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The current worldwide business landscape with large firms, asymmetric market shares and reduced competition has heralded academic and journalistic scholarship to discuss the causes and consequences of such a phenomenon. This is referred to as the emergence and sustenance of superstar firms. The previous studies make a fragmented understanding of the superstar firms, thus, there is a need to take stock of this vast and dispersed literature to set the future research agenda. The present study aims to focus on conceptual and fundamental aspects of Superstar firms’ phenomenon.

Adopting critical assessment methodology of review and systematic literature review i.e. preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA), this study investigates relevant literature. The paper critically synthesizes and analyses the definitions, measurement techniques, characteristics and roles of superstar firms.

This study defines superstar firms as more productive firms having larger market share and wider markup than other firms in industries. The study also finds that superstar firms are superior in advertisement strategies, marketing strategies, technological adoption, skilled employment and intangible investment, while the advancement of technology and the advent of globalization are the major drivers of the star firms’ phenomenon. Besides, this study uncovers the diverse roles of superstar firms concerning different economic aspects.

The review is concept centric rather than author centric. It does not incorporate quantitative data analysis for empirical investigations of hypothesis. However, the research addresses the commonalties and distinctions of factors responsible for the emergence of superstar firms, which dissects investment in public R&D, technological import subsidies and credit facilities to provide equitable opportunity and balanced development.

As the superstar firms’ phenomenon is an emerging and crucial aspect, the present study systematically analyses the phenomenon to comprehend the market structure and behavior. The study also identifies the research gaps that guide future research to understand the present setting of the market.

The Metaverse is rapidly reshaping the understanding of tourism, yet the public perception of this new domain remains largely uncharted empirically. This paper aims to build on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and diffusion of innovations theory (DIT) to fill this gap, offering crucial insights that could inform scholars and practitioners in both the tourism and technology sectors.

Using a big-data approach, the authors applied machine learning to scrape comments made by social media users on recent popular posts or videos related to tourism in the Metaverse from three prominent social media platforms. The cleaning process narrowed down 15,461 comments to 2,650, which were then analysed using thematic, emotion and sentiment analysis techniques.

The thematic analysis revealed that virtual tourism evokes a complex range of public beliefs. While many express awe and excitement toward its immersive capabilities, others remain sceptical about authenticity compared to physical travel. Additional themes show people draw comparisons to real-world tourism, discuss technology’s role and note educational value and novelty. However, some comments raise concerns about potential societal harms, exploitation and mental health impacts. Sentiment analysis found over half of the comments positive, though some were negative. Emotion analysis showed contentment, happiness and excitement as most frequent, though sadness, worry and loneliness also featured. Overall, perceptions of Metaverse tourism encompass enthusiasm yet substantial ambivalence.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to comprehensively analyse public discussions on Metaverse tourism. It takes TAM and Rogers’s DIT a step further and provides fresh insights into how these theories can be employed in the emerging field of Metaverse tourism. The themes revealed new conceptual insights into multidimensional factors shaping public beliefs about Metaverse tourism and thus informing scholarly research on virtual interaction and technology acceptance regarding Metaverse tourism. In addition, the results can help tourism providers, platforms and marketers address salient public beliefs and sentiments/attitudes in developing marketing offerings, experiences and communications. Over time, this analysis methodology can be used to track the evolving public perceptions of Metaverse tourism.

The study aims to identify and understand the underlying behavioral tendencies and motivations influencing investor sentiments and examines the relationship between these underlying factors and investment decisions during the COVID-19-induced financial risks.

The study uses the primary data and information collected from 300 Indian retail equity investors using a nonprobability sampling technique, specifically purposive and snowball sampling. This research uses the insights from Phuoc Luong and Thi Thu Ha (2011) and Shefrin (2002) to delineate behavioral factors influencing investment decisions. Structural equation modeling estimates the causal relationship between underlying behavioral factors and investment decisions during the COVID-19-induced financial risks.

The study establishes that the “Regret Aversion,” “Gambler’s Fallacy” and “Greed” significantly influence investment decisions, and provide a comprehensive understanding of how psychological motivations shape investor behavior. Notably, “Mental Accounting” and “Conservatism” exhibit insignificance, possibly influenced by the unique socioeconomic context of the pandemic. The research contributes to 35% of variance understanding and prompts the researchers and policymakers to tailor investment strategies aligned to these behavioral tendencies.

The findings hold policy implications for investors and policymakers and provide tailored recommendations including investor education programs and regulatory measures to ensure a resilient and informed investment community in the context of India's evolving financial landscapes.

Theoretically, behavior tendencies and motivations have been strongly linked to investment decisions in the stock market. Yet, empirical evidence on this relationship is limited in developing countries where investors focus on risk management. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to document the influence of underlying behavioral tendencies and motivation factors on investment decisions regarding retail equity in a developing country.