Journal of Business and Retail Management Research

Purpose of the research: The purpose of this paper is to define pop-up stores.

Design/Methodology: Adopting an exploratory research design, semi-structured interviews and field observations were undertaken with brand managers of different types of pop-up stores and at different industry levels in Lebanon.

Results/findings: A pop-up store is guided by a clear strategy to meet specific objectives using available resources. Research findings highlight a clear distinction between pop-up stores developed by newly established brands and mature brands in terms of purpose and function. The two brand classes can each manifest in four types of pop-up stores: pop-up as a distribution channel, pop-up as a communications channel, pop-up as a distribution and communications channel and pop-up complementing a distribution channel.

Practical implications and conclusions: This study qualitatively explores brand managers’ understanding of pop-up stores, their perceptions and their uses in the Middle Eastern market; a market that hasn’t yet been explored in academic research related to these types of stores. It presents, defines and contextualizes a pop-up store and anchors it among new types of retail formats.

Purpose: Previous studies have highlighted the important role, fashion can play on one’s cognition and behaviour and how one’s body is impacted, especially people with disabilities. Due to the inconclusive results on the topic, we decided to undertake an empirical study in South Africa to determine how fashion can be used to help women with disabilities to deal with issues of body image, low esteem and negative mindset.

Literature review: The study reviewed the literature on body image and disability, body image and fashion as well as on fashion therapy and body image.

Methodology: The study adopted a qualitative research design while interviews were used as means of primary data collection. Data analysis was done by means of coding the participants’ responses before conclusions were drawn about the participants’ views. Findings: Findings reveal that fashion can help women with disabilities to deal with the issues related to low self-esteem and body image.

Implications: The study ends with recommendations to include other segments of the disabled community in the study, as well as to expand the study in the other parts of the country. The study adds a tremendous knowledge of how to better treat people with disability.

Purpose and context: The purpose of the study was to explore the construction of professionalism in a multiple professional bodies (MPB) landscape in South Africa (SA) and demonstrate how this construction can be used to enhance a professional accreditation regime. Professional accreditation has become a pre-requisite for business rescue practitioners (BRPs). The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) licensing is linked to multiple professional bodies’ knowledge and practices but are not generic. This study was guided by one key question: How do PBs providing BRPs construct professionalism, and to what extent can the existing construction of professionalism facilitate the development of a professional accreditation regime?

Research design and methods: A qualitative research design used required researchers to use four consecutive steps, namely (a) interviewing member services’ managers at four professional bodies (PBs); (b) systematic content analysis of codes of professional conduct and policy statements to identify constituent professionalism notions; (c) a systematic search of the literature to identify notions of professionalism mentioned in definitions and explanations of the construct; and (d) analysis of notions of professionalism using the constant comparison procedure to reveal critical themes.

Results: A total of 90 separate notions of professionalism were identified in the 192 scholarly papers included in our study. The identified themes within business rescue practitioner (BRP) professionalism (emphasising relational aspects) point to practitioner dealings with (i) clients (business rescue candidates); (ii) government and others; (iii) the PB; and (iv) oneself to gain the essence of occupation. There is fragmentation between the constructed conceptualisations of professionalism among PBs, leading to an incoherent and inconsistent expert accreditation regime.

Practical implications and value: The results from the indicated exploration steps were used to advance a programmatic framework to construct professionalism in an MPB landscape and set a future research agenda. The results also show that business rescue practitioners’ professionalism cannot be attained in a multi-professional body setting with an integrated professional accreditation framework.

The adoption of enterprise application architecture (EAA) for supply chain management (SCM) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) was influenced by the owner’s physiognomies and incitements (OPIs) on a routine basis. The study employs a quantitative approach based on a linear regression model, which uses diagnosis tests “Cronbach's Alpha, normal distribution, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test” that makes descriptive statistics possible on Pearson correlations, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson's Coefficients, and linear regression. The study examines whether OPIs affect the adoption of EAA for SCM in SMEs within Capricorn District Municipality. The paper exploits the original data set of 310 SMEs, targeting predominantly both SMEs’ owners and managers to run linear regression models with the dependent variable “actual adoption of EAA” and independent variable “OPIs”. A novel piece of authenticity for the models is the incorporation of OPIs within the SCM activities and whether there were any, collaborative influences affecting the adoption of EAA. The findings have a bearing on SMEs’ SCM growth strategies, directed towards the technology acceptance model.

Purpose: The effectiveness of leadership is critical at all levels of the organisation. Different organisations use a variety of leadership styles and methods to improve employee performance by inspiring them and providing them with adequate opportunities. The research purpose is to examine the impact of leadership styles on employee’s motivation in the automotive industry in the United Kingdom.

Methodology: The researchers used a deductive approach in conjunction with the quantitative method to determine the study's outcomes. A sample of 100 people was used for primary data using a questionnaire-based survey. Subjects are from the automotive industry, and the survey was carried out online.

Findings: According to the results, Democratic Leadership Style (DLS), Autocratic Leadership Style (ALS), Laissez-faire Leadership Style (LFLS), Situational Leadership Style (SLS), Transformational Leadership Style (TLS), and Charismatic Leadership Style (CLS) are among the six study variables that are highly significant in terms of employee motivation. Autocratic Leadership Style (ALS) and Charismatic Leadership Style (CLS) were determined to be the study's less significant variables (CLS). The findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between leadership styles and employee motivation.

Conclusion and study implications: The findings of this study can be used to develop strategies and achieve goals by developing and implementing a good leadership style. Transformational leadership is important, and leaders and managers should strive to demonstrate it in their daily activities. This study's findings have both academic and commercial implications. Leaders should use suitable styles and an inclusive and equitable incentive scheme to motivate employees by setting expectations.