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This paper examines the role price fluctuations associated with internationally traded commodities play in inflationary conditions and inflation uncertainty among economies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Using a panel 32 countries from the sub-region from 1996 to 2019, this study employed Two-Step System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation technique in its analysis.

Empirical evidence demonstrates that fluctuations in forex-adjusted price of crude oil, gold and cocoa have significant positive impact on inflation while forex-adjusted changes in price of cotton tend to have significant negative influence on consumer price inflation among economies in the sub-region. Additionally, the study found that gold, cocoa and cotton price changes on the international market have significant positive impact on inflation uncertainty in the sub-region (rise in price leads to increase rate of inflation uncertainty). Furthermore, improved regulatory quality and growth in output growth (GDP per capita growth) were found to help in stabilizing inflation uncertainty (reduce inflation uncertainty) among economies in the sub-region during periods of persistent growth in general price levels.

The study present a different approach based on individual economy forex-adjusted global prices of internationally traded commodities instead of general prices often used in the literature and assessed the effects such adjusted commodity prices have on inflation and inflation uncertainty. Additionally, the moderating role of regulatory quality and output growth between surmised nexuses are also examined.

This study examines the dynamics of financial institution development among economies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and how volatility in forex-adjusted price of key globally traded, commodities and macroeconomic risk influence such development.

The study is based on data collected from the period starting 2001 to 2019 for relevant variables; and the empirical test was performed using the two-step system generalized method of moments (TSS-GMM) estimation method.

Empirical estimates suggest that volatility in forex-adjusted prices of crude oil and cocoa are inimical to development of financial institutions among economies in the sub-region. On the other hand, volatility in the price of gold is found to have a significant positive effect on development of financial institutions. Additionally, political instability is found to exacerbate the adverse effect of volatility in the price of globally traded commodities on the development of financial institutions in the sub-region.

The study verifies how volatility in forex-adjusted prices of key traded commodities on the global market influence development of financial institutions in the sub-region. Additionally, the study examines the impact of macroeconomic risk, a principal component analysis (PCA) constructed index on the development trajectory of financial institutions. Finally, the authors examine the moderating role of institutional quality and political instability in the relationship in question.

Owing to highly volatile and chaotic external events, predicting future movements of cryptocurrencies is a challenging task. This paper advances a granular hybrid predictive modeling framework for predicting the future figures of Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), Stellar (XLM) and Tether (USDT) during normal and pandemic regimes.

Initially, the major temporal characteristics of the price series are examined. In the second stage, ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) and maximal overlap discrete wavelet transformation (MODWT) are used to decompose the original time series into two distinct sets of granular subseries. In the third stage, long- and short-term memory network (LSTM) and extreme gradient boosting (XGB) are applied to the decomposed subseries to estimate the initial forecasts. Lastly, sequential quadratic programming (SQP) is used to fetch the forecast by combining the initial forecasts.

Rigorous performance assessment and the outcome of the Diebold-Mariano’s pairwise statistical test demonstrate the efficacy of the suggested predictive framework. The framework yields commendable predictive performance during the COVID-19 pandemic timeline explicitly as well. Future trends of BTC and ETH are found to be relatively easier to predict, while USDT is relatively difficult to predict.

The robustness of the proposed framework can be leveraged for practical trading and managing investment in crypto market. Empirical properties of the temporal dynamics of chosen cryptocurrencies provide deeper insights.

Strategic alliances play a key role in a company’s growth strategy. They are an alternative to the organic option of creating a new company from scratch and a less risky option than conducting a merger or an acquisition. For five years, most recently in 2022, the results of PwC’s 22nd Annual CEO Survey have shown that 40% of U.S. CEOs plan to enter into a new strategic alliance or joint venture to boost their company’s growth or profitability in the coming year. These operations demand a high level of trust, collaboration and equitable risk-sharing, as well as autonomy granted to both firms. Through an in-depth case study, this study aims to reveal how an alliance was formed between two companies, navigating between entrepreneurial experience and the co-construction of a network to share a technological tool.

