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An increasing number of organizations are adopting social commerce (SC) to engage and occupy customers in product development, sales and support activities. Therefore, it is imperative for retailers and marketers to know customers’ adoption behaviour towards SC websites and the benefits they gain through voluntary contribution of information on these websites. The study attempts to identify customer participation through development of a conceptual framework based on the uses and gratification (UG) approach. The importance of non-altruistic motives, that is, benefits shape member’s participation on SC websites, is confirmed by results. According to the results, two interaction characteristics, that is, human interactivity and member identity are essential for building trust in SC website. Findings of the study also conclude that interaction characteristics strongly affect three benefits, that is, personal integrative, social integrative and hedonic. Hence, it is implied that benefits gained by members on SC website interactions shape their participation intentions. Therefore, SC websites must be designed keeping in view both usage and benefits by members.

Handicraft is one of the many productive sectors for developing countries. It contributes significantly towards economic growth. This study seeks to investigate consumers’ perception towards purchase of wooden handicraft items through e-commerce platform. The proposed extended technology acceptance model investigates the role of website quality, service and product perception on consumers purchase intention towards wooden handicraft items online. Trust acts as a mediator to study its effect on consumer intention. The effect of website quality, service and product perception was analyzed for the technology acceptance model constructs, namely perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. A total of 234 respondents were surveyed and data was analyzed using structural equation modelling technique. Service perception and product perception determine perceived usefulness whereas perceived ease of use is determined by website quality and service perception. The results show that trust has positive role in determining consumers’ purchase intention. Website quality, service and product perception determine trust, and they build consumers’ confidence in online shopping. Both seller and website should have effective strategies to build consumers’ trust. The research suggests that sellers can significantly surge consumers’ trust by improvising product and service perception, whereas the website can ensure consumers’ trust by increasing the quality of website and service perception.

This study empirically investigates the factors affecting e-commerce adoption by small and medium-size enterprises producing handicrafts in India. The study is motivated by the fact, that even though the handicraft sector plays a vital role in the Indian economy in terms of exports and employment, it has not adopted e-commerce as one of the prominent sales channels. Survival in this new economy requires handicraft organizations to learn and adopt new technologies. Those who cannot or do not adopt this new business practice will become obsolete and will be left behind. This study proposes and utilizes technological, organizational, environmental and strategy model based on TOE (Technology, Organization and Environment) model. From a survey of 163 Indian small and medium-size enterprises, findings reveal that awareness, human resources, strategy and market forces e-readiness are the prime influencing constructs towards adoption of e-commerce by Indian small and medium-size enterprises.

The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between spirituality/religiousness with cyber bullying and victimization amongst Indian University students and whether emotional intelligence mediates the relationship. Data were collected from 490 University students studying in undergraduate and postgraduate courses across India. IBM AMOS was used to find reliability and validity of instruments and PROCESS macro for IBM SPSS by Preacher and Hayes (Behav Res Methods 36(4): 717-731, 2004) was used for conducting mediation analyses. Both spiritual and existential well-being were found negatively related with cyber bullying and victimization. As far as mediation goes, the negative relationships between spiritual and existential well-being with that of cyber bullying and victimization were significantly mediated by Appraisal of Self-Emotions, Appraisal of Other's Emotions and Regulation and control of Emotions dimensions of emotional intelligence. Implication and future directions are also discussed.

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PurposeNation brand building is a complex task as it involves multiple stakeholders. In the context of globalisation, a strong nation brand has important implications not only for attracting foreign businesses and tourists but also for the brands originating from that country. This study examines the role of nation brand experience in enhancing a nation's global reputation.Design/methodology/approachThe relationships between nation brand experience, nation brand love, nation brand loyalty and positive word of mouth (WOM) were examined by analysing 334 survey responses collected from foreign tourists in India. Structural equation analysis was carried out as part of the analysis.FindingsThe results confirmed that international visitors' sensory and affective nation brand experiences significantly enhance brand love for a nation, leading to national brand loyalty and positive WOM among them. The findings are expected to help practitioners understand consumer buying behavior related to nation brand and develop innovative strategies for improving brand values.Originality/valueUnderstanding a developing nation brand experience and how it converts to brand loyalty through the mediation effect of nation brand love from the lens of foreign tourists is the novelty of this study.