Search results

The paper aims to carry out a comprehensive literature mapping to synthesise and descriptively analyse the research trends of biodiversity accounting, providing implications for managers and policymakers, whilst also outlining a future agenda for scholars.

A bibliometric analysis is carried out by adopting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses protocol for searching and selecting the scientific contributions to be analysed. Citation analysis is used to map a current research front and a bibliographic coupling is conducted to detect the connection networks in current literature.

Biodiversity accounting is articulated in five thematic clusters (sub-areas), such as “Natural resource management”, “Biodiversity economic evaluation”, “Natural capital accounting”, “Biodiversity accountability” and “Biodiversity disclosure and reporting”. Critical insights emerge from the content analysis of these sub-areas.

The analysis of the thematic evolution of the biodiversity accounting literature provides useful insights to inform both practice and research and infer implications for managers, policymakers and scholars by outlining three main areas of intervention, i.e. adjusting evaluation tools, integrating ecological knowledge and establishing corporate social legitimacy.

Currently, the level of biodiversity reporting is pitifully low. Therefore, organisations should properly manage biodiversity by integrating diverse and sometimes competing forms of knowledge for the stable and resilient flow of ecosystem services for future generations.

This paper not only updates and enriches the current state of the art but also identifies five thematic areas of the biodiversity accounting literature for theoretical and practical considerations.

This paper aims to explore the nonfinancial drivers of value creation that influence an investment decision and present a set of drivers that contribute with a useful integrated reporting to its providers of financial capital using evidence from Brazil.

This paper is based on a systematic literature review in the Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases in the period from 2005 to 2020. Interpretive content analysis is used in 42 documents identified to explore nonfinancial drivers to demand by providers of financial capital, which are classified according to the capitals nonfinancial suggested by the integrated report (IR). Then, the results are evaluated by Brazilian professional investors in a focus group.

The members of the focus group do not consider the IR relevant to investment decision and neither the information about natural capital nor social capital. They highlighted two nonfinancial drivers of value not identified in the previous literature.

The focus group is limited by subjects’ availability and by the participants’ number. But its results represent initial discussions on the subject in the Brazilian context.

The results of this study have value, principally, to investors, target audience of IR, because it aligns your demands with the IRs content, improving its usefulness.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this manuscript is the first study to investigate the perception of Brazilian professional investors about the importance of the IR in investment decision-making and to identify content relevant to the financial capital provider’s investment decision, which can improve the usefulness of IR.

This study aims to investigate the nonfinancial information related to capitals (intellectual, human, social and relationship, and natural) demanded by professional investors in their decision-making process, which can improve the usefulness of integrated reporting for this target audience.

A Systematic Literature Review in the Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases enabled the identification of information demanded by professional investors. This information was presented to experienced Brazilian investors participating in a focus group to align the theory on this topic with professional practice.

The results allow us to conclude that the focus group participants' perception is aligned with the international literature, both in the importance given to most of the nonfinancial information items identified and in the lack of interest in using integrated reporting in investment decisions. Nonetheless, the general perception of the focus group is not aligned with the literature procedures in terms of social and environmental information.

A study with a larger scope and the adoption of other approaches can contribute to broaden the understanding of the perspectives of professional investors in Brazil, as well as in other regions.

The authors provide evidence that contributes to discussions about the information to be disclosed in integrated reports. Their results are useful to legislators, regulators, report preparers and investors.

The authors investigate the information demanded by professional investors in their decision-making process aiming to fill the literature gap relating the determinants of the integrated reporting disclosure and what is demanded by this target audience as a minimum content to be reported. As an additional result they offer interesting contributions to the literature providing reflections on nonfinancial information which have become important for Brazilian investors as from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study investigated the role of community infrastructure planning in Sarawak, Malaysia, by concentrating on the obstacles that hinder effective governance of community infrastructure planning.

The qualitative approach via case study design was adopted in this study. The Song District, located in the State of Sarawak, Malaysia, was selected as the case study area. Semi-structured interview sessions were conducted with 21 respondents who belonged to the government agencies involved in rural community infrastructure planning and village community representatives to capture their views on community infrastructure development planning in the selected district. The gathered responses were analysed thematically and the outcomes are discussed.

