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Understanding community resilience and collective efficacy is essential in terrorist-ridden areas. This study aims to investigate the role of communities in fostering collective resilience in response to violent acts of terrorism. It utilizes social capital and collective efficacy theories to explore the complicated relationship between community resilience and self-efficacy in terrorist-ridden areas.

This study employed an interpretive methodology and conducted thematic data analysis. It documented insights and lessons learned from the diverse perspectives of community stakeholders through semi-structured interviews with 21 participants residing in Quetta, Pakistan. Interviews took place in March and April 2023.

The study demonstrates that community resilience contributes significantly to violent acts of terrorism. After carefully going through data exploration, four intriguing themes appear. The first theme pertained to participants experiencing stress due to terrorism incidents, highlighting the frequency of such stressful events. The second theme examined the escalating backdrop of terrorism, which perpetually looms, prompting communities to fortify their resilience against this persistent threat. The third theme, community resilience during terrorist violence and active participation, revealing active participation in activities aimed at enhancing community quality of life. The fourth theme emphasized the challenges associated with community engagement in resilience-building efforts.

This study advances the understanding of community resilience in terrorist-ridden areas. In addition, it furthers discourse and provides ways for the implementation of strategies aimed at strengthening community resilience following terrorist incidents.

Ageism has deleteriously influenced individuals and society for nearly half a century. Despite receiving increased attention, it remains under-researched regarding how it might be reduced in the workplace. Even though its prevalence and allure, review studies on workplace ageism (WA) are also scarce, and thus a review is warranted.

To fill the preceding void, this study will systematically review the existing literature on WA using data from the past four decades.

This study identified the various antecedents and the intervention mechanism through which WA may be reduced. Additionally, through reviews, the authors advance the research by offering promising avenues for future research.

This review contributes to human resources managers and will inspire future scholars to delve deeper into combating age discrimination, stereotypes and bias toward employees in workplaces.

The foreign direct investment (FDI) motivations of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) are mainly twofold: acquisition of strategic assets in foreign markets, and foreign market penetration. While prior studies have delivered valuable insights, findings regarding the performance of those two types of FDI remain somewhat inconsistent or inconclusive. This study aims to develop complementary perspectives that can motivate scholars to explore the internal mechanisms of achieving goals for these two FDI types by providing a review of prior literature on EMNEs’ knowledge- and market-seeking FDI.

Indexed to the EBSCO database and Google Scholar from 2000 to 2020, 73 articles from 13 journals were selected and reviewed to identify the main research future research agendas.

Our findings show that the purpose of EMNEs’ FDI can be divided into value creation and value capturing, with the former pursuing knowledge-seeking and the latter pursuing market-seeking, according to our study, which draws on insights from innovation-focused literature.

International business (IB) scholars have extensively studied both knowledge-seeking and market-seeking outward FDI of EMNEs for decades. Our study contributes to the literature by providing the potential for integrating IB and innovation studies to extend the scope of EMNEs studies.

In the online environment, consumers increasingly feel vulnerable due to firms’ expanding capabilities of collecting and using their data in an unsanctioned manner. Drawing from gossip theory, this research focuses on two key suppressors of consumer vulnerability: transparency and control. Previous studies conceptualize transparency and control from rationalistic approaches that overlook individual experiences and present a unidimensional conceptualization. This research aims to understand how individuals interpret transparency and control concerning privacy vulnerability in the online environment. Additionally, it explores strategic approaches to communicating the value of transparency and control.

An interpretivism paradigm and phenomenology were adopted in the research design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 41 participants, including consumers and experts, and analyzed through thematic analysis.

The findings identify key conceptual dimensions of transparency and control by adapting justice theory. They also reveal that firms can communicate assurance, functional, technical and social values of transparency and control to address consumer vulnerability.

This research makes the following contributions to the data privacy literature. The findings exhibit multidimensional and comprehensive conceptualizations of transparency and control, including user, firm and information perspectives. Additionally, the conceptual framework combines empirical insights from both experiencers and observers to offer an understanding of how transparency and control serve as justice mechanisms to effectively tackle the issue of unsanctioned transmission of personal information and subsequently address vulnerability. Lastly, the findings provide strategic approaches to communicating the value of transparency and control.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for the assessment of service quality of bus fleet services based on the service quality influencing factors. The paper also tries to evolve a quantitative measure for fleet service quality in the form of a fleet service quality index.

