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Continuous improvement in an integrated approach is a philosophy developed over decades based on a set of management practices. It comprises enhancement methodologies that escalate success as well as diminishes letdowns. The state-of-the-art literature finds a variety of practices for the execution of continuous improvement (CI) system. However, it is rare to find an empirical study with an inclusive system that considers various practices in one frame for improving competitiveness. With this outlook, therefore, this study aims originally to identify drivers, motivations and barriers for the application of integrated CI system, and then conduct an empirical investigation within the context of Ethiopian manufacturing industries.

Justification of the problem, extensive review of literature, identification of practices, developing research framework, investigational analysis of the empirical study using reliability and descriptive statistical analysis and identifying leading drivers (unique practices and common factors), motivations and barriers are the research approaches used in this study. Furthermore, the primary data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire and were analyzed using a statistical package for social science (SPSS) 23 and the findings were triangulated to relate to the existing state-of-the-art literature.

The findings indicate 17 common factors associated with human, strategic, operational, technology, structure, resource and information factors; 21 unique practices of just-in-time (JIT), lean-six sigma (LSS), supply chain management (SCM), total productive maintenance (TPM), and total quality management (TQM) methodologies; 20 barriers connected with internal and external issues and 17 motivations linked to operational, innovation and business results are identified. In general, the empirical analysis discovers the practices are noteworthy and commonly supported by a least of 52% of the respondents. As a result, the first five prominent common factors, barriers, unique practices and motivations are also supported by a minimum of 72%, 73.9%, 65.8% and 75% of the respondents, respectively.

Even though this is the first-ever study in the Ethiopian manufacturing sector with the focus on integrated CI practices of JIT, TQM, TPM, SCM and LSS initiatives, some limitations have existed and the major limitations of the study are, targeted merely small number manufacturing companies despite the fact that there are hundreds of companies implementing CI system in Ethiopia, and the data collected were only based on the perception of the respondents, and other information’s like annual reports was not employed to support the findings.

The findings of this study underlined that the implementation of drivers in relation to common factors and unique practices supported by exterminating barriers in manufacturing industries of Ethiopia enables to enhance competitiveness through attaining operational, innovation and business results though it requires a practical case application to prove this perception-based analysis.

Though there are a number of studies published on integrated continuous improvement, currently it is found that there is no literature focused on the identification and empirical investigation of drivers (common factors and unique practices), motivations and barriers for application of integrated CI system with the focus of JIT, TQM, TPM, SCM and LSS initiatives. Therefore, this is the first-ever study, and the empirical analysis of the study discovered that identified practices are providing valuable insights for manufacturing industries which will be on board on this voyage including institutions, practitioners and other sectors.

Manufacturers face increasing demands to address inefficiencies and improve environmental performance across their supply chains. However, there remains a significant gap in empirical research examining how collaboration in the supply chain affects various environmental practices and their consequent impacts on performance. This study aims to address the gap by examining how shared goals and vision drives compliance-oriented and prevention-oriented practices, subsequently affecting environmental performance and operational costs—critical for fostering antifragility and resilience in today’s environment.

An empirical study has been performed based on a sample of survey data from 279 manufacturers from fifteen countries and regions. Applying structural equation modeling analysis to the sample dataset, this study examines the mediating role of two distinct types of environmental practices between shared goals and visions and manufacturers’ environmental performance and operational cost.

This study delineates distinct pathways through which shared goals and vision affect various types of environmental practices, and consequently lead to different performance outcomes: (1) environmental impact of manufacturing activities depends on the collective efforts of the manufacturers and their supply chain partners; (2) shared goals and vision among supply chain partners facilitates both environmental performance and operational cost through prevention-oriented practice; (3) shared goals and vision in supply chain benefits operational cost performance primarily through prevention-oriented practice, but less likely through compliance-oriented practice.

This study reveals two distinct pathways through which the shared goals and vision impact various performance outcomes, providing valuable guidance to businesses aiming to balance operational cost and environmental performance — crucial for resilience in today's turbulent environment.

