This research aims to analyse consumers’ (Millennials and Gen Z) luxury consumption behaviour by focusing on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that drive consumption of luxury goods. Then, the study investigates whether they prefer to purchase offline or online for luxury goods. Lastly, it analyses which media most influences individuals when it comes to luxury consumption. An online survey is developed and distributed to Millennials and Gen Z. A first round of data collection took place in 2022 and a second round of data collection will take place at the beginning of 2024. Initial findings show that consumers are driven by intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivations when purchasing and who influences more when buying luxury online. Furthermore, it emerges that consumers prefer to shop offline, highlighting the importance of physical stores.

Generation Z is reported to have a precocious positive attitude to luxury while, in contrast to previous generations, caring less about status and more about ethics. Therefore, we study the predictors of luxury brand perceptions (the BLI dimensions and brand ethicality) and brand attitude as a consequence of it. We test our model based on survey data on perceptions of three luxury car brands by a sample of 218 Gen Z consumers in Germany. Our findings show that only three of the six proposed antecedents significantly predict luxury brand perceptions. Further, they show that to appeal to Gen Z consumers, luxury brands should focus on conspicuousness, hedonism, quality and ethicality. Overall, our findings call for more research on the evolving nature of luxury perceptions with younger generations.

Environmental concern has escalated as the climate crisis is an increasingly prevalent issue for the global society. Further catalysed by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, consumer behaviours are shifting, materialising in greener purchasing behaviour and heightened expectations of environmental brand practices. This phenomenon is affecting consumer attitudes and behaviour towards fashion brands. As such, credible environmental marketing strategies are increasingly central to brand success, influencing brand credibility perception.

Numerous studies suggested that Generation Z (Gen Z) is an age group that seeks individuality more than other generations. Their aesthetics, identity, and belief must represent their self-value. The consumption of fashion was selected as a focus of this study. Our consumption of fashion represents our value, and we construct and present our identity with physically what we wear when we face society daily. Looking at the fashion styles of Generation Z, this study aims to examine whether Generation Z in Hong Kong practice individuality or conformity in the course of their fashion consumption behaviour by a preliminary study. Generation Z perceives their fashion consumption behaviour to reflect their individualism and values. However, the findings suggest that there is a high degree of conformity among Generation Z's fashion consumption behaviour. This conformity is observed in the creation of a distinctive fashion style, which is influenced by the cultural aesthetics, values, and preferences of Generation Z, resulting in a unifying effect that goes unnoticed by the individuals. This complex formation of Generation Z fashion consumption behaviour has a complex implication to fashion marketing, where both the sense of exclusivity and conformity must both be exhibited to satisfy the consumption needs of Generation Z.

The current paper aims to understand green behavior from the perspective of Gen Z, the emerging consumers of a new tech-savvy world, driven by social media. We offer a novel definition of green behavior via the lens of consumer activism in the context of social media, the basis for purchase decision-making by Gen Z. Undertaking a review of extant literature, we also identify a conceptual model for green behavior as a form of consumer activism in social media. We identify perceived environmental transgression as a precursor to green behavior. We also study the less-studied moderators of green stigma and green skepticism, which are important both in the context of Gen Z as well as social media.

To address the existential threat of climate change, it is important to study environmentally sustainable products and marketing strategies to promote such products. A repurposed product is created by transforming old objects into something of greater value that serves a different purpose. For example, transforming an old tie into a coffee cup sleeve or turning a discarded oil can into a drum. Thus, repurposed products are one form of waste reduction via reuse. Repurposed products have become popular in the marketplace. There is, however, little research on repurposed product consumption. Furthermore, Gen Z is a relatively unexplored population in past research on sustainable consumption. To address these research gaps, our study identified segments of Gen Zers based on their perceptions of repurposed products via a person-centered approach. Our results provide strategies for effective marketing of repurposed products. Implications for marketers are provided.

In this paper, the conceptual spaces of the diachronic semantic evolution of “gen” are constructed through the diachronic literature surveys, then the cross-dialect/language semantic maps are drawn as a tool to examine the rationality of the diachronic evolution. “Gen (跟)” is an action verb with the meaning of “following (跟隨)”, in Chinese history the dominant words with the semantic field of “following” have experienced the diachronic evolution of “cong (從)”, “sui (隨)” and “gen (跟)”. The development of these three words not only follows the law of parallel grammaticalization, but also each has its own feature. From the comparison diachronic and cross-dialect /language semantic map of the “following (跟隨)” meaning, it can be seen that, non-cognate words with family characteristics may also have the same semantic evolution. Some phenomena in the synchronic regional semantic maps that violate the “semantic map connectivity hypothesis”, may not be due to the complete lack of connection between the two nodes, but due to the choice of semantics of a specific symbolic form in the diachronic development.

