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This paper aims to propose and evaluate an innovative approach to education for sustainable consumption (ESC) which empowers teenagers and young adults to improve sustainable consumption competences. This approach combines pedagogical learning approaches such as real-world learning (e.g. experiential learning and research-based learning) with transformative and transdisciplinary research approaches (i.e. real-world laboratory research).

Through a transdisciplinary research design, the authors explore if real-world experiments (RWEs) offer a suitable approach for sustainable consumption education at schools. RWEs are a research approach for knowledge production, aiming to go beyond temporary interventions, to establish semi-permanent spaces for sustainability transformation and reflexive learning. To evaluate this proposal, the authors study already existing active teaching and learning approaches developed within and for ESC and put these in perspective, to define and understand the RWEs.

Insights from a transdisciplinary research project which applied RWEs as a teaching and learning approach in German schools complement conceptual considerations. As a result, advantages, such as the development of core competencies among learners, but also challenges experienced, are illustrated. Though, the challenges found are not unique to the RWE, rather they point out important potentials for ESC through suggesting systematic changes in educational institutions and teaching approaches.

This paper explores RWEs as an active and participatory teaching and learning approach for sustainable consumption education at schools and delivers practical insights and a definition of RWEs as an innovative teaching and learning approach.

The aim of this study is to illuminate the perceptions of the essential factors for sustaining Learning Study of the curriculum leaders who have led Learning Study in schools over a sustained period.

This study adopted a case study research approach to explore the perspectives of the curriculum leaders regarding the sustainability of Learning Study. Data were collected through interviews, observations and document analysis. To analyse the data, thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes related to the research aim.

Four themes were deemed crucial by the curriculum leaders for sustaining Learning Study: (1) integrating Learning Study into the overall development plan of the school, with milestones recognisable by all stakeholders; (2) developing a shared understanding of and patience towards the different developmental needs of stakeholders; (3) developing a sustained programme of professional development for teachers regarding variation theory of learning, which underpins Learning Study; and (4) creating an improvement culture and a safe environment for sustaining professional development. We argue that Learning Study models should be flexible that they fit various school contexts while retaining the aim of enabling learning.

Sustaining Learning Study in schools becomes a challenge if support in the form of government funding and research involvement from tertiary institutions is withdrawn. This study is the first to voice the opinions of school curriculum leaders regarding this complex issue, who play a key role in initiating, implementing and sustaining Learning Study.

As competition in the graduate labor market intensifies, extracurricular internships have become increasingly popular among university students. This paper explores whether and how students’ evaluation of the higher learning that they have received changes during extracurricular internships.

We interviewed 47 undergraduate students who had extracurricular internships across five Chinese universities. Data were analyzed innovatively through the lens of cross-cultural adaptation theory, which guides us to view internships as a transition from university culture to workplace culture through the stress-adaptation-growth dynamic.

The findings reveal that participants faced stress from multiple sources at the beginning of their internships, which collectively prompted them to adapt proactively to the workplace culture. While acquiring new habits and trying to acculturate into the surrounding work milieu, many participants deculturated from their old habits and student identity, putting aside higher learning. As the adaptation progressed, over half of the participants even began to critique university curricula and depreciate the value of higher learning.

The study offers theoretical insights into internships and the broader university-to-work transition as well as practical implications for universities in balancing learning and employability goals from a novel cross-cultural adaptation perspective.

This paper undertakes an extensive and systematic review of the literature on earnings management (EM) over the past three decades (1992–2022). Furthermore, the study identifies emerging research themes and proposes future avenues for further investigation in the realm of EM.

For this study, a comprehensive collection of 2,775 articles on EM published between 1992 and 2022 was extracted from the Scopus database. The author employed various tools, including Microsoft Excel, R studio, Gephi and visualization of similarities viewer, to conduct bibliometric, content, thematic and cluster analyses. Additionally, the study examined the literature across three distinct periods: prior to the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (1992–2001), subsequent to the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002–2012), and after the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (2013–2022) to draw more inferences and insights on EM research.

