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In a time of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation, critical thinking has become the most important skill for discerning false, incomplete, and outdated information and communication online. The study examines the effects of personal (gender, age, ethnicity, religiosity, and Big Five personality traits) and positional inequalities (education, occupational status, language proficiency) on critical thinking digital skills (CTDS) among generations X, Y, and Z.

An online survey was conducted among 1,495 Israeli Jews between the ages of 18 and 57, belonging to the X, Y, and Z generations.

The findings show that CTDS among Gen X were significantly lower, by a large margin, than those of the younger generations, while Gen Z reported the highest level of these skills. Multivariate analysis indicated different effect patterns of personal and positional categorical variables on CTDS. We found that the contribution of personal demographic inequalities (gender, age, ethnicity and religiosity) to the explained variance in CTDS was most pronounced in Gen Y, compared to Gen X and Gen Z. The contribution of Big Five personality traits and positional social inequalities (education, occupational status and language proficiency) to explaining CTDS was similar between Gen X and Gen Y, but much less pronounced among Gen Z.

Understanding the intergenerational differences in CTDS is crucial for tailoring educational approaches, promoting inclusivity, and harnessing the diverse strengths of each generation to navigate an ever-evolving digital landscape successfully.

First of its kind, this study combines Generational Cohort Theory with Resources and Appropriation Theory to identify which inequalities may hinder the acquisition of one of today’s most vital skills among three generations.

The study aims to examine the association between virtual communication effectiveness (VCE), leadership effectiveness (LE) and the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in the post-pandemic era.

A survey was conducted among 305 employees in the Indian IT sector using an online questionnaire. Data were analyzed using reliability, validity and moderated regression analysis.

The findings reveal that VCE is a significant predictor of LE. EI plays a significant moderating role between VCE and LE.

This study establishes the role of EI in pre-empting LE. Furthermore, it results in the advancement of improved tools for the selection, training and development of leadership talent. Research on virtual communication (VC) and EI enhances our understanding of effective leadership. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present research is one of the first to link and standardize various practices of VC, and EI to increase LE in the post-pandemic era.

Video game streaming (VGS) is emerging as an extremely popular, highly interactive, inordinately subscribed and very dynamic form of digital media. Incorporated environmental elements, gratifications and user pre-existing attitudes in VGS, this paper presents the development of an extended model of uses and gratification theory (EUGT) for predicting users' behavior in novel technological context.

The proposed model was empirically tested in VGS context due to its popularity, interactivity and relevance. Data collected from 308 VGS users and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to assess the hypotheses. Multi-model comparison technique was used to assess the explanatory power of EUGT.

The findings confirmed three significant types elements in determining VGS viewers' engagement, including gratifications (e.g. involvement), environmental cues (e.g. medium appeal) and user predispositions (e.g. pre-existing attitudes). The results revealed that emerging technologies provide potential opportunities for new motives and gratifications, and highlighted the significant of pre-existing attitudes as a mediator in the gratification-uses link.

This study is one of its kind in tackling the criticism on UGT of considering media users too rational or active. The study achieved this objective by considering environmental impacts on user behavior which is largely ignored in recent UGT studies. Also, by incorporating users pre-existing attitudes into UGT framework, this study conceptualized and empirically verified the higher explanatory power of EUGT through a novel multi-modal approach in VGS. Compared to other rival models, EUGS provides a more robust explanation of users' behavior. The findings contribute to the literature of UGT, VGS and users' engagement.

Our study aimed to verify the role of the digital economy in economic growth in Egypt and the availability of the technological capabilities of the business sector for digital transformation, based on the negative impact of the epidemic on all economic sectors in the world in general and Egypt in particular.

This was verified based on the standard Error correction package modeling (VECM) study and analysis using Xlstat 2023 and EViews 10.

The results of the study conducted during the period (1996–2022) showed that there is a co-integration relationship in the short and long term between the impact of the digital economy and economic growth. We found a positive, statistically significant relationship between the variables of mobile phone subscriptions and Internet use that had a strong positive effect. At the same time, trade openness hurt economic growth in the short term. In the long run, both mobile phone subscriptions and trade openness had a significant positive effect, and the speed of adjustment toward equilibrium was very severe, estimated at 4.7 years (1/0.21).

The work is limited to the economies of Egypt, which is part of Africa. We suggest conducting further research on evidence from other emerging and developed economies.

The results are of great importance to policymakers in Egypt as an African country, as the estimation results were positive between the digital economy and economic growth in the Egyptian economy, and this is consistent with the endogenous growth model of economic growth, which assumes that knowledge is the main driver of economic growth.

The paper documents the importance of the digital economy in boosting economic growth, which impacts social life more than the traditional digital economy, especially in times of crisis.

Based on the existing literature, this paper identified various research gaps. First, no consensus has been reached on the concept of the digital economy, and its index system is inadequate. While existing literature concentrates on examining the influence of ICT on economic development in terms of the number of Internet users, fixed broadband Internet users and mobile subscribers. These measures cannot adequately capture the broader implications of the digital economy. Furthermore, research has largely investigated the significance of digitalization in economic development and reached ambiguous conclusions.

The paper addresses the extent to which the Indian Child Welfare Act illustrates the fragmentation of power between States, tribal and federal governments. Voted in 1978 after heated debates in Congress, the act aimed at stopping the abusive placements of Native children in non-Native families, by reinforcing tribal courts' sovereignty. Because the ICWA introduced an exception in child welfare proceedings, its opponents have relentlessly attempted to have it repealed. The debates in Congress were tensed enough to foreshadow State courts' backlash against the ICWA during the following decades.

