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Although online reviews have become a key source of information for consumer purchasing decisions, little is known about how the concreteness of language used in these reviews influences perceptions of deception. This study aims to address this important gap by drawing on psycholinguistic research and Language Expectancy Theory to examine how and when the concreteness of online reviews (abstract vs concrete) impacts consumers’ perceived deception.

Two scenario-based experiments were conducted to examine how the concreteness of online reviews (abstract vs concrete) influences consumers’ perceptions of deception, considering the mediating role of psychological distance to online reviews and the moderating effects of Machiavellianism (Mach) and reviewer identity disclosure.

Online reviews that include concrete language lead to lower perceived deception by reducing consumers’ psychological distance from the review. For consumers with higher levels of Mach, online reviews written in abstract (vs concrete) language result in higher perceived deception via psychological distance, while for consumers with lower Mach, online reviews written in concrete (vs abstract) language result in higher perceived deception via psychological distance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to highlight the relevance of linguistic style (i.e. concrete review vs abstract review) on consumers’ perceived deception toward online reviews in the context of e-commerce.

The framework enables managers of online retailing platforms to identify the most effective strategies to decrease consumers’ perceived deception via the appropriate utilize of linguistic styles of online reviews.

This study contributes to both theory and practice by deepening knowledge of how and when the concreteness of online reviews (abstract vs concrete) affects consumers’ perceived deception and by helping managers of online retailing platforms make the most effective\ strategies for reducing consumers’ perceived deception toward online reviews during online shopping.

The purpose of the paper is to analyze the impact of involuntary frugality and deliberate frugality on the household intentions to adopt energy-efficient and energy-generating products. Additionally, the study aims to explore the role of motivation to save as a mediating factor between different types of frugality and the adoption of different kinds of energy products.

The study involved a survey of 413 households, gathering information through questionnaires from both tier I and tier II urban areas in India. The investigation used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling with Amos to explore the impact of frugality and also mediating impacts of motivation to save on the correlation between different forms of frugality (involuntary and deliberate) and the desire to acquire energy-efficient and energy-producing goods. This methodology facilitated a thorough examination of how various levels of frugality impact the uptake of sustainable energy solutions, with a specific emphasis on the fundamental motivational drivers behind these choices.

The study uncovers specific connections between various forms of frugality and the desire to embrace energy-efficient and energy-producing items. Unintentional frugality, characterized by sensitivity to prices, is shown to have a positive correlation with the adoption of energy-efficient devices but a negative association with the intention to adopt energy-generating products. Conversely, intentional frugality, distinguished by deliberate reduction actions, positively impacts the inclination to adopt both energy-efficient and energy-generating products. The results suggest that the mediating impact of motivation for savings varies depending on the type of frugality and the class of energy products being considered, emphasizing the subtle ways in which frugality influences sustainable consumption behaviors.

The contrasting effects of involuntary and voluntary frugality on the adoption of energy-efficient versus energy-generating products highlight the need to explore the underlying psychological and economic mechanisms. Future research should investigate the factors influencing the preferences of price-sensitive and deliberate frugal consumers towards this energy-efficient and energy-generating products.

Policymakers should develop specific subsidies and financial strategies for low-income households and incentive programs for conscientious consumers. Educational campaigns emphasizing the benefits of energy-generating goods and creating incentive structures with tax advantages, refunds and financial aid are essential. Companies should continue to emphasize cost savings for energy-efficient appliances and consider leasing or instalment plans for energy-generating products to appeal to price-sensitive consumers.

Literature shows that 82% of Indians prefer frugality to conserve energy through reduced consumption. However, consumer motivations for frugality vary. This study analyses the distinct impacts of involuntary and voluntary frugality on adopting energy-efficient and energy-generating products, offering a nuanced understanding of consumer behavior in sustainability—a topic underexplored in existing research. Additionally, this study investigates the role of the motivation to save as a mediator between frugality and energy product adoption, providing a novel perspective on how different frugality motivations influence different category of energy products.

