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This study aims to understand the lapse behavior of life insurance policyholders. Despite being accessible for nearly two centuries, only a small fraction of individuals purchase such policies and many of those who do let them lapse. The belief hypothesis model (BHM) is introduced to elucidate the correlation between policyholders' beliefs and their decisions regarding life insurance lapses.

BHM establishes a comprehensive linkage between core beliefs, external data and the lapse behavior exhibited by policyholders. To derive policyholders’ core beliefs about life insurance lapses, the authors conducted a semistructured, in-depth interview with 42 policyholders and 11 insurance advisors, using a grounded theory approach with zero-order, first-order and second-order coding.

The study's findings reveal that policy lapsation is influenced by various factors such as policyholders' beliefs about life insurance, process-related attitudes, trust in insurers and advisors and personal financial viewpoints. Policyholders who consider life insurance unnecessary or misunderstand its purpose are likelier to lapse their policies. Cumbersome documentation processes and technical issues also contribute to policy lapsation, emphasizing the significance of simplified procedures. Trust in insurers and advisors, personal financial literacy and payment preferences influence policy lapsation.

The findings of this research can be practically applied by companies to improve customer retention and by regulatory bodies to encourage policyholders to honor their insurance commitments.

Distinguishing itself from conventional hypotheses-driven and factor-centric models, BHM integrates consumer beliefs, thus enriching comprehension and decision-making insights.

A limited number of studies have aimed at understanding behavior towards animal welfare. However, there are indications that consumers make an important distinction between land animals and fish. As no studies have attempted to explain the factors that influence consumer behavior towards the welfare of fish, this study aims to explain the behavior using the value–belief–norm (VBN) model. In addition, we extend the model by using empathy as a factor influencing the formation of personal norms. This study argues that by adding empathy to the model, we will improve the ability of the VBN to explain moral behavior.

The study is based on survey data from 416 Norwegian consumers. A structural equation modeling analysis with latent constructs is used to test the hypotheses.

The findings validate the ability of the VBN model to explain consumer intention to buy products containing fish with better welfare. We also showed that empathy and beliefs strongly influence personal norms. The extended VBN model increased the explained variance of personal norm by 11,54%. Consumers with biospheric values are strongly likely to have empathetic feelings towards fish suffering and believe that fish can feel pain. However, consumers with hedonistic values are significantly negatively related to beliefs and empathy.

By understanding the role of empathy, companies can develop marketing strategies that appeal to consumers' values, empathy and beliefs and ultimately encourage them to make purchases that support fish welfare.

Practically, this study explores consumers' beliefs towards fish welfare and identifies consumers who are more likely to purchase products containing fish with better welfare based on their values.

Social media played an irreplaceable role in young people’s online social life and information consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research focuses on the impact of excessive information on social media about COVID-19 vaccines on Generation Z's (Gen Z) associated psychological states and long-term vaccine advocacy.

The research conducted structural equation modeling analysis with online survey data from 409 Gen Z citizens in the UK.

The findings suggest that excessive information increased Gen Z social media users' ambivalence and conspiracy beliefs around COVID-19 vaccines, which, in turn, reduced their long-term vaccine advocacy in terms of vaccine acceptance, vaccination intention and vaccine promotion. Importantly, Gen Z’s confidence in government and in the healthcare systems during COVID-19 was effective in helping them overcome the detrimental effects of conspiracy beliefs and ambivalence about long-term vaccine advocacy, respectively.

This research reveals the “dark side” of social media use in the post-pandemic period and highlights the significant roles played by social institutions in mitigating the detrimental effects of Gen Z’s support in social decisions. Beyond the context of COVID-19, this research has important implications for facilitating the civic engagement of Gen Z and boosting their confidence in social institutions in terms of social cohesion.

This study aims to examine the determinants of Generation Z's intention to support sustainable development in tourism, with a focus on Nha Trang, Vietnam (a coastal city with famous tourism activities).

The study was conducted with an aid of SPSS 20.0 and SmartPLS 4.0 softwares to analyze the data collected from 394 valid respondents in Ho Chi Minh City through a cross-sectional method with a self-administered survey.

