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The information paradox suggests that the black hole loses information when it emits radiation. In this way, the spectrum of radiation corresponds to a mixed (non-pure) quantum state even if the internal state generating the black hole is expected to be pure in essence. In this paper we propose an argument solving this paradox by developing an understanding of the process by which spontaneous symmetry breaks when a black hole selects one of the many possible ground states and emits radiation as a consequence of it. Here, the particle operator number is the order parameter. This mechanism explains the connection between the density matrix, corresponding to the pure state describing the black hole state, and the density matrix describing the spectrum of radiation (mixed quantum state). From this perspective, we can recover black hole information from the superposition principle, applied to the different possible order parameters (particle number operators).

This paper aims to investigate the factors influencing men’s purchase intentions for skincare products, particularly focusing on the evolving attitudes toward masculinity, grooming and self-care. The study seeks to identify dimensions such as self-image, health concerns, masculinity and perceptions regarding skincare, along with the impact of social media use on men’s skincare purchase intentions.,The research uses an online questionnaire to gather data from 178 valid responses. The collected data is analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.,The results reveal that men’s skin health concerns significantly impact their purchase intention for skincare products. Self-image concerns and perceptions regarding skincare also emerge as influential determinants in shaping men’s purchasing decisions. Conversely, health concerns and social media platform use do not directly influence skincare purchase intention. Notably, self-image completely mediates the relationship between men’s social media usage and their intention to purchase skincare products.,The data is based on responses from an online questionnaire, which may introduce biases. In addition, the research focuses on specific personal variables and social media use, potentially overlooking other influential factors.,By recognizing the importance of men’s skin health concerns, self-image and perceptions regarding skincare, cosmetic companies can tailor marketing strategies to effectively target key dimensions to enhance sales of skincare products among men.,In a broader societal context, this research contributes to the ongoing evolution of attitudes. By identifying influential factors in men’s skincare purchase intention, the study sheds light on changing societal norms and perceptions. Acknowledging these shifts can lead to a more inclusive understanding of masculinity and contribute to breaking traditional stereotypes related to men’s grooming practices.,This research contributes to the understanding of men’s skincare purchase intention by exploring dimensions such as self-image, health concerns, masculinity and perceptions regarding skincare, in conjunction with the impact of social media use. The findings provide valuable insights, expanding on previous studies on men’s attitudes toward skincare products. The identification of self-image as a complete mediator is a novel contribution.

Purpose This research focuses on common misconceptions about the factors driving women to purchase footwear impulsively. Its primary objective is to explore how emotional and social triggers specifically influence women's purchasing decisions, contrasting with the traditionally rational consumer models. Design/methodology/approach An online questionnaire was administered to a sample of women, yielding 199 useable responses. Findings The findings reveal the key determinants of women's impulsive retail footwear purchases, which include self-regulation, hedonic motivations and the influence of the retail store environment. This research challenges the prevailing assumption that women's passion for shopping is driven solely by inherent characteristics and suggests that external factors substantially shape their impulsive buying behaviour. In summary, the stereotypical portrayal of women as compulsive retail footwear shoppers may result more from external stimuli and environmental factors rather than an intrinsic trait. Originality/value This study improves the existing knowledge of women’s impulsive buying behaviour by unveiling the determinants of women's impulsive footwear purchases and assessing whether prevailing stereotypes hold true.

Purpose The aim of this study is to explore the role and impact of action research in the adoption of circular economy strategies by a fashion retail brand. This exploration is motivated by the need to address the underutilization of action research in management studies, despite its potential to foster a deep understanding of organizational processes and to drive positive transformations. The study seeks to illustrate how action research can contribute to the practical implementation of sustainability initiatives, specifically within the context of new environmental legislation and growing demands for sustainable practices in retailing. Design/methodology/approach This research employs an action research methodology, particularly suited to the retail field, where understanding and influencing organizational processes are key. Through a detailed case study of a fashion retail brand, the study illustrates how action research facilitates the adoption of circular economy strategies. Findings The findings of this study underscore the effectiveness of action research in implementing circular economy strategies within the fashion retail industry. Specifically, it highlights how this approach has led to the successful reduction of waste and reintegration of products into their lifecycle. Originality/value The originality of this study lies in its thorough application of action research to measure and refine the outcomes of circular economy strategies in retailing. This novel approach provides substantial insights into the potential of the circular economy to drive practical innovations in business practices within retail.

