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The purpose of this study is therefore to detail an additive manufacturing process for printing TiD parts for implant applications. Titanium–diamond (TiD) is a new composite that provides biocompatible three-dimensional multimaterial structures. Thus, the authors report a powder-deposition and print optimization strategy to overcome the dual-functionality gap by printing bulk TiD parts. However, despite favorable customization outcomes, relatively few additive manufacturing (AM) feedstock powders offer the biocompatibility required for medical implant and device technologies.

AM offers a platform to fabricate customized patient-specific parts. Developing feedstock that can be 3D printed into specific 3D structures while providing a favorable interface with the human tissue remains a challenge. Using laser metal deposition, feedstock powder comprising diamond and titanium was co-printed into TiD parts for mechanical testing to determine optimal manufacturing parameters.

TiD parts were fabricated comprising 30% and 50% diamond. The composite powder had a Hausner ratio of 1.13 and 1.21 for 30% and 50% TiD, respectively. The flow analysis (Carney flow) for TiD 30% and 50% was 7.53 and 5.15 g/s. The authors report that the printing-specific conditions significantly affect the integrity of the printed part and thus provide the optimal manufacturing parameters for structural integrity as determined by micro-computed tomography, nanoindentation and biocompatibility of TiD parts. The hardness, ultimate tensile strength and yield strength for TiD are 4–6 GPa (depending on build position), 426 MPa and 375 MPa, respectively. Furthermore, the authors show that increasing diamond composition to 30% results in higher osteoblast viability and lower bacteria count than titanium.

In this study, the authors provide a clear strategy to manufacture TiD parts with high integrity, performance and biocompatibility, expanding the material feedstock library and paving the way to customized diamond implants. Diamond is showing strong potential as a biomedical material; however, upscale is limited by conventional techniques. By optimizing AM as the avenue to make complex shapes, the authors open up the possibility of patient-specific diamond implant solutions.

While operational performance is important for a company's competitiveness and profitability, this study claims that procurement may be required to drive operational performance. This study aims to focus on how procurement practices is related to operational performance among selected manufacturing firms.

The model was tested on a sample of 329 manufacturing firms in clothing and textiles, chemicals and plastics, food and beverages processing, wood processing, metal processing and pharmaceutical manufacturing industries in a developing economy.

The results indicate that firms with higher and optimal level of procurement practices achieve higher levels of operational performance. Regardless of the H1 rationale, this study suggests that increasing procurement techniques has a limit in terms of improving operational performance. This study establishes that extreme level of procurement practices is associated with decreasing operational performance.

This study calls attention to how managers can guide organizations in refining their procurement strategies and practices; there is the need to strive to strike a balance between diversification and efficiency in procurement.

Manufacturing firms are often integral parts of local communities. The decisions they make regarding procurement practices can impact the economic health of these communities. Striking a balance between diversification and efficiency can contribute to sustainable business practices that benefit both the company and the local community.

As the main contribution, this study brings the additional perspective that extreme level of procurement practices is associated with decreasing operational performance.

This study seeks to explore the intricate relationship among supply chain transparency, digitalization and idiosyncratic risk, with a specific focus on newly public firms. The objective is to determine whether supply chain transparency effectively mitigates idiosyncratic risk within this context and to understand the potential impact of digitalization on this dynamic interplay.

The study utilizes data from Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) on China’s Growth Enterprise Board (ChiNext) over the last five years, sourced from the CSMAR database and firms’ annual reports. The research covers the period from 2009 to 2021, observing each firm for five years post-IPO. The final sample comprises 2,645 observations from 529 firms. The analysis employs the Hausman test, considering the panel-data structure of the sample and favoring fixed effects over random effects. Additionally, it applies the high-dimensional fixed effects (HDFE) estimator to address unobserved heterogeneity.

The analysis initially uncovered an inverted U-shaped relationship between supply chain transparency and idiosyncratic risk, indicating a delicate equilibrium where detrimental effects diminish and beneficial effects accelerate with increased transparency. Moreover, this inverted U-shaped relationship was notably more pronounced in newly public firms with a heightened level of firm digitalization. This observation implies that firm digitalization amplifies the impact of transparency on a firm’s idiosyncratic risk.

This study distinguishes itself by providing distinctive insights into supply chain transparency and idiosyncratic risk. Initially, we introduce and substantiate an inverted U-shaped correlation between supply chain transparency and idiosyncratic risk, challenging the conventional linear perspective. Secondly, we pioneer the connection between supply chain transparency and idiosyncratic risk, especially for newly public firms, thereby enhancing comprehension of financial implications. Lastly, we pinpoint crucial digital conditions that influence the relationship between supply chain transparency and idiosyncratic risk management, offering a nuanced perspective on the role of technology in risk management.

This paper aims to identify the relevant contributing constructs of readiness for the implementation of intelligent contracts (iContracts) in the construction industry. This study investigates the relationship between the personality dimensions of technology readiness index (TRI) and the system specific factors of technology acceptance model (TAM) within the context of iContracts.

