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Although recent literature has examined diverse measures adopted by SMEs to navigate the COVID-19 turbulence, there is a shortage of evidence on how crisis-time strategy creation behaviour and digitalization activities increase (1) sales and (2) cash flow. Thus, predicated on a novel strategy creation perspective, this inquiry aims to investigate the crisis behaviour, sales and cash flow performance of 528 SMEs in Morocco.

Novel links between (1) aggregate wage cuts, (2) variable operating hours, (3) deferred payment to suppliers, (4) deferred payment to tax authorities and (5) sales performance are developed and tested. A further link between sales performance and cash flow is also examined and the analysis is conducted using a non-linear structural equation modelling technique.

While there is a significant association between strategy creation behaviours and sales performance, only variable operating hours have a positive effect. Also, sales performance increases cash flow and this relationship is substantially strengthened by e-commerce digitalization and innovation.

Theoretically, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first inquiries to espouse the strategy creation view to explain SMEs' crisis-time behaviour and digitalization. For practical purposes, to supplement Moroccan SMEs' propensity to seek tax deferrals, it is argued that debt and equity support measures are also needed to boost sales performance and cash flow.

To influence consumer pre-purchase decision-making processes, such as brand selection and perceived brand experience, brands are interested in adopting hyperconnected technological stimuli, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality, social media and tech devices. However, the understanding of different hyperconnected touchpoints remained shallow and results mixed in previous literature, despite the fact that these touchpoints span different technological interfaces/devices and may influence consumer brand selection. This paper aims to solidify the conceptual underpinnings of the role of online hyperconnected stimuli, which may influence consumer psychological reactions in terms of brand selection and experience.

This paper is conceptual and presents a discussion based on extant literature from various international publishers.

The authors revealed different technological stimuli in the online hyperconnected environment that may influence consumer online hyperconnected brand selection (OHBS), perceived online hyperconnected brand experience (OHBE), perceived well-being and behavioral intention.

The conceptual understanding of OHBS and perceived OHBE was mixed and inconsistent in previous studies. This paper brings together extant literature to establish the conceptual understanding of antecedents and outcomes of OHBS, i.e. perceived OHBE, perceived well-being and behavioral intention, and presents a cohesive conceptual framework.

Soft total quality management (STQM) practices are essential for promoting value-added organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) among employees in quality-focussed manufacturing firms. This study intends to investigate how STQM practices (empowerment, training, teamwork and involvement) affect OCB under the moderating influence of collectivism among employees for excellence in business performance using social exchange and social cognitive theories (SET-SCT).

A total of 245 useable surveys were gathered from manufacturers. Given the importance of the two-staged structural equation modelling–partial least squares–artificial neural networks (SEM-PLS-ANN) technique, this study used a two-staged SEM-PLS-ANN analysis to capture both linear and compensatory PLS models and nonlinear and noncompensatory ANN models.

The findings confirmed that empowerment, involvement and training had a significant impact on OCB. However, teamwork had no impact on OCB. Interestingly, collectivism was found to have a significant and positive moderating effect on training and OCB.

The study contributes significantly to the literature on TQM and human resource management. First, the study broadens researchers’ understanding of how to apply SET by including a collective value from SCT as positive reciprocity to foster positive workplace behaviour. Second, the authors offer a solid management strategy for organizations to assist them in understanding an STQM model that promotes OCB while including collectivism for superior business performance.

The current research aimed to investigate the external enablement role of Digital Infrastructures (DI) in the interplay of entrepreneurial cognitions and innovation.

Data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) were used for analyses. This yielded a sample of 8,601 Generation Z entrepreneurs operating in 25 European countries.

Applying hierarchical moderated regressions showed that socio-cognitive components of an entrepreneurial mindset (self-efficacy, risk propensity, opportunity identification) affect innovation among Generation Z entrepreneurs. More importantly, DI plays an external enablement role in the interplay of cognitions and innovation among Generation Z entrepreneurs.

