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The privacy paradox refers to the situation where users of online services continue to disclose personal information even when they are concerned about their privacy. One recent study of Facebook users published in Internet Research concludes that laziness contributes to the privacy paradox. The purpose of this study is to challenge the laziness explanation. To do so, we adopt a cognitive dispositions perspective and examine how a person’s external locus of control influences the privacy paradox, beyond the trait of laziness.

A mixed method approach is adopted. We first develop a research model which hypothesises the moderating effects of both laziness and external locus of control on privacy issues. We quantitatively test the research model through a two-phase survey of 463 Facebook users using the Hayes PROCESS macro. We then conduct a qualitative study to verify and develop the findings from the quantitative phase.

The privacy paradox holds true. The findings confirm the significant influence of external locus of control on the privacy paradox. While our quantitative findings suggest laziness does not affect the association between privacy concerns and self-disclosure, our qualitative data does provide some support for the laziness explanation.

Our study extends existing research by showing that a person’s external locus of control provides a stronger explanation for the privacy paradox than the laziness perspective. As such, this study further reveals the boundary conditions on which the privacy paradox exists for some users of social networking sites, but not others. Our study also suggests cognitive dissonance coping strategies, which are largely absent in prior investigations, may influence the privacy paradox.

This study uses autoethnography to examine the impact of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 on policing and public health in the UK. Bridging the gap between scholarly discourse and practical law enforcement insights, this paper aims to highlight the cognitive dissonance experienced by frontline officers when using policing methods that conflict with evidence-based practices and personal values. It critiques routine police procedures, highlighting the ineffectiveness of criminal sanctions in reducing drug offences and the resultant damage to community trust and police legitimacy.

Using autoethnography and critical reflection that combines personal narrative and ethnographic observation, this paper presents a practitioner's perspective on the challenges of enforcing low-level drug offences. It integrates the author's experiences as a neighbourhood police officer in Camden Town, London, with theoretical analysis to highlight the practical realities of drug law enforcement at the intersection of law enforcement and public health.

This research reveals contradictions between current drug law enforcement strategies and public health objectives, and the consequences for law enforcement. It highlights the risks of limiting police discretion and preventing their ability to respond appropriately to complex needs. The paper emphasises the need for public health and trauma-informed policing strategies to mitigate the adverse effects on vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.

Improved public health outcomes: prioritising treatment and support over punishment. Adoption of trauma-informed practices: reducing marginalisation, stigma and improved experiences of police interaction. Improved trust and legitimacy: when the public perceive policing as fair and aligned with community values, it strengthens procedural justice and police legitimacy. Enhanced officer well-being: an improved working environment and experience, through more meaningful, impactful work and improved interactions and relationships with the public. Policy change: policymakers should recognise the discretionary role of police when developing drug policy and acknowledge the risks associated with enforcement approaches that conflict with community needs and broader policing objectives.

Offering a novel critique of prohibitionist drug policies within the British context, this paper advocates for a cultural shift towards public health and trauma-informed approaches in UK policing. It emphasises the importance of recognising police officers' discretionary role as “citizen-agents” and the integration law enforcement approaches with harm reduction initiatives for enhanced procedural justice and police legitimacy.

Peer mentoring programs in higher education settings support incoming students in their transition and adaptation to college life. Mentoring program evaluation research primarily focuses on student outcomes and documents mentoring relationship quality (MRQ) as an important component of programs that facilitate change. The current study examines MRQ in a college peer mentoring program and explores its association with mentors’ and mentees’ perceptions of family relationships.

The sample included 629 first-year students (Mage = 18.4 and 54.2% female) and 88 mentors (Mage = 20.6 and 65.9% female). Each mentor was matched with eight to 10 incoming students in the same department. Dyadic data were collected prior to the program (pre-test) and at the end of the fall semester (mid-program) and spring semester (post-test). At pre-test assessment, mentors and mentees rated their family relationships, perceived trust, loyalty, and fairness in their families. At follow-up assessments, mentees reported their MRQ, mentoring duration, and mentoring activities.

A multilevel modeling analysis revealed that mentees’ and mentors’ perceptions of loyalty in their families predicted higher levels of MRQ at the end of the program. However, mentors’ perceived trust in their families was negatively associated with MRQ.

This study adds to the youth mentoring literature by focusing on family-of-origin experiences of both mentors and mentees from a dyadic and relational perspective. These findings have implications for future research and the practice of formal mentoring programs in college settings.

This article introduces the Responsible AI for Service Excellence (RAISE) framework. RAISE is a strategic framework for responsibly integrating AI into service industries. It emphasizes collaborative AI design and deployment that aligns with the evolving global standards and societal well-being while promoting business success and sustainable development.

