Search

PurposeThis study aims to understand customer equity and loyalty using augmented reality (AR) and employee services in a physical retail environment. The current study investigated how customers’ experiences with AR-based and employee service affect their satisfaction, equity and loyalty.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework was developed by reviewing AR and employee services literature. The Smart PLS-SEM technique was used to test the responses of 620 Chinese respondents empirically.FindingsThe findings provided valuable insights into AR and employee services in a physical retail environment. Customers are more inclined to use AR services in the current business climate.Research limitations/implicationsThis study’s sample was drawn from a single city, with a total of 620 respondents, which may not be a complete representation of China as a whole. As a result, the results may not be generalizable to a single city.Practical implicationsRetail brand managers should emphasize implementing innovative technologies in the physical retail environment to retain and attract customers. Pandemic consumers are opting for innovative technologies as part of their shopping experience due to changes in business models.Originality/valueThe researchers recognized AR and employee services as innovative domains in physical retail stores because they can increase sales, customer equity and loyalty. As a result, the framework results are precious to practitioners interested in implementing such innovative technologies for retail stores.

AI is playing a disruptive role in many industrial sectors and also in the banking industry. The purpose of this research study was to empirically test consumer willingness to use AI-powered financial investment robo-advisors. Analysis of data from 500 survey responses collected from m-banking users performed using Smart Pls showed that there was clear intention on the part of m-banking consumers in Pakistan to use AI-powered financial investment robo-advisors. The results reinforce the findings of earlier studies.

Laffer curve is a tradeoff between tax cuts and tax revenues. The sketch of Laffer curve was drawn by Arther Laffer at a dinner with his friends on his napkin that reduction in taxes will increase tax revenues. Lafer curve explained that lower tax rate could encourage an additional output and it would increase income, which builds bigger tax base in an economy. In this research we have estimated the Laffer curve on the basis of Taxes on goods and services for Pakistan economy for the period of 1990 to 2016. Time series data have been collected from the world economic data base. Results explained that all the variables are significant and signs of coefficients are in accordance with the theory. Results confirm that Laffer curve is alive in Pakistan economy but its existence is in the prohibited area of Laffer curve. It is suggested that plans of taxation should be modified in such a way that maximum number of people could bring under the tax brackets. The taxation structure of the economy should ensure to lower the indirect taxes, encourage the progressive taxes and elasticity of taxation should be increased. The pattern of taxation should be encouraged after introducing some sort of incentives such as relief in the income tax and higher bank deposit rates should be realize.

Information communication technologies increase the competitive intensity among organizations. The only way to get a sustainable competitive advantage is to focus on their resources, and capabilities to establish, and implement effective strategies to increase international marketing channel performance (IMCP). The target population of this study is the food industry in Pakistan, and the sample size is 400. Data has been collected through survey method based on an adapted questionnaire. Data has been analyzed through partial least square – structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method. Results showed that validity and reliability of data, and organizational strategies (OS) focused on relationship strategies (RS) and marketing integration strategies (MIS) has positive and significant effect on IMCP. Whereas, technological capabilities (TC) has moderated and significant effect between OS and IMCP. Furthermore, social support (SS) has insignificant effect. This study has theoretical and practical significance. Because this study opens the new horizons in literature and provide guidelines to align their strategies with their capabilities to gain sustainable competitive advantage, which will improve their IMCP.

With the development of ‘Internet +’, a new business model the Sharing Economy is booming，which as a revolutionary power to overthrow the business modes of traditional industries. The development of sharing economy has unique advantages and urgent reality in China. Therefore, based on the current situation of sharing economy, this paper analyzes and contrasts the business models of Uber and the Didi by using Johnson and Christensen's ‘Four Elements’business model，concludes business model of sharing economy should have certain characteristics, such as advocated sharing concept, setting up the Internet platform, providing personalized service, establishing the trust mechanism, the supply and demand matching reshaped. Finally, this paper provides comprehensive suggestions for the better development of Chinese enterprises under the sharing economy: enterprises should know their own advantages, not blindly copying the world's leading enterprises, and make effort to build a new model with Chinese characteristics to sharing economy; create "Internet platform + cooperation partner + customers” model and seek cross-border collaboration; In-depth understanding and analysis the macro and micro-environment of international market, seeking cooperation with foreign domestic enterprise, to speed up enterprises to "go out".

Forest ecosystems act as a sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the form of biomass, and plays one of the crucial role for carbon sequestration and in regulating the global carbon cycle. Few studies based on ground sample plots were conducted for estimating forest biomass/carbon stock across Pakistan. This study comparing the first time the potential of three dimensional (3D) airborne laser scanning (ALS) with two dimensional (2D) Sentinel-2 to estimate above-ground biomass/carbon stock (AGB/C) in a Subtropical Chir Pine forest of Balakot, Pakistan. We derived height and density metrics from the ALS canopy height model (CHM), and different metrics from Sentinel-2 images, and were regressed with field measured AGB/C at sample plots locations. We found R2 = 0.86 with RMSE% = 25.70, and R2 = 0.62 with RMSE% = 43.92 for ALS and for Sentinel-2 respectively with ground measured AGB/C at sample plots locations. Our study demonstrated that 3D ALS technology has greater potential and is the most accurate option as compared to 2D Sentinel-2 for regular planning and monitoring of AGB/C in the context of the national forest inventory of Pakistan. Our study will be useful for the accomplishment of the REDD+ in measuring, reporting, and verification of forest resources, and future sustainable utilization of forest, safeguarding the livelihoods of forest-dependent people, and reducing pressure on forest ecosystems.

The technological transformation has led to the introduction of mini computers as wearable computers which facilitate users to use the Internet, different applications, messaging, and for calls all on one platform. The focus of these wearable computers in earlier studies has been on consumers and technical aspects, and their application has not been explored from an organizational perspective. This means that the recent introduction of wearable technology has great potential, which is untapped in the organizational context, especially for supply chain collaboration (SC). In this study, wearable technology is thought to offer huge potential for organizations in SC. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to empirically examine the role of wearable technology i.e. Smartwatch in enhancing collaboration among supply chain members with mediating roles of green training (GT) and emotional intelligence (EI). The population of this study is the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan. Simple random sampling method has been used to collect data from 150 sample size. Data have been collected through offline and online survey method. Data have been analyzed through partial least square-structure equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results of this study have empirically tested the established conceptual framework. Continuance intention to use smartwatch has a positive effect on SC. Furthermore, GT and EI have mediating roles between continuance intention to use smartwatch and SC. It is concluded that the continuance intention to use smartwatch will increase SC. GT and EI will strengthen the relationship between continuance intention to use smartwatch and SC. The use of wearable technology will motivate employees to communicate rapidly and to monitor their supply chain activities using web-based and other applications. This study has practical implications in organizations and theoretical contribution to literature.

Increasing supply chain performance (SCP) has always been a common phenomenon in the history of organizations. Recent technological advancements [including, radio frequency identification (RFID) in combination with big data predictive analytics (BDPA)] have been able to significantly leverage SCP. In this respect, there is an urgent need for acceptance of RFID technology as well as BDPA to be empirically investigated in order to better understand the enhancement of SCP. Therefore, this paper aims at establishing and empirically investigating the relationship between BDPA acceptance, RFID acceptance, and SCP, respectively. The population of this paper comprises the pharmaceutical logistics industry in China. The sample was obtained from employees through the use of a simple random sampling method. Data were collected through an adapted questionnaire. SmartPLS 3.0 software was used for structural equation modeling analysis. Partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM), the value of path coefficient, was found to be 0.700. This showed a direct positive effect of BDPA acceptance on SCP. Moreover, RFID acceptance was also tested through the “variance accounted for” method of mediation. Results showed a partial mediation of 57% between BDPA and SCP. Theoretically, this paper fills the knowledge gap by finding relationships between BDPA and SCP via a mediation role of RFID technology. Practically, it would be beneficial for supply chain managers in the pharmaceutical industry to adopt and implement BDPA and RFID technology so as to enhance SCP.

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of animosity on consumer’s willingness to buy foreign products. Animosity can be a vital force to decide whether to buy a foreign product or not. This research paper is about measuring and quantifying the animosity of people of china towards Japanese products in general. Additionally, it is quite evident from previous researches, that people of china have a special grudge against Japanese, after world war II. Previous studies in this regard were conducted in one or few cities of china, this research aimed to collect data from multiple cities, in order to generalize the concept. To discuss in detail, whether people from different parts of china consider this animosity against Japanese products or not. In addition, this study also highlighted a new construct i.e. perceived quality. What will happen if a Chinese consumer have to decide between animosity and better quality of Japanese product? To conduct this investigation, the study is undertaken in China where the Chinese consumers’ animosity towards the Japanese was examined. The data with a usable sample size of 435 were collected in the Chinese city of Nanjing. Findings of the study revealed that, people in china still have high level of animosity towards Japanese products. And even at times, products with high quality are being ignored because of its Japanese background. Most important and consistent to current literature, results showed that, consumer animosity as a higher order construct which is indicated by economic animosity and war animosity. Those parts of china where we found an extreme animosity, ethnocentrism couldn’t play a significant role to affect the other constructs in the animosity model. Animosity can be a result of any event or mishap, but will it stay the same after so many years? irrespective of the quality of product, this is what, this paper tends to highlight.

