Search Results (2,281)

The purpose of this study is to explore how Zimbabwean firms use Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) and climate risk disclosure amid climate policy uncertainty and how managers perceive these practices as relevant to organisational resilience and long-term sustainability within a volatile institutional and macroeconomic context. The study was couched in the interpretivist research philosophy and adopted the inductive research approach. A case study research design, which aligns with a qualitative research design, was chosen for the study. The study employed in-depth interviews with management accountants, finance executives, and industry leaders across firms in Harare. The study adopted the cross-sectional time horizon and analysed data using thematic analysis to develop insights into the role of EMA and climate risk disclosure in times of policy uncertainty. The findings suggest that participants perceived climate policy uncertainty as influencing organisational efforts to reconfigure management accounting practices through greater environmental performance monitoring, adaptive budgeting, and scenario-based planning. The findings of this study suggest that organisational actors interpreted climate policy uncertainty as a condition requiring greater flexibility in budgeting, environmental monitoring, and strategic planning. Participants in this study associated EMA with improved environmental cost visibility and more adaptive approaches to investment appraisal and risk management under uncertain policy conditions. Similarly, participants perceived climate risk disclosure as increasingly crucial for strengthening organisational legitimacy, stakeholder confidence, and institutional credibility. While respondents linked sustainability-oriented accounting adaptation to broader organisational resilience and long-term sustainable growth aspirations, these relationships were understood through managerial perceptions and organisational experiences rather than as directly measurable macroeconomic outcomes. The study contributes to the sustainability accounting literature by providing qualitative, context-sensitive insights into how managers in an emerging economy interpret climate policy uncertainty and adapt EMA and climate risk disclosure practices within volatile institutional conditions. The study further contributes by integrating sensemaking theory and institutional theory to explain how organisational interpretations of uncertainty shape sustainability-oriented accounting adaptation and perceptions of organisational resilience. It is therefore recommended that the regulatory institutional pillar be strengthened to reduce uncertainty and enhance the EMA’s strategic adaptation. Full article

Global retail e-commerce sales have surged, yet product fit uncertainty remains a significant challenge, leading to rising product return rates. To address consumer concerns about return shipping costs, major Chinese online retail platforms have introduced return shipping insurance (RSI). Retailers can choose between Retailer-RSI (RRSI), which is provided by the retailer, and Customer-RSI (CRSI), which is purchased by consumers. Despite these options, information asymmetry causes insurers to assess return rates with bias—referred to as managerial confidence bias. Consequently, platforms are increasingly partnering with insurers to enhance their RSI offerings. This study develops a game-theoretical model to examine the dynamics between a platform and an insurer, as well as the impact of managerial confidence bias on RSI strategies. Our analysis reveals that the platform–insurer relationship is crucial in determining the optimal RSI strategy. Under an independent insurer, RSI is viable only if the insurer underestimates product return rates (i.e., exhibits overconfidence bias); RRSI is preferred if the bias is sufficiently strong, whereas CRSI is chosen otherwise. In contrast, under a dependent insurer, CRSI is favored by the retailer only when its return handling costs are substantially high; otherwise, RRSI is preferred. Furthermore, RSI consistently increases consumer surplus by reducing return hassle costs while only mildly raising the product price. However, the independent insurer’s bias leads to its own profit loss, resulting in a “loss–win–win–win” scenario across stakeholders. In contrast, the dependent insurer, supported by platform subsidies, can yield a “win–win–win–win” outcome that aligns stakeholder interests and enhances long-term platform benefits. Full article