This paper aims (1) to create a sense of resonance with Maida Herman Solomon and her ideas, (2) to inspire a reconsideration of current management history (the unquestioned block box of dominant figures, dominant foci and dominant practices), (3) to bring Solomon’s contributions to clinical social work into present discourse in management and organizational studies and (4) to foster recognition for Solomon in her own field of social work, as forerunner in a developing profession. Guiding this study is the question: “What are Solomon’s key contributions and why is she overlooked?”

This paper features a novel methodology, ficto-feminism. The feminism in ficto-feminism is presented as ontology, epistemology, method and mode of writing. Ficto-feminism combines polemical (or prowoman writing) with aspects of collective biography, autoethnography and fictocriticism. As such, the paper contributes to the emerging feminist tradition of writing differently. The approach is an embodied and reflexive approach that engages with history to investigate the absence of women.

Maida Solomon was an educator, researcher, practitioner and advocate. Her contributions to the development and practice of clinical social work spanned over 60 years, and yet, she is little more than a footnote in the history of the field. Her contributions include authoring and implementing graduate programming, which continues to be the taken for granted training; penning some of the most seminal works and advancing theory; introducing academic and scientific approaches, which saw the field professionalize and adopt new standards; and helping to change the way that society thought about mental health and sexual health. A confluence of factors contributes to her marginalization and neglect: gender, ethnicity, the feminized field of social work and the stigmatized focus for her practice.

The paper combines assertive autobiographical and literary strategies to foreground an overlooked female leader in the field of clinical social work, namely, Maida Solomon. Drawing on biographical material, literature, media and archival material, this paper features a fictional but truthful conversation between the present-day author/writer/historian and the posthumous, historical protagonist (Maida Solomon). In so doing, the engagement with history is both one that deconstructs while reconstructing a historical account with both aesthetic and political implications.

The study examines the intricate interplay between supplier relationship management (SRM), procurement performance, supply chain responsiveness (SCR) and competitive advantage. Additionally, the study examines the mediating role of procurement performance and SCR in the link between SRM and competitive advantage.

A research model grounded in the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory (DCT) was developed and tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Data were obtained from 122 firms in Ghana.

The study revealed that SRM has a positive and significant effect on procurement performance, SCR and competitive advantage. Additionally, SCR has a positive and significant effect on competitive advantage; however, procurement performance has a negative and insignificant effect on competitive advantage. It was also revealed that SCR partially mediates the relationship between SRM and competitive advantage but fully mediates the relationship between procurement performance and competitive advantage. Also, it was also revealed that procurement performance does not mediate the relationship between SRM and competitive advantage.

The study contributes to literature by highlighting the mediating role of SCR in influencing the effect of SRM and procurement performance on competitive advantage.

Practically, the study findings highlight the need for firms to seek, build and manage meaningful relationships with their suppliers in order to enhance their competency and capability to influence their competitive position in the marketplace.

To the best of the researchers' knowledge, no prior study has examined the effect of SRM on procurement performance and SCR. Additionally, no previous study has examined the mediating role of procurement performance and SCR on the link between SRM and competitive advantage.

This study aims to develop an entrepreneurial business model capable of addressing and preventing the exploitation and inequality that traditionally have resulted from entrepreneurship, particularly in emerging economies.

The research uses systems thinking, the first law of cybernetics, and the principles of harmony to formulate a systemic solution to the problem, which it exemplifies via six purposefully selected short cases drawn from diverse industry sectors and economies.

This paper demonstrates how the conventional model of entrepreneurship, often associated with colonial exploitation and resultant inequalities, can be transformed into a triple bottom line model—harmonious entrepreneurship – that integrates the traditional economic, eco-, humane, and social approaches and creates a synergy where profit, planet, and people are in harmony. The model challenges the profit maximisation/shareholder value doctrine of business success.

Only six cases are presented here, and there is a need for further research in different political-economic contexts and industry sectors. Also, the way entrepreneurship is taught needs to change so that it addresses the sustainability challenge in general and the problem of inequality in particular.

