Nisha Prakash, Aditya Maheshwari and Aparna Hawaldar
Capital structure is an important corporate financing decision, particularly for companies in emerging economies. This paper attempts to understand whether the pandemic had any…
Abstract
Purpose
Capital structure is an important corporate financing decision, particularly for companies in emerging economies. This paper attempts to understand whether the pandemic had any significant impact on the capital structure of companies in emerging economies. India being a prominent emerging economy is an ideal candidate for the analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilizes three leverage ratios in an extended market index, BSE500, for the period 2015–2021. The ratios considered are short-term leverage ratio (STLR), long-term leverage ratio (LTLR) and total leverage ratio (TLR). A dummy variable differentiates the pre-epidemic (2015–2019) and pandemic (2020–2021) period. Control variables are used to represent firm characteristics such as growth, tangibility, profit, size and liquidity. Dynamic panel data regression is employed to address endogeneity.
Findings
The findings point out that Covid-19 has had a significant, negative effect on LTLR, while the impact on STLR and TLR was insignificant. The findings indicate that companies based in a culturally risk-averse environment, such as India, would reduce the long-term debt to avoid bankruptcy in times of uncertainty.
Research limitations/implications
The study covers the impact of the pandemic on Indian companies. Hence, generalization of the findings to global context might not be valid.
Practical implications
To maintain economic growth in the post-crisis period, Indian policymakers should ensure accessibility to low-cost capital. The findings provide impetus to deepen the insignificant corporate bond market in India for future economic revival.
Originality/value
Developing countries are struggling to revive the economies postpandemic. This is particularly true for Asian economies which are heavily reliant on banks for survival. This research finds evidence to utilize bond market as a source of raising capital for economic revival.
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Katarzyna Czernek-Marszałek, Patrycja Klimas, Patrycja Juszczyk and Dagmara Wójcik
Social relationships play an important role in organizational entrepreneurship. They are crucial to entrepreneurs’ decisions because, despite the bleeding-edge technological…
Abstract
Social relationships play an important role in organizational entrepreneurship. They are crucial to entrepreneurs’ decisions because, despite the bleeding-edge technological advancements observed nowadays, entrepreneurs as human beings will always strive to be social. During the COVID-19 pandemic many companies moved activities into the virtual world and as a result offline Social relationships became rarer, but as it turns out, even more valuable, likewise, the inter-organizational cooperation enabling many companies to survive.
This chapter aims to develop knowledge about entrepreneurs’ SR and their links with inter-organizational cooperation. The results of an integrative systematic literature review show that the concept of Social relationships, although often investigated, lacks a clear definition, conceptualization, and operationalization. This chapter revealed a great diversity of definitions for Social relationships, including different scopes of meaning and levels of analysis. The authors identify 10 building blocks and nine sources of entrepreneurs’ Social relationships. The authors offer an original typology of Social relationships using 12 criteria. Interestingly, with regard to building blocks, besides those frequently considered such as trust, reciprocity and commitment, the authors also point to others more rarely and narrowly discussed, such as gratitude, satisfaction and affection. Similarly, the authors discuss the varied scope of sources, including workplace, family/friendship, past relationships, and ethnic or religious bonds. The findings of this study point to a variety of links between Social relationships and inter-organizational cooperation, including their positive and negative influences on one another. These links appear to be extremely dynamic, bi-directional and highly complex.
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Nicola Cobelli and Silvia Blasi
This paper explores the Adoption of Technological Innovation (ATI) in the healthcare industry. It investigates how the literature has evolved, and what are the emerging innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the Adoption of Technological Innovation (ATI) in the healthcare industry. It investigates how the literature has evolved, and what are the emerging innovation dimensions in the healthcare industry adoption studies.
Design/methodology/approach
We followed a mixed-method approach combining bibliometric methods and topic modeling, with 57 papers being deeply analyzed.
Findings
Our results identify three latent topics. The first one is related to the digitalization in healthcare with a specific focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. The second one groups up the word combinations dealing with the research models and their constructs. The third one refers to the healthcare systems/professionals and their resistance to ATI.
Research limitations/implications
The study’s sample selection focused on scientific journals included in the Academic Journal Guide and in the FT Research Rank. However, the paper identifies trends that offer managerial insights for stakeholders in the healthcare industry.
Practical implications
ATI has the potential to revolutionize the health service delivery system and to decentralize services traditionally provided in hospitals or medical centers. All this would contribute to a reduction in waiting lists and the provision of proximity services.
Originality/value
The originality of the paper lies in the combination of two methods: bibliometric analysis and topic modeling. This approach allowed us to understand the ATI evolutions in the healthcare industry.
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Nisha Prakash and Aparna Hawaldar
The effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate financial performance (CFP) is shown to depend on both firm-specific and external factors. This study investigates…
Abstract
Purpose
The effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate financial performance (CFP) is shown to depend on both firm-specific and external factors. This study investigates the moderating role of two firm-specific factors – the firm life-cycle stage and ownership structure – on the CSR–CFP relationship in a developing economy setting – India.
Design/methodology/approach
The study covers 1,419 listed companies in India during 2015–21. The firm lifecycle is represented using firm age and future growth prospects. Ownership is represented through a dummy variable and promoters’ holding percentages. Return on assets (RoA) is used as a measure of CFP, while CSR intensity, i.e. the ratio of CSR expenditure to profit after tax (PAT), is used to represent CSR. Fixed effect panel regression and generalized method of moments (GMM) models are used for data analysis.
Findings
CSR expenditure has a significant negative impact on CFP. Firm age and future growth prospects amplify this negative impact, indicating that the firm life-cycle has a significant negative moderating effect on the CSR–CFP relationship. Furthermore, the impact of CSR on CFP is worse for government companies than private ownership. Promoters’ holdings have a positive impact on the CSR–CFP relationship.
