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With new hybrid working models in place post COVID-19, it is requisite that knowledge workers (KWs) stay agile. Knowledge-oriented leadership (KOL) can help employees with essential knowledge acquisition (KA) facilitating the journey toward hybrid work agility (HWA). This study, thus, aims to explore the impact of KOL and KA on HWA and reveal whether this effect stems uniformly from a single homogenous population or if there is unobserved heterogeneity leading to identifiable segments of agile KWs.

Data was collected through stratified sampling from 416 employees from 20 information technology enabled services companies involved in knowledge-intensive tasks. Partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling approach, using SMART PLS 4.0, has been applied to examine the effect of KOL and KA on HWA. Finite mixture PLS, PLS prediction-oriented segmentation and multigroup analysis have been used to identify segments, test segment-specific path models and analyze the significance of the differences in the path coefficients for unobserved heterogeneity. Predictive relevance of the model has been determined using PLS Predict.

Results indicate that KOL contributes to employees’ KA and HWA. A significant positive relationship is also reported between KA and HWA. The model has medium predictive relevance. A two-segment solution has been delineated, wherein independent agile KWs (who value autonomy and personal agency over leadership for KA) and dependent agile KWs (who depend on leaders for relational and structural support for KA) have been identified. Thus, KOL and KA play a differential role in determining HWA.

The authors’ major contribution to the knowledge body constitutes the determination of antecedents of HWA and a typology of agile KWs. Future researchers may conduct segment-wise qualitative analysis to delineate other variables that contribute to HWA.

Technological advances necessitate that knowledge-intensive industries foster agility in employees for strategic agility of the organization. For effecting agile adaption of an organization to the knowledge economy conditions, it is pertinent that the full potential of this human resource be used. By profiling HWA of KWs on the basis of dimensions of KOL and the level of their KA, organizations will be able to help employees adapt better to rapidly changing work conditions.

HWA is a novel concept and very germane in a hybrid working environment. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effects of the dimensions of KOL and KA in relation to HWA, along with an empirical examination of unobserved heterogeneity in the aforementioned relationship.

This study aims to theoretically introduce the notion of responsible managing as educational practice (RMEP).

The study is an essay. Traditionally assumed as individual-driven, rational, neutral and unproblematic, the author alternatively considers management not as managerialism but as a social practice that needs to be responsible.

The author posits that responsible management involves educational experiences enacted through practical wisdom. In this context, education herein is understood not as a scholastic practice taught in business schools or offered within professional training, but that may occur in informal contexts such as managing.

RMEP may contribute to a better comprehension of responsible management in practice. The author draws on the epistemology of practices and the notion of phronesis to support his thesis – that managing can be responsible when assumed as an educative practice performed through practical wisdom and people’s mutual education.

The increasing pressure for social responsibility and sustainability that multinational enterprises (MNEs) are facing in their global operations represents one important emerging phenomenon within the international business field. In this book chapter, we present an in-depth case study on how a global fashion MNE develops and implements sustainability practices in their operations in an emerging market context. The case study focusses on the MNE’s work related to energy efficiency and renewable energy in the production market of Bangladesh. The purpose of this chapter is to advance the understanding about particular practices pertinent to a proactive approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR). The chapter contributes to ongoing discussions within the international business field on the role of MNEs in driving and implementing sustainability practices. We add an in-depth understanding of the proactive CSR practices undertaken by an MNE, in an emerging market context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how posthumanism can contribute towards reframing responsible management education (RME) after the pandemic. Ethics has been a growing concern in management education for some time now, but the need to acknowledge the limitations and side effects of the global economy and the interdependences between biological and societal systems has come to the forefront in dramatic fashion during the pandemic.

Posthumanism proposes moving beyond traditional dichotomies such as nature-culture and social-material to introduce a relational epistemology in which attention is focused on local sociomaterial entanglements. This also introduces a new moral posture that is not based on formal principles but on a strong commitment to assembling the world and a capacity to cultivate response-abilities. As far as responsible management is concerned, it means moving the focus from managers to managing practices.

