Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse service quality in the automobile maintenance and repair industry. A conceptual structural model is developed to investigate the impact of service quality, perceived service fairness and convenience on customer service satisfaction. The impact of service satisfaction and brand trust on word of mouth (WOM) is also explored, and the study assesses the mediating effect of customer service satisfaction on the relationship between service quality and WOM. Design/methodology/approach: Data from a questionnaire-based survey of 259 users of automobile maintenance and repair centres were analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling. Findings: The findings indicate that service quality dimensions (reliability, responsiveness and empathy), perceived service fairness and convenience are positively associated with customer service satisfaction, and that service satisfaction and trust positively influence WOM. The findings support the mediating effect of service satisfaction on the relationship between reliability and responsiveness and WOM. Research limitations/implications: The study’s main limitation is the cross-sectional design, which limits the generalisability of the findings. Practical implications: To ensure customer satisfaction and generate trust and WOM, automobile maintenance and repair service centres should improve reliability, responsiveness and empathy, as well as perceived service fairness and convenience. Originality/value: The study demonstrates that the reliability and responsiveness dimensions of service quality are the most significant predictors of customer service satisfaction in the automobile maintenance and repair industry. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.

The policies related to whistle-blowing among the BSE 30 companies in India are analysed. In the facilitative aspect, 80% of the firms explicitly mention the reporting authority. Similarly, 80% of the firms have elaborated on how the reporting should happen, whereas only 10% of the firms allow complaints to be registered over phone. The findings indicate an urgent need to develop and enforce corporate policies to protect the whistle-blowers. © 2019 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved.

The recent launch of 4G in India initiated disruption in telecom sector with price wars. Knowing the consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) is vital step toward the survival in such a turbulent situation. We present Van Westendorp price sensitivity model to assess the range of acceptable price as well as the optimal prices for 2 GB and 5 GB data packs to understand the consumer’s WTP for 4G data services. The price sensitivity meter identifies the acceptable range and optimal price points. The estimates obtained are similar to the current prices of the data packs in the same telecom circle which validates suitability of the price sensitivity model. © 2018, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., part of Springer Nature.

In this paper, we study a problem where a buyer and a supplier collaborate to improve safety at the supplier's facility. We analyze and compare three policies; for the first policy, the buyer and the supplier jointly collaborate to improve safety at the supplier's manufacturing facility (this policy is known as Accord in the industry). For the second policy, the buyer supports the supplier by providing external funding (this policy is named Alliance). The third policy is the Base policy, which is used as a benchmark. Under Base policy, the buyer does not provide any support to the supplier on the safety front. Using analytical frameworks, we determine and characterize optimal policies from buyer's, supplier's and system safety perspectives. We find that a low capability supplier prefers Accord when the buyer's capability is high and Alliance, otherwise. However, from safety perspective, for low capability supplier, Alliance should never be preferred. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

