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This paper aims to investigate delegation decisions in supply chains, exploring the metaphor that consumers who make environmentally and socially responsible choices are equivalent to voters in an election.

This theoretical paper relies on the principles of agency theory to shed light on fundamental challenges that shape our ability to transform supply chains.

This paper unravels two puzzles linked to delegation decisions within sustainable supply chains. It shows that as firms adopt sustainable production systems, their ability to convey relevant information that convinces consumers to enter in a delegation relationship diminishes, ceteris paribus; and once a delegation relationship is established, complementarity within the dimensions of the contract is necessary to guarantee the delivery of sustainability attributes.

The findings of this paper offer insights that can inspire empirical research on sustainable supply chain management.

Policymakers and entrepreneurs willing to incentivize the transformation of supply chains must think about the nature of the relationship between firms and consumers. This paper provides a metaphor that can help practitioners to reinterpret their role as providers or consumers of products and services with sustainability attributes.

This paper provides insights that may enhance the understanding of how individual consumption decisions may contribute to transforming supply chains.

This paper expands the repertoire of theoretical tools that can be applied to study the emergence and resilience of sustainable supply chains.

Work-based learning is critical for enhancing employees’ skills and contributing to the firm’s performance. This paper aims to establish the effects of needs assessment on the relationship between training intensity as part of learning and how employees’ skills are reflected in firm performance.

The paper used the World Bank Tanzania Employees Skills Survey (TESS) dataset, which contains 424 firms. This paper estimated the moderated mediation model through partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and employed the index of moderated mediation to determine if the model was correctly specified.

The results show that among three skills, i.e. technical, interpersonal/communication and work ethic skills, only the level of technical skills mediated the relationship between training and the firm’s performance. The index of moderated mediation suggests a threshold point for the firm’s training needs, above which the indirect effect of training on performance through technical skills starts to decrease. The negative correlation between the firm’s training needs and the indirect effect suggests that employees’ essential human capital qualities, viewed from the angle of their training needs, are among the key factors for executing effective training.

This paper’s conceptual model is limited because it does not incorporate an education variable for the trained employees. In addition, it only conceptualized the perceived most important skills of interpersonal communication, technical skills and work ethic, despite there being other skills that could have been considered. Moreover, the data only measured the present skill level at three on the Likert scale, providing limited room for skill level variance.

Those who decide which training programme deserves priority given limited resources and the firm’s goals need to understand that training is an addition to what their employees already have and, thus, should make extra efforts to equip them with more knowledge relating to their assignments. Moreover, this understanding should extend to the employees themselves.

The paper introduced and showed the necessity of training needs assessment to increase the value of training in enhancing the firm’s performance. We propose a model for assessing training intensity through process analysis. The respective model depicts a threshold point for the firm’s training needs, below which the training will work.

The paper uses key themes from Fox’s writing to reflect on the wave of public sector industrial action that developed in the UK since the early 2020s: specifically the relevance of (1) radical pluralism, (2) historical context, (3) understanding the effects of high inflation and (4) (a breakdown of) trust relations.

The paper draws primarily on evidence from broad public debate but is informed by discussions held with senior union leaders both for a research project and in delivering development training.

Radical pluralism is used as a lens through which to understand declining trust in institutions of pluralist collective industrial relations in the UK public sector, arguing that current developments need to be understood in historical context. An analysis of the industrial action in the early 2020s highlights the ways that a period of high inflation can stress institutions of collective employment regulation, rendering visible the limits of conventional, pluralist industrial relations.

The paper could be extended by more detailed empirical data collection, both in the UK and other national institutional contexts.

Unions need to more consistently focus on issues of power. A stronger focus on power might identify the limitations of pluralist institutions of collective regulation and embed a commitment to building union influence to challenge those existing structures in favour of mechanisms to build workers' power more broadly.

Understanding these disputes as, at least in part, being about the limits to and undermining of trust in collective institutions that regulate work and employment allows us to better understand the forces at play and potential outcomes of these disputes.

The paper makes three key contributions: first, applying Fox’s work in a practical way to contemporary UK industrial relations; second, extending his analyses to public sector industrial relations and third, arguing that power needs to be more centrally located within union objectives in order to reshape industrial relations to radical pluralist ends.

