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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought dramatic life changes to consumers. From the perspective of fashion shopping, this study aims to provide an understanding of how consumers have coped with the pandemic to maintain their physical and mental well-being.

Utilizing an observational research method, this study extracted and analyzed text data from Twitter, focusing on fashion consumption-related tweets posted by consumers in May 2020. Content analysis was employed to reveal consumers' coping strategies during the pandemic.

Through fashion shopping, consumers have employed various strategies to cope with the problems incurred during the pandemic as well as the associated emotional stress. Specifically, problem-focused strategies included both active coping and restraint coping. Emotion-focused strategies included positive reinterpretation, acceptance, mental disengagement and seeking social support.

Theoretically, this study provides empirical evidence for the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) Inventory in the context of using fashion shopping as a venue to cope with a pandemic. Managerial implications are also provided for the fashion industry as well as human service providers to better prepare for future public health crises.

This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by empirically investigating the impact of digital competitiveness and technology on corruption under the moderating effect of some cultural and economic control variables and providing evidence on the links between corruption and various cultural dimensions at the country level.

The cross-sectional sample covers 61 countries (41 high-income and 20 lower-income countries) during the 2016–2020 period, and the analysis was carried out for both the full sample and the subsamples.

The results provide clear evidence supporting the hypothesis that digitalisation and technology significantly affect the perceived level of corruption under the moderating role of cultural framework and economic development. Furthermore, the most significant cultural dimensions of corruption are individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence versus restraint, even if, in some cases, its influence might be felt differently when the results are estimated on subsamples. Thus, in the case of indulgence versus restraint, high-income countries with higher indulgence scores would register higher scores for the corruption perception index and thus a better control of corruption, while for lower-income countries, the more indulgent these countries are, the weaker the corruption control will be. Furthermore, our results validate a powerful and significant correlation between the index of economic freedom and corruption in both digitalisation and technology.

This study may have relevant implications for policymakers who need to recognise the role of digitalisation and technology in the fight against corruption but considering the cultural and economic characteristics specific to each country.

To the authors' knowledge, the relationship between digital competitiveness, technology and corruption within an economic and cultural framework, while highlighting the differences between high-income and lower-income countries, has not been previously documented in the literature. Thus, this article argues that the level of digital competitiveness and the adoption of technology would significantly impact the level of perceived corruption, although this impact could be felt differently by countries in the high-income category compared to countries in the lower-level income category.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of varying cultural dimensions, according to Hofstede, on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance before and during the COVID-19 crisis.

This study examines the moderating impact of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions on the relationship between CSR and firm performance. The database comprises 36,295 firm-year observations from 2,135 firms operating in civil law countries.

The findings confirm that CSR investments have a positive impact on firm performance both before and after the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, it becomes evident that cultural dimensions play a moderating role in the CSR–firm performance relationship. The crisis has generated a shift in perspective, emphasizing the advantages of CSR in terms of reputation and financial well-being in the post-crisis environment.

The significance of this study lies in its examination of the relationship between CSR and firm performance within the framework of Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory, before and during the COVID-19 crisis.

Environmental philosophies have guided cultures throughout history and continue to do so. This paper uses a framework of environmental philosophies drawn from history and the present, to analyse contemporary corporate environmental reporting. The purpose of this paper is to interrogate the philosophical underpinnings of corporate reporting allows for a nuanced understanding of the relationship between corporate activities and nature, and in so doing demonstrates the moral practices of accounting for nature.

Three themes are extracted from a historical review of western environmental philosophy: dualism, transcendence and interconnectivity. These themes are applied to a sample of corporate environmental reports through discourse analysis, enabling the illustration of otherwise obscured moral characteristics of the corporate relationship with the natural environment.

This paper uses environmental philosophies to better understand some of the implicit messaging of corporate environmental reporting. Evidence of each of the three themes is found in a sample of environmental reports, predominantly dualism and interconnectivity.

Understanding that accounting is not just a technical, but also a social and moral practice expands the way the authors can interpret the outcomes of accounting. By presenting an exemplar of how accounting practice such as the corporate sustainability report can be analysed through a moral lens, this paper offers new insights intentioned to inform a more meaningful approach to environmental reporting.

A novel framework to explore the corporate sector’s relationship with the natural environment is presented. In light of current and predicted environmental changes, much of which has been attributed to the impact of corporate activities, the importance of a detailed explication of this relationship – such as the one proposed here – becomes imperative.

