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This survey explores the application of real options theory to the field of health economics. The integration of options theory offers a valuable framework to address these challenges, providing insights into healthcare investments, policy analysis and patient care pathways.

This research employs the real options theory, a financial concept, to delve into health economics challenges. Through a systematic approach, three distinct models rooted in this theory are crafted and analyzed. Firstly, the study examines the value of investing in emerging health technology, factoring in future advantages, associated costs and unpredictability. The second model is patient-centric, evaluating the choice between immediate treatment switch and waiting for more clarity, while also weighing the associated risks. Lastly, the research assesses pandemic-related government policies, emphasizing the importance of delaying decisions in the face of uncertainties, thereby promoting data-driven policymaking.

Three different real options models are presented in this study to illustrate their applicability and value in aiding decision-makers. (1) The first evaluates investments in new technology, analyzing future benefits, discount rates and benefit volatility to determine investment value. (2) In the second model, a patient has the option of switching treatments now or waiting for more information before optimally switching treatments. However, waiting has its risks, such as disease progression. By modeling the potential benefits and risks of both options, and factoring in the time value, this model aids doctors and patients in making informed decisions based on a quantified assessment of potential outcomes. (3) The third model concerns pandemic policy: governments can end or prolong lockdowns. While awaiting more data on the virus might lead to economic and societal strain, the model emphasizes the economic value of deferring decisions under uncertainty.

This research provides a quantified perspective on various decisions in healthcare, from investments in new technology to treatment choices for patients to government decisions regarding pandemics. By applying real options theory, stakeholders can make more evidence-driven decisions.

Decisions about patient care pathways and pandemic policies have direct societal implications. For instance, choices regarding the prolongation or ending of lockdowns can lead to economic and societal strain.

The originality of this study lies in its application of real options theory, a concept from finance, to the realm of health economics, offering novel insights and analytical tools for decision-makers in the healthcare sector.

This study aims to explore how managers exercise agency in strategic investment decisions (SIDs) by drawing on their knowledgeability of the strategic context. Specifically, the authors address the role of position–practice relations and irresistible causal forces in this conduct.

The authors examine SID-making (SIDM) practices in four case organisations operating in highly competitive markets, conducting interviews with managers at various levels and analysing company documents. Drawing on strong structuration theory, the authors show how managerial decision makers draw upon their knowledge of organisational context when exercising agency in SIDs.

The authors provide insights into how SIDM behaviour, specifically agents’ conduct, is shaped by a combination of position–practice relations and the agents’ comprehension of their organisation’s context.

The authors extend the SIDM literature by surfacing the issue of how actors’ conjuncturally-specific knowledge of external structures shapes the general dispositions they draw on in exercising agency in practice.

The authors extend the SIDM literature by surfacing the issue of how actors’ conjuncturally-specific knowledge of external structures shapes the general dispositions they draw on in exercising agency in practice. Particularly, the authors contribute to this literature by identifying irresistible causal forces and illuminating why actors might not resist in SIDM processes, despite having the potential to do so.

Stock investing choices of individual investors are predominantly influenced by heuristic biases, leading to sub-optimal choices. Accordingly, this study aims to identify, categorize, validate, prioritize, and find causality among the heuristic biases shaping stock investment decisions of individual investors.

This research offers original contribution by employing a hybrid approach combining fuzzy DELPHI method (FDM), fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), and fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (F-DEMATEL) techniques to validate, prioritize, and find causality among the heuristic biases.

Twenty sub-heuristic biases were identified under five main heuristic bias categories. Out of which, 17 were validated using FDM. Further, availability and representativeness within main heuristic categories, and availability cascade and retrievability within sub-heuristic biases were prioritized using FAHP. Overconfidence and availability were identified as the causes among the five main biases by F-DEMATEL.

This study offers the stock investors a deeper understanding of heuristic biases and empowers them to make rational investment decisions.

This paper is the inaugural effort to identify, categorize, validate, prioritize and examine the cause-and-effect relationship among the heuristic biases.

This chapter discusses how the real options theory can be useful for understanding the adoption of human resources management (HRM) practices. The authors review how the real options theory has provided insights into the processes through which firms manage uncertainties involved in the adoption of HRM practices. The authors offer propositions for future HRM research from the real options perspective. The authors contend that analyzing HRM practice adoptions through the lens of real options theory can enhance our understanding of the mechanisms through which firms choose which HRM practices to adopt and how they adjust the timing, scale, and methods of investment in these practices. Specifically, the authors suggest that differences in information relevant to valuation of HRM options are the source of distinct choices of HRM options across firms. Finally, the authors propose advancing knowledge on HRM practice adoptions by using a portfolio of options approach, as well as considering factors like competitors, path dependence, and switching options.

