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Nowadays all luxury brands have their own websites, using them either as a communication and/or distribution tool. However, luxury consumers might still have different perceptions regarding these websites, as it can be seen as a loss of prestige or selectivity. This study aims to have a deeper understanding of luxury consumers’ perceptions of luxury brand websites by identifying a typology and defining the individual characteristics of the groups identified.

The research uses the opposition of personal and interpersonal luxury as theoretical framework and the semiotic square based on this semantic opposition. A qualitative analysis based on 42 semi-structured interviews has been conducted. The interviews have been analyzed and subjected to interpretive content analysis.

The analysis of the verbatims shows that the consumers’ motivations toward luxury consumption (luxury for self or personal, luxury for others or interpersonal, negation of luxury for self and negation of luxury for others) can explain consumer differences in terms of attitudes toward luxury brand websites. The four classes are characterized according to their positive and negative perceptions of e-commerce and interaction tools used in luxury brands websites and also their expectations.

This study defines guidelines for managers to develop luxury brand websites that correspond to their target.

The originality of this study lies in the use of the semiotic square to refine the analysis of luxury consumers’ attitudes and to make more precise contributions. It also relies on using the theory of personal and interpersonal luxury to understand consumers’ expectations toward luxury brands websites.

Religious tendencies have increased in post-Arab Spring countries, raising the question of whether this geopolitical event has affected consumers' orientations towards foreign products, including those that have positive country-of-origin image. This paper investigates the effect of Islamic religiosity on the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and buying intention towards products from a developed country (France) in an Arab Spring country (Tunisia).

A survey questionnaire was lunched and data was collected from 492 Tunisian consumers living in both rural and urban areas. Research hypotheses were tested using a Partial Least Square- Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) method.

Tunisian consumers do not associate their ethnocentric feelings towards French products with their Islamic religiosity. Results show that both highly and moderately religious Tunisians trust French products because of their high country-of-origin image and their potential social connotations.

The results of this paper contribute to the literature that focuses on understanding consumption behaviours in developing countries in the aftermath of geopolitical events such as the Arab Spring.

Using the consumption values theory (CVT) as a baseline model, this study aims to evaluate the factors that influence farmers' decision-making behavior regarding interest-free agricultural financing products.

Data were gathered from 321 banking customers using questionnaires who are engaged with the agriculture sector and wish to obtain finance related to Islamic agriculture products.

The findings demonstrate that the decision behavior for Islamic agriculture financing products is highly influenced by epistemic, emotional and functional values. On the contrary, conditional and social values do not influence farmers’ choice behavior for Islamic agriculture financing products.

There are a few limitations in this study. Initially, the study's geographic scope is limited to bank customers within the agriculture sector who live, in particular, in Southern Sindh province, Pakistan. Next, researchers extended the CVT to a specific focus on agricultural financing products by Islamic banks. Future researchers should take these concerns into consideration for better applicability, and it is anticipated that the research approach will be refined to best expand the results. Lastly, future researchers are expected to broaden the theory's relevance by considering the socio-cultural environmental conditions (culture, religious values and approaches) and social conditions in a wider range of Islamic agricultural financial instruments.

The findings are beneficial for practitioners intending to advance innovative Islamic agriculture financing products to cater to Pakistani farmers’ needs.

This research extends the CVT that offers valuable information for the development of consumers’ behavior in the setting of interest-free agricultural financing.

This study aims to provide an overview of the dimension of stored collections displayed in visible storage and to indicate the main factors which hinder their accessibility.

This study is based on quantitative analysis: a survey was conducted through the offices of International Council of Museums and direct invitations to 2,558 museums located worldwide.

The study estimated 32% on average the share of stored collections displayed in visible storage. The analysis provides a picture of how many stored items are made accessible in visible storage across the continents, according to the collection’s type and size and the museums’ legal status. In addition, several aspects of visible storage are investigated to highlight whether or not it truly enables museums to achieve accessibility of their stored collections and which factors might hinder the accessibility. Amid them, the foremost factors involve the inadequacy of resources, such as the lack of staff (71%) and poor budget (68%). Because of it, museums are prone to setting up offsite storage (37%), often 16 km far from the city centre, thereby questioning the concept of accessibility itself.

One major limitation of this study is that it does not consider people’s standpoints. Therefore, the author recommends that future studies focus on what people opine on visible storage, such as their appreciation of the display format, the behind-the-scenes, their need for interpretation and the degree of satisfaction with their information needs, as well as their perception of the size of stored collections.

