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The purpose of this paper is to examine e-service quality (E-SQ) of online shopping in Pakistan using “E-S-QUAL scale.” Moreover, in this study, the relationship of E-SQ with e-customer satisfaction (E-CS) and e-customer loyalty (E-CL) has been studied.

Following a quantitative research methodology, data were collected from 298 respondents using convenience sampling and survey research design was followed. In order to develop the model and test the hypotheses, structure equation modeling (SEM) was done through AMOS.

Findings indicate that all of the first latent constructs are significant where E-CS and E-CL (dependent variables) are influenced by E-SQ (independent variable). Using SEM, statistically fit structural model was developed on the basis of confirmatory factor analysis. The analysis shows that there is a strong positive relation between E-SQ and E-CS and E-SQ and E-CL.

Asian markets have been identified as the fastest growing e-commerce markets in present era. Similarly, retail sector in Pakistan is booming, at the same time an exponential increase is being observed in the number of internet users and online shopping. It is important for marketers and retailers to explore new horizons and enter the age of e-commerce for expansion of their businesses.

The increasingly wide use of the internet is influencing everything around the globe and these emerging e-commerce trends have tremendously changed the mode of shopping from brick and mortars to e-stores. The study explores the e-commerce and focuses on E-SQ and its impact on E-CS and E-CL in the context of a developing economy, i.e. Pakistan, uncovering the key dimensions and attributes.

This chapter explores the empowering potential of research conducted with an activist orientation. It focuses on the story of four migrant workers employed in a Norwegian fish-processing plant, who, supported by the local trade union and along with 67 colleagues, resisted against exploitative working, employment, and living conditions. Meant as a study of the emergence and dynamics of criminological activism, this chapter reflects the capacities in which researchers tend to act to challenge the normalisation of state-corporate harms and to empower those victimised by these harms, as well as on the pitfalls of these approaches. In so doing, this chapter points to the parallels between state-corporate criminology, labour perspective on human trafficking, social harm, and zemiology. Ultimately, it calls for heightened reflexivity and critical intellectual distance from activist researchers.

This study aims to explore the factors that influence young green actual consumption behavior (GACB) by examining the relational and technological aspects that are dependent on technology and youth green buying intention (GBI). Additionally, this study endeavors to examine the moderating effect of adolescent green organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) on the association between young consumer GBI and young GACB.

The data for this study was collected from a sample of 282 university students located in the southern region of China. A time lag approach was used in this study, with data being gathered during two separate intervals spaced apart by duration of two months.

The findings of this study demonstrate that both technological and relational factors play a significant role in predicting young consumer GBI, which in turn predicts young GACB. Additionally, the results indicate that GBI is a crucial facilitator in the investigation. Furthermore, the results reveal that young green OCB serves as a significant moderator, enhancing the association between young consumer GBI and young consumer GACB.

The present study provides a novel perspective on the examination of how technology and relational factors impact young consumers, offering a deeper understanding of their intentions and actual consumption behavior. The findings of this study offer both theoretical and practical implications for academics, policymakers, senior managers and practitioners, providing valuable insights into the field.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically impacts of organizational knowledge-sharing practices (KSP) on employees’ job satisfaction (JS), interpersonal adaptability (IA) and learning commitment (LC). Indirect effects of KSP on JS are also confirmed through mediating factors (LC and IA).

Self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Knowledge workers from service sector organizations were taken as population of study. Therefore, three types of institutes (banks, insurance and telecom companies) from services sector of Pakistan were selected for sampling purpose. A sample size of 435 employees, comprising 145 employees from each type of institute, was selected. Linear regression analysis and mediation analyses were performed for statistical analysis.

Organizational support for knowledge sharing fosters learning commitment (LC), and interpersonal adaptability (IA) among workforce that ultimately grounds employees’ job satisfaction. Therefore, in our findings, the mediating role of IA is greater than the mediating effect of LC.

This study presents a firm reasoning to decision makers for implementation of KSP in the organizations. Findings of study offer several subjects for discussion in the field of KS by academics and research. Present research is limited to test the composite effect of KSP for some selected employee outcomes only.

