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This study is aimed to develop a novel intuitionistic fuzzy P-graph with Gaussian membership function to help decision-makers deal with complex process network systems.

Two fuzzy P-graph case studies of the cogeneration system were selected, and relevant data were collected, including the structure and flow sequence of the system, and the rate of material and product transitions between the operating units. Gaussian function membership was set according to the restriction of fuzzy upper and lower bounds. Then the α-cut was used to obtain different upper and lower bound restrictions of each membership degree. After finding the optimal and suboptimal solutions for different membership degrees, the results of non-membership and hesitation were calculated.

The proposed method will help the decision maker consider the risk and provide more feasible solutions to choose the optimal and suboptimal solutions based on their own or through experience. The proposed model in this study has more flexibility in operation and decision making.

This study is the first to propose a novel intuitive fuzzy P-graph and demonstrates the effectiveness and flexibility of the method by two case studies of the cogeneration system. However, the addition of hesitation can increase the error tolerance of the system. Even for the solutions with a high degree of membership, optimal and suboptimal solutions still exist for the decision maker to select. Since decision makers expect the higher achievement of the target requirements; thus, it is important to have more feasible solutions with a high degree of membership.

Prior work underscores the important role of customer advocacy for brands. The purpose of this study is to explore the critical role customers can play as brand heroes. The authors developed and validated a measurement scale composed of properties that are derived from distinct brand hero motivational mechanisms.

The authors conducted one exploratory pilot, using semi-structured interviews, with industry and academic experts, and employed three main studies across varying brands and market settings.

This study explores and empirically demonstrates how the brand hero scale (BHS) is related to, yet distinct from, existing scales of opinion leaders, market mavens, attachment and customer advocacy. The six-item BHS demonstrates convergent, discriminant, nomological and predictive validity across several different brand contexts.

This research extends the extant body of work by identifying and defining brand heroes, developing and validating a parsimonious BHS, and demonstrating how its predictive validity extends both to a range of key advocacy and loyalty customer behaviors.

The study provides provocative insights for marketing researchers and brand managers and ascertains the important role heroes may play for brands in terms of strong customer advocacy and loyalty behaviors.

Building on the theory of meaning, this study shows that identifying and working with brand heroes is of great managerial importance and offers critical avenues for future research.

Higher education institutions (HEI) are acknowledged as a key driver for the development of sustainable societies, so much so that some profess education for sustainable development to be the most fundamental of the United Nation’s (UN) 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). This chapter provides an overview of the chapters in the book: Higher Education for the SDGs, divided into two themes, namely (i) Research from the Global North and Global South and (ii) Rethinking curriculum.

This chapter compares the current biodiversity practices of higher education institutions (HEIs) and their learning effects of the Global North and South. It particularly explores the HEIs’ strategies targeting biodiversity and ecosystem services preservation. In order to answer the research question, a qualitative content analysis of published sustainability reports of the systematically selected HEIs was performed. The Times Higher Education (THE) was used to select HEIs. The results show that biodiversity reporting and management is still in its early stages in HEIs from both the Global North and South and could benefit from further research and suggestions for improvement. One implication for the HEIs is that they could increase public awareness and knowledge of biodiversity through the integration of this topic into their curricula, more research projects on biodiversity, and operations on and off campus.

The purpose of this paper is to examine people’s knowledge about carbon reduction, environmental consciousness, carbon reduction intentions, and behaviours in Taiwan. The importance of this study is to reveal whether individuals with higher carbon reduction knowledge level have higher carbon reduction intentions and further take actions.

In total, eight questions about the causes and facts of carbon emissions were designed to examine respondents’ levels of knowledge. The New Ecological Paradigm Scale was utilised to measure respondents’ attitudes towards the environment and further to examine how those attitudes were linked to knowledge. Ten questions related to carbon reduction intentions in food consumption, transportation, energy saving, recycling and shopping were designed, another set of ten questions related to carbon reduction behaviours were included in the questionnaire. A formal survey using personal interviews was administered in Taipei, Taiwan following the age and gender distributions of the population.

Findings in this study indicate that people with higher knowledge levels about carbon reduction have a stronger environmental consciousness; however, they tend to have higher intentions in carbon reduction but not in actions. Findings in this study reveal that knowledge levels about carbon reduction cannot be used as indicators of carbon reduction behaviours.

The findings in this study provide information for the veracity of the general public with relatively high education levels and are aware of the severity of the carbon emission issue in Taiwan but not motivated to take actions in carbon reduction. Implications of this study are that although enhancing the general public’s environmental consciousness by building up their relevant knowledge of carbon reduction through education can be essential, encourage individuals to make environmentally friendly purchasing decisions, reduce energy consumption and waste, recycle, and be conservative with materials not easily decomposed naturally is fundamental.

