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This study explores whether the unique organizational form of family firms helps to mitigate the negative effects caused by the announcement of product recalls.

The authors use an event study, for a sample of 2,576 product recalls in the United States (US) automobile industry, between January 2010 and June 2021.

The authors found that stock market's reaction to a product recall announcement is less negative for family firms. This superior performance is partially driven by the family firms' long-term investment horizons and higher strategic emphasis on product quality. However, the relationship between family ownership and cumulative abnormal returns around product recall announcements is nonlinear as the impact of family ownership starts by being positive but becomes negative for higher levels of family ownership. The authors also find that family firm's chief executive officer (CEO) and managerial ownership influence positively the stock market reaction to product recall announcements.

This work has several implications for family firms' management as well as for investors and financial analysts. First, as higher managerial ownership is associated with a greater emphasis on product quality, decreasing stock market losses when a product recall occurs, family firms should consider increasing equity-based compensation. Second, as there seems to exist an optimal proportion of family ownership, family firms should consider the risks of increasing too much their ownership share. Third, investors and financial analysts can use the results in the study to help them in their investment and trading decisions in the stock market.

The authors extend the knowledge of product recalls by studying the under-researched role of the flexible, internally focused culture of family businesses on the stock market reaction to product recalls.

The purpose of the study is to research the current state of fathers' involvement in childcare during parental leave and to assess attitudes of Russian population towards possible measures that can expand the use of parental leave by fathers in Russia.

The authors conducted a survey of Russian parents with children under the age of 18 months in 2022. The sample accounts for 1,000 people; the survey covered almost all Russian regions.

The authors found that the ideal workload of fathers is not expected to exceed a third of the total parental workload. Russian parents are not ready to admit dissatisfaction with the existing distribution of workload during parental leave. However, an egalitarian demand for greater involvement of fathers in parental responsibilities is forming, and an interest in transforming the parental leave policy is emerging.

The value of the study consists of assessing the effectiveness of measures that may have a beneficial effect on the use of parental leave by fathers, as well as identifying consequences of the possible introduction of mandatory parental leave for fathers.

Ghana's economy is largely agrarian, and the business of agriculture is dominated by smallholder farmers who are predominantly rural dwellers. As a result, efforts to lift rural farming households from poverty have been narrowed to the promotion of agricultural development to the neglect of the rural non-farm sector. However, this is fast changing in the advent of a burgeoning rural nonfarm economy and must engage the attention of policy actors. This study thus assesses the effect of non-farm participation on households' level of commercialization of agricultural crops in Ghana.

The study applies a generalized structural equation model (GSEM) to the Ghana Living Standards Survey round 6 dataset, a stratified and nationally representative random sample of 16,772 households in 1,200 enumeration areas.

This study finds that non-farm participation increases the produce sold to output ratio. It is concluded that non-farm engagement by farmers boosts commercialization in Ghana. Thus, for the Ghanaian and similar contexts, agricultural development interventions that incorporate non-farm activities are more likely to be successful in improving livelihoods.

The study uses only the ratio of sales value to output value definition for commercialization and acknowledges use of multiple definitions could be superior.

Various empirical studies have examined the link between the farm and nonfarm sectors. This paper is original in its approach as it tackles an aspect of the subject that has been understudied, namely, an exploration of nonfarm and farm linkages from the perspective of agricultural commercialization.

This study aims to measure the level of satisfaction among women with childbirth services provided at public health facilities. Further, to analyse the impact of their socio-economic and obstetric characteristics on their level of satisfaction.

To accomplish these objectives a cross-sectional survey was conducted in two districts of an Indian state, Bihar. Structured questionnaire was developed based on the scale proposed by Okumu and Oyugi (2018) both for vaginal and caesarean birth patients. For empirical analysis multiple linear regression model was employed.

Results suggest that majority of mothers are satisfied with the care they received during childbirth, regardless of whether they chose a caesarean (55%) or vaginal delivery (53%). Women report the lowest levels of satisfaction with postpartum care and the privacy that was preserved by healthcare personnel at health facility. Further the study also confirms the association between patient’s socio-economic characteristics and their satisfaction level.

