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The purpose of this paper is to synthesize insights from the emerging work in accounting on greenwashing and sustainability assurance and propose an agenda for future research in this area.

This article offers an original analysis of papers published on greenwashing and sustainability assurance research in the field of accounting. It adopts a systematic literature review and a narrative approach to analyse the dominant themes and key findings in this new and rapidly evolving field. From this overview, specific avenues for future research are identified.

In the past few years there has been a substantial spike in concern relating to greenwashing among academics, practitioners, regulators and society. This growing concern has only partly been reflected in the research literature. To date, research has primarily focused on: (1) the characteristics of firms adopting sustainability assurance, (2) the challenges facing sustainability auditors, (3) the development of appropriate assurance standards and regulations, and (4) capital market responses to greenwashing and sustainability auditing/assurance. Three key future research issues with respect to greenwashing are identified: (1) the future of standard-setter attempts to regulate greenwashing, (2) professional jockeying in sustainability reporting assurance, and (3) capital market opportunities and challenges relating to greenwashing and assurance.

Despite the profound economic and reputational impact of greenwashing and the rapid development of sustainability assurance services, research in accounting remains fragmented and emergent. This review identifies avenues offering considerable scope for inter-disciplinarity and bridging the divide between academia and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to explore multiple perspectives on managerial coaching: why and how managers engage, employees and human resource development (HRD) professionals’ perspectives on the use and how HRD and managers can better support each other with it.

This study used secondary analysis of empirical data already collected through a transnational study from 20 different medium-size to large organisations in the Netherlands, the UK and the USA. For this study, 58 interviews referring to coaching were analysed from 18 of these organisations, from these 3 different countries and from 3 stakeholder groups: managers, employees and HRD professionals.

Findings show that managers perform a variety of “on the job” informal coaching roles and that HRD professionals lead the more formal aspects. Managers felt that HRD support was limited and hoped for more. A limited number of employees mentioned coaching, but those that did highlighted the different types of coaching they received in the workplace, referring to managers but with little recognition of HRD’s role. HRD professionals shared how they support managers through both informal and formal coaching approaches, but this was not fully acknowledged by neither managers nor employees.

The findings of this study contribute to the literature on devolved HRD practices, highlighting that managers are engaging more in managerial coaching with their teams, that potentially employees are not that aware of this and that managers and employees are not fully aware of HRD’s contribution to supporting coaching and feel they could do more. As a result, this study suggests that HRD professionals have a clear role to play in creating and leading the supportive organisational culture for coaching to thrive, not only in setting the “coaching scene” for managers to work within but also through offering support for long-term capacity building for all employees.

Through the diffusion of key HRD activities into managerial roles, and while internal coaching is gaining more momentum, managers now step up when coaching their teams. This study extends the limited prior research on managers’ and others’ (employees and HRD) beliefs about the coaching role in the workplace. This study highlights the changing role of the manager, the need for HRD to offer more support for the joint role that managers are taking (manager and coach) and the partnership potential for HRD professionals to include all stakeholders including employees.

Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, most employees worked from their employers' offices, and new team members were integrated into their roles through standard onboarding procedures. However, in response to the pandemic, organizations quickly reestablished new remote onboarding strategies. As hybrid employment gains popularity, the onboarding process has been affected by the digital transformation (DT) phenomenon, and organizations must now implement remote strategies to onboard new employees.

In this context, by considering the major changes that happen in the field, the purpose of this article is to provide a literature review of the onboarding process (OP), using the context-interventions-mechanisms-outcomes framework.

The review identifies four mechanisms describing the complexity of the OP and the impact of DT: basic onboarding, advanced onboarding, integration of newcomers and remote onboarding.

The findings have implications for both HR professionals concerned with onboarding strategy, and researchers studying the OP.

This study aims to determine the effects of sexism and unfavourable job conditions on women's mental and physical wellbeing in construction operations. In addition, this study will establish the mediating role of work morale in the association between workplace challenges and wellbeing.

Data for this study were obtained from women working in office environments, onsite professionals and those in trades. A total of 65 participants responded to the survey. The partial least square structural equation modelling method was applied to validate the measurement model and test the hypotheses.