This study aims to examine the impact of CEO age on corporate financialization by considering the moderating effects of CEO gender, identity and tenure in this relationship.

The analyses use ordinary least squares across 213 nonfinancial firms listed in Bursa Malaysia throughout 2015–2021. The author addresses potential endogeneity through propensity score matching and the generalized method of moments. The results are also robust to alternative measures of corporate financialization and CEO age.

The results show that firms with young CEOs are more likely to avoid taking short-term financial investments and, as a result, inhibit corporate financialization. Furthermore, the findings indicate that firms with female CEOs and those with family members as CEOs are less likely to invest in financial assets. The results also show that corporate financialization is weakened in the early stages of CEO tenure and strengthened in the late stages.

The empirical results have useful policy implications. For researchers, this study finds prominent differences in corporate financialization related to each stage of a person’s career. The study findings can be used by policymakers to guide programs that attempt to undertake the necessary measures to optimize corporate governance standards and restrict managers’ shortsighted conduct. In the long run, these kinds of projects could improve the way surplus financial reserves are used and raise economic output in general. The study also provides investors with insightful information about the possible relationship between CEO traits and company performance, especially with regard to measures for financial resource allocation.

This paper expands the existing research on corporate investment behavior and provides a new theoretical basis for the underlying factors of corporate financialization. It studies the influence of managerial traits on corporate financialization and deepens the understanding of CEO age and companies’ financialization levels.

The interplay between individual and collective creativity and its translation into innovation is a critical yet complex challenge in the ever-evolving innovation landscape. This study delves into the intricate relationship between managerial ability, intellectual property rights (IPRs) and research and development (R&D) investments contextualized within the dynamics of leverage, firm life stages and tangibility for pharmaceutical firms in the Asia-Pacific region. By exploring how micro-level factors influence macro-level innovation processes, this study aims to contribute to the broader understanding of creativity and innovation, a theme at the heart of addressing contemporary global challenges.

Econometric methodologies were used to analyse a data set comprising 2,660 firm-year observations spanning the decade from 2011 to 2020.

A key finding was that companies with lower managerial prowess strategically leverage R&D intensity to signal their value to the market and accrue reputational currency. The research unearths a significant positive relationship between managerial ability, IPRs and R&D investment. In environments characterized by strong managerial acumen and robust IPR safeguards, firms exhibit a heightened propensity to allocate resources to R&D endeavours. This underscores the role of intellectual leadership and legal protections in shaping R&D strategies within the pharmaceutical domain. Incorporating firm life stages as a moderating factor reveals that firm maturity fundamentally influences the interplay between managerial ability, IPRs and R&D expenditure.

These findings’ implications resonate profoundly within policy-making circles and pharmaceutical firms’ day-to-day operational strategies, underscoring the pivotal role of intellectual capital and legal safeguards in shaping the future of innovation in the Asia-Pacific pharmaceutical sector.

This study aims to examine the influence of managerial myopia on the excessive financialization behavior of listed firms on Bursa Malaysia.

Through a sample of 313 firms from 2015 to 2021, the author examine whether managerial myopia promotes or inhibits corporate financialization. The author uses ordinary least squares and Logit as the baseline models and addresses potential endogeneity through the dynamic-panel generalized method of moments. The results are also robust to alternative measures of financialization and managerial myopia.

The results show a significant positive effect of managerial myopia on the excessive financialization of enterprises. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the impact of managerial myopia on the over-financialization of enterprises is more prominent in periods of low economic policy uncertainty. However, the relationship between excessive financialization and managerial myopia is weakened in the presence of female chief executive officers.

The empirical results have useful policy implications. First, firms should establish scientific managerial assessment and supervision systems to avoid excessive financial investment behavior by myopic managers caused by assessments that place too much emphasis on short-term performance. Second, regulators and policymakers should encourage firms to appoint women to top management positions, which may inhibit short-sighted financialization behavior. Finally, the regulatory authorities should undertake the necessary measures driving companies to disclose the investment direction of the funds so that shareholders and investors can understand the use direction of the funds in a timely manner, which can effectively prevent the economy “from the real to the virtual” and promote the development of the real economy.

