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Considering that food security is a global responsibility, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of agricultural industries on vulnerability to climate change and the moderating effects of gender-diverse parliaments, education expenditures, research and development (R&D) expenditures and foreign direct investment (FDI).

Using concepts in governance, innovation and knowledge theory, a large panel data set of 125 countries covering 1997–2018 (1,852 country-year observations) was analyzed. Data were sourced from the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index, the World Bank, the Heritage Index and the International Monetary Fund. Moderated random effects regression was conducted in Stata.

The results reveal that agricultural industries are positively associated with vulnerability to climate change and provide support for our predictions that education expenditures and FDI both reduce the impact of agricultural industries on vulnerability to climate change. However, contrary to predictions, the percentage of women in parliament and R&D expenditures both increase this impact.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first quantitative study that uses large, established data sets to explore the relationship between agricultural industries and country vulnerability to climate change. This study shows the significance of country-level factors that both decrease and increase the impact of agricultural industries on vulnerability to climate change.

This paper aims to critically examine the European Union’s legislative initiative to establish an Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), which will introduce union-level supervision and provide support to national supervisors in the field of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), as well as to financial intelligence units (FIUs) in European Union (EU) member states. The paper discusses why this initiative was deemed necessary, which are the key objectives, rules and principles of AMLA and which challenges and opportunities will emerge as AMLA becomes operational.

This paper draws on reports, legislation, legal scholarship and other open-source data on the EU legislative initiative to establish a new AMLA.

AMLA will provide a comprehensive framework for EU-level AML/CFT supervision and for cooperation among FIUs. If all organisational challenges are properly addressed, the new authority will significantly enhance the EU’s ability to tackle money laundering and terrorism financing.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is one of the first to examine the mission, governance and supervision mechanisms of the EU’s AMLA, as well as the challenges and opportunities associated with its functioning.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze the impact of social inclusion factors and foreign fund inflows on reducing gender-based unemployment in India.

A time series data set for the period of 1991–2021 has been considered, and an autoregressive distributed lag methodology has been applied to measure the short- and long-run impact of social inclusion and foreign fund inflows on reducing gender-based unemployment in India.

According to the study’s findings, both social inclusion and foreign fund inflows are critical factors for reducing male unemployment. However, in the case of female unemployment, only social inclusion factors play an important role, whereas foreign fund inflows have no role in it.

Analyzing the factors that affect gender-based unemployment has always been a grey area in literature. There are very few studies that capture gender-based unemployment in India, making this study a novice contribution. Second, it examines the relationship between foreign fund inflows, social inclusion and unemployment, which is another novel area of investigation. Finally, this study provides comprehensive and distinct results for both male and female unemployment that can help policymakers devise gender-based unemployment policies.

This paper aims to discuss the adequacy of restrictive measures. Providing a synopsis of a global movement toward the imposition of target restrictive measures. Questioning the success of targeted restrictive measures in obtaining behavioural change. Identifying a reversion to the implementation of wide ranging sectoral restrictive measures in an attempt to encourage immediate behavioural change. Accessing the success of using restrictive measures to encourage democratic regimes in Africa.

This study is a desktop research that examines European Parliament and Council issued Regulations for the jurisdictions of Iran, Russia and Belarus. Academic research is also used in identifying a pendulum swing by global legislatures with respect to the imposition of targeted measures to requiring the imposition of additional wide ranging sectoral measures.

Targeted measures can be circumvented using non-hostile third countries. Academic research identifies that wide reaching sectoral sanctions encourage regime change. Therefore, where targeted measures fail to give rise to their desired persuasive objectives. The legislator moves to introduce additional measures, also comprising of sectoral sanctions. Sectoral sanctions have been applied by the European Union in Iran, Russia and Belarus. The USA has taken measures to limit Russia ability to use Turkey as a transshipment hub. The African continent case study identifies the importance of creating an architecture founded on upholding positive governance and human rights standards. Failure to do so leads to a revolving system of authoritarian regimes, sanctioned by restrictive measures.

This paper is a desktop review composed by the author.

This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of academic and professional Higher Education (HE) staff in the UK.

A mixed-method survey questionnaire was sent to almost 300 UK HE staff to secure qualitative and quantitative data to enable data triangulation.

The study found an adverse impact on academic and professional staff's mental health and wellbeing, further resulting in stress and anxiety. Several reasons for the increased stress and anxiety levels were identified, but social isolation and the increased workload were the most commonly reported. The most affected groups by the pandemic were females, younger staff, full-timers and those with disabilities or caring responsibilities.

This study offers a range of strategies to support staff's mental health and wellbeing; as such, it is of great interest to policymakers to inform their decisions of similar crisis events in the future. It also addresses some of the COVID-19 areas of research interest for the UK parliament.

The study's originality derives from exploring the pandemic's impact on UK HE staff's mental health and wellbeing by including professional staff's experiences alongside those of academics. It also expands the scant evidence concerning the pandemic's impact on HE staff in the UK.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the recently enacted Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 14, 2022, on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market (foreign subsidies regulation [FSR]) and its repercussions on the European Union (EU) public procurement marketplace and corporations from third countries. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the geopolitical and economic backgrounds for the Regulation and its efficiency.

In this study, the authors used doctrinal and analytical legal methodologies, meticulously examining pertinent EU law sources. The authors systematically collated and scrutinized applicable literature and legislative process materials to discern the essence and substance of the norms enshrined in the law. In this study, the authors also applied a socio-legal methodology when focusing on the economic and geopolitical context surrounding the adoption of the FSR. The contextual analysis traces the evolution of changes in international cooperation and recent political shifts.

