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Online services are increasingly utilizing gamification techniques to encourage consumer loyalty and engagement. However, the majority of the gamified services fail to be financially sustainable. Existing freemium and gamified services literature provides scant knowledge on behavioral predictors of in-app purchases in freemium gamified services. The research examines highly interactive consumers' in-app behaviors using competition-based motivational affordances, daily usage behavior and social competition motivation that convert them into super engagers.

The authors applied a multimethod approach by using Multivariate Logistic Regression (n = 685) to analyze in-app behavioral data and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (n = 94) to examine survey and in-app behavioral data of highly interactive consumers of a freemium gamified service to explain paying behaviors.

Results reveal highly interactive consumers that elicit heavy daily usage of the application or excel at in-app challenges are less likely to convert to super engagers. Among super engagers, some are socially competitive, and their inability to advance in the leaderboard corresponds to in-app purchases, while non-socially competitive consumers make purchases to collect extrinsic rewards. Additionally, highly interactive consumers who possess more knowledge about the gamified service become super engagers to increase their chances to be socially competitive.

This research examines in-app behaviors of highly interactive consumers of a freemium gamified service that lead to in-app purchases following varying levels of daily usage behavior and social competition motivation. The authors contribute to the previous literature by defining and examining a new consumer segment – super engagers – that is financially beneficial for freemium services because of their in-app purchases. The authors provide insight on in-app behaviors that convert highly interactive consumers to super engagers and demonstrate that the reason for highly interactive consumers to make in-app purchases is a function of acquiring specific internal and external rewards based on their level of social competition.

A critical aspect in venture capital (VC) exiting is the choice of exit mode. This study aims to predict if venture capitalists (VCs) can take the venture capital undertaking public by identifying the impact of investment attributes, market timing and macroeconomic conditions on the choice of mode of exit for VCs.

The study uses logistic regression on a sample of 632 Indian VC-backed firms where VCs exited during the past two decades via initial public offers (IPOs) and other routes, including strategic sale, secondary sale and buyback.

Results suggest that growth stage investments, larger syndication size and a larger number of IPOs increase the probability of exiting through IPOs, whereas investments in the information technology and information technology-enabled services industry have a higher likelihood of being exited through other routes. Region and gross domestic product are found to be statistically insignificant in predicting the likelihood for a particular mode of exit.

The results have practical implications for VCs as knowledge regarding the influence of investment attributes, market timing and macroeconomic conditions can help them in deciding their exit strategy vis-à-vis mode of exit and can maximize their potential gains. The results also have implications for the potential investors, primarily the public at large and acquirers.

The determinants of VC exit options remain an unexplored area in the Indian context. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is the first of its kind that has used investment attributes, market timing and macroeconomic conditions to predict VC exit options in India.

The purpose of present study is to identify influential aspects of published literature, research streams and future research questions to set forth future research agenda based on comprehensive literature review using bibliometric and content analysis.

The study analyzed 285 documents from the international Scopus database using bibliometric analysis and content analysis. VOSviewer software is used for bibliometric analysis.

The study identified influential aspects of published literature; identified five significant research streams: (1) Demonetization and financial system, (2) Demonetization and financial technology, (3) Demonetization and financial market, (4) Demonetization and digital payment system and (5) Demonetization and governance and proposed 27 key future research questions to develop future research agenda.

The present study makes significant contribution to the literature by providing a framework for future research. The framework provides opportunities to future researchers to explore the web of relations among five identified research streams as future research agenda.

The present work is unique in its way of contribution, as to the best of researchers' knowledge no work was witnessed in published literature to cover demonetization in a detailed and comprehensive manner. The present study fills this gap by conducting bibliometric analysis and content analysis. The study proposed conceptual framework for demonetization characterization to understand the demonetization literature well; and also proposed framework for future researcher to be explored further.

Since liberalization in the 1990s, India has witnessed a growth in the number of educated middle-class women in professions. However, there are few women in leadership positions and decision-making bodies. While the earlier notion of the ideal woman as homemaker has been replaced by one which idealizes women of substance, a woman’s role in the family continues to be pivotal and is even viewed as central in defining Indian culture. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how and to what extent gender inequalities are reproduced in the organizations employing educated professionals.

Based on the perspective that gender is socially constructed, this paper analyzes gender inequality in Indian organizations through semi-structured interviews of men and women scientists in two private pharmaceutical laboratories.

The findings show reproduction of a gendered normative order through two types of norms and practices: one, norms and practices that favor men and second, socio-cultural norms that devalue women in public spaces which help to maintain masculinity in the workplace. Although these practices might be found elsewhere in the world, the manner in which they are enacted reflects national cultural norms.

The paper highlights how various norms and practices enacted in the specific Indian socio-cultural context construct and maintain masculinity at workplace depriving opportunities to professional women which affect their rise to leadership positions.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges before India for electric vehicle (EV) adoption by 2030. The study further looks into the measures taken by the Government of India (GOI) to promote research and development in EV sector and what is yet to be done.

