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This study explores the potential of computational design processes in creating contextually responsive envelopes for high-rise residential buildings in the Middle East. This includes considering both physical constraints and social preferences, with a focus on balancing sunlight exposure, privacy and views.

A two-phase simulation study analyzed various exterior envelope systems in Baghdad high-rise buildings. The first phase examined two commonly used exterior envelopes – fully glazed and window-based – to assess sunlight exposure, privacy and views. In the second phase, a multi-objective optimization process was applied to derive contextually optimized design solutions addressing the challenges identified in the first phase.

The study reveals that contextually optimized design solutions significantly improved direct sunlight exposure and privacy while maintaining satisfactory views. Although fully glazed exterior envelopes provided better-uninterrupted views, the optimized solutions offered more balanced performance across all factors, demonstrating the potential of computational design processes in creating contextually responsive building envelopes.

This paper emphasizes the importance of considering both physical and social contexts in the development of algorithms for architecture in the Middle East. This paper supports a progressive interpretation of traditional building references and demonstrates how computational design processes can create contextually responsive building envelopes that satisfy social needs and provide better-performing buildings for inhabitants.

This research explores the potential incorporation of Indonesian folklore, particularly the folklore of the origin of Bandung, into Arabic language teaching materials. Integrating local cultural elements into language instruction can enhance students' language learning experience and promote a deeper understanding of Indonesian culture.

The origin city of Bandung is one of the famous folklore stories in Indonesia that originates from West Java. Through ethnographic studies, various aspects of the folklore of the origin of the city of Bandung will be examined, which can be utilized in Arabic language teaching. This includes analyzing the linguistic structure, vocabulary and cultural references embedded in the story. Additionally, we will explore how teachers can effectively incorporate this folklore into their teaching materials to create engaging and culturally relevant Arabic language lessons.

This research aims to contribute to developing innovative and culturally responsive language learning by investigating the use of Indonesian folklore in Arabic language instruction. It aims to empower teachers and students by fostering a deeper appreciation of Indonesian culture while improving Arabic language proficiency. This approach enhances language learning outcomes, promotes cultural awareness and cultivates a deeper connection between students and the local culture. By embracing folklore, teachers can create dynamic and meaningful language learning experiences that empower students to become proficient Arabic speakers with a strong appreciation for Indonesian wisdom and culture.

Overall, using folklore as a foreign language teaching material provides significant advantages for students in developing a deeper understanding of language, cultural skills and interest in the language and culture being studied. This approach improves language learning outcomes, promotes cultural awareness and fosters deeper relationships between students and local culture so that foreign language (Arabic) learning is effective. By embracing folklore, teachers can create dynamic and meaningful language learning experiences that empower students to become proficient Arabic speakers with a strong appreciation for local Indonesian wisdom and culture.

Practically, this involves understanding the social, political, economic or cultural context in which the folklore arose, as well as new interpretations that provide a broader understanding of the stories' values, messages or conflicts. In contributing to knowledge, this research has implications for insight into linguistic knowledge and learning a second language in the norms of the first language without shifting the culture of the first language.

Empirically, this study combines an interdisciplinary approach to folklore research that can bring a new understanding of the relationship between folklore and other fields such as linguistics, literature, anthropology or psychology. This approach can produce a more comprehensive insight into folklore and its influence on various aspects of life. Contributing to social impact, introducing culture in learning materials is an educational tourism attraction for students. This also has an impact on public policy that tourism education about folklore is introduced as teaching and used as further field study for students.

This research conceptualizes the diversity of Indonesian culture integrated into the instructional materials of Arabic language learning in Indonesia through folklore. To integrate folktales into the learning process, families, traditions and rituals need to play a role in preserving and educating. Researchers can develop new insights, broaden our understanding of culture and traditions and enrich our knowledge and cultural heritage. These new approaches have the potential to yield discoveries and a deeper understanding of folklore as an important cultural heritage. This research explores the potential incorporation of Indonesian folklore, particularly the folklore of the origin of Bandung, into Arabic language teaching materials. Integrating local cultural elements into Arabic language teaching for Indonesian speakers can enhance students' language learning experience and promote a deeper understanding of Indonesian culture through Arabic language teaching as a foreign language.

