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To understand how retail companies are using TikTok, a short-form video social media platform, this study investigates the use of relationship cultivation strategies and message appeals in TikTok videos posted by the top 100 retail companies. The study also examines the extent to which these strategies influence public engagement on TikTok.

A quantitative content analysis was conducted to analyze the use of relationship cultivation strategies and message appeals by the top 100 retail companies on TikTok. The study also applied negative binomial regression to assess the impact of these strategies on public engagement.

The findings show that the positivity strategy was the most frequently used relationship cultivation strategy, followed by networking and assurance. The analysis also revealed that about half of the videos employed at least one message appeal. The use of relationship cultivation strategies and message appeals had significant effects on public engagement.

This study is one of the first to examine the role of relationship cultivation strategies and message appeals in enhancing social media engagement for companies on TikTok.

The aim of this research is to assess the impact of the motivational dimensions of slow fashion (exclusivity, equity, authenticity, functionality and localism) on environmental and socially sustainable consumption.

The necessary information to conduct the empirical analysis was obtained through an online survey administered to consumers of slow fashion. Data processing was carried out using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique.

The obtained results demonstrate that exclusivity and equity significantly influence environmentally and socially sustainable consumption. However, the results indicate that authenticity and localism only have a significant influence on socially sustainable consumption and not on environmental consumption. Furthermore, the findings also reveal that functionality has a significant impact solely on environmentally sustainable consumption.

This study is based on self-reported data collected from buyers aged between 18 and 29, commonly known as Generation Z. Future research could enhance the generalizability of the findings by conducting comparative studies involving other age groups, both older and younger, who are interested in sustainable fashion. Although existing literature suggests that this generation shows a stronger preference for products and brands that promote environmentally and socially responsible practices, broadening the scope to include other demographics could provide a more comprehensive understanding of sustainable fashion consumption.

The findings suggest the importance of developing value propositions that align slow fashion with motivational factors such as exclusivity and equity. Moreover, the practical nature of these motivational dimensions is evident in maximizing their effects on environmentally friendly behaviors, care behaviors and social responsibility. It is recommended to emphasize attributes of garment scarcity, durability, degree of personalization, provenance benefits and information on the company’s social responsibility to foster environmentally and socially sustainable behaviors.

This research contributes to a better understanding of the motivational dimensions that influence sustainable consumption measures and provides valuable information for managers in the fashion industry by clarifying the attributes that act as triggers from the consumer’s perspective.

The Australian retail industry is facing skills shortages while mature and old-age workers are experiencing high unemployment rates. This study focuses on understanding organizational inclusion and turnover intentions in the context of employee age.

Survey data were collected from 502 retail supervisors and employees.

Drawing on socioemotional selectivity theory and social exchange theory, the findings indicate: no difference in inclusive supervisory behaviors perceptions for different age groups; a significantly higher workplace social inclusion perceptions among employees aged 55 plus than among employees aged 35–44; a significantly lower turnover intention among employees aged 55 plus and 45–54 years than other age groups; a positive relationship between inclusive supervisory behaviors and workplace social inclusion and a negative relationship between workplace social inclusion and turnover intention which was stronger for older employees than for younger employees.

The findings present a business case for hiring older employees and indicate that managers need to prioritize inclusion.

This study addresses the underexplored area of employee age differences in inclusion and turnover perceptions among retail employees. It links inclusive supervisory behaviors, social inclusion and turnover intention.

This study aims to explore the South Sulawesi traditional dances in wedding ceremonies as key instruments for social identity construction, cultural heritage preservation and community-based economic growth. By examining the interplay of these dances within wedding ceremonies, the study aims to illuminate how artistic performances uphold ancestral values while adapting to contemporary social dynamics.

Amidst the forces of globalization and technological advancement, this research uses qualitative case study research to capture the cultural essence of traditional dances. Using thematic analysis, the study reveals the dynamic interplay between tradition and modernity, highlighting the roles of cultural preservation and the construction of social identities. It discusses the implication of the potential of these dances as sustainable cultural tourism products, balancing economic benefits with the need for authentic representation.

The findings reveal that traditional wedding dances in South Sulawesi serve as powerful symbols of cultural identity, with distinct dances like Tari Paduppa and Tari Lalusu being performed during specific parts of the wedding ceremonies. These dances convey values such as gratitude, respect, unity, and social hierarchy. Furthermore, the findings highlight the role of these performances in sustaining the livelihood of artists and their potential as cultural tourism products. Additionally, parents, schools and government-led festivals jointly create a supportive ecosystem that encourages intergenerational participation. Despite challenges posed by global entertainment trends, stakeholders adapt performances through selective modernization, ensuring that authenticity and heritage value remain intact.

