Search results

This paper presents a conceptual framework based on an extensive literature review. The aim of this study is to deepen understanding of the relationship between carbon performance and the financial market by applying qualitative research approaches.

The investigation has identified 372 articles sourced from Scopus databases, subjecting the bibliographic data to a comprehensive qualitative–quantitative analysis. The research uses established protocols for a structured literature review, adhering to PRISMA guidelines, machine learning-based structural topic modelling using Python and bibliometric citation analysis.

The results identified the leading academic authors, institutions and countries concerning carbon performance and financial markets literature. Quantitative studies dominate this research theme. The study has identified six knowledge clusters using topic modelling related to environmental reporting; price drivers of carbon markets; environmental policy and capital markets; financial development and carbon emissions; carbon risk and financial markets; and environmental performance and firm value. The results of the study also present the opportunities associated with carbon performance and the financial market and propose future research agendas on research through theory, characteristics, context and methodology.

The results of the study offer insights to practitioners, researchers and academicians regarding scientific development, intricate relationships and the complexities involved in the intersection of carbon performance and financial markets. For policymakers, a better understanding of carbon performance and financial markets will contribute to designing policies to set up priorities for countering carbon emissions.

The study highlights the critical areas that require attention to limit greenhouse gas emissions and promote decarbonisation effectively. Policymakers can leverage these insights to develop targeted and evidence-based policies that facilitate the transition to a more sustainable and low-carbon economy.

The study initially attempts to discuss the research stream on carbon performance and financial markets literature from a systematic literature review.

From a target perspective, this paper aims to examine the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transaction valuations.

This paper uses a sample of 629 international transactions conducted between 2002 and 2020. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was applied by using ESG aggregate score and the three ESG pillars: environment, social and governance.

This paper finds that the ESG performance of targets has a negative and significant impact on acquisition premiums. However, this paper finds that targets receive lower premiums by increasing their ESG score, suggesting that targets would do better to focus on ESG to increase shareholder wealth. Thus, results of this paper support the view that ESG-focused firms create shareholder value through the M&A process. Furthermore, results of this paper indicate that environmental and social aspects of ESG drive the acquisition premium. The governance score does not seem to be related to acquisition premiums.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study to assess whether ESG performance impacts the valuation of M&A transactions by decomposing ESG into its three components.

Countries globally have implemented policies or regulations promoting greater gender diversity in boardrooms. We investigate whether gender diversity on corporate boards leads to higher Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) commitment through these disclosures.

Using 16,659 firm-year observations across 42 countries for the years 2019 and 2020, we use disclosure data from the Refinitiv database to measure the sample firms’ stated commitment to sustainable development.

Our data provide useful comparative information on the countries, legal jurisdictions and types of SGDs currently being disclosed. Our analyses reveal that gender diverse boards are associated with greater levels of SDG disclosures, with such commitment being more significant when there is more than one woman on the board. We also find that women board members are associated most with the PEOPLE and PLANET groups within the SDGs, and our results are robust to additional analyses and endogeneity concerns.

Although gender diversity has been examined within a corporate social responsibility and ethical, social and governance lens, this examination needs to be extended to the SDGs, given the latter’s multi-year horizon and involvement from governments, the private sector and a very broad cross-section of the global community. Our results reinforce global calls for increasing gender representation at the highest levels of organisations to meet the expectations of a greater range of stakeholders in terms of SDG commitment.

This study aims to verify the significance of Andersen (2008) corporate risk management (CRM) framework in Asian emerging markets (AEMs) to control firm risk and improve firm performance.

The cross-sectional analyses are performed on a sample of 4,609 firms across nine Asian emerging countries using 2SLS estimation technique.

The empirical findings show that the adoption of CRM not only enhances firm performance by increasing the firm ability to capitalize on the market opportunity but also plays a significant role in reducing firm risk. The findings of this study assert that by institutionalizing risk management practices into an integrated CRM framework, the firm can reap multiple benefits by maintaining better contractual agreements and strategic partnerships with key stakeholders.

