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The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the impact of ownership structure variables on the level of sustainability reporting (SR) of listed BRICS energy firms as well as the moderating role of the board sustainability committee on this relationship.

This study used a sample of 1,260 firm-year observations from BRICS for the period 2010–2019. This study uses the Bloomberg database, companies’ annual reports and companies’ websites for data collection and the ordinary least squares (OLS) and instrutemental variables (IV) two-stage least squares (2SLS) regressions for data analysis.

This study provides empirical evidence that foreign ownership, managerial ownership and blockholder ownership have a positive and statistically significant impact on the level of SR. However, the results indicate institutional ownership impacts SR negatively. The findings remain qualitatively the same after addressing endogeneity concerns using the IV 2SLS regression method.

This paper has some limitations. This study focuses on listed companies in BRICS. Therefore, future studies should look at non-listed small and medium enterprises. Similarly, because this study focuses on emerging economies, future studies should consider comparative studies between developed and developing economies.

This study makes significant empirical, theoretical and regulatory contributions to policymakers, investors and management on the ownership type that positively influence the level of SR.

This study contributes to the corporate governance and sustainability literature and extends existing empirical literature on the role of ownership structure on the level of SR in the context of emerging economies. This study provides important theoretical and empirical evidence for regulators and policymakers.

The purpose of this study to identify and optimize the machining of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) material for industrial uses. The research is based on input machining parameters of rotary ultrasonic machining for better understand the output response surface roughness (SR) property of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) by using the Taguchi approach. The grey relational grade analysis (GRG) is also implemented to resolve the complex interrelationship of SR data for optimization and predicting and validate the results.

In experimental work, the input parameters, namely, concentration, abrasives, power rate, grit size, tool material and hydrofluoric (HF) acid has been selected. The experiment’s design was created using MINITAB Software; the L27 orthogonal array was selected for the experimentation. SR was examined with the GRG technique for process optimization. On the other hand, for single parameter optimization analysis of variance (ANOVA) has been used.

ANOVA optimization technique gives the best result on concentration (40%) of abrasive (Al2O3+SiC+B4C), power rate (40%), grit size (600), HF acid (1.5%) and tool material (D2 alloy) are the optimal parameters to provide the slightest degree of SR. GRG optimization of multi-response parameter setting: 40% concentration, SiC+B4C mixed abrasive slurry, 40% of power rating, 280 grit size, 0.5% HF acid and high-speed tool steel tool material gives better results. The SR of PVB glass material improved by 20% after grey relational analysis.

There are several practical applications in a variety of material processing sectors, including metallurgy, machinery, electronics and transportation. These real-world applications have produced substantial and discernible economic benefits.

The analytical and optimization results will be used in the various material processing sectors, including metallurgy, machinery, electronics and transportation.

The ANOVA and grey theory approaches offer the reader a primary picture of the machining research and process parameter optimization. Combined abrasive slurry of Al₂O3+SiC+B₄C with a high power-rating exhibits lower SR. Similarly, grit size is vital; larger grits produce better SR. Ra – 0. 611 m is the lowest SR value at the hole found in trial 25 after the experimentation.

This paper aims to investigate the role of field-configuring events (FCEs) and situational context in the institutionalisation of sustainability reporting (SR) in Pakistan.

This paper uses insights from the institutional logics perspective and qualitative research design to analyse the interplay of the institutional logics, FCEs, situational context and social actors’ agency for the institutionalisation of SR among leading corporations in Pakistan. A total of 28 semi-structured interviews were carried out and were supplemented by analysis of secondary data including reports, newspaper articles and books.

The emerging field of SR in Pakistan is shaped by societal institutions, where key social actors (regulators, enablers and reporters) were involved in the institutionalisation of SR through FCEs. FCEs provided space for agency and were intentionally designed by key social actors to promote SR in Pakistan. The situational context connected the case organisations with FCEs and field-level institutional logics that shaped their decision to initiate SR. Overall, intricate interplay of institutional logics, FCEs, situational context and social actors’ agency has contributed to the institutionalisation of SR in Pakistan. Corporate managers navigated institutional logics based on situational context and initiated SR that is aligned with corporate goals and stakeholder expectations.

For corporate managers, this paper highlights the role of active agency in navigating and integrating institutional logics and stakeholders’ expectations in their decision-making process. For practitioners and policymakers, this paper highlights the importance of FCEs and situational context in the emergence and institutionalisation of SR in developing countries. From a societal point of view, dominance of business actors in FCEs highlights the need for non-business actors to participate in FCEs to shape logics and practice of SR for wider societal benefits.

From a societal point of view, dominance of business actors in FCEs highlights the need for non-business actors to participate in FCEs to shape logics and practice of SR for wider societal benefits.

This paper focuses on the role of FCEs and situational context as key social mechanisms for explaining the institutionalisation of SR.

The measurement of gender in health research often consists of the substitution of the word “gender” in a question that is really asking about sex (physiological characteristics). When gender roles and expressions are actually measured it is normally with a tool such as the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), which is time-consuming to complete and requires expertise to analyze. This study introduces a brief gender measure: a categorical, single-item, self-report, gender measure (SR-Gender), and demonstrates the validity and usability of this new tool.

The SR-Gender was validated in two studies. Participants in Study One were 137 undergraduates. Concurrent criterion validity was assessed by an analysis comparing responses to the SR-Gender and the BSRI and an open-ended gender question. The goal was to ascertain whether the gender identities that these students reported in the SR-Gender were consistent with the classifications obtained on other gender measurement tools. In the second study, the SR-Gender was used with a group of adults over 65 years old in a study of aging with illness.

