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The study aims to investigate the impact of board gender diversity (BGD) on firm performance (FP) by testing two hypotheses – the existence of a positive relationship between BGD and FP, and the moderating role of a critical mass of female directors on FP. The study also explores whether the association varies across different industries.

The authors collect data using Bloomberg and CMIE Prowess, from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 500 index for the period 2008–2018 and employ a robust statistical methodology (Dynamic Panel Data Model).

A critical mass of female directors positively moderates and strengthens the relationship between BGD and FP. The study fails to find evidence of a direct association between BGD and FP. The study also finds evidence of industry effects.

Though we use a very robust statistical methodology, any modifications in the methodology or choice of a different methodology are likely to change the results. Moreover, some of the findings are statistically significant at the 10% level.

The findings of our study hold particular significance for emerging economies like India where regulatory initiatives aim to enhance gender diversity within boardrooms.

The study contributes to the critical mass literature by examining the association between a critical mass of female directors as a moderating variable of BGD and FP. Further, the study also identifies those industries which show a positive association between FP and BGD.

The purpose of this article is the propagation of Rayleigh waves in a homogeneous, isotropic, initially stressed orthotropic elastic solid half-space lying under a homogeneous, viscous, inviscid liquid layer of finite thickness.

In the presence of both viscous and inviscid liquids, it derives the phase velocity, initial stress, and wave number-dependent frequency equation for an orthotropic elastic solid. With the help of the MATLAB program, the thickness effects of liquid layers, initial stress, and viscosity on the phase velocity and attenuation coefficient of the Rayleigh wave are explained for a particular model.

The phase velocity-dependent dispersion relation of Rayleigh waves at the interface of viscous liquid and solid half-space is a function of initial stress and wave number. Rayleigh waves along the free surface of an orthotropic elastic half-space are also derived as a particular case. The classical results of an inviscid liquid are achieved when the thickness of a viscous liquid approaches zero. Well-known classical results for initially stressed orthotropic elastic solids were also derived.

So far, many researchers have looked into the propagation of surface waves at the interfaces of solid–inviscid liquid, solid–solid, and multilayer interfaces. But in this article, the dispersion behavior of Rayleigh wave propagation in an initially stressed homogeneous orthotropic elastic solid half-space under a double layer of viscous liquid and inviscid liquid is studied.

The study of instability due to the effects of Maxwell–Cattaneo law and internal heat source/sink on Casson dielectric fluid horizontal layer is an open question. Therefore, in this paper, the impact of internal heat generation/absorption on Rayleigh–Bénard convection in a non-Newtonian dielectric fluid with Maxwell–Cattaneo heat flux is investigated. The horizontal layer of the fluid is cooled from the upper boundary, while an isothermal boundary condition is utilized at the lower boundary.

The Casson fluid model is utilized to characterize the non-Newtonian fluid behavior. The horizontal layer of the fluid is cooled from the upper boundary, while an isothermal boundary condition is utilized at the lower boundary. The governing equations are non-dimensionalized using appropriate dimensionless variables and the subsequent equations are solved for the critical Rayleigh number using the normal mode technique (NMT).

Results are presented for two different cases namely dielectric Newtonian fluid (DNF) and dielectric non-Newtonian Casson fluid (DNCF). The effects of Cattaneo number, Casson fluid parameter, heat source/sink parameter on critical Rayleigh number and wavenumber are analyzed in detail. It is found that the value Rayleigh number for non-Newtonian fluid is higher than that of Newtonian fluid; also the heat source aspect decreases the magnitude of the Rayleigh number.

The effect of Maxwell–Cattaneo heat flux and internal heat source/sink on Rayleigh-Bénard convection in Casson dielectric fluid is investigated for the first time.

This study aims to explore the influence of critical mass of female directors on corporate sustainability disclosure in emerging market firms with two-tier boards system. Critical mass of female director presented by three types of female director proportion, there are women on board of director (BOD) that are less than 20%, between 20% and 40% and more than 40%.

The observation comprises 456 firm-year firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period from 2017 to 2022. This study used the static panel data model and dynamic panel data model based on generalize method of moments.

The research discovered that the proportion of female director has positive effect on corporate sustainability disclosure in emerging market firms with two-tier boards system. The mass of female director with at least 20% but less than 40% has positive relationship on corporate sustainability disclosure. Moreover, the mass of female with balance proportion on BOD has stronger positive impact on corporate sustainability disclosure. However, there is insignificant impact between the mass of female directors and corporate sustainability disclosure with less than 20% proportion of female director.

The companies must facilitate the involvement of women on the board of directors to promote pro-sustainability disclosure initiatives. The findings indicate that corporations should deliberately examine the ratio of female directors to enhance corporate sustainability disclosure.

