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The study explores the impact of people-centered Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) on Supply Chain Performance (SCP). It also aims to reinforce the importance of people in an organization’s survival, particularly from a knowledge-based perspective, by empirically assessing the mediating effect of knowledge sharing on people-centered KMS and SCP. The model being assessed incorporates people-centered KMS that promote knowledge sharing and therefore improve SCP within Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME) in developing countries, leading to their extended life span.

The study developed a knowledge-based SCP model using people-centered KMS as a predictor variable and knowledge sharing as a mediating variable, with SCP as the outcome variable. The data were collected from a sample of 580 SME owners from across Zimbabwe via a questionnaire developed based on validated constructs available in literature that was vetted through a pilot survey before distribution. The dataset was subsequently tested for validity of constructs and scales and analyzed using multiple regression.

The results of the study showed significant influence of three people-centered KMS, namely, Communities of Practice (CoP), Innovation Management (IM) and Organizational Culture (OC), on knowledge sharing but not from Social Capital. Thereafter, significant influence was also found of knowledge sharing on three process-based measures of SCP, namely, Time-Related Performance (TRP), Cost-Related Performance (CRP) and Responsiveness-Related Performance (RRP), but not on Operational Quality-Related Performance (OQRP). Thus overall, it was confirmed that people-centered KMS has a salutary impact on process-based SCP, with knowledge sharing serving as a significant mediator.

The study makes a novel contribution to the extant literature by providing insight into how people-centered KMS impacts SCP through knowledge sharing. Additionally, the geographical scope of the study also makes it among the few that have studied supply chain management within the context of developing economies, especially those that face significant economic pressures, such as Zimbabwe. Finally, given the criticality of SMEs to the economic growth in developing economies juxtaposed with the low survival rates of SMEs therein, the study reveals a relatively low-cost strategy of knowledge sharing among supply chain partners as a valid strategy to improve the SCP of these SMEs in an effort to enhance their survival rates. The primary limitation of the study relates to potential difficulty in the generalizability of findings because data were collected from a single country.

The original contributions of the study include: utilizing a people-centered knowledge management perspective, an establishment of the relationship between KMS on SCP and demonstrating the salience of knowledge sharing as a mediator; addressing the dearth of literature on supply chain management in developing economies, especially those with stressed economies; demonstrating the usefulness of knowledge sharing as a relatively low-cost but effective strategy to improve the performance of SMEs in a developing economy and thus lead to higher survival rates, thus providing a tool that can be used by the public and the private sector in developing countries to build structures for successful economic development.

The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the global textile and apparel supply chain from the perspectives of industry professionals within the two leading production countries: Bangladesh and China.

Applying the theory of dynamic capabilities, a qualitative research design was employed using interviews with a total of 33 apparel industry practitioners, 15 in Bangladesh and 18 in China.

Findings indicate that four factors primarily impacted the extent to which COVID-19 disrupted a firm's supply chain: firm size, channel diversification, sourcing method and product type. Viewed through the lens of the theory of dynamic capabilities, findings point to the need for firms to address the challenges brought about by supply chain disruptions by creating opportunities.

It is important to understand the impact of COVID-19 in real time and within the two largest textile and apparel–producing countries globally, as they have borne much of the brunt of the supply chain disruptions brought on by COVID-19. This empirical study makes contributions to the apparel supply chain literature as it provides an in-depth investigation of what textile and apparel firms in China and Bangladesh have learned from the COVID-19 experience to better prepare for future unexpected global events.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce cyclic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) method to understand the corrosion evolution behavior of structural materials in secondary circuit water environments of pressurized water reactor (PWR) system.

The cyclic EIS has been used to understand the corrosion evolution of 304 stainless steel (SS) in simulated secondary circuit water environment. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy have been used to characterize the microstructure and corrosion morphology of 304 SS sample.

Cyclic EIS measurement is applicable in gaining information on the corrosion evolution of 304 SS in high-temperature and high-pressure (HTHP) water environments. Based on analyses of the cyclic EIS data, it is considered that the measured EIS response of 304 SS sample under HTHP water environment mainly comes from the compact inner part of the newly formed oxide layer, which gradually inhibits the progress of electrochemical reactions at the oxide layer/substrate interface.

The cyclic EIS has been introduced into HTHP water environment, and its reliability has been evaluated. It may find a wide application in corrosion studies of materials under HTHP water environments, which is critical for a safe operation in nuclear power plants and beneficial for the development of corrosion-resistant materials in PWR system.

This chapter explores the multifaceted relationship between quantum computing (QC) and sustainability, with a focus on the Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimisation (QUBO) framework. The manuscript delves into the theoretical underpinnings of QUBO and its formulation as a quantum annealing problem, identifying the quantum principles that facilitate the resolution of such optimisation challenges. It offers a critical analysis of the suitability of QUBO for unconstrained problems and its efficacy in consistently locating the global minimum – a pivotal concern in optimisation tasks. Further, this study provides a nuanced discussion on the intersection of QC and sustainability. It delineates the types of optimisation problems within sustainability initiatives that are amenable to formulation as QUBO problems, while also highlighting sustainability challenges that elude the QUBO framework. It argues for the integration of quantum solutions into business operations, highlighting the potential for QC to play a transformative role in achieving sustainability objectives. The critique of the current hype surrounding QC provides a balanced viewpoint, ensuring a grounded approach to the adoption of quantum technologies in tackling pressing global issues.

Understanding China's carbon dioxide (CO2) emission status is crucial for getting Carbon Neutrality status. The purpose of the paper is to calculate two possible scenarios for CO2 emission distribution and calculated input-output flows of CO2 emissions for every 31 China provinces for 2012, 2015 and 2017 years.

