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This study aims to examine the impact of online travel reviews (OTR) on tourists’ intention to travel based on the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model. Further, it explored the mediating effects of tourist trust in OTR.

In this direction, this study proposes and empirically validates a conceptual model after collecting data from 299 Indian consumers. Proposed hypotheses were tested by applying the structural equation modelling technique. Bootstrapping method was used for mediation testing.

The findings revealed that various attributes of OTR exert differential impacts on travel intention. The study also confirmed the mediating role of tourist trust in OTR.

This study offers significant practical implications for travel marketers. To capitalize on OTR, travel marketers are recommended to develop an effective and efficient online reviews management system. This will improve the quality, valence, quantity and consistency of OTR, which in turn will enhance tourist trust in OTR, leading to improved travel intention.

No empirical evidence has been traced on how OTR enhances tourist trust in OTR and their travel intention. In support of this, the present study proposes and empirically validates an extensive model to comprehend the role of various drivers of OTR in improving tourist trust in OTR, leading to enhanced travel intention based on the SOR model.

YouTube (YT) has become a trend among millennials, and thus, marketers are trying to harness the power of it to communicate with them. Global marketers need to understand the mechanism of communicating via YT advertising (YTAD), especially in India that consists of 440 million millennials to re-strategize their YT communications. Consequently, this study aims to examine the influence of YTAD on the cognitive attitude, namely, brand awareness (BA) and brand knowledge (BK) of Indian millennials. The study also tests the moderating impacts of gender, device used for YT watching (DEYTW), duration and frequency of YT watching (DUYTW and FEYTW) on BA and BK.

Generalized linear model – analysis of variance has been used to investigate the proposed relationships in the study. Responses of 294 Indian millennials who watch YTAD regularly have been used for the final analysis. Moderating effects were also tested using Bonferroni pairwise comparisons.

The results revealed that YTAD significantly improves the cognitive attitude (BA and BK). However, gender was not found to have any moderating effect in the relationship of YTAD with BA, whereas moderating effects of gender were observed in the relationship of YTAD with BK. Furthermore, other moderators including DEYTW, DUYTW and FEYTW were found to have significant moderating impacts in the above-mentioned relationships.

In a country like India, comprising the largest millennial population of the world who spends a significant portion of their time in watching YT, it becomes crucial for global marketers to understand how the cognitive attitude (i.e. BA and BK) of millennials improves by watching YT advertisements. As it will help them in strategizing their communications on YT to get favourable consumers’ responses like purchase intention and actual purchase that may happen only when people have favourable cognitive attitude towards advertised brands.

The study offers new perspective to the field of communication by investigating the impact of YTAD on the cognitive attitude (i.e. BA and BK) of Indian millennials.

The purpose of the study is to explore the various determinants of virtual communication technology (VCT) adoption among higher educational leaders by applying Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 3 (UTAUT3) model. Further, this study ascertains the relationship among the various determinants and measure the effects of these determinants in adoption of VCT by educational leaders.

The study was conducted by using online survey method for data collection from 380 educational leaders of India through a convenience sampling procedure. The structural equation modelling technique was adopted to assess the dimensions of VCT adoption and test the proposed model and hypotheses.

The findings revealed that performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC) and personal innovativeness (PI) have positive and significant effects on intention to use VCT (ITUVCT) and actual use of VCT (AUVCT), i.e. e-leadership communication adoption. Besides this, there is also a significant and positive effect of ITUVCT on actual usage of VCT by the educational leaders.

This study makes its contribution to the literature related to technology adoption recommended in previous research for expanding the contexts through new studies and generalizing the UTAUT3 model, specifically in the teaching–learning and administrative perspectives. The results of the study will be further helpful for the researchers and practitioners to better understand the factors that influence higher educational leaders to adopt VCT.

The authors applied the UTAUT3 model and explored the factors determining the adoption intention of VCT among educational leaders. This study is the first study that adopts UTAUT3 model in Indian educational leaders’ context.

This chapter aims to comprehend the challenges of urban mobility in smart cities and the measures to mitigate these challenges. This chapter also tries to study how sustainable mobility can be achieved to improve the quality of life in smart cities. In this direction, this chapter reviews various newspapers, academic reports, travel reports, government portals, government websites and research papers. Results and discussions are then carried out based on such data. So, the sources of data are secondary in nature. This chapter presented an overall comprehensive discussion on urban mobility, its challenges and the measures to combat these challenges. Further, this chapter confirmed that sustainable mobility helps in improving the quality of life. Practically, this chapter offers many implications to urban transport companies, providers, government and policymakers. Urban transport companies, providers, government and policymakers may be able to understand that the path to leading a quality life in today's smart cities lies in sustainable mobility. This chapter is original in the sense that the researchers, to their limited knowledge, could not find a chapter that discusses the challenges posed by smart cities in the form of urban mobility, and that sustainable mobility is the only path to enhance the quality of life by making the environment sustainable.

The Metaverse and Internet of Things (IoT) have emerged like a tidal wave, and it is creating a transformative impact on society and industry. The metaverse and IoT changed the way companies were operating earlier and customers were living their lives. On the other hand, Metaverse enriches the customer experience by offering a matchless virtual experience using augmented reality and state-of-the-art technology. The metaverse and the IoT can be used in various sectors such as manufacturing, transportation, retailing, health care, banking, and automobiles to make cities smart. Metaverse and IoT provide real-time data, reduces operational cost and errors, improves efficiency, and helps industries to make intelligent decisions. Although the IoT and Metaverse offer significant benefits, it is not free from limitations. Ethical dilemmas, privacy issues, data breaches, and difficulty in extracting relevant data impose serious challenges that need to be addressed. There is an urgent and dire need to create a trade-off between the interest of the business and the privacy and security of customers. This chapter aims to discover the potential of Metaverse and IoT in various sectors (e.g., healthcare, transportation, and electronics). This study will bring significant insights to researchers and policymakers by exploring the likely benefits of IoT and metaverse in diverse sectors to develop smart cities. This chapter will also explain the challenges of metaverse and IoT, which can be addressed by integrating data analytics tools optimally and efficiently.