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This study aims to explain the influence of four socio-psychological variables: social comparison orientation, face saving (FS), status consumption (STC) and frugality (FGL) on consumers’ value perception toward ride-sharing services – one of the most widely used collaborative consumption models. Furthermore, it assesses how perceived value affects consumers’ intention to use (IU) the ride-sharing services and intentions to substitute ride-sharing services for using a personally owned car. It also assesses the moderating effect of psychographics on the relationship between consumers’ perception and behavioral intention.

A structured questionnaire was developed using existing scales adapted from the literature to test the hypothesized relationships. The data for the study were collected from 489 users of ride-sharing services in India. Structural equation modelling was performed to test the proposed model using AMOS 18 and moderation analysis was performed using PROCESS MACRO.

The findings of the study suggest that social comparison, FS, STC and FGL have a significant influence on consumers’ value (utilitarian and hedonic) perception. Furthermore, the results supported the effect of consumers’ value perception on their IU the ride-sharing services as well as their intention to substitute ride-sharing services for using a personally owned car. Lastly, the results also evidenced the moderating role of psychographic variables.

Very few studies have examined the role of psychographics in the adoption of collaborative consumption services. The paper attempts to fill this gap. It assesses the effect of four relevant consumer traits on perceived value in the ride-sharing services context. Furthermore, it expands the understanding of the role of psychographics by measuring their moderating effects apart from direct effects. The results of the study bear important implications for academicians, policymakers and marketers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated unprecedented public fear, impeding both individuals’ social life and the travel industry as a whole. China was one of the first major countries to experience the COVID-19 outbreaks and recovery from the pandemic. The demand for outings is increasing in the post-COVID-19 world, leading to the recovery of the ride-sharing industry. Integrating protection motivation theory and the theory of reasoned action, this study aims to investigate ride-sharing customers’ self-protection motivation to provide anti-pandemic measures and promote the resilience of ride-sharing industry.

This study followed a two-phase mixed-methods design. In the first phase, the authors executed a qualitative study with 30 interviews. In the second phase, the authors used the results of the interviews to inform the design of a survey, with which 272 responses were collected. Both studies were conducted in China.

The present results indicate that customers’ perceived vulnerability of COVID-19 and perceived COVID protection efficacy (self-efficacy and response efficacy) are positively correlated with their attitude toward self-protection, thus leading to their self-protection motivation during the rides. Moreover, subjective norms and customers’ distrust appear to also impact their self-protection motivation during the ride-sharing service.

The present research provides one of the first in-depth studies, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, on customers’ protection motivation in ride-sharing services in the new normal. The empirical evidence provides important insights for ride-sharing service providers and managers in the post-pandemic world and promote the resilience of ride-sharing industry.

This study aims to examine the differential impact of ride-hailing services (RHS) on private and commercial vehicle ownership from five metropolitan cities in India.

Using vehicle ownership data from five metropolitan cities over period 1991 to 2020, a panel corrected standard errors model was estimated to model the association between RHS and vehicle ownership.

The results indicate that advent of RHS has led to a significant reduction in private vehicle ownership rates and a corresponding increase in addition of intermediate public transport. The net effects of RHS on road congestion and pollution levels need to be studied in detail.

The findings of this study can potentially assist policymakers and mobility planners in efforts to decarbonise and decongest urban transport.

This study sets precedence in analysing the impact of RHS on private and commercial vehicle independently. Further, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to examine this association for the city of Delhi and Kolkata.

Presently, existing electric car sharing platforms are based on a centralized architecture which are faced with inadequate trust and pricing issues as these platforms requires an intermediary to maintain users’ data and handle transactions between participants. Therefore, this article aims to develop a decentralized peer-to-peer electric car sharing prototype framework that offers trustable and cost transparency.

This study employs a systematic review and data were collected from the literature and existing technical report documents after which content analysis is carried out to identify current problems and state-of-the-art electric car sharing. A use case scenario was then presented to preliminarily validate and show how the developed prototype framework addresses the trust-lessness in electric car sharing via distributed ledger technologies (DLTs).

Findings from this study present a use case scenario that depicts how businesses can design and implement a distributed peer-to-peer electric car sharing platforms based on IOTA technology, smart contracts and IOTA eWallet. Main findings from this study unlock the tremendous potential of DLT to foster sustainable road transportation. By employing a token-based approach this study enables electric car sharing that promotes sustainable road transportation.

Practically the developed decentralized prototype framework provides improved cost transparency and fairness guarantees as it is not based on a centralized price management system. The DLT based decentralized prototype framework aids to orchestrate the incentivize monetization and rewarding mechanisms among participants that share their electric cars enabling them to collaborate towards lessening CO₂ emissions.

The findings advocate that electric vehicle sharing has become an essential component of sustainable road transportation by increasing electric car utilization and decreasing the number of vehicles on the road.

The key novelty of the article is introducing a decentralized prototype framework to be employed to develop an electric car sharing solution without a central control or governance, which improves cost transparency. As compared to prior centralized platforms, the prototype framework employs IOTA technology smart contracts and IOTA eWallet to improve mobility related services.

Purpose: The hospitality industry faces several contemporary issues and challenges that have the potential to impact its growth and development. This study aims to identify and analyse contemporary issues and challenges facing the hospitality industry, including trends, regulations, and Tech salutation.

Need for the study: The hospitality industry plays a significant role in the global economy with its diverse services, including accommodation, food and beverage, events, and tourism. However, the sector faces several contemporary issues and challenges that have the potential to impact its growth and development. This study will provide an overview of the most significant problems and challenges facing the hospitality industry today.

