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This chapter describes a qualitative study provides insights into of how a tertiary institution in Jamaica gave focus to faculty wellbeing and the implementations that catered to their welfare. The human resource (HR) manager was interviewed and a document analysis of the institution’s strategic plan was done. The investigation found that the institution sought to satisfy the different dimensions of faculty wellbeing. However, plans and implementations were sometimes unsuccessful because of a lack of participation and communication from faculty. Faculty members struggled to prioritize their wellbeing because of a lack of time consequent to work demands. The challenges warranted an intentional approach to allow staff more flexibility to engage in wellbeing activities, a fusion of wellbeing interventions without causing faculty to experience additional demands, and a strategic method to reinforce the importance of catering to wellbeing. Additionally, wellbeing implementations should be formalized and systemized to effectively address faculty’s wellbeing needs.

Industrial robots are of great significance to the long-term development of family firms. Drawing on the lens of the principal–principal conflict, this paper aims to investigate the influence of family non-executive directors on robot adoption in Chinese family firms.

This paper selects the family firms in China from 2011 to 2019 as the sample. Furthermore, the authors manually collected the family non-executive directors and constructed the robot adoption variable utilizing data sourced from the International Federation of Robotics. In brief, this paper constructs a comprehensive framework of the mechanisms and additional tests pertaining to the influence of family non-executive directors on robot adoption.

This paper finds that family non-executive directors can promote robot adoption in family firms. The underlying mechanism analysis shows that family non-executive directors promote robot adoption by exerting financial and human effects. This paper further finds that the characteristics of family non-executive directors, such as kinship, differential shareholding and excessive directors, affect the role of family non-executive directors. Finally, robot adoption can improve future performance, and the promotional effect is more evident when family members are non-executive directors.

This paper contributes to the related literature from the following two aspects. Firstly, this paper decomposes the types of family directors to understand the role of family non-executive directors, which challenges the assumption that family board members are homogeneous in family firms. Second, this paper expands the research on the factors that influence robot adoption in emerging economies from the micro-enterprise level. In addition, the findings in this paper have managerial implications for family firms to optimize their strategic decisions with the help of the mode of board right allocation.

One of the two main tasks of innovation leadership, a practice to inspire and enable creativity and innovation in organisations, is to construct a creativity-enabling organisational environment. One form of this main task is using developmental interactions, like mentoring, as innovation leadership practices. A hackathon is one type of innovation contest with three designed phases: pre-hackathon, hackathon event and post-hackathon, involving multiple stakeholders with distinct roles, such as hackers and mentors. In a hackathon, the central activity of mentors is to support the hackers’ innovation process, especially in idea creation and concept development. The mentor role has not been focal in hackathon studies; thus, this chapter addresses the role, impact, and ways to acknowledge the mentors as an integral, contributing innovation leadership practice in hackathons. As an empirical study, this chapter presents the results of a public sector case in a Swedish multi-disciplinary municipality conducting intra-organisational hackathons in three different collocations. The chapter contributes to the literature on innovation leadership at the team level with mentorship in innovation contests in the public sector context by revealing the dual-role tension of innovation leadership in mentor activities in the hackathon event phase from both the hackers’ and mentors’ viewpoints, and the necessity of mentor-benefitting training in pre-hackathon phase.

This study investigates the media activities of firms issuing private equity placements and seasoned equity offerings in Taiwan, as firms have incentives to manage media coverage to influence their stock prices during private equity placement.

We collect a corpus of news stories and transform the news into term sets based on the part of speech. Then, we refer to Cecchini et al. (2010) to classify the news terms into positive, negative, and usual categories. Next, we employ the SVM algorithm to perform the classification tasks and the term frequency method to perform the text mining task. In last, we use a multiple regression model to verify the hypotheses.

We determine that issuing firms in a private placement have substantially more positive news stories and fewer negative news stories than those in public offerings. Furthermore, we evidence that the media management effects of postequity issues are more active than those of preequity issues. Finally, our results demonstrate that the timing and content of financial media coverage among different equity issuance methods may be biased by firm management. According to previous studies, they may attempt to manipulate stock prices to increase the number of highly profitable insider stakeholders.

To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate that if private placement will associate with more active media management than the public offerings. According to our results of the difference-in-means test, the public offerings market may control news coverage; however, this result is inconsistent with that of the regression results. The private placements market may also exercise media management in the “before announcement day” and “after announcement day” periods by increasing positive news and reducing negative news.

