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This article explores brand positioning and authenticity within the global-local continuum, utilizing the evolution of the Italian rock band, Måneskin, as a case study.

Employing Greimas’s (1987) semiotic framework, I analyze social media and media articles on Måneskin’s success, unveiling consumer perceptions of global, local and intermediate brand positionings and related authenticity dimensions. I particularly uncover a narrative centered on “global” versus “local” brand positioning and their counterparts (i.e. “not global” and “not local”), forming a semiotic square.

In the “global” perception, the band is evaluated in terms of conforming to global standards, while, in the “local” understanding, the emphasis shifts to connections to local roots. In the “glocalization” perspective (global and local), the band’s activities are assessed concerning an integration between global conformity and local connections. The “glalienation” viewpoint (neither global nor local) is related to consistency, in the sense of being unique and avoiding a commitment to either global or local values. The data also highlight issues of inconsistency regarding brand positioning’s contradictions, such as the band’s incoherently merging local and non-local elements.

The proposed structural semiotics approach enriches previous theories by examining authenticity within global-local dynamics, offering insights into various authenticity dimensions and their interplay. It underlines shifts in authenticity perceptions and challenges binary brand positioning, advocating for strategic placement across the global-local continuum. Moreover, it emphasizes leveraging cultural elements and semiotics to effectively communicate authenticity.

The governance of our towns and cities requires an approach that connects people with nature and places. Digital technology can be the glue that does this, if it serves the needs of the various stakeholders, including urban communities. It means identifying the potential connections across people, digital, and place themes, examining successful approaches, and exploring some of the current practice (or lack of it) in spatial planning and smart cities. This can be considered using a range of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies with other methodologies which combine the use of socioeconomic and environmental data about the urban environment. This ambient domain sensing can provide the ecological and other data to show how digital connectivity is addressing the placemaking challenges alongside providing implications for urban governance and communities.

The advent of mixed reality technologies in e-commerce presents marketers with numerous challenges in effectively harnessing these technologies to influence desired consumer behaviours. This paper explores the role of mixed reality in facilitating reality congruence, with the goal of enhancing e-service quality and fostering customer engagement. Through an exploration of the affordance actualization theory within the context of human–computer interaction frameworks, the study examines how mixed reality aligns virtual experiences with real-world perceptions, thereby improving service interactions and contributing to a more immersive and engaging customer experience.

A survey-based research methodology was utilized to examine the sample of 346 participants drawn from e-commerce users, focusing on the conceptual model delineating interrelations among various constructs. Data analysis was conducted employing both symmetric (structural equation model) and asymmetric analysis (fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis).

E-service quality assumes a central role in enhancing reality congruence, thereby facilitating the development of interconnected trait associations such as trust and commitment, which are conducive to customer engagement. Additionally, the findings confirm the validity of the conceptual model through fsQCA analysis, indicating that reality congruence and trust collectively serve as robust predictors of customer engagement. However, it is noteworthy that reality congruence alone does not offer significant predictive insights into customer engagement outcomes.

Based on the findings, reality congruence, supported by mixed reality (MR), is essential for e-commerce service providers to induce customer engagement. The practical implications of this study suggest the need for e-commerce service providers and integrative technology designers to engage customers in a digitally connected and intensively competitive era.

Examining the phenomenon of user experience in a mixed reality virtual shopping environment to enhance engagement in centennial consumers is an original approach.

Competencies for leadership in higher education have begun to emerge in the literature. Yet to better equip future leaders in higher education, the use of a learning taxonomy may serve as a framework to understand necessary learning for leaders in higher education. The aim of this study is to explore the competencies of higher education leadership through Bloom’s knowledge, skills and attitudes framework.

An explanatory case study qualitative methodology was used to explore the experiences of senior leaders within a singular university to determine the necessary competencies of leadership in higher education. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants who served in Dean-level or higher positions. Eligible participants participated in a semi-structured interview.

Each of Bloom’s domains had a variety of themes emerge: knowledge (2), skills (6) and attitude (2).

