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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide for Western educators of international Chinese and Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) students the first integrated review of kiasu, the “fear of missing out”, and its consequences for learning, teaching, and future research. Design/methodology/approach – A review of the economic importance of international Chinese students is provided, followed by consideration of the pedagogical consequences of restricted participation in educational activities by the so-called “silent Chinese student”. Examination of research on international Chinese students and their source cultures established significant gaps and misunderstandings in the generally accepted understandings of CHCs, especially with respect to the actual practices used in Western and Chinese teaching. More importantly, the participation-related implications of kiasu within the context of broader cultural characteristics are described and implications drawn for teaching practices and research. Findings – While many Western university teachers are aware of the “silent Chinese student” phenomenon, few understand its underlying reasons, especially the kiasu mindset and its relationship to other cultural elements. Kiasu actively impedes the interaction of international Chinese students with their teachers and restricts collaboration with peers, thereby limiting educational achievement. Specific tactics for amelioration are reviewed and recommendations are provided, while an agenda for future research is outlined. Practical implications – Western teachers need to normalise and encourage Chinese student participation in class activities using tactics that have been demonstrated to improve outcomes for Chinese students, but that also assist students generally. These include both within-class and electronic interaction tools. Social implications – More culturally sensitive understanding of the impact of cultural differences on teaching effectiveness. While some effective responses to these already exist, further research is needed to expand the skill-set of Western teachers who work with international Chinese students. Originality/value – This paper provides the first systematic integration of the kiasu phenomenon with educational practice and research.

Purpose -There have been recent calls for research into the impulse shopping behaviours of adolescent consumers -an important topic because adolescents are: an increasingly important market segment; a segment which has recently been empowered by the availability of easy credit; and which is increasingly targeted by strategic marketing collateral. This paper responds to the call by aiming to focus on the impulse shopping behaviours of adolescents.Design/methodology/approach -The research is qualitative in nature and utilises lengthy mini focus group interviews of both adolescent and adult consumer shoppers. The verbatim transcriptions are then subjected to both manual and automated textual analysis to derive conceptual and thematic maps of each group's discussions in relation to impulse shopping.Findings -Consistent with recent neuropsychological literature on adolescents, the findings show clear differences between adolescents and adults in relation to impulse shopping. Significant differences were found in the areas of antecedent moods, shopping purpose, and the range of perceived constraints which may moderate impulse shopping behaviour. The research also shows that impulse buying among adolescents is a behaviour which is undertaken often in response to stress and/or a need for mood amelioration and further that their conceptualisation of impulse shopping is only distantly related to a deficient set of perceived constraints when compared to adult shoppers.Practical implications -This improved understanding of the bases of adolescent impulse shopping will assist in the design of educational programs to reduce the frequency of adolescent financial problems.Social implications -There may be a reduction in the number of adolescents facing resultant financial hardship.Originality/value -This is the first such study which reports the belief structures of adolescent impulse shoppers versus adults.

This paper proposes a conceptual model to understand how information transparency matters can support consumer trust in food safety. Beside food labels, food product information can be disseminated by the support of technologies including traceability systems and social media. This article studies extant literature to provide a knowledge base for the development of a conceptual model. Information provided by traceability systems is deemed to increase a consumer’s knowledge of a food product. Furthermore, social media is considered as a well-informed source that provides some useful information to consumers. Therefore, we argue that technology-supported information supports and enhances the information consumers need to make their own judgement about the safety of a food product. Three testable propositions are developed from a conceptual model that provides insights into food information that consumers find helpful for developing trust in food safety.