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This paper seeks to deepen and improve our understanding of business ethics in services by developing a typology that reconciles and integrates disparate and often conflicting ideas and viewpoints while providing practical guidance for ethical decision-making.

The paper examines current theoretical approaches in ethics to provide an understanding of the ethical theories, how they have been applied and how they have evolved in businesses and marketing. It discusses conceptual issues related to ethical dilemmas and the available typologies.

Based on the axioms of the Triple-A Framework for Ethical Service Research, the Typology of Ethical Dilemmas in Services (TEDS) is proposed. The typology identifies three types of dilemmas based on four dimensions considering all service interactions guided by normative ethics (virtue, deontological and consequentialism).

The proposed DILEMMAS process illustrates the practical application of TEDS.

This paper extends the ethics and services literature by offering a novel theoretical and practical approach to addressing ethical dilemmas. TEDS is authentic, advances our knowledge and applies to all service organizations that aim to manage ethical dilemmas effectively.

This study aims to conduct a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis on the topic of digital labour. The study also identifies the future research directions for the topic.

In total, 118 research papers were identified and reviewed from 11 established research databases and A*, A and B category journals from the ABDC journal list. The papers covered a timespan between 2006 and 2023. Bibliometric analysis was conducted to identify key research hotspots.

The emergent themes and associated sub-themes related to digital labour were identified from the literature. The paper found three significant themes that include digital labour platform, gig economy and productivity. This study also acts as a platform to initiate further research in this field for academicians, scholars, industry practitioners and policymakers. The future research scope in the topic is also presented.

The present study is unique in its nature as it approaches the topic of digital labour from all relevant perspectives.

The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic review of research development on auditing in the European Union over the past decade and suggest future research directions.

Following the PRISMA protocol, the authors systematically reviewed the relevant literature and conducted a qualitative content analysis of 107 studies on auditing in the European Union published between 2012 and 2023.

The results indicate increased auditing literature in the European Union from 2012 to August 2023. Around 40% of the papers were focused on six nations: Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK, Sweden and France. Additionally, 35.5% of papers have been published in three major journals: Accounting in Europe, International Journal of Auditing and the European Accounting Review. Moreover, 82.24% of papers used quantitative methods, with a few using qualitative or mixed methods. Also, most of the studies in the sample endorsed the European Union’s auditing reforms, which included implementing a cap on nonaudit fees and enhancing the independence of audit committees. Contrary to this viewpoint, multiple studies have expressed disagreement with enforcing a total prohibition on nonaudit services, as certain services can enhance auditing quality. Similarly, other studies have contested the necessity of mandatory auditor rotation every 10 years, citing the significant additional expenses associated with this practice. Finally, further studies supported the European Union’s decision to make the joint audit voluntary, as it is related to high audit fees and low audit quality.

The limitations of this research primarily stem from the authors’ choices in selecting the database and defining the criteria for searching the studied papers.

This paper offers valuable insights into the future research prospects in the European Union’s auditing field. Hence, this analysis can be helpful for researchers and practitioners in developing this field based on future research recommendations and the identified themes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first study to systematically review the developments of the European Union auditing literature over the past decade.

School exclusion in England is highly gendered, racialised and classed. For instance, boys are three times more likely than girls to be excluded from school and certain groups, including Black Caribbean boys are subject to disproportionate levels of exclusion. Against this backdrop, I explore the context and consequences of exclusion from English mainstream schooling for young masculinities. The arguments presented also have broader international significance due to a global tendency towards punitive measures in schooling. Through bringing masculinities scholarship into conversation with childhood studies, this chapter aims to present a nuanced theorisation of young masculinities which foregrounds lived experience and is located within the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies. It examines ways in which exclusion and schooling in alternative settings, such as a Pupil Referral school, can shape the identities of boys and their subjectivities. The empirical data demonstrate that excluded boys face severe constraints arising from ways in which they are positioned. Drawing on original qualitative data, it is argued that boys who are categorised in this way demonstrate highly agentic ways of ‘doing boy’. This chapter is underpinned by two questions, firstly, how can we theorise boyhood and school exclusion in ways that recognise excluded boys as agentic and constrained subjects? Secondly, what possibilities for change might our theorisation reveal? This chapter concludes by arguing for intersectional masculinities and strengthened theorisation of childhood studies which explicitly recognises lived experience. Through this discussion, I seek to illuminate the emotional costs of school exclusion and insights into ways to achieve change.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between Airbnb and long-term residential rents, using Santa Monica, California, as a case study. In 2015, Santa Monica adopted the home sharing ordinance (HSO), a stringent regulation aimed at restricting short-term rentals (STR). This research examines the implications of this ordinance on the local housing market.

