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Purpose: Housing policies in India (last modified in 2017) define "affordable housing" on three main parameters – income of the target group, dwelling unit size and house price to income ratio. The Covid-19 pandemic has questioned the robustness of the defining parameters of affordable housing. This paper aims to study the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on housing affordability and adequacy for the urban poor and highlights how one pandemic has directly challenged the practicality of the affordable housing criteria in urban India. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a pilot test conducted through interviews with the consumer group. Furthermore, the affordable housing policies of urban India were studied in conjunction with the pandemic guidelines laid down by the World Health Organization. The consumer responses were analyzed in relation to the policies and guidelines to arrive at the inferences. The secondary case examples of the Dharavi slums in Mumbai and the Savda Ghevra slum resettlement colony in Delhi, along with the findings of the primary survey in the economically weaker section category, are used to formulate the conclusions. Findings: The pilot test conducted for the target consumer group clearly indicates that (i) the pandemic has severely affected the housing purchase capacity of the target consumer, thereby questioning the "affordability" of housing; (ii) proposed housing solutions are inadequate to enable livability, thereby questioning the "adequacy" of housing; and (iii) proposed housing solutions are inept to accommodate pandemic protocols. The Covid-19 pandemic and the conditions it imposed on the built environment clearly highlight the inadequacy of affordable housing parameters being followed in urban India. Research limitations/implications: Further research may be conducted on global best practices in housing, which may advise the housing policies in India. Practical implications: The study suggests key areas that need intervention and modification to make the housing policies more robust and effective. Social implications: The study explores the social sustainability aspects of housing, which are often considered secondary in policies. Originality/value: Because housing has a direct bearing on the physical, social and mental well-being of society, it is imperative to find housing solutions that are safe and resilient for a sustainable future. This paper is an original attempt by the author to question and highlight how the current affordable housing solutions adopted in urban India will continue to fail under any external adverse conditions unless modifications are considered in the existing housing parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Consumers can spend their disposable income on hedonic consumption or save for the future. Their preferences were altered by the prolonged life and livelihood-threatening experiences of the pandemic. This paper aims to study the spillover effect of the pandemic experience on consumer savings attitudes and hedonic purchase preferences in the new normal. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted 35 in-depth interviews with consumers in India. The data were analysed thematically. Findings: The results showed that when fear of life and negative emotions of the pandemic persisted, consumers became short-term focused, moved towards materialism and increased hedonic spending. Alternatively, individuals who faced substantial financial hardships resorted to an increased preference for savings. The relationship between changes in savings orientation and hedonic consumption was found to be moderated by consumer's individual differences in financial vulnerability and life history strategies. Practical implications: As the trend towards increased hedonic consumption and preference for luxury products continues, the study findings can be used to devise effective marketing strategies to tap the emerging segment of mass luxury consumption. Originality/value: Despite ample work being conducted in the hedonic consumption domain, it has not been studied in conjunction with savings orientation, a significant determinant. This research links personal savings orientation with hedonic spending and substantiates that purchase decisions are cognitively weighted as a choice of discretionary spending against the opportunity to save. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Earlier, the consumption of products was based mainly on their utilitarian benefits, but at present, the love for nature has driven consumers towards products not harming the environment and society. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the influence of consumers' attitudes towards organic personal care products on brand love, brand trust, altruism and sustainable consumption behaviour. Furthermore, the study further examines the impact of sustainable consumption behaviour on continuous purchase intention using health consciousness as a moderator. Finally, the study validates Behavioural Reasoning Theory and the emotional affinity towards nature to understand the proposed claims. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected from 364 respondents from India. Only those respondents were included in the survey who had prior experience of using organic personal care products. This study used the structural equation modelling approach to test the conceptual model. Findings: Results of the study confirmed the positive influence of consumer attitude on brand love, brand trust and altruism. Brand love and altruism had a significant impact on sustainable consumption behaviour. Health consciousness also emerged as a moderating variable between sustainable consumption behaviour and continuous intention. Interestingly, the brand trust had no impact on sustainable consumption behaviour. Furthermore, sustainable consumption behaviour had a significant impact on continuous intention. Originality/value: The study is helpful to organic product companies, practitioners, academicians, environment protection agencies and market regulatory authorities as it gives fresh insight into the new collective relationship of consumer attitude with brand love, brand trust, altruism and sustainable consumption behaviour in case of organic personal care products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to focus on the housing situation in Indian cities and the various stakeholders involved in the housing sector. This study addresses the conflict in expectations of the supply and demand side of the housing and establishes the factors crucial to making housing successful for all the stakeholders, essential for sustainable urban development. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is developed using the content analysis of preceding independent reviews on housing sustainability by authors across the globe, a review of the current housing situation in Indian cities and a Pilot study of the desired qualitative aspects of housing by the consumer group. Findings: This paper identifies the challenges and constraints of the various stakeholders involved in the housing sector. A comprehensive list of all the parameters, both qualitative and quantitative, essential for successful housing implementation, focused on the preferences of the demand side, also referred to as the "Critical Success Factors (CSFs)" is generated. The results advocate a strict consideration and integration of these CSFs with the housing policies for all future housing projects. Research limitations/implications: Most of the studies conducted in the past have reviewed the housing situation in India from the perspective of the government authorities and the initiatives undertaken by them to improve the housing crisis. However, a gap exists in achieving a balanced understanding of the supply-side constraints, with the demand-side expectations from the housing. Focusing only on the supply without adequately understanding the consumption can only lead to further chaos in the already turbulent housing situation. Originality/value: To the best of author's knowledge, this is among the first attempts to address the housing scenario in urban centers of India, simultaneously from the perspective of both the demand side and the supply side of the housing, giving additional impetus to the expectations of the demand side which are often ignored. This study becomes more relevant in the ongoing pandemic situation to be able to provide appropriate and acceptable housing solutions to all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Information is often available to consumers through their social networks. Focusing on dairy consumers in India, this paper aims to present evidence of peer effects in consumers' attitudes towards various food safety attributes and food safety practices. Design/methodology/approach: Unobserved individual heterogeneities are crucial confounders in the identification of social (endogenous) effects. The identification is based on exploiting within-consumer variation across different aspects of attitude (or practices) related to food safety. Findings: This paper uses a novel identification strategy that allows for average effects across attributes and practices to be estimated. Using the strategy, though this paper cannot estimate endogenous effects in each attribute or practice, this paper is able to identify such effects averaged over attributes or practices. Research limitations/implications: Cross-sectional study, caste affiliation is not defined at the right level of granularity. Practical implications: The results suggest that information campaigns aimed at creating awareness about food safety can have social multiplier effects, and this also translates into changes in the practices followed to mitigate food safety risks. Social implications: In health-related awareness and practices, there are well-established cases of multiplier effects. The most significant example of this is the Pulse Polio campaign in India, where an awareness drives through social multiplier effects had such a significant impact that in 2012 India was declared polio-free. Perhaps, a similar campaign in matters related to food safety could be very fruitful. Originality/value: The methodology and the issue are unique. Little exists in assessing social networks in the context of food safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to adopt stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory to reveal the impact of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on buying intentions of young consumers in the presence of hedonic brand attitude (HBA) and utilitarian brand attitude (UBA) as mediators, among smartphone customers in the context of brand fan pages in Facebook. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses a single cross-sectional design to survey a sample of 326 young online customers present in leading smartphone brand fan pages on Facebook in India. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data and replies were recorded on a Likert scale (five-point). The data was subjected to structural equation modelling for model and hypotheses testing. Findings: eWOM has a significantly positive influence on the buying intentions of the young. Both HBA and UBA partially mediate the influence of eWOM on buying intentions. Research limitations/implications: The study examines only the personal-oriented functions of attitude and does not investigate the role of social dimensions of attitudes. Its scope is confined to smartphones in the consumer electronics segment and only Facebook among social networking sites. Practical implications: A theoretical contribution to eWOM literature is made by studying it under the lens of S-O-R theory and functional theory of attitudes. Measurement of two different dimensions of attitude, i.e. hedonic and utilitarian, may facilitate managers to comprehend the source of variance in consumers' decision-making behaviour in the online context. Originality/value: The only study to explore brand attitude as a mediator in its multi-dimensional form, in the context of social eWOM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper is to apply the ABC model and examine the attitudinal segmentation of online consumer in India in terms of internet usage, perceived risks, website attributes, intent to do online purchase in future and preference of website attributes. Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire was administered to 600 online consumers using field and online survey mediums. The logit analysis was applied to arrive at segmentation of online users. Findings – Findings show how attitudes are different of online users when they were segmented based on internet usage. This segmentation showed attitudes that were paradoxical in nature. To explain this paradoxical behaviour of online buyers, this study applied the logit analysis. The online users were further examined applying the ABC model of attitude. Three distinct segments of online users emerged. They are: CAB, CBA and BCA. Practical implications – The findings of this paper will be useful for online retailers who want to start e-commerce business in India. The findings are also useful for designing appropriate promotion and marketing strategies to entice online users to become online buyers. Originality/value – The key contributions of this paper are the new insights from using the ABC model. Based on usage of internet in number of hours, online buyers could be segmented into four groups. On further analysis using ABC model, this studied showed that a better segmentation of online buyers is possible and that is called attitudinal segmentation. The BCA attitudinal segment is a finding of this study and is unique to this research. This has not been done using Indian online buyers and this adds to the originality of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the effect of social cynicism on consumer cynicism. The