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This research explores how perceived product and service quality affect brand equity within hybrid business models, particularly in the automotive industry. Additionally, it examines how brand equity influences consumer behavioural intentions, emphasising the mediating role of consumer satisfaction.

A quantitative approach was utilized, employing a survey to gather data from a diverse sample of automobile consumers in India’s National Capital Region. PLS-SEM was applied to analyse the relationships among the constructs.

The results indicated that product and service quality significantly enhanced brand equity, with service quality exerting a more substantial influence. Furthermore, brand equity positively influenced consumer behavioural intentions, such as repurchase intentions and word-of-mouth referrals, with consumer satisfaction as a partial mediator in this relationship.

This research pioneers a fresh perspective by delving into hybrid business models that integrate products and services, providing a comprehensive understanding of how perceived quality builds brand equity, which in turn drives favourable consumer behaviours. Notably, the study integrates three theoretical frameworks, consumer empowerment, the compensatory effect and the theory of reasoned action, to offer deeper insights into research on quality, brand management and consumer behaviour within the automotive context.

Service quality is an established research area in the services marketing literature and is an integral component in an Islamic economy driven by halal service sectors. Despite its importance and the rapidly changing service environment, there has yet to be a comprehensive study of service quality research across halal industries. The purpose of this study is to systematically review the existing literature on service quality in halal industries to provide a state-of-the-art understanding and identify opportunities in this research area.

Guided by the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) protocol and the theories, contexts, characteristics and methods (TCCM) framework, this paper reviews 78 journal articles from the Web of Science database which features service quality as an underpinning theory in the context of halal economies.

Findings indicate that since the first study in 2010, service quality research in halal industries has concentrated on consumers in the Islamic finance sector who are served primarily by human service agents. Most studies are focused on halal industries in Muslim countries. Several papers adopt the SERVQUAL model while others develop more novel service quality scales for halal industries. Culture, technology and faith-related factors are key drivers of halal service quality. While few papers study the antecedents and moderators of service quality in halal industries, religiosity was found to be a significant variable in several papers reviewed.

The global Islamic economy will continue to be driven by halal services. This review will provide managers with an appreciation of service quality across different halal industries. Researchers can use the results of this review to guide future studies and contribute toward the development of this research area.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to comprehensively map the antecedents, dimensions, outcomes and moderators of service quality across halal industries and provides managers with a strategic understanding of service quality across the halal economy. This study develops a conceptual model and concludes with a research agenda to advance halal service quality research.

Science fiction analogies have been shown to be an effective vehicle for disseminating scientific knowledge and building a better understanding of scientific principles. Toward this end, this study aims to use the Star Trek universe as a lens in an effort to remove barriers to understanding the science of service research.

This study synthesizes research on using science fiction narratives in sparking dialogue within and beyond scientific communities, draws parallels between the Star Trek universe and the service research domain and uses these insights to identify pertinent ways forward.

In the service research domain, science fiction analogies and dramaturgical metaphors can challenge researchers to reflect beyond the domain’s traditional boundaries. In fact, the Star Trek universe lends itself as visionary backdrop to assess leadership principles, understand the evolution of scientific paradigms and inspire future service research.

This article contributes to the service research literature by introducing the notion of drawing on science fiction analogies to facilitate key dialogues in a scientific context and demonstrates how such analogies can be used to provide guidance in moving the service research discipline forward.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between knowledge-oriented leadership (KOL) and business performance (BP) in a knowledge-intensive industry and further investigate, heretofore neglected, a mediating effect of intellectual capital and sustainable competitive advantage in the relationship between KOL and BP.

A quantitative approach was adopted to conduct the present study. Data were collected from the full-service branches of private banks in Tehran, Iran. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to ascertain the validity and reliability of the observed items, and a structural equation model was employed for testing the proposed hypotheses.

The findings revealed that both intellectual capital and sustainable competitive advantage fully mediate the influence of KOL on branch performance.

The study was conducted in the banking sector in Iran. Therefore, our conclusions may not be applicable to other countries. Future studies should be carried out with samples from other contexts. Moreover, as the study was cross-sectional, the causal relationships could not be inferred directly.

In this study, we found that knowledge-oriented leaders should increase their investment in intellectual capital to gain competitive advantage and improve branch performance.

This study contributes to advanced research on KOL by trying to explain how intellectual capital and sustainable competitive advantage can influence the relationship between KOL and BP in a knowledge-intensive service industry.

Reporting on triple bottom line (TBL) practices has emerged as an essential aspect in banking sector due to evolving social and environmental concerns. Engaging in social and environmental activities is a strategic means to uphold dynamic alliances with stakeholders and eventually attain sustainable development. Furthermore, perception towards social and environmental practices is strategic to satisfy stakeholders’ interests. This paper aims to examine managers’ perception about reporting on social-environmental performance and its impact on financial performance (FP) in Indian banking sector. Research further assesses moderating effect of gender and experience in influencing the relationship between the constructs and also determines importance and performance of the constructs.

A well-structured questionnaire was distributed to 400 bank managers across India’s public, private, regional-rural, foreign and cooperative banks. The collected data were analysed through Smart PLS structural equation modelling. The moderating effect of demographics of bank managers in influencing the relationship was assessed using PLS-multi-group analysis (MGA). Besides, importance performance map analysis (IPMA) was used to understand the importance and performance of the constructs.

