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The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (GSCDDA), as a comprehensive regulation for due diligence in supply chains, will exert profound pressure on companies’ sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). This study aims to examine the affected stakeholders’ polarizing expectations stemming from the GSCDDA, the resulting impacts on SSCM and how these findings compare with theoretical SSCM developments.

From 5,490 GSCDDA posts on X (formerly “Twitter”), the authors extracted 556 qualitative posts illustrating the GSCDDA discourse and analyzed them from a stakeholder perspective. The posts were classified according to the dimensions of stakeholder groups and expectations (i.e. challenges and opportunities). The authors then synthesized the posts across these dimensions and compared the identified expectations with the SSCM literature.

Seven stakeholder groups were identified, along with nine challenges (e.g. legal flaws) and four opportunities (e.g. increased transparency). The synthesis of both components revealed highly discussed and conflicting expectations. The theoretical SSCM developments partly differ from the discourse, indicating discernible gaps between theory and practice

Identifying key stakeholder groups supports building synergies between GSCDDA implementers and stakeholders to tackle their challenges and reinforce opportunities.

Due to the growing prevalence of supply chain due diligence regulations, it is essential to consider the legal implications for SSCM. This study explores the link between due diligence concepts and SSCM, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze how legal pressure shapes stakeholders’ expectations on companies’ SSCM.

Neutrality has traditionally been considered a key trait of the civil service in Western democracies. The conception of the neutral bureaucracy is closely linked to the notion of the prominent politics–administration dichotomy of the two spheres of politics and administration, as advocated by Max Weber (1980) and Woodrow Wilson (1887). According to conventional wisdom, the firm and encompassing implementation of the merit principle realises the idea of a neutral bureaucracy. In that respect, neutrality and merit-based recruitments are often considered the opposite of politicisation. Conventionally, a neutral bureaucracy is considered to assure competence and immunity against opportunistic ideas brought in by volatile, sometimes erratic political leadership. Because elected politicians come and go with elections, they cannot ensure that political decisions are carried out based on the ‘best’ available knowledge. In that sense, bureaucrats are conceived as neutral, obedient servants that subordinate their behaviour to the will of political masters, to the law and the common good. However, there is no strict politics–administration dichotomy in contemporary politico-administrative systems. Empirical findings from the late 1970s onwards demonstrated that bureaucrats are by no means as neutral and ‘apolitical’ as assumed, but rather remarkably involved in political processes. This chapter discusses the literature on neutral competence and presents an empirical analysis of Danish and British civil servants’ accounts of neutrality. This chapter concludes by suggesting the concept of competent neutrality and discussing implications for our understanding of bureaucratic neutrality.

While it is known that digital transformation facilitates data flow in supply chains, its importance on green supply chain management (GSCM) has not been investigated concisely. This paper aims to expand the theory of digital transformation in GSCM by investigating the interconnections between these concepts and providing an integrative view of a smart green supply chain management (Smart GSCM).

This adopts a configurational perspective on digital transformation and supply chain management (SCM) to investigate the different dimensions of Smart GSCM and their contribution to green performance. Therefore, this paper analyzes data from 473 manufacturing companies using regression techniques.

The results show how smart supply chain contributes to green performance through managing green relationships (external GSCM activities) and establishing green operations (internal GSCM activities). Furthermore, this paper finds partial mediating effects for external and internal GSCM activities on green performance. These findings show that smart supply chain (i.e. digital transformation strategy and front-end technologies, supported by several back-end technologies) is directly associated with higher levels of GSCM. It is specifically associated with one of the internal dimensions of green operations, namely, green purchasing activities. Hence, the findings suggest that digital transformation alone is insufficient to achieve green performance, needing a GSCM configuration to mediate this effect.

This study calls attention to how managers should integrate these at least three different perspectives of SCM: digital transformation, external relationships and internal operations to increase green performance.

As the main contribution, this study provides a configurational and holistic understanding of the different dimensions and mechanisms in Smart GSCM.

In the performance measurement and management research field, the applicability of performance measurement systems (PMS) in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and public administration has been considered a challenge. The diversity of these organizations makes it difficult to define proper terminology and organizational characteristics. PMS evolution has not yet been able to capture all performance dimensions of a public administration and, especially for NPO considering its dynamic and multiple goals. The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework that identifies and classifies the factors that influence the design of PMSs in NPOs and public administration.

The study was developed through a systematic literature review (SLR). A set of 29 papers were intensely studied, and the results provide a multi-disciplinary and holistic set of factors.

A set of ten factors that influence the design of PMSs in NPO and public administration were found. They were categorized into three groups: factor related to purpose, stakeholders and management.

The study synthesized the literature and provided a conceptual framework of the factors that influence the design of PMSs in NPO and public administration. No individual paper collected in the SLR shows a similar organization of the factors as the present paper. The set of factors indicates the importance of this study for NPO and public administration, and how complex a PMS in an NPO and public administration can become. The conceptual model presented can further assist practitioners in developing design process observing the role that the identified factors play.

