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The literature on information technology outsourcing (ITO) prioritises monetary considerations and overlooks human aspects. This qualitative study adopts a contextualised approach to address a research gap in understanding agency workers’ intent to stay in the ITO sector.

In contrast to previous studies that focus on intra-organisational factors and use quantitative designs, this study takes a qualitative approach. It analyses data from 85 in-depth interviews with agency workers in the Chinese ITO supply chain and project managers of supplier and client firms.

The study constructs an integrated framework covering 15 factors at three levels and shows how they interact to influence Chinese agency workers’ intent to stay in the ITO supply chain. Variations in outsourcing management styles and practices among U.S., Japanese and Chinese client firms are presented to enrich the understanding of outsourcing dynamics in a global context.

This study contributes to the ITO literature by providing new insights into the retention of highly skilled agency workers and deepening the contextual understanding of this issue, throwing light on the human aspects often overshadowed by monetary considerations.

The purpose of this study is to examine the linear and non-linear relationship between capital structure (CS) and firm performance (FP) and the moderating and mediating roles of agency costs in the CS-FP nexus.

This study used static and quadratic panel data regression models to examine the linear and non-linear relationships and structured equation models to analyze the mediating effect of agency costs in the CS-FP nexus of 38 listed non-financial Mauritian firms from 2009 to 2019.

Leverage has a significant negative effect on FP supporting the pecking order theory. Agency costs are significantly and positively associated with FP. There is a strong non-linear relationship between leverage and FP supporting the trade-off and agency cost theories. Agency costs are an important moderator and mediator in the CS-FP nexus. Overall, the sensitivity analyses showed that the results were robust.

Firms need to carefully consider the levels and types of debt and equity in their CS involving the use of dynamic strategies to adjust CS in response to changing economic conditions and FP. The moderating effect of agency costs may guide firms in optimizing CS and may contribute to corporate governance discussions, emphasizing the importance of aligning interests to foster sustainable business practices.

This study adds to the extant literature by providing new evidence on the non-linear relationship between leverage and FP and the moderating and mediating roles of agency costs in the CS-FP nexus in emerging capital markets, where such studies are rare.

Protected areas, lands and seas set aside for nature conservation, are the main tool for governments to conserve biodiversity. The complexity of government processes, however, can lead to fragmentation in protected area systems. Institutional fragmentation can preclude central coordination and undermine funding and performance. Here, we examine the impact of institutional fragmentation on budgets for protected area agencies in the United States, an important actor in the global conservation movement.

This article uses visual text and network analysis with agency budget documents to examine linkages between agencies. These findings are triangulated with semi-structured interviews analyzed with axial coding to develop a framework for the budget process and its outcomes in US protected area agencies.

The visual text analysis demonstrates varying levels of coordination between agencies. The conceptual framework shows that five factors - mismatches within agencies, the influence of the Presidential administration, the power of Congress as the appropriator of funds, external forces that influence Congress, and a lack of accountability in allocations – lead to institutional fragmentation and “disparate nature enclaves”.

Interview findings are derived from a non-representative population, and thus should not be generalized for all agencies or budget systems.

Understanding the factors influencing agency budget proposals will inform policy to make budgeting more effective for U.S. and other national protected area systems.

Few studies have conducted qualitative analyses of federal agencies and their budgets, particularly for federal protected areas.

The paper studies how the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) positioned itself in the process through which capacity building in developing countries was interpreted and enacted within the global development aid agenda from 1999 to 2016.

The paper is an in-depth case study drawing on a comprehensive analysis of publications, reports and archival materials.

The paper unveils how IFAC shaped the interpretation of capacity building and its associated practices in a manner aligned with its expansionary aims thereby transforming itself into a prominent actor within, what we term, the capacity building issue-based field. It unpacks the strategies pursued by IFAC as it mobilised economic, social and cultural resources in support of its global capacity building ambitions for the accountancy profession. It reveals how key interactions between actors in the international development exchange field and the professional exchange field of accounting underpinned IFAC’s infiltration of, and impact on the evolution of, the capacity building issue-based field. We show how IFAC increased its influence in this field despite initially operating on the periphery of the global development aid agenda.

