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The timeliness and quality of information provided to board members are crucial for them to effectively monitor and advise a firm. This study examines the influence of board composition and structure on (1) the board’s actions to mitigate the information asymmetry problem by implementing enterprise information systems (EIS) and (2) the board of directors’ awareness of information asymmetry, their perception of its causes and their efforts to address it.

Our research employs a mixed-methods approach. First, using data from 115 publicly listed Chinese companies, we empirically assess the likelihood of top-level EIS modules adoption at the firm level. Subsequently, through 23 semi-structured interviews, we aim to gain deeper insights into the behavioral motivations behind directors’ attempts to reduce information asymmetry.

The study reveals that boards with a higher number of independent directors or with a strategy committee – indicative of a greater concern regarding information asymmetry problems – are more inclined to adopt top-level EIS modules. Additionally, we identify three primary sources of information asymmetry that directors consider significant in prompting the adoption of top-level EIS modules to alleviate perceived information asymmetry.

This study contributes to both the corporate governance and information systems literature. The implementation and utilization of EIS at the board level have not been extensively explored previously. Moreover, while the issue of information asymmetry at the board level is recognized as a critical governance challenge, the ways in which directors perceive and address this issue remain largely unknown. Our research seeks to illuminate this relatively less-explored area.

This paper aims to unravel the puzzle that the United Kingdom’s high-quality government accounting and fiscal architecture is associated with low-quality outcomes, including poor productivity growth, high public debt, public services which do not meet citizen expectations and historically high levels of taxation. It contributes to public sector accounting research in the fields of fiscal transparency and governance.

This paper uses Miller and Power’s (2013) economization framework and Dunsire’s (1990) concept of collibration to explain why being a global leader in public sector accounting reform and in fiscal and monetary architecture has not protected the UK from weak governance. The intersection of economization’s roles of accounting with modes of government accounting clarifies the puzzle.

Whereas accruals government accounting contributes to fiscal transparency, this is not a sufficient condition for well-judged policy and its effective application. Collibration is the dominant mechanism for mediation in the fiscally centralized UK, but it has failed to deliver stable outcomes, in part because Parliament is limited in its ability to hold back inappropriate behaviour by the Executive. Subjectivization has disrupted adjudication because governments at all levels resist constraints on their behaviour, with unpredictable and often damaging consequences.

This paper provides insights through the combined lens of economization and modes of government accounting, demonstrating the practical value of this conceptualization. Although some causes for unsatisfactory outcomes are specific to the UK, there are cautions for accounting and fiscal reformers in other countries, such as Member States of the European Union.

The purpose of this study is to identify the capacity needs of building professionals to deliver environmentally sustainable buildings (ESBs) globally, from a unique systems approach. Through a review of extant literature, this study contributes to knowledge of the global delivery of ESBs by identifying research trends and gaps that can be tackled in future research, and current hotspots in capacity building (CB) research within the built environment (BE). The adopted systems approach to CB postulates that the construction industry is systemized in nature, and thus, CB solutions within the industry should be approached from a systems approach.

A literature search was conducted using the Scopus search engine, augmented by Google Scholar and Web of Science, to produce 54 relevant articles for analysis. The scientometric analysis was undertaken with the use of VOSViewer to better understand the broad literature on CB in the construction industry which would not have been possible with traditional data analysis. The content analysis allowed, for a systematic review of selected articles, to reveal key themes in this study.

Through a content analysis, four levels of CB were identified within the construction industry; individual level, organizational level, industry level and state level. Nine sub-capacities were subsumed under the four identified levels adopted from Potter and Brough (2004), including but not limited to Performance capacity, Workload capacity, Supervisory capacity, Industry Role capacity and Systems capacity. Under each sub-capacity, key questions were posed to aid identify the capacity needs of BE professionals. A framework for identifying capacity needs in the BE is proposed.

The findings of this study serve as a useful reference for practitioners and policymakers to assess their level of commitment to CB efforts for ESB delivery. The findings of this study have revealed that building the capacities of BE professionals to deliver ESBs should be addressed as part of a broader framework, interdependent on the other levels of CB in the systemic construction industry.

As a review study identifying capacity needs for BE professionals to deliver ESBs, this study enhances knowledge of CB within the construction industry.

