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Given the detrimental effects of job content plateau, the paper aims to study the impact of job content plateau on employees’ career commitment. In doing so, the authors examine whether the lapses in job content plateau can be addressed through developmental i-deals. A final purpose is to examine whether proactive employees are better positioned to obtain work arrangements that help them develop and remain committed to their careers.

Data were collected from full-time working executives employed in different organizations. These executives enrolled in a part-time MBA program. Data was collected at different time points and analyzed using the process macro (Preacher and Hayes, 2004).

The results suggest that developmental i-deals mediated the relationship between job content plateau and career commitment. In addition, proactive employees were better disposed to seal the deal and develop themselves – helping them to stay committed to their careers.

Prior studies highlight the negative consequences of job content plateau because it does not provide avenues to learn and develop. This paper addresses the gap in locating opportunities to learn and develop (an aspect that was missing in the job content plateau) through developmental i-deals. First, the study helps answer how to address learning gaps in jobs. Second, who can capitalize on their efforts once the organization sponsors learning opportunities.

The purpose of the study is to check whether Indian high net worth individual (HNI) investors are suffering from overconfidence bias in personal life and in-stock investment approach. The study is to benchmark an ideal behaviour that an investor should exhibit under the overconfidence bias.

Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to study the Indian HNI investors with overconfidence bias. As a first step, an exploratory study was conducted to identify the variables to define overconfidence bias. An extensive literature review along with in-depth interviews was conducted amongst investors, fund managers and the subject experts to check the content validity of the variables. The survey instrument was designed based on the objective of the study and theoretical framework. Both descriptive and inferential statistical tools such as the Z proportion test, logistic regression and structural equation model were applied to test the hypotheses.

It was found that there is a moderate impact of overconfidence bias amongst the investors both in normal life and whilst making investments in stock. This study found the influence of overconfidence bias in stock investment with respect to forecasting of the stock price movements, overtrading, overanalysis and overreaction.

This paper will help in understanding the Indian HNI investors’ behaviour under the impact of overconfidence bias. There is an empirical study to understand the implication of overconfidence bias on stock investors specifically for the HNI investors.

This study gives an insight into the fund managers to understand the Indian HNI investment behaviour. It is also helpful for HNI investors to understand and correct their behavioural biases related to overconfidence.

This paper will guide investors to understand the symptoms and repercussions of overconfidence bias in stock investment. They can also realize the subtle impact of overconfidence bias in personal and professional life, thus preventing them from making losses.

This work is the extension of the works of Terrace Odean on behavioural finance in the Indian Stock Investors' context. The concept of overconfidence bias and its implications of finance were developed by Kahneman and Tversky, and later by other behavioural finance researchers such as Malmendier, Hirshleifer, DeBondt, Odean, Barber, Shefrin and others. This paper studies stock investing behaviour with specific reference to Indian HNI investors.

The concept and practice of e-services has become essential in business transactions. Yet there are still many organizations that have not developed e-services optimally. This is especially relevant in the context of Indonesian Airline companies. Therefore, many airline customers in Indonesia are still in doubt about it, or even do not use it. To fill this gap, this study attempts to develop a model for e-services adoption and empirically examines the factors influencing the airlines customers in Indonesia in using e-services offered by the Indonesian airline companies. Taking six Indonesian airline companies as a case example, the study investigated the antecedents of e-services usage of Indonesian airlines. This study further examined the impacts of motivation on customers in using e-services in the Indonesian context. Another important aim of this study was to investigate how ages, experiences and geographical areas moderate effects of e-services usage.

The study adopts a positivist research paradigm with a two-phase sequential mixed method design involving qualitative and quantitative approaches. An initial research model was first developed based on an extensive literature review, by combining acceptance and use of information technology theories, expectancy theory and the inter-organizational system motivation models. A qualitative field study via semi-structured interviews was then conducted to explore the present state among 15 respondents. The results of the interviews were analysed using content analysis yielding the final model of e-services usage. Eighteen antecedent factors hypotheses and three moderating factors hypotheses and 52-item questionnaire were developed. A focus group discussion of five respondents and a pilot study of 59 respondents resulted in final version of the questionnaire.

In the second phase, the main survey was conducted nationally to collect the research data among Indonesian airline customers who had already used Indonesian airline e-services. A total of 819 valid questionnaires were obtained. The data was then analysed using a partial least square (PLS) based structural equation modelling (SEM) technique to produce the contributions of links in the e-services model (22% of all the variances in e-services usage, 37.8% in intention to use, 46.6% in motivation, 39.2% in outcome expectancy, and 37.7% in effort expectancy). Meanwhile, path coefficients and t-values demonstrated various different influences of antecedent factors towards e-services usage. Additionally, a multi-group analysis based on PLS is employed with mixed results. In the final findings, 14 hypotheses were supported and 7 hypotheses were not supported.

The major findings of this study have confirmed that motivation has the strongest contribution in e-services usage. In addition, motivation affects e-services usage both directly and indirectly through intention-to-use. This study provides contributions to the existing knowledge of e-services models, and practical applications of IT usage. Most importantly, an understanding of antecedents of e-services adoption will provide guidelines for stakeholders in developing better e-services and strategies in order to promote and encourage more customers to use e-services. Finally, the accomplishment of this study can be expanded through possible adaptations in other industries and other geographical contexts.

Corruption in India reached a crescendo between 2011 and 2013, with the exposure of the 2G Spectrum scandal and the “Coalgate” report fiasco at the top of all recent events. The largest working democracy is under the scanner. As the third largest economy in Asia, a nuclear power, and an information technology powerhouse, India has a lot to clean up. Current experience shows the failure of the top investigative agencies and the lack of political will to tackle corruption. The spate of high-level corruption scandals has also led to a popular movement in 2011, which also fizzled out, including the newly introduced “Anti-Corruption, Grievance Redressal and Whistleblower Protection Act, 2011.” This chapter examines the several issues involved.

This paper aims to examine the traditional business communities and family businesses of India, their emergence and sustained growth.

The authors analyze the role of business communities in family businesses of India and identify business communities that have still sustained and marked a global presence.

Business communities such as Marwaris have the knack for business activities and are leaders of family businesses in India today, who have sustained their past success and continue to create new histories. Other traditional business communities such as Parsis, Sindhis, Chettiars and Gujarati banias have not been able to sustain much. Possible reasons were switching to white-collar jobs, taking up diplomacy and other professions, inter caste marriages, international migration in search of business and Indian government policies.

This study provides a useful source of information for academics, policy-makers and economists.

Traditional business communities populate the list of family businesses that have marked their global presence. This paper identifies various factors that are responsible for the growth and sustainability of these business communities.

The study clarifies the role of business communities in domestic economic development.

The paper explored traditional business communities of India and assessed their role in family businesses of India that currently mark a global presence.

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.

The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the changes in free volume by adding acrylate modified nanodiamond particles. In this study, a cross-linked thiol-ene (T) network was obtained under ultraviole light. The changes in free volume were analyzed when acrylate-modified nanodiamond (M-ND) particles were added to the nanocomposites obtained. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS), a well-established method, was used for this analysis. In addition, the effect of nanocomposites containing different ratios of acrylate M-ND particles (1, 2, 3 and 5 Wt. %) on the surface and the thermal properties were also examined.

The impact of different quantities of acrylate M-ND on the free volume and surface morphological properties of thiol-ene polymer networks were studied by using scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, attenuated total reflection, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, PALS and thermogravimetric analysis measurements.

The thermal properties of T/M-ND were found to depend on the weight percentages of the M-ND content. For increasing weight percentages of M-ND added to thio-lene polymer networks, the glass transition temperature (T_g) increased from 103°C to 154°C. The ortho-positronium (o-Ps) lifetime (free volume) and free volume fraction characterization of T/M-ND nanocomposites were investigated using PALS. Increasing temperature caused both the o-Ps lifetime (free volume) to change with increasing saturation and to linearly increase the intensity; however, an increasing weight percentage of M-ND caused no change at all for the o-Ps lifetime (free volume) and the free volume fraction.

According to published literature, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time a study examining the free volume properties in a thiol-ene system has been carried out.

Expert systems are computer-based systems that mimic the logical processes of human experts or organizations to give advice in a specific domain of knowledge. Fuzzy expert systems use fuzzy logic to handle uncertainties generated by imprecise, incomplete and/or vague information. The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive review of the methods and applications in fuzzy expert systems.

The authors have carefully reviewed 281 journal publications and 149 conference proceedings published over the past 37 years since 1982. The authors grouped the journal publications and conference proceedings separately accordingly to the methods, application domains, tools and inference systems.

The authors have synthesized the findings and proposed useful suggestions for future research directions. The authors show that the most common use of fuzzy expert systems is in the medical field.

Fuzzy logic can be used to manage uncertainty in expert systems and solve problems that cannot be solved effectively with conventional methods. In this study, the authors present a comprehensive review of the methods and applications in fuzzy expert systems which could be useful for practicing managers developing expert systems under uncertainty.

This paper examines the impact of the Covid-19 induced lockdown on selected vegetables to confirm if the vegetable supply chain was disrupted during that period. It attempts to see if direct marketing via FPOs/FPCs helped Indian farmers to cope with adverse situations aroused in vegetable marketing.

This study opted for mixed methods research. First, a granular data set comprising daily observation on wholesale price and the market arrival of vegetables were analysed. Descriptive statistics and Kalmogorov-Smirnov test were used to understand the severity of disruptions in the vegetable supply chain in India during the lockdown. Then, qualitative information from different stakeholders engaged in the vegetable marketing was collected through a phone survey and assessed using content analysis to comprehend how FPOs have helped farmer’s during this crisis.

This paper confirms disruptions in the vegetable supply chain. Quantities of chosen vegetables arriving in the mandis were significantly lower than in the previous year for all phases of lockdown. Consequently, prices were much higher than in 2019–2020 for both the lockdown and subsequent phases unlock. Results further suggest that those farmers who are already in networks of FPOs/FPCs are able to get benefited. It was also observed that direct marketing through institutional supports is being more explored in the regions where FPOs/FPCs already exist.

Since it is an exploratory study involving a small sample, the research results may lack generalisability.

This study provides scope for direct marketing through FPOs/FPCs in improving the food supply chain.