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This research aims to analyze the primary social factors influencing the mental health and happiness of older adults. Specifically, the paper identifies the elements of social influences on the psychological well-being of elderly individuals.

Employing a quantitative research methodology, survey data were collected to examine the psychological well-being of older adults, utilizing SPSS software version 28.0 for data analysis.

Psychological well-being in the elderly is intricately linked to personal, cognitive, emotional and social aspects. Seniors experiencing reduced loneliness, ample communication opportunities, active social engagement and living with family members demonstrate higher levels of psychological well-being. Surprisingly, details of daily activities in senior age showed little impact on psychological well-being.

The research results may lack generalizability due to the chosen approach, prompting a need for further testing of proposed propositions.

This study fulfills an identified need to explore how psychological well-being is established in an elderly society, shedding light on critical social determinants.

Malaysia transitions from a pandemic to an endemic state, beginning on April 1, 2022. The dietary intake and physical activity of university students were altered during the COVID-19 pandemic confinement period, but there is limited information on this topic in the post-COVID-19 period. This cross-sectional study aims to understand gender differences in dietary intake and physical activity among university students and investigate the factors influencing their body mass index (BMI) in the post-COVID-19 period.

The questionnaire used in this study comprised three main segments: sociodemographic information, a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire.

Results indicated that males exhibited significantly higher (p < 0.05) mean intakes of total dietary energy and macronutrients compared to females. Compared to the Malaysian Recommended Nutrient Intakes 2017, 76.4% of males and 68.8% of females had a sufficient daily energy intake. The majority of males (52.7%) and females (46.4%) were moderately physically active. Regression analysis revealed that male university students with lower fiber intake (ß = −0.309, p = 0.002) were significantly associated with higher BMI reading after confounding adjustment. However, a similar trend was not observed in female university students.

Understanding the gender differences in dietary intake and physical activity can provide insights into the development of effective gender-specific health promotion strategies and the formulation of policies aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles among university students in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.

This study provides insights into the gender differences in the dietary and physical activity habits of university students, as well as the factors influencing their BMI in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.

The primary objective of this research is to explore the potential of utilizing Global Consciousness Project (GCP) data as a tool for understanding and predicting market sentiment. Specifically, the study aims to assess whether incorporating GCP data into econometric models can enhance the comprehension of daily market movements, providing valuable insights for traders.

This study employs econometric models to investigate the correlation between the Standard & Poor's 500 Volatility Index (VIX), a common measure of market sentiment and data from the GCP. The focus is particularly on the largest daily composite GCP data value (Max[Z]) and its significant covariation with changes in VIX. The research employs interaction terms with VIX and daily returns from global markets, including Europe and Asia, to explore the relationship further.

The results reveal a significant relationship with the GCP data, particularly Max[Z] and VIX. Interaction terms with both VIX and daily returns from global markets are highly significant, explaining about one percent of the variance in the econometric model. This finding suggests that variations in GCP data can contribute to a better understanding of market dynamics and improve forecasting accuracy.

One limitation of this study is the potential for overfitting and P-hacking. To address this concern, the models undergo rigorous testing in an out-of-sample simulation study lasting for a predefined one-year period. This limitation underscores the need for cautious interpretation and application of the findings, recognizing the complexities and uncertainties inherent in market dynamics.

The study explores the practical implications of incorporating GCP data into trading strategies. Econometric models, both with and without GCP data, are subjected to an out-of-sample simulation where an artificial trader employs S&P 500 tracking instruments based on the model's one-day-ahead forecasts. The results suggest that GCP data can enhance daily forecasts, offering practical value for traders seeking improved decision-making tools.

Utilizing data from the GCP is found to be advantageous for traders as noteworthy correlations with market sentiment are found. This unanticipated finding challenges established paradigms in both economics and consciousness research, seamlessly integrating these domains of research. Traders can leverage this innovative tool, as it can be used to refine forecasting precision.

This study aims to investigate the effect of seasonality caused by fasting as a religious practice on trading activity.

The authors use an unbiased sample of daily trading by individuals and institutions on the Boursa Kuwait. The authors use panel data on trading activities and Tobit regression models to examine the effect of Muslims’ religious practice of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan on trading behavior.

The authors find that during the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims’ religious practice of fasting leads to a decline in the frequency of both overall stock market trading and the ratio of individual trading volume to total trading volume. The authors find a significant decrease in individual buy-side trading as a proportion of total trading volume and simultaneously a significant increase in institutional buy-side trading.

This study’s findings have important implications for the main players in stock markets of countries with a Muslim majority. Market-makers should be aware of the significant increase in the proportion of institutional buy-side trading volume to total trading volume to minimize the cost of trading with better-informed traders (adverse selection).

