Positive Nexus Research Articles

Role of CSR in achieving customers’ satisfaction and retention during COVID-19 and post-pandemic period: Empirical evidence from emerging nations

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is an ongoing virus disease also recognized as a coronavirus pandemic that propelled the world to rethink organizational strategies during this unprecedented challenge. Although research on CSR has broadly been done over the past decades; nonetheless, how CSR can contribute a leading role in engaging the stakeholders such as customers during this pandemic period and post-pandemic is an important research gap that ought to be uncovered. OBJECTIVES: This study explores the impact of CSR on external stakeholders like customers and how organizations can dramatically sustain the relationships during the COVID-19 period. First, this study investigates the relationships between CSR and customer satisfaction (CS). Second, this study explores the relationships between CSR and customer retention (CR). Finally, the moderating impact of gender and education were examined among the proposed relationships. METHODS: Using the survey of 500 respondents, this study prospected the linkages among CSR, CS, and CR from China using a convenience sampling approach. The questionnaires were disseminated to Chinese online shoppers between Jan 2020 and March 2020 and explored using SEM model. RESULTS: It found that customers are more attached and satisfied with those organizations that are socially responsible and value their stakeholders, especially during uncertain situations like COVID-19 since presently revealed a positive relationship between CSR and CS. Second, it is found that there is a positive influence of CSR on CR as well. Finally, the study affirmed the positive nexus of gender and education as the moderators among CSR, CR, and CS. CONCLUSION: CSR is always on the front line blending social and environmental goals into business operations, especially during uncertain times and challenges. Undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic is not only a global health emergency but is also leading to a major global challenge that drives organizations to revisit policies to sustain the relationships with their stakeholders. This study concluded the positive nexus of CSR and affirmed the positive role in sustaining relationships with customers during distinct uncertainties like COVID-19.

The impact of eco-innovation, ecotourism policy and social media on sustainable tourism development: evidence from the tourism sector of Indonesia

Tourism growth is a significant factor in the economic development around the globe, and eco-innovation and tourism policies could improve the tourism development and needs the researchers’ attention. Thus, the present article investigates the impact of eco-product innovation, eco-process innovation, eco-organizational innovation, eco-tourism policies, and social media on sustainable tourism development in Indonesia. This article has used primary data collection methods like questionnaires to collect the data from the selected respondents. The research also applied the smart-PLS to check the association among variables and test the hypotheses. The results revealed that eco-product innovation, eco-process innovation, eco-organizational innovation, eco-tourism policies, and social media have a positive nexus with sustainable tourism growth in Indonesia. This shows that through social media, the tourism firms keep in contact with the stakeholders, can have information, and share their own ideas with them. In this way, they can keep their tourism practice innovative and according to the requirements of stakeholders. This article guides the regulators to develop effective policies that improve sustainable tourism growth using eco-innovation and eco-tourism policies.

The effect of downstream expansion on upstream employment: Quasi-natural experimental evidence from China’s Accelerated Depreciation Policy

Taking China’s Accelerated Depreciation Policy in 2014 as a quasi-natural experiment, we run a difference-in-differences regression to investigate how downstream expansion affects an upstream firm’s hiring decision. We find that an expansion in downstream industries has a significant and positive impact on upstream employment, and this finding continues to hold after accounting for other contemporaneous shocks and is robust to a battery of robustness checks. Our mechanism tests demonstrate that the market size channel rather than the financial constraints channel dominates the positive nexus between downstream expansion and upstream employment. Further, this effect is more pronounced for firms with lighter financial constraints, higher labor intensity and greater policy enforcement. Taken together, our findings suggest that tax policies for specific industries would have a general equilibrium effect on the real economy through production networks.

How did gold prices respond to the COVID-19 pandemic?

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the asymmetric impact of COVID-19 on gold prices by making use of high frequency data and a recently developed nonlinear estimation approach. The analysis considers three main dimensions of COVID-19: daily new cases, recoveries and deaths. The findings reveal that decreases in COVID-19 new cases and increases in recoveries cause an upswing in gold prices. These evidences imply that the reduction in new COVID-19 cases or more recoveries from COVID-19 improves both investors’ and consumers’ psychological confidence. In other words, the investors and consumers become more optimistic about their future and tend to demand more gold. On the other hand, the increases (decreases) in policy uncertainty, oil prices, and world stock index performance elevate (reduce) gold prices. The study also establishes a positive nexus between equity market uncertainty and gold prices.

