Business Research

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A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ON THE INFLUENCE OF AUTHENTICITY IN ADVERTISING AND POSITIVE ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Being authentic in advertising and using electronic word of mouth (eWOM) to satisfy customers pose significant challenges to managers. Drawing from prior literature, social influence theory, and the anchoring effect this study offers a framework to develop and apply authenticity in advertising and to use eWOM as marketing tools to satisfy customers. Consistent with prior literature, this framework identifies four dimensions of authenticity in advertising when implementing it as a strategy in marketing: brand essence, brand heritage, realistic plot, and message credibility. Firms may choose to attach importance to any of the dimensions of authenticity. Depending on the firm’s strategy, managers can use this framework to aid firms to examine and use authenticity in advertising. The authors formulate hypotheses to suggest that depending on the firm’s strategy, the effect of each of the four dimensions of authenticity on positive eWOM can be managed differently. Since few studies have focused on the impact of positive eWOM on customer satisfaction, this study addresses the issue by also considering the moderating effect of perceived trustworthiness. This study will help managers to get a better idea regarding how to execute authenticity in advertising and to use positive eWOM to satisfy customers.

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GEN Z, INSTAGRAM INFLUENCERS, AND HASHTAGS’ INFLUENCE ON PURCHASE INTENTION OF APPAREL

This study aims to understand Gen Z and their relationship to influencers on #OOTD (Outfit Of The Day) on Instagram and how the credibility of the influencer, parasocial interaction (PSI), physical attractiveness and self-confidence of the influencer are related and ultimately affect the purchase intention of consumers. Approximately 300 participants took part in an online survey. The main finding of this study is physical attractiveness is not as important to consumers as credibility, PSI, and confidence. With PSI being the strongest predictor of purchase intention. Transferring confidence and credibility are the most important aspects to influencing this generation on instagram as well as creating a relationship with followers.

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TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE MODEL AND SOCIAL COMMERCE SITES USAGE: AN IMPACT OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE AND SOCIAL CAPITAL

Given the broad adoption of social commerce sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Google and LinkedIn, theorizing and comprehending the usage behavior and attitude of users towards the social commerce sites are prime in emerging consideration and deployment of those new advancements in future. One way to deal with such issues on various factors of social commerce sites adoption behavior is return to the TAM. The aim of this study is to identify underlying factors and causal relationships that affect behavioral intentions to use social commerce sites. Thus, this study established an extended TAM, integrating social influence and social capital for forecasting the adoption and usage behavior of social commerce sites. This study was applied exploratory correlation and path analyses to find the relationship among six constructs: perceived ease of use (EU), social influence (SI), social capital (SC), perceived usefulness (PU), intention to use (ITU), and actual use (AU) with a questionnaire survey of 579 social commerce site users. Study reveals that the social commerce adoption model anticipated during this research accepted all the hypotheses related to usage behavior of social commerce site users. Moreover, study provides a clear and well understanding of “who is and who is not using these sites, why and for what purposes”.

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INCORPORATING SUSTAINABILITY IN THE REALM OF MARKETING: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Aim: Consumerism, which is driven by marketing activities, is leading to unsustainable consumption causing environmental degradation and climate change. At this rate we would need two planets to cater to our requirements by 2030. The objective of the paper is to promote sustainable consumption behaviour. Importance: Consumers though conscious of the environmental consequences of their consumption behavior, are not willing to adopt sustainable consumption practices except when there are monetary benefits. There is therefore an urgent need to reorient marketing to promote sustainable consumption. Method: This paper develops an “effort tangibility” matrix using the concepts of involvement and quality attributes to guide marketing to shift consumers to sustainable solution offerings. Conclusion: Companies need to incorporate experience and credence attributes by adding perceived risk associated with the purchase to build sustainability in the realm of marketing.