This research attempts to provide empirical evidence about impacts of KSP on employee outcomes. Research work on such issues was lacking in Pakistani context. Therefore, this paper supplies ample of theoretical base for future research as well as management decision makers to maximize the benefits of implementing KSP at their organizations.

Against the background of the I50 paradigm, this paper queries in what ways blockchain and blockchain-based applications deployed in the smart city context facilitate the integration of the I50 paradigm in smart urban contexts.

A mixed methods approach is applied. First, by means of desk research and thematic literature review, a conceptual model integrating the I50 paradigm, smart city and blockchain-based solutions is built. Second, science mapping bibliometric analysis (SciMat) based on keywords’ co-occurrence is applied to a sample of 491 research articles to identify key domains of blockchain-based applications’ use in smart city. Third, a semi-systematic literature review complements insights gained through SciMat. Fourth, the findings are interpreted through the precepts of the conceptual model devised earlier.

The key blockchain-based applications in smart cities pertain to two domains, i.e. the foundational, service facilitation-oriented domain, including security (and safety), networks, computing, resource management and the service delivery-oriented domain, including mobility, energy and healthcare. Blockchain serves as the key building block for applications developed to deliver functions specific to each of the thus identified domains. A substantial layering of blockchain-based tools and applications is necessary to advance from the less to the more complex functional domains of the smart city.

At the conceptual level, the intricacies of the (making of the) I50 paradigm are discussed and a case for I50 – smart city – blockchain nexus is made. Easton’s input–output model as well as constructivism is referenced. At the empirical level, the key major domains of blockchain-based applications are discussed; those that bear the prospect of integrating the I50 paradigm in the smart city are highlighted. At the methodological level, a strategic move is made aimed at restoring the literature review’s role as subservient to the key line of exploration, to justify and ultimately support it, rather than to showcase the literature review as the ultimate purpose for itself.

Purpose: Fear of deportation and its relationship to healthcare access has been less studied among immigrant Latinx men who have sex with men (MSM), a population at risk for HIV and characterized by their multiple minority statuses. The first step is to accurately measure their fear of deportation.

Approach: We used an exploratory sequential mixed methods design. Eligibility criteria were that research participants be ages 18–34 years; Latinx; cisgender male; having had sex with another male; residing in the District of Columbia metro area; and not a US citizen or legal permanent resident. In Study 1, we used in-depth interviews and thematic analysis. Using participants' interview responses, we inductively generated 15 items for a fear of deportation scale. In Study 2, we used survey data to assess the scale's psychometric properties. We conducted independent samples t-test on the associations between scale scores and barriers to healthcare access.

Findings: For the 20 participants in Study 1, fear of deportation resulted in chronic anxiety. Participants managed their fear through vigilance, and behaviors restricting their movement and social network engagement. In Study 2, we used data from 86 mostly undocumented participants. The scale was internally consistent (α = 0.89) and had a single factor. Those with higher fear of deportation scores were significantly more likely to report avoiding healthcare because they were worried about their immigration status (p = 0.007).

Originality: We described how fear of deportation limits healthcare access for immigrant Latinx MSM.

Research implications: Future research should examine fear of deportation and HIV risk among immigrant Latinx MSM.

Higher education institutions, particularly in the case of public universities, face the challenge of creating more value in an environment of increasing requirements and limitations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relation of internal marketing (IM) with employees’ attitudinal outcomes, which aim to stimulate and retain motivated and customer-conscious contact employees.

Survey data of 94 customer-contact employees in a public higher education institution were analysed using partial least squares path modelling to explore and predict key target constructs.

The results demonstrate the relationship between customer-contact employees’ service empathy (SE), institutional IM initiatives and employees’ attitudinal outcomes in the public sector, specifically higher education institutions.

The current study relies on self-reported data and a small sample of customer-contact employees working only on enrolment-related areas. Further studies should be designed for theory confirmation and generalizability of the results.

Top managers in public higher education institutions must encourage organizational identification through IM initiatives, such as well-established internal communication procedures. Academic management should continuously train and retain customer-contact employees that have developed SE and a sense of belonging to the organization. SE must be incorporated in the job descriptions and training of customer-contact employees.

