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The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed consumer buying behavior across the world. COVID-19 crisis brought a behavioral change in consumers' attitudes toward health, financial and social well-being. The current research work highlights the factors influencing consumer buying behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic considering saving and safety perspectives.

This study attempts to understand the gap in buying behavior with reference to saving and safety. Survey-based study was conducted during the second phase of COVID-19, and the respondents were those who lived in highly affected COVID cities in India. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were carried out for testing the hypotheses.

Seven factors became the prominent factors in consumer buying patterns during the pandemic. Consumers in the times of COVID-19 pandemic spend only on essential items as compared to nice-to-have and non-essential items.

Respondents considered in the research were millennials aged 25–40. The current research is limited to specific geographic location.

The study assessed how savings and safety influence consumer buying behavior. The 2S framework model for consumer buying behavior during pandemic has been developed. The findings of the study provides a road map to the companies, policy makers, managers and consumers in understanding the consumer buying behavior during pandemic.

The current research work observe the changes in the behavioral patterns of consumers in the context of 2S framework, i.e. saving and safety. This study offer novel contribution as there is no available literature that examined the saving and safety aspects together for consumer buying behavior during crisis.

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to encapsulate the outcomes and generate meaningful conclusions by examining the factors that influence consumers' purchase and non-purchase behaviour intention in a virtual reality retailing context.

This study integrates the outcomes from 52 studies, including 403 relationships involving 19,188 samples. The analysis was conducted using R-metafor and AMOS software.

The findings indicate that key factors that influence purchase and non-purchase behavioural intentions are virtual reality (VR)characteristics, virtual reality experience and consumer attitudes. VR experience is the strongest predictor for purchase decisions in virtual environment ,while consumer attitude towards VR most strongly influences the non-purchase behaviour of the consumers. Furthermore, the age of the respondents, cultural backgrounds (high vs low power distance) and gender moderate the relationship between consumers' attitudes and purchase and behaviour intentions.

Marketers can positively influence consumer attitudes and behavioural intentions by prioritizing the design of the virtual environment and facilitating unique experiences (by manipulating different sensory stimuli) in virtual retailing.

The current meta-analysis reconciles and reinforces the findings in the extant literature and provides a robust empirical generalization of the critical factors that influence consumers' purchase or behavioural intentions in a virtual retailing context.

While the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic and its externalities, scientists have recommended that the global community brace against potential future pandemics. The need to build resilient systems has never been this urgent. The world, especially emerging economies, faces acute food insecurity, high food prices, failing health infrastructure and rampant misinformation spread, among others. Since blockchain technology (BCT) has been discussed in the supply chain resilience context, and it offers the potential to develop resilient systems, we aim to outline the potential of BCT to help build resilience against ongoing and future pandemics. Mainly, we focus on BCT for healthcare management, disruption management of food supply chains, human resource management, modern education and certification and governance and administration.

Digital technology and SDGs have gained increasing interest from the research community. This chapter aims to explore the field through a holistic review of 188 publications from 2017 to 2022. For the systematic review of 188 articles, a three-step methodology comprising of PRISMA guidelines was performed, bibliometric analysis and text analysis using VOS-Viewer and Sentiment Analysis using RStudio had been undertaken. Bibliographic coupling revealed the following clusters Digital Space (Over all SDG), Localising SDGs, Financial Systems and Growth (SDG 8), Sustainable Supply Chain (SDG 9), Education (SDG 4), Energy Management (SDG 7), Smart Cities (SDG 11 and 13), Gender, Skills, and Responsibility (SDG 5 and 12), Food Management (SDG 1, 2 and 3), Business Innovation (SDG 8 and 9) and ICT (SDG 9). Next, co-occurrence analysis highlighted the following clusters Circular Economy (SDG 8), Higher Education System (SDG 4), Digital health (SDG 3), Industry 4.0 (SDG 9) and Supply Chain Management (SDG 9). Next, text analysis traced the most relevant areas of work within the theme. Finally, sentiment analysis revealed positive sentiments of the field. The research concluded that only a few SDGs had found major focus while the others don't have any solid ground in the literature. This chapter presents a knowledge structure by mapping the most relevant SDGs in the context of digital technology and sets directions for future research.

