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The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of regulatory focus in sustainable entrepreneurship processes to answer questions on how sustainable entrepreneurs pursue their goals and what motivates them. Knowledge about an entrepreneur’s motivational attribute is essential when trying to understand new venture creation processes. To determine an entrepreneur’s affiliation with one of the two self-regulatory systems, promotion focus and prevention focus, it is helpful to establish whether he or she is motivated by growth and development goals (promotion) or rather by responsibility and security goals (prevention).

In a qualitative study of seven sustainable ventures, two semi-structured interview rounds with 14 founders were conducted. Archival data from internal and external sources were gathered, resulting in more than 80 text documents.

Findings reveal that the self-regulatory focus of sustainable entrepreneurs changes during the entrepreneurial process with regard to the temporal dynamics of motivation. While conceiving ideas, sustainable entrepreneurs engage in a prevention-focused self-regulatory process because social or ecological problems induce them to direct their attention toward sustainable development goals. During rollout, in contrast, they increasingly engage in a promotion-focused self-regulatory process and concentrate more on venture growth goals.

The results highlight the important role of a regulatory fit between key self-regulatory entrepreneurial behaviors and entrepreneurs’ regulatory orientation toward increased motivation and enjoyment when pursuing goals.

This study’s contributions extend and combine the theories of regulatory focus, entrepreneurial motivation, and entrepreneurial processes in the field of sustainable entrepreneurship. They are valuable for understanding the determinants of sustainable entrepreneurial action.

This research aims to analyze to what extent sustainability and its related core aspects are integrated in media and communication's curricula of higher education institutions in Europe.

A total of n = 1068 bachelor and master’s degree programs, as well as their related curricula/program specifications, from 28 European countries were analyzed by means of content analysis.

Results show that the level of curricular integration of sustainability aspects in the field of media and communication is low (14%) to very low (6%) on module level. In most cases, sustainability remains an abstract guiding principle that is not translated into a dedicated course offer. This can indicate the difficulty of operationalizing such a concept as sustainability, which is experienced by not only higher education institutions but also policy and society as a whole. In addition, the results leave space for a reflection on the social and educational responsibility of higher education institutions.

The authors are aware that not all teaching (content) is depicted in curricula. Especially where teaching is research-based, The authors assume that sustainability (communication) is more present as the curricula' analysis can represent it. In addition, the fact of solely investigating English language curricula can be seen as a further limitation.

This research is one of the few attempts to verify the actual integration level of sustainability aspects in the curricula of a specific sustainability-relevant discipline, which is neither conducted as a case study nor as a single-country analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to describe two cycles of learning study (LS) involving eight elementary teachers in British Columbia, Canada. The study explored the teachers’ experiences of learning to plan and teach lessons as informed by recent brain research.

The case study was constructed using data sources including teacher semi-structured interviews (pre-study, post-study and delayed post-study), classroom materials (including student assignments), LS training materials, fieldnotes and recordings of meetings and research lessons; sources were triangulated. Thematic analysis was applied. Contemporary neuroscience perspectives framed the LS discourse and analysis.

The teachers developed theoretical coherence and could better articulate reasons for their pedagogy. They developed understandings of the cognitive architecture underlying functions like learning and memory, allowing them to identify pedagogical actions that are consistent with human biology and understand why these actions are effective in promoting learning.

LS is shown to be an effective professional development (PD) model where theoretical knowledge, like neuroscience, could be employed and tested in classroom settings to provide depth to support teachers’ praxis. This teaching–research nexus supports exploration of fruitful connections between theoretical knowledge and education to advance the science of learning and the science of instruction.

Findings demonstrated how LS could be employed with alternative theoretical perspectives to promote teacher PD, thus extending beyond the dominant use of variation theory. Also, illustrated is the potential use of LS to bridge the knowledge gap between neuroscience and education.

This paper aims to examine gender differences in credit access and credit default.

Using panel data drawn from 917 valid credit borrowers covering the period 2012 to 2015 drawn from among 6,849 study subjects and a national household financial survey (n = 29,500) conducted in China, this study focuses on gender differences in small and micro entrepreneurs’ financial behavior, specifically with respect to credit access and credit default.

The study revealed the following: Women expressed having more barriers to obtaining a business loan than men; gender had a significant effect on women’ credit default; and women were less likely to default a loan than male loan borrowers did. An exploration of the reasons for credit access and default found that female loan applicants were more likely to display a lack of knowledge and confidence in loan application.

The study contributes to literature by using the Marxian concept of reification in explaining women and their financial behaviors in China.

This study aims to examine the competitiveness of firms operating in the emerging economy of Brazil. This study examines the current perception of Brazilian business leaders regarding the level of competitiveness in various sectors of industrial activity and the country’s business environment.

Survey data were collected in a joint study developed by Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE) and the Brazilian Institute of Economics (IBRE). The population surveyed was composed of businessmen, managers and directors of Brazilian manufacturing firms. This survey was created based on a similar survey conducted by the Harvard Business School, which was also aimed at identifying the reasons behind national loss of competitiveness.

