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This study examines the relevance of information and communication technologies in the effect of gender economic inclusion on environmental sustainability.

The focus is on a panel of 42 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2005–2020. The empirical evidence is based on generalized method of moments. The environmental sustainability indicator used is CO2 emissions per capita. Three indicators of women’s economic inclusion are considered: female labour force participation, female employment and female unemployment. The chosen ICT indicators are mobile phone penetration, Internet penetration and fixed broadband subscriptions.

The results show that: (1) fixed broadband subscriptions represent the most relevant ICT moderator of gender economic inclusion for an effect on CO2 emissions; (2) negative net effects are apparent for the most part with fixed broadband subscriptions (3) both positive ICT thresholds (i.e., critical levels for complementary policies) and negative ICT thresholds (i.e., minimum ICT levels for negative net effects) are provided; (4) ICT synergy effects are apparent for female unemployment, but not for female employment. In general, the joint effect of ICTs or their synergies and economic inclusion should be a concern for policymakers in order to better ensure sustainable development. Moreover, the relevant ICT policy thresholds and mobile phone threshold for complementary policy are essential in promoting a green economy.

The study complements the extant literature by assessing linkages between information technology, gender economic inclusion and environmental sustainability.

Digitalization is one of the major factors that fosters economic growth across the world. However, the level of digitalization varies significantly between developed and developing countries, with the latter often lagging behind. To bridge this gap, it is crucial to pinpoint the drivers of digitalization, specifically from the macroeconomic and country-level governance dimensions. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the determinants of digitalization, particularly for countries in Asia and the Pacific region.

Our study utilizes unbalanced panel data from 46 Asian and Pacific countries for the period of 2001–2021. Initially, we analyzed the data using conventional econometric methods, such as pooled ordinary least squares (POLS), random-effects model (REM) and fixed-effects model (FEM). Moreover, we employed endogeneity-corrected techniques and alternative proxies to enhance the robustness and reliability of our findings.

Our findings reveal that economic development progress, government expenditure relative to country size and political stability are key drivers of digitalization. In contrast, corruption at the country level emerges as a significant impediment. Notably, our results remain robust to endogeneity-corrected techniques and alternative proxies of digitalization. Overall, these insights can inform policymakers, helping them to understand the macroeconomic and governance factors shaping digitalization and guide their decision-making toward effective policy interventions.

This study’s empirical findings add significant value to the existing literature by quantifying the impact of macroeconomic and governance factors on digitalization in selected countries. This offers valuable insights for policymakers, particularly in nations with lower levels of digitalization.

The purpose of this study is to examine crisis effects on customer satisfaction and underlying drivers by adding a new set of data to previous research. The core questions are: are the findings from Hallencreutz and Parmler (2019, 2021) sustained or can new customer demands, needs, expectations and behaviours be traced in the wake of the ongoing crisis?

A first study covering 2005–2017 was completed in 2018, published online in 2019 and in print in 2021 (Hallencreutz and Parmler, 2021). This new study adds the years 2018–2023 to the data set and reuses the partial least squares (PLS) approach to structural equation models, also known as PLS path modelling.

This additional study sustains the results from the initial study (Hallencreutz and Parmler, 2019, 2021). The variable product quality has been substituted by service quality as one of the most crucial drivers for customer satisfaction together with brand image, and the current state of permacrisis has not changed that.

The study is built on Swedish data from the EPSI Rating Initiative (Eklöf and Westlund 2002) covering customer perceptions in banking, insurance (life and non-life), telco (mobile operators, broadband and Pay-tv) and energy (trade, distribution and heating) over the years 2005–2023.

The study emphasizes the importance of understanding how customer satisfaction drivers evolve over time in different industries and societal sectors, especially during crises. This additional study sustains the paradigm shift in the studied industries – product quality has been substituted by service quality as one of the most crucial drivers for customer satisfaction, and the current state of economic downturn has not changed that.

Society will have to learn to live with political and economic instability and unpredictability for the foreseeable future. To recognize the increasing value deriving from firms’ intangible assets while providing flawless deliveries seems to be a way forward in troublesome times. This is also a catalyst for existing societal trends: the necessary reforms to master sustainable transformations will require an ongoing adaptation process, with both winners and losers across continents.

The world has coped with a global pandemic, and Europe is currently experiencing a humanitarian, political and economic crises caused by a war in Ukraine. This extended period of global instability and insecurity could be called a permacrisis (Collins dictionary, 2022). This study offers a unique quantitative analysis built on Swedish data from EPSI Rating initiative.

