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Dismantling of apartheid in the 1990s marked a turning point in South Africa. However, persistent use of race for upward mobility contradicts envisioned unity by Nelson Mandela. The paper yields a comparative analysis between South Africa and the United States, examining repercussions of historical prejudice in respective systems of discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question Professional advocates play an important role in influencing public policy through collective action and connective action enabled by their representative associations and social media. Through these voices, policymakers receive input and information from those who are often at the front line in dealing with public problems. The marketing discipline can assist policymakers in understanding the structure and behavior of markets and consumers and evaluating the responses to different government interventions (Trischler and Charles 2019). Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) is traditionally concerned with statements by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a wider audience via the Internet. There is a dearth of research on the use of social media for public health advocacy by health professionals and their representative associations, and the antecedents of eWOM in this context. This paper seeks to help address this gap. By doing so it addresses recent calls for more transdisciplinary research in social media and health advocacy research and provides greater understanding on the role of source characteristics and message characteristics on message engagement and amplification. Method And Data Hashtags have been widely used in the context of advocacy (Saxton et al. 2015), health communications (Xu et al. 2015), and activism (Yang 2016). This study investigates the antecedents of eWOM in the context of public health discussion on Twitter by leveraging a dataset of 4,322 tweets (1,790 original tweets, 226 replies, and 2,306 retweets) mentioning the hashtag #PutKids1st as generated by 1,231 unique users during the calendar year of 2018. Original tweets were manually coded by the research team using a grounded theory approach (Strauss and Corbin 1997). 29 micro-level topics were identified and grouped into seven higher level topics, namely (i) Health (429 tweets), (ii) Nutrition (21 tweets), (iii) Safety & Security (258 tweets), (iv) Caregiving (282 tweets), (v) Early Education (5 tweets), (vi) Human Rights (12 tweets), and (vii) Other (783 tweets). Data was coded by two independent coders. All the variables mentioned above were included in two OLS regression models that had the natural logarithm of one plus the number of replies received by a tweet and the natural logarithm of one plus the number of retweets received by a tweet. Summary of Findings Among the seven topics that were identified, Health (1,086 tweets), Caregiving (857 tweets) and Safety & Security (573 tweets) were the most prominent. However, 783 tweets (approx. 44% of the tweets in our sample) fell under the category "Other" and therefore could not be linked to any of the topics included in our coding framework. These messages mostly aimed to encourage people to vote or expressed messages of gratitude toward pediatricians and healthcare professionals more generally. Human Rights (39 tweets), Nutrition (38 tweets) and Early Education (14 tweets) only featured on a limited number of tweets. Within the three prominent accounts 6 topics, access to healthcare, keeping families together and gun control were significant topics of discourse. The results suggest that the only significant factor that had an impact on the number of replies received by a tweet was the Early Education topic. Key Contributions This paper proposes and tests a source-message framework as a model for assessing the effectiveness of professional advocacy and electronic word-of-mouth. This paper provides insights into how advocacy campaigns and messaging can be designed and coordinated to optimize engagement and re-transmission, and as a result increase reach. Kraft and Furlong (2019) define public problems as "conditions the public widely perceives to be unacceptable and that therefore require intervention." Professional advocates play an important role in influencing public policy through collective action and connective action enabled by their representative association and social media. Professional advocates, such as the AAP and their members, represent both an opportunity to leverage and a risk to mitigate. While stakeholders, such as pediatricians have predictable interests, the altruistic nature of those interests combined with their position in society limits potential counterarguments from policymakers and public health communicators. It is extremely difficult to argue with the proposition that society should put kids 1st. The use of the #putkids1st slogan and hashtag by the AAP and pediatricians provides useful theoretical and practical insights for public health communicators and policymakers seeking to achieve societal consensus and bridge political divides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question In this paper we explore elements of distributive energy justice, asking: are renewable energy power plants sited near privileged or marginalized communities, and how does this compare with fossil fuel power plants? Our premise is that just because the U.S. is shifting to a more ecological sustainable energy grid, it is not being done in an equitable way. Method and Data We align U.S. EIA (2019) data on the location of oil (n=1600), coal (n=327), wind (n=1138) and solar (n=3330) power plants with the U.S. Census Bureau's (2019) American Community Survey (ACS) demographic information for the block-groups (communities), using geographic information system shape files to match communities with power plants. We also added in the average wind speeds (Draxl et al. 2015) and solar radiation (Sengupta et al. 2018) of the areas to capture context-specific effects. We focus on coal and oil because of their higher toxic profiles (natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel), and wind and solar because these technologies are expected to make up the largest shares of low carbon energy in the future. Using a centroid-distance based method (Mikati et al. 2018), we compare the demographic profiles (race, class, education, limited English/linguistic isolation) of host communities for oil, coal, solar and wind power plants to those who are non-host. Host communities are those whose centroid fall within a 5-mile radius of the power plant; non-hosts have their centroid fall within a 50-mile circle of the power plant but outside of the 5-mile radius. We build logistic regression models for each type of power plant (Lilijenfeldt and Pettersson 2017; McCoy 2017), assessing the odds that a community with a certain demographic profile will be a host community. Distributive injustices are evident but vary pending the type of power plant. For coal, we find that communities with higher levels of Indigenous or White populace are significantly more likely to host power plants (odds ratios greater than 1), however, those with Black Americans are less likely (odds ratio less than 1). This could reflect the effects of the transition away from coal (since 2010, 1/3 of coal plants have shut down) (U.S. EIA 2019), and the support among White populaces for coal due to a perceived fear of job losses (Blaacker, Woods, and Oliver 2012). For oil, we find the typical energy distributive injustice scenario (Mohai & Saha 2015; Richmond-Bryant et al. 2020): communities that are low-income, with a higher proportion of Blacks, Latinx, Asians and Indigenous people or those who have limited English (linguistic isolation) are more likely to host an oil power plant. Solar power plants are more likely to be located in Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous communities, yet are also overrepresented in those communities with a higher level of income, education, and lower levels of linguistic