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Since the withdrawal of IFRIC 3 in 2005, there has been a regulatory freeze in accounting for emission rights that contrasts with the international momentum of climate-related financial disclosures. This paper explores how different narratives and institutional dynamics explain the failure to produce guidance on accounting for emission rights.

This paper mobilises the notion of field-configuring events to examine a sequence of six events between 2003 and 2016, including four public consultations and two dialogues between standard setters. The paper presents a qualitative analysis of documents produced in this space that investigates how different practices and narratives configured the field's positions, agenda, and meaning systems.

Accounting for emission rights was gradually decoupled from climate change and carbon markets, relegated to the research pipeline, and forgotten. The obstacles that the IASB and EFRAG found in presenting themselves as central in the recurring events, the excess of representations, and the increasingly technical and abstract debates eroded the 2003 momentum for regulation, making the different initiatives to revitalise the project vulnerable and open to scrutiny. Lukes (2021) refers to nondecision-making to express that some issues are suffocated before they are expressed.

The regulation of accounting for emission rights, an area that has received scant attention in the literature, provides some insights into the different narrative mechanisms that, materialising in specific times and spaces, draw regulatory attention to particular accounting issues, which are problematised and, eventually, forgotten. This study also illustrates that identifying interests is problematic as actors shift from alternative positions over a long period. The case examined also raises some doubts about the previous effectiveness of international standard setters in dealing with matters of connectivity between the environment and finance, as is the case for accounting for emissions rights.

In Tunisia, foreign commercial exchanges are predominantly maintained via ocean freight and accomplished through eight major ports. The latter play a critical role in the Tunisian economy, whereby nearly 30.7 million tons of goods were transited in 2018. Maintaining their efficiency therefore remains a very important objective to achieve. In this context, the present study is designed to investigate the technical efficiency of respective Tunisian ports over the 16-year period (2005–2020).

The stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) method is applied to measure the associated time-invariant and time-varying technical efficiency. Moreover, through technical inefficiency modeling, effects of both rail connectivity and private sector participation in handling activities on technical efficiency have also been accounted for.

The reached results turn out to reveal well that the Tunisian ports appear to operate below their production frontier, noticeably marked by persistent technical inefficiency. Additionally, the relevant estimates tend to confirm the berth variable associated importance in highlighting production related to Tunisian ports. More particularly, our analysis reveals that the private sector’s participation proves to display a significantly negative association with technical efficiency, while the ports’ rail connectivity turns out to demonstrate a significantly positive correlation with technical efficiency.

The findings of this study can provide port authorities and policymakers with insights into the technical efficiency of Tunisian ports by identifying best practices, the main factors influencing their efficiency (such as rail connectivity and private sector’s participation) and areas for improvement in these ports.

The present study stands as a pioneering attempt to examine the efficiency dimension through the implementation of panel data estimation modeling frameworks, particularly the random-effects and the Battese and Coelli (1995) approaches, applied to measure the technical efficiency of the Tunisian port sector. Similarly, the present study also represents an effective attempt, whereby the effects of exogenous variables, notably the rail connectivity and private sector participation, are thoroughly considered in exploring the technical efficiency of Tunisian ports.

Nusantara, Indonesia’s currently developed new capital city, aims to lead the nation toward a more efficient and sustainable future by fostering an inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous development for all. Envisioned to be built as a smart city, Nusantara leverages the latest technological advancements across various domains as the basis for this cutting-edge urban development. This chapter discusses the advanced technologies implemented to realize the smart city concept in the development of Nusantara. The Nusantara smart city framework encompasses six domains: smart governance, transportation and mobility, smart living, natural resources and energy, smart industry, and human resources, along with the smart built environment and infrastructure, aiming to transform Nusantara into a smart city that epitomizes efficiency, sustainability, and inclusivity. This framework outlines integrating advanced technologies to foster a resilient economy, a sustainable environment, and an enhanced quality of life for its citizens through improved administrative procedures, transportation systems, public safety, healthcare access, resource management, and infrastructure development. Implementing this framework can provide insight into the future development of smart cities in the Gulf Region, poised to significantly impact societal well-being and economic resilience significantly, demonstrating a model for future urban development that harmonizes community engagement, technological innovation, and environmental preservation.

