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Infection and cross-contamination have been massive concerns in the medical field. This study aims to investigate consumers’ awareness and their choices of endoscopes, which may deter them from the cross-contamination problem.

A discrete choice experiment survey was administered to 166 respondents in Penang, Malaysia. Participants were asked to make hypothetical choices and estimate their preference for endoscopes. The multinomial logit model was used to estimate the assumptions based on the stated preference data collected.

Only two-fifths of respondents are aware of their rights regarding endoscope selection. The findings are consistent with utility theory, where choices are made to maximise personal satisfaction. If given the choice, consumers preferred the single-use endoscope over the reusable or the doctor’s preferred endoscope. Price, insurance coverage and personal income are significant determinants of the consumer’s choice of endoscopes.

This study only investigates subjects living in Penang. Other possible important attributes to endoscope choices, such as environmental and device availability may be considered in future study.

The findings may create awareness among consumers about their rights when choosing medical devices. It may also improve health-care institutions’ (users’) and device manufacturers’ (industry players’) understanding of consumer needs and demands from socioeconomic perspectives.

The research offers insights into consumer rights and awareness of health-care services. Ultimately leading to better policy to protect consumers’ rights and safety.

This study contributes to the rare literature on consumer rights toward medical devices, in particular, the consumer’s awareness of the choice of endoscopes.

This study aims to investigate low-carbon footprint travel choices, considering both destination attributes and climate change perceptions, and examine the impacts of nudging (a communication tool to alter individuals’ choices in a predictable way) on tourists’ preferences for carbon mitigation in destinations.

A discrete choice experiment questionnaire was administered to a sample of 958 Hong Kong respondents. Hybrid choice modeling was used to examine the respondents’ preferences for destination attributes and to explain preference heterogeneity using tourists’ climate change perceptions. The respondents’ willingness to pay for the destination attributes was also calculated to measure the monetary value of the attributes.

Destination type, carbon emissions and travel cost had significant effects on tourists’ choices of destination. Nudging increased tourists’ preference for low-carbon footprint choices. Tourists with higher climate change perceptions were more likely than others to select low-carbon destinations with carbon offset projects.

The findings of this study provide an impetus for destination management organizations to support local carbon offset projects, implement policies that mitigate carbon emissions and develop sustainable tourism to fulfill tourists’ demand for low-carbon footprint travel choices. Based on the findings, policymakers could promote sustainable tourism by publishing relevant climate change information on social media.

This study addressed a gap in the literature on tourist travel choice by considering carbon emission-related attributes and climate change perceptions and by confirming the role of nudging in increasing the choice of low-carbon destinations.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting behaviour intention (BI) to use and actual usages of investment-related FinTech services among the zoomers (Gen Z) and millennials (Gen M) retail investors of India.

The study explores the predictive relevance of actual adoption behaviour among the two different age categories of Indian retail investors. It uses the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology-2 and the prospect theory framework as guiding frameworks. Data has been collected from 294 retail investors, actively engaged in the investment-related FinTech services. The multi-group analysis using variance-based partial least square structured equation modelling has been used to compare the two groups. The invariance between the two groups was achieved through measurement invariance assessment.

The study reveals distinct factors significantly affecting BI to use investment-related FinTech services among Gen Z and Gen M retail investors are performance expectancy (PE) to BI, perceived risk (PR) to BI, price value (PV) to BI and PR to service trust (ST).

This study provides insights for financial providers and policymakers, emphasizing different factors influencing BI to use investment-related FinTech services in both age groups. Notably, habit emerges as a common factor influencing the actual usage of investment-related FinTech services across Gen M and Gen Z retail investors in India.

This study explores the heterogeneous behaviour of the heterogenous population in the domain of technological adoption of investment-related FinTech services in India.

Green practices are essential for sustainability. However, it is challenging due to the socioeconomic and environmental concerns. Similarly, after the induced SDG-12 and SDG-13 by United Nations, the pressure groups forced manufacturers to consider sustainability. Therefore, this research aims to examine the sustainability through multifaceted green functions in manufacturing is examined.

Data were collected from 293 supply chain professionals of manufacturers from a developing economy. Hypotheses were tested through a quantitative method using partial least squares-structural equation modeling with the help of SmartPLS version 4 to validate the measurement model.

The findings revealed that all six direct hypotheses were supported. However, out of four hypotheses of mediation, one was not supported. Besides, a sequential mediation of green supply chain environmental cooperation and green human resource management was supported. The findings illustrated that green supply chain practices positively influence all used variables.