isolation. This points to the ability of non-White communities to utilize their social capital to secure the benefits of solar farms, however, it also means that these latter additional inequities skew these (desirable) power plants away from those who are more marginalized within these non-White groups (lower-income/education, linguistically isolated). Communities that host wind farms are more likely to have a higher proportion of Latinx and White populaces (but not Black and Indigenous Americans) and lower levels of income. The White communities also tend to have lower levels of education and limited English capabilities. These findings could point to the rural nature of wind farms, generational differences (in English/education levels), and/or the economic (and likely social) power needed to stymie undesired wind farms. Key Contributions Our results provide updated data regarding the transition of U.S.A.'s energy system to more renewable sources, demonstrating that inequities are occurring in various ways. These insights highlight the importance of power dynamics that policy makers and marketers need to recognize, as these can influence which communities get undesirable or desirable power plants. This includes power that stems from economic (income), social (education, race), and political (linguistic isolation) sources. Thus, for policy makers and utility companies, our paper demonstrates a need to take a more targeted approach when siting desirable renewable sources of energy, employing intersectionality analysis and using social marketing tactics that can accommodate a spectrum of education/English literacy capabilities and socio-cultural pressures (e.g., the perceived necessity of coal plants among certain White communities). They also need to look at the flip side of our research: the notable absence of wind energy in places where natural conditions are prime yet where privileged people (e.g., coastal communities) undermine their development. Tracing distributive injustices is thus key to shedding light on the resource and power imbalances that are shaping the landscape of power plant sittings. While we may be shifting to a more environmentally-friendly energy system, much work remains to ensure that this is also an equitable transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a theoretical framework for how the notice-and-choice model for protecting consumer information privacy can be considered a viable policy approach, despite mounting evidence that privacy notices are often ignored, difficult to read, increasing in length, and misunderstood by consumers. Drawing from several well-known game-theoretic models from Daniel Ellsberg (c. 1961 & 62) that we believe map closely to an online consumer's notice-and-choice context, we outline a rational choice model for consumer online privacy and discuss its relevance for the EU's General Data Protection Regulations [GDPR]. We argue that an online consumer's notice-and-choice privacy gamble is a 'reasonable bet' given the consumer's expected payoff in an environment that is constrained by competition and dynamic forces of institutional trust. Consumer choice, as a deliberate, consistent, and repeatable action, is context dependent and underwritten by consumer agency and the communicative aspects of a notice-and-choice transaction. Additional choicetheoretic derivations involving uncertainty and ambiguity (inspired by renewed interest and discussion of the Ellsberg Paradox) are also discussed and explored as a potential direction for research. Research Question Privacy notices and the requisite checkbox action to 'acknowledge-and-continue,' although ubiquitous to the online experience, are proving to be increasingly difficult for privacy and marketing scholars to justify as a matter of sound public policy. While there is little disagreement that information disclosure and consumer choice remain basic components of informed consent, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests privacy notices fail to provide consumers with sufficient information for an actual informed privacy choice. Privacy notices are too often ignored, considered difficult to read, increasing in length, difficult to comprehend, and/or fundamentally misunderstood (Calo 2012; Martin 2015; Milne and Culnan 2004; Nissenbaum 2011). What, if anything, do privacy notices provide for a consumer's choice in the context of a notice-and-choice transaction? Is the checkbox action to acknowledge-and-continue a completely meaningless or empty gesture, given that consumers do not read, or hardly read, or fundamentally misunderstand the conditions to which they "volunteer" personal information? Summary of Findings This paper outlines a defense for the notice-and-choice model for online privacy by addressing persistent worries about notice adequacy and information disclosure. Drawing from game theory and a theory of consumer agency, we aim to explain how consumer choice, as a deliberate action, is the result of a rational and experiential process that is constrained by competition and dynamic forces of institutional trust. Game theory provides a useful forum for evaluating privacy related decision making because it introduces a set of concepts that frame a consumer's expectation for privacy protection in terms of subjective 'degrees of belief' and 'theory of revealed preference.'. Recent provisions in the EU's General Data Protection Regulations [GDPR], such as requiring better privacy notice communication protocol and providing consumers the opportunity for data access and deletion, are consistent, at least in their intent, with our interpretation of consumer agency and consumer choice. Moreover, we argue further, the central notions of the EU's GDPR, such as privileging the locus of privacy protection on 'natural persons' and/or 'human data subjects' and framing obligations of data controllers and data handlers are consistent with the theory of rational choice and consumer agency we outline and describe. Key Contributions The current discussion contributes to the marketing and public policy environment by offering a theoretical grounding for the notice-and-choice model, as a current consumer protection policy approach in the US, while discussing its implications for the (now) established GDPR in the EU. Although there are some prior studies that examine how game theory can be used to clarify privacy research, this is the first effort that we are aware of that attempts to theoretically ground a current and emerging policy approach within a decision theory framework. • This paper provides a conceptual framework for situating many of the central concepts and assumptions of the EU's GDPR within a theory of consumer agency. • Warrant for endorsing the notice-and-choice model is postulated from a discussion and analysis of Ellsberg's (now) classic 1961 & 1962 game theoretic problems and solutions. Additional choice-theoretic derivations involving uncertainty and ambiguity are also considered and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green brand, retail service quality, and trust have become an important area of interest for the academicians and the marketers with regard to its influence on the consumer's green product purchase intention. However, limited inquiries have been initiated in particular green energy context and very scarce literature exits with regards to the association between green energy purchase and intention. The current study aims to explore the literature on the theoretical foundation of factors motivating the green energy purchase intentions (GPI), and to provide a path for future research for this field of study. The study identifies the possible impact of green brand perception and retail service quality on consumer's intention for purchasing green energy. An explanatory mediated mechanism through the lens of green energy trust is established to see changes in GPI as an outcome. The paper is conceptual, incorporates and interrelates the findings of existing behavioural research as applied within the context of green energy and proposes a set of