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Sustainability continues to be put forth as a strategic priority. However, sustainability efforts are often deemphasized for short-term profitability. This study explores the nuances in managerial decision-making related to adopting sustainability initiatives within food supply chains in an emerging economy. We identify a complex interaction between sustainability efforts and risk mitigation. We derive a model to explain conflicting company goals, managerial decisions and system design.

We followed an exploratory research design with an inductive approach. We analyzed data from semi-structured interviews with 29 companies representing different tiers in Turkish food supply chains. We refined and validated the interview findings through a focus group with nine senior managers. We conducted open, focused and theoretical coding in an iterative and reflective manner to analyze the data and derive our results.

From the data, three themes emerged, indicating that managers are pursuing different, often conflicting, goals concerning value creation, risk management and sustainability performance. Managers identified and commented on new risks brought on by sustainability initiatives. These sustainability-induced risks were seen as a threat to operational performance, a driver of increased costs and a negative impact on product quality and delivery performance. Trade-offs across operating, sustainability and risk management systems create transformational tension that confounds the sustainability adoption decision-making process.

The data from the study was contrasted with a theoretical framework derived from systems theory, goal-setting theory of motivation and the theory of planned behavior. We identified four distinct decision paths that managers pursue. Increased awareness of transformational tension and how it influences managerial decision-making can enhance strategic sustainability system design and initiative success.

This paper aims to contribute to existing academic work and business practice by presenting original empirical findings and by providing insights into priority setting on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in organizations. From an academic viewpoint, it not only adds to previous work on the topic of SDG materiality (e.g. Van Tulder and Lucht, 2019) but also aims to contribute new insights into the steps that are crucial and influence the adoption of the SDGs in materiality assessments. It may also add to the literature by providing new knowledge on the strategic considerations that organizations may make and institutional dynamics that encourage organizations to implement the SDG materiality method.

By executing a national survey research in Belgium through a collaboration between academics of Antwerp Management School, Louvain School of Management (UCLouvain) and the University of Antwerp, and supported by Belgium’s Federal Institute of Sustainable Development, the authors have obtained several insights into the SDG landscape in Belgium for various types of organizations, including companies, governmental and nongovernmental organizations and educational institutions. This research builds further on a first national survey (SDG Barometer Belgium, 2018) on the adoption and implementation of the SDGs. However, an important aim of this research is to shift the emphasis to more prominent new elements, such as whether or not organizations use the SDGs in materiality assessments. While the main part of the data for this research were collected through an online questionnaire, document analyses were conducted based on the sustainability reports of BEL 20 companies, the benchmark stock market index of Euronext Brussels consisting of 20 companies traded at the Brussels Stock Exchange, and seven interviews were held to obtain additional insights.

A total of 386 organizations across sectors responded to the question “Does your organization perform a materiality analysis”, of which 210 organizations completed the question “Does your organization align the materiality analysis with the SDGs,”after an “exit route” based on a positive answer to the first question. When diving into the survey results, the authors see that no more than 12% of the 210 organizations performing a materiality analysis align their materiality analysis with the SDGs, while 14% indicate that they do not account for the SDGs at all in their materiality analyses. The results show that 41% of the organizations take into account the SDGs to a certain degree when performing their materiality analysis. Speculating on an explanation for these results, it may be the case that organizations do not yet think about coupling the SDGs to their materiality assessment, experience difficulties in practice or generally lack the knowledge for relating the SDGs to the sustainability topics that are relevant to them. This seems in line with other research (e.g. Van Tulder and Lucht, 2019), as the results of this study indicate that it seems to be difficult for organizations to relate the SDGs to the existing sustainability priorities or materiality analyses of companies.

The real contribution of this paper essentially lies in the description of the Janssen Pharmaceuticals case. The company recognized that today’s internally focused approach to goal setting is not enough to address global challenges. Hence, looking at what is needed externally from a global perspective, taking into account sustainability thresholds and setting ambitions accordingly, is needed to bridge the gap between current performance and required performance. From the Janssen Pharmaceuticals case, the authors learned that external stakeholders are an extremely useful source of information to address the required performance by using the SDG framework. For sure, SDG materiality analyses are still in an early phase of development and knowledge on how to conduct such an analysis may be lacking. Future efforts – or the lack thereof – may indicate whether or not companies consider such analyses as sufficiently relevant. Although the uptake of the SDGs is in progress, it remains to be seen which, if any, materiality method will eventually turn out as a new dominant way of defining material issues. The findings presented in this study hopefully serve as a basis for further investigation of the topic.