This research provides practical insight to practitioners to implement green practices in their supply chain networks for social, economic and environmental sustainability and compliance with SDG-12 and SDG-13. The sustainability was validated in a higher-order construct (HOC) (formative), including sequential mediation in the model with the support of resource dependency theory. Therefore, this study adds substantial literature to the existing body of knowledge.

This research provides an interdisciplinary framework by adding knowledge to the Resource Dependency Theory to address Sustainable Development Goals-12 (SDGs) and SDG-13. Likewise, this research provides an extension towards the body of knowledge on the issue, which can be used in future research and critical examinations for cleaner and sustainable production. So far, in Pakistan, no research has looked at the function of these integrated variables in the manufacturing industry with a diligent focus on sustainability as it was validated in a higher-order construct (formative) with one sequential mediation, which makes this research unique.

The purpose of this study is to identify the process of virtual influencer stickiness in the age of influencer marketing, which has received little attention in the literature. This is essential because the research creates a theoretical model of follower loyalty/stickiness to virtual influencer techniques from the standpoint of influencer marketing, which has a substantial effect on the evolution of the global marketing world.

In 2022, 302 people who currently follow an Instafamous virtual influencer took part in an Instagram self-administered online survey.

The findings show that both expertise and trustworthiness have a positive and significant influence on parasocial interaction, which in turn has a significant influence on virtual engagement and stickiness.

This research will specifically assist international readers in understanding how to harness and increase the efficiency and efficacy of interactive marketing strategies and methods to engage and retain followers of Instafamous virtual influencer. Moreover, the findings will be beneficial to opinion leaders, brand managers, company investors, entrepreneurs and service designers.

1. The study pioneers a holistic virtual follower stickiness mechanism that comprises the role of source credibility, parasocial interaction, informational influence and virtual follower’s engagement and their interrelationship to each other.

2. This study is based on parasocial interaction theory and source credibility theory to understand the relationship between virtual followers and influencers stickiness process at social media platforms.

3. In addition, the study examined the subsequent effects of sources of credibility components on parasocial interaction; as well as, on virtual follower engagement and stickiness.

4. This study also categorized and examined the moderating effects exerted by the genres of informative influence of virtual influencer.

The study pioneers a holistic virtual follower stickiness mechanism that comprises the role of source credibility, parasocial interaction, informational influence and virtual follower’s engagement and their interrelationship to each other.

This study is based on parasocial interaction theory and source credibility theory to understand the relationship between virtual followers and influencers stickiness process at social media platforms.

In addition, the study examined the subsequent effects of sources of credibility components on parasocial interaction; as well as, on virtual follower engagement and stickiness.

This study also categorized and examined the moderating effects exerted by the genres of informative influence of virtual influencer.

This study evaluates the moderating role of work-based social supports (i.e. supervisor support and co-worker support) in the relationship between job insecurity and job burnout among hospitality employees in Malaysia. Besides, the direct effect between job insecurity and job burnout is examined.

The cross-sectional data of this study were based on a total of 220 self-administered questionnaires that have been completed by hospitality employees from three different states in Malaysia. Respondents were recruited based on a snowball sampling approach. The data were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was from October 2020 to January 2021.

Partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was performed via SmartPLS software. The finding confirmed that job insecurity significantly intensifies employees' job burnout. Supervisor support and co-worker support were found to moderate the link between job insecurity and burnout. As anticipated, the relationship between job insecurity and job burnout increased when supervisor support is low. But high co-worker support was found to strengthen the impact of job insecurity on job burnout instead of the reverse.

This study supplements the existing literature by clarifying which sources of work-based social support (i.e. co-worker support or supervisor) is more salient in alleviating the adverse impact of job insecurity on job burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic among hospitality employees in Malaysia.

Wearable medical devices (WMDs) are improving people’s health and well-being in a noble way, as these aid in effective personal health monitoring, remote surveillance and overall illness management. Despite its wider applicability and usage, it is prevalent that users discontinue its usage, which presents an obstacle in the proliferation of such vital innovations among the masses. Therefore, relying on the expectation-confirmation model (ECM), this study aims to delve deeper to explain the factors that motivate users to continually use WMDs by incorporating novel variables, namely, health belief, health information accuracy and privacy protection.

The study proposes and tests an extended ECM perspective to predict the continuance intention (CI) of WMDs among users. By using structural equation modelling using SmartPLS, the authors tested the model on Indian people (n = 451) who had an erstwhile experience of using WMDs.

