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Nowadays, star athletes are global brand personalities. The increased popularity of the professional sport has contributed to elevating exceptional athletes to international star status. This empirical study aims to assess the impact of athlete performance and brand social value on product involvement with the mediation effect of celebrity athlete endorsement.

A quantitative survey was conducted with 399 Chinese participants. PLS-SEM is adopted to examine the associated paths and the mediating effect of celebrity endorsement.

The results demonstrate the significant impact of athlete performance and brand social value on product involvement. Celebrity endorsement partially mediates the effects of athlete performance and brand social value on product involvement.

This study extends understanding of celebrity athlete endorsement and provides insight into the strategic implications for Chinese social media-based marketing initiatives in the context of the recent Olympic Game in Tokyo 2021.

The purpose of this paper is, first, to examine student perspectives of their university experience in terms of the soft employability skills they develop; second, how prepared those students feel for the future employment market and finally investigate whether there are differences in perceptions between Chinese and Malaysian students given their different educational experience.

In this study, 361 predominantly Chinese undergraduate students at two universities, one in China and the other in Malaysia completed the 15-item Goldsmiths soft skills inventory using an online survey.

The results, analysed using factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, indicated that the university curriculum develops student soft skills, particularly in the Malaysian university and supports the relationship between soft skill and student preparedness for employment. The results also indicate that compared with the respondents from the Chinese university, the Malaysian university respondents were more likely to be positive to statements concerning their respective university’s ability to develop their soft skills.

Such findings have implications for education providers and business in that it is important for universities to embed soft skills into the curriculum in order to develop graduate work readiness.

What this research contributes is not only consolidation of existing research in the contemporary context of a disruptive jobs market, it takes research forward through analysing student perceptions from two universities, one in Malaysia and the other in China, of the skills they develop at university and the importance of soft skills to them and their perceptions of future employment and employability. Such research will provide insight, in particular, into the role of education providers, the phenomena of underemployment among graduates in China, and be of practical significance to employers and their perception that graduates lack the necessary soft skills for the workplace (Anonymous, 2017a; Stapleton, 2017; British Council, 2015; Chan, 2015).

This study aimed to assess the impact of psychological beliefs (subjective financial knowledge, financial attitude and locus of control) on financial well-being, as well as the mediating role of financial behaviour in the relationship between psychological beliefs and financial well-being among working adults in Malaysia.

A survey-based questionnaire was used to elicit information from a total of 500 working adults from Malaysia. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to assess the measurement model and the proposed mediation model.

The results showed that subjective financial knowledge, financial attitude and locus of control have a positive impact on both financial behaviour and financial well-being. The results also showed that financial behaviour mediates the relationships between financial attitude and financial well-being, as well as between locus of control and financial well-being.

Given the anticipated global economic recession, a better understanding of how individuals manage their finances becomes ever more crucial. The findings from this research inform policymakers, practitioners and academics on the importance of psychological factors and financial management practices on financial well-being, addressing an identified gap in the current literature.

This article explores aspects of separation from “post-traditional” religiosity characteristic of certain late/post-modern affiliations. To do so, I analyze in-depth interviews with 44 individuals who formerly identified with straightedge – a clean-living youth-oriented scene tightly bound with hardcore music that is centered on abstinence from intoxicants – about their experiences transitioning through associated music assembly rituals. While features of hardcore music assemblies – e.g. moshing, slamdancing, sing-a-longs – have long been treated as symbolic connections that potentially conjure the religious as conceptualized in Émile Durkheim's “effervescence” and the liminality of Victor Turner's “communitas,” data on transitions from these features of ritual remain scant. Ex-straightedgers generally believed the sorts of deep connections they professed to experience in hardcore rituals as youths were not necessarily currently accessible to them, nor were they replicable elsewhere. Findings then ultimately suggest some post-traditional religious experiences might now be profitably considered in terms of the life course, which has itself transformed alongside the proliferation of newer late/post-modern affiliations and communities.

The purpose of this paper is to outline how personal health budgets and a universal, integrated model of support, can positively transform the way in which individuals with a learning disability experience their health and support needs.

The review recognises that Integrated Personal Commissioning, as a policy approach, provides the framework to offer personalised care, and enables people to live an independent, happy, healthy and meaningful life.

Evidence suggests that a personalised and integrated approach to both health and social care not only offers better outcomes on all levels for the individual, but also benefits the system as a whole.

The study reveals that a personalised care leads to people to have choices and control over decisions that affect in better health and wellbeing outcomes for people.

Two challenges faced by automotive component design projects within contracted design agencies are (1) specification changes requested by the manufacturers and (2) product information or core technology knowledge leakage to external actors. We examine the effects of targeted boundary activities that address these challenges under the contingencies of environmental uncertainty and project complexity.

