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The purpose of this paper is to understand the critical factors associated with growing fertilizer usage culminating in contamination of soil/water in agriculturally intensive regions of Uttar Pradesh, India. The agriculture sector is seen as one of the major contributors in ensuring food security, however adoption of sustainable agriculture to protect water resources from contamination due to fertilizers and pesticides is becoming pressing to achieve long term environmental security.

A two staged study aimed at monitoring the soil quality status followed by stakeholder survey has been attempted. Attitude-behavior framework based on the theory of reasoned action has been tried to explain the fertilizer use behavior in the study. The results are analyzed through Analysis of variance.

Soil monitoring data showed nitrate and total nitrogen loadings beyond the permissible limit in the identified regions. A questionnaire aimed at determining farmer’s attitude toward fertilizer usage showed a significant influence of factors like net farm income, overall farm yield, extension services, farmer characteristics on one hand and risks associated with changing farming practices, costs of substitutes available, market-based instruments like subsidies and loans on the other. Divergent responses were observed with respect to farmer’s perceived risks from adopting to organic substitutes, linkages of fertilizer application with environmental degradation and the level of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.

The study can be scaled up to study the inter-regional differences by benchmarking regional responses. It would be interesting to extend the work to find solutions from the farmers as alternative fertility management strategies. The items used in questionnaire are self-made; hence there is still a possibility of enhancing the robustness of scale by applying advanced statistical techniques.

Results of the study indicate excessive nitrogen loadings in farm soils which is an indicator of potential future nitrate contaminated zones or vulnerable zones emerging in agricultural intensive regions. Findings reinforce the role of education, knowledge transfer and awareness for long-term agricultural sustainability. The paper highlights the urgency for reorientation of the support system by the government and policymakers.

The paper attempts to understand the linkage between the agricultural productivity and the environmental implications followed by the reasons culminating in the agri-environmental imbalance. On-site monitoring study followed by assessment of reasons culminating in this scenario has not been attempted earlier and this paper contributes to understanding at dual level. This paper emphasizes on the insights of stakeholder which is instrumental in ensuring agricultural sustainability or otherwise. It takes the position that the farmer’s farm management behavior is strongly influenced by factors like food security and income, keeping environmental quality at second place. It also identifies the barriers for organic farming and other alternative systems as well as explores the economic, social, and philosophical aspects of sustainable agriculture.

Paper aims to Preparation and evaluation of isoxazole benzene sulfonamide derivatives and incorporated it with waterborne household paints to develop coating compositions as an insecticidal coating against Musca domestica adults.

The synthesized compounds were prepared and confirmed by different analyzes, fourier transform infra-red (FTIR), mass, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹HNMR) and Carbon 13 nuclear magnetic resonance (¹³CNMR) spectra. The prepared compound has been blended with waterborne household paint formulation, the physical and mechanical properties of the paint formulation has been studied. The efficiency of the isoxazole benzene sulfonamide derivatives when incorporated with waterborne paint against Culex quinquefasciatus and Mosquito house fly adults, also have been examined.

The obtained results of the paint formulations confirmed their best performance and providing good scrub resistance. Also, the finding promising results of the insecticide test of the paint formulation may be because of the biological activity of these compounds and containing sulfonamide, cyanide and free aromatic amine groups comparing with the standard recommended organophosphorus insecticide. The order activity increase with increasing the dose concentration of the isoxazole derivatives and the activity of chemical compounds itself is represented in terms of their medium lethal concentrations LC50 (LC90), which recorded 0.90(1.62), 0.89(1.61) and 0.86(1.56) g/ml for 5, 3 and 4 chemical compounds, respectively, after 72 h from treatment.

These types of organic compounds are friendly environmentally and can be used as a biocide with different types of paint formulations.

Insecticide waterborne household paints based on isoxazole benzene sulfonamide derivatives as insecticide agents are novel.

The purpose of this paper is an examination of the literature on team boundary activity to trace how team boundary activity has evolved as a construct and examine the dimensions of team boundary activity and their relationships. It highlights the need for a deeper examination of the dimensions of buffering and reinforcement, and why buffering and reinforcement are required. It presents the case of why it is important to study this topic and maps out areas for future research.

The paper reviews conceptual and empirical papers published on team boundary activity in reputed journals between the years 1984 and 2016.

The focus of research in team boundary activity has been on external interactions of the team (boundary spanning), and very few papers have studied the activities through which the team defines and defends its borders (boundary strengthening). These boundary-strengthening activities can be equally important for innovation and learning in externally dependent teams. Further, there is a need to clearly distinguish these constructs from other variables like team identification. Another area that has here-to not been researched is the relationships between the dimensions of team boundary activity. Last, there is a need to consider a wider range of antecedents, outcomes and moderators of team boundary activity.

This paper is based on past empirical and conceptual papers, identified using search terms such as team boundary activity, team boundary spanning and external communication. Other related areas can also be explored for identifying variables of interest.

