Businesses, Volume 6, Issue 2 (June 2026) – 20 articles

Endpoints of a continuous scale have identified the work engagement extremes of psychological flow and burnout. If a scale, employees could hold these experiences simultaneously, to some degree. Instead, there are two types of employees concerning work engagement: those who experience the extremes of psychological flow and burnout, and those who do not. A deductive model concerning General Systems Theory modifies Csikszentmihalyi’s four-quadrant model. It indicates that eliminating burnout requires achieving psychological flow rather than any other form of work engagement. Therefore, not all experiences currently labelled as burnout are such. Considering skill and challenge, apathy, anxiety, and boredom more correctly define these other negative work-engagement experiences. As such, solutions for improving work engagement require: (1) differentiating burnout from other forms of work-related exhaustion concerning employee skill and challenge, (2) interventions promoting the positive aspect of every work engagement type, and (3) abandoning the idea that social justice necessitates all employees achieve psychological flow—instead viewing social justice as achieved work engagement. Relevant work engagement solutions are according to the modified four-quadrant model. This novel perspective offers conceptually simple, research-supported approaches to eliminating burnout and other forms of work-related exhaustion, promoting work engagement as a preferred form of social justice. Full article

The grocerant represents an emerging hybrid retail–foodservice format integrating grocery shopping, prepared meals, and in-store dining. Although practically significant, the academic literature remains limited and dispersed. This PRISMA-informed semi-systematic review synthesizes 16 studies—including direct grocerant research and adjacent work on retail innovation, prepared foods, and digital food retail—to clarify the current state of knowledge. The review followed structured database searches, citation tracking, title/abstract screening, and full-text eligibility assessment. Three main perspectives emerged. First, consumer-focused studies emphasize customer experience, food healthiness, multidimensional perceived value (functional, hedonic, social, and financial), brand prestige, in-store dining behavior, and loyalty. Second, strategic research positions grocerants within retail format innovation and competitive convergence between grocery and restaurant sectors. Third, operational perspectives link grocerants to prepared-food systems, retail food environments, and omnichannel transformation. Major gaps include limited operational and comparative research, geographic concentration, and weak digital integration. The review suggests that grocerants function as evolving systems where convenience, experience, branding, and digital transformation converge. Full article

Innovation proficiency is widely recognized as essential to organizational competitiveness; yet, how product managers and their teams develop these proficiencies across organizational contexts remains understudied. This study examines six innovation proficiencies—Customer Empathy, Insight Generation, Idea Generation, Idea Selection, Experimentation and Learning, and Mobilizing and Executing—using a longitudinal dataset of 15,842 survey responses collected across 1066 organizations over nine years (2016–2024). Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, nonparametric group comparisons, correlation analysis, reliability testing, longitudinal analysis, and systematic qualitative theme extraction from nearly 50,000 responses. Insight Generation is consistently the lowest-rated proficiency despite being ranked high in importance. Organization-weighted analysis finds significant, but modest, improvement in just one of the six proficiencies (Idea Selection) over the study period and positive but non-significant trends in the others. Qualitative analysis identifies customer centricity, lack of formalized processes and data-based decision making as persistent challenges over time. These findings suggest that improvement of innovation practices depends not only on Product Managers and their teams, but on organization-wide infrastructure changes to facilitate and support their innovation work. Full article

Within the South-Western food industry of Nigeria, the overall impact, associated challenges, and implementation of Big Data Analytics (BDA) have remained underexplored. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the extent of BDA adoption, identify key barriers and enablers, assess the operational impacts of BDA adoption, and propose a structured framework to guide effective integration. The study adopted a deductive, mono-quantitative method. Data were collected from 151 participants through a stratified sampling technique using an online survey questionnaire and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods, including Chi-Square, Likelihood Ratio, and Fisher-Freeman-Halton Exact tests, using SPSS version 26 and Excel as analytical tools. While awareness and appreciation of BDA’s strategic benefits are growing, significant challenges such as high implementation costs, a shortage of skilled personnel, regulatory uncertainties, and technological limitations persist. Nevertheless, organisations that have embraced BDA report notable improvements in operational efficiency, strategic decision-making, customer satisfaction, and competitive advantage. This study proposes a practical BDA adoption framework designed to address the identified barriers and enhance successful implementation and offers several recommendations. The research helps bridge the knowledge gap on BDA adoption in emerging economies and offers actionable insights for business leaders, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to drive innovation and sustainability in Nigeria’s food industry. Full article

The effect of competitor orientation on the performance of furniture manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises was examined, with a special focus on customer loyalty as a mediator. A sample of 364 firms was obtained from the Dar es Salaam Region using proportionate stratified sampling. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analysed inferentially using covariance-based structural equation modelling. When the mediator was controlled, the results showed that responsiveness to competitor intelligence had a significant effect on FM-SME performance, suggesting partial mediation. However, competitor intelligence generation had no significant effect on FM-SME performance when the mediator was included, implying full mediation. The conclusion is that the mere generation of competitor intelligence does not guarantee improved performance unless firms deploy strategies to reinforce customer loyalty. FM-SMEs should monitor competitors and use competitor insights and customer feedback to improve product design and features, adjust prices, and enhance customer service. Full article

This study examines cultural risk as a key factor in organizational strategy, bridging cultural studies and the risk management literature. Despite its significance, culture as a risk driver remains underexplored, partly due to a lack of consensus on its definition. Existing research predominantly relies on Hofstede’s model, treating culture as a static, measurable construct, overlooking its dynamic and heterogeneous nature. To address this gap, this study explores cultural risk components through 34 interviews with senior managers in international business. The findings suggest an innovative approach, integrating strategic management perspectives, considering external product-market positioning, and internal resource-based views to better capture cultural dynamics. The study proposes a unifying framework where cultural risk management functions as knowledge management, guided by the principle of requisite variety. This framework offers practical insights for both researchers and practitioners in managing cultural risk effectively. Full article

This study explores how Machiavellian leadership behaviors may become embedded in ethical mentorship relationships and how these dynamics influence trust formation, dependency, emotional ambivalence, and trust erosion within higher education institutions (HEIs). Drawing on destructive leadership and impression management perspectives, this study examines how ethical rhetoric and developmental language may function as mechanisms through which manipulation, reciprocity expectations, and dependency become normalized within organizational mentorship relationships. A qualitative research design was adopted, using semi-structured interviews with sixteen participants employed within multicultural HEIs in the United Arab Emirates. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns related to mentorship experiences, ethical self-presentation, emotional tension, and evolving trust dynamics. The findings revealed five interrelated themes: “The Wolf in a Scholar’s Robe,” where mentors project ethical identities while pursuing self-interest; “Debts That Never End,” reflecting the use of gratitude and reciprocity to create ongoing obligation; “Trust Fractures,” characterized by the erosion of interpersonal and institutional trust following perceived manipulation; “Ambivalence of Gratitude,” capturing the emotional conflict between appreciation and resentment; and “Signals of Dual Image,” highlighting the contrast between public ethical performance and private exploitative behavior. Together, these findings demonstrate how ethical mentorship may simultaneously function as a source of professional support and a mechanism of subtle control. This study contributes to the literature by conceptualizing performative ethical mentorship as a potential mechanism through which manipulative leadership behaviors may become legitimized within academic institutions. It further extends current scholarship by integrating Machiavellian leadership, ethical mentorship, emotional ambivalence, and trust dynamics within an analysis of multicultural HEI environments in the UAE, highlighting how performative ethical leadership may gradually erode psychological safety, relational trust, and organizational confidence. Full article

Digital technologies make it possible to combine multiple technical functionalities within applications that address practical and organizational needs. This paper presents Cozzmo, an Android mobile prototype for supporting communication and coordination in shared households. The system combines chat, polls, chores, shopping support, photo albums, presence awareness, mood indicators, and location-based alerts in one application. The prototype was implemented in native Java for Android using Firebase services and an MVVM architecture with LiveData. Its real-time behavior was evaluated on two physical Android devices under mixed connectivity conditions, including mobile data, hotspot use, and temporary connection loss. The evaluation examined end-to-end propagation delay, recovery after reconnection, and state convergence during concurrent user actions. In the reported test sessions, the prototype preserved update order in baseline scenarios, recovered queued messages after short interruptions, and reached a consistent final state in the concurrent voting and task-update tests. The time needed for updates to appear in the interface was less than the propagation delay, suggesting that the measured response path was shaped mainly by network and backend propagation. These findings indicate that the prototype is technically viable and can serve as a basis for further work on mobile systems for household collaboration. Full article

In high-demand financial environments, employees’ capacity to regulate and sustain personal energy may constitute a critical yet underdeveloped organizational resource. Drawing on the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study conceptualizes energy management as a multidimensional personal resource that may support adaptive functioning and innovation under demanding work conditions. Despite increasing conceptual attention to energy-related constructs, systematic scale validation and cross-level performance evidence remain limited. This research adopts a two-study design to develop and validate a multidimensional Energy Management Scale within financial institutions. Study 1 (N = 299 employees from 11 financial institutions) examines the factorial structure, reliability, and nomological validity of the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to examine the proposed four-dimensional configuration of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy. The scale demonstrates acceptable internal consistency reliability and evidence of structural validity, including convergent and discriminant validity. Structural modeling results reveal that overall energy management is positively related to innovative behavior and organizational citizenship behavior. However, perceived workload was significantly associated only with physical energy, suggesting that demand-related mechanisms of energy may not operate uniformly across energy components. Additionally, exploratory institution-level aggregation analyses showed preliminary, counterintuitive negative associations between mean organizational energy levels and return on equity (ROE) in some years. Given the limited number of institutional clusters, these cross-level findings are preliminary and intended to provide initial external criterion evidence rather than confirmatory causal inference. Study 2 (N = 148 employees from two institutions) further examines alternative scale versions and external validity through stress coping capacity, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction. Results were discussed to examine the robustness and predictive validity of the scale across samples. Collectively, this study advances energy management research by providing a psychometrically supported measurement instrument and preliminary multilevel evidence of its organizational relevance. The findings position energy management as a measurable human-capital resource with implications for sustainable workforce innovation and performance in financial institutions. Full article

Background: One form of domestic and family violence (DFV) is financial abuse, which involves a person manipulating another person’s access to finances, assets, and financial decision-making. The aim of this study was to understand the perceived role of Australian financial institutions, government bodies and other key stakeholders in the prevention, early identification and resolution of financial abuse in small businesses. Methods: A single workshop was conducted in Melbourne, Australia, in November 2024. Representatives from five stakeholder groups were invited to participate: (i) Australian regulated financial institutions; (ii) Australian unregulated commercial lenders; (iii) government bodies; (iv) small business professional services organisations and their peak bodies; and (v) industry and representative bodies. Results: Four main themes were generated relating to the prevention, early identification and resolution of financial abuse in small businesses: (1) shining a light on financial abuse; (2) detecting and revealing red flags; (3) business lending practices create vulnerability; and (4) building a collective response. Conclusion: Whilst institutions demonstrate inherent potential for addressing family violence and financial abuse within small business contexts, realising this capacity requires substantial investment in education, contextual literacy development, collective responses and structural and legislative reform. Full article

The strategic decision to choose in-house production and outsourcing (make and buy) is one of the enormous research questions of international business studies. However, the dynamics of offshore mixed sourcing involving suppliers with varying capabilities remain under-explored. This study intends to elucidate how a firm optimizes the division of labour between an affiliated offshore factory and heterogeneous contract manufacture. We adopt a single-case study design to analyse a Japanese apparel firm operating in China. The empirical analysis using the plant-level data of both in-house and outsourcing Chinese factories reveals a clear strategic distinction: the affiliated factory specializes in High-Mix Low Volume (HMLV) production to manage market volatility, whereas outsourcing partners are utilized for volume production, segmented by their quality capabilities. This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that mixed sourcing is not merely a cost-saving tactic but a mechanism to manage supply chain heterogeneity. Full article

As the strategic debate around corporate purpose intensifies, organizations face a persistent paradox: how to sustain purpose-driven commitments under the continuous pressure of exchange-system efficiency and competing institutional logics. This paper introduces affective infrastructure: the interdependent organizational systems through which firms cultivate and reproduce the emotional and evaluative dimensions of institutional identity. Building on a synthesis of Adam Smith’s moral philosophy and Kenneth Boulding’s integrative systems theory, the paper argues that corporations operate simultaneously as exchange systems and integrative systems and that institutional character emerges from the organizational systems that sustain integrative commitments alongside exchange efficiency. Four infrastructure components are identified (identity alignment systems, integrative human-resource architecture, stakeholder communion practices, and institutional memory mechanisms), and design principles, assessment methods, and organizational illustrations are developed for each. The paper situates the construct within seven adjacent literatures, develops a configurational diagnostic framework comprising six organizational types, and concludes with a structured empirical research agenda that includes proxies for each component. The governing proposition unifying these contributions is this: affective infrastructure explains how organizations sustain integrative capacity under exchange-system pressure as a system—not as a culture to be cultivated, not as a commitment level to be measured, not as a stakeholder orientation to be managed, but as the interdependent organizational architecture through which identity alignment, integrative membership, stakeholder communion, and institutional memory become simultaneously operative and mutually reinforcing. This is what the adjacent constructs, taken individually, cannot explain: no single tradition specifies the generative system through which all four domains become durable together. Full article