This is the first study of its kind to highlight the situation of public healthcare system in Bihar, which is the third most populated state in India with poor social and health indicators.

A makerspace has recently been identified as an essential learning field for cultivating students’ creative and thinking abilities. Creating a makerspace service within a university library is vital, as it fosters innovation, interdisciplinary learning, practical skills, entrepreneurship and career readiness while transforming the library into a dynamic centre for hands-on education and collaboration. Nevertheless, the wide-ranging functions and uses of makerspace equipment can potentially lead to a situation where librarians are overwhelmed by their duties due to manpower constraints. Therefore, this study aims to develop a novel game-based augmented reality navigation system (GARNS) based on the Octalysis gamification framework and scaffolding theory to support makerspace user education, hoping to promote learners’ learning motivation and their immersive experience and to enhance the learning performance of makerspace user education.

With a true experimental research method, 24 grade 11 students from a high school in Keelung City, Taiwan, were recruited to participate in the experiment on makerspace user education. Among them, ten students were randomly assigned to the experimental group using the GARNS and the other seven students were randomly assigned to a control group using the Web navigation system. The remaining seven students were assigned to a second control group using the narrative guided tour with a librarian to conduct makerspace user education.

Analytical results show that learners can achieve significant learning effectiveness using the GARNS, Web navigation system or traditional narrative guided tour with a librarian for makerspace user education. There were no significant differences in learning effectiveness and motivation neither between the GARNS group and the narrative guided tour with a librarian group nor between the Web navigation system group and the narrative guided tour with a librarian group. However, there were significant differences in learning effectiveness and motivation in terms of the value and expectation dimensions of learning motivation between the GARNS group and the Web navigation system group, and the GARNS group was significantly better than the Web navigation system group.

The study’s practical implication on makerspace user education is to reduce the manpower of a university library with makerspace services by the proposed GARNS that can offer a practical solution to enhance the learning effectiveness and motivation of makerspace through immersive game-based autonomous learning. Additionally, the study’s theoretical contribution lies in its innovative combination of game-based learning and scaffolding theory, while its practical significance stems from its potential to revolutionize makerspace user education, enhance motivation and performance and influence the broader landscape of educational technology.

This study combines game-based learning with augmented reality tools to develop a novel GARNS, which provides an innovative and effective learning tool suitable for the characteristics of makerspace and contributes to promoting makerspace user education and diversified learning modes. Additionally, most interviewees believed that using GARNS for educating makerspace users could assist them in consistently evaluating, choosing and discovering educational tasks in a library makerspace. This study contributes to promoting the popularization of makerspace user education.

This study investigated the attitudes and concerns of Saudi higher educational institution (HEI) academics about privacy and security in online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online Questionnaire questionnaire was designed to explore Saudi HEI academic’s attitudes and concerns about privacy and security issues in online teaching. The questionnaire asked about attitudes and concerns held before the pandemic and since the pandemic. The questionnaire included four sections. At the beginning of the questionnaire, participants were asked what the phrase “online privacy and security” meant to them, to gain an initial understanding of what it meant to academics. A definition for what we intended for the survey was then provided: “that a person’s data, including their identity, is not accessible to anyone other than themselves and others whom they have authorised and that their computing devices work properly and are free from unauthorised interference” (based on my reading of a range of sources, e.g. Schatz et al., 2017; Steinberg, 2019; NCS; Windley, 2005). This was to ensure that participants did understand what I was asking about in subsequent sections.

