Sita Mishra

Understanding consumer behavior regarding luxury fashion goods in India based on the theory of planned behavior

Purpose Even though the Indian luxury market is predicted to grow as much as the Chinese one over the coming years, limited research has been conducted on luxury consumer behavior. The purpose of this study is to examine the purchasing behavior for luxury fashion goods using the framework of the theory of planned behavior. Design/methodology/approach A total of 257 respondents were included after distributing a structured questionnaire by surveying real luxury consumers in Delhi. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings The results of the study indicated that subjective norm was the most important determinant of the purchasing intentions for luxury fashion goods, followed by attitude. Perceived behavioral control was not found to have a significant relationship with purchasing intentions, but it showed a strong positive relationship with actual purchasing behavior. Originality/value This study provides new theoretical insights regarding luxury consumer behavior in India. It explains the motivating factors behind purchasing intentions for luxury goods among Indian consumers. The findings of the study will provide great help to global luxury companies in formulating their penetration and expansion strategies in the Indian market.

Evaluation of root characteristics, canopy temperature depression and stay green trait in relation to grain yield in wheat under early and late sown conditions

Forty wheat varieties was evaluated for grain yield in the field for two successive crop seasons (2009–10 and 2010–11), with 2 dates of sowing, viz., early (last week of October) and late (first week of December). Based on the yield potential, five high yielding and five low yielding varieties were selected to study the relationship between grain yield and root characteristics along with canopy temperature depression (CTD) and flag leaf drying under early and late sown conditions. It was observed that under early sown restricted irrigation conditions the high yielding varieties utilized energy in increasing the root length and root density to deeper soil depths instead of accumulating root weight, compared to low yielding varieties. In contrast, under late sown condition, the high yielding varieties had more root weight and density in their upper soil depths, compared to low yielding varieties. Hence, it can be suggested to select wheat varieties with high root density and more root length in the lower depths of the soil for rainfed/restricted irrigation conditions to mitigate the early heat effects, and varieties having high root density and more root length in the upper layers of the soil for late sown conditions to tolerate the late or terminal heat. Further, high CTD scores at 1st stage (vegetative) and high leaf score at fourth stage (post flowering) were found to be important selection parameters, which help in reducing the evapo-transpiration and increase 1000 grain weight under early sown limited irrigation condition, and thereby increase the grain yield; whereas, CTD at 3rd stage (flowering stage) contribute to maintain the stay green trait for longer period and reduce the loss due to evapo-transpiration and in-turn increase the grain yield under late sown conditions. These traits can be used as selection tools for physiological breeding programme to increase the production and productivity of wheat.

An analysis of intensive mode pedagogy in management education in India

Purpose – Management education is at its peak in India. But pedagogy and modes of delivery are not always innovative compared to top international Business Schools. It is through experimentation that the paper may be able to discover what works best in our context. The purpose of this paper is to determine the effectiveness of intensive mode of delivery vs traditional semester-wide teaching of management courses among MBA students of a leading Business School, through one such experiment. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 19 dimensions were used in this study. The questionnaire was tested on two different groups. An independent sample t-test was conducted for each dimension, to find out if the group that was subjected to this experiment had opinions different from the group that did not undergo the accelerated version. Findings – The results indicated perceptions on most of the dimensions disconcerting, barring increase in commitment, engagement, focus, and concentration with intensive mode. Furthe...

Effect of emotional labour on emotional exhaustion: a study of retail sector in India

Services involving direct interactions with customers require employees to manage how they present their emotions during service encounters. Emotional labour has been posed as the management of emotional displays at work. Several times expressing emotions that one does not feel during service encounters can be stressful for service employees. The ability of the service providers to deal with the inherent stresses and emotional demands of their working environment as they perform emotional labour has an impact on their behaviour. Job demand stressor may lead to emotional exhaustion. The present study examines the impact of emotional labour on emotional exhaustion in retail sector in India. It measures the emotional labour with 19 items scales which include emotional dissonance and emotive effort. The findings of the study indicated that emotional dissonance lead to more emotional exhaustion while the emotive efforts decrease the emotional exhaustion.

