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Article
Publication date: 29 March 2024

Sharmila Devi R., Swamy Perumandla and Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya

The purpose of this study is to understand the investment decision-making of real estate investors in housing, highlighting the interplay between rational and irrational factors…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand the investment decision-making of real estate investors in housing, highlighting the interplay between rational and irrational factors. In this study, investment satisfaction was a mediator, while reinvestment intention was the dependent variable.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative, cross-sectional and descriptive research design was used, gathering data from a sample of 550 residential real estate investors using a multi-stage stratified sampling technique. The partial least squares structural equation modelling disjoint two-stage approach was used for data analysis. This methodological approach allowed for an in-depth examination of the relationship between rational factors such as location, profitability, financial viability, environmental considerations and legal aspects alongside irrational factors including various biases like overconfidence, availability, anchoring, representative and information cascade.

Findings

This study strongly supports the adaptive market hypothesis, showing that residential real estate investor behaviour is dynamic, combining rational and irrational elements influenced by evolutionary psychology. This challenges traditional views of investment decision-making. It also establishes that behavioural biases, key to adapting to market changes, are crucial in shaping residential property market efficiency. Essentially, the study uncovers an evolving real estate investment landscape driven by evolutionary behavioural patterns.

Research limitations/implications

This research redefines rationality in behavioural finance by illustrating psychological biases as adaptive tools within the residential property market, urging a holistic integration of these insights into real estate investment theories.

Practical implications

The study reshapes property valuation models by blending economic and psychological perspectives, enhancing investor understanding and market efficiency. These interdisciplinary insights offer a blueprint for improved regulatory policies, investor education and targeted real estate marketing, fundamentally transforming the sector’s dynamics.

Originality/value

Unlike previous studies, the research uniquely integrates human cognitive behaviour theories from psychology and business studies, specifically in the context of residential property investment. This interdisciplinary approach offers a more nuanced understanding of investor behaviour.

Details

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 September 2023

Jian-Ren Hou, Yen-Hsi Li and Sarawut Kankham

As an alternative to hiring financial specialists or investment consultants, robo-advisors offer financially automated investment services. This study aims to investigate how…

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Abstract

Purpose

As an alternative to hiring financial specialists or investment consultants, robo-advisors offer financially automated investment services. This study aims to investigate how robo-advisors' service attributes, risk attitude and financial self-efficacy influence customers' choice preferences of adopting robo-advisors.

Design/methodology/approach

Two hundred fifty-one online surveys were used to collect data, and choice-based conjoint analysis was conducted.

Findings

Results show that increasing annual fees negatively impact customers' choice preferences. Promotion, general investment education and additional human assistance have a positive impact. Furthermore, risk-seeking and risk-averse customers require more human assistance than risk-neutral customer and customers with high levels of financial self-efficacy prefer more general investment education and additional human assistance than those with lower levels. In addition, customers in the older age group prefer promotion, general investment education and additional human assistance, while wealthy customers prefer lower annual fees, higher general investment education and more additional human assistance compared to middle-class and low-income groups.

Originality/value

This study contributes to robo-advisor providers to provide appropriate service attributes for each customer group.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 March 2017

Sharmila Devi Ramachandaran, Steven Eric Krauss, Azimi Hamzah and Khairuddin Idris

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of the use of spiritual intelligence into women academic leadership practices. The study designed to provide a clear…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of the use of spiritual intelligence into women academic leadership practices. The study designed to provide a clear understanding of the effectiveness of the use of spiritual intelligence practices within women academic leadership practices. In addition, the study will be an ideal for women in academic environment, considering that more women will have the opportunities to hold leadership positions in higher learning institutions. Understanding the unique skills and attributes of spiritual intelligence could increase their confidence towards taking on leadership positions in future. This study will also provide greater clarification on how spiritual intelligence when translated through leadership practice will contribute to a more balanced and harmonious working environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The study assimilated a qualitative approach guided by phenomenological inquiry to explore the effectiveness of the use of spiritual intelligence practices among the women leaders. Phenomenology best fit the researchers’ assumptions that it is possible to know, define and categorize women academic leader’s experiences in a more structured manner. It is by entering into their field of perception that the researcher pursues to understand spiritual intelligence as the leaders saw it.

Findings

The finding established three main effectiveness of integrating spiritual intelligence into leadership practices: employees inspired by vision; increase credibility and long-term sustainability of institution; and heightened moral values and reduces ethical issues. The authors conclude that bringing the attributions of spiritual intelligence will transform the workplace into a more meaningful and purposeful atmosphere by constructing balanced and harmonious relationship within employees.

Research limitations/implications

The study rely profoundly on women academic leaders as a primary source of data. Due to their higher position, there may be some elements of their works which are similar to each other or different compared with other women leaders who may not have reached the higher position. The responses was mainly based on the self-perception of women academic leaders grounded on their insight of leadership and experience. This experiences probably could not be verified by others to see if their perceptions of leadership were in line with how others perceive them. The study also limited in terms of generalizability as the sample was purposively selected.

Practical implications

The study will be applicable for human resource personnel to develop policies and procedures that are needed to improve the holistic strategies of leading not only in public university but also throughout all the other higher educational institutions. The study assist researcher and the practitioner in the Human Resource Development (HRD) field to understand the issues related to leadership practice in current era. Hence, the information in this study could be used to aid them in advocating employee training programs and formulating HRD intervention remedial programs input for designing and facilitating of intervention for professional academic leaders, academicians and change agent to understand and analyse the characteristics of personal and organizational situation in order to contribute to the long run survival of the higher educational learning institutions.

Originality/value

This paper has provided unique evidence of women leadership particularly in Malaysian higher educational context on their experiences of spiritual intelligence and its effectiveness into their leadership practices.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 31 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 January 2022

Mahesh Babu Mariappan, Kanniga Devi, Yegnanarayanan Venkataraman, Ming K. Lim and Panneerselvam Theivendren

This paper aims to address the pressing problem of prediction concerning shipment times of therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic using a…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to address the pressing problem of prediction concerning shipment times of therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic using a novel artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) approach.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study used organic real-world therapeutic supplies data of over 3 million shipments collected during the COVID-19 pandemic through a large real-world e-pharmacy. The researchers built various ML multiclass classification models, namely, random forest (RF), extra trees (XRT), decision tree (DT), multilayer perceptron (MLP), XGBoost (XGB), CatBoost (CB), linear stochastic gradient descent (SGD) and the linear Naïve Bayes (NB) and trained them on striped datasets of (source, destination, shipper) triplets. The study stacked the base models and built stacked meta-models. Subsequently, the researchers built a model zoo with a combination of the base models and stacked meta-models trained on these striped datasets. The study used 10-fold cross-validation (CV) for performance evaluation.

Findings

The findings reveal that the turn-around-time provided by therapeutic supply logistics providers is only 62.91% accurate when compared to reality. In contrast, the solution provided in this study is up to 93.5% accurate compared to reality, resulting in up to 48.62% improvement, with a clear trend of more historic data and better performance growing each week.

Research limitations/implications

The implication of the study has shown the efficacy of ML model zoo with a combination of base models and stacked meta-models trained on striped datasets of (source, destination and shipper) triplets for predicting the shipment times of therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines in the e-pharmacy supply chain.

Originality/value

The novelty of the study is on the real-world e-pharmacy supply chain under post-COVID-19 lockdown conditions and has come up with a novel ML ensemble stacking based model zoo to make predictions on the shipment times of therapeutics. Through this work, it is assumed that there will be greater adoption of AI and ML techniques in shipment time prediction of therapeutics in the logistics industry in the pandemic situations.

Details

The International Journal of Logistics Management, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-4093

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 March 2015

Sharmila Pudaruth, Thanika Devi Juwaheer and Yogini Devi Seewoo

This paper aims to explore the factors influencing the purchasing patterns of eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products among female customers in Mauritius. It also…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the factors influencing the purchasing patterns of eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products among female customers in Mauritius. It also investigates upon the relative significance of these factors in predicting the preference to buy and recommend eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products to others.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper applies the data reduction technique by using exploratory factor analysis on a sample of 150 female consumers and condenses a set of 35 attributes into a list of eight comprehensible factors influencing the purchasing patterns of eco-friendly and beauty care products among females in Mauritius. Multiple regression analysis was also conducted to investigate upon the importance of the eight dimensions in influencing the behavioural intentions of females to purchase eco-friendly products and their likeliness to engage in referral for eco-friendly products.

Findings

The factor analysis identified that the purchasing patterns for eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products is influenced by a combination of eight factors namely: “women lifestyles, self-image health and economic considerations”, “ethical consumerism among females”, “pharmacological essence of green cosmetics and beauty care products”, “visual appeal and physical cues in cosmetic stores”, “price-conscious decisions and effective promotion”, “belief on ethical claims in green messages”, “brand image and usage experience” and “sales representatives and social influences”. The results of the regression analysis have also suggested that the behavioural intention and referral of female customers is primarily derived from one predictor factor related to “women lifestyles, self-image, health and economic conditions”.

Practical implications

In terms of marketing strategies, cosmetic and beauty care organisations should promote greater ethical concerns among female customers through effective green advertising messages. Greater emphasis should be placed on the pharmacological essence of green advertising. Cosmetic executives should also focus on health-related benefits while marketing cosmetics and beauty care products.

Originality/value

The paper aims to fill up the significant gap in the literature on purchasing patterns for eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products among female customers. This study remains one of few research work designed to address different factors influencing the purchasing patterns for green cosmetics and beauty care products in the context of developing countries such as Mauritius. Yet, it would serve as a roadmap for cosmetics and beauty care companies to understand the factors impacting on purchasing patterns of eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products in similar contexts.

Details

Social Responsibility Journal, vol. 11 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-1117

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2012

Thanika Devi Juwaheer, Sharmila Pudaruth and Marie Monique Emmanuelle Noyaux

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of green marketing strategies on consumer purchasing patterns in Mauritius. The present research also explores the possibility…

13259

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of green marketing strategies on consumer purchasing patterns in Mauritius. The present research also explores the possibility of introducing greener patterns of consumption into contemporary lifestyles in the current context where green products are increasingly available.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reviews the theory of green marketing to identify how customers are persuaded to purchase greener products. It also reports the empirical results of a consumer survey on green marketing strategies by the questionnaire method. The survey questionnaires were administered to 150 respondents visiting various hypermarkets and supermarkets. The questionnaires were processed and analysed with the statistical programme SPSS, using descriptive, correlation and factor analysis.

Findings

The findings provide some interesting clues regarding customers’ perceptions on environmental concerns and green products. Further findings suggest that most consumers have expressed a great interest in the protection of the environment and they are strongly concerned about the environment and its degradation. Hence, business executives should host workshops and seminars so as to educate customers on environmental protection and environmental‐friendly products. Results also indicated an overall positive correlation between effective green marketing strategies and customers’ purchasing patterns for green products. Therefore, there is a powerful urge for companies to promote green branding, eco‐labelling and green packaging strategies in order to encourage a greener pattern of consumption among consumers in Mauritius.

Practical implications

The paper suggests a stepping approach to consumer purchasing patterns for greener products could be exploited more within consumer groups that have strong environmental concerns and beliefs in Mauritius. The results also offer precious knowledge on the effectiveness of green marketing strategies which can assist both private and public enterprises in developing and designing appealing green products that will be favoured by customers.

Originality/value

Although green marketing has been an important research topic for several decades, hardly any research has been focused on the impact of green marketing strategies on consumer purchasing patterns in the context of developing countries. This paper has analysed the strength of environmental concerns and beliefs and has provided some insights on green marketing strategies and the various managerial implications have been fully addressed in order to favour the consumption of greener products in Mauritius.

