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This study explores the incorporation of prosocial compensation in service recoveries by allowing customers to cocreate the process through compensation choice, explains the underlying mechanism driving these results and identifies a boundary condition for these effects.

Three scenario-based experimental studies are conducted to test the proposed hypotheses.

Incorporating cocreation in a service recovery featuring prosocial compensation can outperform purely financial compensation (i.e. monetary-only) if the customer is given a choice. Moreover, pride is higher for customers who choose prosocial compensation (i.e. donations) as part of a service recovery. These findings are contingent on the firm’s reputation, namely, its corporate social responsibility (CSR) authenticity, such that companies with high (vs low) CSR authenticity perceptions benefit more in terms of enhanced pride given cocreated prosocial recoveries.

Drawing on service-dominant logic and social exchange theory, the findings of this research suggest that incorporating prosocial compensation, an element of CSR, as part of a cocreated service recovery strategy can enhance pride and repurchase intent.

This research demonstrates instances where prosocial compensation can outperform monetary-only compensation, leading to higher repurchase intent, highlighting conditions for this to occur and offering prescriptions for managers to implement these strategies in service recoveries.

Cocreating service recoveries with prosocial compensation, like donations, boosts customer pride and strengthens relationships. Firms with authentic CSR perceptions benefit most, addressing customers’ emotional and economic needs while enhancing community goodwill.

This work uniquely explores the effect of cocreated recoveries using prosocial compensation on pride and repurchase intent.

Over the past 20 years, entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) have emerged as a significant research field, inspiring several scholars to provide valuable contributions. The chapter aims to map the current state of literature by highlighting the most prominent research strands and the main theoretical lenses employed in the research field. By carrying out a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis, the study examines articles published over a period of 27 years. The time frame from 1996 to 2023 offers an extensive outlook of the field’s evolution and current trends, resulting in the identification of five research strands and different future research avenues. From the analysis of prior research works, this study provides an in-depth examination of the complex nature of EEs. The results hold theoretical and practical implications. From the scholars’ point of view, they offer future research directions to move the current level of knowledge forward. From the entrepreneurs’ perspective, they provide valuable insights to address ongoing challenges and catch new opportunities within the dynamic panorama of EEs. Therefore, the insights are poised to drive future research, inform policymakers, and enhance business strategies aimed at fostering resilient EEs. In other words, the purpose is to provide readers with a well-rounded understanding over the state of the literature on EEs and the research strands that deserve further exploration.

Modernization theorists in the development study context acknowledge the role of technology in pushing developmental frontiers. As a dynamic phenomenon, technology is crucial in social change and essential in addressing the African development agenda. Innovation is inevitable in the pursuit of development. The chapter intends to extend the current discourse on frugal technologies into unmapped territories which can be branded as the ‘dark side’ of frugal innovations. The chapter will discuss the demerits of frugal innovations, which have not been explored in extant literature which however remain pertinent to the concept discourse moving forward.

This study aims to investigate the impact of the oil crash during the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, energy and the environment in MENA countries, with and without fiscal policy, in a global context.

This study applies a Global Vector Autoregressive (GVAR) model for 47 countries from 2006Q1 to 2021Q3. The sign restriction method is used to identify the oil shocks originating from the COVID-19 crisis.

Empirical evidence shows that without fiscal interventions, MENA countries experienced a decline in output growth, energy consumption and CO₂ emissions due to lower oil prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of the oil price shock on inflation varied across the region. Economic growth and inflation rates in MENA countries turn positive when the member states implement expansionary fiscal measures to stimulate economic activities during the pandemic. Hence, fiscal policy played a crucial role in supporting the economy and preventing a severe recession during COVID-19 in the MENA region. However, expansionary fiscal measures increased energy consumption and air pollution.

The findings help policymakers better cope with the outbreak of deadly pandemics in the coming years. It improves our understanding of the role of fiscal policy in boosting economic efforts and reducing the adverse environmental impact of increased government spending.