This paper expands the existing research on corporate financialization behavior and provides a new theoretical basis for the underlying factors of excessive financialization. It studies the influence of corporate financialization from the perspective of short-run managerial actions and deepens the understanding of managerial myopia and companies’ financialization levels.

In the verge of assessing Muslims’ participation in stock market, present study delved into evaluating the influence of Islamic religiosity (IR) on Muslim investor’s financial engagement factors with respect to stock market (i.e. financial literacy [FL], Islamic financial literacy [IFL], behavioural factors [BF], Shariah compliance [SC], technology adoption [TA] and institutional support [IS]), stock market participation (SMP) and financial well-being (FWB). Further, this study aims to examine the mediating role of IFL, TA and SMP and moderating role of IS.

Using a mixed-methods approach, a structured survey questionnaire was administered and responses have been collected from 319 Muslim investors from South India using stratified random sampling. Further, data was analysed using SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 20.0 by implementing one-way ANOVA, measurement model and structural equation model to assess the differences, mediating and moderating roles.

In this study, it is discovered that IR significantly impacts Muslim investor’s financial engagement factors, SMP and FWB. Further, it is explored that IFL accelerates the impact of FL and SC on SMP. The results also demonstrated the intervening role of TA in enhancing SMP through BF and the mediating role of SMP among Muslim investors with strong IR to attain and enjoy FWB. Interestingly, our study also argued that when the IS is more, the effect of IR on SMP is high.

Geographical boundaries are restricted to India, where the study proposes future studies in Islamic countries to better understand the religious belief system of the investors, as SC may vary in different countries.

In accordance with the results, it is recommended that the regulatory bodies and institutions intervene, support and incorporate IFL and also provide user-friendly Tec platforms to monitor and filter stocks and financial products for SC.

The present study intends to tackle the misconception of Islamic values with respect to participating in the stock market and recommends to undertake policy and regulatory framework to ensure the inclusive development of this community.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no studies so far have pondered on the mediating role of SMP in enhancing the effectiveness of IR on their FWB. Further, this study collectively examines the influence of IR on various financial engagement factors affecting SMP leading to FWB.

The aim of this study is to investigate the contribution of tangible and intangible investments in driving labour productivity growth in the European Union over the period 2000–2017 and their role in the short and medium run. Additionally, heterogeneity across countries is accounted for by performing estimates separately for Eastern and Western European countries.

The methodology used to conduct the analysis of the determinants of productivity is the two-way fixed-effect and the system generalised method of moments. We also include country-specific dummies in place of our variable on national innovative capacity as a means to further reduce the number of instruments.

The results reveal a long-term relationship of investment in intangible assets with labour productivity growth, more specifically of investment in R&D. This relationship holds both when considering the whole set of European countries and for Western European countries, demonstrating that R&D is key to enhancing labour productivity growth. On the contrary, the effect for Eastern countries is negative, probably due to the lack of capacity to turn this investment into an efficient and effective way to foster productivity.

Besides confirming the well-known role of tangible and intangible assets in productivity, the heterogeneity shown in our analysis highlights the need for improving capabilities in Eastern countries. Diversifying the decisions on the investments in European countries, depending on the specific needs and their heterogeneity, could help bridge the productivity gap and enhance specific capabilities of the country systems.

Nuclear energy is a contested topic, requiring trade-offs in energy independence, ethicality and uncertainty. Anthropogenic climate change complicates these decisions further, with nuclear energy competing with other low-carbon and sustainable energy sources. Decisions about nuclear energy’s role, as part of a sustainable energy system, must be made in cooperation with all stakeholders. However, it is unclear how the public is involved in these decisions in the UK. This study aims to address this gap, exploring the degree to which public participation has occurred in the UK.

This paper conducted a scoping review of public participation in UK nuclear energy decision-making in the context of sustainable energy transitions, where the government retains and promotes nuclear energy as part of a sustainable energy system. Following a systematic literary search, this paper reviewed 28 academic and grey literature documents.

Public participation has primarily been conducted as consultations rather than active participation. There is limited evidence that consultations have meaningfully contributed to politically and socially responsible (i.e. individuals and groups working together for community benefit) decision-making, with public opinion on nuclear energy’s role being divided and is influenced by how it is framed.

Social aspects of nuclear energy development have historically received less attention than environmental and economic elements; the role of engagement and participation is relatively rare. Modern literature reviews in this context are largely absent, a gap this paper originally contribute to. This paper suggest ways in which how effective, inclusive engagement process could contribute to a fairer, responsible decision-making process and energy system in the UK.