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Motivated by the severe impact of global supply chain disruptions and the lack of understanding of supply chain resilience from an SME exporter perspective in the international marketing literature, this paper sets out to explore how SME exporters achieve resilience through strategic choices related to sourcing and manufacturing during global disruptions.

The study adopts a qualitative, multiple-case-studies approach to identify the key strategic drivers and contextual factors influencing SME exporters’ supply chain resilience. Our study adopted an SME exporter perspective and featured an unprecedented global supply chain disruption context. New Zealand (NZ) was chosen as the key home country context for the participants of this study. Five NZ SME exporters were selected for our case studies.

This study redefines buffering, bridging and a mixed strategy for an SME exporter facing global supply chain disruptions. SME exporters with high situational control are likely to pursue a buffering strategy that reduces their resource dependence on foreign suppliers and their reliance on information support from these suppliers. In contrast, when the firm perceives little control over the supply chain, it will decide upon a bridging strategy that aims to build solid relationships with supply chain partners. Exporters opt for a mixed strategy when they do not see themselves clearly in high or low situational control.

As global disruptions arise and evolve, supply chain uncertainty and exporters’ sense of situational control manifest differently across industries, product lines, markets and sourcing countries. It is essential to understand that firms can choose a mixed strategy based on these supply chain conditions. While our study was fortuitously timed, conducting multi-country studies could provide more comparative insights that transcend national borders. Additionally, our study did not examine organizational and capability-based factors. Future research may benefit from exploring how an SME exporter develops strategic capabilities to achieve resilience over its lifetime.

Businesses see survival as the most pivotal concern during a global supply chain disruption. Many companies have had to make on-the-spot decisions about whether they should shift or redesign their supply chains in the middle of a global disruption. There is no “best strategy” for an SME exporter to take. Rather, managers should make strategic decisions based on how much control or influence they have over a particular part of their supply chain. The level of control is determined by the SME exporter’s overall resource dependencies and information needs in particular parts of their supply chain.

We adopt resource dependence theory and information processing theory to guide our study and place exporters' situational control in the centre of drivers to firms' strategic choices during global disruptions. We make a novel attempt to incorporate the contextual conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic into the theorization of supply chain resilience. We make managerial recommendations to help SME exporters navigate global supply chain disruption challenges.

The article examines the ways in which professional associations representing those working in international education are able to shape national systems and thereby change the ways in which the country engages internationally. This is particularly significant for Australia, which has one of the world’s most internationalised higher education systems.

This paper presents a case study of the International Education Association of Australia, which since 2004 has played a central role in shaping international education policy and practice. It provides an insider account of three authors who have held senior roles in the Association, drawing on first-hand knowledge of institutional history.

The case study illustrates the ways in which the Association’s professional development, research and policy advocacy activities have helped to broaden Australia’s engagement in international education from a narrow commercial focus. The resulting deeper engagement with a broad range of issues associated with international engagement, including student welfare, outbound mobility, curriculum, migration and transnational education, has transformed policy and practice in Australia.

Although international education is coming to play an increasingly significant role in many systems, little has been written about the role of professional bodies in influencing the character and quality of international engagement. This paper makes a valuable contribution by demonstrating the practical measures that can be employed by international education professional bodies to strengthen public diplomacy and the social licence for global engagement.

The research aimed to explore the perceptions of aspiring future police officers studying at a university in relation to the actions to be taken with regards to typical posts on social media by a fictitious off and on-duty police officer. This in turn would inform future police workforce requirements.

Policing students who expressed their aspirations as future police officers were recruited. A total of 99 students studying the College of Policing licensed Professional Policing Degree at the University of South Wales, took part in Hydra Immersive Simulations to ascertain their perception of social media posts by a fictitious serving police officer. The students were asked to rate the appropriateness of the social media posts as groups, and as individuals.

The findings suggest that, whilst the majority of students identified misconduct issues in the social media posts, the response to how the fictitious police officer should be dealt with varied. In addition, it would appear that there may be a need for those involved in policing education to reinforce, in an ongoing basis, knowledge of the College of Policing Code of Ethics, misconduct rules, regulations and increase awareness of unacceptable social media posts.

The research was conducted with professional policing degree (PPD) students from one university.

It is important to reinforce The College of Policing Code of Ethics, expected professional standards and an understanding of what constitutes unacceptable social media posts throughout the education of aspiring police officers. As this has the potential, if recruited, to impact on the service.