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AFFECTIVE PRIMING TECHNIQUE IN ADVERTISING - AN EMPIRICAL STUDY WITH REFERENCE TO FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS SECTOR

In this era where consumers are continuously exposed to media from different sources, an engaging advertisement can be a make or break affair for an organization to thrive in today’s world of cutthroat competition. The current generation’s preference for video content over static content emphasizes the increasing relevance of digital video advertising. Present young adults are voracious consumers of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) like chocolates and confectioneries, packaged snacks and soft drinks, and hence they are the focus of the present study. This study uses repeated measures design to compare types of appeal (rational vs. emotional with affective priming technique) on buying intention, memorability and impression of advertisement. With use of statistical tools like t test, ANCOVA and correlation, the study found that the type of appeal generally tends to have an impact on buying intention but this ceases to happen when there is a prior strong attitude towards the brand or product. The study also finds positive correlation between impression, memorability and buying intention after being exposed to emotional advertisements.

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CHANGING CONSUMER BEHAVIOURS TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPPING - AN IMPACT OF COVID 19

The coronavirus (COVID-19) eruption is first and prime human tragedy across the globe, affecting the lives of millions of people. It has greatly impacted the global economy. This paper is envisioned to provide business leaders with a view on the progressing situation and implications on the consumer as well. Every sphere is affected and impacted by the pandemic. Before lockdown work from home created a positive shift in the trend of online shopping. But this could not reside for a long time. Unexpected lockdown of 21 days impacted Indian online shopping and marketing trends drastically. Initially, Coronavirus's influence on consumer buying behaviour, towards brands and online tools was largely unknown. This paper aims to reflect on different issues and perspectives of online marketing due to COVID-19. There are still many more uncertainties to predict how the sale for the next few months will be impacting the global community, both personally as well as professionally. This study explores the impact of the epidemic from toilet tissue rolls to baby gear, pet food to many more daily essentials. Although some of the companies managed to operate through social commerce that is marketing by using e-commerce and social media. Forty-six percent of users admitted that social networks are important for information sharing and for making product choices. But results are indicative of the fact that online marketing and shopping will soon go back to normal but the losses and downshift brought by this pandemic are not ignorable.

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CRITICAL REVIEW OF BINGE WATCHING BEHAVIOUR THROUGH THE PRISM OF VROOM’S EXPECTANCY THEORY

The purpose of this study is to investigate the various motivation factors for binge watching. Binge watching is defined as watching two or more episodes of a web series, one after the other. Since the advent of internet, binge watching behaviour has become very popular among youngsters. The Methodology of the study comprises of two aspects. (i) Through systematic literature review, the various motivation factors are identified. They are – Information attainment, Entertainment, Hobby/ Companionship, Escape/ Mood management. (ii) The second aspect of the study is to showcase the identified motivational factors in a theoretical framework. The study intends to make a significant contribution to Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, by incrementing with additional variables (both positive and negative) impacting the motivational force. The study will be useful to (i) Video streaming platforms to offer binge-worthy videos and (ii) Marketers to understand how to drive audience, towards binge-watching.

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THE DETERMINANTS OF CUSTOMER’ SHOP ONLINE: A CASE OF STUDY FROM INDIAN CONTEXT

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to measure the developed online shopping construct in the Indian context and to examine the impact of demographics indicators on online shopping and their product preference in online shopping. The study also analyses the mediating role of consumer attitude relationship between quality of the product, price, product delivery, website information attribute, online services, and consumer buying behavior towards online shopping in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach: An offline survey was conducted by administrating a structured questionnaire to the online shopper in selected metro cities in India. The data was collected through a structured questionnaire by applying a purposive sampling technique. Responses are recorded on a five-point Likert scale where: one stands for strongly disagree, three stands for neither disagree nor agree, and five stands for strongly agree. Originality/value: All data are collected a single time due to cost and time constraints. Longitudinal studies are more suitable to understand the customers purchasing preference. The sample of the survey was from Indian metro cities, i.e., Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata. Managerial and Social Implications: The study helps online service providers or E-retail industries to understand customer attitudes and buying behavior in India. It also contributes to formulating the best marketing/e-marketing strategies to tap potential customers in India. Hence, the study also helps the e-retailers to provide better convenient policies to tier-1 tier2 cities and rural customers in India.

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IS SMARTPHONE LOAFING ENERGIZING, CREATIVE, INNOVATIVE AND PRODUCTIVE AT THE WORKPLACE?

