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The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of environmental concern, perceived value, personal norms and willingness to pay on generation Z’s purchase intention for recycled clothing.

The data were collected from five Indian universities. A total of 497 usable responses were analyzed. Confirmatory factor analysis was used for examining the validity and reliability of the scales. Further, the structural equation modeling was used to assess the relationship among the constructs.

Findings suggested that willingness to pay, environmental concern, perceived value and personal norms influence generation Z’s purchase intention for recycled clothing. Willingness to pay, environmental concern and perceived value were major predictors of purchase intention for recycled clothing.

This study holds much importance to the marketers of recycled clothing as it provides useful insights for formulating the appropriate promotional strategies. The study also contributes to the consumer behavior literature by addressing the existing research gap.

Most of the studies existing in this area have focused on the manufacturing side only except few which explored the consumption side of recycled clothing. Hence, the current study is an attempt to fill this research gap.

With the tremendous increase in the number of netizens, online consumer behavior has become an important issue nowadays. One of the important issues of online consumer behavior is e-consumer conformity. This paper aims to explore prominent factors of e-consumer conformity and its impact on consumer attitude, which helps marketers to understand this new business arena and involve this relationship to enhance their business.

For the purpose, convenience sampling was used with sample size of 510. Offline as well as online mode of survey was applied. The resultant hypotheses (based on the developed model depicting normative and informational consumer conformity effect on attitude) were examined by structured equation modeling.

The present study presents the different dimensions of e-consumer conformity and its difference in metro and non-metro cities on which marketers have to frame their strategies. The study revealed that the customer attitude is largely affected by others expectations (conformance with others expectations, NCC) rather others knowledge and expertise (ICC). Additionally, the comparison of virtual conformity behavior of metro and non-metro customers was made, and it was found that conformity behavior does not significantly differ in these two contexts.

Business saturation in metro cities, infrastructural growth and technological advancement in non-metro cities, companies are moving toward non-metro cities. Due to contextual differences existing between metro and non-metro market, it is difficult to trace the changes in the marketing policies and device the appropriate strategy accordingly for the marketers. In lieu of this, the present study presents the different dimensions of e-consumer conformity and its degree of difference in metro and non-metro cities on which marketers have to frame their strategies.

Good number of research has been conducted on consumer conformity in India; however, there is a scarcity of literature in virtual consumer conformity in India. This research is not only establishing the relationship between virtual consumer conformity and consumer attitude but also establishing the difference of virtual consumer conformity in metro and non-metro cities in India.

Banking industry has no option but to remain observant and redraft the contagion playbook as per the situation evolves owing to COVID-19. Therefore, this study aims to develop a model to examine empirically how effectively complaints are handled to control customer retaliation and negative e-word of mouth (eWOM) in such a pandemic situation, where banking institutions are using social media as a key platform.

A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among 309 participants who had encountered service failure and experienced complaint handling on Facebook. This study draws upon prevailing literature to test a series of hypotheses through structural equation modeling.

The findings show that effective complaint handling has a negative influence on customer retaliation in the social media environment. As a result, customer retaliation was found to have a positive association with negative eWOM. Therefore, this study has revealed that effective complaint handling will lead to decrease in customer retaliation and negative eWOM.

This study carries an understanding of effective complaint handling efforts by leading banks in the social media environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study recommends that customized and effective efforts by the banks can influence customer retaliation and negative e-WOM.

The study is conducted during COVID-19 pandemic considering the impact of COVID-19 on banking sector, which is a new phenomenon. This study has highlighted how banks have modified their working methodology during pandemic situation by using Facebook as a prominent platform to redress customers’ issues and complaints.

This paper aims to explore surprising facets of consumer delight behavior. The study is the empirical juncture of three studies based on consumer survey on the Indian television market. Study 1 traces the existence of greenies in India among brownies prevailing around the globe by using the surprise-delight model. Study 2 is a pre-intervention research design confirming greenies preferences to television attributes such as screen technology, annual energy cost saving, screen resolution, screen size and free gifts. Study 3 signifies a price intervention design by allowing customers to include their preference by replacing the annual energy cost saving with price.

