Search results

Although corporate social responsibility is a well-researched concept, very few studies have studied organizational social responsibility in the face of internal/external crises. Therefore, this paper aims to examine various firms' organizational social responses to COVID-19 as an external crisis, particularly in terms of the way organizations use their resources to address social problems and the real intention behind these, and the changing organizational drivers influencing such behaviors.

The authors explore the initiatives of seven organizations from three different industries in several countries and their actions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A case study approach was taken to collect data and reach a conclusion. A combination of interviews, online communication using semi-structured questionnaires and documentary information available in the public domain was used to collect data and analyze and triangulate the events.

Similar internal resources and capacities of the seven organizations resulted in similar responses as they launched proactive initiatives to prepare sanitizers. This research indicates that these organizations pursued other goals besides economic one. When society needed help, these organizations responded quickly, using and reorganizing their resources to assist communities in need. Different organizations from different sectors all behaved in a similar manner, making genuine contributions to the pandemic as each was uniquely capable of doing. These organizations also used their unique capabilities to offer their resources to local communities and governments.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts by corporate entities to facilitate social reform and recovery have been seen around the globe. The findings could help in understanding the responses of organizations engaging in socially responsible behaviors to overcome external crises. This paper also identifies changing organizational values and their possible impact on society and overall industry philanthropy practices in the future.

The present study is aimed at understanding the survival strategies of Subsistence-type Rural Independent retailers, henceforth called SRIs, in the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BoP) markets of developing economies through a qualitative study. SRIs constitute a pivotal channel of distribution of goods to BoP consumers living in the rural areas of developing economies. A process of long interviews was chosen for data gathering to allow SRIs to go into details to allow them to expound upon their beliefs, life-situations, and societal norms. Narratives were collected verbatim from SRIs. The concept of socio-economic embeddedness is used as the central concept to interpret and connect the elements, discerned from the narratives, into a conceptual framework. The aforesaid theory combines the neo-classical economic concept of utility maximization with behavioral economics and economic sociology. The analysis of the narratives is interpretive against the identified elements of the concept of economic embeddedness. The survival strategies of SRIs seem to stem from sociological, psychological, and utility-maximizing behaviors. The elements of SRIs’ responses to its environment provide valuable insights into their purchase motivations.

Paradoxical leadership (PL) is a style that can bring stability and flexibility simultaneously, which helps organizations to manage the uncertain external environment. The purpose of this study is to identify if PL could moderate the relationship between organizational silence and employee voice.

Data for the study were collected from a sample of 617 gainfully employed factory employees using three standardized questionnaires. The data were analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM) through Python programming. SEM was used to test the mediating, moderating, and serial-parallel relationship of the proposed model.

The research study found that organizational inertia led to silence among employees. It was also found that PL moderated the relationship between organizational silence and employee voice.

A fair review of the literature showed that studies that examine the effect of PL on organizational silence are scarce. The present study is a modest effort towards addressing this gap in the literature. The findings of the study are significant and have made a substantial contribution to management literature.

This study makes a critical examination of the present accounting standard setting process and current issues and practices of corporate financial reporting (CFR) in an Indian context by referring to 95 annual reports of large sized companies. It is found that Indian accounting standards have many alternative accounting choices which make financial statements of companies less comparable. The Accounting Standard Board (ASB) has issued 12 definite accounting standards, yet none of them has been reviewed. The membership of ASB lacks proper representation particularly from the users side. The standard setting process has deficiencies in the absence of public hearing and the machinery for enforcement of accounting standards is not apparent. While a review of CFR shows a strong tendency for companies to follow strict legal requirements in the disclosure and preparation of financial statements, there is much diversity in voluntary reporting practice particularly with respect to value added accounting, reporting by segments, inflation accounting, human resource accounting, and corporate social performance reporting, and there has been a tendency towards minimum disclosure. The study suggests that, to improve standards the Institute of Chartered Accountants in India should establish a Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to oversee ASB and to prepare a conceptual framework for financial reporting purposes.