The contribution casts an original and critical eye on the reframing of RME and encourages a movement towards a “decolonisation” of educational methodologies. Posthumanist research acknowledges that pedagogical practices are the loci power relations and inclusion or exclusion come into play and are inscribed in the materiality of education, in the sense of objects as well as human bodies. Then, by applying on the author's experience as teacher, the paper provides inputs for developing a posthumanist research agenda for RME after the pandemic.

The contribution uses posthuman lens to explore RME and develops an original research agenda starting from the author’s teaching practices.

Stakeholders' uncertainty about firms' value drives their urge to get information, as well as managerial disclosure choices. In this study, the authors examine whether and how an important source of uncertainty – the recent COVID-19 pandemic's effect on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure – is beyond managerial and stakeholders' control.

The authors develop a novel construct for daily CSR disclosure by employing computer-aided text analysis (CATA) on the press releases issued by 125 New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) listed from 28 February 2020 to 31 December 2020. To capture COVID-19 intensity, the authors use the growth rate of the population-adjusted cumulative sum of confirmed cases in New Zealand on a specific day. To examine the association between the COVID-19 outbreak and companies' CSR disclosure, the authors employed ordinary least squares (OLS) regression by clustering standard error at the firm level.

The authors find a one standard deviation increase in the COVID-19 outbreak leads to a 28% increase in such disclosures. These results remained robust to a series of sensitivity tests and continue to hold after accounting for potential endogeneity concerns. In the channel analysis, the study demonstrates that the positive relationship between COVID-19 and CSR disclosure is more pronounced in the presence of a well-structured board (i.e. a large, more independent board and with a higher proportion of women on it). In further analysis, the authors find the documented relationship varies over the pandemic's life cycle and is moderated by government stringency response, peer CSR pressure and media coverage.

This paper is the first study that contributes to the scant literature examining the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on CSR disclosure. Prior research either investigates the relationship of the CSR-stock return during the COVID-19 market crisis or examines the relationship between corporate characteristics including the quality of financial information and the reactions of stock returns during COVID-19. The authors extend such studies by providing empirical evidence that managers respond to COVID-19 by increasing CSR disclosure.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic literature review that illuminates the current state of knowledge regarding the specific approaches by which multinational corporations (MNCs) implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the subsidiary level in developing countries.

Even though substantial scholarly work has been made to outline MNCs' activities in developing countries, this literature remains fragmented. To support the field in its theoretical as well as empirical advancements, this study conducts a systematic review of this body of literature and content analysis of relevant articles using insights from strategic marketing literature (market driving/proactive and market-driven/reactive approaches).

The authors synthesize our findings by presenting a taxonomy of proactive/reactive CSR approaches in developing markets along with propositions that can guide future research in this area.

Among the key contributions of this study's literature review is the development of a taxonomy of proactive/reactive CSR, bringing together different and fragmented streams of research and viewing them from strategic marketing (“proactive/reactive”) perspective. The taxonomy and the two ensuing propositions can advance future CSR-related studies with MNCs in focus by providing both theoretical and empirical guidance.

This paper seeks to investigate to what extent (and why) CSR reporting in developing countries reflect instrumental and/or “political CSR” motivations and the types of organisational legitimacy sought in these circumstances.

We adopt a theoretical framework based on neo-institutional theory, “political CSR” framework and types of organisational legitimacy. This interpretive research is set in the Egyptian context post-2011 revolution. We first carry out a content analysis of web disclosures for 40 banks in 2013 and 2016 to ascertain the nature of CSR activities and any changes over time. Second, we draw on 21 interviews to tease out the implications of the change in societal expectations due to the revolution and to deepen our understanding of the organisational motivations underlying CSR reporting.

