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This paper examines students’ educational choices in vocational education and training (VET) to understand the low reputation of vocational education in China. By analysing the individualisation of these choices within structural and individual relationships, the study explores how the decline of state endorsement and the shift towards rational, individualistic actions influence students' decisions.

Multiple types of data were collected in this study, including administrative records, interviews and autobiographical stories, which were analysed using individualisation theory.

The research indicated three historical periods of the educational choice of Chinese VET students. Stage one (1978–1991) saw vocational education treated as “the first choice” for graduates. Stage two (1992–2000) was marked by the polarisation of educational choice during the social transition from a socialist planned economy to a market economy. During this period, more students started to choose academic high schools over vocational schools, even though the latter still had certain advantages for attracting the better-performing students. The third stage (2001-now) is a time in which vocational education is viewed as “the last choice” under the socialist market economy system. During this period, junior high school graduates prefer to enrol in academic high schools rather than in vocational schools. Aligned with the overall individualisation trend in Chinese society, vocational education decisions situated between societal structures and individuals are also experiencing a shift towards more micro-level individualized behaviours.

The paper provides a historical analysis of education and training provision in China and the complexity of students’ educational choices, revealing the influencing factors across different stages.

This paper draws a comprehensive analysis of the developmental trajectory of vocational education in China across different historical periods, notably under the socialist planned economy and the socialist market economy systems.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how and through which social-cognitive constructs, emotions influence healthy food shopping behaviors. Direct effects of those constructs, as well as indirect effects of consumer emotions are considered.

An altered version of the Social Cognitive Theory, including intention, socio-structural factors, outcome expectancies and self-efficacy with the addition of consumer emotions was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Data of 1,181 volunteers were collected in Germany in 2021 through an online survey.

Intention was the most important positive predictor of food choice, while socio-structural factors had the biggest impact on intentions. Those were mostly influenced by self-efficacy, which was strongly predicted by consumer emotions. Outcome expectancies did not influence the current model in any way. Consumer emotions did not directly influence intention, nor actual choice, however showed to be influencing those variables through indirect effects.

Marketers could benefit from these results by incorporating the current findings into existing marketing strategies through targeting a combination of social cognitive constructs, as well as consumer emotions to facilitate healthier food shopping behavior.

Affect has received increasing attention in regards to its impact on healthy eating behaviors in recent years. Less attention has been paid to the mechanisms through which emotions influence healthy nutrition behavior, specifically how consumer emotions influence healthy food shopping behavior.

This study aims to investigate the impact of Internet use on household financial market participation and portfolio choice.

Based on the Chinese General Social Survey 2017 (CGSS2017), this study empirically explores whether Internet use affects household financial market participation in China with an Endogenous Switching Probit model.

The results show that households using the Internet are more likely to invest in financial markets. Further research shows that households with high Internet use are significantly more likely to participate in financial markets than households with low Internet use. From the perspective of household portfolio choice, Internet use has a certain role in increasing the probability of portfolio diversification. However, among households that have invested in financial markets, those with a high-frequency use of the Internet do not show an impact on portfolio diversification.

This study complements existing research about the impact of Internet use or not on household financial market decisions and portfolio choice, expands the knowledge on the household financial market choice from the respective of the degree of Internet use.

The purpose of this study is to explore Chinese women’s pursuit of entrepreneurship as a career choice through the intersectional lens of gender and culture. The study aims to identify factors that influenced Chinese women’s decisions to pursue entrepreneurship.

In this exploratory qualitative study, we conducted qualitative, in-depth, semi-structured and one-on-one interviews with 16 Chinese women entrepreneurs.

We identified various factors that influenced Chinese women’s career choice of entrepreneurship. The factors include entrepreneurial attributes, rapid economic growth, societal and cultural influences, the dual role of family influences and strategic entrepreneurship.

Our study provides a contextualized understanding of the experience of Chinese women’s entrepreneurship career choices. It enriches the existing literature on career choices within the career development for Chinese women entrepreneurs. By applying social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to a specific cultural and gendered setting, we proposed the social cognitive women’s entrepreneurial career theory, which offers fresh insights into the interplay of personal, contextual and behavioral dimensions in shaping Chinese women’s entrepreneurial career choices.

Seafood consumption in Sweden is below the national recommendations and limited to very few species. This study aims to explore the factors shaping seafood choices at the point of purchase among a sample of current consumers in Sweden, and examines their attitudes regarding seafood consumption more broadly.

Convenience sampling was used to recruit consumers planning to purchase seafood at a supermarket in Sweden. Participants’ shopping trip was recorded using wearable eye tracking glasses and, upon completion, semi-structured interviews were conducted using a cued retrospective think aloud method. This exploratory study integrates qualitative data (N = 39) with eye tracking data (N = 34), to explore how seafood choices unfold when consumers purchase at the point of purchase.

Purchases were mostly restricted to familiar seafood species. Four interlinked main themes were identified from thematic analysis of the interview data: Ambivalence, Nice and Necessary, Proficiency with Seafood and External Influences. Sustainability information (e.g. certifications) faced strong competition from other visual elements at the point of purchase, receiving less attention than product imagery and pricing information.

This study is the first to explore the factors shaping seafood choices of current consumers at the point of purchase. The unique approach, combining explicit and implicit measures, enriches understanding of the factors influencing seafood choices and how these may interrelate. The results are valuable for the industry and contribute to the literature by identifying possible routes to improve seafood sustainability communication.

Hospitality firms aim to increase their profits by implementing a variety of marketing activities, including using decoy pricing to provide alternative choices for consumers. Decoys are relatively higher-priced offerings that signal lower value than the other offerings in the consideration set. The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of decoy pricing on consumer choices across various contexts in the foodservice and hotel industries.

Across the pilot and four main studies, the current research employs a sequential exploratory mixed-method design to investigate the influence of decoy pricing in the foodservice and lodging industries. The qualitative part of this research was based on two focus groups, followed by a pilot study and four main study experiments.

The results show that decoy pricing escalates consumers’ choices of more expensive product bundles in both restaurant and hotel cancellation policy contexts. However, decoy pricing does not increase the selection of more expensive hotel product bundles.

While decoy pricing has been utilized as an effective revenue maximization strategy for product placement in retail stores, less is known about how promotional advertisements with decoy offers influence hotel and restaurant customers to choose more costly options. Specifically, this is the first study that explores whether decoy pricing and product/service bundling can encourage customers to select more expensive offers in hotel and restaurant contexts, considering the types of hospitality bundles that may limit this effect.

More than 40% of Indian households still rely on unclean cooking fuels, exposing particularly women and children to adverse health effects. This paper explores the factors determining a household’s cooking fuel choice in India.

The study used the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (2019-21) dataset. A chi-square test and a logistic regression were used for empirical analysis. Cooking fuel was categorized as “clean” and “unclean” cooking fuel.

The result shows that around 47% of the households are still using unclean cooking fuel in India. Households with a better-educated or female head, those with smaller family sizes, those with a higher level of wealth and those located in urban areas are more likely to use clean cooking fuel. Similarly, households headed by younger individuals and Muslim households are linked to more usage of clean cooking fuels. However, Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) households and those headed by older individuals are less likely to use clean cooking fuels.

The cross-sectional nature of data enables us to draw only associations between the variables and not causal relationships between them. The findings of this study have important implications for household energy policies in India and other developing nations. There is a need for policymakers to seriously consider socioeconomic factors in addressing issues and challenges associated with household energy consumption.

The study extends the empirical literature on determinants of household cooking fuel choice using the latest round of National Family Health Survey data from India.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-12-2023-0988

This paper aims to investigate the factors influencing trade artisans’ choice of skills selection as apprentice’s trainee in the Ghanaian construction sector and to identify and address the challenges associated with traditional apprenticeship. Trade artisans with technical know-how in construction and general workplace skills from the traditional apprenticeship training (TAT) in the area of construction were selected from selected sites and training centers.

