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Appealing to the resource-based view and the resource advantage theory, this research aims to ascertain the complementarity of entrepreneurial and market orientation in enhancing the performance of small and medium enterprises.

Following a survey design, a self-administered questionnaire containing scales adapted from leading previous studies was used to collect data from 400 executives working in small and medium enterprises in Pakistan. Partial least squares-based structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the measurement and the structural models and test the significance of the hypothesized relationships.

It has been found that market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation enhance firm performance directly and indirectly with marketing capabilities and competitive strategies (partially or fully) mediating these causes and effects relationships.

The study adds to the literature on entrepreneurship, marketing and strategy and has significant ramifications for managers and public policymakers desiring to boost the performance of small and medium enterprises, which is crucial to the economic growth of developing nations, through nurturing and leveraging intangible resources such as market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation and marketing capabilities.

It is one of the rare attempts to investigate the complementarity of entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation, channeled through marketing capabilities and competitive strategies to boost SME performance, that too in the context of a developing country.

This study aims to integrate and extend leading contemporary underpinning frameworks such as the Stimulus Organism Response (S-O-R) model, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to assess the determinants of M-commerce usage during COVID-19 times. Besides direct effects, the study examines the mediating role of behavioral intention in affecting the relationship between a few external stimuli, internal states (of the organism) and M-commerce usage (the response). The study has also examined the moderating role of habitual behavior in the relationship between behavioral intention and M-commerce usage.

Data were gathered from 312 customers through an online survey using a structured questionnaire. PLS-based SEM, using Smart PLS 4.0, was employed to calibrate the measurement and structural models.

The study found that stimuli like social influence, perceived ease of use and perceived value substantially affected M-commerce usage. Behavioral intention has been found to mediate these cause-and-effect relationships partially or fully among the subject constructs. Additionally, a significant negative but weak moderating impact of habit (or habitual behavior) on the relationship between behavioral intentions and M-commerce usage has been corroborated.

Several studies have investigated the factors influencing the adoption and continued usage of M-commerce services while appealing to diverse theoretical frameworks. However, more research has yet to be expended to arrive at an integrated explanation grounded in these theoretical frameworks to examine the dynamics of M-commerce usage in tempestuous times like the COVID-19 outbreak. The most significant (counterintuitive) findings have been suppressing the effects of otherwise crucial elements like perceived security and habit in prompting M-commerce usage in the face of the socio-psychological pressures stemming from COVID-19 restrictions and consumers' lack of digital readiness. The study's outcomes offer several theoretical and practical implications for researchers, managers, practitioners, businesses and policymakers to develop effective strategies to mature M-commerce usage among the masses, especially during unusual times like COVID-19.

Evolving business landscapes have highlighted the crucial role of innovative digital transformation strategies (DTSs) in reimagining organisational operations and responses to optimise performance, regardless of organisational size or employee composition. The study suggests that DTS is a process that occurs continuously, rather than being a one-time event. It also underscores the critical role of personal resilience and organisational support in achieving job performance goals.

Using a survey analysis, this study examines the impact of organisational response and agility, as fundamental components of DTS, on employees' job performance. In addition, it investigates how boundary conditions of personal resilience and organisational support moderates the relationship between (1) organisational agility and job performance, and (2) organisational response and job performance.

The research findings demonstrate the impact of DTS on job performance. It highlights the mediating roles of organisational support and agility in improving employees' performance. The study also discusses the critical role of personal resilience and organisational support in navigating the insightful impacts of organisational agility and organisational response on the job performance.

This paper presents a theoretical framework that integrates the dynamic capabilities of employees and organisations, providing academics and practitioners with a comprehensive perspective on the growth of employees' dynamic capabilities. By offering insightful discussions, the study highlights that, while creating new DTS, organisations not only improve their dynamic capabilities but also enhances the people’s dynamic capabilities and make them more resilient.

The current research proposes a model that integrates certain psychological and demographic factors in developing and strengthening young Saudi women's perceptions of entrepreneurial resourcefulness, which eventually may lead to the development and enhancement of their entrepreneurial intentions. The study also examines the ways in which changing socio-cultural norms and values may augment investments and/or efforts to enhance cognitive enablers, including entrepreneurial resourcefulness, and thereby build and strengthen entrepreneurial intentions among female entrepreneurs (i.e. human capital) in a transitioning society. Saudi Arabia is a relevant research context because the Saudi government has invested enormous resources to develop the country's human capital, particularly Saudi government intends to enhance Saudi women's participation in entrepreneurial spheres to be enhanced significantly. Saudi Arabia is undergoing a radical socio-cultural transition, and the kingdom seeks to capitalise on this ongoing transformation to further encourage women to tap into their under-utilised potential. This study seeks to corroborate such moderation effects.

