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Introduction: The circular economy is observed as a good sustainability practice that has gained importance recently. The effects of this practice specific to the financial industry are examined in the context of green accounting, finance, and sustainability reporting standards and needs.

Purpose: This chapter aims to analyse the impact of the circular economy on the finance industry based on three research questions: (1) What benefits and challenges does the circular economy bring to the financial industry? (2) What should be the financial industry’s strategic roadmap and business model for transitioning from a linear economy to a circular economy? (3) What are the differentiating aspects of ecosystem accounting and environmental accounting in its structure and use in the financial industry?

Methodology: The method of our work is based on a ‘strategic road map for circular economy’ implementation and a ‘sustainability business model framework’ relevant to the finance industry. Thus, we systematically present the ‘value generation process’ considering the industry trends and dynamics and regulatory challenges regarding ‘green business model’ management with a strategic approach.

Findings: To coordinate the transition to a circular economy based on systematic knowledge about the state of ecosystems and their interactions with society, it is necessary to design monitoring, accounting and reporting systems that adapt to the new business operating environment. This chapter provides recommendations from the perspective of the financial sector.

While corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been gaining support for the role it plays in employee outcomes, such as organizational identification (OID), the view of CSR from a social identity perspective is underdeveloped. This conceptual chapter explores the role of social identity processes grounded in organizational justice to develop a model of CSR attributions and the moderating role these attributions play in organizational member outcomes. CSR is understood as the relational processes happening with stakeholders, and these relationships engage specific organizational identity orientations. The social identity process flows from there, resulting in CSR attributions including strategic, relational, and virtuous. Using social identity, organizational identity, and organizational justice, this chapter makes two specific contributions: a CSR attribution typology grounded in organizational justice and the moderating impact of these attributions between activated justice dimensions and resulting organizational member outcomes.

Institutional framings of doctoral education mostly do not recognize the existential dimension of doctoral experience. This paper aims to offer an expanded understanding of experiences of doctoral researchers in the humanities with the concept of entangled becoming. This concept is developed through an existential lens by using Søren Kierkegaard’s philosophy – particularly his emphasis on emotions such as passion, anxiety and despair – and Denise Batchelor’s derived concept of vulnerable voices.

The conceptual framing is used for an empirical study based on ethnographic interviews with 10 doctoral researchers and supplementary observational notes from fieldwork at a university in Denmark. Two of the interview cases were selected to showcase variation across lived experiences and how doctoral researchers voice their entangled becoming.

Common experiences such as loneliness, insecurity(ies), vulnerability(ies) or passion for one’s research were identified across the interviews. On the other hand, this study shows that each doctoral journey in the humanities envelops a distinct web of entanglements, entailing distinct navigation, that makes each case a unique story and each doctoral voice a specific one.

Combining an existential philosophical perspective with a qualitative study, the paper offers an alternative perspective for doctoral education. It connects the humanities doctoral experience to the broader condition of human existence and the sophisticated uniqueness of each researcher’s becoming.

The personalities of leaders have been shown to impact the culture of their organizations and are also expected to have a more distal impact on the firm’s financial performance. However, the authors also expect that leader gender is an important intervening variable such that exhibiting various personality dimensions may result in unique cultural and performance-based outcomes for women and men leaders. Thus, the authors seek to examine first the impact of leader personality on organizational performance, as driven through organizational culture as a mediating mechanism. In doing so, the authors propose the expected impact of specific personality dimensions on certain types of organizational cultures, and those cultures’ subsequent impact on the organization’s performance. The authors then extend to consider the moderating effects of leader gender on the relationship between leader personality and organization. To support their propositions, the authors draw from upper echelons and implicit leadership theories. The authors encourage researchers to consider the proposition within a sample of the largest publicly traded US companies (i.e., Fortune 500) at an important era in history such that for the first time, 10% of these companies are led by women. In doing so, the authors hope to understand the leadership dynamics at the highest echelons of corporate governance and provide actionable insights for companies aiming to optimize their leadership composition and drive sustainable performance.

Purpose: This study explores the growing significance of environmentalism and sustainability in the contemporary business landscape. Focussing on aligning industries with evolving consumer expectations, the research seeks to understand the awareness surrounding environmental conservation, sustainable development, and the adoption of an environmentally conscious lifestyle.

Need for the study: With environmental consciousness on the rise, understanding the initiatives taken by organisations and the utilisation of digital platforms for environmental advocacy becomes crucial. The study addresses the need to unwind the cultural shift towards sustainability and assess the effectiveness of green marketing practices in the digital age.

Methodology: A triangulation approach is employed, integrating secondary data from literature research with information from company reports and databases. The literature survey provides extensive insights into green marketing practices, forming the basis for an in-depth analysis. The comparative analysis and integration of findings from both sources aim to draw a comprehensive picture, identifying areas of agreement and disagreement.

Findings: The study provides robust evidence supporting the effectiveness of green marketing practices in the digital age. Convergence between academic literature and real-world corporate practices underscores the consistency in approaches adopted by companies in leveraging digital technology to advance environmental sustainability.

Practical implications: The findings suggest that theory and practice converge on various aspects of green marketing, indicating its profound impact on culture, behaviours, and strategies. This research informs businesses and policymakers about the tangible benefits and shared responsibility of incorporating green practices in corporate strategies, fostering a sustainable future.

The paper looks at the impact of excess amount of CSR expenditure (CSRE) in relation to mandatory CSRE in an Indian context on dividend payout (DP) and firm value (FV) where CSRE is mandatory, as well as how this relationship varies between firms based on their age and size.

A sample of the 657 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) from 2014–15 to 2020–21 is used in the study, for which spending on CSR was mandatory. A two-step generalised method of the moment is employed to examine the relationship between the variables of interest.

The results show that excess CSREs neither increase the firm’s valuation nor benefit shareholders' economic benefits, i.e. dividend distribution. However, a deeper analysis reveals that excess CSRE is positively associated with FV in the case of smaller firms and also positively corresponds with DP in the case of younger firms.

The present study explicitly considers the excess CSR spending beyond the mandated requirements. It investigates whether such spending contributes to firms improving their valuation and explores its connection to DPs.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2024-0136

The phenomenon of global brands taking a stance on crucial, yet polarizing, socio-political issues, namely global brand activism, is rising. However, how consumer views on this practice are shaped when global branding elements are factored in remains unclear. Drawing from the functional theory of attitude formation, this study investigates the relationships of consumer characteristics (political ideology, consumer ethnocentrism) and brand factors (global brand attitudes and perceived motivation of global brand activists) with attitudes toward global brand activists.

Using a survey of a UK nationally representative sample (n = 439), we test our hypothesized model via structural equation modeling and mediation analysis.

Our findings reveal direct and indirect effects of political ideology on attitudes toward global brand activists (AttGBACTIVs). While consumer ethnocentrism and global brand attitudes do not directly drive AttGBACTIVs, they do influence them indirectly. Perceived motivation of global brand activists emerges as a key mechanism activating these effects and affecting AttGBACTIVs.

First, this study constitutes a novel examination of consumer views of brand activism through a global branding lens. Second, our investigation uniquely combines important determinants of brand activism outcomes with key international marketing factors (namely consumer ethnocentrism and global brand attitudes). Third, the concurrent exploration of individual and brand factors in our mediated model reveals the complex mechanisms through which attitudes toward global brand activists are formed.

The advent of robotics and automation technologies was augmenting firm initiatives to attain competitive advantage. From a resource-based view perspective, human-led capabilities were important to operate with technology resource base of an organisation. This was evident for both manufacturing as well as services firms. However, employees as an individual confronted technology anxiety (TA) when they were working with new technologies like robotics and automation technologies. Thus, the purpose of this paper was to examine the factors causing TA.

Given the novelty of this research study context a qualitative exploratory method was designed. For this research study, the data collected was through in-depth interviews conducted through open-ended semi-structured questionnaire. The data was collected from 62 frontline employees who were working with robotics and automation-based technologies in manufacturing firms. The authors applied thematic content analysis on collected data for analysis.

Technology anxieties ranged from fear of complete inability to learn new technologies, failure to learn new technologies properly, incapability to implement the learned skills and job loss to younger technology savvy employees. Finally, there was anxiety over job loss as automation and robotic technologies over the years was expected to erode the employment of human workforce altogether.

The author undertook the research study based upon the TA perspective advocated by Meuter et al. (2003) and Yang and Forney (2013). Furthermore, this research study in the context of robotics and automation-based technologies in the manufacturing sector applied the mental accounting theory (Thaler, 1999) and technology self-efficacy perspective (Huffman et al., 2013).

Managers involved in the implementation of robotics and automation-based technologies were required to address TA of employees. Fear of job loss had to be addressed specially in a country like India. Anxiety regarding the ability to learn to work with robotics and automation technologies also was needed to be addressed by managers through adequate training and time for preparation. The benefits of robotics and automation-based technologies for employees as well as organisations have to be ascertained through open communication between the management and the frontline employees.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this was one of the first empirical research studies which deliberated regarding TA in the context of frontline workers working with robotics and automation-based technologies in the manufacturing sector. This research study was based upon a combination of varied perspectives ranging from micro foundations theory, TA, mental accounting theory and technology self-efficacy perspective.

In this study, the authors developed a conceptual model to investigate sustainable consumption behavior, specifically the intention to use reusable bags, and its relationship with two crucial factors influencing the use of single-use plastic bags: cost savings and convenience. This study also aims to explore the mediating roles of environmental concern, guilt and self-efficacy.

A quantitative study using online survey involving 421 respondents was conducted, and data analysis performed using structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that self-efficacy influenced environmental concern and sustainable consumption, while perceived savings did not. Perceived convenience significantly influenced sustainable consumption behavior. Environmental concern had indirect effects on the relationships between perceived savings, perceived convenience and sustainable consumption behavior, whereas guilt did not moderate the relationship between environmental concern and sustainable consumption behavior.

The main contribution lies in the insights for promoting the sustainable use of reusable shopping bags, benefiting both theoretical understanding and practical applications in efforts to encourage sustainable consumption behavior.