A graph theoretical approach is employed in this paper for bus fleet service quality assessment. Modelling of fleet service quality factors and their interrelations with due attention towards their structure is achieved through graph theory. A directed graph (digraph) of the service quality is developed, where its nodes represent factors influencing the quality while its edges show the degree of interrelationships. A matrix, which is equivalent to the digraph, is established that will generate a service quality function that will result in the development of a fleet service quality index (FSQI).

Attaining customer satisfaction through assurance of quality is the cornerstone of the existence and survival of any business organization, and bus fleet services are no exception to this. Several influential factors are there for the bus fleet service quality. This research paper has identified factors such as fleet management practices, operational characteristics, safety and reliability features, travel comfort, bus maintenance and environmental concerns that affect fleet service quality. Every factor is composed of distinct sub-factors. Furthermore, these factors are linked with one another. A higher value of the fleet service quality index indicates the adequate performance of the bus fleet service organization.

The methodology is useful for not only evaluating but also for comparison of service quality of different fleet agencies or organizations. The perceptions would be useful to the fleet service managers to create procedures and arrangements for improving the service quality.

The paper identifies various service quality factors of the bus fleet and an evaluation scheme for those factors has been developed. Based on these, a framework had been developed for the assessment of the service quality of different fleet service providers.

The education services sector faces ever-changing global market dynamics with creative disruptions. Building knowledge brands can push the higher education sector beyond its geographical boundaries into the global arena. This study aims to identify key constructs, their theoretical background and dimensions that aid in building a global knowledge brand. The authors' research focuses on adapting and validating scales for global knowledge and education services brands from well-established academic literature.

The authors have adopted a mixed methodology approach and a systematic literature review. Authors interviewed 18 subject matter experts as part of content and face validity to arrive at select constructs, dimensions and items. Quantitative methods with random sampling were adopted as the primary methodology. Initially, the survey was administered to 390 students to test preliminary results. The survey was also administered to 5,112 students at a later part of this study. Valid responses stood at 3,244 with a 63% response rate. Further, the authors conducted confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to test the reliability and validity of scales. This study analyzed composite reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity to finalize items for scales. The authors also validated the hypotheses based on the discriminant validity assessment scores.

Authors' key research findings are that academic stimulus, campus infrastructure and student intent play a significant role in campus culture and events design and experience at campus. Authors were able to bring out 16 key constructs and 55 critical dimensions vital to global education services brand building. This study also adapted and validated 99 items that meet construct validity and composite reliability criteria. This study also highlights that constructs such as student intent, academic stimulus, campus infrastructure scalability, selection mechanism, pedagogical content knowledge, brand identity, events experience and campus culture play a vital role in global brand recognition.

The authors' work is fairly generalizable to education services and the higher education sector. However, this study must be extrapolated and empirically validated in other industry sectors. The research implications of this study are that it aided the authors in building theoretical background for student brand loyalty theory, student expectation theory and study loyalty theory. This study adds to the body of knowledge by contributing to theoretical concepts on students, knowledge culture, events, infrastructure and branding. Researchers can adopt the scales proposed in this study to build research models in higher education branding. This study acts as a catalyst for building theories in education services areas. Researchers can delve deep into proposed research aspects of campus infrastructure, knowledge infrastructure, campus knowledge culture, events design and events experience.

This study aids educators and brand managers to develop global education services and optimize their effort and budget. Administrators in the education services sector must focus on practical aspects of student perception, campus infrastructure, culture and events experience. Practically administrators can reorient their efforts based on this study to achieve global brand recognition.

This study highlights that students are not customers but are co-creators of value in the education sector. This study provides scales and dimensions needed to build co-creation frameworks and models.

Most research in higher education branding has not covered wider aspects of global brand building. Existing theories proposed in higher education and education services articles cover only narrower aspects of campus infrastructure, culture, events design and branding. This study presents a comprehensive list of critical factors that play a vital role in global knowledge brand building. This study highlights the constructs and scales integral to building a global education services brand.

This study aims to advance the understanding of both the challenges and the priorities facing Spanish universities undergoing the digital transformation era, to identify areas for improvement in university management, from a managerial point of view.

To analyze the importance and adequacy of various aspects related to digitalization, the authors use the importance–performance matrix, by surveying figures who have or have had a managerial position in the university, such as rectors and vice-rectors.

The results showed that the priority areas were related to strategic and financial management, knowledge management and the society and environment dimension. It all revealed imbalances, the most important of which were in the areas referring to attracting talent, sources of financing, strategic management and digitalization.

