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The main data used to develop this case were remote, synchronous interviews with the three characters in the case. The authors conducted two interviews with the main character in the case, Geoff Brown, specifically: (1) an initial 30 min interview to determine the fit and focus of the case and to help create the interview protocol for the full case interview (this initial interview was conducted on March 12, 2024); and (2) an hour-long interview to ask targeted questions to fully develop the case narrative (this interview was conducted on March 28, 2024). Geoff Brown was also involved in reviewing drafts of the case, approving the final version of the case and reviewing the assignment questions in this instructors’ manual (IM).

This case focuses on Geoff Brown, Executive Director at Alberta Chicken Producers (ACP), which is a not-for-profit organization in Alberta, Canada, that is responsible for representing 250 regulated chicken producers. Brown is grappling with what to do with the remote/hybrid work policy at ACP. Part of the impetus for reconsidering this policy was the comments from ACP’s long-tenured Office Manager and Executive Assistant, who had been asking Brown to bring this policy forward to a staff meeting for discussion throughout the past year. Brown now feels ready to move these discussions forward but is unsure of how to proceed and what the best practices would be to ensure that the policy in place for remote work is beneficial for work engagement, individual and organizational work performance, work–life balance, employee relationships and fairness perceptions.

The target audience for this case is undergraduate and graduate students taking a course in the disciplines of human resources management or organizational behavior. This case will be especially relevant for a human resources management course when studying the topics of employee benefits (e.g. work–life balance), health and safety (e.g. stress) and work design (e.g. telecommuting), and this case will be especially relevant for an organizational behavior course when studying the topics of motivation (e.g. fairness), communication, organizational culture and decision-making.

In the evolving digital work landscape, where cyberloafing has become a notable challenge, this study aims to investigate the mechanisms through which organizations can effectively reduce such behaviors. Specifically, the research explores the role of employee adaptability in mitigating cyberloafing, taking into account the influences of temporal leadership, teamwork attitudes, and competitive work environments.

Utilizing the broaden-and-build theory and the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, we analyzed data from 245 employees through structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate how various factors influence cyberloafing.

The results indicate that employee adaptability significantly mitigates cyberloafing and serves as a mediating factor between temporal leadership, teamwork attitudes, and the impact of competitive work environments on cyberloafing. Temporal leadership and teamwork attitudes positively correlate with increased adaptability, thereby reducing cyberloafing. Conversely, competitive work environments, while slightly enhancing adaptability, substantially increase cyberloafing.

The study contributes new insights into the dynamics of cyberloafing, emphasizing the critical roles of adaptability, teamwork attitudes, and temporal leadership in reducing such behaviors. It underscores the need for organizations to foster a supportive culture that minimizes competitive pressures and promotes teamwork and leadership strategies conducive to high productivity and minimal cyberloafing. This research offers practical implications for designing workplace strategies aimed at boosting productivity and curbing undesirable online behaviors during work hours.

This paper aims to develop a methodology for the spatiotemporal analysis of urban household waste data and a geographic information system (GIS)-based dashboard for interactive outcomes that identifies emerging trends and spatial distribution.

The study visualized the emerging hotspot analysis of household waste data covering the waste in selected areas from 2014 to 2019 in New South Wales, Australia. Through analyses in ArcGIS Pro, multiple maps and diagrams can be created to display these results in ArcGIS Insights. To enable the spatial waste analysis outcomes accessible, a GIS-based dashboard including maps and charts, spatiotemporal visualization of household waste tonnage, and emerging hotspots was created.

Based on the development of the dashboard in the ArcGIS Suites, there is an accessible data pipeline from ArcGIS Pro to Insights. The cloud-mapping system in ArcGIS online serves as a foundation for temporary data storage. The results also show the emerging hotspots of recyclable, residual and organic (RRO) waste in the Greater Sydney Region, Wollongong, Newcastle and Tweed. This study found an emerging cold spot in Wagga Wagga.

A dashboard for monitoring waste streams can be developed to enable GIS specialists to use historical spatiotemporal datasets in ArcGIS suites easily. Policymakers, strategy developers, urban waste managers and organizations dealing with urban waste can utilize this analytical dashboard to identify the issues, patterns and trends concerning urban waste for better decision-making in allocating required resources to overcome the identified issues to make informed decisions and develop strategies to alleviate the trends and patterns of ongoing problems. Indeed, the GIS-based dashboard developed in this research provides deep analysis and insights from the spatial waste data, allowing them to understand the included insights at a glance quickly.