This paper enhances the current body of literature by investigating how fiscal policies implemented by the MENA countries help mitigate the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, it enables us to analyze the impact of fiscal support on energy consumption and the environment during an oil shock influenced by global uncertainty, lockdowns, and supply chain disruptions.

This study addresses the remarkable research gap in the existing literature on Chat Generative Pre-training Transformer (ChatGPT), which has primarily explored its functional benefits rather than the psychological states of its users. By integrating the self-concept theory and functional theory of attitudes, this study develops a moderated-mediating model to examine the impact of the bandwagon effect on users’ habit formation and subsequent feelings of pride associated with the ChatGPT application.

This study analyzed self-reported survey data from 568 respondents from mainland China using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The findings reveal that the bandwagon effect indirectly influences users’ pride through the formation of habits related to ChatGPT applications. This study also identifies the boundary condition of social-adjustive attitude, which strengthens both the direct relationship between the bandwagon effect and habit formation and its indirect relationship with pride.

This study contributes to the field by offering a novel perspective on ChatGPT adoption, highlighting the role of self-concept and attitudinal functions in driving users’ intentions to utilize the technology, with a focus on the desire for pride as a motivating factor.

Despite the rapid growth of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in emerging markets, there remains a need in the current literature for deeper insights into the factors influencing CSR practices in these contexts. This study aims to address this research gap and enhance the discourse on CSR in emerging markets by exploring the reciprocal relationship between business and government and its potential role in driving firms’ CSR efforts in these burgeoning economies.

The study is grounded in the theory of reciprocity and integrates insights from existing literature to posit that, within a reciprocal relationship, firms respond positively to government regulatory support by actively participating in CSR initiatives. To test this hypothesis, data from prominent sources, including the CSRHub database, the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business, and the International Country Risk Guide, are gathered, yielding a sample of nearly 1,500 firms operating in diverse emerging markets. A series of empirical tests are then conducted to validate the existence of the reciprocal relationship and its influence on firms’ CSR efforts.

The findings reveal strong evidence of a reciprocal relationship between business and government in emerging markets. When the government provides favorable regulatory support, firms tend to reciprocate by shouldering greater responsibility in promoting societal well-being, specifically through active participation in CSR initiatives directed toward the well-being of the community in which they operate. These findings are robust across various estimation methods.

The study advances the understanding of CSR in emerging markets and provides valuable insights into the role of reciprocity in promoting CSR in real-world settings. This offers promising avenues for future theoretical and empirical research in the field of CSR.

Policymakers are urged to recognize the significance of business-government relations in fostering CSR. Developing a supportive regulatory environment can motivate firms to invest in CSR, benefiting both businesses and the communities they serve. For businesses, aligning CSR initiatives with community needs can foster a mutually beneficial relationship with the government, leading to greater social benefits and competitive advantages.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study pioneers the application of the reciprocity theory to explain the interplay between business and government in shaping firms’ CSR endeavors in emerging markets.

The number of people with special needs, including citizens and military personnel, has increased as a result of terrorist attacks and challenging conditions in Iraq and other countries. With almost 80% of the world’s amputees having below-the-knee amputations, Iraq has become a global leader in the population of amputees. Important components found in lower limb prostheses include the socket, pylon (shank), prosthetic foot and connections.

There are two types of prosthetic feet: articulated and nonarticulated. The solid ankle cushion heel foot is the nonarticulated foot that is most frequently used. The goal of this study is to use a composite filament to create a revolutionary prosthetic foot that will last longer, have better dorsiflexion and be more stable and comfortable for the user. The current study, in addition to pure polylactic acid (PLA) filament, 3D prints test items using a variety of composite filaments, such as PLA/wood, PLA/carbon fiber and PLA/marble, to accomplish this goal. The experimental step entails mechanical testing of the samples, which includes tensile testing and hardness evaluation, and material characterization by scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometer analysis. The study also presents a novel design for the nonarticulated foot that was produced with SOLIDWORKS and put through ANSYS analysis. Three types of feet are produced using PLA, PLA/marble and carbon-covered PLA/marble materials. Furthermore, the manufactured prosthetic foot undergoes testing for dorsiflexion and fatigue.

