Research Streams Research Articles

Trust and quality of life: A study in organizations for individuals with intellectual disability

BackgroundBased on social exchange within organizations for individuals with intellectual disability, we explore trust between supervisors and team members and its association with organizational performance oriented to the quality of life of service users. AimsWe examine the mediating role of teams’ trust in supervisors in the relationship between supervisors’ trust in teams and performance focused on improving the quality of life of service users. We expect teams to reciprocate supervisors’ trust by reporting greater levels of trust in supervisors and better performance. Method and proceduresWe tested this trust-mediated model with a sample of 139 supervisors (reporting trust in their teams), 1101 team members (reporting trust in their supervisors), and 1468 family members (reporting performance focused on quality of life). Outcomes and resultsOur findings confirmed a cross-level mediation process. Supervisors’ trust in their teams leads to teams’ trust in their supervisors. This trust at the team level in turn is positively associated with organizational performance oriented to improving the quality of life of individuals with intellectual disability, reported by family members. Conclusions and implicationsOur study builds on and extends an established stream of research on trust theory by considering trust and its association with performance focused on quality of life.

The 60-year evolution oflipid nanoparticles fornucleic acid delivery.

Delivery of genetic information to the interior of target cells in vivo has been a major challenge facing gene therapies. This barrier is now being overcome, owing in part to dramatic advances made by lipid-based systems that have led to lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) that enable delivery ofnucleic acid-based vaccines and therapeutics. Examples include the clinically approved COVID-19 LNP mRNA vaccines and Onpattro (patisiran), an LNP small interfering RNA therapeutic to treat transthyretin-induced amyloidosis (hATTR). In addition, a host of promising LNP-enabled vaccines and gene therapies are in clinical development. Here, we trace this success to two streams of research conducted over the past 60 years: the discovery of the transfection properties of lipoplexes composed of positively charged cationic lipids complexed with nucleic acid cargos and the development of lipid nanoparticles using ionizable cationic lipids. The fundamental insights gained from these two streams of research offer potential delivery solutions for most forms of gene therapies.

Exploring team collaboration in the metaverse from a human capital perspective

PurposeWe aim to help better understand how organizations can develop their human capital in virtual teams through technological advances in the metaverse. To this end, we examine how virtual team collaboration with virtual reality technologies in the metaverse compares to traditional videoconferencing. Our study demonstrates how the metaverse can facilitate collaboration in virtual teams and examines the factors that are critical to successful team collaboration in the metaverse.Design/methodology/approachWe conduct a lab experiment comparing Meta Horizon Workrooms with Zoom. Using a between-subjects design, we observe virtual team collaboration in five teams. All teams solved the Lost on the Moon Exercise used by NASA to train teamwork. We collected data during and after the experiment to explore emerging collaborative behaviors based on audio and video recordings, a quantitative survey, and qualitative feedback.FindingsWe find higher levels of immersion, social presence, and collaboration among team members in the metaverse. We further identify new opportunities for social interaction and greater focus on team members and shared tasks. Our study suggests that the metaverse can enable effective collaboration in virtual teams and uncovers related guidance for organizations.Originality/valueWe connect the research streams on the metaverse, team collaboration, and human capital. We add empirical evidence to the largely theoretical discussion on the metaverse and explore collaboration tools for virtual teams, helping to enable effective collaboration of organizations’ virtual teams. We hope to stimulate further research to unlock the full collaborative potential of the metaverse and establish the metaverse for effective development of human capital.

Repositioning Work and Leisure: Digital Nomads Versus Tourists

ABSTRACTA growing yet fragmented debate addressing digital nomadism has recently emerged across different disciplines, including management, organizational behavior, and mobility studies. However, the intersection between digital nomadism and leisure and tourism activities remains blurred. Integrating existing theoretical assessments, this conceptual paper scrutinize digital nomadism from a tourism and leisure perspective, and attempts to provide a broader understanding of this phenomenon. The paper repositions digital nomads in the center of tourism and travel discourse by describing their key characteristics, mobility motives, destination selection process, and critical features, singling them out from conventional business/leisure tourists. This paper significantly contributes to an emerging stream of tourism research addressing digital nomadism as an emerging lifestyle market and provides timely practical implications for policymakers and industry practitioners.

