Western countries have experienced a steady increase in the number of immigrants since 2000 and these immigrants appear to be a sizeable market segment for apparel retailers in Western host countries owing to their acculturation. This study investigates how acculturation of immigrants drives their loyalty to apparel stores in Western countries. Three hundred and sixty usable responses obtained from South Asian immigrants living in Australia were analysed using PLS-SEM, non-linear variance-based SEM, and fsQCA. The results showed that immigrants’ acculturation enhances their loyalty to Australian apparel stores, whereas immigrants’ ethnocentrism reduces their loyalty as well as mediates the impact of ethnic community participation on their store loyalty. Ethnic community participation further weakens the association between acculturation and store loyalty. This study contributes to consumer behaviour literature and retailing in the context of immigrants’ acculturation. It provides implications for retailers interested in creating a loyal customer base among immigrants in Western countries. © 2020 Westburn Publishers Ltd.

Purpose: This study attempts to identify and analyse the barriers to implementing a reverse logistics (RL) system in Indian Construction, Real estate, Infrastructure and Project (CRIP) sectors and present a structured model to identify interdependencies among them. Design/methodology/approach: The barriers to implementing RL in CRIP sectors in India were identified using a Delphi study. The interdependencies were identified using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM). Further, using the Matriced' Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée à un Classement (MICMAC) analysis, the barriers were classified on the basis of their driving power and interdependencies. Findings: The study has identified ten barriers that can hamper the application of an RL system in CRIP sectors. The finding of the ISM model shows that macro level barriers such as lack of awareness of reverse logistics, insufficient government policies and unavailability of standard codes stimulate each other and also drive all other barriers. The organization-specific barriers operating at the strategic/tactical level, namely, company's rigid mechanism, lack of awareness of economic profits, inadequate company’s organizational policies and lack of training, reluctance from stakeholders, scarcity of resources and finance from company are found at the intermediate level of hierarchy and they can be influenced by the barriers at the lower level and influence the barriers on the and higher levels. The operational level barrier namely “Inadequate Information Technology system” is at the top of the hierarchy and can be driven by all the barriers at the lower level. Research limitations/implications: The present findings are based on the opinions of experts only from Indian CRIP sectors so the results may require to be validated in other contexts. Practical implications: The structural model presenting the interdependencies will be a guide for the CRIP supply chain professionals in understanding and ranking the barriers they may face while implementing the RL system. Originality/value: The study contributes to the existing literature by providing a set of barriers and their interdependencies faced during the implementation of an RL system implementation in CRIP sectors. It is one of the first studies which identifies barriers applicable to the CRIP firms in India and models their inter-dependencies. Additionally Consequently, these firms can make a move forward towards a circular economy by overcoming these interlinked barriers. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

This paper proposes a Closed-loop Supply Chain game-theoretic model that mimics the DellReconnect Supply Chain. Within this framework, we characterise a game between an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and a social collector, who work together to recover electronics. The market comprises three segments: consumers purchasing only new goods, consumers purchasing only used goods, and indifferent consumers. The social collector decides whether the returns will be used to serve the used-market segment or the indifferent market segment first, thereby establishing the market structure and deciding whether to opt for competition or coopetition. We find that, whereas the social collector is indifferent when it comes to a choice between coopetition and competition, the OEM strictly prefers coopetition. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The present study investigates the changes in G20 stock market dynamics and their interlinkages in the aftermath of COVID-19. It utilizes the Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis (DCCA) along with the network and complexity theories for detecting the contagion effect of the pandemic on the stock markets. We find that both advanced and emerging stock markets, departing from their pre-crisis structures, form a tightly coupled close community after the disease outbreak–except for China that distanced itself from the rest of the cohort. This indicates that COVID-19 has caused contagion in the global equity market, which has increased the risk to international portfolio diversification benefits. The adoption of the Network theory for contagion detection technique augments the detailed understanding of the structural changes and their interlinkages among the stock markets in a more comprehensive way. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This study investigates the critical firm-level strengths and weaknesses that explain cross-sectional variations in abnormal stock returns of Hospitality and Tourism (HT) firms during different phases of a crisis. We used the event study and multivariate regression framework for analysing the Indian HT firms’ data around the COVID-19 crisis. While reporting a significant negative influence of COVID-19, we identified the early crisis, market crash and continuation of the crisis periods. Furthermore, we observe that during the early-crisis period, business diversity, financial stability and board diversity improved HT firms’ strength to withstand the risk, while business group affiliation was of little help. During the market crash and continuation of the crisis phase, better capital intensity and financial stability proved helpful. The managers of HT firms can take cues from this study to understand firm-level characteristics that provide resilience to their firms’ value in managing different phases of the crisis. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Mere access to the internet does not guarantee progress; end users must be equipped to draw tangible benefits. This study explores the digital access and education initiatives in the handloom clusters of India and attempts to arrive at policy interventions for the sustainable digital empowerment of workers in indigenous trades such as handlooms. In-depth case research was conducted in three project sites, at various stages of maturity, of the Digital Cluster Development Programme by the Digital Empowerment Foundation in India. The physical infrastructure of digital connectivity needs to be accompanied by vocation-specific digital interventions for connectivity to be used productively and for digital empowerment to take place. A three-pronged social policy intervention model based on access, education, and engagement involving public-private partnerships, which may substantially enhance digitalisation of indigenous business models and digital empowerment of communities engaged in such professions, is recommended. © 2021 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved.

Growth models such as Gibrat’s law and Jovanovic’s theory that examine the relationship between the firms’ growth, age and size have either been tested on data from developed economies or from the manufacturing sectors in developing economies. This study checks the suitability of these models in service sectors in developing economies as service sectors have distinct characteristics and developing economies such as India are heavily dependent on this sector. The current study considers three major service sectors contributing to India’s economy vis-à-vis financial services, information technology and real estate for the period 2002–2005. We observed that during 2002–2005, India’s economy was stable without wide fluctuations in economic performance, such as gross domestic product, unemployment or inflation. These sectors not only had a significant impact on economic growth but also had comprehensive microeconomic data. Our results negate both Gibrat’s law and Jovanovic’s theory. We argue that service sectors which are knowledge-intensive will experience different growth patterns compared to manufacturing sectors. We find a definite and significant relationship between firms’ growth and their size and age. Also, we find concluding evidence that younger firms up to 10 years of age struggle a lot more than older firms in the Indian service sector. JEL: D20, D21, D22, D02 © 2021 Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd.

Purpose: This study seeks to highlight the dynamic nature of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) by investigating how firms respond to adversity, i.e. performance below aspiration levels through pertinent changes in EO, and if some of these changes can be accounted for based on the ownership of the firm. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts a multiple regression using an ordinary least square methodology on a sample of 13,333 Indian firms within the period 2005–2016 to test its hypothesis. Findings: This research sheds light on performance feedback as an antecedent to EO as also on the effect of ownership moderating this relationship, with diversity in resource configuration and governance arrangement being the key drivers. Research limitations/implications: This is a single country study; hence, there is a possibility of a country-specific bias. This study uses a secondary measure of EO and thus is unable to capture the entrepreneurial intentions and opinions of managers. Practical implications: The study establishes a nuanced understanding of how ownership impacts the entrepreneurial behaviour of firms during times of adversity. Social implications: This study may help policymakers draft appropriate policy interventions for firms at the time of adversity, so that they can improve their entrepreneurial spree. Originality/value: This rare study from an emerging market establishes performance feedback as an important antecedent of EO. It further highlights the vital role of ownership in supporting/constraining EO. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

This paper develops a general approach for constructing a confidence interval for a parameter of interest with a specified confidence coefficient and a specified width. This is done assuming known a positive lower bound for the unknown nuisance parameter and independence of suitable statistics. Under mild conditions, we develop a modified two-stage procedure which enjoys attractive optimality properties including a second-order efficiency property and asymptotic consistency property. We extend this work for finding a confidence interval for the location parameter of the inverse Gaussian distribution. As an illustration, we developed a modified mean absolute deviation-based procedure in the supplementary section for finding a fixed-width confidence interval for the normal mean. © 2021 South African Statistical Association

The aim of this study to investigate factors affecting luxury consumers’ webrooming intention using a moderated mediation framework. The study also investigates the mediating effects of perceived hedonic value and perceived utilitarian value and how these mediating effects are moderated by online risk perceptions. Data were collected using offline survey from 374 luxury consumers in India, using systematic sampling. The results indicated that perceived usefulness of online search, need for touch and socialization have significant impact on webrooming intention. Perceived hedonic value and perceived utilitarian value mediate the effect of variables on webrooming intention and mediation effect of perceived utilitarian value varied between high and low levels of online risk perceptions. Findings of this study will help luxury retailers in managing consumer channel switching behaviour. The study enriches luxury marketing literature by examining emerging webrooming, channel switching phenomenon. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of convenience on banking consumers' webrooming intention. To fulfil this objective, this study empirically investigates how convenience impacts consumers' webrooming intention, using a comprehensive moderated–mediation framework. The study investigates the mediating effects of perceived hedonic values and perceived utilitarian values and how these mediating effects are moderated by consumers' perceived security concerns. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected using a questionnaire-based offline survey from 534 banking users in India, using systematic sampling. The covariance-based structural equation modelling and PROCESS macro were used to examine the hypotheses. Findings: The results indicated that access convenience, search convenience, benefit convenience and post-benefit convenience have a crucial impact on consumers' webrooming intention. The perceived hedonic values and perceived utilitarian values mediate the effects of convenience dimensions on webrooming intention, and mediation effects varied between high and low levels of consumers' perceived security concern. Research limitations/implications: This study was conducted in India using cross-sectional data. The proposed model can be replicated in other countries using longitudinal data for generalising the findings. Practical implications: The study's findings will help banks identify how to enhance convenience to manage channel-switching behaviour. Originality/value: “Webrooming”, a key channel-switching concern in a multichannel banking context is investigated by examining the impact of convenience dimensions. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Based on the cognitive-motivational-relational (CMR) theory, this study empirically investigates the mechanisms through which consumers' online engagement impacts their channel switching intention. The present study examines the mediating effects of perceived value and the ways in which these mediating effects are moderated by online risk perception. Data were collected from 428 online Indian consumers using systematic random sampling. The results of the structural and process macro analyses indicated that consumer online engagement has a significant impact on consumer online search benefits which in turn leads to webrooming intention. Also, perceived value mediated the effects of online search benefits and offline purchase benefits on webrooming intention. The results advance the theory of CMR by explaining consumer channel switching behaviour and are expected to help multi-channel retailers to identify the key drivers that help engage consumers online. © 2021.

The purpose of this study to investigate the effect of online convenience dimensions on mobile banking (m-banking) adoption intention using a comprehensive moderated mediation framework. A total of 446 responses from Indian banking users were received using systematic sampling. The covariance-based structural equation modelling and PROCESS macro were used to examine the hypotheses. The results indicated that access convenience, transaction convenience, benefit convenience, and post-benefit convenience have a crucial impact on m-banking adoption intention. The perceived hedonic values and perceived utilitarian values mediate the effects of convenience dimensions on m-banking adoption intention. The study's findings will help banks to identify which dimension/s of online convenience they should focus on over m-banking platforms to enhance adoption intention. As, “Convenience” plays a crucial role in mobile commerce adoption intention. This study attempts to examine how convenience dimensions affect m-banking adoption intention. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

The growth and rising prominence of multinationals from emerging markets (eMNCs) mark a significant phase in the evolution of the world economy in the last decade. This study investigates the effect of eMNCs' institutional embeddedness in terms of age on the adoption strategy of new and emerging information and communication technologies (ICT). Using panel multiple regression on a unique database of 3,756 observations from 394 Indian eMNCs in period of 2009 to 2019, the authors find that firm age has a unique negative impact on ICT investments of eMNCs. However, ownership is able to influence the negative impact of age in unique ways. Business group affiliation attenuates the impact of firm age on ICT investments, such that the reduction in ICT investments with firm age is less for BG-affiliated firms. Meanwhile, the higher the foreign institutional ownership in eMNCs, the lower the impact of firm age on ICT investments. © 2021 IGI Global. All rights reserved.

India's large population, rapidly growing economy, and the consequent rising plastic waste, has necessitated the need for an efficient and effective plastic waste management (PWM) system for ensuring an environmentally cleaner and sustainable future. Consequently, PWM policy in India has recently undergone a substantial shift from being an informally organized, largely uncoordinated set of programs towards becoming a formal and integrated system based on the extended producer responsibility (EPR) approach. This paper explicates the evolution, development, implementation, and implications of the Indian EPR framework for PWM by developing an integrative mixed-method case study. Using a theory-based stakeholder evaluation model, the study critically analyzes the drivers and constraining factors from a multi-stakeholder perspective and provides prescriptive suggestions on EPR policy formulation and implementation. It highlights three themes i.e., (a) robust regulatory architecture; (b) operational mechanism; and (c) ecosystem catalysts, whose nature, dynamics, and practicality shall determine the future of the Indian EPR framework and those of comparable emerging economies. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

