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The manufacturing industry in Pakistan, like any other industry, promotes sustainability in its supply chain operations. Yet, the scenario is different in the chemical manufacturing sector, which lags in the development and implementation of sustainable development practices and policies to safeguard its long-term viability. Embracing sustainable practices not only fulfills manufacturing needs but also stands out from other companies. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore the eco-friendly business practices that impact corporate innovation. Organizational size is considered a moderator in the relationship between green practices and corporate innovation.

The quantitative study was conducted to collect the data through convenience sampling techniques. In total, 138 responses were analyzed through the partial least squares method.

The findings reveal that the implementation of green practices increases corporate innovation. Thus, the impact varies based on different organizational sizes. The crux of the organizational strategy relies on the implementation of eco-friendly practices and holding the right size to survive.

The proposed study provides new grounds for the natural resource-based perspective theory and stakeholder theory. Chemical manufacturers can tailor their strategies that accommodate varying resources and capabilities, facilitating more effective implementation of green practices across different companies within the sector.

The paper provides new ground for the natural resource-based perspective theory. More specifically, this study was expected to help chemical manufacturers choose environmentally friendly practices that would help them meet corporate sustainability performance goals through innovation.

The aim of this study is to review the literature on how intellectual capital (IC) contributes to the decarbonization efforts of firms. It explores how carbon accounting can measure the components of IC in decarbonization efforts to balance profitability with environmental and social goals, particularly in promoting decent work and economic growth (Sustainable Development Goal [SDG] 8 and its targets [2, 5, 6, 8]). Moreover, it emphasises the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships for sharing knowledge, expertise, technology, and financial resources (SDG17-Target 17.G) to meet SDG8.

As a consolidated methodological approach, a systematic literature review (SLR) was used in this study to fill the existing research gaps in sustainability accounting. To consolidate and clarify scholarly research on IC towards decarbonization, 149 English articles published in the Scopus database and Google Scholar between 1990 and 2024 were reviewed.

The results highlight that the current research does not sufficiently cover the intersection of carbon accounting and IC in the analysis of decarbonization practices. Stakeholders and regulatory bodies are increasingly pressuring firms to implement development-focused policies in line with SDG8 and its targets, requiring the integration of IC and its measures in decarbonization processes, supported by SDG17-Target 17.G. This integration is useful for creating business models that balance profitability and social and environmental responsibilities.

The integration of social dimension to design sustainable business models for emission reduction and provide a decent work environment by focusing on SDG17-Target 17.G has rarely been investigated in terms of theory and practice. Through carbon accounting, IC can be a key source of SDG8-Targets 8.[2, 5, 6, 8] and SDG17-Target 17.G. Historically, these major issues are not easily aligned with accounting research or decarbonization processes.

This study examines direct effect of leader-member exchange (LMEX) and learning orientation (LEOR) on workplace innovation (WPIN) and indirect effect between underline relationships in presence of mediators such as creative self-efficacy (CRSE), thrive at work (THAW), task interdependence (TAIN) work significance (WOSI) and creative performance (CRPE). Moreover, this study investigates the serial mediating effect of CRSE, WOSI, THAW, TAIN and CRPE between LMEX, LEOR and WPIN in entrepreneurial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This study collected a total of 286 usable responses from entrepreneurial SMEs in three major business cities in Pakistan. In this cross-sectional study, data were gathered through self-administered surveys using purposive sampling approach and tested hypotheses using structural equation modeling (SEM).

The findings suggested insignificant direct effect of LMEX and LEOR on WPIN in the presence of mediators. Interestingly, CRSE, THAW, TAIN and CRPE were identified as significant mediators between LMEX, LEOR and WPIN. However, WOSI was found to be an insignificant mediator in the observed context. Moreover, the results revealed significant serial mediating effect of CRSE and CRPE with work context elements such as THAW and TAIN between LMEX, LEOR and WPIN, while serial mediating effect of WOSI in underline relationships found insignificant.

