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Nuclear energy is a contested topic, requiring trade-offs in energy independence, ethicality and uncertainty. Anthropogenic climate change complicates these decisions further, with nuclear energy competing with other low-carbon and sustainable energy sources. Decisions about nuclear energy’s role, as part of a sustainable energy system, must be made in cooperation with all stakeholders. However, it is unclear how the public is involved in these decisions in the UK. This study aims to address this gap, exploring the degree to which public participation has occurred in the UK.

This paper conducted a scoping review of public participation in UK nuclear energy decision-making in the context of sustainable energy transitions, where the government retains and promotes nuclear energy as part of a sustainable energy system. Following a systematic literary search, this paper reviewed 28 academic and grey literature documents.

Public participation has primarily been conducted as consultations rather than active participation. There is limited evidence that consultations have meaningfully contributed to politically and socially responsible (i.e. individuals and groups working together for community benefit) decision-making, with public opinion on nuclear energy’s role being divided and is influenced by how it is framed.

Social aspects of nuclear energy development have historically received less attention than environmental and economic elements; the role of engagement and participation is relatively rare. Modern literature reviews in this context are largely absent, a gap this paper originally contribute to. This paper suggest ways in which how effective, inclusive engagement process could contribute to a fairer, responsible decision-making process and energy system in the UK.

This paper aims to unravel the puzzle that the United Kingdom’s high-quality government accounting and fiscal architecture is associated with low-quality outcomes, including poor productivity growth, high public debt, public services which do not meet citizen expectations and historically high levels of taxation. It contributes to public sector accounting research in the fields of fiscal transparency and governance.

This paper uses Miller and Power’s (2013) economization framework and Dunsire’s (1990) concept of collibration to explain why being a global leader in public sector accounting reform and in fiscal and monetary architecture has not protected the UK from weak governance. The intersection of economization’s roles of accounting with modes of government accounting clarifies the puzzle.

Whereas accruals government accounting contributes to fiscal transparency, this is not a sufficient condition for well-judged policy and its effective application. Collibration is the dominant mechanism for mediation in the fiscally centralized UK, but it has failed to deliver stable outcomes, in part because Parliament is limited in its ability to hold back inappropriate behaviour by the Executive. Subjectivization has disrupted adjudication because governments at all levels resist constraints on their behaviour, with unpredictable and often damaging consequences.

This paper provides insights through the combined lens of economization and modes of government accounting, demonstrating the practical value of this conceptualization. Although some causes for unsatisfactory outcomes are specific to the UK, there are cautions for accounting and fiscal reformers in other countries, such as Member States of the European Union.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of external enablers (EEs) – factors that are exogenous and independent of the actors – on the rate of new venture creation (NVC) in digital entrepreneurship.

The authors established a unique data panel comprising all formal digital entrepreneurial firms and startups licensed to operate in the digital space from Iran E-Commerce Development Center, from 2012 to 2022, totaling 124,751 businesses classified in 16 sectors. The authors used Poisson regression with robust standard errors to analyze the relationship between external factors and NVC. Additionally, the authors segmented the data set along demographic, spatial and sectoral subsets to compare them using the average treatment effect model.

This analysis confirms that technology readiness and technology intensity, as EEs, significantly boost digital entrepreneurship in a developing country. The authors also explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural environmental enabler and explored its facilitating effects and the enduring impacts post-pandemic. Moreover, the authors assessed the heterogeneous impact of the EEs across different groups and derived implications for each.

While this study is comprehensive, it focuses exclusively on formal digital entrepreneurship within a single developing country, namely, Iran. Although the authors explored various EEs, they did not address all possible types, highlighting the potential for further research in other entrepreneurial sectors for a comparative analysis of EEs.

The initial findings affirm that most NVC in Iran stems from external factors. These findings have been widely used by policymakers to define the goals and objectives of EEs concerning their nature and impact. This research reveals that EEs have heterogeneous effects on NVC, varying across different characteristics such as gender, geography and industry sectors. The results of this study suggest that governments should reassess the role of “macro” policies to support vulnerable groups. EEs disproportionately benefit male founders, which exacerbates existing gender gaps and necessitates ongoing attention and intervention. Additionally, EEs have diverse impacts across industries, potentially favoring some while disadvantaging others because of varying social, cultural and economic factors.

NVC, central to entrepreneurship in developing nations, encounters numerous challenges, yet the role of EEs remains underexplored in this context. EEs are opportunities that are not limited to a subset of entrepreneurial actors; they act as levers influencing a wide range of entrepreneurial activities. This research distinctively investigates the empirical impact of EEs in a Middle Eastern developing country context, contributing to the growing literature on the external enablers framework.

The purpose of this chapter is to present a brief overview about the measures adopted in Portugal in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic. This public health crisis gave room in two separate occasions for the declaration of a state of emergency. What is interesting, though, is that it can be argued that a real state of exception occurred not when the state of emergency was in force, but precisely when it was not. This has only been possible because the Government decided to adopt measures that would restrict fundamental rights, because the Parliament did not intervene in such a proceeding, and because the Administrative Supreme Court was arguably too lenient towards the Government. For a while at least, it seems to have occurred a ‘provisional abolition of the distinction among legislative, executive and judicial powers’ (Agamben, 2005). This has been confirmed by subsequent decisions from the Constitutional Court.

The purpose of this study is to explore the contributions of peace and security to the self-development of educators in Syria. It focuses on understanding how these elements impact the equitable distribution of benefits, treatment, facilities and resources. The study aims to uncover the intricate relationship between a secure, peaceful educational environment and the personal and professional growth of educators, thereby shedding light on how these factors synergistically enhance the educational landscape in Syria.

This study employs the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) method for data analysis. Data were gathered through an online survey distributed to 472 Syrian educators from 14 provinces. The questionnaire, provided in Arabic, consisted of sections on demographics, peace and security, religion and cultural values, core values for self-development and government intervention. The data were analysed using IBM SPSS for descriptive analysis and PLS-SEM for causal effect analysis, allowing for the modelling of latent variables and handling non-normality in small to medium-sized samples.

The study found a positive correlation between peace and security, government intervention and self-development among Syrian educators. However, government intervention was identified as a poor moderator due to the unfavourable connection between past government actions and current expectations. The findings challenge the government to be proactive in addressing issues and concerns related to fair treatment and creating a harmonious academic environment. Educators seek equality in support and assistance across various academic activities for their self-development.

The study’s primary limitation is the use of convenience sampling, as the researchers faced difficulties in disseminating the questionnaires due to being non-local. This might affect the generalizability of the findings. Future research could employ a more randomized sampling method and expand the scope to include more diverse educational settings. The implications of this study are significant for policymaking, suggesting that targeted government interventions are necessary to foster a supportive and secure environment for educators.

The study underscores the need for more effective government policies that prioritize peace and security in educational settings. These interventions are crucial for the well-being and development of educators, ultimately improving educational quality in Syria. Practical recommendations include continuous support for educators through professional development programmes and equitable distribution of resources. By fostering a supportive environment, educators can better contribute to the educational sector and broader societal development.

By highlighting the critical role of peace and security in educators' self-development, the study contributes to broader social stability and cohesion. It advocates for policies that address the diverse needs and challenges faced by educators in Syria, ensuring they are well-supported in their roles. Enhancing educators' well-being and effectiveness can lead to improved educational outcomes, benefiting students and contributing to the nation’s long-term social and economic development.

This study provides a unique contribution by focusing on the nexus of peace, security and self-development among educators in Syria, an area previously underexplored. The findings offer valuable insights into the specific challenges and needs of educators in a conflict-affected region. The research emphasizes the importance of a peaceful and secure educational environment for the professional growth of educators, offering a foundation for future studies and policy discussions aimed at enhancing the educational landscape in Syria.

The study aims to understand the way metaverse might revolutionize the governance format – precisely the e-government concept – besides underlining the challenges leaving suggestive contours for further research in this realm.

An inductive research approach included the content analysis of relevant literature to identify patterns and generalize them into areas and approaches. Developing a conceptual framework seeks to systematically organize knowledge on metaverse government and provide an understanding of its contributions to enhancing the e-government maturity models.

The authors identified three general areas and approaches – content and data lifecycle management; platforms, tools and services; and infrastructure and computing resources – that shape how challenges of enterprise architecture layers should be resolved in a future research agenda. Integration of these government metaverse areas and approaches is linked with four enterprise architecture layers (technology, applications, data and business) that advance a new e-government meta stage of e-government maturity and the related challenges.

Hitherto, metaverse literature has hinged itself on the benefits and challenges of metaverse in the private sector. However, the exact dimensions have not been probed in the public sector and its e-government domain – the present study seeks to plug this gap.

Although there is a growing body of work on immigrants' information behavior, little is known about the pre-arrival information experiences of immigrants who consult formal information sources such as immigration agents. Drawn from a larger study on the information behavior of immigrants, this paper mainly reports the semi-structured interview findings on the pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants who used formal information sources with discussion on how that affected their post-arrival settlement into Canada.

