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The current COVID-19 pandemic is influencing our life in every aspect, including working and living environments. Millions of people were forced to isolate themselves in their homes, which has posed significant pressure on buildings and shown us that our dwellings are not designed for such purposes. This is partly due to the fact that homes are designed and built for occasional use rather than isolated and long-term occupation. The legislative system of a country plays an important role in defining and shaping the conditions of people living there. Hence, the aim of the study is to evaluate the readiness of Kazakhstani and the EU construction-related legislation for pandemics.

Previously developed pandemic-resilient indicators were used for the evaluation of construction legislation. Both legislative systems were reviewed, and the quality of responses was evaluated by assigning response scores.

The results based on response scores indicate that the environmental resource consumption sub-category was better covered by EU legislation. At the same time, the buildings’ health, safety and comfort are better taken into account in Kazakhstani legislation. Seven pandemic-resilient indicators were not responded to by any legislative system indicating a gap between current legislation and requirements for new living conditions.

No study has analyzed how COVID-19 can transform construction legislation. The study reveals the limitation of current construction legislation in Kazakhstan (KZ) and the EU, indicating the need for transformation to meet the requirements of the pandemic era.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how resort managers respond to employment legislation (Law No. 02/2008).

The qualitative case study data from seven self-contained tourist resorts in the Maldives were used to investigate the managerial responses to employment legislation.

Resort managers’ responses ranged from passive compliance to active resistance, with decoupling through opportunism as the dominant strategy used to circumvent the legislation. Some human resource management (HRM) practices emerged from resort managers’ interactions with external stakeholders and employees. Strategic responses and HRM practices were driven by a search for legitimacy or efficiency and sometimes both. The findings show that there are differences between strategic responses and HRM practices by organisational subfield, local resorts and international hotel chains. The resorts’ market orientation also influenced resort managers’ responses and HRM practices.

The findings of this paper have limitations because it was limited to a single industry/sector and to a particular piece of legislation. However, it demonstrates the complexity of the relationship between institutional context and HRM.

This paper shows that responding to employment legislation entails a high level of interplay between the institutional environment and HR actors, and between stakeholders (e.g. employees) and HR actors. It demonstrates the difficulty of reconciling institutional requirements with the preferences of different stakeholders and organisational interests. HR actors actively make sense of institutional requirements and modify HRM practices to accommodate stakeholders’ varying perspectives and preferences. This suggests that in countries such as the Maldives, uneven institutional coverage (e.g. incomplete employment legislation) allows room for organisations to innovate – for better or worse.

Indigenous knowledge (IK) is the anchor of survival and stability for indigenous communities. The purpose of this study was to establish how the socioeconomic value of IK can be maximised in Kenya through effective enactment and implementation of relevant policies and legislation.

The study adopted a mixed methods research using a survey design. The target population comprised 104 top- and middle-level managers drawn from organisations implementing diverse IK policies and legislation. Primary data were collected from the target population using questionnaires. Additional data were collected using content analysis of IK policies and legislation. The collected data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of IBM’s Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 22) software.

The findings revealed a low awareness of the IK policies and legislation by the stakeholders. It also became evident that the policies and legislation relevant to IK are not implemented effectively. The authors conclude that policies and legislation do not maximise the socioeconomic value of IK in Kenya.

This is an original study which has practical implications for the use of IK for socioeconomic purposes. The findings of the study may be used to influence policy formulation and implementation; theory on IK; and practices which mainstream IK in socioeconomic activities in Kenya and beyond.

In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still be covered by the Act if she were employed on like work in succession to the man? This is the question which had to be solved in Macarthys Ltd v. Smith. Unfortunately it was not. Their Lordships interpreted the relevant section in different ways and since Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome was also subject to different interpretations, the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.

This paper examines actors and discourses shaping new Canadian legislation designed to advance diversity in corporate governance.

This paper performs a stakeholder and discourse analysis drawing on texts of parliamentary debates.

The paper illuminates tensions regarding definitions of diversity, its importance for boards of directors and the mechanisms favoured for implementation. Official discourses examined show that, unlike for other political issues, opposition was largely muted, and most stakeholders engaged in the process supported legislation advancing diversity. Nonetheless areas of debate and positioning by actors and suggest important differences, with outcomes linked to non-traditional power bases.

This study provides insights into the discursive environments of organizations and processes relating to promoting diversity and equality in the political decision-making domain, a critical venue for understanding advancement of equity, often neglected in organizational studies.

By understanding the complex and competing discourses surrounding diversity and inclusion at the macro level this paper provides a context for understanding organizational (meso) and individual (micro) beliefs and behaviours.

This study shows how advocacy shapes how policy and legislation are framed and the ways mainstream organizations, including women's groups, may advance gender equality without regard to other dimensions of diversity or intersectionality.

