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A novel phenomenon in product and service promotions, social coupons facilitate group buying at lower prices, bringing key benefits to customers, merchants and coupon aggregators. This study maps the evolution and innovations in social couponing, identifies knowledge gaps in the domain and sets the future research agenda.

Through a detailed systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis, this study maps the evolution of social coupons over time. The analysis examines social coupon research by studying research outputs by authors, institutes, countries and research themes. It also explores how the social couponing phenomenon has benefited the three key stakeholders: customers, merchants and coupon aggregators.

An innovation in couponing, social coupons are discount coupons that feature group buying, pre-purchase and daily deals. Based on the extensive review of extant literature, the study proposes a conceptual model for the social couponing process. The study also provides inputs for future research on social coupons and delineates their academic and managerial implications.

This study makes a pioneering endeavor to comprehensively map the knowledge structure of social coupons from multiple dimensions.

This paper investigates the relationship between climate finance and climate ergodicity. More specifically the paper examines how climate ergodicity as measured by a mean-reverting Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process affects the value of climate-linked bonds.

Bond valuation is evaluated using Monte Carlo methods of the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process. The paper describes climate risk in terms of the Hurst coefficient and derives a direct linkage between the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process and the Hurst measure.

We use the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck mean reversion relationship in its OLS form to estimate Hurst coefficients for 5 × 5° grids across the US for monthly temperature and precipitation. We find that the ergodic property holds with Hurst coefficients between 0.025 and 0.01 which implies increases in climate standard deviation in the range of 25%–50%.

The approach provides a means to stress-test the bond prices to uncover the probability distribution about the issue value of bonds. The methods can be used to price or stress-test bonds issued by firms in climate sensitive industries. This will be of particular interest to the Farm Credit System and the Farm Credit Funding Corporation with agricultural loan portfolios subject to spatial climate risks.

This paper examines bond issues under conditions of rising climate risks using Hurst coefficients derived from an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process.

This study differentiates pure impulse buying behaviour from suggestive impulse buying behaviour in using mobile shopping applications (apps). This study aims to assess the moderating effects of instant discount and cashback promotional offers along with the mediating effects of impulse buying intention (IBI) and user satisfaction (US), using the app stimuli (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, layout, atmosphere, privacy and security).

The study was done in three stages: analysis of variance, followed by structural equation modelling (SEM) and paired t-tests.

The results showed that instant discounts and cashback offers are different from each other for the mediating variable IBI. The SEM results for pure impulse buying showed that, except for layout, the remaining variables have a positive relationship with IBI. For suggestive impulse buying, effort expectancy and layout were significantly related to both the mediating variables. Finally, pure and suggestive impulse buying behaviour showed significant differences.

Previous studies have looked into impulse buying in its generic sense and not through the “types” of impulse buying they were measuring. As impulse buying behaviour is a predominant theme for discussion today, marketing professionals and researchers must comprehend the impact of app stimuli in the context of select types of impulse buying behaviour.

This study empirically identifies household demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as restaurant characteristics that affect the probability of households choosing an ethnic restaurant (American, Asian, European, Mexican and other) in the USA.

A multinomial logistic regression model is applied using the data derived from the information from the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey conducted between April 2012 and January 2013.

The empirical findings suggest that such factors as the unit cost on away-from-home food items (i.e. price), region of residence, primary respondent's ethnicity, race, education level, marital status and employment status as well as such restaurant characteristics as availability of loyalty program and presence of coupons significantly affect the probability of households choosing a particular ethnic restaurant in the USA.

The original dataset employed in this study does not permit the quantification of information associated with size, location, and number of years in operation for the ethnic restaurants considered. Also, the dataset does not permit the classification of the ethnic restaurants included in the “other” category.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, there has been no empirical micro-level analysis associated with determining factors impacting households' choice of ethnic restaurants using a polytomous logistic regression model allowing for a wide range of ethnic restaurants and covering the entire USA, based on an extensive set of household demographic and socioeconomic factors and restaurants characteristics. As such, the current study plugs this research gap, with the empirical findings furnished by this study being of importance to ethnic restaurant operators (owners) in the operators' effort to develop effective marketing strategies.

