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This paper investigates the integration of the home computer into the domestic sphere through a gender perspective on the notions of domesticity and domestication. The study is based on a series of interviews with seven British families in the late 1990s. The analysis is used to identify some of the characteristics that contribute to make the home computer domestic or undomestic, and to explore the processes of domestication. A focus on fears and anxieties around the computer as well as the emergence of myths and magical notions allows for deeper insights into the gender‐domestication “problématique”.

The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.

This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate, empirically, the value relevance of the degree of internationalization in publicly traded restaurant firms in the USA.

Data for the study were obtained from the Compustat Industrial Annual. Pearson correlation analysis, regression analysis, and Vuong's Z‐test were employed to analyze the data.

The paper has two principal findings: the degree of internationalization is positively and significantly related to market capitalization; and the relation is strong enough to cause an 18.3 percent increase in the explanatory power, in the presence of control variables.

The method of expansion might have some impact on market capitalization and this is not explicitly controlled for in the study due to data and cost constraints. Moreover, there are likely other variables affecting firms' market capitalization, but due to data constraints, they are also not included in the model.

The results indicate firms, which decide to diversify abroad, see their market capitalization changes positively with the degree of internationalization.

There are many studies that investigate the behavior of firms that diversify abroad; however, this is the first study to the authors' knowledge that examines the impact of the degree of internationalization on the stock market capitalization in the hospitality industry.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between environmental reporting and corporate governance attributes of companies in Australia.

The paper adopts a quantitative analysis approach. It examines the 2008 annual reports of the largest 100 Australian firms listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) to determine the amount of environmental reporting – these data are compared with various corporate governance measures.

Analysis found a significant positive relationship between the extent of environmental reporting and the proportions of independent and female directors on a board. The analysis did not, however, support a negative relationship between the extent of environmental reporting and institutional investors and board size as has been previously predicted, rather, it showed a positive relationship.

This paper offers insights to both regulators and company strategists. Regulators such as the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) could consider expanding its Corporate Governance Council guidelines to include consideration of the environment, which is increasingly considered to be an important aspect of corporate social responsibility, and one of the responsibilities of the board of directors. In addition, for companies which include a commitment to the environment in their mission and strategies, it suggests consideration of the impact of board structure and composition is important as both of these are shown to have a significant effect on the amount of environmental information disclosed by companies.

Right after announcing the first cases, several governments worldwide have implemented stringent measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. This disruption in individuals' daily routines transformed food consumption habits. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on food consumption, diet and food shopping behaviors in Lebanon.

The paper draws upon an online survey in Lebanon administered in Arabic and English through the Survey Monkey platform in the period of July 15—August 5, 2020, with 201 adults. The survey findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a paired sample t-test and a Phi correlation test.

The research underlined numerous key consumer tendencies that are currently affecting diet and food behavior in Lebanon. Indeed, the study outcomes suggested (1) a move toward healthier diets; (2) a rise in the consumption of domestic products due to food safety concerns; (3) a change in the grocery shopping behaviors (with a rise in online shopping); (4) a surge of food stockpiling; and (5) a decrease in household food wastage. Surprisingly, COVID-19 seems to generate several positive changes toward more sustainable and healthier consumption patterns in Lebanon.

These findings contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 on food behaviors in Lebanon, which would have several policy implications.

The findings of this first study contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 on food behaviors in Lebanon, which would have several policy implications.

Sustainability is a major challenge for India’s (Bharat’s) coal mining industry. The government has prioritized sustainable growth in the coal mining industry. It is putting forth multifaceted economic, environmental and social efforts to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This research aims to identify the factors for sustainable improvements in coal mining operations. Secondly, this study examines the intensity of causal relations among the factors. Thirdly, this study examines whether causal relations exist among the factors to be considered for sustainable improvement in coal mining operations. Lastly, the study aims to understand how the factors ensure sustainable improvement in coal mining operations.

An integrated three-phase methodology was applied to identify the critical factors related to coal mining and explore the contextual relationships among the identified factors. Fifteen critical factors were selected based on the Delphi technique. Subsequently, the fifteen factors were analyzed to determine the contextual and causal relationships using the total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) and DEMATEL methods.

The study identified “Extraction of Coal and Overburden” as the leading factor for sustainable improvement in coal mining operations, because it directly or indirectly influences the overall mining operation, environmental impact and resource utilization. Hence, strict control measures are necessary in “Extraction of Coal and Overburden” to ensure sustainable coal mining. Conversely, “Health Impact” is the lagging factor as it has very low or no impact on the system. Therefore, it requires fewer control mechanisms. Nevertheless, control measures for the remaining factors must be decided on a priority basis.

The proposed structural model can serve as a framework for enhancing sustainability in India’s (Bharat’s) coal mining operations. This framework can also be applied to other developing nations with similar sustainability concerns, providing valuable guidance for sustainable operations.

The current study highlights the significance of logical links and dependencies between several parameters essential to coal mining sustainability. Furthermore, it leads to the development of a well-defined control sequence that identifies the causal linkages between numerous components needed to achieve real progress towards sustainability.

We aim to investigate the impact of different story types on small fashion business brand trust and purchase intention, guided by signaling theory. We investigate two potential moderators – product aesthetic judgment (i.e. consumers’ responses to the aesthetic aspects of a product) and underdog positioning (i.e. brand’s positioning as a loser that is not a leader in the marketplace and has only a small market share but puts efforts into creating valuable products) – that may influence consumers’ responses to a story.

We developed video stimuli that tell business stories to empirically compare two story types bringing brand trust: identity-focused and product-focused stories. We conducted two experimental studies and tested six hypotheses with 302 datasets. Study 1 compared eco-friendly storytelling with product-focused storytelling, considering perceived product aesthetic judgment as the moderator. Study 2 repeated the experiment with a founder story and a product-focused story, considering the perceived underdog as the moderator.

The findings suggest that the influence of eco-friendly storytelling, compared to product-focused storytelling, on higher purchase intention is fully mediated by brand trust. Consumers’ perceived product aesthetic judgments toward an eco-friendly product can positively moderate the storytelling effect and brand trust. However, founder storytelling did not bring higher brand trust and, consequently, had no significant impact on purchase intention. Similarly, the perceived underdog did not moderate this relationship.

The study is novel as it is one of the first to compare story types based on story contents, whereas previous studies have focused on story delivery. Especially, we explored which story types and contents effectively build brand trust for small businesses, a critical factor for their success. Based on the extant literature, we categorized story types into identity-focused stories and product-focused stories based on contents. We hypothesized and concluded that an identity-focused story can be more effective in eliciting consumer responses. Furthermore, we confirm the critical role of brand trust as a mediator in bringing about purchase intention through eco-friendly storytelling.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between an individual's social capital context and entrepreneurship using a multi-level modelling framework.

This paper uses data from 87,007 individual level observations across 428 regions in 37 countries. The data comes from the 2010 and 2016 Life in Transition Surveys. The paper uses a principal component analysis to identify the different dimensions of an individual's social capital context. Subsequently, a multi-level model is employed examining the relationship between the components of an individual's social capital context and entrepreneurship (which is proxied by an individual's attempt to set up a business), whilst controlling for both country and regional effects.

Greater levels of networking, informal connections and tolerance of others have a significant positive relationship with entrepreneurial activity. Trust of institutions and others have a negative relationship with entrepreneurial activity. Regional and country differences are also important for entrepreneurship, demonstrating the importance of the multi-level and social contextual environment for business development.

Firstly, the authors present a broad, but comprehensive social contextual framework incorporating many measures of social capital when examining the importance of social capital for business development. Secondly, the work provides interesting results on the “bright and dark sides of trust” for entrepreneurship, answering calls for improved understandings on the positive and negative relationships between social capital and entrepreneurial activity. Thirdly, the paper extends the burgeoning but limited number of studies that examine the multi-level contextual environment of entrepreneurial activities.