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This paper explores whether fintech paves the way for the transition to carbon neutrality in the context of China’s climate policy uncertainty (CCPU) and the influence of the ocean carbon sink market.

We apply a novel wavelet analysis technique to investigate the time-frequency dependence between the CCPU index, the CSI (China Securities Index) Fintech Theme Index (CFTI) and the Carbon Neutral Concept Index (CNCI).

The empirical results show that CCPU and CFTI have a detrimental effect on CNCI in high-frequency bands. Furthermore, in low-frequency domains, the development of CFTI can effectively promote the realization of carbon neutrality.

Our findings show that information from the CCPU and CFTI can be utilized to forecast the movement of CNCI. Therefore, the government should strike a balance between fintech development and environmental regulation and, hence, promote the use of renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions, facilitating the orderly and regular development of the ocean carbon sink market.

The development of high-quality fintech and positive climate policy reforms are crucial for achieving carbon neutrality targets and promoting the growth of the marine carbon sink market.

While the rise of chain restaurants has attracted increasing research interest, few studies have taken servicescape into consideration to examine its effects on transformative service outcomes. This study aims to assess how social service elements can provide customers with restorative qualities, though social components are considered vital in constituting a dining locale's servicescape (AKA Social Servicescape).

The study fills the void above by undertaking a survey-based quantitative research method. Using online surveys with a sample of 306 diners, the study employed structural equation modeling to explore a proposed moderated mediation model. A post-hoc interview followed to provide qualitative data to complement the findings developed from surveys.

Results first point to a positive relationship between social servicescape and attention restoration. Moreover, the authors unveil that substantive servicescape has a moderating effect on the relationship of interest, suggesting the interplay of social and built servicescape in promoting restorative experiences.

Social and built stimuli can be intertwined to offer restorative qualities for customers. Through such an intertwined network of relationships, one may derive better mental health resources from hospitality settings.

This research presents new nuances to the existing field of inquiry by linking social servicescape and restoration through an intertwined network of attentional recovery.

The purpose of this paper is to unveil the efficacy of coaching leadership within Chinese organizations and bolster employees’ work engagement.

The sample data were collected through employing the questionnaire method. The participants consisted of 234 employees and 53 supervisors in Chinese enterprises. Hypothesis testing was conducted using multiple regression analysis and the Bootstrap method.

The coaching leadership exhibited a positive association with employees’ work engagement, psychological safety and self-efficacy. It was observed that employees’ psychological safety and self-efficacy played a dual-mediation role between coaching leadership and work engagement. Additionally, employees with power distance orientation (POD) amplified the positive effects of coaching leadership on psychological safety and self-efficacy.

This study contributes to the literature on coaching leadership and work engagement by elucidating their direct influence, as well as the dual-mediating roles of psychological safety and self-efficacy. Besides, our findings underscore the moderating effect of POD in amplifying the impacts of coaching leadership. However, the nonlongitudinal survey design adopted by our study should be noted for its potential limitations in establishing causality.

The findings demonstrate that coaching leadership, psychological safety and self-efficacy play a crucial role in fostering work engagement. Employees with higher POD are more likely to benefit from coaching leaders.

This study contributes to coaching leadership literature and provides insights into how and when coaching leadership affects work engagement in Chinese organizations.

An increasing number of immersive technologies have been adopted in museum tourism in response to shifting consumer habits in the digital era. In contrast, the authenticity experience of museum tourists relies on genuine relics, the environment and activities, which are ancient or traditional. This raises the question of whether tourists can perceive authenticity in immersive technology-based museum tourism. To address this question, this study aims to explore the impact of virtual reality (VR) attributes on tourists’ presence, tourism authenticity and subsequent behavioral intentions in virtual museums.

Data were collected via scenario-based surveys of participants who had taken virtual museum tours based on VR. A total of 174 effective questionnaires were collected for exploratory factor analysis via SPSS 25. Afterward, 597 questionnaires were obtained for confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis via Mplus 7.4.

A conceptual model of how VR attributes influence presence, authenticity and visit intention was developed. There is a chain intermediary between presence and visit intentions, from original authenticity to interactive authenticity and then to emotional authenticity. Technology readiness and museum familiarity moderate some relationships between VR attributes and presence.

