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The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine whether firms in Ghana allocate resources through the use of budgetary planning principles.

A survey was conducted using top business executive and budget holders of the firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. The data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling (SEM) and, in particular, the PLS-SEM approach.

The study demonstrates that there is a statistically significant relationship between budgeting, performance management, and resource allocation constructs. The results indicate that performance management partially mediates the relations between budget planning and resource allocation. This indicates that firms in Ghana behave optimally by allocating resource using budgetary planning principles.

The study is limited to the firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. As a policy implication, this study has established that efficiency revolves around making the possible use of a given set of resources and as such firms in Ghana allocate resources through the use of budget.

There have been just a few studies that tried to integrate budgeting, performance management, and resource allocation in a comprehensive framework to deal with agency problems.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse if the existence of equal opportunity legislative frameworks and affirmative action programs make any difference to the way senior managers perceive the role of top university managers in influencing women's position in their institutions. A comparative study was therefore undertaken between a country with traditions in implementing AA in universities – Australia – and another which has no tradition in this domain – Portugal.

A qualitative methodology was chosen to collect and analyse data. A total of 44 interviews with male and female university senior managers – 21 in Australia and 23 in Portugal – were conducted by the principal researcher in each country.

When describing the role of top managers, gender equality was not often mentioned, suggesting that it may not be a topic on the current institutional political agenda either in Australia or in Portugal. When specifically asked about gender, respondents considered that Rectors and VCs in the two countries took opposite positions with Australian VCs being more aware of their role in improving gender equality. The study therefore concluded that the existence of equal opportunities frameworks and AA policies may have an influence in increasing top managers’ awareness of their roles in improving women's representation in management teams.

The research was restricted to public universities. In Portugal the system is more diverse and comparing HE with private and polytechnic institutions could provide important insights about senior managers’ roles in relation to improving women's position in HE. More in‐depth qualitative studies are needed, to obtain top managers’ perceptions of the variables that impact on their views and attitudes to women in senior management.

This study provides new and innovative contributions to knowledge about the perceptions of senior managers of their top managers and their roles in eliminating gender discrimination and the influence of affirmative action in HE in these perceptions.

This paper contributes to the discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of using affirmative action programmes by analyzing a dimension which has not been explored – its impact on senior managers’ perceptions of their role in promoting gender equality in HEIs.

This study aims to investigate the tensile strength and elastic modulus of custom-designed polymer composites developed using voxel-based design. This study also evaluates theoretical models, such as the rule of mixtures, Halpin–Tsai model, Cox–Krenchel model and the Young–Beaumont model and the ability to predict the mechanical properties of particle-reinforced composites based on changes in the design of rigid particles at the microscale within a flexible polymer matrix.

This study leverages the PolyJet process for voxel-printing capabilities and a design of experiments approach to define the microstructural design elements (i.e. aspect ratio, orientation, size and volume fraction) used to create custom-designed composites.

The comparison between the predictions and experimental results helps identify appropriate methods for determining the mechanical properties of custom-designed composites ensuring informed design decisions for improved mechanical properties.

This work centers on multimaterial additive manufacturing leveraging design freedom and material complexity to create a wide range of composite materials. This study highlights the importance of identifying the process, structure and property relationships in material design.

The purpose of this investigation is the evaluation of the inhibitive performance of a new “gemini” surfactant in the series of bis‐quat: N, N, N′, N″, N″‐pentamethyl diethyleneamine‐N, N″‐di‐[tetradecylammonium bromide] on the corrosion of iron in 1 M HCl by gravimetric, potentiodynamic and electrochemical impedance measurements. The effect of the temperature on the corrosion behavior of iron in 1 M HCl without and with inhibitor is studied in the temperature range (298‐333 K). This work also attempts to correlate thermodynamic and kinetic parameters with the inhibition effect.

The inhibition efficiency of gemini synthesized is investigated by weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization and impedance spectroscopy methods.

The synthesized gemini bis‐quat acted as a good inhibitor in 1 M HCl, and inhibition efficiency increased with inhibitor concentration and temperature. Polarization curves showed that the surfactant was a mixed‐type inhibitor in hydrochloric acid. Impedance spectroscopy measurements showed that the inhibitor acted through the formation of a multilayer film at the iron surface. The adsorption of inhibitor on the iron surface obeyed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm equation. The inhibition effect was satisfactorily explained by both thermodynamic and kinetic parameters.

The adsorption of surfactants in the metal surface can markedly change the corrosion resisting property of the metal. So the study of the relation between the adsorption and corrosion inhibition is of a great importance. This was the first attempt to study the inhibition properties of gemini surfactants at the host laboratory.

This paper contributes to the empirical analysis of PhD holders' transition into the non-academic labor market (i.e. their intersectoral mobility). The research focuses on doctoral graduates specialized in a field of study supposed to have notable non-academic applications, namely Industrial and Information Engineering. We inspect whether these doctoral graduates experience lower satisfaction with PhD knowledge use on the job when they work outside universities and non-public research centers.

We use cross-sectional survey data collected by the Italian National Institute of Statistics in 2014. Ordinary least squares and ordered logit analyses provide baseline results; furthermore, we apply a multinomial endogenous treatment model to control for potential bias arising from self-selection into employment sectors.

We find evidence that for PhD holders Industrial and Information Engineering being employed in the industrial and services sector implies lower satisfaction with the use of doctoral knowledge than that reported by their counterparts working in universities or public research centers.

These results complement and extend previous evidence about PhD holders' career outcomes by focusing on the intersectoral mobility issue and on a specific group of doctoral graduates whose intersectoral mobility potential is expected to be high. Our findings call for policies that might trigger a better alignment between doctoral education and non-academic jobs.

This paper aims to detail how consumers can harness the power of brands to reconstruct their lives.

The authors followed five brand devotees over several years, using various data collection methods (long interviews, observations, videos, photographs and secondary data) to study how they reconstructed their lives with a brand.

Consumers transform their existence through a distinctive form of brand appropriation that the authors call brand magnification, which unfolds: materially, narratively and socially. First, brand devotees scatter brand incarnations around themselves to remain in touch with the brand because the brand has become an especially positive dimension of their lives. Second, brand devotees mobilize the brand to craft a completely new life story. Finally, they build a branded clan of family and friends that socially validates their reconstructed identity.

The research extends more muted depictions of brands as soothing balms calming consumer anxieties; the authors document the mechanism through which consumers remake their lives with a brand.

The research helps rehabilitate the role of brands in contemporary consumer culture. Organizations can use the findings to help stimulate and engage employees by unveiling the brand’s life-transforming potential for consumers.

The authors characterize a distinctive, extreme and unique form of brand appropriation that positively transforms consumer lives.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the success of the 50 EURO STOXX companies as measured by the earnings before taxes (EBT) and the percentage of female members on their supervisory boards.

The paper relies on data extracted from the annual reports of the 50 EURO STOXX companies in 2015 and from financial websites.

The paper provides the existence of a weak correlation between companies’ performance as measured by EBT and the percentage of women on supervisory boards.

This study has two main limitations: first, a single key performance indicator was used to measure firms’ success; and second, the study offers insights related only to the year 2015. The analysis could be extended over a larger time span while some other variables could be considered in a more holistic approach.

The paper raises awareness that there is much to be done with regard to the presence of women on boards, and readers, investors and business owners gain an insight on the business environment and women active on European corporate boards.

By concentrating on the companies of the EURO STOXX 50 Index, the study offers a good image of the European business environment.