This study not only corroborates existing theories of the Natural Resource-Based View and collaborative networks but also provides a detailed depiction of how collaboration across the supply chain promotes a diverse range of environmental practices and yields varied performance outcomes. It offers vital insights for supply chain participants to effectively navigate environmental challenges, enabling them to cultivate resilience and proactively address environmental issues.

Social practices of work humor among engineering workers are a lesser studied phenomenon. We examine the social practices of an engineering work team through acts of a peculiar form of humorous expression we identify as installation humor. In these cases of installation humor, an anonymous member of the team created a temporary, inappropriate, yet neutral installation of a physical object to amuse the other members of the team. We provide three mini-cases of installation humor; these installations appeared as the team subtly resisted a managerial initiative. We contribute knowledge to the practices of engineers at work and to the practices of resistive humorous expression.

Qualitative, full-participant ethnographic research with multiple data collection methods and utilizing abductive analysis. During the data collection, one of the researchers was a full member of the engineering team.

We identified anonymous, artefact-based enactments of resistive humorous expression, which we named installation humor. We identify and describe installation humor, which occurred at the intersectionality of work and self-expression and served as momentary artefacts symbolic of engineering worker resistance in a high-tech environment.

Managerial awareness of the unfolding forms of worker-led, fleeting signals of resistance, such as acts of installation humor, would provide another dimension of perception for identifying salient signals surrounding the phenomenon of resistance to managerial-led change initiatives. Further research is needed on engineering humor in the R&D workplace to better understand the complexity and dynamics of phenomena such as worker resistance through humorous acts. We suggest future studies on forms of humor in the engineering workplace, including incidences of installation humor as they exist in other professional work environments and organizations, to understand common and shared practices across professional boundaries.

We advance and extend the understanding of humor as a social practice in the context of professional engineers in their R&D workplace and we identify humorous acts serving as a response to negative emotions (Huber, 2022) toward the organization related to a newly instated form of managerial control. This paper contributes to the studies of social practices of humor and emotions (Fine and De Soucey, 2005) in the engineering workplace (Buch and Andersen, 2013; Buch, 2016; Mazzurco et al., 2021) as unsupervised activity at work (Gabriel, 1995), with the social practice of humor adopting a non-verbal form that we identified as installation humor. We named this specific form of humor that we observed as installation humor and defined its specificity and differences from more traditional methods of humor (t. ex. Fine and De Soucey, 2005; Martin and Ford, 2018), shop floor humor (t. ex. Roy 1959), workplace humor (t. ex. Rosenberg et al., 2021) and engineering student humor (Holmila et al., 2007; Bender, 2011; Berge, 2017).The results of this study also suggest that ethnography for studying humor as a social practice is useful in identifying micro-level occurrences of unfolding engineering humor, including humor as a form of resistance.

The study of humor in high-tech engineering settings enhances the literature of engineering work (t. ex. Mazzurco et al., 2021) and emerging humorous phenomena (Jarzabkowski and Lê, 2017). This case study highlights and extends the understanding of the non-technical competencies of engineers and the role of peer-to-peer humor in the engineering workplace as a form of resistance during managerial initiatives within an organization.

The study extends and contributes new knowledge to research on emotions and humor by engineers at work, including the identification of a peculiar form of humor used by the engineers. This study also contributes to nascent research on the social practices of engineers at work. The research material was gathered as a full-member ethnography, increasing methodological knowledge of researching a site from within.

This study examines the dynamics of innovative auditing practices in the digital age, with a specific focus on auditor competencies. Within this scope, we highlight the necessity of redefining auditing practices and the essential adaptation required from auditors. The primary objective is to understand comprehensively how auditor competencies can be strengthened to meet the challenges posed by innovative audit practices.

A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted to explore this theme, ensuring rigor and credibility in the outcomes. The results emphasize the importance of auditors strengthening professional competencies, embracing technological agility, and promoting ongoing professional development initiatives.

The triadic framework comprising—Auditor, Auditing Practices, and Digital Audits— forms the basis for innovative audit practices. This manuscript further discusses the transition of advanced technologies, laying the groundwork for the evolution of auditing practices. Through a systematic assessment of the literature, this study develops a framework for innovative, ethically driven, and effective auditing practices, ensuring the occupation's relevance and value. Future investigations should focus on the ethical implications of automation in auditing practices and develop innovative frameworks tailored to diverse organizational contexts.

