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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to enhance decision-making process for the procurement of facilities management (FM) services within aviation corporate organisation, where the FM services functions to support the business operation. It builds on considering the fundamental elements comprising the FM procurement process from the aviation perspective. Design/methodology/approach: The paper investigates the characteristics of the different types of sourcing approaches and the underpinning factors affecting its selection for the procurement of FM services within the aviation industry. The decision-making framework for the procurement of FM services is developed based on the qualitative case study by interview and focus group discussion with the custodian department that is directly involved in the procurement of FM services. Findings: The degree of outsourcing is increasing due to corporate organisation's persona. Procurement of FM services is a complex process required detailed review, efforts and time in choosing the right sourcing approach. Off the shelf guidelines for the procurement of FM services suits property professional which directly involved with the procurement of FM services. However, decision-making process for the procurement of FM services specifically for aeronautical and non-aeronautical corporate organisation are rarely found. The case study findings signify that the respondents are familiar with the in-sourcing, outsourcing and right sourcing approaches. The underpinning factors affecting sourcing approaches were categorised according to the main reasons for the procurement of FM services, considerable factors during the procurement stage and value-adding criteria. The use of strategic management tools is not widely imposed, and intelligent client guideline is not available. Hence, the decision-making framework has been developed to fill the gap in this study. Research limitations/implications: The research is based on a study of aviation or airline corporate organisation, which limits the possibility of holistic view to the FM industry as a whole but highlights the research gap of FM procurement which is scarce within the case study of airline companies. The focus area is also bounded within the procurement of FM services designated for the office buildings. Originality/value: The paper provides initial guideline for the airline company in sourcing the procurement of FM services that were developed based on established guidelines from accrediting bodies and scholars, as well as from the sampling feedback analysis. It is also among the firsts that examine the procurement of FM services in the context of aviation or airline industry. The outcome of this paper is a decision-making framework for the procurement of FM services that is specially designed for the airlines corporate organisations, which fills the gap that exists in the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the two main viewpoints on Australia's relationship with Asia; first, the highly visible informed pro-Asia protagonists, and second, pervasive public opinion as informed by history and the Australian self-image. The purpose is to present the polemic internal to Asian Studies and Business Schools currently. This paper postulates that only an (uncomfortable) whole-of-sector introspection would result in an authentic national narrative to drive mutual respect and business between Asia and Australia. Design/methodology/approach: The current dismembering of Asian Studies degrees and Asian Business specialisations at Australian universities indicates a waning national support to the production of Asian specialists able to link the Australian economy into the advancing Asian commercial dominance. But such an assessment would not be completely accurate. The authors argue that as an important component of Asian business and economics, understanding the current situation is vital to breathing life back into the Asian Studies and Asian Business Studies disciplines at Australian national universities. Findings: This paper concludes that the responsibility for creating specialists should fall to the university sector but is currently defaulting to the business sector. This paper proposes that business schools need to be more active participants in Asian engagement strategies. Thus, Australian universities and disciplines such as Asian Studies and Asian Business must have the academic will and the business support to take up a major role in positive evolution of the Eurocentric elements that currently hold back meaningful engagement. Originality/value: This is a current issue that needs to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper analyses competitive balance in the "big five" women's football leagues in Asia longitudinally between 2010 and 2019. Design/methodology/approach: Competitive balance has been measured using recognised measures of concentration, HICB and NHICB, alongside recognised measures of dominance, i.e., identification of top teams. A time-trend analysis has been employed to identify trends of CB in the respective leagues followed by ANOVA and relevant post-hoc tests to identify difference in concentration measures. A multiple linear regression analysis has been conducted to identify the impact of external economic factors on CB. Findings: Some significant differences were detected in the levels of concentration between leagues. There was also some variation in terms of some leagues being dominated by a fewer number of teams. However, these two measures of competitive balance (concentration and dominance) were not necessarily correlated with each other. The paper also tries to find the optimum number of teams to maintain CB in the women's football leagues in Asia, but an exact figure could not be found. Research limitations/implications: Some significant differences were detected in the levels of concentration between leagues. There was also some variation in terms of some leagues being dominated by a fewer number of teams. However, these two measures of competitive balance (concentration and dominance) were not necessarily correlated with each other. External economic factors were found to have negative impact on CB. Originality/value: The paper is an original research and aims to add to the growing body of CB research in world through analysis of competitive balance (ACB). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine potential diversification benefits between Eurozone (i.e. EURO STOXX 50) and key Asia markets: HSI (Hong Kong), KOSPI (South Korea), NIKKEI 225 (Japan) and TSEC (Taiwan). The sample covers the period from 04-01-2008 to 19-10-2023 in daily frequency. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical investigation is based on the wavelet coherence analysis, which is a localized correlation coefficient in the time and frequency domain. Findings: The results provide evidence that long-term diversification benefits exist between EURO STOXX and NIKKEI, EURO STOXX and KOSPI (after 2015) and there are signs for the pair and EURO STOXX-TSEC (after 2014). During the short term, there are signs of diversification benefits during the sample period. However, during the medium term, the diversification benefits seem to diminish. Originality/value: These results have crucial implications for investors regarding the benefits of international portfolio diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to provide answers to the question: "What are the key innovative strategies needed for future tourism in the world?" At the outset, this paper redefines the word "innovation" in the context of the hospitality and tourism industry. It then captures the essence of 13 proceeding papers on innovative initiatives in 17 countries and presents concluding remarks to this Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) theme issue on innovation (v. 11 n. 2, 2019). Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws from a wide spectrum of innovation types, concepts, strategies, suggestions and solutions written by 24 authors, who cumulatively have valuable and diverse experience in managing, operating, teaching, researching and consulting on innovation. Findings: Innovation is relevant to all macro- and micro-level aspects of all industries. In conclusion, to identify common elements in all 13 papers, the author presents a shorter definition: "Innovation is the art of implementing new ideas to improve productivity, products and services, while enhancing customer satisfaction, revenues and profitability". In addition, he emphasizes that innovation needs vision, mission and passion! Research limitations/implications: This research contributes to the emerging research theme of innovation in the hospitality and tourism industry and extends/re-defines the word: "innovation". Practical implications: There are significant practical implications in terms of industry approaches to use innovative strategies across the world. Originality/value: Readers who are interested in international best practices of hospitality and tourism would benefit from this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: There is increasing recognition amongst healthcare providers on the necessity to improve fire safety management in healthcare facilities. This is possibly not yet satisfactory because of recent fire incidents in Asia. This paper set out to analyse the literature because of the paucity of systematic reviews on fire safety management of public healthcare facilities and proffer preventive measures. Design/methodology/approach: Thirty related studies were identified with the support of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses via Scopus and Web of Science databases. Findings: Influencing factors, hindrances to fire safety management and preventive measures for fire-related occurrence in Asian hospital buildings were the three themes that emerged from the reviewed. The factors that influence fire in Asian hospital buildings were categorised into technical, management and legislation factors. Research limitations/implications: The recommendations of this paper were based on literature that was systematically reviewed but does not compromise the robustness concerning fire safety management in hospital buildings across Asian countries. Much is needed to be known regarding fire safety in healthcare buildings across Asian countries. This paper recommended exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach as part of the implications for further studies. This will allow in-depth face-to-face interviews and increase the generalisability