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JIC
23,5
1138
Received 19 July 2020
Revised 4 November 2020
22 January 2021
3 April 2021
Accepted 28 April 2021
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 23 No. 5, 2022
pp. 1138-1159
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/JIC-07-2020-0241
The traditional Italian
Universities’ reaction to the
pandemic emergency: The role of
the intellectual capital
Paola Paoloni
Department of Law and Economics of Production Activities, La Sapienza University,
Rome, Italy
Giuseppe Modaffari
Unisu Department, Niccolo Cusano University, Rome, Italy, and
Giorgia Mattei
Department of Business Studies, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy
Abstract
Purpose – The lockdown imposed to avoid the increase in the number of infections caused by the pandemic
emergency declared in January 2020 has unavoidably compromised the normal functioning of the Universities. They
havebeenforcedtostoptheoperationoftheirtraditionalstudent-orientedactivities.Inthislight,thepresentworkaims
to analyse how traditional Italian Universities continue to deliver services to their students during the emergency.
Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative explorative research was done. The paper used a multiple
case study focused on two main public universities located in Rome (Italy). The data was collected using action
research with participant observation. The activities observed before and during the health emergency are
those related to the second mission and their services.
Findings – Until the pandemic emergency arose, in the organizations analysed, the work was done
traditionally. When the lockdown started the main instruments adopted to teach and provide the related
services to students were the digital tools. Therefore, these devices represent how these organizations could
immediately react to face the challenge arising from the impossibility to physically meet the students while
continuing to support them in their educational path. Based on the findings obtained these universities fall into
the “corporate entrepreneurship” definition.
Research limitations/implications – The present work has managerial and academic implications. The
academic implications can be summarized in two main points: the work (1) promptly analysed the changes
necessary to overcome the problematics caused by the pandemic emergency; (2) contributes to the debate
concerning the transfer of knowledge using digital tools and their relevance on the intellectual capital. One of
the limits of the work is that only two Italian traditional universities are analysed and that the study focuses on
universities located in a same city.
Practical implications – On the other hand, in referent to managerial implications, this paper highlights how
the corporate entrepreneurial view could be useful to support an inspected challenge that could happened in a
certain historical period. Therefore, a real implementation of the entrepreneurial concepts is preferred.
Originality/value – The paper discussed an original and contemporary topic not yet investigated since it
refers to the Universities’ reaction to the pandemic emergency in 2020, with the focus on their ability to maintain
the intellectual capital value and give more points that could be investigate in the future, as, e.g. a selection of
more than three traditional universities or with a comparative case study, useful in highlighting the strengths
and weaknesses of the decisions taken in different contexts, considering: (1) telematic universities and
traditional universities; or (2) universities located in other countries. Another future line of enquiry could be to
focus the analysis on the effective quality of the MOOCs applied at the universities’ activities, using the
students’ opinions obtainable through OPIS (Rilevazione Opinione degli Studenti) or through direct interviews.
Keywords Resilience, MOOCs, Knowledge management, Relational capital, Corporate entrepreneurship,
Digital learning
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Since most of the activities that take place in universities are intangible, intellectual capital
assumes significant importance (Vidrascu, 2016; Silvestri and Veltri, 2011; Salinas-


