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This paper examines the factors influencing the relocation of EUR-denominated clearing services back to EU central counterparties (CCPs) by the European Commission. It adopts a novel security-centred approach to analyse this decision within the context of a fragmented geopolitical arena marked by uneven development in financial centres. Using the theory of Geopolitical Economy (GPE), this paper examines the implications and risks associated with financial dependencies and the pursuit of autonomy in the global financial landscape. It specifically addresses the risks posed by the dominance of UK CCPs, such as London Clearing House (LCH), in EUR-denominated clearing services and emphasises the EU’s need to bolster its financial autonomy and stability, mitigating these intricate risks in this process. Through this analysis, the paper contributes to the existing literature by offering a novel understanding of the geopolitical-economic factors influencing regulatory actions within financial services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social prescribing is gaining traction internationally. It is an approach which seeks to address non-medical and health-related social needs through taking a holistic person-centred and community-based approach. This involves connecting people with and supporting them to access groups and organisations within their local communities. It is hoped that social prescribing might improve health inequities and reduce reliance on healthcare services. In the UK, social prescribing link workers have become core parts of primary care teams. Despite growing literature on the implementation of social prescribing, to date there has been no synthesis that develops a theoretical understanding of the factors that shape link workers' experiences of their role. Methods: We undertook a meta-ethnographic evidence synthesis of qualitative literature to develop a novel conceptual framework that explains how link workers experience their roles. We identified studies using a systematic search of key databases, Google alerts, and through scanning reference lists of included studies. We followed the eMERGe guidance when conducting and reporting this meta-ethnography. Results: Our synthesis included 21 studies and developed a "line of argument" or overarching conceptual framework which highlighted inherent and interacting tensions present at each of the levels that social prescribing operates. These tensions may arise from a mismatch between the policy logic of social prescribing and the material and structural reality, shaped by social, political, and economic forces, into which it is being implemented. Conclusions: The tensions highlighted in our review shape link workers' experiences of their role. They may call into question the sustainability of social prescribing and the link worker role as currently implemented, as well as their ability to deliver desired outcomes such as reducing health inequities or healthcare service utilisation. Greater consideration should be given to how the link worker role is defined, deployed, and trained. Furthermore, thought should be given to ensuring that the infrastructure into which social prescribing is being implemented is sufficient to meet needs. Should social prescribing seek to improve outcomes for those experiencing social and economic disadvantage, it may be necessary for social prescribing models to allow for more intensive and longer-term modes of support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Body shape is a critical variable influencing consumers' garment choices (Zakaria, 2017), yet research investigating how UK females with varying body shapes evaluate and experience fit is limited. Moreover, while digital methods exist to classify female body shapes, application in a commercial setting is limited. To fill this gap within the literature, this study aims to understand the influence of body shape variation on garment fit evaluations of 30 UK females aged 18–34 years. Design/methodology/approach: This study conducts a physical garment try-on session whereby 30 UK females aged 18–34 years were body-scanned and categorised into a body shape, using the Female Figure Identification Technique method. Participants verbalised their fit experiences during a physical try-on session through semi-structured interviews to gain a deeper understanding of individuals' fit appraisals. Findings: The findings demonstrate that UK females who share the same body shape classification experience the same issues when appraising dress fit, challenging Makhanya and Mabuza (2020) who found that body shape does not influence apparel fit satisfaction. The results shed light on the importance of body shape during the fit appraisal process. Research limitations/implications: Despite the contribution, future research to improve the limitations should be addressed. First, although it was necessary to investigate a UK demographic to address research gaps, the finding of this study cannot be generalised to the entire UK female population nor to other areas of the world. Hence, future research should overcome this limitation by extending this study further to other countries, cultures and ethnicities. Practical implications: The findings of the present study shed light on the role of body shape in determining satisfactory clothing fit and how females' fit experiences will differ depending on their body shape classification. Thus, fashion retailers should use this insight to better inform their promotional strategies, not only making them more inclusive but also to help assist this particular consumer segment with their clothing decisions based on their body shape. Originality/value: The present study provides an in-depth understanding of how females with the same body shape experience garment fit, contributing novel findings to the literature through a mixed-method inquiry previously lacking in this area, with a UK demographic which has not previously been explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Consumers often use various cues such as health stars and nutrition claims on product packaging to draw inferences regarding healthfulness. However, much less is known regarding the role of brand names in consumer decisions around healthfulness. The purpose of this study is to introduce angelic branding as a brand naming strategy that may act as a supernatural agent benevolence (i.e. loving, kind and merciful) prime that leads consumers to perceive that the brand's products are healthful. Design/methodology/approach: Study 1 examines the effect of angelic brand names on brand healthfulness perceptions. Study 2 investigates the mediating role of brand virtuousness perceptions on the relationship between angelic branding and brand healthfulness perceptions and the downstream consequences on purchase intention. Study 3 explores the moderating role of authoritarian supernatural agent belief (i.e. angry, vindictive and punishing) on the relationship between angelic branding and brand virtuousness perceptions, and