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This paper aims to examine the management controls that support (and fail to support) a craft brewery’s servitization journey from start-up, through growth, to maturity. It enriches our understanding of how management controls can facilitate the discovery of a service-identity that provides the foundation for servitization.

Drawing on in-depth interviews, fieldwork and secondary data analyses, this paper reports on a longitudinal case study of a craft brewery. The authors trace the case company’s servitization journey using a service-dominant logic theoretical perspective. This perspective focuses us on how the value of a product is cocreated with customers, rather than being created by the firm and then distributed.

The study found that many management controls emerged at the craft brewery from start-up to maturity. Some management controls supported a goods logic, while others supported a service logic. The findings highlight how people and cultural controls in particular enabled the company to move toward a service logic focused on servitization. These management controls informed the evolution of offerings, structure reconfiguration and resources at the craft brewery necessary to support servitization.

Studying a craft brewery contributes an alternative type of manufacturing context and shows how service-identity features such as craftiness, collectiveness, neolocalism and innovation affect a company’s servitization journey.

Recent accounting research using data envelopment analysis (DEA) measures firm performance using accounting measures from annual reports, which are readily available from electronic databases (e.g. Demerjian et al., 2013; Schwab, 2022). This approach differs from conventional DEA studies that analyse productivity and use internal data about physical quantities of production inputs and outputs. Using accounting measures instead of physical measures presents challenges as accounting measures aggregate physical quantities using unknown but fluctuating prices. This raises the issue of what these DEA models measure. This study aims to examine how price variability influences DEA results when measuring firm performance and identifies implications for future accounting research.

This study uses a Cobb–Douglas function to simulate physical data for input and output quantities, which are then priced to form accounting measures that incorporate different levels of price variability. These simulated accounting data are used to estimate DEA results. The results using physical data and accounting data are compared to identify the impact of increasing levels of price variation and sample size on the comparability of DEA results.

The study confirms the theoretical argument that accounting measures can be used in DEA to measure productivity when prices are identical across a sample of firms. Moreover, where price variability is low, large samples can also reliably estimate productivity when using accounting measures. This measure of productivity fundamentally underpins financial performance and provides a new dimension of firm performance that can be measured by accounting measures. However, where price variability is high, DEA using accounting measures cannot estimate productivity and can only be used for benchmarking financial performance. In this case, DEA provides an alternative measure for financial performance, which incorporates multiple dimensions and can extend traditional financial analysis approaches by providing a more comprehensive measure.

Despite calls for investigation (Camanho et al., 2024; Färe et al., 2017; Zelenyuk, 2020), evidence has been scarce regarding the impact of price variability when using accounting measures in DEA. Understanding this impact is key to understanding the nature of DEA results produced using accounting measures, as this can affect the interpretation and use of those results. This study is the first to focus on the impact of price variability on accounting measures within DEA and suggests new avenues for accounting research using this performance measurement method.

The current study seeks to investigate and determine the principal barriers to the adoption of work–life balance (WLB) practices amongst construction companies operating in the developing countries using Lagos, Nigeria as a case study.

This study adopts a survey research technique. Snowball sampling technique was adopted to identify the target respondents for the administration of questionnaire. A total of 156 questionnaires were distributed and a response rate of 66% (103 questionnaires were completely filled and returned) was attained. Data elicited were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The results from the exploratory factors analysis show that the principal barriers to the adoption of WLB practices amongst construction companies in Lagos, Nigeria are categorised into four components: nature of construction job and limited evidence on impact of WLB, support, awareness and culture, lack of involvement of management staff and organisational factors.

This study contributed to more effective WLB studies by highlighting the barriers to the adoption of WLB practices in the construction sector. An understanding of these barriers can aid policy makers and management personnel in construction organisations as well as facilitate development of strategies required to reduce the barriers to WLB practices in the construction sector.

Considering the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) drivers in corporate behavior and, ultimately, in business and society relationships, this study aims to investigate the CSR drivers in Nepal.

The study employs an exploratory qualitative research design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 22 executives and managers of listed companies in Nepal. A reflexive thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the data.

