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The introduction of the book is aimed at providing the reader with a comprehensive analytical framework on the purpose and content of sustainable development analysis as a wicked problem in policymaking. The UN's 2030 Agenda is an ambitious and far-reaching initiative that encompasses 17 broad goals and 169 targets, which may be too general and potentially conflicting. Translating this agenda into practice is a challenging and possibly frustrating task that requires a pragmatic and methodologically structured approach. Accordingly, the introduction is organized around five key concepts that favor a translation into practice: the definition of problems and solutions, the policymaking of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the wicked nature of policy problems in a sustainable development perspective, the specific kinds of capacity the policymakers must get to accomplish any task in the field of sustainable development, and, lastly, the type of policy design allocating ends and means for solving the problems. In particular, the theoretical framework supports the reader in understanding the wicked nature of sustainable development policies and the additional capacities policymakers must have in order to be able to design effective and coherent strategies. After a detailed presentation of each of the 12 chapters divided into two parts (six chapters in a section dedicated to the analysis of wicked sustainable development policies and six chapters dedicated to the analysis of the capacity of institutional instruments in resolving wickedness), the introduction anticipates the reader the rationale of the book.

This paper argues for an increased volume of references to Gabriel Tarde and Georg Simmel in the field of organization sociology. The text emphasizes the importance of these two sociologists in understanding the role of imperfection in organizing and the phenomena of fashion and imitation in contemporary organizations. Tarde’s theory challenged the antinomy between continuity and discontinuity, considering finite entities as cases of infinite processes and stable situations as transitory. Simmel’s theory of fashion explores the democratic and democratizing nature of fashion, which satisfies the demand for social adaptation and differentiation. They both saw fashion as a selection mechanism for organizational forms and managerial practices. Furthermore, referring to Tarde and Simmel can help counter the overemphasis on identity construction and the neglect of alterity in social sciences. The construction of identity often overlooks the inevitability of difference and alterity, which are essential aspects of collective projects. Lastly, this paper discusses Simmel’s concept of the stranger and its relevance in analyzing the experiences of foreigners and their potential advantages as “double strangers” in academia and society. The conclusion is that Tarde and Simmel’s contributions offer valuable insights for understanding the dynamics of management, organizing, and social interactions in contemporary organizations.

This paper aims to develop an adaptable control architecture for electrohydraulic humanoid robots (HYDROïD) that emulate the functionality of the human nervous system. The developed control architecture overcomes the limitations of classical centralized and decentralized systems by distributing intelligence across controllers.

The proposed solution is a distributed real-time control architecture with robot operating system (ROS). The joint controllers have the intelligence to make decisions, dominate their actuators and publish their state. The real-time capabilities are ensured in the master controller by using a Preempt-RT kernel beside open robot control software middleware to operate the real-time tasks and in the customized joint controllers by free real-time operating systems firmware. Systems can be either centralized, where all components are connected to a central unit or decentralized, where distributed units act as interfaces between the I/Os and the master controller when the master controller is without the ability to make decisions.

The proposed architecture establishes a versatile and adaptive control framework. It features a centralized hardware topology with a master PC and distributed joint controllers, while the software architecture adapts based on the task. It operates in a distributed manner for precise, force-independent motions and in a decentralized manner for tasks requiring compliance and force control. This design enables the examination of the sensorimotor loop at both low-level joint controllers and the high-level master controller.

It developed a control architecture emulating the functionality of the human nervous system. The experimental validations were performed on the HYDROïD. The results demonstrated 50% advancements in the update rate compared to other humanoids and 30% in the latency of the master processor and the control tasks.

This study aims to explore how managers exercise agency in strategic investment decisions (SIDs) by drawing on their knowledgeability of the strategic context. Specifically, the authors address the role of position–practice relations and irresistible causal forces in this conduct.

The authors examine SID-making (SIDM) practices in four case organisations operating in highly competitive markets, conducting interviews with managers at various levels and analysing company documents. Drawing on strong structuration theory, the authors show how managerial decision makers draw upon their knowledge of organisational context when exercising agency in SIDs.

The authors provide insights into how SIDM behaviour, specifically agents’ conduct, is shaped by a combination of position–practice relations and the agents’ comprehension of their organisation’s context.

The authors extend the SIDM literature by surfacing the issue of how actors’ conjuncturally-specific knowledge of external structures shapes the general dispositions they draw on in exercising agency in practice.

The authors extend the SIDM literature by surfacing the issue of how actors’ conjuncturally-specific knowledge of external structures shapes the general dispositions they draw on in exercising agency in practice. Particularly, the authors contribute to this literature by identifying irresistible causal forces and illuminating why actors might not resist in SIDM processes, despite having the potential to do so.

In the accounting field, sustainability accounting (SA) has evolved as a valuable tool that links improvements in environmental, social and governance issues to financial performance. This study aims to examine the structure and evolution of SA research, map the state of knowledge and analyse the literature trends and gaps.