Avila et al., 2020) in these organizations. Looking at the previous studies done with the focus Universities’
on the Intellectual Capital in this sector, it is possible to state that most of the research paid reaction to the
attention on the measurement and impact of intellectual capital on performance (Bamel et al.,
2020; Ram
ırez et al., 2007; Kale et al., 2000; Cousins et al., 2006; Paoloni and Demartini, 2012;
pandemic
Hitt et al., 2001; Schiavone et al., 2014; Cesaroni et al., 2017; Corvino et al., 2019).
More precisely, focusing on Relational Capital as an extremely important component of
the IC in the educational sector and as a reference to intangible resources capable of
generating value when connected with internal and external subjects to the organization 1139
itself (Paoloni and Demartini, 2018) – it is noted that scholars have mostly debated on
reporting, management issues and its possible impact on the performance. But we know that
since the pandemic caused by COVID-19, it has not been easy for universities to maintain
strong relationships with the main stakeholders, i.e. students, who are also those that ensure
the existence of good relationships (Hornsby et al., 2013; McMullen and Shepherd 2006;
Mousa and Wales, 2012; Chen et al., 2019). At a time when the Italian Government, like almost
all governments of other countries, implemented extraordinary measures to control the
spreading of the virus during the first weeks of March 2020, limiting personal freedom and
implementing a general lockdown affecting all businesses, Universities were also forced to
suspend all ongoing activities. All of this engendered the need for these organizations to find
new instruments to provide the services related to their second mission to satisfy their
students’ needs.
By Adopting a new approach based on innovative devices (Scuotto and Morellato, 2013;
Carayannis et al., 2017; Bharati et al., 2015; Sz€ucs et al., 2013), known as “digital tools” (Atiaja
and Proenza, 2016; Murray et al., 2016), universities have been able to maintain the relations
with their students and continue to transfer knowledge, albeit in a different fashion.
A look at the previous studies on the same theme reveals that scholars have not paid
enough attention to the ways in which relational capital (RC) could be generated, maintained
and developed (Paoloni and Demartini, 2018), especially in the time of financial, economic or a
different type of crisis (Anders, 2015; Soncin and Arnaboldi, 2019; Kumar et al., 2019).
For all these reasons, the present study aims to make a contribution to the debate on RC
and through this research, understand if there is a management style that allows us to
maintain strong relationships built in the past in difficult times, such as a pandemic.
To demonstrate the resilience with which Italian traditional universities have preserved
their previously established relationships with the students (Kale et al., 2000; Paoloni, 2021)
during the emergency, this research refers to the implemented instruments, as well as
expounding on how these tools were brought to the students’ attention.
The work is carried out using an ethnographic exploratory multiple case study. Two
Italian traditional universities were selected, and the data was collected through action
research and participant observation.
Italian universities were chosen due to the forceful actions undertaken by the Italian
government, which was among the first in Europe to resort to drastic measures.
The analysis demonstrates that the digital instruments allowed universities to continue
providing their services to the students which as a result, assured the preservation of the
previously established relational capital. Further evidence obtained from the analysis is
associated with the level of the structures’ flexibility and the speed of decision making. This
leads to assume that both analysed universities are managed with an entrepreneurial view of
corporate governance, called “corporate entrepreneurship”. The work is structured as
follows: the following section contains the literature review; in the third section the research
protocol is explained, and the fourth section describes the findings of the analysis. In the fifth
the findings are discussed and the following one includes the conclusions. Section seven and
eight are dedicated to show the limitation and the future lines of researches. Finally, the last
section is dedicated to the academic and practical contributions of the article.
JIC 2. Literature review
23,5 A reorganization and a rethinking process regarding universities started in recent years with
what is well known as an academic revolution (Etzkowitz, 2004). Since the mid-1990s,
universities accustomed to the traditional activities (such as teaching and research) have
acquired important capabilities aiming to develop social, cultural and economic
environments; this constitutes their third mission (Verbano et al.,2020; Scuotto et al., 2019;
Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000; Di Berardino and Corsi, 2018; Vorley and Nelles, 2008;
1140 Secundo et al., 2016), which joins the two existing ones.
Although each mission is different from the other, they all share the same trigger factor
that allows them to be successful. They become the protagonists of knowledge resources
through the components of Intellectual capital (IC) (Bamel et al., 2020). Knowledge plays a key
role in this scenario and is essential to make universities more flexible, transparent,
competitive and comparable (S
anchez and Elena, 2006). To simplify management challenges
and support the sharing and transferring of knowledge (S
anchez et al., 2009), an IC
framework would be recommended. However, considering that IC differs from one
organization to another, there is no unique framework that allows us to measure and
manage IC (Bejinaru, 2017). Therefore, each university has to define the best tools for IC
considering its peculiarities and taking into account the value created by the existing
relationship between knowledge management and IC in the knowledge-based organization
but without forgetting the possibility of its destruction (Garcia-Perez et al., 2020). What seems
certain is that to measure and manage the IC the starting point must be the definition and
dissemination of the strategic objectives of the organization (Ram
ırez et al., 2007).
Even if at the theoretical level the tri-partition of the IC components is clearly defined in
(1) human capital, (2) relational capital and (3) structural capital (Paoloni et al., 2020; Bellucci
et al., 2020), the literature shows that in most cases the carried out studies do not specifically and
analytically analyse a component and instead, they are the result of an overlapping of different
fields of research (Paoloni et al., 2019). According to Paoloni et al. (2019) the major streams that
can be traced back to these areas are (1) the establishment of a new model of the entrepreneurial
university; (2) entrepreneurial university and the role of intellectual capital; (3) relational capital
with a focus on reporting and management issues, as well as the possible impact of IC on
organizations’ performance (Kale et al., 2000; Cousins et al., 2006; Paoloni and Demartini, 2012;
Hitt et al., 2001; Schiavone et al., 2014; Cesaroni et al., 2017; Corvino et al., 2019).
With consideration to the third point, relational capital is seen as one of the most important
components of the intellectual capital in the sectors such as the universities in which the major
number of activities are intangible (Vidrascu, 2016; Silvestri and Veltri, 2011;
Salinas-A
vila et al., 2020). Its importance can be found in the value that RC could generate
thanks to its internal and external relations (Paoloni and Demartini, 2018). RC includes public
and private partnerships as well as their standings in the environment, the interaction with
academics and scholars and their international exchange of students (Paoloni et al., 2019).
Therefore, RC consist of internal and external resources (Hitt et al., 2001; Nahapiet and Ghoshal,
1998) and reflects both the quality and the value of relationships among people and
organizations (Yang and Lin, 2009) and could be triggered by the formal and informal
socialization process (Liker and Choi, 2004), undertaken inside and outside the organization
(Petersen et al., 2008).
In this scenario, one of the most important keywords is “trust” in its various meanings
(Kale et al., 2000), because it wields relationships, keeps them alive and creates new ones while
nourishing collaboration. Therefore, as is asserted by some scholars (Paoloni, 2021), a
“relational circuit,” that nourishes itself and feeds the economic value of the company
becomes achievable. Trust could be defined as a keyword of relational capital because it could
increase the number and the intensity of relationships, as it reduces opportunistic behaviour
(Gulati, 1995; Zaheer et al., 1998), due to increased transparency (Kale et al., 2000). The
relations become relational economic capital assets and can increase the economic value of an Universities’
entity through improving company performance (Thuy and Quang, 2005; Abualoush reaction to the
et al., 2018).
To maintain a high level of relations’ trust, however, is essential to focus attention on the
pandemic
ways and timing in which they are directed. This also depends on what kind of relationships
are desired, maintained, strengthened and it can vary depending on the type of entity and its
environment or location. The environment plays an important role in relationships, so much
so that it is considered by some scholars (see, e.g., Paoloni, 2021) as the “pusher activator” of 1141
the relational circuit. This probably could be one of the reasons why RC manifests its
usefulness especially during the crises period (Prasad et al., 2014). It allows organizations to
access important valuable information and resources to achieve proactive and reactive
organizational resilience (Bode and Macdonald, 2016; Johnson et al., 2013; Jia et al., 2020). RC
enhances both the willingness of engaging in open communication and information sharing
and behavioural transparency, especially during challenging times (Villena et al., 2011;
Lengnick-Hall et al., 2011). Therefore, open communication significantly impacts the sharing
of knowledge (Teng and Song, 2011) as it ensures informational transparency (Ram
ırez and
Gordillo, 2014; Ram
ırez et al., 2011; Low et al., 2015; Manes Rossi et al., 2018; Paloma S
anchez
and Elena, 2006).
Moreover, it is known that relational capital and its relevance to teaching, has become an
indispensable vehicle for universities to achieve their strategic goals (Paoloni et al., 2019)
which are defined by the high boards of universities that determine the future direction while
pursuing strategic aims to maintain effectiveness in increasingly competitive and turbulent
contexts. Its managerial aspects are ascribable to the concept of corporate entrepreneurship
that is directly derived from the New Public Management movement (Hood, 1991; Secundo
et al., 2015) that started to include the public sector at the end of the 20th century. Therefore,
as for the NPM, also in corporate entrepreneurship, the idea is to introduce, in the public
sector, entrepreneurial concepts and elements, which modify the employment of the resources
(Ginsberg, 1988; Guth and Ginsberg, 1990) and gives the attention it deserves to knowledge as
an intangible factor determining economic growth (Romano et al., 2014). This includes how
strategic decision making is a process divided into three steps: formulation, deployment and
evaluation (Andrews et al., 2011; Poister et al., 2014). Therefore, it is necessary to rethink the
knowledge management scenario in the universities because, according to Blackman and
Kennedy (2009), they should move from a focus on the output of knowledge that involves
research and teachings to a perspective in which knowledge creation becomes an everyday
activity necessary to succeed in challenging periods. This process also generates activities
such as digital competence and informal collaborative network (Scuotto and Morellato, 2013),
that universities have implemented in order to bring students closer to the business world,
better known as “university-based entrepreneurship” (Scuotto and Murray, 2018; Scuotto
et al., 2019; Murray et al., 2018) but the entrepreneurial vision of universities is also useful to
support their third mission because they are seen as a container of knowledge capital linked
to the territory (Nicotra et al., 2018) which allows them to support the technological and
economic development of a particular area (Natalicchio et al., 2019).
The maximum efficiency of the entrepreneurial view of corporate governance is obtained
during a global economic crisis (Hornsby et al., 2013) as it represents a fertile environment for
identifying opportunities (McMullen and Shepherd 2006; Mousa and Wales, 2012; Chen
et al., 2019).
The most recent worldwide crisis began on January 30, 2020, when WHO declared the
outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (Spina et al., 2020). Universities
have been involved in the emergency and have had to face up to this challenge. In order to
survive, the traditional universities had to transform their procedures, implementing new
technological tools (Carayannis et al., 2017; Bharati et al., 2015), referred to in the literature as
JIC “digital learning transformation” (Sz€ ucs et al., 2013). This kind of instrument, that is part of
23,5 the “structural capital” of an organization, facilitated the relationship between the institution
and its stakeholders (Ardito et al., 2019; Cabrilo and Dahms, 2018) and it could determine,
alongside the relational capital, a high-performance level providing a competitive advantage
(Martin de Castro and L
opez S
aez, 2008; Cleary, 2009).
The digital learning transformation, and in particular the MOOCs (Massive Online Open
Courses), have experienced an increase in public interest over the last several years (Anders,
1142 2015; Atiaja and Proenza, 2016). However, this wasn’t the case for all universities; as shown
by scholars’ researches (Soncin and Arnaboldi, 2019), digital learning activity creates a
massive body of work for teachers and the quality of the courses provided with this
technology remains to be determined (Kumar et al., 2019). Additionally, the traditional
universities considered it a process in which human contact and social relationships are
lacking, despite being salient elements of these universities. However, during the lockdown
they became necessary to fight the pandemic. Universities were forced to review their
methods of transfer of knowledge and their relationships with students. The use of digital
tools (Smola˛ g et al., 2016) provided the possibility to develop external and internal networks,
increasing stakeholders’ engagement and enhancing brand value.
The effects of this contingency involved businesses, community, technology, education
and transportation, across the countries (Liu et al., 2020). The higher education institutions
were also called to deal with the challenge and to offer students the possibility of continuing
their education. However, “learning organizations” are more competitive in terms of
sustainable competitive advantage and innovation in learning better and faster (Scuotto et al.,
2017; Ferreira et al., 2015) than their competitors (Fern
andez-L
opez et al., 2018).
In this scenario as it was shown in the previous studies (Paoloni et al., 2019; Ram
ırez and
Tejada, 2019; Bisogno et al., 2018) despite the fact that the RC is one of the most important
parts of IC, it is not much explored and is almost absent in the studies that focus on university.
This deficiency becomes even more evident when analysing the reactions of these
organizations to the challenges they face in a time of crisis in which sharing and transferring
knowledge through digital learning instruments is indispensable (Anders, 2015; Atiaja and
Proenza, 2016; Soncin and Arnaboldi, 2019; Kumar et al., 2019). In this regard, a clear gap
emerges in the literature that prompted the authors to formulate the following RQ:
How have “traditional” universities promptly adapted their activities during the pandemic
emergency to maintain the relationships (RC) with their primary stakeholders (students)?
To answer this question, it is necessary to understand if the traditional universities have
survived thanks to the good management of the transfer and sharing of knowledge that
allows them to continue their activities with the use of the IC tools, and, therefore, to maintain
the relational capital as an added value in their knowledge-based view process (Lerro
et al., 2014).

