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This study aims to evaluate casino-hotel visitors’ tourism experiences which consist of multiple dimensions, and test their joint effects on visitors’ positive emotions and satisfaction. The findings are expected to reveal how multi-dimensional tourism experiences could shape visitors’ positive emotions, and empirically support positive emotions as the mediator between tourism experiences and satisfaction in the context of casino hotels.

A quantitative survey was conducted for this study. In all, 500 valid questionnaires were collected at four major casino hotels in Macao. Respondents were Chinese tourists who visited casino hotels in June. A structural model was developed and tested to understand the relationships between multi-dimensional tourism experiences, positive emotions and satisfaction.

Positive emotions were identified as “light pleasure” and “intense fun” emotions based on the context-specific measurement of casino hotels. The “light pleasure” emotions were found to be more effective in influencing respondents’ satisfaction than “intense fun” emotions. Different dimensions of tourism experiences were found to have different levels of impact on respondents’ positive emotions. The findings revealed how multi-dimensional tourism experiences influenced respondents’ positive emotions which in turn determined their satisfaction.

The findings advanced the understanding of the relationships between tourism experiences, positive emotions and satisfaction in the context of casino hotels. The two types of positive emotions identified in the study add values to the literature of casino-hotel visitors and emotional experiences. This study suggests a further investigation into the scope and measurement of each dimension of tourism experiences in different tourism settings in future research. The findings provided some practical suggestions for the management of positive emotions and tourism experiences in casino hotels.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the dimensions of service quality and examining the interrelationships among behavioral intentions, customer satisfaction, perceived value, corporate image and service quality in the gaming industry. A multi-level and hierarchical model is used as a framework to synthesize the effects of customer satisfaction, perceived value, corporate image and service quality on behavioral intentions of customers in the gaming industry.

The data used in this study were based on a sample of 470 at a newly built casino in Macau. Data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and regression analysis.

The findings support using a multi-level model consisting of three primary dimensions and ten sub-dimensions to conceptualize and measure perceived service quality. Perceived service quality significantly influences perceived value and corporate image, respectively. In addition, perceived value and corporate image are main determinants of customer satisfaction. Also, customer satisfaction and corporate image significantly affect behavioral intentions.

This is the first study synthesizing behavioral intentions, customer satisfaction, perceived value, corporate image and perceived service quality in a Macau casino setting.

The literature has demonstrated that lump-sum (LS) outperforms dollar-cost averaging (DCA) in uptrend markets while DCA outperforms LS only when the asset price is mean-reverted or downtrend. To bridge the gap in the literature, this study aims to use both Sharpe ratio (SR) and economic performance measure (EPM) to compare the performance of DCA and LS under both accumulative and disaccumulative approaches when the asset price is simulated to be uptrend.

This study uses both disaccumulative and accumulative approaches to compare DCA with LS and uses both SR and EPM to evaluate their performance when the asset price is simulated to be uptrend. Instead of using the annualized returns that are commonly used by other DCA studies, we compute the holding-period returns in the comparison in this paper.

The simulation shows that no matter which approach is used, DCA outperforms LS in nearly all the cases in the less uptrend markets while DCA still performs better than LS in many cases of the uptrend markets, especially when the market is more volatile and investment horizon is long, regardless which approach the authors used. The authors also find more evidence supporting DCA over LS by using EPM, which is more suitable in the analysis because the returns generated by DCA are positive skewed and flat-tailed that are ignored when SR is used.

The authors conclude that DCA is a better trading strategy than LS for investment even in the uptrend market, especially on high risky assets.

Investors could consider choosing DCA instead of LS as their trading strategy, especially when they prefer long term investment and investing in high-risk assets.

Fund managers could consider recommending DCA to their customers, especially when they prefer long term investment and investing in high-risk assets.

This is the own study and, as far as the authors know, this is the first study in the literature uses both SR and EPM to compare the performance of DCA and LS under both accumulative and disaccumulative approaches when the asset price is simulated to be uptrend.

This study aims to assess the extent to which Uganda university libraries have implemented digital transformation technologies and to determine the facilitators and barriers affecting the implementation of digital transformation in selected university libraries in Uganda.

This study used a convergent parallel mixed methods design. It was conducted in six selected university libraries in Uganda, which were in three private and three public universities. The study sample included 103 librarians with a minimum qualification of a bachelor’s degree and six library directors.