The findings demonstrate that benevolent and hostile sexism directly influences work morale and indirectly affects women's mental and physical wellbeing in the construction industry. Hostile sexism is the most significant challenge for female construction workers in New Zealand.

The finding is theory-building and challenges the assumptions that the nature of the construction industry has a bearing on the mental and physical health of women in construction. In addition, the finding is useful for creating positive work environments that are both inclusive and empathetic to the diverse needs of the modern-day construction workforce. Thus, reducing the challenges experienced by construction women's workforce.

The current study focuses on women and those who identified themselves as such. The conclusions show the relevance of work morale to their mental wellbeing. This exploratory quantitative study contributes to research by advancing understanding of the challenges women face in the industry and the consequences of those challenges on their physical and mental wellbeing.

The purpose of this study is to revisit the conventional wisdom about a key contribution [i.e. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis] in the field of strategic management. The societal context and the role of academics, consultants and executives is taken into account in the emergence of SWOT analysis during the 1960–1980 period as a pivotal development within the broader context of the satisfactory, opportunities, faults, threats (SOFT) approach. The authors report on both the content and the approach, so that other scholars seeking to invigorate indigenous theories and/or underreported strategy practices will thrive.

Applying a historiographic approach, the authors introduce an evidence-based methodology for interpreting historical sources. This methodology incorporates source criticism, triangulation and hermeneutical interpretation, drawing upon insights from robust evidence through three iterative stages.

The underreporting of the SOFT approach/SWOT analysis can be attributed to several factors, including strategy tools being integrated into planning frameworks rather than being published as standalone materials; restricted circulation of crucial long-range planning service/theory and practice of planning reports due to copyright limitations; restricted access to the Stanford Research Institute Planning Library in California; and the enduring popularity of SOFT and SWOT variations, driven in part by their memorable acronyms.

In the spirit of a renaissance in strategic planning research, the authors unveil novel theoretical and social connections in the emergence of SWOT analysis by combining evidence from both theory and practice and delving into previously unexplored areas.

Caution is advised for scholars who examine the discrete time frame of 1960–1980 through mere bibliometric techniques. This study underscores the risks associated with gathering incomplete and/or inaccurate data, emphasizing the importance of triangulating evidence beyond scholarly databases. The paradigm shift of strategic management research due to the advent of large language models poses new challenges and the risk of conserving and perpetuating academic urban legends, myths and lies if training data is not adequately curated.

This study aims to explore the provision of accounting ethics education in Ethiopian accounting programs through structuration theory.

A qualitative case study methodology was used, and data were collected through semistructured interviews with faculty members, practitioners and regulatory bodies. The interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Accounting curricula were also analyzed to triangulate and support the findings.

The study revealed a significant gap in the status of accounting ethics education, primarily attributed to a misunderstanding of its importance. While faculty initiatives and student interest have partially mitigated this gap, systemic challenges such as rigid curricula, a lack of awareness and commitment, resource constraints and limited stakeholders’ support persisted. A combined approach to accounting ethics education is required to foster ethical behavior. Hence, the structuration theory highlighted how meanings, power dynamics and norms and values constrained and enabled the provision of accounting ethics education.

The study emphasized the need for stakeholders to influence policymakers’ perceptions regarding the significance of accounting ethics education. The study also provided empirical support for structuration theory. Future research should involve cross-cultural comparisons and explore the ethical behavior of accounting professionals using diverse research designs to highlight the gaps and inform effective educational interventions.

This study contributes to the theoretical application of structuration theory in accounting ethics education. It underscores the critical role of comprehensive curricular reforms, stakeholder engagement and resource allocation.

Despite the interest in leaders' identity work as a framework for leadership development, coaching psychology has yet to expose its active ingredients and outcomes.

To do so, the authors reconcile published systematic literature reviews (SLRs) in the field to arrive at a more thorough understanding of the role of identity work in coaching. A total of 60 eligible SLRs on identity work and coaching were identified between 2010 and 2022. Four were included in the data extraction after selecting and screening, and the full texts of 196 primary studies reported therein were analysed.

