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This study aims to explore network typology and the role of networks in immigrant entrepreneurs’ (IEs) business operations in South Africa (SA).

In-depth interviews were carried out with 25 IEs operating their business ventures in SA, selected via the purposive sampling method.

The findings indicated that IEs in SA use social networks most often, with minimal use of international business networks. In addition, the findings showed that IE networks’ key roles include providing them with access to referrals and resource provision. However, whilst resource provision emerged as a significant role, finance appeared as the main resource provided by networks.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this original paper provided theoretical and empirical contributions to research on network typology and its role for IEs. Thus, the study extended the current literature on the intersection of IEs and their networking behaviours.

This paper presents the findings of assessing the strategies required for improved work-life balance (WLB) of construction workers in Eswatini. This was done to improve the work-life relationship of construction workers and, in turn, improve the service delivery of the construction industry in the country.

The study adopted a quantitative research approach using a questionnaire administered to construction professionals in the country. The data gathered were analysed using frequency, percentage, Mann–Whitney U test, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

The findings revealed that the level of implementation of WLB initiatives in the Eswatini construction industry is still low. Following the attaining of several model fitness, the study found that the key strategies needed for effective WLB can be classified into four significant components, namely: (1) leave, (2) health and wellness, (3) work flexibility, and; (4) days off/shared work.

The findings offer valuable benefits to construction participants as the adoption of the identified critical strategies can lead to the fulfilment of WLB of the construction workforce and by extension, the construction industry can benefit from better job performance.

This study is the first to assess the strategies needed for improved WLB of construction workers in Eswatini. Furthermore, the study offers a theoretical platform for future discourse on WLB in Eswatini, a country that has not gained significant attention in past WLB literature.

SDG 16 is committed to reducing violence in all its forms and ensuring personal and collective security. Drawing several examples from all over the world, the chapter underscores the complexities and challenges faced in pursuing social justice. It highlights the role of peacebuilding and conflict prevention in preserving territorial identity, emphasizing the detrimental effects of violence on cultural heritage and social cohesion. Furthermore, it examines the ways in which access to justice, protection of rights, and responsible governance contribute to the fortification of territorial identity, enabling communities to uphold their distinct traditions and values. The chapter also delves into the analysis of obstacles such as corruption, human rights violations, and criminal activities that undermine the achievement of SDG 16. Through an analysis of these challenges in various contexts, it underscores the global significance of addressing these issues to create environments where territorial identities can thrive.

This paper aims to examine the impact of the auditor's characteristics on bank's earnings management (EM) through loan loss provisions (LLP) for African banks.

This study is based on 360 bank-year observations from 14 African countries for the period 2011–2016, discretionary LLP is used as proxy for EM. Panel regressions have been conducted.

The authors' findings reveal that auditor's industry specialization and tenure exert a negative and significant influence on the extent of LLP-based EM. The results also show that total fees paid to the banks' auditors are positively related to the extent of EM. In a further analysis, the authors find that industry specialist auditors are more effective in reducing the incoming-increasing. Similarly, the positive relationship previously found between EM and total fees still holds only for income-increasing. Moreover, auditor tenure negatively impacts both income-increasing and income-decreasing EM. As for auditor change, results reveal differential effect on EM.

The current research extends prior literature and provides an understanding of an important external monitoring mechanism, the external audit, within African banks. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is a paucity of cross-country studies that has addressed the influence of auditors' attributes on banks' EM in Africa.

Women’s direct or subtle exclusion from the labour market is still evident, necessitating more rigorous inquiries into the subject matter. The study aims to assess the moderating factors that can boost the inclusion of women participation in the labour market by complementing and actualising the doctrine of the feminist U-shaped hypothesis.

This study is situated within the feminist U-shaped hypothesis and employs the generalised method of moments (GMM) on 38 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

This study validates the U-shaped labour hypothesis and expands on the moderating effects of the U-shaped curve in 38 SSA countries.

The study contributes to the influences of human capital development and technological access that can significantly improve the workings of the feminist U- hypothesis in SSA countries.

Project information is widely and thoroughly exchanged within construction projects. However, the risk management process exhibits deficiencies in coordination and visibility, particularly in developing countries. Practitioners in developing countries often engage in Project Risk Management (PRiM) using practices that inadvertently hinder project success, frequently resulting in suboptimal outcomes. Therefore, this research explores practices within Project Integration Management (PIM) and Project Communication Management (PCmM) that could enhance PRiM and improve managerial proficiency to achieve project success in developing countries.

The PIM, PCmM and PRiM processes were explored from the literature; the data was gathered initially by close-ended interviews conducted with a panel of twelve experts followed by a well-structured questionnaire. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed via AMOS to analyze the data and construct a model representing the intricate relationships between the processes. Additionally, the validity and reliability of the method were inspected.

The data analysis confirmed that PIM and PCmM were correlated according to contractors and consultants in the Jordanian construction industry. Furthermore, both have a positive influence on the PRiM. In addition, a 13-step process was developed to apply extra processes and practices to ensure better implementation of the PRiM in developing countries.

The literature highlights that integration and communication management influence project performance. However, there is a lack of research utilizing practices from these knowledge areas to achieve better project risk management implementation. This research highlights two of the most underrated knowledge areas in project management. Therefore, a framework was devised, comprising processes that practitioners should take into account during the planning phase leading to efficient PRiM to enhance their managerial proficiency.

