Search results

The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent and in what ways signaling theory has been explored within the field of international marketing. This paper systematically reviews the use of signaling theory in the field of international marketing. Communication is a core aspect of the international marketing process. Research in this field has explored effective and unique ways of improving the communication flow to reduce the asymmetry of information between international consumers and the firm. This notion is adopted, enhanced and strengthened by signaling theory. Signaling theory has recently received the attention of international marketing scholars.

The systematic review methodology was applied for the purpose of identifying the relevant studies. We extracted academic articles over the last 23 years from the domain of international marketing that directly contribute to signaling theory based on 57 journal articles extracted through the systematic review process.

Based on systematic research the results reveal that the topic has grown and continues to expand within the broader international marketing field. We offer a theoretical conceptual framework to better understand signaling theory in the context of international marketing.

The authors map and critically evaluate the use of signaling theory in international marketing. Relevance of signaling theory in international marketing is growing and authors present an integrative framework that organizes the existing literature, and provides scholars to further expand on emerging themes of the domain. The paper offers some useful future research directions.

This study aims to enhance our understanding of sustainable water management in construction through a life-cycle embodied water assessment of a villa in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It provides insights and recommendations for improving the water efficiency by identifying areas for potential embodied water saving and reduction in environmental impacts in the construction industry.

This study uses a life-cycle assessment (LCA) approach and focuses on a UAE villa as a case study. It analyses the embodied water consumption during construction (initial embodied water) and maintenance (recurrent embodied water) using an input–output-based hybrid analysis. Additionally, it compares the embodied water observations with the operational water usage and comprehensively evaluates the water consumption in the villa’s life-cycle.

The initial (28%) and recurrent embodied water (42%) represent significant proportions of a building’s life-cycle water demand. The structural elements, predominantly concrete and steel, contribute 40% of the initial embodied water consumption. This emphasises the importance of minimising the water usage in these materials. Similarly, internal finishes account for 47% of the recurrent embodied water. This emphasises the importance of evaluating the material service life.

These findings indicate the efficacy of using durable materials with low embodiment and water-efficient construction methods. Additionally, collaborative research between academia, industry, and the government is recommended in conjunction with advocating for policies promoting low embodied-water materials and transparency in the construction sector through embodied water footprint reporting.

Previous studies focused on the operational water and marginally addressed the initial embodied water. Meanwhile, this study highlights the significance of the initial and recurrent embodied water in the life-cycle water demand. It emphasises on the need for adaptable buildings with reduced embodied water and more durable materials to minimise the requirement for frequent material replacements.

This research aims to conceptualize and validate the mall service design as a multidimensional construct and then test a conceptual framework by investigating the impact of mall service design on customer mall experience and its subsequent outcomes, that is, intention to revisit and desire to stay in mega shopping malls.

The survey data of 455 shopping visitors in Pakistan were collected using a mall intercept technique and tested through structural equation modeling in AMOS.

The study reveals that service design significantly impacts customer experience and subsequent outcomes. Customer mall experience mediates the relationships between mall service design and the intention to revisit and desire to stay at malls.

Data from a collectivist culture country (Pakistan) were collected. To explore the impact of service design on customer mall experience, researchers should conduct similar studies in individualistic societies like Europe and North America. Additionally, the authors recommend assessing the effect of each dimension of service design on customer experience separately.

The research provides policy guidelines for the owners and operators of mega shopping malls in developing experience-oriented retailing strategies based on service design.

The research conceptualizes and validates the mall service design as a multidimensional construct using the service theater model and empirically tests its relationship with the customer mall experience.

Thermal and species transport of magneto hydrodynamic Casson liquid over a stretched surface is investigated theoretically in this examination for the three-dimensional boundary layer flow of a yield exhibiting material. The phenomenon of heat and species relocation is based upon modified Fourier and Fick’s laws that involves the relaxation times for the transportation of heat and mass. Conservation laws are modeled under boundary layer analysis in the Cartesian coordinates system. The purpose of this paper is to find the influence of different emerging parameters on fluid velocity, temperature and transport of species.