In this study using the input and output (IO) table's data for the selected years, the authors found the volume of CO2 emissions per one Yuan of revenue for the industry in 2012 and the coefficient of emission reduction compared to 2012.

Results show that in the industries with a huge volume of CO2 emissions, such as “Mining and washing of coal”, the authors cannot observe the reduction processes for years. Industries where emissions are being reduced are “Processing of petroleum, coking, nuclear fuel”, “Production and distribution of electric power and heat power”, “Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Fishery”. For the “construction” industry the situation with emissions did not change.

“Transport, storage, and postal services” and “Smelting and processing of metals” industries in China has the second place concerning emissions, but over the past period, emissions have been sufficiently reduced. “Construction” industry produces a lot of emissions, but this industry does not carry products characterized by large emissions from other industries. Authors can observe that Jiangsu produces a lot of CO2 emissions, but they do not take products characterized by significant emissions from other provinces. Shandong produces a lot of emissions and consumes many of products characterized by large emissions from other provinces. However, Shandong showed a reduction in CO2 emissions from 2012 to 2017.

In the last few years, environmental issues have become a matter of survival. In this sense, e-waste management is among the major problems since it may be a way of mitigating mineral depletion. In this context, the literature lacks e-waste supply chain studies that systematically map supply chain challenges and risks concerning material recovery.

Given this context, the authors' paper conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) to build a framework to identify the constructs of e-waste supply chain risk management.

The paper revealed the theoretical relationship between important variables to achieve e-waste supply chain risk management via a circular economy (CE) framework. These variables include reverse logistics (RL), closed-loop supply chains (CLSC), supply chain risk management, supply chain resilience and smart cities.

The literature contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) a complete list of the risks of the e-waste supply chains, (2) the techniques being used to identify, assess and mitigate e-waste supply chain risks and (3) the constructs that form the theoretical framework of e-waste supply chain risk management. In addition, the authors' results address important literature gaps identified by researchers and serve as a guide to implementation.

Enforcing employee compliance with information systems security policies (ISSP) is a herculean task for organizations as security breaches due to non-compliance continue to soar. To improve this situation, researchers have employed fear appeals that are based on protection motivation theory (PMT) to induce compliance behavior. However, extant research on fear appeals has yielded mixed findings. To help explain these mixed findings, the authors contend that efficacy formation is a cognitive process that is impacted by the cognitive load exerted by the design of fear appeal messages.

The study draws on cognitive load theory (CLT) to examine the effects of intrinsic cognitive load, extraneous cognitive load and germane cognitive load on stimulating an individual’s efficacy and coping appraisals. The authors designed a survey to collect data from 359 respondents and tested the model using partial least squares.

The analysis showed significant relationships between cognitive load (intrinsic, extraneous, and germane) and fear, maladaptive rewards, response costs, self-efficacy and response efficacy.

This provides support for the assertion that fear appeals impact the cognitive processes of individuals that then in turn can potentially affect the efficacy of fear and coping appraisals. These findings demonstrate the need to further investigate how individual cognition is impacted by fear appeal design and the resulting effects on compliance intention and behavior.

Demographic characteristics such as race and ethnicity have long been shown to affect individuals' decision-making and can be associated with various behavioral outcomes. In this paper, we examine the association between the ethnicity of a chief financial officer (CFO) and financial reporting conservatism in a large sample of US public firms. We find that firms headed by CFOs of nonwhite ethnicities exhibit less conservative financial reporting than firms headed by white CFOs; however, this effect is attenuated for firms facing greater external scrutiny. Moreover, nonwhite CFOs in our sample recognize a higher level of discretionary accruals than white CFOs. Our study contributes to the literature on financial reporting and answers the call for more studies on top manager ethnicity effects. More importantly, our findings hold implications for both regulators and investors, given the prevalence and significance of diversity initiatives in today's globalized business environment.

The present study aims to investigate the impact of manager conservatism on innovation and capital expenditures especially the moderating role of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak for companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE).

The present study investigated information about 178 companies in 2014–2022. In this study, the CEO’s signature was a psychological proxy of conservatism. Modified multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the moderating role of COVID-19. The present study also used the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to address endogeneity issues.

The results showed that manager conservatism has a positive and significant effect on capital expenditures, while manager conservatism negatively impacts firm innovation. In addition, COVID-19 significantly strengthens the impact of manager conservatism on capital expenditures and firm innovation. Hypothesis testing based on robustness checks confirmed these results.

This study aims to investigate the impact of manager conservatism, as a personality trait, on capital expenditures and innovation. These aspects have not been thoroughly explored in the existing literature. Additionally, it is important to consider the perceived threat of COVID-19, known to have a greater effect on conservatives. This study seeks to examine the interactive role of manager conservatism and COVID-19 on investment in capital expenditures and innovation. The present findings will not only benefit managers and policymakers in both developing and developed countries but will also provide valuable insights into decision-making processes related to capital expenditures and innovation during critical conditions such as the COVID-19 outbreak.

This study aims to develop and test a framework of the antecedents to and performance outcomes of exporters’ use of different services offered by Internet-based Business-to-Business (I-B2B) platforms.

We test the model based on a unique survey dataset of 350 Chinese exporters who subscribed to Alibaba.com, a major I-B2B platform.

Drawing on the signaling theory, export and I-B2B platform literature, we develop a typology of exporters’ use of services offered by I-B2B platforms. We find that the extent to which firms have cost efficiency advantages, adopt an export diversity strategy, operate under high levels of psychic distance and experience high levels of domestic regulatory uncertainty are all positively related to exporters’ use of I-B2B platform services. The use of those services is either positively or negatively related to export success depending on the services in question. The magnitudes of these performance relationships are contingent on the exporters’ transparency strategies.

This is the first study to examine the antecedents to and consequences of exporters’ use of the services offered by I-B2B platforms.