Assessing Factors Influencing Technology Adoption for Online Purchasing Amid COVID-19 in Qatar: Moderating Role of Word of Mouth

The COVID-19 pandemic developed new challenges for global consumers. In response to this disaster, digital technology users have faced the necessity to adopt and use specific technology apps for online shopping. This article examines how contingencies disrupt existing theoretical models and their implications for the post-COVID-19 era for online purchases. Customers prefer apps to use on the websites for search and purchase amid the COVID-19 crisis. The websites offer competitive advantages to apps for branding and CRM prospects. This motive keeps customers happy and satisfied with the website offers. This study focuses on consumer electronics and observes the comparative influence of fundamental elements (i.e., hedonic motivation, habits, perceived risk, technological trust, and technological awareness) on purchasing customer satisfaction. The study further examines the impact of customer satisfaction with online purchases with website continuance intention (WCI). Notably, this study explores the moderating effect of word-of-mouth (WOM) on the relationship between customer satisfaction with online purchases and website continuance intention. This study designed a web-based survey and recruited frequent visitors including international and citizens of Qatar for data collection. The study employed a purposive sampling technique and used three standardized psychological tools to obtain the data set needed to measure customer satisfaction with online purchases. The survey used a web link, distributed 600 questionnaires via email and social media, and received only 468 responses. After screening, only 455 were valid responses. The study showed a response rate of 75.83%. The study results showed that hedonic motivation, habits, perceived risk, and technological awareness were positively related to customer satisfaction with online purchasing. Besides, customer satisfaction with subsequent online purchases is also positively associated with website continuance intention (WCI). The results revealed that this relationship remained stronger when word-of-mouth (WOM) was higher. Hence, this shows that online shopping is seen as a vital and interesting activity in the Qatari context. The findings provide useful insights for future studies to explore the effects of COVID-19 on online purchase intentions

تأثيرات بلد المنشأ على تقييم الخدمات

Recent literature has shown that numerous past studies have examined the effects of service quality, brand image and product features with country-of-origin (COO) effects as customers pay attention to specific service evaluation. This book is a rare work exploring service evaluation with country-of-origin effects. Well-known international researchers with cultural diversities have written various chapters that define the relationship between service quality, brand image, and service evaluation concerning country-of-origin effects to address customer satisfaction. The COO effect also describes bias of a specific nationality, which refers to consumers' psychology and the perceived value that influences the decision based on innovative service. Customers consider the impact of COO and service evaluation associated with a specific service. This work contributes to scientific knowledge on international marketing that describes country-of-origin, which influences consumers' decisions on service quality. The COO effect shows that end consumers decide on service quality and brand features. Service evaluation and the COO effect stimulate service quality and performance. Accordingly, brand features, service quality, and the COO effect promote consumers' perceptions and decision-making beyond their conscious control. The innovative models examine different factors of service evaluation. The work's generalizability supports insight into future research directions for various regions worldwide.أظهرت الأدبيات الحديثة عناية العديد من الدراسات السابقة بدراسة آثار جودة الخدمة، وصورة العلامة التجارية، وميزات المنتج، وعلاقتها بتأثيرات بلد المنشأ؛ حيث يولي العملاء اهتمامًا ببلد منشأ سلعةٍ أو منتجٍ ما؛ لتقييم خدمة معينة. هذا الكتاب عمل فريدٌ في بابه، يستكشف تأثيرات بلد المنشأ على تقييم الخدمات، وقد شارك فيه باحثون دوليون مشهورون من خلفيات ثقافية متنوعة؛ حيث أنتجت قرائحهم فصول هذا الكتاب؛ بغية تحديد طبيعة العلاقة بين جودة الخدمة وصورة العلامة التجارية، وتقييم الخدمة، فيما يتعلق بتأثيرات بلد المنشأ لمعالجة رضا العملاء. كما يُحيل تأثير بلد المنشأ إلى التحيز لجنسية معينة، بما يشير إلى الحالة النفسية لدى المستهلك والقيمة المتصورة التي تؤثر على قراره، بناءً على الخدمة المبتكرة؛ حيث إن العملاء غالبًا ما يتأثرون في هذا الجانب ببلد المنشأ وتقييم الخدمة المرتبطة بخدمة أو سلعة معينة. يسهم هذا الكتاب المحرر في بناء ركيزة معرفية لدى القراء والمعنيين حول التسويق الدولي الذي يركز على مسألة بلد المنشأ؛ حتى يؤثر على قرارات المستهلكين بشأن جودة الخدمة. يتكشّف من خلال دراسة تأثير بلد المنشأ كون المستهلكين يقررون جودة الخدمة وميزات العلامة التجارية؛ فتقييم الخدمة وتأثير بلد المنشأ لهما دور جليّ في تحفيز جودة الخدمة والأداء. ووفقًا لذلك، تعمل ميزات العلامة التجارية وجودة الخدمة وتأثير بلد المنشأ على تعزيز تصورات المستهلكين واتخاذ قراراتهم خارج نطاق إرادتهم. كما يتضح أن النماذج المبتكرة تدرس عوامل مختلفة لتقييم الخدمة. ويدعم نشر هذا العمل وتعميم نتائجه صقل نظرة ثاقبة لاتجاهات البحث المستقبلية في هذا الميدان لمختلف المناطق في شتى بقاع العالم