The study addresses a contemporary issue by examining the evolving nature of auditing practices considering digital transformation. Practical implications highlight the enhancement of auditor roles in digital transformation, covering ethics, technological adaptation, and continuous development to uphold the profession's integrity. This focus acknowledges the changing dynamics of business and the growing role of technology in auditing processes.

This study investigates the association between corporate sustainability disclosures and firm performance and value.

This study collected data from 694 manufacturing companies operating in 34 countries between 2007 and 2019, yielding 6,181 firm-year observations. This study employs a dual-model framework to analyze the influence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance on return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and Tobin's Q ratio. Two sets of control variables, firm- and country-specific, were incorporated to account for potential confounding factors. To validate the robustness of the findings, we utilized a battery of econometric techniques, including traditional ordinary least squares (OLS), firm-fixed effects, quantile regression, and instrumental variables-generalized method of moments (IV-GMM), applied to both the pooled and firm-fixed effects models.

The findings are contradictory: there is a negative relationship between sustainability disclosure and operating performance and return on equity, but a positive relationship between sustainability disclosure and firm value. The negative correlation is consistent with agency theory and the positive correlation is consistent with the legitimacy and shareholder theories. These results are robust to performance measures and estimation methods.

Short-term profit shouldn't deter sustainability. It boosts legitimacy, reputation, efficiency, and long-term market value. Investors must look beyond profitability ratios, embracing ESG metrics. Firms should see sustainability as strategic investment, not cost. Patience pays off: long-term gains await. Regulation can guide balanced growth, prioritizing both shareholders and societal well-being.

This study is the first to adopt a firm’s fixed-effect quantile regression, which provides deep insights into the role of sustainability disclosure in meeting stakeholders’ expectations.

Based on social exchange theory and social identification theory, I investigated how employee organizational identification affects the effectiveness of commitment-based human resource (HR) practices. I focused on employee attitudes (job satisfaction) and behaviors (proactive knowledge seeking) as HR practices’ outcomes.

Using a structural equation modeling analytical approach, I tested the hypotheses with data from a web-based cross-sectional survey of 208 specialists and engineers of manufacturing subsidiaries in Poland.

Results showed that the positive relationship between commitment-based-HR practices and job satisfaction is weakened for employees strongly identified with the organization. Simultaneously, the connection between seeking knowledge and job satisfaction is stronger and more important for people who identify moderately to strongly.

The study limitations regard mainly its cross-sectional design and single cultural and industrial context.

From the managerial perspective, the study suggests that to enhance proactive employee behavior, companies need to increase employee organizational identification and ensure that employees have a positive perception of the implemented HR practices.

The study contributes to the ongoing discussion on whether individual contingencies affect the effectiveness of commitment-based HR practices in the form of individual attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. The findings revealed that the contingent effect of organizational identification depends on the type of individual outcomes, suggesting that the strength of organizational identification affects how employees decide to reciprocate the organization’s attention and investment.

The study aimed to examine the transformation of a non-profit microfinance institution (MFI) into a hybrid social enterprise, and the role of formal and informal controls in reconciling the discordance between the two conflicting (social and commercial) objectives that emerged due to the transformation.

A case study of a non-governmental MFI located in Southeast Asian country was conducted. This case study drew on the institutional logics perspective as an analytical tool to understand the complexity of change and the mobilisation of management control practices to align two conflicting goals at the core of the MFI’s organisational strategies. This study adopted the interpretive approach and relied on multiple data sources, including semi-structured interviews and documentary evidence.

The application of commercial principles in the operations of the MFI occurred in several phases. First, the MFI changed from a non-profit business model to a hybrid social enterprise, which pursued a double bottom-line strategy. The informal control practices inherent in the organisation’s culture created a high level of social awareness embedded within a social logic. In contrast, the formal control practices were directly linked to the new commercial logic. The synergy between the two logics was optimised by reinforcing formal and informal control practices.

This study offers insights into the role of control systems in reconciling the discordance between competing social and financial objectives within a non-governmental MFI that enjoys substantial financial and nonfinancial support from the government.

