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Sourcing decisions are important considerations in organizations’ strategic and policy resolutions. Given sometimes conflicting factors such as cost and financial implications, individual perceptions and motivation, health and safety of facility users, and organizational objectives, finding a balance and basis for making such decisions, presently and in future, is crucial. This paper aims to investigate the quality of services delivered by an insourced cleaning service team in a higher learning institution. The objective of the study is to establish the condition of the facilities (restrooms) in the institution, and thus the quality of services delivered by the insourced team.

The study adopted a descriptive approach including observation and scoring to obtain and analyse information about the state of five restrooms on two campuses of the institution.

Findings revealed that the condition of the restrooms inspected over a period of five weeks was good, except for a week where there was low water supply on the sampled campuses. Further findings revealed that restrooms provided in the library were paid more attention to.

The findings from the study are envisaged to assist facilities management stakeholders and organizations’ management in making decisions on sourcing services and supporting core business functions.

Better decision-making can be made to improve the quality of services provided by sourcing teams, which will contribute to supporting core strategies and increasing value-add and image of organizations.

This study reviews research that examines economic and behavioural consequences of CSR reporting regulations. Specifically, the authors evaluate the impact of CSR reporting regulations on (1) reporting quality, (2) capital-markets and (3) firm behaviour.

The authors first describe the stated objectives and enforcement level of CSR reporting regulations around the world. Second, the authors review over 130 archival studies in accounting, finance, economics, law and management that examine consequences of the regulations.

The stated objectives and enforcement of CSR reporting regulations vary considerably across countries. Empirical research finds no significant changes in reporting quality and generally concludes that CSR reporting continues to be ceremonial rather than substantive after the regulations – consistent with corporate legitimation and “greenwashing” views. In contrast, growing evidence shows both positive and negative capital-market and real effects of the regulations. Overall, the findings from this review indicate that, on balance, there remains a significant number of questions on the net effects of CSR reporting regulations.

The authors offer a comprehensive review of the literature examining consequences of CSR reporting regulations. The authors identify apparent tensions in studies assessing different outcomes after the regulations: between symbolic reporting and positive capital-market outcomes; between profitability and CSR; and between CSR and the welfare of non-shareholder groups. Additionally, we highlight differences in the scope and stated objectives of CSR regulations across countries, with the regulations often reflecting socio-economic development and national interests of implementing countries. Collectively, our review indicates that institutional details are crucial when considering the design or consequences of CSR reporting regulations and/or standards.

This study intends to test the relationship between banks’ board diversity, detected with age and gender characteristics, and banks’ social performance. The resource dependence theory posits that board diversity is a strategic tool able to enrich the board of directors by expanding skills and the number of links with stakeholders, which have a strategic role in achieving a competitive advantage and sustainable goals, especially in the banking sector.

The research hypotheses are tested using a sample of 46 European banks observed from 2009 to 2017. The gender and age diversity data of bank board members are hand-collected from banks’ social reports.

The empirical results show that bank social performance is positively influenced by board gender and age diversity. Thus, the human capital determined by a higher bank’s board diversity constitutes an essential resource for adopting more sustainable business models.

This paper analyses the association between board diversity and social performance, providing empirical evidence for the European banking sector in the period after the 2008 global financial crisis. The banking literature provides scarce evidence on the topic; however, the empirical results claim the strategic importance of the appointment of directors to the banks’ boards to balance corporate strategy with social and environmental issues generating a positive impact on sustainable growth.

The changes brought forth by the Digital Transformation have an impact on the way we think, assess and manage Quality. While the concept of Quality 4.0 has resulted from these changes, there is still limited understanding and unclear definitions in this new era of Quality Management.

There is a clear opportunity to review and analyze the state-of-the-art of Quality 4.0, its main research efforts, topics and directions. To do so, a bibliometric analysis and descriptive/mapping literature review were performed.

There is a clear focus on the implications of technology for Quality, but other relevant topics include business management and strategy models and systems, as well as human or soft factors. Results reveal an increasing interest in Quality 4.0 as well as a link between topics.

Together with the review, analysis and digest of the literature, we offer our own contribution to a commonly accepted definition Quality 4.0.

This study compares retirement in Chile and Uruguay, and focuses on current individuals legally entitled to retire, particularly women. The article analyses how labour market and family resources shape the access of women and men to social insurance by investigating the likelihood of retirement after reaching the legal age of retirement.

This study uses the Longitudinal Social Protection Survey (LSPS), a biannual or triennial longitudinal survey carried out in six Latin American countries. To study gender differences in the chance of being retired, the study conducts a series of logit regression models to model retirement as a function of labour market and life course conditions as well as providing descriptive and contextual information.

Main findings support labour market explanations of gender differences in retirement. Work experience, human capital and contribution densities largely explain the chances of retirement and economic autonomy among elderly women. Further analysis reveal that they are both less likely than men to retire but also to work in old age, limiting their economic autonomy.

Data for Uruguay are recent. To maximize comparison between countries, the paper selects the more recent waves with complete administrative information. As a result, the article uses cross-sectional data that might not capture the accumulation of family resources and could fail to provide a complete gendered life course explanation of current disadvantages faced by women.

The article uses novel data in order to place two Latin American countries within mainstream sociological theories of retirement, thus complementing literature that mainly focuses on European and North-American societies. The paper also documents gender gaps in retirement in two different Latin American societies, one with a traditionally generous public pension system (Uruguay) and one with a largely privately-run contributory system (Chile).

There is much scientific interest in the connection between the emergence of gender-based inequalities and key biographical transition points of couples in long-term relationships. Little empirical research is available comparing the evolution of a couple’s respective professional careers over space and time. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to filling this gap by addressing the following questions: what are the critical biographical moments when gender (in)equalities within a relationship begin to arise and consolidate? Which biographical decisions precede and follow such critical moments? How does decision making at critical moments impact the opportunities of both relationship partners in gaining equal access to paid employment?

These questions are addressed from the perspectives of intersectionality and economic citizenship. Biographical interviewing is used to collect the personal and professional narratives of Swiss-, bi-national and migrant couples. The case study of a Swiss-Norwegian couple illustrates typical processes by which many skilled migrant women end up absently or precariously employed.

Analysis reveals that the Scandinavian woman’s migration to Switzerland is a primary and critical moment for emerging inequality, which is then reinforced by relocation (to a small town characterized by conservative gender values) and the subsequent births of their children. It is concluded that factors of traditional gender roles, ethnicity and age intersect to create a hierarchical situation which affords the male Swiss partner more weight in terms of decision making and career advancement.

The paper’s findings are highly relevant to the formulation of policies regarding gender inequalities and the implementation of preventive programmes within this context.

Little empirical research is available comparing the evolution of a couple’s respective professional careers over space and time. The originality of this paper is to fill this research gap; to include migration as a critical moment for gender inequalities; to use an intersectional and geographical perspective that have been given scant attention in the literature; to use the original concept of economic citizenship; and to examine the case of a bi-national couple, which has so far not been examined by the literature on couple relationships.

Monitoring of a process leading to the detection of faults and determination of the root causes are essential for the production of consistent good quality end products with improved yield. The history of process monitoring fault detection (PMFD) strategies can be traced back to 1930s. Thereafter various tools, techniques and approaches were developed along with their application in diversified fields. The purpose of this paper is to make a review to categorize, describe and compare the various PMFD strategies.

Taxonomy was developed to categorize PMFD strategies. The basis for the categorization was the type of techniques being employed for devising the PMFD strategies. Further, PMFD strategies were discussed in detail along with emphasis on the areas of applications. Comparative evaluations of the PMFD strategies based on some commonly identified issues were also carried out. A general framework common to all the PMFD has been presented. And lastly a discussion into future scope of research was carried out.

The techniques employed for PMFD are primarily of three types, namely data driven techniques such as statistical model based and artificial intelligent based techniques, priori knowledge based techniques, and hybrid models, with a huge dominance of the first type. The factors that should be considered in developing a PMFD strategy are ease in development, diagnostic ability, fault detection speed, robustness to noise, generalization capability, and handling of nonlinearity. The review reveals that there is no single strategy that can address all aspects related to process monitoring and fault detection efficiently and there is a need to mesh the different techniques from various PMFD strategies to devise a more efficient PMFD strategy.

The review documents the existing strategies for PMFD with an emphasis on finding out the nature of the strategies, data requirements, model building steps, applicability and scope for amalgamation. The review helps future researchers and practitioners to choose appropriate techniques for PMFD studies for a given situation. Further, future researchers will get a comprehensive but precise report on PMFD strategies available in the literature to date.

The review starts with identifying key indicators of PMFD for review and taxonomy was proposed. An analysis was conducted to identify the pattern of published articles on PMFD followed by evolution of PMFD strategies. Finally, a general framework is given for PMFD strategies for future researchers and practitioners.

This article is an attempt to clarify the links between quality management and business ethics in order to show what quality management can learn from insights out of the field of business ethics.

Based on research in the field of business ethics, methods and processes are explored for implementing quality management within organisations.

An important result of this study is that only by combining personal care with control of processes is it possible to achieve the highest levels of quality. The implications of these findings are discussed along with future directions for research on quality management.

In total quality management systems, attention is paid to social responsibility as far as the impact on society is recognised and implemented within the company. However, this paper puts forward the necessity for relational responsibility based on personal care as a crucial factor in the relationships between supervisors and employees, between salespeople and customers, et cetera. Therefore, the incorporation of relational responsibility into quality programmes seems an important next step in the development of quality management.

Responsibility in the sense of authority distribution within organisations is a central topic for quality management. This paper contributes to a broader view on responsibility based on moral values, personal care and its impact on stakeholder relationships.

This study aims to develop a new general framework of the challenges for decision making in groups. Unlike most research focused on individual consumption, this study takes a broader perspective on joint consumption.

The conceptual framework and the developed research questions are based on an extensive literature review.

This research identifies five major challenges for group decisions: allocation of responsibilities, preference prediction, preference aggregation, conflicts and mutual influences. For each challenge, this study summarizes existing findings and highlights important areas for continued investigation, related to a marketing-oriented understanding of consumers. This article concludes with implications for both managers and researchers.

The identified key determinants of group decisions aggregate findings from multidisciplinary literature and can help marketing researchers and managers understand the relevant but underresearched issues of decision making in groups. Furthermore, this study includes relevant moderators, such as individual and group characteristics, and reveals problematic research gaps. In turn, it offers questions and ideas for additional research.