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This study aims to analyze to what extent distance education is feasible and efficient with the limited technological infrastructure in Egypt. The study answers this question from the perspective of households' preparedness level regarding possessing information and communication technologies (ICTs). In addition, it assesses whether the pattern of students' ICT ownership is influenced by disability- and socioeconomic-based inequality in education and whether the pattern of ICT ownership exacerbates such biases.

A three-stage probit model with double sample selection (PMDSS) was applied to estimate the factors likely to influence ICT possession, considering the selection process for school enrollment and education continuation. The authors utilized nationally representative data from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey 2018.

About 40% of students aged 12–25 did not have ICTs. Most socioeconomically poor households, particularly those living in Upper Egypt, were the least likely to obtain ICTs and rely on distance education. In addition, female students, particularly those with disabilities, had the lowest chance of benefitting from distance learning.

The persistent structural deprivation of school enrollment and educational progression has led to the positive selection of well-off children in education, which is extended to ICT possession and internet use. Without addressing these structural biases, the study suggests that distance education will likely exacerbate educational inequalities.

The study analyzed the extent to which Egyptian families were prepared in 2018 regarding ICT possessions for distance education for their children, particularly those with disabilities. Furthermore, it investigated whether access to distance learning was influenced by disability- and socioeconomic-based inequalities in education.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a dramatic impact on energy supply and demand. It is vital to understand households’ behaviour with regard to energy, particularly during the pandemic, to deploy future sustainable energy systems. This study aims to investigate the nexus of Malaysian households’ energy consumption behaviour in relation to various electrical appliances, their energy-saving appliance purchasing behaviour and their current possession of energy-saving appliances during the pandemic, especially during the lockdown period, from the perspective of the energy cultures framework.

The partial least squares structural equation modelling technique was used to test hypothesised relationships based on the 1,485 pieces of household data collected using an online and physical survey during the lockdown period in Malaysia.

The energy-saving behaviour cultivated due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to residential customers’ intentions to purchase energy-saving appliances which subsequently led to their current possession of energy-saving appliances. Indeed, energy-saving behaviours in the kitchen, entertainment, office, home lighting and cooling appliances have more than 77.4% influence on their purchasing behaviour. The consumer’s purchase behaviour for energy-saving appliances has a significant, partially mediating influence on the energy-saving behaviour of various electrical appliances and the consumers’ current possession of energy-saving appliances.

This study could be enhanced by improving the sample using a higher-income group and involving other parts of Malaysia such as the southern region. The findings do extend the energy cultures framework by demonstrating the mediating role of households’ energy-saving appliance purchasing behaviour on the relationship between their energy consumption behaviour in relation to various electrical appliances and their current possession of energy-saving appliances.

The results of this study will help develop future action plans for transitioning to energy-saving appliance practices.

This paper examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on future energy efficiency practices in developing countries from the perspective of the energy cultures framework.

Digital self-expression, recently one of the most important research themes, is currently under-researched. In this context, this study aims to propose a parsimonious research model of self-extension tendency, its drivers and its outcomes. The model is tested in the context of social media engagement intentions (liking, sharing and commenting) with focal brands and across individualist versus collectivist cultures.

The model is tested in two individualist cultures (N = 230 and 232) and two collectivist cultures (N = 232 and 237) by conducting surveys in four countries (Australia, USA, Qatar and India). Nike and Ray-Ban are the focal brands studied, with Facebook serving as the targeted social networking site (SNS) platform.

Self-monitoring and self-esteem are found to drive the self-extension tendency across cultures, with stronger effects in the individualist culture than in the collectivist culture. The self-extension tendency has a relatively stronger positive influence on social media engagement intentions in the individualist culture than in the collectivist culture. This tendency is also found to mediate the link between self-monitoring, self-extension and social media engagement intentions across both cultures, albeit in different ways. In collectivist culture, self-monitoring’s influence on the self-extension tendency is moderated by public self-consciousness. The study’s findings have important theoretical and practical implications. In individualist culture, self-monitoring’s influence on the self-extension tendency is moderated by public self-consciousness.

