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Waste management is a crucial aspect of sustainable development, but is it economically sustainable for marginalized informal firms? The study tries to answer this question by revisiting the Porter–Wagner dilemma about the association between environmental management (EM) and firm performance (FP). The study looks into the various liquid waste management practices (LWMPs) adopted by them and the overall impact of LWMPs on firms' economic performance.

The study uses the latest available cross-sectional data source on Indian informal firms by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), 73rd survey round 2015–16. First, ordered logistic regression was used to analyse the factors that impact a firm's adoption of a particular LWMP. Subsequently, to capture the heterogeneity among the firms based on productivity and size, a quantile regression (QR) was employed to analyse the impact of LWMPs on firm productivity. Additionally, the propensity score matching technique was used to address endogeneity concerns.

The authors find that bigger, urban-located and female-owned firms adopt cleaner LWMPs that positively impact their economic performance. Furthermore, the QR analysis observed that the most productive firms could extract higher returns from adopting cleaner LWMPs, indicating the relevance of the Porter–Wagner dilemma, i.e. environmental and economic sustainability are possibly symbiotic, thus having a feedback mechanism.

To the authors’ limited knowledge, this is the first study analysing the relationship between EM and FP among the informal sector firms, which are away from any regulations or obligations. Since sustainability is a two-way process, policies should be devised that incentivise sustainable business practices.

The Internet has changed the nature of purchasing, proof of this being the proliferation of e-commerce sites which have seen their activity grow more quickly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the authors aim to investigate the impact of the consumer's hedonic motivations, price, access to information and trust on the online purchase intention.

A quantitative, transversal study of a conclusive nature was carried out. Based on information gathered through a questionnaire administered to a sample of 750 online purchasers, a structural equation model was estimated.

The results showed that the intention to continue purchasing in online shops is partly explained by access to information online, hedonic motivations and trust in e-commerce sites. It stands out that online information generates trust, and the perception of online prices does not influence loyalty but has a positive influence on hedonic motivations.

Although some constructs were ignored, for example, the integration of channels, experiential marketing and the fear of fraud, including unauthorised use of personal details, the study shows that easy access to useful information about products, prices, promotions is an important antecedent of online purchase.

Online shop managers should pay special attention to e-commerce websites, and the information provided there should explore consumer's hedonic motivations for adventure. Furthermore, it is fundamental to create trust in order to maintain the interest in online shopping.

The estimation of the structural model in the context of online shopping includes the influence of utilitarian motivations (price and access to information), which offer a rational experience and also include emotional motivations (hedonic adventure motivations) on the intention to buy online. The results also revealed that it plays an important role to promote online trust and online loyalty.

Purpose: Although the transnational mobility of youth is prevalent across the globe, the policies and strategies used by developing countries to promote youths’ transnational mobility remains unclear. This chapter aims to discuss a few emerging trends and concerns related to youth transnational mobility and human capital accumulation. It focuses on the specific case of youth transnational migration from India. As such, this chapter considers the factors that have led to the construction of aspirations for transnational migration among Indian youth.

Study approach: In this chapter, we examine youth transnational mobility by synthesising the major literature available in the area of globalisation and transnational migration in the developing countries context. The study also incorporates the policy debates and secondary data evidence in these domains to substantiate the arguments.

Findings: Mainly focussing on the internal state of affairs of India, this work highlights three critical issues (a) new norms and practices of human capital accumulation within India’s knowledge economy; (b) understanding state and formal-informal ‘commoditised’ market dynamics in the changing aspirations for global human capital formation, specifically through transnational migration; and (c) examining the upshots of youth transnational mobility in terms of the production of relatively new forms of caste and class inequalities within Indian society.

Originality: This conceptual piece of work is an initial foray to unpack the complexities of Indian youths’ migration for specialised forms of human capital accumulation in a global landscape. The study motivates future policy-oriented interdisciplinary research on education and transnational mobility, specifically in empirical research projects.

The purpose of this study is to examine the existence of greenwashing and sustainable development goal (SDG)-washing processes by comparing ex ante (SDG Compass) and ex post (SDG Compliance) indicators and investigating whether the limitations associated with these indicators encourage companies to engage in washing processes.

The authors use a sample of 1,154 companies included in the S&P Sustainability Yearbook (formerly the RobecoSAM Yearbook). The authors test for the presence of greenwashing by comparing ex ante and ex post indicators for each SDG, whereas to test for SDG-washing, the authors compare the two ex ante and ex post approaches considering the full set of SDGs.

The results show that there is no consistency between the two types of indicators to measure the level of SDG implementation in organisations. This lack of consistency may facilitate both greenwashing and SDG-washing processes, which is due to the design and limitations of these measurement tools.

Companies may choose those indicators that paint their commitment to the SDGs in the best light, but they may also select indicators based on the SDGs they want to report on. These two options would combine greenwashing and SDG-washing.

The shift towards improved standards and regulations for measuring SDG achievement is the result of several social factors such as investor scrutiny, regulatory reform, consumer awareness and increased corporate accountability.

Few previous studies have analysed in detail the interaction between greenwashing and SDG-washing. They focus on the use of ex ante or ex post indicators separately, with samples composed of local companies, and without considering the whole set of SDGs.

A recent meeting involved co‐operation with the organisers of the Canadian High Technology Show and the local Chapter of the SMTA. The programme included an inspiring keynote address by Mr Frank J. Pipp, Xerox Corporation. The topic of the address was ‘Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Control and the Evaluation of Total Quality Control in Xerox Corporation.’

Manufacturing systems have undergone radical changes because of the implementation of physical and digital innovating technologies with high levels of connectivity, interoperability and autonomy. In this regard, the objective of this study was to investigate whether industrial engineers graduated in recent years in Brazil are prepared or not to work in companies and industries within the scope of Industry 4.0 technologies in a way that they positively contribute to the implementation and management of such technologies.