This study investigated the attitudes and concerns of Saudi HEI academics about privacy and security in online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings provide several key insights: Key aspects of online privacy and security for Saudi HEI academics: Saudi HEI academic’s notion of online privacy and security is about the protection of personal data, preventing unauthorized access to data and ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of data. This underscores the significance of robust measures to safeguard sensitive information in online teaching, but also the need to make academics aware of the other aspects of online privacy and security. Potential to improve policies and training about online privacy and security in Saudi HEIs: Although many participants were aware of the online privacy and security policies of their HEI, only a small percentage had received training in this area. Thus, there is a need to improve the development and dissemination of policies and to provide academics with appropriate training in this area and encourage them to take available training. Use of videoconferencing and chat technologies and cultural sensitivities: The study highlighted moderate levels of concern among Saudi HEI academics regarding the use of videoconferencing and online chat technologies, and their concerns about cultural factors around the use of these technologies. This emphasizes the need for online teaching and the growing use of technologies in such teaching to respect cultural norms and preferences, highlighting the importance of fostering a culturally sensitive approach to technology deployment and use. Surprising low webcam use: An unexpected finding is the low use of webcams by both academics and students during online teaching sessions, prompting a need for a deeper understanding of the dynamics surrounding webcam engagement in such sessions. This calls for a reevaluation of the effectiveness of webcam use in the teaching process and underscores the importance of exploring methods for enhancing engagement and interaction in online teaching. In summary, this paper investigated the attitudes and concerns about privacy and security in the online teaching of Saudi HEI academics during the coronavirus pandemic. The study reveals areas where further research and policy development can enhance the online teaching experience. As the education landscape continues to evolve, institutions must remain proactive in addressing the concerns of their academics while fostering a culturally sensitive approach to technology deployment.

One limitation of this study is the relatively small qualitative data sample, despite the adequate size of the sample including 36 academics from various Saudi Arabian HEIs for quantitative analysis. It was necessary to make the most of the open-ended questions optional – participants did not have to answer about concerns if they did not want to, as we did not want to make the questionnaire too long and onerous to complete. Consequently, the number of academics responding to the open-ended questions was limited, emphasizing the need for additional data and alternative research methods to further these issues. The study was focused on investigating the concerns of HEI Saudi academics, recognizing that the attitudes and concerns of academics in other countries may differ. Furthermore, the research also includes an exploration of the changes in academic attitudes and concerns before and since the COVID-19 pandemic, which will be the subject of further data analysis.

This research delves into Saudi HEI academics' perceptions and concerns regarding privacy and security in online education during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Notably, it highlights the moderate priority placed on online privacy and security, the unexpectedly low usage of webcams and the potential for enhancing policies and training. The study emphasizes the necessity for comprehensive measures to protect sensitive data and the importance of tailored policies for educators. It also underscores the need for a more nuanced understanding of webcam usage dynamics, offering valuable insights for institutions aiming to improve online education and address educators' concerns amidst evolving educational landscapes.

The traditional predictor of technical inefficiency proposed by Jondrow, Lovell, Materov, and Schmidt (1982) is a conditional expectation. This chapter explores whether, and by how much, the predictor can be improved by using auxiliary information in the conditioning set. It considers two types of stochastic frontier models. The first type is a panel data model where composed errors from past and future time periods contain information about contemporaneous technical inefficiency. The second type is when the stochastic frontier model is augmented by input ratio equations in which allocative inefficiency is correlated with technical inefficiency. Compared to the standard kernel-smoothing estimator, a newer estimator based on a local linear random forest helps mitigate the curse of dimensionality when the conditioning set is large. Besides numerous simulations, there is an illustrative empirical example.

This study proposes an analysis of the performance of companies that have assumed the responsibility of facilitating the digitalization of economic activities. Because of their potential to accelerate digitization, these companies have been financially supported. The monitoring of the performances recorded by these companies, including the evaluation of the impact of different determining factors, meets both the needs of the financiers (concerned with the evaluation of the efficiency of the use of nonreimbursable financing) and the needs of continuous improvement of the activities of the companies in the field.

The study assesses performance dynamics and the impact of its determinants. The model allows achieving a simplified vision of performance and its determinants, supporting decision-makers in the management process. The construction of an estimation model based on the multiple regression method was considered. Robustness tests were performed on the results, using parametric and nonparametric tests.

The results of the analysis at the level of the extended sample indicated that, during the analyzed period, the economic and commercial performances decreased, and significant influences in this respect include the financing structure, sales dynamics and volume of receivables. The analysis at the level of the restricted sample confirmed these interdependencies and provided additional evidence of the impact of other determinants.

The study contributes both to performance research and to the assessment of the prospects for accelerating digitalization in support of economic activities. Since the empirical research was carried out on a sample of Romanian companies that provide services in information technology, which accessed nonreimbursable financing, the representativeness of the results is limited to this sector. For the analyzed sample, the study provides support for improving performance.

The results of the study prove to be useful from a microeconomic and macroeconomic perspective as well, as they provide evidence on the performance of companies that have implemented information and communication technology (ICT) projects and on the efficiency of the use of non-reimbursable funding dedicated to business support.

The study fills the literature gap regarding the performance of companies that have developed ICT projects and received grant funding for the implementation of these projects. The literature review indicated that there are few studies conducted on these companies, which did not include Romanian companies.

Estimation of (in)efficiency became a popular practice that witnessed applications in virtually any sector of the economy over the last few decades. Many different models were deployed for such endeavors, with Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) models dominating the econometric literature. Among the most popular variants of SFA are Aigner, Lovell, and Schmidt (1977), which launched the literature, and Kumbhakar, Ghosh, and McGuckin (1991), which pioneered the branch taking account of the (in)efficiency term via the so-called environmental variables or determinants of inefficiency. Focusing on these two prominent approaches in SFA, the goal of this chapter is to try to understand the production inefficiency of public hospitals in Queensland. While doing so, a recognized yet often overlooked phenomenon emerges where possible dramatic differences (and consequently very different policy implications) can be derived from different models, even within one paradigm of SFA models. This emphasizes the importance of exploring many alternative models, and scrutinizing their assumptions, before drawing policy implications, especially when such implications may substantially affect people’s lives, as is the case in the hospital sector.

The use of technology in 4th industrial revolution is at its peak. Industries are trying to reduce the consumption of resources by effectively utilizing information and technology to connect different functioning agents of the manufacturing industry. Without digitization “Industry 4.0” will be a virtual reality. The present survey-based study explores the factual status of digital manufacturing in the Northern India.

After an extensive literature review, a questionnaire was designed to gather different viewpoints of Indian industrial practitioners. The first half contains questions related to north Indian demographic factors which may affect digitalization of India. The latter half includes the queries concerned with various operational factors (or drivers) driving the digital revolution without ignoring Indian constraints.

The focus of this survey was to understand the current level of digital revolution under the ongoing push by the Indian government focused upon digital movement. The analysis included non-parametric testing of the various demographic and functional factors impacting the digital echoes, specifically in Northern India. Findings such as technological upgradations were independent of type of industry, the turnover or the location. About 10 key operational factors were thoughtfully grouped into three major categories—internal Research and Development (R&D), the capability of the supply chain and the capacity to adapt to the market. These factors were then examined to understand how they contribute to digital manufacturing, utilizing an appropriate ordinal logistic regression. The resulting predictive analysis provides seldom-seen insights and valuable suggestions for the most effective deployment of digitalization in Indian industries.

The country-specific Industry 4.0 literature is quite limited. The survey mainly focuses on the National Capital Region. The number of demographic and functional factors can further be incorporated. Moreover, an addition of factors related to ecology, environment and society can make the study more insightful.

The present work provides valuable insights about the current status of digitization and expects to facilitate public or private policymakers to implement digital technologies in India with less efforts and the least resistance. It empowers India towards Industry 4.0 based tools and techniques and creates new socio-economic dimensions for the sustainable development.

The quantitative nature of the study and its statistical predictions (data-based) are novel. The clubbing of similar success factors to avoid inter-collinearity and complexity is seldom seen. The predictive analytics provided in this study is quite elusive as it provides directions with logic. It will help the Indian Government and industrial strategists to plan and perform their interventions accordingly.