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The rise of the metaverse and technology's disruptive visualisation spell a changing landscape for digital banking. As consumers increasingly conduct financial transactions in virtual worlds and immersive digital environments, it is imperative that advanced analysis tools are developed to measure and improve the virtual banking experience with this emerging metaverse. This chapter enriches the new notion of Metalytics and how it can be successfully employed as an approach to quantify and measure customer satisfaction and quality in digital banking services with today's changing scenarios. Now, it is a complex digital world of social engagement, entertainment and commerce. Traditional banking services, in that sense, have even started seeping into the metaverse and offering users a taste of virtual financial institutions (the meta bank), digital currencies as well as other financial products. The use of advanced analytics, tools and metrics designed for the unique features of a multiverse. This chapter goes on to discuss, through some of its key components and methodologies, how this could usher an epochal change in interstellar nodes for evaluating digital banking services. Financial institutions that embrace the peculiarities of the metaverse and leverage data-driven insights can offer comprehensive digital banking solutions. This is necessary for the digital frontier, and Metalytics propulsion fits this part perfectly, managing to keep their services up to date, safe, secure and, most importantly, customer-centred while navigating through the metaverse landscape.

Tolerance to ambiguity (TOLA) is a personal trait influencing one’s comfort and proficiency in navigating uncertain situations. While the concept of role ambiguity is well-established in sales literature, the broader trait of ambiguity has been largely overlooked in this context. In the dynamic landscape of modern business, uncertainty is a regular phenomenon, and navigating ambiguity is an invaluable skill. While salespeople are celebrated for their customer focus, negotiation skills and product knowledge, their capacity to embrace ambiguity-a skill that could be an important contributor to their success in the diverse global market is rarely studied. This study contributes by linking a salesperson’s TOLA and two well-established dimensions of emotional intelligence to adaptive selling behavior. Using responses from a sample of 209 employees of financial institutions in a large metropolitan city in India, this study shows that TOLA, understanding others' emotions and regulation of emotions positively influence a salesperson’s adaptive selling behavior. Further, results also point out that TOLA moderates the relationship between understanding other emotions and adaptive selling. To our knowledge, this is the first study that has explored the link between these two important skills of salespeople, thus extending TOLA as a critical construct to the sales field. Managerial implications and directions for future research are provided.

Using responses from a sample of 209 employees of financial institutions, a model was tested using structural equation modeling. A measurement model was used to assess the validity of the scales used in the study. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted using AMOS 28 with the scale items for understanding other’s emotions (UOE), regulation of emotions (ROE), adaptive selling behavior (ADPS), job performance (JOBP) and three mean-centered dimensions of the TOLA scale. A structural equation model was run using AMOS 28 to test the relationships among variables.

The study results show that TOLA has a strong positive relationship with adaptive selling. Further, results show that TOLA acts as a moderator in the relationship between understanding others’ emotions, a fact of emotional intelligence and adaptive selling behavior.

To our knowledge this is the first study that explored the link between TOLA and adaptive selling, a critical predictor of sales performance. While the concept of role ambiguity is well-established in sales literature, the broader trait of ambiguity has been largely overlooked in this context. By establishing the link between these two important skills of salespeople, this study extends the concept of TOLA as a critical construct to the sales field.

Study results validate the important role of TOLA on salesperson’s ability to use adaptive selling behavior which is critical for sales performance. This study highlights the different ways sales professionals who possess a high TOLA can benefit. Field sales managers can play a crucial role in fostering a TOLA culture in the sale team and help leverage the relationship between TOLA, emotional intelligence and adaptive selling. By integrating qualities of TOLA into recruitment and training, managers can create a sales team that is not only effective in navigating uncertainties and thrive in dynamic and competitive business environments.

In sales settings, the concept of role ambiguity is well-established, but the broader trait of ambiguity has been largely overlooked and has rarely been part of sales research. A recent review of 15 studies on TOLA shows that almost all the studies used student samples and only a handful of them were done in organizational or sales settings. The current study aims to fill the gap in sales research by exploring how TOLA influences adaptive selling, one of the critical constructs in sales research.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between carbon emission disclosure and earnings management within Indonesian firms. The authors use the stakeholder theory and agency theory frameworks to explain this relationship.

Panel data of Indonesian listed firms between 2016 and 2021 are used in this study. Data are analysed using fixed effects with robust standard errors.

Firms disclosing carbon emission-related information exhibit less absolute discretionary accruals. This finding implies that these firms are less likely to engage in unethical financial reporting practices, such as earnings management. This finding is also confirmed through the robustness check and endogeneity tests.

The findings of this study can be used when formulating policy initiatives and regulations to promote carbon emission disclosure practices within Indonesian firms.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the effect of carbon emission disclosure in sustainability reports on earnings management amid the sustainability reporting requirement period. It provides empirical evidence that carbon emission disclosure is considered an ethical practice in an emerging country.

