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The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of terminal and instrumental values on the attitude and brand desirability for upcycled luxury designer facemasks, in relation with generic luxury designer facemasks.

A quantitative approach was adopted in this study, and data were collected via an online consumer panel from 390 existing Australian luxury consumers, aged 18 and above. Stimuli that represented the two upcycling conditions (remnants and past collections) and a control condition (generic product) from an actual Burberry-branded facemask were designed for the study. The collected data were analysed using the least partial square and multi-group analysis of the structural equation model

The findings indicate that consumers do not perceive Burberry facemasks made from upcycled remnant materials and previous collections have superior aesthetic or self-expressive benefits to them when compared to the generic Burberry masks. In the same vein, both upcycled categories do not provide superior instrumental values through economic benefits or safety when compared to the generic Burberry masks. Hence, terminal and instrumental values had no influence on the attitude and brand desirability for upcycled luxury designer facemasks, in relation with generic luxury designer facemasks.

The results indicate that strategies will have to be better designed to have a balance between safety features (as opposed to fashion) and luxury desirability of the brand to better capture the market for difference consumer values for the facemasks. As this is a relatively low involvement product, the pricing strategies must be re-evaluated.

This study offers empirical support for the proposition that different upcycling methods in the name of sustainable practices may have different functions for different consumer values in luxury marketing implementations. For the choice of facemasks during the COVID-19 pandemic, it provides empirical evidence for consumer choice for the different types and how it can be used to elevate luxury brand desirability.

Competencies are significant predictors of employee outcome. Nowadays, new technologies are changing maintenance processes and workflow. The role of employees and their competencies will therefore undergo decisive changes in the future. Therefore, a well-designed competency model for maintenance departments is important. The purpose of this paper is to develop a maintenance 4.0 competency model applicable to all industrial sectors by adapting it to the specificities of each sector.

The research methods consist of a comprehensive literature review on the main characteristics of the competency model and the individual competencies needed for the maintenance 4.0 employees. Interviews were conducted in order to validate and prioritize the required competencies for maintenance 4.0 employees identified in the literature.

The maintenance 4.0 competency model combines the required competencies in maintenance 4.0 and crosses the three hierarchical levels: managers, engineers and technicians. These competencies are organized in terms of four categories: technical, personal, social and methodological. In addition, a degree of importance for each competency is assigned as very important, moderately important and slightly important. As a result, this study identified the essential competencies for maintenance 4.0 stakeholders, where 12 competencies are considered very important for maintenance 4.0 technicians, 19 for engineers and 18 for managers.

This work has some limitations. First, although the articles related to competencies and their classification were selected very carefully, it is difficult to eliminate the probability of overlooking publications. Second, the limitation of the study is based on the difficulty of implementing the model in a case study, given that a minority of industrial companies have implemented maintenance 4.0 technologies in Morocco.

This work has practical implications for both individuals and institutions (companies and academies) to cope with new competency requirements in maintenance 4.0. Organizations can use the model in the recruitment process and for the identification of training needs. The results of the research will also contribute to identifying the scope of competencies of the maintenance 4.0 actors (engineer, manager and technician), which, in practice, contributes to the creation of requirements for the candidates applying for a job in the maintenance department. Additionally, educational institutions should make the necessary changes to their curricula to suitably prepare students for the required maintenance 4.0 competencies.

The social implications of the article result from the contribution to the development of maintenance competencies. Individuals can use this model for their own personal development. Furthermore, companies can use this model to define job profiles for vacancies in M4.0. Therefore, using the model for training program implementation has a positive effect on employee job satisfaction and employees ’morale.

This research develops a novel maintenance 4.0 competency model by categorizing the maintenance workforce into three hierarchical levels: managers, engineers and technicians. In addition, the competency requirement is prioritized to three degrees: very important, moderately important and slightly important. According to the previous studies conducted on maintenance 4.0 and employees' competencies, this study revealed that no research has developed a competency model for maintenance 4.0. Hence, this model is unique, generic and integrative since it presents the most relevant competencies for the three hierarchical levels. Moreover, this work combines the results of the literature review and the experts' returns. This model can be useful in the recruitment of new maintenance employees, the evaluation of their performance and the identification of training needs to cope with new changes in maintenance competencies.

This study aims to assess the readiness of both citizens and the government for digital participatory planning (DDP) as a contribution to the undergoing transformative shift toward smart and sustainable cities to address the challenges posed by rapid urbanization. While much attention has been devoted to leveraging technology to mitigate these challenges, there has been a relative lack of emphasis on engaging stakeholders in the planning process in a smart and inclusive manner. DPP stands as a cornerstone for the development of sustainable and smart cities. However, before DPP can be effectively implemented on the ground, it is crucial to assess the city readiness for DPP to ensure its success. This assessment is undertaken as part of Oman's broader initiative to transition into sustainable smart cities in alignment with the goals outlined in Oman Vision 2040.

A generic evaluation framework was identified, validated and customized to the local context by experts using the pile sorting technique based on the social constructivism theory. Then, the revised framework was used to evaluate the readiness of a sample of local citizens and government officials in Oman for the DPP concept.

The inferential statistical analysis revealed that citizens are willing to participate in DPP when trust and transparency with policymakers are enhanced. On the government side, the results showed that there is adequate infrastructure that can enable DPP, and planners have a positive attitude toward DPP provided that trust in citizens' opinions is strengthened. This study concludes with a roadmap for preparation for DPP implementation in smart sustainable cities mandated by Oman Vision 2040. The findings and roadmap can inform policy development, decision-making and urban planning practices toward more inclusive, participatory and technologically enabled urban environments.

The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by emphasizing the significance of stakeholders' smart involvement in planning processes, social sustainability, evaluating city readiness for DPP and providing practical recommendations for DPP implementation in the context of smart sustainable cities. At a theoretical level, the study contributes a framework for assessing readiness for DPP and emphasizes that mutual trust is not only important for conventional participation practices but it is also essential for smart citizens. This study argues that a building or a city is not sustainable unless it is seen as such by its stakeholders, including the end users. Therefore, effective and smart involvement of the citizens in smart city planning is a precondition for the success of the future cities.

At the beginning of the 21st century, a new class of information workers, the “information have-less” has risen. This class of workers alleviates the influence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) revolution on poverty and unemployment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the presence of this class of workers in Egypt and assess the size and potential growth of this category of workers.

The study clarifies the conceptual framework of the new division of labor, in the information age. The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Information and Decision Support Center websites provided secondary data for this study. These data are used to assess the size of “the information have less” in Egypt.

The division of work and class, in the 21st century, depends on the level of skills possessed to work with ICTs. So, class and labor nowadays could be divided into self-programmable labor (Innovators). Information have-less labor class, adding value to the economy by learning skills and presenting repetitive work. Generic labor class, who cannot work with ICTs, and work in jobs, that do not need computers or other ICTs. The study has shown that the “information have-less” labor class is present in Egypt since the beginning of the 21st century, in all its categories; entrepreneurism, the service sector and the manufacturing sector. There are approximately 50% of this labor class in the service sector and only 13% of the information have-less works in manufacturing sector despite the great opportunities that Egypt has to expand manufacturing to absorb more employment. The inclusion of information technology (IT), in all domains, has not decreased employment in Western countries but has reallocated information have-less employment toward the service sector, and there would probably be the same effect in Egypt.

The study highlights the need for Egyptian policymakers to encourage the manufacturing and service sectors to provide huge working opportunities. The Egyptian government has to change the educational policies, at all stages, to include digital learning skills so IT can be incorporated in a wide range of economic activities. Further research includes: conducting a survey to measure the contribution of the entrepreneurial part of the information have-less employment in Egypt. In addition, a model may be developed, by the researcher to examine the reallocation of employees in Egypt.

Studying employment, in Egypt, using the conceptual framework of the information age is rarely being done.

This paper investigates the usage and trust of Chinese social media in the travel planning process (pre-trip, during-trip and post-trip) of Chinese tourists.

Through a combination of structured online survey (n = 406) and follow-up interviews, the research identifies the diversification of the demand-and-supply patterns of social media users in China, as well as the allocation of functions of social media as tools before, during and after travel.

Social media users are diverse in terms of their adoption of social media, use behaviour and scope; the levels of trust and influence; and their ultimate travel decisions and actions. Correlations between the level of trust, influence of social media and the intended changes in travel decisions are observed. Destination marketers and tourism industries should observe and adapt to the needs of social media users and potential tourist markets by understanding more about user segmentation between platforms or apps and conducting marketing campaigns on social media platforms to attract a higher number of visitors.

This paper demonstrated the case of social media usage in mainland China, which has been regarded as one of the fastest growing and influential tourist-generating markets and social media expansions in the world. This study further addressed the knowledge gap by correlating social media usage and travel planning process of Chinese tourists. The research findings suggested diversification of the demand-and-supply pattern of social media users in China, as well as the use of social media as tools before, during and after travel. Users were diversified in terms of their adoption of social media, use behaviour, scope, the levels of trust, influence and the ultimate travel decisions.

Destination marketing organizations should note that some overseas social media platforms that are not accessible in China like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Facebook and Instagram are still valued by some Chinese tourists, especially during-trip period in journeys to Western countries. Some tactics for specific user segments should be carefully observed. When promoting specific tourism products to Chinese tourists, it is necessary to understand the user segmentation between platforms or apps.

Social media is a powerful tool for tourism development and sustainability in creating smart tourists and destinations worldwide. In China, the use of social media has stimulated the development of both information and communication technology and tourism.

Emergence is a key concept in service-dominant (SD) logic; however, the literature is neonatal on the underlying mechanisms that lead to emergence within service ecosystems. This study aims to address the call by Vargo et al. (2022) for understanding the role of actor engagement in emergence of novel outcomes, by identifying a process of how various actor roles in entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) emerge as resource through the actor engagement.

Following a longitudinal design, this study conduct interviews from 20 respondents over eight months in three phases (group interviews, post-training, post-funding). This study analyzes the respondents’ engagement in an entrepreneurial service context. This study uses qualitative inductive approach and thematic analysis.

Results show that actor roles emerge as role expectations from essential provider and beneficiary position in a service ecosystem through actor role readiness, manifested as engagement properties in the actor engagement process. This study identifies five actor roles and their corresponding role readiness dimensions that emerge. Based on these propositions through which the authors position generic actor roles emergence within the actor engagement process in a service ecosystem.

This paper advances the understanding of micro-level process in emergence literature in SD logic by providing a conceptual understanding of emergence of actor roles as a resource through actor engagement. By grounding the study in EE, this study provides empirical evidence to the underlying mechanisms at the micro level of resource emergence process in a service ecosystem.

This article focusses on the hybrid strategy, a simultaneous combination of cost leadership and differentiation strategy. The study aims to examine the impact of hybrid strategy on firm performance through its anticipated positive effects on process and product innovation. In addition, we study the moderating role of adaptive capacity in the direct relationships of hybrid strategy with process and product innovation.

Structural equation modelling was used to analyse 1,842 Spanish firms with fewer than 250 employees. We randomly selected small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in Spain from the Spanish Central Business Directory (2021) database. The overall sample design was based on stratified sampling.

We found that hybrid strategy is positively related to firm performance and to process and product innovation. Additionally, in firms implementing hybrid strategies, process innovation fostered firm performance. Finally, adaptive capacity strengthened the relationships of hybrid strategy with process and product innovation. This sheds light on how and when hybrid strategy is most effective in fostering SME performance.

We highlight that SMEs need to establish strategies that use diverse resources and capabilities and not just generate competitive advantage using one strategy (cost leadership or differentiation strategy). This requires an agile and flexible systems and structures.

Our research provides novel results by proposing the adoption of hybrid strategies instead of pure strategies (cost leadership and differentiation strategy) as a way for SMEs to survive during crises. Unlike “stuck in the middle” strategies, our study demonstrates the importance of hybrid strategies in a comprehensive model that links them to innovation and firm performance, with adaptive capacity being a determining factor.

Technological innovation, digitalisation and the Industry 4.0 revolution radically changed business management and contributed to the achievement of sustainability goals. While many studies analyse technological innovation, and Industry 4.0 in particular, the technical aspects of its contribution/impact on sustainability remains partially analysed, especially in relation to Industry 4.0 enabling technologies. This study investigates the contribution of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies on sustainability in innovative firms.

The sustainability reports of the 50 most innovative companies based on Boston Consulting Group (BCG)'s 2022 raking is analysed through a content analysis. In the reports, enabling technologies are analysed in relation to their contribution to sustainability.

The results shed light on the application of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies in sustainability practices based on the communication in the firms' sustainability reports. The results indicate that enabling technologies support the three pillars of sustainability in different business processes.

The results have theoretical and managerial implications that broaden the study of enabling technologies and sustainability while also suggesting a future research agenda.

This study aims to address the gap in the literature regarding the contribution of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies to sustainability.

The question of whether and how communication departments contribute to organizational value creation has rarely been addressed in research. Such evidence is crucial, however, as communications compete internally with other functions (e.g. marketing and human resources (HR)) for budgets and staff. This article fills the gap by applying the business model concept, an established approach from management theory and practice, to communication units.

Based on an interdisciplinary literature review, the authors propose the Communication Business Model (CBM) as a new management approach for communications. To this end, pertinent definitions, frameworks and typologies of business models are analyzed and combined with insights from corporate communications literature.

The CBM outlines the generic architecture of business models for communication departments. Such models describe the basic principles of how such a unit operates, what services and products it provides, how it creates value for an organization and what revenues and resources are allocated.

The approach stimulates the debate on communication units as objects of observation when researching communication management practices. Further research with appropriate empirical methods is needed to identify and study different types of business models for communications.

The CBM can be used as a management tool to analyze, explain and innovate communication management in organizations. It is a fertile approach for communication practitioners to make the work of their department visible and to position themselves internally and externally.

Transferring a well-known concept from general management to communication management enriches the value creation debate in theory and practice. It allows communication leaders to align their work with organizational goals and make it accessible to top management and other decision-makers in the organization. It also opens up new avenues for research and education.

Focusing on the quality of teaching and learning, this study aims to explore the perceptions of accountancy students in two emerging UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of the quality of their learning experiences and the impact of these experiences on generic skills development.

A questionnaire survey was used to collect the data. OLS regression was used to test the hypothesis regarding the impact of student learning experiences (lecturer ability, assessment and curriculum) on generic skills development.

Students value the lecturer as the most important determinant of the quality of their experience. They rated their assessment programme very positively, and the curriculum suggests that students tend to experience a deep blended approach to learning. They also felt that they acquired a wide range of soft competency skills such as those associated with research, critical thinking and time management. Multivariate findings indicate that lecturer ability and curriculum contribute significantly and positively to generic skills development.

The study provides a benchmark for international accounting and business educators in any efforts to assess the efficacy of HE delivery since the pandemic. By implication, it enables the identification of enhancements to the previous character of delivery and hence offers the means to direct improvements to the student experience. Such improvements can then be seen in the National Student Survey (NSS) scores, thereby positively contributing to the next Teaching Excellence Framework. Additionally, such tangible enhancements in NSS scores may be advantageous to HEIs, in the UK and other Western countries, in their efforts to recruit international students on whom they place great reliance for increased revenue, to their international business education programmes.

This study addresses the research gap surrounding the link between teaching and learning approaches in accounting and the development of generic skills. Furthermore, acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic with its imposed structural change in the HE teaching and learning environment ushered in a new model of curriculum delivery, this study reflects on the pre-COVID-19 scenario and gathers student perceptions of their teaching and learning experiences before the changes necessitated by lockdowns. It therefore brings the opportunity to anchor future research exploring the post-COVID-19 environment and secure comparative analyses.