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The purpose of this study is to extend the Fraud Diamond Theory to celebrity Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) and investigate their post-Initial Public Offering (IPO) stock market performance.

After obtaining a sample of celebrity SPACs from the Spacresearch.com database, fraud risk characteristics were obtained from Lexis Nexus searches. Buy and hold abnormal returns were calculated for celebrity SPACs versus a small-cap equity benchmark for time intervals after IPO, and multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between fraud risk features and post-IPO returns.

Celebrity SPACs exhibit Fraud Diamond characteristics and significantly underperform a small-cap stock portfolio on a risk-adjusted basis after IPO.

This study only examines celebrity SPACs that conducted IPOs on the NYSE and NASDAQ/AMEX and does not include those that are traded on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB).

Celebrity endorsement of SPAC vehicles attracts investors who may not be properly informed regarding the risk characteristics of SPACs. Accordingly, investors should be warned that celebrity SPACs underperform a small-cap equity portfolio and exhibit significant elements of fraud risk.

The use of celebrity endorsement as a marketing device to attract investment in SPACs has regulatory implications.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to examine the fraud risk characteristics and post-IPO performance of celebrity SPACs.

The purpose of this paper is to present an optimisation of four-point star-shaped structures produced through additive manufacturing (AM) polylactic acid (PLA). The study also aims to investigate the compression failure mechanism of the structure.

A Taguchi L₉ orthogonal array design of the experiment is adopted in which the input parameters are resolution (0.06, 0.15 and 0.30 mm), print speed (60, 70 and 80 mm/s) and bed temperature (55°C, 60°C, 65°C). The response parameters considered were printing time, material usage, compression yield strength, compression modulus and dimensional stability. Empirical observations during compression tests were used to evaluate the load–response mechanism of the structures.

The printing resolution is the most significant input parameter. Material length is not influenced by the printing speed and bed temperature. The compression stress–strain curve exhibits elastic, plateau and densification regions. All the samples exhibit negative Poisson’s ratio values within the elastic and plateau regions. At the beginning of densification, the Poisson’s ratios change to positive values. The metamaterial printed at a resolution of 0.3 mm, 80 mm/s and 60°C exhibits the best mechanical properties (yield strength and modulus of 2.02 and 58.87 MPa, respectively). The failure of the structure occurs through bending and torsion of the unit cells.

The optimisation study is significant for decision-making during the 3D printing and the empirical failure model shall complement the existing techniques for the mechanical analysis of the metamaterials.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, a new empirical model, based on the uniaxial load response and “static truss concept”, for failure mechanisms of the unit cell is presented.

This paper aims to focus on evaluating what cultural, heritage, and historical resources exist in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and how these resources can advance tourism development and marketing.

This study bases its approach on tourism development field research conducted in the RMI, first in 1989‐1990 for the entire nation and in 2002 for Bikini and Rongelap Atolls. Current literature sources provide an expansion of the previous studies.

Tourism in the RMI sees only a few thousand visitors annually, with many participating in diving and sport‐fishing. Significant potential exists to attract cultural heritage visitors, but to date few such efforts exist. Construction and sailing of traditional outrigger canoes and rediscovery of ancient Micronesian way‐finding techniques represent two important culture resources for potential tourism marketing.

Field research includes only the atolls of Majuro (the national capital), Bikini, and Rongelap, with updates from published studies and information on the internet. The RMI has many cultural heritage resources, but more effective marketing programs are necessary, including integrated marketing among the numerous atolls, Marshall Islands Visitor Authority, and the RMI central government.

Tourism development for the RMI will consist of niche markets. Beyond current diving and sport‐fishing, various artifacts of previous eras in the RMI and the Marshallese culture may provide additional opportunities to increase the level of tourism.

This study of cultural heritage tourism development in the RMI provides information about which little is written. This study offers a framework for use in other island destinations in the Pacific and elsewhere.

The emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected organizations differently, leading to adopting alternative business operation models, including digital technologies. The rapid adoption of digital technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates how adaptive technologies intersect with human and social institutions in potentially risky or inequitable ways. However, the sustenance of the digital transformations (DTs) induced by the COVID-19 crisis is still unclear. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the sustenance of DTs accelerated by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic response in the Tanzanian context amid the crisis.

