Retailers increasingly adopt diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives, yet limited evidence exists on whether and how consumers translate awareness of these initiatives into stronger customer relationships. Drawing on signaling theory, this study examines whether awareness of retailers' DEIA initiatives is associated with trust and loyalty, and whether this mechanism is consistent across annual samples and forms of diversity. Using a multi-wave repeated cross-sectional survey fielded across seven annual waves from 2019 to 2025, results show that awareness of DEIA initiatives is positively associated with trust, and trust is strongly associated with loyalty. The mechanism is consistent across all annual samples, while the magnitude varies to some extent. Although the results show variation across diversity forms, the trust-loyalty link remains consistently strong. These findings suggest that DEIA initiatives can operate as market signals for retailers’ broader customer base, with effects extending beyond the groups directly targeted by the initiatives. The study contributes to inclusive retailing research by connecting DEIA awareness with customer relationship outcomes and by showing that interventions should not be treated as interchangeable. For managers, the results highlight the importance of visible and context-sensitive DEIA initiatives embedded in the retail customer experience to support positive outcomes.
Although social inequality is widespread, managers do not necessarily perceive it as unfair. Across four field studies involving European managers, we investigate how mindfulness influences managers’ perceptions of distributive justice in society (PDJS). Three results emerge. First, mindfulness leads managers to perceive societal inequalities as more unfair. Second, social-justice awareness mediates this relationship. Third, organizational context conditions these effects: workplace ostracism weakens the positive influence of mindfulness on social-justice awareness and PDJS, whereas organizational justice buffers this detrimental effect. These results make three contributions. First, we extend mindfulness research by demonstrating its relevance to managers’ perceptions of societal outcomes. Second, we empirically support the mindfulness capability for social justice theory by identifying social-justice awareness as the key mechanism linking mindfulness to PDJS. Third, we establish organizational context as an important boundary condition, showing when the societal benefits of mindfulness are weakened or preserved.
Large language models (LLMs) challenge long‐standing assumptions in linguistics and linguistic anthropology by generating human‐like language without relying on rule‐based structures. This introduction to the special issue Language Machines calls for renewed engagement with LLMs as socially embedded language technologies. We trace the intellectual genealogy that led linguistic anthropology to sideline such technologies, highlighting how disciplinary boundaries and language ideologies shaped this absence. Arguing for the field's unique potential to analyze the semiotic, interactional, and ideological dimensions of LLMs, we invite future contributions that expand linguistic anthropology's scope and relevance in the age of machine‐mediated communication.
As seven of nine planetary boundaries are breached, management scholars face an urgent challenge: how can organizations address complex social-ecological crises that transcend traditional organizational boundaries and objectives? Responding to this need, researchers have leveraged a plurality of systems perspectives, yet current approaches remain nascent and fragmented. In this paper, we review 25 years (2000–2024) of empirical sustainability management research across 17 leading journals. We identify core systems properties—interrelatedness, nestedness, non-linearity, and emergence—that collectively illuminate four critical systems-wide dynamics: equilibrium, disequilibrium, adaptation, and organized systems change. This systematic review offers scholars a unified framework for theorizing and addressing critical sustainability challenges facing organizations, society, and the planet.
This study, based on long-term engineering practice, conducted a systematic analysis of the evolution process of the enterprise communication system from the application layer to the platform layer. By integrating the operation and maintenance records of multiple communication systems from 2014 to 2024, a quantitative study was carried out from dimensions such as function module reusability, operational complexity, and service capacity. The statistical results show that as the degree of system platformization increases, the reusability of core functional modules has risen from approximately 30% to over 65%. The annual maintenance manpower input has decreased by approximately 35% to 40%. The research results indicate that the platform-based architecture has significant advantages in supporting the long-term evolution and multi-service coordination of enterprise communication systems.