Limited research has been conducted in relation to the College of Policing licensed higher education programme, the PPD, equipping aspiring police officers to successfully join the service and influence the cultural change.

This systematic review of the current gender inequality issues in operations and supply chain management (OSCM) seeks to illuminate the multifaceted aspects of this issue and their various implications for the field.

Employing systematic literature review and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Literature Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodologies, this research delves into an analysis of 238 journal articles spanning a 47-year period. The objective is to discern existing voids and put forth actionable suggestions that align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal Number 5 (SDG5) in the context of men and women, which pertains to realizing gender equality and empowering girls and women.

The results show a significant increase in published articles over the period. However, only five literature review articles were found that specifically address gender inequality in OSCM. The five common themes impacting gender inequality in this field are gender issues, mindset, transportation disparities, human resources and gender roles in OSCM, alongside sustainability, mobility and government policy intersections. The paper emphasizes the need for further research on these themes. It also suggests implications for educators, researchers, companies, OSCM departments and policymakers to achieve SDG5.

This study offers valuable insights by comprehensively reviewing and systematically analyzing the prevailing gender inequality issues within OSCM. It accentuates the significance of gender equality in OSCM, augmenting the burgeoning discourse and catalyzing concerted endeavors for gender equality.

Reducing carbon emissions in agriculture is vital for fostering sustainable agricultural growth and promoting ecological well-being in rural areas. The adoption of Low-Carbon Agriculture (LCA) by farmers holds great potential to accomplish substantial reductions in carbon emissions. The purpose of this study is to explore the farmers' preference and willingness to engage in LCA.

This study employs the Choice Experiment (CE) method to examine farmers' preferences and willingness to adopt LCA, using field survey data of 544 rural farmers in the Weihe River Basin between June and July 2023. We further investigate differences in willingness to pay (WTP) and personal characteristics among different farmer categories.

The empirical results reveal that farmers prioritize government-led initiatives providing pertinent technical training as a key aspect of the LCA program. Farmers' decisions to participate in LCA are influenced by factors including age, gender, education and the proportion of farm income in household income, with their evaluations further shaped by subjective attitudes and habits. Notably, we discovered that nearly half of the farmers exhibit indifference towards LCA attributes.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to investigate farmers' attitudes toward LCA from their own perspectives and to analyze the factors influencing them from both subjective and objective standpoints. This study presents a fresh perspective for advocating LCA, bolstering rural ecology and nurturing sustainable development in developing nations.

This paper aims to explore the extent, nature and communication potential of companies’ use of three popular social media platforms (Facebook, X and LinkedIn) to report on sustainability.

Qualitative methodology through the use of the netnography approach was adopted to evaluate the use of social media for sustainability communication by the Top 50 ASX companies. Content analysis of all company posts determined those with social and environmental content. A thematic analysis was performed using the global reporting initiative (GRI) framework to examine the nature of the reporting. The media richness framework was used to measure the communication potential of the social media platforms for sustainability communication.

The results indicated that the extent of sustainability posts on social media represented less than 20% of total social media posts. The nature of posts by the Top 50 ASX companies was higher on social issues than on environmental issues, which is contradictory to many previous studies. The study also found that while the social media platforms afforded high levels of media richness, most companies failed to exploit the platforms’ full potential to disseminate sustainability information.

This work provides both empirical and theoretical contributions to the ongoing debate concerning the use of social media for sustainability communication. The paper extends Lodhia et al.’s (2020) study of social media use for legitimation purposes and adapts Lodhia’s (2004) media richness framework to social media for sustainability reporting. It adds empirical insights into social media’s communication potential and value for communicating sustainability information.

The extent and nature to which organisations use social media to disclose their sustainability performance has significant practical implications for a variety of stakeholders. The results reveal to these stakeholders and the companies themselves the level of utilisation of social media along with the potential that can be harnessed. These results can potentially improve the quantity, timeliness and usability of sustainability reporting using social media platforms.

The study provides valuable evidence to increase understanding of the sustainability social media communication landscape, which organisations can potentially leverage to communicate their messages. Additionally, sustainability awareness is increased across various demographics by disseminating sustainability information to the wider public. This study will assist policy-setters in developing guidance for using social media for sustainability reporting.

This study extends existing literature, particularly the Lodhia et al. (2020) study, which has primarily focused on examining sustainability content in the media with limited exploration of the communication potential of social media platforms to communicate sustainability content.

