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This study aims to provide three biomechanical models that are consistent with the arm forces of elderly women and to design elbow guards that are more suitable for their use. Numerical analysis and experimental methods were used to determine the optimal direction for elbow guard design, focusing on fabric type, arm force distribution and comfort thresholds.

This paper explores the design of elbow guards for older women through predictive finite element modeling and a systematic experimental approach. First, contact anthropometry was used to measure the arm dimensions of older women. Cluster analysis was applied to categorize arm sizes, laying the foundation for the subsequent selection of subjects for 3D scanning. Second, a 3D scanner was used to obtain the external contours of a representative subject’s arm. Finite element models of the arm and elbow guard were constructed with the arm flexed at three different angles. These models were used to simulate the pressure exerted by the elbow guard on the arm. Next, objective measurements of garment pressure were taken using a homemade elbow guard. Finally, subjective comfort evaluation was carried out using the human clothing experiment method. Comfortable pressure thresholds were determined by establishing a correlation between subjective comfort levels and objective pressure values.

The results showed that the developed model effectively predicted the pressure distribution between the elbow guard and the arm. By comparing the simulated pressure distributions of the four materials, it was determined that polyamide and spandex fabrics were the more appropriate materials for the elbow pad design. Additionally, the study pointed out the need to consider the different bending postures of the arm when analyzing pressure, focusing on the amount of pressure control at the elbow of the arm. When the arm’s bending angle ranges between 90° and 180°, the total pressure should remain between a minimum of 2550.0 Pa and a maximum of 4394.4 Pa.

The theoretical approach of ellipses was used to construct the arm model. Numerical simulations were performed to analyze the pressure distribution for three different arm bending postures, and the simulation results provided useful insights for designers in selecting the optimal fabric type. This study provides a theoretical reference for designing comfortable compression elbow guards, while also addressing garment comfort by establishing accurate garment comfort thresholds to guide designers in understanding the appropriate compression dosage.

• (1)

  The theory related to ellipses is introduced in the construction of the model, unlike other studies.

• (2)

  The laws of fabric material, force area and bending angle on pressure distribution were analyzed.

• (3)

  Clothing pressure comfort thresholds were determined for three different postures.

The theory related to ellipses is introduced in the construction of the model, unlike other studies.

The laws of fabric material, force area and bending angle on pressure distribution were analyzed.

Clothing pressure comfort thresholds were determined for three different postures.

Blockchain technology (BCT) can play a vital role in manufacturing industries by providing visibility and real-time transparency. With BCT adoption, manufacturers can achieve higher productivity, better quality, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. The current study aims to prioritize the performance metrics and ranking of enablers that may influence the adoption of BCT in manufacturing industries through a hybrid framework.

Through an extensive literature review, 4 major criteria with 26 enablers were identified. Pythagorean fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method was used to compute the weights of the enablers and the Pythagorean fuzzy combined compromise solution (Co-Co-So) method was used to prioritize the 17-performance metrics. Sensitivity analysis was then carried out to check the robustness of the developed framework.

According to the results, data security enablers were the most significant among the major criteria, followed by technology-oriented enablers, sustainability and human resources and quality-related enablers. Further, the ranking of performance metrics shows that data hacking complaints per year, data storage capacity and number of advanced technologies available for BCT are the top three important performance metrics. Framework robustness was confirmed by sensitivity analysis.

The developed framework will contribute to understanding and simplifying the BCT implementation process in manufacturing industries to a significant level. Practitioners and managers may use the developed framework to facilitate BCT adoption and evaluate the performance of the manufacturing system.

This study can be considered as the first attempt to the best of the author’s knowledge as no such hybrid framework combining enablers and performance indicators was developed earlier.

The objectives are to show how professional orientation towards cooperatives, as a universal model of social enterprise, stems from a different fit to professional preferences for other kinds of business forms; and to show how specific training has an impact on the change in professional orientation.

The methodological approach was structured based on two stages. In the first stage, a cluster analysis was used on the responses obtained from a sample of Canadian university students, while in the second stage, experimentation was used to analyse how the professional orientation of students that did not have a preference for cooperatives changed after receiving specific training.

The results reveal how cooperative work preferences are found in students with symbolic values compatible with the essence of the cooperative model, their knowledge being the catalyst for the person–organisation fit. Furthermore, a change in professional orientation in most subjects stems from training, demonstrating the crucial role this has for individuals to be able to assess their match with the different business models.

