Orientation: Rewards are integral to keeping employees happy, efficient and engaged in their work. Thus, the engagement of academic staff within higher education institutions has become a top priority for organisational productivity and competitiveness. Research purpose: This study investigated the impact of total rewards on work engagement among the academic staff at a South African higher education institution. Motivation for the study: Engagement of academic staff is vital as higher education institutions are influential in the country’s development. Literature, however, has shown that most studies on total rewards and work engagement focus on sectors such as financial institutions, the mining industry and others. However, few reports have been on total rewards and work engagement in higher education. Research design, approach and method: This study employed a cross-sectional survey design, following a quantitative approach. From a population of 100 academic staff, 74 respondents responded to a self-administered questionnaire. Main findings: The results show a positive relationship between two dimensions of total rewards (work-home integration and quality work environment) and work engagement. However, no relationship was found between base pay, benefits, performance and career management, and work engagement. From the five dimensions of total rewards, a quality work environment was the only significant predictor of work engagement. Contribution: The study provides theoretical contributions through new literature and possible recommendations. The study may guide management in developing a rewards strategy that can promote staff work engagement.

Since its introduction to China from India, Chan has become a Buddhist school with Chinese characteristics. In the process of its development, because of its tenet of “special transmission outside of the doctrine that does not establish words and letters”, Chan school encountered difficulties in realizing the practice of living. In recent years, Buddhist masters have made many contributions to the development of Chan School. Master Xuyun’s advocacy of Chan philosophy and practice made it possible to popularize Chan in people’s lives. Master Xuyun’s initiatives to promote the development of Chan School have filled out a complete picture of the history of Chan Buddhism.

Increasing number of smart cities, the rise of technology and urban population engagement in urban management, and the scarcity of open data for evaluating sustainable urban development determines the necessity of developing new sustainability assessment approaches. This study uses passive crowdsourcing together with the adapted SULPiTER (Sustainable Urban Logistics Planning to Enhance Regional freight transport) methodology to assess the sustainable development of smart cities. The proposed methodology considers economic, environmental, social, transport, communication factors and residents’ satisfaction with the urban environment. The SULPiTER relies on experts in selection of relevant factors and determining their contribution to the value of a sustainability indicator. We propose an alternative approach based on automated data gathering and processing. To implement it, we build an information service around a formal knowledge base that accumulates alternative workflows for estimation of indicators and allows for automatic comparison of alternatives and aggregation of their results. A system architecture was proposed and implemented with the Astana Opinion Mining service as its part that can be adjusted to collect opinions in various impact areas. The findings hold value for early identification of problems, and increasing planning and policies efficiency in sustainable urban development.

This study offers a focused examination on Xinfang system, China’s unique mechanism particularly on its ability and efficacy in mediating land disputes between farmers and governmental bodies for social governance purposes. Based on interviews with 10 farmers, the study elucidates the system has low entry barriers and user-friendly, thus fast becoming the preferred system option when dealing with land conflicts. Xinfang facilitates direct communication between farmers and government officials, thereby in line with the sociocultural conventions of the rural populace. The study also highlights several constraints. While the Xinfang system employs a multifaceted approach to conflict resolution, including negotiation and grassroots governmental intervention, it lacks legislative power and institutional authority that are required for effective management of more complex or multi-stakeholder land disputes. The study advocates for a comprehensive reassessment and subsequent reform of the Xinfang system, focusing particularly on its mechanisms and procedures for dispute resolution. Such reforms are not merely instrumental for the more robust safeguarding of farmers’ land rights, but also for enhancing the overall integrity and public trust in China’s legal and administrative frameworks.

Today urban development lacks ecological foundations in many cities of Turkey. The purpose of this study is to reveal the relationship between urban green spaces and ecological zones in the sample of Aksaray/Turkey. In this study, a study design has been created to improve the urban ecological infrastructure and to associate the green space network with the ecological zones. This design is divided into four parts as data processing, landscape pattern of urban green spaces, analysis of the spatial boundaries of urban natural ecological zones, and determination of the importance of spatial regions by overlaying two different stratified analyses. This study proposes a methodological framework that can be integrated into efforts to identify ecological zones to increase the sustainability of urban ecology and green space quality. One potential limitation of the proposed methodology can be the lack of consensus and enthusiasm among the administrative actors regarding the issue. Therefore, it is recommended that the administrative bodies should be correctly informed by the relevant scholars and practitioners who are working on the subject.

Knowledge transfer, assimilation, transformation and exploitation significantly impact performing business activities, developing innovations and moving forward to new business models such as transferring to a circular economy. However, organizations’ decisions or willingness to transition to a circular economy are very often also influenced by the external environment. The study aims to determine the influence of the external environment on the transfer from a linear to a circular economy while mediating knowledge assimilation. The quantitative research involved 159 Nordic capital companies operating in Estonia and Lithuania. The survey has been performed by means of the CATI method. The analysis has been done also by applying structural equation modelling (SEM). In order to perform mediation analysis, IBM SPSS and a special PROCESS macro have been used. The study showed that knowledge assimilation partially mediates the relationship between the external environment and the transfer to the circular economy. Hence, the external environment’s direct effect is much more significant than the indirect. The added value of the study also consists in extending the concept of circular economy by including some aspects of absorptive capacity and the external environment.