This research unveils to predict consumer ad preferences by detecting seven basic emotions, attention and engagement triggered by advertising through the analysis of two specific physiological monitoring tools, electrodermal activity (EDA), and Facial Expression Analysis (FEA), applied to video advertising, offering a twofold contribution of significant value. First, to identify the most relevant physiological features for consumer preference prediction. We integrated a statistical module encompassing inferential and exploratory analysis tools, which identified emotions such as Joy, Disgust, and Surprise, enabling the statistical differentiation of preferences concerning various advertisements. Second, we present an artificial intelligence (AI) system founded on machine learning techniques, encompassing k-Nearest Neighbors, Support Vector Machine, and Random Forest (RF). Our findings show that the RF technique emerged as the top performer, boasting an 81% Accuracy, 84% Precision, 79% Recall, and an F1-score of 81% in predicting consumer preferences. In addition, our research proposes an eXplainable AI module based on feature importance, which discerned Attention, Engagement, Joy, and Disgust as the four most pivotal features influencing consumer ad preference prediction. The results indicate that computerized intelligent systems based on EDA and FEA data can be used to predict consumer ad preferences based on videos and effectively used as supporting tools for marketing specialists.

Purpose Retail omnichannel implementation faces barriers hindering accurate and efficient integration across marketing channels. Our desk examination identified a need for a broader perspective in investigating these barriers, moving away from a dominant, narrow approach. This research aims to develop a comprehensive set of items to measure retail omnichannel obstacles, refine the scale and assess its reliability and validity for a robust measurement tool. Design/methodology/approach Our approach combines quantitative and qualitative methods, using data from primary and secondary sources to create and validate the omnichannel obstacles scale. Findings This study emphasises the inclusive nature of retail functional areas, departing from prior literature that examined them in isolation. Instead of focussing on separate domains where retail omnichannel obstacles may arise, we adopt a holistic perspective by integrating previously disconnected elements. Originality/value We assert that challenges in retail omnichannel operations encompass three distinct dimensions: operational efficiency, channel inefficiency, and strategy and organisational culture within retailing. In our final validated measurement model, we consolidate the channel inefficiency dimension and refine the omnichannel obstacles scale to emphasise two areas of consideration.

Purpose Retail omnichannel implementation faces barriers hindering accurate and efficient integration across marketing channels. Our desk examination identified a need for a broader perspective in investigating these barriers, moving away from a dominant, narrow approach. This research aims to develop a comprehensive set of items to measure retail omnichannel obstacles, refine the scale and assess its reliability and validity for a robust measurement tool. Design/methodology/approach Our approach combines quantitative and qualitative methods, using data from primary and secondary sources to create and validate the omnichannel obstacles scale. Findings This study emphasises the inclusive nature of retail functional areas, departing from prior literature that examined them in isolation. Instead of focussing on separate domains where retail omnichannel obstacles may arise, we adopt a holistic perspective by integrating previously disconnected elements. Originality/value We assert that challenges in retail omnichannel operations encompass three distinct dimensions: operational efficiency, channel inefficiency, and strategy and organisational culture within retailing. In our final validated measurement model, we consolidate the channel inefficiency dimension and refine the omnichannel obstacles scale to emphasise two areas of consideration.

Purpose: This study explores the emotional impact of post-purchase guilt on younger consumers in the Chinese luxury retail market, with a specific focus on the role of Cause-related Marketing (CrM) in mitigating negative emotions across luxury and non-luxury product categories.Design/Methodology/Approach: A quantitative experimental design was utilized, involving 326 respondents exposed to different advertising scenarios. The study tested the impact of CrM on post-purchase guilt in both luxury (high-priced) and non-luxury (moderately priced) product conditions, using a 2 × 2 factorial design. The data were analyzed using ANCOVA to assess the effects of CrM campaigns across conditions.Findings: The results demonstrate that CrM effectively reduces post-purchase guilt across both luxury and non-luxury product categories, providing a moral justification for purchases by linking them to a positive social cause. However, contrary to expectations, the impact of CrM was not significantly stronger in the luxury context compared to non-luxury. This suggests that CrM's influence on post-purchase guilt operates uniformly, regardless of product type.Originality: This research enhances understanding Millennial and Gen Z consumer behavior in the Chinese luxury market. The findings offer actionable insights for luxury brands, highlighting the effectiveness of CrM in addressing guilt-related concerns, thereby informing marketing strategies aimed at younger generations.Keywords: post-purchase guilt, Millennials, Gen Z, Chinese luxury retail industry, cause-related marketing.Acknowledgments: The first author would like to thank CEGE – Research Centre in Management and Economics, funded by The Multiannual Funding Programme of R&D Centres of FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under the project UIDB/00731/2020. The fourth author would like to thank COMEGI funded by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under the project UIDB/04005/2020.DOI: https://doi.org/10.58869/EJABM10(3)/06

