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Human capital (HC) disclosures by firms are voluntary as per the GAAPs in most of the countries including India. Therefore, a wide discrepancy exists across Indian firms with respect to their HC disclosures. This paper aims to investigate the extent and determinants of HC disclosure levels of the Indian listed firms in a two‐stage analysis.

In the first stage, a 12‐item index is developed and is used to measure the extent of HC disclosures of 97 listed firms. In the second stage, a regression analysis is carried out to ascertain the determinants of HC disclosure levels of the Indian listed firms.

The results point out that HC disclosure levels have high variations among the sample firms with information technology firms having highest average HC disclosure levels. Further, regression results indicate that a firm's “size” and “employees' expenses as a proportion of its total operating expenses” have a significant positive bearing on its level of HC disclosure, and “industry affiliation”, “globalisation”, “profitability”, “ownership concentration”, “age”, “structural complexity”, “leverage” and “auditor reputation” do not have significant influence on its level of HC disclosure.

This study follows a cross sectional design. A longitudinal study would have the potential to determine any pattern of changes in extent of HC disclosures over time. Index construction involves subjective judgment. The study assumes that the annual reports are the primary documents available to stakeholders requiring information about the firms.

The HC disclosure index constructed in this study can be used as a benchmark by the Indian firms to enhance their HC disclosures in future. It can be an aid to the regulators as and when they decide on an accounting standard for HC disclosures. The extent of HC disclosure of individual firms measured by this study can be used by the investors to identify the Indian firms which disclose more HC information. The determinants of HC disclosures can be used by the investors in identifying the other Indian firms (not in the study sample) which potentially may have high HC disclosures.

The study adds to the existing literature by constructing a suitable index to measure the level of HC disclosures in the annual reports of the Indian listed firms. Further, this is the first ever study to investigate the extent and determinants of HC disclosures of Indian listed firms. This study empirically validates a new proposition which has never been tested by any of the existing studies. The new proposition validated is: firm's “employee expenses as a proportion of its total operating expenses” has a significant positive bearing on its level of HC disclosures. Additionally this is the first ever study to use Poisson regression to ascertain determinants of HC disclosure practices.

Following the landmark 2003 Ontario Court of Appeal decision legalizing same‐sex marriage, some same‐sex couples sought to formalize their unions through legal marriage. The purpose of this paper is to explore the personal and political reflections of recently married same‐sex couples on the meaning of their marriages for themselves, their partners, their community as well as the implications for progressive social change in the broader social world.

An ethnographic approach was employed to semi‐structured in‐depth qualitative interviews with six lesbian and gay couples.

An emerging thesis is that, while seeking access to a most conventional and conformist institution, same‐sex couples inadvertently become “cutting edge” couples as they make public their declarations of love and commitment and model new and challenging notions of marriage.

The paper provides a snapshot of a small number of interviews that took place approximately 11 months after the Ontario Court of Appeal decision.

Law should take into account the importance of social and legal recognition of marriage for all. The heteronormativity of marriage is thus challenged from within, to make these types of marriages truly cutting edge.

The paper provides evidence of the personal and political reflections of people who had the choice to get married and did, at a time when this was seen as really cutting edge. Few personal accounts exist which provide a picture of the continued importance of marriage to human beings.

This research study uses the theory of planned behavior to investigate the factors such as environmental concern, perceived control behavior and subjective norms that foster green purchasing intention in the developing market, with the moderating influence of environmental knowledge.

Convenience and purposive sampling were used to obtain data from 418 respondents, which were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The findings revealed that environmental concern had a significant impact on the subjective norms, green attitude and perceived behavioral control; subjective norms had a positive impact on the green attitude, did not on perceived behavioral control and green purchase intention directly; perceived behavioral control had a significant impact on green attitude directly but did not green purchase intention; green attitude had a significantly impacted the green purchase intention. Environmental knowledge had a strong moderation association between green attitude and green purchase intention.

The study explores the complex relationships between various factors, including environmental concern, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, green attitude and environmental knowledge, and their impact on green purchase intention which can provide a more nuanced understanding of the drivers for sustainable consumption. Additionally, the study's finding on the moderating effect of environmental knowledge on the relationship between green attitude and green purchase intention may be a novel contribution to the existing literature.

The purpose of this study is to develop black pigmented ceramic stoneware bodies that integrate various aspects of material composition and color potential. Recent research has explored black pigmented calcium aluminosilicate glass (BPCG), a specialized material known for its unique properties, which holds promise for transforming the color capabilities of traditional ceramics.

In this investigation, initially composite ceramic sample (B-1) was prepared by milling process prior to sieve analysis to attain the particle size within 44 microns. Microanalysis and morphology and thermography were studied by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope and thermogravimetric analysis and found Sample-B-1 received attractive properties like firing shrinkage, porosity, bulk density and firing strength along with good pyro-plastic properties at various temperatures like 950°C, 1050°C, 1000°C and 1180°C. Furthermore, BPCG-assisted pigmented ceramic composites were synthesized with B-1 matrix. CIE lab investigation of the attributed composites (C-series) within selective soaking range of 5–20 min was performed, and the investigation found that prominent black hue appeared (L: 24.09, a*: −0.17, b*: −0.49) for C-10 containing appeared phases of Di-Co-Silicide (26%), Ni-Chromite, Stilpnomelane (rich in iron) as obtained by X-ray diffraction studies.