The findings indicated that there was an average (n = 37, 48.7%) implementation of digital transformation in the selected university libraries in Uganda. Some of the barriers hindering digital transformation included inadequate funding, lack of awareness of digital technologies, inadequate ICT skills, insufficient ICT infrastructure and limited staff among others. There is a need for library management to provide support in the form of funds, policies and human resources to implement such digital transformation.

The criteria for choosing universities were those that have been around for at least 10 years. The reason for this was that it was assumed that these universities would have well-established staff development programmes and procedures as well as be likely to have incorporated technology into their services, including libraries. This study’s limitations stem from the fact that this criterion for selection might not apply to all Ugandan university libraries, particularly those that are less than 10 years old and may not have been well represented in this study.

The magnitude of the problem of digital transformation in university libraries in Uganda is unclear because of the limited research available in the Uganda library and information science field. This study presents the status of digital transformation in Uganda university libraries.

Given the significant contributions of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across several economies, calls for investigations into their branding strategies are burgeoning. However, the literature is unclear, scattered and relatively scanty. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the existing literature on branding with a focus on SMEs.

The study uses a systematic review by identifying and evaluating peer-reviewed journal publications focusing on branding within the context of SMEs. The systematic design is based on papers published within the period of 2004-2014.

The review shows that significant progress is being made in the area under discussion. With several gaps in issues and empirical evidence, as well as in theoretical and methodological approaches, the paper signals promising lines of inquiry for both empirical and theoretical research.

By highlighting the research issues, as well as providing some pertinent research questions across various themes, the paper aims at directing future research efforts to critical areas which require immediate attention. The implications of the review are discussed in the paper.

The study identifies and describes the state of research issues and evidence in branding literature within the context of SMEs over a 10-year period, prompting insightful avenues to the academic and practitioner communities.

Strong leadership in primary care is necessary to coordinate an effective pandemic response; however, descriptions of leadership roles for family physicians are absent from previous pandemic plans. This study aims to describe the leadership roles and functions family physicians played during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada and identify supports and barriers to formalizing these roles in future pandemic plans.

This study conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with family physicians across four regions in Canada as part of a multiple case study. During the interviews, participants were asked about their roles during each pandemic stage and the facilitators and barriers they experienced. Interviews were transcribed and a thematic analysis approach was used to identify recurring themes.

Sixty-eight family physicians completed interviews. Three key functions of family physician leadership during the pandemic were identified: conveying knowledge, developing and adapting protocols for primary care practices and advocacy. Each function involved curating and synthesizing information, tailoring communications based on individual needs and building upon established relationships.

Findings demonstrate the need for future pandemic plans to incorporate formal family physician leadership appointments, as well as supports such as training, communication aides and compensation to allow family physicians to enact these key roles.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique opportunity to examine the leadership roles of family physicians, which have been largely overlooked in past pandemic plans. This study’s findings highlight the importance of these roles toward delivering an effective and coordinated pandemic response with uninterrupted and safe access to primary care.

Mobility as a service (MaaS) is a new model of bundling personal transport options from multiple providers to provide frictionless service. The model integrates information and service to enable users to search, book and pay through a single digital platform. The aim of MaaS is to minimize individual car ownership and revolutionize personal mobility habits in favour of sustainable modes. Thus, it is important to understand consumers' readiness for MaaS. This study explains the factors that influence MaaS adoption.

A comprehensive review of the related literature has been conducted, leading to the development of a conceptual model for investigating the key factors that influence MaaS adoption. The model draws upon the digital platform, schema congruity and planned behaviour theories. The model is then tested using structural equation modelling and survey data collected from 331 respondents.

The findings indicate that MaaS information schema congruity, the digital platform's personalizability, customizability, functional integration, network integration and governance of data together with attitude towards MaaS and subjective norm concerning MaaS influence MaaS adoption. Furthermore, MaaS digital platform expectation and MaaS information schema congruity contribute to users' attitude towards MaaS use.

The paper highlights the design and informational attributes of MaaS platforms that influence their adoption and contributes an integrated research model that links digital platform characteristics, behavioural factors and information schema congruity. Future research can use the constructs and measures we developed in this study to build deeper understanding of what contributes to the success of digital platforms.

