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This paper according to the logic of the “digital access divide--digital capability divide--digital outcome divide” aims to systematically discuss the impact of the digital divide on individual happiness in China, accounting for the variations that exist across different groups, as well as the corresponding mechanisms.

This paper presents cross-sectional analyses of the relationship between the digital divide and individual happiness in China. The analyses are based on data from the Chinese General Social Survey 2017, which academic institutions run on the Chinese Mainland. This database contains information on respondents' Internet access, skills and consequences of use, which can measure the digital divide of Chinese individuals at three levels.

First, individual happiness declined when they experienced the digital access divide in China. For the digital capability divide, the lower the usage skills, the more individual happiness declined. When analyzing the digital outcome divide, the greater the negative consequences, the more individual happiness declined. Second, the impacts of digital access, capability and outcome divide vary according to age, gender, education degrees, hukou, region and sub-dimensions. Third, the digital access and capability divide reduce individuals' happiness by lowering their self-rated social and economic status, whereas the digital outcome divide reduce individual happiness by lowering their fairness perception and social trust.

The authors believe that this is the first study to examine the impact and its variations among different groups of the three-level digital divide on individual happiness, as well as its mechanisms.

Artificial intelligence and augmented reality are two key tools gaining importance in the digital era due to their wide range of applications in different fields and sectors. Industry 4.0 lays emphasis principally on the technology used to help the business remain competitive and sustainable. Sustainable development goals are another important objective of the UN which has laid responsibility for every business to support addressing the global challenges. Purpose: This chapter essentially aims to present the standpoint of artificial intelligence and augmented reality in meeting the sustainability perspective of organizations. Information about the study is gathered through secondary approaches, critically reviewing published literature, scientific reports, and statistical data accessible through business reports, and corporate websites. Further analyzed to present the perspectives of the authors in the study. Globally artificial intelligence market size is predicted to reach $190 billion by 2025, while the funding for startups doubled during the period 2011–2020 globally. The investment in artificial intelligence is going to reach $500 by 2024 resulting in substantial revenue returns. The augmented reality market size could reach $97 billion by 2028. Artificial intelligence today is increasingly used in many fields and is attracting multiple applications in many sectors such as manufacturing, retail, education, IT, and health care and has also contributed to sustainable development the same time by providing energy conservation options, optimization, and reduction of resources, minimizing wastage, offering timely assistance on maintenance schedules, practices which are enabling organizations to reach closer to sustainability and transformation.

The present chapter discusses evolution, definitions, dimensions, capabilities, and the present state of the art of digital supply chain management (DSCM). The objective of the chapter is to offer a detailed understanding of DSCM, by shedding light on its historical development, exploring its multipronged definitions, and highlighting its core dimensions and capabilities in the contemporary business landscape. The evolution of DSCM appears as a central theme, rooted in the background of industrial revolutions. It starts by relooking at the First Industrial Revolution (IR) with its mechanization and steam power, progresses through the Second IR with electrification and mass production, and arrives at the Third IR, characterized by the rise of computers and the internet. The pivoting transition into the Fourth IR, also called Industry 4.0, marks the start of DSCM with its fusion of digital technologies (DTs) in the supply chain (SC) processes. Analysis of key definitions of DSCMs unveils their role as an enabler of SC collaboration, customer-centric nature, having overarching reliance on DTs. Moreover, the chapter explores the core dimensions of DSCM, exposing its ability to improve SC resilience, sustainability, visibility, efficiency, and agility. These capabilities stem from seamlessly woven DT developments into SC: artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. The chapter concludes by highlighting the present state of the art in DSCM, reflecting its indispensable role in the contemporary turbulent business dynamics. In short, this chapter offers a synthesized view of DSCM's definitions, dimensions, evolution, capabilities, and present status within the larger context of supply chain management (SCM) literature.

Tracing audience preferences via audience analytics software has become a vital strategy for many news organizations to ensure their competitiveness in media markets. Extant research also confirms the growing presence of these tools in digital news work in recent years across many local and international news media. However, little is understood about the analytics-driven tensions emerging among journalists and media managers. This paper aims to address this gap by drawing on the labor process theory, which critically analyzes labor and workplace transformations under capitalism.

