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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.

The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled higher educational institutions to implement alternative educational strategies that rely heavily on internet accessibility and utilisation to monitor and evaluate students. This study aims to find certain indicators for planning and designing future courses of inclusive online education in the domain of disaster risk reduction (DRR).

The study reviews and analyses online teaching and learning experiences of DRR courses. It uses online surveys and interviews to derive the perspectives of selected students and educators in universities in Asia and the Pacific region.

Active engagement is considered to be achieved when students are active in chat boxes, through presentations, through assignments and when the video cameras of students are turned on. On the contrary, students perceive active engagement differently because they face emotional disturbances and health issues due to prolonged screen/digital device use, have inadequate information and communications technology infrastructure or have digital literacy deficiencies among others. The study finds that online courses have many sets of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, when they are balanced, they can improve DRR courses in the future.

The study is based on the outcome of interviews with 10 experienced educators in DRR courses as well as students from different schools taking courses in DRR education. However, the students are not necessarily taking the courses of the educators interviewed due to the inability of some educators to avail themselves and the challenge of contacting the students. This notwithstanding, the results of this study give a general overview of the situation to be considered in the planning and design of online and distance education.

The results do not reflect the reaction of students and tutors of the same course. Future studies of collecting and analyzing the responses from the students and the educators with the same course could provide tailored solutions.

This study attempts to find solutions to bridging two different perspectives on teaching and learning. The results would be important to strengthening and designing future online courses.

This paper reports the collaborative achievements of transformative service researchers and nonprofit practitioners and their learning processes for refugee integration and social impact measurement. The purpose of the paper is to present the process of a cocreating a toolkit designed to help non-profit organizations (NPOs) measure and communicate the social impact of their initiatives. Collaboration with a UK-based NPO resulted in the development of a practical toolkit designed to identify and report social impacts that are typically challenging or difficult to measure.

Following a three-phase co-creative process model over two years, the project team began by co-defining impact metrics in partnership with an NPO specializing in personalized employment support, language and digital skills training and job search assistance for refugees. This led to the codesign of a social impact measurement strategy. The final phase involved coproducing a social impact reporting toolkit that offers comprehensive guidance to bridge existing gaps in measurement practices and empowers NPO employees to effectively measure and communicate social impact.

The study found that, although the NPO collected extensive data, its focus was primarily on individual-level economic outcomes, often overlooking broader social impact measurements. The cocreated toolkit addresses this oversight by providing resources for a holistic assessment.

The toolkit equips NPOs with a user-friendly resource for effectively measuring and communicating the social impact of their initiatives, supporting their operational and funding requirements.

By improving how social impact is measured and communicated, the toolkit can positively influence funding decisions and enhance the support available to refugees, thereby facilitating their integration into host societies.

This paper highlights two key contributions: (1) the development of a co-produced social impact reporting toolkit consisting of five modules and (2) the co-creation process itself. Through collaboration between the academic team and the NPO, the toolkit was designed to meet both theoretical standards and practical needs, tailored specifically for small to medium-sized NPOs, particularly those working in refugee integration.

The purpose of this study is to identify and assess the role of predictors to women’s economic empowerment (WEE). Moreover, the mediating role of digital banking usage (DBU) between financial literacy (FL) and WEE is empirically tested. The study also examines the moderation effect of educational level (EL) and employment sector (ES) on WEE.

Using a mixed-method approach, a comprehensive questionnaire was used to collect data of 482 women working in the formal ESs of Delhi-NCR. Partial least square structural equation modeling using SmartPLS-4 was used to test the explanatory and predictive power of the proposed model. This was followed by semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data from 14 respondents.

The results present the following important findings: first, DBU, FL, women’s agency (WA) and workplace human resource policies (HR) significantly impact WEE, whereas government support (GS) and FL significantly impact DBU; second, DBU significantly mediates the relationship between FL and WEE; and third, ES significantly moderates the relationship between DBU and WEE.

This research also shares significant findings for practitioners and organizations by holistically identifying factors affecting WEE. These findings apply to both the human resource department of the employment sectors and the management of the banking sector.

The present study adds value to the scarce literature on the impact of DBU on WEE and highlights the mediating role of DBU along with the moderation effect of EL and ES. The study model incorporates novel constructs that impact WEE and offers new insights to various stakeholders in enhancing WEE. In addition, qualitative method was used to complement the quantitative findings.

The unforeseen disruption in workplaces triggered by COVID-19 has led many organizations to a sudden transition into virtual or remote working. The change posed various challenges to the project management community in managing their project and team members. The study intends to identify those challenges address the gap in current knowledge and literature and apply them as lessons learned for preparation for current and future remote work settings.

This is a qualitative research case study armed with semi-structured interview questions among nine experienced project managers based in Malaysia.

The qualitative research case study exposed the challenges faced by the project management community during the pandemic lockdown period and how they strived to deliver results despite the surrounding uncertainty. They did face motivation drops, excess workload and other stressors. The study revealed positive variables that was not detected by past literature, for instance how remote work reduces team conflict.

In Malaysia, most of such project management and pandemic-related studies focus on the construction industry. This study opens up research across multiple industries. There are not many articles that take the lessons learned from COVID-19 into future sustainability.

Neighbourhood Watch is a voluntary movement which brings people together with the aim of creating safer, stronger and more active communities. This paper aims to explore the contemporary position of Neighbourhood Watch in the UK through three key themes: the focus of Neighbourhood Watch schemes and how this extends beyond crime; Neighbourhood Watch membership and efforts to expand this beyond traditional residential boundaries; and the operation of Neighbourhood Watch, with a particular focus on technology-enabled methods.

The paper draws on data generated through interviews with key stakeholders working in the field of Neighbourhood Watch (n = 7) and interviews (n = 7) and two focus groups with Watch volunteers (n = 5) in the United Kingdom (UK).

Findings highlight aspects of Neighbourhood Watch that have remained the same – most notably the initial “roots” of schemes which have always looked beyond crime to tackle issues of health and well-being. In addition, issues of scale and diversity continue to present challenges within membership. However, there have also been changes, in particular the use of technology and moves to a model which offers more flexibility in terms of Neighbourhood Watch membership.

Findings position contemporary Neighbourhood Watch as a responsive and adaptable model; however, they also highlight how this must operate alongside traditional face-to-face, in-person methods to achieve meaningful community engagement.