This paper examines whether randomized evaluations can fail to identify causal effects when outcomes include interactions between treatment and unobserved characteristics. We show that even under random assignment, standard regression estimators do not necessarily recover the structural causal effect if outcomes contain non-separable interaction terms between treatment and latent characteristics. When outcomes contain such non-separable interaction terms, the estimated treatment effect reflects interaction components embedded in the outcome construction and may fail to recover the structural policy parameter. We derive conditions under which unbiased identification is restored, highlighting the critical role of additive separability. The results provide a theoretical foundation for understanding when randomized evaluations may yield misleading conclusions in managerial and policy contexts. Full article

This study examines how heritage-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) cope with economic shocks and institutional constraints in a semi-urban context. The study focuses on identifying context-specific barriers that shape SME growth and sustainability in heritage-based, semi-urban settings. Using a mixed-methods design, survey data from 200 SMEs were analyzed with PLS-SEM, and 20 semi-structured interviews were examined through thematic analysis, collected in Kashan, Iran (March–May 2025). We find that inflation and limited access to finance are the primary barriers to firm growth, followed by regulatory delays and administrative complexity. Qualitative findings reveal five recurring adaptive routines, short-cycle cash management, cooperative input purchasing, product simplification/micro-pivoting, reliance on local networks, and minimalist digitalization, that operate in a discernible temporal sequence to sustain firm continuity. By integrating resource-based and institutional perspectives, the paper advances meso-level theorizing on SME resilience and proposes a set of low-cost, actionable policy measures (e.g., streamlined e-licensing, targeted mobile microfinance, and buyer–supplier matchmaking) for local authorities and development practitioners. Full article

A recurring question in contemporary society is: How can one survive on a single income? Escalating socioeconomic challenges worldwide are pushing many households beyond their financial comfort zones. As a coping strategy, many individuals have adopted side hustles, income-generating activities pursued alongside full-time employment. However, a crucial question arises: do side hustles come at the expense of primary employment, particularly in terms of employee commitment and workplace loyalty? This study examined the moderating role of work–life integration in the relationship between side hustles, employee commitment, and workplace attachment. The unit of analysis consisted of academic and support staff at South African higher education institutions. Primary data were collected through a survey of a stratified random sample of 300 employees, and the data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings support that side hustles offer meaningful opportunities to enhance individual livelihoods by mitigating the impact of declining income levels. Moreover, the results indicate that flexible work arrangements are critical for employees engaged in hustle, as such flexibility strengthens organisational commitment and workplace attachment. The study recommends adopting a humanistic management approach that promotes boundaryless jobs, thereby fostering employee commitment and workplace attachment through an inclusive, supportive, and empowering work environment. Full article

Shrinking and aging societies undermine the economic viability of network-based infrastructure once supported by economies of scale and network externalities. This paper develops a conceptual framing of “Denetworking” as a possible reconfiguration strategy in the contraction phase: reducing dependence on highly asset-specific dedicated networks (e.g., pipes and rail tracks) and shifting service functions to distributed systems or generic shared networks (e.g., roads) while maintaining minimum service standards. Rather than presenting a calibrated optimization model or full life-cycle cost (LCC) estimation, the paper proposes a heuristic decision condition for comparing a “keep” scenario (renew and maintain the dedicated network) with a “shift” scenario (Denetworking) and uses quantitative anchors from public sources to illustrate the associated fiscal and institutional trade-offs. Two Japanese cases are used as contrasting illustrations: physical Denetworking, referring to the reduction in or substitution of dedicated physical network assets, in wastewater services (centralized sewerage to decentralized treatment); and functional Denetworking, referring to the transfer of service functions from dedicated networks to more generic shared networks, in regional mobility (local rail to bus/BRT on the road network). The cross-case discussion suggests that Denetworking may become a rational policy option under certain conditions, particularly when demand density declines near renewal-investment peaks and asset specificity increases lock-in. The paper contributes a conceptual vocabulary and comparative policy framing for discussing infrastructure reconfiguration in shrinking societies and highlights practical issues of timing, cost sharing, phased implementation, and stakeholder engagement. Full article

