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This paper aims to integrate insights from the behavioral theory of the firm and the dynamic capabilities perspective to explain how the historical and social attainment discrepancies motivate firms to change. Specifically, this paper proposes that a negative historical attainment discrepancy encourages the firm to engage in strategic change to solve its performance problems. In contrast, this paper advanced that a positive social attainment discrepancy motivates strategic change as a mechanism to bolster the firm’s position within the industry. Further, this paper integrated the moderating effects of industry dynamism and industry munificence.

This paper tests hypotheses using panel data on 2,435 US public firms over the years from 1996 to 2018. This paper uses a fixed-effects regression model to empirically test these hypotheses.

This paper finds empirical support for the effects of both the negative historical attainment discrepancy and the positive social attainment discrepancy on the firm’s tendency to engage in strategic change. As for the hypothesized moderating effects, this paper finds that industry munificence accentuated the effects of both attainment discrepancies on the firm’s tendency to engage in strategic change. However, the results do not support the hypothesized moderating effect of industry dynamism on either of these attainment discrepancies.

This paper contributes to the research on the separate effects of historical and social comparisons within the context of strategic change. Further, the paper bolsters our understanding of how performance feedback increases the firm’s tendency to change. Finally, the paper integrates theoretical views from the behavioral theory of the firm and the dynamic capabilities perspective on how socially high-performing firms may build and sustain their competitive advantage through organizational change.

While the relationship between some leadership styles and emotional intelligence has been studied, leadership practices and emotional intelligence have not been studied for an understanding of how both variables enable a leader to look for pathways to goal attainment. This study aims to examine the impact of leadership practices on pathways to goal attainment while considering the mediating effect of emotional intelligence.

This study was empirical with an associative strategy. The type of study was explanatory, and latent variables design was followed. The sample consists of 496 Colombian managers, obtained through a non-probability sampling (purposive sample), who work in companies located in Bogota, Colombia. For measuring the variables, three instruments were used, Leadership Practices Inventory, Adult Dispositional Hope Scale and Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale.

Results from this study suggest that the relationship between leadership practices (model the way, inspire a shared vision and enable others to act) and pathways to goal attainment is mediated by emotional intelligence. Also, leadership practices and emotional intelligence explained 45.60% of the variability of the pathways to goal attainment.

The effectiveness of leadership practices can be explained through the hope they have about the future by using emotional intelligence as an influencing strategy. This study aims to explain how emotional intelligence helps leaders to look for pathways to goal attainment.

The purpose of this research is to explore the effect of goal type of user-generated content (UGC) on consumers' intention of within-domain and across-domain compensatory consumption in closed social media platforms, the mediating effect of self-threat, self-enhancement and self-protection motivation and the moderating effect of self-efficacy.

Four between-subject experiments were conducted to verify the hypotheses presented in this research. Study 1a had a sample size of 60 respondents and examined the effect of goal type of UGC on compensatory consumption. Study1b replicated the effect by using a sample size of 60 respondents. Study 2 had a sample size of 70 respondents and verified the mediating role of self-threat, self-enhancement motivation and self-protection motivation. Study 3 examined self-efficacy as a critical moderator by using a sample of 255 participants.

Study 1a and Study 1b demonstrate that UGC with an attainment goal (vs maintenance goal) is more easily produced within-domain and across-domain compensatory consumption. Study 2 verifies that the effect of goal type of UGC on within-domain compensatory consumption is serially mediated by self-threat and self-enhancement motivation, and the effect of goal type of UGC on across-domain compensatory consumption is serially mediated by self-threat and self-protection motivation. Study 3 demonstrates that self-efficacy not only moderates the effects of self-threat on within-domain or across-domain compensatory consumption respectively, but also moderates the whole mediating path structure.

This research extends the understanding of UGC and addresses the inconclusive evidence of the impact of goal type of UGC on consumer compensatory behavior in the context of closed social media platforms. The authors identify the moderating role of self-efficacy, which explains why consumers adopt different compensatory strategies.

As an emerging tool for data discovery, data retrieval systems fail to effectively support users' cognitive processes during data search and access. To uncover the relationship between data search and access and the cognitive mechanisms underlying this relationship, this paper examines the associations between affective memories, perceived value, search effort and the intention to access data during users' interactions with data retrieval systems.

This study conducted a user experiment for which 48 doctoral students from different disciplines were recruited. The authors collected search logs, screen recordings, questionnaires and eye movement data during the interactive data search. Multiple linear regression was used to test the hypotheses.

The results indicate that positive affective memories positively affect perceived value, while the effects of negative affective memories on perceived value are nonsignificant. Utility value positively affects search effort, while attainment value negatively affects search effort. Moreover, search effort partially positively affects the intention to access data, and it serves a full mediating role in the effects of utility value and attainment value on the intention to access data.

Through the comparison between the findings of this study and relevant findings in information search studies, this paper reveals the specificity of behaviour and cognitive processes during data search and access and the special characteristics of data discovery tasks. It sheds light on the inhibiting effect of attainment value and the motivating effect of utility value on data search and the intention to access data. Moreover, this paper provides new insights into the role of memory bias in the relationships between affective memories and data searchers' perceived value.

