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In recent years, researchers have shown an increased interest in studying the institutional environment–financial institutions’ performance nexus. However, little attention is paid to investigating the role of institutional quality in the financial sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Consequently, this study explores whether investments in strengthening institutional environment enhance MFIs’ financial sustainability.

The study relies on an unbalanced panel dataset of 136/138 MFIs in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) spanning from 2004 to 2018, which was obtained from the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) Market database under the World Bank catalog. Data for institutional factors are accessed from the World Bank database for World Governance Indicators (WGI). The study applies the two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) to analyze the data.

The research uncovers that institutional environment matters in the financial sustainability of MFIs. The study shows that institutional quality is, in the aggregate, positively associated with financial sustainability. Different institutional factors also have distinct impacts on financial sustainability. While contemporaneous relationships are discovered between government effectiveness (GOVE), rule of law (RUL) and sustainability, the relationship between control of corruption (CCOR) and sustainability is an intertemporal one. Unlike the others, CCOR impacts sustainability with a one-year lag and not instantaneously. Nevertheless, the effects of the aforementioned institutional factors on financial sustainability are all positive and consistent with the result for the aggregate measure.

The practical implication of our findings to MFI managers is that strategies should be developed and instituted to manage MFI-specific factors appropriately and counterbalance the negative effect of a weak institutional environment (in SSA) on financial sustainability, as MFIs have no or less control over the institutional quality. For policymakers, our findings underscore the significance of policy documents that assist developing economies in improving their institutional environment, as strong institutions are vital for MFIs in the attainment of financial sustainability, which is crucial for sustainable poverty reduction.

While the extant literature provides valuable insights that different MFI-specific factors drive the financial sustainability of MFIs, the previous studies fail to address the role of institutional quality in the financial sustainability of MFIs. This study examines the nexus between institutional quality and financial sustainability, which has been ignored in the previous literature.

The advent of a dynamic and uncertain environment has shifted organizational focus from reactive to proactive approaches to develop resilience against disruptions. Organizations can strengthen their supply chain networks through strategic changes in structure and processes. In this connection, this study explores the extant literature on supply chain resilience (SCRE) concerning soft organizational factors (leadership, organizational culture and knowledge management) to analyse recent trends in this domain and propose future research directions.

It is a bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review of research articles from 2004 to 2024, collected from ISI Web of Science with keywords searches such as “knowledge management and supply chain resilience,” “leadership and supply chain resilience” and “organizational culture and supply chain resilience.” “VOS viewer” and “ATLAS.ti” were utilized for the co-occurrence and co-authorship analysis of the articles along with focusing on aspects such as theoretical and practical implications, the collaboration institutions and the countries involved in relation to the topic of interest.

The review shows that the development of studies on SCRE was slow from 2004 to 2015 but grew significantly from 2015 onwards and rose exponentially after 2020. Most studies were published in 2023. Results reveal the development of proactive strategies for SCRE in the recent literature by focusing on organizational factors. The study highlights exploring the contextual interplay between environmental, social and governance (ESG) and soft organizational factors for mitigation of supply chain risk and resilience in large-scale projects.

The COVID-19 pandemic became the precursor to highlighting the antecedents of SCRE, but the study of soft organizational drivers is still an ongoing area of research. There is a need to map the nascent literature on the link between organizational soft drivers and SCRE.

The study aims to examine the potential benefits of integrating nature-based solutions (NbS) in the housing sector.

The approach adopted was a systematic literature review aided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews criteria and the VOSviewer software. Abductive reasoning was used to analyze the collected data, which was then subjected to content analysis through an iterative read-and-review procedure.

The study identified green walls, indoor greenery, porous pavement and landscaping, rainwater harvesting and water purification and green roofs as elements of buildings where NbS should be incorporated. Although nature-based research on integrated greenery facades and roof applications was noted, rainwater harvesting and water purification-oriented research remained dominant. These findings demonstrate the advantages of implementing NbS in the housing sector, including energy efficiency, environmental development, flood prevention and sustainable water management. Integrating NbS into housing designs can considerably contribute to the creation of more resilient, eco-friendly and comfortable living environments. However, the adoption of NbS faces hurdles, including a lack of awareness, limited policy support and economic constraints.