3. Research protocol
3.1 Methodological background
In order to reach the declared goal, the authors elected a qualitative analysis employing an
exploratory multiple case study (Scapens, 2004; Yin, 2009) that is an empirical method aimed
at investigating contemporary phenomena in their context (Robson, 2011; Runeson and H€ost,
2009; Yin, 1981) and is also appropriate when the goal is to gain an extensive and in-depth
description of a social experience (Yin, 2009). The investigation is focused on two main public
universities located in Rome (Italy). The present research can be included in the exploratory
multiple case study (Yin, 1981), defined as an approach used to explore any phenomenon in
the data which is taken into account by the researchers. The research method can be
considered as an ethnographic study, that is a particular and specialized type of case study Universities’
focused on cultural practices through field observation (Easterbrook et al., 2008). This is reaction to the
useful in understanding how the members of a community make sense of their social
interactions (Robinson et al., 2007).
pandemic
The information was collected using action research with participant observation. Action
research method (Avison et al., 1999) was selected because it is considered relevant in the
educational area (Stringer, 2008). It allows an analysis of the students, but it is also useful in
the study of other actors involved in the education field (administrators, students, parents, 1143
school boards and so on). The principal purpose of observation is to familiarize researchers
with the context in which issues and events are played out. Careful observation enables
participants to “build a picture” of the context, the activities and events within it, revealing
details of the setting as well as the mundane, routine activities comprising the lifeworld of
teachers, students and administrators. Participant observation in action research provide a
detailed description of the people’s actions and the context in which they occur
(Stringer, 2013).