As opposed to previous reviews which focused mainly on team boundary spanning, this paper considers all dimensions of team boundary activity, with special focus on buffering and reinforcement. It proposes a 2 × 2 framework to explain the effect of boundary-spanning and boundary-strengthening activities on the achievement of team objectives. It examines the cyclical nature of relationship between team boundary activity and team performance. It highlights measurement issues in the area of team boundary activity.

The automotive industry appears to overcome much of its obstacles, despite the constant struggle facing COVID-19. The pandemic has resulted in significant improvements in the habits and conduct of consumers. There is an increased preference for personal mobility. In this dynamic environment with unexpected changes and high market rivalry, automotive supply chains focus more on executing responsive strategies with minimum costs. This paper aims to identify and model the drivers to the responsiveness of automotive supply chain.

Seventeen drivers for supply chain responsiveness have been identified from the extensive literature, expert interview. An integrated methodology of fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory–interpretive structural modelling (DEMATEL–ISM) is developed to establish the interrelationship between the drivers. The cause–effect relationship between the drivers was obtained through fuzzy DEMATEL technique, and a hierarchical structure of the drivers was developed using the ISM technique.

The result of the integrated methodology revealed that strategic decision-making of management, accurate forecasting of demand, advanced manufacturing system in the organisation and data integration tools are the critical drivers.

This study has conceptual and analytical limitations. In this study, a limited number of drivers are examined for supply chain responsiveness. Further research may examine the role of other key performance indicators in the broad field of responsiveness in the automotive supply chain or other industry sectors. Future study can uncover the interrelationships and relative relevance of indicators using advanced multi-criteria decision-making methodologies.

The authors proposed an integrated methodology that will be benefitted to the supply chain practitioners and automotive manufacturers to develop management strategies to improve responsiveness. This study further helps to compare the responsiveness of the supply chain between various automotive manufacturers.

This study aims to explore the mediating role played by the contradictory behaviour of knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding in the relationship between paradoxical leadership and employee creativity.

A survey was conducted with 276 employees working in information technology firms in India. “To assess the relationship between the constructs, single and parallel mediation analysis of structural equation modelling (SEM) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) have been performed”.

This study found that paradoxical leadership is significantly associated with employee creativity. Besides, it has also been found that knowledge sharing has emerged as a mediator that explains the relationship between paradoxical leadership and creativity, while knowledge hiding has not been a mediator to explain the relationship between paradoxical leadership and creativity among employees. According to the study, it was found that discouraging knowledge-hiding behaviour can increase employee knowledge sharing, which in turn fosters employee creativity.

Research has examined the relationship between paradoxical leadership and employee creativity in this paradigm, as well as the roles of knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding as mediators.

The results of this study will help top management to create strategies for enhancing the relationship between a leader and their subordinates by using effective knowledge management strategies that foster employee creativity. Employee creativity would be facilitated effectively by the paradoxical leader who regulates knowledge-hiding behaviour among employees and promotes knowledge-sharing behaviour.

This study addresses the gap in prior research by investigating the role of paradoxical leadership in managing the contradictory behaviours of knowledge sharing and hiding and their impact on employee creativity. As the motivation for knowledge sharing and hiding are inherently distinct, leaders with paradoxical qualities foster a culture of openness and trust to encourage knowledge-sharing while discouraging knowledge-hiding behaviour. By controlling knowledge-hiding behavior empowers employees to make meaningful contributions to the organization’s success through effective collaboration and teamwork, allowing for a more innovative and creative workplace. Because preventing knowledge-hiding behaviour is a means to promote knowledge sharing and ultimately foster creativity in an organisation. Overall, this paper offers unique insights into the intricate dynamics of knowledge management and provides valuable recommendations for leaders managing employees exhibiting contradictory behaviours in the workplace.

India has the biggest number of active users on social media platforms, particularly Twitter. The purpose of this paper is to examine public sentiment on COVID-19 vaccines and COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) by text mining (topic modeling) and network analysis supported by thematic modeling.

A sample dataset of 115,000 tweets from the Twitter platform was used to examine the perception of the COVID-19 vaccination and CAB from January 2021 to August 2021. The research applied a machine-learning algorithm and network analysis to extract hidden and latent patterns in unstructured data to identify the most prevalent themes. The COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Amplification Model was formulated, which included five key topics based on sample big data from social media.

The identified themes are Social Media Adaptivity, Lack of Knowledge Providing Mechanism, Perception of Vaccine Safety Measures, Health Care Infrastructure Capabilities and Fear of Coronavirus (Coronaphobia). The study implication assists communication strategists and stakeholders design effective communication strategies using digital platforms. The study reveals CAB themes as with Mask Wearing Issues and Employment Issues as relevant themes discussed on digital channels.