The research studies will add value to the limited literature and addressed the dynamic nature of the relationship and mitigated the endogeneity bias.

The effects of anisotropy and radiation cannot be considered negligible while investigating the stability of the fluid in convection. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how these effects could affect the system while considering a couple-stress dielectric fluid. Therefore, the study establishes the effect of thermal radiation in a couple-stress dielectric fluid with an anisotropic porous medium using Goody's approach (Goody, 1956).

To analyze the effect of radiation on the onset of convection, the Milne–Eddington approximation is employed to convert radiative heat flux to thermal heat flux. The equations are further developed to approximate for transparent and opaque medium. Stability of the quiescent state within the framework of linear theory is performed. The principle of exchange of stabilities is shown to be valid by means of single-term Galerkin method. Large values of conduction–radiation and absorptivity parameters are avoided as fluid is considered as liquid rather than gas.

The radiative heat transfer effect on a couple-stress dielectric fluid saturated anisotropic porous medium is examined in terms of Milne–Eddington approximation. The effect of couple-stress, dielectric, anisotropy and radiation parameters are analyzed graphically for both transparent and opaque medium. It is observed that the conduction–radiation parameter stabilizes the system; in addition, the critical Darcy–Rayleigh number also shows a stabilizing effect in the absence of couple-stress, dielectric and anisotropy parameters, for both transparent and opaque medium. Furthermore, the absorptivity parameter stabilizes the system in the transparent medium, whereas it exhibits a dual effect in the case of an opaque medium. It was also found that an increase in thermal and mechanical anisotropy parameters shows an increase in the cell size, whereas the increase in Darcy–Roberts number and conduction–radiation parameter decreases the cell size. The validity of principle of exchange of stability is performed and concluded that marginal stability is the preferred mode than oscillatory.

The effects of anisotropy and radiation on Rayleigh–Bénard convection by considering a couple-stress dielectric fluid has been analyzed for the first time.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the progress in the United Arab Emirates towards achievement of Millennium Development Goal (3), “gender equality”, by the target date of 2015.

Demographic, social, and labor force statistics are collected from United Arab Emirates' government reports, the World Economic Forum, and UNESCO. Analysis is conducted to investigate current trends of gender equality in education and employment.

Results for the education of women have been at a consistently high level for some years. Two themes are found for such progress: a government strategy to increase women's access to education; societal acceptance of educated women. Gender equality in employment is slow due to three themes: study choice dictates employment potential; recruitment within a narrow range of occupations; employment more likely within public sector employment. The future of gender equality in the United Arab Emirates will continue to be more positive for women in education than for employment.

A limitation is the paucity of academic study about gender equality in education and employment in the United Arab Emirates. Reliability and validity of the study is somewhat limited by unverified, non‐specific, and older data on education and employment.

Improved strategies to increase study choice are required to enlarge the scope of women's careers. Management of the talent pool of educated females can increase women's share of paid employment in the future.

A faster rate of change is required towards societal acceptance of women in employment to match female educational attainment.

The research is important for two reasons relevant for achievement of MDG (3) by 2015. Remarkable progress has been made on gender equality in education, and awareness is raised on limitations in the future for the employment of women.

Vibration of large membranes has great utility in engineering application such as in important parts of drums, pumps, microphones, telephones and other devices. So, to obtain a numerical solution of this type of problems is necessary and important. In general, in existing approaches, involved parameters and variables are defined exactly. Whereas in actual practice, it may contain uncertainty owing to error in observations, maintenance-induced error, etc. So, the main purpose of this paper is to solve this important problem numerically under fuzzy and interval uncertainty to have an uncertain solution and to study its behaviour.

In this study, the authors have considered a new approach is known as double parametric form of fuzzy number to model uncertain parameters. Along with this a semianalytical approach, i.e. variational iteration method, has been used to obtain uncertain bounds of the solution.

The variational iteration method has been successfully implemented along with the double parametric form of fuzzy number to find the uncertain solution of the vibration equation of a large membrane. The advantage of this approach is that the solution can be written in a power series or a compact form. Also, this method converges rapidly to obtain an accurate solution. Various cases depending on the functional value involved in the initial conditions have been studied and the behaviour has been analysed. Applying the double parametric form reduces the computational cost without separating the fuzzy equation into coupled differential equations as done in traditional approaches.

The vibration equation of large membranes has been solved under fuzzy and interval uncertainty. Uncertainties have been considered in the initial conditions. New approaches, i.e. variational iteration method along with the double parametric form, have been applied to solve the vibration equation of large membranes.

