In the context of luxury fashion stores, this study investigates the mediating role of the dimensions of store coolness (extraordinary, subcultural, iconic, and high status) in linking service quality of employees, store display, and store creativity with customers' behavioral intention and positive word-of-mouth (WOM). Additionally, the study examines whether price consciousness moderates any of these relationships. To gain a deeper understanding of how coolness is perceived in luxury fashion stores, we collected customer insights through interviews with 16 frequent store visitors. We then tested our proposed model using a survey administered to shoppers immediately after they visited luxury stores (N = 213). Our results indicate that the extraordinary and subcultural dimensions of coolness positively mediate the effects of store display and creativity on behavioral intention and positive WOM. However, the iconic dimension did not play a mediating role, while the high status dimension negatively mediated these paths, including those involving service quality. Finally, we found that price consciousness weakens the path from store creativity to the studied outcomes via the extraordinary dimension. Building on these findings, we provide managerial insights for designing luxury fashion store experiences that foster store coolness and positive customer responses.
Recent evidence links residential mobility, moving away from one's childhood region, to higher Dark Triad scores. We ask the mirror-image question. In a U.S. adult sample with known childhood and current state (N = 3958), respondents still living in their childhood state (stayers) scored higher on psychopathy than those who had moved away (movers). The difference was small and survived comparisons within origin state and birth cohort with the current state held fixed. Machiavellianism and narcissism showed no statistically significant adjusted difference. The stayer difference did not depend on sex or on how far movers had gone, and a state-level education proxy gave no sign of socioeconomic selection. Among movers, higher scorers on all three traits went to denser destinations, and higher psychopathy scorers to states with more homicide and inequality. Lifetime immobility and recent mobility thus relate to psychopathy in opposite directions, which is consistent with interstate moves being pulled by opportunities that reach high scorers less often. Individual socioeconomic status and reasons for moving were unmeasured.
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an unprecedented economic shock, disrupting business operations and demand across sectors. This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the capital structure of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Portuguese hotel sector, a core segment of the hospitality industry and one of the most severely affected by the crisis. Using a panel dataset of private hotel firms in Portugal, we find a significant reduction in total debt during the pandemic. Decomposing debt by maturity reveals that firms reduced short-term borrowing while expanding long-term financing, indicating a recomposition of the debt structure during the pandemic. Furthermore, when firms are segmented by size, the reduction in total leverage was concentrated among smaller, financially constrained firms, while the expansion in long-term financing was observed among larger, financially unconstrained firms. A further decomposition of total liabilities into financial and operating components reveals that financial and operating liabilities responded in opposite directions during the pandemic: operating liabilities contracted, while financial liabilities, notably long-term financial debt, increased. This study contributes to the literature on capital structure, corporate finance, and crisis management by providing one of the first empirical assessments of COVID-19's effects on SME financing in a tourism-dependent, bank-reliant economy, a context that remains understudied. It also extends prior research by focusing on private rather than public firms. By examining a highly vulnerable sector, the findings offer insights into financial resilience during crises and provide policy implications for improving liquidity access and strengthening financial stability among tourism-dependent hotel SMEs.
This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of gingival recession Type 1 (RT1) treatment using a coronally advanced flap (CAF) alone and in combination with L-PRF at 6 months. A total of 70 RT1 from 19 patients were included. Participants were randomly assigned to the test group (TG, CAF + L-PRF, n = 42) and the control group (CG) (CAF alone, n = 28). Clinical parameters were assessed at baseline and at 6 months: the primary outcomes were percentage of root coverage (
This study assessed the prevalence and risk factors associated with erosive tooth wear (ETW) among the adult population. Clinical examinations were conducted using the Basic Erosive Wear Examination index, which assesses the severity of ETW in six sextants of the oral cavity. The risk factors for ETW included: (1) socio-demographic characteristics, (2) general health conditions, (3) vitamin C consumption, (4) beverage consumption, (5) acidic foods and drinks, (6) dairy products, (7) use of fluoridated mouthwashes and toothpastes, and (8) type of toothbrush. A one-way ANOVA test and an independent sample t-test were used; a p-value of 0.05 was considered the threshold for statistical significance. A total of 312 participants were included; 174 (55.8
