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This study aims to provide insights into the possible impact of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) on public governance and perceived levels of corruption in developing countries.

Through a multivariate analysis on panel data applied to 36 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and sub-Saharan Africa over the period 2010–2020, the authors test the impact of IPSAS adoption on transparency, accountability and perceptions of less corruption. The authors examine the moderating role of transparency and accountability in the strength of the relationship between IPSAS and perceived corruption.

The main results show that IPSAS adoption promotes an increase in transparency and accountability and leads to the perception of less corruption. Additional tests show that transparency and accountability strengthen the effect of IPSAS adoption and experience on perceived corruption.

The first limitation may be the use of the Transparency International CPI to measure the level of perceived corruption. Probably, the CPI does not reflect the actual levels of corruption in countries while the literature argues that these two measures are related. Also, the lack of data on the status and level of adoption of IPSAS by governments may be one limitation of the sample.

The study may help public authorities in their decision to adopt IPSAS. In light of the findings, standard-setting bodies could be encouraged to strengthen the disclosure requirements of IPSAS that make governments more transparent and accountable to limit perceptions of corruption.

This study may also help citizens understand the benefits of such reforms in protecting public assets and how such standards may help improve social welfare.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the few studies that examines the impact of IPSAS on good governance by combining the dimensions of transparency, accountability and perceptions of corruption in DCs. It also provides insights into the moderating role of public governance pillars. Finally, it includes the IPSAS experience of the country, which has been little tested previously.

The ability to measure cognitive load in the workplace provides several opportunities to improve workplace learning. In recent years, virtual reality (VR) has seen an increase in use for training and learning applications due to improvements in technology and reduced costs. This study aims to focus on the use of simulation task load index (SIM-TLX), a recently developed self-reported measure of cognitive load for virtual environments to measure cognitive load while undertaking tasks in different environments.

The authors conducted a within-subject design experiment involving 14 participants engaged in digit-recall n-back tasks (1-back and 2-back) in two VR environments: a neutral grey environment and a realistic industrial ozone facility. Cognitive load was then assessed using the SIM-TLX.

The findings revealed higher task difficulty for the 2-back task due to higher mental demand. Furthermore, a notable interaction emerged between cognitive load and different virtual environments.

This study relied solely on an n-back task and SIM-TLX self-report measure to assess cognitive load. Future studies should consider including ecologically valid tasks and physiological measurement tools such as eye-tracking to measure cognitive load.

Identifying cognitive workload sources during VR tasks, especially in complex work environments, is considered beneficial to the application of VR training aimed at improving workplace learning.

This study provides unique insights into measuring cognitive load from various sources as defined by the SIM-TLX sub-scales to investigate the impact of simulated workplace environments.

In line with the growing trend of companies focusing on achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs), this research paper aims to propose a classification of values of socially responsible companies aligned with the SDGs that these companies could fulfill.

The authors’ carried out a qualitative semiotic analysis of four companies as part of the corporate environmental communication initiative to focus on the corporate values conveyed in the messages. Using thematic analysis, the authors’ identified the SDGs achieved by their actions. By coding the values and the SDGs, the authors’ performed a top-down hierarchical classification, linking the value system to the SDGs.

This research unveils various relationships between corporate communication values and the practical implementation of specific SDGs. This paper sheds light on the central role of utilitarian values in achieving SDGs 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13 and highlights the importance of existential values in reaching SDGs 8, 9, 10, 12, 11 and 17. Conversely, no utilitarian values contribute to the realization of SDGs 7, 8, 11, 13 and 17, while no existential values enable the achievement of SDGs 7, 12, 13 and 17.

This research makes a valuable contribution to the achievement of the SDGs by adopting a streamlined approach that aligns with specific company values. The classification of values by SDG provides an in-depth understanding of commitments toward these goals and promotes more coherent integration into corporate culture and business practices. This approach ensures that sustainable progress is aligned with the values communicated in their long-term strategy, enabling businesses to effectively address crises.

