Vol. 10, No. 2-3, June – September 2026
Editor-in-chief:
Prof. Johannes (Joost) Platje
Deputy Editor-in-chief
Prof Kazim Baris Atici, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
Co-Editor:
Prof Ali Emrouznejad, University of Surrey, United Kingdom
Dr. Wim Westerman, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Vol. 10, No.2-3, June – September 2026, 7-53
Received: 5.08.2026, Revised: 23.08.2026, Accepted: 23.08.2026
Slavery and Slave-raiding in Africa in the Nineteenth Century: economics, ethics, amnesia and downplaying
Author: Hans VISSER
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Aim: The General Assembly of the United Nations on 25 March 2026 adopted a resolution declaring “the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity”. Leaving the political rhetoric of “the gravest crime” to one side, I note that the history of slaving and slave-hunting in Africa was completely neglected, as was the Islamic involvement in the African slave trade and slave employment (and the role of Western traders in the Islamic slave trade as well.). This paper seeks to fill these gaps by offering an overview of slavery and slave-trading in nineteenth-century Africa and the place of African slavery in the global economic system.
Research methods: It is a study in economic history that is not content with relating the bare facts but also tries to uncover the motives and excuses of the actors for their actions. Emphasis is on the nineteenth century. It pays attention to the plight of the enslaved and to the arguments used by Muslims, Christians and Jews to justify slavery. A short account of the practices around manumission and emancipation is followed by a report of the attempts to end slave raiding, slave trading and slavery and of the motives for rejection of slavery.
Findings: It is true that in the Western world people more and more are aware of the sins of the past, but mostly with regard to the Atlantic slave trade. There is furthermore little awareness of the fact that Western actions against slavery in Africa seamlessly morphed into the Western colonisation of Africa Africa is singled out because it arguably suffered more than other continents, in the sense that slave-raiding and slavery led to a larger scale of depopulation than elsewhere.
Implications of the research: Ignorance of the facts may foster moral superiority both among Muslims critical of the Western slave-trading past and among non-Muslim Westerners critical of resistance in the Islamic world to the abolition of slavery. Highlighting this history is also important in view of attempts by white-supremacist groups to downplay the horrors of slavery. The article therefore argues for a fuller confrontation with the past.
Keywords: Slavery, Africa, Middle East, Trade and Labor Market Interactions, International Migration, Colonialism, Coercive Labor Markets
JEL Codes: F16, F22, F54, J47, N35, N37
Vol. 10, No.2-3, June – September 2026, 55-80
Received: 28.08.2026, Revised: 15.09.2026, Accepted: 23.09.2026
Finished but Unshippable: how buyer-specified packaging becomes a factory’s hidden bottleneck
Author: Syed SYYEDUZZAMAN
Independent Researcher, Bangladesh
Aim: Contract manufacturers compete on delivery reliability but rarely control the packaging their buyers specify. This study examines how buyer-controlled specifications convert packaging from a material cost into a constraint on supplier capacity and shipment readiness.
Research methods: A retrospective embedded single-case design at a Bangladeshi ceramic tableware manufacturer triangulates a two-year management-account comparison, a ten-month carton-expenditure schedule, a channel-capacity workbook, order-level carton records and a controlled buyer standard. Evidence types are classified separately.
Findings: Packing materials reached 10.31 per cent of revenue and 34.4 per cent of raw-material cost; a separate schedule placed carton expenditure at 11.25 per cent. One buyer’s planning model assigned 3,000 pieces per day to online packing and 12,000 to shopline packing, a fourfold difference. Exception records show finished goods waiting for late, incorrect or unstarted cartons.
Originality/value of the article: The paper develops the specification-induced capacity tax, capacity consumed by required, correctly executed work that another firm controls, and treats packaging as a shadow production technology governing when output becomes shippable.
Implications of the research: Suppliers should plan configuration-adjusted packing capacity, place packaging readiness on the order’s critical path and record product-ready, packaging-ready and despatch dates. Buyers should assess the capacity implications of their specifications.
Limitations of the research: This is one retrospective case: the capacity workbook is a planning model, the accounts are not customer-specific and the exception files lack a denominator. The study bounds a mechanism; it estimates neither prevalence nor causal magnitude.
Keywords: packaging logistics; buyer-supplier governance; capacity planning; e-commerce fulfilment; shipment readiness; specification management; supply chain coordination; emerging-market manufacturing
JEL: L23, M11, L14
Vol. 10, No.2-3, June – September 2026, 81-99
Received: 27.07.2026, Revised: 23.09.2026, Accepted: 24.09.20266
Quiet and Passive Quitting in Relation to Work Engagement: a cross-validated SEM analysis
Authors: Marcin NOWAK
Poznan University of Technology, Poznań, PolandMarta PAWŁOWSKA-NOWAK
Poznan University of Technology, Poznań, PolandPiotr OSMAŃSKI
Poznan University of Technology, Poznań, Poland
Aim: To assess whether acceptable in-sample structural equation model (SEM) fit is retained in held-out employee data and to propose a normalised generalisation gap (NG) index for reporting relative fit deterioration.
Research methods: Repeated 10 × 10 cross-validation was applied to CAWI survey data from 1,040 employees in Poland. A model linking quiet quitting and passive quitting to work engagement was estimated on training folds and evaluated with RMSEA on training and test folds.
Findings: Mean RMSEA increased from 0.076 (SD = 0.002) in training folds to 0.143 (SD = 0.014) in test folds; mean NG was 0.89 (SD = 0.20). The systematic gap shows that stable in-sample fit does not imply adequate out-of-sample fit.
Originality/value: The article provides a transparent, descriptive indicator for complementing conventional SEM fit reporting with held-out-sample evidence. The proposed interpretive bands for NG_RMSEA are provisional, have not been empirically validated, and should not be used as established cut-offs.
Implications: Researchers and HR analysts should report train-test fit deterioration rather than rely exclusively on a single-sample fit.
Limitations: The evidence is based on one cross-sectional Polish sample, internal cross-validation, and RMSEA alone; the proposed NG bands are provisional and require simulation and external validation.
Keywords: quiet quitting, passive quitting, work engagement, SEM, machine learning. JEL: M12, M54, J28
