Search results

This study aims to evaluate corporate sustainability integration by evaluating corporate practices against the sustainability principles of inclusivity, materiality, responsiveness and impact outlined in AccountAbility’s AA1000 Accountability Principles (AA1000AP) standard.

Data comprise 12 semi-structured interviews with senior managers of listed New Zealand companies. Findings are evaluated against AccountAbility’s principles of inclusivity, materiality, responsiveness and impact, which are based on a normative view of stakeholder theory.

In terms of inclusivity, stakeholder engagement is primarily monologic and is directed more towards traditional stakeholder groups. However, social media, which is gaining popularity, has the potential to facilitate greater dialogic stakeholder engagement. While most companies undertake a materiality assessment (with varying degrees of rigour) to support sustainability reporting, only some use it to drive planning and decision-making. Companies demonstrate responsiveness to stakeholder concerns through corporate governance and sustainability initiatives. Companies are monitoring and measuring their impact on stakeholders using sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs). However, measuring traditional metrics is easier than measuring areas such as the community. In rare instances, the executive’s remuneration is linked to these sustainability KPIs.

The study findings offer useful examples of the integration of sustainability into corporate processes and systems. Practitioners may find the insights useful in understanding how sustainability is currently being integrated into corporate practices by best practice New Zealand companies. Regulators may consider incorporating AA1000AP into their corporate governance guidelines. Finally, academics may find the study useful for teaching business and accounting courses and to guide the next generation of business managers.

First, the study brings together four streams of research on how sustainability reports are prepared (inclusivity, materiality, responsiveness and impact) in a single study. Second, the findings offer novel insights by evaluating corporate sustainability against the requirements of a standard that has received little academic attention.

The purpose of this study is to find the influence of brand experience on brand equity with the mediation of hedonic emotions, utilitarian emotions and brand personality among the smartphone users in Pakistan.

The survey based on empirical method was used to administrate the questionnaire. The data were collected from a millennial generation in Sargodha city. Skewness, Kurtosis’s, correlation and regression techniques were used to analyze data.

The finding of this study shows that the hedonic emotions, utilitarian emotions and brand personality mediate the relation between brand experience and brand equity. The study will help brand managers and academia in understanding the hedonic and utilitarian emotional pattern, and the congruence between the personality and smartphone brand users and behavior pattern of young users.

Research support the argument that promoting emotional aspects is significant for the sustainability of brand equity of the smart-phone brands. Segments other than young consumers would be more interesting to study.

This paper provides implications for smart phone marketers on smart phone consumption behavior. Marketing managers must link products attributes to the personality of the user and promote them that will emotionally attach users to the product.

This paper presents key findings on smart phone buying experience using utilitarian value approach followed by hedonic consumption approach and found to be significant predicators.

This study aims to examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) of Islamic banking is delivering financial returns or otherwise enhancing the cost.

The methodology of this study includes the content-analysis approach with aid of the CSR disclosure index, and it deploys the partial least squares regression to examine the CSR-financial performance relationship. Regarding CSR disclosure and financial measures, this study takes the data from the annual reports of Islamic banking of Pakistan, from the year 2003 to 2017.

The results of this study indicate that there is a significant positive relationship exists between CSR and financial performance of Islamic banks, consistent with the instrumental-stakeholder theory. These results imply that Islamic banks, which ensure that CSR is practiced extensively, and aim to positively affect their stakeholders, perform well. Hence, the CSR engagement by Islamic banks yields instrumental returns rather it is a cost.

Islamic banks of Pakistan must work on a better CSR policy, it would enhance the reputation of Islamic banks, on the other hand, it would also increase their capabilities to cope with future reputation damage and negative news, thus it would protect and secure the financial results. In addition to these, investors of Islamic banks must also look at the social and ethical engagements of Islamic banks of Pakistan, while making investment decisions.

In general, there is a dearth of research in the domain of CSR-financial performance regarding Islamic banking. This is one of the studies which contributes to this area.

This paper aims to understand corporate social responsibility (CSR) narrative under the Islamic banking paradigm by three aspects, narrative review of the literature, review of the definitions of CSR and review of factors that cause divergence from conventional percepts.

This is a theoretical paper based on literature and aims to understand the CSR narrative under the paradigm of Islamic banking.

Religion brings new dimensions of ethics and expands the scope of morality in business. Islamic banking is a new wave of corporation whose social goals are as much important as making profit. There are diverse narrations and definitions prevailing in the literature of CSR under the Islamic paradigm which also encounters the aspects of divergence from conventional percepts. The academic debate of CSR-Islamic banking brings on surface a plausible CSR paradigm, that is to guide the role of Islamic banking in society under the Islamic provisions, ethics and axioms. This paper also paves the way for future direction, particularly in terms of a holistic understanding of CSR narrative under the Islamic banking paradigm.

