Search results

This study is aimed at interrogating the mediation role of public spending in domestic debt and economic growth nexus, drawing on debt overhang theory and the Keynesian view.

The study deployed a time series data (from 1981 to 2020) set drawn from the 2021 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin. The mediation effect of public spending was tested by performing structural equation modeling after pre-estimation Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test.

Overall, the study outcomes indicate that domestic debt and public spending have significant positive effects on economic growth. Additionally, the study finds public spending to partially mediate domestic debt and economic growth nexus.

This study's outcomes provide insights that will enable fiscal policymakers to focus on internal borrowing, keep it under strict control to avert crowding out effects and improve public spending on productive projects to stimulate economic growth.

As the first study to question the mediation effect of public spending in domestic debt-economic growth relationship, it deepens and extends extant literature on domestic debt-economic growth nexus.

This study aims to examine the mediating role of audit seasonality on the association between audit fees and audit quality in Nigerian deposit money banks.

The sample comprises 14 banks with annual financial statements between 2008 and 2020. The modified Baron and Kenny’s (1986) causal mediation model by Iacobucci et al. (2007) through the use of bootstrapped partial least square structural equation modelling and Sobel’s (1986) z-test is adopted to achieve this study’s objective.

The results of the causal mediation analysis show evidence of a fully mediating role of audit seasonality in the association between audit fees and audit quality in the Nigerian banking industry.

This study extends the body of knowledge by demonstrating how audit fees influence audit quality through audit seasonality as a mediator in line with the job demands-and resources and conservation of resources theories. Regulatory authorities should be wary of policies that will further increase the workload of already burdened personnel of audit firms as the uniform fiscal year-end of 31 December introduced in the Nigerian banking system has unintended consequences on audit fees and audit quality.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the first studies to provide evidence on the indirect association between audit fees and audit quality.

This study aims to understand how brand personality affects purchase intention through brand love and perceived quality in e-commerce.

Three hundred forty-eight users of e-commerce sites in New Delhi, India, were surveyed for the study. The data set was examined using confirmatory factor analysis, and the research hypotheses were assessed using structural equation modeling.

Two important conclusions emerged from the study. First, brand love and perceived quality have been considerably and favorably influenced by all six dimensions of brand personality of e-commerce brands. Second, the purchase intention toward the e-commerce sites is significantly and positively impacted by brand love and perceived quality.

This study by exploring various dimensions of brand personality, will assist e-commerce executives in increasing purchase intention toward the e-retailing sites.

This research is supposed to be the foremost to look at how brand personality, through brand love and perceived quality affects purchase intention toward e-commerce websites. The attachment theory is used in this study as a theoretical foundation for linking e-commerce brand personality to customers’ purchase intentions via brand love and perceived quality.

The contribution of this study is two-fold. First, we draw on attribution theory to develop a model for predicting how the knowledge, emotions, and satisfaction that consumers have regarding halal cosmetics can influence their willingness to pay more and recommend the products to others.

Survey data from 278 Indonesian and 163 Malaysian female consumers were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling. Second, we test the moderation role of sign value using metric invariance across the two different source markets.

The results obtained confirm that consumers exhibit positive emotions when they possess knowledge about halal cosmetics and their quality. Testing the double moderation further reveals that consumers with a high sign value behave differently from those with a low sign value.

These findings present practical insights that can be used by retailers and marketers in their strategies to boost the sale of halal cosmetics.

This paper aims to identify the mechanism through which consumer empowerment, created via the Facebook brand page (FBBP), is transformed into brand page stickiness. Specifically, a model examining the mediating role of FBBP experience and the moderating role of brand love is proposed and tested.

Data from 283 FBBP users were analyzed using structural equation modeling with partial least squares.

The findings reveal the positive effect of consumer empowerment and brand page experience on brand page stickiness. The mediating role of brand page experience and the moderating role of brand love were prominent in the consumer empowerment–brand page stickiness link.

This paper is novel in inaugurating the association between consumer empowerment and FBBP stickiness, which is mediated by brand experience and moderated with brand love. This paper enriches the understanding of how brand page stickiness can be enhanced in the social media context.

This paper guides managers to best utilize FBBP to create a pleasant experience and yield stickiness.

Housing is one of the basic necessities of humankind for survival and purchasing a home is often a substantial milestone. Individuals exhibit complex behaviour influenced by various factors while making decisions related to the purchase of residential properties. While most of the earlier studies have focused on understanding the purchasing behaviour of home buyers’ in developed countries, the research is limited on this topic in developing countries such as India. The booming information technology industry has rapidly increased the demand for residential properties among the migrant population in Bengaluru, India’s largest technology hub. Real estate developers strive to meet the requirements of prospective customers through innovative ways but face challenges in a competitive market.

It is essential to understand the factors influencing home buyers’ purchase attitudes for increasing property sales. However, a lack of research on this subject is identified in the emerging city of Bengaluru. This study aims to analyse the determinants of home buying decisions for potential investors in Bengaluru through structural equation modelling to provide insights for the real estate industry to construct houses as per their customers’ needs.