The aim of the study is to capture consumers' conceptualization of ethnic food and ethnic restaurants, focusing on what it takes for ethnic restaurants to be perceived authentic.

Qualitative research, based on semi-structured in-depth interviews which were transcribed and subjected to inductive thematic analysis.

The findings conceptualize what ethnic food and ethnic-authentic restaurant are, leading to formulating the criteria that authentic ethnic restaurant should meet.

Findings have practical implications for restaurateurs interested in establishing themselves as ethnically authentic and for businesses focusing on ethnic food. This study was based on Israeli-Jewish participants; studies with other populations will contribute to the findings' trustability.

This study provides novel and critical insights into ethnic restaurant managements and to the customer conceptualization of the concept of ethnic authentic, demonstrating it being a multifaceted concept.

As sustainable performance has a central role in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance literature, this study aims to examine the influence of networking capabilities in enhancing sustainable performance through knowledge workers’ productivity and digital innovation. It also examines the sequential mediating role of knowledge workers’ productivity and digital innovation on networking capabilities and SMEs’ sustainable performance relationship.

Data were collected from 308 knowledge workers in the information technology sector and analyzed using the Hayes Process Macro bootstrapping method to test the proposed hypotheses.

Results indicate that knowledge workers’ productivity and digital innovation individually and sequentially mediate the relationship between networking capabilities and SME’s sustainable (economic and environmental) performance, surprisingly, they do not act as a mediator between networking capability and SME’s social performance. SMEs should prioritize investments in the professional development of their knowledge workers through training and skill enhancement programs. This investment equips knowledge workers with the tools to effectively use the knowledge and resources acquired through networking. Thus, knowledge workers may improve performance by using these resources to tackle challenges.

Although this research focused on this specific context, it is prudent to acknowledge that additional factors may also exert influence on sustainable performance within SMEs, factors that managers may consider when making decisions. Methodologically, the cross-sectional design of this research poses a potential limitation, as it does not allow for the complete elimination of endogeneity concerns. However, it is worth noting that scholars have endorsed the use of cross-sectional data in cases where management researchers aim to expand beyond well-documented and longitudinal data sets.

This research offers practical recommendations for SMEs to improve their sustainable performance through networking. SMEs should seek partnerships with complementary knowledge to improve operations and for other performance-oriented benefits.

This study adds significantly to the literature on sustainable SME performance by studying the interdependent effects of networking capabilities. It also represents the individual and sequential mediation mechanism that links networking capabilities to SME success through knowledge worker productivity and digital innovation.

In this chapter, we draw on trans-informed theoretical frameworks to provide insights into gender justice and gender democratization in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). Our purpose is to illuminate the systemic impact of cisgenderist and cissexist beliefs which refer to the legitimation of birth-assigned gender identity and what this means for embracing a critical project of gender expansiveness in the ECEC classroom. More broadly, we explicate how our engagement with trans studies informs a critique of existing debates about masculinities, boys and male teachers in the early years. We draw on the work of trans scholars in the first part of this chapter to ground an epistemological basis for our understanding of gender expansiveness and masculinities that challenges a cisnormative framing of gender justice in ECEC. In the second part, we draw specifically on scholars in the field who have been pivotal in elaborating what we understand to be gender expansive identities and what this means for thinking about gender justice in the early childhood classroom. In the third part, we reflect on the pedagogical implications of boyhood sissiness through a trans-informed lens and explicate its implications for understanding boys and masculinities in the early years. Finally, we draw on transgender studies-informed perspectives on masculinity which call for ‘de-essentializ[ing] masculinity as grounded in a cis-male body’ (Gottzén & Straube, 2016, p. 217) and explore their implications for re-envisioning masculinities as a gender-transformative project in ECEC.

The objective of this research is to determine the influence of solvency and liquidity on the profitability [return on assets (ROA)] of Tunisian banks from Q2-2020 to Q3-2022 by considering asset quality as a moderating variable.

This study uses data on liquidity, solvency, ROA and asset quality for 12 banks. It also considers bank size, gross domestic product (GDP) growth and inflation as control variables. The methodology is based on panel data with generalized least squares (GLS) estimation to assess the moderate influence of the asset quality on solvency, liquidity and ROA. Also, the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation is used as a robustness test.