This study recommends that NbS be mainstreamed into housing development and knowledge exchange opportunities between sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, as well as other regions, to promote the adoption of NbS through research and collaborations. Also, it contributes to the discourse of sustainable affordable housing in the Global South while addressing United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 11, 12, 13 and 15. This study offers valuable guidance to stakeholders, thereby fostering the development of more sustainable and resilient housing practices and policies.

The study used VOSviewer software visualization to identify structural patterns and track prominent research frontiers, allowing for a more thorough yet concise mapping and capture of a scientific knowledge domain.

This study aims to develop a modelling framework of housing supply dynamics within the context of urban microsimulation systems. Housing markets have witnessed substantial investigation over recent decades, predominantly concerning residential demand. However, comparatively limited attention has been directed towards comprehending the housing supply dynamics. Housing policy disconnects with the developers’ market behaviours, which leads to significant mismatch between the housing construction and affordable housing needs of the population. Research attention should be made in comprehending the residential construction market activities. To address this gap, this study developed an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and analyzed the temporal evolution of housing construction.

An ARDL model was developed to address the issue of temporal modelling of the housing supply. An empirical study was conducted in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) based on a longitudinal housing starts data set from 1998 to 2020. The model integrates diverse variables, including macroeconomic conditions, property development costs, dwelling prices and opportunity costs. Notably, the model captures both the path-dependent effects stemming from supply market fluctuations and the temporal lag effect of influential factors.

The findings reveal that the supply-side’s responsiveness to market condition alterations may span up to 18 months. The model has reasonable and satisfying performance in fitting the observed starts. The methodological foundations laid will facilitate future modelling of housing supply dynamics.

This study innovatively separated the modelling of housing supply within the context of urban microsimulation, into two parts, the modelling of housing starts and completion. The housing starts are determined in a complex and regressive process influenced by both the micro-economic environment and the construction cost and housing market trends. Through the temporal modelling method, this study captures how long it would take for the housing supply to respond to multiple factors and provides insight for urban planners in regulating the housing market and leveraging various policies to influence the housing supply.

The teaching–research nexus (TRN) has assumed a prominent role in global higher education systems. However, the connection between the two domains has been subject to diverse interpretations within well-developed higher education systems. Little is known about translating TRN into policy and practice in diverse higher education spaces. In this regard, this article examines the recent trajectory and challenges associated with integrating research and teaching in Cambodia.

To analyse the current development of TRN and its associated challenges, this article consolidates two sets of data: recent research papers and government policy documents on TRN in the last 10 years or so.

The analysis shows that the connection between teaching and research appears to be patchy in practice, as evidenced in previous studies. The recent government policies and interventions, although potentially fostering progress in research activities, pose dilemmas regarding the orientation and feasibility of linking these two domains.

This article focuses on enhancing TRN in Cambodia, one of the developing higher education contexts, thereby offering insights into the strategies and concerns within such environments. Policymakers in similar higher education contexts might benefit from considering the concerns and solutions highlighted in this article.

Research on policies and strategies for strengthening TRN in developing higher education contexts remains limited in the literature. This article contributes to our collective knowledge of TRN by looking at Cambodia's contemporary reality and strategies.

The Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) prescribes three types of controlled vocabularies for open access repositories (OARs): access rights, resource type and version type. Interestingly, COAR does not suggest a subject-specific vocabulary for organising content, whereas the subject parameter is one of the most preferred search categories used by information seekers. The purpose of the study is to investigate the use of controlled vocabularies in subject arrangement in OARs.