This chapter delves into the impact of digital initiatives on firms and sheds light on how they can be explained through market reactions and the resource/capabilities mechanism. By providing a novel conceptual framework that reflects the potential impact of digital initiatives on the sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities of dynamic capabilities, this chapter reveals the tremendous potential of digital initiatives to help firms become more adaptive to their environment and create sustainable competitive advantages that elicit positive market responses. This conceptual framework represents an original contribution to the literature. It enhances the understanding of the resource-based view and efficient market hypothesis, providing a fresh perspective on the influence of digital initiatives on firm performance and the dynamic capabilities mechanism that has hitherto been overlooked. As a result, this chapter enables researchers to develop testable hypotheses that examine the causal relationships between digital initiatives, dynamic capabilities and market performance using robust quantitative research methods. Furthermore, this chapter offers valuable insights for managers seeking to develop a more focused approach to digital transformation and enhance their competitive advantage. By exploring the impact of digital initiatives on sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities, managers can gain a deeper understanding of how they can leverage digital initiatives to improve their organisational performance and respond more effectively to the demands of an ever-changing landscape.

This paper aims to evaluate the construction supply chain (CSC) by examining its relationships with various key areas and its development, identifying gaps and outlining potential future research directions that affect the implementation of CSC standards during the timeframe of the United Nations’ “Decade of Action” plans in the past two decades.

This paper reports on a systematic literature review with bibliometric analysis that investigates publications from around the world on various aspects of CSC. These aspects include research methodology/data collection technique, inquiry mode, country-specific research, focused areas of study, the research aims and publication periods.

The findings of the study reveal that information technology, information sharing, collaboration, performance measurement and CSC configuration have received considerable attention and analysis. However, financial management, supply chain resilience, logistics, vendor managed inventory and rural CSC have been identified as significant areas that require further investigation since limited attention has been given to them in the existing literature.

CSC is a very dominant topic in the current study, but there are some limitations to it. Scopus and Web of Science databases were used to conduct the study. A future study can therefore consider papers related to other databases. As the focus was specifically dedicated to construction material SC only, the papers associated with SCs of labours and equipment have been eradicated.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first structured and systematic literature review that identifies the issues related to the CSC during the timeframe of the United Nations’ “Decade of Action” plans and proposes future research directions to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of CSC.

This qualitative research examines the varied reasons for relocation to old age homes (OAHs) in contemporary India. The purpose of this study investigates the acceptance of institutional living in Lucknow (a Tier II city of India) and whether migration to OAHs is a voluntary decision. This study also examines the lifeworld of the older adult in these OAHs in an attempt to find out whether OAHs are conducive to positive ageing. Derivatively, the authors study their engagement/time use pattern and social networking patterns in the OAHs. Finally, the research seeks to learn whether OAHs are slowly substituting older adult care given within the family by offering the best of the facilities and services.

This qualitative research was conducted in two private OAHs in Lucknow, India. The findings of the study are based on 28 qualitative interviews conducted with the inmates, administrative staff and caretakers. The interviews were unstructured and open-ended and were supported by observations. The observation was not only made of the social setting but also the reaction of the participants. The idea was to develop an emic view of the subject by exploring valid narratives. Pseudonyms were used to report the finding so as to maintain the confidentiality of the research subjects.

This research moves beyond the traditional wisdom that people move to OAH because of the push factors within the family. OAHs in India have evolved over the years and high-end OAHs are equipped with modern amenities to cater to the upper class in their twilight years. Residents were found to lead active lives in OAHs and their common habitus and bonding capital helped them to face the vagaries of old age more confidently. Their active life and membership in various civic organizations challenge the contention of the role theory that the aged are more prone to lose rather than gain roles.

The originality of the research lies in the fact that the authors are extending the arguments made by the role theory of social ageing. The theory proposes that aged people are more likely to lose out roles rather than gain new ones. This study finds that the elderly tend to live a very active life in OAHs and engaged various civic organizations. Although they may lose/voluntarily give up the roles like the head of the household, spouse, etc., they acquire new roles in the context of OAHs.