Findings indicate that bank managers believe that social and environmental activities strengthen relations between banks and stakeholders, resulting in better FP, thereby endorsing the stakeholder theory. Results of MGA suggest that gender and experience of bank managers are not effectual moderators in determining relationship between the constructs. Using IPMA, findings advocate that managers perceive environmental performance as a relatively high performance and a more important construct in influencing FP than social performance.

Research would pave the way for banks to effectively communicate their commitment to sustainable development goals, engage stakeholders and demonstrate their commitment to creating positive social and environmental impacts. Furthermore, managerial perceptions can have a marked effect on customers’ understanding of social and environmental practices. This may influence customer satisfaction, conviction, commitment and constancy. Besides, a better understanding of the performance on social and environmental aspects over and above the FP of banks would facilitate the investors to make more informed and effectual decisions.

Considering the paucity of studies on the managerial perception of social and environmental activities and determining how the perception affects financial success, this study makes significant contribution to the literature. It would facilitate banks to design appropriate strategies and legislations to incorporate reporting on TBL practices for improved performance analysis. This would eventually ensure profitability along with sustainability in the Indian banking sector.

Providing high-quality service for airline companies cannot be overstated, as it directly impacts their survival and competitiveness. Hence, there is an increasing need to measure loyalty in the air transport industry. Loyal customers are highly valued as they are less price-sensitive and require minimal communication efforts. Despite this, there is limited knowledge about the factors that influence a passenger’s level of loyalty towards an airline company. Therefore, understanding the precursors of loyalty is essential. This research investigates the serial mediation effect of consumer brand identification (CBI) and perceived value on the relationship between service quality and loyalty.

In this research, quality is related to loyalty through value and CBI. A conclusive research design was adopted to determine whether value and CBI have a serial mediating effect on the quality-loyalty link. The research framework includes a three-path mediation model.

Based on the analysis of 406 questionnaires, the study concludes that a serial mediation effect of CBI and perceived value on the quality-loyalty relationship exists. The research results indicate that CBI has a greater influence on improving customer loyalty than perceived value.

This study contributes to limited research on the serial mediating effect of value and CBI in the quality-loyalty relationship. It also provides empirical evidence on the determinants of loyalty as part of the Turkish aviation industry. This study highlights the significance of CBI as a critical factor for airlines to maintain their competitiveness in the market.

Extant studies in entrepreneurship have explored factors that influence the birth and growth of start-up firms; however, there appears to be a dearth of studies examining the influence of founders' ambidextrous orientation on start-ups' success, especially their speed of attaining the coveted status of a “unicorn start-up” – which is considered a mega success in practice. This study examines whether and how founding teams’ collective ambidextrous orientation influences their respective start-ups’ pace of becoming a “unicorn”.

This study empirically analyses 220 interviews by the founders of 83 Indian unicorns in examining the influence of the founding teams’ collective exploration-exploitation capability on their firms' speed to achieve the “unicorn” status. The Cox Hazard model was used to test the hypothesized relationships, and linear ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to test the robustness of the results.

The authors find a strong positive relationship between founding teams’ ambidextrous skills and the speed of becoming a unicorn. The study results suggest that the founding teams’ collective exploratory skills may be more influential in their start-up’s speed to unicorn status vis-à-vis their exploitative skills.

This study finds that the founding teams’ ambidextrous orientation and exploratory skills accelerate their start-up’s speed to becoming a unicorn, contributing to the academic discourse on the “unicorn” phenomenon, which is widely acknowledged as a grand success status for start-ups—especially technology and venture capital funded start-ups—among the practitioners. This study contributes to the academic discourse on firm capabilities and founding-team-related antecedents of start-up success by raising a new dimension of the founding team’s ambidextrous orientation.

Based on the job demands-resources theory, the objective of the current research is to investigate the influence of contextual (i.e. change information), as well as, personal (i.e. meaning-making) change resources on the perceived change uncertainty (PCU) and employee burnout (i.e. emotional exhaustion, cynicism, professional efficacy) relationship.

The paper examines (1) whether PCU is related to burnout, (2) the extent to which change information and meaning-making are directly associated with burnout and (3) whether change information and meaning-making moderate the relationship between PCU and employee burnout. The research data were collected (in three sequential phases) from 293 employees of a group of Luxury Hotels and Resorts located in Southern Greece that has undergone a major cultural change.

The research findings suggest that change information is related to exhaustion and cynicism, as well as, that meaning-making is directly related to all of the burnout components. Change information buffered the negative relationship between PCU and exhaustion and between PCU and cynicism. Meaning-making moderated the negative relationship between PCU and exhaustion.

The results support that leaders and managers will benefit significantly if they realize how important is to ensure that these change resources (i.e. change information and meaning-making) are in place during organizational changes and constantly evaluate the factors that can increase their employees’ well-being.

The originality of this study lies in the finding that change information moderated the negative relationship between PCU and exhaustion, as well as, PCU and cynicism; and that meaning-making moderated the negative relationship between PCU and exhaustion. Further, the study refers to the Greek tourism industry (9th in the word in terms of international tourist arrivals) which plays a pivotal role to the Greek economy. Finally, the research findings contribute to the uncertainty reduction theory, as well as, other related notions.