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This study aims to analyse the political connections of Portuguese companies through the members of the board of directors, exploring how these connections influence, in particular, the composition and characteristics of the boards.

The research used a strategy based on analysing the financial statements and curriculum vitae of the directors of Portuguese companies listed on Euronext Lisbon from 2014 to 2019. The political connections of board members were examined, considering the variables identified in the existing literature.

The results indicate that companies with political connections maintain these relationships for long periods and have a greater number of members on the board of directors compared to companies without such connections. Directors with political experience tend to occupy non-executive positions, suggesting that companies may value political contacts more than the management skills of these directors. It was also found that there are politically connected directors who belong to multiple boards and that women appointed to the board are less likely to have a political background, reflecting male dominance in Portuguese politics.

The main limitations of this study include the small number of listed companies in the sample, which may affect the statistical robustness of the results, as well as the use of secondary sources, which may not capture all relevant policy linkages. In addition, the results are specific to the Portuguese context and may not be generalisable to other countries or other regions of the world.

This study contributes to the understanding of political connections in Portuguese companies, offering valuable insights into how these connections influence board composition and can impact corporate strategy and governance. The findings of this study can be especially useful for business leaders looking to optimise the formation of their boards of directors.

Bangladesh is one of the leading countries that has been facing serious air pollution issues, with an exponentially higher death rate attributed to it than other environmental pollution. This study aims to identify the sources and dynamics of particulate matter (PM) pollution across different micro-environments in Rajshahi City.

PMs’ concentration data were collected from 60 sampling stations, located across the six micro-environments of the study area, throughout the year using “HT 9600 Particle Counter.” To assess the level of pollution, the air quality index (AQI) was calculated, and different methods, including observation, group discussion, interview and questionnaire survey, were used to identify the pollution sources.

Both PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ exhibit varied concentrations in different micro-environments, and the area covered by different AQI classes differs considerably throughout the year. The monthly average concentration of PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ was highest in January, 200 and 400 µg/m³ and was lowest in September, 46 and 99 µg/m³, respectively. Among the total 1,440 observations, 853 observations (59.24%) exceeded the national standard. Based on the pollution level, different months and micro-environments in the city have been ranked in descending order as January > December > February > March > April > November > October > May > June > July > August > September and traffic > commercial > industrial > residential > green cover > riverine environment.

Although numerous research has been conducted on air pollution in Bangladesh, the authors are certain that no attempt has been made to address the issue from a multi- micro-environmental perspective. This makes the methodology and findings truly unique and significant in the context of air pollution research in Bangladesh.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) convergence on value relevance and earnings management for Indian listed firms while also exploring whether the relationship is moderated by the firms’ corporate governance structures.

Corporate governance (CG) scores of 573 listed firms were calculated by using a self-constructed index for a period of 7 years (2014–2015 to 2020–2021). Static and dynamic panel models with generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators were used to test the conditional hypothesis that the impact of the Indian IFRS converged standards (Indian Accounting Standards [IndAS]) on information quality is affected by the firm’s corporate governance strength.

The estimates reveal that the positive effect of corporate governance scores on the value relevance of earnings reduces in the presence of IFRS, whereas the interaction of both the variables on book values remains insignificant. Secondly, the use of IndAS reduces discretionary accruals, but corporate governance does not have a significant moderating effect within the equation.

The results offer an interesting perspective into the debate on IFRS consequences and the role of internal institutional frameworks. It provides preliminary evidence suggesting that although corporate governance improves the value relevance of earnings, it may not be entirely effective in reducing the management of earnings.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study in India to provide empirical findings on the role played by corporate governance mechanisms in explaining the relationship between IFRS convergence and accounting information quality. The analysis accounts for modelling issues such as endogeneity and autocorrelation by using dynamic panel models and instrumental variables.

The research studies transition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as a mechanism for increasing the investment attractiveness of the economy. Based on the international experience of 183 countries and World Bank statistics for 2022 by methods of correlation and regression analysis, the author has carried out econometric modeling of the impact of globalization in the context of its areas on the investment climate in the economy. The main author's conclusion is that the transition to IFRS is an effective but contradictory mechanism for increasing the investment attractiveness of the economy, which should be managed considering the national specifics of internal and external investment flows. The research novelty lies in the study the transition to IFRS not as a separate and independent business practice but as a means of improving the investment climate in the economy. The theoretical significance is that it bridges the gap between globalization governance and investment policy. The author argues that globalization should be implemented to support the transition to IFRS to improve the investment attractiveness of the economy. The practical significance is expressed in the fact that the author's proposed recommendations on diversification of globalization areas will help accelerate the transition to IFRS of business structures worldwide. The research is significant for investment policy in that the author's forecast and the proposed recommendations will help optimize the globalization effects on the investment attractiveness of the economy on the example of Uzbekistan. The recommendations can be used to develop the investment policy in Uzbekistan to improve its efficiency.

