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The purpose of this study is to explore how the South African government has used accounting technologies to manage the pervasive issue of racial inequality.

Premised on Foucault’s notion of governmentality, we conducted a qualitative case study. Publicly available archival data are used to determine the extent to which accounting techniques have helped to shape policy responses to racial inequality.

We show that accounting techniques and calculations give visibility to the problems of government and help design a programme to solve racial inequality. The lived experiences and impacts of racism in the workplace have been problematised, turned into statistics, and used to rationalise the need for ongoing government intervention in solving the problem. These processes underpin the development of the scorecard system, which measures the contributions firms have made towards minimising racial inequalities.

This study augments the existing body of Foucauldian literature by illustrating how power dynamics can be counteracted. We show that in governmental processes, accounting can exhibit a dual role, and these roles are not always subordinate to the analysis of political realities. The case of B-BBEE reveals the unintended consequences of utilising accounting to control the conduct of individuals or groups.

The aim of this research was to explore and gain an understanding of the lived experiences of Black females transitioning from social work practice into academia and the support and barriers they experienced.

To achieve this an adaptation of Wengraf (2004) Biographical Narrative Interview Model (BNIM) was employed alongside Braun and Clarke (2006) thematic analysis as foundation of the methodology employed in this study. Whilst the adverse issues relating to Black female academics is not new, the paper is original in the manner in which data was gathered.

The study identified four themes: (1) significance of early life, (2) passion for learning, (3) overcoming obstacles and (4) navigating academia. The case studies highlighted the various examples of resistance, rebellion and activism the Black female academics employed within UK universities. The paper concluded that despite the positive messaging from families and communities, about pursuing education, and the need for having a strong work ethic, the progress that can be achieved by Black female academics is limited due to the pervasive nature of racism, therefore dispelling the myth of meritocracy.

The research sample was small and therefore not easily generalisable to the whole population. The findings of the paper will need to be considered as a contribution of knowledge to the issue of structural racism.

Whilst the adverse issues relating to Black female academics is sadly not new, the paper is original in the manner in which data was gathered. Namely, the academics were both researchers and the participants, therefore simultaneously providing and analysing the data.

Racial wealth inequality is a significant and growing issue in the USA. Improving the lagging rate of black new venture creation and successful entrepreneurship could help close the gap. The purpose of this paper is to focus needed attention on the financial challenges resulting from institutional and systemic discrimination that black entrepreneurs must deal with. Following this literature review, the paper makes recommendations and broad public policy suggestions.

This study conducts a literature review and discusses the myriad of reasons black entrepreneurs struggle with inadequate access to capital, with special emphasis on weaker entrepreneurial ecosystems that have resulted from systemic racism.

The paper sheds light on several factors which continue to directly impede successful black entrepreneurship including discrimination in lending, distrust in institutions, over-reliance on (inadequate) personal capital and declining black-owned banking and financial institutions, as well as community banking options in black communities.

The paper is conceptual and relies on prior literature. The proposed solutions are just a starting point and are certainly not meant to be all-inclusive or comprehensive. Much future research, particularly longitudinal research, is needed to further develop theory and specific public policies which can close the disparities this study has discussed. This study outlines several key areas in need of further quantitative and qualitative studies to better understand black entrepreneurship.

The US economy will increasingly suffer if the nearly 15% of population (and growing) made up of black communities continues to struggle. The broad-based policy solutions proposed in this paper would allow for increased access to capital that would address the long-term deficiencies and help to close the racial wealth gap.

Through this study’s broad-based potential solutions, entrepreneurial ecosystems can be strengthened to build the environment for successful new venture creation in black communities. The longer-term benefit would be increased tax revenues, improved communities with fewer individuals needing support through government assistance and greater social stability as economic gaps between various racial groups are closed.

Using a broader entrepreneurial ecosystem framework and a systemic racism theory lens, this study discusses the limited capital black entrepreneurs have access to. Following this literature review, this study offers broad-based policy solutions that can strengthen ecosystems and directly address the issues raised in the paper.

This study investigates the progress of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act 2003, and its associated Chartered Accountancy Profession Sector Code. In doing so, we explore why B-BBEE affirmative action has not yet achieved the Code's representational intentions, including systemic subtleties inhibiting this success.

Using semi-structured interviews, we explore the lived experiences of Black aspirant Chartered Accountants (CAs) undertaking articles in global audit firms. The experiences are thematically analysed, embracing a comprehensive theoretical approach that encompasses professional and social closure, as well as boundary work, to adequately understand why affirmative transformational endeavours persistently face uphill tasks. The utilisation of multifaceted theorisation is deemed essential for a more nuanced portrayal of the intricacies inherent in the CA profession in South Africa.

