Engineering Economics

The Development and Progress of Engineering Economics: A Retrospect and Prospect Based on Visual Analysis

Yu Qian — 2024-02-26

Engineering economics is a cross subject with a wide range of applications, and it has taken on different characteristics with the changing times. The aim of this paper is to depict a sufficiently elaborate and vivid knowledge map of this field, with further discussion and outlook on the hotspots presented therein. Based on the principles and methods of bibliometrics, we use several visualization tools, mainly Vosviewer, to present the characteristics of the published literature within the field of engineering economics from multiple perspectives. Specifically, we collect 624 engineering economics documents published in the Web of Science core collection database between 1915 and 2021, and quantitatively analyze them in the following three aspects: (1) basic data characteristics, including annual publications, annual citations, research directions, and highly cited publications; (2) outstanding performers and cooperations in the four levels of country/region, institution, source and author, including co-authorship, bibliographic coupling, co-citation and co-occurrence analyses; and (3) keyword analyses, including co-occurrence analyses, burst detection analyses, and high-frequency word clouds. In addition, we further explore important topics within the field represented by intelligent and green transformation.

Employer Brand and Business Performance: The Role of Intellectual Capital

Marko Slavkovic — 2024-02-26

Intangible assets play a vital role in the hotel industry, in general, and can also ensure the sustainability of a business during a crisis. The aim of the paper is to identify the impact of employer brand on the business performance of hotel companies, including the mediating effect of intellectual capital as an element of intangible assets. The research was conducted among managers who are employed in 92 hotels, and who evaluated the dimensions of the employer brand, business performance (organisational performance and market performance), and intellectual capital. The research hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The research model has supported the full mediating effect of intellectual capital between most of the employer brand dimensions and business performance. Results confirm the contribution of the employer brand to the business performance, with the support of intellectual capital and indicate the necessity of mutual use of intellectual capital and employer brand as key assets in a crisis.

Government-Funded Businesses: An Empirical Study of Romanian Start-Ups

Bogdan Glavan — 2024-02-26

Policymakers consider startups an essential sector of a dynamic and competitive economy. In this paper we assess the outcome of a Romanian program which provided a consistent subsidy to potential startup entrepreneurs. More specifically, we carry out a cluster and discriminant analysis to measure the economic performance of startup companies five years after their inception. The results show that there are three groups of businesses: companies with high capital and operational efficiency, companies with average profitability, and companies with low profitability, with substantial differences in turnover, profits, debt etc. We argue that these differences are attributable in part to the entrepreneur’s human capital and to the attempt to exploit the different fiscal treatment of labor and capital income. We also show that the public grant scheme had no durable impact on employment and on fixed assets, which suggests the presence of a significant crowding out and moral hazard effects.

Organizational Capital and New Ventures' Early Internationalization. The Case of Polish IT/ICT Start-Ups

Krystian Bigos Bigos — 2024-02-26

The paper evaluates the phenomenon of early internationalization from the resource-competence-based theory viewpoint. At the same time, the conclusions are based on primary research results conducted on 220 Polish start-ups. Our study only confirmed that the start-ups’ organizational culture, based on employees’ financial support in acquiring new knowledge, and the start-up’s planned international strategy play a crucial role in IT/ICT start-ups’ early internationalization. Our study primarily contributed to the scientific discussion of start-up organizational capital and its role in the process of early internationalization. In the managerial field, our research implication for practitioners is that they should primarily focus on creating the right conditions for their employees to develop knowledge, which can consequently strengthen strategy creation processes.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Supply Chain Agility: A Perspective of Humanitarian Supply Chain

Elisabeth T. Pereira — 2024-02-26

The present study aims to establish a link between digital and humanitarian supply chain management. This study has focused on using artificial intelligence-big data analytical capabilities and information alignment to develop and maintain supply chain collaboration to achieve supply chain agility in a dynamic environment like a disaster. The targeted population is humanitarian organizations in Pakistan. Simple random sampling method, data was collected from 242 respondents using an online questionnaire. The Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Modelling technique has been used for analysis. Resource Based Theory and Contingency Theory in this study have provided foundations to develop and test the relationships among information alignment, supply chain agility, artificial intelligence – big data analytical capabilities, and supply chain collaboration in disaster management. Findings showed the use of artificial intelligence – big data analytical capabilities are beneficial for information alignment and supply chain agility.

How does Cultural Intelligence Influence Teamwork Capability? The Role of Leader Emergence and Relational Identification

Massoud Moslehpour — 2024-02-26

Prior studies have recognized cultural intelligence (CQ) as an essential trait for addressing cultural diversity issues. However, the influence of cultural intelligence on teamwork capability still needs to be addressed. This study analyzes how cultural intelligence, leader emergence, and relational identification affect teamwork capabilities. The mediating effect of leader emergence and relationship identification is also investigated. The questionnaire is created and distributed using an online questionnaire platform (Survey Cake). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is used to collect and analyze data from 54 groups, including 221 respondents. The findings show that teamwork capability is significantly improved by cultural intelligence, leader emergence, and relational identification. Furthermore, leader emergence and relational identification have partially mediated the relationship between cultural intelligence and teamwork capability. Future studies are encouraged to replicate this study with a larger sample size because this study has a limited sample size. This study carries significant implications, not solely in terms of providing practitioners with accurate and lucid perspectives on the indispensability of possessing a substantial level of cultural intelligence in multicultural contexts, but also in assisting organizations or corporations to attain elevated levels of cultural intelligence, relational identification, leader emergence, and teamwork capability. Subsequently, this study offers theoretical contributions to the existing body of knowledge by examining and presenting a significant structural equation model of the relationship between cultural intelligence and teamwork capability with leader emergence and relational identification as the mediator. The results of this study provide individuals with pertinent and unambiguous perspectives on the significance of cultural intelligence in a multicultural setting.

Millennials vs. “Zoomers” Tax Compliance Behaviour in Romania: SEM and GLM with Survey Data

Camelia Surugiu — 2024-02-26

Tax compliance (TC) behaviour differences between the Romanian Millennials and “Zoomers” are investigated in this paper to identify the variances in TC behaviour between generations. A questionnaire was developed, and it was applied to 350 respondents. Online survey data were collected from May to July 2022. The influences on TC from various variables were considered using generalized linear models (GLM) and path analysis with Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings show a positive impact from awareness, age, and tax morale, emphasizing the need for measures to increase awareness of the tax system and the level of citizens’ tax morale. These findings are crucial for policymakers as they can create appropriate programs to educate people about TC behaviour and cater them to different generations. Also, tax morale's sensitivities may be affected by these tailored programs. The current research presents fresh avenues for further investigations into generational variations and the impact of emotions on TC behaviour.

The Effect of Inventory Flexibility on Financial Performance: Moderating Role of Firm Size and Growth

Xuechang Zhu — 2024-02-26

This study aims to explore how flexible inventory management affects financial performance from the perspective of quick adjustments of inventory deviations, in which firm growth and firm size are moderators. Using the empirical data collected from 1953 listed manufacturing enterprises in China from 2005 to 2021, this research employs the moderation model combined with the three-way interaction analysis to test hypotheses. The results reveal that the relationship between inventory flexibility and financial performance is positive, while firm growth weakens this relationship. Furthermore, firm size reduces the negative moderating effect of firm growth on the relationship between inventory flexibility and financial performance. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the role of quick adjustments in flexible inventory management. From a developing country perspective, this study identifies the important relationships between inventory flexibility, firm growth, firm size and financial performance. The findings will be of interest to both emerging and other developing countries.