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Global warming and climate change are significant barriers to food production due to rising temperatures and extreme weather events. Thus, some households have taken to producing organic food on their rooftop gardens to mitigate the aforementioned challenges, which could improve the green environment and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Given the emergence of this trend, this study aims to predict organic food production intention and behaviour within urban rooftop home gardens using an integrated model of the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory and theory of planned behaviour (TPB).

Study data were collected from 352 households in two major Bangladeshi cities and analysed through SEM-PLS for model assessment and prediction.

Resultantly, biospheric and egoistic values led to an improved ecological worldview (EP). The EP, awareness of consequences (ACs) and social norms (SNs) predicted personal norms (PNs). In addition, PNs and SNs forecasted the intention to produce organic food in urban-area rooftop gardens. Strong intentions could promote and predict the adoption of organic food production in rooftop gardens. Based on the study outcomes, PN partially mediated the relationship between SN and the intention to produce organic food. Furthermore, the value–behaviour nexus performed serial mediation through beliefs, norms and intentions.

In this vein, the VBN framework provided a comprehensive guideline to encourage the intention and behaviour of organic food production in urban-area rooftops. Education and public policies potentially leveraged public beliefs and norms to engage in climate-friendly activities.

Cultivating organic herbs and vegetables on rooftop reduces dependency on industrially produced food and fertilised crops, making it a sustainable food choice and climate-mitigating activity. Thus, this study focuses on rooftop organic food production as a lens to examine pro-environmental intentions and behaviours. In addition, past studies have not emphasised the mediating roles of environmental beliefs, PN and intentions between the value–pro-environmental behaviour nexus. Such paths could be interesting to observe and add value to the VBN model. This study investigated the mediating roles of environmental beliefs, PN and intentions between the value–pro-environmental behaviour nexus and the role of PN between SN and pro-environmental behavioural intention with VBN farmwork.

Social protection states the public-mandated (strategies and programmes) to address the vulnerability and risk among poor and near-poor households. Social protection must not only help people meet their basic needs but also contribute to the long-term well-being and broader societal goals of equity, social justice and empowerment. The role of social protection in achieving these goals has not been adequately documented. This paper examines the performance of the social protection mechanism from the perspective of the regional structural and institutional performance indicators. Social protection outlay dynamics are synthesized in the structural and institutional conducts.

A world regional comparability is made by considering the panel dataset for the time interval 1995–2020. In empirics, the unconditional and conditional ranks are constructed, and regression analyses are made subject to (1) the fiscal constraint of social protection, (2) structural performance indicators and (3) the institutional performance indicators of the targeted regions across the globe. The fully modified-ordinary least square (FM-OLS) method is used to construct the ranks.

The rank analysis demonstrates that the developed regions (i.e. Europe, Central Asia and North America) have relatively good welfare standards and fiscal capacity for social protection drives compared to the developing/underdeveloped regions (i.e. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia). The structural/institutional performance indicators have shown their significance in determining/utilizing their budget for social protection and maintaining welfare standards. Interestingly, most developed regions are relatively reluctant to maintain the structural/institutional performance for the determination/execution of the funds for social protection as compared to the developing and underdeveloped regions.

In policy discourse, this research suggests that governments must make some market operations to enhance their regions’ structural and institutional performance to get better outcomes of social protection spending in the form of attractive welfare standards.

Multiple studies have been done considering the social protection dynamics at nano, micro and macro levels, while this study considered the mega dataset across the globe to analyse the social protection dynamics in consideration of structural and institutional performances.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and text-based corporate innovation based on a sample of India’s ESG-disclosed companies from financial year 2011–2012 to 2021–2022. Further, it endeavors to investigate the moderating role of heightened climate policy uncertainty (CPU) in this relationship.

To verify these hypotheses, the authors first construct a corporate innovation index for India using a sophisticated natural language processing model on each firm-year’s management discussion and analysis reports. Next, the authors use a panel fixed effects model to examine how ESG performance impacts corporate innovation and its moderating and mediating components.

Empirical evidence suggests higher ESG performance bolsters text-based corporate innovation. After addressing endogeneity issues with the system GMM estimator and two-stage least square IV, incorporating additional control variables and using alternative innovation measurement, the baseline results remain unchanged. Next, the authors find this link is mediated by reducing information asymmetry, financial constraints and managerial myopia. The authors also observe that increased CPU favorably moderates the ESG-innovation nexus. Additionally, the heterogeneity research shows that ESG only positively impacts innovation in specific industries and firms in their growth and mature life cycle phases.

The results demonstrate that sustainable and ethical business practices can foster corporate innovation. Thus, this study may provide valuable insight for investors, managers and policymakers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between ESG performance and text-based corporate innovation using a machine learning model.

Little is established about the mechanism through which employee voice is connected to employee mental health. Drawing from social exchange theory, this study examines how employee engagement practices are associated with employee voice, which further influences employee mental health. In addition, the study includes parallel mediation and examines whether perceived interpersonal justice (PIJ) and empathetic leadership (EL) mediate the relationship between employee engagement practices and employee voice.

Three time-lagged surveys of 457 employees in the Indian information technology (IT) sector were accomplished.

As hypothesised, employee engagement practices have a positive influence on employee voice. Secondly, employee voice has a positive influence on the employee’s mental health. PIJ and EL were also found to be significant parallel mediators for the relationship among employee engagement practices and employee voice.

This study displays the positive influence of employee engagement practices on employee voice. Further, the employee’s voice influences the employee’s mental health. Therefore, it suggests means for improving its pervasiveness in an organisation.

This research paper is an important contribution as it is one of the few studies examining the role of PIJ and EL as parallel mediators of employee engagement practices and employee voice. It also answers repeated calls for more research on employee mental health in the IT sector.

This paper aims to explore the implications of algorithmic management on careers and employment relationships in the Nigerian gig economy. Specifically, drawing on labour process theory (LPT), this study provides an understanding of the production relations beyond the “traditional standard” to “nonstandard” forms of employment in a gig economy mediated by digital platforms or digital forms of work, especially on ride-hailing platforms (Uber and Bolt).

This study adopted the interpretive qualitative approach and a semi-structured interview of 49 participants, including 46 platform drivers and 3 platform managers from Uber and Bolt.

This study addresses the theoretical underpinnings of the LPT as it relates to algorithmic management and control in the digital platform economy. The study revealed that, despite the ultra-precarious working conditions and persistent uncertainty in employment relations under algorithmic management, the underlying key factors that motivate workers to engage in digital platform work include higher job flexibility and autonomy, as well as having a source of income. This study captured the human-digital interface and labour processes related to digital platform work in Nigeria. Findings of this study also revealed that algorithmic management enables a transactional exchange between platform providers and drivers, while relational exchanges occur between drivers and customers/passengers. Finally, this study highlighted the perceived impact of algorithmic management on the attitude and performance of workers.

The research presents an interesting case study to investigate the influence of algorithmic management and labour processes on employment relationships in the largest emerging economy in Africa.

This paper is intended as an original contribution to researching ESG from a PR perspective, as well as offering a case study of the use of letters as a mode of corporate communication.

The methodology is interdisciplinary but is centred on a critical discourse analysis of the organizational rhetoric on ESG in the annual letters of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink from 2018 to 2023. The article also considers the content of the BlackRock letters alongside the campaign rhetoric deployed by opponents to ESG over the same period.

The analysis of the letters showed up a difference in tempo and tone between the courteous, collaborative and somewhat “corporate” style of text in the Fink letters and the more urgent and confrontational tone of opponents that adopted a populist line of argumentation against ESG in general and Larry Fink and BlackRock in particular.

While advantages can accrue to CEOs and corporations for speaking out on issues, there are also perils awaiting in the contemporary environment for opinion. The findings suggest it is also important to gauge the intensity of cultural and political division in society when speaking out on contentious issues and make a judgement on whether to proceed based on that analysis. Moreover, in countries where the middle ground of public opinion has eroded, ideology and cultural affiliations can prevail instead of openness to argument and counter-argument on topics such as climate change.

The paper presents a fresh case study of a CEO who has been prominent in shaping the discourse on ESG, which has itself become is a matter of contemporary relevance to public relations. The findings offer original insights that are additive to existing guidance and criteria for CEOs deciding to speak out on issues on behalf of their organizations.

This paper investigates the motivations and challenges of women entrepreneurs in Ireland, assessing the role of policies and Enterprise Ireland (EI) support for women-led companies and high potential start-ups (HPSUs). It employs the gendered theory of entrepreneurship and opportunity recognition theory to analyse the enablers and obstacles to women’s entrepreneurship, particularly in the context of EI’s support, aiming to suggest improvements.

Grounded in a feminist epistemology and employing a mixed-methods approach, a targeted survey explores motivations, barriers and supports the needs of female entrepreneurs in Ireland, offering a comprehensive gender perspective evaluation for policy enhancement.

Findings note a shift in Irish women’s entrepreneurship motivations and outlines major hurdles like limited funding and work–life balance issues. It recommends policy enhancements in data collection, website usability, financial guidance and childcare support.

This paper aims to highlight the impact of gender-specific factors on entrepreneurship, the study highlights the importance of ongoing data collection and gender comparative analyses. It advocates for women mentoring networks and improved financial support to build a more inclusive entrepreneurial environment in Ireland, with potential global implications.

This study is unique for its in-depth exploration into Irish female entrepreneurship challenges, this study proposes actionable strategies with local and global relevance. Advocating for caregiving support integration and women’s increased involvement in tech, it offers a blueprint for fostering female entrepreneurship. It contributes to global discussions on creating supportive, equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems, serving as a valuable resource for advancing gender inclusivity and equity in entrepreneurship worldwide. It identifies scope for integration of a feminist epistemology in policy development.