Details

World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-5961

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 July 2022

Mahesh Babu Mariappan, Kanniga Devi, Yegnanarayanan Venkataraman and Samuel Fosso Wamba

The purpose of this study is to present a large-scale real-world comparative study using pre-COVID lockdown data versus post-COVID lockdown data on predicting shipment times of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to present a large-scale real-world comparative study using pre-COVID lockdown data versus post-COVID lockdown data on predicting shipment times of therapeutic supplies in e-pharmacy supply chains and show that our proposed methodology is robust to lockdown effects.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers used organic data of over 5.9 million records of therapeutic shipments, with 2.87 million records collected pre-COVID lockdown and 3.03 million records collected post-COVID lockdown. The researchers built various Machine Learning (ML) classifier models on the two datasets, namely, Random Forest (RF), Extra Trees (XRT), Decision Tree (DT), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), XGBoost (XGB), CatBoost (CB), Linear Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) and the Linear Naïve Bayes (NB). Then, the researchers stacked these base models and built meta models on top of them. Further, the researchers performed a detailed comparison of the performances of ML models on pre-COVID lockdown and post-COVID lockdown datasets.

Findings

The proposed approach attains performance of 93.5% on real-world post-COVID lockdown data and 91.35% on real-world pre-COVID lockdown data. In contrast, the turn-around times (TAT) provided by therapeutic supply logistics providers are 62.91% accurate compared to reality in post-COVID lockdown times and 73.68% accurate compared to reality pre-COVID lockdown times. Hence, it is clear that while the TAT provided by logistics providers has deteriorated in the post-pandemic business climate, the proposed method is robust to handle pandemic lockdown effects on e-pharmacy supply chains.

Research limitations/implications

The implication of the study provides a novel ML-based framework for predicting the shipment times of therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines, and it is robust to COVID-19 lockdown effects.

Practical implications

E-pharmacy companies can readily adopt the proposed approach to enhance their supply chain management (SCM) capabilities and build resilience during COVID lockdown times.

Originality/value

The present study is one of the first to perform a large-scale real-world comparative analysis on predicting therapeutic supply shipment times in the e-pharmacy supply chain with novel ML ensemble stacking, obtaining robust results in these COVID lockdown times.

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 52 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-0035

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 15 May 2023

Satinder Singh, Sarabjeet Singh and Tanveer Kajla

Purpose: The study aims to explore the wider acceptance of blockchain technology and growing faith in this technology among all business domains to mitigate the chances of fraud…

Abstract

Purpose: The study aims to explore the wider acceptance of blockchain technology and growing faith in this technology among all business domains to mitigate the chances of fraud in various sectors.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors focus on studies conducted during 2015–2022 using keywords such as blockchain, fraud detection and financial domain for Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The SLR approach entails two databases, namely, Scopus and IEEE Xplore, to seek relevant articles covering the effectiveness of blockchain technology in controlling financial fraud.

Findings: The findings of the research explored different types of business domains using blockchains in detecting fraud. They examined their effectiveness in other sectors such as insurance, banks, online transactions, real estate, credit card usage, etc.

Practical Implications: The results of this research highlight (1) the real-life applications of blockchain technology to secure the gateway for online transactions; (2) people from diverse backgrounds with different business objectives can strongly rely on blockchains to prevent fraud.

Originality/Value: The SLR conducted in this study assists in the identification of future avenues with practical implications, making researchers aware of the work so far carried out for checking the effectiveness of blockchain; however, it does not ignore the possibility of zero to less effectiveness in some businesses which is yet to be explored.