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates individuals’ trading activity during Ramadan.

This paper aims to understand consumption values buying from informal retail markets (i.e., street vendor retailing). It also explores why consumers prefer daily necessary goods from the informal compared to the formal retail market (such as supermarkets, retail chain outlets and e-commerce).

Employing the qualitative research approach, this study collected data from nine respondents in two areas in Malaysia. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using the thematic analysis technique. Only representative verbatim codes were presented under five themes of consumption value theory.

Consumers are triggered by the convenience, ease, and exclusive products (conditional value), friendly and known relationship with informal sellers, as well as the availability of some particular food items (emotional value) and lower price and freshness of groceries (functional value) while buying from informal compared to formal retail vendor.

This study provides knowledge implications to the consumption value theory. Functional, emotional, and conditional values are the dominant components of purchase behaviour in informal compared to formal retail channels. Social values are common, whereas epistemic value is more substantial in formal retailing.

Findings are helpful for informal retail businesses to understand consumers' buying behaviour. Informal retail owners should ensure that commodities are fresh, highly affordable and available in the local communities. Building a friendly relationship with consumers would be a key to the success of this retail sector.

Authorities should support informal sellers to set up mobile retail stores in residential areas. This effort would offer greater convenience to both parties in informal businesses and ensure informal sellers' financial and social well-being.

Despite the widespread acceptance of buying goods from informal retail vendors, research on consumption value in informal retailing is largely overlooked. Previous research primarily deals with formal market phenomena due to their size and economic contribution. Consequently, current literature lacks an understanding of why consumers prefer to buy from informal retail vendors for their daily groceries when the formal retail channel could fulfil similar needs. Using a qualitative research design, this research uncovers consumers' buying motives from informal compared to formal vendors.

In recent years, there has been significant interest in adopting XR (extended reality) technologies such as VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality), particularly in retail. However, extending activities through reality-mediation is still mostly believed to offer an inferior experience due to their shortcomings in usability, wearability, graphical fidelity, etc. This study aims to address the research gap by experimentally examining the acceptance of metaverse shopping.

This study conducts a 2 (VR: with vs. without) × 2 (AR: with vs. without) between-subjects laboratory experiment involving 157 participants in simulated daily shopping environments. This study builds a physical brick-and-mortar store at the campus and stocked it with approximately 600 products with accompanying product information and pricing. The XR devices and a 3D laser scanner were used in constructing the three XR shopping conditions.

Results indicate that XR can offer an experience comparable to, or even surpassing, traditional shopping in terms of its instrumental and hedonic aspects, regardless of a slightly reduced perception of usability. AR negatively affected perceived ease of use, while VR significantly increased perceived enjoyment. It is surprising that the lower perceived ease of use appeared to be disconnected from the attitude toward metaverse shopping.

This study provides important experimental evidence on the acceptance of XR shopping, and the finding that low perceived ease of use may not always be detrimental adds to the theory of technology adoption as a whole. Additionally, it provides an important reference point for future randomized controlled studies exploring the effects of technology on adoption.

This study aims to understand how distributed agile teams (DATs), encouraged by globalisation, and recently accelerated by the COVID-19 outbreak, adopt agile practices to achieve project goals by working virtually.

This study developed a multiple-case study involving four companies undergoing several changes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors collected data mainly through in-depth, face-to-face interviews with seven key informants. Moreover, this study operates data triangulation by referring to secondary data sources and developing a grounded theory data analysis.

The findings highlight three main categories associated with the DAT functioning, namely, “DATs’ implementation issues”, “elements supporting DATs’ implementation” and “outcomes of DATs’ implementation”, that show DATs’ primary triggers, critical aspects and supportive actions for team functioning.

This paper produced valuable theoretical knowledge of DATs’ dynamics within a socio-technical approach that distinguishes soft and hard variables supporting DAT implementation. Moreover, the evidence provides useful suggestions for managers about creating an objective-oriented virtual work environment based on DATs’ self-organisation, digitally shared leadership and occasional on-site socialisation.

This paper provides new and interesting insights that bring to evidence the main variables related to DATs’ adoption and dynamics, showing supporting activities that enhanced their operativity. It provides a valuable descriptive framework for academics and practitioners to understand DATs’ functioning better and take action to improve their implementation.

This study aims to examine the contribution of informal encounters outside the school walls between local Israeli families from “Waldorf Education” and immigrant families from Africa from formal state education and explore the consequences of these encounters on the development of lifelong learning competences. Research questions are as follows: In what way do non-formal encounters lead to the development of lifelong learning ability? What are the challenges and consequences of non-formal activity for research participants, families and educators from the pedagogical, social and personal perspectives?