The advent of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), characterised by rapid technological advancement, presents a transformative opportunity for companies to adapt and innovate in all aspects of life. However, I4.0 also ushers in challenges related to resource scarcity, waste generation, pollution and sustainability concerns, particularly in operations and supply chain management (OSCM). Despite the growing importance of I4.0 for supply chain sustainability, more research must be conducted on the processes required to foster sustainable innovation through these technologies. This study aims to bridge this gap by exploring the role of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods in evaluating the factors that affect sustainable digitalisation within OSCM. The research analyses how MCDM methods can facilitate sustainable digitalisation in OSCM, the primary MCDM methods used for sustainable digitalisation in OSCM and the key indicators for measuring sustainable digitalisation in OSCM. Therefore, this study offers a unique contribution by exploring the uncharted territory of MCDM methods in the context of I4.0 and sustainability within OSCM, shedding light on essential indicators for this critical transformation, and equipping managers with the knowledge needed to steer their organisations towards a sustainable digital future.

This paper aims to a systematic literature review followed by a critical synthesis to unveil the underlying knowledge that shapes our understanding of festivals in the digital era. Findings reveal a diverse range of digital applications, such as social media, virtual technologies and event apps, used in festival contexts. Analysis also highlights the digital-influenced experiences of various stakeholders involved, particularly concerning brand, place, destination image and cocreation. The study emphasises the pressing need to investigate the role of generative artificial intelligence-based applications in festivals, pinpointing areas ripe for research such as representation and authenticity, community engagement and participation, memories and storytelling, as well as power and accessibility. By demonstrating how digital technologies intersect with festivity, this research opens new avenues for exploring the dynamic relationship between technology and cultural expression, advocating for a deeper understanding of their integration in the digital age.

The paper aims at addressing the following research questions: does institutional quality improve countries' environmental efficiency? And which pillars of institutional quality improve countries' environmental efficiency?

By specifying a directional distance function in the context of stochastic frontier method where GHG emissions are considered as the bad output and the GDP is referred as the desirable one, the work computes the environmental efficiency into the appraisal of a production function for the European countries over three decades.

According to the countries' performance, the findings confirm that high and upper middle-income countries have higher environmental efficiency compared to low middle-income countries. In this environmental context, the role of institutional quality turns out to be really important in improving the environmental efficiency for high income countries.

This article attempts to analyze the role of different dimensions of institutional quality in different European countries' performance – in terms of mitigating GHGs (undesirable output) – while trying to raise their economic performance through their GDP (desirable output).

1. The paper aims at addressing the following research question: does institutional quality improve countries' environmental efficiency?

2. We adopt a directional distance function in the context of stochastic frontier method, considering 40 European economies over a 30-year time interval.

3. The findings confirm that high and upper middle-income countries have higher environmental efficiency compared to low middle-income countries.

4. The role of institutional quality turns out to be really important in improving the environmental efficiency for high income countries, while the performance decreases for the low middle-income countries.

The paper aims at addressing the following research question: does institutional quality improve countries' environmental efficiency?

We adopt a directional distance function in the context of stochastic frontier method, considering 40 European economies over a 30-year time interval.

The findings confirm that high and upper middle-income countries have higher environmental efficiency compared to low middle-income countries.

The role of institutional quality turns out to be really important in improving the environmental efficiency for high income countries, while the performance decreases for the low middle-income countries.

This work aims to analyze the factors that influence the performance and efficiency of Portuguese companies, namely the influence of social and environmental features.

To achieve our aim, we have used the Portuguese benchmark index, the Portuguese stock index – PSI, during the period from 2016 to 2020. To test the hypothesis panel data methodology was used, specifically, the GMM system originally proposed by Arellano and Bond (1991) and the Value-Based DEA developed by Gouveia et al. (2008).

The results of the GMM model show that social performance has a negative relationship with the company’s performance, from the perspective of different stakeholders, reinforcing that the cost-benefit trade-off of social spending is not yet understood as advantageous for the company’s performance. On the other hand, environmental performance, for external stakeholders, positively influences the company’s performance, perhaps due to pressure from society and the tradition of disclosing environmental matters. The value-based DEA results reinforce that from the perspective of the external stakeholder, non-efficient companies must increase their environmental performance to become efficient, highlighting the role of environmental performance in explaining efficiency. It is unanimous that social performance is still not seen as a lever of efficiency.

This is the first work to use a hybrid methodology to understand the performance determinants of a small banking-oriented country, emphasizing environmental and social aspects.

