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The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, in a landmark judgment, scrapped a draconian law [Section 66 (A)] that gave the police absolute power to put behind bars anybody who was found posting offensive or annoying comments online. This paper aims to examine the take of people on the “Free Speech via Social Media” issue and their attitude towards the way sensitive messages/information are posted, shared and forwarded on social media, especially, Facebook.

The research was carried out on a sample of 200 social media users, all picked up randomly, from five Indian states/Union Territories. Data were collected through a questionnaire, and users were contacted through e-mail. Data collected were analyzed through the Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K-S) Z test.

The findings indicate that hate posts/messages are on the rise, and more and more users are joining in. Besides, prosecution happens only when the aggrieved party is influential or powerful.

The findings of this research give a strong insight into the social media behaviour of users in relation to hate contents/posts. The study establishes the fact that Indian people are in favour of free speech, but with a sense of restraint and responsibility. The work could form the basis for future research on various aspects of hate speech on social media. Researchers could study the trials and prosecutions that have happened over the past few years and whether punishment has acted as a deterrent.

The research is likely to be important for those involved in work on freedom of speech or hate speech through social media. Social networking sites such as Facebook would also get some insights into users’ perception towards free and hate speech mechanism on social media.

Religion plays a crucial role as a sociocultural factor to assess consumer behavior. Stemming from the above, this study aims to analyze the impact of religion and ethnic concern on the purchase intention (PI) of consumers based on the theory of planned behavior.

The research method adopted for this study includes a meta-analysis of the extant literature for the past 20 years focusing on the relationship between religiosity and PI. Data of 24 values from 23 studies were used to assess the impact of religiosity on the PI of consumers.

The findings of this study indicate that religiosity has a strong impact on the PI of consumers. Further, this study identifies that location, sample size and product category play a vital role as moderators toward the relationship between religiosity and PI. This study identifies critical and pertinent implications for brands as they reach out to religious and cultural groups across various geographies, in the context of identifying target markets and adapting marketing strategies.

This study acts in response to the consistent call for research to focus on religion-related variables and fills the gap calling for empirical research into religiosity and its impact on PIs. This study makes notable theoretical, managerial and methodological contributions to the field.

The link between supply chain agility (SCA) and performance has been tested in previous research with different samples and results. The present paper quantitatively analyses and summarises the impact of SCA on performance found in previous empirical papers and determines the influence of several identified moderators.

Using a meta-analysis approach based on a systematic literature review, a total of 63 empirical papers comprising a sample of 14,469 firms were meta-analysed to consider substantive (type of performance and SCA operationalisation) and extrinsic (economic region and industry) moderators.

Results confirm a significantly large, positive correlation between SCA and performance. None of the analysed moderators has enabled the identification of any significant differences between the SCA and performance correlations by subgroup. However, high heterogeneity in total variance, both in the full sample and the subgroups by moderator, demands further rigorously reported empirical research on this topic with clearly conceptualised variables and frameworks and the use of validated scales.

Several research gaps and best practice recommendations have been indicated to improve future empirical research on this topic.

Practitioners in different economic regions and industries will find consistent evidence of improvements in performance through SCA.

No meta-analysis has been found in previous research to estimate the value of the correlation between SCA and performance and the influence of moderating variables.

Drawing on the self-determination theory, this cross-cultural study aims to examine the associations between the dualistic framework of work passion and work outcomes (job satisfaction, job engagement and workaholism).

Using data from a time-lagged design with two-waves, service organizations employees of the UAE (n = 150) and Canada (n = 154) participated in the study. Hierarchical regression analysis is used to analyze the associations among the variables.

The study results support the harmonious and obsessive passion relationships with the identified work outcomes. In both the UAE and Canada, harmonious and obsessive passion predicted all three hypothesized work outcomes (workaholism, job satisfaction and job engagement). The study also acknowledged various culture-specific work passion effects.

The study encompasses the dichotomy of the work passion paradigm to compare between East and West. The examination of the work passion results offers a precise method to examine in what manner the two types of passion is linked to different work outcomes. Harmonious and obsessive passion is associated with negative (workaholism) and positive (job satisfaction and job engagement) outcomes. Accordingly, the findings strengthen the conceptual outline of the passion construct. Moreover, the research highlighted the importance of enriching the organization's environment with passionate human capital. This study shall help the decision-makers to formulate the suitable strategies to imbibe passion within the work culture.

This study contributes to the literature by being the first to compare the influence of harmonious and obsessive passion on work outcomes between the East and West cultures. Also, in this study, we draw upon the self-determination theory to investigate how work passion affects employees' work outcomes in a cross-cultural setting.

This paper aims to study the effect of knowledge management in formulating competitive strategies for knowledge-based small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia.

A quantitative approach of a survey was carried out on 135 owners and managers of knowledge-based SMEs in Malaysia. Structural equation modeling technique was used to investigate the relationship between knowledge management and competitive strategies. SmartPLS software is used to analyze the quantitative data. Only SMEs which are involved in R&D and innovation were selected to get the right respondents who meet the objective of the study.

The findings show mixed results. Most dimensions of knowledge management have significant relationships to differentiation strategy except for knowledge creation and knowledge acquisition, with only knowledge acquisition showing a significant relationship to cost leadership. Findings reveal that knowledge management has a positive effect on competitive strategies with more inclination toward differentiation strategy, compared to cost leadership strategy which does synchronize with their commitment in research and development and innovation.

This study is only focused on knowledge-based SMEs in central Malaysia. Second, the use of a survey approach minimized the flow of information.