subsequent brand healthfulness perceptions and purchase intention. Findings: The results of this study demonstrate that angelic branding results in healthfulness perceptions for a healthy product (i.e. vitamins; Study 1a), an unhealthy product (i.e. cookies; Study 1b; eliminating perceptual fluency as a potential alternative explanation for the phenomenon) and across different product categories (i.e. surface spray; Study 1c). The results from Study 2 find that angelic brand names prime brand healthfulness perceptions because of the activation of brand virtuousness perceptions (not brand quality perceptions; eliminating a general halo effect as a potential alternative explanation for the phenomenon). The results of Study 3 show that strong belief in authoritarian supernatural agents attenuates the angelic brand name–brand healthfulness priming effect. Research limitations/implications: This research is limited, as it only considers angelic brand naming and not any other benevolence cues in brand logos, such as halos and angel wings. This research is also limited in that it only considers healthfulness perceptions drawn from English angelic brand name cues and from participants within the USA and the UK. Practical implications: This study has important implications for brand managers in the development of new brand names. Angelic brand naming is suggested as a strategy for brand managers to prime perceptions of brand virtuousness and brand healthfulness and to influence consumer behavior. However, brand managers are cautioned against the use of this brand naming strategy if it is intended to mislead or deceive consumers, resulting in detrimental effects on their health. Originality/value: This research makes a unique and novel contribution to the literature in brand names on consumer decision-making. Angelic branding is introduced as a brand naming strategy that can act as a supernatural agent religious prime to influence perceptions of brand virtuousness, brand healthfulness and consumer behavioral intentions (i.e. purchase intention). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper was to determine the impact produced by Directive 2014/95/EU on companies' decisions regarding the assurance of non‐financial information statements and the quality parameters under which this service is contracted. Following an analysis based on institutional theory, the results obtained for the reports issued by an international sample of 600 multinational companies in the period 2011–2018 show that the institutional pressures associated with this Directive contributed to an expansion of the assurance market, although they had only a moderate impact on the contractual conditions of the service. Complementary analyses suggest that the adoption of a limited scope in these assurance services may reflect the conservative outlook of auditors, as providers whose service is favoured in the new scenario. Additionally, we find that the influence of this legal framework is different in the United Kingdom from that in the other European countries. The research contributes to the literature by offering a novel understanding of the behaviour of assurance providers and of the quality of the service obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We draw on insights from the fitness landscape literature and from models of firm dynamics with learning to hypothesise that: (i) firms in industries with higher company age or size heterogeneity have higher exit hazard after controlling for age, size, and a variety of other predictors of firm survival; and (ii) higher levels of R&D investment mitigate the hazard-increasing effects of industry firm heterogeneity after controlling for the direct effects of R&D intensities at industry and firm level. We test for these novel sources of selection with evidence from a panel dataset of 35,136 R&D-active UK firms from 1998 to 2012 and a range of discrete-time hazard estimators. The findings, which remain robust to multiple sensitivity checks, offer two novel contributions to the literature: (i) firm heterogeneity is not just a passive precondition for subsequent selection process in industry evolution; this heterogeneity enhances selection as more firms might be stranded in suboptimal positions; (ii) firms in more heterogenous industries can mitigate the hazard-increasing effects through R&D investment that facilitates adaptation and search for better fitness locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decade has witnessed increasing attempts to investigate and understand the concept of transition in the context of sport. Such studies have tended to focus on migratory and career transitions as experienced by individual athletes (e.g. Hickey & Roderick, 2017; Schinke et al., 2013). This paper attempts to address a gap in the literature with a novel approach predicated on two claims: first, that transition encompasses not only the spatiotemporal but also movement through social boundaries, and second, that “humans are essentially storytelling creatures” (McGannon & Smith, 2015: 80). Drawing on interview data collected from a single British university football team over a 3-year period, this work seeks to understand the transitional experiences of new players as they cross the social boundaries of the team, and illuminate how they construct, and make sense of, transitional experiences through stories. Following Ochs & Capps’ (2001) notion of “tellability”, it is argued that player story selection was not arbitrary but specifically selected as a discursive means of making sense of team transitional experiences in the overall context of their entering university. Revealing a team environment humming with laddish masculinity (Dempster, 2009; Francis, 1999), transitional experience was retold as a process of compliance and reward: compliance with laddish ideals of behaviour resulted in the reward of friendship, protection, status and place in the team’s community in the unfamiliar space of university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on human capital, intersectionality and mixed embeddedness theory, we test hypotheses on the relationship between gender differences in human capital and gender differences in nascent entrepreneurial activity across geographical space, and the moderating effect of spatially concentrated deprivation on this relationship. Using UK data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, we find that the disadvantaged position of female nascent entrepreneurs arises from social exclusion, and specifically that the gender differences in nascent entrepreneurial activity are directly related to differences in general and specific human capital across locales. Moreover, in deprived locations, women as a group do not gain from any human capital advantage they might have over men, causing a double disadvantage for women. Our results make a novel contribution to the literature on disadvantage entrepreneurship, and we discuss policy options to tackle double disadvantage in deprived locales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]