The findings can guide museums in improving the use of VR. For example, managers can improve the quality of virtual systems and adopt various interactive forms to enhance tourists’ participation experiences.

These research findings contribute to the research area of immersive technology adoption, enhance the understanding of tourism authenticity in the new context of technology application and extend the presence-emotion-intention theory.

The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the perspectives of key stakeholders on strategies to improve the effectiveness of audit committees (ACs) in African economies, with a specific focus on the Libyan banking sector.

The study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews. The data collection process involves gathering responses from participants through questionnaires and conducting in-depth interviews to gain deeper insights into the subject matter.

The research findings highlight several key points. Firstly, fortifying Libya’s accounting and auditing profession emerges as the most widely endorsed suggestion for enhancing AC effectiveness. Secondly, participants identified various actions that can strengthen ACs, including appointing members with financial expertise, refining the legal requirements governing AC responsibilities, securing board support, enhancing Libya’s legal and regulatory framework, adequately compensating AC members and reducing government intervention in AC practices.

This research contributes to the field of corporate governance by providing valuable insights into the perspectives of stakeholders on enhancing AC effectiveness in the Libyan banking sector, within the broader context of African economies. The findings offer actionable plans for regulators and policymakers seeking to improve AC effectiveness in Libya.

This paper aims to examine the congruency effects of physically embodied robots in service encounters, which addressed a significant research gap concerning the synthesis of robot design elements (e.g., appearance and voice) and their service purposes.

Grounded in congruity theory and human-robot interaction literature, this study conducted a pretest and two experimental studies revealing the need to view robot design holistically and recognizing the pivotal role of congruity in shaping consumers’ service robot adoption. The moderating role of service purposes (utilitarian vs hedonic) was also investigated in terms of robot design and consumer reactions.

Consumers generally tend to favor robots with congruent designs, particularly for utilitarian service purposes. The serial mediation through perceived congruence and perceived intelligence explains such a favorite tendency.

This study advances service robot design research by highlighting the critical role of congruity in enhancing consumer engagement. It supports the use of comprehensive, congruent designs for services with utilitarian purposes and recommends adaptable designs for hedonic settings.

This study addressed the research gap by examining service robot design from a holistic perspective. The research findings highlight the importance of congruency effects in service robot design and deployment and provide valuable insights and guidelines to industry practitioners for optimal investment in service robots.

This paper aims to focus on the relationship between audit committees, external auditors and internal control systems (ICS) and strives to point out mutual influences between the instances to provide an integrated perspective for firms’ multilateral monitoring mechanisms. Furthermore, this study emphasizes the incorporation of sustainability and fraud considerations into the traditional roles of audit committees and auditors.

This structured literature review is based on 71 empirical-quantitative studies published in high-quality journals between 2005 and 2022. Considering the classification of ICS into ICS quality and internal audit function, the studies are analyzed with regard to audit committees’ and external auditors’ characteristics, divided into incentives and competencies, as well as their mutual relationships.

This study highlights a dynamic trilateral network of relationships between monitoring authorities and primarily shows that audit committees equipped with adequate competencies generate a substitutive effect for external auditors by reducing their efforts, whereas ICS quality serves as a possible mediator in this network of relationships. The establishment of an integrative three-party coalition of competent and adequately incentivized monitoring parties is essential to guarantee sufficient and appropriate ICS and overall corporate governance quality.

The findings should prompt legislators and firms to ensure a deeper collaboration between audit committees, internal auditors and external auditors to generate synergy effects and economies of scale within the integrative monitoring process. Legislators should develop stricter requirements for competencies of audit committees and auditors. These should include a holistic triad of sustainability, fraud and digital expertise as well as mandatory forensic procedures performed by all monitoring bodies.

The authors contribute to prior research by highlighting the importance of an integrative three-party coalition of monitoring authorities to ensure corporate governance quality and to generate synergy effects within a dynamic multilateral monitoring process. Furthermore, the authors offer cutting-edge implications by stressing the need for consideration of sustainability and fraud aspects in the traditional work and profiles of audit committees and auditors.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between managerial corporate social responsibility (CSR) mindset and business performance in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), focusing on the mediating role of CSR practices and the moderating influence of institutional forces.