The study contributes to the limited literature on the use of IM and SE in the public sector, specifically higher education institutions.

Las instituciones de educación superior, en particular en el caso de las universidades públicas, se enfrentan al reto de crear más valor en un entorno de necesidades y limitaciones en aumento. El propósito de este estudio es explorar la relación entre el marketing interno y las resultantes actitudes laborales de los empleados. El objetivo del marketing interno es estimular y retener empleados de contacto que estén motivados y sean conscientes de la importancia de los clientes.

Se analizaron datos de 94 empleados de contacto de una institución pública de educación superior utilizando modelos de regresión de cuadrados mínimos parciales para explorar y predecir constructos claves.

Los resultados demuestran la relación entre los siguientes constructos: niveles de empatía de los empleados de contacto, iniciativas institucionales de marketing interno, y las resultantes actitudes de los empleados del sector público, en particular organizaciones en el sector de la educación superior.

El presente estudio se basa en los datos auto informados de una pequeña muestra de empleados de contacto que trabajan sólo en áreas relacionadas con matrícula. Nuevos estudios deberían ser diseñados para la confirmación de la teoría y la generalización de los resultados.

Los altos directivos de las instituciones públicas de educación superior deben fomentar la identificación con la organización a través de iniciativas de marketing interno, tales como procedimientos establecidos de comunicación interna. Los directivos académicos deben continuamente adiestrar y retener a los empleados de contacto que han desarrollado la capacidad de proveer servicios de manera empática y que tienen sentido de pertenencia a la organización. Proveer servicio de manera empática debe ser incorporado en las descripciones de empleo y formación de los empleados de contacto.

El estudio contribuye a la literatura limitada sobre el uso de marketing interno y empatía en los servicios en el sector público, específicamente en las instituciones de educación superior.

This study social based on cognitive theory (SCT), aims to better understand how transformational leadership affects team-level knowledge sharing and absorptive ability in the construction industry. It also examines the moderating influence of the AI-based virtual assistant on the indirect relationship between transformational leadership and team innovation through knowledge sharing and absorptive ability at the team level.

This study used a simple random sample approach to gather data from several small and medium-sized construction firms in Anhui Province, China. A total of 407 respondents, including 89 site engineers and 321 team members, provided their responses on a five-point Likert scale questionnaire.

The findings showed that AI-based virtual assistants significantly moderated the direct and indirect association between transformational leadership and knowledge sharing, and subsequently with team innovation. Unexpectedly, the findings showed that AI-based virtual assistant did not moderate the direct relationship between transformational leadership and team-level absorptive capacity.

This study adds a fresh perspective to the literature on construction management by examining team innovation driven by transformational leadership through an underlying mechanism. It is unique in that it uses the team adaptation theory to investigate the understudied relationship between transformational leadership and team innovation in the construction industry.

This study is an exploratory study investigating firm-specific internal factors that influence the profitability performance of selected life insurance firms in eight Asian countries (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia) from 2008-2014. This paper aims to focus on internal rather than external factors based on the resource-based view suggesting that the internal resources of a firm are key to gaining competitive advantage.

The authors used panel data estimation model to test our six hypotheses on these eight selected countries for the period between 2008 and 2014.

A random effect model reveals that size, volume of capital and underwriting risk are significantly related to the profitability of Asian life insurance firm, measured as return on assets. Premium growth, asset tangibility and liquidity are insignificant predictors of the profitability performance of these life insurance firms.

Three implications of this study are that life insurance firms need to proactively tap new business opportunities by attracting younger generation customers via e-marketing technologies; secure larger capital base to finance their market expansion strategies; and focus on intangible resources such as goodwill, brand equity and reputation.

This study contributes to the literature by conducting an exploratory regional-based panel study of Asian life insurance firms to find common factors that contribute towards profitability. The study is conducted on a collective sample of Asian life insurance firms based on the premise that the firms included in the sample engage in cross-border activities and share the same international financial reporting standards. These commonalities allow us to treat the firms jointly in a somewhat similar Asian macroeconomic environment.