Search results

Firms are increasingly digitalizing their business processes and expanding them into digital platforms, which are believed to generate digital and relational resources that can facilitate and deliver innovations for firms. Instead of focusing on the extent of digital integration capability (DI), this paper seeks to empirically evaluate whether the DI asymmetry between the buyer and supplier firms influences bilateral information sharing and the buyer’s product innovation. We also examine the moderating effects of firms’ external (environmental dynamism) and internal (innovative climate) environments on these relationships.

Primary and secondary archival data on 180 buyer-supplier Chinese dyadic relationships were collected and analyzed using multiple linear regression models. Additionally, the Process macro was used to shed a nuanced light on the moderation effects of environmental dynamism and innovative climate.

The results show that DI asymmetry negatively impacts buyer firms’ product innovation through decreased information sharing. Environmental dynamism weakens the negative relationship between DI asymmetry and information sharing. Meanwhile, the innovative climate negatively moderates the relationship between information sharing and product innovation.

This study adds knowledge to the literature regarding the dark side of “one-sided digitalization.” By exploring the influences of unbalanced DI in buyer-supplier relationships, this study yields essential theoretical and managerial implications for product innovation success in a digital era.

Artificial intelligence (AI) applications enable entrepreneurs in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to make strategic decisions based on more accurate predictions and modeling scenarios to achieve operational efficiency and profitability. This research aims to investigate the role of AI applications in enhancing strategic decision-making (SDM) through the mediating role of digital leadership (DL).

The sample included 306 Omani entrepreneurs from SMEs randomly sampled to collect data from different SME industrial incubators. To test hypotheses, structural equation modeling (SEM), regression and confirmatory factor analysis and Process V4 to test the mediating role of DL were used.

Results reveal that AI applications have a positive and significant impact on SDM and DL. Furthermore, DL has a positive and significant impact on SDM. The results also reveal that DL enhances the relationship between AI applications and SDM in Omani SMEs.

This research provides evidence regarding SMEs in the Arabian context and the ability of AI application adoption to improve productivity and sustainability in the economic sector.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between work-life balance and the mental health of Indian managers and to explore the moderating role of emotional intelligence (EI) and gender.

Work-life balance scale (Hayman 2005), Mental Health Inventory (Viet and Ware, 1983) and EI scale (Wong and Law, 2002) were administered to 202 (102 males and 100 females) Indian managers. Based on the Conservation of Resource theory, a theoretical model has been designed and hypotheses were tested by descriptive, correlation and moderation analysis.

The results of this study indicated that work-life balance is positively correlated with psychological well-being and mental health, while negatively correlated with the psychological distress of managers. EI has emerged as a potential moderator that positively influences the relationship between work-life balance and the mental health of managers. At the same time, gender did not show any moderating effect.

This research has theoretical, practical as well as social implications.

This study is aligned with SDG 3 and SDG 5 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2023. This paper provides valuable inputs in promoting mental health at the workplace and formulating gender-neutral work-life balance policies and programs in Indian organizations.

This study is aligned with SDG 3 (Health and well-being) and SDG 5 (Gender equality) of the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2023.

This study is an empirical research paper backed by a sound theoretical framework, which addresses the work-life balance and mental health issues of managers and highlights the positive role of EI in managing their personal and professional lives in a low gender-egalitarian Indian work–family culture.

Price image studies have dominated the consumer market but have been slower to evolve in the business market. This research aims to conceptualize and validate the firms’ price image (FPI) in the business market, as well as to develop a conceptual framework for exploring the importance of pricing capability (PC) in the formation of FPI and its influence on customer value (CV) and business performance (BP).

The study conducted field interviews with business managers and customers of Indian small and medium-sized enterprises to operationalize and validate the FPI variable using a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative multivariate analyses. Partial least square structural equation modeling technique was applied to validate a conceptual model on a sample of 286 respondents acquired from both physical and digital questionnaire survey techniques.

The findings revealed that PC is positively linked to FPI, which in turn, significantly affects CV and BP. Moreover, CV serves as a partial mediator in the FPI–BP link. The research also offers a measurement scale consisting of eight items for assessing the FPI variable from the stakeholders’ perspective.

This research contributes to the literature on price image by refining and testing measures of FPI, and enriches the existing literature by understanding the theoretical relationships among PC, FPI, CV, and BP.

The research reveals that developing PC is a useful tool for SMEs to build favorable FPI, which delivers superior CV and obtains improved BP. The findings can also assist SME managers to gain a sustainable competitive advantage by maintaining a favorable FPI.

While a growing number of consumer market studies reveal that price image is strategically important for the retailers who own it, no study has explored the role of price image in the business market. This is the first study to explore price image at the firm level in the business market. This study further provides empirical evidence for the claim that PC influences the formation of a FPI and clarifies the relationship between FPI, CV and BP.