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This chapter offers an insightful exploration into the burgeoning field of eco-tourism, focusing on the expectations and motivations of tourists gravitating towards green destinations. Eco-tourism, while not a novel concept, has seen a significant resurgence in interest over the past few decades, with its roots tracing back to the wildlife reserves of Kenya in the 1960s. The narrative then transitions to an in-depth examination of what constitutes a green destination, emphasizing its foundational pillars, such as environmental conservation, sustainable tourism practices, active community engagement, educational initiatives, and the pursuit of certifications that affirm their commitment to sustainability. A central theme of the chapter is the nuanced expectations of eco-tourists who are increasingly seeking destinations that not only offer the tranquillity and beauty of nature but also adhere to sustainability principles and cultural authenticity. These expectations are intricately linked to the motivations driving tourists towards green destinations, including the desire to connect with nature, contribute to conservation efforts, and engage in travel practices that are both responsible and enriching. By weaving together theoretical insights and empirical evidence, the chapter provides a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic interplay between the demand for green destinations and the supply of sustainable tourism experiences, ultimately highlighting the critical role of eco-tourism in paving the way for a more sustainable and ethical travel industry.

This chapter delves into sustainability-related competences in innovation management for further education as part of the European lifelong learning initiative. Despite extensive research in primary and secondary education, adult education often remains overlooked. Competence-based learning is a favored approach to integrating knowledge, skills, and attitudes across various domains. Through thematic analysis and deductive coding, the study examines 72 innovation management-related further education programs conducted in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, between June and December 2022. The findings unequivocally demonstrate the inclusion of sustainability competences in innovation-related further education. Notably, Strategic Competence emerges as the most prevalent, while Normative Competence appears least frequently. This research significantly advances the convergence of further education in innovation management, responsible management education, and competence-based learning, emphasizing the importance of sustainability competences in adult learning contexts. By shedding light on this underexplored domain, the study prompts further exploration and development of sustainable educational practices for lifelong learning.

This study examined the characteristics, motivations and satisfaction of volunteers for the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon Weekend across a 10-year period. The purpose was to enhance our understanding of sport event volunteers, especially in the long term. This information and insight may be useful in light of ongoing challenges with volunteer recruitment and retention, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors developed and implemented an online survey, based primarily on the Special Event Volunteer Motivation Scale (SEVMS) and the Volunteer Motivations Scale for International Sporting Events (VMS-ISE). The sample included a total of 2,038 respondents – 1,086 in 2012 and 952 in 2022. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests; qualitative data provided additional insight.

About two-thirds of 2022 survey respondents were “repeat volunteers.” Volunteer characteristics, motivations and satisfaction remained relatively consistent across the 10-year period. These volunteers were motivated by a set of multiple, interrelated factors which the authors call “community-based altruism” – that is, the desire to help others driven by a sense of community involvement and pride. In both years, more than 90% were satisfied with their volunteer experience. Satisfaction was higher for individuals with certain characteristics such as being a repeat volunteer and volunteering with a group.

This may be the first scholarly article to assess volunteer characteristics, motivations and satisfaction for a major sport event in the same location across multiple years. While it focused on a three-day running event in a midwestern city in the United States, the approach and findings may be applicable to sport event volunteers in other contexts.

This study aims to provide measurable information that evaluates a company’s ESG performance based on the conceptual connection between ESG, non-financial elements of a company and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for resolving global issues.

A novel data processing method based on the BERT is presented and applied to analyze the changes and characteristics of SDG-related ESG texts from companies’ disclosures over the past decade. Specifically, ESG-related sentences are extracted from 93,277 Form 10-K filings disclosed between 2010 and 2022 and the similarity between these extracted sentences and SDGs statements is calculated through sentence transformers. A classifier is created by fine-tuning FinBERT, a financial domain-specific pre-trained language model, to classify the sentences into eight ESG classes.

The quantified results obtained from the classifier reveal several implications. First, it is observed that the trend of SDG-related ESG sentences shows a slow and steady increase over the past decade. Second, large-cap companies relatively have a greater amount of SDG-related ESG disclosures than small-cap companies. Third, significant events such as the COVID-19 pandemic greatly impact the changes in disclosure content.

This study presents a novel approach to textual analysis using neural network-based language models such as BERT. The results of this study provide meaningful information and insights for investors in socially responsible investment and sustainable investment and suggest that corporations need a long-term plan regarding ESG disclosures.