This study was designed to discover the readiness of the higher education commission (HEC)-recognized journals of Pakistan in terms of human, financial and technological resources, technical expertise, institutional support, availability of open access (OA) policy, availability of guidance and training, willingness, motivation and so on for OA journal publishing and to expose the challenges in OA journal publishing.

A quantitative research approach was used and a structured questionnaire was developed to meet the objectives of this study. A survey method was used to collect data from the editors of all 329 HEC-recognized journals in Pakistan.

The respondents of all the HEC-recognized journals of Pakistan are neutral and are not of the view that they have sufficient financial, human, technological/infrastructural resources and technical expertise to continue/initiate an OA journal publishing. ‘No academic reward’; and ‘no monetary reward for the editorial staff’ are both enormous challenges for OA journal publishing. The perceived challenges of OA have a negative impact on readiness for OA publishing. The readiness level of the respondents of the OA journals is higher as compared to the readiness level of the respondents of non-OA journals.

This study covered the lists of HEC-recognized journals of 2019. More studies may be conducted based on updated lists of HEC-recognized journals. Qualitative studies may also be conducted to discover the readiness of the HEC-recognized journals of Pakistan for OA journal publishing.

This study is the first comprehensive study on this phenomenon and is an effort to fill this gap to invigorate scholarly literature. It may attract the attention of policymakers, funding bodies, parent institutions of the journals and the HEC regarding the readiness of journals in terms of financial, human, technological/infrastructural resources, technical expertise of the journals and challenges of journals to prompt the OA journal publishing paradigm.

Organizations increasingly use knowledge arbitrage to stimulate innovation and achieve competitive advantage. However, in knowledge management its use in startups is yet unexplored. This study aims to examine the utilization of knowledge arbitrage by startups, specifically during COVID-19.

This study employed an open-ended essay methodology to explore the drivers and barriers that startups face in utilizing knowledge arbitrage. We collected data from 40 participants to understand the role of knowledge arbitrage in startups’ knowledge management practices.

This study’s findings highlight the significance of knowledge arbitrage for startups. The benefits identified include organizational benefits such as building networks, innovating new products and achieving competitive advantage and financial benefits such as cost reduction and sales growth. The study also identifies several technological and organizational drivers and barriers that startups confront during knowledge arbitrage.

This study contributes to the existing literature on knowledge management by extending our understanding of knowledge arbitrage’s role in startups. Additionally, it sheds light on the importance of knowledge arbitrage for startups and the challenges they face, particularly in a disrupted environment reared by COVID-19. The study provides insights for the scholars and practitioners interested in effective knowledge management in startups.

Self-presentation is an important aspect of influencer marketing. Drawing upon self-presentation theory and source credibility theory, this study aimed to unravel how the self-presentation strategies of a layperson, opinion leadership and micro-celebrity influence source credibility (i.e. trustworthiness, expertise, physical attractiveness and social attractiveness) and how source credibility, in turn, affects brand responses.

An online experiment among female participants (N = 229) was conducted. Participants were shown a sponsored blog in which the influencer presented herself as either a layperson, an opinion leader or a micro-celebrity.

The study demonstrated that the presentation strategy of a layperson was more persuasive than a micro-celebrity presentation because of higher levels of (1) trust and (2) social attractiveness. In addition, opinion leaders were perceived as having more expertise than laypeople and, therefore, positively enhanced brand responses.

The current findings provide relevant insights into the theoretical mechanisms (i.e. expertise, trustworthiness and social attractiveness) that explain the effects of self-presentation strategies on brand responses.

Our findings imply that credibility perceptions determine the persuasiveness of the SMI. This study showed that layperson and opinion leadership self-presentation strategies are relatively more persuasive.

This study is the first to show that influencers’ self-presentation strategies determine how people respond to the brands that influencers promote. In addition, we show that these effects are explained by the influencers’ trust, social attractiveness and expertise.