A crisis period can reduce employees’ willingness to take risks, which are important predictors of organizational performance. Built upon the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this study aims to examine the role of leadership’s behavioral change in promoting the willingness to take risks, as mediated by liking, at two different levels of task complexity.

An online survey has been answered by 281 employees of businesses with various scales, in different sectors in Indonesia. Indonesia was selected as it is among the countries with a high power distance culture. Hence, employees are expected to favor more directive leadership changes in the postpandemic context.

Drawing upon the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this study found that leaders’ behavioral change toward a more directive approach promotes a willingness to take risks, as the employees like this change regardless of the task’s complexity level.

In an organization where the employees’ willingness to take risks is critical, the leaders should not simply adopt empowering leadership, as suggested by previous studies. However, leaders need to ensure that any change in leadership behavior during the transition period, either toward a more directive or empowering style, is favorable for the employees, regardless of the level of complexity of the tasks.

This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that Indonesian employees’ willingness to take risks increases only when the employees like the change in the style of leadership to a more directive one regardless of the level of task complexity. In addition, Indonesian employees have not perceived any substantial change in their leaders’ behavior after the pandemic, and they remain neutral about this type of leadership.

Energy affects all areas of daily life. Especially with the industrial revolution, the fact that manufacturing has become the engine of economic growth has led to a rise in energy consumption. In this process, the countries of the world have increased their economic growth with traditional energy consumption, and this has increased carbon emissions. However, to fulfill the sustainable development goals, both the continuation of economic growth and the reduction of carbon emissions are required. In this context, the substitution of renewable energy consumption in place of traditional energy sources has started to be discussed. The aim of this study is to research the relationships among CO₂ emissions, manufacturing growth, and renewable energy consumption. For this aim, the relationship among carbon emissions, manufacturing growth, and renewable energy consumption is analyzed for the period 1997–2019 in 38 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. With respect to the findings of autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) test results, manufacturing growth enhances CO₂ emissions both in the short and long terms. As the proportion of renewable energy consumption in total energy consumption rises, CO₂ emissions decrease both in the short and long terms. On the other hand, according to the Dumitrescu–Hurlin causality test results, there is a one-way causality relationship from carbon emissions to manufacturing growth and from renewable energy consumption to carbon emissions. When the findings are evaluated together, it is understood that renewable energy consumption is a substantial factor in tackling the deadlock of lessening the carbon emissions without adversely impacting manufacturing growth. Therefore, policymakers need to encourage renewable energy consumption.

The PICCH research project contributes to opening a dialogue between cultural heritage archives and users. Hence, the users are identified and their information needs, the search strategies they apply and the search challenges they experience are uncovered.

A combination of questionnaires and interviews is used for collection of data. Questionnaire data were collected from users of three different audiovisual archives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two user groups: (1) scholars searching information for research projects and (2) archivists who perform their own scholarly work and search information on behalf of others.

The questionnaire results show that the archive users mainly have an academic background. Hence, scholars and archivists constitute the target group for in-depth interviews. The interviews reveal that their information needs are multi-faceted and match the information need typology by Ingwersen. The scholars mainly apply collection-specific search strategies but have in common primarily doing keyword searching, which they typically plan in advance. The archivists do less planning owing to their knowledge of the collections. All interviewees demonstrate domain knowledge, archival intelligence and artefactual literacy in their use and mastering of the archives. The search challenges they experience can be characterised as search system complexity challenges, material challenges and metadata challenges.

The paper provides a rare insight into the complexity of the search situation of cultural heritage archives, and the users’ multi-facetted information needs and hence contributes to the dialogue between the archives and the users.

Maneno mengi yanayohusu haki za binadamu na haki za kiteknolojia hayajatafsiriwa katika lugha ya Kiswahili. Kwa hivyo, wataalamu wa teknolojia na watetezi wa haki za kidijitali hutumia maneno ya Kiingereza – hata bila utohozi – wanapozungumzia haki za kiteknolojia. Hali hii ya mambo inachangia udhoofu fulani katika utetezi wa haki za kidijitali kwani wanaojaribu kueleza jamii umuhimu wa haki hizi hulazimishwa kutegemea msamiati wa Kiingereza usiyo na msingi au viungo na lugha ya Kiswahili Katika makala hii, tutazungumzia umuhimu wa kukaribisha watu kutumia lugha za Kiafrika kwenye mtandao.