The present findings confirm that the tendency to incorporate the brand into one’s self-concept and to further extend the self is indeed contingent on one’s cultural background. The role of public self-consciousness may vary between individualist and collectivist cultures, something recommended by past research for empirical testing.

Managers can leverage this research model to entice pro-brand social media engagement by nurturing consumers’ digital selves in terms of maneuvering their self-extension tendency and its drivers, namely, self-monitoring and self-esteem. Second, promoting the self-extension tendency and its drivers varies across cultures, with this finding offering practical cultural nuances supporting marketing managers’ decisions.

This is one of the pioneering studies that tests a cross-cultural parsimonious model based on theories of self-extension, self-monitoring and self-esteem, especially within the context of brand engagement intentions on an SNS platform.

This study aims to examine the conceptual distinction of two clothing orientations – style orientation and fashion orientation. Style and fashion orientations both express identity and individuality, but the fashion orientation may more strongly reflect materialistic values, which extensive evidence shows are detrimental to well-being. This study investigates how the clothing orientations are associated with materialism and subjective well-being.

The conceptual distinction between style and fashion orientations and their associations with materialism and subjective well-being were investigated via an online survey (N = 4,591) conducted in Germany, Poland, Sweden and the USA. Participants aged 18–65 were recruited based on national representative quotas for age, gender, education and region.

The regression results support a conceptual distinction between the style and fashion orientation. Style orientation was positively associated with subjective well-being compared to fashion orientation. Both the style and fashion orientations were positively correlated with materialism, but the association was much stronger for fashion orientation and materialism exhibited a strong negative association with subjective well-being. Interestingly, materialism moderated the association between fashion orientation and well-being but not between style orientation and well-being.

The four examined countries were Western, and, thus, the findings cannot be generalized to other populations. In addition, this study specifically examined relationships in a clothing context. To enable wider generalization, the relationships tested must be explored in other countries, especially non-Western, and also across other product categories.

The findings of this study can help retailers develop their marketing programs, product and service offerings and specifically their communications more closely targeted to consumers’ clothing orientations.

This study contributes by conceptually distinguishing between clothing style and fashion orientations and investigating their divergent associations to materialism and subjective well-being. This research also raises the question of whether fashion orientation is independent or rather, an aspect of materialism, which has implications for other consumption domains as well.

The purpose of this study is to explore the degree of variance in work value preferences espoused by university students based on whether the students are in possession of work experience and experience abroad. Vocational identity development (VID) was used as a theoretical lens to explore the extent to which being in possession of experience in these two areas shapes vocational identity.

A questionnaire (n = 1,188) was employed to measure the relative salience for 8 latent work values constructs and 25 individual-level work values. Respondents were classified into two groups based on work experience and abroad experience, and the differences in work value preferences between these groups were explored.

The authors' comparison of sample groups revealed that respondents without experience abroad attached significantly greater importance to specific work values (e.g. stability, extrinsic motivation and leisure) than those with sojourner experience. The relative salience of specific work values (e.g. altruistic and extrinsic motivation) was found to be significantly greater for respondents without work experience than those with such experience, however, not to the extent of abroad experience. VID as a theoretical framework was found to be valuable in conceptualising how work value preferences appear to be the outcome of a process of co-construction between an individual and his environment.

The reasons as to how and why changes in work value salience occur cannot be conclusively established due to the exploratory nature and conceptual design of the present study.

The findings suggest work and abroad experience play a pivotal role in shaping respondents' work values and, more generally, the VID. This reinforces the need for cooperation between higher education and industry to provide experiential learning opportunities and career guidance to enhance graduate employability and contribute to long-term engagement of talent in tight labour markets.

The value of these findings is that the findings contribute to greater conceptual understanding of the relationship between work experience, abroad experience and work value preferences. This is particularly relevant to academic staff and curriculum developers at a tertiary level in preparing and guiding university students in their interactions with professional practice.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the tendencies of liquid consumption in Muslim communities and analyse its impact on Muslims’ consumption practices from the holistic perspective. Liquid consumption refers to a transient and less-materialised mode of consumption that requires both minimal attachment to possessions and hybrid ownership.