of future findings concerning fire safety management in hospital buildings across Asian countries to a larger population. Practical implications: As part of the practical implications, this paper recommends fire safety management plan as one of the practical possible measures for addressing technical, management and legislation factors. Also recommended is training and fire safety education of healthcare staff in collaboration with safety firefighters to address major issues that may arise from management factors. The government should upgrade the safety technology equipment in healthcare facilities as part of measures to mitigate issues concerning technical and legislation factors. Also, the identified factors are part of the theoretical contributions to the advancement of knowledge and this brings to the front burners new opening. Originality/value: This is probably the first systematic review paper on fire safety hospital buildings in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the state of logistics management research in Asia. The study focuses on the research agenda, the topics of interest, and the extent of research collaboration in logistics theory building and knowledge specific to Asia.Design/methodology/approach This study uses a mixed methods approach namely, content analysis drawn from the articles found in six well-recognized peer-reviewed logistics management related journals from 2003 to 2013, followed by social network analysis which is applied on the selected articles to provide a structure of the collaboration relationship.Findings Initial findings suggest that there are some scholars in Asia who are instrumental in research collaboration and in building a body of knowledge on logistics management focused on Asia. More co-production of knowledge from deeper and tightly knit industry-academic collaboration is needed to progress this domain. Most of the published work use an empirical instrument drawn from the resource-based view to explore firm level supply chain collaboration and strategy. This suggests a positivist research tradition within logistics. There is a shortage of studies conducted on the supply chain as a network of enterprises.Research limitations/implications The review of the articles is limited to six logistics specific journals and the authors only concentrate on logistics management research focused on Asia. The contributions from the other journals may have been missed. More collaboration at the institutional, national, and international levels is called for especially on cross-collaboration between practice and theory.Practical implications Though the analysis is restricted to 260 articles found in six journals, this paper can shed light on the research needs from different perspectives and facilitate the progress of logistics management research in Asia.Originality/value This is the first paper to discuss the state of logistics management research collaboration in Asia, and provides an overview of the research issues, topics, and approaches undertaken thus far. Through this work, this study hopes that it will encourage greater research collaboration between industry and academia, and academics themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse to what extent Italian industrial districts (IDs), with their traditional manufacturing specialization, experimented a territorial servitisation process in terms of spread of specifically professional and technological knowledge-intensive business services' activities over the period 2012–2018. Design/methodology/approach: This paper articulates knowledge-intensive business services activities in two types, technological knowledge-intensive business services and professional knowledge-intensive business services. It tracks their growth and their co-location with manufacturing sectors in Italian IDs by means of firm employment data and location quotients. Firm employment data is extracted from Statistical Archive of Active firms (ASIA) data set provided by Italian National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT). ASIA data is matched with ISTAT territorial identification of Italian local labour systems and IDs. Findings: In 2018, Italian IDs featured, next to their traditional over-specialisation in manufacturing activities, an under-specialisation in knowledge-intensive business services' activities. Nevertheless, the dynamic analysis carried out over the period 2012–2018 shows that IDs firm employment in technological knowledge-intensive business services and professional knowledge-intensive business services grew at a higher rate than the national average. Originality/value: The novelty of this paper is to distinguish between technological knowledge-intensive business services and professional knowledge-intensive business services and to measure the presence and the growth of these two different types of knowledge-intensive business services in Italian IDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Given the extensive evidence of femvertising's positive effects in Western cultures, this paper aims to investigate how femvertising may influence customers' perceptions and brand-related outcomes in a patriarchal context such as Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative methodology was employed in this study, which was based on in-depth interviews involving 17 consumers (including both male and females). Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings: Results indicated that male and female consumers revealed varied and sometimes contradictory perspectives on the perception, understanding and behaviour towards femvertised adverts, which are governed by patriarchal gendered norms. Originality/value: This study contributes to the body of knowledge by exploring the consumer perception towards femvertising in a patriarchal context, where gender disparity is evident. It also draws attention to the underlying cultural elements contributing towards the formation of those perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: The paper examines the effect of bank-specific, financial structure and macroeconomic factors on the profitability of banks in Asian economies during 1995–2017. Design/methodology/approach: It uses the data of 2,446 banks across 47 Asian countries between 1995 and 2017 (41,582 year observations). The static and dynamic panel generalized methods of moments (GMM) estimation techniques are applied. Findings: The results show that banks that are highly dependent on nontraditional activities have lower net interest revenue and net interest margin but higher return on assets, return on equity and profit before tax. Higher opportunity cost, capitalization, demand deposits and market risk result in a better bank profits. Furthermore, banks with higher loan exposure and growth have more profit. However, nonperforming loans have negative and significant impact on bank profitability. Asian banks do not suffer from diseconomies of scale and scope. The author also finds that banks located in countries with high gross domestic product, inflation rates and high rates of interest or in financially developed economies offer better profits. High credit to the private sector reduces the bank profitability. This study finds evidence to support the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) hypothesis. It also provides evidence that the impact of financial turmoil on the profitability of the Asian banking sector is negative and significant and has severely weakened the Asian banking system. Originality/value: As Asia has become an important economic area and the Asian topic has not earned enough discussions, this paper is the first to examine Asian banks with the latest and a wider range of panel data that cover 2,446 banks at 47 Asian countries over the period 1995–2017. The present study is among the first to address the influence of financial turmoil on bank profitability in this region. It also studies new variables, such as demand deposits, opportunity cost and off-balance sheet activities, which have not been examined in relation to bank profitability. It also applies both static techniques and dynamic panel estimation techniques to analyze the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the wide-ranging nature of organizational change research and practice with reference to the diverse context of Asia. Design/methodology/approach - Specific reviews of literature are highlighted which have identified the relative dearth of research which could be used to inform the theory and practice of management in Asia. The paper proceeds to offer an overview of the four papers included in this themed section on organizational change in Asia. Findings - After reviewing the four papers, a summary is presented of two key themes which emerge from this body of work, that is, in the process of considering various aspects of organizational change in Asia, the four papers tend to place a relatively heavy emphasis upon the ownership of organizations, and issues directly associated with human resource management. These two themes are identified as recommended areas for future research. Originality/value - This paper provides an introduction to the themed section on perspectives on organizational change in Asia. Keywords Organizational change, Asia, Human resource management Paper type General review [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to understand the importance of young female consumers in Asia as a market and propose strategies for retail marketers to effectively engage with them while respecting their evolving gender roles and identities. Design/methodology/approach: Data are derived from self-administered questionnaires completed by Malaysian female secondary school students aged 13 to 19. Using statements about gender roles and identities, the authors first segment respondents based on their perceptions of ideal female gender roles and identities and subsequently investigate each segment's shopping orientation. Findings: This study identifies four segments of young female consumers based on gender identity: civic intellectuals, presentable intellectuals, career-oriented and family-oriented. While young female young consumers with higher presentable intellectual traits are more likely to go window shopping (recreational shoppers), those with higher civic intellectual traits are more inclined to look for things they wish to buy and spend less time doing so (utilitarian shoppers). Practical implications: Marketers and retailers should continue to use profiling of young female customers to predict the psychological changes related to societal and economic changes. Merely