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The growing focus on corporate ethics, driven by a series of high-profile corporate scandals, has highlighted the necessity for companies to adopt high-quality ethical codes, thereby drawing significant attention from academic literature. Under the lens of agency theory, this study aims to investigate the impact of the quality of ethical codes on the cost of debt.

A scoring model was used to assess the quality of ethical codes across 110 listed firms within the S&P 500 index. Subsequently, a linear regression model was employed to examine the influence of ethical code quality on the cost of debt.

The findings reveal a negative relationship between the quality of ethical codes and the cost of debt. This suggests that companies demonstrating a stronger ethical commitment, as evidenced by the adoption of high-quality ethical codes, gain financial benefits through more favorable financing conditions.

This study offers valuable practical implications for firms. By demonstrating the negative relationship between high-quality ethical codes and the cost of debt, it provides firms with a compelling incentive to develop such codes. In this regard, this study emphasizes the importance of prioritizing the conscientious and effective implementation of ethical codes over their mere formal adoption.

This study makes significant contributions to the academic literature. Firstly, it enhances knowledge regarding ethical code quality by conducting an in-depth analysis of a diverse sample of leading US-listed companies. Secondly, it highlights the financial advantages associated with the development of high-quality ethical codes. Thirdly, it broadens the application of agency theory to explain the complex relationship between ethical code quality and the cost of debt.

The relationships between transformational leadership (TL), organizational climate (OC) and project performance have been investigated by previous studies, but no review of existing studies has systematically analyzed the effects of TL and OC on project performance in the industrial revolution (IR) 5.0 era. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a systematic literature review on the effects of TL and OC on project performance in IR 5.0, and to identify mainstream research topics, research gaps and future research directions.

To do this, a total of 53 included journal articles were obtained after initially retrieving 648 documents from the Scopus database by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. It consists of four main steps, namely, identification of documents, screening, eligibility and included articles. In addition, science mapping analyses were conducted for keyword co-occurrence and document analyses, which aided in identifying the mainstream research topics, research gaps and future research directions.

The results report the annual publication trends, keywords and document analyses. Furthermore, a detailed qualitative discussion highlighted four mainstream research topics including TL in project management; the relationship between TL, OC and innovation; safety climate; and OC in project management. Moreover, this review study identified four research gaps and future research directions aligned with the mainstream research topics. They include: longitudinal investigations and multinational corporation surveys in TL; scope and longitudinal data in innovation; mono-method bias and universality of safety climate; and more comprehensive analyses of OC.

This review study would contribute to not only advancing the effects of TL and OC on project performance in IR 5.0, but also enabling project managers to understand TL or OC issues to improve project performance.

Despite the evident link between digitalisation and sustainability, many organisations have these two strategies operating on a parallel basis and not in a coordinated manner. Hence the objective of this work, which consists of proposing a model to analyse the connection existing between both strategies within the business environment, additionally relating them to innovation and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

With that aim, the results of a survey answered by 98 managers of Spanish enterprises are examined using the PLS software, especially suited for the study of structural equations like the one put forward in this paper.

The conclusions drawn suggest that the most innovative firms are indeed the ones that invest to a greater extent in digitalisation and sustainability. It was also possible for us to verify that digitalisation exerts a positive influence on sustainability and that both the latter and digitalisation directly relate to CSR strategies. However, innovation as such does not constitute a requirement for CSR; instead, these Social Responsibility actions will take place when innovations rely on digitalisation and sustainability strategies.

Until now, most studies have addressed digitalisation and sustainability independently, with contradictory theoretical approaches in the literature about these two topics and a paucity of empirical results about the link between digitalisation and sustainability. The present study clarifies the relationships between sustainability and digitalisation, also relating them to innovation and CSR in the business environment.

The Internet is a prevalent medium for promoting mental health and disseminating educational content on schizophrenia. Despite this, studies underscore the necessity for additional research to delve into the structures of online mental health promotion and education strategies. Therefore, this study aims to focus on analyzing public interests and information utilization using Google and Wikipedia, contributing to the enhancement of internet-based mental health promotion strategies.

This infodemiological study described and predicted the global utilization of online information for schizophrenia using relative search volumes (RSV) and related queries and topics from Google Trends and Wikipedia page views. After describing the data, ARIMA was done to predict future Wikipedia page views and search volumes.

The country ranking based on RSV revealed a gap between European and developed nations and Asian and developing countries. Until December 2021, there was a consistent decline in RSV and Wikipedia page views, followed by a resurgence in January 2022. Findings indicate stable RSV and an increase in Wikipedia page views from 2022 to 2025. Top and rising queries and topics covered various aspects of schizophrenia, such as management, manifestations, diagnostics and etiology, using multiple languages in search queries.

Mental health-care professionals should ensure the availability and accessibility of trustworthy schizophrenia information online. Incorporating top and rising queries on websites can enhance responsiveness to public needs in the age of information and disinformation.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to examine online schizophrenia information using combined Google and Wikipedia data.

The choice of a sales channel for fresh vegetables is an important decision a farmer can make. Typically, the farmers rely on their personal experience in directing the produce to a sales channel. This study examines how sales forecasting of fresh vegetables along multiple channels enables marginal and small-scale farmers to maximize their revenue by proportionately allocating the produce considering their short shelf life.

Machine learning models, namely long short-term memory (LSTM), convolution neural network (CNN) and traditional methods such as autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and weighted moving average (WMA) are developed and tested for demand forecasting of vegetables through three different channels, namely direct (Jaivasree), regulated (World market) and cooperative (Horticorp).

The results show that machine learning methods (LSTM/CNN) provide better forecasts for regulated (World market) and cooperative (Horticorp) channels, while traditional moving average yields a better result for direct (Jaivasree) channel where the sales volume is less as compared to the remaining two channels.

The price of vegetables is not considered as the government sets the base price for the vegetables.

The existing literature lacks models and approaches to predict the sales of fresh vegetables for marginal and small-scale farmers of developing economies like India. In this research, the authors forecast the sales of commonly used fresh vegetables for small-scale farmers of Kerala in India based on a set of 130 weekly time series data obtained from the Kerala Horticorp.

This article investigates the influence of marine ecological compensation policy on enterprises’ environmental investment and explores whether enterprise ownership could impact the said influence.

Using the data of China's A-share listed enterprises for the period 2007–2020, the paper develops a difference-in-differences model and a moderating effect model.

The outcomes corroborate that the marine ecological compensation policy positively influences enterprises' environmental investment, and the effect is nonlinear. Specifically, the marine ecological compensation policy significantly impacts enterprises with lower and higher environmental investment. The empirical evidence from the moderation model shows that the effect of the policy is more significant on the non-state-owned enterprises’ environmental investment.

The findings are based on a sample of 559 listed A-share enterprises in China. Additional studies could focus on data from other countries.

Based on the present scenario of Chinese enterprises' environmental investment, the results report that the marine compensation policy needs to be differentiated for firms having different ownership and different levels of environmental investment. The study provides valuable insights for the government to formulate marine ecological compensation policies.

Marine ecology increasingly affects the economic development of countries, and the study on the influence of relevant environmental policies is of practical significance. However, most scholars concentrate on the research of environmental regulation, and have little focus on the policy effect of marine environmental compensation. This paper studies how marine ecological compensation policy influences the environmental investment behavior of enterprises, and further analyzes the difference in the policy effect caused by the nature of enterprises’ ownership, which not only fills the gap in this field, but also provides a scientific basis for the formulation and adjustment of marine ecological compensation policy.

The increasing awareness and adoption of technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), reshapes industries and daily life, fostering a proactive approach to risk management and leveraging advanced analytics, which may affect the stock price crash risk (SPCR). The main objective of the current study is to explore how AI adoption influences SPCR.