Following the 2011 revolution, the banks’ CSR reporting practices have gradually shifted from a largely instrumental “business-case” perspective towards a more substantive recognition of a wider set of societal challenges consistent with a political CSR perspective. Overall, the maintaining/gaining of legitimacy is gradually bound to the communication of accounts about the multi-faceted socially valued consequences or structures performed by banks. Our interview data shows that participants reflected on the legitimation challenges brought by the revolution and the limits of transactional strategies involving traditional constituents, with a preference for pursuing consequential and structural forms of moral legitimacy.

This study demonstrates a constructive shift by businesses towards engaging with the new social rules in response to sociopolitical changes and the need to achieve moral legitimacy. Hence, policymakers and stakeholders could consider engaging with different economic sectors to foster more transparent, accountable, and impactful CSR practices.

We highlight the implications of Scherer and Palazzo’s political CSR approach for accountability and CSR reporting. CSR reporting in some developing countries has typically been seen as peripheral or a symbolic exercise primarily concerned with placating stakeholders and/or promoting shareholders’ interests. We suggest that researchers need to be instead attuned to the possibility of a blend of instrumental and normative motivations.

Considering the significance of the human resource management (HRM) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) relationship, the aim of this research is twofold: first is to measure the cultural differences between HRM, CSR and sustainable performance relationship (study 1) and second is to identify the how HRM instigates CSR and sustainable performance (study 2) in the hospitality industry of UK and Pakistan.

A mixed-method approach was used to collect the qualitative and quantitative data from upscale hotels. In Study 1, a multi-respondent and time-lagged strategy was employed to collect the data from 162 Pakistani and 290 UK upscale hotels. In Study 2, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand the HRM–CSR–performance nexus.

The results of Study 1 highlight the significant cultural differences in the relationships of HRM–CSR–performance, while Study 2 explains that ethical culture, shared objectives, transparency, training and development, and economic incentives are the factors that push the employees to take part in CSR-related activities and attaining higher sustainable performance.

This study addresses the debate on the difference between cross-cultural studies related to implementing Western theories in shaping, developing and implementing business strategies, including CSR, HRM and sustainable performance in an Asian context.

The purpose of this study is to extend the knowledge on sustainable organisational learning (OL) in sustainable companies.

Sustainability is examined from an OL perspective and was based on Edward’s integral cycle of learning. An in-depth analysis of the literature was carried out, and a list of OL characteristics, such as openness to new ideas and participative policymaking, were compiled. To identify which OL characteristics are used for sustainability, a multiple-case study was designed for sustainable companies operating in the food and beverage industry.

This study found a wide variety of sustainable practices, such as experimentation and information-sharing systems, related to learning processes, and learning leadership appears to be the least developed dimension. It was also found that sustainable companies learn through social rather than reflective learning, in relationships with internal and external stakeholders, and by concrete actions to implement environmental and social impacts.

This study is one of a few that explore sustainable OL and contributes to categorising OL characteristics that sustainable companies use to facilitate and support sustainability in the mid–long term.

The study aims to examine the impact of corporate governance in terms of certain board characteristics on the level of universities’ voluntary sustainability disclosure.

A content analysis based on a comprehensive disclosure index – that also accounts for the impact that COVID-19 exerted on the social dimension of university activities – is performed on a sample of Italian public universities’ websites for the year 2020. An ordinary least squares regression model is estimated to test the association between universities’ board characteristics, namely, board size, board independence and board gender diversity (including the presence of a female rector), and online sustainability disclosure.

This study provides evidence that websites represent a valid tool used by universities to highlight their social performance and demonstrate their commitment to dealing with the pandemic’s social and economic disruption by supporting their stakeholders. Board gender diversity and female Rector’s presence are crucial factors that positively impact voluntary sustainability disclosure levels.

Policymakers and regulators can benefit from the study’s findings. Using the results of this study, they may reflect on the need to regulate sustainability reporting in universities. In addition, findings may offer policymakers inspiration for regulating the presence of women on university boards.

This study offers novel contributions to existing literature analysing the university’s voluntary sustainability disclosure practices through alternative communication tools such as websites. Moreover, it provides novel insight into the role of the board gender diversity in university sustainability disclosure practices.