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Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, education has shifted to online teaching and learning. Interactivity is a crucial tool used to make online education effective. This study empirically examines the role of interactivity in higher education and its influence on students' behavioral outcomes, specifically focusing on soft skills and personality upgradation.

A quasi-experimental research design was carried out for post-graduate students undergoing a business communication course from four major institutions. For analysis, t-test, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) have been employed. Experimental research has established the causal relationship between interactivity, personality and soft skill upgradation (SSU).

It was found that the theoretical structural model has a rational model-fit validity. Resultantly, practitioners may use prior knowledge of virtual community (VC) members to enhance web interactivity, thereby increasing social identity and social bonds in a group for more meaningful and effective delivery of online courses.

The major limitations lie in its context-dependent nature, predominantly influenced by the pandemic-induced mandatory online learning. The study's cross-sectional design also inhibits its ability to assess goal-directed behaviors over time, necessitating further longitudinal research.

The study is one of the pioneering pieces of research that examines the role of pre-defined grouping and enhanced web interactivity in VCs in the context of online learning, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Integrating theories of web interactivity, social bond theory (SBT) and social identity theory (SIT) provides a novel understanding of cognitive and social influences that drive meaningful online discussions and their impacts on knowledge enhancement and personality development. Its findings have implications for the design of effective online learning environments and e-learning pedagogy, contributing to the growing domain of information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled education.

The Covid-19 virus badly affected working patterns in almost every sector. The purpose of this paper is to analytically substantiate how work and life integration impacts the exhaustion and work–life balance among employees of academic institutions and IT companies.

Current study is empirical in nature based on the survey of 500 respondents taken from academic (250) and IT companies (250) from Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesis with the application of the software Smart-PLS. Two surveys were conducted to collect the data separately for academic institutions and IT organizations.

Findings revealed the facts that during Covid-19, the employee’s work and life integration affected the work–life balance and exhaustion in academic institutions highly. The relationship was positively significant. But, for IT employees, it was identified as non-significant.

The current study highlighted the issues which employees faced during Covid-19 severe spread while managing work and family; how it varied due to the nature of work performed by the employees, for example, academics being more exposed to transformation from offline to complete online mode posed more challenges to teaching staff. This study also disclosed the scenario created and how it was handled in the deadly phase.

This study presents the social contribution in understanding the importance of work and life balance and problems related to it, especially when everyone everywhere is scared of going out. The study provides insight into how it became difficult for employees to maintain their payroll successfully.

The current study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by testing statistically that the integration between work and life is important for work–life balance and prohibiting emotional exhaustion. The current paper extends the theoretical contribution by offering suggestions to companies on why to synchronize positive balance between work and life while keeping boundaries relatively strict between family and work to gain employee well-being and competitive advantages.

This study aims to conduct a thorough evaluation to offer a modern overview of mindfulness’s performance and conceptual framework in leadership.

This study reviews the literature on mindfulness in leadership using bibliometric analysis and systematic review techniques. This study delves into the most significant writings, leading journals, authors, organizations and nations contributing to the field and the selected methodologies and research contexts for mindfulness in leadership.

This study unveils three areas of mindfulness in leadership: leadership mindfulness interventions and practices, essential outcomes of mindfulness practice and emergent styles and mindfulness.

This study significantly expands the Baer et al. (2006) review of mindfulness to offer new views over their manual qualitative analysis based on a smaller collection of literature while adding the leadership perspective. Using bibliometric analysis, this study especially carries out performance analysis and scientific mapping of the collection of research publications on mindfulness in leadership. Additionally, more current studies are included to update the field.

This study aims to explore various determinants of university attractiveness and its relationship with sustainable institutes. Further, the study examines the mediating role of perceived student support and sense of belongingness on the relationship between university attractiveness and sustainable institutes.

The data analysis was conducted with 637 responses from the students from private universities located in the northern region of India. Variance based partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied in the study to investigate the proposed conceptual model on sustainable higher institutions. Additionally, by applying PLS Predict, the predictive relevance of sustainable institutions with important and performing constructs was found out.

The results of this study indicate that university attractiveness plays a critical role in enhancing perceived student support, and it has a direct and significant impact on developing sustainable institutes. Further, students’ sense of belongingness is expressed as significant mediator between university attractiveness and sustainable institutes. The predictive relevance of the study was reported to be high. Most important indicators of university attractiveness were found to be teaching, research and publications, branding and promotion, and diversity in courses offered by the private universities.

The conceptual model under study can be investigated with a moderating effect of private and government universities in future. Additionally, the role of additional variables in online scenario under current pandemic situation can be assessed through the model used in this study. Future research can be done by using qualitative analysis through thematic analysis and sentiment analysis of students in higher education institutes.

The present study is the first to explore the mediating relationship of perceived student support and sense of belongingness with university attractiveness and sustainable institutes. The conceptual framework can prove to be important for education specialists, administrators of education institutes at university level and policymakers. The study offers effective ideas for policymakers to bring sustainability in education sector in near future especially in emerging economies and attain sustainable development goals.

Researchers, business professionals, and policymakers are now focusing on how disruptive innovations affect markets and business performance in the quickly changing business landscape of today. This study investigates the complexity of disruptive innovations and how they alter established organizational strategies and market structures. The study explores the core traits of disruptive innovations and looks at how they upend established business models and alter the structure of entire industries. This study employs a comprehensive literature review to identify the primary motivators behind disruptive innovations and their diverse impacts on market dynamics. It looks into how disruptive change is sparked by evolving consumer behavior, flexible business models, and emerging technologies. Additionally, research examines how businesses use internal reorganizations and strategic alliances among other tactics to capitalize on and adjust to disruptive innovations. It also examines how market leaders deal with these difficulties in an effort to stay competitive, shedding light on the possible risks and uncertainties related to disruptive innovations. It also highlights how crucial it is for organizations to have innovative cultures and proactive adaptation in order to prosper in a time of swift technological advancements.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a dominant role in the international business (IB) literature. Traditionally, by far the majority of IB studies deal with issues at the micro level of the individual MNE, or at the meso level of a sample of individual MNEs in industries. This paper focuses on the impact of MNE behavior through foreign direct investment (FDI) on a country’s international trade, and vice versa. In so doing, this study responds to a recent plea for more macro‐level studies in IB into the effect of MNE behavior on the macroeconomic performance of countries as a whole, particularly developing and emerging economies. In the current study, we focus on the largest developing or emerging economy of all: China. Applying sophisticated econometric techniques, we unravel the causality and direction of FDI‐trade linkages for the Chinese economy in the 1980‐2003 period.