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This study tests convergence in energy diversification, per-capita income and financial development and explores their interrelationships.

Club convergence tests, Granger tests and panel regressions are employed on 134 countries from 1995 to 2019.

While overall convergence is absent across the entire sample, countries have converged within specific clubs. Low- and lower-middle-income countries show convergence in energy diversification and per-capita income. Positive bidirectional relationships are found between energy diversification and per-capita income, and between financial development and per-capita income. A U-shaped relationship between oil prices and energy diversification is identified.

The findings suggest that achieving a shared equilibrium in energy diversification, economic prosperity and financial development is feasible through technological progress within convergence clubs. Investments in human capital and technology are crucial prerequisites for sustainable development.

This study pioneers testing energy diversification, per-capita income and financial development convergence, investigating the tri-directional relationship between them, and exploring the U-shaped relationship between oil prices and energy diversification.

This paper examines the influence of facilitators and barriers on employees’ preference to work in a hybrid model. The study uses the theoretical lens of stimulus-organism-response (SOR) and dual factor theory (DFT). It examines the influence of health consciousness (stimulus), facilitators (e.g. work flexibility, work–life balance and team building) (organism) and barriers (e.g. pandemic and travel stressor and role overload [organism] on employees’ preference to work in a hybrid model) (response). Further, it tests the moderating influence of organizational culture.

A questionnaire survey was conducted among employees in India, Sri Lanka and Germany, obtaining 281 usable questionnaires. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using Warp PLS 7.0 was used as the analytical technique to examine the model fit and test hypotheses.

The findings reveal that health consciousness is essential in enhancing facilitators and motivating employees to prefer a hybrid working model. The study’s findings also prove the positive influence of work flexibility, work–life balance and team building as facilitators. The results suggest that pandemic and travel stressors inhibit employees’ preference for working in a hybrid model.

The study is based on a cross-sectional research design to generalise the findings. Future researchers can utilize longitudinal design to decipher the variation in response over time. The study has developed a model combining SOR with DFT; the authors suggest that future researchers use other theories in combination with SOR, like self-determination theory (SDT), to decipher the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of employees in the context of the hybrid working model.

This study identifies the need for open communication with the employees to overcome their concerns regarding the hybrid working model. The study also suggests that human resource (HR) managers need to prioritize the task that needs to be accomplished from the office versus working from home. The authors recommend various measures, like water cooler breaks and a buddy system, to motivate employees to work in a hybrid model.

This study is among the first studies focused on the hybrid working model. The current study adds to the limited literature on the facilitators and barriers of working in a hybrid work model.

This paper aims to evaluate the impact of various preview modes on tourist attitudes and intentions to visit a destination based on consumers’ level of involvement in travel decision-making.

The study was conducted as a between-subjects one-factor [preview mode: static images vs 360-degree tour vs virtual reality (VR) mode] in a laboratory experiment setup to examine how consumers with different levels of involvement in travel decision-making respond to destination marketing toward three different preview modes.

The findings indicated that VR preview mode highly influences tourist attitudes and visit intentions toward a destination compared to static images and 360-degree tours. This effect is more significant among participants with higher levels of customer involvement. Finally, the results from the study offer empirical evidence of the effectiveness of VR in shaping user behavior compared to traditional preview modes.

The limitations are using a non-probability sampling method, a small sample size and affordable mobile-compatible VR headsets.

This study offers empirical evidence on the effectiveness of VR in shaping tourist behavior compared to traditional preview modes. It helps destination marketers develop appropriate strategies for promoting tourist destinations.

The novelty of this paper lies in understanding the effectiveness of VR in shaping tourist behavior with different levels of customer involvement in travel decision-making.