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Drawing motivation from the greater exposure to uncertainty and condition changes that affect large projects due to their long lifecycle, this paper aims to investigate how the time factor affects the use of governance mechanisms to pursue the success of these projects.

To pursue its aim, the article applies the dichotomization between the hard and soft mechanisms of project governance to the analysis of a historical case study, whose findings are organized over the short, medium and long periods. The case selected is referred to the peculiar water system, made up of tunnels named “bottini,” that was in use in Siena (Italy) as the old aqueduct. Specifically, the study focuses on the project of expansion of this water system that was realized during the 14th century for the construction of the “Bottino maestro di Fontegaia.”

This article highlights the different relevance that, during the lifecycle of large projects, is assumed by hard and soft governance mechanisms, with the former having main relevance in a short and medium period, and the latter usually emerging in the medium period and, subsequently, playing a growing role for the project success in the long period.

The article contributes to the literature on large projects by providing novel insights about how the time factor impacts the governance of these projects. Furthermore, the case study, with its unique history, highlights the relevance of combining effectively the hard and the soft dimensions of project governance to pursue success.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) ISO standards have been noted as an essential marketing strategy by which firms can achieve consumer trust while improving environmental, social, and quality factors. This study discloses the contextual relationship between CSR ISO standards and sustainable impulse buying behavior. This study also looks to uncover the CSR ISO driving and linkage factors that motivate consumers to make sustainable impulsive purchases.

Three distinct research methods were employed in this research. First, a consumer expert opinion-based Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) approach was adopted to reveal the contextual relationship between CSR ISO factors and sustainable impulse buying behavior. Secondly, Matrice Impacts Croises Multiplication Appliques Classement (MICMAC) was used to examine these factors' driving and dependent power. In addition, Minitab package software was also used to check the statistical validation of ISM-MICMAC results.

The results indicate that although environmentally responsible CSR ISO 14001, socially responsible CSR ISO 26000, and consumer perception of product quality CSR ISO 9001 standards contain strong driving power, their dependent power was weak. All these CSR ISO factors (14,001, 26,000, and 9001) strongly impact each other and sustainable impulse buying. Therefore, these three CSR ISO factors have been placed at the bottom of the ISM model. The CSR ISO 14020 standard (labeling of the product), knowledge of CSR ISO standards, consumer trust, and advertising about CSR ISO standards have been placed in the middle. The mentioned factors have intense driving and dependent power and are classified as linkage factors for sustainable impulse buying. Impulse buying behavior has weak driving and strong dependent power, yet this factor strongly depends on other CSR ISO factors. Hence, this factor is placed at the top of the ISM model. In addition, the Minitab package software results indicate that ISM-MICMAC results are statistically valid.

To the best of our knowledge, this research is unique and examines the influence of CSR ISO factors on sustainable impulse buying in the context of Pakistani consumers. Secondly, our study has thoroughly investigated several CSR ISO factors and allied these factors in the context of consumer buying behavior. Third, several CSR ISO factors and impulse buying behavior were examined using a mix of ISM-MICAC and Minitab methods. Thus, including these steps in our study has led to the development of a novel technique.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between sustainable leadership and sustainable project performance. Specifically, the study aims to examine the mediating role of knowledge integration, examining how knowledge integration within an organization influences project outcomes. In addition, the study seeks to explore the moderating role of top management knowledge values, examining how the values and beliefs of top management influence the relationship between sustainable leadership and project performance.

A three-wave survey of 392 employees working in construction sector projects in Pakistan used both hierarchical regression analysis and Hayes’ PROCESS macro method to evaluate the hypotheses.

The study results show that sustainable leadership positively relates to sustainable project performance and knowledge integration mediating this relationship. In addition, the top management knowledge value moderates the indirect effect of sustainable leadership on sustainable project performance via knowledge integration.

Although the model was tested using three-wave data, it is important to note that the data were obtained from a single source. Therefore, it is possible that common method bias may have influenced the results, and this cannot be disregarded.

Organizations seek to prioritize sustainability and integrate sustainability considerations into their project management processes. Organizations can achieve improved sustainable project performance by investing in sustainable leadership development, fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and learning, prioritizing top management support for sustainable performance and integrating sustainable considerations into project management processes.