focusing on females' appearance and family responsibilities may no longer be relevant due to the evolving social order. This implication is especially critical for marketers and retailers targeting the female market. Originality/value: The results of this study will have important theoretical and managerial implications for marketers and retailers interested in understanding the changing needs and beliefs among young female consumers and how these impacts their shopping orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to compare the value relevance of accounting numbers prepared under the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) standards with those produced under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for Takaful companies (TC). Design/methodology/approach: The authors assess the value relevance of accounting numbers using the Easton and Harris (1991) and Ohlson (1995) return and price models. They also use 54 insurance companies from 10 developing countries in Asia and the Middle East from 2006 to 2015. Findings: The analysis shows that book value is significantly related to stock price under AAOIFI and IFRS. It also shows that TC adopting AAOIFI accounting standards have a more significant effect on stock price. This suggests that AAOIFI standards are more value relevant than IFRS. Practical implications: TC and their stakeholders can use the findings to determine which accounting standards (IFRS or AAOIFI) produce the more relevant accounting information. This study is useful for investors that consider Islamic ethical practices to make their investment decisions for the standards-setting bodies that focus on establishing accounting standards for the Takaful industry. Originality/value: The authors investigate a new aspect of the topic of value relevance. To the best of the authors' knowledge, they believe this is the first paper examining the value relevance of TC' accounting information prepared under AAOIFI and IFRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate which cross-country characteristics influence the going-public decisions and how the cultural values of the countries affect initial public offering (IPO) firms' profitability and risk of financial distress. Design/methodology/approach: Using a sample of privately held and firms that went public on the European and Asian Stock Exchanges between 2007 and 2011, this paper applies probit model and ordinary least squares regression to examine which cross-country characteristics could affect the decision to go public and how cultural values affect the profitability and risk of IPO firms.[AQ1] In addition, to overcome multicollinearity concerns caused by the use of Global Leadership and Organizational Behavioural Effectiveness culture dimensions, this paper factor analyses the dimensions using principal component analysis. Findings: The results are as follows. First, this paper finds that firms in tradition-oriented countries are less likely to go public, while firms in result-oriented countries are more likely to hold an IPO. Second, this paper finds that country characteristics (i.e. financial deepening and taxation) affect the going-public decision. Third, this paper documents that IPO firms in traditionally and result-oriented countries have positive profitability and less risk of financial distress. Practical implications: This study is intended for all those European and Asian policymakers and managers who want to improve their knowledge about what different indicators can establish the decision of firms that going-public facing different stages of their lifecycle. Specifically, policymakers wishing to promote IPO-activity in their countries may find it useful to strengthen the set of formal-institutions both to reduce corporate-taxation and to reduce the uncertainty associated with first-time share issuance and investment in such initiatives. This study is also intended for managers of companies that are not yet publicly-traded on their national stock-markets to be helpful to their decision-making processes. Originality/value: This paper aims to extend the growing literature on the effects of cross-country factors on economic decision-making in finance and particularly adds to research that investigates the influence of these factors on the IPO decision of European and Asian firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: to explore the interrelationships between FDI with growth and sustainability dimension; and to empirically analyze the four dimensions, namely, environmental, economic, social and governance of sustainable FDI for South Asia and West Asia. Design/methodology/approach: The data utilized in the paper is sourced from the World Development Indicators and the Worldwide Governance Indicators, covering South and West Asian region over the period 2011–2017. The paper employed both static and dynamic panel (two-step difference generalized methods of moments) estimation methods. Findings: The results established a significant and robust relationship of past year FDI inflows with the current year's value of FDI inflows for both the regions. Further, some variances in the relationships such as control of corruption, long-run carbon emissions, research and development, number of trademark applications as per the contextual factors have been detected. Research limitations/implications: The conclusions related to gender and governance found in this paper will be of interest to both researchers and policy makers for substantially reorienting the sustainability attributes to the foreign investment. Originality/value: The authors' main contributions are: to encapsulate the conceptual framework into an empirical model by combining all the four dimensions, namely, environmental, economic, social and governance; to have analyzed the possible differences and similarities in the study based on South and West Asia; to have explored the relationship between gender and FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how business founders influence the performance of family firms in developing countries in Asia. Design/methodology/approach: The pooled ordinary least squares regression is used on a sample of 134 public listed family firms from four developing countries in Asia during the period 2004–2014. This study also conducts sub-period analyses where the study period is divided into three sub-periods, i.e. before, during and after the global financial crisis (GFC). Findings: This study finds that founder-led family firms outperform family firms led by nonfounders for the full study period. The results for the sub-period analyses also show that founder-led family firms outperform nonfounder-led family firms for the pre-crisis and during crisis periods. Finally, this study finds no evidence supporting the superior performance of founder-led family firms post-GFC. Originality/value: Because family firm is one of the most fundamental forms of business organization in the world, policymakers have great concerns about how business founders influence the performance of these firms. Nonetheless, the existing research on family firms is chiefly concentrated on developed countries but there is a paucity of studies being conducted in the context of developing countries. Moreover, previous research has only considered the performance of these firms during normal or turbulent times but no prior studies have compared the firm performance during normal, turbulent and recovery periods. It is the aim of this paper to address these research gaps by using a new and more recent set of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to profile the Worldwide hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) issue "What are the key innovative strategies needed for future tourism in the world?", with reference to the experiences of the theme editor and writing team. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses structured questions to enable the theme editor to reflect on the rationale for the theme issue question, the starting point, the selection of the writing team and material and the editorial process. Findings: This paper provides a framework to facilitate discussions between international scholars in hospitality and tourism to re-define a buzzword. For this theme issue, the buzzword was "innovation". Summaries of 13 papers written on innovative strategies in hospitality and tourism around the world were then analysed to fine-tune the definition. Practical implications: The theme issue outcomes provide lines of enquiry for others to explore and reinforce the value of WHATT's approach to collaborative research and writing. Originality/value: The collaborative work reported in this theme issue offers a unified but contrarian response to the theme's strategic question. Taken together, the collection of articles provides a detailed picture of the key innovative strategies needed for future tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study investigating the institutional and individual research contribution of researchers from Asian countries towards the literature on service science through papers from several service research journals including International Journal of Service Industry Management, Journal of Services Marketing and Journal of Service Research. It is mentioned that the top five contributors include Singapore, Taiwan and Israel, and majority of the contributions from Asian authors are based on empirical research.

