Changing consumer purchasing decision behavior is not easy. Consumers are now classified as intelligent consumers who are supported by the development of information and technology. Especially the decision to purchase products that are not widely known in the community, particularly environmentally friendly products or natural products (green products). One of the environmentally friendly products that attract public attention lately is Loloh cemcem brand from Penglipuran Village Bangli. The objectives of this study are a) to explain the effect of hedonic value, brand personality appeal, and attitude towards behavioral intention, and to explain the role of brand personality appeal as a mediator of the relationship between the hedonic value towards attitude and behavioral intention. The study is conducted in all districts in Bali from September 2018 to June 2019. The analysis technique used is path analysis. The research findings show that all variables have positive and significant effects on behavioral intention. However, brand personality appeal only acts as a mediating variable in part of the relationship between hedonic value towards attitude and the relationship between hedonic value towards behavioral intention. It means that there are other variables that play as mediator which are not examined in this study. The results of the analysis are expected to be used as a consideration by the producers of Loloh cemcem of Penglipuran Village Bangli so that they will be able to deal with further competition and the study results can be used as an alter-native strategy to implement a green business. In addition, the study results can be used by the government as an input in making policies that encourage the rapid growth of the Balinese local wisdom industry.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine a theoretical model which identifies the effect of process quality improvement and lean practices on competitive performance in the healthcare industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study uses a quantitative research technique with convenient cluster sampling through applying a descriptive, causal and analytical research design. A valid sample size of 270 respondents is used for analysis by linear regression and hypothesis testing using SPSS. The results indicate a direct significant relationship between process quality improvement and a direct significant relationship between lean practices and competitive performance. Given the substantial resources spent and efforts to improve healthcare quality, the absence of studies demonstrating the impact of quality-related operations and activities would require future research. Hospitals in one city in UAE have access that limits the research results. It is recommended that future research assess more variables dependency on the healthcare sector that can affect increase competitiveness. The research provides some managerial implications that could help hospital managerial members improve their healthcare delivery system's leanness and quality improvement to get competitiveness. Quality improvement and lean practices help increase competitive performance and can assist the healthcare sector in providing better service using these practices that have never been considered in research.

The study aims at measuring the availability of knowledge management (KM) infrastructure and its impact on the innovation process and products of Munir Sukhtian Trading Group Company (MSTGC), through the intermediary role of KM mechanisms and technologies. The study tool, which took the form of a questionnaire, was designed to collect the required data from the company under research. The validity and stability of the research tool were both tested. The study community is made up of the MSTGC, and the study sample consisted of the senior and middle management. A group of 101 managers were randomly selected from the sampling unit which consisted of (140) managers, heads and deputy heads of departments, sales supervisors and team leaders at the Head Office of the company in Amman. The study used the descriptive-analytical research method, and found the following most notable findings: high level of information technology (IT) infrastructure and intermediate levels of the rest of the components of KM infrastructure (physical environment, common knowledge, organizational culture, and organizational structure). The innovation process is of a medium level and the same is for KM mechanisms and technologies. As for MSTGC's commercial products, the results show a high level represented by two things: first, value-added products and knowledge-based products. Furthermore, a statistically significant effect was found (α≤0.05) for the KM infrastructure with its components (IT infrastructure, physical environment, common knowledge and organizational structure) on the MSTGC's products. On the other hand, the effect was outwardly in relation to the component of organizational culture. The findings also show that the KM infrastructure had a statistically significant impact on the innovation process and the products through KM mechanisms and technologies. The study presented a set of recommendations, most notably: the need for enhancing and elevating the intermediate levels of KM (physical environment, common knowledge, organizational structure, organizational culture), while maintaining the high levels of IT infrastructure. Also, among the recommendations is the need for maintaining the high levels of value-added and knowledge-based products of MSTGC's in order to remain in competition with the market and enhance the reputation of the company's products among customers. Also recommended is paying more attention to KM infrastructure because of its impact on the innovation process and the company's products.

Organizational competitiveness is enhanced by implementing supply chain integration. Organizations, through information technology, can integrate internal and external cross-functional. The team assigned to run the integration system in its function is designated as the key user who can implement and maintain an ongoing basis. Key user capabilities are needed to maintain a digital supply chain in information technology systems to integrate internally and externally. Data analysis using Partial least squares (PLS) on 89 hotel organizations with a one-star category or more shows that key user capability significantly affects internal cross-functional integration (β = 0.728) and external cross-functional integration (β = 0.127). Key user capability has an impact on supply chain flexibility (β = 0.370) while internal cross-functional integration influences increasing supply chain flexibility (β = 0.373) and financial performance (β = 0.421). External cross-functional integration increases supply chain flexibility (β = 0.316) and financial performance (β = 0.441). Lastly, supply chain flexibility impacts increasing financial flexibility (β = 0.192). The research contributes enrichment to the theory of digital supply chain and practical contribution to enlighten top management in information technology investment.