This is a theoretical paper; it primarily discusses the theoretical aspects of CSR narrative under the paradigm of Islamic banking, while it does not give insight into the empirical narrative or disclosure of CSR in Islamic banking.

The theoretical review of literature brings plausible understanding, that Islamic banking is a new wave of corporate and has standings on divine guidance. The structure of the institution in its foundation insists on real economic activity. The legitimacy of Islamic banking has roots in ethical compliance and in inculcating the broader interests of stakeholders. There are several social responsibilities, which are expected from the practitioners of Islamic banking. The practitioners as well must understand that the CSR of Islamic banking is far beyond the conventional percepts of CSR.

There are several normative and theoretical studies in the domain of CSR-Islamic banking. It is hard to find a comprehensive narrative review of such literature. This review is unique, which brings a holistic understanding of CSR narrative under the Islamic banking paradigm.

In a circular economy, the goal is to keep materials values in the economy for as long as possible. For the construction industry to support the goal of the circular economy, there is the need for materials reuse. However, there is little or no information about the amount and quality of reusable materials obtainable when buildings are deconstructed. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to develop a reusability analytics tool for assessing end-of-life status of building materials.

A review of the extant literature was carried out to identify the best approach to modelling end-of-life reusability assessment tool. The reliability analysis principle and materials properties were used to develop the predictive mathematical model for assessing building materials performance. The model was tested using the case study of a building design and materials take-off quantities as specified in the bill of quantity of the building design.

The results of analytics show that the quality of the building materials varies with the building component. For example, from the case study, at the 80th year of the building, the qualities of the obtainable concrete from the building are 0.9865, 0.9835, 0.9728 and 0.9799, respectively, from the foundation, first floor, frame and stair components of the building.

As a contribution to the concept of circular economy in the built environment, the tool provides a foundation for estimating the quality of obtainable building materials at the end-of-life based on the life expectancy of the building materials.

The purpose of this study is to develop a sustainability reporter classification matrix (hereafter referred to as the “matrix”) to explain why some reporters publish better-quality sustainability reports than others and why some reporters experience improvements in the quality of their sustainability reports while others experience no improvement or a decline in sustainability report quality.

The study draws on the existing literature, which is analysed using a combination of legitimacy theory (i.e. commitment to sustainability reporting) and resource-based view (RBV, i.e. competencies in sustainability reporting).

A two-dimensional matrix is developed representing organisations’ competencies in (explained using the RBV) and commitment to (explained using legitimacy theory) sustainability reporting. Based on these two dimensions the matrix identifies four reporter classifications: incompetent uncommitted reporters (who publish low-quality reports); competent uncommitted reporters (who publish average-quality reports); incompetent committed reporters (who publish average-quality reports); and competent committed reporters (who publish high-quality reports). The matrix explains how reporters can transition from one quadrant/classification to another and how this transition can be either forward (moving from a lower quadrant to a higher quadrant), resulting in improvements in report quality, or backward (moving from a higher quadrant to a lower quadrant), leading to a deterioration in disclosure quality.

The study builds on the extant literature, combining legitimacy theory with the RBV, to provide a more complete explanation for why organisations publish sustainability reports of varying quality and why this quality varies over time. These insights can also be used to explain variations in the quality of integrated reports. The matrix may prove useful to practitioners as a tool for classifying reporters, identifying issues, assessing risk and tracking progress made.

The primary purpose of this study is to provide a new model in the hospitality industry by incorporating open innovation (OI) as a significant business performance (BP) supporter. This study aims to examine OI’s role in fostering SI and BP in Malaysia’s hospitality industry.

Quantitative research approach with a cross-sectional design is used to carry out the current study. A questionnaire survey is conducted. A total of 201 valid responses were used to analyze the data through Smart PLS 3 structural equation modeling. The study sample comprises the managerial employees of hospitality companies.

The findings of this study revealed that OI has a crucial contribution to fostering service innovation (SI) and BP. Information and communication technology (ICT) increases external knowledge and internal innovation, which in turn increases knowledge management (KM). ICT intensifies KM in result, OI increases, which contribute expediting SI. Finally, increases in SI boost BP.

This study provides a comprehensive framework to boost hospitality industry performance. It gives vital cues to the hospitality industry for SI improvement and BP. This proposed framework is specific to the hospitality industry, and it has the potential to help the managers to have a better understanding of new ideas that can develop service quality and customer satisfaction.

This is one of the pioneer studies that formally documented OI’s role in Malaysia hospitality industry. This pioneering study provides the OI model for BP of the hospitality industry. Regarding the OI in the hospitality industry, managers’ and academicians’ implication is not well understood in the current literature.

