With the advent of cellular manufacturing systems and consequent evolution of configuring methodologies, researchers proposed several multi-objective techniques, besides others, to handle different types of cell formation problems. This paper presents a systematic review on types of cell formation by using multi-objective techniques. It also delineates the type of objectives, production factors and datasets used for testing the efficacy of methodologies, considered by researchers along with the scope and direction of future studies. Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Purpose: The study examines the antecedents of responsible financial management behavior among young adults in India and explores the role of financial risk tolerance as a moderating variable. Design/methodology/approach: The sample includes young adults in the age group of 18–35. The analysis uses a two-step approach via standard partial least squares structural modeling (PLS-SEM) and ordinary least square (OLS) regression. Findings: Structural modeling results show that financial attitude fully mediates the relationship between financial knowledge and responsible financial management behavior, and locus of control influences responsible financial management behavior. Financial risk tolerance moderates the relationship. Among demographic factors, age and occupation influence responsible financial management behavior. Research limitations/implications: The financial knowledge used in the survey are based on self-reported responses. The future study can include participants from both developed and emerging countries to assess similarities and differences. Practical implications: Despite the growing focus on improving financial literacy, there are growing concerns regarding responsible financial behavior. Since financial services is related to fiduciary responsibility, managers and policymakers need to ensure that financial knowledge results in improving financial attitude, which further leads to responsible financial behavior. Originality/value: The present study from an emerging country will add value to the literature. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Well-anchored inflation expectations play an important role in the achievement of price stability. The (de-)anchoring of long-term inflation expectations in the US has been under debate since the sub-prime crisis. This paper assesses and explains the evolution of the degree of (de-)anchorage of households’ long-term inflation expectations in the US during the period of 1990 to 2019, in a time-varying framework. We find the long-term inflation expectations to be de-anchored during the entire study period. The de-anchorage was greater in the first half of the 1990s. Subsequently, it has declined but has not yet anchored. An increase in inflation perception reduces the degree of de-anchorage in a (persistently) low-inflation perception period, whereas it causes a rise in the degree of de-anchorage when inflation perception is around its long-term average or is persistently high. Further, a rise in economic policy uncertainty also increases the de-anchorage of households’ long-term inflation expectations. This suggests that the Federal Reserve System (Fed) may find it beneficial to pay more attention to households’ inflation perception. © 2019 Elsevier Inc.

This study conceptualizes and tests a framework to understand consumers’ intention to use environment-friendly ethical transportation medium. It primarily uses ethical decision-making model and extends it under the purview of self-consistency theory. Based on the survey of 158 respondents and analysis of the framework using structural equation modeling and process macro, this study establishes the mediating role of moral judgement, self-accountability and perceived consumer effectiveness in forming moral intention to use ethical transportation medium. It is one of the first studies to provide insights on consumers’ intention to use environment-friendly ethical transportation medium using the ethical decision-making process. It also contributes to the literature on ethical decision-making in view of additional factors like self-accountability and perceived consumer effectiveness. The overall findings suggest new perspectives on consumers’ ethical decision-making process in the context of choice of transportation medium. The study provides some valuable guidance to the service providers and policymakers dealing with environment-friendly ethical transportation mediums. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

The relationship between CSR and cash holdings is not conclusive from prior studies due to the endogeneity issue. In this study, we use a natural experiment setting, i.e., the implementation of mandatory CSR spending regulation in India in 2015, to test the relationship between CSR and cash holdings. Our results show a positive relationship between CSR and the value of cash holdings. As a result of such positive valuation, we observe that the firms which are required to spend on CSR activities under the Act, increased their cash level in the post-regulation period. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.

Purpose: The governing role of bank-appointed directors (BADs) on the boards of non-financial firms has a potential to reduce information asymmetry between the firm and non-bank lenders. This should increase the confidence of other creditors in firm activities, thus performing the certification role. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the certification role of BADs. Design/methodology/approach: The authors test their hypotheses by using a panel of Indian non-financial firms. Our approach involves examining whether there is a significant difference in the number of different debt sources, the dispersion of debt among different debt sources, and leverage for BAD and Non_BAD Firms. The authors use univariate analysis and multivariate regression models to test the difference. Findings: The authors find that firms with BADs on their board have (1) access to a higher number of different debt sources, (2) debt distributed evenly among different sources and (3) a higher debt ratio. Overall, our study provides supporting evidence for the certification role that BADs play on the boards of non-financial firms. Originality/value: The authors contribute to the literature in two aspects. First, to the best of our knowledge, this is the only study that examines the effect of the governing role of banks on the lending decisions of non-bank lenders. Second, our study is associated with the growing body of the governance literature in the emerging markets context by examining the interaction of financial policies and governance in an institutional framework, which is very different from that of the developed world. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Corporate debt diversification (firms simultaneously utilizing multiple distinct debt sources) is a global phenomenon. However, how such financing affects firm value has not yet been examined. Using Indian firms, we investigate debt diversification's impact on monitoring effectiveness, agency costs, and financial constraints – which can all affect market value. Results reveal a negative impact of debt diversification on firm value, particularly among group-affiliated firms. This negative impact is attributed to free riding among lenders: evidence suggests that increased agency costs resulting from inferior monitoring contributes to worse firm accounting performance. Further, debt diversification does not appear to reduce financial constraints. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.