The narratives presented by Black aspiring CAs unveil a complex web of exclusionary practices entrenched in institutionalised historical, professional, and social contexts. The multifaceted nature of closures, symbolised by racial, cultural, and linguistic factors, significantly impacts the experiences of Black trainees. The findings furthermore show that deliberate intervention beyond compliance with the Government’s framework is necessary for meaningful transformation.

The paper brings to the fore the current lived experiences of underrepresented Black CAs in global auditing firms. In doing so, these firms are empowered with incremental knowledge of the prevailing challenges and can thus make tangible improvements towards authentic transformation. Additionally, the results help in tracking the advancements made through affirmative action, acting as a feedback loop for future developments in transformation policy.

Contributing to the critical accounting literature, our study extends scholarship on the barriers faced by CAs and the limitations in their capacity to challenge these obstacles within global audit firms. We offer practical policy-focused recommendations that, if implemented, can address the complex socio-political realities obstructing the success of affirmative action. By sharing first-hand accounts, our study aims to empower auditing firms and other related stakeholders with actionable insights, enabling them to improve genuine inclusivity and foster equitable representation in the accounting profession.

This study aims to explore how Black homeschooling organizations based in the United States with a public web presence in 2023–2024 characterize their missions and what these mission statements can tell us both about the growing homeschooling movement among Black parents, as well as its potential implications for education as a means of individual and collective uplift and positive social change.

This paper used critical constructivist grounded theory (Levitt, 2021) and emergent coding to analyze the mission statements and organizational descriptions of all 19 U.S.-based Black homeschooling organizations with a public facing web presence identified via Google search in 2023 and 2024.

Utilizing Afrofuturism as our theoretical framework, themes such as Black self-determination, community, support, and resources, and safety and empowerment emerged. Black homeschooling organizations offer families a safe and informative community as they seek agency, autonomy and brighter futures for their children than may be on offer in traditional schools.

Our research fills an empirical gap in the literature on Black homeschooling by examining an existing but, so far as this paper could determine, unstudied population of U.S.-based Black homeschooling organizations. Our research also contributes by applying Afrofuturism and fugitive pedagogy as novel theoretical frameworks to better understand the move toward homeschooling by increasing numbers of Black parents.

The South African Government announced the black economic empowerment (BEE) legislation in 2003 in the public procurement systems. The legislation was deemed a catalyst for the emancipation of the previously disadvantaged citizens due to the apartheid government policies that secluded them from economic activities. This study aims to explore the challenges of black construction professionals with the BEE as a procurement policy.

This study adopted a qualitative research approach. Thirty-five black construction professionals were contacted for interviews, of which 21 responded. Due to the COVID-19 restriction, participants were interviewed using telephone interview techniques. The information received was analysed using the thematic contents analysis method.

The findings revealed the challenges confronting black construction professionals regarding the BEE policy as corrupt practices (leading to the award of contracts to unqualified people), fronting of contractors and individuals for unqualified firms, preventing the participation of experienced and foreign firms, poor policy implementation with no monitoring mechanism and loss of tender due to strict requirements.

Urgent attention is needed to review the BEE policy implementation process by the South African government to address the challenges enumerated by the policy beneficiaries to ensure the achievement of the policy objectives.

This study has identified the challenges of the BEE policy; thus, the government can institute measures to address the hindrances thwarting the beneficiaries from realising the policy objectives.

This study aims to stimulate scholarly attention and practical application pertaining to individuals recognized as “Docs.” Through conducting a comprehensive analysis and acquiring a profound understanding of its many connotations, the objective is to shift attitudes and approaches concerning those who are seen to possess knowledge and value within society.

For this study, culturally relevant pedagogies were used as theoretical frameworks in addition to Sankofa and concept explication being used as methodologies.

The authors identified three themes: (1) honorary cultural practice-community nomination of “professahs” and “docs,” (2) (Black) robinhoods – cultural signifiers of distinction and relatability and (3) docs as catalysts – elevating community via consciousness, trust and mentorship as significant understandings of this distinction.

The study emphasizes the importance of “Docs” in both academic and social contexts. The role of “Docs” serves to alleviate potential conflicts of being a Black intellectual. This study further reveals the ways in which Docs align with, promote or possibly undermine established frameworks of thought. Finally, this study provides institutions with opportunities to consider strategies for the utilization, recognition and integration of individuals who are frequently overlooked or undervalued.

This article explores how firms' unresponsiveness to Black customer feedback influences Black (vs. White) customers' perceived firm-based discrimination and brand engagement.

