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Based on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework, this study aims to investigate the effect of social media marketing (SMM) activities on consumers’ purchase intention (PI), as well as to test the mediation effect of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) and consumer inspiration (INS) between the relationship of SMM and PI. Further, this study has also proposed and validated SMM as a reflective–formative higher-order construct (R-F-HOC) with its five first-order dimensions: customization, entertainment, interaction, trendiness and word of mouth (WoM).

Using a non-probability purposive sampling method, a structured questionnaire survey using Google forms was used to collect data from a sample of 236 UAE consumers. Subsequently, the data was analyzed with a hybrid method that combined partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN) analysis.

The findings suggest that SMM has a direct effect on CBBE, INS and PI. Both proposed mediation effects are statistically significant, and there is a partial complementary mediation effect of CBBE and INS between SMM and PI. This study validated the operationalization of SMM as R-F-HOC. Further, the results of the ANN analysis validate the results of the PLS-SEM, suggesting that SMM is the strongest predictor of PI followed by CBBE and INS.

In terms of theoretical significance, this study has advanced our understanding of the process by which the influence of SMM is transferred to PI via CBBE and INS. This study has also made a significant contribution by validating SMM as a R-F-HOC. In terms of practical implications, this study suggests that SMM should be best assessed as a R-F-HOC construct with five dimensions: customization, entertainment, interaction, trendiness and WoM. This study has also demonstrated the importance of CBBE and INS in transmitting the effect of SMM on PI to marketers.

This study contributes to the digital advertising literature by filling a knowledge gap about the mediation effect of CBBE and INS between SMM and PI via the SOR framework. SMM’s multidimensionality as a R-F-HOC has also been established.

The crowdfunding concept and activities have recently been the focus of attention of many researchers and practitioners over different business contexts. However, there is a dearth of literature considering the main aspects of e-equity crowdfunding activities and their impact on the innovation performance for entrepreneurial business. Therefore, this study aims to explore how entrepreneurs' engagement in e-crowdfunding activities could enhance both knowledge acquisition and innovation performance.

The conceptual model will be proposed based on three main theoretical perspectives: relationship marketing orientation (RMO); Kirzner's alertness theory; and the DeLone and McLean model of information systems. The data of the current study were collected using an online questionnaire from a sample of 500 entrepreneurs who have actively engaged in e-crowdfunding in Saudi Arabia.

The statistical results of structural equation modelling (SEM) approved the impacting role of RMO, entrepreneurial alertness, system quality and service quality on the entrepreneurs' engagement in e-equity crowdfunding, which in turn, predicts both knowledge acquisition and innovation performance.

There are several limitations which could be addressed in future studies, for example, this study has only considered one form of crowdfunding (equity based crowdfunding) and due to its nature these findings would not be easily generalized to other kinds of crowdfunding (i.e. donation-based crowdfunding; rewards-based crowdfunding; and debt-based crowdfunding). Future studies could consider these kinds of crowdfunding activities.

This study has contributed to the understanding of e-equity crowdfunding in several aspects. For example, this study presents results that assist both researchers and practitioners in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia to develop an in-depth knowledge of e-equity crowdfunding by considering new dimensions such as RMO and information system success factors.

Massive transformations in mobile communication technologies have forced marketers to recognize and emphasize the factors that influence consumers’ perception of advertising value. This paper aims to explore and rank the various antecedents of advertising value as perceived by consumers to offer meaningful conclusions to marketers on mobile platforms.

Responses were collected from 483 consumers using a shopping mall intercept survey and analyzed using SPSS to confirm reliability, validity and data reduction. The Relative to an Identified Distribution (RIDIT) analysis and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) methods were then applied to prioritize the scale items of the antecedents of mobile advertising value.

Five antecedents of advertising value were found: credibility, entertainment, informativeness, irritation and message relevance. A priority ranking was allotted to the antecedents’ scale items using the RIDIT analysis and was verified via GRA results with a correlation of 98% between the rankings of the two independent methodologies.