The findings revealed that although the development of community infrastructure in Song District has progressed and has exerted transformative impacts on rural livelihood, several challenges were identified in the delivery of community infrastructure. The four main themes of challenges that emerged from the data were location factors, financial resources, cooperation and collaboration of stakeholders, as well as community involvement. The outcomes disclosed that, in terms of governance, the institutional roles of the community, stakeholders and government agencies must be integrated throughout the rural community infrastructure planning process to resolve the emerging challenges effectively so that the demands of the rural community are met meritoriously.

An effective and efficient community infrastructure planning approach ascertains that the community infrastructure development gaps in rural areas are bridged and brings fruition to the rural communities for their livelihood transformation.

This paper delineates a view on the governance aspect of community infrastructure planning in Sarawak, Malaysia, that is largely untapped. The study outcomes may facilitate practitioners and academics to move forward and recommend improvements in the approach to rural community infrastructure planning.

Ecosystem-based livelihood diversification (ESLD) approaches have been identified as one of the best solutions to alleviate poverty and improve living standards in rural communities in developing nations. This study aims to elucidate the motivations that drive Sri Lankan women in rural agri-based community to adopt ESLD activities.

The sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) five pillars were used as a theoretical framework. This study was carried out with women living in farmer families located in Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka. A purposive sampling technique was used, and semistructured interviews were performed with 46 women in a noncontrived setting. Deductive content analysis approach was used for answering research questions.

Making handcrafts using different plants, composting and home gardening are the major sources of ESLD of women in the study areas. Under the SLA factors, human resources include family size, education, vocational training, age and attitude. Social resources like participation in community work, family support received and becoming members in cooperatives encourage the women to partake in ESLD. Nonagriculture natural resources were considered as an incentive to engage in ESLD. Satisfaction with the income generated by the livelihood, other income sources and loans from the informal sector were the vital financial resources. Regarding the physical resources, the respondents were profound with infrastructure, marketplaces, training centers and tools/equipment.

Knowing the existing ESLD strategies and pointing out the determinant factors affecting women in practicing ESLD activities are unquestionably important in the provision of information to formulate an appropriate strategy for the development of the rural agri-based community.

Little is known about the ESLD efforts and the extent of adoption of ESLD practices by women in rural communities. The findings based on the SLA framework help to understand what is happening in livelihood diversifications in agri-based community and suggest important implications for the development of ESLD for the future.

This study aims to examine the impact of oil consumption on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and total factor productivity (TFP) in highly oil-consuming countries of the world from 1995 to 2019.

For this purpose, fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) are applied.

FMOLS and DOLS models reveal that oil consumption, human capital, population, trade openness and nonrenewable energy have a significant positive effect on CO₂ emissions. While information and communication technology (ICT), as proxied by mobile and natural resources, has a significant negative effect on CO₂ emissions. In the case of TFP, oil consumption, ICT and natural resources have a significant positive effect on the TFP. On the other hand, trade openness, population, human capital and nonrenewable energy have a significant negative effect on TFP. The results of this study can help to provide policy recommendations to reduce CO₂ emissions in studied highly oil-consuming countries of the world.

Due to the threat to sustainable development, climate change has become a major topic for debate around the world. The influence of oil consumption on CO₂ emission and TFP is less known in the available literature. Another significance of this study is that many researchers considered aggregate energy consumption to study this relationship, but the authors have studied the effect of energy consumption, particularly from oil in the top oil-consuming countries, which is a significant shortcoming of the present research.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the adoption and quality of integrated reports in the European Union (EU).

The sample consists of 147 listed firms from the 18 EU countries during 2013–2020. This study creates a disclosure index – based on the balanced scorecard (BSC) that reflects the information content of integrated reports. The content analysis method is used to measure the integrated reporting quality (IRQ).

The findings demonstrate that the IRQ increased across the study’s time frame, going from 49.3% in 2013 to 77% in 2020. Furthermore, financial disclosures still get the most attention in the integrated reporting (IR), followed by learning and growth perspective disclosures. In addition, businesses in the financial and industrial sectors rely more on integrated reports. However, the utility sector has the highest IRQ score. By country, Spain has the highest rate of IR adoption, followed by France. Other countries, such as Austria and Hungary, have only implemented IR by one company each.

