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This study explores the role of both trait-like (i.e. adaptability) and situational (previous small business ownership and rurality) variables, on entrepreneurial identity (EI) through a social identity theory lens.

Path analysis was used on 376 individuals from across the United States who met various criteria and were recruited using Prolific.

Adaptability and previous small business ownership were found to be predictors of EI. Findings also highlight the moderating role of adaptability on the previous small business ownership-EI and rurality-EI links. Notably, highly adaptable individuals who have previously owned businesses tend to hold more of an EI, and those who are less adaptable and live in rural locations also tend to hold less of an EI.

Understanding the conditions under which individuals are likely to hold more of an EI may provide several benefits to organizations and individuals within society, including information that can be used to develop more fine-tuned career counseling and training, risk management strategies, and a more calculated allocation of finite resources.

Despite both personal trait-like (i.e. focus/adaptability) and situational (i.e. rurality and previous small business ownership experience) factors likely playing a crucial role in the formation of individuals' perceptions, previous work has largely ignored their interaction in the development of EI. The authors test a model encompassing trait-like (i.e. focus/adaptability) and situational (rurality, previous small business ownership experience) predictors of EI, along with their interactive effects, and illuminate a more holistic picture of EI's antecedents.

This chapter investigated how pre-existing ideas (i.e., prototypes and antiprototypes) and what the eyes fixate on (i.e., eye fixations) influence followers' identification with leaders from another race. A sample of 55 Southeast Asian female participants assessed their ideal leader in terms of prototypes and antiprototype and then viewed a 27-second video of an engaging Caucasian female leader as their eye fixations were tracked. Participants evaluated the videoed leader using the Identity Leadership Inventory, in terms of four leader identities (i.e., prototypicality, advancement, entrepreneurship, and impresarioship). A series of multiregression models identified participants' age as a negative predictor for all the leader identities. At the same time, the antiprototype of masculinity, the prototypes of sensitivity and dynamism, and the duration of fixations on the right eye predicted at least one leader identity. Such findings build on aspects of intercultural communication relating to the evaluation of global leaders.

In spite of the common label, uncertainty avoidance (UA) across Hofstede and GLOBE models has been found to be negatively correlated and capture distinct concepts. Nevertheless, the empirical research focusing on the impact of UA on a variety of constructs has strongly neglected this conceptual difference, assuming them equivalent constructs and using one as an alternative for the other, or merely applying one for reasons other than conceptual relevance. Challenging this taken-for-granted assumption, the purpose of this paper is to show that their conceptual difference matters by showing that their causal impact on a given construct is not consistent given their conceptual difference.

Hypotheses are tested using hierarchical linear modeling analyses on firms from Compustat Global Database across 44 countries within the time span of 1990–2017.

The findings show that the causal effects of Hofstede UA index (UAI) and GLOBE UA society practices on the risk-taking behavior of firms are not consistent. Unlike Hofstede UAI, GLOBE UA (society practices) does not reduce the risk-taking behavior of firms.

This study is valuable in that it raises awareness on the conceptual differences between UA dimensions across Hofstede vs GLOBE and challenges one of the taken-for-granted assumptions in the empirical literature that the two are equivalent by empirically showing that their impacts on a given construct (i.e. the risk-taking behavior of firms) are not consistent.

In a knowledge economy, it is generally agreed that audit committees play a significant role in supporting the overall firm’s knowledge, particularly enhancing the reporting process. In this respect, this paper aims to examine the effect of audit committee characteristics on intellectual capital efficiency.

This study examined 59 banks for five years (2011-2015), obtaining 295 observations. The study’s independent variable is audit committee characteristics. The dependent variable is intellectual capital components (Human: human capital efficiency [HCE]; Structural: structural capital efficiency [SCE]; Relational: relational capital efficiency [RCE]; and Physical/Financial: capital employed efficiency [CEE]). In addition, the study used four bank-specific control variables.

