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The paper's aim is, in a framework of intellectual capital (IC), to study the interactions of a worksite fitness program (WFP) policy with a multidisciplinary approach in an IT‐company of 220 employees.

In a five years follow‐up setting, the associations of physical activity and the company's worksite fitness policy (WFP) effects on different elements of IC were studied. Qualitative methods were applied in constructing indicators and a scorecard type IC measure.

In a cross‐sectional and follow‐up setting, several findings with respect to IC were observed regarding physical activity in general and activity in WFP in particular. The findings were relatively strong regarding health‐ and wellness‐related indicators as part of human capital, where also relational capital indicators such as project feedback, revealed positive associations. Overall, WFP was seen to be an integrated part of structural capital.

This case study was carried out in Finland, where the traditions of WFP are relatively long. This will, to some extent, restrict the implications of the results in countries or business cultures where WFP is not general.

The results emphasize first the need for company specific IC measures, and second the importance of humane, soft management procedures (like WFP) in developing a company's IC.

The paper is the first to examine the relations of IC and WFP and will thus provide new insights in developing a company specific IC.

Sir Desmond Lee, late headmaster of Winchester, has taken comfort (Times, 9 September) in the rise from 12 500 to 27 000 sixth‐form pupils taking mixed (ie science and arts) courses predicted for 1971 by the Dainton committee. This, he points out, will produce a net gain of 6000 pupils with some exposure to science over the 1964 figures — and is a hopeful sign towards the breakdown of rigid subject definitions. Within the Dainton terms of reference this is all to the good — but it carries with it the danger of academic emphasis that still bedevils the science and technology argument.

In light of the increasing acceptance of the concept of brand cocreation this paper aims to develop a model of the process in order to elucidate the roles of the various stakeholders, particularly the company and the brand consumers, in it and the implications of the concept for brand managers.

The process model of brand cocreation was derived from extant literature covering a wide range of topics related to brands, including: various types of marketing, consumer behaviour, psychology, new product development, and marketing communications.

A five‐stage process of brand cocreation is developed identifying the various stages in which the firm is in control and those which are controlled by the consumers.

The paper highlights the need to reconsider the role of brand managers in the brand cocreation process and identifies various gaps in the knowledge of brands and their management that have become apparent as a result of the development of the model.

The value of this paper lies in its holistic overview of the complete brand cocreation process and the issues relating to the nature of brand management that it highlights.

This paper aims to provide an overview of the development of approaches to measuring and reporting on intangibles since the mid‐1990s, and to identify intellectual capital self‐accounts as a possible means of continuing this process in a beneficial way.

Principally a literature review, the paper provides the opportunity to extend earlier, initial thoughts on the promise of intellectual capital self‐accounts.

Given the importance of primary intellectual capital (“people”) in the creation of intangibles (secondary intellectual capital), the paper draws attention to the limited role hitherto ascribed to people in reporting on intangibles in particular.

The value of the paper lies principally in the identification of possible content for self‐accounts in the context of brands and health and wellbeing as important intangibles.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of self reported gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances in middle aged and older women and the role of food in alleviating these disturbances, so that the effect of food on overall psychological state when experiencing the disturbances and their alleviation can be explored.

One‐on‐one interviews with general questions and laddering/means‐end chain (MEC) elicitation were used to reveal both physical and psychological impacts of GI disturbances and alleviation of the disturbances in women aged between 45 and 70 years old.

In terms of the laddering procedure and cognitive mapping, the number of linkages apparent between concrete and abstract levels demonstrated a complex map of cognitions regarding GI disturbances that involved both physical and psychological impacts. Positive or negative framing of context altered the cognitions revealed in the laddering, with the role of food highlighting these differences.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, MEC theory has not been applied to explore the impact of acute GI disturbances in healthy participants on their quality of life. The exploratory research demonstrates that mild and/or acute experiences of GI dysfunction have negative impacts on psychological well‐being, similar in type to those suffering from chronic conditions and deepens our understanding of the complexity of inter‐relationships between components of well‐being in the context of gut health.

This purpose of this study is to develop actionable marketing insights regarding why consumers might elect to purchase vintage products. A concept called consumer pastness is introduced, developed and defined to achieve this end. Consumer pastness demonstrably affected consumers’ perceptions of vintage products’ scarcity and consumers’ propensity to purchase vintage items. When applied inside marketing contexts, consumer pastness may also explain how and why consumers distinguish vintage products that are “of the past” from new and second-hand products. The data suggest that when consumers perceive products are characterized by higher consumer pastness the products will be perceived as scarcer, more desirable and more valuable than new or second-hand versions of the same item.

A scale was developed to capture three dimensions that comprise consumer pastness and then a pilot study and two experiments were conducted to test the research propositions.

Study propositions were confirmed. Consumers perceive vintage products as scarcer and more desirable than other types of products.

A novel and useful concept is introduced to the marketing literature inside this study. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate and develop theoretical insights regarding how and why consumers perceive vintage products differently from new and second-hand products. The investigations reported below are also the first to develop practical insights regarding how management might respond to these insights about the role consumer pastness plays.

Building on Walter Benjamin's philosophical reflections on aura and authenticity, this article aims to conceptualise and theorise brand aura.