This paper aims to solve the major assessment problem in matching the satisfaction of psychological gratification and mission accomplishment pertaining to volunteers with the disaster rescue and recovery tasks.

An extended belief rule-based (EBRB) method is applied with the method's input and output parameters classified based on expert knowledge and data from literature. These parameters include volunteer self-satisfaction, experience, peer-recognition, and cooperation. First, the model parameters are set; then, the parameters are optimized through data envelopment analysis (DEA) and differential evolution (DE) algorithm. Finally, a numerical mountain rescue example and comparative analysis between with-DEA and without-DEA are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method. The proposed model is suitable for a two-way matching evaluation between rescue tasks and volunteers.

Disasters are unexpected events in which emergency rescue is crucial to human survival. When a disaster occurs, volunteers provide crucial assistance to official rescue teams. This paper finds that decision-makers have a better understanding of two-sided match objects through bilateral feedback over time. With the changing of the matching preference information between rescue tasks and volunteers, the satisfaction of volunteer's psychological gratification and mission accomplishment are also constantly changing. Therefore, considering matching preference information and satisfaction at two-sided match objects simultaneously is necessary to get reasonable target values of matching results for rescue tasks and volunteers.

Based on the authors' novel EBRB method, a matching assessment model is constructed, with two-sided matching of volunteers to rescue tasks. This method will provide matching suggestions in the field of emergency dispatch and contribute to the assessment of emergency plans around the world.

Family businesses are essential to the global economy but often grapple with family-related issues, especially during succession. This study explores how governance tools like the family protocol (FP) mitigate conflicts by setting standards for family firm management and continuity. Pioneering the use of game theory and adverse selection setups in family business governance, this research uncovers FP determinants.

This research employs game theory and adverse selection setups to delve into the strategic decision-making processes of stakeholders in family firms. The authors break new ground by applying principal–agent theory (PAT) to family business governance structures. This innovative approach uncovers the determinants of the FP, enhancing the authors’ understanding of family firm dynamics.

The authors emphasize the importance of custom governance structures, such as the FP, in managing complex family-business interactions. These structures mitigate conflicts and promote smoother transitions during succession, ensuring family firm continuity. This study identifies key determinants, and these results will aid founders, families and practitioners in achieving smoother transitions, ensuring family firm continuity.

This research pioneers game theory and PAT applications in family business governance, shedding light on the effectiveness of customized governance mechanisms. By identifying FP determinants, the authors contribute to a deeper understanding of family firm dynamics. The findings have practical implications for founders, families, practitioners and consultants, promoting the long-term success and harmony of family firms in the global economy.

The research aims to assess the relationship between ecological innovation, green productivity, sustainable development and agricultural productivity in Vietnam. The agricultural sector of Vietnam has been observed with new opportunities which have fostered its productivity and growth.

The study uses a range of methods where initially, the researcher used descriptive analysis, cointegration and unit root tests. Secondly, Quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lag (QARDL) is used to assess the short and long run effects. The QARDL methodology is employed to capture the relationship between variables. Through this approach, the researcher is able to examine the scale of the interaction between dependent and independent variables.

The unique findings drawn through statistical techniques are also a great addition to the context of literature related to Vietnam’s agricultural productivity. Practical insights can also not be denied as the study provides beneficial guidelines for Vietnam’s agricultural sector to refine agricultural productivity.

Scholars are advised to use strong literary techniques to overcome these limitations and give a more thorough investigation into the same ideas. The availability and dependability of data was one of the primary challenges in carrying out this study. Vietnam has made significant advances in the collection and documentation of agricultural data, but there might still be gaps in the availability of thorough and current data on ecological innovation, green production and sustainable development.

Vietnam’s unique socioeconomic, cultural and environmental features influence how ecological innovation, green productivity, sustainable development and agricultural production are interconnected. Consequently, consideration should be taken when applying the results to various scenarios.

This paper examines why farmers self-select out of formal credit markets even though they need external funds.

We use probit and Bayesian probit estimators to detect the determinants of self-selection behavior based on a primary dataset of 2,212 rice farmers in Vietnam. After that, we use the multinomial probit (MNP) and Bayesian MNP estimators to reveal the impact of relevant factors on the decision to self-select for farmers belonging to each self-selection category.

