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This study examines how assurors make sense of sustainability assurance (SA) work and how interactions with assurance team members and clients shape assurors’ sensemaking and their actual SA work.

To obtain detailed accounts of how SA work occurs on the ground, this study explores three SA engagements by interviewing the main actors involved, both at the client firms and at their Big Four assurance providers.

Individual assurors’ (i.e. partners and other team members) sensemaking of SA work results in the crafting of their logics of action (LoAs), that is, their meanings about the objectives of SA work and how to conduct it. Without organizational socialization, team members may not arrive at shared meanings and deviate from the team-wide assurance approach. To fulfill their objectives for SA work, assurors may engage in socialization with clients or assume a temporary role. Yet, the role negotiations taking place in the shadows of the scope negotiations determine their default role during the engagement.

Two options are available to help SA statement users gauge the relevance of SA work: either displaying the SA work performed or making it more uniform.

This study theoretically grounds how assurors make sense of SA work and documents how (the lack of) professional socialization, organizational socialization and socialization of frequent interaction partners at the client shape actual SA work. Thereby, it unravels the SA work concealed behind SA statements.

This paper aims to explore the implications of algorithmic management on careers and employment relationships in the Nigerian gig economy. Specifically, drawing on labour process theory (LPT), this study provides an understanding of the production relations beyond the “traditional standard” to “nonstandard” forms of employment in a gig economy mediated by digital platforms or digital forms of work, especially on ride-hailing platforms (Uber and Bolt).

This study adopted the interpretive qualitative approach and a semi-structured interview of 49 participants, including 46 platform drivers and 3 platform managers from Uber and Bolt.

This study addresses the theoretical underpinnings of the LPT as it relates to algorithmic management and control in the digital platform economy. The study revealed that, despite the ultra-precarious working conditions and persistent uncertainty in employment relations under algorithmic management, the underlying key factors that motivate workers to engage in digital platform work include higher job flexibility and autonomy, as well as having a source of income. This study captured the human-digital interface and labour processes related to digital platform work in Nigeria. Findings of this study also revealed that algorithmic management enables a transactional exchange between platform providers and drivers, while relational exchanges occur between drivers and customers/passengers. Finally, this study highlighted the perceived impact of algorithmic management on the attitude and performance of workers.

The research presents an interesting case study to investigate the influence of algorithmic management and labour processes on employment relationships in the largest emerging economy in Africa.

The initial transition into work has become less predictable. Therefore, emerging adults should take charge and be proactively engaged in their careers during the preparation stage of the school-to-work transition (STWT). We explored which behaviors emerging adults display during the STWT to foster their happiness, health, and productivity, how various contextual factors enable or hinder these behaviors, and to what extent these behaviors can be considered proactive.

Taking a qualitative approach, we conducted 44 semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students at an Applied Sciences University in the Netherlands six months before graduation. Additionally, we held nine focus groups (n = 55) and four interviews (n = 6) with contextual stakeholders (i.e. parents, faculty/staff, employers, the board of the university, higher education policymakers, and the Ministry of Education).

The students mentioned three main behaviors to foster their health, happiness, and productivity, namely, eating healthy food, maintaining social contacts, and reflecting on their motivations. Our analysis shows that, conceptually, none of these behaviors can be considered truly proactive. Moreover, the findings revealed multiple systemic underlying contextual hindrances to portray these behaviors, such as educational system characteristics, which make proactive behaviors less likely.

As the STWT is affected by multiple contexts, adopting a multi-stakeholder perspective is imperative when studying the phenomenon. We adopted the sustainable careers framework as a lens to uncover how emerging adults may build early career sustainability—additionally, we nuance current research on proactivity by concretizing the conceptualization of proactive behaviors.

The purpose of this study is to investigate, through the application of a decoupling conceptual framework, why seemingly appropriate workplace gender strategies may not yield the desired results. In doing so, the authors address two key questions: how and why have seemingly comprehensive gender equality–related strategies failed to eradicate workplace gender inequality, and how can implementing these strategies be more effective?

The authors use a qualitative approach to examine a case study organization within the public sector. This involves a combination of document analysis, semistructured interviews and focus groups. The authors use a unique data set to investigate the effectiveness of implementing a socially oriented strategy related to gender equality.

The findings highlight different approaches in the implementation of gender equality strategies compared to those aligned with core business objectives. This study also identifies techniques for bridging the gender equality strategy–practice gap, offering significant implications for both policy and practice.

This research is subject to common limitations associated with case studies, interviews and focus groups.

Despite the growing awareness and increased focus on eliminating workplace gender inequality, it remains a “wicked problem” due to its global pervasiveness and the complexity of its causes, manifestations and implications. This issue continues to present itself in various forms across numerous sectors and organizations, despite decades of concerted efforts by multiple stakeholders, including governments, nongovernmental organizations, businesses and society at large. In this paper, the authors investigate the reasons for such slow progress and argue that this issue is less related to the appropriateness of existing gender strategies and more a result of the ineffective implementation of these strategies.

