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As the "backbone of the economy," small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are key players in the dynamics of local, regional, and global markets, and are often obliged to provide timely responses to the increasingly fierce cross-border competition. However, SMEs internationalisation has temporarily been subject to a wait-and-see policy under the numerous uncertainties and global systemic disruptions. Despite the "new normal" brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, recent studies show that the future still holds the potential to avail business performance opportunities to SMEs, and the hopes of managers for the years to come are reasonably high. Adopting a relationship-centric perspective, the book proposes a deeper analysis of the role of managerial relationship building and development and SMEs internationalization. In the networked economy, relationships are the invisible threads of the highly interconnected world. Either we call them connections, ties, bonds, or links, they are present everywhere marking the very essence of our lives, therefore claiming for wide consideration. Giving way to a stepwise screening of relationships and SMEs internationalization, the book is simultaneously addressed to scholars from different fields of study (i.e., international management, international business, international relationship marketing, etc.) and worldwide decision-makers (i.e., entrepreneurs and managers) interested in conducting smart business abroad.

This volume explores the challenge of engaging knowledge management in a sharing economy. In a hyper-competitive business environment, everything tends to be digital, virtual and highly networked, which raises the issue of how knowledge management can support the decision whether or not to share strategic resources or capabilities. The book answers questions such as: to what extent does the sharing economy preserve or compromise the competitive advantage of organizations? And what are the knowledge-management strategies for competitive, yet cautious sharing dynamics?

The topic of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the framework of the internationalization phenomena has often hewed the paths for many conceptual and empirical analyses all the more so as the global environment has pushed smaller actors out of their regular habitat. Issues such as the support of SMEs innovative capabilities, of knowledge sharing mechanisms and collaborative networks via cross-border operations or as the thorough adjustment to the new market conditions have sprung as pivotal concerns for both academics and practitioners interested in business development, performance, innovation and effectiveness from a myriad of perspectives. Giving credit to these research and real-life priorities, the current paper aims to discuss different facets of the SMEs internationalization process, laying emphasis on their internal capabilities and external conditions. The empirical undertaking relies on a secondary data analysis which covers the facts and figures comprised by European official reports. The focus is on the Romanian SMEs internationalization variables which are descriptive of the current state of cross-border dynamics. The findings advance that Romanian entrepreneurs and SMEs have been supported in the recent years by a series of European and national governmental initiatives, yet many additional measures and facilitation instruments are needed to properly improve their overall performance on international markets.

The online social networks allow individuals to continuously create and model their self-presentations and representations. Facebook stands for a relevant example as people are given the uncensored opportunity to unfold their online selves according to their interests, preferences, goals and expectations. The current research aims at investigating the way students (re)present themselves on Facebook social networks and their readiness to consider the implications of Facebook usage as a recruitment tool by the current employers. As more and more people use figurative photos to present themselves on Facebook, it becomes important to understand whether the users are aware of the consequences derived from uninspired choices when it comes to future employment. Neither the virtual, nor the physical self can ever truly be liberated from the other and the association between them may become an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time. The investigation is concentrated on the person's perception, taking into consideration the reasons for profile pictures and album photos selection, for the generated content and its effects on the online identity. The analysis relies on a sociological survey based on self-administered questionnaires – 89 undergraduate students from the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest participated to the research we conducted during two weeks in April 2013. The data analysis validates the main hypothesis is that students' self-presentation through their Facebook profiles follows the offline personal data and is not influenced by potential employers' assessments.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of five dimensions of similarity (i.e. condition similarity, context similarity, catalyst similarity, consequence similarity and connection similarity) on Facebook social networks development.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire-based survey was conducted with 245 Romanian college students. SmartPLS 3 statistical software for partial least squares structural equation modeling was chosen as the most adequate technique for the assessment of models with both composites and reflective constructs.FindingsMore than 52 percent of the variance in social network development was explained by the advanced similarity model. Each dimension had a positive effect on Facebook social networks development, the highest influences being exerted by condition similarity, context similarity and consequence similarity.Research limitations/implicationsThe current approach is substantively based on the homophily paradigm in explaining social network development. Future research would benefit from comparing and contrasting complementary theories (e.g. the rational self-interest paradigm, the social exchange or dependency theories) with the current findings. Also, the research is tributary to a convenience-based sample of Romanian college students which limits the generalization of the results to other cultural contexts and, thus, invites further research initiatives to test the model in different settings.Social implicationsSimilarity attributes and mechanisms consistently determine the dynamics of online social networks, a fact which should be investigated in depth in terms of the impact of new technologies among young people.Originality/valueThis study is among the first research initiatives to approach similarity structures and processes within an integrative framework and to conduct the empirical analysis beyond US-centric samples.

AbstractThe purpose of the research is to investigate the increasing importance of the role of sustainability in high‐end restaurants, specifically in those awarded Michelin stars. The focus is on the role sustainability plays as a crucial element in the state‐of‐the‐art of fine‐dining business given that restaurants are challenged to reconsider the noteworthiness of new sustainable imperatives. The study is based on a questionnaire survey carried out with over 70 owners and chefs from Italian Michelin‐starred restaurants. The results show a clear tendency towards sustainability and an increasing attention towards this trend, emphasizing its peculiarities for the restaurant industry, which is indicates profound changes. More specifically, 35% of the variance in internal sustainability policies adoption is explained by external drives related to sustainability and customers' demands of sustainability. The data collected relies on an Italian sample, but the results are useful to understand the sustainability imperatives for the Michelin‐stars restaurants worldwide as the Italian food service industry is often deemed as iconic. The study advances new insights into the future of the sustainable restaurant industry. The results of research are based on a novel research design and empirical survey capturing the state‐of‐the‐art of sustainability policies adoption in the case of Michelin‐starred restaurants.

