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The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the shadow economy on three sustainable development indicators while considering the moderating effect of the governance quality, and to highlight the non-linearity of the considered relationship.

A sample of 82 countries covering the period from 1996 to 2017. The dynamic first-differenced generalized method of moments (FD-GMM) panel threshold model is implemented to control for non-linearity.

The shadow economy hinders sustainable development in countries with low-governance quality, while the opposite result holds in countries with high-governance quality. The critical thresholds triggering the switch from one regime to another vary across the sustainable development indicators. Boosting growth requires enhancing the legal system and the economic dimension of governance, while promoting environmental quality requires the implementation and enforcement of specific environment-friendly regulations.

The study addresses non-linearity and the moderating effect of governance quality. The use of six governance indicators allows to gauge the ability of each governance dimension to curb the negative effects of the shadow economy. Considering the three objectives of sustainable development allows to identify specific policy recommendations for each of them.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how customers derive value (functional, emotional, social and epistemic value) from the design aesthetics of mobile banking applications and then form intention to adopt mobile banking. Furthermore, this research investigates the moderating effect of happiness, which is predicted – and showed – to strengthen the effects of design aesthetics on value.

A survey using screenshots of mobile banking applications was administered to a sample of 281 bank customers. Data were analysed using SmartPLS.

The results show that design aesthetics have a positive effect on functional, emotional, social and epistemic value. In turn, these value dimensions positively affect intention to adopt mobile banking. The findings also demonstrate that happiness moderates the effects of design aesthetics on these value dimensions.

This work can be useful to designers of banking applications and other practitioners to improve their policies and strategies related to mobile applications.

This research represents an initial attempt to examine how customers derive functional, emotional, social and epistemic value from design aesthetics in mobile banking. In addition, this research demonstrates that happiness moderates – and more specifically strengthens – the effects of design aesthetics on customer value. The results provide a theoretical contribution to the importance of value in customer decision making, and in the current case, in the seldom-researched area of mobile banking.

Applying the stimulus–organism–response model, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of design aesthetics (stimulus) on adoption and recommendation intentions (response) of mobile banking applications through the mediating role of perceived usefulness and trust (organism). Importantly, this research further examines the moderating effect of persuasion knowledge, which attenuates the effects of design aesthetics on perceived usefulness and trust.

A survey is conducted with the help of panellist among a sample of 213 bank customers who are not yet users of mobile banking. Data are analysed using the PROCESS macro.

The results show that design aesthetics positively influence perceived usefulness and trust. These variables, in turn, positively affect adoption and recommendation intentions of mobile banking applications. Interestingly, the findings also demonstrate that persuasion knowledge moderates the effects of design aesthetics on perceived usefulness and trust, as well as their mediating effect.

Because the results demonstrate that persuasion knowledge weakens the effects of design aesthetics on perceived usefulness and trust, the originality of this research rests upon its reconsideration of the “what is beautiful is good” effect and the questioning of the supremacy of this effect. These results provide insights for academics to better explain and increase adoption and recommendation intentions. Moreover, the results can help banking practitioners to improve their policies and strategies pertaining to mobile banking applications.