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The cases highlight the challenges in running a new start-up especially by women in a developing nation such as India in a high growth industry. The success of a business depends on employee motivation, sales, marketing, functional coordination and coordinated efforts from all the executives. Experten Office Supplies Pvt. Ltd. (EXOS) was women empowered entrepreneurial startup (printing) in Mumbai established themselves as a trustable brand among their clientele for their office stationeries need. At Initial stages, they started with a good pace and growth in revenue. Directors of EXOS, Komal and Upasana Sanjay Kumar, were facing a downturn, their declining sales and were stressed regarding the resignation of their core member Pravin. The reasons for the situation were many, including unplanned motivational factors, non-risk-taking ability, no proper sales management (organization structure), planning process issues, lack of reward system and dependency on a person, less marketing initiative. These issues must be resolved to come back in the business, increase its sales, better sales organization structure. After the case analysis, students should be able to: know the key role of marketing and sales as a management function. Develop motivation policies for the salesforce and key team members in the organization. Understand the salesforce retention strategies of the organization.

In September 2019, directors of EXOS, Komal and Upasana Sanjay Kumar were discussing the downturn of EXOS and were stressed regarding their declining sales and profit margin. Both were disappointed at the resignation of their Business Manager. They were in worry as the new deal that they were about to get which could have made them earn, but Pravin resigned from the job in short notice. The case has short- and long-term aspects. The short-term aspect is about the decision related to EXOS’s top performer, Pravin, how to retain him, which motivational factor will help him to rethink his resignation. The long-term aspect deals with framing a motivation model that will prevent the organization from a similar situation in the future. The case outlines the human resource management issues and particularly the importance of motivation to retain the talent of a small startup firm. Directors recognize the importance of Pravin and they have a realization that the deal on which Pravin is working is critical. Under this situation, Upasana has to stop Pravin.

Undergraduate, Master of Business Administration (MBA) or in the Management Development Programs.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 8 Marketing.

This study aims to examine the mediating role of green finance in the relationship between green banking practices and the sustainability performance of banking institutions in developing economies.

The authors performed an empirical investigation by applying the “partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM)” based on a representative sample of 414 bank employees working in the National Capital Region, India.

The study’s outcome confirms that employee, top-management, operation and policy related practices substantially influence green finance and banks’ sustainability performance. On the contrary, customer related practices insignificantly influence banks’ sustainability performance. Further, green finance substantially influences the sustainability performance of banking institutions.

This study shed light on green banking practices that can assist in achieving the vision of the “Clean India Mission” of the Indian government. In addition, it encourages policymakers and bank managers to fulfill their social responsibility by engaging employees and customers in cleaner operations to promote banks’ sustainability performance.

This is ground-breaking research that enriches the understanding of green banking practices and green finance by providing a novel theoretical framework concerning the sustainability performance of banking institutions. Theoretically, this paper also broadens the scope of corporate social responsibility literature by applying the resource-based view theory in finance and banking.

ChatGPT is an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) form that can generate human-like text based on large amounts of data. This paper aims to empirically examine the ChatGPT adoption level among Indian individuals by considering the key factors in determining individuals’ attitudes and intentions toward newly emerged AI tools.

This paper used “partial least square structural equation modeling” (PLS-SEM) to investigate the relation among several latent factors by applying a representative sample of 351 individuals.

This study found that trialability, performance expectancy and personal innovativeness significantly influence individuals' attitudes, while compatibility and effort expectancy do not significantly impact attitudes. Additionally, trialability, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, personal innovativeness and attitude significantly influence behavioral intentions. However, compatibility has an insignificant impact on behavioral intention. Moreover, the research highlights that attitude and behavioral intention directly correlate with actual use. Specifically, the absence of compatibility makes people hesitate to use technology that does not meet their specific needs.

These unique findings provide valuable insights for technology service providers and government entities. They can use this information to shape their policies, deliver timely and relevant updates and enhance their strategies to boost the adoption of ChatGPT.

This paper is one of the pioneering attempts to exhibit the research stream to understand the individual acceptance of ChatGPT in an emerging country. Moreover, it gained significant attention from individuals for delivering a unique experience and promising solutions.

