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The purpose of this paper is to determine if the star power of an athletic endorser influenced consumers’ consumption of the advertised product. Specifically, does the amount of star power an athlete is thought to have impact consumers’ direct consumption of the advertised product and media consumption of the athlete? Moreover, the components of star power, along with congruency measures, were examined to determine which components of star power influenced both direct and media consumption.

Four advertisements were created that used an athlete with high star power and an athlete with low star power. Respondents viewed two of the advertisements, but did not know which athlete had high star power or low star power. They were asked to answer a questionnaire that contained questions pertaining to the components of star power (source attractiveness, source credibility, professional trustworthiness, likeable personality and character style), congruency of the athlete and product, direct consumption of the advertised product and media consumption of the athlete.

Results indicated that overall star power increased the direct consumption of the advertised product and the media consumption of the athlete, however not each component was found to be significant. Character style was the only component that was consistently significant across all four advertisements. The congruency between the athlete and product was also found to be significant across all four advertisements.

First, this study only looked at two athletes; others may generate different results. Second, the products used in the study were fashion related; other categories of products may also generate different relationships. Third, only two brands were used. It was also assumed that the respondents knew the athlete in the advertisement. Finally, the questions used to measure direct consumption did not distinguish between buying the brand in the store or online.

This study has the potential to contribute theoretically by analyzing how and which components of star power affect consumption of endorsed products, as well as which components influence consumers. Moreover, adding a congruency measure will aide in strengthening the measurement of endorser effectiveness. The justification of the present study lies in the need to determine how the dimensions of star power an athlete possesses contribute to the consumption behaviors of consumers.

Monsters, from ghouls and zombies to shoggoths and Cthulhu, have always fascinated humans and have a prominent presence in cultural production. This is made clear by how much people enjoy Halloween events and dressing up as their favourite monster or the most recent trend of horror themed escape rooms, that include haunted houses, a zombie apocalypse or Lovecraftian monsters. Monstrous creatures represent the fears and desires of society and often embody the allure of danger, transgression and power. Monsters have long been used to construct certain images of the different/unconventional and thus represent anything diverse as the Other. Monsters, however, can be employed to invert or even overturn this relationship by empowering the Other and thus provide us with a more critical view on society in regard to our values, fears and attitudes. The stories and folklore about monsters and the monstrous that incite fear and remind us to always check under our beds before we sleep have also found their way into our everyday lives. Within the mainstream media, criminality is indicative of moral corruption, and is attributed with notions of monstrosity. These monsters do not have claws, instead, they are unpredictable, different and deviate from social and cultural norms. Like the mythical creatures in folklore, monstrosity in its human form reminds us to fear the future, the unknown, Others and society. The monstrous is centrally defined by its unfixedness, its resistance to conformity or to convenient schematic identification. It is somatically and intellectually uneasy, a restless disturbing embodied thought that unsettles, and whose greatest value to us is its very indeterminacy. This chapter illustrates the shifting shapes of the monstrous, their makers, and offers insight about what we can learn from studying these cautionary noetic chimeras. Drawing on the diversity of our academic backgrounds, ideological perspectives and the research from our individual chapters, we address the contemporary narrative of the figure of the monster. Rather than an essay style examination, our chapter explores this narrative through a question and answer format. The flexibility of this format allows readers an intimate glimpse into the ways in which the monstrous can be conceptualised and understood in various frameworks.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the structure of juvenile psychopathy, as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV).

Using a sample of 2,042 male youths from the USA, Canada, and the UK, the study was a conceptual replication of Bishopp and Hare’s (2008) multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis of adult male offenders assessed with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised.

The scaling analyses generally replicated those obtained by Bishopp and Hare, providing support for a multidimensional, four-factor model of juvenile psychopathy similar to that obtained with adults. However, a small number of items fell outside their predicted regions. Slight differences in the structure of juvenile psychopathy were found for incarcerated and supervised samples of youth, with the four-factor model breaking down slightly for the supervised sample. Item misplacements may indicate that certain items on the PCL: YV are being misinterpreted, reflect different dimensions for different samples, or cannot be reliably measured. Future research should examine these possibilities, with special attention being paid to supervised samples.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first known attempts to use MDS analysis to examine the psychopathy structures that emerge for male juvenile offenders. The greater nuances afforded by using MDS offer a more comprehensive understanding of psychopathy between incarcerated and supervised youth using the PCL: YV.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of systems adaptability in the relationship between emotional intelligence and talent management in tertiary institutions in Uganda.

To achieve the study purpose, the authors used responses from 91 tertiary institutions following a cross-sectional survey design. Partial least structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the data and done at an institutional level.

The results reveal that systems adaptability plays a full mediating role in the relationship between emotional intelligence and talent management in tertiary institutions as it accounts for 96.68% variance.

Managing talented employees is not a snapshot process, yet the authors used a cross-sectional design. This paper is limited in this regard. Also, talent management in this paper is only explained by emotional intelligence and systems adaptability.

Talent management is explained by emotional intelligence and systems adaptability, which are metaphors of emotional intelligence and complex adaptive system theories. The authors also add to theory by establishing a fully mediating role of systems adaptability between emotional intelligence and talent management.

This paper establishes the mediating role of systems adaptability in the relationship between emotional intelligence and talent management in tertiary institutions.

Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, at its core, Machine Learning (ML) offer opportunities for organizations to develop new or enhance existing capabilities. Despite the endless possibilities, organizations face operational challenges in harvesting the value of ML-based capabilities (MLbC), and current research has yet to explicate these challenges and theorize their remedies. To bridge the gap, this study explored the current practices to propose a systematic way of orchestrating MLbC development, which is an extension of ongoing digitalization of organizations.

Data were collected from Finland's Artificial Intelligence Accelerator (FAIA) and complemented by follow-up interviews with experts outside FAIA in Europe, China and the United States over four years. Data were analyzed through open coding, thematic analysis and cross-comparison to develop a comprehensive understanding of the MLbC development process.

The analysis identified the main components of MLbC development, its three phases (development, release and operation) and two major MLbC development challenges: Temporal Complexity and Context Sensitivity. The study then introduced Fostering Temporal Congruence and Cultivating Organizational Meta-learning as strategic practices addressing these challenges.

This study offers a better theoretical explanation for the MLbC development process beyond MLOps (Machine Learning Operations) and its hindrances. It also proposes a practical way to align ML-based applications with business needs while accounting for their structural limitations. Beyond the MLbC context, this study offers a strategic framework that can be adapted for different cases of digital transformation that include automation and augmentation of work.