Purpose: Wine tourism is spreading from the "old world" wine countries to Asia. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the GLOW framework capturing the tension of homogenization and globalization of touristic experiences, the tourists' rising environmental concerns and their conflict of searching for authentic experience with new sensations. Design/methodology/approach: In a mixed-method procedure, evidence describing the wine tourists' perceptions and motivations is assessed using a quantitative survey and fitting a structural equation model using the PLS algorithm. Complementing evidence through qualitative interviews with Indian entrepreneurs on designing a glocalized experience is analyzed. Findings: Spillover from international travel is the most relevant driver of wine tourism in India. However, types of wines and the experiences are adjusted to the local conditions. The winemakers are remarkably advanced in implementing environmentally sustainable production and avoiding over tourism which perfectly meets their clients' expectations. Research limitations/implications: Entrepreneurial creation theory as described by Alvarez and Barney (2007) is illustrated in the Asian glocalisation context giving special attention to the entrepreneur's individual capabilities as called by Helfat and Peteraf (2015) and Liñán et al. (2020). Practical implications: Conservation of biodiversity and the aesthetics of the local landscape are essential for the vividness of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the attractiveness for the guests. Social implications: Local adaptation of the touristic experience in terms of entertainment, indigenous cuisines and local specialty supports sustainable development of all the stakeholders. Originality/value: Novelty arises from the projection of the visitors considering the wine cellar experience as an alternative to international travels in combination with analyzing how the entrepreneurs create entrepreneurial opportunities by carving out an authentic experience for their guests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: There are vast opportunities for nonprofit organizations (NPOs) globally to find support for international humanitarian causes. However, donors/consumers are not always willing to contribute for such causes. This study aims to investigate how potential donor perceptions are shaped to gain wider support and aims to build a model that could guide managers of NPOs in their communication strategy. Design/methodology/approach: Two scenario-based experiments with the participation of graduate students from an Indian university were conducted. Findings: Cosmopolitan people have the higher moral judgment of the international causes championed by NPOs. However, anthropomorphizing the NPO's message elevates the moral judgments among non-cosmopolitans. Process tests indicate that these moral judgments indirectly impact donation intentions for these causes. Research limitations/implications: The paper only investigates donation intention for poverty and not humanitarian causes such as access to drinking water. Moreover, the campaign chosen takes place only in Africa (e.g. not in Asia or Latin America). Practical implications: NPOs could tailor their marketing messages for international humanitarian causes by targeting cosmopolitan donors/consumers and using humanization as the branding strategy. Originality/value: This research contributes to theory by showing how consumers who would otherwise not contribute to an out-group could be influenced positively by the NPOs' branding strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to do a thorough literature review to assess the current status of corporate sustainability (CS) practices, issues and challenges in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and based on literature suggest a model that can improve and strategically manage their sustainability practices in the emerging market context of Asia. Design/methodology/approach: After setting the theoretical background on why the corporations need to shoulder the responsibility of sustainable development, the authors did a high level literature review to estimate the gap area and based on the findings formulated some research questions on why the SMEs, more specifically those in Asian emerging market, are lagging behind in terms of CS practices. Next, using the "literature survey" as the methodology the authors did a thorough in-depth literature review to answer the above research questions and organised the findings in light of those research questions. Considering the research gap and the crucial role of SMEs in a country's economic progress the authors restricted the literature search on CS in the case of SMEs only. Findings: CS is a well-practiced area in big organisations. However, the literature suggests that in the case of SMEs the situation is different. Social and environmental practices are grossly neglected in SMEs more specifically in emerging markets. Existing literature mentions that collaborative mode of operation, government policy and facilitation, supporting organisation culture can positively influence SME's sustainability performance, and hence, improve their financial performance. Research limitations/implications: The conceptual model has been developed based on suggestions and recommendations in western countries context. To establish the validity of the model in the Asian business scenario it needs to be tested with a sizable sample of SMEs in the Asian market. Practical implications: The current paper has practical implications both for academic research on sustainable development and also in business development. The proposed model in the current form is based on the literature survey only. Once such a model is empirically established this can be proved beneficial for providing guidance to SMEs to enhance the sustainability of their business operations. Moreover, environmental and social best practices adopted by SMEs will also have a positive influence on society and the environment in the long run. Originality/value: This paper had done a country-wise comparison of sustainable practices in SMEs and based on the recommendations and suggestions of different scholars as found in the detailed literature review, the authors developed few research propositions and also presented a conceptual model. Finally, to address the gap it mentions some future research possibilities to test and validate the proposed model in the context of SMEs in emerging markets of Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to understand the social dynamics surrounding the consumption of non-native, ethnic cuisines in the multicultural context of an Asian city. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 21 culturally diverse residents of Dubai. Data were analysed inductively, leading to the emergence of three themes characterising social dynamics underpinning the consumption of non-native cuisines in an Asian multicultural environment. Findings – Three types of social dynamics were identified: instrumental uses, expressive uses and conviviality considerations. Research limitations/implications – The study suggests that the different types of cultural dynamics at play have different roles; some act as influencing or constraining factors in the everyday practice of multicultural consumption, whereas others are used more proactively as enablers. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the authors’ understanding of how people “practice conviviality” in multicultural marketplaces, providing insights into the complex social dynamics, underpinning the consumption of non-native cuisines in multicultural marketplaces. Although the consumer literature on food and cuisines has acknowledged the social influences surrounding cuisines and food consumption, these have typically been viewed in a single block. This study shows the importance of conviviality considerations in non-native cuisine consumption. Further, the paper shows that the consumption of non-native cuisines is an everyday practice in a multicultural context, which is used with varying degrees of proactiveness for social lubrication and multicultural socialisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings: This research paper concentrates on the focus and inherent challenges of China's efforts to unite the Asian region for mutual economic benefit. Chinese Government-led free trade agreements with other Asian countries, a promotion of China's RMB currency, and the Belt and Road infrastructure initiative are all being pursued as ways of networking Asia into firm competitor to western countries like the USA on the world trade stage. Originality/value: The briefing saves busy executives, strategists, and researchers' hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to assess the relationships between foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic entrepreneurship (DE) with the moderating role of formal institutions (FI) and informal institutions (II) and information communication technology (ICT) capacities in Asia. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on unbalanced panel data of 17 Asian countries from 2006 to 2018 at different stages of development, using the three-stage least squares estimation method. Findings: The research findings indicate that FDI directly affects the establishment of domestic formal and informal entrepreneurship. In addition, FDI firms via the buffer mechanism of FI and II and ICT development for DE. Through its adjustment to the quality of institutions and ICT infrastructure, economic development determines the direction of FDI's impact on DE. Originality/value: The study findings grant empirical evidence and theoretical contributions to the relationship between FDI and domestic entrepreneurial development through the buffering mechanism of FI and II and the role of ICT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to complement and extend previous literature reviews on Technical Efficiency (TE) in dairy farms, analysing the effects of different methodologies and study-specific characteristics on Mean TE (MTE). Design/methodology/approach – The researchers independently conducted a systematic review of more than 400 abstracts and 85 full-text papers. Original keywords were applied to seven key electronic databases. Results from a meta-regression analysis of 85 published papers totalling 443 TE distributions in dairy farms worldwide are discussed. Findings – The variation in the MTE indexes reported in the literature can be explained by the methodology of estimations (method of estimation, functional form of frontier models, model dimensionality), the farms geographical location and farm size. Additionally, the results suggest that, given the state of technology prevailing in each country at the time that the studies on TE were conducted, dairy farmers in the sample could increase milk output by 20.9 per cent (level of inefficiency), on average, if they produce on their frontiers. Originality/value – This study makes two important contributions: first, it updates and compares previous works on frontier estimation of TE in dairy farms; and second, it adds two dimensions of dairy farms, size (herd and land area) and economic development, to the known differentials of TE measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Asian real estate markets have grown considerably in recent years and have taken on increased investment importance, particularly with significant developments in the emerging markets in Asia. This paper assesses the opportunities for more research on the Asian real estate markets, by highlighting the significance of Asia real estate, the drivers behind this growth and the unique opportunities this presents for high-quality real estate research, by both local researchers