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Digitalisation, which involves the use of digital technologies in transforming an organisation’s activities, transcends just the acquiring of emerging digital tools. Having the right people to drive the implementation of these technologies and attaining strategic organisational goals is essential. While most studies have focused on the use of emerging technologies in the construction industry, less attention has been given to the ‘people’ dimension. Therefore, this study aims to assess the people-related features needed for construction digitalisation.

The study adopted pragmatic thinking using a mixed-method approach. A Delphi was used to achieve the qualitative aspect of the research, while a questionnaire survey conducted among 222 construction professionals was used to achieve the quantitative aspect. The data gathered were analysed using frequency, percentage, mean item score, Kruskal–Wallis H test, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.

Based on acceptable reliability, validity and model fit indices, the study found that the people-related factors needed for construction digitalisation can be grouped into technical capability of personnel, attracting and retaining digital talent and organisation’s digital culture.

The findings offer valuable benefits to construction organisations as understanding these identified people features can help lead to better deployment of digital tools and the attainment of the digital transformation.

This study attempts to fill the gap in the shortage of literature exploring the people dimension of construction digitalisation. The study offers an excellent theoretical backdrop for future works on digital talent for construction digitalisation, which has gained less attention in the current construction digitalisation discourse.

A “state-driven” approach suggests that colonists use census categories to rule. However, a “society-driven” approach suggests that this state-driven perspective confers too much power upon states. A third approach views census-taking and official categorization as a product of state–society interaction that depends upon: (a) the population's lay categories, (b) information intellectuals' ability to take up and transform these lay categories, and (c) the balance of power between social and state actors. We evaluate the above positions by analyzing official records, key texts, travelogues, and statistical memoirs from three key periods in India: Indus Valley civilization through classical Gupta rule (ca. 3300 BCE–700 CE), the “medieval” period (ca. 700–1700 CE), and East India Company (EIC) rule (1757–1857 CE), using historical narrative. We show that information gathering early in the first period was society driven; however, over time, a strong interactive pattern emerged. Scribes (information intellectuals) increased their social status and power (thus, shifting the balance of power) by drawing on caste categories (lay categories) and incorporating them into official information gathering. This intensification of interactive information gathering allowed the Mughals, the EIC, and finally British direct rule officials to collect large quantities of information. Our evidence thus suggests that the intensification of state–society interactions over time laid the groundwork for the success of the direct rule British censuses. It also suggests that any transformative effect of these censuses lay in this interactive pattern, not in the strength of the British colonial state.

By market capitalisation, Bitcoin, which debuted in 2009, is the biggest cryptocurrency globally. A decentralised ledger system called blockchain is used in the creation, distribution, trading, and storage of Bitcoin, with the original goal being to address the shortcomings of fiat currency. This chapter highlights potential dangers and legal concerns when Bitcoin interacts with the actual economy and the traditional financial system. Besides, the details also discuss the platform’s design principles and attributes for a non-technical readership. When assessing its transactional potential, some recognise its potential for speculation, while others are doubtful of its admirable intent. The write-up also explores the potential of the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Southeast Asia due to the vast adoption of Bitcoins in countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines following the establishment of cryptocurrency technology and e-commerce. In addition, rankings of the cryptocurrency and legal stance from each country in Southeast Asia were exhibited as the solid foundation of cryptocurrencies existent for transaction purposes. The rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and the future directions of Bitcoins were also highlighted in this write-up to spur the debate on whether cryptocurrency remains a fad of sensation or is legalised as the medium of exchange in an ever-growing digital world of commerce.

This pilot study aimed to evaluate the impact of the big five personality traits on user engagement with chatbots at the early stages of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption.

The pilot study involved 62 participants segmented into two groups to measure variables including engagement duration, task performance and future AI usage intentions.

The findings advocate for the incorporation of psychological principles into technology design to facilitate more tailored and efficient human–AI collaboration.

This pilot research study highlights the relationship between the big five personality traits and chatbot usage and provides valuable insights for customizing chatbot development to align with specific user characteristics. This will serve to enhance both user satisfaction and task productivity.