This study highlights the resilience and adaptability of traditional wedding dances as multifaceted cultural expressions that simultaneously foster social identity, economic viability and heritage continuity. By demonstrating how local communities integrate these dances into broader educational, familial and policy structures, the research contributes to discussions on intangible cultural heritage and offers practical insights for similar preservation efforts.

Prior work has shown that the board of directors can alleviate market imperfections that lead to capital investment inefficiency. The authors extend previous work by exploring how board characteristics influence the efficiency of human capital investment, a critical production factor that has remained insufficiently examined. Specifically, this study aims to investigate how board activity, size, the presence of a separate chairman, female directors and board independence affect firm labour investment efficiency in the European context.

The sample contains 4,331 firm-year observations traded on the STOXX® Europe 600 index from 2009 through 2022. This paper applies a lagged ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to test the proposed hypotheses. It also uses a dynamic panel generalised method of moments (GMM) regression to tackle potential endogeneity concerns.

The results show that board gender diversity and the level of independent directors are positively linked to labour investment efficiency, whereas board size and meeting frequency are negatively related to labour investment efficiency. Meanwhile, the presence of a separate chairman on the board does not appear to be significantly associated with labour investment efficiency. In additional subgroup analyses, the authors find that board gender diversity mitigates managers’ inclinations towards both overinvestment and underinvestment in labour. The authors also find that the level of independent directors helps greatly in reducing the underinvestment in labour, while it fails to attenuate the overinvestment in labour. Moreover, the authors find board size to be significantly associated with the tendency to make suboptimal labour decisions, manifesting as both overinvestment and underinvestment in labour. Finally, the results show that board meetings are significantly associated with overinvestment problems, while underinvestment problems seem to be unrelated to meeting frequency.

The empirical results have implications for policymakers and market participants in Europe. Firstly, firms may improve the efficiency of their labour investments by increasing directors’ independence and adding more female voices to corporate boards. Secondly, the evidence shows that some board attributes, such as board activity and size, do not necessarily have a beneficial impact on corporate decisions, particularly labour investment decisions. Finally, market participants are likely to benefit from this paper by understanding the role of board attributes in promoting the efficient allocation of firm resources.

This paper makes two significant contributions. Firstly, it extends the literature on the role of boards of directors in shaping corporate decision-making processes, particularly concerning human capital investment decisions within European firms. By doing so, the authors provide new evidence confirming that certain board attributes, such as board size, director independence and board gender diversity, are important for optimising firms’ resource allocation. Secondly, although numerous studies investigate boards’ role in capital investment decisions, relatively few empirical studies exist on the role of boards in labour investment decisions. This paper, therefore, tries to tackle this void in the literature by investigating firms’ decision-making concerning labour investments.

This research aims to investigate the motivations of adults for postgraduate studies in Hong Kong among general master, EMBA/MBA and doctorate students, focusing on the self-actualization need under Maslow’s model. The questionnaire surveying and related statistics methods are used. The Brief Index of Self-actualization (Sumerlin and Bundrick, 1996) is applied. The findings are: doctorate students have higher self-actualization motivation than Master students; age only slightly partially supported or largely refuted to covariate with self-actualization motivation; there are no direct results to show that females have higher self-actualization motivation than males. However, on Factor 3 curiosity (Sumerlin and Bundrick, 1996) females score higher than males. As this is a factor that measures self-actualization, we could argue that females show higher self-actualization needs than males indirectly in this analysis. Fourth, there is significant support to show that income covariates with self-actualization motivation.

This research investigates the motivations of adults for postgraduate studies in Hong Kong among general master, EMBA/MBA and doctorate students, focusing on the self-actualization need under Maslow’s model. The questionnaire surveying and related statistics methods are used. The Brief Index of Self-actualization (Sumerlin and Bundrick, 1996) is applied.

The findings are: doctorate students have higher self-actualization motivation than Master students; age only slightly partially supported or largely refuted to covariate with self-actualization motivation; there are no direct results to show that females have higher self-actualization motivation than males. However, on Factor 3 curiosity (Sumerlin and Bundrick, 1996), females score higher than males. As this is a factor that measures self-actualization, we could argue that females show higher self-actualization needs than males indirectly in this analysis. Fourth, there is significant support to show that income covariates with self-actualization motivation.

The major limitation of this study is the time period is too short to conduct thorough meaningful research within actually a few months. If there is more time a more thorough study could be conducted. The second difficulty or just another major difficulty is the availability of participants. It was not expected at the beginning of the research of the great difficulty to get participants particularly reliable participants. To my surprise, the academic institutions in Hong Kong are not cooperative at all including a number of my former alma maters. They either said it is not convenient or there may be privacy problems.

This would help academic institutions to fix their course strategies, and the government determine its education policies for full-time student and adult education facilities.

This could help to encourage Hong Kong adults to pursue more studies to enhance their ability for their woks and also for promotion of their interests in life.

