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This paper investigates the effect of Islamic entrepreneurship on small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) business performance and the development of a framework to comprehensively investigate Islamic entrepreneurship to achieve competitive business advantages. Islamic entrepreneurship was measured through the Islamic entrepreneurial model, which is based on two unobserved constructs: business and spiritual perspectives. These two constructs were used as predictors of business performance. This paper aims to develop a new scale of Islamic entrepreneurship from business and spiritual perspectives to achieve SMEs’ successful business performance.

In total, 189 Muslim respondents were involved and analyzed their responses using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory composite analysis.

The empirical findings proved that the Islamic entrepreneurial scale with two perspectives is an absolute measure. Besides, the predictive validity findings revealed that business (i.e. trustworthiness, honesty and truthfulness) and spiritual perspectives of Islamic entrepreneurship (i.e. Taqwa, good intention and respecting religious obligations) positively affected SMEs’ business performance.

The novelty of this study lies in expanding the existing research, developing a measurement scale and empirically testing the Islamic entrepreneurship model. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that contributes to the Islamic entrepreneurship literature in the SME context and offers new avenues for potential researchers. The new scale will allow SMEs to understand the halal and haram concepts in more depth and apply the Islamic rules and principles with full spirit.

The shadow economy (SE) has been a serious issue with varied dimensions in all countries that significantly affect economic growth. Therefore, all countries have made an effort to tackle the SE by pursuing several measures. This study aims to investigate the impact of financial markets (stock and bond) in reducing the SE while considering the role of country risk (political, economic and financial) in N-11 countries.

The study employed first-generation methodological techniques, including a unit root test to identify stationarity in the series, a panel cointegration test and panel autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) to estimate long-run and short-run relationships. Finally, the Granger causality is applied to determine the direction of the causal relationship.

The study explored that country risk factors are crucial in reducing the size of the SE. Moreover, the significant moderating role of country risk factors in the financial market development and SE nexus suggests that by controlling the country's risk, financial market development can negatively affect the SE.

Due to the availability of data, the study used data, ranging from 1995 to 2015, because the tax burden data is available from 1995 while the maximum data for the SE is available till 2015, using Medina and Schneider's (2019) data estimates for the SE.

The previous studies have focused explicitly on the role of financial institutions' development in the SE. To the best of the author's knowledge, no previous study is attempted to investigate the role of financial markets (bonds and stock) in the size of the SE. Furthermore, previous studies have ignored the important role of country risk factors in the size of the SE. This study investigates the impact of country risk on the SE and the moderating role of country risk in the development of financial markets and the SE nexus.

This paper studies digitalization projects aiming to increase the share of regional food in the hospitality sector and communal catering. The focus is set on influencing factors and underlying feedback structures that arise through the digitalization of regional food supplies. The results can guide stakeholders to get a better understanding of key influencing factors and complexities from a holistic perspective.

A systems thinking approach is employed to model regional food networks. The influencing factors were found in the literature and in two model regions. Feedback loops and underlying structures were explained and validated through semi-structured interviews. Findings are visualized in causal loop diagrams (CLDs) and are used for theory development.

The presentation in CLDs helps understanding the influence of digital logistics platforms on the entire system of regional food supply and not just on isolated parts. Among others, cooperation, trust and digital solutions were identified as key success factors when aiming to increase the share of regional food in the hospitality sector and communal catering.

The work focused on the underlying feedback structures occurring in regional food supply in two, rural Bavarian regions in Germany with their unique geographical settings. Findings may, consequently, not be entirely transferable to other regions with varying characteristics. Further research needs to be done to see how much these regional parameters influence digital logistics platforms.

The paper contributes to the existing scientific literature by showing the impact coming from digital logistics platforms on regional food supply systems. Developing CLDs provides a basis for future work and facilitates discussion for researchers and practitioners to support future real-world implementations.

Even though extant research highlights the crucial role some stakeholders play in helping corporations understand, manage and mitigate the occurrence of modern slavery in their supply chains and operations, there is a fundamental lack of understanding of all the relevant stakeholder groups and the specific roles they play. By adopting a stakeholder theory approach, this study aims to identify all the key stakeholders and their associated roles towards supporting corporations’ modern slavery monitoring, detection and disclosure activities.

A systematic literature review was conducted by following the PRISMA guidelines. Relevant literature included scholarly work focusing on the identification of key stakeholders and the roles they play in enabling corporations’ modern slavery monitoring, detection and disclosure activities.

