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The purpose of this chapter is to develop academic answers to the key rural areas and smart villages and digital agriculture. This chapter analyses the National level initiatives of Government of India Mission to convert rural areas into smart cities. The Union Ministry of urban development collaborates with State Government and nominate a particular city or cities in their state. Financial incentives or benefits will be provided to enhance the quality of the city. Coimbatore being a cosmopolitan city it is also a combination of rural villages and urban township. The main objective of this chapter is to identify and explore the initiatives of SMART CITIES MISSION a joint venture activity initiated by Government of India and State Government of Tamil Nadu. The results clearly indicate how digital technologies play a pivotal role to enhance the quality of eco-friendly initiatives and to improve the smart villages and agriculture. The key recommendations are the lessons learnt from other smart cities initiatives in other states and how Coimbatore can be an example and adopt key takeaways from other states and cities around the world.

The study aims to determine the role of online retail website experience on brand happiness and willingness to share personal information using the theoretical lens of the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework. Further, it explores the role of brand intimacy and brand partner quality in mediating the path between brand happiness and willingness to share personal information.

This study used a cross-sectional survey design to collect data from 439 online retail consumers in India, using an online questionnaire. The data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling in IBM Amos.

The present study found that online retail website experience is significantly related to brand happiness. The finding also supports that brand happiness was positively and significantly related to ‘consumers' willingness to share personal information. This relationship was fully mediated by brand intimacy. Brand happiness also mediated the relationship between website experience and the willingness to share personal information.

This study contributes to the emerging literature on brand happiness and willingness to share personal information. It establishes a central role of brand happiness as a driver and a mediator of consumers' willingness to share personal information with e-commerce retailers, extending the stimulus-organism-response framework in the context of brand happiness and willingness to share personal information. Further, the study establishes the role of website experience as a marketer (and brand) led driver of brand happiness.

The results have implications for the role of the website in enhancing the consumer experience, which in turn is a driver of brand happiness. Further, managers need to promote brand happiness with the help of website experience to enable consumers’ willingness to share personal information and help organizations customize their marketing campaigns.

This is among the first studies to evaluate brand happiness from the perspective of an online retail website experience and consider consumers’ willingness to share personal information from a branding rather than a technological perspective. Additionally, the study introduces the SOR framework in the context of brand happiness, with website experience acting as a stimulus for consumers, resulting in brand happiness, which is mediated by brand partner quality and brand intimacy (organism), leads to consumers' willingness to share personal information with online retail brands (response).

This study aims to identify and analyse the interactions among drivers of anti-food waste behaviour at the consumer level. By understanding the mutual interactions among the drivers, an effort is made to identify the most driving and most dependent drivers through the total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) approach. Modelling offers inputs to propose focused interventions for reinforcing the identified drivers of anti-food waste consumer behaviour using the theoretical lens of social practices theory.

A proposed model of factors affecting anti-food waste behaviour is arrived at to suggest the most effective anti-food waste behavioural interventions. The factors were identified through an extensive literature search. A hierarchical structure of identified factors has been developed using TISM and MICMAC analysis through expert opinion. Focused marketing strategies towards promoting the identified factors for encouraging anti-food waste behaviour were suggested further.

This study identifies nine drivers based on extensive literature review, brainstorming and expert opinion. The TISM hierarchical model portrays the most important and least important drivers of household anti-food waste behaviour. It establishes that fundamental knowledge and socio-cultural norms are the most critical factors to drive the consumers. Marketers can focus on designing effective interventions to enhance the essential knowledge of the consumers and orient the socio-cultural norms towards anti-food waste behaviour.

This study offers implications for practitioners, policymakers and cause-driven marketing campaigns targeting anti-food waste behaviour. It provides an indicative list of critical factors relevant to household food waste behaviour, which can be used to drive effective marketing campaigns to nudge anti-food waste behaviours.

The proposed food waste behaviour management model was developed through modelling technique (TISM) and Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) analysis, and relating them to marketing interventions is a novel effort in the food waste domain.

India has a large internet savvy population that is not only accessing the internet but also buying online. With a revolution in the very basics of transaction from a physical store format to a non‐store one, the retail industry has begun to understand the indispensability of the internet as a medium of transaction. However, the rate of diffusion and adoption of the new phenomenon amongst consumers is still relatively low. Trust on online transactions is one of the key barriers to vendors succeeding in online transactions. A lack of trust discourages consumers from participating in online buying. With the internet advancing new opportunities, it is important to understand the factors that generate trust of Indian consumers in the online buying system. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of trust in online buying behavior of consumers. This paper is a theoretical attempt at conceptualizing “trust” as a construct, in the context of online buying and testing it empirically. The objective of the study is to explore the critical online trust‐creating factors that influence the online buying decision of people, and to establish their causal impact, if any, through developing an integrated model.