All presidential and legislative candidates want to be the winner. However, they do not know the determinants of voters' reasons for making choices. This study aims to investigate the role of education level, political party brand reputation, religiosity brand personality and e-WOM on voters' decisions with implications for voters' loyalty.

The survey method was used to collect data from 1206 respondents who have the right to vote through offline and online using Google forms shared on social media platforms—data analysis using Structural Equation Modeling using the SmartPLS 4.0 program.

The results showed that Brand Reputation of Politics can encourage brand Religious Personality and e-WOM. Brand Religious Personality is a factor that causes the decision to vote. However, the level of education is not a determining factor for Brand Religious Personality and e-WOM. In addition, brand religious personality, e-WOM and Decision to vote can mediate Brand Reputation of Political loyalty.

The findings from this study can help political parties and candidates develop strategies tailored to voters' needs and increase their chances of winning elections.

The novelty in this study is the development of a model that has never been tested before that uses factor sources from marketing science literacy such as Brand, e-WOM and Loyalty. This study also used moderation variables namely choosing decisions, e-WOM, and religious brand personality. The object of this research was conducted in Indonesia, which is included in the list of developing countries but has never been done in any country. The analysis tool uses the new SEM-PLS version 4.0, so it has a level of novelty and implications that are important for political marketing.

Librarians need to effectively communicate the need for space, resources and personnel, even in service or technical positions, yet librarians often lack formal leadership or strategy training on how to be most effective in advocating for the library. This paper presents the Five Finger Model as a communication strategy for training librarians on advocacy.

In order to show how the Five Finger Model can be helpful, we have included two case examples from our own work contexts, which are in academic libraries. We also present guidance on how to train library staff on the model.

In one example, the model was used for advocating for the library as part of the campus-level strategic planning process. In another example, the model was used to effectively market research consultations. These examples highlight how the Five Finger Model can help the communicator stay on topic and use personal stories to have a strong advocacy effect.

This paper is unique in that it shows how staff training on advocacy can be impactful and useful. We believe that putting tools like the Five Finger Model into the hands of staff not only improves their effectiveness but also empowers them to see their role as true advocates for the library.

This study investigates the dynamic interdependence between Islamic and conventional stock markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies and the influence of global financial uncertainties on this interconnection.

The study employs the time-varying parameter vector autoregressions (TVP-VAR) technique and analyzes daily data from December 1, 2008 to July 14, 2021.

The research reveals robust interconnectedness within individual countries between Islamic and conventional stock markets, particularly during crises. Islamic stock markets exhibit greater susceptibility to spillover effects compared to conventional stocks. The UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) stock markets are identified as net transmitters of spillovers, while Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait receive more spillovers than they transmit. Global financial uncertainty measures (GVZ, USEPU and UKEPU) positively influence financial market interconnectedness, with EVZ exhibiting a negative impact while VIX and OVX remain statistically insignificant.

Investors and portfolio managers in Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait should carefully evaluate the UAE and KSA markets before making investment decisions due to the latter's role as net transmitters in the region. Additionally, it is emphasized that Islamic and conventional stocks should not be considered interchangeable asset classes for risk hedging.

Investors must be aware that Islamic and conventional stocks cannot be used as an alternative asset class to hedge risk.

The present article offers valuable insights for practitioners and researchers delving into the comparative analysis of Islamic and conventional stock markets within the GCC context. It enhances our comprehension of the dynamic interdependence between Islamic and conventional stock markets in the GCC economies and the impact of global financial uncertainties on this intricate relationship.

By focussing on the anticipated emotional reactions of volunteers and drawing on theories of motivation and identity, this study investigates how volunteers react to different options of the entrepreneurial model of Amigos for Children Foundation (ACF). The paper proposes a hypothetical model for volunteer’s emotional reactions to potential business model changes. We suggest the relative importance of intrinsic motivational factors, professional identity and attitudes towards business organisations as mediating variables. ACF works exclusively with university students as volunteers, so their specific characteristics may limit some of the conclusions and propositions of this qualitative research, but public policy consequences of supporting similar entrepreneurial transitions can be generally relevant.