This study examines how responsible leadership drives sustainable reconfiguring in multi-tier supply chains, addressing the recognized challenges of implementing sustainable practices in complex, global value chains, particularly in the face of the management challenges posed by the high complexity of multi-tier supply chains.

Data were collected from 475 Chinese manufacturing firms between December 2023 and June 2024. Structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation was used to assess linear relationships, followed by least-squares linear regression to verify model robustness. Neural network modeling was then applied to explore potential nonlinear relationships among variables.

The study empirically confirms that responsible leadership was a direct driver of sustainable reconfiguring, and social capital partially mediated the relationship between responsible leadership and sustainable reconfiguring. In addition, it was found that in highly complex supply chains, responsible leadership has a more significant driving effect on sustainable reconfiguring, i.e. supply chain complexity positively moderates the relationship between responsible leadership and sustainable reconfiguring.

This study contributes to the field by uniquely examining responsible leadership as a driver of sustainable supply chain reconfiguration, highlighting its role in resource acquisition through social capital from a resource dependence perspective. Unlike prior studies that treat supply chain complexity primarily as a management obstacle, this research uncovers its role as a “demand driver” in sustainable reconfiguration, offering fresh insights into complexity’s strategic impact. This approach provides a novel framework for understanding the nuanced pathways through which leadership style and situational factors collectively shape sustainable practices in supply chains.

This study aims to identify perceptions of financial crime among students in six different countries.

Survey research was conducted among students in India, Iran, Malaysia, Norway, Romania and the USA to compare the ranking of perceptions.

The following three propositions for financial crime had most agreement among respondents: lack of oversight and guardianship, legitimate access to resources and heroic offender status.

Scholars involved in various countries conducted survey research at different points in time with little knowledge of each other’s survey populations and response rates.

Crime convenience and, thus, attractiveness can be addressed by focusing on propositions finding the strongest agreement in the surveys.

Agreement and lack of agreement indicate priorities in fighting financial crime.

The diversity of nations involved in survey research makes this study interesting.

This paper aims to examine how visual elements used in packaging design relate to diasporic consumer identity and influence aesthetic appreciation.

Drawing on social identity theory, research on aesthetic principles and using a mixed methods approach, two studies are conducted. Study 1 involves a qualitative exploration of the nature of diasporic consumer identity and its relation with visual design in packaging. Study 2 involves quantitative testing and calibration of this relationship and its subsequent influence on aesthetic appreciation.

Diasporic consumers from the Middle East appreciate hybrid visual designs and prefer packaging that strikes an optimum balance of visual elements (colour, shapes, patterns) from the heritage aspects of their ancestral homeland and more contemporary aspects from their culture of living. Preference for balance elicits an overall positive diasporic identity feeling that mediates the relationship with aesthetic appreciation of visual design in packaging.

These findings offer new knowledge about the role of visual design in packaging in delivering symbolic value to diasporic consumers, evidencing how diasporic consumers’ dual identities shape aesthetic appreciation and preferences for hybrid visual designs.

Provides marketing practitioners and packaging designers with a concise and contextual directive for creating visual designs that appeal to a growing segment of diasporic consumers.

This research draws on social identity theory to uncover an aesthetic cultural precept – heritage, yet contemporary – that can inform the development of packaging designs targeting diasporic consumers.

This paper aims to contribute to the ongoing methodological discussions surrounding the adoption of ethnographic approaches in accounting by undertaking a comparative analysis of ethnography in anthropology and ethnography in qualitative accounting research. By doing so, it abductively speculates on the factors influencing the distinct characteristics of ethnography in accounting and explores their implications.

This paper uses a comparative approach, organizing the comparison using Van Maanen’s (2011a, 2011b) framework of field-, head- and text-work phases in ethnography. Furthermore, it draws on the author’s experience as a qualitative researcher who has conducted ethnographic research for more than a decade across the disciplines of anthropology and accounting, as well as for non-academic organizations, to provide illustrative examples for the comparison.

This paper finds that ethnography in accounting, when compared to its counterpart in anthropology, demonstrates a stronger inclination towards scientific aspirations. This is evidenced by its prevalence of realist tales, a high emphasis on “methodological rigour”, a focus on high-level theorization and other similar characteristics. Furthermore, the scientific aspiration and hegemony of the positivist paradigm in accounting research, when leading to a change of the evaluation criteria of non-positivist research, generate an impoverishment of interpretive and ethnographic research in accounting.

This paper provides critical insights from a comparative perspective, highlighting the marginalized position of ethnography in accounting research. By understanding the mechanisms of marginalization, the paper commits to reflexivity and advocates for meaningful changes within the field.

Cultural competence has been recognized as an essential process in reducing racial and ethnic health-care disparities and improving equity in health care. Recent immigrants to Canada encounter a different and unfamiliar health-care system. This study aims to focus on examining the role of cultural competence in improving communication between immigrant patients and their health-care providers.

Using an exploratory approach, four focus group discussions with a sample of recent immigrants were conducted to gain insights from immigrant patients’ perspectives with regard to communicating with their health-care providers. The focus group discussions were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Campinha-Bacote’s Cultural Competence Model was used for this study as its theoretical framework.

The focus group findings revealed that the lack of cultural competence among health-care providers and language barriers are major issues that impact the health-care experiences of immigrant patients. Health-care organizations may use these findings to better inform their decision-making with regard to effective patient–provider communication.

This study advances the line of research that examines patient–provider communication by adding diverse immigrant patients’ perspectives. The findings can inform the design of cultural competence strategies for health-care organizations.