The findings provide a roadmap to determine which antecedents of mobile advertising value have a higher or lower impact on consumers’ overall perceptions of the advertisements they are exposed to on mobile platforms.

This study aims to use first-hand data to prioritize the underlying antecedents of mobile advertising value, which has rarely been done to the best of the authors’ knowledge. It also used two different approaches in a single study to rank the dimensions, thus producing more valid results.

Utilizing the theoretical foundation of the stimulus-organism-response framework, the present work developed and investigated a conceptual model. The work explores the effects of perceived risk of COVID-19 on tourists' choice hesitation and choice confidence. Furthermore, it examines the impacts of choice hesitation and choice confidence on psychological distress, which, in turn, influences purchase intentions and risk-protective behavior. Additionally, the study assesses the boundary effects of vulnerability on the association between choice hesitation, choice confidence, and psychological distress.

An online survey was administered in China during COVID-19 to assess the postulated hypotheses. We collected 491 responses using purposive sampling, and covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) was performed to investigate the relationships.

Results show that the perceived risk of COVID-19 positively influences the choice hesitation and negatively impact choice confidence. It was also found that choice hesitation and choice confidence positively developed psychological distress, which, in turn, negatively triggered purchase intentions and positively developed risk-protective behavior. Additionally, perceived vulnerability had a significant moderating impact on the proposed relationships, strengthening psychological distress.

In the current context, this study measures bipolar behavioral outcomes using the S-O-R model. Because cognitive processes influence participation in health preventative behavior during the spread of diseases, we highlighted how the perception of risk and vulnerability to a pandemic serves as a reliable indicator of certain behaviors. This study advances understanding of how the psychological mindset of tourists copes with such circumstances. Due to the pandemic, tourists face limitations in their choices and are placing greater emphasis on adopting protective measures to mitigate associated risks.

Technological advancements have catalyzed disruption in the banking sector. The impact of the metaverse on the banking sector is no exception. In view of this, the current paper aims to provide valuable insights into four key areas (i.e. corporate banking, retail banking, banking employees and public policy) that the metaverse could significantly disrupt.

Insights into four key areas of the banking sector that the metaverse could significantly impact were gathered from various invited contributors.

The invited contributors first introduce the association between their respective key areas with the metaverse. Subsequently, the opportunities and challenges relevant to the key areas were identified. Finally, future research agendas were proposed for the attention of all relevant stakeholders.

The metaverse's impact on key areas of the banking sector is discussed in this paper. Following the metaverse's potentially wide application in the banking sector, insights from the invited contributions offer great value to the relevant stakeholders.

Shadow banks or non-bank financial intermediaries (NBFIs) are facilitators of credit, especially in emerging market economies (EMEs). However, there are certain risks associated with them, such as their unchecked leverage and interconnectedness with the rest of the financial system. In light of this, the present study analyses the impact of the growth of shadow banks on the stability of the banking sector and the overall stability of the financial system. The authors further examine the effect of the growth of finance companies (a type of NBFIs) on financial stability.

The study employs data of 11 EMEs (monitored by the Financial Stability Board (FSB)) for the period 2002–2020 to examine the above relationships. Panel-corrected standard errors method and Driscoll–Kray standard error estimation are deployed to conduct the analysis.

The results signify that the growth of the shadow banking sector and the growth of lending to the shadow banking sector are negatively associated with the stability of the banking sector and increases the vulnerability of the financial system (overall instability). This implies that the higher the growth of the shadow banks, the higher the financial fragility. Finance companies are also found to negatively affect financial stability. These findings are validated by different estimation methods and point out the risks posed by the NBFI sector.

The extant study builds a composite index (Financial Vulnerability Index (FVI)) to measure financial stability; thus, the findings contribute to the evolving literature on shadow banks.

The paper models the financial interconnectedness and systemic risk of shadow banks using Granger-causal network-based measures and takes the Indian shadow bank crisis of 2018–2019 as a systemic event.