Rapid urbanization and population growth have intensified solid waste management (SWM) challenges in developing countries, where institutional capacity and stakeholder participation remain limited. Existing studies, particularly in the context of Pakistan, largely examine isolated technical or environmental aspects, with limited integration of sustainability dimensions and stakeholder dynamics. This study develops and empirically validates an integrated structural equation modeling (SEM) framework to examine the interrelationships among sustainable solid waste management systems (SSWM), stakeholder engagement (SE), and solid waste management strategies (SWMS). Primary data were collected from 420 stakeholders representing diverse groups. The measurement model demonstrated strong reliability and validity, while the structural model exhibited excellent fit indices. Results indicate that economic, social, technical and environmental and institutional dimensions significantly shape SSWM. Structural path analysis reveals that SSWM significantly influences SE and SWMS, while SE has a significant effect on SWMS. Mediation analysis confirms that SE partially mediates the relationship between SSWM and SWMS, highlighting the critical role of participatory governance. The findings demonstrate that achieving sustainable waste management requires the integration of system-level capacity, stakeholder engagement, and strategic implementation. This study contributes to the sustainability literature by providing a holistic framework and providing understanding for policymakers to promote circular economy practices and resource efficiency in developing countries. Full article

Sustainable management of sugar agro-industrial value chains requires a multidimensional approach that integrates economic, environmental, and social criteria. Current literature addresses risk management, circularity, and artificial intelligence in isolation, without an integrated framework that generates synergistic value. The objective of this research is to validate an integrated framework for the sustainable management of sugar agro-industrial value chains. A mixed-methods, qualitative-quantitative, descriptive-retrospective study was conducted on the Cuban sugar agro-industry during 2023–2025. The procedure was structured into five phases and 10 stages; Petri net simulation was used to validate its logical consistency. Material, economic-financial, and knowledge flows were mapped; 16 stakeholder groups and their influence–dependence relationships were analyzed; 41 risks were identified, of which six were classified as critical. Simulation-based scenario modeling, which integrates risk, circularity, and AI interventions, projects an average potential reduction of 33.4% in total chain lead time, pending empirical validation. Petri nets confirmed the absence of connectivity errors, free-choice violations, and flow noise, formally validating the logical consistency of the procedure. The research supports the hypothesis that an integrated framework combining risk management, circularity, and AI, validated using Petri nets for logical consistency, projects improvements in the efficiency and sustainability of the value chain. Full article

Decarbonising the built environment has increased the importance of prefabricated construction, yet its cost and resource efficiency are still constrained by fragmented supply chain collaboration. This study examines how lifecycle supply chain collaboration affects cost control performance in prefabricated construction. Based on supply chain management theory and expert consultation, a conceptual model was developed and tested through structural equation modelling using 517 valid responses from stakeholders in China’s prefabricated construction supply chain. The results show that management factors across all four project phases (decision and design, component production, transportation, and construction and installation) significantly improve cost control performance, with design standardisation, production scheduling, transport logistics, quality assurance, and workforce proficiency as key drivers. Process coordination exerts a significant mediating effect, while environmental factors significantly moderate the relationships. In practical terms, the findings indicate that stakeholders should prioritise design standardisation at the early stage, strengthen coordination across production, transport, and installation activities, and enhance quality control and workforce training to reduce avoidable cost overruns and resource waste. Beyond their theoretical contribution to research on supply chain collaboration in prefabricated construction, these results offer concrete direction for practitioners seeking to improve cost efficiency and make better use of resources within industrialised building systems. Full article

Construction management, from the contractor’s perspective, is led by the Construction Manager (CM). The work motivation and leadership style of the CM are critical variables for the successful execution of construction projects. The scientific literature identifies participative leadership as the most effective style for mitigating conflicts among various stakeholders. However, analyzing the specific variables that influence a CM’s conflict resolution capacity remains an underexplored area. Furthermore, while the CM must act as a leader for their team (subcontractors, suppliers, etc.), they remain accountable to the contractor’s senior management. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the mediating role of CM motivation in the relationship between leadership and conflict resolution capacity using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). In the construction industry, conflict resolution is not merely a situational fix but a critical process of capturing and externalizing tacit knowledge. Knowledge management and the ability to resolve conflicts in the construction sector are directly linked, critical, and strategic in nature. Construction is an industry characterized by fragmentation, the temporary nature of its projects, diversity of stakeholders (developers, builders, subcontractors, engineering firms) and a high level of uncertainty. In this environment, conflict is virtually inevitable. However, the way in which a CM handles a conflict determines whether it becomes a destructive dispute or an opportunity for improvement. Full article

