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This study aims to consolidate and hone existing spectating and crowd theory. This is achieved by marrying socio-cultural ideas and concepts from related disciplines.

This conceptual review examines what people do when they congregate at an event, and in doing so, answers the question of what they forgo when denied a crowd. Concepts are teased from the literature as to what happens during participatory congregation (in company, in situ), punctuated by relegation without it.

Related concepts are organised into a typology. The metamodel is the essence of the paper and includes four themes: (1) identity construction, (2) interacting with others, (3) producing and co-producing the event and (4) the allure of tribalism.

The paper is conceptual and therefore a typology (not a taxonomy). This implies that while it is likely transferable, it is not generalisable. It is manual and subjective, as opposed to objective and automatic. Notwithstanding future research implications, it is intended to inform those considering running virtual events.

Event organisers are informed as to the “what” and “why” of running community events. It encourages a more circumspect, humanistic view that events are not merely a source of revenue.

This review contributes a macro understanding of human nature, complementing a micro understanding of crowd behaviour.

Virtual event management is a relatively new and burgeoning field. Prior to the Pandemic an event without a crowd was almost inconceivable.

The purpose of this research is to understand the overall consumer experience, while highlighting the means through which consumers live and take possession of what they consume.

Holt’s typology serves as the theoretical background. Choosing a netnographic framework, we analyze the coffee experiential universe of 41 Canadian consumers of Tim Hortons' coffee by studying their personal stories posted on the company’s website.

Individuals predominantly associate the consumption of coffee with ritual, happiness, joy, travel companion and extended relationship. These categories relate to mystique (ritual); pleasure (happiness and joy); travel (travel companion); and love (family-like relationship).

We acknowledge that there is a danger of bias in our data considering that we used the narratives that recorded the highest hits. However, these narratives represent a socially constructed reality which was validated by Tim Hortons’ fans themselves.

To maintain a strong market position, it is no longer sufficient to understand the associations linked to the overall experience of a product’s consumption. The company must also have ways of accessing or appropriating the consumer experience.

The study shows that it is possible for today’s consumer products to become symbolic representations in the minds of consumers, provided that the consumer has a strong attachment to the brand. It is essential to understand the appropriation practices of consumers’ experiences, as these hold significant theoretical and managerial implications.

This study seeks to further understanding of spectator consumption practices by applying modern consumer theory in a much different historical context: the gladiator games during the time of the Roman Empire. The objective is to validate modern ideas of consumption practices with evidence from the past.

The research draws from a sampling of classical and contemporary literatures as well as the interpretation of the images and inscriptions delineated on archaeological artifacts such as relief sculptures on sarcophagi, floor mosaics, fresco paintings, and terracotta and glass lamps. The visual content and consumption themes of selected objects are described and analyzed.

Spectators at the Roman games used these events for the sake of the experience, for integrating themselves into their community, for classifying themselves in a certain group category, and for interacting and socializing with other people. As in modern sporting events, consuming the Roman games served both instrumental and autotelic purposes for spectators. The games were directly an object of consumption as well as the focal resource of interpersonal communications.

The set of visual data sources is small and the literary evidence is in translation of the original sources.

The research shows that Holt's typology of sports consumer practices is supported by evidence from a much different time and context. Thus, the theory provides a robust framework for analysing consumer practices and rituals.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main individual and collective strategies online communities employ to appropriate fantasy worlds and the ways in which community members use imagination within this context.

A qualitative study drawing on an ethnography of online communities including individual in‐person interviews with community members of the world is considered.

The predominance and the vital importance of the production/consumption of stories within these communities has been shown. The multiple benefits of this practice have been illustrated, including the pleasure of creating and playing with one's imagination. These benefits engender the surprise and enchantment of community members, who lavish other members with encouragement, congratulations and thanks.

Because of opting for a non‐participatory ethnography, it was impossible to directly contact the members of the community to conduct interviews. Thus a convenience sample was chosen representative of the study subject and individuals outside of these communities were questioned.

The online community allows members to collectively and playfully participate in entertainment related to the fantasy world. It appears as an imaginary organization of the (entertainment) service provider. The members of this organization can take part in value coproduction and share the benefits of an extended entertainment service that sparks their imagination and allows them to enjoy the fruits of their creations. Given the fantasy world's power to fire the imagination of fantasy lovers, the paper demonstrates that it is important for leisure and entertainment service providers to consider adding a fantasy component to their service.

Aspects of the organizational culture of four universities, two in Japan and one each in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, are discussed and compared. The paper argues that organizations established in countries sharing similarities in national cultures are likely to be characterized by similar values, beliefs, and assumptions, in short, that similarities in national cultures are likely to nurture similarities in organizational cultures. Japan and Arab countries are similar with respect to several cultural dimensions; thus, the organizational cultures of the four universities are expected to reflect such similarities. While the findings provide some support to the “culture‐bound” position it is nevertheless premature to entirely dismiss the “culture‐free” argument, as aspects of organizational culture in the universities examined appear to be the product of organizational variables rather than socio‐cultural factors.

Purpose: This chapter examines two rather extreme examples of non-human entities in home assemblage, interior objects, and companion animals, and how their agency appears distributed with human consumers in assembling home. The authors aim at drawing conceptual contrasts and overlappings in how agency expresses itself in these categories of living and non-living entities, highlighting the multifaceted manifestations of object agency.

Methodology/Approach: This chapter employs multiple sets of ethnographically inspired data, ranging from ethnographic interviews and an autoethnographic diary to three types of (auto-)netnographic data.

Findings: The findings showcase oscillation of agency between these three analytic categories (human, non-human living, and non-human non-living), focusing on how it is distributed between two of the entities at a time, within the heterogeneous assemblage of home. Furthermore, the findings show instances in which agency emerges as shared between all three entities.

Originality/Value: The contribution of this chapter comes from advancing existing discussion on object agency toward the focus on distributed and shared agency. The research adds to the prevailing discussion by exhibiting how agency oscillates between different types of interacting entities in the assemblage, and in particular, how the two types of non-human entities are agentic. The research demonstrates the variability and interwovenness of non-human and human, living and non-living agency as they appear intertwined in home assemblage.

The current study sheds light on non-human object agency by drawing illustrative examples from a case of horse/horsemeat, and thereby captures the ways in which living and non-living animal entities have shifting effects and/or intentions in relation to human entities within heterogeneous networks of cultural resources and practices.

Leaning on the post-human approach, the case of horse/horsemeat provides an illustrative empirical entry point into exploring how by looking through the lenses of object agency one can deconstruct the prevailing anthropomorphism-based dualistic views of living and non-living domestic animals as subjects or objects.

The paper argues that by contemplating both the living horse and non-living horsemeat as ontologically shifting and co-constructive entities in relation to human subjects, we are able to elaborate the contradictions and convergences of object agency that appear in living and/or non-living co-consuming units.

The study showcases important aspects of animal welfare, addressing the effects of shifting from a human-centred perspective to a post-human view on equality between various kinds of entities.

This paper contributes to the discussions of non-human object agency, addressing the issue from the perspective of an animal entity, which enables participating in deconstructing dualisms such as subject and object as well as living and non-living. In particular, it highlights how in the case of an animal entity, agency may emerge in terms of effects and (some capacity of) intentions both within living and non-living entities.