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This study aims to identify the street-level approaches of professional workers in complex public social service organisations when attending to social assistance claimants.

The study employed a multifaceted approach comprising documentary analysis, semi-structured individual interviews (17) and focus group discussions (8) with qualified frontline social workers from primary care social services in Tarragona.

Social workers embodied three specific sets of cognitive, normative and emotional dispositions when attending to people with low incomes. First, the compassionate approach conceives clients as defensive regarding social services and emotionally vulnerable because of deprivation. Second, the instructional approach frames clients as being baffled by a new, precarious, institutional and economic context. They also lack information, abilities and the proper mindset to conceive of and attain available welfare and occupational resources. Third, the enforcement approach tends to define clients as suspicious, trying to obtain an excessive and unfair advantage of the welfare system that would eventually hamper their social opportunities.

Research thus far has tended to define public social assistance programmes in Southern welfare state contexts as mostly inefficient and hardly relevant residual social policies. The street-level approach shows that social workers try to resist the mere administrative processing of benefits, which is a professionally troubling and organisationally unsustainable way to proceed. They attempt to help clients by providing inclusive content in order to implement their benefits.

This research investigates the factors influencing consumers' intention to purchase e-deals from group buying websites, focussing on e-deal proneness, price consciousness and anticipatory regret.

Three studies (n = 539) were conducted using data collected from an online consumer panel and tested via structural equation modelling and PROCESS macro in SPSS.

The findings suggest that subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and attitudes positively influence consumers' e-deal purchase intention. Additionally, price consciousness amplifies the relationship between consumers' e-deal proneness and purchase intention, and price-conscious respondents are more likely to have the intention to buy e-deals when faced with some form of anticipatory regret.

Based on the research findings, practitioners are advised to prioritise social norms and entertainment value when promoting the attractiveness of e-deals, using strategies such as social media and influencer marketing. Brands should also emphasise the value of e-deals by showcasing comparative price savings and discounts to motivate consumers to buy.

This paper addresses an interesting and practical issue related to the effects of group buying websites, focussing on e-deal proneness, price consciousness and anticipatory regret.

This study investigates the relationships between perceived scarcity, fear of missing out (FOMO) and impulse-buying tendencies (IBT) in the fast fashion context in both scarcity and non-scarcity conditions. Additionally, this study examines whether these relationships vary depending on the type of scarcity messages: limited-quantity scarcity (LQS) and limited-time scarcity (LTS).

We used written scenarios, and each participant was assigned to one of the experimental or control groups for LQS and LTS conditions. Using a structural modeling approach, we tested the conceptual model and analyzed the data through SmartPLS version 4. We conducted mediating and multigroup (MGA) analysis.

We found that perceived scarcity directly increases IBT and that FOMO partially mediates this relationship across all samples. The MGA findings also revealed that hypothesized relationships were not significantly different across LQS and LTS groups, suggesting that the effect of scarcity messages may be context specific.

Previous studies have yielded mixed results on the effects of different scarcity messages on consumer behavior. This study contributes to the literature by providing evidence of the direct relationship between perceived scarcity, FOMO and impulse buying in the fast fashion context. The study supports the idea that the effect of different types of scarcity messages is context specific, suggesting that the relationship between scarcity perceptions and consumer behavior may vary depending on the product category and cultural context.

This study aims to further the understanding of multi-level analysis in inter-organisational relationships by investigating the interplay of governance, cooperation and coordination in inter-organisational projects (IOPs) on sub-system and project levels.

The authors use the Viable Systems Model as a framework to analyse inter-organisational project governance, cooperation and coordination by adopting a multiple-case study.

The findings illustrate how governance and coordination mechanisms exhibit a filter-down effect on lower sub-systems while cooperation influence is confined within each sub-system. While remarking the importance of specific sub-systems on the overall project performance, the interplay of governance, cooperation and coordination across sub-systems appears to be complex, with governance influencing cooperation and coordination, whereas cooperation and coordination influence each other with an incremental effect.

