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This paper critiques institutional whiteness and racial categorisation in UK higher education. This is done through the representation of the complex narratives of “mixed race” women navigating their PhD experiences in predominantly white institutions, when their identities have proximity to whiteness.

This study introduces five vignettes of “mixed race” women, gathered from a wider study of 27 PhDs and early career researchers in UK higher education. The paper employs Yuval-Davis’ framework of belonging and bell hooks' approach to chosen versus forced marginality to create a conceptual framework based on fluid agency and empowerment, recognising belonging as an ongoing process.

The findings reveal how “mixed race” women can occupy a liminal space between belonging to and rejecting racial categorisation, as they attempted to situate their self-identifications within the boundaries of institutional whiteness.

The study only utilises a small sample size of five counter-stories from a larger study on PhD career trajectories, limiting its empirical claims. It also only engages with “mixed race” women who have proximity to whiteness, encouraging research on different “mixed race” intersections.

This paper encourages more discussion around “mixed race” experiences of UK higher education and critical engagement with higher education’s reliance on statistical data to understand racialised communities.

This paper contributes new empirical insights into how whiteness is experienced when “mixed race” women negotiate their relation to it in UK higher education. It also provides theoretical advancements into understanding of institutional whiteness and critically engages with racial categorisation.

This paper revolves around the central question: is it possible to do “proper ethnography” without complete participant observation? The authors draw upon a student's experiences of negotiating National Health Service (NHS) ethical approval requirements and access into the student's research field, a British NHS hospital and having to adapt data collection methods for the student's doctoral research. The authors examine some of the positional (insider/outsider, native gone academic), methodological (long-term/interrupted, overt/covert) and contextual challenges that threatened the student's ethnographic study.

The paper draws on reflexive vignettes written during the student's doctorate, capturing significant moments and issues within the student's research.

The authors highlight the temporal, practical, ethical and emotional challenges faced in attempting an ethnography of nursing culture within a highly regulated research environment. Having revealed the student's experience of researching this specific culture and finding ways to overcome these challenges, the authors conclude that the contemporary ethnographer needs to be increasingly flexible, opportunistic and somewhat covert.

The authors argue that it is possible to do “proper” and “good” ethnography without complete participant observation – it is not the method, the observation, that is the essence of ethnography, but whether the researcher achieves real understanding through thick descriptions of the culture that explain “what is really going on here”.

The authors hope to assist doctoral students engage in “good” ethnographic research within (potentially) risk-averse host organisations, such as the NHS, whilst being located in neo-liberal performative academic organisations (Foster, 2017; McCann et al., 2020). The authors wish to contribute to the journal to ensure good ethnography is accessible and achievable to (particularly) doctoral researchers who have to navigate complex challenges exacerbated by pressures in both the host and home cultures. The authors wish to see doctoral researchers survive and thrive in producing good organisational ethnographies to ensure such research is published (Watson 2012), cognisant of the pressures and targets to publish in top-ranked journals (Jones et al. 2020).

Having identified key challenges, the authors demonstrate how these can be addressed to ensure ethnography remains accessible to and achievable for, doctoral researchers, particularly in healthcare organisations. The authors conclude that understanding can be attained in what they propose as a hybrid form of “propportune” ethnography that blends the aim of the essence of “proper” anthropological approaches with the “opportunism” of contemporary data collection solutions.

This paper aims to devise a case-controlled method combined with Bradford Hill criteria for causal inference of contractual disputes in construction projects. It is a genuine attempt in a systematic method from research design to execution for causal issues where only observational data is available.

The authors located insufficient top management support as the putative pathogen of construction disputes based on a literature review, an interview and Delphi surveys. A questionnaire survey was then conducted to collect case-controlled data to ensure comparability, in which for each disputed project put in the experimental group, the authors sought for a dispute-free project of similar characteristics. The incidence rates of insufficient top management support in the experimental and control groups were then examined by Bradford Hill criteria as an alternative to the test of intervention effect.