Research limitations/implications
The results question the validity of mandatory CSR expenditure on companies operating in developing countries and call for a differentiated policy approach to CSR expectations based on firm characteristics. This study also enhances the existing literature on CSR–CFP.
Originality/value
The growing research on CSR–CFP has limited coverage of firm characteristics as contributing factors. Hence, this paper helps in enhancing the existing literature on CSR–CFP and makes it more relevant to firms with specific characteristics.
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Whereas the extant literature on women's entrepreneurship is almost exclusively focused on developed nations, the effect of many context-specific issues of other countries on…
Abstract
Purpose
Whereas the extant literature on women's entrepreneurship is almost exclusively focused on developed nations, the effect of many context-specific issues of other countries on ventures of women has been overlooked. The study aims to reveal how political unrest, a common feature of the developing nation, can significantly affect the experiences of women in small businesses of that region.
Design/methodology/approach
This feminist research is conducted on Bangladesh, which is one of the most politically unstable countries in the world. The study conducts interviews with women to explore the adverse effect of political unrest on their small firms.
Findings
The feminist research reveals some problems of women business-owners concerning political unrest in this highly patriarchal context. It also discloses how political chaos challenges the government initiative in financially supporting women business-owners.
Practical implications
Policymakers of developing nations can be benefitted by taking into account the problems of women business-owners concerning political unrest, specifically the access to debt financing issues while designing policies for women's empowerment.
Originality/value
The article contributes to the women's entrepreneurship scholarship with reference to political unrest, a contextual issue of developing nations. Whereas the existing studies mostly concentrate on holding women individually liable for the limited scale of their business operation, this research potentially challenges the view by drawing upon political unrest as an external factor that negatively affects their ventures. The study further advances the prevailing knowledge by critically unveiling some gender-specific problems of women business-owners regarding political unrest.
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Kaluarachchi Chamodi Sandunima and Nisha Jayasuriya
This study aims to investigate the relative impact of firm-created (FC) and user-generated (UG) social media marketing communication on fashionwear customers' purchase intention…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relative impact of firm-created (FC) and user-generated (UG) social media marketing communication on fashionwear customers' purchase intention (CPI) in Sri Lanka. The primary objective is to identify the influence of social media marketing on the purchasing intention (PI) of customers in the fashionwear industry in Sri Lanka.
Design/methodology/approach
A standardized online survey was conducted, generating 312 datasets for analysis.
Findings
The empirical findings reveal that both firm-produced and UG social media fashionwear marketing communication has a significant influence on CPI. However, firm-produced social media fashionwear brands demonstrate a higher impact on CPI.
Originality/value
This study highlights the importance of social media marketing communication in shaping customers’ PI in the fashionwear industry in Sri Lanka. Both FC and UG content on social media platforms play a crucial role in influencing customers' intention to purchase fashionwear products. However, firm-produced social media fashionwear brands exert a stronger impact on CPI. These findings emphasize the need for marketers to incorporate effective social media strategies, including both FC and UG content, to enhance customer engagement and drive purchase decisions in the fashion-wear industry.
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P.G.S. Amila Jayarathne, B.T.K. Chathuranga, N.J. Dewasiri and Sudhir Rana
This study aims to investigate the motives of mobile payment adoption from both customers' and retailers' perspectives in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 pandemic period. It also…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the motives of mobile payment adoption from both customers' and retailers' perspectives in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 pandemic period. It also aims to compare the motives of mobile payment adoption across rural and urban contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs a mixed-method approach with a concurrent research design. Both a survey of customers and in-depth interviews of managers in retail companies are used.
Findings
The study discloses that performance expectancy and facilitating conditions (PEFC), Hedonic motivation (HM) and perceived technology security (PTS) as significant motives for customers to adopt mobile payment during this pandemic period. Such findings are confirmed by the four challenges disclose by the retailers. The unfamiliarity of customers, lack of employees' knowledge on mobile payment systems, poor management orientation and lack of computer literacy of customers are the main challenges from the retailers' perspectives. Further, it shows, though PEFC is a common motive, other motives are different across rural and urban.
Practical implications
The findings of the study are helpful for retailers and policymakers. Retailers can develop strategies to enhance mobile payment adoption through PEFC, HM and PTS by giving special attention to the rural community. The main motive possible to use in both rural and urban contexts is PEFC. Further, retailers should take the initiatives to uplift the technological know-how of their employees while inculcating supportive management orientation. Policymakers can use this study to develop policies to enhance the community's familiarity with mobile payment technology and computer literacy.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate motives for adopting mobile payments from both customers' and retailers' perspectives while being the first scrutiny to compare rural and urban scenarios. The use of mixed methods with concurrent research design also contributes to originality.
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Siti Aisyah Zahari, Shahida Shahimi, Suhaili Alma'amun and Mohd Mursyid Arshad
This study aims to determine the factors that influence ethical banking behavior among millennials and Gen-Z in Malaysia.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to determine the factors that influence ethical banking behavior among millennials and Gen-Z in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
A stratified sample of 525 millennials and Gen-Z of Malaysian banking customers was used. Extended ethical decision-making (EDM) model was tested using partial least square-structural equation model for the analysis.
Findings
The findings indicated that the engagement of millennials and Gen-Z in ethical banking is influenced by factors such as intention, judgment and awareness, which shaped both generations’ ethical banking behavior.
Practical implications
This study could be a central reference point and assist banking institutions in understanding the preferences of millennials and Gen-Z.
Originality/value
This study extends the previous EDM model that focused solely on consumer's belief systems. Three aspects differentiate this paper and contribute to its originality, namely, the uniqueness of millennials and Gen-Z behavior, incorporating new variables along with the EDM models and study in Malaysian context.