The themes extracted in the present study provide a roadmap for policy-makers and communication experts to utilize social media platforms for communicating and understanding the perception of preventive measures of vaccination and CAB. As evidenced by the increased engagement on social media platforms during the COVID-19-induced lockdown, digital platforms are indeed valuable from the communication perspective to be proactive in the event of a similar situation. Moreover, significant themes, including social media adaptivity, absence of knowledge-providing mechanism and perception of safety measures of the vaccine, are the critical parameters leading to an amplified effect on vaccine hesitancy.

The COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Amplification Themes (CVHAT) equips stakeholders and government strategists with a preconfigured paradigm to tackle dedicated communication campaigns and assess digital community behavior during health emergencies COVID-19.

The increased acceptance of vaccines and the following of CAB decrease the advocacy of mutation of the virus and promote the healthy being of the people. As CAB has been mentioned as a preventive strategy against the COVID-19 pandemic, the research preposition promotes communication intervention which helps to mitigate future such pandemics. As developing, economies require effective communication strategies for vaccine acceptance and CAB, this study contributes to filling the gap using a digital environment.

Chan et al. (2020) recommended using social media platforms for public knowledge dissemination. The study observed that the value of a communication strategy is increased when communication happens using highly trusted and accessible channels such as Twitter and Facebook. With the preceding context, the present study is a novel approach to contribute toward digital communication strategies related to vaccination and CAB.

The case is positioned in the domain of building, managing and communicating corporate reputation. It discusses the entry of Lenovo in the Indian market where the company faced reputational challenges. Definition of a corporate reputation strategy which was aligned to the overall strategy of the company, helped Lenovo traverse difficult terrains. The case would be relevant for courses on corporate reputation, communication and strategy.

The case is targeted at MBA students, corporate and PR professionals. The case can be used for MBA courses or management development programmes on corporate reputation, communication, and strategy.

The case brings out key elements of entry into an emerging market flooded with international, well-positioned players and discusses the entry of Lenovo in the Indian market where the problem was compounded by perceptions of Chinese origin. How does Lenovo bring about a turnaround in positioning, building, communicating and managing reputation, how does it steer stakeholder opinion in its favour? Will Lenovo India be able to replicate the success model in China? The case presents the challenges and discusses the strategies adopted by Amar Babu, MD Lenovo to bring about a change in the existing perceptions of stakeholders.

To discuss strategies for building corporate reputation.

To critically examine and analyze the strategies adopted by Lenovo India to build reputation and gain market share.

To analyse links between strategy generation and reputation management.

Teaching notes are available, please consult your librarian to access these.

In recent years, significant research has focused on the question of whether severe market periods are accompanied by herding behavior. As herding behavior is a considerable cause of the speculative bubble and leads to stock market deviations from their basic values it is necessary to examine the motivators which led to herding behavior among investors. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

In this study, the authors performed a two-phase analysis to address the research questions of the study. In the first phase, for text analysis NVivo software was used to identify the factors driving herding behavior among Indian stock investors. The analysis of a text was performed using word frequency analysis. While in the second phase, the Fuzzy-AHP analysis techniques were employed to examine the relative importance of all the factors determined and assign priorities to the factors extracted.

Results of the study depicted Investor Cognitive Psychology (ICP), Market Information (MI), Stock Characteristics (SC) as the top-ranked factors driving herding behavior, while Socio-Economic Factors (SEF) emerged as the least important factor driving herding behavior.

The current study was undertaken among stock investors from North India only. Moreover, numerous factors are not part of the study but might significantly influence the investors' herding behaviors.

Comprehending the influences of the different factors discussed in the study would enable stock investors to be more aware of their investment choices and not resort to herd behavior. This research enables decision-makers to understand the reasons for herd activity and helps them act accordingly to improve the stock market's performance.

The current study will provide an inclusive overview of herding behavior motivators among Indian stock investors. This study's results can be extremely useful for both academics and policymakers to gain some insight into the functioning of the Indian stock market.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the severity of public events in real time from the perspective of social media and to construct the early warning mechanism of public events.

This study constructed the severity assessment system of public events from the dimensions of the netizens' role, the Internet media's role, the spread of public events and the attitudes and feelings of netizens. The method of analyzing the influence tendency of the public event severity indicators was proposed. A total of 1,107,308 microblogging entries regarding four public events were investigated. The severity of public events was divided into four levels.

It is found that serious public events have higher indicator values than medium level events on the microblogging platform. A quantitative severity classification standard for public events was established and the early warning mechanism of public events was built.

Microblogging and other social media platforms provide rich clues for the real-time study and judgment of public events. This study only investigated the Weibo platform as the data source. Other social media platforms can also be considered in future.

Different from the ex-post evaluation method of judging the severity of public events based on their physical loss, this study constructed a quantitative method to dynamically determine the severity of public events according to the clues reflected by social media. The results can help the emergency management departments judge the severity of public events objectively and reduce the subjective negligence and misjudgment.