Implementing the FSR should pave the way for a more equitable competitive landscape within the EU public procurement market, bolstering EU values. However, its potential to prolong public procurement procedures and create uncertainties regarding their outcomes could pose challenges, possibly affecting the effectiveness of public procurement regulations. Only time will reveal the extent of the EU’s interventionist approach and how necessary adjustments must be made to align with market demands.

This study highlights socially relevant aspects of the implementation of EU policies – European New Green Deal and European Industrial Policy in the context of public procurement. The analysis contained in this study concerns issues directly related to meeting the collective needs of the citizens.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first in-depth analysis of the solutions contained in the FSR in terms of geopolitical and economic aspects. Furthermore, there have been no studies so far, which have analyzed the FSR in detail from the point of view of its effectiveness. The effectiveness concept contained in this study is the authors’ own solution.

This study focuses on how entrepreneurial bricolage (EB) drives both competitive advantage (CA) and sustainability performance (SP).

Relying on structural equation modeling, data were collected from 200 small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) manufacturers in Ghana.

The results indicate that EB drives both CA and SP positively. SL positively moderated the relationship between EB and CA, while the moderating role of SL in the relationship between EB and SP was not supported.

The study concludes that EB can enhance SP, a notion prior study grossly overlooked.

This paper aims to fill gap in the literature and explore policy options for resolving the problems of accountability by framing three research questions. The research questions are (i) whether certain elements of Scott’s (2014) institutional pillars attenuate (accentuate) corporate and public accountability; (ii) whether the presence of ruling party-affiliated enterprises (RPAEs) create an increase (decrease) in the degree of corporate (public) accountability; and (iii) whether there is a particular form of ownership change that transforms RPAEs into public investment companies.

Using a qualitative research methodology that involves term frequency and thematic analysis of publicly available textual information, the paper examines Mechkova et al.’s (2019 forms of government accountability. The paper analyzes the gaps between the de jure and de facto accountability using the institutional pillars framework.

The findings of the paper are three. First, there are gaps between de jure and de facto in all three (vertical, horizontal and diagonal) forms of government (public) accountability. Second, the study finds that more than three fourth of the parties that contested the June 2021 election did have regional focus. They did not advocate for accountability. Third, Ethiopia’s RPAEs are unique. They have regional focus and are characterized by severe forms of agency and information asymmetry problems.

The main limitation of the paper is its exploratory nature. Extending this research by using cross-country data could provide a more complete picture of the link between corporate (public) accountability and a country’s institutional pillars.

Academic research documents that instilling modern corporate (public) governance standards in the Sub Sahara Africa (SSA) region has shown mixed results. The analysis made in this paper is likely to inform researchers and policymakers about the type of change that leads to better corporate (and public) accountability outcomes.

The institutional change proposed in the paper is likely to advance the public interest by mitigating agency and information asymmetry problems and enhancing government accountability. The changes make the enterprises investable, save scarce jobs, enhance diversity and put the assets in RPAEs to better use.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that uses the institutional pillars analytical framework to examine an SSA country's corporate (public) accountability problem. It demonstrates that accountability is a domestic and a (novel) traveling theory. The paper identifies the complexity of resolving the interlock between political institutions and business enterprises. It theorizes that it is impossible to instill modern corporate (public) accountability standards without changing regulatory, normative and cultural cognitive pillars of institutions. The paper contributes to the change management and public interest literature.

Using the examples of Grenadian-born Jean Augustine, the first Black Member of Parliament in Canada, and Barbados' Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the piece argues that the ethos of the Emigrant Ambassador—the collective empowerment of Black feminism, liberation, and radicalism—ushered in a new era for change abroad and in Canada, as transnational and international change was driven by Black women from the West Indies.

The author used historical research and social science theoretical frameworks to formulate conclusions, lessons learnt and steps forward for current equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) practitioners.

Black women born in the West Indies in the mid-twentieth century were the catalysts for social justice movements in the 2010 and 2020s. Many methods used for social change in the twentieth century are applicable in the 2020s and beyond.

Research is focused on Canadian and West Indian relations but will have implications for those across the British Commonwealth.

Practitioners and students of EDI will have a new tool on how to approach and confront anti-Black racism, particularly after May 25, 2020.

This article provides opportunities to support the dwindling efforts of anti-racism to support the lives of Black people across the Black Atlantic.

This is an original article built on previous scholarship of the author.

European Parliament adopted a new directive on gender balance in corporate boards when by 2026, companies must employ 40% of the underrepresented sex into non-executive directors or 33% among all directors. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the impact of gender diversity (GD) on board of directors and the shareholders’ structure and their impact on the likelihood of company bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The data sample consists of 1,351 companies for 2019 and 2020, of which 173 were large, 351 medium-sized companies and 827 small companies. Three bankruptcy indicators were tested for each company size, and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) and logistic regression models were developed. These models were then cross-validated by a 10-fold approach.

XGBoost models achieved area under curve (AUC) over 98%, which is 25% higher than AUC achieved by logistic regression. Prediction models with GD features performed slightly better than those without them. Furthermore, this study indicates the existence of critical mass between 30% and 50%, which decreases the probability of bankruptcy for small and medium companies. Furthermore, the representation of women in ownership structures above 50% decreases bankruptcy likelihood.

This is a pioneering study to explore GD topics by application of ensembled machine learning methods. Moreover, the study does analyze not only the GD of boards but also shareholders. A highly innovative approach is GD analysis based on company size performed in one study considering the COVID-19 pandemic perspective.