Research on the pairing of university graduates with companies has had a strong development in recent years given the relevance of employability as a guiding principle of university education. This is the first empirical work linking person–organization fit in the formation of job preferences applied to social enterprises. The results have implications for universities, the cooperative sector and political decision-makers, who will have to improve the visibility and awareness of cooperatives to increase their attraction as an employment provider.

Given continued debates on the potentials of newly emerging artificial intelligence (AI) like generative AI (GenAI), this study aims to contribute to corporal studies by investigating the efficacy of GenAI in improving students writing skills.

A mixed-methods research design with an experimental approach was used to elicit information from 70 undergraduate students studying at a private university. A writing course was designed and used to elicit information from the participants on the efficacy of using ChatGPT in their writing instruction.

After collecting data through experiments and interviews, the result indicates that although ChatGPT may assist students in providing ideas in writing lessons, it may not improve their overall writing skills.

This study provides empirical evidence limited to the scholarly literature on the role of ChatGPT in improving students’ writing skills. This study adds to scholarly discussions on the potential of ChatGPT which has recently sparked debates in academia.

Extant literature investigating the tax payment behaviour of politically connected firms largely supports the notion that politically connected firms have tax sheltering incentives, i.e. politically connected firms pay significantly less tax. Our paper adds to this stream of literature by considering the tax payment behaviour of two different groups of politically connected firms in Pakistan, viz. civil connected firms and military connected firms.

The paper sheds light on the tax payment behaviour of politically connected firms and provides evidence that the tax incentives of politically connected firms are shaped by the institutional structure and contextual factors.

The results indicate that civil (military) connected firms pay significantly lower (higher) tax than non-connected firms. The findings hold in the face of a number of robustness tests, including the use of alternative proxies for the tax variable and endogeneity concerns.

These results make a significant contribution to the existing literature examining the tax payment behaviour of politically connected firms by providing evidence suggesting that tax sheltering is not the only viable option for politically connected firms; rather, some groups of connected firms have tax under-sheltering incentives. Our findings add to the political cost hypothesis and the signalling hypothesis in relation to tax payment incentives of politically connected firms.

This paper examines the ability of those governmental reforms adopted in response to the COVID-19 outbreak to affect earnings management (EM).

The paper focuses on the Italian decision to suspend the recapitalization obligation to guarantee the respect of the going concern’s assumption. By analysing a sample of unlisted entities, this analysis uses different techniques to detect EM before and after the suspension of that obligation.

The results suggest that EM decreased after the decision to suspend recapitalization obligations.

Accounting quality depends on not only accounting standards but also management practices in response to those government measures instituted during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The results are a novelty in the literature. In terms of the institutional theory, they provide evidence of EM decrease, thereby validating the assumption that regulation can enable and empower social actors – particularly their actions – despite the visions of repression and constraint conjured by that concept. Isomorphism theory supports the thesis and results that indicate that EM decreases not only in emerging markets, where corporate governance mechanisms are less able to obstruct EM, but also in the developed countries. Thus, insightful and novel conceptualizations can still be achieved by using institutional theory. Yet the findings also extend agency theory assumptions and demonstrate that also the issuance of less severe regulation can reduce agency costs and, in turn, also EM.

Global urbanization has accelerated due to the persistent trend of rural-to-urban migration in search of better prospects and livelihoods, which has had serious negative effects on the environment, especially in rapidly developing economies. Hence, the purpose of the study is to analyse the relationship between urbanization, economic growth, consumption of renewable energy and carbon emissions with careful examination, particularly in the context of India, where urban population growth has skyrocketed.

This study uses econometric methods like Granger causality analysis and the ARDL bound tests, to analyse the intricate relationships between the selected time series variables for India from 1970 to 2022.

This research highlights the difficult task of striking a balance between economic development and environmental preservation by emphasizing the crucial role that urbanization and economic expansion play in causing carbon emissions. India’s urbanization trajectory presents a significant policy problem that calls for a move towards renewable energy sources to successfully decrease carbon emissions. Moreover, this research indicates a two-way causal relationship between economic growth, urbanization and carbon emissions, pointing to the intricate interactions between these variables during the developmental stage.

Despite India’s per capita emissions remaining below the global average, this study highlights the mounting policy challenge of balancing economic development with environmental sustainability as urbanization persists. The paper emphasizes the need for India to invest in renewable energy capacity to replace non-renewable sources and mitigate the carbon footprint of its growing energy demands. Collaborative efforts between India and the developed world to facilitate access to clean energy technologies are crucial for India to achieve sustainable growth in the long run.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, existing literature predominantly focuses on investigating the relationship between renewable energy and economic growth, with only a limited number of studies exploring the impact on sustainable development to attain carbon neutrality. Furthermore, these studies have not considered the role of urbanization and non-renewable energy in addressing the challenge of sustainability issues in an emerging country like India. Hence, this study is a comprehensive study that addresses the research gap in these directions.