The results of the GLS model estimation indicated a negatively significant moderating correlation between the liquidity and the solvency. The data from the GMM model indicate that the liquidity variable predicted by the liquidity has a positively significant influence on a bank's ROA as well as for the solvency variable, which is predicted by the capital capacity. Therefore, we conclude that these two variables had a positively significant impact on the ROA.

The studies have many implications for banks and their management in addition to the industry regulators. The results of this study will enable political decision-makers to determine the banks' profits based on their liquidity and solvency.

This analysis provides financial explanations and recommendations for stakeholders in Tunisian banks. Furthermore, these banks must also be able to maintain their liquidity and solvency to ensure their profits in times of COVID-19.

This chapter explores how the development of football fandom for the Chinese national team and local football clubs is strongly associated with societal changes. Although the performances of Chinese football teams, especially the national team, have failed to impress the world, football remains the most popular because of millions of supporters with loyalty and passion. Most studies related to fans mainly focus on the economic and political implications of spectatorship along with the rise of China. Nevertheless, few articles are available to answer the fundamental questions, such as ‘When did these supporters come out?’ and ‘What were the factors of the development of fandom?’. By going through archival records and published documents over the last decades, this chapter offers a comprehensive and historical analysis of the development of football fandom in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and deals with these unanswered questions. As such, this chapter does not intend to be the most authoritative one but is one of the rare sources to lay down the foundation for research on Chinese football fandom. Furthermore, this chapter also proves that studies on football fandom can be a useful window for observing Chinese society.

Since previous literature provides fragmented and conflicting results about the use of digital data for product innovation, the article aims to comprehensively explore and shed light on how agri-food firms utilise external and internal digital data sources when dealing with different product innovations, such as incremental, architecture and radical innovation.

This paper adopts an exploratory multiple-case study and a theory-building process, focussing on the agri-food industry. We collected primary and secondary data from eight manufacturing companies.

The findings of this research show an empirical framework of six agri-food firms’ digital data utilisation behaviours: the supervisor, the passive supervisor, the developer, the passive developer, the pathfinder and the conjunction behaviour. These digital data utilisation behaviours vary according to a combination of data sources, such as internal data related to inside phenomenon measures (e.g. data generated by sensors installed in the production plan) or external data (e.g., market trends, overall sector sales), and innovation purposes.

This article offers guiding principles that assist agri-food companies when utilising internal and external digital data sources for specific product innovation outcomes such as incremental, architectural and radical innovation.

The significance of external and internal data sources in stimulating product innovation has garnered substantial attention within academic discussions, highlighting the critical importance of analysing digital data for driving such innovation. Nonetheless, the predominant approach is to study a single innovation outcome through the lens of digital technology. In contrast, our study stands out by adopting a fundamental perspective on data sources, enabling a more nuanced explanation of the overall product innovation outcomes within the agri-food sector.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of media representation on the mental health of Australians of African descent during the COVID-19 pandemic. By analysing the media coverage of COVID-19 restriction breaches, particularly focusing on individuals from African backgrounds, the study aims to shed light on how racially charged narratives can contribute to emotional distress and exacerbate feelings of alienation within these communities. The findings highlight the detrimental effects of such portrayals, emphasising the need for more responsible and inclusive media reporting to safeguard the mental well-being of culturally and linguistically diverse populations.

The study employed media content analysis to explore representations of Australians of African origin versus the broader Anglo–Australian population during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on racial identity’s impact on news coverage of COVID-19 restriction breaches. Researchers classified and distilled extensive textual content, using a diverse sample from various ethnic-racial backgrounds, with an emphasis on African Australians within the CALD community. Data analysis was conducted using NVivo (version 12) software, following an inductive approach.

The findings underscore the consistent portrayal of people from African communities as outsiders and the racial profiling they experience in media coverage of significant issues like COVID-19.

There is very limited research that examines the impact of media coverage on African migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic.