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The purpose of this paper is to examine various technological innovation influencers (TIIs) in small manufacturing firms. It introduces a study framework of technological innovation and evaluates the relevance of four TIIs to building and sustaining the competitiveness of Indian firms.

This research is based on an in-depth survey of 135 firms located in India’s Northern region. Multiple regression analysis was employed to examine the correlation between TIIs and manufacturing firm performance (MFP) for these firms.

The findings verify that entrepreneurial capability, technology infrastructure capability and government initiatives are the most important TIIs for small firms. The findings are also validated by using statistical t-test and canonical correlation analysis.

This study uses a single informant as the source of information on each firm. The study is limited to small-scale firms in the Northern region of India. Also, the study has been conducted excluding the service sector.

Recent studies have advocated various TIIs and discussed their impact on MFP. This paper examines the determinants of technological innovation in small manufacturing firms. It introduces a study framework of technological innovation and examines the relevance of four TIIs to building and sustaining the competitiveness of Indian firms.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the relative impacts of trust and risk on individual’s transaction intention in consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-marketplaces from both the buyers’ and the sellers’ perspectives.

Two surveys were used to collect data regarding buyers’ and sellers’ perceptions and transaction intentions at a typical C2C e-marketplace. Partial least squares was used to analyze the data. A complementary qualitative study was conducted to triangulate the results from the quantitative study.

Institution-based trust (IBT) exerts a stronger influence on transaction intentions for buyers than for sellers. Sellers perceive a stronger impact of trust in intermediary (TII) than buyers on transaction intentions. The impacts of perceived risk in transactions are not different between buyers and sellers. Furthermore, IBT mediates the impacts of TII and perceived risk on transaction intentions for buyers.

The results indicate that the impacts of trust and risk on transaction intention in e-marketplaces do differ between buyers and sellers. This suggests a need to further investigate the buyer–seller difference in online transactions.

Intermediaries need to focus on different types of trust-building mechanisms when attracting buyers and sellers to make transactions in the e-marketplace.

C2C e-marketplaces cannot survive without participation from both buyers and sellers. Most prior research is conducted from the buyers’ perspective. This research sets a starting point for future research to further explore the differences between buyers’ and sellers’ behavior in C2C e-commerce environments.

This study investigates the integration of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies with condition-based maintenance (CBM) in upstream oil and gas (O&G) operations, focussing on developing countries like Nigeria. The research identifies barriers to this integration and suggests solutions, intending to provide practical insights for improving operational efficiency in the O&G sector.

The study commenced with an exhaustive review of extant literature to identify existing barriers to I4.0 implementation and contextualise the study. Subsequent to this foundational step, primary data are gathered through the administration of carefully constructed questionnaires targeted at professionals specialised in maintenance within the upstream O&G sector. A semi-structured interview was also conducted to elicit more nuanced, contextual insights from these professionals. Analytically, the collected data were subjected to descriptive statistical methods for summarisation and interpretation with a measurement model to define the relationships between observed variables and latent construct. Moreover, the Relative Importance Index was utilised to systematically prioritise and rank the key barriers to I4.0 integration to CBM within the upstream O&G upstream sector.

The most ranked obstacles in integrating I4.0 technologies to the CBM strategy in the O&G industry are lack of budget and finance, limited engineering and technological resources, lack of support from executives and leaders of the organisations and lack of competence. Even though the journey of digitalisation has commenced in the O&G industry, there are limited studies in this area.

The study serves as both an academic cornerstone and a practical guide for the operational integration of I4.0 technologies within Nigeria's O&G upstream sector. Specifically, it provides an exhaustive analysis of the obstacles impeding effective incorporation into CBM practices. Additionally, the study contributes actionable insights for industry stakeholders to enhance overall performance and achieve key performance indices (KPIs).

This study aims to conduct text mining and semantic network analysis of muscle-supportive and posture-corrective wearable robots for the elderly to understand key terms related to the topic and to identify considerations for developing these types of clothing.

The authors searched and identified the key terms wearable robot, muscle-supportive, posture correction and elderly using the text-mining software Textom to extract terms as well as the network analysis software UCINET 6 to process and visualize the relationships among the terms. The authors compared and analyzed the term frequency (TF), the TF-inverse document frequency and the degree centrality of the terms, and the authors visualized and summarized the terms using NetDraw.

The key terms and their relationships in 3–4 groups were identified: wearable robot, muscle-supportive, posture correction and elderly. The authors identified the aspects of designing muscle-supportive and posture-corrective wearable robots for the elderly.

This study contributes to the field of muscle-supportive clothing and wearable robotics by deriving insights into what people are discussing and interested in, and by offering recommendations when developing these types of clothing for the elderly.