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This study aims to conduct a comprehensive literature review to examine the relationship between corporate governance characteristics and firms’ engagement in environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities. The review focuses specifically on academic papers published in ranked accounting and finance journals.

The analysis combines a structured literature review with citation analysis, topic modeling using a machine learning (ML) approach and a manual review of selected articles published between 2000 and 2021.

This paper contributes to corporate governance and ESG literature by conducting an in-depth review, offering a comprehensive analysis of the existing findings and identifying future research directions. From the reviewed literature, this paper proposes the following thematic areas: board characteristics, ownership structure and their impact on a company’s engagement in ESG activities; CEO characteristics and their influence on a company’s involvement in ESG activities; corporate governance and ESG as sources for transparency and legitimacy; internal and external assurance of a company’s involvement in ESG activities; and gender diversity and a company’s involvement in ESG activities.

The study provides a comprehensive understanding of corporate governance and ESG literature. The innovative combination of methods, including ML and manual techniques, enhances the ability to identify key research topics and uncover research directions in the field. Moving forward, this paper suggests several promising directions for future research, including examining the influence of emerging technologies on ESG reporting and assessing the impact of regulatory changes and context on the link between corporate governance and firms’ involvement in ESG practices.

In 2000, Cañibano et al. published a literature review entitled “Accounting for Intangibles: A Literature Review”. This paper revisits the conclusions drawn in that paper. We also discuss the intervening developments in scholarly research, standard setting and practice over the past 20+ years to outline the future challenges for research into accounting for intangibles.

We conducted a literature review to identify past developments and link the findings to current accounting standard-setting developments to inform our view of the future.

Current intangibles accounting practices are conservative and unlikely to change. Accounting standard setters are more interested in how companies report and disclose the value of intangibles rather than changing how they are determined. Standard setters are also interested in accounting for new forms of digital assets and reporting economic, social, governance and sustainability issues and how these link to financial outcomes. The IFRS has released complementary sustainability accounting standards for disclosing value creation in response to the latter. Therefore, the topic of intangibles stretches beyond merely how intangibles create value but how they are also part of a firm’s overall risk and value creation profile.

There is much room academically, practically, and from a social perspective to influence the future of accounting for intangibles. Accounting standard setters and alternative standards, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and European Union non-financial and sustainability reporting directives, are competing complementary initiatives.

Our results reveal a window of opportunity for accounting scholars to research and influence how intangibles and other non-financial and sustainability accounting will progress based on current developments.

Purpose – This chapter examines how the kollektiv, a form of workplace organization established in the Soviet Union, continues to shape cultural expectations of work in post-Soviet Russia.

Methodology/Approach – This chapter describes a workplace ethnography conducted in a college department in Novosibirsk, Russia in 1999–2000 and 2002, with follow-up trips in 2005–2006. Participant observation is combined with interviews of teachers and students in the department.

Findings – The kollektiv established in the Soviet Union has persisted in modified form in post-Soviet Russia. Instead of a means of Party control, the kollektiv became popularly associated with the group cohesion that arises from frequent social interaction. This sense of cohesion, accompanied by attendant habits of sharing holidays with work colleagues, has persisted to varying degrees among adults in Russia today. Furthermore, the structure of the kollektiv has been maintained for students in schools and colleges, so that new generations of Russian youth are raised to expect to work in cohesive small groups. Their behaviors and expectations contribute to the persistence of the kollektiv in Russian society in the present and near future.

Originality/Value of the paper – This chapter makes two unique contributions: (1) it adds a focus on white-collar work to the predominantly blue-collar and service occupations studied in Russia to date and (2) it presents workplace ethnography of academics, a group rarely studied ethnographically.

Through all the villains that James Bond has encountered on his globe-trotting adventures – from Dr No to Auric Goldfinger, Drax to Le Chiffre and Rosa Klebb to Xenia Onatopp – one villain has remained a constant threat to both Bond and world security. Whether hiding behind a corrugated screen, living on a mountain top lair, working from a hollowed-out volcanic rocket site, or sitting in a wheelchair, Ernst Stavro Blofeld has proved time and time again to be a thorn in Bond’s side.

This chapter will investigate the changing appearances of Blofeld across the Eon Productions’ film franchise. It will consider the concept of Blofeld as Bond’s alter-ego, whilst offering in-depth analysis of just how – and why – this master-nemesis remains firmly rooted in Bond’s filmic adventures, whilst cementing his position as the villain most associated with the series.

This article aims to investigate the role of socioeconomic factors and individual time preferences in the demand for fast-food in Russia. An individual discount rate shows the ability of a person to postpone utility from consumption to future periods.

An individual discount rate is measured through a hypothetical money experiment. The database is the special survey of the Levada analytical center conducted in 2017. Multivariate probit model enables the authors to consider the possible endogeneity of individual discount rate and reveal the relationship between socioeconomic factors and frequent fast-food consumption.

Results show that a higher individual discount rate is related to frequent consumption of fast-food. At the same time, there are factors that provoke both a higher individual discount rate and the refusal of frequent consumption of fast-food. Findings advise the prioritization of measures highlighting the short-term benefits of healthy eating and the short-term costs of avoiding it.

