Sinergie Italian Journal of Management

A Manifesto for the Future of Management Studies

2025-12-29T09:34:50+00:00

The project of a Manifesto for Management Studies stems from the need
to foster a deep and shared reflection, both within and beyond our scholarly
community, on the current and future challenges of our discipline. The goal
is to identify new trajectories and perspectives of evolution of management
thought and research (whether thematic, methodological, or of a different
nature), in line with the emerging demands of business practice and, more
broadly, of society... to be continued

What matters for innovative startup growth? A study on local, firm-specific, and founder-specific factors

2024-06-20T09:15:17+00:00

Frame of the research: While several studies focused on innovative startup creation, less attention has been devoted to the drivers of the growth of these startups.

Purpose of the paper: The study investigates drivers of the growth of innovative startups, taking into consideration jointly factors at different levels: local, firm-specific, and founder-specific factors.

Methodology: The study analyzes 701 innovative Italian startups and tests the research hypotheses through a multiple regression analysis.

Findings: Findings reveal a positive association between the number of incubators in the province and the growth of innovative startups. Moreover, a highly educated workforce turns out to be positively related to startup growth. Finally, the prevalence of young individuals in the entrepreneurial team is associated with higher growth, while the entrepreneurs’ gender does not lead to significantly different growth rates, suggesting that the tendency to experience a slower growth that previous studies observed in women-led startups compared to those founded by men does not characterize women-led innovative startups.

Research limits: The research has limitations as it analyzes growth during a relatively limited period and focuses only on the Italian context. Further research is encouraged to examine drivers of long-term growth and to investigate the growth of innovative startups in different national contexts.

Practical implications: The study highlights the importance of supporting the creation of incubators since they can contribute to the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem that fosters new ventures’ development. Additionally, findings suggest that policymakers should support young entrepreneurship since firms created by this category of actors tend to grow faster than others.

Originality of the paper: The study adopts a multi-level perspective by studying jointly factors at three levels – local, firm, and individual – to answer the call for studies that investigate the drivers of startup growth, taking into consideration factors of different nature.

The dilemma of connectivity to work: investigating the impact of constant connectivity to work on psychological well-being of employees

2025-03-19T10:27:22+00:00

Purpose of the paper: This study explores the effects of constant connectivity enabled via digital devices on an employee's psychological well-being and work-life conflict.

Methodology: The data has been collected from the IT companies operating in India. Structural equation modelling has been used to examine the relationship between constant connectivity to work during non-work hours, employee psychological well-being, and the mediating role of the work-life conflict. Further, multi-group analysis is used to examine the roles of different boundary management practices

Findings: The employees who are constantly connected to work in the post-work hours tend to have increased levels of inter-domain conflict and reduced levels of psychological well-being. Furthermore, employees following different boundary practices have different level of constant connectivity, work-life conflict and psychological well-being.

Research limits: The study does not consider different connectivity and boundary behavior with respect to different mobile applications. In addition, different sectors might report varied levels of connectivity, suggesting a need to explore the underlaying variables in different organizational contexts.

Practical implications: The findings of this study help us understand how employees should regulate their digital devices usage after work at the individual level, which will promote psychological detachment, govern the level of work-life conflict and efficient management of boundaries.

Originality of the paper: The study expands the knowledge base of understanding the impact of digital devices on employee psychological well-being, work-life conflict and boundary enactment, which is scarce in human-computer interaction literature.

A Literature review of systemic risk management and the role of stakeholders

2025-04-15T12:10:30+00:00

Purpose of the paper: This paper explores the relationship between non-financial risk governance (Miller et al., 2008; Tryhuba et al., 2022), the role of stakeholders (Ndlela, 2018; Xia et al., 2018), and management control objects (Merchant & Van der Stede, 2012).

Methodology: This research conducts a literature review combined with an fsQCA analysis to examine management controls and identify those that should be adopted to address various aspects of systemic risk management. The analysis also examines the stakeholder’s engagement in risk management processes.

