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Purpose: This chapter examines the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on employability and dispels the misconception that AI negatively affects job opportunities. The study aims to shed light on the ways in which AI can enhance employability by complementing natural intelligence and enabling employees to demonstrate creativity in various aspects of their work.

Need for the study: In the 21st century, AI has become ubiquitous, and governments worldwide are actively promoting its integration into various industries and systems. However, concerns about the potential negative consequences of AI have emerged.

Methodology: It is reviewing commentary secondary sources of data viz. books, articles, journals, newspaper articles, reports which have been considered to bring forth the advent of AI being an important premise for the construct of employability

Findings: The findings of this study reveal that the perceived negative impact of AI on employability is a misconception. AI technology, such as Alexa, ChatGPT, and OpenAI, has made significant advancements in the market but is still unable to pass the Turing test. Consequently, it is recommended that AI companies take a pause to fully understand and address the consequences associated with AI implementation.

Practical implications: The practical implications of this study are twofold. First, it debunks the myth that AI jeopardises employability associated with natural intelligence, highlighting the importance of human skills in conjunction with AI technologies. Second, it calls for a strategic approach for organisations and governments to adapt to AI while ensuring the workforce remains adaptable and equipped with the necessary skills. This study provides insights for policymakers, employers, and individuals to embrace AI to augment human potential and improve global market productivity.

Colonial epistemes distort ideologies through power structures and control, perpetuating differences and the development of an inferior status. This study aims to serve dual purposes: Firstly, the authors advocate for Pacific and international business (IB) researchers to consider adopting inclusive research practices, particularly regarding Pacific and indigenous populations. Secondly, the authors argue that decolonization presents conflicting challenges, demonstrating that the authors still have a long way to go regarding the decolonization agenda within academia, the university, IB and broader society.

An essay style is adopted to introduce inclusive Pacific research practices specific to the Pacific context, what that looks like and the advantages of using culturally appropriate methods.

This paper highlights some examples that justify why Pacific methods should be used, such as spirituality and prayers underpinned by the va (i.e. relational spaces) – a concept well-known in Pacific cultures but missing in Western academic frameworks, models and approaches. Additionally, the authors found that the endeavours to be inclusive can paradoxically lead to exclusion and marginalization within academia, the university and popular mainstream media.

This paper enriches IB theory and pedagogy by advocating for the co-creation of inclusive research practices in collaboration with Pacific and indigenous communities. It contributes to the broader movement to restore indigenous knowledge and scholarship research spaces.

The originality and value of the viewpoint lie in its potential to stimulate conversations and reflections among IB researchers regarding inclusive research practices of decoloniality. Thereby strengthening the “trumpet-shell” call to decolonize the field and academia, which IB as a discipline should not be immune to.

Globally, hepatitis C treatment uptake is lower among people who are homeless or unstably housed compared to those who are housed. Understanding and addressing this is essential to ensure no one is left behind in hepatitis C elimination efforts. This study aims to explore peoples’ experiences of unstable housing and health care, and how these experiences influenced engagement in hepatitis C treatment.

Purposive sampling was used to recruit people with lived experience of injection drug use, hepatitis C and unstable housing in Melbourne, Australia. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted and a case study approach with interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to identify personal experiential themes and group experiential themes.

Four people were interviewed. The precarious nature of housing for women who inject drugs was a group experiential theme, however, this did not appear to be a direct barrier to hepatitis C treatment. Rather, competing priorities, including caregiving, were personal experiential themes and these created barriers to treatment. Another group experiential theme was “right place, right time, right people” with these three elements required to facilitate hepatitis C treatment.

There is limited research providing in-depth insight into how personal experiences with unstable housing and health care shape engagement with hepatitis C treatment. The analyses indicate there is a need to move beyond a “one size fits-all” approach to hepatitis C care. Instead, care should be tailored to the needs of individuals and their personal circumstances and regularly facilitated. This includes giving greater attention to gender in intervention design and evaluation, and research more broadly.

