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Whistleblowers are individuals who detect and report misconduct in an organization. They help to mitigate organizational misbehavior and resulting damages effectively and relatively quickly. Whistleblower protection has not been systematically required in the European Union (EU), leaving many large organizations unregulated. This study aims to get in-depth insights into how unregulated organizations design, handle and view whistleblowing with the advent of a novel EU Whistleblowing Directive.

The authors conducted 17 semistructured interviews with a diverse group of organizations headquartered in Germany and inductively analyzed them following Grounded Theory. Linking the Grounded Theory to the legal endogeneity model, they developed seven perspectives that help to explain how organizations view whistleblowing.

In trying to make sense of the role of whistleblowing in the organization’s governance, organizations and their managers assume different perspectives. These perspectives guide their approach to whistleblower protection in the context of evolving regulation with little regulatory guidance. Perspectives vary in the degree of supporting whistleblowing regulation, from viewing whistleblowing as a natural, everyday governance tool to denying it and fearing denunciation. Most organizations exhibit several perspectives.

Little is known about day-to-day whistleblowing practices from the perspective of organizations. The authors fill this research gap by providing initial evidence on how organizations approach whistleblowing and the EU Whistleblowing Directive. Identifying organizations’ perspectives may help us understand how ineffective or noncompliant whistleblowing systems emerge and how organizations can improve.

This paper aims to explore the interdisciplinary nature of coordination challenges in the logistic response to food safety incidents while distinguishing the food supply chain positions involved.

This adopts an exploratory qualitative research approach over a period of 11 years. Multiple research periods generated 38 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups. All data is analysed by a thematic analysis.

The authors identified four key coordination challenges in the logistics response to food safety incidents: first, information quality (sharing information and the applied technology) appears to be seen as the biggest challenge for the response; second, more emphasis on external coordination focus is required; third, more extensive emphasis is needed on the proactive phase in the logistic response; fourth, a distinct difference exists in the position’s views on coordination in the food supply chain. Furthermore, the data supports the interdisciplinary nature as disciplines such as operations management, strategy and organisation but also food safety and risk management, have to work together to align a rapid response, depending on the incident’s specifics.

The paper shows the need for comprehensively reviewing and elaborating on the research gap in coordination decisions for the logistic response to food safety incidents while using the views of the different supply chain positions. The empirical data indicates the interdisciplinary nature of these coordination decisions, supporting the need for more attention to the interdisciplinary food research agenda. The findings also indicate the need for more attention to organisational learning, and an open and active debate on exploratory qualitative research approaches over a long period of time, as this is not widely used in supply chain management studies.

The results of this paper do not present a managerial blueprint but can be helpful for practitioners dealing with aspects of decision-making by the food supply chain positions. The findings help practitioners to systematically go through all phases of the decision-making process for designing an effective logistic response to food safety incidents. Furthermore, the results provide insight into the distinct differences in views of the supply chain positions on the coordination decision-making process, which is helpful for managers to better understand in what phase(s) and why other positions might make different decisions.

The findings add value for the general public, as an effective logistic response contributes to consumer’s trust in food safety by creating more transparency in the decisions made during a food safety incident. As food sources are and will remain essential for human existence, the need to contribute to knowledge related to aspects of food safety is evident because it will be impossible to prevent all food safety incidents.

As the main contribution, this study provides a systematic and interdisciplinary understanding of the coordination decision-making process for the logistic response to food safety incidents while distinguishing the views of the supply chain positions.

This paper aims to present the vertical integration state-of-the-art and propose an expansion of the operations and supply chain management (OSCM) field by identifying gaps and bottlenecks.

This paper uses a systematic literature review based on a sample of 173 OSCM field articles, collected from Scopus and Web of Science databases.

There are no single factors, such as future costs, structures or skills development, in the decision to vertically integrate operations. It is necessary to combine the vision of production costs with the perspective of governance and transaction costs. In addition, it is essential to consider the competency perspective and its impact on capability building.

Few studies have attempted to understand how vertical integration is used in terms of OSCM research themes and theories. Vertical integration can help companies face challenges and serve as a potential solution for achieving better prices, demand control and quality management.

