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The study's primary purpose is to establish the direct and indirect roles of word-of-mouth communication (WOM) in initiating and maintaining consumer loyalty in the bottom of pyramid (BOP) markets in the Indian context. In addition, the study seeks to evaluate the conditions (viz. extent of media usage, brand distribution intensity and brand social connections) under which WOM leads to the initiation and maintenance of consumer brand loyalty.

The study hypotheses were formulated following the social identity theory. Later, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted among 898 rural BOP consumers. Structural equation modelling technique was applied to test the study hypotheses.

Results suggested a positive effect of WOM on brand credibility and self-brand connections-indicative of the initiation of strong cognitive and affective relationships respectively. Brand credibility and self-brand connections also mediated the paths between WOM and brand loyalty-indicative of the maintenance and continuation of strong affect-laden relationships. These indirect relationships were moderated by the extent of media usage, brand distribution intensity and brand social connections.

This is among the first studies that holistically evaluate the role of WOM in developing customer loyalty to rural BOP consumers against the backdrop of the systemic deficiencies in these markets.

This research investigates how advergame design elements (fantasy vs realistic advergame experiences) may impact players' brand patronage (BP), under the influence of mediators (hot and cold brand relationship quality [BRQ]) and moderators (advergame reward system and brand personality).

This research comprises of a survey (study 1) and a lab experiment (study 2).

Study 1 shows that fantasy (reality) based advergame experience leads to brand patronage through strong mediation of hot (cold) BRQ and weak mediation of cold (hot) BRQ. Introducing a utilitarian (hedonic) advergame reward system positively moderates the effect of fantasy (reality) based advergame experience on cold (hot) BRQ. Study 2 shows that an advergame that elicits fantasy (realistic) experience and offers hedonic (utilitarian) rewards for a brand having affective (vs cognitive) brand personality strongly impacts hot (cold) BRQ.

This research is an effort to understand how gamification as leisure information systems may be used to create gamers' advergame experiences that elicit BP by strategically designing advergame reward systems specific to brand personality types.

This study aims to examine the influence of two significant product labelling strategies (geographical indication [GI] vs country-of-origin [COO]) on shaping customer product attitude and purchase likelihood, considering consumers’ ethnocentric and cosmopolitan tendencies. The authors also investigate the boundary conditions and intervening mechanisms to manage the adverse consumer product evaluations and present mitigating procedures which reinstate favourable product evaluations and purchase likelihood.

The collected data from these all these studies were analysed using ANOVA and mediation anlaysis. The study tests the proposed hypotheses using three follow-up experimental investigations.

The study found that GI (vs COO) labels have a more significant impact on customers’ product evaluation and likelihood of purchase and supported the dispositional effect of ethnocentric and cosmopolitan inclinations. Further, the results indicated that self-product congruence can efficiently regulate consumer dispositions. Also, the results confirmed the significant impact of product identification on influencing consumer attitudes.

The above-said insights add practical insights, particularly concerning product labelling. Also, the insights on product attitudes and purchase likelihood intricacies in the context of product labelling enable companies to comprehend better the significance of GI labels, COO labels and self-product congruence.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time a study has compared the role of two significant product labelling strategies (GI vs COO) in shaping customer product evaluations, confirmed its boundary conditions and shown how to transform them into helpful customer product outcomes.

The study attempts to understand the relationship between behavioural conflict and employee well-being and examines the intervening role of the negative affect state. Besides this, the study also analyses the moderating role of workplace fun.

Following affective events theory, the authors developed the conceptual model and postulated the study hypotheses. A questionnaire-based survey was used to collect data from frontline employees of selected hotels in India. Further, the authors tested the hypotheses following the process approach (Hayes, 2013, 2018).

The study findings reported that behavioural conflict has a negative relationship with employee well-being, and the negative affect state mediates the relationship between behavioural conflict and employee well-being. The results also established the moderating role of workplace fun in this relationship.

The study's findings extend the current understanding of the effect of behavioural conflict on employee well-being and explain how it influences employee well-being. The study also provides guidelines to manage the detrimental effect of behavioural conflict.

The study established the association between behavioural conflict and employee well-being and highlighted the process through and condition under which behavioural conflict influences employee well-being. This could be the first study examining the relationship between behavioural conflict and employee well-being.