The findings deduced from the empirical results demonstrate that there is a significant positive impact of audit committee characteristics on intellectual capital. Moreover, the relationship between audit committee and intellectual capital components (HCE, SCE, RCE and CEE) also has a significant positive relationship if measured individually.

The study provides insights about the relationship between audit committee characteristics and the improvement in intellectual capital efficiency, which might be used by firms to re-arrange the roles within audit committee, to reassign internal priorities and to escalate position in their environment.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the factors that influence the adoption of new sustainability reporting (SDG) and external assurance (EXTA) practices. This study also examines the relationship between sustainability reporting activity and corporate economic performance for a sample of 99 companies in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries that addressed SDGs in their sustainability reports published in 2019.

Using a two-stage analysis, this study examines how firms’ characteristics and corporate governance variables affect SDG and economic performance, as well as the firm’s decision to adopt EXTA statements for a sample of companies in that addressed SDGs in their sustainability reports published in 2019. The authors collected data from the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) Sustainability Disclosure database and the Bureau van Dijk for Orbis database.

The results show that the variables firm size, profitability, big 4 auditors and government ownership significantly affect SDG and economic performance. The results also reveal that firms operating in the manufacturing sector are positively correlated with SDG and the firm’s decision to adopt EXTA statements. Furthermore, the results indicate that board independence positively affects SDGs and EXTA.

The results can be particularly relevant and timely in helping large GCC companies promote their engagement to sustainable development practices by adopting more sustainable long-term strategies and policies. The findings could also guide managers in the strategic direction to identify firms’ characteristics and corporate governance features essential to promote sustainability reporting, an increasingly important performance indicator for investors and to enhance their confidence in the capital market. The results may also have practical implications to policymakers and other regulators in GCC countries to define effective frameworks that promote sustainable development reports and the use of EXTA.

The results make significant contributions by providing new insights to the existing literature on sustainability reporting in emerging markets by examining a unique perspective on the influence of firms’ characteristics and corporate governance features on the adoption of new sustainability reporting practices. The authors further add to the previous literature on the relationship between a firm’s economic performance and sustainable reporting by providing evidence from large companies in GCC countries, which might benefit from the adoption of multiple conceptual lenses, in this case, legitimacy and stakeholder theories. Lastly, through the empirical findings, this study provides economic validity to the 2018 joint initiative of the GRI and the United Nations Global Compact to strengthen corporate actions to achieve the United Nations SDGs.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the base position and the largest working area for mobile manipulators. The base position determines the workspace of the mobile manipulator, particularly when the operation mode is intermittent (i.e. the mobile platform stops when the manipulator conducts the task). When the base of the manipulator is in the intersection area of the Base’s Workable Location Spaces (BWLSes), the end effector (EE) can reach all path points. In this study, the intersection line of BWLSes is calculated numerically, and the largest working area is determined using the BWLS concept. The performance of this method is validated with simulations on specific surface segments, such as plane, cylinder and conical surface segments.

The BWLS is used to determine the largest working area and the base position in which the mobile manipulator can reach all path points with the objective of reducing off-line planning time.

Without considering the orientation of the EE, the base position and the working area for the mobile manipulator are determined using the BWLS. Compared to other methods, the proposed algorithm is beneficial when the planning problem has six dimensions, ensuring the reachability and stability of the EE.

The algorithm needs no manual configuration, and its performance is investigated for typical surfaces in practical applications.

This paper aims to describe food insecurity status, food consumption patterns of households and nutritional status of families residing along the baobab belt in Kitui and Kilifi counties of Kenya. It also explores associations between these and household socio-demographic characteristics.

A cross-sectional study design was performed with a sample of 216 caregiver/child pairs interviewed. Tablet-based semi-structured questions were used to obtain information on socio-demographic characteristics of children (6-13 years) and caregivers. Food insecurity status was assessed using the household food insecurity experience scale. Information on food consumption was obtained from qualitative 24-h recall as a basis for calculating a household dietary diversity score. Data were also obtained from a non-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements of children and caregivers’ height and weight were taken to assess their nutritional status. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science version 24 and WHO AnthroPlus 1.0.4.