This study examines the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in marine insurance within the Moroccan maritime sector. Drawing on Dynamic Capabilities Theory, the study investigates the relationships among AI Adoption, Risk Assessment Accuracy, Fraud Detection Capability, Claim Processing Efficiency, and Customer Trust, while also examining the mediating role of these operational capabilities. A quantitative survey was conducted among maritime and insurance professionals operating within the Tangier Med and Casablanca port ecosystems, and the data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that AI Adoption is positively associated with Risk Assessment Accuracy, Fraud Detection Capability, and Claim Processing Efficiency. These operational capabilities are also positively associated with Customer Trust and function as significant mediating pathways between AI Adoption and stakeholder confidence. The study contributes to the emerging literature on AI applications in marine insurance by providing empirical evidence from an emerging maritime economy and offers theoretical and practical implications for insurers, maritime operators, and policymakers. Full article

Circular economy principles are increasingly influencing tourism development strategies, particularly in rural destinations characterized by strong linkages between agriculture, gastronomy, and local economic systems. This study develops and empirically examines a conceptual model investigating the relationship between circular economy practices, gastronomy integration, perceived authenticity, and destination competitiveness within rural tourism economies. The research focuses on the role of gastronomy as a circular tourism resource capable of connecting local sourcing, sustainability, and experiential value creation. Data were collected through a stakeholder-based survey targeting tourism enterprises, local producers, destination management organizations, and hospitality providers operating in rural tourism destinations. The proposed relationships were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) implemented in SmartPLS 4 and bootstrapped mediation analysis. The findings indicate that circular economy practices positively influence gastronomy integration, while gastronomy integration significantly enhances perceived authenticity. Furthermore, authenticity demonstrates a strong positive effect on destination competitiveness. The mediation analysis confirms that gastronomy integration and perceived authenticity function as intermediary mechanisms through which circular economy practices contribute to competitiveness outcomes. The study contributes to tourism economics and destination competitiveness literature by developing and empirically testing a mediation-based framework linking circular gastronomy, authenticity, and rural tourism competitiveness. The findings provide theoretical and practical implications for destination managers and policymakers seeking to strengthen sustainability, local value creation, and competitiveness through circular gastronomy strategies. Full article

Engineering education prepares graduates to face complex environmental and societal challenges. This involves the intersection of sustainability and innovation. Integrating these agendas is therefore necessary, and this involves identifying specific elements that have not yet been explored. To examine this relationship, a systematic literature review was conducted using an adapted PRISMA 2020 approach appropriate for a bibliometric and thematic systematic review, through four research questions related to knowledge production, pedagogical methods, innovation outcomes, and reported results. The PRISMA phases were adopted using the SCOPUS and ERIC databases. This yielded three clusters: innovation, sustainability, and engineering education. Student-centered pedagogies have also been identified as an explored opportunity to enhance innovation skills aligned with sustainability objectives. However, this incorporation involves many elements to explore, including the connection between innovation outcomes and sustainability impact. This context involves both development and the relationships among individuals, institutions, and ecosystems. This requires managing diverse visions, languages, and cultures, which highlights several challenges: long-term impacts, mindset development, contextual influences, pedagogical strategies, research–practice alignment, stakeholder communication, and faculty preparation. Overall, the findings show progress but reveal challenges across approaches and contexts. This is because sustainability-driven innovation in engineering education requires coordinated curricular, institutional, and ecosystem-oriented strategies to support learning and strengthen contributions to sustainable futures. Full article

