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Purpose: This study proposes and validates an integrated theoretical model involving the theory of planned behavior (TPB), health belief model (HBM), personal norms and information privacy to understand determinants of acceptance and resistance to the use of mobile contact tracing app (MCTA) in a pandemic situation. Design/methodology/approach: This study draws on online surveys of 194 research respondents and uses partial least squares structural equation modeling (PL-SEM) to test the proposed theoretical model. Findings: The study establishes that a positive attitude towards MCTA is the most important predictor of individuals' willingness to use MCTA and resistance to use MCTA. Furthermore, barriers to taking action positively influence resistance to the use of MCTA. Personal norms negatively influence resistance to the use of MCTA. Information privacy showed a negative and positive influence on willingness to use MCTA and use the resistance of MCTA, respectively, but neither was statistically significant. The authors found no significant influence of perceived vulnerability, severity, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control on either acceptance or use resistance of MCTA. Originality/value: The study has been one of the first in the literature to propose an integrated theoretical model in the investigation of the determinants of acceptance and resistance to the use of MCTA in a single study, thereby increasing the scientific understanding of the factors that can facilitate or inhibit individuals from engaging in the use of a protection technology during a pandemic situation. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2021-0533 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to fill literature gaps in the use of adaptive selling on social media platforms by observing consumer and sales force behavior in the consumer electronic market. The study’s main objectives are framed to answer the following questions: How does adaptive selling influence consumer outcomes in consumer electronics? What are the effects of social media on consumer outcomes through adaptive selling? The unit of analysis was individual consumers who use consumer electronics, retailers’ services and products offered through salespeople. The sample size of 400 consumers of electronic products was reached via electronic surveys. The questionnaire was adapted from literature to satisfy the quantitative nature of the study. This study found adaptive selling behavior of salespeople to be positively significant in predicting consumer outcomes. The outcomes of the study give statistical proof that social media use in sales has a positive impact on adaptive selling habits. The study also revealed a significant positive impact of consumer satisfaction on customer loyalty; this relationship is identified as critical in the consumer electronics retail market. This study is unique because it widens the understanding of social media use among salespeople in emerging markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghana is fast losing its ecological health to illegal gold mining (IGM), since the last two decades. Aside the dearth and paucity of studies on IGM, prior literature on IGM have largely concentrated on unidimensional methods at the neglect of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). Against this backdrop, the present study aims to address the yawning gap in literature using the novel MCDM hybrid LDA-PSI-TOPSIS. Accordingly, a thorough search was done in notable databases including ScienceDirect, Scopus and Web of Science, using linguistic terms ((such as "barriers" OR "drivers" OR "challenges" OR "causes" OR "impediment" OR" "enablers" OR "strategies") AND ("illegal mining" OR "illegal small-scale gold mining")), to obtain the barriers to eradicate IGM, and the corresponding strategies to overcome these barriers. Overall, 5 main barriers, 26 sub-barriers, and eights strategies were identified. Subsequently, the barriers and the strategies were ranked by 20 experts from academia and industry based on the framework of the study. The study's findings reveal a hierarchical arrangement of the main barriers to IGM eradication, with the following order: socioeconomic barriers (44%), governance barriers (20%), weak institutional and cultural barriers (17%), regulatory barriers (15%), and equipment/foreign miners barriers (4%). Furthermore, the eight strategies for IGM eradication were systematically ranked as follows: alternative livelihood and improved formalization; moral economy, anti-corruption campaign, and cultural reprogramming; community engagement; improved governance structures and public service; autonomy for judicial and auxiliary services; monitoring and surveillance; economic sanctions (naming-and-shaming); and international cooperation. From a managerial perspective, the study proposes an innovative blend of top-down and bottom-up strategies to catalyze success in the fight against illegal mining, taking into account the financial resources of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media and other web 2.0 tools have provided users with the platform to interact with and also disclose personal information to not only their friends and acquaintances but also relative strangers with unprecedented ease. This has enhanced the ability of people to share more about themselves, their families, and their friends through a variety of media including text, photo, and video, thus developing and sustaining social and business relationships. The purpose of the paper is to identify the factors that predict self-disclosure on social networking sites from the perspective of privacy and flow. Data was collected from 452 students in three leading universities in Ghana and analyzed with Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling. Results from the study revealed that privacy risk was the most significant predictor. We also found privacy awareness, privacy concerns, and privacy invasion experience to be significant predictors of self-disclosure. Interaction and perceived control were found to have significant effect on self-disclosure. In all, the model accounted for 54.6 percent of the variance in self-disclosure. The implications and limitations of the current study are discussed, and directions for future research proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]