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The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of green finance on human well-being in China in the context of urbanization and aging population. It aims to explore the contributions of green finance in such demographic scenarios.

This study innovates and optimizes the calculation of the carbon intensity of human well-being (CIWB) index and strengthens the integrity of the assessment model for green finance development. It uses the serial multiple mediator model and moderation effect analysis to address the impact of green finance on human well-being in China on the provincial level from 2009 to 2020.

Green finance has a significant, positive and direct impact on human well-being. Simultaneously, it influences human well-being indirectly through three transmission channels. Urbanization and an ageing population are significant individual mediators through which green finance contributes to human well-being improvement. Notably, these two mediators also work together to transfer the promotional impact of green finance to human well-being.

The government can perfect the regulations to strengthen the market ecosystem to accelerate the development of green finance. Reforms on the administrative division to expand the size of cities with the implementation of ageing friendly development strategy is also necessary. Attracting incoming foreign direct investment in sustainable projects and adjusting public projects and trade activities to fulfil the sustainable principles are also regarded as essential.

The findings challenge traditional views on the impact of aging populations, highlighting the beneficial role of green finance in improving well-being amidst demographic changes. This offers a new perspective on economic and environmental sustainability in aging societies.

A multi-dimensional well-being indicator, CIWB and the serial multiple mediator model are used and direct and indirect impacts of green finance on human well-being is exhibited. It offers novel insights on the transmission channels behind, identifies the mediating role of urbanization and ageing population and offers empirical evidences with strong academic and policy implications.

This chapter of the book aims to introduce multiobjective linear programming (MLP) as an optimum tool to find the best quality engineering techniques (QET) in the main domains of supply chain management (SCM). The importance of finding the best quality techniques in SCM elements in the shortest possible time and at the least cost allows all organizations to increase the power of experts’ analysis in supply chain network (SCN) data under cost-effective conditions. In other words, this chapter aims to introduce an operations research model by presenting MLP for obtaining the best QET in the main domains of SCM. MLP is one of the most determinative tools in this chapter that can provide a competitive advantage. Under goal and system constraints, the most challenging task for decision-makers (DMs) is to decide which components to fund and at what levels. The definition of a comprehensive target value among the required goals and determining system constraints is the strength of this chapter. Therefore, this chapter can guide the readers to extract the best statistical and non-statistical techniques with the application of an operations research model through MLP in supply chain elements and shows a new innovation of the effective application of operations research approach in this field. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a supplemental tool in this chapter to facilitate the relevant decision-making process.

Achieving better performance and a sustainable competitive advantage is essential for survival in the hotel industry. However, literature is scarce on which factors local hotel businesses in developing countries should rely on to compete successfully. With an emerging economy and significant potential for growth in the travel and hospitality sectors, Colombia is seeking to improve the performance of its hotel industry. To achieve this goal, exploring and analyzing the effects of the strategies and practices implemented is essential. Accordingly, this study investigates the dynamics of the interactions between strategies, process innovations, outsourcing practices and operational quality in the hotel industry in Colombia.

The methodology used in this research is quantitative, using structural equation modeling based on data collected from 150 valid questionnaires.

The strategies of the hotel sector have an impact on hotel performance. Although process innovation demonstrably affects quality and outsourcing, there is a low impact on the performance of the studied hotels. The hotel sector lacks strategy autonomy as strategies are not directed to the organization's overall improvement but only to satisfy stakeholders' requirements.

This paper offers valuable insights for organizations when implementing strategic innovation initiatives. It provides information relevant to Colombian government entities on the creation of processes, economic policy plans and business assistance programs for boosting the financial and commercial sustainability of Colombian service sector businesses. The studied organizations need to redefine the role of their strategies, process innovation, outsourcing projects and quality standards to achieve adequate performance, as all four dimensions together are required to foster competitiveness.

This paper offers valuable insights for organizations when implementing strategic innovation initiatives. Additionally, it provides information relevant to Colombian government entities on the creation of processes, economic policy plans and business assistance programs for boosting the financial and commercial sustainability of Colombian service sector businesses. The studied organizations need to redefine the role of their strategies, process innovation, outsourcing projects and quality standards to achieve adequate performance, as all four dimensions together are required to foster competitiveness.

Developing successful strategies is vital to generating performance. Quality and safety are critical strategies to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. But literature is scarce on which factors local hotel businesses should rely on to compete successfully in developing countries. In particular, the concept of outsourcing in a highly distrusting developing country has not been addressed adequately. This research contributes to literature by evaluating quality as a competitive strategy in the hotel sector in a developing country to achieve a superior performance.

Given the potential for authorial fashion to lead the way in the field of sustainable fashion and digital platforms to be a powerful tool for spreading sustainable messages, this study seeks to explore the emphasis given to sustainability in the digital communication of Portuguese and Spanish’s authorial fashion.

A thematic analysis of all the posts published on the feeds of the 63 designers who presented their collections at the Madrid and Lisbon fashion weeks in September/October 2022 (Spring/Summer 2023) or February/March 2023 (Fall/Winter 2023/2024) editions was carried out. The information was collected over a six-month period between the two fashion weeks. This study is based on the categories identified in the reflexive thematic analysis developed by Testa et al. (2020). After adapting the categories to our analysis, 14 emerging themes were identified as observation criteria.

A total of 4,699 posts were examined. The analysis reveals a general lack of interest in mentioning sustainability – a subject evident in just around 6% of the content – as well as a high emphasis on the visual aspect of the fashion product. Several similarities between the Portuguese and Spanish markets were observed.

This study is important since there are few cross-cultural studies in the field of fashion between the two countries, particularly on sustainable fashion. Furthermore, it establishes a structure that is easily replicable in various markets and geographical areas.

This study tries to examine the effect of artificial intelligence (AI) drivers on the willingness to adopt the human capital supply chain (HCSC) in manufacturing firms (MFs) in developing countries (DCs) including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which are listed in the Chambers of Industry of these countries.

The quantitative methodology with a simple random sampling method was adopted using a questionnaire survey-based approach to collect data from 233 out of 1,055 participants (human resource (HR) managers and information technology (IT) senior managers) from various MFs (private and commercial), representing a 22% response rate. Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) was used to analyze the raw data using Amos V.25.

The results of this study showed that there are positive and statistically significant direct association effects between the reliability of use (RoU), competitive pressures (CPs) and user confidence (UC) factors on the willingness to adopt AI in HCSC in the MFs in DCs. At the same time, there is no significant effect on a firm’s infrastructure readiness (FIRs), in addition to the indirect effect of UC in the relationship between CPs and FIRs on the willingness to adopt AI in HCSC.

Such findings of this study can provide insightful implications for stakeholders and policymakers regarding the importance of using predictive AI drivers' effect on willingness to adopt the HCSC in the MFs in DCs as emerging economies. Additionally, the managers might focus on the existence of a significant positive indirect effect of UC as a mediating factor in the relationship between FIRs and willingness to adopt AI and its applications in HCSC systems and departments.

Employees of Pakistani public sector organizations feel thwarted toward their goal attainment because of strict adherence to rules and regulations and tall hierarchies existing in this region. Therefore, keeping in view the harmful effects of perceived organizational obstruction, the aim of the current study was to investigate the perceived organizational obstruction as an attribution that triggers job neglect through perceived organizational frustration. Harvey’s expanded attribution-emotion model of workplace aggression and an attributional perspective on workplace aggression provide the theoretical justification. Moreover, the moderating role of self-control was proposed to mitigate the indirect effect of organizational obstruction on job neglect through perceived organizational frustration.

A three-wave data collection was done by using a close-ended questionnaire distributed to a total of 600 administrative employees of public sector organizations operating in Rawalpindi/Islamabad (Pakistan). However, matching three times and discarding the incomplete questionnaires led to a sample of 375 on which the analysis was done.

Perceived organizational obstruction positively predicted job neglect. Likewise, organizational frustration mediated the aforementioned link. Moreover, the higher level of self-control weakens this underlying process by suppressing job neglect behavior.

The current study added to the limited literature on public sector organizations that has taken perceived organizational obstruction as a predictor variable. Moreover, this study explains how this phenomenon translates into non-hostile behavior that is difficult to identify and punish in public sector organizations. Moreover, the trait of self-control is added to the literature of non-hostile behaviors that dampen the impulsivity to indulge in job neglect.

The objective of this study is to examine current business and management research on “Industry 4.0 base technologies” and “business models” to shed light on this vast literature and to point out future research agenda.

The authors conducted a bibliometric analysis of scientific publications based on 482 documents collected from the Scopus database and a co-citation analysis to provide an overview of business model studies related to Industry 4.0 base technologies. After that a qualitative analysis of the articles was also conducted to identify research trends and trajectories.

The results reveal the existence of five research themes: smart products (cluster 1); business model innovation (cluster 2); technological platforms (cluster 3); value creation and appropriation (cluster 4); and digital business models (cluster 5). A qualitative analysis of the articles was also conducted to identify research trends and trajectories.

First, the dataset was collected through Scopus. The authors are aware that other databases, such as Web of Science, can be used to deepen the focus of quantitative bibliometric analysis. Second, the authors based this analysis on the Industry 4.0 base technologies identified by Frank et al. (2019). The authors recognize that Industry 4.0 comprises other technologies beyond IoT, cloud computing, big data and analytics.

Drawing on these analyses, the authors submit a useful baseline for developing Industry 4.0 base technologies and considering their implications for business models.

In this paper, the authors focus their attention on the relationship between technologies underlying the fourth industrial revolution, identified by Frank et al. (2019), and the business model, with a particular focus on the developments that have occurred over the last decade and the authors performed a bibliometric analysis to consider all the burgeoning literature on the topic.

Service managers increasingly strive to achieve sustainability through strategies centered on circularity. With a focus on saving, extending and (re)generating resources and their enclosing service systems, circularity can contribute to environmental, social and financial gains. Yet, the notion of circularity is surprisingly understudied in service research. This article seeks to provide an initial conceptual understanding of circular service management, introducing illustrative strategies and research priorities for circular service management. This paper provides a roadmap for scholars, practitioners and policymakers to develop a deeper understanding of the opportunities from adopting circular services.

The authors explore the concept of circular service management by drawing upon existing literature on sustainability, circularity and service research. Strategies of circular service management and research priorities emerge on the basis of industry best practice examples and research on sustainability challenges and opportunities.

Service researchers have largely ignored the concept and role of circularity for service businesses. Extant research on the topic nearly exclusively features in non-service journals and/or does not seek to advance service theory through circularity. This article argues that circular service management enables the implementation of service thinking in the pursuit of sustainability and outlines four types of circular service management strategies.

The authors introduce the concept of circular service management and highlight the role of service research for designing and managing circular systems and operations. This article also offers a research agenda connecting managerial challenges and opportunities with key service research priorities for circular service management. This provides a roadmap for scholars, practitioners and policymakers to develop a deeper understanding of pursuing circular services, thereby contributing to a more sustainable future.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of postbiotics and the use of postbiotics to increase the shelf life and quality of food.

In this review paper, all articles from five electronic databases containing Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and Science Direct were considered and selected according to the purpose of the study.

In addition to improving food safety and increasing its shelf life, natural food preservation using biological preservatives also has a positive effect on improving consumer health. As a result, protection using natural antioxidants and antimicrobial agents seems essential. Postbiotics, having favorable characteristics such as nontoxicity, long shelf life and ease of standardization and transportation, are known as suitable antioxidant and antimicrobial, and there is an interest in making antioxidant and antimicrobial active films containing postbiotics to delay spoilage, increase the shelf life of perishable foods without changing their sensory characteristics.

Postbiotic refers to all soluble factors that are either secreted from living probiotic cells or released after cell lysis. These compounds include enzymes, peptides, polysaccharides, organic acids, teichoic acids and cell surface proteins, and their effects have been proven to improve some human and animal diseases. Probiotic bacteria must survive unfavorable conditions such as processing, storage, distribution, preparation and the digestive system to exert their health-giving effects, whereas their metabolites (postbiotics) have overcome these adverse conditions well and may be a good substitute for probiotics.

Challenges related to sustainability have increasingly become pivotal in the realm of business strategy and innovation. Nevertheless, the incorporation of sustainability principles into business strategies and innovative practices remains a subject of ongoing scholarly debate. This paper aims to undertake a thematic literature review on this theme.

Data were gathered from the Scopus, Web of Science and Science Direct databases. The final sample comprised 85 papers. For analytical purposes, this study adopted topic modeling using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) methodology.

The authors identified five dominant topics concerning the relationship between sustainability, innovation and business strategy. Through a cross-analysis of these topics, the authors theorize that a sustainable innovation strategy encompasses three complementary and interdependent dimensions: capabilities, management and firm. Building on this analysis, the authors outline a research agenda aimed at further exploration and advancement of this theme.

This review enhances the synthesis of research on the theme, prompting reflections on how companies can initiate innovative sustainable actions that align with their business strategy. Additionally, the authors identify specific elements that require improvement to enhance each of the three dimensions of sustainable innovation strategies, such as eco-efficiency, circular economy and the adoption of innovative business models oriented toward services/servitization.

By interweaving sustainability with innovation and business strategy, this study underscores the critical topics that companies and public policymakers should address to support sustainable development at the national level.

While previous literature reviews have focused on the dyadic relationships between sustainability and strategy, or sustainability and innovation, this study extends the boundaries of knowledge by integrating these three concepts into a hybrid theoretical stream.