Platformized markets increasingly organize consumer encounters through adaptive ranking and personalization systems that learn from behavioral traces and reorder what consumers see over time. Although consumer identity theory explains how consumers use marketplace resources to express and negotiate the self, it does not fully explain how recursive ranked exposure shapes identity trajectories. This article develops Algorithmic Consumer Identity Theory (ACIT) to address that gap. ACIT proposes that identity formation in platformized markets is conditioned by three interrelated mechanisms: algorithmic mirroring, through which consumers interpret personalized outputs as self-diagnostic signals; algorithmic steering, through which ranking and recommendation systems structure future exposure; and reinforcement-loop strength, which captures the inertia generated by recursive feedback among behavior, inference, and exposure. Together, these mechanisms produce the steered self, an emergent identity configuration shaped through repeated interaction with curated exposure environments. The theory specifies how adaptive personalization can increase identity salience, strengthen or fragment coherence, intensify dissonance under conditions of misrecognition, and reduce perceived data agency when contestability is weak. By distinguishing representational feedback from directional exposure governance, ACIT offers a mechanism-based and empirically falsifiable framework for understanding identity in AI-mediated markets. The article contributes to consumer identity theory, platformization research, and AI-in-marketing scholarship, and identifies implications for platform governance and identity-safe personalization design. Full article

Purpose: This research investigates where formal responsibility for artificial intelligence (AI) lies within organisations and how the presence, absence, or structure of that responsibility affects their ability to govern AI effectively. Method: The study surveys 351 organisations across sectors and regions to examine AI governance roles. It focuses on authority, resources, and organisational integration, using hierarchical cluster analysis to identify governance configurations. Findings: The results indicate that formal AI governance roles are unevenly distributed and often weakly integrated into organisational structures. When these roles exist, they are usually placed below the executive level, lack sufficient authority, and differ greatly in the resources available to them. A cluster analysis reveals four governance configurations—Governance Absence, Symbolic Governance, Operational Governance, and Institutionalised Governance, indicating that governance capacity is primarily influenced by how well these roles are embedded in the structure, rather than just their presence. Implications: The findings suggest that AI governance may be better understood as a structural and organisational design issue, with potential implications for accountability and oversight. However, the relationship between governance configurations and outcomes, such as ethical risk and compliance, remains an area for future research. Originality: The study takes an absence-based approach to AI ethics, establishing a baseline for future research on governance maturity, compliance, trust, and ethical risk. Full article

A method for integrated brand analysis and strategy is developed in this work. The foundation of this method is market research, through which the relevance of brand attributes, their evaluation for competing brands and the market performance of these brands on the steps of the buying process are determined. On this basis, the overall evaluation of brands and their number of brand attributes with the best evaluation are calculated so that strategic decision guidelines for overall brand positioning can be deduced. These strategic decision guidelines are securing the brand based on the existing identity/image, developing the brand based on the existing identity/image, developing (pivoting to) a new brand identity/image, whilst securing the strengths of the existing identity/image, and developing a new brand identity/image. On the level of brand attributes, the weighted relevance of attributes and their evaluation difference to the best competitor are calculated so that, again, strategic decision guidelines can be deduced. The strategic decision guidelines on brand attribute level are securing the attributes as the core brand identity (first priority), selecting and developing the attributes to the core brand identity (second priority), securing the attributes as the extended brand identity (third priority), and selecting and developing the attributes as the extended brand identity (fourth priority). Based on the market performance of brands across the stages of the buying process, the conversions between these steps are determined. On this basis, strategic decision guidelines for market cultivation are deduced, i.e., awareness, image, sales, and loyalty strategies. To gain first indications of the validity of the method for integrated brand analysis and strategy, it is applied to food retail and chocolate brands in the German market. Future research should focus on further validating the method and enhancing it by integrating segmenting and targeting processes and, potentially, marketing measures on an operational level. Full article

Sustainable environmental performance (SEP) among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has attracted researchers and practitioners’ attention. The achievement of sustainable environmental performance has been largely dependent on the prevailing external ecosystem conditions. Yet in emerging economies such as Ghana, there is limited research and evidence on the extent to which external ecosystem resources influence sustainable environmental performance. This study aims to investigate how external entrepreneurial ecosystem resources including policy, access to finance, market availability, institutional support, human capital and culture influence the sustainable environmental performance (SEP) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using sample data from Ghana. A total of 386 SME manufacturing and service firms were sampled to participate. Structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) tested a multi-theory framework grounded in the Resource-based View (RBV), Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) and Stakeholder Theory. The results indicate that policy, finance, institutional support, and markets exert significant positive effects on SMEs’ SEP. Culture and human capital were found to have a weaker contribution to SMEs’ SEP. The novelty of this study lies in empirically demonstrating the primacy of ecosystem structural levers over softer ecosystem factors in driving SME sustainable environmental performance, thereby offering a new explanatory hierarchy of ecosystem drivers for sustainability in developing economies. We advance the RBV, RDT and the Stakeholder Theory by showing that external ecosystem resources act as critical environmental enablers for SMEs in developing economies. The findings offer globally relevant policy insights for advancing SDGs 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and 13 (Climate Action) through targeted ecosystem interventions. Full article