Search results

We investigate practitioner integration (PI) within higher education institutions (HEIs) by taking a closer look at the entrepreneur in residence (EiR) initiative. Engaging experienced entrepreneurs through EiR initiatives to facilitate entrepreneurship education (EE) has become a familiar PI model within HEIs; nevertheless, how EiRs perceive their role and integration in academia has been under-researched. We deepen the understanding of how EiRs facilitate EE and their role and fit into academia.

This qualitative research employs interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as the methodology. Following IPA guidance, we purposively selected seven EiRs working within HEIs and conducted one semi-structured interview with each participant. The data were analysed using IPA data analysis guidelines.

The findings suggest that the previous experiences of EiRs influence their confidence, skills and intrinsic motivation in their role in academia. EiRs play a multifaceted role that goes beyond students and simple educational activities to develop trust and understanding among university communities while bridging academic–practitioner, structural and communication gaps that hinder entrepreneurship in higher education. The study reveals the disconnected nature of EiRs’ role in academia and the tensions between academics and EiRs.

This study provides space for unheard EiRs’ voices, enriching the scarce EiR literature by advancing our knowledge about their role and fit in academia. The novel insights into the role of EiRs broaden the scope of EE to university communities beyond students. The findings deepen our understanding of how EiRs foster entrepreneurship by acting as a trust ladder and developing a networked approach to supporting university stakeholders. The challenges lie in how EiRs are integrated and the tensions between academics and practitioners. We also found that EiRs with greater authority, prior exposure to strategic roles within the institution and strong relationships with institutional leaders perform their role efficiently. Hence, this study establishes the importance of a more coordinated, strategic approach to PI within HEIs.

The aim of this article is to develop an original framework that explores how the adoption of diversity and inclusion policies mediates the relationship between board composition and market value.

Using secondary data from the Refinitiv Eikon database, 413 Latin American publicly traded companies were analyzed from 2018 to 2021. Three independent variables related to board composition were used. Firstly, they were tested as antecedents of diversity in organizations. Secondly, diversity was tested as a driver of market capitalization. Multivariate analysis was applied, and discussions were anchored in upper echelons theory.

The empirical results presented evidence that board size and independence positively affect diversity policies and program development in organizations. On one hand, in our analyses, gender diversity lost significance. On the other hand, findings reveal that companies that develop more diversity and inclusion policies tend to have a higher value in terms of market capitalization.

We propose a hierarchy process for firms to reach value, starting with board composition’s influence on diversity and, in a second stage, the diversity as a driver for market capitalization. Furthermore, although prior research has examined the relationship between diversity and firm performance, there is a research gap regarding emerging countries.

The personalities of the design team members constitute one of the factors that influence team effectiveness. In this study, 223 members of the “American Institute of Architects” who are employed by the largest architectural design firms in the United States of America were categorized according to their personality types by using “The Enneagram Personality Type Model.” Also, the respondents’ opinions about eight team effectiveness outcomes were recorded in order to explore the relationship between team members’ personality types and team effectiveness outcomes.

The information was collected by a questionnaire where the first part included 144 pairs of statements that were used to identify respondents’ personality types. The second part sought designers’ opinions about the importance of eight team effectiveness outcomes rated on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5. The results were assessed by performing the Kruskal–Wallis test first and Dunn’s post-hoc test with Bonferroni adjustment subsequently.

The findings highlight the significance of personality types in effective design teams. While Type 6 (loyalist and skeptic) and Type 3 (achiever and performer) architects prioritize team effectiveness the most, Type 7 architects (enthusiasts and epicureans) assign the lowest importance. However, the presence of Type 1 (reformist and perfectionist) and Type 8 (challenger and protector) architects within the same design team may involve challenges or conflicts.

The primary contribution of this study is that it is the first study in the construction management literature that utilizes The Enneagram of Personality Test to understand the relationship between team members’ personality types and team effectiveness outcomes. This study is of direct relevance to practitioners and could be utilized in design team-building activities.

This paper explores attempts to deliver socioeconomic benefit by developing social enterprise within the public sector supply chain.

A case study approach is adopted which focusses on the implementation of public procurement policy intended to support social entrepreneurs (SEs) in the delivery of social care in Scotland. Socio-technical systems theory (STST) is adopted as a lens through which to explore the case.

While acknowledging the contextual limits of the case study, the empirical findings recognise partial implementation of the measures intended to develop social entrepreneurship in the supply chain. The results, however, suggest that both the engagement levels of SEs and the expected socio economic benefits are yet to accrue fully.

The paper concludes that in order to achieve the expected social benefits further progress is required in engaging SEs in formal collaborations with larger, potentially for profit, organisations and also in their increased involvement in the design and commissioning of public services.

