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Knowledge management (KM) is associated with higher performance and innovative culture; KM can help the public sector to be fiscally lean and meet diverse stakeholders’ needs. However, hierarchical structures, bureaucratic culture and rigid processes inhibit KM adoption and generate inertia. This study aims to explore the nature and causes of this inertia within the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) public sector.

Using an in-depth case study of a UAE public sector organisation, this study explores how organisational inertia can be countered to enable KM adoption. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with 17 top- and middle-level managers from operational, management and strategic levels. Interview data is triangulated with content analysis from multiple sources, including the UAE Government and case organisation documents.

The results show transformation leadership, external factors and organisational culture mediate the negative effect of inertia on KM practices adoption. We find that information technology plays a key role in enabling knowledge creation, access, adoption and sharing. Furthermore, we uncover a virtuous cycle between organisational culture and KM practices adoption in the public sector. In addition, we develop a new model (the relationship between KM practices, organisational inertia, organisational culture, transformational leadership traits and external factors) and four propositions for empirical testing by future researchers. We also present a cross-case comparison of our results with six private/quasi-private sector cases who have implemented KM practices.

Qualitative data is collected from a single case study.

Inertia in a public section is a result of bureaucracy and authority bounded by the rules and regulations. Adopting a qualitative methodology and case study method, the research explores the phenomena of how inertia impacts KM adoption in public sector environments. Our findings reveal the underlying mechanisms of how internal and external organisational factors impact inertia. Internally, supportive organisational culture and transformational leadership traits positively effect KM adoption, which, in turn, has a positive effect on organisational culture to counter organisational inertia. Externally, a progressive national culture, strategy and policy can support a knowledge-based organisation that embraces change. This study develops a new model (interactions between internal and external factors impacting KM practices in the public sector), four propositions and a new two-stage process model for KM adoption in the public sector. We present a case-comparison of how the constructs interact in a public sector as compared to six private/quasi-private sector cases from the literature.

This study aims to examine the research output on climate change, environmental risks and insurance from 1986 to 2020, thereby revealing the development of the literature through collaborative networks. The relationship between insurance, climate change and environmental threats has gained research attention. This study describes the interaction between insurance, climate change and environmental risk.

This study is a bibliometric analysis of the literature and assessed the current state of science. A total of 97 academic papers from top-level journals listed in the Scopus database are shortlisted.

The understanding of climate change, environmental risks and insurance is shaped and enhanced through the collaborative network maps of researchers. Their reach expands across different networks, core themes and streams, as these topics develop.

Data for this study were generated from English-written journal articles listed in the Scopus database only; subsequently, this study was representative of high-quality papers published in the areas of climate change, environmental risks and insurance.

The results of this study can be useful to academic researchers to aid their understanding of climate change, environmental risks and insurance research development, to identify the current context and to develop a future research agenda.

The findings of this study can improve the understanding of industry practitioners about climate change and global warming challenges, and how insurance can be used as a tool to address such challenges.

This study is a novel attempt. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to better understand climate change, environmental risks and insurance as a research topic by examining its evolution in an academic context through visualization, coupling and bibliometric analysis. This bibliometric study is unique in reviewing climate change literature and providing a future research agenda. Using bibliometric data, this study addressed the technical aspects and the value it adds to actual practice. Bibliometric indicators quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate emerging disciplinary progress in this topic.

International Business Management, Global Business Strategy and Human Resource Management

This case is suitable for Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program, specifically in human resources management, business strategy and international business management courses.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to figure out the appropriate staffing approaches for the foreign investment projects; to understand the challenges that companies face when they expand in the foreign market; to understand the different foreign markets entry modes.

The Nayel and Bin Harmal Investment Co. LCC. is an experienced company that owns a hotel chain with three properties in the UAE. In 2011, it decided to invest in Africa and build a new hotel – Ayla Djibouti Hotel – in Djibouti. The hotel’s construction is nearly complete. This has urged Bashar Al Tamimi to begin devising a staffing strategy for the hotel. Of particular concern is Djibouti’s lack of manpower with hospitality qualifications and expertise. Consequently, Al Tamimi must grapple with some difficult questions: Should he hire staff with the appropriate international hospitality experience? Or should NBHI invest in the human capital in Djibouti and train Djiboutian people to operate the hotel? Which strategy or approach will lead to the most successful and profit-making outcome for Ayla Djibouti

This case is suitable for Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program, specifically in human resources management, business strategy and international business management courses.

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CSS 5: International Business.

In recent years, sustainable supply chain practices (SSCPs), including corporate social responsibility (CSR), have been recognised as important means of developing firms’ sustainability performance (SP). However, empirical findings on the SSCP–SP interaction are inconsistent and even contradictory. This research presents a quantitative meta-analysis that aims to uncover SSCP–SP interactions based on the correlations found in previously published empirical studies.

Based on the main and moderating variables and selection criteria, 64 sample studies were selected after a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

The findings confirm a positive correlation (0.438) between SSCP and SP. The results also reveal various critical moderators identified through meta-regression.

This study provides insights for operations managers and policymakers regarding the significance of control variables (e.g. ISO certification, type of economy, innovation approach, data collection method) on the relationship between SSCP and SP for business operations. This research uncovers the impacts of ISO regulations and proposed hypotheses through the lens of the natural resource-based view (NRBV) and institutional-based view (IBV).

This research is unique in that it provides a systematic view of the SSCP–SP interaction, validates the results through a theoretical lens (NRBV and IBV) and generalises the results by evaluating the moderation effects via checking prior literature.

The emergence of virtual reality (VR) has the potential to revolutionize various industries, including tourism, as it delivers a simulated environment that closely emulates real-life experiences. Therefore, this study aims to explore how the factors, i.e. enjoyment, emotional involvement, flow state, perceived privacy risk, physical risk and cost, influence the customers’ intention to use VR for tourism.