The paper reveals how the global accountancy profession’s engagement with the capacity building activities of international development agencies became central to its commitment to serving the public interest. Our analysis suggests that deeper explorations of capacity building by the global accountancy profession in specific developing countries are required in order to determine whether these efforts have effectively catered to the needs of the citizens of those countries.

The work of professional accountancy organizations (PAOs) operating at the global level in the area of capacity building has been addressed in a fragmented fashion in prior research. This paper presents a unique analysis of developing alliances between the global accountancy profession and international aid agencies aimed at supporting the globalising efforts of IFAC within the realm of capacity building in international development aid. Theoretically, the paper advances prior work exploring the evolution of issue-based fields, in particular the role of inter-field relations in interstitial spaces within these processes.

This study aims to investigate the role of marketing agencies in aligning brand purpose with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the post-pandemic era. This study explores whether and how marketing agencies delineate and execute brand purpose in a way that supports sustainable consumption and marketing models.

Data were gathered from semi-structured interviews with 35 senior managers at UK-based marketing agencies. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using NVivo software for inductive coding.

The study reveals that brand purpose in the post-pandemic era is increasingly aligned with the SDGs. Marketing agencies play a pivotal role in this alignment, as they not only help to delineate and execute the brand purpose but also do so in a way that amplifies perceived authenticity in the eyes of the brand stakeholders.

This research underscores the significance of marketing agencies in delineating and executing brand purpose that aligns with the SDGs. It enriches the literature by illustrating how agency expertise contributes to the evolution of brand purpose, guiding businesses towards responsible marketing practices and consumption patterns that support a sustainable future.

First I would like to thank you for the great honour of being allowed to state my point of view on some, in my opinion very important, problems of tourism to‐day.

In recent years much attention in the UK has been given to encouraging the establishment and development of viable small firms in order to generate job creation and economic growth. Enterprise agencies, set up by local companies, local authorities and others interested in developing the economic life of the community, have taken a major role in advising and guiding individuals who are starting their own small businesses. Enterprise agencies illustrate the growing importance of the concentration of effort within a community based upon local resources, as opposed to more traditional approaches aimed at bringing in jobs from outside the area by attracting inward investment. Reference is made to the type of services rendered by the agencies which small firm managers and directors find most useful when establishing their businesses. Observations are made about how the counselling relationship develops between the agency and the small firm in the critical early months. With over 250 enterprise agencies in existence, the UK is among the most active of EEC countries in taking positive local initiatives which aid the development of small firms.

The specific objectives of this research were to gain an understanding of the causes of advertiser account switches in New Zealand and Singapore and compare these results with Michell’s USA and UK studies. The main finding of this study is the reasons for broken agency‐client relationships are complex and very varied. However, Michell’s five general reasons for account switches: poor agency performance; changes in agency policies; changes in client policies; changes in agency management; and changes in client management, appear to explain most failed agency‐client relationships (although few respondents had all of the above problems at once). This report has been useful in highlighting the differences in New Zealand and Singapore agency‐client relationships.

When we say that a tourist agency is an indispensable participant on a tourist market, we have just stated a fact accepted by both tourist theory and practice. Yet, there are, relatively speaking, few researches and analyses of tourist agencies work, still less such that would try to scientifically deal with the problems of a tourist agency's operation. With this lack of tourist technical literature in the field of the agency's role in tourism, the absence of theoreticians and those who work in practice can easily be noticed especially in area of sales on a tourist market. It is difficult to answer the question why it is so, nor can we enter into such discussions now. The aim of this contribution is to point out the importance of a process of the agency's work and give arguments for it.

Almost all estate agencies that are involved in residential property sales recognise the commission income from a sale when the commission concerned is actually received. This practice is at variance with generally accepted accounting practice, which requires recognition of income to occur on the signing of the agreement or when the sales contract becomes firm (i.e. unconditional). The South African Revenue Services (SARS) has required the few estate agencies that apply generally accepted accounting practice in their financial statements to align their income tax accounting with their financial accounting. This alignment results in tax being paid on the commission that is due from the sale of properties that have not yet been transferred. This paper debates the issue of the recognition of income. It provides suggestions for the improvement of disclosure in estate agencies’ financial statements. Furthermore, it suggests changes to estate agencies’ standard sales contracts to the effect that income is deemed to have been earned upon the registration of the transfer of a property.