In recent years, China’s urban underground rail transit has developed rapidly, and the development of underground space has become increasingly complex, exposing the system to multiple operational risks such as structural instability, excessive deformation, equipment failures and emergencies. Existing studies often evaluate individual hazards or isolated stakeholder risks, while insufficient attention has been paid to how sudden events interact and propagate as disaster chains. To address this gap, this study develops a disaster-chain network framework for operational risk management in underground rail transit. Twenty sudden disaster risk events are first identified through literature review, expert consultation, system investigation, and HAZOP (Hazard and Operability) analysis. A database of 595 historical events is then used to construct co-occurrence and adjacency matrices. And the Jaccard index is used only to quantify association strength, while temporal order, HAZOP-based causal screening, and expert verification are introduced to distinguish plausible triggering relationships from simple correlations. Network indicators, including degree, betweenness, modified clustering coefficient, path length, connectivity, and edge vulnerability, are applied to identify critical nodes and propagation paths. The results indicate that functional failure of civil structures, fire, and crowd stampede are the dominant risk nodes. The proposed framework provides a transparent and replicable basis for prioritizing monitoring, emergency response, and link-cutting mitigation measures. The findings are intended as system-specific decision support rather than universal risk rankings and should be updated when new local operational data become available. Full article

The construction sector operates under conditions of high capital intensity, project complexity, cost uncertainty, fragmented supply chains, and increasing pressure to improve efficiency, sustainability, and long-term competitiveness. Although prior research has emphasized the importance of organizational resources and knowledge-based capabilities for competitive advantage, fewer empirical studies have examined how internal capacities, intellectual capital, and knowledge sharing jointly explain sustainable competitive advantage in construction companies. Drawing on the resource-based view, the knowledge-based view, and the dynamic capabilities perspective, this study examines the effects of marketing capacity, financial capacity, innovative capacity, management capacity, human capacity, human capital, structural capital, relational capital, and knowledge sharing on sustainable competitive advantage in the construction sector. Survey data were collected from 306 employees working in construction companies in the Republic of Serbia and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and covariance-based structural equation modeling. The measurement model demonstrated satisfactory reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. The structural results indicate that financial capacity is the only significant internal capacity predicting sustainable competitive advantage, while relational capital is the only significant dimension of intellectual capital. Marketing capacity, innovative capacity, management capacity, human capacity, human capital, structural capital, and knowledge sharing did not show significant direct effects. The study contributes to research on sustainable competitive advantage by showing that, in construction companies, competitiveness is most strongly associated with financial robustness and stakeholder-based relational strength. For managers, the findings highlight the importance of strengthening liquidity, investment capacity, risk absorption, and long-term relationships with clients, suppliers, subcontractors, and institutional stakeholders. Full article

This study investigates the relationships among clean energy tourism potential (CETP), sustainable logistics capability (SLC), stakeholder collaboration (SCN), environmental concern (ECN), and sustainable community wellbeing and tourism outcomes (SCWTO) in island tourism destinations. The aim of this study is to examine the direct and indirect relationships among clean energy tourism potential, sustainable logistics capability, stakeholder collaboration, environmental concern, and sustainable community wellbeing and tourism outcomes in island tourism destinations. The study focuses on Koh Larn Island, Thailand, and Jeju Island, South Korea, as representative destinations with strong renewable energy tourism potential and sustainability-oriented tourism development. A quantitative research design was employed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Data were collected from 400 international tourists through an online questionnaire survey. The results reveal that clean energy tourism potential is positively associated with sustainable logistics capability and stakeholder collaboration. Sustainable logistics capability is positively associated with stakeholder collaboration and sustainable community wellbeing and tourism outcomes. Stakeholder collaboration also demonstrates a significant positive relationship with sustainable community wellbeing and tourism outcomes. Furthermore, the mediation analysis indicates that stakeholder collaboration serves as an important mechanism linking clean energy tourism potential and sustainable logistics capability with broader sustainability outcomes. Although the interaction term between environmental concern and sustainable logistics capability yielded a negative coefficient, no statistically significant moderating effect was observed. The findings highlight the strategic importance of renewable energy tourism development, sustainable logistics systems, and collaborative governance in promoting sustainable tourism and long-term community wellbeing in island destinations. This study contributes to the sustainable tourism literature by integrating clean energy tourism potential, sustainable logistics capability, stakeholder collaboration, and environmental concern within a comprehensive sustainability-oriented framework. Full article

