Search results

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to take stock of the current state of knowledge about inclusive value-chain development (VCD) in the context of international agricultural research; and second, to draw out the implications for future research and action.

This paper is based on a review of recent research papers authored by professionals affiliated with international agricultural research centers and their partners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The studies reviewed in the paper identify the opportunities emerging from new and expanding markets for agricultural products and challenges to smallholder participation in these markets. It identifies key attributes of successful value-chain interventions, emphasizing the importance of combining value-chain approaches with other approaches, including those emerging from innovation systems and rural livelihoods frameworks. Methods are offered for evaluating complex value-chain interventions.

The paper summarizes the state of knowledge as of early 2016 in a dynamic field. Important contributions to knowledge may have been made since then.

The paper summarizes the state of knowledge in the field, and identifies emerging issues and policy implications, knowledge gaps, and priorities for future applied research.

The aim of this article is to test the hypothesis that peer-to-peer technology platforms (Uber) are associated with disruption in the institutional environment, affecting beliefs, norms and users' ways of thinking and acting.

Probability sample comprising 843 users (446 passengers; 397 drivers) in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, using a set of indicators was specifically designed for this study.

Uber triggers significant changes in the systems of rewards and sanctions, in social preferences, and in entrepreneurial structure and governance, and promotes the coexistence of an institutional logic, hitherto dominant, with new believes, rules, norms and regulatory systems.

This is a pioneer study that associates institutional approach's elements with technology platforms; the authors also elaborated and utilized an analysis model consisting of a set of completely original indicators capable of mapping and measuring different dimensions of the phenomenon under analysis.

This pragmatic research paper aims to unravel the smart vision-based method (SVBM), an AI program to correlate the computer vision (recorded and live videos using mobile and embedded cameras) that aids in manual lifting human pose deduction, analysis and training in the construction sector.

Using a pragmatic approach combined with the literature review, this study discusses the SVBM. The research method includes a literature review followed by a pragmatic approach and lab validation of the acquired data. Adopting the practical approach, the authors of this article developed an SVBM, an AI program to correlate computer vision (recorded and live videos using mobile and embedded cameras).

Results show that SVBM observes the relevant events without additional attachments to the human body and compares them with the standard axis to identify abnormal postures using mobile and other cameras. Angles of critical nodal points are projected through human pose detection and calculating body part movement angles using a novel software program and mobile application. The SVBM demonstrates its ability to data capture and analysis in real-time and offline using videos recorded earlier and is validated for program coding and results repeatability.

Literature review methodology limitations include not keeping in phase with the most updated field knowledge. This limitation is offset by choosing the range for literature review within the last two decades. This literature review may not have captured all published articles because the restriction of database access and search was based only on English. Also, the authors may have omitted fruitful articles hiding in a less popular journal. These limitations are acknowledged. The critical limitation is that the trust, privacy and psychological issues are not addressed in SVBM, which is recognised. However, the benefits of SVBM naturally offset this limitation to being adopted practically.

The theoretical and practical implications include customised and individualistic prediction and preventing most posture-related hazardous behaviours before a critical injury happens. The theoretical implications include mimicking the human pose and lab-based analysis without attaching sensors that naturally alter the working poses. SVBM would help researchers develop more accurate data and theoretical models close to actuals.

By using SVBM, the possibility of early deduction and prevention of musculoskeletal disorders is high; the social implications include the benefits of being a healthier society and health concerned construction sector.

Human pose detection, especially joint angle calculation in a work environment, is crucial to early deduction of muscoloskeletal disorders. Conventional digital technology-based methods to detect pose flaws focus on location information from wearables and laboratory-controlled motion sensors. For the first time, this paper presents novel computer vision (recorded and live videos using mobile and embedded cameras) and digital image-related deep learning methods without attachment to the human body for manual handling pose deduction and analysis of angles, neckline and torso line in an actual construction work environment.

More and more workers in Western economies are operating as freelancers in the so-called “gig economy”, moving from one project – or gig – to the next. A lively debate revolves around the question as to whether this new employment relationship is actually good for innovation in the 21 st century economy. Proponents argue that in this gig process valuable knowledge is created and transferred from one organization to the next via freelancers through their sequence of temporary gigs or projects. Antagonists reason that freelancers are only hired as one-trick ponies on a transactional basis, where knowledge is neither created nor shared. In this study, we focus on the characteristics of gigs. Which project characteristics lead to increased engagement of freelancers, and hence to knowledge-sharing behavior? Our study suggests that the gig economy can indeed lead to increased knowledge sharing by and engagement of freelance workers, provided that organizations and freelancers structure and shape gigs in such a way that they: (1) not only suit the task requirements at hand and (2) fit with the acquired skills of the freelancer, but that these gigs also (3) leave ample of room for the freelancer’s individual growth and development of new skills. This suggests that innovative organizations will need to shape gigs in such a way that freelancers are not only hired for their expertise, but rather that gigs also provide a learning opportunity for freelancers.

The purpose of this study is to chart the development of Makerspaces in higher education (MIHE), by building a map of existing research work in the field. Based on a corpus of 183 manuscripts, published between January 2014 and April 2021, it sets out to describe the range of topics covered under the umbrella of MIHE and provide a holistic view of the field.

