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This study aims to investigate blockchain technology (BT) and its opportunities and weaknesses in Iran's tax system; it addresses the opportunities and challenges of BT when incorporated into Iran's tax system.

The statistical population consists of all the employees and managers working in tax administration, and 674 participants were selected as the sample size via Cochran sampling. The partial least square tests are used to investigate the impact of the independent variable on dependent ones.

The results show that BT positively affects three components of tax, including value-added tax, tax on shipping goods and income tax. BT’s advantages and opportunities positively affect these taxation types, while its threats negatively affect the opportunities and challenges in Iran’s tax system; this study provides helpful insights and develops the knowledge. Furthermore, this is among the initiatives addressing BT’s opportunities and challenges in three discriminative taxation sectors, including value-added tax, tax on shipping goods and payroll tax.

Since no study has addressed BT’s opportunities and weaknesses in Iran’s tax system, it addresses the opportunities and challenges of BT when incorporated into Iran’s tax system.

Recent technological advancements, often linked to Industry 4.0, require organizations to be more agile and innovative. Blockchain technology (BT) holds immense potential in driving organizations to achieve efficiency and transparency in supply chains. However, there exist some insurmountable challenges associated with the adoption of BT in organizational supply chains (SC). This paper attempts to categorically identify and systematize the most influential challenges in the implementation of BT in SC.

This study resorts to an extensive literature review and consultations with experts in the field of supply chain management (SCM), information technology and academia to identify, categorize and prioritize the major challenges using VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) and Combined Compromise Solution method (CoCoSo).

The top three classes of challenges revealed in this study are privacy challenges (PC), infrastructure challenges (IC) and transparency challenges (TC). Maintaining a balance between data openness and secrecy and rectification of incorrect/erroneous input are the top two challenges in the PC category, integration of BT with sustainable practices and ensuring legitimacy are the top two challenges in the IC category, and proper and correct information sharing in organizations was the top most challenge in the TC category.

Future scholars and industry professionals will be guided by the importance of the challenges identified in this study to develop an economical and logical approach for integrating BT to increase the efficiency and outcome of supply chains across several industrial sectors.

This study analyzes the performance implications of adopting blockchain to support supply chain business processes. The technology holds as many promises as implementation challenges, so interest in its impact on operational performance has grown steadily over the last few years.

Drawing on transaction cost economics and the contingency theory, we built a set of hypotheses. These were tested through a long-term event study and an ordinary least squares regression involving 130 adopters listed in North America.

Compared with the control sample, adopters displayed significant abnormal performance in terms of labor productivity, operating cycle and profitability, whereas sales appeared unaffected. Firms in regulated settings and closer to the end customer showed more positive effects. Neither industry-level competition nor the early involvement of a project partner emerged as relevant contextual factors.

This research presents the first extensive analysis of operational performance based on objective measures. In contrast to previous studies and theoretical predictions, the results indicate that blockchain adoption is not associated with sales improvement. This can be explained considering that secure data storage and sharing do not guarantee the factual credibility of recorded data, which needs to be proved to customers in alternative ways. Conversely, improvements in other operational performance dimensions confirm that blockchain can support inter-organizational transactions more efficiently. The results are relevant in times when, following hype, there are signs of disengagement with the technology.

This study aims to provide a series of drivers that prompt the blockchain technology (BT) adoption decisions in circular supply chain finance (SCF) and also assesses their degrees of influence and interrelationships, which leads to the construction of a theoretical model depicting the influence mechanism of BT adoption decisions in circular SCF.

This study mainly uses the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework, which focuses on the aspects based on the nature of innovation, intra-organizational characteristics and extra environmental consideration, to identify the drivers of blockchain adoption in circular SCF context, while the significance and causality of the drivers are explained using interpreting structural models (ISMs) and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method.

The findings of this study indicate that government policy and technological comparative advantage are the underlying reasons for BT adoption decisions, management commitment and financial expectations are the critical drivers of BT adoption decisions while other factors are the receivers of the mechanism.

