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This study examined corporate communication strategies designed to effectively address routine consumer complaints on social media and transform them into relationship-building opportunities. Drawing from relationship maintenance and conflict/crisis communication literature, two communicative approaches were explored: relational strategies (communicated relational commitments and conversational voice) and accommodative strategies.

A nationwide US consumer survey was conducted to test the proposed model.

The results showed that communicating relational commitments directly enhances consumer trust and fosters supportive intentions. Additionally, using a conversational voice indirectly influenced these outcomes through the mediating factor of perceived humanness. The accommodative strategy also effectively fostered trust and supportive intentions among consumers.

This study extends the application of relational maintenance strategies to online consumer complaints. Though conversational voice does not address core complaint issues, the findings reveal its positive ripple effects via perceived humanness. The study clarifies prior inconsistencies in research on accommodative vs defensive strategies for handling online complaints, offering practical insights for organizations to strengthen customer relationships through effective complaint management.

Green innovation in human-centric smart manufacturing (HSM-GI) has emerged as a new paradigm in innovation management for Industry 5.0. The evaluation analysis method is crucial for measuring the development progress and guiding continual improvements of HSM-GI. Since this process of HSM-GI can be regarded as complex and interactive, a holistic picture is often required to describe the interrelations of its antecedents and consequences. In this respect, this study aims to construct a causality network indicator system and proposes a synergy evaluation method for HSM-GI.

Firstly, based on the Driver force-State-Response (DSR) causal-effect framework, this study constructs a holistic indicator system to analyze the interactions between environmental and human concerns of HSM-GI. Secondly, owing to the imprecision of human cognition and synergy interaction in the evaluation process, a flexible hesitant fuzzy (HF) superiority-inferiority synergetic evaluation method is presented. This method quantifies the strengths of causal relationships and expresses the incentives and constraints attitudes of humans. Finally, the proposed framework is applied to six HSMs in the electronic technology industry.

The driving force and state of the HSM-GI system exhibit an upward trend, while the response continues to decline due to changing market demands. The order and synergy degree have shown an increasing trend during 2021–2023, particularly significant for BOE and Haier Smart Home. HSM-GI systems with higher scores mostly have functional coordination and a coherent synergy structure.

This study demonstrates the proposed approach’s applicability and assists policymakers in formulating targeted strategies for green innovation systems.

This paper aims to illustrate how service ecosystem governance may provide a suitable ground to pursue holistic resilience to “wicked” socio-economic and ecological problems, for enhancing “place-based” sustainable performance outcomes through an organizational, interorganizational and context setting.

This work suggests the use of “place-based” collaborative ecosystem platforms driven by a dynamic performance governance approach as a setting where facilitated performance dialogue is carried out among networked stakeholders. This fosters a holistic view of performance sustainability where intangibles, inertial, cultural and behavioral factors play a key role in policy analysis.

The paper illustrates how different research streams framing stakeholder relationships under a business, hybrid organization and public sector perspective converge toward the “service ecosystem” construct, as a common field for sustainable “place-based” value creation. This performance governance perspective frames accountability for achieving sustainable outcomes through interconnected viewpoints, i.e. (1) time (short vs long-term), (2) subject (single organization, “theme-focused” service ecosystem and “place-based” service ecosystem) and (3) field (socio-economic, cultural and ecological).

This work has an interdisciplinary track. It recommends feedback and “stock-and-flow” modeling to enhance framing counterintuitive patterns of behavior of dynamic complex socio-economic, cultural and ecological subsystems within “place-based” collaborative ecosystem platforms. Combining an inside-out with an outside-in view triggers sustainable outcome-based dynamic performance governance through an organizational, interorganizational and context setting.

For a public servant (PS) to be innovative, he or she needs to gather and process enough vital information from budget setting processes. However, research addressing how budgetary participation (BP) can trigger innovative behaviour (IB) in PSs and eventually foster task performance (TP) is rare, which is why the authors conduct this research. The purpose of this study is to understand how BP shapes TP through the IB of PSs.