research agenda to guide future research in the field of green energy consumer behaviour. The study significantly fuel the green energy consumerism literature and managerial implications to gain a deeper understanding of the antecedent and precursors that lead the development of green energy purchase intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to discuss and critically analyse the progress of European Union Southern member states towards a green transition, in the light of Marketing. The stereotype of the existence of environmental "leaders and laggards" is disputed and a way to find an equal-forall green transition is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RESEARCH QUESTION The global COVID-19 pandemic disrupted daily routines and rituals that normally sustain important shared meanings, identities, and relationships. This impacted market interactions through temporary and permanent service disruptions, masks and other protective equipment in customer service encounters, and social distancing protocols in retail, service and healthcare. In the face of such widespread disruption, how do consumers negotiate adoption of new behaviors or re-establish old norms and routines? Much of consumer behavior remains disconnected from conscious awareness or articulated values (Shove 2010), guided instead by unconscious social, cultural, or physiological influences (Allen 2002; Bargh 2002; Williams and Poehlman 2017). Over a lifetime practice and observations of others' actions in context, people develop a "toolkit" of cultural resources (Swidler 2001, p. 104), which includes meanings, materials, and competences (Shove, Pantzar, and Watson 2012). Norms incorporate symbolic or emotional knowledge (meanings) and practical knowledge (competences) about how to do things in specific social contexts, shaping how people integrate meanings, materials, and competences into socially intelligible practices. During the COVID-19 pandemic, protective face masks became widespread but also highly contested and resisted in consumers' everyday lives. This creates public health threats that require continued marketing and public policy responses, but it also creates an opportunity to test sociological and psychological theorization about how cultural toolkits shape consumer responses to normative disruptions. To address this opportunity, we use a multi-method and cross-cultural analysis of mask wearing during COVID-19 to analyze how consumers navigate competition between old and new norms and accept and routinize new norms. METHOD AND DATA Our research utilizes qualitative and quantitative data that illuminate consumer behavior and experiences with masks at various stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our data include ethnographic participant observation in a range of market places (USA: 160+ hours from 9/20-10/20; China: 100+ hours between 9/20-12/20). Fieldnotes produced by researchers and student assistants document these observations in over 550 pages of fieldnotes (~200 pages [US]; ~350 [China]). Qualitative data also include in-depth Zoom interviews with 41 American consumers (12/20-7/21) and 36 Chinese consumers (10/20-9/21) about their customer experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two US-based online surveys (MTurk, 10/2/20, n=388; Prolific, 3/31/20, n=500) and two China-based online surveys (Tencent WenJuan, 11/30/20, N=305; 7/14/21, N=516) included open-ended responses and quantitative scale measures. Qualitative data were analyzed using nVivo qualitative data analysis software. We began with open coding, revising our code list and narrowing our focus by comparing between theory, emerging themes, and additional data (Burawoy 1998; Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw 2011; Katz 2001, 2002). This paper draws on interpretive analysis of our qualitative data and descriptive statistical analysis of our survey data. Our qualitative data and analysis enable interpretive theory building, while our quantitative data compare the relative prevalence of emergent themes among a broader sample. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS We find that the addition of protective masks into previously settled and routinized market practices, such as retail shopping or restaurant dining, disrupts consumer lives in small and large ways. The extent of this disruption and the duration of its persistence is shaped primarily by the relationship between particular social contexts and the cultural toolkits consumers draw on. Consumers use accessible cultural meanings and existing competences to make sense of and respond to mask wearing as a new behavioral norm. When meanings and competences align intuitively with mask wearing, wearing masks feels intuitively right, and consumers follow existing competences like rule following, behavioral matching, and personal safety to routinize the new behavior into their social situations. However, other consumers experience mask wearing norms as conflicting with elements drawn from their cultural toolkits. This experience creates a persistent sense that implicit and explicit values giving meaning to their lives and helping them make sense of the world are being violated. When normative contexts explicitly conflict with toolkit meanings and competences, consumers feel forced to actively fight against prevailing norms--whether in favor or against mask wearing--to motivate their actions. Finally, we find that a large proportion of consumers in both countries wear masks contextually following predominant norms or mandates, while at the same time resisting the normalization of the behavior and its implied social values by using established competences to maintain old norms wherever possible. This continued negotiation of familiar and unfamiliar norms results in many contexts across the US and China where mask wearing remains unsettled. In such contexts, our analysis shows that mask wearing behavior is connected interdependently with established cultural toolkits that include practical meanings, competences, and materials. Addressing one of these factors without the others typically yields unstable or ineffective results when promoting behavior change. KEY CONTRIBUTIONS Our research demonstrates the importance of using a sociocultural lens to analyze marketing and public policy responses to normative changes during COVID-19 and future disruptions. The meanings and competences that comprise social norms represent social and cultural tools carried by individuals and reproduced through their everyday interactions (Shove, Pantzar, and Watson 2012; Swidler 2001). Market and policy interventions to shape new prosocial norms must address behaviors and their possible meaning and competence alignments contextually rather than individually. Market spaces such as retail stores and other businesses represent key sites that shape the creation and maintenance of mask wearing and other norms. Marketers and policy makers must also remember that pervasive normative changes that disrupt familiar routines are particularly susceptible to kindling ideological conflicts. Masks, which have the potential to impact almost every social practice outside of consumers' homes, naturally attract such conflict. Policy makers and marketers should engage early with complementary meanings and competences (DeMora et al. 2021; Kidwell, Farmer, and Hardesty 2013) to avoid implicit attacks on cultural values. They can also support familiar norms, which can maintain a sense of control to counter the disruption of other routines (McGregor et al. 1998; Nail et al. 2009). An understanding of how values and norms shape behavior during unsettled times can help researchers, marketers, and policy makers better understand and respond to the temporary yet indefinite disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of Google's Privacy Sandbox initiative in protection of consumer privacy, as well as its compliance with the fundamental strictures of three important data regulations across the globe while also examining the challenges of implementation of the new business paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question IS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN MENTAL HEALTH SECTOR IS NECESSITY OR CHOICE.? Introduction: Digital Transformation (DT) can be referred to as "a process that aims to improve an entity by triggering significant changes to its properties through combinations of information, computing, communication, and connectivity technologies" (Vial, 2019). In healthcare, digital transformation is mostly focused on the digitization of information and adoption of information technology, hence further studies are required to focus on business model transformation and implications for the management. As digital transformation is a continuous process and it depends upon the context of the organization's delivery of service/product, it is different for each frame of reference. Therefore, knowing that DT provides much facilitation, Mental Health Institutes (MHIs) face the dilemma of effective integration of digital tools within their complex service delivery structure. From the preceding analysis, this paper aims:. Method: The study followed a mixed-method approach both qualitative and quantitative measures to analyze the case. To present a comprehensive depiction of VIMHANs we adopted data collected mentioned by Yin, 2011 including focus group interviews, questionnaires, and observational facts aligned with the objectives of the study. In the first step, we followed by conducting focus group interviews, with the team responsible for the digital transformation implementation. The interview duration varies from 40 mins - 90 mins with structured questions and open-ended discussions with seven interviewees. In the second step, we prepared a questionnaire consisting of digital transformational capabilities and floated it to the whole institute team to collect the general response. The questionnaire embedded capabilities within three contexts i.e. Digital Capabilities, Digital Marketing Capabilities, and Skill Building Capabilities. Next, we applied ordinal regression to check the fitness of the good of the model. Where we propose checking the feasibility of the proposed hypothesis: H1a: The performance of Mental Health Institutes depends upon Digital Marketing Capabilities. Results: The results were recorded in a two-fold process-first, the focus group interviews revealed challenges within the digital transformation process and the core competencies that need to implement to effectively implement digital platforms for MHIs. The second process identified the framework to be adopted to implement a digital transformation, where it revealed that MHIs can improve their performance by increasing their awareness globally which indirectly affects the mental well-being understanding and treatment acceptance. The results concluded the digitalization provides them the opportunity to improve their service delivery and effective digital transformation depending upon three main capabilities i.e. Digital Capabilities, Digital Marketing Capabilities, and Skill Building Capabilities. Also, a strong positive correlation exists between MHIs performance and the Digital Capabilities of the institute. Conclusion: The study fulfils the objective and provides novel insights into MHIs digital transformation challenges and competencies. To the present, the study remains the first to analyze the case of a mental health institute practically implementing digital transformation. The observation data, focus group interviews and questionnaire provide a detailed roadmap of solutions for this which is very useful for global NPOs, government stakeholders, and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the disparity between online degree and traditional degree in the job market. We discuss how online education plays the role in the training of essential working skills. Interviews conducted with human resources managers in enterprises of different types are valuable in understanding perceptions job market have towards online degree and traditional degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question Policy makers, businesses, nonprofits and individuals have been seeking solutions to the single-use plastic waste problems found in their communities. Many researchers have studied green values and sustainability as a means to encourage sustainability decision making. Our exploratory research will provide insight and knowledge on two research questions: (1) Are consumers' green values and concern about single-use plastic waste more concentrated to individuals close to the ocean? (2) How can you increase consumers' concern for single-use plastic waste and their behavioral changes? Based on our survey analysis and thematic analysis of over 100 single-use plastic waste solutions we have developed a guide around five policy solution categories: (1) business resources, (2) public policy resources, (3) non-profit resources, (4) education resources, (5) personal resources. These solution categories and strategies will be discussed more in the following manuscript. Method and Data The methodology uses a mixed method of research that includes both quantitative survey analysis and qualitative thematic analysis to build a guide for single use plastic solutions that meet policy makers, businesses, non-profits and individuals in their solutions process. The survey analysis is a Qualtrics Q-panel with participants evenly distributed across the U.S. Each participant was asked to review the Plastic Pollution Coalition (2016) video produced in collaboration with Jeff Bridges to educate consumers on the impacts of single use plastic waste on humans and their environment. Participants were asked to answer a series of questions on (1) Green Consumer Value Questions (Haws, Winterich, and Naylor 2012), (2) Concern for Contamination (Petrowski et al 2010) specifically single-use plastic waste disgust questionnaire developed by the research team. A structured search was conducted to find other means of communicating the single-use plastic message beyond the video produced by the Plastic Pollution Coalition. The results of a 6-month search utilizing Google Trends to narrow the results applying keywords such as: "what are single use plastic", "single-use plastic", "single use plastic ban", "plastic bag bans" developed categories for (1) name of resource, (2) content type, (3) policy solution, (4) link to information. Summary of Findings The results address consumers' closeness to the ocean and are more likely to be concerned about green values. Equally distributing the survey across the US allows to explore the individual's placement and green values. [California: (n=95) had a Green Consumer Value (M=1.99, SD=1.03), Single Use Plastic (M=4.15, SD=0.64) and Contamination (M=3.37, SD=0.93)] [New York: (n=20) had a Green Consumer Value (M=2.06, SD=0.81), Single Use Plastic (M=4.08, SD=0.81) and Contamination (M=2.69, SD=1.12)] [Florida: (n=18) had a Green Consumer Value (M=2.03, SD=1.14), Single Use Plastic (M=4.29, SD=0.82), and Contamination (M=2.85, SD=1.12)] [Texas: (n=18) had a Green Consumer Value (M=2.37, SD=1.24), Single Use Plastic (M=4.62, SD=0.73), and Contamination (M=3.10, SD=0.87)] [Oregon: (n=12) had a Green Consumer Value (M=1.81, SD=0.71), Single Use Plastic M=4.14 (0.47), and Contamination (M=3.29, SD=0.65)]. Key Contributions The key contributions to practice include the implementation guide for organizations, government and policy makers as a scalable plastic reduction program. A collection of over 100 policy solutions has been categorized into five major resource groups: (1) Business Resources (N=25), (2) Public Policy Resources, (N=5) (3) Nonprofit Resources, (N=15) (4) Education Resources, (N=25) and (5) Personal Resources, (N=33). This solution guide provides those in practice with the necessary information needed to continue to build their own tailored single-use plastic waste solution. The tools and links to more information include: books, videos, websites, educational kits, documentaries, movies, packaging alternatives and many more have been compiled. The