Sample size was limited by the availability of senior leaders and may not represent the experience of leaders at all institutions.

Findings from this study may allow future researchers to investigate the outcomes of a combination of competencies. Findings from this study will hopefully be able to be extrapolated to better understand the learning required of those who aspire to be future leaders in similar university structures.

Available studies fail to explore the process by which one learns the skills necessary to become a leader in higher education. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to map higher education leadership competencies through a learning taxonomy.

Sustainability features in the national and local policies of many countries, but there is often a lack of clarity about what it means in practice. Interpretations of sustainable development (or sustainable cities and places) vary widely between different countries and social, economic, political, and environmental actors and interest groups influenced by underlying values and specific contexts. Considering the already-felt impacts of rapid climate change and ecological breakdown, continuing with business as usual will add more pollution, resource depletion, and lead to economic and societal turmoil under a massive shift or collapse in ecological and climate systems. A significant factor in past and current policy failures is that “weak” rather than “strong” sustainability models have been adopted laced with a voter-enticing rhetoric yet delaying painful (to the current status quo), but essential, changes in production and consumption and a shift in focus away from profit toward human and ecological well-being. This requires clear and ambitious legal, regulatory, and policy frameworks, yet also flexible approaches and “agency” of citizens, employees, employers, and politicians for transformation across different geographical and institutional levels, moving away from competition and greed, making room for experimentation and creativity and old and new forms of collaboration and sharing. Relevant concepts, principles, examples and critiques can be gleaned from the ecological economic, social–ecological transformation, and planning literature, offering direction for the kinds of shifts in placemaking to achieve social and environmental justice and well-being.

Richard Nixon and his advisors were aware of the inherent economic problems of wage–price controls: suppressed inflation, shortages, biases, avoidance, cheating, etc. Nixon's secret White House tapes reveal that Nixon disliked controls, never expecting them to extinguish inflation but only agreed to them to deflect attention from devaluation of the dollar. The political popularity of his controls changed his view of them, even producing a second freeze on retail prices in 1973. Importantly, the tapes reveal that Nixon pushed for inflationary monetary policies long after his 1972 reelection. Federal Reserve Chair, Arthur Burns, seemingly capitulated to Nixon's pressures by restraining interest rate increases in Federal Open Market Committee meetings. Politics won out over economics. Nixon and his advisors avoided addressing the reason for increasing inflation – the monetary expansion that Nixon pressured Arthur Burns to pursue in support of his 1972 re-election – an expansion that continued long after the election. This tragic policy failure was avoidable had the administration focused on controlling the true cause of the inflation.

This study aims to understand the relationship among the anthropomorphic features, perceived authenticity on customer engagement and electronic word of mouth using the integration of realism and trust theory in the context of virtual influencers (VI). This research also investigates the moderation of brand familiarity on both focal aspects of trust (cognitive and affective), anthropomorphic cues and perceived authenticity.

A mall-intercept survey approach was used to collect the responses using a structured survey from 377 respondents from India. The proposed model was tested using structural equation modelling.

The findings indicate that physical and cognitive anthropomorphic features and perceived authenticity influence cognitive trust. However, affective trust is only influenced by perceived authenticity. Apart from this, higher levels of trust in VI contribute towards higher customer engagement and lead to sharing electronic word of mouth. Finally, brand familiarity moderates the relationship between emotional cues and affective trust.

The popularity of VI is driving companies to redesign their marketing strategies. Due to the limitations of human influencers, companies are allocating budgets for VI-based marketing strategies. However, it is still unclear how consumers perceive VI as a brand endorser and what would be its implications. This study suggests that consumers are looking for anthropomorphic cues such as physical, cognitive and emotional cues of humanness in the VI, along with authentic content shared through them to instil their trust. Once the trust is built, consumers will be engaged and say positive things about VI.

This study fills the gap by examining how anthropomorphic features and perceived authenticity contributed to both dimensions of trust (cognitive and affective), further enhancing customer engagement and electronic word of mouth. This research also examined the moderation of brand familiarity on the relationship between trust and its antecedents.