Two experimental studies (Study 1(N1) = 254) and Study 1(N2) = 484) are conducted to test the modeled relationships. The data are analyzed using ANOVA, PROCESS Model 4 and PROCESS Model 7.

The findings suggest that though perceived discrimination remains modest in all conditions, Black (vs. White) respondents report higher perceived discrimination when the firm fails to respond to a Black customer's negative or neutral (but not positive) brand-related feedback on social media. The results also indicate that Black (vs. White) customers exhibit lower engagement through perceived discrimination in the case of the firm's unresponsiveness to a Black customer's negative and neutral (but not positive) brand-related feedback regardless of the manager's race.

Prior research on intercultural service encounters and ethnic differences in consumer engagement on social media are combined to examine the relationship between customer race and perceived discrimination based on the firm's unresponsiveness to customers' social media posts.

Manipulations were created based on a fictitious e-tailer. Thus, it is recommend that future researchers examine the extent to which the findings hold for existing (r)etailers. In addition, future studies using secondary data could provide additional evidence for the findings.

Managerial attention is accentuated among customer feedback responsiveness, engagement and perceived firm discrimination. Managers are encouraged to adopt communication strategies that complement the firm's strategy and social media presence.

In product modular design tasks, especially in the high-tech manufacturing industry, buyers and supplies play distinct roles, which may have different impacts on product architectural and modular innovation. Prior research has tended to view product innovation as a holistic concept, overlooking the importance of this differentiated influence. This study, from a modular design perspective, aims to clarify the impact of black-box supplier involvement on product architectural and modular innovation, as well as the influence of product modularity on these relationships.

Based on the theory of product modular design, this study decomposes product innovation into architectural and modular innovation from the perspective of the product internal structure to conduct in-depth theoretical analysis and model construction. A total of 276 valid questionnaires are collected from typical Chinese high-tech manufacturing firms and used to empirically test the constructed theoretical model using multiple hierarchical regression analysis.

The results show that black-box supplier involvement positively affects modular innovation and takes an inverted U-shape, as moderated by product modularity. However, the impact of black-box supplier involvement on architectural innovation shows contradictory differences at different modularity levels. Under a low level of product modular design, black-box supplier involvement has a negative impact on architectural innovation, but under a moderate level of modular design, it has a positive impact. After the degree of modular design exceeds a certain threshold, the impact gradually weakens.

The results provide valuable insights for managers, highlighting the need to avoid oversimplifying the innovation impact of black-box suppliers solely based on overall product innovation. Instead, a more accurate assessment of the innovation contributions of both the buyer and supplier should be based on the degree of architectural and modular innovation. Additionally, the findings suggest that managers should consider the alignment between their company's product modular design features and innovation priorities (i.e. modular innovation or architectural innovation) when determining an appropriate supplier collaborative development strategy.

This study not only reveals the different impacts of black-box supplier involvement on architectural and modular innovation, but also proves the significant synergistic innovation effect of the relationship between black-box supplier involvement and product modularization. It constitutes an enriched and deepened exploration in the existing research on supplier involvement in product innovation.

Unbanked status in the United States varies across the population, but the phenomenon of being unbanked tends to be more pronounced for Black households. This paper extends the current body of literature by conceptualizing banked status as an element of financial inclusion and by expanding the number and type of variables used to describe banked status.

This study’s theoretical orientation was informed by the work of Blanco et al. (2019). Survey data used in this study were gathered between May 2021 and February 2022 by Elevate's Center for the New Middle Class. Data were analyzed as a secondary dataset for this study. Three methods were used to evaluate the data. First, sample descriptives were calculated. Second, a correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the associations between variables and to ensure that multicollinearity would not be an issue at the third stage of analysis. Third, a logistic regression was estimated to identify the variables that were significantly associated with being banked (i.e. holding a checking or savings account) (coded 1) or being unbanked (coded 0).

In this study, 17% of Black households were currently excluded from the financial marketplace. Factors of particular importance in describing unbanked status include being younger than age 55, identifying as male, being married, reporting higher income, relying on the use of credit more often, experiencing employment/financial stress more frequently, less trust in mainstream banking institutions, and inaccessibility to banks and credit unions. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

This study adds to the financial inclusion literature by illustrating how unbanked status in the United States varies across the population, but that in general, a few common markers differentiate the banked and unbanked status of Black households. Factors of particular importance in describing unbanked status include being younger than age 55, identifying as male, being married, reporting higher income, relying on the use of credit more often, experiencing employment/financial stress more frequently, less trust in mainstream banking institutions, and inaccessibility to banks and credit unions. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.