Purpose: The growing trend of smartphone usage nowadays has raised a debate on whether its excessive use is counterproductive or not at workplaces. The present study aims to assess whether smartphone loafing helps to replenish lost energies and enhance employees' performance by improving their creative and innovative work behaviour. Methodology: To test this hypothesis a survey was held from 630 employees through a 63-item structured questionnaire. The results were evaluated by testing a sequential model through Smart PLS SEM 3.2 software. Findings: The results indicate that smartphone loafing activities reduces job burnout that improves employee performance through enhanced creative and innovative work behaviour. Implications: These results suggest the policymakers become understanding while dealing with such non-work related behaviour and introduce a culture that is tolerant to accept short breaks as a norm in the workplace. Originality: As studies provide a limited scope on the positive sides of smartphone loafing so this study provides a holistic sequential understanding of the outcomes of such behaviour.

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IMPACT OF EMOTIONAL LABOR STRATEGIES ON EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION: MEDIATING EFFECT OF ANXIETY IN PAKISTANI HOTEL INDUSTRY

Emotional labor is an essential element of employees working for hospitality industry. This study seeks to investigate the impact of emotional labor on emotional exhaustion among employees. It also seeks to examine the mediating role of anxiety between emotional labor, and emotional exhaustion. This study focuses on the moderating role of pride in work between emotional labor and emotional exhaustion. The proposed model was tested through quantitative method approach. The data collected from 520 employees from hotel sector under multistage sampling technique was analyzed. The gathered data was examined through statistical techniques, were estimated to prove the proposed relationships. The study will be beneficial for industry practitioners, managers and leaders who can take advantage from the study and make strategies to minimize the negative effects of emotional labor in their respective organizations.

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Path Model on Student Self-Efficacy as Influenced by Parenting Practices, Classroom Learning Environment and Interpersonal Support

The main objective of the study was to determine the best-fit path model on student selfefficacy in a quantitative, non-experimental research design utilizing the goodness of fit statistics. There were three exogenous variables, namely: parenting practices, classroom learning environment, and interpersonal support while the endogenous variable was self-efficacy administered to 300 randomly selected senior high school (grade 12) students in Southern Mindanao Region, Philippines. Findings showed very high level of parenting practices, very high level of classroom learning environment, high level interpersonal support, and high level in selfefficacy. Further, significant correlations were obtained between parenting practices and selfefficacy, classroom learning practices and self-efficacy, and interpersonal support and selfefficacy. Comparatively, among the three generated path models, model 3 was considered the best-fit path model considering that all the eight indices were within the standard threshold. Among the three exogenous variables, only two, namely: parenting practices and interpersonal support, had direct causal relationship with student self-efficacy. However, the exogenous variable, classroom learning environment, was being influenced by parenting practices and interpersonal support. The present study emphasizes the need for students to be provided with external support, be it, parental and/or interpersonal, to attain the self-efficacy for better scholastic performance. School administrators should bear in mind to enhance school-parentalcommunity partnerships to create a conducive learning environment.

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Relationship between Leadership Commitment and Performance of Public Sector Universities of Punjab, Pakistan

Current study aims to examine the relationship between leadership commitment and performance of public sector universities of the province Punjab, Pakistan. Public sector universities are referred as Higher Education Organizations (HEOs) in this study. The study is quantitative and data were collected by means of survey from the respondents. The study includes public sectors universities of the Province Punjab, Pakistan, which are located in the different areas of the province. There are twelve public sector universities in the Province among those seven were included in the study. Population comprised of department heads, teaching faculty and students. Findings of the study revealed that there is moderate positive relationship between leadership commitment and performance of HEOs. There are sub factor of leadership which included in the study to examine the leadership commitment. Findings show the continuance commitment (sub-factor of commitment) influences HEOs performance. The highest correlation of continuance commitment has practical implication for HEOs performance since the leaders who are associated with HEO’s for a longer period of time are more capable of improving the system because of their knowledge and in depth understanding of the problems encountered in their departments. On the basis of findings it can be said that merely leadership is not sufficient for performance improvement but they also need supportive and committed team too to excel.