In the present study, the challenges are identified allied to the commercialization of EVs in India. The data are collected, analyzed and compiled through secondary sources. The secondary data give a concise insight and comprehensive information regarding what is occurring around the globe as well as in the Indian context. Further, the challenges are investigated through a focus group study consisting of 11 participants from industry and academia.

The findings from the study are the critical roles of sharing economy and public utilities in the promotion of EV adoption, given the high cost of EV, lack of infrastructure and poor purchasing power of Indian customers. The sharing economy perspective provides various opportunities for the government to manage the resources (electric-powered transport system) optimally. Further, the study compares the global perspective in assigning the target figures.

The study highlights the facilitating role of the shared format in EV technology promotion but ignores the hurdles that can come in its implementations. Also, the focus group study has its limitation as it relies more on participants' perceptions and opinions.

The present study assists GOI and various stakeholders in having a realistic plan rather than daydreaming with overambitious goals. The diffusion of technology as a shared format (especially in the context of EV) has not been academically approached in the past literature.

Taking an evidence from social exchange theory, this research examines the mediating role of affective commitment in the correlation between internal branding, employee engagement and job satisfaction. The moderating role of work environment on the link between internal branding and affective commitment is also studied in this research.

The data were collected by using well-structured research measures from 215 employees working in the BPO sector of India (Punjab and Chandigarh). The hypotheses were developed, and the conceptual model was validated by applying structural equation modeling. The data were analyzed by using two statistical packages, namely SPSS and AMOS.

The findings suggest that internal branding has a significant positive relationship with employee engagement, job satisfaction and affective commitment. The mediating effect of affective commitment on the relationship between internal branding and employee engagement was full, whereas on the relationship between internal branding and job satisfaction, it was partial. Work environment also moderated the relationship of internal branding with affective commitment.

The current study offers significant lessons to management thinkers, human resource (HR), organizational branding and marketing manager. However, BPO sector should be aware about the critical role played by internal branding to enhance affective commitment, employee engagement and job satisfaction of the employees. The role of affective commitment is also taken into account to study the effect of internal branding on employee engagement and employee's job satisfaction. For itself, internal branding cannot be considered as in isolation and is doubtful to be efficacious if the work environment is not encouraging to an employee as well as to the brand values.

This study offers significant lessons to management thinkers, HR, organizational branding and marketing manager. However, BPO sector should be aware about the critical role played by internal branding to enhance employee engagement, job satisfaction and affective commitment of the employees. An important role of affective commitment is also taken into account to study the effect of internal branding on employee engagement and employee's job satisfaction. For itself, internal branding cannot be considered as in isolation and is doubtful to be efficacious if employees are not provided an encouraging work environment.

Existing researches on internal branding are theoretical in nature and overlook the empirical impact of internal branding on employee engagement, job satisfaction and affective commitment from the BPO employees' perspective. The study also offers an empirical examination of potential mediator and moderator for internal branding.

Today, a firm’s major concern is to know the way in which an innovation is adopted in the marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the two-stage nature of diffusion process in which the time lag between people being informed and their act of making final purchase is considered.

The paper discusses an approach based on the time lag for modeling awareness and adoption process as two separate and yet connected processes. Varying forms of time lag (constant, deterministic or random) have been considered while modeling the required framework. Furthermore, an equivalence approach has been shown between the present framework and the two well-known and established approaches of infinite queuing theory and hazard rate function.

The results are verified on sales data of two different consumer durables and it show good prediction capability of proposed models in capturing the real-life scenario. Further, the equivalence approach helps us to quantify such scenarios which were difficult to be modeled with any one particular approach. Further, the possibility of capturing different market scenarios by studying various distribution functions has been identified.

The proposed methodology is based on a two-stage adoption process. The same can be extended to a multi-stage adoption process as in today’s competitive environment. “Motivation” is one such factor that is highly important which can be considered in some later studies. In future, the authors wish to study the multi-stage adoption process considering the different forms of time lag function.

The equivalence approach discussed in the paper can help to cater the possibility of capturing different market scenarios by studying various distribution functions.

The proposed approach helps to cater the time lag between awareness and adoption process and develop different mean value functions to account for the manner in which sales are happening under different circumstances. The proposed methodical approach can also help decision makers in managing their available resources in a prudent manner.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and demonstrate the set of information literacy skills that makes a person a competent lifelong learner to find, evaluate, filter and use information in an effective manner.

PowerPoint presentations were used in a demonstration to explain how to use various types of e‐resources and databases, both subscribed and in the public domain. Practical orientation on basic and advanced searches, phrase searching, proximity searching, field searching, use of Boolean operators, controlled vocabulary, and limiting/refining/narrowing of search results was given. A demonstration was given to faculty members, research scholars and postgraduate students of Delhi University. Participants' opinions were sought on eight statements (developed for this purpose) in a feedback form on a five‐point scale.

