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The study of shame has a long tradition in intra- and inter-personal psychology. This paper aims to investigate whether consumers can experience brand shame after self-relevant consumption incidents. Specifically, this research proposes that consumers follow a complex shame-inducing process in the aftermath of unpleasant experiences involving their favorite brand. The moderating role of relational tie strength between consumers and their favorite brand existing prior to symbolic failures is examined.

A scenario-based, online survey (n = 660) among consumers who have recently experienced a self-relevant failure with their favorite brand was conducted. Confirmatory factor analysis ensured the reliability and validity of the measurement model. For testing the conceptual model, data was analyzed by means of a moderated mediation analysis. The proposed model was tested against, among others, common method bias and alternative models. The findings were cross-validated with a scenario-based online experiment (n = 1,616).

Results show that brand shame is a key mediator between customer dissatisfaction and brand anger when self-relevant, symbolic failures happen. Moreover, strong consumer-brand identification triggers brand-detrimental effects. It is shown to influence the connection between consumers’ inward- (i.e. brand shame) and resulting outward-directed (i.e. brand anger) negative emotions on brands, which lead to consumer vengeance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to introduce the concept of situational brand shame to the literature on favorite brands. Furthermore, it shows that consumer-brand identification moderates the direct and indirect (via brand shame) unfavorable effects of failure-induced dissatisfaction on brand anger. This research adds insights to the investigation of the “love-becomes-hate” effect arising after self-relevant failures involving consumers’ most preferred brand.

Using cross-country data on the 1,000 largest global banks for 2019, the paper aims to examine the response of bank risk and returns to the pandemic.

The author employs weighted least squares (WLS) techniques for the purposes of analysis.

The findings suggest that banks with Islamic windows increased their riskiness in response to the pandemic, although there was not much impact on profitability. Additionally, the author categorizes banks based on certain major characteristics and find that these findings are manifest primarily for well-capitalized and less liquid banks.

Research as to the impact of the pandemic on banks' balance sheets has been an unaddressed area of research. By focusing on a large sample of banks across countries with both Islamic and conventional banking presence, the analysis sheds light on the balance sheet response of banks to the pandemic, an aspect that has not been addressed earlier.

Background: Democratic societies thrive when citizens actively and critically engage with new ideas, developments and claims to truth. Not only can such practices result in more effective choice-making, but they can also lead to widespread support for progressive beliefs, such as social justice. Yet with western societies in the midst of environmental, social and political crises, it seems more pertinent than ever that citizens become “ideas-informed”.

Methods: Drawing on a survey of 1,000 voting age citizens in England, this paper aims to provide insight into the following: (1) the current “state of the nation” in terms of whether, and how, individuals keep themselves up to date with regards to new ideas, developments and claims to truth; (2) the impact of staying up to date on beliefs such as social justice; (3) the factors influencing people’s propensity to stay up to date, their support for value-related statements, as well as the strength of these influencing factors; and (4) clues as to how the extant “state of the nation” might be improved.

Results: Our findings indicate that many people do keep up to date, do so in a variety of ways, and also engage with ideas as mature critical consumers. There is also strong importance attached by most respondents to the values one would hope to see in a progressive and scientifically literate society. Yet, as we illustrate with our structural equation model, there are a number of problematic network and educational related factors which affect: (1) whether and how people stay up to date; and (2) the importance people ascribe to certain social values, irrespective of whether they stay up to date or not.

Conclusions: Suggestions for the types of social intervention that might foster “ideas-informed” democracies (such as improved dialogue) are presented, along with future research in this area.

Background: Quality of life is a core concern for cancer patients, which can be negatively affected by illness-related death anxiety; yet understanding of how to appropriately target psycho-oncological interventions remains lacking. We aimed to explore experiential acceptance in cancer patients, and whether acceptance – as an alternative to avoidant coping – was related to and predictive of better quality of life and death anxiety outcomes.

Methods: We used a longitudinal, quantitative design with a follow-up after three months. Seventy-two participants completed a questionnaire-battery measuring illness appraisals, acceptance and non-acceptance coping-styles, quality of life, and death anxiety; 31 participants repeated the battery after three months.

Results: Acceptance was an independent explanatory and predictive variable for quality of life and death anxiety, in the direction of psychological health. Acceptance had greater explanatory power for outcomes than either cancer appraisals or avoidant response styles. Avoidant response styles were associated with greater death anxiety and poorer quality of life.

Conclusions: The findings support the role of an accepting response-style in favourable psychological outcomes, identifying a possible target for future psychological intervention. Response styles that might be encouraged in other therapies, such as active coping, planning, and positive reframing, were not associated with beneficial outcomes.

Practitioners have reported a minimal and non-use of building information modelling (BIM), especially in small and medium-sized organisations and BIM infant construction industries. This development calls for a reappraisal of organisations’ strength in capabilities required for BIM uptake towards the target of global construction digitalisation. This study aims to assess the BIM Level 2 uptake capability of organisations in a BIM infant construction industry and identify the underlying interactions between the capability criteria.

The study used a multivariable analysis of fifteen descriptors identified from the people, process, policy, finance and technology domain. Data collection was done in the BIM infant construction industry in Nigeria. Verification of the descriptors and an evaluation of BIM uptake capability in organisations was done. Seventy-three responses were received within the selected context, and data analysis was done with mean weighting and exploratory factor analysis. Maximum Likelihood extraction and Direct Oblimin rotation were used.