本研究的主要目的是通过将开放式创新 (OI) 作为重要的业务绩效 (BP) 支持者, 为酒店业提供一种新模式。该研究旨在研究 OI 在促进马来西亚酒店业的 SI 和 BP 中的作用。

本论文采用横向比较的定量研究方法进行当前研究。本研究采用问卷进行调查。通过 Smart PLS 3 结构方程建模, 总共使用了 201 个有效样本来进行数据分析。研究样本包括酒店公司的管理人员。

研究结果表明, OI 对促进服务创新 (SI) 和 BP 做出了重要贡献。信息和通信技术（ICT）增加了外部知识（EK）和内部创新（II）, 这反过来又增加了知识管理（KM）。 ICT在结果中强化了KM, OI增加, 这有助于提高SI。最后, SI 的增加会提高业务绩效。

本研究提供了一个全面的框架来提升酒店业的表现。本研究框架为酒店业的 SI 改进和 BP 提供了重要线索。这个提议的框架是针对酒店业的, 它可以帮助管理者更好地理解可以提高服务质量和客户满意度的新想法。

这是正式记录 OI 在马来西亚酒店业中的作用的先驱研究之一。这项开创性的研究为酒店业的 BP 提供了 OI 模型。关于酒店业的 OI, 其管理实践意义和学术意义在当前文献中并没有得到很好的理解。

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between female representation on corporate boards and intellectual capital (IC) efficiency – while prior studies focus on the relationship between gender diversity and firms’ financial performance.

Drawing on data from top 500 UK listed firms for 2007–2016 (3,279 firm-years), this study employs an adjusted-value-added intellectual coefficient as a measure of IC efficiency. Further, the two-step system-generalised method of moments has been applied to account for endogeneity issues.

The results reveal a significant positive relationship between female representation on boards and IC efficiency, including human capital, structural/innovation capital and financial capital efficiency. These results are robust to alternative proxies for the independent variable and difference-in-difference estimation.

The results posit that female representation on boards is associated with IC efficiency, which is vital for firms’ value creation and competitive advantage in the knowledge-economy era. The study also endorses current legislation to increase female representation on corporate boards.

This is among the limited studies to explore the role of female representation on boards in IC efficiency – while most prior studies relate IC efficiency to financial performance.

The purpose of this paper is to design an output-feedback algorithm based on low-power observer (LPO), robust chattering-free controller and nonlinear disturbance observer (DO) to achieve trajectory tracking of quadrotor in the Cartesian plane.

To achieve trajectory tracking control, firstly the decoupled rotational and translational model of quadrotor are modified by introducing backstepped state-space variables. In the second step, robust integral sliding mode control is designed based on the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) technique. In the third step, a DO is constructed. In next step, the measurable outputs, i.e. rotational and translational state variables, are used to design the LPO. Finally, in the control algorithm all state variables and its rates are replaced with its estimates obtained using the state-observer.

The finding includes output-feedback control (OFC) algorithm designed by using a LPO. A modified backstepping model for rotational and rotational systems is developed prior to the design of integral sliding mode control based on PID technique. Unlike traditional high-gain observers (HGO), this paper used the LPO for state estimation of quadrotor systems to solve the problem of peaking phenomenon in HGO. Furthermore, a nonlinear DO is designed such that it attenuates disturbance with unknown magnitude and frequency. Moreover, a chattering reduction criterion has been introduced to solve the inherited chattering issue of controllers based on sliding mode technique.

This paper presents input and output data-driven model-free control algorithm. That is, only input and output of the quadrotor model are required to achieve the trajectory tracking control. Therefore, for practical implementation, the number of on-board sensor is reduced.

Although extensive research has been done for designing OFC algorithms for quadrotor, LPO has never been implemented for the rotational and translational state estimations of quadrotor. Furthermore, the mathematical model of rotational and translational systems is modified by using backstepped variables followed by the controller designed using PID and integral sliding mode control technique. Moreover, a DO is developed for attenuation of disturbance with unknown bound, magnitude and frequency.

This paper aims to conclude and provide a review of the current literature on a commitment to change (C2C). Detailed research is provided on the operationalization and conceptualization of C2C.

The review is conducted based on 55 research papers published in different journals at different times in the past on C2C.

A complete framework from previous to latest literature has been depicted in the current paper on a C2C with their citation in the one study. Gaps that had not been addressed by previous authors are also highlighted to facilitate future researchers in regards to C2C. Especially in the context of quantitative studies gaps are highlighted in previous literature of C2C.

Future researchers can study the highlighted gaps with regards to C2C. Further it provides researchers a brief summary of 55 researches on C2C.