The findings reveal that the newly designed prosthetic foot using carbon fiber-covered PLA/marble material surpasses the PLA and PLA/marble foot in terms of performance, cost-effectiveness and weight.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to use composite filaments not previously used, such as PLA/wood, PLA/carbon fiber and PLA/marble, to design and produce a new prosthetic foot with a longer lifespan, improved dorsiflexion, greater stability and enhanced comfort for the patient. Beside the experimental work, a numerical technique specifically the finite element method, is used to assess the mechanical behavior of the newly designed foot structure.

Links between trauma and psychosis have been well evidenced. Trauma has been proposed to underlie psychotic experiences, with the trauma model of psychosis suggesting psychotic experiences represent forms of trauma-related distress. As such, traumatic experiences can be seen symbolised in the content of psychosis experiences. Despite this, Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) predominantly operate within a medicalised model, where trauma and trauma-informed care are often neglected. Therefore, staff training was delivered on the trauma model of psychosis and trauma-informed care. This study aims to assess whether the training would improve knowledge and attitude in working with trauma and whether the training would improve staff recognition of the connections between the content of psychosis and previous trauma.

The training consisted of an online 1-h session, with measures of trauma-informed care (knowledge and attitude) and trauma-psychosis links (symbolism questionnaire) collected pre- and post-training. The training was open to all 115 staff in the CMHTs, 53 attended, however, only 23 completed both pre- and post-measures.

Wilcoxon signed-rank tests revealed significant differences in pre- and post-performance on both the trauma-informed care and symbolism questionnaire. Findings showed in this sample that the training improved knowledge and attitude in trauma-informed care and staff ability to recognise connections between trauma and psychotic experiences.

A novel symbolism questionnaire was designed for this evaluation. The findings extend the literature, as they show that staff were more accurate in recognising the specific underlying trauma to the psychosis content following training.

This chapter investigates the novel utilisation of virtual reality (VR) in human resource management and its ability to shift the existing and traditional HR agenda. VR is useful in creating experiential learning environments, allowing employees to build skills in safe and controlled ways, especially for complex or risky tasks. Evidence shows that learners using VR training can engage longer and retain more information than traditional learning experiences. Another application of VR that will be explored as part of the “HR customer life cycle” is the ability to conduct virtual interviews and assessments, offering recruiters a more interactive assessment capability. VR is also an effective and creative way to interview and broaden the candidate pool because a VR approach allows the candidate to be interviewed remotely, which meets the geographical diversity needs of many organisations. The last application of VR is the ability to create a simulated real-world experience that allows employees to apply their skills and gain exposure without any risks to themselves or their colleagues. Therefore, progressive organisations are utilising VR technology to onboard their employees differently. Company examples, like Accenture's “nth floor,” are initiating VR and XR programs using this technology and/or digital twin technology to try new HR Innovation, which shows their organisation's efforts to leverage technology to improve HR for a decade.

Purpose: The study aims to explore the profound impact of virtual currencies and decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols on financial dynamics, user engagement, and operational aspects within the Metaverse.

Methodology: This research employs mathematical modelling and quantitative analysis to comprehensively investigate the pivotal roles of these elements within the dynamic virtual environment.

Findings: The mathematical equations applied in our study have illuminated the intricate mechanics of financial expansion, operational efficiencies, and user dynamics in the Metaverse’s virtual currency and DeFi systems. These insights underline the transformative influence of these digital ecosystems on future economies, emphasising the critical role of quantitative analysis in navigating and maximising their potential.

Significance: This research aims to shed light on the pivotal roles of virtual currencies and DeFi protocols through mathematical modelling and quantitative analysis. It contributes to a deeper understanding of their significance in shaping the future of virtual economies and financial interactions within the ever-evolving Metaverse.