The majority (98.2 per cent) of the households were food insecurity despite 81.5 and 57.4 per cent in Kitui and Kilifi counties, respectively, owning baobab trees. About 32.1 per cent of the households had poor dietary diversity scores (< 4). The prevalence of stunting (28.6 per cent), wasting (11.6 per cent) and underweight (25 per cent) rates among children were high. A significant association was observed between the children stunting rates with their age (p = 0.027), and also with household’s food security status (p < 0.001). Of the caregivers, 14.8 per cent were underweight, 18.1 per cent were overweight and 8.8 per cent were obese. There was significant association between the nutrition status of the caregivers and gender of the children (p < 0.001) and also with stunting rates of children (p = 0.047).

The study provides data on the current food security status and food consumption patterns of households and nutritional status of families residing along the baobab belt in Kenya which are mostly areas of marginal agricultural potential. The findings indicate a need for appropriate dietary improvements.

The purpose of this paper is to numerically simulate the nanofluid boiling inside a tube in turbulent flow regime and to investigate the effect of adding volume faction of CuO nanoparticles on the boiling process.

To make sure the accuracy of the obtained numerical results, the results of this paper have been compared with the experimental results and an acceptable coincidence has been achieved. In the current paper, by Euler–Euler method, the phase change of boiling phenomenon has been modeled. The presented results are the local Nusselt number distribution, temperature distribution of wall, the distribution of volume fraction of vapor phase and fluid temperature at the center of the tube.

The obtained results indicate that using nanofluid is very effective in the postponement of the boiling process. Hence, by change the amount of volume fraction of nanoparticles in base fluid, the location of phase change and bubble creation are changed. Also, at the Reynolds numbers of 50,000, 100,000 and 150,000 with the volume fraction of 2 per cent, the beginning locations of phase change process are, respectively, 2D, 10D and 13D, and for the volume fraction of 4 per cent, the beginning locations of phase change are 4D, 18D and 19D, respectively. These results indicate that, as the volume fraction of nanoparticles increases, the location of the start of the phase change process is postponed that this issue causes the increment of heat transfer from wall to fluid and the reduction of wall temperature. In general, it can be stated that, in boiling flows, using nanofluid because of the delay in boiling phenomenon has a good effect on heat transfer enhancement of heated walls. Also, the obtained results show that, by increasing Reynolds number, the created vapor phase reduces that leads to increase of the Nusselt number.

The paper investigates the effect of using nanofluid in phase change process of cooling fluid.

Many Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) allow students or their advisors to restrict access to theses/dissertations (TDs) by applying embargoes. This study aims to identify why Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) allow embargoes.

One hundred HEIs were randomly selected, representing seven geographic regions. The authors imported policies/guidelines for embargoing TDs into MAXQDA software and coded the qualitative data.

Among the 100 studied HEIs, 43 HEIs (43%) have policies/guidelines on the web for embargoing TDs, most of which are from North America. For the majority of HEIs, embargoes are a voluntary option for students/advisors. Content analysis of the 32 embargo policies showed that embargo reasons (18 key reasons) can be categorized into six broad themes (commercialization, publication, ethical issues, funding contracts/agreements, security and safety, and miscellaneous).

In this study, only those policies are reviewed that are available, discoverable and accessible on HEIs' websites.

Highlighting the detrimental effect of not managing stipulations towards embargoes clearly, the findings could be useful for national/institutional policymakers and administrators of research departments, academic libraries, institutional repositories and graduate offices.

This is the first study to investigate rationales for TDs embargo practices. It creates awareness of how embargoes are managed and reflected in policy. Ultimately, it recommends further interrogation on how embargoes influence the principle of openness to scholarship.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-09-2022-0497.