negative inferred motive is tested as a mediator between social cynicism and consumer cynicism; whereas, negative affectivity is tested as a moderator between social cynicism and negative inferred motive. Design/methodology/approach: The study was carried out in India using a mixed-method approach. In the first stage, a survey was conducted to test the moderated mediation model, followed by in-depth interviews in the second stage. The survey was analysed using structural equation modelling, while themes were generated from the data collected through interviews. Findings: The study established the effect of social cynicism on consumer cynicism. Negative inferred motive mediated the relationship between social cynicism and consumer cynicism. Negative affectivity moderated the influence of social cynicism on negative inferred motive. Research limitations/implications: With rising anti-consumption behaviours, it is imperative to understand why consumers turn cynical towards marketers. The study indicates that consumer cynicism is influenced by previous experiences of the consumer with the society and is not merely a reaction to arm-twisting by firms. As social cynicism cannot be changed drastically, understanding how it impacts consumer cynicism would help a firm handle its marketing efforts better. Originality/value: The study empirically validates the relationship between social cynicism and consumer cynicism. The mediating effect of negative inferred motive on consumer cynicism was also validated. The study is also the first to point out the moderating role of negative affectivity on the relationship between social cynicism and negative inferred motive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The retail boom in India brings tremendous opportunities for foreign as well as domestic players. The changing lifestyle of the Indian consumer makes it imperative for the retailers to understand the patterns of consumption. The changing consumption patterns trigger changes in shopping styles of consumers and also the factors that drive people into stores. Hence, the key objective of this paper is to uncover the motives that drive young people to shop in departmental stores or malls. Design/methodology/approach — A sample of 115 students has been taken and their responses have been gauged through a personally administered, structured questionnaire. Findings — The results reveal that the Indian youth primarily shop from a hedonic perspective. They importantly serve as new product in formation seekers, and the retailing firms can directly frame and communicate the requisite product information to them. Originality/value — As not much work in India has been done in this context, the paper seeks to provide fruitful insights into the motives of Indian youth that can benefit academics as well as marketers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – With the growing importance of service quality in Indian retail, it becomes critical for the retailers to identify the appropriate dimensions for their retail stores. In the process of evaluating service quality the decision maker is often faced with ambiguities due to the imprecise information gained from the respondents. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated fuzzy (fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) approach to help the decision makers/retailers in practicing and judging the priorities of service quality strategies and accordingly benchmarking retail stores in Indian retail environment. Design/methodology/approach – The study incorporated the five basic dimensions of Retail Service Quality Scale proposed by Dabholkar et al. (1996) and the FAHP approach to three leading apparel retail stores of a major city (Rourkela) of Orissa (an Indian state located in eastern part of the country) to determine the weights of criteria and sub-criteria of retail service quality. Findings – The study identified that the dimensions, namely, personal interaction, physical aspects, reliability and policy are perceived as important by the Indian consumers. Merchandise and the store’s willingness to handle returns and exchanges emerge as the most influencing variable affecting the overall service quality of the store. Research limitations/implications – The study was restricted to a major city of Orissa and to three apparel stores. The results obtained may not be extrapolated to the country as a whole. The authors believe that the integrated approach of FAHP could be used by a variety of service industries to evaluate the service quality. The study did not investigate switching behavior among the respondents as they had been visiting all the three apparel stores during the preceding months. Practical implications – The integrated approach of FAHP makes an empirical contribution to the service quality and retail marketing literature by overcoming the uncertainty of concepts those are associated with human beings’ subjective judgments. Social implications – The retailer can improve the quality of service provided by them based on the parameters important in Indian context, which will lead to higher customer satisfaction. Originality/value – This paper can help the retail service providers to identify which of the retail service quality dimensions requires much attention to create sustainable competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: There is a significant growth in the consumption of new luxury fashion brands in developing price-sensitive markets like India. Not only does this growth demonstrate how the "new" luxury brands have become a success, but is also illustrative of the perception and practice of style and status among the middle classes. The purpose of this paper is to argue that the consumer's attitude for buying a branded product entails the need for uniqueness and self-monitoring. It also contends that gender and age moderate the consumer's attitude. Design/methodology/approach: This study employed a self-monitored survey to collect the data from the customers of new luxury fashion retail brand stores in Chennai, India for empirical validation of the model. Data collected from 394 new luxury brands shoppers were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Findings: The need for uniqueness and self-monitoring had significant positive influences on social-adjustive attitude and value-expressive attitude. However, the relationship between self-monitoring and value-expressive attitude was weak when compared to other relationships. Significant differences were seen in the strengths of the relationships between gender and age. Originality/value: New luxury is significantly different from traditional luxury. Analyses regarding age group, gender and attitude can provide unique understanding related to new luxury trends, especially in a price sensitive and emerging market like India. This would help managers in segmenting the market based on consumer demographics, and devise strategies based on their characteristics to influence their