Details

Contemporary Studies of Risks in Emerging Technology, Part B
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-567-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 July 2012

Thanika Devi Juwaheer, Sharmila Pudaruth and Priyasha Ramdin

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of internet banking services in Mauritius. Drawing from the technology acceptance model, theory of…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of internet banking services in Mauritius. Drawing from the technology acceptance model, theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behaviour and the extensive literature on demographic profiling of internet banking users, trust and security aspects associated with adoption rate of internet banking, this paper combines various predetermined constructs in one model. The different constructs such as perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, subjective norms, attitudes, behavioural intentions, security and trust aspects, the level of awareness on internet banking services and demographic variables such as age, income, gender and education into one integrated framework. Hence, the paper will deepen understanding of the specific factors underpinning the adoption of internet banking in Mauritius.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reports upon the empirical findings of the customer survey on the various factors impacting on the adoption of internet banking by the questionnaire method. The Internet Banking Services Acceptance Model (IBSAM) is further validated through a survey instrument administered to 384 respondents visiting various banking institutions across the nine districts throughout Mauritius to ensure proper geographical coverage. The questionnaires were further processed and analysed with the statistical programme SPSS, by using descriptive and inferential analysis.

Findings

Data analysis showed that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have a direct influence on the adoption of internet banking in Mauritius. Results have also indicated that both trust and security aspects are deemed crucial factors to explaining internet banking adoption in Mauritius. Further examination of the inferential analysis highlighted that level of education and income level of respondents may be a major determinant in influencing the adoption of internet banking.

Practical implications

This research provides banking institutions with significant information on the various aspects that need to be highlighted in their banking communications strategies to increase the adoption rate of internet banking services. Banking institutions need to stress upon the benefits of internet banking services, ease to use, trust and security aspects. The ndings of the research provide valuable insights for the banking industry and also urge upon a reshaping of their e-marketing strategy in relation to internet banking services in Mauritius. The research findings revealed that secured web contents and design are key tools to increase the adoption rate of internet banking. Practical recommendations to increase web usefulness and trust, and guidelines to reduce perceived risk are also provided in the present research paper.

Originality/value

The purpose of the study is to fill up significant gaps in the literature on internet banking landscape in the context of developing countries like Mauritius. The findings are expected to be of significant use to the commercial banks and other financial institutions offering or planning to offer internet banking solutions in the near future. An understanding of the factors influencing the adoption of internet banking services is essential for marketing practitioners so as to capitalize upon the underlying benefits of internet banking and hence, offer banking customers an online experience coupled with a greater level of personalization and customization.

Details

World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-5945

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 July 2013

Thanika Devi Juwaheer, Sharmila Pudaruth and Priyasha Ramdin

The paper aims to explore the contributing factors impacting on shopping experiences of customers in Mauritius. It also seeks to investigate the relative significance of these…

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Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to explore the contributing factors impacting on shopping experiences of customers in Mauritius. It also seeks to investigate the relative significance of these factors in predicting the willingness of customers to visit shopping malls of Mauritius.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper applies the data reduction technique using exploratory factor analysis on a sample of 600 respondents drawn from 23 shopping malls and shopping centres across Mauritius and condenses a set of 33 mall attributes into a list of six comprehensible dimensions about shopping experience. The multiple regression analysis was also conducted to investigate the importance of the six shopping experience dimensions in influencing the behavioural intentions of customers to visit shopping malls of Mauritius in future.

Findings

The factor analysis identified that customers visualise shopping experience as a combination of six factors: “provision of childcare facilities”, “health and wellness events”, “entertaining events”, “sports and games facilities”, “value‐added restaurant facilities” and “shopping events”. The results of the regression analysis have also suggested that the willingness of customers to visit the shopping malls is primarily derived from one significant factor related to “entertainment facilities and events”.

Practical implications

Shopping mall managers should cater for more entertainment facilities and events. Mall developers should also focus on improving restaurant facilities by maximizing regular renovation of food courts, integrating international coffee shops and fast food outlets in various shopping malls of Mauritius.

Originality/value

The study is still a pioneer work on the factors impacting on shopping experiences in the context of Mauritius which is still a developing nation. Yet, it would serve as a roadmap for mall managers and designers to enhance shopping experience in similar contexts.

Details

World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, vol. 9 no. 2/3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-5961

Keywords

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