This study examines the conditions when “managerial perception of the contribution of social media” (SMC) enhances and inhibits entrepreneurially oriented small and medium-size enterprises' (SMEs') ability for new product introductions (NPI) to the market. We also propose that while firm proactiveness enhances the rate of NPI, managers' risk-taking attitude hurts the process even when managerial perceptions of social media use are high.

This study uses the survey data collected from 322 SMEs in the US to examine the theoretical model. By adopting the partial least square (PLS-SEM) technique, the direct and moderating effects among the SMC, proactive behavior and risk-taking attitude on NPI are explored under dynamic and stable market conditions.

Empirical findings show that although SMC has a significant positive influence on the rate of NPI in case of SMEs', if the managers are risk-takers themselves, then social media use can distract them, make them overly adventurous trying to introduce too many products and hurt SMEs' innovation efforts with less NPI. We show that SMEs' entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has a differential impact on SMC-NPI relationship, especially in dynamic market conditions.

The findings provide practical evidence that SMEs get benefitted when their managers perceive that the contributions from social media are positive for their firm. Contrary to the prior understanding of high risk and high return, managers' risk-taking attitude hurts SMEs innovation efforts. SMEs being resource-constrained, it is practically vital for them to be taking less risk while developing new products.

This research synthesizes the insights of the new and emerging “Strategy-as-practice view” and “Behavioral theory of the firm” to empirically examine how managerial perceptions on social media use shape firms' key strategic activity, NPI. This research also highlights the dark side of firm characteristics, such as managerial risk-taking attitude for SMEs.

Recently, fractional differential equations have been used to model various physical and engineering problems. One may need a reliable and efficient numerical technique for the solution of these types of differential equations, as sometimes it is not easy to get the analytical solution. However, in general, in the existing investigations, involved parameters and variables are defined exactly, whereas in actual practice it may contain uncertainty because of error in observations, maintenance induced error, etc. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to find the dynamic response of fractionally damped beam approximately under fuzzy and interval uncertainty.

Here, a semi analytical approach, variational iteration method (VIM), has been considered for the solution. A newly developed form of fuzzy numbers known as double parametric form has been applied to model the uncertainty involved in the system parameters and variables.

VIM has been successfully implemented along with double parametric form of fuzzy number to find the uncertain dynamic responses of the fractionally damped beam. The advantage of this approach is that the solution can be written in power series or compact form. Also, this method converges rapidly to have the accurate solution. The uncertain responses subject to impulse and step loads have also been computed and the behaviours of the responses are analysed. Applying the double parametric form, it reduces the computational cost without separating the fuzzy equation into coupled differential equations as done in traditional approaches.

Uncertain dynamic responses of fuzzy fractionally damped beam using the newly developed double parametric form of fuzzy numbers subject to unit step and impulse loads have been obtained. Gaussian fuzzy numbers are used to model the uncertainties. In the methodology using the alpha cut form, corresponding beam equation is first converted to an interval-based fuzzy equation. Next, it has been transformed to crisp form by applying double parametric form of fuzzy numbers. Finally, VIM has been applied to solve the same for the general fuzzy responses. Various numerical examples have been taken in to consideration.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) on the financial and operating performance of acquiring firms from emerging economies in the long-term; the acquiring firms have been segregated into frequent (multiple) and first-time (single) acquirers based on their prior cross-border experience. The intent is to identify if overseas activities bring over and above advantage to multiple acquirers in terms of enhanced financial synergies and reduced costs, motivating them to engage in sequential international transactions.

The paper analyses the impact of CBAs announced and completed during 2004–2013 by Indian companies listed on the NIFTY 500 index. The post-acquisition financial and operating performance of Indian cross-border acquirers has been compared with their pre-acquisition performance. The average performance over three-years immediately preceding the acquisition year constitutes the benchmark for the post-acquisition performance. The post-acquisition period includes a year of integration followed by three successive post-integration years. Therefore, in operational terms, the research period extends from 2001–2017. The long-term performance of frequent (multiple) and first-time (single) Indian acquirers has been investigated comprehensively using a set of 16 financial ratios. The performance has been assessed using the secondary data collected from financial statements of acquiring companies; the financial statements and the list of CBAs by Indian companies have been obtained from Thomson Reuter’s EIKON database.

The financial and operating performance of frequent as well as first-time acquirers have depicted a similarly deteriorating trend during the post-acquisition period. These findings indicate that the international expansion of Indian companies is not guided by synergy creation potential and may be pushed by the overconfidence or over-optimism and agency conflicts of managers. This, perhaps, indicates that firms are being imprudent in investing free cash flows available with them.

The study is the first of its kind. No study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has analysed the performance of acquiring firms by segregating them into frequent and first-time acquirers using accounting measures of performance. More so, an extensive analysis of the long-term financial and operating performance of acquiring companies is rare to come across in the extant literature.