Amidst the exponential spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study aims to explore the evolving dynamics underlying consumers' narratives about luxury-brands over social media. While visualizing these Online Luxury-Brand Self-Narratives (OLBSNs) as a decision-making situation, the authors question the “rational-being” assumption of the Net Valence Model (NVM) during a pandemic situation. Specifically, the authors draw upon Terror Management Theory (TMT) to explicate the role of pandemic-induced mortality salience in rendering the idealistic assumptions of NVM unattainable. The authors uncover evidence of risk-taking behavior among luxury consumers while using OLBSNs as a potential meaning-providing structure during the pandemic.

This study employed a cross-sectional survey method. The authors conducted a structured Qualtrics survey to collect data from 588 respondents. The authors examined the hypothesized relationships using structural equation modeling.

In contrast to the conventional wisdom of NVM, the results suggest a positive influence of not only perceived benefits but also perceived risks on intention to engage in OLBSN and brand advocacy during the ongoing pandemic.

This study explains the emerging dynamics of pandemic-induced mortality salience in OLBSN decision-making and has implications for luxury-brand marketers in designing brand communication strategies over social media.

This study makes an original endeavor to extend NVM beyond rational decision-making context by integrating the theoretical tenets of TMT within NVM while also delineating the decision-making mechanism of OLBSNs during the pandemic.

This paper aims to explore the psychological motivations behind customers’ engagement with the brands and further investigate the effect of brand engagement on brand attachment and brand loyalty.

The theoretical model is tested with the data collected from 282 brand community members during offline brand community events, and structural equation modeling technique is used for statistical analysis.

The results indicate that brand psychological ownership and value-congruity act as important psychological motivations for customers to engage with the brands. A sense of brand attachment mediates the relationship between brand engagement and brand loyalty.

Current study was conducted on a single brand community. Future research testing and validating the proposed model for multiple brands across different product categories is suggested for the generalization of current study results. The identification and validation of psychological drivers of engagement can have major implications on the ongoing research on customer engagement concept.

An effectively instilled sense of psychological ownership and value similarity notion in customers can help managers in engaging customers and capitalize on their repurchases and recommendations along with their attachment to the brands.

The study is unique in terms of the brand engagement model depicting the psychological antecedents to engagement with the brands and identifying the mediating role of brand attachment between brand engagement and behavioral loyalty.

Green products are gaining global popularity due to the energy crisis, global warming and other ecological issues of the 21st century. The present article aims to examine the green housing purchase behavior of individuals in developing economies. This study also investigates the mediating effect of purchase intention on the relationship between factors influencing the purchase of green housing and purchase behavior in the real estate industry.

A cross-sectional research approach was utilized to gather data from 388 individuals in the National Capital Region (NCR) of India. This article utilizes the “statistical package for social science (SPSS)” followed by “partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM)” to test the formulated hypotheses.

The notable finding of this research highlights that environment awareness and environment knowledge significantly influence attitudes towards green housing, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. In contrast, perceived risk has an insignificant impact on attitudes toward green housing, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. Additionally, there is a substantial relationship among attitudes toward green housing, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, green purchase intention and green purchase behavior.

The results of this research will advance academic understanding and provide valuable insights to individuals, policymakers and real estate developers by aiding them to make ecological and informed decisions. By identifying the factors that shape individual’ intentions to buy sustainable homes, we can contribute to fostering a strong and sustainable future.

Based on the reviewed literature and the researcher’s previous knowledge, this is one of the pioneering research that incorporates the theory of planned behavior (TPB) with environmental knowledge, awareness and perceived risk while also assessing the proposed model’s efficacy within a developing country, specifically India. Moreover, it represents one of the limited studies investigating actual use behavior toward green housing within the context of the Indian market.

This study aims to understand the influence of cartoon characters on the generation alpha (GA) in purchase decision-making, supported by the theory of planned behaviour.

Quantitative study was used to collect data from 294 Indian parents on behalf of their children (between 8 and 12 years) using convenience sampling and 20 items Likert scale questionnaire. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data and for hypothesis testing.

The study shows the favourable impact of cartoon characters to influence the behaviour of GA while making the final purchase decision. The likability was found to be significantly related to the recall, willingness to try/buy. The recall was significantly related to willingness to try/buy and purchase intention. Willingness to try/but was significantly related to purchase intention, but it has no significant relation with the final purchase decision, whereas purchase intention had significant relation with the final purchase decision.