The significant role of vertical integration mechanisms in supply chains is crucial for managers evaluating a firm's reconfiguration with more vertical operations. Policymakers interested in supporting the smoothness of vertical integration decisions in regulatory agencies play a key role as contingencies.

In times of global challenges, vertical integration is a strategy known to be more effective for firms to obtain a competitive advantage, making them more resilient.

This paper addresses gaps in the vertical integration theme and provides insights for future research development.

To endure and cope in the rapidly changing environment, it is required of firms to gain a deeper acquisition of knowledge on market dynamics and subsequently concentrate on corporations' capacity to create, restructure and integrate their internal and external competences. Hence, the objective of this study is to investigate the influence of eco-dynamic capability (EDC) on the sustainability performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Structured questionnaires were used to obtain primary data. The data were solicited from 500 employees and owner-managers of SMEs. The study’s hypotheses were tested using standard multiple regression through IBM SPSS Statistics (version 24).

The study revealed that EDC has a substantial positive effect on the economic, social and environmental sustainability performance dimensions.

The focus of this study is on EDC. Thus, although dynamic capability has been the subject of substantial study, little is known regarding the effect of EDC on the economic sustainability performance (ESP) (financial), environmental sustainability performance (ENSP) and social sustainability performance (SSP) of SMEs, predominantly amongst SMEs in emerging economies.

Despite the increasing interest in the role of supply chain concentration (SCC) in improving performance, its influence on firms' sustainability performance remains unexplored, as do the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. Drawing on resource dependence theory, the authors investigate the relationship between SCC and manufacturing firms' sustainability performance and the moderating roles of operational slack and information transparency.

The authors use secondary data from 3,581 manufacturing firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share stock markets from 2006 to 2020 to conduct an empirical analysis using panel data regression models.

Manufacturing firms' SCC is negatively related to sustainability performance until it reaches a certain point, where SCC positively affects sustainability performance, presenting a U-shaped relationship. In addition, operational slack represented by a quick ratio moderates the relationship between SCC and sustainability performance by flattening the curve. Operational slack represented by receivable turnover ratio moderates the relationship between SCC and sustainability performance by steepening the curve and shifting the turning point left. Information transparency strengthens the effect of SCC on the sustainability performance by steepening the curve.

This investigation provides a comprehensive view of the SCC– sustainability performance relationship.

This paper examines how different configurations of societal impact are pursued by purpose-driven organizations (PDOs) and how these configurations align with the application of varying supply chain design (SCD) practices.

This multi-method study uses quantitative data from 1588 B Corps and qualitative data from 316 B Corps to examine how PDOs align SCD with the pursuit of diverse types of societal impact. The authors first conduct a cluster analysis to group organizations based on the impact they create. Second, qualitative content analysis connects impact with enabling SCD elements.

The analysis of the five identified clusters provides detailed empirical insights on influencers, design decisions and building blocks adopted by PDOs to drive a range of societal impacts. Specifically, the nature of the impact pursued affects (1) whether a PDO will be more influenced by a need in the political environment or an opportunity in the industry environment, (2) the relative importance of the design of social flows versus material flows and (3) the need to develop new relational resources with beneficiaries versus leveraging existing capabilities to manage inter-firm processes.

This study responds to calls to disaggregate different dimensions of societal impact and examines the relationship between SCD and a breadth of sustainability impacts for different stakeholders. In doing so, the authors identify four SCD pathways organizations can follow to achieve specific societal impacts. This study is also the first to employ a supply chain perspective in the study of certified B Corps.

The research aimed to explore the perceptions of aspiring future police officers studying at a university in relation to the actions to be taken with regards to typical posts on social media by a fictitious off and on-duty police officer. This in turn would inform future police workforce requirements.

Policing students who expressed their aspirations as future police officers were recruited. A total of 99 students studying the College of Policing licensed Professional Policing Degree at the University of South Wales, took part in Hydra Immersive Simulations to ascertain their perception of social media posts by a fictitious serving police officer. The students were asked to rate the appropriateness of the social media posts as groups, and as individuals.

The findings suggest that, whilst the majority of students identified misconduct issues in the social media posts, the response to how the fictitious police officer should be dealt with varied. In addition, it would appear that there may be a need for those involved in policing education to reinforce, in an ongoing basis, knowledge of the College of Policing Code of Ethics, misconduct rules, regulations and increase awareness of unacceptable social media posts.

