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Increasing numbers of consumers are expressing concerns about reports of questionable corporate practices and are responding through boycotts and buycotts. This paper compares competing theories of consumer empowerment and details findings that examine the applicability of the theory to “ethical consumer” narratives. The nature and impact of consumer empowerment in consumer decision making is then discussed.

The study takes an exploratory approach by conducting semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with a purposive sample of ten consumers. These were recruited from an “ethical product” fair in Scotland.

Results indicate that the participating consumers embraced a voting metaphor, either explicitly or implicitly, to view consumption as an ethical/political domain. Setting their choices within perceived collective consumer behaviour, they characterised their consumption as empowering. This results in an ethical consumer project that can be seen as operating within the market. It, therefore, suggests some tensions between consumer power and sustainable living.

This small‐scale study relates to a single country and location. A particular group of accentuated consumers was recruited. Studies of the narratives of other consumer groupings would clearly be valuable.

To the extent that political democracy is perceived as failing, it appears that the profile of the market as a site of consumer engagement is raised. Marketers would be wise, therefore, to take increasingly account of “empowered” consumers.

Little attention has been paid to the theory of consumption as voting. However, a continuing rise in the consideration of ethics among consumers and producers suggests its rehabilitation and further exploration would be worthwhile.

This paper aims to explore how tensions and alignments between different actors’ needs in a transformative services network affect balanced centricity, which is an indicator of well-being. Balanced centricity describes a situation in which all network actors’ interests and needs are fulfilled simultaneously. In such cases, all actors are better off, which increases both individual actors’ and overall actor-network well-being.

The empirical study takes place in nursing homes in which in-bed baths represent co-created service encounters that affect the well-being of focal actors (i.e. patients), frontline service employees (i.e. nurses) and transformative service mediators (i.e. family members), who have potentially competing needs. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach, the study inductively explores and deductively categorizes actors’ personal experiences to gain deep, holistic insights into the service network and its complex web of actor interdependencies.

The resulting conceptual model of balanced centricity identifies actors’ lower-order needs as different manifestations of the psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. If actors’ needs are aligned, their psychological needs can be satisfied, which facilitates balanced centricity. If actors exhibit competing needs though, balanced centricity is impeded.

This study establishes actors’ psychological needs as the origin of tensions/alignments in multi-actor networks that impede/contribute to balanced centricity. Transformative service providers should try to address all actors’ psychological needs when co-creating services to achieve network well-being.

This study adopts a novel, multi-actor perspective and thereby presents a conceptual model that contributes to the understanding of balanced centricity. Future research could test this model in other transformative service settings.

The present paper seeks to analyze the role of social networks in the process of career exploration, including its main effect on search intensity, and moderation effect on the linkage between search intensity and job search confidence.

It is a longitudinal design with 239 USA and 165 Chinese graduating students.

Social networks in job search have greater effects on job search intensity in the USA sample. Moderation effects could be detected in the Chinese sample, and guanxi search (a Chinese reference to social networks) minimizes job search confidence and job satisfaction.

Social networks, particularly guanxi search in China, could reflect interdependency in job search process, and might constrain job choice.

The paper examined the cultural differences of guanxi search construct, and compared the role of social networks (guanxi search) in cross‐cultural settings.

Indexing companies and database search services are contributing to the epidemic of ignorance surrounding HIV and AIDS. They are failing us, even killing us. Doctors, patients, students, and researchers seeking information about HIV are offered access only to a narrow range of “mainstream” and “professional” publications through the leading indexes. And, while a certain slate of periodicals is represented over and over by rival indexes, gay/lesbian periodicals and community‐based health publications containing vital, often vanguard HIV/AIDS information are systematically excluded from mainstream indexes and database search services. This article offers a critique of current indexing practices of AIDS‐related periodical literature and suggests strategies to remedy the situation.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the key findings, themes and concepts in coaching from the inception of the International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education in early 2012 to the end of 2018. The review examines how coaching is theorized and practised in an educational context, and how coaching has evolved across educational disciplines.

The study is based on an analysis of research trends published in the International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education from Volume 1 Issue 1 (2012) to Volume 7 Issue 4 (2018). The criterion according to which the articles were selected for inclusion in the literature review is whether the word “coaching” is used in the title, abstract or keywords.

Across a wide range of geographical and institutional contexts, the studies surveyed in this literature review point to the different ways in which coaching interventions support success in teaching and leadership. This review identifies three principal themes across the literature on coaching: confidence, trust and identity.

The literature review is confined to studies published in a single publication and is therefore not representative of the entire field of coaching research.

The focus of this review is coaching in education. The review comprises a survey of research concepts, innovation and creativity in the area of coaching and education. It highlights advances in the field of coaching and education and points to areas of development for future research.

By bringing together existing research in a number of areas across the field of coaching, this literature review provides a coherent overview of a rapidly evolving and diverse field.

Increasingly, reports of consumers are witnessed expressing their concerns regarding corporate practices through behaviours of boycotting, buycotting and voice. The theory of consumer votes suggests that such consumers may view their purchases as “votes” in the marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer voting within competing theories of community.

The study adopts an exploratory approach through semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with a purposive sample of ten ethical consumers.

Findings reveal that consumers adopted a voting metaphor in their approaches to ethical consumption. While choices were mainly individual in nature they were characterised as part of a wider, largely imagined community of like‐minded consumers.

This research is limited to a single country and location and focused on a specific consumer group. Expansion of the research to a wider group would be valuable.

Findings reveal consumers active in registering their discontent towards companies considered to be unethical, while rewarding those considered ethical. This has important implications for marketers interested in appealing to this group. Findings also reveal consumers taking responsibility through marketplace actions for ethical/political issues. This view of consumer votes as being more effective than political votes is pertinent, given reports of a decline in engagement with traditional political participation.

Limited empirical attention has been given to consumption as voting explored within the context of community. However, with reports of a rise in consumer ethical concerns and reports of a search for community in society this suggests that further exploration of this area is worthwhile.

Addresses the issue of business failure. Identifies different types of business failure and provides a framework for further research into this aspect of strategic management. Draws from the management literature to describe the causes and processes of each of the failure contexts covered and provides case illustrations to contextualize them.

Suggests that frequent review of product sales performance is essential to the planning and control process. Investigates those products which have reached maturity or saturation stage of their product life cycle and reviews these in order to decide on their future product strategy. Evaluates the policy options available to management.

By the time these pages appear Christmas will have become but a memory; even the indigestion provoked in many of us by our zealous participation in the Christmas spirit will, it is hoped, have become a thing of the past. But as we write this spirit is abroad, and presents are still depleting our surplus finances. Every year more and more of these seasonable gifts take the form of books, and a very large percentage of children, particularly, will surely receive some reading matter from one or other of their friends or relations. Not so many years ago in most instances this Christmas book would be the only volume those children would see that year! Fortunately, we librarians can say, with Sganarelle, that “we have changed all that.” Our children's libraries throughout the country are sufficiently adequate to ensure that no child in a library area is unable to read to his or her heart's content—the days when three or four books must needs satisfy a child's thirst for reading have now been put definitely behind us.