The synthetic control method (SCM) is applied to a panel data set comprising Airbnb listings and residential rents from multiple cities in Los Angeles County. This approach is used to estimate the causal effects of Santa Monica’s HSO on two outcomes: Airbnb listings and residential rents.

The empirical results show a 60% reduction in Airbnb listings in Santa Monica within two years of implementing the ordinance. Despite this significant decrease, the effect of the regulation on rents was not significant. Suggestive evidence indicates that the ordinance’s ineffectiveness in increasing the number of houses allocated to long-term tenants may have contributed to its negligible impact on rental rates.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this research is the first to use the SCM for evaluating the impact of STR regulations. It offers crucial insights to policymakers on regulating platforms like Airbnb. The study reveals a scenario where a marked decrease in Airbnb activity did not lower residential rents, highlighting the need for context-specific evaluations in understanding the housing market’s dynamics. Additionally, these findings are valuable for investors considering the implications of regulatory changes in the STR sector.

Explore the effects of competition policy on an important competitive dimension of digital platforms, namely quality.

The deterrence effect of competition policy should induce firms to compete on merits, with lower prices and higher quality for consumers. Deterrence, or the inducement not to infringe competition law, may depend on the harshness of penalties and/or the likelihood of conviction. We use competition policy indicators that are associated with these deterrence dimensions, allowing for non-linearities and interactions of the indicators. We use a unique data survey of digital gig platform users, that covers at least two dozen platforms and more than 50 countries. Quality is measured using multidimensional indicators of the level of satisfaction of platform users with different platform services. We control for platform user and country characteristics, including other regulatory indicators such as labor laws, to recover different effects.

Results suggest that competition policy is relevant for differences in product quality across platforms and countries. Important non-linearities are uncovered, where substantive rules of competition policy interact with competition authority power. The effects depend on either level of the indicators, suggesting that deterrence effects depend upon a combination of both law in the books and competition policy practice.

The estimates suggest a need to balance both dimension of deterrence, namely, strictness and effectiveness to expand the effects of competition policy on competition.

This is the first paper that explores the effect of competition policy on non-price or non-margin competition dimension. It is the first to study the effect on a sample of digital platforms. It contributes to the literature of deterrence effects of competition policy.

Introduction: Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) have long been viable in the Indian economy. In the case of post-COVID-19, 20–40% of MSMEs in government can be permanently closed. The state should pay special attention to MSMEs for survival (Min, 2023).

Purpose: This chapter provides a framework for MSMEs to study industry challenges in Punjab and to discuss the conceptual framework and road map for future MSMEs in Punjab.

Need for This Study: The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted the variable economic activities within the world. This study is responsible for explaining the different vulnerable sectors related to small- and medium-sized enterprises. On the other hand, this study is an analytical and descriptive research in nature.

Methodology: A mixed method of data collection has been used in this chapter. The data have been collected by floating a questionnaire to the various entrepreneurs of MSMEs. Secondary data have been collected through the Internet.

Findings: Through this research, we could analyse the MSMEs’ conceptual framework, the challenges they face, and the industrial units’ future roadmap.

