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In the present study, wire electro-discharge machining (WEDM) of Inconel 625 (In-625) is performed with the machining parameter such as spark-on time, spark-off time, wire-speed, wire tension and servo voltage. The purpose of this study is to find the most favorable machining parameter setting with respect to WEDM performance such as material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (RA).

Taguchi’s L27 orthogonal array has been used to design the experiments with varying machining parameters into three-level four factors. A hybrid multi-optimization technique has been purposed with grey relation analysis and fuzzy inference system integrated with teaching learning-based optimization to achieve optimum machinability (MRR and RA in present case). The obtained result has been compared with two evolutionary optimization tools via a genetic algorithm and simulated annealing.

It has been found that proposed hybrid technique taking minimum computational time, provide better solution and avoid priority weightage calculation by decision-makers. A confirmation test has been performed at single and multi-optimal parameter settings. The decision-makers have been chosen to select any single or multi-parameter setting as per the industry’s demand.

The proposed optimization technique provides better machinability of In-625 using zinc-coated brass wire electrode during WEDM operation.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of “BroncoCut-X” (copper core-ZnCu50 coating) electrode on the machining of Ti-3Al-2.5V in view of its extensive use in aerospace and medical applications. The machining parameters are selected as Spark-off Time (ST_off), Spark-on Time (ST_on), Wire-speed (S_w), Wire-Tension (WT) and Servo-Voltage (S_v) to explore the machining outcomes. The response characteristics are measured in terms of material removal rate (MRR), average kerf width (KW) and average-surface roughness (SA).

Taguchi’s approach is used to design the experiment. The “AC Progress V2 high precision CNC-WEDM” is used to conduct the experiments with ϕ 0.25 mm diameter wire electrode. The machining performance characteristics are examined using main effect plots and analysis of variance. The grey-relation analysis and fuzzy interference system techniques have been developed to combine (called grey-fuzzy reasoning grade) the experimental response while Rao-Algorithm is used to calculate the optimal performance.

The hybrid optimization result is obtained as ST_off = 50µs, ST_on = 105µs, S_w = 7 m/min, WT = 12N and S_v=20V. Additionally, the result is compared with the firefly algorithm and improved gray-wolf optimizer to check the efficacy of the intended approach. The confirmatory test has been further conducted to verify optimization results and recorded 8.14% overall machinability enhancement. Moreover, the scanning electron microscopy analysis further demonstrated effectiveness in the WEDMed surface with a maximum 4.32 µm recast layer.

The adopted methodology helped to attain the highest machinability level. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first investigation within the considered parametric range and adopted optimization technique for Ti-3Al-2.5V using the wire-electro discharge machining.

New technological trends continue to emerge, and businesses adopt them in different capacity in a pursuit of improving current ways of doing things and to gain competitive advantages over rivals. One of the key business functions that is impacted by the implementation of different disruptive technologies is the supply chain management. As a result, there is a continuous need to identify where digitalizing supply chains may provide businesses with benefits to capitalize such gains. This study aims to examine potential impacts of digitalizing supply chains on five selected lean operations practices through the identification of key areas and benefits under each of these practices.

Data were collected from 74 participants mainly from the academic community and who were university scholars through the use of an online survey. The used online survey consists of six main parts in total, but three were included in this paper and these were designed to gather data about participants’ general information, level of influence of seven technological trends on supply chain performance and management and potential impact of digitalizing supply chains on five lean operations practices.

The authors were able to confirm the significant impact of digitalizing supply chains on the five examined lean operations practices. Most of the examined potential impacts were found to improve certain areas that directly improve the practices of the explored five lean operations practices as well as the overall supply chain and business performance. They were also able to determine the level of influence of the seven examined enabling technologies on supply chain performance and management.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind. Although some literature explored different aspects related to the concept of Industry 4.0 and digitalizing supply chains, no study has specifically explored potential impacts of digitalizing supply chains on lean operations. The results from this study can be beneficial to academic scholars interested in the researched themes, business professionals specializing in supply chain management and lean operations, organizations within different industrial sectors particularly manufacturing where lean thinking is adopted and any other party interested in understanding more about the impact of digitalizing supply chain on lean operations and on an overall business performance.