This chapter provides a historical overview of European colonialism, detailing how nations like Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands began their colonial endeavors in the 15th and 16th centuries, driven by exploration and trade motivations. These nations established vast empires through maritime exploration, setting up trading posts and colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The chapter outlines these early powers’ distinct colonial practices and legacies, highlighting Portugal’s focus on Brazil, Spain’s exploitation in the Americas, and the Netherlands’ trading empire. The chapter also examines the later colonial efforts of France and Britain, which became prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries. These countries utilized different methods, including the encomienda system and casta hierarchy in Spanish colonies, and the civilizing mission and divide-and-rule tactics in British colonies. The chapter discusses how these practices were justified through ideologies of racial superiority and the civilizing mission, deeply embedding racism and social hierarchies into colonial rule. Additionally, the chapter addresses the colonial ventures of Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, and Germany. It covers Denmark’s settlements in the Caribbean and Greenland, Sweden’s short-lived colonies and involvement in the slave trade, Italy’s brutal regime in Africa, Belgium’s horrific exploitation of the Congo under King Leopold II, and Germany’s late but impactful colonial period marked by the Herero and Nama genocide.

This paper aims to propose an instrument for measuring social commerce among entrepreneurs from the USA, Mexico and Colombia.

The methodological design was quantitative, explanatory, observational and transversal, where a sample of 1,644 entrepreneurs from the USA (n = 525), Mexico (n = 608) and Colombia (n = 510) was obtained. For the validation and reliability of the instruments, a structural equation model (SEM) was developed for the three studies carried out. Regarding the goodness and adjustment indices of the SEM in the three countries, they turned out to be acceptable.

Through the results obtained in the three studies carried out, it has been verified that the instrument of social commerce in its two factors: Marketing and Market Participation, has sufficient validity and statistical reliability. Likewise, it has been verified that both the manifest variables and the latent variables of the construct show a significant relationship between the three studies carried out in different populations.

The findings obtained in the presented study contribute to entrepreneurs, leaders and managers of the business sector to improve the entrepreneurial project through marketing and market participation of the product and service, as well as the business unit that seeks to position itself in the market. Likewise, it helps entrepreneurs to understand analytically and systematically the constructs that social commerce is made up of, which will help entrepreneurial leaders reduce or control their risk when considering social commerce in their entrepreneurship, achieving the success of the entrepreneurial project through its positioning in the market considering marketing and market participation as main factors of social commerce.

The findings are relevant and of great value to the literature because at present there is not enough research that is focused on the variables analysed related to social commerce in the contexts of the USA, Mexico and Colombia. The relevance of the present scale in comparison to others proposed by the literature is that the proposed scale is focused on entrepreneurs who seek to be more successful through the positioning of their business unit, product or service in the market through the market participation. It is achieved through marketing strategies. Another contribution provided by the present study lies in the methodological robustness of the scale and its analysis, comparing it with studies in three leading entrepreneurship countries in Latin America, comparing the validity and reliability as well as the goodness of fit indices of the proposed model in each of the studies. They were significant and very similar, so the proposed scale is of great value and usefulness in the literature.

This paper aims to analyze brand loyalty and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) antecedents in restaurants: (1) utilitarian and hedonic benefits, (2) brand satisfaction and (3) brand love. It also provides valuable knowledge through the comparison between positive and negative restaurant experiences.

A survey was carried out of restaurant satisfied and dissatisfied consumers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and multi-group analysis (MGA) were performed to examine the cause-and-effect relationship in both groups.

The results show the relevance of benefits, brand satisfaction and brand love as causes for brand loyalty and e-WOM. Also, these relationships are significantly stronger for dissatisfied consumers than for satisfied ones.

The outcome of the research provides new insights to develop a conceptual stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model of consumers’ restaurant behavior by drawing comparisons across satisfied and dissatisfied ones.

This study aims to examine how the nuclear energy issue was used for advertising purposes at the dawn of the atomic era in Spain.

Newspapers and magazines from the atomic era were reviewed to assess the impact of nuclear energy on advertising campaigns for all kinds of unrelated products. This study interprets the message and information contained in several marketing campaigns from the detonation of the first nuclear bomb in 1945 until the inauguration of the first nuclear facility in Spain in 1968.

Private companies leapt at the chance to use the new technology, with its promises of a brighter future, to promote their products, including watches, Venetian blinds, anisette, chocolates, pencils and fountain pens, spa resorts, books and encyclopaedias, laundry detergents, pressure cookers, concentrate feeds and hair restorers. This study makes a major contribution to the history of marketing literature, focusing on nuclear energy as an influential agent in industry, advertising agencies and popular culture. It shows how advertising campaigns used terms such as “nuclear”, “atomic” and “atomic bomb” and images of mushroom clouds or atom symbols to denote modernity and allure and explores how government policies – in this case, concerning nuclear energy – can influence marketers and advertisers.

The paper’s originality stems from its analysis of Spanish advertisements to explore marketing history through the terms and imagery associated with nuclear energy and its industry. It further contributes to the understanding of how nuclear energy is represented and conceptualised for various purposes in popular culture.