Amongst the coachee-related factors of effective coaching, the coachee’s motivation, general self-efficacy beliefs, personality traits and goal orientation were the most frequently reported active ingredients, and performance improvement, self-awareness and goal specificity were the most frequently supported outcomes. The analysis indicates that leaders' identity work, as an active ingredient, can be a moderator variable for transformative coaching interventions, while strengthening leadership role identity could be one of the lasting outcomes because coaching interventions facilitate, deconstruct and enhance leaders' identity work. Further research is needed to explore the characteristics of these individual, relational and collective processes.

This study adds value by synthesising SLRs that report coachee-related active ingredients and outcomes of executive coaching research. It demonstrates that the role of leaders' identity work is a neglected factor affecting coaching results and encourages coaching psychologists to apply identity framework in their executive coaching practice.

This paper investigates the moderated mediation roles of dynamic capabilities and self-initiated AI learning between job crafting and entrepreneurial innovativeness among owner-managers of family craft businesses in Ghana.

A convenience sampling technique was used in the selection of 498 family craft business owner-managers in Ghana. The paper deployed regression analysis to examine the hypothesized paths.

Using hierarchical regression, job crafting was found to have a positive effect on entrepreneurs’ innovativeness. Further, dynamic capabilities moderate the mediated link between self-initiated AI learning and entrepreneurial innovativeness.

The current study assesses self-initiated learning for work adjustment from a cross-sectional design perspective. Though, this research design is effective in the assessment of opinions and attitudes of persons, it is limited in its capacity to reflect changing opinions and attitudes overtime. This study recommends future studies to conduct a longitudinal survey on the phenomenon.

This study is one of the first to deploy AI affordances to extend empirical literature on the novel SIWAL concept for work adjustment among craft family business owner-managers in Africa.

Financial reports are the basis of economic decisions that affect organizational interests and shareholders. However, there is a severe research gap concerning the factors affecting the quality of financial information (such as audit report readability and tone). Therefore, considering the importance of presenting high-quality financial information, this study aims to investigate the impact of intellectual capital (IC) and its components on the audit report's readability and tone.

The multivariate regression model tests research hypotheses. Then, hypotheses are tested via a sample of 824 observations of the listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange (103 companies) from 2014 to 2021, using the multivariate regression model based on pooled data and fixed effects.

Results determine that customer capital (CC) and structural capital (SC) are likely to influence the audit report tone positively. In general, the IC and human capital (HC) negatively impact auditors' tone. More analyses also document that IC and its CC, HC and SC components positively and significantly affect audit report readability based on two readability indices, including FOG and text length. Finally, findings pertaining to the third readability index (Flesch index) reveal that only HC and SC are robust based on this measurement, whereas the IC and CC have a negative and significant impact on the readability of auditors’ reports.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to address this issue in emerging markets, and it provides helpful insights for users, analysts and legal institutions regarding IC, which significantly affects audit report readability and tone.

The authors investigate the adoption of nomination committees in Australia and identify the managerial power perspective as one explanation for firms not establishing nomination committees. A positive outcome of establishing a nomination committee from the perspective of board diversity is also examined.

The authors adopt an archival approach by collecting data for firms listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) during the period 2010 to 2018. The authors establish the prevalence of nomination committees for small medium and large Australian firms. Regression analyses are used to determine whether the power of the chief executive officer (CEO) influences the adoption of a nomination committee. The association between having nomination committee and board diversity is also analyzed using regression analyses.

Less than half of firms adopt a nomination committee. Larger firms are more likely to adopt a nomination committee than medium and smaller sized firms. Firms with less powerful CEOs are more likely to adopt a nomination committee. Adoption of a nomination committee is also associated with greater board tenure dispersion and board gender diversity in medium and smaller sized firms.

Evidence on nomination committees provides original research that extends previous research focusing on the audit, risk and remuneration committees and samples restricted to large firms. The nomination committee has an important role to play in the appointment of directors yet limited evidence exists of the adoption rate, explanation for non-adoption and benefits of adoption. The authors add to this evidence.