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This article extends current models of how consumers judge or perceive organizations as greedy by employing the theoretical framework of motivated moral reasoning. We show that inherent features of an organization (size and “black sheep” status) and its behavior (relative frequency) bias consumer perceptions of organizational greed. We use an experimental methodology, present subjects with vignettes describing different scenarios, validate our questionnaire using confirmatory factor analysis, and test our hypotheses by employing a general linear model with covariates. Our findings suggest that consumer perceptions of organizational greed are subject to three effects: the underdog effect (Study 1, n = 496), the black sheep effect (Study 2, n = 229), and the “common is moral” heuristic (Study 3, n = 249). This is the first study to investigate greed under a motivated reasoning paradigm and to show that perceptions of organizational greed are subject to socio-psychological biases. This study also provides advice on branding and positioning strategies that appeal to the underdog status of an organization or its local origins. peerReviewed

Public relations (PR) focuses on storytelling by creating newsworthy content that will be communicated to target audiences. However, because social media has empowered individual consumers to an unprecedented level, we are no longer passive consumers of stories and some consumers have even reached influencer status where their opinions carry great authority. In the future, PR stories will shape global culture, but the Covid-19 pandemic has also alerted us to the damage caused by deliberate misinformation (e.g. the anti-vaccination movement). The digital environment — especially where PR now operates — is changing rapidly; artificial intelligence and machine learning are assisting corporations in processing vast volumes of unstructured data. Currently, trust in online communications is eroding in general, but the future of Web3 with blockchain technology may reverse this erosion by introducing new trust protocols into digital interactions. peerReviewed

PurposeFood Loss and Waste (FLW), a result of non-sustainable consumption and production, has significant socio-environmental impacts and is addressed in the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3. To address current research on FLW and SDG 12.3, the authors aim to evidence the current state of knowledge on drivers and barriers to SDG 12.3 through a comprehensive literature review.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed a multi-step systematic literature review process and retrieved 171 studies addressing SDGs, with 83 explicitly addressing SDG 12.3. The analysis involved a qualitative content analysis of studies retrieved by analyzing key findings and relationships between drivers and barriers to FLW.FindingsWhile academic research focuses on SDG 12.3 by stressing the necessity of FLW reduction, it fails to explain the drivers and barriers to minimizing FLW. The authors developed a conceptual framework to demonstrate how barriers and drivers can inhibit or stimulate the dynamics that will achieve SDG 12.3 through effective planning and management.Research limitations/implicationsThis study addressed the theoretical limitations of existing studies and clarified the critical gaps in the current literature, thereby guiding future researchers in the food supply chain (FSC) context.Originality/valueThe research to date focused on high-income countries, and future empirical studies should focus on consumption patterns, the associated drivers and barriers of food waste in low-income countries and its social impact.

The growing movement of veganism culture is drawing increasing scientific attention but falls short of an empirical investigation to examine antecedents and catalytic experiences for maintaining vegan diets. An integrated theoretical framework is proposed using the Theory of Planned Behaviour Model (TPB) and includes ethical concerns to investigate the interrelationships. Comparisons are also made by adopting the strength of high and low ethical catalytic experiences of each consumer group to identify moderating results. The proposed conceptual model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling from the responses of 478 vegan consumers. Results indicate that the TPB factors exert positive effects on the buying intention and ethical concerns mediate the relationship between attitudes and intention, as well as between PBC and intention, however, social norms did not impact ethical concerns. While consumers experiencing high catalytic experience had no significance, low catalytic experience consumers showed an inverse significant moderating relationship on PBC and maintaining vegan diets. Whereas the relationship for ethical concerns influencing the intention to buy vegan foods was significant and positive for the high catalytic experienced consumer, but not significant for the low catalytic experienced consumer. The moderating results for social norms were not significant on ethical concerns for the high catalytic experienced consumer but were negatively significant for the low catalytic experienced consumers indicating that the effect of peer pressure increase, results in a decline for ethical considerations. These findings offer strong theoretical and practical implications by contributing to the understanding of consumers’ behavioural intention to undertake vegan diets and extending our knowledge for formulating retail strategies to effectively tailor their offerings for this consumer segment.

This chapter outlines the increasing prominence of Big Data and its application to marketing practice. The 8Ps of the Expanded Marketing Mix: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Process, Physical evidence, Partnerships and People are applied as the lens in explaining the application of Big Data in contemporary marketing practice. Big Data is already guiding marketing decision-making at multiple levels, from analysing consumer buying behaviour to Internet-of-Things (IoT)-enabled devices that report on product use conditions, service requirements or processing data from manufacturing. In the future, Artificial Intelligence will become important in handling Big Data. In preparation for this, there is an urgent need for ethical design principles to be integrated into the capture, storage and use of Big Data as part of the entire data management process. peerReviewed

This research focuses on the adoption and acceptance of social assistive technologies (ATs) in the aged care context where carers provide care services to older adults. This research develops and v...

This research sheds light on community organisations and how they can shape the landscape for ecotourism sustainability. It identifies work identity attributes that involve pro-environmenta...

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify themes on international experiences that impact culture and how these findings will intervene in understanding cross-cultural training programs. Thereby an attempt is made to: evaluate cross-cultural insensitivity influences on cross-cultural shock and willingness to adapt, identify cultural impressions over a short overseas period, provide some insights on cross-cultural training that will improve training practices for cross-cultural assignments.Design/methodology/approachA diary method was used to analyze the data using NVivo. This research uses diary studies because they have been popular in identifying factors that influence learners to learn, as well as found to be productive to achieve short term experiences. They allow for in-depth analysis, uncovering several findings unlike observation and interviews that cannot reach. In addition, diary text is said to give information on areas of social reality that are not contained in the text. Following this the study used the theme category frequencies to enable us to undertake non-parametric testing of contingency tables.FindingsSeveral descriptors were identified in this study; theχ2-test indicates that there is a difference in cultural shock experiences on negative cultural sensitivity but no difference in positive cultural sensitivity which was found significant at thep=0.05 level. On the other hand there is a significant association between positive cultural sensitivity and willingness to adjust and no significant association between negative cultural sensitivity and willingness to adjust which was found significant at thep=0.05 level.Research limitations/implicationsThis research shows how learning in higher education can take into account the experiences by which learners can use their knowledge and skills for future cross-cultural training in international careers.Practical implicationsThese results can be useful in guiding vocational interests. The results of the research offer descriptors of an exploratory nature which can also be used as a reference analysis for consequent phases in cross-cultural training.Originality/valueResearch provides several descriptors on international culture such as culture shock, positive and negative intercultural sensitivity, and willingness to adapt, some of which were significant. Diary method to analyze data are used which is distinctive and unique to understand behavior.

This paper provides a theoretical framework of multi-stakeholder systems to explain value co-creation through the contextual means of actor-to-actor (A2A) interactions. In applying the A2A model, we explicate the resources provided by three actors in particular – customer, firm and social media platform in co-creating value via resource integration. The resources afforded by social media platforms positions these actors as “systems resource integrators” in both B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) contexts. The role of social media platforms as systems resource integrators is to provide a technological platform that exposes its modular resources to facilitate higher order resource formations through the active participation of non-intermediary actors (i.e. customers and firms); which otherwise limits the ability of firms and customers to realize their optimal value co-creation potential. Six propositions are derived from the conceptual framework provided in this paper. Through the higher order resource formation analogy underpinning the discussion in this paper, we argue the significance of understanding the qualities of social media resources for managers to facilitate more efficient resource configurations in the creation, transformation and renewal of resources via resource integration in actor interactions. The paper concludes with the strategic implications of the conceptual framework provided and future research directions.