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Despite its voluntary nature, the Johannesburg stock exchange (JSE) requires all listed companies to apply the King III principles, including providing independent CSR assurance. King III has accordingly made independent CSR assurance a de facto mandatory requirement, albeit on an “apply or explain” basis. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) assurance practices in South Africa, within a King III context.

To understand the impact of King III on South African CSR assurance practices, a longitudinal study covering reporting periods both before and after King III implementation. The first stage reviewed the annual reports of the 200 largest JSE-listed companies to establish the frequency of CSR assurance provision. The second stage involved performing a content analysis on the CSR assurance reports.

King III is driving the institutionalisation of CSR assurance practices in South Africa, as evidenced by the growth in CSR assurance since the implementation of King III. The study also found that the audit profession’s dominance was being eroded by specialist CSR assurors providing higher levels of assurance, despite concerns about the rigour of their assurance methodologies. Voluntary CSR assurance practices have resulted in the inconsistent application of CSR assurance practices, impairing the ability of stakeholders to understand the nature and scope of CSR assurance engagements. It is argued that this deficiency may be overcome through the imposition of a mandatory CSR assurance regime.

The pervasive impact of the King Code of Governance on South African organisations makes it appropriate to examine its impact on South African CSR assurance practices. As such, this paper represents one of the first studies to specifically consider the impact of a mandatory regulatory requirement for independent CSR assurance and suggests a future direction for global CSR assurance practices.

A recent contribution entitled Global Responsibility and the King Reports was made to the literature that represents a significant advancement in the understanding of how standards of good governance are practised. The corpus revealed key insights about macro-institutional governance regimes, yet, extraordinarily little about meso-organisational and even less so, micro-individual corporate governance practice. This study aims to shed light on the micro-individual level of corporate governance practice which has remained obscured by drawing pragmatic insights from the landmark South African King Code experience that may be applied to other governance jurisdictions for global organisational responsibility.

To unearth micro-individual corporate governance code practices, a phenomenological exploration of corporate governance practitioners’ (CGPs) perceptions was conducted. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with senior board members of securities-exchange listed companies were conducted with 10 directors of leading multinational South African corporations listed on Africa’s largest formal financial market; the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Recursive analysis of the qualitative data revealed key attributes that render a corporate governance code “fulfilling” as a consequence of being perceived as subjectively valuable by practitioners who are the ultimate end-users of the King Codes for advancing good corporate governance practice in each of their respective companies.

Two categories of fulfilling micro-perceived value attributes (MPVAs) of corporate governance codes emerged, namely, internal and external MPVAs. The three internal MPVAs are, namely, (I1) Meaningful innovation, (I2) Ethical pragmatism and (I3) Cultural transformation. The three external MPVAs are, namely, (E1) Governance legitimacy, (E2) Societal licencing and (E3) Risk mitigation. From these six attributes, two testable corporate governance code development propositions are advanced, namely, (P1) a corporate governance code with a higher constitution of MPVAs will fulfil CGPs more than one with less. (P2) A more fulfilling corporate governance code will enjoy higher adoption, application and/or compliance rates.

Illumining the subjective experiential perceptions that constitute the fulfilment of a corporate governance code deepens the pragmatic understanding of the “demand-side” or consumption of such codes in practice. Knowing these fulfilling MPVAs may also result in the development of codes that enjoy wider adoption and compliance rates thereby enhancing global corporate responsibility pragmatism through enhanced good governance. This study sheds light on the nexus where normative corporate governance principles and the enactment thereof meet at the coalface of organisational activity with an emphasis on those attributes that render them valuable to practitioners.

This paper briefly introduces the concept of model selection, reviews recent development in the area of econometric analysis of model selection and addresses some of the crucial issues that are being faced by researchers in their routine research problems. The paper emphasizes on the importance of model selection, particularly the information criteria and penalty functions based model selection procedures which are useful for economists and finance researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the extent to which sustainability disclosures in a strategically important South African company have changed, in the light of the work by King.

The paper takes the form of a content analysis of the sustainability reports of a single reporting entity, Denel (Pty) Ltd (Denel), the largest manufacturer of defence equipment in South Africa. The computer assisted textual analysis software programme CATPAC II™ was used to undertake the investigation.

The paper finds that the emphasis of the sustainability reports changed each year over the period of the study. However, all the reports embody the principles and philosophical aspects of King (in 2002 and 2009). A year on year comparison of the 20 concepts identified as common to each data set over the period of the study found no substantial differences between them. This finding suggests an underlying consistency in their use by the prepares of the sustainability reports.

This research is limited to the analysis of the sustainability reports contained within Denel's 2007 to 2011 annual reports.

The use of research techniques such as those described in this paper has practical implications for future research. Where legislative requirement requires corporate social responsibility reports to be prepared by private and public sector entities, this technique would be especially useful to establish the similarities and differences between them. Differences and the extent of the differences will be of interest to stakeholders groups, preparers and researchers as they will indicate how organisations in the different sectors view sustainability.

Although sustainability reporting has been the subject of extensive research, longitudinal studies are limited. This longitudinal study contributes to the limited CSR literature focusing on developing countries and, in particular, African countries, as well as on the defence or armaments industry.

This article focuses on the following questions: 1) How do secondary social studies teachers working in schools of color experience pedagogical negotiations when trying to teach students thoughtful, critically informed citizenship and government and school accountability mandates? and 2) How does teaching with lessons grounded in the principles of authentic intellectual work (AIW) affect this negotiation experience? We employed a phenomenological framework as the methodological basis for eliciting two classroom teachers’ experiences, both of whom have advanced degrees in social studies education and several years of teaching experience in schools of color and of poverty. The findings show that prior to the incorporation of lessons based on the principles of authentic intellectual work, these teachers’ negotiation experiences had strong negatively affective dimensions based on a zero-sum pedagogical conceptualization of curriculum. Following the introduction of lessons based on AIW, these negatively affective dimensions began to recede from their experiences and were replaced by more positive ones. Given that classroom teachers are the ultimate arbiters of curriculum in their classrooms, this research has implications for improving the experiences of secondary social studies teachers working in schools of color.

Limited evidence exists regarding a group of nurses' physical activity patterns and association with resilience. Less is known about the physical activity health paradox in nurses (the positive health effects of leisure time physical activity vs the negative health effects of occupational physical activity). This study aimed to explore the profiles of intensive care nurses' physical activity behaviours and associations with resilience, following a developed study-specific job demands–recovery framework.

A cross-sectional study was conducted with intensive care unit (ICU) nurses to explore their physical activity profiles and associations with resilience. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 25 (CD-RISC 25) was used to assess resilience, and accelerometry was utilised to record participants' four-day activity (two workdays, two non-workdays). Hierarchical cluster analysis was employed to define groups of nurses by activity behaviours.

Participants (N = 93) were classified as low actives (n = 19), standers (n = 36), sitters (n = 31) and movers (n = 7). During two 12-h shifts, movers had the highest mean level of dynamic standing and the lowest mean level of sitting. During two non-workdays, movers had the highest mean level of walking as well as the lowest mean level of sitting and sleep time.

The uniqueness of this study was that it analysed ICU nurses' physical activity profiles and associations with resilience using identified clusters. However, the small number of participants limited this study's ability to determine significant relationships between resilience and the grouped physical activity profiles.

This paper aims to explain how improving tourism destination quality could contribute to addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at tourism destinations.

This paper synthesizes literature on sustainability, the SDGs and tourism destination quality and considers sustainability from the destination quality frame of reference. The approach starts with a critical analysis of principles of sustainability, as embodied in the 17 SDGs in terms of whether they are primarily concerned with “quantity” or “quality.” This is followed by examining potential links between destination quality and the SDGs using results of a recent empirical research on tourism destination quality (TDQ study).

This paper reveals that most of the SDGs are largely focused on quantity, while relatively few are concerned primarily with quality. Several TDQ dimensions, specifically “authentic,” “safe,” “well kept,” “affordable,” “novel,” “varied,” “relaxing,” “uncrowded,” “hospitable” and “informative,” and in addition, the holistic perspective of destination quality indicated in the TDQ study, are revealed as having strong links with the SDGs largely because of their concern with quality. This paper therefore proposes a positive relationship between enhancing destination quality and addressing the SDGs at tourism destinations.

This paper calls for future empirical research to test the theoretical links between destination quality and SDGs established in this paper.

The use of the proposed framework for managing tourism destination quality and sustainability can help destination managers in enhancing destination quality and the attainment of the SDGs.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that adapts the extant theory on sustainability (represented by the SDGs) by introducing a destination quality frame of reference. The links between tourism destination quality and the SDGs have not been previously investigated. This paper indicates strong relationships between destination quality and several SDGs and thus extends the existing theory on sustainability by introducing the quality improvement perspective.