The study indicates that generating likability for cartoon characters among GA is important. Managers should recognize that although parents make the final purchase decision, however, children play an influential role. Advertisers should plan their communication accordingly. An emotional connection with cartoons can influence GA, which further impacts recall, willingness to try/buy, purchase intention and decision.

Various studies have been conducted in western countries, but very few studies have been conducted in emerging markets like India, highlighting cartoon characters’ influence on GA’s purchase decision-making, with theoretical underpinnings. The study also explores the importance of GA, an emerging consumer market in today’s digitalized era, which is highly influenced by technological gadgets. It becomes challenging for marketers to promote their products on television to influence GA purchase behaviour.

This study aims to examine how brand gender (masculine/feminine brand personality [FBP] traits) stimulates brand engagement (cognitive processing, affection and activation) inside online brand communities (OBCs). The authors also explore the mediation of this effect through brand identification and brand personality appeal (BPA). The moderating role of consumers’ biological sex is also investigated.

The theoretical model has been tested with the data collected from OBC members through the structural equation modelling technique. Bootstrapping is used for mediation analysis and multiple group analysis for testing the moderating effects.

Results show that masculine brand personality (MBP) influences brand engagement directly, as well as through brand identification and BPA. However, FBP elicits brand engagement only through the mediation of brand identification and BPA. Consumers’ biological sex moderates the effect of FBP on brand engagement, but no moderation was traced for the effect of MBP on brand engagement.

The context of the research poses a limitation on the broader replication of study findings. Other limitations include the absence of community-based variables and the focused use of gender centric brands in this study. This research will help researchers to understand the nuances in the underlying relationship between brand gender and brand engagement inside OBCs.

The managers can emphasize MBP but should not downplay the importance of FBP inside OBCs. To achieve brand engagement, the marketers should curate FBP in a way to affecting consumers’ brand identification and brand appeal. To achieve consumer brand engagement, MBP can be targeted at both male and female consumers, whereas FBP holds more importance among female consumers. Therefore, classifying members as per their biological sex is recommended for better brand engagement from brand gender inside OBCs.

This study explores finer mechanisms in the relationship between brand gender and brand engagement inside OBCs by charting out the powerful mediating role played by brand identification and BPA. The moderating role of consumers’ biological sex is an important dimension to these relationships, not explored hitherto.

Considering brand ownership as a cause of concern, this paper aims to propose a conceptual model portraying brand engagement as a function of members’ brand psychological ownership (BPO) and value-congruity and to investigate the effect of brand engagement on brand attachment and brand purchase intentions.

Data were collected from 275 brand community members who do not own the brand. Six different brand communities were shortlisted and offline events were targeted. For testing the hypothesised relationships, the authors used structural equation modelling.

The results indicate that BPO and value-congruity positively influence the brand engagement of the members, which further influences the brand attachment and brand purchase intentions. It is also observed that brand attachment mediates the effect of brand engagement on brand purchase intentions.

The primary limitation of this paper is the research context, which needs to be further replicated. The specific customer-segment approach of the study adds a new direction to the scope of brand engagement in the brand management domain.

The study shows that brand managers need to expand their focus from existing brand customers to non-customers as brand engagement subjects because the non-brand owners can also experience brand attachment and develop intentions to purchase the brand, if engaged.

The study endorses the role of psychological ownership theory in brand engagement research; explores the feasibility of brand engagement among “non-owner community members”; highlights the role of their engagement in enhancing attachment towards the brands and purchase intentions; and sheds light on the blurred boundaries between brand engagement and brand attachment.

Electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) has emerged as a pivotal factor in consumer decision-making, particularly within the tourism industry. This study aims to know the critical dimensions of e-WOM and examines their effects on tourist purchase intentions in India and Vietnam, seeking to determine whether these impacts vary significantly between the two markets.

Using a robust methodological framework, the research integrates factor analysis, structural equation modelling and t-tests to analyze the data collected from 248 Indian and 230 Vietnamese participants through self-administered questionnaires.

The analysis identifies three key dimensions of e-WOM – quality, volume and integrity and reveals that e-WOM exerts a significant and positive influence on tourist purchase intentions in both countries. Notably, the study uncovers distinct cross-cultural variations in this impact.

This investigation contributes to the existing literature by spotlighting the differential effects of e-WOM in the Indian and Vietnamese tourism sectors, thereby providing valuable insights for industry stakeholders aiming to capitalize on e-WOM in varied cultural contexts.