Does Organizational Support Influence The Nexus Between Role Conflict And The Intentions To Stay On The Job? A Study Among Public Sectors Employees

Even though copious studies have shown that a relationship exists between role conflict and the intention to stay on the job, the mechanisms that curb the relationship between role conflict and intention to stay have not often been explored. This study examined the moderating role of organizational support on the nexus between the components of role conflict and the intention to stay in the organization. Two hundred and eighty-seven (n=287) public sector employees were selected using the cross-sectional survey design for the study. Data was gathered using the Role Conflict Scale, Perceived Organizational Support Scale, and the Intentions to Stay Inventory. Multiple regression was used in analyzing the data. Findings indicated that a significantly negative relationship exists between the two components of role conflict (inter-role and intra-role) and the intentions to stay in the organization. There was a positive nexus between perceived organizational support and the intentions to stay in the organization. The nexus between the two components of role conflict and the intentions to stay in the organization was moderated by perceived organizational support. The results provide some crucial insights for employers on how to inspire employees to stay in the public service. The limitations, recommendations, and implications for future studies have been emphasized.

The Impact of Technological Progress and Climate Change on Food Crop Production: Evidence from Sichuan-China.

Agriculture is an integral sector in China mandated to feed over 1.3 billion of its people and provide essential inputs for many industries. Sichuan, a central grain-producing province in Southwest China, is a significant supplier of cereals in the country. Yet, it is likely to be threatened by yield damages induced by climate change. Therefore, this study examines the effects of technological progress (via fertilizers usage and mechanization) and climatic changes (via temperature and precipitation) on the productivity of main food crops, such as rice (Oryza sativa), wheat (Triticum aestivum), and maize (Zea mays) in Sichuan province. We employ the generalized method of moments (GMM) model to analyze Sichuan provincial data from 1980 to 2018. Our findings show a positive nexus between fertilizers use and yields of main food crops. Only rice and maize yields are significantly improved by mechanization. Increased average temperature reduces rice and wheat yields significantly. Rainfall is unlikely to have a significant impact on agricultural production. The study suggests that the Chinese government should consider revising its strategies and policies to reduce the impact of climate change on food crop production and increase farmers’ adaptive ability.

Surge in Economic Growth of Pakistan: A Case Study of China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is considered a massive investment that can change the economic scenario of Pakistan. The purpose of the study is to examine the contribution to the economic growth of the sectors where CPEC is investing. This research uses time-series data for 31 years to investigate the impact of macro-economic variables like foreign direct investment (FDI), human capital investment (HCI), transport investment, and information communication technology (ICT) on the economic growth of Pakistan. The results of Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square Regression Specification (FMOLS) show a positive nexus between FDI, HCI, and economic growth while economic growth and ICT show a negative relationship. The results for the impact of transportation infrastructure on economic growth are statistically insignificant. This research suggests that an increased focus on building knowledge, expertise, and skillset of human resources will help in reaping the benefits of CPEC’s investment. Future researchers can increase the period of the study to ascertain the implicit or explicit impact of CPEC on economic growth. The results also suggest that policymakers and researchers should focus on developing human capital to reap the investment benefits of CPEC.

Mandatory corporate social responsibility and foreign institutional investor preferences

This study examines whether the heterogeneity among foreign institutional investors (FIIs) matters when investing in socially responsible investee firms. Exploiting a mandated corporate social responsibility (CSR) regulation in India and using manually collected CSR expenditure data, the results of a quasi-natural experiment confirm that firms that comply with the CSR mandate attract greater investment from FIIs. This positive nexus holds for both existing and new FIIs. However, the heterogeneity of FIIs plays a significant moderating role because FIIs from civil law origin countries and those considered independent and long-term investors invest more in mandated CSR firms.

