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This research paper aims to examine two hybrid models of logistics service quality (LSQ) and its influence on satisfaction, loyalty and future purchase intention in a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce context. This study extends the literature for LSQ by incorporating the second-order assurance quality construct, which comprises personnel contact quality, order discrepancy handling and order returns, into one of the hybrid models.

A survey-based approach is used to collect data. Participant responses to questions concerning multiple LSQ dimensions and behavioral perceptions from their most recent online shopping experience are measured using structural equation modeling.

Findings highlight the importance of including a second-order construct assurance quality as a more explanatory model. Results illustrate that online ordering procedures and assurance quality impact customer satisfaction more than other prominent LSQ dimensions. Furthermore, the findings revealed a customer loyalty is a partial mediator between customer satisfaction and future purchase intention. This underscores the significance of improved logistics services as a competitive edge for e-commerce retailers.

Implications are limited to the e-commerce B2C domain.

The findings of this study underscore critical LSQ dimensions that garner greater satisfaction and retention in the online shopping experience. The results indicate that the effective and efficient handling of the initial order and any order problem significantly influences customer satisfaction and reaps the long-term benefits of customer retention.

The authors present and empirically test a hybrid model of LSQ in a B2C e-commerce domain that captures many of the important elements of the customer experience as espoused in the literature.

Despite being a seminal explanation of the workforce emotional experiences, capable of mapping the path from the antecedents to consequences, affective events theory (AET) only offers a “macrostructure” of a working environment. To date, little is known about the universal features of the work environment that may guide the understanding of imperative work aspects triggering employees’ emotions at work. Hence, the study proposes and validates that Stafford Beer’s viable system model (VSM) can provide a holistic view of the organizational work environment, enabling a comprehensive understanding of work events or factors triggering workforce emotions.

First, the VSM structural layout is used to fill in the “macrostructure” of the “working environment” in AET to diagnose the functional and relational aspects of the work and the related work events occurring within. Using a deductive approach, 31 work events were adopted to determine the impact of VSM-based work environment events on the employees’ emotional experiences and subsequent work attitudes (job satisfaction) and behaviors (citizenship behavior). To field test the proposed nexus of VSM and AET, the survey was conducted on two hundred and fifteen employees from 39 different organizations. PLS-SEM tested the explanatory power of the suggested VSM’s systemic approach for understanding the affective work environment in totality.

The findings confirmed that the VSM metalanguage provides a holistic view of the organizational functioning and social connectivity disposing of affective work events, helpful in assessing their aggregate influence on employees’ emotions and work-related outcomes.

The findings identify how employees' emotions can be triggered by everyday work operations and social relations at work, which can affect their extra-role behaviors and necessary work-related attitudes.

The study utilized Beer’s VSM framework based on the systemic principle of “holistic view” for ascertaining the affective work environment and its related features holistically, which filled in well the macrostructure of “work environment features” with micro-structures of organizational inter-related aspects which are yet to be known in AET – a seminal explanation for managing workforce emotions.

This article aims to help educators provide a holistic view of the LGBTQ community by highlighting children’s books that include non-parental LGBTQ characters.

The author selected over 80 children’s books honored by the American Library Association’s Rainbow Book List. Twenty-two books were analyzed that contain examples of LGBTQ adults existing beyond the homonormative nuclear family, e.g. two same-sex parents raising children.

The author discusses various ways of living represented in these books, such as chosen families, extended families, romantic partnerships and singlehood.

With the increased number of high-quality LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books published in the past decade, this study provides the foundation for educators to select various texts that reveal diverse representations of LGBTQ individuals.

Conversations around diversity, race and science fiction and fantasy films/television have sparked in response to recent casting decisions made in the upcoming live-action The Little Mermaid, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Star Wars' Obi-Wan Kenobi (Deggans, 2022; Romano, 2022). Backlash against casting of actors of Color in these genres highlights racial projects where a cultural memory of whiteness comes up against multicultural change. The authors of this paper feel that there is great potential in using current-day racial issues around fantasy films/television to explore these racial projects with students in social studies classes (Omi and Winant, 2014).

Using a qualitative textual analysis (Peräkylä, 2005), the authors examined online news media outlets addressing the casting of actors of Color in the aforementioned media pieces. After reviewing over twenty articles, the authors determined two major themes that would serve as the findings.

In this paper, themes of nostalgia for an imagined ‘way things were’ and future-based fears of how things will become emerged from the analysis, revealing a need for engaging students in the history of sci-fi and fantasy media, and the existing, diverse histories of storytelling featuring multiple races.

The authors argue that examining racial projects found in contemporary sci-fi and fantasy casting are chances for students to understand complex racial histories and how they blend into current-day cultural landscapes, and are opportunities to practice analysis of real-life racial histories and richly-imagined fantasy worlds, noticing how and why the two often collide when it comes to race.

The higher-level aim of this study is to investigate the impact of health information needs satisfaction on the fear of COVID-19 for the general population. The investigation is theoretically grounded on Wilsons’ model of information seeking in the context of inquesting the reasons for seeking health information as well as the information sources the general population deploy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This cross-sectional survey examines the correlations between health information seeking behavior and the COVID-19 generated fear in the general population through the application of a specially designed structured questionnaire which was distributed online. The questionnaire comprised four main distinct research dimensions (i.e. information needs, information sources, obstacles when seeking information and COVID-19 generated fear) that present significant validity levels.

