Search results
1 – 10 of 20Qin Weng, Danping Wang, Stephen De Lurgio II and Sebastian Schuetz
Small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in e-commerce often invest in information technology (IT) to stay competitive. However, whether and how IT capability (ITC) translates…
Abstract
Purpose
Small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in e-commerce often invest in information technology (IT) to stay competitive. However, whether and how IT capability (ITC) translates into financial performance requires further research. This paper examines the role of ITC in enabling value proposition innovation (VPI) as an important mechanism that improves financial performance for Chinese e-commerce SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that ITC is critical for enabling innovation because it elevates SMEs’ understanding of changing customer needs, especially when SMEs operate on multiple e-commerce platforms (multihome).
Design/methodology/approach
We used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and tested the hypotheses that ITC mediated by VPI and moderated by multihoming increases the financial performance of e-commerce SMEs through a survey among 206 Chinese SMEs operating on Taobao.
Findings
We find that not only higher levels of ITC lead to better financial performance, but also that the effect is fully mediated by VPI. Moreover, the effect of ITC on innovation is enhanced when vendors operate on multiple platforms.
Originality/value
The study identifies VPI as an important mechanism through which SMEs can leverage their ITC to adapt, innovate and thrive in competition. Our work suggests that using technology to develop innovative ideas and identify opportunities (which are reflected in VPI) is key to success and that doing so is more likely when vendors multihome. Thus, this study contributes to the innovation literature by explicating a concrete link between ITC, multihoming, VPI and increased financial performance. Different e-commerce stakeholders, including SME owners, IT and service providers and e-commerce platforms, can benefit from the findings of this work.
Details
Keywords
Yixin Zhao, Zhonghai Cheng and Yongle Chai
Natural disasters profoundly influence agricultural trade sustainability. This study investigates the effects of natural disasters on agricultural production imports in China…
Abstract
Purpose
Natural disasters profoundly influence agricultural trade sustainability. This study investigates the effects of natural disasters on agricultural production imports in China within 2002 and 2018. This exploration estimates the mediating role of transportation infrastructure and agriculture value-added and the moderating role of government effectiveness and diplomatic relations.
Design/methodology/approach
This investigation uses Probit, Logit, Cloglog and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models.
Findings
The results confirm the mediating role of transportation infrastructure and agriculture value-added and the moderating role of government effectiveness and diplomatic relations in China. According to the findings, natural disasters in trading partners heighten the risk to the agricultural imports. This risk raises, if disasters damage overall agricultural yield or transportation infrastructure. Moreover, governments’ effective response or diplomatic ties with China mitigate the risk. Finally, the effect of disasters varies by the developmental status of the country involved, with events in developed nations posing a greater risk to China’s imports than those in developing nations.
Originality/value
China should devise an early warning system to protect its agricultural imports by using advanced technologies such as data analytics, remote sensing and artificial intelligence. In addition, it can leverage this system by improving its collaboration with trading partners, involvement in international forums and agreement for mutual support in crisis.
Details
Keywords
This study aims to explore the impact of athlete brand image on fans’ social media engagement, purchase intentions, and also examines the mediating role of emotional attachment on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the impact of athlete brand image on fans’ social media engagement, purchase intentions, and also examines the mediating role of emotional attachment on these relationships, as well as the moderating role of perceived price value between emotional attachment and purchase intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The data are based on an online survey conducted in China (N = 572). The PLS-SEM (partial least squares structural equation model) and regression-based estimation method (PROCESS) are employed to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results indicate a positive relationship between athletes’ athletic performance and fans’ social media engagement as well as purchase intentions. The impact of athletes’ attractive appearance and marketable lifestyle on fans’ purchase intentions is sequentially mediated by emotional attachment and social media engagement. Moreover, the mediation effect of athletes’ off-field image and purchase intentions is contingent upon fans’ perceived price value.
Research limitations/implications
Athletes and marketers could integrate and leverage both the on-field and off-field attributes to cultivate emotional connections with fans. Sports organizations and managers need to pay attention to fans’ social media engagement and provide content that increases engagement and converts into transactional behavioural intentions.
Originality/value
The study provides empirical evidence of the mediating role of emotional attachment between athlete brand image and fans’ purchase intentions. The explanatory mechanisms involving emotional attachment and social media engagement (non-transactional behavioural intentions) are anticipated to be a noteworthy addition to the traditional fan transactional behavioural intentions framework. Moreover, the research introduces and confirms perceived price value as a crucial moderating factor influencing the relationship between emotional attachment and purchase intentions.