The author conducted several interviews with one of the founders of Beta France, and the author had access to a large amount of information on the launch of the entrepreneurial project.

The author presents the reasons for Beta France to join a network of alliances rather than entering into a joint venture. In doing so, the author emphasizes the importance of independence between actors as a key element triggering innovation.

This study points out how a fintech startup opens up perspectives for new digital market participants. The author lists the risks that CEOs joining an alliance must be aware of, and the author details how to avoid falling into an asymmetrical alliance by keeping a center of expertise that cannot be duplicated by other partners.

The paper aims to provide companies with a better understanding of the needs of institutional investors to improve the disclosure of sustainability information by companies. The study investigates the changed information needs of institutional investors resulting from the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

This study uses an internet-based survey instrument amongst institutional investors to gain insights into their needs regarding sustainability information. The authors received 155 responses in total and use descriptive statistics and t-tests to analyse the survey data.

The results demonstrate that the implementation of the SFDR challenges institutional investors, as it affects their decision process. Additionally, the findings still indicate a lack of available corporate sustainability information, making it even more challenging for institutional investors to make appropriate investment decisions. Respondents suggest that information on climate-related risks is more important than the European Union (EU) Taxonomy metrics for meeting the SFDR requirements.

The findings are mainly restricted to the opinion of European investors. However, the evidence contributes to the existing literature by investigating institutional investors' information needs in the new regulatory landscape.

As the study provides insights into institutional investors' needs, reporting companies recognise the relevance of transparently providing sustainability information to be further considered in the investment process of institutional investors despite the regulation. The findings can help regulators develop uniform and global sustainability reporting standards.

This paper is the first to provide evidence on sustainability information requested on the institutional investors' side. The survey gathers primary data from professional investment members unavailable in databases or reports.

Corona Virus Disease (Covid-19) is a global pandemic that emerged at the end of 2019 and caused disruptions in global supply chains, particularly in the food supply chains that exposed the vulnerability of today’s food supply chain in a major disruption which provided a unique research opportunity. This review explores the current research direction for food supply chain resilience and identifies gaps for future research in preparing for future major global pandemics.

This article presents a review of food supply chain resilience followed a systematic literature review of the business and management-based studies related to the food supply chain in Covid-19 published between December 2019 and December 2021 to identify the immediate issues and responses that need to be addressed in the event of future disruptions in food supply chains due to new global health threats.

The study revealed the need for more literature on food supply chain resilience, particularly resilience to a major global pandemic. The study also uncovered the sequence of events in a major pandemic and identified some strategies for building resilience to potential future risks of such an event.

The limitations of this study are apparent. Firstly, the selection of databases is not comprehensive. Due to time limitations, authoritative publishers such as Springer, Emerald, Wiley and Taylor & Francis were not selected. Secondly, a single author completed the literature quality testing and text analysis, possibly reducing the credibility of the results due to subjective bias. Thirdly, the selected literature are the studies published during the immediate event of Covid-19, and before January 2022, other research studies may have been completed but were still in the state of auditing at this time.

This paper is the first study that provides a detailed classification of the immediate challenges to the food supply chain faced in both upstream and downstream nodes during a major global disruption. For researchers, this clearly shows the immediate difficulties faced at each node of the food supply chain, which provides research topics for future studies.

This paper aims to investigate public library staff engagement and perceptions of video games and video game services.

Quantitative and qualitative data on staff video game experiences, perceptions and confidence were collected through an online questionnaire.

The results indicate an overall positive perception of video games in public libraries, with 87% of the respondents supporting video games in public libraries. Video game players appear to think more positively about video games and have more general knowledge about them than non-players. They also appeared to be more confident in delivering related services and were more likely to be running gaming-related events. It was concluded that staff attitudes towards video games are not a barrier to their inclusion in public libraries, as found in previous research.