本文综述了关于可持续、可持续发展目标和旅游目的地质量的文章, 参考目的地质量框架来考虑可持续性。首先对嵌入17个可持续发展目标中的可持续性的准则进行了批判性分析, 即它们主要考虑的是“数量”还是“质量”。后利用一项最近关于旅游目的地质量（此后即称TDQ研究）的实证研究结果, 检验了目的地质量与可持续发展目标的潜在联系。

这篇概念性文章解释了提高旅游目的地质量可以助力旅游目的地实现联合国可持续发展目标。

本文发现多数可持续发展目标很大程度上都关注数量, 同时较少目标着重关注质量。一些TDQ维度, 特别是“原真性”、“安全”、“保存完好”“可负担”、“新奇”、“多样性”“放松”、“不拥挤”、“好客”、“启发性”和其他一些TDQ研究中目的地质量的整体性视角, 都与可持续发展目标有着强相关性, 很可能是因为它们都与质量有关。因此本文提出提高目的地质量与实现旅游目的地可持续发展目标之间存在积极联系。

本研究呼吁未来实证研究检验本文建立的目的地质量和可持续发展目标之间的理论联系。

用以管理旅游目的地质量和可持续性的框架的运用有助于目的地管理者提高目的地质量和实现可持续发展目标。

文章首次将目的地质量框架作为参考整合了关于可持续性的理论（以可持续发展目标为代表）。这种旅游目的地之间的质量和可持续发展目标的关联此前尚未有探究。本文表明了目的地质量和几个可持续发展目标间的强关联性, 并由此通过引入质量提升视角来扩展已有的关于可持续性的理论。

Este artículo sintetiza la literatura sobre la sostenibilidad, los ODS y la calidad de los destinos turísticos, y considera la sostenibilidad desde el marco de referencia de la calidad de los destinos. El enfoque comienza con un análisis crítico de los principios de sostenibilidad, tal y como se plasman en los 17 ODS, en cuanto a si se refieren principalmente a la “cantidad” o a la “calidad”. A continuación, se examinan los posibles vínculos entre la calidad de los destinos y los ODS, utilizando los resultados de una reciente investigación empírica sobre la calidad de los destinos turísticos (en adelante, el estudio TDQ).

Este trabajo conceptual explica cómo la mejora de la calidad de los destinos turísticos podría contribuir a abordar los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) de las Naciones Unidas en los destinos turísticos.

El documento revela que la mayoría de los ODS se centran en la cantidad, mientras que relativamente pocos se ocupan principalmente de la calidad. Varias dimensiones del TDQ, en concreto, “Auténtico”, “Seguro”, “Bien cuidado”, “Asequible”, “Novedoso”, “Relajante”, “Poco concurrido”, “Hospitalario” e “Informativo”, y además la perspectiva holística de la calidad de los destinos indicada en el estudio del TDQ, se revelan con fuertes vínculos con los ODS, en gran parte debido a su preocupación por la calidad. En consecuencia, el trabajo propone una relación positiva entre la mejora de la calidad del destino y el cumplimiento de los ODS en los destinos turísticos.

El trabajo realiza una llamada a futuras investigaciones empíricas para comprobar los vínculos teóricos entre la calidad de los destinos y los ODS establecidos en este artículo.

El uso del marco propuesto para la gestión de la calidad y la sostenibilidad de los destinos turísticos puede ayudar a los gestores de destinos a mejorar la calidad de estos y la consecución de los ODS.

Este es el primer artículo que adapta la teoría existente sobre la sostenibilidad (representada por los ODS) introduciendo un marco de referencia de la calidad de los destinos. Los vínculos entre la calidad de los destinos turísticos y los ODS no se han investigado anteriormente. Este trabajo indica que existen fuertes relaciones entre la calidad de los destinos y varios ODS y, por tanto, amplía la teoría existente sobre la sostenibilidad introduciendo la perspectiva de la mejora de la calidad.

This study examined the impact of varying levels of authentic pedagogy on student learning in select 9th and 10th grade history classrooms. The sample included four junior high and four high school teachers. During the initial phase of the study, instructional artifacts (tasks) and classroom observational data were collected and analyzed to determine the level of authentic pedagogy students experienced in their classes. Participating teachers were assigned an authentic pedagogy score based on this analysis that was used as the primary independent variable in subsequent statistical analyses designed to evaluate student learning outcomes. The findings suggest that the use of authentic tasks and instruction has a small, but positive correlation with student performance on the Alabama High School Graduation Exam in use at the time the study was done. A performance benefit was also noted for students who experienced multiple courses at the moderate authentic pedagogy level. The benefit, however, could be attributed to an advanced placement effect since advanced placement students in the sample were more likely to receive moderate authentic pedagogy.

WE publish this issue on the eve of the Brighton Conference and our hope is that this number of The Library World will assist the objects of that meeting. Everything connected with the Conference appears to have been well thought out. It is an excellent thing that an attempt has been made to get readers of papers to write them early in order that they might be printed beforehand. Their authors will speak to the subject of these papers and not read them. Only a highly‐trained speaker can “get over” a written paper—witness some of the fiascos we hear from the microphone, for which all papers that are broadcast have to be written. But an indifferent reader, when he is really master of his subject, can make likeable and intelligible remarks extemporarily about it. As we write somewhat before the Conference papers are out we do not know if the plan to preprint the papers has succeeded. We are sure that it ought to have done so. It is the only way in which adequate time for discussion can be secured.