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Although high-performance work systems (HPWS) have been shown to promote employees' proactive behavior, only a limited number of studies have examined this process. This study explores how HPWS promote proactive behavior through learning goal orientation (LGO) and customer-oriented behavior (COB).

A questionnaire survey was conducted with 279 healthcare workers in nursing homes. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the hypotheses.

The results show that HPWS positively influenced proactive behavior through COB and that HPWS positively influenced proactive behavior through LGO and subsequently through COB. The findings indicate that COB is vital in linking HPWS to proactive behavior in healthcare service organizations.

The results suggest that HPWS provide job resources that enable health care workers to take initiatives to change their work environment through performance management, incentive systems and training programs. This study is the first to identify the mediating role of COB in linking HPWS to proactive behavior.

Due to the limitations of conventional urban planning, it is essential to develop novel techniques of urban futruing. This paper aimed to use the scenario technique to create four plausible narratives of the future of Isfahan. Also, the authors described the problems of city foresight in the Global South.

This paper chronicles the Schwartzian steps taken to build explorative scenarios of Isfahan City in Iran in 2040. After using a STEEPV (Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic, Political, Value) analysis, the authors prioritized the collected variables by combining influence diagrams, the iceberg metaphor and an expert-based survey. Once the key uncertainties were derived, four scenarios were developed and discussed.

Through thematic analysis of the official visions of Isfahan’s future and the juxtaposition of these narratives with insight yielded in the scenario-development process, the paper concludes that the Northernness of the prevailing urban imaginaries, uncritical mimetic benchmarking, depoliticization of urban futures and the decorative reductionistic visions colonize urban futures in Isfahan/Iran. Critical/deconstructive city foresight and application of discomfort/ignorance criteria in the generation of scenarios can improve the rigor and quality of city foresight in the Global South.

The application of city foresight in the Global South has been limited. The paper is a step toward bridging this gap and providing some recommendations on how city foresight in the Global South might differ from its counterparts in the Global North.

This study aims to challenge the generic interpretation of Multilatinas as Latin American firms that have been able to internationalize because of highly competitive strategic capabilities. The authors test whether capabilities that international business researchers commonly associate with internationalization are necessary at different stages of the internationalization process to better understand the extent to which emerging market (EM) firms need to develop them.

International business research suggests a positive association between strategic capabilities and firm internalization. However, it remains unclear what specific capabilities are necessary and when they are necessary. These questions are particularly important in the context of the internationalization of firms from emerging economies, such as Latin America. The authors apply necessary condition analysis (NCA) on a sample of Latin American firms at different internationalization stages to test what strategic capabilities represent necessary conditions for becoming a Multilatina.

The findings suggest that only a few strategic capabilities are necessary for Latin American firms to become “Multilatinas”. While entrepreneurial orientation and marketing and sales capabilities represent necessary conditions, EM firms may internationalize even though other capabilities are developed to a lesser extent. The authors reflect on how shifts in local markets and technology drive the emergence of different types of Multilatinas.

Measuring strategic capabilities across multiple EM firms implies a risk that firm-specific aspects are not fully captured. While the authors focused on the comparative competitive strength of capabilities and took great care to minimize measurement error, the authors acknowledge possible bias. Also, while NCA does not require a minimum sample size, findings from our sample of firms from four countries may not generalize to the region or other EMs.

As a relatively new statistical technique, the use of NCA has spread rapidly. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the linkage between organizational capabilities and firm internationalization has not been tested from a necessary conditions perspective yet. The reflections on the “Multilatina” concept based on the notion of EM firms as configurations of strategic capabilities inform current debates on EM multinational enterprises.

This paper aims to find the incidence of university sustainability, as sustainability practices, in university performance at private universities.

Quantitative research using structural equation modelling. Data collection and analysis followed sustainability and performance scales from previous research. The scales were validated by surveying students, teachers and administrative staff of five private universities in Medellin, Colombia. The responses (i.e. 5,344 useful answers) were collected between April 2019 and December 2020 and analysed using the Smart partial least square (PLS) software and the PLS calculation methodology.

The results confirmed the reliability and validity of the sustainability and performance university measurement models and validated the dimensions proposed to determine sustainability and performance holistically in private universities. The results confirmed that universities implementing sustainability holistically in their system positively impact their performance as higher education institutions. The university sustainability is forecasting the University Performance in about 60% of the universities analysed, with a considerable contribution from sustainability in outreach and strategic management.

This study was cross-sectional and empirically validated the model of sustainability and performance at five private universities in a single period and territory. A broader validation from longitudinal studies considering other universities in Colombia and Latin America is suggested to understand local and regional trends better.

Results provided a model for better understanding the incidence of sustainability in performance holistically at private universities in developing countries such as Colombia. In addition, the proposed dimensions and model could help regional decision-making on higher education.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first attempts relating a structural equation model and inter-university research on the incidence of sustainability in private university performance. This work contributes to a local consensus on sustainability and performance models at private universities. Furthermore, from this research emerged a joint policy framework for incorporating sustainability holistically and regionally as an effective strategy for universities and their commitment to sustainable development.