This study established that the SR-Gender classifications of gender identity were consistent with the results obtained by the open-ended gender question and more complex BSRI measure. The SR-Gender was easily understood and used by younger and older adults, and resulted in nuanced gender classifications.

The SR-Gender takes seconds to complete and provides health researchers with categorical gender classifications that can then be used in analysis of health outcomes, separately or in tandem with physiological sex. It treats masculinity and femininity as independent constructs and includes the potential for androgynous and undifferentiated responses. It is not recommended for in-depth gender research due to the simplicity of the tool.

This chapter introduces the SR-Gender, a simple, quick, and easy-to-use gender measure that could transform health research from paying lip service to gender to actual gender classification, allowing researchers to directly explore the impact of gender identity on health, separately or interacting with other social determinants of health.

This paper aims to document international evidence of the impact of a board-level governance bundle [size, independence, CEO duality, gender diversity and sustainability committee (SC)] on sustainability reporting (SR) and, separately, on its three dimensions (economic, environmental and social).

The sample includes 370 listed firms from 50 countries. A GRI standards-based disclosure index was constructed to quantify SR across various reporting media.

The baseline findings show that SC positively affects SR and its three dimensions. Board size also has a significant and positive impact on SR and two of its dimensions (economic and social). Similarly, board independence and CEO duality have a significant but negative association with SR and the same two dimensions. Finally, board gender diversity has no significant impact on SR and all its three dimensions.

The findings that only SC significantly influences SR, and its three dimensions, have important implications for corporate governance reforms internationally to improve SR in countries where such committees are not yet part of the board of directors’ sub-committees.

Overall, this study contributes to board characteristics–SR literature and holds significant theoretical and practical implications.

Social relationships play an important role in organizational entrepreneurship. They are crucial to entrepreneurs’ decisions because, despite the bleeding-edge technological advancements observed nowadays, entrepreneurs as human beings will always strive to be social. During the COVID-19 pandemic many companies moved activities into the virtual world and as a result offline Social relationships became rarer, but as it turns out, even more valuable, likewise, the inter-organizational cooperation enabling many companies to survive.

This chapter aims to develop knowledge about entrepreneurs’ SR and their links with inter-organizational cooperation. The results of an integrative systematic literature review show that the concept of Social relationships, although often investigated, lacks a clear definition, conceptualization, and operationalization. This chapter revealed a great diversity of definitions for Social relationships, including different scopes of meaning and levels of analysis. The authors identify 10 building blocks and nine sources of entrepreneurs’ Social relationships. The authors offer an original typology of Social relationships using 12 criteria. Interestingly, with regard to building blocks, besides those frequently considered such as trust, reciprocity and commitment, the authors also point to others more rarely and narrowly discussed, such as gratitude, satisfaction and affection. Similarly, the authors discuss the varied scope of sources, including workplace, family/friendship, past relationships, and ethnic or religious bonds. The findings of this study point to a variety of links between Social relationships and inter-organizational cooperation, including their positive and negative influences on one another. These links appear to be extremely dynamic, bi-directional and highly complex.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the phenomenon of “showrooming” in which shoppers use mobile devices in retail stores to check prices and other data on products that they then may buy online.

We conducted depth interviews with 50 consumers, 13 small retailers, and 6 large retailers.

We identified four distinct behavioral groups of customers and six strategies small retailers are currently using or could use to address the potential problems showrooming can create. We also identified a new type of reference pricing.

This research provides a guide researchers can use in further work on showrooming. The research consists of depth interviews. It is possible that other types of retailers may have developed other strategies not identified here or that a larger number of non-student participants would have identified other categories, though differences between students and non-students in our sample were not noteworthy.

This chapter provides a practical guide to small retailers as to how they can deal with the growing practice of showrooming, helping them to choose strategic responses based on the types of consumers they serve.

This is one of the first papers to be published in an academic journal on the value of showrooming. It provides a typology of consumers grouped by their behavior, that is, how and why they engage or don’t engage in showrooming. This can help academic researchers in future research as well as managers of small retail businesses. We also identified a new, third type of reference pricing.

This study addresses the gap in research concerning student attitudes toward ethics and social responsibility (E&SR) within diverse organizational contexts, specifically as they transition into managerial and non-managerial roles.

A total of 425 business students from four universities participated. To determine statistically significant differences between potential managers and non-managers (M&NM), a paired comparison inferential t-test was employed.

The study revealed positive E&SR attitudes among business students. However, it differed from existing literature by finding a significant difference in perceived E&SR importance between aspirants in managerial and non-managerial positions. Notably, non-managerial students exhibited significantly stronger support for these principles.

This study, conducted in an emerging economy, offers a unique perspective by analyzing E&SR perceptions across both potential management and non-management employees. Given the direct and indirect influence employee perceptions have on business performance, this research sheds light on the crucial role of E&SR in management practices. The findings are further substantiated by robust data and include implications for human resource management, along with suggestions for future research directions.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of manager attributes and psychological factors on the adoption of sustainability reporting (SR) among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana.

The study is based on a cross-sectional data gathered using questionnaires administered to managers of SMEs in Ghana. The data is analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The results reveal that SME managers with requisite educational qualifications and knowledge about sustainability accounting adopt SR. The attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control of managers of SMEs on issues of sustainability also affect the adoption of SR. However, SMEs with old and long-serving managers do not adopt SR. SMEs with manager attributes such as professional education, gender and religious affiliation do not appear to adopt SR.

There is the need for regulators and other stakeholders to sensitize, persuade and provide awareness, training and educational certification to support managers of SMEs to enable them to adopt SR.

This study contributes to the literature on SR by offering a clear understanding of how manager attributes and psychological factors influence the adoption of SR by SMEs in developing countries.