A structured questionnaire was administered to 221 SME managers. The data was analysed using the Hayes process in SPSS to test the hypothesized relationships.

This study found that a managerial CSR mindset significantly improves operational and financial business performance. In addition, CSR practices mediate the relationship between managerial CSR mindset and business performance. Furthermore, institutional forces moderate this relationship, highlighting the critical role of external factors in shaping SME performance.

The findings suggest that SME managers should adopt a proactive managerial CSR mindset and integrate CSR into their core strategies to enhance business performance. Moreover, managers must be responsive to institutional forces as they adjust their strategy to meet external pressures to ensure sustainable performance.

This study demonstrates the theoretical explanation of how CSR practices serve as a conduit through which a managerial CSR mindset improves business performance under varying conditions of institutional forces.

This qualitative study aims to investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) driving the adoption of virtual reality (VR) in the hospitality industry, shedding light on key determinants for successful implementation.

Drawing on a diverse set of interviews conducted in Italy, Pakistan, the USA and Turkey, this study uses thematic analysis facilitated by NVivo 12 to comprehensively explore and identify the CSFs influencing VR adoption within the global hospitality industry.

This study identifies distinct CSFs at various phases of VR adoption in the hospitality industry. Preimplementation emphasizes budget planning and stakeholder engagement, implementation highlights safety training and feedback mechanisms and postimplementation underscores the importance of innovation, feedback utilization and maintenance for sustained success. These findings offer a strategic roadmap for VR integration in hospitality.

The study informs hospitality industry stakeholders of crucial success factors for VR adoption, thereby guiding strategic decision-making. Sustained VR integration success is ensured by emphasizing budget planning, stakeholder engagement, safety training, feedback mechanisms and postimplementation innovation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this groundbreaking research is the first in-depth investigation into CSFs for the adoption of VR in the hospitality industry. This research advances our understanding of and provides fresh guidance for effective VR integration by revealing novel insights into the key variables at various deployment phases.

This study aims to find out how pomposia fruit powder (Syzygium cumini L.) mixed with roasted coffee (RCO) affected antioxidants, phytochemicals, lipid peroxidation inhibition and sensory attributes.

Pomposia fruits (Syzygium cumini L.) powder (PFP) was integrated with RCO at levels of 0.0%, 5.0%, 10.0%, 15.0% and 20.0%. RCO, PFP and binary mixtures containing RCO: PFP were evaluated for their total phenolics (TP), total flavonoids (TF), anthocyanin content (AC), antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds fractionation. The oxidative indices of coffee oil samples were measured throughout different storage intervals. Additionally, sensory characteristics of RCO enriched with different PFP doses were evaluated.

PFP samples exhibited the greatest TP content (1910 mg/100 g), whereas RCO samples had the lowest concentration (1090 mg/100 g). As more PFP was added, the corresponding coffee blends’ concentrations of TP, TF and AC were improved significantly. PFP possesses a radical-scavenging activity that is about 1.20 times more than RCO’s. DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical-scavenging activity jumped significantly from 74.13% in control (untreated) samples to 77.64%, 78.39% and 80.15% for samples enriched with 10.0%, 15.0% and 20% PFP, respectively. Significant increases in gallic acid, hesperidine, benzoic acid, chlorogenic acid, hispertin, catechol, quercetin, pyrogallol and rutin were detected when RCO was mixed with different quantities of PFP. At the end of storage trial, the coffee oil treated with 20% PFP had AV, PV and TBA values that were about 1.70, 1.95 and 1.66 times lower, respectively, than those of the control sample that had not had PFP addition. The RCO with 5.0% PFP achieved the greatest over acceptability grades.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study was the first study to evaluate the effect of incorporating various level of pomposia fruit powder into RCO. The findings shows that adding different concentrations of pomposia fruit powder into RCO can indeed enhance the radical-scavenging activity of the coffee and potentially extend its shelf life.