3.2 Description of the sample and relationships selection

Cases were selected on the basis of the type of universities, considering their locations as well
as their type of governance, this gave the opportunity for two comparable cases. The reason
why the authors selected universities that are in Rome is related to the way in which the
authors collected the information. In fact, as asserted for the participant observation
technique, participants tend to be physically and socially close to their research subjects,
something that enables probing questioning when seeking an explanation of phenomena
observed (Sandiford, 2015).
Accordingly, two main public universities both located in Rome were selected, the
“Sapienza University” and “Roma Tre University”. Both are among the top twenty Italian
universities considering the number of students enrolled (MIUR) [1] and could be taken as a
proxy for public universities in Italy. The main activities related to relationship with students
and their peers were identified and the interviewees were selected from a group composed
of them.
The two selected cases are heterogeneous in terms of age, staff and student’ numbers but
are homogeneous in terms of how the activity was done. Until a few months ago and before
the pandemic emergency, the work was done in a traditional way using digital learning only
in exceptional cases.
The information was collected from April to May 2020 by the authors, who acted as
“participant-observers”. In fact, the information was provided by the direct involvement of
the authors who work as PhD, assistant professor and professor in the universities and are
analysed both as teachers and researchers. Other information was collected thanks to the
exchange of ideas with colleagues (administrative, other professors, students) and from the
study of documents publicly available on the website and also from the documents of the top
bodies of the organizations.
Data used for the analysis come from the direct involvement of the authors in these two
selected cases, as well as from the daily relationships and communication exchanges with the
other players in the departments or universities directly responsible for some activities (or
with the people that are engaged with them); this is explained below.
The activity selected is based on the relationships between universities and students, with
the aim to shed light on the relation capital that is, as confirmed in other studies (Jia et al.,
2020), the reactive factor, especially in disaster relief operations (DRO). The capability to react
at the changing economic needs, in fact, is an element that may assure the longevity of
universities (West, 2006).
JIC Throughout the study, the selected activities are useful in explaining how services to
23,5 students (necessary to have the relationships with them) were provided in the past, before the
pandemic and how they have changed during the crises.
The study analysed the phenomenon on three organizational levels composed of
individuals (lecturers), groups (administrative or academic organizational units) and
organization’s (governance) (Soncin and Arnaboldi, 2019).
Figure 1 shows how the activities were analysed and how the people were responsible
1144 for them.
With the aim to identify the different ways used to provide services to students’, in-person
activities are considered only for the period before and during the crisis.
The findings of the analysis can be defined as an ongoing process (Miles et al., 2014) since
the information was iteratively analysed to allow a progressive elaboration of a general
interpretative framework (Paoloni et al., 2019).
The first part of the analysis consists of the description of the selected cases. Then, the
procedures applied before and during the healthcare emergency that arose in the first months
of 2020 were identified. With the aim to observe what instruments were implemented to allow
students to continue with their education and how, the information collected by the authors
has been made public (Corbetta, 1999).
This verification of “transparency” was considered necessary because, as mentioned in
the literature review section, in times of crisis and disaster there is the need for a great
commitment on the part of the entities to communicating and sharing information, and
therefore in transparent behaviour, which is how the value given to Relational Capital (RC) by
the various organizations emerges (Villena et al., 2011; Lengnick-Hall et al., 2011).
Furthermore, thanks to greater transparency, which is a fundamental element of the RC,
the level of trust will also increase (Kale et al., 2000).
Therefore, the authors completed the framework matrix independently after the findings
were compared and discussed. In cases where doubts emerged, the authors requested more
information from the institutions.
This process allows authors to describe how digital instruments allow universities to react
to the emergency, guaranteeing the transfer and sharing of knowledge with the students with
the intention of not losing the relational capital created. Moreover, the following step was
identified along with its weaknesses and some solutions were elaborated to overcome them.

3.3 Characteristics of the sample

Roma Tre University [2] is among the youngest universities in the Italian university system.
It was founded in 1992 and it rapidly grew in terms of number of enrolments as well as the

Activities observed Key Actor(s) involved

Department Council Head of Department

Board of Degree Courses
Lectures
Exams/Test
Reception/Professor’s office hours
Thesis’ Dissertation
Incoming Orientation Activities
Figure 1.
Summary of the Erasmus activities
selected activities and (support for incoming and
the key actors outgoing students)
Department Student Office’ hours
President of the Degree Courses
Professors
Professors
Professors
School or Faculty and Professors
Head of Department, Professors and
Department Student Office
Head of Department, Erasmus+
Coordinators, Secretary of
Internationalisation
Department Student Office
number of academic courses offered. It is characterized by its contributions to the city’s Universities’
identity brought about by the determination of restructuring and re-using abandoned reaction to the
industrial buildings, converting them into factories of knowledge and research. It has gained
a very good reputation in the most prominent academic rankings, especially among the most
pandemic
recently founded institutions.
This university is organized in 12 departments offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees,
Postgraduate and Advanced courses, PhDs and Specialization Schools. The departments are
in charge of managing, coordinating, planning, and promoting scientific research as well as 1145
teaching and training activities. They are also responsible for furthering the development of
research, teaching and training activities related to Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as well as
PhDs, other educational activities, external activities related to research and teaching or
aimed at enhancing and disseminating the activities and competences of the Departments
themselves including partnerships, spin-offs and start-up initiatives.
The organizational structure of Roma Tre University includes two schools established to
provide high organizational and qualitative standards as well as ensuring the perfect
sustainability of study programmes. They coordinate the teaching guidelines and the
proposals for activating specific courses in the departmental academic offers. Currently, this
university has about 34,000 students from all over Italy, 76 Bachelor, Master’s and single-
cycle degree courses, 24 research doctorates and 43 post-graduate courses.
On the other hand, La Sapienza [3] is one of the oldest Italian universities. Founded in 1,303
by Bonifacio VII, it is the largest university in Europe, with 112 thousand students. Sapienza
is ranked at the top of the Italian universities for quality of research, education and
international features.
Sapienza is organized into 11 faculties, one School for Advanced Studies, one post-degree
School for Aerospace Engineering, 58 departments, as well as numerous research and service
centers. Sapienza currently offers over 280-degree’ programmes (Bachelor’s and Master’s) –
among which over 35 are taught in English – 200 vocational master courses and almost
80 PhDs.
Over 30.000 students come from other Italian cities, nearly 9,000 are foreign and over 3,500
students a year come to Sapienza on international mobility programmes. Thanks to a wide
network of agreements with universities around the world, Sapienza also provides its
students many international opportunities, including double degrees, scholarships abroad,
internships in European and non-European countries, and international PhDs.
These two universities are organized in a similar way. They are both presided over by a
Rector, elected by professors and researchers and by technical staff and students’ delegates.
The Administrative Director is responsible for the economic management of the University,
and it is assisted by a Management Board, partly elected by University personnel and partly
appointed by the Academic Senate. The Academic Senate is the University’s governing and
guiding body responsible for the programming and coordination of all the university’s
missions. It is composed of the Rector (chairman), the Deputy Pro-Rector (vice-chairman), the
Deans of the Faculties, a representative for each research area, a number of student
representatives, the Administrative Director.
Teaching is organized in two different ways. Sapienza is organized with Faculties that are
presided over by a Dean, assisted by the Faculty Council and made up of all the Professors
and Researchers, and delegates of technical personnel and students. On the other hand, at
Roma Tre, coordination of teaching activities is managed by the departments.
In light of the above mentioned facts, we can conclude that the two traditional universities
function in a similar way. This analysis was possible thanks to the above framework and the
study of the activities carried out in both universities. Figure 2 summarizes the
characteristics of every single function, for each of the two selected cases.
JIC Activities observed University of Roma Tre University of Sapienza
23,5 PRE-EMERGENCY PRE-EMERGENCY
“TRADITIONAL METHOD” “TRADITIONAL METHOD”
Department Council Monthly face-to-face meetings Monthly face-to-face meetings
Board of Degree Courses Monthly face-to-face meetings Monthly face-to-face meetings
Lectures Lecture in classroom and laboratory Lecture in classroom and laboratory
Exams/Test Face-to-face (written, oral or Face-to-face (written, oral or
1146 written+oral) written+oral)
Reception/Professor’s office hours Face-to-face or via email Face-to-face or via email
Thesis’ dissertation Face-to-face Face-to-face
Incoming Orientation Activities Face-to-face Face-to-face
Figure 2.
Erasmus activities Face-to-face or via email Face-to-face or via email
Traditional methods of
(support for incoming and outgoing
activities in each
students)
university selected
Department Student Office’ hours Office hours face-to-face Office hours face-to-face

The results of the analysis with regards to the method in which the activities are managed
during the crisis period is highlighted below.

4. Findings of the analysis

The information needed to carry out the study was extrapolated from the knowledge of the
authors, as participating observers of the present action research, as well as using publicly
available information. When the authors were unaware of this information and when not
even the publicly available information was at hand, the authors asked directly for support
from subjects interested in the individual activities or from their delegates.
Using this process, it was possible to complete the framework table, as shown in Figure 3.

4.1 Department council

The Department is the fundamental organizational structure for research activities. The
Departments promote and coordinate research activity and are ultimately responsible for the
teaching activities related to Bachelor, Master and PhD courses that belong to them.
Each university, by its regulations, defines the internal rule for the functioning of the
department but usually there is a head for each department, assisted by a Department Council
composed of all affiliated Professors. The representatives of the student body also attend the
department council.
In the two selected cases, before the epidemic emergency, the Department council was
scheduled once a month (excluding the month of August), and the physical presence of its
members was required.
The university offices have submitted the option of carrying out these meetings remotely
to the Head of Department. Analysing the procedure applied since March 2020, in both cases,
this appointment was converted to on-line meeting. The Head of Department, through the
administrative secretariat, sends the documentation on the agenda via email to all the
members who are asked to express an opinion by a predefined date.

4.2 Board of Degree courses

For each Degree Course (Bachelor and Master) there is a Commission composed of “reference
teachers”, who are holders of at least one training activity in the same Course. The
Coordinator leads the Commission and is appointed by the Department Council, following the

Activities observed
Department Council
Board of Degree Courses
Lectures
“Summer” Exams/Test
Reception/Professor’s office hours Professors
Thesis’ dissertation
Incoming Orientation Activities
Erasmus activities (presentation
Head of Department, Erasmus+
of the call for the next year,
Coordinators, Secretary of
support for incoming and
internationalisation
ougoing students)
Department Student Office’
hours
Figure 3.
the way in which they
before and during
were made public
health emergency and
Relationships create
Key actor(s) involved PRE-EMERGENCY
“TRADITIONAL METHOD”
Head of Department Monthly face-to-face meetings
President of the Degree Courses Monthly face-to-face meetings
Lecture in classroom and
Professors
laboratory
Face-to-face (written, oral or
Professors
writte+oral)
Face-to-face or via email
School or Faculty and
Face-to-face
Professors
Head of Department, Professors
Face-to-face
and Department Student Office
Face-to-face or via email
Department Student Office Office hours face-to-face
University of Roma Tre University of Sapienza
PUBLIC INFORMATION DURING EMERGENCY PRE-EMERGENCY PUBLIC INFORMATION DURING EMERGENCY
OF CHANGE PROVIDED “NEW METHOD” “TRADITIONAL METHOD” OF CHANGE PROVIDED “NEW METHOD”
Telematic mode (the documentation is sent Telematic mode (the documentation is sent
Suggested by the central by email and members are required to Suggested by the central by email and members are required to
Monthly face-to-face meetings
university’ office approve the documents within 2 days, university’ office approve the documents within 2 days,
replying to the email) replying to the email)
Telematic mode (the documentation is sent
Telematic mode (the documentation is sent
Informal decision Informal decision by email and members are required to
by email and members are required to
comminicated to professors via Monthly face-to-face meetings comminicated to professors via approve the documents within 2 days,
approve the documents within 2 days,
email email replying to the email) and meeting on the
replying to the email)
web conferencing platform
The Professor can choose between: Information on the university The Professor can choose between:
Rectoral Decree n. 637 of
- upload only the slides to the platform website dedicated to students - upload only the slides to the platform
April 16, 2020
- carry out streaming lessons on telematic Lecture in classroom and in which reference is made to - carry out streaming lessons on telematic
Published on the university
platforms laboratory the professor’s website, who platforms
website and sent by email to all
- record lessons (or even only audio) and should indicate the telematic - record lessons (or even only audio) and
students
upload them on predefined platforms tool chosen upload them on predefined platforms.
Communication on the Communication on the
university’s institutional sites Face-to-face (written, oral or university’s institutional sites
Only oral exam on web platforms Only oral exam on web platforms
and sent via email at each writte+oral) and sent via email at each
students students
Instructors are asked to Instructors are asked to
perform only receptions perform only receptions
remotely. This request was On web platforms, remotely (Teams, Skype, remotely. This request was On web platforms, remotely (Meet, Skype,
Face-to-face or via email
received by email from the mail…) received by email from the mail…)
School and all of students are School and all of students are
informed by email informed by email
Rectoral Decree n. 869 of
Rectoral Decree n. 465 of
March 10, 2020
March 12, 2020
Published on the university
Published on the university On web platforms, remotely (Teams) Face-to-face On web platforms, remotely(Meet)
website and sent by email to all
website and sent by email to all
students
students
Uploaded video on the Uploaded video on the
Videos shot inside the universities Face-to-face Videos shot inside the universities
university websites university websites
At the discretion of the At the discretion of the
coordinators. Information coordinators. Information
published on the department’s published on the department’s
social networks and on the social networks and on the
official website. For the On web platforms, remotely (Teams) Face-to-face or via email official website. For the On web platforms, remotely (Teams)
outgoing students the coming outgoing students the coming
back procedures are published back procedures are published
on the website and all of them on the website and all of them
are directly informed via email are directly informed via email
Communication on the Support via email or phone or remotely via Communication on the Support via email or phone or remotely via
Office hours face-to-face
university’s institutional sites Teams university’s institutional sites Meet
pandemic
1147
reaction to the
Universities’
JIC Director’s proposal which is given after consulting the reference teachers. The organization
23,5 and management of the educational activities of each degree course are carried out by an
educational commission, appointed by the Director of the Department and composed of the
reference teachers who request it and a student representative. A representative of the
administrative staff acts as secretary. The Board of Degree courses duties are (1) elaborating
proposals on the Study Courses, to be presented to the Department Council for its strategic
and operational choices while they are presented to the School or Faculty with regards to the
1148 organization of the courses; (2) assessing the quality of the offered trainings; (3) instructing
and deliberating on student practices and study plans.
During the emergency period, the individual Coordinator of the degree courses, in
agreement with the Department Student Office secretariat, were elected to analyse the
practices that were usually viewed during the attendance commissions. This had been
computerized, with the secretary sending the documentation via email to all the members
who were then asked to express an opinion by a predefined date.

4.3 Lectures
Teaching is generally defined as the set of contents, activities, methods and tools used for the
purpose of achieving training objectives and, consequently, promoting learning (Margiotta,
2014). However, to evaluate the quality of the teaching various factors must be analysed, such
as the choice and structuring of the topics; the relationship between teacher and students and
between students; the use of appropriate equipment and support materials and facilitating
understanding and reflection; the usefulness of the attended course; effective achievement of
the learning objectives and consequent knowledge acquired (added value) by the students.
The technological solutions offered by the universities are varied depending on the
objectives of the individual teachers. They also depend on the personal predisposition of each
teacher to use the new platforms and new tools offered by universities. Therefore, professors
can opt for:
1. Software to create a virtual classroom, sharing teaching materials, directing
communication (chat/forum) with students.
2. Software for a remote lesson/reception/webinar.
3. Software for audio/video lessons.
On the Sapienza website, the new methods available to individual teachers are explained,
underlining the need of professors to publish a message with the operating instructions on
their page on the website of their department or teacher card of the Study Program Catalog.
Instead, at Roma Tre, the Rector issued a Rectoral Decree (n. 637 of April 16, 2020), which was
published on the university website and sent to all students via email, which summarized the
options available to teachers in order to carry out their lessons. A classroom was created on
the Moodle platform for each professor, so information can be provided to students who must
take specific exams for which lessons were scheduled in the second semester of the academic
year 2020–2021.

4.4 Exams/test
In both selected universities, at the end of the lectures, students must take an exam or test to
evaluate the level of knowledge acquired (preparation of the knowledge).
Traditionally, both universities provide professors options regarding the ways they can
do this activity, as they can require students to take a written, an oral, or a written and an
oral exam.
 To date, although trying to abide by the government decrees which tend to reduce the Universities’
epidemic risks of coronavirus, these two universities have not been able to provide the reaction to the
necessary conditions with respect to social distancing (due to the number of students or
sometimes also because of the facilities), as a result exam are only oral and on platforms
pandemic
suggested by the universities themselves.

4.5 Professors’ office hours 1149

Among the various teaching activities carried out by the professors, there is also the support
provided to students for assisting them in drafting final degree documents, master’s degree
thesis, specialization, and doctoral theses that are provided through student office hours and
related counselling. This is one of the activities at these institutions that is necessary in
creating trust and internal relational capital in universities. In both universities, teachers are
required to identify and indicate a date and a time when they are available to support
students face-to-face, as well as to follow-up via email when necessary.
Following the government provisions relating to the suspension of teaching activities in
Italian universities for the containment of the virus, in-person office hours were suspended for
caution and prevention.
In this context, in order to continue to have a relationship with the students and do follow-
ups on their training, it was recommended to carry out this activity remotely, with electronic
tools (e-mail, skype, etc.).

