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COVID-19 has had a significant global impact at many levels, including an impact on global real estate capital flows. This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on global real estate capital flows over 2019–2022 to clearly articulate the extent of this impact on global real estate capital flows across regions, countries, major cities, real estate sub-sectors and by major real estate investors. Drivers of these global real estate capital flow changes are also identified. The strategic real estate investment implications of this impact are highlighted, as well as the implications going forward concerning the global real estate strategies for the real estate portfolios held by institutional investors.

To assess the impact of COVID-19, the Real Capital Analytics (RCA) database of global real estate transactions over 2019–2022 is used to drill-out critical details on commercial real estate transactions to explore specific trends in global real estate capital flows in this period of the COVID-19 crisis. This includes real estate capital flows to specific regions, countries, cities, real estate sub-sectors as well as the role of major real estate investors.

The impact of COVID-19 is clearly shown with the major decline in global real estate capital flows in 2020, with a strong recovery in 2021. Reduced levels of real estate capital flows in 2022 reflect different risk dynamics, where 2022 has seen investors move on from the COVID-19 environment. In 2022, the risk of COVID-19 for real estate has been replaced by global real estate risk factors such as inflation concerns, geopolitical tensions, economic growth concerns, increased cost of debt issues and supply chain issues. This sees COVID-19 now rated as only the 6th most important risk factor in real estate investment decision-making for real estate investors in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia–Pacific.

This research has clearly shown the extent of the impact of COVID-19 on global real estate capital flows, as well as identifying the drivers of these real estate capital flow changes. It highlights that real estate investors have moved on and are now prioritising new risk factors ahead of COVID-19 risk. These critical risk factors reflect more recent financial, economic and geopolitical issues, which are key issues in real estate investment decision-making going forward. Investors need to structure these new risk factors into their real estate investment decision-making for the ongoing management of their domestic and international real estate portfolios.

This paper is the first published empirical research analysis of global real estate capital flows during the COVID-19 crisis. This research provides major insights on real estate investment decision-making during this crisis and the strategic changes seen in acquiring real estate portfolios in response to this major global crisis. The change in real estate risk priorities in 2022 as real estate investors move on from the COVID-19 environment is also identified and is clearly reflected in the 2022 global real estate capital flows.

This work aims to explore the effects of (equity and non-equity) strategic alliances between banks and FinTechs on FinTechs' online visibility.

For a sample of 124 Italian FinTechs, the authors measured online visibility through their website ranking (Google PageRank) and website traffic (Google Trends). Consistent to the historical depth of these measures, the authors separately investigated the effect of equity and non-equity (contractual) agreements on online visibility by means of ordinal logistic regressions and diff-in-diff analysis.

Strategic alliances with banks enhance FinTechs' online visibility. Although both equity and contractual agreements positively influence the popularity of FinTechs' website achieved through the activity of internal and external online content creators (websites ranking), only equity agreements are effective in attracting Internet users (website traffic).

When deciding to interact with banks, FinTechs' managers should consider that equity agreements may be a powerful strategic choice for enlarging the customer base and boosting visibility of FinTechs.

Fostering strategic alliances between banks and FinTechs contributes to FinTechs' growth, generating virtuous mechanisms of innovation, financial inclusion and better allocative efficiency of the financial system.

This work expands marketing knowledge and literature regarding online visibility determinants, by investigating the benefits of strategic alliances and cooperation in the market, while providing an empirical strategy replicable by future marketing studies.

The purpose of this research is to provide a strategic framework for business resilience plans (BRPs) to guide micro, small, and medium-sized firms (MSMEs) in determining their adaptability level and providing information on agility and resilience tactics while coping with turbulence.

A systematic literature review (SLR) is used in this work to collect and acquire a complete and high-quality sample of academic journal articles. As the primary focus, 63 high-quality journals were chosen from 154 academic papers in the Scopus and Web of Science databases by using qualitative data analysis. The method of thematic analysis incorporating grounded approach analysis was utilized for creating themes and key findings in this study.

This study proposes the dimensions of the BRPs framework along with key findings to identify future research directions for MSMEs. The three dimensions of BRP include responsiveness, reactiveness, and proactiveness based on the principles of agility, absorption, and resilience.

This study proposes a sustainable and resilient framework for post-disaster MSMEs as a catalyst towards sustainably resilient MSMEs. This study highlights viable avenues for future research for academics and provides a resilient plan at various levels for business owner-managers.

Variations in customer expectations pose a challenge to service quality improvement in the airline industry. Understanding airline customers' expectations and satisfaction help service providers improve their offerings. The extant literature examines airline passengers' expectations in isolation, neglecting the overall impact of online reviews on service quality improvement. This paper systematically evaluates the airline industry's passengers' expectations and satisfaction using expectation confirmation theory (ECT) and the SERVQUAL framework. The paper analyzes online reviews to examine the relationship between airline service quality attributes and passengers' satisfaction.

The SERVQUAL framework was employed to examine the effects of customer culture, the reason for traveling, and seat type on customer's expectations and satisfaction across a large sample of airline customers.

A total of 17,726 observations were gathered from the Skytrax review website. The lowest satisfaction ratings were from passengers from the USA, Canada and India. Factors that affect perceived service performance include customer service, delays and baggage management. Empathy and reliability have the biggest impact on the perceived satisfaction of passengers.

This research increases understanding of the consumer expectations through analysis of passengers' online reviews. Results are limited to a small sample of airline industries.

This study provides airlines with valuable information to improve customer service by analyzing online reviews.

This study provides the opportunity for airline customers to gain better services when airline companies utilize the findings.

This paper offers insights into passengers' expectations and their perceived value for money in relation to seat types. Previous studies have not investigated value for money as a construct for passengers' expectations and satisfaction relative to service quality dimensions. This paper addresses this need.

This paper aims to study whether international niche market leaders (INMLs) gained their leading position as early mover or diligent follower, and assess whether they leveraged hard or soft forms of technological, supply pre-emption and customer lock-in advantage mechanisms.

Empirical material stems from qualitative and quantitative data on a sample of 20 niche companies from the Basque Country (Spain) that operate in business to business markets.

The sample predominantly followed an early entrant strategy and applied soft measures to reach niche market leadership.

Findings imply that early entering fosters conquering leadership in niche markets, that pioneer advantage is easier to sustain in niches than in mainstream markets, and that soft measures are more effective in niche markets than in larger markets. A limitation to our findings is that they follow from explorative research on a sample of firms from a reduced geographic setting.

Hidden champions and INMLs can be important sources of technological progress and economic value for the localities that host them. Therefore, despite their traditional low profile and the fact that they are not always the largest firms around, policymakers may want to pay more attention to this type of companies.

Tot he best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to research entry timing and its outcome for market leadership with regard to niche players or hidden champions-type of firms. It introduces an original taxonomy to operationalize and distinguish between hard and soft measures to leverage advantage mechanisms related to market entry timing.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the effect of health risk perceptions on the degree of decisiveness of a person towards e-commerce (e-commerce acceptance), self-awareness towards leisure and self-awareness towards socialisation in pandemic contexts. The identified gap was related to the COVID-19 pandemic, where the development of studies inherent to this context is becoming urgent. Thus, it was necessary to understand how the health risks perceived by individuals influenced their choice regarding online shopping and, simultaneously, socialising and leisure activities.

To reach this goal, a conceptual model was developed based on the self-determination theory, and data were collected from two countries (Portugal and Croatia). The model was estimated using the structural equation modelling (SEM).

The results showed that the perceptions regarding health risks have a positive effect on the degree of decisiveness of a person towards e-commerce acceptance and self-awareness towards socialisation. In turn, the perceptions of health risks have a positive effect on self-awareness towards leisure, not supporting the model conceptualisation.

The paper contributes to fill a gap in literature by analysing the simultaneous effect of individuals’ e-commerce motivations for leisure and socialising activities within a pandemic context. These results have significant managerial implications for several stakeholders that must communicate to the specific public regarding this type of events.

El propósito de este estudio es analizar el efecto de las percepciones de riesgo para la salud sobre i) el grado de decisión de una persona hacia el comercio electrónico (aceptación del comercio electrónico); ii) la autoconciencia hacia el ocio; y iii) la autoconciencia hacia la socialización en contextos de pandemia. La laguna identificada estaba relacionada con la pandemia de COVID-19, donde era urgente desarrollar estudios inherentes a este contexto. Así, era necesario comprender cómo los riesgos para la salud percibidos por los individuos influían en su elección respecto a las compras en línea y, simultáneamente, a las actividades de socialización y ocio.

Para alcanzar este objetivo, se desarrolló un modelo conceptual, basado en la teoría de la autodeterminación y se recogieron datos de dos países (Portugal y Croacia). El modelo se estimó mediante un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM).

Los resultados mostraron que las percepciones sobre los riesgos para la salud tienen un efecto positivo en el grado de decisión de una persona hacia la aceptación del comercio electrónico y la autoconciencia hacia la socialización. A su vez, las percepciones sobre los riesgos para la salud tienen efectos positivos sobre la autoconciencia hacia el ocio no suportando la conceptualización del modelo.

El artículo contribuye a llenar un vacío en la literatura al analizar el efecto simultáneo de las motivaciones de comercio electrónico de los individuos para actividades de ocio y socialización en un contexto de pandemia. Estos resultados tienen importantes implicaciones de gestión para varios actores que deben comunicar al público específico sobre el tipo de eventos.

O objetivo deste estudo é analisar o efeito da perceção dos riscos para a saúde sobre i) o grau de decisão de uma pessoa em relação ao comércio eletrónico (aceitação do comércio eletrónico); ii) a auto-consciencialização em relação ao lazer; e iii) a auto-consciencialização em relação à socialização em contextos pandémicos. A lacuna identificada estava relacionada com a pandemia da COVID-19, onde era urgente desenvolver estudos inerentes a este contexto. Assim, foi necessário compreender como os riscos de saúde percebidos pelos indivíduos influenciaram a sua escolha relativamente às compras on-line e, simultaneamente, às atividades de socialização e lazer.

Para atingir este objetivo, foi desenvolvido um modelo concetual, com base na teoria da autodeterminação e foram recolhidos dados de dois países (Portugal e Croácia). O modelo foi estimado utilizando a modelação de equações estruturais (SEM).

Os resultados mostraram que as perceções relativas aos riscos de saúde têm um efeito positivo sobre o grau de decisão de uma pessoa em relação à aceitação do comércio eletrónico e de auto-consciencialização em relação à socialização. Por sua vez, as perceções dos riscos de saúde têm efeitos positivos sobre a auto-consciencialização em relação ao lazer não suportando o modelo concetual.

O artigo contribui para preencher uma lacuna na literatura ao analisar o efeito simultâneo das motivações do comércio eletrónico dos indivíduos para atividades de lazer e socialização em um contexto de pandemia. Estes resultados têm implicações de gestão significativas para vários intervenientes que devem comunicar ao público específico sobre o tipo de eventos.

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to encapsulate the outcomes and generate meaningful conclusions by examining the factors that influence consumers' purchase and non-purchase behaviour intention in a virtual reality retailing context.

This study integrates the outcomes from 52 studies, including 403 relationships involving 19,188 samples. The analysis was conducted using R-metafor and AMOS software.

The findings indicate that key factors that influence purchase and non-purchase behavioural intentions are virtual reality (VR)characteristics, virtual reality experience and consumer attitudes. VR experience is the strongest predictor for purchase decisions in virtual environment ,while consumer attitude towards VR most strongly influences the non-purchase behaviour of the consumers. Furthermore, the age of the respondents, cultural backgrounds (high vs low power distance) and gender moderate the relationship between consumers' attitudes and purchase and behaviour intentions.

Marketers can positively influence consumer attitudes and behavioural intentions by prioritizing the design of the virtual environment and facilitating unique experiences (by manipulating different sensory stimuli) in virtual retailing.

The current meta-analysis reconciles and reinforces the findings in the extant literature and provides a robust empirical generalization of the critical factors that influence consumers' purchase or behavioural intentions in a virtual retailing context.

Downward line extension is a valuable growth strategy that enables multiple products and services to meet diverse customer needs. However, downward extended products launched by high-status brands may be challenged by horizontal extended products launched by relatively low-status brands when these two types of products target similar consumers. This study aims to examine the impact of product type (horizontal extended versus downward extended) on consumers’ purchase intentions, the underlying mechanism and the moderating role of power distance belief.

Four scenario-based experiments were conducted to probe the research questions.

Consumers develop lower purchase intentions for downward (versus horizontal) extended products due to the reduction of perceived fit and self-congruity (Study 1). Beyond that, power distance belief moderates the impact of product type on consumers’ purchase intentions, as a low power distance belief reduces the negative effect of downward line extension (Studies 2a, 2b and 2c). Perceived fit and self-congruity mediate the interaction effect between product type and power distance belief on consumers’ purchase intentions (Study 2c).

This study provides marketing practitioners with guidance on implementing the strategy of downward line extension.

This study serves as a preliminary effort to compare consumers’ responses between downward and horizontal extended products, which deepens the understanding of downward line extension. It also contributes to the body of knowledge about line extension and power distance belief by demonstrating the moderating role of power distance belief in a line extension context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which customers evaluate inferior product presentations on a local shopping platform based on the retailer (small and medium-sized enterprise [SME] vs retail chain).

The authors conducted a between-subject online study (N = 728) with a 2 (SME vs retail chain) x 2 (high vs low-quality product presentation) between-subject experimental design. The authors conducted several analyses of variance to analyze the hypotheses and analyses of covariance for a mediating effect.

This study's results show that customers tend to overlook inaccuracies from a retail chain more often than they overlook inaccuracies from SME retailers. The authors show that the perceived competence of the retailer mediates the impact of the retailer's quality on customer purchasing intentions, not only for the presented product but also for the retailer itself.

Based on this study's results, the authors give implications for retailer cross-channel strategies and hint at the importance of emphasizing the retail size.

This paper provides important contributions to the literature on resource-advantage theory by explaining that consumers perceive quality differences within product presentations on online shopping platforms differently with regard to retail chains vs SME retailers. Moreover, the information processing theory helps to provide a theoretical foundation concerning differences in online store quality (via engineered low- vs high-quality product presentations in this study).