This study focuses on the classification of targets with varying shapes using radar cross section (RCS), which is influenced by the target’s shape. This study aims to develop a robust classification method by considering an incident angle with minor random fluctuations and using a physical optics simulation to generate data sets.

The approach involves several supervised machine learning and classification methods, including traditional algorithms and a deep neural network classifier. It uses histogram-based definitions of the RCS for feature extraction, with an emphasis on resilience against noise in the RCS data. Data enrichment techniques are incorporated, including the use of noise-impacted histogram data sets.

The classification algorithms are extensively evaluated, highlighting their efficacy in feature extraction from RCS histograms. Among the studied algorithms, the K-nearest neighbour is found to be the most accurate of the traditional methods, but it is surpassed in accuracy by a deep learning network classifier. The results demonstrate the robustness of the feature extraction from the RCS histograms, motivated by mm-wave radar applications.

This study presents a novel approach to target classification that extends beyond traditional methods by integrating deep neural networks and focusing on histogram-based methodologies. It also incorporates data enrichment techniques to enhance the analysis, providing a comprehensive perspective for target detection using RCS.

Policy for women's entrepreneurship is designed to promote economic growth, not least in depleted rural areas, but very little is known about the contributions of rural women entrepreneurs, their needs or how the existing policy is received by them. Using a theoretical framework developed by Korsgaard et al. (2015), the authors analyse how rural women entrepreneurs contribute to rural development and discuss the implications for entrepreneurship policy. This paper aims to focus on the aforementioned objectives.

The authors interviewed 32 women entrepreneurs in rural Sweden representing the variety of businesses in which rural Swedish women are engaged. The authors analysed their contributions to rural development by analysing their motives, strategies and outcomes using Korsgaard et al.’s framework of “entrepreneurship in the rural” and “rural entrepreneurship” as a heuristic, interpretative device.

Irrespective of industry, the respondents were deeply embedded in family and local social structures. Their contributions were substantial, multidimensional and indispensable for rural viability, but the policy tended to bypass most women-owned businesses. Support in terms of business training, counselling and financing are important, but programmes especially for women tend to miss the mark, and so does rural development policy. More important for rural women entrepreneurs in Sweden is the provision of good public services, including for example, schools and social care, that make rural life possible.

Theoretically, the findings question the individualist and a-contextual focus of much entrepreneurship research, as well as the taken-for-granted work–family divide. How gender and how the public and the private are configured varies greatly between contexts and needs contextual assessment. Moreover, the results call for theorising place as an entrepreneurial actor.

Based on the findings, the authors advise future policymakers to gender mainstream entrepreneurship policy and to integrate entrepreneurship and rural development policy with family and welfare state policy.

The paper highlights how rural women respond to policy, and the results are contextualised, making it possible to compare them to other contexts. The authors widen the discussion on contributions beyond economic growth, and the authors show that policy for public and commercial services and infrastructure is indeed also policy for entrepreneurship.

The research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm performance (FP) has seen a surge over the years. However, the role of corporate reputation (CR), advertising strategy and market competition is still unclear. The purpose of this study is to consider this gap and test an integrative model of CSR-FP, in the context of India.

The data for CSR expenditure were collected from the annual reports of the selected companies. CR was captured using the ranks of Fortune India 500, Business Standard 1,000 and Economic Times 500. The financial data were collected from CMIE (Prowess) database.

Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed a significant relationship between CSR expenditure of the firm and its reputation; but no relationship between CR and performance. When CR increases, the performance of a firm may not improve. Competitive intensity (CI) had no statistically significant role in the CR-FP relationship for performance. Results suggest that reputed firms perform well despite high competition within an industry. High reputation is effective in improving performance irrespective of competition. CI has a positive impact in the reputation–performance linkage. Advertising intensity (AI) played a significant moderating role in the CSR intensity and CR relationship.

This research represents an added value for the literature on CSR by highlighting the importance of CR, advertising strategy and market competition in the relationship between CSR and FP. The findings have several implications for theory and practice, which have been discussed in the study.

This study evaluated the determinants of augmented reality (AR) adoption in Malaysia's travel and tour operator sectors through an integrated technology-organization-environmental (TOE) and diffusion of innovation (DOI) model.

The TOE and DOI were considered the primary theoretical models but are combined and extended by including few additional variables. Data were collected from 220 respondents of travel and tour operating businesses in Malaysia and analyzed by applying PLS structural equation model technique.