The association of insufficient top management support and construction disputes was tested to conform with the Bradford Hill criteria with case-controlled data where applicable and logical deduction where statistical tests were not applicable. With a clear, positive, reasonable and statistically significant association, while excluding methodological biases, confounding and chance, the authors reached a causal verdict of insufficient top management support causing contractual disputes.

This paper supports the validity of applying a case-controlled method combined with Bradford Hill criteria in investigating causal issues in project management, especially the verdict of causal inference based on empirical data. In addition, the located root cause of contractual disputes could inform project management personnel with reasoned strategies for dispute avoidance.

This study aims to examine trends in audit committee characteristics of companies and associates characteristics subject to major change with a fee-based proxy for audit committee effectiveness.

The research adopts an empirical approach. Using descriptive and inferential statistics, observations for 253 Financial Times Stock Exchange 350 companies’ audit committee characteristics gathered from annual reports at the beginning and end of a five-year period are evaluated against averaged non-audit fees (NAF) as a proportion of total audit fees.

Audit committee composition shows an increased incidence of female membership and of members with previous audit experience. The increase in members with previous audit experience is more marked where this is gained with the incumbent auditor. An increase is also shown in chief financial officers with previous audit experience. Previous audit experience is associated with reduced NAF as a proportion of total fees. This is marked where audit experience has been gained with the incumbent auditor. These results suggest that the benefits of financial expertise gained from audit experience outweigh impairments to independence due to social ties. Nevertheless, other studies indicate concerns about independence are still well-founded.

This paper’s original contribution is to evaluate the potential effect of previous audit experience on those involved in audit committees in light of concerns raised in the literature and by regulators that external auditor independence should be maintained. The innovative fee-based proxy for audit committee effectiveness facilitates an evaluation as to which influence prevails.

The ongoing paradigm shift in the energy sector holds paramount implications for the realization of the sustainable development goals, encompassing critical domains such as resource optimization, environmental stewardship and workforce opportunities. Concurrently, this transformative trajectory within the power sector possesses a dual-edged nature; it may ameliorate certain challenges while accentuating others. In light of the burgeoning research stream on open innovation, this study aims to examine the intricate dynamics of knowledge-based industry-university-research networking, with an overarching objective to elucidate and calibrate the equilibrium of ambidextrous innovation within power systems.

The authors scrutinize the role of different innovation organizations in three innovation models: ambidextrous, exploitative and exploratory, and use a multiobjective decision analysis method-entropy weight TOPSIS. The research was conducted within the sphere of the power industry, and the authors mined data from the widely used PatSnap database.

Results show that the breadth of knowledge search and the strength of an organization’s direct relationships are crucial for ambidextrous innovation, with research institutions having the highest impact. In contrast, for exploitative innovation, depth of knowledge search, the number of R&D patents and the number of innovative products are paramount, with universities playing the most significant role. For exploratory innovation, the depth of knowledge search and the quality of two-mode network relations are vital, with research institutions yielding the best effect. Regional analysis reveals Beijing as the primary hub for ambidextrous and exploratory innovation organizations, while Jiangsu leads for exploitative innovation.

The study offers valuable implications to cope with the dynamic state of ambidextrous innovation performance of the entire power system. In light of the findings, the dynamic state of ambidextrous innovation performance within the power system can be adeptly managed. By emphasizing a balance between exploratory and exploitative strategies, stakeholders are better positioned to respond to evolving challenges and opportunities. Thus, the study offers pivotal guidance to ensure sustained adaptability and growth in the power sector’s innovation landscape.

The primary originality is to extend and refine the theoretical understanding of ambidextrous innovation within power systems. By integrating several theoretical frameworks, including social network theory, knowledge-based theory and resource-based theory, the authors enrich the theoretical landscape of power system ambidextrous innovation. Also, this inclusive examination of two-mode network structures, including the interplay between knowledge and cooperation networks, unveils the intricate interdependencies between these networks and the ambidextrous innovation of power systems. This approach significantly widens the theoretical parameters of innovation network research.

