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The primary purpose of this study is to examine the factors leading to shopping cart abandonment and construct a model depicting interrelationship among them using interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and Matriced Impact Croises Multiplication Appliquee an un Classement (MICMAC).

Initially, 20 factors leading to shopping cart abandonment were extracted through a systematic literature review and expert opinions. Fifteen factors were finalized using the importance index and CIMTC method, for which consistency has been checked in SPSS software through a statistical reliability test. Finally, ISM and MICMAC approach is used to develop a model depicting the contextual relationship among finalized factors of shopping cart abandonment.

The ISM model depicts a technical glitch (SC8), cash on delivery not available (SC4), bad checkout interface (SC9), just browsing (SC11), and lack of physical examination (SC12) are drivers or independent factors. Additionally, four quadrants have been formulated in MICMAC analysis based on their dependency and driving power. This facilitates technical managers of e-commerce companies to focus more on factors leading to shopping cart abandonment according to their dependency and driving power.

Taking an expert’s opinion as a base may affect the results of the study due to biases based on subjectivity.

This study’s outcomes would accommodate practitioners, researchers, and multinational or national companies to indulge in e-commerce to anticipate factors restricting the general public from online shopping.

For the successful running of an e-commerce business and to retain the confidence of e-shoppers, every e-commerce company must make a strategy for controlling factors leading to shopping cart abandonment at the initial stage. So, this paper attempts to highlight the main factors leading to shopping cart abandonment and interrelate them using ISM and MICMAC approaches. It provides a clear path to technical heads, researchers, and consultants for handling these shopping cart abandonment factors.

The purpose of this study is to explore and model the strategies to overcome the barriers of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementation in Indian small manufacturing enterprises (SMEs).

In this research, 31 strategies of LSS implementation in SMEs have been identified through detailed literature review and out of them, 13 are finalized using statistical tools like CIMTC and Importance-Index analysis. Moreover, the consistency of finalized strategies was examined through reliability test using SPSS software version 22. The finalized strategies are modelled through interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and classified them using MICMAC based on their driving and dependency power.

The key findings of this techno-managerial study are identification and modelling of 13 strategies to overcome adoption challenges of LSS in context of Indian SMEs. The usage of ISM-MICMAC approach provides the guidance to industrialist consider the mutual interaction of strategies during planning and scheduling for LSS projects.

Due to human involvement and judgements, there may be chance of biasness and subjectivity during construction of self-interaction matrix. Also, the number of identified strategies to overcomes barriers of LSS adoption may vary by altering nature, scope and region of research.

Literature is full of studies regarding LSS barriers and its rankings. Also, few studies explored the solutions of LSS barriers and prioritized them. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, our study is very rare to witness which expose the strategies to overcome the barriers and frame the mutual interaction are per the driving and dependence power of strategies. The application of ISM-MICMAC approach suggests a roadmap for implementing LSS approach efficiently through considering developed ISM model of strategies in context of SMEs.

It is critical for small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to review and monitor sustainability performance indicators across three dimensions: economic, environmental and social to attain long-term competitiveness. SMEs lack a holistic perspective on sustainability; they are frequently hindered from contemplating environmentally favorable investments beyond what is legally needed. The purpose of this paper is to present a joint Decision-making trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and NK methodology for developing a process model for introducing and implementing sustainable competitiveness practices for SMEs.

This study addresses the issue by adopting a sustainable competitiveness practices framework and applying a novel method that integrates DEMATEL and NK model for evaluating and developing the implementation path model for Indian manufacturing SMEs.

This paper also demonstrates that not only the relational practice itself but also the order in which the relational practices are implemented can be related to performance. According to the authors' preliminary findings, organizations in this study should first implement a social dimension, which includes sustainable leadership, knowledge sharing, etc., then an economic dimension like quality, sustainable innovations, etc., and finally environmental dimensions like green marketing, solid waste reduction, etc., with their management for competitiveness.

These findings offer some preliminary information as well as advice for managers and policymakers looking to integrate sustainable efforts.