The study used a mixed method approach with semi-structured interviews (n = 60) and surveys (n = 205) with participants who arrived in Canada between the years of 1971 and 2017. Data were collected from May 2017 to February 2018.

Although the overall scope of the original study is much larger, this paper features findings on the pre-arrival information experiences derived mainly from an analysis of interview data. This study provides insights into the pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants consulting formal information sources such as immigration firms, individual immigration consultants and more formal government agencies. The author introduces a new concept of “information crafting” by exploring the negative consequences of selective information sharing by immigration consultants/agents in newcomers' settlements in Canada, primarily positive information about life in Canada, sometimes with exaggeration and falsification. The interview participants shared story after the story of the settlement challenges they faced after arriving in Canada and how the expectations they built through the information received from immigration consultants and government agencies did not match after arrival. This study emphasizes the importance of providing comprehensive information about life in Canada to potential newcomers so that they can make informed decisions even before they apply.

The findings of this study have theoretical and practical implications for policy and research. This study provides insights into the complicated culturally situated pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants. Moreover, the study findings encourage researchers in various disciplines, including psychology, migration studies and geography, to delve more deeply into newcomers' information experiences using an informational lens to examine the information newcomers receive from diverse sources and their effects on their post-arrival settlement in a new country. The study challenges the general assumptions that formal information sources are always reputable, useful, and comprehensive, and it provides some future directions for research that seeks to understand the culturally situated information behavior of diverse immigrant groups.

This study aims to investigate the impact of financial performance on carbon emission disclosure.

The study uses ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regression analysis on a sample of 177 Financial Times Stock Exchange 350 index (FTSE-350) non-financial firms to test the impact of market (Tobin’s Q) and accounting (return on equity) financial performance indicators on carbon emission disclosure.

The results show that the financial performance market indicator has a significant positive impact on carbon emission disclosure. The accounting indicator illustrates similar results except for Scope 3, where the results are insignificant. This study may help firms understand how financial performance affects carbon emission disclosure, particularly by showing that high-performing firms are motivated to maintain strong environmental practices and enhance carbon emission awareness.

This paper enhances stakeholders’ understanding of how firms’ environmental policies align with their financial objectives, thereby expanding knowledge in carbon accounting.

Citizen engagement (CE) in public policy is increasingly considered to be an important feature of governance worldwide. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of e-government usage (EGU) on citizens’ engagement. In addition, the study investigates the mediating effect of government reputation (GR) and the moderating role of digital divide (DD) in EGU and citizens' engagement relationship.

Data were collected from 938 respondents in Vietnam with a random method. This study used the partial least squares – structural equation modeling method to examine hypotheses.

The results show that e-government and GR are critical determinants of CE. Furthermore, GR plays a mediating role in the relationship between e-government and CE. The results also show how DD moderates this nexus.

The findings of this study provide valuable evidence and implications. Public officials must improve the GR and administrative capacity as the determination for the CE. Moreover, the government should continually carry out policies to reduce the DD.

By investigating the mediating and moderating effects of GR and DD, this study has significantly contributed to advancing the body knowledge of e-government.

Calculating an organization's carbon footprint is crucial for assessing and implementing emission reductions. Although Finnish higher education institutions (HEIs) aim for carbon neutrality by 2030, limited research exists on plans to reach a similar target in any country. This paper aims to address the shared and individual challenges Finnish HEIs have with carbon footprint calculations, reductions, resources and offsetting.

A survey was targeted to sustainability experts in all 38 HEIs in Finland to identify key patterns and trends in the focus fields of the study. SWOT analysis was used to classify main strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats, based on which a series of policy recommendations was drafted.

Finnish HEIs are committed to carbon footprint tracking (97%, annually by 87%). The lack of standardization and the number of external stakeholders complicate accounting indirect emissions, impeding comparability and reliability. Only 39% had set separate emission reduction targets, suggesting a preference for carbon footprint over other environmental impact indicators. Insufficient monetary and human resources emerged in 23% of institutions, especially those smaller in size. Only 52% had clear offsetting plans, with shared concerns over trust and responsibility.

By including both research universities and universities of applied sciences, the findings provide an unprecedented outlook into the entire Finnish HEI sector. The policy recommendations guide HEIs both locally and globally on how to improve their transparency and scientific integrity, reflect on core successes and weaknesses and how they complete their objectives of education, research and social impact while promoting stronger sustainability.