Companies are increasingly appointing a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) to anchor the need to highlight climate change at the senior management level. This study aims to examine how CSO power and sustainability-based compensation influence climate reporting and carbon performance.

Using one of the largest data sets to date, consisting of 18,834 company years through the author’s observations, spanning an 11-year period (2011–2021) in 33 countries. This paper used quantitative methods – specifically, ordinal logistic regression estimation. This paper measures the level of climate change disclosure based on the carbon disclosure leadership methodology. Carbon performance is based on the intensity of carbon emissions (Scope 1, Scope 2), which is a quantitative and relatively more objective measure.

The results suggest that climate change disclosure continued to increase and the carbon emissions intensity of the companies in this study gradually decreased over the sample period. This paper finds that the presence of the CSO within the top management team has a positive and significant influence on the level of information on climate change of the companies in the sample. This finding confirms the idea that the managerial capacity of CSOs motivates the disclosure of climate change. The empirical results confirm that there are differences in the role that the CSO and sustainability-based compensation play in influencing the quality of climate information disclosure in developed and developing countries.

The recourse on a mixed theoretical framework, which highlights upper echelons theory, argues the understanding of the role of CSOs in explaining the relationship between climate change disclosure–carbon performance relationship. The novelty of the study lies in the approaches adopted to describe the quality of climate change disclosure. To control for endogeneity, this paper uses a difference-in-difference analysis by adding a firm to the Morgan Stanley Capital International index as an exogenous shock.

This study aims to examine the impact of Audit Committee (AC) characteristics on carbon disclosures and performance among companies listed in the STOXX Europe 600 index.

The sample consists of companies listed in the STOXX Europe 600 index over a 11-year period (2012–2022). The study uses panel data regression methods and uses the two-step system generalized method of moments to control for endogeneity.

The results indicate that AC size, independence and financial expertise positively influence carbon disclosure, highlighting the significance of these characteristics in promoting transparency and accountability in reporting carbon emissions. Additionally, these attributes are significantly associated with improved carbon performance, suggesting their potential role in advancing environmental sustainability.

The study provides practical insights for policymakers and regulatory bodies aiming to enhance carbon-related practices through improved corporate governance (CG) structures. By emphasizing the importance of specific AC characteristics, the findings suggest pathways for enhancing the quality of carbon disclosures and performance.

Despite extensive attention on CG in promoting sustainability, the specific influence of AC characteristics on carbon disclosures and performance remains underexplored. This study addresses this significant literature gap and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first to link AC characteristics with both carbon disclosure and performance. It enriches the current body of knowledge in agency theory and provides critical insights for developing CG and regulatory policies that enhance the quality of carbon disclosures.

This paper aims to investigate the direct and indirect relationship between CEO compensation and earnings management using corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a mediating variable.

This study examines 159 French firms listed on the SBF 250 index, encompassing 1,908 firm-year observations from 2011 to 2022, to investigate the relationship between CEO compensation, CSR and earnings management. We used discretionary accruals as the earnings management measure, under the Kothariet al. model (2005). The direct and indirect effects between CEO compensation and earnings management were tested using structural equation model analysis.

The results reveal that CEO compensation positively influences earnings management. Higher CEO compensation is associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in earnings management practices. CSR was found to partially mediate the relationship between CEO compensation and corporate earnings management. Further analysis indicates that the social and environmental dimensions of CSR contribute significantly to this mediating effect.

The study’s focus on the French institutional context may limit the generalizability of the findings to other regions. In addition, the relatively small sample size, given the limited number of publicly listed firms in France, suggests that extending the study to include other European countries could enhance the robustness of the results.

The findings have practical implications for companies, policymakers and regulators seeking to curb opportunistic managerial behavior. Regulators can develop policies that promote transparency and ethical financial reporting, leveraging CSR as a governance tool to curb earnings manipulation.

This study highlights the ethical concerns of excessive CEO compensation, which may incentivize earnings management and undermine financial transparency. It emphasizes the need for strong CSR practices, particularly in the social and environmental dimensions, to mitigate these issues and align corporate behavior with societal and sustainability goals.

The originality of this paper lies in its exploration of both direct and indirect relationships between CEO compensation and earnings management, with CSR acting as a mediating variable. Unlike previous studies that have primarily focused on the direct link between CEO compensation and earnings management, this research investigates the potential mediating role of CSR in this relationship. In addition, this study distinguishes itself by examining the impact of the structure of CEO compensation on earnings management. While the existing literature has concentrated on total CEO compensation, the effects of its individual components such as fixed and variable compensation remain underexplored.

The purpose of this study was to analyze whether audit committees (ACs) influence corporate social responsibility (CSR) outputs.

A structured literature review of 57 archival studies on the influence of ACs on CSR outputs was conducted. According to a stakeholder–agency theoretical framework, the AC variables were structured as follows: presence, composition and resources, incentives and diligence. CSR is mainly divided into CSR performance, CSR reporting and CSR assurance.

