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Tania Nery-Kjerfve and Daiane Polesello
Extant expatriate literature largely adopts a global north/western focus and expatriate-centric approach in investigating spousal/partners’ motives for supporting expatriation…
Abstract
Purpose
Extant expatriate literature largely adopts a global north/western focus and expatriate-centric approach in investigating spousal/partners’ motives for supporting expatriation. Contrastingly, this study focuses on the lived experiences of dual-career female partners from an emerging global south economy and a patriarchal society as it relates to motives for supporting a partner’s international assignment (IA) to a developed country.
Design/methodology/approach
This investigation adopts a hermeneutic interpretive phenomenology research design. Twelve career-oriented female partners from an emerging global south economy (Brazil) who supported a partner’s IA to a developed country (USA) participated in this study. The data included semi-structured interviews and field notes.
Findings
The study indicates that societal constraints, gendered career experiences and career and life stage reasons influenced women’s decision to engage in career opt out and/or interruption in support of their partners' IA. Further, patriarchal long-lasting structures and ideologies shaped women’s career experiences; women perceived IAs as a means of acquiring embodied and institutionalized cosmopolitan capital for themselves and their families in order to gain a better position in a transnational/globalized world.
Research limitations/implications
Although the sample size of this study is appropriate for the methodological choice adopted, future studies should include more participants and address different socioeconomic, political and cultural contexts.
Originality/value
This study highlights dual-career female partners' lived experiences in an emerging global south economy and a patriarchal society as it relates to motives for supporting IAs.
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Paulina Bednarz-Łuczewska and Michał Łuczewski
This article aims to analyze the strategic work of Polish entrepreneurs in the furniture industry following the political changes in 1989. The authors examined how these…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to analyze the strategic work of Polish entrepreneurs in the furniture industry following the political changes in 1989. The authors examined how these entrepreneurs transitioned from local craftsmen or importers into leaders of international manufacturing companies and how their strategizing contributed to the unprecedented growth of the Polish furniture sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examined extant data, specifically biographical interviews conducted with 11 prominent leaders in the Polish furniture industry (Hryniewicki, 2015, 2018). They analyzed within a theoretical framework that integrates J.C. Spender’s theory of strategic management with Barry Johnson’s concept of polarity management. Polarity is a way of understanding and managing interdependent, opposing pairs of values or perspectives that give rise to conflict.
Findings
The analysis reveals key patterns of strategic challenges at the level of human agency, history and sense-making. The authors identified four key polarities: life and business, knowledge presence and absence, concordance and discordance, and instrumental and non-instrumental sense-making.
Originality/value
The polarity concept illuminates the interplay of agency and determinism in strategic decision-making, offering valuable insights for methodology and a deeper understanding of Poland’s furniture industry.
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Noel Scott, Brent Moyle, Ana Cláudia Campos, Liubov Skavronskaya and Biqiang Liu
Manuel Castelo Castelo Branco, Delfina Gomes and Adelaide Martins
The purpose of this study is to contribute to the discussion surrounding the definition of accounting proposed by Carnegie et al. (2021a, 2021b) and further elaborated by Carnegie…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to contribute to the discussion surrounding the definition of accounting proposed by Carnegie et al. (2021a, 2021b) and further elaborated by Carnegie et al. (2023) from/under an institutionalist political-economy (IPE) based foundation and to specifically extend this approach to the arena of social and environmental accounting (SEA).
Design/methodology/approach
By adopting an IPE approach to SEA, this study offers a critique of the use of the notion of capital to refer to nature and people in SEA frameworks and standards.
Findings
A SEA framework based on the capabilities approach is proposed based on the concepts of human capabilities and global commons for the purpose of preserving the commons and enabling the flourishing of present and future generations.
Practical implications
The proposed framework allows the engagement of accounting community, in particular SEA researchers, with and contribution to such well-established initiatives as the Planetary Boundaries framework and the human development reports initiative of the United Nations Development Programme.
Originality/value
Based on the capability approach, this study applies Carnegie et al.’s (2023) framework to SEA. This new approach more attuned to the pursuit of sustainable human development and the sustainable development goals, may contribute to turning accounting into a major positive force through its impacts on the world, expressly upon organisations, people and nature.
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Erin Jade Twyford, Sedzani Musundwa, Farzana Aman Tanima and Sendirella George
The purpose of this paper is to argue for a transformative shift towards an inclusive and socially responsible framework in accounting education. Integrating the United Nations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue for a transformative shift towards an inclusive and socially responsible framework in accounting education. Integrating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into accounting curricula can help accountants contribute positively towards the goals’ aim. This represents not merely an educational reform but a call to action to forge a path that empowers accounting students to be technically proficient and socially conscious graduates who act as change agents working towards the public interest.