Mainstream narratives in Indian history do not delve into the checkered history of the west coast. The reasons for this are many, including a predominantly center-outwards viewpoint of historians. West coast has always been open to sea route influences aiding its diversity. However, the lack of natural defense against colonizers from the sea destroyed indigenous and personal heritage. Small town narratives include uprooting, lack of access to past heritage and new settlement creation. The heritage of this everyday landscape shaped by human grit is the subject of the study.

This qualitative ethnographic study includes document analysis, transect walking, architectural built form study, open interviews and participatory observations.

The motivations for heritage management can be grouped into economic, cultural and technological. From a financial point of view, the urban core studied is still relevant and sustainable. Likewise, the Krishna temple dominates the cultural discussion and architectural documentation as a religious center. However, the cultural heritage of business streets and the third motivation of building technology have been largely ignored. This disregard is evident from neglect and the pastiche use of monumental or ornamental styles alien to the region for restoration efforts.

“Heritage is personal and individual as well as collective and universal” (Mire, 2016). The Pete heritage is not just crucial for the communities they house but the town as a whole. Their nonimpervious nature means that they hold collective memories for everyone. Attention to memories and monuments will increase the possibilities of shared responsibility between various stakeholders (Swenson et al., 2012). Therefore, they should be seen as a part of the larger whole.

This paper argues for the recent global bottom-up approach in heritage management rather than the conventional established practices. Established heritage management focuses on the mainstream, royal or specific ethnic heritage in the Indian subcontinent. The heritage of the common person rarely has the grandeur of monumental architecture taken up for preservation by the state. As a result, societies' individual and collective heritage are at risk of rapid erasure under the pressures of modernization. Built forms are repositories of cultural information; therefore, a sustainable instrument for the preservation of everyday heritage can be created with culture as an actuator. This study looks at the narrative of the historical coastal small-town business core created by internal mass migration due to colonization.

This paper examines the ways in which Chinese university middle managers evaluate subordinate performance in response to the Chinese Double First-Class University Plan, a national project that ranks the performance of universities. In exploring compromise arrangements, the hybridised valuing activity of middle managers is found to be shaped by emergent and extant macro-foundations.

The qualitative data from 49 semi-structured interviews at five Chinese public universities were conducted. Drawing on macro-foundational studies and the sociology of worth (SW) theory, the analysis helps to identify socially shared patterns of actions and outcomes.

The findings elucidate the interplay between diverse economic, social, political and institutional values and the compromise-making by middle managers. The authors find that contextual factors restrict Chinese academic middle managers' autonomy, preventing workable compromise. Through the selective adoption of international and local management practices, compromise has evolved into a private differential treaty at the operational level.

A nuanced explanation reveals how the macro-foundations of Chinese society influence middle managers who engage with accounting when facilitating compromise. This study helps outsiders better understand the complex convergence and divergence of performance evaluative practices in Chinese universities against the backdrop of global market-based forces and the moral dimensions of organisational life. The findings have wider implications for the Chinese government in navigating institutional steps and developing supportive policies to enable middle managers to advance productive but also sustainable compromise.

Romanian women migrant entrepreneurs (RWMEs) are amongst the largest EU migrant communities in the UK and make significant socioeconomic contributions to both their host and origin nations, but academic research and policy discussions have ignored them. Intersectionality raises complex contextual issues that require comprehensive examination and inclusive policies and programmes. This study is aimed at exploring how Romanian women migrant entrepreneurs experience their transnational intersectional journeys of belonging, as they create, negotiate and enact their intersectional identities of the country of origin, gender and being entrepreneurs in the UK and Romania.

This Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) draws on draws upon Crenshaw's (1991) intersectional and Social Identity theories (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) to investigate how nine interviewed RWMEs have experienced their transnational journeys of acculturative belonging in the UK and Romania.