attitudes and other behavioural patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the factors that influence a consumer's attitude and intention to use mobile wallets using a sample representative of Indian users. Design/methodology/approach: A multidisciplinary model is proposed, building on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and other relevant research on factors, which influence technology adoption. A synthesis of review of literature on factors influencing technology adoption besides two focus group discussions (FGD) was used as a design a pilot instrument. A nationwide primary survey was conducted using the questionnaire. Convenience sampling was used to select the respondents. In total, 744 respondents participated in the survey, and 17 hypotheses were formulated and PLS-SEM was used to estimate and test the hypothesized model. Findings: The results show that factors like perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), trust, security, facilitating conditions and lifestyle compatibility have a significant impact on the consumer attitude and intention to use mobile wallets. Of the proposed 17 hypotheses, 15 were accepted. Ease of use significantly influenced usefulness and trust, whereas PU significantly influenced trust, attitude and intention. Security and trust were found to be play an important role in determining trust. Research limitations/implications: This study examines the perception of students and working professional from large Indian cities. A larger representative sample encompassing balanced representation from urban and rural India could enhance the scope and widen the application of the results across larger target groups. This study analyzes data at a specific point in time. Considering the rapidly changing rate of adoption of mobile wallets, a longitudinal study could, therefore, be conducted. Furthermore, the possibility of including other antecedents like relative advantage, perceived benefits, personal innovativeness among other factors, which have not been addressed here can be explored. Also, additional research can help examine the role of demographics in adoption of mobile wallets including its moderating effect. Practical implications: As security and trust emerged as important constructs for acceptance of mobile wallets, there is a need for developing an integrated robust, reliable and secure infrastructure. A joint think tank involving key stakeholders (financial institutions, mobile wallet providers, government, security experts, etc.) should propose guidelines to ensure safe and secure transactions. The findings have managerial implications, which can guide companies offering mobile wallets to enhance usage and adoption of such services. Originality/value: Mobile wallets have provided newer digital payment avenues to consumers while offering companies and marketers greater opportunities to market their products and services, online. However, not much is reported about the adoption of mobile wallets in India. The study is perhaps the first in India to examine the adoption of mobile wallets using a larger sample in comparison to earlier studies. The study proposes and validates additional constructs, which were not present in the original model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Acceptance of remanufactured products by the consumers is highly essential for the success of closed loop supply chain and for achieving the goal of circular economy. However, the literature shows that consumers are reluctant to purchase remanufactured products. Therefore, the study of attitude and purchase intention (PI) of the consumers toward remanufactured products becomes inevitable for popularizing these products. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approach This research proposes a conceptual model to examine the critical factors influencing the PI of Indian consumers toward remanufactured products. Further, this model is empirically tested, using structural equation modeling technique, based on the data obtained from 1,534 respondents.Findings The findings of this research suggest that PI of consumers is influenced by attitude, personal benefits, remanufactured product knowledge, risk perception, subjective norm and market strategy. However, perceived behavior control and green awareness have a non-significant impact on the PI of Indian consumers.Research limitations/implications The proposed conceptual model is tested only against the data received from the students of Indian universities who possess electronic gadgets.Practical implications The circular economy can be realized through remanufacturing if the attitude of consumers is shaped positively toward remanufactured products through the dissemination of comprehensive product information.Originality/value This research is the first attempt to assess the PI of Indian consumers by developing and testing the conceptual model. Further, this research provides guidelines to remanufacturing firms for attracting the consumers toward the purchase of remanufactured products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the library service quality (LSQ) of University of Kashmir from the users' perspectives based on the LibQUAL+ model approach. Design/methodology/approach: The survey used the LibQUAL+ model to evaluate service quality (SQ) of Allama Iqbal Library (AIL), University of Kashmir, Srinagar (India). The data were collected from library users by administering the LibQUAL+ questionnaire in a printed format. Findings: It has been revealed that AIL has succeeded in satisfying the minimum expectations of its users but could not meet the customers' desired expectations that make them delighted. Library as Place (LP) and Information Control (IC) are the most satisfied dimensions of SQ of AIL, whereas Affect of Service (AS) is the least satisfied dimension. LP is the most desired dimension amongst LibQUAL+ dimensions. All LibQUAL+ items were found to be lying inside the zone of tolerance (ZoT). Further, "Library is secure and peaceful place for study, learning and research" (LP-21) was found as most important service item as per users' desired expectations, while "Library staff shows dependability in handling users' service problems" (AS-9) is marked as the least desired item. Originality/value: Only a few studies have been carried out to evaluate the SQ of Indian university libraries as far as the LibQUAL+ model is concerned. Therefore, the findings of present survey will help to understand how far library has reached in satisfying users' expectations as well as the areas or dimensions where it needs to improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine how attitudes towards sweatshops, social norms and perceived behavioural control (PBC) factors influence consumers' attitudes towards luxury fashion apparel made in sweatshops. It also examines how these variables influence purchase intention and ultimately the willingness to pay more for luxury fashion apparel not made in