The results of the survey point out that the worsening competitive nature of companies operating in Brazil can be primarily attributed to the deterioration of its country-specific advantages and in particular those linked to government policies, services and bureaucratic procedures, all of which bear a negative impact on the country’s business environment.

Future research should explore in more depth the specific types of initiatives that these firms have and are continuing to eagerly adopt with the aim of improving their domestic competitiveness and, namely, firm-specific advantages, whether it be by contributing to the improvement of the business environment as a whole, or by improving their own operations and management systems.

The main obstacles related to competitiveness are associated with the “Brazil Cost”, namely, the tax system, infrastructure, political system, labor laws and bureaucracy that do not appear to offer much room for maneuvering in terms of reducing these barriers in the short term. Managers not addressing these important input factors of competitiveness not only divert attention away from innovation and creativity but also could lead to more serious political, social welfare and economic implications in the global marketplace.

This study helps to gain a better understanding of the initiatives that could and are being used to contribute to a fruitful discussion about leading public policies and government actions geared toward upgrading Brazil’s business environment and country competitiveness as a whole.

This research contributes to the understanding of the initiatives that could and are being used to improve firm competitiveness in Brazil. These initiatives contribute to a fruitful discussion about leading public policies and government actions geared toward upgrading Brazil’s business environment and country competitiveness as a whole.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the level of knowledge management (KM) activity underway in the transportation sector. The environmental scan highlighted common business drivers for KM across transportation agencies.

The project team used outreach methods, environmental scanning techniques, targeted interviews constructed around amplifying questions to identify stakeholders. A two-day workshop was sponsored, where stakeholders could discuss common business interests and exchange KM practices.

The environmental scan methodology was successful and will be carried over to two other economic sectors in the coming year. The identification and elaboration of business drivers through the amplification process was a valuable contribution. Sharing of KM practices was highly effective because the participants were working from a common set of business drivers.

This activity has implications for other sectors. Well-designed environmental scans of KM programs and initiatives can identify stakeholders for intra-sector communities of practice. These communities of practice provide a support network for knowledge professionals working within organizations, provide the input for intra-sector KM research agendas, and a collaborative action plan for moving that agenda forward.

The workshop participants identified six action items to advance the practice of KM within their institutions.

The environmental scan and the workshop resulted in the creation of a community of practice of knowledge professionals for the transportation sector. The community of practice will work to advance KM within the transportation sector.

The authors believe the scan approach provides a new and valuable approach to encouraging the practice of KM in the field of transportation. The authors also suggest that this approach may be used effectively in other sectors to promote the discipline.

This study aims to examine whether and how voluntary accounting disclosures can repair individual donors’ trust in a charity after negative events.

The authors adopt a qualitative research approach and conduct 32 semi-structured interviews with active Australian individual donors, with a hypothetical vignette design. Hypothetical negative events and corresponding accounting disclosures are presented to participants during interviews.

Three types of individual donors are identified based on their decision-making patterns after negative events and primary trust relations with a charity-reasoned donor (giving-decision based on their analysis of the situation, competence-based trust), generalist donors (giving-decision based on trust in the charitable sector, institution-based trust) and emotional donors (giving-decision based on feelings and emotions about the charity, integrity-based trust). The research suggests that accounting disclosures can repair trust damage for reasoned donors and support institution-based trust for generalist donors, but do not seem able to repair trust damage for emotional donors and can potentially damage trust further.

Overall, the findings suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to communicating with individual donors after negative events is not likely to be very effective in repairing trust. Instead, charities may need to adapt disclosures to their different types of individual donors.

While prior accounting studies have largely focussed on how charity managers themselves grapple with accountability or how negative events impact charitable donations, the authors demonstrate how accounting disclosures can play different roles in the trust-repairing process for different types of individual donors.

Through a survey of 200 employees working in five of the thirty establishments analysed in previous research about the microeconomic effects of reducing the working time (Cahier 25), the consequences on employees of such a reduction can be assessed; and relevant attitudes and aspirations better known.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the hygiene of surfaces that come into direct contact with the ready to eat dried meat product, biltong, at point‐of‐sale in three different retailers in Johannesburg, South Africa, by investigating the presence of indicator organisms.

Samples were collected and plated in duplicate for aerobic plate, total Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms and Escherichia coli counts using standard methods. Typical E. coli colonies on Rapid E. coli 2 Agar™ were selected and further identified using 16S rDNA molecular sequencing methods.

Bacterial counts associated with biltong product ranged between 6–7 Log CFU/g, while counts on cutting utensils ranged between 5–6 Log CFU/cm². Overall, the lowest counts were associated with display cabinets (2–6 Log CFU/cm²). Predominant populations were often similar between biltong product and various surface samples, indicating potential cross‐contamination. Results from 16S rDNA sequence analysis showed that E. coli strains isolated from biltong product and correspondingly from cutting utensils, were 100 per cent genetically similar. Strains of potential pathogens belonging to the Shigella dysenteriae group (99 per cent) were also identified.

This paper highlights that surfaces in direct contact with biltong, an increasingly popular dried meat commodity worldwide, may act as potential sources for cross‐contamination of product with potential food‐borne pathogens, which may hold foodborne illness implications.