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While research on sustainability reporting in the construction industry has already provided comprehensive findings, the purpose of this paper is to answer the question of how construction companies anchor the topic of sustainability in their strategic and operative management control practices. The implementation of sustainable business models and sustainability strategies requires proper management control instruments or mechanisms that support the transformation process or make it possible in the first place.

A qualitative content analysis based on deductive and inductive procedures was conducted. 39 sustainability reports published by the largest construction companies in the EU were examined.

Valuable insights are provided by showing which control instruments and mechanisms are used to improve corporate sustainability performance as well as how these are linked systematically. The results show that the focus is on strategic planning, cultural and administrative controls, while short-term targets, which could set out the path to achieving the long-term sustainability goals set, are often not reported. Strategic stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory provide explanations for the use of management control practices identified.

Previous studies often focus on selected single control practices and miss holistic approaches for investigating corporate sustainability in construction companies. Furthermore, theoretical perspectives with instrumental and socio/political views on corporate sustainability help us explain the control practices applied. Moreover, practitioners, standard setters and legislators can use the findings for sustainability management or for developing standards and legislation.

Recognition that not every climate adaptation policy is a good one has shifted attention to new tools and methods to measure the adequacy and effectiveness of adaptation policies. This study aims to propose and apply and applies an innovative adaptation policy assessment framework to identify the extent to which climate adaptation policies in Vietnam exhibit conditions that are likely to ensure a sufficient, credible and effective adaptation.

In total, 21 conditions, categorized under five normative principles and covering critical issue areas in adaptation domain, form the climate adaptation policy assessment framework. The principles were double-checked and tested in case studies through observations and analyses of policy documents to ensure that each condition should be distinct and not overlapping across principles. To see if the principles and attendant conditions were able to capture all relevant aspects of adaptation, the authors used structured expert judgment. In total, 39 policy documents pertaining to climate change adaptation were selected for qualitative document analysis. In-depth interviews with local officials and experts were conducted to address data gaps.

The study reveals major weaknesses constituting a reasonably worrisome picture of the adaptation policies in Vietnam since several critical conditions were underrepresented. These results shed new light on why some adaptation policies falter or are posing adverse impacts. The findings suggest that a sound policy assessment framework can provide evidence on what effective adaptation policy looks like and how it can be enabled. The framework for climate adaptation policy assessment in this study can be easily adjusted and used for different socio-environmental contexts in which new conditions for policy assessment might emerge.

The findings show underlying weaknesses constituting a reasonably worrisome picture of the adaptation regime in Vietnam. In the absence of mechanisms and measures for accountability and transparency in policy processes, adaptation in Vietnam appears more likely to be prone to maladaptation and corruption. While solving these problems will not be easy for Vietnam, the government needs to evaluate whether the short-term gains in sustaining the existing adaptation policies really make progress and serve its long-term climate-adaptive development goals.

Although interpretations of adaptation effectiveness may be very divergent in different normative views on adaptation outcomes, the authors argue that a common, agreed-upon effectiveness can be reached if it is clearly defined and measurable in adaptation policies. Thus, the climate adaptation policy assessment framework proposed in this study is critical for policymakers, practitioners, donors and stakeholders dealing with adaptation to better understand the weaknesses in policymaking processes, pinpoint priority areas of action and timely prevent or prepare for possible adverse impacts of policies.

The COVID-19 pandemic started a new era in understanding the topic of resilience and adaptability. The human society has not faced such a widespread global challenge until now. This paper aims to address a context change influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, using a case study in high education. While the character of the issues emerging is the same as in any other domain, in high education, the principles and consequences can be more directly studied and analyzed.

This paper describes a framework to evaluate how the context of the tertiary education service has been disrupted and the influence on the adherence of the students to the educational process, via primary quantitative data collection. This paper tackles the problem of distinguishing the change in context and context change and the possibility of system reconfiguration.

To properly face the evolving conditions induced by the pandemic, the education service system must be aligned to the imposed emergency situations, trying to “find” where the changes have emerged, i.e. what kind of reconfiguration is, whether it appears in the goals or in the service system itself. Furthermore, this study discusses how the findings can be valuable and applied to situations beyond the pandemic, in other cases of context disruption to highlight how general the service activities are within our reconfiguration approach.