An empirical study on customer interaction with a contact centre and its effect on CRM: a multicultural perspective from India

Contact centres, or call centres as they are known popularly, are used by service providers to solve customers’ problems and enhance their value. These interactions are reflective of the service providers’ commitment to keeping their customers satisfied and happy, and point to areas of improvement for service providers, and also tell them how customers perceive their communication strategies. In this paper, the authors have attempted to study the levels of satisfaction of customers in their interactions with call centres, as call centres are the most convenient and regularly used mode of getting in touch with a service provider. The authors also point to gaps in customer interaction strategies that could have an impact on customer satisfaction and the influence these gaps could have on the company’s overall Customer Relationship Management strategy. They identify four key dimensions of customer relationship, namely interaction, knowledge and information, responsiveness and reliability and map the response of customers with respect to each within the overall framework of satisfaction. This paper also analysis cultural influence of these strategies.

Web aggregation in India: E-business models in new economy

The development of Information Technology (IT) and the internet over the past decade has brought immense changes to our economy. The increasing internet diffusion has made e-business a huge potential in developing countries like India. Web aggregation has emerged as a valuable service to help internet users worldwide. It provides value added e-services, by collecting relevant data on the web and turns them into useful information. There are many variations to the web aggregator e-business model. This paper examines the development of web aggregators, analyses their status in Indian scenario and discusses their impact on business firms.

IT enabled mass customisation as a tool for bond building – an Indian case study

Today, almost all organisations recognise the need to provide outstanding services to consumers. Globally, companies are embracing mass customisation as a tool for providing unique value to their customers in an efficient manner. Worldwide, many companies have built sustained and lasting relationships with their customers through mass customisation. There is growing evidence that mass customisation strategy is transforming into a mass personalisation strategy and as a result it is redefining marketing and business strategies. However, to be successful, companies in the business of mass customisation must also offer a highly personalised experience to the customers at an affordable and competitive price. In India, congregating personalisation with mass customisation is a novel approach, and can be used for building relationships. In this paper, we have analysed a new business model which makes mass personalisation realisable using IT tools as an enabler, by means of a case study approach.

Participation of youth in social networking sites in India

Social networking sites have become a true force to be reckoned with on the web. This latest trend has caught on in a big way the world over. Relatively new in India, this phenomenon has been an instantaneous hit especially with the Indian youth. In this paper, attempt is made to explore the participatory patterns of youth in social networking sites in India. It seeks to further determine their objectives behind the usage of these sites. Hence, the findings of this study should be imperative to both search engine marketers, and to the social networking sites themselves, as it reveals a number of opportunities for both populations. This concept is leading to interesting debates in the academia and industry on how it will impact communications, connections between individuals and commercial viability for marketers. The results of the study revealed four intentions behind the usage of these sites – building association, spending time, self-image formation and acquiring information.

Training outsourcing in Indian telecom sector: critical success factors

A rising trend in Human Resource Development (HRD) in recent years has seen a steady growth in the number of training tasks being undertaken by external providers. This paper explores the impetus for outsourcing training in telecom industry across National Capital Region (NCR) and highlights the importance of identifying the critical factors for the successful training outsourcing. The study concludes that the organisations must take care of performance consistency, organisation capabilities, innovations in evaluation process and proactive measures are the major critical factors so that they can achieve the objectives of the training outsourcing.

ONLINE RETAILING IN INDIA: LINKING INTERNET USAGE, PERCEIVED RISKS, WEBSITE ATTRIBUTES AND PAST ONLINE PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

With the number of Internet users exceeding 200 million, as reported on October 2013, e‐commerce holds great promise in India. However, converting e‐users into e‐consumers still remains a challenging task for e‐retailers. Although Internet penetration has deepened in India, yet capitalising the market potential depends largely on how Indian online users actually use the Internet. This research study examines drivers of online purchase in India. As these variables do not impact online purchase behaviour independently, we have attempted to establish interrelationship of these variables (Internet usage, perceived risk, website attributes, influence of past online shopping experience on perceived risks) to understand buying behaviour. A structured questionnaire was administered for online consumers using field and online survey mediums and response of 484 users was obtained. Findings show that Indian online users had high level of perceived risks and these perceived risks increase despite users have online buying experience. However, their attitude towards future intention to do online purchase was not influenced by perceived risks related to Internet. These findings are contrary to past studies, indicating that Indian online users have a unique attitude formation towards Internet usage.