Search results

This article proposes a Multilayer Network (MLN) model for studying business ecosystems. The model focuses on the flows of products, services and money between buyers and sellers, emphasizing that these flows form both actor-level and emergent system-level ecosystem structures.

The article examines two case studies of real estate owners and their suppliers, using financial transaction data to provide a detailed, data-driven view of business ecosystems.

The study advances real estate theory by deepening research on the digitalization of real estate owners, especially on their enterprise architectures and supplier networks. Despite size differences, both case firms have similar, complex supplier-network structures. The findings may inform enterprise architecture management and procurement practices in the real estate sector.

The MLN model defines terminology for ecosystem layers and provides methods for establishing ecosystem boundaries. This aligns with the micro-level critique in management and ecosystems research. We conclude by highlighting that event data, when available, can enhance future business ecosystem analysis by enabling the study of broader ecosystem structures with the MLN model.

Purpose: This paper investigates how Europe’s fast fashion industry’s sustainability efforts correlate with socio-economic well-being, focusing on the Human Development Index (HDI), Sustainable Development Goals, and textile waste.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Applying Principal Component, Regression, and Spatial Analysis, the study examines cross-European data to identify relationships between development indices and textile waste.

Findings: There is a strong link between adherence to Sustainable Development Goals and higher living standards, but the impact of textile waste on well-being is minimal.

Research Limitations/Implications: Limitations refer to excluding other socio-economic factors and a narrow metric focus, which may obscure the broader effects of textile waste.

Practical Implications: Results advocate for sustainable waste management policies, which were crucial during the European energy crisis, to foster eco-friendly practices in the fashion industry.

Social Implications: The study emphasises the need for a circular economy shift in fast fashion, which is vital for environmental sustainability and societal health.

Originality/Value: This research enriches the sustainability narrative by correlating it with socio-economic health in European contexts, providing a unique industry perspective.

Plain Language Summary: Exploring the connection between sustainability in Europe’s fashion industry and quality of life, our study finds that eco-friendly policies match higher living standards. However, fashion waste’s direct effect could be much better. Amidst an energy crisis (Kent, 2022), our insights press for greener practices in fashion, underscoring the necessity for a circular economy to support environmental and social well-being.

Answering two questions: What do people believe is the gender makeup of different occupations? If there is a systematic difference between the actual and perceived gender composition what factors predict or mediate this difference?

We integrate three occupation-level datasets: ratings of perceived gender composition and cultural sentiments (EPA ratings) for every 2010 Census occupation collected for this study, occupational characteristics from O*NET, and demographic characteristics from the 2015 to 2019 Current Population Survey. Regression models examine the association between sentiments and objective occupational traits on the perceived gender composition net of the actual gender composition.

While respondents underestimate extreme values, perceptions largely reflect actual composition. Gendered sentiments had a significant independent effect on gender composition perceptions. Examining the relationship between objective occupational features, sentiments, and perceptions allows scholars to better understand the links between structural conditions, gendered beliefs, and social action. If individuals underestimate the extent of gender segregation and view some occupations as more diverse than they are, they may be more willing to consider occupations inconsistent with their gender identity. On the other hand, if they misperceive gender composition because of cultural sentiments, they may choose an occupational course somewhat different from their intentions.

Research on gender composition typically employs either a macro approach based on governmental statistics or a micro approach that examines a limited number of occupations. This is the first study to conduct a complete census of every Census occupation for perceived gender composition and cultural sentiments.

This study explores the coping strategies employed by people of color in response to racial discrimination and examines how cultural norms inform these strategies.

In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 34 Black and Asian Americans about their experiences with racial discrimination.

Findings reveal that participants cope through humor, seeking social support on social media, from family and friends, and through avoidant coping strategies. Seeking social support from empathetic others, especially when they shared the same racial background as participants, contributes to feelings of comfort, sanity, and a sense of community. Group differences emerge in seeking family support with Black Americans more likely to seek parental support, likely because of racial socialization practices by their parents that prepared them for experiencing bias. Asian Americans preferred talking to siblings or cousins, citing a cultural gap between them and their parents.

The study underscores the importance of considering the quality of social support, not just its use, as a buffer against harms related to discrimination.

Racial discrimination is a routine experience for many people of color. This study demonstrates how the type of coping strategy matters for coping with the distress that often accompanies these experiences.

In contrast to monoracial-focused studies, this research demonstrates the convergence and divergence of coping strategies among different racial groups.

This chapter aims to provide a normative evaluation of companies' web-based external corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication on halal products for ethnic-religious minorities. It contributes to the existing literature on (political) CSR and moral legitimacy by examining corporate communication on ethical principles. To answer five specific research questions, a content analysis of companies' websites, online shops, Facebook pages, and CSR reports was conducted. The results show that of the 61 companies analyzed, 18% (4 AUT, 7 GER) communicate publicly that they offer halal products. The analysis of the 11 cases that do communicate about their halal offerings shows that only few live up to the principles of transparency and accountability; open discourse with users on Facebook is almost nonexistent as social media communication is mainly defensive and rarely proactive. The practical implications of this study suggest that if companies want to take their role as quasi-political actors seriously, they should be more transparent and accountable about their halal offerings. Supporting the Muslim community through action – that is, offering halal products and working with nonbusiness stakeholders such as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to promote inclusion – is key, but also communicating about it is important. However, whether dialogue should take place on social media, where polarization and harmful speech is prevalent, is debatable and requires further research.

