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PurposeThis paper aims to explore the determinants of intention to use Islamic banking and compare the consumer behavior of users and non-users of Islamic banking. This study incorporates the theory of planned behavior in Islamic banking perspective with an additional construct from technology acceptance model.Design/methodology/approachThe research is quantitative in nature, and survey questionnaire was used to get data from four cities of Pakistan. The study manages to get 300 questionnaires from which only 264 were usable for analysis. The structural equation modeling was used for testing the hypotheses.FindingsThe result shows that perceived behavior control and perceived usefulness are the most significant predictors of intention to use of Islamic banking among users and non-users. Attitude turns out to be a non-significant factor for non-users of Islamic banking. Subjective norm is also found to be non-significant with intention to use Islamic banking in both groups.Originality/valueThis study has theoretical as well as practical significance in the subject of consumer behavior in Islamic banking. Theoretically, it attempts to fill the gap caused by the scarcity of research in exploring the consumer behavior towards Islamic banking in Pakistan. This study provides insights into the consumer behavior of users and non-users of Islamic banking and thus presents a comparison. Practically, this study provides guidelines for Islamic banks in introduction, propagation and promotion of Islamic banking products and services to establish Islamic banking as a social norm.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the impact of culture (using individualism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance) on entrepreneurial risk taking behavior which leads to the opportunity exploitation decision. Moreover, it also uses risk taking behavior of entrepreneurial as the mediation variable between culture and opportunity exploitations decisions. Design/methodology/approach The study took place in Tanzania, which is allocated in East Africa and is one of under researched countries. In total, 140 entrepreneurs who own venture of 5-99 employees were able to be interviewed using a survey questionnaire. In this study, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the direct and indirect relationship of culture in entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation decisions. Findings After hypothesis testing, the empirical results showed that Tanzania’s culture has an impact on entrepreneurial risk taking behavior, which influences entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation decision. It also showed culture through individualism and uncertainty avoidance measurements affect entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation decisions. The empirical results on power distance were insignificant. Research limitations/implications This study is a wake-up call to policy makers and formal institutions such as government authorities, education institutions and religion institutions. Thus, culture has an ability to influence the behavior of entrepreneurs and so the performance of ventures if it is consistent and well structured. Therefore it should be not taken for granted. Data for our study are based on only two cities and therefore the results should not be generalized as the whole country’s inference. Generalizability is questioned because the data are from only two cities in Tanzania and therefore future research should include more cities to be able to validate the generalizability. Practical implications This study is a wake-up call to policymakers and formal institutions such as government authorities, education institutions and religion institutions. Thus culture has an ability to influence the behavior of entrepreneurs and so the performance of ventures if it is consistent and well structured. Therefore it should be not taken for granted. Data for our study are based on only two cities and therefore the results should not be generalized as the whole country’s inference. Social implications In the country which has well-structured culture, influence the behavior of entrepreneurs to exploit opportunities. Originality/value This is the first empirical study to use SEM for exploring the culture of individualism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance impact on entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation in Tanzania.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the factors affecting the consumption intention of Chinese cuisines for the foreigners living in China. The study also explains the role of variety seeking behavior of consumers in the consumption intention of Chinese cuisines. Design/methodology/approach The quantitative data were obtained using a structured questionnaire that is based on Dalian, Liaoning province, of People’s Republic of China. A total of 305 responses were collected, and out of which, 282 were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings The results indicate that food novelty and utilitarian value are better predictors of consumption intention of Chinese cuisines. The food quality is also found to be significant with consumption of Chinese cuisines. The variety seeking behavior of consumers found to mediate the relationship of food quality, food novelty and utilitarian value with consumption intention toward Chinese cuisines. Originality/value The contribution made by the current study is twofold. First, the value of study lies in identifying the factors that are responsible for food consumption intention of foreigners in China, which is an overlooked area in the previous literature. Second, the study also establishes the role of variety seeking behavior of consumers in consumption intention. The authoritative construct of variety seeking behavior matches well with the context of the current study, as the Chinese cuisine is well renowned in the world for its wide variety. Further, the findings are valuable to the stakeholders of restaurant industry in guiding them on how best they can attract foreign consumers toward local Chinese cuisines.