This paper looks into the mechanisms that determine (stimulate and limit) the scope for loyal contradiction in organizations through ex ante voice. The paper provides insights into how this essential civil service function and obligation can be maintained and the role that public leadership can play in addressing these issues.

This paper consists of a conceptual analysis of major determinants for constraints on and stimuli of loyal contradiction and provides an interpretational framework of the relevant factors involved.

This paper examines the mechanisms that determine (stimulate and limit) the scope for loyal contradiction in organizations through ex ante voice and provides insights into how to maintain this essential civil service function and obligation through the contribution of public leadership.

The findings of this paper offer insight into how to avoid constraints on loyal contradiction within public organizations and point to the way public leaders can, by facilitating and stimulating it, enhance organizational performance and legitimacy.

This paper points to an issue that is increasingly relevant in politics and public administration. By providing a conceptual framework, this paper provides a deeper understanding of how the necessary conditions for loyal contradiction can be created within public organizations.

This study aims to explore how responsible corporate behaviour, specifically self-imposed financial regulatory control, might subsequently be reflected in the financial performance of companies subject to such regulation.

In this study, the authors aim to explore how financial compliance in the form of the Economic Control Regulation (ECR) has impacted on the financial performance of professional football clubs in Spain. To this purpose, the authors adopted a quasi-experimental before and after study design. This type of design assesses the object of study before and after a specific event in order to determine whether this event has had any effects on the object. In this case, the event was the coming into effect of the ECR in the fiscal year of 2012, and the object hypothetically affected was the clubs’ economic performance.

The authors can confirm that in general terms and for the whole set of clubs analysed, the ECR has had a strong and positive effect on financial performance.

In this study, the authors wish to establish a link between the idea of “compliance” and that of “responsible corporate management practice”. It is not just a matter of compliance with the law. The fact of complying with certain laws could, in general terms, or from the point of view of common sense, be qualified as “responsible behaviour”. However, under the contemporary concept of corporate responsibility, compliance with the law is a behaviour that must be taken for granted. Responsibility, therefore, would entail going beyond such expected behaviour to one that exceeds the environment's expectation of the corporate actor.

What extent improvements in financial performance have also boosted social performance. Confirming such a positive effect endorses the argument that ethical improvements in corporate culture have a general effect on business sustainability in its different aspects: economic, social, environmental and in governance.

The authors may foresee that the culture of compliance will spread from the finance departments to other management areas. Its connection with ethical business practice is directly linked to the more complex concept of the “citizen company”. There are suggest interesting bases on which professional football clubs might move from a traditional profit-oriented company model towards a more contemporary one oriented towards relationships of integrity with the sport's environment. This study shows that the ECR has been a starting point for the development of Spanish professional football clubs towards this type of “citizen company”.

It was a single-sector study whose principal value lies in the verification of whether responsible economic management (the main consequence of applying the ECR) had any effects on company profits, financial results and other important indicators. In addition to fostering responsibility, this new management model involves a special innovation, as it is based on self-regulation (i.e. on regulations not imposed by national or supranational states), designed and implemented to ensure the sector's viability.

Drawing on the resource dependence theory (RDT), this paper investigates ownership composition, export intensity, and industry class as moderating factors to investigate the role of imported raw materials in performance of inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) in Ethiopia.

The hypotheses were tested using secondary data obtained from the 2016 Central Statistical Agency (CSA) on Large- and Medium-Scale Manufacturing and Electricity Industries Survey. The data included basic quantitative information on the country's manufacturing industry. The data items for the 2016 manufacturing and electricity industries surveyed are the numbers of proprietors or establishments involved in various sectors. The report did not record small firms that employed fewer than 10 people and did not use power-driven machinery. Two-Stage least squares (2SLS) regression analysis was performed to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results of this study indicate that three moderators (ownership composition, export intensity, and industry classification) interact with the hypothetical relationships between imported raw materials and performance. These findings enrich the knowledge of IFDI firms' operations in Ethiopia and in other least-developed countries (LDCs). The findings could provide information for IFDI firms that are looking to invest in LDCs.

Like all social science research, this study has some limitations. First, the research was conducted with the data found in the Report on Large- and Medium-Scale Manufacturing and Electricity Industries Survey In 2016. This was the first year of the second five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II), a national development plan for the 2016–2020 period. Continual research on IFDI in Ethiopia in the following years will be needed to get a full picture of the effects of the determinants on IFDIs.

To IFDI investors, the result of this thesis demonstrates several alternatives to overcoming hurdles in manufacturing operation. The results find that J.V. firms make better use of imported raw materials than W.O. subsidiaries in order to achieve better performance. Concerning the choice between focusing on export or domestic markets, the study suggests that domestic market—oriented companies require less imported raw materials to achieve better performance. Concerning the comparative advantage on different industries, this study found the performance of firms in Industry 12 depended on imported raw materials. These findings highlight the challenges and opportunities for potential foreign investors. Ownership composition, market factors, and industry factors should be well considered in making investment decisions.

