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This study investigates the relationships between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) controversies and insolvency risk in the insurance sector. Drawing from legitimacy and stakeholder theories, the authors explore the impact of ESG controversies on insurers’ insolvency risk and the moderating effect of ESG practices on this relationship.

This study utilises a dataset comprising 120 stock insurance firms spanning from 2011 to 2022. The authors employed system-GMM estimations to control for potential endogeneity and conducted several robustness checks.

ESG controversy positively influences insurers’ insolvency risk, with ESG practices mitigating these positive effects. The Governance (G) component of ESG practices plays a key role in counteracting the effects of ESG controversies on insurance companies’ insolvency risk.

This is the first study to investigate the direct relationship between ESG controversies and insolvency risk in the insurance industry. It underscores the critical influence of stakeholders’ perceptions of the company’s legitimacy, which is determined by the number of ESG controversies undertaken by the insurer company, on its insolvency risk. Additionally, by examining the three components of ESG practices individually, the authors offer insights into how managers can gain a competitive edge, particularly by utilising governance practices as safeguards against the adverse effects of ESG controversies on their financial risk.

This research evaluated learning outcomes of a leadership development program at a large, southern land grant institution. The program is an interdisciplinary, semester-long class where experience and theory are juxtaposed to offer leadership training and development. Through an intensive research project, the program exposes students to four practical skills and four adaptive skills related to leadership development. The research outcomes of this study found that students did perceive to have gained the intended leadership skills as related to the four practical and four adaptive skills set forth by the program curriculum. As leadership programs continue to grow, these programs must be assessed and evaluated to continue to garner merit within the academic community.

Leadership development goal statements of 92 undergraduate students enrolled in a multi-year self-directed leadership development program were analyzed using content and thematic analyses to investigate patterns of similarities and differences across gender and race. This qualitative analysis utilized a theoretical framework that approached leadership typed traits, skills, or behaviors (Northouse, 2009). Significant differences emerged by gender; women were more interested in developing leadership-oriented traits while men displayed more interest in developing specific skills. No differences emerged across racial groups.

This paper examines the core academic leader development course at the United States Air Force Academy. The course serves as the foundation for individual leader development that is integrated across all four years of the student’s education. The basic approach uses a self-study where the student selects a current leadership role and that role serves as a common frame of reference for the entire course. Assessment strategies such as self-study, journaling, leadership application exercises are intentionally developed to integrate the classroom education into their leadership role. Through this integration the student is able to apply the leadership education real time as they have a current, relevant context in which to apply the material. Initial response to the course has been positive from both the students and the faculty. Future data collection is planned to determine the actual impact of the experience on relevant leadership outcomes.

This leadership education evaluation study explored the leadership development outcomes of potential county extension directors and the ways to improve the program. The leadership education program aimed to improve participants’ leadership abilities in understanding self, building relationships and managing resources. The analysis of quantitative and qualitative data confirmed that the leadership training institute was effective in building participants’ leadership skills and improving leadership behavior. The incorporation of participants’ learning needs into the program, use of hands-on experiential learning activities and problem solving activities combined with small group discussions were the contributing factors for the success of this leadership education program. The participants suggested the use of more hands-on and problem solving activities, team building exercises and condensing the time gap between the pre and post sessions as strategies for further improvement of this program.

While the branding of individuals has attracted increasing attention from practitioners in recent decades, understanding of personal branding still remains limited, especially with regard to the branding of celebrity CEOs. To contribute to this debate, this paper aims to explore the co-branding of celebrity CEOs and corporate brands, integrating endorsement theory and the concept of meaning transfer at a level of brand attributes.

A between-subjects true experimental design was chosen for each of the two empirical studies with a total of 268 participants, using mock newspaper articles about a succession scenario at the CEO level of different companies. The study is designed to analyse the meaning transfer from celebrity CEO to corporate brand and vice versa using 16 personality attributes.

This study gives empirical support for meaning transfer effects at the brand attribute level in both the celebrity-CEO-to-corporate-brand and corporate-brand-to-celebrity-CEO direction, which confirms the applicability of the concept of brand endorsement to celebrity CEOs and the mutuality in co-branding models. Furthermore, a more detailed and expansive perspective on the definition of endorsement is provided as well as managerial guidance for building celebrity CEOs and corporate brands in consideration of meaning transfer effects.

This study is one of only few analysing the phenomenon of meaning transfer between brands that focus on non-evaluative associations (i.e. personality attributes). It is unique in its scope, insofar as the partnering relationship between celebrity CEOs and corporate brands have not been analysed empirically from this perspective yet. It bridges the gap between application in practice and the academic foundations, and it contributes to a broader understanding and definition of celebrity endorsement.

This study demonstrates how artificial intelligence (AI) shapes the strategic planning process in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) business environments. Having adopted various domains of the Cynefin framework, the research explores AI's transformative potential and provide insights regarding how organisations can harness AI-driven solutions for strategic planning.

This conceptual paper theorises the role of AI in strategic planning process in a VUCA world by integrating extant knowledge across multiple literature streams. The “model paper” approach was adopted to provide a theoretical framework predicting relationships among considered concepts.

The paper highlights potential application of the Cynefin framework to manage complexities in strategic decision-making process, the transformative impact of AI at different stages of strategic planning, the required strategic planning characteristics within VUCA to be supported by AI and the attendant challenges posed by AI integration in the uncertain business landscape.

This study pioneers a theoretical exploration of AI's role in strategic planning within the VUCA business landscape, guided by the Cynefin framework. Thus, it enriches scholarly discourse and expands knowledge frontiers.

The purpose of this paper is to add a holistic and dynamic approach to the emerging body of knowledge of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs). It aims to synthesise research and related neoteric EE concepts by proposing a conceptual framework for the study of the composition and interactions of such systems.

The authors provide an emergent enquiry perspective by introducing a systematic literature review to inform the development of a conceptual framework, based upon theoretical underpinnings of institutional and network theory.

This paper highlights neoteric holistic and dynamic approaches to recent scholarship of EEs, including antecedents, related concepts, shortcomings, features, actors, components and resources, recommendations for application, network and institutional perspectives, pathways for future research, and ultimately, a conceptual framework merging aspects of entrepreneurial activity, value creation, EE elements, relational interactions and institutional inferences.

Primary limitations are associated with holistic and dynamic approaches adopted in this study, highlighting that EE heterogeneity is unlikely conducive to a “one-size-fits-all” scenario; further empirical research on the dynamics of EEs is suggested to circumvent such implications while adding to the emerging and growing body of knowledge and application of EEs.

The findings and conceptual framework provide a theoretical platform to base applications to practice in developing nascent and emerging EEs.

A first of its kind study adds a holistic and dynamic emergent enquiry approach with institutional and network underpinnings to EE frameworks.