South Asian Journal of Business Studies

Islam, Shahidul

2018 South Asian Journal of Business Studies

doi: 10.1108/SAJBS-04-2017-0051

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to clarify and explain patient-centered health choices, facilitating health-care providers’ service orientation.Design/methodology/approachExtensive literature review has been done to extract seven constructs (five dimensions of SERVQUAL, perceived service cost (PSC), and reference) and their underlying 28 items to be quantified. A survey of 201 health consumers was conducted to rate those variables and their constructs. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling are utilized to delineate and explicate factors.FindingsThe confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that responsiveness has the highest predictive power in explaining hospital choice intention. However, PSC, the only construct, is not statistically significant. The models are considered to have satisfactory reliability, validity, and acceptable fit.Research limitations/implicationsSince the study was administered in Comilla city, the generalizations should be exploited carefully. Future studies can be carried out on the behavioral patterns of patients and attitudes of health-care providers with respect to the discussed factors and variables.Practical implicationsThe result highlights patients’ service expectations that can be carefully and creatively applied in the service marketing program, improving doctors’ and nurses’ service orientation, developing physical evidence, and managing references to communicate service value to patients.Originality/valueWhat health consumers emphasize and how they incorporate service quality dimensions into hospital choice intention has stayed almost unexplored in the existing literature in Bangladesh. This study provides valuable insights into the meaning of patients’ choices, which will help practitioners and researchers to formulate marketing strategies that improve health-care outcomes and are acceptable to patients.

Gupta, Manish; Acharya, Anitha

2018 South Asian Journal of Business Studies

doi: 10.1108/SAJBS-09-2016-0080

PurposeWith increased globalization, Indian universities are struggling to attract and retain talented academics and are exploring the ways to enhance their service performance and brand image (BI). However, there is a paucity of studies that view universities through the corporate lens. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of innovativeness in the relationships of creativity, risk taking (RT), and performance in service delivery (PSD). Another objective is to find out how this nexus affects universities’ BI.Design/methodology/approachResponses were collected from 280 academics working for different Indian universities. Structural analysis was performed to examine the relationships under investigation.FindingsThe results indicate that innovativeness fully mediates the positive RT – PSD relationship and that PSD positively influences BI.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study mainly augment the theory of BI by empirically linking BI and its antecedents in the context of Indian universities.Practical implicationsFor enhancing a university’s BI, management is encouraged to promote RT work culture along with innovative and creative teaching methods.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few studies in India that see academia through the corporate lens. Also, it provides evidence for the importance innovativeness in enhancing BI of a university.

Mishra, Rakesh Kumar; Kapil, Sheeba

2018 South Asian Journal of Business Studies

doi: 10.1108/SAJBS-08-2016-0073

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship of board characteristics and firm performance for Indian companies.Design/methodology/approachCorporate governance structures of 391 Indian companies out of CNX 500 companies listed on National Stock Exchange have been studied for their impact on performance of companies. Structural equation modeling methodology has been employed on data for five financial years from 2010 to 2014 for selected companies. Market-based measure (Tobin’s Q) and accounting-based measure (return on asset) have been employed for measuring firm performance.FindingsEmpirical findings indicate that there is significant positive association between board size and firm performance. Board independence is found significantly related to firm performance. Number of board meetings is found to be sending positive signal to the market creating firm value. Separation of CEO and chairman of the board is found to be value creating and overburdened directors affect firm performance adversely. Findings also suggest that the governance-performance relationship is also dependent upon the type of performance measures used in the study.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of this study are in terms of data methodology and possible omission of some variables. It is understood that the qualitative dynamics happening inside board meetings impact corporate performance. The strategic decisions-making process adopted by the boards to fight competition or to increase market share is not available in public domain easily. The decision-making processes and monitoring for implementation of these decisions could impact corporate governance-performance relationship. These parameters and their impact on corporate performance are not covered under the scope of the present study. However, the same could have thrown more light on governance-performance relationship.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the emerging body of literature on corporate governance-performance relationship in the Indian context using a reasonably wider and newer data set.

Kirmani, Mohd Danish; Khan, Mohammed Naved

2018 South Asian Journal of Business Studies

doi: 10.1108/SAJBS-11-2016-0091

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the relevant antecedents of willingness of Indian consumers to pay a premium for green products and empirically validate the relationship between these antecedents and willingness to pay (WTP).Design/methodology/approachData were generated from 515 students enroled in various educational institutions approved by the All India Council for Technical Education and located in New Delhi and National Capital Region region of India. A combination of researcher-controlled and systematic sampling techniques was employed for the purpose of identifying the sample. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data using AMOS 20.0.FindingsThe study revealed that attitude towards green products (ATGP) has a significant and positive influence on WTP. Additionally, collectivism and environmental concern emerged as predictors of ATGP.Practical implicationsMarketing practitioners are expected to get deeper insights into reasons that contribute to the formation of positive attitude among Indian consumers towards green products. This understanding may greatly assist proactive marketers in developing appropriate strategies to increase the propensity of WTP a premium for such products.Originality/valueThe study is pioneering in the sense that the construct WTP for green products had relatively been less explored in the Indian context. The construct WTP is important for Indian consuming class which is dominated by middle and lower middle income groups for whom spending extra from their regular expenditure is a critical and sensitive issue.