Individual and psychological factors influencing hotel employee’s work engagement: The contingent role of self-efficacy

AbstractThis study intended to examine the relationships between empowerment leadership, psychological empowerment, and affective commitment on work engagement. Importantly, this study aimed to examine the moderating role of self-efficacy on the relationship between psychological empowerment and affective commitment on work engagement. The data were collected in a two-waves week time lag, data was gained from 375 full-time front-line employees working in five-star hotels in Erbil. The structural equation modelling (SEM) using partial least squares (PLS) was used to analyze the research model. Thus, our results indicated that empowerment leadership is positively related to psychological empowerment, and affective commitment as well as psychological empowerment, and affective commitment were found to be significantly related to work engagement. Self-efficacy was a vital moderator in the relation of psychological empowerment, and affective commitment toward work engagement such as the relationship is stronger when self-efficacy is high than low. This study provides theoretical and managerial implications such as having to empower leadership in the workplace because it provides a sustainable competitive advantage to organizations as well as limitations and future research directions. This study, like every study, has limitations. To begin with, the responses were confined to front-line employees working in five-star hotels, thus the findings cannot be applied to employees working in other types of hotels in the hotel industry. The managerial implication is this study has shown the importance of having empowering leadership in the workplace because it provides a sustainable competitive advantage to organizations. In suggestions to initiate empowerment leadership, hotels should hire and train leaders who are willing to empower their subordinates how to empower their subordinates

Tax Avoidance Culture and Employees' Behavior Affect Sustainable Business Performance: The Moderating Role of Corporate Social Responsibility

Employees' behavior and corporate social responsibility (CSR) can affect firms’ profitability and increase the corporate economic burden. This current research endeavors to explore how business firms navigate employees' technology-driven behavior and CSR sustainable practices for tax avoidance to affect firms’ performance. This study examines how CSR sustainable practices moderate the relationship between employees' behavior and tax avoidance to achieve sustainable business performance. The study incorporated the Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) for the purpose of data analysis using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique that is suitable for this sample size. The study’s target population is employees of small and medium enterprises located in Pakistan. The study has drawn a sample of employees and applied a convenience sampling technique. The findings show that tax avoidance, employee behavior, and corporate social responsibility positively affect business firms’ performance. The results further indicate that sustainable CSR practices significantly moderate tax avoidance’s effect on business firms’ performance. However, there is no condition to identify the relationship between employee behavior and firm performance. In theory, this research contributes to the corporate strategy literature by answering how corporate social responsibility sustainable practices mediate the relationship between tax avoidance, employees' behavior, and sustainable business performance. It shows that socially responsible organizations will engage less in tax avoidance behaviors. The results exhibit that the study provides a systematic, holistic framework to attain sustainable firms’ performance. The findings' generalizability offers future direction with helpful insights for business managers and policymakers