The study used a qualitative approach that included a literature review and semi-structured interviews with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) personnel from selected public institutions in Tanzania. The interviews elicited interviewees’ perspectives on the following: the digital revolution that occurred during the COVID-19 outbreak; how it affects their work; and the country’s future digital landscape. Additionally, a literature analysis established and generalized the practices used by the governments during the COVID-19 crisis.

The results show that there is enormous, colossal press toward adopting digital solutions. The use of digital technologies, such as digital payments, e-commerce, telemedicine and online education, has attracted the attention of businesses and individuals in Tanzania. Consequently, the move has enabled the country to cope with the cascading impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and progressive economic recovery to achieve its development goals. Furthermore, the findings offer policy strategies for taking the induced DTs to the next level and sustaining it.

This study reports the lessons from the DTs induced by COVID-19 and their sustenance. It also contributes toward forward-thinking reforms and policy measures that could help Tanzania and the likes harness the DTs'’ potential in the wake of the pandemic.

This cross-sectional study (1) described the views and practices of a national U.S. sample of high school coaches on the education and training of team captains in leadership; and (2) examined if their views and practices differed as a function of leadership behavior and coaching efficacy. Results of 255 online surveys showed nearly 90% of coaches thought formal captain leadership development programs were beneficial; only 12% used such a program. Coaches with higher character-building and motivation efficacy more strongly endorsed the intentional education and training of their captains and perceived fewer barriers to this process. These findings encourage coaches, others working directly with scholastic athletes, and leadership educators more broadly to leverage and examine sport, including captaincy, as a valuable leadership development opportunity for youth.

This study assessed the intergenerational influence of family socialization, specifically, nurturant fathering – the affective quality fathers provide children through warmth and acceptance – to explore how individuals initially connect with a sports team to become team-loyal.

Data were collected via an online survey from respondents self-described as college football fans who selected their “Favorite NCAA Division I football team.” The 623 respondents subsequently selected their biological father's favorite team. An intergenerational “match” between father and child served as the dependent variable. Step-wise logistic regression assessed the relationship that team loyalty, nurturant fathering, and their interaction had on the intergenerational matching of a father's favorite team.

Team loyalty had a significant, positive relationship with an intergenerational match. A positive but weak direct relationship was found between nurturant fathering and a favorite-team match. However, nurturant fathering significantly moderated the relationship between team loyalty and intergenerational match. This suggests that the quality of a father-child relationship during the child's formative years can facilitate team loyalty to a team favored by the father.

The strength and quality of the relationship between a father and his children through nurturant fathering during their formative years can facilitate mutual team loyalty toward a college football team if not directly, then indirectly, through an interaction effect with a parent-socialized, team-loyal child.

College athletic teams, and sports properties in general, should address the bond between fathers and their children to take advantage of the intergenerational transference process identified in this study through targeted, family-focused sports marketing. More specifically, university athletic departments should engage in marketing efforts that encourage and solidify the mutual loyalty fathers and children may have to their father's favorite football team. The outcome would be a competitive advantage that leads to the cultivation of long-lasting fans from generation to generation.

College football teams and sports properties in general should engage in father-child marketing promotions to encourage and enhance the intergenerational influence of fathers on their children with respect to the father's favorite team. However, while building future team loyalty among the children, these marketing promotions and the resultant father-child game attendance concurrently reinforce the father-child relationship. This ideally leads to a virtuous cycle of parental bonding and team loyalty.

This study extends research in intergenerational influence in a sports setting by introducing the construct of Nurturant Fathering and its scale to the sports marketing literature. The results found that a nurturing father can facilitate the formation of a mutual team loyalty between a father and his child with regard to the father's favorite football team. Extant research has focused on the behavioral elements of loyalty (e.g. attendance and revenues). This study's focus was on the attitudinal aspects of team loyalty. It empirically identified, at least in part, how individuals initially connect with a sports team to become team-loyal.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual model for the transformation of big data sets into actionable knowledge. The model introduces a framework for converting data to actionable knowledge and mitigating potential risk to the organization. A case utilizing a dashboard provides a practical application for analysis of big data.

The model can be used both by scholars and practitioners in business process management. This paper builds and extends theories in the discipline, specifically related to taking action using big data analytics with tools such as dashboards.

The authors’ model made use of industry experience and network resources to gain valuable insights into effective business process management related to big data analytics. Cases have been provided to highlight the use of dashboards as a visual tool within the conceptual framework.

The literature review cites articles that have used big data analytics in practice. The transitions required to reach the actionable knowledge state and dashboard visualization tools can all be deployed by practitioners. A specific case example from ESP International is provided to illustrate the applicability of the model.

