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This paper aims to present the ICRB method, a comprehensive framework for intellectual capital management that has been applied at a knowledge company, BOC IS GmbH (BOC). As nowadays a great variety of diverse conceptions of intellectual capital management and reporting approaches are discussed in both practitioner and academic journals and at conferences, one of the next steps in intellectual capital research could be the comprehensive management of an organisation's intangible assets; opting for a special intellectual capital reporting method will no longer be a first‐choice decision. Together with BOC, this paper seeks to illustrate both a management method and a tool that allows easy and intuitive management and reporting of an organisation's intellectual capital.

By relying on method engineering as well as on the modelling approach, comparable and expressive means for managing and reporting an organisation's intellectual capital will be presented.

The paper depicts the outcome of the application of the ICRB method in the knowledge company BOC for managing and reporting intellectual capital.

The range of the presented application of the ICRB method is limited to BOC's pre‐sale activities and processes.

When applying the ICRB method, managers, employees, external stakeholders, experts and academics can proceed on the question of how to achieve comparable and expressive intellectual capital reports.

The paper aims to go one step further in the research of intellectual capital management and offers a way to unify and compare diverse intellectual capital reporting conceptions.

The purpose of this paper is to test the mediating role of three types of innovation (product, process, and organizational) in the relationship between manufacturing flexibility and performance.

Building on the resource‐based view, the paper examines the indirect effects of manufacturing flexibility on organizational performance considering product, process, and organizational innovation as mediating variables. A sample of 159 Spanish firms is taken to test the proposed theoretical model through structural equations modeling using the partial least squares approach.

The effect on organizational performance of adopting a flexible productive system is mediated by incorporating product, process, and organizational innovation. This paper calls for caution in defending flexible manufacturing systems as universally efficient solutions, and argues that their productivity is linked to the complementary introduction of organizational and technological innovations.

Firms that pursue manufacturing flexibility should develop innovation capabilities to obtain an improvement in organizational performance. Therefore, managers should bear in mind that the mere fact of adopting a flexible manufacturing system will not guarantee improvements in firm performance. If manufacturing flexibility is to help improve company performance, managers should use this flexibility to generate organizational capabilities based on product, process, and organizational innovations, since these are capabilities that can create competitive advantages.

Operations management literature has not reached a consensus about the effect of manufacturing flexibility on organizational performance. This paper helps both academics and managers to gain a better understanding of this question by considering the mediating effect of three types of innovation (product, process, and organizational) in this relationship.

This paper proposes that those who study diversity conflict recognize the distinction between first‐order diversity conflict and second‐order diversity conflict. The former refers to discrimination, while the latter refers to disputes over remedies designed to eliminate discrimination. First‐order disputes affect subordinant group members most strongly in the organization, are morally unambiguous for most, and are organized around set organizational and societal procedures. Second‐order disputes involve dominant as well as subordinant group members (so that more people are affected), are more morally ambiguous, and lack set procedures for dealing with them. As a result, second‐order disputes tend to remain hidden, despite being wide‐spread, resulting in autistic hostility. The presence of second‐order conflict may undermine efforts to resolve first‐order disputes, and lead to escalation of conflict between people from different identity groups. Recognizing this distinction is critical for understanding the dynamics of diversity conflicts.

The significance of human resource management in managing workforce diversity has been emphasized by researchers and various practices have been identified and prescribed in literature. However, there is lack of HR typologies to understand different diversity management alternatives. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to develop a typology of diversity-oriented human resource management (DHRM) practices for clear understanding.

The study employs factor analysis approach for developing typology. In total, 31 human resource management practices covering the five functions of HR, i.e. recruitment, selection, performance evaluation, compensation and training were identified from literature. These practices were analyzed to investigate whether and how these 31 practices cluster into higher order DHRM practices categories.

From factor analysis, seven categories of DHRM practices emerged. The findings showed marked differences in these seven DHRM practices categories aimed at managing diversity.

Future, survey researchers can use this typology of DHRM practices to design instruments that allow a more in-depth and differentiating analysis of role of HRM in managing diversity than those that have been carried out in previous research.

Managers can use the seven types of DHRM practices identified as criteria to choose an adequate pattern for HRM practices to manage diversity.

The typology developed in the study has foundations in specific diversity-related HRM practices rather than based on generic HRM typologies.

Intercultural contact occurs on a daily basis across all facets of life, and is reflective of Australia’s multicultural society. This trend is observed in many Western industrialised nations and has contributed to a growing body of research and literature in the field of managing cultural diversity. While much of this research is focused on the internal context of the workplace, relatively little attention has been given to the impact of culture on the service provider and customer interface. In an effort to shed some light on the service experiences of culturally diverse customers, a series of exploratory interviews were conducted. The findings suggest that on the basis of service provider behaviors (both verbal and nonverbal), culturally diverse customers perceive they are the recipients of inequitable service and consequently experience low levels of satisfaction.