The research was conducted with professional policing degree (PPD) students from one university.

It is important to reinforce The College of Policing Code of Ethics, expected professional standards and an understanding of what constitutes unacceptable social media posts throughout the education of aspiring police officers. As this has the potential, if recruited, to impact on the service.

Limited research has been conducted in relation to the College of Policing licensed higher education programme, the PPD, equipping aspiring police officers to successfully join the service and influence the cultural change.

This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of the interdisciplinary literature on drones in last-mile delivery (LMD) to extrapolate pertinent insights from and into the logistics management field.

Rooting their analytical categories in the LMD literature, the authors performed a deductive, theory refinement SLR on 307 interdisciplinary journal articles published during 2015–2022 to integrate this emergent phenomenon into the field.

The authors derived the potentials, challenges and solutions of drone deliveries in relation to 12 LMD criteria dispersed across four stakeholder groups: senders, receivers, regulators and societies. Relationships between these criteria were also identified.

This review contributes to logistics management by offering a current, nuanced and multifaceted discussion of drones' potential to improve the LMD process together with the challenges and solutions involved.

The authors provide logistics managers with a holistic roadmap to help them make informed decisions about adopting drones in their delivery systems. Regulators and society members also gain insights into the prospects, requirements and repercussions of drone deliveries.

This is one of the first SLRs on drone applications in LMD from a logistics management perspective.

Lean production has been proved to be a cost-effective and efficient means of production that reduces non-valve added activities. Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is a technology-driven platform that allows machines to interact with other systems through artificial intelligence, machine learning, industrial Internet of Things (IoT), etc. that improve the production system with flexibility, quality and customization throughout the whole value chain. New approaches to digitization of lean production have recently been emerged and they are transforming the industry and increasing productivity throughout the value chain. Through this article, an effort has been made to review the research published in this field.

This paper reviews the literature published in various journals, the databases Web of science (WoS), ScienceDirect, Scopus, Emerald etc. were referred with a focus on lean concepts and tools and I4.0 technologies; it has been noticed that the integration of the lean tools with I4.0 technologies is a very effective tool for the industry.

It has been found in the literature published earlier in various journals that lean manufacturing (LM) is commonly acknowledged and considered a best practice to improve the productivity. It is concerned with the tight integration of people into the industrial process through continuous improvement which leads to value addition throughout the whole value chain by eliminating non vale added activities. The findings show that organizations can improve their productivity and flexibility with speed and accuracy by integrating I4.0 technologies with LM, which is foremost need of any industry across the world.

This article accentuates the connections between the principles and tools developed under the umbrella of I4.0 and those developed by the LM techniques, with a specific emphasis on how some of the principles and tools of I4.0 improve the implementation of lean principles dependent on the competence levels of the technology. Very few articles have been published in this area, and this paper is an original piece of research covering a review of extant research published in various journals.

Smart HR 4.0 is a new concept characterized by adopting innovative technologies of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) in the HR domain. This study attempts to identify the key factors of Smart HR 4.0 to foster organizational innovation ambidexterity.

Based on review of literature and survey from expert opinions by using the Delphi method, 12 factors were found most suitable for this study. Further, the fuzzy-TISM technique was used to establish contextual relationships and develop a hierarchical model on the identified factors. Subsequently, the MICMAC analysis was applied to classify these factors according to their driving and dependence power.

This study framed a conceptual hierarchical model of Smart HR 4.0 and established contextual relationships among identified factors. Result shows that smart organic structure, industry–institute interface, IT-enabled system and ambidextrous leadership are important factors as they have the highest driving power. Further, knowledge management, learning culture and psychological empowerment are the linkage factors having both driving as well as dependency power in the whole system.

This study can guide the managers in smoothly implementing these practices to manage their human capital amidst digital disruption, ensuring innovation competitiveness of the firm. The structural hierarchical framework of Smart HR 4.0 may serve as a blueprint for HR professionals and business leaders to attain organizational innovation ambidexterity in the current wave of digital disruptions (Industry 4.0).

This study provides a holistic model of smart HR 4.0 integrating innovation ambidexterity in I4.0.