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Waste generated from electrical and electronic equipment, collectively known as E-waste, remains a persistent environmental, economic and social problem. Sustainable E-waste management (EWM) has numerous benefits, such as preventing electronic waste from entering landfills, reducing the need for virgin materials by recovering valuable materials from recycling and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Circular economy (CE) practices are considered the initial steps toward sustainable EWM, but some hurdles have been reported in the adoption of these practices. Therefore, the current study aims to identify the common CE practices, sustainability of the EWM process and the challenges in EWM, and to develop a conceptual framework for effective EWM.

Very few studies have proposed frameworks that acknowledge the challenges and CE practices of EWM. To fill this gap, a systematic literature review (SLR) was performed, and 169 research articles were explored.

A total of seven challenges in the adoption of effective EWM were identified: rules and policy, infrastructure, consumer behaviour, informal sectors, community culture, technology and economy. Eight common CE practices were also found for effective EWM: reuse, recycle, remanufacturing, refurbishment, repair, reduce, recover and repurpose.

A conceptual framework guiding sustainable EWM was proposed, which includes solutions for the identified challenges, and CE practices with sustainable benefits.

Manufacturing enterprises have started to offer the “outcome” derived from machines with the help of outcome-based contracts (OBCs). Offering OBCs leads to benefits such as increased revenues, stronger customer relationships and sustainability. However, implementing OBCs requires critical capabilities. Existing literature has focused on identifying these necessary capabilities, but the prioritization and interrelationships among them remain unexplored. This study aims to address this gap.

Our study employs a hybrid analytical hierarchy process and interpretative structural modeling approach to prioritize and map interrelationships among OBC-related capabilities within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The findings highlight the importance of digitalization capabilities such as data privacy and security, remote monitoring, and data analytics; and organizational and governance capabilities, including quantifying, controlling, and monitoring risks, teamwork, and leadership, are highlighted.

We quantitatively prioritize OBC capabilities and establish their level-wise structural interrelationships, which will facilitate a more effective and efficient implementation of OBCs. Due to the emergent nature of OBCs, our study could identify just one SME case company meeting our selection criteria.

Existing OBC literature focusses on the design of OBCs in large companies. Similarly, earlier capability-related OBC literature is oriented toward identifying the OBC capabilities to perform specific functions. However, in the current study, we propose a systematic decision-making approach that comprehensively prioritizes and identifies the interrelationships among the capabilities necessary to provide OBCs, thus complementing the existing scientific literature on OBCs. In addition, we focus on SMEs, that have specific limitations and characteristics.

This study comprehensively reviews the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which refers to Industry 4.0 (IR 4.0) applications in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Multinational companies and big corporations have the capacity and resources to implement IR 4.0, but SMEs are limited due to financial constraints, expertise and lack of resources. Even so, IR 4.0 is required as technologies evolve and market demand has changed how firms do business.

To uncover the potential of IR 4.0 and critical determinants of SMEs’ adoption of IR 4.0, this study presents a bibliometric analysis to evaluate the current research streams in IR 4.0 adoption among SMEs through bibliographic coupling. Furthermore, this review provides a glimpse of the future by analyzing prospective trends on IR 4.0 in SMEs.

Bibliographic coupling produces five clusters: (1) challenges and barriers in IR 4.0 implementation among SMEs, (2) technological adoption of IR 4.0, (3) opportunities and benefits of IR 4.0, (4) business model innovation and (5) implication of IR 4.0 on SMEs technologies. On the contrary, co-word analysis produces three clusters: (1) technologies in IR 4.0, (2) strategy and management of IR 4.0 among SMEs and (3) IR 4.0 model for SMEs.

Implications are directly related to business owners, policymakers and technology developers meeting the needs of the industry and SMEs, which are the focus of this review.

The findings contribute significantly to the body of knowledge by presenting a state-of-the-art science mapping approach to uncover the knowledge structure and intellectual linkage of IR 4.0 adoption within SMEs.

Billions of entrepreneurs at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) operate as small-scale producers within multi-tiered supply chain networks. Unfortunately, a majority of these entrepreneurs are simply unable to derive sufficient value from the network and are vulnerable to disasters and poverty. The purpose of this paper is to develop a typology that examines dynamic and triadic power relationships in order to create value chains for BoP producers.

This paper builds upon the available literature and a relevant historical case study to develop a typology. The validity of the typology is ascertained by examining and comparing two current BoP silk weaver communities in India.

The typology captures essential environmental variables and relates them to mediated and non-mediated forms of power which, in turn, shape the value derived from the supply chain network.

The typology provides specific recommendations for BoP producers, such as the formation of cooperatives, engaging in political unionization and ensuring that their social networks expand beyond local communities.

The typology brings together structuration theory and power and provides a framework for understanding supply value. This typology is generalizable to dynamic multi-tiered supply chain networks.

In this research, the authors apply artificial neural networks (ANNs) to uncover non-linear relationships among factors that influence the productivity of ragpickers in the Indian context.

A broad long-term action research program provides a means to shape the research question and posit relevant factors, whereas ANNs capture the true underlying non-linear relationships. ANN models the relationships between four independent variables and three forms of waste value chains without assuming any distributional forms. The authors apply bootstrapping in conjunction with ANNs.

