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Little is known about the health, well‐being and social interaction benefits of physical activity in adults with a learning disability. This is probably due to the methodological barriers to research and the problem of gaining informed consent from the participants. This paper describes a feasibility study, where six adults with learning disabilities regularly attended a weight management and fitness session. An observation methodology was tested to see if it was possible to gather quantitative evidence on well‐being and social interaction during participation in the sessions. Issues about veridicality, consent, validity and controls are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is first, to identify the institutional variables that influence the technology acquisition intent (TAI) in new high‐tech product development (NPD) process; second, to identify and confirm the consequence of TAI in the Stage‐Gate system of NPD process; and third, to validate the moderating role of Perceived Risk and Project Duration on the “TAI to new product commercialization (NPC) relationship” in the NPD process.

The research design for this generic study involved two phases: exploratory and descriptive. The theoretical framework emanated from the exploratory phase and is validated by conducting a global survey on 215 high‐tech product marketing firms.

The institutional variables – Dominant Design and Network Externalities – directly influence a firm's TAI that in turn leads to NPC. While the study confirms that the longer project duration negatively moderates to TAI to NPC relationship, no support was found for the influence of increased risk perception on the same.

The study explains the rationale for marketer's efforts toward dominant design and network externalities. Also, the NPD teams should be cautious about project duration, as uncertainty associated with longer project duration reduces the TAI, and thereby inhibits the successful NPC.

By empirically investigating the influence of institutional variables on a firm's TAI, the study significantly contributes to extant theories on NPD. Also, the study results have significant implications for high‐tech product marketing theory and practice in the context of emerging market economies.

Purpose – Cultural distance (CD) reflects differences in cultural values across countries. Many studies have used CD to explain strategies and outcomes in international business practices, although often with limited success. This chapter demonstrates previously unrecognized problems with the conceptualization, analysis, and interpretation of CD measures and suggests methods for improvements in CD research.

Design/methodology/approach – Problems with traditional methods in CD research are demonstrated analytically and illustrated with correlation and regression analyses of secondary data. One analysis shows that individual cultural dimensions may provide alternative explanations for hypothesized effects of distance. Two other examples illustrate the incorrect conclusions that traditional analysis approaches may suggest.

Findings – The difference scores that are implicit in measures of CD usually imply unrealistic constraints on relationships between variables. Analyzing CD at the level of organizations rather than countries exaggerates the available sample size and may result in inaccurate statistical tests.

Research limitations/implications – The empirical examples illustrate problems with methodology for CD research. They are not proposed as substantive, generalizable tests of hypotheses.

Originality/value of the chapter – This chapter provides original arguments to augment existing criticisms of CD research. It shows that findings from extant CD studies may not support the conclusions that have been reported in the literature. Future research should use methods that lead to correct interpretations of CD effects.

The authors explore the concept of leaders as storytellers and suggest that this approach to leadership is helpful as a way of communicating effectively with people. The authors conclude that story skills are also helpful for people with mental health problems to create their own recovery stories, frontline staff designing their professional development and leaders negotiating organisational change.

Online dating facilitates both dater interactions and rejections. Given the vast offer of potential mates and daters' limited time, several rejections may occur. On online dating platforms, most of these rejections are simply the absence of a reply (ignoring). The purpose of this paper is to compare the impact of implicit rejection (ignoring) vs explicit rejection (declining) on the behavioral intentions of daters, considering self-esteem as a moderator.

Experiment 1 investigated the effect of the extent of rejection (implicit vs explicit vs control) on the behavioral intentions of online daters. Experiment 2 assessed observers' recommended actions to a male (vs female) online dater following rejection (implicit vs explicit vs control).

Implicit rejections generate greater behavioral intentions than explicit rejections. Both daters (study 1) and observers of the dating scenario (study 2) indicated greater intent to revise their profiles (study 1) or recommend a profile revision (study 2) when implicitly (vs explicitly) rejected by interaction partners. Self-esteem moderated the effect of the extent of rejection. Higher levels of self-esteem eliminate and lower levels of self-esteem intensify the effect of the extent of rejection on behavioral intentions. Additionally, observers' recommendations based on the extent of rejection depend on the rejected dater's gender.

Ignoring is a frequent practice among dating platform users, and this paper provides an original contribution to better understand the differences stemming from implicit or explicit rejection of online daters.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-06-2020-0207

In the context of the current financial crisis, this paper aims to examine values and spirituality in the modern workplace.

Using contemporary examples and examining recent literature on spirituality and loneliness, the paper considers the concept of loneliness and argues that this may stem from an over‐preoccupation with the workplace and employment‐based achievement, at the expense of having rounded lives as human beings.

It is demonstrated that, over the last decade at least, the levels of stress in life and work have risen noticeably. In this context, leaders need even more to be forgers of a sense of meaning and purpose in the workplace and engage the hearts and minds of staff towards improved outcomes.

The current financial crisis is also a major spiritual crisis. Now there seems to be a growing gap between leaders and the led, and an increase in what the author terms “soul‐less leadership”, which fails to engage and motivate and inspire. The author calls on leaders in this crisis of capitalism to work and engage with staff in health and social care, so that those serving at the frontline feel‐valued and supported, developed and engaged in a common purpose.

The article questions a recent interpretation of increased intergenerational sharecropping in Haiti as a labour‐mobilising device and offers a re‐interpretation based on the increasing relative price of land.