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This study aims to extend the research in the field of external investments in family firms. It contributes to the literature by analyzing the drivers of the family firm owner-managers selling a minority stake to a strategic investor. This type of external investment might be of great interest to family firms because the family firm owner-managers can secure control over the firm and preserve socioemotional wealth while simultaneously generating additional financing and gaining strategic and managerial know-how. Likewise, minority investments in family firms might also be of high interest to strategic investors, thus enabling close collaborations (e.g. in R&D, purchasing and sales) with minor equity investments.

This study tests the hypotheses using a vignette study leveraging 327 observations from family firm owner-managers.

Based on the socioemotional wealth perspective, this study hypothesizes that the degree of family prominence, the degree of employee orientation and pure family management influence the willingness to sell. In addition, this study hypothesizes that the moderating effect of a below-average financial performance weakens the abovementioned direct effects. This study finds support for most hypotheses.

This study extends the research in the field of external investments in family firms. It contributes to the literature by analyzing the drivers of the family firm owner-managers selling a minority stake to a strategic investor.

The present study investigates the impact of financial soundness variables on bank performance in emerging countries.

This study uses macro-level panel data from 17 countries from 2011 to 2020. The analysis adopts six models. While four models include bank profitability, the dependent variable of the other models is Bank Z Scores. Regulatory Capital to Risk-Weighted Assets, Liquid Assets to Total Assets, Non-Performing Loans to Total Gross Loans and Non-Interest Expenses to Gross Income are proxies of financial soundness variables.

The authors estimate fixed and random effects models with the Arellano, Froot and Rogers methods. Empirical results show that Non-Performing Loans to Total Gross Loans harm ROA and ROE. Regulatory Capital to Risk-Weighted Assets negatively affects ROE. Non-Interest Expenses to Gross Income on Bank Z Scores have a significant and negative effect. Moreover, Inflation, Foreign Direct Investment and GDP are macroeconomic variables that increase bank profitability.

This study contributes to the literature in different aspects. The first is the model of the study. The authors contribute to the literature regarding the variables used to measure financial soundness. Secondly, emerging countries are samples in the study. A significant part of the studies on financial soundness has focused on developed countries. Finally, the authors analyze the macro-level data. Bank soundness studies mainly investigate country-level variables. Macro-level analysis may provide an advantage in combating global financial crises.

This study explores the mechanism by which intellectual capital (IC) [i.e. human capital (HC), structural capital (SC) and relational capital (RC)] influences small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) efficiency in the presence of business model innovation (BMI) as a mediator.

Data collection is conducted through a survey completed by 319 owners and top managers of SMEs operating in the manufacturing sector in three cities in Pakistan. A simple random sampling method is used. A structural equation modeling artificial neural network (SEM-ANN)-based approach is applied to evaluate the role of IC predictors. The mediation results are authenticated using PROCESS.

The results indicate that HC, SC and RC significantly influence SME efficiency and BMI. Furthermore, BMI fully mediates the relationship between human capital and SME efficiency, while partially mediating the relationship between structural capital and SME efficiency, as well as between SC and SME efficiency.

This study pioneers research into the link between IC and SME efficiency. It contributes to the literature by defining IC as an antecedent of SME efficiency. It further contributes to the literature by defining IC as an antecedent and BMI as an intervening variable of SME efficiency.

Crowdfunding (CF) has become an increasingly popular means of financing for entrepreneurs and has attracted significant attention from both researchers and practitioners in recent years. The purpose of this study is to investigate the core content and knowledge diffusion paths in the CF field. Specifically, we aim to identify the main topics and themes that have emerged in this field and to trace the evolution of CF knowledge over time.

This study employs co-word clustering and main path analysis (MPA) to examine the historical development of CF research based on 1,528 journal articles retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database.

The results of the analysis reveal that CF research focuses on seven themes: sustainability, entrepreneurial finance, entrepreneurship, fintech, social entrepreneurship, social capital, and microcredits. The analysis of the four main paths reveals that equity CF has been the dominant topic in the past years. Recently, CF research has tended to focus on topics such as fintech, the COVID-19 pandemic, competition, Brexit, and policy response.

To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first attempt to explore knowledge diffusion dynamics in the CF field. Overall, the study offers a structure for analyzing the paths through which knowledge is diffused, enabling scholars to effectively manage a large volume of research papers and gain a deeper understanding of the historical, current, and future trends in the development of CF.

