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This paper highlights an assignment in a combination upper-division undergraduate and graduate civic leadership class at a Midwestern state comprehensive university. The three-part assignment challenges students’ critical thinking skills and research capabilities while simultaneously necessitating the exploration of contrasting viewpoints on contentious issues.

Intentionally exposing students to diverse perspectives in a controlled environment.

We posit that the severity and frequency of these issues can be mitigated through focused efforts.

Students are better prepared to engage in civil debate on controversial topics, which continuously divide our communities, after completing a class using this pedagogical strategy.

While the Noble Quran dictates the prohibition of interest, conventional banks promote Islamic banking by opening Islamic banking windows. Against this backdrop, this study aims to investigate the perceived gaps between managers and clients in Islamic marketing and banking, focusing on conventional banks’ Islamic banking windows.

Guided by a qualitative approach, semi-structured personal interviews and observations served as the data collection methods, involving 25 banks and 50 respondents in 3 different districts, namely, Shirajganj, Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj of Bangladesh from January to October 2023. The data were analysed using ATLAS.ti 2023 to explore codes and quotations derived from 14 interview questions. Further, ATLAS.ti 2023 facilitated synthesizing content, concepts, code occurrence, network analysis and thematic analysis.

Islamic and non-Islamic banks use Quranic verses, hadiths (prophetic traditions), images of mosques, the Kaaba and Arabic texts as Islamic marketing tools. These spiritual, divine and prescriptive tools are associated with Islamic banking. However, conventional banks receive criticism for having separate Islamic banking windows to serve religiously conscious clients, which generates tension among clients and bank managers.

The findings can theoretically assist academics in examining conventional banks’ Islamic marketing and banking practices, opening Islamic banking windows. Importantly, Shariah boards can play policy roles in safeguarding the function of Islamic marketing and banking. Managers can use the findings to anticipate client perceptions and enhance Islamic marketing and banking strategies. Likewise, the social implications include the explicit stance of Shariah to mitigate the mixture of halal and haram banking.

This pioneering study explores the perspectives of Islamic banking windows by non-Islamic banks. The combination of Islamic marketing and banking is a noteworthy novelty in this study and deserves recognition for its unique contribution to halal marketing and finance.

This study aims to investigate the influence mechanism of brazing and aging on the strengthening and corrosion behavior of novel multilayer sheets (AA4045/AA7072/AA3003M/AA4045).

Polarization curve tests, immersion experiments and transmission electron microscopy analysis were used to study the corrosion behavior and tensile properties of the sheets before and after brazing and aging.

The strength of the sheet is weakened after brazing due to brittle eutectic phases, and recovered after aging due to enhanced precipitation strengthening in the AA7072 interlayer. The core of nonbrazed sheets cannot be protected due to the significant galvanic coupling effect between the intermetallic particles and the substrate. Brazing and aging treatments promote the redissolved of second phased and limit corrosion along the eutectic region in the clad, allowing the core to be protected.

AA7xxx alloy was added to conventional brazed sheets to form a novel Al alloy composite sheet with AA4xxx/AA7xxx/AA3xxx structure. The strengthening and corrosion mechanism of the sheet was proposed. The added interlayer can sacrificially protect the core from corrosion and improves strength after aging treatment.

Quality management practices (QMP) have stood as one of the critical strategic differentiators for enhancing firm performance. The production and manufacturing industry is the main driving force of economic growth and social development for any developed or developing country. This study aims to focus on two primary dimensions of QMP: soft quality management practices (SQMP) and hard quality management practices (HQMP) from the socio-technical system perspectives. Based on institutional theory perspectives, the study explores the impact of SQMP and HQMP on quality performance (QP), innovation performance (IVP) and financial performance (FP) in Indian oil processing organizations.

A proposed research model is validated using 289 cross-sectional survey data collected from the senior officials of oil processing firms in India. Covariance-based structural equation modeling is used to verify the proposed theoretical model.

SQMP, directly and indirectly, influenced QP and IVP while only indirectly to FP mediated through QP. HQMP directly impacted only QP while indirectly to IVP and FP mediated through QP.

Impact of organizational legitimacy in proper utilization or application of QMP in achieving the firm sustainable growth. The future study may address the following Research Question (RQ) also: How do QMP enhance the legitimacy of organizations operating in the oil processing industries? Are there specific mechanisms or pathways through which improved performance contributes to enhanced organizational legitimacy? How does legitimacy impact the success and sustainability of organizations, particularly, within the context of the oil processing industries? Are there regulatory requirements or industry certifications that organizations must adhere to in order to maintain legitimacy?

Similarly, manufacturing firms establish QMP of interaction and maintaining relationships with all the stakeholders, total employee empowerment and involvement, workforce commitment and workforce management, helping to control their reputations and maintain legitimacy (Li et al., 2023). Similarly, in the health industry, the health management information system (HMIS), which uses the DHIS2 platform, establishes that isomorphism legitimizes data QMP among health practitioners and, subsequently, data quality. Further, it was concluded that mimetic isomorphism led to moral and pragmatic legitimacy. In contrast, normative isomorphism led to cognitive legitimacy within the HMIS structure and helped to attain the correctness and timeliness of the data and reports, respectively (Msendema et al., 2023). Quality, flexibility and efficiency of Big Data Analytics through better storage, speed and significance can optimize the operational performance of a manufacturing firm (Verma et al., 2023).