Ghana’s legal framework for procurement has undergone substantial reform to increase its efficacy. However, disregard for legal obligations set forth has resulted in issues of fraud, corruption and poor oversight. This study seeks to synthesize literature on the recognition of legal obligations arising from tendering procedures and measures to promote fairness, transparency and accountability under Ghana’s procurement framework.

Legal frameworks and publications from diverse countries have been synthesized using a systematic literature review across three databases (Scopus, JSTOR and HeinOnline) to illuminate key concepts, issues and best practices relevant to the study. Data obtained from included publications was synthesized using Sandelowski and Barroso’s two-step approach by using a qualitative meta-summary and thematic synthesis.

The study reveals that issues of conflict of interest, corruption, lack of capacity, inadequate oversight and insufficient legal follow-through hinder the effectiveness of procurement regulations. The findings highlight the need for targeted improvements in resource allocation for consistent application of transparency measures, regular publication of notices and robust enforcement of accountability mechanisms. The report proposes the creation of a common data environment for networking and information dissemination, implementing feedback systems and trust rating schemes.

The study contributes to the body of knowledge on procurement regulation by providing a thorough analysis of Ghana’s procurement framework. The findings will help policymakers close the observed implementation gaps by guiding the revision of current legislation and the introduction of new regulations. Research findings can be used to guide the creation of focused training courses.

This study, one of the first of its kind in Ghana, examines the current procurement framework, including legal obligations and implementation challenges. It contributes to the body of knowledge on the subject by providing a current and fact-based analysis as well as relevant recommendations for strengthening the framework.

This study investigates investor trading behaviour around regular and one-off public holidays on the Sydney Stock Exchange (SSX) from 1901 to 1950. The purpose is to examine whether trading patterns differ between regular holidays, which are known in advance, and one-off holidays, which are unexpected. The study provides insights into the predictability of holidays and its influence on market activity, contributing to the broader literature on investor inattention and market anomalies.

Using a novel dataset constructed from handwritten share price lists covering 14,224 trading days, we perform quantitative analysis to assess trading volume before and after regular and one-off public holidays. Ordinary least squares regression models are employed to identify the presence of a holiday effect, accounting for various fixed effects and time-varying factors such as geopolitical events.

We find that trading volume is significantly lower on the day before regular holidays and higher on the day after, consistent with the investor inattention hypothesis. In contrast, no significant holiday effect is observed for one-off holidays. This suggests that predictability plays a crucial role in influencing investor behaviour, with irregular, less predictable holidays having less impact on trading patterns.

The study is limited by the historical nature of the data, which may not fully capture the diversity of modern trading environments. Additionally, the analysis is restricted to the SSX and may not be generalisable to other markets or time periods. Future research could explore similar effects in different contexts or with more recent data.

This research provides valuable insights for market participants and regulators by demonstrating how the predictability of holidays influences market activity. Understanding these patterns could help in making more informed decisions during periods of expected low trading volumes.

The study underscores the role of public holidays in shaping investor behaviour, with broader implications for understanding how societal events influence financial markets. This is particularly relevant in discussions about the impact of unexpected events on market stability.

This is the first study to compare the effects of regular and one-off public holidays on trading volumes in a historical stock market context. Our findings highlight the importance of event predictability in financial markets, offering a new perspective on how historical market behaviours can inform current financial theories.

This systematic literature review examines the domain of sports sponsorship involving controversial industries. We delve into the shared patterns, differences and overarching themes prevalent across various dark consumption industries (i.e. alcohol, food and beverages high in fat, salt and sugar, gambling and tobacco).

This study systematically reviews research on controversial sports sponsorships (CSS). Literature searches in Web of Science and Scopus, and additional searches in reference lists resulted in a total of 90 publications meeting the inclusion criteria, which can be grouped into three research clusters: prevalence, impact and (in)appropriateness of CSS.

This review revealed a high prevalence of so-called controversial sponsors in sports, particularly in – but certainly not limited to – soccer. Especially gambling sponsorships have become more prominent in recent years. Ethical concerns surfaced since CSS are positively related to attitudes, preferences, purchase intention and consumption, potentially causing health-harming consequences for children and adults.

This study provides scholars and practitioners with insights to advocate for policy measures curbing CSS.

In light of the identified research gaps, we propose a research agenda to particularly investigate causal relationships between exposure to CSS and its impact by conducting longitudinal and experimental research. Additionally, we propose to establish a consumer-centered framework for processing CSS.