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This study explores how chatbot gender and symbolic service recovery may improve the satisfaction of angry customers in the context of service failures. It provides a strategy for companies to deploy chatbots effectively in customer anger.

This research relies upon a systematic literature review to propose three hypotheses, and we recruit 826 participants to examine the effect of chatbot gender on angry customers through one lab study and one field study.

This research shows that female chatbots are more likely to increase the satisfaction of angry customers than male chatbots in service failure scenarios. In addition, symbolic recovery (apology vs. appreciation) moderates the effect of chatbot gender on angry customers. Specifically, male (vs. female) chatbots are more effective in increasing the satisfaction of angry customers when using the apology method, whereas female (vs. male) chatbots are more effective when using the appreciation method.

The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence technology have significantly enhanced the effectiveness of chatbots as virtual agents in the field of interactive marketing. Previous research has concluded that chatbots can reduce negative customer feedback following a service failure. However, these studies have primarily focused on the level of chatbot anthropomorphism and the design of conversational texts, rather than the gender of chatbots. Therefore, this study aims to bridge that gap by examining the effect of chatbot gender on customer feedback, specifically focusing on angry customers following service failures.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of physical environment design (PED) and its antecedents on consumers’ emotional well-being (EWB). Drawing on place identity and emotional theories, the study aims to provide a new perspective to retail store experiences.

A survey of 800 respondents was conducted in London, out of which 764 responses were constructively used. The data was collected from international retail outlets, and structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data.

The empirical results show that PED has a positive effect on consumers’ EWB. Among the antecedents, visual identity does not have any significant effect on PED and EWB. In contrast, communication had a significant effect on PED but did not have any effect on EWB, and further, cultural heritage had a positive effect on both PED and EWB. Further, moderator analysis identifies the boundary conditions under which specific theories hold.

The value of this paper lies in its potential to be used for creating the perfect design planning in retail stores. Significant implications for managers and researchers are highlighted.

This paper presents an innovative approach to develop the principles of retail store’s PED to support the EWB of consumers.

Financing remains a serious concern for firms and is considered the main hurdle in the growth and development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Recently, a new stream of financing (SCF; supply chain finance) has emerged to meet the financing issues of SMEs. Therefore, measuring SCF is essential to support SMEs’ operations. This study aims to develop and validate the SCF scale based on extant literature.

Using a mixed-method approach, this study recruited different samples of SME entrepreneurs to confirm the internal consistency, assess construct validity and check the item structure of the SCF scale in AMOS.

The outcomes of confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated the six factors of SCF (inventory financing, working capital optimization, reverse financing, fixed assets financing, logistics financing and order cycle financing) spread over 21 items. An interitem solid structure of the SCF scale offers invaluable contributions to the supply chain management literature.

This research supports SME entrepreneurs to obtain secure financing at the best cost, mitigating the risk of default, supporting the buyers’ payment terms, providing early payment to suppliers and strengthening the firm’s value chains. SMEs can obtain financing per their requirements to support their operational business processes. Moreover, SMEs can plan, manage and control finance-related transactional activities by correctly identifying financing solutions.

The present study contributes to SCM literature by developing and validating the SCF scale. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that redefined SCF and identified its six dimensions.

Digital healthcare manages to grab considerable attention from people and practitioners to avoid severity and provide quick access to healthcare. Entrepreneurs also adopt the digital healthcare segment as an opportunity; nevertheless, their intentions to participate and encourage innovation in this growing sector are unexplored. Drawing upon the social capital theory and health belief model, the study examines the factors that drive entrepreneurship. A novel model is proposed to comprehend entrepreneurial intentions and behavior entrenched in social capital and other encouraging and dissuading perceptive elements with the moderation of trust in digitalization and entrepreneurial efficacy.

The cross-sectional method is used to collect data through a questionnaire from experienced respondents in China. The valid data comprises 280 respondents, analyzed by partial least square structural equation modeling.

Social capital significantly influences monetary attitude, and perceived risk and holds an inconsequential association with perceived usefulness, whereas monetary attitude and perceived usefulness meaningfully explain entrepreneurial activities. Perceived risk has a trivial impact on entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurial efficacy and trust in digitalization significantly explain entrepreneurial behavior and moderate the positive relationship between intention and behavior.

The present research proposes a novel research model in the context of entrepreneurship rooted in a digitalized world and offering new correlates. It provides valuable insights by exploring entrepreneurial motivation and deterring factors to get involved in startup activities entrenched in social capital, providing guidelines for policymakers and practitioners to promote entrepreneurship.

In the era of the digital economy, higher demands are placed on versatile talents, and the cultivation of students with innovative and entrepreneurial abilities has become an important issue for the further development of higher education, thus leading to extensive and in-depth research by many scholars. The study summarizes the characteristics and patterns of dual-innovation education at different stages of development, hoping to provide a systematic model for the development of dual-innovation education in China and make up for the shortcomings.

This paper uses Citespace software to visualize and analyze the relevant literature in CNKI and Web of Science databases from a bibliometric perspective, focusing on quantitative analysis in terms of article trends, topic clustering, keyword co-linear networks and topic time evolution, etc., to summarize and sort out the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education research at home and abroad.

The study found that the external characteristics of the literature published in the field of bi-innovation education in China and abroad are slightly different, mainly in that foreign publishers are more closely connected and have formed a more stable ecosystem. In terms of research hotspots, China is still in a critical period of reforming its curriculum and teaching model, and research on the integration of specialization and creative education is in full swing, while foreign countries focus more on the cultivation of students' entrepreneurial awareness and the enhancement of individual effectiveness. In terms of cutting-edge analysis, the main research directions in China are “creative education”, “new engineering”, “integration of industry and education” and “rural revitalization”.

Innovation and entrepreneurship education in China is still in its infancy, and most of the studies lack an overall overview and comparison of foreign studies. Based on the econometric analysis of domestic and foreign literature, this paper proposes a path for domestic innovation and entrepreneurship education reform that can make China's future education reform more effective.