The study identifies three major themes, namely the operationalization of EM constructs, the trade-off between EM tools (accrual EM, real EM and classification shifting) and the role of corporate governance in mitigating EM in emerging markets. Existing literature in these areas presents mixed and inconclusive findings, suggesting the need for further theoretical development. Further, the study findings observe a shift in research focus over time: initially, understanding manipulation techniques, then evaluating regulatory measures, and more recently, investigating the impact of global accounting standards. Several emerging research themes (technology advancements, cross-cultural and cross-national studies, sustainability, behavioral aspects and non-financial indicators of EM) have been identified. This study subsequent analysis reveals an evolving EM landscape, with researchers from disciplines like data science, computer science and engineering applying their analytical expertise to detect EM anomalies. Furthermore, this study offers significant insights into sophisticated EM techniques such as neural networks, machine learning techniques and hidden Markov models, among others, as well as relevant theories including dynamic capabilities theory, learning curve theory, psychological contract theory and normative institutional theory. These techniques and theories demonstrate the need for further advancement in the field of EM. Lastly, the findings shed light on prominent EM journals, authors and countries.

This study conducts quantitative bibliometric and thematic analyses of the existing literature on EM while identifying areas that require further development to advance EM research.

This chapter explores the implications of acknowledging one's own excessive entitlement and living contradictions in contributing to Living-Educational-Theory Research. The analysis emphasises the importance of accepting one's educational responsibility for one's own continuing professional development in inquiries of the kind that address this query: ‘How do I improve my professional educational practices in education with values of human flourishing?’ This responsibility includes making public evidence and values-based explanations of educational influences in learning, in contributing to the global knowledge base of education.

The notion of excessive teacher entitlement was coined by Ratnam to characterise the putative deficit view of teachers that is projected onto them. Craig (2013) developed Schwab's concept, the teachers' ‘best-loved self’, to embrace teachers' input in promoting the learning and well-being of all in the institutions they serve (Ratnam & Craig, 2021). My experiences of being a living contradiction are grounded in a tension between my best-loved self and my experience of excessive entitlements. Living educational theories research in which individual practitioner-researchers generate their validated, evidence- and values-based explanations of educational influences in their own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of the social formations that influence their practice with values of human flourishing, have helped me leverage the potential for growth afforded by this tension. The perspective draws insights from the disciplines of education including Habermas's Critical Theory. It also includes insights from other methodologies such as autoethnography, action research, phenomenology, self-study and narrative inquiry.

Globally, teachers are operating in environments influenced by past, current and anticipated crises. Students today need to develop the critical skills that will empower them to be agents of change in response to these crises. Education for global citizenship offers an approach that can mediate both content and process priorities, yet many teachers do not have the tools and strategies needed to deliver these dual outcomes. Habermas’ theory of communicative action offers a framework through which teachers can harness the potential of the so-called learning lifeworld to educate for global citizenship. This is of particular importance when considering education through the lens of international sustainable development. The contextualisation of communicative acts within the learning lifeworld offers the prospect of elevating students as agentic leaders within their communities. This chapter focuses on and unpacks the concept of education for global citizenship as a key tool for overcoming current crises and positions the theory of communicative action as a viable theoretical framework in the delivery of that concept. The ethnographic case study presented explores students’ perspectives on how their learning lifeworlds shape their identities, highlighting the role of culture, society and person in combatting lifeworld colonisation and nurturing global citizens. It finds that the theory of communicative action can be used as a tool to help students develop self-directedness and independence. It is argued teachers can use communicative acts to promote and model the values of education for global citizenship, ultimately better preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s world.

This study aims to consolidate existing research on digital technology in business education, focusing on adoption determinants, theoretical frameworks and implementation challenges.

A hybrid literature review was conducted. The first phase involved a keyword co-occurrence analysis of 254 Association of Business Schools-ranked journal articles from the Web of Science database to identify key research themes. To deepen the analysis, the second phase included a content analysis of the 24 most globally cited articles, each with a minimum of 65 total global citations.

The review reveals that studies primarily focus on factors influencing digital technology adoption, including institutional support, perceived usefulness and ease of use. Researchers frequently cite theoretical models such as the technology acceptance model and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. Identified challenges include concerns over technology effectiveness, resistance to change and the influence of cultural and generational differences on technology use.

The findings guide educators and policymakers in formulating strategies for effective technology adoption, emphasizing alignment with educational goals and addressing cultural barriers.

Understanding generational and cultural impacts enables the creation of inclusive digital education strategies that cater to diverse student needs.

This study synthesizes fragmented literature, offering new insights into the integration of digital technologies in business education.