Findings: The findings indicate that certain risk components are more frequently addressed in the literature than others. Additionally, management controls are highlighted as essential tools for intervening in and mitigating risks. Stakeholders are shown to play a critical role in all stages of risk management.

Research limitations: This study is based on a theoretical framework, suggesting that future research should include empirical investigations to explore the role of stakeholders in non-financial risk management.

Practical implications: This research identifies the relationships between management controls and risk management phases, emphasizing the critical role of stakeholders in non-financial risk management. The proposed framework can help companies identify the necessary actions to manage all stages of risk management effectively and pinpoint the most strategically important stakeholders who need greater involvement in this process.

Originality of the paper: This paper is original in its approach, as it synthesizes literature on non-financial risk governance and stakeholder engagement and subsequently applies an fsQCA analysis to determine the necessary and sufficient elements that shape systemic risk management configurations.

The role of communication in the digital transformation of SMEs: an analysis in the agrifood sector

2025-01-29T15:45:42+00:00

Frame of the research. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggle in revising their business models and adopting digital tools for communication, marketing and operations. Resource constraints and competence gaps make them ill-equipped to face change. SMEs in the agrifood industry are particularly vulnerable to these problems, given their positioning in a low-tech industry.

Purpose of the paper. Our research focuses on online communication strategies as a gateway for SMEs’ digital transformation. Since contents on brand, quality, and provenance are crucial for agrifood consumers, SMEs adopt communication technologies but whether digitisation impacts other areas is not clear. We thus ask: how do marketing communication strategies influence digital transformation in SMEs in the agrifood industry?

Methodology. The study is based on a qualitative multi-case approach.

Results. The findings point to relevant themes that could guide further theoretical development: we find evidence on the interaction between perceived usefulness and easiness of digital tools, on the learning processes made possible by external agencies, and on the downsides of do-it-yourself approach.

Research limitations. The study focuses on the agrifood industry; comparisons with similar depth in other industries could favour the emergence of further themes and to weigh their relative importance.

Practical implications. Our findings could contribute to improving the digital transformation process in SMEs, in particular because they systematise the different factors that can be combined by managers in triggering organisational learning and consensus.

Originality of the paper. The paper brings insights into the role of communication in digital transformation of Italian agrifood SMEs, a context that has still not been studied in-depth. It specifies constructs from the theory of acceptance (TAM), shedding light on the potential negative effects of perceived easiness. It also contributes to literature on the do-it-yourself behaviour (DIY) applied to businesses by framing the role of agencies.

Building customer experience strategy in phygital retail.

2024-11-06T14:17:09+00:00

Frame of the research. Given the rising importance of customer experience and accelerating digitization, brands must meet customers wherever they prefer, urging brands to build a symbiotic ecosystem of digital and physical retail touchpoints through phygital strategies.

Purpose of the paper. The paper adopts an explorative approach to analyze the role and elements of customer experience in phygital retail strategies. Using the fashion industry as empirical setting, we investigate how customer experience can be successfully delivered in phygital retail.

Methodology. The paper combines semi-structured interviews and a press and media case analysis to highlight which elements are crucial to build an effective customer experience in phygital retail.

Results. The research identifies five key elements as those successfully creating a relevant customer experience in phygital retail: shared purpose, experience customization, core digital platform, brand positioning, and ecosystem of partnerships. If effectively integrated, they can guide organizational decision-making and strategy.

Research limitations. Main limitations relate to the impossibility to visit stores and the running of interviews online with partial control on contextual variables. Multiple sources were combined to make findings reliable, and a sample of questions was given before interviews to reduce uncontrollability. Sample size could also be further enlarged.

Managerial implications. Due to escalating digitization, brands become increasingly omnipresent in consumers’ daily life. As they must develop phygital retail strategies, this research supports managers on how they can develop a coherent customer experience throughout phygital retail touchpoints integrating five proposed elements.

Originality of the paper. Despite growing literature on phygital customer experience and retail, limited guidance for managers on how to build an effective customer experience strategy, especially in phygital retail is provided. This paper makes a theoretical and practical contribution, identifying five relevant elements.