The study shifts the focus of CRM away from Western countries toward AEMs, which has been afflicted by high risks and uncertainties. The effectiveness of CRM against firm risk is established by dividing firm risk into firm-specific risk and systematic risk. Furthermore, this study also establishes that CRM not only leads to high returns but also reduces firm operational and production costs. Overall, the study provides a compelling argument to implement CRM for improving organizational performance and managing risks in a strategic and integrated manner. The findings are also relevant to risk management practitioners, as well as to academicians interested in the broader fields of corporate finance and strategy.

As rural nonfarm activities grow in developing countries, less attention is being paid to the opportunities they may provide for women. The purpose of this study is to examine the gender-differentiated impact of nonfarm diversification strategies in rural Senegal.

This study uses data collected from the Senegalese poverty monitoring survey and employs an instrumental variable (IV) approach and a multinomial endogenous treatment model to investigate the extent to which diversification strategies lead to improved outcomes for rural women and their households.

While nonfarm diversification is a male-dominated livelihood strategy, rural women make the most of it, regardless of whether they diversify into low- or high-return nonfarm activities. At the individual level, diversification improves rural women’s well-being through large income-increasing effects and higher empowerment but has no effect on rural men’s well-being. At the household level, the authors find that, when only women diversify, households have lower per capita income but are less likely to be food insecure than when only men or both genders diversify.

This study is based on cross-sectional data, making it impossible to examine the dynamic effects of nonfarm diversification strategies on well-being outcomes.

This study contributes to the current literature on rural livelihood diversification. While much attention has been paid to the feminization of agriculture, remarkably little is known about the expanding role of rural women in the nonfarm sector.

In the rapidly evolving digital economy, businesses face formidable pressures to maintain their competitive standing, prompting a surge of interest in the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation (DT). This study aims to assess the impact of AI technologies on corporate DT by scrutinizing 3,602 firm-year observations listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The research delves into the extent to which investments in AI drive DT, while also investigating how this relationship varies based on firms' ownership structure.

To explore the influence of AI technologies on corporate DT, the research employs robust quantitative methodologies. Notably, the study employs multiple validation techniques, including two-stage least squares (2SLS), propensity score matching and an instrumental variable approach, to ensure the credibility of its primary findings.

The investigation provides clear evidence that AI technologies can accelerate the pace of corporate DT. Firms strategically investing in AI technologies experience faster DT enabled by the automation of operational processes and enhanced data-driven decision-making abilities conferred by AI. Our findings confirm that AI integration has a significant positive impact in propelling DT across the firms studied. Interestingly, the study uncovers a significant divergence in the impact of AI on DT, contingent upon firms' ownership structure. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) exhibit a lesser degree of DT following AI integration compared to privately owned non-SOEs.

This study contributes to the burgeoning literature at the nexus of AI and DT by offering empirical evidence of the nexus between AI technologies and corporate DT. The investigation’s examination of the nuanced relationship between AI implementation, ownership structure and DT outcomes provides novel insights into the implications of AI in the diverse business contexts. Moreover, the research underscores the policy significance of supporting SOEs in their DT endeavors to prevent their potential lag in the digital economy. Overall, this study accentuates the imperative for businesses to strategically embrace AI technologies as a means to bolster their competitive edge in the contemporary digital landscape.

This study aims to examine the research that examines psychological empowerment (PE) and employee engagement (EE) via bibliometric analysis. The study also aims to offer an overview of the present state of research and indicate potential future research topics.

The literature on PE and engagement was reviewed using bibliometric analysis based on publications in the Scopus database. The analysis comprises a three-field plot, theoretical framework examination, thematic analysis and quantitative analysis of the most frequently referenced publications, affiliations, countries and authors.

The study identifies research trends such as the use of the leadership lens, the examination of the different degrees of empowerment, the examination of alternate mechanisms to improve engagement and the impact of supervisor resources on these constructs. The study also suggests areas for future research, such as the influence of leadership and organizational culture on these two factors, the link between PE and EE and the impact of the changing structure of work via the increased use of technology and new work relations like gig work on these concepts.

