Entrepreneurial marketing (EM) has emerged as a critical strategic orientation for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) navigating volatile markets, yet the mechanisms through which EM is associated with environmental performance of SMEs remain theoretically underdeveloped. Drawing on entrepreneurial marketing theory, dynamic capabilities theory, the resource-based view, the natural resource-based view, and contingency theory, this study proposes and tests a two-stage capability model in which EM is linked to market agility and customer agility as parallel dynamic mechanisms that subsequently build marketing capability, which in turn is associated with environmental performance of SMEs. Market turbulence is examined as a boundary condition moderating the agility-to-capability pathways. Data were collected from 402 SME owners and managers across manufacturing and service sectors in the United Arab Emirates and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4. Results confirm that EM is positively associated with market agility, customer agility, and marketing capability, and that both agility constructs partially mediate the EM-to-marketing capability relationship. Marketing capability shows a strong positive association with environmental performance of SMEs. Market turbulence significantly strengthens the market agility-to-marketing capability and customer agility-to-marketing capability relationships, while its moderating role in the direct EM-to-marketing capability path is not significant. These findings contribute to the entrepreneurial marketing and dynamic capability literature by specifying the organizational mechanisms linking EM to environmental performance and by identifying market turbulence as a selective boundary condition that strengthens agility-driven, but not orientation-driven, capability development. Practical implications for SME managers in emerging market contexts are discussed.
The basins of former mill ponds are a common element of the cultural landscape, while soil science studies focusing on mill pond sediments remain relatively rare. One of the key properties relevant to the sustainable management of these sites is the content and stocks of organic carbon in the soils developed from the mill pond sediments. Therefore, the study aimed to analyze the total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen content, as well as its stocks in the studied soils, the share of the labile fractions of these compounds in relation to the environmental factors influencing these properties and finally their potential changes over time (stability). The obtained results confirmed that the studied soils (mostly classified as Gleyic Fluvisols and Fluvic Phaeozems) are characterized by a high amount of TOC. This manifests in the large TOC stocks in the upper 50 cm (mean = 18.1; min = 8.35; max = 35.5 kg m-2) and in the whole soil profiles (mean = 43.7; min = 10.6; max = 93.6 in kg m-2). The dissolved organic carbon share in TOC content was slightly over 1% on average (mean = 1.06; min = 0.19; max = 4.75) and the specific UV absorbance averaged about 2.40 L mg C-1 m-1, indicating the relatively large proportion of recalcitrant organic fractions and low potential for further degradation.
City image links perceptions of urban form and environmental quality to place identity and sociocultural sustainability. However, city-scale research rarely integrates visible streetscape characteristics with visitor narratives. Using Wuhan, China, as a case study, this study integrates panoramic streetscape imagery with online visitor reviews. Semantic segmentation was employed to quantify nine streetscape visual indicators, such as building interfaces, visible greenery and water, color characteristics, and visual disturbances. High-frequency term extraction and thematic coding identified four dimensions of visitor perception: cultural, aesthetic, leisure, and scientific-educational perceptions. Statistical and spatial analyses were subsequently conducted to examine the relationships between the visual indicators and these perceptual dimensions. Leisure and aesthetic perceptions emerged as the most prominent dimensions. Color harmony, water visibility, and visible greenery were positively associated with cultural, aesthetic, and leisure perceptions. Dense building interfaces and visual disturbances were negatively associated with aesthetic and leisure perceptions but positively associated with scientific-educational perception. Hotspots of cultural, aesthetic, and leisure narrative intensity were concentrated in core Wuchang and the East Lake area, whereas scientific-educational perception showed weaker overall spatial clustering, with localized hotspots in central urban areas. These findings suggest that integrating street-view imagery with visitor narratives can help identify spatially differentiated relationships between visible urban environments and city image. The proposed framework may facilitate the identification of sustainability-relevant visual resources and provide diagnostic evidence that may inform urban design and public-space management.
Ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE) is a key indicator of carbon-water coupling in ecosystems under climate change. While WUE responses to meteorological droughts are well-documented, the influence of different soil layers on WUE across vegetation types in water-limited regions remains unclear. Based on ERA5-Land soil moisture and MODIS vegetation products, this study investigates the spatiotemporal variations in soil moisture indices (SSMI) across three soil layers and their synchronous, lagged, and cumulative associations with WUE and resilience in the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TNSFP) region from 2001 to 2022. Our results showed that while the shallow and middle layers exhibited general wetting trends, the deep soil layer (100-289 cm) underwent continuous depletion in 56.01% of the study area. WUE showed weak synchronous responses to soil moisture drought across all layers, with no significant threshold effect. However, the lag and cumulative associations increased with soil depth, from 3-6 months in shallow layers to 9-12 months in deep layers, suggesting that deep-layer soil moisture may reflect longer-term ecohydrological stress and delayed ecosystem responses. Ecological resilience (Rd) differed by vegetation type. Grasslands were resilient to shallow drought but vulnerable to deep moisture deficits, while forests maintained stability under deep stress. These findings emphasize the importance of aligning vegetation configuration with soil water availability in restoration efforts, providing critical insights for sustainable water resource management and forest rehabilitation.
Training educators to integrate sustainability into their practice is crucial for the 2030 Agenda. This article presents a mixed-method design to explore perceived changes in sustainability-oriented professional identity among pre-service primary teachers following a Service-Learning intervention. The design combines an instrumental case study with convergent mixed methods and a qualitative emphasis. Core instruments include reflective diaries structured around Kolb's experiential learning cycle and a 10-item questionnaire on perceived competence development. Participants were 37 pre-service primary teachers in their fourth year of study. Inductive thematic analysis of the diaries revealed a shift from a teacher identity centred on content transmission towards one focused on facilitating experiential learning and acting as a community agent. Descriptive analysis showed mean scores between 3.59 and 4.51, with significant differences from the scale's neutral point (p < 0.001). Methodological triangulation evidenced a gap between high endorsement of the community role (M = 4.30) and lower self-efficacy in collaboration strategies (M = 3.62) and in addressing complexity (M = 3.59). The article suggests that this design offers a promising framework that may be transferable to similar teacher education contexts, potentially providing a useful tool for operationalising Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 assessment in higher education. Its strengths, limitations, and transferability potential are discussed.