current research adds to the existing knowledge by expanding the discussion on sustainability more narrowly to single-use plastic. In addition, the paper synthesizes many resources as a form of a meta-analysis enabling stakeholders to meet their needs as well as provide scalable solutions for future endeavors. As we continue to research single-use plastic waste and solutions, we will share with the growing list of strategies enabled by non-profits organization, educational institutions and individuals to help build awareness, understanding and progress to protect our planet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Central Issue The COVID-19 Pandemic has highlighted several of the shortcomings of market society. That the economy has become an end rather than one of the means to serve humanity's purposes is one such highlight. Another is the human individual's predicament in being largely abandoned in market society to bear all the responsibility of taking care of oneself--along with any loved ones--without any real support, and with very little authority, if at all, regarding how lives will be organized. The purpose in this paper is to explore the foundations of these two shortcomings, the role that marketing may be playing, and to reflect on what changes may need to occur in conceptualizations of marketing for it to become a help rather than a hinderance in possibilities of "reduction of structural disparities and marketplace discrimination" and in "social change.". Market Society and Marketing Market society is a product of modernity. The modern market, as the actual or virtual space where economic exchange takes place, is a symbolic construction by founders of the modern organization of life. Early classical economists shared the same vision with other modernist thinkers of liberating the human individual from all oppression, whether that of nature or of other humans, or of human built institutions. Classical economists saw a potential of delivering such liberation in their concept of the market, a space where purely economic exchanges took place, freeing each individual from any obligation other than the resource exchanged, thus liberating humans from all imposition upon their free wills. For original modernist thinkers, liberation of the human individual was not simply an economic matter. Institutions and principles along different discursive and practical domains of culture were considered necessary for a comprehensive freeing of the human spirit to envision and realize a grand future in which, through liberty, each individual could attain one's full potential and become an effective participant in the building of the vision. Modernity was a culture of projects; a project of building humanity's grand future, a project of realizing one's best self, etc. The modern market was the institutionalization, the means by which the modern principle of the economic--optimizing economic value through an efficient allocation of material resources--would actualize; one key institution of modernity. The institution to enable the exercise of the political principle of democracy was the nation-state. The institutions of family and public education would inculcate the social principle of civility as the foundation of civil society. These principles and framework constituted the cornerstones of modern culture and society, and articulated modernity's original dominant ideology; liberalism. The balance among culture's three practical domains is broken in mature modernity. The economic domain has increasingly taken center stage as capital increasingly represented power in modern society. All political and social policies, along with the economic ones, aim at insuring the health of the economy through the growth of the market. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, policies have been largely guided by concerns about the economy's health. More human deaths than otherwise necessary are resulting from the push to return to workplaces for fear of economic losses or due to individual families' loss of ability to nourish and house themselves when they lose employment because in a culture built around economic interests, the only means of maintaining livelihood for the great majority of people is limited to the only resource they are left with to offer in the market: their labor. Liberation of the human individual, eventually interpreted as individualism, resulted in the individual--and individual families--left to fend for oneself in market society. This individualizing culture left individuals spending all their energy on looking out for themselves and not having energy left to look out for others. Lacking resources but their labor, people are vulnerable to economic downturns in labor markets shrink and loss of employment becomes a devastating circumstance, illustrated by the Pandemic. Lack of resources leaves them without authority or effective influence in policies made. Circumstances, such as control of government policies and politics by corporate interests through the influence of money in politics and corporate representatives constituting a majority in decision making committees and bodies of government agencies, together constitute an exceptional force making it difficult to change the conditions above. Modern marketing has been complicit in the development of these conditions with managerial interests eventually dominating the field creating a turn in focus from needs to exchange as the core concept of marketing, also transforming the discipline's focus from interests of the people to interests of market growth. Marketing organizations rarely satisfy needs until demand has purchasing power behind it, that is until it is effective demand. This is argued to be logical with the justification that they have to survive in order to continue providing products and that the profit incentive is necessary for entrepreneurs to undertake risks. History bears witness that this logic has worked since such economic wealth and growth have translated into worldwide power. The fallacy is that because it creates power the inequalities and worldwide misery that such a logic has also created can be or should be ignored. Such ignorance would be acquiescence to the condition 'might makes right'. History also bears witness that the condition 'might makes right' produces many a consequence that humans had to sacrifice much to try and overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question The promotion of food security and sovereignty is one indicator of advanced commonwealth and intertwined with other economic, social, and environmental dimensions, they are also impacted by systemic crises (Gibson, 2012). Food security refers to ensuring that people can produce or buy food that can provide a healthy and active life (Gross et al., 2000). The effects of food (in) security in developing economies, where the socio-economic fabric is fragile, exacerbate a situation of vulnerability (Bublitz et al., 2021). These circumstances include the resurgence of hunger in contexts which food security indicators were already established (Richardson et al., 2018). Several fields use SDGs as a scoping parameter to investigate the literature, such as energy (Nerini et al., 2018), sanitation (Diep et al., 2021) and artificial intelligence (Vinuesa et al., 2020). Despite such effort, no systematic approach relates food security to SDGs. One of the significant shortcomings related to the 2030 Agenda fulfilment is the call for contextualization at a territorial level (Annesi et al., 2021). Scoping reviews deliver broad questions (Tricco et al., 2020). Under these circumstances, the research question of this study is what are the clustering themes for food security on global and on an emerging economy perspective? Method And Data Keyword mapping guided the constructs related to food security. The research strings were: "food security" and synonyms, separated by the Boolean operator "OR", and keyword "Brazil", separated by the Boolean operator "AND". The same procedure was made using the keyword "world". For the word "Brazil", we