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Grieving resulting from death is a painful process and individuals invariably seek support to help them through this difficult period. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role microblogs play in providing social support following the death of a public figure, Michael Jackson, “the King of Pop”.

In total, 50,000 tweets from the first 12 days after Jackson's death were harvested from Twitter. A content analysis using a coding instrument characterizing a set of social support categories was conducted. Categories not related to social support were also inductively constructed and applied to the tweets.

Twitter was primarily used for providing informational support, followed by emotional support. Surprisingly, categories not normally associated with grieving, such as spreading of rumours, expressions of hatred, and spam, also occupied a large proportion of tweets.

Results suggest that microblogging has the potential to facilitate the grieving process and in some aspects of social support. However, information quality could be an issue that calls for better information management tools.

There has been little work done in examining microblogs as platforms for grieving in general, and more specifically, for providing social support during bereavement. The present research is timely, as we seek to understand the role microblogs play in the grieving process.

The purpose of this paper is to examine children's consumption experiences within families in order to investigate the role that different family environments play in the consumer socialisation of children.

Key consumer socialisation literature is reviewed and family communication patterns and parental socialisation style studies are introduced. Such studies argue for the homogenous and shared nature of the family environment for children. A three‐stage qualitative study of six families is reported, incorporating existential phenomenological interviews. The voices of children and their parents are captured, and the transcribed interview texts are analyzed on two levels (within and across family cases) using a hermeneutical process.

The findings of the study point towards the differential treatment of children within the family environment by both parents and siblings. It is proposed that children inhabit a unique position, or micro‐environment, within their family setting. Consumer micro‐environments are introduced; these have important implications in terms of children's consumption behaviour and, more importantly, their consumer socialisation process within the family setting.

Consumer micro‐environments have potentially important implications in any re‐evaluation of the literature on consumer socialisation, and it is suggested that children may not have equal access to socialisation advice and support offered by family members. A limited number of families and family types are recruited in this exploratory study, and scope exists to explore family micro‐environments across a greater variety of family forms.

A series of micro‐environments, which have implications for the consumer socialisation of children, will be developed on a theoretical level. Existing consumer research views the family environment in homogenous terms, with suggestions that children are socialised by their parents in a similar manner (inhabiting a shared family environment). These findings problematise such a view and also offer insights into the role played by siblings in the consumer socialisation process.

The pursuit of good corporate governance, as exemplified by compliance with Sarbanes‐Oxley (SOX), requires corporate real estate (CRE) departments to gain a better understanding of asset values and lease costs than most companies currently possess. As a result, CRE departments are motivated to centralise control over operations globally, to improve systems for ensuring consistent and accurate accounting worldwide and to scrutinise vendors more thoroughly. These changes will be difficult for many CRE departments, but, done properly, the focus on corporate governance will bring greater understanding of real estate’s impact on corporate financial performance, as well as enhancing relationships with the CFO, senior management and business unit leaders.

The purpose of this paper is to inform researchers who are examining the adoption of autonomous vehicle technology and to provide marketing insights for developers and manufacturers of such vehicles and their ancillary technologies.

This study assesses consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions regarding autonomous vehicles (AV) by applying the consumer version of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2). We validate the model through a behavioral research study (n = 1,154).

The findings suggest that attitude toward AV is primarily formed through performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and hedonic motivation. Furthermore, the level of autonomy has limited effects on attitude.

This is the first study to examine attitudes toward AV through the theoretical lens of UTAUT2. Additionally, this study provides insights into consumer perceptions and the corresponding effects on attitude by moderating the level of autonomy.

Workforce development is crucial to the offender personality disorder (OPD) service to provide contemporary, evidenced care and treatment. This study aims to provide an overview and the research evaluation results of a regional higher education programme delivered to a range of criminal justice workers used on the OPD pathway.

Three modules were developed and delivered; these are (1) enhancing understanding (20 students), (2) formulation and therapeutic intervention (20 students) and (3) relationships, teams and environments (17 students). A mixed-methods study evaluated participant confidence and compassion. Pre, post and six-month follow-up questionnaires were completed. Additionally, a series of focus groups were conducted to gain in-depth qualitative feedback with a cross-section of students across the modules (N = 7). Quantitative data was collected and analysed separately due to the three modules all having different content. Qualitative data was analysed, and a synthesis of qualitative findings was reported from data taken across the three modules.

A total of 52 students participated, drawn from three modules: Module 1 (N = 19); Module 2 (N = 18); Module 3 (N = 15). Confidence in working with people with a personality disorder or associated difficulties improved significantly following completion of any of the modules, whereas compassion did not. Results have been synthesised and have assisted in the future shaping of modules to meet the learning needs of students.

Further evaluation of the effectiveness of educational programmes requires attention, as does the longer-term durability of effect. Further research is required to explore the post-training impact upon practice, and further exploration is required and larger sample sizes to draw definitive conclusions related to compassion.

This unique model of co-production that draws upon the expertise of people with lived experience, occupational frontline and academics is achievable and well received by students and can be reproduced elsewhere.

The positive uptake and results of this study indicate a need for expansion of accessible OPD workforce training opportunities across the UK. Further research is required to explore student feedback and comparisons of effectiveness comparing different modes of training delivery, especially in light of the pandemic, which has forced organisations and higher education institutions to develop more digital and distance learning approaches to their portfolios.

This novel research provides an evaluation of the only higher education credit-bearing modules in the UK focussed solely upon the OPD workforce and aligned with the national drive for non-credit bearing awareness level training “knowledge and understanding framework” (KUF).

The purpose of this paper is to longitudinally analyse the evolution of multiple narrative textual characteristics in the chairman’s statements of Guinness from 1948 to 1996, with the aim of studying impression management influences. It attempts to contribute insights on impression management over time.

The paper attempts to contribute to external accounting communication literature, by building on the socio-psychological tradition within the functionalist-behavioural transmission perspective. The paper analyses multiple textual characteristics (positive, negative, tentative, future and external references, length, numeric references and first person pronouns) over 49 years and their potential relationship to profitability. Other possible disclosure drivers are also controlled.

The findings show that Guinness consistently used qualitative textual characteristics with a self-serving bias, but did not use those with a more quantitative character. Continual profits achieved by the company, and the high corporate/personal reputation of the company/chairpersons, inter alia, may well explain limited evidence of impression management associated with quantitative textual characteristics. The context appears related to the evolution of the broad communication pattern.

Impression management is likely to be present in some form in corporate disclosures of most companies, not only those companies with losses. If successful, financial reporting quality may be undermined and capital misallocations may result. Companies with a high public exposure such as those with a high reputation or profitability may use impression management in a different way.

Studies analysing multiple textual characteristics in corporate narratives tend to focus on different companies in a single year, or in two consecutive years. This study analyses multiple textual characteristics over many consecutive years. It also gives an original historical perspective, by studying how impression management relates to its context, as demonstrated by a unique data set. In addition, by using the same company, the possibility that different corporate characteristics between companies will affect results is removed. Moreover, Guinness, a well-known international company, was somewhat unique as it achieved continual profits.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the current nature and content of biodiversity reporting practices adopted by English local councils. By adopting a multi-theoretical framework that relies on economic and social theories such as agency, stakeholder, legitimacy and institutional theories, this study also aims to investigate the factors that explain the extent of biodiversity disclosure provided by local councils.

This study uses a self-constructed disclosure index to analyse the biodiversity-related information published in the official websites of 351 English local councils. A multivariate analysis was conducted to analyse the association between local councils’ characteristics and biodiversity disclosure.

This study shows that the information disclosed on local biodiversity is limited and does not allow the interested stakeholders to get a comprehensive picture of the current status of local biodiversity. It also provides evidence that the level of biodiversity disclosure is significantly associated with the level of local council’s population, the presence of councillors from environmentally oriented parties and environmental non-governmental organisations operating in the local council area, poor biodiversity management practices and local councils’ visibility.

This study is one of the few accounting studies that provides a comprehensive analysis of biodiversity disclosure by analysing its nature and content and investigating the factors associated with such disclosure. It extends agency, stakeholder, institutional and legitimacy theories, by showing that local councils use voluntary disclosures to satisfy the informational needs of the main stakeholders and to assure that their strategies and practices conform to the values and expectations of the community they represent.

This paper aims to explore the biodiversity reporting by a state-owned entity responsible for conserving and protecting biodiversity assets in South Africa, the South African National Parks (SANParks) (SOC) Limited.

This study uses content analysis to explore and investigate the disclosure themes in the SANParks reports for the period 2013–2017. The frequency of substantive disclosures is also evaluated over a five-year period. The data are presented graphically in frequency charts and supported by descriptive statistics and univariate correlations for non-normal data. This provides insights into the amount of information being disclosed and the interconnections among biodiversity reporting themes.

SANParks has increased its reporting on biodiversity over time. Disclosures are interconnected and deal with a range of issues, including species at risk of extinction, operational considerations, risk management practices and how SANParks evaluates its environmental performance. The information is detailed and included in different parts of the organisation’s annual reports suggesting a genuine commitment to protecting biodiversity. There are areas for improvement but SANParks frames biodiversity as a central part of its strategy, operations and assurance processes something which would not occur if the disclosures were only about managing impressions.

The study is among the first to explore biodiversity disclosure themes in a state-owned entity in Africa, responsible for the conservation. While the study deals with a specific case entity, the findings are broadly applicable for other organisations keen on constructing a biodiversity account.

Grieving resulting from the death of a loved one or someone familiar is a painful process and individuals invariably seek support to help them through this difficult period. In this study, the paper investigates the role microblogs play by exploring the types of messages following the death of a public figure, Michael Jackson, “the King of Pop”.

Content analysis was conducted using 50,000 tweets harvested from Twitter from the first 12 days after Michael Jackson's death. A coding instrument characterizing a set of categories that users posted about Jackson's death was inductively constructed, and then applied to the entire dataset of tweets.

About 50 per cent of tweets fell into categories commonly associated with expressions of emotions or thoughts due to death. However, as the single largest category, Twitter was used primarily as a platform for sharing news and other information. Surprisingly, categories not normally associated with grieving, such as spreading of rumours, expressions of hatred and spam, also occupied a high proportion of tweets.

There has been little work done in examining microblogs as platforms for giving and receiving support in general and, more specifically, for the expression of grief. Therefore, the present research is timely, as it seeks to understand the role microblogs play in the grieving process.