This paper is a harvest of studies based on discriminant analysis for identifying green and brown customers and a two-level conjoint analysis for identifying attributes contributing to green behavior.

The empirical generalization of a study comes out with unique findings of the greenies and brownies and their preference and attitude toward green attribution and substitution. A “preferential green shift” appeared as a vital output owing to knowledge–attitude–practice from these consecutive studies. This gap exists because of the price factor. The authors suggest the measures for improvement in product offering by targeting and positioning green products from the findings and the preferential green shift.

Future research may focus on other segments of products such as automobiles, i.e. cars. Despite the availability of the non-probabilistic sampling technique, the probabilistic sampling technique can be used. Finally, a larger sample size could have given a better generalization of results.

The gap in knowledge–attitude–practice was evident. This gap was caused by the presence of “price” concern. The study revealed that heavy consumer durable buyers are aware of the benefit of green, but the reality of price cannot be ignored and finally make a purchasing decision on the basis of price criteria. Hence price is recommended as another criterion to be considered in the technology acceptance models.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and rank different dimensions of strategic orientation and firm’s performance using the approach of interpretive structural modeling.

The study uses interpretative structural modeling and the MICMAC technique to establish a hierarchical relationship among different dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and manufacturing performance of Indian SMEs.

The final outcome of interpretative structural modeling and the MICMAC analysis revealed a relationship between the variables under study along with the categorization of all in two different categories, depending upon their driving power and dependency, which decision-makers can also use while devising their strategy to improve performance.

To date, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no significant contribution about such interrelationship was reported; therefore, this study is one of its types to fill this gap.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of market orientation on performance and to figure out the mediator effect of incremental innovation on this relationship with an implementation on Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Following a survey among 333 owners/managers of SMEs in Indian, six research propositions were framed. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and regression analysis was used for the purpose of data analysis.

The outcome of the study demonstrates a significant effect of market orientation on SMEs performance. In addition, the mediating effect of innovation between market orientation and business performance was not supported in the context.

This study uses cross-sectional research, which limits the ability to test the causality; hence, such studies should be replicated in other settings also to get more evidences about the relationship.

The research will help managers especially in manufacturing SMEs of developing countries to understand benefits of being market-oriented to improve performance.

The study attempts to enrich the market orientation literature especially in developing economies. It identifies the significant effect of interfunctional coordination on performance of small and medium enterprises working in more volatile environment. Further, the study also examines mediating role of innovation between market orientation and performance linkage.

El objetivo del estudio es examinar el efecto de la orientación al mercado en el desempeño empresarial así como el efecto mediador de la innovación incremental en una muestra de PYMEs indias.

Utilizando una muestra de 333 propietarios/gestores de PYMEs en India se desarrollan seis proposiciones que se contrastaron mediante análisis factorial confirmatorio y análisis de regresión lineal.

Los resultados muestran un efecto significativo de la orientación al mercado en los resultados de las PYME. Además, se corrobora el efecto mediador de la orientación al mercado.

El estudio usa datos de sección cruzada lo que limita su capacidad para contrastar causalidad, por lo que sus resultados deberían ser contrastados en otros contextos para obtener mayores evidencia acerca de las relaciones.

Este trabajo ayudara a los gestores de las PYME manufactureras en países en desarrollo a entender el beneficio para la empresa de la orientación al mercado.

Este estudio plantea la existencia de mediadores en la relación entre la orientación al mercado y los resultados empresariales en países en desarrollo.

Innovación incremental, Orientación al mercado, Mediación, PYMEs

Revisión general

O objetivo do estudo é examinar o efeito da orientação do mercado sobre o desempenho e também descobrir o efeito mediador da inovação incremental nessa relação com uma implementação em PMEs indianas.

Após uma pesquisa com 333 proprietários/gerentes de PMEs na Índia, seis proposições de pesquisa foram elaboradas. A análise fatorial confirmatória (AFC) e a análise de regressão foram utilizadas para fins de análise dos dados.

O resultado do estudo demonstra um efeito significativo da orientação para o mercado no desempenho das PMEs. Além disso, o efeito mediador da inovação entre a orientação para o mercado e o desempenho dos negócios não foi apoiado no contexto observado.

Este estudo utiliza a pesquisa transversal que limita a capacidade de testar a causalidade, portanto, tais estudos devem ser replicados em outros locais também para obter mais evidências sobre a relação estudada.

A pesquisa ajudará os gerentes, especialmente na manufatura de pequenas e médias empresas dos países em desenvolvimento, a entenderem os benefícios de serem orientados para o mercado para desta forma melhorar o desempenho.

O estudo é um dos que aborda o papel da mediação na orientação para o mercado e no relacionamento de desempenho nos países em desenvolvimento.

Inovação incremental, Orientação Para o mercado, Mediação, P ME

Revisão geral

Cause-related marketing (CrM) is one of the effective marketing concepts which draw high public exposure and make the cause and the organization known in the market. Further, it develops a higher inclination of the customers associating themselves with CrM-related campaigns. In this regard, CrM campaigns generally take hedonic products into consideration. The purpose of this paper (comprises two studies) is to: study 1, examine the attributes leading to successful CrM campaign and afterward when the results of Study 1 were found in line with the existing literature; and, Study 2, empirically examine the consumer preference for hedo-utilitarian products type in the CrM context.

A total of 316 respondents participated in the survey. For selecting the appropriate research technique under the CrM study, the systematic review was conducted to arrive at a decision. Finally, conjoint analysis, a decompositional approach, was used for its ability to provide real-world setup to the respondents and keeping the social desirability bias at the minimum while assessing the consumer preference in the context of CrM.

Much literature is available in favor of using hedonic products for successful CrM activities. However, none has conceptualized the hedo-utilitarian products that have an equally fair chance to succeed under CrM strategy. The present study confirmed the relevance of hedo-utilitarian products (utilitarian products having hedonic features) for attracting the consumers having cognitive and affective responses altogether.

The novel concept of hedo-utilitarian product is introduced and empirically examined. The propositions and findings will facilitate the organizations in developing the products and marketing strategies in the context of CrM, giving them the option beyond the two product categories, i.e. hedonic and utilitarian. Accordingly, the companies may also focus and strategize for the “causmers,” i.e. the consumers who pay heed to the cause of the campaign during the purchase.

While several of the dimensions in marketing have been explored, CrM is the least explored area in the Asian region. The attributes that may affect CrM were taken all together as another product feature/attribute under conjoint analysis exploring the attributes affecting CrM most, eventually, leading to higher consumer preference. Further, the concept of hedo-utilitarian products was introduced, empirically examined and recommended to future researchers for bringing it forward.

The online shopping behavior is the outcome of the variety of attribution from product/ service offering to internet experience. The present study attempts to develop a complete product/service offering by exploring and examining the different combinations of online shopping attributes to provide the customized experience. Therefore, this study aims to fill the gap of customer desired experience and present scenario in online shopping behavior.

The exploration of attributes pertaining to online shopping behavior was done by seeking theoretical support from different technology adoption theories/models and the Delphi technique, exercised with active participants of online and offline shopping. The theoretical and experience shared attributes were devised and social desirability scale (SDS) was used for eliminating the social desirability bias. Further, the questionnaire was administered online and offline during mall intercept. The Conjoint analysis was used to investigate the relative importance and utilities of the attributes and its levels individually and compositely at different levels.

In the context, brand loyalty, online reputation management and Web interactivity were found most relavant followed by e-WOM, perceived risk and price. The specific levels of attributes such as taking consumer advice, search engine optimization (SEO), perception-based interactivity, consumer message boards, product risk and discount pricing were the crucial in motivating the customers for online shopping. This research affords the avenue for the marketers to motivate and delight consumers to retribalize by the way of “e-tribalizing.”