Based on Boundary management theory, a bidirectional model of boundary buffering was conceptualized in the context of design agency teams developing automotive components. A survey is derived from the proposed model. Regression analysis is performed using empirical data from 234 auto component design projects in Chinese design agencies.

Boundary buffering activities that strengthen outside-in boundaries and inside-out boundaries directly improve the final design quality. Further, the magnitude of effect for outside-in buffering on design quality is enhanced under environmental uncertainty, while the impact of inside-out buffering on design quality is enhanced under project complexity.

Boundary activities should consider differences in boundary targets, directional flow of information, and context of scope.

Automotive component design agents should attend to both outside-in and inside-out boundary buffering, especially under conditions of environmental uncertainty or project complexity.

The proposed bidirectional view on boundary buffering adds perspective to team boundary management theory. Specific contingencies include common risk elements of project complexity and environmental uncertainty not typically associated with the need for buffering activities.

This study analyses how media choices can be used in the construction of social identity.

We approach the topic through the analytical lens of identity work. We present a case study of a community of IT students during their first year of studies, including participant observation, focus groups, and surveys. We focus on what community means to the individuals located within a specific social context. This allows us to examine ICT use and adoption holistically as a key aspect of community formation and identity maintenance.

We depict everyday interactions in which the choice of an older information communication technology, Internet Relay Chat, serves participants in their quest for social belongingness in their community and in distinguishing the community positively from other social groups. This chapter describes how identity work is accomplished by adopting and valuing shared, social views about users versus non-users, including: (1) emphasizing the skills and efforts needed for using Internet Relay Chat (IRC), (2) undermining the use of other technologies, and (3) deploying and referencing IRC jargon and “insider humor” within the broader community.

By examining online and offline social interactions in a defined community over time, we expose the process of identity work in a holistic manner. Our analysis emphasizes the underlying process where media choices can be harnessed to fulfill the need to identify with groups and feel affirmed in one’s claims to both personal and social identity.

Aims to investigate parental perspectives of the influence of the media, peers and parents on a child's perceptions of healthy food products.

Quantitative analysis was conducted, using the results from 143 questionnaires, collected through a randomly selected primary school in Dundee.

A positive significant relationship was found (p=0.006) between parents being aware of the health impact of fatty foods and purchasing healthy food products both for themselves and for their children. With regard to the influence of the media the research found a positive significant relationship (p=0.004), between the influence of adverts on children and the pestering and giving in of parents in the supermarket. The aspects of the influence of peers found that 44 per cent of parents believed that peer pressure influenced a child's demands for healthy food with 60 per cent of parents stating the influence of peers on a child's demands for junk food. No significant relationship was found, however, on peer influence and parental yielding. In the final aspect, that of parental influence, no significant relationship was found between pester power and parental yielding.

This was an exploratory study and carries the limitation of generalisability as it was conducted solely in one primary school in Dundee. Any further research should contrast perspectives from other UK cities and develop research into the family dynamics and education.

It is suggested that the media have a significant influence on a child's demands for junk food, which emphasises the importance of using the media to encourage children to eat more healthily. Further the paper provides insight into influencing factors, suggesting that advertising can play a prominent role in influencing children's eating habits.

This paper is helpful to both academics and practitioners in the field of marketing and food marketing. The paper provides some insight into parental perspectives of the influence of the media, peers and parents themselves on a child's healthy eating habits.

Aims to investigate the influence parents perceive their children have on family food‐purchasing decisions and discuss the reasons why parents do not always purchase healthy food products.

Quantitative analysis was conducted, using 301 questionnaires which were distributed to parents through a local primary school in Dundee. From this sample 143 were returned.

Most parents acknowledge that their children do influence their purchasing decisions, with 86 (60 percent) agreeing or strongly agreeing that they gave in to their children's demands; however, parents feel that they do not give in to pester power. Parents were aware of health issues and state that they regularly purchase healthy food products for their children. However, many parents admit to buying unhealthy food products for their children as treats.

This was an exploratory study and carries the limitation of generalisability as it was conducted solely in Dundee. Any further research should contrast perspectives from other UK cities and develop research into the family dynamics and parents' rationale for “yielding” to their children with regard to junk food.

It is suggested that parents “give in” to their children, which demonstrates the importance of “getting” the message across to children to eat more healthily. Further, the paper provides insight into influencing factors, suggesting that advertising can play a prominent role in influencing children's eating habits.

This paper is helpful to both academics and practitioners in the field of healthy eating among children. The paper provides some insight into parental perspectives of healthy eating and their responses to pester power.