Search results

This paper aims to provide an overview of the application of blockchain to agri-food supply chains, including key issues and trends. It examines the state of the art and conceptual structure of the field and proposes an agenda to guide future research.

This article performs a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer software on a sample of 205 articles from the WoS database to identify research trend topics.

The number of publications in this area has increased since 2020, which shows a growing research interest. The research hotspots are related to the integration of blockchain technology in the agri-food supply chain for traceability, coordination between all actors involved, transparency of operations and improvement of food safety. Furthermore, this is linked to sustainability and the achievement of the sustainable development gtoals (SDGs), while addressing key challenges in the implementation of blockchain-based technologies in the agri-food supply chain.

The application of blockchain in the agri-food supply chain may consider four key aspects. Firstly, the implementation of blockchain can improve the traceability of food products. Secondly, this technology supports sustainability issues and could avoid disruptions in the agri-food supply chain. Third, blockchain improves food quality and safety control throughout the supply chain. Fourthly, the findings show that regulation is needed to improve trust between stakeholders.

The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the blockchain phenomenon in the agri-food supply chain by optimising the search criteria. Moreover, it serves to bridge to future research by identifying gaps in the field.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the differences between financial crises of fear and confidence and the differential behavior between downtrends and recovery.

Five national stock markets have been analyzed – the USA (SP500), China (Hang Seng), Spain (IBEX 35), Japan (Nikkei) and Germany (DAX) – through the evolution of three world economic crises: the mortgage bubble crisis of 2007 in the first place, with special attention to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, which will be treated as an independent crisis process, and the crisis caused by COVID-19. The behavioral finance theory, with the support of the complexity theory in the field of risk management, will establish the different behavioral biases that explain the differences between the two types of crises, fear and confidence, when confronted with risk.

Economic crises resulting from a shocking event, addressed as crises of fear in this research, such as Lehman Brothers or COVID-19, are fast-moving; all the economies analyzed show a common pattern of evolution. The difference is found in the recovery periods in which the previous parallelism does not continue. Crisis events that arise from a social context, addressed as crises of trust in this research, follow similar patterns in their evolution; nonetheless, the start date presents higher variations than those originated by a shock. These crises also lack parallelism between fall and recovery.

Understanding crisis process patterns may help to prevent them and alleviate their effects when they occur.

Understanding crisis process patterns may help to prevent them and alleviate their effects when they occur. This constitutes an original field of research.

The study aims to analyse whether the selected craft beers carry out sustainable practices, not only in production but also in promotion and distribution, highlighting territoriality and shared pride with their audience.

This article examines sustainable practices in craft beers through a qualitative analysis of 42 breweries in Spain. Territorial marketing and circular economy strategies are identified. The results show an increasing integration of sustainable practices and their impact on brand perception. This research contributes to the literature on sustainability in local industries and offers recommendations for small breweries seeking to differentiate themselves in competitive markets.

Key results show the integration of territoriality and sustainability elements in their marketing. Diverse sustainable practices are observed such as the installation of solar panels and the use of gas-powered vehicles. As for the advertising, and public relations strategy, it is noted that all the beers studied use these tools to be present at fairs, festivals, and events in their territories.

This study investigates the integration of sustainable practices in the craft beer industry in Spain, analysing a sample of 42 breweries. Qualitative methods are used to identify sustainability practices and the promotion of territorial branding strategies. Results indicate a correlation between brand identity and sustainability, with implications for the expansion of the circular economy model. It is suggested that small artisanal producers adopt territorial branding models to strengthen their sustainability and competitiveness.

The purpose of this study is to explore and conducts a critical literature review to answer a fundamental question in the industrial district literature: are clusters and industrial (clusters/IDs) driving sustainability innovation? By intersecting different yet related strands of literature, the authors take stock of what the authors know about sustainability innovation in clusters/IDs.

This paper reviews the literature for conceptualizing sustainability innovation in clusters/districts.

Insights point out that the sustainability innovation process (development and diffusion) in clusters/IDs and their firms couples into mainstream cluster/IDs framework; clusters/IDs enable sustainability innovation through usual mechanisms, fostering collective change toward sustainability innovation, vis-à-vis other settings and strengthening firm sustainability innovation and performance. Sustainability innovation in clusters/IDs requires coupling different multi-scalar institutional systems effectively, and the cooperation of local organizations and policymakers for co-designing dedicated policies. Collective actions are important and firm heterogeneity needs to be considered in the clusters/IDs framework.

This study is original because it provides state-of-the-art on sustainability innovation in clusters/districts, enabling the topic to advance in this direction.

This paper aims to examine whether the position of universities in the times higher education (THE) impact rankings (IR) is related to the different dimensions of academic quality of universities according to the THE world universities ranking.

The research, based on universities ranked in the top 100 of THE IRs, uses a regression model obtained by the panel data method, using the fixed effects approach, to identify the relationship of academic quality dimensions with that ranking.

The results show an increase in the dissemination of information on sustainable development goals (SDGs) by universities. In addition, it is shown that research, number of citations and international outlook are positively associated with a higher score obtained by universities in THE IRs, which implies a higher impact on the SDGs by these universities.

Based on multifaceted theories, the study highlighted the universities that are best positioned in the THE IRs in relation to their contribution to the SDGs.

This study aims to evaluate patterns, trends and knowledge networks within social security research. By using bibliometric analysis, the research seeks to provide a comprehensive perspective on the evolution of global social security research. The purpose extends to identifying significant contributors, collaborative clusters and multifaceted issues addressed in the field.

