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The quality of education depends upon the quality of teachers, i.e. professional competence. The purpose of this paper is to empirically identify the state of faculty’s quality in technical higher education institutions of Punjab (India) in terms of their competences. Later, differences in the quality of the faculty of both public (government funded) and private (partially or not funded by government) technical institutions were examined.

In total, 35 technical institutes were selected to conduct a field survey and total 594 respondents including teachers, students and administrators had responded to the present study from different departments of engineering and management. The state of faculty’s quality in terms of their competences has been examined through confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS 20.0. Discriminant analysis in SPSS 20.0 has been performed to find the differences in faculty of both the public and private sectors.

This paper provides a broader picture of the poor quality of teachers in technical institutions of Punjab (India) in terms of lacking most of the competencies. The study also reveals significant differences in the faculty of both public and private sector institutes in terms of select competences.

This paper demonstrates an alarming stage of poor-quality state of teachers. Therefore, educational administrators and policy makers need to show their concern for the improvement of teachers’ quality in technical higher education institutions of Punjab (India).

This study aims to identify and classify various competences and competencies that educational leaders should essentially possess.

The systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify various competences of educational leaders in the institutions. Later, an empirical research was conducted. The data were analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS 20.0 to classify these competences according to their relative importance considering natural gaps in standardized beta (ß) values. In all, 96 administrators of 35 technical institutions of Punjab (India) offering engineering and management programs and 93 veteran educational experts had responded in a survey.

The results of the study identified five competences: pedagogical, leadership, innovative, research and evaluation competences. The competencies “help others in improvement and not blame circumstances”, “set high benchmarks” and “align class activities with learning objectives” have qualified among the “most important” competencies for the educational leaders.

The sample was specific to one state. There may be the chances of response bias in a few situations. Therefore, there are few reservations in generalizing the findings.

The study has several implications for both the faculty and the technical education degree institutes. The study provides a link between the characteristics and competencies of educational leaders. This study also contributes in terms of mapping of these competencies while recruitment of the faculty to test whether the candidates possess the potential of becoming educational leaders.

The administrators can test these competencies in their faculty for the purpose of identifying both the educational leaders within their institutes and the potential educational leaders in future by assessing “requisite” and “important” competencies.

The present study has been carried out to study whether and how different aspects of brand management (brand identity, brand image and brand meaning) are instrumental in maintaining and enhancing attachment strength of students with higher education institutes (HEIs). Further, to understand what brand management aspect channels the impact of what branding driver on attachment strength in most effective manner.

The study analysed combined mediating effects as well as specific mediating effects to test the mediating role of brand management aspects.

The study reveals that brand image plays highest mediating role among all aspects of brand management. HEIs need to enhance service quality because brand image carries the highest influence of service quality on attachment strength. Similarly, brand identity carries the highest influence of heritage on attachment strength. Brand meaning carries the highest influence of competence and reputation on attachment strength.

The present study, based on empirical research, has built the framework and mechanism for creating attachment strength utilising the intangible resources of HEIs through brand management. The present study examines how specific intangible resources exhibit varying influences on attachment strength via distinct brand management mediation effects.

The present study provides framework for designing branding strategies to build and channelise necessary intangible resources of branding for nourishing and nurturing attachment strength.

The present study contributes to scarce branding literature in context of HEIs. The study proposes role of HEI branding in developing students' attachment strength with their HEIs.

The goal of this paper is to use the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) paradigm to understand how ineffective marketplace stimuli affect perceptions related to online travel package booking, which in turn cultivate various types of confusion, and how these confusions are channelled into behavioural dispositions of consumers, such as negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). It also aims to investigate the moderating effects of gender and technology self-efficacy for the suggested framework.

A sample of 437 participants who had recently booked an online travel package, underwent an analysis using a survey study design. Structural equation modelling with multigroup analysis was used to evaluate the hypotheses and the moderation effect.

The findings suggest that inefficient market stimulus results in various forms of confusion, further contributing to negative eWOM. The results also imply that technology self-efficacy lessens the effect of various confusions on adverse eWOM, and gender is found to have a moderating effect on the relationships between ineffective marketplace stimuli, confusion and negative eWOM.