This paper aims to offer insight into how strategies within the accounting profession, which has been becoming more global, might be changed by the recent outbreak of the Second Cold War between the West and the Rest of the World.

We explore the strategies of those who called themselves “Confucian accountants” in China, a country which has recently discouraged its state-owned enterprises from using the services of the Big 4. We do this by employing qualitative research methods, including reflexive photo interviews, in which Big-4 accountants, recognised as the most Westernised accounting actors in China, and Confucian accountants are asked to take and explain photographs representing their professional lives. Bourdieu’s notions of “economy of practices” and “vision-of-division strategy” are drawn upon to understand who the Confucian accountants are and what they do strategically in their pursuit of a higher revenue stream and improved social standing in the Chinese social space.

The homegrown Confucian accountants share cultural-cognitive characteristics with neighbouring social actors, such as their clients and government officials, who have been inculcated with Confucianism and the state’s cultural confidence policy in pursuit of a “socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics”. Those accountants try to enhance their social standing and revenue stream by strategically demonstrating their difference from Big-4 accountants. For this purpose, they wear Confucian clothes, have Confucian props in their office, employ Confucian phrases in their everyday conversations, use Confucian business cards and construct and maintain guanxi with government officials and clients.

This paper is the first attempt to explore Confucian accountants’ strategies for increasing their revenue and social standing at the start of the Second Cold War.

Business schools are vital in promoting responsible management (RM) – a management grounded in ethics and values beneficial to a wide array of stakeholders and overall society. Nevertheless, due to deeply embedded institutional modernistic dynamics and paradigms, RM is, despite its importance, repeatedly marginalised in business school curricula. If students are to engage with RM thinking, then its occlusion represents a pressing issue. Drawing on the United Kingdom (UK) business school context, this paper aims to examine this issue through a framework of institutional theory and consider the role played by (modernistic) institutional accreditation and research assessment processes in marginalisation of RM.

This study used an exploratory qualitative research method. Data were collected from 17 RM expert participants from 15 UK business schools that were signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education through semi-structured in-depth interviews and analysed using the six phases of Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis.

The study identifies a potent institutional isomorphic amalgam resulting in conservative impacts for RM. This dynamic is termed multiple institutional isomorphic marginalisation (MIIM) – whereby a given domain is occluded and displaced by hegemonic institutional pressures. In RM’s case, MIIM operates through accreditation-driven modernistic-style curricula. This leads business schools to a predilection towards “mainstream” representations of subject areas and a focus on mechanistic research exercises. Consequently, this privileges certain activities over RM development with a range of potential negative effects, including social impacts.

This study fills an important gap concerning the need for a critical, in-depth exploration of the role that international accreditation frameworks and national institutional academic research assessment processes such as the Research Excellence Framework in the UK play in affecting the possible growth and influence of RM. In addition, it uses heterotopia as a conceptual lens to reveal the institutional “mask” of responsibility predominantly at play in the UK business school context, and offers alternative pathways for RM careers.

There is a knowledge gap regarding the determinants of open innovation processes and outcomes in a joint value creation context, as well as what role artificial intelligence (AI) and data management play in facilitating open innovation processes. One strategy to better understand joint value creation through open innovation, supported by AI and data management, is to conduct studies on the digital business ecosystem (DBE). The purpose of this paper is to improve our current knowledge of this urgent issue in contemporary management through the lens of an ecosystem-based theory by conducting an empirical study on two DBEs (called ecosystem micro-communities (EMCs)), developed by Haier, as well as multiple literature reviews on the key concepts “Haier EMC” and “digital business ecosystem”.

By building on multiple literature reviews and empirical data from a multi-year and ongoing research program driven by Haier, this study examines Haier’s EMC model for AI-driven DBEs. Secondary data were collected through iterative literature reviews on DBEs, the EMC concept and the two selected EMC cases. The empirical data were collected through a qualitative study of two Haier EMCs in China.

Haier's ecosystem micro-community concept represents a radical shift towards a more flexible, responsive and innovative cross-industry organizational structure, offering valuable lessons for business leaders and scholars. Haier’s ecosystem micro-community model, part of their RenDanHeYi philosophy and here viewed as a DBE, is a pioneering management concept that not only redefines the management of the firm and the traditional corporate structure, but also the traditional view on innovation management, business strategy, human resource management and marketing (customer centricity). The concept has therefore an important and big impact on traditional management. For scholars, the gap in understanding innovation processes in open business ecosystems is addressed by the concept. However, the concept also opens new areas for academic research, particularly in innovation management, business strategy, human resource management and marketing. The concepts further encourage more interdisciplinary research.

The DBE is a relatively new research area that will need more research. While the EMC model is promising as an effective version of a DBE, its effectiveness across different industries and organizational cultures needs to be explored further. Future research should investigate its applicability and impact in diverse business environments. To understand the EMC’s long-term impact, longitudinal studies are needed. These should focus on the sustained competitive advantages, potential market disruptions and the evolution of customer value propositions over time. Finally, considering increasing concerns about data privacy and security, future research should also explore how DBEs solve the issue of data protection and IP while promoting open innovation and value sharing.