Significant interest in Integrated Management Systems (IMS), as a key area within ISO-related Management System Standards (MSS) literature, has been evident from both academia and industry over the past three decades. This study aims to map the evolution and current state of IMS research and propose possible directions for future studies.

A comprehensive content and bibliometric analysis of 846 documents from the Scopus database across the period 1995 to 2023 was conducted. This included performance analysis to track publication trends and identify key contributors, and content analysis to specify dominant research methodologies and the MSS most commonly integrated. Furthermore, science mapping techniques—such as co-authorship networks, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and bibliographic coupling—were utilized to outline the collaborative networks and the conceptual and intellectual structure of the field.

The study identifies three principal IMS research themes: the practical implementation of IMS, their role in promoting sustainability and social responsibility, and their impact on continuous performance improvement. It also highlights the field’s evolution and key research constituents—including influential works, prolific authors, leading academic institutions and countries, and top publishing journals. It further reveals that IMS research exhibits strong collaboration across authors and countries, and a rich methodological plurality, notably with a marked increase in empirical surveys in recent years. Additionally, it identifies the most frequently referenced MSS for integration, prominently featuring ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001/OHSAS 18001.

This study is original in its application of a dual analytical approach—bibliometric and content analysis—to provide a holistic overview of IMS research. It offers new insights into the integration of diverse MSS and proposes several promising paths for future research. Among the most prominent are standardizing IMS fundamental specifications, conducting more empirical research with advanced methods to evaluate the effects of MSS integration, providing practical support for organizations in IMS implementation through tailored methodologies and tools, and exploring the potential of Industry 4.0 and 5.0 technologies to advance IMS practices.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the distributional impact of house price increases on consumption in the context of the energy transition.

This study draws from two micro cross-sectional datasets, the English Housing Survey (EHS) and the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCFS) to study the Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC) out of changes in house prices. By employing pseudo-panel regressions, the paper examines the impact of house price changes on consumption among diverse household types.

This paper finds varying consumption responses to house price changes across age and tenure groups. Older homeowners tend to increase consumption when house prices rise. In contrast, middle-aged individuals, often renters or mortgage holders, reduce consumption in response to price increases. The youngest age group also experiences increased consumption but to a lesser degree than the oldest group. Energy-efficient homes are related to lower consumption across all tenure levels. However, when interacted with house prices and age, the estimates are positive, pointing to an unequal accrual of property premiums depending on housing market positions.

The main limitations stem from data constraints. First, using a pseudo-panel approach hinders control for unobservable selection bias. Additionally, while robust under cross-validation and specifications tests, the energy efficiency variable imputation results in a low number of energy-efficient homes. Due to heterogeneous responses to rising house prices, this paper contends that an energy transition model that subsidises homeowners’ renovation is likely to produce a negative impact on consumption among younger and middle-aged households.

This paper contributes to the MPC literature by incorporating energy efficiency as a key variable. It draws from recent data to obtain new estimates. By highlighting shifts in consumption patterns the paper contributes to a well-established body of literature with renewed policy relevance regarding housing retrofit.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the linkage between stock markets in Middle Eastern countries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic by using daily and monthly data sets for the period from 2011 to 2021.

The multivariate BEKK-GARCH model was computed to evaluate the existence of non-linear linkage among Middle Eastern stock markets. A correlation approach was used in this study to determine the type of linear connectivity between Middle Eastern stock markets. The study used monthly and daily data sets covering the years 2011 to 2021 to investigate the linkage between stock returns and the volatility spillover between the stock markets in Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, both before and during COVID-19. To understand the types of relationships between markets before and during COVID-19, the daily data set was split into two periods.

Results from the pre-COVID-19 suggest that the Syria stock market is not related to any stock market in the Middle East markets; the Palestine and Lebanon stock markets exhibit a weak relationship, but Jordan and Palestine stock markets are strongly linked. Conversely, results from COVID-19 evince a very strong bidirectional volatility spillover between Middle East stock markets. Overall, the results indicate the existence of increased linkage during the COVID-19.

The data collection on a daily and monthly basis, both before and during COVID-19, presents certain limitations for the paper. Another limitation is that the data cannot be generalized to all other Middle Eastern countries; rather, the conclusions drawn can only be applied to these four countries. This is especially true if the scholars collected most of the necessary data but were unable to obtain certain data for various reasons.

