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The paper aims to explore the process of identity regulation and identity creation on social media for employees in the IT sector of India and how this process is different for men and women.

The study is based on the thematic analysis of in-depth interviews of 31 IT professionals.

The authors find that identity regulation and identity creation is a complex process when it is mediated on social media as cues and guidelines for professionals are ambiguous. Enriching Ibarra's model of identity creation, the authors find that this process consists of five steps: (1) motivation to build a desirable self, (2) experimenting with identity boundaries, (3) failed identity experiences, (4) active self-regulation and (5) enacting inauthentic selves. The authors further find that this self-regulation for men is driven by the pressure to conform to the identity of an ideal “corporate man”, whereas for women it is driven by the need to conform to societal and cultural expectations.

Since identity regulation is a cognitively demanding process that affects both the productivity and well-being of employees, organisations can proactively help employees manage their social media presence through training and mentorship programmes.

The paper provides an enriched version of Ibarra's (1999) model on identity creation and regulation and highlights the role of gender in the process. The paper is practically relevant as it provides a window into how employees can feel the need to manifest inauthentic selves which is cognitively demanding.

The successive waves of the Covid-19 SARS-II pandemic and the attendant lockdown imposed by the governments worldwide drove the economic activities to a halt. Offices and factories closed, production of goods and services declined and supply chains got severely disrupted. Many companies were embattled with the grim reality of shrinkage of aggregate demand, first due to supply shock and later due to loss of jobs and wages. Amidst all this, the handling and shipping of commodities became extremely complex. As the pandemic shifted consumer preference in favour of digital platforms, more and more fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies were confronted with multiple strategies and choices of an appropriate distribution channel to ensure smooth delivery of raw materials and products. The present study aims to study this shift and its implications in the Indian context.

A mix-method approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative analysis, is employed to investigate the factors influencing the selection of distribution channels amongst general trade, modern trade, e-commerce and hyperlocal for FMCG companies in India. The first phase of the study uses exploratory factor analysis (EFA), followed by the application of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach in a fuzzy environment to realise the priority weights and ranking of the identified factors. Finally, sensitivity analysis is performed to confirm the robustness of the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) outcomes.

The study revealed that modern trade has emerged as the most favoured channel in the post-pandemic Indian economy. It has the potential to disrupt general trade. The study also revealed that the hyperlocal delivery model is not economically viable, and the partnership of FMCG companies with these applications is at best a short-term solution. However, it must be submitted that due to its sheer capability to ensure quick deliveries within a confined geographic area, hyperlocal delivery will gain momentum with the advancement of technology.

This study can be seen as the first attempt to investigate the issues related to the selection of the distribution channels in the FMCG sector of India using multi-criteria decision-making technique (MCDM).

Cryptocurrency has emerged as a significant component on the surface of the financial industry. With its growing popularity and blockchain as an underlying technology, cryptocurrency has the potential to disrupt the digital payments market. In light of this, this study aims to identify and empirically validate factors that influence the continuous intention of customers toward the adoption of cryptocurrency.

The study extends consumption value theory by incorporating additional variables – monetary value, perceived trust and perceived risk – to enhance the predictive power of the proposed model. The data were analyzed using the partial least square technique on the sample of 285 customers.

The results indicate that trust is the most significant factor to influence customers’ intention to use cryptocurrency, followed by conditional value, epistemic value, emotional value and monetary value. The authors also found the significant moderating effect of personal innovativeness on behavioral intention and actual usage of cryptocurrency.

The analysis of the study gives policymakers valuable information for the establishment of the regulatory framework that supports innovation while protecting the rights of the consumer.

The study embeds great theoretical and practical significance by generating a new technical thread that will facilitate multiple players to use their resources optimally.