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Over the years, the impact of the business cycle on firm strategy has been neglected in the area of strategic management and remains one of the most important but least developed research streams in management scholarship. Studies in this area are scattered across time and domains, therefore, there is a need to consolidate this fragmented literature to provide a comprehensive review and thus avenues for further research. This study aims to address this gap.

In this study, the systematic literature review (SLR) method is used to select and examine research articles in the area of firm responses and decisions during recession. This SLR examines 127 studies and carries out a thematic synthesis of the literature.

Based on the SLR and thematic synthesis of the literature, the themes identified in this study include – severity of recession impact (Theme 1); firm specific characteristics (Theme 2); resource adjustment activities (Theme 3); and firm performance (Theme 4), based on these themes and analysis this paper maps and proposes various relationships and linkages in this research domain that can be explored further for the development of scholarship in this field of study.

This paper fulfills the need for a systematic review of the extant literature on firms’ responses during recession. The study synthesizes literature and carries out a thematic analysis from 1980 till the period February 2024 to provide directions to advance this domain of literature.

The purpose of this research is to systematically scrutinize the influence of macroeconomic determinants on trade openness, through the lens of various trade theories, with a particular focus on the economies of the GIPSI countries – Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

This study investigates the macroeconomic factors influencing trade openness in the GIPSI economies from 1995 to 2020. Methods include stepwise regression (SR) for model selection, Pedroni panel cointegration test and panel regression results. The analysis uses advanced panel regressions, including FMOLS, Panel OLS and FEM. The long-term dynamics were tested using Pedroni cointegration, while Granger causality testing was used to examine the causal direction between the trade openness ratio and trade determinant.

The results show both long-term and short-term relationships between trade openness and (1) foreign direct investment, (2) labor force participation rate, (3) trade reserves and (4) trade balance. The researchers also detected unidirectional and bidirectional causality relationships between trade openness and these four factors. The study also revealed that trade reserves (TR) emerge as the most influential determinant of trade openness, and per capita income does not exhibit economic significance concerning the trade openness of GIPSI economies.

This research is conducted within the context of the GIPSI nations (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy). As such, the outcomes may not be universally applicable to other economic systems due to the distinct institutional settings and governance structures across different economic groups. Future investigations may explore the relationship between trade openness and its determinants by incorporating different variables.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study investigating the theory that suggested trade drivers drive the trade openness of GIPSI countries context. By focusing on GIPSI countries, the study offers a unique perspective on the dynamics of trade openness in economies that have experienced financial crises and stringent austerity measures.

Understanding and mitigating stock price crash risk is vital for investors and regulators to ensure financial market stability. This study aims to unveil significant research trends and opportunities.

This study adopts the bibliometric and systematic review approach to analyse 485 Scopus-indexed articles through citation, keyword co-occurrence, bibliographic coupling, and publication analyses and delve into the depth of crash risk literature.

This bibliometric review reveals not only a surge in crash risk publications over the last decade but also delineates several emerging thematic threads within this domain. We identify seven distinct themes that have gained prominence in recent literature: bad news hoarding, board characteristics, capital market factors, corporate policies, ownership impact, corporate governance, and external environmental influences on crash risk. This thematic analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the evolving landscape of crash risk research and underscores the multifaceted nature of factors contributing to market instability.

This study makes a substantial contribution by furnishing a thorough examination of existing studies, pinpointing areas where knowledge is lacking, and shedding light on emerging trends and debates within the crash risk literature.

This study identifies current research trajectories and propels future exploration into agency perspectives, audit quality, and corporate disclosures within crash risk literature.

This study aims to examine the impact of employee treatment on stock price crash risk in emerging markets. The study further sheds light on the economic channels and boundary conditions between employee treatment and crash risk.

This study employs a large-scale archival dataset of Chinese A-share listed firms covering 2010 to 2021. To establish causality, the study leverages multi-way fixed effects, Oster’s test, change regression and instrumental variable methods to alleviate endogeneity concerns.

The results reveal that employee-friendly treatment leads to a lower crash risk. Moreover, improving internal control quality and enhancing firm reputation appear to be the two plausible economic channels through which employee treatment mitigates crash risk. Cross-sectionally, the documented impact is more evident for human-capital-intensive firms, firms with weaker external monitoring and those operating in fiercely competitive industries.

This study is among the first to show that employee treatment has a favorable consequence for shareholder benefit through reducing crash risk. The study thus adds to the ongoing debate regarding the relationship between employee treatment and shareholder wealth. The study also extends the nascent literature on the role of rank-and-file employees in shaping corporate information landscapes.

Prior literature on the cultural determinants of cash holdings focuses on time-invariant cultural variables measured at the geographical level. These measures of culture do not capture the firm-level variation in corporate culture. Using a validated time-variant measure of firm-level corporate culture, specifically teamwork, we examine the effect of teamwork on a firm's cash holdings.

In this paper, we explore the effect of corporate teamwork culture on firms' cash holdings. Using sudden CEO turnover as an exogenous shock to a firm's teamwork culture, we find teamwork increases cash holdings. Also, we test and find two channels—financial constraint and agency—and two new labour-related channels—human capital quality and labour inefficiency—through which teamwork culture affects cash holdings. Our results are robust to endogeneity tests.

We find that teamwork increases the cash holdings of firms. We find that a firm with a high teamwork culture has higher cash holdings: an increase of one standard deviation in teamwork leads to a 14.6% rise in the mean cash holdings.

To our knowledge, our study is the first to introduce the firm-level teamwork cultural construct as a determinant of cash holdings.

This study aims to investigate the impact of job loss on the mental health of individuals in Tunisia during the COVID-19 crisis.