The purpose of this research is to review the extant literature on mobile advertising systematically and to carry out a comprehensive analysis of research in this emerging field. Accordingly, this paper synthesises the literature on mobile advertising in terms of theories, contexts, characteristics and methodology to analyse the development of mobile advertising research over time. The literature review shows that mobile advertising research has transitioned from text message-based SMS advertisements into internet-based smartphone advertising. Furthermore, based on the synthesis, we have developed a conceptual framework that shows the antecedents, mediators and consequences of mobile advertising. Additionally, we have identified some overlooked areas and proposed some insightful research directions to advance this field of research. This review contributes to the mobile marketing literature, specifically to the mobile advertising literature. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a conspicuous issue in sustainable development considering its association with all three domains of sustainability i.e. economy, society, and environment. Various operations research techniques have been used to provide a robust decision support system for a cost-effective, environment friendly and socially convenient MSW management in urban centers across the globe. This chapter discusses the holistic view of one such technique i.e. multi criteria decision-making (MCDM). MCDM models are used to solve two different kind of problems i.e. (i) evaluation of discrete decision alternatives based on identified attributes, known as multi-attribute decision making (MADM) problems; and (ii) optimization of a multi objective function in a continuous decision space, known as multi-objective decision making (MODM) problems. The formulation and applications of MADM and MODM models are demonstrated using two real case studies. First case study exhibits the use of a MADM model to select appropriate combination of locations for MSW facilities with simultaneous consideration of all relevant economical, social, technical and environmental attributes. The proposed two-stage MADM model expands the conventional approaches to select best locations for MSW facilities based on only economical cost minimization, and includes all relevant attributes to make it a comprehensive model. Attribution identification and economic evaluation are performed in the first stage assessment. Shortlisted alternatives are then evaluated for all identified economical, social, technical and environmental attributes using Technique of Order Preference Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) in the second stage assessment. The model is demonstrated on the city of Nashik (India). The model select best combination of locations with an optimum economical cost, good suitability for societal and technical attributes, and minimal environmental emissions. Second case study maximizes the social acceptance of MSW management system in the Hoi An city (Vietnam) using a MODM model. The proposed model provides an essential framework with the scientific consensus among all level of stakeholders. Minimizing the economical cost of entire system, pollution emission from MSW facilities, and amount of MSW ending up in landfills are selected as primary objectives. Both of these case studies reflect the potential of MCDM models to establish a sustainable MSW management system in the urban centers across the globe. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Purpose: This study aims at identifying critical success factors of a sustainable mobile banking application using text mining approach. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 6,073 consumer reviews relating to a mobile banking application were collected and analyzed to meet the study objective. Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) was done to identify the critical success factors of a sustainable mobile banking application. Findings: The results indicated that privacy and security, navigation, customer support, convenience and efficiency are the key factors. Research limitations/implications: The study findings enrich the mobile banking and sustainable service delivery channel literature. Practical implications: The results are expected to benefit the bankers in delivering effective banking services through a mobile banking application. Originality/value: Studies in the sustainability are few yet promising particularly the ones that use rigorous statistics suitable on thousands of data points to accomplish the study objectives. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

The freight transport industry of developing nations are trying very hard to achieve environmental sustainability in their logistics business. Meanwhile, it is essential to identify the transformation path towards sustainable freight transport for every nation. This paper has presented a framework based on transition management (TM) theory to identify, classify, and measure the important environmentally responsible transport practices (ERTPs). This work utilizes a two-step methodology comprised of a grey clustering (GC) algorithm and a compromise ranking method, i.e., VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) for prioritization of ERTPs performance. The GC algorithm is used to classify the ERTPs based on their impact on selected transport processes. Initially, this study identifies thirty-five ERTPs and four transport performance clusters. The proposed framework is validated with the Indian freight transport industry. The GC algorithm classifies twenty-one and fourteen practices as a high priority and moderate priority, respectively. The VIKOR method is used to compute the group utility, individual regret, and possibility value of high priority ERTPs. The ERTPs such as developing efficient freight terminal, compliance with government transport emission law and practice, promoting the use of the green container, environmental certification of freight carriers, and using alternative fuels are found as poor performing practices in the Indian freight transport industry. The proposed decision model robustness is tested with the sensitivity analysis, and a final ranking of the high priority ERTPs is presented. The outcomes of this research help logistics practitioners and policymakers in managing the ERTPs of freight logistics systems and develop a roadmap for improving freight transport sustainability. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

Billing fraud by health care providers is a widespread problem to a country’s health care system. This article develops a general theory for estimating the billing error in medical claims within pre-specified error bound using auxiliary information on the average payment amount made by all persons in the population. Estimation methods with pre-specified sample size cannot be used to achieve the fixed-width confidence interval for billing error. In this article we propose two two-stage procedures for accuracy in estimating billing error in medical claims using sample standard deviation and sample Gini’s mean difference as estimators of population standard deviation. This problem is the same as constructing a fixed-width confidence interval for billing error. In two-stage estimation procedures, the final sample size is not fixed in advance by using supposed unknown population parameter(s). Data in two-stage procedures are collected in two stages in which the final sample size is based on the estimate of the unknown parameter(s) in the first stage. The comparison of the proposed two-stage procedures are examined using a Monte Carlo simulation study. © 2020 South African Statistical Association