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Today, as we hurtle towards imminent planetary destruction in the age of the Anthropocene, we believe it may be instructive to try and understand if the ancient science of spirituality can prove useful in humankind's ability to change course, even at this late hour. We argue that such a paradigm shift is critically essential for human survival and that without the inner transformation proposed by this science, it may prove impossible to build a society based on the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. This chapter draws from foundational texts and authoritative sources across multiple religious traditions, based upon which it outlines a brief sketch of the ancient science of spirituality. We begin with an account of the differentia specifica of this science, where we delve into what kind of science this is. Since it is centrally concerned with inner transformation, we briefly outline the theory of change embedded in this science and the kind of rejuvenation it enables, which makes it possible for us to clearly perceive the key elements and the structure of reality. We then spell out the impact this has on the nature of human action, continually teasing out implications for policy and practice in our time. We provide a few concrete illustrations of the same. Inter alia, we also show how many of these insights can be found even within modern scientific and philosophical traditions, thereby indicating possibilities of convergence and synthesis between ancient and modern science, following thereby the guidance of genuine spirituality.

This paper examines the relationship between poison pills, real earnings management and initial public offering (IPO) failure.

The authors sampled 2,997 IPO firms that went public during 1993-2015.

The authors find that IPO firms manipulate earnings upward using real earnings management. The authors also find that IPO firms exhibiting a higher level of real earnings management have a higher probability of IPO failure. In addition, the authors find that weak shareholders' governance is positively associated with IPO failure.

These results suggest that poor governance structures in failed firms open the door to manipulating real activities and increasing operational risk.

The study findings are of most significant interest to potential investors and other stakeholders affiliated with a firm going public, an auditor, an underwriter, the lawyers who consult with the firm and employees or executives who might consider joining that firm.

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the adoption intention of artificial intelligence (AI) by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Jordan.

The study adopts the technology–organization–environment (TOE) model. It examines the moderating effects of innovation culture, employee digital skill level and market competition on the relationships between the independent and dependent variables. A survey was utilized to collect data from 537 MSME owners or managers in Jordan and employed partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses.

The results of the study support seven out of eight hypotheses. Business innovativeness, management support, perceived benefits and technological infrastructure have positive and significant effects on AI adoption intention, while perceived costs have no significant effect. However, the innovation culture, employee digital skill level and market competition were found to moderate the relationships between some of the independent variables and dependent variables.

The study provides valuable insights and recommendations for MSME owners, managers, employees, policymakers, educators and researchers interested in promoting and facilitating AI adoption by MSMEs in Jordan.

The current attempt extends the TOE framework by adding significant constructs representing the three contexts. Moreover, it is one of the few studies that analyzed the factors influencing the adoption intention of AI by MSMEs in Jordan, which are significant to the Jordanian economy and represent 99.5% of enterprises.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the behavior of individual employee's performance concerning their organizational citizenship and turnover intention in the higher education sector. This study attempts to examine the effects of two potential sequential mediators – job satisfaction and employee engagement – on employees' job embeddedness, organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover intention.

This study is based on a survey conducted among the employees of major universities in the Republic of Korea. A total of 213 valid responses are used to analyze the hypotheses.

The results suggest that the relationship between job embeddedness and organizational citizenship behavior is significantly mediated by job satisfaction. However, the mediating role of job satisfaction on the link between job embeddedness and employees' intention to leave is not significant. Relatedly, employee engagement has a significant mediating effect on job embeddedness and organizational citizenship behavior but no demonstrable mediating effect between job embeddedness and employees' turnover intentions.

The results provide guidance that can assist organizations in increasing their employees' organizational citizenship behavior and lowering their intentions to leave, particularly in the education sector.

This study contributes to existing knowledge regarding the roles that job satisfaction and employee engagement play as two potential sequential mediators in the relation between job embeddedness and organizational citizenship behavior.

This study examines a link between firms' product market power, industry concentration, the degree of earnings management and the role of governance in curbing earnings management.

The author uses different panel techniques of feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) and system generalized method of moments (GMM) to show robust study findings.

The study results reveal that firms lacking product market pricing power engage in earnings management, adding a new dimension to the existing literature. These findings mirror even at the industry level, where the authors document immense competitiveness led to earnings manipulation and stringent corporate governance mechanism has the potency to curb earnings management.

The paper has valuable insights and practical implications for policymakers and market participants. The results indicate robust institutional oversight mechanisms can deter earnings management in a concentrated market.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first paper from India, a growing emerging economy, to look at the various aspects of market characteristics, earnings management and the role of corporate governance.

The tea plantation industry is characterized by the large-scale deployment of cheap women laborers and gender-blind practices that make the social positions of women workers vulnerable. This paper considers women temporary workers in tea gardens to study the exacerbated impact of Covid-19 on their lives. The impact of the pandemic on marginal tea garden women laborers has not received enough attention from researchers; hence, the authors have studied the gendered implications of the pandemic on Adivasi temporary women workers in tea gardens in India. “Adivasi” is an umbrella term to refer to all indigenous tribes in India.

The authors conducted a qualitative study with 26 in-depth interviews with women temporary workers who identify themselves as Adivasis. For the discussion, the authors have mainly borrowed from intersectionality and subalternity literature.

The analysis explored the intersectional experiences of the women temporary workers (1) as members of Tea Tribes who are compelled to continue working at tea gardens as wage laborers, (2) job insecurities at work due to their temporary worker status, (3) disadvantages faced by women workers for their gender identity and (4) the gendered impact of the pandemic on their lives.

This study has explored the gendered impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the lives of temporary women workers who belong to ethnic minority groups in the global south. The exploitation of labor rights in the tea industry during the pandemic has not been discussed enough by researchers earlier.

This paper aims to review empirical research on the relationship between institutional ownership (IO) and board governance (85 studies).

Based on agency and upper echelons theory, the heterogeneous monitoring function of specific types and the nature of institutional investors on board composition, compensation and chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics will be focused.

The author found that most studies have referred to archival studies, analyzed the impact of board governance on IO, focused on CEO characteristics, neglected IO heterogeneity and advanced regression models to address endogeneity concerns. In line with the theoretical framework, the relationship between total IO and board governance is heterogeneous. However, specific types such as foreign, dedicated and pressure-resistant institutions represent active monitoring tools and push for increased board governance.

The author provided useful recommendations for future research from a content and methodological perspective, e.g. the need for analyzing the impact of IO on sustainable board governance and other characteristics of top management team members, e.g. the chief financial officer.

As many regulatory bodies implemented regulations to promote shareholder rights and board governance, this literature review highlights the connections of both corporate governance mechanisms. Managers should conduct a careful and timely investor analysis and change the composition and compensation of the board of directors in line with institutional investors’ preferences.

This analysis makes useful contributions to prior research by focusing on IO and board governance, whereas the author structured the heterogeneous variables and results within the structured literature review. The authors guides researchers, regulatory bodies and business practice in this corporate governance topic.