Empirical evidence revealed that sustainable tourism attitude, sustainable tourism belief and perceived sustainable destination image positively influenced Generation Z's support intentions toward sustainable tourism. In addition, perceived sustainable destination image also indirectly impacted intention to support sustainable tourism through the sustainable tourism attitude and/or belief (both single and sequential mediations).

This is among pioneering studies to figure out that knowledge negatively moderated the relationship between sustainable tourism attitude and intention to support sustainable tourism.

We examine how superstition shapes corporate tax avoidance and do so by taking a risk perspective and focusing on the zodiac-year belief prevalent in China.

We adopt a difference-in-differences research design to compare the degree of corporate tax avoidance in the CEOs’ zodiac year with that in the adjacent years. We do propensity-score matching to form a sample of Chinese listed firms for the regression analysis.

We find causal evidence that firms exhibit a greater magnitude of tax avoidance in the CEOs’ zodiac years, a result attributable to relatively weak tax enforcement in the Chinese context. We also find that the zodiac-year effect on corporate tax avoidance is more pronounced for firms with tight financial constraints, firms with high business risk, firms headquartered in regions with a high degree of superstition and non-state-owned firms.

This study is the first to show that superstition is a determinant factor of tax avoidance and contributes to the tax literature by shedding light on the behavioral risk factors that shape corporate tax avoidance. We take the perspective of CEOs’ risk appetite to analyze how tax avoidance is influenced by the CEOs’ trade-off between the costs and benefits of avoiding taxes. Our results suggest that, when CEOs are more risk-averse, they attach more importance to financial risk than the risk of reputational losses and litigation associated with corporate tax avoidance. The findings imply that tax avoidance can be curbed by increasing (or decreasing) the tax (financial) risk confronting the CEOs.

Megaprojects have large impact on the environment and stakeholders should take collective action to ensure that these projects are developed in a socially responsible manner. Hitherto, it is not known whether group and subjective norms and social identity could compel stakeholders to take socially responsible collective actions in megaprojects. The aim of this study is to design and test a model to boost stakeholders' intention to take socially responsible collective action in the context of mega water transfer projects in China.

A quasi-experimental causal research design was adopted to establish cause–effect relationships among the dependent variable (we-intention) and independent variables (subjective norms, group norms, social identity and desire). This study adopts the belief–desire–intention model and social influence theory to empirically investigate how to boost the stakeholders' intention to participate in socially responsible collective action. An online questionnaire survey was conducted and data was collected from 365 respondents who were involved in mega water transfer projects in China. The partial least squares structural equation modeling technique was employed to analyze the data.

The results from partial least squares analyses indicate that the presence of subjective norms, group norms and social identity (collectively known as social influence process) could increase stakeholders' intention to take socially responsible collective action. In addition, the desire to be socially responsible also boosts stakeholders' intention to take collective action. Desire partially mediates the relationship between social influence process and intention to take socially responsible collective action.

This study adds to existing knowledge by discovering social influence process as an antecedent to taking socially responsible collective action in megaprojects. Strong group norms and subjective norms could propel stakeholders to be more socially responsible. The study also adds to knowledge by discovering that stakeholders' desire to fulfill social responsibility also leads them to take concrete actions. Implications and recommendations are provided on how to manipulate different types of social influence processes to facilitate stakeholders to adopt socially responsible collective action in the process of managing megaprojects.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between food sponsorships and gender stereotypes, focusing on how patriarchal beliefs influence consumers’ purchase intentions in sports.

The research comprised two studies. In Study 1, n = 161 participants participated via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. Study 2 involved n = 250 participants who completed a cross-sectional and self-administered survey.

Study 1 indicated an apparent gender-based categorization of certain foods and beverages: beer and red meat were predominantly perceived as masculine, while yogurt, salads, and wine were seen as feminine. Further, brands like Budweiser and Red Bull were mainly seen as masculine, while Chobani and Smoothie King were perceived as feminine. Moreover, findings indicate that foods, especially those rich in protein or linked to BBQ and spicy tastes, are considered more masculine by men than women in sports settings. Further, Study 2 findings unveiled a significant relationship between patriarchal beliefs and both attitudes (ß = 0.327, p < 0.01) and subjective norms (ß = 0.525, p < 0.01) towards masculine brands.

