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Digital influencers, besides being a personal branding phenomenon, constitute, nowadays, important partners for brands in the digital environment. Despite the benefits for both parties, the brand and the endorser, there is a risk when the individuals or the brand take part in some scandal or questionable activity, which causes a loss of credibility and reputation. The contagious effect of personal or corporate brand crisis with the partners is well reported in the literature. However, there are no studies about such occurrence in the digital environment, considering that the phenomenon of digital influence has some particularities differing from traditional celebrity endorsement. This chapter focuses on the research of the consequences of a change in the credibility of influencers or brands, after the occurrence of a negative situation, and the way in which this change affects the two parties involved, the brand and the influencer. We conducted a netnographic study of the social media pages of three digital influencers and the social media pages of a recognized fast fashion brand recognized in the digital world. We analyzed 1500 social media comments from their audiences and found that influencers suffer from a loss in sympathy and credibility by scandals while crisis communication strategies in corporate brands can prevent such damages. Strategic implications for brand managers and digital influencers managing their endorsements are addressed in the discussion.

In the recent past, mobile technologies that track the movement of people, freight and vehicles have evolved rapidly. The major categories of such technologies are reviewed and a number of attributes for classification are proposed. The willingness of people to engage in such technologically based surveys and the reported biases in the make-up of the sample obtained are reviewed. Lessons are drawn about the nature of the samples that can be achieved and the representativeness of such samples is discussed. Data processing is addressed, particularly in terms of the processing requirements for logged data, where additional travel characteristics required for travel analysis may need to be imputed. Another issue explored is the reliability of data entered by respondents in interactive devices and concerns that may arise in processing data collected in real time for prompting or interrogating respondents. Differences, in relation to the data user, between data from mobile devices and data from conventional self-report surveys are discussed. Potentials that may exist for changes in modelling from using such data are explored. Conclusions are drawn about the usefulness and limitations of mobile technologies to collect and process data. The extent to which such mobile technologies may be used in future, either to supplement or replace conventional methods of data collection, is discussed along with the readiness of the technology for today and the advances that may be expected in the short and medium term from this form of technology.

The research question is how home country corruption and nationalism may affect operations of BRIC multinational enterprises. BRIC composition permits a comparison of two authoritarian regimes and two constitutional democracies. Each BRIC features a different combination of corruption and nationalism. The chapter adds South Africa information for two limited reasons. First, from 2010 South Africa is a member of the BRIC summit process. South Africa is an important entry point to Africa, for BRIC multinationals and particularly for China. Second, concerning corruption and nationalism South Africa is analytically useful as a control context that helps illustrate but does not appear to change highly exploratory BRIC findings.

The chapter draws on limited literature and information concerning corruption and nationalism in BRICs to suggest tentative possibilities. Transparency International provides bribe payers index estimates for 28 large economies, with important multinational enterprises, and corruption perceptions index estimates including those 28 countries. These estimates include the four BRICs and South Africa. The available sources suggest some suggested findings about varying impacts of home country corruption and nationalism on operations of BRIC multinationals.

China and Russia are authoritarian regimes in transition from central planning-oriented communist regimes. They are global military powers, expanding influence in their respective regions. Brazil, India, and South Africa are constitutional democracies. India, a nuclear-armed military power, seeks a regional leadership role in South Asia. Brazil and South Africa are key countries economically in their regions. BRIC multinationals are positioned between home country and host country conditions. Chinese and Russian multinationals may reflect a stronger nationalistic tendency due to home country regimes and ownership structure.

The chapter is an original but highly exploratory inquiry into impacts of corruption and nationalism on BRIC multinationals. Extant BRIC literature tends to understudy effects of home country corruption and nationalism on managerial mindset and incentives in either commercial or state-owned enterprises.

Numerous scales have been developed and utilized in the tourism and hospitality field, yet, their psychometric properties have not been systematically reviewed and evaluated. This gap compromises researchers' ability to develop better measures and improve measurement decisions. In this current study, 56 scales were identified and evaluated in terms of their psychometric properties. It was found that most scales were imperfect in measuring tourism and hospitality domains, and most scales did not provide explicit information about the scale development procedures that were adopted. The scale development procedure and psychometric properties of the reviewed scales are summarized, evaluated, and recommendations are made for future tourism and hospitality scale development.