This study aims to conduct a comprehensive methodological review, exploring the strategies used to address endogeneity within the realms of corporate governance and financial reporting.

This research reviews the application of various methods to deal with endogeneity issue published in the 10 journals covering the corporate governance discipline included in the Web of Science’s Social Sciences Citation Index.

With a focus on empirical studies published in leading journals, the author scrutinizes the prevalence of endogeneity and the methodologies applied to mitigate its effects. The analysis reveals a predominant reliance on the two-stage least squares (2SLS) technique, a widely adopted instrumental variable (IV) approach. However, a notable observation emerges concerning the inconsistent utilization of clear exogenous IVs in some studies, highlighting a potential limitation in the application of 2SLS. Recognizing the challenges in identifying exogenous variables, the author proposes the generalized method of moments (GMM) as a viable alternative. GMM offers flexibility by not imposing the same exogeneity requirement on IVs but necessitates a larger sample size and an extended sample period.

The paper sensitizes researchers to the critical concern of endogeneity bias in governance research. It provides an outline for diagnosing and correcting potential bias, contributing to the awareness among researchers and encouraging a more critical approach to methodological choices, recognizing the prevalence of endogeneity in empirical studies, particularly focusing on the widely adopted 2SLS technique.

Practitioners, including corporate executives and managers, can benefit from the study’s insights by recognizing the importance of rigorous empirical research. Understanding the limitations and strengths of methodologies like 2SLS and GMM can inform evidence-based decision-making in the corporate governance realm.

Ecological degradation is causing various medical hazards worldwide. Modern globalization is enhancing several polluting factors that cause ecosystem deterioration. This situation leads to the increasing significance of implementing green environmental practices. Previous studies emphasize various green concepts, mainly in finance, encouraging investors to make ethical and responsible decisions to promote clean ecological practices. But still, emerging concepts like socially responsible investment (SRI) require more understanding and acknowledgment, particularly in developing economies.

This study has focused on exploring the impediments to SRI-adopting practices. It is conducted in two phases. Initially, a systematic literature review was conducted to identify the hurdles in promoting SRI. Later, open-ended interviews from the active investors of Pakistan Stock Exchange Limited were executed to explore the barriers to implementing the SRI system. The responses were transcribed and tested through NVivo software.

The information extracted from the recorded statements was further classified into three themes: initial, subordinate and cluster, which provides an understanding of the identified factors. The findings suggest that the significant complications hindering SRI are a lack of regulatory framework, inadequate conceptual knowledge and limited resources.

The findings state that the identified impediments can help in developing a framework for successfully implementing SRI practices in emerging economies. It can strengthen the stakeholders' knowledge and suggest a guideline for investment decisions, providing them with socially, ethically and financially positive returns. Therefore, this study will inspire active and potential investors to adopt SRI practices, making the economic uplift certain.

This study will add value to the existing body of knowledge related to SRI and highlight the importance of SRI by suggesting it as a source to ensure sustainable green efficiency, particularly in the postpandemic era. It emphasizes the urgent need for a policy framework for effective investment decisions in emerging economies.

Social media has revolutionized marketing communication (MC). Rugby is South Africa’s most professionalized sport, leading the industry in its business management structure as well as its high-performance achievements. However, below the professional level, local rugby clubs face a large disparity compared to their professional counterparts, often relying on volunteers or part-time employees to manage the organizations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate how non-professional rugby clubs use social media as a MC tool.

The study was exploratory, and a cross-sectional sample of twelve organizations was selected and employed a multiple case study approach. Club managers responsible for MC or social media participated in semi-structured interviews. The qualitative data analysis software, ATLAS.ti, facilitated the researchers’ use of an inductive approach to develop codes and themes for further analysis.

The findings revealed a high level of adoption of social media by the multiple cases (i.e. rugby sports club respondents), with only slight variations in the usage of specific social media applications (viz., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp). The sports clubs perceived that employing social media added substantial value to their MC. There were six emergent themes related to the organization’s perceived benefits from adopting social media MC, namely: brand awareness, relationship-building, player recruitment, attracting sponsors, storytelling, and information sharing.

The study makes a novel contribution in terms of how rugby clubs use social media as an MC tool. The paper advances scant knowledge and awareness of the relationship between South Africa’s sports marketing and social media. The conclusions will aid non-professional sports organizations in enhancing the effectiveness of their social media marketing by ensuring that their objectives and target audiences are well-defined.