In this research, the authors use the counterfactual decomposition technique and the potential outcome approach. In the first part, the authors calculated mental health indicators for all individuals included in the sample based on the World Health Organization-5 items. The individuals were then grouped into two subpopulations: the first group included those who had lost their jobs and the second group included individuals whose status in the labor market had remained unchanged. In the second part, the authors used the Blinder and Oaxaca decomposition to explain the mean difference in the mental health scores between the two groups and determine the factors contributing to this difference.

The empirical results identified symptoms of depressed mood, decreased energy and loss of interest in several individuals. Based on these three symptoms, the authors were able to classify individuals into three types of depression: mild, moderate and severe. In addition, it appeared that job loss had significantly contributed to the worsening mental health of the individuals.

Although the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak among health-care professionals has been the subject of other studies in health literature on Tunisia, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no research has addressed the impact of job loss on the mental health of Tunisian workers. Thus, this study fills this gap in the literature.

Global value chains (GVCs) are facing unprecedented pressures arising from structural changes in the global economy and exogenous shocks including military conflicts and the aftermath of COVID-19. Considering the importance of value chain analysis in the current environment, the purpose of the study is to provide an up-to-date overarching global value chain literature review study that offers suggestions for research and practice to ensure resilient value and supply chains.

The authors provide a comprehensive review of literature of the value chain, commodity chain and production network research based on a systems overview of 5,628 publications to identify the extent of research on vulnerabilities and resilience of value chains globally and gaps therein. To provide the systems overview, the authors use scientometric content co-occurrence analysis methods to analyze and identify gaps within the existing literature.

Based on this overarching review of the literature, the authors identify gaps in the literature primarily related to the issue of unpreparedness of value chains to exogenous shocks. The authors suggest future research directions and propose an integrative model along with recommendations for restructuring value chains for resilience amidst exogenous shocks.

This study carries out an overarching study of interdisciplinary GVC literature in the age of geopolitical and societal challenges and is thus able to offer holistic insights and propositions for future research.

While high-performance work systems (HPWS) are widely viewed as beneficial, some suggest they may have a dark side and be simultaneously detrimental. This is tested toward turnover intentions (reduced by HPWS) in the context of perceived employability because HPWS are expected to enhance employability, which positively influences turnover intentions.

Survey data using two New Zealand employee studies were conducted (n = 525, n = 306). Data were analyzed for mediation (Study 1) and moderated mediation (Study 2) using the PROCESS macro.

Both studies show HPWS are negatively related to turnover intentions and positively to perceived employability, which also positively influences turnover intentions. This provides support for dark side effects. Study two extends the model by including career planning and tests a moderated mediation model, showing the indirect effects of HPWS being positive toward turnover intentions in the context of perceived employability at all levels of career planning. This indirect effect weakens as career planning strengthens.

Highlights that HPWS appear to have a dark side by positively shaping employability and ultimately turnover intentions when career planning is included as a boundary condition.

We review and synthesize the existing research on directors' and officers’ (D&O) liability insurance. Our objectives are (1) to examine the institutional forces and regulatory requirements that have influenced the development of D&O liability insurance; (2) to identify the factors that influence firms to purchase D&O liability insurance and explore the consequences associated with its usage and (3) to identify gaps in the current literature and provide recommendations for future research on D&O liability insurance.

We perform a systematic literature review (SLR) using the Preferred Reporting Items for a Systematic Review of Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines to examine archival studies that investigate the determinants and consequences of D&O liability insurance. Using a Boolean search strategy on the “Web of Science” (WoS) and PRISMA selection criteria, we review 64 published archival research articles and three working papers from 1987 to October 2023.

Our review reveals that disclosing detailed information regarding D&O liability insurance, such as total insurance premiums and coverage limit, is predominantly voluntary, except in Taiwan. Our findings suggest that the decision to purchase D&O liability insurance is influenced by litigation risk, which is determined by factors such as firm size, complexity and corporate governance variables. We also find that D&O liability insurance has implications for financial reporting, audit outcomes, investment behavior and capital market performance.

In the post-COVID era, where firms face pressure due to financial constraints, our research emphasizes the practical importance of carefully considering and understanding the impact of D&O liability insurance, particularly as it concerns the demand for such insurance.

To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first systematic review of previous research on D&O liability insurance. Our review highlights some research gaps, particularly in relation to the implications for financial reporting practices, auditing outcomes, firm investment behavior and capital market consequences.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to businesses worldwide, compelling them to swiftly adapt their strategies to the evolving landscape. This study explores the relationships between uncertainty shocks (i.e. COVID-19), strategic responses, and performance outcomes, with a specific focus on general and green strategic responses.

Drawing from a sample of sustainability-oriented exporters in different industries, we examine the impact of these responses on market, financial, and operation performance by gathering data from 212 managers in Vietnam – an emerging country, and then applying PLS-SEM for analysis.

Our findings reveal that sustainability-oriented exporters have exhibited adaptability by adopting general and green strategic responses in the face of the pandemic’s disruptions. Green strategic responses positively influence market, financial, and operational performance, underscoring the strategic significance of integrating sustainability considerations. However, while general strategic responses show alignment with uncertainty risks, they just impact operational performance, but do not significantly influence market and financial outcomes.

Future research should consider diversifying the sample to encompass a wider range of firm types and geographical locations to enhance the external validity of the results. In addition, the study does not extensively explore the mechanisms that mediate or moderate the relationships between uncertainty shocks, strategic responses, and performance outcomes.

The study’s implications guide practitioners toward agile responses that balance adaptability, sustainability, and performance. This study provides timely insights for sustainability-oriented firms, managers, policymakers, and researchers aiming to navigate disruptions effectively and sustainably.

These findings contribute to the fields of strategic management and sustainability by emphasizing the complexities of strategic responses during uncertainty shocks, and disruptions and the pivotal role of sustainability-driven strategies in enhancing performance.