This is a conceptual paper that is based on the distinction between Islam as a holistic perspective and Islamic practice as it is applied in different contexts and situations. The Continual Drift Adjustment (CDA) framework of Muslim consumers’ behaviour is developed to be deployed as an analysis framework.

The CDA framework maintains that some problematic cases of Muslim consumption behaviours indicate the drift towards disbalance. Depending on their nature, liquid consumption practices can have different impacts on the drift. Liquid consumption practices underscored by instrumental dissemblance, intellectual insecurity and spiritual scepticism intensify the drift, whereas the incorporation of spiritual sincerity, faithful submission and existential gratefulness into practices and behaviour helps to attenuate the drift.

This research contributes to the theory of liquid consumption by incorporating the religious perspective. Liquid consumption in Islam is a complex area of research, specifically considering the ambivalent meanings of liquidity in Islamic thought.

Marketers of liquid consumption solutions must be aware of these offerings’ double-edged impact on the well-being of Muslim communities. Muslim consumers should be guided towards spiritual sincerity, faithful submission and existential gratefulness in the best way possible, although it must be noted that the customary techniques of marketing would lean towards stimulating the disbalance.

This research is unique because it deals with a topic that has not been researched in the Islamic marketing discipline to this date.

This study aims to explore the determinants of environmental knowledge sharing behaviour among accounting educators through the lens of an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB).

A total of 95 accounting educators responded to a questionnaire survey. The data comprising information on attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, possession of environmental knowledge and locus of control, as exogenous latent variables and intention to share and environmental knowledge sharing behaviour as endogenous latent variables, were analysed using the SmartPLS modelling technique. Besides the survey, interviews were conducted for triangulation purpose.

Except for subjective norm, all hypotheses are supported. The findings from the interviews reveal that environmental knowledge sharing activities have put educators in a peculiar position in terms of sharing environmental knowledge, as carrying out environmental activities has not been taken seriously and also seen as not the norm among the faculty members.

This study focuses on accounting educators from five Malaysian public universities and deepens the understanding of their behaviour in sharing their environmental knowledge.

This study provides findings that can be useful for higher education institutions to strategize themselves in delivering environmental sustainability awareness in campus, which may enhance their efforts towards achieving sustainable development.

This study provides findings that there is a need to inculcate environmental knowledge sharing among educators. Such knowledge sharing may generate good environmental norms, which may result in better environmental awareness.

This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the main determinants of accounting educators’ environmental knowledge sharing behaviour and extending the TPB by considering two additional variables.

Witchcraft in Honduras is an unprotected marginalized woman’s efforts to gain social, economic, and political power through an informal economy by utilizing the cultural belief in the witches’ supernatural power. The Honduran post-colonial Latin American culture allows for a persistent informal economy, in part, based on the commoditization of witchcraft and exorcism. The case study provides a specific example through ethnographic interviews of this under-researched informal economy driven by fear and economic desperation. Further research and analysis of these poorly understood and rarely recorded modern phenomena and the associated informal economy is needed.

This paper is determined to examine the role of body image and materialism in predicting the identity exploration of university students when conspicuous consumption is a mediator variable.

The study used a quantitative method. Data were collected from students of three federal universities in Nigeria. The sample size was 331. A self-report questionnaire was used to collect data and analysis was performed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling.

Findings reveal that materialism has a negative association in predicting the identity exploration of students. At the same time, there was a significant full and partial mediating effect of conspicuous consumption on the relationship between body image and materialism on identity exploration, respectively.

The study provides valuable information for parents in understanding how conspicuous consumption may influence their children’s identity formation. The findings can also be helpful for educators in the design of discussions and interventions for students on the social-psychological antecedents of conspicuous consumption and identity exploration. Government and regulatory agencies can use the study’s findings to shape student financial literacy and consumer protection policies.

This study makes both theoretical and methodological contributions to the existing literature. It provided concrete empirical evidence establishing a subtle connection between the symbolic self-completion theory and the identity status paradigm. It is also amongst the first single research conducted within the scope of these two theories in the Nigerian higher education context.