The study’s grounding on organizational learning theory adds an original and valuable perspective to the relationship between sustainable leadership and sustainable project performance. This investigation is original, as it combines sustainable leadership, knowledge integration and the moderating role of top management knowledge value to understand their impact on sustainable project performance. This unique approach contributes to the literature by providing new insights into these relationships and mechanisms in the construction industry.

Based on the intellectual capital (IC) theory and the resource-based view (RBV), the paper seeks to elucidate the direct and indirect relationships between IC and competitive advantage in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Therewithal, besides examining the mediating role of innovation capabilities in the IC-competitiveness link, it scrutinizes the moderating effect of entrepreneurial orientation in causing IC to boost competitiveness in SMEs through flourishing innovation capabilities.

Data were collected from 206 participants working in SMEs operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the help of a structured questionnaire distributed through LinkedIn. Partial least square (PLS)-based structural equation modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS 4.0 has been performed to calibrate the auxiliary and structural models.

Based on the empirical analysis, IC significantly and directly enhances the competitive advantages of SMEs. Additionally, innovative capability has been found to be a complementary partial mediating condition in enabling IC to foster competitiveness in SMEs. Furthermore, the moderated mediation analysis reveals that innovation capabilities strongly mediate the association between IC and competitiveness in SMEs, characterizing higher entrepreneurial orientation.

The study provides significant insights to academicians and practitioners seeking to comprehend or configure interactions among IC, innovation capabilities, and entrepreneurial orientation in maturing competitiveness among SMEs, especially in emerging economies. Furthermore, the study provides a valuable integrative perspective on SMEs’ competitiveness by involving three voguish constituents of contemporary scholarly discourse grounded into the leading underpinning theoretical perspectives, such as IC theory, RBV, and entrepreneurship theory.

The uniqueness of this model lies in its rich theory-laden conceptualization and explanation that could extend theoretical debate and managerial action to the next levels.

Despite the burgeoning popularity of virtual gifting in live streaming, research lacks an in-depth understanding of the drivers behind this behavior. Using para-social relationship (PSR), this study aims to capture viewers’ lively social feelings toward the streamer as the key factor leading to the purchase behavior of virtual gifts. It also aims to establish a theoretical link between PSR and viewers’ holistic experience in live streaming as captured by cognitive absorption and aims to investigates the role of technological features (i.e. viewer–streamer and viewer–viewer interactivity, streamer-level and viewer-level deep profiling and design aesthetics) in shaping viewers’ experience.

Based on 433 survey responses, this study employs a combination of structural equation modeling and neural networks to offer valuable insights into the relationships between the technological environment, viewer experience and viewer behavior.

Our results highlight the salience of PSR in promoting the purchase of virtual gifts through cognitive absorption and the importance of the technological environment in eliciting the viewer experience. This study sheds light on the development of PSR in a technological environment and its relationship with cognitive absorption.

By applying PSR to conceptualize viewers’ perceived connection with the streamer, this study extends the research on purchase behavior in the non-shopping context by providing an enlightened understanding of virtual gift purchase behavior in live streaming. Moreover, by theoretically linking PSR with cognitive absorption, virtual gift purchase and technological features of live streaming, it enriches the theory of PSR and bridges the gap between the design practice of supporting the IT infrastructure of live streaming and research.

The goal of this study was to understand which employee-focused workplace practices and priorities – more formally known as human resource (HR) practices and priorities – employees with mental health and/or addiction challenges (MHAC) valued and how they perceived the day-to-day implementation of those practices and priorities in the workplace integration social enterprises (WISEs) that employed them.

Twenty-two WISE workers who self-identified as having serious MHAC participated in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and coded to identify ways that employees did or did not feel supported in their WISEs.

Participants identified three HR practices and two HR priorities as important to establishing an inclusive workplace that accommodated their MHAC. The extent to which individual participants felt included and accommodated, however, was shaped by interactions with their supervisors and coworkers.

