This study aims to investigate the relationship between certain attributes of the psychic distance (i.e., cultural, geographical, linguistic, political, economic, and governance quality distance) through two principal components (competitiveness and location distance) between the foreign owner’s home country and host country, with a firm’s risk-taking behavior. By using fixed-effect panel regression on a data set of 251 Indonesian non-financial listed firms over 2010-2019 period, includes foreign investors from 25 countries, and by employing sub-sampling regressions based on environmental and social risks according to the ESG Risk Atlas, this study finds that competitiveness distance between a foreign owner's home country and the host country negatively affects a firm's risk-taking behavior. This result remains robust, particularly for firms clustered within the high social risk group. We recommend that the Indonesian government prioritize promoting investment opportunities to foreign institutional investors from countries with a smaller competitiveness distance. Thus, Indonesian firms' risk-taking behavior will increase, signifying a willingness to pursue new investment projects that ultimately contribute to economic growth. This study extends prior research in international distance and agency theories by demonstrating the importance of incorporating foreign owners’ competitiveness distance to reduce agency conflicts between foreign investors and a firm’s managers, thereby increasing the firm's risk-taking behavior.
Brand evangelism is gaining attention for its strategic marketing value. While researchers have explored its drivers, these remain incompletely understood. This study aims to provide a detailed analysis of the determinants and impacts of brand evangelism, organizing them into themes using bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review. Researchers looked at 66 papers that were indexed in Scopus and used bibliometric tools and the Theory-Context-Characteristics-Methodology (TCCM) framework to study the theories, context, characteristics, and methods used in brand evangelism. The findings identify three key themes in brand evangelism: a) emotional and experiential branding, b) digital dynamics in brand-consumer relations, and c) green consumption behavior. By focusing on entry modes to brand evangelism through exceptional customer experiences, employee engagement, and community involvement, companies can strengthen their brands and build closer connections with customers, employees, and communities. The data was imported from the Scopus database solely to perform bibliometric and SLR analysis. Future studies may use data from other databases, such as Web of Science, to develop more comprehensive research clusters on brand evangelism. The declining credibility and effectiveness of conventional marketing, along with unprecedented changes in consumer behavior, require managers to develop appropriate strategies to acquire new customers and increase market share. The study contributes to a contemporary understanding of brand evangelism as marketing communication, emphasizing the importance of emotional engagement in this domain.
This study examines the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and the natural resource curse in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 2011 to 2020, framed within Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth. Despite abundant natural resources, many SSA countries face the paradox of resource wealth impeding long-term development under weak institutional and structural conditions. Using panel data from 46 SSA countries, fixed and random effects models assess the impact of FDI inflows and natural resource rents on GDP across Eastern, Central, Western, and Southern Africa. The results show a negative and significant relationship between resource rents and GDP for the aggregated SSA sample, consistent with the resource curse hypothesis. However, subregional analysis reveals variation, with Southern Africa and other selected subregions showing positive and significant effects. FDI demonstrates a growth-enhancing role, particularly in regions where governance and policy frameworks are more conducive to investment benefits. These findings underscore the importance of context-specific policies that strengthen resource governance, promote economic diversification, and invest in human capital. Enhancing FDI-led sectors and fostering inclusive employment are essential for advancing SDG 8, unlocking SSA’s economic potential, and improving livelihoods across the continent.
This study aims to determine the effect of digital access, including internet facilities, internet signals, telephone signals, television, and radio, on poverty at the village level in Central Java Province, Indonesia. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that no previous study has measured the effect of digital infrastructure on poverty at the village level. The uniqueness of this study lies in its unit of analysis at the village level in Central Java. This study uses panel data analysis with a fixed effect model. The data used is the Central Java Province Village Potential data released by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2018, 2021, and 2024 in 8,562 villages and a total of 25.684 observations. The results of this study indicate that digital access, consisting of the variables of Internet caf & eacute;, phone signal, and internet signal, has a negative and significant effect on poverty at the village level. In contrast, the variables of government television and private television have a positive and significant effect on poverty at the village level. Radio broadcasts have no significant effect on poverty at the village level in Central Java Province, Indonesia. This research recommends that the government provide facilities and training/education programs based on an equitable digital access infrastructure. Regarding internet infrastructure, 64.3% of villages in Central Java Province do not have internet access, and 12% do not have a phone signal. Government policy interventions should focus on individual device ownership and providing inclusive shared infrastructure so the entire community can access digital infrastructure.
This study aims to investigate the impact of carbon management on environmental performance. By applying the Natural Resource-Based View (NRBV) and Legitimacy Theory, this study examines key dimensions of firm-level carbon management that influence the environmental performance of manufacturing firms in Malaysia A questionnaire survey was conducted among 220 manufacturing firms registered with the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers to achieve the research objectives. Data were analysed using structural equation modeling revealed that carbon governance (beta=0.424) had the strongest impact, followed by carbon disclosure (beta=0.339), carbon operations (beta=0.360), and carbon accounting (beta=0.280). Policymakers and industry players can leverage these insights to refine carbon management practices, improve operational efficiency, and achieve long-term cost savings, thereby enhancing manufacturing firms' environmental performance and overall competitiveness.