The purpose of this study is to offer a conceptual model that bridges gaps in the current research by combining constructs from the health belief model (HBM) and theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Furthermore, the researchers applied the constructed model to analyse the determinants of workers’ intentions to use e-wallet payment options for business transactions rather than physical currency during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the paper examines whether there are any significant variations in the usage intentions of Ghanaian workers in the formal and informal sectors.

The non-probability convenience sampling technique was used to compile the primary respondents among Ghanaian users of e-wallets. Based on constructs derived from the HBM and TPB, an online survey involving the use of a questionnaire was administered to collect quantitative data from 285 formal and informal sector workers in Ghana. Data collected was analysed using the partial least squares-structural equation modelling approach involving the measurement, structural model tests, hypothesis tests and multi-group analysis (MGA) tests.

This study reveals that workers’ attitudes, subjective norms and perceived susceptibility as the main determinants of intentions to use e-wallets, as the analysis of data lends support to hypotheses involving these constructs. Perceived behavioural control was however not supported by the data analysis as a determinant of workers’ intention. Finally, there were no significant differences between e-wallet usage intentions of formal and informal sector workers in Ghana.

Given the ongoing pandemic, the study recommends that governments of emerging economies should formulate policies that promote the use of e-wallets, to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and at the same time contribute to the quest for a cashless economy. However, the results of the study are only based on data collected from workers in Ghana. Therefore, practitioners should apply the recommendations with discretion and make modifications where necessary. The results of the study also provide evidence from the context of a developing country that can support future academic pursuits.

This study provides evidence that influences practitioners’ decisions and practices regarding the design and implementation of e-wallet services and innovations among workers in the formal and informal sectors of the economy.

This study provides useful business insights to user acquisition managers, marketing managers and business development managers during the formulation of policies, strategies and approaches for their mobile wallet subscriber base. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to apply the constructs of the HBM (mainly applied in health research) to the study of workers’ intentions to use e-wallets. It, therefore, makes a significant contribution to the existing literature by examining the combined effects of the constructs of the HBM and the TPB on workers’ intention to use e-wallets.

Joint consultative committees (JCCs) involving employee representatives exist to stimulate positive employee relations and unlock employee involvement to build organisational performance. They are rare in Africa. Mauritius is a successful, beacon economy for Africa. We therefore investigate which categories of an organisation implemented the 2008 Mauritian government Code of Practice on JCCs, to discover how effective this “soft law” for of institutional change had been three years after its inception, when post-Code JCCs were formed.

We test propositions derived from institutional theory broadly conceived, through analysis of data from 120 organizations in Mauritius responding to a comprehensive HR survey covering a wide range of organisational level policies and practices conducted during the JCC formation period 2011–2012.

By 2012, nearly 30% of our sample had JCCs. Three quite distinct categories of an organisation created them, as follows: those with substantial union influence, those where strategic HRM was practiced and recently formed organisations. Remarkably, no interaction effects existed between the three categories.

Several contributions are made to shed light on a previously unstudied institution. First, we empirically establish that over a limited period in response to institutional change in the form of the code of practice, JCCs increased from 10% of organizations to almost 30%. Our second central contribution is to show three principal, quite separate organisational antecedents of JCCs, which do not interact statistically.

Rapid prototyping can potentially accelerate the entire process of new product development (NPD), enabling a high level of customer involvement and hence new product success (NPS). This study aims to examine the relationship between prototyping and NPS, and the moderating effect of customer involvement, as well as the influence of speed of information dissemination on customer involvement.

Data were collected using the survey method through structured questionnaires. The key participants were management and team leaders from technology-based companies.

The results indicate that prototyping positively correlates with NPS, particularly when customer involvement is high. The speed of information dissemination, both from customers and on competitive products, has a positive impact on customer involvement.

The study was limited by the undefined development stage of the prototype when offered for customer feedback. Future studies could focus on how customer involvement at each stage of prototype development affects NPS through a moderating effect.

The study confirms that investing in prototyping equipment for NPD increases the probability of NPS. Information capturing customers’ views and on competitive products in the market should be shared among the NPD teams. This could encourage better sharing of opinions and perceptions with customers about whether new products meet their wishes and expectations.

This study demonstrates that customer involvement moderates the relationship between prototyping and NPS. The degree of customer involvement depended on the speed of response of the customers themselves and on how well competitive product information was disseminated within the NPD team.