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This study aims to investigate whether social reputation via corporate social responsibility (CSR) awarding facilitates access to debt and decreases the cost of debt and whether governance mechanisms moderate this relationship.

The sample covers the period between 2002 and 2021, during which CSR award data were available in the Thomson Reuters Eikon/Refinitiv database. The empirical models are based on country, industry and year fixed-effects regression.

While the main findings produced an insignificant result for access to debt, they indicated strong evidence for the positive relationship between CSR awarding and the cost of debt. Moreover, the moderating effect highlights that while the sustainability committee helps CSR-awarded companies access debt more easily, independent directors help firms decrease the cost of debt via CSR awarding. Furthermore, the results differ between the US and the non-US samples, earlier and recent periods, high- and low-leverage firms and large and small firms.

For the first time, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the authors assess whether social reputation via CSR awarding facilitates access to debt and decreases the cost of debt in an international and cross-industry sample. Little is known about the effect of social reputation on loan contracting, although social reputation conveys broader information that goes beyond the firm’s internal (performance) and external (reporting) CSR practices. The authors also draw attention to the differing roles of distinct governance mechanisms in leveraging social reputation for loan contracting.

This article asks how gender, ethnicity and other identities intersect and shape the employment experiences of social workers. During recent decades, governments have contracted social care to for-profit and nonprofit organizations (NPOs) globally as a part of the adaption of the neoliberal approach. Most employees in these organizations are women. However, there is a lack of knowledge about women working in social service NPOs and their unique working environments.

This article explores the experiences of women employed as social workers in social care NPOs in Israel regarding intersectionality. 27 in-depth interviews were conducted with women social workers working in social service NPOs. Participants reflected diversity in ethnicity, religion and full-time and part-time jobs. Thematic analysis was used.

The findings shed light on: (1) the contradiction social workers experienced between the stated values of the social care NPO and those values’ conduct, (2) intersectional discrimination among social workers from vulnerable populations and (3) the lack of gender-aware policies.

The need to raise awareness of the social care sector and governments to those contradictions and to promote diversity through gender-aware policies and practices.

The article suggests a conceptualization describing gender employment contradictions in social care NPOs, discusses how the angle of intersectionality expands the understanding of the complexities and pressures exerted on social workers from minority groups and emphasizes the need for social care NPOs to acknowledge and deal with these contradictions.

Integrating transaction costs economics and task-technology fit theory, this study distinguishes two categories of social media–enabled interactions, namely task-related interactions and tie-related interactions, and explores the match between these two and firms' use of contracts in achieving safeguarding and coordinating purposes in interfirm governance.

Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. In Study 1, this study collaborated with a professional market research firm and collected responses from Chinese manufacturing firms in a survey. In Study 2, this study designed a scenario-based experiment and collected 239 participants from the Credamo platform.

This study categorized social media–enabled interactions into task-related interactions and tie-related interactions and conducted two studies to reveal that the safeguarding purpose of contract specificity is amplified by tie-related interactions, whereas the coordinating purpose of contract specificity is strengthened by task-related interactions.

This study assumes that firms permit and encourage the use of social media. However, some firms might prohibit the use of social media due to risk issues, or their partners may be prohibited from using social media.

Given that social media–enabled interactions have joint effects with contracts in achieving safeguarding and coordinating purposes, a firm's employees should match their goals with an appropriate type of social media–enabled interactions.

This study enriches the interfirm governance literature by uncovering the roles of these two types of interactions in matching contract specificity to achieve safeguarding and coordinating purposes, which provides actionable insights for managers in governing interfirm relationships.

As live streaming becomes a widely used online sales mode, previously content-centred anchors are attempting to switch to e-commerce live streaming. The purpose of this research was to explore the mechanisms that prompt consumers to stay or leave after content anchors transfer to live e-commerce broadcasts. In addition, we explored the factors affecting consumption from the perspectives of anchors, consumers and the external environment.

We distributed questionnaires to a group of fans who had experienced the transition of content anchors to live streaming and received back 375 valid questionnaires. Using psychological contract theory, we constructed a theoretical model for the scenario in which content anchors transition to live e-commerce broadcasting and analysed the data using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

The results show that circle culture, mainstream culture, initial trust and live streaming content all positively influenced consumers’ attitudes, whilst consumers’ past shopping experiences negatively influenced consumers’ attitudes. The personal charm of the content anchors did not have a significant effect on consumers’ attitudes. Additionally, we found that only anchors with a significant circle culture and good trust levels amongst fans were able to transition to live e-commerce streaming successfully.

This study extends the application of psychological contract theory to the field of e-commerce and describes the transformation of different types of psychological contracts. The paper’s conclusions provide a reference for decision-making and the implementation of transformation by content-based anchors to live streaming, helping them to coordinate their relationships with fans more effectively.

This paper showcases how the PAR embedded in posthumanist perspectives enabled us to navigate several complexities in the field through methodological situatedness and pluralism. It also attempts to critically outline the drivers and barriers that shaped our capacities to engage with the PAR.

The Tamil Nadu state in the Bay of Bengal along the southeast coast of India is one of the six regions in the world where severe tropical cyclones originate throughout the year. Storm surges in this region are well known for their destructive potential due to strong winds and heavy rainfall. This paper describes our participatory action research (PAR) journey towards strengthening grassroots action by providing access to safe and affordable housing for cyclone-impacted households (CIHs) in the Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu, India. The PAR was guided by an adaptive innovation model (AIM) that draws inspiration from posthumanism, action research and reflective practice traditions.

The insights from the PAR insist that we must recognise and work with diverse knowledge systems and situated practices to develop meaningful disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate adaptation strategies. Our approach has to be rooted in the lived experiences of various vulnerable groups, their entanglements with nature and their everyday struggles of interacting with a complex social-ecological system.

This paper is an outcome of a PAR in a cyclone-impacted village in Tamil Nadu, India. The discussions and findings of the paper are original in nature and have not been published elsewhere.

This study aims to provide an extensive review of the employer brand literature by capturing research trends and proposing a research agenda.

A bibliometric analysis was conducted to study 232 peer-reviewed articles indexed on Scopus from 2004 to 2021. Content analysis is added where appropriate to further explore empirical studies and influential papers.

Based on bibliometric analysis, this study provides data about the volume, growth trajectory, geographic distribution, main authors, three main themes and future research avenues for each of these themes. Content analysis sheds light on research subjects, types of data, methods and most influential papers.

This paper is among the first to conduct a bibliometric analysis along with content analysis focusing on employer brand. An extensive research agenda derived from the studied literature is also provided for interested scholars.

To increase university–industry collaboration and research commercialisation, the Australian government recently introduced the Intellectual Property (IP) Framework, a set of online standard contracts. This follows a predecessor standard contract initiative, the IP Toolkit, which has not previously been evaluated. This paper aims to examine standard contracting in the innovation sector, tracing the policymaking behind the IP Toolkit using the lens of Macneil’s relational contract theory, to assess prospects of success for the new IP Framework, and similar initiatives in other jurisdictions.

This is a disciplined-configurative case study, drawing on qualitative secondary data analysis and applying Macneil’s relational contracting theory to guide case construction and generate hypotheses around likely success of standard contracting initiatives (stakeholder sentiment, stakeholder adoption). Within-case analysis process-traces development of the IP Toolkit, to discover what the policymakers wanted, knew and computed – and to detail observable implications Macneil’s theory predicts. Its themes are triangulated with multiple sources.

The case study, via Macneil’s theory, confirms the first hypothesis (resistant stakeholder sentiment) and partly validates the second hypothesis (low levels of adoption), demonstrating limited suitability of standard contracting in the dynamic and highly uncertain space of university–industry collaboration.

The study provides insights into the limited role that standard contracts can play in improving national collaborative research and development performance.

This is a novel theory-driven case study triangulated with previously unpublished data on the IP Toolkit’s website usage, and data from recent consultations on the new IP Framework. It has broader implications for other jurisdictions considering adoption of the standard contract model.

This study aimed at determining the decisive factors for achieving sustainable procurement in construction projects.

Questionnaire survey of principal stakeholders involved in construction project delivery within client, consulting and contracting organisations in Nigeria were conducted to assess stakeholders' perspectives on the decisive factors for achieving sustainable procurement in construction projects using importance weights. A total of 243 questionnaires were distributed and a response rate of 51% (123 questionnaires were adequately filled and returned) was achieved. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilised in analysing elicited data.

The results from data analysis showed that “satisfaction – including workforce satisfaction and user satisfaction”, “value for money” and “creating a healthy, nontoxic environment – including high indoor air quality” were the top most three decisive factors for achieving sustainable procurement in construction projects in Nigeria.

An understanding of these decisive factors can help principal stakeholders in the construction industry of developing countries to facilitate the development of methods required in supporting the adoption of sustainable procurement practice.

School-university partnerships (SUPs) probe a range of P12 challenges and interests, with teacher residencies being chief among them. Because historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have impressive track records (Hill-Jackson, 2017) and knowhow (Marchitello & Trinidad, 2019; Petchauer & Mawhinney, 2017) in preparing teacher candidates to work effectively in diverse schools, this paper seeks deeper understandings of the types of SUPs for teacher residency collaborations employed by traditional versus HBCU programs.

This article draws upon the self-study as a methodology to review a SUP for a teacher residency at an HBCU in the southwestern United States to illustrate an equity-centric model.

Leveraging an equity and third space perspective, three separate approaches to the SUPs are unpacked to establish the outline for this proposal: ceremonial, conventional and communal teacher residency approaches.

A novel typology of three distinct approaches to SUPs for teacher residencies is outlined to establish the extent to which equity is foregrounded among teacher residencies.

This paper explores attempts to deliver socioeconomic benefit by developing social enterprise within the public sector supply chain.

A case study approach is adopted which focusses on the implementation of public procurement policy intended to support social entrepreneurs (SEs) in the delivery of social care in Scotland. Socio-technical systems theory (STST) is adopted as a lens through which to explore the case.

While acknowledging the contextual limits of the case study, the empirical findings recognise partial implementation of the measures intended to develop social entrepreneurship in the supply chain. The results, however, suggest that both the engagement levels of SEs and the expected socio economic benefits are yet to accrue fully.

The paper concludes that in order to achieve the expected social benefits further progress is required in engaging SEs in formal collaborations with larger, potentially for profit, organisations and also in their increased involvement in the design and commissioning of public services.

The innovative, cross-sectional research design uses a survey based, gap analysis to provide a nuanced comparison between the views of local authority procurement officers and the opinions prevalent within social enterprise care providers and thereby to assesses the effectiveness of public policy.