Deriving location information for urban household waste data is crucial for waste management since it offers a better understanding of urban household waste data patterns, issues and historical trends. Small-scale studies have examined spatial waste patterns, but the investigation of urban household waste focusing on RRO waste is limited. Moreover, there is a lack of GIS-based dashboard development to enable spatiotemporal waste analysis outcomes to be publicly accessible.

Nuclear power is being promoted by a segment of the environmental community as an acceptable energy source to fight man-made climate change because it does not emit greenhouse gases. Missing in the literature is a discussion and analysis of the impact of electricity deregulation on the ability of nuclear power to obtain the requisite debt and equity financing within deregulated electricity markets, and in turn, on the potential number of new nuclear power plants that could help fight global warming. The purpose of this paper is to provide timely and salient policy guidance for the efficient allocation of resources to reduce greenhouse gases based on a new model linking debt and equity financing with a change in power plant revenue risk.

A theoretical model is put forth that links the availability of debt and equity financing to the change in revenue risk created by electricity deregulation and then tests this model by performing a qualitative phenomenological analysis.

The analysis supports a conclusion that electricity deregulation has a negative effect on the ability to attract nuclear plant debt and equity financing. As such, nuclear power may not be a viable option to reduce greenhouse gases within deregulated markets.

This paper fills certain gaps in the literature by creating a theory-based model that links debt and equity financing with a change in power plant revenue risk, performing a qualitative phenomenological analysis that finds support for the negative relationship between electricity deregulation and an increase in power plant revenue risk and establishing that this increase in revenue risk affects some types of power plants such as nuclear power more than others.

The lack of a proper register to store, match and display information on the adapted property has led to a waste of resources and prolonged delays in matching the disabled and elderly people with appropriate properties. This paper presents the development of a Housing Adaptations Register with user-matching functionalities for different mobility categories. The developed system accurately captures and documents adapted home information to facilitate the automated matching of disabled/aged applicants needing an adapted home with suitable property using banding, mobility and suitability index.

A theoretical review was conducted to identify parameters and develop adaptations register construct. A survey questionnaire approach to rate the 111 parameters in the register as either moderate, desirable or essential before system development and application. The system development relied on DSS modelling to support data-driven decision-making based on the decision table method to represent property information for implementing the decision process. The system is validated through a workshop, four brainstorming sessions and three focus group exercises.

Development of a choice-based system that enables the housing officers or the Housing Adaptations Register coordinators to know the level of adaptation to properties and match properties quickly with the applicants based on their mobility status. The merits of the automated system include the development of a register to capture in real-time adapted home information to facilitate the automated matching of disabled/aged applicants. A “choice-based” system that can map and suggest a property that can easily be adapted and upgraded from one mobility band to the other.

The development of a housing adaptation register helps social housing landlords to have a real-time register to match, map and upgrade properties for the most vulnerable people in our society. It saves time and money for the housing associations and the local authorities through stable tenancy for adapted homes. Potentially, it will promote the independence of aged and disabled people and can reduce their dependence on social and healthcare services.

This system provides the local authorities with objective and practical tools that may be used to assess, score, prioritise and select qualified people for appropriate accommodation based on their needs and mobility status. It will provide a record of properties adapted with their features and ensure that matching and eligibility decisions are consistent and uniform.

This systematic review comprehensively examines corporate political contributions (CPC), exploring their antecedents, evolving mechanisms and diverse organizational outcomes. It offers a holistic understanding of the business–politics relationship and proposes a managerial decision-making framework for strategic CPC engagement. The study also identifies gaps in the literature and suggests future research avenues.

This study employs a systematic review process to assess the CPC literature. Utilizing leading journals and databases like Web of Science, Scopus and EBSCO, we apply rigorous screening criteria to select 72 relevant papers critically analyzed using the “Antecedents-Phenomenon-Consequences” framework.

The research identifies two primary dynamics influencing CPC: “essential need” for firm survival and “elective choice.” It reveals that CPC strategies impact various firm performance metrics, including market returns, operational performance and policy outcomes. Research is concentrated in the US, with a limited focus on developing economies. Future research should focus on industry-specific studies, timing of contributions and cross-national comparisons.

This paper provides managers with a comprehensive framework for CPC engagement, helping them navigate political dynamics, optimize contributions and enhance firm performance while maintaining ethical and strategic considerations.

This paper systematically reviews the complex political strategy of CPC, providing a nuanced understanding of how CPC operates across different countries and contexts. It offers academics and professionals insights to develop robust theories and make informed decisions in a modern, complex business environment.