The study comprises eight stages. The first is to identify the total number of repositories enlisted in OpenDOAR under the social science domain in India. Next, the samples are selected, followed by data harvesting using MarcEdit OAI-PMH harvester plug-ins. The next step is to process the data and then consolidated controlled vocabulary is constructed by merging six existing thesauri. Then, a similarity matching algorithm is used to determine the usage of controlled vocabularies for subject arrangement. The last step is to evaluate the efficacy of controlled vocabulary in information retrieval.

The results revealed that subject arrangement differs largely in each repository. The study also showed that the use of controlled vocabularies in OARs for subject arrangement still needs to be standardised to enhance interoperability.

This research reflected that those controlled terms address issues, such as ambiguity, inconsistency and synonym variation, typically found with uncontrolled keywords through standardising subject metadata. This standardisation gives users a more reliable and user-friendly search experience, ultimately improving the discoverability and usability of open access content.

Unlocking the potential of Big Data Analytics (BDA) has proven to be a transformative factor for the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. This has prompted researchers to focus attention on BDA in the AEC industry (BDA-in-AECI) in recent years, leading to a proliferation of relevant research. However, an in-depth exploration of the literature on BDA-in-AECI remains scarce. As a result, this study seeks to systematically explore the state-of-the-art review on BDA-in-AECI and identify research trends and gaps in knowledge to guide future research.

This state-of-the-art review was conducted using a mixed-method systematic review. Relevant publications were retrieved from Scopus and then subjected to inclusion and exclusion criteria. A quantitative bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer software and Gephi to reveal the status quo of research in the domain. A further qualitative analysis was performed on carefully screened articles. Based on this mixed-method systematic review, knowledge gaps were identified and future research agendas of BDA-in-AECI were proposed.

The results show that BDA has been adopted to support AEC decision-making, safety and risk assessment, structural health monitoring, damage detection, waste management, project management and facilities management. BDA also plays a major role in achieving construction 4.0 and Industry 4.0. The study further revealed that data mining, cloud computing, predictive analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence methods, such as deep learning, natural language processing and computer vision, are the key methods used for BDA-in-AECI. Moreover, several data acquisition platforms and technologies were identified, including building information modeling, Internet of Things (IoT), social networking and blockchain. Further studies are needed to examine the synergies between BDA and AI, BDA and Digital twin and BDA and blockchain in the AEC industry.

The study contributes to the BDA-in-AECI body of knowledge by providing a comprehensive scope of understanding and revealing areas for future research directions beneficial to the stakeholders in the AEC industry.

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) is progressively reshaping the dynamics of human interaction, communication, lifestyle, education and professional endeavors. The purpose of the study is to comprehend and address the barriers which are impeding the implementation of Generative AI Technologies, such as ChatGPT in the educational landscape.

The study used the Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model to analyze the responses gathered from 149 academicians belonging to the northern states of India.

The study established that the three most important criteria that influence the adoption of generative AI in the education sector are Risk of Academic Integrity, Risk of biased outcomes and Erosion of Critical Thinking.

The present study was confined to Fuzzy AHP to extract the critical criteria influencing the decision-making. Various other techniques such as PF-Delphi and PF-CoCoSo can be used further. The results provide significant inputs for future research to understand the effect of adoption of Generative AI in different contexts including both opportunities and the challenges faced by them.

The study will be beneficial to various stakeholders including students, educators, society and policymakers as the study will highlight the importance of AI tools, introduce the various challenges associated with and explain the use of these tools as productivity-enhancing tools.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, the present study is a novice as the use of AI in Academia is unexplored and the major criteria influencing the choices have yet been undiscovered.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between managerial corporate social responsibility (CSR) mindset and business performance in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), focusing on the mediating role of CSR practices and the moderating influence of institutional forces.

A structured questionnaire was administered to 221 SME managers. The data was analysed using the Hayes process in SPSS to test the hypothesized relationships.

This study found that a managerial CSR mindset significantly improves operational and financial business performance. In addition, CSR practices mediate the relationship between managerial CSR mindset and business performance. Furthermore, institutional forces moderate this relationship, highlighting the critical role of external factors in shaping SME performance.