Reconstructed nonlinear boundary layer ordinary differential equations are analyzed through eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Due to the complexity and non-existence of the exact solution of the transformed equations, a convergent series solution by the homotopy algorithm is also derived. The reliability of the applied scheme is presented by comparing the obtained results with the previous findings.

Physical quantities of interest are displayed through graphs and tables and discussed for sundry variables. It is discerned that higher magnetic influence slows down fluid motion, whereas concentration and temperature profiles upsurge. Reliability of the recommended scheme is monitored by comparing the obtained results for the dimensionless stress as a limiting case of previous findings and an excellent agreement is observed. Higher values of Schmidt number reduce the concentration profile, whereas mounting the values of Prandtl number reduces the dimensionless temperature field. Moreover, heat and species transfer rates increase by mounting the values of thermal and concentration relaxation times.

The phenomenon of heat and species relocation is based upon modified Fourier and Fick’s laws which involves the relaxation times for the transportation of heat and mass. Conservation laws are modeled under boundary layer analysis in the Cartesian coordinates system.

Considering the rapid adoption of social media among consumers and organizations, this study intends to examine the impact of online bundle promotions and contextual interactions on impulse buying as consumers encounter them synchronously. Hence, a research model is proposed with the integration of perceived transaction value, perceived acquisition values, top reviews information, impulse buying tendency and emotional intelligence following the stimulus-organism-response framework, promotional framing effect, and theory of selective attention.

Data were collected from the active social media members of organization pages and selling groups by utilizing the self-administered questionnaire. This study employed the partial least squares structural equation modeling to evaluate the data of 358 individuals.

Results reveal the positive impact of targeted constructs on the urge to buy impulsively with complementary partial mediation of impulse buying tendency. Besides, emotional intelligence dissuades users' impulse buying tendencies, but unexpectedly, its moderating effect is insignificant. Further, importance-performance map analysis highlights the highest importance of impulse buying tendency and better performance of perceived transaction value for the urge to buy impulsively.

This research is one of the early studies to explore the influence of social media advertising and contextual social factors (e.g. bundle offers and top reviews information) on impulse buying with the moderation of emotional intelligence and mediation of impulse buying tendency. This research is imperative for scholars and managers with pertinent suggestions to arouse impulse buying.

This research examines the influence of big data analytics (BDA) on the competitive performance of firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Focused on the linkages of IT-enabled dynamic capabilities, managerial support, data driven culture, environmental uncertainty and supply chain resilience, the study aims to evaluate the mechanisms through which BDA contributes to competitive advantage.

This research employs an empirical investigation to address questions regarding the influence of BDA on the competitive performance of the supply chain industry in the UAE. The research involved the distribution of a structured questionnaire to the employees (n = 400) across diverse supply chain units in the UAE. The proposed framework was evaluated through SPSS and AMOS. Additionally, the researchers utilized the Process Macro to reveal the mediating and moderating dynamics.

The study finding emphasizes the impact of BDA on both supply chain resilience and competitive performance with IT-enabled capabilities playing a mediating role. Furthermore, managerial support was found to positively moderate the relationship between BDA and IT-enabled capabilities.

This study contributes to the improvisation of existing literature in the field providing an understanding of how study variables collectively influence competitive performance within the specific context of UAE firms.

The findings provide insights for industry practitioners, highlighting the strategic importance of integrating BDA into supply chain management to boost operational efficiency and sustain competitive performance.

The study findings provide opportunities for scholars as well as managers for optimizing their strategic developments to build sustainable competitive performance by processing data analytic processes, resilient activities and efficient managerial support.

Scholars and practitioners acknowledge that digital leadership can help organizations gain a competitive advantage. This article focuses on the characteristics, styles and skills needed for effective digital leadership. It looks at the role of digital leaders in innovating business models and introducing organizational change required for a successful digital transformation.

This paper is based on a comprehensive literature review of digital transformation, digital leadership, business model innovation, and organizational culture. It draws on institutional theory (INT) the neo-institutional theory (NIT). It draws from Science Direct, Web of Science and Google Scholar publications. A proposition and a conceptual framework are developed based on evaluating and synthesizing the literature.