A Systematic Review of Attention Models in Natural Language Processing

The role of attention models in neural networks has drawn much focus among scholars in recent years mainly because of its efficiency and versatility. Attention models are important for many Natural Language Processing applications like question answering, semantic analysis, sentiment analysis and machine translation performing significantly better than other usual approaches. These mechanisms improve neural networks capability in interpretation and tackle issues like performance decay, which affects the Recurrent Neural Networks by concentrating on significant data inputs and context. A stream of research has explored the integration of attention mechanisms to other fields, namely computer vision and graph analysis improving tasks like object detection, image captioning or node representation learning. However, for more detailed research of modern achievements and various domains and model architecture structures there is still the necessity to use the more profound survey-based investigation. This research article provides a review of previous work done on attention-based model in NLP. It also outlines the problems and provides relevant solutions using different methodologies. Future directions of the research are provided for the improvement of the attention models for NLP, discussing potential issues in terms of model performance and its capacity, as well as its interpretability. This review is intended to help further research to more universal attention-based solutions in the domain of NLP.

Sustainable futures: Toward institutionalizing green industrial policy

AbstractAlthough there have been substantial accomplishments in understanding environmental sustainability policy, there remains a paucity of research categorizing the mechanisms through which firm ownership architectures can be harnessed to advance green industrial policy (GIP). The purpose of this study is to examine how different types of ownership structures can be utilized as mechanisms for capitalizing on and championing GIP. By integrating the fragmented streams of research, this study advances a four‐cell typology of GIP‐firm ownership dimensions (privately‐owned enterprises (POEs)/state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) × intra‐country/inter‐country GIP), which sheds much‐needed light on the long‐term energy transition (ETs) pathway through institutional and industrial challenges. The analysis further enhances researchers' understanding of leveraging SOEs and POEs to neutralize uncertainties inherent in scaling up renewables and addressing the “pollution haven hypothesis.” Directions for future research pertaining to ETs are outlined.

How a publicized leader transgression can affect member outcomes and gift purchasing of associated symbolic products

PurposeThis study aims to examine the ramifications of an unfavorable public incident resulting from an organizational leader’s transgression on member outcomes and their intentions to purchase associated symbolic products as gifts. This study also considers how members’ attributions of organizational control affect the relationship between members’ organizational identification and their purchase behavior.Design/methodology/approachThe study applies a longitudinal design involving two rounds of data collection over two years to examine a case of leadership transgression. Using the customer panel of a privately owned retailer, sorority members were surveyed before and after an unfavorable public incident involving their president. This study applied t-tests of mean differences and regression analyses to test the hypotheses.FindingsAfter the leader’s transgressions were publicized, sorority members exhibited lower levels of cognitive organizational identification, satisfaction with the organization and purchase intention of organizational gifts. The association between cognitive organizational identification and gift purchase intentions was stronger after the incident. Further, controllability attributions positively moderated the association between cognitive organizational identification and the intended purchase quantity of organizational products after the incident.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample limits the generalizability of the findings, as the study is conducted on one case of a leader’s transgression in an identity-based organization (IBO).Practical implicationsThe findings imply that efforts to repair customer identification should be taken rather than satisfaction enhancement when a leader of an IBO commits a public transgression.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to apply identity threat theory to understand how an organizational leader’s public transgression affects member outcomes and purchasing. The findings imply that it is critical to repair members’ identification when these situations arise. The use of a real case and a longitudinal research design are rare contributions to this research stream.

Let’s Take This Outside: Rethinking Outdoor Education

Several health experts have strongly recommended spending time outdoors for physical and mental well-being. As students progress through the schooling system, they spend less time outdoors. There is an insufficient amount of research on how outdoor learning can benefit students at the university level. There is a consistent stream of research looking at methods of learning and how to create better environments for learning. However, studies on outdoor learning have been few. Outdoor learning, in general, and at the university level, in particular, has numerous advantages for learners when conditions are taken into consideration. In this review, 20 studies were selected. They discuss ways in which outdoor learning in universities can benefit both students and teachers alike. The review concludes that outdoor learning can have various advantages if properly taught.