This study aims to investigate a unique approach to learning languages through self-directed online learning. Specifically, it explores the self-management abilities and skills learners need while learning a language outside traditional classroom settings when using mobile-assisted learning technology.

A mixed-methods approach was used in this study, including an online survey of 84 people and 10 semi-structured interviews.

Findings reveal the significant role of specific and well-defined learning goals in enhancing learners’ performance. These goals can be either self-initiated by the learners themselves or defined by the technological features of the learning platform. However, the presence of distractions in learners’ daily lives presents challenges to effective time management, affecting learners both physically and psychologically. A key aspect of self-directed language learning lies in the learners’ ability to seek out relevant human and material resources beyond the confines of a single mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) tool. The authenticity of these resources is crucial in ensuring meaningful and effective learning experiences.

Understanding how learners navigate and discover valuable resources is a central focus of this study. This research offers valuable insights into the field of self-directed language learning, revealing the pivotal role of self-management skills with mobile-assisted learning technology. The findings contribute to the broader field of language education and offer practical implications for educators and developers seeking to optimize self-directed language learning experiences through innovative and technologically driven approaches.

MALL is often ideal for individualized informal learning, but the existing literature focuses heavily on formal learning situations, underestimating the importance of MALL practices in various informal settings. Most research reports on MALL-based self-directed learning primarily sample traditional English-learning university students. Therefore, there is a need for research on how nontraditional older adult learners self-direct their language learning with mobile technology outside the classroom.

The study advances an enhanced model encompassing psychological involvement, denoted as the psychological continuum model (PCM) and perceived customer service quality as intermediaries in the association between subjective customer knowledge (SCK) and behavioral loyalty. The purpose of this study is to assess the mediating role of psychological engagement and consumers' perceived service quality in the relationship between SCK and behavioral loyalty among members of nonprofit sports service organizations. Additionally, the study aims to examine the impact of membership duration on the relationship between consumer knowledge and behavioral loyalty.

The study used a quantitative research design, and primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 527 members of nonprofit Chinese sports clubs who were selected using a simple random sampling technique. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was developed to measure all constructs in the intended research model. The suitability of the measurement model was analyzed by performing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data using AMOS-24.

The results of the overall direct effect indicate a significant influence of subjective knowledge on perceived service quality, perceived service quality significantly and positively influences psychological engagement; psychological engagement was found to be an important predictor of consumer behavioral loyalty.

The results offer information for nonprofit sports club (NPSC) managers who seek to increase the attractiveness and retention of their clubs' members by establishing the importance of subjective consumer knowledge.

Identity, positioning and possibilities intersect differently for South Asian women in white academia. Within a broader migrant community that defines Australian life, these identities and positioning imply great possibility, but pursuing such pathways within academia is a walk on the last strand of resilience. This paper explores this tension of possibilities and constraints, using hope theory to highlight the cognitive resistance evident in the narratives of three South Asian women in Australian academia.

The authors use collaborative autoethnography to share their narratives of working in Australian universities at three different stages of careers, utilising Snyder's model of hope theory to interrogate their own goal-setting behaviours, pathways and agentic thinking.

The authors propose that hope as a cognitive state informs resistance and enables aspirations to contribute within academia in meaningful ways whilst navigating the terrain of inequitable structures.

The authors' use of hope theory as a lens on the intersectional experiences of career making, building and progression is a new contribution to scholarship on marginalised women in white academe and the ways in which the pathways of resistance are identified.

The purpose of this study was to establish the cause-effect relationship between determinants of trust in the buyer–supplier integration and the procurement performance of large manufacturing firms in Tanzania.

The study surveyed 52 firms from Temeke Municipality, Tanzania using questionnaire subjected to one procurement manager and one stores manager tallying a sample size of 104 respondents. Explanatory design was employed due to the presence of cause–effect relationship and the null hypotheses were tested using binary logistic regression technique at p values < 0.05 and ExpB > 1.

Mutual goals, geographical vicinity among partners, and supplier reliability are significant for the procurement performance of the manufacturing firms in Tanzania, whereas interpersonal and inter-organizational trusts and perceived buyers’ confidence are of no significant impact.

Buyer–supplier integration is a recently embraced and paramount practice for the manufacturing firms in Tanzania. Therefore, longitudinal study would further add value. The presence of the causality from the tested hypothesis appeals for the necessity of progress tracking.