The purpose of this research was to seek a more refined understanding of the ways beneficiaries are evaluating nonprofit organisations (NPO), from the beneficiaries’ perspectives. Understanding evaluation from beneficiaries’ perspectives is not only important theoretically, but also for enabling evaluation processes to authentically contribute toward enhanced downward accountability.

Theorisation of immanent evaluation (Deleuze, 1998), the ontological view that there is no form imposed from outside or above but instead an articulation from within, was drawn upon to direct attention toward understanding beneficiaries’ inherent productive evaluative capacity and agency. This theorisation enabled a different way of observing and understanding beneficiary evaluation within a qualitative case study conducted in an Australian NPO. Data was sourced from interviews, observations and document analysis.

Findings suggest beneficiaries largely viewed the NPO’s evaluation processes to be unsatisfactory toward meeting their needs in relation to meaningful engagement. However, beneficiaries’ evaluative capacity was noted to include their own evaluation criteria and evaluative expressions indicating the production of an evaluative account. Here beneficiaries’ evaluative expressions are representations of events of evaluation, initiated by them. Findings enable a more refined understanding of beneficiaries’ engagement in evaluation, moving beyond traditional considerations of participative evaluation, and illustrating beneficiaries’ agency and active role in the production of evaluation.

This research furthers understandings of downward accountability and participative evaluation by detailing how beneficiaries’ evaluative capacity is part of an NPO’s evaluative environment, and as such, conceives of an immanent theory of beneficiary evaluation. Findings highlight how evaluation, as a mechanism of downward accountability, functions from beneficiaries’ perspectives and the type of organisational environment capable of enabling and better supporting beneficiary engagement.

There is growing evidence that several social determinants influence mental health outcomes, but whether or not community-based prevention strategies are effective in intervening on these social determinants to improve mental health is unclear. The purpose of this study was to synthesise the state of knowledge on this topic in the UK context, by conducting an umbrella review of the relevant systematic review literature.

The authors searched five electronic databases for systematic reviews of community-based interventions that addressed any social determinant of mental health (SDOMH) in the UK, provided that mental health outcomes were measured. They also reported the results according to PRISMA guidelines and synthesised narratively.

The search yielded 1,101 citations, of which 10 systematic reviews met inclusion criteria. These reviews included 285 original studies, of which 147 (51.6%) were from the UK. Two reviews focussed on children and young people, with the remainder based on working-age adult populations. The authors identified five categories of SDMOH, where financial insecurity and welfare advice interventions were addressed by the largest number of reviews (n = 4), followed by reviews of interventions around social isolation and support (n = 3) and housing regeneration initiatives (n = 2). Results across all social determinants and mental health outcomes were highly heterogenous, but evidence most consistently supported the effectiveness of interventions addressing financial and welfare support on mental health outcomes.

This review highlights the paucity of high quality, causal evidence from the UK and beyond on the effectiveness of interventions on the social determinants of mental health; severe methodological heterogeneity hampers progress to identify scalable interventions to improve population mental health.

The purpose of this paper is to examine patient engagement in remote consultation services, an increasingly important issue facing Healthcare Operations Management (HOM) given the significant expansion in this and other forms of telehealth worldwide over the last decade. We use our analysis of the literature to develop a comprehensive framework that incorporates the patient journey, multidimensionality, antecedents and consequences, interventions and improvement options, as well as the cyclic nature of patient engagement. We also propose measures suitable for empirical assessment of different aspects of our framework.

We undertook a comprehensive review of the extant literature using a systematic review approach. We identified and analysed 63 articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals between 2003 and 2022.

We conceptualise patient engagement with remote consultation across three key aspects: dimensions, process, and the antecedents and consequences of engagement. We identify nine contextual categories that influence such engagement. We propose several possible metrics for measuring patient engagement during three stages (before service, at/during service and after service) of remote consultation, as well as interventions and possible options for improving patient engagement therein.

The primary contribution of our research is the development of a comprehensive framework for patient engagement in remote consultation that draws on insights from literature in several disciplines. In addition, we have linked the three dimensions of engagement with the clinical process to create a structure for future engagement assessment. Furthermore, we have identified impact factors and outcomes of engagement in remote consultation by understanding which can help to improve levels of adoption, application and satisfaction, and reduce healthcare inequality. Finally, we have adopted a “cyclic” perspective and identified potential interventions that can be combined to further improve patient engagement in remote consultation.