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E‐Government programs often address problems such as institutional ineffectiveness, lack of transparency, or social exclusion. Financial exclusion and people's reliance on ineffective payment methods appear to be a well‐known problem world‐wide. Yet, despite the large number of related case studies and academic reports on the topic, little is understood about the impact governmental payment practices have on the financial behaviour of citizens. Few investigations address how governmental use of payment methods and related policies may impact citizen/consumer behaviour. Through investigating the move to E‐Payment based methods to replace the dominant use of cash and cheques in social welfare in Ireland, the purpose of this paper is to explore the recipient's view of this government project.

The research is organized as an intrinsic case study where the unit of analysis is one large project. It aims at a rich description of one particular case by analysing data collected from two main sources of evidence: preliminary investigation is done by reviewing relevant documents, while primary data collection involved face‐to‐face surveys of social welfare recipients (using a short, structured questionnaire augmented with a few open‐ended questions).

The planning and execution of E‐Government programs often face barriers of mostly social and historical nature. As the results of this research indicate, these barriers might be hard to overcome as they are the result of certain behaviours and attitudes rooted in people's daily experience, such as their daily financial reality. Results also imply that the choice of an adequate E‐Payment method and migration scenario by governmental agencies will be crucial to the outcome. Implementation and education will also be critical.

This study reports on the influence governmental decisions related to social welfare payment methods may have on recipients' financial habits regarding the choice of payment options. It also shows how recipients' everyday experience and financial reality determine the way they relate to payment options.

Simon Cowell, the impresario behind The X Factor, a popular television talent show, has often been compared to P.T. Barnum, the legendary nineteenth century showman. This paper aims to examine the alleged parallels in detail and attempts to assess this “Barnum reborn” argument.

Putative parallels between the impresarios are considered under the aegis of two long‐standing, if contentious, historical “theories”: time's cycle and the great man thesis.

Seven broad similarities between the showmen are identified: vulgarity, hyperbole, rivalry, publicity, duplicity, liminality and history. In each case, the arguments pro and con are explored, as is humanity's propensity to personify.

In accordance with the iconic literary critic Harold Bloom, who “strikes texts together to seek if they spark”, this paper strikes two celebrated showmen together to generate historical sparks.

In contemporary American society, conflicts between the community and the individual seem to have been intensified. This is believed to be a direct result of the lack of community values, which go beyond individual values. One of the ancient Chinese classics, the I‐Ching or Book of Changes, explains clearly the need for the consideration of community in the determination of the appropriateness of individual actions. This paper addresses those hexagrams in the Book that relate to the issue of community values.

The call for consumption reduction behavior has been getting more attention from scholars and practitioners. However, the consumption reduction often receives backfire from consumers because it does not follow the business philosophy of demand creation. Thus, this research dissolves this issue by using a holistic corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach regarding sustainable development.

A conceptual model was developed to represent the proposed relationships among the related variables. The current study employed an online survey to collect data from 341 international program students of three prominent universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The findings indicate that the perception of the holistic CSR negatively impacts perceived corporate hypocrisy, triggering in turn brand credibility, resulting in brand advocacy and mindful consumption behavior.

This research forms a holistic CSR including economic, environmental and societal dimensions and proposes that the holistic CSR triggers brand advocacy and mindful consumption behavior representing consumption reduction behavior via the mediating roles of perceived corporate hypocrisy and brand credibility. These findings contribute to theoretical and managerial implications in CSR practices with the aim of consumption reduction.

The study examined the role of collective self-esteem (CSE), online communities, green attitudes and the influence of celebrities on green clothing involvement and consequently its impact on green clothing purchase behavior of Indian consumers.

A mix of convenience and random sampling was used for data collection via an online survey. The sample (n = 403) comprised consumers having awareness about green clothing. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for analysis.

Online communities, green attitudes and influence of celebrities predicted green clothing involvement and in turn their purchase behavior. CSE had no impact on consumers' green clothing involvement.

The findings can help green apparel manufacturers and designers to use celebrities and online communities to educate and promote the benefits of green clothing. Social media can be employed to share experiences and engage consumers about green clothing.

Since online networking sites are gaining predominance in influencing behavior, the study extends the earlier research on social influence by examining its role along with celebrities and CSE on green apparel involvement and purchase. The study combines celebrities, online communities and collective identity influences (offline and online) in predicting green clothing purchase in India.