Nine stakeholder groups and their roles were identified, such as governments, workers, IGOs, NGOs and suppliers. Examples of performed activities include conducting audits, providing training, monitoring occurrences of modern slavery, enforcing regulations, reporting on labour issues and evaluating corporations’ modern slavery reports.

A comprehensive understanding of key stakeholders and their roles enables better collaboration towards achieving transparency within corporations’ supply chains and operations. Other stakeholders can leverage these findings to enhance modern slavery reporting activities.

Clarity regarding key stakeholders and their roles may improve quality and quantity of reported modern slavery information, enhancing corporations’ public accountability.

This study adopts a stakeholder theory approach to provide a comprehensive understanding of key stakeholders and their roles in enhancing corporations’ modern slavery reporting activities.

Integrating transaction costs economics and task-technology fit theory, this study distinguishes two categories of social media–enabled interactions, namely task-related interactions and tie-related interactions, and explores the match between these two and firms' use of contracts in achieving safeguarding and coordinating purposes in interfirm governance.

Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. In Study 1, this study collaborated with a professional market research firm and collected responses from Chinese manufacturing firms in a survey. In Study 2, this study designed a scenario-based experiment and collected 239 participants from the Credamo platform.

This study categorized social media–enabled interactions into task-related interactions and tie-related interactions and conducted two studies to reveal that the safeguarding purpose of contract specificity is amplified by tie-related interactions, whereas the coordinating purpose of contract specificity is strengthened by task-related interactions.

This study assumes that firms permit and encourage the use of social media. However, some firms might prohibit the use of social media due to risk issues, or their partners may be prohibited from using social media.

Given that social media–enabled interactions have joint effects with contracts in achieving safeguarding and coordinating purposes, a firm's employees should match their goals with an appropriate type of social media–enabled interactions.

This study enriches the interfirm governance literature by uncovering the roles of these two types of interactions in matching contract specificity to achieve safeguarding and coordinating purposes, which provides actionable insights for managers in governing interfirm relationships.

Growth optimism, which describes the expected future growth of a firm, is an important but underexplored construct in strategy. This paper aims to assess the planning antecedents of such growth optimism by using a large Australian sample of small enterprises.

The authors use a secondary data set, gathered among Australian small to medium enterprises (SMEs), by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The analysis adopts a regression approach including a mediated and a non-mediated path to explore the direct and indirect effects of strategic planning and budgetary planning and management on expected future revenues.

This paper assesses the implications of concurrent strategic planning and financial management dynamic capabilities on anticipated future revenue growth, an important predisposition dynamic capability. The authors note that this configuration of actions and predisposition aligns closely with the necessary requirements for growth. The findings suggest that firms that use strategic planning and robust budget planning and monitoring processes exhibit higher optimism about future sales growth and firms that effectively configure these planning activities with market development tend to exhibit higher growth and more growth optimism.

In terms of theoretical contributions, the paper strongly supports the formality view in the formal/informal debates associated with effectuation strategies. The authors suggest that appropriate strategic and budgetary planning and control systems act as a counterbalance to organisational confusion and managerial capriciousness, leading to improved confidence among managers and their employees regarding future resource commitments and plans.

The findings of the paper are potentially important for both managers and policy makers. For managers seeking to grow their future sales, planning is shown to be an important antecedent activity. The presence of financial and strategic planning may predispose firms to make important investment decisions that drive future growth. Also, a better understanding of the firm’s current and future strategic and financial position may be evidence of effective firm management, a situation that, in turn, drives growth.

In terms of social and policy implications, the data gathered for the survey by the ABS forms a valuable collection of information in relation to business practices. Australian firms are required by law to regularly report budget plans and outcomes. The research suggests that this data can inform policy initiatives, particularly in relation to programmes that may assist small and young firms to undertake prospective strategic and budgetary planning.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to investigate the particular configuration of strategic and financial planning and anticipated sales growth in the SME context.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help in defining preventive strategies in taking decisions in complex situations. This paper aims to research how workers might deal with intervening AI tools, with the goal of improving their daily working decisions and movements. We contribute to deepening how workers might deal with intervening AI tools aiming at improving their daily working decisions and movements. We investigate these aspects within a field, which is growing in importance due to environmental sustainability issues, i.e. waste management (WM).

This manuscript intends to (1) investigate if AI allows better performance in WM by reducing social security costs and by guaranteeing a better continuity of service and (2) examine which structural change is required to operationalize this predictive risk model in the real working context. To achieve these goals, this study developed a qualitative inquiry based on face-to-face interviews with highly qualified experts.

