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Challenges associated with ensuring the accuracy and reliability of cost estimation of highway construction bid items are of significant interest to state highway transportation agencies. Even with the existing research undertaken on the subject, the problem of inaccurate estimation of highway bid items still exists. This paper aims to assess the accuracy of the cost estimation methods employed in the selected studies to provide insights into how well they perform empirically. Additionally, this research seeks to identify, synthesize and assess the impact of the factors affecting highway unit prices because they affect the total cost of highway construction costs.

This paper systematically searched, selected and reviewed 105 papers from Scopus, Google Scholar, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Transportation Research Board (TRB) and Science Direct (SD) on conceptual cost estimation of highway bid items. This study used content and nonparametric statistical analyses to determine research trends, identify, categorize the factors influencing highway unit prices and assess the combined performance of conceptual cost prediction models.

Findings from the trend analysis showed that between 1983 and 2019 North America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East contributed the most to improving highway cost estimation research. Aggregating the quantitative results and weighting the findings using each study's sample size revealed that the average error between the actual and the estimated project costs of Monte-Carlo simulation models (5.49%) performed better compared to the Bayesian model (5.95%), support vector machines (6.03%), case-based reasoning (11.69%), artificial neural networks (12.62%) and regression models (13.96%). This paper identified 41 factors and was grouped into three categories, namely: (1) factors relating to project characteristics; (2) organizational factors and (3) estimate factors based on the common classification used in the selected papers. The mean ranking analysis showed that most of the selected papers used project-specific factors more when estimating highway construction bid items than the other factors.

This paper contributes to the body of knowledge by analyzing and comparing the performance of highway cost estimation models, identifying and categorizing a comprehensive list of cost drivers to stimulate future studies in improving highway construction cost estimates.

The proliferation of smartwatches in the digital age has radically transformed health and fitness management, offering users a multitude of functionalities that extend beyond mere physical activity tracking. While these modern wearables have empowered users with real-time data and personalized health insights, their environmental implications remain relatively unexplored despite a growing emphasis on sustainability. To bridge this gap, this study extends the UTAUT2 model with smartwatch features (mobility and availability) and perceived security to understand the drivers of smartwatch usage and its consequent impact on environmental sustainability.

The proposed theoretical model is evaluated based on data collected from 303 smartwatch users using a hybrid structural equation modeling–artificial neural network (SEM-ANN) approach.

The PLS-SEM results supported smartwatch features’ effect on performance and effort expectancy. The results also supported the role of performance expectancy, social influence, price value, habit and perceived security in smartwatch usage. The use of smartwatches was found to influence environmental sustainability significantly. However, the results did not support the association between effort expectancy, facilitating conditions and hedonic motivation with smartwatch use. The ANN results further complement these outcomes by showing that habit with a normalized importance of 100% is the most significant factor influencing smartwatch use.

Theoretically, this research broadens the UTAUT2 by introducing smartwatch features as external variables and environmental sustainability as a new outcome of technology use. On a practical level, the study offers insights for various stakeholders interested in smartwatch use and their environmental implications.

In the years following the publication of A Theory of Consumption (1923), Hazel Kyrk’s book became the flagship of the field that would later be known as the economics of consumption. It stimulated theoretical and empirical work on consumption. Some of the existing literature on Kyrk (e.g., Kiss & Beller, 2000; Le Tollec, 2020; Tadajewski, 2013) depicted her theory as the starting point of the economics of consumption. Nevertheless, how and why it emerged the way it did remain largely unexplored. This chapter examines Kyrk’s intellectual background, which, we argue, can be traced back to two main movements in the United States: the home economics and the institutionalist. Both movements conveyed specific endeavors as responses to the US material and social transformations that occurred at the turn of the 20th century, notably the perceived changing role of consumption and that of women in US society. On the one hand, Kyrk pursued first-generation home economists’ efforts to make sense of and put into action the shifting of women’s role from domestic producer to consumer. On the other hand, she reinterpreted Veblen’s (1899) account of consumption in order to reveal its operational value for a normative agenda focused on “wise” and “rational” consumption. This chapter studies how Kyrk carried on first-generation home economists’ progressive agenda and how she adapted Veblen’s fin-de-siècle critical account of consumption to the context of the household goods developed in 1900–1920. Our account of Kyrk’s intellectual roots offers a novel narrative to better understand the role of gender and epistemological questions in her theory.

Gender bias and stereotypes are universal issues in today’s society. This study presents a comprehensive review of women’s leadership based on bibliometric analysis. The feminist approach to leadership is helpful in many ways, and it could be the type of leadership needed in the challenging world of academia. Women present unique characteristics and traits, particularly their motherly approach to leadership.

A review of the literature based on bibliometric analysis by mapping the knowledge structure of the subject is conferred by uncovering the past, present and future trends based on three bibliometric analyses.

The finding suggests that gender equality, stereotypes and barriers in women’s leadership are at the forefront of the subject in HEIs. The overall system, mindset and willingness for institutional transformation are needed to change the mindset of accepting women as leaders of HEIs.

This study brought the significant idea of increasing women’s empowerment in HEIs, eventually strengthening institutional leadership’s capability towards advanced education.

This study would present a crucial foundation in women’s empowerment, particularly from the HEIs perspective and from the generic women’s leadership literature.

The increased importance of sports and athlete brands highlights the need for athletes to pay attention to branding as it has positive impacts. As athletes, Muslim women have not succeeded in building their brands. This study aims to understand the branding challenges facing Muslim female athletes and how to overcome them.

These branding obstacles and guidelines were explored using qualitative methods – specifically semi-structured interviews with Muslim female athletes and focus groups with experts. Data were analysed using open and axial coding to identify the codes.