Massive transformations in mobile communication technologies have forced marketers to recognize and emphasize the factors that influence consumers’ perception of advertising value. This paper aims to explore and rank the various antecedents of advertising value as perceived by consumers to offer meaningful conclusions to marketers on mobile platforms.

Responses were collected from 483 consumers using a shopping mall intercept survey and analyzed using SPSS to confirm reliability, validity and data reduction. The Relative to an Identified Distribution (RIDIT) analysis and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) methods were then applied to prioritize the scale items of the antecedents of mobile advertising value.

Five antecedents of advertising value were found: credibility, entertainment, informativeness, irritation and message relevance. A priority ranking was allotted to the antecedents’ scale items using the RIDIT analysis and was verified via GRA results with a correlation of 98% between the rankings of the two independent methodologies.

The findings provide a roadmap to determine which antecedents of mobile advertising value have a higher or lower impact on consumers’ overall perceptions of the advertisements they are exposed to on mobile platforms.

This study aims to use first-hand data to prioritize the underlying antecedents of mobile advertising value, which has rarely been done to the best of the authors’ knowledge. It also used two different approaches in a single study to rank the dimensions, thus producing more valid results.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to have a huge impact on businesses and, especially, the way we think about supply chain management (SCM). However, there is still a paucity of studies on the impact of IoT adoption on supply chains and on different aspects of the business in general. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perception of the academic community of the impact of the IoT adoption in organizational supply chains with a view to verify potential key benefits and challenges existent in the literature. The research presents the impact on an organization along with the impact across its entire supply chain.

Data were collected through the use of an online survey and 87 participants completed the survey. Participants were mainly from the academic community and were university scholars based in different countries located in six continents. Participants were authors, or co-authors, of academic papers published in the Decision Science Institute 2015 and 2016 annual conference proceedings, the 21st International Symposium of Sustainable Transport and Supply Chain Innovations, the Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 2016 issues, and the Operations and Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 2016 issues.

The authors were able to confirm the significance of some of the examined potential benefits to individual organizations and their entire supply chains. However, the study identified other potential benefits that were not seen as a direct impact of IoT adoption. Most of the examined potential benefits were found to contribute to a number of critical success factors for implementing successful SCM. The authors were also able to confirm that some of the examined potential challenges were still perceived as key hinders to IoT adoption but examined potential challenges were not seen as hurdles to IoT adoption.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind. Although some literature attempted to provide an overview about the IoT management, no study has specifically explored potential benefits and challenges related to the adoption of IoT in supply chains and ranked them based on their significance. The results can be beneficial to academic scholars interested in the researched topic, business professionals, organizations within different sectors, and any other party interested in understanding more about the impact of adopting IoT on SCM.

Technological advancements have catalyzed disruption in the banking sector. The impact of the metaverse on the banking sector is no exception. In view of this, the current paper aims to provide valuable insights into four key areas (i.e. corporate banking, retail banking, banking employees and public policy) that the metaverse could significantly disrupt.

Insights into four key areas of the banking sector that the metaverse could significantly impact were gathered from various invited contributors.

The invited contributors first introduce the association between their respective key areas with the metaverse. Subsequently, the opportunities and challenges relevant to the key areas were identified. Finally, future research agendas were proposed for the attention of all relevant stakeholders.

The metaverse's impact on key areas of the banking sector is discussed in this paper. Following the metaverse's potentially wide application in the banking sector, insights from the invited contributions offer great value to the relevant stakeholders.

Based on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework, this study aims to investigate the effect of social media marketing (SMM) activities on consumers’ purchase intention (PI), as well as to test the mediation effect of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) and consumer inspiration (INS) between the relationship of SMM and PI. Further, this study has also proposed and validated SMM as a reflective–formative higher-order construct (R-F-HOC) with its five first-order dimensions: customization, entertainment, interaction, trendiness and word of mouth (WoM).