This study defines two propositions that explain how multiple levels of analysis (project and sub-systems) can support the governance of large inter-organisational projects. The authors elaborate theory on the interplay of inter-organisational project governance, cooperation and coordination.

This research aims to scrutinize the dwelling of digital nomads in postmodernism’s social, cultural and political context and to illuminate their post-tourist characteristics.

Using a conceptual approach and sociological considerations, the study closely investigates the characteristics of digital nomads and offers a postmodernist ontological, epistemological and methodological stance.

The study highlights the ambiguity of the concepts of digital nomadism and tourism. Furthermore, since every digital nomad is a potential tourist with a work-leisure balance, it points out the need to grasp tourism and work from a different perspective than the dichotomy of modernism.

The postmodernist perspective offers a fruitful approach to illuminate the social conditions in which digital nomads dwell and concomitantly encompasses the tourist and nomad by rejecting dichotomies. The study also points out the need to place the agency of digital nomads in a broader context and analyze these mobilities from local and global interactions in addition to the nomads' point of view.

This study provides a new perspective on the relationship between digital nomads, postmodern conditions and their role as post-tourists.

It is only logical that a firm aims to make a profit after entering the market. However, some firms enter the market with the goal of market expansion and even burn money to pursue market share, which is counterintuitive in practice. To explore the theoretical foundations behind this rare phenomenon, this paper focuses on discussing the impact of the market expansion entry strategy on the entrant firm and the incumbent firm.

Using a game theory model of a supply chain with an incumbent and an entrant, this paper explores the mathematical conditions for the entrant to adopt either the traditional or the market expansion entry strategy and investigates the incumbent’s benefits and losses under different entry strategies.

The results show that when the market-expansion effect and the selling price ceiling are moderate, the entrant firm always adopts the market expansion entry strategy, and the incumbent firm obtains a free ride from the entrant firm and benefits from it. The entire industry profits and the industry consumer surplus are increased. In particular, we further investigate the cases in which the incumbent firm has a first-mover advantage or there is a troublesome cost, and the results confirm the aforementioned conclusions.

By considering market share as the entrant’s goal, this paper contributes to the dual-purpose literature. Moreover, based on the model’s mathematical results, this paper offers relevant management insights for the entrant and its stakeholders in the e-commerce platform.

Distributed photovoltaic (DPV) projects generally have output risks, and the production effort of the supplier is often private information, so the buyer needs to design the optimal procurement contract to maximise its procurement utility.

Based on the principal-agent theory, we design optimal procurement contracts for DPV projects with fixed payments and incentive factors under three situations, i.e. symmetry information, asymmetry information without monitoring and asymmetry information with monitoring. We obtain the optimal production effort and expected utility of the supplier, the expected output and expected utility of the buyer and analyse the value of the information and monitoring.

The results show that under asymmetric information without monitoring, risk-averse suppliers need to take some risk due to output risk, which reduces the optimal production effort of the supplier and the expected output and expected utility of the buyer. Therefore, when the monitoring cost is below a certain threshold value, the buyer can introduce a procurement contract with monitoring to address the asymmetry information. In addition, under asymmetric information without monitoring, the buyer should choose a supplier with a low-risk aversion.

Considering the output risk of DPV projects, we study the optimal procurement contract design for the buyer under asymmetric information. The results provide some theoretical basis and management insights for the buyer to design optimal procurement contracts in different situations.

This study examines co-production during the Covid-19 crisis, characterized as a Black Swan event, with a specific emphasis on local professionals’ preparedness and response.

A qualitative approach combining deductive and inductive approaches was employed to gather data from professional coordinators of co-production processes in Israeli local governments. The study utilizes professionalism theory as a framework to examine such key elements as professional knowledge, autonomy, status and legitimacy. Additionally, open coding is used to investigate emerging themes.

The findings reveal that, despite preventive efforts by the central government, local professionals were unprepared to address the crisis. Traditional top-down approaches failed during the crisis, emphasizing the need for peer learning and collaboration among various stakeholders. Professionals' de facto autonomy, driven by quick decision-making and creative problem-solving, elevated their legitimacy and status. Inter- and intra-organizational collaboration was essential to maintain performance through co-producing public services. Finally, multicultural awareness proved vital; neglecting this may have severe consequences in routine times but especially during crises.