To achieve these objectives, a literature review and a survey on managers of the industrial sector acting in Brazil were carried out as the research strategies. The data collected were analyzed through a quantitative approach by means of the structural equations modeling method.

The hypothesis that the competencies of industrial engineers currently graduating in Brazil have a positive impact on the implementation and management of Industry 4.0 technologies has been confirmed. Predicting the evolution of production scenarios, understanding the interaction between organizations and their impacts on competitiveness and keeping abreast of technological advancements, organizing them and putting them to the service of business and societal demands were the competencies that obtained the highest factor loadings in the construct of industrial engineer competencies. In addition, cloud manufacturing, automation and robotization were the competencies that obtained the highest factor loadings in the industry 4.0 construct.

The analysis of skills development stands out as a source of competitive advantage for companies that intend to transition to a production system aligned with the principles of Industry 4.0, considering the training of professionals in an emerging economy context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensions of online customer experience (OCE) and their impact on satisfaction and loyalty in the clothing e-retail context. Furthermore, it explores the influence of gender on the OCE-satisfaction-loyalty chain.

OCE dimensions were drawn from the literature and then adapted and validated using two samples (217 – exploratory factor analysis, 651 – confirmatory factor analysis) of experienced online clothing shoppers in India. An analysis was done using structured equation modelling.

Six OCE psychological factors and four OCE functionality factors were revealed. Both OCE dimensions impact loyalty either directly or indirectly through satisfaction. Gender is observed to moderate the relationship among three OCE factors (e-distrust, e-negative beliefs and website interactivity) and satisfaction.

The research results are limited to the factors related to each of the two OCE dimensions explored within the clothing e-retail context in India.

Clothing e-retailers need to focus on both the OCE dimensions to drive business sustenance. Furthermore, their OCE strategies should be in line with the gender-based differences highlighted by the study.

The study facilitates in the adaptation and validation of the OCE dimensions in the clothing e-retail category in an emerging market. While all factors associated with both OCE dimensions are important for driving satisfaction and loyalty, the study underscores the need for a higher focus on visual engagement by e-retailers in the given context. Gender moderates the OCE-satisfaction paths, but does not moderate the OCE-loyalty paths.

The purpose of this study is to survey the associations among innovation perspective on value priorities, i.e. hedonic vs utilitarian facets, satisfaction among customers and behavioral intents for online fashion apparels in the Asian economic context, i.e. Indian market.

The research used a hypo-deductive strategy and all the constructs were amended from the previous scholarly work. The two-step methodology with structural equation modelling in terms of covariance-based methodology was deployed to weigh the measurement and structural models.

The conclusions reveal that value priorities in terms of hedonic vs utilitarian dimensions have a substantial influence on satisfaction, and satisfaction significantly affects intentions for online apparels. Additionally, customer satisfaction performs the role of a partial facilitator between hedonic and utilitarian values and purchase intents. In comparison to hedonic, utilitarian priorities display a superior outcome on customer satisfaction and purchase intents for fashion apparels getting sold online portals.

The research will facilitate online researchers and fashion managers recognize the underlying dimensions of innovation-led perspectives on values, i.e. hedonic vs utilitarian, for satisfaction and behavioral intents.

The study results will assist online marketers, fashion portals and specialists recognize the characteristics of hedonic vs utilitarian dimensions to improve satisfaction facets and behavioral intents for online fashion apparels.

The present scholarly work presents useful insights related to social transformation with respect to innovative online fashion apparel buying paradigms.

In an Asian market context, the paper is pioneer work to examine the comparative relationships among value priorities, e.g. hedonic vs utilitarian dimensions and their influence on satisfaction and purchase intents for the fashion apparels sold online sector a two-dimensional measure of consumption values.

Shopping motivation has been extensively explored in traditional marketing context but less in online shopping. Utilitarian attribute of online shopping is one of the success factors of e-retailing. The purpose of this paper is to explore the utilitarian shopping motivation in online shopping and validate these factors through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the Indian context.

The data were collected from the 183 regular online shoppers. The collected data were analysed through exploratory factor analysis and CFA using Amos 22 version.

This paper explored the utilitarian shopping motivation of online shopping into five factors, i.e. information availability, accessibility, searchability, product availability and convenience.

The research is conducted on online shoppers to measure their utilitarian motives of shopping online. Further research may be conducted to investigate other motives of online shopping. The sample is taken from Central India which is not enough to generalise the findings. Research may be conducted in other regions and on different segment of respondents to know the impact of geographical variance on utilitarian perspectives of online shoppers.

This paper addresses a significant input in online retailing platform, and it will contribute to the theory of shopping motivations in online shopping context and provide valuable inputs for developing online marketing strategies. The findings of the study also aid to retail practitioners in analysing retailing’s current transformation due to digitalization.

This study aims to identify and analyse the key determinants influencing customer satisfaction towards online shopping in India.

The literature concerning major attributes of website functionality, perceived usability, perceived usefulness and customer satisfaction in online retailing were reviewed. Data were collected from 365 respondents active in online shopping for examining the constructs. The model was empirically tested using structural equation modelling.

The findings of the study reveal that perceived usefulness and website functionality have a positive impact on customer satisfaction, whereas perceived usability had a significant but negative impact on customer satisfaction.

This research will help online retailers to attract and motivate new customers for online shopping and existing customers to extend it in their daily purchase. Online retailers can improve post purchase satisfaction and eventually increase online customers.

This is one of the preliminary study dealing with customer satisfaction towards online retailing in India. The scale has been extended to include items like satisfaction with cash on delivery mode of payment not included in previous scales. The scale of perceived usefulness has also been deepened by adding time performance, product performance and promotional performance.