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Purpose: COVID-19 outbreak has compelled the world-wide education system to use the digital collaboration platform (DCP) for online learning, for robust inclusive sustainable education. The purpose of this paper is to understand the adoption intention and effectiveness of DCP using technology acceptance model (TAM) for online learning among students studying in higher education institutes (HEIs) in India. Design/methodology/approach: A structured questionnaire has been adopted to survey and collect data from 324 students studying in HEI of Maharashtra state in India. The questionnaire consisted of 28 constructs. The constructs in this section were measured using a five-point Likert scale ranging. In the first step, first-order confirmatory factor analysis is carried out by using the software IBM AMOS-20. The initial model is generated for six constructs, and outcomes are used to analyze the model's goodness of fit and construct validity. In second step, structural equation modelling is carried out to do the path analysis of the proposed model. Findings: The findings connote that the interactivity, cost-effectiveness and the core TAM constructs as perceived usefulness form positive attitude towards usage of DCP and intention to adopt it in near future by the students of HEI of India. The research is an attempt to provide possible explanations for the epochal relationships between the constructs and discusses the usage of information, which can be further used to enhance the acceptance of DCP among students in urban as well as rural India. Research limitations/implications: The results and findings will provide a direction to the various stakeholders such as educators, management, learners and the parents on the adoption intention of digital collaborative platform from a learner's point of view. This will lead to the knowledge which will help in practical implementations of these technologies. Practical implications: The results and findings will provide a direction to the various stakeholders such as educators, management, learners and the parents on the adoption intention of DCP from learner's point of view. This will lead to the knowledge which will help in practical implementations of these technologies. The findings imply that the interactivity, cost-effectiveness and the core constructs of TAM such as perceived usefulness form positive attitude towards usage of DCP and intention to adopt it in near future by the students of HEI of India. This research provides possible explanations for the significant relationships between the constructs and discusses how this information can be used to enhance the acceptance of DCP among students in urban as well as rural India. Social implications: This research provides possible explanations for the significant relationships between the constructs and discusses how this information can be used to enhance the acceptance of DCP among students in urban as well as rural India, which is the need of hour for sustainable education. Originality/value: There are tremendous studies on online learning and use of digital platforms including the constructs of TAM but in the times of COVID-19, where it has become mandatory for all educational institutes to use the digital collaborative platform for continuance of education. The study is original and is an attempt to understand students' perspective towards usage of DCP and its effectiveness in learning in the rural parts of Maharashtra from where the students hail to study in HEI in Pune and Mumbai.

Purpose: Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has utterly disrupted the worldwide education system and compelled an emergency immersion of unplanned and rapid online teaching-learning. The online teaching readiness would highly depend on the competencies of teachers and skills to adapt the pedagogy and new roles by the teachers. In this context, this study aims to assess higher education institutions (HEIs) teachers' readiness to handle online education based on the online teaching readiness competencies model. Design/methodology/approach: A structured questionnaire has been adopted to survey and collect data from 296 teachers of HEIs across India. The questionnaire consisted of 29 constructs. The constructs in this section were measured using a five-point Likert scale ranging. In the first step first-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is carried out, by using the software IBM AMOS-26. The initial model is generated for five constructs and outcomes are used to analyze the model's goodness of fit and construct validity. In the second step structural equation modeling (SEM) is carried out to do the path analysis of the proposed model. Findings: The findings connote that the level of course design competencies, communication competencies, time management competencies are not sufficient among the teachers of HEI of India, whereas the technical competencies possessed by the teachers meet the requirements for readiness to handle online education. The research is an attempt to provide possible explanations for establishing relationships between the constructs and discusses the usage of information, which can be further used to enhance the online teaching readiness competencies for the teachers of HEIs of India. Practical implications: The research is an attempt to provide possible explanations for establishing relationships between the constructs and discusses the usage of information, which can be further used to enhance the online teaching readiness competencies for the teachers of HEIs of India. Originality/value: Teachers' competencies are a vital part of teaching online which has become the need of the hour in this COVID-19 outbreak. Because of the need for emergency response and strategies to minimize learning disruption at higher education, the study identifies the online teaching readiness competencies possessed by the online teaching communities and provides guidelines to enhance their capacity to build up the longer-term resilience of education systems. The study will be a ready reckoner for online training competencies which can be used as training need analysis to make each teacher highly competent to impart knowledge using online teaching platforms.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the tourists' perception of smart tourism with the application of virtual reality and design a framework of smart tourism with elements of VR for Indian Tourism especially in the periods of the pandemic COVID-19. The ever-evolving and unprecedented COVID 19 situation had posed extreme challenges for the travel and tourism industry. In such conditions, it is becoming increasingly necessary to rely on digital technologies, ICT and smart tourism. ICT has served as a catalyst for innovations in tourism. Design/methodology/approach: This study investigates the impact of smart tourism and virtual reality technology on the perception of tourists towards travelling decisions during and post COVID-19 scenario. The respondents involved in the study were tourists travelling in India, the tourists come from different parts of India. A structured questionnaire has been administered to collect data from 224 travellers across India. The questionnaire consisted 22 constructs. The constructs in this section were measured using a five-point Likert scale ranging. In the first step, the first order Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is carried out, by using the software IBM AMOS-20. The initial model is generated ix constructs, and outcomes are used to analyse the model's goodness of fit and construct validity. In the second step, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is carried out to do the path analysis of the proposed model. The effect of relationships amongst the theoretical constructs is also analysed using SEM. Findings: The findings imply that the application of smart tourism along with virtual reality forms a positive perception of tourists and provides a sustainable platform for tourism organizations in Indian tourism. Virtual reality-based tourism has emerged as alternate for the tourism industry during the times of Covid, which in long run can be seen as a substitute to traditional tourism. The increasing use of blue ocean concepts, to delivery high-value experience at low cost has complimented the tourism industry. The researchers have made a modest attempt by proposing a blended model of smart tourism with virtual reality as a blue ocean strategy and which would ultimately facilitate the sustainability of the Industry by creating multi-dimensional values of experience for tourists in India. Research limitations/implications: The researchers have made a modest attempt by proposing a blended model of smart tourism with virtual reality as a blue ocean strategy, which would ultimately facilitate the industry's sustainability by creating multi-dimensional values of experience for tourists in India. Originality/value: This qualitative study designs a smart tourism system with the use of the recent advances in ICT and Virtual Reality (VR), as a bridging solution and the saviour of the tourism sector in India during COVID 19. The integration of ICT into the travel experience has resulted in the social phenomena of smart tourism. This has led to a rise in use of smart tourism tools among tourism service providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising interest in the marketing potential of the metaverse and its influence on consumer behavior is undeniable. Experts in the field have identified gaps in understanding consumer behavior in the metaverse and have highlighted the need of further research in the domain. This study addresses this void by focusing on Gen Z and their interactions within the metaverse. Gathering qualitative data through semi‐structured interviews with 63 participants, the study employs a deductive thematic analysis, using the Engel‐Kollat‐Blackwell (EKB) model as its theoretical framework. The findings align with the stages of the EKB model– awareness, information search, engagement, and post‐engagement evaluation. We find that despite facing initial challenges, participants display eagerness to access the metaverse and actively seek engagement opportunities, even encouraging others to join. This research provides empirical insights into challenges and opportunities that exist for consumers and brands within the metaverse. Further, it also enhances our understanding of immersive time in the metaverse and elucidates consumer engagement with digital technologies. Finally, the study also offers practical implications for managers, tech developers, and policymakers looking to enhance consumer interest and involvement in the metaverse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurial activity is considered the driving force for modern economies and societal development through economic growth, employment generation and the promotion of innovation. This paper seeks to study the growth of the available literature in the academic world and to highlight the trends regarded as 'key' in the realm of digital entrepreneurship by means of the conduct of bibliometric analysis concerning the conceptual background, the assumptions that lie under, the designs of the research along with an analysis of what was contributed to the field and the direction road map pointing out topic areas for further research. An in-depth bibliometric and systematic literature analysis is conducted in accordance with the objectives of the study. As we know the bibliometric analysis of literature can identify research clusters based on the quantity and the quality of the research conducted. Through the use of Vosviewer 1.6.10 software, the authors analyzed 122 articles from the Scopus database. The progress of research on digital entrepreneurship has been studied from 1970 to 2022. It is found that digital entrepreneurship research has gained encouragement after the year 2018. By means of cluster analysis, the authors identified three clusters which revealed a number of closely associated key words. The findings further revealed that the synthesis of topics of recent date which were of interest to scholars have led about the evolution of a large number of topical clusters along with the identification of a change in interest over the days gone past. From a study whose aim was the various economic issues, in the direction of an analysis that has deepened the factors which have led to a number of factors that have contributing for the development of digital entrepreneurial platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of higher education in India is plagued by various fraudulent institutions and actors who profit at the expense of students and parents, for example, by issuing fake course completion certificates, which adversely affect the quality of teacher education. This paper presents a possible solution in the form of a model in which a digital record of the student's academic progress is created on the blockchain, which is then used to create a non-falsifiable tokenized version of the student's certificate of completion with a QR code-based mechanism that helps to improve the quality of teacher education in the course completion certificate process. Through this model, cases of certificate fraud can be reduced, and confidence in the quality of education that students receive in the institutions can be ensured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]