obtained 465 documents, and for the word "world", we obtained 15.875. The complete list of papers was exported and mapped using the keyword in context reasoning informed by the tool VosViewer 1.6.18. The literature on food-related themes used keyword mapping tools for researching topics (Rusydiana, et al., 2021), and the software is a popular bibliometric tool among researchers. We used the software to identify research trends and themes in two different processes, comparing first the relationship of keywords on the world context and on the Brazilian context. We used the VosViewer default presets. These mappings were then evaluated accordingly to the degree of the main nodes in each of one the clusters, and, in a final stage, the main nodes were matched with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) keywords, in order to propose a research agenda, with research questions, based on the research momentum spotted by bibliometric mapping in Brazil. Summary of Findings Initially, we identified the thematic cluster from the world and Brazilian literature. The keyword mapping for the world resulted in a network with four main thematic clusters, namely, Covid-19 and civilizational socio-economic goals, climate change & food chains for sustainable development, nutrition & security health specifics and emerging economies & policy. The keyword mapping for Brazil also resulted in four topics: climate change, bioenergy, and biofuels; food security, nutrition, and health; family farming and public policy; specific biomes and deforestation. Among points of similarity, we found out the great relevance given to Climate change, carbon footprint, and Greenhouse Gas emissions on both networks. Another thematic similarly clustered refers to the linkages between nutrition, food security and an array of healthrelated topics, both in Brazil and in the world. Some unexpected results are the centrality of the keyword "sustainable development" in the world mapping and the total absence of the themes "sustainability" or "sustainable development" in the Brazilian literature network. Themes such as "refugees" and "conflict" are also linked to the global food security network, but do not emerge in the Brazilian context. Two topics are contextual specific for the Brazilian milieu: biofuel production alongside land-use for agriculture. Statement of Key Contributions Among the major contributions and highlights drawn from this work we point out that the absence of the construct sustainability in the Brazil mapping is noticeable, as well as the absence of food waste construct in both mappings (global and local). In the Brazil mapping we identified four thematic clusters, namely, (a) climate change, bioenergy, and biofuels, (b) food security, nutrition, and health, (c) family farming and public policy, and (d) specific biomes and deforestation. At the world mapping, we identified four other themes, namely (a) Covid-19 and civilizational socio-economic goals, (b) climate change and food chains for sustainable development, (c) nutrition and security health specifics, and (d) emerging economies and public policy. The two thematic groups evince security trade-off in the local instance, involving landuse for biofuel and its impacts in Brazilian most threatened biomes. In the global instance, designing public policies on food security that incorporates the SDG framing requires a systemic approach under different, integrative lens. Theoretical implications refer to the existing gap in food security public policies design that effectively achieve the SDG. Practical implications suggest a research agenda. Further research can dive deeper into the thematic under the eight themes found in the systematic review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question COVID-19 has required major changes in behavior and created significant health and economic concerns for many individuals. While everybody is affected by a pandemic, there are differences in individual experience of pandemic severity, from vulnerability to the disease, to the circumstances of lockdown, to financial difficulties. At the outset of the pandemic, we were exploring people's evaluations of controversial market offers, drawing on the critique of market society by the philosopher Michael Sandel (2012). We observed a large difference between people's judgments of these offers before the pandemic and their judgments after the disease triggered the first lockdowns: the controversial offers were perceived significantly less ethical before the pandemic. Eager to explore the link between the pandemic and ethical evaluations, we conducted a field study, which is the focus of this paper. Here, we examine not so much the general effects of the pandemic, but more the relationship between the circumstantial factors affecting respondents during lockdowns and their ethical evaluations of our egregious marketing scenarios. Do the concerns about financial uncertainty and vulnerability to COVID-19 mediate the relationship between these circumstantial factors and ethical evaluations? Does affect have a mediating role in that relationship?. Method and Data We report a field study that explores ethical evaluations of controversial market offers, as part of a larger project on marketing ethics. All participants were asked to evaluate four scenarios randomly selected from a pool of scenarios mentioned in Sandel (2012) and scenarios specific to the pandemic. For example, the "sterilization" scenario read as follows: Undergoing sterilization: $300. Drug-addicted women in North Carolina are offered cash to undergo sterilization or long-term birth control. For each scenario, participants first read the description and then answered an attention-check question based on the description. Once participants passed the attention-check test, they were asked to provide a univariate ethical evaluation of the offer, measured using a 10-point rating scale with "Not at all ethical" and "Entirely ethical" as endpoints. Participants also indicated whether or not their city/state was in lockdown due to the pandemic at the time they completed the survey, how many weeks they had been in lockdown, and how many people were in lockdown with them in the same household. Finally, we asked participants about their feelings and emotions, their perceived likelihood of experiencing financial difficulties and perceived vulnerability to COVID-19, general well-being and behavioral changes due to the pandemic and demographics. Summary of Findings Our analyses show that the participants in households with three of more people evaluated the scenarios as more ethical that those with smaller households (p < .0001), and participants who were in lockdown rated the scenarios as more ethical than those who were previously or never in lockdown (p < .0001). Participants' ethical evaluations were also correlated with the affect measures, perceived vulnerability to Covid-19 and the likelihood of experiencing financial difficulties due to the pandemic (p < .01). The results also revealed a significant mediating effect of negative affect, the perceived likelihood of experiencing financial difficulties and vulnerability to COVID-19 both in the models where the household size was included as an independent variable and the lockdown status as a covariate (total effect: t = 8.77, p < .0001; direct effect: t = 5.22, p < .0001) and in the models where the lockdown status was included as an independent variable and the household size as a covariate (total effect: t = 7.52, p < .0001; direct effect: t = 5.11, p < .0001). The results on mediation effects remain statistically significant after including other covariates, such as income and lockdown duration, or other mediators such as overall wellbeing. Statement of Key Contributions Our findings contribute to research on marketing ethics and consumer response to external threats. The conceptual framework of consumer responses to external threats proposed by Campbell et al. (2020) for research related to the pandemic suggests that actual or potential threats affect