Despite striving for resilience and a sustainable urban future, European cities face a multitude of crisis caused by both natural and human-induced risks. This paper asks two key questions: How have cities experienced and managed crises situations they encountered? and What are the plans and actions for embedding sustainability at a local level within a clear decision-making structure? Hence, it aims to examine urban resilience in the context of urban crisis and the associated health concerns that took place because of crisis situations, while identifying sustainable urban development initiatives and strategies that were conceived and implemented beyond crisis.

An evidence-based analytical approach is undertaken following two lines of inquiry. The first is case-based and identifies 11 cities that have experienced crisis situations and a further 10 cities that have instigated urban resilience strategies. The second is theme-based and engages with identifying strategies relevant to sustainable urban development at city and project levels. The outcomes of the two lines of inquiry are verified by mapping the lessons learned from the analysis to recent international guidance and a further co-visioning workshop with 6 experts.

The evidence-based analysis reveals key lessons which were classified under two primary types of findings: (a) lessons learned for a future urban resilience resulting from the 1st line of Inquiry (case-based) and (b) lessons learned for a future sustainable urban development resulting from the 2nd line of inquiry (theme-based). The verified lessons provide four areas that can be utilised as key priorities for future urban resilience and sustainable urban development including (a) Governance, effective communication, and decision making for city resilience and urban sustainability; (b) the social dimension of resilience and participatory practices for sustainable urban development; (c) from implicit strategies for health to positive impact on health; and (d) diversification of initiatives and localisation of sustainable development endeavours.

There is always limitation on what a bibliometrics analysis can offer in terms of the nature of evidence and the type of knowledge generated from the investigation. This limitation manifests in the fact that the analysis engages with the body of knowledge but not based on engaging physically or socially with the contexts within which the cases took place or through empirical investigations including systematic observations, focused interviews, and attitude surveys. While the study does not generate empirical findings, the rigour of the bibliometrics analysis offers a credible and reliable evidence on how cities experienced and managed crises situations and their current plans and priority actions for embedding and localising sustainable development measures.

This research conveys significant implications for policy, practice, and action in that it crystalises the view that understanding urban resilience and sustainability, at the city or urban level, requires coupling the two. The findings offer a solid foundation for a more contextualised, evidence-based examination of urban resilience and sustainability during and beyond crisis. Highlighting urban and health challenges that emerged from experienced crisis situations, how these were managed and developing an understanding of sustainable urban development and local resilience strategies elucidate insights that can be adopted and acted upon by city councils and built environment practitioners.

The analysis provides comprehensive insights into urban resilience and sustainable urban development at both city and continental Europe scales in the form of key lessons that represent the first step towards developing rudiments for building a better urban future. Little is known about resilience and sustainability at these scales. The originality of this work lies in the breadth and depth for capturing an inclusive understanding of urban resilience and sustainable urban development based on systematic inquiry and scrutinising the body of knowledge emerged over the past 2 decades.

Little is known about Indonesian consumers' acceptance of global brands despite their huge retail market potential. Drawing from Festinger’s (1957) cognitive dissonance theory and Schwartz’s (1992) value system, this study aims to examine the effect of Indonesian consumers' religiosity, cosmopolitanism and ethnocentrism on their preference for and purchase intention towards global brands.

Data were collected from 316 female consumers aged 20 years or older living in Indonesia via a professional online survey firm. The firm sent prospective participants an email invitation with a survey URL. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were conducted using AMOS 24.0 to test hypotheses.

The analyses revealed that Indonesian consumers' religiosity increased their ethnocentrism but not cosmopolitanism. Further, ethnocentrism decreased global brand preference without affecting purchase intention towards Korean cosmetics, whereas cosmopolitanism increased both global brand preference and purchase intention towards Korean cosmetics.

The findings show that cosmopolitanism has a stronger influence on global brand preference than ethnocentrism, suggesting ethnocentrism’s diminishing relevance in predicting purchase intention for foreign products. Additionally, religiosity’s effect on ethnocentrism was confirmed.

This study aims to investigate multilingual representation on public signs in the High City tourist destination in Abha, Saudi Arabia. It also reveals the linguistic strategies used in such representation.

This exploratory qualitative study used purposive sampling to analyze bottom-up public signs collected from the target tourist destination. A preliminary analysis was conducted for a more in-depth qualitative analysis of every sign. An Excel database was used to provide a general description and a preliminary reading of the strategies before using an in-depth analysis of every sign.

The study revealed that monolingualism (Arabic or English) and bilingualism (Arabic and English) represented the High City as a tourist destination where the signs served information and symbolic functions. No single multilingual sign was found. Certain linguistic strategies were used on the public signs, including politeness, transliteration, hybrid representation, personification and fragmentary. Some tourist-oriented strategies, such as the crisis communication strategy, are still missing.

These findings indicate that this tourist destination still targets local and regional visitors, and its linguistic landscape (LL) needs further consideration in terms of internationalization and targeting international visitors. This study implies that bilingual Arabic and English tourist destinations are potential domains for translation students and English language learners.

This study has focused on the LL of a newly established tourist destination in Saudi Arabia. It has shed light on the nuanced representations and strategies used through public signage. It contributes to understanding how linguistic elements can shape tourists’ perceptions and experiences.

English, the lingua franca of the world, permeates a global teaching-learning space not only for communication per se but also as a medium of instruction and social interaction. The authors studied the lived experiences of five English-speaking university lecturers as regards English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching in a non-English-speaking Asian country.

Using a phenomenological inquiry and through Zoom interviews, the authors studied the lived experiences of five English-speaking university lecturers as regards EFL teaching in a non-English-speaking Asian country.

Thematic analyses guided the authors' understanding of the participants’ lived experiences in the classroom, such as the following: (1) Local students have a negative perception of EFL; (2) lecturers’ professional standards are hardly imposed and (3) local students have a mixed level of English proficiency. The authors also examined the participants’ lived experiences in the organization, where the following issues surfaced: (1) sending of communication messages beyond working hours, (2) bureaucratic working environment and (3) changing of policies.

The authors' research implies the need for programs and policies that will help EFL teachers deal with instructional and other socio-cultural challenges in an Asian context.

In the Asian setting, there is a dearth of literature that focuses on the experience of university lecturers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), in particular, their teaching challenges. The authors confronted this gap by understanding the local beliefs about EFL teaching among English-speaking university lecturers.

Japan has made some progress in recognizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) rights, such as passing laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in some cities. However, there is still a long way to go in terms of legal protection and social acceptance. Understanding citizens' attitudes toward homosexuality can help inform policies and interventions that promote LGBTQ rights and reduce discrimination. This study explores factors that influence citizens' attitudes toward homosexuality in Japan.

The research was conducted through a web-based questionnaire with 1,806 participants, where they were asked about their views on same-sex partnership recognition, homosexual rights and traditional Japanese family systems. The collected data were statistically analyzed to determine the factors that affect individuals' opinions regarding homosexuality.

The study determined that in Japan, traditional views are inversely related to same-sex partnership registration. Conversely, local government support for LGBTQ+ rights is directly associated with societal acceptance. Additionally, closer contact with the LGBTQ+ community promotes acceptance.

The study provides insights into the factors that shape societal attitudes toward homosexuality in Japan and highlights the importance of policies promoting diversity and inclusivity. By identifying these determinants, this study could help policymakers and advocates create effective strategies for promoting acceptance and equality for the LGBTQ+ community in Japan.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on understanding the factors that influence the attitudes of Japanese citizens toward homosexuality.

This paper aims to examine the role of social media communication, tourist satisfaction and destination brand equity components in enhancing destination brand equity based on the Stimulus – Organism – Response (S-O-R) theory.

The conceptual model and research hypotheses were assessed using covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM). An online survey was used to collect data from 369 domestic tourists who had traveled to Danang and knew about content related to Danang generated by either DMOs or other users on social media.

Except for the effect of DMO-generated social media communication on tourist satisfaction and the impact of destination brand awareness on destination brand loyalty, the findings confirmed the sequential causal relationships between research concepts based on the S-O-R model.

Future research should explore the proposed model based on comparisons of different nationalities to better understand the impact of cultural factors.

DMOs should associate social media with their marketing strategies to enhance destination brand equity, using cutting-edge technologies to create content and update information in a significant way to make communications by DMOs more effective. The findings especially suggest that UGC plays a vital role in improving brand equity dimensions, so DMOs could exploit UGC to engage existing customers and build relationships with potential customers. This research provides guidance for DMOs to improve their brand equity based on social media.

This study has contributed to the destination marketing literature by applying the S-O-R theory to propose a pathway for effectively increasing destination brand equity and highlight the importance of social media communication as a driver to achieve a hierarchical relationship between destination brand equity components and tourist satisfaction from stimulus to organism (e.g. cognition to affect).

Football is at once both a global sport and one that is defined by fiercely guarded local boundaries. For a firm operating within this highly lucrative industry and with ambitions of establishing a strong international presence for itself, a balance must be struck between riding on the game’s global appeal on the one hand and the need to somehow embed itself within particular local spaces on the other. This study aims to analyse how one such firm, the holding company City Football Group (CFG), is going about achieving this.

This is a conceptual paper that adopts a broadly inductive approach, building on an extensive analysis of both theoretical research and publicly available secondary data to develop a framework depicting three key strategies associated with CFG’s internationalisation.

Three factors are identified as being especially pertinent in CFG’s international expansion: the composition of CFG’s top management team; the attempts to establish a unifying “City identity”; and CFG’s forays into more peripheral leagues around the world after having established itself at the “top end” of the game.

The framework presented in this paper is particularly oriented towards a practitioner audience. Managers of firms operating in football, as well as in other industries in which the pressure to be both globally integrated and locally responsive is particularly acute, can draw lessons from both the framework and the broader insights presented here on CFG’s global expansion.

Football is widely regarded as the world’s most popular sport, and fans often take matters very seriously when it comes to the club they support. How football clubs are run is, therefore, a matter of considerable societal interest, as demonstrated by various fan protests over the years. As global, multi-club ownership structures like that adopted by CFG become more commonplace, this study will provide football fans with some insight into the strategies of these companies and how their own clubs fit within these ownership models.

This study addresses an under-researched topic: the international expansion of a prominent football holding company.

As cross-cultural mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have learning effects on organisations, assessing their impacts on corporate performance is crucial. This study aims to explore the impact of inter-firm cultural differences on long-term post-M&A stock market performance.

The authors select domestic M&A transactions of Chinese listed companies during 2010–2021 as the sample. Then, the authors use the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) to construct the latent variable of cultural differences in four dimensions to explore long-term stock market performance.

Cultural differences first positively and then negatively impact post-M&A performance. Three transmissions mechanisms are identified: investor sentiment, takeover premiums and information disclosure quality. Further analysis reveals that acquirer stock performance improves with higher analyst coverage and non-local shareholders but worsens if there are business affiliations between the acquirer and target firms.

This study can help optimise information disclosure systems in M&A transactions for regulatory authorities and aid investors’ understanding of post-M&A performance changes. Furthermore, it can improve acquirers’ understanding of the risks and opportunities in cross-cultural M&A, thereby facilitating the adaptation of management practices to the im-pacts of cultural differences.

By integrating the theories of resource dependence and transaction costs, this study examines the reversal effect of cultural differences between merging companies on post-M&A performance. The authors use a PLS-SEM to empirically analyse the main effects and reveal three transmission mechanisms.