Small informally organized family-owned grocery retailers—kiranas—are ubiquitous in India and have retained market dominance while facing increasing competition from large formally organized retailers (FORs). Yet, strategy literature has under-explored such informal businesses. We explore kiranas’ distinct strategic practices that give them competitive advantage over FORs, generating kiranas’ sustained market dominance. To explore kiranas’ informal strategizing, grounded theoretic analysis of our multi-year case study suggested the employment of strategy as practice (SAP) framework, enriched with the social exchange theory (SET) concepts of trust and reciprocity. We find that the kiranas’ sustained enactment of strategic practice such as free-of-charge home-delivery significantly depends on contextually rich, reciprocity-based social exchange relationships with customers which evolve through praxes involving continuous exchange of trust. The practice enactment and exchange relationships constitute strategy-practitioner’s emerging dual-identity, which in turn reinforces the practices, generating a self-reinforcing cycle of practice enhancement. Within this cyclic relationship, an inimitable enactment of a strategic practice can be a key source of competitive advantage for informally organized small retail retailers over large FORs. By linking two unconnected prominent approaches to understanding patterns of workplace interactions, namely SAP and SET, the study opens theoretical avenues for exploring strategizing of informal businesses. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Trust between partners, a key element enabling coordination across supply chains, has recently started gaining attention in humanitarian operations literature. Yet, empirical examination of this concept is scant. Borrowing from extant literature on trust within organisational behaviour stream, this paper aims to empirically verify trust formation types: companion, competence and commitment, in a disaster relief supply chain using primary and secondary data from an Indian Humanitarian relief organisation (HRO). Further, we identify variations in trust formation during disaster relief activities and developmental programmes, and between upstream and downstream partners of a humanitarian relief organisation. Based on the results of our content analysis, we contend that while companion based trust is significantly more prevalent during developmental programmes, competence based trust is important during both disaster periods and otherwise. We also find that there are significant differences in the trust formation between upstream and downstream partners and the HRO. This study has significant theoretical and practical implications on identifying the role of trust in humanitarian operations. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify various dimensions of green quality. It integrates the existing carbon footprinting technique with the eight dimensions of quality proposed by Garvin (1984, 1987). Apart from extending these concepts, it also proposes two new dimensions – traceability and standardization which are not explicitly considered by the above two. Design/methodology/approach: Conceptual theory building is used to develop a framework consisting of three interrelated propositions which explain the underlying dimensions of green quality and provide a better understanding of the same. Findings: Similar to the eight dimensions of quality proposed by Garvin, the authors propose various dimensions of green quality and develop three propositions around these dimensions. This conceptual framework is developed by integrating the works of traditional quality (specifically Garvin’s eight dimensions), emergent literature on green products and their attributes, carbon footprinting from environmental economics discipline by summarizing their common elements and contrasting their differences. Originality/value: This research is one of the first studies that explore the dimensions of green quality of a product. Apart from discovering and exploring inherent greenness in Garvin’s eight dimensions of quality, the authors also discuss about two new dimensions – traceability and standardization. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.

We investigate farmers’ decision making under risk by eliciting their willingness to pay for hypothetical risky income distributions. We also investigate whether farmers behave differently to price and yield risk. To do so, we present the risky income distributions as those with constant price and variable yield to a set of farmers, and those with constant yield and variable price to another set of farmers. We find that many farmers violate first order stochastic dominance, an assumption central to validity of rational decision making under risk. We also find that farmers who perceive themselves as risk takers are more likely to violate them. © 2018

Online information privacy has become a growing social concern that may result in people blocking their personal information during social website interactions. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of a disposition toward privacy, the subjective norm for disclosure, and the social presence of a website on a person's privacy concerns about the website. It also examines the moderating role of website utility. The findings indicate a positive influence from a disposition toward privacy, the subjective norm for disclosure, and the social presence of a website on website-specific privacy concerns. Furthermore, the significant moderating role of website utility indicates that website utility helps to mitigate the negative effects of website privacy concerns on behavioral intention. This study also extends the information privacy literature through the analysis of the impact of the social presence of a website and the subjective norm for disclosure on website-specific privacy concerns. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

The concept of core self-evaluations has been extensively investigated in Western and European countries, nonetheless its implications in Asian countries remains relatively unexplored. To void this gap, the current study investigated the association of core self-evaluations with worry, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being among South Korean youths. To test the research hypotheses, data were collected from 228 undergraduate students of a South Korean university. Existing, established scales were used to measure the research constructs. The results of this study indicate that core selfevaluations were negatively related to worry, while a positive relationship was observed between core self-evaluations and life satisfaction and psychological well-being. The findings of this study suggest that a higher level of core selfevaluations may enhance individuals' well-being. The findings of this study may be helpful for educators and mental health professionals in designing the educational curriculum and training programs that focus on enhancing one's sense of self-worth. Copyright © 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Flexibility is often defined in terms of autonomy of actions, freedom of expression, balancing in competing opposites and agility in actions. Such flexibility assumes greater significance in the dynamic system in which business operates. In this mutually reinforcing system, Indian regulators have accorded flexibility to companies to decide the nature, type, tone and time orientation of risk disclosures (in annual reports) based on their competitive position. Accordingly, the paper strives to ascertain how this regulatory flexibility is leveraged by Indian companies. For the purpose, content analysis and textual analysis are employed on over 4000 annual reports of NIFTY500 companies, covering a period 10-year period from 2005 to 2015. In tune with agency theory, proprietary cost theory, duality theory and contingency theory, the findings indicate that companies that are in a better competitive position tend to make greater and more comprehensive risk disclosures. The results are robust at company level, industry level and sectoral level. Further, the results unambiguously reflect how this flexibility affected the strategic decision making during the time of global financial crisis. Amidst calls for increasing regulations, particularly in the domain of disclosures, these findings clearly highlight the need for regulatory flexibility in decisions that have strategic implications for firms. © 2018, Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management.