For managers and practitioners, the EMC concept could inspire leaders to learn how to foster innovation by creating smaller, autonomous teams that can respond quickly to market changes in the form of a DBE. The concepts exemplify how value creation and capture could be enhanced for any company and even could be a new strategy in the company’s digital transformation and repositioning into a more competitive, high-end player on the market. The concept also emphasizes employee empowerment and ownership, which can lead to higher job satisfaction and retention rates. The concept can further improve companies’ adaptability and resilience by decentralizing decision-making. Finally, the micro-communities allow businesses to be more customer-centric, developing products and services that better meet specific customer needs.

The social implications could be positive, as complex social problems commonly need an ecosystem approach to develop and deliver impactful solutions. In addition, Haier’s ecosystem micro-community model seems inherently scalable and culturally adaptable.

Haier’s EMC model is well-known in the research literature and is a novel approach to DBEs, which has been proven successful and replicable in different countries and industries. Providing insights from multiple literature reviews and two unique Haier EMC cases will contribute to a better understanding of highly effective data- and AI-driven business ecosystems, as well as of determinants of open innovation processes and outcomes in a joint value creation context, as well as what role AI and data management play in facilitating open innovation processes.

This paper aims to understand how fashion-based social enterprises (FSEs) navigate the marketing communications of fashion products alongside those of their social mission. The authors use the theoretical lens of Consumer culture theory, Collin Campbell’s “Romantic ethic” and the work of Eva Illouz to explore how FSEs weave the emotional appeals of fashion consumption with those of contributing to a greater social cause. The melding of these theoretical approaches to consumer behaviour enables a thorough analysis of FSE marketing strategies.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 founders, marketing directors and managers of FSEs. Open-ended questions were used, and key themes were established through inductive analysis.

The findings show that FSEs use a form of brand storytelling in their marketing communications; they view their social mission as a unique selling point; FSEs could further incorporate product quality/aesthetic value into brand storytelling; and they could sharpen brand storytelling by further engaging with the positive emotional responses they elicit from consumers.

This research has both theoretical and practical implications in that FSEs that focus on explicit altruistic messaging at the expense of aesthetic hedonism may limit their appeal to mainstream fashion consumers. Accordingly, a promising approach may be to effectively incorporate and link the positive emotional responses of both altruistic and aesthetic value. This approach could similarly apply to other areas of social enterprise retail marketing, particularly for those seeking to attract consumers beyond ethical shoppers.

This paper aims to explore the motivations behind women in a developing South Asian country – Sri Lanka – to embark on entrepreneurship in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, which is a doubly masculine hegemony operating within a culturally nuanced gendered context.

The study employs a qualitative research approach, conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with 15 STEM women entrepreneurs, following the theoretical lenses of push and pull motivation theory and gender role theory.

Although the motivations of STEM women entrepreneurs cannot be exclusively categorized as either push or pull factors, the pull factors had a greater influence on the participants in motivating them to become entrepreneurs. The primary motivators for starting businesses in STEM were: inspiration from something or someone, inner calling, the identification of business opportunities, the need for flexibility, necessity and/or desire to help society. It was often difficult to identify one dominant motivator in many instances, as many factors were interlinked to motivate women to start a business. The study also revealed that gender ideologies could stifle the participants' motivation, while the inner need to break these gender ideologies implicitly stimulated their motivation.

The study contributes to and expands the knowledge of STEM women entrepreneurs in general and to the limited existing knowledge of STEM women entrepreneurs in developing countries specifically. The paper brings contextual novelty as Sri Lanka produces more female STEM graduates than men, which is unique compared to most other parts of the world.

Scholars acknowledge that trust relationships between expatriates and host nationals are important; however, previous research has demonstrated that one’s culture affects how individuals define trust, which can influence how trust is developed between expatriates and host nationals. In addition, trust can affect communication between expatriates and host nationals in many ways. Therefore, this study examined how US host nationals and Japanese expatriates conceptualized trust in the workplace as well as how trust affected their daily communication.

A total of 32 participants (16 US Americans and 16 Japanese) working in a multinational manufacturing company participated in semi-structured, individual interviews. A modified version of constant comparative analysis was employed to analyze the data.

Both groups of participants identified competence and skills, teamwork and collaboration, and open/honest communication as defining features of trust in the workplace, although there were some explanations regarding trust that were influenced by participants’ culture. Further, trust between US host nationals and Japanese expatriates affected their communication strategies, such as information flow and mentoring communication.

This study contributes to literature on the relationships between expatriates and host nationals by providing a culturally nuanced understanding of trust in the workplace. Additionally, findings from this study offer practical recommendations for multinational corporations for how to socialize and train their employees to enhance their work experience with one another.