sweatshops. Design/methodology/approach - A self-administered questionnaire was designed using established scales. A survey was conducted through the "mall intercept" method. Findings - Underpinned by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model, attitudes and PBC were found to have an influence on intention to purchase luxury fashion apparel made in sweatshops. The intention to purchase luxury fashion apparel also significantly influences the willingness to pay more for luxury fashion apparel not made in sweatshops. Practical implications - The research findings can be used to formulate strategies for academia, practitioners and, more importantly, policy makers to help curb sweatshop activities. Originality/value - This paper focuses exclusively on luxury fashion apparels made in sweatshops. Status consumption is also added as a potential antecedent towards purchase intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Many developing countries, including India, are committed to curbing black money from the economy. Therefore, these countries are focusing on a transparent online transaction facility. M-wallets are one online option facilitated by various companies using a mobile application. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of perceived usefulness, perceived security, perceived ease of use, trust, grievance redressal and satisfaction on young users' intention to continually use M-wallet in India. Design/methodology/approach: A research framework based on the expectation–confirmation theory has been formulated and tested empirically using data from M-wallets young users in India using structural equation modeling. Findings: The analysis reveals that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use significantly affect user satisfaction and intention to continually use M-wallets. The effect of perceived security on user satisfaction is significant, and grievance redressal mediates the effect of perceived security on intention to continually use M-wallets. Practical implications: The outcome of the research will help M-wallet service providers and policy makers in planning the service and increasing customer' continuance intention. Originality/value: The uniqueness of this research is that it adds two important constructs for mobile payment systems (grievance redressal and perceived security) that were missing in the earlier model proposed by Zhou (2013). The addition of the two constructs helped in formulating a better model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test a conceptual model of the effects of customer and service orientation (SO) behaviours of individual retail employees on individual customers' perceptions of service encounter quality (SEQ), service quality (SQ), value, satisfaction, and behavioural intentions (BI). Design/methodology/approach – The sample (n=271) was customers of a supermarket in central India, and they completed questionnaires following mall intercept. To test the hypotheses, structural equation modelling using LISREL 8.7 was employed. Findings – It was found that: service and customer orientation (CO) behaviours are positively related to SEQ and SQ; SEQ is positively related to SQ and customer satisfaction; SQ is positively related to value perceptions and customer satisfaction; and customer satisfaction is positively related to retail customers' BI. However, value is not related to customer satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – More research is needed on customer perceptions of value in non-Western contexts and service evaluation frameworks in other cross-cultural contexts. Practical implications – Retail managers need to train or select retail personnel who are able to perform their roles in a service-oriented and customer-oriented way, and value does not appear to be as important to Indian retail customers as it is to Western retail customers. Originality/value – This paper extends current service evaluation frameworks by including SO and CO as antecedents, and it analyses an Indian retail context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to attempt to understand the frequent clothing purchase behavior of undergraduate urban college-goers of India aged 18-23 years and empirically prove the value-psychographic traits-clothing (VPC) purchase behavior hierarchy. Design/methodology/approach - A stratified systematic sample of 275 respondents was used to test the hierarchy. The List of Values (LOV) scale was submitted to exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal components analysis and varimax rotation. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to validate EFA results. Next, structural equation modeling (SEM) with maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) was used to empirically prove VPC of the urban Indian college-goers. Findings - The study finds that EFA of the LOV scale yielded two dimensions- outer-directed values and inner-directed values. Outer-directed values influenced the psychographic traits - fashion-consciousness and innovativeness positively, while fashion-consciousness and innovativeness positively influenced clothing purchase frequency. Thus, VPC hierarchy is empirically proved with the help of SEM. Research limitations/implications - In the context of frequent clothing purchases of college-goers, values affect behavior indirectly through psychographic traits of fashion-consciousness and innovativeness. Psychographic traits of fashion-consciousness and innovativeness act as intervening variables between values and clothing purchase behavior. EFA and CFA were done on the same sample thereby limiting the scope of the study. Practical implications - The marketer of clothing for college-goers should frame his/her product and communication strategy in such a way that it appeals to the fashion-conscious and innovative consumers with outer-directed values. Originality/value - An attempt has been made for the first time to prove the VPC hierarchy empirically in the context of frequent clothing purchases of young college-goers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to integrate consumer personality to fashion involvement, fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior, consumer emotions and hedonic consumption in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a literature review of personality, fashion involvement, emotions, fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior and hedonic consumption, the authors formulated a conceptual model and subsequent hypotheses. Previously valid and reliable scales were used in the study. The data were collected through mall intercept survey with the sample consisting of respondents in the age group 20-45. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used as data analysis tools. Findings – Major findings indicate a positive and significant effect of personality on positive emotions. The findings also confirm a significant and positive relationship between fashion involvement and hedonic consumption and hedonic consumption and fashion-related impulse buying behavior. Interestingly, positive emotions were found to mediate the relation between personality and fashion involvement. Research limitations/implications – The major implication of the present study is that impulse buying in fashion may be resultant of a complex network of interlinked constructs. One limitation is the restriction to the Indian context. Practical implications – The findings note the need for creation of an experiential environment for a fashion shopper that could lead to positive emotions and subsequently impulse purchase. Originality/value – The present study for the first time integrates constructs such as personality, emotions, involvement and impulse buying in the same conceptual model and tests it empirically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine the technical efficiency of the chemical-free farming system in India using a hybrid combination of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and machine learning (ML) approaches. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a two-stage approach. In the first stage, the efficiency scores of decision-making units' efficiency (DMUs) are obtained using an input-oriented DEA model under the assumption of a variable return to scale. Based on these scores, the DMUs are classified into efficient and inefficient categories. The 2nd stage of analysis involves the identification of the most important predictors of efficiency using a random forest model and a generalized logistic regression model. Findings: The results show that by using their resources efficiently, growers can reduce their inputs by 34 percent without affecting the output. Orchard's size, the proportion of land, grower's age, orchard's age and family labor are the most important determinants of efficiency. Besides, growers' main occupation and footfall of intermediaries at the farm gate also demonstrate significant influence on efficiency. Research limitations/implications: The study used only one output and a limited set of input variables. Incorporating additional variables or dimensions like fertility of the land, climatic conditions, altitude of the land, output quality (size/taste/appearance) and per acre profitability could yield more robust results. Although pineapple is cultivated in all eight northeastern states, the data for the study has been collected from only two states. The production and marketing practices followed by the growers in the remaining six northeastern states and other parts of the country might be different. As the growers do not maintain farm records, their data might suffer from selective retrieval bias. Practical implications: Given the rising demand for organic food, improving the efficiency of chemical-free growers will be a win-win situation for both growers and consumers. The results will aid policymakers in bringing necessary interventions to make chemical-free farming more remunerative for the growers. The business managers can act as a bridge to connect these remote growers with the market by sharing customer feedback and global best practices. Social implications: Although many developments have happened to the DEA technique, the present study used a traditional form of DEA. Therefore, future research should combine ML techniques with more advanced versions like bootstrap and fuzzy DEA. Upcoming research should include more input and output variables to predict the efficiency of the chemical-free farming system. For instance, environmental variables, like climatic conditions, degree of competition, government support and consumers' attitude towards chemical-free food, can be examined along with farm and grower-specific variables. Future studies should also incorporate chemical-free growers from a wider geographic area. Lastly, future studies can also undertake a longitudinal estimation of efficiency and its determinants for the chemical-free farming system. Originality/value: No prior study has used a hybrid framework to examine the performance of a chemical-free farming system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study identifies barriers faced by online e-waste collection platforms in India and proposes a novel approach to manage strategies that contribute towards making such online platforms economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable by mitigating their interacting barriers. Design/methodology/approach: The approach consists of a barrier assessment process and a strategy evaluation and planning process. The barrier assessment process uses multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) based method to evaluate the interactive effects of the barriers to derive their direct and indirect impacts on sustainability. The strategy evaluation and planning process evaluates the overall contribution value of strategies for mitigating interacting barriers and then categorizes them into planning zones based on their contribution and feasibility. Findings: The interaction among the barriers is a significant component of the overall impact of the barriers on sustainability. The most impactful barriers are the lack of dissemination of information, lack of government support, insufficient infrastructure, and awareness and attitude of consumers. Lack of government support is the most influential causal barrier. Lack of information dissemination is a significant causal barrier with the highest overall impact on sustainability. Priority strategies that must be implemented to ensure sustainability include government support, offering higher prices or discounts for giving up e-waste, and increasing information dissemination. Originality/value: Different from existing approaches for evaluating sustainability strategies, the strategies in this study are identified and evaluated based on their overall contribution towards mitigating interacting barriers to sustainability. The approach is applied in the Indian context to reveal the most influential barriers to the sustainability of online e-waste collection platforms and the most effective strategies for mitigating these barriers. The outcomes of this study contribute to strategy planning for sustainable online e-waste collection platforms in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed consumer buying behavior across the world. COVID-19 crisis brought a behavioral change in consumers' attitudes toward health, financial and social well-being. The current research work highlights the factors influencing consumer buying behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic considering saving and safety perspectives. Design/methodology/approach: This study attempts to understand the gap in buying behavior with reference to saving and safety. Survey-based study was conducted during the second phase of COVID-19, and the respondents were those who lived in highly affected COVID cities in India. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were carried out for testing the hypotheses. Findings: Seven factors became the prominent factors in consumer buying patterns during the pandemic. Consumers in the times of COVID-19 pandemic spend only on essential items as compared to nice-to-have and non-essential items. Research limitations/implications: Respondents considered in the research were millennials aged 25–40. The current research is limited to specific geographic location. Practical implications: The study assessed how savings and safety influence consumer buying behavior. The 2S framework model for consumer buying behavior during pandemic has been developed. The findings of the study provides a road map to the companies, policy makers, managers and consumers in understanding the consumer buying behavior during pandemic. Originality/value: The current research work observe the changes in the behavioral patterns of consumers in the context of 2S framework, i.e. saving and safety. This study offer novel contribution as there is no available literature that examined the saving and safety aspects together for consumer buying behavior during crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Digital technologies emerged as innovative avenues for launching new products, advertising brands, increasing customer awareness and thus leaving a remarkable impact on the online marketplace. The present study analyzed the effects of crucial antecedents of AR interactive technology on customers' behavior toward AR-based e-commerce websites. Design/methodology/approach: Convenience sampling was used to collect primary data from 357 iGen respondents aged 16–22 years; residing in New Delhi and the NCR region of India and examined using the structural equation modeling technique. Findings: Results revealed that technology anxiety and virtuality significantly influence customers' attitudes and behavioral intentions toward AR-based e-commerce websites. However, interactivity and innovativeness remain non-significant. Additionally, non-significant moderating effects were identified for the moderators, i.e. trust and need for touch. At the same time, gender has a significant moderating effect only for the association between technology anxiety and attitude toward AR-based e-commerce websites. Research limitations/implications: The study summarizes numerous theoretical and managerial implications for AR-based website designers and policymakers, followed by the crucial limitations and directions for future research. Originality/value: The present research provides a significant understanding of the e-commerce industry by providing valuable insights about young iGen consumers' perceptions of AR-based e-commerce websites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Swiss manufacturing companies have learned to their chagrin that customers in emerging markets such as China, India or Eastern Europe do not require or want the same technological level as those in Western Europe or North America. But, compared to the overall exponential growth of markets in China, India or Eastern Europe, the high-end market segment has been growing slowly over the last couple of years. The authors of this paper have worked over the past several years with more than 30 Swiss manufacturing companies to understand why they often do not succeed in low-end markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Over the last few decades, there has been a substantial increase in environmentally conscious consumers' willingness to switch their preferences from mainstream products to green products. Hence, it becomes essential for academicians and marketers to understand the notion, attributes and a comprehensive profile of green consumers. Since consumer attitude towards green products is not widely studied in developing countries, the present study aims at exploring the profile of green consumers in India (Punjab State) based on the same in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach: The study used the survey method, and a sample of 400 respondents was selected from the Punjab State of India. Initially, principal component analysis was employed to reduce the dimensions. Following this, cluster analysis was applied to segment consumer market in distinctive segments. Results of cluster analysis were validated with discriminant analysis and finally, differences amongst the segments of green and non-green consumers were examined to build on the profile of green consumers. Findings: The study segmented the consumer market based on consumer attitude towards green products. Results of the study revealed four distinct segments. "Dynamic Green", the largest cluster, presents truly green consumers who exhibit a positive attitude towards green products. Finally, the study highlighted the attitudinal profile of green and non-green consumers and differences amongst the segments were explained. Research limitations/implications: Similar study should be conducted in other developing/developed countries. Furthermore, cross-cultural studies can be undertaken to contrast consumer attitude towards green products. The study may also be extended to probe the connection between consumers' attitude and actual behaviour towards green products. Originality/value: The study examined the role of consumer attitude towards green products in identifying the distinct segment of green consumers and determining different configurations of consumer characteristics to build on the profile of green consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In quest of exploring the issues, challenges and opportunities prevailing in the tea tourism industry, this study aims to present a comprehensive morphological analysis (MA). More specifically, it identifies critical dimensions that bear significance for the sustainable growth of tea tourism. Design/methodology/approach: The present study adopted a triangulation method of research involving an ethnographic study (ES) followed by a series of focus group sessions carried out from the prominent tea-producing districts in India. This study accords equal importance to both the demand and supply perspectives of tea tourism and its stakeholders. Findings: Critical dimensions such as improper planning and marketing efforts, limited collaboration among stakeholders, the involvement of local people, socio-economic inequality and consumer's attitude towards tea tourism were identified as major issues and challenges. Research limitations/implications: The present research limits its scope to the geographical boundary within India keeping cross-boundary research for future study. This study will aid future researchers and scholars in expanding the domain of tea tourism. Practical implications: The present study bears significance to the policymakers, governing bodies, marketers, tour operators in embracing a socio-economic perspective while undertaking a suitable strategy towards marketing of tea tourism and ensuring its sustainable development. Originality/value: This study makes a novel attempt in blending the ES, focus