This paper explores the impact of salinity on livelihood choices of rural households in south-western Bangladesh. We find interdependence among households' decisions involving various livelihood choices. High salinity reduces a household's probability of entrepreneurship while those households that stick only to agriculture suffer significant crop losses because of salinity. Households also face a trade-off between subsistence and entrepreneurial activities, that is, participation in one type of activity reduces the probability of participation in the other. Households with more agricultural land, in fact, benefit from high salinity levels by taking up fisheries related activities, whereas marginal households resort to increasing labour supply. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purpose: Hybrid rice is considered as one of the technologies having the potential to push the production frontier to meet the growing demand for rice in India. The technology was introduced in India in 1994 but is yet to see widespread adoption. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that influence the partial/complete adoption of hybrid rice technology by the farmers in India. This study also assesses the factors behind difference in the share of land allocated to hybrid rice cultivation by farmers. Design/methodology/approach: The study employs a Tobit model to evaluate the impact of factors related to technology, farmer, farm and geographical location on the decision to adopt hybrid rice. Data for this study are compiled from surveys of 441 hybrid rice growing farmers across 3 Indian states conducted during 2012-2013. Findings: The paper finds that farmers with smaller landholdings, higher education and higher experience of growing hybrid rice are more likely to be complete adopters. Farmers reporting good demand for hybrid rice output and availability of subsidy on hybrid rice seeds also have higher probability of being complete adopters. However, the availability of hybrid rice seeds in government outlets and cultivating multiple kharif crops are negatively related to the extent of hybrid rice adoption. The results suggest insignificant impact of age, family size, ownership of cattle and machinery on the adoption level of hybrid rice by the farmers. Research limitations/implications: Although the sample for this study has been collected from three states with different agro-climatic zones and productivity, the results cannot be generalized for other states. Originality/value: There is a great potential to increase the area under hybrid rice cultivation in India. This study is one of the first attempts to look at the adoption levels of hybrid rice in India and determine the factors which might be hindering the complete adoption of the technology. Focusing on the factors positively related to complete adoption can help in enhancing the area under hybrid rice and similar approach can be used for other new agricultural technologies in the developing country context. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Offshore outsourcing has grown as a form of industrial organisation to increase profitability of firms. However, offshoring may be less lucrative than envisaged, due to the presence of hidden costs. We study the strategic interaction amongst onshore Cournot firms in the decision to offshore when they receive signals about offshore hidden costs. The analysis helps suggest policy implications for countries which are potential offshoring locations. We find the precision of signals and the range of possible hidden costs to be crucial in determining offshoring destinations. Updating of information about hidden costs leads to different equilibria including herding in offshoring. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Trust and privacy features of websites have evolved as an important concern for any businesses or interactions, particularly in online networks. The study investigates the relationship between trust, privacy concerns and behavioural intention of users on the social network. The behavioural intention of users on the online social network (OSN) is captured by intention to disclose information and intention to interact with others in OSN. The study was conducted on a sample of 457 active users from one of the major social networking website, Facebook. Partial least squares based structural equation modelling was used for analysing the results. The findings of the study reveal that intention to disclose information mediates the relationship between trust in the website and the intention to interact with others. Another important finding of the study indicates that prior positive experience with the website significantly impacts the trust in website, and the trust in website also plays a crucial role while determining the information privacy concerns in the OSN. © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