The authors develop and test a mediation model with 860 responses from public sector workers across 25 government agencies using the PLS-SEM technique of Smart PLS 4. Possible control factors were addressed for both the mediator and target-independent construct. In particular, the authors use sex, age and tenure as control factors for IB. Also, the authors use job satisfaction, job engagement and perceived fairness in the budgetary system as control factors for TP.

The authors find a favourable and significant relationship between BP and TP; BP and IB; and IB and TP. The authors also find that IB partially mediates the relationship between BP and TP, such that BP fosters TP through the innovativeness of PSs. This finding suggests that PSs who participate in budget preparation are able to innovate, which, in turn enable them to perform tasks effectively.

The authors call on forthcoming researchers to test the mediation model in other public sector settings worldwide. They may also consider other variables that can possibly mediate the positive impacts of BP on TP.

Lessons are discussed for governments, human resources directors and managers, management accountants, budget officers, procurement officers and other public sector workers and consultants.

The authors show how BP fosters TP through the innovativeness of PSs, since there is much more to know in this regard. The authors also help to resolve the paradox of inconsistency in the BP–TP literature by using IB as a mediator.

The growing prevalence of digitalisation in economies has brought attention to the significance of digital transformation and its potential to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises within the emerging market. Nevertheless, it is important to note that disruptive changes are not limited to the organisational level, as they also have broader implications for the environment, society and institutions. The incorporation of technology into the field of education, often known as educational technology (EdTech), has undergone a significant evolution in recent times, fundamentally transforming the methods and processes of teaching and learning. This chapter delves into the multifaceted landscape of digital transformation in the field of EdTech from the perspective of sustainable development, elucidating the wide range of opportunities and challenges that consumer, educators, institutions and technology providers and various stakeholders face when they embark on this journey. Further, this chapter also sheds light on how to overcome the challenges faced by the stakeholders in digital transformation of EdTech for quality education.

This study explored the role of assertiveness, family satisfaction, and family support in enhancing farm performance in women-led dairy farms, with family cohesion as a mediating variable. It explores how these elements interact within socioeconomic contexts, where patriarchal norms and resource constraints are prevalent.

This study employed a structural equation Modelling (SEM) which involved a quantitative approach through a structured questionnaire with 330 target respondents using a five-point Likert scale. This study is based on the registered dairy farmers of rural Bihar. The data were analyzed using SmartPLS 4 model and applying bootstrapping to examine Family Cohesion’s direct and mediation effects between variables.

The findings emphasize the critical role of assertiveness in fostering open communication and decision-making within family settings, which enhances cohesion and farm productivity. Family satisfaction and support were key drivers of cohesion, creating emotionally stable and collaborative environments essential for successful farm operations. It also confirms that family cohesion mediates the relationship between assertiveness, satisfaction, support, and farm performance.

This study contributes to family systems theory by identifying family cohesion as a pivotal factor in the leadership dynamics of women-led agricultural enterprises. This underscores the potential for empowering women through training in assertiveness and family support mechanisms, thus providing a framework for policymakers and stakeholders to foster sustainable development in rural sectors. This study offers actionable insights into improving gender equity and performance in agriculture, with implications for similar socio-economic settings globally.

The paper aims to explore and explain sustainable behaviours in an organizational context using self-determination theory, suggesting that individuals are likely to be engaged in green practices when supported by their needs.

The study used three waves of longitudinal design, consisting of 702 executives in leadership roles across public and private companies with an average of 15–20 years of work experience. Professionals working throughout PAN India, the USA, Germany and Australia provided us with the data.

Green transformational leaderships play a pivot in fostering optimism in employees when recrafting their work. Employees being encouraged to evaluate their jobs within the organization’s capacity would bring meaningful change and envision a sustainable future. All the study hypotheses were supported, highlighting the importance of green-focused leadership with individual agencies in line with the organization’s green values.

Using sustainable practices advances organizations in providing green commitment through leadership. Implementing this in the organization can help achieve long-term success by ensuring sustainable practices are embedded in culture rather than a peripheral initiative promoting sustainable decision-making and behaviours.

The study provides insights into the factors influencing decisions to maintain and adopt sustainable practices by providing a deeper understanding of green behaviour change and strategies for promoting pro-environmental strategies in organizations.

Companies must no longer just report on corporate sustainability (CS) performance but also demonstrate that they are aligning their strategies with sustainability. However, suitable management control systems (MCS) are required to implement a sustainability strategy. Thereby, sustainability reporting (SR) can also be employed for control purposes. On the other hand, existing MCS can be used to develop SR that goes beyond accountability. Accordingly, this paper explores how this interplay can be designed.

For the study, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with persons from ATX and DAX companies. Since the interplay should be examined from a holistic control perspective, the authors used the MCS package of Malmi and Brown as an analysis framework.

Nowadays, merely focusing on reporting is too narrow a view. It is therefore not surprising that the investigation was able to reveal various possible linkages between MCS and SR that span the full range of the MCS package of Malmi and Brown.

Future research should also consider non-listed companies to investigate potential differences and take a closer look at the proposed reciprocal nature of the interplay.

The findings expand the knowledge of how companies can use SR for control purposes and how existing MCS can help develop a reporting that goes beyond accountability.

The study contributes by highlighting the potential of SR to control CS performance from a holistic MCS perspective and likewise the impact of existing MCS on reporting. In addition, different theoretical perspectives are used to explain why the interplay can be designed differently in practice.

In the face of frequent supply chain disruptions, this study aims to identify the relationships between human capital (HC), digital supply chain practice (DSCP) and supply chain robustness and resilience (i.e. SCRO and SCRE).

To examine the proposed conceptual model based on the resource-based view and organizational information processing theory, an empirical study was conducted using a sample of Chinese manufacturers. Hierarchical regression is applied to understand the direct effect, mediating effect and moderating effect among HC, DSCP, SCRO, SCRE and digital culture.

The results reveal that HC positively influences digital maturity and supply chain resilience. DSCP positively affects both SCRO and SCRE. However, HC does not significantly influence the adoption of digital tools, and only employees’ capital has a positive relationship with SCRO. In addition, the moderating effect of digital culture on the relationship between HC and DSCP was examined.

As an early exploration of the relationships among HC, DSCP, SCRO and SCRE, this study enriches the literature by offering new insights and responding to the call for more empirical research and theoretical application. It emphasizes the importance of HC and DSCP as strategic resources and highlights the need for a digital culture to implement DSCP.

The purpose of this study is to understand how leaders of entrepreneurial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Australia and Pakistan strategise and design their organisational environments to enable innovation and enhanced organisational performance.

Drawing from the resource-based view (RBV) theory, this study investigates the mediating role of workplace innovation between design leadership and organisational performance across entrepreneurial SMEs in Australia and Pakistan. Data were obtained from 367 top-level executives in Australia and 367 from Pakistan using paper-based and online surveys.

The results highlight significant cross-country differences, indicating that entrepreneurial SMEs in Pakistan tend to overlook the creation of an enabling work environment favourable for innovation, which reduces the positive impact on organisational performance. In contrast, Australian SMEs exhibit a stronger alignment between innovation and performance outcomes.

The study makes a theoretical contribution by extending RBV theory within the contexts of design leadership, workplace innovation and SME performance, particularly in comparative international settings.

The findings offer actionable strategies for SME leaders, particularly in developing economies, highlighting the significance of encouraging internal abilities such as a conducive innovation culture. This could model strategic development and training schemes designed to achieve sustainable competitive advantage through improved organisational performance.

This study uniquely reveals the differential mediating effect of workplace innovation on the design leadership–performance nexus in developed versus developing countries. The absence of significant mediation in Pakistan stresses the distinct entrepreneurial underlying forces and challenges faced by SMEs in developing economies.