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This study aims to investigate the information-seeking behaviours of home buyers – primarily owner-occupants – using digital real estate platforms, a key element in the industry’s shift towards digital services. It focuses on first-time buyers and repurchasers to examine how these platforms assist in the home-buying process and influence buyer behaviour in Taiwan.

A mixed methods approach was adopted, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to gather comprehensive data on user experiences and preferences.

The research identifies brand perception, search functionality and search results as critical factors influencing platform usage. Furthermore, it reveals an increasing demand for innovative artificial intelligence-driven search features to enhance user experience and platform convenience, reflecting evolving user expectations.

By addressing the specific context of Taiwan’s real estate market, this study provides novel insights into the interplay between digital platform features and user behaviour. The findings offer practical recommendations for improving platform design to better align with user needs.

Much prior literature has discussed bioethics from a Confucian perspective in biomedical research, but little has applied Confucianism in examining ethics in social and behavioral research involving human subjects. This paper aims to reexamine the Belmont principles in social and behavioral research from a Confucian perspective to discuss their applicability and limitations and propose implications for revising or extending them potentially in the future.

A comparison is conducted on bioethics and social and behavioral research ethics. Afterward, a critical analysis is conducted on the Belmont principles of respect for persons, beneficence and justice from a Confucian perspective regarding their application in social and behavioral research.

From a Confucian perspective, the Belmont principles are necessary but may not be sufficient to cover the width and depth of ethical issues in social and behavioral research, such as those in crowd work-based research. This paper proposes that ethical guidelines for social and behavioral research may need to be updated from the Belmont principles adopting or incorporating certain Confucian ethics.

Social and behavioral research ethics have been relatively marginal compared to the bioethics deliberation in the existing literature. Unlike Beauchamp and Childress’s continued efforts in refining ethical guidelines for biomedical research specifically, little similar work has been done in this area since the Belmont report’s publication in 1979. This paper sheds light on building more refined and specific ethical guidelines to navigate the ever-growing numbers and diversities of nonmedical research topics, methodologies and contexts.

This study integrated the service gap of the PZB model, hidden importance and Taguchi’s quality engineering to develop a new two-dimensional strategic matrix, the Hidden Importance and Relative Quality Performance (HI-RQP) model. The HI-RQP model was then used to determine the managerial implications and improvement direction of memorable dining experience (MDE) attributes of Michelin-starred restaurants (MSRs).

This study collected 619 MDE questionnaires from customers of seven MSRs.

The results reveal that the HI-RQP model comprises four quadrants. Professional and high-quality service, carefully prepared dishes, restaurant style and customer-oriented service attitude are competitive advantages that should be maintained. Conversely, taste and freshness that exceed customers’ expectations and provide extra services to customers are MDE attributes that require urgent improvement.

Besides contributing practically to the enhancement of MDE in MSRs, the findings facilitate a more plausible identification of MDE attributes by integrating various theories into the HI-RQP model.

Digital platform work monitored by algorithms is increasingly supplementing or substituting standard employment. Though gig workers are faced with the vulnerable, fragile and precarious digital platform work environment, the reason why gig workers remain highly willing to show good task performance has been so far unexamined. Building upon the reciprocity of the social exchange theory, this study aims to explore the antecedents and boundary condition of facilitating gig workers’ task performance.

First, to minimize common method variance, decline spurious mood effects and ensure data robustness, we conducted a two-wave time-lagged survey and collected 269 survey responses from gig workers on different gig platforms in China (e.g. Meituan, Eleme, Didi, Credamo, Zaihang) at two time nodes. Second, abiding by two stage procedures of the PLS-SEM (partial least square structural equation model) approach, we analyzed a moderated mediation model in the digital platform work context.

Results present that both platform work remuneration and flexibility help gig platforms develop an affective trust relationship with gig workers, thus encouraging them to repay the platform by performing platform tasks well. Algorithmic monitoring shows a “double-edged sword” moderating role since it weakens the indirectly positive relationship between platform work remuneration and task performance via affective trust but enhances the indirectly positive relationship between platform work flexibility and task performance via affective trust.

Understanding the importance of remuneration and flexibility in developing affective trust can help platforms design effective human resource management (HRM) strategies that enhance worker motivation of maintaining high engagement and performance under precarious working conditions. Additionally, optimizing the “double-edged sword” moderating role of algorithmic monitoring makes it more humanized, enhancing the efficiency with these HRM strategies and making both workers and platforms beneficial.

These findings offer an affective trust-based explanation for the mechanism of maintaining high work performance motivation in the nonstandard and precarious employment from the social exchange perspective, while understanding the (de)humanized aspect of algorithmic monitoring by revealing its “double-edged sword” moderating role.

The primary objective of this study is to unveil the relationships that interconnect ESG and three pillars disclosures with technological innovation while also investigating the moderating impact of product market competition. The paper seeks to identify the underlying mechanisms that facilitate technological innovation in sustainable management.

Using data from 8,738 Chinese firms from 2011 to 2019, this study employs quantitative analysis to examine the relationship between ESG disclosure and technological innovation and the moderating effect. Moreover, this study explores the heterogeneous impacts while considering factors such as property rights and firm size.

The findings reveal a positive correlation between ESG disclosure and technological innovation. The study also investigates the moderating role of product market competition and finds that increasing competition mitigates the positive effects of ESG disclosure on technological innovation. Additionally, the conclusions reveal that the relationship between ESG and three pillars disclosures and technological innovation, as well as the moderating role of product market competition, exhibits inconsistency across firms with different property rights and sizes.

