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This chapter argues that modern societies are changing in ways that disrupt the complementarity between social structure and character structure. One source of this divergence occurs because, on the one hand, there exists a “neoliberal” character structure that is oriented toward the accumulation of human capital and holds that such accumulation and hard work will allow one to achieve the “American Dream.” On the other hand, the deep embeddedness of this character structure may in fact deepen the possibility of structural crisis, as developments in automation and ongoing transformations of labor continuously shift the economic structure and many feel they are employed in meaningless “soul crushing” jobs. This diagnosis prompts the question: is the accumulation of human capital futile? In other words, can there exist an abundance of jobs that simultaneously pay enough to provide a middle-class lifestyle and be both socially respected by most members of society while also providing subjective meaning for the individual – without accruing high social costs? Through reflections upon my own biography growing up in East Tennessee, this chapter utilizes the framework of Planetary Sociology to encourage sociologists to rethink the category of “human capital” and recognize the divergence of social structure and character structure to be a serious problem with planetary implications. Only by critical examination of the sociohistoric context from a planetary perspective can these challenges be constructively evaluated and reckoned with.

Mobility as a service (MaaS) is a new model of bundling personal transport options from multiple providers to provide frictionless service. The model integrates information and service to enable users to search, book and pay through a single digital platform. The aim of MaaS is to minimize individual car ownership and revolutionize personal mobility habits in favour of sustainable modes. Thus, it is important to understand consumers' readiness for MaaS. This study explains the factors that influence MaaS adoption.

A comprehensive review of the related literature has been conducted, leading to the development of a conceptual model for investigating the key factors that influence MaaS adoption. The model draws upon the digital platform, schema congruity and planned behaviour theories. The model is then tested using structural equation modelling and survey data collected from 331 respondents.

The findings indicate that MaaS information schema congruity, the digital platform's personalizability, customizability, functional integration, network integration and governance of data together with attitude towards MaaS and subjective norm concerning MaaS influence MaaS adoption. Furthermore, MaaS digital platform expectation and MaaS information schema congruity contribute to users' attitude towards MaaS use.

The paper highlights the design and informational attributes of MaaS platforms that influence their adoption and contributes an integrated research model that links digital platform characteristics, behavioural factors and information schema congruity. Future research can use the constructs and measures we developed in this study to build deeper understanding of what contributes to the success of digital platforms.

Digitalization and multi-channel strategy have appeared as recurrent themes in retailing for years, yet some major international as well as domestic mass retailers have chosen to retain a single, physical channel focus for customer transactions. These retailers, despite the digital mindset preoccupying the retailing sector, have chosen to rely fully, or predominantly, on their stores to generate revenues. A number of questions arise from this approach. This paper aims to understand the rationale for marketing and strategic practices which appear to go against the dominant, strongly digitally oriented, discourses and practices in the field of retailing. Why do some retailers choose not to add a digital transactional channel? Are there defensible reasons for this choice? Can such a strategy successfully create value?

This research is based on a qualitative, multiple case study of the strategies adopted by Primark (fashion) and Aldi (food), two major retailers that retain a largely single-channel transaction focus, in France and the UK.

This research suggests that some retailers may still be able to succeed by maintaining a single-transactional physical channel to avoid a cost trap which extensive moves towards digitalization of transactions might mean for them. In such circumstances, refusing to adopt a digital value proposition may be a means of preserving the success of their original business model.

Despite the weight of academic and practitioner discourses on the urge to undertake digital transformation, this work provides a comprehensive illustration of the rationale for sticking to a single physical channel to preserve the profitability of a traditional store-based business model.

Hazel Kyrk, one of the first women economists at the Economic Department of the University of Chicago and author of A Theory of Consumption (1923), conducted groundbreaking research for the Bureau of Home Economics of the US Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Kyrk made a considerable contribution to the development of standards for a “decent living,” the Consumer Price Index, and the conceptualization of what would later turn into the definition of the poverty line. This chapter evaluates Kyrk’s use of eugenic notions of gender and race that were widely used in Kyrk’s day. This chapter shows that eugenic reasoning impacts Kyrk’s theoretical work only superficially but does structure her research on consumption standards through her focus on the white middle-class family as the unit of analysis for consumer behavior. This chapter also makes clear that the American Institutionalist approach to consumer behavior, rather than marginalized and side-tracked due to a lack of theoretical progress, was relegated to the margins of economics science together with the research of women economists into Home Economics departments and policy research at government institutions.

This article aims to systematically review the literature published in recognized journals focused on cognitive heuristic-driven biases and their effect on investment management activities and market efficiency. It also includes some of the research work on the origins and foundations of behavioral finance, and how this has grown substantially to become an established and particular subject of study in its own right. The study also aims to provide future direction to the researchers working in this field.

For doing research synthesis, a systematic literature review (SLR) approach was applied considering research studies published within the time period, i.e. 1970–2021. This study attempted to accomplish a critical review of 176 studies out of 256 studies identified, which were published in reputable journals to synthesize the existing literature in the behavioral finance domain-related explicitly to cognitive heuristic-driven biases and their effect on investment management activities and market efficiency as well as on the origins and foundations of behavioral finance.