Based on the feedback analysis, it was found that instruction material was useful (94.90 per cent), 88.47 per cent respondents are now better prepared to use e‐resources and WWW services, and 92.80 per cent of respondents expressed the opinion that the presentations would be more useful if they were made available on the library web site; 92.90 per cent of respondents agreed that the programs were suitable for their information needs. Regarding the post‐program awareness of e‐sources, 94.01 per cent of respondents agreed that they are now more aware. Over 90 per cent of participants were satisfied with the conduct of the IL program.

An information literacy (IL) skills demonstration package was prepared for regular use with faculty members, research scholars and postgraduate students to make them competent to find, access and use information more efficiently. This would fulfil the aim of developing individuals' intellectual capabilities of independent and lifelong learning.

Phishing attacks exploit social vulnerabilities and remain a global concern. Financial institutions often use their websites as part of their online awareness and education efforts. This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of phishing-related information made available by financial institutions to raise awareness and educate customers.

In this mixed methods research, a survey of online consumers was first performed and analysed. Second, the information available on the websites of major financial institutions was analysed. Using the construct of information quality (IQ), content analysis was performed to determine whether the phishing-related information meets the IQ criteria.

The survey confirmed that consumers are indeed targeted by phishers. It established that they turn to their financial institutions, more often than any other source, for anti-phishing information. When analysing the IQ of phishing-related information, significant deficiencies as well as different levels of performance between the financial institutions, emerged. In general, the worst performing IQ criteria was information being current and fit for purpose.

As the research is conducted within South Africa, the results cannot be generalised. The ethical clearance did not allow for identification of the different financial institutions and thus comparing consumers’ perceptions with the observed IQ from the content analysis to determine correlation.

Protecting consumers against phishing attacks remains critical, and this paper confirms that users turn to their financial institutions for information. Yet, the phishing-related information made available on the websites of financial institutions has severe deficiencies. Practitioners should use IQ to determine the appropriateness of phishing-related information and focus on improving customer awareness and education.

Researchers often highlight the importance of awareness and education programmes in protecting consumers, but rarely investigate if consumers access publicly available information and express an opinion on the quality of this information. Although the results should not generalised, the recommendations, if necessary through similar analysis, has an impact beyond the geographical constraints of the study.

The decision-making to outsource and select the most suitable global manufacturing outsourcing partner (MOP) is complex and uncertain due to multiple conflicting qualitative and quantitative criteria as well as multiple alternatives. Vagueness and variability exist in ratings of criteria and alternatives by group of decision-makers (DMs). The paper provides a novel Stochastic Fuzzy (SF) method for evaluation and selection of agile and sustainable global MOP in uncertain and volatile business environment.

Four main selection criteria for global MOP selection were identified such as economic, agile, environmental and social criteria. Total 16 sub-criteria were selected. To consider the vagueness and variability in ratings by group of DMs, SF method using t-distribution or z-distribution was adopted. The criteria weights were determined using the Stochastic Fuzzy-CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (SF-CRITIC), while MOP selection was carried out using Stochastic Fuzzy-VIseKriterijumskaOptimizacija I KompromisnoResenje (SF-VIKOR) in the case study of footwear industry. Sensitivity analysis was performed to test the robustness of the proposed model. A comparative analysis of SF-VIKOR and VIKOR was made.

The worker’s wages and welfare, product price, product quality, green manufacturing process and collaboration with partners are the most important criteria for MOP selection. The MOP3 was found to be the best agile and sustainable global MOP for the footwear company. In sensitivity analysis, significance level is found to have important role in MOP ranking. Hence, the study concluded that integrated SF-CRITIC and SF-VIKOR is an improved method for MOP selection problem.

In a group decision-making, ambiguity, impreciseness and variability are found in relative ratings. Fuzzy variant Multi-Criteria Decision-Making methods cover impreciseness in ratings but not the variability. On the other hand, deterministic models do not cover either. Hence, the stochastic method based on the probability theory combining fuzzy theory is proposed to deal with decision-making problems in imprecise and uncertain environments. Most notably, the proposed model has novelty as it captures and reveals both the stochastic perspective and the fuzziness perspective in rating by group of DMs.

The proposed multi-criteria group decision-making model contributes to the sustainable and agile footwear supply chain management and will help the policymakers in selecting the best global MOP.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, SF method has not been used to select MOP in the existing literature. For the first time, integrated SF-CRITIC and SF-VIKOR method were applied to select the best agile and sustainable MOP under uncertainty. Unlike other studies, this study considered agile criteria along with triple bottom line sustainable criteria for MOP selection. The novel method of SF assessment contributes to the literature and put forward the managerial implication for improving agility and sustainability of global manufacturing outsourcing in footwear industry.