Practical Implications: This research is mainly considered a clear explanation of current competition and market access challenges that small- and medium-sized enterprises face. This situation is derived due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so many enterprises are trying to find their exit ways. On the other hand, some MSMEs are trying to focus on the online business market to make some profit and to overcome the loss.

Organizations are affected top-down by the overarching societies and bottom-up by foundational face-to-face encounters: societies provide norms, values, laws, institutions, beliefs, markets, political structures, and knowledge bases. What happens within organizations is done by people interacting with other people, arguing, discussing, convincing each other when preparing and making decisions. Organizations operate within social environments that leave their – however indirect – imprint on what is going on within organizations. This article argues that organizational sociology can benefit from an integrated theoretical framework that accounts for the embeddedness of organizations within the micro- and macro-levels of social order. The argument is developed in two main points: First, this article introduces the multilevel framework provided by Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory to demonstrate how organizations are shaped by the functionally differentiated macro-structure of society. Organizations follow and reproduce the operational logics of societal domains such as the political system, the economy, science, law, religion, etc. Second, this paper demonstrates how organizations are shaped by micro-level dynamics of face-to-face interactions. Face-to-face encounters form a social reality of its own kind that restricts and resists the formalization of organizational processes. Here, this article draws on Erving Goffman’s and Randall Collins’ work on interaction rituals, emotions, and solidarity, which is inspired by Durkheimian micro-sociology. At the end, this article brings together all the elements into one general account of organizations within the context of their macro- and micro-structural social environments. This account can yield a deeper and more sociological understanding of organizational behavior.

This study aims to examine the impact of interlocking directorships on firm performance in Turkey, with a specific focus on the moderating role of board diversity.

Using a panel dataset comprising the top 100 firms listed on Borsa Istanbul from 2014 to 2018, this study employs regression analysis to investigate the relationship between interlocking directorships, board diversity, and firm performance. It firm-level financial data and directorship information to assess the effects of interlocking directorships on firm performance while also considering the moderating influence of board diversity.

The findings of this study reveal several important insights. First, the results confirm the “busyness hypothesis” as an increase in the number of interlocks per director negatively impacts firm performance, indicating reduced monitoring effectiveness. However, the study also demonstrates that board diversity plays a significant moderating role. Specifically, board diversity positively influences the relationship between interlocking directorships and firm performance, suggesting that a diverse board can mitigate the negative effects of interlocks and enhance overall firm performance.

This study contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, this study extends our understanding of the relationship between interlocking directorships and firm performance, considering contingency factors in the Turkish market. Second, our findings imply that board diversity mitigates the negative impact of busy interlocking directorates and improves firm performance, which provides invaluable directions to firms in setting their boards. Moreover, this research enhances corporate governance practices in Turkey and beyond in other emerging markets with similar corporate governance mechanisms by identifying the importance of board diversity and its moderating influence.

This study aims to examine the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure and the moderating role of board network centrality and political connections on the nexus between EPU and ESG.

Using a sample of the UK Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 350 firms during 2007 to 2018, this study examines the relationship between EPU and the ESG disclosure and the moderating effects of board centrality and board political connections using multivariate regression analysis.

The results show that firms tend to increase their ESG disclosure when EPU rises. The results also reveal that EPU is negatively associated with firms’ financial performance and ESG performance is less evident for firms with higher ESG disclosure scores and is observed only when board centrality is relatively low and the political connections are absent. The study finds further evidence to support the hypotheses during periods of heightened conflicts (i.e. global financial crisis and the Brexit referendum).

This study offers practical insights for corporate managers who attempt to preserve and enhance their firms’ competitive advantages via maintaining its stakeholders support through greater ESG disclosure during heightened EPU periods.

By integrating the resource-based view (RBV) and the signaling theory, this study extends the signaling theory and RBV by examining the relationship between EPU and ESG disclosure as a signal to its stakeholders and information advantages that board centrality and political connections bring to the company to reduce information asymmetry between the firms and its stakeholders during EPU.