The study is comparative in nature and focuses on understanding the factors that affect the purchase intention of organic food in three countries: Pakistan, Turkey and Iran. The study also endeavors to explain the role of awareness as a moderating variable in organic food purchase intention. The data employed in this study was collected from Pakistan, Turkey and Iran using a structured questionnaire. A total of 271 responses from Pakistan, 245 responses from Turkey and 220 responses from Iran were obtained and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results of the study vary from country to country, but attitude and health consciousness are found to be better predictor organic food purchase intention. The awareness of consumers moderates positively in the intention to purchase of organic food. The relationship of the subjective norms, perceived behavior control and environment concern with intention to purchase vary across different contexts. Current study establishes the role of awareness in the organic food purchase intention which is found to be missing in the literature. Secondly, the study is comparative in nature and compared the behavior of consumers across Pakistan, Turkey and Iran. Current study also guides the policy makers of these countries to switch to organic farming, which will indeed be beneficial for the environment and health, and also a lucrative business because consumer’s intentions coincide. Furthermore, the study provides a clear guideline for the practitioners to have an effective marketing strategy in three different countries by exploring the major motivators of organic food purchase intention in each country.

Xiao-Hui Wang,1 Hai-Ying Wu,2 Jian Gao,1 Xu-Hui Wang,1 Tian-Hui Gao,3 Shu-Feng Zhang11Department of Pediatric Surgery, People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University (Henan Provincial People’s Hospital), Zhengzhou 450003, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Obstetrics, People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University (Henan Provincial People’s Hospital), Zhengzhou 450003, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Medical Oncology, People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University (Henan Provincial People’s Hospital), Zhengzhou 450003, People’s Republic of ChinaBackground: Neuroblastoma (NB) displays the most heterogeneity in clinical manifestation. The insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) has long been recognized for its role in tumourigenesis and growth. The IGF/IGF1R pathway is important in maintaining cell survival. It is reported that IGF1R participates in the occurrence of NB, but the mechanism is still unclear.Methods: Human NB cell lines IMR-32 and SH-SY5Y were recruited in this study. IGF1R was knocked down by transfection with short hairpin RNA. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) expression was inhibited by Cryptotanshinone treatment. Cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were determined by MTT assay, wound healing assay, and cell invasion assay, respectively. The cancer stem cell properties were characterized by tumour sphere formation assay and colony formation assay. The mRNA and protein expression levels of related proteins were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively.Results: The knockdown of IGF1R inhibits NB cell tumourigenesis and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of NB cells. Additionally, IGF1R was found to stimulate cancer stem cell-like properties in NPC cells. The knockdown of IGF1R significantly reduced the phosphorylation of AKT, and STAT3, indicating that the activation of the AKT and STAT3 pathways was inhibited by IGF1R knockdown. Furthermore, IGF1R was demonstrated to stimulate cancer stem cell-like properties in NB cells via the regulation of the STAT3/AKT axis.Conclusion: IGF1R promotes cancer stem cell properties to facilitate EMT in neuroblastoma via the STAT3/AKT axis.Keywords: IGF1R, neuroblastoma, epithelial mesenchymal transition, stemness, STAT3, AKT

The present study aims to explore the role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) concept with a combination of an effectuation concept. First, it examined the effect of ESE on resources acquisition in a new venture in an emerging country’s context. Second, it attempted to use effectuation principles, namely, affordable loss, set of means, and precommitment as mediators in a relationship between ESE and resource acquisition in a new venture. A sample of 462 agro-processing entrepreneurs is explicitly surveyed and interviewed. The hierarchical regression and structural equation model were employed to analyze the data. Results showed that an ESE has a significant positive effect on the venture’s resources acquisition ability. Moreover, results showed that the effect of ESE in resource acquisition is manifested through affordable loss, precommitment, and set of means principles. Theoretically, this study extends the knowledge on the mediating role of effectuation principles using ESE in pursuing essential venture functions such as resources acquisition.

Because no prior studies investigated that green intrinsic and extrinsic motivation influence green creativity, this study aims to bridge this research gap and offers two novel constructs: green intrinsic motivation and green extrinsic motivation. A survey approach is employed to get insights from the information technology (I.T) industry located in Dalian, China. Using structural equation modeling (variance-based), the authors analyzed 298 respondents. The findings revealed that green transformational leadership has a substantial influence on green intrinsic motivation and green creativity, which are needed for employees to produce clean and green products and services. In addition, green intrinsic motivation partially mediates the relationship between green transformational leadership and green creativity. On the contrary, green extrinsic motivation as a moderator slightly undermines the green intrinsic motivation for green creative behavior. Therefore, leadership in organizations should raise the green motivation of employees so that they may innovate environment-friendly and sustainable products and services.