With India emerging as a leading cotton producer in the world, and considering the large-scale adoption of Bt cotton cultivation, there is a need to understand the patterns of pesticide use by cotton farmers, especially as environmental, ecological, and health concerns surrounding pesticide use continue to be debated. © 2018 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate and assess the trends of bilateral services trade in the world segmented by trade for final consumption and intermediate usage across several service sectors. The differential trends, if any, are studied while examining the role of free trade agreements which have a chapter on services trade as well as the role of services trade restrictions. The study unravels differences across service sectors in this respect. Design/methodology/approach: The author uses an augmented gravity model to address the above using OECD- World Trade Organization (WTO) TiVA data for bilateral trade in intermediates and final products (October 2015 release) and World Bank Services Trade Restrictions Index (STRI). The poisson pseudo maximum likelihood estimation technique is used in light of the structure of the data. Trade creating and diverting effects are identified controlling for time and country-time specific effects. The following sectors are specifically looked at: total business sector services, computer and related services, financial intermediation, post and telecommunication, transport and storage, R&D and other business services, hotels and restaurants, construction, and wholesale and retail trade. Findings: First, services free trade agreements (FTAs) have had a trade creating impact with no trade diverting impact for services trade in aggregate with stronger effects on services traded for intermediate usage. Second, financial intermediation and post and telecommunication have been left unaffected by services FTAs. While no trade diversion is concluded for any sector, R&D and other business services, transport and storage and wholesale retail trade show maximum trade creation effects in response to FTAs. Third, trade restrictions of mainly OECD countries are responsible for lowering exports for most sectors. Finally, in terms of policy implications, at a general level, the author does not find a significant difference in the author’s results for services traded for intermediate usage or final consumption except for a stronger effect of FTAs on intermediate services trade. Hence, the policies to foster services trade on both counts are concluded to be the same and deal with behind-the-border policies of domestic industrial policy reforms like national treatment of foreign firms, licensing requirements, FDI policies, etc. Research limitations/implications: Statistics for services trade are limited. The data are only available for the years 1995, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Additionally, the conclusions on services trade restrictions are based on statistics for 2011 alone, since this is the only year for which the statistics are available. A complete time series for the entire sample period would increase robustness of the study with a better time variant version of the trade restrictiveness variable. Finally, in the construction of the OECD-WTO-TiVA database of a world IO table, there may have been approximations in constructing statistics for services traded for intermediate usage and final consumption. The results remain sensitive to the same but this is the best possible statistics available for the purposes. Originality/value: This is the first study which looks at services trade segmented by trade for final consumption and intermediate usage taking advantage of the available data for a number of service sectors. The role of restrictions is also studied for the first time segmented by trade in intermediates and final consumption. The stronger effects of FTAs on intermediate services trade as well as financial intermediation and post and telecommunication services being insulated from effects of FTAs are important findings, especially since services are mainly thought to be traded for final consumption. Similar trends of results for services traded for intermediate usage and final consumption and restrictions affecting exports from exporter countries and imports by importer countries highlight the importance of behind-the-border domestic policies in facilitating or inhibiting services trade on both counts and more importantly for intermediate usage which, in turn, would improve goods tradability. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Through a cross-sectional survey of 1600 households, we analyse the impact of water scarcity on livelihood patterns of rural households in three districts of Bihar and West Bengal. We find significant correlation between water scarcity and livelihood profiles. Households involved in farming and rural labour, or a mix of farming, rural labour and enterprises, earn 30–50% less than what they would have earned through alternative livelihoods. Yet, 50% of the sampled households were engaged in farming and rural labour. When accounting for endogeneity, urban migration provides much higher returns compared to rural labour supply or entrepreneurship. © 2018, © 2018 Oxford Department of International Development.

This paper investigates the determinants of the probability and proportion of owned land left fallow by farmers in India using nationally representative survey data. Using a zero-inflated beta regression, we find that having more land increased the likelihood of land being left fallow. Those with tractors were less likely to leave land fallow and had a lesser proportion of land left fallow. Living in a village which practised tenancy (predominantly fixed-rent tenancy) reduced the proportion of land left fallow. The amount of subsidised food grains the household received from the public distribution system, distance from nearest town and nonfarm opportunities available to the household increased the proportion of land left fallow. In summary, our results emphasise the importance of urbanisation, mechanisation and tenancy reforms for fallowing decisions of farm households. It also underpins the non-separability of production decisions from consumption and labour decisions. © 2018, European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI).