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This study examines the impact of institutional ownership (IO) on firm performance. It also investigates whether powerful CEOs using a “CEO score index” moderate IO and firm performance nexus by drawing on insights from the agency and resource dependency theories.

Data were obtained from annual reports of companies listed on the Palestine Security Exchange from 2009 to 2019. Panel data regressions were conducted based on 528 observations. In addition, this study repeated the analysis using a one-step generalized method of moments (GMM) and two-stage least squares analysis to deal with the endogeneity issue.

Results show that IO and CEO power is positively associated with firm performance. Besides, it has been established that CEO power strengthens the relationship between IO and performance. Thus, this can be summarized that IO improves firm performance; however, with the powerful CEO intervention, the performance will improve even more.

Studying IO is timely given since the type of ownership is paramount to identify which form of a high degree of ownership affects the performance negatively, especially, in the Palestine environment which is dominated by institutional investors. This is of great importance to the investors as it will enable them to identify the type of firms to which they can commit their funds, and which firm excels through the CEO power. Besides, the inconsistency results in previous literature on IO, and firm performance indicates that there is an indirect effect that needs alternative explanations.

Taking instances from extant findings from the literature, the study aims to examine the community perception toward renewable energy (RE) off-grid (mini-grid/microgrid) intervention, the underlying rationales for engagement of communities in RE off-grid projects, the different alternatives/models to engage communities in various phases of RE off-grid project deployment.

The study has followed the structured literature review to explore the identified research question of the study.

Based on findings from the review, the framework for effective community engagement in RE mini-grid projects is suggested. Furthermore, the study also draws suggestions and implications for future research and practice.

Based on such understanding the present study offers the framework which suggests the steps for the engagement of the communities in the off-grid projects. The key steps are managing the perception of the community (including generation of awareness among the community), planning for the benefits of the community, linkage the sustainable development goals (SDG), planning for the inclusion of the community and measuring performance (in the line of social and economic criteria and SDG).

This study finds the gap in the literature on the nexus of community, off-grid energy projects and SDG. Following the findings from the scholars in this field, a few gaps in the policy and practice have been highlighted which could be useful for practitioners and policymakers in this area.

The aim of the paper is to examine the status and determinants of financial inclusion in India by using the recent micro-level survey data.

The authors construct a multidimensional financial inclusion index to measure the status of financial inclusion in the selected 17 states of India. Subsequently, the authors use the probit model estimation to examine the determinants of all financial inclusion indicators.

The authors find that southern and north-eastern states perform better in the overall financial inclusion index. In contrast, states like Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh lag behind. The estimated result shows that the probability of being financially included is higher among urban, richer, educated and salaried individuals. Further, the findings indicate the lower penetration of bank branches and ATMs in the rural parts of the country.

While numerous studies have explored financial inclusion from a macro-level perspective, there exists a notable gap in the literature at the micro-level. This paper aims to address this gap and contributes to the existing literature in two ways. Firstly, it uses the recent micro-level survey data to construct a multidimensional financial inclusion index for the selected Indian states. Secondly, it examines individual-level attributes as the determining factors of financial inclusion, which has been overlooked in India.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-03-2023-0162

This paper focuses on First Peoples Founders of for-profit entities in Australia and the role of the Indigenous Economic Development Agencies (IEDAs). We explore the challenges facing First Peoples enterprises, influenced by historical exclusion from white settler society, and the practices of the IEDAs from the perspectives of Founders and agencies.

A qualitative study utilising Indigenous Standpoint Theory and Indigenous research methods, elevating Founder perspectives, in the Yaruwu language - the Nilangany Ngarrungunil, owners of knowledge, to that of research collaborators.