The purpose of this study is to (a) investigate the impact of workforce diversity management on job match, job satisfaction, and job performance; (b) test the influencing role of job match on job satisfaction and job performance; and (c) examine the mediating role of a person’s job match on the association between workforce diversity management and employees’ outcomes (job satisfaction and job performance). Structured questionnaires were sent to employees working in five-star hotels in China. In total, 324 valid responses were analyzed through AMOS-SEM to draw the statistical conclusion. Overall, results revealed that workforce diversity management is positively related to a person’s job match, job satisfaction, and job performance. Next, a person’s job match is positively related to job satisfaction and job performance, in particular a person’s job match mediates the relationship between workforce diversity management and employees’ outcomes. Most of the studies in the area of workforce diversity management focused on the management of diversity such as age, gender, race, and ethnicity from American perspective. This could be among rare studies which investigate another aspect of workforce diversity management, such as management of diversity on the basis of skills, knowledge, interest, and preferences of employees from the Chinese perspective.

Disaster management revolves around preparing, mitigating, responding, and recovering from a sudden disruption that has catastrophic effects on human lives, economy, and infrastructure. Data of Internet-connected things (termed as Internet of things) openly available in big quantities digitally by the government leverages data-driven innovations and efficient decision-making in disaster management. However, research on exploring the predictors affecting the usability and benefits of such platforms (i.e., Open IoT Data (OIoTD) platform) from the perspective of individual unit of adoption is currently lacking. Therefore, lack of research on predictors affecting the adoption of OIoTD platform from the citizen’s perspective stimulated us to conduct this research. A better understanding of these predictors can help policy-makers to determine the policy instrument to increase adoption of OIoTD platform for a wider community. In order to evaluate its adoption from citizen’s perspective in disaster management scenario, a framework has been proposed in this study.

Information communication technologies bring the revolution into all business sectors, and transportation sector is not an exception. Ticketing system has changed from traditional to intelligent, which provides information and service to the consumer. In developed countries such systems are implemented and operate successfully, while in the developing countries electronic ticketing and other similar innovative solutions face specific challenges. These challenges are related to information era and changes in consumer behaviour, caused by the development of information and communication technologies. In these new conditions the motives of consumers to choose electronic ticketing has become an extremely important factor of success. Lack of integrity of consumer behaviour and technology acceptance (electronic ticketing in particular) was identified in previous scientific research, especially taking into consideration recent conditions of developing countries. The aim of this article is to evaluate the consumers’ behaviour and acceptance of intelligent systems, such as electronic ticketing, in order to identify factors, influencing and encouraging the customers to use electronic ticketing systems. In this study extended technology acceptance model with trust element was used to measure the consumer behaviour. The sample for this research has been taken from China and Pakistan populations and consists of 432 participants from both countries.

Part 7: Digital Governance; International audience; Governments around the world are using information and communication technologies to offer both simple information portals and transactional services. A less than one-third of the electronic government (e-government) initiatives focused on the provision of transactional services and understanding on studies related to the adoption of such services using domain-specific adoption theories/models are scarce. Therefore, the objective of this study is to understand the adoption of transactional service system, i.e. ‘Pak-Identity’ by employing a domain-specific model, i.e. Unified Model of Electronic Government Adoption (UMEGA). A UMEGA model with four new constructs is validated using data gathered from 441 citizens from all over Pakistan. A survey was conducted among citizens using simple random sampling technique. The collected data were analyzed employing variance-based structure equation modelling, i.e. partial least squares technique in SmartPLS 3.0 to test the formulated hypotheses. Findings indicate that (1) facilitating conditions is the predictor of effort expectancy, (2) performance expectancy, trust, and herd behaviour are the predictors of attitude, (3) price value, grievance redressal, and attitude are the predictors of behavioural intention to use e-government service. Surprisingly, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, social influence, and perceived risk are found to be the nonsignificant predictors of adoption of e-government service. Interestingly, new constructs and new relationships are exposed, i.e. trust and herd behaviour on attitude, and price value and grievance redressal on behavioural intention. Moreover, a 55% variance in effort expectancy, 65% variance in attitude, and 40% variance in behavioural intention to adopt e-government has been found. Implications for the academics and managers are also outlined.