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This paper explores corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Thailand and analyses how CSR practice is informed by local values rather than merely driven by CSR practices designed in developed countries.

The analysis is based on a comparative series of interviews of Thai business leaders in 2009–10 and 2019–20 within the conceptual context of Thai CSR discourse/practice, especially Buddhist Economics.

This paper argues that CSR practice in Thailand is substantially informed by local socio-economic context, particularly Buddhist Economics, including the concepts of suffering (dukkha), the Eightfold Path of the Middle Way, and gifting and reciprocal exchange.

Local contexts are crucial not only for understanding local models of CSR but also for challenging what has been perceived as an imperialistic neo-liberal agenda in western-originating CSR.

The wider practical implications of this paper are that, like Thailand, CSR practices in other developing economies and emerging markets (DEEMs) may also have their own distinctive ‘local’ origins, contexts and developments which need to be considered.

The social implications of this paper are that local context is determinant in the development of CSR practice, especially in DEEMs.

This paper contributes to the CSR literature by highlighting the often-marginalised existence of local CSR context and practice in DEEMs and questions CSR based solely on western theorisations.

This paper explores the effects of fiscal policy in an economy with reciprocity in labor relations and fair wages, consumption taxes and a common income tax rate in place.

To this end, a dynamic general-equilibrium model with government sector is calibrated to Bulgarian data (1999–2018). Two regimes are compared and contrasted – the exogenous (observed) vs optimal policy (Ramsey) case. The focus of the paper is on the relative importance of consumption vs income taxation, as well as on the provision of utility-enhancing public services. Bulgarian economy was chosen as a case study due to its major dependence on consumption taxation as a source of tax revenue.

(1) The optimal steady-state income tax rate is zero; (2) the benevolent Ramsey planner provides the optimal amount of the utility-enhancing public services, which are now three times lower; (3) the optimal steady-state consumption tax needed to finance the optimal level of government spending is 18:7%.

This is the first study on optimal fiscal policy with reciprocity in labor relations.

This study aims to assess how ethical sales behaviour affects switching costs typology, mediated by trust and moderated by brand affiliation, monthly contributions and the number of dependent beneficiaries in medical schemes in South Africa.

A quantitative study targeted a non-probability judgement sample of 250 main members of medical schemes, elicited near health-care facilities in South Africa’s Gauteng province. Data was collected in a face-to-face survey and analysed using structural equation modelling on AMOS version 29 and PROCESS procedure for Statistical Package of Social Science release 2.041.

The results show that ethical sales behaviour negatively affects trust and positively affects evaluation, monetary and personal relational loss costs. Trust positively affects personal relational loss costs, economic risk, evaluation, monetary and benefit loss costs. Moreover, trust mediates the effect of ethical sales behaviour on evaluation, monetary and personal relational loss costs. Finally, the number of dependent beneficiaries, monthly contributions and brand affiliation significantly moderate these interactions.

The paper validates the application of commitment-to-trust theory in mediating how the effects of the general theory of marketing ethics on switching costs typology differ according to the number of dependent beneficiaries, monthly contributions and brand affiliation with medical schemes.

This article problematizes the concept of freedom rooted in liberalism, examining the detention of historian Ilan Pappe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at Detroit Airport in the United States as an emblematic case study.

The research adopts a methodological triangulation approach, based on an analysis that combines data about the event and theories about the concept of freedom, problematizing authors who focused on the relationship between the individual and society in a liberal context, where individualism serves as the basis for specific conceptions of social relations.

Through the use of authors such as John Stuart Mill and John Locke, as well as the contributions of authors like Norbert Elias, it is argued that true freedom is relational, rooted in social interdependencies and the social construction of an individuality that is not individualistic but intrinsically linked to collective aspects.

Pappe’s case illustrates the tensions between individual freedom and collective interests, highlighting the need to reassess freedom of expression in complex political and social contexts.

This article proposes a more inclusive and interconnected view of human freedom, where individual and collective interests are negotiated within a dynamic web of social relations.

Audit firms have a strong historical tradition of professionalism, but they are also commercial entities. This study aims to investigate the relationship between auditor cash compensation and office-level financial performance.

This study uses proprietary compensation expense and financial performance data from audit offices in China. Using the ordinary least squares regressions, this study tests the association between per capita compensation and office-level financial outcomes.

This study provides evidence that audit offices offering higher compensation achieve more profitable performance, as reflected in increased market share, higher return on assets and greater operating profit margins. Mechanism tests suggest that reductions in auditor turnover, driven by compensation incentives, partially account for this performance improvement. Additional tests show that the benefits of compensation incentives are particularly pronounced in audit firms licensed to conduct listed firm audits or when accompanied by staff training and technical development. Furthermore, both partner-level and staff auditor compensation significantly enhance office-level financial performance. The results might be of interest to both practitioners and regulatory bodies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the relationship between auditor cash compensation and audit-office profitability. The findings highlight important policy implications for audit firms seeking to retain high-caliber auditors and maximize their economic benefits through human capital investments, including compensation, education, training and technical development.