consumers' norms, beliefs, practices and routines, eventually leading to diminished ontological security that encourages adaptive responses. Our research provides evidence for the framework, by suggesting that the changes brought by the pandemic affect ethical judgment and are moderated by the degree of pandemic security experienced by individuals. It also contributes to the idea that, while ethical decision-making is often a deliberative process that may consider several key criteria, for example, fairness, or cultural values, the use of such values and principles may be affected by context. We focus on ethical evaluations of marketing offers as important considerations in preventing abuse in the consumer marketplace. In a context of apparent diminished concern about unethical conduct (e.g., a pandemic), businesses and their stakeholders may be also affected because of questionable practices initiated by consumers. Our findings suggest that attenuated concern about questionable marketing practices may increase the need for regulation by policymakers or greater self-regulation by marketing practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Description: Conceptual paper which establishes a framework to define different types of sharenting (active, passive, invisible), develops an ecosystem view of key stakeholders impacting information being sharented, and provides a research agenda for policymakers and consumer welfare researchers. Sharenting (using social media to share content about one's child) is a progressively common phenomenon enabled by society's increased connection to digital technology. Although it can facilitate positive connections among internet users, it also leads to concerns related to children's online privacy and well-being. This paper establishes boundaries and terminology related to sharenting in an evolving digital world. First, while much of the prior sharenting research focuses on the parent-child dyad, we apply consumer vulnerability theory to conceptualize a modern sharenting ecosystem involving key stakeholders (parents, children, community, commercial institutions, and policymakers). This expanded ecosystem extends the sharenting literature to better define the complex dynamism inherent in sharenting as part of our increasingly virtual society. Next, we expand the characterization of sharenting by introducing a spectrum of awareness that categorizes types of sharenting (active, passive, and invisible). These definitions help researchers explore how and why personally identifiable information (PII) may be (un)intentionally shared in different contexts. Finally, using the conceptual structures developed in this paper, we provide a research agenda for policymakers and consumer welfare researchers. Research Question Digital technology's pervasiveness in everyday life is increasingly changing childhood, raising concerns about children's digital privacy from global organizations such as the United Nations and UNICEF. This already accelerating trend was put into sharp relief during the pandemic, where children saw their daily educational and social routines moved online, increasing children's vulnerability as their digital footprint expanded. Parents are legally considered the owners of their children's information, authorizing access and co-ownership of their child's data. Many parents choose to sharent, or share information about their children on social media, which may result in unintended audience(s) gaining access to their child's personally identifiable information (PII). While sharenting often comes from the desires of a parent, it can also be encouraged by an ecosystem of stakeholders who may encourage sharenting for personal, commercial, or public gain. Similarly, with the development of increasingly complex digital platforms, a tech-burdened parent may be unaware of who the end consumers of sharented content might be. This research seeks to define the sharenting ecosystem in an evolving digital world and establish a framework of sharenting awareness to provide a structure for researchers, parents, and policymakers. Method and Data Our conceptual development of sharenting in today's digital landscape is based on an extensive, interdisciplinary literature review, including: marketing, law, communications, and privacy. While the sharenting literature often focuses on the parent/child dyad, we argue that a richer conceptualization of the context, developed within an increasingly connected and complex digital world, will aid understanding of how stakeholders make decisions and encourage information sharing. These stakeholders are not isolated entities, but instead interact and share data in a complex set of connections that can make accountability difficult. Our conceptual framework reflects a theoretical synthesis using a multi-disciplinary lens. Summary of Findings We identify an ecosystem of sharenting stakeholders that interact to create, disseminate, and encourage sharented content. The sharenting ecosystem includes parents, children, audience/community, commercial interests, and policymakers. These categories provide a clear framework for researchers, parents, and policymakers to analyze specific sharenting situations. While it is commonly parents who authorize and become co-owners of their child's information, there is a larger network of parties who may be involved in sharenting. We develop a spectrum of sharenting awareness that categorizes three types of sharenting: active, passive, and invisible. First, active sharenting is intentional, where parents are aware of their posting, however they may or may not understand its implications. Thus, parents who believe they are sharing information may actually be surrendering it, increasing their vulnerability. Second, passive sharenting occurs as a feeling of resignation, in that sharenting may be perceived as unavoidable in modern society. Finally, invisible sharenting occurs when parents do not recognize their sharenting. This additional, covert layer of sharenting occurs after a parent shares information; it is often initiated by commercial interests and may be a byproduct of a company taking advantage of a parents' lack of digital literacy. Key Contributions Major changes in online communication have occurred since the pandemic began, broadening a digital landscape ripe for vulnerability and sharenting. Sharenting continues to evolve in the dynamic interaction of technology and culture. While parents and children have thus far been the most frequently researched stakeholders due to their common vulnerabilities, a systems view delivers the necessary structure to incorporate other marketplace actors into our understanding. Our road map for evaluating the five key stakeholders (parents, children, community, policymakers, and commercial institutions) and three different types of sharenting (active, passive, and invisible) highlight the importance of understanding the scope of sharenting in an ever-increasing digital world. Finally, this framework facilitates an integrated approach for expanding sharenting research and related public policy. We propose a research agenda by each of the five stakeholders, including suggestions for translating research into guidance that can be used by parents, identify areas of need for research to explore the depth of understanding of key issues, and to develop useful partnerships and policies that may impact current privacy practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question: Decades of overconsumption in developed countries has necessitated the exporting of waste to developing countries. Consequently, the former lacks the local capacity for proper waste management while the latter is drowning in trash. Climactically, 2018 saw a turn of events when several developing countries enacted laws to deter this practice. Developed countries scrambled to implement policies aimed at waste diversion and reduction. Canada emerged as the country worst at attaining these ends. This paper aims to understand why Canadian sustainable Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management