The study adopts a bibliometric review technique with data sourced from the Scopus database. A total of 7,049 extant literature spanning from 1982 to 2022 was analysed using the VOSviewer software.

The authors find a significant growth in the number of publications on SA research, primarily driven by collaboration among researchers from Europe and America. The analysis highlights emerging themes, structure and discusses in detail the changing phases of SA research over the past four decades while highlighting key events that have impacted the development of SA research. Furthermore, the dominant theories used by extant studies are discussed and potential avenues for future research are provided. The authors draw the attention of the research community to the dominant authors, the most cited articles, prominent publication outlets and countries advancing research in this field.

This study advances knowledge on SA research by providing a retrospective assessment of the state of knowledge in the field while highlighting avenues for future research.

To generate the measurement instrument seven steps were implemented. A total of 819 questionnaires were collected in Yunnan Province, China, where it has long tradition of eating insects.

This study aims to explore the influences of the multidimensional benefits of consuming insect-based food on its consequences. Food neophilia and hedonic motivation are used as moderating variables.

Health, nutritional value, taste and cultural domains effectively explained consumers’ attitudes toward insect-based food, food consumption value, satisfaction, subjective well-being, loyalty to the restaurant and community attachment. Food neophilia and hedonic motivation partially moderated the relationships between the proposed constructs.

This study provides a conceptual model for exploring insect-based food consumption experiences and offers a useful guideline for developing and designing marketing strategies for stakeholders in the food and restaurant industry.

This is one of the few studies examining the benefits of consuming insect-based food from the perspective of consumers.

Integrated reporting enhances the meaningfulness of non-financial information, but whether this enhancement is progressive or regressive from a sustainability perspective is unknown. This study aims to examine the influence of the Integrated Reporting (<IR>) Framework on the disclosure of financial- and impact-material sustainability-related information in integrated reports.

Using a disclosure index constructed from the Global Reporting Initiative’s G4 Guidelines and UN Sustainable Development Goals, the authors content analysed integrated reports of 40 companies from the International Integrated Reporting Council’s Pilot Programme Business Network published between 2015 and 2017. The content analysis distinguished between financial- and impact-material sustainability-related information.

The extent of sustainability-related disclosures in integrated reports remained more or less constant over the study period. Impact-material disclosures were more prominent than financial material ones. Impact-material disclosures mainly related to environmental aspects, while labour practices-related disclosures were predominantly financially material. The balance between financially- and impact-material sustainability-related disclosures varied based on factors such as industry environmental sensitivity and country-specific characteristics, such as the country’s legal system and development status.

The paper presents a unique disclosure index to distinguish between financially- and impact-material sustainability-related disclosures. Researchers can use this disclosure index to critically examine the nature of sustainability-related disclosure in corporate reports.

This study offers an in-depth understanding of the influence of non-financial reporting frameworks, such as the <IR> Framework that uses a financial materiality perspective, on sustainability reporting. The findings reveal that the practical implementation of the <IR> Framework resulted in sustainability reporting outcomes that deviated from theoretical expectations. Exploring the materiality concept that underscores sustainability-related disclosures by companies using the <IR> Framework is useful for predicting the effects of adopting the Sustainability Disclosure Standards issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board, which also emphasises financial materiality.

Despite an emphasis on financial materiality in the <IR> Framework, companies continue to offer substantial impact-material information, implying the potential for companies to balance both financial and broader societal concerns in their reporting.

While prior research has delved into the practices of regulated integrated reporting, especially in the unique context of South Africa, this study focuses on voluntary adoption, attributing observed practices to intrinsic company motivations. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study to explicitly explore the nature of materiality in sustainability-related disclosure. The research also introduces a nuanced understanding of contextual factors influencing sustainability reporting.

Quality management practitioners have yet to cease the potential of digitalisation. Furthermore, there is a lack of tools such as frameworks guiding practitioners in the digital transformation of their organisations. The purpose of this study is to provide a framework to guide quality practitioners with the implementation of digitalisation in their existing practices.

A review of literature assessed how quality management and digitalisation have been integrated. Findings from the literature review highlighted the success of the integration of Lean manufacturing with digitalisation. A comprehensive list of Lean Six Sigma tools were then reviewed in terms of their effectiveness and relevance for the hybrid digitisation approach to process improvement (HyDAPI) framework.

The implementation of the proposed HyDAPI framework in an industrial case study led to increased efficiency, reduction of waste, standardised work, mistake proofing and the ability to root cause non-conformance products.

The activities and tools in the HyDAPI framework are not inclusive of all techniques from Lean Six Sigma.

The HyDAPI framework is a flexible guide for quality practitioners to digitalise key information from manufacturing processes. The framework allows organisations to select the appropriate tools as needed. This is required because of the varying and complex nature of organisation processes and the challenge of adapting to the continually evolving Industry 4.0.

This research proposes the HyDAPI framework as a flexible and adaptable approach for quality management practitioners to implement digitalisation. This was developed because of the gap in research regarding the lack of procedures guiding organisations in their digital transition to Industry 4.0.