The role of inductive learning models on the students self-regulated learning in math journaling

Students’ self-regulated learning has become an essential element of student’s success in the education sector and therefore, needs the attention of policymakers and scholars alike. Thus, the current study investigates into the role of different learning styles such as just-in-time learning, case-based learning, inquiry learning, project-based learning and problem-based learning on students’ self-regulated learning in the context of public sector universities in Indonesia. Questionnaires are used by researchers to gather the data from respondents. The purposive sampling technique is used to select the student respondents who are using math journaling. Researchers also execute the PLS-SEM for the purpose of analysis and tests the validity, reliability and relationships among variables. The results indicate that all learning styles such as just-in-time learning, case-based learning, inquiry learning, project-based learning and problem-based learning have a positive nexus with students’ self-regulated learning in public sector universities in Indonesia. This study provides valuable insights to policymakers regarding formulating new policies about student self-regulated learning.
 Keywords: Just-in-time learning, inquiry learning, project-based learning, problem-based learning, students’ self-regulated learning

Uncertainty due to pandemics and epidemics and the behavior of Travel & Leisure stocks in the UK, the USA and Europe

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the response of Travel & Leisure (T&L) stocks of some advanced economies (the USA and United Kingdom) as well as Europe to uncertainty due to pandemics and epidemics. The motivation for the study is derived from the expectation that pandemics and epidemics which are infectious would limit activities and events that require physical interactions such as those associated with T&L, and therefore, returns on related investments may decline during this period.Design/methodology/approachThe authors formulate a model in line with Westerlund and Narayan (2012, 2015) where uncertainty due to infectious diseases is included as a predictor in the valuation of T&L stocks while also controlling for endogeneity bias (for omitted variables bias), conditional heteroscedasticity effect (typical of high frequency data) and persistence (typical of most financial and economic time series).FindingsThe authors’ results suggest that contrary to the negative impact of previous cases of pandemics and epidemics on the T&L stocks, the behavior of these stocks during COVID-19 pandemic is modest owing to the positive nexus between equity market volatility due to infectious diseases (EMV-ID) (our proxy for pandemics and epidemics) and the T&L returns during the COVID-19 period. The authors maintain that investors in this market need not panic as the market tends to be resilient to pandemics over time albeit with a lower resilience during daily trading. The results leading to this conclusion are robust to alternative measures of the COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThe peculiarity of this paper on T&L stocks is premised on the introduction of the new datasets for infectious diseases, and the need to include the COVID-19 pandemic given its peculiarity. Essentially, we utilize the Baker et al. (2020) dataset which captures all the pandemics including COVID-19 and a complementary dataset on the COVID-19 pandemic using an alternative approach.

Fostering green product innovation through green entrepreneurial orientation: The roles of employee green creativity, green role identity, and organizational transactive memory system

AbstractDeveloping new green products is critical to an organization's achievement of sustainable goals as well as competitive advantage. This study aims to unravel the mechanisms through which organizations with green entrepreneurial orientation (green EO) can foster green product innovation. The dataset for testing these mechanisms was garnered from employees and managers who worked in manufacturing firms based in an Asia‐Pacific market. Through a multilevel analysis of the data, the study revealed the positive nexus between organizational green EO and green product innovation. The results of the study further lent credence to employee green creativity as a mediation path for such a relationship. Furthermore, employee green role identity and organizational transactive memory system were found to fortify the linkage between green EO and employee green creativity. These results suggest to organizations how to optimally translate their green entrepreneurial strategy into new green products that met customer preferences and societal expectations.

The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR), Entrepreneurship, and Financial Factors on the Financial Performance of the Banks in ASEAN Countries

All the organizations are striving for the high financial performance that could influence by many factors and attained the attention of regulators and recent studies. Thus, the present study examined the impact of corporate social responsibilities (CSR), entrepreneurship and financial factors such as leverage and liquidity along with firm size on the financial performance of the banks in ASEAN countries. This study has adopted the quantitative methods for the collecting data and gathered the published secondary data from the statements. The data has been extracted from the financial statements and published CSR reports of the banks in ASEAN countries from 2015 to 2020. The ongoing study has executed the robust standard error and fixed effect model (FEM) to examine the relationships among the variables. The results indicated that CSR, entrepreneurship, leverage, liquidity and firm size have significant and positive nexus with financial performance of the banks in ASEAN countries. These outcomes have provided the guidelines to the regulators of the banks that they should focus on CSR and entrepreneurship that could increase the financial performance of the banks.