This study asserts that not only the interdependent practice but also the sequence of implementation is important and can relate to the performance. The path result shows that the organization develops first sustainable design and product development (economic), sustainable leadership (social) and solid waste reduction (environmental) practices.

There is no such study that develops a process model for introducing and implementing sustainable competitiveness of SMEs which assesses and analyzes the interdependencies across relational behaviors, to the best of authors’ knowledge. The novelty of this work lies in integrating DEMATEL-NK model approach.

Responding to the continuing separation of participants and researchers in LIS participatory research, a new methodology is proposed: action partnership research design (APRD). It is asserted that APRD can mitigate or remove the hierarchical structures often inherent in the research process, thus allowing for equal contribution from all.

Building on the bonded design (BD) methodology and informed by a scoping literature review conducted by the same authors, APRD is a human-centered research approach with the goal of empowering and valuing community partnerships. APRD originates from research investigating the use of participatory design methods to foster collaboration between two potentially disparate groups, firstly with adult researchers/designers and elementary school children, and secondly with university faculty and IT professionals.

To achieve this goal, in addition to BD techniques, APRD draws inspiration from elements of indigenous and decolonization research methodologies, particularly those with an emphasis on destabilizing power hierarchies and involving research participants as full partners.

APRD, which emerged from findings from previous participatory design studies, especially those of BD, is based on the premise of partnership, recognizing that each member of a design team, whether researcher or participant/user, has unique expertise to contribute. By considering participants/users as full research partners, APRD aims to flatten the hierarchies exhibited in some LIS participatory research methodologies, where participants are treated more like research subjects than partners.

Utilizing the expectation states theory in sociology, this study probes into the influence of the board's informal hierarchy on the quality of enterprise innovation, originating from the perspective of internal directorial interactions, while analyzing the boundary effects exhibited by the nature of property rights and the intensity of geo-culture.

The study selects China's A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2021 as the research sample, employing the Tobit regression analysis method to scrutinize the hypotheses presented in the text.

The regression results demonstrate a positive correlation between the board's informal hierarchy and the enterprise innovation quality (EIQ). Upon introducing variables specific to property rights and geographical culture, the authors found that in comparison to non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs), the influence of the board's informal hierarchy on the quality of corporate innovation is diminished in SOEs. Conversely, the intensity of geo-culture across Chinese provinces enhances their mutual positive influence. In the additional analysis, the authors also found that the elevation of corporate risk tolerance is a significant pathway for the positive effect of the board's informal hierarchy on EIQ. Moreover, this positive influence is more profound in high-tech enterprises, businesses implementing equity incentive plans and companies that have subscribed to director and officer liability insurance.

The findings not only deepen the understanding of how the board's internal status characteristics influence corporate decision-making but also enrich the application scope of expectation states theory. Furthermore, this study offers valuable guidance for optimizing innovation decision-making by adjusting the personnel structures of corporate boards.

E-commerce companies use different types of dark patterns to manipulate choices and earn higher revenues. This study aims to evaluate and prioritize dark patterns used by e-commerce companies to determine which dark patterns are the most profitable and risky.

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) prioritizes the observed categories of dark patterns based on the literature. Several corporate and academic specialists were consulted to create a comparison matrix to assess the elements of the detected dark pattern types.

Economic indicators are the most significant aspect of every business. Consequently, many companies use manipulative methods such as dark patterns to boost their revenue. The study revealed that the revenue generated by the types of dark patterns varies greatly. It was found that exigency, social proof, forced action and sneaking generate the highest revenues, whereas obstruction and misdirection create only marginal revenues for an e-commerce company.

The limitation of the AHP study is that the rating scale used in the analysis is conceptual. Consequentially, pairwise comparisons may induce bias in the results.

This paper suggests methodical and operational techniques to choose the priority of dark patterns to drive profits with minimum tradeoffs. The dark pattern ranking technique might be carried out by companies once a year to understand the implications of any new dark patterns used.

The advantages of understanding the trade-offs of implementing dark patterns are massive. E-commerce companies can optimize their spent time and resources by implementing the most beneficial dark patterns and avoiding the ones that drive marginal profits and annoy consumers.

This paper aims to design a hybrid model of knowledge-based performance management system (KBPMS) for facilitating Lean Six-Sigma (L6s) application to increase contractor productivity without compromising human safety in Indonesian upstream oil field operations that manage ageing and life extension (ALE) facilities.

The research design applies a pragmatic paradigm by employing action research strategy with qualitative-quantitative methodology involving 385 of 1,533 workers. The KBPMS-L6s conceptual framework is developed and enriched with the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize fit-for-purpose Key Performance Indicators. The application of L6s with Human Performance Modes analysis is used to provide a statistical baseline approach for pre-assessment of the contractor’s organizational capabilities. A comprehensive literature review is given for the main pillars of the contextual framework.

The KBPMS-L6s concept has given an improved hierarchy for strategic and operational levels to achieve a performance benchmark to manage ALE facilities in Indonesian upstream oil field operations. To increase quality management practices in managing ALE facilities, the L6s application requires an assessment of the organizational capability of contractors and an analysis of Human Performance Modes (HPM) to identify levels of construction workers’ productivity based on human competency and safety awareness that have never been done in this field.

The action research will only focus on the contractors’ productivity and safety performances that are managed by infrastructure maintenance programs for managing integrity of ALE facilities in Indonesian upstream of oil field operations. Future research could go toward validating this approach in other sectors.

This paper discusses the implications of developing the hybrid KBPMS- L6s enriched with AHP methodology and the application of HPM analysis to achieve a 14% reduction in inefficient working time, a 28% reduction in supervision costs, a 15% reduction in schedule completion delays, and a 78% reduction in safety incident rates of Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), Days Away Restricted or Job Transfer (DART) and Motor Vehicle Crash (MVC), as evidence of achieving fit-for-purpose KPIs with safer, better, faster, and at lower costs.

This paper does not discuss social implications

This paper successfully demonstrates a novel use of Knowledge-Based system with the integration AHP and HPM analysis to develop a hybrid KBPMS-L6s concept that successfully increases contractor productivity without compromising human safety performance while implementing ALE facility infrastructure maintenance program in upstream oil field operations.

This study responded to the call to empirically reconcile conflicting findings in unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) literature. It did so by examining the influence of organizational culture on the relationship between affective organizational commitment and UPB.

Using a sample of 710 U.S. service sector employees based on a three-wave data collection design, structural invariance assessment was utilized to evaluate the relationship between affective organizational commitment and UPB across organizational cultures with opposing effectiveness criteria (i.e. focused on stability vs flexibility).

The result indicated a statistically significant positive direct effect between affective organizational commitment and UPB for the stability-focused cultures, while finding a statistically insignificant effect for the flexibility-focused cultures. These results support organizational culture research, which shows that organizational cultures with opposing effectiveness criteria (i.e. stability vs flexibility) can either encourage or discourage ethical behavior.

While leaders and managers encourage employee commitment to the organization, it is important to understand that increased organizational commitment is not limited to positive outcomes. Cultivating elements of flexibility-oriented cultures, like promoting teamwork (as in clan cultures) or fostering innovation and adaptability (as in adhocracy cultures), can be a strategic approach to minimize the chances of UPB among committed employees.

By integrating insights from social exchange theory, Trevino’s interactionist model and the competing values framework, we have contributed to a nuanced understanding of how different organizational cultures can suppress or stimulate UPB.

We explore how NGO’s local entrepreneurial initiatives to empower women entrepreneurs can compensate for weak state policies for women in a context of male-dominated socio-cultural norms.

We use the case of a local entrepreneurial initiative launched in the Atlas region of Morocco, the Empowering Women in the Atlas Initiative (EWA). We collected data through 51 semi-structured interviews of women entrepreneurs in three cooperatives which exploit the natural resources of their region to establish a social venture. Our data are longitudinal as they were collected at two time periods: before and after the initiative.

The findings of this study suggest that local entrepreneurial initiatives can have a significant impact on rural women entrepreneurs’ empowerment. The improved perception of empowerment has not only helped them develop capacities to leverage the business opportunities linked to the natural resources of their region, but it has also increased their status and role within their family and community.

We make recommendations for policymakers to encourage this type of initiative to compensate for the absence of supporting policies geared toward women.

Our study is one of the first to look at empowerment as a policy instrument to develop women entrepreneurial activities in rural areas of developing countries. Our paper uses a unique hierarchical perspective and a multidimensional framework for analyzing social cooperative ventures and rural women entrepreneurs’ empowerment. Our paper unravels interesting insights for women entrepreneurs’ narration strategies.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to demonstrate how memes perpetuate trauma with a schematic. This conceptual paper uses the “begin with the end in mind” meme to format the presentation of the necessary components for the schematic of how trauma persists across generations. It is the third paper in a series of applications of the recursive, test-operate-test schematic to the systemic effects of the information processes involved in trauma. The schematic presented permits evaluations of solutions to interrupt the generational trauma cycle.

The required schematic components are described. Trauma (actual or perceived threat to survival) will be briefly discussed. Evolutionary processes that create the psychophysiology necessary to support nominal social expectations (NSEs) memes and metaphors will be summarized. The development of NSEs will be discussed. Metaphors and memes necessary for the creation of the schematic and esoteric events at level Learning IV will be briefly described. Finally, Figure 3, which illustrates the maintenance of NSEs and attempts to prevent their violation, will be explained.

It is asserted that functional human social behavior requires NSEs. Trauma is found to persist through the presence of anti-nominal NSE memes that are transduced by the individual into anti-nominal metaphors, which then damage grid, place and dentate gyrus cell (GPDG) neurophysiology. The damaged neurocircuits allow the use of anti-nominal NSE metaphors within our individual neurophysiology. Furthermore, anti-NSE memes interfere with the self-organized criticalities (SOCs) of genetic-epigenetic processes necessary for the intergenerational transfer of functional social behavior. When anti-NSE nominal metaphors are transduced back into anti-NSEs, social niche memes, the trauma process is reiterated. Anti-NSE memes and metaphors are found to be inappropriate criteria central to the maintenance of persistent trauma. Therefore, anti-NSE memes have hijacked our epigenetics and our social niches. Solutions are available because during our evolution, the Homo clade developed esoteric capabilities and the ability to bring back what information we can from those encounters. This physiology operates around the 5HT2A neural receptors that process hallucinogens, such as psilocybin. Accessing this resource system, either through naturally occurring altered states of consciousness or through micro-dose pharmaceutical psilocybin and related neurotransmitters, produces a significant structural change in the GPDG system to reset the NSE system illustrated in the schematic to its nominal status so that we can maintain nominal NSE relationships within our meme niche(s).

The source of persistent trauma in our social niche(s), the means by which the trauma is maintained and the means to mitigate and perhaps eliminate persistent trauma are identified. Based on these three conclusions, it is difficult to make decisions regarding corrective actions because of ubiquitous anti-NSE memes and because of the limitations of our ordinary consciousness.

If we wish to survive as a species, we will need to discover the criteria necessary to maintain our niche(s) congruent SOCs and use them instead of tyrannical memes described by Dawkins (1989) to make decisions about ourselves and our niche(s).

Significant courage is required to identify the memes that maintain trauma because many of them are culturally sacred cows. Unfortunately, we have known since Bremner's (1995) MRI study of posttraumatic stress disorder that trauma causes brain damage. Fortunately, our NSE genes compel us to pursue restitution of the memes that maintain our trauma-inducing cultures.

Several original assertions are presented. While the Homo clade ancestors began the creation of the social niche(s) that led to Homo sapiens sapiens, it is asserted that the australopiths created the NSE memes which are the foundation behaviors that permit our social niche(s). Furthermore, NSEs were produced by enhanced intentionality skills and NSEs were created by both genetic and memetic processes. The evolution of intentionality-NSE neural networks is asserted as the source of intentional material manipulation. While anti-NSE memes are claimed as the source of persistent trauma, the practice of esoteric technologies is presented as a solution to persistent trauma.