Societies

This article examines how the governance idea of co-creation is translated into practice within an area-based initiative addressing socio-economic challenges in a Norwegian municipality. Drawing on interviews, documents and field notes collected between November 2024 and March 2026, the qualitative case study combines translation theory with perspectives on institutional work and boundary work. The findings reveal a vertical translation asymmetry. At the strategic level, co-creation is translated primarily into internal coordination and resource mobilization across municipal units, while the designated arena for external participation remains inactive. At the operational level, collaboration with non-profit organization and volunteers develops through concrete activities and boundary-crossing arrangements. These practices demonstrate external participation and resource exchange, thereby reproducing selected elements of the co-creation idea, while shared problem-definition and design are less clearly documented. Relational working practices develop alongside continuing bureaucratic responsibilities. The study contributes to research on governance ideas by showing how co-creation acquires different practical meanings across organizational levels within the same initiative. Internal coordination may support operational collaboration while strategic authority remains within the municipality. The findings highlight the distinction between organizational conditions for co-creation and practices involving shared influence over problems and solutions.

Tourists increasingly consult large language models (LLMs) for heritage tourism decisions, making these systems new choice architects. This study audits four Claude models (Haiku 4.5, Sonnet 5.5, Opus 5.5, Fable 5.1) acting as travel advisors for framing, anchoring, and decoy effects. Market-calibrated scenarios on a heritage conservation donation in Cappadocia, a guided-tour price in Istanbul’s Historic Peninsula, and a tour-package choice in Nicosia were administered in two wording versions in independent sessions (N = 280), complemented by four supplementary experiments testing design confounds (N = 440). The loss frame did not increase donations but raised the share of rationales criticizing the message from 2.5% to 55%. The larger models’ price estimates shifted in both directions toward reference prices, even toward prices they explicitly rejected in their rationales. A decoy package raised the probability of recommending the community-based package by 22.5 percentage points in the main study and in a recalibrated replication; the effect was in the same direction when option order was counterbalanced and when the decoy carried a neutral name. The baseline obtained with the same prompt changed markedly within three weeks. The findings show that specific model versions respond systematically to specific choice architectures and that these responses vary by model, wording, and time; AI-mediated channels should therefore be audited regularly, with version and date records.

Growing environmental awareness has encouraged brands to adopt greener practices, yet their success depends on how consumers respond. While previous research has largely focused on green purchase intention and loyalty, less attention has been given to green brand evangelism and the role of green trust in developing such behavior. This study examines the relationships between green perceived value (GPV), green brand positioning (GBP), and green brand image (GBI) and green brand evangelism (GBE), with green trust (GT) as a mediator. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response framework, the study explains how green branding factors shape consumer responses. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey, yielding 400 valid responses and analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4. Bootstrapping was used to assess direct and indirect relationships. The findings show that GPV, GBP and GBI are significantly related to both GT and GBE. GT also has a significant positive relationship with GBE and significantly mediates all three relationships, with GBP showing the strongest indirect relationship. The findings highlight the importance of credible green positioning, meaningful environmental value and a consistent green image in building trust and encouraging consumer support.