Information assurance, security, and the risk of large-scale data breaches are a contemporary problem in society today. These topics have been considered and addressed within the model framework.

The paper presents a unique and novel approach for parsing data into actionable knowledge items, identification of viruses, an application of visual dashboards for identification of problems, and a formal discussion of risk inherent with big data.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a prologue to the issue of development in Africa and the critical need to build capacity through investment in people.

The paper reviews relevant literature on the seminal issues of defining human development, promoting human development in Africa, new development deal for Africa and investment in human capital as key to human development. In addition, the paper provides a brief overview of the articles focusing on capacity building in Africa. Literature pertinent to the topic of development in Africa is provided.

Understanding the meaning of development and human development in particular is not only a necessary but a sufficient condition to designing strategies and policies aimed at promoting human development in Africa. As established in this guest editorial, Knowledge, entrepreneurship and the mastery of information and communication technologies in this century should become Africa ' s best competitive advantage. Instead of people in Africa being consumers of knowledge they should strive to produce knowledge based on their indigenous, cultural, political and socioeconomic perspectives. To do this, African governments must be willing and able to invest in quality education.

This paper introduces this special issue on capacity building for Africa ' s development. It reviews the literature on the meaning of development and human development, promoting development in Africa, new development deal for Africa and investment in human capital as key to human development and it gives an overview of the five papers included in this special issue.

The main purpose of using technology in the delivery of virtual learning programs in higher education in Africa is to ensure access and equity as a strategy to develop human resources. Examining how specific educational innovations in higher education are working is necessary. The purpose of this study is to examine the World Bank ' s education policies in Africa with special focus on AVU Kenyatta University Project. In addition, the paper seeks to critically examine the use of information technology (IT) distance learning project initiated by the World Bank in Kenya. The project served as an important pioneering role to eLearning in Africa.

To achieve the primary purpose of the study, a critical analysis of relevant literature was conducted. The literature search included computerized search of accessible and available material on AVU and distance education in Africa.

The results of the study show that AVU ' s design and implementation in Africa was initially flawed like many other World Bank education projects. While distance learning should lower costs of higher education, this was not the case. The AVU project was initially faced with challenges, but, over a period of 16 years, the Africa Region is now considered one of the most dynamic e-learning markets on the planet. The continent has witnessed increased digitization of universities, booming enrollment in online higher education and the rapid adoption of self-paced learning.

The concept of virtual learning if appropriately applied could be of great benefit to universities and students in Africa. Thus, design and implementation of innovations in education should be grounded in the relevant theories of learning and should involve educational experts.

There are limited studies that focus on the issues of access, efficiency, equity and use of innovative technologies in the design and successful delivery of virtual learning courses in African universities, hence the importance of this study.

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed safety measures in every industry, including the construction industry. Thus, the construction companies have instituted safety measures at the construction sites to curve the disease’s spread among the workforce. This paper aims to examine the challenges encountered by construction firms in implementing COVID-19 safety measures at construction sites.

A qualitative research approach was adopted for this study using open-ended interview questions to solicit data from 19 construction professionals currently working on a construction project in South Africa. Content analysis with the assistance of an Excel spreadsheet was used to analyse the data collected.

The findings indicate that there are numerous challenges such as ignorance of COVID-19, the supply of poor personal protective equipment (PPEs) by contractors, lack of compliance, sanitising construction materials, difficulty in sharing tools and equipment, public transport usage by workers, superstition (COVID-19 is for a particular group of people), complying with social distancing rules, among others in the implementation of the COVID-19 safety measure at the construction site to curb the spread of the disease among the workers. These challenges have, therefore, hampered their effort to strictly adhere to the safety measures in accordance with the COVID-19 safety protocol at the project sites currently under construction.

The interviewees were construction professionals working in the South African construction industry during the COVID-19 period.

The implication is that, due to the challenges faced in implementing the COVID-19 safety measures, workers on the construction site are not adequately protected from contracting COVID-19. The workers may thus contract the disease at the project sites and transmit it to their families and vice versa, which may have further implications on the spread of the disease within the communities and society.

The study has identified implementation challenges of the COVID-19 safety measures at construction sites of which the construction stakeholders must institute measures to overcome since COVID-19 has become part of our daily life. The study also recommends some preventive measures to the owners of construction companies to help overcome or minimise these COVID-19 safety implementation hurdles to minimise the spread of the disease among the construction site workers.