Initial situation and Problem Statement The world faces extraordinary challenges relating to the environment and society. Rapidly increasing demand is colliding with declining resources, the awareness of the need for environmental and social sustainability has grown (Martin & Schouten, 2014, p. 20). Due to these facts collaborative consumption has emerged and has disrupted various established industries all over the world. People’s attitude towards ownership and the way societies consume are changing (Chen, 2009, p. 926). Today, consumers are willing to pay for using or accessing a product rather than buying or owning it (Chen, 2009, p. 926). Gradually, consumers are turning their backs on the traditional consumer-oriented paradigm and over-consumption and are progressively looking for ways which downshift or simplify their lives (Albinsson, Wolf, & Kopf, 2010, p. 414). Collaborative consumption is driven by a variety of factors including the global recession, anti-hyper-consumerism, cost-consciousness as well as awareness of the need for a waste-reducing and sustainable living (Gansky, 2010, p. 16). The main drivers are technological advances, such as the internet and social media, which allow new ways of accessing and sharing. By using information technology, products and services can be reused, distributed and shared at the right time and location to the right customer (Gansky, 2010, p. 16). The most successful field of collaborative consumption is the one of tangible assets, such as clothing, which are not used to their full potential by their owners and can be therefore temporarily shared (Botsman & Rogers, 2010, p. XVI). Within the fashion industry many collaborative consumption concepts are developing and thriving (Pedersen & Netter, 2015, p. 259). Generation Y is interested in collaborative consumption and can identify with this phenomenon as it fits their increasingly ideological lifestyles (Höflehner, 2015). According to a study published by Mindshare in November 2015, 44 % of persons of Generation Y in Austria are aware of the prominent online collaborative consumption platforms and one out of ten has already participated in a fashion-sharing activity (Mindshare, 2015). In 2014, 8.5 billion euros were spent on clothing (Statista, 2016), whereas almost 60 % consisted of fast fashion items (Ökosoziales Forum, 2013). On average, a person has 90 clothing items in their wardrobe, and more than half, is not used at all any more. Moreover, the average item is worn for about a month before its usage drops significantly (Threadflip, 2014) or the item gets disposed of in spite of still being in good condition (Shephard & Pookulangara, 2014, p. 11). Online collaborative consumption for fashion can help expand products’ life-cycles, as unneeded or unwanted fashion items can be easily rented, lent, given or sold to other consumers by using various online platforms available (Fletcher & Grose, 2012, p. 88). However, hardly any research was found that specifically focus on online collaborative consumption for Gen Y and examine the influencing factors Research Aim and Research Methods The aim of this study was to find out about the determinants influencing the intention to participate in online collaborative consumption for fashion items among Gen Y taking as an example young adults in Austria. Additionally, the factors, which can increase participation should be identified. In order to find out the influencing determinants, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 of Venkatesh et al. (2012) will serve as the basis for the applied research construct. The following research questions are to be answered in this study: RQ: Which factors have an influence on consumer's intention to participate in online collaborative consumption for fashion among Generation Y in Austria? SubQ: Which measures help Generation Y in Austria to be more motivated to participate in online collaborative consumption for fashion?. In order to be able to provide answers to the research questions a quantitative study in the form of an online questionnaire (n= 219) among respondents of Gen Y in Austria was carried out. A number of research hypotheses have been developed in order to identify a possible influence of several variables on the intention to participate in online collaborative consumption for fashion items, mainly focusing on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) and on the Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 of Venkatesh et al. (2012). Theoretical Background Theory of Planned Behaviour by Ajzen (1991) The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was presented by Ajzen in 1991 as an extension of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) by Ajzen and Fishbein, introduced in 1975 (Teo & Lee, 2010, p. 60). Both models are part of the multiattribute models. The theory of reasoned action tries to offer an explanation for a performed behaviour. The idea behind the theory is that behaviour is performed due to an intention to perform that behaviour. The intention is influenced by the subjective norm and the attitude towards the behaviour. The TRA thereby attempts to predict the possibility of the occurrence of a specific behaviour (Schwenkert, 2006, p. 27). Although it can be said that no behaviour can be predicted with a 100% certainty there are several studies that unveil that the intention to perform a behaviour makes a significant contribution to the actual performance. The intention is the motivational factor behind the behaviour. It indicates “how hard people are willing to try, of how much of an effort they are planning to exert, in order to perform the behaviour” (Ajzen, 1991, p. 180). The main variables of the model are the Subjective Norm and the Attitude towards the Behaviour. Subjective Norm (SN) can be described as the assumption of the individual that people important to the individual are expecting the behaviour to be performed. In other words, that people close to the individual think that the behaviour should be performed by him or her (Schwenkert, 2006, pp. 27-28; Teo & Lee, 2010, p. 61). This belief somehow conveys a sense of unconscious social pressure for the individual – the pressure to perform as the norm demands. Some researchers have found that the social norm does not have as much influence on the intention to perform a specific behaviour as originally assumed (Li, Mizerski, Lee & Liu, 2009, p. 233). It has been found that the culture also tends to have an impact on the influence of the Subjective Norm. People living in an individualistic culture have a tendency to be not as influenced by social pressure as people living in a collectivistic culture (Li et al., 2009, p. 234). This may result in the fact that in collectivistic cultures the opinion of the group is highly important and therefore often followed. In individualistic cultures people are not that influenced by others which may explain those differences in the impact of the Subjective Norm. The TRA involves another variable – the Attitude towards the Behaviour (AtB). As the phrase already suggests, it does not describe the attitude towards an object, but the attitude towards the behaviour itself (Schwenkert, 2006, p. 27). The individual has a positive or negative feeling about the behaviour which influences the intention to perform it, is influenced. The attitude towards a specific behaviour is connected with one’s inner beliefs about the consequences of executing it. Therefore, also the possible consequences and outcomes of the behaviour are evaluated. If they are seen or predicted as positive the possibility of the intention to exert the behaviour is high, and so is the possibility of an actual performance (Li et al., 2009, p. 233; Teo & Lee, 2010, p. 61). As the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is an extension of the TRA, there has been added another variable – the Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC). The PBC points out the “perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behaviour” (Li et al., 2009, p. 234). By adding this variable Ajzen tried to include the element of uncertainty and to increase the ability to predict the behaviour. Studies show that the accuracy of prediction is higher than with the TRA but still the cognitive processes are in the foreground (Kroeber-Riel & Gröppel-Klein, 2013, p. 236). Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology by Venkatesh et al. (2012) The original Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was constructed by Venkatesh et al. in 2003 after reviewing eight existing popular models for IT adoption. The eight models revised were The Model of PC Utilisation, Innovation Diffusion Theory, Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), Motivational Model (MM), Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Technology of Acceptance Model (TAM and TAM2), Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Combined TAM/TPB (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003, pp. 428-433). The UTAUT was mainly created for IT corporate use. The extension, the UTAUT2, was developed in 2012 by Venkatesh et al. to make it applicable in consumer contexts and it is used to study new technology applications (Venkatesh, Thong, & Xu, 2012, p. 158). The UTAUT2 consists of seven variables that have an influence on Behavioural Intention. Behavioural Intention is a determinant for adoption of the Use Behaviour. Variables that refer to an individual’s difference, namely age, gender and experience, are used to moderate various relationships within the model. Performance Expectancy is the extent to which consumers gain benefits in their performance when using a technology. From reviewing the eight prior models, Venkatesh et al. (2003) have developed the construct Performance Expectancy, which pertains to Perceived Usefulness (TAM/TAM2), Outcome Expectations (SCT) and Extrinsic Motivation (MM), which refers to the behaviour that is driven by external rewards. According to Venkatesh et al. (2003) it is the strongest predictor of Behavioural Intention (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003, p. 447). Effort Expectancy is the “degree of ease associated with consumers’ use of technology” (Venkatesh, Thong, & Xu, 2012, p. 159). In general, the easier a technology it is to use in the adoption phase, the more positive the attitude towards said technology (ibid.). Social Influence is defined as the degree to which consumers think it is important that others, such as family and friends, believe they should use a certain technology. This construct refers to the Subjective Norm in TRA and TBP. Prior research suggests that individuals, who are not well informed about the technology in question, are more likely to intend to use the technology, if other, well-informed, peers use said technology (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003, p. 453). Facilitating Conditions refer to the extent to which consumers “believe that an organisational and technical infrastructure exists to support use of the system” (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003, p. 453). Hedonic Motivation, or intrinsic motivation, refers as the enjoyment or pleasure derived from using a technology. It is shown to be an important factor in determining technology acceptance and use in consumer contexts (ibid.). Price Value is an important value in a consumer use setting as the consumer usually pays for the technology application or the use of it. The Price Value is positive and adds to explaining the Behavioural Intention to use when the benefits of using the technology perceive to outweigh the costs (ibid.). Finally, Habit is the degree to which people tend to behave automatically because of learning (Limayem, Hirt, & Cheung, 2007, p. 718). Conclusions Summary The empirical study has shown that the factors Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating Conditions, Hedonic Motivation, Price Value and Sustainability have an influence on the Behavioural Intention to participate in online collaborative consumption for fashion. Firstly, it has been hypothesized that Performance Expectancy has an influence on the intention to use online collaborative consumption for fashion. As it turns out, the results showed no significant difference. Therefore, consumers might find other ways of acquiring clothing more appropriate and better suited. The second examined factor is Effort Expectancy, defined as how easy it is for consumers to use the technology. The results display that this factor shows a significant, positive influence on the intention to participate. This is in accordance with results of Venkatesh et al. (2012, p. 159), stating that the easier a technology is to use, the more likely is its adoption. The third factor, Social Influence, explains whether consumers feel it is important that other people, such as family and friends, think they should use a technology. As it turns out, this variable is positively and highly significantly related to the adoption of online collaborative consumption for fashion. Prior research proposes that persons, who are less informed about the technology, are more likely to use it if other influential persons use said technology (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003, p. 453). Next, Facilitating Conditions were investigated as a potential factor influencing the intention to participate in online collaborative consumption for fashion. It was hypothesized that Facilitating Conditions, such as the access to a technological device with access to the Internet, have an influence on the adoption of online collaborative consumption. According to the results of the study, this variable has a highly significantly correlation to the outcome variable Behavioural Intention. The results also show that Hedonic Motivation is significantly and positively related to the Behavioural Intention. Thus, utilitarian and hedonic components of online consumption need to be taken in consideration, as has been shown by previous research in the context of traditional online shopping (Childers, Carr, Peck, & Carson, 2001, p. 533). The sixth investigated factor was Price Value, which is considered positive when the benefits of using the technology perceive to outweigh the costs. In this research, Price Value is a positive and highly significant predictor for the intention to use online collaborative consumption for fashion. Therefore, the outcomes of the study show that Price Value influences the intention to participate in online collaborative consumption for fashion. The next two factors of the research model, Trust and Sustainability, played a tremendous role when discussing collaborative consumption and even are considered main principles of collaborative consumption in the literature. As expected, Sustainability showed a highly significant and positive impact on Behavioural Intention. As mentioned before, this predictor accounted for 28 % of the total contribution of the research model. Trust did not significantly influence the adoption of online collaborative consumption for fashion. This result might be based on the fact that respondents feel insecure when interacting with strangers on the Internet in order to sell, buy or rent fashion items. Managerial Implications Several implications for retailers could be deduced from the results: According to this study, especially the factors Hedonic Motivation and Sustainability account each for 28 % of explaining the contribution to Behavioural Intention to use online collaborative consumption for fashion. Considering these insights, platforms dedicated to online collaborative consumption for fashion might put emphasis on these factors and increase their level of enjoyment and social interaction. For instance, platforms could boost these factors by including the usage of gamification. This way, the level of fun and pleasure for persons can be enhanced which in turn may lead to the adoption of online collaborative consumption behaviour. Additionally, in order to increase the social factor, online forums and discussion groups might not only help to express users’ experiences, reviews or interests, but also generate general social interaction, which is considered as very important for the participation in collaborative consumption. Furthermore, the study has shown that two thirds of the sample would welcome the possibility of fast fashion retailers offering online collaborative consumption activities. Since there are still a limited number of persons aware of the phenomenon of collaborative consumption, the alternative of peer-to-peer exchange in collaboration with a prominent fast fashion retail chain would be a perfect alternative. Instead of being tied to relatively unknown platforms dedicated to collaborative consumption for fashion, persons would most certainly be more aware and more willing to participate in such practices, if a well-known, established retailer would allow collaborative activities. Moreover, the aspect of sustainability seemed to be a crucial factor for the intention to use online collaborative consumption platforms for fashion. For this reason, platforms should communicate this aspect and publicise the fact that using collaborative consumption activities is an environmentally friendly, To conclude with, more than half of respondents would need more information about the topic in order to participate. Existing online platforms should invest in effective communication strategies or inexpensive guerrilla campaigns in order to attract more users. As the results of this study show, if persons are better informed and more aware of this phenomenon and its advantages, the better are the chances for adoption of collaborative consumption for fashion.