A simple tapered plastic optical fiber (POF) sensor is proposed and demonstrated for measurement of uric acid concentrations in de-ionized water. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The sensor operates based on intensity modulation technique as the tapered POF probe which was coated by a single walled carbon nonotubes polyethylene oxide (SWCNT-PEO) composite is immersed into the uric acid solution. The probe was fabricated using an etching method and has a waist diameter of 0.46 mm and tapering length of 10 mm.

As the concentration varies from 0 to 500 ppm, the output voltage of the sensor increases linearly from 6.13 to 7.35 mV with a sensitivity of 0.0023 mV/% and a linearity of more than 97.20 percent. The SWCNT-PEO composite coating increases the sensitivity of the proposed sensor due to the effective cladding refractive index, which increases with the coating and thus allows more light to be transmitted from the tapered fiber.

This is the first demonstration of the tapered POF sensor for measurement of uric acid concentrations in de-ionized water.

The purpose of this paper is to address various works on mixed convection and proposes 10 unified models (Models 1–10) based on various thermal and kinematic conditions of the boundary walls, thermal conditions and/ or kinematics of objects embedded in the cavities and kinematics of external flow field through the ventilation ports. Experimental works on mixed convection have also been addressed.

This review is based on 10 unified models on mixed convection within cavities. Models 1–5 involve mixed convection based on the movement of single or double walls subjected to various temperature boundary conditions. Model 6 elucidates mixed convection due to the movement of single or double walls of cavities containing discrete heaters at the stationary wall(s). Model 7A focuses mixed convection based on the movement of wall(s) for cavities containing stationary solid obstacles (hot or cold or adiabatic) whereas Model 7B elucidates mixed convection based on the rotation of solid cylinders (hot or conductive or adiabatic) within the cavities enclosed by stationary or moving wall(s). Model 8 is based on mixed convection due to the flow of air through ventilation ports of cavities (with or without adiabatic baffles) subjected to hot and adiabatic walls. Models 9 and 10 elucidate mixed convection due to flow of air through ventilation ports of cavities involving discrete heaters and/or solid obstacles (conductive or hot) at various locations within cavities.

Mixed convection plays an important role for various processes based on convection pattern and heat transfer rate. An important dimensionless number, Richardson number (Ri) identifies various convection regimes (forced, mixed and natural convection). Generalized models also depict the role of “aiding” and “opposing” flow and combination of both on mixed convection processes. Aiding flow (interaction of buoyancy and inertial forces in the same direction) may result in the augmentation of the heat transfer rate whereas opposing flow (interaction of buoyancy and inertial forces in the opposite directions) may result in decrease of the heat transfer rate. Works involving fluid media, porous media and nanofluids (with magnetohydrodynamics) have been highlighted. Various numerical and experimental works on mixed convection have been elucidated. Flow and thermal maps associated with the heat transfer rate for a few representative cases of unified models [Models 1–10] have been elucidated involving specific dimensionless numbers.

This review paper will provide guidelines for optimal design/operation involving mixed convection processing applications.

Technology has penetrated in every aspect of society, and information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become a part of every aspect of life. Over 20 years of ICT use, nearly every government and the big business area has been radically transformed. Education is a profoundly social profession, and historically, effective education has been associated with good instructors who have a high level of personal connection with students. The use of ICT in higher education allows for more student-cantered learning settings. Nevertheless, as digital media and information continue to take over our lives, the importance of ICT inside higher education continues to rise. The higher education system plays a crucial part in every country’s growth in improving human resources (HR); higher education should create an educated population that will bring peace and socioeconomic and societal growth. Education reform agendas benefit from the use of ICT in most developing nations. ICT in education is one of the most practical approaches to improve India’s higher education system. The purpose of this review chapter was to examine the role of ICT in higher education. This chapter addressed how ICT may promote and revolutionize higher education in India through new government initiatives. Furthermore, the chapter addressed the issues and challenges associated with the use of ICT for educational purposes.