The study emphasizes that chief executive officers (CEOs) of entrepreneurial SMEs should prioritize individual, team and organizational factors to improve WPIN for competitiveness. Entrepreneurial management should focus on building strong relationships with employees to foster creativity and create a learning-oriented work environment that improves motivation and collaboration, thereby boosting employees' CRSE and CRPE, leading to enhanced WPIN.

This research offered a novel research framework and identified critical mediators and serial mediators between LMEX, LEOR and WPIN for entrepreneurial SMEs in developing countries, a domain grossly underrepresented in the literature.

Financial statement fraud has become a global concern, and auditors are increasingly focused on identifying and investigating it. Auditors may play a crucial role in investigating and reducing financial statement fraud, and this is particularly important in developing countries where fraudulent practices are more prevalent due to the lack of strict regulations and oversight. This study investigates whether enhanced audit quality has an impact on reducing financial statement fraud. The primary aim is to recognize whether a higher level of audit quality relates with a decrease in fraudulent activities in Indonesia, which is one such country that has not yet adopted IFRS.

This study investigates the effect of audit quality, as measured by audit tenure, audit fee, and audit size, on the dependent variable of financial statement fraud, as indicated by Dechow F-value. The sample for this study comprises 951 observations from 2015 to 2020, and the research design utilizes a panel data approach. To test the main hypothesis, OLS, and GMM estimation techniques are employed.

The analyses reveal a negative relationship between audit tenure and financial statement fraud. This suggests that shorter audit tenure may be associated with an increased risk of financial statement fraud. This heightened risk could stem from auditors having limited time to thoroughly understand the company's operations and internal controls, potentially making it more challenging to detect and prevent fraudulent activities perpetrated by the client. Conversely, a positive relationship is identified between audit fees and financial statement fraud, suggesting that companies paying higher fees may be engaging auditors less adept at detecting fraudulent activities. Furthermore, a negative relationship is observed between Big-5 and financial statement fraud, which may be due to the greater resources, expertise, quality control, scrutiny, reputation, and ethical conduct of Big-5 audit companies.

This study only focused on listed companies in Indonesia, therefore, caution should be exercised when generalizing the findings to other developing and Muslim countries such as Malaysia. The findings may differ due to the adoption of IFRS in Malaysia. As such, it is important for future studies to include Malaysia as a sample and compare the results with those of Indonesia. This comparison would demonstrate the impact of IFRS adoption on the relationship between audit quality and financial statement fraud and provide insights for policy makers in Indonesia.

The findings of this study have important implications for developing countries that have been shown to be more susceptible to fraud than developed countries. This study contributes to the existing research on the role of audit quality in reducing financial statement fraud and emphasizes the need for auditors and accountants to take a proactive approach in detecting and investigating financial fraud.

This study is a new study because it investigates the relationship between audit quality and financial statement fraud in Indonesia, a developing Muslim country that has not yet adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The study provides valuable evidence on the unique factors that influence fraud in Indonesia and fills a gap in the literature as previous studies on this topic have largely focused on developed countries. Additionally, the study recommends that policymakers in Indonesia consider implementing IFRS to improve the reliability of financial reporting and strengthen the effectiveness of the auditing process, thus reducing the incidence of fraud.

Drawing insights from institutional theory, this paper aims to examine whether and to what extent banks have reconfigured their management control systems (MCSs) in response to growing institutional pressures towards sustainability, understood as environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

The authors conducted an exploratory study at the three largest Italian banking groups to shed light on changes made in MCSs to account for ESG issues. The analysis is based on 12 semi-structured interviews with managers from the sustainability and controls areas, as well as from other relevant operational areas particularly concerned with the integration process of ESG issues. Additionally, secondary data sources were used. The Malmi and Brown (2008) MCS framework, consisting of a package of five types of formal and informal control mechanisms, was used to structure and analyse the empirical data.