The authors identify four elements that influence ragpickers’ productivity: receptiveness to non-governmental organizations, literacy, the deployment of proper equipment/technology and group size.

This study provides a unique way to analyze bottom of the pyramid (BoP) operations via ANNs.

This study provides a road map to help ragpickers in India raise incomes while simultaneously improving recycling rates.

This research is grounded in the stakeholder resource-based view and the network–individual–resource model. It generalizes these theories to the informal waste value chain at BoP communities.

Social commerce (s-commerce) has gained widespread popularity as a social platform where customers engage in resource-sharing activities such as information exchange, advice-seeking and expressing their opinions on mutual interests. However, existing studies have not fully comprehended the drivers of electronic customer-to-customer interaction (eCCI) and how such behavior contributes to the customer “stick” on s-commerce sites. This study develops the Motivation–Opportunity–Ability (MOA) theory and investigates the impact of MOA factors on eCCI, which in turn affects customer stickiness.

A survey was used to acquire data from 455 valid respondents, and the research employed a combination of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and structural equation modeling.

The results revealed associations between perceived self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, tie strength with other customers, eCCI and customer stickiness.

Considering the limited availability of complete eCCI frameworks in existing scholarly works, the authors present valuable perspectives on the role of consumer characteristics as both antecedents and consequences of eCCI. Additionally, this study proposes a research agenda for the field of eCCI on s-commerce sites.

This research aims to investigate the direct and indirect (via creative self-efficacy [CSE] and thriving) effects of regulatory focus (RF) on employee intrapreneurship (EI) in Pakistan’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A time-lagged (six weeks apart) design is used to collect data through self-administered questionnaires. The researchers retrieved 492 usable responses from frontline employees working in SMEs.

The results showed the positive direct and indirect (via CSE and thriving) effects of promotion focus on EI. As expected, the results showed negative direct and indirect effects of prevention focus on intrapreneurship. The follow-up analysis revealed the mediating effect of CSE is stronger for the promotion focus and intrapreneurship, and the mediating effect of thriving is stronger for prevention focus and intrapreneurship.

This study reveals the importance of RF facets as important predictors of EI. The study highlights the importance of intrapreneurship in emerging economies, but expecting such behavior from every employee is a fallacy. Thus, decision-makers in organizations can nurture prevention-focused employees to engage in intrapreneurship.

This is a pioneer study to include RF (promotion focus and prevention focus) in an emerging country – Pakistan – to reveal its significance in EI. It establishes CSE and thriving as mediating mechanisms between RF and EI for the first time to offer new insights into theory and practice.

This research aims to investigate the relationship between employer branding and its antecedent organisational culture within the context of the private banking sector. The study also investigates the relationship between employer branding and employee brand equity as a consequential construct. Additionally, the mediating role of trust and the moderating role of gender in the relationship between employer branding and employee brand equity has been examined.

The present study’s findings result from data analysis collected from a sample of 454 employees working in private banks in India. The data analysis was conducted utilising the structural equation modelling technique with the assistance of analysis of moment structures (AMOS) software.

The study’s findings indicate that supportive and bureaucratic (formal) culture in private banks exhibit a significant relationship with employer branding. However, the relationship between innovative culture and employer branding was found to be insignificant. The research also reveals a significant positive association between employer branding and employee brand equity variables: brand consistent behaviour, brand endorsement and brand allegiance. Further, the study highlights the mediating role of employee trust in management in the relationship between employer branding and employee brand equity. Examining demographic variables suggests that gender moderates the relationship between employer branding and employee brand equity.

The originality of this study lies in its exploration of the critical role of organisational culture variables in shaping employer branding within the context of private banks. The findings highlight that cultivating supportive and bureaucratic cultures can effectively enhance the employer branding of private banks. The study emphasises the outcomes of employer branding initiatives, signifying that they contribute to developing brand equity among employees. This leads to long-term employee commitment and advocacy towards the organisation, as employees become brand advocates for the bank with which they are affiliated. The study contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between organisational culture, employer branding and employee brand equity, providing valuable implications for the private banking sector aiming to reinforce their employer brand and increase employee engagement.

The research study aims to investigate green supply chain management (GSCM) elements as part of a complete system. It aims to understand the special properties of the GSCM system under the moderating effects of product complexity and purchasing structure.

A thorough literature review led to the building of the conceptual framework. Six constructs were identified using systems theory. These constructs include green supply chain technological dimensions (particularly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) based), green supply chain strategy, green supply chain process, product complexity, purchasing structure, and firm performance. The instrument was scientifically developed for gathering survey responses using complete design test methods. The conceptual model was eventually tested based on survey data collected from 250 automotive components and allied manufacturers in the emerging economy of South Africa.

The results indicate that GSCM technological dimensions (AI-based) positively influence GSCM strategy. Further, GSCM strategy was found to positively influence the GSCM process. The GSCM processes have significant effects on environmental performance, social performance, and financial performance. The product complexity has a significant moderation effect on the paths GSCM strategy and GSCM process.

The findings from multivariate data analysis provide a better understanding of GSCM system dynamics and are helpful to key decision-makers. This unique model has elevated GSCM theory to a new level. There are limited studies available in the existing GSCM literature using systems theory. This study will offer an advanced/comprehensive understanding to readers in this relatively new concept.