Due to the fact that people living on islands and in densely populated coastal areas are those affected by climate changes severely, findings in this study provide valuable information for the education of the general public in Taiwan and other countries in the region.

This study aims to evaluate the current situation of education for sustainable development, climate change education and environmental education in a nationwide context. Methodologically, this study calls for more research to go beyond case studies and take a similar approach to examine university curricula and facilitate cross-country comparisons.

This paper examines the status of climate and sustainability curricula in Taiwan’s higher education system. Using the course catalog for the 2020–2021 academic year, the authors constructed a unique data set that includes 1,827 courses at 29 major universities in Taiwan. In each institution, the authors search for course titles that include “climate,” “sustainable/sustainability” and “environment/environmental” as keywords and code the courses according to their disciplines.

The finding highlights the variations across institutional types and subject matters. Public universities have an average of 4.94 related courses per 1,000 students, whereas private universities have only 3.13. In general, the relevant courses are more concentrated in the STEM and bioscience fields. The curricula, however, are seriously constrained by the disciplinary structure and foster few transdisciplinary perspectives.

The authors seek to go beyond case studies and offer one of the most comprehensive curricula samples at the national level. Taiwan adds an important data point, as the current literature focuses heavily on the USA and Europe.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of career plateau (hierarchical and job-content plateau) on internal employability, and to investigate psychological contract breach as a moderator on the relationship between career plateau (hierarchical and job-content plateau) and internal employability.

Data were collected by distributing paper-based questionnaires to 521 workers in private banking sectors in Taiwan. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the results of the relationships.

The results supported the idea that career plateau (hierarchical and job-content plateaus) could be a significant antecedent of internal employability. Psychological contract breach significantly moderated the negative relationship between career plateau (hierarchical and job-content plateau) and internal employability. Specifically, the negative relationship between career plateau and internal employability will be stronger for employees who perceive a higher level of psychological contract breach.

These findings can help human resource practitioners gain a better understanding of the value of applicable approaches as an influence on a plateaued employee’s perception of internal employability, and to facilitate a positive employer–employee relationship, which could foster both a successful career for an individual and a prosperous performance for the organization that employs them.

Career plateau have been aroused variety issues in HR practice, but employability and psychological contract breach have barely been discussed with career plateau. This study empirically establishes the correlation between career plateau and internal employability as well as shown that psychological contract breach would decrease the plateaued individual’s willingness to stay in the current organization. Thus, the career plateau may provide organizations with a helpful perspective on one’s career development. Building substantial relationships between employees and employers lead to better human capital for organizations as it deals with rapidly changes in the real world.

The paper focuses on social capital as the characteristic of social groups that promote coordination; moreover, social identity plays a key role in the construction of group relationships. However, few research studies have looked at how the social capital of social networking sites (SNSs) is related to the social identity of its members. Drawing on social capital and social identity theory, this study investigated the effects of SNS social capital (shared language, social trust and network density) on social identity and continuous participation. The mediating role of social identity was also investigated.

In total, 444 SNS members volunteered to participate in this study. Structural equation modeling was applied to analyze a conceptual model.

The results revealed that SNS social trust and network density directly and significantly affected the social identity and continuous participation behavior of members. SNSs using a shared language positively affected social identity, but this was not directly associated with continuous participation behavior.

Because the network externalities of SNSs exert critical effects on user benefits, attracting continuous user participation remains one of the critical challenges for SNS administrators. Both the theoretical and practical implications of this study can aid SNS administrators in developing effective continuous participation strategies.

The peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-07-2021-0369

For decades, consumer identification and motivation, either alone or jointly, have been essential constructs for behavioral researchers. The resultant output is significant in terms of both quality and quantity. However, at a deeper level, a lack of conceptual clarity in the relationship between these constructs has led to theoretical and practical irregularities, which this study aims to address.

An online questionnaire was distributed to sport consumers aged over 18 participating in an online panel, prompted 293 completed responses. Structural equations modeling was used to examine the data.

Findings show that identification mediates the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on sport supporters’ loyalty and explain 90% of the variance in that construct. In addition, identification mediates the adverse effects of extrinsic motivation on loyalty and strengthens loyalty when levels of satisfaction decline.

This study extends previous work by providing a theoretical perspective that clarifies the relationship between motivation and consumer identification; deepens theory by empirically observing the relationship at different levels of consumer satisfaction; and presents a parsimonious, valid and reliable method that managers can leverage to strengthen sport supporters’ loyalty.