This study aims to examine the relationship between knowledge management and career development in an era characterized by high levels of youth unemployment and a demand for specialized skills. Despite the increasing transition to a knowledge-based economy, there is a significant gap between young people’s skills and career readiness, necessitating an in-depth analysis of the role of knowledge management at the individual, organizational and national levels.

The authors conducted a qualitative study using the theory-context-characteristics-methodology approach based on a systematic literature review. The authors created an ecological framework for reflecting on knowledge management and career development, arguing for a multidisciplinary approach that invites collaboration across sectors to generate innovative and reliable solutions.

This study presents a comprehensive review of the existing literature and trends, noting the need for more focus on the interplay between knowledge management and career development. It emphasizes the need for businesses to promote the acquisition, storage, diffusion and application of knowledge and its circulation and exchange to create international business human capital.

The findings may help multinational corporations develop managerial training programs and recruitment strategies, given the demand for advanced knowledge-based skills in the modern workspace. The study also discusses the influences of education, experience and job skills on business managers’ performance, guiding the future recruitment of talents.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this review is among the first to assess the triadic relationship between knowledge management, career development and the global unemployment crisis. The proposed multidisciplinary approach seeks to break down existing silos, thus fostering a more comprehensive understanding of how to address these ongoing global concerns.

Franchising contributes significantly to national economies but is overlooked in supply chain literature. This study aims to contribute to the franchising and supply chain literature by examining how the digitisation of the franchising supply chain improves firm performance.

A single longitudinal case study approach was selected to investigate how a leading coffee brand digitised its franchising supply chain. Resource constraints theory and agency theory provide the theoretical framework. Data collection included both qualitative and quantitative data. Over two years, chronological, supply chain and thematic analyses and interpretation uncovered important findings and developed four research propositions.

Findings show that digitisation can impact performance in eight areas: Resource management, Resource constraints, Efficiency, Business-to-Business (B2B)/Business-To-Customer (B2C) links, Rapid expansion, Risk mitigation, Information asymmetries and Faster supply chain responses. Four digital technologies (advanced analytics, Internet of Things, Autonomous Mobile Robots and B2B e-shop) impacted three franchisor functions (Machine maintenance, Inventory management, Franchisee and end-customer relations). The study develops four research propositions on how digitisation impacts performance in terms of (1) resource monitoring and control, (2) learning and knowledge creation, (3) coordination and collaboration and (4) competition.

Franchising supply chains have been overlooked in the literature; this study provides insights into using resource constraints theory and agency theory complementarily to explain supply chain digitisation and provides actionable practical implications for selecting, implementing and continuously improving Industry 4.0 technologies in franchising supply chains.

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that influence the willingness of Saudi Arabian students from four universities in Saudi Arabia, to adopt learning management systems (LMSs). This will be accomplished by using two popular technology acceptance models unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and theory of planned behavior (TPB).

In total, 445 undergraduates from four Saudi educational institutions participate in filling out the study questionnaire. To investigate the correlations between the variables, the study used structural equation modeling for data analysis.

The results of the study show that effort expectancy (EE), subjective norm (SN), attitude toward behavior (ATB) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) are found to be substantially connected with their intentions to use (ITU) LMSs. The findings also show that there is a strong relationship between students’ intentions and their actual use of LMSs.

Like many studies, this research has some limitations. The primary limitation is that the findings of the study cannot be extrapolated to other settings since the report’s analysis and investigation were limited to four Saudi universities. Therefore, to generalize the study’s findings, similar research needs to be conducted in other Gulf and similar cultural universities.

The integrated model identifies key factors that influence the intent of Saudi Arabian students to use LMS, including EEs, social influence, ATB and PBC. This model can help develop solutions for the obstacles that prevent students from using LMS. The findings can be used to provide assistance to increase the likelihood of LMS acceptance as part of the educational experience. The model may also inspire further research on this topic in the Gulf nations, particularly in Saudi Arabia.

As none of the relevant studies conducted previously in Saudi Arabia has integrated the two models to study the students’ ITU LMSs, this study combines two major theories, TPB and UTAUT, in the context of Saudi Arabia, contributing to the field of technology use in education by expanding empirical research and providing a thorough understanding of the challenges associated with the use of LMS in Saudi universities. This study should be viewed as filling a crucial gap in the field. Moreover, this integrated model, using more than one theoretical perspective, brings a thorough comprehension of the barriers that hinder students’ adoption of LMSs in the academic context in Saudi Arabia and thus assists in making effective decisions and reaching viable solutions.