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Japan applies a quasi-mandatory approach to corporate environmental reporting by defining the desired norm through formal law and guidelines and pushing large companies to be role models regardless of their sensitivity to environmental impacts. This study aims to analyze the change in Japanese companies reporting quality to justify this approach’s capability to produce normativity of environmental reporting.

This study examines the change in corporate environmental reporting quality and the effect of company characteristics on it. The analysis focuses on 88 companies for 2008, 2013 and 2018, resulting in 264 company-year observations.

The result shows a continuous upward trend, although it is unsatisfactory regarding the comparability and free from error characteristics. Then, company size positively affects the quality, and sensitivity to environmental impacts does not. Overall, the findings indicate that Japan is moving toward normativity through the quasi-mandatory approach and the norm entrepreneurship of its large companies, regardless of their sensitivity to environmental impacts.

This study could relieve the belief that it is necessary to apply a mandatory approach to improve reporting quality and enrich views on the effect of company characteristics which mainly used only the legitimacy perspective.

This study proposes a more comprehensive measure of environmental reporting quality. The measure is based on the qualitative characteristics of useful information from the most influential accounting standard-setting bodies. In addition, the effect of company characteristics on the quality is explained based on the norm entrepreneurship view instead of the legitimacy perspective.

This paper aims to consider the potential implications of the layering of regulation in relation to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) at the borders between the nations of the UK.

This paper uses a qualitative research method grounded in particular in legal geography to examine the existing approaches to regulating hydraulic fracturing and identify the places and their features that are constructed as a result of their intersection at the borders of the nations comprising the UK.

The current regulatory framework concerning hydraulic fracturing risks restricts the places in which the practice can occur in such a manner as to potentially cause greater environmental harm should the process be used. The regulations governing the process are not aligned in relation to the surface and subsurface aspects of the process to enable their management, once operational, as a singularly constructed place of extraction. Strong regulation at the surface can have the effect of influencing placement of the site only in relation to the place at which the resource sought reaches the surface, whilst having little to no impact on the environmental harms, which will result at the subsurface or relative to other potential surface site positions, and potentially even increasing them.

This paper is limited by uncertainty as to the future use of hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas within the UK. The issues raised within it would also be applicable to other extractive industries where a surface site might be placed within a radius of the subsurface point of extraction, rather than having to be located at a fixed point relative to that in the subsurface. This paper therefore raises concerns that might be explored more generally in relation to the regulation of the place of resource extraction, particularly at legal borders between jurisdictions, and the impact of regulation, which does not account for the misalignment of regulation of spaces above and below the surface that form a single place at which extraction occurs.

This paper considers the potential impacts of misaligned positions held by nations in the UK in relation to environmentally harmful practices undertaken by extractive industries, which are highlighted by an analysis of the extant regulatory framework for hydraulic fracturing.

Whilst the potential for cross internal border extraction of gas within the UK via hydraulic fracturing and the regulatory consequences of this has been highlighted in academic literature, this paper examines the implications of regulation for the least environmentally harmful placement of the process.

The purpose of this article is to summarize three Luhmannian critiques on morality, illustrate new roles for morality and add constructive interpretations.

Luhmann has recently been described as downright negative toward morality, resulting in a refusal to use ethics as a sociologist, thus leading to a limited use of his theory in moral issues. A constructive interpretation could support a more functional use of morality in social system theory.

First, Luhmann signals that morality can no longer fulfill its integrative function in society but also that society has recourse to moral sensitivity. Second, Luhmann describes how anxiety is crucial in modern morality and indicates which role risk and danger could play. The author builds further on this and proposes the concept of “social system attention” that can provide answers to individual and organizational anxiety. The author proposes that institutionalized socialization can support an integrative morality. Third, Luhmann states that ethics today is nothing more than a utopia but also that the interdiction of moral self-exemption is an essential element. The author adds that a relational ontology for social systems theory can avoid ethics as utopia.

This article is a programmatic plea to further elaborate morality from a system theory perspective in which meaning is relationally positioned.

This article could potentially provide a more functional application of morality in social systems, thus leading to improvements of attempts of ethical decision-making. The originality of the approach lies in the interpretation of basic assumptions of Luhmann social system theory that are not core to his theory.

