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A growing polarization of society accompanied by an erosion of the middle class is receiving increasing attention in recent German economic and social policy discussion. Our study contributes to this discussion in two ways: First, on a theoretical level we propose extended multidimensional polarization indices based on a constant elasticity of substitution (CES)-type well-being function and present a new measure to multidimensional polarization, the mean minimum polarization gap, 2DGAP. This polarization intensity measure provides transparency with regard to each single attribute, which is important for targeted policies, while at the same time respecting their interdependent relations. Second, in an empirical application, time is incorporated, in addition to the traditional income measure, as a fundamental resource for any activity. In particular, genuine personal leisure time will account for social participation in the sense of social inclusion/exclusion and Amartya Sen’s capability approach.

Instead of arbitrarily choosing the attribute parameters in the CES well-being function, the interdependent relations of time and income are evaluated by the German population. With the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) and detailed time use diary data from the German Time Use Surveys (GTUSs) 1991/1992 and 2001/2002, we quantify available and extended multidimensional polarization measures as well as our new approach to measuring the polarization of the working poor and affluent in Germany.

There are three prominent empirical results: Genuine personal leisure time in addition to income is an important and significant polarization attribute. Compensation is of economic and statistical significance. The new minimum 2DGAP approach reveals that multidimensional polarization increased in the 1990s in Germany.

The purpose of this paper is to use multidimensional approach to provide a well-being description across European regions.

By considering the set of socioeconomic indicators provided by Eurostat for the EU 266 NUTS-2 regions, three main analyses have been performed for the year 2009: first, the “ideal point” technique has been used to identify: the best EU performances; the number and type of indicators that needs to be improved in every European regions. Second, a map of well-being has been elaborated to provide a picture summarizing the regional values in comparison to the European average. Third, Gini coefficient has been calculated to identify the indicators performing the largest inequalities across EU. The method presented in this paper is suitable to be complemented with subjective ranking of values and preference, making the proposed methodology useful to investigate well-being in a national, regional or individual scale.

By providing a multidimensional description of well-being across the 266 EU regions, the present paper identifies and maps the existing differences on socioeconomic performance.

The results provided can be useful to design policies oriented to reduce inequalities and to promote socioeconomic and environmental convergences across European regions. As far as the authors know, this is the first paper that provides a map of regional socioeconomic well-being across Europe.

The paper examines several measures of multidimensional inequality, analysing their properties and majorisation criteria. Moreover, it presents a new measure which generalises Bourguignon (1999) and includes Tsui measures (1999), while preserving the advantages of Maasoumi's method (1986) of explicitly acknowledging the role of parameters relevant to multivariate settings. Finally, an application to Argentine data is provided in order to illustrate the decisions involved in the process of applying these measures and the usefulness of having appropriate criteria when making those decisions.

Principals' well-being worldwide is under increasing threat due to the challenging and complex nature of their work and growing demands. This paper aimed at developing and validating a multidimensional Principal Well-being Inventory (PWI) and examining the state and consequences of principal well-being.

This paper involves four independent samples of principals working in schools from Hong Kong and Mainland China. The research design consisted of four phases with four sequential empirical studies. Phase 1 was to establish the content validity (literature review and Study 1); Phase 2 was to test the construct validity (Study 2 and Study 3); Phase 3 was to build the criterion validity (re-use the data from Study 3) and Phase 4 was to test the cross-validity of the PWI (Study 4).

Based on published literature and four successive empirical studies, a 24-item PWI was created via a theoretical-empirical approach of test construction. Validity was confirmed through construct-, content-, criterion- and cross-validity testing. The PWI covers the six important well-being dimensions – physical, cognitive, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual – to present a general picture of principals' occupational well-being associated with job nature, well-being literacy, leadership and context.

The inventory will aid efforts to promote principal well-being as an essential component of schoolwide well-being, quality education and a wellness society.

During the post-COVID-19 period, this project is deemed both critical and timely so that quality education will not be sacrificed due to factors affecting principal well-being.

This theoretically and empirically validated inventory serves as a robust tool for comprehensively understanding principal well-being and a fuller exploration of their well-being literacy, drivers and outcomes.

The study investigates the impact of psychological contract breach on employees' innovative behavior and well-being (happiness, work engagement and mental well-being) who are working from home during this COVID-19 pandemic situation. Drawing on social information processing (SIP) and job-demand resource (JD-R) theory, job stress was proposed as a mediator explaining this relationship.

Data were collected via a structured questionnaire through Google Docs from 258 respondents working at different capacity in Indian organizations. The study includes those respondents who are working from home during COVID-19 pandemic situation. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM).

Psychological contract breach was negatively impacting innovative behavior and well-being. Job stress mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach and innovative behavior as well as well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic situation and especially for those who are working from home only.

The data for the study were collected from the employees working from home during this COVID-19 pandemic situation was cross-sectional. The study implied or spoke about the unmet expectations leading to reduced innovative behavior harming the organization's effectiveness and it also reduces well-being which harms the individual in the era of social and financial uncertainty.

The novel contribution of the study is integrating SIP and JD-R theory during the pandemic situation. The results highlighted meticulous empirical evidence which answers the question that how the unmet expectations cause a detrimental effect on the employees as well as the organizations in this COVID-19 pandemic situation.

This paper aims to study through a comprehensive set of socioeconomic indicators the regional level of well-being achieved in Romania, and monitor the improvements and disparities in well-being after a decade of accession to the European Union.