Purpose: The paper examines how earnings transparency affects dividend payouts for Indian firms. The authors also explore the channels through which earnings transparency affects dividend payouts. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employ panel data estimation with fixed effects to examine the role of earnings transparency on dividend payouts. The authors also use path analysis to explore causation. The paper uses a sample of more than 2000 Indian listed firms, over the period 2001–2016. Findings: The authors report that firms showing grater earning transparency pay more cash dividend. Their results do not support the signaling hypothesis about the dividend. However, these results provide explicit support to the theory that corporate dividend policy is an outcome of information asymmetry. Moreover, the path analysis reveals the effect of earnings transparency on corporate payout through the financial constraint channel. The results are robust to idiosyncratic controls; alternate measures of payout; alternate models; endogeneity concerns; and the alternate channel of returning money to stockholders. Practical implications: Managers should also examine earnings transparency while formulating an adequate dividend policy for their firms. This study also helps investors to identify dividend-paying stocks. Originality/value: This study particularly contributes to the literature examining the effect of earnings quality on dividend payouts through its effect on financial constraints. We, therefore, connect two streams of research that contemplate the relation between accounting-based information variables and dividend payouts and the relationship between financial constraints and dividend payouts. Moreover, using path analysis uniquely, the authors provide evidence on the relative importance of both the direct and the indirect link. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Most studies on performance evaluation in the hospitality industry solely focus on efficiency measurement; however, effectiveness, an integral part of organizational performance that can influence its competitive stance in the market, is ignored. Therefore, this study aims to measure the performance of Indian hotels considering both efficiency and effectiveness simultaneously using a two-phase evaluation model with panel data. The efficiency and effectiveness scores are measured using data envelopment analysis. McKinsey’s nine-cell matrix has also been deployed to show the competitive positioning of the hotels being studied. The results yield no significant correlation between the efficiency and effectiveness scores; nevertheless, there does seem to be a strong positive correlation between effectiveness scores vis a vis the overall performance of a hotel per se. © 2020, © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

With the prevalence of fake reviews across web and e-commerce platforms it has become difficult for the customers to make an informed purchase decision. Considering this we examine the influence of review manipulation on customer's purchase decision. A qualitative approach employing interviews with frequent online shoppers was employed to explore the phenomenon. The results of the study suggest that customers accord recommendations from their social network more weightage than the reviews available on an e-commerce platform. Further, we found that customers apply either or both interactive and extractive strategies to deal with review manipulation. © 27th European Conference on Information Systems - Information Systems for a Sharing Society, ECIS 2019. All rights reserved.