The study findings show how RWMEs undo and negotiate their intersecting identities to adhere to socio-cultural standards in both their host and native nations. In the UK, they feel empowered as women entrepreneurs, but in patriarchal Romania, their entrepreneurial identity is revoked, contradicting the prescribed socio-cultural roles.

This study responds to the call regarding inequalities in entrepreneurship opportunities (Vershinina et al., 2022). By focussing on the understudied community of RWMEs and exploring new intersectional and transnational contextual insights, it contributes to the literature and practice of migrant entrepreneurship. These empirical findings are essential for the development of evidence-based, disaggregated entrepreneurship programmes and policies.

This study responds to the call regarding inequalities in entrepreneurship opportunities (Vershinina et al., 2022). By focussing on the understudied community of RWMEs and exploring new intersectional and transnational contextual insights, it contributes to the literature and practice of migrant entrepreneurship. These empirical findings are essential for the development of evidence-based, disaggregated entrepreneurship programmes and policies.

Existing literature shows conflicting views regarding street vendors in a place. They are considered both positive and negative. Their existence has rarely been examined from a combination of place-making and power theories. This research aimed (a) to identify the actors who transform Borobudur Food and Craft Market and the sources of power and actions carried out by these actors and (b) to find out the views of other actors about street vendors.

The design used in this study was an instrumental case study. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and photo documentation. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling with several participants of as many as 12 persons consisting of 4 street vendors, 4 employees of the state-owned enterprise in charge of the Borobudur tourist site and 4 tourists. The data were analyzed through two-phased coding. To improve the credibility, participant validation was conducted.

This study made new findings. First, in a place, there are formal and informal place-making actors who transform the place with the sources of power they have and the acts of power they carry out. Both formal and informal actors can perform coercive and noncoercive acts of power. This shows the existence of contested power in a setting. Second, street vendors are viewed positively as well as negatively. Comprehensive policies need to be implemented by key actors to minimize the negative sides of the existence of street vendors and optimize the benefits from them.

Data collection was carried out when the Indonesian government implemented restrictions on public activities during the pandemic. At that time, tourism activities were very limited. In the future, researchers can use other techniques such as the self-report visual method because not all street vendors are fluent in expressing their opinions in interviews.

Both central and regional governments and local stakeholders can synergistically carry out a dialogue, seeking common ground to accommodate each other's interests. The next steps are to consistently apply the policies resulting from the dialogue and ensure that each actor plays a role according to their respective portion and authority.

Previous studies typically explain power as the possession of resources and relational attributes. This study has taken a different point of view, namely about acts of power contested in a certain place. Actors who have power are not always those who have formal legitimacy. Informal parties are considered powerless despite having power.

This study examines how informal business networks achieve marketing goals in socially uncertain contexts. Drawing from multiple historical sources, Shangbangs, a type of business network that thrived in pre-1949 China, are analyzed.

The Critical Historical Research Method (CHRM) undergirds a study of Shangbangs’ historicity (i.e. their socio-historically embedded multiplicity, including organizational forms, activities and connotations.

As informal regional, professional, project-based, special-product-based or mixed marketing networks, Shangbangs relied on “flexible specialization” and coupled multiple business needs to market goods and services, business organizations, specific social values and, when necessary, to debrand business rivals.

This analysis extends theories about marketing networks by probing their subtypes, diverse marketing activities, multipronged channels and relationship building with social entities (including underground societies, business associations and guilds) in response to pre-1949 China’s market uncertainties. Substantiating an alternative approach to “flexible specialization” and marketing innovations within the pre-1949 Chinese economy shows how a parallel theoretical framework can complement western-based marketing theories.

This first comprehensive analysis of Shangbangs, an innovative historical Chinese marketing network outside the conventional market-corporate dichotomy, can inform theory building for marketing strategy-making and management conditioned by social contexts.