4.6 Thesis’ dissertation

At the University of Roma Tre, during the normal course of activities, in relation to bachelor’s
degrees, two alternative ways of conducting the final test are foreseen. The students can
choose between:
1. The presentation of a written dissertation (without defence) on a subject chosen by the
candidate and under the supervision of a supervisor also chosen by the candidate. Even
in the absence of defence of the final thesis, the candidates are announced in a specially
dedicated session.
2. Conducting a written test in a single session on a subject chosen by the student (online
procedure).
As for Sapienza University the final examination consists of the preparation and defence of a
written essay, which explores a theme chosen by the student. The document must be
developed under the supervision of a supervisor and must be discussed during the
graduation session. The final paper can consist of one critical review of the scientific literature
(theoretical essay) or from the report of empirical research, which in any case must be based
on the relevant reference literature (research report).
For the final test of the Master’ degree, the two Universities adopt the same procedures. At
both universities, students must prepare and publicly discuss a thesis, to be carried out under
the supervision of a Professor. During the dissertation, the commission evaluates the
candidate on (1) the quality of the presentation and the clarity of the presentation; (2) mastery
of the problem as it emerges from the presentation and discussion of the entire subject matter,
from the state of research to the conclusions, as shown by the presentation and discussion;
(3) the complete subject matter, from the state of research to the conclusions, as shown by the
presentation and discussion.
In light of the provisions adopted to contain the Coronavirus epidemic, which were
published close to the dates on which the graduation sessions were scheduled, it was not
possible to give students the opportunity to discuss their final work.
JIC In this context, Rectoral decrees were issued in both universities, sent to students and all
23,5 professors, as well as published on the related websites, where discussion procedures are
implemented remotely.
4.7 Incoming orientation activities
Roma Tre University has a specific office called “The Orientation Office” that coordinates
student orientation activities for all Departments. It collaborates with the Rector’s Delegate
1150 for Orientation Policies and the GLOA (Working Group for University Orientation),
managing the relations with the secondary, providing activities for students, such as self-
orientation projects and the pre-orientation University Open Days, and participates in
orientation events held at the University and also outside of the university, such as the
Student Fair. In addition, it also provides information on Degree Courses and enrolment and
application procedures.
Sapienza University also has a central office that provides Student Tutoring and
Orientation Services. The central office and faculty delegate lecturers to coordinate the
entrance guidance and tutoring projects, manage the relations with high schools and referral
of teachers of outgoing guidance. They also propose support actions in the transition phase
from the school to the university, offer support to current students and provide information
on the educational offers and administrative procedures for accessing the courses.
Considering that this activity attracts a large number of people in the university
structures that are not manageable during the emergency, it was decided to prepare
presentation videos of every single department of each of the two universities analysed and
publish them on institutional sites.
4.8 Erasmus activities (support for incoming and outgoing students)
Erasmusþ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe.
In this context, it is considered the only student exchange programme.
Therefore, it entails an incoming and outgoing flow of students that had to be managed
during the emergency. In fact, when the international emergency was declared numerous
Italian students were abroad and in turn foreign students were present in the two universities
analysed. Therefore, the universities and the Erasmus coordinators had to manage this
situation.
To protect the student’s health, the universities have taken measures in agreement with
the EU, to bring back students to their country of origin, and not to cancel the study period
abroad.
All communications with individuals concerned were done through email and they were
also duly published on the various websites of the universities being analysed.
In conclusion, regarding the Erasmus activities, the presentation videos were uploaded on
the websites of both universities.

4.9 Department student office hours

The secretaries of departments provide other types of student support. In fact, students that
have to define their study plan or have problems with exams seek support from this office.
After the provisions adopted by government to contain the epidemic, in order not to lose
the relationship with the students, the secretariats have implemented reception by phone and
by email.

5. Discussion and interpretation of results

Evidence obtained from the analysis shows that both selected universities have promptly
addressed the students’ needs. In fact, the institutions have immediately changed their work
patterns asking professors, lecturers and administrative staff to use remote tools to contact Universities’
students. reaction to the
Therefore, the study highlighted the fact that the Department Council and the Board of
Degree courses were computerized, the administrative secretariat sends the documentation
pandemic
on the agenda via email to all the members who are asked to express an opinion by a
predefined date. As for Lectures, both universities offered different options for lectures, but
all options included distance learning while the Professors’ office and the Department Student
Office, had all activities carried out by phone or email. The platforms suggested by the 1151
universities were used for Exams/Tests and thesis’ dissertation and last but not least, both
the Incoming Orientation and the Erasmus activities were managed by uploading the
presentation videos on the University websites.
Clearly, these two higher education institutions managed to preserve the relationship with
their primary stakeholders through the transfer and sharing of knowledge with the support
of IT and technological tools. This gave the opportunity to consolidate, in some cases even
increase, the transparency of communication of the newly adopted methodologies to carry
out the activities. It is clear that the relationships between structural and relational capital are
fundamental to providing a competitive advantage (Martin de Castro and L
opez S
aez, 2008;
Cleary, 2009), especially during the crisis period (Jia et al., 2020). All of these have become
indispensable in order to ensure that the students do not lose the sense of belonging and trust
in the university to which they have decided to entrust their higher education process.
Thanks to the constant updating of the websites with news on the defined procedures, as well
as the continuous communication via email the transparency increased and the actual
intensity of relations made possible a maintenance of the trust that is necessary for Relational
Capital (Kale et al., 2000; Paoloni, 2021).
The main key results are summarized in Figure 4.

