Conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) backed Alexa, Siri and Google Assistants are examples of Voice-based digital assistants (VBDA) that are ubiquitously occupying our living spaces. While they gather an enormous amount of personal information to provide bespoke user experience, they also evoke serious privacy concerns regarding the collection, use and storage of personal data of the consumers. The objective of this research is to examine the perception of the consumers towards the privacy concerns and in turn its influence on the adoption of VBDA. We extend the celebrated UTAUT2 model with perceived privacy concerns, perceived privacy risk and perceived trust. With the assistance of survey data collected from tech-savvy respondents, we show that trust in technology and the service provider plays an important role in the adoption of VBDA. In addition, we notice that consumers showcase a trade-off between privacy risks and benefits associated with VBDA while adopting the VBDA such technologies, reiterating their calculus behaviour. Contrary to the extant literature, our results indicate that consumers' perceived privacy risk does not influence adoption intention directly. It is mediated through perceived privacy concerns and consumers’ trust. Then, we propose theoretical and managerial implications to conclude the paper. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

Purpose: Knowledge hiding is a phenomenon in organizations that is commonly observed to be detrimental to the performance of employees. The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework, which uses social exchange theory and social identity theory to advance an understanding of how climate for innovation can dampen the negative impact of knowledge hiding on performance. Design/methodology/approach: We have reviewed papers on the concept of knowledge hiding, social identity theory, social exchange theory as well as the literature on climate for innovation, in order to draw the relationships and propose a framework. Findings: Based on the papers reviewed, this study conceptually advances the understanding that an organizational factor such as “climate for innovation” would prove beneficial to check and reduce knowledge hiding behavior i.e. unhide the knowledge and subsequently improve performance of employees in organizations. Practical implications: This study proposes climate for innovation, as a factor that would influence the negative impact of knowledge hiding on performance. It is under the control of the managers to create such environment in their teams and the work settings, which would help un-hide the knowledge, and thereby promoting performance at workplace. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature on knowledge hiding as well as the climate for innovation. This is the first work to propose an interaction of climate of innovation with knowledge hiding behavior and their overall impact on performance. The framework is explained in a simple term, to bridge the gap between academics and practitioner world. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

In a classical newsvendor setting, the retailer places an optimal order quantity by finding a trade-off between overstocking and understocking of products. However, it has been observed that even the experienced managers do not always order an optimal quantity. In the early 2000s, researchers in the area of behavioural economics have taken roots to analyse the behavioural dynamics influencing the inventory ordering decisions in newsvendor settings. Later, a large number of research studies has focused its attention on understanding the cognitive biases and heuristics involved in the process of inventory decisions. The influence of individual heterogeneity such as gender differences, cultural differences, and hierarchical differences on the ordering pattern of individuals are also analysed. This article provides a detailed summary of the research progress in the behavioural newsvendor problem. It also provides a framework of the existing literature and identifies the research gaps to point future research possibilities. © 2021 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The viability of unrelated diversification as a strategy in emerging economies is an unresolved puzzle. Because business groups dominate the landscape in these economies, and are known to diversify either by expanding the scope of existing affiliate firms and/or setting up new firms, we argue that it is important to make a distinction between firm-level and business group-level diversification. The results of our study covering the 15-year period following India’s economic liberalization confirm our thesis. Whereas all firms, including business group affiliates, reduced unrelated scope to negotiate product and capital market pressures, business groups took advantage of the opportunity-rich, post-reform environment to enter into new unrelated businesses by setting up new affiliates. Our findings echo suggestions that as institutions strengthen, the locus of unrelated diversification moves away from managers of public corporations to entities with different types of ownership structures. We present the business group as one such ownership structure. © 2021 Society for the Advancement of Management Studies and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