By evaluating the salience of WISEs’ employee-focused workplace practices and priorities through the lens of the employees themselves, our study articulates the critical role that interactions with coworkers and supervisors have in determining whether HR practices and priorities have the intended effect on worker experience.

While sustainable growth extends the use of resources, it is crucial to explore green growth (GG) that ensures growth sustainability through the adoption of renewable energy. Thus, this study is motivated to investigate the influence of renewable energy on GG in 19 emerging countries spanning a decade and a half (2000–2020). This study aims to provide a quantitative examination of how renewable energy contributes to sustainable economic growth.

This study uses advanced dynamic common correlated effect techniques to assess the long-term effectiveness of renewable energy on GG. Additionally, it uses Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality tests to identify synchronicity between the respective variables.

The findings of this study reveal that the adoption and utilisation of renewable energy effectively promote GG in emerging economies. However, in contrast, the significantly greater negative influence of trade openness on GG compared to renewable energy highlights the inadequacy and limited impact of cleaner energy alone.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, existing literature predominantly focuses on investigating the relationship between renewable energy and economic growth, with only a limited number of studies exploring the impact on GG. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study would be the first to analyse this relationship in these emerging countries. Furthermore, previous estimation frameworks used in prior studies often overlook the crucial factor of cross-sectional dependence (CSD) among countries. Therefore, this study addresses this issue using a contemporary econometric approach that deals not only with CSD but other biases, like endogeneity, autocorrelation, small sample bias, etc.

Through the lens of resource-based view (RBV), knowledge-based view (KBV) and DCV, this paper aims to investigate the relationship of entrepreneurial leadership (EL) on the project success (PS) and further examines the mediating effect of knowledge infrastructure capability (KIC), knowledge-based dynamic capability (KBDC) and Big data analytic capability (BDAC).

The data were collected from 467 employees working on project in software companies. The data were evaluated using SMART-PLS, a structural equation modeling (SEM) tool.

The study revealed a significant impact of EL on the PS, the study also found the significant mediation role of KIC, KBDC and BDAC on the EL and PS relationship.

The research gives valuable insight into the effective role of EL as a contemporary leadership style in project-based firms. Also, this research is one of the first to examine knowledge-oriented dynamic capabilities (DC) as a knowledge fulcrum in project execution. These DC have been empirically proven to facilitate EL in achieving PS and support the firm in competing in an uncertain environment.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the amount of trust customers have in Somali Islamic banks. Furthermore, the role of gender in CSR activities and Islamic bank clientele is evaluated.

Throughout February and March 2022, 410 clients of Islamic banks in Somalia were surveyed using a questionnaire. The partial least squares approach and the structural equation model are applied to examine the data.

Findings indicate that all variables of CSR activities, such as social product, social legal, social needs, social environment and social employees’ responsibility, are influential and significant predictors of trust in Islamic banks in Somalia. Gender inequalities moderate the relationship between social product, social needs, social environment, social employee and trust. Conversely, only social legal responsibility was unaffected by gender differences in Somalia regarding people’s trust in Islamic banks.

A sample from a developing country such as Somalia is useful for shedding light on the outcomes of consumers’ perceptions of and trust in businesses’ CSR in the developing world. Furthermore, this study contributes to knowledge regarding CSR and how it can help the Islamic banking industry. Its findings will be useful to policymakers and regulatory bodies in the banking industry in their efforts to improve CSR.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first empirical investigation of its kind about the understudied relationship among customer trust, CSR efforts and gender in Somalia context. Furthermore, it investigates how gender specifically moderates CSR in the Islamic banking sector in a developing country.

Knowledge management is a common practice in organizations, with empirical evidence suggesting that organizations value the breadth of their knowledge capabilities. This study investigated transformational leadership styles and their influence on knowledge management practices and organizational performance.

A quantitative survey was conducted, and data from 270 managers of Islamic banks in the United Arab Emirates were analyzed.

Transformational leadership (TL) considerably affects organizational performance and knowledge management capabilities (KMC).

This study offers critical insights into adopting knowledge management practices and discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of its findings. Furthermore, it elucidates the crucial impact of transformational leadership on organizational performance and KMC.