The study provides the academician with the different dimensions of QMP. The study demonstrates how a firm develops multiple performance capabilities through proper QMP. Also, it shows how vital behavioral and managerial perspectives are to QMP and statistically solid tools and techniques. The study draws their importance to risk factors involved in the firms. Since the SQMP play a vital role, thus, emphasis on the behavioral dimension of quality requires more investigation and is in line with hard technological advancements in the quality field.

The study of the impact of HQMP and SQMP on performance is still not established. There are inconsistencies in the findings. The study of the impact of HQMP and SQMP in oil processing industries has not dealt with before. The effects of HQMP and SQMP on the firm’s FP have least been dealt. In context to the intended influence of QM implementation, QP has not been examined as a potential mediator between FP. Research carried out in the past is limited to American and European countries. However, a limited study was done in Asia, and no study has been conducted in the Indian context.

This study aims to determine the effects of lodging infrastructure development (LID) on Cordillera Administrative Region’s (CAR) environmental quality and natural resource management and its implication to globally responsible leadership. Specifically, this study sought to determine the contribution of LID to environmental deterioration and natural resource degradation in the CAR. As a result, a mathematical model is developed, which supports sustainability practices to maintain the environmental quality and natural resource management in CAR, Philippines.

This study used a descriptive research design using a mixed-methods approach. Self-structured interview and survey were used to gather the data. The population of this study involved three groups. There were 6.28% (34) experts in the field for the qualitative data, 70.24% (380) respondents for the quantitative data and 23.47% (127) from the lodging establishments. 120 respondents from the Department of Tourism – CAR (DOT-CAR) accredited hotels. Nonparametric and nonlinear regression analysis was used to process the data.

The effects of LID on the environmental quality and natural resource management in CAR as measured through carbon emission from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), electricity and water consumption in the occupied guest rooms revealed a direct correlation between the LID. Findings conclude that the increase in tourist arrival is a trigger factor in the increase in LID in the CAR. The increase in LID implies a rise in carbon emission in the lodging infrastructure. Any increase in tourist arrivals increases lodging room occupancy; the increased lodging room occupancy contributes to carbon emissions. Thus, tourism trends contribute to the deterioration of the environmental quality and degradation of the natural resources in the CAR. A log-log model shows the percentage change in the average growth of tourist arrival and the percentage increase in carbon emissions. Establishments should observe standard room capacity to maintain the carbon emission of occupied lodging rooms at a minimum. Responsible leadership is a factor in the implementation of policy on standard room capacity.

The result of the study has some implications for the lodging businesses, the local government unit (LGU), the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the CAR. The study highlights the contribution of the lodging establishments to CO₂ emission, which can degrade the quality of the environment, and the implication of responsible leadership in managing natural resources in the CAR. The direct inverse relationship between energy use and CO₂ emission in hotels indicates that increased energy consumption leads to environmental degradation (Ahmad et al., 2018). Therefore, responsible leadership among policymakers in the lodging and government sectors – LGU, DOT and DENR – should abound in the CAR. Benchmarking on the model embarked from this study can help in designing and/or enhancing the policy on room capacity standardization, considering the total area with its maximum capacity to keep the carbon emission at a lower rate. Furthermore, as a responsible leader in the community, one should create programs that regulate the number of tourists visiting the place to decrease the number of overnight stays. Besides, having the political will to implement reduced room occupancy throughout the lodging establishments in CAR can help reduce the carbon emissions from the lodging businesses. After all, one of the aims of the International Environment Protection Organization is to reduce CO₂ emissions in the tourism industry. Hence, responsible leadership in environmental quality preservation and sustainable natural resource management must help prevent and avoid greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Most studies about carbon emission in the environment tackle about carbon dioxide emitted by transportation and factories. This study adds to the insights on the existing information about the carbon emission in the environment from the lodging establishments through the use of LPG, electricity and water consumption in the occupied guest rooms. The findings of the study open an avenue for globally responsible leadership in sustaining environmental quality and preservation of natural resources by revisiting and amending the policies on the number of room occupancy, guidelines and standardization, considering the total lodging area with its maximum capacity to keep the carbon emission at a minimum, thus contributing to the lowering of GHG emissions from the lodging industry.

This study aims to analyze the effects of socialization mechanisms (belief system and peer mentoring) on managers’ job engagement and their desire to have a significant impact through work, that is, the desire to substantially improve or facilitate the lives of others by performing their work. The study also examines the moderating role of organizational identification.

A survey was conducted with middle and lower-level managers at one of the largest banks in Brazil, the BankCo. The authors obtained a sample of 201 respondents and tested the research hypotheses with structural equation modeling. The authors also performed a complementary data analysis with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.

The results suggest that belief systems and peer mentoring directly promote job engagement and indirectly promote desire to have a significant impact to a better world through work (through full mediation of job engagement). The effects of job engagement on desire to have a significant impact through work are even greater when managers have high organizational identification. Finally, several causal combinations are sufficient for high levels of desire to have a significant impact through work.