A dashboard of 20 socioeconomic indicators for measuring nine dimensions of well-being for Romanian counties is proposed. Using the Adjusted Mazziotta-Pareto method are built composite indicators, which allow us to assess the trend of overall welfare scores for each county. The data are collected at the county level, for 42 counties, and each year from 2006 to 2017, from administrative sources.

The overall well-being index has an increasing trend for all counties, but the growth rate varies from one county to another. The economic factors, geographic location and share of the urban population matter. For most counties, the evolution of well-being scores is below that recorded at the country level. Romania has registered significant improvements in health, housing, income and access to public utilities dimensions. The counties are ranked by level of well-being. Some empirical measures suggest a slight tendency of socioeconomic disparities to increase over time.

The paper attempts to fill some gaps in measuring the level and disparities of welfare in a fast-growing emerging economy. The Romanian regional context is to a lesser extent explored in a multidimensional approach, from spatial and temporal points of view.

To provide insights into holiday well-being, the purpose of this paper is to examine two inevitable traveller activities related to destinations’ gastronomy: pre-trip food information sourcing and the daily meals consumed.

A survey was carried out among 243 Finnish travellers. The findings are based on univariate analysis (t-test, ANOVA and regression analysis).

Pre-trip behaviour to ensure holiday well-being is based on travellers’ interests in food, an emotional desire for a sense of safety and a functional desire for convenience, while they collect information from the internet and guidebooks about recommended food places and local food as well as food safety and price level. Travellers’ place the highest importance on dinner for their holiday well-being, especially foodies – those travellers with a keen interest in food. Breakfast is the second most important meal contributing to holiday well-being.

These findings inform destination marketing organisations about what food dimensions they should emphasise in destination gastronomy-related marketing communication for tour operators and hotel and local restaurants about the essence of dinner and breakfast for holiday well-being.

The study provides insights into the role of destinations’ gastronomy in holiday well-being, which deserves to be studied in the current era of experiences and food interest.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the changes in well-being in the Italian reality, in particular, through the study of major cities. The study is based on a set of data provided by the Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) with the aim to highlight the Italian urban situation and the comparison between the well-being situation assessed in a pre-crisis context and the one observed after it, in order to understand how events have influenced levels of well-being in the main Italian cities.

The paper aims to examine the quality of life (QoL) levels in the metropolitan cities, using data from the URBES report (a report that provides data and information concerning the Italian urban situation), published in 2013, which investigates QoL and well-being in major Italian cities. It is based on the framework of the “Benessere Equo e Sostenibile” report that appraises well-being in Italian regions by a great deal of variables belonging to 12 different dimensions. Using this data source, the authors will proceed to the construction of a composite well-being index.

The paper intends to show how the well-being level in Italian cities has changed in recent years, taking into consideration ten different dimensions of well-being. The need to consider different dimensions of well-being for its comprehensive evaluation is widely discussed in the literature, and the framework provided by ISTAT is innovative in this sense.

The paper presents an aggregate measure of well-being in Italian cities on the basis of new theoretical concepts and complete and detailed data.

This paper aims to analyze the well-being consequences of value co-creation activities at an ecosystem level, focusing specifically on the micro and meso levels. This study is performed in a retail ecosystem, a highly relevant context where individuals spend a considerable amount of time and resources, but where well-being is usually not deemed as a relevant outcome.

The investigation analyzes qualitative data from micro and meso level actors of a retail ecosystem. At the micro-level, in-depth interviews performed with customers, employees and suppliers were assessed. The meso level analysis included most of the actors embedded in the retail ecosystem: employees’ headquarters, suppliers’ headquarters, nearby competitors, family, other retail outlets and external employees.

This study is one of the first in the transformative service research area to analyze well-being from a retail ecosystem perspective. Hence, this analysis broadens the literature on transformative service by considering supermarket retailing, an everyday service context that is not assumed to generate well-being outcomes. Results reveal that actors who spend more time or have fewer options available for them in the retail ecosystem see their well-being deeply affected. It also extends the conceptualization of value co-creation to a retail ecosystem, a specific ecosystem, which differs from previous studies that focus mostly on health-care ecosystems.

Although useful to understand new insights, a limitation of this investigation is that it is based upon a single qualitative study.

The study portrays how activities happening within a business context have consequences beyond traditional measures such as loyalty or turn-over. It proposes specific value co-creation actions to be performed by employees, suppliers and customers to promote positive well-being consequences for the micro and meso level retail ecosystem.

Retail ecosystems are usually not deemed as relevant when trying to understand societal well-being outcomes. This study empirically depicts that all services, even the ones without transformative goals, need to be aware of the impact they have on societal well-being.

This paper provides a novel conceptualization of well-being effects in a retail ecosystem. Specifically, this is the first study in the transformative service research literature to identify the micro and meso level well-being consequences of value co-creation activities within a retail ecosystem.

This study examines the perceived benefit of sustainable consumption from a consumer perspective. Communicating corporate social and environmental responsibility is beneficial from a company perspective; however, the advantages for consumers have not yet been sufficiently clarified. We investigated two well-being dimensions as the identified benefit of sustainability. Therefore, an experiment (n = 815) was conducted to identify the influence of different advertisements on social–environmental and emotional well-being while considering the moderating role of consumers’ value orientation. The results revealed that information about sustainability attributes had a significant effect on social–environmental well-being, while the emotionality of the communication had a significant effect on emotional well-being. These effects were partly moderated by consumers’ value orientation: the effect on social–environmental well-being increased with biosphere–altruistic value orientation, whereas the effect on emotional well-being slightly increased with self-enhancement value orientation.