The current study sets out to investigate the relationships among three interconnected dimensions, that is hiding knowledge by the Government, the realized absorptive capacity (RACAP) and citizen engagement, giving way to a context‐driven approach. Emphasis is laid on the effects engendered by the lack of official information transparency in the critical context of COVID‐19 outbreak at the global level, through the lens of the Spanish example. The relationships among the variables are analyzed by means of an empirical study conducted with 151 Spanish subjects with a view to identify whether the impact of knowledge hiding by the Government on citizen engagement can be mitigated and to acknowledge how the presence of RACAP impacts citizens in limiting the spread of COVID‐19 information disorders.

AbstractThe current study explores users' various motivations to participate in the sharing economy, taking into consideration both extrinsic and intrinsic drivers and monetary and nonmonetary benefits. The conceptual and structural model mainstreams a motivational continuum starting from profit making and moving to sustainable development; it also includes factors such as social, environmental, economic, and instrumental benefits. In order to test the relative importance of these motivations and thus their specific influences on user participation and level of profit making, a questionnaire‐based survey was conducted with 1,004 Italian participants in the sharing market. The findings confirmed that sustainable development, socializing, knowledge, and economic incentives are significant influences on the degree of user participation and on the derived profits, whereas motivations related to product availability and practicality proved not to be meaningful in the studied context.

PurposeThis article explores the connections between the entrepreneur's global mindset and entrepreneurial motivation in the quest for determining the underlying relationships among these constructs. The aim of the study resides in the advancement of various entrepreneurial profiles which imply specific configurations of the global mindset and motivational drivers, by also covering their correlations with the business outcomes.Design/methodology/approachData were collected in 2022 from over 100 entrepreneurs operating in the Romanian SMEs sector, using a questionnaire-based survey.FindingsThe results posit that at least three statistically relevant clusters can be observed in the studied population, stemming from the particularities of the entrepreneurs' global mindset. The findings reveal that the levels of development of the entrepreneur's social capital, psychological capital and intellectual capital are linked to different entrepreneurial motivations and impact the company in specific manners.Practical implicationsThe research offers useful cues to the entrepreneurs for identifying prospective partners for their local or cross-border operations.Originality/valueThe results foster a new topical framework for discussion on the motivational configurations of entrepreneurs and the global mindset.

AbstractThe current paper aims to address, within a comprehensive framework, two different facets of the internationalization strategies of small and medium‐sized enterprises, that is, the roles of psychic distance and global mindset within managerial dyadic collaborations. By considering cross‐border ventures as outcomes of deliberate managerial strategies in the quest for achieving international business performance, the study lays emphasis on several dimensions apposite to each of the two constructs, namely, geographic distance and intercultural compatibility for the psychic distance and trust‐based relationships and network‐based connectivity for the global mindset. A questionnaire‐based survey with top managers from 112 European industrial small and medium‐sized enterprises was conducted, the data being processed by means of a structural equation modelling technique. The findings showed that the structural model accounts for 63.9% of the variance in international business performance, whereas the dimensions of psychic distance exert significant positive influences on the endogenous variable.

Placing self‐assessed health (SAH) and its determinants within a social systems framework, the current paper aims to investigate the influences of individual characteristics, environmental and socio‐economic factors on the way people rate their own health. The multiplexity and dynamics of social structures are examined through the lens of the digital era, which exerts a substantive impact on the individuals' appraisal of reality and capacity of adjusting to the unfolding of the world. Thus, given the digital‐centric environment contextualizing the activity of white‐collar workers, the study scrutinizes SAH and its determinants based on over 54 000 observations. The findings support the inferred relationships, supporting that SAH is determined by multifield variables to a great extent. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

AbstractPlacing the issue of interdisciplinarity within a complexity framework, the current paper aims to explore different facets of interdisciplinary research (IDR). The theoretical and empirical analysis revolves around the main factors influencing IDR abilities and achievements, that is, the propelling context, attitude and further awareness of thinking and acting across boundaries in order to reach viable solutions to complex problems. On purpose to test the inferred relationships, the study relies on a questionnaire‐based survey conducted with 214 early‐career researchers from interdisciplinary departments or enrolled in interdisciplinary projects. The findings revealed that both attitude and context are important for rising researchers' awareness, in forming their abilities and reporting interdisciplinary achievements, the structural model explaining 51.9% in the variation of interdisciplinary research abilities and 17.1% in the variation of the researchers' interdisciplinary outcomes.

PurposeThe study sets out to explore the mediating role of intellectual capital (IC) dimensions (i.e. human, structural and relational) between scholars' affiliation to online academic networks and institutional knowledge capitalization. Online academic networks are tackled through the lens of knowledge networks which have been of primary importance for new relevant knowledge acquisition during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire-based survey of 305 academics from 35 different countries was conducted from July to December 2021, employing a partial least squares structural equation modelling technique. The database was initially filtered to ensure the adequacy of the sample, and data were analyzed using the statistics software package SmartPLS 3.0.FindingsEvidence was brought forward that the proposed conceptual model accounted for 52.5% of the variance in institutional knowledge capitalization, the structural and relational capital availed by knowledge networks exerting strong positive influence on the dependent variable.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has both research and managerial implications in that it approaches a topical phenomenon, namely the capitalization of online academic networks in the COVID-19 context, which has dramatically altered the way that research and teaching are conducted worldwide.Originality/valueThe most important contribution of the paper resides in the comprehensive research model advanced which covers individual, organizational and network multifaced layers, starting with the personal and institutional motives to join a specialized network, continuing with the opportunities provided by knowledge networks in terms of intellectual capital harnessing, and ending with its influence on higher education organizations.