This review reveals that investors often use cognitive heuristics to reduce the risk of losses in uncertain situations, but that leads to errors in judgment; as a result, investors make irrational decisions, which may cause the market to overreact or underreact – in both situations, the market becomes inefficient. Overall, the literature demonstrates that there is currently no consensus on the usefulness of cognitive heuristics in the context of investment management activities and market efficiency. Therefore, a lack of consensus about this topic suggests that further studies may bring relevant contributions to the literature. Based on the gaps analysis, three major categories of gaps, namely theoretical and methodological gaps, and contextual gaps, are found, where research is needed.

The skillful understanding and knowledge of the cognitive heuristic-driven biases will help the investors, financial institutions and policymakers to overcome the adverse effect of these behavioral biases in the stock market. This article provides a detailed explanation of cognitive heuristic-driven biases and their influence on investment management activities and market efficiency, which could be very useful for finance practitioners, such as an investor who plays at the stock exchange, a portfolio manager, a financial strategist/advisor in an investment firm, a financial planner, an investment banker, a trader/broker at the stock exchange or a financial analyst. But most importantly, the term also includes all those persons who manage corporate entities and are responsible for making their financial management strategies.

Currently, no recent study exists, which reviews and evaluates the empirical research on cognitive heuristic-driven biases displayed by investors. The current study is original in discussing the role of cognitive heuristic-driven biases in investment management activities and market efficiency as well as the history and foundations of behavioral finance by means of research synthesis. This paper is useful to researchers, academicians, policymakers and those working in the area of behavioral finance in understanding the role that cognitive heuristic plays in investment management activities and market efficiency.

This paper examined tax compliance and its impact on agrochemical traders in Ghana.

Based on the registered agrochemical lists obtained from the Plant Protection and Regulatory Service Department, 92 agrochemical traders were sampled for data collection. Probit regression was used to estimate determinants of tax compliance, whereas the Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment Model was employed to evaluate the impact of tax compliance on business performance.

The results revealed that age and gender relate positively to enforced tax compliance, while education positively impacts voluntary tax compliance. Nonetheless, tax rate, trust and monthly sales positively affect voluntary tax compliance but negatively impact enforced tax compliance. Inversely, while authorities’ power negatively impacted voluntary compliance, it positively influenced enforced tax compliance confirming the Slippery Slope Framework.

To the best knowledge of the authors, this paper is the first to investigate tax compliance determinants and impact among agrochemical traders, despite the tremendous growth of the agrochemical sub-sector in Africa and Ghana. Therefore, this study makes a modest contribution to empirical studies that validate the Slippery Slope Framework in promoting tax compliance in the agricultural and agribusiness sectors of a developing country. Similarly, it also unearths the impact of tax compliance on agribusiness growth which has yet to be highlighted in the extant literature.

Low-fit brand extensions offer several potential benefits, yet their success is challenging. Building on construal level theory, this study aims to investigate how different advertising appeals can improve the evaluations of low-fit brand extensions through two different processes (cognitive and affective).

Two experiments were conducted with US consumers. Study 1 used a 2 (extension fit: high, low) × 2 (ad appeal: abstract, concrete) between-subjects design. Study 2 applied a 2 (brand associations: promotion, prevention) × 2 (ad appeal: promotion, prevention) between-subjects design. Multivariate analyses and follow-up means comparisons were used to analyse data.

Study 1 found that an abstract ad appeal is more effective for promoting low-fit brand extension because it improves the perception of fit. Study 2 showed promotion vs prevention ad appeals lead to better evaluation of low-fit brand extensions when matched with parent brand associations (promotion vs prevention) in terms of construal level. This matching effect is underpinned by processing fluency.

Ad appeals can influence low-fit brand extension evaluation by influencing the perception of fit (cognitive process) or processing fluency (affective process). Future research could consider different ad appeals and other construal related factors to generalise these findings.

Marketers can design different ad appeals to effectively advertise low-fit brand extensions. These findings can guide managers in the development of effective advertising strategies.

This research offers a new perspective on how ad appeals can enhance low-fit brand extension evaluation.

Digital platforms increase their function and scope by leveraging boundary resources and complementary add-on products from third-party developers to interact with external entities and producers. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are essential boundary resources developers use to connect applications, systems and platforms. This notwithstanding, previous API studies tend to focus more on the technical dimensions, with little on the social and cultural contexts underpinning API innovations. This study relies on the new (neo) institutional theory (focusing on regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive pillars) as an analytical lens to understand the institutional forces that affect API integration among digital firms.

The study adopts a qualitative case study methodology and relies on phone calls and a semi-structured in-depth interview approach of a Ghanaian digital music platform to uncover the institutional forces affecting API integration.

The findings reveal that regulative institutions such as excessive tax regimes mostly constrained API development and integration initiatives. However, other regulative institutions like the government digitalization agenda enabled API integration. Normative institutions, such as the growing use of e-payment options, enabled API integration in digital music platforms. Cultural-cognitive institutions like employee ego constrained the API integration process in music digital platforms.

This study primarily contributes to deepening understanding of the relevant literature by exploring the institutional forces that affect API integration among digital firms in a developing economy. The study also uncovered a new form of an institution known as motivational institution as an enabler for API development and integration in digital music platforms.