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The sustainability issues faced by Asian firms, such as environmental destruction and depletion of resources, require the existing corporate social responsibility (COSR) models to be carefully examined and re-conceptualized. Both researchers and practitioners have indicated how social equity and having a long-term business perspective are imperative to address environmental concerns alongside fulfilling the wealth maximization goals among firms. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature by examining the interrelationships between COSR parameters among firms, with social equity perspective.

The data for this study comes from the Thomson Reuters Asset4 Index. The baseline sample of this study included 1,690 firms listed between 2011 and 2017. For hypothesis testing, fixed-effect panel analysis on 10,140 firm-year observations over seven years from 2011 to 2017 was conducted. These data points were drawn from four Asian countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong).

This study indicates that developed stock exchange markets among Asian markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong are transitioning from a strong focus on environmental issues to a more social equity-based economy, which is driving higher governance performance. This indicates the significance of the social dimension inherent in sustainable development and goes beyond just the ethical dimensions among the firms and the economy at large. The study also presents the challenges of re-modeling existing COSR framework among firms in Asia which do not have a clear road map on how to achieve environmental performance to achieve higher levels of human well-being, as well as the ethical considerations of achieving the wealth maximization goal.

This paper is unique in nature because it attempts to re-conceptualize the COSR models that support governance initiatives from an Asian market perspective by improving upon environmental performance, which in turn addresses critical issues around depleting resources and reducing wastage in the production process. The re-conceptualization model used in this study is based on the social exchange theory developed by George Homans in 1958. Accordingly, this study links the circular flow of resource procurement as well as production to the circular flow of resource replenishment seen in the chosen emerging Asian markets.

The application of knowledge management (KM) is critical to public sector firm as it is to private sector firm. However, despite its significance, the academic enquiry of KM in public sector is at its nascent stage. This forms the motivation of the present work; this paper aims to analyze and understand the intricate relationship between KM processes and public sector firm performance in terms of operational, quality and innovation performance.

A comprehensive KM processes–performance framework consisting of seven constructs (four constructs of KM processes and three constructs of KM performance) and their underlying factors was developed through an extensive literature review. The employee perceptions of these seven constructs were captured on a five-point Likert scale using a country-wide survey in the UAE public sector. The 270 valid responses captured were then used to first validate the KM framework and then test the hypothesized relationships between KM processes and KM performance.

The findings show that all four KM processes (knowledge creation, knowledge capture and storage, knowledge sharing and knowledge application and use) had a positive and significant impact on operational, quality and innovation performance of public sector in the UAE.

The findings confirm the validity and reliability of all the seven constructs and their underlying factors and the assessment framework. Overall, this study fills a gap in the literature about applying/implementing a KM framework for the public sector and therefore significantly contributes toward the theoretical advancement of the field. However, the study does acknowledge the use of perceptual measures of individual employees as a limitation instead of more objective measures to capture the impact KM processes on KM performance.

The strong and significant impact of KM processes on firm performance is expected to provide the impetus for practitioners and policymakers to implement and leverage from KM processes and improve firm performance in the public sector.

A comprehensive development, validation and assessment of a KM framework for the public sector has not been attempted previously anywhere, let alone UAE, and hence constitutes the novelty of this work.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a practicable data-driven theory for the implementation and management of organizational change by combining the organization ambidexterity research and the organization change management research.

This study is based on the qualitative approach and uses a single case (in-depth investigation approach) study to come up with a data-driven theory, which is usable in the context of organizational change management and organizational ambidexterity (OA). Besides, in-depth interviews of change management practitioners, this study uses various sources of secondary information.

The study finds that owing to the reactive, ad hoc, and discontinuous nature of change often triggered by external factors or internal crisis within the organization, an organization need to continually engage with the existing data. The outcome must be driven toward preparing for the change through data engagement, implementation and reinforcement. The authors found that in order to be successful it is essential to have a strategy, set-up the right operating model, be clear on the scope of the change management work-stream and continuously monitor the progress through defined milestones and acceptance criteria. For companies targeting to achieve competitive differentiation through ambidexterity, a well-grounded change management program is the key for the success.

The study suggests that there is little work combining organizational change management and OA from a practitioner’s point of view. Accordingly, the authors propose a new data-driven organizational change management theory, which the authors term as the tripod theory for organizational change management. A practitioner’s perspective on the topic using a case study of an insurance company’s data transformation and a framework for structuring the change management program makes a meaningful contribution to the existing literature.

Plagiarism is an epidemic for scholars that needs to be managed. Penalties do not seem to be able to stop people from indulging in it. Manipulation of emotions and values may help in discouraging people from plagiarism. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand the association between felt emotion and plagiarism outcome behaviours. Another objective of the study is to see the role of virtues in discouraging people from plagiarism.

A scenario-based quasi-experimental method is used to collect the data. Graduate students from various Indian universities were invited for the experiment. The partial least square based structural equation modelling is used to test the measurement as well as path model.

The authors found that manipulated shame resulted in feelings of both international and external shame. When individuals feel internal shame, they avoid and discontinue plagiarism. They also try to repair the damage that they cause by plagiarism. However, feeling of external shame only encourages individuals to discontinue plagiarism behaviour. Virtues such as influence, competitiveness and equality weaken the relationship between internal shame and plagiarism-related outcome behaviour. At the same time, these virtues do not affect the relationship between external shame and outcome behaviours.

