(SME) School of Management and Entrepreneurship

<p>Shiv Nadar University is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, research-focused, and student-centric University offering a full range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, the University comprises of academic wings, sophisticated labs, international standard sports facilities, amphitheaters, auditorium, conference rooms and smart classrooms. The University&rsquo;s goal is to become internationally recognized for the quality of its research and creative endeavors and their applicability to improving quality of life, generating new insights and expanding the boundaries of human knowledge creativity. Committed to excellence in teaching, research and service, the University aims to serve the higher education needs of India and the world beyond.</p>

Shiv Nadar University

Purpose: Firms are increasingly making customers key stakeholders in their greening processes, requiring them to voluntarily use their resources to benefit the firm. In this context, this paper develops a new construct – tangible customer citizenship behaviour (CCB), i.e. voluntary participation of customer in operational processes of the company beyond normal requirements of exchange. This requires more involvement than the already documented intangible CCB. The purpose of the paper is to then explore whether service quality (SQ) (online and offline) influences such voluntary customer reciprocity in greening. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a virtual survey among 400 customers of e-commerce firms that have adopted greening practices requiring customer engagement and regressions were used to test the hypotheses. Findings: The authors find that both online and offline SQ positively impact intangible CCB but have no impact on customer greening reciprocity (tangible CCB). Additionally, the authors find that offline SQ positively impacts customer greening awareness. However, in spite of the presence of greening awareness and display of intangible CCB, SQ does not have any impact on greening reciprocity. Originality/value: This study introduces to literature a more tangible form of voluntary behaviour on the part of the customer, i.e. tangible CCB or reciprocity. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is also one of the first to study the customer as an important stakeholder and participant in a business-to-consumer firm’s operating processes, particularly in greening which has no direct impact on the firm’s core offering. The focus on greening in the Indian context is also novel given the greening costs and requirements and the price competition are very different in emerging market contexts where e-commerce firms are experiencing the maximum growth. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

World University root node

Finance, Accounting and Control

Economics

(SoHSS) School of Humanities and Social Sciences

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences

Customer reciprocity in greening: the role of service quality

Purpose: Celebrity endorsement is a preferred marketing communication strategy adopted by business firms. The present study suggests theoretical underpinnings for investigating the effect of celebrity endorsement on individual investors' intentions to invest in the shares of companies. The study integrates marketing communication and behavioural finance theories to understand investor behaviour in the stock market. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a questionnaire based on a conjoint analysis technique. The retail investors from India filled out the questionnaire. The authors developed an orthogonal design to generate retail investors' investment intentions and applied the full-profile conjoint method. Findings: The results reveal that investors prefer to invest in technology-related firms when they employ entertainment celebrities to endorse their products. Investors prefer that entertainment celebrities' personalities match the single brand only they are endorsing. Further, investors choose to invest during corrective market trends in emerging economies, such as India. Originality/value: The study offers practical implications for corporate entities and marketing professionals by analysing retail investors' investment intentions in financial markets. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Marketing Intelligence and Planning

Do celebrity endorsements influence stock investment intentions?

Global sustainability being the major goal ahead, socially conscious investors are concerned about non-financial dimensions of investments like impact on environment (E), social relations (S), and corporate governance (G). This research aims to answer whether including ESG data points is conducive to profitable investments while promoting sustainability. Web-scraped a unique dataset of ESG and key financial data of 1400+ companies from 34 stock markets internationally. Quantitative analysis is performed on this data with the aim of determining whether the qualitative aspect of sustainable investments is tantamount to financial parameters. Better ESG scores indicate better financial performance. Return on equity was 14% greater for top 10% ESG companies than bottom 10%. Prediction accuracy of ML models like linear, random forest regression increased when training data included both ESG and financial data. The research concludes with a propitious relationship between ESG data and financial growth parameters which are worth probing further. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Decision Sciences, Operations Management, and Information Systems

Journal of Sustainable Finance and Investment

The pertinence of incorporating ESG ratings to make investment decisions: a quantitative analysis using machine learning

Research on alternate masculinity from India that emphasize consumption and consequent subjective well-being (SWB) is primarily about gay men. However, our research points to different marginal masculinity, alternate consumption, and consecutive SWB. The present study uses in-depth interview methods to uncover the “marginal” masculinity of a group of urban, upper-middle-class, heterosexual Indian men. We probe their consumption as a part of their identity project referred to as cathartic. Such consumption leads to a sense of high subjective consumer well-being amidst an otherwise patriarchally defined Indian consumptionscape. This almost fledgling group of men relates itself to the shifting world order of normative masculinity, denounces the patriarchal norms, betrays the cause of male privilege, empathetically responds to the paradigms of femininity, accepts the fall of hegemonic forms of masculinity, and is sensitive toward “others” and ecological/sustainability issues. We further argue that this “cathartic masculinity,” as evident through their consumption, may impact the fledging gender-fluid marketplace of tomorrow. © 2022 American Council on Consumer Interests.

Marketing Management

Journal of Consumer Affairs

The catharsis of male consumption: Reimagining masculinity in India

This study examines the occupational values of IT professionals across the world. Using the three-way perspective of cultural theory as integrated, differentiated, and fragmented allows for a more comprehensive view of IT Occupational Culture (ITOC). Conducted under the auspices of the World IT Project, survey responses were gathered from more than 10,000 IT workers in 37 different countries. The findings provide global-based support for the ITOC ideology of values: Autonomy in Decision-Making, Structure in the Workplace, Precision in Communication, Innovation in Technology, Reverence for Knowledge, and Enjoyment in the Workplace (abbreviated as ASPIRE). The most important value was Reverence for Knowledge. ITOC is both more homogeneous and, at the same time, more complex than originally thought. While there are surprising global similarities in ITOC around the world, there are also important differences, which may be due to national culture, especially with regard to Structure in the Workplace and Precision in Communication. A better understanding of ITOC around the world should help reduce the amount of cultural clash between IT departments and business management. © 2022 by the Association for Information Systems.

Communications of the Association for Information Systems

Global Perspectives on IT Occupational Culture: A Three-Way Cultural Analysis

We examine how regulatory nudges mandating only disclosure of ownership information and no structural change impact a firm's access to capital based on its organizational form. As a first of its kind, Clause 35 in India (characterized by weak enforcement and concentrated ownership) only required classifying shareholders into insiders and outsiders. Pre-regulation, group-affiliated firms exhibited lesser financial constraints than standalone firms. This reverses post-regulation, especially for group firms with higher insider ownership. More so for those with weaker compensating mechanisms or poorer future performance. In essence, regulation exclusively requiring information disclosure has been effective in reallocating capital more efficiently to firms with fewer agency problems. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics

Organizational form and access to capital: The role of regulatory interventions

Learning outcomes: After working on the assignment questions, the learners can achieve the following learning outcomes: to deliberate on the emerging cloud-based business models in the food-tech sector; to scrutinize the challenges faced by a start-up while selecting an expansion model; and to purpose strategies and solutions for scaling up the business. Case overview/synopsis: Ms Megha Bafna, the founder, conceptualized starting Keep Good Shape (KGS) in the year 2017. She started the business with a seed capital of INR 3,500 (US$54.13) from her savings. The idea stuck to her mind as she was working with a real estate firm, and every day, she packaged salad for her lunch. Bafna thought that if someone makes the salad available, she will buy it. Based on this this unmet need of the consumers, KGS started as a passion in 2017 and became a full-fledged business in 2021 with 400 daily customers and 38 full-time employees. Today, she serves 22 different salads, including customized salads for customers with lifestyle diseases based on a subscription model. She grew her organization using social media tools such as Facebook and WhatsApp without using any traditional promotion tools. COVID-19 pandemic has increased her orders by almost 10% as healthy meals emerged as people’s choice in 2021. In 2021, she has to choose between expansion through cloud-based kitchen business models across India. She has been confused about selecting the suitable cloud-based kitchen business model and contemplating about funding if she has to expand the business. Complexity academic level: An instructor can use this case in the courses of entrepreneurship/strategy subject of a graduate/MBA program. The case study sensitizes the students about setting up a new business and organizing to scale it up further. Supplementary materials: Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code: CSS 3: Entrepreneurship. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies

Keep Good Shape (KGS) – the expansion dilemma

Purpose: In recent times, the growing use of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has attracted consumers, organizations and marketers alike. The objective of this study is to summarize and compare the current mass of eWOM research published in leading hospitality and tourism journals with research published in the other fields of both business and management. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses multiple bibliometric analysis methods, including citation, co-citation, keyword and co-word analysis. It compares various assessments of eWOM research published in 399 selected business publications and 398 selected hospitality/tourism publications (ABDC A and above and ABS 3 and above) between 2003 and 2021. Findings: The co-citation analysis identified three thematic areas under each of the domains, i.e. in the hospitality/tourism field, the three themes included eWOM and behavior; eWOM and social media; and eWOM as a marketing tool. Similarly, under the business field (encompasses remaining business and management subdisciplines), the three themes are eWOM and sales, eWOM quality and attributes; and eWOM, information and consumer. Additionally, the word and co-word analysis mapped the comparative evolution of research in these two fields. The study advocates more research focusing on less researched platforms using diverse data, recommender systems adoption and application of eWOM in the business to business (B2B) context. Research limitations/implications: This study summarizes the overall theoretical and conceptual structure of eWOM research in both business and hospitality/tourism fields; based upon which, several recommendations for future research are proposed. Originality/value: By comparing the developments in the specialized hospitality/tourism sector with broader management literature using multiple, complementary techniques, this study brings out important insights for hospitality/tourism researchers. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) research – a comparative bibliometric analysis and future research insight

The novel coronavirus disease has spread uncontrollably all over the world within a short span of time and has affected the development of the world in many ways. All the nations have directed their technical, financial and political resources towards controlling COVID-19 pandemic across the world. It is predicted that the impact of this crisis will remain for longer period of time, affecting the livelihood of people and all those activities that were contributing to the development of the nations across the globe. In fact, the most promising and significant seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted in the year 2015 by the United Nations (UN) Member States addressing various global issues, now seem difficult to be achieved by 2030 due to coronavirus pandemic. However, even though the COVID-19 pandemic might have turmoil effect on the existing growth of the world, still few positive developments may be observed in the long run due to this pandemic. Therefore, this study focuses on identifying and quantifying the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in achieving the UN SDGs. This study brings out both negative as well as positive influences of the pandemic on the environment and energy related SDGs. The study uses Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to calculate the weights of the identified positive and negative influences for each environment and energy related goals. Further, 4–1 ratings are used to identify the severity of the influences on the SDGs. Finally, a score is calculated using weights and ratings that indicates the overall impact of the pandemic on environment and energy related SDGs. The result obtained in the study shows that the pandemic offers an opportunity to develop action plans that can build more environmentally sustainable future. © 2021

Materials Today: Proceedings

Mapping the impact of COVID-19 crisis on the progress of sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - a focus on global environment and energy efficiencies

In recent years, integrating sustainability into the freight transportation (FT) system is progressively gaining global attention. The adoption of sustainability best practices acts as a critical link between the integration process and the sustainable performance of freight transporters. The principal objective of this study is, therefore, to propose a list of best sustainability practices relevant to the FT system. This study considers India a suitable context for the research as environmental emissions due to FT in India are substantially increasing with the upsurge in freight demand. It is, therefore, imperative to embed sustainability values within the freight operations to minimize the environmental and societal implications of freight movements. This study identifies twenty-four sustainability best practices through an extensive literature review, which are clustered into four main categories, namely (a) organizational, (b) process-oriented, (c) technological, and (d) collaborative sustainability practices. These practices are further quantified and prioritized using an integrated approach that innovatively combines intuitionistic fuzzy numbers with the graph theoretic and matrix approach. The quantification and prioritization processes were carried out using expert opinions collected through focus group sessions. Unlike conventional perception, the results of the study show that top management commitment, multi-modal freight transportation, and adoption of green technologies have a higher share of impact on the overall performance of the freight organization. The proposed study is one of the few works, which may act as a guideline for managers and decision-makers seeking to integrate sustainability into freight operations. From the perspective of methodological contribution, this is the first study in the freight transportation literature that has integrated intuitionistic fuzzy numbers with graph-theoretic and matrix approach. One of the uniqueness of the proposed integrated model is that it evaluates both the negative and positive influences of sustainability practices on the freight transporter's economic, environmental, social, operational, and technological performance. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd