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This paper aims to investigate the impact of perceived usefulness of online reviews and crowd cues on restaurant selection. In addition, the authors also examine the moderating role of perceived crowding and gender in this process.

The proposed hypotheses were tested with survey data (N = 200) collected from customers visiting full-service restaurants in Malaysia. The data were analyzed using SEM through Smart PLS.

The findings supported that the perceived usefulness of online reviews and perceived crowding have a positive effect on a consumer's purchase intentions, i.e. their decision of restaurant selection. Besides, a higher level of perceived crowding strengthens the relationship between the perceived usefulness of online reviews and their purchase intentions. This finding delineates that consumers prefer to dine in a crowded place with useful online reviews in an unfamiliar place. Finally, the results show that the effect of the usefulness of online reviews on purchase intentions does not vary with respect to gender (no significant contingent effect). However, the effect of perceived crowding varies with respect to gender – male customers have higher intentions to join crowded restaurants as compared to females.

Limitation of this study is its cross-sectional research design; data were collected in a single time frame. Longitudinal research design can be used to get in-depth knowledge of this phenomenon. Secondly, a non-probability sampling technique was used in this study, future research can used probability sampling technique to enhance generalizability of the study. Moreover, this study focused on the human crowding aspect, future studies can cover both aspects of crowding (human crowding and spatial crowding) in retailing or other service sectors (Blut and Iyer, 2020).

This study has multiple practical implications.

This study extends the current research on usefulness of online reviews and perceived crowding by investigating its direct and conditional effects. Specifically, the authors contribute in extant research by explaining its differential effects for male and female customers, when they select which restaurants to dine.

The purpose of this study/paper is first to determine the impact of perceived recovery justice (PRJ) (as a second-order construct) on recovery satisfaction and repurchase intentions; secondly, to investigate the mediating impact of customer affection and recovery satisfaction (on the relationship between PRJ and repurchase intentions and satisfaction and repurchase intentions, respectively); and thirdly, to examine the moderating effect of gender on the relationships between PRJ–recovery satisfaction–repurchase intentions.

The authors used a self-administrated survey technique for data collection. Afterwards, partial least square structural equation modelling was used to evaluate the data from 300 respondents (the automotive insurance industry in Punjab, Pakistan).

The findings show that PRJ, recovery satisfaction and customer affection positively predict repurchase intentions. PRJ also indirectly predicts repurchase intentions through the mediating effect of recovery satisfaction. Gender has a contingent effect on the PRJ–customer satisfaction–repurchase intentions relationship, such that the effect is higher for females than males. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications. To counter service failure, this study helps to draft effective strategies and policies for the insurance industry to make customers loyal patrons.

These findings have important theoretical and practical implications. To counter service failure, this study helps to draft effective strategies and policies for the insurance industry to make customers loyal patrons.

This study also tested a novel relationship, in that the authors used customer affection as a mediating factor between the satisfaction and repurchase intentions relationship. Moreover, the authors also tested the moderating role of gender in PRJ–recovery satisfaction–repurchase intentions associations.

This study aims to extend the understanding of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) by investigating the international EO (IEO) from the perspective of the international performance of born global firms. The born global firm's EOs toward global firms led to innovation and dynamic organizational capabilities and to improve the firms' international performance and development.

It is a hypothesis that IEO predicted that utilization of export promotion programs (EPPs) would be positively associated with international performance. The samples of 405 respondents were collected from born global firms to acquire higher international performance of firms in China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and mediation analysis are processed to test the proposed hypotheses empirically.

The results from the SEM test revealed that the network relationships and utilization of EPPs fully mediate the effect of IEO on international performance. These results indicate that not only IEO is an important factor of network relationships but also the utilization of EPPs and international performance for born global firms. IEO can motivate managers to find the right network relationships and ultimately improve company performance. The IEO of the initiative has strong impact on the performance of international firms.

There is a comprehensive view among the relationships of IEO, entrepreneurial competencies and the network utilization of government EPPs, international performance in the context of born global firms. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in detail.

The purpose of this study is to elaborate mixed convection impact in stratified nanofluid flow by convectively heated moving surface. Rheological relations of second-grade fluid are used for formulation. Magnetic field, heat absorption/generation and convective conditions are considered for modeling.

Convergent solutions are achieved using homotopy procedure.

The authors found opposing behavior for radiation and thermal stratification variables against thermal field.

No such analysis has yet been reported.

Organisations encourage green creativity among their employees to mitigate pollution and achieve sustainable growth. Green inclusive leadership practices have a key role in influencing employees’ green attitudes and environmental efficiency. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate how green inclusive leadership influences employees’ green creativity. It also aims to analyse the intermediating mechanism of green human capital and employee voice between the relationship of green inclusive leadership and green creativity.

Data was collected through an in-person administered questionnaire-based survey from 312 employees of the manufacturing industry of Pakistan. SPSS PROCESS macro was used for hypothesis testing in the present study.

The findings depict that the perception of green inclusive leadership positively influences employees’ green creativity. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that green human capital and employee voice play substantial intervening roles among the associations investigated.

This research study is novel because it is one of the scarce research studies to examine green inclusive leadership and employees’ green creativity with the underlying mechanism of green human capital and employee voice in an eastern context.

After reading this case students will be able to understand the role of General Environment analysis in strategic decision-making; to understand the use of different models such as Porter’s Five Forces, SWOT and resource-based view; and to enable graduates to apply different strategies such as business level and growth strategies and environmental analysis to any company or industry on their own.

Pizza Town Sukkur, once a popular spot for delicious pizzas, was facing a tough situation. New competition was threatening its success, and the manager, Mr. Faisal Gul, was torn between sticking to old ways or trying new ideas. A surprise invitation to a special industry summit added excitement but also uncertainty. The restaurant, started by Honey Bhai in 2007, used to be a hit, but now it struggled with challenges like not having online ordering and falling behind in marketing. Other pizza places in Sukkur, like Pizza Mart, Pizza King and Pizza Grill, were giving tough competition. The story unfolded in the lively setting of Sukkur's food scene, with Pizza Town at a crossroads – whether to embrace change and technology or risk fading away in the face of new rivals.

Undergraduate and Graduate

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the barriers inhibiting the adoption of green building and measures to promote this approach in Pakistan.

Barriers and measures were identified and examined by using a combination of research methods, including literature review, questionnaire survey, and in-depth interviews with the construction industry-related practitioners working in Pakistan. Ranking technique and factor analysis were used to identify the significant issues associated with the adoption of green building practices.

As per the survey results, the most critical barrier is “lack of awareness among people about the importance and advantages of adopting green building practices,” followed by “lack of incentives from government” and “lack of green building codes and regulations,” respectively. The results also indicate that most important measure to promote the adoption of green buildings is “creation of public awareness toward green initiatives through seminars, workshops, and discussions,” followed by “availability of green building codes and regulations (mandatory to apply)” and “financial incentives and penalties by the government (e.g. soft loan, tax) for promoting green building practices,” respectively.

Research limitation is that its findings, other than Pakistan, cannot be generalized to other developing countries.

Findings of the research will be helpful in sensitizing the regulatory agencies, the policy makers, and the building construction practitioners about the barriers to adoption of green building practices. The suggested measures will help in devising policies and economic measures to promote the construction of green and environment-friendly buildings.

This research will help the common people to know about the importance of green buildings that may lead to a deviation from the practice of traditional buildings to a widespread trend of building green buildings. This will lead to drastic reduction in demand for energy and considerable monetary savings for the common people.

The findings of this study are expected to contribute valuable information to decision makers for the better understanding of key issues that call for more attention in the promotion of efforts of green building practices in Pakistan. The results are based on the perception of local stakeholders, but might also be helpful for policy makers in other countries.

Through an examination of macro-historical studies on the governance of Iran, the purpose of this study is to identify the most significant and important events and trends in the rise and fall of Iranian governments and introduce alternative futures in a range of possible, plausible and preferable forms of future governance. To carry out a foresight study of alternative futures of Iranian governance, the authors used futures studies, based on the detection of the most critical driving forces, which are also the most important uncertainties. Futures studies as an interdisciplinary field of study help to identify the events and trends that affect political change and offer scenarios of four alternative futures for the governance of Iran: Smart and Stable Government, Authoritarian Development-oriented Government, Irrational Government and Irrational Breakable Government. The authors believe that Iran’s endeavors to promote democracy, taking the changing international trends into account, make a more trustworthy future for Iran both possible plausible.

Based on macro-history approach and by using “shared history”, future triangle and then scenario planning, the future of Governance in Iran has been analyzed.

Whenever the government has distanced itself from the public and has neglected the trend of international change, it has been faced with a period of collapse and annihilation. And whenever these two important factors are understood, the result is a trend of development and growth. Therefore, the most favored image of Iran’s future relies on the maintenance and promotion of public participation and on increasing attention to the sustainable realities of international relations.

The complexities of events and trends affecting the rise and fall of previous governments of Iran make it necessary to use an interdisciplinary approach to understand the events that have emerged or are emerging in its governance. In this study, from futures studies point of view, transformation of governance has been studied.

This study aims to present a unique hybrid metaheuristic approach to solving the nonlinear analysis of hall currents and electric double layer (EDL) effects in multiphase wavy flow by merging the firefly algorithm (FA) and the water cycle algorithm (WCA).

Nonlinear Hall currents and EDL effects in multiphase wavy flow are originally described by partial differential equations, which are then translated into an ordinary differential equation model. The hybrid FA-WCA technique is used to take on the optimization challenge and find the best possible design weights for artificial neural networks. The fitness function is efficiently optimized by this hybrid approach, allowing the optimal design weights to be determined.

The proposed strategy is shown to be effective by taking into account multiple variables to arrive at a single answer. The numerical results obtained from the proposed method exhibit good agreement with the reference solution within finite intervals, showcasing the accuracy of the approach used in this study. Furthermore, a comparison is made between the presented results and the reference numerical solutions of the Hall Currents and electroosmotic effects in multiphase wavy flow problem.

This comparative analysis includes various performance indices, providing a statistical assessment of the precision, efficiency and reliability of the proposed approach. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is a new work which has not been explored in existing literature and will add new directions to the field of fluid flows to predict most accurate results.

Thinking and deciding about the future of the city as a combination of complex and uncertain systems is extremely difficult. This complexity, uncertainty and difficulty will be increased when our thoughts and decisions address the city’s long-term future. Considering these issues, the need for future thinking and alternate thinking in the process of urban management and planning becomes even more necessary. The purpose of this paper is to identify and explain the alternate futures of Tehran.

For this purpose, this study have tried to study alternate future images of Tehran in an archetypal form of “growth, collapse, disciplined society and transformed society” using “Dator’s Four Generic Alternate Futures” method.

These alternate futures, after identifying their key trends and drivers, have been narrated in the form of four scenarios called: “capital business center,” “crossing the fate of ray,” “Tehran family” and “Tehran investigators.” Increasing the authority and responsibility of the local governance, modification of Tehran urban management model and development of voluntary cooperation and democratic participation, are among the policy recommendations made on the basis of these images.

Achieving these images in parallel with identifying the most important challenges and opportunities in alternate futures will provide the basis for policy-making in Tehran’s future urban governance. It can be a creative model for developing future images for other cities.