Female smallholder farmers in low-income countries face barriers to accessing capital and commodity markets. While agricultural cooperatives provide services that contribute to the income and productivity of small-scale producers, evidence of cooperatives' social and economic empowerment of female smallholders remains limited. We apply Sen's capability approach to female entrepreneurs' socioeconomic empowerment to examine whether women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative from rural western Uganda benefits their social and economic position within their household. First, we study the relationship between women's cooperative participation and their household coffee sales and savings. Second, we investigate the link between women's cooperative participation and their intra-household decision-making and whether the inclusion of the husband in his wife's cooperative strengthens or lowers women's decision-making power.

We carry out a case study of a hybrid coffee and microfinance cooperative that promotes social innovation through the integration and empowerment of female smallholders in rural Uganda. Using a cross-sectional survey of 411 married female cooperative members from 26 randomly selected self-help groups of Bukonzo Joint Cooperative and 196 female non-members from the identical area, employing propensity score matching, this paper investigates the benefits of women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative in the Rwenzori Mountains of western Uganda. We present and discuss the results of our case study within an extensive literature on the role of institutions in collective action for women's empowerment.

Our findings provide new empirical evidence on female smallholders' participation in mixed cooperatives. Our results indicate that women's participation in microfinance-producer cooperatives appears to be a conditional blessing: even though membership is linked to increased women's intra-household decision-making and raised household savings and income from coffee sales, a wife with a husband in the same cooperative self-help group is associated with diminished women's household decision-making power.

The focus of this study is on female coffee smallholders in an agricultural cooperative in rural western Uganda. In particular, we focus on a case study of one major coffee cooperative. Our cross-sectional survey does not allow us to infer causal interpretations. Also, the survey does not include variables that allow us to measure other dimensions of women's empowerment beyond decision-making over household expenditures and women's financial performance related to savings and income from coffee cultivation.

Our empirical results indicate that female smallholders' cooperative membership is associated with higher incomes and coffee sales. However, husband co-participation in their wives' cooperative group diminishes wives' decision-making, which suggests that including husbands and other family members in the same cooperative group may not be perceived as an attractive route to empowerment for female smallholders. For these reasons, an intervention that encourages the cooperation of both spouses and that is sensitive to context-specific gender inequalities, may be more successful at stimulating social change toward household gender equality than interventions that focus on women's autonomous spheres only.

While the literature thus far has focused on microfinance's potential for women's empowerment, evidence on agricultural cooperatives' affecting women's social and economic position is limited. First, our findings provide novel empirical evidence on the empowering effects of women's participation in a self-help group-based coffee cooperative in rural Uganda. Second, our data allows us to explore the role of husbands' participation in their wives' cooperative and SGH. We embed our hypotheses and empirical results in a rich discussion of female entrepreneurship, microfinance and cooperative literature.

This study presents the impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU)-induced Trade Supply Chain Vulnerability (TSCV) on the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in India by leveraging the World Bank Enterprise Survey data for 2014 and 2022. Applying econometric techniques, it examines firm size’ influence on productivity and trade participation, providing insights for enhancing SME resilience and trade participation amid uncertainty.

The econometric techniques focus on export participation, along with variables such as total exports, firm size, productivity, and capital intensity. It addresses crucial factors such as the direct import of intermediate goods and foreign ownership. Utilizing the Cobb-Douglas production function, the study estimates Total Factor Productivity, mitigating endogeneity and multicollinearity through a two-stage process. Besides, the study uses a case study of North Indian SMEs engaged in manufacturing activities and their adoption of mitigation strategies to combat unprecedented EPU.

Results reveal that EPU-induced TSCV reduces exports, impacting employment and firm size. Increased productivity, driven by technological adoption, correlates with improved export performance. The study highlights the negative impact of TSCV on trade participation, particularly for smaller Indian firms. Moreover, SMEs implement cost-based, supplier-based, and inventory-based strategies more than technology-based and risk-based strategies.

Policy recommendations include promoting increased imports and inward foreign direct investment to enhance small firms’ trade integration during economic uncertainty. Tailored support for smaller firms, considering their limited capacity, is crucial. Encouraging small firms to engage in international trade and adopting diverse SC mitigation strategies associated with policy uncertainty are vital considerations.

This study explores the impact of EPU-induced TSCV on Indian SMEs’ trade dynamics, offering nuanced insights for policymakers to enhance SME resilience amid uncertainty. The econometric analysis unveils patterns in export behavior, productivity, and factors influencing trade participation during economic uncertainty.

