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Purpose – Despite growing interest in low-carbon tourism research, few studies have explored travellers’ motivations for choosing low-carbon destinations, particularly through the push-pull theory. Research indicates that motivations for environmental tourism may vary across cultures due to multiple factors, necessitating a context-specific investigation and diverse research approaches. This study addresses these gaps by applying the push-pull motivation theory to examine travel motivations in the context of low-carbon destinations in Thailand. A thorough understanding of tourist motivations across different cultural settings is essential for advancing theoretical knowledge and promoting sustainable tourism practices. Methodology/Design/Approach – Adopting a naturalistic inquiry approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. Participants were selected through purposive sampling. Findings – The study identifies three push factors: good environment seeking, learning & knowledge seeking, and rest & escape; and six pull factors: attractive destination attributes, interesting tourist activities, appealing communication, convenient accessibility, environmentally friendly service providers, and environmental management appeals. The study reveals both common and new push and pull factors related to low-carbon travel motivations. Originality of the research – This study contributes to the push-pull motivation theory by introducing good environment seeking as a distinct push factor. It further refines the conceptualisation of pull factors by integrating sustainability practices with traditional destination attributes, thereby enhancing the theoretical understanding of what makes lowcarbon destinations attractive.

Dark sky tourism as a form of niche tourism is gaining popularity worldwide. However, empirical research examining what motivates tourists to seek out this type of experience is lacking. This research note contributes to bridging this knowledge gap by employing push-pull theory to explore tourists’ motivations for visiting dark sky sites. Adopting a qualitative netnographic approach, Chinese tourists’ perspectives were explored through twenty-two semi-structured interviews. Eleven thematic factors were extracted and mapped within a refined push and pull motivation framework. The findings show how push and pull factors motivate both first-time and repeat visitors to gain dark sky experiences.

This study had two main thematic aims: first, to determine the factors that influenced the choice of international students at China Pharmaceutical University (CPU) to consider China as a study destination; second, to determine the career preferences of international students upon completion of their various programs of study. As a cross-sectional study, relevant data were collected from undergraduate pharmacy students and postgraduates using a self-administered questionnaire. On the whole, the five most important pull factors that influenced the choice of China as the study destination for the respondents were: (1) quality of education, (2) quality of academic staff, (3) security, (4) desire to obtain a certificate from a foreign country and (5) availability of scholarship opportunities. With respect to the career choices, the top three career preferences of the international students were: (1) to work in the pharmaceutical industry (i.e., pharmaceutical manufacturing companies), (2) to practice clinical pharmacy and (3) to seek employment opportunities outside their countries. This study provides additional details on why China has gradually become a study destination of choice for international students. The career preferences of students could be useful in the design of academic programs that could meet their job aspirations.

Chinaʼs comprehensive administrative system for capital controls and ongoing capital liberalisation are unique features compared with other emerging economies. These allow us to investigate the effects of Chinaʼs capital controls and subsequent liberalisation policies, along with various global-push and domestic-pull factors, on its gross capital flows in a time series analysis. We collect various sources of information on Chinaʼs capital control policies from 2005 to 2022 and construct quarterly time series of Chinaʼs capital control indices for different types of gross flows. Using the bounds tests of cointegration and a conditional error-correction model, we show that Chinaʼs capital account liberalisation successfully encourages foreignersʼ investments aiming at production to maintain a long-term relationship with China, as well as their short-term financial investments to China. On the other hand, Chinese residents increase their long-term investments overseas during the liberalisation process. However, their portfolio investments abroad are not responsive to the relaxation of capital controls.

More than 244 million international migrants were estimated to live in a foreign country in 2015, leaving apart the massive number of people that have been relocated in their own country. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of international migrants from southern countries do not reach western nations but resettle in neighbouring low-income countries in the same geographical area. Migration is a complex phenomenon, where 'macro'-, 'meso'- and 'micro'-factors act together to inform the final individual decision to migrate, integrating the simpler previous push-pull theory.Among the 'macro-factors', the political, demographic, socio-economic and environmental situations are major contributors to migration. These are the main drivers of forced migration, either international or internal, and largely out of individuals' control.Among the 'meso-factors', communication technology, land grabbing and diasporic links play an important role. In particular, social media attract people out of their origin countries by raising awareness of living conditions in the affluent world, albeit often grossly exaggerated, with the diaspora link also acting as an attractor. However, 'micro-factors' such as education, religion, marital status and personal attitude to migration also have a key role in making the final decision to migrate an individual choice. The stereotype of the illiterate, poor and rural migrant reaching the borders of affluent countries has to be abandoned. The poorest people simply do not have the means to escape war and poverty and remain trapped in their country or in the neighbouring one.Once in the destination country, migrants have to undergo a difficult and often conflictive integration process in the hosting community. From the health standpoint, newly arrived migrants are mostly healthy (healthy migrant effect), but they may harbour latent infections that need appropriate screening policies. Cultural barriers may sometimes hamper the relation between the migrant patient and the health care provider. The acquisition of western lifestyles is leading to an increase of non-communicable chronic diseases that require attention.Destination countries have to reconsider the positive medium/long-term potential of migration and need to be prepared to receive migrants for the benefit of the migrants themselves and their native population.

