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This paper aims to explore the consumers’ and service-providers’ perspectives on the factors influencing adoption of e-services in rural India. The purpose is to enable better diffusion of technology for societal development in this digital era.

Using qualitative-based multiple-participant interviews, this study explores the factors affecting e-service adoption from two different perspectives. While interviews were conducted in five villages with 14 respondents to find out the perspectives of the consumers, this study also explores the service-providers’ perspectives through interviews conducted among 11 managerial respondents.

Catering to personal needs, improving perceived usefulness, value-added options, data analytics for better understanding customers and improving service delivery of the e-service are the major factors identified by the service-providers. The study also concludes that convenience, compatibility, societal influence and availability of value-added addition of the e-service are decisive in e-service adoption from the perspectives of the consumers.

The first limitation of this research is that there can be common method bias. Second, there were overlapping themes.

This study can help researchers working on the adoption of e-services in under-developed/developing countries. The findings of this study may help industries to focus on the determinants while designing the e-services for improving their rate of adoption.

This study will help in better diffusion of e-services in rural areas, which in turn will help in societal development in this digital era.

The focus is on societal development through the adoption of e-services in rural areas. To the best of the knowledge of the researchers, no qualitative study has been performed to capture the perspectives of both the service-providers and the consumers on the adoption of e-services in India.

The purpose of this chapter is to develop a deeper understanding of the CSR perspectives of MBA in the European context. The chapter will review literature from the USA and Europe focused on business school ethics and the CSR. The chapter will then present the findings generated from research into MBA students’ ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a European business school research site.

This was inductive research that used qualitative, semi-structured interviews, along with other qualitative techniques, to collect data. The research population was purposely selected from two cohorts of MBA students, one comprising P/T, the other F/T students.

The research confirmed that there are broad similarities between the USA and Europe, in terms of students’ experiences of business school scholarship and pedagogy. The research also confirmed, however, that these European-based students wanted a greater focus on CSR, for instance in terms of addressing the relationship between business and the environment, which students do not consider is adequately addressed in their programmes. Furthermore, and reflecting US experience, students reported at the completion of the MBA that they were conscious that they had become more focused on their individual ‘rational’ self-interest, with the goal of increasing their own material success. Not all of these students were content with this change, but they reported that it had been embedded within them, as a consequence of studying for an MBA.

US-based research and this example from the European context both point to the conclusion that there is dominant instrumental paradigm in HE business and management pedagogy. This paradigm needs to be challenged to restore society’s ethical and CSR expectations, and also to facilitate the moral education of more socially responsible MBA graduate managers. The research confirmed that students are very much in favour of CSR framed changes to the MBA programme.

This chapter contributes to a developing research stream into MBA programmes and CSR in a European context.

This paper aims to uncover the challenges facing entrepreneurs in a developing economy, using the retail pharmacy sector in Nigeria. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial leadership attributes that have proved to be valuable in overcoming the challenges faced in this sector will be identified.

The study is exploratory. Data collection is based on semi-structured interviews with retail pharmacy entrepreneurs and their employees. Although there has been some body of literature on entrepreneurial leadership, (Fernald et al., 2005; Gupta et al., 2004), none have addressed the nexus of leadership and entrepreneurship (Cogliser and Brigham, 2004) from the retail pharmacy sector of a developing economy.

Findings show that retail pharmacy entrepreneurs in a developing economy are faced with challenges such as inadequate capital and poor infrastructural facilities. However, despite these challenges, these entrepreneurial leaders were successful because of key attributes, namely, vision, risk-taking and opportunity recognition and exploitation.

The sample size is a limitation to the study. Future studies with a larger sampling base as well as a different sector will provide greater insight.

This study is the first qualitative study to explore the impact of entrepreneurial leadership in the retail pharmacy sector in Nigeria. It identified the training needs for entrepreneurs in this context. By the participants sharing their experiences, the study identified the prerequisites for success, hence motivating other retail pharmacy entrepreneurs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the construction of the meanings of auditor independence (AI) in an oil‐rich autocratic state with an ideology straddling liberal market capitalism and Shari'ah (Islamic teachings).

The concept of AI was explored using Blumer's interactionist approach or the Chicago School of Symbolic Interactionism (CSSI). Multiple methods were adopted in collecting and interpreting data: document analysis, personal professional experience, observation and interviews with auditors in two audit firms in Saudi Arabia.

Using discourse analysis, the paper demonstrates that auditors construct the meanings of independence in appearance and in fact through their social interactions at three levels: micro (personal self‐reflexivity through ethical reasoning and reputation of individual auditor); meso (organisational culture through range of commercial activities and image management) and macro (through political, de jure, and socio‐economic structure).

The paper contributes to the auditing literature by providing insights into the construction of the meaning of AI in a context different from the dominant Anglo‐American discourse, as well as transition and emerging economies discourse. The paper also contributes to the CSSI research methodology by extending it to consider interactions not only within an organisational context, but also within the context of a country.