Purpose
This paper aims to present how contemporary students are self-organizing using smart technologies (ST) and the future social implications of ST. The research model is based on the concepts of the soft system methodology, social systems thinking, innovative smart systems, and cybernetic and knowledge management.
Design/methodology/approach
The study contains elements of exploratory and descriptive case studies. Narrative analysis and interpretation of the collected data have been carried out.
Findings
Students mostly use ST to save time when studying and in their free time. Students are surprised by how ST developed and are cautious when imagining how the technology will change and affect their lives. They are concerned regarding several ethical dilemmas of using it, such as privacy and spending time with their loved ones and friends. Students perceive their self-organization in the future as very dependent on the availability of ST in institutional settings (e.g. education and business process) as well as their personal lives. Students discuss their present perceptions about what the future will be and note that social system will be more dynamic in terms of socialization, and loss of personal contact with their friends and family is seen as the main threat.
Research limitations/implications
The research is qualitative, and the questionnaire was carried out among business students at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Practical implications
The paper offers an understanding of the usage of ST among business students. This study provides a road map of a few possible ways for usage of ST among students. The topic is also relevant for human resource managers, technology developers and marketing strategists for their better understanding of the behaviour of young people using ST in professional or private environments.
Social implications
The findings can be useful for professors in identifying different learning methods that are useful for their students.
Originality/value
The authors offer conceptualizations of ST within the social innovation framework and provide a contemporary understanding young people’s ST usage.
The interest in sustainable urban development and sustainable tourism development is growing. Yet, according to our knowledge, only a limited number of studies combining those two areas exist, and the holistic model for sustainable urban tourism development has not been introduced. Our study aims to integrate sustainable urban development scientific area with sustainable tourism development scientific area and to integrate and advance the existing models for sustainable urban tourism development. As a method for analyzing the results of 322 interviews, we used content analysis. Based on the analyzed data, the conceptual sustainable urban tourism model is proposed and applied to the case of Ljubljana. The results show that Ljubljana needs more emphasis on sustainable urban tourism development by considering different dimensions of sustainability, stakeholders, as well as types of tourism. Specifically, respondents took into consideration social, environmental, as well as economic sustainability. The most often mentioned stakeholders were local communities and companies; meanwhile, according to their opinion, Ljubljana has the greatest potential in cultural, green, and sports tourism. Finally, the study integrates sustainable urban development and sustainable tourism development scientific areas by providing a conceptual model and taking into consideration the need for proper management, ranging from planning to education and policy-making.
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