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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected around 216 countries and territories worldwide and more than 2000 cities in India, alone. The smart cities mission (SCM) in India started in 2015 and 100 smart cities were selected to be initiated with a total project cost of INR 2031.72 billion. Smart city strategies play an important role in implementing the measures adopted by the government such as the issuance of social distancing regulations and other COVID-19 mitigation strategies. However, there is no research reported on the role of smart cities strategies in managing the COVID-19 outbreak in developing countries.

This paper aims to address the research gap in smart cities, technology and healthcare management through a review of the literature and primary data collected using semi-structured interviews.

Each city is unique and has different challenges, the study revealed six key findings on how smart cities in India managed the COVID-19 outbreak. They used: Integrated Command and Control Centres, Artificial Intelligence and Innovative Application-based Solutions, Smart Waste Management Solutions, Smart Healthcare Management, Smart Data Management and Smart Surveillance.

This paper contributes to informing policymakers of key lessons learnt from the management of COVID-19 in developing countries like India from a smart cities’ perspective. This paper draws on the six Cs for the implications directed to leaders and decision-makers to rethink and act on COVID-19. The six Cs are: Crisis management leadership, Credible communication, Collaboration, Creative governance, Capturing knowledge and Capacity building.

The purpose of the study is to comprehend medical service quality, information quality and system quality toward actual use of Tele-Health in rural India. The study further validates the impact of the actual use of Tele-Health on sustainable development, thus providing implications to improve upon the Tele-Health penetration in India.

Data was collected from 326 healthcare practitioners practicing Tele-Health in North Indian states and Structural Equation Modeling was applied to validate the conceptual framework.

The results indicated that medical service quality, information quality and system quality influence Tele-Health behavioral intentions which in turn impact actual use and sustainable development. This research draws upon a conceptual framework to deepen our understanding of Tele-Health by providing an all-inclusive overview.

The massive topography of India with a prime rural populace instills the need for timely healthcare facilities. Tele-Health is a solution to all these problems but is at a nascent stage. Therefore, there is a vital need to study the factors which improve the penetration of Tele-Health in the Indian context. The model that emerged from the study may be validated by other Indian sub-continental countries so that Tele-Health may be implemented hassle-free.

This study investigates the pathways for adopting IoTs and BDA technologies to improve healthcare management.

The study relied on 445 healthcare professionals' perspectives to explore different causal pathways to IoTs and BDA adoption and usage for daily healthcare management. The Fussy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis was adopted to explore the underlying pathways for healthcare management.

The empirical analysis revealed six different configural paths influencing the acceptance and use of IoTs and BDA for healthcare improvement. Two key user topologies from the six configural paths, digital literacy and ease of use and social influence and behavioural intentions, mostly affect the paths for using digital health technologies by healthcare physicians.

Despite this study's novel contributions, limitations include the fsQCA methodology, perceptual data and the context of the study. The fsQCA methodology is still evolving with different interpretations, although it reveals new insights and as such further studies are required to explain the configural paths of social phenomena. Additionally, future research should consider other constructs beyond the UTAUT and digital literacy to illustrate configural paths to healthcare technology acceptance and usage. Again, the views of healthcare professionals are perceptual data. Hence future research on operational data will support significant contributions towards pathways to accept and use emerging technologies for healthcare improvement. Lastly, this study is from a developing country perspective where emerging digital healthcare technology is still emerging to support healthcare management. Hence, more investigation from other cross-country analyses of configural paths for digital technology deployment in healthcare will enhance the conversation with IoTs and BDA for healthcare management.

Holistically, the acceptance and use of healthcare technologies and platforms is not solely on their capabilities, but a combination of distinct factors driven by users' perspectives. This offers healthcare administrators and institutions to essentially reflect on the distinct combinations of conditions favourable to health professionals who can use IoTs and BDA for healthcare improvement.

This study is among the few scholarly works to empirically investigate the configural paths to support healthcare improvement with emerging technologies. Using fsQCA is a unique contribution to existing information system literature for configural paths for healthcare improvement with emerging digital technologies.

This study aims to examine the mediating role of social influence on the relationship between key predictors of E-pharmacy adoption among young consumers based on the unified theory of adoption and use of technology (UTAUT).

This study employs a quantitative correlational research design. Based on cluster sampling, data was collected from 306 university students from three public universities in southwestern Nigeria. Data was analysed using partial least square structural equation modeling.

The primary determinant driving the adoption of e-pharmacy is performance expectancy. Social influence plays a partial mediating role in linking performance expectancy to e-pharmacy adoption. In contrast, it fully mediates the relationship between effort expectancy, facilitating conditions and the adoption of e-pharmacy services.

