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This study was conducted to achieve the following objectives: (1) determine the differences and reasons for using outgroup OSNs by gender, age and student groups (Mainland and Hong Kong [HK] students); (2) uncover the impact of online social networks (OSNs) on the development of Mainland–HK friendships and (3) determine the roles of different OSNs (social networking sites [SNSs] and instant messaging platforms [IMPs]) in the development of intercultural friendships in the real world.

To explore how OSNs facilitate (or inhibit) intercultural interactions, 198 students completed a questionnaire and 24 students participated in follow-up semi-structured interviews examining the role of OSNs in intercultural friendship development.

Results revealed that demographic and motivational preferences for using outgroup-OSNs differed among students. Both IMPs and SNSs helped students maintain friendships using little effort, whereas it tended to strengthen their existing social networks, rather than helping to start new friendships. IMPs helped develop a sense of “presence awareness”, strengthening pre-existing friendships and solidifying offline connections. SNSs also assisted students in exploring their shared interests while revealing their values and cultural differences.

The authors’ findings offered empirical evidence on social exchange theory and anxiety-uncertainty management theory regarding the perceived benefit of OSNs on students' friendship development.

The study sheds light on the differences between Mainland Chinese and HK students, including participants' perceptions of different friendship stages.

This study is interested in the roles of different SNSs and IMPs in intercultural friendship development, especially their strengths and weaknesses as perceived by students. Also, the authors are curious about how students select and use IMPs and SNSs differently according to their individual preferences and needs. To the authors’ knowledge, the dynamic link between online communication and intercultural friendship development has not been thoroughly examined in the field of intercultural communication.

This study aims to delve into the interplay between didactic audiovisual translation (DAT) and computer-assisted language learning (CALL), exploring their combined impact on the development of intercultural competence (IC) among learners of English as a foreign language (EFL).

Using a quasi-experimental approach with a quantitative research design, the study analyses the outcomes of a questionnaire answered by 147 students across 15 language centres in Spanish Universities. These participants actively engaged in completing the lesson plans of the Traducción audiovisual como recurso didáctico en el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras project, a Spanish-Government funded research initiative aimed at assessing the effects of DAT on language learning.

The current study confirms the reliability of the instrument developed to measure students’ perceived improvement. Beyond validating the research tool, the findings of the current study confirm the significant improvement in intercultural learning achieved through DAT, effectively enhancing students’ motivation to engage in language learning.

The current research solely examines students enrolled in higher education language centres. This paper closes with a CALL for additional research, including participants from other educational stages, such as primary or secondary education. In the broader context of CALL research, this study serves as a valuable contribution by exploring the potential of DAT in fostering IC in EFL settings.

This research confirms the potential of DAT and CALL to promote students’ learning process, as the combination of these approaches not only yields linguistic benefits but also intercultural learning.

Career burnout is prevalent in the PR industry, precisely when demand for professionals is increasing. While career burnout has been included in studies and theorising on professionalism and feminisation, issues with turnover and burnout remain.

Using a grounded theory approach, this qualitative study draws upon the lived experiences of 30 current and former female Australian PR professionals to gain an understanding of how they perceive signs of career burnout and the factors that contribute to it.

Career burnout is an occupational syndrome whereby someone gradually morphs from being highly motivated in their role to emotionally exhausted, cynical and/or experiencing feelings of failure. It is a protracted response to chronic workplace demands and stressors, and includes three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment. It is specifically a workplace phenomenon, distinguished from anxiety and depression, which can emerge in any context.

A key contributor to career burnout were PR-specific workplace stressors that were perceived to stem from a lack of respect for, or understanding of, PR as a profession. The stressors included the need to‘prove the spend’of PR, unreasonable deadlines, clients disregarding advice or counsel, as well as broader societal perceptions of PR as ‘spin doctors’. This often led to the PR practitioner undertaking work that went against their own advice or resulted in unsuccessful organisational outcomes they felt could have been avoided had their advice been listened to and valued. The workplace factors contributing to burnout overlap in complex ways and the study supports the idea that burnout is a product of situational contexts, despite being acutely felt at the individual level.

Personal influence is one of the most powerful strategies to influence publics’ behaviours. Yet, there is scant attention on how personal influence is leveraged for different public relations purposes in different cultural contexts. This study empirically investigates the presence and use of personal influence among Italian public relations professionals.

A survey was conducted through a self-administrated, web-based questionnaire and was developed from earlier studies investigating personal influence in public relations literature. Survey participants included public relations professionals across public, non-profit and private sectors.

The findings empirically show the presence and regular use of personal influence by professionals from all sectors to cultivate interpersonal relationships. Personal influence is considered a personal resource and used to leverage own influencing power. The findings also document four major manifestations of personal influence, which were named: relational closeness strategy, engagement strategy, expertise strategy and added value strategy.

This study enhances our understanding of personal influence in a specific cultural context and offers strategic insights for international professionals seeking to leverage influence in the socio-political environment of Italy. It also offers elements to improve public relations education and training.

The study offers some preliminary understandings of how Italian professionals leverage their personal influence in their daily public relations activities contributing with empirical evidence to the body of knowledge in public relations.

This study investigated the travel intentions (TIs) of Chinese travelers and their utilization of virtual tourism technology during the Zero COVID-19 policy period by using a stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model. The study specifically examines the interplay between knowledge of policy, perception of risk, TI, usage of virtual tourism technology (UVTT) and the mediating role of personal values.

The data were collected from 333 Chinese travelers through an online questionnaire, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

The study suggests that knowledge of policy and risk perception increase changes in personal values (PVs), which, in turn, affect Chinese travelers' TIs and the UVTT, with PVs playing a mediating role. Risk perception has a positive effect on the UVTT.

This study highlights the positive impact of tourism policy knowledge and risk awareness on individual values as a stimulus. Stakeholders need to implement industry-specific policies that are in line with scientific developments. Tourism managers should prioritize understanding the psychological reactions of tourists in crises and provide support to mitigate negative emotions. Anticipating changes in PVs is crucial, as instability affects tourists' behavior. The findings of the study also provide valuable insights for technology designers and underscore the substitutability of virtual technologies in improving the tourism experience.

This study is the first to examine the mediating role of PVs in the relationship between knowledge of policy, tourism risk perception (TRP), TI and the UVTT based on the SOR model. The insights gained from this analysis can assist policymakers and tourism managers in understanding the psychological changes of tourists, thereby facilitating the development of appropriate tourism planning.

Bullying knowledge hiding has been recently identified as a manifestation of knowledge hiding behavior. As a relatively new concept, it is still underexplored. Previous research has focused on the antecedents of bullying hiding. However, there is a lack of research on the negative consequences that bullying hiding may have on employees. This study aims to uncover the effects of supervisor bullying hiding on employees knowledge behavior. The study also aims to examine the moderating effect of power values and the mediating effect of job stress.

Data were gathered in two waves from 444 employees with higher education in Poland. Data collection was conducted in July and August 2022. A general linear model mediation analysis with jamovi Advanced Mediation Models software was used to examine the hypotheses.

The results indicate that bullying knowledge hiding by supervisors triggers subordinates’ job stress and aggression in the form of bullying knowledge hiding toward co-workers. Contrary to expectations, job stress does not mediate the relationship between supervisor bullying hiding and subordinate bullying hiding toward co-workers. Power-dominance values, contrary to power-resources values, moderate the above relationship.

As bullying hiding has significant potential to spread among organizational members, managers seeking to reduce it should check the personal values of job applicants and employees.

Based on the behavioral contagion and frustration–aggression–displacement theories, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the relationships between supervisor bullying hiding, job stress, power values and subordinate bullying hiding toward co-workers.