This study maps the political discourse around recent Canadian legislation designed to improve diversity on boards that must, in the Canadian context, address more than gender.

There has been a loosening of the regulation governing the market for corporate control in the banking industry. Nearly every state in the U.S. has passed some form of interstate banking legislation that allows out‐of‐state banks to acquire local banks. Previous research has shown that the market reaction to this state legislation is both positive and significant for affected bank stocks. What is not clear from prior research is whether all banks are positively affected by the legislation or just banks that are likely acquisition targets. This study measures the impact on both subsequent buyer and target banks. Results indicate that the reaction is a general effect reflecting positive expectations for the industry. The buyer group sustains a significant five percent increase during the event window and the target group increase is over seven percent. The higher return for the target group may reflect an additional acquisition premium. However, the difference between the two groups is not significant. Tests utilizing market value as a proxy for acquisition attractiveness demonstrate that size does not impact the results.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the limited body of research that focuses on the efficacy of sexual orientation anti-discrimination legislation in reducing discrimination.

Reviews past research that documents overt and subtle forms of workplace discrimination against gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals and describes how legislation plays an important role in changing social norms and underlying attitudes.

Empirically demonstrates that legislation effectively can reduce discrimination.

Informs legislative debate and promotes the expansion and adoption of national, state, and local legislation on sexual orientation anti-discrimination legislation.

The prevalence of domestic violence in Nigeria may be described as epidemic. To address this scourge, several pieces of legislation have been enacted in the past decade at state and federal levels in Nigeria. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the emerging legislation on domestic violence. This paper thus examines the contents of these laws in a bid to determine the potential of these laws to prevent domestic violence, deter perpetrators from further incidents, punish perpetrators, compensate survivors and provide them with the necessary interventions for their rehabilitation.

The approach adopted is a content analysis of the provisions of the legislation, using salient parameters that have been drawn from documented best practices, specifically the key components for framing of domestic violence legislation around the world.

The author finds that while there is significant attempt in extant legislation to ensure that women are protected within domestic relationships, there are still gaps. Further, the protections are uneven across the states. In addition, there are systemic and contextual challenges that hamper the effectiveness of existing legislation in Nigeria in providing the necessary protections to women.

This study analyses the provisions of some of the legislation currently in place to protect persons from domestic violence. The impact, potential effect and overall utility of these pieces of legislation continue to require examination.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the views of mayors and comptrollers of Catalan municipalities on aspects related to the Spanish legislation on financial sustainability – its usefulness and necessity of maintaining, its impact on citizens’ welfare and alternative proposals. The setting is rather interesting as strict rules are imposed by a legislation criticized of mimicking European Commission policies, on well-performing municipalities, in light of the recent “independency” conflict.

The study uses insights from the public choice theory and the concept of accountability to draw a framework that could explain the perceptions of mayors and comptrollers. The views of the two groups are captured with the use of an online questionnaire.

The results indicate that while the application of strict rules has borne fruit, this trend is not sustainable in the long run and a careful reconsideration is required. Accordingly, both groups express concerns on citizens’ future welfare. It moreover appears that in this particular setting, mayors’ and comptrollers’ sense of accountability toward citizens exceed their personal interests.

This study provides empirical evidence on the impact of strict budget stability and sustainability rules on the long-term financial sustainability of local governments from the point of view of mayors and municipality comptrollers who are called to implement them.

The purpose of this paper is to explore attitudes to employment law and the consequent impact of legislation on Irish employment relations practice.

The paper adopts a comparative approach using two separate pieces of employment law governing race equality, and employee information and consultation, respectively. Semi‐structured interviews with key informants are the main data source, augmented in the case of the information and consultation legislation by focus groups in individual workplaces.

The empirical evidence presented suggests that legislation is not the primary initiator of change. In the case of race equality the market was found to be a key determinant of practice (termed “market‐prompted voluntarism”). However, it is argued that regulation can influence change in organisations, depending on the complex dynamic between a number of contingencies, including the aspect of employment being regulated, the presence of supportive institutions, and organisation‐specific variables.

The comparative findings in this research allow some important inferences to be made regarding the use of law to mandate change in employment relations practice. They, in turn, provide useful lessons for future policy makers, managers, trade unionists and workers.

This paper is unique in its comparison of two separate pieces of legislation. In both cases considered, the legislation was prompted by EU Directives, and the obligation on member states to transpose these Directives into national law. The findings suggest that readiness for legislation, based on length of national debate and acceptance of the underlying concept, can influence its impact. The concept of equality seems to have gained widespread acceptance since the debate provoked by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, understanding and acceptance of the concept of employee voice has been much less pronounced in the Anglo‐Saxon world.