The case study will encourage reflection on the challenges that organisations face in attracting, engaging and retaining knowledge workers that are critical to their performance and growth. It is set in the context of innovative, high-tech organisations whose success is heavily dependent on the performance of information technology (IT) professionals, a specialised and heavily demanded workforce.

The case study depicts the struggle of Manoel Almeida, Descomplica’s chief technology officer, to reverse the scenario of demotivation and high turnover among IT employees and to attract new talent. The case study addresses the themes of knowledge worker attraction, engagement and retention, with a focus on IT professionals.

This case study is designed for undergraduate and graduate education programmes/courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management science.

To address the challenges of the agricultural sector, innovation is necessary. This study aims to focus on knowledge circulation as a basis to facilitate innovation in viticulture in the context of climate change.

We have conducted interviews with viticulture stakeholders in Central Spain (Madrid region) on their perceptions and concerns about climate change, knowledge on practices to mitigate its effects on this crop and their relationship with each other for knowledge exchange. A map showing the knowledge nodes and their relationships with other stakeholders has been drawn based on the answers obtained.

Winegrowers have already noticed the effects of climate change, and they are changing some agricultural practices. Drip irrigation was the most frequently mentioned option to minimize these effects. The map of knowledge identifies the main nodes in the information flow. Results also highlight different approaches to climate change and interesting nuances in the maps of knowledge among winegrowers with and without winery.

This paper is focused on the Madrid region, a territory that is still consolidating its wine sector at the economic and marketing levels. We understand that regions with more consolidated or stronger sectors involve maps of knowledge more complex than that obtained in this study.

Showing the nodes of knowledge, as well as the weaknesses and strengths of the information circuit in the wine sector in the Madrid region, is very relevant to developing strategies aimed at supporting innovation in this sector. From a practical point of view, strategies for knowledge generation and circulation are only one part of the innovation process – policies for financial and technical support are key complementary measures.

Identification of key agents in the innovation process in the wine sector is essential to foster innovation processes. Ultimately, this will lead to more efficient adaptation to new challenges in the sector.

The Agriculture Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) approach has a consolidated theoretical framework that pays great attention to knowledge flows, but specific studies are needed to capture the reality of AKIS by sector and by region.

The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the relation between the joint provision of sustainability assurance and the readability of sustainability assurance statements. Additionally, it explores whether the presence of a female assurance partner influences the relation between the joint provision of sustainability assurance and the readability of sustainability assurance statements.

We analyzed a dataset comprising 882 firm-year observations from companies operating in sustainability sensitive industries for the period that spans the years 2016–2018.

The research indicates that joint sustainability assurance provision is associated with a more readable sustainability assurance statement, consistent with the “four-eyes” principle. Furthermore, the presence of a female assurance provider influences the joint assurance provision’s impact on sustainability assurance statement readability. Collectively, these results remain robust as they hold unchanged after controlling for endogeneity concerns.

This study provides novel insights into the recent sustainability assurance literature, being the first to examine joint assurance provision, assurance partner gender and sustainability assurance statement readability.

This study has the potential to catalyze regulatory and policy initiatives by providing compelling evidence in favor of mandating joint audits within the area of sustainability assurance practices. Additionally, this research contributes to the ongoing discussion about gender diversity in accounting and nonaccounting assurance firms, providing evidence of the positive impact of female assurance partners on sustainability assurance statement readability.

The regression results provide preliminary evidence on how the presence of a female audit partner influences the relationship between the sustainability assurance joint provision and sustainability assurance statement readability, an issue that has not been examined before.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the readability of sustainability reports and assurance provider effort, captured by assurance delay and the moderating effect of the assurance provider.

This sample consists of companies operating in sustainability sensitive industries from 39 countries for the period that covers the years 2016–2018.

The results show that poor sustainability reporting readability is associated with longer assurance delays. Indeed, assurance providers spend more effort assuring clients when sustainability reports are less readable, as shown by long assurance delay. In addition, increases in assurance delay associated with poor sustainability reporting readability are driven by accounting assurance providers. These results hold after controlling for endogeneity using Heckman's (1979) analysis and other measures of assurance delay readability used in prior literature. By checking the specialization of assurance provider partners and setting aside dominant countries, the authors provide insight into the impact of assurance provider specialization on the association between sustainability report readability and assurance provider effort measured by assurance delay and thus, lending further confidence to the strength of the study’s main findings.

This research provides preliminary evidence on the relationship between sustainability reporting readability and assurance delay as well as the influence of accounting assurance providers.

Sustainability assurance practice is viewed as a tool to add or enhance credibility. This study could be considered as another step into driving the standardization of sustainability reporting practice internationally.

This is the first investigation conducted in the sustainability literature on the assurance provider's response to the readability of sustainability reports.