In brief, the motivation for conducting this study has been the societal changes brought upon the Covid-19 pandemic from a socio-economic perspective. The outbreak of the pandemic has resulted in that companies faced major organizational challenges to adapt to the virtual working setting in terms of communicating and transferring knowledge. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether firms that adopt new technologies for communication (e.g. Microsoft Teams or Zoom) and adapt to virtual working settings are positively or negatively affected in terms of barriers to knowledge transfer. Thus, the focus of has been on finding potential benefits and/or drawbacks of transferring knowledge in a virtual setting. The following research question has been answered to cover this: How is digital transformation, in terms of increased adoption of novel communication technologies driven by Covid-19, affecting barriers to knowledge transfer in an intra-unit setting in multinational corporations (MNCs)? In order to study this, the authors conducted 10 semi-structured interviews with participants from one department at Ernst & Young (EY). The empirical data have been analyzed with a conceptual framework that the authors have developed themselves. Based on the exploratory investigation, the authors draw the conclusion that knowledge-related barriers have decreased due to the increased adoption of novel technologies, while relational barriers have increased overall. Yet, we suggest that the relational barriers could be further mitigated, by incorporating an approach similar to EY’s hybrid model into the firm’s organizational routine.

The role of creativity in the economy is seen as crucial to assist nations in attaining higher employment and economic achievement and to cope with increased competition (Davies, 2002,Burnard, 2006). As a consequence, education systems are being required to undergo “a major overhaul in resources, attitudes, and understanding” so that creativity can be valued to manage literacy as a non-linear information structure through different settings (Turner-Bisset, 2007). Nourishing and fostering creativity in all educational settings while using technology as a conduit unlocks the opportunity to produce a highly employable workforce with 21st-century skills. Hence, the major challenge lies in how educators can prepare students by fostering creativity and enhancing 21st-century skills through information and communication technologies (ICT) in a virtual learning environment, referred to as a “virtual setting” in this study. This paper aims to explore the factors that hinder or foster the teaching and learning of creativity in a virtual setting through smart devices by conducting fve expert indepth interviews with “Pro-C” artists from various professional backgrounds and applying a thematic analysis to derive implications for educators and students for using technology as a conduit to enhance creativity [Aus: Introduction]