This paper augments the technology acceptance model (TAM) by empirically investigating the influence of behavioral traits (privacy concerns and trust) and cognitive beliefs (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) on patients’ behavioral intention to accept technology in healthcare service delivery. Despite increased emphasis on healthcare service delivery, there has been limited studies as to how various behavioral constructs are related to adoption of new technology in healthcare sector. To this end, and to develop meaningful insights, a conceptual model integrating behavioral constructs with constructs related to technology acceptance model is devised. The aim here is essentially to understand relationships that predict patients’ acceptance of technology in healthcare services. The devised model is tested on responses obtained from survey of 416 patients availing healthcare service at various primary health centers in New Delhi, India. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is employed to conceptualize the model and validate nine hypotheses entailing key constructs. The results indicate that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust and privacy concern are direct predictors of patients’ behavior to accept technology in availing healthcare services. In summary, this research provides an empirical contribution to the literature on effect of trust and privacy concerns on acceptance of technology in healthcare. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the current application of organization theory (OT) in the humanitarian supply chain (HSC) and identify the future OT-based research opportunities that can advance knowledge of humanitarian operations. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses a systematic literature review methodology to identify the current status and future direction of the OT-based study in HSC literature. The applied theories are those that have been mentioned in at least two research articles in the HSC literature. The proposed theories are either adopted from the top four referred organizational theories in the supply chain literature or those that can explain the issue of information asymmetry in HSC. Findings: The study identifies and describes eight organizational theories and their possible future research questions in HSC. Among these, the first four theories (i.e. resource-based theory, resource dependence theory, social exchange theory and contingency theory) have already been initially applied in the humanitarian field, while the remaining theories (i.e. institutional theory, stakeholder theory, transactional cost theory and information theory) have potential for future application. Research limitations/implications: The reviewed literature is limited to peer-reviewed journals listed in Thomson Reuters’ journal citation reports. Practical implications: This study may help future researchers better understand and solve, using organizational theory, the behavioral challenges faced by humanitarian operations. Originality/value: The study presents current applications of and future prospects for OT-based research in HSC, effectively providing the first review of OT applications in this area. The novel framework and new theories proposed herein may enable fresh directions for HSC research. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of ethics training (ET) on workplace behaviors. The study also aims to test the mediating effect of ethical culture (EC), on the relationship between ET and workplace behaviors. Design/methodology/approach: An experimental model has been developed to address the problem statement. The success of ET intervention has been measured in terms of workplace behavior, which is evaluated by job satisfaction, employee commitment and intention to stay. The proposed research model is empirically tested by data collected from 175 mid-level managers in 30 Indian construction firms. Findings: The results obtained from process macro showed partial mediation. Stronger perceptions of ET were associated with stronger perceptions of EC. EC is related to positive workplace behavior. Research limitations/implications: The partial mediation suggests that there is a need for exploring other potential mediating variables through which ET interventions can succeed. Future research can investigate group-level variables such as team psychological safety, which can potentially explain the complete mediation. Practical implications: The results suggest that ET interventions can be used to strengthen the EC in the firms. If the ET intervention is designed purely on the compliance orientation, it will impede the opportunities for long-term development. The focus should not be with the intent to observe ethical conduct. It should be more inclusive and value-oriented. Firms need to sensitize employees and train them on how to deal with ethical dilemmas. Employees are inclined to study in the firms exhibiting a strong EC. In the construction sector, where multiple projects are handled by employees with unique and niche skill sets, retainment of employees is very important. The human resource departments need to think of introducing ET interventions not only from the study of compliance adherence but also with the motive of retaining employees. Originality/value: The ET literature seldom discussed long term benefits related to creating an EC. The study critiques the intent of human resource (HR) departments while designing an ET intervention. The ethics intervention is often designed with an intent to fulfill the compliance requirements. This study contrasts this intention and shows the importance of ET intervention to create the EC in the firm, which not only includes compliance requirements like code of conduct but also has a significant focus on sensitizing employees about ethical dilemmas and grey areas. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Government of India has introduced several digital services under the Digital India campaign, for achieving higher-order excellence in e-governance. While these services help in digital empowerment of the citizens, they also process huge amounts of personal data. In a developing country, where citizens' awareness about privacy problems is poor and no comprehensive data protection framework are in place, this is an alarming concern as unfair personal data processing without sufficient data protection measures can inflict severe privacy harms such as identity theft, discrimination, and surveillance. A privacy policy is a standard method for informing users about data handling practices of digital service providers and is meant to increase transparency and hence, user's trust on service providers. With this background, in this paper, (1) we identify, based on international and national legal standards, a list of best practices that a comprehensive privacy policy must follow in order to be accessible and informative to the users of digital services in India; (2) with respect to these best practices, we evaluate the privacy policies of two prominent digital services in India, (a) for financial inclusion, Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) and (b) for aggregation of e-governance services, Unified Mobile Application for New-Age Governance, and observe that most of the best practices are not met by these; (3) we interviewed BHIM users using a semistructured interview guide, primary observations from which concur with our observations from (2) that there remain scopes of improvement in BHIM's privacy policy; (4) we conclude that (a) missing information in privacy policies can signify deeper problems in the data protection mechanisms of digital services and these need to be identified, (b) users tend to trust applications provided by government based on the assumption that it will not misuse their personal data. This trust can be further enhanced by suitable actions from the government in improving the privacy policies of its e-services, (c) extensive studies are needed to find out suitable designs of privacy policies and modes of generating privacy awareness for the large and extremely diverse beneficiaries in India. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

