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The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of service recovery experiences on customer engagement in negative word-of-mouth (WOM) in the hotel industry and explore the psychological motives and mediating mechanisms driving consumer behavior.

A scenario-based experimental design on Qualtrics was used, with a pre-test (N = 200). The main study data were collected using Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform.

Findings reveal that negative service experiences lead to higher engagement in negative WOM compared to positive and satisfactory recovery service experiences. Even well-executed recovery efforts may not completely eliminate negative WOM. The mediating role of emotional responses is substantiated, as heightened negative service experiences result in more intense negative emotional responses, leading to increased engagement in negative WOM.

The study emphasizes the importance of service recovery strategies and the need for businesses to consistently strive for exceptional service quality. It also highlights the complexity of customer reactions to service experiences, suggesting that further research is needed to explore the factors that minimize negative WOM across various service contexts.

This study aims to examine the influence of accounting professionals’ Machiavellian behavior and ethical judgments on their intention to report fraudulent acts and also to examine the moderating effect of Machiavellianism on the relationship between professionals’ ethical judgments and whistleblowing intention, as well as the mediating effect of personal responsibility, personal costs/benefits and the seriousness of the questionable act on this relationship.

The data were collected via a survey sent to 201 Tunisian accounting professionals and analyzed using the structural equation method.

The results indicate that ethical judgments support the whistleblowing intentions among Tunisian accountants. However, this relationship is affected by Machiavellian behavior that minimizes whistleblowing. Furthermore, the results show that Machiavellianism is negatively associated with whistleblowing intention and has an indirect effect on whistleblowing through perceived personal benefit and the seriousness of the questionable act.

Examining the ethical ideologies that may affect whistleblowing, including Machiavellianism and ethical judgment, in the Tunisian context contributes to the literature on the accounting profession in the Middle East and North Africa. The results of this study could raise awareness among policymakers and regulators in developing countries, particularly in Tunisia, to value whistleblowing as a mechanism for detecting and controlling organizational misconduct and enact regulations that encourage accounting professionals to report fraudulent acts while protecting them.

Building on associative priming, anthropomorphism and biophilia theories, this study aims to explain that a natural–organic (that shows a natural object) and an anthropomorphised natural–organic logo (that shows an anthropomorphised natural object) both act as primes and imbue specific product value perceptions, which subsequently influence willingness to pay a premium price when products have not been used by or are unfamiliar to consumers.

Two between-subjects experiments were conducted with different products (one with real, but unfamiliar to consumers brand and another with a fictitious brand). Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses.

Experimental studies showed that natural–organic logos evoked stronger utilitarian (functional and economic) value perceptions, which triggered greater willingness to pay a premium price compared to anthropomorphised natural–organic logos. The effect of hedonic (emotional and novelty) values on willingness to pay a premium price was stronger when an anthropomorphised natural–organic logo was used.

This research offers novel theoretical contributions highlighting the importance of careful logo design to imbue desired value perceptions when products have not been consumed or trialled.

Anthropomorphised natural–organic and natural–organic logos can provide different benefits to brand managers and can be used strategically to form desired value perceptions before products are consumed. Brands that wish to enhance premium pricing via hedonic values should consider using an anthropomorphised natural–organic logo. Natural–organic logos may be more suitable for brands that want to emphasise superior utilitarian values.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research provides the first empirical assessment of the differential effects of the two forms of natural–organic logos on value perceptions and willingness to pay premium price.

This study aimed to examine the adoption of consortium blockchain technology to ensure interoperability for the transparency of budgetary control in Ghanaian local government.

This study is based on the design science research (DSR) observational technique for developing a consortium blockchain budgetary control system for Ghana's local government.

The study resulted in the design of a consortium blockchain monitoring and evaluation system to set up a mechanism to monitor various budget projects, processes and transactions for Ghana's local government. The findings also proved Ghana is ideally positioned to gain an advantage from designed artefacts such as ours, given its digital financial service (DFS) policy. In addition, the evaluation of the designed artefact proves there will be a positive impact on budgetary processes by addressing transparency concerns; however, the success of this concern depends on how the local government organisation embraces the artefact.

The study sheds light on budget monitoring and evaluation tied to peer-to-peer (P2P) participation in the public sector via an advanced administrative digitalised networking and communication algorithm (A Distributed Ledger Technology - blockchain). The difference between the designed artefact and the traditional M&E system is argued. The study is limited by the paradoxes and inefficiencies of the integration of blockchain into the Ghanaian local government but, at the same time, presents a high level of certainty and possibility.

The proposed artefact has presented relevance because it is a new solution to existing concerns like trust, transparency, accountability and compliance, thereby improving local government budget administration.

The study has offered unique and new methods, guidelines and designs for tracking various budget projects and processes beyond the conventional technology-driven approach via DSR, exhibiting a unique solution for solving budget transparency, trust, accountability, compliance and data accessibility concerns.

Against the backdrop of management, planning, temporary organizations, Shannon–Weaver theory of communication and evaluation theories, the purpose of this research paper is to examine the relative importance of specific project management tasks in the various phases of system delivery projects in distinguishing successful and unsuccessful projects.

A survey method was used (N = 3,129) to collect data from the customers of a major systems delivery project management company operating in the facilities management industry. Logistic regression was used to analyze the capability and relative importance of the tasks in discriminating successful and unsuccessful projects.

The results of the paper indicate that three out four installation tasks were among the top three in their ability to differentiate the successful and unsuccessful systems delivery project. Especially critical tasks were “Meeting milestones” and “Allocation of appropriate resources” so that the project could be completed on-time. Relatively less important tasks were “Advice and suggestions regarding the development of specifications for the project” and “Proposal to meet the intent of the company’s specifications” in the proposal phase of the project, and “Resolving warranty issues as defined by the warranty process” in the commissioning phase.

Previous research has assessed the importance of the various project management phases. This research examines the capability of the more minutiae tasks to distinguish the successful and unsuccessful projects in the various phases of systems delivery projects, i.e. proposal, installation and commissioning.

The purpose of this paper was (1) to examine the underexplored intersection of sports betting and favorite team loyalty, and (2) to assess differences in gambling behavior among sport bettors by varying levels of team loyalty.

A total of 1,555 National Football League (NFL) bettors and non-betting NFL fans were surveyed to assess media consumption across a mix of team loyalty attitudes and betting behaviors.

Statistically significant differences were found between four types of NFL fans (casual, team loyalty-dominant, betting-dominant and hybrid) as it relates to media consumption in various forms. Most notably, the results suggested symbiosis between the activities.

The symbiosis finding, though preliminary, suggests the activity provides an additional platform for consumers to connect with spectator sport. Furthermore, the act of betting, like participation in fantasy sports, appears to spur consumption of the NFL product generally. The study, however, was limited to NFL fans, did not specify the method for sports betting, nor the intensity of gambling.

Teams should not worry that betting detracts from fan engagement with the team product. Also, leagues and media providers should continue to highlight betting content as participants consume at higher rates than non-participating sports fans.

Team fandom may potentially moderate problem behavior among bettors. The betting results indicate being a loyal team fan lowers one’s gambling spend per month and largest bet compared to non-loyal bettors. However, the hybrid fan showed significantly higher media consumption levels.

Sports fans have more opportunities to interact and engage with their favorite games than ever before. However, consumers have limited amounts of time and money, and this study is one of the first to examine differences in fan interests and behaviors related to sport betting and team loyalty and the resulting viewership and consumption behavior.

This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of the interdisciplinary literature on drones in last-mile delivery (LMD) to extrapolate pertinent insights from and into the logistics management field.

Rooting their analytical categories in the LMD literature, the authors performed a deductive, theory refinement SLR on 307 interdisciplinary journal articles published during 2015–2022 to integrate this emergent phenomenon into the field.

The authors derived the potentials, challenges and solutions of drone deliveries in relation to 12 LMD criteria dispersed across four stakeholder groups: senders, receivers, regulators and societies. Relationships between these criteria were also identified.

This review contributes to logistics management by offering a current, nuanced and multifaceted discussion of drones' potential to improve the LMD process together with the challenges and solutions involved.

The authors provide logistics managers with a holistic roadmap to help them make informed decisions about adopting drones in their delivery systems. Regulators and society members also gain insights into the prospects, requirements and repercussions of drone deliveries.

This is one of the first SLRs on drone applications in LMD from a logistics management perspective.

The impact of mankind on the environment and the usage of natural resources might be influenced by spirituality, through the consciousness of creating an improved moral sense regarding the consequences of human activities and the necessity to alter these to achieve sustainable development. However, the spiritual element in the form of ecospirituality (ES) has not been sufficiently considered in pro-environmental studies as it relates to the influence of green training (GT) on voluntary workplace green behaviour (VWGB) in the construction sector. This study aims to determine the effect of GT on VWGB and the mediating effect of ES on the relationship between GT and VWGB on construction projects.

This study’s data were gathered through a questionnaire survey of construction site managers and project managers by adopting the probability sampling method. 249 appropriately completed questionnaires were returned. The data obtained were analysed by means of the partial least squares structural equation modelling technique (PLS-SEM).

The outcomes of the study show that GT has a significant positive impact on VWGB, while ES has a significant mediating effect on the relationship between GT and VWGB, both supporting the study’s hypotheses.

These findings point to the fact that the hitherto conflicting results reported in earlier studies on the GT–VWGB relationship can be attributed to the lack of consideration given to ES. Hence, special attention should be given to ES.

This research presents actions to enhance the transformation of GT into VWGB by giving due consideration to ES, which was not taken into account in previous studies.

The study aims to investigate market reactions associated with the JUST 100 rankings published by JUST Capital, a non-profit organization, as well as differences in financial reporting quality and performance between selected firms and their industry peers.

This study uses a sample of 431 firms selected as the 100 America’s Most Just Companies between 2016 and 2020 by JUST Capital. This study performs both an event study to determine whether the rankings are useful to investors and cross-sectional regression analyses on the characteristics of selected firms compared to their peers.

This study finds that investors react positively to selected firms around the time of the release of the JUST 100 rankings, suggesting that the rankings are decision-useful. This study also finds that selected firms exhibit higher accounting quality and financial performance than their peers.

Rankings may not be free from bias because of JUST Capital’s ownership of an exchange-traded fund.

The findings validate the rankings as well as the methodology used by JUST Capital, as they show market participants value firms that engage in socially responsible actions through their commitment to positively impact five key stakeholder groups: employees, customers, communities, environment and shareholders.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that shows the importance of the JUST 100 rankings for investment decisions. Considering the growing push for companies to disclose environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities, this study provides evidence to support ESG disclosure regulations.