Individuals were motivated to seek COVID-related health information to cope with the pandemic generated uncertainty. Information needs satisfaction as well as digital health literacy levels is associated with the COVID-19 generated fear in the general population. Finally, a conceptual framework based on Wilsons’ macro-model for information seeking behavior was developed to illustrate information needs satisfaction during the pandemic period. These results indicate the need for incentives to enhance health information needs satisfaction appropriately.

The COVID-19 generated fear in the general population is studied through the information seeking behavior lenses. A well-studied theoretical model for information seeking behavior is adopted for health-related information seeking during pandemic. Finally, digital health information literacy levels are also associated with the fear of COVID-19 reported in the authors’ survey.

The research aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the complex social, psychological and organizational factors that serve as the foundation driving academics' knowledge-sharing behavior (KSB) within an academic enclave.

A cross-sectional research design using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was employed to examine the determinants of personality traits among tertiary academics in Malaysia in relation to their KSB. To this end, a self-administered survey was distributed to a sample group of 526 respondents.

It is evident that conscientiousness and agreeableness are the personality traits that play a significant role in promoting KSB among academics in higher learning institutions (HLIs). These personality traits are positively linked with academics' willingness to transfer and receive knowledge. In contrast, the personality trait of openness to experience does not significantly influence KSB.

This study has employed a four-item measurement for evaluating the three distinct personality traits. Despite employing a brief measurement tool, the study has demonstrated significant reliability and validity, particularly in terms of convergent and discriminant validity.

The present study has revealed that conscientiousness in academics is intimately linked with their KSB, which is of paramount importance in the output-based education system. Notably, agreeableness among academics also conveys a positive effect on knowledge sharing (KS) in HLIs, as it cultivates trust and helpfulness among individuals and facilitates the exchange of valuable tacit knowledge.

This research explores the relationship between personality traits and KSB among Malaysian academics in HLIs. The study adopts the theories of planned behavior (TPB) and social capital theory (SCT) as theoretical ground, providing a nuanced understanding of the underlying motivations and mechanisms driving academics' knowledge-sharing behavior within the unique socio-cultural context of Southeast Asia.

The study principally aims to investigate the relationship among work–life balance (WLB), job satisfaction (JS) and employee commitment (EC) among the railway staff by integrating the social exchange theory (SET). The study also explores JS as a mediator in the context of the new normal.

A mixed-method sequential explanatory design was utilized for this study. The research instrument was administered to 533 railway employees, using purposive sampling to ensure reliability and validity. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the quantitative data and measure mediation effects. Additionally, 15 interviews were conducted with employees from three job positioning groups (A, B and C) to gain further insights into commitment-related concerns.

The study found that WLB and JS positively influenced EC, with JS acting as a mediator between WLB and EC. Furthermore, factors such as fostering friendships among colleagues, effectively managing work–life integration and recognizing the importance of job roles were identified as crucial in enhancing the relationship between WLB and EC.

The study includes SET to examine the social exchange process while considering WLB benefits as a reward from the employer and EC as the outcome of this reward. This study contributes by examining the effects of COVID-19 on the railway industry and EC. The mixed-methods sequential explanatory design gave a comprehensive understanding of the relationships between WLB, JS and EC. The study’s implications highlight the importance of implementing supportive policies, such as flexible work schedules and a supportive organizational culture, to enhance employee commitment and reduce attrition rates. The study emphasizes the significance of prioritizing employee well-being to achieve organizational goals and enhance organizational commitment.

The purpose of this paper is, through an exploratory analysis, to identify good practices implemented by international museums in the phygital context and their classification in terms of customer experiences, in order to identify innovative cultural value creation and co-creation practices.

The authors adopt a qualitative approach of multiple case studies. The analysis conducted formed the information base through which to proceed with the classification of phygital customer experiences through the extended reality technologies framework

The analysis conducted on the selected international museums shows that the phygital formula can take on different characteristics depending on the technologies used and the purpose to be achieved and can be a useful tool for the co-creation of cultural value.

The originality of this contribution lies in the comparative analysis proposed among the case studies to intercept best practices in the phygital field, in the classification of phygital experiences through a novel frame of reference and in the identification of prospects for improvement of an emerging phenomenon in the literature on cultural sector management.

Ireland’s ageing population has resulted in an increasing number of older adults living with frailty. Despite growing attention towards older adults’ and health professionals’ perspectives of frailty, occupational therapy research is limited. This study aims to explore occupational therapists’ perceptions of frailty and how their perceptions impact their approach to the assessment and management of frailty.

Using qualitative descriptive design, 19 occupational therapists working with older adults participated in online focus groups. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Perceptions of occupational therapists were constructed into three main themes: conceptualising frailty; management of frailty; and advancing frailty practice. Findings indicate that occupational therapists perceived frailty as a multidimensional concept but highlight a reluctance to use frailty terminology with patients. Findings also suggest that although occupational therapists are involved in provision of care for older adults living with frailty, the profession’s scope is not optimised in the assessment and management of frailty.

Findings provide insight into occupational therapists’ perceptions of frailty. Development of a shared understanding of frailty between clinicians and patients and enhancement of undergraduate frailty education are recommended to progress occupational therapy’s role in frailty management.