Eco-entrepreneurship is a topical issue in academic and professional literature over the past decade. In Africa, it is a relatively new concept fast gaining momentum with wide applicability and acceptance given its benefits in promoting consumer adoption of sustainable lifestyles, resilient environment, economic empowerment, and a win–win balance in the ecology and economy nexus. Amidst the growing impact of climate change and environmental degradation, eco-entrepreneurship has become a necessity, with emerging opportunities being in urban waste management, recycling, and renewable energy technologies. Regardless of the benefits of eco-entrepreneurship, regulatory and governance structures inform the viability of any initiatives. This chapter presents how political ecology structures intersect and impact eco-entrepreneurship in Africa. Given that nations’ approaches can differ, this study provides a case study synthesis of two major African economies namely Nigeria and South Africa. The authors document the predominant political orientation and attitude toward eco-entrepreneurship. First, the authors argue that the political environment is indifferent to the potential of the eco-entrepreneurial framework, hence applying a one-size-fits-all approach. Second is that the attention to eco-entrepreneurship by policymakers is economically inclined, they focus mainly on economic growth opportunities; equally, that eco-entrepreneurship offers opportunities for the protection of social and environmental integrity cannot be ignored. Third, is the bandwagon effect associated with eco-entrepreneurship initiatives, where the need to align with international bodies and states drives a Eurocentric concern? The authors conclude that fostering enabling policy environment can help enhance the productivity of current eco-entrepreneurial initiatives as well as attract new ones needed to explore eco-entrepreneurship benefits.

Micro and small enterprises (MSE) play a critical role in the Swiss economy but had no meaningfully adopted working from home (WFH) policy before the COVID-19 crisis. The timing of the study’s data collection allowed a unique assessment of Swiss MSEs’ adoption of WFH enabled by the adoption of digital technologies due to the first government-mandated COVID-19 lockdown. The study also set out to assess the permanence of any changes in the adoption of WFH by MSEs after initial government COVID-19 restrictions ended.

The study uses a threefold theoretical framework combining social, technical and spatial dimensions. Data were collected via telephone interviews. The utilised sampling frame included 153,000 small businesses with 4–49 employees, and the realised sample for the study was 503 interviews with MSE owners and managing directors (MDs).

The Swiss government’s COVID-19 crisis lockdown policies accelerated the digital transformation of work by employees in Swiss MSEs by increasing the number of employees WFH. However, the number of MSEs with WFH employees decreased after the first lockdown ended. Small business leadership is an important influence on the persistence of any increases in WFH.

The data collection uniquely captures the effects of externally driven digital transformation of work in small businesses by the adoption of WFH. The findings show that small businesses can rapidly learn new ways of working and support the claim that Swiss MSE MDs play a critical role in the adoption of WFH. They also confirm the importance of digital leadership and culture for realising the potential of WFH in small businesses.

The impact of dependence on self-care on people’s lives is very significant, with consequences for the person and their caregivers. The purpose of this study is to map the evidence on the factors that influence the empowerment of the person dependent on self-care on returning home.

Scoping review according to the criteria proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute: population (people with a dependence on self-care), concept (factors that influence training) and context (return home after hospitalization in a medical-surgical context). The research was carried out from March 1 to April 30, 2022, in the databases CINAHL and MEDLINE (via EBSCO), Scielo, LILACS, Cuiden and MedicLatina; Gray literature searched RCAAP, DART-Europe and OpenGrey. Studies published in Portuguese, Spanish and English were included, with no time limit.

One hundred and eighty-one articles were obtained, which, after analysis according to the criteria, resulted in seven studies included for review, ranging from 2007 to 2021, with a level of evidence between 2. c and 4. a (according to Joanna Briggs Institute), and two thematic areas/four categories emerging.

The need for information and training, the relationship and proximity with the health-care team, the design of nursing care targeted at the person’s level of dependence, education, gender, type of surgical intervention and postoperative period, physical space and lack of privacy and audiovisual media.

The perception of these factors proves to be important in the person’s training process, with the nurse’s role being highlighted due to their emphasis on the transition home.