This paper facilitates an in-depth view of the transformation needed for the transition from traditional to sustainable supply chain management (SSCM)—by delineating its elemental aspects. Taking an organizational unit of analysis perspective, this conceptual review seeks to characterize the fundamental nature of complexities inherent in the transformation, and thereby seeks to explicate the elemental nature of organizational efforts responsible for shaping sustainable supply chains. The findings outline intriguing mechanisms for explaining the complex and endless nature of the transformation for organizations. This discourse also involves the proposition of two novel concepts applied in this context: the SSCM Force-field and Differential Efforts in SSCM. While the former represents the intricate interplay between organizational efforts and organizational complexities in absorbing SSCM practices in the supply chain routines of an organization, the latter reflects the value of additional efforts above and beyond what is required in existing supply chain routines, to facilitate the integration of a desired SSCM practice into routines. The findings show how the force-field impedes an organization's progress in SSCM and how differential effort allows an organization to overcome the force-field to extend theoretical frameworks and offering valuable guidance for practicing managers. Overall, the research strengthens the conceptual foundation of SSCM theory by explicating the under-explored aspects involved in an organization's progressive journey toward SSCM. Further, it is a first attempt to outline the organizational implications of the SSCM journey. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Recognizing that the pricing strategy of the newly emerging online shared accommodation industry would be different from that of the traditional hotel industry, this study attempted to identify the variables that are the main determinants of the peer-to-peer tourist accommodation price. Using a data set of Airbnb accommodation listings for Toronto, the study established a relationship between room pricing and various listing variables and identified a reduced number of listing attributes that influence the room price significantly. Focusing on a reduced number of important variables, Airbnb hosts can not only increase average profit but would also give tourists a better rental experience. Along with traditional multiple regressions approach, the study also applied two different approaches and found that the analysis of hedonic pricing using nonlinear and nonparametric approaches is quite promising. © The Author(s) 2020.

A destination country is a new geographical area where tourists enjoy many different experiences. It is possible to analyses the tourism efficiency of a country and to evaluate whether the country is harvesting maximum tourism output by managing its diverse range of physical and human resources effectively. This study tried to measure the tourism efficiency for the country level across 170 countries of the globe based on the various resources possessed by them. The study also found that pollution levels of the country can adversely affect tourism efficiency. This perspective of ranking countries made certain small countries to feature in the top of the list concerning tourism efficiency. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

In this article, we examine the hedging and safe-haven properties of Bitcoin against crude oil implied volatility (OVX) and structural shocks using a dummy variable GARCH and quantile regression model. In addition, we also compare the hedging and safe-haven performance of Bitcoin with gold, commodity and US Dollar. We conclude that Bitcoin is not the superior asset over others to hedge oil-related uncertainties. Besides, hedging capacity of different assets is conditional upon the nature of oil risks and market situation. Thus, investors may prefer different investment instruments to hedge downside risks in different economic situations and market states. © 2019 Elsevier Inc.

In this paper, a multi-objective manufacturing cell design problem is studied. A goal programming (GP) embedded real-coded genetic algorithm (GA) is designed for solving this problem. Initially, the GA is used to obtain the individual minimum of each objective. Thereafter, utilising the concepts of GP, an equivalent problem is derived, and the sum of deviation variables associated with the objectives are minimised. The GA is used further to obtain the optimal cell design. A software toolkit is developed based on the proposed technique using C Sharp.net to ensure its use in a larger scale. The effectiveness of the technique is judged based on a set of test problems of different sizes. The proposed technique is found to be better in terms of the performance measure over the existing ones. Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

In view of complexities associated with supplier performance evaluation based on traditional business criterions (such as costs, quality levels, and delivery timelines) and emerging criterions (such as those related to environmental sustainability), we in this research evolve two different supplier efficiency measurement models that unify such criterions possessing characteristics of both desirable and undesirable outputs. The first model is a single-objective DEA efficiency assessment model wherein both types of outputs are integrated into a single composite efficiency measure. Using data from suppliers of Hyundai Steel Company, we determine composite efficiencies of each of these suppliers thus ranking them in terms of an overall efficiency score that would be useful as far as the first-cut supplier discrimination is concerned. However, due to the relative inability of evolved single-objective efficiency model to perform trade-offs amongst desirable and undesirable outputs and, owing to unidimensionality aspects, we evolve a goal programming based bi-objective efficiency model wherein trade-offs can be performed between both conventional and emerging dimensions criterions leading to different supplier evaluations for varied scenarios. We also integrate our evolved models with the cross-efficiency view of efficiency determination in order to enable the decision-makers to achieve peer-to-peer evaluation and maximum discrimination amongst suppliers. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.