Arora, Nupur; Aggarwal, Aanchal

2018 South Asian Journal of Business Studies

doi: 10.1108/SAJBS-04-2017-0048

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of perceived benefits, namely, price, convenience and product variety in formation of online shopping attitude. The paper also studies the impact of online shopping attitude on online shopping intentions by the application of the theory of reasoned action.Design/methodology/approachA self-administered and structured online survey was conducted targeting female online shoppers of four metropolitan cities of India. A sample of 508 online shoppers was considered in the online survey. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the research constructs, validity and composite reliability. Structural equation modeling and path analysis was also used to examine the hypothesized relationships of the research model.FindingsThe authors of the paper reveals that price benefit, convenience benefit and product variety benefit has a significant positive impact on online shopping attitude and there is a considerable positive relationship between online shopping attitude and online shopping intention among women in India. Product variety was found to be the most important perceived benefit for Indian women.Research limitations/implicationsThe research sample included only women shoppers who indulge in online shopping. Future research is encouraged to emphasize on other groups and gender to identify with their online shopping attitudes. Another important limitation of the study is consequent from the geographical perspective of the present study; that is India. The findings are not necessarily applicable to the rest of the world. Therefore, reproduction of the current study in diverse countries would probably support and confirm its findings. Also, the present study is cross-sectional which does not demonstrate how attitudes of online shoppers may alter over time. The authors of the current study encourage future research to apply a longitudinal design to the study to understand the transforms in consumers’ attitudes toward online shopping over time. Finally, this study explained a general phenomenon, thus future research can be directed toward particular websites which may present different results.Practical implicationsThe study supports the significance of perceived benefits (price, convenience and variety) as key drivers of attitudes toward online shopping among women in India. Marketers should distinguish the way they indulge their customers based on their perceived benefits of online shopping. In developing countries like India, where consumers, especially women, are generally depicted as risk averse, online shopping attitude plays an important role in the success of e-tailers. Certainly, if online shopping would not attach meaningful value and benefits to consumers, they would have negative attitude toward the same. Additionally, the empirical research study demonstrates variety to be the most important benefit for Indian women; ecommerce retailers should focus on maximizing the same to enhance online purchase intention among women customers. Women empowerment being the agenda in India currently, online retailers’ managers can benefit from such conclusions for targeting this huge untapped market and for future e-marketing policies.Originality/valueThis research paper is one of the very few endeavors that investigated online shopping attitudes in India. Prominently, it exposed the role of perceived benefits in online shopping attitude in India. Price is one of the most critical factor concerning Indian shoppers which is a part of the present study. National and international e-tailers preparing to develop and expand their operations to India have now important empirical verification concerned with the determinants of online shopping attitudes and behavior in India which shall aid in marketing strategy development and implementation.

Rahman, Saleem ur; Khan, Muhammad Adnan; Iqbal, Nadia

2018 South Asian Journal of Business Studies

doi: 10.1108/SAJBS-11-2016-0088

PurposeThe online purchasing behaviour of consumers has recently become a topic of increased interest and attention for marketers, policymakers, and researchers. However, due to its complex nature, this phenomenon is still in its infancy in many developing countries and needs to be paid more attention. Using the technology acceptance model (TAM), the purpose of this paper is to examine the role of utilitarian and hedonic shopping motivations, as well as the trust and privacy concerns of consumers in their online purchasing intentions, in a developing South Asian country: Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 859 respondents through a self-administrated questionnaire using the non-probability convenience sampling technique and were analysed using the structural equation modelling.FindingsThe results of this study demonstrate that, more than hedonic values, trust, and privacy concerns, utilitarian values positively influence consumers’ attitudes to online purchasing. Consequently, consumers’ attitudes positively influence their online purchasing intentions. The findings indicate that Pakistani consumers buy online for goal-oriented reasons. Not surprisingly, they feel unsafe buying online due to concerns over trust and data privacy.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study have various practical and managerial implications for electronic businesses in developing countries. This study serves as a guide for the development of effective online marketing and selling strategies.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the existing literature on business to consumer e-commerce by identifying and empirically validating motivational factors and factors of concern using the TAM model. The extended TAM model, which integrates shopping motivations, trust, and privacy factors, can provide a solid theoretical foundation for consumers’ online purchasing behaviour in a developing country.

Soomro, Aqeel Ahmed; Breitenecker, Robert J.; Shah, Syed Afzal Moshadi

2018 South Asian Journal of Business Studies

doi: 10.1108/SAJBS-02-2017-0018

PurposePeople in both the developing and developed worlds now face issues like work-to-family and family-to-work conflicts. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between work-life balance, work-family conflict, and family-work conflict and perceived employee performance with job satisfaction serving as a moderating variable.Design/methodology/approachThe object of this study is a full-time teaching faculty. Responses from 280 young university teaching faculty serving in public-sector universities in Islamabad, Pakistan, were investigated by applying linear regression analysis to test six hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that work-life balance and work-family conflict have a positive effect on employee performance. Job satisfaction has moderating effects on the relationships between work-life balance, work-family conflict, and family-work conflict with perceived employee performance.Originality/valueThe study presents some unique results, which are different from previous studies such as work-family conflict has a positive significant effect on employee performance, family-work conflict has no significant effect on employee performance, and job satisfaction can be a negative moderator between these relations.