Search results

Autistic individuals are employed and access higher education opportunities at significantly lower rates than their nondisabled peers (US Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], 2023; Newman, 2015). Schools are an optimal setting for intervention as most individuals access the school setting. However, traditional support to facilitate postsecondary transition effectively, such as transition plans, is currently lacking (Greene, 2018; Hughes et al., 2023). The authors of the present chapter conducted a systematic review to identify school-based interventions available for autistic youth intended to support the transition from high school to higher education, entrepreneurship, and employment. The data extraction methods used by the authors identified 19 articles on interventions. Across all studies, the authors found variation in the extent to which researchers addressed entrepreneurial skills and identified two key skill development areas across different intervention modalities: employability skills and interpersonal communication skills. Based on these results, the authors discuss available school-based programming intended to prepare autistic youth for postsecondary careers and entrepreneurial opportunities and the implications of existing interventions for practitioners and researchers interested in improving outcomes for autistic students as they transition to the workplace, particularly entrepreneurial endeavors.

In response, this study developed a mathematical and computational method, through spatial configurations with justified plan graph (JPG), drawn from Space Syntax to extract essential information of the spatial topology of 13 valuable traditional courtyard houses located in Toon historical city of Iran.

Historical vernacular housing has always been designed to incorporate and reflect the local lifestyle and cultural conditions. “Courtyard” is a fundamental part of traditional Iranian houses. This traditional building type includes a walled boundary and a complex of open, semi-enclosed and enclosed spaces. This study investigates the traditional houses in Toon historical town. Toon is one of the ancient towns in southeast Iran, including old courtyard houses in its heritage context. The spatial influence of the courtyard contributes to the formation of this famous architectural type.

The results show the remarkable impact of this space on dominating the plan of traditional Toon houses configuration compared to other spaces in all cases. Furthermore, spatial accessibility has changed over time, and the Safavid period had a higher level of integration and lower level of accessibility (mean i = 7.03) rather than the Qajar period (mean i = 6.34); also, privacy has decreased progressively.

The knowledge of characteristics of this historical architecture needs to be gathered for the preservation and conservation of the built heritage. Hence, the principle behind traditional Iranian courtyards was investigated to recognize the difference between the spatial influence of the courtyard and other spaces and the changes in the courtyard over time.

Rapid technological change in the transport sector is leading to a growing range of potential and actual ‘business models’ deployable for the movement of goods and people. Two key uncertainties arise from this proliferation: first, concerning which ones can be economically viable, and, second, whether they can be both simultaneously economically viable and contribute to the imperatives of more sustainable mobility. The present chapter reviews and appraises the emergence of these new business models, drawing on both literature review and empirical research with entrepreneurs involved in the new mobility sector. Specifically, the potential of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UN, n.d.) as a device to structure and frame the debate about what constitutes a valuable contribution to sustainable mobility is considered. A framework is developed which captures how mobility and transport have dependencies with the SDGs. From this analysis, key sustainability concepts are derived which have either a subsistence function (maintaining the basics of human life) or an enhancement function (enabling citizens to realise their potential whilst reducing impacts on the planet). Five different innovations involving mobility sector business entrepreneurship are then characterised using this framework to exemplify its ability to deconstruct and test claims that ‘smart mobility’ is also good for sustainability as well as good for business. It is concluded that the framework could contribute to a wider architecture of sustainability interrogation. It could promote discourse around a wide range of actors, posing questions and surfacing tensions and contingencies effectively, whilst providing a holistic, strategic assessment to inform more targeted, scientific evaluations of sustainability metrics.

This chapter reflects on a media studies project exploring Sylvia Plath poetry on Tumblr. The project ultimately resulted in excess digital data, with no conventional publications or research outputs. Now writing 10 years after data collection, I take a storying approach to explore the original research concerns and the research process, thereby locating a reconfigured ‘research event’ that draws together various biographical, social, political and historical factors. I reflect on my evolving understanding of ‘research’, discussing early teaching experiences and postgraduate pathways that partly structured a particular relationship to research. This serves to bridge a discussion about the challenges of the initial process over a decade ago, including the uncomfortable pairing of inexperience among aspiring researchers and institutional pressures to publish. I then discuss the theoretical perspectives that inspire and, in retrospect, offer clarity for the project, given the amount of time passed since data collection and the synergistic relationship between the storying approach, poststructuralist thought and story-focused methodologies. I argue that Tumblr provides unique opportunities for identity negotiation, aesthetic appreciation, data extraction and commodification, which highlights both the creative agency of digital aesthetic curation and self-work, as well as the importance of algorithmic transparency. I also contend that engaging with excess data led to methodologically and theoretically useful insights, challenging assumptions about the temporality of usable data and the ever-changing relationship between art, technology and freedom.

The purpose of this study was to leverage agency theory to examine the impact of board attributes on cash flow management in Ghana’s financial institutions.

Data for the study was collected from the annual published financial statements of selected financial institutions, which were obtained from their respective websites. The sampling technique used was purposive, resulting in the selection of 15 financial institutions in Ghana, of which 10 were listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange and 5 were non-listed. The study covered a period of 10 years, ranging from 2011 to 2020. The two-step generalized method of moments estimation was used to determine the relationship between the board attributes and cash flow management.

