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This paper aims to investigate the role of certification in providing information and reducing market inefficiencies when the “certification process is imperfect”. In the setting, eco-labels imperfectly signal environmental product quality to consumers where the error in the process of certification could be either Type 1 or Type 2 error. The paper examines firms' incentive to get certified, equilibrium quantities and profits. The authors use perfect Bayesian equilibrium concept for the analysis. They then examine conditions for separating and pooling equilibrium to exist and welfare implications of certification process.

The paper uses a vertical product differentiated model where firms are competing in quantities. Consumers are unable to observe the environmental quality of the product. To signal the product quality to consumers, firms may adopt certification by a third party. Using a framework where certification process is imperfect, the paper derives conditions for Perfect Bayesian separating and pooling equilibrium to exist.

The paper shows that the existence of separating and pooling equilibrium depends on the certification fee. A separating equilibrium, where one firm seeks certification and other firm does not seek certification exists for an intermediate value of certification fee. A pooling equilibrium, where both firms seek certification, exists only when the certification fee is sufficiently small. The paper shows conditions for the certification fee for which welfare will be higher under separating equilibrium as compared to pooling equilibrium and analyses welfare implications for subsidy policy for the certification fee.

The paper contributes to the literature by examining the role of labelling under imperfect certification.

The research fields of consumer behaviour and neurology are connected to the emerging subject of neuromarketing. The learning of how the human mind reacts to marketing stimulus is called neuromarketing, which integrates concepts from neuroscience and economics. It looks for the underlying brain mechanisms and affective states that shape the behaviour of consumers. Neuromarketers use methods like eye tracking, biometrics, brain imaging (fMRI and EEG) and eye tracking to try and understand how consumers make decisions, what grabs their attention and how they emotionally interact with companies, products and ads. Market grooming is the process of creating and manipulating the existing market towards a specific product, service or idea. It is the practice that helps the marketer to groom the product through various stages of marketing, be it market research, product development, advertising campaigns or creating favourable conditions for the product. All practices are performed to groom the market for a specific product, when they are combined with neuromarketing, it becomes a perfect blend for the success of product in the actual market. The study concludes that market grooming along with neuromarketing can present a significant potential for enhancing the understanding of consumer decision behaviour by increasing the validity and precision of assessing customer responses to marketing activities.

The purpose of this paper is to employ an integrated technology acceptance model–theory of planned behavior framework intertwined with online risk, e-distrust and product involvement to augment an understanding on consumers’ webrooming behavior.

A mix of convenience and selective sampling was used for data collection. A total of 14 propositions were put forth, which were tested using the structural equation modeling method.

The results of the study revealed that apart from perceived ease of searching online and overall usefulness of the webrooming sequence, perceived search benefits online and purchase benefits offline significantly determined consumers’ webrooming behavior. The results of the study also indicate that webrooming helps consumers avoid the feeling of post-purchase regret of making sub-optimal product choices offline. Online risk perceptions and e-distrust also play a notable role in inhibiting consumers’ from making online purchases, and as a consequence encourage webrooming behavior. The moderating influence of product involvement was observed between consumers’ intentions toward webrooming and webrooming behavior.

The research conducted provides rich insights into understanding the rising webrooming phenomenon. However, more exhaustive studies are needed to arrive at definitive findings concerning the webrooming phenomenon.

The findings of the study can be utilized by the online retailers for formulating strategies to counter webrooming behavior.

The paper is amongst the first few studies which contribute toward enhancing the understanding on webrooming behavior, an emerging issue in the current retailing environment.

The present piece of research aims at enhancing our understanding of situational and intentional showrooming behaviour. The study further tests and validates a model based on the stimulus–organism–response framework to draw richer insights.

The study adopts a two-phased approach to discover the consumers' rationale behind showrooming. In the first phase, a narrative-based examination followed by an inductive thematic analysis was employed. In the second phase, the stimulus–organism–response model was validated through structural equation modelling method.

The results of the study highlighted the factors that contribute to intentional and situational showrooming behaviour. Results show that consumers also showroom on account of situational circumstances such as assortment issues, poor sales-staff assistance and long payment queues at offline stores. However, intentional showroomers are primarily driven by perceived showrooming value which emerges as a combination of in-store search value and online purchase value. Past showrooming experience also plays a role in stimulating consumers to showroom. The results also revealed the moderating impact of product involvement and perceived product type, barring time pressure. The impact of showrooming self-efficacy was also observed.

The study majorly validates the factors stimulating intentional showrooming conduct intertwined with product-related factors, time pressure and showrooming self-efficacy. Hence, the future scope of the study lies in quantitatively validating the findings concerning situational showroomers as this would help draw richer insights.

The findings of the study can be utilized by both offline and online retailers for managing showroomers.

The study offers rich insights on showrooming which has been identified as a major challenge being faced by offline retailers nowadays.

Recent multichannel research suggests that consumers use multiple channels to reap attribute-based benefits which have led to showrooming phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons for consumers’ showrooming behaviour and propose a comprehensive model based on application and extension of the “Theory of planned behaviour”.

Using the probability sampling approach, 278 complete responses were obtained via web-based surveys for analysing the showrooming behaviour. The research model was tested using the “Partial least squares method” which follows a variance-based structural equation modelling approach.

The results of the study indicate that “touching and feeling the product” and “sales staff assistance” motivated customers to visit the physical store before buying online. “Better online service quality” and “lower prices online” induced customers to later purchase online. Price conscious customers and those with the ability to use multiple channels were more likely to engage in showrooming behaviour.

