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The purpose of this study is to increase awareness of current supply chain (SC) security-related issues by providing an extensive analysis of existing SC security solutions and their limitations. The security of SCs has received increasing attention from researchers, due to the emerging risks associated with their distributed nature. The increase in risk in SCs comes from threats that are inherently similar regardless of the type of SC, thus, requiring similar defence mechanisms. Being able to identify the types of threats will help developers to build effective defences.

In this work, we provide an analysis of the threats, possible attacks and traceability solutions for SCs, and highlight outstanding problems. Through a comprehensive literature review (2015–2021), we analysed various SC security solutions, focussing on tracking solutions. In particular, we focus on three types of SCs: digital, food and pharmaceutical that are considered prime targets for cyberattacks. We introduce a systematic categorization of threats and discuss emerging solutions for prevention and mitigation.

Our study shows that the current traceability solutions for SC systems do not offer a broadened security analysis and fail to provide extensive protection against cyberattacks. Furthermore, global SCs face common challenges, as there are still unresolved issues, especially those related to the increasing SC complexity and interconnectivity, where cyberattacks are spread across suppliers.

This is the first time that a systematic categorization of general threats for SC is made based on an existing threat model for hardware SC.

The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted the habits of customers as well as their shopping behavior. This study aims to critically examine the associated benefits and challenges of online shopping from the perspective of customers in the COVID-19 pandemic.

A systematic review of the relevant literature published between 2020 and 2022 was conducted via performing comprehensive search query in leading scholarly databases “Scopus and Web of Science” with the restriction of their predefined subject category of “Business.” Overall, 30 research studies were selected for the review and a significant number of studies were published in 2021 (n = 15).

The research findings revealed that customers are motivated to shop online because of perceived benefits such as time-saving, convenience, 24/7 accessibility, interactive services without physical boundaries, trust, website attractiveness and cost-saving. However, challenging factors such as financial scams, privacy concerns, poor quality of products and services, fake promotions and reduced social interaction have hindered the growth of online shopping. The recommendations regarding designing marketing strategies, secured transaction, multiple payment options, trust building, protection of privacy, promotion via social media, effective mechanism to secure and timely delivery of product are helpful to improve the service quality of online shopping.

The outcomes of this research are valuable to online retailers and policymakers, as it highlights how the benefits can enhance customers’ shopping intentions and minimize the impact of associated challenges. This study also recommends the redesigning of user-friendly interfaces of online shopping websites and ensures their privacy, security and performance on a regular basis.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the effect the five different generations and the key financial inclusion indicators of gender, education and location (rural–urban) in exacerbating disparities in financial inclusion in Kenya. This paper considers whether the five generational cohort groups in Kenya differ on the financial inclusion determinants and behaviour as predicted by common generational stereotypes.

The authors applied a multinomial logistic regression approach to nationally representative household survey data from Kenya to estimate the effect that key financial inclusion indicators have on belonging to one of the five generations: Z, Y, X, baby boomers and traditionalists.

The authors found significant links between all tested variables and financial inclusion. The authors found an access gap between Generations X and Y, with the latter being more prone to access and use financial services and products. These differences are compounded by gender and rurality. People in rural locations and women generally were found to have less access to financial services and products, thus causing significant exclusion of a large proportion of the population.

The research has important implications for governments, financial institutions and educational providers, notably on targeted policies and programmes that strategically aim to eliminate disparities and promote greater financial inclusion, denoting the value of such variables as generational differences and gender inclusivity.

This paper deepens the understanding of differences that can divide generations on financial inclusion.

The purpose of this research article is to explore the behavioural intention of consumers to use app-based shopping for green-tech products in the emerging economy of Bangladesh. The study investigates the indirect effects of perceived ease of use, usefulness, perceived delivery and perceived security on the behavioural intention to use app-based shopping for purchasing green-tech products by considering the mediating role of perceived trust.

A quantitative research approach was applied to collect data from the respondents who had previously used app-based shopping for green-tech products in Bangladesh. An online, self-administered survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 348 respondents. The survey data was analysed using SmartPLS-4 to measure the reliability and validity of the constructs. In addition, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the research model and hypotheses.

The study's results reveal that perceived usefulness, ease of use, security and delivery positively and significantly influence perceived trust, leading to a higher behavioural intention to use app-based shopping for green-tech products. Additionally, perceived trust significantly mediates the relationship between the behavioural intention to use app-based shopping and perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived security and perceived delivery.

The study's findings have important implications for app-based shopping services to support customers interested in purchasing green-tech products in an emerging economy. The results also indicate that green-tech product companies must adopt new service delivery channels and ensure consumers' convenience and cost and time savings. The present research findings suggest that green-tech product companies need to ensure that they integrate digital technologies into their services for secure and timely delivery of products, improving customer convenience.

The study's findings can be insightful for app-based shopping service providers to foster their businesses by focussing on developing a positive trust perception in the consumer's mind, leading to a positive intention to use the app-based shopping services. The present study will enrich the current literature by investigating how consumers' perceived trust affects their behavioural intention to use app-based online shopping for purchasing green-tech products. It will also expand the existing knowledge on app-based shopping by exploring how perceived delivery impacts perceived trust, which subsequently affects customers' intentions to adopt the purchase of green-tech products.

The study endeavors to explore whether the financialization of agricultural commodities, traditionally viewed as a catalyst for price volatility, has any repercussions on food security in BRICS economies.

The empirical analysis employs the examination of three agricultural commodities, namely wheat, maize and soybean. Utilizing data from the Chicago Board of Trade on futures trading for these commodities, we focus on parameters such as annual trading volume, annual open interest contracts and the ratio of annual trading volume to annual open interest contracts. The study spans the period 2000–2021, encompassing pre- and post-financial crisis analyses and specifically explores the BRICS countries namely the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. To scrutinize the connections between financialization indicators and food security measures, the analysis employs econometric techniques such as panel data regression analysis and a moderating effects model.

The results indicate that the financialization of agricultural products contributes to the heightened food price volatility and has adverse effects on food security in emerging economies. Furthermore, the study reveals that the impact of the financialization of agricultural commodities on food security was more pronounced in emerging nations after the global financial crisis of 2008 compared to the pre-crisis period.

This paper seeks to draw increased attention to the financialization of agricultural commodities by presenting empirical evidence of its potential impact on food security in BRICS economies. The findings serve as a valuable guide for policymakers, offering insights to help them safeguard the security and availability of the world’s food supply.

Very few studies have explored the effect of financialization of agricultural commodities on food security covering a sample of developing economies, with sample period from 2000 to 2021, especially at the individual agriculture commodity level. Understanding the evolving effects of financialization is further improved by comparing pre and post-financial crisis times.

This paper aims to examine the conditions under which small and medium enterprises (SMEs) invest in security services when they migrate their e-commerce applications to the cloud environment. Using a risk management perspective, the paper assesses the impact of security service pricing, security incident prevalence and virulence to estimate SME security spending at the market level and draw out implications for SMEs and security service providers.

Security risks are inherently characterized by uncertainty. This study uses a Monte Carlo approach to understand the role of uncertainty in the decision to adopt security services. A model relating key security constructs is assembled based on key constructs from the domain. By manipulating security service costs and security incident types, the model estimates the market-level adoption of services, security incidents and damages incurred, along with measures of their relative dispersion.

Three key findings emerge from this study. First, adoption of services and protection is higher when tiered security services are provided, indicating that SMEs prefer to choose their security services rather than accept uniformly priced products. Second, SMEs are considered price-sensitive, resulting in a maximum level of spending in the market. Third, results indicate that security incidents and damages can be much higher than the mean in some cases, and this should serve as a cautionary note to SMEs.

Security spending has been modeled at the firm level. Adopting a market-level perspective represents a novel contribution. Additionally, the Monte Carlo approach provides managers with tangible measures of uncertainty, affording additional information and insight when making security service adoption decisions.

The current body of empirical research regarding the impact of trust in the cybersecurity commitment of institutions on digital payment usage has focused solely on a macro-level analysis, overlooking the intricate dynamics between institutions' cybersecurity commitments and the trust levels of digital payment users. In light of this limitation, this study aims to offer a more comprehensive understanding of this complex relationship.

A case study was conducted on digital payment users in India through the critical realist lens. To gather data, interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with digital payment users from various regions of the country.

The citizen-centric outcomes of the national cybersecurity commitment (performance and responsiveness) are the most prominent and impactful trust indicators. These outcomes play a crucial role in shaping digital payment users' perception and trust in the cybersecurity commitment of public institutions. Individuals' value positions also influence trust judgments, as it is essential to recognize the value tensions that may arise due to security implementation and their congruence with citizens' values.

The findings of this study have significant implications for policymakers. They are potentially an artifact of the security and perception of digital payment users and the cultural uniqueness of digital payment users in India.

The study proposes a holistic understanding of the relationship between institutions' cybersecurity commitments and the trust levels of digital payment users. It offers a qualitative evaluation of how digital payment users perceive and construe efficient information security management implemented by public institutions.

This paper aims to discuss the ethical aspects of hardware reverse engineering (HRE) and propose an ethical framework for HRE when used to mitigate cyber risks of the digital supply chain of critical infrastructure operators.

A thorough review and analysis of existing relevant literature was performed to establish the current state of knowledge in the field. Ethical frameworks proposed for other areas/disciplines and identified pertinent ethical principles have been used to inform the proposed framework’s development.

The proposed framework provides actionable guidance to security professionals engaged with such activities to support them in assessing whether an HRE project conforms to ethical principles. Recommendations on action needed to complement the framework are also proposed. According to the proposed framework, reverse engineering is neither unethical nor illegal if performed honourably. Collaboration with vendors and suppliers at an industry-wide level is critical for appropriately endorsing the proposed framework.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no ethical framework currently guides cybersecurity research, far less of cybersecurity vulnerability research and reverse engineering.

This study aims to examine the blockchain landscape in supply chain management by drawing insights from academic and industry literature. It identifies the key drivers, categorizes the products involved and highlights the business values achieved by early adopters of blockchain technology within the supply chain domain. Additionally, it explores fingerprinting techniques to establish a robust connection between physical products and the blockchain ledger.

The authors combined the interpretive sensemaking systematic literature review to offer insights into how organizations interpreted their business challenges and adopted blockchain technology in their specific supply chain context; content analysis (using Leximancer automated text mining software) for concept mapping visualization, facilitating the identification of key themes, trends and relationships, and qualitative thematic analysis (NVivo) for data organization, coding and enhancing the depth and efficiency of analysis.

The findings highlight the transformative potential of blockchain technology and offer valuable insights into its implementation in optimizing supply chain operations. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of product provenance information to consumers, with blockchain technology offering certainty and increasing customer loyalty toward brands that prioritize transparency.

This research has several limitations that should be acknowledged. First, there is a possibility that some relevant investigations may have been missed or omitted, which could impact the findings. In addition, the limited availability of literature on blockchain adoption in supply chains may restrict the scope of the conclusions. The evolving nature of blockchain adoption in supply chains also poses a limitation. As the technology is in its infancy, the authors expect that a rapidly emerging body of literature will provide more extensive evidence-based general conclusions in the future. Another limitation is the lack of information contrasting academic and industry research, which could have provided more balanced insights into the technology’s advancement. The authors attributed this limitation to the narrow collaborations between academia and industry in the field of blockchain for supply chain management.

Practitioners recognize the potential of blockchain in addressing industry-specific challenges, such as ensuring transparency and data provenance. Understanding the benefits achieved by early adopters can serve as a starting point for companies considering blockchain adoption. Blockchain technology can verify product origin, enable truthful certifications and comply with established standards, reinforcing trust among stakeholders and customers. Thus, implementing blockchain solutions can enhance brand reputation and consumer confidence by ensuring product authenticity and quality. Based on the results, companies can align their strategies and initiatives with their needs and expectations.

In essence, the integration of blockchain technology within supply chain provenance initiatives not only influences economic aspects but also brings substantial social impacts by reinforcing consumer trust, encouraging sustainable and ethical practices, combating product counterfeiting, empowering stakeholders and contributing to a more responsible, transparent and progressive socioeconomic environment.

This study consolidates current knowledge on blockchain’s capacity and identifies the specific drivers and business values associated with early blockchain adoption in supply chain provenance. Furthermore, it underscores the critical role of product fingerprinting techniques in supporting blockchain for supply chain provenance, facilitating more robust and efficient supply chain operations.

This paper aims to use Q methodology to investigate Millennial perceptions toward private label or national brand apparel.

Q methodology was chosen to identify factors, which correspond to patterns of perceptions prevalent among Millennials. Participants were supplied with 14 statements that they sorted into two Q sorts – One representing perceptions of private label and the other representing perceptions of national brands. The Q sorts were completed through Qualtrics and participants answered open-ended questions on the placement of each statement within each Q sort.

Two factors emerged on private labels, highlighting patterns in price consciousness and uniqueness (acknowledged as patterns surrounding the desire for particular apparel characteristics). Three factors arose for national brand apparel, emphasizing the need for national brands to provide consumers with product security, quality and uniqueness (as identified through the unpreferred qualities national brands typically exhibit).

This study illustrates the various viewpoints retailers must consider when marketing apparel to a specific target demographic. In addition, a single perception (uniqueness) was found to connect motivations, which led to the development of a model for future inquiry.

Despite complete Q sorts and qualitative statements, participants' unfamiliarity with Q methodology and the sorting action of statements could be considered a limitation. The use of MTurk is also considered a limitation owing to the anonymity and possible deception of the workforce.

Private label brand personality growth has many retailers expanding their brand portfolios. Based on the findings of this study, specific opportunities are highlighted for the expansion and marketing of private labels and brand labels based on specific perceptions of a broad Millennial cohort.