The Role of Katara Cultural Village in Enhancing and Marketing the Image of Qatar: Evidence From TripAdvisor

The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which Katara Cultural Village enhances the image of Qatar, based on reviewers’ posts on TripAdvisor. It also sought to analyze the current situation of Katara from the managers’ perspective. A total of 2,342 comments about Katara on the TripAdvisor website were analyzed using content analysis. Three focus group meetings with eight divisional managers in Katara were also conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis. The results show a high level of overall satisfaction among TripAdvisor reviewers from different nationalities and backgrounds. A word frequency count presents Katara positively as a good destination for cultural experience, with amazing and attractive features. According to the comments, Katara contributes to enhancing the image of Qatar and Qatari culture worldwide. The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis based on the focus group meetings with managers provided a clear and in-depth understanding of Katara’s current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This analysis can be important to planners and policy makers in Katara in developing and adopting suitable policies and strategies

“Real impact”: Challenges and opportunities in bridging the gap between research and practice – Making a difference in industry, policy, and society

Achieving impact from academic research is a challenging, complex, multifaceted, and interconnected topic with a number of competing priorities and key performance indicators driving the extent and reach of meaningful and measurable benefits from research. Academic researchers are incentivised to publish their research in high-ranking journals and academic conferences but also to demonstrate the impact of their outputs through metrics such as citation counts, altmetrics, policy and practice impacts, and demonstrable institutional decision-making influence. However, academic research has been criticized for: its theoretical emphasis, high degree of complexity, jargon-heavy language, disconnect from industry and societal needs, overly complex and lengthy publishing timeframe, and misalignment between academic and industry objectives. Initiatives such as collaborative research projects and technology transfer offices have attempted to deliver meaningful impact, but significant barriers remain in the identification and evaluation of tangible impact from academic research. This editorial focusses on these aspects to deliver a multi-expert perspective on impact by developing an agenda to deliver more meaningful and demonstrable change to how “impact” can be conceptualized and measured to better align with the aims of academia, industry, and wider society. We present the 4D model - Design, Deliver, Disseminate, and Demonstrate - to provide a structured approach for academia to better align research endeavors with practice and deliver meaningful, tangible benefits to stakeholders

“Real impact”: challenges and opportunities in bridging the gap between research and practice – making a difference in industry, policy, and society

Achieving impact from academic research is a challenging, complex, multifaceted, and interconnected topic with a number of competing priorities and key performance indicators driving the extent and reach of meaningful and measurable benefits from research. Academic researchers are incentivised to publish their research in high-ranking journals and academic conferences but also to demonstrate the impact of their outputs through metrics such as citation counts, altmetrics, policy and practice impacts, and demonstrable institutional decision-making influence. However, academic research has been criticized for: its theoretical emphasis, high degree of complexity, jargon-heavy language, disconnect from industry and societal needs, overly complex and lengthy publishing timeframe, and misalignment between academic and industry objectives. Initiatives such as collaborative research projects and technology transfer offices have attempted to deliver meaningful impact, but significant barriers remain in the identification and evaluation of tangible impact from academic research. This editorial focusses on these aspects to deliver a multi-expert perspective on impact by developing an agenda to deliver more meaningful and demonstrable change to how “impact” can be conceptualized and measured to better align with the aims of academia, industry, and wider society. We present the 4D model - Design, Deliver, Disseminate, and Demonstrate - to provide a structured approach for academia to better align research endeavors with practice and deliver meaningful, tangible benefits to stakeholders.</p