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Discusses how the teenagers of Generation X have now grown into responsible tax‐paying home‐owners, in contrast to their “whatever” attitude to life when they were adolescents. Investigates the sort of parents they have become, calling these erstwhile “slackers” Generation XO (hugs and kisses) parents. Conducts research into mothers’ grocery shopping trips in three USA locations, drawing on a panel of Gatekeeper mothers. Finds that Generation XO parents are increasingly aware of, and active about, issues of child nutrition and health, and that they are conservative, ethically and spiritually aware, and family‐driven.

Outlines how analysing the way that children think ‐ and shop ‐ will help brand managers and marketers. Focuses on the Strottman Kid Engineers, a US project which gave children from ages 6 to 9 headbands containing video cameras, and assigned them to grocery stores, where they would choose the 20 items they most wanted. Discusses the results: promotions were important, and visual rather than verbal promotional communication was popular; children expect and appreciate innovation in the grocery store; favoured hot‐spots were the cereal, snacks and dairy aisles, plus lunchables; children were influenced by in‐store signage; and the draw of licensed properties is stronger than ever.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue, which brings together five papers exploring the changing anatomy of HRM at organisational level. Design/methodology/approach – This overarching paper briefly contextualises the theme and introduces the five selected empirical papers. Findings – The findings in this paper vary according to the core theme of each of the five contributions. The first paper highlights whether the mix of distributed HR activities between the HR department and internal/external agents may be understood to be less a product of contextual influences and more a matter of corporate choice. The second paper establishes that role dissonance is a very real issue for middle managers with HR responsibilities. The third paper unearths the complexities and challenges involved in changing existing HRM procedures and practices in a post‐merger scenario. The fourth paper provides an understanding of the management of human resource supply chains and outlines five, empirically derived, generic models of HR outsourcing. The final paper finds that human resource IT diffusion and take‐up is primarily fuelled by interpersonal communication and network interactions among potential adopters. Originality/value – Combined, the papers offer insights on the changing anatomy of the HRM function against the backdrop of a dynamic contemporary organisational landscape and showcase cross‐national research on the theme.

The purpose of this paper is to understanding early childhood student teachers’ self‐reported acceptance and use of interactive whiteboard (IWB), by employing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as the research framework.

A total of 112 student teachers enrolled in science‐related papers from Bachelor of Early Childhood Education completed the questionnaire, measuring their responses to performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating condition and behavioural intention. Structural equation modelling was used as the main technique for data analysis.

The results of this study showed that performance expectancy and effort expectancy were found to have a direct and statistically significant positive effect on behavioural intention. Of the four variables in the UTAUT model, the model accounted for 41 per cent of the variance in behavioural intention to use IWB among student teachers. The findings obtained in this study fail to verify the predictions about IWBs experiences having moderating effects towards the relationships.

This is the first paper that investigated the acceptance and use of IWB among early childhood science student teachers based on the UTAUT model. The findings have uncovered the important distinction of performance expectancy and effort expectancy in IWB acceptance and use. Hence, it provides several prominent implications for the research and practice.

The purpose if this paper is to examine the turn-of-the-month effect in the equity market of three major emerging countries – Brazil, India and China – from January 2000 to December 2017.

Ordinary least square regression analysis is used to examine the presence of the turn-of-the-month effect and to test the efficiency of the emerging stock markets. The characteristics of the returns during the turn-of-the-month days are compared with that of the non-turn-of-the-month trading days.

The average returns during turn-of-the-month days for all the considered emerging market indices are significantly higher than the non-turn-of-the-month days for the full sample. For the subsample analysis, the average returns for Brazil and India for pre-GFC period are higher on the turn-of-the-month days than on the non-turn-of-the-month days. However, the effect disappears in China during the GFC period. During the crisis period, the results show that the turn-of-the-month effect disappears in Brazil and India, whereas for China, the effect is significant. For the post-GFC period, the-turn-of-the-month effect reappears for all the countries.

The results have important implications for both traders and investors. The authors’ results indicate that the market participants can time the stock markets of these countries by taking long positions especially during the times when the turn-of-the-month effect is highly significant.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to study the turn-of-the-month effect, in the key emerging countries such as Brazil, China and India. Second, the authors divide the sample into three subperiods based on the 2008 GFC such as pre-GFC, GFC and post-GFC to understand the dynamic behavior of turn-of-the-month effect over time. Most importantly, the authors control for the day-of-the-week effect while examining the turn-of-the-month effect.

Claims that, in Singapore, there is intense competition among local banks, hence increasing emphasis is being placed on offering a high quality customer service. Investigates how customers choose which banks to use, taking into account factors such as non‐verbal communication (including behavioural/interpersonal communication and environmental – deriving meaning from one’s surroundings); convenience; reputation; supply of information; and cosmetic factors such as the bank’s stationery. Uses a verbal questionnaire survey to examine the effect non‐verbal communication has on bank patrons’ attitudes. Evaluates banks’ businesslike approach, competency, friendliness, warmness, environment, electronic tellers, location and queueing. Makes a number of recommendations on how banks can improve their image and the service they offer.

This paper aims to explore one question: to what extent does urban rehabilitation impact the housing search cost of the low-income tenants.

This paper adopts the fixed effects time-on-market (TOM) model and pricing model to study the research question.

Urban rehabilitation lifts the subdivided units (SDUs’) prices by around 7%. For the SDU located in old districts, urban rehabilitation gives rise to the rental price up by 11%–12%. The SDUs in the area without urban rehabilitation experience a short marketing period of 16%–17%. The SDU located in the old district that is without urban rehabilitation would have a short marketing time.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the pioneering research to investigate the relationship between rehabilitation and low-income rental housing from the improved search theory. The improved search theory posits that under the circumstance of urban rehabilitation, low-income tenants’ options are limited and the search behavior will be restricted in the affordable areas, and then TOM will be shortened. With the concentration of SDUs in Hong Kong, the test of the search theory is broken down into two hypotheses. (H1) Urban rehabilitation leads to low-income housing prices increase. (H2) Low-income housing located in areas without urban rehabilitation has a shorter TOM.

Theory of mind (ToM) is essential in understanding and predicting human behaviour. Parenting plays a significant role in the overall cognitive development of children. This study aims to understand the development of ToM among children in need of care and protection and then to compare the data with children living under parental care and children living in boarding schools. Further, it explores the extent of physical abuse experienced by children in the study and their relation to the development of ToM.

ToM Test developed by Muris et al. (1999) was used to measure ToM. Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire was used to understand the children’s relationship with parents and experience of physical abuse. The study used an ex post facto design with a purposive sampling method.

Findings suggest a significant impact of parental care on the ToM among children. Also, the type of care received mediated the relationship between parental care and the development of ToM. Finally, children living in institutions run by the Child Welfare Department reported that they have received harsher physical punishment from their parents than the other two groups of children.

Findings are a significant theoretical contribution to the ToM development in children, especially in the Indian context.

Findings demand more legal and psychological support to vulnerable children living in institutions run by the Child Welfare Department and boarding schools.

The study explores care and abuse from the child’s perspective. Findings are of value to the existing child care system in India.