Against the backdrop of global ecological governance and the advancing dual carbon goals, the sustainable development of green consumption hinges on consumers’ continuous repurchase. Although corporate environmental goal progress information serves as a critical external signal, its underlying mechanisms affecting green repurchase remain inadequately explored. Accordingly, this study integrates the S-O-R framework, signaling theory, and psychological reactance theory, and deconstructs such information into five dimensions: quantification, visualization, level, velocity, and stakeholder contribution. It constructs a chained mediation model, testing hypothesized relationships via structural equation modeling (SEM) with data from 594 valid questionnaires. Results show that all five dimensions exert a significant negative effect on psychological reactance, with the visualization dimension showing the strongest effect. In addition, the visualization dimension has no significant effect on green perceived value, whereas the other four dimensions have significantly positive effects, with the quantification dimension exerting the most prominent effect. Moreover, psychological reactance, green perceived value, and green brand trust constitute a full chained mediation, fully transmitting the effect of environmental information on repurchase intention. This study explains how environmental information drives sustainable green consumption and provides theoretical and managerial implications for enterprises to optimize environmental information disclosure and promote green repurchase. Full article

Although Industry 4.0 has successfully advanced lean manufacturing through digitalization and automation, its primary focus on operational efficiency leaves emerging strategic priorities—human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience—outside its original scope. The Industry 5.0 agenda explicitly elevates these three pillars, creating new potential to drive lean transformation. However, how Industry 5.0 can systematically drive lean manufacturing transformation remains unclear. To address this knowledge gap, this study develops a strategic roadmap. First, a content-centric literature review identifies 12 key enablers for Industry 5.0-driven lean manufacturing. Second, Fuzzy Interpretive Structural Modeling (FISM) and expert opinions determine hierarchical relationships among the enablers and construct a multi-level structural model. Third, Matrices d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée à un Classement (MICMAC) analysis evaluates the driving power and dependence of each enabler. Finally, a strategic roadmap is developed based on expert synthesis. The findings reveal that “government regulation and incentives” and “employee skill training” are the most critical enablers, while “value chain design and improvement” and “resource input and return” are the most complex and difficult to develop. The roadmap highlights the mediating role of “stakeholder participation and collaboration.” Importantly, the roadmap addresses potential tensions in lean implementation—such as the carbon footprint trade-off of frequent small-batch transport—by embedding sustainability assessment into value chain design and technology governance. This study offers a practical guide for manufacturers to prioritize investments and sequence actions toward lean transformation in the Industry 5.0 era. The main contribution of this study is a strategic roadmap that explains how Industry 5.0 can enable lean manufacturing transformation through prioritized actions and hierarchical enablers, while reconciling efficiency with sustainability and resilience goals. This roadmap offers a practical guide for manufacturers and policymakers to sequence investments and actions toward lean transformation in the Industry 5.0 era. Full article

In this case study, we examined a school in Northern Norway that has integrated outdoor learning as a core element of its pedagogical practices. To develop a comprehensive understanding of the role of outdoor learning and the factors contributing to the school’s success, we conducted semi-structured interviews with stakeholders of outdoor learning: six students, three teachers, one teaching assistant, and the principal. Our interviews were thematically analyzed using a whole-school approach framework, and our findings indicate that outdoor learning is embedded in the school’s identity. The regularity of outdoor learning for all students, with support from the school’s leadership and committed teachers, ensures predictability and continuity. Students and staff are broadly positive about outdoor learning and report that it strengthens student–teacher relationships. Outdoor learning is understood as interdisciplinary, and the practice enhances both academic learning and environmental awareness. Nevertheless, we identified limited opportunities and a weak culture for sharing outdoor learning practices among teachers. The school therefore aims to develop a progression plan for outdoor learning and to facilitate greater sharing to strengthen the professional community and improve coherence. This case study contributes to the literature by specifying organizational and contextual conditions for successful implementation and by highlighting the need to align outdoor and indoor teaching. Sustained outdoor learning requires holistic support from everyone involved in the school community. Full article