Details
Keywords
Chioma Onoshakpor, James Cunningham and Elizabeth Gammie
Nigeria presents something of an entrepreneurial paradox. Women in entrepreneurship dominate the economy, yet patriarchal structures dominate society. This article investigates…
Abstract
Purpose
Nigeria presents something of an entrepreneurial paradox. Women in entrepreneurship dominate the economy, yet patriarchal structures dominate society. This article investigates how patriarchal factors impact entrepreneurial processes, in turn, creating unequal expectations of entrepreneurial opportunity.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts an intersectionality lens to explore how patriarchy is manifest for entrepreneurs. The reflective narratives of 30 entrepreneurs are analysed, provided through semi-structured interviews. An inductive qualitative approach accesses the gendered discourse of entrepreneurship as constructed by entrepreneurs. Within this discourse, the factors of patriarchy are exposed.
Findings
Findings reveal a multi-faceted patriarchy, with the informing factors of entrepreneurial gender roles, class and religion. The study explains how the interaction of these factors reinforce patriarchal ideals and create a variety of gendered images of what is acceptable entrepreneurial activity in Nigeria, and for whom.
Originality/value
This study contributes to growing insight on entrepreneurship in Africa and challenges linear arguments of entrepreneurship-as-emancipation for women. In complex and multidimensional contexts, entrepreneurs must navigate the intersection of factors sensitively, ensuring acceptance and fulfilment of societal expectations. The power of intersectionality as a theory of contextualisation is discussed.
Details
Keywords
Tomika W. Greer, Monique T. Mills and Stefanie Lapka
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the influence of linguistic profiling on perceived employability. In doing so, we recognize multiple factors that can contribute to this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the influence of linguistic profiling on perceived employability. In doing so, we recognize multiple factors that can contribute to this relationship. Using the systems theory framework (STF) of career development, we categorize these factors based on whether they primarily reside within the societal system, the organizational system, or the individual system. Subsequently, we construct and present an open systems model that depicts the influence of linguistic profiling on perceived employability in context with other societal, organizational and individual factors.
Design/methodology/approach
The STF provides a theoretical perspective on how to contextualize linguistic profiling and perceived employability within the scope of career development. We employed an integrative literature review method to locate existing research studies that investigated the influences of linguistic profiling and perceived employability. The literature search process, coupled with inclusion and exclusion criteria, resulted in 46 publications retained for analysis.
Findings
Findings provided evidence of language ideologies that contribute to linguistic profiling globally. Linguistic profiling usually results in reduced perceived employability. There was variation in the research findings based on the context of the research studies. The context consisted of the societal, organizational and individual systems in which the research study was conducted. Findings supported our construction of an open systems model of the influence of linguistic profiling on perceived employability, which is rooted in the STF.
Originality/value
This study highlights the negative influence of linguistic profiling on perceived employability. It also demonstrates how the STF can be used to contextualize the linguistic profiling problem within societal and organizational systems.
Details
Keywords
Hawa Petro Tundui and Charles Stephen Tundui
This paper examines whether household economic status mediates the effect of microcredit on entrepreneurial success amongst women microcredit clients and if this effect is…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines whether household economic status mediates the effect of microcredit on entrepreneurial success amongst women microcredit clients and if this effect is conditional on the borrower’s marital status.
Design/methodology/approach
This cross-sectional study uses primary data collected through a structured questionnaire from microcredit borrowers in Tanzania. The selection of the respondents for the survey involved categorising them based on their loan amount and length of membership in the program and randomly picking them for study participation. To realise the study objective, we used the moderated mediation model and employed the Linear-Based Regression Model 8 of the Hayes PROCESS macro V4.1 for SPSS.
Findings
The findings show that the loan amount and household economic status positively and significantly affect entrepreneurial success. However, the effect of microcredit on entrepreneurial success is mediated by household economic status. On the other hand, the direct and indirect effects of microcredit on entrepreneurial success differ depending on the borrowers' marital status, with married borrowers being negatively affected.
Originality/value
Microfinance supporters suggest that microcredit is vital for enterprise development and other socioeconomic outcomes. However, the results are inconclusive, including the role of household economic status. This study provides empirical insights into the moderated mediation effect of household economic status on the relationship between microcredit and entrepreneurial success. The study’s findings and limitations suggest considering not only microcredit and related factors but also the essential role of family factors in future research and design of microfinance services in efforts to support and grow microcredit-assisted women-owned businesses.
Details
Keywords
Madhurima Basu, Rai Siddhant Sinha, M.K. Nandakumar, Pradeep Kumar Hota and Martina Battisti
This study aims to synthesize and conceptualize the highly fragmented yet important literature on racial discrimination in entrepreneurship.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to synthesize and conceptualize the highly fragmented yet important literature on racial discrimination in entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
A bibliometric analysis and literature review were performed that involved 523 articles containing 26,926 references.
Findings
The bibliometric analysis identified three dominant research themes that comprehensively illustrate the state of research in this domain: strategic, sociocultural and individual-level perspectives. The synthesis of extant literature helped in formulating a holistic conceptual model that portrays the genuineness of racial discrimination in entrepreneurship. The sources, factors and impact of racial discrimination faced by entrepreneurs were identified. Based on the review and analysis of keywords, certain fruitful future research directions were formulated that will take the field forward.
Originality/value
This work is the first attempt to review the literature that narrows down the focus to racial discrimination in entrepreneurship (from other discriminations such as gender, cultural and religious discrimination) as one form of discrimination due to its unique origins and consequences.
Details
Keywords
Khalil Ahmad, Bhuvanesh Sharma, Ritesh Khatwani, Mahima Mishra and Pradip Kumar Mitra
This paper aims to explore the impact of metaverse technology on the hospitality and tourism industry. The introduction of metaverse technology has revolutionised the way the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the impact of metaverse technology on the hospitality and tourism industry. The introduction of metaverse technology has revolutionised the way the hospitality and tourism industry works. In the present study, the authors have investigated the role of social media marketing in the adoption of metaverse technology in hotel booking in India.
Design/methodology/approach
An extended technology acceptance model was proposed for an empirical investigation in the Indian context. Sample of 344 respondents was collected across India using a purposive sampling technique for the purpose of data analysis. The structural model analysis is used to analyse the data collected from the respondents using the SmartPLS software to check the structural and the measurement fit of the model.
Findings
The adoption intentions were largely influenced by the utility, attitude (ATT) and ease of use of the technology, and social media marketing plays a major role in influencing the perceived usefulness (PU) and ease of use (PEU). The study finds positive ATTs of the customers for using metaverse technology for booking their hotels. PU and PEU significantly influence the ATT of the consumer indicating the traveller’s perception of the usefulness and ease of metaverse technology influence their ATTs towards adoption.
Originality/value
Influence of metaverse technology is at a nascent stage in India specifically for hotel booking and tourism. The authors have used discriminant validity by using the criteria for both the square root of the average variance extracted and heterotrait–monotrait ratio tests, and the results suggest that the constructs in the research are distinct from other.
Details
Keywords
Samuel Mwaura and Stephen Knox
This paper investigates how gender, ethnicity, and network membership interact to influence how small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owner-managers become aware of finance…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates how gender, ethnicity, and network membership interact to influence how small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owner-managers become aware of finance support programmes developed by government policy and/or support schemes advanced by the banking industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on expectation states theory (EST), we develop eight sets of hypotheses and employ the UK SME Finance Monitor data to test them using bivariate probit regression analysis.
Findings
In general, network membership increases awareness, but more so for government programmes. We also find no differences between female and male owner-managers when in networks. However, we identify in-network and out-network differences by ethnicity, with minority females seemingly better off than minority males.
Practical implications
Business networks are better for disseminating government programmes than industry-led programmes. For native White women, network membership can enhance policy awareness advantage further, whilst for minorities, networks significantly offset the big policy awareness deficits minorities inherently face. However, policy and practice need to address intersectional inequalities that remain in access to networks themselves, information access within networks, and the significant out-network deficits in awareness of support programmes afflicting minorities.
Originality/value
This study provides one of the first large-scale empirical examinations of intersectional mechanisms in awareness of government and industry-led enterprise programmes. Our novel and nuanced findings advance our understanding of the ways in which gender and ethnicity interact with network dynamics in entrepreneurship.
Matthew D. Roberts, Matthew A. Douglas and Robert E. Overstreet
To investigate the influence of logistics and transportation workers’ perceptions of their management’s simultaneous safety and operations focus (or lack thereof) on related…
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the influence of logistics and transportation workers’ perceptions of their management’s simultaneous safety and operations focus (or lack thereof) on related worker safety and operational perceptions and behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
This multi-method research consisted of two studies. Study 1 aimed to establish correlational relationships by evaluating the impact of individual-level worker perceptions of operationally focused routines (as a moderator) on the relationship between worker perceptions of safety-related routines and workers’ self-reported safety and in-role operational behaviors using a survey. Study 2 aimed to establish causal relationships by evaluating the same conceptual relationships in a behavioral-type experiment utilizing vehicle simulators. After receiving one of four pre-task briefings, participants completed a driving task scenario in a driving simulator.
Findings
In Study 1, the relationship between perceived safety focus and safety behavior/in-role operational behavior was strengthened at higher levels of perceived operations focus. In Study 2, participants who received the balanced pre-task briefing committed significantly fewer safety violations than the other 3 treatment groups. However, in-role driving deviations were not impacted as hypothesized.
Originality/value
This research is conducted at the individual (worker) level of analysis to capture the little-known perspectives of logistics and transportation workers and explore the influence of balanced safety and operational routines from a more micro perspective, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of how balanced routines might influence worker behavior when conducting dynamic tasks to ensure safe, effective outcomes.
Details