The two studies’ results underscore the profound impact of gender stereotypes shaping sports fans’ perceptions of food items and the brands sponsoring them. This inquiry significantly augments the current understanding of the nuanced interrelation between the paradigms of social role theory and the theory of planned behavior, particularly within the ambit of sports-related sponsorship by food and beverage brands and its consequent influence on consumer purchasing inclinations.

Climate change and global warming are two major ecological concerns. The construction industry has instituted measures such as green construction in response to these concerns. This study seeks to assess the views of architects on the uptake of innovative green construction (IGC) in Ghana.

This study applies the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to investigate the factors influencing the decision to adopt IGC. A structured questionnaire was issued to architects who have been involved in the design and/or construction of green buildings in Ghana. The dataset was obtained from 61 architects and Partial Least Square was used to analyse the data.

The results show that two TPB factors; attitude and perceived behavioural control are significant determinants of architects’ intention to adopt IGC. Interestingly, behavioural intention did not have an influence on the actual behaviour of IGC adoption. However, perceived behavioural control had a significant impact on the actual adoption of IGC.

Contextually, the findings of the study will contribute to policy development and marketing of various green innovation within the Ghanaian construction milieu. Practically, the study will help encourage stakeholders to build the right capacity and competence towards the uptake of IGC.

The originality of the paper is based on the theoretical framework underpinning the study and the target respondents as the unit of analysis in assessing the full uptake of IGC in Ghana. The utility of the model evinces the role behavioural changes play in ecological development.

The aim of this study is to utilise the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to identify the main barriers and facilitators of positive attitude towards trying Virtual Active Sports (VAS).

200 individuals took part in an online cross-sectional survey based on 11 domains within the TDF. Linear logistic regression analysis was performed on the participant’s self-reported attitudes and believes. Based on the results from the regression analyses, a list of suggested behaviour change techniques was designed using the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) framework and the BCT taxonomy (BCTTv1).

This research suggested that Beliefs about Consequences, Beliefs about Capabilities, Goal Conflict, Coping Planning, and Environmental Context and Resources are the main factors, influencing the positive attitude towards VAS and the self-reported desire to try it in the future. Future interventions were recommended and supported by 22 possible BCTs identified using the BCW approach. The TDF and BCW proved to be useful models for identifying both internal and external factors influencing fitness fans during the adoption of the new sportstech.

The main contribution of the present work was the implementation of a structured and effective approach derived from the healthcare domain to design solutions for behaviour change in the emerging and expanding virtual sports context.

Drawing on the theory of planned behavior and value-belief norms theory, this study aims to explore the causes of pro-environmental behavioral intentions in the context of Sri Lanka.

Data were garnered from 503 subjects with the aid of self-reported questionnaires. The formulated hypotheses were examined using a variance-based statistical approach (PLS-SEM).

The findings of the study revealed that personal values, particularly altruistic and biosphere values, significantly strengthen the psychological drivers of pro-environmental behavioral intentions. The study further found that religiosity enhances the association between personal norms and pro-environmental behavioral intentions and the place attachment augments the relationship between attitude and pro-environmental behavioral intentions.

This study suggests that instilling altruistic and biosphere values in individuals can boost pro-environmental behavioral intentions. Campaigns and educational programs could focus on instilling these values to foster responsibility and empathy. Recognizing the influence of religiosity on pro-environmental behaviors and attitudes, this study suggests collaborative efforts between organizations and religious institutions. Religious leaders can integrate environmental stewardship into teachings, emphasizing ethical responsibilities.

The study pushes back the frontiers of environmental consciousness literature by highlighting the importance of personal values, psychological factors and contextual variables such as religiosity and place attachment in fostering pro-environmental behavior within the specific context of an emerging country – Sri Lanka.