This is one of few studies on IFDI in Ethiopia, the most populous LDC. Ownership composition, export intensity, and industry class are used as moderating variables to investigate the difference between imported raw materials and the level of expatriate deployment to IFDI performance. For IFDI investors, the results of this study demonstrate several alternatives to overcoming hurdles in manufacturing operation.

The purpose of this paper is to systematise the research field of sustainability reporting. The authors contribute to closing this research gap and, on the basis of this systematisation, address the research question of what are the drivers of sustainability reporting.

The paper systematically reviews existing studies and analyses drivers of sustainability reporting using a qualitative approach. The authors intend to demonstrate and discuss the wide range of approaches used in literature.

The review suggests that firm size, media visibility and ownership structure are the most important drivers of the disclosure of sustainability reports, while corporate governance only seems to have an influence on the existence of audit or sustainability committees. In contrast, other determinants such as profitability, capital structure, firm age or board composition as an indicator of corporate governance do not show a clear tendency.

The authors systemise the research field related to sustainability reporting to give an overview of the current research landscape that is not influenced by environmental or social reporting and discuss the identified determinants and the related variables. This results in a comprehensive report of what is known and unknown about the questions addressed in the systematic review.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of temperature on residential electricity demand in the city of Greater Accra, Ghana. It is believed that the increasing trend of temperatures may significantly affect people’s lives and demand for electricity from the national grid. Given the recurrent electricity crisis in Ghana, this study will investigate both the current and future residential energy demands in the light of temperature fluctuations. This will inform future power generation using renewable energy resources mix to find a sustainable solution to the recurrent energy demand challenges in Ghana. This study will help the Government of Ghana to better understand the temperature dependence of residential energy demand, which in turn will help in developing behavioral modification programs aimed at reducing energy consumption. Monthly data for the temperature and residential electricity consumption for Greater Accra Region from January 2007 to December 2018 obtained from the Ghana Meteorological Service (GMS) and Ghana Grid Company (Gridco), respectively, are used for the analysis.

This study used monthly time series data from 2007 to 2018. Data on monthly electricity demand and temperature are obtained from the Ghana Grid Company and GMS. The theoretical framework for residential electricity consumption, the log-linear demand equation and time series regression approaches was used for this study. To demonstrate certain desirable properties and to produce good estimators in this study, an analysis technique of ordinary least squares measurement was also applied.

This study showed an impact on residential electricity requirements in the selected regions of Greater Accra owing to temperature change. The analysis suggests a substantial positive response to an increase in temperature demand for residential electricity and thus indicates a growth of the region’s demand for electricity in the future because of temperature changes. As this analysis projects, the growth in the electricity demand seems too small for concern, perhaps because of the incoherence of the mechanisms used to regulate the temperature by the residents. However, two points should be considered when drawing any conclusions even in the case of Greater Accra alone. First, the growth in the demand for electricity shown in the present study is the growth of demand due only to increasing temperatures that do not consider changes in all the other factors driving the growth of demand. The electricity demand will in the future increase beyond what is induced by temperature, due to increasing demand, population and mechanization and other socioeconomic factors. Second, power consumption understated genuine electricity demand, owing to the massive shedding of loads (Dumsor) which occurred in Ghana from 2012 to 2015 in the analysis period that also applies in the Greater Accra region. Given both of these factors, the growth in demand for electricity is set to increase in response to climate change, which draws on the authorities to prepare more critically on capacity building which loads balancing. The results also revealed that monthly total residential electricity consumption, particularly the monthly peak electricity consumption in the city of Accra is highly sensitive to temperature. Therefore, the rise in temperature under different climate change scenarios would have a high impact on residential electricity consumption. This study reveals that the monthly total residential electricity demand in Greater Accra will increase by up to 3.1%.

The research data was largely restricted to only one region in Ghana because of the inconsistencies in the data from the other regions. The only climate variable use was temperature because it was proven in the literature that it was the most dominant variable that affects electricity demand, so it was not out of place to use only this variable. The research, however, can be extended to capture the entire regions of the country if sponsorship and accurate data can be obtained.

The government as the policy and law-making authority has to play the most influential role to ensure adaptation at all levels toward the impact of climate change for residential consumers. It is the main responsibility of the government to arrange enough supports to help residential consumers adapt to climate change and try to make consumers self-sufficient by modification of certain behaviors rather than supply dependent. Government bodies need to carefully define their climate adaptation supports and incentive programs to influence residential-level consumption practices and demand management. Here, energy policies and investments need to be more strategic. The most critical problem is to identify the appropriate adaptation policies that favor the most vulnerable sectors such as the residential sector.

To evaluate both mitigation and adaptation policies, it is important to estimate the effect of climate change on energy usage around the world. Existing empirical figures, however, are concentrated in Western nations, especially the USA. To predict how electricity usage will shift in the city of Greater Accra, Ghana, the authors used regular household electricity consumption data.

The motivation for this paper and in particular the empirical analysis for Ghana is originality for the literature. This paper demonstrates an adequate understanding of the relevant literature in modern times.