These findings suggest that museums could take action in areas whereby the data demonstrated weaknesses in terms of accessibility. For instance, museums could set up a shuttle service or arrange public transportation service to allow people to visit offsite storage. Additionally, financial accessibility might be achieved by not charging some groups (elderly, students, etc.).

The topic of stored collections and their accessibility has crucial social implications because not displaying collections triggers inequality amid social groups of excluded people and a small elite.

This study focuses on visible storage as a possible solution to enhance the accessibility of collections and indicates to what extent visible storage provides this accessibility. On the contrary, previous research did not estimate how much visible storage impacts the accessibility of stored collections.

This study explores how introducing a permissioned blockchain in a supply chain context impacts accountability relationships and the process of rendering an account. The authors explore how implementing a digital transformation impacts the governance of network transactions.

The authors mobilize 28 interviews and documentary analysis. The authors focus on early blockchain adopters to get an insight into how implementing a permissioned blockchain can transform information sharing, coordination and collaboration between business partners, now converted into network participants.

The authors suggest that implementing a permissioned blockchain impacts accountability across three levers, namely through the ledger, through the code and through the people, where these levers are interconnected. Blockchains are often valued for their ability to enable transparency through the visibility of transactions, but the authors argue that this is an incomplete view. Rather, transparency alone does not help to satisfy a duty of accountability, as it can result in selective disclosure or obfuscation.

The authors extend the conceptualizations of accountability in the blockchain literature by focusing on how accountability relationships are enacted, and accounts are rendered in a permissioned blockchain context. Additionally, the authors complement existing work on accountability and governance by suggesting an integrated model across three dimensions: ledger, code and people.

This study aims to examine the effect of Industry 4.0 technology on resilience in established cross-border supply chain(s) (SC).

A literature review provides insight into the resilience capabilities of cross-border SC. The research uses a case study of operational international SC: the producers, importers, logistics companies and UK Government (UKG) departments. Semi-structured interviews determine the resilience capabilities and approaches of participants within cross-border SC and how implementing an Industry 4.0 Internet of Things (IoT) and capitals Distributed Ledger (blockchain) based technology platform changes SC resilience capabilities and approaches.

A blockchain-based platform introduces common assured data, reducing data duplication. When combined with IoT technology, the platform improves end-to-end SC visibility and information sharing. Industry 4.0 technology builds collaboration, trust, improved agility, adaptability and integration. It enables common resilience capabilities and approaches that reduce the de-coupling between government agencies and participants of cross-border SC.

The case study presents challenges specific to UKG’s customs border operations; research needs to be repeated in different contexts to confirm findings are generalisable.

Operational SC and UKG customs and excise departments must align their resilience strategies to gain full advantage of Industry 4.0 technologies.

Case study research shows how Industry 4.0 technology reduces the de-coupling between the SC and UKG, enhancing common resilience capabilities within established cross-border operations. Improved information sharing and SC visibility provided by IoT and blockchain technologies support the development of resilience in established cross-border SC and enhance interactions with UKG at the customs border.

This study aims to elaborate on the interface between water scarcity and consumption and, specifically to focus on, how consumers’ perceptions and views towards (un)sustainable water consumption can inform the development of sustainable water practices and environmental policies.

A qualitative methodology was adopted, consisting of 34 in-depth interviews with consumers, in four cities in the United Kingdom (UK). The semi-structured interviews sought to examine sustainable water consumption practices in more depth within an unexplored context, and secondary data were also used to explore the phenomenon in more depth.

The findings provide novel theoretical and empirical insights around the invisibility and imperceptibility of (un)sustainable water consumption. The findings suggest how interdisciplinary and collaborative practices can enhance more responsible and sustainable consumption of water resources in the UK.

The study can inform marketing strategies on community engagement with localised water sustainable actions and encourage policymakers to develop concrete marketing communications and increased public awareness regarding water scarcity.

Considering the slow growth of water scarcity, the findings can prompt marketing scholars to explore similar phenomena, within seemingly unaffected countries, urban centres, industries and marketplaces.

Previous studies focused on the measurement of household water consumption in the water-scarce context of the Southern Hemisphere. Challenging geographical perceptions of water shortage, this study focuses on the UK and highlights how the multidimensional, finite and invisible nature of water consumption requires collaborative efforts in tackling water scarcity.