The approach adopted in this research includes development of the 2014–2021 MIHE corpus; literature overview and initial coding scheme development; refinement of the initial coding scheme with the help of a focus group and construction of the MIHE map version 1.0; refinement of the MIHE map version 1.0 following a systematic approach of content analysis and development of the MIHE map version 2.0; evaluation of the proposed structure and inclusiveness of all categories in the MIHE map version 2.0 using card-sorting technique; and, finally, development of the MIHE map version 3.0.

The research trends in the categories of the MIHE map are discussed, as well as possible future directions in the field.

This paper provides a holistic view of the field of MIHE guiding both junior MIHE researchers to place themselves in the field, and policymakers and decision-makers who attempt to evaluate the current and future scholar activity in the field. Finally, it caters for more experienced researchers to focus on certain underinvestigated domains.

The study aims to investigate whether the adoption of IFRS could ensure ultimate intercompany comparability of operating performance in terms of uniformity in the application of accounting methods and reporting style.

Using content analysis on 125 annual financial statements of 25 companies from five industries listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange in Bangladesh, this study reports that only the sole adoption and application of principle based IFRS cannot ensure ultimate intercompany comparability of financial reports.

The findings document that the adoption of IFRS cannot ensure the application of same accounting methods as well as way of presentations which is a precondition of greater comparability of operating performance of competitive firms. The methodological and reporting direction through local regulatory agencies alongside maximum compliance with principle based IFRS can enhance intercompany comparability of financial reports in the same industry.

This study tries to manifest that sole adoption cum implementation of IFRS could not ensure ultimate intercompany comparability of operating performance within the same industry and urges to conduct further research to find out the ways to do so.

The aim of this paper is to provide additional insights on the association between real earnings management (REM) and crash risk, particularly from the perspective of an emerging market economy. It also examines the moderation role that internal and external corporate governance may play in this area.

Relying on archival data from the RESSET and CSMAR databases over a timeframe from 2010 to 2018 of China listed company, the authors test the hypotheses by regressing common measures of crash risk on the treatment variable (REM) and crash risk control variables identified in the prior crash risk literature. The authors also introduce monitoring proxies (internal controls as an internal governance and institutional ownership as an external governance) and assess how effective internal and external governance moderate the relation between REM and stock price crash risk.

The results suggest firms with higher REM have a significantly greater stock price crash risk, and that this association is mitigated by external monitoring. That is, greater institutional ownership, particularly pressure insensitive owners, mitigates the impact of REM on stock price crash risk. However, internal control does not mitigate the association between REM and stock price crash risk.

Following the passage of the Sarbanes–Oxley (SOX) Act, prior research has documented an increase in the use of REM and a positive association between REM and cash risk. The authors demonstrate that they persist in one of the largest emerging markets where institutional regulations, market conditions and corporate behaviors are different from those in developed markets. Also, the assessment of the moderation effect of internal and external governance mechanisms could have meaningful implications for investors and regulators in Chinese and other emerging markets.

Online labour markets (OLMs) have recently become a widespread phenomenon of digital work. While the implications of OLMs on worker well-being are hotly debated, little empirical research examines the impact of such work on individuals. The highly competitive and fast-paced nature of OLMs compels workers to multitask and to perform intense technology-enabled work, which can potentially enhance technostress. This paper examines the antecedents and well-being consequences of technostress arising from work in OLMs.

The authors draw from person–environment fit theory and job characteristics theory and test a research model of the antecedents and consequences of worker technostress in OLMs. Data were gathered from 366 workers in a popular OLM through a large-scale online survey. Structural equation modelling was used to evaluate the research model.

The findings extend existing research by validating the relationships between specific OLM characteristics and strain. Contrary to previous literature, the results indicate a link between technology complexity and work overload in OLMs. Furthermore, in OLMs, feedback is positively associated with work overload and job insecurity, while strain directly influences workers' negative affective well-being and discontinuous intention.

This study contributes to technostress literature by developing and testing a research model relevant to a new form of work conducted through OLMs. The authors expand the current research on technostress by integrating job characteristics as new antecedents to technostress and demonstrating its impact on different types of subjective well-being and discontinuous intention. In addition, while examining the impact of technostressors on outcomes, the authors consider their impact at the individual level (disaggregated approach) to capture the subtlety involved in understanding technostressors' unique relationships with outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to examine both accruals and real earnings management in a large sample of private companies in the UK using data from 2002 to 2009 following the implementation of the UK Act of 2006.

A panel data analysis using GMM has been adopted to examine the objectives of the study and answer the research questions.

The results of this study showed that the imposition of the Companies Act of 2006, on its own, did lead to changes in earnings management behaviour, in both accruals-based earnings and real earnings management. Moreover, this study also found that firms that chose to provide IFRS financial statements tended to show less discretionary earnings management, however, it tended to have no impact on real earnings management.

In accordance with the research findings, standard setters with some insight tend to determine how capital markets see the information provided under the legislation such as the UK Act of 2006 in developed countries and thereby ensure long-term sustainability in a modern and sophisticated financial world. This study provides an insight into the successful implementation of the UK act of 2006, and its influence on the aspect of financial reporting.

The novel conclusion reached in the study is that there exists a strong and direct link between the smooth implementation of UK Act of 2006 and the practices of both accruals and real earnings management in real-world business and financial scenarios, particularly, in private companies.