Beyond studies that examine how organizational mechanisms influence employee outcomes (e.g. performance), this study explores how socialization mechanisms can promote desire to have a significant impact through work. Thus, the authors demonstrate how organizational core values, mission statement and peer mentoring collaborate for managers to develop altruistic behavior, that is, directly related to other human values, such as empathy and ethics, being able to contribute to a world better.

This study developed and empirically tested a model that connects socialization mechanisms, job engagement, organizational identification and managers’ desire to have a significant impact through their work. Therefore, the paper provides insights into the relevance of socialization mechanisms for orchestrating managers’ proactive and altruistic behaviors.

The Scottish Government hope to pilot judge only rape trials to increase the woefully low rape conviction rates in Scotland. The reasoning is that by removing jurors, the court will be attenuating the role that rape myths and other cognitive and social biases have on conviction rates. However, a plethora of research from cognitive and social psychology, legal literature and decision-making science has shown that experts, including judges and other legal professionals, may be no less biased than laypeople. This paper aims to outline the research highlighting that experts may also be biased, why biases in judges can be elicited, and potential alternative recommendations (i.e. deselecting jurors who score highly on rape myths and providing training/education for jurors). Furthermore, piloting with real judges, in real trials, may not be best practice. Therefore, the authors recommend that any piloting is preceded by experimental research.

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Furthermore, piloting with real judges, in real trials, may not be best practice; therefore, the authors recommend that any piloting is preceded by experimental research.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first of its kind to directly compared the decision-making of jurors and judges within the current Scottish legal context.

The purpose of this study is to develop an integrated conceptual framework to better understand the psychological pathways connecting consumer perceptions to purchasing intentions for premium sustainable products.

The study develops a conceptual model that theorizes relationships between consumer perceptions of a firm’s innovation, competitive advantage, sustainable practices and stakeholder orientation. It proposes that stakeholder orientation mediates the effects of these perceptions on consumers’ willingness to purchase premium sustainable products. Additionally, lifestyle is hypothesized as a moderator. The model advances knowledge through eight testable propositions.

The conceptual framework specifies indirect, mediated and moderated relationships that have not been fully captured by past literature. It theorizes that perceptions of a firm’s innovation, competitive advantage from sustainable practices and stakeholder orientation indirectly influence purchase willingness through the mediating role of stakeholder orientation. Lifestyle is proposed to moderate these relationships.

This conceptual model offers insights for cultivating consumer perceptions that strengthen a firm’s stakeholder image and endorsement of premium sustainable products. Its validated theoretical lens and propositions can provide strategic guidance for addressing the challenges of higher price points for sustainable products through capturing psychological drivers of values-based decision-making. Future empirical assessment is recommended to validate the specified relationships in the model.

Skilled migrant (SM) women play a key role in developed countries especially in healthcare and education in easing staffing shortages and migrate expecting to gain qualification-matched employment (QME). The aim of this review is to assess whether SM women gain the anticipated QME, equitably compared to their skilled counterparts and to examine why and how they do so.

I conducted a systematic literature review to derive empirical studies to assess if, why and how SM women achieve QME (1) using SM women-only samples and comparative samples including SM women, and (2) examining whether they gain QME directly on or soon after migration or indirectly over time through undertaking alternative, contingent paths.

Only a minority of SM women achieve the anticipated QME directly soon after migration and less often than their skilled counterparts. Explaining the mechanism for achieving QME, other women, especially due to having young families, indirectly undertake alternative, lower-level contingent paths enabling them to ascend later to QME.

The SM literature gains new knowledge from revealing how SM women can gain positions post-migration comparable to their pre-migration qualifications through undertaking the alternative, contingent paths of steppingstone jobs and academic study, especially as part of agreed familial strategies. This review results in a theoretical mechanism (mediation by a developmental contingency path) to provide an alternative mechanism by which SM women achieve QME.

This paper aims to investigate how best to classify money laundering through online video games (i.e. virtual laundering). Currently, there is no taxonomy available for scholars and practitioners to refer to when discussing money laundering through online video games. Without a well-defined taxonomy it becomes difficult to reason through, formulate and implement effective regulatory measures, policies and security controls. As such, efforts to prevent and reduce virtual laundering incidence rates are hampered.

This paper proposes three mutually exclusive virtual laundering categorizations. However, instead of fixating on the processes undergirding individual instances of virtual laundering, it is argued that focusing on the initial locale of the illicit proceeds provides the appropriate framing within which to classify instances of virtual laundering. Thus, the act of classification becomes an ontological endeavour, rather than an attempt at elucidating an inherently varied process (as is common of the placement, layering and integration model).

A taxonomy is proposed that details three core virtual laundering processes. It is demonstrated how different virtual laundering categories have varied levels of associated risk, and thus, demand unique interventions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first taxonomy available in the knowledge base that systematically classifies instances of virtual laundering. The taxonomy is available for scholars and practitioners to use and apply when discussing how to regulate and formulate legislation, policies and appropriate security controls.