This multidisciplinary conceptual article draws upon the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and AI ethics guidelines to lay out three principles for practicing RAISE: (1) Embrace AI to serve the greater good, (2) Design and deploy responsible AI and (3) Practice transformative collaboration with different service organizations to implement responsible AI.

By acknowledging the potential risks and challenges associated with AI usage, this article provides practical recommendations for service entities (i.e. service organizations, policymakers, AI developers, customers and researchers) to strengthen their commitment to responsible and sustainable service practices.

This is the first service research article to discuss and provide specific practices for leveraging responsible AI for service excellence.

This paper aims to validate a broader conceptualization of ethical leadership and a matching measurement scale (BELS) using survey data from 909 public servants in leadership positions in the Netherlands.

The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (using AMOS) and exploratory factor analysis were carried out with repeated CFA. A social desirability scale was used to check for model fitness.

Our findings support the notion that ethical leadership is broader in conceptualization and hence reject the theories that limit the role of ethical leaders within the confines of organizations. This study confirms that attributes like sustainability, leadership learning, ethical competency, diversity and resilience are part of ethical leadership. Such characteristics could not be measured with previous scales for ethical leadership. Also, ethical leadership is not separate from associated leadership styles.

A self-assessment scale for leaders was used for this study. Although there is no indication of social desirability bias, future research can also focus on follower assessments of their leaders. This study only focuses on the public sector context only.

Our results suggest that ethical leadership contains more subvalues than in the seminal definition. This study has, therefore, corroborated a broader definition of ethical leadership.

This study indicates the need for ethical leadership to be studied and assessed using a broader conceptualization and measurement scale.

This study examines the effect of non-audit fees (NAF) provisions on interest payments classification shifting. In addition, we investigate to what extent the NAF economic bonding and interest payments classification shifting is contingent on internal governance and firm financial well-being.

This study employed probit regression using a sample of UK non-financial firms indexed in FT UK (500) over the period from 2009 to 2017.

We find evidence that the economic bonding of NAF between external auditors and their clients is more likely to encourage managers in UK firms to manipulate operating cash flows through interest payment classification shifting. In addition, and interestingly, our results evince that classification-shifting may be the less costly and soft choice of managers in firms with strong governance and charging higher NAF. Furthermore, we show that financially distressed firms associated with their auditors in purchasing non-audit services are more prone to attempting to manipulate and engage in interest payments classification-shifting. Our result did not provide a significant effect of external auditor tenure on the interest payments classification shifting.

Our findings are subject to the following limitations: First, this study uses a composite index to measure the quality of internal corporate governance. It focuses only on the board of directors, but this index does not reflect other internal governance mechanisms. Second, this study is subject to limited study time due to the implementation of key IFRS standards (IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IFRS 15 Revenue from Contract with Customers) from 2018–2019.

This study was motivated by the UK’s Financial Reporting Council regulators' pressure on the Big 4 audit firms to move more audit time into main auditing activities, reduce cross-selling to audit clients and separate their audit practices by 2024. Overall, we provide new evidence that directs a close spotlight on the threats of NAF that are potentially useful to regulators, shareholders and investors.

It is motivated by the UK’s Financial Reporting Council regulators' pressure on the Big 4 to move more audit firm time into main auditing activities, reduce cross-selling to audit clients and separate their audit practices by 2024. Overall, we provide new evidence that directs a close spotlight on the threats of NAS that are potentially useful to regulators, shareholders and investors.

This study aims to examine the effect of audit firm tenure (AFT) on corporate tax avoidance (CTA) and the moderating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The sample comprises 41,074 firm-year observations from 32 countries from 2015 to 2020, for which data are collected from various sources: financial data from the Refinitiv database, country corporate tax rates from the Tax Foundation, and other country-level data from the World Bank database. The authors use the book tax difference to measure CTA and multiple proxies for AFT.

This study finds that a longer AFT is associated with higher CTA, confirming the notion that long AFT impairs auditor independence. The findings remain robust when considering various AFT proxies, incorporating Hofstede’s cultural factors, using weighted least-squares estimation and addressing endogeneity through propensity score matching. This study also finds a non-linear relationship between extended client and auditor relationships and CTA, supporting the mandatory audit firm rotation regulation and increasing investors’ caution regarding the consequences of extended client–auditor relationships on firm behaviour.

This study offers new evidence on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the link between AFT and CTA and documents a non-linear relationship between AFT, which has not been addressed in prior studies.