The current study was conducted in confined geographical locations and limited in sample size; thus, the issue of generalization may prevail, but forthcoming researchers may exercise the techniques with better probabilistic sampling technique. The mass customization of the website features by comparing attribute orientation of customers around websites was recommended with the third-party certification to reduce the consumers’ perceived risk during online shopping. Finally, the different levels, such as Facebook fan page in ORM and Everyday Low Price (EDLP) in pricing may be considered for the future research work.

The research studies on online shopping behavior with Web interactivity, e-WOM, perceived risk, brand loyalty, ORM and price using a decompositional technique are scant. This study persuades the customers to go for online shopping by putting them in the almost real-time purchasing scenario. The study confirmed the need of people to retribalize through e-tribalization by the way of customization for the masses in the context of online shopping.

India's emergence in the international business arena presents challenges to Western‐trained expatriate managers assigned there. These expatriates are familiar with management theories and practices based on value orientations very different from those in India. Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's Value Orientations Framework is used to provide an overview of the different types of cultural values an expatriate manager will confront in Indian society. The impact of Indian values on various management practices, including team composition, leadership, motivation, and human resource management functions is also discussed It is hoped that this examination of the dominant value orientations of Indian employees will facilitate the successful transfer of Western expatriates to India.

With growing stress at work, the need for scholars to focus on humanizing organizations is pressing. Scholars agree five factors lead to humanizing organizations. This study dwells upon one factor – employee strengths at work (ESAW) – problematizes, identifies the gap in its conceptualization, deploys critical social systems theory and reconceptualizes the construct of ESAW by taking key contextual factors into consideration. Thereafter, this study aims to develop a conceptual model and makes propositions related to the mediating effects of ESAW on the association of leadership style and employee performance.

Aimed at contributing to humanizing organizations, this conceptual study problematizes the construct of competency and the trait-based conceptualization of strengths in identifying gaps in the construct of competency for humanizing organizations. Next, the study deploys the technique of construct mixology for evolving the new construct of ESAW. To empirically test ESAW in the field, the authors deploy the critical social systems theory and develop a conceptual model. Further, drawing upon the conceptual model and the extant literature, the authors develop many propositions for enabling future research.

The study develops a new construct of ESAW that holds the promise of contributing to humanizing organizations. By embedding the current trait-based conceptualization of employee strengths to the context of the organization, the new five-factor construct of ESAW is indigenous to the field of organization science, hence, has a higher relevance. The study develops a conceptual model and makes propositions for empirically testing the new construct in the field that future researchers may focus upon.

There is a compelling need for humanizing organizations. This conceptual study attempts to bring back the focus of researchers on humanizing organizations, within the framework of the market-driven economy. The new construct of ESAW has huge potential for theory-building and empirical testing.

Deployment of ESAW will contribute to humanizing organizations. The construct of ESAW is relevant to practice as it has evolved from the domain of organization science, unlike the earlier trait-based conceptualization of strength that emerged in personality psychology. Practitioners can deploy the construct of ESAW and achieve the two seemingly conflicting objectives of enabling employee well-being while also ensuring superior performance.

Any contribution toward humanizing organizations forebodes increasing the social capital and the personal well-being of employees. If employees are happy at work, their productivity increases. As per the broaden and build theory of Fredrickson, higher well-being and productivity at work creates a spiral of positivity that transcends the working life of an employee. Hence, the study has huge social implications at times when the social fabric is stretched because of multiple demands on an employee.

Constructs developed in other fields and adopted in organization science have less relevance than those evolved in the domain of organization science. Past deficient conceptualization and practices persist unless scholars logically challenge it an alternative and improved conceptualization provided. The new construct of ESAW uses the method of construct mixology after unravelling the assumptions that impedes humanizing organizations.