Kiswahili ni lugha ya Kiafrika inayozungumzwa katika eneo zaidi sana duniani. Karibu watu milioni mia moja na arobaini Afrika mashariki wanazungumza Kiswahili kama lugha yao ya kwanza au ya pili, miongoni mwao Wakenya na Watanzania, wenyeji wa nchi ambamo Kiswahili ni lugha ya kitaifa. Tena kuna historia ndefu ya kutumiwa kwa lugha ya Kiswahili katika uandishi, uchapishaji na ubunifu wa utamaduni wa kisasa. Kiswahili pekee yake ndiyo lugha ya asili ya Kiafrika inayotumika kama lugha ya maalum ya Umoja wa Mataifa za Kiafrika. Hata hivyo, kwa upande wa matumizi ya Kiswahili, hasa kwenye mada ya teknolojia, Kiswahili imewachwa nyuma.

Zaidi ya maneno rasmi, uwepo wa lugha za Kiafrika ni muhimu kuimarisha jumuiya za Kiafrika mtandaoni kwani lugha inalenga sana haki na utambulisho wa watu. Miradi za kutafsiri maneno za kiteknolojia katika lugha ya Kiswahili inahimiza jumuiya za Afrika Mashariki kuunda jamii inayosimamia matakwa yao vyema. Makala hii basi inazingatia umuhimu wa lugha kwenye kuunda jamii na katika hatua za kuondoa mbinu za kikoloni mtandaoni ili wenyeji wa Afrika Mashariki wajione mtandaoni kwa ujumla wao wote. Makala pia itazingatia semiotiki ya lugha katika ubunifu wa teknolojia, na umuhimu wa kutafsiri jamii ya lugha ya Kiswahili katika harakati za kuondoa ukoloni katika ubunifu huu. Lakini sio tu kwamba lugha ya Kiswahili ndio pekee inayoweza kuondoa mbinu za kikoloni mtandaoni, kwani pia lugha hiyo ina ishara za kutawalwa kwa jamii fulani. Bali makala hii inatumia mfano wa Kiswahili kuhimiza utumiaji wa lugha za kiasili au za kimama mtandaoni ili kulinda mustakabali wa kidijitali wa umma.

Umuhimu wa makala hii ni kuashiria jipya umuhimu wa lugha katika harakati za kuendeleza haki za kidijitali na hasa kuondoa mbinu za kikoloni kwenye teknolojia, swala lisilowahijadiliwa katika lugha ya Kiswahili.

In Decolonizing Methodologies (1999), Linda Tuhiwai Smith asserted that “the master’s tools of colonization will not work to decolonize what the master built.” Smith challenged Indigenous researchers to fashion “new tools for the purpose of decolonizing and Indigenous tools that can revitalize Indigenous knowledge” (p. 22). A quarter of a century later, this paper reflects on the powerful impact that Smith’s call to action has had upon recent generations of bright, politically active and culturally grounded Native Hawaiian researchers, many of whom are innovatively turning to the Native epistemologies embedded in our traditional cultural practices to craft (k)new research tools and methodologies.

This paper features three Native Hawaiian scholars who are simultaneously hula and mele (traditional Hawaiian dance and song) practitioners and who instinctively turned to their hula training to guide and indigenize their research practice.

Each of these three scholars describes how they creatively applied the Hawaiian epistemologies embedded in their hula and mele training to fashion (k)new, Indigenous methodologies to guide (1) their research conduct, (2) their data analyses or interpretations and (3) the presentation of their research findings, respectively.

These three Hawaiian scholars and hula practitioners represent a larger groundswell of Native Hawaiian researchers who are bravely and creatively drawing upon the traditional wisdom and sensitivities embedded in our cultural practices to craft and wield (k)new research tools to “dismantle the master’s house” (Lorde, 1981) and build an Indigenous hale (house) of our own.

The use of e-health applications has remained popular during pandemic for medical treatments. Nevertheless, adoption of e-health applications among individuals is considerably low in post-COVID-19 world. To address this issue, the current research integrates three renowned theories, namely unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model, diffusion of innovation and DeLone and McLean model and investigates individual intention to adopt e-health application.

Research design is grounded in quantitative and cross-sectional methods and uses a survey questionnaire. Survey questionnaire is administered toward smartphone users. Overall, 238 valid responses were analyzed with structural equation modeling approach.

Results indicate that altogether performance expectancy, effort expectancy, information quality, system quality, service quality, facilitating condition and social influence explained substantial variance (R² = 76.5%) in user intention to adopt e-health applications. Similarly, effect size analysis has revealed substantial impact of social influence on user intention to adopt e-health applications. Geiser and Stone’s Q² analysis discloses that research model has substantial power to predict user intention to adopt e-health applications.

This study integrates three known information system models to investigate individual behavior toward adoption of e-health applications. In practice, it suggests that managers should pay attention in improving performance expectancy, social influence, facilitating condition, system quality, service quality and information quality which develop positive behavior and encourage smartphone users to adopt e-health applications.

This study is original as it integrates three models and investigates individual intention to adopt e-health applications. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to test the moderating impact of patient health value between user intention to adopt and actual use of e-health applications. It has established that compatibility and innovativeness are essential antecedents of performance and effort expectancy and hence make this research more unique and valuable.