The study found that board size had a positive and significant influence on net cash flow from operating, investing and financing activities. The study also discovered that the proportion of nonexecutive directors had a positive and significant influence on net cash flow from operating, investing and financing activities. In addition, it was revealed that the proportion of female directors on the board exhibited a positive and significant influence on net cash flow from operating activities but a negative and significant influence on net cash flow from investing and financing activities.

The study recommends increasing female representation on corporate boards to 25%, as women bring valuable skills, knowledge and experience that positively impact the financial institutions’ cash flows.

This study focused on the impact of board attributes on cash flow management within Ghana. It explored how corporate governance affects strategic decisions related to cash flow management, contributing original insights to this field of research.

This study aims to address the question of why managers make different decisions in employee downsizing when their firms face external threats. Our research intends to shed light on whether and how CEOs' cognition (motivational attributes associated with regulatory focus) influences their decision-making and firms’ strategic actions on downsizing under high resource scarcity in the industry environment.

We used a longitudinal panel of 5,544 firm-year observations of US firms from 2003 to 2015 to test our conceptual model. The data was obtained from various sources, including corporate earnings call transcripts and archival databases. We used panel logistic regressions with both fixed and random effects in our research design.

Our results suggest that CEOs' motivational attributes could influence their employee downsizing decisions in response to external threats. We find that CEOs who are more promotion-focused (a stronger drive towards achieving ideals) are less likely to lay off employees during high resource scarcity. Conversely, CEOs with a higher prevention focus (a greater concern for security) do not have a meaningful impact on employee downsizing during periods of external resource scarcity.

Previous research has argued that a significant external threat would diminish individuals' impact on firm strategies and outcomes. Our findings challenge this idea, indicating that CEOs with a stronger drive towards achieving ideals are less inclined to lay off employees when resources are scarce in the environment. This study contributes to behavioral strategy research by providing new insights into how upper echelons’ cognition can influence their decision-making and firms’ employee downsizing.

Integrated reporting enhances the meaningfulness of non-financial information, but whether this enhancement is progressive or regressive from a sustainability perspective is unknown. This study aims to examine the influence of the Integrated Reporting (<IR>) Framework on the disclosure of financial- and impact-material sustainability-related information in integrated reports.

Using a disclosure index constructed from the Global Reporting Initiative’s G4 Guidelines and UN Sustainable Development Goals, the authors content analysed integrated reports of 40 companies from the International Integrated Reporting Council’s Pilot Programme Business Network published between 2015 and 2017. The content analysis distinguished between financial- and impact-material sustainability-related information.

The extent of sustainability-related disclosures in integrated reports remained more or less constant over the study period. Impact-material disclosures were more prominent than financial material ones. Impact-material disclosures mainly related to environmental aspects, while labour practices-related disclosures were predominantly financially material. The balance between financially- and impact-material sustainability-related disclosures varied based on factors such as industry environmental sensitivity and country-specific characteristics, such as the country’s legal system and development status.

The paper presents a unique disclosure index to distinguish between financially- and impact-material sustainability-related disclosures. Researchers can use this disclosure index to critically examine the nature of sustainability-related disclosure in corporate reports.

This study offers an in-depth understanding of the influence of non-financial reporting frameworks, such as the <IR> Framework that uses a financial materiality perspective, on sustainability reporting. The findings reveal that the practical implementation of the <IR> Framework resulted in sustainability reporting outcomes that deviated from theoretical expectations. Exploring the materiality concept that underscores sustainability-related disclosures by companies using the <IR> Framework is useful for predicting the effects of adopting the Sustainability Disclosure Standards issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board, which also emphasises financial materiality.

Despite an emphasis on financial materiality in the <IR> Framework, companies continue to offer substantial impact-material information, implying the potential for companies to balance both financial and broader societal concerns in their reporting.

While prior research has delved into the practices of regulated integrated reporting, especially in the unique context of South Africa, this study focuses on voluntary adoption, attributing observed practices to intrinsic company motivations. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study to explicitly explore the nature of materiality in sustainability-related disclosure. The research also introduces a nuanced understanding of contextual factors influencing sustainability reporting.

This research focuses on the role of facilities management (FM) elements which are people who represent the household, and process, place and technology as the FM elements. The findings of this research include a list of suggestions to improve SSI implementation based on the FM elements. A waste separation behaviour model was established based on the findings, which was then further validated by experts in related fields.

This paper explains how the process, place and technology elements of FM moderate and influence waste separation behaviour among households. A conceptual framework is proposed, grounded on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), and a questionnaire survey was conducted to collect primary data from 900 eligible respondents among the residents of high-rise residential units in Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur. SmartPLS software was used to analyse the structural equation model (SEM) of the conceptual framework developed to test the moderator’s effects.

The findings show that the process, place and technology moderators significantly and positively affected the relationship between perceived behavioural control and waste separation behaviour. Process and technology moderators significantly and positively affect the relationship between moral norms and waste separation behaviour among households. This research focuses on the role of FM elements which are people who represent the household and process, place and technology as the FM elements. The findings of this research include a list of suggestions to improve Separation at Source Initiative (SSI) implementation based on the FM elements. A waste separation behaviour model was established based on the findings, which was then further validated by experts in related fields.

This study implements the case of categorical moderator type and multiple constructs toward the relationships of formative indicators and contributes to knowledge regarding the analysis of moderator variables and structural equation modelling.