This study aims to evaluate the information behavior of the Banarasi Sarees weaving community and propose an information-focused policy tailored to their needs.

This study was conducted in seven weaver-centered areas in Varanasi and was designed around semi-structured interviews to explore various information-related aspects among the weavers. It aims to focus on their knowledge of weaving, their information needs, seeking behavior, preferred communication channels, prioritization of information and methods for enhancing information-related situations.

It was found that a lack of information among weavers significantly impacts their livelihoods and businesses. They struggle to make product, pricing and marketing decisions without access to accurate, timely and relevant information. They cannot expand their businesses and invest in new equipment and materials. The weavers need a library with a specialized collection and a qualified librarian to guide them in using the information sources. They also need a dedicated information system and community information centers to provide better information services.

This study is a work whose expected results and findings would help policymakers adopt measures to encourage providing information services through public libraries and community information centers. The results of this study may be further used to frame information policy for weavers and other occupational communities.

Cost and schedule overruns are rife in dam projects. Normative evidence espouses overruns as though they are inimical to development and prosperity aspirations of stakeholders. This study examines the causal relationship between project financing and overruns.

Causative data were extracted from completion reports of 28 major dam projects in Africa. Each of the projects was financed jointly by up to 10 international development lenders. Relationships between causes of overruns and project outcomes were analysed.

Analyses elicit indicators of remarkable correlations between finance procedures and project outcomes. Lenders’ disposition to risk attenuation was the main debacles to project success. Interests had mounted, whilst release of fund was erratic and ill-timed. Finance objectives and mechanisms were grossly inadequate for projects’ intense bifurcations. Projects had slowed or stalled because lenders’ risks attenuation processes were purposed to favour lenders’ objectives, and not projects’ interests. In addition, findings also show project owners’ own funds and the number of lenders to a single project correlate with overruns.

Findings imply commercial complexities around major projects. They also show transactions are shaped by subtle (mis)trust behaviours in project finance procedures. Thus, scholarly solutions to project performance issues should consider behavioural issues of stakeholding parties more broadly, beyond contractors and project owners. Project finance ecosystems are vulnerable to major actors’ self-interests, opportunism and predatory conducts. Borrowers would manage this by developing and improving their capacity to build resilience and trust. Evidence shows intense borrower nations in Africa have limited capacity and acuity for these.

This study contextualises megaprojects in complexity rather than cost. Its additionality is in how finance steers absolute control of project environment away from project owners and how finance administration triggers risks and overrun.

Municipalities, as the front lines of service delivery, use websites as one of the tools to communicate information to the public. While it is considered a record, many organisations, including municipalities, do not manage websites as such. This study aims to explore the archiving of websites as records in the municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Province in South Africa by using the web archiving life cycle model.

This study used a mixed-methods research with an explanatory design, with quantitative data collected first through content analysis of websites and qualitative data collected through interviews. Researchers used multilevel sampling, first quantitatively analysing all available websites of the municipalities (52) in KZN, and then qualitatively selecting only records managers, information managers, web administrators, communication managers and website managers or designers from municipalities because of their understanding and involvement with websites in some way.

This study established that some records on municipal websites are often in paper format in record-keeping systems, whereas others are born digital and are not captured in the systems. Municipalities lack a dedicated web online harvesting tool as well as an archiving policy or strategy to guide website archiving. Furthermore, municipalities placed a high reliance on service providers to keep their websites operational.

It became clear during the interviews that most of the participants were unfamiliar with web archiving. As a result, only 12 of the 56 selected participants from the municipalities provided the required information in relation to the current study as others could not provide answers. Data for other participants were not analysed.

Due to a lack of infrastructure for ingesting digital records into archival custody, a framework for harvesting web content of value is proposed both internally in municipalities and externally to an archive repository.

Patriotism is often described as the “love of country” that individuals display in the acclamation of their national community. Despite the prominence of this sentiment in various societies around the world, organizational research on patriotism is largely absent. This omission is surprising because entrepreneurs, human resource (HR) divisions, and firms frequently embrace both patriotism and patriotic organizational practices. These procedures include (among other interventions) national symbol embracing, HR practices targeted toward military members and first responders, the adulation of patriots and celebration of patriotic events, and patriotic-oriented corporate social responsibility (CSR). Here, the authors argue that research on HR management and organization studies will likely be further enhanced with a deeper understanding of the national obligation that can spur employee productivity and loyalty. In an attempt to jumpstart the collective understanding of this phenomenon, the authors explore the antecedents of patriotic organizational practices, namely, the effects of founder orientation, employee dispersion, and firm strategy. It is suggested that HR practices such as these lead to a patriotic organizational image, which in turn impacts investor, customer, and employee responses. Notably, the effect of a patriotic organizational image on firm-related outcomes is largely contingent on how it fits with the patriotic views of other stakeholders, such as investors, customers, and employees. After outlining this model, the authors then present a thought experiment of how this model may appear in action. The authors then discuss ways the field can move forward in studying patriotism in HR management and organizational contexts by outlining several future directions that span multiple levels (i.e., micro and macro). Taken together, in this chapter, the authors introduce a conversation of something quite prevalent and largely unheeded – the patriotic organization.