Based on the qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with volunteers of ACF, a Hungarian non-profit organisation, we explore the challenges of transitioning into a social enterprise.

Previous research showed controversial results about the impact of pay on the motivations of volunteers. For a non-profit organisation that would like to utilise the competencies of its volunteers, introducing a market-based service may mean additional financial resources and the potential loss of human resources. Understanding the moderating factors of volunteers' reactions might help build better theories for managing the non-profit-social enterprise transition and designing public policies to support scaling up the impact of successful social purpose organisations.

For practitioners, the research underlines the importance of participatory mechanisms in volunteer management. By managing transitions better, non-profit organisations can expand their social impact by acquiring more financial resources through market-based activities closely related to their original activities and keeping their volunteers. The study elucidates the relevance of the crowding-out effect and indicates some hypothetical moderating variables influencing its potential degree.

This paper aims to illustrate, by means of a content analysis of 278 weekly School Meeting minutes, the ways in which student voice is actualized in one democratic free school in Germany.

This paper uses a qualitative content analysis methodology of 278 weekly School Meetings minutes.

This paper uses Fielding’s (2012) patterns of partnership typology to illustrate what counts as student voice and participation in a democratic free school.

Limitations included being reliant on translations of German texts, some missing minutes from the entire set, the lack of a single author for the minutes (and thus degree of detail differs) and the fact that the School Meeting minutes make reference to other meetings for various sub-committees for which no minutes exist, and thus, findings on the degree of student voice may be limited. And because this is a study of one school, generalizability may be difficult. Future research into these sub-committee meetings would prove helpful as well as content analyses of other democratic free schools’ meeting minutes.

This study can help people more deeply understand what goes on in democratic free schools and what student voice and participation can mean within this context.

Modular capacity units enable rapid reconfiguration, providing tactical flexibility to efficiently meet customer demand during disruptions and ensuring sustainability. Moreover, the Physical Internet (PI) enhances the potential of modular capacity in addressing efficiency, sustainability, and resilience challenges. To evaluate the sustainability and resilience advantages of the PI-enabled reconfigurable modular system (PI-M system), this paper studies a PI-enabled sustainable and resilient production-routing problem with modular capacity.

We develop a multi-objective optimization model to assess the sustainability and resilience benefits of combining PI and modular capacity in a chemical industry case study. A hybrid solution approach, combining the augmented e-constraint method, construction heuristic, and hybrid adaptive large neighborhood search, is developed.

The experimental results reveal that the proposed solution approach is capable of obtaining better solutions than the Gurobi and the existing heuristic in a shorter running time. Moreover, compared with the traditional system, the PI only and traditional with modular capacity systems, PI-M system has significant advantages in both sustainability and resilience.

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to integrate the PI and modular capacity and investigate sustainability and resilience in the production-routing problem.

While the determinants of voluntary political spending disclosure have been extensively studied in the literature, there remains a lack of clear evidence regarding the specific impacts of managerial ability and political risk on such disclosure. Thus, the purpose of this study is to shed light on whether and how managerial ability and political risk influence firms’ political spending disclosure.

This study uses a sample of 2,242 firm-year observations of S&P 500 companies between 2013 and 2021.

This study finds that firms with high-ability managers generally disclose more information about political spending. This positive relationship between managerial ability and political spending disclosure holds even after conducting additional tests to address potential endogeneity concerns. Furthermore, this study finds that firms operating in high-risk political environments also exhibit a greater propensity to disclose information regarding their political spending. The results remain robust to alternative measures of managerial ability and political risk.

This study suggests that when designing policy to motivate firms to disclose political spending information, policy makers need to be aware of the critical role of managerial ability and idiosyncratic political risk the firm faces. In addition, this study offers insights to shareholders, advocacy groups, regulators and academics interested in understanding the determinants of political spending disclosure.

This study is among the first to provide empirical evidence that political spending disclosure can be explained by managerial ability and political risk. In addition, this study complements the literature on the consequences of managerial ability and political risk. Focusing on voluntary political spending disclosure, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the factors shaping the overall corporate information environment.