Individuals' sustainability orientation and entrepreneurial intentions: the mediating role of perceived attributes of the green market

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how perceived attributes of the green market mediate the relationship between individuals' sustainability orientation and entrepreneurial intentions and to what extent field of study (business vs non-business) moderates this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe authors surveyed 314 students in French universities and used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the moderated mediation mechanism.FindingsThe results reveal that the adverse effects of the field of study on the relationship between sustainability orientation and entrepreneurial intentions through the mediating paths of green design and green supply chain. The authors found that these adverse effects were stronger for business students than for non-business students.Practical implicationsThe authors recommend that government and academia collaborate to make crucial management decisions that encourage a sustainable entrepreneurship culture, such as revising the academic curriculum and supporting the inclusion of public–private sector initiatives.Originality/valueThis study contributes to and extends previous findings on the positive nexus between an individual's sustainability orientation and entrepreneurial intentions by theorizing the perceived attributes of the green market as a mediating process for translating sustainability beliefs into entrepreneurial intentions. Additionally, the adverse moderating effect of the field of study adds nuance to previous knowledge on the role of education in determining entrepreneurial intentions.

Can developmental culture enhance team service innovation? Quantitative and qualitative analyses in the hospitality industry

PurposeService innovation benefits hospitality organizations’ service quality and competitive advantages. However, how and when team culture amplifies team service innovation is still not fully comprehended. Thus, this study aims to reveal the mediation and moderation mechanisms behind the team-level culture and service innovation nexus.Design/methodology/approachThis study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to validate the research model. The authors collected data from leaders and their members working in the hospitality sector in China.FindingsThe results demonstrated the positive nexus of developmental culture and team service innovation. This nexus was sequentially mediated by aggregated creative role identity and aggregated creative self-efficacy and was also strengthened by task interdependence.Practical implicationsThe results indicated that hospitality practitioners should consistently instill the values of developmental culture into their members to trigger their teams’ service innovative endeavors. They should also design more tasks requiring intensive teamwork and encourage members to complete these tasks collaboratively.Originality/valueThis study advances the understanding of the direct, mediating and moderating effects behind team service innovation.

Fostering green service innovation perceptions through green entrepreneurial orientation: the roles of employee green creativity and customer involvement

PurposeDeveloping new green services is critical to a hospitality organization’s achievement of sustainable goals as well as competitive advantage. This study aims to unravel the mechanisms through which organizations with green entrepreneurial orientation (green EO) can foster green service innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe data set for testing these mechanisms was garnered from employees and managers who worked in hotels based in an Asia-Pacific market. A multilevel analysis was conducted on this data set.FindingsThe results revealed the positive nexus between organizational green EO and green service innovation perceptions. The results of the study further lent credence to employee green creativity as a mediation path for such a relationship. Furthermore, customer involvement was found to fortify the linkage of green EO with employee green creativity and the linkage of employee green creativity with green service innovation perceptions.Practical implicationsThe results suggest to hotel organizations how to optimally translate their green entrepreneurial strategy into new green services that meet customer preferences and societal expectations.Originality/valueThis inquiry extends the hospitality management literature by linking green EO to green service innovation of hospitality organizations as well as identifying the mediation and moderation mechanisms underlying this link.

Social media and happiness nexus in the millennial generation

The current paper empirically examines the relationship between social media and happiness. Unlike existing works, we study this nexus from a global perspective using a cross-sectional model consisting of 140 countries on data from 2012 to 2017. Assuming that this effect may differ according to the average level of perception of happiness in each country, we use the quantile regression framework to yield more accurate inferences. The findings show that social media measured by Facebook penetration has a positive and significant relationship with happiness, and this positive nexus differs in terms of amplitude and significance throughout the conditional distribution of the happiness index. However, analysis in different samples reveal that this positive nexus is not universal and differs with the level of economic development of the countries and from one region to another. We put forward mental illness approximated by anxiety as the main transmission channel.

Role of Industry 5.0 in leveraging the Business Performance: Investigating Impact of Shared-Economy on Firms’ Performance with Intervening Role of i5.0 Technologies

Industry 5.0 is regarded as the next industrial evolution which is still on its infancy stage and under investigation phenomena. How shared economy can perform a superlative role in augmenting the corporate sustainable performance is another interesting gap that needs to be unveiled. This study investigates the linkage between shared economy practices and corporate triple bottom line (TBL) in three core streams—environmental performance (ENVP), social performance (SP), and economic performance (EP)—using empirical data. An additional factor of industry 5.0 (i5.0) technologies was treated as a moderator between shared economy and TBL. The findings assured the positive nexus of shared economy (i.e., contract manufacturing services, professional services, data entry & clerical services, creative and multimedia services, sales and marketing services, software development services, and writing or translation services) on TBL (i.e., ENVP, SP, and EP). The positive moderating influence of i5.0 technologies was further affirmed between the relationships of shared economy and TBL. The findings yield multidimensional insights for operational management to adopt shared economy and i5.0 practices to improve corporate TBL in today’s competitive era. In addition, this study accentuates the notion of shared economy by providing positive evidence from developing nations. The study also highlights insightful implications for managers along with future avenues for the researchers to conduct additional multi-directional studies worldwide.