Causality has been established, and a framework has been developed for the performance of large manufacturing firms using trust of buyer–supplier integration.

There shall be creation of more employment opportunities and timely availability of materials from large manufacturing firms in Tanzania.

Anchored on transaction cost economics and resource dependency theories, the study disclosed the root cause of procurement performance in the context of manufacturing firms in Tanzania whilst considering trust as a resource advantage of buyer–supplier integration.

Although succession planning can be important for the continuity of family firms, not all family business have the opportunity to engage in this planning. Sometimes, these organizations face crisis events that may trigger an intra-family succession. However, what happens when there is an unplanned succession? Are family businesses doomed to fail? This project aims to explore unplanned successions that are triggered by crisis and the impact that this can have on post-succession financial performance. The authors also examine the moderating role of successor characteristics (i.e. education and previous work experience) on this relationship.

The ideas were tested using data from 151 publicly listed family firms in China.

The findings indicate that having a crisis driven intra-family succession does not always result in lower post-succession performance. It is only successions that are triggered by market crises that negatively impact financial performance after the unplanned succession. In these instances, the education and previous experience of the successor moderate the negative relationship between market crisis succession and financial performance such that having more experience and a college education diminishes these negative effects on performance.

The results point to the importance of the preparation of the next generation in helping family firms navigate unplanned successions. The findings indicate that education and previous work experience of the successor can help a family firm manage a crisis.

This study continues to build the understanding about unplanned successions and the important role that successor preparation can have for the success of the family firm.

The study proposes to empirically test a model that illustrates how identical elements (IEs), transfer design and trainer performance as training predictors affect trainees' motivation to improve work through learning (MTIWL) and training transfer (TT) in the Indian context.

An online survey was conducted to validate the study model. The quantitative data collected from 360 executives and managers were analyzed using the covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) technique.

The study finds that trainees' MTIWL has a full mediation impact between transfer design, trainer performance and TT. However, a partial mediating impact of MTIWL was found between IEs and TT.

This is the first study that empirically explores the mediating mechanism of MTIWL between IEs, transfer design, trainer performance and TT. This study extends the current understanding of trainees' MTIWL that links the cumulative influence of training predictors to TT.

Williams and Williams (2012, 2017) find multiple entrepreneurial motivations are experienced by entrepreneurs in deprived areas at different points in time. Drawing on this prior work this study aims to explore how and why the shifted motivations evolve, as well as, what factors cause this change in deprived areas. The work draws upon temporal motivational theory (TMT) that considers the influence of individuals' needs in determining their time-sensitive motivation.

Six semi-structured interviews with actual entrepreneurs are used to collect qualitative data from deprived areas of Nottingham, which is one of the most deprived cities in the UK. The study employs Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to consider each entrepreneurial endeavour as a unique journey to investigate the shifting of motivations.

A polarization is found in terms of how entrepreneurial motivations evolve in deprived areas. In considering the first task-specific entrepreneurial motivation, time plays a role either in accumulating job dissatisfaction and increasing confidence led by accumulated experience, or in creating random chances that enable individuals to realize that they are able to use existing skills and experiences to start a business. Regarding the second task-specific entrepreneurial motivation when the business becomes more established, it is usually stimulated by increased confidence based on perceived progress. The use of self-help methods and downward comparison found in this study should be noted as they help to re-consider individuals' needs in deprived areas.

This study produces a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon of the time effect on shifted motivation at different entrepreneurial phases in a deprived context, which contributes to enrich theoretical knowledge and raise policymakers' awareness of entrepreneurial motivations from these marginalized groups.

The purpose of this study is to examine well-being messaging on Instagram to understand what constitutes transformative social media advertising with potential to enhance consumer lives and create change at a community and societal level.

A novel-phased approach using transformative advertising research and positive psychology is adopted for an in-depth examination of Lululemon, a well-being brand advocate. The study combines secondary case data, analysis of brand messaging on Instagram, interviews with brand followers, and six months of Instagram posts consumer responses.

Four themes – inspiring personal journeys and potential, encouraging mindfulness and gratitude, supporting connection and community and advancing diversity and equity – are used to develop a typology of well-being advertising message elements on Instagram.

This study contributes to the call for research on transformative advertising by establishing that Instagram is a powerful platform for well-being messages, particularly from brands committed to social issues. Practical implications for brands and avenues for future research are provided.