and their international colleagues. Strategies for delivering this research agenda are also identified. Design/methodology/approach: This research is based on a thorough understanding of the Asian real estate markets, based on my own research agenda, personal interactions, insights and extensive discussions with real estate leaders in the Asian markets. This is supported by a clear understanding of the real estate research opportunities in the Asian markets and the strategies needed to deliver this research agenda in an effective manner. Findings: A range of real estate research areas are identified to increase the level of Asian real estate research. This sees research opportunities around key areas such as market dynamics, real estate investment vehicles, alternate real estate sectors, infrastructure and sustainability. Strategies for expanding this level of research for both local and international real estate researchers are also identified. Practical implications: With the Asian real estate markets taking on more importance with many international real estate investors, it is important to see more high-quality research into these dynamic real estate markets. This research will see a fuller understanding of these Asian real estate markets to enable more informed real estate investment decision-making. Originality/value: The need for more high-quality research into the Asian real estate markets is clearly presented, with enabling strategies to achieve this agenda identified. This will see expanded research opportunities to critically research these unique real estate markets and produce high-quality research publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine a three-way interaction between the two motivational orientations of religiosity (i.e. intrinsic and extrinsic) and recognition (in this study, an explicit expectation that behavior is recognized) on charitable behavior. Further, drawing upon the evolutionary psychology perspective, the status motive is predicted to mediate the predicted effects. Design/methodology/approach: Three experimental studies were conducted using a 2 (intrinsic religiosity: low/high; measured) × 2 (extrinsic religiosity: low/high; measured) × 2 (recognition: yes/no; manipulated) between-subjects design to examine the predicted effects on likelihood to donate and donation allocations in two Asian countries, namely, Indonesia and Malaysia. Findings: The results show that recognition increases charitable behavior among consumers with a high level of extrinsic religiosity but low level of intrinsic religiosity (Studies 1a, 1b and 2). Further, a status motive mediates the predicted effects (Study 2). Research limitations/implications: The present research provides a novel perspective on how marketers can purposively use recognition in charitable advertising to encourage charitable behavior among religious consumers – but only in Asia. Practical implications: This paper presents the case for how a non-profit organization can develop charitable advertising for disaster relief in Indonesia (Studies 1a and 1b) and Malaysia (Study 2). The findings of this research could potentially be extended to other organizations in Asia or other countries where religiosity places an important role in consumer behavior. Originality/value: This research shows the interactive effect between extrinsic religiosity, intrinsic religiosity and recognition can increase charitable behavior in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to perform a review of the literature of empirical studies on elder mistreatment (EM) in South Asians, and to discuss key implications for policy, practice and research.Design/methodology/approach For this review, multiple electronic databases in the international health and social science were searched and supplemented by grey literature and cross-references. Quality of papers was assessed by two authors against the standard checklists.Findings In total, 16 studies met the inclusion criteria of this review, of which 11 were cross-sectional design, and only six of them used standard instruments to measure EM. The prevalence estimates of overall EM retrieved from general population-based studies ranged from 9.3 per cent in India to 49.1 per cent in Nepal. Age, gender, residential settings, socioeconomic status, health, education, and social structures and processes were key risk factors for EM in South Asian communities. Reporting and action taking were culturally rooted.Originality/value While the review is not systematic, there are limitations associated with the paper in covering the diverse range of databases and studies. However, this review provides a valuable synthesis of the empirical papers on the incidence, culturally specific risk factors and reporting trends of EM in South Asians. Additionally, the review presents the papers evaluated for a quality to ensure the validity of empirical data. Finally, the review includes several implications for policy, practice and future research on EM which may ultimately contribute in improving the health and wellbeing of elder South Asians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Migration of skilled workers to other countries remains a highly contentious issue. Skill drain does not take place based on skill surplus and deficient equation. Skilled migrants can make their choice to migrate on their own with minimal control of the Government. This paper aims to argue that sending countries lose skill which cannot be offset or justified by the remittances inflow.Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on a research conducted on skill migration from the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. In this study, skilled migrants are engineers, medical doctors, nurses and academics. The author interviewed 12 engineers (four from the Philippines; two from Malaysia; four from Singapore and two from Thailand); nine medical doctors (four from the Philippines; three from Singapore, one from Malaysia and one from Thailand); eight nurses (six from the Philippines and two from Thailand); and 14 academics (six from the Philippines; five from Singapore and three from Malaysia) who were working abroad.Findings Skill migration continues to grow because of the growing demand, wage differentials, glorifications of the contribution of remittances to development and failure of the origin countries to retain them. The question remains whether the respective sending country is producing more of them so that they can send after their own demand is met. This paper investigates whether the sending end can afford exporting such skills.Originality/value This is an important contribution to the scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze the effect of the increasing connectedness among financial institutions in the Korean financial market, as it affects the market microstructure in the stock market. Thus this work, first, analyzes the trend and characteristics of connectedness in the Korean financial sector. This work then demonstrates the impacts of connectedness on volatility and price discovery in the stock market.Design/methodology/approach The entire Korean financial sector is analyzed from January 1990 to July 2015, including the periods of the 1997 Asian crisis and the 2007/2008 global financial crisis. This paper quantifies the connectedness between financial institutions using network methodology. Densely connectedness specifically refers to the cases in which a node experiences strong-lagged return spillover from and/or to itself.Findings Connectedness is established as an important determinant of stock price discovery. This paper illustrates that connectedness increases on significant economic events such as the 1997 Asian crisis and the 2007/2008 global financial crisis. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates that the more densely connected a particular financial institution, the more volatile the stock price and the less accurate the stock price quality.Research limitations/implications Understanding the financial system from a network perspective has been on the rise after the 2007/2008 global financial crisis. This work helps regulators and policy makers understand the full implications of introducing new policies that can more closely connect financial institutions.Originality/value This paper precisely captures financial institutions’ connectedness by including all types of financial institutions at the micro level. Additionally, this paper links connectedness to market microstructure in the stock market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the evolution of industry structure in the World Bank’s eight high performing Asian economies (HPAEs) displays the U-shaped relationship between manufacturing concentration and per capita income widely held to foster economic development. Increasingly prosperous HPAEs have long been hailed as models for success by other emerging economies. Focusing on a regional group of high performing economies enables us to relate policies used by successful HPAEs directly to observed patterns of manufacturing diversification and provide policy guidance to emerging economies.Design/methodology/approach A robust locally weighted scatterplot smoothing procedure is employed to generate the U-shaped relationship between manufacturing concentration and level of economic development. Policies used by the most successful HPAEs are discussed.Findings The relationship between manufacturing concentration and level of economic development is found to be U-shaped. Diversification of manufacturing is a prerequisite for successful economic development. Countries further along the economic development path such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan made extensive use of active and selective interventionist policies to diversify manufacturing before eventually specializing in a narrower range of export activities.Practical implications Emerging economies should follow examples set by the most successful HPAEs that demonstrated significant government assistance is required to foster economic development.Originality/value The paper is the first to investigate the evolution of manufacturing concentration over the economic development path HPAEs. Success enjoyed by HPAEs holds important lessons for developing and emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In the recent decades, the green projects have suffered from serious lack of investment, highlighting the major role of green financing to attract private investors to these projects. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the economic impacts of green bond (GB) market in 37 Asian economies. Design/methodology/approach: To empirically analyze the impacts of issued GBs on different macroeconomic variables of 37 Asian countries, the co-integration and causality approaches are employed to analyze the data for the period of 2002–2018. Findings: The primary findings indicated the presence of a unidirectional causal direction running from inflation rate, inward FDI, governance indicator, and human development index to issued GBs for the sample of Asian economies that were analyzed. Regarding Group I (higher and upper-middle income Asian countries), there are bi-directional relationships between the GB and other variables, indicating that the policies of governments in each variable influence other variables, whereas for Group II (low and lower-middle income Asian countries), there are uni-directional relationships running from HDI, governance indicator, and inflation rate to GBs, but only bi-directional causal relationships. Practical implications: In Asian economies with a lower per capita income, implementing policies to enhance the efficiency of issued GBs so that they have a positive impact on economic activities and human development may be an appropriate strategy with major policy implications. In this way, financial system improvement, financing rural electrification and the transition to electric vehicles through GBs are recommended, while for the case of high- and upper-middle-income economies in Asia, simplifying capital flows from abroad to the GB market can be considered a practical policy. Originality/value: This study contributes to current green finance research by studying the effects of several variables on the GB market for the instance of Asian countries with low and lower-middle incomes, as well as high-upper middle incomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: It is still unclear how Asian universities incorporate the theory or practice of sustainable development (SD) in their research and education programmes. To address this gap, the purpose of this paper is to report on a study that has examined how universities in Asian countries handle and address matters related to SD. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a bibliometric analysis and an online survey-method. The online survey data were analysed through descriptive analysis and one-sample student's t-test. Findings: The study indicates that there is considerable variation among the Asian countries regarding sustainability practices in higher education institutions (HEIs). The HEIs in far eastern countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are perceived to demonstrate more sustainability practices. Research limitations/implications: Even though a substantial number of participants participated in the survey, it did not cover all Asian countries. The online survey was carried out over a limited period of time, and not all HEIs in the field may have received information about the study. Practical implications: Asia is the largest continent facing a number of sustainability challenges. In this context, the contribution of HEIs is very important. The findings of the current study may serve as a baseline for Asian HEIs to take more initiatives towards SD goals, as HEIs are responsible for the education and training of hundreds of thousands of students who will be occupying key positions in industry, government or education in the coming years. Originality/value: The study contributes to the existing literature in two distinct ways. First, it was possible to develop a comprehensive instrument to measure sustainability practices in HEIs. Second, this study has filled the gap of the scarcity of studies regarding sustainability practices in HEIs in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this paper, we aim to assess insurance demand across selected Asian and OECD countries during the period of the global financial crisis. Design/methodology/approach: We collected data from 55 emerging Asian and OECD countries during the period of the global financial crisis. Our methodology relies on panel regressions. Separate models are run for the Asia/OECD economies and a follow-up distinction between high/low-income regions is also made. Findings: We find that global financial crisis affects negatively the general insurance demand particularly in high-income region. Higher dependency ratio in Asia tends to decrease insurance demand, whereas education in case of Asia positively influences insurance demand indicating that higher literacy rate can be helpful to capture the potential customers. Our results further reveal that life insurance is an important driver for insurance demand in OECD countries, whereas general insurance demand is higher in the Asian economies. Research limitations/implications: A limitation of this study is that data sets employed do not differentiate between different life and general insurance products. Practical implications: This study is helpful for regulators, policymakers and insurance providers to evaluate, assess and monitor insurance demand in relevant countries. Originality/value: This is one of the pioneering studies that have assessed insurance demand among emerging Asian and OECD countries during the period of the global financial crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The internet creates ample opportunities to start a mobile social commerce business. The literature confirms the issue of customer trust for social commerce businesses is a challenge that must be addressed. Hence, this study aims to examine the antecedents of trust in mobile social commerce by applying linear and non-linear relationships based on partial least squares structural equation modeling and artificial neural network model. Design/methodology/approach: This study applied a non-linear artificial neural network approach to provide a further understanding of the determinants of trust in mobile social commerce based on a non-linear and non-compensatory model. Besides, a questionnaire was distributed to 340 social commerce customers in Malaysia. Findings: The conceptual framework for investigating trust in mobile social commerce has various advantages and contributions to predicting consumer behavior. The results of the study showed there is a positive and significant relationship between social support, presence and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology2 (UTAUT2). In addition, UTAUT2 has fully mediated the relationship between social support, presence and trust in social commerce. Finally, the results concluded the relationship between UTAUT2 and trust in social commerce would be stronger when the diffusion of innovation and innovation resistance is high and low, respectively. Research limitations/implications: The current study provides a novel perspective on how customers can trust social m-commerce to provide real solutions to managers of encouraging e-marketing among consumers. Practical implications: This paper shows how businesses can develop trust in social m-commerce in Malaysian markets. The findings of this study probably could be extended to other businesses in Asia or other countries. Because trust in social e-commerce has a dynamic role in consumer behavior and intention to purchase. Originality/value: This study provided a new perspective on mobile social commerce and paid more attention to an investigation of such emerging commerce. The originality of this study is embodied by investigating an integrated model that included different theories that presented new directions of trust in mobile social commerce through social and behavioral determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Green product development is a pivotal way to achieve environmental sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to theorize and empirically test how environmentally specific leadership enhances the green product development performance from the perspective of the HRM system. In this regard, the authors investigate the mediating role of the strength of the HRM system to change with regard to the relationship between environmentally specific leadership and green product development performance. For a substantial explanation of the boundary condition, the authors investigate the moderating role of the green HRM on the relationship between environmentally specific transformational leadership and the strength of the HRM system. Design/methodology/approach: Based on climate strength theory, the authors use the three-wave survey data from 362 top or middle managers in the new energy industry of China. This study uses hierarchical linear regression and bootstrapping method to analyze the mediated moderation effect. Findings: Results confirm a positive effect of environmentally specific leadership and the strength of the HRM system on green product development performance. The authors also found the mediation effect of the strength of the HRM system and the moderation effect of green HRM are all significant. Originality/value: This study integrates the perspectives of both content-focused HRM and process-focused HRM and demonstrates why leadership and the HRM system could jointly enhance green product development performance in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to formulate strategic interventions that can contribute to adoption of blockchain in Asian health market. Design/methodology/approach: A methodological framework based on the three qualitative phases of the systems thinking and modelling methodology, namely, problem structuring, causal loop modelling and developing strategic interventions were used. Data was collected using thirty interviews and secondary research. Findings: The reference model developed in the study captured the system behavior, showing health market blockchain adoption increasing in other countries but struggling in Asia. The qualitative systems model developed explained this behavior by capturing the underlying system structure using six interconnected feedback loops. Three strategic interventions were formulated to change the system structure to improve its adoption. Research limitations/implications: This study acknowledges its limitation that blockchain integration in health supply chain management (SCM) and adaptability to technological trends are just few elements that contributes to challenges in blockchain adoption in Asia Pacific health market. It also acknowledges the limited scale of this study using 30 interviews with a narrow set of stakeholders, limiting its generalisability. Practical implications: Although the blockchain technology has medical data security benefits, its integration in health SCM