This article extends understanding of brand aura within the management, marketing and tourism literature with reference to Benjamin's framing of aura and authenticity in time and space.

Within a Benjaminian framework this article theorises brand aura and offers a conceptualisation of the antecedents of brand aura. It explores the duality of what is termed here as artefactual authenticity and existential authenticity. It illustrates the central role of consumers' mémoire involontaire in the realisation of brand aura. Within this Benjaminian framework, the article explores how artefactual authenticity is preceded by brand essence, while existential authenticity precedes brand essence. Implications for the management of the service encounter are discussed with reference to territorial legitimacy and historical testimony in the context of the firm's role in supporting consumer experiential engagement.

This article advances theoretical understanding of how consumers engage experientially with brand aura and how firms curate brand aura.

Brand loyalty reveals about such important issues as brand personality and brand bond. This study mainly examines the influence of brand aura on brand loyalty management. The study aims to inform strategic aspects of brand aura. The authors conduct an analysis of prominent brands of sharia commercial brand saving product in Indonesia.

This study is an exploratory research, using sample of 277 respondents of Islamic bank customers in five major cities in Indonesia (Semarang, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and Jakarta). The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique with AMOS (analysis of moment structure) program to examine the influence of brand religiosity aura toward brand loyalty.

The finding reveals the importance of brand aura as valuable moderating dimension of brand personality and brand bond relationship. The study found brand religiosity aura as a valuable determinant in the marketing strategies for Indonesia Islamic banking. Brand religiosity aura contributed to the development of the concept of marketing management through its impact to the positive attitude of Islamic banking saving customers.

The authors describe conclusion with a consideration of the findings’ implications for conceptualizing future researchs and practicing brand managers.

This study originates in conceptualizing the brand religiosity aura to mediate the brand personality and brand emotional attachment in brand management and marketing management as well as to increase brand loyalty.

Detrimental impacts on social and ecological well-being of excessive fashion consumption and production practices are posing threats on future generations. Therefore, the need for sustainable solutions and endorsing them through social marketing efforts is more urgent than ever. From the consumption angle, this study aims to explore the driving forces behind consumers’ restless desire for the new and the growing need to consume sustainably.

This paper is conceptual in nature, and through a review of the literature in fashion, consumer, sustainability and social marketing studies, it examines why consumer desire for the new is so profound and how it conflicts with sustainability goals of the fashions industry. With a macrosocial approach, it reveals how multiple constituents of the fashion system can contribute toward sustainability goals.

This study explains consumers’ psychological and social needs driving their restless desire for the new and the role of fast fashion companies fuelling this desire. It also discusses the consequences of excessive fashion consumption and presents social marketing solutions at micro, meso and macro levels with upstream and downstream effects toward sustainability goals.

Considering the increasing consciousness about the negative impacts of excessive fashion consumption, this study suggests both practical and social implications that are associated with multiple stakeholders including consumers, fashion companies and public policymakers.

This study reveals in detail the challenges and potential social marketing solutions at micro, meso and macro levels, concerning the conflict between consumers’ restless desire for the new and the pressing need to consume more sustainably.

The purpose of this paper is to add to efforts to treat the relationship between accounting, democracy and emancipation more seriously, giving recognition to difference in this context. To open up space for emancipatory praxis vis-à-vis accounting, the authors articulate a delineation of accounting as a differentiated universal and emphasise the significance of an appreciation of accounting as contextually situated. The authors outline implications of a reading of new pragmatism for emancipatory praxis in relation to accounting that takes democracy and difference seriously.

Critical and analytical argument reflecting upon previous literature in the humanities and social sciences (e.g. Laclau and Mouffe, 2001) and in accounting (e.g. Gallhofer and Haslam, 2003; Bebbington et al., 2007; Brown, 2009, 2010; Blackburn et al., 2014; Brown and Dillard, 2013a, b; Dillard and Yuthas, 2013) to consider further accounting’s alignment to an emancipatory praxis taking democracy and difference seriously.

A vision and framing of emancipatory praxis vis-à-vis accounting is put forward as a contribution that the authors hope stimulates further discussion.

The authors extend and bolster previous literature seeking to align accounting and emancipation through further reflection upon new pragmatist perspectives on democracy and difference. In the articulations and emphases here, the authors make some particular contributions including notably the following. The accounting delineation, which includes appreciation of accounting as a differentiated universal, and a considered approach to appreciation of accounting as contextually situated help to open up further space for praxis vis-à-vis accounting. The authors offer a general outline of accounting’s positioning vis-à-vis a reading of a new pragmatist perspective on emancipatory praxis. The authors articulate the perspective in terms of key principles of design for emancipatory praxis vis-à-vis accounting: take seriously an accounting delineation freeing accounting from unnecessary constraints; engage with all accountings in accord with a principle of prioritisation; engage with accounting in a way appreciative of its properties, dimensions and contextual situatedness; engage more generally in a new pragmatist praxis. This adds support to and extends prior literature. The authors elaborate in this context how appreciation of a new pragmatist continuum thinking that helps to highlight and bring out emancipatory and repressive dimensions of accounting can properly inform interaction with existing as well as new envisaged accountings, including what the authors term here “official” accountings.