help, one necessarily exposes their weakness to the other. What other relational conditions might there be of advice-seeking in organizational knowledge networks? What are the prerequisites for asking for help? In this paper, I examine the case of two knowledge-based organizations, both located in Hungary: (1) a business services center (390 employees) that offers professional services to B2B partners and (2) a higher education institution (583 employees). I analyzed data collected by a Budapest-based management consultancy that specializes in organizational social network research. I found that most independent variables were significant in the regression models. However, there was a notable difference between each variable’s relative explanatory power in the two cases. While process- and decisionrelated relationships seemed essential in the business services center, informal communication and interpersonal trust were more critical for advice-seeking relationships to form in the higher education institution.

The Signs of Digitalization on Food Safety Issues: A Literature Review Focusing on Traceability

This study aims to examine the signs of digitalization’s/Industry 4.0’s impact on food safety in form of a literature review. It is intended to awake the interest of both the academic sphere and internal (e.g., managers) and external (e.g., costumers, state) stakeholders of food producers and also processing companies. The main research questions focus on the methodology of tracing and tracking, which both have significant importance in the area of quality assurance especially in the food industry. From an economic point of view, we are now in the age of Industry 4.0, which has a major impact on the whole economy. Industry 4.0 solutions significantly are realized in the automation of data transfer. Excellent food safety conditions can be supported by real-time transmission, analysis, and interpretation of data characterizing products and processes. This study is an introductory part of the literature review of my doctoral research. The research goals include the exploration of Industry 4.0 and practices given by digitalization within different sectors of the food industry. Furthermore, establishing relationships between the measurability of food safety criteria and the toolbox of digitization and regulatory requirements are expected to be the results of the research process. The current study aims to introduce and interpret the basics of the connection between food safety and the toolbox of Industry 4.0. In general, the research may contribute both to the scientific area and the arena of practice.

Learning Organizations and Organizational Digital Competencies in the Field of Public Education

In a constantly changing social, technological, and economic environment, schools not only need to adapt but to learn continuously. One of the most significant and most current fields of school learning in Hungary and worldwide is one of the digital competencies. In this paper, I present the concept of digital competencies and the learning organization, offering an overview of different interpretations and frameworks and draw connections between them. The study suggests interrelations between schools’ learning organizational and digital competence capacities and proposes future empirical research on the topic.

etention of Millennials in the Voluntary Sector: How Can Organizations Not Only Engage but Also Retain This Emerging Generation?

Why do emerging generations stay active in a voluntary organization? The number of volunteers is increasing in Hungary, one reason is the obligatory community service in secondary schools. There is an emerging generation who has experience in volunteering, however there is a little knowledge about why they sustain voluntary work. Although previous studies elaborate on the retention of volunteers from a general perspective, further research is needed in this specific area. This study aims to examine younger generations’ (Millennials, GenY) retention in nonprofit voluntary organizations by conducting a single case study at Amigos for Children Foundation, in Hungary. Adopting a grounded theory approach, the study aims to build theory on the topic by combining two streams of literature with primary data: sustained volunteerism and expectations of younger generations towards their workplace. Based on prior literature review and qualitative research, findings suggest that organizations should focus on two main areas to keep younger generations motivated. (1) Organizational factors in which volunteering happens are flexible framework for daily operations, flat organization, involvement in decision making and opportunity for shaping the organization. (2) What the volunteer gets in exchange for the prosocial activity: positive feedback, recognition, strong community, opportunity for social and professional development, autonomy, responsibility, mutual trust. An important finding of the study is that younger generations are conscious about the values and the organization itself they work or volunteer at. Further, one of the most important factors for them is the community they do prosocial activity with. Overall, the current study develops propositions on organizational factors to retain younger generations in voluntary organizations.

Business Model Innovation and the First Steps of Digitalization in the Case of Symphony Orchestras

The study highlights the importance of orchestras being able to respond to the changing needs of consumers and adapt to changes in the world. Such a change is, for example, the current coronavirus epidemic, which poses especially great difficulties for organizations of the cultural sector that deal with performing arts, as concerts and performances – providing the basis of their operation – have become impossible. In order to gain “immunity” to the virus, business model innovation and exploiting opportunities offered by digitalization are essential. Furthermore, similar cases can occur at any time for which orchestras have to be prepared. As a result, orchestras (and in a broader sense all kinds of organizations) need to fundamentally rethink their business models. After conducting secondary research and interviews with 10 symphony orchestra managers and 10 symphony orchestra musicians, I have identified some novel aspirations, attempts and projects selected from international and Hungarian symphonic orchestral life to provide excellent examples of how the business model can be redefined and how the expectations of the 21st-century audience can be met. These examples show that there are orchestras which have understood that responding to the changing demands of consumers and utilizing the opportunities given by technology is essential, although it is still a question of how many more “coronavirus waves” are needed to make it clear for all orchestras that fundamental changes are necessary to preserve a market-leading position or become a market leader.