This study offers a clear understanding of the relationship between ESG disclosures and technological innovation, and how it varies across businesses of different sizes and ownership structures. It also provides fresh perspectives on the influence of product market competition on this relationship, with implications for strategy development in corporations.

This paper aims to identify the role female body shape plays in clothing size and fit, as well as its impact on comfort and safety.

Existing issues and complaints from female clothing consumers reported within the literature were explored. Documented experiences provided justification to demystify the notion made by manufactures who market clothing for the hourglass body.

Clothing manufacturers continue to underestimate the impact of the female body in clothing design and construction. Manufacturers market the unrealistic notion of the hourglass body which often leads to wrong sizing and ill-fit. This might be responsible for the continued dissatisfaction experienced by female clothing consumers with more severe consequences in functional clothing compared to everyday clothing. For functional clothing (e.g. firefighter protective clothing), the implication could be life threating.

This review provides another perspective on the implication of the female body clothing design and production depending on the end-use: everyday versus functional clothing. In this study, the impact of the female body on clothing design and construction are discussed.

In an era marked by growing environmental concerns, businesses are increasingly recognizing the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in influencing customer behavior, particularly in the context of sustainability and green practices. This paper aims to examine the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on Customer Green Behavior (CGB) through the mediating role of corporate image, service quality, customer trust and customer satisfaction.

A convenient sampling technique was employed to collect the data sample. A total of 741 questionnaires were distributed across four different hotel sectors in China. By using Structural Equation Modeling, the results suggest that CSR significantly influences CGB. Moreover, corporate image, service quality, customer trust and customer satisfaction show a partial mediating effect in the relationship between CSR and CGB.

The study findings suggest that the hotel industry should invest in CSR initiatives to enhance CGB by conducting pro-environmental activities. This study emphasizes how important CSR initiatives are in encouraging customers to adopt eco-friendly behavior. Overall, the results of this study extend the understanding of CSR, CGB, corporate image, service quality, customer trust and customer satisfaction in the context of the hotel industry and offer theoretical and managerial implications for developing and developed economies.

The originality value of this research lies in its comprehensive examination of the mediating effects of corporate image, service quality, customer trust and customer satisfaction on the relationship between CSR and CGB in the hotel industry. Furthermore, the study’s focus on the specific context of China adds novel insights to the existing literature on CSR and CGB. Discussions, limitations and research suggestions for future study are also provided.

The paper aims to develop a cogent and coherent research instrument to measure the effect of good citizenship actions by corporations on the commitment of their employees through micro-level research (i.e. based on the perceptions of employees’ themselves).

A three-phase modus operandi has been used, where at first scale, items have been phrased from a methodical review, then arranged and finally validated by factor analysis. For this, 240 forms filled out by the top-notch executives of selected Indian family conglomerates have been analysed through a split-sample approach.

The results of exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis uncover and underpin three building blocks (employee fidelity, immersion and perseverance) and indicate 14 indicators to reflect employees’ strong commitment on account of corporation’s citizenship endeavours.

This measurement catalyst would function as a panacea while addressing the existing methodological gap (by conducting an all-inclusive micro-level exploration), conceptual gap (using the “extended view” of corporate citizenship) and contextual gap (through culture-specific examination). Also, it could complement the earlier macro-level investigations.

It would realistically support corporate practitioners in identifying how their good deeds of citizenship have been affecting the diverse sides of commitment among their most valued yet overlooked assets.

Corporate citizenship, a concept that has by now theoretical relevance for a company’s internal stakeholders and on the commitment, they manifested, can nonetheless obtain empirical significance as well through this micro-level instrument by divulging employees’ underlying facets of commitment.

This study aims to widen the understanding of how remote work shapes the feedback environment by examining the perceptions of leaders and subordinates of daily, dyadic feedback interactions. The emphasis is on understanding how reciprocity within leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships manifests and how it influences the feedback dynamics.

Template analysis of a qualitative data set consisting of 81 semi-structured interviews with leaders (n = 29) and remote working subordinates (n = 52) was performed.

Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of the feedback environment and the leader-member exchange, the findings demonstrate the imbalance between the efforts of leaders and subordinates in building and maintaining a favourable feedback environment in the remote work context. The results of this study highlight the importance of the dyadic nature of feedback interactions, calling for a more proactive role from subordinates.

Given the estimation that the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed the way organizations work, leaders, subordinates and HR practitioners will benefit from advancing their understanding of the characteristics of dyadic, daily feedback interaction in remote work.

Qualitative research on feedback and leader-member exchange interactions in remote work that combines the perceptions of leaders and subordinates is sparse.

This research investigates the complex relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU), energy consumption and institutional factors in the Gulf region. The purpose of this study is to examine how institutional factors moderate the impact of EPU on energy consumption in Gulf countries.

This paper uses the dynamic panel autoregressive distributed lag (PARDL) method, over a period stretching from 1996 to 2021 in the Gulf countries.

The results show that, only in the long term, EPU has a positive and significant impact on energy consumption, suggesting that increased EPU leads to increased energy use. Furthermore, this study found that, only in the long term, government effectiveness and regulatory quality have positive and significant effect on energy consumption. Accordingly, the two institutional factors play a moderating role in the EPU−energy consumption nexus.

This study highlights the importance of considering the time dimension when formulating energy and economic policies in Gulf countries. Policymakers should take into consideration the nature of these relationships to make informed decisions that promote energy efficiency and economic stability in the region.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study examining the relationship between EPU and energy consumption in the Gulf countries while incorporating the role of institutional factors as potential mediators.