There needs to be a change in the entrepreneurial mindset and the way entrepreneurship is taught and potential entrepreneurs are trained if entrepreneurship is to address the sustainability challenge in general and the problem of inequality in particular.

This is a novel approach to the study of entrepreneurship and its impact on inequality that shows how it can ameliorate and/or prevent inequality, particularly in emerging economies, by adopting a more holistic approach to business success and supplanting “having and needing” with “being and caring”.

This study aims to understand the role of seeking social support in the relationship between perceived helplessness, self-efficacy and satisfaction among graduate students during the pandemic, drawing upon the transactional model of stress and coping. Graduate students are composed of nontraditional students who are considered significantly different from traditional students. Nonetheless, research has yet to explore how seeking social support contributed to graduate students’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially to the relationship between feelings of helplessness and positive mental health. More specifically, this study examined how seeking social support from others mediates the relationship between perceived helplessness and self-efficacy, academic satisfaction and general life satisfaction among graduate students.

Using quantitative data collected from 545 graduate students at a large, research-intensive university in the USA, structural equation modeling was used to test our conceptual model.

The results of this study indicate that perceived helplessness has a direct and adverse relationship with self-efficacy. Social support mediates the negative relationship between the two variables, buffering the negative psychological experience students feel and leading to higher levels of self-efficacy and two domains of satisfaction. Self-efficacy is positively associated with academic and general life satisfaction among graduate students. Academic satisfaction positively predicts general life satisfaction, as well. A conceptual model was developed, yielding acceptable goodness-of-fit statistics.

This study adds to the postsecondary education literature and contributes to the larger discourse identifying the positive role of social support in supporting graduate students to cope with psychological challenges that may be exacerbated under stressful conditions.

Online shopping has recently been evolving more toward the subject area of collaborative online shopping (COS), and customer satisfaction is one of the key determinants for the success of COS. In this study, we investigate the effect of product type and gender and their interaction with customer satisfaction through user involvement in a collaborative online shopping context.

We developed a lab experiment with a mixed two-by-two factorial design to test the proposed research model. We chose gender (male versus female) as the between-subjects factor and product type (utilitarian product versus hedonic product) as the within-subjects factor.

The obtained results indicate that collaborative shopping may require group members to be more involved for a hedonic product than a utilitarian product. When collaboratively shopping for utilitarian products, male groups tend to show a higher level of involvement than female groups. In contrast, female groups show a higher level of involvement than male groups when collaboratively shopping for hedonic products. Furthermore, our results indicate that greater involvement in COS may lead to higher satisfaction.

Websites that sell hedonic products should first adopt the design elements that support COS. Meanwhile, online sellers should be aware that the gender gap still exists as online shopping evolves toward social online shopping. In addition, COS websites should provide more design elements (e.g. co-browsing, avatar embodiment, video chat and voting tools) to stimulate user involvement.

In this paper, we employ the theory of consumption values, which decomposes COS value into the utilitarian and hedonic dimensions, as a theoretical foundation to investigate the effect of product type and gender together as well as their interactions in the COS context. The obtained findings may provide various insights and empirical evidence to improve the understanding of how to target male and female customers across different product types in the COS context.

This study aimed to identify a specific taxonomy of entry modes for international construction contractors and to develop a decision-making mechanism based on case-based reasoning (CBR) to facilitate the selection of the most suitable entry modes.

According to the experience orientation of the construction industry, a CBR entry mode decision model was established, and based on successful historical cases, a two-step refinement process was carried out to identify similar situations. Then the validity of the model is proved by case analysis.

This study identified an entry mode taxonomy for international construction contractors (ICCs) and explored their decision-making mechanisms. First, a two-dimension model of entry mode for ICCs was constructed from ownership and value chain dimensions; seven common ICC entry modes were identified and ranked according to market commitment. Secondly, this study reveals the impact mechanism of the ICC entry mode from two aspects: the external environment and enterprise characteristics. Accordingly, an entry mode decision model is established.