The findings of this study have several significant practical implications. First, governments and policymakers gain insights into the consequences of extended auditor–client relationships, hence calling for a review of auditing and taxation regulations. Second, the findings provide important insights into the issue of auditor independence, especially during long engagements and crises such as COVID-19. Finally, investors and tax authorities should be more cautious about the risks of aggressive tax avoidance during crisis periods.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to use a global data set to investigate the effect of AFT on CTA during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) in Malaysia continue to promote Shari‘ah-compliant business and transactions. As a result, the governors have a lot to think about before issuing any fatwa or ordinance, which impacts the majority of Malaysians. Nevertheless, the point of views from the governors have not been highlighted much. This research seeks to investigate the extent to which the conception of al-Siyasah al-Shar‘iyyah is embraced by Shari‘ah committees’ leadership roles within IFIs. The importance of al-Siyasah al-Shar‘iyyah in decision-making makes abandoning the Shari‘ah principle untenable and its significant role for IFIs in Malaysia cannot be overstated. It serves as a crucial tool for decision-making by authorities and governors.

The objectives of this research are attained by examining diverse sources obtained through library research, encompassing books, journals, newspapers, websites and reports. In addition, to use an analytical method to assess the role of al-Siyasah al-Shar‘iyyah in IFIs pratical, the authors collect information through interviews with five participants actively engaged in Shari‘ah committees within financial institutions, both directly and indirectly.

The research paper concludes that al-Siyasah al-Shar‘iyyah holds significance for Shari‘ah committees in IFIs when providing legal opinions. In situations where existing madhhab-based laws prove insufficient for addressing a particular issue, the Shari‘ah committees will autonomously engage in new ijtihad to ensure effective resolution of the matter.

The implication that could have been resulted from this study is to indicate how Shari‘ah committees in IFIs structuring a set of rules and regulations embedded by al-Siyasah al-Shar‘iyyah elements to produce maṣlaḥaḥ for the ummah. This perspective is barely discussed in depth as Malaysia has unanimous scholars who work in this area. Thus, the authors attempt to bring the discussion academically and express the point of view from governors’ perspective.

In the Malaysian context, where Islamic banks and financial institutions are overseen by Shari‘ah committee members and the Central Bank of Malaysia, this study delves into the practical experiences of governors in carrying out the responsibilities of al-Siyasah al-Shar‘iyyah within the decision-making process. The objective is to investigate the perspectives of Shari‘ah committees when they encounter scenarios where prevailing madhhab opinions prove inadequate in addressing contemporary issues within the country.

This article reports on a study that explored how the Tanzanian government can support the development of research-intensive universities in its higher education system.

Data were collected through document analysis and in-depth semi-structured interviews with participants obtained from national higher education departments, senior university leadership offices and academic staff in both public and private universities.

The study identified four essential systemic elements for developing research-intensive universities (RIUs): diversification of universities based on their core functions, allocation of financial resources according to research performance, relaxation of university governing systems and accrediting universities based on research outcomes.

The study identified essential systemic elements that could address the issue of developing RIUs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). These elements present a potential solution for developing a diverse higher education system capable of sustaining RIUs, offering opportunities to produce innovative knowledge, develop diverse skills and meet the needs of a range of students, employers and businesses.

This study adds to the body of knowledge on how LMICs can develop well-functioning RIUs. The study also contributes to the ongoing debates among higher education stakeholders, including governments, academics, students and the community, on the changing dynamics of higher education and its role in national and regional development.

This study aims to examine the effects of multidimensional factors of platform features, group effects and emotional attitudes on social media users’ privacy disclosure intention.

This study collected the data from 426 respondents through an online questionnaire survey and conducted two approaches of structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) for theoretical hypothesis testing and configuration analysis of the data.

The results show that social media platform features (rewards of information disclosure, personalized service quality and data transparency), group effects (group similarity, group information interaction and network externality), individual emotional attitudes (trust and privacy concern) and control variable (gender) have a significant impact on privacy disclosure intention, as well as trust and privacy concern play mediating roles. Additionally, the fsQCA method reveals five causal configurations that explain high privacy disclosure intentions. Furthermore, the study reveals that male users pay more attention to platform features, while female users are more inclined to group effects.

This study attempts to construct a comprehensive model to examine the factors that affect users' intention to disclose their privacy on social media platforms. Drawing on the cognition-affect-conation model and multidimensional development theory, the model integrates multidimensional factors of platform features, group effects, trust and privacy concern to complement existing theoretical frameworks and privacy disclosure literature. By understanding the complex dynamics behind privacy disclosure, this study helps platform providers and policymakers develop effective strategies to ensure the vitality and momentum of the social media ecosystem.