From a theoretical point of view, this work is in line with main assumptions of system thinking, by confirming several insights of service systems’ behavior, even in a logic of B2B interactions (from the offer side); first in terms of openness and adaptation, in addition to readiness to change and – when and how – this change can occur. From a practical point of view, this paper’s contribution is directed toward achieving the more successful change management process, as reached together by motivated partners working hard for a common final goal. Realizing that the pandemic has brought a completely new context of education, managers should focus now on monitoring all aspects of the education business, not only directly affected projects and processes.

Policy coherence is a complex and tough task for many developing nations because their capacity to examine and deliver evidence-based inputs to policymaking is limited, and policy dialogue platforms need to be effectively used. Resolving these difficulties is a critical requirement for policy consistency. As a result, the study focuses on the level of policy coherence for climate change adaptation (CCA), disaster risk reduction (DRR) and sustainable development goals (SDG) in Sri Lanka and suggests routes for policy coherence for Resilience. This study aims to investigate the coherent approach of CCA, DRR and SDG; to identify concerns in policy documents addressing the coherence of CCA, DRR and SDG in local context; and to propose policy coherence suggestions for resilience in Sri Lanka.

Methodology comprises a review and content analysis of 17 policy and legal documents in Sri Lanka and a qualitative study. The qualitative approach consists of semistructured interviews that obtained deep and broad expertise knowledge with ten government representatives and stakeholders. Both content analysis and interview data were analyzed by using NVivo.

It was discovered that there are several issues with the coherence of policies in Sri Lanka, including the fragmented approach, lack of integration, inadequate coordination, limited resources and lack of monitoring and evaluation. The policies are inspired by international frameworks, and local implementations are not focused, leading to inadequate implementation of policies. The lack of development cooperation for the use of innovative approaches, such as climate-resilient infrastructure and environmentally friendly solutions for CCA and DRR, further aggravates the situation. Another concern is the lack of land use management and responsibility for the development of physical infrastructure for DRR integration with CCA. It is found that there is a limited community involvement which is vital for the implementation of policies. Local implementations are encouraged to fill the gaps in existing policies/acts. The analytical framework of the study is based on a preliminary examination of policy documents, a review of the literature and discussions with practitioners. The framework reflects the current situation of policy integration which addresses strategic, conceptual, institutional, operational and financial coherence. The research suggests pathways for achieving policy coherence in CCA, DRR and SDG in Sri Lanka, such as enhancing the strategic coherence by improving goals to increase the coherence within CCA, DRR and SDG; improving the credibility of the unified approach for developing DRR and CCA risk assessments; intensifying institutional cooperation and stakeholder management; improving the common monitoring and evaluation; establishing implementation strategies; and increasing the community involvement.

The study on policy coherence in Sri Lanka recommends increasing community and professional involvement, conducting more research, developing a national strategy, increasing capacity building, strengthening international collaboration and fostering multisectoral collaboration. These recommendations can help improve policy coherence between CCA, DRR and SDGs, align policies with national goals and priorities and improve implementation effectiveness. By implementing these recommendations, Sri Lanka can address the challenges of climate change and natural disasters and achieve SDGs.

The study on policy coherence for resilience in Sri Lanka has practical implications, including improved coordination and resource allocation, increased capacity building, improved reputation and sustainability. By integrating CCA, DRR and SDGs, this study can help Sri Lanka become more resilient to climate change and natural disasters, achieve SDGs and become a responsible actor in the international community. These implications can contribute to a more sustainable future and ensure that development goals are achieved in a way that is resilient to climate change and natural disasters.

Increased community participation: the study emphasizes the importance of community involvement in the policy development process. This can help build trust between communities and government agencies, improve transparency and ensure that policies are developed in a way that is responsive to local needs and priorities.

Based on the identified existing loopholes in the policies and pathways to policy coherence, the issues in policymaking could be overcome. It could be used to establish strong linkages between policies based on CCA, DRR and SDGs to achieve long-term resilience.

This study aims to propose and evaluate a novel framework of strategic adaptability in dyadic negotiations. The authors define strategic adaptability as a reaction to a cue that leads to shifts between integrative and distributive strategies. Based on the literature on turning points, phase models and strategic negotiations, the authors developed an initial framework identifying five distinct strategic adaptations.

