Creative Business and Sustainability Journal

Solo Fashion Shopping in Department Stores: Unique Style Journeys of Thai Female Customers

2025-12-01T14:45:26+07:00

The rise of solo shopping behaviour across urban centres in Asia reflects cross-sociocultural transformations, including increased individualisation, the postponement of traditional family marriage, and evolving gender norms that afford women greater independence in public and consumer spaces. This study investigates solo fashion shopping among young women in Thailand a topic largely absent from fashion and consumer behaviour literature despite its increasing relevance in everyday life. Based on in-depth interviews with fifteen women aged 23 to 36 residing in major Thai cities, this research uncovers how solo shopping is a practice of self-direction, emotional regulation, identity construction, and lifestyle performance. Five key themes are identified: seeking independence, self-reflection, emotional restoration, focused decision-making, and the influence of retail environments. Participants described shopping alone not as a fallback but as a preferred mode of consumption that allows greater clarity, freedom, and self-exploration. This paper positions solo fashion shopping as a cultural and emotional act shaped by the transformation of Thai femininity and consumer culture. The findings investigate the understanding of gendered buying and use by drawing attention to how autonomy, cultural expectations, and personal routines converge within the context of solo fashion shopping, offering a lens through which to reconsider women’s consumer agency in everyday life. At the same time, the study provides practical insights for fashion retailers navigating changing consumption patterns in contemporary Southeast Asia.

The Mediating Role of Customer Trust in the Relationship Between Online Platform Quality Dimensions and Repurchase Intention

2025-12-25T16:37:27+07:00

This study examines how different dimensions of online platform quality influence repurchase intention through the mediating role of customer trust. Using survey data and multiple regression analysis, the results show that only information quality, service support quality, and security and privacy significantly predict trust and repurchase intention, while system quality and user interface quality have no direct impact. Customer trust demonstrates a strong mediating effect, indicating that trust is the primary mechanism linking platform evaluations to loyalty behaviors. The study refines digital commerce theory by highlighting the heterogeneous contributions of platform quality dimensions and provides practical guidance for platform operators to strengthen trust through accurate information, responsive service, and robust security. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Networking and Promotability across Management Levels: A Case from Thailand

2026-01-06T10:27:03+07:00

This study addresses gaps in the literature on networking and managerial careers by examining the differential effects of networking across managerial levels in Thailand, an emerging market with distinct cultural characteristics. A questionnaire survey was conducted with Thai managers, yielding 324 usable responses for analysis (165 first-line managers and 159 middle managers). The results support a moderated mediation model in which networking partially mediates the relationship between extraversion and promotability, with the strength of this mediation varying across managerial levels. Specifically, the career benefits of networking diminish as managers advance in their careers, with stronger effects observed among first-line managers. These findings are interpreted through Role Theory, together with Thailand’s high-context, collectivist, and high power-distance cultural environment, which shapes the effectiveness of networking in managerial careers. Overall, the study extends the networking and managerial career literature by showing that the career value of networking is contingent on both role-based behavioral expectations and culturally embedded cues that influence trait expression. The findings further suggest that organizations should support networking as a strategic career development tool while addressing the distinct needs of managers at different career stages.

The Digital-Cultural Nexus: Brand Development Mechanisms of Small and Medium-sized Tea Enterprises in Guizhou, China

2025-12-25T16:44:05+07:00

This study investigates how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in traditional industries leverage digital platforms and cultural resources for brand building amid digital transformation. Focusing on China’s Guizhou tea sector, it integrates Resource Orchestration and Institutional Theory to propose a Digital–Cultural Coupling Framework (DCCF). A qualitative multiple-case design was adopted, drawing on triangulated data from interviews, firm documents, policy reports, and digital platform analytics. Thematic analysis reveals three core coupling mechanisms: (1) the institutionalization and narrative transformation of cultural resources, (2) the strategic use of digital platforms as infrastructures for meaning-making and trust-building, and (3) entrepreneurial orchestration across institutional and technological networks. The study extends existing theories by explaining how resource-constrained SMEs achieve brand legitimacy and differentiation through digital–cultural synergy. Practically, the DCCF offers transferable insights for SMEs and policymakers in developing economies seeking to integrate digital governance with cultural value creation to enhance regional competitiveness.

Unlocking the Growth-Value Puzzle: The Strategic Role of Tax Planning in Value Creation in the Thai Capital Market

2025-12-26T09:36:22+07:00

This study examines the effect of sales growth on firm value, emphasizing the moderating role of tax planning within the frameworks of agency theory and the resource-based view. Using firm-level data from the SETSMART database, comprising 1,840 firm-year observations from companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the study investigates how growth and tax strategy jointly shape firm valuation. The findings challenge the traditional belief that firm growth automatically enhances firm value. The results indicate that growth alone is insufficient for value creation; in the absence of effective strategic management and governance, growth may lead to operational risks, overinvestment, or agency conflicts that erode firm value. When tax planning is introduced as a moderating factor, its dual role becomes evident. Well-designed, transparent, and well-governed tax planning enhances financial flexibility, preserves cash flows, and enables firms to convert sales growth into sustainable economic value. In contrast, aggressive or poorly governed tax practices may be perceived as risky or opportunistic, weakening the value implications of growth and leading to lower firm valuation. Overall, the study highlights that the quality of growth matters more than its quantity, and that this quality is critically shaped by tax strategy and corporate governance mechanisms. The findings suggest that sustainable firm value in the Thai capital market depends not only on how much firms grow, but also on how effectively that growth is managed, financed, and governed.

The Structural Challenges on Coordinating a Local Business Network Towards a Sustainable Community-Based Tourism

2025-12-23T16:16:58+07:00

The purpose of this study is to illustrate the structural challenges on coordinating a local business network towards a sustainable community-based tourism. Scholarly works have given theoretical insights and support for developing a sustainable community-based tourism with ideas on how to get locals to participate but not going much into greater details on the encounters with a structural approach that is important for maintaining the initiative. For methodology, the work applied a reframing matrix analysis to develop theoretical insights on the aim in exemplifying the structural challenges. Data was collected by combing through the responses of participants who were interviewed but provided feedback that was an outlining deviant from the questions that were asked. Responses that addressed the apprehensive issues within each of the four perspectives were coded to highlight the dysfunction and fault lines that made it unachievable for participants to follow through. Participants’ quotes were color-coded to initiate the themes for every four analytical perspectives in the reframing matrix model. The key findings were the following: while planning is done, it can lead to bad results when the forces such as financial resources, communication principles, economic survival, political instability, assumptions, and unclear vision constrain the capabilities of local groups to work in partnership with the institution’s agenda. In contribution, the study shows how the theory of structure in a network of local business units/groups is presented in a dynamic challenge when certain aspects are causing stress and not being fully addressed.