Design, fabrication, and physical properties analysis of laminated Low-E coated glass for retrofit window solutions

The ever-growing demand for improved energy efficiency in buildings has stimulated a stream of research focused on innovative retrofit energy solutions. Laminated low emissivity (Low-E) type coated glass components can be used in retrofitting window systems for enhancing energy savings provided by the insulating properties of glass laminates containing these heat-mirror-type coatings. In particular, custom-designed double-silver low-E coatings embedded into the laminate structure (directly facing the polymer interlayers during and after the lamination) are of interest due to being protected from environmental exposure, enabling easy component transportation, storage, and window retrofits. In this study, we provide some details on the design of several reflector-type solar control low-E coatings of high environmental stability and demonstrate the feasibility of their fabrication on 3 mm thick glass substrates, followed by the lamination. We describe the optical properties of laminated structural glass components of potential usefulness for retrofitting window applications in new and existing buildings. Several thin-film coatings of a low-E type are deposited by using the RF magnetron sputtering technique and then subjected to lamination by using transparent epoxy and PVB materials, to be protected by a clear glass cover layer. The optical performance characteristics of these coatings (measured before and after lamination) elucidate the effects these lamination materials and cover glass thickness have on the final optical properties (leading to a slight reduction in the optical transmission in the visible spectral range, by around 8–10 % while retaining low thermal emissivity across the infrared spectral range). The outcomes of this research, if industrialized could contribute significantly to the development of sustainable building components and practices, and to acheiving a reduction in building energy consumption by way of enabling window retrofit operations at potentially reduced costs.

Home Peers, Business Owners’ Gender, and the Export Intensity of SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can improve their export performance by co-locating with export firms from the same industry and country. However, the export implications are yet to be addressed systematically. This study investigates when and how women-owned SMEs convert their geographic proximity to home peers through social proximity and cognitive proximity into high export intensity. We develop a nuanced knowledge spillover perspective incorporating gender mechanisms to clarify the relationship between home peers and SMEs’ export intensity at the regional and national levels. To test our hypotheses, we designed quantitative research using a survey database from Statistics Canada, Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SFGSME), with a sample of 9,977 Canadian SMEs. Our study shows that, among other things, home peers’ positive impact on SMEs’ export intensity is more significant when their owners are exposed to a larger number of relatively close same-gender home peers (i.e., same-gender regional home peers). Moreover, we show that such positive home-peer effects on SMEs’ export intensity are even stronger for women business owners than men business owners. We clarify our contributions by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings. By demonstrating the significance of same-gender regional home peers for women owners, we contribute to the knowledge spillover perspective on exporting, emerging research streams on home peers, and women entrepreneurship research in the international entrepreneurship field. Our findings also suggest that women entrepreneurs can particularly benefit from government-funded export promotion programs when the programs are appropriately designed and promoted to women entrepreneurs.

Public sector leadership in leadership scholarship: A systematic literature review

AbstractThis paper provides a systematic review of some of the research streams characterizing the body of leadership literature on public sector leadership as informed by traditional leadership journals. It notes that the public sector is extensively studied by leadership scholars. Among the research streams found in that scholarship are administrative leadership, political leadership, and reforms/innovations. It also proposes directions for future research.

Ethics Redefined: A Comparative Study on Women on Boards vs. Attributes of Corporate Governance in the Light of Firm Performance

This study is related to Corporate Governance (CG) and is an important research stream. One of the most noteworthy dimensions of CG is Board Gender Diversity (BGD). While there is a lot of study being done on BGD in developing and emerging market economies is still in the early stages of this field. This study attempts to answer the seminal question, of what matters most for Firm Performance (FP), CG attributes, or just BGD). So, this study investigates the relationship between BGD and CG attributes, on the FP. The existing literature lacks a comprehensive analysis of BGD and CG attributes on FP so this study fills this research gap. To meet the study's objective, data is collected for 50 non-financial firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, the data period is 2017-2022 which leads to a total of 300 firm-year observations. For data analysis, the technique of panel regression is used in this study. This study reveals that CG attributes employ mixed influence on FP, while BGD negatively impacts the FP, emphasizing the significance of border governance mechanisms. This research shows the need for the firm to prioritize more ethical governance practices, across different cultural and economic contexts instead of just diluting the board with more female directors. Exploring the role of other variables could provide deeper insights into the factors deriving these relationships.

Unlocking circular supply chain 4.0: identifying key barriers through bibliometrics and TISM-MICMAC

PurposeThis paper examines the dynamic interplay between Circular Economy (CE) and Supply Chain (SC). Further, this paper develops a framework indicating the transition from conventional SC to SC 4.0. As it addresses the separate bodies of literature on CE and SC 4.0, the study attempts to bridge the gap by examining barriers to SC 4.0 adoption in CE.Design/methodology/approachThe article integrates bibliometric analysis with Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM) and MICMAC analysis, thereby enriching the methodological rigour in investigating the barriers to SC 4.0 adoption within the CE context.FindingsThe paper provides insights into research trends, influential scholars, journals and prominent institutions through bibliometric analysis. Also, the findings identify four broad areas of driving, autonomous, linkage and dependent barriers to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of their impact and interdependencies.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings imply that effective policy interventions, enhanced management practices, and the adoption of technological innovations are essential for overcoming barriers to SC 4.0. The research recommends that stakeholders focus on fostering collaborative networks, building competencies in line with CE requirements, and leveraging big data for strategic supply chain decision-making.Originality/valueThis work contributes to the advancement of the circular digital supply field by consolidating research streams, uncovering innovation prospects, and shaping a well-informed research agenda. The distinct contribution lies in its categorization of these barriers into driving, autonomous, linkage, and dependent barriers, offering a novel perspective on the structural dynamics impeding the integration of SC 4.0 in CE.

Enablers for circular ecosystem transformation: A multi-case study of Brazilian circular ecosystems

Although a growing research stream indicates that many firms have transformed their ecosystems toward a circular ecosystem, the current scholarship provides limited theoretical and empirical insights into the enablers of this transformation process. In order to clarify some of these enablers, our research settings consisted of 7 focal firms engaged in transforming their business ecosystems into circular ecosystems. We adopted a theoretical sampling to perform longitudinal research from 2008 until 2023. Building on rich multiple case studies, we identify four categories of enablers: affiliation, interdependence, alignment, and ecosystem engineering. Based on these themes, we propose a new theoretical framework that characterizes theoretical and empirical insights regarding how to facilitate circular ecosystem transformation. The proposed framework opens up new opportunities to explore potential enablers to leverage circular ecosystem configurations, which are unique and whose multidirectional value alignment is much more challenging than a single firm's structures.

Enterprise Systems in the Public Sector: Current Research Landscape

ABSTRACT This review of 55 papers offers insights on the issues pertinent to adopting, implementing, and operating enterprise systems (ES) in the public sector. Public sector organizations differ considerably from private businesses due to different stakeholders, more regulations, rigid location requirements, and stringent accountability. Identified research trends cluster around ES implementation, ES and organizational change, ES implementation success factors, and impact of ES implementation. Besides providing a thorough overview of the research in this area, this paper makes three major contributions: it identifies the dominant research streams, it synthesizes the major findings, and it identifies promising further research avenues.

Anti-corruption reporting: a review empirical literature

Purpose This review summarizes the empirical literature dealing with anti-corruption disclosure as this specific type of disclosure has attracted a great deal of attention in accounting literature. Design/methodology/approach Keywords used to collect relevant papers from numerous electronic databases (e.g. Science Direct, Emerald, Wiley-Blackwell, Springer and Taylor and Francis) include “anti-corruption reporting” “anti-corruption disclosure”. The final sample encompasses a set of 35 empirical studies published between 2015 and the beginning of 2024. Findings The summary of reviewed studies suggests that anti-corruption empirical studies are mainly cross-country investigations. Two streams of research are identified: (i) the determinants of anti-corruption disclosure and (ii) the economic consequences of anti-corruption reporting. With respect to the first stream of research, six main categories of determinants are identified (corporate characteristics, corporate governance attributes, informal institutions, stakeholders’ pressures, country institutional effect and regulation effect). With respect to the second stream of research, findings show that anti-corruption reporting is negatively associated with profitability, reduces earnings management and enhances corporate social reputation. Practical implications With respect to regulators, this review sheds light on the importance of anti-corruption disclosure in the fight against corruption. It also suggests that the adoption of some regulations like the Directive 2014/95/EU in the European Union or the 2010 UK Bribery Act have contributed to more transparency. With respect to investors, the existence of some determinants of anti-corruption reporting (e.g. United Nations Global Compact membership, cross-listing, multinationality, board independence) may signal the adequacy of corporate reporting policy and that management is following an adequate strategy to fight corruption and enhance transparency. Originality/value This review offers future research avenues for accounting scholars with respect anti-corruption disclosure literature.

Influence of movie-related online consumer reviews on movie choice: are there generational differences in processing information cues?