Green awareness is worth researching to determine the customer consumption pattern of environment-friendly products. Several research models are showing the importance of green awareness of customer behavior. This paper studies the role of information in marketing decisions related to customer green awareness. Based on the phenomenon of green awareness, this research work aims to study the role of customer green awareness built through eco-label, environmental knowledge, and perceived quality. This experimental research is conducted on 200 supermarket customers who had experience with green products. The data is collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using the Structural Equation Model approach. SmartPLS is conducted to test the research hypotheses. The findings show that there was a relationship between the eco-label credibility of environment-friendly products on the customers' increased environmental knowledge and perceived quality of the products. Besides, both environmental knowledge and perceived quality are identified to play an essential role in controlling green awareness. Eco-label in product attributes is found to be capable of changing the positive side of green awareness. These findings describe a model in developing green awareness through environmental knowledge and perceived quality with the support of environment-friendly product eco-label. The model also can predict customer green awareness and support the green marketing strategy. Therefore, further research works on green customer behavior are welcome, as green customer behavior must impact on the implementation of green marketing strategies. Also, we may predict the customer behavior of environment-friendly products, and implement better business strategies.

The main aim of this study is to examine the effects of social customer relationship management (CRM) on customer happiness and customer retention. To achieve the study objectives, a quantitative research method is adopted in this study to examine the hypotheses by using a survey questionnaire for the purpose of data collection from the target sample of customers of telecommunication firms working in Jordan. The instrument is designed and customized to conduct this study and meet the research objectives. A total of 319 valid and reliable responses are returned and they are analyzed using the SEM approach through SmartPLS3 software to examine the hypotheses. The findings reveal significant and positive effects of the most social CRM elements studied on customer happiness and the customer happiness influenced customer retention. The study contributes to the respective research field with further better understanding of the role of social CRM to increase customer happiness and retain long term relationships with them.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the compulsive buying behavior among Malaysian youths. Specifically, this study aims to examine the indirect effects of money attitude on compulsive buying through materialism. The intercept method was used where respondents were systematically selected based on every fifth student who entered the university library. A structured close-ended self-administered questionnaire was used to collect primary data. Structural equation modelling using SMART PLS 3.0 was employed in this study to analyze the indirect effects of money attitude on compulsive buying through the mediation of materialism. The results indicated that power prestige and anxiety dimensions of money attitude had significant effects on compulsive buying via materialism. Although understanding money attitude, materialism and compulsive buying may help marketers gain greater market share, ethical and socially responsible marketing strategies must also be taken into account. In addition, parents and higher learning institutions need to take initiatives to prevent the forming of maladaptive behaviors among youths. Implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

The study aimed to perform a further analysis of the society’s awareness towards the natural environment, especially the awareness of having a healthy life, which leads them to have an awareness to use a natural-based product (environmentally friendly product). Furthermore, this awareness acts as a guidance for them to become consumers who care about their environment and also the material logistics management of each company to build a good customer relationship management with their customer. Along with this phenomenon, however, several reasons regarding the increase of environmentally friendly product consumption are unknown. This study focused on antecedents generating green purchase behavior, namely, social influence, green attitude, green value, and green trust. The approach applied in the study was a purposive sampling method with the 450 respondents in all over Bali. The finding showed that the social influence did not significantly impact the green purchase behavior. On the other hand, green attitude, green value, and green trust brought a positive and significant impact toward green purchase behavior. Social influence, green attitude, and green value influenced positively and significantly toward green trust. Green trust played a role as the relationship mediator of social influence, green attitude, and green value on green purchase behavior. The study was limited as it belonged to cross-sectional and longitudinal study, and it needed a lengthy period to validate the finding. It only accommodated the consumer’s green purchase behavior in Bali. Hence, it cannot be generalized; however, it can be developed in another area. Moreover, the practical implication for the producers of the environmentally friendly product is that they can be more attentive to certain variables that generate the green purchase behavior. The authenticity of the study is that the social influence does not influence the green purchase behavior toward the society in Bali. Furthermore, this study supports the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) particularly in marketing the green product. The study is a more completed model development of the green purchase behavior. Furthermore, the variable in this study is worth considering in developing the environmentally friendly product.

This study addresses the illegitimate task-related stressor that establishes a threat to the employees’ self-image. The objective of this study is to provide a clear picture on how illegitimate tasks impact on employees’ mind who work in micro informal enterprises. No single study examined this relationship among employees of informal enterprises. An active employee of micro informal enterprises (MIE’s) within Lahore city is the unit of analysis of this study. The questionnaire of the study was sent to 500 employees of informal enterprises. Participants were 425 full-time employees in informal enterprises at various position levels, representing an 85 percent response rate. SPSS 21 and AMOS 16 statistical packages were used to analyze the collected data. Normality of variables was checked with the help of Skewness and Kurtosis scores. To test the hypotheses of this study, structural equation modeling (SEM) was implemented. The analysis comprises confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings of this study show that illegitimate tasks also boost the stress level of employees who work in informal entrepreneurship. Consequently, owners and managers of MIE should organize and design such training programs that increase the level of understanding about assigned tasks.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship amongst innovation, strategic agility and firms’ resilience in Nigerian tertiary institutions. A descriptive research design was em-ployed with a sample size of 492 top management respondents from selected tertiary institu-tions, using SPSS and structural equation modeling (SEM) for analysis and hypotheses test-ing. The authors found that innovation and strategic agility predict a firms’ resilience in ter-tiary institutions in Nigeria. This paper complements the limited literatures on education at post-secondary level by providing a model and empirical indications on innovation being a mechanism underlying resilience capability among tertiary institutions in Nigeria.