Ceramic material played a significant role in the realms of art and craft, as well as in technology. The artistic facet reveals concepts or ornamentation, while the craft echoes both traditional and functional appeal. Technology, on the other hand, involves the logical implementation behind the creation.

This C-10 Sample comprised the lower percentage of mullite which attributed that the BPCG homogeneously mixed in the matrix of base (B-1) and appeared as spinal staff. Therefore, BPCG was a potential candidate for ceramic metallization, and this traditional metallization processes often faced some challenges like uniformity and mixing in the ceramic composite domain practices. This study aimed to open up new avenues for artistic decoration and bridging the gap between traditional craftsmanship and modern technology. Furthermore, BPCG’s role in color assessment through shocking techniques added an exciting concept for the ceramic practitioners, designers or ceramic educators.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the motivational drives of women entrepreneurs and highlight the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs operating micro, small and medium enterprises from an institutional perspective in Rajasthan – a patriarchal state in India.

The study is based on data collected from a questionnaire survey conducted from July 2018 to January 2019 on 347 women entrepreneurs operating in seven districts of Rajasthan. Descriptive and factor analysis were used to find the major motivations and challenges of the entrepreneurs.

The findings indicate that intrinsic factors, namely, growth, creativity, autonomy and rejecting stereotypical gender identity are primary motivations driving women entrepreneurship in Rajasthan. Further, institutions pose challenges rather than offering a motivational drive to female entrepreneurs. The two most critical challenges, which the women entrepreneurs face are gender stereotypes and the lack of social capital. In patriarchal societies, entrepreneurial roles are considered masculine than feminine. Furthermore, cultural norms reflected in gender-specific role distribution result in the problem of work-life balance. The lack of both bonding and bridging social capital in terms of family support and networks, respectively, also reflects an unfavorable informal institutional environment.

The study adds to the sparse empirical literature on the motivations and challenges of women entrepreneurs in the Indian context. This study explores the motivations and challenges of female entrepreneurs from an institutional perspective for India in general and Rajasthan, in particular, using a large, heterogeneous sample using factor analysis.

Social media pose serious challenges to information evaluation, which can make credibility evaluation more difficult compared to other information resources. As a result, this paper aims to explore related challenges and research directions to put forth a set of criteria practical for actual users in their decision-making.

Related literature in such disciplines as information, communication and media sciences were carefully searched and assessed. Once challenges and research directions were identified, a literature coding approach was considered to design a conceptual framework incorporating the main criteria used for evaluating information found from social media.

Some areas of consideration such as political concerns, health information, organizational issues and purchasing behavior are among the main challenges inevitable in evaluating current social media information. The relative importance of credibility criteria varies from study to study depending on factors such as the characteristics of the participants, the type of the source and the type of information.

A conceptual framework developed including four main dimensions of the information source, information presentation, information credibility and decision-related issues as a set of criteria useful for the decision-making of social media users when evaluating information.

The literature review and the conceptual framework incorporate a set of most important criteria for exploring the credibility evaluation of social media information, which are also useful for future related studies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the risk perception of project sponsors in financing of public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in India.

The methodology used is survey questionnaire that seeks the perception of risk managers in PPP projects. Rating and relative ranking of risk at various phases of PPP project have been analyzed and supplemented by unstructured interviews.

This paper shows that the perception of project sponsors for various levels of project risk categories differ significantly in PPP infrastructure projects. The practices of assessing risk and handling differ among the financing institutions. The ranking of risks shows a disagreement among respondents for relative importance. The project financiers that include major banks and financial institutions funding for the PPP infrastructure projects perceive risks differently, and their disagreement on the relative importance of risks may create a sub-optimality in risk management, and the essence of project sponsorship may be lost.

This paper examines the perceptions of the various risks involved in PPP infrastructure project financing. The authors emphasize on the infrastructure projects in the transportation and energy sector that are undertaken in the PPPs. This research can further be extended to the other infrastructure sectors such as roads, shipping and communication.

Experiences reveal that risk perception profoundly influence the implementation of infrastructure projects involving PPPs. To ensure smooth implementation and success of PPP infrastructure projects, the project sponsors must align, synchronize and develop consensus on the various funding and non-funding risks into the project curriculum.

The PPP infrastructure projects carry huge investment and are of strategic importance to the nation and society. In order that the provision of infrastructure which can be most economically and efficiently delivered through PPPs, the risk concordance assumes crucial importance.

The authors believe that this research may provide new direction to the visible and invisible misbalances in risk postures of project partners, which has been a cause of concern to the government and policymakers in India in the recent times.