This study provides theoretical references and empirical insights that influence the technology adoption decisions of both BT and circular SCF by practitioners.

The theoretical research contributes significantly to current research and knowledge in both BT and circular SCF fields, especially by extending the existing TOE model by combining relevant enablers from technological, organizational and external environmental aspects with the financial performance objectives of circular SCF services, which refer to the optimization of the financial resources flows and financing efficiency.

Recent calls in international management (IM) research ask scholars to conduct more context-sensitive research, however; little attention has been paid to the methodological particularities that inform such context sensitivity. This paper aims to addresses this shortcoming by exploring how emic concepts implicate IM research processes during qualitative field studies.

We carried out ethnographic fieldwork in Brazilian subsidiaries of three German multinational enterprises. We relied on the researchers’ experiences and data from a larger research project including 63 semi-structured interviews, 7 focus groups, documents and field notes. Adopting a culturally sensitive and self-reflexive lens, we reflect on the researchers’ experiences in the Brazilian sociocultural context from an interpretive paradigm.

Our findings reveal how seven identified emic concepts affect four prototypical phases of the research process: securing access, collecting data, analyzing data and presenting findings. We discuss how these seven emic concepts influenced the research process and impacted research outcomes, as experienced by the researchers.

Findings are limited by our self-reflexive capabilities as foreign researchers, the limited explanatory power of emic categories, our paradigmatic positioning and the research context.

We contribute to research practice by providing eight suggestions for conducting international fieldwork and proposing avenues for future research.

This research contributes to the epistemological and methodological debate on context-sensitive research by arguing that intercultural sensitivity needs to be managed as an integral dimension for any form of international fieldwork. Findings contribute to interpretive approaches showing how emic concepts affect research practices, with implications for critical management perspectives.

This study examines the need for an accounting curriculum to evolve in response to the changing business landscape. Specifically, this study aims to explore the relationship between various market forces, the shifting dynamics of business, and the importance of adapting accounting education to these changes.

This study is a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research. A structured questionnaire was administered to 320 professionals to gather data, and the study employed descriptive analysis, one-sample t-tests, and structured equation modeling to analyze the relationship between the variables.

The findings reveal a strong correlation between business transformation and the imperative to adapt accounting education. This study emphasizes the significance of modifying accounting curricula to align with the current market trends. Furthermore, this study addresses the pressing concern of sustainability and the triple bottom line (TBL), advocating specialized education in sustainability accounting programs.

Despite its contributions, this study acknowledges a limitation in its focus solely on the perceptions of professionals and academicians regarding the impact of business transformation on accounting education, without directly examining the prevailing accounting education system. Future research should address this limitation by undertaking a qualitative exploration of the actual accounting education landscape and market requirements.

The implications of the study span the theoretical, regulatory, environmental, and social domains, stressing the need for educational institutions, regulatory bodies, and industry to collaborate in shaping competent and future-ready accounting professionals. A systematic approach would validate and extend the findings of this study, providing deeper insights into the transformative processes necessary to enhance accounting education in response to evolving business landscapes and environmental dynamics.

The outcome of the study assists educational institutions and regulatory bodies in framing policies to adapt accounting education to the evolving business landscape by updating the accounting curriculum as per the changes in the market forces to make graduates relevant and competent.

This study investigates the determinants of digital competencies (DC) of students and professionals in accounting.

A total of 278 valid questionnaires were collected from 145 accounting students and 133 professionals to test the relationship between some characteristics of learners through the t-test and two-way ANOVA test.

The results showed a difference in DC between students and professionals. Whereas the characteristics of students do not influence their DC, gender and the number of short courses significantly affect their DC. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) should be provided in accounting programs as core competencies.

A sample size that is not too large and does not include learners and professionals in the central and northern areas is problematic.

The key findings support the development of policies for digital transformation in accounting.

