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This paper aims to evaluate the evolution, development and endurance of the Equality Act 2010, providing a critical overview of influence and key legal principles, demonstrating how the Act has impacted strategic organisational and human resources policy and practice in the UK.

The research is based on a systematic review of relevant professional and academic literature, alongside an evaluation of the Act itself. The subject focus is seen as timely with the return of a Labour Government in the UK – the architects of the Equality Act – for the first time in 14 years. Due to word limitations, the treatment is condensed to provide a selective overview that will be of interest to practitioners and academics in strategic organisational management and human resources. The author is a socio-legal studies academic and non-practising barrister, with expertise in the corporate organisational field.

The Equality Act 2010, though now established, owes its historical inception to civil rights activism and a radical turn in legislative drafting and ambition – points frequently missed when discussing its scope and influence. A highly unusual anomaly is that having been created by an outgoing Labour Government its stewardship immediately passed to a Conservative administration. In particular, the principles consolidated and introduced by the Act have greatly impacted the workplace, crucially organisational behaviour and human resources practices, leading to greater responsibility and interpretive power being directed from employment lawyers towards organisational policy and professional practice.

The Equality Act 2010 is usually discussed as an artifact rather than a radical creation and developing entity. This short paper approaches the Act as a “living” object with an eye on future reform.

Assessing performance art has shifted toward an audience-centric approach, with various factors impacting audiences’ holistic experiences in a theater. Existing theater marketing research has predominantly focused on servicescapes, leaving a research gap regarding audiences’ spatial experience within theater buildings.

To address this gap, this case study collected crowdsourced data from mainstream social media platforms, including rating scores, textual reviews and reviewer-uploaded photos. The aim was to explore to what extent the theater architecture design impacted audiences’ theatrical experience. The old and new facilities of the case study theater were compared, and a series of quantitative and qualitative techniques were applied for data analysis, including statistics, content analysis, sentiment analysis and thematic analysis.

The study identified five major themes in social media review: the show, architectural design and attributes, staff and service, neighborhood and amenities, and financial consideration. Comments about theater architecture constituted a substantial portion of reviews, with seating comfort, intimacy and stage visibility being frequently discussed features. Seven subthemes related to architectural design emerged as key contributors to audiences’ spatial experiences, including aesthetics, design and spatial configuration; the bar and lobby; the new facility; seats; sets and stage; acoustics; and intimacy and atmosphere.

The study places the individual experiences of audience members as central and uses an inductive approach to analyze their self-generated data. The research results offer valuable insights into theater design and confirm the belief that architectural design has a significant impact on the overall theatrical experience of audiences.

Nanotechnology (NT) advancements in personal protective textiles (PPT) or personal protective equipment (PPE) have alleviated spread and transmission of this highly contagious viral disease, and enabled enhancement of PPE, thereby fortifying antiviral behavior.

Review of a series of state of the art research papers on the subject matter.

This paper expounds on novel nanotechnological advancements in polymeric textile composites, emerging applications and fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

As a panacea to “public droplet prevention,” textiles have proven to be potentially effective as environmental droplet barriers (EDBs).

PPT in form of healthcare materials including surgical face masks (SFMs), gloves, goggles, respirators, gowns, uniforms, scrub-suits and other apparels play critical role in hindering the spreading of COVID-19 and other “oral-respiratory droplet contamination” both within and outside hospitals.

When used as double-layers, textiles display effectiveness as SFMs or surgical-fabrics, which reduces droplet transmission to <10 cm, within circumference of ∼0.3%.

NT advancements in textiles through nanoparticles, and sensor integration within textile materials have enhanced versatile sensory capabilities, robotics, flame retardancy, self-cleaning, electrical conductivity, flexibility and comfort, thereby availing it for health, medical, sporting, advanced engineering, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, military, automobile, food and agricultural applications, and more. Therefore, this paper expounds on recently emerging trends in nanotechnological influence in textiles for engineering and fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aims to explore and present discussions regarding the interconnectedness of procurement fraud, supply chain education, professional maturity and ethics, and their relevance to adopting a transcendence concept as well as proposing research directions thereof.

This study adopts a conceptual, intending to synthesize insights and propose a new conceptual framework that incorporates the transcendence framework and the process matrix. This generic framework provides a holistic view of the procurement and supply chain landscape at multiple levels – individual, team, organizational and industry.