The study could benefit from considering or placing greater emphasis on alternative viewpoints, including those of external experts and administrative managers at public universities.

The practical implications relate to university management. In particular, the study highlights two issues that are a priority: attracting talent and training for university management as well as for data management. It follows from these results that legislative development and public funding should be directed towards adapting the training offer as well as the management structure and processes to the context of digitalization.

These results have implications for the public sphere, for decision-making related to the public funding that organizations receive from governments. Indeed, as the empirical results demonstrate, the proposed framework is effective not only in assessing the status of digitalization in the university but also in providing information on the most important aspects that need particular attention to achieve the desired future condition.

The novelty of this study lies in the analysis and evaluation of the digitalization process and how public universities are facing it, from the perspective of university management. Methodologically, the novelty lies in the use of the importance–performance matrix, which not only provides insight into the importance of different aspects to be analyzed but also provides information about their adequacy.

The purpose of this study is to investigate and understand the performance of countries in individual Olympic Games, specifically focusing on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Employing cluster analysis and decision trees, the research aims to categorize countries based on their representation, participation and success.

This research employs a data-driven approach to comprehensively analyze and enhance understanding of countries' performances in individual Olympic Games. The methodology involves a two-stage clustering method and decision tree analysis to categorize countries and identify influential factors shaping their Olympic profiles.

The study, analyzing countries' performances in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics through cluster analysis and decision trees, identified five clusters with consistent profiles. Notably, China, Great Britain, Japan, Russian Olympic Committee and the United States formed a high-performing group, showcasing superior success, representation and participation. The analysis revealed a correlation between higher representation/participation and success in individual Olympic Games. Decision tree insights underscored the significance of population size, GDP per Capita and HALE index, indicating that countries with larger populations, better economic standing and higher health indices tended to perform better.

The study has several limitations that should be considered. Firstly, the findings are based on data exclusively from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which may limit the generalizability of the results to other editions.

The research offers practical implications for policymakers, governments and sports organizations seeking to enhance their country's performance in individual Olympic Games.

The research holds significant social implications by contributing insights that extend beyond the realm of sports.

The originality and value of this research lie in its holistic approach to analyzing countries' performances in individual Olympic Games, particularly using a two-stage clustering method and decision tree analysis.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the financial well-being and social capital of Indian retirees. The paper investigates the extent of subjective financial well-being, the dependence on debts and the extent of bridging and bonding social capital of retirees with similar retirement pensions to understand the main issues they face.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 retired government schoolteachers. Two individuals transcribed the interviews after a pilot study, which helped remove repetitive responses. After ensuring the authenticity of the transcripts, the data was analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis.

The study's key findings reveal that retirees, armed with a clear understanding of their retirement income, exhibit a sense of financial control. At the same time, the presence of debt and the potential for high healthcare expenses adversely impact their subjective financial well-being. In terms of social capital, retirees predominantly rely on support from close-knit communities of friends and neighbors, as against their children. Additionally, retirees who migrate from their native places encounter challenges in establishing bridging social capital.

This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on financial well-being, specifically within the context of vulnerable groups such as retirees in India, where the absence of a state-supported retirement system adds a distinctive dimension. Against the backdrop of India's traditional societal framework, the research extends the existing literature by delving into the nuanced effects of evolving social dynamics on the social capital of retirees.

To gain and differentiate competitive advantage, the sustainable service quality is a determining factor that railway companies can use. The purpose of this study is to identify both the importance and performance of rail transportation service quality factors in a case study as well as determine the most influential quality features.

A comprehensive approach namely importance–performance analysis (IPA) technique and decision-making trail and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and Matriced’ Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC) techniques was utilized.

The relative position of each attribute is specified on the IPA matrix proposing four strategies of concentrate here, keep up the good work, low priority and possible overkill. This study reveals that attributes of “the company cares about having a good society” are the most influential factor, and “having good business relations with shareholders” is the most permeable factor. Actually, consumers pay attention to how companies act toward society and maintain communication with shareholders. Through ISM technique and by summing the row and column of the consistency matrix, the attributes were partitioned into four levels. Also, MICMAC analysis identified the four clusters of linkage, independent, autonomous and dependent status of the attributes in terms of the driving power and dependence power.

Due to the nature of single case study methodology, caution should be taken into consideration regarding the generazability of the obtained results.

The hybrid DEMATEL-ISM technique is used to analyze service quality factors in Iran’s transportation industry, which can be utilized in other industries as well as other countries.