We find that specific leader characteristics (agility, participative, innovativeness and openness), styles (democratic and transformational) and skills (cognitive, social, technological and digital) enable successful business model innovation and organizational change, all of which allow successful digital transformation of firms.

The literature on digital transformation has not been well integrated with the leadership literature. This is particularly true in terms of the role digital leaders play in the successful digital transformation of firms. The conceptual framework and a way forward proposed in this paper introduce future research directions on the topic.

Drawing upon the theoretical underpinning of knowledge worker productivity, this study aims to examine the relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge management (KM) process (creation, application and sharing of knowledge) and its impact on the knowledge worker productivity in knowledge-intensive organizations.

Hypothesis were tested through PROCESS Macro in IBM SPSS v.26 on a sample of 204 employees working in banking sector of Pakistan. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the model fitness through AMOS v. 26.

The results showed that the relationship between abusive supervision and KM process (creation, application and sharing of knowledge) is negative and highly significant, i.e. greater the abusive supervision in the banking sector, the lower is the engagement in KM processes. Furthermore, there is a positive and highly significant relationship between the KM process and knowledge worker productivity. Finally, the study indicates the negative impact of abusive supervision on the knowledge worker productivity through the mediating mechanism of knowledge management processes.

A key limitation is that the study is cross-sectional, and the findings may only be generalizable to developing countries context.

Previous studies have focused on supervisor–employee relationship but not in the context of knowledge worker productivity. This article fulfills this gap through understanding the impact of abusive supervision on the knowledge worker productivity in relation to KM processes (knowledge creation, sharing and application) by drawing upon the theoretical underpinning of knowledge worker productivity.

This study aims to explore empirically the impact of various factors/determinants on housing prices at the country level as well as in Lahore, the most populous metropolitan city of the most populous province Punjab, Pakistan.

This study uses monthly data ranging from 2013M1 to 2020M1 on variables used in the study. Based on the stationarity results, the method of robust least square is used as an estimation technique. The validity of initial results is also authenticated by canonical cointegration regression.

The empirical result reveals that all included variables significantly affect housing prices both at country level as well as in Lahore. This study found negative impact of regressor age, real exchange rate and urbanization on housing prices, whereas the positive impact of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, foreign remittances, broad money and real interest rate on housing prices in the case of Pakistan was found. On the other hand, results unveiled the negative impact of regressor age (proportion of population aged between 15 and 64), real exchange rate and urbanization on housing prices, whereas the positive impact of GDP per capita, foreign remittances, broad money and real interest rate on housing prices in Lahore metropolitan city was unveiled.

Based on the extant literature survey, this is a more holistic study of its kind that uncovers the macroeconomic determinants by considering the demand side, supply side and demographic factors of escalated housing prices in Pakistan, so that proper policies can be adopted to keep the housing sector stable. Empirical findings are helpful to acquire an enhanced understanding of how the housing price is determined and form a base for government to tackle the housing affordability problem.

The new disruption in the form of ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for organizations to enhance their knowledge management and decision-making capabilities. This article explores how ChatGPT can enhance organizations' KM capability for improved decision-making and identifies potential risks and opportunities.

Using existing literature and a small-scale case study, we develop a conceptual framework for implementing artificial intelligence on the internal organizational knowledge base of big data and its integration with a larger knowledge base of ChatGPT.

This viewpoint conceptualizes integrating knowledge management and ChatGPT for improved organizational decision-making. By facilitating efficient information retrieval, personalized learning, collaborative knowledge sharing, real-time decision support, and continuous improvement, ChatGPT can help organizations stay competitive and achieve business success.

This is one of the first studies on the integration of organizational knowledge management systems with ChatGPT. This research work proposes a conceptual model on integration of knowledge management with generative AI which can be further tested in actual work settings to check it's applicability and make further modifications.

The study provided insights to managers and executives who, in collaboration with IT professionals, can devise a mechanism for integrating existing knowledge management systems in organizations with ChatGPT.

This is one of the first studies exploring the linkage between ChatGPT and knowledge management for informed decision-making.