The examined banks widely implemented numerous changes to their MCSs as a response to the heightened sustainability pressures from regulatory bodies and stakeholders. In particular, with the exception of action planning, the results show an extensive integration of ESG issues into the five control mechanisms of Malmi and Brown’s framework, namely, long-term planning, cybernetic, reward/compensation, administrative and cultural controls.

By identifying the approaches banks followed in reconfiguring traditional MCSs, this research sheds light on how adequate MCSs can promote banks’ “sustainable behaviours”. The results can, thus, contribute to defining best practices on how MCSs can be redesigned to support the integration of ESG issues into the banks’ way of doing business.

Overall, the findings support the theoretical assertion that institutional pressures influence the design of banks’ MCSs, and that both formal and informal controls are necessary to ensure a real engagement towards sustainability. More specifically, this study reveals that MCSs, by encompassing both formal and informal controls, are central to enabling banks to appropriately understand, plan and control the transition towards business models fully oriented to the integration of ESG issues. Thereby, this allows banks to effectively respond to the increased stakeholder demands around ESG concerns.

Disruptive events caused by cyber incidents, such as supply chain (SC) cyber incidents, can affect firms’ SC operations on a large scale, causing disruptions in material, information and financial flows and impacting the availability, integrity and confidentiality of SC assets. While SC resilience (SCRES) research has received much attention in recent years, the purpose of this study is to investigate specific capabilities for building SCRES to cyber risks. Based on a nuanced understanding of SC cyber risk characteristics, this study explores how to build SC cyber resilience (SCCR) using the perspective of dynamic capability (DC) theory.

Based on 79 in-depth interviews, this qualitative study examines 28 firms representing 4 SCs in Central Europe. The researchers interpret data from semistructured interviews and secondary data using the DC perspective, which covers sensing, seizing and transforming.

The authors identify SCRES capabilities, in general, and SCCR-specific capabilities that form the basis for the realignment of DCs for addressing cyber risks in SCs. The authors argue that SCRES capabilities should, in general, be combined with specific capabilities for SCCR to deal with SC cyber risks. Based on these findings, 10 propositions for future research are provided.

Practitioners should collaborate specifically to address cyber threats and risks in SCs, integrate new SC partners and use new approaches. Furthermore, this study shows that cyber risks need to be treated differently from traditional SC risks.

This empirical study enriches the SC management literature by examining SCRES to cyber risks through the insightful lens of DCs. It identifies DCs for building SCCR, makes several managerial contributions and is among the few that apply the DC approach to address specific SC risks.

The primary purpose of this research is to identify and compare the multifractal behavior of different sectors during these crises and analyze their implications on market efficiency.

We used multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) to analyze stock returns from various sectors of the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX) in between two significant periods. The COVID-19 pandemic (January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021) and the Russia–Ukraine conflict (RUC) (January 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023). This method witnesses multifractality in financial time series data and tests the persistency and efficiency levels of each sector to provide meaningful insights.

Results showcased persistent multifractal behavior across all sectors in between the COVID-19 pandemic and the RUC, spotting heightened arbitrage opportunities in the MOEX. The pandemic reported a greater speculative behavior, with the telecommunication and oil and gas sectors exhibiting reduced efficiency, recommending abnormal return potential. In contrast, financials and metals and mining sectors displayed increased efficiency, witnessing strong economic performance. Findings may enhance understanding of market dynamics during crises and provide strategic insights for the MOEX’s investors.

Understanding the multifractal properties and efficiency of different sectors during crisis periods is of paramount importance for investors and policymakers. The identified arbitrage opportunities and efficiency variations can aid investors in optimizing their investment strategies during such critical market conditions. Policymakers can also leverage these insights to implement measures that bolster economic stability and development during crisis periods.