The present study employs an interview-based qualitative methodology to deeply understand the factors at the base of the emerging tensions between news workers and managers brought about by audience metrics tools.

Results show how some perceptions, activities and contextual triggers related to analytics could make relationships between workers and managers problematic. The pressures felt by some journalists stemmed from the way their media managers introduced, interpreted, communicated and applied analytics in the workplace, which were not tied to the quality and learning goals related to journalists’ aspirations. As our evidence suggests, the analytics-induced tensions among news workers were rather an outcome of managerial deficits than of systematic plans to exploit journalists.

By identifying the nature of fundamental analytics-driven tensions in newsrooms, this paper contributes to our understanding of how media managers can embrace more effective approaches toward audience analytics, workforce and organizational performance.

The ever increasing prevalence of mental health disorders is subsequently resulting in an ever increasing burden on mental health services globally. Due to need outweighing capacity, many turn to, or are signposted to, online resources. Online mental health chatrooms are chat-based services that users can frequent to discuss their mental health, often with individuals experiencing similar issues. Most of these are moderated by volunteers. The purpose of this study was to explore the motivations for moderating, the positive and negative effects of the role and to identifying current and required pathways of support.

This study used an online questionnaire design, disseminated via the online mental health community, 18percent. An open ended interview schedule was disseminated to eight volunteer moderators. Qualitative data was analysed using NVivo software and reflexive thematic analysis.

Moderators were motivated to engage in this role due to past experiences and to help others. The positive effects of moderating were engaging in digital altruism and improving one’s personal mental health. The negative effects were personal triggers and role specific issues such as harassment and being unable to help people in crisis situations. For further support, moderators would benefit from refresher training sessions and further professional training in which they can proactively help when a user is experiencing suicidal ideation/behaviours.

The research highlighted the motivations for, positive and negative effects of and the current and further pathways of support required by volunteer moderators and proffers recommendations within the discussion.

The proliferation of industry platforms has disrupted several industries. Firms adopting a platform business model have experienced a substantial expansion in size and scale, positioning themselves as the foremost valuable entities in market capitalization. Over the past two decades, there has been a substantial expansion in the body of literature dedicated to platforms, and different streams of research have emerged. Despite considerable efforts and the significant progress made in recent years toward a comprehensive understanding of industry platforms, there is still room for further harnessing the field’s diversity. As a result, the aim of this article is to examine the field’s structure, identify research concerns and provide suggestions for future research, thereby enhancing the overall understanding of industry platforms.

We conducted a thorough examination of 458 articles on the topic using bibliometric methods and systematic review techniques.

Through co-citation analysis, we identified five distinct clusters rooted in various bodies of literature: two-sided markets, industry platforms, digital platforms, innovation platforms and two-sided networks. Furthermore, the examination of these five clusters has revealed three key areas that demand further consideration: (1) terminologies, (2) classifications and (3) perspectives.

While previous reviews have provided valuable insights into the topic of industry platforms, none have explored the structure of the field so far. Consequently, as a first step toward advancing the field, we uncover the structure of the literature, identifying three major areas of concern. By addressing these concerns, our goal is to converge different clusters, thereby harnessing the diversity in the field and enhancing the overall understanding of industry platforms.

Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the world, although the current situation is more under control. Because the development of the pandemic took place in the context of a digital society, where digital information and communication technologies (ICT) were already widely used, households certainly had to make greater use of this powerful communication tool, partly for work, and partly for distance learning purposes. It is likely that the increased use of ICT in the home, due to the lockdown, created an environment in which families were more united but also isolated and in conflict and this trend may still be present today.

This chapter is based on a study of ICT in the daily lives of Portuguese and Italian women, who lived in nuclear families, during and after the COVID pandemic. Through the testimonies of these women, therefore, we will discuss the results of the study to describe and understand how families used ICT during and after the pandemic. In particular, we are interested in answering the following questions: Did domestic spaces become more and more like work spaces due to the increased use of ICT due to the pandemic lockdown? Did distance learning, due to the lockdown, lead to an increase in ICT use by children/adolescents that is still perpetuated today?

Even if digital financial services have a positive impact on financial inclusion, it creates a digital as well as gender divide within and across countries, creating regional disparity even within developing nations. Though pandemic has initiated digitalization of various services, there has been scanty research on whether digital transfer of income can improve digital financial inclusion in post-pandemic era, especially in developing countries. The purpose of the current study is to explain the regional disparity within developing countries from three regions East Asia Pacific, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, using latest World Findex data, 2021.

The author takes an instrumental variable approach to run bivariate probit model to find the factors that motivate the users to make digital payments.

The study observes that electronic transfer of wages, government transfers and remittances can motivate individuals to make use of digital mode of transactions and mobile. The practice of formal saving and borrowings are the prerequisites. However, this mechanism holds good for East Asia Pacific and not for South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, which are poor in information and communication technology infrastructure. Women are lagging behind men, but digital transfer of wages motivate them to make digital transaction.

Digitalization of all government services and provision of affordable mobile network and internet services are necessary for regions like South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. In East Asia Pacific region, data protection, data governance and better regulatory framework are required. Higher female labor force participation with digital transfer of wages and empowerment with smartphones are key to reducing the Gender gap.

The current study corrects for the possible endogeneity issue, which the extant literature has not paid attention to, and provides region-specific and gender-specific policy recommendations for an improved digital inclusion.

Introduction: As Internet usage increases, so does widespread concern about surveillance and privacy. While most of the research primarily focuses on a particular digital setting, these problems cut beyond national boundaries and impact economies everywhere.

Purpose: This study critically analyses the Data Protection Bill 2019’s effectiveness within the context of surveillance and privacy in India’s digital economy. Investigating critical provisions of the bill, comparing it to international privacy laws and standards, and identifying potential gaps and weaknesses, this study provides insights into the bill’s ability to protect personal data and limit surveillance practices.

Methodology: The chapter is based on secondary sources of data, including academic articles, government reports, and news articles on the topics of surveillance, privacy, and the Data Protection Bill 2019 in India, involving content and critical discourse analyses.

Findings: The Data Protection Bill 2019 evaluation reveals a set of provisions with the overarching intent to safeguard citizens’ privacy worldwide and curtail undue surveillance practices exercised by both governmental bodies and private enterprises. Intricately delineates the entitlements of individuals concerning their data, encompassing vital aspects such as the right to access, rectify, and erase their data, the bill mandates stringent adherence to the principle of explicit consent when collecting and processing personal data.

Nevertheless, a comprehensive analysis also reveals several gaps and constraints inherent in the bill’s framework. One such area is the inclusion of exemptions for governmental entities, an aspect that raises international concerns regarding potential disparities in data protection practices.

This final chapter delves into the future of digital supply chain management (DSCM) amid today's dynamic business environment, shaped by technological advancements and factors like automation, artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability, and resilience. It emphasizes the crucial role of digital technologies (DTs) such as AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial IoT, and the Internet of Everything (IoET), along with blockchain, in revolutionizing supply chain operations. These technologies enable agility, flexibility, efficiency, and responsiveness, crucial for supply chains to proactively adapt to market changes. The chapter explores the trends in DSCs, focusing on real-time data analytics, end-to-end visibility, sustainability, and resilience. It highlights the growing importance of transparency in supply chains, driven by consumer demand for sustainable practices and product origins. DSCM is identified as pivotal for prioritizing sustainability, leading organizations toward green practices. Despite the opportunities in DSCM, challenges like cybersecurity, data management complexities, geopolitical uncertainties, and talent shortages are acknowledged. To overcome these, the chapter stresses strategic foresight in DSCM and the importance of robust process management, risk management, and talent development. The future-readiness of supply chain professionals is discussed, highlighting the need for change management, development of social and deep work skills, collaboration, and ethical practices. The chapter concludes by underscoring the transformative potential of DTs in the digital era, urging organizations to embrace innovation, transparency, and sustainability in their supply chains, recognizing that the future of DSC is an imminent reality.