Drawing insights from the extant literature and the author's previous qualitative investigations into iContract readiness constructs, a quantitative approach is used to operationalise the constructs by offering relevant statements to be measured and validated through a multiple-item scale against the users intent to accept the future iContract technology.

This study confirms and validates the relationship of the proposed iContract readiness index (iCRI) statements against the established TAM factors by offering 18 new constructs influencing technology readiness of the iContract technology. This study proves 9 of the 12 hypotheses highlighting key factors to be addressed for the successful development of the iContract technology.

This paper contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing a novel iCRI that informs an iContract technology readiness acceptance model (iCTRAM) for a trending technology. The iCTRAM can guide developers in producing an appropriate iContract solution and assess the readiness of users and organisations for the successful adoption of the iContract concept.

This study offers a unique theoretical framework, in an embryonic field, for predicting the success of iContract implementation within construction organisations. This study combines the established studies of TRI and TAM in producing a predictive iContract readiness assessment tool.

This literature review aims to portray the thematic landscape of the Pacific Accounting Review (PAR) from 2013 to 2023. This paper also synthesises the special issues in PAR and identifies the main research streams that facilitate contemplating the dialogic interactions between PAR and real-world challenges. Furthermore, this paper aligns these streams with the emerging concerns in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and technological disruptions to propose impactful future directions for publications in PAR.

This review adopts bibliometric analysis to establish the main research streams and objective measures for directing future publications. This paper acquires the data of 310 PAR articles from the Web of Science and ensure the data integrity before the analysis. Based on this technique, this paper also analyses PAR’s productivity, authorship and local and global impacts.

Our bibliometric analysis reveals three key research streams: (1) ESG practices and disclosures, (2) informal institutions in accounting and (3) accounting in transition. This finding affirms PAR’s relevance to real-world accounting challenges. Using a thematic map, this paper portrays the current state of PAR’s topics to identify potential directions for future publications. Further, this paper proposes three future paths for PAR: (1) the research agenda for non-financial reporting, (2) research relating to and from diverse countries considering both formal and informal contemporary contextual factors and (3) the future of the evolving accounting profession.

This study adds value to the existing PAR reviews by extending our knowledge with the latest publications, demonstrating an objective and replicable approach, and offering future directions for PAR publications.

With the rise of mandating climate-related disclosures (CRD), this paper aims to investigate how energy and agriculture markets are exposed to climate disclosure risk.

Using the multivariable simultaneous quantile regression and data from 1 January 2017 to 29 February 2024, the authors examine daily and monthly responses of energy and agriculture markets to climate disclosure risk, energy risk, market sentiment, geopolitical risk and economic policy risk. The sample covers the global market, Australia, Canada, European Union (EU), Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK and the USA.

The results show that climate disclosure risk creates both positive and negative shocks in the energy and agriculture markets, and the impacts are asymmetric across quantiles in different economies. The higher the climate disclosure risk, the greater impact of crude oil future on the energy sector in North America (Canada and the USA) and Europe (EU and the UK), but no greater effects in Asia Pacific (Australia, New Zealand and Singapore). The agriculture sector can hedge against economic policy and geopolitical risks, but it is highly exposed to climate disclosure and energy risks.

This study timely contributes to the modest literature on the asymmetric effects of climate disclosure risk on the energy and agriculture markets at the global and national levels. The findings offer practical implications for policymakers and investment practitioners in understanding financial effects of mandating CRD to diversify risks depending upon market conditions and policy uncertainty.

This paper used Zikic’s (2015) integrated framework for managing diversity to review the skilled migrant literature and explore reasons non-English-speaking background (NESB) skilled migrants (SMs) are disadvantaged in the host country recruitment market. This research examines organisations’ role in attracting and facilitating the entry of NESB SMs to their organisations and embracing diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review following the integrated framework combining the intelligent career theory and the resource-based view. This framework allows the exploration of the challenges NESB SMs face with their career capital in the host country concerning the people management systems and processes organisations often use in recruitment.

This review revealed multiple challenges NESB SMs face when negotiating their workplace transition in the host country destinations. The study shows that the underutilisation and underemployment among NESB SMs are partly caused by these SMs’ foreign experiences but mainly by the host countries’ “NESB SM-unfriendly” recruitment practices. It also uncovers gaps between macro, meso and micro levels in SM recruitment.

A limitation inherent in a systematic literature review is that the effectiveness of the search is contingent upon the quality of the search strings used. Second, the core themes in the synthesis were identified following Zikic’s (2015) integrated framework and focused only on individual/micro factors of SMs and meso/organisational factors. Many other structural and contextual factors were not included in the review. This review is also limited to NESB SMs’ recruitment. Nonetheless, this process helps us achieve the core aim set for this review, to explore the reasons behind the hardships NESB SMs face when searching for ways to enter the host professional job market and the role of organisations in attracting and facilitating NESB SMs’ labour market entry.

This research connected NESB SMs’ micro-level difficulties to the meso layer of organisations’ HRM policies. This review clarified the role of organisational strategic HRM in attracting and welcoming NESB SMs into their organisation before leveraging their career diversity. The findings from the review also assisted in extending Zikic’s (2015) integrated framework.