Methodology: The researchers used secondary data for the analysis of the chapter. The researchers reviewed journal papers, books, book chapters, government websites, handbooks, reports, internet, and official records for identification of issues and challenges in the hospitality industry.

Findings: The study identified several contemporary issues and challenges facing the hospitality industry, including the impact of technology and COVID-19 on operations and customer experience, changing consumer preferences for sustainable and ethical practices, labour shortages and retention issues, increasing competition, and changing regulatory environments.

Practical implications: The hospitality industry faces numerous contemporary issues and challenges that impact its sustainability and profitability. Industry stakeholders must understand and address these challenges to remain competitive and relevant in a rapidly changing global market. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the contemporary issues and challenges facing the hospitality industry and suggest potential strategies for addressing these challenges.

Powered by artificial intelligence, voice assistants (VAs), such as Alexa, Siri and Cortona, are at early-stage adoption rates in service contexts. Customers express hesitance in using the technology. Furthermore, the effect of a relevant variable (VA empathy) as a determinant of VAs is not widely researched. This study aims to extend the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and social response theory (SRT) to propose and test a conceptual model of the role of customer perceptions of VA empathy and risk on VA adoption and usage intensity.

In this study, data were collected from 387 VA users in the USA using a survey administered through Amazon MTurk. Data cleaning retained a final n = 318 for structural equation modeling analysis.

Findings show that perceived VA empathy enhances customers’ attitude toward VA and drives adoption, thereby increasing VA usage intensity. Perceived risk is a moderator; users with high perceptions of VA empathy have greater VA adoption rates when they have high (vs low) risk perceptions of using VA.

This research is one of the first known studies to provide empirical evidence of the role of customer perceptions of VA empathy and risk on VA adoption in service delivery. It goes beyond VA adoption research to provide empirical evidence of the impact of VA adoption on actual usage intensity. By extending the UTAUT and SRT, this research adds to the theoretical foundation for research on VA adoption, offering practical insights for firms regarding empathetic VA design to enhance customer service delivery.

The huge Muslim population has increased the demand for halal tourism products and destination factors in this niche tourism segment. Despite the growing body of research conducted regarding ChatGPT’s revolutionary impact on the tourism industry, the use of such an artificial intelligence (AI) tool in halal tourism needs more attention. This study aims to provide a comprehensive an overview of using ChatGPT in the tourism industry, specifically in halal tourism, and offer an agenda for further essential research questions exploration.

Through the intensive examination of the tourism literature dealing with AI and halal tourism, this review identifies the implications related to the use of ChatGPT for Muslim travelers and future trends in halal tourism.

This paper identified the possible utilization of ChatGPT in assisting Muslim travelers across various stages of their journey, encompassing pre-trip, staying and post-trip phases. Subsequently, this paper identified the opportunities and challenges associated with implementing ChatGPT in the context of halal tourism. Finally, the paper delves into potential avenues for future research.

The findings serve as crucial implications, contributing to the theory of halal tourism development and the applications of ChatGPT in halal tourism.

This paper provides essential foundational knowledge for upcoming research on halal tourism theory, ChatGPT and the development of halal tourism sector.

In Chapter 1, we critically reviewed the foundations of the free enterprise capital system (FECS), which has been successful primarily because of its wealth and asset accumulation potentiality and actuality. In this chapter, we critically argue that this capacity has been grounded upon the profit maximization (PM) theories, models, and paradigms of FECS. The intent of this chapter is not anti-PM. The PM models of FECS have worked and performed well for more than 200 years of the economic history of the United States and other developed countries, and this phenomenon is celebrated and featured as “market performativity.” However, market performativity has not truly benefitted the poor and the marginalized; on the contrary, market performativity has wittingly or unwittingly created gaping inequalities of wealth, income, opportunity, and prosperity. Critical thinking does not combat PM but challenges it with alternative models of profit sharing that promote social wealth, social welfare, social progress, and opportunity for all, which we explore here. Economic development without social progress breeds economic inequality and social injustice. Economic development alone is not enough; we should create a new paradigm in which economic development is the servant of social progress, not vice versa. Such a paradigm shift involves integrating the creativity and innovativity of market performativity and the goals and drives of social performativity together with PM, that is, from market performativity to social performativity.

This study aims to present a comprehensive investigation into users’ behavioural intentions to use e-pharmacies through the lens of the privacy calculus model. The present study also investigates the effects of perceived benefit, perceived privacy risk, timeliness and perceived app quality on e-pharmacy usage through the mediating role of trustworthiness.

The study used a deductive approach and collected data from 338 respondents using the purposive sampling technique. partial least squares structural equation modelling was applied to analyse the data.

The findings of the study indicate that perceived benefit, perceived privacy risk, timeliness and perceived app quality do not directly impact users’ behavioural intentions towards e-pharmacy adoption. Instead, it demonstrated that perceived benefit, perceived privacy risk, timeliness and perceived app quality influenced behavioural intention indirectly through the mediating role of trustworthiness

This study offers valuable insights to entrepreneurs, marketers and policymakers, enabling them to develop regulations, guidelines and policies that cultivate trust, safeguard privacy, ensure prompt services and create an enabling environment for the adoption of e-pharmacies. The present study also contributes to the existing literature by extending the privacy calculus model with the integration of timeliness and perceived app quality to explain users’ adoption behaviour towards e-pharmacy.