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The Solar Power Situation Issues and Prospects in India

The article takes a bird’s eye-view of the economic and political context that led to the heavy fossil-fuel dependence of India and explores how a well-worked out innovative and strategic shift to the renewable sources of energy in general and the solar option particular can lead to the environmentally sustainable industrialisation, urbanisation and development. While taking a long-run view, it assiduously delves into the finer aspects of the various issues that need to be dealt on the basis of scientific and social evidence, insight and innovation. The study weaves in the diverse aspects of the world economic situation to argue for building of the capability for strategic thought and action on a vast and diverse variety of matters to connect dots for emergence of India as a leader in sustainable, equitable and harmonious development through achievement of its developmental goals on the back of utilisation of its enormous solar power potential. By addressing a variety of concerns together, it attempts to boldly put forth considerations that touch the spinal cord of the complex problems that beset not only India but the world at large

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Climate Change, Fourth Industrial Revolution (4ir) and Covid_19 Triggering A New Economic Reset

In recent years, 'global warming for climate change' becomes an issue of concern to the world leaders as it affects both living and business environment. The global warming triggered by human beings increases the natural greenhouse effect and leads to apparent changes to the climate. Whilst climate change discussion is still on-going, the issues regarding the fourth industrial revolution become another relatable situation in the corporate world. Though the Fourth Industrial Revolution is a reflection of desires and choices, the central question to ask is: what should these emerging technologies deliver? And what should be the new set-skills requires for this purpose?

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WITHER URBAN ECONOMY?

The average decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the six months since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic has been 12 percent for the 60 countries for which is data are available now. Of course, this average hides many interesting variations. For instance, for India which is an important emerging economy from the developing world, the GDP declined 24 percent which is double the average fall. On the other hand, China has started recovering. However, if we assume this trend of 12 percent decline to be a good estimate for the average decline of output in the world economy, there can be no doubt it being an unprecedented recessionary phase. It is well-established by now that majority of the world output takes place in urban or peri-urban areas and that is why the world has been fast turning urban. That way the economic decline is essentially an urban decline, with agriculture being affected the least. It is no surprise also that the environmental crisis that preceded the pandemic is also a great crisis by the city, of the city and for the city.

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Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Stock Market with Reference to Select Countries-A Study

The present paper made an attempt to investigate the impact of covid-19 virus spread on the stock markets. The study has considered the positive cases growth of six countries (USA, Spain, France, Italy, China and India), which were affected worst from 11th, March to April of 2020 (WHO declared the COVID 19 as pandemic on 11 March 2020). The study applied the VECM to know the relationship and observed that the Covid-19 having the significant negative long run relationship with all the selected countries stock indices. The CAAR model has been applied and observed that the all the selected countries indices are positively reacted more in post period compared with the pre period. The study states that the investors are considering the long-term strategy and investing at every low level.

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Mobile Banking in An Emerging Economy: Facilitating Factors and Challenges

In recent times, there has been a global surge in mobile-banking (m-banking). Surprisingly, emerging economies have taken a competitive and leading role in this new wave of banking. The continent of Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa is a leading region when it comes to this phenomenon, given the number of mobile device holders that accept to perform m-banking relative to other parts of the world. However, there is a gap between the numbers that initially accept mbanking and those who really use the concept. This paper highlights the factors that are encouraging this practice, and challenges confronting m-banking in an emerging economy (Durban Metro -South Africa), where the study was carried out. A cross-sectional, descriptive, and quantitative approach was adopted to collect data from 150 online m-banking respondents in Durban through the help of an online data agent. WarpPLS 5.0 structural equation modelling software for regression analysis was used to analyse data. The findings of this study showed that perceived quality of m-banking service delivery (β=0.439), followed by perceived trust (β=0.334) and then, social norm (β=0.038) have a positive and significant influence on m-banking generally. Recommendations towards addressing m-banking challenges and ways of improving m-banking applications are provided for practitioners. These could also be adopted in other emerging economies as these countries have common socioeconomic issues. This study was motivated by the number of mobile users who accept to use their devices for m-banking vis-à-vis those who are really using it. Thus, it addresses the questions of (1) What motivate initial m-banking adoption, and (2) what factors contribute towards its continuance usage and discontinuation? Hopefully, this will help banking practitioners to be aware of the facilitating factors and challenges of mbanking.