This research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by providing a comprehensive analysis of multifractal properties and efficiency in the context of the MOEX during two major crises. The application of MF-DFA to sectoral stock returns during these events adds originality to the study. The findings offer valuable implications for practitioners, researchers and policymakers seeking to navigate financial markets during turbulent times and enhance overall market resilience.

Though alternative building technologies (ABTs) have been encouraged to address accessible and affordable issues in low-cost housing (LCH) provision, their adoption is still overwhelmed with encumbrances. The encumbrances that hinder ABT adoption require an in-depth study, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. However, studies regarding ABT and its role in improving Nigeria's LCH to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 are scarce. This research investigates encumbrances to ABT adoption in Nigeria's LCH provision and suggests feasible measures to prevent or reduce the encumbrances, thereby improving achieving SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities).

This research utilised qualitative research and adopted a face-to-face interview as the primary data collection. The interviewees comprised ABT practitioners and end users in Nigeria who were chosen by a convenient sampling technique. The study's data were analysed manually through a thematic approach.

This study shows that stakeholders should embrace ABT in LCH provision to improve achieving SDG 11 in Nigeria. Also, it clustered the perceived 20 encumbrances to ABT adoption in LCH provision into government/policymaker, housing developers/building contractors, ABT users and ABT manufacturers-related issues in Nigeria's context. This study suggested mechanisms to mitigate encumbrances to ABT adoption in LCH provision, thereby improving achieving SDG 11.

This research adds to the limited literature by analysing ABT adoption encumbrances in Nigeria's LCH provision, which could assist policy formulation for the uptake of ABT in LCH provision and improve achieving Goal 11.

Prior studies have found that managers adjust operational activities to tackle climate risk. However, the effects of climate risk on accounting practices are largely ignored in the literature. This paper investigates whether and how climate risk influences managers’ decision-making on the level of accounting conservatism and explains the results based on two competing channels: valuation demand and contracting demand.

Using firm level climate risk measures, we build a modified Basu (1997) model to conduct our econometric tests. In the baseline model, we use earnings before extraordinary items as the dependent variable, referred to as the earnings model. We control for different levels of fixed effect to identify the shocks of climate risk and mitigate potential concerns on endogeneity and bias in the model. A series of robustness tests provide supporting evidence for our baseline results and our explanation.

Using a sample of 35,832 firm-year observations on listed US firms over the period 2002 to 2019, we find that the perception of climate risk drives managers to choose the less conservative accounting policies. We conclude that the results are consistent with the valuation demand explanation but inconsistent with the contracting demand explanation.

The study provides additional evidence on how managers respond to climate risk by adjusting their corporate polices, specifically accounting policies. Our findings contradict the results of prior studies. We explain our results from a unique perspective. Overall, the study provides valuable insights for academics, investors, managers and policymakers.

We examined the dynamic volatility connectedness and diversification strategies among US real estate investment trusts (REITs) and green finance indices.

The DCC-GARCH dynamic connectedness framework and he DCC-GARCH t-copula model were employed in this study.

Using daily data from 2,206 observations spanning from 2 January 2015 to 31 January 2023 this paper presents the following findings: (1) cross-market spillovers exhibited a high correlation and significant fluctuations, particularly during extreme events; (2) our analysis confirmed that REIT acted as net receivers from other green indices, with the S&P North America Large-MidCap Carbon Efficient Index dominating the in-network volatility spillover; (3) this observation suggests asymmetric spillovers between the two markets and (4) a portfolio analysis was conducted using the DCC-GARCH t-copula framework to estimate hedging ratios and portfolio weights for these indices. When REIT and the Dow Jones US Select ESG REIT Index were simultaneously added to a risk-hedged portfolio, our findings indicated that no risk-hedging effect could be achieved. Moreover, the cost and performance of hedging green assets using REIT were found to be comparable.

We first examined the dynamic volatility connectedness and diversification strategies among US REITs and green finance indices. The outcomes of this study carry practical implications for market participants.