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To minimize customer churn, many service providers offer consumers the option of automatic contract renewal at the end of a contract period. Such agreements are known as rollover service contracts (RSCs). This research quantifies the effect of RSCs and other related factors, such as incentives, on consumers' service choice decisions.

The study adopts choice-based conjoint analysis to assess the effect of RSCs on consumers' choices and to determine whether effect size varies when selecting a cell phone network or gym/leisure club provider, which represent lower-priced utilitarian and higher-priced hedonic services.

It was found that RSCs produce negative perceptions and intended behaviors for the majority of consumers across different product types. Nevertheless, as explained by social exchange theory, many individuals may be persuaded to enter into a RSC on the basis of reciprocity if they are offered an incentive such as a price discount or free product add-on.

In the marketing domain, this is the first comprehensive study to quantify the role of contract type among a range of other factors in consumers' decision-making when selecting a service. The authors' results offer context-specific implications for service marketers. First, RSCs are perceived more negatively in high-priced hedonistic categories, especially among those with lower incomes. Second, price discounts are more effective than product add-ons for motivating hedonic purchases, while product add-ons work better with utilitarian services.

This study aims to explore the opposite effects of single-category versus multi-category products information diversity on consumer decision making. Further, the authors investigate the moderating role of three categories of visitors – direct, hesitant and hedonic – in the relationship between product information diversity and consumer decision making.

The research utilizes a sample of 1,101,062 product click streams from 4,200 consumers. Visitors are clustered using the k-means algorithm. The diversity of information recommendations for single and multi-category products is characterized using granularity and dispersion, respectively. Empirical analysis is conducted to examine their influence on the two-stage decision-making process of heterogeneous online visitors.

The study reveals that the impact of recommended information diversity on consumer decision making differs significantly between single-category and multiple-category products. Specifically, information diversity in single-category products enhances consumers' click and purchase intention, while information diversity in multiple-category products reduces consumers' click and purchase intention. Moreover, based on the analysis of online visiting heterogeneity, hesitant, direct and hedonic features enhance the positive impact of granularity on consumer decision making; while direct features exacerbate the negative impact of dispersion on consumer decision making.

First, the article provides support for studies related to information cocoon. Second, the research contributes evidence to support the information overload theory. Third, the research enriches the field of precision marketing theory.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the internationalisation decision-making process using causation and effectuation.

The proposed hypotheses are tested with a survey data set of 148 Kenyan small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to assess the pre-internationalisation decision-making of the firm. Multinomial logistic regression has been used to predict the categories from total effectuation to total causation.

The results of this study show that firm resources and capability provide a solid basis for firms' internationalisation. The entrepreneur becomes more effectual commence as they assess the firm's resource and capability. Entrepreneurs with a high entrepreneurial self-efficacy use both causation and effectuation with a bias towards effectuation. Increasing environmental predictability led the firms to use less effectuation, and increasing psychic distance entails high effectuation relative to high causation in the Kenyan context.

The sample choice of the category is Kenyan SMEs which may raise some questions. This study assumed that SMEs sampled had the same level of internationalisation experience regardless of the number of years in business.

This study theoretically advances the field of international business by combining the Uppsala internationalisation model with effectuation; this study defines four antecedents of decision-making to form its conceptual framework to study internationalisation decision-making approach for SMEs using the effectuation logic and adds to the stream of literature that has reviewed the factors that influence the internationalisation decision-making process for SMEs in developing countries.

This paper aims to study how retailers moving from a multi- (in-store and online) to a single- (online) channel impacts consumers’ retailer and channel choices.

The authors conduct two scenario-based experimental studies to examine consumers’ in-store and online channel shopping preferences and behavioural intentions (i.e. channel and retailer choices) when their preferred focal retailer’s physical store closes.

The findings show that when a focal retailer removes its physical store location, consumers with a strong preference for shopping online have a greater likelihood of shopping online. Their loyalty towards the retailer explains this relationship but is conditional on low levels of reactance. When reactance is high, consumers with a strong preference for shopping online are more likely to switch to a competitor.

This research paper bridges the intersection between B2B and B2C literature to understand how retailers’ channel-related supply chain decisions affect downstream consumer shopping behaviour.

This article aims to systematically review the literature published in recognized journals focused on cognitive heuristic-driven biases and their effect on investment management activities and market efficiency. It also includes some of the research work on the origins and foundations of behavioral finance, and how this has grown substantially to become an established and particular subject of study in its own right. The study also aims to provide future direction to the researchers working in this field.