Strategic imperatives, coercive factors and moral considerations characterize the major drivers of firms’ CSR practices in Nepal. Specifically, a firm’s reputation, publicity, legal requirements, enlightened shared values and cultural tradition are the main drivers of CSR. Strategic imperatives are the main drivers of CSR for banking and financial institutions, whereas external institutional pressures are the main drivers for other sectors.

Managers can make institutional arrangements for CSR to fulfill their strategic needs and better respond to formal (e.g. legal requirements) and informal (e.g. cultural tradition) institutional factors. Policymakers can incorporate fiscal-economic instruments, such as CSR awards, in CSR-related legal provisions to simultaneously fulfill the strategic needs of the business and social goals of the government.

This study uncovers vivid CSR drivers in a distinct socioeconomic context of Nepal. Likewise, this is perhaps the first research regarding the drivers of CSR, exploring the views from different managerial levels and covering diverse industry sectors in the least developed country contexts like Nepal.

Organizational transformation and widescale upgradation of working conditions have resulted in disrupted work–life balance and employee health. In this era of drastic change interventions taking place, there is an urgent need to balance organizational changes simultaneously with forces of continuity. It is essential to consider these forces of continuity with respect to employees’ well-being.

This research employs an integrated approach, which consists of two distinct stages. In the first stage, the relevant forces of continuity are identified, validated and ranked with reference to employees’ subjective well-being. In the second stage, TISM-derived criterion weights are utilized to obtain the final ranking of these forces.

This paper has identified six forces of continuity operating in the information technology (IT) sector and constructed a unique IRP model. Findings advocate that preserving organizational culture and following performance standards were at the upper levels and were found to be the most significant forces influencing employees’ well-being.

The established framework for continuity forces among IT professionals offers a potential solution to the challenges encountered by organizations in mitigating the adverse change effects on the employees. This framework offers a means to boost their performance by improving organizational effectiveness through the enhancement of strategic change management.

This is one of the pioneering studies providing a breakthrough in applying the multi-criteria decision-making techniques in organizational behavior and human resource management. As per our awareness, this is the first study incorporating the IRP-TISM technique to recognize and prioritize the forces of continuity for Indian IT professionals.

The construction industry in Nigeria has a complex environment, comprising several combinations of consulting professions, clients, contractual arrangement and investors, with longer working hours than other industries. Work–life balance (WLB) strategies are used to balance professional life and personal life. This study aims to assess the extent of implementation of WLB strategies among construction companies in Lagos, Nigeria.

This study adopts a survey research technique. Snowball sampling technique was adopted to identify the targeted respondents for the administration of questionnaire. A total of 156 questionnaires were distributed and a response rate of 66% (103 questionnaires were completely filled and returned) was attained. Data elicited were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results from this study provides evidence that the level of implementation of WLB strategies among construction companies in Lagos state, Nigeria is on the average. The results also revealed organisational understanding, paternity/maternity leave and flexible working arrangement as the top most three WLB strategies implemented among the construction companies in Lagos, Nigeria.

This study contributed to more effective WLB studies by identifying new information on the extent of usage of WLB practices in the Nigerian construction sector as well as offers a fresh perspective on the usage of WLB in a developing country. An understanding of these strategies is significant for companies’ stakeholders, such as management personnel, top construction professionals and policymakers, and for facilitating the adoption and implementation of WLB strategies among construction organisations.

This study aims to analyze the capabilities and external conditions of womenpreneur owners of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) Fashion EcoPrint Indonesia in green business practices and their implications for sustainable business performance.

This study chooses a quantitative approach with a sustainable business internal-external capability model. Using the structural equation modeling-partial least square analysis tool, the analysis was conducted on a sample of womenpreneurs who owned MSMEs EcoPrint Indonesia (n = 493).

In the internal capability dimension, total quality environment and green core competence affect green supply chain management, affecting green product innovation performance. Meanwhile, women entrepreneurs’ external capability dimensions (regulation, customer awareness of the environment and technological innovation infrastructure) are connected to sustainable development business capabilities, which affect the performance of green process innovation. The study confirms that green products and processes have the potential to influence sustainable business performance. A key finding is the strong influence of environment-based total quality management governance on both sides. At the same time, womenpreneurs have a significant impact on their respective dimensions.