The Influence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on the Entrepreneur Leadership Attributes

Innovation, and especially innovation leadership, is a critical factor in enhancing a firm’s success in today’s changing markets. This research investigates changes in the entrepreneurial leadership attributes amid the fourth industrial revolution and how these changes relate to the fast pace of technology advancement. As part of the fourth industrial revolution, the barrier to introducing innovative technology has decreased due to the accessibility of high-end commercial capabilities, such as cloud computing, big-data capacities, open-source codes, and more, which reduce their need for in-house development. This research taps into the current academic knowledge gap and aims to understand how leadership traits (or attributes) may help fully exploit this significant revolution’s advantages and gain a competitive advantage over rivals. This paper also contributes to the knowledge of innovation study and entrepreneur leadership study. The research utilizes automated techniques of content analysis of published interviews and entrepreneurs’ biographies from recent years and the distant past. The results reveal that current entrepreneurs tend to be open-minded while avoiding rejecting innovation from other firms (avoiding “the not invented here” concept) and are willing to share the experience with the adjacent technology eco-system. The main conclusion of the research is that the entrepreneur in the current era should utilize the open innovation eco-system and gather the ingredients for innovation initiatives, and also have the ability to accurately seek the best offthe- shelf solution to use and integrate it while avoiding time- and budget-consuming development procedures.

Are the Robots Going to Take Our Jobs? This Is How American and Hungarian Economists of Generations Y and Z Conceive the Impact of Artificial Intelligence

This paper examines how American and Hungarian economists of generation Y and Z view the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in the short and long term. The choice of topic is motivated by the integration of AI into our everyday lives. Research has been carried out in human resources and social perspectives. Based on the responses of 147 Hungarian and 105 American economists surveyed within the framework of an online, anonymous questionnaire method, a positive vision emerges for young economists. They were confident in the social and economic welfare effects of AI. No significant difference can be found between the thinking of the two generations and the opinion of the nations. The most important conclusion from the empirical results is that AI does not take away the job of economists, but transforms it, and supports to appreciate the virtues of human resources. Accordingly, employers need to develop a shortand long-term action plan to secure their employees’ future.

Possibilities of Digitalization and Service Design in the Development of Patient Adherence

In parallel with the development of modern health systems and the growth of the welfare state, diseases have shifted towards chronic diseases. Today, instead of rapid-onset infections, most resources are focused on the long-term treatment of mostly lifelong chronic conditions. The condition for the effective use of therapies is to take the specified dose with the prescribed frequency and for the required period of time. If these parameters are met, we can talk about patient collaboration or adherence. For certain diseases and treatments, adherence is critically low. In the case of complex preparations to be taken several times a day, or diseases that do not cause serious, noticeable complaints, the initial number of patients treated is reduced to a fraction within a short time. As a result, economic harm is perceived not only by the patient but also by all those involved in the health care system, including pharmaceutical companies. However, the factors influencing patient collaboration vary widely. In order to achieve high adherence, the goal is to develop health services that coordinate the actors involved, the infrastructure, the communication, the material components to improve the user experience. As a user-centered methodology, service design can play a prominent role in the design of therapeutic services, contributing to the reduction of uncertainties in innovation processes. In my study, I assess the digital toolkit of patient education in Hungarian society. The aim is to explore digital tools and technologies that can contribute to the development of health awareness and education so that both science and the pharmaceutical and technology companies that exploit it can apply the results of research.

Professionalization of Family Firms: Striking a Balance Between Personal and Non-Personal Factors

The amount of research on family businesses’ analysis has increased significantly in recent years, thus showing the high importance of the topic. In most countries, family businesses occupy a prominent place in contributing to the economy with the added value they produce. However, less attention has been paid to the professionalization of family businesses and the exploration and presentation of the related literature. The professionalization of family business is a significant research concern in the entrepreneurship and governance literature. In the context of family businesses, professionalization initially meant nothing more than hiring an outside, non-family manager. For today, the content of professionalization has expanded, and a multidimensional model has evolved: a broader, deeper understanding has evolved, which involves other vital aspects such as developing formal control and human resource systems, decentralization of authority, formal strategic planning, or top-level activeness. This study aims to present the essential international literature on professionalization and provide a comprehensive overview of the studies published. The literature review mainly summarizes the results of the last twenty years and closely related articles. The paper follows the next logic; in the first part, the definition of professionalization is introduced along with its benefits and challenges. Then, based on the research methodology presented, the related empirical and theoretical studies are examined. In the end, the review summarizes the key findings in a table.