The authors utilise the intellectual capital (IC) framework and theory of planned behaviour (TBP) to propose the conceptual model in this study. Using a sample of 628 young female respondents – potential entrepreneurs studying at various universities in Saudi Arabia, the authors test the hypothesised associations through partial least squares (PLS)-based path modelling.

The authors found a significant positive impact of psychological factors, such as perceived behavioural control, attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norms and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, on the development and enhancement of perceived entrepreneurial resourcefulness. In addition, demographic factors, including family income, family background, family business experience and entrepreneurship education, play a significant positive role in enhancing individuals' entrepreneurial resourcefulness perceptions. The authors further found that enhanced perceptions of perceived entrepreneurial resourcefulness develop and enhance entrepreneurial intentions among female entrepreneurs. However, the transformation in social and cultural norms significantly moderates this cause and effect relationship.

This study is among the first of its kind to investigate the moderating effects of social and cultural transformation on efforts and/or investments to enhance intellectual capital (more specifically, human capital) and thereby promote entrepreneurship. The study is also valuable for its focus on a unique context, i.e. female entrepreneurship in the Middle East and, more specifically, Saudi Arabia. The study offers useful insights and implications both for theory and practice, particularly for policymakers seeking to augment their intellectual capital formation efforts through an effective orchestration of socio-cultural transformation, which seeks to empower female entrepreneurs to succeed in the face of significant socio-cultural impediments.

The purpose of this paper is to review how knowledge transfer, including knowledge integration, absorptive capacity and reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) in cross-border acquisitions, is examined in existing research work. The authors also propose directions to advance research in cross-border acquisitions.

A systematic literature review is conducted, and related propositions are advanced based on scientometric and bibliometric analysis of 146 papers published over 10 years about tacit knowledge transfer, innovation activities, industrial policy effect on merger decisions, top management experience and value creation in cross-border acquisition. First, the authors searched major themes with the help of Scopus, and later, the authors analysed all received literature with the help of VOS Viewer.

This review facilitates us to identify six clusters and main author keywords. These six clusters are the underlying six research streams, including RKT, cultural distances, value creation, absorptive capacity, innovation and reference to India and China.

Despite knowledge transfer constituting important antecedents and critical factors for the success of cross-border acquisitions, knowledge management in the acquired company through proper knowledge transfer and knowledge integration is not given enough attention. Current literature still fails to provide a holistic picture of how firms strategically manage knowledge post-acquisition. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to analyse the dynamics of knowledge transfer in cross-border acquisitions. The study is a novel attempt to relate current research themes to emerging areas of cross-border acquisitions.

This study investigated leaders’ decision-making during crises. Using grounded theory research, we explored whether leaders’ use of either individualistic or collectivistic decision-making styles is based on the context of a crisis. In addition, the authors looked into the components of building leaders’ efficacy during a crisis event and gauged their attitudinal and behavioral reactions to the crisis.

The authors conducted interviews with 30 C-suite executives during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to determine their responses to crises. The authors then used open, axial, and selective coding to examine their data, which was then extracted for representative themes and overarching dimensions. In total, The authors received 12 major themes largely summarizing into 6 overarching dimensions – context of decision-making, leaders’ efficacy, individualistic approach to decision-making, collectivistic approach to decision-making, process of decision-making, and outcomes.

The research presents a decision-making framework clearly bifurcating situations with the need for individualistic and collectivistic decision-making. While, a high level of urgency and scarce resources encouraged leaders to adopt an individualistic approach in which most of the decisions were intuition-based and only high-level stakeholders were involved, the less time urgent and uncertain situation allowed leaders to put significant effort into building their own knowledge systems and involving others. In addition, leaders’ efficacy is understood in terms of their attitudes, readiness and reactions, which further elaborated upon their knowledge systems to allow them to excel in decision-making irrespective of the approaches they chose.

The research has implications for leaders in the decision-making roles to be effective during both individualistic and collectivistic decision-making.

Metaverse is one of the decade’s most exciting and transformative technological innovations. While the metaverse holds immense promise, it has potential risks and dark sides. This research aims to investigate and identify the crucial dark dimensions associated with the metaverse platforms.

Employing a qualitative phenomenological methodology, the authors interviewed 45 metaverse users to unravel dark dimensions related to the metaverse. Analyzing the themes extracted from the participants' insights revealed an alignment with the underpinnings of the Technology Threat Avoidance (TTA) theory.

The findings of this study revealed seven major dark dimensions: addiction and dependency, isolation and loneliness, mental health issues, privacy and security, cyberbullying and harassment, digital identity theft and financial exploitation.

The study helps organizations and metaverse platforms understand the crucial dark dimensions of the metaverse. This study concludes by synthesizing prevalent themes and proposing propositions, offering insights for practical application and policy considerations.

This study provides a deeper understanding of the dark side of the metaverse environment from a user perspective using the underpinnings of TTA theory.

Based on the intellectual capital (IC) theory and the resource-based view (RBV), the paper seeks to elucidate the direct and indirect relationships between IC and competitive advantage in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Therewithal, besides examining the mediating role of innovation capabilities in the IC-competitiveness link, it scrutinizes the moderating effect of entrepreneurial orientation in causing IC to boost competitiveness in SMEs through flourishing innovation capabilities.

Data were collected from 206 participants working in SMEs operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the help of a structured questionnaire distributed through LinkedIn. Partial least square (PLS)-based structural equation modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS 4.0 has been performed to calibrate the auxiliary and structural models.

Based on the empirical analysis, IC significantly and directly enhances the competitive advantages of SMEs. Additionally, innovative capability has been found to be a complementary partial mediating condition in enabling IC to foster competitiveness in SMEs. Furthermore, the moderated mediation analysis reveals that innovation capabilities strongly mediate the association between IC and competitiveness in SMEs, characterizing higher entrepreneurial orientation.

The study provides significant insights to academicians and practitioners seeking to comprehend or configure interactions among IC, innovation capabilities, and entrepreneurial orientation in maturing competitiveness among SMEs, especially in emerging economies. Furthermore, the study provides a valuable integrative perspective on SMEs’ competitiveness by involving three voguish constituents of contemporary scholarly discourse grounded into the leading underpinning theoretical perspectives, such as IC theory, RBV, and entrepreneurship theory.

The uniqueness of this model lies in its rich theory-laden conceptualization and explanation that could extend theoretical debate and managerial action to the next levels.

The purpose of this study is to test the relationship between mall relevance dimensions [(functional relevance (FNR), symbolic relevance (SYR), social relevance (SOR) and environmental relevance (ENR)] and shoppers' well-being (SWB), which in turn influences mall loyalty (ML). In addition, this study aims to investigate the moderating effect of social media celebrities (SMCs) on the association between SWB and ML.

A mall intercept survey was used to collect responses from mall shoppers. The authors received 426 valid responses from mall shoppers in Pakistan's three metropolitan cities (i.e. Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad). To test the hypotheses, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used.

Findings reveal that FNR, SYR, ENR and SOR significantly and positively influence SWB. Similarly, SWB significantly affects ML. Moreover, SMCs moderate the positive relationship between SWB and ML.

This study is one of the pioneer studies examining mall relevance dimensions on SWB. In addition, this study contributes to the retailing literature by testing the moderation effect of SMCs on the relationship between SWB and ML. Likewise, this study provides insights for mall administration to focus on mall relevance in terms of FNR, SYR, ENR and SOR to enhance the current and prospects' SWB. Next, SMCs play a key role in enhancing SWB and ML.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the roles of Zakat, Sadaqah and Qardhul Hassan within the context of the existing literature as major Islamic financial instruments for enhancing socio-economic justice amongst Muslims haves and have-nots as these enhance financial inclusion in Nigeria.

The discussion in this paper is based on secondary sources such as the divine knowledge contained in the Qur’an, Hadiths and the existing literature, such as previously conducted empirical studies and Islamic world view (Tawhidi epistemology).

This paper implores Islamic societies to use Zakat, Sadaqah and Qardhul Hassan as instruments that encourages wealth redistribution that promotes efficient and effective wealth redistribution between haves and have-nots as part of the vicegerent (khaliphah) role between mortal being (human) and his immortal creator (Allah). This paper concludes by suggesting the use of these Islamic financial instruments as means to enhance socio-economic justice and financial inclusion in the Nigeria’s Muslims’ communities that are negatively affected by the high rate of financial exclusion and poverty as had been previously practiced in the Muslim world throughout the Islamic history.

This paper provides critical suggestions on the ways Zakat, Sadaqah and Qardhul Hassan will contribute significantly towards assisting Nigeria in achieving its vision of reducing the financial exclusion rate that is currently put at 41.6% to 20% by the year 2020 and may foster inclusive growth and sustainable development. However, the limitation is that it is a mare conceptual study, and the future researchers may subject it to the scientific test to offer empirical evidence regarding the roles of Zakat, Sadaqah and Qardhul Hassan towards closing the gap of financial exclusion in Nigeria.

This paper contributes to the existing literature on the doctrine of the Islamic moral economy by recommending the adoption of Islamic financial instruments as tools for enhancing income redistribution and financial inclusion.