This study aims to empower cruise academia to assert their role as enablers, and potentially drivers, of sustainable, responsible and resilient cruise futures.

This contribution represents a synthesis and a critical reflection of cruise-related research-review literature over the last four decades, assessing its impact and potential in terms of influencing the evolution and future developments of cruise tourism.

Cruise research between the 1980s and the first decade of this century could be characterised as “ship-centric” and managerially focused. Over the last decade and up to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, cruise research has become increasingly “cruise-destination centric”, with sustainability emerging as a dominant theme. Diverging somewhat from the public and media emphasis on environmental concerns and risks, academic research tends to focus on the economic aspects of sustainability. Nonetheless, and despite aiming for practical relevance, cruise research tends to remain reactive and lags behind industry trends.

This paper proposes a shift from a “applied” to an “applicable” research paradigm, inspiring researchers to proactively shape the industry‘s future by embracing “what-ifs” in their thematic scope. Such a paradigm calls for a normativity-enriched methodological diversity, as well as the inclusion of transformational relevance as an indicator of research impact.

Public perceptions of cruise tourism have changed over the years, evolving from that of a promising holiday niche to a symbol of unsustainable mass tourism. In this context, cruise scholars are offered guidance for transcending the polarising debate of growth versus de-growth/limits while increasing the relevance and transformational impact of cruise scholarship.

这篇论文是对过去四十年来与邮轮旅游相关的研究评论文献的综述和批判性反思, 评估其在影响邮轮旅游的演变和未来发展方面的影响和潜力。

总体目标是增强邮轮学术界的能力, 使其能够在可持续、负责任和有弹性的邮轮未来发展中发挥促进者和潜在推动者的作用。

20 世纪 80 年代至本世纪头十年的邮轮研究可以说是 “以船为中心”, 以管理为重点。 在过去的十年中, 直到 COVID19 大流行之后, 邮轮研究越来越 “以邮轮目的地为中心”, 可持续发展成为主导主题。 与公众和媒体强调的环境问题和风险有些不同, 学术研究往往侧重于可持续发展的经济方面。 尽管如此, 邮轮研究尽管以实际相关性为目标, 但仍倾向于被动应对, 落后于行业发展趋。

本文提出了从 “应用 “研究范式向 “适用 “研究范式的转变, 激励研究人员通过在其主题范围内接受 “假设”, 积极塑造行业的未来。这种范式要求在方法上丰富规范性, 并将变革相关性作为衡量研究影响力的指标。

多年来, 公众对邮轮旅游的看法发生了变化, 从充满希望的度假小众旅游发展成为不可持续的大众旅游的象征。在此背景下, 为邮轮学者提供了指导, 以超越增长与去增长/限制的两极化争论, 同时提高邮轮学术研究的相关性和变革性影响。

Esta contribución representa una síntesis y una reflexión crítica de la literatura de investigación-revisión relacionada con los cruceros durante las últimas cuatro décadas, evaluando su impacto y potencial en términos de influencia sobre la evolución y futuros desarrollos del turismo de cruceros.

El objetivo general es capacitar al mundo académico de los cruceros para hacer valer su papel como facilitadores, y potencialmente impulsores, de futuros cruceros sostenibles, responsables y resilientes.

La investigación sobre cruceros entre los años 80 y la primera década de este siglo, podría caracterizarse como “centrada en el barco” y enfocada a la gestión. Durante la última década y hasta las secuelas de la pandemia de COVID19, la investigación sobre cruceros se ha vuelto cada vez más “centrada en los cruceros-destino”, con la sostenibilidad emergiendo como tema dominante. Apartándose un tanto del énfasis público y mediático en las preocupaciones y riesgos medioambientales, la investigación académica tiende a centrarse en los aspectos económicos de la sostenibilidad. No obstante, y a pesar de aspirar a la relevancia práctica, la investigación sobre cruceros tiende a seguir siendo reactiva y se queda rezagada con respecto a las tendencias del sector.

Este documento propone un cambio de un paradigma de investigación “aplicado” a otro “aplicable”, que inspire a los investigadores a configurar de forma proactiva el futuro de la industria, abarcando los “y si…” en su ámbito temático. Dicho paradigma exige una diversidad metodológica enriquecida por la normatividad, así como la inclusión de la relevancia transformadora como indicador del impacto de la investigación.

La percepción pública del turismo de cruceros ha cambiado a lo largo de los años, evolucionando desde la de un nicho vacacional prometedor a la de un símbolo del turismo de masas insostenible. En este contexto, se ofrece a los estudiosos de los cruceros una guía para trascender el polarizante debate de crecimiento frente a decrecimiento/límites, al tiempo que se aumenta la relevancia y el impacto transformador de los estudios sobre cruceros.

The purpose of this study is to examine the advancement of cultural transformation over time demands certain alterations in human perceptions. It also aims to examine the 21st century’s many radical changes in India, the constant legal battles to decriminalize homosexuality, and challenges to the rigid dichotomy between heterosexuality and homosexuality. Besides, it influences popular culture among the masses, which has turned out to create a more visible space for the lesbian community. In India, lesbian literature begins synchronously under the shades of women’s writing and feminism that wires new hopes for their identity.

This paper examines a primary text as Indian writer Abha Dawesar’s Babyji (2005). There comes the iconic work of Abha Dawesar’s Babyji (2005), which creates a turning point by introducing the life, inner conflict and turbulence of a teenage girl. In addition, a textual analysis of this novel brings forth an analysis of attributes such as sexuality, gender and the interplay of caste and class that meld lesbian childhood and adolescence. This paper also examines how a lesbian girl adapts to and negotiates her maturation amidst vivid social scenarios and cultural conditioning.

A few studies (Hidalgo, et al., 2013; Bem, 1989; Pyne, 2016) show many children have reached or crossed their teenage life without accurate or affirmative knowledge of sexuality and gender. Parents, teachers and even other intellectuals of the adult world fail to transfer their knowledge effectively to children. Definitely, the relevance of sex education is paramount, but more important is what implementation tactics should be used for the same cause. The point is that sex education should not be condensed into a certain gender or perpetuate parochial discrimination. It needs to adapt an age-appropriate curriculum for the cognitive and emotional development of the individuals. Considering these factors, understanding comprehensive sex education is what is most likely to find sustainable remedies for this matter. Gerald writes about a socialization process and gays and lesbians hiding their identity from family and society; a fear of rejection; there is a social gap in peer and family spheres. These fears prevent lesbian or gay young persons from fully developing their identities (1999). Rao and Mason tested a model derived from minority stress theory in which the perceived impact of Section 377 increases depressive symptoms of sexual minorities by increasing concealment stress, leading to a diminished sense of belonging. Because of their minority status, they are more vulnerable to and have a higher prevalence of mental illness than heterosexual individuals (2018).

Babyji has created a discourse to perpetuate normativity and gives importance to the mental health of the excluded lesbian group. It opens a door to studying teenage groups’ issues and their challenges to understanding social and mental issues regarding their identity. A study on this untouched area is required to highlight their issues and mental health problems. This research is an initiative step to create and provide a platform to raise awareness in society.

This review addresses how student organizations are conceptually framed in the scholarly literature—organizations the authors referred to as “ethnicized student organizations” or “ESOs,” which include both Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) student organizations and ethnically white student organizations such as mainstream fraternities/sororities and clubs that are normalized as not having a racial/ethnic affiliation.

Critical race theory informs the analysis of 175 articles that address ESOs from 2002 to 2016.

Analysis revealed that a majority of scholarship conceptualizes ESOs in ways that can minimize the role of institutional whiteness where they are positioned as either serving or hindering both individual students and institutional goals. Findings also reveal a smaller body of literature that emphasized institutionalized power dynamics and honors the transformative work of BIPOC students through ESOs.

Despite widespread public commitments to diversity among institutions, whiteness remains a core institutional presence. This study illustrates the relationships among student organizations, white supremacy and higher education transformation.

The aim of this study is to explore how a practice approach can provide an understanding of board diversity practices. Drawing from Schatzki's practice theory, this study considered how board diversity is practiced from the doings and sayings of directors in Mauritius.

In this study, in-depth interviews with directors in listed companies from different industrial sectors were used to collect data.

The authors' findings indicate that a country's board diversity practices are influenced by the country's unique social, economic and cultural environment. Whilst board diversity practices may appear as the practices that are motivated by compliance, a deeper look at the results reveals that the laws governing board diversity are interpreted very subtly in a way that benefits shareholders' self-interest. A low percentage of female directors on boards and some indications of shareholder-driven practices are also found. Whilst the corporate sector acknowledges the advantages of diversity, there are some practices that they are unwilling to abandon, demonstrating the importance of the teleoaffective structures and normativity in determining what really occurs. Members of boards resolving disagreement further demonstrates the teleoaffective structure.

This research would be of interest to researchers because of the research's novel approach in studying board diversity which could be used by other researchers to experiment with a practice approach in exploring corporate governance phenomena in unique settings.

The findings are of relevance to policymakers and regulators who seek to strengthen corporate governance practices in similar settings.

This research contributes to the literature on board diversity by showing that analysing board diversity through a practice approach enables a more comprehensive understanding of practices. The authors' study confirms that practice theory has the potential to re-orient the way board diversity studies are undertaken.

First-generation college students in the United States are a unique demographic that is often characterized by the institutions that serve them with a risk-laden and deficit-based model. However, our analysis of the transcripts of open-ended, semi-structured interviews with 22 “first-gen” respondents suggests they are actively deft, agentic, self-determining parties to processes of identity construction that are both externally imposed and potentially stigmatizing, as well as exemplars of survivance and determination. We deploy a grounded theory approach to an open-coding process, modeled after the extended case method, while viewing our data through a novel synthesis of the dual theoretical lenses of structural and radical/structural symbolic interactionism and intersectional/standpoint feminist traditions, in order to reveal the complex, unfolding, active strategies students used to make sense of their obstacles, successes, co-created identities, and distinctive institutional encounters. We find that contrary to the dictates of prevailing paradigms, identity-building among first-gens is an incremental and bidirectional process through which students actively perceive and engage existing power structures to persist and even thrive amid incredibly trying, challenging, distressing, and even traumatic circumstances. Our findings suggest that successful institutional interventional strategies designed to serve this functionally unique student population (and particularly those tailored to the COVID-moment) would do well to listen deeply to their voices, consider the secondary consequences of “protectionary” policies as potentially more harmful than helpful, and fundamentally, to reexamine the presumption that such students present just institutional risk and vulnerability, but also present a valuable addition to university environments, due to the unique perspective and broader scale of vision their experiences afford them.

This study aims to investigate the impact of stakeholders’ nonfinancial resources (NFRs) on companies’ profitability, filling a significant gap in the literature regarding the role of NFRs in value creation.

Data from 76 organizations from 2017 to 2019 were collected and analyzed. Four primary NFRs and their key value drivers were identified, representing core elements that support different dimensions of a company’s performance. Statistical tests examined the relationship between stakeholders’ NFRs and financial performance measures.

When analyzed collectively and individually, the results reveal a significant positive influence of stakeholders’ NFRs on a firm’s profitability. Higher importance assigned to NFRs correlates with a higher return on sales.

This study contributes to the literature by empirically bridging the gap between stakeholder theory and the resource-based view, addressing the intersection of these perspectives. It also provides novel insights into how stakeholders’ NFRs impact profitability, offering valuable implications for research and managerial practice. It suggests that managers should integrate nonfinancial measures of NFRs within their performance measurement system to manage better and sustain companies’ value-creation process.

Development theory in college describes and explains how students develop. This chapter explores ways to balance and consolidate differentiation and integration in this theory. First, it traces the origins, history and current development of the theory, which evolves from an integrative understanding to a differentiated one. Subsequently, it identifies the tensions between integration and differentiation in this evolution. This chapter consider two directions towards the theoretical consolidation of differentiation and integration: (1) returning to how integrative understandings were achieved and exploring research directions that further advance integrative understandings; (2) recognizing the parallel evolution of North American student development theory in theorising about learning from a critical realism perspective, and, by overlaying this theory upon such a perspective, reconstructing it towards consolidation. This chapter concludes by discussing two implications for further higher education research that draws on student development theory.