PurposeTo understand how three features of online consumer reviews - the strength of persuasiveness in online consumer reviews (argument quality), the number of online consumer reviews (volume of reviews), and source credibility – are related to the behavioural intentions in the movie consumption context. Besides, the present study aims to explore intergenerational differences (X, Y, and Z) in the patterns of association between three characteristics of online consumer reviews (argument quality, volume of reviews, and source credibility) and an individual’s choice of a movie intended to be watched.Design/methodology/approachThe study sample (n = 518) was recruited from a population of users of IMDb living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Structural equation modelling and multi-group analysis were used to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results revealed that argument quality, the volume of reviews, and source credibility of movie-related online consumer reviews are positively related to the intention to watch a movie for all three generational cohorts (X, Y, and Z). Regarding biases in processing information cues, our findings indicate that movie viewers from all three generations (X, Y, and Z) make inferences between source credibility and argument quality. However, biases in the relation between the volume of reviews and the argument quality were found only among X-ers and Y-ers but not among Z-ers.Originality/valueThe present study contributes to the eWOM research stream by examining the role of different characteristics of online consumer reviews (argument quality, the volume of reviews, and the source credibility) in movie consumption. Moreover, it sheds light on how argument quality, the volume reviews and the source credibility interact with the behavioural intentions of different generations and whether these interactions exhibit similarities or differences across three distinct generation cohorts: X-ers, Y-ers, and Z-ers.

Understanding the Emergence of Computational Institutional Science: A Review of Computational Modeling of Institutions and Institutional Dynamics

Computational Institutional Science (CIS) is an emerging stream of social science research performing institutional analysis with computational methods. While such scholarship is garnering increased attention, it draws on many different theories and engages disparate disciplinary backgrounds. Thus, this article provides an overview of CIS articles utilizing agent-based modeling, a computer simulation experiment method, to better understand critical theoretical lenses and topics. More specifically, this article clusters and analyzes 148 articles based on commonalities and differences empirically derived from their overlapping citations (i.e., citation cluster) and abstract content (i.e., topic cluster). Based on our analysis, we discuss the trends observed across cluster types and the overlap between them to better situate CIS inquiry.

Policy-makers and Population Ageing in Bangladesh: A Dearth of Attention

AbstractPolicy responses to population ageing have seldom been studied in Bangladesh. This article contributes to this research stream by asking to what extent policy-makers in Bangladesh are aware of the rapidly growing older population and care needs in the country and how this awareness is reflected in their policy initiatives. The concept of inattention is introduced to investigate phenomena from a public policy perspective. Data were collected via open-ended interviews with key policy-makers in Bangladesh’s government and other local stakeholders. Their responses were transcribed and coded for thematic content analysis. The findings show that policy-makers in Bangladesh have paid very little attention to the rapidly growing older population and their care needs. Without considering social, economic and demographic circumstances, the government has left full responsibility for old-age care to family members. No specific health or social care facilities have been built for older adults. Instead, limited coverage pension schemes for government employees and the Old Age Allowance (OAA) for financially vulnerable older adults remain the only measures taken thus far. However, these means-tested OAAs are very limited in terms of both their level and coverage. The lack of policy attention to older adults’ needs has led to a situation in which many older persons, especially in rural areas, are left without any support or care from their family, the government or third-sector organisations. More research is needed to guide the government and other organisations in developing adequate policies to support older adults in Bangladesh.

Introduction to the special issue: Allyship, advocacy, and social justice to support equality for marginalized groups in the workplace

Allyship is an important topic of growing interest in research and practice for management and organizations. However, research is still in its infancy, often fragmented across disciplines, and lacking conceptual clarity. The purpose of this special issue, “Allyship, Advocacy, and Social Justice to Support Equality for Marginalized Groups in the Workplace” is to enhance understanding of allies and allyship. We argue that allyship is a mechanism for centering social justice, reducing discrimination and inequality, and improving intergroup dynamics, inclusion, social cohesion, well-being, and organizational effectiveness. We note the importance of distinguishing between conceptualization of who is an ally and the different types of allyship in a brief review of the foundational grounding of the research stream. Next, we examine findings and insights from the eight papers in the special issue, examining how they move the field forward. These articles provide a springboard for understanding how to define, measure, and evaluate allyship, and for identifying key dynamics (e.g., marginalization, dominance, identity motivations), antecedents, consequences, contexts, and boundary conditions. We conclude by identifying future research opportunities that leverage this special issue’s content and gaps to address. We believe that improving understanding of how to be an ally, what they do, and the conditions under which allyship is effective, is valuable for enhancing social relationships between and within marginalized and dominant groups in organizations and society.