Factors Impacting Mobile Banking in India: Empirical Approach Extending UTAUT2 with Perceived Value and Trust

The aim of this research is to study the factors impacting usage of mobile banking (mBanking) by consumers in India. The study adopts the Extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) with Social Value (SV), Monetary Value (MV), Emotional Value (EV), Quality Value (QV), Trust and the moderation effect of gender. Online and offline survey methods were used to collect primary data from 457 Indian consumers using mBanking. SPSS AMOS was utilized to empirically validate the conceptual model, test research hypothesis and moderation effect. The factors effort expectancy (EE), monetary value (MV), emotional value (EV), quality value (QV) and trust (TR) were found to be significant on behavioural intent (BI), whereas performance expectancy (PE) and social value (SV) were not found to be significant. Banking organizations can formulate strategies to attract new consumers and continue to engage in retaining consumers in using these influencing factors to adopt mBanking and other related mobile financial services (MFS). The study integrates perceived value components and trust with UTAUT2 to form a comprehensive model for examining mBanking adoption.

Book review: S. Ninan & V. Anand, 2019, Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion’s Life

S. Ninan & V. Anand, 2019, Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion’s Life. New Delhi: Hachette India. 272 pp., ₹599. ISBN-13: 978-9351951506.

Institutional Herding: Causality and Persistence

We investigate the causality in herding between foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and domestic mutual funds (MFs) in the Indian stock market. The estimated herding levels are considerably higher than those observed in other international markets, and herding is prevalent in small stocks. We find that institutional investors follow contrarian-trading strategies, unlike what was documented in most other markets. Analysis of the aggregate herding measure shows a bi-directional causality between FPIs and MFs. Further analysis using directional herding measures indicate no evidence of causality between institutional herds on the sell-side. But we find causality on the buy-side and it is running in both directions between FPIs and MFs, implying a feedback of information. Given the tendency of institutions for herding in small stocks, adopting contrarian-trading strategies, the observed sell-side causality is perhaps having a salubrious effect. As institutional investors are contrarians, their trading activity will lead to price corrections in small stocks aligning with the fundamentals, thereby contributing to market efficiency. JEL Classification: C23, C58, G23, G15, G40

Rethinking Fake News: Disinformation and Ideology during the time of COVID-19 Global Pandemic

Digital media and citizen journalism has escalated the infiltration of fake news attempting to create a post truth society (Lazer et al., 2018). The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a surge of misinformation leading to anti-mask, anti-vaccine and anti-5G protests on a global scale. Although the term ‘misinformation’ has been generalized in media and scholarly work, there is a fundamental difference between how misinformation impacts society, compared to more strategically planned disinformation attacks. In this study we explore the ideological constructs of citizens towards acceptance or rejection of disinformation during the heightened time of a COVID-19 global health crisis. Our analysis follows two specific disinformation propagandas evaluated through social network analysis of Twitter data in addition to qualitative insights generated from tweets and in-depth interviews.

Identifying Key Drivers of Non-Performing Assets in Indian Public Sector Banks: A Panel Data Analysis

The present study strives to identify the major factors influencing the non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector banks (PSBs) in India using a panel dataset comprising of 26 PSBs over the period 1999-2000 to 2015-16. The results reveal that business per employee, operating inefficiency, priority sector lending, inflation and real interest rate have a significant positive influence on increasing NPAs of banks while credit orientation, higher capital adequacy, net interest margin, non-interest income, GDP growth, and financial intermediation are found to exert a significant favourable effect of lowering NPAs of banks. Most interestingly, the study also shows that the level of corruption and the rule of law significantly impacted the NPAs of Indian banks during the period under study.

Causal System Scenario Tool for Near Miss Accident Analysis

Sociotechnical systems (STS) approach to the design of complex systems has been researched extensively. It stresses the fact that system design is never complete; it is an open-ended iterative process wherein designing never stops. With increasing technological advancement and diverse social issues emerging, the new dynamics, system approach has to be followed ingenuously. This Causal System Scenario Tool is applied in this study to a near-miss accident analysis for Indian railways. In particular, we look at the incidence of signal passing at danger (SPAD) by the train pilot due to various sociotechnical and organizational factors. We modify the system scenarios tool by proposing an additional causal system scenario tool. The contribution of this paper is threefold. Firstly, the STS analysis of SPAD is a novel approach. Secondly, STS has been applied in the context of developed economies but we use the Indian scenario, that is, in emerging economies. Thirdly, it contributes to the methodology by supplementing STS analysis with the causal system scenario tool, making it more robust. The first step maps the ‘as is situation’ and utilizes affinity diagram for plotting the issues on the framework. This is followed by replicating the process for the ‘to be situation’ and causal modelling for balancing the system is used, validating this tool. This approach can provide insights to the practitioners and policy makers in designing appropriate interventions to enhance safety of train travel.

Putting Sense and Mind into Your Enterprise Systems: A Qualitative Study of IS Assimilation in Large Public Organizations in India

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the information systems (IS) assimilation level of an enterprise system in the post-implementation phase, through the lens of IS governance mechanisms and IS support structures, impacted by the socio-cognitive processes. The research follows a qualitative approach and builds on semi-structured interviews with enterprise system stakeholders in large public sector organizations in India. The study posits that high levels of IS governance mechanisms and high levels of IS support structures lead to a high level of IS assimilation only in the presence of higher level socio-cognitive processes. A not-so-higher level of socio-cognitive fabric results in low or moderate IS assimilation levels in spite of high levels of IS governance and/or IS support structures. Despite close to a couple of decades of IS research on enterprise systems, IS assimilation is still an enigma for practitioners and academicians. The generalizability of the results of this study may be applicable to any public organization in a developing country, like India, which are using enterprise system solutions but are yet to reap the potential benefits. The results present a way forward for practitioners to ensure optimal resources and focus for the triad- IS governance, IS support structures and socio-cognitive processes.