The research uses a qualitative-interpretive case study approach that allows for in-depth observation of the phenomenon within the context of reality to understand the case, a non-formal encounter between two groups of parents from different cultures, languages and educational attitudes. In this case study, it is possible to generalize from the local to the global and examine processes, actions and behaviors in the studied case (Creswell et al., 2018; Yin, 2009). This empirical study allows description, analysis, understanding and explanation of the challenges and actions in organizing and holding non-formal encounters from personal experiences as a first source.

The analysis of the data brought up two main categories that represent the actions and insights from the non-formal encounters for developing lifelong learning competences: create a personal dialogue to strengthen trust and confidence; foster parental involvement. Non-formal encounters between families from different cultural-social backgrounds may promote lifelong learning competences such as tolerance, inclusion and openness. However, external intervention by a social association is required to organize, support and operate them.

The research’s limitation was that it was conducted in the country’s center. Therefore, the findings must be considered in the context in which they are presented and not generalized to other regions or communities from other cultures in Israel and the world. A few limited encounters may affect the author’s interpretation of the study data. In addition, expressions of “social desire” that may be expressed in interviews must be considered.

This study emphasizes social activism. Despite all the differences and tensions, creating an equal space in the families’ encounters is essential for lifelong learning. The immigrant parents participated in decision-making, the stages of organization and the activities themselves during the encounters. This partnership strengthened their commitment and responsibility. Because they are a powerless minority group, it should not be assumed that two encounters will improve their self-confidence. The proof is that fewer participants came to the last encounter. Education experts must maintain consistency and continuity in forming partnerships with immigrant families over time and as part of lifelong learning.

The non-formal encounters between the two groups of families create an atmosphere of equality: all are parents of children seeking to inculcate humane and social values. The collaborative atmosphere contributed to the understanding that closeness overpowers distance. Everyone is troubled by similar issues of parenting, enjoyment of children, nutritious food and a shared desire to be good citizens while maintaining tolerance, reciprocity and respect.

Non-formal encounters are actively performed to create belonging when the “others and we” join together for the community and the children. This is an extensive, open and accessible platform for strengthening social consciousness and understanding the connection between teaching, culture and society to promote equality in education. This study will allow schools to expand the boundaries of communication with parents and initiate additional activities with other social groups to foster children’s integration. It will enrich the academic knowledge about connections and communication of educators, families from Israel and immigrant families in developing a partnership in the school to promote lifelong learning.

This research relied on the broaden-and-build (B&B) theory to explore emotional predictors for curiosity-related differences in daily engagement and contextual performance. We tested a moderated mediation model, arguing that daily positive emotions would be related to daily work engagement and contextual performance.

A total of 586 participants participated in a five-day diary study (n = 2379).

Multi-level modeling showed that, at the person level of analysis, daily positive emotions were significantly and positively related to daily work engagement and, in turn, daily performance. At the daily level of analysis, the mediation model was moderated by curiosity, such that it became stronger for individuals who scored higher on curiosity.

These findings make relevant theoretical contributions to understanding the power of curiosity for daily emotional dynamics in organizations. Compared to traditional between-person variables, these results also expand knowledge on within-person processes that explain daily work engagement and contextual performance. In sum, this study shows that “curiosity does not kill the cat”; instead, it makes it productive.

This paper aims to deepen the knowledge of consumer wellness by conceptualizing this construct in an everyday retail setting, specifically a health food store. With wellness seeking being a central theme in the positioning strategy of many food retail stores, this study aims to investigate the development of an everyday wellness pursuit in a retail setting, identify its underlying dimensions in a health food store setting and establish the key managerial drivers that nurture it in such context, from the consumer standpoint.

The research design uses a qualitative approach. In-depth interviews with 20 customers of six multibranch health food retailers were carried out.

The findings show the holistic and multidimensional nature of wellness in an everyday consumption setting and highlight the development of physical, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual consumer wellness in this context. They also bring to light how, in an everyday activity such as a health food retail store visit, retailers can co-create and nurture consumer wellness through their product assortment, store environment and employees’ orientation toward customer wellness.

The main contribution of this study lies in the conceptualization of the retail wellnesscape, defined as a retail space that consumers choose to visit in their daily lives that contribute to their holistic wellness journey. This paper emphasizes both the importance and the feasibility of cultivating consumer wellness on an everyday basis, for both consumers and retailers, while it has traditionally been associated with more occasional and out of the ordinary settings such as wellness tourism.