Do Vendor Cues Influence Purchase Intention of Online Shoppers? An Empirical Study Using S-O-R Framework

The purpose of the current research is to understand the influence of vendor cues like brand reputation. Brand familiarity and offline presence on trust and attitude of online shoppers and consequently on online purchase intention. Data was collected through a web based survey. The findings of the study reported that vendor offline cues have a strong and positive impact on the online purchase intentions of the shoppers. Further, this study also contributed by proving that the trust has a strong relationship with purchase intention as compare to attitude.     

Selective swap arrangements and the global financial crisis: Analysis and interpretation

This paper explores the logic inducing the FED to extend unprecedented swap-lines to four emerging markets in September 2008. Exposure of US banks to EMs turned out to be the most important selection criterion for explaining the “selected four” swap-lines. This result is consistent with the outlined model. The FED swap-lines had relatively large short-run impact on the exchange rates of the selected EMs, but much smaller effect on the spreads. Yet, all the swap countries saw their exchange rate subsequently depreciate to a level lower than pre-swap rate, calling into question the long-run impact of the swap arrangements.     

Adoption of digital banking channels in an emerging economy: exploring the role of in-branch efforts

The aim of this qualitative study is to analyse the role of in-branch efforts of banks on migrating customers from branch banking to digital banking in India. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with bank executives representing senior management from public and private sector banks in India. Qualitative content analysis technique was used to analyse the data. Varieties of responses received during interviews were clubbed into four main themes based on data reduction, display, and conclusion-drawing processes. In-branch communication with customers, digital transformation of the branch, customer-centric initiatives, and redefined role of branch staff hold the potential to bridge the customers’ migration to digital banking. The paper suggests that the key identified factor in improving digital banking acceptance in India is the requirement of integrated cultural and organisational changes at the bank’s level to gain the customers’ confidence and trust in digital banking.

     

Group actions and the law: A case study of Social Action Litigation and consumer protection in India

Social Action Litigation (SAL)¹ as an instrument for securing socioeconomic justice for the underprivileged has been one of the outstanding developments in the contemporary Indian legal world. Though the origin is American,² since its inception in the late 1970s SAL has undergone significant developments and has now acquired legitimacy in India. It has certainly revolutionised modern Indian public law and has more recently played an important role in environmental⁴ and consumer protection. The object of the present paper is to discuss the role of Social Action Litigation and to highlight new developments in the context of the newly emerging consumer protection jurisprudence in India.

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Verbandsklagen und Rechtsdurchsetzung: eine Fallstudie zu Klagen im öffentlichen Interesse und Verbraucherschutz in Indien

Zusammenfassung Klagen im öffentlichen Interesse als ein Instrument zur Sicherung sozioökonomischer Gerechtigkeit für interprivilegierte Bevölkerungsschichten sind eine der herausragenden Entwicklungen im zeitgenössischen Recht. Ursprünglich in Amerika entwickelt, sind Klagen im öffentlichen Intresse seit ihrer Einführung in Indien in den spÄten 70er Jahren wesentlichen Entwicklungen unterworfen gewesen und haben inzwischen LegitimitÄt erreicht. Sie haben sicherlich das moderne indische öffentliche Recht revolutioniert und haben in der jüngsten Vergangenheit eine wichtige Rolle beim Umweltschutz und beim Verbraucherschutz gespielt. Der Beitrag diskutiert die Rolle der Klagen im öffentlichen Interesse und hebt neuere Entwicklungen im Zusammenhang mit dem neu entstehenden Verbraucherrecht in Indien hervor.

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The author wishes to express his gratitude to Dr. Werner F. Menski, Senior Lecturer in Laws, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, for his valuable comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Strategic Role of Trade Credit in Chain Coordination for the Traditional Farm Business Enterprises in Punjab,India

Abstract

Rice being a staple cereal, government purchases paddy (unhusked rice) from the primary wholesale markets in the surplus agrarian Punjab State and milled rice is distributed through the public distribution system in rice deficit States. Commission agents (CAs) in the primary wholesale markets that operate on a fixed commission basis constitute a strategic link between farmers and the procurement agencies/millers. To ensure adequate supplies of paddy for their own businesses CAs advance trade credit to the client farmers who need a regular flow of credit (during both the seasons annually that is not always possible to raise from the formal sources) for the purchase of operational inputs, on farm investments and various consumption purposes. So mutual interdependences, hereditary characters of the business enterprises and close proximities have enabled the chain partners to build up close personal relationships in the repeat business transactions. Farmers sell paddy through the preferred CAs during the post-harvest period, and personal relationships play a pivotal role in chain coordination while captive relationships ensure timely payments. For advancing trade credit, CAs' preferred choices are the medium and large sized farmers due to lower risks while the small sized farmers are less preferred because of their weak asset positions and payment uncertainties that increase the operational costs of trade credit. CAs make amicable adjustments to the utmost so that farmers do not shift away from their preferred CAs. CAs do not share any market risk, however, when paddy payments from the government to farmers get delayed they at their personal levels meet the requirements for cash contingencies of the client farmers. Knowledge gained from this study provides managerial and policy insights on the supply chain management mechanisms for the supplies of an essential input and its timely recoveries.     

The Social Opportunity Cost of Consumption for Australia, 1960–61 to 1988–89

The social opportunity cost of consumption (SOCC) for an economy is the rate at which current consumption can be traded for consumption in the future. The SOCC is an important determinant of the socially optimal levels of investment and the current account surplus and should be an input into the framing of government economic policy. Using overseas interest rates, the SOCC for Australia is calculated in this article. The calculated series is fairly constant for the 1960s and then has a pronounced cyclical pattern from the late 1960s to 1988–89. The average value of the SOCC for Australia is about four per cent.     

Predicting the antecedents of consumers' intention toward purchase of mutual funds: A hybrid PLS-SEM-neural network approach

The current study intends to identify the behavioural antecedents of investors' attitude and investment intention toward mutual funds using a robust SEM-ANN approach. It focuses on novel factors in the purview of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing digitalization and social media usage. The research outcome indicates that attitude (ATB), awareness (AW) and investment decision involvement (IDI) have a significant positive relation with investment intention (BI). In contrast, perceived barrier (PBR) negatively relates to investment intention. Herd behaviour (HB) and social media influence (SMI) do not influence investment intention toward mutual funds. Moreover, all the tested predictors share direct relation with the attitude toward mutual fund investment, barring perceived risk (PR), which has an inverse relationship. As per the outcome of ANN sensitivity analysis, attitude is the most crucial determinant of investment intention. It is followed by awareness (AW), perceived barriers (PBR) and investment decision involvement (IDI). Among the significant determinants of attitude, self-efficacy (SE) is the most important determinant, followed by perceived usefulness (PU), perceived emergency (PEMER), subjective norms (SN) and perceived risk (PR).     

Analysis of key factors influencing individual financial well-being using ISM and MICMAC approach

Quality & Quantity - A growing complexity in the financial world has attracted the interest of academicians and policymakers to examine the financial planning and well-being of individuals....