Factor analysis revealed three factors that explained 53.28% of the total variance in the BIM Level 2 uptake capability of construction organisations. The factors are workforce capacity and continuous development, an affinity for innovation and strength in physical and operational facilities.

This study provides an overarching and insightful discussion on BIM uptake capability and construction digitalisation with evidence from a BIM-infant construction industry.

The findings of this study are a piece of valuable empirical evidence on Level 2 BIM uptake capability. This empirical situation analysis will inform the advocacy for the advancement of BIM and enhanced utilisation of building information. Evidence on the capability performance of the BIM infant industry has been revealed.

The outcome is expected to stir debate on the preparedness of organisations to further exploit the benefits of BIM in the BIM infant construction industry. Examination of the capability for a particular phase of BIM is scanty in the literature.

The purposes of this paper are to examine the factors persuasive in building competitive advantage strategies for the co-living and co-working service operators and study the sustainability of the business model for co-living and co-working space.

In this research, a structured literature review of journals, articles, reports, conference proceedings, websites published in recent times and e-newspapers has been conducted. The first step of the research included identifying the relevant literature. For this step, multiple keywords were used in searching for literature on Google.com, Google Scholar, Proquest, Taylor & Francis, Emerald, Elsevier. Upon literature identification, the procured reports were divided into the following three parts: co-living reports, co-working report and others. More than 250 content reports were analyzed, and finally, 105 relevant literature reports from various sources were recorded for further analysis. Focus group discussion and semi-structured interviews were also conducted.

This study concluded after analyzing the literature, focus group discussion and semi-structured interviews that co-working and co-living space would be sustainable business if proper competitive strategies were leveraged, in accordance with the increase in demand over time. This study also serves as a wakeup call for the operators in the co-living and co-working sphere to work on their competitive advantages and differentiate themselves to tap business opportunities. The sustainability of the model by identifying the factors was also emphasized in this study. Further studies of co-living and co-working models should be conducted in the Indian context to analyze the multifarious potential that this new trend of shared accommodation can open up.

This study is based on content analysis, focus group discussion and semi-structured interview analysis. More content and literature were found to be evidenced mostly in Western literature. This is a limitation to the study. This study also had a limitation in including bigger sample of focus groups discussion and interviews; however, the analysis effectively set out a landscape of co-living and co-working space in India.

It is an original research work based on an existing concept and services. As co-living and co-working service operators are cropping up in major cities, enticing the target potential with a platter of services primarily linked with many of the beneficial factors, the researchers in this work attempt to examine the factors persuasive in building the competitive advantage strategies for the co-living and co-working space and the sustainability of these two business models. A ripe market with multifarious possibilities waiting to be tapped with the right plan of action is the need of the hour.

Sustainable construction practice is structured on regulatory and non-regulatory policies in developed and most developing countries. With the gradual uptake of sustainability concerns in the construction industry, this paper aims to identify the strategic need for clear-cut policies to improve sustainable construction practice. Previous studies have harped on the need for regulatory and industrial/organisational policies on improving sustainable construction practice within the Nigerian construction industry.

A questionnaire survey was used to evaluate the perspectives of construction professionals on the policy barriers for sustainable construction practice in Nigeria, and 46 policy barriers were identified. A total of 249 questionnaires were returned and useable for analysis.

Factor analysis revealed four clusters in the policy barriers to sustainable construction practice in the following order of significance: implementation strategies for sustainable construction practice, owners/client inputs for sustainable construction practice, stakeholder’s policy barriers and governmental and regulatory policy barriers.

Mitigating the identified barriers through effective policies will require adequate inputs from all relevant policymaking stakeholders and ensure improved sustainable construction practice among stakeholders and policymakers in the industry. This will in turn set a high standard and promote the practice of sustainable construction.

This study goes a step further in identifying the policy issues needed to ensure a smooth implementation of sustainable construction practice. The research findings will serve as a guide for policymakers in developing countries that through mitigation of the identified barriers, sustainable construction practice will be promoted.

This paper aims to deepen the understanding of the relationship between global economic uncertainty and price volatility, specifically focusing on commodity, industrial materials and energy price indices as proxies for global inflation, analyzing data from 1997 to 2020.

The dynamic conditional correlation generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model is used to study the dynamic relationship between variables over a while.

The results demonstrated a positive relationship between commodity prices and the global economic policy uncertainty (GEPU). Except for 1999–2000 and 2006–2008, the results of the energy price index model were very similar to those of the commodity price index. A predominant positive relationship is observed focusing on the connection between GEPU and the industrial material price index. The results of the pairwise Granger causality reveal a unidirectional relationship between the GEPU – the Global Commodity Price Index – and the GEPU – the Global Industrial Material Price Index. However, there is bidirectional causality between the GEPU – the Global Energy Price Index. In sum, changes in price indices can be driven by GEPU as a political factor indicating unfavorable economic conditions.

This paper provides a deeper understanding of the role of global uncertainty in the global inflation process. It fills the gap in the literature by empirically investigating the dynamic movements of global uncertainty and the three most important groups of prices.