The empirical results established that perceived cost, relative advantages, complexity and compatibility, observability, competitor pressure, value alignment, customer pressure, and trialability are positively connected with the behavioral intention except for external support. The results reveal that value alignment partially mediates the association between relative advantages and behavioral intention, complexity and behavioral intention, compatibility and behavioral intention, perceived cost and behavioral intention except in between trialability and observability.

This research is unique as the value alignment construct is included in the model, and thus it fulfills the literature gap by adding the mediation construct. This study contributes to enhancing AR's understanding of the Malaysian travel and tour operator industry through the lenses of owners or managers. It offers an integrated model that combines the TOE and DOI models, rare in this sector, and can be replicated or extended with validated scales.

This paper aims to reflect on the outcomes of a community-based video-conferencing intervention for depression, predating the COVID-19 pandemic. The study investigates the potential implications of its findings for enhancing adherence to digital mental health interventions. The primary objective is to present considerations for researchers aimed at minimising the intention-behaviour gap frequently encountered in digital mental health interventions.

A randomised control feasibility trial design was used to implement a telehealth model adapted from an established face-to-face community-based intervention for individuals clinically diagnosed with depression. In total, 60 participants were initially recruited in association with a local mental health charity offering traditional talking-based therapies with only eight opting to continue through all phases of the project. Modifications aligning with technological advancements were introduced.

However, the study faced challenges, with low uptake observed after an initial surge in recruitment interest. The behaviour-intention gap highlighted technology as a barrier to service accessibility, exacerbated by participant age. Furthermore, the clinical diagnosis of depression, characterised by low mood and reduced interest in activities, emerged as a potential influencing factor.

The limitations of the research include its pre-pandemic execution, during a nascent stage of technological mental health interventions when participants were less familiar with online developments.

Despite these limitations, this study's reflections offer valuable insights for researchers aiming to design and implement telehealth services. Addressing the intention-behaviour gap necessitates a nuanced understanding of participant demographics, diagnosis and technological familiarity.

The study's relevance extends to post-pandemic society, urging researchers to reassess assumptions about technology availability to ensure engagement. This paper contributes to the mental health research landscape by raising awareness of critical considerations in the design and implementation of digital mental health interventions.

Reflections from a pre-pandemic intervention in line with the developments of a post-pandemic society will allow for research to consider that because the technology is available does not necessarily result in engagement.

Studies showed that a proactive delivery system employing innovative artificial intelligence (AI) in urban services might perform better. This has become an important national policy for many countries. Thus, this study aims to explore the influence of AI in urban services in Malaysia.

Official documents such as Structure Plan and Government Transformation Programme Policy Document covering various levels of cities in Malaysia, articles related to urban studies mostly written by researchers regarding urban growth in Malaysia and the Urban Development Bulletin from the Federal Department of Town and Country Planning from 1957 to date were reviewed and analysed.

The findings show that the influence of AI in urban services has long existed and been carefully planned by local authorities since colonial times. The development of global digital technology influences the upgrading of AI in urban services in Malaysia. Also, the success of AI in these municipal services is influenced by the rate of information technology literacy among the urban population. These developments have led to the definition of a conceptual city.

This paper's findings and conclusion were based on reviewed literature but did not compromise the strength of this paper. Thus, as part of the implications for future research, mixed-methods research design has been suggested.

As part of the implications, this article intends to promote AI in urban services in Malaysia and other developing countries with similar urban services challenges.

This paper encourages AI applications in urban services because it enhances service delivery performance. This intends to key stakeholders to promote AI via policies across Malaysia's urban services as part of the study implications.

Online shopping around the world is growing exponentially, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine how an online customer's purchasing experience influences his/her buying intention and willingness to believe in fraud news, as well as the ripple impact of satisfaction and trust, with gender as a moderator in an emerging economy during COVID-19.

Based on the underpinning of the stimulus-organism-behavior-consequence (SOBC) theory, the research model was developed, and collected data from 259 respondents using convenience samples technique. Next, the data were analyzed using partial least squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and Hayes Process Macro.

The study results confirmed that the online shopping experience (OSE) has positive impact on customers' satisfaction (CS), purchase intention (PI) and customer trust (CT); CS has positive effects on trust toward online shopping and their future product PI; future product PI significantly affects customers' propensity to believe and act on fraud news (PBAFN). The finding also states that gender moderates the relationships of CS to PI, OSE to PI and PI to PBAFN, but doesn't moderate the CT to PI relationship.

The study findings will assist policymakers and online vendors to win customers' hearts and minds' through confirming satisfaction, trust and a negative attitude toward fake news, which will lead to customer loyalty and the sustainable development of the industry. Finally, the limitations and future research directions are discussed.