SMEs do have knowledge management practices but may not be exploiting it well. Mapping knowledge management practices would help SMEs identify their strengths and weaknesses to explore better business opportunities. This proves that SMEs are leveraging their resources through knowledge application, dissemination, storage and protection to be different than their competitors. However, their apparent lack of knowledge in knowledge acquisition and knowledge creation should be addressed accordingly, as it is important for their future continuous sustainability.

This paper contributes to the literature of knowledge management relating to competitive strategies in SMEs. The study offers insights on how competitive strategies were formulated through knowledge management. The mixed results reveal a new different outlook of knowledge management relating to competitive strategies.

The aim of the study is to examine the impact of financial inclusion on poverty, income inequality and financial stability using panel data of 54 African countries.

To achieve this objective, the current study used multiple regressions across an unbalanced panel data of 54 African countries which are based on the four years mean value for the period 2001–2019.

The results show that financial inclusion (FI) is a valuable indicator; it reduces poverty, income inequality and improves financial stability.

The study invokes the attention of government and policymakers to build up a financially inclusive system which, in turn, leads to improve financial stability and lower poverty and income inequality. They should focus on quality and sustainable financial products and services in terms of financial inclusion to avoid dominant accounts and ensure consumer protection.

This adds to the scarce literature on the impact of financial inclusion on poverty, income inequality and financial stability in the context of African countries. The study contributes to the literature on the issue of financial inclusion and poverty, income inequality and financial stability by reconfirming (or otherwise) findings of previous studies.

The purpose of this paper is to access the present situation of the Pakistani population that suffers from vitamin D deficiency.

A review-based study was conducted based on publications from Pakistan between the years 2008 and 2018. The publications were archived from Pub Med and Google Scholar databases. A total of 18 publications were shortlisted, based on the cutoff values of vitamin D sufficiency, insufficiency and deficiency.

As per the data, 38.5 per cent of the participants were males, 48.7 per cent were females and 12.8 per cent of the studies have not mentioned the genders of the participants. The cumulative results show that 58.17 per cent (95 per cent CI: 52.17, 64.16) of the population is vitamin D-deficient and 26.65 per cent (95 per cent CI: 21.63, 31.66) is insufficient in vitamin D. The highest level of vitamin D deficiency was reported from Sindh (62.15 per cent), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (60.57 per cent), Punjab (51.75 per cent) and the Federal Capital (49.25 per cent). Moreover, Cochran’s Q test indicated considerable heterogeneity (p = >0.001) with regard to Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) prevalence found among samples from the selected studies.

The present analysis suggests that more than half of the Pakistani population suffers from VDD, which, thus, should be considered as an epidemic and treated likewise.

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive investigation into the different roles of cash holding decisions on Shariah-compliant and non-Shariah-compliant firms’ performance. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the significant relationship of liquidity on Shariah- and non-Shariah-compliant corporations.

This study sample includes non-financial firms listed in six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets between 2005 and 2019. The study uses panel fixed effects and the dynamic generalized method of moments (system-GMM) models to test the relationship between cash holding and firm performance. The firms’ performance is measured using four widely used proxies representing book and market measures of performance including return on assets, return on equity, earnings before interest and tax to total assets and Tobin’s Q.

The results explore that the nature of the relationship between cash holdings and performance varies across Shariah-compliant and non-Shariah-compliant firms. Specifically, cash holdings are positively and significantly related to Shariah-compliant firms’ performance. However, cash reserves are not significantly related to conventional firms’ performance. These findings indicate that Shariah-compliant firms rely more on their cash holdings to avoid costly and less available external financing, meet everyday business needs and invest in profitable projects. In contrast, the value for cash holding is less important for non-Shariah-compliant firms, as their external financing options are less restricted compared to Shariah-compliant firms.

This study is not free from limitations. More specifically, the sample of this study comprises of firms listed in GCC countries, which share common features. It would be interesting for future research to examine the linkage between cash holdings and Shariah-compliant and conventional firms’ performance by applying a larger sample, such as firms located in countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The findings of this paper provide useful insights for managers and investors on the important role of cash management for Shariah-compliant firms. Policymakers and bankers need to develop Shariah-based financial products to ease Islamic financing sources. Moreover, the findings of this paper call for more research on the importance of liquidity management for Shariah-compliant firms.

This study extends the Islamic finance literature by exploring the key role of cash holdings to Shariah-compliant firms. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study to investigate cash holdings and performance between Shariah-compliant and non-Shariah-compliant firms.

This paper aims to study entrepreneurial ownership and technological input on product innovation globally and in the Indian context. The data used in this study is collected from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM).

The study evaluates strategic innovation and entrepreneurial ownership in global and country-level data. The study was extracted from global and country-level data by the GEM. One of the methods used is ordinal regression analysis to examine the importance of entrepreneurial ownership and technology usage on product innovation. Another technique used is the fuzzy-based simulation to simulate the scenario of entrepreneurial ownership and usage of technology in business processes impacting product innovation.

Results from statistical analysis indicate that entrepreneurial ownership is high in India compared to the globe. The usage of technology and its excellence is still lower than the global level and in other countries. In India, product innovation is achieved because of strong entrepreneurial ownership but, globally product innovation is achieved because of the higher level of technological excellence and technology usage in innovation activities. The fuzzy-based simulation shows that product innovation is at peak only when both technological input and entrepreneurial ownership are high.

This paper's original contribution is that the fuzzy-based simulations are applied to GEM data to study the relationships of entrepreneurial ownership and technological input on product innovation through simulation. The study has shed light on how entrepreneurial ownership and usage of technology are influential in product innovation.