This study has important implications for the institutions of higher education. The study suggests that universities should provoke the emotion of shame through various communications to students to control the act of plagiarism by their students.

No study seems to have examined if the manipulation of emotions and values can help reduce the problem of plagiarism. This is an attempt towards bridging this important gap in literature. Therefore, findings of this study are of great value to scholars and content developers.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the role of environmental concern on brand preference. The authors also examine whether the proposed relationship is contingent upon the individual’s income.

A conceptual model is proposed based on the theory of buyer behaviour and environmental concern. Model is empirically validated by conducting a survey using self-administered questionnaire. Measurements for each construct were adapted from literature. Partial least square based structural equation modelling is used for the hypotheses testing and confirmatory factor analysis is used for the validation of measurement model.

The authors found that brand preference is influenced by environmental concern and attitude towards the environment-friendly product. Further, social influence indirectly affects brand preference via environmental concern and attitude towards the environment-friendly product. The authors also found that income significantly moderates the relationship between social influence and environmental concern.

This paper provides useful guidance for the marketers of environment-friendly products for marketing to people with different income.

A government’s green initiatives are meant to prevent or reduce harm to society. Such initiatives can elicit positive emotions that may lead to generating a supportive public response to the government. The purpose of this paper is to understand the consumers’ emotional response to government’s actions toward making the society sustainable.

The scenario-based experimental design is used in this study where one between-subjects manipulation is created for the government’s green actions, and one between-subjects control condition is created. A total of 140 respondents were assigned to experimental and 121 respondents were assigned to control groups using judgmental sampling. Partial least squares based structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis was used for the testing of both structural and measurement model.

Positive emotions (i.e. gratitude, pride and happiness) that are evoked by the manipulated scenario are found to have a direct impact on the consumers’ outcome behavior (i.e. positive word of mouth, identification with the government, interest in green initiatives of the government and interest in the government’s actions to grow the nation).

The research contributes to the literature on the social sustainability by examining the impact of emotional responses to the government’s green initiatives. This study shows that positive emotions can be evoked in the context of environmental quality by sending the right message to the consumers (i.e. the general public in this case).

This paper aims to understand the attitudes of young Pacific Island adults towards financial products such as debt and money and explore the cultural elements influencing the financial consumption amongst Pacific Island adults.

Hermeneutic phenomenology has been used to explore and gain insights into the experiences, thought processes, values and aspirations of young Pacific Island adults with regard to their consumption of financial products.

The findings identify culture as an influential factor in shaping the participants’ attitudes and financial consumption behaviour. Culture not only enabled the individuals to internalize their values, norms and beliefs but also shaped their way of thinking through the effect of communications.

Communication element within culture is identified as an influential factor in shaping the participants’ attitudes and financial consumption behaviour offering an important insight that social marketers should be aware of and be prepared to address when developing their financial educational programs or any other behavioural change interventions.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of four types of acculturation behaviors of frontline service employees (assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization) on customer satisfaction and customer commitment.

In total, 377 ethnically diverse customers of a retail bank in New Zealand participated in this study. SmartPLS3 was used to test all the hypotheses.

Assimilation and integration have positive effects on both customer satisfaction and commitment. Marginalization has a negative effect on both customer satisfaction and commitment but separation has a negative effect only on customer satisfaction and not on customer commitment.

Future research may validate and extend the authors findings in diverse cultural settings and use experimental method to explore the socio-psychological mechanisms underlying the influence of frontline service employees’ acculturation behaviors on customer satisfaction and commitment.

This study will help managers understand the importance of service employees’ acculturation behaviors and develop suitable recruitment strategies and training programs to improve their impact on customer satisfaction and commitment.

This study extends current research on intercultural service encounters by looking beyond the moderating effects of four types of service employees’ acculturation behaviors, to explore their direct effects on customer satisfaction and commitment.

This paper aims to investigate the individual and combined effects of three types of psychological contracts between customers and service employees (i.e. transactional, relational and communal), resulting from the service organizations’ relational marketing efforts, on their customers’ service brand evaluations in terms of their satisfaction, trust and commitment toward the brand.

This study uses a field-survey of 303 regular customers of beauty salons and hairdressers in Auckland, New Zealand. All the constructs were measured using adapted versions of well-established scales and data was analyzed using SmartPLS due to the relatively smaller sample size and the primary research objective being the prediction of the three outcome variables (i.e. satisfaction, trust and commitment).

Transactional and relational contracts have a negative and positive impact, respectively, upon communal contracts. Communal contracts mediate the impact of transactional and relational contracts on trust and commitment but not on satisfaction. Trust also mediates the relationship between satisfaction and commitment.

This paper collected data from female customers of beauty salons and hairdressers in New Zealand, which may affect the generalizability of the results.

This study provides practical insights into the differences in the roles of psychological contracts between the customers and service employees, which may help managers in service firms improve their customer relationship outcomes.

This paper extends the relationship and services marketing literature to reveal the individual and combined effects of the three types of psychological contracts on customer satisfaction, trust and commitment toward their service brand.