The innovative, cross-sectional research design uses a survey based, gap analysis to provide a nuanced comparison between the views of local authority procurement officers and the opinions prevalent within social enterprise care providers and thereby to assesses the effectiveness of public policy.

Space tourism is currently experiencing significant attention because of its rapid and burgeoning development in the present era. This surge has resulted in an unprecedented growth in publications dedicated to unravelling the intricacies of space tourism. However, there is a conspicuous absence of a large-scale bibliometric analysis focusing on space tourism research from 1993 to 2022. Therefore, the aim of this study is to fill this research gap by examining and mapping the scholarly output published across the world in the spectrum of space tourism over the past 30 years (1993–2022).

A corpus of 7,438 publications pertaining to space tourism published from 1993 to 2022 was gathered from the Web of Science Core Collection. Accordingly, bibliometrix package in R and VOSviewer software were used to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis.

The current study highlights a significant surge in publications related to space tourism, indicating a heightened scholarly interest and a significant paradigm shift in its exploration. Scott M. Smith, affiliated with National Aeronautics Space Administration Johnson Space Center, emerges as the most prolific author. Leading journals in disseminating space tourism research are Acta Astronautica and Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine. Keyword analysis revealed hotspots such as “space flight”, “simulated microgravity”, “weightlessness” and “stress”, while research gaps include “skylab”, “shuttle”, “cartilage”, “herpes virus” and “herniation”, offering potential avenues for exploration.

This study’s implications empower stakeholders with actionable insights and deepen the understanding of the evolving landscape of space tourism research, fostering an environment conducive to continuous exploration and innovation in this burgeoning field.

This study enriches the understanding of global space tourism research and offers valuable insights applicable to a diverse audience, including researchers, policymakers and industry stakeholders. The broad applicability of the study’s findings underscores its significance, serving as a guide for strategic decision-making and shaping research agendas in the dynamic realm of space tourism.

Knowledge on how firms adapt to exogenous shocks remains scant. This study examines whether internationally connected firms (i.e. firms that rely on exporting, global value chains and foreign ownership) are less likely to adjust their production in response to a major exogenous shock. Moreover, this study investigates if governmental policy interventions affect more internationally connected firms than domestically focused counterparts.

This study uses data on more than 13,000 firms from 41 countries worldwide from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys, taking advantage of the recent COVID-19 pandemic as a quasi-experimental setting for research.

The results show that export-intensive and foreign-owned firms are less likely to adjust their production in response to the pandemic. Moreover, national governmental policies (in the form of confinement stringency and economic stimuli) seem to affect equally all firms in terms of their ability to adapt to the pandemic. Finally, the economic magnitude of these national policies dwarfs those of firms’ international strategies, confirming the paramount role played by governments worldwide in response to major exogenous shocks.

This study examines empirically whether internationally connected firms are more or less affected by a major global crisis (in this case the COVID-19 pandemic) and whether national policies in response to the crisis favor domestic firms.

Interest-free promotions are a prevalent strategy employed by credit card lenders to attract new customers, yet the research exploring their effects on both consumers and lenders remains relatively sparse. Selecting an optimal promotion strategy is intricate, involving the determination of an interest-free period duration and promotion-availability window, all within the context of market dynamics and complex consumer behaviour. The purpose of this study is to develop an agent-based model to assist with determining optimal promotion strategies.

In this paper, we introduce a novel agent-based model that facilitates the exploration of various credit card promotions under diverse market scenarios.

Our experiments reveal that, in the absence of competitor promotions, lender profit is maximised by an interest-free duration of approximately 12 months, while market share is maximised by offering the longest duration possible. In the context of concurrent interest-free promotions, we identify that the optimal lender strategy entails offering a more competitive interest-free period and a rapid response to competing promotional offers. Notably, a delay of three months in responding to a rival promotion corresponds to a 2.4% relative decline in income.

Our model consists of multiple lender and consumer agents that interact through a novel set of mechanisms based on well-studied consumer behaviours. Distinct from previous works, our model adopts a realistic billing cycle with a focus on interest charged to revolving accounts and supports a range of lender promotion strategies. It is calibrated to historical benchmarks and validated against both stylised facts and time-series data, ensuring a realistic reflection of market behaviour, which has been neglected in prior studies.

This study aims to investigate the reality of relationship banking (RB) in the small and medium enterprise (SME) context, specifically how banks organize activities, define SMEs and manage the SME–banking relationship.

Using qualitative methods, this study uses a case study approach, conducting in-depth interviews with relationship managers from major New Zealand banks. The data are analyzed using thematic analysis with a process- and mechanism-oriented lens.

