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As a consequence of the global financial and economic crisis, the European Commission recently reformed the audit market. One objective was to restore public trust in the auditing profession and thus to enhance the audit function. This study investigates whether perceptions of auditor independence and audit quality are influenced by audit firm rotation, auditor retention and joint audits, because regulators argue that these instruments can improve auditor independence and audit quality. Therefore, we conduct an experiment with bank directors and institutional investors in Germany. The results indicate a negative main effect for joint audits on perceived auditor independence, and that a rotation cycle of 24 years marginally significantly impairs participant perceptions of audit quality, compared to a rotation cycle of only ten years. Besides the main effects, planned contrast tests suggest a negative interaction between rotation and joint audit on participant perceptions of auditor independence. Moreover, a negative interaction effect is revealed between rotation after 24 years and retention on perceptions of audit quality. It is particularly noteworthy that we failed to identify a positive impact of the regulatory measures taken or supported by the European Commission on perceptions of auditor independence and audit quality.

Professional football clubs have increasingly initiated two corporate diversification strategies to enfold growth opportunities besides traditional income sources: business diversification and international diversification. Empirical findings from management and sport management literature provide inconclusive evidence on these strategies' financial performance effects, necessitating further research. The purpose of this article is therefore to investigate how both corporate diversification strategies affect the financial performance of professional football clubs.

A 15-year panel data set of English Premier League (EPL) clubs is examined, many of which have employed corporate diversification strategies. Measures for related business diversification (RBD) and unrelated business diversification (UBD) as well as international diversification are established from management literature. Based on fixed effects regression models, their effects on clubs' revenues and profitability are then examined.

U-shaped effects from RBD on revenues and profitability are found, but no effects from UBD. These findings empirically support the theoretically appealing superiority of RBD over UBD and, with increasing levels of RBD, over a focused strategy in management literature. With international diversification, an inverted U-shaped effect on revenues is identified.

Despite focusing only on the EPL, these findings provide new evidence of non-linear financial performance effects from corporate diversification strategies adding to (sport) management literature and setting the stage for future research on these strategies in professional football.

These findings have significant implications for club managers' strategic growth opportunities such as new business models or geographic markets.

This is the first study to empirically examine the financial effects of corporate diversification strategies in the football market context.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a novel approach toward electromagnetic launch.

The field of linear electromagnetic acceleration aims at accelerating macroscopic masses (up to several kg) to speeds in excess of 2 km/s. This can be achieved using accelerators of the railgun type. The innovation of this work lies in the use of multiphase current instead of the classically used quasi-direct current (DC). The approach taken is to work out in a first step the potential performance of such a configuration, for example, by showing that a constant propulsive force can be realized. Next, the necessary changes for the system setup were carefully analyzed. Both the accelerator and the power supply have to be considerably modified with regard to the classical approach.

Thorough analysis of the electromagnetic behavior of the launcher including nonlinear effects lead to an innovative system design which is considered to be the main finding of the work presented here. Moreover, a prototype was build. The preliminary experimental results obtained are in very good agreement with corresponding simulations validating the underlying modeling approach.

For the purpose of this paper, power levels of only 450 kVA are considered. However, this research can be used to design more powerful devices in the future.

While DC powered railguns are modeled very well in a variety of papers, the use of multiphase alternating current is not very well discussed yet. It could be of value for launch scenarios, for which very high speeds are required such as the launch of micro satellites to space.

This paper investigates the influence of blockchain technology on trust and transparency within supply chain management. While existing research suggests blockchain has revolutionary potential, real-world evidence remains limited. This study aims to bridge this gap.

The research relies on transaction cost analysis and principal-agent theory to develop a conceptual model. The model proposes how blockchain fosters trust and transparency, ultimately leading to a market-based governance model within supply chains. Five different blockchain applications were analyzed in a multi-case study through document reviews and expert interviews to test the model’s assumptions.

The study’s findings challenge initial assumptions. The complexity of blockchain networks and a reluctance to share information among participants hinder blockchain technology’s ability to increase trust and transparency. Consequently, the expected reduction in opportunism and uncertainties is not observed, and a market-based governance model fails to materialize. In practice, supply chain partners gravitate toward permissioned blockchains managed by established consortia. Acting as trusted third parties, these consortia assume control over network management, rendering blockchain essentially unnecessary.

This paper sheds light on the practical limitations of blockchain technology in revolutionizing supply chain management. While blockchain promises much, the findings suggest that established consortia currently play a more critical role in fostering trust and transparency within supply chains.

Senior citizen falls are one of the highest-cost factors of healthcare within this population group. Various approaches for automatic fall detection exist. However, little is known about the seniors’ acceptance of these systems. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the acceptance of automatic fall detection devices as well as the technological commitment and the health status in community-dwelling adults with a predefined risk of falling.

Seniors with a risk of falling were equipped with either an accelerometer or an accelerometer with an additional visual and optical fall detection system in a sub-group of the study population for a period of eight weeks. Pre- and post-study questionnaires were used to assess attitudes and acceptance toward technology.

In total, 14 subjects with a mean age of 75.1 years completed the study. Acceptance toward all sensors was high and subjects were confident in their ability to handle technology. Medical assessments showed only very mild physical and no mental impairments. Measures that assured subjects privacy protection were welcomed. Sensor technology should be as unobtrusive as possible.