Accounting is one of the professions that must keep up with the changes in the world, which is in the process of rapid digitalization. Hence, this study is valuable for accounting practitioners, higher education institutions and managers to enhance DC continuously.

This study delves into the challenges obstructing the integration of blockchain-enabled smart contracts (BESC) in the construction industry. Its primary objective is to identify these barriers and propose a roadmap to streamline BESC adoption, thereby promoting sustainability and resilience in building engineering.

Employing a unique approach, this study combines the Technology-Organization-Environment-Social (TOE + S) framework with the IF-Delphi-HF-DEMATEL-IFISM methodology. Data is collected through surveys and expert interviews, enabling a comprehensive analysis of BESC implementation barriers.

The analysis reveals significant hindrances in the construction industry’s adoption of BESC. Key obstacles include economic and market conditions, insufficient awareness and education about blockchain technology among stakeholders, and limited digital technology integration in specific cultural and societal contexts. These findings shed light on the complexities faced by the industry in embracing blockchain solutions.

The research makes a significant contribution by combining the TOE + S framework with the IF-Delphi-HF-DEMATEL-IFISM methodology, resulting in a comprehensive roadmap to address barriers in implementing BESC in Sustainable Construction Projects. Noteworthy for its practicality, this roadmap provides valuable guidance for construction stakeholders. Its impact extends beyond the industry, influencing both academic discourse and practical applications.

The literature has dealt with the relationship between board characteristics (BC) and firm performance (FP) on a large scale. However, it yielded inconsistent results. Thus, this paper aims to examine the indirect relationship between BC and FP through the mediating role of the capital structure (CS).

This study used a sample of 528 non-financial companies listed on Bursa Malaysia from 2015 to 2019. Also, a two-step system generalised method of moments estimation technique was applied.

The results show that board diversity and the frequency of board meetings positively affect financial performance, and it is negatively influenced by board turnover, size and independence. Also, the results indicate a positive relationship between the independence of the board and all CS variables. Importantly, the findings support the policy-setting role of the board of directors where CS (measured by total debt and short-term debt) suppresses some governance mechanisms’ detrimental effect on FP. Hence, the board of directors, apart from the monitoring function, introduce various policies (financial and non-financial) that enhance the overall performance of companies.

These results are consistent with the agency’s perspective that management practices in selecting the optimal capital reduce agency costs and improve performance. The findings contribute to developing a broader theoretical framework that accounts for the policy-setting role of the board of directors. The current study model of corporate governance offers insight for policymakers into the role of corporate governance other than monitoring functions in organisations and how CS should be taken into consideration with corporate governance and FP association.

In November 2022, the commercial company, OpenAI, launched ChatGPT. Since then, university students have rapidly become regular users of this artificial intelligence (AI) platform. One reason for this is the powerful capability of this generative AI tool to produce textual content, which in many cases, is almost indistinguishable from human-generated content. Another reason is that ChatGPT easily gives anyone access to knowledge. However, there is a problem as the vast majority of its users have no idea how this AI platform works and thus overlook the importance of thinking critically about information communicated in ChatGPT. While some call for banning this generative AI tool, this study aims to provide evidence that science classrooms can become scenarios where students find explicit, concrete, and realistic opportunities to critically evaluate scientific information generated by ChatGPT.

An intervention study was conducted with 55 students (26 females and 29 males, 17–24 years old) during a university Spanish-English bilingual science course taught within an active learning environment. The data consist of the written critiques of the students about Spanish-English bilingual scientific texts produced by ChatGPT.

Results indicate that the intervention had a positive effect on students’ abilities to construct sound arguments in Spanish and in English while judging the quality of scientific texts produced by this AI bot. Moreover, the findings suggest that the intervention enriched students’ skills to make improvements to texts produced by this generative AI tool.

The evidence provided in this study contributes to the exploration of possibilities to help students become critical users of ChatGPT.