Using qualitative research, this study emphasizes the importance of understanding context in interpreting thoughts and actions. However, our approach has limitations. We collected data at a single point in time, which may not capture changes over time. Additionally, we relied on self-reporting from 19 public professionals in local municipalities, each managing the coproduction-based center within the respective municipality. However, this setup, where a single coordinator represents the entire co-production function of the municipality, has its limitations as only one voice is heard.

By shedding light on the multifaceted aspects of co-production, policymakers and professionals could learn about such substantial factors as professionals’ autonomy, inter-organizational collaborations and sensitivity to cultural nuances, which should be established first and foremost in routine times to prepare for crisis. In our case study, governmental preventive measures were inapplicable to crises, and experience of prior crises did not necessarily bestow an ability to prepare accordingly. This is where the role of the street-level professionals becomes significant: these are the actors who experience the crisis on the ground and may provide a quick and effective response. Their ability to take the reins, to be innovative and to generate knowledge while exerting their own professional consideration, proved extremely important.

This research contributes to our understanding of public service professionals’ effective leveraging of the contributions of co-producers in times of crisis. It shifts focus from top-down policy preparedness and implementation to the development of appropriate organizational structures and active and routine stakeholder engagement, thereby enhancing preparedness for crises.

This paper assesses the environment of legitimacy by determining the role of institutional quality and policy uncertainty on the performance of five major South Asian stock markets (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal) using 21 years data from 2000 to 2020. The focus of this study is to approach the issue of the environment of legitimacy that leads to sustained market returns.

Panel cointegration tests of Kao and Pedroni are applied, and the Dynamic Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR) model is used to determine the estimates.

ADF P-Values of both Kao and Pedroni tests show that the panels are cointegrated; the statistical significance of the results of the Kao and Pedroni panel cointegration test confirms cointegration among the variables. After determining the most appropriate lag, the analysis is done using PVAR. The results indicate that institutional quality, policy uncertainty, and GDP positively affect stock market return. Meanwhile, government actions and inflation negatively affect stock market returns. On the other hand, stock market return positively affects institutional quality, government action, policy uncertainty, and GDP. While stock market return negatively affects inflation.

The sample is taken only from a limited number of South Asian countries, and the period is also limited to 21 years.

Based on our research findings, we have identified several policy implications recommended to enhance and sustain the performance of stock markets.

This paper uses a unique analytical tool, which gives a better insight into the problem. The value of this work lies in its findings, which also have practical implications and theoretical significance.

During the supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19, logistics service providers (LSPs) have invested heavily in innovations to enhance their supply chain resilience capabilities. However, only little attention has been given so far to the nature of these innovative capabilities, in particular to what extent LSPs were able to repurpose capabilities to build supply chain resilience. In response, using the concept of exaptation, this study identifies to what extent LSPs have discovered and utilized latent functions to build supply chain resilience capabilities during a disruptive event of high impact and low probability.

This conceptual paper uses a theory building approach to advance the literature on supply chain resilience by delineating the relationship between exaptation and supply chain resilience capabilities in the context of COVID-19. To do so, we propose two frameworks: (1) to clarify the role of exaptation for supply chain resilience capabilities and (2) to depict four different exaptation dimensions for the supply chain resilience capabilities of LSPs.

We illustrate how LSPs have repurposed original functions into new products or services to build their supply chain resilience capabilities and combine the two critical concepts of exploitation and exploration capabilities to identify four exaptation dimensions in the context of LSPs, namely impeded exaptation, configurative exaptation, transformative exaptation and ambidextrous exaptation.

As one of the first studies linking exaptation and supply chain resilience, the framework and subsequent categorization advance the understanding of how LSPs can build exapt-driven supply chain resilience capabilities and synthesize the current literature to offer conceptual clarity regarding the varied implications and outcomes linked to the repurposing of capabilities.