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This study is to examine and develop sector skills strategies and action plans for the textile and apparel (T&A) sector.

The paper used a participatory action qualitative method anchored on the Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) framework, utilising the workshop-based approach with 24 key stakeholders of the sector. Content analysis was used with the help of Nvivo software.

The findings revealed that there are skills shortages, skills gaps, skills mismatches and skills diversification programmes available through higher education and work-based learning. Further, there are labour supply challenges such as national skills policy and strategy, government and stakeholder coordination, funding, relevance of curriculum and qualifications, access to practicals and the absence of a clear national vision for the sector.

This study possesses an inherent limitation in terms of generalising the findings derived from qualitative research.

This research is among the first of its kind to assess skills needs and gaps through the lens of STED framework, which has been overlooked in previous literature. Importantly, this study provides vocational insights into skill needs in the sector.

The implementation of BIM in the construction industry requires the coevolution of the various aspects of the BIM ecosystem. The human dimension is a very important dimension of the ecosystem necessary for BIM implementation. It is imperative to study this aspect of the BIM ecosystem both from the employer perspective and employee availability to provide insights for stakeholders (job seekers, employers, students, researchers, policymakers, higher education institutions, career advisors and curriculum developers) interested in the labour market dynamics.

To understand the BIM actor roles through the employer lens and the actual BIM actors in the construction industry, this study employed data mining of job adverts from LinkedIn and Mncjobs website. Content analysis was employed to gain insights into the data collected. Also, through a quantitative approach, the existing BIM actor roles were identified.

The study identified the employers' expectations of BIM actors; however, it is noted that the BIM actor recruitment space is still a loose one as recruiters put out open advertisements to get a large pool of applicants. From the data analysed, it is concluded that the BIM actor role is not an entirely new profession. However, it simply exists as construction industry professionals with BIM tool skills. Also, the professional development route is not well defined yet.

This study presents a realistic angle to BIM actor roles hence enhancing BIM implementation from the human perspective. The findings present an insight into the preferred against the actual.

This study aims to investigate the determinants of United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar consumers’ perceptions of organic food.

Using a survey approach and focusing on six known determinants identified from empirical studies, data were analysed using a mean difference analysis and a multi-regression model.

Citizens in both countries had similar access to organic food products, yet consumer perceptions differed significantly. Given the geographical, cultural and topographical proximity and similarities of these countries, differences in the mean values indicate that targeted or bespoke marketing is required to attract customers.

One limitation of this study its sample size that may limit the generalizability of its results. However, the highly statistically significant results offset this to some extent as the differences the authors have demonstrated are likely to be real. These do require confirmation by further similar studies. The study relied on a random sample of respondents who might have exhibited bias in answering questions.

The two countries central to this research study, the UAE and Qatar, have vested interests in supporting the organic food product market that mainly concern supporting and promoting the health of their citizens and the environment. As shown in this paper, the key obstacles preventing consumers’ accessing organic products are availability and price. With appropriate governmental subsidies and logistics support, however, these barriers can be overcome.

If governments are sincere in their declarations that the health and welfare of their citizens is of prime importance, they will support attempts to promote the sale and consumption of organically grown food. The results of this study can help to inform such policies.

This study provides insights into the most important factors that influence consumers’ attitudes towards organic foods. This study fills a gap in the existing research on consumer buying behaviour for organic food in two Middle Eastern countries.

Drawing upon the theory of communication visibility, this research intends to investigate the direct effect of enterprise social media (ESM) usage on team members’ knowledge creation capability (KCC) and the mediating effects of psychological safety and team identification. In addition, it aims to untangle how the efficacy of ESM usage varies between pre- and post-COVID-19 periods.

Using two-wave survey data from 240 members nested within 60 teams, this study utilizes a multilevel approach to test the proposed hypotheses.

We discover that ESM usage enhances team members’ KCC. More importantly, the results show that psychological safety and team identification mediate the ESM–KCC linkage. Interestingly, we further find that the impacts of ESM usage on team members’ KCC, psychological safety, and team identification are stronger in the pre-COVID-19 period than those in the post-COVID-19 period.

This research sheds light on the ESM literature by unraveling the mechanisms of psychological safety and team identification underlying the linkage between ESM usage and team members’ KCC. Moreover, it advances our understanding of the differential efficacy of ESM usage in pre- and post-COVID-19 periods.

This study aims to investigate the influence of CEO’s only-child status on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. It seeks to extend the understanding of upper echelon theory by examining unexplored CEO characteristics and their impact on CSR decisions.

The paper uses manually collected CEO family information and Chinese Stock and Market Accounting Research data as a basis to examine the influence of CEOs’ early-life experiences on their engagement in CSR activities. The study applies attachment security theory from developmental psychology and uses upper echelon theory, particularly focusing on CEOs’ only-child status. A comparative analysis of philanthropic donations between CEOs who are only children and those who have siblings is conducted. The study also examines the moderating effects of corporate slack resources and CEO shareholdings.

Preliminary findings suggest that CEOs who are only children are more likely to engage in CSR compared to their counterparts with siblings. However, the difference in donation amounts between the two groups tends to attenuate with decreased slack resources and increased CEO shareholdings.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research represents the first attempt to investigate being the only child in one’s family and the CSR-related decision of CEOs, which extends the upper echelon theory by introducing the family science theory into the management domain.

From a psychosocial perspective, this study aims to understand the impact of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) on the intent to stay of construction workers and provides practical recommendations for construction enterprises to retain construction workers.

This study proposes the conceptual framework explained by the conservation of resources (COR) theory and develops a mediation model of “PSC – job satisfaction – intent to stay” within the framework supported by the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model. Then, a questionnaire survey of 489 construction workers in Guangzhou was conducted and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was performed on the data collected.

Results show that PSC has a significant and positive effect on job satisfaction and intent to stay. In addition, job satisfaction partially mediates the effect of PSC on intent to stay. Hence, the theoretical model of “PSC – job satisfaction – intent to stay” has been empirically tested and supported.

This study is the first to investigate the effect of PSC on intent to stay and enriches the research on the retention of construction workers. The COR theory explains well the mechanism of PSC influence on intent to stay, thus expanding its application to the construction field. Moreover, this study provides practical recommendations for construction enterprises to retain workers so as to build a stable and productive workforce.