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Information makes an important contribution to the promotion of the creativity of visual artists. This work aims to explore relevant research through a systematic review of the literature and discuss the impact of information on visual artists' creativity.

A systematic literature review was conducted through Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses method. The authors searched and retrieved 1,320 papers from which, after evaluation, 41 papers have been analyzed.

Two thematic categories were identified for visual artists' information needs: (1) the need for professional development and (2) the need for creative techniques and materials. In terms of information sources visual artists employ, the authors have also identified seven broad categories: (1) conventional resources (galleries, museums, etc.), (2) professional scholar sources, (3) digital art websites, (4) informal information online and colleagues, (5) libraries, (6) personal collections and (7) professional scholar social networks. In addition, the study proceeded to classify the obstacles faced by visual artists in their search for visual information into two general categories: (1) environmental barriers and (2) digital literacy barriers.

Although the investigation of the information needs satisfaction of visual artists as well as the evaluation of their information behavior patterns and information literacy competences is essential, it is understudied. This paper summarizes the relevant literature in a concrete and systematic way providing evidences to be considered in a variety of situations, i.e. developing lifelong learning programs, managing visual art library collections, library services development for artists, etc.

This research examines the underlying psychological process of customers' impulsive buying on social media through the lens of customer inspiration. Drawing on the customer inspiration theory, it identifies the factors influencing customer inspiration on social media from three perspectives: source characteristics, platform characteristics and personal characteristics, which subsequently lead to impulsive buying. Since the conceptualization of source credibility includes three mostly reported components: attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness, it further contrasts the effects of three dimensions of source credibility on customer inspiration.

A structural equation model of customers' impulsive buying on social media was developed through the lens of customer inspiration. An online survey with 625 participants was conducted to test the hypotheses, and the partial least squares (PLS3) method was used.

This research found that source credibility, social presence and customer innovativeness are antecedents of customer inspiration on social media, which positively influence the inspired-by state of the customers, which impacts the inspired-to state and further leads to impulsive buying. By comparing the three dimensions of source credibility, the authors found that attractiveness and expertise positively affect the inspired-by state, while trustworthiness has no significant effect.

This research establishes the link between impulsive buying and customer inspiration, which provides a new psychological perspective to understand impulsive buying. In addition, it investigates the source characteristics of customer inspiration by comparing the effect of three dimensions of source credibility on customer inspiration, which provides the first evidence for connecting customer inspiration and source credibility.

The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of different brand positions (underdog vs top dog) and comparative advertising on consumers’ brand attitudes. Additionally, this study also aims to demonstrate the effects of inspiration, self-relevance and empathy on the relationship between brand positioning and comparative advertising.

A two-by-three factorial design was employed with brand positions (underdog vs top dog) and three types of comparative advertising (noncomparative, indirect comparative and direct comparative) as the independent variables. Inspiration serves as the mediator, while self-relevance and empathy act as moderators and brand attitude is the dependent variable.

The results show that different brand positions significantly affect brand attitudes, with respondents having a better brand attitude toward the underdog brand. Brand attitude is partially mediated by inspiration. Self-relevance moderates the relationship between brand positioning and brand attitude. However, brand positioning, comparative advertising and empathy do not have interaction effects.

This study contributes to a better understanding of the effect of psychological variables on brand positioning and comparative advertising.

The results suggest that the underdog setting requires a real and honest story because consumers will spot a fake underdog story, which will damage consumer trust in the brand and harm the brand image.

There is a lack of research using psychological variables to demonstrate the effect of being the underdog brand. This study contributes to the literature by employing psychological variables to illustrate the effect of underdog positioning. These findings can help brands develop branding positioning strategies.

This study examines the dualities of digital services – that is, how customers’ favorite everyday digital services can positively and negatively contribute to their well-being. Thus, the study describes the meanings of favorite digital services as part of customers’ everyday lives and the types of well-being to which such services can contribute.

We used a qualitative research approach through semi-structured interviews conducted in 2021 to collect data from 14 young adults (22–31 years old) who actively used digital services in their daily lives.

Our findings revealed that customers’ favorite everyday digital services can contribute to their mental well-being, social well-being, and intellectual well-being. Within these three dimensions of well-being, we identified nine dualities of digital services that describe their positive and negative contributions: (1) digital escapism versus digital disruption, (2) digital relaxation versus digital stress, (3) digital empowerment versus digital subjugation, (4) digital augmentation versus digital emptiness, (5) digital socialization versus digital isolation, (6) digital togetherness versus digital exclusion, (7) digital self-expression versus digital pressure, (8) digital learning versus digital dependence, and (9) digital inspiration versus digital stagnation.

These findings suggest that everyday digital services have the potential to contribute to customer well-being in various aspects – both positively and negatively – accentuating the need for service providers to decipher the impacts of their offerings on well-being. Indeed, understanding the relationship between digital services and customer well-being can help companies tailor their services to customers’ needs. Companies that prioritize customer well-being not only benefit their customers but also create sustainable growth opportunities in the long run. Further, companies can use the derived information in service design to develop marketing strategies that emphasize the positive impacts of their digital services on customer well-being.

Although prior transformative service studies have investigated the well-being of multiple stakeholders, such studies have focused on services related to the physical and healthcare domains. Consequently, the role of everyday digital services as contributors to customer well-being is an under-researched topic. In addition, the concept of well-being and its various dimensions has received limited attention in previous service research. By investigating everyday digital services and their multidimensional contribution to customer well-being, this study broadens the perspective on well-being within TSR and aids in refining a more precise conceptualization.

By celebrating tourism destinations through cruise collections, luxury brands open to new influences. They may develop deeper connections with certain geographical areas, but may also challenge the quintessentially national dimension of luxury brand culture. The best example of synergies between a luxury fashion brand and tourism destinations are the Christian Dior cruise collections with Maria Grazia Chiuri at the helm. This chapter is to understand how cruise collections may enhance luxury fashion houses' brand culture through the connections they develop with tourism destinations. Further, the chapter assesses the extent to which destinations can benefit from the exposure provided by luxury fashion brands' cruise collections.

Family policy is an area where policy transfer has garnered a lot of attention lately. A growing body of research demonstrates policymakers' interest in and willingness to adopt foreign family policies. However, previous studies have tended to neglect the second mechanism of policy transfer: resistance. This manuscript aims to address this research gap by exploring both the willingness and resistance to policy transfer in Czech and Korean childcare and leave policies.

This study employs a qualitative research design, incorporating structured expert interviews instrumental in in-depth thematic analysis.

The analysis shows that policymakers in both countries demonstrated interest and willingness to transfer family policies, albeit employing different strategies and to varying extents. Moreover, the two countries exhibited significant differences in resistance to family policy transfer, with resistance in the Czech Republic being more frequent and effective. Resistance is directed towards both forced and voluntary transfers, although it isn't always against transfers that require a paradigm change. Policy transfer and non-transfer can concurrently be perceived as threats.

The study concludes that integrating both policy transfer and resistance in the analyses helps to shed light on cross-national differences in family policy change and contributes to a more nuanced portrayal of the world of policy transfer in this policy field.

This study aims to explore visual artists’ image needs and the obstacles they face in meeting them.

The visual artists, participating in the study, included painters, graphic designers, textile designers, architects and sculptors who were faculty members in two oldest art institutions of Pakistan. A total of 20 face-to-face interviews representing four participants from each visual artists group were conducted. The textual data were analyzed thematically, using NVIVO 12 software.

Results showed that under-study visual artists need images mainly for academic purposes (teaching, assignments, etc.) and for professional and research purposes. However, they require images quite often, as a majority of the respondents told that they need images on daily basis.

The study findings provide an insight for information science professionals, system designers and image librarians regarding visual artists’ image using behavior.

As the researchers could not find any such study in local context, and a very few globally, therefore, this study may serve as a baseline for further research in this area.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between spiritual capital and small business innovation in a developing market economy and the highly religious society of Minangkabau.

A quantitative method was used by analyzing the data with partial least squares (PLS), comprising 278 entrepreneurial and high-growth aspiration small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) owners in a developing economy such as Indonesia.

The results showed that spiritual capital was a source of acquiring knowledge from innovation failure situations, serving as a catalyst for the occurrence of novelty and differentiation-related innovation.

The perspective of spiritual capital was provided within a religious community, showing that future reports should produce comparative analyses from varying contexts. Since understanding entrepreneurs' perspectives and spiritual capital situation remained ambiguous, the performance of qualitative analysis was crucial.

Entrepreneurs were expected to obtain considerable benefits from spiritual capital as a source of inspiration for differentiation and higher levels of novelty-related innovation. Similarly, policymakers should implement the capital and learn from failure to evaluate entrepreneurial SMEs concerning their capabilities.

Previous studies were unable to acknowledge an alternative source of innovation in a specific context, such as entrepreneurial SMEs with high-growth aspirations and spiritual capital. This is because capital contributes to innovation, helps in the assimilation of innovative knowledge and causes novelty-related innovation.

Libraries are currently undergoing a significant transformation, emerging as dynamic advocates for environmental sustainability, surpassing their conventional roles as mere repositories of knowledge. In today’s world, dominated by the growing climate crisis, these evolving institutions are poised to play a pivotal role in addressing climate change. However, they confront a range of challenges, including the need to establish sustainable operations, provide accessible climate information, engage diverse audiences and uphold ethical standards.

The research methodology used for this study involves an extensive review of literature. The authors analyze existing studies concerning green libraries and their role as catalysts for climate change action globally. This analysis draws from a variety of scholarly sources, encompassing articles, books and reports, to provide a comprehensive overview of the subject.

The findings indicate that despite the aforementioned challenges, libraries in developed countries worldwide have demonstrated noteworthy success through initiatives such as green building projects, community engagement programs, collaborative partnerships, expansion of digital resources, innovative climate literacy initiatives and a commitment to ethical stewardship. These achievements serve as a source of inspiration, fostering hope and spurring action as libraries empower communities to embrace environmental stewardship. They showcase the potential of libraries as catalysts for positive environmental change.

The originality and value of this research lie in its insights into the potential of green libraries initiative as a catalyst for climate change action. Ultimately, this study opens the door to untold literary exploration, revolutionizing the art of green library capacity in the ever-evolving technological landscape. To augment their impact, libraries are encouraged to broaden the scope of their climate education initiatives, expand their digital resources, cultivate strategic collaborations, prioritize ethical responsibility and implement thorough evaluation and communication practices.

In this paper we explore potential barriers for commodification of academic research in emerging countries.

We carried out an exploratory study employing a mixed-method sequential exploratory design. Initially, qualitative interviews were performed to identify cognitive, structural, and ideological barriers associated with commodification. Subsequently, we administered a survey at three universities in Kazakhstan to gather quantitative data. The quantitative insights served to complement our qualitative findings and facilitate the interpretation of the observed patterns within the broader population.

We found that a too rapid shift toward commercialization exacerbated concerns among faculty members and created obstacles to commodification. The obstacles identified through inductive clustering of themes from exploratory qualitative interviews were grouped into three intentionally broad categories: cognitive, structural, and ideological barriers. We argue that in emerging economies, the path to commodifying academic research should start with developing local infrastructure to address identified structural, cognitive, and ideological barriers. This, in turn, will lead to more successful commercialization and redefine the role of academics in society.

Our study has several limitations related to its empirical scope. We concentrated solely on one country, Kazakhstan. For future research, it is crucial to broaden the investigation to include more studies from the Central Asia region and other emerging economies. We believe that while there may be some minor institutional differences, the findings are generalizable to all post-socialist countries. However, incorporating a diverse range of institutions, particularly those with foreign ownership or private capital, would enhance the comprehensiveness of the findings. Furthermore, collecting a more extensive and balanced sample of responses from industry partners, academics, and students would have provided more valuable insights. By including a broader representation of stakeholders, we could have gained a more nuanced understanding of the complexities surrounding commodification in higher education. Given the exploratory nature of this study, it is essential to regard the findings as a source of inspiration rather than empirical confirmation.

Our research has practical implications for managing universities in emerging markets, as well as important policy implications, both for international actors and local governmental bodies.

Our findings carry implications for policymakers. The focus that international institutions place on the matter of commodification and commercialization of knowledge is a positive step. Challenges emerge when this matter is approached with a narrow perspective. Drawing on the empirical context of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a country often overlooked in the literature on emerging markets, we find evidence that knowledge has indeed transformed into a commodity. The rapid shift toward commercialization, driven by substantial institutional pressures, may have occurred too precipitously in this particular context. In light of these findings, we advocate for a more balanced and contextually nuanced discourse concerning both the commodification and commercialization of knowledge.

This study represents one of the few endeavors into exploring commodification within the context of emerging economies. In recent decades, universities have faced substantial pressures to commodify academic research. While there has been a significant volume of research discussing and documenting the success of commodification in developed country universities, those in emerging economies have faced similar pressures without achieving comparable success. This paper delves into the reasons why.