The generalization of the findings may be limited because the data were collected from a small sample size. The subject calls for more extensive research for drawing generalizations due to lack of the substantive literature on the core area of study.

The model proposed will help retailers in understanding the showrooming phenomenon which recent researchers have considered as a threat to retail. The study provides basis for devising strategies to defend showrooming customers.

This paper adds to the body of knowledge in retailing by proposing a model on showrooming which is an emerging area of research in the present retail landscape.

This paper aims to examine the effect of procedural justice on affective commitment, through the mediating of organizational trust and job satisfaction.

Data were collected from 305 executives working in eight large cement organizations through a standardized questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling and mediation analysis were performed to examine the relationship.

Procedural justice significantly influenced job satisfaction and organizational trust directly. Organizational trust and job satisfaction are partially mediated by organizational justice and affective commitment. Interestingly, procedural justice does not influence affective commitment directly.

Procedural justice and affective commitment are crucial aspects of an organization. Limited research has been conducted linking procedural justice, organizational trust, job satisfaction and affective commitment. This study was conducted in the South Asian country of India, where power-distance prevails

This study identifies the facilitators and inhibitors for the adoption of e-learning for the undergraduate students of architecture. Nine constructs are identified as facilitators and five constructs are identified as inhibitors to the adoption of online learning systems in the context of the study. These constructs were used to propose a research model.

596 architecture undergraduates responded to a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was finalized after a pilot study and included standard scale items drawn from previous studies. An exploratory factor analysis was followed by structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the proposed model.

All the identified facilitators emerged significant except social influence and price value. Furthermore, technology risk emerged insignificant while all other inhibitors had significant impact on Behavioral Intention to adopt e-learning.

The study has strong implications in academia as HEIs in developing countries need to make their students computer proficient, boost the implications of e-learning services by mitigating risks and motivating students to acquire knowledge through flexible e-learning modules.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions to switch to online modes of learning. For students of architectural programs in a developing country like India, this has been unprecedented and has brought in a new set of challenges and opportunities. With the extension of the pandemic induced lockdown in educational institutions, students – and other stakeholders – have no choice but to adapt to this new normal of dependence on remote learning.

Recent statistics concerning webrooming shoppers is indicative of the trending webrooming phenomenon, and points toward the dire need for the addressal of the issue. The purpose of this paper is to reason the consumer’s intentional visit to an online store prior to making purchases offline by linking it with perceived channel benefits and uncertainty reduction approach through an application of the theory of planned behavior.

A survey instrument was administered online, and a total of 374 responses were obtained. Respondents were queried with respect to the webrooming sequence, if at all they were into webrooming. The PLS-SEM was used to test the formulated hypotheses.

The factor “Access to reviews online” emerged as the prime perceived search benefit which drives consumers’ to first visit an online store, while factors like “access to touch and feel the product,” “better post-purchase services offline” and “immediate possession of product” induced customers to later purchase offline. Factors like “E-distrust” and “perceived risks related to purchasing online” notably determined consumer’s movement to the physical store for purchasing the product in the second phase of the webrooming sequence.

A small sample size limits the authors from drawing definitive generalizations. Due to the lack of studies, individually examining webrooming conduct, a prior qualitative exploration can be conducted to draw more insights.

The findings of the study can be utilized by the online retailers for devising strategies to push the webroomers to make purchases online.

The study creates awareness as to what motivates consumers to webroom, which has been realized as one of the serious issues being faced by the online retailers today.

This study addresses a key concern “webrooming phenomenon,” which has emerged as a critical challenge in the present retailing dynamics.

The purpose of this study is to propose an integrated framework utilizing the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and technology acceptance model (TAM) to augment the understanding on consumers’ showrooming behaviour.

Selective sampling was used for data collection. The integrated TAM-TPB framework led to 12 propositions, which were tested using partial least squares-structural equation modelling.

Both perceived relative search benefits offline and relative purchase benefits online significantly determined the consumers’ showrooming behaviour along with perceived ease purchasing online and the overall usefulness of the showrooming sequence. Results of the study revealed that the showrooming sequence helped consumers avoid the regret of making suboptimal product choices and paying a higher price for the same product. Online trust was found to partially mediate the relationship between consumers’ intention to showrooming and the actual showrooming behaviour.

Notwithstanding the fact that further research is required to arrive at definitive conclusions, this study is an initial move towards understanding the consumers’ showrooming behaviour, and the research provides meaningful insights.

As showrooming substantially erodes profits, devising strategies to defend showrooming customers becomes crucial. The findings of the study provide the basis for formulating strategies to counter showrooming customers.

The paper is amongst the first studies which helps enhance the understanding of consumers’ showrooming behaviour, which is an emerging area in the present multi-channel retailing environment.

This paper sets out to classify business process outsourcing (BPO), linking it to service level agreement (SLA) design needs.

The paper develops a framework based on prior literature to classify BPOs and illustrates it with field research of Indian vendors.

The paper identifies criticality and complexity as the dimensions of classification and explicates the role of SLAs along these dimensions.

This is an exploratory research involving four vendors. A larger study is needed to strengthen/enrich the proposed framework, and make the findings more conclusive.

The taxonomy aids BPO industry practitioners in understanding the characteristics of different processes and the control issues arising therein. It also helps analysts to make more qualified generalizations within the BPO industry.

The paper addresses a dearth of literature on BPOs, especially from a vendor perspective. The taxonomy serves to position future work in this fast‐growing field of research.