To verify the framework, the authors analyzed two negotiation simulations with a diverse set of negotiation students. Negotiations were content-coded, and adaptations were labeled.

The authors found a consistent pattern across two studies. Overall, 12% (study 1) and 18% (study 2) of all speaking turns were identified as strategic adaptations. The findings empirically confirmed four of their strategic adaptation types: adapt to deadlock, follow adaptation by opponent, adapt to priority of issue under discussion and adapt to new information on issue. Moreover, findings of this study revealed two new types of strategic adaptability: delayed adaptation to opponent and adapt to understand opponent. Study 2 additionally revealed that strategies vary with the negotiation phase, and negotiation outcome seems to benefit more from the constellation rather than the frequency of adaptations. Furthermore, lower-scoring negotiators tended to adapt to the opponent’s strategy instead of initiating a change in strategy.

The findings of this study provide preliminary insights into how strategic adaptations unfold. These findings present future research opportunities to further test the framework's robustness, increase the knowledge of individual and cultural factors, explore the relationship with negotiation outcomes and develop educational interventions to enhance strategic adaptability.

The paper aims to empirically test a framework to predict the desire and intention to engage with an elective health-care procedure and implement a methodology to test the anticipated positive and negative emotions in hedonic adaptation to an elective procedure.

Two studies in USA and Australia (N = 1,200) confirmed the psychometric properties of the key constructs under the chemical peel condition. Two further studies in the USA and Australia (N = 1,100) explored the research question and hypotheses in the adapted model of goal-directed behaviour under the Botox condition. A survey was self-administered to online panels who had previously engaged in such elective procedures.

The findings highlighted the pragmatic implications for communication and activation strategies to safeguard consumer interests and retain their loyalty.

From the authors’ best understanding, neither a methodology nor a theoretical framework exists to explore hedonic adaptation to recurring engagement with elective health care. A methodology and theoretical framework will highlight the mood states and factors that predict desire and intention to engage. This can advance the research on hedonic adaptation and decision-making and offer pragmatic suggestions for communication and activation strategies to safeguard consumer interests and retain their loyalty.

This study aims to reconstruct how smallholder farmers implement livelihood adaptation strategies to survive and escape poverty, thereby mitigating or eliminating potential livelihood risks by utilizing their available assets.

This research employed a qualitative approach. For the collection of primary data, the researcher conducted observations and in-depth interviews and engaged with the lives of smallholder farmers during the data collection period.

Among the various livelihood adaptation strategies, only migration and profit-sharing strategies enable smallholder farmers to escape poverty. However, migration is an unsustainable adaptation strategy. When farmers move to new locations, they often resort to slash-and-burn methods for clearing land, which can lead to forest degradation and deforestation. Profit sharing is a sustainable livelihood adaptation strategy that falls into a different category. This approach can lift farmers out of poverty, increase their income and have no negative environmental impact. Other adaptation strategies include adjustments to traditional agriculture, both on and off-farm diversification, involving the family in income generation, reducing farming costs, practicing frugality in post-harvest processes, converting land from coffee cultivation to other crops and borrowing money and selling owned assets. Smallholder farmers implement these strategies to survive the existing economic conditions.

The profit-sharing strategy was a novel livelihood adaptation approach that previous studies had yet to uncover at the research site. In this strategy, farmers assume the roles of both managers and laborers simultaneously during farming, while toke (the capital owners) play the role of farming funders. The generated profit is then shared between farmers and toke based on the agreement established at the outset of their collaboration.

This paper aims to propose a conceptual framework for integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) into teaching practices for educators in rural Ghana lacking computer and internet access. Bridging the rural–urban digital divide is critical for equitable quality education. This research identifies distinct infrastructure, financial, human, and socio-cultural challenges of ICT adoption in underserved Ghanaian schools through an exhaustive literature review. The framework provides tailored strategies to empower teachers to leverage ICT for innovative pedagogy despite limitations. Ultimately, the goal is to offer pragmatic, evidence-based solutions to advance ICT-enabled instruction and digital equity in marginalized settings.

This study utilizes a qualitative literature review methodology to develop a conceptual framework for ICT teaching techniques tailored to the rural Ghanaian context. Published empirical studies, theoretical papers, and reports focused on ICT education in developing countries, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, were systematically reviewed across multidisciplinary databases. Relevant theories and models, like TPACK and SAMR, were analyzed to determine appropriate modifications for the framework design. The proposed strategies emphasize affordable technologies, teacher training, localized content, and culturally relevant pedagogies selected based on evidence from literature to address the unique barriers and needs of the rural setting.