In this research, arbitrage opportunity is tested between the yield rates computed by the NSS model, and the computed forward rates between conventional and Islamic finance to see any arbitrage opportunity. The research questions are the conventional and Islamic finance yields at the same level and equal to each other to avoid arbitrage? Whether conventional and Islamic forward rates differ significantly and thus create any arbitrage opportunity. This study aims to find the presence or absence of arbitrage between conventional and Islamic finance yield rates.

The NSS model is the latest model in calculating yield and forward rates. In the method the error level is minimized so expected yield rate and given yield rate both converged (Vahidin and Anastasios, 2020). When they converged it gives the researchers all six months’ yield rates. For the Nelson Siegal method, all the six months’ yield rates are available and these yield rates can be used to compute the forward rates.

The authors concluded there is a significant difference between the conventional yield rate and the Islamic yield rate. It suggests that because there are significant differences, its suggest arbitrage is possible. So anyone interested in making a guaranteed profit. The conventional yield rates are lower; hence, anyone can borrow from the conventional finance system and invest the money in the Islamic financial system because investments are getting higher rates of income in the form of yield rate in Islamic Finance. So, one can make money because of this difference. Statistically, it is possible to make money, but practically, the authors observed the difference, however it is very meager. The arbitrage opportunity between Islamic finance and conventional finance will not affect the economy because the significant difference is too small. The disturbance in the arbitrage opportunity due to the values is very meager and insignificant.

This research does not address the derivative contracts’ role in risk management; future researchers could take up this as another research.

This research will be beneficial for financial institutions, especially institutional investors. Besides, this research will help the regulators and investment bankers in assisting where and future losses especially bond portfolios in conventional finance and Islamic finance. This study will also contribute and help the asset manager of mutual funds in the mutual fund industries.

In effect, this research will strengthen the financial system, capital market and bond market, derivative contracts such as options contracts, futures contracts, swap contracts and forward contracts will use computed forward rates for assessing future losses (value at risk [VaR]) and to hedge them (Balakrishnan, 2020).

As this topic is rarely studied it will increase the literature present in this domain.

Using surveys of Amazon and Tmall Global users, this paper aims to empirically investigate the issue of platform technological selection. We explore the impact of switching costs on users’ intentions to use an app-enabled cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) platform based on an extended technology acceptance model (TAM). The results suggest that the higher the switching cost of a platform is, the greater the users’ satisfaction and intention to use this platform. Therefore, for the platform, a moderate switching cost will be beneficial for retaining users.

Based on the TAM, this paper takes the switching costs as the starting point and focuses on exploring the relationships among switching costs, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived reliability, satisfaction and intention to use. Online surveys of users of Amazon and Tmall Global are adopted as the main instruments of this research. We collected a total of 408 valid responses from Amazon users and 490 from Tmall Global users. For the data analysis, this study conducts frequency analysis, a test analysis of the reliability and validity of the measures, correlation analysis, and path analysis using a structural equation model.

The results show that switching costs positively affect the users’ satisfaction and intentions to use a CBEC platform through perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived reliability.

The questionnaire respondents were predominantly Chinese due to the constraints of the survey conditions. In fact, China has a high penetration rate in CBEC, and Chinese users have rich experience using the Amazon and Tmall Global platforms.

The development of CBEC has ups and downs, and users frequently switch platforms. Considering how platforms can stand out from the crowd and retain users, we believe that a moderate increase in the switching cost of the platform is helpful for companies to address these problems, and the implications of the results are particularly valid for decision-makers of CBEC platforms and companies.

Amazon and Tmall Global are the two largest CBEC platforms in the world. Using these two companies as examples for comparison can effectively identify the differences between the platforms and the conclusions are representative. We suggest that platforms can improve user satisfaction and willingness to use by establishing VIP communities, issuing coupons, providing shipping services as well as convenient after-sale complaint channels, and improving the platform’s easy-to-use interface, as ways to further enable the platform to retain more users and stand out in fierce competition.

This paper addresses an interesting and practical issue related to the effects of introducing switching costs in an extended TAM applied to CBEC platforms.

Online food delivery has been prevalent in recent years worldwide, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and people's consumption behaviors have changed significantly. This study aims to investigate the consumption behavior of young adults using online food delivery platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on the dominant factors influencing their decision to use online food delivery platforms.

Semi-structured interviews including 14 young adults aged 18–25 living in Hong Kong were conducted to collect data about their perspectives on online food delivery platforms in five areas. This research adopted the stimulus-organism-response model (S-O-R model) to analyze how the factors influence young adult users' loyalty and satisfaction with online food delivery platforms.

Thematic analyses revealed that young adults were attracted to online food delivery platforms for their numerous benefits. They had a high frequency of usage and significant spending. Usability, usefulness, satisfaction and loyalty influenced young adults' behaviors on online food delivery platforms. Participants were overall satisfied with their experiences, but platforms still had room for improvement.

Few prior studies investigated the factors affecting the consumer experience and behavioral intention of online food delivery for young adults in Asia. This study contributes to understanding young adults' experiences and problems with online food delivery platforms. It provides practical insights for system engineers and designers to improve the current services and for the governments to enhance the existing regulatory loopholes.

Owing to the toxicity, biodegradability, and cost of most corrosion inhibitors, research attention is now focused on the development of environmentally benign, biodegradable, cheap, and efficient options. In consideration of these facts, chrysin, a phytocompound of Populus tomentosa (Chinese white poplar) has been isolated and investigated for its anticorrosion abilities on carbon steel in a mixed acid and chloride system. This highlights the main purpose of the study.

Chrysin was isolated from Populus tomentosa using column chromatography and characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. The investigations are outlined based on theory (Fukui indices, condensed density functional theory and molecular dynamic simulation) and experiments (electrochemical, gravimetry and surface morphology examinations).

Theoretical evaluations permitted the description of the adsorption characteristics, and molecular interactions and orientations of chrysin on Fe substrate. The interaction energy for protonated and neutral chrysin on Fe (110) were −149.10 kcal/mol and −143.28 kcal/mol, respectively. Moreover, experimental investigations showed that chrysin is a potent mixed-type corrosion inhibitor for steel, whose effectiveness depends on its surrounding temperature and concentration. The optimum inhibition efficiency of 78.7% after 24 h for 1 g/L chrysin at 298 K indicates that the performance of chrysin, as a pure compound, compares favorably with other phytocompounds and plant extracts investigated under similar conditions. However, the inhibition efficiency decreased to 62.5% and 51.8% at 318 K after 48 h and 72 h, respectively.

The novelty of this study relies on the usage of a pure compound in corrosion suppression investigation, thus eliminating the unknown influences obtainable by the presence of multi-phytocompounds in plant extracts, thereby advancing the commercialization of bio-based corrosion inhibitors.

The goal of this study is to investigate the mediating effect of referral rewards on consumer willingness to recommend poverty-alleviating products and to identify the most effective referral rewards for incentivizing consumers to recommend poverty-alleviating products.

Tournament rewards and piece-rate rewards are designed based on the theory of indebtedness, the related literature and the actual background. SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 17.0 are used to analyze the structural equation model.

According to the structural equation analysis, the following findings were found: under the tournament reward condition, social image, feelings of indebtedness and perceived reward value negatively affect consumer willingness to recommend. Under the piece-rate reward condition, social image and feelings of indebtedness significantly negatively affect consumer recommendation willingness, while perceived reward value significantly positively affects consumer recommendation willingness. The mean recommendation willingness of the tournament reward group is significantly lower than that of the control group. In contrast, the mean recommendation willingness of the piece-rate rewards group is significantly higher than that of the control group.

Based on the study findings, the authors propose that enterprises apply piece-rate rewards to incentivize consumers to recommend poverty-alleviating products when designing such rewards. In this way, the sale of poverty-alleviating products can be improved.

The purpose of this study is to investigate starch mucor (SM) in potassium iodide (KI) as corrosion inhibitor of aluminium in hydrochloric acid (HCl) medium.

The SM in KI was characterized by gravimetric, scanning electron microscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements, potentiodynamic polarization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer techniques. The inhibition efficiency was optimized using response surface methodology.

The result revealed that the inhibitor inhibited corrosion at a low concentration with the rate of inhibition increasing as the concentration of the inhibitor increased. The inhibition efficiency increases as the temperature was increased with slight incorporation of the inhibitor (SM in KI). This indicates that the corrosion control is both inhibitor (SM in KI) and temperature dependent.

The research results can provide the basis for using SM in KI as corrosion inhibitor of aluminium in HCL medium. Mixed-type inhibitor nature of SM was proved by cathodic and anodic nature of the polarization curves.