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This study aims to examine the effect of political conditions on the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance in two sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, Ghana and Kenya.

This study used a panel data methodology, examining data from a sample of 72 companies (Ghana: 25 and Kenya: 47) from 2018 to 2022. This study used panel quantile regression and the Huber M-estimation robust least squares regression methods.

The research reported that larger boards, diversity and ownership concentration do not affect business performance while board independence improves corporate success in both countries. The findings about chief executive officer (CEO) duality were mixed. In Ghana, CEO duality has a positive effect on firm performance, but in Kenya, the study finds that CEO duality hurts firms’ performance. The results found that higher levels of institutional ownership decreased firm performance in both countries. The research found that Ghana’s political environment had a greater impact on corporate governance and business performance nexus than Kenya’s.

The research is limited to Ghana and Kenya. This study emphasises the necessity for governments in both countries to maintain a stable political environment, implement policies that encourage economic and policy continuity and reduce political uncertainty to improve business conditions.

This study emphasises the necessity for governments in both countries to maintain a stable political environment, implement policies that encourage economic and policy continuity, and reduce political uncertainty to improve business conditions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is unique because it is the first in SSA to address a research gap by investigating a comparative analysis of the relationship between corporate governance, political environments and firm performance in two distinct countries with different political situations.

The purpose of this study is to explore how government subsidies influence technology innovation in new-energy enterprises in the new era of Industry 4.0. Specifically, this study investigates the mediating effect of digital transformation and the moderating effect of a top management team (TMT) with digital experience.

Using a sample of 225 listed new-energy companies, with annual information, patent data, and financial data for the years 2010–2020, this study employs panel fixed effect regression models to obtain the results.

This study finds strong evidence that government subsidies promote the technology innovation of new-energy enterprises, and digital transformation partially mediates the effect of government subsidies on technology innovation. In addition, a TMT's digital experience moderates the effect of government subsidies on digital transformation, but has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between digital transformation and technology innovation. Further analysis shows that subsidies make a sustained contribution to both digital transformation and technological innovation over the next two years. The digital subsidies have a stronger role in promoting digital transformation and further technological innovation through digital transformation.

The Chinese government needs to continue to intermittently increase subsidies for new-energy enterprises, and focus on guiding enterprises' digital transformation. Chinese new-energy enterprises should pay attention to the importance of having TMTs with digital experience, make full use of government subsidies, actively implement digital transformation, and improve their innovation levels.

A new conceptual framework is proposed to examine the relationships between government subsidies, digital transformation, a TMT's digital experience, and technology innovation. This paper provides an important theoretical basis and practical reference for improving the technology innovation ability of Chinese new-energy enterprises, and the high-quality development of renewable energy in the context of Industry 4.0.

This paper investigates the asymmetric connectedness among the Indian stock market, crude oil price, gold price and the USD–INR exchange rate.

We construct a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model that contains the four aforementioned variables. We further used the pairwise Granger causality test to identify the direction of causality.

The results verify an asymmetrical long-run co-movement between the Indian stock market index, exchange rate, international crude oil prices and gold prices. In the long run, the performance of the Indian stock market is mainly affected by both positive as well as negative shocks in the INR–USD exchange rate, positive shocks in gold prices and positive shocks in crude oil prices. Further, a feedback mechanism is observed between positive shocks in the INR–USD exchange rate and Indian stock market performance.

The research paper revisited the linkage among the variables using a novel methodology proposed by Shin et al. (2014).

This study aims to present a great deal of interest in researching plant-based phytopharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals as a possible alternative to synthetic medication, both to avoid their side effects and for financial reasons.

Mankind has used medicinal plants since the beginning of civilization. Nature has been explored as a source of therapeutic chemicals for thousands of years, and many modern drugs have been discovered from natural sources. The primary medical care system of resource-poor areas in India has continued to rely on traditional medicine as the most accessible and reasonably priced form of treatment.

Tinospora cordifolia is a plant that is frequently used in Ayurvedic and traditional medicine throughout India. Although almost all of its parts are used in conventional medical systems, the leaves, stems and roots are the most significant ones used medicinally. All forms of existence can benefit from the versatility of T. cordifolia. It includes a wide variety of compounds that impact the body.

The goal of this review is to provide a concise summary of the knowledge about the pharmacological, phytochemistry, botanical, ethnopharmacology, toxicity study, marketed products and patents of the T. cordifolia plant.

The current study explores the relation between students' spiritual quotient (SQ) and personal financial planning (PFP). The students with entrepreneurial intentions were considered for the present study.

The students from higher educational institutes with an intention to be entrepreneurs were considered for data collection. Using a well-designed, closed-ended questionnaire, primary data from college and university students was collected. Using quota sampling, a total of 189 responses were gathered, however the responses of students with entrepreneurial intentions (n = 100) were considered for analysis. To investigate the relationship between PFP and SQ, descriptive analysis, Spearman's rank correlation and forecasted trend line were employed.

The study revealed a significant positive relationship between PFP and SQ. Thus, SQ also has potential to determine individuals' investment behavior. The study suggests that students' spiritual development can determine their PFP and entrepreneurial actions.

The outcome of the study can be practically used to explore the investment pattern and behavior of youth. The study would further benefit the stakeholders including issuers, developers and consultants involved in the creation and distribution of financial products. The study guides researchers to undertake further research in this domain.

The existing literature on personal financial behavior has lacked in establishing a relationship between spirituality and investment decisions. The present study is novel in substantiating this void. We contribute to the advancement of literature in behavioral finance. This study identifies multifaceted factors that shape investors' behaviors and preferences in finance and proposes the avenues for future research.

Due to the abundant use of granular materials in chemical industries, it is inevitable to store raw materials and products in bulk in silos. For this reason, much research has been carried out in the field of construction, operation and maintenance of silos. One of the important issues that must be investigated in silos is the behavior of their structure when the materials inside them are unloaded. Structural vibrations and the creation of normal noise usually discharge the granular of material from the silo. Both of phenomena are undesirable due to the problems they can cause to the structure and its surroundings. According to the said issues, this paper aims to investigate the vibration problem of the sulfur storage silo of the first refinery during discharge with the help of measuring experimental vibration data and simulating the silo model.

In the experimental investigation, the main cause of the vibration of the 400-ton silo in the refinery is used. The mass asymmetry phenomenon when the silo is filled is also considered. The experimental results are authenticated by software analysis too.

The results showed that the natural frequency of the ninth mode is almost equal to the natural frequency of sulfur discharge from the silos and has the largest shape change in the structure and vibration range. It is also concluded that the larger sulfur silo (400 tons) should be prioritized over the smaller sulfur silo (200 tons) in the emptying program, and the 400 tons silo should never be emptied even through the 200 tons silo is empty.

An attempt is made to investigate the issue of vibration in sulfur storage silos in the first refinery of South Pars in the form of experimental investigation and modal analysis.

This investigation delves into the rationale behind the preferential applicability of the non-Newtonian nanofluid model over alternative frameworks, particularly those incorporating porous medium considerations. The study focuses on analyzing the mass and heat transfer characteristics inherent in the Williamson nanofluid’s non-Newtonian flow over a stretched sheet, accounting for influences such as chemical reactions, viscous dissipation, magnetic field and slip velocity. Emphasis is placed on scenarios where the properties of the Williamson nanofluid, including thermal conductivity and viscosity, exhibit temperature-dependent variations.

Following the use of the OHAM approach, an analytical resolution to the proposed issue is provided. The findings are elucidated through the construction of graphical representations, illustrating the impact of diverse physical parameters on temperature, velocity and concentration profiles.

Remarkably, it is discerned that the magnetic field, viscous dissipation phenomena and slip velocity assumption significantly influence the heat and mass transmission processes. Numerical and theoretical outcomes exhibit a noteworthy level of qualitative concurrence, underscoring the robustness and reliability of the non-Newtonian nanofluid model in capturing the intricacies of the studied phenomena.

Available studies show that no work on the Williamson model is conducted by considering viscous dissipation and the MHD effect past over an exponentially stretched porous sheet. This contribution fills this gap.