Privacy protection and uncomplicated use of the fall detection equipment led to high acceptance in seniors with high-technical commitment and good health status. Issues to further improve acceptance could be identified. Future research on different populations is necessary.

Performing tasks in public spaces can be demanding due to task complexity. Systems that can keep track of the current task state may help their users to successfully fulfill a task. These systems, however, require major implementation effort. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if and how a mobile information assistant which has only basic task-tracking capabilities can support users by employing a least effort approach. This means, we are interested in whether such a system is able to have an impact on the way a workflow in public space is perceived.

The authors implement and test AIRBOT, a mobile chatbot application that can assist air passengers in successfully boarding a plane. The authors apply a three-tier approach and, first, conduct expert and passenger interviews to understand the workflow and the information needs occurring therein; second, the authors implement a mobile chatbot application providing minimum task-tracking capabilities to support travelers by providing boarding-relevant information in a proactive manner. Finally, the authors evaluate this application by means of an in situ study (n = 101 passengers) at a major European airport.

The authors provide evidence that basic task-tracking capabilities are sufficient to affect the users’ task perception. AIRBOT is able to decrease the perceived workload airport services impose on users. It has a negative impact on satisfaction with non-personalized information offered by the airport, though.

The study shows that the number of features is not the most important means to successfully provide assistance in public space workflows. The study can, moreover, serve as a blueprint to design task-based assistants for other contexts.

Digital transformation has been changing the economic environment of enterprises in recent years. To remain competitive, they rely on an extensible software architecture, flexible workflow execution, and automated decision management. The concepts of service-oriented architectures (SOA), business process management (BPM), and business rules management (BRM) provide an adequate, yet isolated means of addressing many of these requirements. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This study adapts from established research frameworks to structure the current state of research on the integration of SOA, BPM and BRM. The authors highlight the current research scope, point to disregarded topics and sketch out multidisciplinary research approaches.

While the three concepts are often discussed only in isolation or pairwise, approaches that integrate them are scarce. Against this backdrop, this study defines three types of research opportunities and identifies several directions for future research that should be explored from a technological as well as organizational perspective. Given the breadth of open questions, the authors present sources for each area of our research framework, which can serve as starting points for future investigations.

Except for well-established support for separate tasks and technologies, there is a lack of integrated standards, methods and platforms, which for example enable integrated decision-making across BPM and SOA.

Our contribution builds on established frameworks and clearly shows that the discussion on the integration of SOA, BPM and BRM cannot yet be regarded as sufficient. The research agenda highlights which areas explicitly benefit from a more precise consideration.

The purpose of this paper is to describe theoretical background, concepts and materials for MEDIA PROTECT, a new elementary-school parent counselling programme to reduce problematic and, in the long term, addictive use of screen media via slowing the increase in screen equipment in children's bedrooms and promoting screen-free leisure activities. The aim of the pilot phase of MEDIA PROTECT was the implementation at a project school with a process evaluation by parents as well as teachers as a basis for improvements prior to a subsequent randomised controlled trial phase.

At t1 and t2, questionnaires were handed out to all 220 families to record media use routines and media-related parenting styles. Advice on media education, information on media effects, plus hands-on technical support for installing protection software were offered to meet the support needs of different parental target groups recorded at t1 (pre-intervention). At t2, parents and teachers assessed MEDIA PROTECT regarding organisation, facilitators, content and duration/length.

In the pilot phase, 60 per cent of families attended the 45-minute face-to-face input, for which high overall satisfaction (53 per cent ‘very high’, 45 per cent ‘high’) was reported. The written material was also rated ‘good’ (59 per cent) or ‘very good’ (33 per cent). Parents reported moderate positive changes in media-related parenting style. Teachers voted for the inclusion of a mandatory half-day teacher training session in the programme.

The primary prevention of problematic media use is a neglected issue. This is despite the fact that ever younger age groups spend increasing portions of their time with screen media, which impairs physical, socio-emotional and cognitive development of children, especially those who are already vulnerable and disadvantaged.

In crises like natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, public actors might have to take over responsibility for the population’s supply when the market fails to meet the demand for essential goods. Companies can be valuable collaboration partners for public actors. However, conditions under which companies are willing and able to support public crisis management need to be better understood. This paper aims to empirically investigate expectations and motivation to better understand the motives leading companies to participate in public–private emergency collaborations. To enable successful collaboration, the paper develops crisis preparedness guidelines for state institutions and companies.

The authors develop and conduct a survey and statistically analyze the responses of 398 German companies from the food, health-care and logistics sectors.

Most companies have already engaged in crisis management and are willing to engage collaboratively. While their preferred contribution to collaborative crisis management is providing resources (e.g. goods or equipment) instead of coordination tasks, they also want to ensure that their business processes are sustained. Among the most promising incentives to increase company engagement are monetary compensation for provided resources and an improved communication policy. Logistics companies are motivated more by relaxing regulations, whereas health-care companies prefer reputation measures.

The insights provide the basis for public and private actors to foster public–private collaboration and raises awareness of its potential during crises. Moreover, this study promotes the systematic implementation of public–private emergency collaborations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to empirically investigate the perspective of companies operating in the fields of logistics, food and health-care industries toward public–private collaboration in crisis management.