Search results

The objective of this study is to examine the moderating effect of microfinance on the digital divide in developing countries.

On the methodology, the econometric method employed to estimate the equation is based on the two-stage least squares (2SLS).

This study confirms that microfinance can play an important role in mitigating the adverse effect of digitalization on poverty.

Thus, governments should prioritize and encourage the integration of digital technologies with robust microfinance systems to effectively combat poverty, given the importance of microfinance.

Given the importance of digital technology to businesses and economic development, we need to search for a better solution that allows digital technology to be further developed but at the same time, is not harmful to the poor. The issue of the poor, either financially or technically can be partially resolved if the poor is given the necessary and sufficient assistance. Therefore, this paper examines whether microfinance can be part of solutions to the digital divide in developing countries.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic has put the spotlight on national governments as (ir)responsible actors, it is valuable to investigate how national authorities handled this new normality. The dark side of online activism emerged as a challenge for national governments since multiple voices with competing interests were present in the online environment. This chapter assesses how the Romanian government acted as a hijacker of the #Nuvreau/#Idonotwantto hashtag launched by COVID-19 anti-vaccine advocates. Adopting an issue arena approach and employing a network analysis and a framing analysis, this chapter explores the interconnectivity and the topics in the #Nuvreau/#Idonotwantto network. The findings showcase a narrative shift from an online conspiracy-laden citizen-driven movement against COVID-19 vaccination to a government-issued manifesto against the COVID-19 virus through a process of hashtag hijacking performed by a governmental authority. The Romanian national authority was the most important social mediator in this hashtag landscape, constantly emphasizing a recontextualization of the hashtag linked to the COVID-19 virus and its negative consequences. Using rational messaging based on figures and facts, the Romanian governmental authority as the most active pro-vaccination social media poster hijacked the #Nuvreau/Idonotwantto hashtag, mainly employing frame transformation as a strategic alignment process. Opinion leadership in the #Nuvreau/Idonotwantto broadcast network belonged to ROVaccination, the official governmental Facebook page, but timing, fast response, and frame extension are essential elements in the digital arena. Since governmental effective crisis responses are of paramount importance, this chapter concludes with implications of the urgency of issue tracking, of stakeholders mapping, and of an active role dominating the arena.

This research aims to enhance digital marketing processes by using design of experiments in safelist mailers and traffic exchange websites.

The research applies design of experiments to improve an online digital marketing website.

The findings show that design of experiments can help improve digital marketing quality by generating more interactions with safelist mailers and traffic exchange websites, reducing time spent in the marketing process, allocating the appropriate amount of credits to significant websites and avoiding product price increases.

This research aims to increase awareness of the impact and applicability of design of experiments to digital marketing and demonstrates the application of design of experiments in any digital marketing process, including safelist mailers and traffic exchange websites.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study applying design of experiments within online marketing. This study can be leveraged by academics and marketing functions to demonstrate the benefits of design of experiments to the marketing function to improve process efficiency and resource utilisation.

This study aims to investigate factors affecting consumers’ perceptions of brand allyship activities given the presence or absence of corresponding community investment. Using the black American community as a contextual group receiving support, this research probes factors that make brand allyship seem sincere and how brand allyship affects consumer self-esteem. It further examines how perceived sincerity and derived self-esteem affect consumers’ perceived self-brand connections and reported brand attitudes.

Collecting data with experimental surveys, hypothesized effects are tested in a main study (n = 1,184) using a general linear model and moderated mediation analyses.

Perceived sincerity is shown to interact with consumers’ self-esteem to induce an approach/avoidance reaction to a brand, where high self-esteem consumers are more apt to accept sincere brand allyship activities and reject insincere campaigns.

As sincerity is critical to brand allyship success, this research outlines instances where managers need to contextually manipulate sincerity perceptions by outlaying community investment to coincide with the campaign. Specific contexts revolve around racial diversity in the management group and the race of consumers/perceivers.

The purpose of this paper was to examine how mid- and upper-level police commanders' occupational perceptions shifted after the COVID-19 pandemic, upsurge in police protests, and perceived crime increases in 2020. We assess the extent to which these events altered police leaders' perceptions of stress, satisfaction, burnout and turnover intentions.

This study employs repeated cross-sectional survey data of over 900 police leaders who attended the FBI’s National Academy (FBINA) program. Respondents are distinguished by whether they attended the FBINA program before or after operations were suspended due to COVID-19. Bivariate tests were conducted to compare pre- and post-respondents' perceptions of stress, satisfaction, burnout and turnover intentions.

The findings indicate that post-pandemic respondents had higher turnover intentions than pre-pandemic respondents. The groups had no significant differences regarding stress, satisfaction and burnout perceptions.

The findings suggest that despite facing a global pandemic, police protests and perceived increases in crime, police leaders demonstrated high stability and resiliency. The data comprised law enforcement leaders who participated in the FBINA program; thus, the findings may not be generalizable to all officers.

This study is one of the first to assess changes in police leaders’ work perceptions following the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise in police protests and perceived increases in crime in 2020.

This study aims to identify and model deterrents to adopt and institutionalize analytics and artificial intelligence in modern human resource (HR) using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) approach.

A comprehensive investigation of the literature and feedback from experts led to the identification of 16 deterrents in this study. After that, the ISM tool is used to find connections between the identified deterrents in the HR ecosystem and MICMAC which helps in categorising deterrents on the basis of driving and dependence power and provides deeper insights into their roles and significance.

Employee resistance and HR transformation are highly influenced by other factors but exert minimal driving power. Data availability, leadership support, communication and collaboration, legal, ethical and regulatory compliance, and infrastructure and resources exhibit strong influence and dependence, making them highly sensitive and crucial. Training and development, learning culture and change management, and data privacy and security have strong driving power with minimal dependence, indicating their foundational role in shaping HR transformation.

This study will assist policymakers and owners/managers in the HR ecosystem in recognising and comprehending the importance and applicability of analytics and AI obstacles while developing HR strategies.

This study explicitly focuses on data analytics and AI technology in the current scenario. It also explores the relationship between deterrents and their driving and dependence powers.

This study aims to provide empirical evidence to verify the dimensional structure of artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot quality and examine the impact of these dimensions on consumer satisfaction and brand advocacy among Gen Z in the fast food industry in Egypt.

The empirical data was obtained with an electronic self-administered survey instrument from 397 young consumers who had prior experience using AI Chatbots across multiple fast food brands in Egypt. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the formulated hypotheses.

The results showed that AI Chatbot quality dimensions, specifically information authenticity and system compliance, significantly enhance young consumers’ satisfaction. In addition, information authenticity of AI Chatbot quality was observed to wield a significant influence on young consumers’ advocacy. In contrast, an insignificant relationship was noticed between satisfaction and advocacy. Moreover, the mediating role of consumer satisfaction was not established.

Given that Gen Z is more technology savvy and computer literate, marketers and practitioners of fast food brands should invest in AI tools to respond to young consumers’ expectations and improve their perception of their services.

This study uses stimulus-organism-response theory to understand the mediating effect of young consumers’ satisfaction in the relationship between AI Chatbot quality and consumer brand advocacy within the fast food industry. Also, it introduced two novel main constructs of AI Chatbot quality, namely, information authenticity and system compliance.