‘Dalits’ are considered to be the marginalized section in India. In the social milieu of this country, they are excluded from the variants of life. This chapter is a modest attempt to construct an aggregative picture of social exclusion of Dalit Groups at district level in India. It is generally claimed that social exclusion is captured in brackets of non-attainment, particularly in the spheres of livelihood, education and health. However, a true index of exclusion should include of not only non-attainment but the pangs of injustice meted out to them. Such injustice may take various forms (such as crime against Dalits, non-caring of the girl child and so on). Such injustice eats into the gains of social attainment. The speciality of our index is that it includes these variables of social injustice together with the traditional indicator of non-attainment. For the construction of this index, the study has used the standard techniques of principal component analysis (PCA) with negative weights for the attributes of injustice. In order to arrive at a comparable figure, standardization of the variables is encapsulated. In explaining the differences of index value, it has taken recourse to a large fallacy of robustness that is to arrive at the conclusion. Fiducial methods have been used to arrive at a more commendable figure. The analysis shows a close relationship between Dalit Exclusion Index (DEI) and a number of variables. General impression is that as the general wellbeing of people rises, there is a fall in the Dalit exclusion. Also, it is shown that public policy have strong effect on redresser of Dalit exclusion.

This study aims to explore the relation among US audit partners’ characteristics, their career advancement and audit quality.

This study uses data from Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Form AP, Auditor Reporting of Certain Audit Participants, and publicly available online data sources. The hand-collected data on audit partners’ personal characteristics include gender, work experience and educational background. The measures for audit quality include restatements and audit fees.

The authors find that audit partner characteristics matter for the time it takes an individual to reach partnership after completing a bachelor’s degree. There are significant differences in work experience and educational background between partners in the largest (Big N) audit firms and smaller (non-Big N) audit firms. Audit partner traits are related to audit quality, and the effects differ between Big N and non-Big N partners.

The literature has examined audit partners’ career paths using international data. However, little empirical academic research has examined the career advancement of US audit partners. This study provides initial insights on the career advancement of US partners on a large scale and complements the recent research that examines audit partner characteristics and audit quality in the US market.

This study examines whether education in developing countries directly impacts their foreign income from the top export sector.

As most developing countries follow developed nations to shape their development, this study assumes developing countries as education-follower and developed countries as education-leader countries. Considering selected countries from the South Asian Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and African countries as follower countries and Group of Seven (G7) as leader countries, this study employs Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger non-causality tests.

This study finds that education-follower countries' achievements do not directly impact foreign earnings from their leading export sectors. However, findings also confirm that leader countries have a bidirectional causal relationship between tertiary education and earnings from high technology exports.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study urging research-intensive education with comparative advantages in international trade. Using educational attainment on export earnings from the leading sector, findings support dependency theory in education is still existed.

The quest for sustainable food security (SFS) is fundamental to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In furtherance of their pivotal role in providing the required information resources in support of education and research, libraries are expected to assist the economy in ensuring SFS. The purpose of this study is to investigate how libraries provide information to support research in agriculture towards the attainment of SFS in Nigeria.

Descriptive research design was used for the study. Interview and questionnaire were used as the instruments of data collection.

This study found that the extent of use of library information resources for SFS in Nigeria is high. Libraries, though facing some challenges, contribute significantly to the attainment of food security in Nigeria. It was recommended that libraries should intensify efforts to embark on media literacy programmes and provide information resources for research on agriculture and food production with a view to actualising food security goals specified in Sustainable Development Goals. Libraries should be well-funded to acquire the relevant information resources to aid research into food security and end hunger and poverty across the world.

This study suggests having better sponsored libraries that can perform as required in advancing agricultural information needs.

This study is a creative attempt to know how libraries can contribute to SFS through the provision of information to farmers and lecturers in agriculture.

Education transmits knowledge and abilities that are essential for any society’s socioeconomic progress. It improves the quality of life by providing both individuals and civilizations with several advantages. In this regard, women’s education is critical as they spend longer time with children than men. Despite the fact that education plays an immense role in overall wellbeing of society, in India, there are fewer educational opportunities available to young women than to young men. The gender bias that persists in Indian education and professional training is evident even in the richest countries in the world. In this regard, this study focuses on this intergenerational transmission of knowledge from the mother to her progenies in Karimganj District of Assam using the data from the household level primary survey. This study examines mothers’ educational profiles and ascertains the extent to which their education influence their children’s educational attainments. The results show that woman’s education has a direct role in enhancing the overall welfare of children and, thus, indirectly improves the economic status of the family. The results provide definite causal connections between a mother’s education and children’s educational attainment.

The Plan to Accept 300,000 International Students achieved its numerical target in 2019 in Japan. Although the Japanese government announced its successful attainment, there has been criticism that it increased bogus international students. This chapter aims to elucidate its outcomes and issues by examining its policy structure, key indicators, and the background causes of such criticism. The Plan was supposed to recruit excellent international students and promote their employment in Japan, pursuing an increase in highly skilled professionals, the objectives listed in the Growth Strategy of the Abe administration (2012–2020). As a result of the analysis, it was found that the efforts for internationalization of universities led to the increase in international students in English-taught degree programs (ETDP), especially at the graduate level. However, many of them found difficulty finding employment in Japan because of lack of the Japanese language proficiency required by Japanese companies. The main contributors in achieving the target of 300,000 international students were Japanese language schools. Since their student recruitment and educational activities have not been monitored enough by the government, it led to the increase of international students who were busy with part-time jobs and failed to proceed to universities, which undermined the Plan’s attainment.