Previous studies have mainly focused on AC composition and CSR reporting. There are indications that AC composition and CSR performance and assurance are positively linked. Moreover, AC resources, incentives and diligence increase CSR reporting.

This study stresses the need for linking AC composition with sustainability, the inclusion of moderator and especially mediator variables and addressing endogeneity concerns via advanced regression models.

This paper reports the first literature review on the interaction between AC and CSR. It presents the main variables that have been included in previous studies, the limitations of these studies and useful recommendations for future research, business practice and regulators.

The purpose of this study is to measure financial inclusion (FI) and to examine the role of digital financial literacy (DFL) and its components, and various socio-demographics in relation to FI. In addition, the mediating effect of digital financial attitudes (DFA) on the relationship between digital financial knowledge (DFK) and digital financial behaviour (DFB), as well mediating effect of DFA and DFB on the relationship between DFK and FI, is being explored.

Using a cross-sectional research design, we utilize a dataset from the survey of adults’ financial literacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, collected from the representative sample of 1,096 adults in 2022. The main methodology relies on logistic and ordinal logistic regression analyses and PROCESS for mediation analyses.

The findings suggest that the effect of DFK on DFB is partially mediated by DFA. In addition, the effect of DFK on FI is fully mediated through three pathways: DFA, DFB, and DFA and DFB in serial mediation. Age, education, employment status and residence are significantly related to FI. Internet access is significant only for FI scores but not for adults’ banking status. Although women are almost twice as unbanked as men, we find no gender-based differences in financial product holdings, FI or adults’ banking status.

There is a need to enhance DFK and DFA to enable adults to use financial products. Financial institutions could use our results in designing and promoting their services.

Policy implications are seen in the need for developing national strategies for financial education, with an emphasis on strengthening DFL, especially DFK and DFA, which will enhance the formal FI of adults. Also, governments should work on expanding Internet access.

The results make a contribution to the theory of planned behaviour. They contribute to the limited empirical evidence of the mediating role of DFA in relationship to DFB, as well as the mediating role of DFA and DFB in relationship to FI.

This paper aims to explore the influence of spatial dynamics on street vendors and examines the insecurities and coping mechanisms they faced and adopted during the pandemic. It examines the precarious nature of street vending during a global economic shock, highlighting the vulnerabilities and resilience of this informal sector.

This study uses a case study approach, conducting semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 74 street vendors in two key markets: Bara Bazaar (natural market) and Treasury Square (non-natural). The authors use the Gioia method, renowned for its systematic rigour in exploring the challenges and adaptations of street vendors during periods of economic uncertainty and crisis.

This study reveals that COVID-19 lockdowns profoundly impacted the security of tribal street vendors operating in natural and non-natural markets. It sheds light on the mechanism of shadow security, observed as a form of diverse coping mechanisms adopted by vendors during the pandemic, such as collective fund pooling, poultry farming and adapting new business models – from changing the goods they sell to transitioning between regular and mobile vending or from retail shops to street vending.

This study used the grounded theory framework of sustainable livelihood strategies and explores how street vendors can achieve sustainability through street vending. It further proposes recommendations for urban policies tailored across various dimensions.

This paper highlights indigenous mechanisms to secure livelihoods, which act as safety nets and facilitate a form of shadow security. The paper also determines how the spatial dynamics of a vending location can preferably change the security of the street vendors in times of crisis. This research challenges the oversimplified notion that the social security of street vendors cannot be neatly categorised as secure or insecure. Instead, it underscores vendors’ dynamic strategies and resilience to sustain their livelihoods amidst economic disruptions.

Reducing CO₂ emissions from transportation is crucial for achieving carbon neutrality in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries by 2060 or earlier. This study aimed at analyzing transportation-related energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, along with their determinants and mitigation measures planned to achieve carbon neutrality in GCC countries.

To achieve the study objectives, the pressure-state-response (PSR) framework was utilized. Various methods were employed within the PSR framework, including econometric analysis using EViews, energy modeling using the low emissions analysis platform (LEAP) and content analysis of relevant policy and national documents using NVivo.

The results indicated that population and economic growth, along with increased fuel consumption, have led to a growth in transportation-related energy use and CO₂ emissions in the GCC countries. Per capita transportation-related CO₂ emissions in the GCC countries are higher than those of several countries. To achieve carbon-neutral transportation, approximately 1.8 bn metric tons of CO₂ emissions need to be avoided by 2060 or earlier. Strategies related to fuel alternatives, vehicle technologies and mass transit have been planned to reduce transportation-related CO₂ emissions in the GCC countries.

This study employed a holistic approach to analyze transportation-related energy use and CO₂ emissions in the GCC countries. It provides several policy implications and highlights the urgent need for policy innovations to achieve transformative change in the transportation sectors of the GCC countries.