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This study aims to analyse the efficiency effects of institutional distance on Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa.

The study utilised the true fixed-effect stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model. Data from 2003 to 2016 (14 years) were acquired from 42 targeted African countries, which are included in the analysis.

The results reveal that FDI flow efficiency can be maximised with a high institutional distance between China and African countries. Contrariwise, comparable institutional distance, measured by the rule of law, regulatory quality and government effectiveness between the host and home countries, reflected a significant positive impact for Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDIs), indicating Chinese MNEs can invest directly in a country with comparable institutional characteristics.

There have been limited exceptional studies that assessed the effect of institutional distance between emerging countries. However, none of these studies investigated the effect of institutional distance between China and Africa at a national level. Using the advantage of the SFA model, this study assesses the efficiency effects of institutional distance between the host and home country.

We chose to analyse Hungarian childlessness in order to map whether there is any voluntary childlessness at all in a society which is characterised by strong traditional family values and the widely accepted social norm that everyone should become a parent.

To answer to this question, we applied both quantitative and qualitative methods. First, we analysed the first three waves of the Hungarian panel survey ‘Turning Points of the Life Course’ conducted in 2001, 2004 and 2008. The focus is on men and women who were childless in 2001 and were still childless in 2008. To have a better understanding of the background of the quantitative results, we have also analysed 55 life-history interviews conducted with heterosexual men and women, who were recruited by using chain-referral sampling.

According to the qualitative findings the categorisation of childless people is quite fluid. For example, postponers became definitely childless while some originally voluntarily childless respondents became parents. However, the qualitative analysis allowed us to understand the mechanism behind this. In addition, using mixed methods also highlighted some inconsistencies between the qualitative and quantitative results.

Bibliotherapy, a therapeutic approach that uses books and reading materials to promote psychological well-being and personal growth, has become more prevalent in recent years. This scientometric study aims to provide a comprehensive view of the bibliotherapy research landscape by highlighting its evolution, trends, and noteworthy contributions using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer.

The academic literature on bibliotherapy is evaluated in-depth in this study utilizing scientometric techniques, including citation and co-citation analysis. A thorough search of the Scopus database revealed 1,703 papers between 1942 and 2023 that dealt with bibliotherapy. For data analysis, the renowned applications Biblioshiny and VOSViewer are employed.

The study reveals that the output of publications has fluctuated, reflecting scholarly interest in this discipline. The distribution of research across various countries, organizations and academic subjects is investigated further to highlight the diverse and global extent of bibliotherapy research. By analyzing co-citation networks and locating pertinent publications and authors, this scientometric method analyzes the intellectual structure of bibliotherapy research.

Bibliometric analysis enriches the theoretical understanding of bibliotherapy by unveiling the networks, influential works and existing gaps in the literature, thus guiding a more informed and collaborative approach to future research and practice in the domain.

Employing bibliometric analysis in bibliotherapy can refine practices and training programs, ensuring they are evidence-based and practical, enhancing the quality of therapeutic services provided to individuals.

It is a valuable resource for academics, practitioners and policymakers interested in the field since it offers a thorough and current assessment of the bibliotherapy research landscape. The findings of this study have the potential to steer future research, guide the development of bibliotherapeutic interventions supported by evidence and enhance the use of bibliotherapy as a therapeutic modality.

Service quality has been highlighted as the vital element in fulfilling customers' needs, which contributes to the customers' evaluation on the services given. As food truck business is increasingly popular in Malaysia, it is important for the food trucks' service provider to ensure that their service quality meets the standard to satisfy the customers in order to build customer loyalty. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between food trucks' service quality with customer satisfaction and its impact toward customer loyalty. The customer service was measured using service quality (SERVQUAL) attributes (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy).

A quantitative study was conducted to examine the influence of food trucks' service quality on customer satisfaction and its impact toward customer loyalty. A total of 100 food truck customers have been randomly selected to answer the self-administered questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using frequency, descriptive, reliability, Pearson correlation and regression analysis.

Findings indicated that three out of five attributes of service quality have significant relationships toward customer satisfaction. They are tangibles (β = 0.225, p < 0.05), reliability (β = 0.349, p < 0.05) and assurance (β = 0.311, p < 0.05). Moreover, the customer loyalty (β = 0.643, p < 0.01) has a significant relationship with customer satisfaction.

Service quality can be characterized as the discrepancy between customer service standards and actual service. When expectations are higher than performance, perceived quality is less than acceptable and therefore consumer disappointment exists which eventually decreases customer loyalty toward a product or services. The study suggested that physical image of the food trucks' service like physical facilities, how the service being performed and also courtesy and knowledge of the food trucks' employees are very important to transfer confidence and trust to customers, which then will influence them to be loyal.