Sociology of sport in China has evolved from being an “exotic” subject to a localized subject over the past 35 years. It is closely associated with social changes, sports policy and athletic achievement of China. As a discipline of humanitarian and social sciences of sport, it is taught in virtually all universities with sports majors. There are about 500 scholars specializing in sport sociology in the country. Textbooks written by Chinese and foreign scholars are published. Academic papers on sport sociology are often published in the 15 accredited core sports journals. The most productive authors are from universities and the developed provinces and municipalities. The established research areas of sport sociology are extensive. These include national identity, athlete mobility, Olympic legacy, sport for all, sports industry issues, feminist studies, community sport, sport for the aged and disabled, etc. However, there are few studies with critical analysis and only a few in the areas of sport and religion, sport and race, and deviance in sport in China. Various kinds of financial support at different levels are available in the country. Empirical research is common with literature review, questionnaire, case study, and interview being the most frequently used methods. However, sport sociology is not considered as a major topic but as a research direction and it is not accepted widely by mainstream sociology. The future of sport sociology is promising, but not without challenges.

Tingting Qi's chapter titled, “Moving toward Decentralization? Changing Education Governance in China After 1985,” provides the historical and policy context for the volume. This chapter integrates the post-1978 Chinese educational reforms into the socioeconomic context of China. The special contribution of this chapter is that it explores the complexity of educational decentralization in China through an in-depth analysis of changes in education finance, administration, and curriculum. Qi reviews prior studies, government documents, laws, and regulations related to Chinese education reform since 1978 within the context of education decentralization in China. Qi also demonstrates that China's educational policy reforms are moving China toward “centralized decentralization” because decentralization is driven by a common, centralized national goal of economic modernization. The chapter presents evidence that “centralized decentralization” is a strategic maneuver that maintains centralized control while providing the reform legitimacy of decentralization. By focusing on decentralization as the core of Chinese educational policy reforms, this chapter situates the following chapters within the social, cultural, and political context of post-1978 China.

Purpose: This paper aims to reveal the impact of the pandemic Covid-19 on the banking and financial sector. Covid-19 is a pandemic disease that’s impacting all nations. However, its amount varies from one country to another depending on the country’s social and economic infrastructure progress. The whole world is passing through great improbability. Indian economy is also facing equivalent issues from contraction in growth to rising inflation, unemployment and low demand. Covid-19 has impacted all industries worldwide, and the financial service sector is not any exception. Covid-19, which began as a health crisis, has now been appropriated as a financial one.

Methodology: This study intends to showcase various new developments in the banking sector. In the present scenario, banks are focusing on utilising new technological innovations to reinforce their risk management competence. Since the aim is to analyse various latest developments in the banking sector and its impact during Covid-19, the focus is to collect the relevant and supporting material from every possible secondary source. To attain the main aim of this paper, the data are collected using secondary sources, i.e. data from the annual reports of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Security Exchange Board of India, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank and various others sources. This is taken care of on the primary basis that the reliable and authentic sources are incorporated in this study. Since the study scope is limited to analysing the new developments in the banking sector due to Covid-19, the maximum literature available to attain the paper’s objective is from 2020 to 2021.

Findings: The banking sector is among the most crucial sectors of the Indian economy, which is accountable for almost every financial activity possibly happening within the country. It acts as a holding hand to the industry involved in credit, transactions, collection, etc. With the disruption of supply chains across the globe, numerous physical business places are closed. Banks are the backbone of the economy. Their stability is critical to continue the system up and to run.

Practical implications: The banking sector aims to supply funding to anyone, say corporate or individuals. The decelerate pace can guide prospective job losses, ground stress in banks’ retail loan books. The banks should design a plan to shield employees and their customers from its spread. It has hit the scope to individuals, small- and medium-sized enterprises, and large corporate. The only obvious thing is that every group has faced an income crunch that threatens economic and financial market permanence.

Significance: The relevance of this study stands on the fact that Covid-19 has begun as a health crisis, quickly extended into a business crisis. This is often not only a health crisis but also depression. The outbreak of Covid-19 has created a huge impact on nations. The nationwide lockdowns have almost faded social and economic life. The global economy was hit hard by the continued coronavirus. The whole world is passing through great uncertainty. As a result, various services sectors, banking sectors, and financial services have suffered through various ups and downs, resulting in economic stress. The uncertain and risky environment has had a severe impact on banks’ asset quality. The coronavirus outburst influenced financial markets and consumer emotions as well.