This study uses bibliometric analysis to assess social security research trends and knowledge networks from 2015 to 2023. Using the Web of Science database, 6,152 relevant articles are analyzed. Quantitative techniques such as coauthorship network analysis, institutional productivity rankings and keyword clustering are applied for a comprehensive understanding.

The findings indicate a rising trajectory of publications in social security research, with the USA, China and Europe emerging as top contributors. Coauthorship patterns reveal collaborative clusters with focused research interests. Prominent authors emphasize key aspects like public policy, economics, health and labor dynamics related to social security. Keyword clustering identifies nine thematic clusters, ranging from inequality and poverty to retirement and disability reforms. A thematic map visualizes overarching categories, including motor themes, basic themes, niche themes and emerging themes.

This bibliometric study offers original insights into global social security research, providing a comprehensive understanding of its evolution, significant contributors and diverse thematic issues addressed. The originality lies in the application of quantitative techniques, including coauthorship network analysis and keyword clustering, to reveal collaborative patterns and thematic clusters. The study’s value extends to facilitating evidence-based decision-making for advancing the critical domain of social security through international collaboration and impactful research aligned with societal needs.

The purpose of this study is to examine the intricate dynamics within the hospitality service sector, which predominantly employs low-wage and low-skilled workers. These employees frequently encounter challenges related to breaches in their psychological contracts. Despite their critical role in customer service, their experiences are often overlooked in organizational inclusion research. We investigate the relationship between employees’ perceptions of organizational inclusion and their assessments of organizational ethical virtues (OEVs), considering the potential moderating effect of psychological contract breach. Furthermore, it explores how these factors influence customer- and organizationdirected organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs).

Our research design incorporates a two-stage moderated-mediation model to test our proposed hypotheses empirically. A two-source sample of 451 European hotel managers and employees extends the inquiry with the proposed model. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the proposed relationships.

Findings reveal that organization inclusion is positively associated with OEV and employee-perceived OEV mediates an indirect link between organization inclusion on customer-oriented OCB. Moreover, psychological contract breach (P CB) attenuates the association between organization inclusion and OEV at the first stage and OEV, and OCB at the second stage.

The findings robustly corroborate our proposed model. The study findings culminate in a discussion accentuating the extensive implications of our findings for both research and practicality within the hospitality sector. Anchored in empirical revelations, we delineate avenues for future exploration in this pivotal domain.

Considering corporate governance (CG hereinafter) practices' variety across Anglo-American and European countries, this study relies on contingency and complexity theories to investigate the effect of environmental sustainability performance (ESP hereinafter) on shareholder value under various configurations of board of directors (BoD hereinafter), firm and country characteristics.

The author used the Thomson Reuters Environment Pillar Score (ASSET4) and the Total Shareholder Return to assess ESP and shareholder value respectively. The author applied a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA hereinafter) to an unbalanced panel of 2,284 observations from 486 European and Anglo-American non-financial listed firms over the period 2016–2020.

The author found a positive association between ESP and shareholder value and he displayed notable differences between Anglo-American and European economies regarding causal predictors of this positive association. Within European firms operating under civil law code where investor protection is low and family ownership is widespread, ESP creates shareholder value under configurations of causal predictors that significantly differ from those of their Anglo-American peers. The author's findings are robust to different identification strategies.

This study assists researchers, practitioners, shareholders and policymakers the significant roles that BoD diversity, organisational and institutional traits are jointly playing as determinants of the ESP-shareholder value relationship.

The author's study offers a more encompassing, complete and theoretically richer picture of the key drivers and outcomes of ESP.

This study aims to examine the impact of gamification on the five dimensions of meaningful learning (i.e. cooperative, active, authentic, constructive and intentional learning) and undergraduate student performance taking online lessons.

Therefore, the authors conducted an experiment among undergraduate students taking online classes at the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering School at a public university during the COVID-19 pandemic. The experiment included one control and two observation groups using gamification (Golden Points). Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed.

Results showed that gamification significantly affects meaningful learning and impacts student performance in online courses.

This study was limited to a single topic in a six-month course at a public university. Additional research is required to continue examining the impact of gamification in higher education institutions with different format courses and in other organisational sectors.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether public governance quality (i.e. control of corruption and voice and accountability) and corporate governance strength (i.e. environmental committee existence) are influential in stimulating supply chain transparency and how these two governance characteristics interact in enhancing supply chain transparency.

Our investigation draws on a sample of 25,096 firm-year observations affiliated with the manufacturing industry in 50 countries and executes country-year fixed effects.

We find that the strength of control of corruption, voice and accountability is positively associated with supply chain transparency, supporting institutional theory. Furthermore, the environmental committee’s existence is positively related to sustainable supply chain transparency, confirming the upper echelons theory. The moderating analysis rejects the complementary effect but supports the substitution effect, confirming the negative moderating role of the environmental committee between the control of corruption and voice and accountability and sustainable supply chain transparency.

No empirical study has drawn on an international sample to (1) explicate the worldwide adoption of sustainable supply chain transparency, (2) link corruption and accountability to green supply chain transparency or (3) investigate how sustainable supply chain transparency is affected by the interplay of institutions and environmental management committees. Thus, we highlight the substitutive or complementary role of internal and external governance mechanisms in inciting firms toward greener supply chain management by developing a novel sustainable supply chain transparency index that draws on five indicators.