This study integrates the technology acceptance model, hedonic consumption theory with other factors, including cognitive response, authenticity, perceived privacy risk, perceived physical risk, perceived cost and perceived presence. Partial least squares structural equation modelling approach was used to test the proposed research model.

The finding based on the sample of 252 respondents revealed that authenticity is the most influential factor impacting behavior intention followed by perceived cost, attitude, cognitive response and enjoyment. Also, the study supported the moderating impact of personal innovativeness between attitude and behavioral intention to use VR for tourism.

The findings of the study offers practical implications for service providers, site managers, destination marketers, tourist organizations and policymaker to develop more effective strategies for offering VR services for tourism.

This study enriches the current understanding of VR adoption in context of tourism with empirical evidences.

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is becoming a crucial health problem worldwide. Continued and high-speed mutations of this virus result in the appearance of new manifestations, making the control of this disease difficult. It has been shown that well-nourished patients have strong immune systems who mostly have short-term hospitalization compared to others. The purpose of this study is to review the major nutrients involved in the immune system reinforcement and to explain nutritional aspects during the recovery of COVID-19.

In this review paper, the mechanistic role of nutrients in boosting the immune system and the nutritional aspects during the recovery of COVID-19 patients were discussed. Papers indexed in scientific databases were searched using antioxidants, COVID-19, inflammation, immune system, macronutrient, micronutrient and probiotic as keywords from 2000 to 2022.

Because of the adverse effects of drugs like thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and hypercholesterolemia, a balanced diet with enough concentrations of energy and macronutrients could increase the patient's durability. The inflammatory cytokines in a vicious cycle delay patients’ rehabilitation. The main mechanistic roles of micronutrients are attributed to the downregulation of virus replication and are involved in energy homeostasis. Dysbiosis is defined as another disturbance among COVID-19 patients, and supplementation with beneficial strains of probiotics helps to exert anti-inflammatory effects in this regard. Being on a well-planned diet with anti-inflammatory properties could reverse cytokine storms as the major feature of COVID-19. Future studies are needed to determine the safe and effective dose of dietary factors to control the COVID-19 patients.

Being on a well-planned diet with anti-inflammatory properties could reverse cytokine storms as the major feature of COVID-19. Future studies are needed to determine the safe and effective dose of dietary factors to control the COVID-19 patients.

This study aims to the influence and impact of regulations and highlights the barriers to market entry faced by Australian professional service firms in the European Union (EU) and their strategies to manage and transfer tacit knowledge.

The authors collected data by reviewing relevant regulatory documents and conducting semi-structured interviews with key informants from Australian architecture firms and senior representatives from the professional, trade and regulatory bodies in Australia and Europe.

Historically, Australian professional service firms use the United Kingdom (UK) as their EU base. The mutual recognition of qualifications and prior experiences are barriers to intra-organizational expatriation and knowledge transfer. The study identifies the dual nationality of the architects as a way of circumventing the residency/nationality restrictions.

The study discusses Brexit and how the uncertainty surrounding the UK and EU’s agreement adds to the complexity for non-European firms’ market entry and operations in the region.

The purpose of the research was to determine food consumer behaviour and attitudes towards food consumption and household food waste in Montenegro. Since the period of conducting the research coincided with the expansion of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Montenegro (10–14 weeks since its outbreak), the results of this research could indicate the emerging pandemic circumstances.

A total of 529 consumers were surveyed online, and 514 questionnaires met the requirements of further statistical processing. Data were processed by methods of descriptive statistics and chi-square test of association between socio-economic characteristics of respondents and their attitudes, as well as cluster analysis.

The main findings of the research are (1) consumers in Montenegro are quite responsible for the use of food because they throw away a small part, both in quantity and value; (2) Montenegrin households still practice a traditional way of life with frequent preparation and consumption of food at home and use of leftovers; (3) consumers have confusing perceptions regarding date labels of industrially processed foods; (4) during the COVID-19 pandemic, 17.3% of consumers increased and 11.8% decreased the frequency of food purchases, while 20.7% increased and 5.1% decreased food waste.

The work is highly original and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no other article that analysed the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on food wastage and food-related behaviours during the outbreak of the pandemic in Montenegro (May–June 2020). Therefore, the work fills a gap in research and knowledge and sets a baseline for future studies.

A composting project was introduced into an undergraduate microbiology course, to evaluate its efficacy against traditional lecturing for teaching environmental sustainability.

The research project was a semester-long intervention. Three groups of students participated in the study: a group of 47 female undergraduate students were involved in a composting project, a group of 43 female students were exposed to a traditional lecture and a group of 34 students were the control group. A pretest and a posttest were used, along with poster presentations for the composting project students. In addition, a questionnaire was used to examine students' attitudes toward composting and their waste management practices.

The project and lecture groups showed significant increases in average test-scores, with the post-project increase (20.9 points) being higher than the post-lecture increase (12.3 points). The questionnaire revealed that nonorganic waste recycling was practiced irregularly, while food waste was reused as livestock feed by 38% of the students. Composting was not common, but 23% of the students in the project group started household composting during the project. The students who were most satisfied with the project outcomes were willing to spend higher prices for a composting box (p = 0.036), showing a high correlation between awareness raising and environmental sustainability practices.

The project-based learning approach had more impact than the traditional lecture in teaching environmental sustainability to the students. The project succeeded in improving students' composting knowledge and increased their interest in continuing the composting practices at home.

The study is the first attempt to measure the direct impact of composting education on Emirati students' knowledge of, and interest in environmental sustainable practices, vis-à-vis composting.