The study identifies three major obstacles to branding by Muslim female athletes. Self-related obstacles, such as knowledge of brand building, social media, personal pressure and a lack of role models, impact the brand-building decision. Social-related (family and society) and sport-related obstacles (participation as women and as Muslims) further complicate this task. Experts provide additional insights regarding these obstacles, suggesting strategies to overcome them.

The research focuses on athletes from one geographical area and has limitations associated with using qualitative methods.

The study suggests how self-, social- and sport-related obstacles are faced by athletes. It provides suggestions for federations, sports codes and other stakeholders to support athletes to overcome these barriers.

This study expands the understanding of the struggles Muslim women face in building their brands as part of an under-represented group.

This study aims to examine the impact of the gameful experience on behavioural outcomes. Drawing from stimulus–organism–response theory, it proposes and tests a new model that investigates the relationship between the gameful experience, brand loyalty and intention to use gamified branded applications in the sports context. In addition, it explores the mediating role of customer–brand engagement (CBE) and the moderating role of self-image congruity (SIC).

A sample of 436 active users of sport-related branded gamified applications was used to test the model. Data was collected from online sports forums, brands’ Facebook communities and during sporting events.

Results indicate that the gameful experience positively and directly impacts behavioural intentions but does not directly influence brand loyalty. This relationship becomes partially significant when mediated by CBE. In addition, results show that users with high levels of SIC are more likely to continue using the gamified application, whereas users with low levels are more likely to engage with the brand.

This study expands the gamification literature in the sports sector by revealing the importance of the gameful experience in driving loyalty, behavioural intentions and CBE. It proposes a new model that sheds light on the emotional aspect of the interaction between a user and a gamified system and the importance of exploring the effects of moderators, such as SIC, in these relationships.

There is always a need to discover how a paradox between a customer’s desire for a more personalized experience and their privacy and security concerns would shape their intention to continue using contactless payment methods. However, personalization–privacy paradox has not been well-covered over the area of contactless payment. Therefore, this study aims to empirically examine the impact of personalization–privacy paradox on the customers’ continued intention (CIN) to use contactless payment.

/methodology/approach – The empirical part of the current study was conducted in Saudi Arabia by collecting the primary data using online questionnaire from a convenience sample size of 297 actual users of contactless payment methods.

Based on structural equation modeling, personalization and privacy invasion were approved to significantly impact perceived value of information disclosure (PVD). Strong causal associations were confirmed between perceived severity, structural assurance and response cost with privacy invasion. Finally, both PVD and privacy invasion significantly predict CIN.

There are other important factors (i.e. technology interactivity, technology readiness, social influence, trust, prior experience, etc.) were not tested in the current study. Therefore, future studies would pay more attention regarding the impact of these factors. The current study data were also collected using a convenience sample of actual users of contactless payment methods. Therefore, there is a concern regarding the generalizability of the current study results to other kind of customers who have not used contactless payment.

This study has integrated both personalization–privacy paradox and protection motivation theory in one model. The current study holds value in providing a new and complete picture of the inhibitors and enablers of customers’ CIN to use contactless payment, including new types of inhibitors. Furthermore, personalization–privacy paradox has not been fully examined over the related area of Fintech and contactless payment in general. Therefore, this study was able to extend the theoretical horizon personalization–privacy paradox to new area (i.e. contactless payment) and new cultural context (Saudi Arabia).

The paper provides a detailed historical account of Douglass C. North's early intellectual contributions and analytical developments in pursuing a Grand Theory for why some countries are rich and others poor.

The author approaches the discussion using a theoretical and historical reconstruction based on published and unpublished materials.

The systematic, continuous and profound attempt to answer the Smithian social coordination problem shaped North's journey from being a young serious Marxist to becoming one of the founders of New Institutional Economics. In the process, he was converted in the early 1950s into a rigid neoclassical economist, being one of the leaders in promoting New Economic History. The success of the cliometric revolution exposed the frailties of the movement itself, namely, the limitations of neoclassical economic theory to explain economic growth and social change. Incorporating transaction costs, the institutional framework in which property rights and contracts are measured, defined and enforced assumes a prominent role in explaining economic performance.

In the early 1970s, North adopted a naive theory of institutions and property rights still grounded in neoclassical assumptions. Institutional and organizational analysis is modeled as a social maximizing efficient equilibrium outcome. However, the increasing tension between the neoclassical theoretical apparatus and its failure to account for contrasting political and institutional structures, diverging economic paths and social change propelled the modification of its assumptions and progressive conceptual innovation. In the later 1970s and early 1980s, North abandoned the efficiency view and gradually became more critical of the objective rationality postulate. In this intellectual movement, North's avant-garde research program contributed significantly to the creation of New Institutional Economics.

This study aims to examine the role of blockchain technology (BCT) in trust in financial reporting (TFR) and the use of smart contracts (USC). It aims to ascertain the mediating role of USC in the relationship between BCT and TFR, thereby contributing to the limited empirical literature in this domain.

Based on a sample of the accountants’ familiarity with BCT, a structural equation model was constructed and analyzed using AMOS 24. The model proposes and tests relationships between BCT, USC and TFR.

The study highlights BCT’s significant positive influence on TFR, with USC mediating this effect. It provides empirical evidence that supports the transformative potential of BCT and USC in enhancing TFR.

These findings have significant implications for practitioners, regulatory bodies and policymakers. By highlighting the effectiveness of BCT and USC in fostering TFR, the study makes one aware of strategies to mitigate financial malpractices. It promotes the adoption of BCT in accounting practices.

This study addresses a gap in the literature by investigating the complex interplay of BCT, USC and TFR. It offers a unique perspective by exploring the mediating role of USC, thereby enhancing our understanding of the mechanisms through which BCT can foster TFR.