Design/methodology/approach
This study challenges the technical focus of accounting, conceptualising it as a multidimensional technical, social and moral practice, transcending traditional boundaries to address complex societal issues. This paper is primarily discursive, using autoethnography through presenting vignettes written by four female accounting educators across three geographical regions. These first-person narratives foster a sense of interconnectedness and shared responsibility within the accounting community, reflecting a collective commitment to integrating SDGs into accounting education. By sharing personal experiences, the authors invite readers to engage in reflective pedagogy and contribute to shaping a better world through accounting education.
Findings
The transformative potential of purposefully incorporating SDGs into accounting education is not just a theoretical concept. The vignettes in this study provide concrete evidence of how this integration can shape future accountants into socially conscious professionals driven by ethics, equity and environmental responsibility. Our collective reflection underscores the importance of collaboration and continuous learning in aligning accounting education with the SDGs, offering a hopeful vision for the future of this field.
Originality/value
This study builds on existing literature to encourage communication, curriculum development, collaborative teaching approaches, experiential learning opportunities, ongoing evaluation and community dialogue on reshaping accounting education by giving a rare insight into what and how people teach and from what broader motivations. It offers a practical roadmap for educators to integrate SDGs into their teaching.
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Since there are limited role models and career templates for entrepreneurship education (EE) graduates in the labour market, their careers are largely based on personal…
Abstract
Purpose
Since there are limited role models and career templates for entrepreneurship education (EE) graduates in the labour market, their careers are largely based on personal preferences, aspirations and values. Few studies have investigated how EE impacts graduates’ career aspirations. The present study addressed this gap by exploring how entrepreneurial identity (EI) manifestations act as career identities for EE graduates.
Design/methodology/approach
Five graduates from two EE programmes in Norway were purposefully selected based on their career histories. They were interviewed using a life story approach, and the narratives were analysed to explore how their EIs were developed and how the EIs acted as career identities.
Findings
The study findings revealed three EI manifestations that directed the participants’ careers: change agent, career seeker and maverick specialist. Additionally, the findings showed how EI is developed through EE: by connecting previous aspirations to realistic career alternatives, by being a place where individuals can experiment with provisional selves and by gaining social acceptance and affirmations for a claimed identity. Furthermore, the findings demonstrated how EI manifestations act as career identities that give direction to graduates’ careers.
Originality/value
This study has important implications regarding the broader impact of EE on graduates’ careers. Furthermore, by exploring EE graduates’ narratives, this study provides a richer and more nuanced view of how aspirations and career preferences are developed than previous studies.
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Cristina Gianfelici, Ann Martin-Sardesai and James Guthrie
This research explores how contextual elements and significant events influence the changing storylines within a company's directors' reports spanning a period of six decades…
Abstract
Purpose
This research explores how contextual elements and significant events influence the changing storylines within a company's directors' reports spanning a period of six decades. These elements and events encompass the internal dynamics of the family that owns the company, industry-specific advancements, political and socioeconomic climates, and explicit guidelines related to corporate reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
This research employs a case study methodology to analyse the directors' reports of Barilla, a prominent Italian food manufacturer, within the theoretical framework of historical institutionalism. A systematic content analysis is conducted on sixty directors' reports published between 1961 and 2021. The study also identifies and examines significant contextual events within this six-decade period, which are linked to four key institutional factors.
Findings
Based on the research findings, the directors' reports exhibited notable fluctuations throughout the studied timeframe in reaction to shifts in the institutional setting. Our investigation highlights that each institutional element experienced crucial pivotal moments, and given their interconnected nature, modifications in one factor impacted the others. It was noted that these pivotal moments resulted in alterations in the directors' reports' content across various thematic areas. Additionally, despite Barilla being a multinational company, it was found that national events within Italy had a more pronounced influence on the evolving narratives than global events.
Originality/value
Previous research on directors' reports or chairman's statements has primarily focused on the influence of macro-level institutional factors on the narratives. In contrast, our study considers both macro-level and micro-level institutions, specifically examining the internal events within a family business and how they shape the content of directors' reports. Our study is also distinctive in its analysis of specific critical junctures and their interactions with the investigated institutional factors. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, few existing studies span a timeframe of sixty years, particularly concerning an Italian company.
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Stories are a part of being human. They are powerful tools to create social bonds, elicit emotions, and consolidate personal and shared memories. Their role, characteristics, and…
Abstract
Stories are a part of being human. They are powerful tools to create social bonds, elicit emotions, and consolidate personal and shared memories. Their role, characteristics, and effects are studied in a variety of scientific fields. In tourism, they can enhance destination distinctiveness, as well as the tourist experience. However, the cognitive processes through which stories contribute to elicitation of emotions or memorability, the very reasons why they are considered important in tourism, are still little understood. This chapter discusses some of the cognitive processes involved in storytelling drawing insights from cognitive psychology and neuroscience, which may help in better understanding and managing the tourist experience.
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