The dominant variance theory approaches to researching business school reputations are based on a positivistic hypothetico‐deductive research methodology and do not adequately take into account either the different levels and types of contexts in which business schools operate or the diversity of stakeholder interests. The aim of this paper is to propose a more relevant contextualised framework for analysing the reputation of business schools that takes cognisance of the national business systems, industry/sector, university and relational contexts of the different stakeholders involved in socially constructing and enacting business school reputations. The authors also seek to explore the tensions between these often competing or unaligned agendas of stakeholders in business schools.

This is a conceptual paper that proposes a contextualised framework for analysing the reputation of business schools. It reviews the current state of theory on business schools’ reputations, analyses their weaknesses and potential research gaps, and proposes an alternative model to the dominant universalistic positivism in understanding business school reputations.

The authors conclude that the variance theory underpinning of current research does not take into account sufficiently either the diversity of stakeholder interests or the contexts in which business schools operate. Thus, the authors propose an alternative model to the dominant universalistic positivism in understanding business school reputations. This new model is based on four levels of context: national, industry, university and relational, and acknowledges that different stakeholders might have a dominant voice at each of these levels.

The authors attempt to fill a gap in the existing literature on business school reputations, and make a contribution to theory of reputation management.

With the advent of the COVID-19 and increased access to Internet technologies, students tend to use e-learning technologies for improved academic results, and since then, improving student engagement in a virtual space became a difficult task for educational institutions globally. The present study aims to examine the effect of key e-learning factors (i.e. perception, hedonic motivation (HM), usefulness, empowerment and attitude) on student engagement among open and distance learners (ODLs) of the central region of India.

Simple random sampling was applied to collect data from ODLs of Chhattisgarh. ODLs who are using e-learning platforms for at least one year were chosen to be the participant in the study. The authors collected 1,137 responses using both online and offline modes of collection.

The test results indicated that usefulness, HM and attitude factors were found to have a significant relationship with student engagement in e-learning, while perception and empowerment variables did not contribute to the engagement of students.

The present study is novel in its approach. It clarifies the key factors to student engagement which might increase the students' level of involvement in e-learning technologies, if these factors are addressed tactfully by the educational institutions or concerned administration.

This paper reports on an exploratory study into the extent of diversity management initiatives in organizations in one Canadian city. Diversity management originated in the USA where it is reportedly being embraced by many organizations and where it has become the basis of a large consulting business. Although a diverse workforce and workplace diversity management are often argued to be critical to organizational competitiveness, little is known about how Canadian organizations are reacting.

This paper sets out to describe several contemporary models of social entrepreneurship, along with the historical context of African nations typically receiving aid. It also seeks to critique three aid‐providing sectors – i.e. charity, government, and social entrepreneurship – with benefits and to explore the limits of each. It also aims to explore the perceptions of aid recipients in an East African village to determine their views of social entrepreneurship compared with other types of foreign aid.

Open‐ended interviews were conducted with village elders to establish an exploratory research foundation.

In general, village leaders were more favorable to social entrepreneurship efforts because they offered the possibility of self‐reliance and sustainability over time. Large government foreign aid largesse rarely reached villagers, so had little effectiveness in relieving their poverty.

Several limitations are evident with the case study method used for the research. Future research is necessary to transfer the findings of the study to larger population segments, other organizations, and other national groupings. Expanded research methodologies, based on theoretical development and quantitative methods, will be required to further enhance the findings. Thus, the research is limited in both methodology and sampling population. The efficacy and limitations of various models of social entrepreneurship must also be tested for effectiveness, scope, scale, and sustainability. Comparative research would lend credibility to the findings.

The research findings suggest that villagers are generally more positive about local efforts compared with larger government projects, which rarely had a visible, significant impact on the villagers' lives. Leaders and villagers will continue partnerships that develop their businesses with the intention of providing for the social good of the community. Practical programs that develop marketing activities targeted to the specific goal of the business model would be an important step in furthering the goals of each model. For example, developing investment capital markets may require more advertising and promotion to raise awareness of their existence among potential donors. Additionally, local entrepreneurs involved in a social program may benefit from marketing education that enhances knowledge of customer needs and product development.

Because of the difficulties in establishing large research programs abroad, as well as in gaining the trust of local populations on a short‐term basis, the interviews represent a meaningful first step in understanding perceptions about social entrepreneurship and larger foreign aid programs.