The literature review revealed profound infrastructure, financial, human, and socio-cultural barriers to ICT adoption in rural Ghanaian schools. These include lack of electricity, internet, hardware, and software alongside inadequate teacher training and support. The proposed conceptual framework offers solutions including leveraging low-cost technologies like mobile devices, prioritizing teacher professional development, developing localized digitally-enabled resources, and fostering community participation. Culturally relevant pedagogies are also emphasized. This tailored, evidence-based approach holds promise for enhancing ICT-enabled instruction and bridging digital divides to promote equitable quality education. Further findings will emerge through framework implementation and evaluation.

This conceptual framework requires implementation and evaluation to truly determine its impact and effectiveness in the intended rural Ghanaian context. As a literature review, primary data collection was not undertaken. Practical application of the framework in schools can yield direct insights through surveys, interviews, observations, and analysis of key educational outcomes pre and post-implementation. Comparisons with control groups may further illuminate its efficacy. Monitoring and adaptation over time is also essential. Ultimately, this research sets the foundation for praxis-oriented work transforming ICT integration in marginalized communities to advance digital equity and inclusion.

This research provides an evidence-based, context-aware framework with pragmatic solutions to enhance ICT-enabled teaching and learning in underserved rural Ghanaian schools. It offers guidance to teachers, administrators, and policymakers on integrating technology despite infrastructure and resource constraints. The emphasis on cost-effective innovations, educator training, localized content, and community participation can inform planning and investments in ICT education. Broader applications include adapting the framework for other developing country contexts facing comparable challenges. Overall, this work promotes digital equity and quality education access, catalyzing social development and aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

This research highlights the urgent need to address digital divides exacerbating educational inequalities between rural and urban communities in Ghana. Lack of technology access and utilization in rural schools threatens to widen gaps in skills, capabilities, and opportunities for students. Strategic integration of ICT can promote social inclusion, cultivate digital literacy, and equip youth to participate in the global digital economy, thereby enhancing prospects. More broadly, advancing digital equity and ICT-enabled education empowers marginalized groups, fosters community empowerment, and drives progressive social change. This work underscores that localized, context-appropriate solutions are pivotal for promoting development and social justice.

This research fills a crucial gap by proposing a conceptual framework tailored specifically for integrating ICT in teaching practices in rural Ghanaian schools lacking digital access, responding to context-specific barriers and needs. While extensive literature examines ICT education models globally, few studies offer localized strategies for resource-constrained environments. This framework adapts established models based on a systematic literature review, emphasizing affordability, capacity building, and cultural relevance. By synthesizing evidence-based, pragmatic solutions to advance ICT-enabled instruction in marginalized settings, this work provides a valuable foundation for praxis transforming rural education. The localization approach could inform frameworks for other developing regions.

The paper aims to investigate key aspects of climate change adaptation strategies of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) across two different climate-vulnerable country contexts, developed, i.e. Australia and developing, i.e. Bangladesh, while identifying the key factors affecting the formulation and implementation of such strategies.

The research uses a qualitative research method using interviews and document analysis while considering distinctive factors manifest in Australia and Bangladesh and focussing on the agricultural seed business sector.

The research reveals that no specific pattern of adaptation strategies exists across MNCs. They either follow a proactive “deliberate” strategy or a reactive “emergent” strategy. MNCs also follow a distinct strategy, “subliminal”, i.e. unintended or inadvertent strategy, by following the “business as usual” approach.

In recent years, many MNCs have started embracing strategies to reduce their negative environmental footprint but barely adopted any formal strategies to adapt to climate change impacts on their business operations. This study provides insights into the existing climate change adaptation strategies of MNCs, which could be beneficial for companies in better planning and implementing their existing as well as future climate change adaptation strategies.

Based on a developed-developing country comparison and together with a novel focus on the agricultural seed business sector, the paper has used a variety of business strategies in providing insights and understanding of the status of MNC climate change adaptation strategies. The research has identified and coined the term, “subliminal” or unintended strategy as a new addition to the MNC adaptation strategy literature.