The findings suggest that SME managers should adopt a proactive managerial CSR mindset and integrate CSR into their core strategies to enhance business performance. Moreover, managers must be responsive to institutional forces as they adjust their strategy to meet external pressures to ensure sustainable performance.

This study demonstrates the theoretical explanation of how CSR practices serve as a conduit through which a managerial CSR mindset improves business performance under varying conditions of institutional forces.

This study aims to explore the unique establishment of the early stage of the Alipay ecosystem in Malaysia by the Chinese-based Ant-Financial Services Group (Ant-Financial is the parent company of Alipay). Alipay, a Chinese m-payment technology, is used by Chinese tourists visiting Malaysia. With the diverse set of domestic–foreign stakeholders formed within this early stage of the Alipay ecosystem in Malaysia, this empirical study provides fresh insight that is different from the typical group of domestic stakeholders and crucial for a successful early stage of an m-payment ecosystem establishment. This early stage of the Alipay ecosystem in Malaysia set a promising precedent for the next m-payment ecosystem for Malaysians.

This exploratory case study examined the early stage of the Alipay ecosystem established in Malaysia. The authors collected primary data from eight respondents through qualitative, semi-structured interviews. These respondents were identified using a snowballing technique, including individuals with relevant knowledge. To ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information, the authors triangulated the primary data obtained with other primary and secondary data sources.

The results elucidate how Ant-Financial established the early stage of the Alipay ecosystem in Malaysia. A significant aspect of this establishment was the strong collaboration between Alipay-Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (Alipay-Malaysia as a subsidiary in Malaysia) and three Malaysian banks. This collaboration, which was backed by Bank Negara Malaysia, allowed Alipay-Malaysia to obtain its regulatee status in 2017, making it lawful to provide escrow e-money services in Malaysia. Following this, Alipay-Malaysia gained support from local merchants under these banks’ networks to accept Alipay from Chinese tourists. This study revealed that the early stage of the Alipay ecosystem in Malaysia was characterised by a diverse set of domestic-foreign stakeholders and functioned effectively from the outset. Consequently, in 2018, Malaysia was ranked among the top ten countries in global Chinese tourist spending.

This study of Alipay in Malaysia from 2016 to 2022 was challenging. Initially, the authors faced the obstacle of information scarcity as the respondents kept the information confidential to reduce rivalry. In the middle stage of our study, the authors encountered information inconsistency due to numerous erroneous personal assumptions and predictions. At that time, limited official information about Alipay’s establishment in Malaysia was available. It took a long time to gather primary and secondary data. The authors cross-examined these data by comparing different sources and triangulated them by validating the findings with other data sources. When Alipay was widely accepted in Malaysia and attained the top 10 position in global Chinese tourist spending, the COVID-19 outbreak froze the global tourism economy and reduced Alipay transactions. Later, the Malaysian Government enforced a nationwide movement control order that halted Alipay operations.

This study documented the early stages of the Alipay ecosystem establishment in Malaysia and made two contributions. Firstly, our research contributes to understanding the strategic approaches of an m-payment ecosystem establishment from a developing country-drawing from the Malaysian experience. Secondly, our study offers practical lessons for other m-payment service providers aiming for global expansion. The lessons learned in developing an early stage m-payment ecosystem in Malaysia, the strategies, a diverse set of domestic-foreign stakeholders’ roles and their collaboration within the Alipay ecosystem established in Malaysia are worth noting.

Up to this point, no exploratory qualitative study has been conducted on the early stage of an m-payment ecosystem (dominated by a foreign m-payment technology) in a developing country. By addressing the research question of “How has Ant-Financial established the early stage of the Alipay ecosystem in Malaysia?” this study provides a unique perspective on the establishment of an early stage Alipay ecosystem, underscores the strategies of an early stage Alipay ecosystem establishment and understand a diverse set of domestic-foreign stakeholders’ roles and their collaboration within such ecosystem that contributed to the existing theory of m-payment ecosystem.