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The aim of this study is to profile types of gifters via a set of psychographic consumption traits (frugality, gratitude, market mavenism and novelty seeking) and identify differences among the groups regarding their gift-purchasing behavior.

Based on the data from 193 participants, the authors seek to identify and profile unique consumer segments (gifters) generated from the four psychographic consumption traits. Second, once the segments are established, the authors analyze how the segments differ across 16 unique gift-purchasing behaviors.

The data generated four distinct consumer segments: experiential gifters, considerate gifters, convenience gifters and astute gifters. Across the segments, there were differences in their gift consumption behavior (e.g. time/effort spent, desire for customization, gift presentation, derived joy, purchasing frequency, eco-friendliness, seeking assistance, regifting and more).

US-based sample was collected via an online panel in January; this may restrict the generalizability of the research, given that gift consumption customs may vary across different countries. Thus, future research should include participants from other geographic regions to increase the external validity of the research.

Retail managers can use this knowledge to devise marketing strategies focused on the gift-purchasing behaviors of each group.

Segmenting clusters based on differences in consumption traits provides insights to retailers looking to build a competitive advantage, particularly in a gift purchasing context.

This paper aims to investigate the experience of darkness on people’s evaluation of humorous taboo-themed ads and their willingness to share these ads digitally with others.

Multiple studies are conducted to demonstrate the connection between darkness and humor. Another experiment was conducted to investigate people’s willingness to share taboo-themed ads.

The results demonstrate that people in dark settings (vs light) found controversial, taboo-themed ads to be more humorous. Three studies demonstrate that people in the dark (vs light) condition found taboo-themed ads to be more humorous. More importantly, despite finding taboo-themed ads to be more humorous, people in dark settings (vs light) were less inclined to share these ads on social media platforms.

When using humorous taboo-themed ads, advertisers are encouraged to show these ads in dark settings. If the physical environment is uncontrollable, marketers may still benefit by cueing consumers about darkness (e.g. through their products) or reminding them of nightly activities which may also yield similar effects. However, the cautionary tale is that, although people in the dark may enjoy these ads, they may not be willing to share it with others.

Marketers utilize taboo-themed ads to increase consumer interest. Despite its controversial content, darkness enhances people’s evaluation toward these taboo-themed ads. However, if one of the goals of advertisers is to create an ad that is amenable to sharing, developing a humorous taboo-themed ad may not be the most rewarding strategy.

The purpose of this study is to investigate patterns in the social construction of occupational jurisdiction and related professional career identity. It examines the agency associated with framing messages that influence perceptions about the professional nature and value of retail management careers. The aim is to identify sources which produce influential messages about perceptions about retail management careers and the content of these messages.

This study utilises a qualitative research methodology (focus-group interviews) to explore the observations of people involved with the monitoring and management of career messages. Two focus groups were conducted with a) nine Canadian retail practitioners and b) seven post-secondary educators from retail management education programmes.

The focus groups identify five sources of influential messages including (1) part-time retail work experience, (2) educational institutions, (3) parents, (4) retail industry/practitioners and (5) media. They also identify three content themes presented by these sources including (1) the importance of educational requirements, (2) the nature of occupational roles and (3) the value of the career.

The significance and generalisability of the results are limited by the size and nature of the sample.

This study makes a practical contribution by identifying potential career awareness strategies.

This research makes a theoretical contribution by expanding understanding of the role of communication with career perceptions and with the related constitution of career professionalisation.

As social media platforms continue to have an increased presence in influencer marketing, researchers and practitioners are seeking ways to optimize the use of these platforms. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of brand encroachment, a level of brand's control over the promotion executed by social media influencers (SMIs), on the importance of interactivity of SMIs.

This study examined the effect of brand encroachment on interactivity whilst examining the mediating effects of both passion and personal power. The study was an online, one-factor between-subjects design comparing high level of brand encroachment vs low level of brand encroachment.