This study adds to the IR literature a new approach to measure IRQ by linking BSC with the IR framework. Empirically, businesses of any size can use this method to assess the degree of balance between the revealed financial and nonfinancial information in their reports.

Empirically, this study helps IR practitioners in determining how widely IR is used in Europe and in updating the database on the IR website. It helps them update and improve the IR framework by identifying the elements that have the least transparency and quality, investigating the causes and enhancing them.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the IRQ in EU countries by linking the BSC with IR elements. This is to split the elements into their own pillars, making it easier to track disclosure and evaluate the corporations’ interest in revealing these perspectives, on their own and collectively.

Tanzania is rich in small hydropower (SHP) potentials. However, many of these potentials have yet to be fully used, and more than two-thirds of its rural population lacks access to electricity. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of SHP stations in improving rural welfare in the southern highlands of Tanzania. It further explores the history, cost-effective analysis and threats to the sustainability of SHP as one of the renewable energy sources.

The study uses a qualitative research design to explore respondents’ views on the role of SHP stations in facilitating rural electrification and welfare improvement. Primary data were gathered using semi-structured interviews with the 27 key informants and beneficiaries of SHP stations from the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. In addition, the study used documentary research to complement the information from the field survey.

The findings found that SHP stations enhance rural electrification and welfare by providing electricity in remote areas with sparse populations. They operate as standalone off-grids, often by church communities and individuals. However, the sustainability of SHP stations is hampered by challenges such as climate change impacts, high capital investment costs, heavy siltation of small reservoirs, skilled manpower shortages, limited local manufacturing capabilities and infrastructural issues.

The study contributes to the ongoing debate on renewable energy supply and uses, focusing on how SHP stations could contribute to sustainable rural electrification and achieve the 2030 United Nations agenda for sustainable development, which, among other things, aims to safeguard access to sustainable and modern energy and alleviate energy poverty.

In this study, the author intend to investigate the impacts of renewable energy use and environmental taxation on sustainable development measured by the adjusted net savings (ANS).

This study employs the quantile regression (QR) for a set of 24 Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development (OECD) countries over the period 1994–2018.

The main empirical findings of estimates show that access to renewable energy and environmental taxation generate positive and significant effects in increasing the ANS for most quantiles. Hence, they are practical tools for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs).

This study has important implications for governments and policymakers of the OECD countries. Therefore, governments can use subsidies and incentives to promote the adoption of renewable energy sources, energy-efficient technologies and sustainable practices. Similarly, by imposing taxes on pollution and resource use, governments can encourage the adoption of cleaner technologies and practices toward more sustainable behavior.

This paper is based on a novel measure of sustainable development (ANS) and a novel econometric method (QR).

The primacy of commerce in livelihood security cannot be overstated. However, in a rural context defined by involuntary socio-ecological displacement, commerce can assume a sociologically distinct character, with far-reaching implications. Based on first-hand encounters with victims of the devastating 2014 flood in Tokwe-Mukorsi, Zimbabwe, this paper analyses how the processes of “recreating” village markets in the resettlement site of Chingwizi impacted the victims’ experiences of resource provisioning and livelihood security.

Qualitative data were collected through 10 in-depth interviews, 10 key informant interviews and two focus group discussions, five years into the flood victims’ resettlement in Chingwizi. The data analysis focused on the dynamics around the recreation of village markets, and the consequences of this on the household economic standing of the resettled flood victims.

The paper reveals how the formation of village markets in Chingwizi was influenced not primarily by the ethno-commercial and ethno-economic impulses reminiscent of life in their ancestral home but mostly by new, disruptive dynamics and challenges unique to the resettlement site. The paper elucidates the constellation of factors that, together, exacerbated the flood victims’ overall socio-economic dislocation and disadvantage.

The study provides a systematic understanding of the dynamics of ethno-commerce, particularly on the evolution of village market activities and livelihoods, among Zimbabwe’s Chingwizi community over a period of five years into their resettlement. It brings to the fore, the often ignored, but significant nuances that 'village market' formation and livelihoods recreation takes in a resettlement context.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2023-0682