It was found that housing amenities, financial aspects, location conveniences and marketing services significantly influenced home buyers’ purchase decisions, whereas housing features do not.

The findings of this study offer valuable insights for governmental bodies to implement appropriate policies and for builders to design properties with features that cater to the target population, thereby promoting sustainable growth in the real estate industry.

As public–private partnerships (PPPs) have become preferred and veritable approach to deliver affordable housing, the seemingly lack of understanding of the significant factors that impact on success has become a notable setback. This study aims to delineate significant factors that can support decisions in affordable PPP public housing delivery.

Largely, a questionnaire survey was adopted to elicit insights from practitioners, policymakers and experts to develop an evaluative decision support model using an analytical hierarchy process and multi-attribute utility technique approach. Further, an expert illustration was conducted to evaluate and validate the results on the housing typologies.

The results revealed that energy efficiency and low-cost green building materials scored the highest weighting of all the criteria. Furthermore, multi-storey self-contained flats were found to be the most preferred housing typology and were significantly influenced by these factors. From the model evaluation, the scores on the factors of sustainability, affordability, cultural values and accountability were consistent across all typologies of housing whereas that of benchmarking, governance and transparency were varied.

The decision support factors captured varied dimensions of key factors that impact on affordable PPP housing that have not been considered in an integrated manner. These findings offer objective and systematic support to decision-making in affordable PPP housing delivery.

This study examined the role of brand experience (BE) dimensions (behavioural, intellectual, sensory and affective) to predict electronic word of mouth (e-WoM) through the mediating effect of brand love (BL) in the Egyptian organic cosmetics context.

In accordance with the non-probability convenience sampling procedure and through an online survey, the study collected 312 responses from female consumers who have used Egyptian organic cosmetics brands regularly within the past two years.

The findings revealed that BE has a significant direct positive effect on BL. BE has also had a significant direct positive effect on e-WoM. In addition, BL has a significant direct positive effect on e-WoM. Finally, BL is a significant mediator between BE and e-WoM.

This study offered several managerial recommendations. By considering BE as a tool, organic cosmetics' brand owners and managers can effectively develop and implement various experiential marketing strategies to create a love for that brand and develop long-term relationships with consumers, which in turn will lead to positive e-WOM.

This is a new study that uses Fournier’s relationship theory to investigate BE on BL to predict e-WOM in the context of Egyptian organic cosmetics brands. New insights are provided for the mediating effect of BL between BE and e-WoM in the context of Egyptian organic cosmetics brands.

This study aims to evaluate the usage of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in journals related to logistics and supply chain management (LSCM).

Based on a structured literature review approach, the authors reviewed 401 articles in the field of LSCM applying PLS-SEM published in 15 major journals between 2014 and 2022. The analysis focused on reasons for using PLS-SEM, measurement model and structural model evaluation criteria, advanced analysis techniques and reporting practices.

LSCM researchers sometimes did not clarify the reasons for using PLS-SEM, such as sample size, complex models and non-normal distributions. Additionally, most articles exhibit limited use of measurement models and structural model evaluation techniques, leading to inappropriate use of assessment criteria. Furthermore, progress in the practical implementation of advanced analysis techniques is slow, and there is a need for improved transparency in reporting analysis algorithms.

This study contributes to the field of LSCM by providing clear criteria and steps for using PLS-SEM, enriching the understanding and advancement of research methodologies in this field.

The paper aims to analyze the structural integrity of an existing offshore platform located in the Northern Adriatic Sea, followed by the topside decommissioning and the re-utilization of the jacket as a wind turbine support. The structural integrity assessment against the in-place and the long-term actions is accomplished by using a reduced basis finite element method (RB-FEA) software program assessing the capability of the jacket to be used as a support for wind turbines at the end of its life cycle as oil and gas (O&G) platform.

The project starts by modeling the jacket, and subsequently, the structural analyses for the in-place loads in operative and extreme conditions are performed. Then, the fatigue analysis is carried out in order to define the cumulative damage necessary to evaluate the possibility to use the jacket as a wind turbine support.

The results show that the jacket, at the end of the service life as O&G platform, is able to withstand the loads produced by the installation of the wind turbine since the analyses are satisfied even with the conservative approach used which overestimates the thickness loss assuming a linear increasing value during the service life.

Because of the chosen approach, the study presents some limitations, especially concerning the real state of the platform which has been defined considering the thickness loss only. Additionally, a 1D model was used to perform the analyses, and hence, a 3D model could help in evaluating the critical points with higher precision.

The assessment of the structure could be improved by modeling a digital twin of the asset allowing a real-time monitoring which, however, involves a huge amount of data to be processed, so a suitable simulation technology must be used.

The RB-FEA proposed by Akselos is suitable to perform the analyses speeding up the processing of the data even in real time.