This study is focused to support an ongoing development project of the case company's current state and the challenges of the order-to-cash (O2C) process. The O2C process is the most visible process to the customer, and therefore, its punctual and fluent order management is vital. It is observed that the high degree of manual work in the O2C process causes mistakes, delays and rework in the process. The purpose of this article is therefore to analyze the case company's current state of the O2C process as well as to identify the areas of development in this process by deploying the means of Lean Six Sigma tools such as value stream mapping (VSM).

The study was conducted as a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Based on both the quantitative and qualitative data, a workshop on VSM was organized to analyze the current state of the O2C process of a case company, engaged in the energy and environment sector in Finland.

The results found that excessive manual work was highly connected to inadequate or incorrect data in pricing and invoicing activities, which resulted in canceled invoices. Canceled invoices are visible to the customer and have a negative impact on the customer experience. This study found that by improving the performance of the O2C process activities and improving communication among the internal and external stakeholders, the whole O2C process can perform more effectively and provide better customer value.

The O2C process is the most visible process to the customer and therefore its punctual and fluent order management is vital. To ensure that the O2C process is operating as desired, suitable process performance metrics need to be aligned and followed. The results gathered from the case company's data, questionnaire interviews, and the VSM workshop are all highlighted in this study. The main practical and managerial implications were to understand the real-time O2C process performance, which is necessary to ensure strong performance and enhance continuous improvement of the O2C process that leads to operational excellence and commercial competitiveness of the studied case company.

Extant research captures the signaling and attitudinal effects of luxury brand prominence strategy; however, little is known about the underlying mechanisms that drive this effect. This study aims to uncover brand authenticity and brand coolness as parallel mediators driving the effects of brand prominence on luxury purchase intentions and explores the moderating role of consumers’ self-brand connection.

The research consisted of three experiments. Study 1 (n = 121) explored the direct effects of brand prominence among Chinese consumers. Using a sample of Turkish consumers (n = 115), Study 2, measured the mediation effects of brand authenticity and brand coolness. Study 3 (n = 211) examined how self-brand connection moderated the mediation effects among British customers.

A luxury brand prominence strategy leads to negative perceptions of coolness and authenticity and, in turn, reduces purchase intentions. The negative effect of brand prominence is even more pronounced among consumers with high self-brand connection.

The study elaborates on how brand prominence informs consumers’ perceptions of authenticity and coolness. In examining the role of self-brand connection, the study reveals a theoretically and managerially relevant boundary condition of this focal effect.

The research highlights how luxury brands can use differing brand prominence strategies. This research informs brand managers on how to enhance brand authenticity and coolness while managing self-brand connection.

The study extends the luxury branding literature by explaining the brand prominence effect through the parallel mediators of brand authenticity and brand coolness. In contrast to extant research, the findings show that the negative effect of brand prominence is particularly strong among consumers with high self-brand connection.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate investor herding behaviour and the effect of presidential elections on investor herding behaviour in African stock markets at the sector level.

The study segregates listed firms into financial, consumer goods, consumer services and basic materials sectors and uses the cross-sectional absolute deviation approach as a metric of detecting herding in each of the sectors. The authors extend the model to tease out the effect of presidential elections on investor herding behaviour.

The study reveals that sectoral differences are fundamental to the evolution of herding. Herding is prominent in a financial services sector dominated by banks. The phenomenon also prevails in markets with smaller consumer goods and services sectors. A post-presidential election effect on investor herding is found for the consumer goods and services sectors of Ghana and a pre-presidential election effect is documented in Nigeria's consumer services sector. The authors conclude that post-presidential election effect is as a result of political connections whilst a pre-presidential election effect is attributable to political business cycles.

The study is based on four African countries due to data constraints. Nonetheless, the study is the first in Africa to the best of the authors' knowledge, and the results are very solid and have a lot of practical and policy implications.

The study has implications for investors as it guides investment behaviour in pre- and post-presidential election periods.

Past studies on investor herding behaviour in African stock markets have largely concentrated on the aggregate market. Knowledge on sectoral differences in investor herding is almost non-existent for African stock markets. Furthermore, premised on the fact that stock markets react to presidential elections, there is no known study that have attempted to examine the effect of presidential elections on investor herding behaviour. This paper contributes to the literature by providing evidence on sectoral differences in investor herding behaviour and the effect of presidential elections on sectoral herding behaviour.