The purpose of this study is to investigate possible drivers of loyalty amongst Islamic banking customers in Gauteng, South Africa. We ponder the relationships of service fairness (a secondorder reflective construct) with perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty.

Data were obtained from Islamic banking customers in South Africa using interview-administered questionnaires. A total of 350 responses were perceived as being suitable for data analysis. The measurement and structural models were measured through structural equation modelling.

Service fairness and perceived value were found to be important drivers of loyalty within this context.

This study demonstrates that service fairness and perceived value are precursors to the future loyalty intentions of Islamic banking customers. As such, they should be nurtured as key elements of the relationship building process.

The study guides South African Islamic banks and South African banks with Islamic windows to better understand how service fairness (interactional, procedural and distributive) fosters satisfaction, perceived value and loyalty (attitudinal and behavioural).

Enhancing comprehension of the relationship between service fairness and customer loyalty, with satisfaction and perceived value playing intermediary roles, represents an unexplored avenue in academic research within the context of Islamic banking in an emerging African market.

There is always a need to discover how a paradox between a customer’s desire for a more personalized experience and their privacy and security concerns would shape their intention to continue using contactless payment methods. However, personalization–privacy paradox has not been well-covered over the area of contactless payment. Therefore, this study aims to empirically examine the impact of personalization–privacy paradox on the customers’ continued intention (CIN) to use contactless payment.

/methodology/approach – The empirical part of the current study was conducted in Saudi Arabia by collecting the primary data using online questionnaire from a convenience sample size of 297 actual users of contactless payment methods.

Based on structural equation modeling, personalization and privacy invasion were approved to significantly impact perceived value of information disclosure (PVD). Strong causal associations were confirmed between perceived severity, structural assurance and response cost with privacy invasion. Finally, both PVD and privacy invasion significantly predict CIN.

There are other important factors (i.e. technology interactivity, technology readiness, social influence, trust, prior experience, etc.) were not tested in the current study. Therefore, future studies would pay more attention regarding the impact of these factors. The current study data were also collected using a convenience sample of actual users of contactless payment methods. Therefore, there is a concern regarding the generalizability of the current study results to other kind of customers who have not used contactless payment.

This study has integrated both personalization–privacy paradox and protection motivation theory in one model. The current study holds value in providing a new and complete picture of the inhibitors and enablers of customers’ CIN to use contactless payment, including new types of inhibitors. Furthermore, personalization–privacy paradox has not been fully examined over the related area of Fintech and contactless payment in general. Therefore, this study was able to extend the theoretical horizon personalization–privacy paradox to new area (i.e. contactless payment) and new cultural context (Saudi Arabia).

This paper aims to introduce the experience-dominant (Ex-D) logic model, which synthesizes the creation, perceptions and outcomes of Ex-D logic. It is designed to offer valuable insights for strategic managerial applications and future research directions.

Employing a qualitative approach by using eight selected product launch events from reviewed 100 event videos and 55 in-depth interviews with industrial managers to develop an Ex-D logic model, and data were coded and analysed via NVivo.

Results show that the firm’s Ex-D logic is operationalized as the mentalizing of the three types of customer needs (service competence, hedonic excitations and meaning making), the materializing of three types of customer experiences and customer journeys (service experience, hedonic experience and brand experience) and the moderating of three types of customer values (service values, hedonic values and brand values).

This study has implications for adding new insights into existing theory on dominant logic and customer experience management and also offers actionable recommendations for managerial applications.

This study sheds light on the importance of Ex-D logic from a strategic point of view and provides an organic view of the firm. It distinguishes firm perspective from customer perspective, firm experience from customer experience and firm journey from consumer journey.

Mega-infrastructure development plans pave the way for policies to upgrade the infrastructure, environmental management and different aspects of locals’ well-being. These developmental dynamics can positively affect rural tourism including heritage sites destinations. The quality of life of local people can be linked to this positive developmental change through long-term and sustainable economic revitalization projects. In terms of this process, developing large-scale infrastructure and incorporating tourism sustainability can improve the quality of life-related to different dimensions that are critical to the community's well-being. Therefore, researchers have attempted to address this issue.

Data were collected between September and October 2020. The study sample size was the residents of Zhabagly village, including Zhabagaly, Abaiyl and 115 Railway settlements. Moreover, the residents were older than 18 years. A systematic random sampling technique was utilised to reach the targeted sample size and the researchers received 243 responses from the locals. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used for analysis.

The findings from the structural equation modelling suggest that sustainable tourism increases due to the positive effect of mega-infrastructure development and positively impacts the locals' quality of life. Notably, no direct effect of mega-infrastructure development on quality of life reveals the pivotal role of sustainable tourism. Therefore, during the COVID-19 period, the dimensions of sustainable tourism – economic, market, socio-cultural and environmental – played a role in securing the positive impact of mega-infrastructure development on the locals’ quality of life.

This research highlighted the fact that when infrastructure projects are implemented to their full potential, they will generate sustainable tourism activities, provide eco-adventure activities, relax, treat signatories and boost the economy of all stakeholders. The study used AMOS to test the hypotheses. Qualitative research methods, including interviews with citizens, government officials and tourism managers, require further study.

The infrastructural development on a mega-scale means building an upscaling tourism ecosystem. This ecosystem is marked by the availability of drinking water, waste and energy management facilities that support the elevation of living material, community, health, safety and emotional well-being. It reflects the policy-level implications for future Belt and Road initiatives (BRIs). The tourism industry's resilience during COVID-19 has practical lessons for other industries.

Large-scale infrastructure construction must create favourable conditions for the rapid development of tourism. The availability of clean water, waste and energy management facilities contributes to the food production, social cohesion, physical and mental health and general well-being of the ecosystem. This is one of the few studies that used sustainable tourism as a mediator between the impact of large infrastructure projects and their impact on the quality of life of locals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aksu-Zhabagly, a World Heritage Site in Kazakhstan, was the site of this field study.

The present study examines the effect of supervisor incivility on service employee creativity and the mediating mechanism of negative affect state on the said relationship with the aid of Affective Events Theory (AET) and Social Power Theory. Additionally, the study explores the mitigating role of core self-evaluation in the dual stage of the moderated mediation model.

Survey data were collected from 420 frontline employees working in four-star and five-star hotels across India and PROCESS macro in SPSS 23.0 was employed to test the hypotheses proposed in the study.

The study findings observe that frontline employees experiencing supervisor incivility face a negative affect state and it further diminishes service employee creativity. Also, the indirect effect gets attenuated at dual stages when frontline employees are equipped with a high level of core self-evaluation.

The study findings provide various insights to the managers to understand the deleterious effect of supervisor incivility at work and to develop interventions to manage supervisor incivility and the negative affect state among frontline hotel employees.

The present study is the first and unique attempt to investigate the role of supervisor incivility experienced by frontline hotel employees in India with reference to their creativity towards customers and mediating mechanism of negative affect state. The study adds value to the literature by establishing the role of core self-evaluation in the moderated mediation model. Further, the study also provides a unique contribution to the management of frontline hospitality employees.

This study aims at proposing and testing a model delineating how and when the quality of a special B2B professional service, investment relations (IR), would drive corporate intangible value.

This study employs a proprietary dataset on voting records of an annual investment relations (IR) awards event and the corresponding company-level archival data for analysis. Regression analysis is used to test hypotheses.

IR service quality not only directly enhances corporate intangible value, but also indirectly boosts it via information transparency. While competitive intensity does not moderate the relationship between IR service quality and corporate intangible value, its moderating effect on the relationship between information transparency and this value is negative.

The findings advance academic understanding of the mechanism and boundary conditions underlying the complex and dynamic relationships among IR service quality, information transparency, corporate intangible value and competitive intensity. Future research endeavors to verify the present findings in other service and/or geographic settings would help establish their external validity.

The findings advise companies to expand the traditional role of IR by taking it as a powerful communication and relationship marketing tool to improve their visibility and attract investors.

The findings suggest that superior IR service would strengthen the company’s social bonding with institutional investors and effectively signal to them its commitment to good corporate governance practices.

Matching a proprietary dataset on IR voting records with the corresponding company-level archival data over a five-year period to investigate the performance implications of IR service quality within the Hong Kong context rectifies methodological limitation and geographic confinement of prior IR research.