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Purpose: this study aims to examine the impacts of price levels, high level vs. low level, associated to a known brand vs. an unknown brand over fairness perception, symbolism quality and purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach: one pre-experiment is conducted with a 2 (high price level vs. low price level) x 2 (known brand vs. unknown brand) between-subjects design and a sample of 152 jeans customers. Finding: the results indicate that different price levels with brand knowledge or without brand knowledge impact differently over customer behavior, mainly when it comes to quality, fairness, perceived value, symbolic value and purchase intention of the investigated product and that that the relation between symbolic value and purchase intention is totally mediated by the perceived fairness. Practical Implication: by understanding how customers integrate, relate and infer quality, fairness and symbolic aspects to products through their perceptions concerning price levels and brand knowledge levels, it is possible to supply marketing professionals with information that lead to better-informed choices about pricing policy and branding in their companies. Originality/value: among these research contributions, we emphasize the proposition of eleven research hypotheses that aim to better understand customer behavior from the manipulation of two variables: product price level and brand knowledge level and its impact on perceived quality, fairness, symbolism and purchase intention. RESUMO Objetivo: este estudo tem como objetivo examinar os impactos dos níveis de preços, alto e baixo nível, associados a uma marca conhecida vs. uma marca desconhecida, sobre percepção de justiça, qualidade do simbolismo e intenção de compra. Design/metodologia/abordagem: um pré-experimento é conduzido com um design entre sujeitos de 2 (alto nível de preço vs. baixo nível de preço) x 2 (marca conhecida vs. marca desconhecida) e uma amostra de 152 clientes de jeans. Resultados: os resultados indicam que diferentes níveis de preços com conhecimento de marca ou sem conhecimento de marca impactam de forma diferenciada no comportamento do cliente, principalmente no que diz respeito à qualidade, justiça, valor percebido, valor simbólico e intenção de compra do produto investigado e que a relação entre valor simbólico e a intenção de compra é totalmente mediada pela justiça percebida. Implicações gerenciais: ao compreender como os clientes integram, relacionam e inferem qualidade, justiça e aspectos simbólicos dos produtos por meio de suas percepções sobre os níveis de preços e níveis de conhecimento da marca, é possível fornecer aos profissionais de marketing informações que levam a escolhas mais bem informadas sobre política de preços e marcas em suas empresas. Originalidade/valor: dentre essas contribuições, destacamos a proposição de onze hipóteses de pesquisa, que visam entender melhor o comportamento do cliente a partir da manipulação de duas variáveis: nível de preço do produto e nível de conhecimento da marca e seu impacto na qualidade, justiça, simbolismo e intenção de compra.

We studied to what extent perceived adoption norms affect the likelihood of adopting sustainable innovations, next to evaluations of the instrumental, environmental and symbolic attributes of these innovations. As hypothesised, results showed that people are more likely to adopt a sustainable innovation the more they evaluate the attributes of these sustainable innovations favourably and the more they think significant others would consider adoption (i.e., when adoption norms are strong). Moreover, we hypothesised and found that positive evaluations of the symbolic attributes are more likely to promote the adoption of sustainable innovations when people expect that few significant others would consider adoption. These findings suggest that weak adoption norms that are typical in the early adoption stage may both inhibit and promote adoption of sustainable innovations, via different routes.

Environmentally friendly and energy efficient green buildings have gained their popularity across many countries including Australia. Despite their increasing popularity and rental premium, it is not known why tenants are more inclined to lease green over non-green office buildings in Australia. In addressing this gap, this study aims to explore tenants’ motivations to leasing green office buildings. To this, this study first analysed over 2,000 tenants occupying over 100 green buildings in Sydney CBD.This allowed this study to identify which tenants are morelikely lease green buildings than the others. The results show that tenants from; (i) the Finance and Insurance services sector, (ii) the Professional, Scientific and Technical services sector, and (iii) Real estate services sector account for over 50% of the entire tenant sample. Then, a judgemental purposive sampling method was adopted, and nine interviews were conducted with the key leasing decision-makers from the top three sectors. The interview findings reveal that the traditional aspects of location and costs are still the key motivational factors for green building tenants. However, many interviewees acknowledge that leasing a green office space could help improving their corporate image. This thus led to many tenants’ beliefs that green spaces contain both symbolic value and tangible value,and that higher rents for green buildings are rather acceptable considering what they can offer. The results of the study suggest that understanding the demand of various types of tenants is essential to shed the light on the expensive rental price of green buildings in Australia. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This paper explores the contrasting notions of "permanance and disposability," "the digital and the physical," and "symbolism and function" in the context of interaction design. Drawing from diverse streams of knowledge, we describe a novel design direction for enduring computational heirlooms based on the marriage of decentralized, trustless software and durable mobile hardware. To justify this concept, we review prior research; attempt to redefine the notion of "material;" propose blockchain-based software as a particular digital material to serve as a substrate for computational heirlooms; and argue for the use of mobile artifacts, informed in terms of their materials and formgiving practices by mechanical wristwatches, as its physical embodiment and functional counterpart. This integration is meant to enable mobile and ubiquitous interactive systems for the storing, experiencing, and exchanging value throughout multiple human lifetimes; showcasing the feats of computational sciences and crafts; and enabling novel user experiences., Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation

One of the main assumptions of mathematical tools in science is represented by the idea of measurability and additivity of reality. For discovering the physical universe additive measures such as mass, force, energy, temperature, etc. are used. Economics and conventional business intelligence try to continue this empiricist tradition and in statistical and econometric tools they appeal only to the measurable aspects of reality. However, a lot of important variables of economic systems cannot be observable and additive in principle. These variables can be called symbolic values or symbolic meanings and studied within symbolic interactionism, the theory developed since George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer. In statistical and econometric tools of business intelligence we accept only phenomena with causal connections measured by additive measures. In the paper we show that in the social world we deal with symbolic interactions which can be studied by non-additive labels (symbolic meanings or symbolic values). For accepting the variety of such phenomena we should avoid additivity of basic labels and construct a new probabilistic method in business intelligence based on non-Archimedean probabilities.

Understanding the key features driving tenants' decision to or not to lease green and non-green buildings is important for building owners and developers- especially in today's era of sustainable development. Although evidence shown that green buildings could fetch a rental price premium over non-green buildings, it is not known as to what drives tenants' leasing decision. In addressing this gap, the aim of this study is to develop a conceptual framework for explaining tenants' leasing decision for green and non-green buildings. More specifically, it attempts to (1) identify key building features of green and non-green buildings, and external influences that could affect tenants' decision; and (2) review relevant theories underpinning tenants' behaviours. The research was conducted by using literature survey on related publications, including, but not limited to, books, journal articles, and market and government research reports. The review shows that building features could be broadly classified into: instrumental (i.e. tangible) and symbolic (i.e. non-tangible) aspects and that these two aspects could collectively influence tenants' decision to lease and pay the price premium for green over non-green buildings. In particular, tenants' decision on leasing green buildings might not be only driven by mandatory regulations or sustainability features but also by expectations to fulfil different, possibly conflicting, values, and willingness to portray their identity. To probe this, this conceptual framework integrates four different theories; Expectation-value theory, Push-pull theory, Symbolic self-completion theory, and Theory of bounded rationality. This framework will be tested in subsequent stages of the research project. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Typical determinants of office building rental prices include location, height, age, and other tangible features of a building - and this is no exception to green buildings. Although evidence shown that green office buildings command rental premium than comparable non-green office buildings, literature could not fully explain causes of the higher rental prices. In addressing this gap, the aim of this research is to identify possible rental price attributes of green office buildings. More specifically, this study attempts to (1) analyse collective influence of various rental price attributes of green buildings, (2) review methods applied to probe the rental price attributes. The study was conducted by systematic review and meta-analysis on related literature. The result shows that literature identified rental attributes of green buildings using regression analysis, and these attributes are mostly indifferent to those of non-green buildings. Limited attention was given to attributes that are specific to green buildings. More specifically, green office building' symbolic aspect was not considered when analysing its rental premium. The result will be utilised in subsequent stage of the research project to probe the significance of its impacts. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Recent sociological studies of the mobile phone and the fixed line telephone have drawn attention to the changing meanings of communications technologies. Whilst manufacturers often represent “preferred” uses in product marketing, users frequently subvert such intended purposes, modify them or invent new practices. Mobile phones, whose “essential” function was verbal communication, were initially designed and marketed for business and professional use. Today we use them to chat and keep in touch with our children. Their basic function of speech communication has been subverted as teenagers opt to for text messages. School-children have invented new social uses despite the efforts of mobile phone companies to persuade them otherwise.Traditionally, social scientists have assumed that a device such as the telephone has an intrinsic purpose determined by some essential property of its technology. Such an approach stands in contrast to the analysis of works of art or products of the media where factors such as religious belief, social values and political ideology are routinely invoked to explain their various interpretations. This paper suggests that such a dichotomy is false. Concepts from cultural studies and communications theory are used to argue that technologies such as the telephone are cultural products with symbolic as well as economic value and that users can shift their meanings.

The expediency of assessment of museum items on the basis of the degree of exclusiveness (scientific and historical, scientific and artistic, and other scientific and informative value) is substantiated. The approaches to assessment of museum items (as a part of the heritage assets) in national and international accounting standards for the public sector are investigated. Proposals concerning the application of valuation at initial cost in Ukraine are substantiated. In case of its absence one should recognize fair value instead of conditional one. Museum items that are not assessed on the reporting date and do not meet the recognition criteria should be disclosed in the off-balance sheet accounting by the symbolic value with subsequent disclosure in the Notes to the financial statements.