This is an original research that hopefully would bring new light to the topic of the research.

Business-society relations have weakened in recent years due to evidence of greenwashing and misleading corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, resulting in a lack of trust and interest amongst the stakeholders regarding CSR efficiency. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse the major antecedents and customer-related outcomes of perceived CSR authenticity. In addition, the study provides an integrated model of CSR authenticity and empirically validates the model in Indian settings.

A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data from 250 bank customers living in a major city situated in the northern part of India. The analysis was conducted using structural equation modelling.

The findings of the study demonstrate that extrinsic motives, intrinsic motives, CSR impact and corporate reputation significantly influence CSR authenticity, while CSR fit was reported to exhibit no significant influence on CSR authenticity. Additionally, the results of the mediation analysis indicated that CSR authenticity had no direct effect on customer loyalty; rather, this effect was found to be mediated through customer trust.

This study/research adds insight into the concept of CSR authenticity, which is relatively under-researched, especially in the Indian context. Furthermore, the study focuses on less-explored antecedents, including CSR impact and corporate reputation. In addition, the paper also examines the mediating effect of trust between CSR authenticity and consumer loyalty, which has not been explored yet in the context of CSR authenticity. The analysis also delved into the moderating effect of gender and age on CSR authenticity.

This study aims to examine young social media users’ differential acceptance of data-driven ad personalization depending on the types of personal data used, and to propose and test the Privacy and Trust Equilibrium (PATE) model, a new conceptual model developed to explain the intertwined nature of the competing influences of platform-related factors (privacy concern, trust, and privacy fatigue) on acceptance of ad personalization.

A survey of 440 Instagram users aged 18–24 in Australia was conducted to examine the relationships between the three factors of the PATE model and acceptance of ad personalization utilizing overt vs covert data collection methods.

This study shows the highest level of acceptance for personalization using overtly collected data and the lowest for covert data. The results also support the PATE model, revealing the competing dynamics of how the platform-related factors shape consumers’ acceptance of data-driven ad personalization. Privacy concern discourages Instagram users from accepting personalized ads, while trust encourages them. When the pushing influence of privacy concern and the pulling influence of trust form equilibrium, generating cognitive dissonance, privacy fatigue seems to play a significant role in resolving the dissonance, leading to increased acceptance.

This study advances the understanding of how concurrent push–pull-resigning factors affect young consumers’ acceptance of data-driven ad personalization practices, expanding the scope of research on data-driven personalized advertising and privacy.

This study aims to examine the impact of customer experience of cannabis-infused food and beverage perception (sensory experience, novelty experience, health concerns and restaurant experience) on favouring these products and subsequent customer citizenship behaviour.

Using a purposive sampling approach, an onsite survey was administered to Thai Gen Z customers in consuming cannabis-infused foods and/or beverages. Subsequently, the sample consisted of 330 respondents. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used for the analyses.

The results indicated that sensory experience, health concerns and restaurant experience had significant positive effects on favouring cannabis-infused foods and beverages. This favourability, in turn, positively affected customer citizenship behaviour. In addition, favouring cannabis-infused foods and beverages partially mediated the relationships between customer citizenship behaviour and sensory experience, health concerns and restaurant experience.

This study provides a new contribution to the literature with a first empirical examination showing positive favouring of cannabis-infused foods and beverages among young consumers in Thailand. It provides practical insights for managers in emerging markets to leverage cannabis-infused products as part of the enhancement of the global food and beverage industry. The study also offers an example of how to move forward through an unknown territory regarding perceptions of consumer experiences.

The current study investigates the reader demographics, appeals and reading motivations of Webtoon, a born-digital emerging multimedia reading platform that is widely available via mobile applications. This study aims to contribute to existing reader studies by exploring a novel reading platform in order to create future recommendation services.

An online survey was distributed, targeting Webtoon readers 18 years old or older. Descriptive and exploratory statistical analyses based on 1,117 valid survey responses were conducted to better understand the readers of Webtoon.

Seventy-six percent of Webtoon readers fall into the 18–33 age range, indicating the medium’s popularity among young adult readers. Among 14 appeal elements identified, Webtoon-specific appeals include visual/artistic style, sound and interactivity, time commitment, user-friendliness, and cost and price. Frequently selected Webtoon reading motivations include relaxation, changing one’s emotional state, escapism and achieving new experiences. Lastly, a cluster analysis yielded six distinctive Webtoon reader profiles: Habitual readers, emotionally-responsive readers, occasional readers, convenience-seeking readers, socially aware readers and Webtoon expert readers.

The current study adopts a persona concept from user experience research to suggest a way to understand Webtoon readers and improve recommendation services, a unique approach in reader studies. It aims to understand Webtoon readers from readers’ advisory and media studies perspectives, bridging two areas.