Firstly, sorting out the categories of entry mode in the construction field, which provide an entry mode list for ICCs to select. Secondly, revealing the impact mechanism of ICC entry mode, which proposes a systematic decision-making system for the selection of ICC entry mode. Thirdly, constructing a CBR entry mode decision-making model from an empirical perspective, which offers tool support and reduces transaction costs in the decision-making process.

The study on entry modes for ICCs is still in the preliminary exploratory stage. The authors investigate the entry mode categories and decision-making mechanisms for ICCs based on Uppsala internationalization process theory. It widens the applied scope of Uppsala and promotes cross-disciplinary integration. In addition, the authors creatively propose a two-stage retrieval mechanism in the CBR model, which considers the order of decision variables. It refines the influence path of the decision variables on ICCs' entry mode.

This paper aims to the intricate relationship between digital influencers (DIs) and their followers, aiming to develop a comprehensive framework that explains how influence works in the digital world. It focuses on understanding the cultural aspects that shape these relationships in today’s global and digital marketplace.

This study employs a holistic methodology, intertwining historical, cultural and theoretical insights to decode the DI phenomenon. Applying a Grounded Theory approach, this paper coded articles into categories, developed abstract concepts and refined them through cycles of literature collection and analysis that allowed identifing gaps in the Influencer Marketing field. This comprehensive review and inductive analysis of globalization, mediated communication and digital interactions aim to unravel the intricacies of digital and virtual influence. This paper’s theoretical development advances propositions that dissect the facets influencing digital adoption, usage, interest and value perception, leading to a detailed model of digital influence grounded in both theory and real-world examples.

This research uncovers the significant impact DIs have, driven by global connections and the way we communicate in the digital age. Historical context situates DIs within the broader narrative of mediated persuasive communication. A preliminary typology of DIs and influence contexts forms the foundation for further exploration.

This study enhances the discussion around DIs by considering the influence of technology and culture together. It draws from the thoughts of leading thinkers on how technology connects us, providing a strong foundation for future studies.

As digital influence and the surrounding technology continue to change, it’s important to think critically about these trends. This research offers valuable insights for businesses looking to navigate the digital landscape effectively, helping them make better strategic decisions about their online presence.

This study breaks new ground by offering a detailed categorization of DIs and proposing a fresh way to understand their role. It links important ideas from the past about persuasion through media to the current state of digital influence, offering insights into how digital trends might affect communication strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to report a study of public accountability within the political and economic structures that characterise Pacific nations. The authors examine audit quality with respect to Pacific Island nations’ governmental reporting to investigate ways to improve accountability in a region that is economically and environmentally challenged.

The authors examine whether audit quality in Pacific Island nations is associated with the practical arrangements of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs), taking into account external factors. The “practical arrangements” include the independence of a SAI (regarding its staffing and funding) and also the requirement for it to report to the Executive. The financial setting in each jurisdiction has been seen to impact the quality of financial reporting and auditing. The authors examine mediating factors such as income, political stability and education that may also impact audit quality. This study uses publicly available databases as well as jurisdictional annual reports and the associated audit opinions and management letters (where available). Jurisdictional reports on public financial management were also analysed.

The authors find that public sector audit quality is low in many Pacific countries, concluding that public accountability is impaired. While the authors recommend changes to the practical arrangements that can improve audit quality, the mediating factors also impact audit quality. They argue that a renewed focus on financial capability could enhance public accountability in these nations, but there are limiting factors that are difficult to overcome.

There are problems in providing accountability for public sector activities in Pacific nations. The authors suggest that improvements to the appointment and funding of SAIs to enhance their independence will help to reduce these issues.

The authors present a framework for analysing SAIs’ practical arrangements and audit quality that includes variables that may mediate the effects of these practical arrangements. They apply the model to 20 Pacific jurisdictions, showing that the practical arrangements of a SAI directly impact audit quality. Nevertheless, there are instances where audit quality is poor despite good practical arrangements, implying that mediating factors also play a substantial role in determining audit quality of a SAI.