Muhammad Ahsan Sadiq, Balasundaram Rajeswari and Lubna Ansari
The purpose of the paper is to segment and profile the Indian shoppers in the context of organic foods in India. It proposes to use a healthy lifestyle (HL) as a segmenting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to segment and profile the Indian shoppers in the context of organic foods in India. It proposes to use a healthy lifestyle (HL) as a segmenting variable and to use a factor-cluster analysis approach to achieve the same. The current study is expected to add a substantial base to the segmentation literature in marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
Food stores in Indian metropolitan city Chennai are sampled, and data is collected in the form of a mall intercept survey method. In total, 441 usable structured questionnaires are filled by the respondents which are subjected to suitable statistical analysis.
Findings
Three significantly different consumer segments emerged from the given sample of respondents, which shows uniqueness concerning consumer’s, HL features, demographics and the variables of the theory of planned behavior (TPB).
Research limitations/implications
Clustering method used to segment the potential shoppers of organic foods is an exploratory technique only. It cannot be treated or generalized to the population like those of inferential techniques. The researcher suggested testing the same with a larger sample size and in a different context. It is limited to urban and suburban facets of the metropolitan city in India.
Originality/value
The study will be helpful to marketers and decision makers to target the potential organic foods consumers.
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Mohd Danish Kirmani, Md. Asadul Haque, Muhammad Ahsan Sadiq and Faiz Hasan
This study aims to examine the factors influencing user satisfaction with unified payment interface (UPI)-based payment systems during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The study…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the factors influencing user satisfaction with unified payment interface (UPI)-based payment systems during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The study also aimed to examine whether the user satisfaction with UPI-based payment systems during the COVID-19 pandemic will transform into their continuance intention post-COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was performed in three phases, i.e. pre-testing (for developing questionnaire), pilot study (using exploratory factor analysis to ensure unidimensionality) and the main study. The main study was based on the feedback from a sample of 369 internet users who first used the UPI-based payment system during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data generated were analysed using the structural equation modelling approach.
Findings
The study findings suggest that the users who are satisfied with UPI-based transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to continue their use of this payment mode in future. Factors such as post-adoption perceived value, perceived usefulness and post-adoption perceived risk were observed to be key constructs in explaining user satisfaction and continued intention for UPI-based payment systems.
Originality/value
The study is one of the pioneering studies, in the sense that it investigated the continuance intention of UPI-based payment systems, which, surprisingly, did not gain much attention from past researchers.
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Raja Usman Khalid, Muhammad Shakeel Sadiq Jajja and Muhammad Bilal Ahsan
This article aims to evaluate published food cold chain (FCC) literature against risk management and supply chain sustainability concepts.
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to evaluate published food cold chain (FCC) literature against risk management and supply chain sustainability concepts.
Design/methodology/approach
The article uses the theory refinement logic proposed by Seuring et al. (2021) to analyze the contents of FCC management-related literature published over the past 20 years. A sample of 116 articles was gathered using Web of Science and subsequently analyzed. The respective articles were then systematically coded against the frameworks of Beske and Seuring (2014) and Vlajic et al. (2012), which focused on building sustainable and robust supply chains, respectively.
Findings
The literature review revealed that debates around managing contemporary sources of disruptions/vulnerability and making FCCs more sustainable and resilient are gradually developing. However, an overarching risk management perspective along with incorporating social and environmental dimensions in managing FCCs still needs the adequate attention of the respective research community.
Research limitations/implications
The deductive internal logic of theory refinement approach used in this paper could have been further strengthened by using additional frameworks. This limitation, however, opens avenues for further research. The findings of the paper will stimulate the interest of future researchers to work on expanding our understanding related to sustainability and risk management in FCCs.
Originality/value
The paper is the first attempt to organize published FCC literature along dimensions of supply chain sustainability and risk management. The paper thus provides the respective researchers with a foundation that will help them adopt a focused approach to addressing the research gaps.
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Chunhui Huo, Javaria Hameed, Muhammad Waqas Sadiq, Gadah Albasher and Wedad Alqahtani
This paper aims to provide a valid insight into consumers' minds while considering word of mouth (WOM), brand image and uniqueness as independent variables while considering the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a valid insight into consumers' minds while considering word of mouth (WOM), brand image and uniqueness as independent variables while considering the tourism industry as the primary stakeholder.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts qualitative research methods and data collected from 1,033 respondents using convenience sampling methodology. The data are collected from different tourists spots in China and Pakistan. The PROCESS macro was utilized in this study using SPSS version 25.0 to inspect the impacts by using Model 4 and the conditional effects indirectly by utilizing Model 14.
Findings
Customer's intimacy, search for novel and unexplored destinations highlight WOM interactions and perceived service value. Service value, interactional justice and professional attitude of hotel management mediated all the given relationships significantly. The brand image does not mediate any significant associations. Perceived service value and brand image predict customer's loyalty, and WOM is the direct measure of their intentions, and these variables are market trend indicators. A tourist's response toward different destinations is described in this study with comparative analysis of Chinese and Pakistani tourists. The study results showed a significantly positive relationship between hotel management professional behavior, customer's loyalty, customer's intimacy and WOM.
Research limitations/implications
The recruited population might not be represented as the broader and larger visitor population, resulting in restricting establishing tactics. Moreover, this study's results provide significant insight into a tourism industry, hence providing a chance to manage customer loyalty better.
Social, managerial and theoretical implications
This study contributes significantly to the body of knowledge and provides remarkable insight from the managerial perspective. Interactional justice results in significant value for hotel management directors and top management, front desk staff and operatives and front level employees and managers. Consumer sensitivity of fairness in interpersonal dealings calls for behavioral changes in frontline employees, especially those directly dealing with hotel visitors. Hotel staff and management should formulate a system to deal with the demands and needs of visitors. It should describe the rights and obligations of visitors and ensure that each customer is treated equally and with respect. Customers should be motivated to read the survey questionnaires kept in their rooms and offer their views on the services provided. This strategy might increase the customers' sense of empowerment and leading to notions of fairness in individual encounters.
Originality/value
This study provides an insight into the customer's minds while considering essential variables that include WOM, brand image, perceived service value and uniqueness.
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Attique ur Rehman, Muhammad Shakeel Sadiq Jajja, Raja Usman Khalid and Stefan Seuring
Base-of-the-pyramid (BoP) markets are frequently characterized by institutional voids. However, it remains unclear how institutional voids impact corporate and supply chain risk…
Abstract
Purpose
Base-of-the-pyramid (BoP) markets are frequently characterized by institutional voids. However, it remains unclear how institutional voids impact corporate and supply chain risk and performance. This intersection will be analyzed in this paper.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a systematic literature review of 94 BoP papers published between 2004 and 2019 in peer-reviewed, English-language journals available on Scopus. Drawing upon established frameworks for examining institutional voids, supply chain risks and BoP performance, frequency, and contingency analyses are conducted. Contingencies are established to provide insights into the associations between different constructs from the selected frameworks.
Findings
Supply chain risks are pervasive in the BoP discourse, especially when BoP markets are characterized by institutional voids. The frequency analysis of the constructs suggests that the key supply chain risks discussed in the BoP literature include social risk, credit risk, product market and operating uncertainties, knowledge and skill biases and decision-maker risks due to bounded rationality. The contingency analysis suggests that institutional voids are associated with supply chain risks that affect performance.
Research limitations/implications
A theoretical framework aligning three research streams in the context of BoP calls for future studies to test the causality of highlighted constructs that are significantly associated. The analysis is confined to the constructs that are taken into account based on specific conceptual frameworks.
Practical implications
The study provides practitioners with a framework to manage supply chain risks in BoP-related firms to enhance firm performance. Managers can use key dimensions of supply chain risk, such as the product market, the input market and operating uncertainties, to evaluate performance in the BoP context.
Originality/value
Specifically, this research has strengthened the inquiry of supply chain risks in the presence of institutional voids that may have an impact on firm performance
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Mazen M. Omer, Rahimi A. Rahman, Muhammad Ashraf Fauzi and Saud Almutairi
Construction activities generate overwhelming waste that is typically disposed of in landfills, which has significant environmental consequences and hinders national progress…
Abstract
Purpose
Construction activities generate overwhelming waste that is typically disposed of in landfills, which has significant environmental consequences and hinders national progress. However, with the appropriate competencies, there is an opportunity to identify construction activities that produce recyclable materials, offering a path to a sustainable future. This study aims to assess the competencies for identifying construction activities that produce recyclable materials. To attain that aim, the study seeks to identify the key competencies and assess the index level of the competencies.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review was conducted, and 20 competencies were identified and categorized into knowledge, skills, and abilities. A questionnaire survey was developed based on the competencies and completed by 101 individuals. The collected data were analyzed using normalized mean analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE).
Findings
The results revealed that the key competencies are problem-solving skills, communication skills, skills in providing vocational training, and knowledge of the environmental impacts of construction activities. The FSE ranks the constructs in order of skills, knowledge, and abilities. Also, the FSE illustrated that the overall index level is inclined to be important.
Practical implications
This study leads to saving natural resources, using raw materials efficiently, protecting from environmental pollution, and mitigating resource depletion by providing the index level of the competencies.
Originality/value
The findings can guide professionals in effective waste management, policymakers in creating new policies and regulations, and researchers in compiling a list of competencies for identifying construction activities that produce recyclable materials.
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Fawad Ahmad, Michael Bradbury and Ahsan Habib
This paper aims to examine the association between political connections, political uncertainty and audit fees. The authors use various measures of political connections and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the association between political connections, political uncertainty and audit fees. The authors use various measures of political connections and uncertainty: political connections (civil and military), political events (elections) and a general measure of political stability (i.e. a world bank index).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors measure the association between political connections, political uncertainty and audit fees. Audit fees reflect auditors’ perceptions of risk. The authors examine auditors’ business risk, clients’ audit and business risk after controlling for the variables used in prior audit fee research.
Findings
Results indicate that civil-connected firms pay significantly higher audit fees than non-connected firms owing to the instability of civil-political connections. Military-connected firms pay significantly lower audit fees than non-connected firms owing to the stable form of government. Furthermore, considering high leverage as a measure of clients’ high audit risk and high return-on-assets (ROA) as a measure of clients’ lower business risk, the authors interact leverage and ROA with civil and military connections. The results reveal that these risks moderate the relationship between political connection and audit fees. Election risk is independent of risk associated with political connections. General political stability reinforces the theme that a stable government results in lower risks.
Originality/value
The authors combine cross-sectional measures of political uncertainty (civil or military connections) with time-dependent measures (general measures of political instability and elections).
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Olayinka Moses and Trevor Hopper
The paper conducts a metadata analysis of articles on developing countries in highly ranked “international” accounting journals, the topics covered, research methods employed…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper conducts a metadata analysis of articles on developing countries in highly ranked “international” accounting journals, the topics covered, research methods employed, their authorship and impact, across countries and continents.
Design/methodology/approach
A database of the publications of accounting journals ranked A*, A and B in the Australian Business Dean Council (ABDC) journal rankings from 2009 to 2018 was constructed. A structured literature review, partly using NVivo and Leximancer, analysed the 1,317 articles on developing countries. A parallel online repository contains the research data.
Findings
Articles on accounting in developing countries increased by 36% over the ten years but remained a small proportion of all published articles (i.e. 1,317 of 13,805 representing 9.5%). They have concentrated on quantitative market-based studies of financial reporting and auditing, especially in larger and relatively richer developing countries in Asia and Africa, with developed capital markets. Broader topics deemed important in recent reviews of the area, for instance, on achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and on smaller, poorer countries, which have been neglected, albeit less so in qualitative studies. The research identifies important jurisdictional differences. Many authors held positions in British Commonwealth universities. The most cited articles overall, all quantitative, were in highly ranked North American journals, whereas most qualitative studies came from journals located in richer British Commonwealth countries.
Research limitations/implications
The study only covers English language journals. Journals in other languages and lesser ranked journals, especially those based in developing countries, may be important sources too.
Practical implications
More research on a broader range of accounting issues, especially in smaller and poorer developing countries, is needed. Although quantitative work is valuable, more recognition of the value of qualitative studies is needed, especially given the disappointing results of market-based policies prescribed by foreign institutions and their shift to advocating good governance reforms and achieving SDGs.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the most exhaustive analysis of recent accounting research on developing countries. It traces which journals have published such research, when, on which countries, on what topics and by whom. This is of interest to journal editors, course designers and researchers in the area. The authors hope that making the raw data and detailed analyses available online, consistent with protocols adopted in science disciplines, will encourage accounting researchers to do likewise to enable further testing of results and claims and build knowledge cumulatively.
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Tamoor Khan, Jiangtao Qiu, Ameen Banjar, Riad Alharbey, Ahmed Omar Alzahrani and Rashid Mehmood
The purpose of this paper is to assess the impacts on production of five fruit crops from 1961 to 2018 of energy use, CO2 emissions, farming areas and the labor force in China.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the impacts on production of five fruit crops from 1961 to 2018 of energy use, CO2 emissions, farming areas and the labor force in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This analysis applied the autoregressive distributed lag-bound testing (ARDL) approach, Granger causality method and Johansen co-integration test to predict long-term co-integration and relation between variables. Four machine learning methods are used for prediction of the accuracy of climate effect on fruit production.
Findings
The Johansen test findings have shown that the fruit crop growth, energy use, CO2 emissions, harvested land and labor force have a long-term co-integration relation. The outcome of the long-term use of CO2 emission and rural population has a negative influence on fruit crops. The energy consumption, harvested area, total fruit yield and agriculture labor force have a positive influence on six fruit crops. The long-run relationships reveal that a 1% increase in rural population and CO2 will decrease fruit crop production by −0.59 and −1.97. The energy consumption, fruit harvested area, total fruit yield and agriculture labor force will increase fruit crop production by 0.17%, 1.52%, 1.80% and 4.33%, respectively. Furthermore, uni-directional causality is correlated with the growth of fruit crops and energy consumption. Also, the results indicate that the bi-directional causality impact varies from CO2 emissions to agricultural areas to fruit crops.
Originality/value
This study also fills the literature gap in implementing ARDL for agricultural fruits of China, used machine learning methods to examine the impact of climate change and to explore this important issue.