Using the lens of the natural resource-based view (NRBV) theory, this study investigates the effect of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices such as green manufacturing (GM), eco-design (ED), green purchasing (GP) and investment recovery (IR) on the carbon-neutral supply chain (CNSC) performance of firms through the mediating influence of logistics eco-centricity (LE).

A conceptual framework that hypothesizes the relationship between GSCM practices, LE and the CNSC performance of firms is developed. Key GSCM practices are then identified using experts’ opinions. Furthermore, we collected responses from logistics companies to validate the conceptual framework using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method.

Through this study, we found that GSCM practices significantly improve a firm's CNSC performance, and the relationships between GSCM practices and CNSC performance are positively mediated by LE.

The implications of the study suggest that logistics managers can benefit from the findings of this study to comprehend the impact of various GSCM techniques on LE and CNSC from the viewpoint of the NRBV paradigm.

This research provides valuable perspectives for managers and supply chain (SC) practitioners in their quest for sustainable and environmentally responsible SC operations through an extensive and novel analysis of the connection between GSCM practices, LE and CNSC performance.

To comprehend the influence of green HR practices (GHRM) on employee outcomes, strategic HRM researchers are gradually adopting an employee-centric approach, a subject that has sparked recent discussions among scholars in the field of green HR. These scholars have emphasized the need for studies that shed light on the reasons behind the differences in employees' perceptions of GHRM. To address this concern, we investigated (1) supervisors perceived GHRM (SUP-GHRM) and subordinates perceived GHRM (SUB-GHRM) as the fundamental source of variation in employee eco-friendly behavior and green performance, (2) the association between SUP-GHRM and SUB-GHRM, (3) the mediation role of SUB-GHRM toward green performance and eco-friendly behavior, and (4) the moderation of perceived HRM system strength (HRMSS) on supervisor-subordinate perceived GHRM.

Applying a survey approach, we collected data from 217 supervisors and 624 subordinates from Large-Scale Manufacturing Organizations in the Textile sector of Pakistan. Since the data is hierarchical, we applied the Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) and bootstrapping techniques to examine the hypothesized relationship.

The results of HLM revealed that (1) the SUP-GHRM and SUB-GHRM were key in determining green performance and eco-friendly behavior, (2) the SUP-GHRM significantly influenced SUB-GHRM, (3) the SUP-GHRM indirectly affected the eco-friendly behavior and green performance through SUB-GHRM, (4) the HRM system’s strength positively moderated the association between the SUP-GHRM and SUB-GHRM.

The corporations need to ensure that both supervisors and subordinates have a consistent understanding of GHRM practices and foster positive relationships between them. It is also important for companies to actively enhance supervisors' knowledge of GHRM and encourage them to effectively communicate the company’s GHRM practices to their subordinates. This is vital for improving employee job-related outcomes. Furthermore, corporations should emphasize developing a strong HRM system designed to create a climate where employees understand the behaviors and responses that are valued and recognized, leading them to perceive situations in line with their managers.

This study suggests SUP-GHRM and SUB-GHRM as critical factors that influence eco-friendly behavior and green performance, and HRMSS is key to aligning the perception gaps between subordinates and supervisors about what GHRM is in place in their organization, which is empirically analyzed in a developing country context.

Drawing on the ability-motivation-opportunity model, this study investigates how gender-inclusive human resource management practices and overall fairness perception promote the career progression of female employees via psychological empowerment.

Partial least structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied to two-waves data collected from 308 respondents from Pakistan to confirm hypotheses.

Findings suggest that gender-inclusive HRM practices substantially affect female employees' psychological empowerment and career progression. Psychological empowerment is a mediating mechanism that explains the effect of gender-inclusive HRM practices on female employees' career progression. Finally, overall fairness perception further amplifies the effect of gender-inclusive HRM practices on psychological empowerment and career progression.

The study provides evidence to policymakers that organizations may promote psychological empowerment and career progression of female employees by implementing gender-inclusive HRM practices and promoting overall fairness perception.

This study contributes to achieving the SDGs by examining the impact of gender-inclusive HRM practices and overall fairness perception on female employees' psychological empowerment and career progression. Specifically, it aligns with “Goal 5 - achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” and “Goal 8 - promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all”.