This study offers a thorough and systematic overview of the state of the research in the area of PE and EE. This study emphasizes the significance of PE and engagement in management by giving a thorough overview of the present state of research and outlining future research possibilities.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrative picture of the state of the art of the literature on digitalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as an enabler for their internationalisation process and as a comprehensive view of the specific domains impacted by digital technologies as well as their repercussions on the international outreach.

A systematic review which leverages a descriptive analysis of extant literature and an axial coding technique has been conducted to shed light on the current knowledge and to identify primary research areas and future research lines.

The research indicates that digitalisation impacts the internationalisation of SMEs in three specific domains: (1) internationalisation through the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) technologies and e-commerce platforms; (2) international expansion through the digitalisation of value chain activities and (3) international outreach through knowledge acquisition on digital platforms.

The value of this study is threefold. First, the authors attempt to systematically review the literature on SMEs digitalisation and internationalisation and provide a holistic perspective on the intertwining of these two research streams. Second, the authors propose a novel conceptualisation on the dimensions of SMEs digitalisation as enablers to internationalisation. Third, the authors put forward promising future lines of research.

1. Digitalisation represents a pivotal strategy that allows companies to build new strategic capabilities and is a propeller for SMEs internationalisation.

2. Through e-commerce, SMEs could compete at the same level of multinational companies but enduring lower costs of expansion.

3. Digital platforms allow SMEs to enhance the learning processes about international markets through an immediate access to relevant information.

4. Digital entrepreneurship has enabled SMEs to develop new configurations of value chain activities, evolving their business model or reaching new markets.

5. SMEs are changing the “business as usual” paradigm offering digital tools to build modular architectures that are scalable and agile in their evolution ability.

Digitalisation represents a pivotal strategy that allows companies to build new strategic capabilities and is a propeller for SMEs internationalisation.

Through e-commerce, SMEs could compete at the same level of multinational companies but enduring lower costs of expansion.

Digital platforms allow SMEs to enhance the learning processes about international markets through an immediate access to relevant information.

Digital entrepreneurship has enabled SMEs to develop new configurations of value chain activities, evolving their business model or reaching new markets.

SMEs are changing the “business as usual” paradigm offering digital tools to build modular architectures that are scalable and agile in their evolution ability.

Over the last two decades, green supply chain management (GSCM) has enabled businesses to operate in an environmentally friendly manner. The present review examines 234 research articles and proposes a methodical literature review on GSCM, focusing on the aspects of sustainable development.

The work examines conceptual, analytical, empirical and non-empirical research articles, analyzing at all levels of the organization, such as firm, dyad, supply chain and network. The objective of the review is to provide insights into the state and scope of existing research in the domain of GSCM, to identify the prevalence of GSCM and to consolidate the trend of future research. The literature review follows a systematic methodology for analyzing the literature.

The findings can support researchers in identifying research areas with significant impact and streamline research on GSCM in the future. Practitioners can utilize this structured classification to strategize their green initiatives in their firms.

The work contributes to providing literature that explores a detailed review in GSCM. The proposed literature review captures critical aspects in the domain of GSCM and offers future research directions.

This study investigates the impact of supply chain governance (SCG, which includes relational governance and contractual governance) on supply chain resilience (SCR) using the information processing theory. Moreover, the study also examines the mediating role of information processing capability and the moderating role of digital technology (DT) deployment.

A total of 288 questionnaires were collected from the Chinese manufacturing industry, and hierarchical regression was used to empirically test the proposed model.

This study reveals that SCG positively impacts SCR. Moreover, information processing capability plays a mediating role between SCG and SCR. Furthermore, the breadth of DT deployment positively moderates the effect of relational governance on information processing capability, and the depth of DT deployment positively moderates the effects of both relational governance and contractual governance on information processing capability.

This study offers a novel perspective that helps to understand the importance of the supply chain-wide information acquired by SCG in respect of improving SCR. Furthermore, this article extends the application of information processing theory by providing empirical evidence of the mediating role of information processing capability and elucidating the moderating role of DT deployment.