Although large-scale construction projects can stimulate economic development, they can also cause unanticipated environmental stress. In addition, there are indications that such projects can collide with local cultural structures and create negative social impacts. With a focus on Building with Nature – an initiative towards sustainable hydraulic engineering – this chapter illustrates how nature conservation can be integrated into the daily operation of large-scale construction projects. Also, some insights are presented on the effects of voluntary green behaviour, particularly about challenges and benefits associated with enforcing corporate responsibility. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the role of integrative systematic approaches in analysing the complexity related to multi-stakeholder involvement for the embodiment of SDG14 Life Below Water. Also, some arguments are provided on the value of intergenerational knowledge exchange – linking expertise and experience of industry representatives with innovative concepts from higher education actors – for realising goals linked to sustainable development embracing future generations.

This chapter presents a study of ‘floral ethics’, defined as a set of standardized practices for handling flowers shared among members of the florist occupation. Drawing on 36 months of ethnographic fieldwork in flower shops in Switzerland and Chicago, it contributes to the sociology of work and professions by providing a nuanced understanding of the tensions that can arise between the professional expertise of florists and the aesthetic preferences of customers. The findings on the micro-level reveal that adherence to floral ethics serves as a strategy for protecting and maintaining occupational legitimacy. By uncovering divergent conceptions of what constitutes ‘work well done’ among florists, this chapter offers a broader argument on the power asymmetry inherent in service relationships.

This paper aims to address the challenge raised in the literature regarding whether and how digitalization supports a servitized new product development (NPD) process, considering the customer’s involvement from the early stage of the process.

Pragmatic constructivism (PC) has been adopted for conceptualizing the NPD process as the construction of a new reality. PC is the method theory used for interpreting the field evidence drawn from a qualitative case study carried out at a multinational company operating in the semiconductor industry.

This study shows how digitalization supports the alignment to the overarching topoi of the company servitization strategy by enabling the integration and merging of different organizational topoi during the NPD process.

This study is confined to a single-case study and context.

The results of this study are relevant for managers involved in the stage-gate product development of manufacturing companies, informing them on how the use of digital tools enables or hinders the progression of product development projects.

This paper contributes to the servitization literature by offering field evidence that demonstrates the importance for manufacturing firms of acquiring customer feedback from an early NPD phase. Another contribution is related to the literature on the role of digitalization in NPD processes, describing how digital tools give support during the different phases of the NPD process.

The case study aims to help students/learners to analyse the role of perception and its linkage to an entrepreneur’s decision-making process in setting up a social entrepreneurship venture during the COVID-19 pandemic without any prior entrepreneurial experience; understand the definition and meaning of social enterprises based on concepts/theories of social entrepreneurship; identify if AgriVijay fits the outline of a social enterprise based on its vision, challenges faced and journey as an agriculture-based technology-oriented social venture (AgTech SE); and outline the future path of AgriVijay as an independent business (post its incubation support period) using suitable strategy and funding models related to for-profit social enterprises.

This case study details the fascinating journey of a social AgTech venture – AgriVijay – through the perspectives of the protagonist Vimal Panjwani, a budding agri-business entrepreneur. Fuelled by a desire to empower the farming communities, Panjwani with the support of his dynamic mother, Shobha Chanchlani, embarked on the challenging task of crafting a business model that sought to merge community welfare with profitable enterprise. The case study illuminates the protagonist's background, revealing Panjwani’s motivations, risk-taking tendencies and the pivotal role played by his co-partner and mother, Chanchlani. It also highlights the challenges encountered by the protagonist in setting up a technology-based social entrepreneurship venture along with its success in making a social impact across marginalised farming communities. Through all this, the case study also highlights the major dilemma of the protagonist – that of continuing to balance AgriVijay’s core mission of “empowering the farmers” with profitability and long-term growth beyond its limited incubation support period, and his own dilemma of venturing into a social enterprise as a start-up venture without any prior entrepreneurial experience. The case study through its narrative encourages the readers/learners to understand the evolving dynamics of a nascent social entrepreneurial venture in a developing economy and how such a balanced model can actually be the harbinger of social impact and change in similar economies with large rural farming and marginalised communities.

The case study is most suitable for postgraduate management, weekend executive learning or distance learning students in agri business, sustainable business, social entrepreneurship and allied management domains. It can be used for teaching and learning topics related to entrepreneurship, new venture strategy, leadership and motivation, with a specific focus on agriculture business, agricultural entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and sustainable ventures.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.