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The discussion in recent decades about sustainable development issues has given rise to a new accounting dimension: social accounting. Currently, this issue remains an emerging theme. Although there are some studies and literature reviews, none include disclosure of social accounting information or the analysis of research paradigms. This article reviews the research on social accounting disclosure and tries to answer the following research questions: What research streams have been followed? Which theories and research paradigms have been used? The search for articles to be included in the literature review was performed through the Web of Science. The 126 articles obtained were later analyzed using Bibliometrix software. Results expose the growing interest in this theme and identify three distinct research lines (three clusters): Cluster 1—Social accounting disclosures, Cluster 2—Legitimacy vs. disclosure of social accounting, and Cluster 3—Motivations for disclosure of social accounting. The main contribute of this article resides, on the one hand, in the fact that no literature review articles have been found that include the theme of the disclosure of information on social accounting and, on the other hand, the treatment of data has been done with innovative software, an R package for bibliometric and co-citation analysis called Bibliometrix. As well as mapping the literature, another theoretical contribution of this study was identifying the main research approaches used in the studies. Within the paradigmatic plurality of social accounting research, the results suggest that social accounting research can also be critically addressed when addressing the sustainability challenges posed by climate change or carbon emissions, among many other aspects. This study is, to our knowledge, the first bibliometric review done about social accounting information disclosure.

This study aims to understand the dimensions associated with the behavior of the Slow Fashion consumer, their values, attitudes, and motivations, as well as to know in depth the literature related to Slow Fashion. The present article is a literature review related to the concept of “Slow Fashion”, and follows a qualitative methodology based on an in-depth literature review of 25 papers from the Scopus and Web of Science research databases. For this literature review, a content analysis was initially performed through a bibliometric analysis. Then, a mind map was developed where the five major dimensions related to Slow Fashion consumer behavior were identified: “ethical values”, “sustainable consumption”, “consumer motivations”, “consumer attitudes”, and “sustainability awareness”. We than related the mind map with the main conclusions of the literature review. The main limitation of this research results from the low number of published papers approaching the research concept. We were, however, able to identify the main concepts associated with the movement of Slow Fashion, thereby contributing to the available information on the variables that impact consumers’ purchasing decisions.

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the importance of service quality and store design as critical variables to promote differentiation and make consumers feel satisfied and committed to a retail brand. Retailers usually undervalue the store design as an element of the strategic mix. However, it may be one of the critical elements to increase retailers’ competitive advantages.Design/methodology/approachThis exploratory study was based on 349 valid responses to a questionnaire online through a snowball sampling approach analysed with structural equation modelling.FindingsThe results confirmed that customers’ service quality positively impacts their satisfaction and commitment to the retail brands. However, store design moderates the relationship between customer satisfaction and commitment. The consumers with a higher appreciation for store design presented a lower impact of satisfaction on their commitment to the retail brand. This result shows that a significant part of their satisfaction includes store design appreciation.Research limitations/implicationsThis exploratory study was restricted to the Portuguese market, and the sample resulted from a convenience snowball approach.Practical implicationsThe retailers should consider store design as an essential variable in their marketing plans to have satisfied and committed customers and be more competitive.Originality/valueResearch on consumers’ behaviour in the retail sector, including the assessment of store design, presents a great potential within the framework of consumer–brand relationship theory, but it is still under-researched. The new model presented highlights the role of store design as a moderator variable.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between product innovation and network and their export performance, particularly in trade fair context. Moreover, this paper conducts a comparative study among services/industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and considers the home-country context. Innovation and internationalization are stagnant themes in the recent literature on trade fairs, so they require to be renewed. Design/methodology/approach The empirical study includes a survey with 341 SMEs’ respondents separated into both industrial/producer and service/other. A conceptual model was developed and examined from three different perspectives: Model A encompasses all surveyed SMEs, Model B includes only industrial/producer SMEs and Model C comprises service/other SMEs. Data analysis happened in two steps. The first step included the structural equation model (SEM) and the assessment of hypotheses (from three different perspectives). Thus, it was possible to make a comparative analysis between the models. In the second step, the ordered logit model (OLM) is used to study relationships between control variables and the criteria variable export performance. Findings The SEM’s results confirm a conceptual model about a dynamic trajectory that SMEs, mainly industrial/producer, can take advantage of: innovate to networking and networking to export. The results allowed to verify when comparing services/industrial SMEs that the tangibility which characterizes the innovation of industrial SMEs' products contributed significantly to the performance of business networks and exports. The study also reveals, through the OLM, two catalysts for the success of the SME’s export performance: export experience and continued participation in trade fairs. The OLM results also reveal that the size of the companies is not relevant, so trade fairs are marketing tools accessible to any company, regardless of their size. Finally, the study considered home-country context of the surveyed SMEs, which allowed additional interpretations to be drawn. Research limitations/implications The study does not reflect the individual's personality in his network capacity and the export performance was measured based on the level of satisfaction and not on real sales results. However, the study provides relevant practical implications and can support future studies. Practical implications The study offers important implications for SME. The results reveal that presenting product innovations at trade fairs is a useful tool for SMEs to create networks, which facilitates their export performance, especially for industrial SMEs residing in small economies such as Portugal. This study is also relevant for business associations of industrial SMEs and/or public or semi-public SME promotion agencies. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature on trade fairs, suggesting a new innovation, networking, export (INE) framework to reflect on the participation in international trade fairs. So, this research especially combines product INE performance in a particular context – international trade fairs for SME. It also considers the home-country context of the SMEs, which adds depth to the study. Finally, the comparative study also provides insightful implications for industrial SMEs on how to improve the export performance from trade fairs by leveraging innovation and networking.