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The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of customer satisfaction during mortgage purchases. Mortgage demand in the USA has reached an all-time high because of an increase in housing demand after COVID-19. Nonetheless, several customers are dissatisfied with their service providers. Customers who actively search the market gain more information about mortgage providers and use this information to define expectations for lenders. The only way there will be customer satisfaction is if lenders meet these expectations. Therefore, it is economically significant for mortgage lenders to discover the antecedents of mortgage satisfaction.

In this study, the partial least squares approach was used to test the hypothesis that satisfaction was influenced by objective knowledge, familiarity and search intensity among a sample of customers (n = 4,512) from the National Survey of Mortgage Originations who had purchased a mortgage in the USA between 2019 and 2020.

The results of structural modelling showed that familiarity (β = 0.23 and p = 0.01) with and knowledge (β = 0.16 and p = 0.01) of mortgages significantly affected consumer satisfaction during mortgage purchase. Search intensity (p = 0.01) mediated the relationship between knowledge, familiarity and satisfaction.

The primary implication is that mortgage service providers should prioritise educating customers about the mortgage buying process on their websites and in person. So managers must actively assist clients in having realistic expectations. Second, mortgage companies should establish a presence on third-party mortgage comparison websites to ensure that customers actively consider alternatives, thereby increasing customer satisfaction.

This study is unique in being an exploratory study to examine the antecedents of mortgage satisfaction using a public data set. This study uniquely examines the National Survey of Mortgage Originations data set with partial least squares approach to examine underlying customer attitudes.

The accessibility of housing for many purposes is more influenced by the functioning of housing market. As access to housing is an expensive and long-term exertion of household, looking for appropriate housing fund is necessary whether the source of fund is private saving or mortgage. However, insufficient finance in Ethiopia is a reason for inaccessible of land and housing by the low- and middle-income people. This study aims to identify the barriers to access finance in the study area.

This study adopted a qualitative and quantitative research approach to investigate the barriers of housing finance. To undertake and increase the relevance of this study, primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative data were used. Primary data were collected from respondents; focal person’s and key informants. Both descriptive statistical analysis and relative importance index analysis was deployed for this study. In addition, the quantitative data were analyzed using logistic regresion model.

The result of this study found that in Ethiopia at all, there is no enough mortgage and long-term lending banks. The result of this study inspects some variables significantly affect the access to finance. The result of this study will help the government in buildup of financial institutions in many perspectives. Financial institutions and clients may also be beneficiary through stiffen housing finance system.

The barriers of access to finance were not sufficiently studied in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study may be a pioneer for the researchers, as it did not cover the whole area of the country to study and also appoint the government to reform the financial sector based on the findings of the researches.

Platform ecosystem governance is a decisive issue for orchestrators, as the motivation and behaviors of the complementors in an ecosystem can be distinctly different, shaped by the specific arrangements they have within the ecosystem. However, knowledge about adaptation in the governance of platform ecosystems is quite limited. First, the authors hardly know which obstacles are arising for orchestrators due to typical governance settings and their consequences. Second, the authors know less about governance strategies by orchestrators that help deal with these obstacles.

The authors follow an inductive, multistep case-study-based approach with multiple cases using guidelines proposed by Yin (2018). Based on predefined criteria, the authors selected 41 platform ecosystems with a “hub and spoke” system within and across several industries and collected a wide range of data. The authors conducted 14 interviews with executives of these platform ecosystems to gain further insights, transcribed and/or summarized all interviews, and analyzed the data.

Based on the dataset, the authors identify four significant obstacles and ten strategies of orchestrators in platform ecosystems. This approach allows us to gain insight into innovative approaches orchestrators conduct to cope with these challenges.

The authors already have a broad range of studies on ecosystem governance in the literature. However, research dealing with the dynamics of governance regimes is quite rare. The study examines how orchestrators of platform ecosystems react to emerging obstacles they are confronted with during the evolution of their platform ecosystems. Partly, these strategies might be expected, but mostly they show innovative approaches for handling these obstacles that have not been reported in research so far.

International evidence of corporate demand for ‘aesthetic labour’ has stimulated a growing and important literature on the strategic, commercial, legal, gendered and ethical aspects of this labour process (see Spiess & Waring, 2005; Warhurst & Nickson, 2009; Warhurst et al., 2000; Waring, 2011; Witz et al., 2003). There is some evidence to suggest that the growth in ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ strategies and practices by larger firms provides a level of recognition of the need to avoid discriminatory practices based on the physical characteristics of employees whether these be overt, structural or as a result of unconscious bias. It is argued that the emergence of ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ strategies are not just in response to regulatory demands or an enlightened ‘character over characteristics’ approach to hiring, but stems from a desire to meet contemporary Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expectations. In turn this corporate motivation is frequently driven by commercial concerns such as the need to attract and retain capital and talent.

In this chapter, the intersection of aesthetic labour, appearance-based discrimination, corporate Diversity and Inclusion strategies and CSR is explored. Through the examination of Fortune 500 ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ strategies and approaches to CSR, the intent behind the resourcing of ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ and its relationship to CSR is critically assessed. This critical assessment discloses both genuine efforts to reject unethical forms of ‘lookism’ or ‘appearance-based discrimination’ but also several contradictions. These include contradictions between the rhetoric of diversity and CSR and the continuation of aesthetic labour strategies for commercial advantage. Further, the research finds that the physical representation of ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ efforts are sometimes themselves exploited for commercial gain.

This paper aims to define intergenerational housing support and assesses and synthesizes the existing literature on intergenerational support for housing to identify trends and possible areas for future research.

The methodology employed in this paper is a systematic literature review. A total of 32 articles were chosen for assessment. Upon thorough review, summary and synthesis, general trends and three specific themes were identified.

The review of 32 papers found that intergenerational support is a crucial strategy to help younger generations achieve homeownership. However, it also highlights the potential for social inequity resulting from unequal distribution of housing resources within families, especially regarding housing. Several potential gaps in the current research are identified, including the need for explicit attention to the provider's intention, exploration into the size and form of financial support for housing, understanding how parental housing resources differ in their transfer behaviors, and examining how parental motivations influence them to provide housing support.

This paper provides recommendations for further research on the topic, while also adding perspective to understand the micro-social mechanisms behind the intergenerational reproduction of socioeconomic inequality, especially in the housing market.

Gold investment is one of the essential long-term investments for many to diversify their investment portfolios. Muslims are continuously looking for halal products and services in any aspect of life and one of them is Shari’ah gold investments (SGI). However, evidence pertinent to Muslims’ behaviour towards Shari’ah gold is somewhat inconclusive and for that, a new empirical investigation is needed to reduce the gap, at best. Hence, the purpose of this study is to study factors determining SGI behaviour in Penang, Malaysia.

By using the Islamic theory of consumer behaviour (ITCB), this study examines the determinants of the SGI behaviour. The questionnaire survey was distributed and the data gathered was analysed using partial least square structural equation modeling.

All hypothesised hypotheses were instrumental in explaining the factors determining SGI behaviour in the context of Penang, Malaysia.

This study has at least two limitations, namely, confined generalisations of the variables used and the limited context of the research conducted.

This study sheds light on the determinants influencing SGI behaviour, at best.

This study is original in terms of its final output that enlightens the significant effects of iman, Islamic altruism, maqasid consumer index on the behaviour of investors on Shari’ah gold within the ITCB’s context along with integrated religious satisfaction.

Consumer culture is promoting immediate gratification, and the rise of digital financial services is increasing the risk of indebtedness while debt reduces well-being and affects mental health. The authors assess the effects of consumer information provision, debt literacy, chronic debt and attitudes toward debt on the intent to purchase on credit.

An online survey including an experiment with a credit offer vignette was conducted in a representative sample of Estonia (n = 1204). Treatment conditions depicted either the total cost and duration of the credit agreement or the annual percentage rate.

Receiving modified information resulted in a 26 to 30 percentage points decrease in propensity to purchase on credit. Purchasing on credit was associated with attitudes towards credit and chronic debt, but not with debt literacy.

The findings reveal large effects of information provision and highlight the limited effects of debt literacy on credit decisions. Limitations may emerge from differences in financial regulation across countries.

The authors' results highlight the importance of applying behavioural insights in consumer credit information provision, both in the financial sector and policy. Testing the messages allows having evidence-based solutions that promote responsible purchasing on credit.

The findings call for changes in credit information provision requirements. Their effect is significantly larger compared to the literature, emphasizing the role of credit information provision in less regulated online markets.

The challenge of accessibility to adequate housing in several countries by a large percentage of citizens has given rise to different housing programs designed to facilitate access to affordable housing. In South Africa, the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) was created to provides housing loans to low- and middle-income earners. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the implication of the macroeconomic risk elements on the performance of the NHFC incremental housing finance.

This study used a mixed-method approach to examine the time-series data of the NHFC over 17 years (2003–2020), relative to selected macroeconomic indicators. Additionally, this study analysed primary data from a 2022 survey of NHFC Executives.

This study found that incremental housing finance addresses a housing affordability gap, caters to disadvantaged groups, adapts to changing macroeconomic conditions and can mitigate default risk. It also finds that the performance of the NHFC’s incremental housing finance is premised on the behaviour of the macroeconomic elements that drive its strategy in South Africa.

Unlike previous works on housing finance, this case study of the NHFC considers the implication of macroeconomic trends when disbursing incremental housing finance to low- and middle-level income earners as a risk mitigation measure for the South African market. Its mixed method use of quantitative and qualitative data also allows a robust insight into trends that drive investment in incremental housing finance in South Africa.