policy is so ineffective. Method and Data: This paper employs a qualitative narrative analysis to tell the story of a particular experience through careful observation and interpretation of secondary data. This story is structured through the used of case studies and process models. Using an inductive retrospective narrative approach, heterogeneous cultural factors that influence how waste management policies evolve temporally and geographically are investigated. Specifically, Canadian policies are examined to understand why it struggles more than any other country to reduce MSW. The analysis employs temporal bracketing of events to compare the Canadian values of materialism and the neoliberal policies that ensue there from with the alternative cultural value systems of environmentalism and paternalist policy measures. Summary of Findings: First, this paper proposes that Canadian municipalities' neoliberal policy instruments have not yet resulted in a net reduction of waste. It examines the differences between Canadian municipal sustainable waste management expenditures on marketing and infrastructure and finds that (1) marketing nudges are ineffective because public participation is thwarted by corporatocracy, and (2) public infrastructure expenditures show a lack of commitment to sustainable SMW management. Next, in examining Canadian conflicting values of materialism and environmentalism it contends that public support for sustainable waste management policies is culturally relative. A comparative case study between Germany and Canada using Hofstede's Culture CompassTM supports this contention. Third, in analyzing the cultural attribution of negative or positive sentiment towards paternalism, this paper posits that paternalist (rather than neoliberal) policies are needed to attain meaningful results in sustainable MSW management. An analysis of the Canadian policy response to the plastics crisis following Operation National Sword and the Malaysian reaction to illegal imports of Canadian plastics is considered in support of this proposition. Key Contributions: Rather than echoing the predication in environmental governance literature for neoliberal policy mechanisms that endorse public participation and stakeholder engagement, this manuscript challenges the dominant thought paradigm by urging Canadian policymakers to take paternalist policy measures to address the country's broader waste management problems. While neoliberal ideals have strong normative appeal, in a waste management context they lack positivist logic in terms of goal attainment. When stakeholders can influence policy, it becomes a competition of whose influence becomes paramount. In capitalist countries, with highly materialistic cultures, the primacy of corporate interests often motivates neoliberal policies. Theoretically, this research contributes to the controversial and limited body of literature that advocates for paternalistic sustainable MSW policies. Managerially, it offers local governments real-world guidance on the benefits of using paternalism to implement sustainable waste management policies. It is hoped that the insights gain from the Canadian narrative, case study and process model analysis will incite future research into the use of paternalist policy instruments and motivate lawmakers to take a firmer stance on sustainable waste management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandate requiring the provision of cigarette Graphic Health Warnings (GHWs) on all cigarette packaging is expected to go into effect in the U.S. in April 2022. The warnings include photo-realistic, disturbing images of some of the potential negative health effects of smoking accompanied by corresponding text. This research explores the potential unintended consequences of GHWs that may have negative implications for consumers' health and welfare. Namely, whether GHWs inadvertently bias consumers' judgments about the negative health effects of vaping thus increasing the attractiveness of e-cigarettes is examined. Results show that GHWs have positive direct and indirect effects on tobacco users' e-cigarette-related response. The implications of these findings for marketers, consumer, and public policy makers are discussed and future research opportunities are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question Anecdotal messages are highly common in risk communication, and message designers may add expressions of regret to such messages. For example, the protagonist may state: "Worst of all, I deeply regret (not) having ..." How will such expressions of regret affect message effectiveness? Passyn (2019) demonstrates that adding regret to fear appeals improves message effectiveness, and the literature suggests that anticipated regret is a strong motivator of behavioral change. However, we argue that the effect of added regret may not always be positive. This paper examines how the effect of added regret depends on perceived incidence rates, that is, the perceived likelihood of the negative event. We propose that added regret increases message effectiveness when the perceived likelihood is low but harms message effectiveness when the perceived likelihood is high. Furthermore, we propose that mental imagery mediates the effect. Method and Data Our experimental study used a 1 x 2 (regret: "no added regret" versus "added regret") betweensubjects design. We used two anecdotal messages that depicted the story of an individual, aged 36, who became permanently unfit for work due to an accident and does not know how to proceed financially. The messages recommended disability income insurance. In the "added regret" version, the message additionally contained the statement: "Worst of all, I deeply regret not having taken out insurance. It would have been so easy." Participants were recruited via an online panel provider and randomly assigned to one of the anecdotal messages. The sample consisted of 338 participants who had not taken out disability insurance (54% male, average age 33, 90% employed). Before message exposure, the study measured the perceived likelihood of an average person of becoming permanently unfit for work before reaching retirement age. After message exposure, the study measured compliance intention and mental imagery. Moreover, the study contained additional components that are not related to this article. Summary of Findings The study provided support for our hypotheses. The perceived likelihood of the negative event (becoming permanently unfit for work) moderated the effect of added regret on compliance intention. Added regret increased compliance intention when the likelihood was perceived as low but decreased compliance intention when the likelihood was perceived as high. Mental imagery mediated the effect. When the perceived likelihood of becoming permanently unfit for work was relatively high, added regret decreased mental imagery. Key Contributions The literature suggested that anticipated regret is a strong motivator of behavioral change and that adding regret to fear appeals improves message effectiveness. However, we demonstrate that adding regret may harm message effectiveness when risk perception is high. We recommend adding regret to fear appeals only when perceived risk, that is, the perceived likelihood of the negative event that the message addresses, is relatively low. Our research may contribute to effective risk message design. We seek to provide value for, for example, governmental agencies and policy makers who are responsible for effective health and risk communication to the public. Because risky behaviors cause high societal costs, research that may contribute to the effectiveness of such messages is relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a qualitative study that aims to understand how senior consumers use digital QS technologies to achieve their priority goals of aging well. Its highlights the potential of these devices to improve the usual means to age well by promoting self-managing and healthy behavioral change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]