As far back as the industrial revolution, significant development in technical innovation has succeeded in transforming numerous manual tasks and processes that had been in existence for decades where humans had reached the limits of physical capacity. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers this same transformative potential for the augmentation and potential replacement of human tasks and activities within a wide range of industrial, intellectual and social applications. The pace of change for this new AI technological age is staggering, with new breakthroughs in algorithmic machine learning and autonomous decision-making, engendering new opportunities for continued innovation. The impact of AI could be significant, with industries ranging from: finance, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, supply chain, logistics and utilities, all potentially disrupted by the onset of AI technologies. The study brings together the collective insight from a number of leading expert contributors to highlight the significant opportunities, realistic assessment of impact, challenges and potential research agenda posed by the rapid emergence of AI within a number of domains: business and management, government, public sector, and science and technology. This research offers significant and timely insight to AI technology and its impact on the future of industry and society in general, whilst recognising the societal and industrial influence on pace and direction of AI development. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Purpose: The traditional newsvendor model has focused on deriving the optimal order quantity that minimises the balance between stocking too much or too less number of products. However, the managers make inventory decisions based on intuitions and shortcuts, which may involve human errors and biases. The effect of cognitive biases and heuristics influencing the inventory ordering decisions in newsvendor settings is highlighted. The advancement of research associated to the newsvendor biases is reviewed to appreciate the behavioral aspects of the minds underlying this process. Design/methodology/approach: The use of experimental and non-experimental methods to investigate the ordering behaviour of newsvendors is described and we present a framework of the existing literature and highlight the research gaps to point to future research possibilities and priorities. Findings: The proposed framework gives a systematic approach to confirm the existence of a substantial scope of research opportunities and points to specific areas for further research. It synthesizes the existing results of behavioral newsvendor research and will act as a key reference paper. In addition, it will help the practitioners and software tool vendors to comprehend the behavioral perspective of newsvendor preferences and design strategies to mitigate this effect. The insights will be helpful for academicians, researchers and practitioners working in the areas of experimental economics, behavioral economics, behavioral operations, bounded rationality theory, newsvendor modelling and supply chain contracts. Originality/value: A summary of literature in this evolving area of research is very scarce. Considering the impact of behavioral economics on managerial decisions in the contemporary world, it is highly important to have an educational summary which can act as a tool for the practitioners and researchers in the area of behavioral operations management. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Many developing countries across the world are allocating a significant share of their budgets for e-government initiatives. Common service centers (CSCs) are e-government initiatives that aim to increase access to public services and promote easy and direct interaction with the government. These e-government initiatives are largely underutilised, especially in rural areas in developing countries. This study attempts to identify the key challenges facing CSCs and determine their hierarchical relationships in the context of rural India. A set of 15 challenges was identified through a rigorous literature review and by surveying experts and CSC owners. Data were collected on the identified challenges and were analysed using interpretive structural modeling (ISM)-MICMAC-fuzzy MICMAC analysis. Subsequently, we developed a hierarchical model of challenges. The findings revealed that “longer travel time and transaction cost”, “low digital literacy”, and “low awareness” of e-government services are among the key challenges CSCs face in rural India. This study suggests several recommendations to all the stakeholders involved in the management of CSCs to improve the delivery of e-government services in rural India. © 2021 Elsevier Inc.

Coproductive services involve the active participation of customers by exerting physical/mental effort as a part of the service process to co-create value. While the demand for coproduction models is surging, there are complaints about customer experience and service system design. Owing to these dissatisfaction issues, providers are now shifting away from self-service models, towards the notion of smart service; where service tasks are efficiently divided between the provider and the customer. This study addresses the business problem of the configuration and pricing of such a smart coproduction service channel targeted at a segment within an incumbent provider's captive customer base. We analyze the relative preference of the popular uniform pricing policy against a new proposed policy that accounts for the strategic behaviour of customers. This study uses a suite of analytical modelling tools to address this problem. We analyze the applicability of the alternate pricing regimes when providers are pursuing certain prevalent marketing strategies. We also analyze the influence of relative co-creation productivity between the provider and customer on the choice of pricing regime. We find that the popularity of the uniform pricing model can be explained with its simplicity in configuration and applicability. On the other hand, we find that the proposed strategic pricing regime not only induces customers to adopt coproduction channels but also enables providers to charge a price premium where possible. Furthermore, our analysis explains several observations in practice w.r.t. uptake and proliferation of coproduction channels. We also present useful guidelines to managers for configuring and pricing coproduction service channels. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the motivation for firms in emerging economies to engage in constraint absorption. It illustrates the mechanisms that enable business group (BG) affiliated firms to manage interdependencies vis-à-vis standalone firms in emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach: The propositions outlined in this study are rooted in the theoretical lens of resource dependence theory (RDT). The authors integrate RDT with the resource-based view and institutional theory to explain the effect of BG affiliation on the relationship between the two types of interdependence (i.e. mutual dependence and power imbalance) and the likelihood of constraint absorption. Findings: This paper theorizes that BG affiliation influences the relationship between mutual dependence/power imbalance and the likelihood of constraint absorption. However, if both the firms in a dyad are affiliated to a BG, the likelihood of constraint absorption is likely to be low owing to a process called “co-optation” even if mutual dependence or power imbalance between the firms is high. Originality/value: This paper highlights how BG affiliated firms are better at managing contingencies in the external environment vis-à-vis standalone firms. This paper also advises managers that the type of organizational form is an important factor to be considered while engaging in constraint absorption in an emerging economy. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

In this study, by considering household, societal, and institutional contextual factors, we attempt to theorize the relationship between gender and digital divide with the help of social learning theory (SLT) and the literature on computer self-efficacy (CSE). Then, using a large-scale national representative sample data from India, we empirically evaluate these relationships. Our empirical analysis corroborates anecdotal evidence that gender-based digital divide exists and is severe. Caste, household size, marriage, and presence of digitally literate women in the family are found to be influencers of women's CSE, which, in turn, impact gender-level digital divide. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.

The sudden spread of COVID-19 across the globe during 2020 severely impacted efficient use of inputs for production in all the sectors in most of the developing countries including India. This paper tries to evaluate technical efficiency of paddy producers by applying the model of stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) under time invariant fixed effect application. To measure the level of technical inefficiency of farmers with family and hired labour with the help of primary data collected from 200 farmers in a field survey in the state of Haryana. Maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) was deployed to estimate the model of production under the assumption of Cobb-Douglas model of production function with stochastic frontier analysis for the variables affecting the technical efficiency. Results show that the important variables that impact the technical efficiency are the cost of labour, seed, fertilizers, machine labour and irrigation charges. Average technical efficiency of the surveyed paddy farmers that used both family and hired labour are 0.73 (73 per cent) and 0.69 (69 per cent) during COVID-19 and before Covid-19 respectively. Farmers have enhanced their level of technical efficiency during COVID-19 by optimally utilizing family labour. This shows that the small agricultural land holders can reduce the level of input requirement by 41 percent for giving the same level of output if their cultivation practices are technically more efficient. © 2020 DAV College. All rights reserved.

The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and National Disaster Management Act, 2005 grant the Government of India a great deal of autonomy and control in declaring an infectious disease as a pandemic and in suspending citizen's rights. Three distinct but related legal issues regarding the government's handling of intellectual property rights under the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement of the World Trade Organization, consumer rights, and product liability for the COVID-19 vaccines are discussed, as the raging pandemic has created uncertainties in the implementation of these laws. © 2021 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved.

With the expansion of business education and an increasing focus on diversity, it is imperative that business schools address students’ diverse learning styles. A deeper understanding of how differently each student learns may provide useful insights into “teaching-learning” processes that need to be designed for effective learning. Providing an environment that maximizes learning for each student is the prime motive for understanding students’ learning styles. This study used Kolb’s learning model to understand the differences in learning styles of undergraduate and postgraduate students in management programs. Using data from a leading B-school in India, the study identified the differences in undergraduate and postgraduate students’ learning styles. The study offers insights for developing learning effectiveness by aligning learning styles with pedagogical tools. © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

[No abstract available]

In 2019, the International Journal of Information Management (IJIM) celebrated its 40th year of publication. This study commemorates this event by presenting a retrospect of the journal. Using a range of bibliometric tools, we find that the journal has grown impressively in terms of publication and citation. The contributions come from all over the world, but the majority are from Europe and the United States. The journal has mostly published empirical articles, with its authors dominantly using quantitative methodology. Further, the culture of collaboration has increased among authors over the years. The journal publishes on a number of including managing information systems, information technologies and their application in business, technology acceptance among consumers, using information systems for decision making, social perspectives on knowledge management, and information research from the social science perspective. Regression analysis reveals that article attributes such as article order, methodology, presence of authors from Europe, number of references, number of keywords, and abstract length have a significant association with the citations. Finally, we find that conceptual and review articles have a positive association with citations. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of informal learning behaviors in increasing the social capital of organizations. The paper provides a brief overview of social capital and informal learning and proposes to interlink them for increasing knowledge capability of organizations. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on a review of social capital theory and informal learning behaviors, this article presents a conceptual approach for practitioners to deploy informal learning behaviors to increase social capital and subsequently, the knowledge capability of their organizations. Findings: With the fast-changing global business scenario and limited availability of capital to invest in formal training behaviors, organizations continue to face difficulties in increasing their knowledge capability. This article suggests a simple, cost-effective and easy-to-deploy method of employing informal learning behaviors to build and sustain social capital and through it the knowledge capabilities of organizations. Originality/value: There is currently limited research into the applicability of using informal learning behaviors in the field of social capital and knowledge capability building. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