This study contributes to the socio-cognitive theory of entrepreneurship by integrating an external enablement perspective into the study of cognitions and entrepreneurial outcomes (here, innovation). It contributes to the digital technology perspective of entrepreneurship by connecting the conversation about the socio-cognitive perspective of entrepreneurship regarding the role of cognitions in innovation to the conversation in information systems (IS) regarding technology affordances and constraints. This study extends the application of the external enabler framework to the post-entry stage of entrepreneurial activity and integrates a generational perspective into it.

This paper explains the mechanisms underlying the generation of two-way knowledge spillovers through the interaction of subsidiaries with differentiated local responsibilities and domestic firms.

The study is based on firm-level panel data from a census of Colombian manufacturing firms for the period 2003–2012. The estimation procedure involves two stages. In the first one, total factor productivity (TFP) of foreign and domestic firms is estimated. In a second step, we estimate conventional spillovers (from foreign-owned to local firms) and reverse spillovers (from local to foreign-owned firms) separately, using a random effect approach.

This study’s findings reveal that only locally creative subsidiaries enjoy positive and significant two-way knowledge spillover effects. The connectivity of subsidiaries to local and international networks is reinforced by reciprocal relationships among actors that enhance bidirectional knowledge flows, these being favored by the dynamics of clustering effects.

The paper contributes with new empirical evidence about the mechanism explaining how the technological heterogeneity of subsidiaries plays a determinant role in the generation of both knowledge flows from foreign to domestic firms and to the reverse, all integrated into the same framework.

This research examines the underlying psychological process of customers' impulsive buying on social media through the lens of customer inspiration. Drawing on the customer inspiration theory, it identifies the factors influencing customer inspiration on social media from three perspectives: source characteristics, platform characteristics and personal characteristics, which subsequently lead to impulsive buying. Since the conceptualization of source credibility includes three mostly reported components: attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness, it further contrasts the effects of three dimensions of source credibility on customer inspiration.

A structural equation model of customers' impulsive buying on social media was developed through the lens of customer inspiration. An online survey with 625 participants was conducted to test the hypotheses, and the partial least squares (PLS3) method was used.

This research found that source credibility, social presence and customer innovativeness are antecedents of customer inspiration on social media, which positively influence the inspired-by state of the customers, which impacts the inspired-to state and further leads to impulsive buying. By comparing the three dimensions of source credibility, the authors found that attractiveness and expertise positively affect the inspired-by state, while trustworthiness has no significant effect.

This research establishes the link between impulsive buying and customer inspiration, which provides a new psychological perspective to understand impulsive buying. In addition, it investigates the source characteristics of customer inspiration by comparing the effect of three dimensions of source credibility on customer inspiration, which provides the first evidence for connecting customer inspiration and source credibility.

The deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in travel and tourism has received much attention in the wake of the pandemic. While societal adoption of AI has accelerated, it also raises some trust challenges. Literature on trust in AI is scant, especially regarding the vulnerabilities faced by different stakeholders to inform policy and practice. This work proposes a framework to understand the use of AI technologies from the perspectives of institutional and the self to understand the formation of trust in the mandated use of AI-based technologies in travelers.

An empirical investigation using partial least squares-structural equation modeling was employed on responses from 209 users. This paper considered factors related to the self (perceptions of self-threat, privacy empowerment, trust propensity) and institution (regulatory protection, corporate privacy responsibility) to understand the formation of trust in AI use for travelers.

Results showed that self-threat, trust propensity and regulatory protection influence trust in users on AI use. Privacy empowerment and corporate responsibility do not.

Insights from the past studies on AI in travel and tourism are limited. This study advances current literature on affordance and reactance theories to provide a better understanding of what makes travelers trust the mandated use of AI technologies. This work also demonstrates the paradoxical effects of self and institution on technologies and their relationship to trust. For practice, this study offers insights for enhancing adoption via developing trust.

Under the influence of the digital economy, the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises has attracted widespread attention from scholars at home and abroad due to its uniqueness and importance. However, the existing literature is still deficient in the inner mechanism of digital transformation and lacks research on the digital transformation process. Through in-depth interviews and rooted theory, this paper focuses on the key factors of digital development of manufacturing enterprises and constructs a model of the digital transformation process.

This paper takes China's manufacturing enterprises as research projects. First, through a literature search, the authors proposed three key factors for constructing sustainable competitiveness from digital transformation, that is, core technology innovation, business model re-engineering and organizational structure optimization. Second, the authors adopted the grounded theory approach to identify three sustainable competitive factors of manufacturing enterprises resulting from digital transformation and constructed a theoretical model. Third, based on Chinese manufacturing enterprises data, the authors used an empirical study to validate the three influencing factors. Finally, the authors identified the inner mechanism of the digital transformation of enterprises and put forward suggestions for enterprises to maintain sustainable competitiveness.

First, based on the existing literature, this paper identified the importance of digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises, and the essence of digital transformation of manufacturing companies was found to lie in the change in the combined effect of technological, market and organizational innovation. Second, based on the grounded theory, through in-depth interviews with manufacturing enterprises on digital transformation and open coding of interview transcripts, it was concluded that the key factors for the digital transformation manufacturing companies are core technology change, business model re-engineering and organizational structure optimization. Third, based on a dynamic perspective, the authors evaluated and validated digital transformation. The study found that manufacturing enterprises can improve their digital transformation capabilities through the trajectory of “core technology change – business model re-engineering – organizational structure optimization” to improve their sustainable competitive advantage.

Firstly, this study proposed three key factors for constructing sustainable competitiveness from digital transformation, that is, core technology innovation, business model re-engineering and organizational structure optimization, which enriched the theory of transformation and upgrading. Secondly, this study constructs the structural equation model of digital transformation and discovers the key factors pf digital transformation.

Based on sociotechnical systems theory, social (human) and technological sub-systems in an organization should be taken in account when making strategic decisions and designed to fit the demands of the environment for organizational effectiveness. Yet there is very limited information in literature on whether employees are well equipped with indispensable (human) skills to prepare them combating challenges caused by advanced technology. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate employees’ human skills that are critical for success in the Age of Robots and Artificial Intelligence from human resource development’s perspective.

A questionnaire was developed for the purpose of this exploratory study. A total of 422 US Midwest employees were surveyed on their human skills level that are critical for success in the Industry 4.0 transformation.

In general, the respondents could perform all the measured human skills (which can be categorized into social skillset and decision-making skillset) more than adequate but may vary by education level and gender. To strengthen one’s human skills, organizations may begin with facilitating employees on relationship building to create a support system and a strong sense of belonging, which will promote their social sensitivity and collaboration skill development, as well as decision-making skillset.

The findings of this study can be used for techno-structural interventions and employee development programs. This study highlights the importance of investigating human skills to cope with the changing nature of work and make upskilling more feasible and flexible for workers to be robot-proof.

This study aims to assess both internal and external factors that impact consumer attitudes and intentions with regard to the purchase of non-deceptive counterfeits. More specifically, this study examines the impact of integrity, brand consciousness, performance risk and social risk on the attitude and in turn on the purchase intention of consumers towards non-deceptive counterfeits.

A total of 679 valid responses from the university students in two different Gulf countries, namely, Oman (264) and Qatar (415) were gathered through a self-administered structured questionnaire and analysed through partial least square‐structural equation modeling.

All the predictors of consumer attitude appeared significant in both country samples except integrity. However, brand consciousness appeared insignificant in the sample of Oman. In addition, Purchase intention towards the non-deceptive counterfeits was significantly predicted by attitude and subjective norm in both samples.

In the domain of non-deceptive counterfeit literature, the findings of the study will substantially add value. Particularly, in the Gulf country context, the impact of internal psychological and external risk factors on the attitude and purchase intention of non-deceptive counterfeits will enhance the insights of existing literature and extend and proof the robustness of the theory of reasoned action.