The purpose of this research is to address the notion of leadership in Muslim countries. It seeks to develop a model for understanding leadership in Islamic culture and discusses the factors which give rise to two types of leadership: the prophetic and caliphate.

The article briefly surveys the socio‐economic and political forces which facilitate the emergence of certain leadership styles. The paper, then, suggests a model of leadership relevant to Islamic culture.

Two types of leadership were identified. Furthermore, the paper addresses the conflict between idealism and realism and the rise of authoritarian leaders.

This paper offers policymakers and researchers various avenues on how to address the issue of leadership in an Islamic culture and presents a theoretical model for understanding issues pertaining to leaders and leadership in Muslim societies. Specific propositions pertaining to the effect of culture and society on leadership are offered.

The paper offers a genuine reflection on the nature of leadership. The issue of leadership and its linkage to culture has often been overlooked in the literature. In part, this is because most of the literature on leadership has been focused primarily on personality‐based relationships and relationships between leaders and followers. In this paper, it is argued that culture shapes personality and gives meaning to contextual and relational aspects of leadership.

This research navigates the confluence of data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to revolutionize the management of urban services in smart cities. The study thoroughly investigated with advanced tools to scrutinize key performance indicators integral to the functioning of smart cities, thereby enhancing leadership and decision-making strategies. Our work involves the implementation of various machine learning models such as Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree, Naive Bayes, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), to the data. Notably, the Support Vector Machine and Bernoulli Naive Bayes models exhibit robust performance with an accuracy rate of 70% precision score. In particular, the study underscores the employment of an ANN model on our existing dataset, optimized using the Adam optimizer. Although the model yields an overall accuracy of 61% and a precision score of 58%, implying correct predictions for the positive class 58% of the time, a comprehensive performance assessment using the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC-ROC) metrics was necessary. This evaluation results in a score of 0.475 at a threshold of 0.5, indicating that there's room for model enhancement. These models and their performance metrics serve as a key cog in our data analytics pipeline, providing decision-makers and city leaders with actionable insights that can steer urban service management decisions. Through real-time data availability and intuitive visualization dashboards, these leaders can promptly comprehend the current state of their services, pinpoint areas requiring improvement, and make informed decisions to bolster these services. This research illuminates the potential for data analytics, machine learning, and AI to significantly upgrade urban service management in smart cities, fostering sustainable and livable communities. Moreover, our findings contribute valuable knowledge to other cities aiming to adopt similar strategies, thus aiding the continued development of smart cities globally.

The present research aims to investigate how lean project management (LPM) and agile project management (APM) affect project performance outcomes in the construction sector in Jordan. This study focuses on six key project performance outcomes, namely cost, time, quality, client satisfaction, innovation and responsiveness.

The present study employed a quantitative approach to achieve the research objectives. Accordingly, a multi-item survey questionnaire was prepared to gather data from 392 project managers from construction companies in Jordan. The study’s model showed acceptable levels regarding reliability, validity, fit indices and discriminant validity. In order to test the hypotheses of this study, path analysis was employed using Amos 24.0 software.

LPM demonstrated a remarkably high positive impact on cost performance. It also positively affected quality performance and client satisfaction. However, LPM insignificantly affected time, innovation and responsiveness performance measures. On the other hand, APM showed a notably high positive impact on innovation and responsiveness. The findings also revealed that APM positively impacted quality performance and client satisfaction. In addition, APM negatively impacted cost performance and insignificantly impacted time performance.

This study is one of the first comprehensive studies to empirically examine the impact of both LPM and APM on various project performance outcomes in the construction industry in the context of a developing country. It reveals some similarities and differences between LPM and APM with regard to their impacts on project management outcomes. The findings are expected to guide managers in selecting the appropriate project management approach based on the desired performance outcomes. Accordingly, it offers important implications for project managers in construction companies.