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The authors propose a strategic-balance approach to local content laws in which less developed economies in sub-Sahara Africa can develop investment incentive policies for attracting multinationals and direct foreign investment but, at the same time, have a structured and operational framework for the enforcement of local content laws. The purpose of the paper is to identify the elements involved in the equation: the incentives, the potential spillovers and the criteria for evaluation.

The approach involves a review of the literature and the operational details and limitations of local content laws in sub-Sahara Africa.

The paper develops a conceptual model for a holistic understanding and management of this dilemma by policymakers and development practitioners to maximize the benefits of natural resources to less developed countries in sub-Sahara Africa towards the fight against poverty and underdevelopment.

This paper provides the opportunity to influence policy direction in relation to the adoption of investment incentive policies and programs and the enforcement of local content policy guidelines and regulations in sub-Sahara Africa.

Multinational companies (MNCs) operating in less developed and emerging economies in sub-Sahara Africa should consider how their economic and corporate social responsibility activities can help develop the capabilities of the local workforce through training and development activities; develop domestic firms’ capabilities via enterprise development programs; and develop local firm’s absorptive capacities through knowledge transfers and innovation systems to support development activities.

Policymakers in less developed and emerging economies in sub-Sahara Africa need to strike a balance in adopting investment incentives policies towards attracting foreign investments and the enforcement of local content regulations to make sure they derive the maximum benefits from their strategic resources. It is important for policymakers to understand that the mere attraction of MNCs into an economy does not explicitly guarantee domestic job creation; rather, it depends on how MNCs respond to local content policy regulations through their business strategies. Linking investment incentives with local content policy regulations at a critical point could potentially support and strengthen industrial development in sub-Sahara Africa.

This paper is among the first to examine the challenges of both attracting foreign direct investment and enforcing local content laws and regulations in sub-Sahara Africa. This paper contributes to the understanding of this dilemma and how less developed economies can manage such a crucial and important issue using our proposed strategic-balance approach. The contribution of local content laws and the design and adoption of investment incentives policies and programs to attract foreign investment to promoting sustainable domestic growth and development must depend on the balance between the enforcement of local content policy guidelines and the provision of such investment incentive packages to attracting foreign investment.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which a systematic review approach is transferable from medicine to multi-disciplinary studies in the built environment research.

Primarily a review paper, it focuses on specific steps in the systematic review to clarify and elaborate the elements for adapting an evidence base in the built environment studies particular to the impact of green building on employees’ health, well-being and productivity.

While research represents a potentially powerful means of reducing the gap between research and practice by applying tried and tested methods, the methodological rigour is debatable when a traditional systematic review approach is applied in the built environment studies involving multi-disciplinary research.

The foundational contribution of this paper lies in providing methodological guidance and an alternative framework to advance the longstanding efforts in the built environment to bridge the practitioner and academic divide.

A systematic review approach in the built environment is rare. The method is unique in multi-disciplinary studies especially in green building studies. This paper adopts the systematic review protocols in this cross-disciplinary study involving health, management and built environment expertise.

The purpose of this paper is to adopt the convergence-divergence perspective to examine the extent of similarities and differences in human resource management practices between multinational enterprise subsidiaries and local firms in Ghana.

This paper draws from multiple case study evidence using in-depth face-to-face interviews and document analysis. The data were analyzed in four stages using both thematic analysis and cross-case analysis techniques.

The authors found both convergence and divergence, however, the evidence points to more convergence and direction toward convergence between MNEs and local firms’ HRM practices.

Even though there was evidence of cultural embeddedness within local firms in the adoption of certain HRM practices, the influence of national culture on HRM practice convergence between MNEs and local firms has been limited. Thus, the convergence-divergence debate through the lens of national culture may need to be re-examined.

The evidence of convergence and direction toward convergence tendencies within the context can be argued to be less underpinned by local isomorphism limited host-country influence. Practically, there is something to learn from indigenous Ghanaian organizations that can contribute to HRM advancement, the Ghanaian concept of annual durbars, annual or semi-annual gatherings to take stock of past activities and to award hard working staff, could provide the platform to strengthen the employer-employee relationship at the firm level.

This study fills an important contextual gap (a less developed country’s context) within the convergence-divergence debate and contributes to informing new knowledge of the convergence-divergence debate, which points to more convergence and direction toward convergence between MNEs and local firms’ HRM practices.

This paper extends entrepreneurial ecosystems theory by testing how aspects of the local business environment affect individual entrepreneurs' ability to translate their personal resources into firm performance.

Data were collected from 223 business owners across Australia. Moderation hypotheses were tested using multiple hierarchical regression and confirmed with the Preacher and Hayes (2004) bootstrapping method.

The results show that business owners' psychological capital, social capital and entrepreneurial education directly affect their individual firm performance. These positive relations are moderated by specific aspects of the business environment, such that they are stronger when the environment is more favorable.

