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The present paper aims to focus on the role which German controllers play so far in the process of sustainable transformation in for-profit organizations, the current obstacles to a wider engagement here and ways to overcome these obstacles.

The analysis combines two qualitative study designs. Empirical data is generated via a job advertisement analysis and an explorative survey with 107 subjects from management accounting/controlling and sustainability management. The generated data is interpreted against the background of the theory of institutional logics and Abbott’s (1988) theory of professional jurisdiction.

We find that controllers are in a state of tension. On the one hand, the pressure to integrate sustainability into companies is increasing. On the other hand, they seem to be rather reluctant to get involved. The institutional logics that shape their profession play an important role here, as does an unclear relationship with the sustainability department, which has its own claims here. Based on these observations, we identify the core obstacles to the transformation of the controllers’ profession and discuss solutions which can guide the transformation of this profession.

The present paper provides insights from a unique combination of different quantitative study designs and different perspectives on the possible role that controllers can play in advancing sustainable transformation in companies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of personalisation in the relationship between the architectural design of homes and inhabitants’ psychological well-being.

This interdisciplinary mixed-method study first investigates the existence of a link between personalisation and users’ association with home through a quantitative study (n = 101) and then explores the nature of this relationship through qualitative interviews (n = 13) in a sequential explanatory approach.

The main findings of the study highlight the significance of personalisation in relation to the way people perceive home. A direct link was established between participants’ involvement in the transformation of the home and their satisfaction with the residence, as well as satisfaction with life in general. Further thematic analysis of the qualitative study revealed further conceptualisations of personalisation, which together form an umbrella concept called transformability.

The findings underscore the need for embedding flexibility as an architectural concept in the design of residential buildings for improving the well-being of occupants.

The design of homes has a great impact on inhabitants’ psychological well-being. This is becoming of greater importance in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic that has led to an increase in the amount of time spent in homes. This research contributes to this debate by proposing concepts for a deeper understanding of architectural influences on the psychology of the home.

Uncontrollable movement of people across international borders is one of most pressing contemporary challenge encountered by nation-states. Their response to this challenge is often rooted on a reconceptualisation of (in)security from a state-centric to a non-state-centric one. This has been the case with Australia where insecurity from asylum seekers, or what is referred to as the ‘boat people’, dominating the country's discourse on protecting its borders. Such conceptions are rooted on historical anxieties from ‘foreigners’, resulting in exclusionary policies of ‘White Australia’ to recent assertions of exclusive sovereignty over the refugee intake. In this context, while reviewing government documents, reports and other secondary sources, the chapter examines Australia's policy towards asylum seekers domestically as well as at the regional level, while placing them within the broader debate between deterrence and human rights. The chapter is significant as it provides an important case study of the inherent contradictions that come into light in a nation-state's response towards refugees on the one hand and undocumented arrivals, in this case, the ‘boat people’ on the other. This chapter provides analytical support to the primary assertion that while Australia has been an active international player regarding refugee issues, there is bipartisan exclusivity and hard-handedness towards asylum seekers.

Introduction: Skill development is crucial in developing economies by enhancing productivity and creating employment opportunities. At the macro level, it also leads to industrial development and economic growth.

Purpose: The research is to identify the types of skills required for increasing the probability of employability of labour. It also aims to define the challenges and opportunities in skill development to drive change.

Need of the Study: Studying opportunities and challenges for skill development in developing economies is essential for achieving sustainable economic growth, reducing poverty, increasing employment opportunities, and promoting global competitiveness.

Research Methodology: Some skills are recognised through research that has been published to determine the skill set needed to increase labour productivity. To draw lessons, some skill development initiatives by various companies are also identified and presented in case studies. Additionally, several government programs are available to assess the possibilities and prospects for skill development in the Indian market.

Practical Implications: The research will be valuable in micro and macro decision making. At the micro level, research is advantageous for a business person to initiate the skill development of its employees by using government schemes. Nations other than India can understand the policy framework for skill development.

Findings: The term ‘skilling’ has become fashionable. Due to the need for skill-based earnings data, only some studies examine the return on skill (ROS) of the labour market. Skill development plays a significant role in bringing change at the micro and macro levels. Hence it is necessary to exploit all opportunities for skill development.

In the years following the publication of A Theory of Consumption (1923), Hazel Kyrk’s book became the flagship of the field that would later be known as the economics of consumption. It stimulated theoretical and empirical work on consumption. Some of the existing literature on Kyrk (e.g., Kiss & Beller, 2000; Le Tollec, 2020; Tadajewski, 2013) depicted her theory as the starting point of the economics of consumption. Nevertheless, how and why it emerged the way it did remain largely unexplored. This chapter examines Kyrk’s intellectual background, which, we argue, can be traced back to two main movements in the United States: the home economics and the institutionalist. Both movements conveyed specific endeavors as responses to the US material and social transformations that occurred at the turn of the 20th century, notably the perceived changing role of consumption and that of women in US society. On the one hand, Kyrk pursued first-generation home economists’ efforts to make sense of and put into action the shifting of women’s role from domestic producer to consumer. On the other hand, she reinterpreted Veblen’s (1899) account of consumption in order to reveal its operational value for a normative agenda focused on “wise” and “rational” consumption. This chapter studies how Kyrk carried on first-generation home economists’ progressive agenda and how she adapted Veblen’s fin-de-siècle critical account of consumption to the context of the household goods developed in 1900–1920. Our account of Kyrk’s intellectual roots offers a novel narrative to better understand the role of gender and epistemological questions in her theory.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the reform of initial teacher education (ITE) policy in Australia over a 25-year period from 1998 to 2023. It examines policy shifts and movements over this timeframe and aims to better understand the ongoing reforms in the changing contexts of their times.

The paper engages a critical policy historiography approach, focusing on four “policy moments” each linked to a review commissioned by the Commonwealth government of the day. It draws upon the reports and government responses themselves, along with media reports, extracts from Hansard, and ministerial speeches, press releases and interviews related to each of the four policy moments, asking critical questions about the “public issues” and “private troubles” (Gale, 2001) of each moment and aiming to shed light on the complexities of these accounts of policy and the trajectory they represent.

The paper charts the construction of the problem of ITE in Australia over time, highlighting the discursive continuities and shifts since 1998. It traces the constitution of both policy problems and solutions to explain the current policy settlement using a historical lens.

Its value lies in offering a reading of the current policy settlement, based on a close and systematic historical analysis. Where previous research has focused either on particular moments or concepts in ITE reform, this analysis seeks to understand the current policy settlement by taking a longer, contextualised view.

Immigration-themed children’s literature can be an important resource in the classroom, especially because some U.S. immigrant groups, including French-Canadians, have received limited curricular representation. Using the qualitative method of critical content analysis, this study aims to examine depictions of French-Canadian immigrants to the United States in contemporary children’s books.

Postcolonialism is employed as an analytical lens with special attention given to the ways immigrant characters are constructed as different from the dominant group (i.e., othering), how dominant group values are imposed on immigrant characters, and how immigrant characters resist othering and domination. Three books comprise the sample: “Charlotte Bakeman Has Her Say” by Mary Finger and illustrated by Kimberly Batti, “Other Bells for Us to Ring” by Robert Cormier, and “Red River Girl” by Norma Sommerdorf.

The findings reveal multiple instances in which French-Canadian immigrants are constructed as Other and few instances in which these characters resist this positioning, and these books reflect the real ways French-Canadians were perceived as subalterns during the mass migration from Québec to the United States between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This study is significant because it examines portrayals of a substantial immigrant group that has been overlooked in the immigration history curriculum. This sample of children’s books may be used to teach children the complexities of immigration history and provide a more nuanced understanding of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The purpose of this study is to analyse historical events to argue the improbable prospect of radical accounting reform in corporate financial reporting (CFR) due to the absence of abstract accounting knowledge as part of accountancy professionalisation (AP).

A historical database of CFR and AP events in the UK is categorised and analysed to observe the evolution of accounting in CFR from the perspective of the sociology of professions relating to abstract knowledge in professionalisation.

CFR has always been a statutory function in the UK dependent on arbitrary accounting rules rather than expert measurements based on abstract accounting knowledge. Accounting rules have evolved as part of AP and currently form part of the statutory regulation of CFR. The accountancy profession has eschewed abstract accounting knowledge in a mutually beneficial and uncompetitive relationship with the law profession in CFR.

The study is limited to the history of CFR and AP in the UK and its findings are contrary to the sociology of professions regarding abstract knowledge, consistent with the accountancy profession’s 19th-century experience of court-related services, and indicative of normative accounting research’s redundancy.

Regarding CFR and AP in the UK, the accountancy profession is an expert subordinate branch of the law profession and has no incentive to alter the status quo of statutory accounting rule compliance prevailing over abstract accounting knowledge-based expertise in CFR.

The study questions the optimism of prior research of accounting in CFR that suggests the possibility of radical reform using abstract knowledge.

The conflict between institutionalism and neoclassicism in the 20th century has been investigated by scholars over the years. Many of them believe that in the postwar period, neoclassicism triumphed while institutionalism largely disappeared. The present chapter takes a very different view. The late 20th century represents a broad synthesis of neoclassical and institutional themes in a methodology we call pragmatic empiricism. That approach combines the mathematical model building and theoretical formalism of neoclassical economics with the institutional economist’s data-driven statistical analysis and concern for developing institutional forms. We use as a case study the history of American locational economics from the 1930s to the present. The mixing of institutional and neoclassical themes is quite evident in the work of three young scholars at Harvard who effectively initiated American locational economics. In the postwar period, we find a series of outstanding, well-published papers that capture the spirit of the “founders.” These papers do use more modeling, but they also focus on major institutional developments. A broader review of locational works is consistent with the pragmatic empiricism label. The history of locational economics supports the claim that institutionalism, far from disappearing, continues to provide fundamental questions and techniques for modern pragmatic empiricism.

The global COVID-19 crisis posed many managerial and leadership challenges for principals. More specifically, after the crisis passed noticeable changes in school climate manifested and affected principal management style. The present study examined perceptions of principals regarding school climate and its impact on management style. The research literature clearly affirms the profound impact of school climate in terms of the relationship between students and school leaders. The study focused solely on religious high schools because, in Israel, the negative impact of the pandemic was most marked there.

The study was qualitative in nature, and included semi-structured interviews with 10 religious school principals in Israel. Study participants were asked about the existing school climate and their management style in light of the COVID-19 period.

This study indicated that positive school climate and interpersonal relationships between principals and students were affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Study participants reported that principals had to work arduously in the post-COVID-19 period to restore and improve positive school climate and consequently their management style also needed altering. Specifically, restoring open lines of communication and a sense of belonging as the main components of the school climate were the main foci of principal work. The principals' management style had to be more open and inclusive to restore a sense of belonging and security among students.

The study highlights the importance of an open and inclusive management style to restore positive school climate after crises.