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This study explores the association between institutional investors’ stewardship activity, disclosed under Japan’s Stewardship Code, and the R&D investments of their investee companies.

Recognizing the pivotal role of R&D investment in long-term value creation, this study uses comprehensive data from institutional investor disclosures to assess the impact of stewardship activity on their investee companies.

The findings show that investor stewardship activity is a factor that influences strategic R&D investment. Specifically, a positive association is found between code-compliant institutional investor shareholding and R&D investment, contingent on high levels of stewardship activity.

By using stewardship disclosures to measure stewardship activity, this study sheds new light on institutional investors’ role in promoting R&D investment. The findings suggest that stewardship regulation is a valid governance policy mechanism to the extent that it promotes stewardship activity. Moreover, the findings show that stewardship disclosures provide valuable information about the potential value enhancement associated with institutional shareholding.

In the present work, we focus on developing an in-house parallel meshless local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) code for the analysis of heat conduction in two-dimensional and three-dimensional regular as well as complex geometries.

The parallel MLPG code has been implemented using open multi-processing (OpenMP) application programming interface (API) on the shared memory multicore CPU architecture. Numerical simulations have been performed to find the critical regions of the serial code, and an OpenMP-based parallel MLPG code is developed, considering the critical regions of the sequential code.

Based on performance parameters such as speed-up and parallel efficiency, the credibility of the parallelization procedure has been established. Maximum speed-up and parallel efficiency are 10.94 and 0.92 for regular three-dimensional geometry (343,000 nodes). Results demonstrate the suitability of parallelization for larger nodes as parallel efficiency and speed-up are more for the larger nodes.

Few attempts have been made in parallel implementation of the MLPG method for solving large-scale industrial problems. Although the literature suggests that message-passing interface (MPI) based parallel MLPG codes have been developed, the OpenMP model has rarely been touched. This work is an attempt at the development of OpenMP-based parallel MLPG code for the very first time.

The architectural profession faces an increasingly complex ethical landscape. In recent decades, the ethical foundations for architecture – formally defined in professional codes of conduct and reflected in regulatory frameworks – have expanded to incorporate imperatives derived from environmental and social responsibilities. The present research examines how these expanding ethical expectations are reflected in, and supported by, recent research about architectural ethics.

Analysis is based on a systematic review of recent research (2002–2023) focussing on ethical values and associated behaviours in the architectural profession. The review identifies 37 research articles (from a starting set of 2,483 articles), which are analysed empirically and then qualitatively to draw out views around three types of ethical behaviour. The paper then discusses how these findings align thematically with the evolving ethical needs of architectural practitioners (as defined in the professional codes of ethics and conduct of the RIBA in the UK, AIA in Australia and the AIA in the USA).

While business ethics remains the focus of past research, there has been a rise in research about ethics and social and environmental factors. The content of professional codes reflects this shift, setting the conditions for architects to aspire to increased expectations of environmental and social responsibility.

This article undertakes the first systematic review of recent research about architectural ethics and its alignment with the content of contemporary professional codes. Organised thematically, recent research about ethical values and associated behaviours can offer guidance for the evolving ethical needs of architects.

Anyone who has recently watched television or movies can tell you that transgender, gender nonbinary or gender expansive people are becoming more visible in these media. This trend reflects the reality that younger generations are increasingly identifying with more fluid and nonbinary gender and sexual identities and are progressively expressing those identities in a more flexible and changing manner (Herman et al., 2022; Wilson & Meyer, 2021). Unsurprisingly then, those individuals are also more visible at work, including in workplaces with employer-mandated dress codes. Indeed, in 2020 the US Supreme Court decided a case involving a transgender woman, Aimee Stephens, who was fired because her employer, a funeral home, required her to conform to its gender-binary dress policy and wear clothing mandatory for people assigned male at birth, rather than appropriate for her female gender identity ( Bostock v. Clayton County, 2020).

However, as the description of Aimee Stephens's own experience illustrates, often these employer appearance codes are based on a binary and fixed conception of gender and gender identity and expression at odds with the increasing number of workers who do not identify within those rigid parameters. Moreover, even when an employee, like Aimee Stephens herself, could have fit within her employer's dress code, the improper application of that policy to her, or employer concerns about customer or co-worker discomfort with an employee's appearance under the policy may mean that a worker's identity and expression may still conflict with a workplace appearance code. For gender nonbinary or nonconforming individuals, these complications are magnified.

This chapter explores the practical problems and barriers that employer dress codes have on employees whose gender identity and/or presentation move beyond the traditional male/female binary. Using insights from queer theory, gender expansive employees serve to interrogate fundamental assumptions behind workplace dress policies and the formal and informal ways in which these policies are policed. The chapter will explore that discordance, examine possible employer resolutions, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of those responses.

The purpose of this study is to substantiate the matrix approach to digitalization of management objects based on identification of relevant qualitative characteristics of these objects and its dichotomies, which allowing determine the quantity and quality of their main variants, as well as the relationships between them.

Methods of classification and typology are selected as study methods, and binary matrices are used as the tool to determine the main variants of management objects, assign binary codes to it and form codes of more complex management objects on its basis, depending on the content of study tasks.

The main results of study include the classification of organization components; variants for choosing qualitative characteristics of chains components; adjusted content of methodology of qualitative research of management objects; sequences of “up” and “down” digitization of these objects; actual qualitative characteristics of e components of management objects and dichotomies; and variants of forming of ciphers of these objects.

The use of study results allows to reduce the complexity of substantiating and making managerial decisions in organization and supply chains, to structure these decisions by man-agement levels and positions and to reduce costs, time and lost profits for fulfilling orders of end consumers of products and/or services.