This study provides theoretical clarity on recent issues within the UTAUT framework. Findings highlight the complexity of how social factors interact with individual beliefs and external conditions in determining technology acceptance.

Research includes information relevant to access the impact of e-pharmacy services on healthcare accessibility, affordability and quality in developing countries.

The findings extend the adoption of technology literature in healthcare and offer a new understanding of adoption dynamics. The results emphasize the importance of performance expectancy in driving e-pharmacy adoption, providing a clear direction for stakeholders to enhance service quality and user experience of e-pharmacy. Additionally, the mediating effect of social influence highlights the significance of peer recommendations, celebrity endorsements and social media campaigns in shaping consumer adoption of e-pharmacies among young people.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry has contributed significantly to global healthcare by securing superior-quality, inexpensive and reachable medicines worldwide. However, supply chain management (SCM) has been challenging due to constantly shifting requirements for short lifecycles of products, the convergence of industry and changeable realities on the ground. This study aims to identify, assess and prioritize the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of the pharmaceutical SCM environment in India.

The paper employs a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) analysis and recognizes strategies to utilize the advantages of the strengths and opportunities, rectify weaknesses and resolve threats.

A variety of strategies that could have a positive effect on the Indian pharmaceutical business are presented. Findings and suggested strategies can significantly advance knowledge, enhance understanding and contribute to the growth of a successful SCM for the Indian pharmaceutical sector.

This paper would act as a roadmap to greater comprehension of the market leaders and market leaders' operating climate. The findings from this study will offer academic scholars and business practitioners deeper insights into the environment of SCM.

Health tourism is a relatively new branch of international tourism that has developed more rapidly than other tourism sectors in recent years. This study aimed to investigate the effect of government supports on health tourism development by considering the mediating role of internal and external infrastructures.

The study population consisted of all experts of two hospitals in Iran, which are frequently visited by foreign tourists (N = 151). A questionnaire, developed by combining standard and researcher-made questionnaires, was used to collect the data. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model was developed in SmartPLS 3 to test the hypotheses.

The main hypothesis test results indicated that government supports positively affect the development of health tourism. Internal and external infrastructures were also found to mediate the relationship between government supports and health tourism development. In addition, the sub-hypothesis test results showed that internal and external infrastructures are positively affected by government supports, which puts forth the development of health tourism. As the results explained, the most important aspects of internal infrastructures affected by government support were health service quality, cost of health services and applying advanced medical technologies, respectively. Also, different aspects of external infrastructures affected by government supports are as follows: economic, infrastructures and cultural factors.

This study is the first of its kind to examine the impact of both medical and non-medical factors on health tourism and signifies the crucial role of governments in the development of health tourism.

This study aims to conceptualize and measure strategic leadership capabilities within research and development (R&D) teams pursuing high-tech innovation at public-funded R&D organizations in India.

A rigorous five-stage multi-method approach defines, conceptualizes and validates the core construct “strategic leadership capabilities for innovation” (SLCI). The first stage correlates the insights generated from theoretical analysis and expert opinions on the importance of leadership for innovation. The second study identifies a three-dimensional factor structure underlying the SLCI construct and the third validates it through a confirmatory factor analysis. Replication provides additional validation.

SLCI emerges as a three-dimensional construct with sub-dimensions: dynamic envisioning, ambidextrous resource utilization and empowering support for innovation.

Conceptualization of the SLCI construct and its measurement through a 15-item scale that has been empirically validated in the public-funded R&D organizations in India.

Growing concern over sustainability adoption has presented an array of challenges to businesses. While vital to an economy's success, banking is not immune to societal, environmental and economic consequences of business practices. The study has examined the sustainable performance of banking institutions on the suggested multidimensional framework comprising economic, environmental, social, governance and financial dimensions and 52 sustainability indicators. The study benchmarks the significant performance indicators of leading banks indispensable to sustainable banking performance. The findings attempt to address research questions concerning the extent of sustainable banking performance, ranking the sustainability dimensions and indicators and standardizing sustainability adoption metrics.

To determine the responsiveness of the banking industry to sustainability dimensions, content analysis was conducted using NVivo software for the year 2021–2022. Furthermore, a hybrid multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) approach is used by integrating entropy, the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija KOmpromisno Resenje (VIKOR) to provide relative weights to performance indicators and prioritize banks based on their sustainable performance. Sensitivity analysis is used to ensure the robustness of results.

In the context of the Indian banking industry, the pattern of sustainability reporting is inconsistent and concentrated on addressing environmental and social concerns. The results of the entropy methodology prioritized “Environmental” sustainability over other selected dimensions while “Financial” dimension has been assigned the least priority in the ranking order. The significant sustainable performance indicators delineated in this study should be used as standards to ensure the accountability and credibility of the sustainable banking industry. Additionally, the research findings will provide valuable inputs to policymakers and regulators to assure better contribution of the banking sector in meeting sustainability goals.

Considering the paucity of studies on sustainable banking performance, this study makes two significant contributions to the literature. First, the suggested multidimensional disclosure model integrating financial and nonfinancial indicators would facilitate banking institutions in addressing the five aspects of sustainability. As one of the first studies in the context of the Indian banking industry, the findings would pave the way for better diffusion of sustainability practices. Second, the inclusion of MCDM techniques prioritizes the significance of sustainability indicators and benchmarks the performance of leading banks to achieve better profits and more substantial growth.

This work sought to analyze targeted innovation strategies used during the pandemic to maintain companies’ competitiveness.

The methodology was a systematic literature review, analyzing how these factors can be used as leverage in decision-making and suggesting a framework tool.

As a result, nine factors were identified as drivers to stimulate competitiveness, bringing insights to structure actions in times of crisis to support agribusiness.

With this work, it is possible that other companies can base themselves and use the strategic drivers of innovation evidenced to remain competitive in the market during a period of crisis. As this is a systematic review of the literature, the application of a case study, for example, is a limitation, which could be a continuation of the work.

As this is a systematic review of the literature, the application of a case study, for example, is a limitation, which could be a continuation of the work.

This work has high value because it brings insights into strategic drivers of innovation that tend to leverage or maintain the competitiveness of agribusinesses in times of crisis. With the discussion carried out on the data obtained, it is possible that agribusinesses or other types of companies can be based for decision-making in a crisis scenario from innovative actions that generate competitive advantage.

The study aims to delve into the influence of tourism on the happiness of city residents, grounded in the overarching concept of livability. It posits that prioritizing residents’ happiness is crucial for effectively addressing cities’ challenges in balancing development and distinctiveness. The study pursues three primary objectives: first, establishing a potential correlation between city tourism and residents’ happiness; second, examining the contributing factors to this correlation and third, identifying potential mediators that influence the connection between tourism development and residents’ happiness.

Using a quantitative single-case design and partial least square analysis, the study underscores the intricate nature of various tourism development components. It specifically explores the roles of cognitive flexibility and social comparison in shaping the relationship between city tourism and happiness.

The findings make a distinctive contribution by revealing that not all tourism domains contribute positively to happiness. Furthermore, it sheds light on how tourism development impacts the emotional and cognitive dimensions of happiness, emphasizing the adverse effects of inequality and feelings of insecurity.

The study acknowledges certain constraints, including its employment of a cross-sectional design, the issue of generalizability, potential sampling bias and the reliance on subjective measurements when evaluating constructs like happiness and satisfaction with life. Using self-reported data introduces susceptibility to social desirability bias and individual perceptual differences, potentially resulting in measurement inaccuracies. Nevertheless, despite these limitations, the study’s findings offer valuable insights that contribute to both theoretical advancement and the realm of urban management.

The findings elucidated through the mediation analyses conducted for hypotheses three to seven shed light on the significant roles played by mental adaptation and social comparison mechanisms in shaping individuals’ happiness. These insights substantially enhance our understanding of this field. Particularly, the dimensions of social and environmental impact within tourism appear to counterbalance the positive effects stemming from the economic and cultural aspects. This suggests a scenario where an excessive focus on tourism development could potentially undermine the overall livability of the city. These outcomes further indicate the necessity for proactive interventions by destination managers. Their efforts should be directed toward enhancing the environmental and social domains, aiming to reinvigorate the sense of community among residents, which appears to be gradually waning.

The outcomes of this study emphasize the utmost significance of prioritizing residents’ happiness above mere considerations of economic growth when formulating efficacious strategies for tourism. By concentrating on the happiness of the local population, a harmonious resonance is established with Sustainable Development Goal 11, which advocates for the creation of habitable cities founded upon the principle that “a city that is not good for its citizens is not good for tourists.” This alignment underscores the interconnected nature of residents’ happiness and the sustainable development of tourism. Moreover, residents’ happiness plays a pivotal role in addressing the challenge that cities face in harmonizing growth and their uniqueness, ensuring competitiveness and sustainability.

The research underscores the need for a people-oriented perspective in urban planning and tourism development initiatives. The study identifies diverse factors impacting residents’ happiness in city tourism, highlighting the complex interplay of environmental, cultural and socioeconomic elements. It emphasizes income’s role but underscores nonmaterial factors and individual preferences. Overall, the study offers timely and valuable insights into the intricate connection between tourism development, residents’ happiness, living conditions and human perception, guiding urban planners and stakeholders.