The marketplace is becoming increasingly automated, with consumers frequently expected to interact with machines. Not all consumers are receptive to this trend. We examine how the individual difference of speciesism impacts consumer reactions to automation in the marketplace.

We conducted three studies, including an exploratory correlational survey and two two-factor studies.

Study 1 provides survey evidence of a positive relationship between one’s level of speciesism and their belief that customer service automation is justified. Study 2 finds that speciesists have more favorable attitudes toward brands using automated (vs human) customer service. Study 3 finds that the more speciesists perceive that tasks they are required to perform at their own work are illegitimate (i.e. unreasonable), the more favorable their reactions to automation, which provides support for our theorizing that speciesists appreciate automation’s ability to relieve humans of such work tasks.

We recommend that marketers target speciesists as early adopters of chatbots. Further, brands targeting customers likely to be high on speciesism can benefit from adopting chatbots for routine tasks, as this can improve this segment’s brand attitudes.

This research identifies that speciesists, people who strongly ascribe to the belief that humans are superior to other species, are particularly receptive to automation in customer service (in the form of chatbots). We provide evidence suggesting that speciesists appreciate that automation relieves their fellow humans of automatable tasks.

The purpose of this study to improve the efficiency of customer acquisition and retention through the design of salary information disclosure mechanism.

This study develops a stylized game-theoretic model of delegating customer acquisition and retention, focusing on how firms choose delegation and wage information disclosure strategy.

The results confirm the necessity for enterprises to disclose salary information. When sales agents are risk neutral, firms should choose multi-agent (MA) delegation and disclose their wages. However, when agents are risk averse, firms may disclose the wages of acquisition agents or both agents in MA delegation, depending on the uncertainty of the retention market.

This paper contributes to the literature on delegation of customer acquisition and retention and demonstrates that salary disclosure can be used as a supplement to the incentive mechanism.

The purpose of this study is to examine the connections between knowledge-based economies, entrepreneurial orientation (EO), sustainable business model innovation and technology transfer (TT). This study specifically investigates whether TT might foster EO and long-term business model innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study focuses on economies that are knowledge-based, where information is viewed as a vital resource for economic growth.

This study uses structural equation modelling method and a quantitative research strategy to analyse data gathered from 309 SMEs in knowledge-based economies. A survey questionnaire created to examine the relevant factors was used to gather the sample data from PROLIFIC platform using judgemental sampling technique.

This study’s conclusions point to an association between TT and EO that is favourable, SMEs’ ability to use TT to strengthen their EO and the significance of EO in fostering innovation in SMEs. This study offers empirical proof of the role that TT may play in fostering innovation in sustainable business models and EO in SMEs.

Policymakers, business professionals and academic researchers who are interested in the function of TT in knowledge-based economies will find it to be a helpful source of information. According to this study’s results, TT can assist SMEs in using outside expertise and assets to grow their entrepreneurial capacities, promote innovation and build long-term business strategies.

This study provides empirical evidence of the role of TT in fostering innovation within sustainable business models and cultivating EO within SMEs, contributing to the literature on these critical topics.

This study aims to contribute to the existing institutional literature by examining the impact of regional social trust on foreign firm performance.

In this study, 10,286 annual observations of foreign firms in China from 2008 to 2020 are used to test the research hypotheses using an ordinary least square regression model.

Social trust can improve foreign firm performance by reducing operating costs and increasing risk-taking capacity, while formal institutions and economic policy uncertainty strengthen the positive relationship between social trust and foreign firm performance. Moreover, the results of the heterogeneity test show that the positive relationship is only manifested in the samples from the eastern region and is more pronounced in the samples of small- and medium-sized foreign firms and non-manufacturing foreign firms.

This study makes a theoretical contribution to the literature on institutional theory and foreign firm performance, as well as providing practical guidance to foreign firms on how to improve their performance.

The study aims to focus on the criminological relationship between money laundering and corruption crimes.

The research program on money laundering acquired as a result of corruption crimes includes research of the specifics of corruption in the context of subsequent money laundering; the problem of latency of money laundering acquired as a result of corruption crimes; money laundering and administrative offenses of a corruption nature (income from them); money laundering and noncriminalized acts of corruption (trading in influence); money laundering and gifts; and money laundering and crimes of a corruption nature committed through criminal nonalienation (for example, providing a discount in exchange for illegal actions).

Russian national legislation was chosen as the basis for the study. However, the findings may be applicable to other states.

n particular, it is noted for the effective operation of such a mechanism to counter acts of a corrupt nature, the subject of money laundering must be expanded to include proceeds from acts that are not classified as criminal in national criminal law: proceeds from administrative offenses of a corruption nature; income from noncriminalized acts of corruption; income from gifts received in violation of the legal rules for their acceptance; income from acts of corruption committed through criminal nonalienation.