Advances in Social Sciences and Management

Maritime Terrorism in the Indian Ocean Region: Evolving Threats, Emerging Technologies, and Strategic Responses

Md. Ataus Samad Raju — 2026-09-08

Over the past two decades and more, maritime terrorism in the Indian Ocean Region has evolved from relatively limited ac-tivities such as hijackings and coastal damage into a more complex and technologically sophisticated threat that increasingly endangers global sea lines of communication and maritime trade. Today, terrorist groups exploit advanced navigation sys-tems, cyber tools, unmanned platforms, and transnational criminal networks, often operating through unprotected choke-points and fragile coastal governance structures, while also associating with piracy and organized crime. Although numerous regional and international responses, including naval collaboration, maritime domain awareness initiatives, and coun-ter-terrorism frameworks, have been implemented, they remain fragmented and largely reactive, limiting their effectiveness against an adaptive threat environment. The study therefore emphasizes the need for an all-inclusive and forward-looking maritime security strategy grounded in multilateral cooperation, legal harmonization, technological unification, capacity development, and socio-economic growth of coastal communities to ensure long-term stability in the Indian Ocean maritime domain.

From Athletics Scandals to Student Relationships: The Roles of Response Credibility and University Reputation

Geumchan Hwang — 2026-09-10

This study examines how college students evaluate university responses to college athletics scandals by integrating Situational Crisis Communication Theory and relationship management theory. Using survey data collected from 491 U.S. college students and structural equation modeling, the study investigates the relationships among scandal perception, perceived credibility of a university’s scandal response, university reputation, and relational satisfaction. The findings indicate that students’ perceptions of athletics scandals positively influence the perceived credibility of the university’s response. In turn, response credibility significantly enhances university reputation, which subsequently strengthens students’ relational satisfaction. The results highlight the critical role of credible crisis communication in protecting institutional reputation and fostering positive stakeholder relationships during athletics-related crises. By extending crisis communication research to the higher education athletics context, this study offers both theoretical contributions and practical implications for university administrators seeking to develop effective communication strategies during organizational crises.

The Empathetic Leader: Exploring the Role of Emotional Awareness and Perspective-Taking in Effective Leadership

Mercy Asaa Asiedu — 2026-09-10

Empathy is increasingly recognized as an important capability for effective leadership, yet its underlying processes remain conceptually fragmented. This conceptual paper examines how emotional awareness and perspective-taking jointly shape empathetic leadership and contribute to leadership effectiveness. Drawing on a structured integrative review and conceptual synthesis of leadership, organizational behavior, and workplace empathy literature, the paper identifies emotional awareness and perspective-taking as distinct but complementary capabilities. Emotional awareness enables leaders to recognize employees’ emotional states, while perspective-taking helps leaders interpret those experiences from the employee’s viewpoint. The synthesis further indicates that empathetic leadership can strengthen trust, respect, psychological safety, and the quality of leader-employee relationships. However, empathy does not automatically improve leadership outcomes and must be accompanied by context-sensitive managerial judgement. Based on these insights, the paper proposes a conceptual framework linking emotional awareness and perspective-taking to empathetic leadership, leader-employee relationship quality, and leadership effectiveness. Four propositions are developed to guide future empirical research. The paper contributes to leadership literature by conceptualizing empathy as a dynamic relational process rather than a single leader trait and offers practical implications for leadership development, training, and organizational practice.