Finance, poverty-income inequality, energy consumption and the CO2emissions nexus in Africa

PurposeThis study provides the critical masses (thresholds) at which the positive incidence of finance and economic growth will be dampened by the negative effects of income inequality and poverty on energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa for policy direction.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed the two steps systems GMM estimator for 41 countries in Africa from 2005–2020.FindingsThe study found that for finance to maintain a positive effect on energy consumption per capita, the critical thresholds for the income inequality indicators (Atkinson coefficient, Gini index and the Palma ratio) should not exceed 0.681, 0.582 and 5.991, respectively. Similarly, for economic growth (GDP per capita growth) to maintain a positive effect on energy consumption per capita, the critical thresholds for the income inequality indicators (Atkinson coefficient, Gini index and the Palma ratio) should not exceed 0.669, 0.568 and 6.110, respectively. On the poverty level in Sub-Saharan Africa, the study reports that the poverty headcount ratios (hc$144ppp2011, hc$186ppp2011 and hc$250ppp2005) should not exceed 7.342, 28.278 and 129.332, respectively for financial development to maintain a positive effect on energy consumption per capita. The study also confirms the positive nexus between access to finance (financial development) and energy consumption per capita, with the attending adverse effect on CO2emissions inescapable. The findings of this study make it evidently clear, for policy recommendation that finance is at the micro-foundation of economic growth, income inequality and poverty alleviation. However, a maximum threshold of income inequality and poverty headcount ratios as indicated in this study must be maintained to attain the full positive ramifications of financial development and economic growth on energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa.Originality/valueThe originality of this study is found in the computation of the threshold and net effects of poverty and income inequality in economic growth through the conditional and unconditional effects of finance.

TOURISM DEMAND AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN VIETNAM: FRESH INSIGHTS BASED ON THE PARTIAL AND MULTIVARIATE WAVELET APPROACHES

This study aims to examine the interaction among tourism revenue (TOV), the real exchange rate (REX), and economic development in Vietnam throughout 1995–2019. Using the bivariate and multivariate wavelet frameworks, we examine the lead–lag connectedness, co-movement and dynamic associations between these indicators across various time and frequency domains. By doing so, we employ wavelet transform coherence (WTC), cross-wavelet transform (XWT), partial wavelet coherence (PWC) and multiple wavelet coherence (MWC) frameworks. The findings indicate low covariance but a positive and robust nexus between tourism demand (TOV), economic growth (gross domestic product (GDP)), and the REX in the time–frequency space. In the long run, interdependence between variables is primarily negative and weak. The outcomes of PWC and MWC reveal that REX and GDP determinants affect the TOV–GDP and TOV–REX relationships under different frequencies, respectively. These results are of interest and significance to the Vietnamese government and policymakers as the outcomes have important implications for informing their decision-making.

The nexus among green financial development and renewable energy: investment in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic

Environmental protection has become a significant issue around the globe. The extensive use of renewable energy and green finance is considered as the solution to this dramatic issue, especially in the Covid-19 lockdown. To answer this demand, the present study examines the impact of green financial development such as green credit, green investment, and green securities along with corporate social responsibility (CSR) in reporting renewable energy investment based on evidence from an emerging economy. Economic growth was used as the control variable of the study. The data was gathered from the central bank and World Development Indicators (WDI) from 1976 to 2020. The error correction model (ECM) was used to test the nexus among the variables. The findings revealed that green credit, green investment, and green securities along with CSR reporting and economic growth have a significant positive nexus with renewable energy investment in the selected emerging economy. These outcomes are helpful for new arrivals to investigate this area in the future along with regulators who want to formulate policies related to green finance and renewable energy usage and investment in the context of emerging and developing countries.