The originality of this study is confirmed by the substantiation of choice and use of actual qualitative characteristics of management objects and its dichotomies, which allow obtaining two variants of these objects and assigning them binary codes processed using computer software for management activities.

This paper aims to analyse the role of the code of ethics as a critical element of responsible management and posits it as a tool that integrates ethics, sustainability and attention to stakeholders. This proposed tool can be a facilitator of integrated management of these dimensions.

A survey was developed to answer the research questions, and descriptive and factor analyses were carried out. A non-probabilistic sampling technique, purposive sampling, was used. The survey, sent by e-mail, was addressed to managers and decision makers of Spanish companies belonging to associations explicitly committed to corporate social responsibility and ethics; 73 questionnaires were answered. Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 26.0 software.

The findings highlight that companies that are showing leadership in ethical management are using their codes of ethics as a key instrument in the business ethics strategy. Codes of ethics go beyond being a guide to ethical conduct to being an instrument at the service of stakeholder relations, sustainability and ethics. The keys that these companies agree on are the design of participative processes of responsible management, the multidimensional content of their codes of ethics and a code management oriented to generate a proactive ethical culture in the company.

This paper proposes a series of recommendations that may be useful to all those companies that wish to promote effective and integrative ethical management through their code of ethics, as much as if they already have one, as they are developing it.

This research highlights the role of code of ethics as an integrative tool for ethics, sustainability and stakeholder responsibility. For that, the keys that these companies agree on are the design of participative processes of responsible management, the multidimensional content of their codes of ethics and code management oriented to generate a proactive ethical culture in the company.

This study aims to investigate the impact of consumer ethnocentrism on consumers' evaluation of blockchain-based traceability information. It also examined how the use of quick response (QR) codes for traceability affects consumers' evaluation of traceable food products.

An online choice experiment was conducted to determine consumers' evaluation of the blockchain-based traceability of Feta cheese with a quota sample of 715 Greek consumers. Pearson bivariate correlation and mean comparison were used to examine the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and QR use behaviour. Random parameter logit models were employed to examine consumers’ valuation of the examined attributes and interaction terms.

The results show that ethnocentric consumers are willing to pay more for blockchain-based traceability information. Ethnocentric consumers tend to scan QR codes with traceability information. Spending more time reading traceability information embedded in QR codes does not lead to a higher willingness-to-pay (WTP) for traceable food products.

The findings suggest that patriotic marketing messages can draw consumers' attention to blockchain-based traceability information. The modest WTP for and low familiarity with blockchain-based traceability systems raise the need for educating consumers regarding the benefits of blockchain in traceability systems.

This is the first study to provide timely empirical evidence of a positive WTP for blockchain-based traceability information for a processed dairy product. This study is the first to attempt to distinguish the effects of the intention to scan QR codes and reading information embedded in QR codes on consumers’ valuation of food attributes.

There is a growing need for methodological plurality in advancing operations management (OM), especially with the emergence of machine learning (ML) techniques for analysing extensive textual data. To bridge this knowledge gap, this paper introduces a new methodology that combines ML techniques with traditional qualitative approaches, aiming to reconstruct knowledge from existing publications.

In this pragmatist-rooted abductive method where human-machine interactions analyse big data, the authors employ topic modelling (TM), an ML technique, to enable constructivist grounded theory (CGT). A four-step coding process (Raw coding, expert coding, focused coding and theory building) is deployed to strive for procedural and interpretive rigour. To demonstrate the approach, the authors collected data from an open-source professional project management (PM) website and illustrated their research design and data analysis leading to theory development.

The results show that TM significantly improves the ability of researchers to systematically investigate and interpret codes generated from large textual data, thus contributing to theory building.

This paper presents a novel approach that integrates an ML-based technique with human hermeneutic methods for empirical studies in OM. Using grounded theory, this method reconstructs latent knowledge from massive textual data and uncovers management phenomena hidden from published data, offering a new way for academics to develop potential theories for business and management studies.

Genre is a valuable access point for popular music collections; however, the blurring of genre boundaries combined with changing listening habits and new forms of classification have brought genre’s importance into question. The playlist is now a common means of classification on music streaming platforms. Recent commentary suggests that context is now a preferred access point. This exploratory study offers an examination of genres’ role in playlists.

A mixed-methods study investigates, using Spotify, whether genre retains relevance amidst the rise in popularity of playlist-based music classification. Sample size is noted as a limitation of the study.

Qualitative coding of user and editorial playlist names revealed less than 20% of codes applied were genre-based. However, when non-genre themes were differentiated, genre themes ranked as one of the most prevalent. Context-based themes were most common, though genre was readily combined with other descriptive themes, highlighting its utility. Quantitative analysis of genre tags showed playlists with context-based themes demonstrated higher genre homogeneity than those using generic themes, indicating playlists were named on a genre-by-proxy basis.

The study suggests that genre continues to play an integral role in a field where an eclectic variety of descriptive themes has emerged, although its role may have changed. Context-based themes are central to the way users organise music, though such terms can often serve as containers for music collections sharing distinct generic and musicological similarities.

Self-help groups (SHGs) are formed by the tribal people to access finance through SHG bank linkage programme. The efforts to govern self-help groups (SHGs) are challenged by the absence of adequate bookkeeping and regular meetings, hindering effective governance despite all endeavors. The members of the groups are tribal people from the marginalised sections of society, and they are unable to maintain the books of accounts and keep track of their money because of illiteracy and banks being at far distance from their place of abode. Digitisation of SHGs has a vast impact on the efficiency of the groups and their financial sustainability. This chapter wishes to look at the digitisation initiative to transition the records of SHGs from manual to electronic mode, where the accounts will be visible to all the members. However, digital literacy is a big challenge, and this chapter aims to look at the challenges in digitisation of group.