The study identifies bank criteria for defining SMEs, considering factors such as business complexity, owner/manager ethnicity and business lending. Banks divide their activities into personal and business banking, with the latter further classified as micro-, small- and medium-sized businesses based on borrowing amounts. Three types of RB emerge, namely, micro-business (online/many-to-many) relationship model (RM), small-business RM (one-to-many) and medium-sized business (one-to-one) RM. This study presents a taxonomy of business banking relationship management models that capture the structure and dynamics of the three RB levels.

Interviews may introduce biases or limited perspectives. Findings specific to New Zealand may not universally apply. Future research could explore different regions and assess the impact of these RB models on SMEs’ financial outcomes and satisfaction with banking services.

Findings assist banks in organizing activities and managing SME relationships. Taxonomy aids in categorizing companies and determining appropriate management models. Consequently, tailored services can be provided based on SME needs, offering customized financial packages.

RB models prioritizing ethnicity consideration and personalized services contribute to enhanced financial inclusion for SMEs, thereby fostering broader socioeconomic growth and development, partly through the provision of tailored financial packages. Additionally, relationship managers specializing in specific industries can offer valuable insights and assistance to SMEs, fostering mutual trust and collaboration.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to hypothesize, investigate, identify and provide evidence for three RB levels in SMEs. The presented taxonomy contributes to the literature on the SME–bank relationship by providing a structured framework for effective SME relationship management. Insights can help banks develop strategies and practices for serving SMEs, ultimately contributing to their growth and success.

This study aims to examine how affective and technological attitudes influence tourists’ intentions to use ride-sharing services. The authors also explore the moderating effects of perceived freedom and digital literacy on these relationships.

The sample consisted of local and international tourists using ride-sharing services in Bali, Indonesia. The authors used convenience sampling to distribute questionnaires to the respondents, collecting 258 responses. Out of these, 222 responses were fully completed and suitable for analysis.

The results revealed that hedonia, eudaimonia, technophilia and technophobia each differently influence tourists’ intentions to use ride-sharing services. Perceived freedom and digital literacy moderate the strength of these relationships.

This research builds on previous studies by investigating how various aspects of happiness affect tourists' intentions to use ride-sharing services. It also emphasizes the role of perceived freedom and digital literacy in moderating the relationship between happiness, technology adoption attitudes and ride-sharing intentions.

This study contributes to the existing ride-sharing literature by integrating two dimensions of affective attitude (hedonia and eudaimonia) and technology adoption attitude (technophilia and technophobia) to examine their effects on tourists’ intentions to use ride-sharing services.

In this paper, the authors opt for an identification strategy to examine the moderating impact of the institutional environment on the association between modern slavery and financial reporting quality, as measured by classification shifting and real earnings management around the world.

Using panel data between 2010 and 2018, the authors perform various analyses and robustness tests on a sample consisting of 134, 205 firm-year observations in 63 countries.

The results, which are robust, show a positive association between modern slavery and expense misclassification and real activities earnings management, confirming that the institutional environment facilitates prolonged and endless concealment of unethical and illegal business practices. In addition, we find that the quality of the legal environment moderates illegal modern slavery practices, unethical expense misclassification and real activities earnings management. The negative impact is more pronounced in a strong legal environment than in a weak legal environment. Our results are robust after controlling for the impact of auditing, including financial auditors, social auditing, corporate social responsibilities, environmental, social and governance score and corporate governance.

The study’s findings are limited to a lack of modern slavery data prior to 2010. In addition, some of the variables examined are studied at the firm level, while other variables are at the state or county level. Finally, the study establishes an association between the variables of interest, and this does not necessarily imply causation.

The findings have several important social, practical, policy, practitioner and regulatory implications for all types of countries and businesses. First, senior and corporate management committed to socially responsible reporting should intensify their momentum to deal with modern slavery risks and practices in their supply chains. Second, auditors and external monitoring agencies should strengthen their social and financial audits to uncover hidden modern slavery crimes and illicit financial benefits. Third, regulators and governments around the world should mandate laws and severe sanctions against illegal and illegitimate modern slavery practices. Fourth, the internal governance mechanism should be strengthened and modern slavery reporting, sustainability reports and social audits should be enforced and made compulsory in the governance section of the annual report.

The study provides novel evidence of the impact of modern slavery practices on financial reporting quality in an institutional environment. Our study contributes to the ongoing policy debate by showing how institutional and legal environments influence firms’ behaviour regarding modern slavery and financial reporting. The findings reveal the importance of robust regulatory frameworks and ethical auditing practices in curbing modern slavery and promoting transparency. As firms continue to navigate these challenges, strengthening institutional and ethical standards could play a key role in reducing illegal and unethical practices, ultimately contributing to better financial transparency and accountability on a global scale.