The purpose of this study is to understand the link between psychological ownership and organizational innovation in family businesses. The research also explored the mediating effect of knowledge transfer alongside the moderating role of governance practices.

A total of 116 family businesses across India took part in the study. Data were collected with the help of a structured questionnaire supplied to the seniormost family member of each firm. The data were analyzed by using the moderated mediation model analysis in R.

The findings indicate that psychological ownership is a key driver of organizational innovation in family businesses. The transfer of knowledge mediates the relationship between psychological ownership and organizational innovation. Moreover, governance practices of the businesses moderate the association between psychological ownership and knowledge transfer, and its downstream consequences on organizational innovation.

While previous research has explored various aspects of nurturing innovation, the present study explores the effect of psychological ownership in the context of family businesses in India. This study also gives insights into how knowledge transfer and governance practices work together to influence innovation in these businesses.

Remote working has brought forward many challenges for employees as the phenomenon is still new for most employees across the globe. Some of these challenges may be addressed by the recent adoption of digital technologies by organizations. In this vein, our study explores the impact of digital platform capability on the creativity of employees through the mediating mechanism of explicit and tacit knowledge sharing.

The data were gathered from higher education institutes (HEIs) in a developing country, Pakistan which recently saw a major disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic. The proposed hypotheses were tested through Structural Equational Modeling (SEM) and the results confirmed our hypotheses.

The findings confirmed that the digital platform capabilities impact both tacit and explicit knowledge sharing among these remote employees. Likewise, the results also supported the mediating role of both explicit and tacit knowledge sharing on the creativity of these remote workers.

Our results are significant as they confirm the impact of digitalization on remote workers’ creativity predisposition. We thus advance the academic debate on the problems of knowledge sharing in remote working. We prove that digital capabilities outweigh the challenges created due to new forms of work driven by the pandemic. It further highlights the important areas to focus on while planning human resource policies in the new normal.

This paper aims to examine how the diversity of educational levels within bank boards influences the efficiency and stability of banks operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Unlike previous studies, this analysis also investigates the role of board gender diversity in moderating the relationship between board educational level diversity and bank efficiency and financial stability in MENA.

In this study, a sample of 77 banks in the MENA region spanning the years 2011 to 2018 is used. The relationship between the presence of highly educated directors on the board, bank efficiency and stability is assessed using the ordinary least squares method. Additionally, the authors use the Generalized Method of Moments technique to correct endogeneity problem.

This study establishes a positive association between the presence of directors with advanced educational backgrounds on bank boards and bank efficiency and stability. Furthermore, the inclusion of women on the board strengthens this relationship.

These findings have important implications for policymakers and regulators in the MENA region, suggesting that promoting diversity policies that encourage the participation of highly educated directors on bank boards can contribute to enhanced efficiency and financial stability. Policymakers may also consider implementing quotas or guidelines to improve gender diversity in board appointments, thereby fostering bank performance in the region.

This study stands out for its innovation and distinctiveness, as it delves into the connection between board educational level diversity and bank efficiency in the MENA region. Notably, it surpasses previous research by investigating the moderating role of board gender diversity, thus offering valuable insights into the complex interplay between these two facets of board diversity. This contribution enriches the existing literature by providing novel perspectives on board composition dynamics and its influence on bank efficiency and stability.

Although the literature provides insights into the role of experiential learning based on prototypes in identification of latent customer need, it offers different views on the role of product prototypes in improving the efficacy of learning customer need, and also neglects the role of vicarious learning in prototype-based experiential learning. In a data-rich environment, market big data create new opportunities to learn from vicarious, digitalized experiences that are not observable with prototype-based learning. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to compare the effects of product prototype strategies – basic prototype strategy and enhanced prototype strategy – on identification of latent customer needs, and determine how each prototype strategy interacts with vicarious learning based on market big data to identify latent customer needs.

We collected data from 299 Chinese manufacturing firms via on-site surveys to explore our research question. All of our hypotheses were supported by the regression results.

This study finds that both the enhanced and basic prototype strategies (experiential learning from direct market experience based on prototyping) have positive effects on latent need identification, but the effect of enhanced prototypes is stronger. Furthermore, the enhanced and basic prototype strategies have different interaction effects with market big data (vicarious learning from indirect market experiences) on latent need identification.

This research extends the literature on prototype-based learning for latent need identification. It also contributes to the experiential prototype-based learning literature by exploring the role of vicarious learning based on market big data.