The prime purpose of the study is to analyse the effect of fintech adoption on the financial well-being of persons with disabilities (PWDs), considering the intervening role of financial behaviour, financial access and financial knowledge.

A self-administered survey schedule collected primary data on fintech adoption and financial well-being among 205 PWD, through snowball sampling from January to May 2023. Researchers used exploratory factor analysis to identify reliable factors and PLS-SEM for testing mediation and research hypotheses.

The study’s outcome found that fintech adoption does not directly impact the financial well-being of PWDs. Instead, the impact on financial well-being is explained by mediating factors like financial access, financial knowledge and financial behaviour. Financial access is the most significant among these mediating factors.

The study demonstrates the significance of mediating factors in comprehending the influence of fintech adoption on financial well-being. These results underpin existing literature on determinants of financial well-being.

Findings evidenced that developing disabled-friendly fintech tools can enhance financial access, reduce inequality and improve the financial well-being of PWDs, which would be helpful for public policymakers.

There has been no comprehensive study conducted on this topic, particularly among PWDs. In the current study, an effort is being made to examine the relative effects of fintech adoption on financial well-being directly and indirectly through mediating variables.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-08-2023-0596

Sustainable production (SP) is an efficient and influential approach of production for Indian manufacturing industries as it preserves the social, environmental and economic aspects of production activities altogether. The objective of this research work is to investigate the implementation status of SP practices in Indian manufacturing industries by utilizing empirical survey methodology.

A questionnaire survey methodology was adapted, and the questionnaire was prepared by intense literature survey along with by opinions from experts in the field of SP. This questionnaire was sent to 753 different organizations at different locations across India. This study collected responses from manufacturing industries as per 2021 directory of Confederation of Indian Industries for the duration of 7 week. Top level managers were the target respondents. The study propagated with 242 responses which were observed complete in all respects.

The study identified that though the majority of the organizations are claiming to follow SP practices since long time, they actually are lagging in proper understanding SP practices. Majority of them are implementing it in specific departments in their organization. They are coming across multiple barriers in the implementation of SP practices among which unrecognized financial benefits and lack of proper government policies are prime. The study suggests that the Indian organizations needs feasible framework with adaptable guidelines.

This work is centered towards manufacturing organizations and targets only the leading industrial sectors in India. Thus, the outcomes of this study may not be generalized for all the sectors of Indian industries. Additionally, it can also be assumed that higher number of responses would have contributed to more clear visualization of implementation status of SP practices among Indian industries.

Sustainable approaches in production activities are very lucrative for industries worldwide, due to their advantages. Numerous researchers are also putting their efforts to explore more about various aspects of sustainability. Mostly they are focusing on single or few aspects of SP and its implementation in particular region or country. Very few research works are dedicated to knowing the implementation status of SP in Indian manufacturing industries and they are limited in various aspects. This study presents a dedicated approach to investigate the implementation status of SP practices in Indian manufacturing industries.

Given the urgency of corporate engagement in sustainable development, companies seek ways to involve their employees in sustainability efforts. In this regard, gamified systems have gained attention as a novel tool to promote sustainable employee behavior. However, as the research field matures, researchers and practitioners are confronted with a scattered academic landscape that makes it difficult to grasp how gamification can be designed to engage employees in sustainable behavior and to understand how gamification effects unfold at psychological, behavioral and corporate levels of sustainability.

This paper uses a systematic literature review to consolidate the existing knowledge on gamification designs and their effects on sustainable employee behavior.

Studies have explored a variety of utilitarian and achievement-, immersion- and social-related gameful affordances to promote positive behavior- and system-related psychological effects as a basis for employee engagement in sustainable behavior. However, the evidence regarding their impact on rational decision-making processes and overcoming the intention-action gap inherent in sustainability is still limited. Nevertheless, several studies in focused areas indicate the potential to elicit behavioral changes that drive sustainability outcomes at the corporate level as well.

Our study provides three main contributions. First, we develop a conceptual framework that illustrates how gamification can drive sustainable behavior in the workplace. Second, we derive seven agenda points to guide future research on gamification for corporate sustainability. Third, we deduce three practical approaches to use gamification as a strategic intervention to promote sustainable behavior in organizations.