This study has implications for increasing competency, Sustainable MSME industrial infrastructure, and protecting women in developing countries. The theoretical implications of creating a model that examines the impact of womenpreneurs’ internal and external abilities on eco-friendly businesses’ success are significant for developing nations’ promising growth.

This study explores women’s contributions to family well-being and environment-based economies, focusing on eco-friendly supply chain management and sustainable external capabilities of women entrepreneurs in Indonesia, using a gender equality approach in developing economies.

This study aims to explore whether social entrepreneurial self-efficacy (SESE) mediates the empathetic concern (EC)–social entrepreneurial intentions (SEIs) relationship. In addition, drawing on institutional theory, the authors propose that the EC–SESE–SEI relationship is contingent upon perceptions of cultural support (PCS) towards social entrepreneurship in a society.

Data from 232 Taiwanese business and management undergraduates were used to test the proposed relationships.

SESE was found to mediate the relationship between EC and SEI. However, cultural support towards social entrepreneurship in society had a negative moderating effect on the EC–SESE–SEI relationship, suggesting that the EC–SESE–SEI relationship was stronger under conditions of low, rather than high PCS.

This paper provides further insights into not only the link between EC and SEI but also the conditions under which EC is translated into SEI. It also enhances the recent limited knowledge about how context and cultural attitudes and values towards social entrepreneurship shapes SEI.

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that influence the information seeking behaviors of ChatGPT users. Specifically, we investigated how ChatGPT self-efficacy, ChatGPT characteristics and ChatGPT utility affect the frequency and duration of information seeking via ChatGPT. We also tested the mediating roles of ChatGPT characteristics and utility in the relationship between ChatGPT self-efficacy and information-seeking behaviors.

This study adopts a quantitative approach and collects data from 403 ChatGPT users using an online questionnaire. The data are analyzed using linear regression and structural equation modeling (SEM).

The linear regression analyses revealed that ChatGPT self-efficacy is positively and significantly related to the information seeking behaviors in ChatGPT. Second, mediation analyses also showed that ChatGPT characteristics and utility significantly mediate the relationship between ChatGPT self-efficacy and information-seeking behaviors in ChatGPT independently and sequentially.

This study is the first to investigate the factors and mechanisms that influence information-seeking behaviors in ChatGPT, a new phenomenon in the media landscape. The findings in this study suggest that ChatGPT self-efficacy acts as an important motivator for information-seeking behaviors in ChatGPT and that ChatGPT characteristics and utility provide information regarding potential mechanisms in the relationship between ChatGPT self-efficacy and information-seeking behaviors in ChatGPT. The study contributes to the literature on information seeking, self-efficacy and generative AI.

We examine how superstition shapes corporate tax avoidance and do so by taking a risk perspective and focusing on the zodiac-year belief prevalent in China.

We adopt a difference-in-differences research design to compare the degree of corporate tax avoidance in the CEOs’ zodiac year with that in the adjacent years. We do propensity-score matching to form a sample of Chinese listed firms for the regression analysis.

We find causal evidence that firms exhibit a greater magnitude of tax avoidance in the CEOs’ zodiac years, a result attributable to relatively weak tax enforcement in the Chinese context. We also find that the zodiac-year effect on corporate tax avoidance is more pronounced for firms with tight financial constraints, firms with high business risk, firms headquartered in regions with a high degree of superstition and non-state-owned firms.

This study is the first to show that superstition is a determinant factor of tax avoidance and contributes to the tax literature by shedding light on the behavioral risk factors that shape corporate tax avoidance. We take the perspective of CEOs’ risk appetite to analyze how tax avoidance is influenced by the CEOs’ trade-off between the costs and benefits of avoiding taxes. Our results suggest that, when CEOs are more risk-averse, they attach more importance to financial risk than the risk of reputational losses and litigation associated with corporate tax avoidance. The findings imply that tax avoidance can be curbed by increasing (or decreasing) the tax (financial) risk confronting the CEOs.