A novel halophilic archaeon designated strain CBA1114T was isolated from solar salt in the Republic of Korea. Strain CBA1114T, which is a coccoid and stained Gram-negative, grew in the presence of 15-30% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 20%) and at 20-50°C (optimum, 40°C) and pH 7.0-9.0 (optimum, pH 8.0). Strain CBA1114T required Mg2+ for growth. Strain CBA1114T had three 16S rRNA genes, rrnA, rrnB and rrnC; similarities between the sequences were 99.7 and 99.9%. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain CBA1114T showed a 91.7% similarity to that of Haloterrigena thermotolerans PR5T. In multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA), five housekeeping genes, atpB, EF-2, radA, rpoB’ and secY, were found to be closely related to those of the members of the genera Halorientalis (89.7% similarity of the atpB gene sequence), Halomicroarcula (91.9 %, EF-2), Haloterrigena (85.4 %, radA), Natronoarchaeum (89.2 %, rpoB’) and Natrinema (75.7 %, secY). A phylogenetic tree generated from the results of 16S rRNA gene and MLSA of the five housekeeping genes showed that strain CBA1114T was closely related to the species of the genus Halorientalis in the family Halobacteriaceae. The major polar lipids were identified as phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester and unidentified lipids. According to the results of phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic analyses, we designate strain CBA1114T as Halostella salina gen. nov., sp. nov., which represents a novel species of a novel genus within the family Halobacteriaceae.