could potentially improve cost of health service delivery to patient. Not only it prevents drug counterfeiting, it enhances patient's safety by reducing the time it takes to alert the supply chain of a product recall from few days to few seconds. Social implications: "Blockchain-as-a-Service" has wide applications in SCM, identity management, payments, smart contracts, governance risk and compliance management, with its market size expected to grow in future. This affordable solution opens up the roads for future empirical research for information systems academicians and information technology practitioners. Originality/value: This research provides a holistic analysis of the challenges facing blockchain adoption in the health market for Asia. It offers a methodological approach based on systems thinking and modelling to improve its adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The aim of this paper is to investigate the circumstances and events surrounding bull runs in Malaysia from 1990 to 2015. The research question posed here is: What were the historical circumstances and events surrounding bull runs in Malaysia?Design/methodology/approach Case study approach is used. This research resorts to multiple resources such as academic journals, macroeconomic statistics, official publications, stock broker reports, annual reports of listed companies as well as articles from regional newspaper and magazines.Findings The results show that the bull runs in recent years happened with lower volatility after the Asian Financial Crisis. It can be conjectured that the specific environment in which the bull runs occurred can be somewhat different from period to period. Based on stylised facts and historical evidence, this study identified five major themes that were behind the bull markets in Malaysia, which include capital flow, spill-over effect from global development, change in ratings, speculative activities and investors’ sentiment, as well as government policies announcement. The findings have practical implications for investors who seek to understand and predict stock market boom through lessons learned from historical perspective.Research limitations/implications The analysis in this paper may have limitation, as the facts gathered are from secondary sources, which sources are derived from the observations of others. Therefore, secondary sources inevitably reflect the assumptions and biases of the people who wrote them. As the availability of data is limited by factors that are not under the control of the researcher, results may likely be limited in their generalizability. This case study does not attempt to establish causality or relationship between macroeconomic variables and stock prices. Further studies would therefore be necessary to examine the evolving nature of the relationship that may exist.Practical implications The findings of this study have significant policy implications for Malaysia, and also for other emerging markets. First, a prudent macroeconomic measures and concerted stance on fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policy to improve fundamentals and smooth volatility in the business cycle is vital for a bullish stock market. Second, the stock market derived significant benefits from openness to foreign capital and its resilience can be enhanced by fostering deeper and more liquid capital markets with diverse institutional investors, including domestic and foreign participants. Third, the environment that affects a stock market could be related to the political, regulatory and global environments. Malaysia stock market is susceptible to extreme events, capital flow, speculative activities and government interventions. Having a good grasp of which themes are operative at any point in time is central to investment decision making. Continuous rebalancing of portfolios based on information arriving in the market is also vital.Originality/value Previous studies on Malaysian stock market movement focus on quantitative analysis based on macroeconomic variable. This research is original in terms of giving background information and additional context to explain phenomena missed by quantitative research methods. The construction of quantitative model is also constraint by the measurability of non-quantitative data and data with different frequencies (such as annual, quarterly and monthly data). Therefore, it is important to contemplate the importance of non-quantitative factors, such as political, legal, regulatory and governance considerations. This study seeks to fill in this void. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use Twitter analysis to explore diner perceptions of four types of Asian restaurants (Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai).Design/methodology/approach Using 86,015 tweets referring to Asian restaurants, this research used text mining and sentiment analysis to find meaningful patterns, popular words and emotional states in opinions.Findings Twitter users held mingled perceptions of different types of Asian restaurants. Sentiment analysis and ANOVA showed that the average sentiment scores for Chinese restaurants was significantly lower than the other three Asian restaurants. While most positive tweets referred to food quality, many negative tweets suggested problems associated with service quality or food culture.Research limitations/implications This research provides a methodology that future researchers can use in applying social media analytics to explore major issues and extract sentiment information from text messages.Originality/value Limited research has been conducted applying social media analysis in hospitality research. This study fills a gap by using social media analytics with Twitter data to examine the Twitter users’ thoughts and emotions for four different types of Asian restaurants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Compared with the extensive research on knowledge management in the Western context, relatively little research has emerged in Asia. This study aims to report an investigation of the predictors of knowledge-sharing behaviour (KSB) of Malaysian public service administrators. Design/methodology/approach: Surveys were designed based on established instruments and yielded 231 responses from administrators of various managerial grades. Findings: The findings indicated that KSB was predicted by intrinsic motivational factors, time availability and organisational socialisation. Further, the findings showed that affective commitment towards the organisations is the key intermediate factor to enable intrinsically motivated administrators to engage in KSB. Research limitations/implications: This study examined motivational factors among the public sector administrators only. Thus, it limits the findings generalisation to other groups of employees such as from the private sector and non-governmental organisations. Practical implications: The findings of this study shall enlighten organisations particularly the public sector organisations, in strategies and plan of action towards enhancing and advancing knowledge management practice among employees. Originality/value: This paper offers new insight into the significance of intrinsic motivational factors which enhanced with employees' commitment to fostering KSB in organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine whether and how cultural (dis) similarity between business entities enhances or impairs the development of commitment in the trust building process in industrial importer-foreign supplier relationships. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on theoretical lenses of transaction cost economics, resource-based view and dynamic capability view, this study investigates how cultural (dis)similarity moderates the effects of opportunism, transaction-specific investment (TSI), the relative advantage of importing and communication on commitment, leading to building trust in business relationships. Using structural equation modeling and moderated regression analysis, the study tested several predicted effects using a sample of 154 industrial importers drawn from a developing country in Asia. Findings: A key finding of the study suggests that supplier opportunism comes into play and is negatively associated with industrial importer commitment as cultural dissimilarity increases. For culturally similar countries, opportunism does not affect commitment. Conversely, TSI has a positive effect on commitment for culturally similar countries; for dissimilar countries, TSI has no effect. The study also corroborates several additional hypotheses prevalent in the literature. Research limitations/implications: Cross-sectional data rather than longitudinal data, single country rather than multi-country perspectives and data from the importer's side rather than from both importer and exporter may affect generalizability. Future research ought to address these issues to provide further insights. Originality/value: The paper enriches the literature and extends the nomological network for international business theory by introducing the moderating effect of business cultural similarity in building commitment. Managerial perspectives are also gleaned from the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of authentic assessment can enrich students with a set of skills that can have a significant impact on their employability. The key aim of these actions is to equip students with the practical skills to be work ready. The focus here is to demonstrate effects on student satisfaction and observations from teaching staff accrued over several semesters in an educational institution after introducing authentic assessments. Design/methodology/approach: This paper used a set of scaffolded authentic assessments for students in logistics and supply chain management (LSCM). A combination of literature and expert input was used to design and implement the authentic assessment. A multi-phase systematic approach using cyclical model steps articulated the course learning outcomes (CLOs). Findings: Reinforced evidence that authentic assessments create options for divergent learners and provide opportunities for applying practical and higher-order cognitive skills in tertiary education system of an emerging economy. With the focus on student ability in doing things, students with diversified backgrounds and abilities in Asia can be encouraged to take an active role in their own learning. The formats of the newly redesigned assessments allow multidimensional cognitive capabilities such as art development (posters and video tasks) and reflective exercises. Importantly, formative