To the authors' knowledge, this article is the first one which presents comprehensive investigation of microeconomic factors of fast-food consumption in Russia including individual time preferences of consumers.

In the international graduate job market, education–job mismatches are affecting recruitment, and consequently efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to identify a widening gap in “global operating skills”, then put forward a structure for addressing the education–job mismatch, based on data gathered from higher education teachers and graduate recruiters. Framed as a case examining the contemporary context in Russia, the objective is to identify a cross-cultural management (CCM) skills set for graduates who are pursuing a career in an international environment. The study therefore has implications for managers and educators who work in this sector.

The study identifies a number of factors that need to be taken into account for developing CCM competence among graduate job seekers. Set in the specific case of a Russian higher education institutions and one of its international partners, stakeholder theory is used for theoretical underpinning and data collection. A qualitative-oriented mixed-methods approach was designed to: explore the education–job mismatch by using documentary sources and direct observations; collect data in a three-step sequence (focus groups, interviews and interactive seminar).

The key findings revealed the extent of the education–job mismatch. Specifically: a lack of transferable CCM skills, mismatch between the provision of CCM skills development in higher education and the needs of recruiters, and curriculum shortfall in terms of CCM skills. Furthermore, areas such as cross-cultural communication and cross-cultural awareness require urgent attention; new approaches are needed to enhance the knowledge transfer of CCM skills to students, in order to better equip them to work in an increasingly international workplace.

The enquiry provides a snapshot of knowledge transfer regarding CCM skills based on a particular case, from the perspective of teachers and recruiters. While care was taken to respect the language and cultural norms, the interview guide captured only a narrow dimension of the subject area. The modest size of the sample does not allow any generalisations when interpreting the data. The findings should not be applied to other national contexts, disciplines or sectors.

The authors put forward actions for enhancing the implementation of an international education programme (IEP), emphasising the importance of co-creating with stakeholders. The distinguishing features of an IEP are identified and a framework for explaining the opportunities generated by such a programme is developed. Failing to address the “skills gap” may trigger long-term ramifications for both business and society.

Academics and students claim to be dissatisfied with the current delivery of CCM skills. The identification of an education–job mismatch implies that CCM skills are not being effectively transmitted within higher education. This study sets out to identify and explain the current situation of CCM skills development in contemporary society. The genesis of this study stems from the topical debate surrounding reconceptualising higher education to reflect a more international-oriented approach.

Research into CCM is frequently undertaken from an Anglo-centric perspective, or sets out to compare an “Anglo” environment with a non-Anglo setting. Few CCM studies are set in the context of a contemporary Post-Soviet society.

OUR Fifty‐eighth Volume begins with this issue of the LIBRARY WORLD, a fact which causes a few reflections and suggestions. It was the earliest “free” journal in librarianship in this country and was designed to represent the experiments in all forms of library service which then were developing with increasing momentum, as well as ideas, aspirations, reasonable grievances, planning, furnishing, technique, personalia—indeed everything that one librarian would desire to communicate to another and to discuss with him. Our earliest contributors were the men best known in their time and, as was inevitable in 1898, were all young. Through more than half a century THE LIBRARY WORLD has appeared regularly and, except in the recent conditions created by the “printing dispute”, punctually. The same principles control us today. The same hospitality is offered to anyone of any age who has anything to say.

‘Your name? your country? who gave you those clothes?’ These famous leading questions, uttered by the shrewd Arete on seeing the much‐travelled Odysseus clad in garments belonging to her husband Alcinous, might have been echoed by the shade of Robert Eitner when confronted with the recently published first volume of the International Inventory of Musical Sources. For while Eitner would scarcely have recognized in the Inventory the principles of his own Quellen‐Lexikon, he would also have been amazed at their transformation and have wondered how and where it all happened. The format and binding of this volume are handsome, in the style of the twentieth century: the threefold location symbols begin with the letter or letters denoting each country according to the international registration of motor‐vehicles—a form of transport unimagined by Eitner. To those who tread in his footsteps, sixty years later, it is clear that without the inspiration of his great achievement the Inventory would probably have taken much longer to become a reality. Its origin must, therefore, be considered briefly in relation to its forerunner.

This chapter provides an overview of entrepreneurship clubs. It charts the development of these organisations, as a form of extracurricular activity. It introduces different forms of entrepreneurship clubs, such as Junior Achievement (JA) and Enactus, and explains how they grew from 1919 to the present. It also illustrates the differences between self-organised clubs, organised programs using clubs as a learning method, structured societies and nationally organised cooperative societies. The second part introduces research on student clubs in entrepreneurship education. It explores the benefits of clubs. It shows that clubs assist student learning, enable the acquisition of practical skills and improve college attendance, employment opportunities and career attainment. We argue that entrepreneurship clubs have improved student learning outcomes in entrepreneurship and simulated entrepreneurial learning, while impacting student self-efficacy and intentionality as well as improving employability and social learning. The final part of the chapter provides advice and tips for educators advising student-run entrepreneurship clubs. Ultimately, the chapter explains how student clubs have developed, why they are important for student learning and how advisors can support them.