The results of the experimental study suggest that as brand encroachment decreases, there is an increasing importance of being interactive. In addition, with lower brand encroachment, SMIs portray more personal power and passion toward the product or service being promoted.

As influencers create communities via increased levels of engagement, authenticity and relatability, it is of paramount importance that SMIs build relationships through interactivity in low-brand encroachment settings. Brands should offer more opportunities for SMIs to be interactive with their audience, while intrinsically building their personal power and passion as sources for these interactions.

This study segmented consumers by combining emotional and shopping characteristics to develop typologies that classify their consumption patterns and disposal behaviors.

To identify segments of fashion consumers, an online questionnaire was administered measuring emotional and shopping characteristics, including perspective taking, empathic concern, personal distress, hedonism, and frugality. An online questionnaire involving 168 US-based participants were used to accomplish the purpose of the study. A cluster analysis was conducted to identify segments of participants based on these variables. Consumption patterns and disposal behavior, including motivation to buy environmentally friendly items, consciousness for sustainable consumption, buying impulsiveness, likelihood to follow fashion trends, and tendencies to dispose of or repair damaged or unwanted items were also measured via the questionnaire as dependent variables to be predicted by identified segments.

Three clusters of consumers were identified as: Distressed and Self-Oriented, Warm and Thrifty, and Cold and Frivolous. Distressed and Self-Oriented individuals reported the highest levels of personal distress and hedonism. Warm and Thrifty individuals reported the highest levels of empathic concern, perspective taking and frugality, and the lowest levels of personal distress and hedonism. Cold and Frivolous individuals reported the lowest levels of perspective taking, empathic concern, and frugality.

The classification of consumers into segments brings a new dimension to the field of sustainable fashion. Clusters were created according to the variables of emotional characteristics (i.e. perspective taking, empathic concern, and personal distress) and shopping characteristics (i.e. hedonism and frugality). The analysis unveiled three distinct clusters that can be utilized to develop tailored strategies to successfully promote sustainable fashion consumption.

This study aims to profile mobile users based on their need for cognitive closure (NFC) (preference for order, preference for predictability, discomfort with ambiguity, close-mindedness and decisiveness) and identify differences among the groups regarding their perceptions of personalized preferences and privacy concerns.

Based on the data from 285 participants, the authors seek to identify and profile unique consumer segments (mobile users) generated based on their NFC. Second, once the segments are established, the authors analyze how the segments differ across their personalized preferences and privacy concerns.

The data generated three distinct consumer segments: equivocal users, structured users and eclectic users. Across the segments, there were differences in their mobile personalization (experience, value and actions) and preference for information privacy (perceived risks and fabrication of personal information).

United States (US)-based sample may restrict the generalizability of this research. Thus, future research should include participants from other geographic regions to increase external validity.

Retail managers can apply this knowledge to implement appropriate personalization strategies for these distinct target groups.

Segmenting clusters based on differences in consumption trait (NFC) provides key insights to retailers looking to deliver personalized customer experience, particularly in a mobile shopping context.

The global hosting of major events is garnering increasing attention from governments. As this phenomenon expands into emerging states, where arguably the most severe inequalities exist, the question of who truly benefits from these events has not been systematically scrutinised, particularly from an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) perspective. Therefore, adopting a nuanced segmentation approach is increasingly vital to assess the diverse impacts of hosting major sporting events on varied populations. This systematic review offers a broad and exploratory investigation into how major sporting events affect communities and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds (CIDBs).

In alignment with the PRISMA guidelines, four academic databases were searched to identify peer-reviewed articles published in English-language journals from 2000 to 2023. A total of 95 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, culminating in a final sample of 14 articles in the review.

The selected articles showed moderate quality and primarily used qualitative methods. The urban theories or event leverage frameworks are frequently employed. There are four legacy/impact themes that emerged: social, economic, sport and infrastructure. The prevailing conclusion is that CIDBs tend to experience negative legacies from these events.

This research underscores the pressing need for more socially responsible and equitable approaches to event hosting. Failing to tackle these crucial issues may intensify existing inequalities and provoke significant public dissatisfaction, thereby jeopardising the overarching goals these major events strive to accomplish.

This review marks the first of its kind, offering a thorough and comprehensive synthesis of evidence concerning the legacies of major events for CIDBs.

This study aims to examine YouTube comments relevant to sustainable fashion posted on fashion haul videos over the past decade (2011–2021). It is guided by two research questions: (1) How have sustainable fashion-related comments posted on YouTube fashion haul videos changed over time? and (2) What themes are relevant to sustainable fashion in the comments posted on fashion haul videos?

A data set of comments from 110 fashion haul videos posted on YouTube was refined to only include comments with keywords related to sustainable fashion. Leximancer, a machine learning technique, was employed to identify concepts within the data and co-occurrences between concepts. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software was employed to assess the prevalence of concepts and identify sentiment over time.

Over the decade, the authors identified increased comments and conversations relevant to sustainable fashion. For instance, conversations surrounding sustainable fashion were linked to “waste” and “addicted” between 2011 and 2013, which evolved to include “environment” and “clothes” between 2014 and 2016, to “buy” and “workers” between 2017 and 2019 and “sustainable” between 2020 and 2021, demonstrating the changes in conversation topics over time.

With increasing engagement from YouTube viewers on sustainable fashion, retail-affiliated content that promotes sustainable fashion is proposed as one approach to engage viewers and promote sustainable practices in the fashion industry, whereby content creators can partner with retailers to feature products and educate viewers on the benefits of sustainable fashion.

The findings suggest that consumers are becoming more aware of and responsive to sustainable fashion. The originality of this research stems from identifying the source of this interest.

This chapter advances an articulation of the contemporary knowledge worker as an infrastructural bricoleur. The practical and pragmatic intelligence of the contemporary knowledge worker, particularly those involved in project-based work, reflects an ability to build adaptable practices and routines, and to develop a set of working arrangements that is creative and event-laden. Like Ciborra’s octopi, workers augment infrastructures by drawing on certain forms of oblique, twisted, flexible, circular, polymorphic and ambiguous thinking until an accommodation can be found. These workers understand the non-linearity of work and working, and are artful in their pursuits around, through and beyond infrastructural givens. Modern knowledge work, then, when looked at through the lens of infrastructure and bricolage, is less a story of failure to understand, a limitation in training or the shortcomings of a system, but instead is more a mirror of the contemporary realities of today’s knowledge work drift as reflected in individuals’ sociotechnical practices.

Purpose – This study tracks the legal control of the problem of substance abuse.

Methodology/Approach – The chapter explores the “natural history” of the evolution of the social construction of drug use and our collective response to it. Over the past 100 years, our understanding of drug use/abuse and the system for handling drug problems have gone through a series of changes. In the past 20 years or so, provision of treatment for drug offenders within the criminal justice system has rapidly expanded. California's recently enacted Proposition 36 (Prop 36) initiates for the first time on a mass basis the court-supervised drug treatment that began a decade earlier on a much smaller scale with the original drug courts. This chapter compares the Prop 36 program for diverting nonviolent drug offenders into court-supervised treatment with the original drug courts.

Findings – The research shows how court-supervised drug treatment has evolved from a personalized care program in the original drug courts to a mass processing operation under Prop 36. The research finds that the social problem solution of offering treatment to more drug defendants created its own unanticipated consequences and problems, including significant standardization in the operations of the court and a dilution of many useful features that defined the early drug courts.

Practical implications – “Farming out” drug defendants to probation and treatment makes case-processing and treatment potentially less effective therapeutically. The chapter raises questions about how social control can extend its domain without “breaking the bank” and what the consequences are for how social problems are handled.