We adopt an information risk view and argue that higher levels of pledge risk incurred by insiders incentivize opportunistic financial disclosure and impair the quality of information available to analysts to forecast firm performance.

We sample Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2022. Following the literature, we apply established models to measure and test analysts’ forecasting accuracy/dispersion related to controlling shareholders pledging equity and the amount of margin call pressure. Analyst characteristics and nonfinancial disclosures proxied by CSR reports are also examined as factors likely to influence the relationship between pledge risk and analysts’ forecast quality.

We find that analysts’ earnings predictions are less accurate and more dispersed as the proportion of shares pledged (pledge ratio) increases and in combination with greater margin call pressure. Pledge ratios are significantly associated with several information risk proxies (i.e. earnings permanence, accruals quality, audit quality, financial restatements, related party transactions and internal control weaknesses), validating the channel through which equity pledges undermine analysts’ forecast quality. The results also demonstrate that forecast quality declines for a wide variety of analysts’ attributes, including high- and low-quality analysts and analysts from small and large brokerage firms. Importantly, nonfinancial disclosures, as proxied by CSR reporting, improve analysts’ forecasts.

We extend the literature by demonstrating that incremental pledge risk increases non-diversifiable information risk; all non-pledging shareholders pay a premium through more diverse and less accurate earnings forecasts. Our study provides important policy implications with economically significant costs to investors associated with insider equity pledges. Our results highlight the benefits of nonfinancial disclosures in China, which has implications for the current debate on the global convergence of CSR reporting.

The concept of interestingness has been investigated in several management disciplines but studies mobilizing such concept in supply chain management (SCM) to develop strategies for the field's advancement are relatively scarce. This research paper aims to investigate how SCM scholars rank attributes of interestingness and the strategies to harness interestingness in the field of SCM.

The authors adopt a mixed methods research design in which a survey on SCM researchers' ranking of interestingness' attributes and qualitative interviews with selected academics are conducted.

The findings highlight the importance given by SCM scholars to attributes such as rigor, relevance, novelty and communication and how they are interrelated. Also, other interestingness attributes are underlined by scholars during the qualitative interviews including inquisitiveness, engaging the reader, imaginativeness and entertainment. Furthermore, a research agenda to synthesize the propositions to develop interesting research is also proposed.

Interestingness attributes such as rigor, relevance and novelty are discussed. Recommendations for interesting research are suggested which can be useful to scholars and journal editors. The findings of this research are also relevant for practitioners for a better understanding of academic/practice relationships to develop high impact collaboration.

This paper is among the few studies that focus on interestingness in SCM research from the perspective of scholars. In doing so, the authors seek to contribute to the classic debate in SCM field about “relevance-rigour” duality by providing a broader outlook based on interestingness and proposing a research agenda for prospective studies in the field.

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of greenery on residential mobility within purpose-built student housing facilities in Northern Ghana.

This research employed a structured questionnaire and utilized an experimental block design, encompassing 124 comparative greened and non-greened student housing facilities, with a total of 995 resident participants. The impact of greenery on residential mobility was analyzed using a repeated sales model and t-test analysis.

Results revealed that residential mobility was significantly higher in non-greened student housing facilities than their greened counterparts. The study further indicated that the presence of greenery had a substantial effect on residential mobility, attributed to residents' preferences for the ecological, social and economic benefits associated with greenery, rather than merely infrastructure considerations.

Enhancing the aesthetic appeal, economic viability, safety, security and health benefits of greened student housing facilities while managing the influence of greenery on infrastructure was found to affect residential mobility. The findings suggest that improving occupancy rates in these facilities through the incorporation of greenery could yield higher rental income and better cash flows for investors involved in student housing operations.

This study highlights the ecological, social and economic advantages of greenery for residents. While the benefits of greenery in residential contexts are increasingly recognized, the specific impact of greenery on residential mobility within the Sub-Saharan African context represents a novel contribution. The application of neighborhood effects theory to the examination of greenery benefits and residential mobility in this region adds a new dimension to existing research.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of corporate attributes like a company’s profitability, size, age, leverage and board size on companies’ sustainability reporting as measured through India’s new business responsibility and sustainability reporting (BRSR) framework.

A random sample of 130 companies was taken from the top 1,000 listed companies on the National Stock Exchange. Sequential mixed methods research approach was used to prepare a sustainability quality index. Then, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the impact on the quality of reporting by Indian companies.

Interestingly, the analysis revealed that traditional metrics like age, profitability, board size and leverage did not have significant associations with reporting quality. Rather, the size of a company in terms of market capitalisation was found to have a strong positive impact on sustainability reporting.

This was a cross-sectional study, as time series data for BRSR reporting is not yet available. Also, only five parameters were taken for analysis. Lastly, subjective judgment in content analysis may be involved.

This suggests that only larger companies in India are prioritising sustainability reporting over smaller ones. It affirms the legitimacy and stakeholder theory in the Indian context.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first endeavours to assess the efficacy of the new Indian BRSR framework and test its primary objectives. Furthermore, significant implications have been given for managers to catalyse and reinforce the sustainability momentum down the lane across companies of all sizes in India.