group sessions and MA, together in a single research initiative, making it a single point reference in tea tourism literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The present study compared Indian consumers' attitude (AT) toward and purchase intention (PI) from Western apparel brands, as a function of their Western acculturation (WA), consumer ethnocentrism (CE) in apparel consumption, consumer cosmopolitanism (CC) and country of residence (India vs the USA). Design/methodology/approach: The sample included Indians residing in India and the USA, who were 19 years or older, and visited online or brick-and-mortar apparel stores. An online survey was administered through Amazon Mechanical Turk to collect the data. The data was analyzed through multi-group structural equation modeling. Findings: WA engenders CE among Indian consumers, especially among Indians residing in India. WA and CC positively influence AT. CE did not have a significant negative influence on AT. Although a high CE lowers the PI, a high WA, CC and positive AT can translate into high PI. Research limitations/implications: The study did not use an experimental design. Therefore, causal relationships between the research variables could not be explained. Majority of the respondents were male. This might have confounded the findings with potential gendered effects. Practical implications: Western apparel brands targeting Indian consumers in India and the USA should focus on projecting their cosmopolitan and pro-Indian image to target this population's cosmopolitan and ethnocentric outlook, thereby enhancing PI. Originality/value: The study proposed and empirically tested a conceptual model indicating the relationship between some of the important predictors of Indian consumers' PI in the context of Indians residing in the USA and India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to identify various risk and benefit perceptions related to the consumers' use and selection of online food delivery applications (OFDAs) in India. It also discovers the reasons behind consumers' OFDAs selection behaviour and how it influences their inclusive attitudes and behavioural intentions (word of mouth and re-use intentions). Design/methodology/approach: Responses from 337 OFDAs users were subjected to exploratory factor analysis for 5 risk and 2 benefit factors which were tested on a factor model using 31 constructs followed by the structural model. Findings: It was found that consumers' usage and selection behaviour related to OFDAs are not only influenced by the perceived risk and benefit factors but are also responsible for their overall attitudinal and behavioural variations. It was also found that a decrease in risk perception or an increase in benefit perception of consumers will positively influence their overall attitude towards the use of OFDAs. Originality/value: Though a lot of studies related to OFDAs have been conducted in India, but they were limited to identifying the technology used in the apps, analysing the user interface or promoting them as start-ups. Moreover, previous literature related with the risk/benefit perceptions linked with the OFDAs is addressed towards Western countries such as USA, Italy and UK. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies that explored the risk/benefit perceptions related to the use and selection of OFDAs in the context of India. Besides, it may also help the stakeholders in OFDA business to align their OFDA features as per the needs of the consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of in-store private label marketing to impact the attitude of consumers towards private label brands (PLBs) by influencing consumers' perceived quality variations between the PLBs and national brands. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on "Cue utilisation theory" and focusses on how retailers can influence consumers' perception of quality variations by providing them in-store marketing cues. Data was collected through the mall intercept method in New Delhi, India. Data analysis was done using AMOS 25 and the PROCESS SPSS macro. Findings: This study establishes the effect of in-store private label marketing in improving consumers' quality perception of PLBs vis-à-vis national brands and thereby leading to a positive attitude towards PLBs. Further, the national brand promotions attitude is found to moderate the relationship between private label marketing and attitude towards PLBs. However, contrary to the authors' expectations, it has a positive effect on this relationship. The study found an insignificant moderation influence of price consciousness. Originality/value: This study complements existing literature on "Cue utilisation theory" by demonstrating the importance of in-store private label marketing in improving consumers' attitudes towards PLBs. It also extends to fill some gaps in the literature by studying the direct, mediating and moderating relationship among in-store private label marketing, perceived quality variations, price consciousness, national brand promotion attitude and attitude towards PLBs, especially in an emerging market such as India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Collaborative filtering based recommender systems (CF–RS) are widely used to recommend products based on consumers' preference similarity. Recommendations by CF–RS merely provide suggestions as "people who bought this also bought this" while, consumers are unaware about the source of these recommendations. By amalgamating CF–RS with consumers' social network information, e-commerce sites can offer recommendation from social networks of consumers. These social network embedded systems are known as social recommender systems (SRS). The extant literature has researched on the algorithms and implementation of these systems; however, SRS have not been understood from consumers' psychological perspective. This study aims to qualitatively explore consumers' motives to accept SRS in e-commerce websites. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews of frequent online shoppers. SRS are currently not very widespread in the Indian e-commerce space; hence, a vignette was shown to respondents before they responded to the questions. Inductive qualitative content analysis method was used to analyse these interviews. Findings: Three main themes (social-gratification, self-gratification and information-gratification) emerged from the analysis. Out of these, social-gratification acts as an enabler, while self-gratification along with some elements of information-gratification act as inhibitors towards acceptance of social recommendations. Based on these gratifications, we present a conceptual model on consumer's acceptance of social recommendations. Originality/value: This study is an initial attempt to qualitatively understand consumers' attitudes and acceptance of social recommendations on e-commerce websites, which in itself is a fairly new phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]