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AbstractAt present, many studies have used social survey methods to explore UK water citizens' perceptions of the water sector's water services, but there are few more targeted and systematic studies. This paper mainly displays the perceptions of UK water citizens on water services in the water sector in recent years and analyses the main reasons for different perceptions and possible strategies. We conduct extensive research from four aspects that are highly related to water services: water citizens' perceptions of the water supply services and technology application (infrastructure construction) provided by the water sector; the state of communication between the water sector and water citizens and their perceptions of water supply management; water citizens' perceptions of the comprehensive utilisation of water resources in the water sector; water citizens' perceptions of the water prices set by the water sector. These discussions aim to discover citizens' perceptions of the water sector and the effects on the public participation mechanism. These insights help attract the water sector's attention so that the public's opinions can genuinely support water policymakers and provide sure support for the water sector to formulate corresponding solutions.

PurposeThe ubiquity of mobile phone use has generated a common phenomenon called phubbing, a reference to snubbing someone in social settings and instead concentrating on one's phone. Despite numerous adverse effects of phubbing argued in previous research, the group of phubbers is growing intensively. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential transmission of phubbing between marital partners to raise public awareness of the propagation of phubbing.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave study with a 3-month interval was conducted, using matched husband–wife data from 253 Chinese couples. Husbands and wives separately completed questionnaires about their spouses' phubbing and their marital quality. The dyadic data analysis method was applied to test the research hypotheses.FindingsThe results confirm the transmission of phubbing and show a pronounced gender asymmetry in the process of phubbing transmission. Phubbing could be transmitted from wives to husbands, but not vice versa. Specifically, only wives' phubbing significantly undermine relationship quality, while relationship quality was negatively related to both husbands' phubbing and wives' phubbing.Originality/valueThis study contributes to a better understanding of the mechanism of phubbing transmission and provide support for reciprocity theory and social role theory. Results can cause public attention to the transmissibility of phubbing and provide enlightenment on the management of personal phone behavior and offer insight into research on technology use in other types of interpersonal relationships.