6. Conclusion
Traditional Italian universities have used a conventional face-to-face approach in their
teaching mission for centuries. This is also the case for the two selected universities in the
present work. Other Italian universities started to grow and expand exponentially in parallel
as a consequence of the diffusion of information and communication technologies, exploiting
multimedia aspects in particular (Graham, 2006).
Coming back to the research question defined at the initial step of the present work,
which is:
How have “traditional” universities promptly adapted their activities during the pandemic
emergency to maintain the relationships (RC) with their primary stakeholders (students)?
The findings of the analysis show that the main instruments that allowed the universities to
keep providing services to students, in order to maintain their relational capital, are digital
tools. Therefore, it may be underlined that there was an immediate reaction in the face of the
challenge arising from the emergency to support the students in their educational path.
Even if all undertaken actions had allowed the continuation of the activities and therefore
had at least kept the relational capital constant with the students, it has not been possible to
date to evaluate the quality of the activities implemented in the “new” way and with the
"technological" modalities. This is due to the fact that it will also be necessary to take into
account the absence of human contact (between professors and students and between
students with other students), which could affect the efficiency of the new instruments.
Relational capital, in fact, is developed through repeated interactions that create mutual
confidence and a sense of security for participants. This is especially the case when exposing
their vulnerability and efficiency through existing trustworthiness, respect, friendship and
JIC Activities observed Key actor(s) involved
University of Roma Tre
DURING COVID “NEW METHOD”
University of Sapienza
DURING COVID “NEW METHOD”
23,5 Department Council Head of Department Telematic mode Telematic mode

Board of Degree Courses President of the Degree Courses Telematic mode Telematic mode

The Professor can choose between:
- upload only the slides to the platform
- carry out streaming lessons on telematic
Lectures Professors
1152 platforms
- record lessons (or even only audio) and
upload them on predefined platforms.
The Professor can choose between:
- upload only the slides to the platform
- carry out streaming lessons on telematic
platforms
- record lessons (or even only audio) and
upload them on predefined platforms.

“Summer” Exams/Test Professors Only oral exam on web platforms Only oral exam on web platforms

On web platforms, remotely (Teams, Skype, On web platforms, remotely (Meet, Skype,
Reception/Professor’s office hours Professors
mail…) mail…)

School or Faculty and

Thesis’ dissertation On web platforms, remotely (Teams) On web platforms, remotely(Meet)
Professors

Head of Department, Professors

Incoming Orientation Activities Videos shot inside the universities Videos shot inside the universities
and Department Student Office

Erasmus activities (presentation of the Head of Department, Erasmus+

Figure 4. call for the next year, support for Coordinators, Secretary of On web platforms, remotely (Teams) On web platforms, remotely (Teams)
incoming and ougoing students) internationalisation
Key results of the
analysis Department Student Office’ hours Department Student Office
Support via email or phone or remotely via Support via email or phone or remotely via
Teams Meet

reciprocity (Kale et al., 2000; Villena et al., 2011). Therefore, the evaluation of the quality of
these activities will be possible only in the future and this could be affected not only by how
the universities decided to deal with the emergency but also by the technical skills of
professors and employees as well as by the support made available to university employees
(pc, tablet, . . .) for smart-remote-working.
Certainly, the way in which the two analysed universities reacted to the sudden
emergency has allowed them to maintain the relational capital created over the years, thanks
to the management of the corporate entrepreneurship approach. This has entailed the need to
quickly review the methods traditionally used in favour of technologically advanced tools
and it is not yet possible to say which of these new methods will be used also after the
emergency ends. It is hypothesized that these tools will remain functional alongside in-person
instruction that will have to be re-implemented as is peculiar to these types of organizations,
and necessary to re-establish the human relationships, that is an essential element to facilitate
the creation and sharing of knowledge.
What happened in the emergency phase changed the way employees of Italian public
traditional universities operate. Considering the epidemic is ongoing, we are not in a position
to say which tools used during the emergency will remain functional even when things return
to normal, but we can hypothesize that, given the investments made by the universities, the
way of contact between the organization and the students will probably change as a result of
this pandemic. However due to the added value provided by the “traditional” institutions
compared to the on-line universities, public high education organizations will probably
continue to favour face-to-face activities over remote ones.

7. Limitations
In the present work the authors analyse two Italian traditional universities. The selection of
this sample causes several limitations. In the first place, having studied two universities, even
though they are a proxy, could lead to results that are not generalizable. Furthermore, the fact
that they are all Italian could affect the findings as national legislation may have influenced
the choices of individual universities. The third limit is associated with the nature of the Universities’
organizations, i.e. only the “traditional” ones were selected, that is the organizations that, reaction to the
carried out their activities mostly vis-a-vis before the pandemic.
pandemic

8. Future line of research

The present work gives rise to several future research ideas. For example, comparative case
studies could be carried out which would be useful to highlight the strengths and weaknesses 1153
of the decisions taken in different contexts. Therefore (1) on-line universities and traditional
universities; or (2) also universities located in other countries could be investigated.
Another future line of research could be focusing on the analysis of the effective quality of
the MOOCs applied to the universities’ activities, using the students’ opinions evincible by the
OPIS (Rilevazione Opinione degli Studenti) or through direct interviews, as well as to include
an extra point of view with a focus on the opinion of the professors, lectures and
administrative staff to hear their perception of the changes.

9. Academic and practical contributions

The paper discussed an original and contemporary topic not yet investigated since it is
associated the Universities’ reaction to the pandemic emergency in 2020. The theme is dealing
with the ability of the Universities to maintain their intellectual capital value in such a period
of emergency and raises points that could be investigated in the future and that provide the
opportunity to implement the literature on the corporate entrepreneurial theme.
A relevant contribution of this work is related to RC and widening the debate on it seen not
only with respect to its measurement, but also to the qualitative analysis of relations whereas
already mentioned, appears to be a literature gap.
Therefore, the academic implications can be summarized in three main points: (1) the work
promptly analysed the changes necessary to overcome the problems emerged during the
pandemic emergency; (2) the work contributes to the debate concerning the transfer of
knowledge using digital tools: (3) the work contributes to the qualitative analysis of the
relationship, improving the debate on relational capital.
The present work has the managerial point of view, this paper highlights how the
corporate entrepreneurial view could be useful in supporting an inspected challenge that
could happen in a certain historical period. Therefore, a real implementation of
entrepreneurial concepts is preferred.

Notes
1. The information have been extrapolated from the MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Universita e
della Ricerca) official website. Available at anagrafe.miur.it (accessed 7 November 2020).
2. All information about Roma Tre University have been extrapolated from official website. Available
at https://www.unioroma3.it (accessed 10 April 2020).
3. All information about La Sapienza University have been extrapolated from official website.
Available at https://www.uniroma1.it (accessed 10 April 2020).

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Corresponding author
Giuseppe Modaffari can be contacted at: giuseppe.modaffari@uniroma1.it

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