Systematic studies within the family Pterophoridae have been determined by external morpholgical characteristics (Yano 1963, Spuler 1910, Meyrick 1910). However, it is sometimes to be the result of species misplacement by the variation, depending on geographic isolation and genetic drift (Moran, 1986; Shufran et al., 2000; Anstead et al., 2002; Margaritopoulos et al., 2006). The genus Platyptilia Hübner [1925] is one of the largest genera of the family comprising more than 100 species according to the World’s Catalog by Gielis (2003) mainly distributed from Palaearctic and Afrotropical regions. Within the genus, Platyptilia ignifera has been suspected as very differentiated from other congeneric species in the morphological characters. In this study, to ascertain a placement of the species, we performed molecular analysis with one mitochondrial gene, COI and one nuclear gene, 28S, and morphometric analysis based on six ratios characters using principal components analysis (PCA). The sequences of the two genes, COI, 28S, implied that Platyptilia ignifera separated from Platyptilia spp. In addition, P. ignifera exhibited morphological characteristics distinct from other congeneric species. Based on these results, we propose that Neoplatyptilia gen. nov., for Platyptilia ignifera.

Park (2001) described a new species of Tisis Walker, which was the first lecithocerid recognized from Thailand. Subsequently, several taxonomic papers on the family in Thailand have been published, in which more than 50 new taxa were described (Park, 2002a-b; 2003a-c; 2004; 2005a-b; 2006a-b). For the genus Torodora Meyrick, Park (2002a, 2007) described 18 new species from Thailand. Recent study of the lecithocerid moths collected in Thailand during 1980 revealed two species with venation that does not match that of any of the known genera of the family. The two species look more or less similar each other in the forewing coloration, but the shape of the wings and their venation are quite different. Generally, for the genus-level taxonomy in the family Lecithoceridae, the wing venation has been treated as most important character distinguished genera, and many genera of the family, more than 40% of the known genera, were established as monotypic by early workers (Meyrick, 1925; Gozmäny, 1978), based on their different venations. Although the wing venation is an important character to define the generic status of the family, the combination of venations with the other morphological characters including genital character should be considered. For these reasons, many small genera of the family are needed to be revised with a result in comparison of more characters other than wing venation. In this study, two new genera, Caveana gen. nov. and Triviola gen. nov., belonging to the subfamily Torodorinae, based on Caveana diemseoki sp. nov. and Triviola puiensis sp. nov. are described. At the same time, two new Torodora species, T. karismata sp. nov. and T. youwon sp. nov., are also described from Thailand. Images of adults and genitalia are given. Specimens examined are based on the collection of the Osaka Prefecture University, collected in Thailand by Japanese specialists during 1980

The ubiquitous, which is developed for human's convenience, uses the concept of situation awareness that communicates with computer and performs a certain work without user's recognition. In order to collect the information of situation, many devices are required. Also, in the condition of ubiquitous middleware, priority is given to effective controls of various devices. There are many devices for collecting the information of situation awareness such as sensor, RFID, etc. Among them, in the use of RFID, the researcher performed the experiment, in which multiple readers were used depending on the necessity of awareness information, and found the problem of intervention between readers occurring when multiple readers are used. The paper handles the problem of intervention causing from using multiple readers and suggests middleware design module using session manager to solve the problem.