This study aims to assess the impact of the antecedents of Integrated Management System (IMS) implementation on the IMS maturity and its subsequent impact on operational performance in the context of Indian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Using Theory of Planned Behavior, this study develops research hypotheses linking challenges and motivation to implement IMS with IMS maturity and its impact on operational performance. Using Structural Equation Modelling to analyze the primary data collected from 144 SMEs in India, this study finds that intrinsic motivation drives firms towards higher levels of maturity while extrinsic motivation for implementation leads to lower levels of IMS maturity. This study not only empirically evaluates a comprehensive framework on IMS maturity but also contributes to growing literature on analysis of Developing Economy SMEs. The findings of this research may drive SMEs to focus on IMS maturity, as the results suggest that it is positively related to operational performance. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

Purpose: This paper aims to understand the impact of the job switching behavior on different stages of the communities of practice’s life cycle. Job switching has been viewed from both positive and negative point of views, and its impact on certain organizational factors might be found in literature. Job switching/job hopping behavior of an individual might be fueled by socio-economic factors as well as fun, but it has serious implication for the companies. But an understanding of how this new employee might influence the communities of practice, given which stage is the community in, is something that has not been studied yet. This work is an attempt in that direction. Design/methodology/approach: Using integrative review technique, this paper forwards a conceptual framework based on the literature reviewed and builds a model using an understanding of the nuances of each stage of the life cycle of communities of practice. Findings: The model proposes the impact of switching on each stage of the life cycle of communities of practice. It is observed that at each stage a new entrant who is a “job hopper” might either help or hinder the progress of a community of practice. Research limitations/implications: This paper gives a new impetus to the research on communities of practice in contemporary perspective. The model proposed could be tested using data from real communities of practice. This paper limits itself to the proposal of the model and does not engage in testing it. Practical implications: Organizations and managers may use the model to understand how a new entrant to the organization will complement the existing life cycle phase of the communities of practice within. Originality/value: The conceptual model proposed is unique in its context of job switching behavior and its effect on communities of practice. Research on communities of practice from this contemporary perspective might bring important research directions in future. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Covid-19, a corona virus, has maintained its momentum in spreading among communities. In this context of social crisis, this study seeks to identify the reasons for the partial failure to fulfill the intended goal of lockdown, and to formulate an inclusive behavioral model reflecting comprehensive human behavior and social psychology. In order to answer the research questions, this study has conducted extensive interviews among individuals who were targets of the lockdown system. From this exploratory and qualitative investigation, researchers have recognized four paradigms as the key to understanding human behavior and social psychology in violating lockdown as a social isolation system during this period of crisis. The identified parameters depicting social behavior are: Derogation and Argument (SDA), Tangible Need and Deficiency (TND), Intangible Desire and Expectancy (IDE), and Evaluation of Benefit and Loss (UBL). Finally, as a comprehensive guideline, a grounded theory of the social behavior ‘paradigm for lockdown violation (PLV)’ is explored as the reason for the violation of the social system. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.

The role of social media, particularly Twitter, in ensuring the large-scale propagation of information cannot be overemphasised. This study introduces the recipient network’s reciprocity toward a particular topic as a novel factor that contributes toward a central node’s information propagation potential, in addition to other widely studied factors. It first employs multiple regression analysis to present a model that reveals the prominent roles played by both content popularity, focal ratio, engagement efforts of users, and the recipient network’s reciprocity toward a topic, in determining his or her propagation potential. Further, it investigates the impact of the interaction terms of each of these propagation dimensions and the network’s reciprocity toward the topic on a user’s propagation potential. The results show that the network’s reciprocity toward the topic (i.e. ‘blockchain’ in this study) is important for modelling the diffusion process accurately. Second, applying a multi-methods approach, this study also incorporates fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). It reveals four alternative combinations of explanatory variables (propagation dimensions) that are sufficient for achieving the expected outcome (propagation potential of the user/central node). The study found fsQCA results complementing the results of the regression model. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.