Encouraging staff engagement with video games may improve their knowledge and confidence in delivering video game services, although further research is required to confirm this. There is a potentially underserved population of those aged 46–84 years, nearly half of whom play video games. Evaluation of this potentially underserved population is an interesting topic for future research.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this was the first survey of public library staff views towards video games in Aotearoa New Zealand, and it updates previous research in light of developments in gaming, gaming technology and the increased focus on public libraries as providers of digital technology and sites of community engagement.

Early childhood and early elementary are key times when children develop internal and external antifat attitudes; thus, it is necessary to better understand the available children’s literature around fatness.This paper aims to examine children's picture books with fat protagonists to better understand the current landscape of children's literature. Drawing on relevant literature around fat characters and the fat studies movement, this critical content analysis considers five children’s books featuring fat protagonists.

This study uses critical content analysis to analyze texts featuring fat protagonists, including two rounds of initial reading and analysis. Using lenses of critical literacy and critical multicultural analysis, the author looks for common themes, silences and absences in the texts, images and peritext.

This paper identifies themes of characters initially internalizing antifatness, then pushing back against antifat bias toward existing with joy and without stigma. Several of these texts even draw on the history of fat activism, highlighting societal critique and a potential activist component of children’s literature with fat protagonists.

The study has a small number of books, due to the limited number of texts that fit the study parameters.

The paper concludes with examples of scaffolding for teachers and parents to have conversations with young children about antifat bias while also acknowledging notable absences, particularly boy protagonists.

These themes illustrate the power of young children to push back against antifat bias and critique oppressive social structures.

There have been very few studies looking at antifatness in children’s picture books. With more books with fat protagonists coming out in the 2020s, this study offers an understanding of the themes present, while also emphasizing the need for an intersectional approach to literature with fat protagonists.

The study evaluates the effects of governance and other regulatory structures on the development of financial institutions in the subregion of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Data for the analyses were compiled from relevant sources from 1996 to 2019 from a sample of 36 countries in the subregion. Empirical analyses were carried out using the Prais-Winsten panel corrected standard errors panel estimation technique augmented by pooled ordinary least squares with Driscoll and Kraay (1998) standard errors model.

Findings from the study suggest that governance and institutional quality index, as well as individual governance and regulatory variables, have positive effect on the development of financial institutions among economies in SSA. Further empirical estimates show that output growth volatility has negative moderating impact on the relationship between effective governance, control of corruption, rule of law, regulatory quality, voice and accountability, and development of financial institutions. Additionally, the results show that during periods of heightened macroeconomic risk, financial institutions could benefit from improved governance and effective regulatory structures.

Compared to related studies that have reviewed the discourse on financial institutions, this study rather focuses on how governance structures and institutions influence development of financial institutions instead of the impact of financial institution on the broader economy. The authors further augment this interaction by examining how the relationship in question may be moderated by macroeconomic shocks.

Despite the potential of virtual fitting rooms (VFRs) to enhance the consumer experience, their adoption is in the preliminary stages. Little is known about inherent reasons why consumers would adopt VFRs. As consumers' attributional processes can be influenced by their enduring chronic traits, this study aims to investigate the influence of chronic regulatory focus on consumers' VFR adoptions via consumers' perceptions of value provided by VFRs. Additionally, the mediating effects of perceived functional and experiential values were examined. Further, the moderating effect of prior VFR experience was tested to allow for variations in consumer experiences.

Data were collected via an online survey of 480 consumers who have at least heard of VFRs via convenience sampling. Established measures were utilized to develop the survey questionnaire. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling to test the main model with mediation effects as well as multi-group comparisons to test the moderating effect.

Empirical results revealed that respective chronic regulatory foci, as preconceived factors that drive consumers' differences in processing, exerted significant influences on consumers' perceptions of VFRs, which, in turn, positively influenced their adoption intention. Also, perceived values mediated the relationship between regulatory foci and consumers' adoption intention. Further, prior VFR experience moderated the relationship between regulatory focus and perceived value.

The paper empirically tested the importance of chronic regulatory foci in understanding consumers' cognitive and affective attributional processes, explaining inherent psychological reasons why consumers would (not) adopt VFRs.