The research offers tourism and hospitality management advice on how to deal with inefficient marketplace stimulation to lessen confusion, which then reduces unfavourable eWOM. Additionally, the moderate impact of technology self-efficacy and gender established through the current study has important ramifications from a tourism managers' perspective.

This study develops and validates an empirical model, which will be utilised as a framework to fully understand consumer confusion brought on by ineffective marketplace stimulation, which causes adverse eWOM. The study also gives new perspectives on the moderating roles of gender and technology self-efficacy, which have received little attention in earlier studies.

Internet emergence has evolved the business of tourism companies, and every tourism company is available online and provides abundant choices, which causes consumers' confusion. The current study aims to investigate the interaction effect of demographic variables on confusion, decision postponement as a negative consequence of confusion and self-efficacy as a moderator in light of the stimulus organism response (SOR) model. Also, an attempt has been made to integrate the smart technology-based solution to deal with consumers' confusion.

Three-way ANOVA, Andrew Hayes process, structural equation modelling and random forest algorithm were used to assess the 507 self-filled questionnaire responses for examining consumers' confusion.

The results reveal that confusion decreases with increased education levels for each gender and age group. Also, for every gender and education level, consumer confusion increases and then decreases. Further, it was observed that self-efficacy effectively moderates the influence of different confusions on decision postponement. An artificial intelligence-enabled predictive model with an accuracy of 71.49% was established, which forecasts the possibility of consumers' decision postponement.

This study offers the comprehension of how the travel site administrators and stakeholders have used artificial intelligence-enabled solution for consumers' confusion and to reduce decision postponement.

To the best of the authors' awareness, this is one of the first studies to unveil the interaction effect of demographic factors on confusion, assess the role of self-efficacy as a moderator and provide artificial intelligence-enabled solutions for consumers' confusion.

This study aims to identify various teachers’ professional activities (TPAs) and classify these TPAs according to their relative importance for the professional development of teachers.

The systematic review of the literature had been conducted to identify various TPAs in the institutions. Later, an empirical research had been conducted through confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS 20.0 to classify these TPAs according to their relative importance using the natural gap in standardized beta (β) values. In total, 96 administrators of 35 technical institutions of Punjab (India) offering engineering and management programs and 93 veteran educational experts had responded in a field survey.

The results of the study identified eight TPAs and further revealed that “regular self-assessment,” “adopting a creative problem-solving approach” and “developing deep commitment to make the difference” qualify among the “most important” activities for the professional enhancement of the faculty.

The study highlights different TPAs that they must establish, raise, promote, encourage and organize for their development. The study further classifies different activities according to their relative importance. The institute can evaluate their resources, budgets and efforts according to the relative importance of such activities. The classification of TPAs would help faculty to increase their efficacy.

Cluttered website layout and a poor presentation of information on limited web space are present on tourism websites as ineffective marketplace stimuli that give rise to the problem of consumers' confusion. Based on stimulus organism response theory (SOR), this research investigates the three-dimensional confusion framework, its direct and indirect effect on negative eWOM, and consumers' decision postponement, considering negative emotion as a mediator.

On the data gathered from 501 respondents, structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed research hypotheses.

The results reveal the existence of the ineffective marketplace stimulus as an antecedent of consumer confusion. Further outcomes validate the cognitive, affective and response behaviour state by demonstrating the direct influence of different types of confusion on negative emotions, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and decision postponement. The association between cognitive and response behaviour is also mediated by negative emotion.

The study offers substantial practical insights for managers and company operators to better grasp the significance of the affective dimension in consumer confusion in view of the extended SOR model to encapsulate the role of human consciousness.

This study is among the first extensive studies to examine consumer confusion in the context of the modified SOR model that captures the essence of human consciousness by understanding the role of affective emotions between various confusions, negative eWOM and decision postponement. In addition, the ineffective marketplace stimulus as a confusion antecedent and negative eWOM as a response behaviour were studied for the first time.