This study aims to explore the potential of social enterprises (SEs) in promoting sustainable practices, focusing on their role in reshaping corporate environmental performance (CEP) through sustainable business model innovation (SBMI). Specifically, it examines the impact of SBMI on CEP and the moderating effect of external collaboration (EC).

This study analyses the influence of SBMI on the CEP of 500 Canadian SEs. Chi-square tests, structural equation modelling, correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to assess the relationships between SBMI, CEP and EC.

Results reveal that SBMI positively influences CEP by enabling SEs to offer environmentally sustainable products and services. In addition, collaboration with diverse stakeholders significantly enhances the effectiveness of SBMI in achieving environmental objectives.

By incorporating ecological modernization theory and institutional theory, this study provides fresh insights into the environmental impact of SEs. It underscores the importance of SEs addressing regulatory, social and cultural factors to support their sustainability and legitimacy.

In response to the worsening environmental crisis, there have been multiple calls for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) scholars and practitioners to adopt a “business-not-as-usual” approach based on justice, fairness, equity and sustainability. We add to this literature by proposing environmental justice (EJ) as a key concept for the theory and practice of SSCM.

This conceptual article builds SSCM theory on EJ and contributes to supply chain justice research and practice by introducing the concept of the “environmentally just supply chain” and presenting pathways for operationalizing it in practice.

Three pathways are proposed to leverage transformative SSCM to create environmentally just supply chains: human rights due diligence, resilience thinking and coproduction of environmentally just supply chains.

The three pathways can be used by actors within a supply chain to create environmentally just supply chains.

This article extends transformative, non-instrumental perspectives on environmental sustainability within SSCM scholarship to provide insights into how supply chains can be transformed through EJ. Not only does the article show the relevance of EJ for SSCM theory and practice, but it elaborates pathways for moving from harm reduction to transformative sustainability actions.

The purpose of this study is to examine the audit efficiency and timeliness of Big 4 auditors relative to non-Big 4 auditors, where audit efficiency is defined as the auditor’s ability to conduct an audit more quickly or with fewer resources while still achieving effective outcomes.

The authors use audit report lags (also referred to as audit delay) as a proxy for audit timeliness and efficiency, controlling for audit quality and audit fees (audit input). The authors use a propensity-score matching (PSM) approach to construct a pseudorandom sample in which each non-Big 4 client is matched with a similar Big 4 client based on their characteristics and audit quality, to control for potential endogeneity related to self-selection bias in this setting.

The authors find that non-Big 4 auditors are associated with shorter audit delays than Big 4 auditors. Additional analysis of the matched sample reveals that non-Big 4 auditors charge lower fees than Big 4 auditors do after controlling for the Big 4 premium. These findings do not support the notion that Big 4 auditors conduct audits more efficiently than non-Big 4 auditors do.

These results could be of interest to the management of public firms, audit committees, investors and regulators; provide valuable insights into the performance of audit firms in varying client environments; and contribute to a better understanding of audit timeliness and efficiency.

March 2020 signaled school closures and moves online for many institutions, but an online EdD program at a midsize, Christian university featured fewer than-expected programmatic changes. Because of its modality, program operations continued with relatively few changes. Although COVID-19-related campus closures did not interrupt these students’ scheduled courses, they substantively impacted their personal and professional lives. As a result, the authors in the program-specific writing center serving these students found themselves helping them navigate not only stresses related to the already-strenuous task of writing a dissertation but also personal and professional anxieties related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to explore and reflect on the strategies employed by a program‐specific writing center to support doctoral students during the COVID‐19 pandemic, focusing on relaxed scheduling policies, emotional support beyond writing, and fostering deeper interpersonal connections to address the unique challenges students faced during this period.

The authors conducted an autoethnographic exploration of their experiences to consider and examine effective strategies for supporting students in times of stress. The authors guided this inquiry by reviewing logs, notes and video recordings of sessions held or rescheduled in Spring 2020.

The authors identified three major themes in how they adjusted their approach to considering the pandemic: relaxed scheduling policies, emotional support beyond the writing process by permitting students to set the writing aside while they focused on the more immediate concerns emerging from the rapid onset of pandemic life and intentionally using the opportunity to form deeper interpersonal connections with students in their home environments.

As institutions reflect on lessons learned during pandemic stresses, closures and mandates, intentional exploration and reflection allow for a greater understanding of what improvements the authors can make to future practice. This uniquely positioned study offers a valuable perspective on supporting students through crisis.