The study, descriptive, diagnostic, and causal in nature, was conducted in the context of online buying of railway tickets in India. In the first phase, a pilot survey was conducted on a sample of 100 users of the online railway reservation. After having tested the survey instrument for validity and reliability, the second phase of the study was conducted on a sample of 327 users of online railway reservation facilities. A series of multiple regressions analyses was conducted to determine the causal impacts of critical consumer trust parameters on online reservation of railway tickets by users in the Indian context. The analysis of demographics based on gender and age groups was also made to capture the cross‐comparisons of critical online trust‐related attributes.

The factor analysis had grouped the items into four constructs with a total of 11 items. The item total correlations to each construct were found significant. All the critical online trust based constructs were found to have a significant impact on the intention of buyers of booking/purchasing railway tickets online in India. The analyses of demographics established that all the critical consumer trust‐based attributes to online buying intention have no significant differences for gender, whereas for age groups some of the attributes were found significant and others were not.

The process of online trust formation among the potential buyers depends on a host of factors. This present study has only explored a select number of constructs and remains a major limitation. Notwithstanding this limitation, there are significant theoretical implications for critical online trust constructs of consumers on online buying behavior in the Indian context.

By examining the various dimensions explored and established in this study, the concerned authority can develop a better understanding of consumer needs and expectations. Academicians and researchers can use this study for assessing consumer trust towards online reservation of railway tickets in the Indian context, and identifying such attributes that would lead to the generation of online consumer trust towards online reservation of railway tickets. It provides insight into the impact of trust in online buying and the relationship between trust and buying behaviour. The policy decision makers of railway authority may also use the findings of this study as a resource, while constructing, managing, and evaluating their marketing strategies in the Indian context.

India has a big pool of internet savvy population that is not only accessing the internet but also buying online. Online shopping could be defined as the concept of buying and selling of goods over the internet. From the perspective of the seller, it is the attempt on the seller's part to attract and persuade the prospect to conduct the purchase decision-making process, and ensure satisfaction and loyalty. From the perspective of the buyer, online purchase behavior is the degree to which consumers access, browse, shop and transact and repeat the behavior. With a revolution in the very basics of transaction from a physical store format to a non-store one, the retail industry has begun to understand the indispensability of the internet as a medium of transaction. However, the rate of diffusion and adoption of the new phenomenon among consumers is still relatively low. With the internet advancing new opportunities, it is important to understand the factors that could motivate Indian consumers to indulge in online buying. This paper is a theoretical attempt at conceptualizing “motivation” as a construct, in the context of online buying and testing it empirically. The objective of the study is to explore the critical motivational factors that influence the online buying decision of people, and to establish their causal impact, if any, through developing an integrated model.

The study, descriptive, diagnostic, and causal in nature, has been conducted in the context of online buying of railway tickets in India. In the first phase, a pilot survey was conducted on a sample of 100 users of the online railway reservation. After having tested the survey instrument for validity and reliability, the second phase of the study was conducted on a sample of 327 users of online railway reservation facilities. A series of multiple regressions analyses was conducted to determine the causal impacts of critical motivational parameters on online reservation of railway ticket by users in the Indian context. The analysis of demographics based on gender and age groups were also made to capture the cross-comparisons of critical motivational attributes.

The results were in expected direction and fulfilled the research aims of the current study. The factor analysis had grouped the items into nine constructs with 38 items. For analytical purposes, descriptive statistics were used through measures of central tendency and dispersion. The item total correlations to each construct were found significant. All the critical motivational constructs were found to have a significant impact on the intention of buyers of booking/purchasing railway tickets online in India. The analyses of demographics established that as far as gender is concerned, all the critical motivational attributes to online buying intention have no significant differences between men and women; however, for age groups it was observed that some of the attributes were found significant and others were not.

Through identifying and empirically establishing critical motivational parameters in online reservation of railway tickets in Indian context across demographics, this study helps to understand what consumers expect from the online reservation facilities from the railways for their convenience and satisfaction. By examining the various dimensions explored and established in this study, the concerned authority can develop a better understanding of consumer needs and expectations. Academicians and researchers can use this study for assessing consumer motivation towards online reservation of railway tickets in Indian context, and identifying such attributes that would lead to favourable motivational disposition towards online reservation of railway tickets. The policy decision makers of railway authority may also use the findings of this study as a resource, while constructing, managing, and evaluating their marketing strategies in the Indian context.

The purpose of this study is to understand the antecedents of omni-channel shopping with reference to the intention to purchase fashion products by millennials and their perspective towards the omni-channel method of shopping.

The research is based on a quantitative research technique comprising of 302 respondents. A structured questionnaire has been adopted for the survey and to collect data from millennials from India. The questionnaire consisted of 27 constructs, which were measured using a five-point Likert’s scale. In the first step first-order confirmatory factor analysis is carried out, by using the software IBM AMOS-20. The initial model is generated for six constructs, and outcomes are used to analyse the model’s goodness of fit and construct validity. In the second step, the conceptual model is tested through path analysis using structural equation modelling.

The findings indicate that perceived usefulness (PU) significantly affects the continuance intention of usage towards omni-channels. Perceived ease of use does not significantly affect continuance intention of towards usage of omni-channels, and it does not seem to have a significant effect on PU. Cost effectiveness and customer engagement of omni-channel have a significant effect on the continuance intention of its use. Finally, continuance intention towards usage of omni-channel does significantly affects the actual use of omni-channel.

The research on omni-channel for purchasing fashion products is meagre and this particular study with the usage of Technology Acceptance Model including millennials is adding value towards the knowledge base of marketing. This research develops a theoretical framework building on the technology adoption model and empirically tested it.

Drawing on goal-setting theory and team effectiveness theory, the study aims to examine the impact of agile taskwork and agile teamwork on team performance. In addition, it investigates the mediating effect of project commitment on the impact of agile taskwork and agile teamwork on team performance. Furthermore, the study also tests the moderating role of career level on the impact of agile taskwork and agile teamwork on team performance.

Survey data were collected from 563 employees working in 290 information technology (IT) companies in India using a self-reporting structured questionnaire. Partial least squares path modeling was used to test the hypothesized model, and the Process macro was used to test the moderating effect.

The results show that agile taskwork and agile teamwork positively affect team performance and project commitment, and project commitment positively impacts team performance. Furthermore, project commitment fully mediates the relationship between agile taskwork and team performance and partially mediates the relationship between agile teamwork and team performance. Furthermore, the career level negatively moderates the impact of agile taskwork and agile teamwork on team performance.

The study shows the importance of agile work practices and project commitment to enhance team performance. Thus, the study provides managers with two strategies to improve their team performance.

There is a scarcity of research examining the distinct effects of agile taskwork and agile teamwork on team performance and the mediating role of project commitment in these relationships. Furthermore, as per the empirical evidence, no previous research has empirically examined the moderating role of career level in the agile taskwork-team performance and agile teamwork-team performance relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to study the flow, heat and mass transfer of MHD Casson nanofluid due to an inclined stretching sheet using similarity transformation, the governing PDE’S equations of flow, heat and mass transfer are converted into ODE’S. The resulting non-linear ODE’S are solved numerically using an implicit finite difference method, which is known as Kellor-box method. The effects of various governing parameters on velocity, temperature and concentration are plotted for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian cases. The numerical values of skin friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are calculated and tabulated in various tables for different values of physical parameters. It is noticed that the effect of angle of inclination enhances the temperature and concentration profile whereas velocity decreases. The temperature decreases due to the increase in the parametric values of Pr and Gr due to thickening in the boundary layer.

Numerical method is applied to find the results.

Flow and heat transfer analysis w.r.t various flow and temperature are analyzed for different values of the physical parameters.

The numerical values of skin friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are calculated and tabulated in various tables for different values of physical parameters.

The study of the boundary layer flow, heat and mass transfer is important due to its applications in industries and many manufacturing processes such as aerodynamic extrusion of plastic sheets and cooling of metallic sheets in a cooling bath.

Here in this paper the authors have investigated the MHD boundary layer flow of a Casson nanofluid over an inclined stretching sheet along with the Newtonian nanofluid as a limited.

This study aims to draw on the complexity theory and uses a non-an asymmetrical method – fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to test the core tenets of complexity theory, namely, asymmetry, equifinality and causal complexity and valence reversals or conjunction with a focus on testing the relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty. Case outcome forecasting accuracy rather than relationships are tested in asymmetric testing.

Both symmetrical (structural equation modelling or SEM) and non-symmetrical (fsQCA) methods were used to test the proposed relationships (symmetrical testing) and case outcome forecasting accuracy (asymmetric testing). The former was used as a comparison. The study setting was in Australian airports. The data were collected from departure passengers.

The results from SEM and fsQCA differ substantially. The former provides very simplistic findings of variable directional relationships; whereas the latter presents asymmetrical, equifinal and conjunctional relationships regarding service quality, customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. These findings support the core tenets of the complexity theory.

The study findings conform to the complexity theory that indicates relationships between variables can be nonlinear and the same causes can produce different effects. The findings suggest the outcomes of interest often result from combined antecedent conditions rather than a single causal factor. The study confirms that asymmetrical thinking relies on Boolean algebra and set theory principles.

This study uses both symmetrical and asymmetrical methods to reveal the nuanced information about the relationship that has been tested primarily using symmetrical methods.