These findings have implications for risk management, market regulation and the growth of local stock markets. Facilitating the growth of smaller, more specialized markets to improve integration with other Middle Eastern markets is one of the goals of the domestic stock market development policy. To ensure financial stability, Middle Eastern stock market linking policies should consider spillover risk and take steps to minimize it. Enhancing the range of investment opportunities accessible to shareholders and functioning as confidential risk-sharing mechanisms to facilitate improved risk management in Middle Eastern stock markets will not only significantly influence the mobilization of private capital to promote investment and local economic growth but also lay groundwork for integrated market platforms.

This paper adds to the body of literature by demonstrating the nature of the connections between these small markets and the larger markets in the Middle East region. Information from the smaller markets provides institutional insights that enhance the body of existing research, guide the formulation of evidence-based policies and advance financial literacy in these markets. This study contributes by comparing data from different stock markets to better understand the type and strength of the link and relationship between Middle Eastern stock markets, as well as any underlying or reinforcing factors that might have contributed to the relationship and the specific types of links that these markets shared prior and during COVID-19.

The global energy sector draws significant stakeholder attention due to never-ending controversies surrounding its environmental impacts. Investors’ response to such controversies causes direct financial implications for these firms. Furthermore, environmental, social and governance (ESG) sensitivity, which is likely to safeguard the energy sector firms from such controversies, is itself conditional to the development stage of a country and its regulatory environment. Therefore, this study aims to investigate if the influence of ESG on the share price volatility (SPV) of energy sector firms is subject to the development stage of the countries.

The study investigates nine years of panel data of 93 global energy sector firms from developing and developed nations. Using dynamic two-way fixed effects estimation and computing robust standard errors to obtain the econometric results.

The main finding reveals that the impact of ESG on SPV is, indeed, subject to the development stage of the nations. Similar results are observed for the effects of the social dimension of ESG on SPV. While ESG impacts the SPV negatively for firms in developing economies, the impact is the opposite for firms in developed nations. In other words, strong ESG propositions induce share price stability for developing countries while destabilizing the firms in developed nations.

The policymakers should further streamline the regulations and policies related to ESG adoption and adherence. In practice, the energy sectors should streamline their operations. Firm managers, especially in the energy sector, should devise strategies with ESG as an essential component to safeguard their firms against environmental and market volatility and adversatives. The firms in developing nations should further strengthen their social dimension of ESG to foster social equity and harmony.

The study contributes through its niche investigations on the energy sector, which is very important for the world economy. The study is relevant in the current scenario when the world faces a severe energy crisis due to global supply chain issues.

This study aims to investigate the influence of disclosing environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors on financial performance, taking into account the moderating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A sample of the top 100 non-financial firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, for the years 2019–2022, has been considered. Suitable panel regression models have been used to assess the impact of non-financial disclosure on accounting and market measures of firm performance. In addition, a panel data moderating effect model is used to assess the moderating impact.

The outcomes of the study partially favour the value-creation role of ESG disclosure. Specifically, the disclosure of already established ESG metrics, particularly social and governance aspects, positively impacts the market performance while environmental transparency negatively impacts the accounting performance. Of the three ESG components, only extended governance disclosure adds to market value. Results of the moderation effect reveal a significant impact of the pandemic on the ESG disclosure–financial performance relation. However, a more pronounced effect before the pandemic is observed. The results are robust to endogeneity.

This study sheds light on the financial consequences of ESG disclosure within the context of an emerging nation. This is done by using a novel holistic ESG reporting framework to obtain more accurate results. Furthermore, the study distinguishes itself by examining the long-term moderating influence of the unexpected COVID-19 crisis on the ESG disclosure–financial performance relation.

Recent scholarship has called for researchers to recognize the urgency of place-based education as a critical component of social studies pedagogy. This study seeks to understand better the relationship between place-based education, sacrificial listening and difficult history.

In this qualitative, arts-based research study, collaging is used to investigate how students use the theory of sacrificial listening while trying to make sense of difficult histories during a place-based history education experience. Students enrolled in a PBE experience received instruction about the theory of sacrificial listening at the beginning of a two-week course on the lasting impact of the civil rights movement. Students created a collage and responded to a reflection prompt about the course after engaging in course experiences, including travel to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama.

Findings in the study demonstrate how sacrificial listening appeared, both explicitly and implicitly, in the ways students processed difficult history during a place-based education experience. Ultimately, the study found, though students organized their thoughts in distinct ways, they all leaned on the theory of sacrificial listening to make sense of what they learned.

Few studies have applied the theory of sacrificial listening as a pedagogical framework. Future research should build on this work, further investigating the theory as a pedagogical framework in conjunction with both place-based history education as well as other instructional settings.