No Easy Way Out: Dissecting Firm Heterogeneity to Enhance Default Risk Prediction

2025-08-26T09:30:56+00:00

Purpose of the paper: Effective risk assessment is central to managerial decision-making in financial institutions, corporate finance, and strategic planning. The paper investigates how default risk prediction varies depending on firm characteristics. It examines whether financial indicators differ in predictive relevance based on industry, technology level, size, and age.
Methodology: The analysis draws on data from the AIDA database, covering 121,809 Italian firms operating across different sectors and technological contexts. The study uses logistic regression and random forests to test whether financial indicators—grouped into liquidity, efficiency, profitability, and growth—vary in predictive strength depending on firm-specific factors.
Findings: Results support that (a) service-oriented firms are more affected by liquidity indicators, (b) high-tech firms are more responsive to efficiency metrics, (c) smaller firms are more influenced by profitability measures, and (d) younger firms are more sensitive to growth indicators. These findings support the use of tailored prediction models rather than uniform approaches.
Research limits: The study is based on firms operating in Italy and does not account for possible institutional or macroeconomic differences in other national contexts. It also focuses on financial indicators, without including qualitative or behavioral variables.
Practical implications: The study suggests that risk assessment models can be refined by incorporating firm-level contingencies. This has potential implications for analysts, risk officers, and institutions involved in SME financing or credit scoring.
Originality of the paper: The paper contributes to research on default prediction by combining a contingency perspective with both statistical and machine learning techniques.

Exploring corporate heritage through digital narrative. A cross-cultural thematic analysis of Henokiens’ websites

2025-07-01T15:00:28+00:00

Purpose of the paper: This study explores the communication of corporate heritage of long-lived firms. It inductively determines the key elements that bicentennial companies typically use to convey corporate heritage through their websites. It also investigates whether and how the culture of the country influences the communication of corporate heritage.

Methodology: The study proposes a thematic analysis of the textual content of the websites of bicentennial family companies of Henokiens to identify the main themes associated with the communication of their corporate heritage.

Findings: The findings reveal the presence of three aggregate dimensions of digital narratives of corporate heritage: entrepreneurial mindset, historicity, and inner values. the importance of these dimensions and some interesting results confirm the effect of cultural values on corporate communication.

Research limitations: Although this study offers valuable insights into the communications of long-lived family companies, its focus on the specific subset of bicentennial Henokiens companies may limit its generalizability. Furthermore, the analysis is based on the content of company’s websites, which limits the scope of the research into their narratives and communications effectiveness.

Practical implications: Our study significantly contributes to understanding the elements on which companies base their corporate heritage communication. Investigating the influence of culture values on how individuals interpret heritage and on the important they give to its components can make companies aware of the need to adapt their communication and help them develop an effective communication strategy across countries.

Originality of the paper: This paper contributes to the corporate heritage literature by bringing new elements that describe the identity of long-lived companies through the heritage narrative. It identifies the key elements of digital narratives and provides an opportunity to investigate how well the designed identity reflects their culture identity.

Digital green transformation: technology-specific insights into advancing environmental sustainability

2025-09-30T09:48:14+00:00

Despite the growing focus on digital technologies and environmental sustainability, their intersection is still underexplored. This study seeks to investigate the distinct roles of each DT—such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things —in advancing ES within businesses. Our analysis reveals that each technology offers unique pathways to ES, yet companies often lack a comprehensive understanding of these opportunities. Introducing the concept of digital green transformation, This research highlights the synergy between digital innovation and environmental responsibility, promoting technology-specific approaches to achieving sustainability. To demonstrate the practical implications of DGT, we conduct an in-depth case study on Italy's manufacturing industry, known for its environmental impact. The findings extend beyond theoretical discourse, providing actionable insights that can guide both academic research and industry practices towards a more sustainable future. By highlighting the necessity for a balanced and detailed approach to digital transformation, this study supports the strategic integration of DTs to achieve significant environmental outcomes.