There is a positive impact of AI schemes in helping to detect critical operating issues. Specifically, AI potentially represents a tool for an alignment of operational behaviours to business strategic goals. Properly elaborated information, obtained through wearable digital infrastructures, allows to take decisions to streamline the work organization, reducing potential loss due to waste of time and/or physical resources.

Being a qualitative study, and the limited extension of data, it is not possible to guarantee its replication and generalizability. Nevertheless, the prestige of the interviewees makes this research an interesting pilot, on such an emerging theme as AI, thus eliciting stimulating insights from a deepening of information coming from respondents’ knowledge, skills and experience for implementing valuable AI schemes able to an align operational behaviours to business strategic goals.

The most critical issue is represented by the “quality” of the feedback provided to employees within the business environment, specifically when there is a transfer of knowledge within the organization.

The study focuses on a less investigated context, the role of AI in internal decision-making, particularly, for what regards the interaction between managers and workers as well as the one among workers. Algorithmically managed workers can be seen as the players of summarized results of complex algorithmic analyses offered through simpleminded interfaces, which they can easily use to take good decisions.

Stringent environmental regulations and the need for a robust supply chain (SC) network have necessitated organizations to adopt circular economy (CE) practices. With proven impact of CE practices on SC activities, digital technologies are prompting organizations to digitalize SC networks. Yet, the correlation between SC digitalization and CE practices has been less examined. This study aims to identify and evaluate, the critical success factors (CSFs) necessitating SC digitalization and strategies helping in SC digitalization.

An extensive literature review was performed to identify CSFs and strategies for SC 4.0 (SC4.0), and for finalization, experts’ input was obtained with the Delphi approach. An integrated Fermatean fuzzy set – analytic hierarchy process – decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory – combined compromise solution technique was used to evaluate CSFs and strategies.

Smart work environment, performance monitoring and data reliability and relevance were identified as the top three important CSFs for SC digitalization. Enhancement of analytical capability, data-driven process optimization and development of an integrated digital platform were identified as potential SC4.0 transition strategies.

This study helps SC practitioners better understand the CSFs and strategies for the SC4.0 transition. Furthermore, this study explores the integration of CE principles within these digital strategies, emphasizing how sustainability practices can be embedded in the SC4.0 framework to foster a more resilient and environmentally conscious electronics SC in India.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first to analyze CSFs for SC4.0 in the Indian electronics industry.

Despite the extensive body of research on absolute corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance, limited attention has been given to the distinct concepts of optimal and aggressive CSR engagement, as well as their associations with CSR awarding. This study aims to differentiate between optimal and aggressive CSR engagement and examine their relationship with CSR awarding while considering the moderating influence of board characteristics from the perspectives of stakeholder and agency theories.

This empirical analysis draws on an international dataset comprising 43,803 observations from nine sectors across 41 countries. We employ a least squares dummy variable regression approach that accounts for country, industry and year effects to conduct the analysis.

The results reveal that engagement in aggressive CSR activities beyond the optimal level leads to the generation of a social reputation through CSR awarding. However, the influence of board characteristics on this relationship is significant. Specifically, the presence of a dedicated CSR committee encourages CSR awarding in the context of aggressive CSR engagement. Conversely, board independence constrains the relationship between aggressive CSR engagement and CSR awarding. Notably, board gender diversity does not have a discernible impact on this connection.

Our evidence provides valuable insights to help firms seeking to enhance their social reputation through CSR activities better allocate their resources and avoid unnecessary financial commitments.

This study advances the current understanding by exploring the relationship between aggressive CSR engagement and the recognition of CSR awards. Furthermore, it scrutinises the factors that dictate when such aggressive CSR engagement translates into enhanced social reputation, as evidenced by the attainment of CSR awards.

We investigate the effect of the adoption of formal board structure and board processes on firm performance in Colombian family firms, in a context where firms can choose specific aspects of board structure and processes. We deploy insights from the behavioral governance perspective to develop arguments about how family businesses may choose board elements based on their degree of control over the firm (absolute control or less), and its effect on firm performance.

We use an unbalanced data panel of 404 firm-year observations. The data was obtained from the annual financial and corporate governance reports of 62 Colombian stock-issuing firms for the period 2008–2014 – due to change in regulation, data could not be added beyond 2014. Panel data technique with random effects was used.

The results show that board structure is positively associated with financial performance, however, this relationship is negative in businesses where family has absolute control. We also found that there is a negative association between board processes and performance, but positive association in family-controlled businesses.

Our research contributes to research streams on effects of family control in firm choices and on the interactive effect of governance choices and institutional context and more generally how actors interact (rather than react) with their institutional context.