Purpose This study aims to investigate the key factors influencing central bank digital currency (CBDC) adoption by conducting a meta-analysis of scholarly literature. It introduces a novel keyword-network analysis framework using bibliometric metadata from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, validated through artificial intelligence (AI)-based topic modeling. Design/methodology/approach Grounded in the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) framework, this study identifies core and extended constructs related to CBDC adoption. It applies VOSviewer for keyword co-occurrence analysis on the bibliometric metadata and proposes a new method to calculate the relative importance of adoption factors based on link strength. This study also reveals dominant themes refined and validated through advanced AI-based topic modeling, signifying research trends on CBDC-adoption literature. Findings This study reveals dominant research themes, identified from topic keywords, demonstrating the breadth and depth of CBDC-adoption research and research trends on CBDC-adoption literature. Network-based weight calculations prioritized key adoption constructs such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, usefulness, awareness, financial literacy, acceptance, behavior, intention, attitude, adoption intention and regulation, offering a structured understanding of CBDC-adoption dynamics. Practical implications The findings provide valuable insights for policymakers, regulators and financial institutions by highlighting the critical variables that drive or hinder CBDC adoption. The proposed bibliometric-AI hybrid methodology offers a replicable model for future digital currency and FinTech adoption studies. Originality/value This research pioneers a bibliometric and AI-integrated methodology to classify CBDC-adoption factors systematically. It extends the literature by linking thematic clusters to adoption constructs using quantitative co-occurrence analysis and advanced topic modeling.

Purpose This paper aims to shed light on the development of CityFibre, which operates a large fibre-based telecommunications network in the UK on a wholesale basis. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a detailed longitudinal case study covering the period 2011–2025 (inclusive). It draws on multiple secondary sources (e.g. annual reports, trade publications) to develop a timeline of CityFibre’s development, identifying key milestones since its foundation. Findings The paper highlights the challenges associated with rolling out a large-scale telecommunications network in a competitive market. To roll out its network across the UK, CityFibre has invested considerable amounts that have been funded by a combination of debt, shareholder investment and innovative partnerships with key internet service providers (ISPs). CityFibre has adopted a wholesale model, thereby avoiding direct competition with incumbents. Revenues have lagged behind its growth, highlighting the need for external sources of funding to roll out its network in the absence and then low levels of revenue. Originality/value This paper details the growth of CityFibre, highlighting the role of funding and regulation in shaping its development. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to focus solely on CityFibre and explore its growth in detail.

Purpose This study aims to address the challenges small businesses face in accessing formal financial services in Pakistan by examining the potential of Fintech solutions. To achieve this, the study collects data from a diverse sample to shed light on the factors influencing Fintech service acceptance. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a deductive approach, collecting data through structured questionnaires from 392 respondents (owners) engaged in small-scale entrepreneurial activities. Structural equation modeling was used to empirically evaluate the proposed model. Findings The findings show significant influence of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, perceived credibility and interface design quality (IDQ) on the behavioral intentions to adopt Fintech solutions. The study also reveals the moderating role of Fintech quality on the relationship between Fintech use variables and behavioral intentions, highlighting the importance of quality perceptions in shaping stakeholders’ attitudes and intentions. Practical implications Policymakers are recommended to enforce Fintech quality standards, incentivize user-friendly and secure platform development, promote training in cybersecurity and support certification programs. These measures will enhance usability, trust and innovation, ultimately boosting Fintech adoption and financial inclusion among small businesses, especially in Pakistan’s informal sector. Originality/value The study integrates “UTAUT2 and Delone and McLean IS Success Models” to propose a novel research framework. The study contributes to the debate in two ways. It introduces an unknown dimension, namely, IDQ. The research unveils the previously unexplored influence of perceived Fintech quality as a variable that moderates the impact of Fintech-related factors on behavioral intention to adopt Fintech services.

Purpose This study aims to investigate how internal organizational capabilities, such as digital orientation (DO), green organizational culture (GOC) and green workforce (GW), contribute to competitive advantage in the hospitality sector, with a particular focus on the mediating role of green innovation (GI). Grounded in the natural resource-based view (NRBV), the research conceptualizes these constructs as distinct yet complementary pathways to sustainability, each aligned with a specific NRBV strategic capability – pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 475 senior professionals across hospitality SMEs in the UAE, and the proposed relationships were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings The results reveal that GOC and GW both directly and indirectly (via GI) enhance competitive advantage, while DO functions primarily as an enabling capability that drives competitive performance only when channeled through GI. Originality/value This study empirically validates GI as a central mediating capability and extends the NRBV by demonstrating how differentiated internal enablers like technological, cultural and human interact to create sustainable value in a digitally transforming and regulation-intensive hospitality sector. By incorporating hospitality-specific characteristics such as guest co-creation, service variability and ESG-driven expectations, and anchoring these within the UAE’s unique institutional frameworks, the study provides both theoretical refinement and actionable guidance for UAE hospitality managers and policymakers.

Purpose This paper aims to examine how strategic autonomy in semiconductor policy can lead to governance overreach. It argues that excessive state intervention – justified by security and resilience narratives – may reduce flexibility and innovation. To address this, the study develops a Policy Overreach Governance Framework (POGF) to analyze how autonomy discourses reshape institutional dynamics and create self-reinforcing governance traps in global semiconductor governance. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative comparative approach, this paper integrates securitization theory, policy feedback and adaptive governance. The POGF identifies four dimensions – institutional expansion, narrative entrenchment, coordination erosion and feedback deficit – and is applied to five jurisdictions: the USA, European Union, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Analysis is based on policy documents, reports and scholarly literature. Findings Across all cases, security-oriented industrial policies expand state intervention and entrench policy narratives. These dynamics weaken coordination and reduce feedback, creating governance traps that limit innovation and collaboration. While intended to enhance resilience, strategic autonomy often becomes ideological and counterproductive. The study highlights the need for evaluation, coordination and balanced narratives to maintain adaptability. Originality/value This paper introduces the POGF to examine the institutional risks of strategic autonomy. By linking securitization, feedback and adaptive governance theories, it shifts focus from competitiveness to governance flexibility. The framework provides an early-warning tool for policymakers to detect overreach and recalibrate semiconductor strategies before resilience efforts become rigid or self-defeating.

Purpose The study aims to investigate the role of fintech adoption on the social performance of banking institutions and the mediating role of voluntary pro-environmental behavior and employee engagement in the relationship between fintech adoption and social performance. Design/methodology/approach The study applied partial least squares structural equation modeling for analyzing the survey data, which was obtained from 301 respondents who worked in the banking industry in Bangladesh. Findings The findings revealed that fintech adoption significantly impacts social performance, voluntary pro-environmental behavior and employee engagement in banking institutions. The study also found a significant impact of voluntary pro-environmental behavior and employee engagement on social performance. The study confirms that voluntary pro-environmental behavior serves as a substantially significant mediator, while employee engagement acts as a partially significant mediator in the relationship between fintech adoption and social performance. Originality/value The study is one of the first that recognizes fintech adoption as a social enabler in the literature and also reveals its behavioral outcomes within the banking sector. The research proposes a robust framework for management and policymakers to improve the social performance of financial institutions in the competitive financial market, particularly in emerging economies.

Purpose This paper aims to introduce and theorize the concept of “complex digital bureaucracy” to explain the paradox of Qatar’s digital transformation: the coexistence of advanced digital infrastructure with persistent bureaucratic inefficiencies and limited participatory governance. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on 38 semistructured interviews with government officials, private sector representatives, third sector actors and citizens. It uses qualitative thematic analysis to examine how institutional fragmentation, legal ambiguity and restricted civic engagement constrain Qatar’s shift from e-government to integrated digital governance. Findings The findings reveal that, rather than dismantling hierarchical structures, digital systems often reproduce them by centralizing control, entrenching siloed practices and excluding third sector actors from co-production. This paper demonstrates that digital governance requires more than technological adoption; it demands structural, legal and cultural reforms. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to qualitative interviews conducted in Qatar between February and March 2025, which may constrain generalizability. While findings offer rich insights into digital governance in rentier states, they may not fully capture experiences in more pluralistic or low-capacity contexts. Future research could use comparative case studies and quantitative measures to assess whether “complex digital bureaucracy” applies across diverse political economies. Despite these limitations, this paper provides a valuable conceptual tool and highlights the need for integrated approaches to digital governance that move beyond technology-centric explanations. Practical implications For policymakers, this study underscores the necessity of addressing institutional fragmentation, clarifying legal frameworks and promoting interagency interoperability to achieve effective digital governance. Recommendations include developing unified regulatory bodies, enhancing cross-sectoral collaboration and embedding participatory mechanisms for citizens and civil society. By reframing digital transformation as an institutional rather than purely technological project, the paper provides actionable strategies for governments seeking to maximize the benefits of digital tools while avoiding the reproduction of bureaucratic inefficiencies. These insights are particularly relevant for rentier states undergoing rapid modernization. Social implications This research highlights how digital governance models shape citizen–state relations in high-capacity contexts. In Qatar, restricted civic participation and limited inclusion of third sector actors reduce opportunities for public accountability and co-production, contributing to a perception of top-down modernization. The persistence of bureaucratic silos in digital form risks reinforcing social distance between state and society, particularly among youth and civil society groups. By emphasizing participatory reform, the study suggests pathways toward more inclusive digital governance that can strengthen trust, responsiveness and social cohesion in rapidly modernizing states. Originality/value In offering a new theoretical lens and empirical evidence from a high-capacity state, the study contributes to international debates on digital bureaucracy, platform governance and rentier state modernization. The analysis highlights how digital transformation can either reinforce or reform bureaucratic power, providing lessons for digitally ambitious states seeking participatory and accountable governance.

Purpose This research aims to predict the behavioural intention of the stakeholders to adopt Blockchain for public procurement in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted with the procurement officials working for government agencies, with usable responses of 257 respondents. Partial least squares structural equation modelling coupled with an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model was assessed. Findings The results showed that except social influence, the elements of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and Public Service Motivation (PSM), have a positive and significant impact on the intention to adopt Blockchain for public procurement. The neural model ensures that ANN analysis showed that Performance Expectancy is the most significant element, followed by Facilitating Conditions, PSM and Effort Expectancy. Social implications The findings of the study have important policy implications with recommendations and guidelines for policymakers, government officials and managers involved in public procurement about how the adoption of Blockchain can help reduce corruption to ensure good governance through transparency. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to empirically predict the behavioural intention of the stakeholders to adopt Blockchain for public procurement in Bangladesh.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role and effect of disclaimer dimensions in digital communication specifically in enhancing user engagement, perceived credibility and fostering innovation in digital communication. The study is motivated by the ongoing debate on whether disclaimers operate primarily through central or peripheral processing routes in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) framework and how these effects interact with digital literacy. Design/methodology/approach Survey was conducted to collect data from 2,980 participants within eight major cities, who have recently encountered a digital disclaimer. The results were obtained through a covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) with SPSS AMOS and moderation analysis with the PROCESS macro. Findings The analytical results reveal that if disclaimers are clearly visible, comprehensive and culturally sensitive they lead to better user engagement and trustworthiness. Moderation analysis reveals the role of digital literacy and concludes that higher digital literacy helps online content users to understand the disclaimer. Originality/value This study is one of its own kind that focuses on the role of disclaimers in leading towards innovation in digital communication. This research is helpful for the policy makers to develop digital literacy initiatives and the design of effective disclaimers as it empirically tested both central and peripheral processing routes of disclaimers in a high-usage digital content environment.

The publisher wishes to retract the article Agus Hermanto, Solimun Solimun, Adji Achmad Rinaldo Fernandes, Wahyono Wahyono, Zulkarnain Zulkarnain, (2018) “The importance of open government data for the private sector and NGOs in Indonesia”, Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 293-309, Link to the cited article.. This is because a substantial portion of the article is taken, without attribution, from other sources.These sources are:The Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance guidelines make it clear that articles must be original and must not infringe on any existing copyright. The journal sincerely apologises to its readers.