The study results show that confirmation of users’ expectations positively impacts their usefulness and satisfaction towards WMDs. Moreover, satisfaction towards WMDs is the strongest predictor of users’ CI, followed by perceived usefulness. Interestingly, personal factor such as health beliefs reveals a greater influence on perceived usefulness than technological factors like health information accuracy and privacy protection.

The study findings demonstrate the significance of using the expectation-confirmation perspective in technology-based studies in general and WMDs, in particular. This study aids by offering an integrated model of WMD’s continued usage intention for the users, in addition to practical implications for marketers and policymakers.

A paucity of research exists when understanding the predictors of CI for WMDs. This study fills this gap and adds to behavioural literature by offering a noble viewpoint involving an extended ECM perspective.

This study aims to investigate tourists’ intentions to use hotel service robots with a focus on safety and hygiene. It examines the impact of perceived safety, health awareness and service assurance on consumer engagement and robot usage.

Survey data from 275 participants with experience in robotic service were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The study used purposive sampling and collected data via the Prolific platform, using SEM and SmartPLS Ver. 3.0 for analysis.

Results indicate customers prioritize safety and hygiene, valuing effective service responses and cleanliness. Perceived robotic safety and service assurance positively influence personal engagement, with a preference for service robots among female guests.

While emphasizing the importance of safety and service assurance in hotel robotics, the study acknowledges limitations in personalization and conclusive use of service robots.

This research contributes to understanding the role of perceived safety in service robot usage, highlighting the significance of user trust and comfort in human–robot interactions. It also explores the novel connection between service assurance and service robots, offering insights into robotic performance reliability in user-centric contexts.

Given the complexity of building information modeling (BIM) adoption decisions in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, understanding BIM adoption decision-making through the net effect of a single factor on BIM adoption decisions alone is limited. Therefore, this paper analyzed the co-movement effect of managers' psychological factors on the BIM adoption decisions from the perspective of managers' perceptions. The purpose is to let managers have a deep understanding of their BIM adoption decisions, and put forward targeted suggestions for the AEC industry to promote the adoption of BIM by SMEs.

Data from 192 managers in SMEs collected by the questionnaire were used in a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Due to the limitations of fsQCA in making the best use of the data used, as a complement to fsQCA, necessary conditions analysis (NCA) was used to analyze the extent to which necessary conditions influenced the outcome.

(1) NCA analysis shows that high perceived resource availability (PRA) and high performance expectancy (PE) are necessary conditions for high BIM adoption intention (AI). (2) fsQCA analysis shows that high PE is the single core condition for high AI. fsQCA analysis identifies three configurations of managers' psychological factors, reflecting three types of managers' decision preferences, namely benefit preference, loss aversion and risk avoidance, respectively. Different decision preferences may lead to different BIM adoption strategies, such as full in-house use, partial in-house/outsourcing and full outsourcing of BIM processes. (3) High perceived risk (PR) and low perceived business value of BIM (PBV) are the core conditions for low AI.

This paper expands on the application of fsQCA to context of BIM adoption decisions. Based on the results of fsQCA analysis, this paper also establishes the relationship between managers' decision-making psychology and BIM adoption strategy choice and analyzes the impact of different decision biases on BIM adoption strategy choice. It concludes with suggestions for encouraging managers to adopt BIM and for avoiding decision-making bias.

The objectives of this study are twofold: firstly, to examine the effect of job variety on employee engagement and job burnout, and the effect of employee engagement and job burnout on employee happiness and job stress, respectively. Secondly, it examines the mediating role of employee engagement between job variety and employee happiness, as well as the mediating role of job burnout between job variety and job stress.

Data were collected from front-line nurses working in the health sector in Pakistan's major cities. A total of 169 samples were collected using online and face-to-face data collection approaches. The theoretical model was tested using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4.0.

The findings of this study highlight that job variety has a positive impact on employee engagement, which in turn leads to employee happiness among professional frontline nurses. Additionally, job variety as a demand increases employee burnout, which subsequently increases frontline nurses' job stress. The results also indicate that employee engagement mediates the relationship between job variety and employee happiness, while burnout mediates the relationship between job variety and job stress.

To date, there has been little research investigating the dual impact of job variety, leaving a significant gap in the existing literature. This study aims to address this gap and provide implications for both academics and HR managers by challenging the misconception that job variety is always a positive job resource.