The aim of this article is to examine and analyze the relationship between gender motivation for self-employment in the Slovak Republic. The article examines potential differences in motivational factors for entering self-employment between men and women based on 13 motivational factors, which were divided into two categories: “pull” and “push”. For the evaluation of the data from the primary questionnaire survey in which more than 300 respondents were involved, we used the Jamovi statistical software, while for statistical testing we used the Mann-Whitney U test. Our results showed that statistically significant differences exist in the two evaluated factors (I wanted better working conditions, I had the opportunity to get the resources to start a business). We did not demonstrate statistical significance between men and women in the other evaluated motivational factors for self-employment. In the aggregate statistical testing of the influence of pull and push factors by taking gender into account, we also did not demonstrate statistical significance. However, our results indicate that the respondents were motivated to start a business more by pull factors.

This study explored the causes of and factors that engender illegal immigration and weak border control in Africa, with special focus on South Africa. The study addressed issues relating to territorial integrity, emphasising protection from illegal incursions and resource exploitation and sought ways to combat the menace. Qualitative evidence from semi-structured interviews of government officials and focus group discussions with South African respondents (aged 16-74) found that measures taken by the government are not effective enough to minimise the accelerating number of illegal immigrants in South Africa. The study’s findings show that there is a need for international migration policies that will promote national interest, security and sovereignty. South Africa’s migration policy must encourage regional integration that will help develop the economy, promote national interests, security and sovereignty while keeping geographic realities in mind.

Dark sky tourism as a form of niche tourism is gaining popularity worldwide. However, empirical research examining what motivates tourists to seek out this type of experience is lacking. This research note contributes to bridging this knowledge gap by employing push???pull theory to explore tourists??? motivations for visiting dark sky sites. Adopting a qualitative netnographic approach, Chinese tourists' perspectives were explored through 22 semistructured interviews. Eleven thematic factors were extracted and mapped within a refined push and pull motivation framework. The findings show how push and pull factors motivate both first-time and repeat visitors to gain dark sky experiences.

The growing Ukrainian migration towards EU countries determines the need for evaluation of pull factors shaping their environment to regulate these processes better. The study aims to assess the EU’s pull environment attracting migrants, and evaluate the elasticity of Ukrainian total and labor migration to the change of social and economic factors in EU countries. The data are collected for the period from 2005 to 2018. The method involves weighting the indicators and sub-indices with the following calculating partial and integral indices of the pull environment of migration for selected EU countries (the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Greece, and Spain) and the EU-28. During 2005–2018, the integral level of pull environment of migration in the EU-28 was above average, whereas the most attractive countries for external migrants were Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Italy. In terms of the intensity of total migration from Ukraine in 2018, Poland (236.06 departures per 1,000 Ukrainians), Hungary (73.6), Germany (12.6), and Italy (7.3) are among the main destinations. While the intensity of Ukrainian migration is high, its growth rate depends on the time lag (different elasticities in the medium and long run). The integral analysis of the pull environment has a practical value allowing to conduct migration intensity and elasticity evaluation, as well as the cross-country pull-factor analysis (pull strength) for substantiating the improvement of regulatory and methodological provisions of migration policies for both Ukraine and the hosting EU states. AcknowledgmentThe study has been conducted within the framework of applied research “Mechanisms of the proactive policy for reducing social vulnerability of the population (based on the Carpathian region of Ukraine)” (M. Dolishniy Institute of Regional Research of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Reg. No. 0121U112014, 2021–2023).

PurposeHow to improve continuance commitment for platform workers is still unclear to platforms' managers and academic scholars. This study develops a configurational framework based on the push-pull theory and proposes that continuance commitment for platform workers does not depend on a single condition but on interactions between push and pull factors.Design/methodology/approachThe data from the sample of 431 full-time and 184 part-time platform workers in China were analyzed using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (FsQCA).FindingsThe results found that combining family motivation with the two kinds of pull factors (worker's reputation and algorithmic transparency) can achieve high continuance commitment for full-time platform workers; combining job alternatives with the two kinds of pull factors (worker's reputation and job autonomy) can promote high continuance commitment for part-time platform workers. Particularly, workers' reputations were found to be a core condition reinforcing continuance commitment for both part-time and full-time platform workers.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that platforms should avoid the “one size fits all” strategy. Emphasizing the importance of family and improving worker's reputation and algorithmic transparency are smart retention strategies for full-time platform workers, whereas for part-time platform workers it is equally important to reinforce continuance commitment by enhancing workers' reputations and doing their best to maintain and enhance their job autonomy.Originality/valueThis study expands the analytical context of commitment research and provides new insights for understanding the complex causality between antecedent conditions and continuance commitment for platform workers.