The probit and Bayesian probit estimators show that the decision to self-select depends on household head age, income per capita, farm size, whether or not to have relatives or friends working for banks, the number of previous borrowings, risks related to natural disasters, diseases, and rice price, and the number of banks with which the farmer has relationships. The MNP and Bayesian MNP estimators give further insights into the decision of farmers to self-select in that determinants of the self-selection behavior depend on the reasons to self-select. In concrete, farm size and the number of previous borrowings mitigate the self-selection of farmers who did not apply for loans due to having access to other preferred sources of credit. The self-selection of farmers not applying for loans because of unfavorable loan terms is conditional on household head age, farming experience, income, farm size, the number of previous borrowings, natural disaster risk, and the number of banks the farmer has relationships with. Several factors, including education, income, the distance to the nearest bank, whether or not having relatives or friends working for banks, the number of previous borrowings, risks, and the number of banks the farmer has relationships with, affect the self-selection of farmers not applying for loans because of high borrowing costs. The self-selection of farmers not applying for loans because of complex application procedures depends on income and the number of previous borrowings. Finally, the household head’s age, gender, experience, income, farm size, the amount of trade credit granted, the number of previous borrowings, natural disaster risk, and the number of banks the farmer has relationships with are the determinants of the self-selection of farmers not applying for loans because of a fear not being able to repay.

This paper fills the knowledge gap by investigating why farmers self-select out of formal credit markets. It provides evidence of how the farmers’ subjective perceptions of rural credit markets contribute to their self-selection.

This paper shows that demand-side constraints are also vital for farmers’ access to bank credit. Improving credit access via easing supply-side constraints may not increase credit uptake without addressing demand-side factors. Given that finding, it recommends policies to improve access to bank credit for farmers regarding the demand side.

This paper explores the drivers and inhibitors of the transition of entrepreneurial family firms from small to large firms. We adopt two contrasting theoretical perspectives, i.e. agency and stewardship, to explore the effects of family power on size transition.

We adopted an original research design that leverages a unique longitudinal database built starting from the list of the 500 best Italian manufacturing family firms published by the AUB Monitor in 2018. Specifically, we tested our hypotheses using a comprehensive set of financial and governance data from 89 Italian manufacturing family firms covering a 10-year period. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a survival analysis using a Cox regression.

We find an inverted U-shaped relationship between family involvement in ownership and size transition: size transition is more likely to happen at intermediate levels of family involvement in ownership. Additionally, our analysis shows that family involvement in the board of directors negatively impacts size transition, while the presence of a family CEO has a positive influence.

To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first exploration of the phenomenon of size transition within entrepreneurial family firms. We believe it was worthwhile for two reasons. First, small size is frequently regarded as a weakness when competing in international markets, investing in R&D, or rewarding shareholders. Second, since small family firms are the major contributors to the world economy, understanding the factors that facilitate their transition to large firms can have a significant impact on overall economic development and prosperity.

The study aims to highlight and understand, and bring the human agency into the debate on the theory of normative control. While, the previous literature has highlighted the problem of the missing subject. However, the actual human agency in terms of agential properties has not been seriously addressed. This study is an attempt to overcome this problem of the missing subject.

A two-phase design inspired by retroductive inference was adopted for this study. In the first phase, abduction was used to explore the literature on normative control to highlight the forces of attraction, which may pull the employees to participate willingly within normative control systems. In the second phase, following retroductive inference, agential explanations of the forces of attraction identified in the first phase were explored by venturing into other related fields, e.g. psychology and sociology.

The study highlights four strategies used by organizations using normative control, i.e. comfort zoning, relational bonding, moral trapping and elitist appeal. These strategies rely on attractive forces. These forces of attraction pull employees to participate in the normative control system. The attractive element in the identified strategies is due to the fact that these strategies target specific agential properties, i.e. the need for comfort, sense of belonging, moral agency and pride. Overall, the findings suggest that individuals drive their concerns from culture but in relation to their capacity as needy beings for being enculturated.

Theoretically, this study adds conceptual strength to the explanations of normative control. It is suggested that neglect of human agency renders explanations conceptually weak. The study fills this gap in the research. Practically, this study would be beneficial for better design and implementation of normative control. Several studies have pointed out that normative control does not yield the intended results. Out of many reasons, a lack of understanding of human agency is a major cause of unsuccessful attempts to normatively control employees. This study provides some basis to understand the human subject for better design of soft systems of control.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research study that explores agential properties with reference to normative control systems. This study is important for researchers and practitioners.