Using a non-probability purposive sampling method, a structured questionnaire survey using Google forms was used to collect data from a sample of 236 UAE consumers. Subsequently, the data was analyzed with a hybrid method that combined partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN) analysis.

The findings suggest that SMM has a direct effect on CBBE, INS and PI. Both proposed mediation effects are statistically significant, and there is a partial complementary mediation effect of CBBE and INS between SMM and PI. This study validated the operationalization of SMM as R-F-HOC. Further, the results of the ANN analysis validate the results of the PLS-SEM, suggesting that SMM is the strongest predictor of PI followed by CBBE and INS.

In terms of theoretical significance, this study has advanced our understanding of the process by which the influence of SMM is transferred to PI via CBBE and INS. This study has also made a significant contribution by validating SMM as a R-F-HOC. In terms of practical implications, this study suggests that SMM should be best assessed as a R-F-HOC construct with five dimensions: customization, entertainment, interaction, trendiness and WoM. This study has also demonstrated the importance of CBBE and INS in transmitting the effect of SMM on PI to marketers.

This study contributes to the digital advertising literature by filling a knowledge gap about the mediation effect of CBBE and INS between SMM and PI via the SOR framework. SMM’s multidimensionality as a R-F-HOC has also been established.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the labour force participation among the elderly population (aged 60 and above) in India from data available for the most recent time periods. The paper reviews the types of employment, industries and occupations that the elderly in India are employed in presently and also examines the impact of different factors on the decision of the elderly to be a part of the labour force.

Unit-level data has been extracted from the most recent data available on employment and labour force in India provided by the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), from 2017 to 2018 to 2019–2020. Binary logistic regression model has been used to identify some of the socio-economic and demographic factors that influence the odds of the elderly being a part of the labour force along with the extent of their influence, and Wald statistic has been used to examine the dynamics.

The study finds that among the elderly population, males, individuals living in rural areas, those living alone, those who are currently married and those with low educational attainment are more likely to be a part of the labour force. Again, elderly females are found to be employed mostly in the informal or unorganised sector which provide minimal or nil social security benefits. Between 2017–2018 and 2019–2020, the coefficients for sector, gender, marital status, education and income are found to be significantly different.

This paper attempts to shed some light on the scanty literature with regards to studies on the elderly in India, and also to reveal the possible factors which induce the elderly in India to participate in the labour force with the help of the most recent data available.

The peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2021-0350.

The crowdfunding concept and activities have recently been the focus of attention of many researchers and practitioners over different business contexts. However, there is a dearth of literature considering the main aspects of e-equity crowdfunding activities and their impact on the innovation performance for entrepreneurial business. Therefore, this study aims to explore how entrepreneurs' engagement in e-crowdfunding activities could enhance both knowledge acquisition and innovation performance.

The conceptual model will be proposed based on three main theoretical perspectives: relationship marketing orientation (RMO); Kirzner's alertness theory; and the DeLone and McLean model of information systems. The data of the current study were collected using an online questionnaire from a sample of 500 entrepreneurs who have actively engaged in e-crowdfunding in Saudi Arabia.

The statistical results of structural equation modelling (SEM) approved the impacting role of RMO, entrepreneurial alertness, system quality and service quality on the entrepreneurs' engagement in e-equity crowdfunding, which in turn, predicts both knowledge acquisition and innovation performance.

There are several limitations which could be addressed in future studies, for example, this study has only considered one form of crowdfunding (equity based crowdfunding) and due to its nature these findings would not be easily generalized to other kinds of crowdfunding (i.e. donation-based crowdfunding; rewards-based crowdfunding; and debt-based crowdfunding). Future studies could consider these kinds of crowdfunding activities.

This study has contributed to the understanding of e-equity crowdfunding in several aspects. For example, this study presents results that assist both researchers and practitioners in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia to develop an in-depth knowledge of e-equity crowdfunding by considering new dimensions such as RMO and information system success factors.