This paper delves into the complex landscape of corruption within procurement, involving a diverse array of participants, including procurement professionals. The effectiveness of current corruption theories may be limited in this context. Despite the introduction of ethical training and anti-corruption initiatives, corruption remains widespread. The delivery of content and the design of the curriculum in supply chain education necessitate a reorientation to include not only moral education but also practical or hands-on delivery methods. In Kenya, sectors such as health and education exhibit a lack of recognition and professional maturity. When all the research constructs are examined separately, they do not provide a holistic understanding, thus underscoring the need for a comprehensive approach across the supply chain spectrum. This topic is ripe for further academic investigation with empirical evidence.

This paper provides key insights for researchers and practitioners in the field of procurement and supply chain education, particularly in Kenya. However, it acknowledges the lack of empirical studies and the limitations of current research, including procurement fraud, the context-specific nature of the findings and the dynamic nature of corruption and procurement practices concerning the constructs. This paper calls for further research to address these gaps, validate its propositions and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of public procurement and corruption in Kenya. It also emphasizes the need for continuous research due to the evolving nature of corruption and procurement practices.

This study has practical relevance for researchers, professionals and the procurement and supply chain ecosystem. It offers insights that can inform future research, professional advocacy and policy development regarding the shape of supply chain academia in Kenya. In addition, it contributes to the advancement of procurement and supply chain professionalism in the country.

This study underscores the necessity for breaking the cycle of procurement fraud, enhancing procurement and supply chain education in Kenya, and fostering active engagement of professional associations in promoting maturity and specialization within the field.

This study holds distinctive value by uncovering previously unexplored dynamics among supply chain constructs within the context of a lower-middle-income economy, i.e. Kenya. Deconstructing and synergizing these concepts calls for a more robust theoretical and empirical comprehension of these constructs within Kenya's unique background.

This paper aims to explain and demonstrate how the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) and Honey’s Content Analysis (HCA) can make new contributions to the field of Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSCM). The proposition involves integrating these complementary analyses to fortify the rigor of qualitative research and establish robust data analysis protocols to identify the main attributes of interviewees regarding a phenomenon while understanding in their perspective how these attributes impact the desired analysis outcome.

This study uses examples with rich empirical data from 40 interviewees across two organizations. The examples use a protocol that allows the grouping of meanings from different knowledgeable individuals and capturing relevant constructs related to an outcome.

The combination of RGT and HCA permits researchers to effectively identify and analyze the constructs individuals and groups utilize to comprehend the subject matter under investigation. Consequently, these techniques present a structured means to conduct grounded theory investigations and interpretive research, thereby enabling the iterative development of the preliminary conceptual models necessary for OSCM field advancement.

We present two examples in which the protocol is applied to the field of OSCM. These examples illustrate that the techniques provide valuable opportunities for OSCM research, particularly for addressing the limitations related to sample size. Ultimately, RGT and HCA complement quantitative methodologies by uncovering nuanced variations and micro-foundations within firm- and network-level phenomena, offering insights essential for advancing our understanding of OSCM dynamics in specific contexts.

This research contributes to the existing literature on the connection between trust and investment activities by exploring the effect of trust in the retirement system on dwelling investments.

This study utilizes data including 28 OECD countries from 2009 to 2020, and employs panel fixed effects and GMM estimators.

The analysis reveals a negative relationship between trust in the retirement system and investment in dwellings. Notably, this is found to be more evident in countries that promote neo-liberalized welfare systems.

The implications of our results are particularly relevant for policymakers and international construction firms.

The primary contribution of this paper extends the “trust–pension investment behavior” nexus. We explore whether individuals with diminished trust in the retirement system consider investing in the property market as an alternative means to safeguard their financial well-being during retirement.

Drawing on resource orchestration theory, this paper aims to empirically investigate the relationships between digital transformation (DT), triple-A supply chain capabilities (i.e. agility, adaptability and alignment) and sustainable performance. The research focuses on the pharmaceutical industry, which best represents a business environment characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.

Data were collected at different echelons of a globally oriented pharmaceutical supply chain, with the focal company located in the Netherlands. Empirical data were analyzed with partial least squares – structural equation modelling.

The findings reveal that DT enhances the triple-A supply chain capabilities. Nevertheless, not all three capabilities are necessary to improve overall sustainable performance. The results highlight that, among the three, only supply chain agility and adaptability significantly mediate the relationship between DT and sustainable performance.

This research supports the literature affirming that not all the triple-A supply chain capabilities equally affect sustainable performance. Moreover, it deepens the understanding of how orchestrating the triple-A capabilities at a firm level fosters overall sustainable performance, facing resource scarcity and investments in DT.

This paper aims to define the socio-spatial considerations of apartment users in Cairo, during their decision-making process. It provides a set of socio-spatial guidelines for professional architecture designers that are based on regionalist sociological theories and the evaluation of participant responses. These guidelines can also help users choose better plan configurations or make socially conscious adjustments as formal residential interiors in Egypt are not arranged based on social interaction at home or the cultural specificity of the region. On the other hand, users have little clue about choosing better plan configurations for sustainable social relationships. Moreover, the private housing sector has mostly neglected the social boundaries that traditionally shaped home interiors. This is because the designers focus on physical attributes to satisfy market demand and economic aspects.

The research reviewed past literature on the impact of different home arrangements relative to inhabitant and social relationships. Simultaneously, preliminary open-ended sorting surveys were undertaken at the Cityscape 2020 exhibition. Based on the results, a comprehensive online survey was developed to map the socio-spatial preferences of users. Finally, a sample of 150 apartment plans was analyzed by using the justified plan graph (JPG) theory to reveal the most common arrangements in the speculative market, measuring unit depth.

The findings of this study will benefit the following: practitioners, including architects and real estate developers, will be able to learn about end-user preferences and offer better products (residential units). Designers can rely on a reference that visualizes recommended home arrangements in the form of justified graphs. This research will expose the academic theories that currently shape residential plans and those that are overlooked and need to be applied. Academics, on the other hand, will learn about the market, and the extent of the influence of architectural theory.

The value of this paper lies in the gathering of theoretical recommendations on traditional home arrangements and investigating the preferences of both professionals and laypeople when choosing between apartments. The open-ended study in this research will test its efficiency in the Egyptian context and serve as a reference for future social studies. It highlights the importance of cultural adequacy and how to design homes related to local residents’ natural lifestyle, by doing so, people will be able to overview the options available in the market and how to manipulate their own houses to control or encourage different social interactions.

To help alleviate the immense suffering caused by humanitarian crises worldwide, organisations are forming relationships for effective coordination and resource sharing. However, organisations can struggle to build trust because of the uncertain context, varying institutional mandates and socio-cultural differences. Thus, this paper aims to better understand how humanitarian groups can leverage formal mechanisms to produce greater trust.

This paper adopts a logical–positivist research paradigm to formulate and test its hypotheses. This paper answered this study’s research question using structural equation modelling from survey data of 180 humanitarian managers.

In inter-organisational humanitarian relationships, formal mechanisms indirectly foster trust through two mediators: distributive justice and information sharing.

This research presents the perspective of only one partner in inter-organisational relationships. Moreover, the operationalisations of formal mechanisms and trust were not comprehensive (i.e. only contracts and integrity-based trust, respectively).

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this research is a first attempt to empirically link the widely discussed idea of formal mechanisms, distributive justice, information sharing and trust in inter-organisational humanitarian relationships. Further, this research is the first attempt to present and empirically validate a theoretical model that addresses how formal mechanisms foster trust in inter-organisational relationships.

This research examines the extent overall supervisor injustice reduces self-control resources while simultaneously enhancing anticipatory injustice beliefs. Minimized self-control resources, in turn, are expected to alter the anticipatory supervisor injustice beliefs’ impact on subsequent unjust encounters. Self-control resources therefore act as boundary conditions in the continued receipt of unjust treatment, potentially highlighting Pygmalion effects (self-fulfilling prophecies) connected with subordinates’ overall injustice judgments.

Using a two-survey, time-separated design, we test our hypothesized model in structural equation modeling (SEM) in MPlus with a sample of 163 US-employed adults recruited through online panel services. Main, interactive, and conditional indirect effects were used to examine our proposed relationships.

Empirical results showed that lower self-control resources and higher ASI beliefs resulted from subordinates holding high overall supervisor injustice judgments. Further, ASI beliefs were found to only explain the relationships of overall supervisor injustice with interpersonal injustice encounters, not informational justice encounters. This effect emerged when the subordinate’s self-control resources were low, not high.

This paper integrates fairness heuristics and ego depletion theories to highlight a previously understudied phenomenon–Pygmalion effects (e.g. expectations or anticipations becoming reality) pertaining to subordinates who hold high overall supervisor injustice judgments. The theoretical contribution and results offer a tantalizing lens regarding how anticipation may adversely affect future supervisor-subordinate interactions.