types of authentic assessments help to decrease the level of anxiety by emphasising the aspect of doing and lead to better student satisfaction with the courses. All of these effects are shown to be repeatable in an Asian economy. Practical implications: Authentic assessments prepare students for the new world of work through a more focused scaffolding of their learning. Originality/value: Stimulation of deeper learning in tertiary education students is relevant for a top performing Asian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to provide empirical evidence on the role of corporate governance mechanisms in reducing earnings-management practices in Islamic banks in Asia. Design/methodology/approach: This study used 28 Islamic banks in Asia, which were listed on the stock exchange from 2013–2017. The research method used quantitative regression with data on the characteristics of Islamic banks taken from the websites of each bank. This study used discretionary loan loss provision as a proxy for measuring earnings management. Findings: The results show that only the audit committee size has a significantly negative effect on earnings management. An independent audit committee has a negative, but not significant, effect. The difference expectation signs cannot be interpreted further. Research limitations/implications: Only a few components of corporate governance were tested in this study. Therefore, it is expected that future studies will include more components. Practical implications: In general, the components of corporate governance that include the characteristics of the board of directors and the audit committee have a varied effect on reducing the earnings-management practices in Islamic banks, except audit committee size. In practice, audit committee size should have an important role in earning management reduces. Originality/value: This may be the first paper that studies the effect of corporate governance on earnings management in Islamic banks in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The issue of empty truck trips is largely ignored in the current literature. In order to cover this important research gap, the purpose of this paper is to explore, describe, categorize and rank the potential truck-sharing constraints for container trucks traveling empty around the port gates. Design/methodology/approach: In order to contribute empirically to the current body of knowledge and understandings of truck-sharing constraints, this paper adopts a multi-method empirical approach involving both qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaire surveys. Findings: Among many key constraints that influence the future of truck-sharing opportunities, the authors determine, for example, that a carrier's ability to earn the trust of its competitors is one of the top most important factors of success for a fruitful truck-sharing event. The problem is, perhaps, further complicated because of the increasing competitive environment in the container transport industry, as well as the lack of effective coordination between the key parties involved. Research limitations/implications: None of the earlier studies has provided a broad understanding and ranking of the truck-sharing constraints that should be considered in truck-sharing events, although the empty trips issue has been limitedly mentioned in the recent academic literature. Practical implications: Empty truck trips are wasted miles. Wasted empty miles decrease transport capacity in the container distribution chain along with causing an increase in carbon emission, traffic congestion, fuel consumption and environmental pollution. The research results can be used by policy makers to underpin effective measures to prevent the low utilization of trucks. Originality/value: This study addresses an important gap. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study in the area that ranks truck-sharing constraints to reduce empty trucks trips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Due to globalization, textile small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operations have become complex which raised the needs of risk-free financing solutions to support the SMEs' daily processes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of supply chain (SC) finance, a risk-free financing solution, on SC effectiveness (SCE) in the context of textile SMEs by employing transaction cost (TC) approach. Design/methodology/approach: The participants of the study were recruited from textile SMEs through a structured questionnaire. The proposed model and structural relationships were assessed by employing AMOS 24.0. Findings: The results of this paper indicate that supply chain finance (SCF) has a significant effect on SCE. Furthermore, all proposed factors of SCF adoption have a positive and significant effect on SCF. Practical implications: This study helps the SMEs executives or owners to adopt SCF as a secure financing scheme to reduce the credit TCs, optimize the firm working capital, reduce the risk of default, and improve SC effectiveness. SMEs and suppliers can build strong relationships while adopting the findings of this study. SMEs can engage the suppliers to work under strategic alliance through negotiation, collaboration, and work digitization, and extend their payment terms while providing an opportunity to the suppliers to get their payment back before a fixed time through discounting from financial institutions as needed. Originality/value: The present study covered the gap related to SCF and SCE by identifying unique factors of SCF adoption which was ignored in the previous literature by employing TC approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors and most significant reasons leading to supply chain inefficiency with respect to high cost, high lead time and poor quality at wholesale stage of mango supply chain in India, and also to find out the measures which may be taken to improve supply chain efficiency. Design/methodology/approach: The paper opted for an exploratory study using the quantitative and qualitative method of research. The study was conducted at Asia's largest and world's second largest fruits and vegetable wholesale market (Mandi) in Azadpur, Delhi. Factors have been identified using factor analysis and the measures to improve supply chain efficiency in fruits sector have been found out through semi-structured interviews with agri- and food-supply chain experts. Findings: Based on the factor analysis, three factors were identified for high cost, namely, operational charges, labour and resources; four factors were identified for high lead time, namely, operational issues, labour, resources and infrastructure; and four factors were identified for poor quality, namely, operational issues, infrastructure, resources and poor ambience. It was also found that operational factor is the most significant factor leading to supply chain inefficiency. The study also highlighted the measures for improving supply chain efficiency based on the outcome of the interviews. Research limitations/implications: This study is limited to the wholesale stage of fruit supply chain with the focus on Azadpur Mandi, Delhi, India, with specific reference to mango. Also, the measures have been identified for only the most significant reasons under each factor leading to supply chain inefficiency with respect to cost, time and quality. Originality/value: There is a dearth of literature on improving the supply chain efficiency pertaining to the wholesale stage of fruits and vegetable sector in India. This paper tries to fulfil the gap and contributed to the literature on agriculture supply chain, which may be helpful for the researchers as well as the practitioners to improve food supply chain pertaining to developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to arrive at a different understanding of reshoring in Asia vis-à-vis the Western context of competitiveness, through a case study of the Swedish company FM Mattsson. Design/methodology/approach: Empirical studies with semi-structured interviews have been conducted both in Sweden and China to gain an in-depth understanding of the case company's reshoring activities. Findings: The findings point at reshoring as a competitive means to respond to the dynamics of internal (firm-specific) and external (country-specific) factors. Reshoring comes as a dynamic process by reshuffling resources inside and outside of the firm that strives for continuous competitiveness. Organizations need to meet the challenges of changing environment, especially the dynamic business competition in Asia, and reshoring is a way. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature by perceiving reshoring as a dynamic process of competitiveness development. Reshoring is not seen as one-off short-term decision-making on cost and location but as a long-term process in response to the dynamic internal and external challenges ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to test the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) in developing Asian countries by examining whether lax environmental laws are a determinant of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into these countries, which are characterised by being the largest FDI recipients among developing countries and also by being among the most highly polluted and the highest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitters worldwide.Design/methodology/approach Panel data for the main determinants of FDI inflows including a carbon dioxide emissions and an agglomeration variable are collected for all developing Asian countries for the 1996-2016 period and a fixed effects model with robust standard errors is used.Findings Results show that lax environmental laws are a significant determinant of FDI inflows for the selected Asian countries as a whole. A closer look shows that this result cannot be generalised for the whole region, but applies particularly to three countries China, Hong Kong and the Philippines. PHH is thus only partially supported.Originality/value FDI is a main engine of growth for developing countries. However, it might adversely affect them, specifically in terms of environmental deterioration in the absence of stringent and well-enforced environmental policies. Some developing countries might even deliberately relax their environmental policies to attain comparative advantage especially in polluting industries and thus attract FDI. This leads to serious repercussions and might eventually limit growth, where augmenting it was the intention in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]