For doing research synthesis, a systematic literature review (SLR) approach was applied considering research studies published within the time period, i.e. 1970–2021. This study attempted to accomplish a critical review of 176 studies out of 256 studies identified, which were published in reputable journals to synthesize the existing literature in the behavioral finance domain-related explicitly to cognitive heuristic-driven biases and their effect on investment management activities and market efficiency as well as on the origins and foundations of behavioral finance.

This review reveals that investors often use cognitive heuristics to reduce the risk of losses in uncertain situations, but that leads to errors in judgment; as a result, investors make irrational decisions, which may cause the market to overreact or underreact – in both situations, the market becomes inefficient. Overall, the literature demonstrates that there is currently no consensus on the usefulness of cognitive heuristics in the context of investment management activities and market efficiency. Therefore, a lack of consensus about this topic suggests that further studies may bring relevant contributions to the literature. Based on the gaps analysis, three major categories of gaps, namely theoretical and methodological gaps, and contextual gaps, are found, where research is needed.

The skillful understanding and knowledge of the cognitive heuristic-driven biases will help the investors, financial institutions and policymakers to overcome the adverse effect of these behavioral biases in the stock market. This article provides a detailed explanation of cognitive heuristic-driven biases and their influence on investment management activities and market efficiency, which could be very useful for finance practitioners, such as an investor who plays at the stock exchange, a portfolio manager, a financial strategist/advisor in an investment firm, a financial planner, an investment banker, a trader/broker at the stock exchange or a financial analyst. But most importantly, the term also includes all those persons who manage corporate entities and are responsible for making their financial management strategies.

Currently, no recent study exists, which reviews and evaluates the empirical research on cognitive heuristic-driven biases displayed by investors. The current study is original in discussing the role of cognitive heuristic-driven biases in investment management activities and market efficiency as well as the history and foundations of behavioral finance by means of research synthesis. This paper is useful to researchers, academicians, policymakers and those working in the area of behavioral finance in understanding the role that cognitive heuristic plays in investment management activities and market efficiency.

This research analyses the searching, interacting and purchasing behavior of shoppers seeking semidurable and fast-moving consumer goods in an immersive virtual reality (VR) store, showing how physical examinations and visual inspections relate to purchases.

Around 60 participants completed two forced-purchase tasks using a head-mounted display with visual and motor-tracking systems. A second study using a pictorial display of the products complemented the VR study.

The findings indicate differences in shopping behavior for the two product categories, with semidurable goods requiring greater inspection and deliberation than fast-moving consumer goods. In addition, visual inspection of the shelf and products was greater than a physical examination through virtual handling for both product categories. The paper also presents relationships between visual inspections and product interactions during the searching stage of purchase decisions.

The research consists of two types of implicit measures in this study: eye-tracking and hand-product interactions. This study reveals the suitability of implicit measures for evaluating consumer behavior in VR stores.

Strategic management plays a pivotal role in the growth and success of organizations, significantly impacting their business performance and competitive edge. In today’s globalized markets, strategic management is gaining prominence as a means to enhance company performance and distinctiveness. Within this landscape, the evaluation of organizational effectiveness takes on heightened significance, complemented by the emergence of strategic management frameworks designed to secure enduring competitive advantages for businesses.

One of the best known approaches to organizational resource assessment is the value, rarity, inimitability and organizational-oriented (VRIO) framework. However, this tool comes with inherent limitations that have hindered its advancement, primarily related to the need for less subjective means of identifying and assigning weights to resources and capabilities during the evaluation process. This study, therefore, endeavored to refine the VRIO framework, making it more transparent and empirically robust. To achieve this aim, the framework was combined with the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method (i.e. a multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method), and a real-life application was conducted.

The evaluation system created was tested, and the results demonstrate that the dual methodology used can increase the understanding of resource appraisal and lead to more informed and potentially better evaluations of resources and capabilities. The strengths and shortcomings of this new structured evaluation model are also analyzed.

The authors know of no prior work reporting the integrated use of VRIO and DEMATEL in this study context.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of the proposed CARICOM Octagon “High In” Warning Label (OWL), against four alternative Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels (FOPNLs): US “Facts Up Front” (FUF), UK Multi-Traffic Light (MTL), Mexican OWL and the Brazilian Magnifying Glass “High In” Warning Label, on respondents’ purchase intentions, perception of healthiness and understanding of nutritional information across and within food products.