This research focuses on common misconceptions about the factors driving women to purchase footwear impulsively. Its primary objective is to explore how emotional and social triggers specifically influence women's purchasing decisions, contrasting with the traditionally rational consumer models.,An online questionnaire was administered to a sample of women, yielding 199 useable responses.,The findings reveal the key determinants of women's impulsive retail footwear purchases, which include self-regulation, hedonic motivations and the influence of the retail store environment. This research challenges the prevailing assumption that women's passion for shopping is driven solely by inherent characteristics and suggests that external factors substantially shape their impulsive buying behaviour. In summary, the stereotypical portrayal of women as compulsive retail footwear shoppers may result more from external stimuli and environmental factors rather than an intrinsic trait.,This study improves the existing knowledge of women’s impulsive buying behaviour by unveiling the determinants of women's impulsive footwear purchases and assessing whether prevailing stereotypes hold true.

The fifth Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations targets achieving gender equality by 2030, but recent progress has been sluggish. Gender inequalities in the labor markets may have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 recession. This paper aims to investigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on gender inequalities in the labor markets by...

The cosmological constant is normally introduced as an additional term entering the Einstein–Hilbert (EH) action. In this letter, we demonstrate that, instead, it appears naturally from the standard EH action as an invariant term emerging from spacetime symmetries. We then demonstrate that the same constraint emerging from this invariant suppresses the short wavelength modes and it favors the long wavelength ones. In this way, inside the proposed formulation, the observed value for the vacuum energy density is obtained naturally from the zero-point quantum fluctuations.

The mutual information method has demonstrated to be very useful for deriving the potential order parameter of a system. Although the method suggests some constraints which help to define this quantity, there is still some freedom in the definition. The method then results inefficient for cases where we have order parameters with a large number of constants in the expansion, which happens when we have many degenerate vacuums. Here, we introduce some additional constraints based on the existence of broken symmetries, which help us to reduce the arbitrariness in the definitions of the order parameter in the proposed mutual information method.

Theories and models try to describe the complexity of how people embrace and make use of innovations. The determinants of behavior concerning battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have traditionally revolved around factors such as vehicles’ price and range. Surprisingly, despite being small and one of the wealthiest territories in the world, Macau SAR faces challenges in BEV market penetration, underscoring the need to explore alternative causes of behavioral intention. To explain the adoption of technologies, this paper focuses on technology show-off (TS), which combines Rogers’ (2003) concepts of visibility and trialability of technology in a single construct as a determinant of behavioral intention. Therefore, when individuals perceive technology as more visible and available for trial, their behavioral intention to adopt it strengthens. Using structural equation modeling for quantitative analysis, this study examines the significance of TS in terms of the intention to adopt battery electric vehicles. The findings highlight the salience of the technology show-off construct in explaining behavioral intention, underscoring its significance in the context of modern society’s characteristics. This study contributes to advances in understanding technology acceptance and highlights the importance of incorporating experiential aspects (such as TS) into the traditional technology acceptance models.

After the Covid-19 Pandemic crisis in international economic relations it became evident that climate-smart aspects should be considered when re-establishing a new international trade order. International organizations have proclaimed that this momentum should be used to include climate-smart trade and investment provisions to enable sustainable development. It has been acknowledged that trade has an important role to play in the global response to climate change, providing economies with tools to draw on in their efforts to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its consequences. In this paper we focus the analysis on investigating the digital and sustainable component of trade facilitation measures applied in Western Balkans countries. To evaluate the importance of trade facilitation measures and their digital and sustainable components we apply standard gravity model with the data from UN Global Survey on digital and sustainable trade facilitation. The results show that trade facilitation measures are important for improving and increasing trade among the Western Balkans countries. Especially, measures connected to improving transparency procedures in trade and measures for alleviating trade formalities are most significant for increasing bilateral trade among Western Balkans countries. With a lower level of importance are the measures for improving cross-border paperless trade between these countries.

We demonstrate that black hole evaporation can be modeled as a process where one symmetry of the system is spontaneously broken continuously. We then identify three free parameters of the system. The sign of one of the free parameters governs whether the particles emitted by the black hole are fermions or bosons. The present model explains why the black hole evaporation process is so universal. Interestingly, this universality emerges naturally inside certain modifications of gravity.