This paper adopted the purposive sampling technique with the aim of gathering knowledge from individuals with expertise in the research area, particularly trade craftsmen who have been trained through the TAT system and are directly involved in construction-related works. Partial least square structure equation modelling (PLS-SEM) analytical approach and principal component analysis were used to reduce the dimensionality of the data set and preserve as much information as possible.

Three major components, namely, personal and social interest, job assessment and stability and family and faith were identified as the variables that influence an artisan's choice of a skill trade. These influenced the choice of apprenticeship training by young trainees in choosing apprenticeship as a mode of training. Personal interest, living situation of artisans and parents’ educational attainment are the most influencing factors that determine artisans’ choice of selected trades. Moreover, the study also shed light on the challenges inherent in traditional apprenticeship systems, such as the lack of formal technical education, limited access to modern technology and information and poor working conditions.

The study underscores the imperative for stakeholders to enhance apprenticeship programmes within the construction sector. This involves providing more stable job opportunities, improving working conditions and offering access to modern technology and information. Such enhancements not only attract more young individuals to apprenticeship training but also ensure the sustainability and relevance of the workforce in meeting industry demands.

The study finally developed a model that could be used as a foundation for future PLS-SEM evaluation and identified the factors that influence the selection of apprenticeship training by trade artisans.

This study investigates the impact of internal expectations, such as fantasy of success and fear of failure and external factors, such as social environment and past experiences, on entrepreneurial choice.

Based on achievement motivation and social cognitive theories, the authors construct hypotheses and use secondary data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) database and Economic Freedom Index report to empirically test the hypotheses. The authors also use propensity score matching to solve the endogeneity issue and test the robustness.

Internal expectations (fantasy of success and fear of failure) on business outcomes inversely affect entrepreneurial choices, with a vibrant business environment amplifying and past failure experience mitigating these effects.

Due to the economic recession, governments encourage small businesses. Thus, the complexity of individual entrepreneurial motivations and influencing factors necessitate deeper exploration. This study is one of the first research offering insights into entrepreneurial motivations from combined dimensions and providing theoretical support for strategies promoting public entrepreneurship.

The existing literature has examined the determinants of post-purchase behavioral intentions. However, less attention has been devoted to the factors that contribute to perceived usefulness of fast-food restaurants attributes. The current study considers the servicescapes and social servicescapes of restaurants as well as their relationship with customers' perceived usefulness, with the moderating role of customer experience. It also explores how perceived usefulness influences choice process satisfaction and subsequent behavioral responses, including revisit intention and negative word-of-mouth.

Data from 485 fast-food restaurant consumers in Pakistan were collected using purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using both structural equation modeling (SEM) through AMOS 24.0 and the PROCESS macro in IBM SPSS 27.0.

The research revealed that perceived usefulness in fast-food restaurant industry is positively influenced by servicescapes and social servicescapes. Similarly, choice process satisfaction is primarily caused by perceived usefulness and affects behavioral responses. It also found that choice process satisfaction is positively associated with revisit intentions and negative word-of-mouth. Customer experience significantly moderates the relationship between ambient condition, facility aesthetic, layout, perceived similarity and perceived usefulness. However, customer experience insignificant moderates the relationships of physical appearance and suitable behavior with perceived usefulness.

The findings provide insightful information for both academic and managerial fields, contributing to the literature on consumer psychology, consumer behavior, servicescapes and the stimulus-organism-response theory. The study also assists restauranteurs in the fast-food restaurant industry in overcoming the challenges posed by a highly competitive environment and developing strategies based on consumer perceptions.

This study, conducted in Pakistan, took a pioneer step in testing and confirming a novel perceived usefulness model that incorporates not only servicescapes but also social servicescapes in consumer behavior. It enhances the knowledge of consumer visit intentions by quantifying the significance of perceived usefulness developed by different servicescapes.