Determinants of the Effects of Sustainability Marketing on consumers’ Purchase Intentions: An Empirical Investigation

Sustainability Marketing (SM) is an innovative as well as a provocative area of research in the 21st century owing to the intensified competitive pressure in the business environment. Sustainability is conceptualized to constitute economic, social and environmental dimensions. These are originally premised on the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach. The present study examines these elements by acknowledging the nexus between marketing and sustainability to reveal the antecedents and consequences pertaining to SM. This study investigates the feasibility of joint application of sustainability and marketing along with a blueprint of SM’s effect on corporate reputation (CR) and consumers’ purchase intentions (PI). Four hundred and forty respondents from North India were surveyed through email. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to examine SM’s effect on CR and PI through sustainability advertising (SA). The study implies that if the practitioners believe in sustainability and want to reap the benefits of favourable CR, they must adopt SA strategies for positioning the firm’s sustainability efforts in the desired way.

Positive Deviance Traits and Social Entrepreneurship for Women Empowerment Amid COVID-19

Purpose: The threat of the COVID-19 pandemic persists despite concerted global efforts to contain it. So also is its impact on social entrepreneurs. One of the main questions being, what is the extent to which small businesses overcome the imminent economic recession amid the threat of COVID-19? Many small businesses have already closed operations due to the countrywide lockdown in India and the resultant cash flow constraints. The government has introduced loan guarantee schemes as a way of support, but it is not sufficient for operational expenses. This study examines the survival traits of positive deviance and social entrepreneurial roles that may be pertinent to women’s empowerment, concerning the challenges that have emerged from the pandemic. Methodology: Case study methodology was adopted, engaging Rosenblatt’s Transactional Theory to collect qualitative data, which are part of the narratives based on the experiences of a focus group within the social entrepreneurial venture, called Pipal Tree, while a descriptive approach was deployed to isolate and analyze the relevant survival traits, that is, leadership, multidimensional resourcefulness, altruism, innovation, norm-violation and labelling/stigmatization. Findings: The findings revealed that every trait—that is, leadership, multidimensional resourcefulness, altruism, innovation, norm-violation, and labelling/stigmatization—could potentially play an important role and contribute towards the sustainability of social entrepreneurs to empower women amidst the pandemic. The paper observed that ultimately this insight might be relevant to social entrepreneurs, managers and policymakers in developing effective survival strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality values: This is a conceptualization and empirically based study that engaged in primary data collection, analysis and interpretation supported with literature evidence. As well as insights on the literature and methodology development, its unique contributions also include conceptualizing the phenomenon and strategy development. Additionally, it promotes diversity and inclusivity, as well as highlighting inequality. Social implication/Practical values: This study can serve as a guide towards addressing social issues relating to global social entrepreneurship policy-making. As such, it would be a powerful tool for women empowerment, policymakers, not-for-profit organizations, civil society and social entrepreneurs in the post-COVID-19 global environment. Theoretical contributions: This study has added the literature to the existing theory relating to social deviance, social entrepreneurship and women empowerment, thereby advancing knowledge. Highlighting issues about how humanity responds to this strange new threat from the COVID-19 pandemic is critical to saving lives. The new knowledge gained will often equip social entrepreneurs to capture new ways of survival (innovative ways) in complex and new challenges to cope with post-COVID-19 socio-economic circumstances. These benefits gained may be beneficial not only in Jharkhand India but nationally as well as globally. The authors also made an addition to the definition of positive deviance. Practical contributions: The study contributes towards enabling social entrepreneurs to cope in uncertain situations, which is critical to survival most challenging or crises and not just in entrepreneurship—so in critical decision-making, problem-solving, diversity management, gender equity, human rights advancement through women empowerment, business setting and expansion, in helping weakness into strengths and ensuring a level playing ground and inclusivity. Women empowerment can be a positive strength in policy formulation and implementation processes. These kinds of reflections from the perspective of women are significant, relevant and valuable in a post-pandemic environment across the Jharkhand India region and are transferable elsewhere across the globe.

Development of a Comprehensive Multi-Factor Method for Comparing Batting Performances in One-Day International Cricket

In cricket, one-day-international (ODI) batsmen have traditionally been compared on the dimensions of batting average (BA) and strike rate (SR). The conventional method of computing BA assumes that runs scored by a batsman follow an exponential or geometric distribution. This results in unreasonably equating batting inconsistency with batting mean. Our study shows that a Weibull distribution model gives a very sensible assessment of a batsman’s inconsistency, independent of his BA. It also provides a superior fit to batting scores of ODI batsmen. We also introduce a measure for ‘quality-runs’ scored by a batsman which takes into account the difficulty level of opposition. Additionally, longevity index and opposition diversity index are defined to make comparisons more holistic. A substantial amount of data engineering effort is made in segregating available data into home, away and neutral matches. The measures proposed in this paper are more comprehensive and granular than those found in the literature. Various combinations of these six criteria are used to rank a select group of great ODI batsmen by assigning objective weights derived from principal component analysis. Finally, multivariate statistical outlier detection procedure produces different lists of outstanding players corresponding to different combinations of criteria. Our proposed methodology may be gainfully used by a team management to select best batsmen in a given situation.