This paper aims to investigate the direct and combined impacts of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and conservative orientation (CO) on perceived business performance (PBP) of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under strategic-hybrid orientation (SHO) theory.

The data collected from the SABI NEO international database has 90 companies in 13 medium-to-high and high-tech activity sectors. The authors used partial least squares structural equation modelling to test the research model.

Business strategies match a SHO that includes both orientations, i.e. EO and CO. Moreover, as expected, the authors found evidence that each orientation produces performance-related sign-opposite significant impacts. Finally, the hypothesis regarding the positive synergistic effect of both orientations (EO and CO) on PBP was also supported.

One stems from the study’s cross-sectional nature, requiring a longitudinal approach. Another one resides in the absence of further examinations concerning multigroup analysis. Another restraint is the limitedness of data, focused on firms with med/high-tech intensity. For last, while the use of results in the initial stages of theory development can be beneficial, it is important to note that such results cannot be simply extrapolated or generalized to other industrial sectors without careful consideration of the contextual factors at play.

This study humbly endeavours to contribute to the finality of SMEs’ more steady and prosperous existence concerning the consciousness of the need to improve labour stability and wage fairness, conditions such as requiring a continuous commitment.

In this study, the authors aimed to investigate the impact of SHO on SMEs’ PBP. To this end, the authors simultaneously used two different strategic orientations (SOs): EO, which is widely studied in the literature, and CO, which has been less researched. The authors also examined their synergistic effects on PBP. The authors’ approach is based on Venkatraman’s strategic orientation of business enterprises model and the comparative paradigm of SOs.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings and leverage manipulation and the moderating effects of internal and external supervision.

The authors draw on a sample of Chinese non-financial A-share-listed firms from 2013 to 2020 to explore the effect of ESG ratings on leverage manipulation. Robustness and endogeneity tests confirm the validity of the regression results.

ESG ratings inhibit leverage manipulation by improving social reputation, information transparency and financing constraints. This effect is weakened by internal supervision, captured by the ratio of institutional investor ownership, and strengthened by external supervision, captured by the level of marketization. The effect is stronger in non-state-owned firms and firms in non-polluting industries. The governance dimension of ESG exhibits the strongest effect, with comprehensive environmental governance ratings and social governance ratings also suppressing leverage manipulation.

Firms should strive to cultivate environmental awareness, fulfil their social responsibilities and enhance internal governance, which may help to strengthen the firm’s sustainability orientation, mitigate opportunistic behaviours and ultimately contribute to high-quality firm development. The top managers of firms should exercise self-restraint and take the initiative to reduce leverage manipulation by establishing an appropriate governance structure and sustainable business operation system that incorporate environmental and social governance in addition to general governance.

Policymakers and regulators should formulate unified guidelines with comprehensive criteria to improve the scope and quality of ESG information disclosure and provide specific guidance on ESG practice for firms. Investors should incorporate ESG ratings into their investment decision framework to lower their portfolio risk.

This study contributes to the literature in four ways. Firstly, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is among the first to show that high ESG ratings may mitigate firms’ opportunistic behaviours. Secondly, it identifies the governance factor of leverage manipulation from the perspective of firms’ subjective sustainability orientation. Thirdly, it demonstrates that the relationship between ESG ratings and leverage manipulation varies with the level of internal and external supervision. Finally, it highlights the importance of governance in guaranteeing the other two dimensions’ roles by decomposing overall ESG.

We attempt to construct a grey three-way conflict analysis model with constraints to deal with correlated conflict problems with uncertain information.

In order to address these correlated conflict problems with uncertain information, considering the interactive influence and mutual restraints among agents and portraying their attitudes toward the conflict issues, we utilize grey numbers and three-way decisions to propose a grey three-way conflict analysis model with constraints. Firstly, based on the collected information, we introduced grey theory, calculated the degree of conflict between agents and then analyzed the conflict alliance based on the three-way decision theory. Finally, we designed a feedback mechanism to identify key agents and key conflict issues. A case verifies the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed model.

The results show that the proposed model can portray their attitudes toward conflict issues and effectively extract conflict-related information.

By employing this approach, we can provide the answers to Deja’s fundamental questions regarding Pawlak’s conflict analysis: “what are the underlying causes of conflict?” and “how can a viable consensus strategy be identified?”

The purpose of this study is to further investigate the potential benefits brought about by the development of modern technology in the steel construction industry. Specifically, the study focuses on the optimization of tapered members for pre-engineered steel structures, aligning with Eurocode 3 standards. By emphasizing the effectiveness of material utilization in construction, this research aims to enhance the structural performance and safety of buildings. Moreover, it recognizes the pivotal role played by such advancements in promoting economic growth through the reduction of material waste, optimization of cost-efficiency and support for sustainable construction practices.

Structural performance at initial analysis and final analysis of the selected critical frame were carried out using Dlubal RSTAB 8.18. The structural frame stability and sway imperfections were checked based on MS EN1993-1-1:2005 (EC3). To assess the structural stability of the portal frame using MS EN 1993-1-1:2005 (EC3), cross-sectional resistance and member buckling resistance were verified based on Clause 6.2.4 – Compression, Clause 6.2.5 – Bending Moment, Clause 6.2.6 – Shear, Clause 6.2.8 – Bending and Shear, Clause 6.2.9 – Bending and Axial Force and Clause 6.3.4 – General Method for Lateral and Lateral Torsional Buckling of Structural Components.

In this study, the cross sections of the web-tapered rafter and column were classified under Class 4. These involved the consideration of elastic shear resistance and effective area on the critical steel sections. The application of the General Method on the verification of the resistance to lateral and lateral torsional buckling for structural components required the extraction of some parameters using structural analysis software. From the results, there was only 5.90% of mass difference compared with the previous case study.

By classifying the web-tapered cross sections of the rafter and column under Class 4, the study accounts for important factors such as elastic shear resistance and effective area on critical steel sections.

This exploratory study aims to examine how wine stakeholders' are adopting innovative advancements in smart industry 4.0 application technology (SI4.0AT) coupled with electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) techniques to increase winery visitation and wine sales, prior to and during a global pandemic in the Yarra Valley in Victoria, Australia.

A qualitative interpretivist geographical bounded case study approach was used to collect data from fifteen Victorian wine stakeholder's prior to and during the global pandemic COVID-19. A thematic analysis was applied to interpret participant responses and how they viewed, reacted to and harnessed S14.0AT and e-WOM to continue and increase wine sales.

The findings suggest few wine stakeholders' were actively implementing SI4.0AT prior to the global pandemic, COVID -19. With the forced closure of wineries to visitors across Australia, most small to medium-sized wineries immediately changed their business models to concentrate on domestic e-commerce wine sales and home delivery. To support these new business models, e-WOM techniques were quickly adopted or increased whereas other S14.0AT technologies were not, due to financial restraints.

The number of participants used in this study is a limitation, however, this can be overcome by replicating this study in other wine regions. This research focused on the wine stakeholders' viewpoint only and may not be easily generalised. Future studies may examine the “what” aspect of SI4.0AT is being used and e-WOM content such as investigating what consumers are saying about these wineries, the method of communication and the motivations for consumers to engage with a winery.

The implications for the wine industry and overall results offer insight into the wine stakeholders' perceptions of SI4.0AT and e-WOM and consequent marketing strategy of wineries in the Yarra Valley, Victoria, both pre- and during forced face-to-face winery closures due to a global pandemic. Wineries need to continue to harness and leverage the benefits of e-WOM wine marketing in their marketing strategies and continue to explore the affordability of 4.0 app technology and Tourism 4.0 options.

This study is the first attempt at investigating how wine stakeholders' view; react to and harness SI4.0AT and e-WOM through formalised online marketing strategies which should continue to be investigated in the future.

This study aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of poverty salaries and minimum wage in light of virtue ethics and a new natural law perspective on work.

Existing approaches to poverty wages are critically examined, including the nonworseness claim and legal minimalism. This paper introduces a more nuanced framework, taking into account the concepts of merit and participation in light of virtue ethics.

We argue that the fairness of minimum wage policies can be assessed as a matter of contributive-distributive justice by considering individual contributions to an organization's outcomes within an approach that provides a robust foundation for reconciling the dignity of work with the operational realities of organizations.

Empirical research is needed to validate the practical application of the proposed conceptual framework for addressing poverty wages.

The paper provides better decisional arguments for employers concerned with poverty salaries in their organizations considering the moral dimensions of wage policies and employee well-being, offering guidance for potential adjustments in compensation practices. It also contributes to the discourse on social and economic justice by emphasizing the moral obligations of organizations in fostering a just and dignified work environment without the employee's participation.

This paper presents a novel approach that blends virtue ethics and new natural law principles, emphasizing the moral responsibilities of employers and organizations in addressing the conditions of the working poor. It also highlights the potential for a “lesser evil” situation, morally acceptable when it serves as a transitional phase aimed at improving working conditions and employee well-being.