This study employs an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) fixed-effect regression model to explore the impact of AI on SPCR in Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2020. Further, number of robustness analysis (2SLS, PSM and Sys-GMM) and channel analysis are used to validate the findings.

The primary findings emphasize that AI adoption significantly reduces SPCR likelihood. Further, channel analysis indicates that AI adoption enhances internal control quality, contributing to a reduction in firm SPCR. Additionally, the observed relationship is notably more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Similarly, this distinction is heightened in nonforeign enterprises (non-FEs) as opposed to foreign enterprises (FEs). The study finding also supports the notion that financial analysts enhance transparency, reducing the SPCR. Moreover, the study results consistently align across different statistical methodologies, including 2SLS, PSM and Sys-GMM, employed to effectively address endogeneity concerns.

Our study stands out for its distinctive focus on the financial implications of AI adoption, particularly how it influences firm-level SPCR, an area that has been overlooked in previous research. Through the lens of information asymmetry theory, agency theory, and the economic implications of integrating AI into financial markets, our study makes a substantial contribution in mitigating SPCR.

This study underscores the pivotal role of AI adoption in influencing stock markets for enterprises in China. Embracing digital strategies, fostering transparency and prioritizing talent development are key for reaping substantial benefits. The study recommends regulatory bodies and service providers to promote AI adoption in strengthening financial supervision and ensure market stability, emphasizing the importance of investing in technologies and advancing talent development.

This paper examines the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the economic growth of Afghanistan over the period 1990 to 2019.

This study uses an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) to measure FDI’s impact on economic growth and determine the short- vs long-run relationship.

The results show that the F-bound cointegration test confirms the long-run relationship among the variables. The long-run and short-run results reveal that foreign direct investment has a significant negative impact on economic growth in the long run. However, domestic investment and labour force have a significant and positive impact on economic growth in the long run. Moreover, the impact of trade openness on economic growth is insignificant in the long run, while it has a significant negative impact in the short run.

In this study, we contribute to this research area by analysing the function of FDI in economic growth from Afghanistan’s experience and perspectives. This is the first study empirically examining this relationship in Afghanistan while considering other selected macroeconomic indicators. This paper could greatly benefit policymakers in Afghanistan by guiding the formulation of FDI policies that would spur its economic growth and development.

The study aims to investigate the relationship between internal knowledge dissemination and employee-based brand equity (EBBE) through the lens of inclusive marketing among university faculty members. The study also examines the role of employee absorptive capacity and brand knowledge as mediators.

A sample of 362 faculty members from Pakistani universities was considered for analysis using a quantitative study design. A questionnaire was used to measure the variables under study, and structural equation modeling was used to examine the direct and indirect relationships.

There exists a positive and significant relationship between internal knowledge dissemination and EBBE among faculty members. Moreover, it is noteworthy to highlight that employee absorptive capacity and brand knowledge play pivotal roles as mediators.

The research findings have significant implications for the universities. Universities can strengthen their EBBE by properly disseminating knowledge among faculty members, which in turn fosters a sense of belongingness toward them. By improving the absorptive capacity of faculty members, universities can better prepare them to contribute successfully to the university’s brand and image. Developing brand knowledge among faculty members can help in fostering a unified and coherent brand image that deeply resonates with stakeholders such as colleagues, students and the academic community as a whole. Furthermore, promoting an inclusive culture within the organization will emphasize diversity and equity in internal knowledge dissemination practices, thereby further enhancing EBBE.

This study contributes to the prevailing knowledge-base by exploring the role of internal knowledge dissemination in developing EBBE among university faculty members. The research not only enriches the understanding of brand management in universities but also provides practical guidelines for the expansion of effective branding initiatives. Moreover, this study adds value by examining the association between internal knowledge dissemination and EBBE from the perspective of inclusive marketing strategies. It highlights the significance of encouraging a culture of diversity, inclusion and equity within organizations, leading toward significant outcomes in terms of enhanced brand equity among employees.