This paper aims to contribute to the debate on Open Innovation in the age of Big Data by shedding new light on the role that social networks can play as enabling platforms for tourists’ involvement and sources for the creation and management of valuable knowledge assets. The huge amount of data generated on social media by tourists related to their travel experiences can be a valid source of open innovation. To achieve this aim, this paper presents evidence of a digital tourism experience, through a longitudinal case study of a destination in Apulia, a Southern European region. The findings of the study demonstrate how social Big Data could open up innovation processes that could be of support in defining sustainable tourism experiences in a destination.

The pivotal role of Entrepreneurship centers in the development of Entrepreneurship Education (EE) is receiving more attention. This study aims to open the “black box” of “how, when, why and what” entrepreneurial mindset and competencies in the field of technology entrepreneurship are learned over time in the Entrepreneurship Centers. The study adopts an empirical web-based content analysis of ten entrepreneurship centers in European Universities from seven countries, analyzing 105 curricular and extra-curricular entrepreneurship education programs. This method allows researchers to address generalization bias and to effectuate a cross-case comparison, thus revealing more common patterns regarding the phenomenon. Findings reveal some common pillars of EE as developed within the Entrepreneurship centers in terms of five key dimensions: target audience, learning objectives, entrepreneurship contents, learning pedagogies and stakeholders’ engagement. This analysis provides the basis to introduce a process-based framework for entrepreneurial mindset creation in EE that is organized around four main phases: inspiration, engagement, exploitation and sustainment. The process-based model of EE supports entrepreneurship centers in designing learning initiatives that are aimed to inspire students at all levels of education, young entrepreneurs and start-uppers and scientists in their need to be equipped with an entrepreneurial mindset for technology entrepreneurship. The originality of the paper stands on the “process-based” framework that is proposed that serves as an interactive pathway that dynamically combines the phases toward entrepreneurial venture creation, the entrepreneurial competence level, the entrepreneurial learning strategies and collaboration with the University’s stakeholders’ network toward the achievement of the competence goal.

Purpose: Using AI to strengthen creativity and problem-solving capabilities of professionals involved in innovation management holds huge potential for improving organizational decision-making. However, there is a lack of research on the use of AI technologies by innovation managers. The study uses the theory of appropriation to explore how specific factors – agile leadership (AL), innovation orientation (IO) and individual creativity (IC) – impact innovation managers' use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT (CGA). Design/methodology/approach: The research model is tested through a large-scale survey of 222 Italian innovation managers. Data have been analyzed using structural equation modeling following a two-step approach. First, the measurement model was assessed to ensure the constructs reliability. Subsequently, the structural model was analyzed to draw the conclusions on theorized model relationships and their statistical significance. Findings: The research findings reveal positive associations between IO and IC with CGA, demonstrating that innovation managers who exhibit strong innovation orientations and higher Individual Creativity are more likely to adopt and personalize ChatGPT. However, the study did not confirm a significant association between AL and CGA. Originality/value: Our findings have important implications for organizations seeking to maximize the potential of generative AI in innovation management. Understanding the factors that drive the adoption and customization of generative AI tools can inform strategies for better integration into the innovation process, thereby leading to enhanced innovation outcomes and improved decision-making processes.

It is widely accepted that entrepreneurship education has become a key development priority for coping with uncertainty and for addressing various social, economic, and technological concerns related to health, living conditions, education systems, employment, and economic growth. In recent times we have witnessed a proliferation of Entrepreneurship Education (EE) programs and initiatives with the aim to promote the creation of new skills, competencies, and capabilities to deal with a wide range of social issues and for creating new societal. The COVID-19 pandemic situation has introduced radical challenges to the society and has impacted significantly, especially the process of entrepreneurial competencies, skills and attitudes development. This paper aims to provide insights into knowledge mechanisms and learning strategies that have been activated for the effective creation of entrepreneurship competencies. We have based our evaluation on an exploratory analysis of 10 program studies that deliver social entrepreneurship education. The paper presents elements of originality under two perspectives: it proposes a framework with the main patterns characterizing social entrepreneurship education (SEE), and it argues that the creation of an entrepreneurship mindset and competencies is an evolutionary process that combines dynamic knowledge exploitation and exploration mechanisms.

Intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) in universities is gaining increasing attention, especially through the adoption of innovative technologies. Online media, as a relevant source of Big Data, is shifting ICD. The purpose of this paper is to explore how Big Data generated through online media, such as websites and platforms like Facebook, can be used as rich sources of data and viable disclosure channels for ICD in a university. This is an exploratory case study, following the methodology in Yin (2014), that examines how online media data contributes to closing the ICD gap. The IC disclosed through different online media channels by a private university in Albania is analysed using Secundo et al.’s (2016) collective intelligence framework. The online data sources include the university’s website, Facebook page, periodic reports and statements outlining future goals. What the authors discover in this research is that IC is an important part of how universities operate, and IC is communicated through social media, although unintentionally. However, this only serves to highlight the importance of IC, and if researchers want to discover IC and understand how it works in an organisation, they need to include social media and a prime resource for developing that understanding. Most importantly, the findings add to a growing consensus that ICD researchers, and researchers in other management and accounting disciplines, who traditionally rely on annual corporate social responsibility and other periodic reports, they need to change their medium of analysis because these reports no longer can be relied on to understand IC and its impact on an organisation. Online media tools and the advent of Big Data have created new opportunities for universities to disclose their IC information to stakeholders in a timely manner and to gain relevant insights into their impact on the society. The originality of the paper resides in the contribution of Big Data to the ICD research stream.

Among major international research and practice issues, the issue of the circular economy has emerged recently as “an alternative economic paradigm” to address the current needs of the present and to search for innovative solutions for the future. The objective of this paper is to explore the initiatives and practices of the circular economy that could be actuated by tourism firms with the aim of understanding the value that could be created and its contribution to sustainable development based on decarbonization, energy efficiency, and the use of renewable sources. To achieve this objective, an in-depth, qualitative case study of a tourism resort is presented and analyzed to identify the key CE practices activated, with the aim of creating greater value and contributing to sustainable production and consumption. The results show that the main CE practices implemented focus primarily on enhancing resource efficiency, reducing emissions, and minimizing environmental impacts. This research also emphasizes the benefits that the CE provides in terms of economic, environmental, and social efficiency. The study enriches the relevance of CE and the sustainability approach for the tourism sector by highlighting the main value opportunities that tourism firms could grasp from the application of CE. Also, the paper contributes to providing practical suggestions regarding possible initiatives and practices that tourism managers could adopt for deploying CE practices.