The paper employs pairwise linear Granger-causality tests adjusted for heteroskedasticity and return autocorrelation on a rolling window of weekly returns data of 52 financial institutions from 2016 to 2019 to construct network-based measures and calculate network centrality. The Granger-causal network-based measure ranking of financial institutions in the pre-crisis period (explanatory variable) is rank-regressed with the ranking of financial institutions based on maximum percentage loss suffered by them during the crises period (dependent variable).

The empirical result demonstrated that the shadow bank complex network during the crisis is denser, more interconnected and more correlated than the tranquil period. The closeness, eigenvector, and PageRank centrality established the systemic risk transmitter and receiver roles of institutions. The financial institutions that are more central and hold prestigious positions due to their incoming links suffered maximum loss. The shadow bank network also showed small-world phenomena similar to social networks. Granger-causal network-based measures have out-of-sample predictive properties and can predict the systemic risk of financial institutions.

The study considers only the publicly listed financial institutions. Also, the proposed measures are susceptible to the size of the rolling window, frequency of return and significance level of Granger-causality tests.

Supervisors and financial regulators can use the proposed measures to monitor the development of systemic risk and swiftly identify and isolate contagious financial institutions in the event of a crisis. Also, it is helpful to policymakers and researchers of an emerging economy where bilateral exposures' data between financial institutions are often not present in the public domain, plus there is a gap or delay in financial reporting.

The paper is one of the first to study systemic risk of shadow banks using a financial network comprising of commercial banks and mutual funds. It is also the first one to study systemic risk of Indian shadow banks.

The purpose of this paper is to review a possible link between the theory of stakeholder identity and salience (TSIS) and environmental justice and suggest a possible resolution.

This is a conceptual paper which also uses examples from industry.

The TSIS is a common management approach that helps companies determine stakeholders’ priority in building relationships and making decisions. The weakness of this theory is that it suggests that stakeholders lacking power, legitimacy and urgency be de-prioritized. This can lead to vulnerable populations’ interests being subjugated to those of more powerful stakeholders, leading at times to environmental injustice. This occurrence can jeopardize a company’s social license to operate. Therefore, it is suggested that TSIS be embedded in a situational analysis where the legitimacy and urgency criteria are applied beyond just stakeholders.

Further research should look at the results of modifying the TSIS such that vulnerable populations are not de-prioritized.

This paper provides a way for organizations to be more cognizant of vulnerable populations and include them in decision-making to help avoid situations of environmental injustice.

If organizations can recognize the impact of their decisions on vulnerable populations and include them in the decision-making process, situations of environmental injustice might not occur.

This paper brings to light one weak aspect of a commonly used and well accepted theory and suggests a way to mitigate potential harm that at times may arise in the form of environmental injustice.

New technological trends continue to emerge, and businesses adopt them in different capacity in a pursuit of improving current ways of doing things and to gain competitive advantages over rivals. One of the key business functions that is impacted by the implementation of different disruptive technologies is the supply chain management. As a result, there is a continuous need to identify where digitalizing supply chains may provide businesses with benefits to capitalize such gains. This study aims to examine potential impacts of digitalizing supply chains on five selected lean operations practices through the identification of key areas and benefits under each of these practices.

Data were collected from 74 participants mainly from the academic community and who were university scholars through the use of an online survey. The used online survey consists of six main parts in total, but three were included in this paper and these were designed to gather data about participants’ general information, level of influence of seven technological trends on supply chain performance and management and potential impact of digitalizing supply chains on five lean operations practices.

The authors were able to confirm the significant impact of digitalizing supply chains on the five examined lean operations practices. Most of the examined potential impacts were found to improve certain areas that directly improve the practices of the explored five lean operations practices as well as the overall supply chain and business performance. They were also able to determine the level of influence of the seven examined enabling technologies on supply chain performance and management.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind. Although some literature explored different aspects related to the concept of Industry 4.0 and digitalizing supply chains, no study has specifically explored potential impacts of digitalizing supply chains on lean operations. The results from this study can be beneficial to academic scholars interested in the researched themes, business professionals specializing in supply chain management and lean operations, organizations within different industrial sectors particularly manufacturing where lean thinking is adopted and any other party interested in understanding more about the impact of digitalizing supply chain on lean operations and on an overall business performance.