This study puts individual business owners back into entrepreneurial ecosystems theory and explains how they can make the most of their personal resources, suggesting a complex interplay where one size does not fit all. Far-reaching practical implications for policymakers are discussed.

Literature around the careers of female academics is targeted mainly toward identifying and examining career progression inhibitors, while the drivers appear largely unexplored. This paper aims to contribute to contemporary knowledge by identifying drivers to the career progression of female academics in Australia. With COVID-19 currently impacting the careers of female academics this knowledge can assist universities and human resource (HR) professionals in developing policies and practices to better facilitate female academic career progression.

Empirically this paper draws on a qualitative study of 18 male and 29 female academics, as well as nine senior university stakeholders. The authors employed semi-structured interviews and a novel methodology, Draw, Write, Reflect.

In line with attribution theory, senior stakeholders mainly identified organisational efforts, including leadership, gender equity endeavours, recruitment and promotion approaches, as well as a construct known as “relative to opportunity considerations”, as drivers of female academics’ career progression. Female academics, however, largely attributed their career progression to personal factors, such as family support, informal mentoring, and determination and persistence.

The findings have implications for universities and HR practices seeking to facilitate female academic career progression. Implementation of the drivers identified may enhance female academics’ abilities to progress their careers.

By focussing on the drivers of, rather than the barriers to, female academic careers, the research is novel in its identification of a previously unexplored mismatch between organisational attribution and individual attribution of career progression drivers thereby advancing knowledge of gender differences in academic careers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of personal and inter-firm networks and the elements that contribute to the formation and management of these networks for regional small businesses.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 small business owners located in regional areas.

The findings highlight key characteristics of regional small business owners’ networks. Findings indicated that participants relied strongly on their personal networks for business purposes. This study shows that while personal networks adapted and changed into informal inter-firm networks, weak-tie relations within inter-firm networks were unlikely to develop into close personal networks. Novel findings also include a preference for “regional interactions” and included regular collaboration with local business competitors. Although the participants used social media to manage their business through personal networks, results confirmed there was a lack of awareness of the benefits of inter-firm networks with businesses outside the local region.

While it is acknowledged small business owners use personal and inter-firm connections to maintain and grow their business, there is a lack of research examining both of these networks in the same study. This research addresses this gap and presents five propositions as a useful direction for future research. This paper adds to the evolution of existing knowledge by expanding understanding of the formation of business networks and conditions of business trust relations within a regional context.

Steady progress has been achieved with implementing legislated public sector equal employment opportunities (EEO) policies and programs to fulfil the aim of increasing the representation of EEO groups in public employment. However, there remain areas of significant gender differences in the public sector labour market. One of the most persistent problems has been segregation by gender and this characteristic employment pattern can be discerned across industry, occupation, firm and type of employment contract. This research compares and contrasts the effect of gender domination on the gender composition of tiers of management and numbers in the Senior Executive Service across a state government public service in Australia. The career progression of males and females in female‐dominated and male‐dominated agencies are examined to determine whether different career outcomes can be discerned under conditions of significantly greater numbers of one gender being employed. Findings indicate that men in female‐dominated agencies have different employment profiles and career patterns to those of women in male‐dominated agencies.

The three governance modes of state, market and network have long been recognized as key forms of social organization. However, the failure of these modes to solve complex public problems has meant that new hybrid arrangements drawing on and mixing the strengths of each mode have come to the fore. This situation results in what is contended to be a “crowded” policy domain which may erode the potential for positive service delivery and programme outcomes. This paper argues that policy and decision-makers need to recognize the difference between these modes and select optimal mixes. The paper proceeds by tracing the evolution of the expanded mix. It sets out a coherent framework to aid decision-making and explores the challenges faced by governments in balancing the structural and operational mechanisms necessary to sustain the engagement of such a diverse set of players

The Communist Party of China represents a distinctive philosophy of leadership, one in which it tries to present itself as the key promoter of Chinese style modernity and the national mission to become a great, rich, and powerful country again. Contemporary Chinese leaders however have to operate in a territory laden with historic issues, with huge administrative responsibilities, and with challenges of mobilizing and gaining support from a vast, complex, and often fractious public. This chapter looks at the various ways leaders in China have tried to fulfill these often contradictory demands, while also attempting to remain true to their core ideological beliefs at a time when the country is undergoing rapid economic and social transformation.

This article presents the results of an exploratory study of wage outcomes in the West Australian public sector. The research aimed to determine the effect of gender segregation on pay bargaining outcomes in a deregulated industrial relations regime. In the first part of the article, public sector employment relations are discussed and analysed. The second part provides a synopsis of the changes in the legislative and industrial relations environment in Western Australia. The final part examines the effect of gender segregation on bargaining outcomes in the Western Australian public sector.