The First Peoples economic landscape is continually evolving with IEDAs contributing to that evolution despite contentious identity ownership definitions. Founders secure in their own identity, are focused on self-determination and opportunities provided by IEDAs, government and corporate sector policies. However, opportunities are undermined by ongoing racism, discrimination and prevailing stereotypes leading to homogeneity, invisibility and exclusion. Founders question organisational commitments to overcoming systemic exclusion in particular their commitment to building respectful relationships and understanding First Peoples ways of working. Instead, Founders focus on building a sustainable First Peoples economic ecosystem through relationship-based practices rather than transactional reconciliation which ignores the reality of the lived experience of everyday racism.

This study extends the scholarly discourse on First Peoples for-profit enterprise success written with an Indigenous voice. We demonstrate how this Founder generation are strengthened by culture with identity infused in organisational practices underpinning their aspirations of economic self-determination.

This study aims to make a distinction between actualized and claimed affordances of blockchain by examining how a specified user group interprets and translates the actualized affordances from a known use context into their existing practices. This allows us to develop and advance the concept of affordances-in-practice as an enactment of action possibilities through practices in a specified use context.

We focus on the field of sustainable investment (SI) and its relation to emerging blockchain technologies in the pursuit of sustainable development goals (SDGs). We used a field study involving 29 interviews with SI practitioners and blockchain entrepreneurs in South Africa, supplemented with an analysis of 91 practitioner and industry documents.

Our findings show that when there is a lack of actual use cases in the field of SI, the claimed affordances of blockchain are subject to a sensemaking process, which considers how action possibilities can be enacted and transformed through practices and how institutional constraints and socio-cognitive barriers can determine the available action possibilities.

A notable limitation relates to the relative novelty and emerging status of blockchain. As affordances are based on available information and experience, this leaves room for claimed affordances. We discuss the implications of the interplay of the actualized and claimed affordances in blockchain applications in the field of SI.

We discuss the practical implications of addressing claimed affordances and field opacity in the SI field.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine blockchain affordances for good in the context of achieving SDGs through SI. Our affordances-in-practice framework holds theoretical promise to pinpoint and explain how practices can shape action possibilities despite having difficulties in evaluating the underlying technological potentialities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of entrepreneurial passion, specifically venture obsession, in agentic relationships within entrepreneurial contexts. It aims to develop a new conceptualization of the role of the venture in these relationships and explore the negative impacts that can arise from the obsessive passion for the venture. The paper contributes to the literature by shedding light on the complexities of agency outside of large for-profit firms, unpacking components of self-interest in the agentic relationship and challenging the assumption that entrepreneurial passion is always beneficial for both the entrepreneur and the venture.

This paper employs theoretical framework development and conceptual mapping to explore the role of entrepreneurial passion, specifically venture obsession, in agentic relationships within entrepreneurial contexts. We conducted a comprehensive literature review and synthesis of existing research on agency theory, entrepreneurial passion and venture obsession. By integrating these insights, we developed a new conceptual framework that theorizes the negative impacts of venture obsession on agentic relationships and venture performance. This approach allows us to propose a nuanced model that highlights the complexities and potential maladaptive behaviors associated with obsessive passion in entrepreneurship.

Venture obsession can have detrimental outcomes, such as escalation of commitment and ignoring external feedback, due to the intense focus on protecting the venture at all costs.

The study highlights the impact of venture obsession on agentic relationships, emphasizing the balance between autonomy, competence and relatedness that entrepreneurs strive to maintain for their well-being. While previous research has explored the role of entrepreneurial passion and its effects on venture performance, this study extends the understanding by delving into the darker side of passion when it transforms into obsessive agency. By emphasizing the importance of maintaining a healthy balance in agentic relationships and considering the psychological well-being of entrepreneurs, this study adds nuance and depth to the existing knowledge on the subject.

Investigating the drivers that contribute to the success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is crucial for ensuring the overall growth and sustainability of a country. The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of gender diversity on the Board of Directors of innovative SMEs to understand whether the presence of women on boards can improve the performance of such organizations devoted to introducing technological advancements in the product market.

The study adopts a quantitative approach, using a sample of 2,264 Italian innovative SMEs. These companies were selected from non-financial sectors and collected from Analisi informatizzata delle Aziende Italiane (AIDA), a database provided by Bureau van Dijk. An unbalanced panel data involving a period from 2016 to 2021 was used with a total of 12,173 observations.

Our findings suggest that female representation has a negative effect on a company's financial performance. Moreover, the moderation effect of sector growth opportunities confirms this negative influence since in sectors characterized by high growth opportunities, the presence of women on boards was found to have a negative outcome.

The main contribution of the work lies in offering a comprehensive and thorough examination of the business category of innovative SMEs. Specifically, it extends previous research through a focus on board gender diversity of innovative SMEs by examining the impact of the presence of women in their boardrooms on firm performance outcomes. Furthermore, it provides an analysis of this effect, considering both high-growth and low-growth sectors.

Considering the standards developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), this study aims to examine whether the link between material sustainability and financial performance depends on the extent to which the company is oriented toward stakeholders.

To test the predictions, 13,942 firm-year observations from 43 different countries are used, covering the period from 2010 to 2019. Using a hand-mapping approach to match the indicators suggested by the SASB with those of the ASSET4, the authors realize that there are 170 material sustainability indicators among 466 indicators of the ASSET4. The authors use three different methods to verify if the materiality matters, including the alphas obtained from the Fama and French factor models, comparing the average abnormal returns of the portfolios and the bootstrapped Cramer technique.

The findings show that companies investing in material sustainability activities perform better than those investing in immaterial activities. Also, consistent with the theoretical foundations, the authors find that the effect of investing in material sustainability activities is more pronounced in stakeholder-oriented countries than that in shareholder-oriented countries. The results are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests.

Owing to COVID-19 in late 2019, data from 2020 to 2022 have not been used to obtain reliable results.

The results obtained in the current research provide valuable guidance for investors to make investments considering the degree of materiality of sustainability activities in different industries. It also helps managers to increase the company’s financial performance, make efficient decisions related to investment in sustainability activities and find investment strategies on the material sustainability issues in their industries.

This study provides a clearer understanding of investment in sustainability activities in different industries by separating material and immaterial sustainability activities in stakeholder and shareholder-oriented countries, and the results obtained can change the perspective of investors and company managers regarding investing in such activities in different countries. Investing in more materiality sustainability activities than the immateriality dimension can be new opportunities for companies to achieve predetermined goals, help retain and attract business partners or be a source of innovation for new product lines or services. Internal morale and employee engagement may increase while increasing productivity and firm performance. This discussion opens the way for future research.

This study provides insight into the effect of investing in material and immaterial sustainability activities in different industries on the company’s performance in shareholder and stakeholder-oriented countries.

This study aims to investigate the favourable conditions that influence transgenerational value transmission (TVT), value acceptance and value similarity between generations in indigenous African business-owning families.

This study adopts a multiple case study design and draws on semi-structured face-to-face interviews to collect data from participants in seven indigenous Black business-owning families located in South Africa. The software ATLAS.ti was utilised to manage the data and reflexive thematic analysis was undertaken.

The analysis reveal four themes describing how transmission factors facilitate favourable conditions for successful TVT in IBSA business-owning families, namely, authoritarian parenting, a loving and connected family relational climate, the continuous reinforcement of autonomy during childhood development and family authenticity in the face of societies dominant values climate. Furthermore, value similarity is perceived to exist among the different family generations in the business-owning families.

This study is among the first to adopt the value acquisition model to empirically examine successful TVT and examine the extent of value similarity or dissimilarity, using the business-owning family as the unit of analysis. Novel contributions to family business literature and practices are proposing a model for TVT in an African context and studying relationships from a business-owning family perspective. The model for TVT could be used to socialise the NextGen members into value sets and behaviours that help business-owning families preserve their entrepreneurial legacy and family business longevity.