In an online randomized control experiment, adults from eight CARICOM countries (n = 948) were randomly assigned to a control and four treatment FOPNL groups. Respondents were tasked to choose between four categories of mock products with three variations in healthfulness across and within products.

No statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) was found across FOPNL groups compared to the OWL on outcomes of purchase intentions and perception of healthfulness. Regarding the understanding of nutritional information, FUF performed the best, as participants were 1.76 times (p = 0.03) and 3.23 times (p = 0.00) more likely to correctly identify the products with the highest and lowest amount of sugar, respectively. Results were similar for products with the lowest sodium (odds ratio [OR] = 2.25, p = 0.00) and highest saturated fats (OR = 2.11, p = 0.00).

Some limitations of this study include the use of an online platform to conduct the experiment. Though this was the most cost-effective method of execution and presented many benefits, there were limitations to using this approach. Firstly, this approach may not entirely replicate the real world in store purchasing settings. Although online grocery shopping is becoming increasingly popular, in the Caribbean, most grocery purchases are made in stores. Furthermore, online surveys are more likely to lead to samples with higher educational and income levels than the average population (Bethlehem, 2010). The skewedness observed was not unique to this study and was common with similar published studies (Franco-Arellano et al., 2020; Packer et al., 2021; Talati et al., 2018). Nevertheless, all respondents were randomly assigned to groups, and it was confirmed that there were no systematic differences in the education and income levels of participants across the FOPNL groups.

Some CARICOM policy makers advocate for the use of “High In” warning labels to limit the intake of nutrients of concern (NOCs) and to encourage healthier eating habits among consumers. However, regional private sector stakeholders have expressed concern about the lack of sufficient research undertaken at a regional level, to inform the effectiveness of this model within CARICOM, and some have also expressed a preference for the use of other interpretative and reductive FOPNLs, already in use in the Region. The results of this study reveal that while interpretative FOPNLs like the Draft CARICOM Regional Standard, DCRS5 (OWL) can assist consumers in making healthier purchase decisions, it was outperformed by the MTL on perception of healthiness and by the FUF on the understanding of nutrient information. It was also noted that the DCRS5 (OWL) was more effective when choosing across products with distinct nutritional differences but performed poorly in assisting respondents with making healthy purchasing decisions when all the products contained NOCs above the relevant thresholds. This study’s findings highlight that the existing FOPNL schemes can be further enhanced for improved outcomes. This can be achieved by using a hybrid approach which includes both reductive and interpretative elements to allow for comparison across and within food products. The literature also suggests the use of colour and combining positive as well as negative elements to encourage ease of interpretation, improved understanding and healthier food choices.

A properly designed FOPNL can support consumers in making healthier food choices; however, it must be accompanied by measures to raise consumer awareness and increase the health literacy of the population to cause shifts in preferences and behavioural patterns over time. This must also be coupled with policies to make healthy food choices more affordable to the general population.

The results of this study revealed that FUF and MTL performed the best in assisting participants to correctly identify between products with the highest or lowest NOCs at the 5% significant level, and that the OWL performed poorly in assisting participants with making healthy purchasing decisions when all the products contained NOCs above the relevant thresholds.

The purpose of this study is twofold. On the one hand, it studies the impact of IFRS 9 adoption on the firm value; and on the other hand, it investigates the impact of the classification of financial assets on the firm value.

The study covers a sample of 55 listed banks in the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) region. Data is collected for three years (2017–2019).

The findings show that banks’ value is not impacted by IFRS 9 adoption but by financial assets’ classification. Firm value is positively affected by fair value through other comprehensive income assets, while it is negatively affected by amortized cost and fair value through profit or loss assets. The results of the additional analysis show consistent outcomes.

This research reveals important managerial implications. Priority should be given to the financial assets’ classification strategy following the adoption of IFRS 9 to boost the market valuation of banks. It may be useful for investors, managers and regulators in their decision-making.

This study enriches previous research as IFRS 9 is a new standard, and its adoption consequences need to be investigated. A few recent studies have focused on IFRS 9 as a whole or on other parts of IFRS 9, namely, the impairment regime and hedge accounting and concern developed contexts. However, this research adds to the knowledge of capital market studies by investigating the application of IFRS 9 in terms of classification in the MENA region.